March 27, 2025 • 32 mins
What do hot dog eating contests have to do with your spiritual life? More than you might think. When contestants gorge themselves on nutritionally deficient food, they mirror how many of us settle for spiritual fast food when God has prepared a heavenly feast.
Many of us live with "hot dog spirituality" – focusing our attention on immediate concerns, earthly problems, and temporary distractions. We've become so accustomed to this way of thinking that we don't realize there's something infinitely better available. The good news? God is actively working across nations to capture our attention and shift our focus from the temporal to the eternal.
For believers, we aren't just going to be seated with Christ in heavenly places someday – we are currently seated there (Ephesians 2:6). This isn't theological abstraction but an invitation to experiential reality. Our speech reveals where our true focus lies, as what we contemplate most flows from our mouths. Through the Holy Spirit's power, we can change direction, shifting from earthly preoccupations to heavenly perspectives.
Sometimes the most challenging transition isn't from bad to good, but from good to better. We're being invited to function as conduits of God's word, vessels through which heaven touches earth. Jesus didn't establish another religion; He came to transform us into His likeness and incorporate us into His body.
Ready to drop the spiritual hot dog and feast at God's banqueting table? Connect with us at lifearoundthefire@gmail.com and join the journey upward into the fullness God has prepared for those who love Him.
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
One of the things that I really enjoy about
podcasting, and especially thisparticular podcast, is that each
episode doesn't have to beexactly like the previous
episode.
There's not necessarily aformat that we follow for each
(00:24):
episode Nothing wrong with thatbut we've discovered that for us
anyway.
There are times where we liketo mix things up a little bit,
and what I mean by that is we'llperiodically have a guest
(00:44):
speaker come in, or we will havea particular series of topics
and we'll follow those and stickwith a particular format.
Stick with a particular format.
(01:07):
However, there are other timeswhere the information that we
have received and we've studiedmyself and those that are around
me who make up this particularpodcast team, the information
that I receive from them, thatwe share with each other
(01:28):
sometimes we just like to openup and express what has taken
place as a result of thatmaterial actually working its
way into our lives, not justtheoretically and not
(01:52):
necessarily in a polished way,but in that real-life way where
I mean that's where we live.
We live daily, and I don't haveeverything in my day scripted
out.
I have a general idea andsometimes a very specific idea
(02:13):
concerning what I want toaccomplish, but then there is
room.
I leave room within it to beable to be flexible.
Same thing goes with podcasting.
There's some flexibility.
And so I say that because wehave been focusing our attention
in on, specifically on thecross, and we've been using some
(02:42):
scriptures as our baseline andhave been giving you verse,
chapter, and the basicfundamentals of where we're
getting this do in this episodeis we're going to set that aside
(03:05):
and you're going to hear wordsthat will ring true with you
phrases, certain words, and youcan look them up in your
concordance, in your variousstudy tools, and you'll find the
reference points that I'msharing.
(03:28):
I'm just not going to take timeto share the reference points
because this is a little moreconversational and not just
didactic.
And so there's this there's thisevent that takes place in
(03:55):
America, and it might take placein different parts of the world
, but in America there are thesesausages called hot dogs and
there's a company by the name ofNathan's.
In America there are thesesausages called hot dogs and
there's a company by the name ofNathan's that puts together
annually hot dog eating contests, a hot dog eating kind of
(04:22):
championship.
They have different locationsleading up to the championship
in which there are contestantsthat qualify.
But the point of the whole, theadvantage, is how many hot dogs
(04:43):
can a person eat in a shortperiod of time, for example,
three minutes.
How many hot dogs can a personeat with buns in that given
point in time?
That given amount of time?
(05:04):
That given point in time, thatgiven amount of time?
And it's, on one hand, it's areal disgusting contest because
you see people gorging, but onthe other hand, it's hard not to
watch at least once, becauseit's amazing how many hot dogs a
(05:26):
person can put into their body.
A hot dog, which is not reallynecessarily the best staple food
of all times.
A frankfurter, a hot dog.
Frankfurt, a hot dog.
However, when a person'sinvolved in a hot dog eating
(05:53):
contest, man, the only thingthat's on their mind is a hot
dog.
And so how in the world doesthat have anything to do with
the cross or anything to do withspiritual life or anything at
all?
Well, it has this to do with it.
(06:14):
Sometimes in our life, thethings that we settle for are
the equivalent of settling for ahot dog versus having a nice
full meal.
We are involved in a hot dogeating contest type.
(06:40):
Society Eating hot dogs,society eating hot dogs.
Now, if that's all we know,well, that's all we're going to
think about, and I'm here totell you that there's more to
(07:06):
life than just eating hot dogs.
There's more to life than justthinking the old way that you
are accustomed to thinking, thatbeing equivalent to a hot dog,
and a new way of seeing thingsequivalent to a very good meal.
(07:32):
Sometimes we just need to beable to get our eyes off the hot
dog and see that wonderful mealthat's in front of us, so that
we can drop the hot dog and getan appetite for something that's
better for us, so we can thinkon things that are higher than
(07:56):
what we've been accustomed tothinking on or thinking about.
Because many of us are in a rutof thinking, we put our head
down and we just think aboutwhat's been either told to us,
(08:16):
or we think about what is ouroccupation, or we think about a
problem, or we think about aproblem, or we think about
ourselves, whatever it might be.
We are thinking about thingsthat are, in many respects, at
(08:38):
best, secondary, and Jesus saidfor us to seek, literally to put
our attention, to fix ourattention upon, first, the
(08:59):
kingdom of God and how itfunctions, the right way of
living.
It's or his, his, god's,righteousness.
Seek first the kingdom of God,and his righteousness and
everything else will come intoplay.
Now there's an interesting,interesting, interesting thing
that's going on across thenations, and that is this God is
(09:24):
working very hard, or I shouldsay, god is working in a way
that is designed to reallycapture our attention and get
our eyes off of the hot dog wayof life that we've been living
(09:51):
and have our focus shift ontothings that are higher, things
that are above, seated withChrist in heavenly places.
With Christ in heavenly places,those of us who are born again,
those of us who have the Spiritof God dwelling within us,
(10:17):
those of us who place our faithin Jesus, have received his life
, have given him our life andare in covenant relationship
with him.
We are not just going to be,but we are currently seated with
(10:44):
Christ in heavenly places,because that's where he is right
now and he has said to usfollow me.
This is the beautiful, this isthe part right here.
This is the part right herethat I have to tell you that I
have not achieved some high andlofty place as of yet, and when
(11:09):
I mean high and lofty place.
I mean to really be able toclearly see and function within
what's going on around thethrone of God, to participate in
that activity, to be captivatedwith that as my foremost
(11:33):
attention.
I'm getting there, but I'm notthere yet.
But there was a point in my lifewhere I wasn't even as close as
I am right now, because I'mlearning that things happen in
stages.
As close as I am right nowbecause I'm learning that things
happen in stages when we livein this realm of time and space,
each of our stages and each ofour experiences are different,
(11:55):
so we can't necessarily just goby.
The experience that I had isgoing to be the experience that
you have, in exactly the sametime and same way, and so on and
so forth.
But there are similarities,there's some commonality,
there's some koinonia that goeson, some connection, and that we
(12:20):
are being called to not haveour focus on just the things
that we can see with our naturalphysical eyes or to be
concerned with the things thatare in our natural physical
world, where that is thepreoccupation of our thinking.
(12:41):
That would be the equivalent ofeating hot dogs.
Now the analogy breaks downbecause obviously we have to
focus in on certain things thatwe do naturally Because we live
on Earth right.
So we have things that we needto function according to our
(13:06):
physical world.
However, we can do more thanone thing at a time and we can
go about functioning here,taking care of our earthly
responsibilities with having apreoccupation with divine living
(13:27):
where Christ is, and that's theencouragement that we're
expressing right now in thesepodcasts, providing some sense
(13:48):
of direction, using the cross,using the work that Jesus
accomplished in his life, in hiscrucifixion, in his death, in
his resurrection and hisascension and in his soon coming
.
All aspects of Jesus, allthings central to Jesus, it's
(14:11):
our heart and to functiontogether with him and to have us
living in the highest levelpossible, this side of the
resurrection, this side of thenew heavens and the new earth,
(14:33):
to live according to his ways,so much so that that's where we
spend the majority of our time.
And I tell you what I havefought in my life.
More than anything, I havefought distractions, not
(14:58):
necessarily even those nefariousevil things.
Yes, I've fought those.
I've had to wrestle down somereal issues.
There's one point in my lifewhere the only thing that I
could really gain victory overwas I could say, and was saying
out loud I'm no longer addictedto drugs, I'm a free man.
(15:19):
I would make that declaration.
Well, guess what?
I am walking that out right now.
What comes out of our mouth is avery important and powerful
thing.
What comes out of your mouth isa very important and powerful
thing.
What comes out of your mouth isa very important and powerful
thing.
We need to be mindful of thethings that come out of our
mouths, the things that we speak, because they create the world.
(15:41):
They form and shape the worldthat we live in.
Just stop and listen toyourself.
Sometime you'll find that to betrue.
When you stop and listen toyourself, do you find that
you're complaining a lot?
That's where your focus is ordo you find yourself making
(16:06):
declarations about things thatare higher?
Making declarations aboutthings that are higher, making
declarations of shalom in yourcommunity, the very peace of God
being manifest in yourcommunity?
Making declarations over yourcommunity as a result of being
seated with Christ in heavenlyplaces?
The things that come out of ourmouths, where we invest our
(16:35):
focus the most of our focusedtime, will determine what comes
out of our mouth.
It just does what you spend themajority of your time focusing
on or who you spend the majorityof your time focusing on, or
who you spend the majority ofyour time focusing on will be
(16:55):
what comes out of your mouth orwho you sound like.
It's true, it's absolutely true.
Just take a moment, listen toyourself.
Just listen to yourself, and ifyou find yourself really saying
a bunch of negative things,well, now is not the time to
start beating yourself up.
(17:16):
Now is the time to start makinga change, literally repent, to
turn from that.
Turn from that.
You can.
You can actually literally makeup your mind.
With the power of God's Spiritthat lives in you, you have the
ability to change.
You have the ability to changecourse.
You might not have been able tobefore, but with God's power in
(17:37):
you, his life in you, you can.
Now it starts there.
If you don't have that going onin your life, your prayer is
asking the Holy Spirit to makethat real to you and for him to
walk that through with you sothat you can know Jesus and
(18:03):
experience relationship with Godin a very real, powerful,
meaningful way and become acitizen of his kingdom, born
again into it.
But once you are, you have theability to change.
You have the ability to repent.
You have the ability to changeyour mind and change your
direction, and some of us needthat.
(18:24):
In fact, all of us need that Atdifferent points in our life.
We need it, not just a one anddone thing, but we need it
periodically to repent, tochange.
Sometimes we've got to changefrom something that's good to
something that's better.
That can be a real challenge.
Say man, my life is going alongreally good, man, but there's
(18:48):
this undercurrent that's causingyou to lift your attention
upward, because forward isupward.
In the kingdom of God it's notjust linear in front of you.
Forward is upward, higherthings.
That's where the power isreally functioning from it's
(19:19):
from God, through his vessels,it originates from God.
Through his vessels, we becomeconduits of his word.
We become conduits of his word.
We become conduits of hiskingdom.
We become conduits of his lifeIn the earth as it is in heaven.
(19:41):
We become that link.
Our body, our physical bodiesare the legal deed.
Our body, our physical bodiesare the legal deed for us to be
engaged in this type of activityand for us to be a living
(20:02):
spirit inside of a living bodywith a functioning mind, of a
living body with a functioningmind, being literally moved
along by the power of the HolySpirit.
Woo man, getting a group ofpeople together like that,
thinking together, where we makedeclarations together, make
(20:24):
declarations together, the wordof the Lord that comes to a
group of people together, oh man, who love each other, who
literally love each other, whoknow how to tend to the needs of
one another.
Focus Our eyes.
(20:47):
Getting off the hot dog, nolonger having a hot dog way of
life it might have been that wayof life that you can get by.
You can get by, you canactually get entertained by
eating hot dogs.
I mean, you get by, but that'sreally a malnourished existence.
It's not the way to live.
(21:08):
It is by eating hot dogs.
But how do you get someone todrop a hot dog?
Most often you do it by showingthem a steak.
Right, you can't have both.
Well, you drop the hot dog.
(21:33):
For some of us, it's time todrop the hot dog way of thinking
, the way of speaking, thethings that come out of our
mouth, because we're beingcalled into not just perceiving
these heavenly things, but toactually be able to see them
(21:57):
manifest, for us to be able toencounter and experience Not
just a notion of it, but anexperiential reality of dwelling
there.
It's true, talk about droppinga hot dog to get a full meal the
(22:27):
heavenly courts being the fullmeal, but you got to drop the
hot dog to get there.
You have to drop that old wayof thinking, that old way of
doing.
You have to an oldpreoccupation, because you have
to preoccupy yourself with onething, because that's how it
happens, that's how it works byyour faith, your trust, your
(22:55):
preoccupation, your confidence,the confidence that you have.
You're so confident that thereare given to you the abilities
to behold, by your spirit, thethings that are of a divine
(23:24):
nature and to participate inthem.
Yeah, this is the Christianreligion.
Whatever that thing is is dead.
Christian religion,christianity.
(23:46):
Jesus didn't come to establishChristianity.
He came for us to beChrist-like, to be one body, not
to start a new religion,another religion.
We've got plenty of religions.
We've got plenty of ways ofdoing things that claim to be
(24:07):
the way to do things in order tohave a relationship with God.
Well, that's just not how itworks.
It's by being born into arelationship with God that comes
, as a result of Him creatingthat divine exchange.
It's God From the beginning andall the way to now and to the
(24:31):
end.
It's God and his faithfulness,but he's transforming us, he's
transforming you.
That's why there's a hunger,that's why you're even kind of
following this episode right now, because inside you know that
there is some truth to what'sbeing said and that you're being
(24:52):
called into participating in alifestyle like this.
Hallelujah, you and a lot ofother people around the nations
are being called into alifestyle like this.
To come on up, to come on up sothat my glory can come on down,
says the Lord.
Come on up, come on up.
(25:12):
I'm calling you to come on up,then my glory will come on down.
He wants to teach us tofunction with him from above,
before we die, before we die,before the resurrection, before
(25:34):
the new heavens and new earth.
He wants us to function likethat now, in part, again, in
part, in part.
But even the in part has somuch more to it than what has
been experienced by the majorityof us that if we were to just
(25:58):
see the in part, if we were justto see the in part portion
fulfilled, it would go beyondour expectations.
That's how big this thing is.
That's how massive God is.
(26:19):
The notion might seem to be likea mustard seed to begin with,
but God is not limited to thatdefined expression, who he is.
He exceeds that, however,because he wants us to know him.
(26:44):
He has given to us ademonstration of himself in his
son, jesus, to completelyidentify with who we are.
First born from among the dead,many more to follow, not to us,
but in the following he hasalready ascended and he is there
(27:14):
right now interceding andmaking declarations as a result
of what he receives from theheart of the Father, and he
wants us to participate in thatwith him as his betrothed, soon
(27:39):
to be bride, but now.
Soon to be bride but nowbetrothed, beloved.
We're called to a high, high,high and wonderful, powerful,
holy calling.
(28:01):
Eating hot dogs isn't ourdestiny.
Doing the same old thing,different day job grind thing is
not your ultimate call.
It might be a portion of whatyou have to go through in a few
things, but once that'saccomplished, move on, move on.
(28:25):
We are all called, not justsome.
We are all called toparticipate in his divine nature
for as many as believed he gavethem, he gave us the right, the
power to become sons of God whothink like him, who think his
(28:50):
thoughts, who think his thoughtsand speak his words.
Just like he knows our words asthey're being formed, we begin
to know his words as they'recoming out of his mouth, from
his heart.
We know his glance, we know hisways, we know his kingdom's
(29:15):
power, we know his kingdom'sglory, we know how he does
things because we are his, andhe's calling us to come on up
and he's calling us to step awayfrom that particular way of
thinking and way of speaking,way of doing that is inferior,
(29:38):
and learn how to feast with himat his banqueting table.
And learn how to feast with himAt his banqueting table.
And his banner over us is love,hallelujah.
(29:59):
Let's pray.
Hallelujah, really, father.
Hallelujah, hallelujah,hallelujah, hallelujah, really,
father.
Hallelujah.
Glory to God In the highest andpeace To his people on earth.
Heaven and earth are filledWith your glory, lord.
(30:20):
We declare to be so.
We ascribe to you all honor,all praise, all worship.
Holy Spirit, help us tofunction with you like Jesus did
(30:42):
, and reveal him to us andthrough us as we go about our
daily lives, and we pray thesethings in his precious, powerful
name Yeshua HaMashiach, jesusthe Messiah.
(31:07):
Amen, amen, amen, amen.
All right, folks, I love you.
If you have any thoughts,questions concerns.
Please feel free to drop us aline at lifearoundthefire at
gmailcom, or type inlifearoundthefire and look us up
on the web.
We would love to hear from youin the meantime.
(31:29):
God bless you, adios amigos.
One of the things that I really enjoy about
podcasting, and especially thisparticular podcast, is that each
episode doesn't have to beexactly like the previous
episode.
There's not necessarily aformat that we follow for each
(00:24):
episode Nothing wrong with thatbut we've discovered that for us
anyway.
There are times where we liketo mix things up a little bit,
and what I mean by that is we'llperiodically have a guest
(00:44):
speaker come in, or we will havea particular series of topics
and we'll follow those and stickwith a particular format.
Stick with a particular format.
(01:07):
However, there are other timeswhere the information that we
have received and we've studiedmyself and those that are around
me who make up this particularpodcast team, the information
that I receive from them, thatwe share with each other
(01:28):
sometimes we just like to openup and express what has taken
place as a result of thatmaterial actually working its
way into our lives, not justtheoretically and not
(01:52):
necessarily in a polished way,but in that real-life way where
I mean that's where we live.
We live daily, and I don't haveeverything in my day scripted
out.
I have a general idea andsometimes a very specific idea
(02:13):
concerning what I want toaccomplish, but then there is
room.
I leave room within it to beable to be flexible.
Same thing goes with podcasting.
There's some flexibility.
And so I say that because wehave been focusing our attention
in on, specifically on thecross, and we've been using some
(02:42):
scriptures as our baseline andhave been giving you verse,
chapter, and the basicfundamentals of where we're
getting this do in this episodeis we're going to set that aside
(03:05):
and you're going to hear wordsthat will ring true with you
phrases, certain words, and youcan look them up in your
concordance, in your variousstudy tools, and you'll find the
reference points that I'msharing.
(03:28):
I'm just not going to take timeto share the reference points
because this is a little moreconversational and not just
didactic.
And so there's this there's thisevent that takes place in
(03:55):
America, and it might take placein different parts of the world
, but in America there are thesesausages called hot dogs and
there's a company by the name ofNathan's.
In America there are thesesausages called hot dogs and
there's a company by the name ofNathan's that puts together
annually hot dog eating contests, a hot dog eating kind of
(04:22):
championship.
They have different locationsleading up to the championship
in which there are contestantsthat qualify.
But the point of the whole, theadvantage, is how many hot dogs
(04:43):
can a person eat in a shortperiod of time, for example,
three minutes.
How many hot dogs can a personeat with buns in that given
point in time?
That given amount of time?
(05:04):
That given point in time, thatgiven amount of time?
And it's, on one hand, it's areal disgusting contest because
you see people gorging, but onthe other hand, it's hard not to
watch at least once, becauseit's amazing how many hot dogs a
(05:26):
person can put into their body.
A hot dog, which is not reallynecessarily the best staple food
of all times.
A frankfurter, a hot dog.
Frankfurt, a hot dog.
However, when a person'sinvolved in a hot dog eating
(05:53):
contest, man, the only thingthat's on their mind is a hot
dog.
And so how in the world doesthat have anything to do with
the cross or anything to do withspiritual life or anything at
all?
Well, it has this to do with it.
(06:14):
Sometimes in our life, thethings that we settle for are
the equivalent of settling for ahot dog versus having a nice
full meal.
We are involved in a hot dogeating contest type.
(06:40):
Society Eating hot dogs,society eating hot dogs.
Now, if that's all we know,well, that's all we're going to
think about, and I'm here totell you that there's more to
(07:06):
life than just eating hot dogs.
There's more to life than justthinking the old way that you
are accustomed to thinking, thatbeing equivalent to a hot dog,
and a new way of seeing thingsequivalent to a very good meal.
(07:32):
Sometimes we just need to beable to get our eyes off the hot
dog and see that wonderful mealthat's in front of us, so that
we can drop the hot dog and getan appetite for something that's
better for us, so we can thinkon things that are higher than
(07:56):
what we've been accustomed tothinking on or thinking about.
Because many of us are in a rutof thinking, we put our head
down and we just think aboutwhat's been either told to us,
(08:16):
or we think about what is ouroccupation, or we think about a
problem, or we think about aproblem, or we think about
ourselves, whatever it might be.
We are thinking about thingsthat are, in many respects, at
(08:38):
best, secondary, and Jesus saidfor us to seek, literally to put
our attention, to fix ourattention upon, first, the
(08:59):
kingdom of God and how itfunctions, the right way of
living.
It's or his, his, god's,righteousness.
Seek first the kingdom of God,and his righteousness and
everything else will come intoplay.
Now there's an interesting,interesting, interesting thing
that's going on across thenations, and that is this God is
(09:24):
working very hard, or I shouldsay, god is working in a way
that is designed to reallycapture our attention and get
our eyes off of the hot dog wayof life that we've been living
(09:51):
and have our focus shift ontothings that are higher, things
that are above, seated withChrist in heavenly places.
With Christ in heavenly places,those of us who are born again,
those of us who have the Spiritof God dwelling within us,
(10:17):
those of us who place our faithin Jesus, have received his life
, have given him our life andare in covenant relationship
with him.
We are not just going to be,but we are currently seated with
(10:44):
Christ in heavenly places,because that's where he is right
now and he has said to usfollow me.
This is the beautiful, this isthe part right here.
This is the part right herethat I have to tell you that I
have not achieved some high andlofty place as of yet, and when
(11:09):
I mean high and lofty place.
I mean to really be able toclearly see and function within
what's going on around thethrone of God, to participate in
that activity, to be captivatedwith that as my foremost
(11:33):
attention.
I'm getting there, but I'm notthere yet.
But there was a point in my lifewhere I wasn't even as close as
I am right now, because I'mlearning that things happen in
stages.
As close as I am right nowbecause I'm learning that things
happen in stages when we livein this realm of time and space,
each of our stages and each ofour experiences are different,
(11:55):
so we can't necessarily just goby.
The experience that I had isgoing to be the experience that
you have, in exactly the sametime and same way, and so on and
so forth.
But there are similarities,there's some commonality,
there's some koinonia that goeson, some connection, and that we
(12:20):
are being called to not haveour focus on just the things
that we can see with our naturalphysical eyes or to be
concerned with the things thatare in our natural physical
world, where that is thepreoccupation of our thinking.
(12:41):
That would be the equivalent ofeating hot dogs.
Now the analogy breaks downbecause obviously we have to
focus in on certain things thatwe do naturally Because we live
on Earth right.
So we have things that we needto function according to our
(13:06):
physical world.
However, we can do more thanone thing at a time and we can
go about functioning here,taking care of our earthly
responsibilities with having apreoccupation with divine living
(13:27):
where Christ is, and that's theencouragement that we're
expressing right now in thesepodcasts, providing some sense
(13:48):
of direction, using the cross,using the work that Jesus
accomplished in his life, in hiscrucifixion, in his death, in
his resurrection and hisascension and in his soon coming
.
All aspects of Jesus, allthings central to Jesus, it's
(14:11):
our heart and to functiontogether with him and to have us
living in the highest levelpossible, this side of the
resurrection, this side of thenew heavens and the new earth,
(14:33):
to live according to his ways,so much so that that's where we
spend the majority of our time.
And I tell you what I havefought in my life.
More than anything, I havefought distractions, not
(14:58):
necessarily even those nefariousevil things.
Yes, I've fought those.
I've had to wrestle down somereal issues.
There's one point in my lifewhere the only thing that I
could really gain victory overwas I could say, and was saying
out loud I'm no longer addictedto drugs, I'm a free man.
(15:19):
I would make that declaration.
Well, guess what?
I am walking that out right now.
What comes out of our mouth is avery important and powerful
thing.
What comes out of your mouth isa very important and powerful
thing.
What comes out of your mouth isa very important and powerful
thing.
We need to be mindful of thethings that come out of our
mouths, the things that we speak, because they create the world.
(15:41):
They form and shape the worldthat we live in.
Just stop and listen toyourself.
Sometime you'll find that to betrue.
When you stop and listen toyourself, do you find that
you're complaining a lot?
That's where your focus is ordo you find yourself making
(16:06):
declarations about things thatare higher?
Making declarations aboutthings that are higher, making
declarations of shalom in yourcommunity, the very peace of God
being manifest in yourcommunity?
Making declarations over yourcommunity as a result of being
seated with Christ in heavenlyplaces?
The things that come out of ourmouths, where we invest our
(16:35):
focus the most of our focusedtime, will determine what comes
out of our mouth.
It just does what you spend themajority of your time focusing
on or who you spend the majorityof your time focusing on, or
who you spend the majority ofyour time focusing on will be
(16:55):
what comes out of your mouth orwho you sound like.
It's true, it's absolutely true.
Just take a moment, listen toyourself.
Just listen to yourself, and ifyou find yourself really saying
a bunch of negative things,well, now is not the time to
start beating yourself up.
(17:16):
Now is the time to start makinga change, literally repent, to
turn from that.
Turn from that.
You can.
You can actually literally makeup your mind.
With the power of God's Spiritthat lives in you, you have the
ability to change.
You have the ability to changecourse.
You might not have been able tobefore, but with God's power in
(17:37):
you, his life in you, you can.
Now it starts there.
If you don't have that going onin your life, your prayer is
asking the Holy Spirit to makethat real to you and for him to
walk that through with you sothat you can know Jesus and
(18:03):
experience relationship with Godin a very real, powerful,
meaningful way and become acitizen of his kingdom, born
again into it.
But once you are, you have theability to change.
You have the ability to repent.
You have the ability to changeyour mind and change your
direction, and some of us needthat.
(18:24):
In fact, all of us need that Atdifferent points in our life.
We need it, not just a one anddone thing, but we need it
periodically to repent, tochange.
Sometimes we've got to changefrom something that's good to
something that's better.
That can be a real challenge.
Say man, my life is going alongreally good, man, but there's
(18:48):
this undercurrent that's causingyou to lift your attention
upward, because forward isupward.
In the kingdom of God it's notjust linear in front of you.
Forward is upward, higherthings.
That's where the power isreally functioning from it's
(19:19):
from God, through his vessels,it originates from God.
Through his vessels, we becomeconduits of his word.
We become conduits of his word.
We become conduits of hiskingdom.
We become conduits of his lifeIn the earth as it is in heaven.
(19:41):
We become that link.
Our body, our physical bodiesare the legal deed.
Our body, our physical bodiesare the legal deed for us to be
engaged in this type of activityand for us to be a living
(20:02):
spirit inside of a living bodywith a functioning mind, of a
living body with a functioningmind, being literally moved
along by the power of the HolySpirit.
Woo man, getting a group ofpeople together like that,
thinking together, where we makedeclarations together, make
(20:24):
declarations together, the wordof the Lord that comes to a
group of people together, oh man, who love each other, who
literally love each other, whoknow how to tend to the needs of
one another.
Focus Our eyes.
(20:47):
Getting off the hot dog, nolonger having a hot dog way of
life it might have been that wayof life that you can get by.
You can get by, you canactually get entertained by
eating hot dogs.
I mean, you get by, but that'sreally a malnourished existence.
It's not the way to live.
(21:08):
It is by eating hot dogs.
But how do you get someone todrop a hot dog?
Most often you do it by showingthem a steak.
Right, you can't have both.
Well, you drop the hot dog.
(21:33):
For some of us, it's time todrop the hot dog way of thinking
, the way of speaking, thethings that come out of our
mouth, because we're beingcalled into not just perceiving
these heavenly things, but toactually be able to see them
(21:57):
manifest, for us to be able toencounter and experience Not
just a notion of it, but anexperiential reality of dwelling
there.
It's true, talk about droppinga hot dog to get a full meal the
(22:27):
heavenly courts being the fullmeal, but you got to drop the
hot dog to get there.
You have to drop that old wayof thinking, that old way of
doing.
You have to an oldpreoccupation, because you have
to preoccupy yourself with onething, because that's how it
happens, that's how it works byyour faith, your trust, your
(22:55):
preoccupation, your confidence,the confidence that you have.
You're so confident that thereare given to you the abilities
to behold, by your spirit, thethings that are of a divine
(23:24):
nature and to participate inthem.
Yeah, this is the Christianreligion.
Whatever that thing is is dead.
Christian religion,christianity.
(23:46):
Jesus didn't come to establishChristianity.
He came for us to beChrist-like, to be one body, not
to start a new religion,another religion.
We've got plenty of religions.
We've got plenty of ways ofdoing things that claim to be
(24:07):
the way to do things in order tohave a relationship with God.
Well, that's just not how itworks.
It's by being born into arelationship with God that comes
, as a result of Him creatingthat divine exchange.
It's God From the beginning andall the way to now and to the
(24:31):
end.
It's God and his faithfulness,but he's transforming us, he's
transforming you.
That's why there's a hunger,that's why you're even kind of
following this episode right now, because inside you know that
there is some truth to what'sbeing said and that you're being
(24:52):
called into participating in alifestyle like this.
Hallelujah, you and a lot ofother people around the nations
are being called into alifestyle like this.
To come on up, to come on up sothat my glory can come on down,
says the Lord.
Come on up, come on up.
(25:12):
I'm calling you to come on up,then my glory will come on down.
He wants to teach us tofunction with him from above,
before we die, before we die,before the resurrection, before
(25:34):
the new heavens and new earth.
He wants us to function likethat now, in part, again, in
part, in part.
But even the in part has somuch more to it than what has
been experienced by the majorityof us that if we were to just
(25:58):
see the in part, if we were justto see the in part portion
fulfilled, it would go beyondour expectations.
That's how big this thing is.
That's how massive God is.
(26:19):
The notion might seem to be likea mustard seed to begin with,
but God is not limited to thatdefined expression, who he is.
He exceeds that, however,because he wants us to know him.
(26:44):
He has given to us ademonstration of himself in his
son, jesus, to completelyidentify with who we are.
First born from among the dead,many more to follow, not to us,
but in the following he hasalready ascended and he is there
(27:14):
right now interceding andmaking declarations as a result
of what he receives from theheart of the Father, and he
wants us to participate in thatwith him as his betrothed, soon
(27:39):
to be bride, but now.
Soon to be bride but nowbetrothed, beloved.
We're called to a high, high,high and wonderful, powerful,
holy calling.
(28:01):
Eating hot dogs isn't ourdestiny.
Doing the same old thing,different day job grind thing is
not your ultimate call.
It might be a portion of whatyou have to go through in a few
things, but once that'saccomplished, move on, move on.
(28:25):
We are all called, not justsome.
We are all called toparticipate in his divine nature
for as many as believed he gavethem, he gave us the right, the
power to become sons of God whothink like him, who think his
(28:50):
thoughts, who think his thoughtsand speak his words.
Just like he knows our words asthey're being formed, we begin
to know his words as they'recoming out of his mouth, from
his heart.
We know his glance, we know hisways, we know his kingdom's
(29:15):
power, we know his kingdom'sglory, we know how he does
things because we are his, andhe's calling us to come on up
and he's calling us to step awayfrom that particular way of
thinking and way of speaking,way of doing that is inferior,
(29:38):
and learn how to feast with himat his banqueting table.
And learn how to feast with himAt his banqueting table.
And his banner over us is love,hallelujah.
(29:59):
Let's pray.
Hallelujah, really, father.
Hallelujah, hallelujah,hallelujah, hallelujah, really,
father.
Hallelujah.
Glory to God In the highest andpeace To his people on earth.
Heaven and earth are filledWith your glory, lord.
(30:20):
We declare to be so.
We ascribe to you all honor,all praise, all worship.
Holy Spirit, help us tofunction with you like Jesus did
(30:42):
, and reveal him to us andthrough us as we go about our
daily lives, and we pray thesethings in his precious, powerful
name Yeshua HaMashiach, jesusthe Messiah.
(31:07):
Amen, amen, amen, amen.
All right, folks, I love you.
If you have any thoughts,questions concerns.
Please feel free to drop us aline at lifearoundthefire at
gmailcom, or type inlifearoundthefire and look us up
on the web.
We would love to hear from youin the meantime.
(31:29):
God bless you, adios amigos.
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