Becoming Love through Intimate Relationship
0:00 - Introductory comments - format, asking questions. The way you ask questions can affect the way that you hear. Be careful how you ask. Ask with humility. Greetings, etc.
Thinking about the sacrament of communion...
4:30 - Jesus said, "Follow me." - So what I see in Him, He can make me, if I'm willing - Jesus said, “Follow Me.” That's amazing. His grace is sufficient for me - for that to actually happen in me. What I see in His life I can go after and become. Jesus modeled the life we were created for. So when Jesus says, "Follow me," that's huge. If I couldn't follow Him, He wouldn't tell me to follow.
6:15 - We are in an intimate, all-in, covenant relationship with God through Jesus - Covenant - definition - all that is mine is yours and all that is yours is mine. We’re in covenant with God through Jesus. We sure want all that is His. But the greatest reciprocation of covenant is when all that is yours is His. That means you are not reserving rights - rights for the flesh - "yeah buts." Those days end.
➡ 7:35 - The goal of this school is to become love - To become the love we see in Jesus - We are doing this school not just to pump your head up with Christian knowledge but to become love... to become the revelation. Our goal is to become the reality of the finished work of Christ and receive every bit of grace that is available to do that.
8:05 - He gave Himself to see us restored to that love - So when we do the sacrament of communion we are saying "All that is yours is mine and all that is mine is yours. He gave His life. He suffered in His flesh. He was put on a cross. He died because He chose to, because He saw value in me. The sacrifice on His end was worth it on His end because He saw the value of it on my end - the redemption. That's intimate and personal.
8:35 - The sacrament of communion highlights what Jesus did - Receive and give back in prayer - So in the sacrament of communion I am receiving all that He is and in return I am giving myself to Him - in prayer, in communion. You died to get me back in - to get me home - to fill me with your Spirit - to give me your kingdom - to give me your promises and all of your faithfulness and all of your redemption. You died to obtain me and make me like you created me to be. There's a bigger picture than forgiveness of sins. The bigger picture is making me like Him. It's a way bigger picture than what I can get because He died and rose again. It's what I can BECOME because He died and rose again. The sacrament of communion brings that out - not just to receive but to give back yourself in a place of prayer.
9:55 - Transformation back to His love comes through intimate relationship - The greatest way your life changes is... God can breathe on you at an altar and it can have tremendous impact. But true, everyday, 24/7 impact [transformation] comes from your intimacy - your communion - your exchange with the Lord.
10:20 - You have the privilege of pursuing that relationship today - Transformation doesn't fall into your lap. It's not like one day the lights just come on because it's your time. If you are waiting on that, probably a lot of time is going by. You have the right to pursue Him - to seek Him - to draw near to Him. You have every right to approach Him. He is waiting for you. He wants you to come to Him. He wants you to look up and smile - unveiled face - "Here I am."
10:50 - He wants you with Him - He knows the real you - You're worth His blood - There's nothing holding you back - While you were yet a sinner, He died for you. Why did he do that? Because He looks way past what you had become through the fall. He knows who He made you to be - your potential - your destiny. He knows who you are when you are filled with His Spirit. He knows your worth - and you are worth His blood.
11:10 - Jesus removed your veil. There is no consciousness of sin after the born again experience. None. There is nothing holding me back now. I'm not struggling any more - with a consciousness of sin. I'm not dragging a load. He took that.
11:40 - Start by accepting that you are absolutely free to approach Him - And as you express faith, grace meets it - Until I really receive that and accept that, this grace that I so need to touch me and get on the inside, doesn't seem to come and click because there is no faith going this way (up to God). "Wow, I am lovable. There is great value to my life." Instead of: "I sure hope I'm valuable." Are you kidding? I am valuable to God or Jesus wouldn't have died.
Walk by Faith - Not by Feelings
12:15 - Begin by faith - Not by how you feel or how things seem - Faith - The just live by faith. Don't get frustrated with faith. Faith is awesome because it teaches you not to live sensual - by your feelings. That's what has robbed us our whole lives. "Well, I don't feel... Well, it doesn't seem..." Faith separates you from sensual living (living by what you feel). I love that I live by faith because it is teaching me to never live by how it seems or how I feel.
13:00 - Don't minister just to feelings - Minister the truth that brings freedom - We minister to each other based on feelings all of the time. We need to stop that and get a grip on faith. "What do you mean you don't feel loved?" And then we take their hand and say, "God would you come and let your love just..." And that's how we minister. But if they don't get established in the truth of God's love for them through the cross, they are going to need you to hold their hand again and keep affirming His love. It's like a drug that needs to be taken repeatedly for something that is not right.
13:40 - You don't ever have to take my hand. There is a place to grow to where... It's all through intimacy and communion and we are going to hit that real hard.
14:00 - Feelings are fun but live by faith - Grace attends faith - You're saved by grace through faith. Don't ever forget that. It's not just ministrations, manifestations, altar calls, laying hands on... Don't misunderstand. I'm cool with what Holy Spirit does. God's not offended. But people sometimes get offended because we are so into the ministry thing. Some of us find our identity through ministering and that's what makes us feel all fuzzy. I want to feel fuzzy when I am alone with Him.
14:30 - Alone time with Him is supremely important because that's where truth becomes real - Some people don't feel real good when they are alone with Him. My alone time with Him is more exciting to me than when I am with others.
15:00 - I'm not here to impress you. I'm impressed by God. I have relationship with God. He has transformed my life forever. Truths become real in your life because of that time alone with God where you are entering into those truths with Him.
15:20 - Our greatest privilege is to know Him - The greatest privilege of my life is being with Him - not just thinking about Him - not just talking with friends about Him. Your greatest blessing is that you might know Him - that you might be with Him.
15:45 - While you are driving... God, it's so good to be alive. You made me alive because you love me. Most Christians don't think that way. They are just hoping it's true.
Grace touches faith - Faith is crucial because that's what grace touches - And makes what you are believing real - And they never enter into that place of faith where grace can come and make it their reality.
16:10 - You're saved by grace through faith. Grace is God's ability - God's supernatural power - God's Spirit - God's movement - on your behalf. He does stuff. He makes things real.
16:25 - You can start believing through the cross that God loves you and all of the sudden, God loves you. (It becomes real.) In the midst of the greatest trial you know that God loves you. It's settled forever - God loves me.
16:45 - But you have to grow into that. You're not just going to read your Bible and the light come on one day. That's how we teach it. No, it's through faith. The just live by faith.
17:05 - Feelings are fun but don't live by them - Live by faith in truth - Grace touches faith and makes what you are believing real - So just because you don't feel lovable, that's not a problem. It's when you allow what you feel or don't feel to rise above what the gospel says that becomes a problem. Then you are reduced to live for the moment - for sensuality - for the fuzzy feeling of love.
17:25 - The fuzzy feeling of love is fuzzy and so fun. But there is something way more powerful - KNOWING that you are loved - where the question is settled - where you look in the mirror and realize that you are of great value - the person you see is loved by God. You want that, way before the fuzzy feeling.
18:00 - In fact, only then is the fuzzy feeling in the long run healthy. Or you will go chase the fuzzy feeling to make sure that you are still loved.
18:20 - Christians depend way too much on feelings - That's a weak position - There are people that need ministry all of the time to affirm that they are in and not out. "Oh God, touched me... He must still love me." And they run to the altar all the time to get touched. "At least He touched me..." You don't want to be in that position. That's actually a position of weakness. It's enabling you to continue that way - and when will that change?
18:45 - Exercise faith regardless of how you feel - There is a place where faith has to look at the finished work of Christ and say... My life has to be worth living no matter what I feel - no matter what life seems to suggest around me - how it feels like I've even failed in some of the things I have pursued. There is something so valuable about my life that You would put Your Son on the cross. You want me as Yours. And Lord I receive, right now, that value and I say thank you for teaching me - showing me. I accept this. You love me. My life is worth living and I thank you for making that alive in me.
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19:15 - Read the Bible to know Him - Not just because it's the Christian thing to do - When you start living that way you won't have to read your Bible because it's the Christian thing to do. People struggle reading their Bible because it's works. "Well, I should probably read my Bible. I'm a Christian." It has nothing to do with that. It's knowing Him. It's finding Him. It's like a treasure hunt. You find Him here. You find you here. You can't find Him without finding you because you are one. The clearer I see Him, the clearer I see me.
➡ 19:55 - We're going to talk about communion and union a whole lot.
20:00 - Philippians 2 - The mindset of Christ
20:15 - Don't start your Bible reading at a "therefore" - "In light of what I have just said..." So go back and get the context.
Let's start at Phil. 1:27 - Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; -
20:35 - Let me just interject something... Don't be in a hurry when you read your Bible. Don't just read to quote it or to know what it says. Read it to become it.
20:50 - The phrase "the faith" is talking about your identity - Not about fighting the devil - What are we to strive for? The faith of the gospel. Some people think that "fighting the good fight of faith - 1 Tim. 6:12" means fighting the devil. Every place in the Bible you find: "the faith," "contending for the faith," "walk in faith," "holding up the faith," "striving together for the faith," it carries the idea of securing the identity you have received now that Christ has come. It's the finished work of Christ revealed in your heart. It's who you are because of Him. "The faith" - It has nothing to do with fighting the devil.
21:30 - Armor of God - When you "put on the whole armor of God," that has nothing to do with punching the devil in the mouth. He loves when we teach that way. He loves the attention because he is a cut off, withering branch coming to nothing and when you pay him attention, he gets off on that. And he will poke you all the more to get more of a reaction and more attention. He'll just get a rise out of you.
22:00 - He loves that stuff because he is a cut off, withering branch. He's out, not in. You are in, not out.
22:10 - Weapons of our warfare - Replace the enemy's lies with truth - So the "weapon of your warfare" that is mighty for breaking down strongholds has nothing to do with binding and rebuking the devil like people do. It has to do with replacing every lie with truth. You'll find that truth is your best friend. Truth is the word of God and it will never fade away. Everything else fades away but not His word.
22:50 - We are going to learn to honor His word - not in a robotic, faith way but where I find myself in Him - where I see myself in Him in Him and the word of God brings life.
23:05 - So I am going to contend for that - contend for the faith. What does that mean? To maintain my identity and hold fast to who I am in the midst of chaos, other circumstances, other suggestions.
23:15 - We have unity - not uniformity of callings - What does it mean to strive together with "one mind"? - We can have different callings - different things burning in our hearts - and yet still have one mind. Different callings do not separate us. It doesn't divide us. In diversity you can find tremendous unity. We are all on the planet for the same reason - to become like Him and to manifest Him - and in that place fulfill our respective callings. We have unity, not uniformity. We all wake up for the same reason - to love like Jesus - to respond like Jesus - to think like Jesus - to follow Him. In doing that you go on to fulfill your calling.
24:55 - Don’t let your calling become your identity, your satisfaction - Then if your calling is not going well, you are not doing well. People let what they do in ministry become their identity and how they are doing. That's backwards and detrimental to your life. People push to get into full-time ministry thinking they have arrived.
25:45 - Your identity is found through Jesus alone - Don't let anything identify you but the finished work of Jesus and His love for you.
➡ We're going to take a lot of time talking about this. I'm throwing a lot of thoughts out there and we will cover them in the course of time. We're going to get intimate and personal. We're going to teach you how to walk this thing out. We're going to teach you how to commune with God and how to keep your heart in this place of one mind and one spirit.
26:35 - Faith of the gospel - Continue to be encouraged in who we are now that Christ has died and risen. And what does that lead to?...
26:40 - v.28 - And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. -
Stand in faith with no fear of adversity, enemies, trouble - So if I am standing steadfast in the faith and faith works through love and I understand that God loves me - that I am in and not out - and this thing is sealed - and I'm leaving a legacy no matter what it seems to be costing me - I am going to manifest His nature period - then I am in no way terrified by adversity, enemies, trouble.
27:05 - We will have trouble in this world - but He is with us - It's not even trouble. He said I'll be with you in time of trouble. He didn't say I'll keep you from the time of trouble. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers them out of them all - Ps. 34:19.
27:20 - We teach this self-serving gospel that's a free ride from adversity. Are you kidding? Your brothers are going through the same things across the world. Don't think it strange.
27:35 - Discouragement has it's roots in self-concern - Don't accommodate the feeling - If you think it is strange and you are despairing, you have to take a look at why you are in this thing called Christianity. And you have to face and realize that you are actually in it for your sake and your well being instead of manifesting Jesus.
28:00 - If you are discouraged, if you are weary-hearted, despairing... Here is what we do. We accommodate that stuff. We say, "Oh honey, I know how you must feel..." That's what we do. And we call that love. No. We can be sensitive and compassionate but at the same time share the strength of truth that pulls you out of a mindset that is producing nothing. You don't need me to feel sorry for you.
28:35 - Sometimes we want people to feel sorry for us. It justifies weakness - the flesh - emotional patterns that are all detrimental to your productivity and your freedom. We just want somebody to understand. But what you want them to understand isn't even the truth that will make you free. So why do they need to understand?
29:00 - Much of what the world calls "normal" is counterproductive to the kingdom - These are snares and traps. And we've been taught to live in this counterproductive way that I am talking about. We've been taught that it is "normal." In the church we accept it as the way it is because it's the way that it has always been.
29:30 - But everything changes now that Christ has come. Old things pass away, behold all things - the way I see, perceive, the motivations I live from - everything becomes new. I don't live new from all of the old places. All of that changes - the foundation I live from - the eye that I see through.
➡ 30:00 - Change happens through communion - Where grace meets your expression of faith - And all week long we are going to talk about communion and fellowship with God because that's where these things will change. In His light, we see light. And the more that I get alone with Him and yield to Him and get in agreement with Him and have a "want to" in my heart... (the more He changes me back into His image - love).
30:30 - Have a sincere desire for change - Get alone with Him and tell Him that - That "want to" in your heart, those tears in your eyes - that's already enough. That's all God needs. He just needs you to sincerely "want to". If you sincerely want change, that's the greatest place you can be. Because now God has something to work with.
30:55 - Sincere desire for change - It's one thing to say, "I wish one day that my life would change." But it's a different thing to get alone with God... - Father there is so much more value to my life. Father, I thank you for giving me wisdom and changing this. I don't want the way the world taught me. I don't want what I grew up learning and what I was brought up on. I want your way. I am going to pick up Your word in a minute and I am going to begin reading and I thank you for illuminating me and transforming me from the inside out. I don't believe that I should be hurt, discouraged, frustrated, despairing. And I am tending to feel that way a lot. But I believe there is so much more in You than that. And I believe that You love me. If you start in a simple place like that, it will begin to change your life.
31:30 - Grace is available for living more than "normal" - But you have to get out of agreement with the things that we have called "normal". I've heard it preached, "Well you know how it is brother, we all go through that." It puts us all in the same basket as if we can't really be free and change. Or have you ever heard a pastor say, "Well who hasn't blah-blahed this week? Well, if you didn't raise your hand you are in denial / lying." People can't even admit to being free. Because if someone is always doing good, you need to pull them aside and say, “Now, how are you really doing brother.” We are taught that nobody can really be OK. And yet we are preaching a gospel that we say sets you free.
33:25 - Don't underestimate what is available through God's grace - Grace is available for change - Through natural knowledge and human wisdom we are getting sucked in to selling the grace of God that is available (for real change) short. True spirituality is knowing that your life can change and that you can look through different eyes and your experience from yesterday and the flesh does not have to be who you are today. That there is change for me on the inside. That I really can be ok.
34:00 - Let your thinking and living be aligned with truth - That is Spirit led thinking. To be led by the Spirit is to be in agreement with truth. It's not just mystical, miraculous guidance. Led by the Spirit means living by truth. If you live by the flesh, it's death. If you live by the Spirit, it's life and peace. That's a drastic difference. This thing is worth pursuing. I'm glad we're all here.
35:00 - How do I get life and peace? Living by truth. How do I live by truth? Sometimes just by raw faith.
35:30 - Faith - The realization, the substance, the tangibility of your hope - the substance of things hoped for. That word "substance" means realization, tangibility. How can you realize your hope? Hope that is seen is not hope. Through knowing the nature of God and the love of God and the promise of God and the finished work of Christ. So by faith you live your life. It's deeper. Your hope takes you there. But you see the possibility through the blood, through the message God sent by sending His Son.
36:20 - He loves you - Don't question His love because of circumstances - If He didn't love me, why would He put His Son on the cross? Why don't we ask that question? Here's what we do... "Well, if God loved me, why did He let me get into that accident?" We challenge God's unfailing love based on natural circumstances pertaining to our well-being when He actually put His Son on the cross. If God didn't love me, why would He put His Son on the cross?
37:00 - Natural thinking causes problems with our spiritual growth. We accuse God of all kinds of stuff because we don't understand. Right thinking takes away wrong thinking. One strong foundation of truth can wipe away a whole mess of wrong thinking. For example - He loves me, period - not subject to change - not for sale. That puts everything else in alignment. It's settled.
38:15 - Spend time with Him to solidify foundational truths - We don't understand these foundational truths so we get tossed to and fro. We're double minded - maybe He loves me, maybe He doesn't. We swing between questioning and hope. When are you going to commune with God and be sure that He is your Father? that He loves you?
39:15 - Start by accepting His love - Regardless of whether you feel loved or not - You’re valuable to God. You are not a yard sale item. You are not junk. Even when you don’t feel valuable. He created you to be a son or daughter. He paid the highest price of the blood of His Son to obtain you. You're that precious to Him. You have to start there.
40:00 - But if you say, "Well I don't feel that precious..." You're just speaking out of your experience in life. You've got to live by faith. At some point you've got to choke the life out of those detrimental thoughts and feelings and know that they are not true. And in the face of those things stand up and be loved. Stand up and be forgiven. Stand up and be redeemed... when nobody is looking - in prayer alone with Him.
41:00 - We have relied on those moments of ministry at the altar. We grope for validation. Ministry at the alter can get unhealthy. Some people who often come to the altar searching would be well served to go home and get alone with Him and open their heart. If you seek Him, you will find Him. Are you really seeking Him or are you just going to a lot of conferences and altars?
42:30 - Disregard thoughts and feelings that would keep you from Him - Guilt, condemnation & shame - You have to know that you have the right to approach Him. If there is something that keeps you from looking up and approaching Him, it's all deception. It's all lies - guilt, condemnation, shame - lies, traps. It has nothing to do with truth. The blood of Jesus is speaking better things on your behalf... It's not based on what you did. It's based on what He did.
43:00 - You could have lived like a heathen this morning - only because you failed to see who you are - your value - not because you are a wretched evil person. And then because you lived like a heathen you think, "Yeah, I am a wretched, evil person." And now, all the more, you can't approach Him. The only reason you are doing what you are doing is because you fail to see who you are. When you see who you are, you lose the capacity to do the things that you did that you thought you were only worth.
Identity Determines Fruit
43:30 - Identity - Seeing who you are is so important - Identity determines your fruit - Identity is huge. I'm worth the blood. I'm not trying not to sin. I'm not this wretched bag of flesh that is just so ready to miss it. Don't think that you are just an evil, wretched mess that is walking this way only because Jesus died and rose again. That keeps you producing the same things and being the same things during the rest of your Christian life, when the Bible says there is newness of life - resurrection life. There is brand new identity and brand new fruit. Things change.
44:15 - You don't need to strive to produce good fruit in your own strength - Realize what kind of tree you are - We get trapped trying to bear good fruit. "I need to bear good fruit" because you know them by their fruit so I need to bear good fruit. That comes out in our teaching - "You'll know them by their fruit." - Mt. 7:16. But if your fruit is not in alignment with truth, guess what it means. You don't know what kind of tree you are. You just don't see the tree you are.
45:10 - It's not about the fruit, it's about the tree. (Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. - Matt. 12:33) If you make a tree good... What does that mean? If you make a tree righteous. If you tell the tree, "You are righteous. You're amazing. You're the will of God. You were planted by God and destined to live and destined to reign and destined to bear fruit," the tree realizes, "My life has purpose. I'm the will of God," and all of the sudden this tree is made good. It's a tree of righteousness - the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified - Is. 61:3.
45:50 - Good trees bear good fruit naturally - Understand that you have been made a good tree - We're not trying to go out and bear good fruit. We are becoming good trees. And good trees bear good fruit.
46:20 - An apple tree bears apples because it's already an apple tree. We try to bear righteous fruit so that we can say, "See, I really am righteous," because we don't believe we are. So we are striving to do good things because we are not affirmed that we've been made right.
46:45 - And we're not affirmed that we have a changed heart. The fact that you care means you've changed. The fact that you want to bear good fruit means that it's a good day for your heart. You could be a "whatever" person - "Whatever, God knows my heart." A lot of people in the church live that way.
47:35 - We were taught that we are flesh doomed to sin - If you believe the teaching that you are just a wretched piece of flesh and that's the best you can be, that is not the Spirit of God. That becomes an excuse for the flesh - a justification for sin. And it will prevent you from being able to hear the clear gospel because you'll get in defense of your own life. You'll defend what you were brought up in. So when the gospel does come, you can't even receive it.
48:20 - We were resistant even to what Jesus taught - Our minds need renewing - The same thing happened to Jesus. They could hear the authority in what He was saying. But they couldn't receive it and finally crucified Him as a heretic and blasphemer. And He was the word made flesh. Their minds were so contrary to truth that when Truth spoke, they couldn't even hear it. It just shows how we need to be renewed in the spirit of our minds.
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49:00 - In all your getting get understanding. (Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. - Prov. 4:7) It doesn't say, get blessing. It says get understanding. We get blessing crazed. We think that if we are blessed then we've found favor and that He loves us. No, He put His Son on the cross. That's how we know that He loves us.
50:30 - God has Dan stay in Phil. 2 for 13 weeks. Read it and become it. It's foudational for your life. Read it not to know it but to become it.
51:30 - v.27 - Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; -
The devil loses his grip on you as your perspective clears - How can the devil take your joy? - not terrified by our enemies. Why are we not terrified? Because we are standing together in one spirit, one mind in who we are. When you realize who you are the devil loses power.
52:00 - We've preached a self-serving gospel that blesses us instead of changes us. And if it changes us, the devil has lost his power. When you see through a clear eye, he has lost his power. When you realize that it is not about you, it's not about death, it's not about adversity - it's about Jesus, he has lost his power. So how could he take your joy?
52:45 - Jesus modeled faith for us - If Jesus didn't understand this and model this, Jesus wouldn't have had any joy in His heart to do what He did. He'd have thought that we are a bunch of losers. "Why am I bothering... If they don't get it by now they are never going to get it. The people that I healed are ready to crucify me."
53:05 - Outwardly, it looked like a pretty bad plan. It didn't look like things were going in a good direction. But yet He said, "If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me." He knew that the Spirit of God would be poured out - that the veil would be torn from top to bottom. He saw all of that by faith. He came and lived and died by faith. We know that He lived by faith because He pleased the Father and it's impossible to please God without faith. The author and giver of life is ready to go into the realm of death - and die once, for all - and face death - give Himself over to death. He's eternal. He's Life. He made Himself of no reputation and is going in to face death so that none of us ever die. And He does it by faith. "I'm entrusting my spirit to You. I believe it's going to happen just as it is written and on the third day I am going to rise. I give Myself to You." And He dies by faith.
54:20 - Jesus had to model faith and live faith on the earth as a man in the flesh. His every step was faith. When he looked around Him, things weren't going so well. There were so many miracles and yet not everybody was on board. It looked like it was working and then it looked like it wasn't working. But Jesus stuck to the plan - living by faith and loving sincerely - staying steadfast.
55:20 - Jesus modeled who we were created to be - Follow me - Jesus is such a hero. He modeled integrity, love, true honor, commitment. He modeled what we are all designed for. "This is who you are created to be. Now that you see, follow me."
55:50 - And we're still believing that we can't. We can. We can be sincere. We can be honorable. We can walk in true forgiveness. We can walk and not be jealous and envious and full of pride. We can walk and really love and care about people more than ourselves. He said we can. And He doesn't lie.
56:35 - Pastor who prayed for the sick and God didn’t come through - He was hurt and hard because of natural reasoning. God didn't honor His word. But the pastor's efforts were not done in love - not done in relationship but in a mechanical application of the word - testing God. Healing fun in Subway.
103:00 - Offense & discouragement are self-centered mindsets contrary to the kingdom - When you think in a manner that creates offense, disappointment, discouragement - it's always a lie - always a trap. Because you are thinking for yourself (thinking selfishly). If your mindset is producing those things, it's the fall of man.
103:40 - We even do that towards God and actually find fault and charge Him - the clay finding fault with the potter. The mind we do have is from Him. And all of the sudden it is rising above Him? That should be of great concern. That's the fall at it's finest. It's called the pride of man. Please don't do that ever.
104:10 - "Yeah but you don't understand. Why did God..." If that is your language, back up and calm down. It's taking you nowhere. He is nothing but good. He sent His Son to get us back.
No Fear
104:45 - v.28 - And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. -
When you walk without fear it shows that the devil has lost his grip on you - sign of their destruction - Every time you walk free from fear, that devil that is trying to provoke you to fear, it's just a proof to him that we are created in God's image and that we are Christ like, that we are eternal and that he is being judged.
105:00 - Don't give the devil the time of day - So it's not you reminding him of his future. I hear this all the time, "If the devil reminds you of your past, remind him of his future." Are you kidding? Don’t even talk to him or give him the time of day. He's a cut off withering branch coming to nothing. Why even look at him?
105:25 - Telling the devil off just shows that he is getting to you - When you spout off to him that just means he is getting to you. He's not even worth you thinking you are telling him off. The best he can do is agitate you now because he already knows his future. He's thinking, "At least I can just take something away from them, since I have lost everything." And he'll get you yelling at him all day.
105:55 - It's like when we come home from work. "How was your day? How was your boss?" "He was a jerk. But I sure gave him a piece of my mind." Then we feel like somebody. That's making yourself higher than others. It's self-righteous. It's sin. It's the fall of man. Every mountain is made low. Every valley is raised up. You're devaluing him and elevating you. It's a trap.
106:35 - You don't even have to do that to the devil. It's a trap.
106:45 - When the devil takes his best shot and you are not moved - That's what we are teaching toward - Not in any way terrified - That means it's as if he is not doing anything. He's taking his best shot and you are living as if he has done nothing. And you are just in love with Jesus and in love with people. He's just taken his best shot and you are just really free. ➡ That's where we are heading.
107:20 - When you are not terrified it's proof of his destruction but evidence of your salvation - proof that you have a good grip on salvation when you are not moved by the devil.
Suffering
107:40 - v.29 - For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; - given - a gift
We suffer in the sense that we have to be in the world but we don't live in agreement with the ways of the world - suffer for his sake - That means that in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation you've been separated by manifesting the divine nature of God. And you walk in love in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. You shine as a light.
108:05 - So it's not just granted that you can believe this but that you can manifest this. And "suffer" on account of this but it isn't really suffering.
108:15 - v.30 - Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me. -
108:25 - Suffer for His sake - All that means is to walk through the adversity... walking in a mindset of heaven while you are on the earth - a mindset of mercy and forgiveness and peacemaking when you are in the midst of unforgiveness, jealousy, pride and hostility. There is a suffering in that.
108:50 - Jesus endured suffering in the flesh - Jesus was tempted - Jesus suffered by the things with which He was tempted. The fact that He had to come as a man and just be tempted as a man at all points - there is a suffering in that. Suffering of just resisting. He has to endure that and go through the yuck of the temptations of sin. He suffered just in that He had to be around that and be in the flesh. It was a sacrifice.
109:30 - ...So that we could experience life in the Spirit - But He did that so that we could live in the Spirit. So it must be pretty important to God that you live in the Spirit that Jesus came and endured all of that to make this possible.
His Love for Us
109:50 - What God did for us is amazingly intimate - Do you see how intimate this is? Do you see how you are created to be His? What else would compel Him to come and do this. We didn't petition Him. He already came while we were yet sinners because He knew who we were in the first place.
110:25 - We are challenged to go out of our way for each other in life. It's a big deal if we go just a little out of our way for someone else. And they can't believe that you would do that. But think of the gospel - what Jesus did.
110:40 - Receive His love - Don't refuse His love in false humility - We say, "Oh, you shouldn't have..." We need to receive. If somebody buys you the nicest gift and you, in false humility say, "Oh, you shouldn't have..." And you can't wait to open that thing.
111:10 - But with the gospel so many times people say, "Oh, you shouldn't have," and they don't open. Getting gifts growing up. You can't wait to tear into them. Why don't we do that with the gospel. Why don't we look in the mirror and say, "Jesus, you should have died for them. Because you created them in your image. And what they were living before you came is nothing like your image. Thanks for seeing the value in their life." Most Christians don't do that.
112:15 - His love is not a mystery - He loves His kids and paid dearly to get us back - We sing songs about how strange and weird it is that You would pay this kind of price for me. Or why would you die for me? It's simple. We are lost sons and daughters, created for God's image and glory and destiny. So He paid a high price to obtain us. He found a treasure in a field and bought the whole field to obtain the treasure and that is us. So it's not a mystery any more. We're created to be His. Period.
What Defines You
➡ 112:55 - Jesus is the truth about who you really are - Don't be defined by anything else - Don't let anything else define your life (identify you). We'll probably spend a week on that topic because we let a lot of other stuff tell us who we are. For example: What my Aunt said about me years ago and I never forgot it. And now I need somebody to pray for me. Your Aunt didn't know your value or understand your life through the gospel. You don't need anybody to pray for you. Just get over what she said and understand that Jesus is the truth about your life.
113:30 - Why am I 33 yrs. old and still remembering what my Aunt said when I was 7 yrs. old? Why do we make that matter so much? Because we still live in logical, rational, human wisdom thinking and give it permission in our everyday lives. You want to get to the place where you don't even relate to that kind of thinking. Christ has come.
114:40 - And we think the more intimate the relationship the more damage is done. Parents - "Well I hear what you are preaching but it's hard because I never had a Daddy who loved me." I hear that all of the time. What does that have to do with anything now that Christ has come?
115:00 - You have a very good Father - Why are we looking for worth through a natural dad? You have a Father that loves you. You don't have to relate to a natural dad. Call no man on earth your father. You have a Father. Accept it by faith. He is in heaven. So why do you compare God to your natural experience with your dad when God gave His Son and has a whole different resume than your dad? Why do we compare the two and try to get to God through the natural. I don't even want a grid for that - I don't even want to be able to understand that.
116:00 - Your circumstances will never be perfect - Don't let circumstances be the foundation of your life - Here's what it will do. It will give permission for logic and the flesh to continue to run your life. And unless all of your ducks are in a row, you are not ok. Well whose duck are all in a row? Do you see the paradox? Who has the perfect scenario? And unless God touches me at the altar and delivers me... That's what you set yourself up for. Colossians 1:13 says you are delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love. You are already delivered.
116:50 - Because of this thinking you hear the phrases - "I'm waiting for my breakthrough." "I'm in my midnight hour." We are flesh-ruled, sensual-ruled and we find very little in our hearts at those times. But you don't have as much trouble as you think. You have a gospel and that is enough.
117:00 - BREAK
➡ 118:20 - I'm opening a lot of topics that will get detailed explanation through the course of this school. I'm just preaching out a big picture this morning.
119:45 - Philippians 2 - chapter 1:27-30 recap
120:10 - v.1 - If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, - consolation - If there is any reason to be encouraged, which there is... fellowship of the Spirit - relationship, communion, koinonia, interaction, interface. Holy Spirit is the real deal of your intimacy with God.
121:25 - v.2 - Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. - This is Paul talking like a father. He is caring for these people. What fulfills his joy? That they become likeminded.
122:00 - v.3 - Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. - Nothing means nothing in greek.
Manifest Him
We preach a self-centered gospel - A gospel that leaves us unchanged - In Christ we all denied ourselves so that we could pick up our cross and follow Jesus. Some of us thought that we came into the kingdom so that we could go to heaven and get blessed by God. No. We came into the kingdom to put off our old nature and take on the new. We came to Jesus not to go to heaven and for blessings. We came to Jesus because we were living for ourselves - gods unto ourselves - it's called the nature of the fall - and now we are denying ourselves...
124:00 - That's what we proclaim in this country. We sell the gospel so short. We're just trying to get everybody to verbalize a prayer to get our names in a book. But we still have the same frustrations, the same disappointments, motivations, mentalities, the same foundation of thinking... How self-serving is that - that I am just praying a prayer to go to heaven? And now it's like hell on the earth. And let's hold on tight because one day He is coming and we want to make sure that sure that we are ready.
124:40 - The gospel means denying self, taking up your cross and following - We're back in union with God - No, we are not praying a prayer to go to heaven. We are denying our self, picking up our cross and following Jesus. Heaven is coming back inside of us. We are back in union with God again. The Spirit of God is in us. We have fellowship with Holy Spirit. The old man is dead. The new man is alive. That's supposed to become a reality. And we grow up into that.
125:10 - But we are not going to grow up if we don't understand. We are destroyed for the lack of knowledge. If we are just waiting to go to heaven we are going to be reduced to a boring Christian life - trying to be kind of nice. No wonder people are backsliding. We don't understand the beauty of our salvation. This is a glorious thing.
125:40 - We're not just trying to walk a straight line and do a little better than people who don't go to church.
126:00 - Service is not a substitute for manifesting God - We've allowed service within the church to take the place of our Christian function. And that is what becomes our ministry within the church. No, your ministry is flowing in the love of God. Your ministry is being like Jesus.
126:30 - v.2 - We have different callings but one mind - We all wake up for the same purpose to manifest the nature of God - We have different callings - diversity in the body yet we are called to have one mind, one accord. How is that possible? We all wake up for the same reason. We all understand why we are Christians. We all understand why He died and rose again. We all understand why we are in this thing. It's to manifest the nature of God - to be restored back to the image of God - to be sons and daughters - and to be known on the earth because of our love - to walk in the light - to shine as a light. That's our place. That's so that the world might know Him because they have met you. They get a glimpse of your Father through your life.
127:50 - Living hurt and disappointed doesn't manifest who He is - If you are hurt, disappointed, only living life as it comes, how are we ever going to manifest that truth? We have to get a bigger and better view of why we are saved. I'm saved to take on His nature - His image, to be transformed from the inside out, to clean the inside of the cup so that the outside is clean. It's what we were talking about - becoming a good tree, so that I can finally bear good fruit.
128:15 - I don't have to strive to be righteous - He has made me righteous - And a righteous tree produces righteous fruit - Why do I do the works of righteousness? "Well, you are supposed to brother." No, I do the works of righteousness because I am a righteous tree. I've been made righteous.
128:40 - Righteousness - means to be made right with God - no sense of guilt, condemnation or shame - to stand right before God. You can't possibly do that on your own. It's the blood of Jesus that makes that possible. It's the finished work of the cross. It's not what you've done. It's what He has done that gives you the ability to be righteous.
129:05 - The works of righteousness - or living in righteousness - is the expression of the nature and character of God. Any manifestation of the nature and character and attributes of God.
129:30 - Receive from God - And become what you receive - So if you are righteous through the blood and made right with God and understand in your relationship with God... "You love me. You made me right. I stand before you spotless, pure, clean and beautiful in your sight. You love me and desire me," you are honoring Him by receiving Him. And all of the sudden you are going to start becoming like Him because the things that you honor and respect (like His mercy, love, forgiveness, etc) you start seeing through that because you are accepting and believing that. So you are not legalistically, "Well, I need to forgive them so that I can stay forgiven." No, you forgive because you are forgiven. You are forgiving because you are forgiven. You are receiving forgiveness and guess what it births in you... the ability to forgive - the nature of God.
130:45 - So you are made righteous before God through the cross and now you are empowered to live that righteousness (toward others). Now you can show mercy, where you had no capacity at that level before. Because your whole mind has changed, your whole eye (perspective)... the way God sees your life and what justified you and made you clean... all the sudden you see with a bigger view. And what has become your reality (with God) becomes your reality (towards others).
131:20 - The purpose of the cross is you being transformed to look like Him - It's the whole purpose of the cross. The whole purpose of the cross isn't just that you are forgiven but that you become living, breathing, walking forgiveness. The whole purpose of the cross is Christ reproducing Himself after His own kind. One seed dying, falling to the ground, springing up much fruit after it's own kind. Christians - little Christ-like ones. The body of Christ. This is what He sees.
See Your Value
132:00 - You are so valuable to God - Look what He paid for you - You're worth the blood - You are so worth the blood of Jesus to Him or He wouldn't have come. He thinks so. Would you buy an article of clothing for $50 if you didn't think it was worth $50? Your desire to have that values it at what you paid up for it. So look what He paid for you. You are worth the blood of Jesus to God the Father. Not close to worth it, you are totally worth it because He paid that.
132:40 - Receive & accept that you are valuable to God - Don't let your value be defined through anything else - And you receiving that and accepting that is a really big deal. "Hey, man of God." Who? Are you talking to me? You must have meant someone else. Do you know why we do that? Because we have defined ourselves through life and the value of our lives through life. We are deceived. You cannot find the true value of your life through life (through what the circumstances of your life seem to say about you). You can't find it through your family lineage, through memories of childhood... You will not find the true value of your life except through the finished work of Christ Jesus. Christ crucified is the truth about you - period. And if somebody in your life is not saying the same thing that the cross is, it's because they are not seeing the same thing. If somebody mistreats you why would you let that be the end of the world for you and be identified through that stuff. You have to see yourself through Him.
134:00 - That doesn't give you permission for weakness, it puts integrity in your life. It's not an easy out. It's actually the transformation of your life. That's why the biggest challenge for the Christian is accepting this good news - to where it is a big deal and they stay excited about it, where they enter in long enough to where it becomes their joy.
The Enemy's Opposition
134:30 - There is a strategy set against you discovering who and why you are - It's the biggest challenge because the enemy knows that if the light ever comes on, it's over, the room is light. He is so afraid that the light is going to come on. He'll try to keep you from pursuing, seeking. He'll give you a million reasons why this can't work or you can't seek Him or frustrations of the flesh. Realize that there is a spiritual strategy set against you to keep you from the very thing your heart is crying for - trying to frustrate you and keep you from seeking and finding.
135:25 - The enemy works to keep you from uncovering the truth - If the authorities of the earth had known what they were doing, they wouldn't have crucified the Son of God, but they did. So now they are playing the big cover up. But He is dead and raised to life. So He did what He came to do. And it is all fulfilled and accomplished. And the just live by faith. So satan is trying to get us to live sensual, natural reality, human wisdom and trying to cover up.
135:50 - Satan blew it when He killed Jesus - Through Jesus' life we are restored to who we were created to be - God in His wisdom played the devil like a pawn. God played on satan's instinct of steal, kill, destroy. God drew back and let darkness do what it does. And He let darkness play right into the hand of His wisdom. Because satan thinks to kill is to win. But when satan killed Jesus, he lost really big. Satan killed an innocent man and shed innocent blood. And now the guilty can go free because that blood goes to the mercy seat and there is mercy on the earth. Man is no longer held accountable for his sin - because one died, all can live. That's the gospel.
137:00 - All satan knows to do is kill Him. But through His life raised, we are justified (Rom. 4:25). And He didn't stop there. Jesus took His blood into the throne room of heaven and applied His blood on the mercy seat and then sat down on that seat and forever represents man before God.
137:20 - Now Holy Spirit walks into the realm of death and lights up the place. Light is greater than dark. So where there is light there is no darkness. He goes into darkness and darkness is no longer darkness. And Holy Spirit raises Christ from the dead. Death could not hold Him. He broke the chains of death and judgement and the law of sin. And now the law of the Spirit of life makes us free. He raises Jesus from the dead and trumps death forever.
Transformed to Manifest Him
138:30 - He went to the extreme of that - being beaten and battered and dying - so that He could put the Holy Spirit back inside of us so that we could be what we were originally created to be. We've reduced it to a verbal prayer to get our name in a book.
139:00 - The gospel is about transformation - So that people see Christ through us - The gospel is not getting everybody on the planet to pray a prayer. It's getting our lives transformed so people see Christ in us. God wants to love the world through us, heal through us.
139:30 - Don't ever forget this: "For God so loved... that He gave." - John 3:16. Why do we give? Because it's the Christian thing to do? Because we have become love and that's what love does. It's more blessed to give than to receive. That doesn't mean that we can't receive. We are just big-time givers. Giving mercy, forgiveness etc.
140:15 - Don't be afraid to show love and mercy when someone falls short - We're afraid of enabling - Don't be so wrapped up in someone's "wrong" that you miss the sorrow of their heart. You are just holding them captive based on their error instead of freeing them to go bear good fruit. We do it all the time because we are afraid to enable. It's not your place to draw the line on that one. It's your place to show love and mercy.
Correcting Others
140:40 - Correct others only from a motive of love - Correct because you see their value - Even when I do correct, I have to make sure that... If you came to me and I felt like I had to talk to you about something, God forbid that I talk to you just that you might be wrong. It's because I see the value of your life - God's calling on your life - where you might not see something or where it would take you. The only reason I would have to correct you is because I love you. If I just want to correct him just because he is wrong, I ought to keep my mouth shut and find somebody who loves him to talk to him. If it is just a right and wrong thing their is very little grace on that.
141:25 - Correct kids for their sake - because you see a bigger picture - not out of frustration - We're afraid to preach love like it is because we think it enables people to stay the same. Are you kidding? It's the answer of our lives changed. Even with your children... Always correct your children through a heart of love for their sake because you see a bigger picture than how maybe their repetitive action is making you feel. "I told you three times now..." And you actually teach them a picture that that's how God is. And they draw out of that leagalism - "If I do good, I am accepted." We ingrain that into our children. We try to teach them love and mercy but we correct them, "I told you three times now..." and then we drop the hammer - rather than get them alone and quiet and the only reason that you are talking is for their sake - not because they are a frustration to you.
143:00 - Correct others only from the right motive - You see their value and their destiny - There are corrections in the church. But where we have gone wrong... we have corrected people because they are wrong not because they are valuable and worth the blood and because of where their wrong is taking them - detrimental to their productivity and their destiny and their legacy. We correct people because they are a thorn in our flesh or a stumbling block in our home group. We set them straight just to take the pressure off of us. We discipline in the church making an open show of it. We forget compassion and love and correcting for the sake of people.
144:00 - Restore quickly the one you correct. Don't leave them in the situation where they are just aware of what they did wrong. Embrace them and don't give satan a foothold in our church.
144:30 - Don't focus as much on "right and wrong" but on their extreme value and how this degrades that value - Love and forgiveness is not just a cushy thing - ignoring sin. That's not love and forgiveness. Counseling young girls and guys. They know what's right but because they are lacking this relationship where God reality is fueling them... They just know that they "shouldn't" but they want to. And the desire and the "need to" outweighs the integrity of knowing that it is wrong. I don't teach "right and wrong." There's no grace there. So they cross the line of wrong and it's bitter sweet. It was wrong but "Oh my God." And now they are in the dark. In the secret.
145:45 - I counsel them, "Don't you do this. This is what will happen. And I talk out of many experiences." I encourage them to God. But two months later they come into my office bawling and you know exactly what is going on. And you sit and cry again, not being mad at them. Being mad with them is a zero.
146:15 - It's about trying to get people to see their extreme value so they live up to that value and never devalue themselves or their conscience through their actions. There are places where you can't find me in life because I am way to valuable to be there.
God Reality brings Transformation
➡ 146:45 - Pursue God reality - God reality prevents temptation from having a foothold - Your relationship with the Lord, your God reality... Your personal God reality is what will carry you through life. Not your knowledge of the scriptures and not your church attendance. The level of God reality that you possess - and we are going to camp there all week... All this week in growing in God reality - to where these things are not spiritual truths or scriptural truths but where you are growing in to where they are your revelation - that when you are all alone, you are OK and you understand that you're worth His life and your life is worth living - where you are growing in that - where temptations are coming and you don't even have a grid for the temptation. They just come because they are coming to man but they just pass by you because there is nothing to even hold to. Because God reality in your life has grown you beyond the ability to even struggle there. He's changed you from the inside out. And you are not just trying (striving) to be a better person.
148:40 - Submitting to old temptations - It's not a possibility because of what I see. My life has way more value than that. And the level of God reality that I carry is way beyond that because He is with me.
149:05 - He's a good driver.
Identity through Others?
150:10 - v.3 - Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. - nothing from selfishness. That can be simple - where you are not the focus of your day, your life, how things are going for you, how people are thinking about you. You want a good reputation, a good name but you're not...
150:40 - Jesus was validated through His relationship with the Father - Not through the validation of men - In John 2 people started to believe in Jesus because of the things that He was doing. John 2:23-24 but Jesus would not entrust Himself to them because He knew all men and needed no one to testify of men… It almost sounds like He is an island to Himself, a little high minded like, "I don't care what you think." That isn't what it means. He so committed Himself to us that He gave His life for us. Here is what it means: He didn’t allow them to determine His spiritual well being or dictate His identity. The fact that they were accepting Him and believing Him was not what motivated Him and made Him OK. He was OK because He was in the Father and the Father in Him.
151:45 - We try to find validation through one another - That's twisted - Men are flighty and change. Now they are calling for Barabbas and putting Jesus on the cross. Jesus gave Himself to people but didn’t get His identity from them. In selfishness we give ourselves to people to get our identity from them. We are willing to give because we are getting. That is why we are so brokenhearted and hurting when it doesn't work out because we are trying to find ourselves through one another. It's the way we were taught to live - the way that seems right to men. You were taught that that was normal. It's not normal. It's twisted.
153:40 - But here was Jesus. He was not getting His identity from them but was giving Himself totally to them. How selfless and sweet is that? That was no strings attached.
153:45 - Self-centered love - "I love you for me" / "I need you" - We desperately seek love - We say, "I love you. Do you love me?" And we are waiting for the response. All you are saying is, "I love you for me." It reduces to "I need you." I'm getting something from you that makes me feel better so please keep giving it to me. That is not what Jesus did. Jesus came and said, "I love you." We were brought up - "I need you." I love you for my sake.
154:40 - The phrase "I love you" has been so butchered in life because people want to so believe that they are loved and lovable. You can live like a wretch toward someone and not even want change and just pull out the card, "I love you." And people believe it because they are so desperate to believe that they are loved.
155:25 - Jesus gave Himself from a position of strength - That's the difference with Jesus. He didn't commit Himself but He gave Himself. That is a strong position. That other position is vulnerable. You're only as good as the faithfulness of man. You’re only as good as people are treating you.
Identity through Ministry?
156:10 - Don't draw identity from being used by God - v.3 - others better than yourself - So you are not ministering to draw attention to yourself. You don't even want God to give you a word to make yourself feel spiritual. God gives you a word because you are already spiritual - because you are in contact with Him - in touch with Him and His Spirit lives in you. It's not "Oh my God, I was used by God." And we draw our identity from being used by God. All that reveals is that you were a mess up until that point and unsure and unstable and undecided. It's fun when God uses you - enjoy that - but don't draw identity from that. You’re not a son because He moves through you. No, you’re a son first and then He moves through you. That's the healthy way. Or you’re only as good as He moves through you. You'll jump from ministry experience to ministry experience. You'll learn to ride your gift and get your identity through your gift instead of your sonship. And ministry will determine who you are instead of His finished work. Some people strive to be used by God because they are craving affirmation from God. That should already be affirmed. It's not that you prophesy but that you are receiving love and forgiveness - that your heart is sincere and pure - and the pure in heart shall see God.
158:15 - There are people who move in their gift but they don't have clear consciences. It's tough if you have that gift and you want to be free. You want to be free first.
158:50 - Conference speakers without clean consciences - with poor relationships.
159:15 - Is it possible to function in a gift without being free - in right relationship? Yes. The gifts and callings are without repentance. You can have confidence in the anointing on your life and still not have a clear conscience or low identity. God can move through the backslidden to reach a person that He loves.
159:40 - Backslidden man prays for lady in wheelchair - amazing healing - call Dan. Here we are trying to do everything right to move in that power and he is doing everything wrong and he moved in that power. It's probably a grace thing through the finished work of Christ. And it probably flows through healthy identity.
204:00 - Isn't it amazing how none of the man's issues stopped God from flowing through him to reach that person. You have to be careful not to let that be your Christian identity. "Everything must be cool. God is healing through me." Yet have a violated conscience and know that their are issues in your life. God heals through the backslidden because He loves people.
Confirmation of Sonship Happens in the Secret Place
204:30 - A good barometer of your spiritual well-being is your desire and ability to be alone with Him - Not that He heals through you - God healing through you isn't your affirmation of spirituality. It's just the evidence that He loves people. Here is a good barometer of your spirituality: your ability to close the door behind you, look up and face Him and know He loves you. And feel really good about doing this no matter what. Some of us don't even have a strong desire to do that because we believe bad things about ourselves. We don't believe that we can do that. You can do that. He is waiting.
205:20 - We find confidence praying in groups. But don't just pray when everybody is praying. But get alone in the secret. And your Daddy who is in secret will see you there and He'll reward you in the open. What are you seeking in secret? You are seeking Him there. What does He reward you with in the open? Him.
205:55 - Pursue knowing Him - Even Paul was still pursuing Him - That's our whole pursuit in life is Him. "That I might know Him..." Phil 3:10 Here is the apostle Paul crying out to know Him - passion in his heart. Because there is a time when he left a man by the road sick (Trophimus), there is a time when he told Timothy to take a little wine for your stomach and yet he is preaching redemption and yet he is not seeing it as his reality in every area of his life. And then he is humbly recording this phrase, "That I might know Him..."
206:40 - We tend to make Paul our standard instead of Jesus when it comes to healing by bringing up the thorn in the flesh, Trophimus, wine for Timothy, etc. And we forget that Paul, himself was crying out to know Him more. Why would a man who knew Him as He could be known cry out to know Him more. Because there are some things that he writing about that he is not even seeing manifested in his life. But yet he knows that it is God - he knows that it's true.
208:00 - At the last church Dan has people who had never prayed for the sick - Had the sick line up in front of them - they’re already qualified to heal. Be a good tree.
The Mind of Christ - Humility
209:00 - v.4 - Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. -
209:15 - v.5 - Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: -
➡ The mind of Christ is to be in us - This is what I was trying to get to all morning. This is huge. - Let this mind - the one he is about to describe, be in you. The mindset that made Jesus tick - is about to be disclosed / revealed - is to be in us - what motivated Jesus - what made Him who He was - the mind He lived from. And I want that be your mind too.
210:15 - Holy Spirit had me camping in this chapter for 13 weeks and read nothing else. Phil. 2 had become alive in me. So when I read Phil 3, I understood it. I wasn't just getting more Bible knowledge.
211:00 - Knowledge vs. Knowing - Knowledge can puff you up. It's love that edifies. Knowing about Him is not what transforms your life. Knowing Him is what transforms your life. You can quote your whole Bible from memory and still not know Him. The word comes alive when you have spent time with Him. It's not just a scripture. It's life. It's truth.
So here is the mind that was in Jesus...
211:45 - v.6 - Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: - Even though He was who He was... He called Himself the Son of man constantly. He didn't come to be served but to serve. He served; He washed disciples feet; He died on the cross. He didn't come and demand that we die for Him. That's a pretty different mindset. [Cartoon characters wanting to rule the world. What ruling from a worldly perspective looks like. "I'm in charge!" Money, fame, power.] He brought a different picture of power and ruling.
213:30 - v.7 - But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: -
Jesus humbled Himself - He emptied Himself of His privilege - made Himself - It was a choice. He wasn't trying to gain reputation like the world does. He made Himself of no reputation.
214:30 - Jesus was born in a manger - no fanfare - Joseph and Mary. If man knew ahead of time that the Son of God was about to be born, just think how they would have catered to her - rolled out the red carpet... Holy Spirit says to Mary & Joseph, "It was Me. I put the Son of God in there."
215:25 - Announcement of birth to shepherds.
215:40 - A few wise men searching Him out.
216:00 - Baptized by John - no fanfare. 30 years old. Nobody has a clue. He has not announced, isn't showing off, not trying to prove Himself.
216:35 - Even when He did miracles, He didn't seek reputation, power - "Shhh, don't tell anybody." Not like us, "Dude, God is moving through me!" Sometimes that can get weird. Jesus didn't do that. He's constantly manifesting and encouraging the disciples that they can follow. He doesn't want them to admire Him as much as He wants them to follow Him.
218:00 - Foot washing - powerful. Jesus humbled Himself. Peter doesn't want to allow. Peter got over it real quick - wash all of me.
218:15 - Freaking out over foot washing - powerful experience - but my first reaction was like Peter's.
2:19:30 - Peter's reaction. It was a struggle. He's the Lord! Jesus wasn't having any problem with it.
220:10 - Jesus put Himself in that position. Jesus gave His life. No one took it from Him.
220:30 - So Jesus made Himself... That means that Jesus emptied Himself of His privileges - laid aside His privilege.
220:35 - Lay aside your "rights" - When you are a Christian you lay aside your rights - that's what denying yourself means. How do you have rights if you died? Why are you still living by the world's standards? The way that seems right to a man seems right.
221:00 - v.8-11 - And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. -
Humility and grace go hand in hand - therefore - because of... this heart, this motive - God highly exalted Him. You have to die before you can ever think of living. You have to be humble before you can ever think that grace is going to overtake your life. Grace and humility go hand in hand.
221:50 - v.12-16 - Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. -
He humbled Himself - And we are to follow Him - Now Paul goes on to talk to you and me - therefore - because this is true with Him - you are to shine. Jesus lived this way. Let this mind be in you and we follow Him. Humble yourself. You are not doing that to be exalted. Humility is the exalted place. (1 Peter 5:6) Service, surrender. Dying is where life is found.
222:45 - Giving is more blessed than receiving. Why? Because it gets your mind off of you and what you can obtain. It's not giving to get. It's giving to give.
Sacrament of Communion
223:30 - Communion - Communion prayer
224:40 - Exchange of covenant
225:10 - Jesus is at the right hand of God - still serving mankind.
226:00 - Body broken; He held back nothing - said follow me - deny himself - have same mind that was also in me. Don’t have selfish ambition.
227:45 - Communion prayer - all that is mine is yours - free of rights. Blood. Class Prayer - not problem driven; I have hope and future.