HCSKL 2010 Notes >
Day 14
Pursuing God Reality
➡ 0:00 - TODAY - 2 or 3 things that we want to cover today. Wrap up where we were yesterday.
0:40 - Pursue God - God reality changes everything - Remember how we were talking about fellowship and union with God yesterday - that we are called to communion with Him - fellowship with Him? It's an intimate and beautiful thing. I personally believe that a lot of what we go through and encounter - a lot of what our soul goes through that is not edifying - the little tail spins - the planing out and just kind of going through existence is a lack of knowing Him - a lack of fellowship and communion with God. God reality changes everything. God reality actually lives for you, if you will. (??) God reality is like the fuel in the tank - the motor running.
1:35 - Pursue by faith not by how you may feel - A lot of times we've pursued knowledge apart from knowing Him and there is a big difference. Unless you begin to approach Him - pursue Him by faith and not let your mind talk you out of it... "Well, it doesn't seem real. It seems mechanical." Those are the things that people think when they start pursuing God. "Well, it doesn't seem really real. It just seems like I am talking to nobody." People say that stuff and then they just stop pursuing Him and just start reading about Him. You don't just want to read about Him. You want to pursue Him. That's why we did that whole meditating in the word thing.
3:00 - Growing in relationship takes time together - The fellowshipping with God part (of what we did in the first 2 weeks) is so amazingly real. And it is something you grow into. Like, you don't develop a relationship without communing with that person - hanging out - calling on the phone - getting together - spending time. Why would it be any different with the Lord?
3:15 - Walk by faith not by feelings - The only thing is that He seems not always to be there to us. He is invisible. I think that is cool because it teaches us to live by faith. Why is living by faith so cool? Because it's the opposite of living by your senses and that's the way the world lives. I love to live by faith. I like to grow in a place where I see what God is seeing and what you are seeing with your eye is not what dominates or moves your life. It's what you are seeing through Him (that dominates your life).
➡ 3:40 - YESTERDAY - Fellowship with the Father and the Son - So I want to wrap up the end of fellowshipping with God. We looked at 2 scriptures: 1 John 1 - Our fellowship is with God and His Son Jesus Christ and John 17 - This is eternal life, knowing Him, the only true God and His Son, Jesus Christ. So there you see that fellowship again with the Father and the Son. We also talked about John 7:17 - have a pure motive, a pure heart because John 17 talked about glorifying the Father. Jesus wanted His life to glorify the Father. There is a motive behind things.
5:00 - Bear with me today. Some of this seems so basic but it's not. It's life changing. So we covered fellowship with the Father and with the Son. So who else do you believe we have fellowship with? Holy Spirit.
Fellowship with Holy Spirit
5:20 - Fellowship with Holy Spirit - That's a major, most important kind of fellowship because Holy Spirit is the One that lives inside of you. Technically, scripturally, the Father is in heaven at the throne and Jesus is at His right hand. And Holy Spirit is on the earth in us. But He comes in the form of (with the message of) the Father or the Son.
5:35 - Jesus - the fullness of the Godhead bodily - Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. So Jesus is the full expression... Jesus' life on the earth was the full expression of the Godhead bodily. When you see Him, you see the Father. And He manifested clearly the work of Holy Spirit. And He was the Son of God. So He was the word made flesh - the Christ. He's Jesus. So He is Jesus the Son but He revealed the Father and manifested the power of the Spirit. He's the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And it says in Colossians 2 - And you are complete in Him. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: - Col. 2:9-10.
6:15 - Fellowship / oneness with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - It's an intimate thing - So all that is in God is in Christ and we're in Christ and Christ is in us. Remember in John 17 - Father I pray that they are one as we are one, I in them and You in Me. (A reference to John 17:11b combined with v.23a. See also 17:20-21.) That sounds like oneness to me.
6:30 - Now if that is true, God forbid that that should become just positional - theological, doctrinal - and that you don't walk in the reality of Him in you.
6:50 - Participant's comment - When we worship we crawl up on Daddy's lap and God the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit are all there together - all one.
7:00 - Do you hear how she is thinking? If you don't think intimate stuff like that... That is where God reality comes from. That blesses me. I like when people think that way because faith is in that - understanding is in that. And all of the sudden there is a deeper intimacy. It's not just praying to make contact with God. There is a place where you just know that He loves you. I do that stuff.
7:45 - Intimate time with Jesus - He will come and cuddle me there. But we are all there.
➡ 8:05 - I want you to look at 2 scriptures before we talk about Holy Spirit. Go to 2 Corinthians 13...
8:50 - v.11 - Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. - Become complete - Just believe and know who you are. You are complete in Him. Don't lose sight of who you have become because of all that I have written.
9:10 - v.12-14 - Greet one another with an holy kiss. All the saints salute you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. -
Oneness with the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit - The fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you ALL. It's the grace of the Lord Jesus that came through the love of the Father. Because of the love of the Father... God so loved that He gave His only Son and we beheld Him in grace and truth. Through Him coming He introduced us into the communion of Holy Spirit where once again we can have union with Him (Father) through the blood of the Son of God. That's what man was lacking - the Spirit of God in him and with him - when Adam ate from the tree. That was the disconnect. Jesus came and breathed life back into us. Holy Spirit came back in.
10:25 - So through the love of the Father, the grace of Jesus was revealed and through the grace of Jesus being revealed - the grace that comes through Him because it's through His sacrifice that we are in Christ and through Christ. No one comes to the Father except through Him.
10:40 - These are legal, technical thoughts in your mind that can get established to where when you speak the name of Jesus those things are all real in your heart. It's good to talk about that kind of thing. Like when you are meditating in the word to realize - Wow, You so loved that You gave your Son. Jesus, You came and we beheld you in grace - the grace of God that came through the Son to empower me to be a son, to pay the price I could never pay, to fulfill what Adam failed, to make me complete. And now you sit triumphant at the right hand of God mediating on my behalf - Your blood on the mercy seat. I have total mercy from heaven. I have total access. The kingdom has come upon me. Because of your sacrifice I've been made one with You. And you are living in that reality. Because you camp there and meditate there. It becomes the truth about who you are.
11:40 - So when you pray the name of Jesus all of that is coming to bear on that prayer in Jesus' name because you understand who He is, what He accomplished and who you are now because of Him. That way you don't have to pray long prayers. It's knowing Him. He is the High Priest to God on behalf of all men that never changes. He saves to the uttermost.
12:05 - God wants relationship - He loved first - But here is the beautiful thing about the last part. The communion, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. So the grace that came through Jesus because of God's unfailing love has introduced us once again to a relationship with the Spirit of God. Why is that a big deal? Because the Father WANTS that relationship or He wouldn't have sent His Son. We weren't asking for it. We were lost, blind, deceived remember? We didn't sign a petition - "Help us we are smothering down here." We were living for ourselves and doing quite well at it but suffering and acting OK. But He came. He initiated this thing. He did this. It's His love that never fails. So the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
13:00 - The importance of teaching from 2 or more scriptures.
13:50 - Todd - Dude, that was so clear there is no way out.
14:20 - Philippians 2 -
14:30 - Backing up because of a "therefore".
14:50 - ch.1 v.27 - Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; - One spirit - Remember we covered this last week and had an intense time. We talked about a lot of stuff like demonic things.
15:10 - The faith of the gospel - That's the finished work of Christ - your identity - who you are. Whenever you see "the faith of the gospel" it is walking in the finished work of Christ. Even the "weapons of your warfare" that aren't carnal but mighty all flow through that truth - 2 Cor. 10:4.
15:30 - The armor of God - Eph. 6 - is nothing more than - it's not specific articles - the finished, accomplished work of Christ. It's the righteousness that you wear through the blood of Jesus that was revealed in truth. And you are saved through that truth. So the armor of God is the finished, accomplished work of Jesus and you being armed with that revelation through relationship always. You don't have to wake up and put on each piece of armor on per se - the shield, the helmet, etc. You are just armed because you are in Christ. You're forgiven. You're righteous. Righteousness protects you. Salvation protects you. It's the reality that you walk in.
16:50 - Let knowledge be solidified into your reality through communion - Be careful that you don't make them principles and precepts, like a doctrinal truth or positional. "Well, I am seated in heaven with Christ. I am seated in heavenly places brother." And it's more of a positional mentality instead of a daily reality. It's very easy to get positional with the scriptures and tack them all over your walls because you are trying to believe it. There is nothing wrong with a good confession but you have to be careful that you are not just... Because without this communion, without opening your heart to God, without talking to Him from your heart to His heart these scriptures never really come alive in your reality and understanding. They are just found in your knowledge.
17:50 - And I promise you that down the road that will come to work against you because your conscience will start saying that you know all of this and yet it's not your reality. "You know all of this and you don't have the joy. You say God loves you but you don't feel loved."
18:15 - So waking up in the morning, laying there thanking Him that He is amazing and that His eyes are fixed on you and that He is blessed to love you and forgive you. It gives Him pleasure to wash you in the blood. Just knowing that you are clean in His sight. Thank you for being such an amazing father. I really, really appreciate you. Jesus, thank you for the gospel. Holy Spirit I so welcome You and I thank You that You live very big on the inside of me. And everything that You are has become who I am. And I thank You that together we are one. It is an amazing day because You are alive forever and I'm alive in You. That's fellowship.
19:20 - When these truths become your reality you may not need to pray them very often - I don't have to pray that all of the time. It is just the way it is (now). So praying that can take you there. But your faith becomes reality. You are not even trying to believe it. It's just the way it is. So there might be long periods of time where you don't pray certain things. They are just what you are walking in. They are just your reality. It's not that you are taking them for granted. It's just that the reality of those truths is vibrant in your life. Actually they are living through you. And then it is so not mechanical. You are just waking up a son or daughter. You are waking up forgiven and free. Sin consciousness totally loses its voice. Condemnation is never again.
20:15 - Freedom from condemnation - When I tell people that I never remember a moment of feeling or being condemned since I have been saved, they look at you like you are in denial. I've always been sorry in my heart for any weakness revealed in my life. He loves me. I'm a son. He's not here to beat me up. He's here to lift me up. So in my weakness He makes me strong. And the way not to be condemned is to receive His love.
20:50 - Correction from the Father - A show of His love - So if He adjusts you as a Father, He loves you. "Correct me, Lord because I know that you love me." So if He corrects you it's not about going, "Oh, I am such a dummy. When am I going to get this right?" That's a zero - lifeless - the world. That's the devil. But it has become "normal." It's not. Heaven doesn't understand that language.
A Stranger's Voice Sounds Strange
21:35 - Guilt, condemnation and shame - Guilt says "I'm not forgiven." Condemnations says, "I'm worthy of judgement." Shame says, "It's still who I am." And none of those are truth through the cross. So why would they ever have a voice in my life if I am in communion with God? Even if I am found in weakness, He is strong. Three major lies - major tools of the devil. And Christians yield to them all of the time because they don't know who they are through communion and union with God. Once you are face to face with Father those things sound so strange.
22:45 - A stranger's voice sounds strange - We hear it but we don't follow - Remember - My sheep hear my voice and obey it; a stranger's they won't follow. - and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. - John 10:4b-5. It doesn't say they won't hear the stranger's voice. It says they won't follow that voice. And you don't follow it because it sounds strange. "What do you mean condemned. He loves me unconditionally and in my weakness He has made me strong. What do you mean ashamed?" "Oh, you ought to feel so ashamed." "What do you mean?"
23:20 - Conviction - It doesn't give you the ability to be obstinate and willful. No if you commit an act and Holy Spirit brings light and truth. Now I see what I wasn't seeing before. So if I move in a realm that is outside of God, the light in my life exposes it immediately. Why? Because my heart is pure. I didn't wake up looking for a way to miss it - sin and get away with it. I didn't wake up insincere. I'm not (living) in secret or hiding. I'm not trying to walk another way. So as soon as I would walk outside of the truth, I know it immediately. In the midst of an expression of flesh, you are aware of it.
24:00 - The devil condemns - The devil doesn't believe that you are established, that you receive love, that you see yourself the way that God sees you. And he says, "Oh, you should be so ashamed. How could you let that happen after being saved as long as you have been? Well, if this is still in your life you haven't gone anywhere." Those things sound rational but they produce no life. Those things should sound strange.
25:10 - The devil's lies are exposed by truth - I don't mean this arrogantly but he wouldn't even come to me now and say, "Well, you aren't getting anywhere." Truth would just consume that lie. That thing is so exposed because it's not life-giving. It's demeaning, derogatory, degenerate. It's saying the worst about you. It's producing no life. It can't be from God. It's strange.
25:50 - But if you don't have this communion and receive this love and walk in righteousness and realize what grace is and how beautiful God's heart is towards you, those lies will sound rational. You might even think that God is saying it.
26:05 - People say to me "God said to me..." and I have to sit them down and tell them that it was not God's voice because it wasn't life producing. It wasn't edifying. It wasn't building you up. It wasn't sending you forward.
26:45 - Prayer to avoid falling for the deceptive lies of the enemy - For some people this is a voice that almost sounds like truth to you and it's not. It doesn't produce life. So I am going to pray over you right now. Father, I thank You that the light of this message and what we are sharing - that these things are sealed in our hearts. I thank you Father that if there is any other voice than the voice of God that it's so exposed, that their is such a grace on the heart of every person in this room that never again will we be seduced or succumb to these lies - these subtle, suggestive lies that have no wisdom from God. I thank you Father that they will sound strange. I thank you Lord for establishing us is true righteousness, in grace and truth. And I thank you that we have peace with God. So Father I thank you for grace right now coming into our lives and upon our lives, even our souls and our understanding and our perspective. And I thank you for absolute freedom. Where we were before, I thank you that you have hedged us. You have protected us. I thank you Lord that you have made us vulnerable no more. Thank you for increase and change and in our going and in our living every day we will see and experience this freedom. In Jesus name. Amen.
Resistance to Receiving God's Love
28:00 - Resistance to receiving God's love - What do you do when someone recoils, pulls back from or is uncomfortable with the love of God? A lot of people do this. We often do that because our identity is so deceived. We are so seeing ourselves less than lovable. Or what we trusted as love in the past, bit us. So that is self-protecting then.
28:45 - There could be several reasons that people could do that. You don't just put people in a box. You usually need discernment on why they are doing it. But here is the key... reveal to people through the word who they really are. And separate everything else that happened in their life contrary to that for what it is - people touching them wrong - trusting in love that wasn't really love (I love you for me) - looking for love in the wrong places - putting your trust in flesh instead of knowing Him. Separating man's weakness from God's strength so people aren't comparing...
29:45 - Resistance because of bad fathers - This is a very popular reason: the whole father thing. Because I didn't have a good father, I can't receive the Father's love. We make that so acceptable in the church. And the whole orphan spirit thing. I understand the principle but here is my concern: Why are we trying to get to God through man when God is God and separates the two? Everything (in your life) apart from Him was just man at his worst - or finest (in the sense of finest rottenness) - pick your term. Why would I compare that (rottenness) to this (God)? I can preach this boldly because...
30:25 - My father's love - I don't know that I ever heard my dad say that he loved me. That doesn't matter to me. It doesn't mean he doesn't love me. Alcoholism. Frustrations taken out on kids. You're a loser.
30:55 - What does my dad, in that season of his life, in the pain and the degeneration and the turmoil in his life pouring that out on me as a young man... Now that I am of age - now that I can look at the gospel - why would I try to run the gospel through the eye of that needle (my dad's example of love)? That doesn't even make sense to me. For me to say that I can't receive the love of God because my dad never said "I love you"... I don't even want that to make sense to you.
31:30 - "Sensitivity" is making us afraid to counsel with truth - We are being so "sensitive" to one another in these areas that we are keeping lies alive. One of the reasons we are not free is that we are letting this psychological, human reasoning, way that seems right to a man get laced through the gospel. And we are giving permission for things of the flesh to override the truth of the Spirit.
32:20 - Identity should be through Christ and Christ alone - Why should the other stuff even matter? - If your identity is in Christ period then what does it matter about anything else? You have to be able to counsel people that way and not be afraid to hurt them. The best thing that you can do for them is to pull out all of the stops of the flesh. Pull out all of the reasons that they can't and all of the "yeah, buts". If they don't have an identity except through Christ, then nothing else matters. Let's exalt Christ and every other reason (not to receive the Father's love) gets crushed.
33:00 - Nothing else matters - This is the truth that makes men free. There is no other human factor - there is no other aspect of life - there is no memory - there is no childhood event - there is nothing that could possibly stand in the way now that Christ has come. Because truth is revealed and I'm found there with Him. And the real me is there. Get that and don't give yourself permission to think anything less. Even one "yeah, but" is designed to deceive you and bind you and keep you trapped even though your heart is crying out.
34:00 - Jesus is the truth about me - And that truth exposes the lies trying to keep me trapped - People ask you about all of these touchy subjects. And I think the gospel is the answer because it exposes all of the lies. I think Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. I can't see Jesus anymore without seeing me there because He is all about revealing who I am. The truth about Jesus reveals the truth about me - the fact that the Father sent the Son. So are we on this quest to know God? Well, we are. But we can't help but to know Him and not find out who we really are. In other words, the more I search for Him and see Him, the more I see me there from the beginning. And everything in the middle (from the fall to redemption) is crushed by that one beautiful, everlasting truth. Tada! Would the real you please stand up?
35:30 - Counseling: Don't rehash the pain - Hold the answer up high - If you try to walk people through talking about the problem and the feelings (with regard to the events that cause resistance to God's love)... You won't find me going through all the list of pain. It's not that I don't care. It just doesn't take you there. You will only find me holding the answer high - so high that the answer gets so big that the answer makes everything else small, null and void.
36:10 - For example - When someone is crying in counseling you might think that you need to go there because it means something to them. I understand what you are saying there but I'll say, "Listen, I understand that you feel that way but consider this..." And I will keep going with the answer... the answer. I won't even give this (the "problem") anything. "OK, I realize that happened. And I know how you are saying that made you feel, so look at your answer..." And then I'll show them who they really are. And I'll separate the flesh from the spirit and the love of God from selfishness and unfortunate tragedy from the destiny and vision and purpose of God. It's always the answer that changes things.
36:55 - That doesn't mean we are in denial. We are not making much of the "problem". We are making much of the truth and the answer.
Counseling: Sow Truth - Reap Freedom
37:05 - In counselling, how do you keep from getting frustrated with the "yeah buts" and them not getting it? - We have to be careful that we are not getting frustrated because God is not frustrated with us. Do we always get it when God says it? No. Is He frustrated or is He a loving Father that is just cheering us on to get it? And He will keep speaking again and again and again.
➡ 37:40 - Counseling - Love is patient - Become love - This is the second half of what I wanted to talk about today: Love and what love really is and what love looks like. Because we don't have to pray for patience. The church prays for patience. Well, just become love. Love is patient. When we are praying for patience we are seeing our lives apart from love. We are separating attributes of what we are.
38:10 - So here is the deal: There is a place in our intimacy and communion with God our hearts start seeing through Him - our eyes start seeing through Him. And all of the sudden your heart cries for them, not in frustration but in mercy, because they are not seeing the thing that is so beautiful to make them free. And they are spiraling in an an arena that they don't have to spiral in.
38:35 - One of the mistakes we make is... I've had people tell me, "Well, you just have an extra grace for people because you are a pastor." There is some truth there but the fact is love is patient and we can all see people through the same eye of God. We can all have compassion. And we can all understand that somebody is just not getting it and who cares if I have to tell them a thousand times. But here is what I won't do. I won't shift and grab for straws and go down other roads. Because it's the truth that make men free.
39:15 - Counseling - Ministering to feelings - Some say, "Yeah, but there are other ways to get to the truth. And people need this." And after a while you compromise the healthy foundation of a man's believing God for who He is and what He said. In a lot of the ways that we minister we are taking the value of the word of God and ministering through the way people feel. And trying to meet them according to how they feel instead of who God is through what He says.
39:55 - This is how the Spirit of God ministers. He'll pull you out of the sensual realm and get you into a faith realm. I asked the Lord why we take so many long roads to minister to people and why there are so many of certain kinds of ministry out there. He said with a sigh, "Because my people don't believe my word."
40:10 - What if I (actually) believed I was a new creation? Game on baby! What if I actually believed that it was His good pleasure to give me the kingdom and the Spirit of God is in me and loves to live in me and will never leave me or forsake me and Jesus is as close as the mention of His name? What if I believed that - no matter what - no matter how life is going - no matter what people are suggesting? What if I believed that despite having the worst story - the worst past out there? Why does that trump the gospel? It never does but we let it and we cater to it and we give it power and voice a lot of times.
41:00 - Counseling - Shake yourself out of the feeling that they are never going to get it - I've had tons of people that I've spent a lot of time with and felt like they are are just not going to get it. I have to shake myself out of that and say, "You know what? They were worth your blood. You know them. You knew them from the beginning..." and you speak life over them. And when you start feeling like they don't want counsel, they are just drawing attention to themselves...
41:30 - You need discernment on that stuff. You have to call people on some of that stuff in a private setting and expose it. "You know I have been noticing, and correct me if I am wrong..." Sometimes they cry. Others get defensive.
41:50 - Counseling - Truth with Love - No compromise - I'm a truth guy but I absolutely love you. Because I love you, I won't compromise truth. I'll never say what you need me to say in your own mind. I will let you hate me for a season if you must but I will not compromise truth because I love you. It's because I love not my life unto death. I'm not trying to make people mad. But are you secure if people hate you because you won't come to their level and say what they "need" you to say? Are you OK? Are you OK if they are out there saying bad things to other people because they are frustrated and hurt because you won't compromise truth? Are you secure enough to know that your motives are pure and you love them and could cry for them? I could tell you stories...
42:55 - Man who hated Dan - Fornication situation yet down inside truth still pulsating. Laying on bed. Broke off relationship. He hated me for 2 years.
44:30 - Counseling - Are you secure enough? - Are you secure enough to minister that way and not to just pacify people? Is your heart clear enough, your conscience clear enough to know what is motivating you? That's what this whole thing is about. Walking in love - fellowship and communion with God when you look in your heart knowing the "why" behind your life. I have no need to be "right" in your life.
44:55 - Counseling - Is there a time limit? - But there is a key to not compromising truth - just staying on what makes people free - continue in my word "Yeah but brother..." - continue in my word - "but you don't understand" - continue in my word and you will know the truth. So what about if it is 3 years? We are not putting a time limit on it. Continue in my word.
45:30 - I've had seasons in my life where I have poured, poured, poured and in my mind I just think, "They are not getting it. I don't know if they want to get it. Are they drawing attention to themselves?", etc. And I would just stop and lift my hands and thank God for their value. He knows them. He loves them. And I will lay down my life for them. I would call them back and sit on the phone for another whole hour with them and just pour into them.
46:00 - Sow Truth - Are they just being a distraction? Be careful in making decisions to cut people off (from counseling). Here is what I know: if somebody doesn't sow truth there is no possibility for freedom. I don't even care if they really want truth. If they call me the are getting truth.
46:20 - People say, "I don't know how you take all of those phone calls..." I have a perspective that keeps me OK because it's an honor to pour truth into people. I know that I have nothing to give you but Jesus. So if you call me for whatever reason, you are getting truth. And truth is your best friend and your possibility of freedom. With no truth it's absolutely impossible to be free.
46:45 - Participant's comment - Lord said "If you want to be a missionary, you will give your whole life to change those people."
47:15 - Praying to go on the mission field - Motivated by frustration, not love - Discouragement towards the church. Prayers sounded good. Take me somewhere where they are hungry for this gospel. I will lay down my life. The Lord said, "So... You'll lay down your life for the hungry, will you?... Dan, my Son came and gave His life for those that despised and rejected and received Him not and spent His whole life pouring into them. You get your heart in agreement with my Son and we'll talk about things." The only reason I was praying that was because of frustration with the church. Motivation was not love. Without Him we will mess up and call it God all the while we are messing up.
51:05 - Counseling - Don't grow weary - Jesus didn't grow weary in well doing. That's a good scripture for that question. In fact let's go there...
Fellowship with Holy Spirit (cont.)
➡ 51:20 - Communion with the Holy Spirit - (But first, going back - ) Philippians 2 - Did you see that we have communion with the Holy Spirit there? Or didn't we read that? Well let's read that real quick and then shoot over to Gal. 6:9.
51:35 - Phil. 1 - v.28 - And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me. -
51:50 - Phil. 2 - v.1-2 - If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels (affection) and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. - So there again he is talking about being in communion with the Holy Spirit. Now we have seen it in two places.
Counseling without Growing Weary (cont.)
52:25 - Galatians 6 - v.7 - Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. -
Living by the flesh vs. Living by the Spirit - Be careful that you don't read your Bible under the mindset of the law. You will misread what it is saying. He's not just talking about a person pretending to be a Christian and then living in gross sin. There is a place for "living by the flesh" and a place for "living by the Spirit" in the Bible that is clearly defined. It's in Romans 8 and Galatians 5. We don't live by the flesh. To live by the flesh is death. To live by the Spirit is life and peace. (Rom. 8:6) So you don't want to claim to live by the Spirit and be embracing the things of the flesh - letting the flesh influence you - letting even life motivate you. You'll see in a minute.
53:50 - v.8 - For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. -
Living from a flesh perspective - You have to be careful that you are not viewing life through just regular old human reasoning - the way that seems right to a man - through the flesh. Because then everything that is motivating you is flesh driven. And we don't understand this. (We don't usually realize this.)
Living from a Spirit perspective - Getting our minds renewed and living by the Spirit and wearing righteousness and knowing that we're sons - hearing the Father's voice and not following the stranger's voice is all huge in a principle like this.
54:30 - Weariness is the fruit of the flesh perspective - A lot of people are weary because they are heeding the things of the flesh (finishing the answer to the question above 37:05) They are listening to the voice of the flesh - the prophecy of the flesh, if you will - where life is going - how things are never going to change. "Well, if God didn't move by now, I guess He is not going to move in this situation." And all of the sudden the flesh is dictating the mindset and speaking. And all of the sudden you take that to heart and of the flesh reap corruption.
55:05 - This (sowing into the flesh) does not just mean living in secret sin - saying one thing and doing another. If you sow into your flesh... What are we to do? Crucify the flesh - the mindsets of the flesh. We usually relate this stuff to acts of sin when we read the scriptures. No, you live by the Spirit. You don't live by the flesh. He's not just talking about acts of sin.
55:30 - When he says there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but live by the Spirit. (Rom. 8:1) We think, on the surface, that simply means for somebody to walk free from sin and not giving themselves to a bunch of junk. And then there is no condemnation if you are walking that way. Well that is legalistic in itself right there. What it means is when it says "walk in the flesh"... There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. - Rom. 8:1. If you study that out "who do not live according to the flesh" that means who do not live according to your own strength, ingenuity, wisdom, righteousness, your own ability. Because if you do that you will be so aware of how short you fall and condemnation will grab your soul.
56:35 - But if you "live by the Spirit" it's the grace that flows through Jesus Christ. You are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8).
56:45 - Living by the flesh - Not just about acts of sin - But a mentality, a perspective - We read a scripture like that and think it's talking about sin. It's talking about identity and the motivation of your life. You don't live according to the flesh. It's not your own ability, ingenuity, strength, way. It's not you waking up and being a good Christian today. It's you waking up and being an amazing son because you have an amazing Father.
57:15 - Living by the flesh - Introspecting - Of course it can mean the sin thing but I don't think that we're waking up in the morning wanting to sin. But if you wake up in the morning and you are hard on yourself and you are outside of grace and you are your own critic then all of the sudden you are condemned because you fall way short. You are introspecting yourself - coming out with a negative view and everything you are short in. And you think that is humility and soul searching and it's not even producing life.
58:15 - Living by the Spirit - Powered by grace - No, there is no condemnation because you are not walking according to your own ability and ingenuity. You've received a grace that enables you and empowers you to be a son or daughter - to be free and clean and filled with His Spirit. You are living by the Spirit.
58:25 - "The Spirit" is actually referring to the grace through Jesus Christ that brought you into fellowship with the Holy Spirit. You are living by His lead.
58:50 - Sowing to the flesh - "of the flesh reaping corruption" - So you look at life through the flesh. You begin to let life be your teacher - make suggestions to you. And all of the sudden it has a language. And now your mind is... Now you start believing it and your words are saying what your mind is fearing. And you are sowing into the flesh and of the flesh you are reaping corruption.
59:20 - Sowing to the Spirit - If you sow into the Spirit, of the Spirit you will reap everlasting life. So it sounds like this is more than a principle that you live by. You are sowing into the Spirit. You are becoming one with Him and His ways are your ways - His mind is your mind - His heart is your heart. And of the Spirit, because you are one with Him, you are reaping everlasting life.
59:40 - Weariness / discouragment arises out of flesh perspective and can lead to giving up on people - v.9 - And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. - What would make you stop doing good? What would make you grow weary? If you are weighing (seeing, judging) according to the flesh. It's simple. Why is that scripture right on the heals of what we just read? Because what he is saying is that if you are not looking through the Spirit - even with a person you are counselling - if you don't see them through the Spirit and you just start weighing them through the flesh, you'll be discouraged, you'll fail to do good, you won't continue growing and doing good and you might cancel the harvest that God wants to bring forth in their lives because you called the shot through natural knowledge and stopped sowing or watering.
1:00:40 - Giving up on people - "Well I don't think they really want God. I don't think they are serious. I'm not wasting my time any more." And others might agree, "I don't know how you put up with them as long as you did." That's how we talk behind the scenes. That kind of talk reveals a lot. We don't really have the value of people. It's just ministry and ministering and probably far from love. Love sees the value of people. And if you are getting intolerant, it's probably time to keep growing (in relationship with God) so that God's heart and eye's overtake yours and when you look at them you will respond just like Him.
1:01:30 - Jesus called to account the Pharisees - Not because He is weary of them - Not to cut them off but to wake them up - Because, I'll tell you what - While we were yet sinners God sent His Son - Rom. 5:8. Those Pharisees that He called to account in Mt. 23 - it was pretty heavy - He hung on the cross for every one - gave His life - took the time to speak to them. By now the Pharisees were so obstinate and set on killing Him. Jesus knew all that and He still called them to account and exposed their hearts and motives, "How will you escape the coming wrath?" And then in compassion He hung on a cross. Called them to account but still said, "Forgive them Father. They don't know what there're doing" - Luke 23:24. He gave His life for those men.
1:02:15 - That sure beats Mt. 23 looking like it could have looked in the flesh. "Boy, if these Pharisees haven't gotten it by now they are never going to get it." No He actually took the time and suffered the pain of soul and heart to expose them. Don't think that He enjoyed that. It's not like He was telling them off. Because right after it was over He fell on his knees, "Oh Jerusalem, Oh Jerusalem..." He doesn't have a need to be right in your life. He loves you.
1:03:00 - So Mt.23 is pretty stark. "You scribes, you Pharisees, you hypocrites,,,"
1:03:15 - Visual Bible - plays all the time at Todd's.
1:03:25 - Sometimes I will pop the Visual Bible - Matthew in and sit there and cry and just embrace the heart of Jesus for people. And understand that He is not sinning. He is not mad at them. He's calling them into account. He's attacking lies in hopes of illuminating a heart and sowing a seed of truth so that when He rises from the dead Holy Spirit has something to work with and some of these men could come to Him. He wasn't cutting them off. He was sowing seeds to bring them in. He's exposing where they are. But He is about to go die, rise from the dead and open the door to life.
1:04:30 - How many of those men... Even the centurions at the cross after the fact (knew in their hearts that) this must be the Son of God. There is something about love and the expression of love that works in the hearts of men. It might not seem like it right now. That centurion probably didn't have too much thought when they were hammering in the nails. But something happened in that short time. Was it the manifestation of thunder and lightning? It was His disposition - crying out, "Forgive them Father. They don't know what they are doing." Don't think the centurion is not hearing that.
1:05:10 - Even after what they did to Him - Jesus' appearance was unrecognizable - It's a Man don't forget. It's a Man you can't even recognize any more. You can't tell who He is. He is beaten so bad that you can't even describe Him. You don't even know that it's Jesus. They just know that it's Jesus because they know what they did to Him. But if you had seen Jesus before the crucifixion and now saw Him on the cross, you would go, "Man, who is that?" You would not know that it was Him. The Bible teaches you that - his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: - Is. 52:14b. He was totally disfigured. He had no (recognizable) physical representation of who He was.
1:06:00 - Jesus didn't give up on the Pharisees - And yet in that condition He is hanging there talking to the Father - to forgive the people who did this to me. Because they don't know what they are doing. If they knew who I was they would see who they are and they would never do this. "Show them mercy God and open a door to illuminate their hearts so that they can see who I am and find themselves in me." That's what He is saying.
1:06:25 - Jesus goes after the motivation of the Pharisees - To wake them up - His motive was love - Participant's comment: This is such a different way to look at the situation. When Jesus calls them a "brood of vipers" He is just trying to get through to them.
1:06:40 - He is exposing where their motivation is from. Examples of how Jesus spoke to the religious leaders - John 10:32. "My life reveals Him." That's how He is talking to them all of the time. And then at some point He says that they stand in Moses' seat so you've got to do what they say but do not do what they do.
1:07:00 - Jesus is not cutting them off - And we must not give up on people - So He is going after their motivation, their mindset but not at he cost of them. He is not disqualifying them. Those men have a chance to repent. He died for them as much as He died for you. Love doesn't forget that.
1:07:50 - Or we look and make a distinction and draw lines and go so far but... If Jesus did that He would be a biased God and we ultimately would have to work our way to Him instead of being saved by grace through faith. If this wasn't true the better of us would be in and the lesser of us would be out. But are we in because He is amazing and He just let us all in by grace through faith?
1:08:30 - Be patient and keep sowing and watering - In due season - Isn't this the faith you even release ministering to people? I can't tell you how much I relate to her question (@37:05). I've even had this talk with my wife over different situations where they continually call the house. And I would feel in my mind, "Man..." And then stuff like this (truth) would come to me and I would thank God for every word ever sown (into their lives). And I would thank God for His love for them. And thank God for making sense in their mind through the truth. So I would gird the loins of my mind back into a place of truth and I would stand in my bedroom and prophesy over a person that just seemed to be "cycling" and just speak life. Why? Because the sower sows the word. The kingdom of God is as if a man sowed seed.
1:09:25 - Comment by Pastor Don W. - Receiving revelation without application just becomes knowledge. Unless we sow truth people don't have the ability to be free. With the Pharisees Jesus is direct because these words are their only hope to be free.
1:10:25 - Comment by Pastor Don W. (cont.) - "I have absolutely no need to be right in your eyes / life." I use to have that need. I wasn't secure in myself. I wanted you to approve me. But when you have Truth, you aren't dependent on that affirmation to be OK. Truth will offend people's theology. Your life is going to start to challenge people. They won't all agree. But you don't need everyone to agree. Be confident in the Truth in you.
1:13:50 - Comment by Pastor Don W. (cont.) - In this school we are firming up who we are and what we understand because we are going to take truth to our sphere of influence. So I don't have to be right in your eyes because I know that I am right in His.
1:14:30 - Have a pure motive of love for others - So Jesus' motive in confronting the Pharisees was love. It has to be love. If it isn't love it's, "Well, I don't care what you think." And all of the sudden it disregards the value of men. It's like a self-preserving thing. "Well, I don't care if you agree with me. I don't care what you think." That is totally way off. That's not what we are talking about. What we are talking about is: I know who I am and why I'm saying what I'm saying and it is totally for your sake. And how you respond is irrelevant in that sense.
1:15:00 - Anything else - like that people pleasing thing is very real in a lot of ministries - where they are just trying to say the right thing and get people to like them. I don't need you to like me. I want you to like me. That would be cool. But that is not my goal. My goal is sowing truth for your sake and our sake. You have to be very careful. That's why we want to talk about love a lot and what it looks like because if love is not your motivation, you can use these principles as a foundation but it actually segregates and separates. It's almost like, "I don't care what people think." I've seen people do that. "It doesn't matter what they say. I know who I am in Christ." And you can already see that it matters.
1:15:50 - The mercy of God is way greater than we have understood - Participant's story - His friend started to think that the participant was predestined for hell. I didn't even think you could be saved.
1:16:25 - Mercy and love is amazing. God is love. It isn't what He does. It's who He is. And God's mercy is not all that understood - the level of what mercy really is. I heard someone once say, "Our Bible knowledge is sending people to hell." That we look at their life through Bible knowledge and judge them through Bible knowledge and label where they are at and where they are going and fail to love them and show the mercy that is necessary to bring change to the way that we've... That was in the testimony of someone who was raised from the dead - that died cursing God. He said that you and I had enough scripture to send them to hell and we are forgetting God's mercy. And our Bible knowledge is sending people to hell.
1:17:10 - People will seek out what they want to hear - Give them truth - Participant's comment - Sometimes people come to you because they know the kind of answer you are going to give them. You may not think that you are getting anywhere. But they come back because they are hearing truth.
1:18:00 - I use that with people. "You still come back. Why do you come to me? I do believe that deep down you are crying out. But this is your answer..." I get real passionate with people and take that eye of the needle (truth - perspective of truth) and get it even narrower.
1:18:30 - Some people will call 3 or 4 people to get what they want to hear. What is funny is that I am in that list. And they will call me... You just want to be sure that you are not just giving people your opinion. "Well this is what I think. Well, you know what I would do..." You won't hear me talking like that. It's straight word - Jesus and His life in that situation.
1:19:00 - But there are people that will call who don't know you well. They call because you are in leadership and they just want to get your take on the situation. Just be very careful that your motive is always pure to give them truth for their sake.
1:19:15 - Be secure in your identity - Don't be dependent on the attention, acclaim, affirmation of man - That's why your identity has to be secure or you will find identity in people coming to you and your ability to counsel and people feeling like they need you. That's weird. You don't want identity in any of that. There are people that need to be needed.
1:19:35 - When my phone didn't ring much for the three days when I went deer hunting I didn't think, "What's happened to my anointing? Nobody wants me any more." I actually had the opposite reaction, "Hallelujah!" I had prayed ahead of time not to have a snowball of calls to return. I got 3 calls.
1:20:30 - When you depend on ministry for identity is can really cause problems. How their ministry is going determines who they are. And when the carpet gets pulled from underneath it, they fall with it. Don't ever let that happen to you.
1:21:15 - BREAK
Fellowship with Holy Spirit
➡ 1:21:15 - TODAY - I wanted to talk about fellowship with the Holy Spirit today. And I wanted to talk about what love looks like but I don't know how far we are actually going to get. I'm thinking fellowship is where we are going to be. We didn't even go there yet. Yesterday we talked about fellowship with the Father and the Son. Today we looked at 2 scriptures that talked about fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Let's go to John... Fellowshipping with Holy Spirit is actually your number one contact or access with God. He'll represent the Father to you. He'll represent Jesus to you - the heart of God. The Bible says that He doesn't speak on His own but only what He hears - John 16:13.
1:22:00 - The Godhead - Three in One - They are three in one. Don't let the Godhead confuse you... They are God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit but they are one. Why are they one? Because you can't separate them in terms of will, intent, integrity, etc. They are the same - exactly the same. They are three but yet they are one. They are completely in agreement - completely unified - complete oneness. And they don't do anything apart from one another in the sense of will, intent, purpose, character, disposition.
1:22:40 - Different functions - They have different functions - the love of the Father - the grace of Jesus and the fellowship and even the power of Holy Spirit - 2 Cor. 13:14. I heard a preacher explain it as a light switch once: how the current flows through the light switch and someone turning on the light - that there is a command to turn on the light. And through Christ the switch is flipped. And Holy Spirit is power going through to bring on the light. It's like that. It's the will of the Father revealed through Jesus Christ by the working of Holy Spirit.
1:23:10 - For example: Different functions of the Godhead in healing - Let's just take healing for example - The will of God wants to heal. The word establishes that. So we have a "yes and amen" through Jesus Christ (and) by the power of the Spirit healing flows. So we have a "yes" from the Father. We have the "go ahead" through Jesus for the "yes". And Holy Spirit brings the healing. That's how it works. I want you to see.
124:40 - Reading scripture legalistically - John 14 - v.15 - If ye love me, keep my commandments. - Best translation: If you love me you will keep my commandments. You can read that from a mindset of the law or you can read it for what it is really saying. If you read it under the law you get, "Well, if you love me you are going to do what I tell you to do. So prove that you love me." No, what He is saying is, "If you love me you will keep my commandments. The evidence of your love... Your love for me will keep my commandments." That will get clearer as we talk about what love looks like.
1:25:20 - Participant's comment - Reading that verse legalistically.
1:25:40 - You can read a lot of things legalistically. You can read "If you keep my commandments you love me" and a lot of people just go introspective and weigh their life for what is missing and what's wrong - with no thought of change - just bad me. It's not wrong to look at your life for areas of change but you have to see the way of change. A lot of people will look introspectively and just come out negative and just write themselves off, "Boy, God has a lot of work to do in me." That is not a good day - to see yourself that way. There's no hope for change. But let's get back on fellowship...
1:26:10 - Another Counselor of the same kind - v.16 - And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; - "Another" is the word allos in the greek. Allos is "the same kind as." Many people say that they wish they could have been on the earth when Jesus was here. But Jesus is saying that this is a greater day. If Jesus was here in the flesh we would all have to be where He is. But Jesus said, Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. - John 16:7.
1:26:55 - So Jesus gets 12 men and disciples them - pours His life into them and then He is telling them that He is going to be leaving. "But don't get bummed out because I am going to pray to the Father and He is sending another. And He will be in my absence what I would be if I was here myself. He is Holy Spirit. We are one.
1:27:15 - Holy Spirit is not limited in terms of one physical body - Here is another thing. He will live in and be multiplied into as many as would believe. So He is not limited then to one Man in the flesh. He's coming to live in the flesh of every man that believes. So it's no longer Him in the one Man in the flesh. It's Him living in as many as would believe.
1:27:35 - Holy Spirit reproduces Jesus in men - So this is the reproduction of Jesus - a seed dying and falling to the ground. It will spring up and bear much fruit. Where does the fruit come from? The outpouring of Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit coming into you to live in you and be one and bear witness of Christ and show you things to come and speak on behalf of the Father. So how is Christ reproducing Himself? Christ, the anointed one - by pouring out His Spirit - by praying to the Father, Holy Spirit comes. This is how a seed produces after it's own kind.
1:28:00 - So Jesus is a seed that falls to the ground and dies. He must produce after His own kind. So a man walking in communion and fellowship with God - without a sin barrier - is the life of Jesus modeled and revealed. It's the same - "Follow me."
1:28:20 - How can He talk like that? Because He is giving us the same Spirit that raised Him from the dead - the same Spirit that came upon Him in the River Jordan. How God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power - the Man - Jesus of Nazareth. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. - Acts 10:38.
1:28:40 - So He is going to pray and another is going to come. And He will abide with you forever. I like that forever stuff.
1:28:50 - v.17 - Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. -
He is the Spirit of truth. The world can't receive Him because what the world calls truth isn't what the Spirit of truth says. The way that seems right to man is the spirit of truth to the world. The wisdom is rationale - common knowledge - common sense. He came to His own and His own received Him not. (John 1:11) Why? Because the truth was saying something totally different from what they were living by. "I say but you say" (Mt. 6) He is saying, "You guys are speaking a whole other language than truth." That's why we are renewed in the spirit of our mind. That's why we are not conformed to the world but transformed. This is a bigger deal than we realize. It's not something to get weird with - where you are watching your tongue and every word. Your relationship with Him and your exchange with Him in intimacy and meditating in the word will change your language, your thoughts, your vision.
1:30:00 - Work out your salvation - You are not on eggshells. You are not trying not to... (sin?) That's how a lot of Christians are trying to live their life. They think that is what "working out their salvation" is. You work your salvation out with reverence unto God - Phil. 2:12. You awe Him. You reverence Him. He's amazing. He dominates your life because He is so awesome. You wake up and you revere Him. Then who He is overtakes who you are and the Spirit of God begins to live your life and you are being led by the Spirit - by the wisdom of God - by the mind of the Lord. It's communion with Him.
1:30:50 - Common sense - Participant's comment - regarding common sense.
1:31:00 - Yes, God is not against the mind. What we call "common" in the world is usually the way that seems right to man. That's where all of the "Yeah, buts" come from in the church. It's another voice - another wisdom. We hit that real hard when we looked in Corinthians - God has made foolish the wisdom of the world. It should be foolish to us. Like, "What?" There is a place for the word to dominate our lives, where we are looking through the word.
1:31:40 - v.17 (cont.) - So the Spirit of truth... So we are to know Him. It's not a positional thing. "Well the Spirit of God lives in me." No, we know Him. "The fellowship of Holy Spirit" - the koinonia, the intimacy of the Holy Spirit.
1:32:15 - He is the Spirit of truth. That means He must speak.
1:32:25 - v.18 - I will not leave you comfortless (as orphans): I will come to you. - How is He coming. In the person of Holy Spirit.
1:32:40 - v.19 - Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. - That is so powerful. Do you see the beauty of living by faith? And being in communion with God? And being born again? And being filled with the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead?
1:33:10 - v.20 - At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. - Sounds like we are all together again.
133:20 - v.21 - He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. - When I am walking in the will and wisdom of God just because I am in love and I'm walking the word, I'm being loved by my Father. It's one thing to say, "Jesus loves you." It's another thing for you to be loved by God. It's two totally different things. One is a theological thing. But I am loved by God. I can feel it.
1:34:30 - Manifest - Do you hear the intimacy in that? He's talking about revelation not Bible knowledge. Skip down to...
134:35 - v.26 - But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. - Who needs help? We have a Helper. In my name - So who is Holy Spirit representing? Jesus.
1:35:15 - A store bank of knowledge is not required - Relationship with Holy Spirit is required - Bring all things to your remembrance - Preaching and never opening up my Bible... At a recent men's conference a man was amazed. "You never opened your Bible and you had no notes." There is a grace on that. God told me to teach that way a long time ago. But here is something else that it has to do with - my communion with Holy Spirit. I don't have a store bank of knowledge. I don't carry a big head around of the Bible. Here is the stuff I do: Holy Spirit, you are amazing in my life. You are my Helper. And You have come from the Father and represent Jesus in my life. And I thank you that You will teach me everything. As I read today, it's coming alive in me because the word is alive. I don't want just knowledge of You. I want to know the Father - know the Son - I want to know You. And I thank You that You are bringing everything to my remembrance in every time of need. I am not under pressure to learn what the Bible says. I just want to know you. I've done this for years. I just want to know You. And I just thank You that as You pour it into me with revelation and understanding You have the ability to bring it up in me in every time of need - whatever situation. In whatever circumstance, I am not lacking for words. I am not lacking for knowledge because You're in me and You are immeasurable and unsearchable. And You are in me because You want to be. Pray like that. Talk like that.
1:37:10 - You're always ready because you have spent time with Him - So when you get thrown into an unfamiliar situation... That's what it means to be "ready in season". All of the sudden Holy Spirit does the download. You don't even click the buttons. All of the sudden you are sharing with a person and scriptures come out of you that you haven't even thought about or read for a while. You are not preaching a sermon to them. Out of the heart of God in you because of love, you are ministering to them. It's out of the heart. They don't need your head. They don't need you to quote the last sermon you heard. They don't need our Bible knowledge.
1:38:20 - But I get alone with someone and all of the sudden you just see it. Why? Because you care for them. You love them. You've been with Him and you are in Him. And He will bring to remembrance all things that Jesus said. So I fill my heart with the word - trusting that it is in there and Holy Spirit can access it whenever, however to whomever He wants because He loves people. And I love people too because we are one.
1:38:50 - It makes things so simple. That way I am not just trying to memorize and study to know it. The more I do it this way (in relationship with God) and it becomes my reality the clearer I will see it for you.
1:39:10 - We struggle because we fail to receive - I think one of the reasons we struggle ministering to one another sometimes so much is because we haven't been the best at ministering to ourselves and just accepting truth and just being loved and just being His. The more I know that (who I am because of Jesus) about me, the more that I know that about you. So when I see you, I just know exactly who you are to the Father. Why? Because I see who I am to the Father. And if I am that to the Father, you sure are too. I look at you and know that you are a son. You are predestined.
1:40:00 - Specific words of encouragement and prayer for a participant.
1:42:00 - He is the Helper. He is sent from the Father. He must want you to have Him. Why would you ever fight with that. "Well, I don't know why Holy Spirit would want to hang around me." The Father sent Him. He is here. And Father wants Him here. Remember - of Him you are in Christ Jesus - Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God - 1 Cor. 1:1. It's of the Father you are in Christ Jesus. It's not your bright idea that you are in Him. It's of Him that you are in Him. He opened the door. He made it possible. He turned on the light. Man, He must want you in the light.
1:43:00 - Become the word - Let the word be fleshed out through your life - I am not in a hurry to read, read, read. You would be amazed at how slow I am with some stuff. I'll sit on my bed and one little thought like that - "of Him" - and I'll just sit there and muse and meditate on that and think about God's good pleasure to give me the kingdom. And how it pleases God to love me and bless me and provide and give me everything necessary to fulfill what He created me for. I'll just camp on that one little thing and it comes alive. That sure beats just reading through and just being able to quote John 14. I'm not against quoting. But you don't know the word until you become the word - the word becomes flesh. If we are following Jesus that's what happened. The word became flesh.
1:43:45 - Jesus was the tada of God in the flesh. We ought to be the tada - the living, expressive word because of the word in us. Are we one? Did He say we are one? So don't see your life apart from Him. Don't say, "Well, that was Jesus." Yes, and where does He live?
1:44:15 - Face to face encounter with God - Don't short change yourself by reading just for knowledge - He will teach you all things - Please don't read your Bible like a history book. Read it relationship. The word is alive. It's active. God and His word are one. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God - John 1:1.
1:44:35 - I was reading my Bible years ago and Holy Spirit whispered that scripture to me and He whispered really sweetly, "(This is your face to face encounter with me.) And no one looks into my face and lives." And I realized, this is where I die and this is where I live. I find who I am really not and I find who I really am.
1:45:40 - I'm not sure I would have that kind of experience if I wasn't opening the Bible with the purpose of intimacy and not just knowledge. I'm not sure that I would hear those things if I wasn't pursuing Him in the name of relationship.
1:46:00 - I heard a song one time that said - maybe God will just invade our daily devotion today and it will come alive. Why? Because sometimes the daily devotion takes the place of knowing Him. And it just marks us as doing our Christian calisthenic for the day. "Hey, I read my word and prayed." But have you met Him face to face? Have you said, "Good morning Father"? Have you communed with the Lord? "Well, I listened to Christian music all morning and wore my Christian T-shirt and talked to Christian friends. I have my Christian screen saver and my Christian ring tone." But have you met with Him face to face?
1:47:10 - John 15 - v.26 - But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: -
1:47:25 - Color code for meaning. Holy Spirit - blue. Love - green. Orange - promise. Purple - Condition or commandment, Red - The blood. Holy Spirit, you know what all of these mean to me. And I am just asking you to bring these things out and teach me and show me. Let this book that is alive live in me.
1:49:00 - v.26 - With this language He's letting you know that He wants you to have Him. He wants Him here and He wants Him to come. Do you hear the union in this - the family - the purpose - the calling - the destiny - your identity? You are created to be one with Him - to have Him with you.
1:49:50 - Holy Spirit points to Jesus - A lack of communion with Holy Spirit allows us to live apart from Christ in ways - mindset, identity, wisdom. When you are in communion with Holy Spirit He testifies of Christ. Everything He does points to Jesus. So it is impossible to live headless because He is the head. He is constantly testifying of Jesus - pointing to Jesus. So our lives then are lived in Christ and through Christ, not for Christ. Our identity is one with Him and Holy Spirit continually bears witness of that.
150:45 - So doesn't He want to come and wrap around you and cuddle you every time you realize that you are clean and free, forgiven and redeemed? Doesn't He just want to be with you in that place and affirm that. If we as Christians would spend plenty of time being in that place - clean, forgiven, free, washed... Don't be afraid to be in that place as if you are self-justifying, self-righteous because in that place if you take one step to the side you will be so aware of it quickly because you have cultivated a consciousness of clean and that alone will keep you on the straight and narrow. That would be grace.
1:51:45 - Not trying not so sin - I'm enjoying being a son - Healthy identity - Not Pride - So I am not trying not to fail. I'm just enjoying being His. And that keeps you from failing. If I am trying not to fail, I am subject to pressure and I am subject to failing. So failure is on the horizon. It's a conscious awareness. Why are we thinking that now that Christ has come? Are we thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought? No, that would be you, in and of yourself, just a self-made, self-professed, self-proclaimed, "I can do this just because I am a super Christian."
1:52:25 - You are not running the risk of thinking more highly of yourself. Sometimes we use those scriptures and they actually subvert faith and identity. (For example:) Take heed why you stand lest you fall. He's talking about self-confidence, pride, presumption. Sometimes we use those scriptures against a healthy identity. Be careful with that. It's like we can't have a good attitude and feel good about ourselves because then we may be in pride and really deceived.
1:53:25 - John 16 - It would be good to meditate on these Holy Spirit scriptures that Jesus shares because Jesus is revealing who Holy Spirit is in our lives. v.7 - Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. -
The disciples didn't want Jesus to go - Coveting - They didn't want Jesus to go away." Jesus, you are the best thing that's ever happened to us. What do you mean that you are going to die? Don't leave us." We would have all felt the same way. But it was a self-centered, coveting thing.
1:54:00 - Peter loved Jesus for himself - When Peter cut off the ear it looked like standing up in integrity. He said, "No, this shall not happen to you." But Jesus said, "You have in mind the things of man, not God." So Peter's heart cry wasn't because he loved Jesus. Peter loved Jesus for himself. He was saying, "You're the best thing that ever happened to me. You can't go now. Nobody is going to treat you like that." "My ship has finally come in. You aren't sailing in any sunshine except for mine. Get back here. You're not going." "Now that I've got a hold of you I'm not letting you go." Peter was thinking for himself. I love you for me.
1:55:05 - Love vs. need - We say, "I love you." And we really mean, "I desperately need you." We call it love. It's really need.
1:55:40 - Jesus had to go and deal with sin if Holy Spirit was to come into us - If Jesus doesn't go away and conquer death and rise from the dead for our justification and sit at the right hand and mediate on our behalf through His blood on God's mercy seat, then Holy Spirit can't come because we are still in our sin. But He did go. And we are not in our sin. And Holy Spirit came. Happy day! He washed our sin away. Accept it and be free and clean. Holy Spirit wants to live in us.
1:56:40 - If you miss the relationship of this, the intimacy of this, you'll just try to fulfill doctrine. You'll just live the Christian part that you're to play and not be blessed along the way. You won't be fulfilled. This is all about relationship. I in you and you in me. We're all one. "Go tell my brethren...my Father and your Father" - John 20:17.
1:57:25 - ...I will send Him to you... - See the purpose of our lives? Jesus doesn't want us to live without the Holy Spirit. He created us for His good pleasure - to manifest Him and reveal Him on the earth so that the glory of the Lord would cover the earth.
1:57:35 - He glorified us - so that we could glorify Him - Fill the earth with His glory - Don't think that's blasphemous. You are the glory of God revealed on the earth when you are walking in covenant through Christ. Romans 8 teaches that. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. - Rom. 8:30. How did He glorify you? By filling you with the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. Is that glory to you? No, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee - John 17:1b. It's not a vain thought. It's almost considered a blasphemous, heresy type thought when you talk like that. Just read Psalms 8. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? - Psalms 8:4. He crowned us with glory - that He would visit you - that He would make you a little lower than Elohim. Just read Psalms 139 - about inward parts.
1:58:50 - v.8-10 - And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; - Who is bearing witness of the righteous judgement (the way that He sees you) to your heart. So if you get to know Him that will become a given because that is part of His message. If you accept Him as your friend - accept Him into your life and start communing with Him and talking to Him... I'm going to break this stuff down for you in a minute and share some personal stuff.
1:59:35 - v.11 - Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. -
Holy Spirit brings a perspective of truth - There is a sanctifying of the Holy Spirit of your life to where you will see things for what they really are. It puts the enemy in right perspective - people in right perspective - your life in right perspective. Your fellowship with Holy Spirit makes your life crystal clear. Because He is bearing witness of truth constantly and pointing and testifying of Jesus who is the truth. Jesus is the truth.
2:00:15 - Holy Spirit, I appreciate You. I thank You. You are my Best Friend. I can't tell you how many times I have told Him that He is my best friend. I used to pray this a lot and it wasn't condemnation. Keep working in me and making me a friend to You as You are a friend to me. Continue to condition my heart and my mind and bring me into such a place of agreement with You that I am a friend to You as You are a friend to me. Doesn't He say to love God as He loves you? Agape God as God agapes you. In other words believe the best about God. So why not make me a friend to Him as He is to me. He is your best friend.
2:01:00 - Receive His friendship - Did you know that He can be the best Friend and you don't receive His friendship - by talking yourself out of what He is saying or not receiving the truth for your life? And He is there to nurture you and you are not being nurtured. He is there to tell you that you are awesome and cuddle you and you are telling yourself what is wrong with you and not letting anybody cuddle you. Why would we take that position, when we were created in God's image and God sent Him and Holy Spirit saw fit to come? You must be special. The truth about you must be incredible. The truth about you in Him is probably yet to be seen in all of our lives.
2:01:50 - Amazing relationship awaits you - Just think with me - Jesus becoming a man and dying an unjust death on the cross - getting beaten beyond description - facing death - conquering it - rising from the dead - committed to sit forever and serve us through His mediation and speak on behalf of man to God. And God sending that same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead - His Spirit - Holy Spirit to mankind. There must be an amazing relationship - an amazing value to our lives. This thing is not a fairy tale it is real.
2:02:30 - Let Holy Spirit teach you as you meditate on truth - Our goal is to know Him - I sit sometimes and just think thoughts like that. And Holy Spirit will just keep connecting the dots. And the whole picture of the cross and what He accomplished and my value and eternal truth just comes alive. You're not in a hurry. And you are not just reading your Bible because you are a Christian. Your whole goal is to know Him. I promise you, if you know Him, in the end things fall into place. We've walked in a manner worthy of Him if we know Him.
2:03:20 - v.12 - I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. -
Under the fear of death - He was talking to His disciples and comforting them. They were grieving. All they could see was death. Remember, they were all under the bondage of the fear of death and when He said He was dying that is finality to them. And He is the best thing that ever happened to them. They were in a coveting way. They wanted to hold onto Him. They are overcome.
2:03:50 - Think about it. "I am going to be turned over, whipped, crucified and die at the hands of sinful men. But on the third day I will rise." They couldn't even hear that because of the fear of death. It says, "And they were all filled with grief." Not one person went, "Wait a minute, you are going to rise from the dead?" All they could hear was, "I am going to die."
2:04:20 - Do you know that our lives can work that way too? The doctor can say many things and all we hear is what the doctor said. And yet God is speaking and has already spoken. And because of what we fear - depending on what we fear and reverence - determines how we hear and see.
2:04:50 - Participant's comment - They had already seen the resurrection of the widow's son and Lazarus.
2:05:00 - The Lazarus resurrection they didn't comprehend at all.
2:05:05 - Do you understand the fear of the bondage of death? How encapsulating it is? When it is there in a person's life? Here is Jesus saying many times in the NT - like 5 times - He let's them know, "I am going to rise on the third day." And it says that they were all filled with grief. It went right over their heads. That happens to us today if we are not careful. Knowing Him, understanding, walking in love will cause our ears to hear what we need to hear.
2:05:55 - v.13 - Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. -
Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth - He's the Spirit of truth. You can sure trust Him. He will guide you. You do have a Spirit guide. He will guide you into all truth. So what is He here to do? He's here to bear witness of Jesus, to testify of Jesus, show you what is yet to come, to bring all things to your remembrance and to guide you into all truth. These are all things that He is here to do. As you get to know Him and commune and fellowship with Him and accept those things in your life and acknowledge and thank Him for those things - in your prayer time - in your meditating in the word time...
2:06:40 - Don't just read that - Know Him - Man, don't read these scriptures about the Holy Spirit in your personal time without getting personal with Him. Or you will just be able to teach a good lesson on the person of Holy Spirit. You don't need to preach a sermon about Him. It's time to know Him. We don't read our Bibles to preach sermons. We're reading our Bibles to know Him. I'm not reading so that I can keep up in Christian circles and have a conversation and sound intelligent. I want to know Him.
2:07:40 - Holy Spirit is our vital connection - So it sounds like (as you read this verse) that Holy Spirit is in direct connection with the Father's heart. And when He speaks He is saying what the Father is saying. Why? Because Jesus says, "When you see me you've seen the Father. And I only say what He is saying and I only do what He is doing." Why was that possible? Because of the work of the Holy Spirit bringing Him into that place as a man. And He is telling us that it's the same with us - Christ in us.
2:08:05 - v.14 - He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. - Here is how you know the work of the Holy Spirit. Because what He does glorifies Jesus. It magnifies Jesus. If you don't hear intimacy in this, listen...
2:08:25 - v.15 - All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. -
Jesus sees us as one from the beginning - He releases to us all that is His - So does Jesus see all things that are His apart from us? You've got to catch that stuff. Why will He declare it to us? Because He sees us as one from the beginning. So all that Jesus has is from the Father. All that the Father has is mine (Jesus') and that's why I say He will take of what is mine and give it to you because you and I are one from the beginning. How can we fight that? And say that we are not worthy? Or not love? Or not forgiven? Or not redeemed? Or not qualified? At this point in this school you would have to be almost flat out willful. You would have to just believe the lie. There is just too much affirmation here.
2:09:25 - He is saying, "It is mine. It is given to me from the Father. And I gave it to Holy Spirit to declare it to you because I will not see myself apart from you. And I will not see what is mine apart from being yours. It's right there. I don't have time then for anything else.
Interactions with the Trinity
2:09:50 - Interactions with the three Persons of the Trinity - Here are a couple of personal thoughts and then we will close. It seems, according to those scriptures, that your communication with the Lord... Who is the Lord? Jesus. Corinthians also says that the Lord is the Spirit. Because they are one. He's the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. So - Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. - 2 Cor. 3:17. But I thought that Jesus was Lord? Well the Spirit and the Lord and Jesus are one.
2:10:45 - Communion of the Holy Spirit - Most of the time - Most of the time it is person of Holy Spirit that He is talking about - another Helper - the Comforter - the One that comes. Most of your communion and what you hear - it's the work of Holy Spirit in our lives. So that's why Paul talks about communion and fellowship with Holy Spirit.
2:11:10 - Communion of the Holy Spirit specifically on behalf of Jesus or the Father? - Now I can only explain these as experiences. Sometimes I believe that Holy Spirit talks to me specifically on behalf of Jesus - whether it is Jesus Himself or Holy Spirit on behalf of Jesus saying what He hears. It doesn't matter. It's not something to get technical about. I've had all of these experiences. I've had the Father speak to me where I knew it was the Father. I've had Jesus speak to me - manifest Himself to me in different ways where I knew it was Jesus. And then many, many, many times the person of Holy Spirit. So I commune with all three - talk to all three.
2:12:00 - Father - There are times that the Father has come. And I've had experiences with the Father - all I know to say is majesty - regal, royal, intense, indescribable.
2:12:20 - Jesus - I've had experiences with Jesus. Is that Holy Spirit impersonating, representing Jesus? Is that Him on behalf of Jesus? I don't know. I just know that I have talked to all of them personally and heard from all of them personally but the dominating communion with the Lord in my life is the person of Holy Spirit.
2:12:45 - Interactions that seem to be individual to the Father, Son or Holy Spirit and yet they are all one - I've had Holy Spirit talk to me in first person form referring to Jesus and referring to the Father - the Holy Spirit talking to me as if Jesus is somewhere else.
213:00 - Wife burned - That happened when my wife was burned - I heard Holy Spirit say, "Don't praise Him yet." - meaning Jesus. So He came in the person of the Holy Spirit, not that He is apart from them because they are all one... He could have said, "Don't praise Me yet." But He talked on behalf of Jesus. It was amazing to me. And then when you see these scriptures it makes sense - "glorify me" - "testify to me" - "bear witness to me". He said, "Don't praise Him yet. It pleases Him when His children go for the finished work." And He was bearing witness of Jesus' heart and motive and desire in His finished work of the cross. My wife had been burned and I was just excited that the pain had left. And Holy Spirit was fathering me and speaking on behalf of Jesus. He was referring to Jesus, seemingly apart from Jesus and yet they are one. That is intimate to me. That's the person of Holy Spirit.
2:14:15 - Why He did it that way I am not totally sure other than that spoke to me. "You just talked to me as God, the Holy Spirit." I was fascinated by that. And we watched all of the burns disappear from my wife's hand. I think He likes to teach us this thing and the love of the Father and the grace of Jesus and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit - 2 Cor. 13:14.
2:15:00 - The Trinity and water baptism - That's why when I baptize people, I baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Because in the book of Acts you could baptize in the name of Jesus. And the church gets legalistic. And if you don't baptize them in the name of Jesus, you aren't doing it correctly. And if you do it any other way... And we just make a mess of something so beautiful. But it's so simple. Because Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily - Col. 2:9. But the love of the Father and the grace of Jesus and the fellowship of Holy Spirit be with you all. So, personally, I like to baptize in the name of the Father and His Son Jesus Christ and the person and power of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because then they are aware of the Godhead in all three.
2:15:50 - So when the Father came into my bedroom, was that the Holy Spirit manifesting the Father? I don't know.
2:16:00 - Alabaster jar - Jesus' feet - There was the time I was teaching my kids about the alabaster bottle and worshiping and receiving forgiveness and Jesus being the lover of men. They were young 12 & 7. We began to worship. Was this Jesus or the Holy Spirit? I don't know. But I know that it is through the work of the Holy Spirit. Worshiping. Put my hand down and felt feet that I could not see. Ankles. Toes. And there is nothing there. I lost it. Wiped tears with hair. Jesus is here. It was personal. It was a way for me to say, "I lay down my life for you. All that is yours is mine and all that is mine is yours."
2:19:30 - Who do you talk to? - Don't get technical and theological with these experiences. They are the Person of God - probably through the demonstration of Holy Spirit representing and on behalf of according to scripture. But it shouldn't be a theological debate. So do you talk to the Father? Absolutely. Can you just drive and talk to Jesus? You hear legalistic stuff, "Well, no, you are only supposed to talk to the Father in Jesus' name." Well that is certain requests - certain thing. But don't tell me that I can't hang out with and talk to Jesus. Because you are wrong. I do it all of the time. And Holy Spirit is our best friend.
2:20:50 - Don't limit Him - Yield to Him - In the person of Holy Spirit there is so much available. Let's pray this prayer - We don't want to limit Him. We want to give Him access to do all that He wants to do and make us all that we are in Him. Let's just yield ourselves to Him. I'm not suggesting that we hinder Him so bad.
2:21:30 - Closing Prayer - Father we just thank you right now for what is available. We just thank you for intimacy and union and communion with You. You sent Holy Spirit. Jesus, You paid the price necessary and You went to the Father so He would come. We saw that in your word so clearly. And Holy Spirit, You are here. Thanks for coming to be our Friend - our Comforter - our Helper. Thanks for fathering us, tutoring us, teaching us. We yield to you. We believe that we are worth the blood of Jesus according to You and this gospel. And every one of us believes that it is your good pleasure to come inside of us and live and lead us and instruct us - bringing all things to our remembrance that Jesus said and show us things to come. We accept You. We embrace You. And we love You Holy Spirit. We want to know You so much more. We are asking You to help us be a friend to You and to God's plan and purpose, just like You are a friend to us. Cause us to be one beyond what we ever thought was possible. Don't let our minds limit us. Don't let anything keep us from knowing You. We love You Holy Spirit. Lord Jesus we love You and honor You. You are so my hero. You are the living epistle of love. You are truth revealed. And Father, it sure is clear to see who You are through Holy Spirit and Jesus. Thank You for being a good, good Father. We honor You and thank You in Jesus' name. Amen.