0 - Intro comments. Lots of new people - lots of targets. Snow / cold. Great worship.
2 - Recap of last night: Righteousness - Righteousness opens up access to the Father - Usually in the first session I’m very foundational on the gospel. But last night I couldn’t get off of righteousness - freedom from sin - dead to sin - no consciousness of sin. Here’s why: When you are in a righteousness-consciousness you understand that you have access to God. You come boldly to Him.
2 - You need confidence to approach the Father - As a pastor I’ve seen that lots of people don’t have a good view of themselves, even in the Lord. They are still tricked into trying to get PEOPLE to acknowledge what they like and see about them (validation from others). So they are always subject to opinion and response instead of truth and a finished work.
2 - Righteousness brings access to the Father - You see, if God can unveil your face through a righteous understanding, you’ll come boldly to Him. You’ll have access to Him.
2 - Get alone with Him - I’ve learned that people get alone with God and that’s where they clam up. People say, “Well, I try to get alone with God but I just don’t know what to say.” And sometimes they take 20 minutes to get past themselves to get to Him - get past their feelings of unworthiness. But you don’t understand. He got to you. So you can just close the door and be with Him.
3 - Entering my place of prayer - bedroom - after I first got saved. Opening the door. “Hey, I’m here.” There was something special about opening that door believing that He was there waiting to meet with me - contact point of faith. I’d peek in and say, “Hey. It’s just us.”
3 - Confidence to be with Him because of righteousness - You’re not going to do that if you don’t understand righteousness - if you don’t understand how He sees you through the blood - and that the blood is speaking better things. You’re not going to have an ability to actually step in there and actually believe that He’s excited about meeting with you.
4 - I did that for about a week and it got so big in me. God’s presence began to meet me.
4 - Manifestations vs. faith - Approach God by faith - I don’t talk about manifestations often because people begin to live for the manifestation rather than for the belief. The belief is what took me to the manifestation. And then He could trust me with an experience because I believed regardless of whether there was an experience or not. Don’t chase after experiences. Go after Him.
4 - Don’t say, “Well, I’ve never felt the love of God.” No, believe the love of God. You don’t have to feel it. Believe it. The strong point of your life is believing. You’re believers!
4 - Read promise after promise in the Bible to those that believe. It doesn't say to those who experienced.
4 - Over time believing grows into knowing - And you grow into a place where you have heart knowing - where your heart knows and nobody is going to take that from you. That’s what makes me a madman half of the time. I’ve got to try to calm down half the time to be able to communicate effectively.
5 - Shhhh! My son is here to speak with Me - I went in my bedroom and He was there. Wild experience - open vision - when you see a vision with your eyes open. I walked into my bedroom and my bedroom wasn’t there. “Shhhh! My son is here to speak with Me.” God didn’t really do this. But He did it for my benefit. That will mess you up! That will make you like me!
5 - Approach God by faith - Believe first - The point is: I believed that before I had that experience. I have total access to Him. I read it in my Bible. It said that I have a High Priest who has passed through the heavens - Jesus - Heb. 4. So come boldly into the throne room of grace. When don’t you need His empowerment - His grace? When don’t you need His mercy - so that you can keep on moving forward? His empowerment so that you can keep on growing into Him? Everyday you need it. So why do ever leave? You live in a place where you are in Him and with Him and you are unveiled.
8 - So I believed that before I had that encounter. He just blessed me with something to nail it home.
8 - Live from that intimacy - Not from selfishness - Living in that kind of intimacy sure beats getting mad at work, ticked off at your spouse, people oriented issues… And all of the sudden you’ve got 10 reasons for not being OK when He is your Father and wants you to live in His presence. I’m going to let what matters most, matter most. I’m not going to let what doesn’t matter most, matter more.
8 - I promise you that today is not the day for having issues. Today is not the day to be angry and frustrated and overwhelmed and discouraged and ticked off. It just means that you have your eyes on other things.
9 - If you are not self-focused you can’t be those things - ticked off, discouraged, etc - no matter how people are treating you and no matter what is happening - the circumstances of life. If you are thinking first for the kingdom, your responses are different. If you are thinking first for your wellbeing, you are in trouble.
9 - It’s not about your wellbeing. It’s about your expression in Christ. It’s not about what you are going through. It’s about your shining in the midst of it.
9 - Nobody ever lit a lamp and then put a basket over it. The lamp is lit for a purpose - for a reason - to bring light to the room. Who lights a lamp and puts a basket over it? You are the light of the world - a city set on a hill - Mt. 5 Therefore, let your light so shine before men, that they see your good works and glorify the Father.
10 - Any idea, any mindset, any reasoning, any emotion in your life that comes against the light in your life is a lie. Because the whole reason that you woke up this morning, according to scripture, is to shine - not survive - not just make it - not just hope for the best - not hope that people treat you the way that you desire.
10 - Sometimes our whole prayer list is laid out to benefit my day - not empower my day to look like Him. My whole prayer list can be things that I want so that the day can be better and I can be OK at the end of it. And that has nothing to do with truth or why you are saved or why He lives in you.
11 - Don’t you buy into all of the messages that are self-serving and self-focused. Yes, God is a blesser. It’s not wrong to pray for a new job. It’s not wrong to believe for a promotion. But it’s not cool to not shine in the midst of it all. It’s not cool to get laid off and live laid off - distraught, like most people who get laid off and have no hope. It’s not cool to be betrayed and live betrayed - bitter, like most people who get betrayed. It’s not cool to be done wrong and live done wrong - angry, like most people who get done wrong.
12 - Sorry for self - It’s really not cool to feel sorry for yourself. It’s the loneliest party you’ve ever been to, except for the 2 or 3 people who “understand your pain”. And you call that support. No, that’s enablement. It keeps you there - in feeling sorry for yourself. It’s not friendship. It’s deception. You need somebody to tell you the truth and get you out of yourself so that you can live in Him.
12 - This is why He came. This is why He died. He died to put His life in you, not to take you to some mystical place someday that we can’t relate to - heaven. He died to put His life into you - to get you back to the garden - back to the beginning - where He was from the beginning - where you were in Him from the beginning - made for His image.
12 - If a Christian isn’t pursuing to grow up in the truth of who God is, they are missing the adventure that they should be on. The whole reason that He’s in us is to transform us and restore us back to truth - back to love - back to shining as lights. He said, “You are the light of the world.” We say, “Well, I thought You were the light of the world, Jesus.” He says, “I am. And I am in you. Now shine.”
13 - So Jesus goes to the Father and sits at His right hand and mediates on our behalf and in the process He hands us the baton of the new covenant / New Testament church and He said, “Be like Me. Follow Me. And the things I do, you’ll do if you believe.” So I guess that if we aren’t doing these things that we don’t believe OR we don’t understand… so in all our getting let’s get understanding. But your life lived reveals what you believe and understand.
14 - So do you see why you have to have access to Him - why you can’t have a veil over your face? You’ve got to be able to slide into that room and say, “It’s just me - coming to meet with You.”
14 - So in that place I’m one of two things - either out of my mind and wasting my time OR He’s real and there and it’s going to bring change to my life.
14 - Here is what I’ve learned… It’s not going in there crying, “God, you’ve got to change me.” It’s going in there and being with Him and being with Him rubs off on you - who He is begins to come through your life. Like, you can’t be with Him and not start becoming like Him. Because eternal life is knowing Him, not praying a prayer to go to heaven.
14 - We teach that praying a prayer to go to heaven is eternal life. But Jesus said that eternal life is knowing Him, the only true God - knowing Him - not knowing about Him - not just being theologically correct - but being intimate and having a relationship and living in Him and walking with Him - like Adam did in the beginning - in the cool of the day.
15 - 1 John 4:7 - 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. - Love is not just a commandment. It’s a lifestyle. It’s what you become in Him. And every one who loves - He’s talking about 1 Cor. 13 kind of loving - not seeking your own - walking in truth and not being puffed up - taking no account of the wrong that’s been done to you… He says that everyone who loves is proving something. That they have been born of God and they know God. He didn’t say that of everyone who attends a church service or everyone that serves in a ministry or everyone that preaches from the pulpit. He said that about everyone that loves. It reveals that they know Him and that they’ve been born of Him.
16 - v.8 - He didn’t say that you don’t go to church or that you don’t see your need for a Savior or that you don’t see your need for forgiveness or that you don’t believe that Jesus is the Savior and died on the cross.
16 - So the goal isn’t praying a prayer that qualifies you for heaven. The goal is becoming love. And you can’t become love unless you love Him. And you can’t know Him and not become love. Did you get that?
16 - This thing is so simple. I’ve been invited into relationship with the God of the universe, who was and is and is to come. The almighty God has humbled Himself to consider the earth. And He put man on the planet - He put a flesh body on the planet and filled that body with who He is so that they could act out what’s on the inside. That has never changed from the beginning. He made man for His image. And God is love. The reason that man is on the planet is to love.
17 - The Fall - Stepping outside of love - When Adam sinned and got cut off from love and the source of love - God still loved man but Adam was not in fellowship with that love. Adam stepped out of that relationship. He lived apart from God.
17 - As soon as Adam gets cut off from love he became in need of love. And everybody in this room was born into Adam. And you must be born again.
17 - We turned being born again into a prayer that takes you to heaven. But He calls being born again a restoration back to love - not just being loved by God but becoming the love of God towards others.
17 - Born into neediness - Everybody in this room was born into this need for love - needing identity - needing affection - needing encouragement - needing praise. Everybody in this room, as soon as you had awareness you needed certain things in your life to be able to feel good about yourself. Why? Things got perverted by the fall of man. Every man was born into Adam - and as a result of being cut off from Love, needed love. But every man was originally put here to walk in love - to be love, not to need love.
18 - So when you get grafted back in… The only thing that you need is to get grafted back into the Vine. You’ve got to get hooked up to the source of love. So that the “I love you” comes from God through the cross. And now you become the very thing that saved you: love.
18 - It never failed. Why? He never changed His mind about us - no matter what. So now, I’m called to see the same way. I’m called to live the same way. And if you’re not measuring up and living what this word call you to - love - then it just means that you don’t see who you are - know who you are and know Him like you could. But if I know Him, I ought to see you like He sees you.
19 - That sure beats getting frustrated, irritated, picking and choosing, cliques… “Well, I don’t think I like them.” God never said that about you. You can't be on track when you say that about someone else. “They just bother me. They just get on my nerves.” God never said that about you. You can’t be be on track.
19 - See, we’re always waiting for people to line up to our preferences instead of us getting new nerves. Don’t you make your preference Lord. That’s a self-centered focus. Your preferences aren’t Lord. Your preferences are hinged on you, yourself and you. And they have twists all through them.
19 - If God had those kind of preferences, there would be people in and out. There would be favorites and less thans. But the word says that He’s not bias or partial.
19 - If I didn’t learn what I know from God then it’s not really true at all. I’ve been taught by a lie - homeschooled in the wrong home. There was false teaching all around me. And then the light of the world show up and says that He’s the way, the light, the truth. He said, “Call no man on earth your teacher. You have one Teacher and He’s the Christ.” If I didn’t learn it from Him it’s not truth at all.
20 - Screen above - Blue angel. Thought they were seeing an angel.
22 - Mt.5:14 - 14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
22 - v.14b - Isn't that amazing. I think we can be hidden if we fail to shine. That’s why He says the rest of what He says.
23 - You are the light of the world - that’s not cause for arrogance - I am somebody. It means that you shine truth through your life. Your life is lit up in truth. You have a different attitude than others - a different perspective than others. You wake up in the morning with a whole different reason for being than you used to. You’re not trying to just make it. It’s not just about your family and your IRA and your bills. It’s about what message you send through your life. That’s #1.
23 - Mt. 6:33 - But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. - Seek first - not second or third - the kingdom of God. Kingdom of God - that’s the King’s domain - that’s the King and how He functions. Seek first the kingdom of God - not your wellbeing. How many Christians are seeking first their wellbeing? How many Christians are praying prayers that only pertain to being blessed - provision - protection - break through?
24 - You are protected in truth because your heart is guarded. Because out of your heart flows the issues of life - not out of your circumstances. If circumstances can get into your heart, you are a mess. You’re only doing as good as your circumstances are going instead of as good as He is in you. Don’t you let life speak louder than truth - when He is the giver of life and truth sets you free.
24 - People say, “I’m just not free. I need deliverance.” No, you need truth. If you are not free it’s because of the absence of truth. If truth makes you free and you don’t believe that you’re free then it’s because of the absence of truth. You don’t need prayer. You need truth. If you don’t start thinking differently you’ll always live the same as you are living now.
➡ 24 - It’s so exciting that He would give us this. This isn’t a correction. You’re not getting spanked. I’m telling who you are - what He paid for - the truth about your life, your heritage, your destiny. This isn’t a correction. This is a living room chat - a family chat. This is what He paid for. Why don’t we just lay down our life, learn what that means and grow up into Him in all things and let our light so shine.
25 - Encouragement to shine.
25 - It starts with everyone living this way - children growing up understanding these things - where they don’t get caught in the rat race of “he said / she said” and “tit for tat” and “I feel” and “I wouldn’t be this way if they didn’t…”
26 - Example of kids growing up this way - resolving dispute. When I was that young I was manipulative.
26 - Lying to mom and dad to get brother spanked instead of me. Broken lamp.
26 - That’s the total opposite of Jesus. Jesus did no wrong and took my wrong. I was perverted - a little kid born into Adam. “I ain’t taking no blame. I’m putting it on you.” Do you know what’s just as bad as that?...
26 - “Well, I wouldn’t have done it if you hadn’t of…” What you are saying is that you are lord of my life. What you do decides me - what you do determines what I do. And then I’m only doing as good as you’re doing me. That’s bondage.
27 - If you are living in marriage like that, come out of that bondage - that attitude. I don’t mean split up with your spouse. Stop letting where your spouse isn’t determine where you are - and then singing that Jesus is Lord. Stop letting the actions, attitudes of others determine how you are doing - when we should be looking to Jesus to know how we are doing. Let Jesus be the governing factor and the supreme source of your life. Jesus is Lord.
27 - My wife doesn’t have to be OK for me to shine. In fact, if she is struggling I’m at my best. Because if she is struggling she just needs love in Jesus. You say, “Well marriage is 50/50.” No, marriage is “I love you - period.”
27 - Be careful with that marriage is 50/50 thing. If God applied that standard to you, you’d be in trouble because you aren’t giving your 50%. The world taught us that kind of wisdom but it’s not really wisdom at all. It’s the way that seems right to man. And it’s way leads to death. But get renewed in the spirit of your mind. Don’t be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
➡ 28 - Why did we preach righteousness last night? If you don’t see how God sees you, why would you approach Him with confidence? If you see yourself for less than what He paid for, you won’t have confidence to be with Him in a secret place. And at best you’ll commune with Him in a corporate setting. The closest you will get is when everybody is singing a worship song. At best, you’ll serve in a ministry. You’ll serve and you’ll let the things you do for Him take the place of knowing Him. But KNOWING Him is what changes you.
28 - Concubine / wife analogy - serving vs. being the bride. Don’t let what you do for Him take the place of knowing Him. If you don’t pursue relationship, you’ll get reduced to serving the Lord - reduced to serving the Lord instead of knowing Him. He said, “I don’t even call you servants anymore. I call you friends.” And He says, “The reason I do that is because a servant doesn’t even know what his master is doing.” That means that we know - we get it - we see. And the light that we see puts light in our lives. We shine as we go through life.
29 - If you are not caught up in all kinds of things, you are always ready. You’re shining. You just see a need. [Everyday examples of shining. Healing.]
30 - You are by yourself but you are not alone. You’re a walking revival. He is in you.
30 - Don’t compare how God is working through your life to what He is doing through others. Just follow Jesus. Grow up into Him. Get alone with Him. Let Him love you through the word - through His Son and you will become more and more like Him in that secret place.
30 - What does that look like? Father, I just thank you for loving me. Holy Spirit, I welcome you. I thank you that today, nobody owes me a thing. What a privilege… I used to complain a lot - complain about my job, but now I see it as a gift. It’s a simple tool. I earn finances and I pay bills. But man, what a mission field. Father, I thank you that you are doing such a work on the inside of me. I used to complain about my boss. But now my heart goes out to him. If he really knew who You are, he wouldn’t be acting that way. My heart hurts for him. I feel mercy for him. I used feel frustration but you are changing me. Father, I don’t want a new job. I want to shine right where I’m at. I don’t believe my pay is sufficient for what I’m doing but I’m going to do even more. And my life is going to mark their hearts because You are good.
31 - If you let the gospel put you in that humble place then you are unstoppable. It is such a powerful place that the enemy won’t even know what to do with you. You won’t be a target any more because you don’t love your own life unto death - and that’s how you overcome.
32 - We say that it’s the blood and the word of our testimony, but unless you don’t love your own life unto death, then the blood and the word doesn’t have power in that moment. What makes the blood and the word the answer is that you don’t love your own life unto death. Without that in the equation, you minimize the power of the blood and the word and you make it a theology instead of a transformation point. And now it’s positional - the theological position I defend - instead of reality - the reality of my life. Now you are seated in heavenly places with Jesus positionally, instead of living in that place.
32 - Mt. 5:15-16 - 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
33 - v.14 - That’s when you are walking in the light as He is in the light.
33 - v. 15 - That is so clear. You might say, “But brother, you don’t know what it’s like living with my spouse.” So… be a lamp on a lampstand and without a word win your spouse. “Well they don’t want anything to do with Jesus.” Then don’t let where they are not decide where you are. Why are you so dependent on their actions when you can be completely OK - totally given over to Jesus?
33 - “You don’t know what I’ve been going through brother. That’s insensitive.” No, you see, that’s not the answer. You’re not doing yourself any favors by thinking that way. Because it’s about what He went through. You see, your eyes are on you. It’s all about you still. You are tricked into singing that it’s all about Him but your language gives you away - reveal how you are thinking.
33 - “But you don’t know what I’ve been through.” But what about what He’s been through. Isn’t that where you find you? Isn’t that where you find truth? Isn’t that where you find change?
34 - “But you don’t know what it was like when I was growing up. You don’t know what my parents did.” I don’t. And I’m sorry. You don’t know mine either. But what are we going to do - go through the room and share our horror stories? And find out who has been through the most hell? And then what? Have extra sympathy for them? And then turn around and sing that it’s all about Him? I’m not being mean.
34 - “But I was touched wrong at a young age.” What if I was also? See, it’s not fair to put yourself in that place. Because what you are doing is resisting truth and truth is what’s here to make you free. And all of the sudden you are locking your life and identity into what was instead of what it is in Him. You’re being way deceived.
34 - I promise you that you don’t need ministry. You don’t need to backtrack - go back and analyze the past in detail. You don’t need oil on your head. You don’t need deliverance. You need to believe the truth now that Christ has come - and believe that Christ in me is the hope of glory.
34 - Get bold with it and say, “You know what? It would have been nice if daddy had been there for me - if he hadn’t been drinking all of the time - if he had said encouraging words but the truth is he wasn’t there. He was a dry well - a dry cup. No wonder I was thirsty. I was trying to get a drink from a dry cup. But One came along that is a Fountain unto eternal life. He’s a Wellspring. And that One said, ‘You know what Dan? If you take one drink of Me - just one drink - you will never, ever be thirsty again. You will find yourself in Me. You will know who you are. You won’t regret the past. You won’t feel like an unloved son. You won’t have any regrets. You will be free.’”
35 - When I got saved, I wasn’t mad at my dad. My dad quit drinking along the way. He saw my life change. And for the first time in his life said to me with tears, “I’ve watched you. You’re a changed man. I’m proud of you.” I’ve never heard that out of my dad’s mouth but he said it when he saw Jesus.
35 - Here’s the cool thing. I wasn’t living for my dad to say that he was proud of me. It wasn’t necessary - “I just need my dad to say that he loves me…” No, that’s idolatry. You’re saying that you can’t be OK until a man does something. No, you couldn’t be OK until Jesus said something. Why don’t you get your eyes onto truth? That’s where freedom is.
36 - It’s idolatry to say that I need my dad to say that he loves me. It’s making something matter more than what matters most. You’re saying that Jesus isn’t enough - that it’s all because of dad. But Jesus said, “Call no man on earth your Father (come forth from). You have one Father and He’s in heaven.” What’s He saying? Don’t let natural heritage - biological connections - don’t let any of that matter more in deciding who you are from the beginning. Because you came forth from Him.
36 - Find the love of God through the Son - Not through an earthly father - Here’s the one that I hear all the time: “I can’t receive the love of God because I didn’t have a loving father.” [Extended similar type discussion] You don’t find the love of God through a father but through the crucified Son. When you see Jesus, you see the Father.
38 - Taking people back to find healing towards their father. Why would you take some long curvy road that a lot of times doesn’t change anything?
38 - How to move forward in faith.
39 - [Struggling because of believing that you need the affirmation of parents to be OK.] Those are all lies. Look at what they produce. If the way you are thinking doesn’t produce life, it can’t be the Lord speaking. If the way that you are believing isn’t producing life, it can’t be truth. He came to give you life and life more abundantly. You don’t have to have a reason in your mouth not to shine when you are called to shine. (Reject lies that would keep you from shining.) Don’t justify not being what He paid for. Keep growing in that truth and push everything else away.
39 - “Well, they haven’t been treating me right.” OK, they don’t see the truth or they don’t care about the truth. Why are you letting where they are not decide you? Why are you letting what they don’t see decide what you do see when He is the light of the world?
39 - You don’t find truth through the circumstance. You find truth through Him. That’s where you are stable. That’s where you are planted firmly on a rock - immovable - unshakable.
➡ 40 - We’re dealing with all of those flesh excuses (that justify not shining). “Well, I wouldn’t be in this place if it weren’t for this, this and this. But this, this and this are not Lord. Stop letting it matter more.
40 - Counseling - My pastoring / counseling sessions are short. “Look I’m sorry that they are acting that way but what does any of that have to do with Jesus - what He did for you and what He wants to do through you?” 99% of pastoral counseling is people issues - somebody feeling a certain way because of somebody doing a certain thing. It’s people struggles. What does that reveal? It shows that we don’t understand why Jesus came. Somehow we think that He came to serve us rather than to change us.
40 - Mad at God - That’s why people are mad at God. It’s a dead give away when you are mad at God. I heard a preacher once say, “Well, everybody gets mad at God. You can understand…” But it’s ludicrous to be mad at God. We were lost and dead in our sin and He sent His Son and made me alive and forgave all of my sin and put His life inside of me. He’s not my genie in a bottle. He’s my Father. He doesn’t owe me three wishes. He didn’t fail me. He pulled through when I wasn’t even looking or asking.
41 - People say, “Well, if God is so good, why did this happen when I was five?” If God wasn’t good, why did He send His Son? Maybe we ask the wrong questions - self-serving questions. Maybe we do what they did to Jesus all the time. They would ask Him a question with a catch. “If God is good, how come?” Maybe that’s not the question. Let me ask you a question, if He's not good why would He send His Son while we were yet sinners? Maybe that’s where you find the goodness of God. Maybe that’s where love gets established. Maybe the finished work and the cross is the measuring stick of God’s love. Maybe love is never to be questioned and challenged again.
42 - Maybe you get laid off in the same week that you son goes wild and your spouse is struggling. And you say, “God, where is your love in this? If you loved me why are you letting all of this happen?” But if He didn’t love you then why did He stretch out His arms on a cross? All the sudden you let His love for you be shipwrecked by circumstances. And you are not rooted and grounded in love. But faith works through love. And now you are just driven by need because you have lost sight of love. You’ve taken your circumstances personally - as if your circumstance say more about you than what He says about you. And now you’re in trouble. You feel sorry for yourself. And your two closest friends who hurt with you are your support system but nobody is getting healed.
42 - This kind of thinking will change your life. If you wake up every day and nobody owes you a thing, then you are free. You talk to the Lord about that and you tell Holy Spirit that you are serious - “Any time I cross that line, make me aware of it and I’ll keep turning around.” And then instead of going, “I failed, I blew it, I missed it. I’ll never get there” - every time that you get convicted, “Oh, there I go again. I’m turning around. Father, I thank you that you are so much more than that in me. God, I just yield to you. And I thank you that you’re growing me and maturing me. Man, six months ago I didn’t even blink when I acted that way. I thought I had the right to act that way. Now I realize that it’s never in the program. I have the right to shine. I have the right to love - to live in the Spirit. And God, I thank you that you are growing me and increasing me. My life is being transformed.”
43 - That’s how revival is going to touch the land. When you and your sphere of influence start living that way. When we all start living that way, the world will start seeing who He is through us. And then it’s not us talking about Him. It’s us living Him.
43 - People could care less about your words if your life doesn’t match what you say. Don’t reduce Him to a theology and a belief system. He’s a lifestyle.
43 - Christianity isn’t church attendance. Get plugged in. Get in fellowship with people who are on page. Help that thing go. That doesn’t mean don’t go to church. But Christianity is not church attendance. It’s Christlikeness.
44 - Teaching kids religion. Live Jesus before them. [Scenario] Church attendance vs. living in Christ.
45 - This kind of preaching brings change. It holds you accountable. It gets your eyes off of others and shifts the focus onto you - What are you going to do in Jesus - Christ in you? You don’t listen to the sermon for your spouse. If you elbowed your spouse when I’m preaching then I’m really talking to you.
45 - Listening to a sermon for others scenario. And the whole time God is trying to talk to YOU (not primarily your spouse). You are letting where they are not, drive your day, saying that you’re OK. Your whole focus is on their life and you’ve done nothing in Christ in yours. You’re just waiting on them to live up to your expectation.
46 - Ladies get tricked into this: “Well, you’re supposed to be the man of the house. You’re supposed to be the leader. I’m tired of carrying the weight in this family.”
47 - Men do the same thing: “Well, you put too much weight on me. I’ve got enough on my plate. You’re supposed to be running with me. What do you mean you don’t feel like going to church. You need to stand beside me and support me. People are going to ask me questions. I’m going to be under pressure. Don’t make me lie.” I’ve pastored and seen it all.
47 - My wife in identity crisis while I was pastoring. Believed that people only spoke to her because she was with me. She turned inward and something seemed to die.
48 - [Small child in the congregation draws Dan’s attention] Unless you become like a little child, you’ll by no means enter the kingdom. Why? Because up to a certain age they still aren’t self-conscious. When you get self-conscious you’ve lost your innocence. That little one is not self-conscious. He’s just walking around up here.
48 - Little child. They don’t have to be very old before they start feeling self-conscious - they think
selfishly. In grade school someone may laugh at them - what they wore. “You’re still carrying that stupid lunch box?” Heehee. And the two people that you thought were friends join in laughing. And all of the sudden you’ve got to deal with that and respond to that. And that starts to fashion you but it’s not the great Potter. All of the sudden you’re a little insecure. Your esteem drops a notch. You’ve got something to prove. You’ve got to win some things back. Now you are under pressure. You’re on the run even though you’re at a very young age.
49 - Everybody knows what I’m talking about. And the person that you turn out to be isn’t even the real you. It’s just whatever you turned out to be.
49 - We do personality tests. “You are this kind of person” or “that kind of person.” No, that’s all built on lies. We need to get born again. And then when you are born again don’t say, “Well, I’ve always just been the quiet type…” No, wait - you’re talking about a dead person. Why don’t you get to know the new you. You might be amazed at how loud you are.
50 - It’s amazing how we relate to who we were before being born again. We teach ourselves that “This is me.” We do all of these psychological studies and categorize our personalities. And everything was built on lies. You were nothing more than how you responded to what you’ve been through. Some people are weak and broken and introverted and some are hard and fighters. And it’s all the same. Neither one is living in their created value.
50 - So at what do you throw all of that away in Him and say, “Brand new - new life - new and living way.” And then you go and be with Him - commune with Him - see yourself how He sees you. And all of the sudden you’ll have the best look at others that you’ve ever had. Next thing you know you’ll have this thing called “love” in your heart - and it isn’t Hollywood love.
51 - Mt. 5:16 - Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. - Not hear but see… If you don’t live this way, without realizing it, you’ll reduce yourself in their eye to another person that’s a “Christian” that just goes to church - but you have the same hurts, the same breakdowns, anxieties, depressions, attitudes, sarcasms… It will be just a belief that they don’t have but no practical difference - they see you as living the same as they do.
51 - People say, “Well, you’ve got to be relatable…” Others ask, “What are you more holier than thou?” That’s a cop out for the flesh.
52 - Is it my preaching? Nobody moved after that.
55 - Let’s go to John 12. Your life matters people. He paid for your redemption. Do you think about that stuff? He believes that His life given is worth your life lived in Him. He believes that it’s worth doing what He did on the earth to get His life back inside of you.
55 - Don't turn it into a mystery by saying, “Why would He want to forgive me and take me to heaven? I hope it’s true. I don’t know why He would love me.” He loves your destiny, your potential. He loves fellowship and communion with you. He loves oneness. He loves your uniqueness and your individuality. Yet He loves what that looks like in Him.
56 - Individuality - A young man who had been thinking too much said to me, “Well, I don’t know about all of this deny yourself stuff because you’ve got to have your own individuality.” But nobody is taking away your individuality. You’re you and I’m me but you’re the best you when you’re in Him and I’m the best me when I’m in Him.
56 - [Individual appearances comparison demonstration] You wouldn’t get us confused. We don’t look alike. But we can both look exactly like Him and that’s what makes us one. He’s him and I’m me but if he is him in Him and I’m me in Him then we look the same.
57 - Texting wife - snow and cold.
58 - I'm from PA. You are from Edmonton. I’m going to wake up there. You are going to wake up here. And no matter how far apart we are we can both wake up for the same reason. That’s what makes us one. And that’s how He covers the earth with His glory.
58 - We’re waiting for a mystical outpouring. We’re waiting for a wave to rush through our city - a wave that you can’t see but that you can feel. And that would be awesome but while you are waiting around for that why don’t you shine. Walk in love. Forgive, make peace, show mercy and be like the One you say that you believe in.
59 - John 12:35 - 35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. 36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.
59 - If you don’t stay in the light then you’re in darkness. There’s no light in darkness and no darkness in light. It’s either light or darkness - angels or devils - Christ of the enemy. We create middle zones - grey zones.
100 - Light is greater than darkness. Nobody says, “Turn up the darkness.” If the room gets dimmer it’s because somebody turned down the light. It’s simple but profound. Light is greater than darkness.
100 - How much time have we spent talking about the darkness? “I need to get my kids out of that school… I need to quit my job… I need to move to another town… I don’t know what God is going to do but He needs to do something soon - there is so much darkness…”
101 - Sometimes the only reason that we pray is because we’re afraid of the darkness. So the darkness motivates prayer. It’s all fear driven. Prayer should be a proclaiming of the light. Prayer is a prophetic declaration of the answers and the promises. It’s not, “Oh God, help! There are gangs in our town.”
101 - Isaiah said, “Arise, shine church. Your light has come. And the glory of the Lord has risen. It’s upon you. Darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the people. But the light? It’s on you.” That’s way back in Isaiah.
101 - Now here is Jesus telling us to let our light so shine. Nobody lights a lamp and then put something over it to cover what was lit. That’s phenomenal. Now become that.
102 - The Lord had me stay in Phil. 2 for 13 weeks. Don’t read it to memorize it. Stay there until you become it. Commune through it. Pray it back to me. It came alive in my heart.
104 - John 12:35 (cont.) - Doesn’t know where he is going - if you don’t walk in the light as He is in the light, you are just ambling. You’re just trying to make it through life.You’re being way deceived. You’re quenching purpose. You’re not called to make it. You’re called to shine.
105 - If you are walking in darkness that means that you’re not walking in truth. You’re not walking in agreement with the why behind why you got up this morning. Mercy woke us up to give us one more day to look like Him. But our pursuit might be different - better circumstances - people changing to suit us - just praying over our families so that things go smoothly.
105 - In some circles people are just praying for blessing and benefits. They’re pursuing favor and blessing - short checkout lines - good parking spots - green lights. Let’s stop that. We’re missing Phil. 2. If you are always praying for a green light it’s a dead give away. You’re not even caring that if your light is green someone else’s is red. That doesn’t even matter to you. And if you have the best parking, someone else doesn’t. Don’t have faith for that kind of stuff.
106 - I think the devil laughs at us for that kind of stuff because you’re not going to turn the world upside down by getting personal blessings. You’re actually going to get spoiled and self-centered. If you raised your children like that people would say, “Shame on you.” So why would we want to live our Christian lives like that?
106 - v.35b - Doesn’t know where he’s going - He is void of purpose. He’s not going to write a legacy. He’s ambling. He’s existing. It doesn’t say that you’re not going to be going to church, serving in the ministry, tithing and worshipping with both hands held high. But your days aren’t counting and amounting to what He paid for because you’re walking in darkness.
107 - v.36 - While you have the light, believe in the light - He’s talking about believing in Him - His life - His Person - His motives - the way that He is. I’m so impressed with Jesus. You laughed at my interpretation of Jesus moping because it’s hard to imagine Jesus that way. It’s the silliest, most absurd thing to imagine Him that way because we know Him through scripture. But if He made us in His image and He’s the light of the world and we’re to walk in the light as He is in the light - if we’re to do the things that He does if we believe - if He is the first born among many brothers - then if it sounds crazy in His mouth it ought to sound just as crazy in ours. That mentality should be totally silly. So why do we have the ability to think those thing and feel those things and get prayer for those things and yet when we put those things into Jesus’ mouth they sound hilarious. It ought to sound hilarious in us.
108 - I think we’ve been misidentified. I think we’ve grown up believing that we are who we are identified to be through life instead of identified through the giver of life. We’re not evil. And we’re not hypocrites. We’re just misunderstanding.
108 - That you may become sons of light - How powerful is this! Quick recap of v. 37-43. Then in…
109 - 44 Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. 45 And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. 46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. 47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. 49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
109 - v.46 - We’re back to the light. Why has He come as light into the world? Because, before, we were covered in darkness. In the beginning - at creation - the earth was void, without form, covered in darkness. And Holy Spirit was hovering over the chaos. What happened when man sinned? He got reduced back to a form of what he was intended and created to be. And darkness came once again.
110 - What do you think Holy Spirit is doing through Jesus Christ? He’s hovering over men’s lives - waiting to take away the chaos and bring form to what they are intended to be. That’s why you get water baptized - to die to everything that you ever were, so that you can live to everything He created you to be and get redeemed and restored back to original value. Holy Spirit - midwife - is hovering over the expanse of the (baptismal) waters. And when you come out of the water He embraces and presents you to Papa. “Look, another brand new baby boy. Ain’t he amazing?” And He breathes life into you.
110 - And we think baptism is just a church ordinance. Not hardly. It’s a sign of death so that there’s a newness of life. And all of the sudden you are one again with God. It’s as if man never sinned.
111 - John 20 proves this. He rises from the dead and He tells Mary, “Go tell my BRETHREN…” He didn’t say, “Go tell my backstabbing, low-life two faced disciples, that aren’t disciples at all…” When He called them brethren He was saying, “I haven’t changed my mind about you.”
111 - What did He do when He came into the room that night? He breathed on them and said, “Receive Holy Spirit.” Why? He just came from the Father where He put His own blood on the mercy seat. He just wiped out sin and the fact that sin ever happened. The Lamb of God slain, who taketh AWAY… not covered over.
112 - What did He do when He came back into the room. He’s the redeemer. He’s the last Adam. He’s the redemption of man. He brings man back to original value.
112 - How did God make man in the garden? He formed him and then what did He do? He breathed into them.
112 - What got lost when Adam sinned? Everything that had been given through that breath.
112 - What did Jesus do when He came into that room - His blood being on the mercy seat? He breathed on them, “Day one baby! As if sin never happened” - because of the blood.
112 - And then He said, “As the Father sent Me, so I send you.” We think power - miracles - glory. But what about heart, love, mercy?
112 - He said if you forgive anyone their sins they will be forgiven. Why? They’ll know the way to Me. If you love them the way that I have loved you, in the midst of your shortcomings, they will know the way to the Father. You go love them and forgive them the way that I have forgiven you and they will know forgiveness.
112 - But if you shut up your heart and fail to forgive men their sins, how will their sins be forgiven when you are My representative - the body of Christ?
113 - Complaining - We’ve made the gospel all about God taking care of me - making me feel good - making sure that I’m not sick. When we whine about our circumstances it’s just a give away to the devil that we are just one slap in the face away from falling down some more. Complaining is detrimental. It’s a give away that you think selfishly. If you don’t think self-centeredly then you can’t complain about a thing.
113 - I never heard Jesus say, “This cross is too heavy - the pain is too much. Don’t let them hit me any more. How much is enough?” He didn’t say a word - a sheep to the slaughter.
114 - We complain if the car isn’t running right - “Not now! God, what’s going on?” And you’re worried silly because your car sputtered at an intersection.
114 - When the phone battery goes dead, you are dead. When you can’t reach Facebook, that’s like eternal judgement.
114 - v.46b - It all goes back to believing again. If you abide in darkness, you don’t know where you are going. He’s the light. If you abide in Him and believe in Him, you’ll never abide in darkness. So you will always know who you are and why.
115 - Do you see what your role is? Believing. At the end of time - don’t think that this thing is going to be complicated. There are going to be two seas of folks - people that believed and their life proved it - you’re judged by your works (not saved by your works)... You know them by their fruit. What’s in a man is revealed through his life. Two seas of people - people that believed and people that didn’t believe. And how will that be distinguished? By the way that people lived their lives.
115 - I’m not even talking about whether you’re going to heaven or not - whether you are saved from death or not. I’m talking about reward, legacy, bringing honor to His name. I’m not being theological with you and saying that you’re not born again. I’m talking about living for why you are here and living for why He came.
116 - If you think that He came to put your name in a book (Book of Life) and rescue you on the day that the trumpet blows, you are missing the whole point of why He came.
116 - He came to deliver you and save you from the power of satan and transfer you into the power of God. So that you can walk in the light as He is in the light. So church… Let your light so shine.
118 - Closing prayer. Open your hearts to God and desire to be the light. You talk to Him about that and thank Him for that. Thank Him for wisdom in that. Continue to ask Holy Spirit to lead you everyday in higher truth so that your life makes a difference before men.
118 - Father, I thank you that without striving - without trying hard - our lives are changed. And because our lives are changed others begin to change. I ask for a season like we see in the book of Acts where men come to us and say, “What must we do to be saved? - where we are not just trying to get them to confess after us but that people would just see our lives lived. They are watching and listening. We might not even know it. I pray that this testimony happen over and over again - that people would come to them after a season of observing and say, “What must I do to be what I see in your life? How do I get to know Him like I see that you know Him? Can you help me?” Father, I thank you for that day. I thank you for that grace. We’re going to run well - the best that we understand it. Thank you for the honor. In Jesus’ name. Amen.