"Separate yourself to the world: be filled with Holy Spirit"
Genesis 1:6-8 And God said, "Let there be an expanse (the air) between the waters to separate water from water."
So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so.
God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning--the second day.
At God's original creation, He separated the heaven and the earth by His word.
In our text, Expanse means "The atmosphere, or the air surrounding the earth." also in Recovery Version Bible, the sky is pertaining to "heaven".
Genesis 1:8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
By God's word, there came the separation of the water to itself, and the other one became the sky or the heaven.
Psalms 104:6-7 ...the waters stood above the mountains.
But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
The separating of the waters by producing an expanse between them, signifying, spiritually, the dividing of the heavenly things from the earthly things through the work of Jesus being died on the cross for us.
Separate means to set or keep apart, or being disconnected. An intransitive verb means to become divided or detached. This message is about separating our own selves to this world by being filled with Holy Spirit.
We are called as Christians because we raised our new life with Christ Jesus.
This is the raising aspect of baptism, we were raised together with Christ. We are now where Christ is, sitting in the heavens. That is why we should seek the things that are in the heavens, such as knowing Christ as everything to us, so that we take Him as life and thereby walk in Him.
Colossians 3:1-3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Why setting our heart and mind on things above?
Because our mind is not in the heavens at the first place; in contrast to on the earth, for we are focus on the earthly things, in worldly activities, in what this world offers. We are so stress and confuse on how to achieve those things that the world are telling, that we need to buy this to feel comfortable, you need to become this to be acceptable, we try so hard to get the standard of this world. But we are Christians now, and this message reminds us, "Do not set your mind on the worldly things, " but set your mind in heavenly things while we're still here in this world.
Why on things above? Because the heavens are linked to Christ and joined to the church. The things above include the ascended Christ and all things pertaining to Him. Therefore, to seek the things above is to seek to live Christ in and with the church. So, set our mind to Jesus and be involved to the church activities.
Romans 8:5-16 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.
Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.
For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,
because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.
Don't live according to a sinful nature. Ignore fleshy desire for it will lead into sin. Change our mindset, if we put our mind into what our flesh wants and likes the spirit of God can't work with us. The things of the flesh include anything that is in the realm of the flesh, whether evil or good. Our flesh is in the sinful nature, but we as born again by the spirit must set our mind into the spirit desires. We must to walk as new being, walk as a real Christian.
How to separate our selves to this world?
Only by having the spirit of Jesus in us.
Not only to walk and have our activities according to the spirit, but to have our entire being according to the spirit. When we are according to the spirit, our walk also is according to the spirit. In this spirit the indwelling law of the Spirit of life, that is God Himself, works within us spontaneously and frees us from the law of sin and of death.
The things of the Spirit are the things concerning Christ, which the Spirit receives and declares to us in John 16:14-15 'He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.'
As we exercise ourselves to mind these things, eventually our whole being will be according to the spirit. This verse focuses in our MIND SETS. Why the mind?
For our mind is so powerful. Moreover, our mind is the strongest part of our being but this may be the weakest also. It seems that you are holding a weapon that can save your life, but can also put you into death. So we need to have a care on how to deal to our mind.
You can control your mind or it can control you or worst, something will control your mind. I said it is the worst because if your mind have been controlled by any forces, all aspects of your life can be damaged.
Our mind is like in a chess, which it can be compare to a king piece that if it is being checkmate by the opponent, the other pieces of your side can't be moved, for it means you are lost.
So, please think first before it's too late. "Use your mind," as we say it.
Scholars said that, normal person usually uses 12% of their mind in everyday chores. The other 88% are not use at all. There's an old joke says, "When you try to sell your mind, it will be bought with high price. For it is slightly used."
And it is the truth, we don't use the 100% capability of our mind and sometimes it uses us more than we use it.
Our mind is a tool supposed to be used, to help us and not to bring us troubles. And like any other tools the results of this is depending on how you're going to use it.
We are not our mind, but we are the user of the mind or the viewer of what it is being shown to us such as images, thoughts, illusions etch. Take note of this, we are not our mind. Sometimes we just obey the things that dictated by our mind, for we knew that whatever our mind says it is also what we want. It is a wrong thought, to think that what our mind thinks is always right. You are not controlled by your mind, thus, you are higher than it. The user is higher than the things that are being used.
My point is, don't let your mind controls you. Don't let your mind stands higher than you.
Can your mind really controls you?
Yes, your mind can controls you, for our mind is so powerful. But the power of our mind came from different forces or influences, such as media, friends, peers, church, satanic thoughts, academe, people around you etch. -they can controls your mind.. and the result?
SUFFERINGS. Mind is the king of our senses. For what a king commanded the servants will follow! But who really suffered after the commands? Not the king but the servants themselves. Example, in a mission of the soldiers, they blindly following the chief-commander, even their life is at stake. The reality here, the soldiers suffers a lot. Comparatively, what our mind dictates, our senses will follow. What if you are so materialistic? Your senses is in danger. Materialist is the servant of their senses. Our material body is naturally attached to this material world, like magnets which is bound to be attached in any other metals. So beware, what mind dictates, senses will follow. What if our mind suggests something bad, or things which is not good at all, your life is at stake, if you yourself was controlled by the mind.
So, what to do?
First, start to control your mind.
Our mind is like a monkey who always hang itself to wherever it wanted, and it is not stagnant. It will transfer to one tree to another. Your mind can bring you a hundreds of different thoughts for just a seconds. It is not fixed.
If you just let your mind to do its function without any restraint, you are in trouble. We knew a student who staring at the ceiling or things out of the window, "malayo ang tingin, wala namang tinatanaw." The result? failing grade because of ineffective listening.
Sometimes you are reading your books, and you understand nothing. Praying without seriousness because your mind is of the worldly things, people around you crying while you are just smiling. Maybe your mind is out of focus. It hangs to wherever it wanted. So, start to refocus your mind, control it. When you can controls your mind already, then the servant or your senses will follow.
Second, expose your mind in something transcendental, engage it in spiritual things. Choose to engage your mind to the spirit and not into the flesh.
We are still here on earth, time is so fast, mind are easily to forget , and we are so busy to so many things, people are out of focus, and exposed to worldly activities so it is not that easy to control our mind, unless we will change the way how we think or we will choose to think about something higher.. which is about heavenly things.
It is about your choice. The mind is the leading part of the soul, which is man's personality, his person. The mind thus represents the soul, that is, the person himself. In the chapter 7 and 8 of the book of Romans, shows that the mind is neutral, being between the regenerated mingled spirit and the fallen body, the flesh. That the mind may have two different actions, by which it can cause us to be either in the spirit or in the flesh. If it relies on and attaches itself to the regenerated spirit, which is mingled with the Spirit of God, the mind will bring us into the spirit and into the enjoyment of the divine Spirit as the law of the Spirit of life. If the mind attaches itself to the flesh and acts independently, it will bring us into the flesh, causing us to be at enmity with God and to be unable to please God. So, choose to mind all about spiritual things.
When thinking about spiritual things, what are the results?
Romans 8:6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
Life and peace result from setting our mind on the spirit. When our mind is set on the spirit, our outward actions are in agreement with our inner man and there is no discrepancy between us and God. He and we are at peace, not at enmity. The result is that we feel peaceful within.
In contrast, when our mind is set on the flesh and the things of the flesh, the result is death, which causes us to feel separated from the enjoyment of God. We feel uneasy and deadened instead of peaceful and living. When we are minding the flesh and setting our mind on the things of the flesh, the sense of death should serve as a warning to us, urging us to be delivered from the flesh and to live in the spirit.
Again, this message tells us about, "Setting or minding the things of the Spirit, for Christ today is the life of God in the divine Spirit and also the indwelling life of God in God's people, because God's Spirit of life has become the indwelling Spirit in us, the Spirit in both aspects being Christ. As a true Christian, we must to have the Spirit of Christ.
The facts here, If we mind the flesh, or set our mind on the flesh, we become those who are in the flesh, but if we set our mind on the spirit, we become those who are in the Spirit of Christ.
The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are not two Spirits but one. Paul used these titles interchangeably, indicating that the indwelling Spirit of life is the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit of the entire Triune God. God, the Spirit, and Christ-the three of the Godhead-are all mentioned in this verse. However, there are not three in us; there is only one, the triune Spirit of the Triune God (John 4:24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." ; 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ; Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.)
The Spirit of God implies that this Spirit is of the One who was from eternity past, who created the universe and is the origin of all things. The Spirit of Christ implies that this Spirit is the embodiment and reality of Christ, the incarnated One. This Christ accomplished everything necessary to fulfill God's plan. He includes not only divinity, which He possessed from eternity, but also humanity, which He obtained through incarnation. He also includes human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. This is the Spirit of Christ in resurrection, that is, Christ Himself dwelling in our spirit to impart Himself, the embodiment of the processed Triune God, into us as resurrection life and power to deal with the death that is in our nature. Thus, we may live today in Christ's resurrection, in Christ Himself, by living in the mingled spirit.
Romans 8:10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Now, the question is, are you in the flesh or in the spirit?
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?
You need to evaluate yourself. Do you still recognize Christ in your life? or do you still glorify God's Name? Are you still minding spiritual things in your life?
Colossians 1:27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
In this verse the Spirit is not mentioned, for here the emphasis is that Christ today is the Spirit and that the Spirit of Christ is the very Christ in us. According to the fact, it is Christ; according to experience, it is the Spirit. In our experience of Him, He is the Spirit; in our worshipping Him, calling on Him, and speaking of Him, He is Christ. We receive Him as our Savior and Redeemer, but He enters into us as the Spirit. As the Redeemer, He has the title Christ; as the Indweller, He has the title the Spirit. These are not two who dwell in us but one Dweller in two aspects.
In Romans 8:10 "Christ...in you" is the crucial point of the book of Romans.
How Christ is in you?
In Romans chapter 3 -Christ is on the cross, shedding His blood for our redemption; in chaptet 4 He is in resurrection; in chapter 6 we are in Him; now, in chapter 8 He is the Spirit in us.
Before we believed in the Lord, our spirit within was dead and our body without was alive. Now that we have Christ in us, though our body without is dead because of sin, our spirit within is life because of righteousness. Christ's coming into us as life exposes the death situation of our body. In our spirit is Christ the Spirit as righteousness, resulting in life; but in our flesh is Satan as sin, resulting in death.
Through the fall of man, sin, bringing death with it, entered the human body, causing it to become dead and impotent in the things of God. Although God condemned sin in the flesh, this sin has not been uprooted or eradicated from man's fallen body. Hence, our body is still dead.
Our spirit has not only been regenerated and made living; it has become life. When we believed in Christ, He as the divine Spirit of life came into our spirit and mingled Himself with it; the two spirits thereby have become one spirit (1Corinthians 6:17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit). Now our spirit is not merely living but is life.
In God's justification we have received righteousness, which God Himself entering into our being, into our spirit. This righteousness results in life (Rom 5:18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men; Rom 5:21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.) hence, our spirit has now become life through Jesus who indwells in our life as a spirit.
The objective facts revealed in chapter 6 concerning our death and resurrection in Christ become our subjective experience only when we are in the indwelling Spirit, who is revealed in chapter 8.
Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
If you really believe that Jesus indwells in your life as a spirit, we must be aware in our action every single moment, and stop worldly deeds.
In 1 Corrintians 3:16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
People feels the holiness when they are in the church, chapel or any religious places, there they're doing what is pleasing to God, praying with all their heart, with crying and with fasting sometimes, but when they went out to that place it seems that it is the end of their holiness, ends of God's presence for some will go back to their old bad doings, will repeat again their forgiven sins. If you mind that you are a temple of God that wherever you are God is with you and God sees everything what you are doing, then you will do only the rightful things that pleases God.
The spirit of God feels this grief when we choose to obey our sinful desire, the things what we wanted. For when we do it, God who owns us will be dishonored.
1Corrintians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
If we will destroy something that is not our own, surely the true owner will get mad and angry. God said, when the time that you are being saved by Jesus, you recognized that you are not your own, that God created you to be accomplished His purpose in humanity. But then, it is unknown to those who are not yet accepted Jesus, those who are not been saved from their sins, but as a follower of God, Jesus must manifested in us. He must be lived in us.
John 14:17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Jesus, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
Accept this fact, and recieve the salvation which what God wants us to recieve. Accepting Jesus is the way to have His indwelling spirit. The holy spirit is a precious gift that we need in our life. So that our life, will really have life.
Remember this, John 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
Fleshy desires counts for nothing, worldly things is in vanity but if you are in the flesh, all worldly activities means a lot for you while if you are in the spirit, your desire will be on the things that pleases and gives honor to God.
1 Corrinthians 6:17-20 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
As true Christians we must be an acceptable person to our God.
2 Timothy 2:15-26 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."
Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.
And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.
Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,
and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
Be a wise Christian and be aware to the traps that devils strategically planted in our surroundings. A wise Christian can surpass these traps of the devils by meditating God's word. And worldly people are bonded with their desire of the flesh which offered in free of this world.
That's why we need to know the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can separate our life to the world. If not? surely, we will be like to those fallen angels who disobeyed the ways of God. For a worldly peole are bonded and can't really escape with their own wants ang desires. This is not just a physical battle that we thought we can conquer easily rather this is a spiritual battle, Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Again, be filled with the spirit of Jesus, desires heavenly things to be separated from this world.
-cuison.reymond@yahoo.com