Day 23
Prayer
0:20 - Opening prayer / extended communion.
7:50 - Pray from the perspective of the answer - You want to make sure that you are not just praying because of all of the things that you're worried about. If that's the case then there is a lot of fear in your soul and you are praying from the perspective of the problem. There is a place to be concerned about things but you speak life into those situations. You say what God is saying. You come with an answer-conscious... I just don't see Jesus worried about stuff. He actually says, "Do not worry."
8:40 - John 15 - v.7 - If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. -
Prayer is intended for relationship, communion, intimacy - For a lot of us prayer has been... we might say "thanks" for a few things and then we pray for stuff - we pray for others. It's all good. I'm not putting it down. But there is a huge part that is intended to be set apart for relationship and communion - where you are just exchanging and conveying the truth of what He has accomplished so that that gets real big in your heart. How else do you do what this scripture says?
9:25 - Abide - Live, dwell, remain - A place of faith - If you abide in me - to remain in, to dwell in, live in. And my words live, dwell and remain in you... Look how intimate that is. You will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. That makes sense. That is going to be a total place of faith. Your asking is coming out of remaining, dwelling, abiding in Him. You are not ever separating yourself from that place (of abiding) and praying from the perspective of trouble, warfare.
10:05 - Spiritual warfare - I'm not against certain degrees of warfare but I believe there is a lot of unhealthy "warfare" going on.
10:20 - Standing in truth and proclaiming the answer - You will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. Why? Because you are going to pray from the total place of identity, from the power and heart of God, from the reality of who He is. You are going to see yourself one with Him and you are never going to be praying from a distance or from the problem. You're actually standing in truth and from that place you are proclaiming victory and the answer.
10:50 - And you will find, in that place, that Holy Spirit will teach you how to pray - that you won't be praying a lot of the problem. A lot of the time you will be taking an authority over situations and be declaring the answer into the situation. You will actually be calling things forth. You decree a thing and it shall come to pass (Job 22:28).
11:05 - We represent Him - We represent His will in the situation - If Christ is in us, if we pray in the authority of His name and He has given us the kingdom, then we are actually going as far as saying we are believing what God's telling us. We represent Him on the earth. We represent His will and we proclaim His voice. We are not praying to a God out there. We are releasing a God that is right here. We are representing Him. He gave the earth to the children of men (Ps. 115:16).
11:40 - And He gave us the authority of His name. Why would He do that? So we could proclaim His will - not cry out our problems.
11:50 - We're created in His image to manifest Him - It's not an arrogant thing. We've been taught that that is presumptuous or arrogant. No, it's everything that God is saying through His word. Jesus said, "Follow me." As the Father sent me, I send you. The things I do, you'll do also. If you believe in me as the scriptures say, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. Why? Because we are created in His image to manifest Him.
12:15 - You say it because you see it - So if I abide in Him and His word abides in me, I will ask what I desire and it shall be done. Why? Because I'm going to see the situation from His perspective and it's going to be a total proclamation of faith. I'm going to see it as I say it. In fact, that (seeing it) is what is going to cause me to say what I say because I see. It changes your whole prayer life.
12:50 - Unhealthy prayer - Problem driven - ➡ We might take a segment of this school and talk about prayer - what is healthy prayer and what might be unhealthy prayer. You just look at Jesus' life and the scriptures and a lot of the things we've done over the years and been taught, I just can't be find in Jesus' life. And there's a reason. It's because Jesus was so one with the Father - saying what He said - doing what He saw the Father doing. And a lot of what we do is motivated by the problem, the devil, the strongholds, the principalities, the news reports. We're driven by darkness and we don't even realize what is happening. That's unhealthy prayer. You can actually start identifying people for the problem.
13:55 - Praying from the problem is not praying from faith - Our hearts in prayer should be from the place of rest and peace and faith and oneness with God. And I don't know how you can pray from the perspective of the problem, and not be unsettled and not have uncertainty (lack of faith) and be wringing your hands. Until the circumstance changes, where's the peace? You have to see that (the truth for the situation you are praying about).
14:20 - A perspective to live from - How can God see the whole earth today and somehow be OK and not frazzled? How can He be the God of all hope? How can He not need counseling and to pop a few pills now and then? I mean, He sees the whole earth. There is a place He lives from and we've got to get into that place.
14:55 - Fear & worry - If Jesus said not to fear, not to worry, it must be possible. And it mustn't be our created value to fear or worry. We don't realize how subtly this has been ingrained into us. We expect that we are always going to have fear and worry. "Well, that's just the way it is brother. Everybody is like that."
15:30 - Live from kingdom perspective - Well I don't know. I see Jesus telling us not to fear, not to worry. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Why? So that you live from that truth. So that you pray from that truth. So that you wear that truth and manifest that truth. You don't ever see your life apart from that you're just getting scared and praying. And you are taking life as it comes instead of living from God towards life. One is very unhealthy and gets very few results and answers and the other one is very healthy. Because if you abide in me... If that (verse) is true, how could you ever pray from a place less than that? You are going to pray from His perspective - from His words.
16:30 - We lack confidence to approach - Our identities aren't established - How many people go to pray and get completely self-conscious and take 20 minutes to even get past themselves to even try to approach Him. Our identities aren't established and we feel like we might not even have a right to pray this way. We remember things that we've done and then it takes a long time to get past ourselves and get near Him. It happens to a lot of folks.
17:20 - You don't have a bad heart - You care - Is there anything wrong with our hearts? Absolutely not, because you want to be in that place (of nearness to God) and you are willing to put effort into getting past yourself and get to God. So is your heart OK? And are you pure and going after Him? Absolutely. But sometimes it's just our sheer perspective that causes a lot of trouble. It's a simple view that causes a lot of trouble. Sometimes it has nothing to do with your heart being bad or wrong or evil or needing to change. Sometimes it's just the way you think and see that needs tweaking. Just the fact that you care about a lot of this stuff shows your heart is good.
18:10 - Wear the righteousness that He provides - Thank you God that you are so good. You see past every one of these things that tries to stumble me. Take a big step into His presence and wear His righteousness. That would be a good, refreshing day for every one of us.
➡ 18:30 - I don't know why we went there. That scripture just came on my heart - John 15:7.
Love
18:45 - Let's go to 1 John 5... There are so many places here that bear witness of what we are saying...
19:40 - v.1 - Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. -
Everyone's invited - Whoever - everybody is in. Don't let the devil lie to you and say, "Whoever - except for you." "Well, I know that this gospel seems to be working for you but I don't think it works for me." It's a whoever, once for all gospel. This is important. Take it personally.
20:50 - Jesus is more than my way to heaven - Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ - convinced, fully persuaded, a non optional place. You've settled in your heart that Jesus is the Christ. That Jesus is the Anointed One. He's the Savior to save me from mySELF, the world, the lie of the fall of man. He's the anointed One that anoints - so that He can reproduce Himself in me and make me a son. He's the firstborn among many brethren - Rom. 8:29. So when I say that Jesus is the Christ, it means a whole lot more than just my way to heaven - way bigger than I'm going to heaven one day.
22:30 - Jesus is the Christ - When I hear that phrase that "Jesus is the Christ" all kinds of scriptures flood me. If He did not spare His own Son... God didn't stop it like He did with Abraham and Issac. ...but He gave Him for us all. And how shall He not give you all things through that Son - Rom. 8:32 - He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? - All things? What things? All things that we need to be conformed to Christ's image - Rom. 8:29 - For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. -
23:20 - Rom. 8:30 - Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. - Glorified - Isn't it amazing that God would write that in His word? "Yeah, but brother, we're just fallen, wicked, pitiful flesh." We WERE. But now He seems to think that we are worth filling us with the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead - so that we can do the same things that He did.
23:45 - So Jesus is the Christ. He has multiplied Himself, reproduced Himself in us.
24:00 - He justified - You don't justify yourself.
24:05 - He also glorified - You don't come up with a reason as to why you are not fit for the kingdom. You receive Holy Spirit.
24:15 - We struggle to accept what He did - Wear what He did and run well - Who did all of these things? He did. Whose idea was it? His. Why are we struggling so much with His ideas when we say that He is Lord? We say that He is true in all of His way. We say He's just. We say that He is not a man that He should lie. And He says that we are worthy of all of these things and we go, "me?" We ought to go, "Woohoo!" Why don't we rejoice and say, "Wow, that's awesome." It's only when you do that (accept, receive) will you live a life that bears witness of worthy. And the only reason that you don't say, "Wow, that's awesome" is because you are weighing yourself by some other standard - past performance or whatever. And your ability to change that (the past) will never happen so He changed it all by showing you the truth about you through His Son period. You wear that and you run well.
25:35 - v.1 - Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. - Born of God - God's Spirit comes into you and you are born again - re-birthed - re-fathered. And we love one another. Why? Because we all see that we have the same value. We cost the same price. We're all worth the blood of Jesus.
26:05 - v.2 - By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. -
The natural outflow of loving God includes obedience - So when you truly love God, you're automatic response is to walk in His way. And it's actually saying, that's how we know that we love one another - because we love God. Which means the whole purpose is to become love and manifest love. That means that it's impossible to love God and not walk in His commandments and love one another.
26:45 - His first love - Do you see why receiving his love is so important because you don't love Him first. You love him because He first loved you. His love gets seen and revealed in the face of your life. And it changes everything and it actually multiplies you into that love. And you see every man the same way.
27:05 - The natural outflow of loving God includes loving others - It's impossible to say, "I love you Lord," and really love Him, and not love one another. This gets a little touchy. People get a little squirmy because we have issues. No, we don't really have issues. We just have a need to know Him more and see Him more and love Him more and see ourselves more (see ourselves more like He sees us).
27:25 - Reserving rights - We reserve rights to have issues. An issue is a deception to me. If I have an issue with you that is non-productive. That's an absolute devil and deception to me. I'd deal with that in my own heart, if that would ever rise up. I am the steward of my own heart.
27:50 - [Example of first impressions rising up] - How to respond: bless and speak life and thank God for his created value. There is pride in it all. Assuming the right to make judgments on first impressions. It's looking down on people as if you are in the seat of assessment. No you are in the seat of love. And you give yourself for everyone.
29:00 - Most of us grew up in circles where it was just all about God for us and God help us.
29:05 - Participant's comment regarding the Spirit of God bearing witness with our spirits that we are the children of God - Sometime you can just tell that someone else loves Jesus.
29:50 - The more that you are in touch with that truth in your own life, the more you will sniff it out in others.
30:00 - v.2 - By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. - So it's impossible to love God and not love one another. That's not a condemnation thing. That's a barometer. That's a good healthy place. That causes me to get alone with Him to seek Him for who He is so who He is becomes my reality so I see you through His eyes. I don't want anything else in Christianity. I'm not saved for me an my benefit. I'm saved to fulfill the reason for which He created me. Wear that. Now hold your place in 1 John 5 but let's go to...
31:10 - The emphasis should be: We are for Him - Not Him for us - 1 Corinthians 8 - v.4 - As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. - People serve things as gods. In certain religions everything is a god. Name your higher power. Whatever works for you.
32:20 - v.5 - For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) -
32:40 - v.6 - But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. - Now he is talking to Christians. "And we for Him" - hello! It doesn't say He's for us. It says we're for Him. We're created for His pleasure - for His image. We're created to multiply - to manifest Him - to bear witness of Him.
33:20 - And one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things and through whom we live -
Living "through" Christ - There is no identity apart from Him. You are absolutely outside of the realm of identity without Christ. If Christ hadn't come it would have been every man for himself. So the emphasis is we are for Him not Him for us.
33:45 - He is for us but the emphasis is we are for Him - When "He is for us", the strength of that phrase, is for Him redeeming us - not letting us die without Him - not letting us die in darkness and deception but bringing the truth through Jesus and bearing witness through His Spirit that we are sons of God and getting us back on track. He is redeeming a value - a created purpose - an intention. He's not just here to enable your own dreams and desires. He wants to fulfill His image, His will and His created destiny. Does He care about the things that you care about? Absolutely.
34:25 - God's circumstantial "I love you"s - Remember the story about seeing the little snake on the trail? That wasn't an imperative event to the world but it sure touched my heart. It seemed like a big deal to me. There is an intimacy in that - that's personal. But I understand that I am for Him - (as opposed to it being all about me). I am for His image - for His good pleasure - to manifest His name.
35:15 - Fishing story - Bald eagle swoops - An instance of intimacy with God. Swooped down and scooped up fish right in front of me. The Lord knows that I love that kind of stuff. I see eagles everywhere I go. I think things like that are neat.
36:50 - Unhealthy dependence on God's circumstantial "I love you"s - Don't be As much as those things are neat, don't let your relationship hinge just on the cool things He can do for you. Understand why you're a Christian. Understand the purpose in the blood of Jesus and why Jesus laid ahold of you. Isn't that what Paul was pursuing - to lay ahold of that which He laid ahold of him for. So all of those things (neat little things) are health and nice in the healthy perspective of living for His cause. Or everyday it will just be about the cool things that He can do for you - all about you.
37:25 - You can get extremely self-focused in your Christian faith. I know Christians that are so self focused that every thought and prayer is just about God making their day convenient. And every expression expression of prayer has to do with them having a better journey, a better day, ducks in a row mentality.
37:45 - That kind of mentality can end up in confusion and distress - up and down from day to day based on the circumstances of life. "Does God really love me?" They look to circumstances to see that everything is OK. Don't do that.
38:15 - 1 John 5 again - v.3 - For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. -
Obedience is an expression of love - He's not saying this legalistically. He's not saying, "So you love me? Then keep my commandments." No, it's an expression and demonstration of the love of God because if you love Him, you are going to walk in His way. You are going to walk in what He is saying to do. If you love Him there is an honor and respect in it. Jesus said - And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. - John 8:29. Why? Because they are in love.
39:00 - Being in love - When you really love someone, you are looking to please them. When their heart is blessed, you are blessed. Some of us can't relate to that because we are in the "I love you. Do you love me?" realm and we've just got to grow.
39:30 - Lay down your life - Deny yourself - Become love - But it's that laying down your life thing - Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. - John 15:13. So we deny ourselves. That's where we die. We laid down our life because it was never ours to begin with. We are for Him. We are created for His image. And then we pick up our cross and follow Jesus. So this is the love of God that we keep His commandments.
39:55 - His commandments are not burdensome - Die - And His commandments are not burdensome. The freest place to live is from the heart of God. The only way that it is burdensome is if you didn't die - if you are still alive to yourself. To love your neighbor is not heavy. To love your enemies is not heavy when you are dead to yourself because you will never lose sight of the value of the one who seems to be an enemy.
Rising Up and Out of Hurt
40:25 - We are not at war with people - And we don't war against flesh and blood by the way. When Jesus is talking about "enemies" He is talking about people who appear to be your enemy. Todd asked someone who was filled with deep unforgiveness, "Well let me ask you a question. If they were filled Holy Spirit and serving Jesus would they have done what they did?" "No." "Then they are just a person who is walking in darkness and deception. It's not even them. It's a deceived person." And they were like, "Dude, that makes sense."
41:10 - The enemy wants to multiply himself - Example - Child molestation. It's the depravity of sin and it wants to spread like a cancer into the souls of men and give you every reason to be less than who God says that you are. "But you don't know what they did to me." The bottom line is that if they were filled and consumed with the Spirit of God they wouldn't even think of doing that. So there is a real dilemma here. It's men without God. And their actions are trying to multiply themselves through you - sin trying to multiply sin. And all of the sudden you are mad at them and feel sorry for yourself and mad at God for letting it happen. And the list goes on and it all sounds rational.
42:00 - There is no freedom in staying the same - staying hurt - But there is no freedom so we know that it can't be right. It makes the heart harder. It just makes you "right." And it almost builds a wall around you where nobody can touch you because you'll lash out with one of those things on the list to defend your position and remain the same - bound - hurt - violated - dishonored. It happens all of the time.
42:30 - People will defend themselves when you bring them truth because that (hurt) has so identified them. And they are reserving the right to feel the way they feel. And it doesn't change anything. It's just "rightness" and it costs everything to stand in rightness.
42:50 - Rise up and out of what they did to hurt you - Example of approaching someone who has been hurt. "You don't know what they put me through. You don't know how I feel." They lash out. I'm after salvation and saving their heart from that place. And they lash out and the way that seems right to man seems rampant. And you can see the prison that they are crying from and the bars they are screaming through. You have to bring it into a place where they see everything from... that this is just fallen man trying to keep everyone fallen. It's the lie of sin trying to keep hearts hard, angry, frustrated and ultimately blaming. No, if they had been filled with Jesus, they would have never considered what they did to you. But he wasn't and I am sorry. But we were created in God's image so don't you let his sin reproduce itself after its own kind. And don't you be the living product of his tragedy. You rise up through the gospel of truth and mercy and integrity and you shine.
44:25 - How do you reconcile OT teachings on killing to avenge with the NT revelation? - And even disobedient children were worthy of death. Why? Because there is a prophetic suggestion there in a NT reality. When you are living in that place you are the walking dead. You're not producing any life. You're fruitless. You are cut off.
45:10 - Hate cuts people off and "kills" - So a child in rebellion to his parents is in a season of death. When you hate someone, you put them as far as your heart and prayers are concerned into a season of death. [Example] Jesus actually says that I am murdering him. Because I'm cutting him off. It's as if he's not. And all that I can see is his weakness and then I have lost sight of his value.
46:10 - Did God see any of us that way? Or did He see past every weakness to redeem that truth and value?
46:20 - Interpret the Old Testament through the New Testament - So the OT is man reaping what he sowed. It's the law of sin and death. You have to interpret everything in the OT through the NT. You've heard people say that, "the OT is the NT concealed and the NT is the OT revealed." But it's a NT and covenant of God towards man. And it works through mercy. And it works through restoration, reconciliation, redemption.
Counseling for Their Sake
46:50 - Children in rebellion - So rebelling children were worthy of death. There were all kinds of things that you could look at in this regard. But you just need to shift that and see that a lot of this is just the fruit that it (rebellion) brings. There are spiritual consequences connotations in the NT. When a child lives this way it's like he is subverting his life. I'll talk to people this way when I am alone with them. [Example of counseling with the child in rebellion]. You want them to see the spiritual condition of their life.
48:30 - You are counseling for their sake - Not to vent - If you are on the receiving end of that counselling, you have to make sure that that is not all that you are seeing. That's the shift of the NT. You have to go for the gold in people. There is a place to discipline but you have to be careful that it's not coming out of a place of frustration, discouragement, anger, disappointment, failed expectations - especially for your children. You have to talk to them for THEIR SAKE lest there be no grace on your conversation and it be just rightness - he said, she said - I'm right and you are wrong.
49:00 - What you are actually saying is, "You make me sick. You make me so mad. I don't even know why I put up with you." We share that tone with people and wonder why they don't respond. There's enough pride in people to make them shut down (communicating) and fight back.
49:25 - God's goodness changes things - It's the goodness of God that changes things. You don't repay evil with evil. You overcome evil with good. You tone down a harsh word with a soft word - a kind word. You turn away wrath. If you just lash out at somebody you just put up all of their defense mechanisms. You've just made a draw on all of their survival modes. What's cool is if someone lashes out and there is nothing there but Jesus.
50:00 - Pushing buttons - Fueling fires - I think satan is busy pushing a lot of people's buttons because we are not all the way dead. And we fuel a lot of fires that we are praying to be put out. We fuel fires and we don't even realize it. I use that phrase in counseling. "Whatever you do, please don't fuel a fire right now. If anything get a few logs out. Please don't put any more on." "What do you mean?" And you give them examples. "Well, I've been doing that for 2 weeks." "No wonder the fire is so hot. And you are saying that it's all them. I know that you are feeding this thing because you are hurt. The only reason you are saying those things is because you are insecure. You want them to change so that you feel better. You've lost sight of their value. This is still all about you." And all of the sudden they are bawling. I've had hundreds of those conversations. You'd be amazed at how common it is to fuel the fire and have wrong motives and address things from the position of hurt and pain instead of truth and love. It happens all of the time.
51:10 - That's why I preach the stuff I preach - to get us out of that trap. Because honestly, we are good people in the sense that we want God and we want truth. Some of this stuff is so subtle (subtle traps). And it's just the way that seems right to man and it's laced through the gospel. It's the wisdom of the world trying to speak.
Prayer (cont.)
51:40 - 1 John 5 again - v.3 - For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. -
51:45 - v.4 - For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. -
➡ 52:05 - Don't forget why we came here. We came here because we read John 15:7 - If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. - And now whatever is born of God overcomes the world. So there's an identity of being born of God.
52:20 - Let faith carry you through the promise of John 15:7 to victory - And this is the victory that has overcome the world - It's our faith - seeing that truth (John 15:7) in the face of any other reality. If you are abiding in Him and His word is abiding in you that's the truth that you are going to pray from and speak from. ➡ We've already established that (7:50 to 18:30).
52:50 - Faith changes the perspective we pray from - Praying out the answer - What this is saying is the reason that's the victory that overcomes the world - because you see it's from God - the victory is our faith. So all of the sudden our view (perspective) is changed and we're living from a whole new perspective. It changes the whole table of prayer. It actually changes the whole "why" behind prayer. Prayer becomes more of a declaration and a proclamation and a prophecy instead of a "Please help, God!" You are actually speaking on behalf of God.
53:15 - Speaking on behalf of God - He doesn't have a problem with it - Neither should you - You're His kids. His Spirit's in you. You're one with Him. 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. - John 17:21 NLT. It sounds like He doesn't have a problem with that. If He gave us His word, He probably wants us speaking it. So don't you have a problem speaking on behalf of God.
53:40 - If you are going to speak on God's behalf have your heart full of truth and love - But do you see how important it is to have your heart refined by truth and have it in love? So that when you speak on behalf of God you are speaking from God's heart? That you are not misusing authority. That you are not caught in presumption. That you are not just trying to push and shove from your own perspective.
Pride
53:55 - Pride interferes - I've seen people work against one another in the name of the Lord. They actually hold their Christian identity, their past history in front of each other to try to affirm themselves so that their words carry weight instead of letting love be the weight that carries the words.
54:15 - Pride - Conversation with itinerant preacher on airplane - "I have been traveling for 25 years and you have been traveling for 4 years. And you are going to tell me something?" He was really upset. It was a tough plane ride. He had a belief and he would attack every ministry with that belief to put them on the spot. "Give me 5 ways to stay active in the expression of your Christianity." "What do you mean?" "See, I knew you couldn't." He was saying that everyone is out there preaching the gospel but nobody is giving them the practicality of how to do it. "I wouldn't want to give you 5 ways." "No, it's because you can't." And he got really strong about it. Ministry was his identity. "No, my highest place is waking up knowing that I am a son... Preaching from the pulpit is just a privilege of that reality. I'm concerned that you have a works mentality. If ministries aren't ministering in your 5 ways, then they aren't ministering effectively. You don't even know me or what I preach. I'm trying to tell you but you can't even hear because I'm not saying your 5 ways." He yelled loud. Turned away. That was his knowledge puffing him up but lacking love. Knowledge at the cost of love.
58:20 - Discussion of pride - God can drop an amazing truth into a young Christians life. I want to hear what he is saying.
Faith Overcomes
59:20 - - v.4 - For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
59:25 - The victory that overcomes - Our faith - I thought the victory was the finished work of Christ. Well, it is. But without your faith in it there is nothing happening. God is so humble. The victory that overcomes the world - He doesn't say, "It's the stone rolled away and my resurrected Son by the outwearing of Spirit and power..." He says that the victory that overcomes the world is you believing everything I have said and accomplished through Jesus. That's the victory - your faith.
1:00:00 - We are major players in this thing - Do you see how personally you are involved in this? Do you see how much of a major player we are? Do you hear how important the "whoever's" are? It's whoever and whatever. It's all inclusive. You are a major player. The victory that overcomes the world - now that is your privileged place right there to pursue.
1:00:35 - v.5 - Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? -
He's more than a prayer to go to heaven - That's a whole lot deeper than just saying, "Oh, I believe He is the Son of God. Yes, I've accepted Him into my heart." That's how we have sugar coated it and down played it.
1:02:00 - Make that deeper than a prayer to go to heaven. You believe He is the Son of God. So you understand that He is the redemption of many sons. He's the reconciliation back to the Father. He's the way to receive the kingdom once again and get back on track with authority and power and purpose.
The Name of Jesus
1:02:30 - Don't make the name of Jesus just a magic formula - He is so much bigger than the doctrinal phrase, "Jesus is the Son of God," and then I accept Him into my heart and go to heaven. You have to understand the finished work and what was accomplished - Him being a high priest and sitting at the right hand. When you speak the name of Jesus, you can have that revelation in your heart when you pray. Or it's just a tactic and a method to try to get an answer "in the name of Jesus." You reduce His name to abracadabra. It's the magic formula. Don't do that to the name of Jesus.
1:03:12 - Speak His name with understanding as to what He did and why He did it - No, when you say the name you say it with understanding of God's purpose and His accomplishment. It's not a magic name. He died and rose again. There is so much power behind His name because of the love, because of the sacrifice, because of what He did - being made to be sin and removing the guilt off of men. There is so much there. The more we grow this way (in relationship with God) the more that we'll release that power this way (towards others). And it will never be reduced to the magic formula.
1:03:45 - [Examples of people misusing the name of Jesus in prayer.] You can do that all day long and used His name in vain. It's not a formula. Don't reduce His name to a man's method to get a result. It's the name above every name because of the love behind it, the sacrifice, the accomplishment, the crushing of the power of death and darkness, the removal of sin, the mercy of God, the unfailing love of God you are speaking the name over. It's all there and it all matters.
1:04:45 - v.6 - This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. - Remember how we talked about the Person of Holy Spirit.
1:05:00 - Then v.7-8 talk about how all these agree and are one....
1:05:10 - v.7-8 - For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. - So God has a bearing witness in heaven and a bearing witness on earth of the same reality and the same truth. So God does care about the earth. His kingdom is here.
➡ 1:05:45 - We're going to take a break and then shift gears.
1:05:50 - How does "2 or 3 gathered together" praying, square with the idea of one in Christ being a majority? - There is a truth of synergism. One sends a thousand to flight - two sends ten thousand. There is a power of unity there - when people get together.
1:06:15 - Prayer has got to be about more than following a scriptural formula - Know Him - But here is the thing about this school and the cry of my heart to God as far as His grace on this school - that these things aren't just taught but that they are realized. That they are not just knowledge. Because a lot of us know what the Bible reveals as the will of God. So then three people grab hands and pray because the Bible reveals that it's the will of God. But there's a place of knowing His will through knowing Him - obviously it's through the word - but knowing Him and knowing His heart. Eternal life is knowing Him. So the more that you know Him and see and understand, you'll speak it and fulfill that scriptural place. Or in the case of just having knowledge, three of us will quote scriptures to God and hold Him to that and thank you and rejoice. And then we don't see the answer. And we are disheartened - draw back - get frustrated - change our doctrine.
1:07:40 - Faith rises out of knowing Him - His nature - It's not about scrolling through the Bible and finding God out. You find Him through His Son. You have intimacy and communion with Him. You're in love with Him. You know Him. You know His nature. Faith works through love. Faith is the spontaneous result of knowing Him. So you look at a situation - and two other people - they are in communion with God. The Spirit of God is upon us...
1:08:05 - The glory days of the book of Acts - If you look in the book of Acts, there is a reverence and awe. God was upon them. And they would see a situation...There was a glory thing going on in the book of Acts. People say, "Well that was the baby church. We need to grow past that." But I'm thinking that I would just like to be right there, right now. We just need to get back to that and then and just keep growing.
1:08:45 - Ananias and Sapphira - those glory days where such a reverence, such an awareness, such a knowledge of God that to lie in His presence would (be deadly) because He is right there and you are so aware of Him - not that I want people falling over dead. But that is pretty incredible.
1:09:15 - BREAK
Hindrances to Love Relationship
➡ 1:09:25 - Love relationship and the expression of love - I've been talking about love a lot and I feel like I am supposed to because I honestly believe it's the whole reason that we are born again. I believe 1 Tim. 1:5 - The goal of our instruction is love through a pure heart, a clear conscience and sincere faith. I believe that we're born again to be restored back to His image. We partake of His divine nature, escaping the corruption in the world through lust - 2 Peter 1:4. So if we were trained and taught to live in a self-centered motive - a self-centered way - through the wisdom of the world - the way that seems right to man, it only seems fitting to keep exposing that for what it is and revealing love for what it is. So you teach love for what it is and what it is not. And I just believe that the truth will come to our rescue in all of the circumstances of life. I believe there is a place where the heart of God begins to be molded (formed) in us and we become one with Him. And all of the sudden His wisdom becomes our wisdom and you see things for what they really are.
1:10:30 - The stranger's voice - How else would you ever be able to hear His voice and obey His voice and a stranger's voice you would never follow - John 10:5? Because you see it (what the stranger's voice is saying) for what it is. Because the truth has come and made you free and sanctified you - separated you unto Him. So you are in the world but not of the world (John 17:16) - no longer conformed (to this world) - Rom. 12:2.
1:10:50 - Old mindsets can keep you from growing - One of the biggest traps is the lack of knowledge - pursuing something new but living from the same old way - thinking the same old way. Taking things personally like you always did before you were saved. Thinking for (of) yourself. They are subtleties and traps. Unless they are clearly exposed, it's just the way that seems right to man. It will just keep going. You can be saved 15 years and still have the same degenerate mindsets. And they keep you from growing - from growing closer - from knowing Him more. They can keep you from communion with Him.
Conviction
1:11:35 - Communion is where He brings light and makes adjustments - I do believe that our communion with Him is so huge because in that place, that is where we are truly refined and adjusted. God has revealed His heart to me through union and communion just as much as through reading his word. Like I would get to meditating and musing on scripture and things in that place (of communion) and I want to be like Him. I yield and submit. And He would show me things for what they are and what they aren't.
1:12:05 - Asking God for light - Is anything hindering? - Two things came into my mind. New things. I saw it for what it was. But before that I didn't see it. It was a lack of wisdom - a lack of understanding. It wasn't a sin. It was just a way that I was thinking that wasn't producing life like His heart would. It was just a way that seemed right to man. It was very subtle. It was laced into my belief. And God exposed it. I wouldn't have been able to relate if someone had preached that to me from the pulpit. "What's wrong with that?"
1:14:00 - Some personal things are meant to be personal. They are for you and for where you are at right now.
1:14:15 - Conviction - Lady leading the Bible study - Still smoking (Day 6 @ 6:55) - no violation of conscience - and then conviction arose.- That is fascinating to me. She didn't even blink. And all of the people in the study were doing the same thing. It was like the smoker's home fellowship. They felt a peace because she was leading. Her conscience was not violated. But about a year into it - growing and communing and seeking God - all of the sudden she was convicted. She saw it differently. It was not because anybody spoke to her about it. Isn't it amazing that a whole year went by?
1:15:00 - Participant's comment about a friend who used to sit down with a can of beer and the Bible.
1:15:15 - Trust Holy Spirit to bring conviction - Encourage relationship - And all of the sudden she saw it for what it was. If you encourage relationship - communion with God and they really go into that place, those things will be seen for what they really are (problem areas will be exposed). And if it is something that needs to be removed, it will be a conscious conviction. God will do that.
1:15:45 - Trying to to create conviction isn't ultimately effective - Preaching from the pulpit that you should be doing this or you shouldn't be doing that - I've never seen that type of service produce life. But it can get a lot of people shook up. You can preach a sermon like that and have a packed altar each week and people will say that God is moving. And all you've got is people amess - crying, leaving, condemned, guilty. And the only reason that they are at the altar is because they don't know whether they are coming or going.
1:16:15 - Impart truth - But what she is saying is true. That's why you hear me preaching communion, love, our identity, what our life is worth. If you just preach what somebody's life is worth to God and that God paid the ultimate price, etc., it might automatically in conviction bring into question things that have no purpose, no value, no meaning (bring light on problem areas). "Wow, if that is the truth about my life, then why am I giving myself to this over here? I need to see myself for more." And all of the sudden the truth itself starts sanctifying and making you free - more so than a sermon, "You shouldn't do that if you are a Christian." Those things (insights) come as you grow. We're growing up into Him.
1:17:05 - Participant comment - Direct people to relationship and God will show people what needs to change. Bartender convicted to stop watering down the drinks.
1:18:30 - I didn't see that one coming. He's a Christian now and he had been cheating people. It's an integrity thing. It's conviction.
1:18:45 - Conviction after salvation - Fornication - Who knows that the Bible talks about fornication. Often people will, after they have been saved and water baptized, will come to me and want to know what to do about a fornication situation. I give a little space for that to happen first (for them to come to me). That's just me.
1:19:30 - Couple saved and baptized - Fornication - Couple - I thought they were married. Discernment - Oh my goodness. They are not married. Husband upset after baptism. We need to get on with it and get married. It just hit me. This is not right. If you had tried to tell him that before the service he would have gotten mad and left. But he was born again all things became new and he couldn't see the relationship the same again.
1:21:40 - Trust the Holy Spirit to bring conviction - At what point do we just trust the Holy Spirit and the working of truth and just convey the clearest truth and let the chips fall where they may.
1:21:45 - Sometimes when there is no change - Sit them down and talk - Now there are situations where they are born again and young in the faith and nothing is changing where you want to sit down and talk to them. [Sample conversation] I've had to do that a bunch of times. But I love when when it's like that (Holy Spirit brings conviction). And more times than not they will come to you with that change of heart. So the clearer we preach truth, the higher the conviction rises, the clearer things get in peoples' hearts and minds.
1:22:25 - People convicted after sermons - No intent to convict.
1:22:50 - Questions automatically get raised when truth is preached - Inner healing - What do you think about "inner healing"? I didn't mention it in the sermon or think about it. I'm just preaching Jesus and it automatically raises these questions. That's the power of truth. It puts things in right perspective. It does raise questions.
1:23:40 - So here is what I am saying: Convey the clearest truth and let the work of Holy Spirit define men's hearts. Everybody is worthy of the truth. If I don't give truth there's no freedom. So let Holy Spirit do what He is here to do - by you ministering the word which is spirit and life - John 6:63. Just pulling people into truth without projection.
Prayer
➡ 1:24:10 - OK this feels like a shift of gear but not really...
➡ 1:24:20 - Let's go to Matthew 5... and then hopefully we'll go to 1 John... You guys have to be patient with me on this love thing because we are probably going to camp the rest of this week in this area... and the rest of our lives.
1:24:50 - Change happens through communion - Praying with faith - The best thing in your communion with God, with everything that we are covering in terms of what is and isn't love and some of the mindsets that people have come out with... Even the whole thing about being touched wrong. "Well you don't know what they said to me. You don't know how that made me feel." And they have all of the justifications for being hurt. When you take all of that stuff, how do you process it? How do you manifest those truths? You get alone with the Lord, whether you are driving the car or working and have the ability to commune or get in a room and shut a door... But you affirm that that is your heart desire, you have no other motive or purpose... And God I yield myself to you. And I agree with love. And I don't ever want to be found in the wisdom of the world. And I thank you that anger doesn't rule me. Frustration doesn't rule me. Strife and stress are not the dictates of my life. I'm in you and you are in me. And I thank you for the revelation of love.
1:25:45 - Pray out the answer - And it's just like prophecy. You proclaim it. You declare it. You yield. You surrender. You say, "Yes!" You don't go into a secret place and pray everything you haven't arrived to. And "Oh, God, I see that my life is so not in this place. I just ask you to work this in me. Because then you are just so conscious of what you're not. And when you go out of the secret place you haven't even prayed a prayer of faith. And when you leave the secret place you are going to monitor yourself to see what's still lacking. You are going to have your eye on your own self.
1:26:25 - People seek feelings - Teach them to commune with God by faith - People go to the altar saying, "I am so lacking peace. Could you just pray that I have peace?" They don't feel any peace because they are so fixed on not having peace. And they are not releasing any faith in the sense that God loves them. That He has made peace through Jesus, etc. And now we are just reduced to the tangible feeling of peace. And next week they are at the altar again. It's a disservice to them to keep praying for them, "God would you just let them feel your peace." You teach them to commune with God in faith.
Living from & Ministering to Feelings
1:27:35 - Ministering to feelings enables people to live by senses - Pray that I feel His love - I've prayed for God to come and manifest His love etc. because I have felt led to do that in cases. I had a lady come to me and say, "I just want you to pray for me that I feel His love." I said, "No, I won't do you that injustice (disservice)." And she couldn't believe it. Because the whole church is into that (ministering to feelings). I said, "I can see why you are saying that. For me to pray that way is not going to help you in the way of living by faith. It would actually teach you to live sensual (by what you feel)." She was frustrated with me at first. "Would you just pray for me. I don't need a lecture." I kept talking to her and all of the sudden there was conviction in her heart - that she was living sensual. Probably the most damaging thing that I could do is pray and let her believe that she is waiting for the sensation of love.
1:28:40 - Are there times when God just overwhelms people with a sense of His love? Yup. But when you think that's what you need, praying that you sense the love of God is not what you need.
1:28:55 - Teach people to live by faith - Pray from faith - Here is my point. Here is what you need. When nobody is around... Father, I so appreciate that you love me. It's not a question any more in my mind. Christ you wouldn't have come. Jesus you wouldn't have died for me if you didn't love me. Father, thank you for loving me. There is a place in that where love gets so real and God has the liberty, without enabling you to live sensual to breathe on you and bring that sensation of His amazing love.
1:29:25 - Grace touches faith and it becomes your reality - You see it - Peace - Father, I thank you that I have peace with you. And I fix my eyes on you. Life has been getting my attention but my eyes are fixed on you. I have peace with you through Jesus Christ. I found it in Romans 5 and I thank you that righteousness and peace have kissed. I am right with you... And you teach people how to live by faith. And then grace comes and touches that faith and starts birthing it as your reality - where you are not even trying to believe it - you see it.
1:30:00 - Or else we are surrounding her praying, "Please, God, bring your peace." God says, "I already did. It's already here. Tell them to look up to where there help has come from and look me in the eye. They know what their feet look like by now. Tell them to look up. They need to know me."
1:30:45 - Participant's comment on having lived by feelings. Getting prayed for at the altar made me feel way worse. And for years I thought I was doomed because I didn't have that feeling.
1:31:00 - Don't feed sensuality - When you are pursuing senses... You have to discern - when you are stepping out to minister - we really need to start learning and discerning what is motivating the person coming to the altar. And if they are being driven by sensuality, God forbid that you feed that. Remember that discipline thing that we talked about yesterday and handcuffing God? He will not, unless there is a thing of mercy that leads them into faith, He will not... I have yet to see God come and enable sensuality.
1:31:30 - Discern the motive of people seeking for a feeling - Sensual - When someone is motivated by sensuality and they don't change and the ministers don't discern enough to direct them into a place of faith... Here's what we do. We say, "Yeah, but they can't because of issues and bondage and the past." No, this truth takes that all away. This truth confronts all of that. There's not one reason on the earth why a man can't believe - except he's not believing - not one. You have to take them to that place.
1:32:10 - Don't feed sensuality - You do a great disservice to them if you teach them to live sensual. If you do that (and God doesn't come through with the sensation) all of the sudden satan will say, "See, you're not loved. See you are not feeling anything." Well, we are not called to live by feelings.
1:32:25 - We minister to feelings - The reason some people need so much ministry is because of (their dependence on) feelings. A lot of what we do to try to patch them up and heal them up and get them to believe, is actually accommodating feelings. In a lot of arenas we are teaching them to live by their feelings. So we are trying to alleviate one feeling and setting them up for two weeks from now to maybe not feel so good and now they have more issues.
1:32:45 - Living by feelings is unstable - If you live by your feelings, your life will absolutely be like the sea tossed by the wind because you will waver constantly. Constantly. You live by faith. And it's a good thing.
1:33:00 - Why should we honor that and be excited by that (living by faith)? Because living by feelings and senses is the biggest demise of our lives - our whole life. - If I feel good, I'm doing good. If I don't feel good, I'm not doing good. If it feels good do it. - It's all pampering. It's all self-centered, self-serving. But it's a road to deception.
1:33:30 - We have ministered to feelings in the church - And the church - we're suckers for that in the sense that we love each other. We've all been hurting so we hate to see people hurt. So we just wrap our arms around them and say, "Oh honey, baby. Jesus would you just come."
133:50 - God won't enable the need to live from feelings - And a lot of times He does not just overwhelm people with a sense of His love. I'll tell you when He doesn't - when the motive is a need for sensuality. You mark that and time will prove in your life what I am saying is right. There are times when there are levels of deception or where God wants to push somebody over the hump or times when He just lands His love on someone. And it will change their life. So we think that He wants to do that all the time. No, not if the motive is not healthy. Because then He is enabling and empowering that motive.
1:34:30 - That where we (ministers) need discernment. That's why you will see me pray one way for some people and then differently for another. It's not that the motive is bad. It's just that we are trying to get them more on a way where they can live from truth.
1:34:50 - Craze for laying on of hands - Impartation - But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater - The church has been in a craze lately just to have hands laid on them. Be careful not to judge that - stereotype that and let my heart get hard. And think, "Man, I'm not doing that at all." That's the risk that I would run. The church tends to be in a craze, "Lay it on me." No, get alone with Him. And He will lay it on you.
1:35:25 - I'm not against impartation. I'm not against "lay it on me." But sometimes that motive is not producing good things. And we are not getting the impact that God intended. If we got the impact of what God intended, all the times that we got it laid on us, we would have probably turned the world upside down four times by now.
1:35:45 - Ministering to feelings creates repeat business - There's a lot of repeat... I see people that say that they got something from the Lord and then months later it is lost and they say, "Well I just need another touch brother." No, it's because what you are pursuing doesn't have a good root foundation. And it's just kind of getting you by. And in time, in the long run it will deceive you. It's like she said [1:30:45] "after a while I thought I was reprobate."
1:36:10 - Feeling cut off - But still hanging around - Do you know how many people live with the secret thought that they were cut off. But because of their desperation for God they continued to put themselves in Christian atmospheres and suffer there, believing the whole time they were there that they were cut off. I've met dozens of people who have cried and told me that they believed that for years. And a lot of it is because they were driven sensually (- they based that belief on what they didn't feel).
1:36:40 - Catatonic lady in MS - I thought she was on psych meds. But she wasn't on anything. Six years before she had been one of those who waved the flags - in love with Jesus. For six years no smiles. For six years they had been trying to deliver her - running her through everything. But you can't cast a lie off of somebody. You give them the truth and the lie fades away. "I'm lost. And I can't find God." "You're kidding me, right? You love Jesus with all of your heart." I was laughing but not at her. I was demeaning the lie. "It's impossible for you to be lost. He's right here. He'll never leave you. He's as close as the mention of His name." Discerned - several years ago you got condemned and you thought you were cut off but He will never leave you. Truth is piercing the stronghold. Pray this with me: "Father..." They had prayed for her many times and every time it seemed to affirmed that she was lost - that there's no hope. And yet there she is in the service because she is desperately crying out. It's a terrible cycle. "Father, thank you that you love me. Thank you that you are right here." She bawled on the floor.
1:42:15 - Lady full of metal got healed - Back was twisted. In pain. Can you please help me? I believe Jesus will come and help you. You could hear the healing. Dancing. Rejoicing chaos broke out.
1:43:10 - Catatonic lady no more - Half an hour later she was waving 2 flags with the biggest smile you ever saw. Six years went by with one wrong belief. But instead of changing that wrong belief by faith that works through love.,. All she needs is the truth. Nine months later - "God used you to save my life."
1:44:45 - Participant's comment - Question about that particular situation - Did the church attribute both healings to your presence?
1:45:25 - Truth is your best friend - It sets you free - Most of the time all that is lacking is the truth. Truth is your best friend. Truth will make you free. Truth will override feelings. I so admire truth that how I feel means very little.
1:46:05 - Honor truth by getting alone with God and submitting - You have to so honor truth. And you honor truth by getting alone with God and saying "Yes" to every one of His "yeses" - without question or attitude or opinion. You submit. You surrender. Because when you submit to God you have resisted the devil. You're not resisting the devil. You are submitting to God.
1:46:35 - I've found that our greatest challenge as human beings that have come through the fall isn't resisting the devil. It's submitting to God. Because there is another form of wisdom that tries to rule our lives apart from Him. Submitting to God is always your answer.
He Loves You & He Likes You
1:47:00 - Agree / disagree? - "God loves you, but there is a lot of you that God doesn't like." - Well the church embraces that. I've heard that a lot. I've heard people say, "I love them. But I don't have to like them." That's absolutely ridiculous. Just throw it out. That's trash.
1:47:50 - He loves you - And He likes you - Here's the deal. They pull that from scriptures like - They all drank from the same water. They all sat under the same cloud. They all ate the same manna. But with many God wasn't well pleased. - 1 Cor. 10:1-5. All Paul is saying is that God couldn't fulfill His good pleasure through them because of their attitudes, motives, deceptions... To say that God is not pleased doesn't mean that God doesn't like you. So we interpret that into God loves you but doesn't like you. But it's impossible to love somebody and not like them - who they are as a person.
1:48:20 - Some will say, "Yes, but He doesn't like what you are doing." I promise you that God doesn't ever do this: "Ugh, (offended - hands on hips)." He probably does it more like this, "Oooh... (hurting for someone)" On your worst day, grace abounds more because He like you. He always likes you.
1:49:20 - Don't let a lie stumble you - Contrary to the nature of God - You can't let a quote like that stumble you because it's contrary to the nature of God. You are making God like a man. You are allowing God to be defined like you have been touched your whole life. Like one day you are in and the next day you are out. And it's based on your works. And if you do good you are accepted and if you don't do good you're rejected. No, God loves you and He likes you too. It might be good just to say to God, I thank you that you so like me.
1:50:00 - Drawing back - He has no pleasure in you - Hebrews 10:37- - For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. - Does that mean God doesn't like you? No, it means that He can't fulfill your created design and purpose because you are drawing back. He can't enable sensuality (living based on senses). He can't empower lies and sin. His soul can't have any pleasure in you in the sense that He created you for His good pleasure - to manifest Himself to you and through you. And when you draw back He can't fulfill His good desire towards you. That's all it means.
1:51:00 - It doesn't mean that He disdains you and is irritated by you and would like to slap you around and knock some sense into you. If that was the case, that would mean that you would have had to do something right to make Him come. While you were yet a sinner, God sent His Son - Rom. 5:8. Why? Because He likes you. Do you get that?
1:51:35 - Participant responds - No - I've been told for years that I'm in pain because it's my identity.
1:51:40 - Not everything that you hear is true - Do you believe that? No. Then why do you believe what they tell you? Both of the recent comments are based on what you have been told - by someone you respect or honor in authority. But has God told you that through the sending of His Son? Has God ever revealed to you through the life of Jesus or through the word that He doesn't like you?
1:52:30 - Supporting positions from OT scriptures - I'm not talking about misreading the OT like people do. People pull out the OT like they are pulling it out of a hat. "Yeah, but you've got to remember brother." Well, if you are living under that covenant you are in way big trouble. It's a new testament and covenant of God towards man.
1:52:55 - It pleased Him to put it all on His own Son - And you don't think He likes you? -So when He says, "my soul has no pleasure in him." It pleased the Father to bruise His Son - Is. 53:10 - and cause His soul to grieve when He offered Him for sin. Why? So He could get to you. It actually pleased Him to put this all on His own boy to make you His own. And you don't think He likes you? He absolutely loves you.
1:53:25 - Don't wear sinner identity - How can you love and not like? I'd like somebody to explain that. I've heard that phrase my whole life, "I love you but I don't like you." That's the biggest cop out. That doesn't make sense to me. How can you love and not like. You say, "Well loves the person but hates the sin." Well that's different. Don't make the sin into the person because we wear sin identity. So then we are sin conscious and we think that God can't like me. You see yourself for sin. No, you see yourself for son. Are you kidding He likes me a lot.
1:54:00 - He likes me a lot - He likes me so much that He made me fit to live in and He hangs out with me every day. And I didn't ask Him to, He came. He likes me so much that He answers me when I call. And those that call on the name of the Lord shall be saved - Rom. 10:13. And seek Him and you will find Him - Jer. 29:13. He likes me so much that when I seek Him, He goes, "Here I am." He likes me a lot.
1:54:40 - False teaching - Counterproductive beliefs - There is a lot of less than truth teaching out there. The Bible says that false teaching is a thief. And it's only purpose is to steal kill and destroy. When you hear a teaching like that (He loves you but may not like you), it can send you reeling for years. Just the fruit alone that the teaching bore has the fingerprint of false teaching because it is not producing life. It's not edifying, increasing, adding to. It's actually calling into question, hindering and causing him to reel and draw back. And now, "Oh my goodness, now you are really not pleased. And a belief like that is just counterproductive. When you hear teaching like that, what it produces is the fingerprint that you can find the source with - whether it is false teaching or whether it is life giving teaching.
1:55:45 - You're in this school to learn how to respond in truth to false teachings - You are not in this school because the false teachings you hear are sending you reeling. But at the same time they (the false teachings) are very convicting and challenging of the flesh and the soul. But with the grace and the capacity to listen and understand and be transformed, not condemned. So is truth compromised? Is this a mushy, gushy gospel? The truth is not compromised at all. But there is an edification and increase and door to receive. Isn't that why you are in this school?
1:56:45 - The lie of Self-condemnation - So does God like you? You better believe it. Never forget that while you were yet sinners... Here is one of the biggest lies I have heard in Christians. "Yeah but, now that I'm a Christian and I did it anyway... I should know better now." And they judge themselves and condemn themselves and mark themselves. When what they did they care about. And they are believing the lie... and they are coming up with a reason why they should be condemned. And they don't even want to be condemned. They are still reading, praying etc. but they are believing a lies.
1:57:50 - If your belief system isn't edifying you and showing you an entry way to more life, then it's never, ever God. Because He is abounding - life in abundance.
1:58:05 - Pain as an identity - Is it true that someone's pain can become their identity? Let me explain how that is. That happens when they are receiving no identity through Christ - when they are not pursuing Christ. They are just receiving the affections and sympathy and sorrow of men through their condition. So they exploit their condition to get pampered by men. So they choose to live in pain to draw attention from people for their infirmity. That's when your pain becomes your identity.
1:58:40 - Comments and reaction regarding participant's specific situation in this regard.
2:01:10 - False teaching is a strategy to keep the gospel out - Whatever you were told wasn't producing life. In fact look at the effect. It was building a stronghold against the truth that when you would finally hear the truth it was very hard to hear and comprehend. Yeah buts were everywhere. Why are there so many "yeah buts" in the the church? Because strategically we've been taught contrary to the gospel - contrary to the finished work of Christ - contrary to the heart of God because satan fears the word. He's freaked out that he helped accomplish this and opened a door for salvation and he doesn't want us to ever see and know what that really means.
2:01:45 - Satan thinks religion is just fine - So he is working overtime to keep us blind, deceived, hindered, limited. He doesn't even care if you go to church as long as you stay religious. He might even motivate you to go to church in the name of religion. Because he can do more damage and get you to wrap your identity around your religion and your doings but keep you in your heart condemned and limited and not even liking who you are so that you can never see the value of humanity. These things are all strategies of the devil to quench the gospel.
2:02:20 - Participant's comment - James 4:5 - He yearns for you. He loves you.
2:03:15 - He yearns for you - James 4:5 - Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? - “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us” - ESV - Here's why people say things like - "He loves you but He may not like you." There is a lot of misunderstanding of the scripture - legalism. We've lived so by works. You grew up and you knew when you did right and your knew when you did wrong. You were affirmed when you did right and you were slammed when you did wrong. That's how we lived our whole lives. And in some way you earned every bit of attention that you ever got.
2:04:00 - v.4 - Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. -
We put ourselves at odds with God - So that doesn't mean that God sees you as an enemy. You actually put yourself in a position of hostility towards the truth. You are either for me or against me. There is no way to find middle ground. You either gather to me or you scatter. In our relationships if somebody makes that choice we cut them off. We don't like them. We're mad at them. We cry in a self-sorrowful way and tell 14 friends what they did. And then we picture God like that. Whoever wants to be a friend of the world MAKES HIMSELF. You put yourself at odds with the truth and with God. And you can't manifest His purpose. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
2:04:55 - v.5 - Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? - “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us” - ESV -
He yearns for you. How many of you have gone into your secret place and closed the door and said, Father, I'm here because I know that you yearn for me.? I've done that a few times. And all of those lies are shattered in that place because the scripture says that, He gives more grace.
2:05:35 - v.6 - But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. -
He gives grace - Man, He gives way more grace than the world. Why are you trying to seek friendship with the world when God gives way more grace? Even if you feel that you don't qualify, you qualify. God gives grace. So you have to receive the abundance of grace, the free gift of righteousness - Rom. 5:17.
2:05:55 - Pride resists, humility receives - God resists the proud... - What does that mean? If you resist the truth of this gospel it's a form of pride. If you say, "You can't love me" or "Oh, you shouldn't have" or "Yeah but I don't deserve this" or "Yeah but I don't feel worthy,"... There is a twisted form of pride that has been built up in man to resist. Why? Because the very next scripture says...
2:06:20 - v.7 - Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. - Therefore - because this is true. Therefore you be humble and receive everything He has done for you by submitting to Him and saying, "Yes!" And live from the place of God. He resists the proud but He gives grace to the humble.
2:06:40 - Pride resists - We think the proud are the ones that say, "I don't want God. I don't need God." No, it's the same pride for God to say, "I love you" through His Son and to sit back and feel like you are not lovable. That's resisting. That's the wooing of the Spirit. He is wooing and yearning jealously for you and you are going, "Oh, no, not me." (God to man) - "Oh you are so awesome. I want to come inside of you and be one with you." "Why would you want to come inside of me and be one with me? You couldn't possibly love me." And you are trying to tell God who and what He is and isn't.
2:07:30 - Humility receives - But God gives grace to the humble - So how do you receive the abundance of grace? By being humble enough to say yes to what He believes about you and letting Him like you and love you and anoint you, redeem you, reconcile you, forgive you and flood you with His goodness. Humility says, "OK. If You say so."
2:07:55 - Be a good receiver - Video of Joyce Myer - Everybody is always asking me "How do I receive from God?" Teach us how to receive. OK everybody look this way. I am going to teach you, right now, how to receive from God. Are you all ready? Then she went [??? - probably some very simple gesture, without questioning, as a little child - Mt. 18:3 - Possibly as in this Joyce Meyer video]. And I loved it.
2:08:45 - Lift your hands to God - some people would get frustrated because they are intellectual. That was so child(like). You know when you lift your hands to heaven the is a yielding in that and a submission to that. I know that some like to teach that lifting your hands is like, "Papa pick me up." Lifting the hands is a yielding, a submitting, a surrender, an honoring, a bowing down. That's a big deal. So you lift holy hands to God.
2:09:40 - Psalm 5:5 - "God hates the workers of iniquity" - How does that reconcile to what you preach? -
Flesh and blood are not our enemy - We were created for God's image - Who are the workers of iniquity? Every power and principality, every spirit of darkness. Who deceived Eve? Who whispered? Who even brought that knowledge on the earth? Who opened up the door to iniquity. Eve's heart or deception. So Adam followed the deception instead of the voice of God. So who is the worker of iniquity. Satan. See you have to separate flesh and blood from enemy. Flesh and blood is not the enemy. We're created in the image of God.
2:11:00 - Workers of iniquity - Powers of darkness - We are not the workers of iniquity. Do we sometimes get in agreement with iniquity and give ourselves to less than our value because we don't know who we are? Do we pursue our own desires, wants and lusts? Absolutely. We've all been guilty. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. But still we're created in His image. And we're created for much more and better than iniquity. So deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Him. Be born again.
2:11:30 - You are not the workers of iniquity - The workers of iniquity - Who are the workers of iniquity? You have to read a Psalm in light of NT truth. You cannot think He is talking about people. We don't war against flesh and blood or God is just in a fight against people. Is He? No, the war between God and man is over. Jesus said, "Peace be unto you - John 20:21. While you were yet a sinner... Why? Because you are not a worker of iniquity. "You were not even created for iniquity son. I love you and you just don't know that. You've been following the stranger's voice." And He calls you into sonship. And all of the sudden you hear and obey the Father's voice because you know that you're his sheep. And a stranger's voice is revealed for what it is. And you don't follow it.
2:12:35 - Hell - So what is hell? And what was it created for? - False gods. Things that were never created to be god. False gods unto themselves. It was never created for man. It's everlasting punishment for fallen spirits. Workers of iniquity that come and take something created in the image of God and try to reduce it to its image.
2:13:05 - Legalistic mindset - Losing sight of the grace and mercy that saved us - So it's very legalistic and missing the heart of God when Christians assume the right to judge and cut off people. "Well God hates the workers of iniquity. And you need to straighten up. You're cut off." When did God ever treat you that way? If what they are saying is true then they had to do something right to earn their salvation or God could never have even acknowledged them. The Christians that are decreeing this are saying that they changed first - apart from grace and God in order to be qualified. And if they are not saying that then God saved them by grace and why would they cut grace off for someone else?
2:14:00 - And they say, "Yeah but they know what they are doing. Yeah but we preached to them and they still didn't change." Well, who of us got saved the first time they ever got convicted about their lives and what was wrong and right? [Examples of conviction] We did that for years and then we finally got born again. Well if God had come with His arms crossed, [bringing accusation against us for continuing in sin despite conviction]. That's what we are doing to people.
2:14:50 - God's goodness leads men to change - What changes men? The goodness of God. Man, if God came and pointed out all of your faults you would curl up and die. No, He came and revealed our value so that we would have something to live toward. You can see why I am so in love.
➡ 2:15:20 - OK, I thought we were in Matthew. How did we get in James? "He yearns for us." Back to Matthew 5...
➡ 2:16:00 - Legalistic mindset (cont.) - Do you see how valuable it is to take our time through this - things we have believed, things we were taught, concepts that the church embraces that have no sense of truth... They just have a natural appearance of wisdom - like the human wisdom side - the way that seems right. And that legalistic mentality that has crept in, where people almost lose sight of the mercy and grace that saved them. If I start seeing you that way it would mean that I am ignoring the fact that for 14 years God convicted me and I ignored Him. And if God saw my life as these people have been preaching as you have indicated, Then I would have no hope. And the whole time I am a lost son - believing a lie.
2:17:15 - And we'll see clear this way (how God sees me) then we'll see everyone that way (we'll see that He sees others that way too).
Run Well
2:17:20 - How do you interpret Mt. 7:22 - "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord..." Who is He talking about? - There are a couple of interpretations of that out there.
2:17:45 - Run hard that the "many" be not many - Difference in mindsets - That rocked me one day in my alone time with the Lord. The Lord told me to go read it. It's in red letters. So that is prophetic form. Many means many. That actually can't change then.
2:18:00 - This is how Jesus was teaching me the difference between perspectives. In my little peanut brain I realized that "many" is prophecy so it has to happen. It's a direct prophetic statement. This is what it's going to be like. And I lost it because I care. I got in a pitiful place. "What's the use. No matter how hard we try, no matter what we do, no matter how many we preach to, many are going to..." It sounded right. "I don't even know what the use is. Why even bother." God spoke into me an shuddered me. It felt like breathe to me when He spoke. "That's the very reason you don't draw back." He showed me that His mindset and my mindset apart from His wisdom are totally opposite spectrums. "That's the very reason you run harder - that you cross the finish line. You sow as many seeds as you can. So that the "many" isn't many." Fewer than if I say whatever. It should stir me to run all the harder so that the "many" is not many. God, make me more like you.
2:20:40 - Here is what I wanted to say: Matthew says that many will come... Mt. 7:22-23 - Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. - There is one thing - personal - that I believe that I heard the Lord say to me...
2:21:20 - The church's perspective on signs and wonders - That one always puzzles me. Because the way that the church uses that one (that passage) is when there is a ministry know for miracles or signs and wonders, the church will say, "Yeah well, 'many will say Lord, Lord' so they are probably one of those ministries. It's not about pursuing signs and wonders and miracles. Why don't we just keep feeding the poor. But these people chasing after signs and wonders are going to find that they don't even have a place. They are not even doing God's will." I've heard that a lot.
2:21:45 - Thinking too highly of yourself - For one thing you have to understand that they bore witness of themselves. They are the ones saying that they did all kinds of great and mighty things. So they saw bigger in their sight. They thought more of themselves than they ought.
2:22:10 - Out of touch with God's heart - I know little groups of people that huddle between four walls that have no communication with the church, that are hurt, that ate carrying loads of stuff and they just prophesy over each other. And if you talk to them you would think that God is changing the world. There are people who get pulled off into deceptions and they are living for self-driven, self-centered, -serving motives. Some way in that scripture it reveals that their heart was no way in connection with God's because He never... He's not talking about a backslidden Christian. "I never knew you." He is talking about someone who has never surrendered over their heart or themselves and their motive never became God's will.
2:22:55 - Pursuing ministry from the wrong motive - Their are people who pursue ministry for finances or as a job or to build a kingdom or to draw attention. Only God knows that stuff. I would never judge that. But there is some kind of meaning there (in Mt. 7:22-23) that has to do with the drive of your heart - the motive of your life - that has caused you to never know Him or never be known by Him.
2:23:25 - Depart from me you workers of iniquity - It was the motive of their heart. It was a sinful motive. I NEVER knew you.
2:23:35 - That alone should cause the church to stop pointing to every ministry that's moving in any kind of signs and wonders and thinking that's them (that this passage is directed towards them). Because He is saying He never knew you. So what you are suggesting is that people are false prophets moving by the devil - just like they suggested of Jesus. You would have to be saying that.
2:24:00 - Don't fall into fear that this scripture is talking about you - That's where it is important for you to know that you know Him. And know your heart and be fathered by Him. But don't you ever fall into fear, now that you are born again, that this scripture is talking about you. He said, "I NEVER knew you." So it has something to do with man's motive. That's all that I can tell you on that. And they are bearing witness of themselves. So they appeared to be something.
2:24:30 - Seven sons of Skiva - Who are you? - they got whupped. And the devil said, "Jesus I know. Paul I know. Who are you?" - Acts 19:15.
2:24:55 - Participant's comment - Every man has the opportunity to believe. Workers of iniquity.
2:25:15 - Deceptive appearances in these perilous last days - Don't try to pull out the tares - They know Him as God and they chose to not serve Him as God... But you would be amazed how deep that deception can take you - how you can have the form of godliness and deny the power of godliness, for in the last days it's perilous times. And there are men appearing to be what they absolutely are not. You have to be careful that you don't start trying to determine who that is and then to weed that garden because you'll pull out wheat with tares. You let it all just play out and you walk in love. And you know Him and you manifest Him. A lot of the church gets into trouble trying to decide who is who. "Well they are a false prophet." "They are a wolf in sheep's clothing." And the next thing you know we are trying to pull out the tares but pulling up a whole bunch of wheat.
2:26:30 - Participant's comment - "many more" (?)
2:26:50 - One is too much to be lost. What you are saying is beautiful.
2:26:55 - Run hard that the "many" be not many - Here is what I heard and I know I heard it because the Lord shuddered me when He said it. Because of that scripture is the reason that you live the purest life you can live and manifest the truth as much as you can. So that all have a chance to see (Him) and become... That the "many" isn't many. I had read that in a natural mindset and had fallen apart.
➡ 2:28:10 - We never read Matthew 5 but we are coming back tomorrow.