HEAVENLY MINDED
By Lahry Sibley
1 Cor 15: 47 The first man [was] from out of earth, made of dust (earthly-minded); the second Man [is] the Lord from out of heaven. 48Now those who are made of the dust are like him who was first made of the dust (earthly-minded); and as is [the Man] from heaven, so also [are those] who are of heaven (heavenly-minded).
It really makes me wonder, when I read text like this one, how folks can be earthly minded, and yet think that they can still enter into the kingdom of God. Is it not clear that those who are Christs have a different mind, than those who do not belong to Him. You are whose mind you have. I said , YOU ARE WHOSE MIND YOU HAVE.
Phil 2:13 [Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.
We see in Phillipians, that it is God Who places something in us, that we never possessed before. The mind and the will of man responds most to the desires and passions of the heart. So it is with every true blood bought child of the Living God. The desires and will of man are CHANGED BY GOD! Paul even takes it a huge step further, that separated distinctively those who are really children of God and those who are not.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1Co 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Small wonder those who are Christians and truly belong to God are so persecuted by those who say they are Christians, but do not belong to Christ for they yet walk in willful sin. They have been deceived into believing that one can be a Christian, and yet their mind is earthly and not heavenly. Things and stuff reign as chief among their passions, and yet they want to dictate to the sanctified man, their philosophy of how to live the Christian life in sin. What a mockery of grace!!!! What a mockery of TRUTH!!!!
Certainly, they have never been taught any different. They have been told from the pulpit, that they are normal Christian saints, when the Word of God does not agree.
If you have never been to the cross, you are still earthly minded. Our Lord can only use dead people; dead to this world, and the world dead to us. We can only reign with Him if we have been crucified with Him. Why? Because God does not want earthly minded people ruling over His kingdom. This should be obvious when we are attacked by earthly minded so called Christians for our stand on Bible truth; that being the faith that saves, is the faith that obeys.
Earthly minded people have no concept of this because they are yet slaves to their flesh and earthly mind that captivates their heart and resources. Oh they believe Yahshua was and is the Savior. They believe all of that. They will even tell you that Jesus gave us two commandments, both beginning with Love. Love God, and Love your neighbor.
Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
There oh there is the evidence of a crucified man or woman of God. There oh there is proof positive that a sanctified man LOVES God and neighbor. They obey God. It is impossible to be heavenly minded, beloved, i.e., to be like Jesus, fashioned into His character and nature, and remain in sin. IMPOSSIBLE!
Php 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Jesus was obedient, even though in doing so sent Him through the very wrath of God for our sakes. THE FAITH THAT SAVES, IS THE FAITH THAT OBEYS. Heres another text
2Co 2:9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.
Can anything be more clear than this? If you are heavenly minded, you are not living to try to avoid wrong doing. Rather, you are living to see how much you can glorify our Lord in how we obey Him more and more and keep His commandments. Our model is Jesus. Nothing less. He kept the commandments. We must also. Why? Good question. Heres the answer
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Heb 10:26 For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
Heb 10:27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
Truth is an extremely important and yet fearful thing, beloved. First of all it exposes a lie for what it is. To be victimized by a lie, one must believe it as truth. Second, Truth exposes the liar. It is gut wrenching when a person who searches the scriptures daily comes to realize that their mentor in faith is a liar, be he/she their pastor, TV personality, Bible study group leader, whoever. Now, Im not saying that they are malicious liars, but they are liars none the less, parroting what they were taught by their own mentors.
Faced with the truth, a response to it is mandatory. You either accept it or reject it. Not only must you respond in accepting your place as an obedient child of God, but you must separate your selves from the people who are yet lying to you. That takes courage. That takes great sacrifice!!!!
It took courage for Jesus to take up His cross and submit to death. It takes courage for you to take up your cross and submit to death to self. You must divest and divorce yourself from all other loves, by comparison they appear as hate when compared to love of God, and love of neighbor.
Dear reader, what Ive given you in this message is truth and light. This is the true Gospel of Jesus and Him crucified. We become His beneficiary, when we are crucified with Him by faith, and submit our old sin earthly minded nature for death. It is then, and ONLY THEN, that we can inherit the newness of life that makes us heavenly minded obedient children of God. This is the only Gospel that makes the entirety of the Bible all fit together without contradiction. Will you obey God rather than man? To obey is better than sacrifice.
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
It is not some unusual thing for some super saint to do. Being a living sacrifice is our reasonable service unto God who suffered so much, that we may live in Him.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Remember, Jesus said that not every who says Lord, Lord will enter in, but he/she that doeth the will of the Father. What is that will? Its right there in Romans 12:1,2. Crystal clear.
To repent is to present yourself to God for death, a living sacrifice. There is no other repentance than this. Believe it, live it, and you will inherit eternal life. Reject, you reject the shed blood of Jesus and trample it under foot. You believe and perpetrate a false gospel. You are accursed and will burn in HELL for all eternity. I did not make that up, beloved. Its the Gospel truth. If you are yet earthly minded, you are yet uncrucified with Christ. No death, no resurrection. No resurrection, no new heavenly minded life. No new heavenly minded life, no salvation. You can argue till judgment day, when all arguments cease. There, if you have not REPENTED, you shall surely PERISH. Selah (pause and consider this message very carefully, dear friend) - Lahry
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Lahry Sibley
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