Day 21

Enter into and Live out of His Love

0:20 - Testimony of Participant - hunting, communing with God, so filled with the love of God didn't shoot any thing. His knee was bothering Him. Communing. Not your will to have this pain. Commanded pain to come out. Pain gone.

2:05 - Live from relationship - There is a truth there - as you are communing the truth gets so big in your heart that you see it. And then when you speak, you are speaking from what you see and it just carries heaven. It's just powerful.

2:20 - What we want to do is keep growing in God and communing with God and getting to know Him to the place where that's the place that we live from - not tap into. We tend to tap into that place and it's a place we can live from.

3:00 - On the Sacrament of Communion - Opening prayer with regard to the sacrament of communion - Let's enter in and thank God for covenant. There are two thoughts behind - two ways that I have taken communion - 1) one is the body and the blood - eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood - righteousness and by His stripes we are healed and 2) the other one is very simply a covenant mentality that all that is Yours is mine - All that is Yours you have given to me and for me. Think about that. He still sits at the right hand of God mediating on our behalf every day. Every day, His blood speaks on our behalf. So in that sense, He is still serving humanity with His life.

3:40 - Covenant - The best definition of covenant is: All that is mine is Yours and all that is Yours is mine. It's an exchange of one another so that two become one.

3:55 - So when I receive communion there are times when I will simply just receive communion whether I have the elements or in my heart, it's just an expression of: You know what, I just yield myself to you. All that is Yours, you have made available. It's the Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom. You've given me not up to half the kingdom but the whole kingdom. And I give you all that I am. And there is a place where you can kneel when you are all alone. Everything that I have is Yours. I wouldn't have it unless it had been given. I just give you my life. Your life and my life are one.

➡ 4:30 - THIS WEEK - So in this school and in this week we are really going to be on the topic of love. We are not going to be in a hurry. We're going to talk about love and what it looks like in practical situations and life situations that test love - what natural wisdom looks like and what God looks like in those situations.

4:55 - You want the reality of God - Sometimes we have all of the right phrases and words and sayings and cliches but it's not really our life's reality. I don't know about you but I want life's reality in God. I want it to be my reality.

5:05 - Enter in - So let's just thank Him right now. And you can do this in your heart. I'm going to lead - pray out of my heart. But don't just follow. Enter in with me. Get personal. Make contact with the heart of God right now. It's kind of like if we had the communion elements and you had His body and His blood in your hand and in your heart. And it's like you are thinking: You came to die. Nobody took your life. You gave your life. And greater love hath no man than he would give his life for his friend. You gave all that you are for me. And I just thank you for that. I just thank you for covenant. I thank you that all that You are, You gave. You still sit at the right hand and mediate on our behalf. You are a High Priest forever - unchangeable. You'll change not. I have great security in You, Jesus - great trust in You - great faith in You. Father, there is no turning, no shifting of shadow. You are not moody. And You don't change Your mind. You don't lash out at me. You are not kind one minute and then nasty the next. You change not. You're awesome. And I thank you that your grace is making me more like you. And in a response to Your heart towards me and Your life towards me and all of Your love and all of Your promises and all of Your good pleasure, I give myself to You - to be a son to You - to co-labor with You - to covenant with You - to fulfill Your pleasure and will on the earth - to manifest Your great name - to display your heart and your loving kindness. I covenant with You. I co-labor with You. I give You all that I am so that all that You are You are in me and through me. And Father I thank You for your amazing, unfailing love. I just enter into your love. I receive your love. And I am loved by You so that I can become that very thing. Father, I don't take this selfishly but I take it just the way that You gave it - to multiply it and manifest it to the world around me. And I thank You that the eyes that I have are the very eyes that You see with and behold with. And that the things that I see, I see from Your view. I thank You that there are not multiple views but one view. It's the view of truth. And it looks through love. And I thank you that you are causing me to see every situation of my life through Your love. I don't want to live apart from You - apart from Your wisdom - apart from Your ways. I don't want to live apart from your strength - your Spirit. Holy Spirit I welcome You. And I yield myself to you. I give myself to You and I say thank You for being a friend to me. And thank You for molding my heart and mind in such a way that I am just as much a friend to You. I want to be for You and not against You. I want to gather to You and never scatter. I want my mindset to be in total agreement with the mindset of God. I thank You that your ways are my ways. And I thank You that grace is making that so. I yield myself to You, Father. And I enter in and say all that is mine is yours. To my knowledge I don't hold anything back. I don't have rights. I don't hold a secret area of my life. There is not a closet door that isn't swung open and cleaned out. I yield myself to you so that You could effectually and effectively reveal yourself to me and through me. I'm not coming to You conditionally. I'm coming to You unconditionally, to love You the way that You have loved me. I'm not going to project on You. I'm not going to have a self-serving motive. I have a Christ-centered motive that wants to reveal Your glory and manifest your good name. I want my life to speak well of your name. I don't want to profane your name. I want people to know that You are good because they know me. God, I ask for this grace in my life and I yield myself willingly. It's not a heaven or hell issue. Why wouldn't I want You, You are so good. Thank you for teaching me who You are so that I can love You more and understand You and know You more. The more I see You, the more I want You. And I just thank You that we are one and nothing can change that because my heart is surrendered. Nothing can change that we are one because You won't change your mind and I am not changing mine. I thank You that You are my Father and I am your son. All that is mine, Lord is yours. I give myself freely and I thank You for receiving me and becoming one with me and living inside of me. Thank You. Amen.

10:00 - That's communion - We don't live by feelings. But that feels good doesn't it? That's communion with God - expressing your heart to Him. You can pray that way - live that way - wake up that way, with that consciousness - talk that way. He is right there. You're not talking to a God that is way out there. He is right here.

10:35 - Become love through communion - Communion is the answer for becoming love. The more that you see and learn about love in the Bible, the more you yield...

10:45 - It's not about academic knowledge - It's about knowing Him - Let me say this right out of the gate. We are not going to know Him apart from communing with Him. We are only going to know about Him. So as you start learning even about Him, without communion you run the risk of just gaining knowledge and being a know-it-all without a lot of being it all. You don't need to be a know-it-all. You'll just have all of the answers. You'll just quote all of the scriptures. Jesus wants it to become the reality of your life. So you actually run a risk if you are just pursuing Him for sheer knowledge. If you are reading your Bible without communion, without exchanging, it's just head knowledge. Where it becomes real is where you enter into that place of releasing faith. And grace comes and makes it your reality.

11:45 - Communion is the missing element in most Christians' lives - I am going to go over this again and again because it is the missing element in most Christians' lives. We read our Bibles, we pray, we do our devotions, we listen to Christian music, we read Christian stuff. But communing with Him is the biggest deal of all - letting Him be your Father - knowing that you are His child.

12:10 - Give yourself to commune with Him - So when you are reading about His love and He is touching your heart and it's impressing you, then be impressed enough to just stop what you are reading and just begin to commune with Him and exchange your heart and yield yourself. Could you hear how I was giving myself in prayer.

12:30 - The sacrament of communion can be like a wedding - It's the same as a marriage vow. It's where two become one in marriage. They give their lives to one another with earnest vows and words. They exchange themselves, one to another. And the minister says, "Do you take them as your own?" "I do." "I do." And two become one. It's not just a praise. There are times that we praise God. But there is a covenant expression of exchange and receiving. I receive all that You say. It's the "I do" of marriage. Aren't we the bride? So it's the exchange of marriage. It's all of God's covenants and vows through His faithfulness and His immutable, infallible word towards us and you can embrace them.

13:15 - That's the other way that I have taken communion. It's like a wedding service. The first time I did that was at New Life for Girls. Communion like a wedding service. Like a covenant vow. [Extended comparison to wedding service]

14:30 - You can take communion with or without the communion elements.

The Pure Motive of Love

14:40 - We were in John 15 last week. We never made it very far in terms of going to the scriptures I thought we would go to. But we accomplished a lot. But in John 15 we saw that there was a "greater love"...

15:00 - v.13 - Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. -

Greater love - Selfless love - Why is it greater love? It is beyond just sentiment and affection and human affection and emotion. It's at the cost of your life. Greater love is when your life is selfless. The highest form of love is selfless living. That doesn't mean that you have to physically die. That means that you live dead to yourself.

15:35 - Of course, Jesus physically died. But did He also live dead to Himself the whole time that He was on the earth? Did He live for the sake of others? So is that a greater love? So there is no way that that is an "I love you, Do you love me thing." Right? The love was unconditional. It was given, expressed and poured forth and how we receive it and respond and multiply it is now in our hands - stewardship. Do you see how selfless that is?

16:15 - Let love be your motive - So when you become that love, then your motive, even if you have to correct someone, it's never because you are frustrated, mad or offended. And you won't touch people wrong.

16:35 - Speaking to others from wrong motives - Without love - You can touch people right with truth and still touch them wrong from your heart. It happens all of the time. And you are just frustrated. You're just taking their life personal. And now you are just telling them a thing or two and trying to straighten them out. How does that work out? Not too good. You can be right and it still go all wrong. You can actually be right and manifest love and it still go all wrong. But you have to know where your heart is coming from and where you are living from or you are going to touch people in the flesh (through your ingenuity and effort). You are just going to need to be right in peoples' lives. You are just going to be aware of what is wrong. And you are going to need to give someone your opinion. Even if it is totally right and totally God, but it's coming from the wrong heart. That's called preaching at people - Bible bashing - and you will lose the value of the person. You are not even talking then to the person because of their value, you are talking because of the fault you have found. That's the way we touch one another because that's the way that we have been touched our whole lives. So the way that seems right to man has been predominant.

18:00 - Jesus didn't lash out despite being treated so unjustly - Isn't it amazing that Jesus didn't lash out in frustration and anger? Isn't it amazing that when Jesus hung on the cross He had the capacity, because of unconditional, selfless love... So even thought the people were killing Him, He knew their lives were worth living - even though they were killing Him unjustly - even though they were trying to preserve their own kingdom.

18:20 - Jesus on the cross is the picture of faith working through love - You talk about faith working through love - it's Jesus on the cross. It sure didn't look like anybody was getting it. Even His own people were on the run and went into hiding. It didn't look like He had a lot of fruit. And (yet) here we sit 2000 years later with hearts hungry for Him - because of what He did - and the gospel has captivated our hearts. I'm sure glad He did what He did.

19:00 - Participant's comment - Grew up Jewish. Christians pointing fingers at me, telling me how bad I was. That fear motivation stuff drove me away. Met some Christians who loved me for who I was.

19:35 - The goodness of God leads men to repentance. The reason it is that way is man is rooted in selfishness. He is rooted in pride. Pride hates to be told that it is proud. The worst thing to do is to tell them, "You are just so proud." You don't usually get the response, "Oh, I'm sorry. How do I change?" It's the goodness of God...

20:05 - Touching lives without grace or love - And then with our children, there is still the need to discipline. There still needs to be a parental voice but you have to make sure that you are not just touching people because you are frustrated and mad at how they're handling their life. It's not because you are personally mad at them or disappointed or failed expectations because then you are just going to touch them wrong. You are going to touch them with that motive even if what you are telling them is right. You are touching them from the wrong place, from the wrong heart. And there is not grace on that.

20:40 - Touching lives with truth and love - We want grace over our lives (over what we speak and how we touch). You want God with everything that you are doing. It's not just about throwing principles onto people. You might say, "Well, but it's truth that makes you free." Yeah, well but truth speaks in love (Eph. 4:15).

21:10 - "I love you for me" relationships - So you want to be very careful with that because a lot of times we are in relationships for our own sake - not because of the value of the people we have befriended. A lot of times relationships just accommodate us, bless us, fulfill us, meet certain needs in our lives...

21:25 - Sincerity but without seeing your need to become love results in confusion - You have to be careful that you are living from a place of love because if those things don't go well, you are not doing well. That's what happens to people all of the time. You can be a sincere person and be praying and reading but if you don't understand that your whole call is to be transformed into love and live from that place then it creates a paradox. It's saying one thing and sending all of the wrong messages. And then you'll think, "Well, why am I not free? And what's wrong with me? What's wrong with everybody else?" You'll just have a million frustrated questions. And ultimately people are like, "God why don't You change all of this?" He is trying - by sending us a crystal clear message through His Son.

22:05 - Meditating on the situations of Jesus' life - Don't ever forget that Jesus said, "Follow me." "Don't just learn about me. Follow me." So Jesus' life lived is the example that we follow. He is the living epistle of love. We look at His life on earth. We meditate on how He handled situations - where His heart must have been when people were doing and saying certain things.

22:30 - Like He committed Himself to no man because He knew what was in their hearts. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, - John 2:24. In other words, He didn't make Himself vulnerable to men. He stayed vulnerable to God and His love. He knew what was motivating man but that didn't repulse Him or turn Him from them, that made Him give His life for them. In other words, He didn't put His trust in flesh. He didn't find something that He needed so much that if He didn't get it He wouldn't be OK.

Unhealthy Dependence on the Affirmation of Man

23:00 - Depending on the affirmation of man - That's what we do. It's like a co-dependency thing. Trying to get security from others. No, you want to live towards others. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. - Eph. 3:19. That is getting grafted back in and connected to the vine. That's Adam in the garden, created in God's image, to love - not to be loved (of men). Who knows that it's cool if you are loved? It's nice if people love you. But you need to see why you are awesome and not just because people are showing you the time of day. Because after a while that is a sickness - an emotionally twisted place (depending on the affection of other people). If I needed you to thank me and appreciate me all of the time then that's not a good place. When you do appreciate me, while I am not needing that, then that's a the healthiest place. It's encouraging and edifying.

24:30 - Why is it good? Because I am living out of Him but every now and then it is just good to see fruit. Questions run through your mind, "Is there really multiplication? Is there really fruit to all of this seed?" Of course there is. But every once in a while that fruit pops up.

25:00 - Encouragement through a man - I know that it's not you but if you weren't in my life with the revelation you have, I would not be where I am. Now I didn't go into the church looking for that. But when he said that it was so encouraging. That's evidence of what I am saying that I believe. It was refreshing.

26:05 - But you don't want to get into the habit of saying, "God just send somebody to tell me that I'm worthy." If you are really listening, "I already did. His name is Jesus. Look to the cross and believe." "Yeah, but could you just send somebody in the flesh to affirm it." "I already did. His name is Jesus."

27:00 - Looking for prophetic affirmation - Week after week we are looking for prophetic affirmation. It's just insecurity. At what point are you going to be secure in your soul, have faith in God and listen to Holy Spirit. And then if somewhere along the way someone affirms you, that can be healthy. There can be a healthy and unhealthy side.

27:20 - How do you handle people who are continually drawing their vitality from you instead of directly from God? -

Counseling towards healthy identity - And away from unhealthy dependence - If you are sure that they are (continually) begging (affirmation) of you, I don't sweep that under the carpet. I speak directly about that. I am a real strong identity person. I say, "Listen, I am thankful that I can be in your life in this season. And I see so much good... But listen, I am concerned that you are drawing everything that you need from me. But there is a place for YOU to know Him and commune with Him." And if people will let me, I'll lead them into that place of communion - where that can be real - instead of just chatting about that. And I'll even get them involved.

28:20 - Challenge them out of unhealthy dependence - If that continues, I would constantly challenge them. Believe me, I have been through this - where people almost seem clingy - but I wouldn't say it that way because I don't run out of gas for people because God doesn't run out of gas. So people don't weary me.

28:50 - You may have thoughts to try to discourage you and turn you inward. "Are they ever going to get this?" Just refuse to do that because the Bible says that if you sow a seed even as small as a mustard seed, when it is sown it grows. So I affirm everything, God, I thank You for all the truth that I was able over these years to pour into them... Just decree faith.

29:15 - Give homework - But with the person individually, give them assignments - homework in the Lord. And if they don't respond to the homework, then I have to tell them, "Listen, you are becoming so dependent on our relationship, just gleaning from me, but your answer is the Lord. And I need you to go pursue the Lord and tell me what you are hearing. And when you do that, call me and tell me how it is. And until that time, I can't give you anything else." There are times that you have to be that straight with a person for THEIR sake.

29:50 - Every situation is unique - But you can't make a text book out of what I am saying. You have to use discernment in each situation. It just seems like with some people God will let you go the extra 2, 3, 4 miles with before you ever say something like that. And another person you might only go a mile and a half because He knows their history, their baggage. He knows everything. It's really a discernment thing. But the key is love. That you don't allow yourself to get frustrated with people and start saying, "They are never going to get it. They are just taking my time."

30:20 - I've actually been taught to protect myself from that. But I don't take that teaching to heart because I don't want to understand that kind of teaching.

30:35 - Participant's similar experience.

30:50 - Avoid enabling - You've done a lot of the things that I have done. [Speaking straight to people - Are you really a Christian?] "If I accommodate that, I'll enable you to live this way for the rest of your life - and miss the glory of who He is and who you are. And your life is so much more than that. I won't empower that." Do that with tears. God will let you cry because it's His heart.

Frustration isn't Love

31:40 - Frustration in counseling - You are just taking it personal and missing the value of who they are. You are looking through an eye that is giving you a right to be a lot of things in the flesh. Can you picture God frustrated? [Scenario where God is frustrated - sounds silly] You have to be careful. Once you get to the place where you are frustrated, your counsel is not even coming out of the place of the anointing of the love of God. Then it's all principle and knowledge. "You should be... You ought to be doing this." And nobody is really winning then because you lose the heart behind it all. You lose the love behind it all. Jesus' words are life. And they are spoken in love. And they are still speaking today.

34:30 - The Pharisees spoke a lot of things that were "right" from a totally wrong place and it became law - legalism. They were living from that law place.

34:40 - Speak the truth with love - The word of God is spirit and life and we want to speak it from love. Eph. 4:15 - speaking the truth in love.

Healthy Parenting from Love

34:50 - Don't parent from frustration - We are not preaching this love message to get you to turn your head from everything. And you actually have the responsibility of training your kids in the way that they should go. But the biggest challenge with parents is not doing it in frustration - not feeling violated and betrayed.

35:15 - Don't let your child become your identity - A lot of parents put major expectations on their kids. "I raised them up and they need to..." They make their kids their own kid dreams. And then if their child is not following through with that they are a wreck and unglued. And their whole identity is resting on how well the children are carrying the cross and running the race. And if the child is not doing good, they are not doing good. And they are totally rendered ineffective. I've seen situations where years go by and all they talk about is where their child isn't. "Please pray for my child." And they are rendered ineffective - bearing no fruit and just a mess because their whole identity is wrapped around their child.

36:05 - (You don't want your identity in your child..) And (yet) at the same time we want to love our children. And we want to pray and believe good things. But being driven by fear and having those kinds of twists in our lives will never answer the problem.

36:20 - This is a touchy area because people feel like you are throwing away love in the process (not being totally wrapped up in our kids lives for identity). No, were not. Actually that's where love is found. And it's stronger than all that. A lot of this is insecurity and identity crisis.

36:35 - Mothers run the risk of being exceedingly vulnerable to what I am talking about (finding your identity in your kids). And dad's run the risk of letting their hearts get hard to what I am talking about. And there is no perfect place in the middle. It's not that we judge one another in this. It's that you are the steward of your own heart and you know what motivates you and where you are coming from. So you always have to look into your own heart and don't judge another in these things. Know where you are living from and why. Know the "why" (motive) behind what you are doing.

37:15 - You can even get religious in justifying the why behind your life - just because what you are saying is right. And everything you are saying is "right." And you have it all justified in your mind. And if you really look, it's coming from the wrong places.

Love is more than Language

37:40 - Our lives reveal whether we know God - The barometer of you knowing God and you loving God is your love life towards other people. It's impossible to know Him (without loving others). Why? Because to know Him is to become one with Him. And He manifests Himself to you and through you. It doesn't mean that you're not saved. It doesn't mean that you are not seeking God. Like the apostle John writes - If you say that you know Him, you are going to have fervent love for one another. - 1 John 2:3-5. If you say that you love Him then there is no way that you can hate your brother. We don't bear witness of knowing Him, our lives bear witness of knowing Him. So people see your life and go, "Wow, he knows the Lord." So don't get a t-shirt that says, "I know Him." It's even like "I love you."...

38:45 - Love is more than saying "I love you" - "I love you" - We get really shallow with those words. Those are the three most misused, most selfishly used, most wrongly motivated used words... They are the most incredible words on the planet but they get trashed and diminished all of the time. Men use those words for self. Husbands will live a certain way (selfish) and then come home on Valentine's Day or on an anniversary or like me... The days that I worked and I wasn't home and knew that I wasn't going to bed when my wife was going to bed, I was just me. On the nights that I was off, I was extra sweet, "I love you." "Anything I can do for you?" It was bad. I know that you can't picture me that way but I used to be lost. Self-serving - "I love you."

39:50 - Rather than saying it so much we probably ought to live it. And if you live it, you wouldn't have to say it so much. Because people would just know that you love them.

40:00 - A lot of times it's a self-affirmation. A lot of times it's an expression of insecurity. "I love you..." You just want to be affirmed. You just want to know that you are loved back. It's a total self-centered phrase most of the time. We feel like we need to say it all of the time.

40:30 - "In Jesus' name" - It's kind of like the name of Jesus. You can use the name of Jesus so loosely that you lose the power and honor and effect and integrity of His name. You just throw it around, "In Jesus' name." And all of the sudden it's just Christian language instead of the name above every name. And you are hiding behind the language because it makes you feel more Christian.

41:10 - Love should be seen though our lives - I shouldn't need to continually say, "I love you." The people around us, they should KNOW our love. They will know that we are Christians by our love. By this all men will know that you are my disciples... Why? Because of your love. Not because you are walking around with posters "We love you." but because they see our love.

41:30 - Let it be seen and spoken - So saying I love you is OK. I'm not saying that it is wrong. There are times that you really do need to wrap your arms around someone and tell them that you love them. "Look at me. I love you." But what I am saying is let's make sure that we live our love and rarely will you need to say that to affirm because it's already known. Then when you say it, it actually carries the weight.

It's All about Love

42:15 - We were in John 15 but I want to back up and read something from John 13.

42:26 - v.34 - A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. -

➡ 42:35 - Love is more than the supernatural - Do you see where we are heading in this school - talking about this kind of stuff? This is the stuff that makes you or breaks you. This is the stuff that determines how you are really doing. You can be seeing people healed and supernatural stuff - you want the kingdom released that way in your life - but you can be seeing that and ride the wave of that and all of these other things (identity, relationship, love) not be your reality. And that's actually the wellspring that you live from.

43:00 - Like you could see healings and go to bed at night and not be free - not even like who you are down inside and not even like the people around you. And all of the sudden you are just forced into riding the wave of the supernatural that God's doing. And you are still a prisoner to your own self and to others. That's why it says that you can have all of these things but if you don't have love, you've got nothing - 1 Cor. 13:1+. It's all about love because everything flows from love. It's the healthiest place we can live from.

43:35 - The supernatural follows love - And honestly, if love becomes our focus, the supernatural will follow love. It's power that works through love. It will flow through love. I'm not downplaying the miracles that we want to see more of - their need and necessity. I just saying that the foundation of love is huge.

43:50 - We're complete in His love - You've heard me say this a lot, And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. - Eph. 3:19. The word fullness literally means - a house with no empty rooms - a town with no empty houses. I love that definition. Sounds like the power of unity there. Sounds like they know us by our love. We're all complete in Him.

44:20 - "Yeah, but I need you brother." Well we do in the sense of fulfilling the will of God and the work of Christ. And no man is an island unto himself. But where your identity is concerned, you need to see this first so that your (perspective / eye) is crystal clear and healthy.

44:35 - v.34 - A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. -

Jesus showed us what real love is - Now follow me - Jesus doesn't just preach love at you. He defines it by His life. His life is the word of God revealed. It's the power of God. It's not word only. It's power. So Jesus came in the flesh... Watch what He says...That you love one another, AS I HAVE LOVED YOU. "What you see motivating Me - what you see as so attractive in My life - the reason you left everything to follow Me - is because you know that I love you... So become love to all men." He didn't just say love everybody. But "as I have loved you." That's the same as saying, "Follow me." So He wants us to follow His life and define love. What does love look like? Jesus in the flesh. His motives, the way He responded to criticism, the way that He stayed pure in the delivery of His messages - the people bickering and debating and somehow that didn't stop the miracles and power. Why? Because it doesn't change love.

46:30 - Love doesn't change - But Love changes people - People can't change true love. Love changes people. So when circumstances are starting to change you, then you know that what is motivating you is not the love that we are talking about. Could you change Jesus? No, but if He hangs around long enough and you give Him place, He is going to change you. Sooner or later He is going to break something down, change something, melt something.

47:10 - Participant's realization that God didn't change His attitude towards her even though her attitude towards Him had taken a dive. His attitude toward her became all the more, "I love you!" Sooner or later He is going to hit home.

47:30 - There is no amount of where you are at that determines who He is. Who He is is settled. And His whole purpose is to bring you into that place. So man can't change God but God can surely transform man.

47:45 - Man changed when he ate from the tree - God didn't change - And that is the part that gotten lost and missed when man sinned and fell (God's love being our unchangeable foundation?). Because before man ate from the tree that was his reality. But when he did something for himself... "You eat from the tree, you'll be God." When he did something for himself - when he thought that there was something outside of God, when he thought there was something for him outside of who He is - suggesting that there is more - he could be his own God - he is lacking something... There are all kinds of implications there. But regardless of what you define that to be, he did something for himself apart from truth, to get something that was outside of who God is and who God created him to be. The day that you do that is the day that you surely die. Because you subvert and forfeit your true identity. You step outside of the kingdom of God and grace. You become a total perversity. Everything 180'ed when man ate from the tree.

48:55 - So our temptation and tendency is to keep living out of the way that seems right to man and that thing that we inherited through the fall that we were born in and raised in, we tend to revert back to and be motivated by because that has been our understanding - our way and not His.

49:15 - We need to be restored back to love - So we are submitting to THE Way. Our Christian life is a journey to be transformed back to THE Way and to grow up into Him in all things and to grow in love and to understand the depth, the height, the width, the length, the breadth of the love - to know His love. Why? Because that is grafted back in. That's hooked back in. That's the love of the Father becoming our reality. Isn't that what it's all about.

49:50 - Comment from Pastor Don W. on becoming love. - v.35-36 - By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. -

God has made amazing provisions for our restoration back to love to really happen - You can't follow me NOW. Not ready yet. Too self serving. But you will be ready. I'm going to lay my life down. And Holy Spirit is going to come. You're not ready yet but there is a time coming when you will be ready. That's why we are in class.

51:35 - The full expression of love is seen in His laying down His life - That's exactly why we are in class. And Jesus was about to lay down His life and seal the deal on the the expression of love. So He is telling them ahead of time - Love one another as I have loved you. And you are going to see this love more clearly because Jesus is going to lay down His life.

51:50 - The joy of continually being taught in the midst of communion with God - Here is the other exciting part. You can be saved for many years and yet as you meditate on these things these thoughts open up and they become alive to you and you start looking through the screen of that truth, then the more that you read, the more things open up. You can be saved for many, many years and be excited about the new truths that are opening up - new truths come alive in you. That's the beauty of communing with God. It's always fresh. There is always something more - something deeper. We are always growing up into Him in all things. That's the joy.

53:10 - That's what separates it from religious tradition - "Oh, I ought to read my Bible because that's what Christians do. And I probably ought to pray." No, you are communing with God and as you do, He reveals Himself to you. And He takes you into the depths of His heart and what He is saying. When you hear it is simple but it is profound. But it was right there all of the time. Without communing with Him, without seeking Him, these things are not revealed. I just think it's cool.

53:40 - To understand love - Look to the life of Jesus - So yes, it's a new commandment - A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. - John 13:34. So He defines the love in agreement with His life lived - the expression of His life lived. So we can know love by knowing Him and His life. So love is not just a sentimental human phrase. Love is Jesus' life lived and what motivated Him.

54:10 - v.35 - By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. -

By your love ALL men will know that you are my disciples - By this ALL men... That means that whether people yield to it or not - even if they contest, scoff and mock because of where their heart is - He says ALL will know - down inside every man. Your love life will hold every man accountable to truth. Think about it. Doesn't the Bible say that every man is without excuse? God in His amazing mercy is seeing to it by the work of Holy Spirit that no man is just ignorant, blind and deceived through his whole journey of life. In some way He is touching, illuminating, giving people an opportunity to see and change and be transformed. He is saying look, if we will walk in love, ALL will know - ALL will know that you are my disciples.

55:00 - Now some might say that they are not ready for that. They might come to church. They might still live for sin. But down in their heart they will know what love is because they have seen your life. And their is an accountability in that. And Holy Spirit is working. Don't you think that He's not. Why? Because the Bible says that ALL will know.

Intercession & Spiritual Warfare

55:20 - Love is the greatest form of intercession - We put all of our emphasis on intercession and praying for the world. Jesus said - I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. - John 17:9. I'm not praying for the world, I'm praying for these. Why? Because if we become love it's the greatest form of intercession and impact ever. Until we become love even our intercession is coming from all kinds of places. He wants us to see and be formed, perfected and become love. Why? It's the greatest form of intercession because if we become love then ALL will know.

55:55 - Intercession? - Plan A is to become love - Is there a truth to intercession? Is there a power? Yes. The Spirit leads in things. I think that what we call intercession can be a "plan B" - as oppose to becoming love and just living the truth. And all of the sudden we are hiding behind intercession. You can pray against all of the works of darkness and feel like you are doing something spiritual and then leave and not be perfected in love and leave and actually live the attributes of the very thing that you are praying against. Now how weird is that?

56:25 - Spiritual warfare? - Plan A is to become love - Jesus said, The ruler of this world comes and has nothing in Me - John 14:30. So when He was praying was He praying for the world and the troubles and breaking down demon forces and coming against all of these principalities and stuff? I don't see any evidence that He was. One of the greatest ways to bind and break down and destroy the camp of the enemy is to walk in the goodness of God, in love, in mercy, in peace, in forgiveness. I don't have any recollection of demons submitting to Jesus... Jesus didn't even have to confront them. They just knelt before Him on several occasions. When He said, "Be quiet and come out" they came out. But He wasn't looking for devils. He was just walking in love and pursuing people and they were popping out of the woodwork.

57:35 - We've made becoming love Plan B - So sometimes these Christian things that we do that makes them of great importance and becoming love becomes rhetorical and we're like, "Of course, becoming love." It just becomes a phrase without understanding. He says, "Love one another AS I HAVE loved you." Turn to Eph. 4 and we'll confirm this in another scripture...

Receive Forgiveness - Become Forgiveness

58:15 - Eph. 4 - v.32 - And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. -

Receive forgiveness and become forgiveness - Remember, you forgive because you are forgiven. So it's important that you receive your forgiveness and receive the mercy of God so that you can show mercy. You receive mercy and you give mercy. You don't give mercy to get mercy. You give mercy because you have received mercy. You don't forgive so that you are forgiven. That's legalistic. How can you even do that? That's not even of the heart. No, my heart is transformed through being forgiven. I've been forgiven much and now I love much. How couldn't I forgive you? He has forgiven me of everything.

59:00 - You don't forgive to be forgiven - The other way is backwards. We teach it out of what Jesus said in the gospels and it sounds like He is saying forgive so that you will be forgiven. No, you forgive because you are forgiven.

59:20 - If you are not forgiving, have you really accepted His forgiveness? - And if I am not walking in forgiveness (it begs the question) am I really at peace with God? Do I really have a righteous consciousness? Or do I have inward hidden issues and now I can't see others (the way that God sees them) because I don't see myself the way that God sees me.

59:45 - Hath forgiven - past tense - He has already forgiven. So ought you not receive that?

59:50 - Ephesians 5 - v.1 - Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; -

Why He forgives - Why did He forgive you? Because He is perfect, unfailing agape love. He is unconditionally loving you in spite of where you have been and what you have done because He knows who you are - what your value is. He knows your destiny. He won't change His mind about the truth of how He created you. He knows every man from that place. So if somebody is living obstinate and a million miles from that place is it true that they are created in God's image? So why do we lose sight of that? Is it still true that they have available to them, through mercy, the covenant and promises, and can enter into sonship? We lose sight of that. We take their life personal. We judge their life. And we cut them short and do to them what God never did to us. And we build on and focus on and only touch them because of what is wrong and never go after what is right. This stuff is not talked about in the church much.

1:01:10 - Innocence - Don't grow up out of it, grow up in Him and become innocent- Therefore be imitators of God as dear children - So children say, "Yes, daddy." When you see the word "children" you can always think of innocence. There is innocence in children. As you get more sophisticated... Sophisticated means the lack of innocence. So don't be in a hurry to be so sophisticated. Stay like children. Don't grow up so fast in a wrong way. If you grow up in Him you will stay like kids.

Motives

1:02:25 - v.2 - And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. -

Ready to follow Him - Love has been definitively expressed at the cross - As Christ also has loved us - Now Paul is in that place that Pastor Don just pointed out (at 49:50 - the place of being ready to follow Him). When He was talking to Peter, Peter wasn't there yet. Jesus hadn't gone to the cross. Love wasn't totally fulfilled and expressed yet. Jesus hadn't gone that far yet to where the disciples could get the message and see what He was saying 2 chapters later - Greater love has no man than this, to lay down his life for his friends - John 15:13.

1:02:55 - So He is manifesting love to the full degree and at some point giving them the opportunity to be transformed into that love. That's why He said what Pastor Don said, "Right now you can't go. You are still in love with yourself. In fact you think that you love me. But you really just need me. You don't want me to go because of what I do for you and how my life has affected you. To you I'm the best thing that has ever happened to you." So you can actually covet good things for your own sake.

1:03:20 - Get behind me Satan - Still thinking like a man - selfishly - Not ready to follow Him - In Mt. 16:23 , when Jesus rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me Satan! You have in mind the things of man and not the things of God," do you think that it was a good thing? No, it was obvious, Jesus was adjusting Peter's thought quickly and pretty strongly too. He was saying that the mindset that thinks of man instead of God is from the devil. Peter was only saying it because, "No, I don't want to lose you now. You are the best thing that ever happened to us. No, over my dead body." It sounds noble - committed. No, he is only saying it for himself. He is still completely under sin and self-centered. But Jesus was saying, "No, where I am going you cannot come. You haven't been born again. You are not transformed. You are still living for you. You are still motivated by self."

1:04:40 - Intercede for others - not on the basis of how awesome they are to you and what they can give to you.

1:05:00 - Peter cutting off Malcus' ear - Selfish motive - Do you think Peter cut off Malcus' ear because of love? He is still thinking like a man. So he wasn't ready yet. You know that His motive was wrong because when Peter had a chance to take a stand for Him, Peter denied him. Why? Because now, Jesus is already in the hands of the persecutors. He's already been bound and being beaten. He's already captured. So Peter can't keep Jesus for himself any more. So why not deny even knowing Him because I am still preserving myself. So since I can't have Him for myself how about I deny Him to protect myself. Do you hear how extreme selfishness is?

1:05:40 - A twisted motive - Can look noble on the outside - So one minute it looks like Peter is ready to lay down his life for him and he is whipping out his sword. No, he is in a desperate place saying, "You aren't taking the best thing that ever happened to me. I don't want to live without you." It sounds like love but it's selfish. And now Peter has lost Him. So now it is, "If I can't have You for me, then I will deny You for me." "Now that I can't protect me with You, I'll protect me with out you. So that I can get out of here alive."

1:06:50 - It's the subtlety of selfishness. On the outside it looks noble. It looks like love.

1:07:00 - Praying to go to the mission field - Twisted motive but noble looking - It sounded noble and surrendered. "So, you are ready to lay down your life for the hungry?" I knew I was being corrected. But He showed me that I was being motivated by frustration and discouragement with the church. I was judging men - believing that they were only in the gospel for themselves. Nobody really loves God. So take me somewhere where they are serious about you. It was self-righteous, deception and sin. Any work that would have been done would have reflected back on the religious deadbeats at home in America. Without Him fathering me, I would have fallen right into that. It all looks good and surrendered but the why behind it was twisted - false motivation.

1:09:00 - Twisted motives - Frustration - When the "why" behind what you are doing is twisted, it can lead to your own destruction. It's a false motivation. If that doesn't get aligned it can lead to your own destruction. And all of the sudden you build kingdoms and souls get saved and it is all a projection on what your heart is mad at. And you have lost love life. And now you are giving extra attention hear to project there. There is stuff like that that goes on in ministry a lot. And it all looks good on the outside. Some of that you might be able to find in Mt. 7. "Haven't we done this and this and this in your name?" "You haven't even known me. You don't even live from my heart. Love is bankrupt in you. Your heart's actually very hard towards men. You are only doing what you are doing because you are frustrated with my own people." You don't want that to be the case. That's where I was heading (praying to go to the mission field out of frustration).

1:10:05 - Aren't a lot of our motivations just because of ignorance or what we've been taught? - We're called to love. We're called to follow just as Jesus loved. So if you and I don't preach in a way to expose these things then we reserve the right to let frustration, disappointment, discouragement be the motivating factors of our life and the motivation to be His love.

1:10:40 - So yes, ignorance. Why? Because the way that seems right to man is filtered (mixed) all into our belief system. And a lot of us are just doing outward, religious, spiritual things to feel spiritual at the cost of truth that makes men free. It's not producing life. It's at the cost of stuff. In that wrong motive, the success of your ministry could be the downfall and demise of your own heart. And all of the sudden you are found proud. And if you would ever really get into the presence of God, you would probably pop. So do you understand how twisted the "why" in your life can be?

1:11:40 - First sermon - Motives - Barely saved in the sense of time. "Dan you will never rise above your motive. What's motivating you is your ceiling. And the why behind your life is as high as you will go." The first thing He ever taught me.

1:12:10 - The "why" behind your life - Why do you do the things that you do? Why do you say what you say? Why do you go where you go? Why do you pursue what you pursue? Even if it's "in the Lord" or looking like it, why do you do it? Why do you go to that gathering? The "why" behind your life needs to be clear. I'm not talking about getting critical and nit-picky and insecure in that thought. What I'm saying is, there is a why behind our lives.

1:12:40 - You could run the risk, in what I do, you could run the risk that the "why" could become so weird that it could become many things. And the gifting still works and the anointing is still flows because the gifts are without repentance and He is trying to minister to His people. But it could be at the cost of ministry.

1:12:55 - Riding a gift - Do you know how many ministers ride their gift and then the "why" gets twisted. And now they are just seen by men - approved by men - appreciated by men - honored by men. It can just get weird.

1:13:20 - The "why" behind your life needs to stay squeaky clean. That's why in this school, out of the gate, we talk about communion with God and knowing Him - that eternal life is knowing Him. I don't just want to know about Him. I want to know Him. If I just know about Him, I could find myself ignorant in many ways as to who He is and the way that He functions. But if I know Him, then who He is becomes my reality. Then I will live from His heart.

Conviction

➡ 1:13:55 - Points of conviction - He convicts you because He loves you - Those are the scriptures that I am trying to get to but there are many things to talk about along the way - to stay sharp. If we talk about things like this in class then they will become convicting points in our lives. And if we fall into the same old mindset, then there is a truth that has been sown and it takes away the place of ignorance. Ignorant means not knowing. But we're not ignorant any more. So even if we don't remember, the word is alive and Holy Spirit is your best friend. So He will be sure that you remember. So you won't be able to leave a class like this and live your life wantonly and not take heed because there are things that will trigger in you - that will bring you to truth - give you the opportunity of truth. Why? Because He loves you.

1:14:40 - I used to be so mad at conviction when I was younger...

1:14:50 - Mad at conviction - Young adulthood - Youth group days - Kids liked me. I had my school friends and them my church friends. I had 2 identities. I was horrible. When I got married and finally bailed on the church thing - it was just the Christian thing to do - go to church... I was tired of going to church. I had nonstop conviction in my life for years. It would not go away. I used to get so mad at it. "Would you leave me alone. I wish I didn't know what I know."

1:15:40 - Slamming Bible against the wall - I screamed at my Bible, "I hate you. I wish I didn't know what you said. You never let me do what I want to do." Isn't it amazing that He didn't give up on me. He still kept convicting. Forgive him Father, He doesn't know what he is doing. Got drunk that night. I figured that I taught God a lesson. The next day He was still convicting me.

1:17:00 - Conviction at work - Saying things to fit in with the guys and be more approved. I got attention that way. It's all self-centered. Jumping from rack to rack. Practical joke - dropping a case of stuff to scare others. Humor always at the cost of someone else. Mocking a Christian. I would attack the gospel that he was pursuing to live. But I'm born again. That guy died.

1:19:45 - He convicts us because He loves us - There is a why behind your life. The reason that I am telling you all of this... That whole time God was speaking to me and I know down in my heart it's all wrong. Down in my heart I knew that it was all wrong. Now what was that? Was that the agitating Spirit of the Lord? No, that was God every time He was doing that saying, "I love you. If I didn't love you, you would be so blind that you would walk off the end of the earth by sheer instinct. You would walk into darkness. But I love you. There's another way - a higher way. You are more than this Dan." So He never threw me away. Do you see why I love Him so much? Because I know how lost I was and I understand that I am totally forgiven for all of these things.

1:20:40 - That's not who I am - That man died - That's why I can talk about these things. Because I am not them. That man died. So I can look back, through the blood, and learn from them and actually appreciate the love of God through that whole process. Because He never cut me off. He never said, "Enough!" He never drew a line and said, "OK, that's it. You are having it your way."

1:21:00 - Be careful with the legalism in this area - e.g. - My Spirit is not always striving with man. No, the very next day He was whispering conviction into my heart. I thought it was a bad thing. Now I see it was the love of the Father.

Motives (cont.)

1:21:35 - v.2 - And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. -

Putting expectations on others - Leads to frustration, disappointment etc - As Christ has loved us... Then he gives definition to that means. And given himself for us... Do you know how I preach that you don't live for me, I live for you. That's a shocking thought for people because we have so much expectation on each other. We have reserved the right to be hurt and disappointed by one another. And it proves that we don't understand love at all. It proves that people are alive for us instead of us alive for them. If you can find something different in the life of Jesus please come and instruct me. All that I see is this.

1:22:25 - I don't see Jesus being frustrated, disappointed and angry and getting His 12 together and saying, "Man, these bunch of jerks. I'm not even sure why I came. I don't know if they will ever get it right. Well, let's try some more. Maybe this message will take."

1:22:40 - Ministering from frustration - There are people who pastor like that. I've met them. "I don't know if they will ever get it." One pastor told me, "Ministry would be awesome if it weren't for the people." They were seeing the people for where they weren't instead of where God is taking them. So then he is ministering from the place of where people aren't instead of where they are called. Instead of leading them there, he has made a wall - through his perspective. That would be a "why" right? Do you see how easy it is to cross a line and become a detriment because of your "why"? So a pastor built on the things that were not happening - the dreams that weren't being fulfilled. If he built on the things that weren't happening, he might end up beating you instead of leading and guiding you. He would just project on you and preach from the motive of where you are not instead of where you are called. But if he gets up there and sees the best in you, he'll preach where you are called and give you something to shoot for - something to aim at. Do you see the difference? Isn't that what the life of Jesus does? It doesn't just expose where we are not but it also give us the answer of where we are called - where we are going. He didn't just get in your face and show you, "Man, you are a loser." No, He said, "Follow me." He led the way. He shows the way. That's the way our lives ought to be if we are in love.

➡ 1:25:00 - So these are things that love is and love isn't. I'm just painting both sides. The life of Jesus reveals the truth of what love looks like. What you and I have experienced and been motivated by our whole lives is usually what love is not because of the way that seems right to man - self-centered - even the whole Peter thought that we covered.

1:25:15 - - v.2 - And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. - So He gave Himself. And look what it is to God. It's an offering and sacrifice to God - a sweet smelling aroma.

1:26:00 - Right motives in prayer - Participant's comment - having to do with motives in prayer. Being careful about selfishness in prayer. Pray for healing with the motive of His purposes.

1:26:55 - Wrong motives in prayer - Not for those other reasons - that's actually a side track that sounds right to man. Like people go into the hospital, "Pray and this whole hospital will see your glory. And all of these people will know that you are God." And it sounds like if that were strictly the case, everyone would leap right up. No, it's because God loves that person - intimately loves that person at the cost of His Son. But all of these other things seem right to a man. They seem like right motives.

1:27:25 - Wrong motive - Man's righteousness, man's works - I've heard people pray, "They are so good. They are the last person that deserves to be sick. God they are so faithful. If they aren't healed I don't know who would be healed." So then it is actually man's works, man's righteousness instead of His righteousness. All these things have a twist to them. And you might be amazed how they binding the release of the power of God instead of releasing.

1:27:45 - Wrong motive driving prayer - Human sentiment - Some of it is human sentiment - self-serving motives moved by human sentiment. You look at a young girl and it's not hard to have empathy. It's not hard to go, "Oh, my God." But you've got to shake out of that and see the real reason that the gospel came and the real reason Jesus died and the restoration of all things because of His love for all people.

1:28:15 - Right motive driving prayer - Participant's comment continued - God was showing me that her life was for Him. It's not for her family. It's not even for her. It's for Him. I was taught to pray the Lord's prayer...Your will be done.

1:28:30 - The Lord's prayer - Teaches right perspective - When you say the Lord's prayer you are talking about the prayer that He told us to pray. Because John 17 is a good perspective to look at her life through. John 17 is actually the Lord's prayer. What we call the Lord's prayer is actually the prayer He showed us to pray. That's our prayer. The Lord's prayer is John 17, but I know what everybody means when they say the Lord's prayer.

1:29:00 - But when I hear "the Lord's prayer" I think of John 17 right away. He said - the glory that You gave I have given to them - that we are one as He is one - Him in us and God in Him. See that is the destiny for (this little girl with cancer that the participant had been praying for). It's for Him. It's for His name's sake. It's for His glory revealed to her and through her. It's His love for her.

1:29:15 - Participant's comment continued - It's not even for her healing for His glory. It's her life is His.

1:29:25 - To be rightly defined and fulfilled within the purposes of God. And sometimes we put all of the emphasis on the miracle and God healing.

The Gospel brings Transformation

1:29:35 - "Dry drunks" - Did you ever hear the term "a dry drunk"? It's kind of like just not drinking any more but nothing else has changed. And we think that just not drinking is the answer. "Hey they haven't had a drink in 20 years." Yes, but they still have the mentality and characteristics of a drunk. They just don't drink.

1:30:00 - Behavior is not the root issue - Transformation is the issue - Actually a lot of these programs like AA and NA have gone so into that direction by just opening up the door to "whatever works for you pal as long as you are not using." Not using is not the issue. Being transformed - the eye you live through is the issue - the perspective of your life - the motivation of your life - (is the issue). A lot of those dysfunctions are the reason that people are driven to do what they do. It's identity crisis. It's esteem crisis.

1:30:30 - Participant's comment - For years, everyday, they say "Hi, my name is... and I'm an alcoholic."

1:30:35 - "Forgiven sinners" - And then they defend the dysfunction but nothing changes from the eye that they live through - to the point where it becomes such a stronghold that if you try to speak new creation reality you are in la-la land. And "you need to face reality." Just like they use the phrase "dry drunk," we don't want to be "forgiven sinners." So you can preach the gospel like they are doing AA now. You can just be "forgiven sinners."

1:31:00 - "Not perfect, just forgiven" - "I'm a sinner, saved by grace" - I don't like the Christian t-shirt, by the way, that says, "Not perfect. Just forgiven." That is not a good t-shirt. It tells the world that I can have a confession and miss the mark. It puts no emphasis on a holy life. I'm not talking legalistically. It sends a wrong message of what the gospel is. It doesn't reveal or pursue a transformed life. It's actually, "I'm a sinner, saved by grace."

1:31:50 - We don't need a world of sinners saved by grace. We need righteous sons and daughters that bear the fruit of righteousness and proclaim His name. "I'm not perfect, just forgiven" is not at all the gospel. Scrape that bumper sticker off your car today. That is a misrepresentation of the glorious gospel of Christ. It's actually man proclaiming a grace but holding onto the weakness. It's man grabbing the grace to remain the same.

1:32:40 - The serenity prayer - While I am on a roll... That serenity prayer - I would like you to take that off of your wall too. - "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference." - It's twisting the truth of sovereignty. It's not a gospel phrase (prayer). It's a sentimental, sounds spiritual on the outside but actually denies the finished work of Christ and the power of God. It doesn't even reveal who we are - "...nothing shall be impossible for you" - Mt. 17:20. "All things are possible with God" - Mt. 19:26 and "all things are possible to him who believes" - Mark 9:23. And all of the sudden we are saying thing that they can't change. Now I know that there are some things that you can't change like the second coming. But people read that prayer and then they look at their dying loved one and then they say, "Hey, this is meant to be. There is nothing that I can do about it. And I need to embrace it and trust God to get me through it." And you put away your sword and you take off your armor. And most people come through beat up and battle wounded. So get rid of that prayer too.

1:34:50 - Just things that make people feel spiritual - It makes people feel spiritual. It's kind of like laying a Bible out on your fireplace mantle. Read it and become it. [Hugging the Bible as you sleep.]

1:35:20 - Love of sleeping with lots of pillows.

1:35:45 - Some will hug the Bible as they sleep but they don't open it and read it. What is that doing? You are destroyed for the lack of knowledge. You can hold your Bible on your chest and not understand and be crushed. God might bail you out a few times just because of the purity of the gesture. But at some point, read and understand. In all of your getting get understanding - Prov. 2.

1:36:55 - BREAK

1:37:05 - We have leftover motivations, etc. of the old man, is the answer just communing with God? -

How does change happen? - Fill your heart with truth & commune with God - And filling your heart with truth. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. - John 8:31-32. What you are saying is true. A lot of the things are not evil. They are not willful. It's not just because you are holding onto yourself. A lot of times there is an ignorance in our lives and things need to be exposed by the light.

1:37:35 - So the more that you commune with God, the more that you sow the truth of God's word into your heart, the more these things will take their rightful appearance and be seen for what they really are. So how else do we renew our mind - renew the spirit of our mind? Listen to that phrase - "spirit of our mind" - the inmost being - the core functioning place - the wellspring of your mind. You want that renewed - a new foundation - a new source of wisdom called the wisdom of God.

1:38:00 - Participant's comment - sanctified by the washing of the water of the word - That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, - Eph. 5:26.

1:38:15 - Renewed mind - Washed by the water of the word - That's it. So you continue in the word, you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. So you are washed by the water of the word. So you are clean because of the word I have spoken - Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. - John 15:3. So all of the sudden we hear THE way and it exposes every other way. We hear THE truth and everything else takes it's rightful place.

1:38:35 - It's a process - Don't be discouraged - And that's a growing process. That's why we preach - don't be condemned - don't be guilty and don't be ashamed in your life because I don't think we woke up today with the agenda to miss God. So why are we so hard on ourselves and quick to say, "I'm not getting this. I'll never get this. I'm overwhelmed." That is not a productive mindset. That's actually self-centered and self-serving. It's not about that. So die already and then you can live. It will be easier.

1:39:15 - We were born into Adam - But we've been ignorant to a lot of these things. We've been so ingrained with a certain way our whole lives. We were born into Adam. We were born into the fall of man. So everything that man became after the fall, we were born into. The Bible even says that we were formed in iniquity in our mother's womb - Ps. 51:5. Thank God that we can get born again and go through the womb of God and get it right.

1:39:50 - Born into a sinful nature - Kids will need to be born again - We were born into a sinful nature. That's why you hear me say that you don't have to teach children how to sin, to be willful, to be selfish. It's in their nature. Good, God-fearing mothers will come to me when they have little children and they feel like they are the biggest failure mother on the planet because their child had an attitude or their child said, "No" or was mouthy or slapped at them. They will be crying, "I don't know what I am doing wrong." And they are the best mothers on the planet. I'll tell them that their child is going to need to be born again. It's in their nature. But the key is you keep revealing Christ so that conviction rises in their heart. And one day they will look and see Christ so in mommy that they say, "I want to be like you mommy." "What you mean is that you want to be like Jesus." Stay setting that example - the way that they should go by your lifestyle. Then your child, who is becoming more aware, will see their need for a Savior. That's how it happens for kids.

1:40:40 - Not just, "Well, we are going to church because it's Sunday." You are actually teaching your kids religion. And you are just as frustrated as the people who don't go to church. And after a while the kids will wonder what the big deal is about going to church.

1:41:30 - Advice for 2 young men with kids - What's the best advice you could give us? Don't ever teach your kids religion. Don't teach them that going to church is their Christian relationship with God by living anything less than Christ in their sight. If you miss it. Be humble and admit. I'm learning too.

1:43:10 - Don't teach kids religion - You don't just want to mandate church. You want to reveal Christ. Religion is a wretched thing and it's in a lot of families because we've got to go to church and it's chaos getting there. There is all kinds of strife on the way and the spouses are clashing. And now the whole purpose of what they are doing is boiled down to religion. It's just a religious affair. And we're at church because that's what families do if they are Christian.

1:43:40 - I'd rather you not even go to church and just get things right. Going to church can take the place of dealing with situations. As long as we're going to church everything is OK even when we know deep down that everything is not OK. I'm not saying don't go to church. I'm saying that not addressing that situation is producing a terrible thing.

1:44:00 - Growing up, going to church - That is what happened in my life. Going to church. But seeing the stuff at home. I no longer listened to mom. Made me go to church. I bailed out of church. Back to John 13 and then we are going to look at other scriptures.

It's All about Love (cont.)

1:45:50 - John 13 - v.35 - By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. - The same way that I am laying down my life to love you, love one another.

1:46:00 - He loved despite our weakness - Peter's denial didn't stop His love - He loved us that way in the midst of our weakness, failures and faults. He knew his guys were going to to desert him. He knew Peter would deny Him. Did He lose the value of Peter's life by knowing that Peter was going to deny Him? No. Did He cut Peter off? No. Did He prophesy doom for His life or did He speak good into his life right in the face of that? "When you return, strengthen your brethren." So He kept the door wide open, letting him know, "I love you Peter. You are about to go through some real soulical stuff. I just want you to know that I love you." He said, "Satan has come to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed."

1:47:00 - Intercession - "But I have prayed." We could learn a lot from that one. That means in a priestly role. And we are priests and kings to God. So when our hearts become love we have such an access to our priestly role through the mediation of Jesus to pray on behalf of others because the motive is love. Faith working though love.

1:47:30 - Motivation for intercession - Seeing value and love - Here is satan requesting to sift Peter like wheat - satan is coming with an intent to get Peter. Jesus says, "But I have prayed." So Jesus sees what is coming and knowing Peter's value and destiny and loving Peter... (He prays.)

Meditating in the Life of Jesus - The Rich Young Ruler

1:47:45 - Jesus looked at the rich, young ruler and loved him - Even the rich young ruler... He said, "So what am I lacking?" It says Jesus looked at him and He loved him - Mark 10:21. That's what the Bible says about the rich young ruler when he asked, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said keep these commandants. And he said, "I have done these from my youth." And it said that Jesus looked at him and loved him. He had no need to correct him. He had no need to be right in his life. He had no need to set him straight and give him a piece of His mind. He was sincerely answering a question - knowing in His heart that this young man wasn't even in a place to yield to the answer. Be He still gave him the answer to give him something to yield to. And He said, "Surely it's hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom. In fact it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven." "So who can be saved?" "Well, with man it is impossible but with God all things are possible."

1:48:55 - Setting men straight is not loving them - But Jesus looked at him and He loved him. And truth spoke in love. You don't know. We might see the rich young ruler in eternity. Because Jesus, when He spoke, He loved Him. He didn't bash him. He did say, "You are in such covetousness and idolatry. You self-righteous thing. You act like you fulfilled the law when your heart is more in love with money than with God. You don't even want God. Eternal life? No, you want your money. You need to get saved and get yourself right." That's how we could treat people and sound like we have scripture to back up our language. Set men straight - you are not here to set men straight. You are here to love people.

1:49:40 - So Jesus looked at him and loved him and said, "There is one thing you're lacking." Get the Visual Bible - Matthew of that. It's good to see all of those scenes acted out. You can catch the heart of God in it. [Description of the scene]

Meditating in the Life of Jesus - The Pharisees

1:50:05 - Jesus loves them despite the way they approach Him - And the Pharisees come and they are like... He is doing all of these miracles and they come and say, "Why don't your disciples wash their hands before they eat?" instead of "WOW, God is moving!" They are nit-picking - finding fault. Now it would be easy in the mind of man to say, "You bunch of religious people! God is moving and you care about some thing like washing your hands. You guys are just critical, fault-finding... You need to get a grip and get your lives straight. You guys are lost. I don't even think you are saved." There comes a point where it is so obvious where men are coming from it would be just as easy to hammer them than see them and love them.

1:50:50 - He's not mad at them - He loves them - [Description of the scene in the Visual Bible - Matthew] The scene reveals His love. As they are leaving with their backs turned His eyes fill with tears because He loves them. And the whole sense of the scene is that He is not mad at the Pharisees - not the way we know mad. Does He hold them accountable? Yes. At one point He really does. Does He love them? Yes - with His life. That's what we've got to get. Or we will just live in rightness and wrongness - he said, she said - tit for tat - eye for eye. And we will proclaim Christianity and be under some kind of law thing and not even realize it.

It's All about Love (cont.)

1:52:10 - Back to John 13 - v.35 - By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. - We will love one another as He loved us. And by this All will know. All will come to the knowledge that you are my disciples because of the way that you live - your love for one another. Not because you preach on a street corner - either in a right way or a wrong way. It's your love for one another that will make men really know. And then pastor Don shared that reference...

1:52:45 - v.36 - Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. -

1:52:55 - v.37 - Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. -

Laying down your life - Not at an altar call but in the secret place - Now we have said that at altar calls a lot. How many of us have responded to lay it all down altar calls. I'm not saying that that is wrong. But that is not where you lay it all down. Where you lay it all down is in the secret place where nobody else is looking. Where the rubber meets the road is your life lived.

1:53:40 - So your communion with God daily - and I'm not talking about an appointment with God - keeping your heart in that place of knowing Him and walking through your life is how you really lay it down. Holy Spirit's friendship and fellowship, the convictions of God, the light in your heart exposing the old way...

1:54:00 - Being restore back to innocence - I had a good conversation at the break about the knowledge of good and evil and restoring us back to our innocence - back to the beginning. But don't we always have the knowledge of good and evil? Yes. It's been exposed through the fall. But the purpose of God is that it's seen clearly for what it is. And the more we grow up into Him in all things the more that this thing is seen for what it is. And we don't follow it any more. It's become strange (stranger's voice).

1:54:25 - We're back in the garden before sin - That's a blessing. We know that we're His. We hear His voice and obey. So we're in the garden before sin - as if we had never eaten from the tree but the tree is still there. And the voice is still whispering.

Drawing Back

1:54:40 - Drawing back - God wants to fulfill His purpose through us but He needs a surrendered life - Paul writes in 1 Cor. 10:11 that we have these as an admonition - and he writes all about the children of Israel. They were all under the same cloud. They all ate the same manna. And yet with many of them God was not well pleased. That means that He couldn't work His pleasure through them. It doesn't mean that He was mad at them with his arms crossed. It says if we believe and go forward to the saving of our soul... Hebrew 10 says that if we back up it's to our destruction and there is no pleasure in God in that. In other words, He can't fulfill His good pleasure through an unsurrendered, unsubmitted life - Heb. 10:39. That doesn't mean that He is sitting there going, "Oh, you bunch of dummies."

1:55:40 - Making God in our image - We think of God from the perspective of our experience and training - When we think of someone not being well pleased we think of disdain, discouragement and frustration. And we make God like we've lived. We put the emotion that we've had towards each other on God and we see God as seeing us through those eyes.

1:56:00 - He's not wanting to cut you off - When the Bible says that "with them He wasn't well pleased," it doesn't mean that He personally wants to make the choice of cutting them off. He would have never sent His Son and opened the door to everlasting life if that was true. He'd just say, "Measure up or you are out." You can't help but to see the mercy of God and the goodness of God through the cross.

Seeing God through Human Experience

1:56:20 - Seeing God through human experience - We have to be very careful that we don't make God in our image - the image that we have been groomed in our whole lives. We were just so trained in a mindset. We have to be very careful that we don't roll that over onto God.

1:56:35 - Don't compare a natural father to the heavenly Father - Relate to God by the Son - That's why I believe that it is so tragic in the church that we are using natural reality to weigh spiritual truth in that whole "father thing" that I get on sometimes - comparing a natural father to receiving the love of the Father. We make that so rational. We're like making God in our image all of the time. And God wants to lift us up into His (image). So we try to relate to God through natural things. And if we can't relate through natural things, then, "Well, I can't relate to God." That's not true. You relate to God through His Son. And the "I love you" of God is through His Son - not the fact that you were loved by a daddy in former days.

1:57:25 - You can't even let that make sense to you. "Well, I never had the love of a father. So it's hard for me to receive the love of God." I don't even encourage the body to let that make sense to them. See, I'm on a tangent now. That stuff is deceptive. Because you are actually bringing God into our reality. And you are not lifting up into His by faith.

1:57:40 - So you are actually giving yourself a reason to stay in the flesh. And if it's not your daddy it will be something else because you're viewing through the flesh. But you find God through Jesus' life through the Spirit. It's not a tangent. It's a heart cry. That (issue) robs a lot of people.

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1:58:25 - v.37 - Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. - Peter was absolutely sincere. It's like when God said to me, "Oh, so you will lay down your life for the hungry?" "Yeah." So will you lay your life down for my sake?

1:58:55 - v.38 - Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice. - "But let not your hearts be troubled..." Then He goes on and keeps teaching. And makes sure that they know that the intent of the Father is that we are all together - all one. If you read on... You can make that all about heaven if you want.

Heaven in Us - Here and Now - Oneness

1:59:30 - John 14 - v.1 - Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. -

This passage is about the here and now - Not just after we die - We strictly turn that into heaven and when we die. And we all have streets and houses there. We have our mansions. But we are going to miss the depth and truth of what He is saying here if we are not careful.

2:00:20 - Preparing a place for you - He is going to prepare a place for us. Well, what's He doing? And then He is going to come again. He says later in the chapter that He is not leaving us as orphans. I am sending another. He is coming in my place. Why? Because Jesus is going to mediate on behalf of men. He is going to the Father to put His blood on the mercy seat. Why? Because in my Father's house there are many mansions.

2:00:40 - Making us fit for habitation - He is transforming our lives. He is making us fit to dwell in. He says it in John 14 in the rest of the chapter. He say, "My father and I are coming to live in you."

2:00:55 - I wonder if we become the mansions through the blood of Jesus? I wonder if we were run down, poverty stricken house where no one would want to live. And now God redeemed us and said, "I want to live there." This is a beautiful neighborhood. Because in my house there are many mansions. I'm not leaving and not coming back. I'm leaving and I am coming back. Think with me the depth of what He is saying.

2:01:30 - Am I saying that He is not talking at all about heaven? I'm not really saying that. There's a lot of truth in scriptures. I don't even like to think heaven here.

2:01:45 - In my Father's house are many mansions. Did He ever see us apart from Him? From the beginning we were with Him - predestined before the foundation of the world.

2:01:55 - His work after the resurrection - Making us fit for indwelling - He said to Mary, "Don't cling to me. I haven't ascended yet to the Father but go tell my brethren that I am going to My God and YOUR God, My Father and YOUR Father" - John 20:17. Then He comes back and says, "Peace to you" - John 20:21. What did He do? He prepared something. Through His blood He made it possible for God, the Holy Spirit to come and live inside of us to where we could now be the temple of God. You and I are the dwelling place of the Lord.

2:02:30 - We are the temple of the Lord - Out of us flows a river of living water - The river flows from the threshold of the temple and brings life wherever it flows - Ezekiel 47:1-9. Out of your belly flows rivers of living water - John 7:38. Who is the temple? We are.

2:02:40 - It's not all about heaven some day - It's about what's available now - We are always picturing heavenly things. And we teach on heavenly things (i.e. heaven after we die). Heaven intrigues us. And people teach on visions and the heavenly, "I saw the temple and the crystal sea." And we make it so impersonal. We miss that God is building us stone by stone into a spiritual house - the Father's house - the body of Christ - where there are many mansions.

2:03:05 - I know that you have probably not heard this preached and it probably sounds like false doctrine. We read these verses and think, "I have a place in heaven." No, heaven has a place in you because He prepared a place - through His blood and His mediation at the right hand of God. And you are fit for a King.

2:03:45 - See these things personally - If you are defining these scriptures without seeing the Person or the communion or the oneness, you probably ought to re-define. If you are just praying a prayer and some day you've got a home way off (in heaven)... No, you've got a home now in the Father's house and you are actually the house He lives in. Doesn't that seem weird? In my Father's house - It says that He is building up a spiritual house, spiritual stone upon stone upon stone - all being built up into the fullness of who He is on the earth - the body of Christ - a spiritual house - 1 Peter 2:5.

2:04:25 - We've turned it into mansions. I'm cool if we have our own mansions. I'm not saying that we're not going to have them. I'm not trying to burst that bubble. You can believe what you want there. What I'm saying is don't limit the revelation when He is talking about you personally.

2:04:45 - What the that indwelling looks like - He is coming to live and dwell in you. If you keep reading the 14th chapter, He is talks about if we believe, we will do what He does - John 14:12. We have access to the Father. And nothing will be impossible. When you've seen me, you've seen the Father. But I'm in you and He's in Me and we are one together. And He goes on and the Holy Spirit is coming. He is the Helper. The world can't see Him but you know Him and you've seen Him. And He's just like me. And He goes on to say that the world will see Me no longer but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live. He's prophesying. He's letting them know that it's not going to be long before I will be shedding my blood. I'm going to take it to the mercy seat, apply it and come back and fill you with my Spirit because I have removed your sin - your sinful identity. And once again you will be sons and daughter and God will build a spiritual house and dwell in you and walk among you. It's so personal.

2:05:50 - We are His home - That's personal - He says if you love you will keep my commandments and you will be loved by my Father and I will reveal myself to you. Judas (not Iscariot) said, "How will you manifest yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus said, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make OUR HOME with him" - John 14:23. We are not waiting to go to heaven and live in some mansion. God has prepared a place. He has made you and I worth living in. He has made us right in the sight of God to come and not live in a place made with hands but in us by the Spirit - the house of God.

2:06:50 - Why wouldn't you want to see that. That doesn't mean that you have to throw away your little mansion picture you had for heaven. Why is that so inspiring and important when you can be a house fit for the King now?

2:07:15 - The stable was different when Jesus was there - Isn't it amazing that there was no room at the inn so He goes to a lowly stable. And He is born in a manger - swaddling clothes - a despised place - nobody would sleep there. But once He was there, people came, kings came, shepherds from the fields afar. When He is there everything changes.

2:07:40 - He has changed us - We are fit for a King - So before Christ, we are not too attractive - only what man can heap upon himself. But once Christ comes the whole idea is that, "Oh my goodness we are a house fit for the King to dwell in." We're the temple of the Lord.

2:07:55 - Those Ezekiel revelation pictures you ought to see for the life that now is.

2:08:00 - What the indwelling and out flowing looks like - A river flowing out of your belly - This He spake of the Spirit who had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified - John 7:39. But Jesus is glorified now. And the Holy Spirit is given now. So the temple is us and the river is Him. It brings life wherever it flows. There are trees all along its banks. And the trees bring healing to the nations. I wonder who all of this is talking about are there trees growing in the Spirit or are we those trees? He that meditates day and night shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of living water bearing its fruit in season and its leaf not withering. - Ps. 1:2-3. Trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He might be glorified - Is. 61:3.

2:08:50 - I wonder who the trees are? I wonder who the temple is? I wonder what the river is? I wonder if it some mystical picture of heaven? I wonder if... Go proclaim that the kingdom of God is here - Mt. 10:7. I wonder if I am not saved to go to heaven? I wonder if I am saved for heaven to come to me? I wonder if He has prepared a place? And I wonder if in my Father's house there are many mansions?

2:09:30 - We are His home - He is our Home - You don't preach this stuff much because people think it's heresy. We are taught our whole life to think about these things a certain way. But if you read in context, He is making us His home and He is making Him our Home. He is making two, one. We don't live apart. We are not waiting for THAT day. Today is the day. Now is the time. Your salvation has come. That is so clear.

2:10:05 - Re: John 14:2 - "to prepare a place for you" - Does this refer to a secret place for us to enter into now? - It all has to do with relationship, communion, oneness and union with God. Exactly. Because this would be too impersonal. And it would just be you setting your sights on something way out here to try to get through now when it is so much more than that. In other words, "Well, you know at least I have a place waiting in heaven." "Well, I don't have anything here but at least I've got a place in heaven." "I don't have many friends here but at least I'll have some friends there." And they paint this mystical, spiritual picture and live like hell now - insecure and struggling - "Can't catch a break. But at least then I'll have a break." No, He is talking about union with Him now.

2:11:00 - Contentment - Godliness with contentment is great gain - 1 Tim. 6:6. The Bible talks about knowing to be content in whatever situation I'm in. Why? Because this truth that we are preaching can't change. I have access to Him.

2:11:20 - Moses in the cleft - A picture of union with God - That Moses and the cleft in the rock thing - that cleft is Christ. Moses is tucked in the secret place of that rock and God's glory passes by. That's a NT - new covenant description of union with God through Jesus Christ.

2:11:45 - OT interpretation - The OT points to Christ - If your interpretation of that OT stuff isn't Christ, then keep looking and seeking and asking and thinking. Be careful that you don't just get mystical. Because this thing (OT) is for the life that now is. Paul writes that it's for the life that now is. Now is the day.

2:12:00 - The kingdom is here - Now is the time. It's not about then. It's about now. Go now, saying the kingdom of God is at hand. Where is it? It's here. It's in us. You're looking at it. We look so good in Christ.

2:12:40 - The enemy doesn't want us seeing who we are or bearing the fruit of that truth - Do you see why satan is trying to keep us in identity crisis? Keep us fighting over things? Keep us self-conscious and self-centered? Because we look so good in Christ. And he is trying to keep us from seeing that so that we don't bear the fruit of that truth. And then it is all about us still.

2:13:00 - Participant's comment - about 1 John 5:7-8 - Three that bear record in heaven: the Father, the word and the Holy Spirit and these three are one. Three that bear witness on the earth: the Spirit, the water and the blood - agree in one.

2:13:30 - Created to be one with Him - Absolutely - very powerful. This whole thing (the Bible) is written to show that we've all become one - we've all been created to be one. It's always been about being one. And the only reason Jesus came is to reestablish and reaffirm that truth so that we could enjoy and experience that which we were created for - communion and union with deity - God almighty.

2:14:00 - We've turned it into Christian church, church attendance... It's all about union with Him. Christianity is union with God. And He has made us meet-fit and ready for the master's use. We're a house fit for the King.

2:14:50 - His desire is to live in you no matter what the cost. You wouldn't by a house no matter what the cost. He must see value in the house. It's like God has put His foot down, "I will live in you no matter what the cost." And by this you will see your value and what you were created to be. And by this you will know the truth about your lives and why you even exist because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

2:15:25 - Participant's comment - the temple seen in Ezekiel with literal dimensions.

2:15:40 - One with Him - We are actually seated with Christ in heavenly places. That is not just a scriptural, positional thing. It's a place to be experienced. So the OT is all leading to what is to come. They had promises that were never fulfilled. The bottom line is you were created to be one with Him - you in Him and Him in you. You are His house and He is yours. You live in one another. That is not some doctrinal position. That is communion relationship that is there to be experienced.

2:17:10 - Holy Spirit is here to make that oneness "real" - Why else would the Helper come? If being one with Him was just some doctrine, He would have just sent the doctrine. But He sent the Helper to commune, to have fellowship to cause these things to become our reality. Remember how we talked about Holy Spirit and the friend that He is?

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2:17:50 - 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. -

It's not doing to be - That sounds legalistic. It sounds like do to be. In other words, if you love me, keep my commandments. So what people do is try to keep His commandment to prove that they love Him or validate that they love Him. That is so not what He is saying.

2:18:00 - We are captivated by His first love - Our lives respond in His will - We love Him because He first loved us. He is saying, "When you see me clearly - when you have true communion - and you are really walking in a love relationship with me, you will keep my commandments. It will just be the spontaneous result of your life because of your love for me. The more that you see me, the more you will manifest that truth through your life." You are not trying to keep His commandments. His commandments are not burdensome. He's talking about love relationship.

2:18:45 - We're in love - You're not trying to keep His commandments. You are not even trying to love Him. You are seeing His first love and being swept away and overtaken by the reality of His nature - that no one has ever loved you this way - touched you in this wisdom - that was this stable, this trustworthy and this amazing in your life. And the more you take heed to Him and the more you take time with this gospel to let it hit your life personally and let Holy Spirit touch you with that grace, the more amazing He is. It's like the intimate songs that are out right now - The more I seek you the more that I find you. The more I find you, the more I love you. The more I love you, the more I seek you.

2:20:00 - Communing through music and lyrics. Take your time. You don't need to sing. Just convey the truth of the song to the Father as it plays. Holy Spirit touches you in that truth and etches and molds you.

2:20:34 - Participant's comment about - The More I Seek You. The gem that I found, the jeweler cannot identify it. I thought someone had lost a diamond.

2:20:55 - He says, "You are my jewel" - That was God saying, "You are my jewel. And you are made of something that no one can put their finger on - because you are made of me and the substance is Christ." So no one can mark you as just flesh. You are a child of the living God. I just think that when He does that stuff their is a prophetic significance. And I believe there is a personal statement. I really believe that God is saying to you, "I value you. You're a gem to me. You're a pearl of great price. And no one can define you because I truly know who you are."

2:21:40 - Finding a gem - Participant finds gem on the day the class meditated in Eph. 1. in sanctuary. Found it underneath him.

2:22:40 - Meditating through a song - Grace Flows Down - Amazing Love - but don't let it be a mystery. Receive it. Receive His love. Be His boy or girl.

2:26:30 - In closing release your faith in that that He made a house fit for a King. You need to see yourself that way. His grace will mold and shape you into that reality. He's the One that prepared the place. It's His blood that washes away your sin. It's His grace that forgave you. You are saved by grace through faith. You have to believe that your life is worth living. Your life is worth living in Him. His life is certainly worth living in us.

2:27:00 - So Father, we just thank you right now for your goodness. Thank you for the word of the Lord. We are washed and cleansed by the water of the word. We thank you that truth makes us free. We continue in you and we thank you Holy Spirit that you continue to expose and shine the light of truth in our lives and remove every ignorance, every voice that's not you, every wisdom that's not God. And we just thank you for making all things new. You make all things new. And we thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen.