Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:53 — 34.4MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | TuneIn | RSS
Numbers 14:21 – But truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
Habakkuk 2:14 – For all the earth will be filled wit the knowledge of the Lord, as the water covers the sea.
Genesis 6:11 – It didn’t take long for the beautiful earth that God had created to be turned to violence and evil.
Jeremiah 16:18, Romans 1 – Sometimes it looks like the devil is winning, that the fruits of unrighteousness is filling the earth.
How will God, who has plans, turn this about? How will he bring the earth to a place where it is filled with the glory of the Lord?
By Judging Sinful People
When the 12 spies that came back from scouting the land that God had promised His children, they said it was a good land, but that it would be impossible to take it. Well, 10 of the 12 said this.
Joshua and Caleb begged the people not to rebel agains the Lord. Moses prayed and God spared his people Israel. The earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.
By Changing Sinful People
There is a fuller change that God wants to bring about in the lives of His children. Taking the old hard heart and turning it into a soft heart of flesh.
It is only through Christ, cleansing from sin, and being restored to fellowship with God, that there can be a conversion that changes the lives and the hearts of people.
1 Corinthians – You are the temple of God. The Spirit dwells in you.
Ephesians 5:18 – Be filled with the Spirit.
Christians are like a house that is to be filled with the Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit is similar to the way a house that is on fire gets filled with smoke. In such a situation every nook and cranny gets touched and affected by the smoke.
1 Corinthians 3 – In the New Testament there were Christians who had the Spirit of God, but who were not under the complete control of the Spirit. They were fed with milk, not solid food.
We are no more filled with the Spirit than we are empty of self and carnality and pursuits that are more important to us than seeking the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness. The more selfish we are the less of the Spirit we have.
God sees the seeking heart, a dark, empty wasteland, but seeking and longing for something. When the seeking heart is stirred and responds, God says “let there be light.” And in our hearts there can be a light that conquers the darkness.
John 1 – John the Baptist was to testify that Jesus is the light, that all through Him might believe. Jesus is the true light that can give light to every person in the world.
1 John 1:7 – Light is fellowship with Christ and guidance from Christ and His Word.
Romans 13:12 – Light is protection, it is an armor for us.
Walking with Christ is obedience. It is communing with Him through ongoing, deliberate reading of the Word and prayer.