5/06/13 - "CONSIDER HIM"

Heb. 12:3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

I have recently finished a series on “What Is Faith”. I simply went through Hebrews 11, the hall of faith, and we examined what God calls faith. Then in Hebrews 12:1-3 we come across three powerful truths that are necessary for us to walk in faith. Those three things are:

1. Lay aside every weight that would hinder your walk of faith.

2. Lay aside every sin that would ensnare you and hinder your walk of faith.

3. Consider Jesus, never forgetting what He did for you.

On this final point as I was studying for this message the Holy Spirit gave me a powerful truth that is difference between victory or defeat in the life of the believer. It all had to do with what we are considering in our lives. The phrase that I got from the Holy Spirit went like this.

“What you say you hear. What you hear you begin to think about. What you think about you begin to believe. What you believe determines your outcome in life.”

This is a powerful truth that really will determine what happens in our lives as we face the battles of the day. It will be the difference between just surviving or overcoming. Many believers today are living with a “survival mentality”. This is what our culture even depicts to us continually. I know currently there is even a popular show among many called, “Survivor”. But Jesus did not die on a cross for us to just survive, but to thrive. Everyone who is born again is not recognized in scripture as a conqueror, but more than a conqueror. That doesn’t sound like just a survivor to me.

When you go into survival mode you just do what you can to hang on in life and try to make it through. As a survivor you are not thinking about going on the offensive and “taking your mountain”, but instead you are just hunkering down in a hole hoping to get through life. There are no verses in the entire Bible that say we are to dig a hole and wait for the rapture. We are the light of the world. We are the ones called by the name of the Lord to push back darkness and go on the offensive, living like Jesus lived. Don’t live in survival mode, shake that off and become the David God called you to be taking on any Goliath that may come knowing you have the authority to take that giants head off.

What is it that causes us to get into a survival mode? Many think it is because of the circumstances they are facing. But scripture reveals that there is nothing new under the sun, and that others face the same sufferings we face in this world. Yet many in the Bible who faced challenging odds overcame, they did not just survive. The key for us as New Testament Christians is to consider Him, Jesus our ultimate champion, above everything you see in the natural. Let’s take a closer look at what it means to consider Him.

Heb. 3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,

Here in Hebrew chapter 3 we get some insight as to what it means to consider Jesus. Here we are told to consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. Remember what we say we are going to hear. What we hear we are going to think about (consider). What we think about we are going to begin to believe, and what we believe will impact our lives.

First and foremost consider the Apostle Jesus. The word apostle here means one sent with orders. Jesus came with orders from the Father to carry out His ministry here on earth. What was Jesus’ ministry? He came as a High Priest. This term High Priest means our Mediator who redeemed us. This actually means He made an exchange with us. When you ask Jesus to become the Lord of your life you make an exchange, your life for His. He took our sin, punishment, death, sickness, pains, etc., and in exchange He gave us His Spirit so that we could receive victory in every area of our life.

When you consider His Apostleship, did He fulfill all of His High Priestly ministry? Yes He did! There is nothing else that Jesus needs to do to redeem us for He has already provided what is needed for us to make this exchange with Him. Since He fulfilled His ministry as the High Priest of our confession what do we now need to do so that we can walk by faith in what Christ has done for us? We need to consider our High Priest. To consider our High Priest means we need to think about what He did, not what we are facing in the natural.

Stop and think about what happens whenever we are faced with a battle of some kind, what is the first thing we tend to do? We begin to speak about how difficult this situation is, or what we think about it in the natural. When you do so guess what you are thinking about (considering)? We are not considering the High Priest of our confession; instead we are considering our circumstances. Doing so will lead to survival mode where we just try to get by. What do we need to do in our daily walk to change this?

Heb. 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Heb. 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Here in verse 14 we find a key statement that will make the difference between us considering Him, or considering our battles. It will be the difference between living in a survival mentality, or taking the head off your giant. Notice we are told here that since we have this great High Priest who has passed through the heavens (fulfilled all that is needed for us), we are to HOLD FAST OUR CONFESSION. You see it is not enough to just start saying what Jesus did for you when you face a battle. You need to start confessing what your High Priest did every day.

Our military would not be very effect in winning battles if they did no training, but simply waited until we are attacked and then try to fight back. No, they are effective because of the continual training they go through. They never stop training, even though much of what they do the have done before. If you want to stop living as just a “survivor” and become more than a conqueror you need to start confessing over you life every day three very important truths.

You need to look to the scriptures and find verses that reveal these three things about your life and confess them every day. They are:

1. Who you are in Christ.

2. What you have in Christ.

3. What you can do in Christ.

The more you do this the more roar you will get back in your spirit. Instead of digging a hole and hoping to just survive you will not only be prepared and trained for any attack, you will go on the offensive. This is the difference between victory or defeat just as for our military. If they stop training and doing the same things they have always done over and over again, they will be far less prepared to overcome our enemies. It is this continual training that makes them such an elite fighting force. So it is for us as believers. As Hebrews 4:15 tells us, Jesus understands our weaknesses as He Himself dealt with similar challenges in life, but He was victorious over them and so can we be victorious as well. But to do so we must consider our High Priest every day.

King David in walking with God and watching over his father’s sheep had written many songs about Him. These songs as he sang them were what he was considering. As he was constantly singing of the greatness of his God he was hearing about Him. This led to David thinking about how great and powerful God is. This thinking led to what He believed about Him. That belief was the difference between a defeated Goliath or a defeated David.

He had experienced previous victories in protecting his father’s sheep. He recalled his victory over the bear and the lion when they had come and tried to kill those sheep. David knew it was not his strength that had won those battles, but the hand of God had delivered him. That deliverance came because David believed in His God. That belief came because David considered His God by continually singing about Him and how mighty His God was.

1 Sam. 17:46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

Don’t live the life of a survivor, become who Christ made you to be. Take the time to dig in the New Testament epistles and learn who you are in Christ, what you have in Christ, and what you can do in Christ. Hold fast to your confession of these things daily. As you do you will consider Him, and you too will rise up to be more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus!

See You Again Next Week For More “Weekly Wisdom”

May God’s Best Be Yours!

Pastor Darryl Baker