This biblical teaching is a production of The Walk Ministries with Pastor Jeno Shaw. You can watch the video below, and then read the teaching notes that follow.
The Layaway Plan
I love the layaway plan! I remember when I was growing up that my Mom used to take my brothers and me to Kmart. Do you guys remember Kmart? We would go there in the summertime and get our school clothes. I was always excited to get some new pants, new shirts, new shoes, and other stuff, so we would go to Kmart.
As you know, getting school clothes for your children as a single mom takes a lot of money. My mom used to put the clothes on the layaway plan. The layaway plan is — let’s say the total is $100. You put one-third of it down, and then you put $30 down, and then the next month you would pay another $30, and in the last month, you pay the balance — your $40. So by the time September comes around when school starts, you’ll have some new clothes. That was just always exciting, you know — the layaway plan.
That’s what I was thinking about as I read the Bible. Jesus had promised that after he had died and risen again, Abba Father would send the Holy Spirit to live inside His people — you and me.
John 14:16-17 – “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
Jesus knew that He would be going back to Heaven, that the Holy Spirit would begin to live within His people, and that we would become temples of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 3:16 – “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
The Holy Spirit is our down payment.
2 Corinthians 1:22 (NLT) – “and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.”
2 Corinthians 1:22 (CSB) – “He has also put his seal on us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.”
If the Holy Spirit is a down payment, what do you think is coming next? If the Holy Spirit is one-third, what are the others — two-thirds? Jesus wants us to be one. It’s really on his heart.
John 17:21 (NLT) – “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.”
John 17:21 (NKJ) – “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.”
This is our secret! This is our destiny! To be one with God!
I mean, look at the Jewish star. Look at the flag of Israel. No, it’s not a demonic symbol. Satan likes to copycat because he can’t create. The Jewish star is a map of God’s heart of what he wants to do. The clue is the Holy Spirit. We have Him as a down payment. There’s more to come. You have to anticipate the more. You’ve got to anticipate that there’s more coming, that this is not it. Look at what Jesus did with just the Holy Spirit — all the miracles, signs, and wonders that He did with the Holy Spirit.
We should be doing what Jesus Christ did and even greater! This is just with the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine, right now our cup is full, and that’s only the Holy Spirit. What is God saying here? Yes, your cup is full with just the Holy Spirit, but guess what? God is a God of abundance. This is how He operates. He makes sure your cup runs over. He’s like, “Okay, I’m not a God of lack. I’m a God of abundance, and you are going to have abundance, so just receive it.”
Back to the star. It’s made of two triangles. One triangle represents the Godhead — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — and the second triangle represents man as a three-part being — spirit, soul, and body. God, since the beginning in the garden of Eden, has been hurting because of the separation from Adam.
We will be reunited with God! Hallelujah!!!!
Often, God’s emotions get skipped over. Yes, God has emotions so don’t think that He doesn’t hurt, get jealous, or miss us just as we miss Him. He used to walk with Adam in the cool of the day. Why do you think we are here? God wants a family. Since we’ve been separated, God has been planning to reunite us! Guess what? He’s going to fix it so we will never be separated again! Don’t you see that we are made of the highest order? Look, for instance, an ant can always say, “Wow, If only I could be a cat or a dog.” But not us; we are already at the top. There is no one made in the universe that is greater than us — God’s children! We can’t point to anything higher because we are it. And God, like a hero who lost his bride, is willing to die for us and willing to find us and reconcile us just like in the movies when the hero gets separated from his love. He says, “I’ll come back for you. I will find you!” And that’s exactly what God did! He keeps His promises!
We have so much to look forward to. Let’s not get lost in the day-to-day things. Take a step back and meditate on the goodness of God and how blessed we really are!
Love you all,
Pastor Jeno
