1:05 - There is something about you pursuing Him when you are all alone that will so supersede anything you will do when you gather together - to a degree. But when you have God reality, once you are together it amplifies things. But there is something about getting alone with Him when nobody is looking and just believing.
Communing through The Sacrament of Communion
1:45 - We are in covenant with God - Two become one - Covenant - all that is mine is yours and all that is yours is mine. Two entering in together. Two becoming one.
2:15 - God’s covenant with Abraham - Genesis 15 - God, Himself came.
2:35 - Traditionally the weaker party walks between the meat. May the gods do so to me and more if I ever break this covenant. But God did that part of the ritual - pointing to Jesus coming in the flesh - the lamb slain. That’s the humility, the love, the amazingness of God.
3:55 - Communing - through the Sacrament of Communion
1 Corinthians 11 - v.23 - For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
- Parallels of the cross
6:30 - It's a dual covenant - The blood removes sin - The body removes sin's effect in our bodies - blood - removes acts of sin; body - removes effects of sin (the effects of our sin on us and the effects of the sin of others on us - hurts) - by His stripes we are healed.
6:40 - It’s not just the forgiveness of sins. It’s redemption from sin.
7:00 - Communing through the Sacrament of Communion - You created me for wholeness. You created me to be in Your presence. Jesus, You took sin and the effects of sin - the fall of man and everything that Adam was never created to be - that he became because of that tree (knowledge of good and evil) you took away from me. I stand before You, through this truth (body and blood), as if I had never eaten from that tree. So how can sin have dominion over me? You have abolished sin. You have crushed sin. And You have taken it away from me.
8:00 - Running - something snapped in my knee - authority rose up - kept on pushing - about the 5th step, felt fine
11:25 - I'm looking through this truth. It's not God, get me out of this inconvenience. Healing is love, truth - it's relationship - it’s the finished work. I see my place - subdue not be subdued - not arrogant - not presumptuous - it’s who I am now - who we are growing into.
12:00 - Torn knee on the job - macho motivation - grandpa - me proving myself - foot caught between skids - godly sorrow - knee has to go back - running up steps - head is spinning - perspective.
26:10 - The technicalities of what was wrong with my knee had nothing to do with nothing. Who God is and the finished work of Christ is why I took off on the steps.
➡ 26:25 - Receive what God has provided - the privilege of being one with Him - Let Him become your reality - The reason I am sharing all this is because as we do the sacrament of communion, I want you to see that this has to become our reality. This isn’t just tradition or sentimentality. No, we want to receive the fruit and the truth and the blessing and the manifestation of communion. Co-union with God.
26:50 - Torn knee cont. - settle down and hold onto truth - your mind wants to go 20 other places - Holy Spirit sews knee - motive to see knee healed - Doctor slaps knee.
33:00 - We turn this beautiful relationship into a method we apply to get a better knee.
33:25 - Torn knee cont. - walking back into work - 5 mo. rehab - It’s what I’ve been telling you - You really do believe this stuff don't you.
34:00 - Communion is not just a doctrine. It's a reality. It can be lived - walked out.
35:40 - Let your motivation for seeking healing be deeper than just "Help!" - My motivation was deeper than just “help.” If your motivation is just help, 2 days has your mind spinning with questions and the finished work of Christ (faith) is challenged. But if your motive is love and relationship and growing in Him, the finished work of Christ challenges the torn knee (the circumstances).
36:20 - v.24,25 - And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. -
We are in a mercy-filled new covenant relationship - new covenant - I love you. And even if you make a mistake, repent and be sincere and want change. And I’ll cause your life to be lived like you never made a mistake.
36:50 - New covenant mercy. Some repercussion of sin in the natural but as far as the spirit - judgement, sickness - just as if you never sinned.
37:30 - Opening doors for sickness - permission for sickness - headaches. Shut the door - change the way you think. Don’t wear it, receive it - it’s not your garment.
39:05 - as often as you will - contact point of faith - remembering. You can do this every day.
40:20 - v.26 - For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. -
40:25 - Communing through the Sacrament of Communion - You made provision for me. You died so I could live. You gave Yourself that I have life. You became what I was so that I could become what You are. You are a Son and I am a son. I'm made in Your image. Thank You for loving me. You gave it all. You didn't reserve anything. You gave me all that You were and all that was Yours was mine. And now in return, all that is mine is Yours. I honor You with my life.
Responsibility for Your Motives
➡ 41:05 - v.27 - Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. -
Get your motive straight for receiving communion - Be sincere and understand the purpose - I’m just talking about heart and purpose and motive. Getting ourselves in a worthy manner.
41:20 - Context - Some people were coming early getting drunk and eating the bread for lunch.
41:55 - In an unworthy manner - hidden sin, conscience violated, faith shipwrecked - of course you don't want to take communion in that way. But unworthy could mean simply - without sincerity of heart - true understanding - the power, the holiness, the impact. Just getting religious and traditional with it - going through the motions. You are the steward of your heart - you keep yourself alive (stirred up).
42:55 - v.28 - But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. - Examine himself - Just check your heart out - motive - make sure you are not religious - make sure there is faith in it. You should examine your motives in going to church too...
43:20 - Gathering together - not just religion - Father, what an honor to be in a family. Father, I thank You that today we can meet with You corporately in Your presence. And I thank You that You come and lavish us with Your love and with understanding. I thank You that as we gather together, we become more like You and when we leave, we'll look more like You. What an honor to see my brothers and sisters today. I'm desiring to hear Your voice today. Bless pastor and let him tear it up...
43:50 - Get your motive straight for going to church - To stir one another up in love and good works - Not really connecting with God but just going because you are a Christian and it’s Sunday.
44:00 - Motives - Keep your heart sincere - These are the little, simple things that are huge in your life. If you begin to enter into this communion and be sincere in everything you do and have purpose behind it and have true motivation, you’ll walk in a greater revelation and understanding of everything you are walking in.
44:45 - Wrap faith around everything you are doing. Have vision behind everything you are doing. And not be trapped in tradition.
45:10 - Purpose in our gathering - Called to gather together to stir one another up in 1) love and 2) good works. Why is it in that order? Because it’s not just good works. Everything flows out of love. If we stir up love, there will be good works. We gather to stay focused in the midst of a dark age, twisted generation. Focused on who we really are and not get drawn away. Encourage one another daily. It's an honor to gather.
46:00 - Worship leaders shouldn’t have to plow the atmosphere - to activate the people - lead people into God’s presence. We should already be cranking. Worship conferences.
46:45 - You are responsible for your motives - You are the steward of your heart. You are the one responsible for all those motives. You’re the one who gives yourself to what you give yourself to. That’s what we’ve got to realize. I’ve got to shake myself if I need to.
Discipline of the Flesh & Running Well
47:20 - Voice of the flesh - Just say, Flesh, you died a long time ago. Why do I hear your voice? Shut up and follow. What do you mean you don’t want to? You don’t have a voice in this. You died, remember? - You live out of your spirit.
47:20 - I’m talking about disciplining yourself in a good way. Calling your flesh dead. That's not legalism - to get your flesh hushed.
47:35 - Keep your flesh submitted - Father, I thank You that You have made me spirit. I'm a spirit. I am in touch with the Spirit of the living God. You are revealing all things to me. I live out of my spirit. The Spirit of God rules and dominates my life. And You are renewing and changing my mind through truth. And my mind is in agreement with my spirit and my flesh says, "Yes, sir!" Father, I thank You that my spirit is willing and my flesh is strong because my whole being is in agreement with truth. And I am running this race worthy of a prize.
48:10 - Objection: Our flesh is weak - "Well, Jesus said our flesh is weak." Our flesh is weak if you don’t stay in a place of prayer and focus. Watch and pray lest you fall - spirit is willing but the flesh is weak (Mt. 26:41). So don’t give it a voice. Keep it submitted and surrendered. Keep it dead.
48:30 - Father, I thank You that this old man is dead. He is buried so deep, he is never coming up. He is under mounds and mounds of truth. He's way deeper than six feet. He's under heaps and mounds of truth and he will never live again... I've prayed this stuff for years. And I mean it. I want to know Him.
49:30 - Don’t say you are hungry for God with your heart and deny that hunger with your flesh. You are accountable. Be the steward of your own heart. Be your own best friend. Why would you do that to yourself? Why would you have a desire in your heart and then quench it with some passing thing?
50:10 - Stay disciplined to run well - So that your life verifies what you say - Paul said, I buffet my body. I bring it into subjection. Lest the stuff I preach is not my reality. I don’t want to preach all of this truth and not enjoy it. 1 Cor 9:27 Be the best. Run by the rules. Finish well.
51:20 - Psalms 92:10 - Why does He anoint you like wild ox? - you can’t yoke a wild ox. I won't be yoked and domesticated. I'll buck you right off. Watch what I would pray...
52:25 - Father, I thank You that You have raised me up to be a prized race horse and I am on the track of Your purpose and destiny. And I am going to take You to the finish line. Father, You are riding me like a prized race horse and I am going to cross that finish line. Thank you that you are riding me to the finish line...
53:00 - Guest speaker - prophesies over Dan and wife - I have raised you up, my prized race horse and I am going to ride you to the finish line of my purpose.
55:15 - Praying those personal things. Either I am whacked or I am before Him. That man spoke over me the prayer from my closet. I was wrecked.
Sacrament of Communion - Examine Yourself
56:55 - v.28 - But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. -
The sacrament of communion can be an intimate and important contact point of faith - Take communion intimately when you are all alone. You're building revelation in your heart - personal understanding. Only a priest can conduct communion? No, as often as you do it. Do it in remembrance of me.
58:10 - v.29 - For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. - Discern the value of one another and discern the value of what He has accomplished.
58:50 - v.30 - For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. - Don't come under condemnation from that. Because we aren’t growing in this in sincerity, a lot of stuff is coming upon us that wouldn’t be able to if we would pursue Him in sincerity and true faith. Make communion sincere and personal.
100:10 - Communing - keep heart sincere, personal - keeps me strong, healthy and alive.
101:25 - v.31 - For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. - If you’ll be the steward of your heart and keep your motives clean and clear, no judgement would come.
102:20 - There is no middle ground - no grey zone. There is light and there’s darkness. For Him or against - you either gather to Him or scatter. Unless you get your mind renewed you can actually work against the kingdom that He is trying to give you. We are destroyed for the lack of knowledge. It’s not the will of God. Get the knowledge, stop destruction. The power of life and death is in the tongue. If I don’t renew my mind, I’m going to think wrong, believe wrong and ultimately speak wrong. And my stomach will be filled with the fruit of my lips.
104:55 - It’s actually dishonor when you fail to honor. This is where you have to subdue your flesh.
105:40 - Communing - despite feelings - Father, it doesn't matter what it feels like. You said You are here, You are here. You said You love me. You have to love me. And right now I am remembering what You did...
Press through feelings - You are not living by feelings - By faith you are giving yourself - by faith you are pressing away from your feelings, against your feelings. Those things flee and revelation comes. Natural wisdom says, I want to wait until it feels more real. But that is how it’s going to become real - by pressing through the lack of revelation. By going in your bedroom and saying flesh you are coming with me. I’m not listening to feelings and lack of desire. It doesn’t matter, I am living by faith and I am meeting God. You have to live that way.
107:45 - I’m not going to do that until it feels more real. It should be the exact opposite response. God I am seeking you until I find you. I’m looking up until I see right into your face. And the whole time I am doing it, I am believing that You are here and You love me. And You are going to meet me here. It absolutely doesn’t matter how I feel. It matters what I desire and believe and deep down want in Him. Or you will be ruled by your senses. The devil will manipulate you through sensual living.
108:55 - Why don’t I care more? Why can’t I cry? (with regard to receiving the sacrament of communion)
Don't overanalyze yourself with regard to communion - Remember what He did - Live by faith - We feel like we should care more because this story is so amazing. When you introspect yourself that way, you’ve fallen short - now there is something wrong with you. Well, maybe I don't care. All the more reason to get alone with Him...
109:20 - It seems like I should care more about your sacrifice - Father, I just lift up this communion right now. I don't know. Sometimes it feels like I should cry. Sometimes it feels like I should care more and feel more. But the best I understand, You love me and it's an amazing thing You did. You rescued me...
109:40 - Have to stay in faith. Don’t introspect yourself and come up with a negative resume. It’s never the will of God. It’s not about you crying. It's about you believing. It’s about you remembering. Live by faith. God is not demanding a certain emotional response. He wants faith. Live by faith and remember Him.
111:40 - Bread becomes the body - I wish I had faith for that - honoring a faith like that instead of questioning someone’s theology.
113:05 - Communing - through the Sacrament of Communion - body.
116:00 - Communing - through the Sacrament of Communion - blood
117:25 - You don’t want to do things religiously but full of heart.
Pure Motives - Twisted Motives
➡ 117:45 - I tried to preach on fasting but we got caught up in motives.
118:00 - Matthew 6 - Chapter 6 is all related to your motives in doing things - Keep your motives pure - Are they pure love or are they self-serving to gain approval from man? - He took this whole chapter - scenario after scenario about motives.
118:20 - v.1 - Giving - Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. -
Giving - whatever is seen by men that is your reward - the best you are going to get. Self-serving thing to get esteem.
118:45 - A pure motive is a motive of love - The pure in heart shall see God - 1 Cor. 13:1+ - If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love… If it is outside of the motive of love it is a big zero. Even giving to the poor, outside of love is a zero. Everything should flow out of love. Each seed produces after its own kind. How can a person fulfill a principle of the kingdom and if it is without love still be a zero? Reveals that our whole purpose in life is love. If you didn’t do it for love, what did you do it for? To make a name for yourself - make yourself feel better - something self-centered. So you can flow in a principle of the Lord, from the wrong place / motive and it is nothing - a zero.
121:00 - The goal of our instruction is love. Why? Then love is for their sake and His name sake. Then it is pure. And the pure in heart shall see God.
121:15 - Other motives - insecurities - need for esteem / affirmation - you have been affirmed through Him. But you did it to draw something from men. Nullifies what you get from the Lord.
122:15 - Your fruit reveals what you really believe - Judged for our works - the response of our life lived through faith - you being in faith is determined by your life lived - the fruit you bear determines the tree you are.
123:40 - You determine the tree you are. But ultimately, the fruit you bear reveals what kind of tree you are. The onlooker can’t tell the motive of your heart, but he can look at the fruit on the tree. At the end of your life, your life lived will reveal what you believed.
123:50 - When God corrects you, that’s good, He is Fathering you.
124:25 - v.2 - Hypocrisy - Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. - don’t sound a trumpet - hypocrite - play actor - appearing to be something you’re not.
125:15 - (Isn’t it hypocritical to pray for the sick when I am sick?) No, you aren’t play acting. You’re praying for the sick because you believe that God heals the sick even though you are sick. You are honoring the revelation of the word above your experience. Faith says my sickness has nothing to do with the truth of God’s word. That’s the tenacity of faith.
126:25 - Hypocrites really don’t care about the people they are giving to, they care about themselves - what people think about them when they give. They are willing to do that because of the satisfaction they get from the attention they receive.
127:20 - v.3 - But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: - left hand v. right hand
128:20 - v.4 - That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. - in secret - Here's why - protects your heart - keeps your motives clean - manifesting love. He can bless you because your motives are pure.
130:00 - v.5 - Praying - And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. -
Praying - Spend time alone with Him in prayer - Where there is no ulterior motive of being seen by men - He just talked about giving now he is talking about praying. Seen by men - They love the way that people see them. The most they can receive is what they receive from being seen.
130:40 - v.6 - But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. - But you - a distinction. Into your room - the most healthy way to pray in groups, on the street corner, etc is that you pray when it is just you and Him. Pray from your heart - sincere. Trying to impress people with your ability to pray instead of your heart to pray. Shut the door - no ulterior motive of affirmation of man just the beauty of communion with God.
133:20 - It takes faith to go there and grow there. The benefit is the benefit of knowing Him.
133:50 - Need to be careful to keep your motives pure through your whole life. They can get out of kilter.
134:15 - BREAK
Born Again - Water Baptism
135:05 - Born again experiences can vary - Healing experiences can vary - Don't compare to others - There was a reality of God that filled my heart. Don’t stumble over that - saying that If you don’t have that experience then you’re not born again. You subvert faith. Sometimes it is not even healthy to share what we experience tangibly because people compare to that. We do it with healing: If I don’t feel heat in my hands, I can’t pray for the sick.
135:50 - Healing - I hear it taught: wait for the anointing. How about you believe that you are anointed. Why is the Spirit upon me. To set people free.
136:25 - When does being born again happen? At water baptism?
Water baptism - Water baptism is the response of born again by faith. I want people water baptized with the understanding that they are dying to the old and living to the new. Born again happens when you see your need for a Savior and (repent) die to yourself - you see that you have lived for yourself and you don’t want to live for you any more - Jesus, I give my life to you. Water baptism is the direct response of that truth. It’s an outward expression of an inward happening - another contact point of faith. We can act it out in faith, the death and the resurrection. Good conscience - Water baptism helps you understand that you are clean.
138:20 - One lady's baptism - I just felt so clean.
138:25 - Don't compare to others' experiences - Not wise to compare to what someone else felt / experienced - we live by faith.
139:00 - Double dipping - second baptism - A lot of people are seeking to have someone else's experience - because they didn’t have a certain experience - teaching people to live by feelings. Wrap faith around someone else’s experience and step right into that grace.
139:25 - Father, I thank You that You love me that very way. I'm just as free as I see them right now because you have forgiven me too... and you can have your own revival right there. You don't have to get back in the pool. That would be living for an experience - feelings.
139:45 - Born again - You are born again when you see your need for a Savior and in your heart you deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Jesus - by faith the best you understand. And understanding is a growing process. You’ll know more what that means three months from now than when you committed. Sincere from the git-go.
139:55 - Water baptism - is the response of that born again experience. Encourage to do it immediately. Dying to live.
140:20 - v.7 - But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. - You already have God's attention.
140:40 - v.8 - Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. -
Communing through the Lord's Prayer
140:45 - v.9-13 - After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. -
141:00 - The Lord’s prayer - I don’t know that we were intended to quote this prayer word for word - rather than catch the principle of what He was saying.
141:35 - Communing - through the Lord’s prayer.
145:40 - Not talking about quoting a prayer that brings SENTIMENT to your heart. There is a message there. Meditating in the word. It’s the power of God unto salvation - a revelation of understanding in the truth that makes us free. Imparts confidence. Not a sentimental gesture. It's not a rosy, sentimental gesture. He wants a truth to be revealed through it.
146:30 - God is not in your box. You're not going to put Him in a box.
147:20 - My Father, who lives in me - holy is Your name. I reverence You. I honor You... and you just take time and embrace His heart toward you and His heart towards others. And you are not in fear because you are seeking first His kingdom (Mt. 6:33). It's the antidote for worry.
147:50 - If you are living in worry it’s because you have a wrong perspective.
Mercy, Forgiveness & Healing - For the Whole World
148:15 - v.14,15 - For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. -
Receive God's forgiveness - Become God's forgiveness to others - Forgive us - This is before Jesus died, shed His blood and the remission of sin. Don’t think you are going to get from God what you are not willing to give to people. It’s not about you getting from God but becoming like God. They were under the law here, when He is talking. Before the cross. Still the same heart - heart of the law. It’s not the letter of the law but the heart of the law that a Christian still walks in. I still walk in the nature of God that fulfills the law but I’m not under the law.
150:10 - Colossians 3:13 - You are already forgiven. Forgiveness came first. And you are to forgive as you have already been forgiven. Because you are forgiven, forgive.
151:20 - Under the law - do to be. Under grace - be to do.
152:40 - 1 John 2:1 - He doesn’t even talk about the whole forgiveness process - confession, crying, God forgive me. Advocate - And He, Himself, by His righteous plea, will see to it that you remain righteous. He is the mercy for your sins. There is mercy for the whole world - Unbelievers included - Because He shed His blood and sits at the right hand mediating on behalf of all men, there is mercy towards all men. And before a man even changes or does anything, he is not under the law of sin and death now that Christ died if we, the church, understand. That’s why, If we forgive any man his sin, it shall be forgiven. They are not going to reap the fruit of that, if we can walk in that, release grace, keep them in intercession - remit their sins - talk to them - love them and show them mercy. They are not going to come under the judgement they would have. This scripture is why an unbeliever can be healed. Because there is mercy through the blood of Jesus for them. The goodness of God changes their heart.
155:15 - Anyone who really receives this mercy, becomes merciful. People that have trouble with unforgiveness haven't really seen forgiveness for themselves. Let Him love you.
156:00 - If you stumble along the way, jump back up. Not your intention to fall that’s why you feel bad.
156:05 - If you stumble - separate yourself from the stumble - God, this is not who I am and I am not condemned and it's not the end of the world. You love me. And the integrity of Your love is putting honor and discipline and diligence into me. You motivate me. You compel me God. You are amazing... and you keep on trucking if the face of an expression of human weakness.
156:40 - If you care about stumbling, it separates you from the action. Cut the action away from who you really are so that you can keep flowering. If you attach the stumble to who you are, this flowering stops. If you sin, you have an advocate in the holy place...
157:05 - Jesus advocates for the whole world - Unbelievers can be healed - Advocate in the holy place. His blood speaks on your behalf. Whole world - So God has a merciful view of the whole world. Praying for unbelievers. I’m not asking you to believe, I’m asking you to let me pray. Uttermost - completely, forever. [Healing example]
159:15 - Healing in driveway - broken hand - it marked him (a participant in the class).
201:00 - Objection to healing - “What’s the sense of praying for them if they don’t get them born again?” String attached motivation. If you get saved then I’ll show you the goodness of God. ---> That’s backwards. Mark their hearts with demonstration of mercy. Seed planted. Watered. Grows.
203:00 - God heals the unsaved. [Healing example]
201:45 - Don't judge by outward appearances.
205:55 - We forget that we were saved by grace. Mercy triumphs over judgement. The goodness of God leads men to repentance. Love covers a multitude of sins. You overcome evil with good.
206:40 - It's a team effort in the unbelievers life - sowing, watering, growing, reaping - You are reaping where other people sowed. Stay humble in the whole process.
207:20 - Gardening. Wife is never in the garden. But she’ll pick the fruit. Reaping where I haven’t sown. Stay humble - somebody has taken the time to sow and water.
209:35 - Planting, weeding, watering, growing, reaping. That’s why you pray for the sick regardless of whether they get saved or not. Sowing into their life the truth.
Motives (cont.)
210:00 - v.16 - Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. - When you fast…
210:30 - New Life for Girls - addiction - Happy Dan
212:00 - Chapter 5 confronts the way we think - Chapter 6 speaks to our motives for doing what we do - This whole chapter 6 is tied together. Even if you back up into chapter 5:22,28,32-34,39,44 - they are different topics of the way we think - and they all say, “You say, but I say…” That means through the fall of man there has been a perversion of wisdom and truth. And man has taken things into his own hands and has become a god unto himself and his mind has become his own god and he is living in a realm that he calls wisdom - common knowledge. Jesus is saying, “You talk different than me, but yet I created you in My image and you were created to be my sons.”
213:40 - Paragraph after paragraph He points out the difference in the way they think. The fall of man perverted our thinking and muddied up the image of God (in us). And here is the truth in the flesh. Please don’t value your opinion, value the word of truth. If you can’t find the mindset in Jesus, don’t let it be in you. If you can’t find the motivation in the heart of love, don’t let it be a principle of your life. Crucify it.
➡ 214:35 - In the whole chapter 5 He addresses adjustments in thinking. In chapter 6 He addresses motives of the heart in giving, praying, fasting. He's not nitpicking. He’s taking time to make sure that if you take part in these spiritual practices that it is coming from the right place. Big picture: adjusting our language in 5, adjusting our motive in 6 - 4 topics of motive: giving, praying, fasting, - v.19 - Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: - treasures. Then kicks off - v.22 - The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. -
Your perspective is so important - How you see is how you be - the lamp of your body is your eye. Jesus lays the foundation of how twisted we got in the fall and then teaches how your eye (perspective) is what determines you. How you see is how you be. V.24 - No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. -
There is no middle ground - No compromise with the flesh - can’t serve 2 masters. No middle ground. No little bit of spirit, little bit of flesh - little bit of you, little bit of Him. No half way in, just all the way in.
216:40 - Compromise - If you give 80% and keep 20%. You might feel like, well, at least I’ve given a lot. But 20% becomes 30% becomes 40%... It’s compromise. It muddies up the picture. You teach yourself to hold on, to possess things that are not (Him).
217:00 - v.22 - The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. - The eye is the lamp of the body. Bad - If it is not seeing clear. If it is not seeing truth. Unhealthy, twisted, the perspectives of chapter 5, the motivations of chapter 6 - then there is darkness.
217:30 - v.23 - But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! -
Perspective - If God can change the way you see, He can change your whole life - If the light that is in you is darkness - weird sounding. What’s He saying? You are made / created for the light. God only sees you for the light. So if there is something other than light in you it is not God’s will, God’s choice. It’s what you are failing to see and become. If there is something less than light it is (because of) what you are failing to see. How great is the darkness. How twisted is your view.
218:35 - If God can get into my perspective and change the way I see, He can transform my whole life. We grew up hearing that what you don’t know won’t hurt you - straight from hell. What you don’t know is destroying you.
219:00 - v.24 - No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. -
Divided interests are inconsistent with kingdom perspective - Then He goes right into - No one can serve two masters… Why does He go right into this? Because that will dictate your vision - if you have compromised interests - if you have a divided heart.
219:20 - For example: People get into relationships - they have struggles and rather than get them resolved they let their heart drift into other desires. If we can’t get it resolved, now we are lacking, we have a deficit. Another desire will arise and they say the things you need to hear from your spouse. The spouse will start to give themselves to the things they should have been doing. But the other spouse has already received what they are needing from another person. And it provokes a desire that is only coming through hurt and lack. And now their heart is divided. House divided. You end up loving one and despising the other.
221:40 - It can’t ever be love because the motivation for the outside interest is the hurt with the spouse. Needs driven. Expression of self-centeredness. [Example of counseling] Suffer your flesh and cease from sin.
224:35 - Motive for listening to sermons - Don't listen for others - Hearing sermons for one another. Don’t distract them now.
225:35 - Motive for reading Bible - Don't read for others - Don’t read your Bible to weigh if your spouse is doing what they should. You are reading your Bible to know God so that you are in a position to be Christ-like - so you have the capacity to love. If there is anything lacking - you don’t even see it because you love. And if you do see a deficit, you still love - you just want to bless. Do you see why Jesus needs to be first in your relationships?
226:35 - Love of money - You can’t serve God and the love of money or love of material things.
227:00 - Christian girl got hurt in her marriage. I’ve been good my whole life. I just want to have some fun. Feeling sorry for self. Picking up something she called dead and taking on rights she doesn’t have. Hurt herself terribly.
227:40 - v.16 - Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. -
Keep your motive in fasting pure - Not just to be seen - When you fast… They want everyone to know they are spiritual. That's actually a fleshy thing. They have their reward.
228:00 - v.17 - But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; - Do it secretly. Same terminology as in v.4,6 - your Father who sees in secret will reward openly.
229:40 - Moodiness - Good thing God is not moody. He is constant - love. He is making us constant too. The whole earth looks and sees who God is in us.
231:10 - How long do you keep pouring encouragement into a couple (when mortal danger comes into play)? This love thing we are preaching is not some mushy sentiment. It’s a motive. Correcting people for their sake not because I have a need to be right. Bible thumping. Counseling a couple. Separation for a season for the purpose of reunion - vision of restoration. Every situation is different. There is no textbook answer. You need to discern in love. Some you snatch from the fire, some you save with compassion. With some you go an extra mile or two. With some you can’t go any farther, but you lay out the truth and put it in their hand. Sometimes you speak truth bluntly.
233:00 - Separation for the purpose of restoration. You don't want to just teach people how to live alone by counseling separation. "Why would you do this to yourself? You are so much more than this." If I am correcting you, it's for your sake. Not because I need to set you right. I love you. [Example of conversations]
239:00 - Closing prayer