Day 6 (2011)
1:00 - Students pray for each other - bless each other
3:30 - Blessing tomatoes.
4:00 - Hebrews 10
➡ 4:20 - YESTERDAY - We were in Romans 6. We will start in Hebrew 10 and hopefully make it to Romans 6. (Never made it to Romans 6 yesterday.)
Review - The Good News
➡ 5:00 - You've been made right with God - Rejoice! - SUMMARY from the beginning of school: We’ve been talking about being right with God. Understanding your right-standing. Rejoicing in your reconciliation. A lot of people don’t stay in that place of rejoicing in their reconciliation and don’t really experience that reconciliation and they feel like they are living far from God but they have a heart for God. That's a shame. If He has come to live inside of us it would be a shame to live like He is far away. He loves you. He’s your Father. You have access to Him. You have a right to approach Him - Heb. 4:14-16 - there’s a boldness to approach His throne and receive mercy and help in time of need. Why? Because you see that there is a high priest - Jesus - at His right hand. And Jesus is mediating on your behalf. So you have total access to Him. The door is open. He's not on the phone. You don’t have to knock. That is such a big deal. That means you can live with Him, walk with Him and approach Him all the time.
6:40 - See yourself how God sees you - Realize His love - It lifts you up to be in love with Him - We’re talking about how free we are - how righteous we are. The goodness of God leads men to change - Rom. 2:4. We are afraid to preach this because we think we have to deal with our lives. No, you have to see yourself through God’s view - the higher value of your life than you were able to live apart from Him. It puts integrity in you and desire for God in you. It’s what causes me to love Him - because He has so loved me thoroughly.
7:00 - Trying to live right vs. revelation of reconciliation - If I fail to receive that love - to see that love - I’m just trying to live good - and follow God because it’s the right thing to do. That's where a lot of people are. Just trying to live the Christian life because it's the right thing to do. No real revelation of their value - God’s love for them - how free they are from the old - how free they are from sin.
7:40 - To hold sin high is false humility - We're almost afraid to speak that. We feel like we have to hold up our ability to sin high and that is humility. That's not humility. That's deception. I'm not supposed to hold up my ability to sin high. I am supposed to hold high His ability to love me and forgive me and through the blood make me clean. That's what I am holding high. I've been made right through the blood of Jesus. Once for all He died for me.
8:00 - He sees me holy, blameless and above reproach - My struggle to achieve righteousness is over - I am reconciled. God sees me as holy, blameless and above reproach (right now) - Col. 1:22. It’s that goodness that I have to receive that turns my heart to change. Or I’m going to live from a place of struggle - trying to be a better person - trying to live right.
8:50 - I'm in love and everything else flows out of that relationship - I've been born again for 16 years and I don't have one memory of trying to live right. That's not even in my mind. I’m not trying to live right, I’m in love. And the manifestation of that relationship causes me to be a certain way. I think, act, do - it all comes out of - all fueled by my relationship with God. So I'm not waking up trying to be a Christian - that is impersonal. No, I’m enjoying being a son - enjoying being one with Him - enjoying being loved by God. Despite all of the old stuff in my life, He has come and given strength and life and identity and purpose. That’s the Christian life. That’s relationship with God.
9:30 - Trying to live right - We are so caught up in trying to do the right thing and live the right way. Living well flows out of knowing Him. It’s the spontaneous result of knowing Him.
9:45 - Faith arises from relationship - Even faith is the spontaneous result of knowing Him. That’s where faith comes from - knowing Him. I wonder if that is why we TRY so hard to have faith in so many areas. Because we don't see Him and know Him in those areas. Is He really our Father? Is He really the One that saved us, forgiven us and washed us clean? "Well, I don't feel clean brother." You are clean through the blood of Jesus. You ought to rejoice.
➡ 10:20 - I'm just summarizing where we've been since the beginning of school.
10:30 - He's transforming me - Back to His image - It’s all about your redemption, restoration, making you brand new, new creature, new way of thinking, new way of seeing yourself. That’s what the gospel is all about. It’s Christ in you - looking through Christ.
10:45 - Don't be distracted or defined by other things - Be defined through Christ - And you are the steward of your heart. It is no good to get discouraged, distracted, pulled away, identified by a whole bunch of other stuff and feelings - so many things that could rule your day. Where you look in the mirror and see something less than what Christ proclaims. I want to grow to the point where I look in the mirror and see exactly what He came for. I know why He died. And, "Yes, you should have."
11:30 - See yourself how He sees you - We feel weird about that. "Why would He die for me?" What do you mean, "Why would He die for me?" I was a son from the beginning. I was the predestination of God. He knew me when you didn't. I have so much more to my life than what I knew and I lived for and God knows that. So He sent His Son to die so that I could finally live. What do you mean, "Why would He die for me?" That's a simple answer.
12:00 - We see ourselves for our sin - We sing songs, "I'll never know why..." We see ourselves for what we’ve been apart from Him. So we have valued our lives or devalued our lives based on that history when the truth is in Christ. So yes, He should have. Because we have life to live. He doesn't want to see life apart from us. Heaven wouldn't be the same without us. God's picture and plan wouldn't be fulfilled without you in it. You're the family portrait. It's not too good to be true. It's the truth.
12:45 - If this wasn't true why would He have gone to the extreme of dying on a cross? Just so you could show up in heaven some day? And not know Him now?
12:55 - God's love was a mystery to Dan - I used to think, growing up, "Why would He die for me? Why would He want me in heaven forever and ever and ever with this God that I don't even know? And He wants me there? And He would pay that price to get me there? What?" It used to boggle my mind. I never understood, growing up. Heaven was a weird mystery to me. I didn't realize that it's so that heaven could come back into me - I could start looking through His eyes and see purpose and truth and realize my destiny, my created value. I'm not searching any more to find myself. What is that?
13:20 - How do you come to a conclusion when you are searching to find yourself? What defines you? What people say and don's say? What people do and don't do? You are at the mercy of life then instead of the mercy of God. Your life is defined through Christ - period. It's a narrow eye.
Totally Free from Sin
➡ 13:45 - We are totally free from sin - Our ability to sin is not who we are - THIS MORNING: Going to talk about this topic: Being totally free from sin. It freaks people out but it is all through the word. If you would read the Bible you would see that we are absolutely free from sin.
14:00 - We think that because we have the ability to commit an act of sin that that is our identity - sinner. Our identity is “righteous through Christ.” Sometimes we equate our ability to sin to who we are - sinners. That's a lie. That's deception. If you believe that, you’ll continue to walk in the weakness of sin and you’ll fight a struggle that is already won. And your identity won't be settled. You won't have a clear healthy view of your life. You’ll struggle in an area where grace can carry you through.
➡ 14:30 - I'll make this clear today. Because you are free from sin.
14:35 - Objection: What about 1 John 1:8? - It's talking about our need to be born again - Review - 1 John 1:8 - If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. - One of the most misused verses in the Bible - But it is talking about your need for the blood - a Savior - being born again. If you say that you have not sinned then you are deceived because every man has sinned and every man has fallen short of the glory of God - Rom. 3:23. But John goes on to say, I write these things to you that you do not sin. So John is proclaiming the righteous judgement of God - that God is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse. That's me. I'm forgiven and cleansed.
15:40 - This is good news - Don't be distracted by life - This is good tidings of great joy - Luke 2:10. It puts life in your heart if you can finally just believe that your life is created by God and your life is so worth living. And all these other things that are trying to define or distract you are meaningless in the light of this truth.
16:00 - Petty things that rule us - Just think of the petty little things that rule us from day to day. So bored inside that the smallest thing became news.
16:20 - Soap operas at work - Hurt my heart to see how everyone was so distracted. Everything at work was a soap opera. News. How it ruled everybody and made them vile and bitter. And it was all they talked about. It was all they had to live for. It gave them a right to do the things they did. They were determined by the waves of life. Thank God there is a new and living way. Wow, you can really be OK - free from sin.
Separate Sin from Your Identity
17:05 - I turned you to Hebrews 10 but I'm going to quote 1 Peter 2 for you...
17:25 - Don't live by the flesh but according to the Spirit - 1 Peter 1:24 - For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: - Don’t live by flesh but by the Spirit. The glory of man apart from God is here and gone.
18:30 - v.25 - But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. - But the word of the Lord endures forever. I want my life to be flowered by the word of God. I want to be in that - legacy, eternal life, for His glory, for His name sake - place. I'm not interested in building a kingdom in my name. I'm interested in ministering a kingdom that is already in His name. That's my desire.
19:00 - Put off the old - Separate sin from your identity through prayer - 1 Peter 2:1 - Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, - We lay it aside. We're not in works trying not to be that way. You realize that that is not my created value. That's not who I am to be. I separate it from my identity through prayer.
19:15 - Father, I thank You that You didn't create me to have an angry heart. Father, I thank You that I have no rights to be angry - to judge men. You have never judged me - who am I to judge another? God You never came to me and gave me what I deserved. Why would I harden my heart towards humanity? You died for humanity and You loved them. Father, I yield myself to You and thank You that You are absolutely making Your heart, my heart and causing me to see Your way because Your way is right. And I worship You and I yield to You... See that's your prayer life. That's communion with God. That's how you lay aside all these things (anger, etc.). Father, I thank You that I have nothing to gain from my own. I have no reason to lie or be deceitful. I'm not trying to exaggerate and draw attention to myself. I have no need for the attention of men. I have a need to love men because You love men and You have shown me great attention. My life is fulfilled in You. And now I can finally be free and love the world. Thank You Father. That's prayer.
Prayer Life
20:10 - Don't pray from worry, fear & complaint - We ought to think that way (see prayer above) instead of me, myself and I - and all the trouble we have and "God if you don't intervene, I don't know how I will survive. God, help. Please help." And we get aware of how our ducks are not in a row - family, work, etc. (things family members are going through and the circumstances of our lives) - and that is your prayer life.
20:30 - Get formed in Christ first to see those circumstances clearly - We do that instead of getting formed in Christ so that you can see all of those things through Him first so that you can pray from a pure place - instead of hurt, despair, frustration, etc.
20:45 - If your relationship with God is not ironed out first you can't see that stuff clearly. You are just seeing it like a mere man and going, "Ahhhh!" And praying from desperation. You say, "Yeah, I'm praying all of the time." No, you are fretting all of the time. You are freaked out and afraid a lot.
21:05 - Speak life - Declare what He sees for the situation - There is a place to speak life. There is a place to be in fellowship with God and you start seeing through God's eyes. And that doesn't mean that there is not trouble and things pressing us. But there is a different way that you see it. And you see things for the best and for the gold in the situation. You proclaim and you prophesy. You don't fear, fret and complain in prayer.
21:25 - Interceding for another - Father, I thank You that they're so much more than they are living - they just don't know it. But You know it and You will never lose sight of their value. And I thank You that Your Spirit is upon them moving them into truth. Right now I believe that You're working in their heart, even convicting them - taking every seed that You have sown into them and bringing it to life and fruition. And I thank You that they will not be destroyed in this place. God, You are delivering and You are saving. And I thank You for ministers and people coming into their life that can even reveal who You are to them. And I thank You their heart is not hard. It looks that way but I don't believe it. They have ears to hear Your voice and I thank You that You are working mightily in their life... If you pray like that for somebody, then all you can do is have faith.
22:10 - Don't see the gloom - God sees everything and He's not worried or fearful - Instead of "God it doesn't look good and I am so afraid. Please, if you don't do something soon..." No wonder we don't have any joy. All we see is the gloom. If this wasn't true - what I am preaching, then God would be a wreck. He would need so much ministry. He would be frazzled. He would be popping pills. If God didn’t have a different view He would be depressed all the time. He sees everything. He's not depressed and fearful. He's the Lord. He's the God of all hope - Romans 15:13. He knows what He has said. He has spoken. If God didn't have a different view... He would be in this school.
23:20 - [Extended discussion of the way God sees.] Where sin abounds grace abounds much more - Rom. 5:20. He has plans and strategies to save, redeem, heal.
Born Again
23:35 - Dan's salvation - God sees us differently than we see ourselves - I think about my sinfulness and it's amazing that it didn't knock God off the throne. He came and embraced me and wrapped His arms around me at age 33. When I said, "I'll live for you." He didn't say, "Oh, now you'll live for me. You know that I called you years ago. I've convicted you for about 13 years, you hard head. You've hurt a lot of people since then and caused a lot of hell and now you want to cry out to me? Well, maybe you've waited too long. I'll get back to you on this." That's how we think. And that's how we talk.
24:40 - Surrender - I'm not the same person - Isn't it amazing that when I said, "I will live for you," that's what He has been waiting for - for me to surrender and yield. And as soon as I did that it means I wasn't that person any longer. I've changed. So if I've changed, God knows how to work with change. Not sit there and say, "We'll see if you are really different. Well you are going to have to prove yourself around here pal. You've got a lot of making up to do. We'll let you in but you better run well." That's the way we think.
25:15 - Repentance - Instantly I am not that man - But watch the beauty of repentance - the gift of repentance... When my heart broke and I saw my life for what it was and said, "I will live for you," from that moment I am no longer that man. Instantly I am not that person - as soon as sorrow fills my heart and I wish that there could be change.
25:40 - You can't go back and change things - Stay away from regret - I’m completely powerless to go back and change anything. To think of doing that is called regret. The Bible says that it produces death - 2 Cor. 7:10. "Why did I have to do this? If I had just... I so messed up my life." Isn't that what people do? It's the way that seems right and produces nothing.
26:30 - Be born again - You're no longer that old person - But as soon as I am sorrowful - as soon as I say, "I will live for you," He says, "Yay!" and He washes away the old and breathes His Spirit into me. And instantly I am what I never was - I am brand new. And instantly in the sight of God I am completely changed.
Motives for Salvation
27:00 - Start by being born again - Motives for coming to Him - Be sure to start there and you will run well. A lot of people don’t start there. We come to Him for other reasons - because we are afraid, so that our marriage doesn't break, so we don't lose our house, because we were just laid off... There are a lot of other things that stir our hearts to come to Him. But we have to come to Him for Him, to know Him, to become like Him, to give ourselves to Him. We don’t come to Him to help us in life. We come to Him to give us life and make us new. That's why we come to Him church.
27:30 - Motives for coming to Him - That is really misunderstood in this country. We preach many different motives for coming to Him to get people. Come to Him because you realize that you were living life in your own strength, your own will, your own wisdom and producing nothing but for yourself and you die to that and live to Him. That's the only reason to get born again. I understand that God can mercifully work with all of these other motives but why would you come with another motive. And why would we preach any other motives for coming to Him when self was the biggest problem and the way that you look through your own eye at life.
28:30 - If I can get a renewed mind I can see through truth instead of flesh. There is a place to look through Him.
28:50 - Could you give some examples of false motives for coming to Him?
We try to motivate people to salvation promising: blessings, prosperity, entrance to heaven - The promise of blessings. God will fix up your life - a patch kit. Life will be a rose garden. Promise of prosperity - finances.
29:30 - Fire insurance - Hell - Here is one that is going to sound blasphemous. Just the push to go to heaven and miss hell. Hell is real. I don't talk about it a whole lot but it is a very real place. It's very scriptural and Jesus talked about it. I talk about the goodness of God that leads men to repentance - Rom. 2:4. But the motive can simply be pray this prayer and go to heaven and make sure that you stay connected to our church and plugged into this ministry. We are cattle ranching people in and letting them believe that if they don't stay connected to us they are lost.
30:15 - Compelling church connection - These motives produce things that aren’t good. There is a beauty to the local congregation. There is a healthy way to assemble yourselves. But if it starts being wrong motives and now you are just trying to compel people to come. And there is a sense of rightness about saying that. But it shifts and becomes fear driven, legalistic, compelling. And there’s no grace and love in any of it. And the motive behind it isn’t love for people but "you better straighten up", "you better do right."
30:50 - No, it's a die to live, all in gospel - I preach if you are coming to Jesus, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him. Let’s get water baptized right away and put that old man to death. And when you come up you’ll be reborn - new baby - fresh in the Father’s arms. You can grow up, enjoy Him and manifest His glory. What do you say, are you ready to sell out and give it all to Him? That's how I preach the gospel to people when I meet them.
31:20 - Baptizing teenager in hotel bath tub. Presence of God so on that young man. I had to leave the room. That's your Father now. He wants to meet with you. And I just backed out. I was overwhelmed. He was in there for 40 min. He looked different - innocent, wholesome.
32:40 - So I don't do quick prayers to go to heaven and shun hell. And I don't preach, "Come to Jesus and He will make everything great." He will make everything right in the sense of righteousness. But there are a lot of motives out there...
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33:00 - The gospel is not about doing our best to build a kingdom FOR God - We minister the kingdom that is already here - One of the biggest traps: We get trapped into building a kingdom (instead of ministering the one that is already here) and the financial burden of building a kingdom instead of ministering a kingdom. We're not called to build a kingdom. God is building His kingdom stone upon stone. We are being built into a spiritual house - 1 Peter 2:5. Buildings are not the kingdom. This is just the blessing of provision and facility. The people are the kingdom.
34:00 - Support groups label people with a label other than their God given identity - Having a support group for every category of life is very unhealthy. Support groups sound like great things but you are stereotyping people. You’re making people single moms - over 35 and divorced - widows. No they are in Christ and they are children of God. A big church that can meet all of your needs in the sense of weaknesses. So they meet together and identify and relate to that in their life. They may be encouraging one another but they are staying identified as single moms etc. They are labeled. We gravitate to that because we are needs driven.
35:35 - We label everybody - youth - elderly - young adults. We split everybody up. God is moving through the hungry (of all ages). Thank God that He is moving through the youth. But honestly, what's available to them is available to us with white hair. [Extended discussion] God wants to move in and through all age groups.
Marriage
36:30 - Could you discuss your position on marrying people?
Marriage - It's a selfless giving - It’s a time and accountability / counseling issue. Marriage is not a starry eyed, emotional, "Baby, I love you" thing. It’s a covenant thing - a giving of yourself to another person. It's the total expression of selflessness and love.
38:00 - Marriage - Not out of need - A lot of times people come together because of the needs involved. That's why marriage can turn into the biggest hurt and heartbreak in their lives. They married because they needed you even though they said, "I love you." I need what you give to me. I need what you have for me. I need what you make me feel like. I need who you make me to be. Christ Jesus is the only one that can fit that bill. And out of the strength and fullness of Christ in your life, you find that person to love.
38:35 - Marriage counselling - Accountability for marriage - I do serious spiritual counselling beforehand. And I have struggled. When I do a wedding, I am very accountable. In the day that Jesus comes back everyone will be eating and drinking and being given in marriage - Mt. 24:38. Men will be doing what they do. And Jesus is going to come and bring light to it all. I am not compelled to stand there and say, "I agree with this. It's the will of God. It's ordained." I'm not in that place right now because of a lot of the heatrbreak I've seen. Never accepted compensation for weddings or marriage counseling.
39:25 - Break ups even after extensive pre-marital counselling - Some break ups after all of that truth sown into their lives. You wouldn't believe the horror stories of break ups. Shortly after marriage. When you are serious and you give your heart like that in counselling and you hear that they are not together it sobers you. For now I’m just not going to do weddings until I get a better revelation. I need a lot of time to be together with the couple to have the conscience to marry them.
40:35 - Most marry because of need - I've learned that most people getting married because of the need in their lives. "Not getting any younger." "I want to have kids soon." All sorts of motives. But marriage is a selfless giving of yourself to one another. [Extended discussion of how marriages fall apart.]
42:00 - Dating - Young people dating, falling in love. That whole dating thing is twisted. If you are in Christ and He is your life, and He gives you the desire of your heart, man, He can lead your life in every area. You are not fishing in a fish pond. You're not test driving cars. You're living by the Spirit.
43:05 - Of all of the marriages that I have done only 2 stayed pure and made it all about Jesus.
43:30 - Christian dating services - Christian dating is living by the Spirit and giving your whole life to Jesus and then He will lead your life in that area. You are going fishing on a "Christian" internet site. Singles club that was out of local congregation - meat market - fornication. It's not what you say that makes you a Christian - that reveals who you are, what you do. Your words are cheap until they are backed up with your life. Just reconsider what is motivating your life.
45:00 - Marriage Traditions - many come from Jewish culture. Veil - face covered - she’s been living covered - her daddy lifts the veil - who gives this bride in marriage? - I do. The dad unveils the daughter. He’s giving her to the young man. They are joined in spirit at the vows. You may now kiss the bride. She’s been covered, now that you are in covenant, you can be intimate. We’ve made it all about heat and emotion and soap operas.
46:45 - First kisses - Prom - "Did he kiss you?" We are sucked in to the soap opera of life. We don't even understand the significance of physical intimacy. Who gives her? Until that moment she is not yours. She's His.
47:40 - Holy Spirit attends wedding in a powerful way - tying a knot. Best man and groomsman - back slidden - fell over backwards. It shook them badly. What happened? He came like a wind. Saw Holy Spirit tie the knot.
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50:00 - Participant's comment - looking for a church. Conflict with church members. Yesterday one of those members accepts Christ. Leading him in not just praying a prayer to go to heaven but surrendering your life to Him.
52:40 - Church shopping - We tend to church shop. We try to find a place that suits US. Look past the initial feeling and impression. Look to the Lord. Lord is there anything to this? I've been in situations where I thought, "I don't think I need to come back here." I'm finding that the Lord has people in setting because He wants us there. But if it were up to us, there is nothing that would keep us there. But look what it produces when we obey.
54:30 - Let's get back to this...
54:45 - 1 Peter 2
v.1-3 - Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. - We aren't just called to go to heaven. We're called to grow. There’s something to understand and grow in
55:10 - v.4 - To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, - People will reject you - mock - scoff.
55:20 - Persecution at work - When I got saved enduring abuse at work - They drew strength from their numbers. I enjoyed the whole ride. - What are you doing Al? Marching for Jesus. Afraid of the persecution. Why am I letting them keep me from what I know is true? - the results.
57:00 - Last meeting of prayer group at work - Healing. Even the Christians said I was out of balance. We're praying for you - that God give you understanding and revelation. THANK YOU! They thought I was a heretic.
58:30 - Man who quoted what his dad said from the Bible - he had heard but didn’t read the Bible - correcting and contesting all the time. Eye has not seen nor ear heard... The next line: But God has revealed them... - 1 Cor. 2:9-10. Need to be right. People get harmed by that. It makes us religious and undesirable.
101:00 - v.4 - Precious - You're precious to Him - great value, highly valued not just sweet. God wants man to live.
102:00 - Living stones - The simple gospel message - Living stone - You're alive on the inside. That's His fault. He did that. He had a vision for man. And He breathed into man. And man became a living being. Why? Because God wants man to live. It's simple. And when man ate from the tree and died inside He still wants man to live. So He put death on His own Son so that life could come back into His people. It's simple.
102:20 - Don't let it become rhetorical and become an Easter story. It's the truth of your life.
103:20 - v.5 - Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. - spiritual house - the kingdom of God is living in men.
103:30 - v.6 - Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. - never be put to shame - if we believed that we would never deny Him in the pressures of life.
104:00 - v.7 - Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, - who believe - Even though you are precious, until you believe you don’t receive the benefit of that truth and work. It's like not putting on the robe of righteousness. [Extended discussion] Put it on and reflect the love and the heart in the giving.
105:25 - v.8 - And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. -
The mind of man would be god - stone of stumbling, a rock of offense - The mind of man rises up as God - intellect rules society. We are so identified by the way that seems right to man - through life - through the way things have been. The gospel sounds silly. Face reality.
105:55 - Intellectual opinion - It's the fall of man. You eat of the tree and you will be God. Big bite and now your mind is god. Now you value your opinion higher than truth (Bible). And intellect rules society. That's bigger than we realize - how we value our opinion. I want to value Him. I want His word - not His opinion because He doesn't really have opinions (He's God).
106:20 - Opinions - "I gave him a piece of my mind." That means something to us because we are so desperate to find value in ourselves. I tell people be careful what you give - how much of your mind is there to give out?
107:20 - Stumbled - because they didn't take to heart the word. They were appointed to live the word but they became disobedient in their hearts. And in the wisdom of their own mind they rejected the truth that was there to make them free.
107:50 - v.9 - But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: -
Identity - But you - Now he's talking to believers. This is the truth of who you are - you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. You’re not trying to be holy, you already are a holy nation. His own special people.
108:15 - Through communion understand who you are - You'll live up to what you believe - Get alone and pray this stuff out with God. Then you'll really start believing it. Then you will look in the mirror and see what God sees. And you'll understand why Jesus died for you. Then you will stop living the ways that you have lived that made you wonder why He loved you. Because you will live up to what you believe. If you sell yourself short in your identity, you won't bear fruit.
108:55 - Make a tree good - It's all about the tree, remember? He’s talking about the tree. Make a tree good and the fruit is good - Mt. 12:33. The fruit is automatic when the tree is good. If you see yourself as some other tree, no wonder there is other fruit. You are so a tree of righteousness through Christ Jesus. Believe it and rejoice. And wear it.
109:30 - Out of darkness - It's not about darkness any more. It's all about His marvelous light.
➡ 109:35 - Now I didn't even want to read that. I just saw a rainbow (personal color code) in my Bible and I read there because I knew it would be good.
Hurt
But this is what I turned you to 1 Peter 2 for...
110:00 v.23 - Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: -
Jesus didn't return evil for evil - He wasn't hurt - Suffering for doing good - Jesus didn’t revile back. He didn't call a core group meeting and tell them all the hurt and pain He was feeling. "I can't believe that you said that after I did so much good." "How do you expect me to feel? All I have done is good..." "You don't appreciate me..."
111:00 - We enable people to be victimized, hurting and broken - We defend people and comfort them and we grant permission to be victimized and hurting and broken - by being overly sympathetic - sensitive - sensitive to wrong believing, human feelings. Instead we should be rejoicing, teaching them the heart of God and imparting the truth so that they can respond in Christ in the face of adversity.
111:45 - Sensitivity to wrong believing - to human feelings. No, impart the heart of God.
112:00 - [Example conversation] I understand you are hurting. "Let’s put Jesus in your shoes." And I paint a picture. And all of the sudden, they realize that God can’t think like they are thinking.
112:20 - Counselling - Give no permission to be hurt - I give you no permission to be hurt or broken at all. That's your weakest moment. The Bible says that where there is strife or envy or self-seeking there's every evil work present - Jas. 3:16.
112:55 - Binding and rebuking the hurt - Ministry crazed - You can get religious and pray, rebuking the evil and actually attract the thing that you are rebuking. It's a paradox. "I've been rebuking and binding and nothing changes. Doesn't God know how hurting I am." And the next thing you know God is in trouble.
113:30 - It's not all about you - At some point somebody in your life needs to be strong enough to say, "This thing is not all about you. You died, remember? How did you get alive again?" All I'm hearing is that it's all about you. And nobody cares how I feel. I thought we burried you.
113:55 - Baptismal toilet - Baptismal that looks like a giant toilet. Old man, past, sin flushed away into sea of forgetfulness. 115:35 - Baptism pool filter - change it soon - all their sin was in there.
Defending Yourself / Answering Opponents
116:00 - Jesus didn't defend Himself and thereby empower His enemy's judgement - When He suffered, He didn't threaten - committed Himself to Him that judges righteously - If you are so busy defending yourself don't get religious on Sunday and say that He is your rock and defense. No, you are.
116:20 - Jesus didn't defend Himself and thereby empower His enemy's judgement - He defends you in righteousness and in true perspective. You don't have to defend yourself. If you defend yourself you give people the right to be your judge. You empower them to judge when you defend and plead your own case and bear witness of yourself. That's why we don't bear witness of ourselves. Because then men sit in the seat of the judge. We empower men to sit in the seat of the judge to determine what's true.
116:45 - That’s why Jesus didn’t even speak before Pilot. It would have further empowered them to be a judge. The Pharisee were troubled that He would not answer the accusations. They marveled. When you defend yourself, you compel people to make an assessment of your defense. Defending yourself comes out of insecurity.
Your Calling: Suffer for Doing Good
➡ 118:00 - v.24 - This is what I want you to see in v.24... This is a whole other day when we talk on love, we'll revisit this. Instead of doing what flesh does (reviling in return), instead of doing what reasoning does, Jesus is love. Jesus is manifesting the heart of God. He's showing us the way to follow this whole time...
118:35 - v.21 - For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: -
Jesus suffered for doing good - When people spoke against Him He wasn't shaken - If Jesus lived this way... Look back at v.21 - He talks about suffering for doing good. Everybody wants to know their calling. They want it to be real spiritual. Well here is a spiritual calling. How about learning to suffer for doing good so that your heart is seen as sincere and loving instead of self-serving.
118:50 - If you throw a fit your self-interest is on display - When you suffer for doing good and you don't take it well. Your self-interest and self-motivation is seen. When you aren't receiving good for your doing good then you throw a fit. They are calling your good evil.
119:10 - If your doing good is truly good it doesn’t matter what people say. People can misinterpret your good work. But if your good is truly good what does it matter what people say. If you have some other motive than good, when people speak against, you’ll get shaken and defend - why? Because there is some other motive in your doing other than good - you’re needing something back from it.
120:50 - We follow His example - Why is this our calling? To suffer for doing good. Because we didn't just pray a prayer to go to heaven. You are following Him. You are little Christ-like ones. His Spirit is in you. You are the embodiment of Christ. So when you suffer for doing good you don't throw a fit.
121:05 - Why is this our calling? Because Christ also suffered this way leaving us an example that we should follow Him. So this is all about becoming love.
Free from Sin
➡ 121:10 - v.24 - Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. -
You are completely free from sin - He became sin so that we could become righteousness. So did God curse His Son on the cross or did He curse sin on the cross? Sin. Sin is what was killing us. So when He hung Him on a tree He was made to be sin. He put sin on a tree by putting His Son up there as the Lamb - the scapegoat - before the foundation of the world He was slain - Rev. 13:8. And anything hanging on a tree has been cursed by God - Deut. 21:23. God cursed sin in the flesh - Rom. 8:3. And sin now has no dominion over us - Rom. 6:14. He crushed the power of sin. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free - unchained, unbound, unsentenced - from the law of sin and death - Rom. 8:2. Sin has lost its voice - death has lost its sting - 1 Cor. 15:55.
122:25 - our sin - Your sin is in His body on a tree.
➡ 122:35 - We die with Him - that’s where we are headed later on in Romans 6.
122:50 - See yourself as a righteous - When you see yourself as less you will produce less - The Bible expects that you see this (that you are free from sin). We are biting our lips trying not to sin because we don’t see ourselves as righteous sons. The identity of righteousness will set you so free from the habitual acts of sin. The people who say you sin while you are breathing because you have a wicked evil heart are wrong. That’s deception. Stop believing that. If you don't make the tree good the fruit will never be good. And if you think you are sin waiting to happen that’s exactly what you will produce. But the Bible teaches you are free in regards to sin.
123:40 - Repent - Die to the old - God will wipe sin and it's stain from you - Died to sins - That is a heart of repentance - "I wish I had never done that. I wish I had known..." God knows our dilemma - we can’t change the past. Regret leads to death but Godly sorrow leads to change - 2 Cor. 7:10. I would do different if I had the chance. God says, "Wow, I’ll wipe that away and make you brand new. So go. Here, you have the chance."
124:15 - Die to sins - Be free - We are supposed to die to sins - Die to sin’s consciousness, identity, remembrance, acts, power. And the reason that we die to sin is that we might...
124:20 - That we might live for righteousness - found right with God and produce its fruit. And by His stripes we are healed.
124:30 - v.25 - For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. -
124:50 - BREAK
➡ 125:20 - Go to Hebrew 10 and let's nail this thing down... (free from sin)
➡ 125:25 - We die to sin - We rise again right with God - Review of morning - He bore our sin in His body on a tree. So we die to sin and rise again right with God.
125:45 - Growing up I never heard the good news - I grew up sin-conscious - Nobody ever taught me that. I grew up very sin-conscious. I went to church and knew what I was to do and what I wasn't to do. It was an ought to, should to mentality. And by age 20 I had quit going to church and had plenty of excuses. I didn’t realize the goodness of God to lead me to change. I was just in a war with sin - a war He already won. So it's important that this made known and clear. Because we seek His kingdom and all of His righteousness - Mt. 6:33.
1:26:30 - We must RECEIVE God's provision of righteousness - Roman 5:17 - For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. - If you RECEIVE the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness, you’ll reign in life as a king. It’s important to open the package and say thank you - and see who you really are in Christ.
126:45 - Hebrews 10 (Hebrews 10 is huge and amazing. And we are headed to Romans 6 - to nail this topic down. I stayed on the topic of love and what love looks like for about two weeks last year and it didn't get redundant. The way that seems right to man is more sneaky than you think.)
The Scriptures Point to Jesus
127:50 - v.1 - For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. -
The whole Bible points to Jesus and our need for a Savior - shadow - The focal point of the whole Bible is Jesus. OT - life under the law apart from Christ, redemption, salvation - man in the flesh. The whole OT points to Christ and our need for a Savior. Gospels - is now that He is born - word made flesh. Epistles - now that He has died and raised again - letters to the church now that we are in Christ. Revelation - the revelation of Christ when it’s all wrapped up. Everything points to Him.
130:25 - The children of Israel - points to Christ - They knew God was with them (cloud, fire, mana, clothes not wearing out) but they didn’t mix that with faith (complained) so it didn’t benefit them - Heb. 4:2.
131:40 - Don't preach a man-centered, self-centered, false gospel - The gospel is about being transformed to look like and manifest Him - That's why you don’t preach a gospel that serves men - just about going to heaven, provision, prosperity. Someone will find a way to be disappointed. Preach a gospel that transforms men. I want your spouse to come home but you don’t come to Christ to get your wife back. You come to Jesus to understand His heart in the midst of them leaving - so you can get a good grip on your own life and identity so that you are not trashed and identified because they abandoned you. You are just a rejected person for the rest of your life. You end up driven by the acts of men.
132:45 - Israel in the wilderness - The children of Israel didn’t understand that it was all about manifesting God. They turned it into a complaint session to the point where they loathed God's provision. God took them through the wilderness (instead of throwing them up against the Philistines) so that they could build trust in Him in the midst of what didn’t look good. [Extended recounting experiences of the Israelites] You forget how good God is.
135:20 - 1 Cor 10:11 - All these things were written about the Israelites for our admonition - so that we don’t make the same mistakes.
136:00 - Drawing back - He can’t fulfill His desire for you when you do that - Heb 10:38. He couldn't fulfill his desire to manifest Himself through the Israelites. He’s not disgusted. He can't fulfill His pleasure in your destiny - His heart desire.
Hurts
136:35 - Horror stories - Don't accommodate living from the past - The only story that really matters is His story - Please don't say, "I have a hard time relating because my dad didn’t treat me that way…" Well that was your dad and I am sorry - seriously.
136:40 - My dad was the same way - alcoholic. He said I would never be nothing. He demeaned me all of the time. He took his own frustrations out on his son. He just didn't know any better at the time.
136:55 - But what does that have to do with me? That’s just a hurting man taking his frustrations out - trying to reproduce them. It's a spiritual strategy of the enemy. What good would it do me to compare those? Why compare God who sent His Son to die on a cross to my dad who was an alcoholic who had nothing to give. Why do we make the two relate?
137:25 - There's no comparison between God who says, "I love you" and the people who were mean to you - You say, "Well I have a hard time seeing God that way because people were so mean to me. Why are you comparing God to people and people to God? God is so good that He sent His Son. While you were yet a sinner He said, "I love you." So thank God that He is not like the people you were around your whole life.
137:40 - Hurt is a strategy of the enemy to keep you from receiving God's love - That was a strategy set against you to get your heart so deceived - your heart so hard - so hurt - that when good news came you couldn't embrace it because of all of the bad. Why do we give the devil so much power and make so much sense out of that and live out of that mindset? From the time you were little there was a strategy against you to crush your value, identity, view of God so that when the good news comes along there is nothing good about it. "It's too late now. Why would I even want God?" "If God is so good, why?.." All those objections spring up because we are looking at things through life.
138:30 - The church accommodates these hurt mindsets - Worse than that, We as the church, accommodate those mindsets instead of exposing it as lies and wrong identity. We're almost afraid to stand up and say, "What does that matter that we all have a story? Why are we so sensitive one another's stories? Why don’t we make His story the story of the day? Why isn't that the truth of the day?
139:00 - People draw identity from their hurts - Identity is from Christ - People introduce themselves with their stories. No, the truth about you is I once was lost BUT NOW I am found. There was a time I was blind but now I see. There was a time things ate my lunch and I thought it was me and took it personally. But now I take something personally - I'm worth the blood of the Son of God and I'm alive forever more.
139:45 - What does it matter now that Christ has come? So what does it matter that I have this story? I could tell my story and make someone go, "Aww," and accomplish what? - except to give me more permission to be in the flesh instead of live by the Spirit. Who cares if the daddy never said "I love you," now that God has shouted from the heavens, "I love you"? Who cares if I was touched wrong? If He has touched me so right? We accommodate and give people more permission to be in the flesh by our sympathy instead of encouraging to live by the Spirit. What does any of that have to do with who I am now that Christ has come? Because I found myself in Him. And that old man is gone.
141:00 - We elevate our stories over the stories of others - Elevate the story of Christ - The other thing we do is we so elevate our stories to think our story is worse than those around us. It justifies our flesh. Our stories are not worth going over. The glory of God is letting them die. Faith finds the real you through His story. It's like we need people to know what we have come through. That is what keeps giving those stories power over your soul. No, I need to elevate what He’s been through so I can reap the benefits of His accomplishments - not keep reliving what I've been through. [Examples]
Free from Sin - Hebrews 10
➡ 143:00 - Let's move on...
143:00 - Hebrews 10 - v.1 - For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. - the law by sacrifices can NEVER make perfect (complete)
143:30 - v.2 - For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. - if they could have wouldn’t they have ceased to be offered?
143:50 - Sacrifice of Atonement - We've inherited the mindset of expecting to sin - Year by year sacrifices - priest - rope tied to him and bells - sacrifices to cover sin - they are living expecting to sin - sin-consciousness - expecting to make sacrifice next year because they are expecting to break the law and sin. We’ve inherited that mindset of expecting to sin. We elevate and honor sin as if it is the order of the day. We've grown up believing that we are just sin waiting to happen. It’s taught that way all the time. The Bible doesn’t teach that.
145:00 - What you believe is what you produce - The power of what you believe determines what you produce. It's that tree thing - Mt. 12:33. Good tree, good fruit. Bad tree, bad fruit. Identity is huge. If you see yourself for truth, you will bear witness of truth.
145:30 - v.2 - the worshipers would have been cleansed (purified) once for all would have no more consciousness of sins. So He is asking a question. If what they were doing was sufficient, it would have purified... and there would be no more consciousness of sin. And wouldn't these sacrifices have ceased to be offered?
146:25 - He’s contrasting the two systems. God is taking away the first system so that He can establish the second system. So if the first system didn’t accomplish purification and freedom from sin-consciousness, then is was an inferior system.
If You Stumble
146:15 - v.3 - But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. -
Forgiveness - Repentance - Those sacrifices actually work out to be reminders of sin - every year. If you care about messing up it shows that you alive inside. "I should have known better." The only reason that you have conviction is because truth is in you - light is in you and you care now. It’s not the end of the world. It's not time to boohoo to God, "Oh God, please forgive me. Please forgive me. I just don't know if I'm ever going to get this." That's a zero. He’s already forgiven you through the blood. In fact there is forgiveness for the whole world. It's just repentance - change the way you think. So when your heart goes "argh" at sin, that's already awesome. He just wants you to confess your sin. Stay out of denial. Stay sharp in your understanding. Keep the light increasing. Here's what you do...
147:50 - Confessing sin - Oh God, that was so not rightly motivated. What I just said was so judgmental and I actually felt pride in my heart and I felt like I was mad at her. And when I said it, it sounded spiritual but my heart was wrong...
148:15 - How do you handle it? Backslide? Drag around? Sin more? - because what's the use, I’ve already blown it? No, try to make it right with the other person. [Example apology to the other person] And also...
149:15 - Confessing sin - Father, thank You for the light in my life and the truth that's showing me the motive of my heart. There was a time I used to think that way and have every right to because she shouldn't have said that or she shouldn't have done that but that has nothing to do with Your heart. You have never seen me that way. Thank You Lord for growing me and maturing me. Thank You for washing me and cleansing me of unrighteousness and even the power of the flesh. Thank you that I can be a man of the Spirit. God I worship you.
149:45 - I never once, said "please forgive me." Why? That's not necessary. I’m already in a place of repentance and change. When you ask for forgiveness you have the ability to wonder if you are forgiven or to not feel forgiven. While you were yet a sinner He sent the Son! As soon as I said, "I will live for you" His Spirit came into me...
150:00 - Recap of Dan’s repentance and conversion
➡ 150:35 - Continue in faith despite a stumble - If that’s the way I came in (faith), isn't that the way I should CONTINUE (faith)? Col. 2:6 - remember we covered that?
150:50 - Condemnation - We dwell on something and then we acutally do it (sin). And we go, "Oh my God, what did I just do?" [Examples of mental self accusation] "I'm such a dummy." When you call yourself dummy, you’ll produce the fruit of a dummy. You are not a dummy. You just did a dumb thing.
151:45 - If we stumble - doing a dumb thing - God, there is a weakness I left in my life. I was dwelling on that for 2 weeks and I started feeling sorry for myself. And I gave myself permission to do what I thought was unthinkable. Somehow it became acceptable. God, I am facing this and realizing that I was feeling sorry for myself. I was taking account of suffered wrongs. I was taking life personal. And I got snared. And I got caught in an act of selfishness. I tried to soothe myself and all I did was hurt my heart. God this didn't answer anything. Only you can answer the heart cry of my life. God I repent of self-will and selfishness. I just rebuke deception. And I say God thank You for teaching me, maturing me and loving me. I have no permission to sin - no permission to live loose. I have no permission to take for granted Your grace. I honor You and I am kneeling before You giving myself to You - surrendering - and asking You to consume me with Your love...
153:00 - That beats self-torture, identity crisis, discouragement, whatever - and you'll find yourself repeating it and you'll dull your heart and senses. You'll say, "This is who I am. This is what I do." Most of the time, that's the heart that's in people.
153:35 - Participant's comment on - flag day - flags - King’s standard. Planting the flag - at the end of this day we are going to win. Lord's prayer - give me the day daily bread. Give me the day. It's my daily bread. No matter how it may look, I'm going to win. That's the mentality that the believer needs to have.
154:55 - It's a bigger view. You don't lose sight of the big picture of your life through one stumble. Raise a standard for the people. There is a higher place we live from now. We're not under the law. We are under grace. Do we continue to sin? Of course not. How can we who died to sin live in it any longer? - Rom. 6:1-2. See you die to the identity of sin.
155:25 - Having the capacity to sin doesn't make the real you a "sinner" - Sinner identity - Biggest trap in the body of Christ is weighing ourselves as sinners because of our capacity to commit sin. Biggest deception. Selling the finished work of Christ and grace short. Because of our ability to sin, we feel like we have to be humble and say, "Yeah but we are sinners." Then we pull 1 John 1:8 out of context and say "If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." So we force ourselves into a sin identity as if we can never be free from sin. It's a false identity. It's a trap, a lie.
Free from Sin
156:15 - v.4 - For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. - impossible - The sacrifices covered sin but couldn’t take it away.
156:30 - v.5 - Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: - Because this was the dilemma that man was trapped in... Because this was the present day scenario (of that day)...Therefore... A body you have prepared for me - He was the lamb before the foundation of the world - Rev. 13:8.
157:30 - Jesus humbled Himself by taking on flesh - [Discussion of Mary being implanted with Jesus - humbling Himself and taking on flesh] He put on limitations so that He could take limitations / restrictions off of us - so that we could once again become sons. He bound Himself to death, even death on a cross so that He could take the restrictions off of us.
158:00 - Live unlimited - Live out the freedom that is provided - Unlimited promises - Living unlimited - He says, "You'll do what I do and greater things - John 14:12. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go.." - Mt.. 28:18-19. I give you authority over all the power of the devil. And nothing will by any means harm you - Luke 10:19.
158:30 - Unlimited scares people - People try to calm you down - Do you hear how unlimited that is? But nobody teaches this in an unlimited way. When you try to live in unlimited way people try to put a bridle on you. Wooah! We can get hurt / hardened by that if we don’t understand the love of God. Then we are fighting a war that we are not even called to - against men and belief systems. And that hinders our own growth. We are just fighting religion. You can Wooah all you want. I can still run and believe. I can still manifest the kingdom. Remember? You can criticize good - but it's still good.
159:50 - If we are righteous, why does the Lord’s prayer say, “Forgive us our sins…”? Why would we have to search and find out our sin every day?
201:00 - Under the law: forgive to be forgiven - Under grace: forgive because your're forgiven - Or what about… In sermon on the mount - forgive lest you’re not forgiven - Matt. 6:14 - Now He has shed His blood and we are under grace. But in the times of the His teaching (as recorded in the gospels) there is grace flowing because He is there but He still hasn’t gone to the cross to make that sacrifice. They were not in the new covenant yet. Everybody was still unsaved. So under the law, I forgive to be forgiven. Under grace, I forgive because I’m forgiven.
201:50 - Receive and become - Col 3:13 - forgiving… as the Lord has forgiven you. Under grace - Receive forgiveness and become forgiveness. Receive mercy and become what you have received. Receive the love and become what you have received. You don't love Him first. He first loved you. We're not under the mandate forgive so that we find forgiveness. We have found it. And now that I see how amazing His heart is towards us, why wouldn't I want that heart towards you? 203:00 - Wicked servant - Anything less is a wicked servant - Wicked servant - Matt 18:23-35 - received forgiveness but did not become forgiveness to another.
203:00 - You have to see the transition of language once grace comes on the scene. I'm going to be merciful to obtain mercy in Matthew. Now I am merciful because I have obtained mercy.
204:00 - Under the law - There were extensive procedures for sacrifices and obtaining forgiveness - constantly from the position of debt - I am in constant need because I am in debt. You’re going to try by works to pay off that debt. But it's grace.
204:50 - We are freed from sin - Don't even think sin - Think like a son - Am I daily asking the Lord to forgive my sins? No! I’m not even thinking sin. I’m thanking Him that I am a son - that I am living by the Spirit - and I have more confidence in You to keep me than I do in me to mess up.
204:55 - Father, thank You that I am Your son - that I am living by Your Spirit. And I thank You that You are keeping me on track and I have more confidence in Your ability to keep me and father me than I do in me to keep messing up. And Father I thank You that if, in anything, I am less than Your nature - motivated by less than Your love - I would see it because of Your light in me. And all things that are exposed are darkness and it's quickly removed. Thanks for molding me, shaping me and making me the man of God that I am. My heart is with You. I am running this race and the best I understand I am serious. And I am in.
205:30 - You know in your heart if you are all in. Nobody has to tell you if you are sincere and sold out. You live with you.
205:45 - God delights in our company - He went to extreme lengths to give us access - Take full advantage - But for me to constantly be saying, "Lord, show me what I missed today..." That is such a lowering of righteous consciousness and right standing. That's actually troubleshooting - always looking for issues. When are you ever free? When are you ever going to have confidence to approach Him boldly? Otherwise, when you pray it’ll take 20 minutes to get past yourself to even get to Him.
206:00 - I have a high priest who already went through all of that to present me holy, blameless, and above reproach. When am I not holy, blameless and above reproach? When I don’t live by faith. Is that an excuse for a twisted heart? No, that's a call for integrity and honor. Faith works through love. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by His word - Rom. 10:17. And faith works through love - Gal. 5:6.
206:55 - So If you can’t receive His love, you’re not going to do well with faith. So what is going to give me the confidence to get alone and meet with Him. I actually believe He’s excited when I pray - that He wants to meet with me.
207:00 - Open Visions - two babies dying - in the hand of God - woman couldn’t conceive - six weeks later pregnant with twins - at six months the babies born.
214:00 - My son has come to talk with me - Another time - in bedroom - looked like heaven - with throne - myriad of angels around throne worshiping - Lord goes, “Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” - silent - my son has come to talk with me - making the point to me, He hears me when I pray.
216:40 - When God becomes real - All of that pertains to God reality. So I'm not trying to believe in God any more - He’s real. It makes it so fun when you have crossed that line and you are no longer trying to believe in God. God is - what do you do with that now? - He just is. Anyone that comes to Him must believe that He is - Heb. 11:6.
The Heart of God for His People
217:10 - Participant's comment - God probably never wanted the law in the first place. It's all about relationship. We forced the second best.
218:40 - The giving of the law - He is saying that the law came at a specific time. The law didn't come until a certain time because of specific things. God's intention might not have been to give the law or it would have already been established. But man, by his actions - willfulness, disobedience brought himself to a point where God set this up to show man his need for a Savior. But God's intention was that they come (up) the holy mountain (and meet with Him).
219:25 - And up until Christ came that was man living under the restriction of the flesh - willfulness, obeisance - and was reduced to religious practice without the life giving Spirit - bound by the law. And it tutored us to Christ.
219:55 - It shows the heart of God. Gathering his kids in the wilderness. Remember, oh how I longed to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks - but you were not willing - Mt. 23:27.
220:30 - Participant's further comment - God's not the one that is hostile in mind. We are. Everything God has ever done was for man's benefit. There was something that man needed to see - in the sacrifice.
221:00 - God's heart has always been for redemption - God's not against man. It's the law of sin and death - Man reaping what man has sown. God’s plan is redemption. I’m sending a Savior. God's plan from Gen. 3 on is I going to send One to crush the head of the one that you just followed. And all the serpent is going to do is bruise his heal - Gen. 3:15. I'm coming. I'm sending a Savior. So that's God's intention all along. And man has been reaping what he has sown.
221:20 - God puts His heart into people - Moses interceding for Israel - Moses in the wilderness is a beautiful picture - when God says, "You know what (let's start over. I'll make a great nation of you.) God was allowing Moses to express God's own heart back to Him as a leader. I think he was pointing to Christ, pointing to us being Christ-like. Moses said, "God if you take them then take me. I'm one with this people." God's heart is reflected out of Moses. Moses had actually obtained and became God's heart towards the Israelites. I just love that.
222:25 - A lot of people would have taken Him up on that offer. That was not Moses' response. OK. I'm not going to do this.
222:45 - God puts His heart into people - Abraham & Isaac - up the mountain - only son going up the mountain with wood on his back to be sacrificed - Mt. Moriah - the same mountain Jesus was crucified on. Hundreds of years later Jesus walked up that same mountain. Abraham doesn’t withhold anything. Now I know that you will withhold nothing from me. He stopped the knife. But on Golgotha He didn't stop the sacrifice. He gave His only Son. But He set this thing... covenant... God and man together as one. It's so amazing. The ability of God to put His heart in people.
223:30 - God puts his heart in people. All along the way. Abraham could have coveted Isaac. "Are you kidding me? You promised me. I waited how many years? Now, I have him and you are telling me to kill him? Are you crazy? That's the voice of the devil..."
223:55 - Now if you hear about sacrificing your children today. It is the devil. The Lamb has already been slain. So rebuke it.
224:05 - But it's a picture of Abraham completely trusting. Later it Hebrew it talks about Abraham's thought process. God would raise him from the dead - Heb. 11:19.
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225:00 - What does the word “perfection” really mean? - Heb 10:1 - Perfection in terms of a perfectly clear conscience. Mature. Complete. Sprinkled clean conscience to a no condemnation, no guilt, no shame consciousness before God because of His finished work and His great love, which brings out the best in you. So it's not about trying not to sin. It's about receiving sonship and restoration of identity, purpose. And it's all revealed through Christ period.
➡ 226:30 - I haven’t even scratched Hebrews 10.
227:35 - Good tidings of great joy - We've been deceived. The good tidings bring great joy.
228:20 - We stereotype ourselves - personality types - don’t limit me - you limit the expression of truth in your life - you regulate your life to whatever that type means. You are a lot more free than that.
229:45 - Closing prayer - Lift you hands and thank Him that you are free - that He loves you - that He is putting a care and a desire in your heart like never before. He's causing your eyes to see. Your ears to hear. This is life to me. It's not redundant. Thank you that it's true. It's who you are. It's who I am in you. And thanks for the victory. I honor you and worship you King Jesus. You are amazing. Thank you Father. Amen.