➡ 3:40 - We talked about healing and God’s will to heal. The reason we talked about healing for a whole week is because if you are going to step out and begin to love on people, you have to settle in your heart and establish in your heart what the will of God is for people. Because you want that confidence. You want to believe that God is with you - that He is yes and amen with what you are doing and you have to find that through the word.
Step Out to Love People - You Can't Fail
➡ 4:20 - Overcome the objections of the mind to step out and love people - you can't fail - I think we have a heart to love one another and I think a lot of us get conscious to do it but come up with a lot of reasons why we can’t do it - maybe we’re not ready - and we pull back from that. I’m going to talk about that and hopefully make it very simple - How we can just love people - How you can’t fail.
4:35 - You can’t fail when you sincerely love someone - Wouldn’t that be cool to actually believe that you can’t fail. You really can’t fail when you love somebody - when you are sincerely loving somebody. If love is in your heart and what you’re doing is because of love, how can you fail? Love never fails. And I know that the context of that verse is love never ceases, never stops. But think about that, if your love is sincere, you are not going to fail. You are going to effectively love somebody. Even if you don’t see what you were intending to see at the time. Are you still loving somebody and opening the door for God to move? Are you still opening the door for the kingdom? Are you still loving somebody?
5:30 - Love with no ulterior motive - How many people have not been loved by a love that has no other agenda than for their sake. How many people have been approached without a hidden purpose? And when they hear that (no agenda), it opens up their ear to hear the voice of God. They start thinking in their mind, “It’s like they did that for me." Sometimes when you walk away from an encounter with a person, until you walk away they don’t let their guard down. Because they are still wondering why you are there. After you walk away it gets them thinking - that you took the time and had the guts to approach. And now they have to process that you did that for them. That’s rare.
Reject Outreach Mentality
6:30 - Avoid the outreach mentality - love as you go - We have evangelistic mentalities - we have outreach mentalities and the world has caught on to those. It shouldn't be an outreach. It should be an as you go. Remember all authority in heaven and earth...Go therefore - we’ve already got the go. It’s not like a third Thursday of the month kind of thing. It’s ok to do that (go out as a group on the third Thursday), but you should love people along the way during the rest of the month too or you will teach yourself outreach mentality. You’ll put on a false sense of boldness - a false sense of purpose - you’ll find strength in the crowd. And it won’t be who you are, it’s just what you are doing and that’s why the edge won’t be as sharp as it could be. I’m not against outreach but let’s make sure that’s who we are anyway.
7:50 - Outreach agenda v. heart of God - Prayer to go to heaven v. loving sincerely - Handing out bottled water - Sounds like a really good idea. We feel compelled to get everybody to pray a prayer we came up with. What if our mission was to love everybody sincerely and sow and water and watch God bring the increase. He said Go preach the kingdom of God is here, and heal the sick; or heal the sick and preach that the kingdom of God is here. He said go make disciples - not get them to pray a prayer and shake their hand and say, Congratulations you are in and walk away. So we hand out water on a hot day because it sounds like a good gesture. But the reason is so that we could initiate conversation so that we can get them to believe what we believe and pray. There is a catch to it. You are not just giving them a water because they are thirsty and you love them. You are giving them water so you have access to them and it’s a carrot, a tool. We need to think about that. People are onto that.
10:20 - Participant’s comments - people on the streets of NY. They know why you are there and they want food. What comes after you get them saved? Sometimes I think you do them more harm than good.
11:40 - We’re trying to get them to heaven but not giving the message of why Jesus came. And that doesn’t change the way that they are going to wake up and live tomorrow.
Speak a Clear Message - Sow Seed
12:00 - Make disciples - teach them who they are - Making disciples is teaching them the truth of who they are. Giving Holy Spirit something to really work with where it is more than, "Ok, I prayed this prayer to go to heaven." And I believe that is what we have reduced the gospel to - trying to get them to confess Jesus is Lord and forgive me of my sins and now your name is in the book. Now we gotcha. And then we walk away.
12:45 - Sometimes you go into a church as a confirming voice. (visiting speaker)
13:10 - It’s a big comment when someone says I finally understand why I am here. I understand why I am alive. Now, every time they live contrary to that, Holy Spirit can work in them and bring them to that truth. Some sow, some water, God gives the increase.
13:35 - Sow seed - Truth for the Holy Spirit to work with - Holy Spirit is an amazing discipler if we give Him truth (to work with). If we sow seed, seed can grow. If we are just trying to get then to heaven, it might be a done deal in their mind. "I prayed that prayer 3 years ago - I’m in - thanks though." While they leave the bar with a girlfriend that’s not their wife.
14:20 - Speak a clear message - Repent, be baptized for the remission of your sin. Teach them that we’ve all lived in a selfish tendency - that when Adam fell, he became self-centered, self-preserving. We’ve become a god unto ourselves. We were really created for God’s image - created for love. And Jesus comes to snatch us out of this fallen place - out of this dark place. We’ve all sinned. We’ve all fallen short. Jesus has come in His love to say you are more than this. Your created value is way more than what you are living.
15:00 - When young people hear this they understand and respond. They are struggling with all of these emotions. They are coming into the rat race that we’ve all run. Actually they are already in it.
15:25 - Tell them why they were healed - He's real. He loves you. - Sometimes people are stunned when they are healed. And I’ll just give them 2 lines. Listen Jesus is really real. You know He’s not just a philosophy - not just an Easter story. He’s the Lord of all. And He loves you. That’s why you’re healed. Man, pursue Him.
15:50 - Give them an encounter with Jesus - You say, you didn’t lead them to the Lord. I say, I gave them the Lord. I gave them a real encounter with God that they can’t run away from - an encounter that God can build on. We are so pressured to get people to pray that prayer that we fail to viably love people and sow seeds that God can grow.
16:20 - Matthew 9 - Matt 9:35 - And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
Give understanding - It gives God something to work with - Jesus was teaching and preaching to the people. He wasn’t just trying to get people to pray a prayer. He was giving them understanding. And it gives God something to work with.
17:40 - Nothing sown, nothing grown - Nothing grows unless it’s sown. Sow seed so that God can sprout it. We are waiting for God to win the nation and He is waiting for us to go love them and put something (seed) inside them. Isaiah 61:11 We are called to love people.
19:00 - Teach and heal - Jesus didn’t just teach and preach, He healed every sickness and disease.
19:10 - v.36 - But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. If we get our eyes off of Jesus we will be weary and scattered pretty quickly. If we keep our eyes on Him - stay in intimacy with Him.
20:20 - v.37 - Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; -
Follow Jesus - Our Model
Demonstration of power was part of Jesus’ example - Somehow we have gotten away from Jesus’ example. He didn’t just teach and preach, He healed the sick. We’ve turned laborers into proclaimers - period (proclaimers and nothing else). You must be saved. You’ve got to be born again. We’ve forgotten the demonstration of power and the love of God - the prophetic - the healing of the sick. Jesus healed every disease. That would sure open people up to hear your voice.
21:14 - Short legs - draw a crowd.
22:40 - At a busstop - lift up your voice - apologized for church - people out of their peer groups - it’s the love of God through Jesus.
27:40 - Jesus did really cool things - stopped a funeral, people asked him to come with them, people approached Him. So He didn’t just teach and preach.
28:00 - Jesus is our model - He healed everyone - He’s the One that modeled the life we were created to follow. He’s the truth. He came to set the record straight. He said follow me. As the Father sent me, I send you. You can’t find me a limitation there - Unlimited. If you believe in me, the things I do, you’ll do. So He taught and preached and healed everybody He bumped into. Until that is my experience I won’t be satisfied and I won’t back off because that’s my destiny.
29:20 - We back off of what Jesus said - No, pursue to walk like He walked - We get all intellectual - questions - If it was really God’s will they would have been healed by now - and back off of what Jesus said instead of pursuing, walking in, getting secure in our identity, free from self-consciousness, free from what people think, free from the cynicism and walk like Jesus walked.
29:50 - His Spirit is in you for a reason - To touch others through you - You are loving people. You are stepping out saying I’m taking Jesus at His word. I feel the love for people when I am out there. You look at people and care inside. It’s in your spirit. You’ve got to do justice to that. And get your hands on somebody. He wants to touch them through you. He put His kingdom in us and told us to go say, the kingdom is here.
31:00 - Healing is in the kingdom and the kingdom is in us. He told us to lay hands on the sick. Why? Because we are the body of Christ. There is no way around it. It’s too clear. It’s who we are.
31:35 - It’s no accident that he does all of this healing and has compassion and then commissions His guys. He demonstrates it and then He says, “You’re in.” The things I am doing, you are doing too.
32:00 - Chapter 10 - v.1 - And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. -
He is Lord over sickness - People explain to you why their sickness can’t be healed - the magnitude of their injury in the face of the gospel. I hear this even in the church. We have a low revelation of Him being Lord. Examples in scripture where time frame is given - given so that we don’t come up with time reasons why we can’ be healed.
34:20 - Methodist church - These people love me as much as anyone you know - We just want God in our church - Jesus and why He came - visual miracle - lady crippled for 25 years - Son I’ve been like this for 25 years - 25 years, 25 mo.s … He’s Jesus, He’s the Lord - Shirley went marching around the church - hernia - night vision problems.
Sowing, Water, Reap
41:00 - Holy Spirit convicts - Drop your agenda to convict of sin - Give them the goodness of God - How do you bring a sense of conviction to a person? No thanks, I’m good. Holy Spirit convicts - Holy Spirit is the One who convicts people of sin. I teach the goodness of God. When you have an agenda to convict of sin… My place is to give them the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. Give them a touch of the Lord. Love doesn’t have an agenda but to love. You might be trying to reap someone that is not ready to be reaped - someone that just needs water for the seed that was sown.
45:00 - We don’t need the compulsion to get the whole world saved. No we need to love the world. Holy Spirit can save the world.
45:30 - Sowing and reaping is a process - Trust that Holy Spirit is at work - Some will reap where they haven’t sown. That proves there is a sowing process taking place. We are supposed to be sowing into the hearts of men. Watering the hearts of men. And all of the sudden one of us reaps someone we have never met before. Why? Because someone has been faithful to love, to sow, to minister and Holy Spirit is working and boom...labor contractions and they are born. They are laying on their bed and a touch from a year ago is going through them. You don’t realize that process.
46:00 - If your agenda is only to reap, you miss the success of sowing and watering - If you just read the situation for face value you will miss all of that. You’ll feel like you failed - you’ll feel like you didn’t do good enough - because you have an agenda.
46:20 - If you have an agenda, you are setup to fail. If you love, you can’t fail. If you love, you can’t miss it.
47:00 - Sharing an impression.
47:15 - So my goal is not to just go convict the world of sin. That’s what Holy Spirit does. Holy Spirit is here to convict the world of sin.
47:30 - Example of conviction after being loved on.
48:15 - Love sincerely - Drop agendas - Holy Spirit says love them. What turns men to God? The goodness of God. How do you overcome evil? With good. What triumphs over judgement? Mercy. Sounds like the whole world is a landing strip for mercy. Because until they repent they deserve judgement but it sounds like heaven is saying show mercy. We have to get rid of our agendas. We don’t have a motive, but to love - a motivation to be His love.
49:00 - Agenda to set people straight - to be like you - to believe like you. That’s arrogant. No, give them a reason to believe. You can be sincere and still be perceived as arrogant.
49:30 - Prayer to go to heaven v. Restoration of lives - That’s why healing is mentioned so often by Jesus. Go out teach men to follow me by watching what you do - because you watched what I did - pass it on. We’ve turned it into getting people to pray a prayer to go to heaven. Jesus is restoring people’s lives.
* * *
50:00 - Don't be put off by swear words after healing - God knows they are going to curse before He heals them. Why don’t we get that? The more ugly they appear, we should almost gravitate to them. The more lost they seem, the bigger they should be in our heart - not repulsive. Where sin abounds grace abounds much more.
51:35 - None of us came to God by anything other than mercy.
52:00 - v.7 - And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. -
The kingdom is here - in us - Where is the kingdom of God? In us. And we are supposed to go saying the kingdom of God is here. It’s a concept - it’s not the language you have to use - that might weird somebody out. “The kingdom is here. Let me explain.” At hand - is near you - in reach - is here because it is in you.
53:30 - You don’t have to have special gifting to love - You are all free to move in love. It’s not about your gifting, it’s about the most excellent way. And the most excellent way will release gifting.
54:00 - Gifts of the Holy Spirit - You can flow in any of them - 1 Cor 12:31 - What are the greater gifts? The one that is needed in the situation. You can flow in any of them. You have access to them all as necessary according to God’s will. All the gifts are encompassed in the person of the Holy Spirit and Holy Spirit is in us.
55:00 - Early Gifting - already rolling in these things and the church had an explanation for it - praying in tongues and interpretation - communion - worshiping alone.
57:40 - Change your perspective to line up with His - We are all believers. It’s just a matter of believing the right things. You have to fine tune your eye. If all you see is truth - you might hear other things - but if all you see is truth - Him - your whole body is flooded with light.
59:00 - Don’t let your communing be self-consumed. Let’s get out of that and get more in tune with why the Holy Spirit is in us.
59:25 - Let me see like you see - Father, I thank You that I am one with You. My heart is to walk in love. Father, I thank You that today I see what You see and I hear what You are saying. When I look at people, I thank You that You release a grace in me to see exactly what You want to do. I thank You that I can see their value. I can hear Your voice concerning their life. And every gift necessary to impact them is available and in me and I thank You for the flow of it. God, it's so good to be a son. Thanks for making me alive in You... That's prayer. When you are driving to work... Thank You for this job Lord. I know that sometimes I seem unthankful or I am a little bit irritated at certain things in this environment but You are maturing me and growing me and it really is a tool to provide and it brings income. But God, most importantly, there are people there. And God, I am asking that I can move in a way to be used vitally to love them effectively to manifest You and reveal You. Let my character be exemplary. Let me walk in true virtue and let moral excellence of my life just open the ears of them. Thank You that I have what it takes to impact them by Your Spirit.
100:30 - The more that you release that in faith the more grace comes. It's not just just wanting it. It's getting in communion.
100:50 - God, I see who You are in me... And you go into work in your right identity. You are not dreading the boss. You are not dreading your coworker because they have been acting strange.
101:00 - After effect of communing - not dreading work etc.
Shine In the Workplace
101:30 - Going back into the workforce after 2.5 years in the ministry. Christian language. I want to go manifest Him.
102:15 - Shine in your workplace - Jesus doesn’t want you to be praying to get out of your workplace because it’s not a Christian environment. He put you there because He wants to show Himself through you in that place.
103:00 - “Christian” work atmospheres are not always what you expect they will be.
104:00 - If I am working in your workplace, you are either going to be convicted by my life or you will resent me. Because I am not going to change. I’m not going to compromise Jesus. I am called to love and to live in Christ.
104:30 - Don't be shaped by the workplace - Be careful not to let your work atmosphere mold you. Don’t live like they are imparting to you instead of you living a higher standard.
105:35 - Workplace interview - I’m not going to change who I am. I am not just there for a job - orientation.
115:00 - If you don’t have a secure identity then being odd man out bothers you. I am secure in Jesus - having the time of my life - waking up free and blessed every day. What do I care if they don’t understand for a minute. That atmosphere bothers most Christians.
115:15 - Workplace (continued) - training - various encounters of salvation - sowing seed -
118:00 - Avoid a negative self-view - Self fault finding, nit picking, criticizing - that’s the way the devil thinks - tearing your soul apart and coming up with negative review. Jesus doesn’t see you negative. He sees you as worth His blood.
118:20 - Workplace (continued) - Bill - trainer - I don’t know why I feel better, but It has to do with Him - Mike, forklift driver - I want you back in the church office. It’s time. - Ministry is simple, it’s loving people - 2 week notice - floor meeting on the last day - honoring who I am in you - incentive - last day order.
129:35 - Love intentionally - There is a place to keep your heart and mind where you are purposing to love the world around you and you refuse to live self-centered or self-conscious. You establish that place in prayer. You can’t wake up tomorrow and because I have preached this today just say, Ok, I am going to do it. You get alone with Jesus and give yourself to Him when nobody is looking in the secret place.
130:00 - Mold and shape me - God, thank You for fashioning me and molding me after Your desire - Your will - Your nature. When men see me, I thank You they see who You are. When they look into my face they see Your glory. When they look in my eyes, let them be pierced by Your love. Father I want to carry You and represent You. I want to manifest You on the earth,
130:35 - If you have a clear eye, none of that other stuff will mold you. He will mold you. And while you are walking other people will see Jesus. It sure beats being discouraged.
131:00 - BREAK
131:20 - Pray for the sick even when you are sick - Don't let the sickness define you - If you have been prayed for and you haven’t seen the thing change, one of the greatest things you can do is step out and love people - pray for them. Not let it mark you and identify you even though it is real. Stay a step above it and reach out and love people.
131:50 - The easiest thing to do is sit down and wait for the magic day when things change. Or you can get up and "Go, therefore..." If not you are going to stereotype your life through what you are going through instead of what He went through. What He went through is the truth of who you are.
132:30 - Praying for the sick when you are sick doesn’t make you a hypocrite. It means that you believe that it’s God’s will to heal above your own experience. A hypocrite is a play actor - someone that is wearing a mask.
133:20 - If you have a mindset that is sidelining you, it’s not the Spirit of God. You are not sidelined, you are encouraged to go forward.
133:30 - Never draw back - The Bible says to never draw back. Heb 10 - You draw back into destruction.
134:00 - Grace touches faith in truth to make that truth your reality - The grace of God is what makes these teachings real in your life. So get alone with Him. Don’t just listen to the teachings but give Holy Spirit the opportunity to seal them in your heart. Knowledge alone will bite you in the end if you don’t spend time with Him. If I haven’t changed by now, I’ll never change mentality. That’s the devil - not the Spirit of God.
Persecutions
135:15 - Hebrews 10:32 - Heb 10:32 - But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; - After they were illuminated, struggles came - sufferings. We tend to ask, why is this happening to me?
136:30 - v.33 - Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. -
Persecutions - Sufferings - public spectacle. The more secure you are in who you are and why - and you don’t have an agenda… If I am out there to impress somebody, I’m going to be shaken by that stuff when people don’t yield. But if I am out there because it’s the real me, it’s just who I am and I am not putting on a show, I am not trying to impress people. I am just impressed with Jesus then what men think is rendered powerless.
137:00 - Jesus was not shaken by persecution - How couldn’t that be true? Jesus was not moved by the great rejection of His life on the earth when He was totally pure the whole time. No one was ever more purely motivated than Jesus and yet His good was called wrong all the time. And it didn’t move Him. It didn’t change Him. He still went to the cross and not with a hurt heart (heart hurt BY men) but with a hurting heart (heart hurting FOR men). He didn’t cry because of what men did to Him, He cried for men because of what men did. That’s what love does.
137:50 - v.33 - so they were associated with people and were stereotyped because of it.
138:00 - v.34 - For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. -
Stay encouraged - that beats questioning - Whoever wrote this was in jail for the gospel and still was encouraged and full of joy and encouraging others. That sure beats, God if you are so good, why did I end up here. Why didn’t you protect me? Where are you Lord? That’s the mindset that seems to be in America. That mindset needs to die.
139:00 - The sufferings of Jesus were persecution not sickness - They cannot possibly be sickness or we would have a record of Jesus suffering with sickness. Persecution - misunderstood, falsely accused, being one thing and being proclaimed to be another.
139:30 - People say, “I am suffering for the Lord” when they going through sickness. That’s not scriptural suffering for the Lord but persecution for His name’s sake is scriptural suffering. If Jesus walked around sick and bore it and endured it, we would have a different understanding of suffering and healing. But Jesus took sickness off of people.
140:00 - Bill Johnson tape - You have to understand the covenant we are in. In the first covenant if you touched a leper, you were unclean. But in the New Testament, you touch a leper and he is made clean. You are supposed to touch the leper. It has totally flipped because of the new covenant through His blood.
140:30 - We don’t take the OT to confront the NT. The OT points to the new.
141:20 - v.34 - Stand despite injustice - Joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods. There are third world countries where, when you become a Christian, you get ostracized - can’t be employed, vote etc. People understood these costs and it didn’t change their minds.
142:00 - How can you joyfully accept the plundering of your goods? By knowing something. You have to have a counter revelation to the plundering. It’s more than just passiveness. They have a reason that is making them ok in the midst of the plundering.
142:40 - Better possession in heaven. What an opportunity to reveal a motive, a perspective that comes from Christ. I know there is a way bigger picture and I am living for that goal. It sends a message to the world.
143:30 - A message to the world is sent through the unnatural response - Cold water to the enemy - hot coals upon head - Love your enemy - Pray for those who persecute you - Give to those who despitefully use you. That’s unnatural - that’s not the way of the world.
143:55 - Our war is never people. Our war is not flesh and blood. People are entitled to eternal life through the blood. God wants all men to be saved. People are not your enemy - We can’t forget that. He made us alive. We all walked in tresspasses and sin. You just realize that they don’t know any better. If they were born again, filled with Holy Spirit, they wouldn’t say what they say and do what they do. That keeps you from people are your enemy - out to get you. That will make you defensive.
145:00 - v.35-37 - Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. -
We're not in a Christian bubble - We will be tried - We must endure - Every one of us is going to be tried - something we will need to press through.
145:40 - Not a Christian bubble - that protects us from the things everybody is going through. The winds and the waves come to both the wise and the foolish.
146:20 - Fulfilling the will of God will require endurance. You have to love not your own life unto death or you will never endure. You have to understand that there is a bigger picture.
146:45 - Live for the will of God - not just to receive from God - Is fulfilling the will of God what we are in this for? Or are we in it just to receive what was promised? Receiving the promise - it’s just for you. Fulfilling the will of God - you have denied yourself - picked up your cross - and followed Him.
Drawing Back
148:00 - v.38 - Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. -
Drawing back is not an option - He can't manifest Himself through you - Living by faith is not an option. Drawing back is not an option. If anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. That doesn’t mean He is disappointed and He is mad at you. It means that that good pleasure that He gets from giving you the kingdom, watching His will fulfilled - He can’t fulfill His good pleasure in you. He can’t take pleasure in fulfilling His will through you. He can’t manifest Himself through you.
148:45 - Pleasure / pleased - It pleased His Father to bruise the Son. Why? To get the kingdom inside of you.
149:00 - When you draw back - look what else happens - you enforce the lies of the soul. You keep natural wisdom as your wisdom. And the reason for drawing back becomes your truth and reality.
149:25 - v.39 - But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. - Drawing back is destructive - Drawing back is not an option. Drawing back to destruction. Drawing back is a destructive place because there is no renewing of the mind - no increase of revelation and reality - no faith risk.
150:00 - Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego didn't draw back - they would have missed the revelation - If they draw back from their confession and compromise by bowing to Nebudcaneezer’s idol, do they ever get the revelation that they received through the fire? It’s not about the fire. It’s about who are we going to believe. They would draw back to save themselves. They would have cost themselves because they are not walking in what they are called to know. When you back up you lose by default. You are trying to save yourself and you save nothing.
151:00 - David did not draw back - Israel is losing by default for 40 days since no one would step out and represent Israel. Torment - fear - zero chance of victory - until someone steps up and says who is this?
Salvation of the Soul
151:50 - Salvation of the soul - Bring your mind and emotions back to where they were created to be - Faith takes you to the saving of your soul - your mind and emotions. Bringing your mind and emotions back to what they were originally created to be. Redemption. Taking the effect of the fall of man out of you. The way we think apart from Him. (Also in 1 Peter 1:9) In the face of trial, not letting go but continuing to believe. The end result of your faith is the salvation of your soul. Your spirit, theologically is already saved. Guess what is being saved, healed, delivered, protected, preserved, filled with truth - your mind. You get there by believing and moving forward. That is why you don’t back off and not pray for the sick just because you are sick.
Endure Joyfully - Bigger Picture
153:00 - You have to have a bigger picture than right now and how you tend to FEEL. You have to endure joyfully, knowing that there is a greater possession waiting.
153:55 - 2 Corinthians 3 - v.17 and reading - Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. - Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one.
156:20 - v.18 - But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. - unveiled - You are unveiled in Christ Col 3. Just like a daddy giving his daughter away. Presenting you to the groom you will be with forever.
157:00 - The cross makes a way for us to be restored to His image - Being transformed into His image. The cross brings us back to original value - restoring His image in us through salvation - getting us back to who He intended us to be in the first place. You are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. It’s your birthright. It’s why you’re here - to look like your dad.
157:40 - We are growing up into Him in all things. There is a place to be encouraged and say, You have won my heart. I want you Lord. I don’t want the things I used to want. You are doing a work in me.
157:50 - You've won my heart. I want You Lord. I don't want the things I used to want. You're doing a work in me. God, it feels like I've got so far to go but the truth is You're in me and I am on the road. We're heading somewhere in You...
158:20 - Don't self-fault find - We tend to criticize ourselves - nitpick - fault find and highlight where we are not instead of grab where He is taking us. If God didn’t fault find with you, why would you do that to yourself.
158:40 - God wants you alive in Him - Jesus came to get you back on track - Getting you back on track is why He came. The cross says, you are worth the blood of Jesus. His death is worth your life lived. God wants you alive, He doesn’t want you dead. Why? Because He never created man to die. He created man to live in Him forever. And when men threw that away, God didn’t change His mind. So Jesus restored that truth to our lives.
159:45 - From glory to glory - Enjoy the growing process and don’t get down on yourself.
200:00 - Reject self condemning language - You were made for His image - Believe it - The self condemning language we grew up using about ourselves. Oh, you dummy. We talk to ourselves, alone, out loud like that. You are so stupid. There is a thing that gets embedded and ingrained in you. Isn’t that amazing how that stuff gets into our language and into our minds through the fall. It’s the devil beating us down trying to never get us to think or imagine that we could be found in His image. Because who are you. You are just a dummy. You’re a sinner.
201:40 - Communing brings transformation by the Spirit of the Lord - That’s why we are communing with Him. Giving ourselves to Him in prayer. Not just praying a list of needs, wants and desires. But communing with Him that we are His and that He is working in us for His good pleasure both to will and do for His good pleasure.
202:10 - Communing - purpose - I'm alive for Your image. I'm alive for Your glory. Manifest Yourself through me. Thank You for the grace that abounds to me today to look like a son. Thank You Father, for Your unceasing, unfailing love...
203:10 - v.4:1 - Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; - Ministry of righteousness - not a ministry of condemnation - a ministry of righteousness that unveils your face through Christ. It make you desired by Him and wanted by Him. I’m His bride. It’s a spiritual thing. Not weird.
204:20 - Receive the mercy of God - We don’t lose heart - because mercy triumphs over judgement. Satan cannot stop or defeat the mercy of God. If we can receive mercy we can get past what the devil is saying and doing in our lives. If we can just receive mercy, we are free. If we wear righteousness we are finally free. It’s not about what you did wrong. It’s not even about how you stumbled after you came to Jesus. It’s about receiving mercy. That doesn’t make you an easy, greasy Christian. That puts integrity into your heart because you have never been loved that way. (You don’t want to abuse His mercy.)
205:40 - Step out - It’s not a matter of failure - It's a privilege and freedom - No one has ever given you this much space to succeed and not be afraid to fail because it’s never about failure. It’s about being pure and sincere and stepping forward. Mercy gives you this opportunity. If I am pure - my motives are clean, it’s not about what I have done wrong. It’s about stepping out in Him. I’ve never been so free. I’m not under pressure. I’m privileged. I stand here because of His mercy, not because I am a great guy.
207:05 - If we do lose heart we are probably not receiving mercy.
207:40 - v.2 - But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. - Ulterior motives - We are not walking saying one thing and doing another. Manifesting the truth - what you see is what you get.
208:40 - You don't have to be perfect but you are called to purity - You want to live in that place where your life manifests truth such that there is no place for anyone to hide. They can’t deny who you have become. It’s not a perfection thing, but a sincere, pure thing. To the world it almost appears perfection. You are not under the constraint of perfection. But you are called to purity. And in purity, you will walk complete before men. Grace meets you there. You have no other motive. You are not doing things to get noticed or get your way - you are doing things because of love. And grace is with that. And the message you send will be so clear.
209:30 - Last day of work after 13 year - making fun, persecuting - I would take whatever work, regardless of seniority - Boss calls house - I don’t know how you live the way you do. I see the way they treat you at work and you never change. I know you are going to tell me it is Jesus. But I don’t understand it - My agenda was to model Jesus - If you model Jesus, someone is getting saved.
212:00 - Model Jesus - If I am trying to get people saved, I am under pressure. If I am modeling Jesus, I am having the time of my life.
212:40 - Last day of work (continued) - You are challenged by the reality of my life - March for Jesus - Al - What do I care what they think if this is real? Butch at prayer rally. Co-worker driving down the road. Parks car along the road and kneels giving life to Jesus.
218:15 - Sow, water, reap - God gives the increase - No pressure - My Bible says, If you sow someone is going to water. If somebody waters, God Himself gives the increase. I am not under the pressure to get a man saved. I am under the privilege of loving under His unfailing love.
218:40 - Be the best you - just be real - So when you touch people on the streets just be the best you. You’re not trying to be like Dan or Todd. Be sincere, be honest. If you are nervous, it’s ok to acknowledge it. Just be real.
219:15 - Ask for a hand - Todd is real good at just asking for their hand. Can I see your hand. It’s going to be great. He doesn’t even say a word about Jesus before He prays. - What did you do to your knee? No way. Can I see your hand for a minute? It’ll be cool dude. You’ll love it. It’s too late now, he’s got your hand. There’s nowhere to go. They usually won’t pull back their hand.
220:00 - Only one person took their hand back.
220:45 - That could really make them mad. No, not when God comes. If they are that blind, forgive them Father, they know not what they do. Why do we judge them? Jesus didn’t. What if love is greater than what they don’t see.
221:30 - Wegman’s numb hand - carpal tunnel - one problem, I don’t believe - I’m afraid.
224:00 - Give them an encounter - God is real - You don’t have to preach Genesis to Revelation. I gave him an encounter with God so that the Spirit of God could make God real to him. I sowed a major seed into his life or watered something that was sowed. And God is coming to increase.
224:25 - Be sincere and love - Every situation is different. Discernment is something we grow in. And let your love be sincere. You are not trying to win the world you are just loving people. Each and every time you love someone, it is important.
225:00 - Only seen three come out of wheel chairs on the street, but three is still three. So three can be four.
225:25 - Suicidal girl at the mall - don’t you be deceived. Your life is so worth living. Jesus has His eyes fixed on you.
225:40 - I’m not there to give her my business card or to invite her to church. Those are the encounters that people think are angels. I’m there to snap that lie off her soul that is trying to rob her of life.
226:00 - There is no small act of love - So which one ranks higher - wheelchair or suicidal? They are the same because they are both love. There is no small thing in the kingdom. The smallest of seed grows into the biggest of tree. There is nothing small in the hand of God.
227:00 - So if you go into Walmart and everyone is not shaking in the aisles, we think that God has not moved. No, even passing by the register and noticing a little stress is a big deal.
227:30 - Waitress - large tip - single mom - running across the lot, balling - It’s Jesus sweetie. This tip came from Him - no strings attached.
231:00 - Participant’s story - streets of Richmond - gangster man/boy - mother strangled - bless you - those words went into my heart - turn around, tell her everything - Can I go with you, I’ve never had a family - he started to preach - I always wanted a family like this - Lord had plans for him in the neighborhood - I run this neighborhood - worship with them.
➡ 238:00 - So there are more things we’ll get into about praying on the street. Not praying long and all - some practical things we’ll cover that we didn’t get to today.
238:30 - Jesus loves everyone. You are a son. We see who you are. That is what reaches many people.
240:30 - Closing prayer