19.4 Mind the things that are above (2)

Series 19

Episode 4

Prologue

Message

You’re the firstborn! You’re the most honourable, glorious and blessed person in the whole universe! Abba will bring many sons to glory. This plan has come true for us! Hebrews chapter 12 says the following about the Lord, “…who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame…” (Hebrews 12:2) New Jerusalem is His joy ahead! This city is also called the Bride. He desires for the Bride. He desires for us to love Him with the heart of a darling. Our wholehearted love for Him is His joy ahead.

The Lord infinitely loves the Father. We are the true born sons of Abba, the firstborn. We are simply the most precious people in the whole universe, more precious than any other group, including the saints in the Old Testament.

You ought to mind the things that are above. Let your heart be influenced by the truth, and listen for God’s love towards you. Not only should we see the truth, but we also need to know that He has already given you His love. You have the highest position in God’s heart. You are the firstborn, fellow heirs with Christ.

I’d like to call out some key points to help with your meditation. The Lord told the woman of Samaria to worship God in spirit and truth. Truth is the true reality and facts. This includes the things above. How could you sin if your mind was occupied by truth? Thoughts of sin will no longer be in your mind. To prevent bad thoughts from entering your mind, we need to do more than simply say NO to them. When our heart is not satisfied, we are more susceptible to temptations and sins. But, when your heart is filled by the truth, you will know how much the Lord loves you, and you will be drawn by Him!

Worship shows how you treasure God, embrace Him, and have love fellowship with Him. The truth and knowledge of God’s heart towards you will impact you. It will lead you into real worship, and you will be drawn to worship. You will feel His preciousness and be attracted to Him. How can you sin when you are in such a condition? Furthermore, you will be able to overcome the flesh. You will know that the lusts of the flesh waste your time, and bring you pain. If you were far from God, you would have no strength to do what pleases Him. Apart from Him, you cannot do anything. Your spirit would have no enjoyment. Wouldn’t that be a big loss?

In order to gain Christ and enjoy the Lord, Paul counted everything as loss. Even though the Lord belongs to you, you gain nothing if you don’t enjoy Him. For example, imagine that I gave you a very delicious and nutritious meal. It wouldn’t do you any good if you just kept it in the refrigerator. It would mean nothing to you because you hadn’t tasted it or enjoyed it. The Book of Hebrews tells us that the Lord is the enjoyment of our spirit. He doesn’t just exist in our minds; He is a living person. He does not simply stay in our mind. Colossians chapter 3 verse 4 begins with the words, “When Christ who is your life…” (Colossians 3:4) We need both our mind and spirit to enjoy the Lord. When your mind and heart are set on Him, you cannot sin. You enjoy His provision in your heart and think of Him.

Every time we think about the Lord, our thoughts are not trivial thoughts. Psalm chapter 1 begins with, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord…” The law of the Lord is truth. The verse finishes by saying that the author “… meditates day and night” on the law of the Lord. Those are not empty thoughts. When you meditate, you are in a state of praying, because you are thinking of Him. It will also be hard not to respond to Him. These two cannot be easily separated. This is why the poet says that the person who “meditates day and night…is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.” (Psalm 1:2-3) It means you will enjoy His provision.

Truth is very important. Satan attacks you through your mind. He affects your mind and tempts you through your thoughts. By doing so he draws your heart away from the Lord. He tempts you not to believe in the Lord, to think that temptations can satisfy you, and that it’s better to follow the temptations than to obey the Lord. However, even if we can discern right from wrong, we still cannot rely on ourselves. It’s more important to rely on the Lord. The Bible says, “…in him my heart trusts, and I am helped…” (Psalm 28:7) It means your heart is connected to His. You need truth to help you stay close to Him, and to strengthen the connection with Him. You need truth to strengthen your heart, so that you will be attracted to enter a deeper love interflow with Him. When you give Him the opportunity, He will act. When you turn your heart to Him and meditate on Him, He will continue to open your spiritual eyes. In fact, when you do this, you are practicing praying unceasingly. Your attention and mind are on Him.

Actually, you don’t just use your mind, because your mind is part of your spirit. They are not separate things. I’m just trying to spotlight how your mind works to show you how your spirit works. If you know how to use your mind properly, your whole life will change. The Book of Romans says it clearly: “…be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” (Romans 12:2) This is very true!

Your mind does not work independently. It’s a part of your spirit. Everything works together as a whole. Sometimes, even without talking, you and the Lord can enjoy each other. For example, when you receive a letter, you feel happy because you know the sender is thinking about you. Similarly, the Lord’s love for us is behind every truth. He enjoys our thoughts. Our meditations are pleasing to Him. We should rejoice in God. When you think of Him, your heart will be attracted. Verbal expressions are not necessary for love interflow. But of course, you should feel very free to talk to Him anytime. 

Series 19

Coming to Mount Zion to Appear Before God

Message Date: 2020-03-22

The Lord is the way, the truth and the life. It’s so precious that we can go to the Father through Him. Hebrews 12 mentions that today we have not come to Mount Sinai (symbolizing law), but to Mount Zion (symbolizing grace). We live in grace, and enjoy deeply drawing near to the Father and the Lord. In the book of Colossians, some brothers and sisters turned back to the law, so Paul reminded them to mind the things above. Hebrews 12 tells us what are above: the heavenly Jerusalem, the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, innumerable angels, Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, the sprinkled blood, the spirits of the righteous made perfect, etc. Each of these is very abundant, essential and immeasurable. They also express God’s love, welcome and acceptance to us, and they help us to draw near to God. Psalm 84 tells us that in those times, Israel appeared before God in Zion; they longed to draw near to God. As for us, we have received grace even more tremendously and wonderfully. So, we should come before God and draw close to Him all the more.
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19.1 The Lord is the way, and the truth, and the life

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19.2 Live in Grace. Enjoy the Father and the Lord

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19.3 Mind the things that are above (1)

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19.4 Mind the things that are above (2)

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19.5 Appear before God in Mount Zion

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Introduction

01 Introduction of Treasures for the Soul

Series 1: Being Heart to Heart with the Lord

1.1 The Most Blessed Generation
1.2 Message from John the Baptist
1.3 Abide in the Lord Always
1.4 Abide in the Lord’s Love at All Times
1.5 The Lord Speaks to Us and Helps Us in Our Hearts

Series 2: Being Heart to Heart with the Lord Throughout this Year

2.1 God’s Greatest Work Starts in Our Hearts
2.2 To Be Heart to Heart with the Lord Throughout the Year
2.3 Our Spirits can Feel God and Have Fellowship with Him
2.4 The Importance of Peace
2.5 Our Spirits Need the Words of God
2.6 Give the Lord Time and Space to Speak in Our Hearts

Series 3: Let Our Hearts be Influenced

3.1 The World Needs People Who Deeply Experience God
3.2 Just as His Anointing 
Has Taught You, 
Abide in the Lord
3.3 Be Influenced 
by the Lord Throughout 
this Year

Series 4: The Importance of Peace

4.1 Enjoying God’s Peace in Your heart
4.2 Let Not Your Hearts be Troubled, Neither Let Them be Afraid.
4.3 How Should Our Spirit Respond to the Lord?

Series 5: Our Spirit Being Able to Enjoy the Lord

5.1 Our Spirit is Satisfied Only When We Worship God and Deeply Experience Him
5.2 How to Worship God with Our Spirit
5.3 Looking at the Lord with our Inner Eyes
5.4 Our Spirit Needs to Enjoy the Lord Himself
5.5 The Song of Solomon Often Mentions About “Eyes”
5.6 Realize Being Heart to Heart with the Lord in Singing and Worship

Series 6: Live out the Life of being Heart to Heart with the Lord

6.1 Living a life of union with the Lord in a stable pattern every day
6.2 Enjoying the Lord and not being disturbed
6.3 The Importance of Seeing Him with Our Spiritual Eyes

Series 7

7.1 Learn to Protect Our Spirits From Virus Prevention
7.2 Our Spirit Can Hear, Think, and See
7.3 How to Live a Life of Faith
7.4 The Importance of the Mind
7.5 David’s Eyes Beheld the Lord Always

Series 8: During the last supper, the Lord spoke about the essence of the blessings of the new covenant.

8.1 The Lord established with us the eternal love covenant by His blood
8.2 The Lord Treasures the New Covenant and Break-Bread Meeting the Most
8.3 Love Encounters
8.4 Before His Crucifixion, the Lord clearly explained the essence of the blessings of the new covenant: the fourth blessing
8.5 Before His Crucifixion, the Lord clearly explained the essence of the blessings of the new covenant: the first blessing (1)
8.6 Before His Crucifixion, the Lord clearly explained the essence of the blessings of the new covenant: the first blessing (2)

Series 16: We Have Come to Mount Zion and the Heavenly Jerusalem

16.1 See that the Lord is at the right hand of the Father
16.2 Coming to Mount Zion (1): the meaning of Mount Sinai
16.3 Coming to Mount Zion (2): the difficulty in forgiveness of sins
16.4 Coming to Mount Zion (3): to Live in Grace
16.5 Having Come to the Heavenly Jerusalem
16.6 What is in the heavenly Jerusalem (1)?

Series 9: Being Heart to Heart with the Father

9.1 Being Heart to Heart with Abba (Part 1)
9.2 Being Heart to Heart with Abba (Part 2)

Series 10

10.1 The Love Desire in the Depths of Abba and the Lord’s hearts
10.2 Fruit of the Lord’s Crucifixion: Eternal Life
10.3 The Lord Came to Manifest the Father’s Name
10.4 The Father Sent His Only Begotten Son
10.5 Reminders on enjoying heart to heart with the Father
10.6 The Father’s Desire for Me is Forever Steadfast

Series 11

11.1 The preciousness of the Letter to Philemon
11.2 The most profitable; the most accepted.
11.3 Charge That to My Account
11.4 The Father made the Lord our eternal High Priest by an oath (1)
11.5 The Father made the Lord our eternal High Priest by an oath (2)
11.6 We are the Lord’s darling love

Series 12

12.1 The Lord’s Words at the Last Supper
12.2 Apart from the Lord, we can do nothing.
12.3 What is true faith?
12.4 Look upon the Lord in glory
11.5 Trust and Peace (1)
12.6 Trust and Peace (2)

Series 13: The Lord’s Gentleness and Humility

13.3 The Lord’s Gentleness and Humility (Part 2)

Series 14: Manifold evidence

14.1 How does the infinite Lord see us?
14.2 We are the ultimate and final love of the Lord
14.3 The Lord is forever a Man; He once died for us
14.4 The Lord’s manifold love evidence (Part 1)
14.5 The Lord’s manifold love evidence Part 2

Series 15: Understand How Our Spirit Works And Be Heart To Heart With The Lord Continuously

15.1 We Can Only Enjoy God By Faith
15.2 His Words Abide In Us
15.3 Live With The Lord
15.4 Seek The Things That Are Above
15.5 Understand How Our Spirit Works: Will, Mind And Feelings
15.6 Guard And Uplift Our Mind

Series 17: Know that the Church is the Firstborn

17.1 Know that the church is the firstborn
17.2 The Blessing of the Firstborn (Part 1)
17.3 The Blessing of the Firstborn (Part 2)
17.4 The Lord redeemed us to be the firstborn (Part 1)
17.5 The Lord redeemed us to be the firstborn (Part 2)

Series 18: The Blessings to be the First Born

18.1 Israel is God’s Firstborn Son (Part 1)
18.2 Israel is God’s Firstborn Son (Part 2)
18.3 To be united with the Lord and become the Firstborn
18.4 The Lord is the Firstborn
18.5 The Blessing of the Firstborn: Kingship
18.6 The Blessing of the Firstborn: a Double Portion of the Blessings

Series 19: Coming to Mount Zion to Appear Before God

19.1 The Lord is the way, and the truth, and the life
19.2 Live in Grace. Enjoy the Father and the Lord
19.3 Mind the things that are above (1)
19.4 Mind the things that are above (2)
19.5 Appear before God in Mount Zion

Series 20: The final destination of our spirit and eternity is the heavenly Jerusalem

20.1 The Lord Desires Most for Us to Draw Near to Him (1)
20.2 The Lord Desires Most for Us to Draw Near to Him (2)
20.3 The Lord Becomes the Way so that We can Come Before God with Confidence
20.4 The Heavenly Jerusalem, Destination of Our Spirits and Eternity (1)
20.5 The Heavenly Jerusalem, Destination of Our Spirits and Eternity (2)

Series 21: Live Out the Life of the Firstborn: Be A Priest

21.1 The Father made the Lord the High Priest
21.2 Priesthood: One of the Blessings of the Firstborn
21.4 The Precedents of Priests in the Bible (2)

Series 22: When Believers Die, They Will Go to the Heavenly Jerusalem

22.1 The Heavenly Jerusalem is paradise (1)
The Heavenly Jerusalem is paradise (2)
The Spirits of the Righteous Made Perfect

Series 23: New Jerusalem is a real city

God has prepared a heavenly home for us
Is the heavenly new Jerusalem a real city?
Satan causes man not to be clear and assured about the things in heaven
Are physical substances not spiritual?
New Jerusalem is a real city (1)
New Jerusalem is a real city (2)

Series 24: God prepares for us

Genesis 22: Father and Son went together
Genesis 22: For us, the Father gave His only Son
Genesis 22: The Lord will provide
24.4 God’s preparation for us

Series 25: The Father and Son Affection

25.1 The Lord Came to Make Known the Father
25.2 The Father and Son Affection (Part 1)
25.3 The Father and Son Affection (Part 2)

Series 26: We are a royal priesthood

26.1 God who alone does wondrous things
26.2 The Lord is the High Priest
26.3 We are a royal priesthood (1)
26.4 We are a royal priesthood (2)
26.5 The life of a priest

Series 27: Who are you in the infinite one’s loving heart?

27.1 Meditate on who you are in the infinite Lord’s loving heart
27.2 Meditate on who you are in the infinite Lord’s loving heart (2)
27.3 Meditate on the infinite Lord’s words at the last supper

Series 28: The conclusion and climax of the book of Hebrews

28.1 Sing praises at Easter (1): The defeat of death
28.2 Sing praises at Easter (2): The risen Lord has swallowed up death
28.3 The important purpose of Hebrews and the help we get from it
28.4 Confirming the importance of drawing near to God

Series 29: How to behold

29.1 Behold the Father
29.2 See that God meets me in His steadfast love 
and exults over me with loud singing (1)
29.3 See that God meets me in His steadfast love and exults over me with loud singing (2)
29.4 See how the Lord loves us (1)
29.5 See how the Lord loves us (2)