Sunday Re-cap 18th September 2005

The Rain That Comes From Heaven
by Michael Lee

^10 For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; ^11  but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven, ^12 a land for which the Lord your God cares;  the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year.

These verses speak about 2 worlds i.e. Egypt speaks about the world we were in and "the land which you go to possess" about the new life in Christ.

We were slaves and we used to do things to be blessed ourselves i.e. we used to have a slave mentality and when we enter into the new land, we did not change overnight and still carry some excess baggage. However, we know that Jesus sets us free from this mentality.

The New Land:

1. The main purpose of our lives is to be fruitful and multiply and subdue. Gen 1:28
1. We don't have to depend on our own strength; we depend on the rain the comes from heaven.
2. All through life we are sowing seeds. If we are enslaved, we will sow with a slave mentality but if we are free then we will sow seeds accordingly. What mentality are we sowing from?
2. It is a land of hills and valleys:
1. When we go up the hill, we face exhaustion, hurts, weakness, thirst even sometimes lost.
2. When we go "downhill" into the valleys, we are sometimes discouraged.
3. However, we need not be disheartened as we have our families with us. We are not alone i.e. we go through these experiences together. As sons, we will be sensitive to the needs of other family members but as a slave we will complain about others.
4. We possess this new land together as sons.
3. It drinks from heaven.
1. Rom 12:2. We drink when we are renewed and cleansed by the Word of God.
2. Our mentality will change when we know how to drink of the "rain from heaven".
4. Eze 47:9-12. We are vessels that drink and then pass it on to others. We are blessed to be a blessing in this land.
   
5. Matt 5:3-12. A slave mentality produces slave emtotions ans a son mentality produces son emotions.
6. Is 52:11-12 God will go before us and He will be our rear guard in this new land.