"Dispensationalism and Cessationism - We Win!" -Pastor Kevin Baird

"Ideas have consequences" What you think (believe) will ultimately be revealed in how you live.

PROVERBS 23:7a, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he" (NKJV)

QUESTION: Do you really believe as a Christian man...that you are destined to WIN? Do you really believe that the commission we have been given as the Church will be victorious?

NUMBERS 13

KEY POINT: Deliverance from Egypt was not the ultimate goal...it was possession of a promise.

PROMISED LAND = (Not heaven) Corporate and Personal destiny. Practically, it meant good jobs, adequate housing, prosperous economy, and a peaceful environment.

CAVEAT: They either ALL went into the Land...or NONE of them went into the Land.

NUMBERS 13:27-33

27 Then they told him, and said: "We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan."

30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it." 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we."

32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

HOW DID THEY LOSE THEIR VICTORY MENTALITY?

(Especially after seeing such victory)1. Bombarded with the

Philosophy of Egypt for years. (Centuries actually)

HOW DID THEY LOSE THEIR VICTORY MENTALITY?

(Especially after seeing such victory)

2. Loss of a clear Prophetic Voice declaring Victory.

We have similar dynamics in America today

1. Bombarded with Humanism and Secularism

We have similar dynamics in America today

2. Loss of the Theology of Optimism - Dispensational Cessationism

John Nelson Darby taught a "way" of understanding the Bible called…

Dispensationalism

DispensationalismDefinition: (Various forms) God moves or acts certain ways during certain time periods of history. Thereare anywhere from 2 to 9 dispensations.

C.I. Scofieldwas even more influential than his teacher. He added what we know as…

CESSATIONISM

CESSATIONISMDefinition:(Various forms)

God moves or acts in certain ways ONLY during certain time periods of history.

Why is this Important? ANSWER: Ideas have

consequences1. It has caused a sense of

Fatalism.2. No sense of Longevity

for the Battles.

Why is this Important? ANSWER: Ideas have

consequences3. The use of Carnal

Weapons to the neglect of the Power of God.

Why is this Important? ANSWER: Ideas have

consequences4. It has limited the scope

of Christ's rule in the earth. COLOSSIANS 1:16-18

16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

WHAT MUST WE DO TO TURN THIS TREND

AROUND?Romans 8:31-37

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

WHAT MUST WE DO TO TURN THIS TREND

AROUND?Romans 8:31-37I Corinthians 15:57

57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

WHAT MUST WE DO TO TURN THIS TREND

AROUND?Romans 8:31-37I Corinthians 15:572 Corinthians 2:14

14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

WHAT MUST WE DO TO TURN THIS TREND

AROUND?Romans 8:31-37I Corinthians 15:572 Corinthians 2:14I John 5:4-5

4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Practical Ways to transform your Mentality

1. Begin to see the opportunity to conquer.

2. Cultivate a sense of expectation for victory.

3. Monitor the environment of the troops.

4. Make room for the place of paradox.

5. Remember the BIG PICTURE.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. -ROMANS 8:28

20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. 21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

-2 CORINTHIANS 1:20-22

WE WIN!