Not Of This World

One of the things we as the children of God, must come into the knowledge of, and that is, when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we must from that point on, accept that we are no longer of this world.  Abraham accepted this, and understood that they were pilgrims in a foreign land.  

Jesus said, they are not of this world, because he is not of this world.  Not of this world means that we are now from another world, a world not made with man's hands.  We must live and exist in this world until our Lord takes us away unto the world of which we are now a part of, through him.

We are risen with Christ and we must now seek those things which are above, where our Lord, Jesus Christ sitteth on the right hand of the Father.

Transcript

Pastor Rickey Dixon 0:04

Praise God. We give honor to God this morning. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. For sparing us one more time. He's so good. So good. He's been so good. We just thank him for all his benefits. Thank you, Lord. I thank God for his mercy and for his grace. This is a new day the Lord has made. I'm glad to be a part of it. And if you're alive this morning, I know you're glad to be a part of it too. We're just thankful for. Excuse me, I apologize. We're thankful for this is the very first Sunday of the new year. The very first Sunday of the new year of 2024. And we just thanking God that He spared us to see. And we know we were going to see this new year. We ain't had no gamma, no tea. But yet it's here we are, alive and blessed by God. I give unto you God's people this morning. On the conference line. We're going to get ready for the word this morning because I don't. I really hate for that to happen while I'm trying to speak, but just pray for me. But I'm ready for the word this morning. Let's get into some words this morning on this special day of life that the Lord has shared with. First of all, let me share with you. Sometimes during the week, there are moments where I hear the Holy Ghost speaking to me. And a couple things I heard in my spirit this week. One of them was the fact that the Spirit was saying you'd be surprised how many people think that they're following Jesus, but they're really not. And I was kind of, you know, humbled by that. And you'd be surprised how many people think they're following Jesus, but they're not. That don't mean you're following Jesus. And just because you're reading your Bible, don't mean you're following Jesus. Just because you hear the word don't mean that you're following Jesus. Now, what it was trying to tell me as it began to explain to him, my spirit, is that if we are not doing it like the word of God says for us to do it, when Jesus preached the message, and that first thing he said, if any man come after me to follow me, he was talking about. Let him deny himself. And that's what the Holy Ghost began to speak to me. So many of us still have not denied ourselves. And what he was, what the Holy Ghost was revealing to me was until we deny ourselves and take up our cross, we cannot legally, spiritually, legally say that we're following Jesus. If we're still doing things our way, you're not following Jesus. If you have not denied yourself them ugly attitudes, you ain't following Jesus. The Holy Ghost is speaking and do my meditating this week. So many people think that they're following Jesus, but they really not. Your mouth, your mouth don't make it so because you said you follow him with your mouth. The way we live speaks the truth of whether we're following him or not. And as the Holy Ghost revealed to me, if we have not denied ourselves, and taken up the burden of the cross, we are not following Jesus. If we just going through the motions and then these everyday rituals that we do, get up, go to work, come back home, cook supper, sit down in front of TV, and go to bed. And ain't none of that contributed to the fact that we following Jesus. But we need to make show and very show that what we doing, how we doing it, is patterned after what Jesus requires of us in following him. And I'm finna tell you right now, none of what Jesus will require of us in following him will ever have to do with us doing what we want to do and how we want to do it. Because it requires us to have an absence of our own selves, which is what he meant by denying ourselves. My message this morning is talking, it's gonna be talking about not of this world. This is another thing that the Holy Ghost got to get through a lot of our thick skulls. Hallelujah. When we have been called and chosen by God through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we are no longer from that point on are supposed to see ourselves as being of this world. This is what the word teaches. But because we have become so attached to this world and the things of it, it is so hard, almost impossible for some to see themselves or to imagine themselves not being a part of this world, let alone to think that they are from somewhere else. But I believe what Jesus said. He's gonna tell us, you are not of this world because I am not of this world. Lord, I hope my voice don't go out. I'm trying to, I tried to save it, but I'm hoping it don't go out before I finish this message. Let me read a little word for you. That will give us a sort of a foundation. What Jesus Himself is praying. Now, this is where he was praying to the Father on behalf of his disciples, but this prayer also applies to those of us who will come along later after the disciples in service to God. And I love this. What Jesus says is the key. This is the key reason why we can no longer see ourselves as part of this world. And here it is. When Jesus says this in the prayer, I have given them the word. Oh, there it is. Didn't come from the world. And when that part of God becomes a part of our lives, we are no longer of this world because what's sustaining us is not coming from the world. Once we have been chosen by Christ, it is the word that now sustains us, which did not come from this world. And Jesus is saying this. I have given them the word. That's why we, no, that's why we can't just do like we want to do no more. That's why we can't act like we used to act no more, the more the word of God gets down in us, it changes us from what we were being born in the world to a new creature, not of this world. I have given them the word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. They hated Jesus because they couldn't figure him out. They couldn't stand Jesus, because his actions and his ways did not mimic other people that was from this world. And you and I will be hated because the more we come become like Christ, and the more we become like the world, the word, our ways and actions will no longer mimic the world. I pray that thou shouldest, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world. No, Lord, I ain't praying that you take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil he talking about that's in the world. You won't know why Jesus didn't pray that God take us out the world. It's because without saints of God in the world, who gon pray? Without thanks of God in the world, who gonna intersect that somebody be saved? Who gon fast and pray? Who gon' ask God to be merciful? We are here as instruments of God through Christ Jesus, so that others, through the light of Jesus Christ in us, may see that light and they be saved. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. You got see, you and I got to see ourselves from a spiritual perspective. We got to see ourselves the way God see us. We might be in this world, but we are not of this world. Jesus is the reason for that. He is the one that changed that. He says, Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is true. He's telling God to sanctify us, which is to separate us and to set us apart from the ways of the other people in the world. Set us apart unto holiness, set us apart unto righteousness for the glory of God. Because he tells God, as thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. God sent Jesus, and Jesus is sending us to continue the ministry, to continue the work of the kingdom, to be the vessels and instruments for his work. Jesus is praying that his disciples, as well as we, who will come along much later, will be a holy separated people detached from the world and the evil of it for the purpose of worshiping and serving God. This type of worship and service is accomplished by sincere devotion to the truth revealed by the Spirit of truth, which is the Holy Ghost. And know that we are not of this world. One thing Jesus tried to get the people understand one day when they was upset about him doing this and doing that. And he told them. See, Jesus, he has always took the suffering first before us, whether it was being hated, whether it was being mistreated, whether it was being talked about, or whatever the case may be, he took it first, even when it came to being hated by the world, so that we would know that if they hated him, they're gonna hate you and also. He said, Now, if you were of the world, the world would love his own. But I, and the reason he said, You see, you know how the world loves his own? Either right or wrong, they're gonna love, they agree with. But listen what Jesus said. He said, I have chosen you out of the world. I done chose you out of all that. And let me tell you, let me have somebody. When Jesus has chosen you out of a thing, you should never have a desire to go back from what he has chosen you out of. I have chosen you out of the world. Therefore, the world hated you. We need to stop worrying about trying to figure out why people hate us. I ain't never done nothing to them. They don't know much about me, but they they act like they hate me. Oh, I wish we would just learn. Everything that's going on in your life ain't going on because of the natural. There's so much going on because of the spiritual side of us. The spirited others are gonna hate the spirit that they. And the spirit of the devil in people hate the spirit of Jesus in you. Hallelujah. I want us to say that this morning. Before my voice went out. I've just been paused for a few past few days to let you know that you and I are not of this world. So we cannot keep acting like we are of this world. We must know that the kingdom of Jesus Christ is the world that we are a part of now. And we should carry ourselves and govern ourselves in a manner liking ourselves to where we are from spiritually and not where we are from naturally. Jesus says we are not of this world because he is not. So we got to stop trying to hold on and be a part of something. Part of a world that we're not even part of. Keep me in your prayers. And I'm going to teach the word. If I can till I can't talk no more. But I will use wisdom before it goes completely out. I better use wisdom. But I pray that what little I said this morning helps somebody to know who you are and who you belong to. And help us to understand why certain things happen to us. Because we're in a world that hate the Jesus that's in you and I.