Lecture 6
Grab Your Hat and Your ACTIVATION Keys
For this next part, I will need you to put your imagination caps on for a second, and imagine this:
You have gotten dressed for the day. Your loins are girded and your belt is fastened. Your chest is covered with a solid breastplate, and your feet are shod. You are looking very dapper. Because the weather can be so unpredictable, in case it storms you have also brought your umbrella to shield you. Now that you are ready to leave out you have dusted off your hat and put it on your head. You are now ready to go.
BE CAREFUL, Wait! You do not want to leave out without making sure you have your keys.
- You need your keys so that you can turn on (activate) your car when you get in it.
- You need your keys so that you get back into your house through the door.
If you leave your keys and walk out of the house shutting the door behind you so that you are locked out, you will have to find another way to get back into the house. To someone who doesn’t know you, but sees you trying to get into the house by a way that is not the door, you might look like a thief breaking in.
In John 10:1-2, Jesus said, “anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.” Imagine forgetting your keys and you have to find a way to get in, but a neighbor mistakes you for a robber and call the police on you. How embarrassing would that be? Also, for those who do know you, but are shady, imagine that as they watched how you got into the house without a key, you have just shown them how they can also get into your home without a key. So do not forget your keys.
In John 10:7, Jesus said that He is the door. You don’t want to knock on the door only to experience what the five late virgins did. They were told, “I do not know you”, and they were not allowed inside. (Matthew 25:12) So it is important that you make sure that you have your keys before leaving out.
Time to Get Your Keys
Where do we get our keys from?
There are a lot of keys, which one(s) do you need to get?
There are a lot of keys, but we want a specific type of key. To see what key we want to grab, let’s consider what happened in Matthew 16:13-20. Did you read it?
There Jesus said to His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” (Matthew 16:13) They gave a lot of answers to what men thought about who Jesus was. So, Jesus next asks them, “Who do YOU say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) Out of all 12 of the disciples, I find it curious that only Peter spoke up. Listen to what Peter said “matter-of-factly”.
“You are Christ, the son of the living God.”
We know that Peter was correct because of Jesus’ response in return. Jesus said to him, “Flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17) Then, He tells Peter, “to you I will give the keys of the Kingdom” and He proceeds to tell Peter that with those keys he will be able to lock and unlock on earth and in heaven.
Read Matthew 16:19
What was Peter able to lock and unlock, bind and loose?
Peter received these keys after having given the correct answer to the question that Jesus asked. Peter was able to give the correct answer because of the understanding that he had that Jesus said only came from our Heavenly Father.
Many times people would use verse 19, about locking and unlocking, applying it to the binding of evil spirits and releasing the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
But, and here is where it is important that we use our helmets of salvation and carefully examine this verse like the Bereans would have because if you look at the verses that precede the receipt of the keys, you won’t see any mention of binding up evil spirits.
This was all about understanding.
Peter understood a truth that Jesus said only came from the Father.
This is the key that we want to not leave home without. We want to have the key to understanding.
Read Proverbs 4:7
What is it that we are supposed to get?
Now what I want to show you is the key that can be found in taking a closer look at each piece of the garment and we are getting ready to receive this key in this next video.
But before we look at the video, I have another nugget to share with you…
WHICH DO YOU PREFER, IMITATION OR AUTHENTIC?
Children are so amazing to me. They have their toy cell phones, toy keys, and toy cars. They love to imitate their parents in play. Well, as I found myself considering young children, I was reminded of the story found in Acts 19:11-20.
Is it enough to play dress up in imitation of what we see others doing?
There were a bunch of Jews who had seen some of the unusual miracles that God did through the hands of the Apostle Paul, and they began traveling from place to place exorcising demons out of people “by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.”
Well, during that time, there were about 60 chief priests, and one of those chief priests was named Sceva.
Sceva had seven sons who saw what those itinerant Jewish exorcists were doing and they wanted to do it too. So they went to this guy who had an evil spirit on him and well, let’s just say this…
Toy keys don’t work. Toy money can’t buy anything. You cannot call anyone with a toy cell phone. Now I mention that to say this…
That demon said to those seven sons of the chief priest Sceva, “I know Jesus. I know Paul. But, who are you?”
It is not enough to learn to imitate church lingo. We should not try to imitate others. Those ‘itinerant Jewish exorcists’ (this was their title) exorcised (this was the power demonstrated) “by the Jesus whom Paul preached.” Those seven sons of the Jewish chief priest Sceva saw what looked like power and they imitated an imitation. How about that?
Here is nugget #1: It is important that we have the real deal connection and that we are not imitating an imitation. [That’s the 1st nugget that I’m throwing your way. CATCH.]
Here is nugget #2: Once you get the key, just holding the key won’t take you anywhere. You need to use the key you got. You need to put your key in the lock. You need to turn your key and unlock the lock. You need to use your key to activate/open so that you can move forward, otherwise, you are sitting still with keys and going nowhere. CATCH!
(That is sort of what will happen if you don’t get and use the passwords you are given for each module.)
That’s my extra nugget. Now that I shared this, check out more in the video.
Please Proceed to the Module 6 Video Key 1
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