HCSKL 2010 Notes >
Day 25
The Sacrament of Communion
0:25 - The meaning behind communion - I just want to do this from the heart. This represents covenant. The reality that He really came. It just keeps your eyes and your heart fixed on Him. The gospel is not an Easter story. It's not just a philosophy. And it's certainly not a fairy tale. Jesus was a man. He was God but He came as a man in the flesh and took on the likeness of sinful flesh and He gave His body and what a message in that. What a message through the gospel... through the cross, of our value - God's heart towards us - our potential - our destiny. Think about that. It's a whole lot more than just a good gesture and forgiving your sins. It identifies us and locates us where God is concerned.
1:05 - The fact that He would go to the extreme of taking on flesh and shedding His blood and dying so that we could live is pretty intimate. It's a powerful love thought. So I want you to think about that in your heart - that there was a body given for you that you might have life. But not just anybody - a perfect, sinless, spotless lamb. And He came to make us that way (spotless). And because He came we are seen that way in the eyes of the Father. Why? Because...
1:45 - The gospel is meant to change our hearts - That message is designed to change our hearts. Even in imperfection, our hearts have been purified. Even in the capacity to fail or do something wrong our hearts are changed. You live from your heart. The pure in heart... (shall see God) - Mt 5:8.
2:10 - The gospel is designed to change your heart. It's designed to make you care about what you didn't care about before. It's designed to make you think twice. It's designed to shift things in you. The gospel of God leads us to change our hearts and minds.
2:25 - Purity and perfection - So it makes you perfect in the sense that He died and represented you and God sees you through that blood. But even if you feel like you're not perfect in your life, I'll tell you what most of us have been made. We've been made pure in our hearts.
2:45 - Some people look at their lives and focus on what needs to change in an area but forget to realize how much they care about that. And the gospel made it that way. I just love the fact that the gospel is designed to make our hearts pure.
3:00 - So as you receive this (sacrament of communion) this morning do it in a personal way. Just get personal and realize that... You died to locate me - to identify me - to give me purpose - to give me life. You really do love me. My life is worth your blood to you. It wasn't a foolish thing to you to do. It was surely a statement of my identity.
3:35 - The Body - So just take that bread right now...
3:40 - Father, we just thank you right now for the body that was given. You made yourself of no reputation, Jesus. You came in the likeness of flesh. You became a bond servant to the point of death - even death on a cross. And we thank you so much. You were a model and example of life, to follow. You're the living epistle of love. You're the Son of God and you were given to make us sons and daughters. We're not taking this lightly. This is more than a prayer to go to heaven. We thank you that your Spirit has come to live on the inside of us because you have made all things new. You've changed us forever.
4:15 - The Blood - Get that cup ready... This is the blood of the new covenant. It was shed for us. It's not just any blood. It's not the blood of bulls or goats. It's not an atonement (in the sense that) you don't have to come back every year to make a sacrifice. Jesus took His own blood into the sanctuary and once for all He applied His blood to the mercy seat of heaven. And through the blood of a man - yet the Son of God - God sees every man that would come by faith. That would come knowing that in his own strength, in his own works, in his own abilities that he doesn't measure up to God's nature and character. But by the infilling of the Spirit, by humility, by laying down our life and God's grace coming upon us, we can sure fulfill God's will. Don't believe that you can't fulfill God's will. The Spirit of God will empower us. Grace will make it happen. For those that receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness will reign as kings in life - Rom. 5:17.
5:15 - We thank you that you are the King of kings - that you have restored us back to sonship - back to the rightful place. And we receive this right now - as receiving the power of the blood and everything that the blood speaks. The blood speaks so many things over our lives. Thank you for forgiveness. Thank you for an everlasting covenant. Thank you for an unfailing love.
5:40 - Just receive the blood right now and begin to thank Him in your heart - what it means to you personally. Thank you. We receive covenant today. We enter in and we thank you for the covenant through the blood and body of your son Jesus. Thank you.
6:05 - The giving of your life - One to another - One more thought and you can enter into this if you want to... When you gave your body and your blood, you revealed that all that was yours you gave for us. You didn't come to be served but that you might serve. And then you chose to forever sit at the right hand of God and mediate on behalf of men. What an amazing love. And in return, we say, in the light of that exchange - that covenant, we give all that we are - the best that we understand. We lay our lives. Teach us what it means to lay down our lives. Holy Spirit teach us what it means to live selfless. But the best we understand, we say all that is ours is yours. And we say I do receive your end of the covenant and your sacrifice and your kind gesture of love. And we do respond back with all that we are as best we understand. And Holy Spirit we are asking you to help us to live that way. Help us understand what it means to be selfless. Thank you, thank you - in Jesus' name.
7:20 - That's a good concept of communion that we don't talk about a whole lot. A lot of times it's just the body and the blood and the forgiveness of sin and healing. But it's also the expression of the giving of your life one to another.
Grace touches Faith
➡ 7:40 - I've been trying to get to 1 John and I can't make it there... I was just going there and I am not going to make it. Scripture is bombarding me.
7:55 - Go to 2 Corinthians 2 in light of what we just shared.
8:00 - Participant testimony - To obnoxious behaving woman at work - I love you - out of her heart. It was God. It released the participant from intimidation by the obnoxious behaving woman.
9:30 - Surrendering to God's way of doing things is faith - And grace touches that faith - (With regard to that testimony) I want to just encourage you. If you just say yes to the truth. If you just accept the truth as truth and understand that in most cases, when you in and of yourself have no ability to live the truth in your own strength but you want to... And that's not a cop out - that's not an excuse...
9:50 - The Christian life is impossible apart from God - If you read the beatitudes - the sermon on the mount, it's impossible to live the Christian life apart from grace. It just is. The Christian life is impossible because it's the nature of God in men. It takes Holy Spirit.
10:05 - Grace touches faith - It's God working through us - But if you just say yes and surrender the "right" to feel like everybody else towards that lady - you surrender the right to be right by just pointing out her wrong - you surrender all that stuff that we have called "normal" - you'd be amazed how grace will touch that expression of faith. The pure in heart shall see God - Mt. 5:8. Why? Because there is a faith in that and it releases grace. And then all of the sudden (it's not even your own strength or ingenuity). She said, "It didn't even feel like it was me. It just came out." That's God working in us and through us to reveal Christ.
God Reality
10:55 - When you have an experience like that, it actually does a lot for you personally - between you and God. Because you realize that grace is effectually working in my life and God, this is a big deal. And you really do love me.
11:15 - God reality - The night Dan was saved - There are times in my life where I had God reality. I knew God was real. Like, right after I was saved. "God you're real." If you had seen me that night you would have thought that I needed 911 and a straight jacket. I was living in darkness. I said I believe in God but I had no God reality. It's was just a rhetorical, religious phrase (I believe in God). I would have even told you that Jesus died on the cross for the remission of my sin, etc. But I had no God reality.
11:45 - And now the Lord comes and says, "You don't even know if God is real." And I think it's my mind. Now I realize that it was God. Then I yielded to Him. I cried. I repented. I give myself to Him. And He makes Himself real to me all at once - God reality. So I was standing at work with zero God reality. I was consumed with myself - and had nothing to be consumed with. I was quite appalled at the condition of my heart and I kept crying saying, "My life is pitiful."
12:15 - The night I got saved - Godly sorrow and repentance - I loved that process. I was so appalled. There was such a grace on that. I was so aware of how wretched I was and how pitiful my life was. That's actually a good thing, for a moment, to see who you are apart from Him. That's what shifts gears and threw me into repentance.
12:35 - You have to be careful when somebody is in that process that you are not too quick to (comfort), "Oh, it's OK. God loves you." There was a good window for me to realize and look inside my heart and see that there was nothing to do with God there at all. That was only for a moment though. You don't hang out there all day. But it was important for me to go, "Oh my God, my life is so pitiful." Because I saw that apart from Him my life was pitiful.
13:05 - On the day that I got saved I was only sin conscious for a moment. But from that moment I have been a son in my heart. So I never look back to the sin-identity, sin-consciousness. I never fought with sin because "I'm a son now. You're real." You still walk through things. God still grows you up but its never again about sin, it's about (being a) son.
13:30 - Sin-conscious for a moment - But from then on a son - He showed me that last year in Tennessee during worship. He made me real blubbery and I went through a lot of Kleenexes. And that was an amazing experience.
13:40 - God reality - But God wasn't real and then all of the sudden He was real. It's important to have those experiences. You have faith. You believe you're in faith. And you have those experiences and now you really believe. And later you might see that experience in greater light and then you really, really believe.
14:10 - The night I got saved - He's real - There was a time when I knew that God was real like the night I got saved. When my eyes got opened, I went crazy - jumping, yelling, laughing. You would have thought that I had cracked. I was talking to the ceiling, jumping, spinning, running down the isle going, "Oh my God, you're real." I was screaming. I didn't know what to do. I was just flipped out and that went on for quite a while. I remember thinking that I needed to keep working. And every 5 minutes I would have another fit.
15:10 - Four months later - He's real - I had another experience and all I kept saying was "Oh my goodness you are so real." Well I already knew that He was real. But now He was real.
15:25 - And then a year and a half later - He's real - I had this other experience and I was undone. I was crying almost all afternoon. We had home group that night and I remember being on my knees just crying and preaching and saying, "Don't you get it guy. I just realized today how really real God is." And they were like, "I think you already knew that He was real." And I would say, "No, you don't get it. He's really real." And they were like, "You already knew that. That's why we come to your house." But to me it was almost as if I had just met Him. It was something fresh.
16:10 - God uses experiences to mark your journey - So the importance of communion and growing in God and releasing faith and continuing in the faith is so that you encounter those experiences. I believe that God will mark the trail of your journey that way - (sudden realizations of His reality). It's not like you are riding a wave. You are walking in a reality of that illumination. It's not just that you are riding a momentum. You're actually walking in a reality of illumination of awakening. But all of the sudden it gets brighter somewhere along and you can see the trail mark. If I look back in my Christian walk, the trail is marked with greater illumination. And I believe that it is that "faith to faith" thing - (For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.) - Rom. 1:17.
16:55 - So it's very important when you have those experiences and to continue in faith and not be discouraged and not draw back and not say "whatever." When you do that you are robbing yourself of where grace wants to take you. You know that two steps forward and a couple of steps back thing - who has ever done well with that? You just feel like. You feel like you are planing out (boating reference - as good as it gets? leveling off). But really there is no such thing as planing out. If you feel like you have planed out you will find that you are not even where you were - in time.
We're the Expression of His Son - The Fragrance of Christ
➡ 17:35 - I want to show you this because of that testimony (8:00) and because we just received communion and "all that is mine is yours and all that is yours is mine." We're going to try to get to 1 John because I want to talk about love a little more. But I want you to see this.
17:50 - 2 Corinthians 2 - v.14 - Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. -
Self-centered interpretation - Leads us in triumph - We read these things as victorious. We can actually interpret these things as self pertaining. You can read the scriptures and interpret them for yourself. A lot of people will have a scripture like this on their refrigerator because they are thinking, "He always gives me the victory. He always causes me to triumph. But you really have to read what he is saying. We think of triumph as promotions and jobs and breakthroughs. Well I'll tell you what triumph really is...
18:35 - Triumph in Christ - Being in the world but not of it - Triumph in Christ is when you are in the world but not of the world. [Referring back to participant testimony @8:00] What triumph is is when you have a lady acting like that and everybody is being intimidated and moved and the grace of God is built in your life in such a way where (that kind of behavior) has no authority over you. There is nothing there to move you. There is nothing in you pertaining to that. And there is a triumph in that - when nobody can find a place of peace and you have peace.
19:05 - Interpreting scripture through self-centeredness - A lot of times we read these scriptures self-pertaining. "Well, God always causes us to triumph." But then we look at our life and feel like we are not winning. You saw these promises but you interpreted them as self-pertaining - my circumstances - my needs being met. We preach the gospel that way all of the time. We always make it about us receiving something out here (better circumstances?) from God. But the gospel is all about us receiving something here (in the heart?) from God so that our expression is Jesus.
19:49 - Interpreting through self-centeredness leads to misunderstanding and disappointment - When you put on your fridge that, "He always causes us to triumph..." you have to really understand why you put it on there. It's not just so that everything goes your way because what people do is they challenge those scriptures in their minds and think, "Man, it doesn't seem that way." Because they are misunderstanding what He is saying. He goes right into this...
20:05 - v.14 - We diffuse the fragrance of His knowledge everywhere - Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour (aroma) of his knowledge by us in every place. - And through us - Through us - Man, you can't miss this. This is God's intention. This is God's will and your created value. Through us - not some mysterious release of His presence - not just a mist - not some impersonal thing out here - but through you. Disfuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. Where? Everywhere.
20:45 - Triumph - Not influenced by the world - But moved by the Spirit - When you are in the world and there is all kinds of stuff going on around you and you are diffusing the fragrance of His knowledge, that's a place of triumph. Because you're not being influenced by the world around you, you're being moved by the Spirit of God in you. It's a simple principle but it's huge in our lives and I want you to see what triumph means.
21:10 - v.15 - We are the expression and revelation of Christ to the world - For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: - For we are - Look who we are. We are to God the fragrance of Christ. You are the one that releases the knowledge of Him in the earth. To God, you are the go to person. To God you are the message of Christ to the saved and the unsaved. You're the expression of Christ.
21:45 - It's not just God waking up in the morning, looking down over the earth, drawing in a deep breath and saying, "Ahh, my kids." That's not what he's talking about. To God, we are the expression and revelation of Christ to the world.
22:15 - Let's go to Eph. 1 real quick...
22:35 - You've got to take this personally. These kinds of thoughts are what keep the gospel from just becoming a doctrine that you believe. Because it's a relationship that you have with Him.
22:45 - Doctrine must not take the place of relationship - Do you know how easy it is to just have a doctrine that you believe in? And then you push your doctrine. You sit at a lunch table and people don't believe the way that you believe and your whole conversation is just trying to voice what you believe in the face of what they believe. And you can do that and actually have no expression of Christ and get frustrated and just be mad that they don't believe what you believe. Or you can get proud and push your belief and try to be right at the table. And all of the sudden (sniff, sniff) you can smell burning flesh or something. It doesn't smell like Jesus.
23:20 - Your doctrine can take the place of knowing Him and relationship. And you can just let your identity rest in the things that you know.
23:30 - We are the body of Christ - A body expresses what's inside - So here is God telling us that He always causes us to triumph and that through us He diffuses His knowledge in every place. So we are absolutely the body of Christ. We've got to let those things get our attention. It's not a doctrine. We are absolutely the body of Christ. A body expresses the thing inside. God put flesh on love. God put flesh on His own nature. He made man. He gave us flesh and made us in His likeness. Jesus took on flesh so that He could express and model the truth.
24:10 - You live from the inside out. You speak from the heart. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks - Luke 6:45. Clean the inside of the cup, the outside will be clean - Mt. 23:26. You know a man by his fruit - Mt. 7:16. You KNOW a man - the inside - by the life that he is living. So the body expresses what's on the inside.
24:45 - We're the expression of His Son - We're the body of Christ. The Bible calls us that. And through us He diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge everywhere. We are to God, the expression of His Son. To God that is who we are.
25:05 - It's like a coach calling someone into the game. It's the go-to guy. He's calling in the relief pitcher. We're the body of Christ to the world. We're the expression of Christ. It's a big deal.
25:25 - That's so much bigger than going to heaven. That's so much bigger than praying a prayer in a self-serving way. That's so much bigger than getting right with God so you feel good. It's more than just about you being OK.
26:25 - Ephesians 1 - I'm sure that you guys have heard this expressed before...
26:40 - v. 11 - In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: - So we are predestined according to the purpose of God. You are so the choice of God. You've got to get intimate with this. ➡ That's why I took you to Ephesians 1 when we did our meditating in the word thing.
27:05 - v.12 - We're given the privilege of bringing glory to His name - Through our lives - That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. - Isn't that amazing. So God has given us the privilege of bringing glory to His name - our lives. Now you can take that seriously or you can let that just kind of roll off your back. That's something that you take seriously. You take that seriously in an intimate place of prayer... God you've given me the privilege of bringing glory to your name. Not to my name. It's not just about me and how people treat me and how things are going. You've given me the privilege of bearing witness of your great name. God I believe that's eternal. I believe that will leave a legacy. I don't have time to get impatient and just the doldrums of life and "whatever will be will be." You've given me a great honor in the earth and I take it to heart. It would be good even to talk to your own soul that way. [Letting life slip by without a sure sense of direction.]
28:30 - He's behind us in expressing Him - We can bring praise to His name. We can reveal His glory. The grace of God is with us guys. He is so with us. He has so raised us up and called us out of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love - Col. 1:13. He so delivered us from darkness and filled us with light. That's a big deal.
28:50 - You begin to see people with a new perspective - So that when the lady is doing what she is doing (@8:00) in the office, you don't have to be afraid, intimidated, ashamed or worse yet take her anger personally and let it dishearten, discourage or frustrate you. And all of the sudden this thing called love rises up and you see her through a whole different eye. And you have the ability to love her and feel for her and show mercy because she is not having a good day. And the reason that people aren't having a good day is because they are not living through a clear eye. So it's bigger than their day. So until that eye changes they are not going to have a good tomorrow.
29:25 - People are not what they express if they are not yet seeing with clear perspective - We say of people, "They are always that way...They are this or that (angry, depressed etc.). It's because of their eye. You have to understand that it's not them. It's what they are seeing or not seeing. And man we ought to have mercy on that.
29:40 - v.13-14 - In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. - That's all things made complete - in full and to the praise of His glory.
30:00 - v.15-16 - Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; - I love that because her is what we grew up doing - we grew up with this mentality. We pray for people that don't know God to get born again and pray "the prayer". We pray for them to pray the prayer and we go, "Yay!" and then we target somebody else who hasn't prayed the prayer. That's been a mentality in my life.
30:40 - Here is Paul. He says, "Now that I heard you prayed the prayer - now that I heard you are Christians, I haven't stopped praying for you - giving thanks for you and making mention of you in my prayers." Why?(What is he asking for?)...
31:00 - v.17 - Understand why you are a Christian - That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: - Here is what Paul is saying, "Now that I hear that you have submitted to Christ, accepted Him and believe He is the way, and you've become a Christian, I haven't stopped praying for you so that you see why you are a Christian."
31:20 - We think praying the prayer is the end. Pray the prayer and get your name in the book. Yay! And we target people to pray for them that haven't prayed that prayer yet. Even Jesus said, "I'm not praying for the world, but I'm praying for these..." - John 17:9. That doesn't meant that you don't intercede for hearts to open and proclaim that men are hungry for God, etc. But the focus was that Jesus' men were equipped, established, graced and anointed to impact and to be the fragrance of His knowledge everywhere. Because that's how men will change right?
32:15 - v.18 - I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, - That you would know - probably epiginosko? - experiential knowledge. (It's actually oida - from the same root as eidon - to see; carries the idea of perceiving - mentally seeing) It's more than ginosko - I know - knowledge - 2+2=4. But I know that He loves me. You can know (ginosko) that He loves you. "Yes, God loves me." But then you can KNOW that God loves you. It's a deeper sense of knowing - experiential understanding. Like, I have experienced Him. I've tasted and seen that He is good. That's probably what that word is.
33:10 - Full discernment - revelation knowledge - experiential understanding - my heart has realized.
33:40 - Know Him - Listen to what he is praying. He is not just praying that your heads agree. He's praying that you get touched deeper by the Spirit of God that your heart says, "Wow!" There is a difference. Relationship and communion with God is what does that. That's why we talk about knowing Him - to know Him is eternal life - John 17:3. Not know about Him - that's ginosko. Ginosko - head knowledge - to know about Him. [Example of knowing about someone vs. exchanging hearts and hanging out.]
34:40 - Paul is praying for a move of the Holy Spirit in such a way that our hearts awaken - that we know Him. It must be pretty important to Paul that we live from that place of revelation, if now that he heard they were Christian he didn't just go, "Yay, they're in" and then go evangelize someone who hadn't been evangelized. He heard that they were in and agreeing and believing the gospel so now he prayed that they would be overtaken with revelation. That it would become their reality and that they would know God more.
35:40 - Your calling - To know Him and become like Christ - Everyone's calling is to be like Christ - the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For to God you are the fragrance of Christ. So what's His calling? To know Him and to become like Him. This is bigger than being a confessing Christian. There is life and expression to this.
36:10 - His inheritance in the saints - not what we get now that we're in. A lot of times that's our focus - what God can give me and do for me.
Receive Holy Spirit
36:20 - The importance of seeking fellowship with Holy Spirit - Participant's comment - Important to seek the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
36:35 - It's not a given. It didn't just fall into your lap when you got born again. In other words, I need to be illuminated. I want to know you more. You've touched my heart in a way that I've said yes to who you are. And I want to know you.
36:55 - Just ask for Holy Spirit - Like the person of Holy Spirit - it says in Luke 11:13 - If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? -
37:05 - Some people teach that it's one big package that comes on you but there's a place for asking and receiving and entering into covenant relationship and union with the person of Holy Spirit. There is a place for that to be realized and recognized. Like almost introduced - Him to you and you to Him. You do that through communion and fellowship.
37:30 - Don't allow a stronghold to develop - And if any of you are in the place where you got hung up on the whole baptism of the Holy Spirit, especially because of the tongue issue - then it gets to be a stronghold, just - how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to you. So ask and it shall be given - Mt. 7:7. So don't let that become a stronghold in your head and think that, "Well, if I'm not praying in tongues, I don't have Holy Spirit," and make tongues the only outward evidence. You do everything from the heart.
37:55 - I know people that haven't prayed in tongues but have communed and fellowshiped and believed He was there, began to get to know Him as a person and at some point in time, that thing that actually became a stronghold because of the way that it was taught or... "Come on. You can do it. Just open up your mouth. Just make these syllables. Just pray "yabadabadoo" backwards. Just do something." People do that in little circles and then they get bad experiences. They get tonguey in their mind - "Well, am I making this up? This is gibberish." Stop all of that.
38:30 - Holy Spirit, thank you. Father I thank you that you have given me Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit I thank you that you desire to come.
38:40 - Young lady receives tongues after 3 months - I know someone who prayed and talked to Him for 3 months and just worshiped Him and appreciated Him and His wisdom in their life. And every time they read the Bible they communed with Him as if He was right there. They had never prayed in tongues. In fact that was kind of an issue. Then one time their spouse called them from out of town and was going through a crisis and their spouse started to cry over the phone and they had never heard their spouse in a situation like that and it really grabbed their heart. They were newly married. When they hung up she said, "I've got to pray." And she was overwhelmed because she had never heard her spouse like that. She knelt down and started to pray in the most beautiful tongues for her husband. And she was crying and praying and had her prayer language from there on.
39:40 - Relate to Him by faith - But what was she doing for 3 months? "You're in me. You're with me. You're my best friend." She wasn't going, "Boy I wish I would get baptized in the Holy Spirit...(grumble, grumble)." That's what we do. No. Holy Spirit, you are right here and you love me and you love to be here and you love to live in me. You've made me fit to be your home. Thank you for living here.
40:05 - Don't get hung up on outward evidences and throw away faith - How do you know that you are going to heaven? You just know. You believe. You just know by faith. How do you receive Holy Spirit? By faith. Are there some outward evidences? Yes, but don't get hung up on them and subvert faith and start living by feelings and outward experiences. That's what we do. Look how quickly we go sensual. Because we have some outward evidences in the Bible then we look at them to gauge and throw away faith. So don't do that. Commune with Him.
Spirit with a Small "s"- Grace
spirit - small "s" = grace - A lot of time when you see the word "spirit" with a small "s" you can interpret that as grace. It's a form of grace that comes by the Spirit but it's a form of grace - an impartation of grace - that brings knowledge and wisdom and revelation.
41:35 - In Romans 8:1-4 - discussion of small "s" spirit in this passage. [Where?] It's actually talking about living by grace versus living by works. And if you live in a legalistic mindset and you live by your works, you'll walk in condemnation because you are living by the flesh. We hear the phrase "living by the flesh" and think it just means living in conscious sin or practicing sin, living by the works of the flesh.
42:15 - Context of Romans 7 - No, the whole context of Rom. 7 is dying to the old - the law - so that we could be married to another. We're dead to this so that we can be alive to this. This died and now this can live. We can be reunited, rejoined, remarried and it's a new covenant through Christ.
42:45 - When he looks at himself, he sees the wretched man that he is. "Who can deliver me from this?.." - Rom. 7:24. "I thank God through Jesus Christ..." - Rom. 7:25.
42:50 - Context of Romans 8 - Then he goes on to say, "So now there is no more any condemnation if we are in Christ...of course as long as you don't live according to your own strength, your own ingenuity, your own ability, your own works and not according to the grace that flows through Holy Spirit and Jesus." - Rom. 8:1-4. That's what Romans 8 actually means when it says "living by the flesh" and "living by the Spirit." And then he goes on... What the flesh couldn't accomplish, God did by sending His Son.
43:25 - And then he goes on... "To walk by the flesh is death but to walk by the Spirit is life and peace" - Rom. 8:6. So to walk by your own strength, your own ability, your own ingenuity, trying to work your way to God is a dead end street. But by the grace of God you are already in. So that's what he's talking about in Rom. 8.
43:35 - spirit - small "s" = grace - A lot of times, when you see that "by the spirit" - there is a grace that flows... I'm praying that God would grant you a grace for your eyes to see what's there to be seen - that you couldn't see on your own. Because it's not a head knowledge thing. It's a heart knowledge thing.
44:00 - "Understanding" is a heart thing - Not a head thing - In fact with the heart a man believes - Rom. 10:10 - not with his head. Don't ever forget that. You want your heart alive. And you'll stay alive through communion and fellowship with Him. You just submit your heart to Him and Thank you Holy Spirit for illuminating my heart. I like to connect the word "understanding" with heart, not with head. You believe with your heart, not your head - not your mind. And with his mouth he makes confession unto salvation. And out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks - Luke 6:45. You'll find that the "understanding" is very connected to the heart of man. Knowledge puffs up but love edifies - 1 Cor. 8:1.
Self-Condemnation
45:10 - Self-condemnation - One of the strategies of satan is to get you to question your heart by looking real introspectively into your life - by looking at fruit or actions or lack of actions and then judging your own heart. There are a lot of Christians that take on the occupation of judging their own heart all the time. And the reason they do it is because they actually care. If they didn't care they wouldn't be doing it. So sometimes you need to back off of that and realize that and start giving your heart to Him in prayer and thank Him that He has the jurisdiction of your heart. Thank you that your heart and my heart are one. Thank you that our hearts are one. Thank you that all that you are is in me. I yield all that I am to you so that all that you are is in me. And I thank you that we're one. It keeps you in a good healthy view of your own heart.
46:00 - You can tell where a person is in their heart when you listen to what they say - And then out of your heart your mouth starts speaking. You can hear when people's hearts aren't established - when people's identities aren't established - when their understanding isn't firmed up and they will say little stabbing things to themselves. Or in their conversation you will hear a little stinger towards their own character. They are speaking out of condemnation or things that are unsettled (in their heart). I tell people, you don't realize how subtly detrimental it is when you talk this way, "Oh, you dummy." No, you're not a dummy. You made a mistake or had an accident but we are taught that way. "Oh, you dummy." - that you ARE what you just did. How common is that growing up to talk to yourself that way. "Wow, you stupid knucklehead. You'll never get it." People talk out loud that way about themselves when they are frustrated.
47:10 - Don't contradict who He says you are and what He has done for you - It's not a good thing because Jesus isn't saying that about you when He is hanging there (on the cross). He's not saying, "Oh, you dummy. You'll never get it." He's saying, "You're created in my image and I believe that you'll get it and I'm dying for you. So how about getting up and living." You have to be very careful that you are not detrimental to the very thing that is trying to work life in you.
47:30 - Established identity will not speak self-put downs - When you have a strong established identity - who you are - you won't have to try not to put yourself down. It won't even come out of your mouth. It's not there. If you are putting yourself down, it's because there is something still unestablished or unsettled and you are seeing yourself for weakness instead of strength. So don't be your own worst enemy - doing all the right thing (in communion and union with God) but cutting it off here (your tongue).
Believing
48:10 - Back to Eph. 1 - v.18 - I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, - The glory of his inheritance in the saints - I don't have time to go into that right now.
48:20 - v.19 - And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, -
Theology based on experience - This is what you and I are compelled by the gospel to grow into - and not create theology based on lack of power, unanswered prayer and circumstances. The biggest risk that we run is defining a theology in our heart and mind based on the life that we've lived or the way that life has been. It's the biggest tragedy to try to find God through the thing that have and haven't been this way. It's the biggest mistake that the church makes.
49:05 - Believe - fully convinced, firmly established - Exceeding greatness - more than enough power than is necessary. Toward us who believe. So believing is a big deal - being fully convinced, firmly established.
49:25 - Firmly convinced concerning the power of God in us and through us - Wouldn't you agree that the thing that we toss around the most concerning the power of God is our belief. We say that we believe when we need to. Then we see the result and we question and counter and our belief gets tossed around like a hot potato almost. We want it. We want to believe. But how many of us can honestly say that we're firmly established in our hearts that we are God's choice - that God's image is in us - that God's power is in us - that the Holy Spirit is in us - there is nothing we are lacking on His end towards us. We have everything necessary to subdue the earth to move in power to manifest the glory of God. And it is yes and amen from heaven. I have a yes and amen, period, across the board. The power of God is in me.
50:10 - Your life lived shows what you truly believe regardless of what you profess - Sometimes we say that but the way that we live and back off of things - we reveal that we don't truly believe that. (When you believe,) you put yourself in more situations, get involved in more things, we take more faith risks and just step out. The life that we live reveals the faith that we live in. At the end (of this life) there is not going to be a list of questions. Did you believe this or this or this? Your life lived reveals what you believed. Your life lived is the evidence of what you did or didn't believe. You know them by their fruit - Mt. 7:16. You're judged according to your works. Why? Your works don't save you. Your works are the expression of your belief.
51:05 - So the established tree... Remember it's always about the tree. Make a tree good and it's fruit will be good, you know them by their fruit. - Mt. 12:33. So at the judgement of man, your life lived will reveal what you believed.
51:20 - The first sign of a believer - Get your hands on the sick - For example - These signs shall follow those that believe... they will lay their hands on the the sick... - Mark 16:17-18. That's the first sign. We get so hung up on the healing side that we fail to just get our hands on the sick to show that we are believing. We are trying to explain. We are trying to get a grip. We are trying to move in a supernatural way to where we know when we touch them they are going to "poof" be healed. We get all of that going on in our heads and fail to just step out and just lay our hands on them to show our belief. The first sign of a believer is to just get your hands on the sick. Just touch them.
52:20 - It doesn't even say pray for them. It just says get your hands on them.
52:25 - Wife praying for kids in school - She can't publicly, openly pray for them without stuff. But she can lay hands on them. She has a lot of testimonies... kids that can't learn, kids that are introverted... Administrators have noticed a difference and want to see what is different. They don't understand. There is faith in the room and the Spirit of God is being released. Learning in an extraordinary way. There's a grace in the room. Her classes catch up to the others. Tragic situations. She laid her hands on believing - not praying out loud.
56:25 - Praying out loud is probably primarily for our benefit - To get the soul in alignment with Spirit living - Sometimes I think that praying out loud is more for us because we get stirred up in what we hear. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word - Rom. 10:17. A lot of times we pray or people pray a certain way because when they pray it stirs us - because we hear the word. But it's already alive.
56:45 - God already knows who He is. He doesn't need to be reminded. And He is not in any kind of identity deficiency. He's not like, " I wish somebody would encourage me and tell me about my power so that I can get a surge going here." That's not the reality. God is God. So a lot of that (praying out loud) is designed for us - to get this soul whipped into a place of Spirit living.
57:10 - Worship is for our benefit too - To get the soul in alignment with Spirit living - Even worship is every bit as much for our benefit as it is for God. I know that we can please the heart of God in worship. Worship keeps our eyes fixed on His nature, the beauty of who He is, our right and access to His presence and I believe that worship is a beautiful thing that we can do because it keeps our heart alive in Him. I don't think it's always what we think it is. It's for us in a good, healthy, spiritual way. It keeps us fixed. Because He is very encouraged. He's God.
58:10 - v.19 - And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, - According to the working of His mighty power
58:20 - Fasting & meditating on this scripture because I felt like I need so much more of this as revelation in my life. Fasting and meditating so that this scripture would come alive in me. And it's neat how you see a release of the Spirit and more miracle stuff. It's amazing.
The Valley of the Shadow of Death
59:00 - v.20 - Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, -
The power of God - So the power of God that defeated death and broke the stronghold of death off of Jesus and raised Him up, is the agreeing power that Paul is talking about - the exceeding greatness of His power in agreement with the same power He exerted when He raised Jesus from the dead. Who is that power toward? Us who believe.
59:30 - Now Paul is not just talking about getting us out of a jam and delivering us from trouble, he's talking about the power in us and flowing through us. He's talking about us carrying that power and ministering that power.
59:50 - Doctrine regarding power based on our experience instead of His word - How we as a church can be in such derision over this topic is beyond my understanding in the sense of how clear the word is. The only reason that there is derision is that we lean on all of our experiences and lack of experiences. And we make them the topics of doctrine. We let the experiences of our lives determine the identity of God. It's just the biggest fallacy there is. There is a lot of hurt and sentiment and loss and pain involved. And now we are trying to survive because it has been so tough apart from understanding.
1:00:35 - Handling loss - Walk by faith - Not by feeling - Honestly, the gospel is designed so powerfully that if you have a clear understanding, in the face of the worst tragedy, the is a place of grace and peace because of the big picture - eternal view. Is there still physical loss? Of course. We would be fools to say that there isn't. But it probably doesn't have to be as traumatic as we think - because of the knowing. There can actually be a place of rejoicing. There can actually be a place of honor and extreme worship of God for the blood in the face of great loss. There can actually be an expression of, God, your grace that saves us - thank you for the blood. Why? Because without that this would just be death. And it would be loss. And it would be finality. There has to be a place in Christ to live that way.
1:01:30 - Freedom from the fear of death - The disciples didn't understand that before the cross because they were gripped by the fear of the bondage of the power of death. But He defeated him who had the power over death - Heb. 2:14. And it says that we are free from the fear of the bondage of death - Heb. 2:15. Our whole lives we were held in bondage by that.
1:01:55 - Disciples gripped by the fear of death before the crucifixion - That's why when Jesus said, "Listen, I'm going to be turned over..." Can you imagine the disciples sitting here? "I am going to turned over into the hands of sinful man and they are going to beat me. They are going to flog me. And I am going to be crucified." And they are going, "Huh?" "But on the third day I am going to rise. The disciples were so stuck on what Jesus had just said that they couldn't hear "But on the third day..." They couldn't even hear it. All they were doing was, "You're going to die? What?" They were so gripped by death that when He mentioned death, they couldn't even hear that He was going to rise.
1:02:40 - He told the disciples on several different occasions, "I'm going to die but I'm going to live." [Extended description of the scene in the Matthew videos.] "But on the third day, I'm going to rise." And the very next line is "And they were all filled with grief" - Mt. 17:23.
1:03:25 - Now what was going on? Sentiment, human emotion, natural thinking - "What! You're going to die?" You would think that they would ask about the third day thing. That wasn't even in their thinking. "And they were all filled with grief." Why? Because all they could hear was you're going to die.
1:04:00 - Almost everybody fears death - But it's not about death anymore - It's about life - 99% of Christians today are in the fear of the bondage of death. That's almost everybody in this room. Death moves us because we lack a revelation of life and life everlasting. Death has a voice and it shouldn't. It's never ever, ever about death. It's always about life - always.
1:05:00 - Miscarriages - Tubal pregnancies - Even in miscarriage, tubal pregnancies... That was life. Don't think that's gone. And don't think that it's an embryo floating around in heaven. Why wouldn't God, in His majestic wisdom and majesty bring that baby to fruition and length of days? Why? Because death shall have no dominion. Death can't defeat now that life has come. It's like light swallows darkness - Life swallows death. You need a revelation like that.
1:05:40 - Abortions - You have all of these babies being aborted - satan in his aggression to steal, kill and destroy and putting condemnation and the measure of sin over humanity. And now it's millions of babies aborted. But on the flip side, where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. Satan can't ever outdo righteousness. God will never be upstaged by the enemy.
1:06:10 - Who knows that we are to be heading in the direction of getting people in a place where abortion is not even a possibility - to get people to be diligent and responsible with their lives. But on the flip-side of the tragedy of abortions God can't lose. All of these millions of babies are instantly in His presence because of the blood. In satan's haste to kill and destroy, he has thrust millions into God's presence for eternity that might have lived rejecting Him - that might have lived for satan. And now they are with Him forever. He has guaranteed millions of souls into the kingdom of heaven because of the blood of Jesus that speaks over humanity.
1:07:05 - And because of innocence - he never sinned - although he was formed in iniquity in his mother's womb - but he doesn't have the knowledge of sin - he didn't willfully sin. And the blood of Jesus washes him clean instantly - innocence.
1:07:25 - [Satan's aggression to kill.] Satan would be better off just to back off and letting the kids just be born and letting the chips fall where they may. Because we've done enough through history to show that sometimes we are our own worst enemy. And even when we do preach it for wrong motives. A lot of those kids who were aborted might have done a lot of good for the kingdom of darkness. But guess where they all are? Forever in His presence. [Extended discussion]
1:08:30 - Miscarriage is the same way - instantly in His presence. Tubal pregnancies - instantly with the Lord. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord - 2 Cor. 5:8. [Extended comments - grieving what would have been - but all they have ever known is your face.]
1:10:05 - There is a faith and power there, in responding that way, that we are not teaching. We are just sentimental. And we live by the flesh and live by feelings. And we feel like we have to accommodate those feelings and be real and face reality. Everything I'm saying is reality.
1:10:25 - Is it wrong to cry? Is it wrong to miss? - Absolutely not. But when it's at the cost of growth and production... When it is a grieving that is out of the boundaries of faith, it's not productive. And you'll never live that way without faith in the finished work of Christ.
1:10:50 - Loved one dies who is not born again - Don't be so sure - Even if a loved one dies that you are sure is not born again, don't be so sure. Why would you settle that when you don't even know. You live rejoicing in the mercy of God. You don't know what's going on inside of people. You can't make that assessment and rob your soul of faith and forward progress. Don't do that. [Grief conversation scenario] God is so amazing. We might be amazed at the mercy of God. And how people were wretched their whole life and they are laying there dying and telling everyone to get away and yet Holy Spirit wooing and talking and they are having this inner conversation...
1:11:40 - Man speaking from coma - Man dying for years. He's in coma. Causing family division - unplug or not. Family feud. Come and mediate. The father was 87 years old. Just shows the working of Holy Spirit in the minds of men. Peacemaking. Love. Talked out loud directly to the man. No outward response. Prayed life to come into soul and make him coherent. Then I looked down and there is this big brown eye starring right at me. I never even thought to pray for healing - weird. "There you are." Talked about Jesus, the gospel. Many of the family was concerned that he didn't know God.
1:16:15 - Do you know how Jesus heard the thoughts of men? All of the sudden I heard this guys thoughts in English. It didn't startle me at that time. Just like talking to someone - as clear as could be. "Dan you don't understand. I've lived my whole life my way. I've made a lot of money... And my whole family wants me to be saved. And I just can't jump of the ship of my life onto His just because mine is sinking. It wouldn't be sincere. It's a bail out." "Listen, it's not like that..." And the family is looking at me because I'm talking to him.
1:18:15 - They were compelling him when he got sick to get saved. And he kept telling them "I can't jump off of my ship onto His just because it's sinking. It wouldn't be sincere." To him it made total sense. But they were like, "Would you just get saved daddy!"
1:18:30 - So I said to him, "That's a lie - a stronghold. It's not like you are jumping off of your ship onto His..." And when I said that hysteria broke out in the room because they knew that I was talking to dad. "No, if you could go back 15 years and change things, I know that you would." And he is realizing that what I am saying is true. "I'm keeping myself out. I need to come in." Leads him to be born again. Tears rolling down from brown eye. "Hey girls, come say hi to daddy." The whole family lined up. I was emotionally wrecked that I couldn't take any more. I had to leave.
1:20:15 - I had just had another experience...
Catholic man clinging to life - He was born again. I went to his house right before (the experience above). He was supposed to have died days before. They had left the hospital. He wanted to go home. Struggling for breath. He was afraid to die - his family wasn't saved. Somehow it was keeping him alive.
1:21:45 - Young, angry man - Saw that young man was angry with parents. Adopted. "Why didn't they want me?" You are even mad at God for giving you original parents that didn't want you. The young man thought that Dan had been told by uncle.
1:23:35 - Catholic man clinging to life (cont.) - They called me to read him his last rites. "You're not afraid to die are you? Tell me why you're not afraid to die." "Because of the blood of Jesus." "But here you are holding on to life. Why haven't you gone?" Began to see by the spirit of the Lord the spiritual condition of his family, one by one. Wife - mad at God. Got saved.
1:25:20 - The man got so full of peace and stopped struggling for breath. Family gathered around.
1:25:30 - Young, angry man (cont.) - further conversation. Don't run from truth.
1:25:55 - Catholic man clinging to life (cont.) - That man died in 20 minutes. His whole family got right and he knew he could let go.
1:26:20 - Man speaking from coma (cont.) - I carried that situation into this one. I've got to go. They called 2 weeks later and said that their dad had passed. I would have thought that he would die in 20 minutes. Asked Holy Spirit. Took Him 2 weeks to assure the man that he was received.
1:27:50 - Don't write people off - especially when they are dying - There was so much to learn there - how men think - how the mercy of God is invading the hearts of men even in their dying moments. They are having inner conversations and God is invading. I said all of that just to say don't write people off.
1:28:15 - Man speaking from coma (cont.) - To daughter - "Are you OK?" "Are you kidding? My heart is so at peace. Daddy is saved." I asked Holy Spirit - Why 20 minutes vs. 2 weeks? Why wouldn't he just pass? "It took me 2 weeks to convince him that he was received. He didn't think that he could be saved in the nick of time. When he was convinced, he let go." I lost it. The working of Holy Spirit inside of man - we have no clue most of the time.
1:30:00 - Here is a guy in turmoil going "yeah, but." And Holy Spirit is going, "I love you. You're in. You care. If you could go back and change things you would. That means that you've changed. That lie is trying to keep you off board when you should be on board." And he let go trusting God.
1:31:20 - BREAK
➡ 1:31:40 - Ephesians 1 - Let me finish this and then we'll do something to wrap up the class. I think it will be fun and informative at least, in an area. I don't think we teach on the person of Holy Spirit and the baptism of Holy Spirit. I want to give you a clear Biblical understanding of who He is and where He fits and the difference between your born again experience and the baptism of the Holy Spirit - getting filled with the Spirit - your recreated spirit. Would that be helpful?
Above Every Power
1:33:00 - Ephesians 1 - v.19-21 - And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: - He is far above all principality and power.
1:33:20 - Shiite Muslim girl manifests - Devil manifests - Holy Spirit said that this devil was beholding the face of God.
1:33:50 - When we try harder, pray harder - We revere the condition - The devil fears Jesus. If I had known that she was Muslim, I probably would have tried to pray harder. I would have gotten involved. Our natural knowledge sometimes inspires us over our spiritual knowledge. And when something has notoriety you press in and try harder. What you are actually saying is, "You are amazing and I am not sure that you'll move so I've got to do something." If you lose a couple of people to a certain type of cancer and later you hear of that cancer again and you pray extra hard. And all you are actually saying is, "Cancer, you are amazing. And you've hurt a lot of people. And I'm going to try really hard so you lose this time." It's giving it power. You're actually commending cancer when you do that.
1:34:30 - We don't realize what we are doing. We dig deeper and pray harder. You are actually saying that this problem is really a problem. You show me one place where Jesus did that. Or where Jesus said, "Oh, boy, OK..." The only reason that we do that is because we have so much natural knowledge.
1:34:55 - Shiite Muslim girl manifests (cont.) - God blinded me to the Muslim background to that girl. One man asked, "Did the Lord show you she was a Muslim or did she tell you?" Huh? All kinds of things would have gone through my mind. I would have thought, "Boy this is a tough one. I better pray right." - instead of believe right. Right then Holy Spirit said, "Dan, all I ever want you to know is that Jesus is Lord. That's all you need to know - that Jesus is Lord." The spirit was freaked out at who Jesus is.
1:36:40 - He is far above... It's not an arm wrestling contest. It's not a cage match. He is Lord. Far above...
1:37:20 - Now make the connection here. Who are we, as he is writing? We are His people who are receiving the knowledge of Him, His calling, His inheritance and the exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believe...
1:37:45 - v.19-21 - And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: -
1:37:55 - v.22 - And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, -
All things are under His feet. And all things are given to the church. How do we have trouble with this? Except that we define God circumstantially instead of letting this (scripture) become our reality. When this (scripture) is not our reality, it ought to cause a reaction to seek Him more and press in to truth because we honor this word above our circumstance. And if He wrote this (scripture) and put this in here, this has to be the word of God. It has to be available. It has to be true even though even though this (our experience / the mind?) isn't in agreement. And we grow up into Him in all things.
1:38:50 - We defend our experience and subvert the word - What we do is - we assess and define and protect and defend our feelings, our life, our sympathy, our sentiments at the cost of this (scripture / truth). And yet this still reads the same. Even after they die and we're all weeping, this (scripture) still says the same thing.
1:39:20 - Look to what is unseen - It's eternal - So what do we hook up to? The things that we see? Or the things unseen? What do we look at? The things that are seen? Or unseen? Why do we look so much at the things that are seen which are subject to change only to assure that they stay the same instead of looking at the things that are unseen because they remain forever?
We're the Expression of Christ
1:39:45 - v.22 - And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, -
We're the body of Christ - Look who the church is. It's His body. Where does He live? Inside us. And the body is the expression of what's inside.
1:40:05 - v.23 - Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. - The fullness of Him - That's you! The fullness of Him is you. All in all - all things. Do you see the intimate connection between us and Him? We're His people - His body.
1:40:30 - Israel was to represent God - But they profaned His name - It was intended way back in the OT that the Israelites would be released from Egypt and go into the land and manifest the reverence and fear of God's name to all the nations. And yet it says they went out from among Him and profaned His name everywhere. And misrepresented His identity everywhere - Ezek. 36:20. And it says that He is going to bring them all back together and make them one heart, one spirit and a brand new heart - a heart of flesh. And He said that He wasn't doing it for their sake but for His great name's sake. And here we are today in Christ by the Holy Spirit.
1:41:15 - the fulness of him that filleth all in all - So is the answer - God out there or Christ in us? It's always Christ in us - the hope of glory - Col. 1:27. Christ coming out of us is the manifestation of that glory. The hope of that glory is the Christ in us - not a God out there who is for us and loves us - but the Christ who is in us because He is for us and loves us. We're the body of Christ - 1 Cor. 12:27.
1:41:45 - We're the expression of Christ - Eph. 1:22,23 - Who does "him" refer to? - Is him in v.22 Christ? Yes. And the him in v.23 is us, correct? No. Jesus. We're the fullness of Him. We're the expression of Him. We're the expression to the full of Him that fills all in all. So we lay our hands on the sick. We speak in His name with authority. We go here and there into every place and diffuse the fragrance of His knowledge because to God we are the fragrance of Christ to the saved and the unsaved - 2 Cor. 2:15.
1:42:50 - Let's look at Hebrews 2 quickly because we just looked at, "He gave Him to be head over all things... that we are the fullness of Him that filleth all in all" - Eph. 1:22-23. So He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church. Peter describes all things in 2 Peter 1 as all things pertaining to life and godliness - 2 Peter 1:3.
1:43:30 - In Hebrew 2 I want you to see something. I'm just connecting scripture here...
1:43:50 - v.6 - But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? -
Created for His image - "Why would you even think about me?" is what the psalmist is writing. People talk like that in the church today. "Well, I don't know why God would consider me." It's an easy answer: because He created you in His image and He know who you are and He has great purpose for your life. "Well, I can't imagine why He would love me." It's a very simple answer.
1:44:35 - He sees our value - The only reason we say that is because we don't separate our our sinful, fallen identity (from who we really are). We look at our life face value and say, "Why would He love me." He doesn't look at you for that value. He looks at you for His face value.
1:44:50 - Participant comment - One of the greatest things that I have learned in this class is that when I am born again, I am not a sinner. I might sin. But I am not a sinner, I'm a son.
1:45:10 - Identity is son - Not sinner - Yes. Don't let your capacity to sin rob you of your identity (as a son). You stay in sonship and that will actually overtake your capacity to sin. Because righteousness produces its fruit unto holiness - Rom. 6:22. So you will actually make a tree good and its fruit will be good - Mt. 12:33.
1:45:30 - Now watch this. I want you to see this. Remember why we went here... He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church - (see Eph. 1 above). And the church is His body - the fullness of Him - the full expression of who He is. Now watch...
1:46:00 - v.7 - Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: - In Psalms 8 the writer says a little lower than Elohim Himself - Ps. 8:5.
1:46:15 - Glory and honor - not shame and dishonor. Hello? Oh, we may have lived lives that seemed worth of shame and dishonor. But God has crowned us with glory and honor. Why? He gave His only begotten son to show your real value - your real worth - your true identity. He separated you from sin and the peril of sin and robed you with sonship and righteousness.
1:46:35 - And He set him - Who did He set? Man. And you can go back to Adam and read Psalm 8 and think about Adam in the garden with God.
1:46:55 - v.8 - Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. -
It's under His feet - It's under our feet - Small "h" - his - That means man's feet. Why? Because He put all things in subjection under Him (Jesus) (Eph. 1:22) and He (God) gave Him (Jesus) to be the head over all things to the church. So if it's under His feet, it's under our feet because we're one. And we are the fullness of Him that fills all in all (Eph. 1:23). Now watch. This is amazing. I don't know why we can't all just be one happy little church in the world and just see really clear and go after this. Watch...
1:47:35 - For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. - All things in subjection. Well then why isn't all of the cancer fading? Then why aren't all of the birth defects gone? Why aren't people living instead of dying? That's the question that people ask.
1:48:05 - Nothing - This is the word of God people! He left nothing that is not put under him. Watch...
1:48:15 - But now we see not yet all things put under him. - Do you see all things in subjection under you yet? Because that's the reality. He's saying, "He put everything in subjection under your feet, however, your are not seeing everything bow." Look at the next couple of words...
1:48:45 - Keep your eyes on Jesus and His life lived - But we see Jesus - Who do you keep your eyes fixed on? Jesus and His life. Do you know what we do? "Yeah but... How come... Well, I prayed... I thought God's word was true... Where was God?... Where were You when I needed You?..." We don't see the answer and we say a whole lot of other stuff. The Bible says, But we see Jesus. So who is our standard? Who is the finished work? Who's the way, the truth and the life?
1:49:20 - v.9 - But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. - I'm going to stop reading there. It's all good but watch this.
➡ 1:49:30 - Summary of Eph. 1 and Heb. 2 - This is what he is saying: All things are in subjection under His feet. God has place Him to be all things to the church and we are the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Hebrews is saying that there is nothing that is not in subjection under us. However, right now everything is not bowing. Keep your eyes on Jesus because He's the will of the Father. Let's keep growing up into Him (Eph. 4:15) to the full measure and stature of Christ (Eph. 4:13). Let's stop coming up with doctrine and theology and philosophy based on our circumstances. We see Jesus.
1:50:00 - When they die, even though we prayed, we get our focus on Jesus. We see Jesus. And we let our hearts be encouraged and strengthened and we know Him more. We don't back off. We pray for another. And we keep growing. And we come to the knowledge of Him.
1:50:15 - Taking our eye off of Jesus - Like Adam and Eve in the garden - Or we circumstantially define God and we get our eyes off of Jesus. We come up with spiritual analogies. "Well brother, I think it's sometimes God... Well maybe..." That's the language of the garden when the fall came. "Hey look... oh, you're not going to die... Come on, did God say you're going to die? You're not going to die... God just knows that the day you eat from the tree is the day your eyes will be opened and you will know the knowledge of good and evil. In fact you'll be like God." That's the language in the garden. And we talk like that a lot when we don't understand and reveal that our hearts aren't established in truth. We're still groping in the dark. We are still wondering - mystified and miffed by our circumstances. We're still trying to grab solidity and foundation and it makes you very vulnerable to thoughts and mindsets and that same voice that Eve was deceived by. When you do that (talk like that) you reveal that you are not established and rooted and grounded in love and in truth working through love.
1:51:35 - When you're not established it opens a door for further testing - You might be amazed how that opens the door for one more onslaught of just one more circumstance after another to keep you in derision - to keep you wondering and guessing and discouraged, disappointed and back-slidden - picking up what was dead, called your life, your feelings - instead of living it in Him.
➡ 1:52:00 - Summary - But that's who we are (Eph. 1 & Heb. 2). I've been trying to get to 1 John. I feel like we are supposed to cover it at some point. I was trying to go there and the Lord showed me that we are the fragrance and causes us to triumph. And He wants us to see that we are His choice, His people, His body. We're lacking no good thing except what we are able to see by faith and continue to grab ahold of by faith. Because even when things aren't in subjection we don't change our mind. We don't rewrite the book. We see Jesus. We look unto Him, the author and the finisher of our faith (Heb 12). And for the joy set before us we go through any pain and keep our eye on the destiny. We look unto Him. We consider Him.
1:53:00 - Keep your eyes on Him - Stay encouraged - We are growing - He did not take injustice against Him personally. Consider Him who lived this way, lest you be discouraged and weary in your soul - Heb. 12:3. We follow Jesus.
1:53:20 - So if I pray for somebody and they die, what do I do? I look to Jesus. I seek Him in the secret place and allow Him to touch me and reinvigorate me. Not negativity. That's not faith. That's complaining. God, I know they can live. Your word says it...[more]
1:54:30 - He put all things under our feet. But we don't yet see it. It's not our experience yet. Why? Because we are all growing up into Him in all things - Eph. 4:15.
Mentors
➡ 1:55:00 - NEXT HALF HOUR: Nail down the difference between baptism of the Holy Spirit and your born again experience.
1:55:10 - Participant's comment - How am I going to get this stuff in me? - Holy Spirit, personal recording of everything that has ever taken place.
1:56:00 - Mentors / spiritual fathers - Concern over teachings about "spiritual fathers." - Concerned about the teaching that you are limited if you don't have that. I'm lacking if I don't have a spiritual father and I can't grow to the place that I am called. People ask me every week, "Would you please be my spiritual father / mentor." Creating a paradox: people feel like if they don't have someone to connect with they can't connect with God like they should.
1:56:50 - At the same time you have to be careful that you are not an island unto yourself - like you don't need others.
1:57:00 - If you say that Holy Spirit is my mentor then brows get raised up. "Oh, one of those..." I've not had a spiritual father. I've gleaned from others. Nobody has fathered / mentored me, ever. But I have had a Mentor.
1:57:25 - Holy Spirit - My Mentor - I was puzzled by a teaching on mentors. Asking the Lord about a mentor. "Dan, I am your mentor and your discipler."
1:58:25 - I can pattern myself after someone. But Holy Spirit can do now what Jesus did with the twelve disciples. I am sending another. And He will do in my absence what I would do if I were here. And He is going to live in as many as would believe. You are not going to be an orphan. He is going to lead, guide, direct, show you things to come, bear witness of me.
1:59:15 - He showed me that He is the person of Jesus - He is representing the person of Jesus in the sense of leading the disciples. And He came as another Helper.
1:59:30 - The Bible says that the Lord is the Spirit - 2 Cor. 3:17. "I thought Jesus was Lord?" He's the Spirit of the Lord Jesus. And where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.
1:59:50 - Dan, it's OK to glean and honor and respect but cling to me. Let me mentor you. Let me disciple you. I'm here. I'm another that Jesus sent.
2:00:05 - Participant's comment - unction
2:00:20 - Teachers - Paradox because we still have teachers and the office of teaching. He's not saying that you don't need one another. He's saying that first and foremost you need Him.
2:00:00 - Extremes - Disregarding one another then because of hurt, disappointment. "I don't need to go to church. I have Him." You have extremes on both ends.
Two Different Experiences - Born Again & Baptized in the Spirit
2:01:10 - John 4 - v.21-26 - Woman at the well -
2:01:50 - When you live truth it's a worship unto God.
2:02:05 - Jesus is revealing to her that He is the messiah - the way, the truth, the life.
2:02:20 - Back to v.10-12 - "Who do you think you are?"
2:03:10 - v.13-14 - Well springing up to everlasting life - He's actually talking about a born again experience. He's going to fill you with living water. He's going to take that which is dead and make it alive - that which is lost and find it.
2:04:40 - John 7 - v.37-38 - Out of his heart, belly, inmost being shall flow rivers of living water.
2:05:00 - One was a fountain springing up unto eternal life. This is flowing out of your inmost being. And it's a river of living water.
2:05:15 - v.39 -
2:05:25 - John 20 - v.21-22 - Jesus has just risen from the dead. Receive the Holy Spirit. That's amazing.
2:06:05 - So in John 20 Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive Holy Spirit." Do you think they received Holy Spirit? Yes. Holy Spirit came. Something took place in their spirits.
2:06:35 - Luke 24 - v.46-47 - This is where we have missed the gospel. We preach pray a prayer to go to heaven. He said we should preach a change of mind and removal of sin. We preach we always continue to sin and one day if we are lucky we get in by the skin of our teeth. We're to preach repentance and remission - removal of sin - it's gone.
2:07:30 - v.48-49 - Wait in the city until you are empowered from on high. What do you think He is talking about?
2:07:50 - Acts 1 - v.4 - They were assembled together. Wait for the promise of the Father. We just read that in Luke 24:49. But in John 20 He breathed on them and said what? Receive Holy Spirit.
2:08:40 - v.5-8 - Two different experiences - Wait a minute. Why are we waiting to be filled with Holy Spirit when You already breathed on us and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit?" It's totally two different experiences. One is baptized in the Holy Spirit - immersed into - dipped into - to be empowered by - to be a witness.
2:09:10 - Born again - When He breathed on them - John 20, it's John chapter 4. They believed in Him and they became born again. And a well burst forth in them, springing up into eternal life. They were saved. It was their seal for that day. They became wheat instead of tares - life instead of death.
2:09:50 - God breathed into Adam and he became a living being. Jesus raised from the dead, put His blood on the mercy seat, breathed into man and He became a living being. He was born again.
2:10:05 - But wait in the city. There is power coming upon you. It's a separate experience. It's not the same.
2:10:15 - At the same time? - Some say that you get it all when you get born again. It can happen that way. Especially if it is preached that way. Born again and praying in tongues. Africa.
2:10:45 - Stuck on chair - Lady couldn't get up. Got saved and prayed in tongues at the same time.
2:11:10 - Wait for the promise of the Father. Did we just get that? No, born again. Life replaces death. Well springing up into eternal life. But wait for the promise so that the river can start flowing out of you.
2:11:50 - Samaritans - Missing something - Acts 8 - Phillip in Samaria - v.14-16 - Sent Peter and John to them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Sounds like something was missing. Only baptized in the name of Jesus. Born again but not power from on high to be a witness.
2:13:00 - Baptism of Spirit not automatic - So how can it be an automatic thing? If you being of evil nature know how to give good things, how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? - Luke 11:13. If it's automatic why would you ever ask?
2:13:30 - Laying on of hands - v.17 - When they laid hands on them they received Holy Spirit. In Act 2, Holy Spirit came in tongues of fire and rested on each of them. No body laid hands. He just came.
2:14:15 - Cornelius' household - Acts 10 - v.44+ - Holy Spirit fell on them. As they heard Peter preach they believed and the baptism of the Holy Spirit fell upon them. They didn't have to pray a prayer. Nobody laid hands on them.
2:16:15 - Disciples at Ephesus - Baptism of Spirit not automatic - Acts 19 - v.1+ - Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Well if the baptism of the Spirit is automatic, that is not a valid question. Have you been empowered to be a witness? It's a separate event or can be.
2:18:20 - Participant's comment - baptized in the Spirit even before being baptized in water.
2:18:30 - Water baptism - Salvation comes through faith. When they believed the message, they were born again. As an affirmation of being born again they got water baptized. Water baptism is the response to your born again experience. But the evidence of the heart change was that the power came from on high. Let's get them in the water.
2:19:10 - Have you received the Holy Spirit when you believed? So they were finding people who received when they believed - Cornelius' household - and they were finding people where He had not yet fallen on them - Samaria. Why or why not is not the big deal. The key is that they are two different experiences.
2:19:30 - [Extended discussion, drawing together the scriptures above and showing 2 separate experiences.]
2:23:10 - Tares growing in the midst of the wheat. Don't try to pull out tares. Just live pure. Let the angels separate.
2:23:40 - Dan's born again experience and the aftermath with his wife. Woke up the next morning - tongues. Separate experience for empowerment.
Tongues as Outward Evidence - Don't Limit Faith
2:25:40 - Participant's testimony - tongues
2:26:35 - Tongues as the outward evidence of whether you received Holy Spirit. You have to receive Him by faith. It's not a tongues issue. There has been a real stronghold created on this in the church. So if you pray and something doesn't happen, they say, "Well, I guess you didn't receive Him." Or, "When your vessel is ready, you will receive Him."
2:27:45 - Water baptism / Baptism of Spirit
2:28:45 - Participant's comment - Acts 8:18 - Simon saw something - some impact.
2:29:10 - But you can't limit faith when you read that. You can't say, "Well, if I don't have tongues, then I haven't received Holy Spirit." That's what people do.
2:29:25 - Be careful if you are teaching there has to be some kind of outward evidence or manifestation apart from faith. The bottom line is the just shall live by faith - Rom. 1:17. If we ask, the Father will give the Holy Spirit - Luke 11:13. It doesn't say if you had an outward manifestation then you got Him. There is a place where sometimes you just receive things by faith. Keep them in the place where, "Yes, you qualify." So that they enter into communion and relationship - fellowship with the Holy Spirit. If you hang out together, you get to know one another.
2:30:45 - Closing prayer