Heaven-Colored Sunglasses: Stop Looking for Your Breakthrough and Live It!

By Rudy Topete

For many believers, life on Earth is nothing more than "a vapor" that is here today and gone tomorrow. Our time is spent passively enduring all that life throws at us instead of living the victorious and abundant life Christ provided. Heaven-Colored Sunglasses brings a refreshing perspective to the truth that you really are "more than a conqueror in Him" (2 Corinthians 8:9).

You will be encouraged, renewed, and equipped to fully embrace your identity in Christ and take hold of all the gifts God is awaiting you. Begin the journey of seeing God for who He really is, and find how you can joyfully live life bringing heaven to Earth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449753528

Rudy Topete

Rudy Topete has worked in full-time ministry for over ten years. He serves as teaching pastor and director of 4:23 School of Transformation for Vista Assembly in Vista, California. Rudy, his wife Nikki, and their son Gabriel, reside in Vista, California.

Book preview

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

I would like to dedicate this book to my son, Gabriel. I pray that this would encourage you to listen to the voice of God and let Him guide you in making your dreams a reality.

I would like to also dedicate this book to my wife Nikki for her love, support and willingness to go anywhere the Lord leads me…no matter how crazy it seems.

Acknowledgments

To God be all the glory and praise!

I would like to thank my parents for being a demonstration of endurance, love and hard work.

To my first mentor Pastor Andre Brackens. You taught me how to have a love for prayer, the Word and coached me as I learned to communicate at the pulpit. I am forever grateful for your love and encouragement.

To Pastor Steve Myatt, for shaping my adult spiritual life and fortifying my character as a man of integrity, honor and dedication. Life is different because of you, period.

To my mentor, friend and coach Robert Guerrero, Just do it! you showed me how and continue to do so. Thank you for your friendship and encouragement.

To my family, you have all blessed my family and me with more than we deserve.

To the staff and friends of Vista Assembly for your ongoing prayer, support, love and laughter. You have showed me how to be a better pastor, father, husband and friend.

To Michael (Mikey) Gonzales, thanks for all your hard work, laughs and amazing creativity.

To Holly my very first customer…you are reading this book from heaven, can’t wait to get your feedback when I get there.

Introduction

A few years ago, while serving as a youth pastor, I opened our midweek youth service the way thousands of youth groups begin—with an icebreaker. In this game I had several pictures on a PowerPoint presentation that would be revealed piece by piece until the entire image was uncovered. The object of the game was to guess what the picture was before the entire image was revealed. If a student could successfully identify the pictures before the image was revealed, they would win a free youth ministry T-shirt.

I asked for a volunteer, and a little fifth-grade girl raised her hand with an excitement like she was playing for a thousand dollars. I called her up, and she quickly made her way to the stage. She had no problem identifying the pictures and made it all the way to the very last round. In the final stage, I had a picture of Mickey Mouse with only a small portion of his ears showing. It took everything in me to keep the audience silent as to not give away the answer. She took some guesses but could not figure out what the image was. Because she was simply adorable, I gave her a hint. I said, It’s the happiest place on earth. Without hesitation and with brightness in her eyes, she yelled out, Heaven?! She won the T-shirt.

All our lives we have been taught that heaven is the place where we rest eternally in the very presence of God. It is a peaceful and joyous place as there is no sickness, sorrow, sin, or separation in heaven. Every tear will be wiped away, and we will no longer suffer from the constant wiles of the devil. When family members or friends pass away, we often comment on how they are no longer suffering and are dancing with the angels. This is all real and comforting truth; however, it is my firm conviction that we don’t have to wait until we get to heaven to experience the realities of heaven. In the model of prayer that Jesus gave to us in Matthew 6:10, He says, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

When Christians refer to what Jesus has done for them, it is always spoken in past tense. We say things like Jesus died for all my sins or "I was a sinner but now I’m saved." Yet our daily lives do not seem that much different from those who do not know Jesus. We accept sickness, depression, anger, sin, and many other things of the devil with no consideration as to what God has freely given to us and enabled us to do. The powerful truth is that we do not have to live a miserable, defeated, and hopeless life.

My soul comes alive when I am reminded in scripture of all that I have in Christ, who He is to me, and of my identity in Jesus. It’s as if my spirit screams in agreement when I read passages like the following:

• I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13).

• I am more than a conqueror in Christ (Romans 8:37).

• The devil has been completely defeated (1 John 3:8).

• Nothing is too hard for God (Genesis 18:14).

• I have every Spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

• The Same power that raised Jesus from the grave lives is in me (Romans 8:11).

I am encouraged and challenged by verses like these. They speak volumes to me and convince me that I am to live a continually victorious life that demonstrates God’s love and power. I simply and confidently refuse to live in apathy, defeat, misery, or bondage. The death, burial, and resurrection of my Lord conquered everything that you and I will ever face in life, including the ultimate—death. For this reason, I can walk in joy that my God is bigger than anything I will ever encounter.

In this book, Heaven-Colored Sunglasses, I want to walk you through a very 101 style teaching of how to walk with the perspective of heaven in all that you say and do—while on earth. I want to address some of the most critical misconceptions we believers have in the Christian faith. I want to dismantle the lies that the enemy has been feeding Christianity and reveal the clear and powerful Word of God. In this book you will

• see that God’s plan for believers has not changed since the Garden of Eden,

• understand that God loves you and is not out to get you,

• uncover all that Jesus purchased for you,

• learn how to operate in your God-given authority,

• discover how pathetic and harmless the devil really is,

• learn how to walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh.

I could write an entirely separate book on all that I have seen God do in my life and in the lives of my family in this past year. When I began this project, I had walked away from ten years of full-time youth ministry. I was unemployed, living in a guest bedroom with family, and unsure of my identity in Christ. With a wife who was confident in her husband and together depending on God, we trusted for a miracle and moved forward in faith.

In one year’s time we saw God bless us with a dream job in the ministry, financial blessing, family that came to the Lord, reconciliation between my wife and father, and received the keys to our very first home. The world will tell you it is impossible to get a job in this economy, yet a perfect position was handed to us. The enemy will try to lie in your ear that your relationships will never succeed, yet I have seen healing and salvation in my own family. The devil will try to hold you down with sickness, depression, and lack—but I have been convinced that nothing is impossible for my god.

I want to encourage you to take an open-minded and openhearted journey with me as we discover how to stop looking for our breakthrough and start living it! With Heaven-Colored Sunglasses, let us see and walk in the life we’ve always wanted.

Chapter 1

No Plan B

There are not too many places in the world where you can go surfing at the beach, enjoy a picnic at the park, go off-road driving in the desert, and ski down a mountain, all in the same day. There are many benefits to living in sunny San Diego, California, arguably the greatest year-round weather in the world. When you live in a place that is seventy-five degrees year round, it is nice to head up to the mountains once in a while and experience what another season is like.

I am blessed to have a family that owns a beautiful cabin in Big Bear Mountain, California. A while back, my family and I, as well as our close friends, took an extended weekend to enjoy a few days of relaxing, fishing, watching movies, and playing games. It is wonderfully refreshing to be away in a cozy cabin, feeling a million miles away from home and responsibilities.

Over the course of the few days on the mountain, the wives decided to put their minds together and attempt a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle of the Last Supper. One . . . thousand . . . pieces. You could have started this puzzle during the actual last supper and still continue working on it today. What is amazing is that there are puzzles that are larger than just a thousand pieces. The puzzle was so big that our friend actually had a felt carpet to do the puzzle on so that if they didn’t finish in one sitting, they could roll it up and save it for another time.

If you have ever been around a group of people attempting a puzzle, you know that there are several different methods and styles of putting a puzzle together. Some like to make a perimeter frame and work their way in, while others prefer to make patches of puzzle pieces to eventually join together. Some are very type A and enjoy counting and separating all the pieces by shade and color before they even begin joining the first two puzzle pieces. Regardless of what methodology you use to construct a puzzle, generally there is one rule that all must follow: looking at the picture on the box cover. It is almost a guarantee that anytime a puzzle is being worked on, somewhere nearby is the box top positioned for all to see. This serves as a point of reference so that everyone, at any point, can check their progress and make sure they are on track.

I like to imagine that the Christian life and body of Christ are much like a giant puzzle. There are many ideas today about how the church should operate and how the Christian life should be lived. There are many shades, colors, and styles, but all pieces must come together in unity to form the picture on the box. I am confident that all believers, regardless of denomination, background, or culture should have one focus in mind—living in the reality of heaven, today.

God’s Original Design

When God created the heavens, the earth, and mankind, He did so with a heart for relationship, compassion, and power. The kingdom of Heaven would be established for man on earth. There would be no sorrow, sickness, or sin. Man and woman would walk in the cool of the day with the Lord and commune with the God of Heaven. We were made in God’s image and took on His characteristics and nature. Adam and Eve were given authority to rule over the earth and lived with no fear of the evil one or darkness. Take a look at the account in Genesis:

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have