HCSKL 2010 Notes >
Day 37
0:00 - 6 year old with prophetic encouragement. Great weekend preaching Jesus. Healings.
➡ 1:50 - I want to nail something down quickly. 2 Cor. 5 - We were talking about healing last week. Barely scratched the surface. So we are going to continue to talk about healing.
➡ 2:20 - But I want you to see this. We've talked about love and the goodness of God leading men to repentance. And this is a good confirming scripture that I haven't used yet in this school. I've preached parts of it but I want to read it in whole so that you can see our calling in Him and how God sees the world.
God's Perspective on Things
2:50 - Unbelievers can be healed - Sacrifice for the whole world - Review of 1 John 2 - Propitiation not only for our sins but for the sins of the whole world. Than's how an unbeliever can be healed. God sees past the exterior and sees the interior gold.
4:15 - Belligerent man at work. I hurt for him.
4:55 - If you don't understand that His sacrifice was for the sins of the whole world, you won't have faith to pray for them because how they are acting is going to influence you. Their behavior has nothing to do with them receiving from God.
5:15 - Judging by appearances. You don't call that shot. Love the world around you.
5:30 - v.14 - He sees the whole world through Christ - For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: - He didn't just die for our sins but the sins of the whole world. So God is looking at the whole world through Christ with the opportunity to be save - mercy - wipe away all sin and pour out His Spirit on all flesh.
6:00 - He's looking at the whole world through Christ. Christ is the eye of the needle. He is running the whole world through the eye of the needle of Jesus. So the door is open for every man to be saved.
6:20 - So if one died then all died - whether they have chosen to die to themselves - God sees them through Christ with the door wide open for redemption. He wants to receive and embrace every man. So God's mercy is towards all men.
6:40 - v.15 - And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. - Selfishness is the biggest bondage of our lives. That's what makes us miserable. That's why nothing seems fun and good because it's all about you.
7:30 - Testimonies from the prior weekend - 19 yr old - life can't stay the same. Lady runs up to thank me. Now that I've heard this how could my life stay the same?
12:00 - Former minister - Man - not in church for a long time. Graduated from Rema. Wife got prayer the night before. A pastor with an inner struggle going on. He heard the voice of God say go to church with your wife.
14:40 - Yeah, butting God - fasting - "The fact that you yeah, but me..." Wrong motive in fasting. Fasting longer than ever. You don't need the pride in your heart.
17:15 - Former minister (cont.) - I want you to go to church. I already know that I'm messed up. Mad at everybody. It was time for him to see himself the same way that God saw him. And release all that other stuff.
19:30 - v.16 - Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. - I want to read the whole thing in context. From now on - What's he saying? Once you see that you're alive because He died. Now you are alive. And no longer am I going to live for me because the only reason I am alive is because of Him. So I am going to live in Him.
20:10 - Since God didn't regard him in the flesh but saw him by the Spirit - saw him for potential. Panned the gold in his life. So from now on I regard no man according to the flesh. Why? Because if one died, then all died - whether they know it or not.
20:30 - Is that how God saw us? Then we must see one another that way.
20:45 - We need to reemphasize this in school because it is so easy to judge by appearances - first impressions - stereotype a person - take something to heart - judging them - avoiding them because you don't like them - failing to see the value. We've been that way our whole lives. We fail to see all men by the Spirit of God.
21:20 - From now on - That indicates change. We're born again.
Realizing that You Have Stumbled - Self-Condemnation
21:40 - Meditating in the word on passages like this.
21:50 - Father, I thank you that there is a line drawn in the sand. My life is yours. [more]
22:20 - And as you are releasing faith, guess what Holy Spirit is doing? Making you more like God inside. That's how we change. Not through our effort and ingenuity. They judge their life through the word and struggle and strive because they are not measuring up to what the word is saying.
23:25 - Release faith in what your heart wants to believe. It doesn't make you a hypocrite.
23:45 - Slipping into judging - God thank you for showing me that. I was slipping into that already. [more]
24:00 - Do you see how your mindset is always life-giving and your heart towards Him is always producing in you? That's how you handle things when you see yourself not measuring up. Your heart is not aiming to miss it. It's just human weakness. You slip into it.
24:25 - Thinking in a way you didn't want to think. Thank God for the light that exposes that. You begin to see it for what it is. Thank Him for fathering you.
24:45 - Any other way of dealing with slipping is you trying to change your own life through the flesh. It's impossible.
25:00 - The devil wants you judging yourself - condemnation - a lie.
25:40 - The detriment of knowledge without spiritual impact. Locates where we're not. Judging. The devil is playing on the sincerity of your heart. Purity. People who come to church generally want change.
26:50 - Purity & Condemnation - Most pure people often the most self-condemning. Satan holds failure in front of them. Satan is a condemner. If your heart weren't changed by the gospel, you wouldn't care. But you are all worth the blood.
28:50 - Look at yourself through Christ - If you are not regarding anyone else by the flesh, why are you regarding yourself by the flesh. Judging yourself by outward appearances. Graciously you look at everybody through Christ but sometimes have trouble looking at yourself through Christ. From now on...
Ministry & Truth
30:00 - Participant's comment on self-condemnation. I went through 3 years of inner healing and never got rid of that stuff.
30:10 - Do you know why? Truth makes you free. There's no line of ministry that changes a mindset. Ministries bless you for a moment but mindsets need to be changed. Change the mindset that allow the pain.
31:00 - There is not a bomb that you could drop on me to devastate me.
32:00 - Sexual abuse as a kid wouldn't devastate me. That guy is dead and gone. It's not who I am. I don't even remember. Who cares. We feel that is insensitive but that is lifesaving. If you try to be sensitive to that knowledge, you are giving the flesh occupancy(? - leadership control) You are allowing something to identify you apart from Christ.
32:40 - Participant's comment - clarification.
32:50 - The gospel should already be my healing. There's nothing to hurt. The only thing that helps people in these situations is truth - giving them understanding of who they really are - putting it in it's proper perspective - sin - twistedness of man - losing sight of the value of people - it's no reflection of you and your value. You are worth the blood. You are a child of God.
33:20 - [Counseling scenario] Truth sets you free. Change of mindset - perspective. Put to death through Christ. Know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. Making other stuff lord.
35:10 - There is a design to crush you. To get you so hurt and hard that when the gospel comes you can't hear good news. "If He is so good then why?" Blame shifting onto God. Mad at God.
36:40 - God will bring change to that mindset. No need to be "right" in their life. Loving them with the heart of God.
Counseling - Trapped in Sin - Porn, Fornication, Homosexual Relationship
37:10 - Participant's comment - friend living in continuing sin - How do you counsel someone who continues to live in something they shouldn't be living in? -
38:35 - Continuing in sin - Most of the time it's because of the lack of people knowing who they really are. There's a deficit. They're trying to fulfill...
38:45 - Most addictions are rooted in a lack of self-esteem and lost identity.
38:55 - So I aim to bring out the best in people. Pan for the gold in people.
39:15 - Just saying, "You shouldn't be doing that" doesn't help. That brings the worst out in most people. They already have that conviction going in them. But they don't know what else to do because they don't see themselves as more than that.
39:30 - I tell people who they really are - the truth about their life and put the sin in proper perspective of why it isn't God so that it's not being heard legalistically. I always go to build up the identity. And take away the luster of the continuing sin.
40:10 - Porn - not addicted but around it. When I saw it for what it was and saw me for who I am, I didn't have to try to lose my desire for pornography. It was gross.
40:45 - Porn makes a woman one of millions when should be one in millions.
41:10 - Out of bounds relationships - One of millions - [Counseling for relationship] Nothing to do with love. One of millions.
42:10 - People get wrecked in a good way because there is always an answer in redemption even if you have crossed those lines.
42:20 - Wanting to feel loved, attractive, wanting a younger man's attention - trying to feed something, meet something that only God can meet. Only He can show you who you really are and your true value and out of the strength of that you enter into relationship. That's the way it's designed.
42:40 - God centered relationships - Adam & Eve - Out of the fullness of God in Adam, He brought forth Eve. Two becoming one. How that translates into today's relationships.
43:25 - What we've turned relationships into - meeting needs.
44:40 - The need to teach women 12-18 yr. old. Why they are created. The beauty of who they are. How the world exploits women - sold that honor short. Left them empty.
45:00 - There are no guys like that - Counseling young woman who had just been with a man. But there are no men like that out there. So I'll do as good as I can.
46:00 - If you don't give truth, they can't be free. Sow seeds. And wait for the crop.
46:50 - There are no guys like that - Excusing away not living by the Spirit to live by the flesh. I hear what you are saying but... And she will just become one of millions. Bring Christ up and out of a man. Stand your ground. You are a prize to be won. Don't sell cheap when you are worth the blood of Jesus. Ended up marrying a Christian man.
47:55 - There are no guys like that - I still have needs. Wrong.
48:30 - Homosexual relationships - How do you counsel someone in a homosexual relationship? - Go back to created value. Encourage to grow close to God - to know God. In the knowledge of God, that desire will melt. That's all I know.
49:00 - Get light into him until light outshines the darkness - until the darkness is exposed. Get alone and ask God, "Did you make me this way? If this is not my created value, would you reveal that to me?" If they will sincerely pray that God will respond and answer that in some way - in some time frame.
49:45 - Lesbian couple - I didn't know. The Lord showed me how to talk to them. Convictions. Trying to fit God into their mold.
51:05 - Get them to get alone seek God. If somebody doesn't care about doing that, how can you help them anyway by just telling them that it's wrong. Just build hardness in them.
52:00 - The door is still open to them to seek God and have God respond. If God is real and what we are saying is true, would you embrace that truth? Get alone. God, if you are real, reveal yourself to me. If you are to be known, I want to know you. If what this man is preaching is true...
53:00 - Salvation experience - If you are real and love me, can forgive me of all these things that are in my heart and have a plan for me, I will live for you. It's almost like I was calling out God. He fell on me. He met me there. If you can get people to get alone with God, God will work it out.
54:00- Lesbian couple - I could see their turmoil. They were bonded and yet they were both convicted. They felt like they couldn't live without one another. But they didn't feel right about God. I treated them with mercy and grace. They had been reprimanded by the church over and over. Seek Him - take a break. They were in a Catch-22.
55:50 - Did they then separate? - No. They weren't even going to continue to come to church. How do you feel about us coming here? They weren't in a place where they were looking to separate. They wanted to be together. I gave them an option. I sowed truth into their lives. They never came back. "We were really hoping that you would just be OK with this." It's not about me being OK. I love you both. I just understand that there are things that you are not seeing completely. But you can't force somebody to surrender.
57:50 - You can't mandate surrender. You will just have outward expression. Your lips will praise Him but your heart will be far from Him. He doesn't want your robotic Christian service. He wants your sonship. So you want to lead people into that place.
58:10 - What would you say to a co-worker who openly advocates the homosexual lifestyle? -
58:40 - You can usually only say something as they open up for something. And the only way that happens is if they begin to see love and begin to trust your heart. Otherwise they will never give you an opening into your life. [Scenario] What gets you that opening? Love.
59:40 - Not everybody is a Rom. 1 fit. Sown into from the time they were little. But there are certainly Rom. 1 situations. I could tell you a lot of stories.
1:00:20 - Praying for wisdom on what to say.
1:00:35 - Phone call from Christian lady whose husband demanded that a third be included in their intimacy. Did that for a year. Twisted.
1:01:30 - Twisted stuff. I thought I couldn't be shocked anymore and then I would get shocked. Satan is wicked and He is trying to confuse people. And it's working through people not knowing who they are and having emptiness.
1:01:45 - Fullness - No room for anything else - But to know the love of Christ is to be filled with the fullness of God - Eph. 3:19. When that is your deal none of that stuff from the enemy can stick. It will be discerned. When there is fullness in your life there won't be room for anything else. Room for nothing else.
1:02:35 - BREAK
Ministry & Truth (cont.)
1:02:45 - In progress...
1:02:50 - I'm not against ministry but I want to give them truth. I don't want them clean and swept and unoccupied. I want them clean and swept and filled with truth.
1:03:00 - He's the Spirit of truth. And the word is Spirit and life. You can soak and say you are going to get filled with the Spirit. But the lack of the truth in your life could make you like a balloon that is not tied. So you leave the atmosphere of soaking and you are deflating through the rest of the week. Then you've got to go back and get refilled. I thought we were supposed to live by the Spirit. That literally means - live by the truth.
1:03:45 - Living by the Spirit is living by the truth. God and the word are one. Holy Spirit only speaks what He hears. That's honoring the Father.
God Reality Removes the Allure of Sin
1:04:50 - Let's pick up where we left off - How God sees us and the message He sent through Jesus and how could we send any other message if we are following Jesus. So the way you minister, evangelized and multiply is right here.
1:05:15 - 2 Cor. 5 - v.16 - Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. - If you don't see others through the flesh don't see yourself through the flesh. Worldly expectation, standards that the world sets.
1:06:00 - Luster of the world - Don't get pulled into sin through feeling like you are missing something in the world. Fellowship with God will destroy that luster. You'll know that you're not missing anything. Sin is like a third shoe.
1:06:55 - God reality - Christianity IS fun. Not just following rules. Knowing Him is fun. We just lack God reality in our lives.
1:07:35 - The level that I know Him will correspond to the level I manifest Him.
1:08:00 - God reality in different areas of our lives. We need God reality in our lives.
1:08:20 - God reality prevents wandering off into sin - Ministers that fall into sin lack God reality - have stepped out of intimacy and relationship. You can't just slip into sin in the face of God reality.
1:08:40 - But if I didn't stay in a place of knowing Him, sooner or later flesh would gain momentum. The old man would raise from the dead. I would lose that place of fulfillment. The love is what fulfills me. It's not a doctrine. It's a relationship.
1:09:45 - Writing again on same topics - Why else would Paul write the same things over and over? Phil 3 So that people continue to walk in truth and continue to stay free.
1:10:10 - 2 Peter 1 - If we will do these things we will never stumble. If you fail to do these things - shortsighted even to blindness and forgetting you have been cleansed from all of your sins.
1:11:00 - If you forget that you have been cleansed of all of your sin then the flesh still has a voice.
1:11:30 - At the end of the chapter he talks about writing to them the same things again.
1:11:50 - Complaints about not receiving anything fresh. Didn't he just preach this?
1:12:30 - Become the word and it will always be fresh. Become the word you have received and you will rejoice.
1:13:15 - Catholic funeral mass - Said "amen." Out of order. Surprised by the life there. Speaking at the funeral mass. After the Eucharist. 5 minute limit - took 4. I was believing that the service might be traditional and dry. I heard the gospel through the whole thing. It's life but it can become traditional - it's what you do with your heart. As soon as the mass was over people gathered around me. They wanted to know what was happening in their hearts when I was speaking.
1:18:45 - Wedding where God came - predominantly Catholic. Knocked the best man over. God was excited about going to their wedding. Covenant. Giving yourselves to one another. 2nd wedding I ever did. Wind that split went around them and crossed. I told you He would come. She couldn't recover. He went out over the people and rained. No body went out to the reception line. They came right to me - What's going on?.
1:23:45 - 9 months later - conflict - not resolved. Three days without making up. Maybe we got married to young. That can't be true - If that was true He would have never come like He did. Today doing very well.
1:25:30 - Even in the middle of trial, the revelation of Him and His smile and His kiss helped them to stay one in Him - affirmed their marriage. We ought to do everything in the presence of God.
* * *
1:26:15 - v.16 - Here is how we know Jesus. We follow Jesus' earthly ministry. He is Lord. We are not Lord. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given unto me. Now Go in my name - Mt. 28:18-19. What's He doing. He's making two, one. We covered this last week.
1:26:50 - So now we see Christ as name above every name. King of kings. Lord of lord. All authority. And Christ is in us and now we go. And Christ in us is the hope of glory. You have to see Him through resurrection power. That everything in heaven and on the earth will bow at the name of Jesus. And yet He said, Go in my name. It's huge.
We're a New Creation
1:27:25 - v.17 - New Creation - Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. - Meditate on this. Anyone. If you are in Christ you are a new creation. There is nothing lacking. If you measure yourself by the world's standards or by your own standards, you will be deceived. You're the will of God revealed.
1:28:20 - We're not TRYING to be new creations, we are. You have to start there. If you TRY to be, you reveal to yourself that you are not a new creation. You have to be to ever be empowered to do.
1:28:45 - Tree & fruit - It's always about the tree, not the fruit. The tree is before the fruit. Stop trying to bear the fruit to prove the tree. Be the tree and you'll bear the fruit.
1:29:00 - Make a tree good - That means change it's identity. Change it's name, root. I was in Adam, now I'm in Christ. I was in the flesh. Now I'm in the Spirit. I wasn't forgiven. Now I'm forgiven. I wasn't redeemed. Now I'm redeemed. I wasn't a son. Now I'm a son. Make a tree good and then the fruit will be good.
1:29:35 - The Bible says you ARE a new creation. Stop TRYING to be one. Accept it and say, "Yay!" Thank Him for that and Holy Spirit will deposit grace and form you in grace to where your life will come into agreement with new creation reality. You'll begin to live in a new way. Because you are being that first instead of TRYING to be that.
1:30:05 - New through faith - How else could it be said that we are living by faith? TRYING would be living by works - your own ingenuity - your own ability to perform. Then we would have hot shots and low lives.
1:30:25 - It's all by grace. John said a man has nothing unless it's been given by God - John 3:27.
1:30:50 - Honoring believers - I thank people for their diligence, their discipline, their willingness to believe what God says about them, their yieldedness to God, their fighting off the flesh. That's commendable to me. "I appreciate who you are letting God mold you into be. I honor Him in you. Thank you for being surrendered."
1:31:25 - Not for gifts - But gifts are straight from God. You can have a twisted identity and move in a gift. We see the gift and make people like gods.
1:31:45 - But for surrendering - I see somebody walking in love, walking in mercy, forgiveness, sincere joy, I want to honor that. It blesses me. Why? Because I know that they have been with Him and and believe Him. I thank them for that.
1:32:30 - Gifts - prophecy - It's not the house that deserves the honor but the builder of the house - Heb. 3:3. We get that backwards.
1:33:20 - What we honor in others. Craftsmanship. Honor the builder more than the building. So God receives the honor of the good building that has been done.
1:34:20 - v.17 - New creation - A pure heart - Biggest lie from hell is maybe someday a new creation or not quite yet or no, you never will be a new creation. New creation - your heart has been changed enough to care. You have to build on the strength of a pure heart - that the gospel has given you a pure heart. You wouldn't care so much if your heart wasn't pure. So stop judging yourself and trying to work this thing out in your own strength. And just begin to thank God that He is doing an amazing thing in you.
1:35:30 - Behold - speaks of the power of God. It points to the supernatural. "How did that happen?" It's God.
1:36:00 - But I still feel... People pursue ministry based on how they feel. The just live by faith not by how I still feel.
1:36:15 - But I can't believe - Preachers defend a lot of the sensual ministry. I hear this a lot. "Dan, not everybody can believe what you are believing." What is that? The just live by faith. And every promise is to the believer. Now we are excusing ourselves because we can't believe and actually confessing to be unbelievers.
1:36:45 - Well known men of God try to tell me this. Show me where it says that some can't believe and have to come another way. It takes away from the role of truth and just believing it. When do we really value truth if we are shooting around it because of the weakness of the flesh.
The Word - Our Face to Face Encounter
1:38:15 - The power of truth - John 8:31-32 - Disciple continues in my word. He knows truth. And the truth makes him free.
1:38:30 - Treasure the word and it will be honey to your lips. There is more of a value there than you realize.
1:40:10 - Confession of the word without becoming the word. Not talking about that.
1:40:20 - Looking into the heart of God through His word and seeing who He is. That's how I found Him.
1:40:35 - The word is your face to face encounter with me - He whispered into my spirit. In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God. And the word was God. Dan, this is your face to face encounter with me. And no one looks into my face and lives.
1:41:05 - I look in here and find out who He is. And that exposes the lies about me. When I look in here this is where I die. That's where I die so that I can finally live. So I surrender and submit and yield to Him as I see who He is because I find myself there because I see that He created me to be His son and be one with Him and manifest His presence.
1:41:35 - So what I see about Him, I wear it. If it's not my reality that's when it dies because my desire is oneness with Him. So I am looking into His face and I can't do that and live. I can't keep living. I have to die to myself if I look into Him.
1:42:00 - Now you are not going to do that if you are not living by faith - if you are living by feelings. "But I don't feel loved."
Unhealthy Desire for the Affection of Others
1:42:35 - Unhealthy dependence on the affection of others - Don't get trapped seeking attention and sympathy. Counseling to bring out their value. The highest form of grace they can receive is that you care about them. [Extended discussion] You don't want to have to have that to be OK. We draw from one another. It's not healthy when it is need. Eventually someone will disappoint you. Stop looking to others and look to God.
* * *
146:50 - The release of forgiveness - Participant's comment - Her father returns - able to forgive because she was forgiven. It was like imprisonment for him until forgiven.
1:47:50 - After a while some people realize what they have done but they don't know how to face what they did. And they live in the horror of that - the prison of that for all those years.
1:48:20 - Participant's comment - Lord continues to work in his life after that word of forgiveness. Heart changes. He is weirded out by daughter being ordained.
1:49:20 - How people change when they find out that you are a pastor. They change the way they talk.
1:49:30 - Language change around pastor - when they find out Dan's a pastor. Nothing Christian at the table at all. It's time to know Him. We are really scattered today...
We're a New Creation (cont.)
1:51:30 - v.17 - New creation - Don't exclude yourself. There is a time to stand in faith on what this verse says regardless of how you feel. Thank you God that there is grace on my life. That you are changing all things. You are swallowing up unhealthy emotions, unhealthy memories. You're taking away the marks and stains of yesterday - you're removing them from my soul...[more]
1:52:40 - You'll find out how much your heart is in agreement with God or whether you are a confessing Christian when things happen on the earth. Rape and murder. The church is out for blood.
1:53:10 - Woman who visits inmate - raped and killed her daughter. She forgave. I cry for you that you might be saved. That's Christianity.
1:54:30 - Our sin killed His Son and now we are sons. Some of our sin was willful - after the knowledge of truth and we are still sons. We covet things (like the life of our daughter) at the cost of truth. If somebody rapes and kills your daughter, see what happens in your soul and you'll know if you are perfected in love.
1:55:20 - The act of sin can be what marks people - not the act of Jesus.
1:55:35 - Woman who visits inmate - Radically saved and totally transformed. Petitioned to get him out of jail. They ministered together. Became best friends. Preached about what love is. That's not the man.
Perilous Times
1:56:40 - Matthew 24 - v.3 - And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? - I'm not going to read all of this. They asked Jesus a question - what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age. Look how He starts verse 4...
1:57:20 - v.4 - Sober warning - And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. - Real sober - Take heed. The only way that you can be deceived is through the wisdom of the world - the way that seems right to man - believing a lie. You've got truth in front of you and you start believing a lie.
1:57:50 - v.9-10 - Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. - Many will be offended and betray one another. Who is He talking about? Everyone - not just the world.
1:58:30 - Hurt by the church - There will be a lot of hurt out there - running from church to church because of hurt. You are a sitting duck when you are hurt. "We want to come here for a season of healing because we were so hurt by our old church." Concerned about the mind that permits you to even be in that state of hurt. How can you go to a new church to be healed without projecting back on your old church because you found fault there. You found weakness. How could you ever have resolution there if you are coming here for healing. How could that story not come out of your mouth when you hear the name of the ministry. Watch the progression here...
1:59:50 - v.11 - False prophets - And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. - the people are in a place to be deceived. They are not sheep, hearing His voice anymore. They've lost identity. They've gotten hurt and have issues. False prophets - not just people but mindsets and ways of speaking.
2:00:30 - Hating - The condition of men's hearts is offended and hating one another. The Bible says that when you are in hate, you are in darkness until now - 1 John 2:9. If you are in darkness there is no light. So if you hear someone speak through the hurt and pain, it will make sense to you.
2:00:55 - v.12 - Love will grow cold - And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. - The love of many will grow cold. Why? Because you reserve the right to be offended. "Well, you don't know what they did to me. What do you expect? They just raped and killed my daughter. And where was God? I thought He was here to protect me. I prayed for my little girl my whole life. Why wasn't God here to protect her?" The lawlessness and the "yeah, but" language cost you your identity, your love, your purpose - the reason you are alive in the first place.
2:02:05 - Everything is designed to wipe out and erase the real you. And the biggest tool is lawlessness. And all of the sudden God is the issue. "Why didn't God protect?" No, people are the issue. And all you are is a hurting lonely person now. And your love has grown cold.
2:02:35 - v.13 - He who endures - But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. - hold one's ground in conflict - to bear up under adversity - hold out under stress - stand firm - wait calmly and courageously. Not a passive resignation to fate or mere patience but the active energetic resistance to defeat that allows brave endurance. Active, aggressive.
2:03:30 - When tempted to take lawlessness into your soul - Father, I thank you that my war is not flesh and blood. I thank you that when I became a Christian, I died to myself and I'm alive unto you. [more]...
2:03:55 - You are going after it lest that thing whisper to you all night long. And you tell that to someone else. "They did what? I can't believe he did that?" It keeps building. The Bible is so our help in time of need. Guard your heart against the effects of lawlessness.
2:04:50 - Shine - The lady who went to the prison understood that. She understood that darkness covers the earth and deep darkness the people. But the light is upon you. What is God saying in Is. 60? Get your off the darkness and off what the people are doing and shine. Or you are just another hurt, offended confessing Christian that goes to church and takes up a seat. Carrying the form of godliness but denying that power to flow through your life. You're a confessing Christian that goes to church when you are called to be the church - Don't be reduced to that.
We're Reconciled
2:05:55 - Back to 2 Cor. 5 - v.17 - Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. - You grow into that through intimacy and prayer.
2:06:10 - v.18 - And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; - It's all from God - redemption, forgiveness, mercy, the Spirit of God in you, a brand new destiny - it's all from God - it's all the will of God. If it wasn't God's heart, He would have never sent His Son and opened the door to you. He did it for us because He knows the truth about us.
2:07:15 - Reconciled - He has reconciled us. You have been made a friend to God - period. The passion you see in me now is because that is true. I'm not TRYING to be a friend, I am a friend of God. I'm not TRYING to live reconciled. I am reconciled. So of course I am going to live reconciled. It's simple.
2:08:25 - It's not complex - It can't be that simple. It is that simple. You were never created to be that complex. That complexity came when the stranger added to what God said. Yak, yak, yak. "Yeah, well, but you know..." You create this complicated scenario and miss the point of what God is saying for your life.
Struggling to Receive His Love
2:09:40 - v.18 - Love puts integrity in you. His love makes you want to honor Him. I don't want to miss God. This message puts honor back into me. You have to receive that love.
2:10:50 - Todd knows how to receive - used to be master manipulator. If you told Todd that you wanted to bless him. He would call you up and want to know when.
2:11:10 - Resistance to receiving - That's actually a healthy thing. It's called receiving the free gift and the abundance of grace. Most people say, "No, man, you don't need to do that for me." We struggle to receive because we didn't do anything to earn it - deserve it.
2:12:00 - Bible on CD - trying to give them to new believer. I can't take these from you. I'm not a good receiver. That's a shame. Then you are going to make a lousy Christian. Don't say that. It's all about the free gift and the abundance of grace. You don't deserve a thing that you've got in the kingdom. How do you think you got where you are at? How do you think you got the Spirit of God in you? Because you passed a test?.
2:12:55 - The reason we don't honor - We don't receive - If you accept that kind of gift it will give you so much honor towards the giver. It will line your life up to Him. The reason that we aren't impressed with Him is because we haven't received the abundance of His grace and the free gift. So we don't appreciate the heart that is crying out from heaven, "I love you!" And it becomes an Easter story.
2:13:25 - We'll finish this tomorrow.
2:13:30 - Closing prayer.