Date: 15 November 2020
Speaker: Kobus Swart
Series: Renewal Of The Mind
It is now more than 2000 years after Jesus uttered the Words “IT IS FINISHED!” on the Cross, just before He died… Do we fully grasp the Truth about these words – and that He was the LAST Adam? God reconciled us (humanity) to Himself through Christ, not counting our trespasses against us! Can we see how important it is to be renewed in the spirit of our mind? As a man thinks in his heart (sub-conscious mind), so is he. In the current shift that is happening in the world, nothing can be more important than to set our mind on throne-room realities, and not on the things of this world. The KEY…? REPENTANCE! A radical mind shift is needed – co-knowing with God; discovering our TRUE IDENTITY. (My second Scripture in the beginning was from the VOICE translation – not the Passion Translation).
Series: Renewal of the Mind; Promised Land
Sun am 21 July 2019 – Kobus Swart
Col. 3:1 – Mirror; 1 Cor. 10:11; Num. 13:33; (Josh. 5:3-7); (Ex. 3:8, 17); Jude 1:5; Josh. 14:6-15; Heb. 4:6-10; Col. 2:2 – Amp; 1 Tim. 3:16; (Col. 1:27); (Matt. 22:11-12); (Ps. 139:16, 23); Eph. 2:10; Eph. 6:12); (Col. 2:15); (John 16:11); (2 Kings 2:9-14); 2 Tim. 2:2
Set your mind on the things from above, not what you see or feel, but set your mind on throne room realities, referring to the finished works of Jesus (Col. 3:1 – Mirror). How do you see yourself? It is important to see spiritual picture of the history of Israel in their deliverance from Egypt, then through the Red Sea, into the wilderness; a journey that could have taken eleven days took them forty years! Then before they entered the Promised Land, they had to go through the Jordan. Is the Church of Jesus Christ still busy crossing the Jordan River? If so, why? Have we possessed our Promised Land yet? Many believe that is one day in heaven. No! That is an old religious mindset. God put eternity in our hearts. Jesus tore the veil from top to bottom and access was made possible for us into the heavenly realms, and to live a supernatural lifestyle. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come (1 Cor. 10:11). It is talking about us and to us! People are looking for something deeper. A new sound is being released in the earth; for those with ears to hear, listen!
Twelve spies were sent to inspect the Promised Land. Only two came back with a positive report. The others came back with a negative report, There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight (Num. 13:33). Where does the nonsense start? In the way you see yourself! That is the way everyone else is going to see you, including satan. The declarations that come from the innermost being of who I am will convince and scare the enemy. The enemy works on the lies we believe about ourselves. After crossing the Jordan, the sons of Israel drew near to Joshua in Gilgal (Josh. 14:6); a new generation had to be circumcised!
Some are asking if Moses was a false prophet when he told the Israelites in Egypt that the Lord was going to take them to a land flowing with milk and honey (Ex. 3:8, 17), when all but two of that generation perished in the wilderness. Was Moses a false prophet? No! Likewise, God has promised the Church a victorious lifestyle, taking dominion and listening to the first mandate that came to Adam and Eve: multiply and rule. Where is the government of God on this earth? God, after delivering a people from the land of Egypt, destroyed all those who did not believe. He destroyed a whole generation (Jude 1:5). A journey that could have taken eleven days took forty years, going around the mountain, around the mountain; this is where the Church is, history repeating itself. God saved two spiritual fathers, Joshua and Caleb; they had to lead a whole new generation into the Land of Promise. That is why they had to stop at Gilgal where the circumcision took place. Joshua and Caleb were FORERUNNERS, and, likewise, God has forerunners today like Joshua and Caleb. Caleb was 85 years old! (Josh. 14:10). I want to see the spirit of Joshua and Caleb, forerunners – they do not give up! They do not jump ship when there are trials and tribulations. Caleb had a different spirit; he asked for the hill country. That is where the Anakim lived and the giants were hiding. Joshua gave Hebron to Caleb, and it says the land had rest from war (Josh. 14:11-15).
The “giants” represent fallen angels and principalities in a specific realm, taunting the Church. They have taken possession of the realms that belong to us. The enemies in Canaan were the Canaanites that had to be destroyed. Unfortunately later they built alliances with the enemy. They did not take the word of the Lord seriously and they missed the Promised Land. Joshua did not give them rest (Heb. 4:6-10). There remains therefor, another day – TODAY!
What is mysticism? To be a mystic or to be mystical is beyond the physical, beyond the material, it is in another realm. [For my concern is] that their hearts may be [a]braced (comforted, cheered, and encouraged) as they are knit together in love, that they may come to have all the abounding wealth and blessings of assured conviction of understanding, and that they may become progressively [b]more intimately acquainted with and may know more definitely and accurately and thoroughly that mystic secret of God, [which is] Christ (the Anointed One) (Col. 2:2 – Amp). The mystic secret! Christ! (1 Tim. 3:16). Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). The door is open to another realm but we are trapped in the frequency of the earth; trapped in time and space while there is so much waiting for us. A mystic is someone who believes and has insights into mysteries transcending ordinary knowledge, as by direct communication with God. There are New Age mystics and people from the East who can do more supernatural things than the Church can. Unfortunately, however, it is the counterfeit, it is not the real thing because it is not done in the name of Jesus Christ, nor do they have the right garment on in the wedding feast (Matt. 22:11-12). Are we going to keep running from that which seems mystical and too super-spiritual? There is a new generation busy forming because our forerunners, fathers in the faith, have been awakened by the Holy Spirit.
Each one of us has a scroll (the Book of life) in which the destiny of our whole life has been written (Ps. 139:16). For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (Eph. 2:10). We must walk in the good works that God has prepared beforehand for us to walk in. Every time you and I fail to walk in what God has prepared beforehand for us to walk in, we lose something (for example mantles, crowns, destinies) that the enemy picks up. The spirit of Caleb must be awakened in us. Based on the finished works, Jesus destroyed and proved powerless the principalities and powers in heavenly places (Col. 2:15; John 16:11). He wants the Church to be aware that our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). What heavenly places? Not the highest heavens. It is a realm (where principalities and powers dwell) that has to be conquered by the sons of God.
Elijah gave Elisha a double portion of the spirit that was on him (2 Kings 2:9-14). What happened to the double anointing of Elisha when he passed on? Paul passed his anointing, his commissioning to Timothy his spiritual son (2 Tim. 2:2). Can you imagine if every generation that walked with God passed double to the next generation? What happened to those mantles? I encourage you to wake up, spend time with God and take back what belongs to you. Take up the destiny that was designed for you. Connect with the truth of who you are. How do you see yourself? Get rid of any negative view of yourself. Stop confessing negative things about yourself. You have been created by God to walk in good works prepared beforehand for you. We are predestined into sonship. The sons of God will take the high mountains and dispossess the so-called ‘giants’. Satan is a liar. Do not accept his accusations. May the Lord give you wisdom to identify the things you have lost and sacrificed to satan. Take it back! Declare it: “I am a GIANT-KILLER”!
Sun 2 June 2019 – Kobus Swart
Series: Love; Renewal of the Mind; Spirit, Soul and Body
(Heb. 4:12); 2 Cor. 5:17-19; NASB & MSG; John 3:16; Revelation 2:1-4 TPT; Matt. 22:36-39 TPT; Col. 3:1-4 MIRROR; (Eccl. 3:11); (John 7:38); (John 20:21); Rom. 8:19-23 MIRROR; Eph. 1:4 MIRROR; (Rev. 13:8 KJV); 2 Cor. 3:18
There are gateways from our spirit to our soul and from our soul to our body. We need to understand the importance of opening these gateways. Right in the centre of our being is the glory of God and then you have your spirit. Then you have your soul and then out to the third circle, your body. From there we are called to impact the surrounding community – not dripping unforgiveness or bitterness, but being salt and light driven by the love of God in the inner man. Ian Clayton names these gateways through which we can impact our soul from our Spirit: Prayer, the fear of the Lord, intuition, revelation, worship, hope, faith and reverence. These are the qualities that must be settled in our inner being – the spirit man. You cannot manipulate that. We need to absorb and digest a Living Word to deal with our inner man (Heb 4:12). If we do not do this to impact our soul, our soul will dominate our spirit, because in our soul are the activities that are absorbed from the spirit of the age. What goes on around us – our finances, our relationships, our emotions – will affect our mind and our mind will impact our spirits negatively.
Consider the following Scripture: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world (the Greek word is ‘cosmos’) to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:17-19). God reconciled humanity to Himself (2 Cor. 5:19a MSG). Do we believe that God, in and through Christ, reconciled humanity to Himself? Your natural mind says that you are not so sure, wondering about all the people that hate God. Now either we believe this Scripture or we will have problems. God has reconciled humanity to Himself through Christ, and He has given us the ministry of reconciliation, not condemnation. You can only do that when the inner core of your being is full of divine love. For God so loved the world (‘kosmos’), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). The Darling of heaven crucified, so that we can be reconciled again with our heavenly Father. Without being reconciled with our heavenly Father – the Father of all creation – there will not be fulfilment, there will not be peace in our lives.
Listen to these words like a testimonial to the church of Ephesus. I know all that you’ve done for me—you have worked hard and persevered. I know that you don’t tolerate evil. You have tested those who claimed to be apostles and proved they are not, for they were imposters. I also know how you have bravely endured trials and persecutions because of my name, yet you have not become discouraged. But I have this against you: you have abandoned the passionate love you had for me at the beginning (Revelation 2:1-4 TPT). I do believe this is a word from the Lord for us. This is a timely, ‘now’ word, because without us coming onto that frequency of divine love, we will not see the supernatural; and we are desperate to see the supernatural in many realms!
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus answered him, “‘Love the Lord your God with every passion of your heart, with all the energy of your being, and with every thought that is within you.’ The church of Ephesus, after all the good they had done, had lost their first love. Do you know how easy it is to become arrogant when everything is going well? This is the great and supreme commandment. And the second is like it in importance: ‘You must love your friend in the same way you love yourself.’” (Matt. 22:36-39 TPT). Other translations say, Love your neighbour as yourself. How far are we in terms of being salt and light in today’s world? Be honest, ask yourself: do I love the Lord with all my heart, my soul, my mind and my strength? Do I love my neighbour like I love myself? This is a deep question!
In order for us to change the power of the soul so that the soul does not rule over our spirit but my spirit impacts my soul, we have to know the following: You are in fact raised together with Christ! Now ponder with persuasion the consequence of your co-inclusion in Him. Relocate yourselves mentally! Engage your thoughts with throne room realities where you are co-seated with Christ in the executive authority of God’s right hand (Col. 3:1 MIRROR). This is truth. We are seated with Christ in heavenly places. Not one day in heaven, one day in eternity – eternity does not have a beginning or an end! God has put eternity in the heart of every man (Eccl. 3:11). We are co-seated with Him, but we need to relocate ourselves mentally. Becoming affectionately acquainted with throne room thoughts will keep you from being distracted again by the earthly (soul-ruled) realm. Your union with his death broke the association with that world; see yourselves located in a fortress where your life is hidden with Christ in God! These are eternal truths, not predictions of one day – these are present truths. The exact life on exhibit in Christ is now repeated in us. We are being co-revealed in the same bliss; we are joined in oneness with him, just as his life reveals you, your life reveals him! (Col. 3:2-4 MIRROR). Until we have made this mind shift, we will not impact the world like we can and like we should. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us to digest this critical truth for the Church – the Body of Christ. From our innermost being will flow rivers of living water (John 7:38) when we have dealt with the power of the soul!
Live consistent with who you really are, inspired by the loving-kindness of God. My brothers, the most practical expression of worship is to make your bodies available to him as a living sacrifice; this pleases him more than any religious routine. He desires to find visible, individual expression in your person. This is the ultimate incarnation. Do not allow current religious tradition to mould you into its pattern of reasoning. Like an inspired artist, give attention to the detail of God’s desire to find expression in you. Become acquainted with perfection. To accommodate yourself to the delight and good pleasure of him, will transform your thoughts afresh from within (Rom. 12:1-2 MIRROR). God has a desire for you and me to put Him on display in this world – like He did with Jesus. God became visible in Jesus 2000 years ago and Jesus said, “As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you” (John 20:21). We need our minds renewed!
Our lives now represent the one event every creature anticipates with held breath, standing on tip-toe as it were to witness the unveiling of the sons of God. Can you hear the drum-roll? Every creature suffered abuse through Adam’s fall; they were discarded like a squeezed-out orange. Creation did not volunteer to fall prey to the effect of the fall. Yet within this stark setting, hope prevails (Rom. 8:19-20 MIRROR). Hope! Without hope faith falls apart! We sense the universal agony and pain recorded in history until this very moment. We ourselves feel the grief echo of their groaning within us while we are ready to embrace the original blueprint also of our physical stature to the full consequence of sonship. What we already now participate in as first fruits of the spirit will bloom into a full gathering of the harvest (Rom. 8:22-23 MIRROR). Do you know what that is talking about? Overcoming death into resurrection life! Glorified physical bodies; starts in the spirit, through the soul, into the body. The whole of the universe is waiting for the demonstration, the manifestation, the unveiling of the sons of God. We have to go back and come back to our original blueprint, and God has that on His mind. When was that? Long before the fall!
He associated us in Christ before the fall of the world! Jesus is God’s mind made up about mankind! He always knew in his love that he would present us again face-to-face before Him in blameless innocence (Eph. 1:4 MIRROR). A wonderful explanation by Francois du Toit: God found us in Christ before He lost us in Adam! Do you know that Christ, the Lamb, has been slaughtered before the foundation of the world? (Rev. 13:8- KJV). That means we have to break out of the time-barrier thinking pattern. We still think yesterday, today and tomorrow. In God everything is now – He is the I AM.
The entire fall was a falling away in our minds from our true identity and likeness-bearers of Elohim. So why do we need our minds renewed? We have to find our original blueprint identity. We came from God. That is all God looks at. Through the finished works of Christ He looks at us and He sees the finished product, the original blueprint. We look into the Word as into a mirror and we see not the old self, but we see ourselves in Christ – He is the finished worker (2 Cor. 3:18).
Series: Renewal of the Mind; New Era; New Creation Realities
Sun Am 17 February 2019 – Kobus Swart
(Matt. 9:17 & Luke 5:37); Rom. 12:2 (Mirror); Eph. 4:23; Prov. 23:7; (Col. 3:2); Isa. 54:2; 2 Cor. 3:6; (John 1:1 & 14); (John 14:9, 12); John 3:13; (Gen. 5:24); (John 10:9); (Jude: 14); (Isa. 66:1); (Eph. 2:6); Eccl. 3:11; 2 Cor. 5:19; Rev. 3:20 (TPT)
Every time a mental stronghold is broken or demolished, it makes room for fresh new revelation. Jesus said, no one puts new wine into an old wineskin (Matt. 9:17 & Luke 5:37). When a wineskin is without wine for a while it dries up and it becomes inflexible, it turns hard like many structures in the Church over the years.
In 1999, there was a book published by Peter Wagner titled Church-Quake. Some quotes:
The Church was, and still is, going through changes worldwide. However, there are currently several apostolic voices in different nations who agree that we are entering into a New Era. A lot of what has been downloaded in what has become known as the “Apostolic Season” was informational. As important as doctrine is, there is clearly a need for more. Presently there is a new shaking happening in the true Church – a ‘mind-quake’. Everybody who has a hunger and a thirst for knowing God will know what I am talking about.
In order to experience this new era, we have to go through this mind-quake. The word experience is becoming very precious to me in my interaction with God. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom. 12:2). This renewing of the mind is not a once only experience; it’s an ongoing process. In the process as our minds are being renewed, we are going to encounter areas where the religious world has put signs up saying, ‘forbidden territory’. Here is the challenge for you and me. In the process of our minds being renewed, coming to the place of experiencing what we are talking about, we must recover truths that have been hi-jacked and perverted by the new age movement, which the old order, the religious system, has called ‘off-limits’. That is a trick of Satan. Do not allow current religious tradition to mould you into its pattern of reasoning like an inspired artist give attention to the details of God’s desire to find expression in you become acquainted with perfection…to accommodate yourself to the delight and good pleasure of Him will transform your thoughts afresh from within (Rom. 12:2 – Mirror). … And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind… (Eph. 4.23). What is the ‘spirit of our mind’ referring to? As a man thinks in his heart so is he (Prov.23:7). It is not talking about the physical organ of the heart, but about your subconscious mind. Who is limiting you? Who is limiting me? It is a certain concept that has become an immovable mindset.
Instead of just having concepts and information in the mind, I want to experience the present Truth. What stands in the way of my desire to experience it? My old experiences! They limit me; they have formed certain pillars and filters in my mind. These filters that have been formed in our mind by decades of old experiences and will limit us from experiencing the eternal realities that are ours in Christ. What does that mean? These old experiences will even rob us from having the mind of Christ. Set you mind on the things above (Col. 3:2). The mind of Christ is accessible by every hungry believer.
As a man thinks in his heart so is he (Prov.23:7). There is a difference between your brain and your mind. Your brain is an organ in your head and your mind is the thought life that feeds the brain. In your brain there are a hundred billion cells; it is an amazing structure. When you get a certain thought pattern from your mind into your brain, there is a path it follows. Then there is a place in between some of these billions of cells, and if you hear that same thought by repetition, it forms a solid bridge in your brain. A mind-set has formed. Everything on that topic that we hear again, our understanding will be influenced by that mind-set. We hear it a certain way because there is a filter, a bridge that influences the way we receive what we hear.
There are different mind-sets for instance: suspicious, poverty, defeatist, confused, fearful, angry, and rebellious mind-sets. These are just a few mind-sets that influence the way we receive information. We must be enlarged (Isa. 54:2). How do we become enlarged? By revelation, present truth, new wine, obedience, and submission to present Truth – the renewing of the mind. We are enlarged by receiving present truth from those who are carrying current apostolic and prophetic grace. When these mind-sets are removed, it feels like a mind-quake. I am sure many of you have already experienced shaking in the way you used to think – your old experience of things.
What are we really looking for? Is it enough to just read the Bible? There are monks who know the Bible cover to cover but have never met God because the letter alone kills, the Spirit gives life (2 Cor. 3:6). Is doctrine enough? Doctrine is important but it is not enough. What are we looking for? You need to meet the God of the Word! The Word is not just a letter on a page. We need a relationship with God! How can you have a relationship with a God that you have never seen? God became visible in the person of His Son Jesus Christ. He made the Father visible. “If you have seen me you have seen the Father” (John 14:9). “A living encounter with the living God beats a theology about Him any day” (Mark Virkler). What is a walk with God? It is, amongst other things, having the mind of Christ. What does it mean to have the mind of Christ? It means living in heaven on earth like Jesus did. Jesus was in heaven on earth (John 3:13), and He is the pattern Son. … the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father (John 14:12). We need an experience, a living encounter which will lead to a relationship with God.
Enoch “walked with God” (Gen 5:24); he must have had an intimate relationship with God. I believe Adam was still alive when Enoch was there after the fall and they may have had some conversations. Adam must have had a very intimate relationship with God before the fall. Because Enoch had a walk with God and an intimate relationship with God, he escaped the effects of the fall; he escaped death.
Walking with God – having a relationship with God – remains the ultimate and the highest quest for man. We were made after the image and the likeness of God. Yes, the fall marred the whole image it but it is still there and through Christ it is re-awakened. In His death and in His resurrection that quest is sharpened again. There is a quest in every man to find God, to have a walk with God. Jesus said “I am the Gateway” through which we go in and out and find pasture (John 10:9). Enoch was the seventh from Adam (Jude 14). Seven means the completion, the place of rest. Enoch is a type of the finishing generation (or the last day Church). This last generation will go from life to life, into the next realm of life. Parsons puts it this way: “Jesus died to give us access to heaven not only when we die; eternal spiritual life begins here and now”. Not death and then life but life now is available in Christ.
Jesus is seated in rest next to the Father! He is waiting for a people that will be like Him in heaven on earth. Do we understand that we are a new creation in Christ? Even that concept has to fight its way through old concepts and pillars and resistance in the mind.
Jesus died to give us access to heaven. Paul said we are seated with Him in heavenly places. (Eph. 2:6). Eternal spiritual life begins here and now. Every man on this planet has eternity in his heart (Eccl. 3:11). God in Christ has reconciled humanity to himself (2 Cor. 5:19). He has done His share; it is our responsibility to say “yes” and to go into a new era. He wants us to be ambassadors to proclaim reconciliation and not condemnation. Parsons reminds us: He died and rose again and is alive today – He is alive in heaven, He is alive in us, He manifests His presence here with us. Because of our relationship with Him we can have an intimate relationship with the Father as adopted sons and with one another as brothers and sisters in God’s family. We are connected to the Source of life and the Source of life is connected to us. Within our spirit there is a door that connects to God and to heaven. It is up to us to open that door. Behold, I’m standing at the door, knocking. If your heart is open to hear my voice and you open the door within, I will come in to you and feast with you, and you will feast with me (Rev. 3:20, TPT). God is challenging every old mind-set that stands in the way. When we choose to open that door on a daily basis, He comes in, He fills us and manifests so that people see and experience Him through us.