Going Up In Christ
John 12:27-37
27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
29 The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.
30 Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.
31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.
34 The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?
35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.
37 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:
In verse 22, Jesus prays, “Now my soul is troubled, this is proclaiming Him facing that which would come about in a very short time.
And what shall I say? Father save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour”.
Jesus knew that no matter what came His way He would be able to handle the situation.
Jesus knew who He was and He knew that there was no way He could ever lose any situation that faced Him in this life.
Do we ever face situations that we think we can not win?
Do we ever go through situations we do not think that we can persevere?
As long as Jesus is with us, we will not lose any battles we go through.
Jesus knew how to get the job done when He walked this earth and He has left for us a map to follow.
All we have to do is pick up our map, which is our Bible, and follow what has already been laid out for you and me.
John 12:28-30
28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
29 The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.
30 Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.
The people heard the voice of God, “then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again”.
It was glorified at the raising of Lazarus, and it will be glorified again with the Resurrection of Christ.
The people who stood by and heard it said that it thundered, the voice of God sounded with so much power that it was like thunder.
Other people said that an angel spoke to Him; this proclaims that they did understand the words even though they did not understand the meaning.
This voice they heard came not because of Jesus, but it was for the peoples’ sake.
John 12:32
32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
This morning if we lift up Christ, the Word says that He will draw all men unto Himself.
I have entitled this today:
Going Up In Christ:
When I was about 16 or 17, I had this dream:
I dreamed that I was in a hot air balloon and Jesus was in it with me. While He was in it, I went up and I mean really fast. The next thing I knew, He was like hanging on one side of the balloon and it would go really fast in that direction. Then He would hang on the other side of the balloon and it would go really fast the other way. Jesus was now gone from the hot air balloon and it crashed at Philo High School.
As long as Jesus was with me, I would go up in the things of Him.
When I would not put Him first, I would start to go from side to side, “wishy washy”. Then when I would not want Jesus in control at all, I would crash.
Are we going up in Christ this morning?
Are we letting Him be in control of our whole life?
The reason why I preached this today:
Dream 8-14-08
I dreamed that I was in a hot air balloon with Jesus; I knew that as long as He was with me then I would go up.
Interpretation
Simple: hot air rises, breathe of God.
As long as Jesus is in my balloon, I will go up in the things of Him.
Genesis 41:32
32 And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.
Genesis 43:9-10
9 I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever:
10 For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time.
God gave me this dream twice; God is establishing something in my life.
“For except I had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time.”
I could have been closer to where God was trying to take me if I would not have lingered.
If I would have kept Jesus in my hot air balloon, I would not have taken as long as I have taken to get here.
Are you, this morning, going up in Christ?
Is Jesus in your hot air balloon?
Are you lingering in your walk?
Don’t you think that it is time to quit lingering in the things of God and let Jesus really be in control of your whole life.
Are we lifting Jesus higher? If we are, then He really will draw all men unto Himself.
Job 33:14-18
14 For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;
16 Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction
17 That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.
18 He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.
Is God speaking to you this morning and are you applying what He is saying to your walks.
God will open up the windows of Heaven in your situation if you will only be obedient to what His Word says to do.
God, over and over, will speak to us and He will seal our instructions. Apply what He says and you will be all right.
This morning, if you’re going through a situation and you don’t think you can persevere, you can if you let Jesus be in control of your whole life.
Philippians 4:13
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
You can do all things through Christ which strengthens us.
Closing
Who are you going up with this morning?
Are you going up with Jesus in your balloon?
Are you focusing on Him while you are going through your situations?
Are you following your directions that He has given you?
(Bible)
If you are interested in seeing some God given dreams that God has given people in our church go to:
http://www.ourchurch.com/member/w/windoffaithdrea/
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