Day 6
3:45 - Healing is part of the package of the kingdom - Driving in this morning. Used to teach more on spiritual gifts and healing because there is a lot of misunderstanding and so much need in the body. Now I feel a mandate on my heart to pound identity. I don’t talk as much about healing but it is just in the room when we talk about His righteousness, forgiveness of sin, the grace of God on us, etc. There is a faith that releases.
5:10 - The kingdom is in us - If I can preach on identity and that can become our reality. We will walk in a whole lot deeper supernatural place than we’ve ever walked. And we will realize that that (the supernatural and healing) is already in our heart. And it won't always be just certain people moving in healing or just the gifted ones. We all have the kingdom. Every one of us has the right to lay hands on the sick.
5:35 - Not just gifting but believing - That is not taught and agreed on in the body. And I understand that there are gifts and a gift of healing. We are not getting into that today. But the Bible says clearly that the sign follows the believer.
➡ 5:50 - Camping on foundational topics - The clearer you see yourself in Christ, the clearer you see who you have become. So that is why we are going to camp a whole lot on identity and love and what it means to be loved and become love. Because they are the things that are going to keep your conscience crystal clear.
Keep Your Conscience Clear
6:10 - Violation of conscience - When your conscience gets violated - when you do anything against your conscience, you gray yourself out from drawing close and being loved and seeing yourself as lovable. So it’s very important to follow the convictions that are working in your heart.
6:45 - Personal convictions - As you grow in God you will develop your own convictions - your own reality. Then it is never I need to, have to, ought to - I shouldn’t be doing that… Because that’s where condemnation comes from.
6:55 - Lady teaching Bible study - smoking - no violation of conscience - then conviction arose.
8:10 - When someone tells you that you shouldn’t be doing something you may think, "I should not be doing that." But it is just knowledge, not a strong conviction. And it is harder to stop things that way. But as she was praying, she saw it through Him where her own conscience said, "You know, I don’t think I need to be doing that." And she just put it away.
9:15 - She was totally innocent - had no violation of conscience so there was nothing to condemn her. But as she grew in relationship with God, as soon as she thought twice about it, she yielded to the conviction and there was grace to just put it away. During that time her heart was innocent and free. She didn’t think twice about it.
10:05 - Follow your conscience - So don’t violate your conscience as you are growing because the whole purpose of drawing close to Him is to walk in the light. When you walk in the light as He is in the light, all of the sudden you see things through Him and there might be little areas in your life where you start realizing that’s probably not edifying - that might not be setting a good example - that’s probably not the most productive way to think. When you get those little convictions, thank God for them. Yield to them and begin to walk that out. Because if you don’t you’ll gray yourself out. It keeps you from the place your heart is crying to be. So love yourself enough to follow your conscience.
➡ 10:55 - That was just a little side note. Kicking off with that.
Meditating in Proverbs 2 - Ask for Understanding
11:15 - Proverbs 2 (continued from yesterday)
11:20 - Asking for understanding - Remember how it said… cry out for discernment and lift your voice for understanding? We don’t do that because of what we don’t have (where we are not). We do that because of what we are growing in and what we believe is available. It’s always encouraging. It’s never condemnation.
11:35 - Comparing to others - It's not about where you're not but where you're going - When you see God in someone's life, don’t weigh yourself against that such that it exposes what is not in your life. Hearing a message that is intended to bring life with an ear that presses us down. You don't want to do that. That is a lie. That is a trap. The message is good news. It tells you where you are called to and the doors that are open to pass through. It’s not about where you are not. It’s about where you are heading. So if your mindset is not producing life, it’s not on the track of truth.
12:35 - Prayer for understanding from negativity - It’s not faith - So when you cry out for discernment and understanding, don’t be motivated by how far away you feel you are. So it’s not even a prayer of faith. It’s just desperation. You are just going to frustrate yourself praying from that motivation. It’s not healthy. Cycling in that negative mindset and not gaining what you seek.
13:35 - He died for the sins of the whole world - Price already paid - He didn’t just die for our sin but for the sin of the whole world. So whether a man sees it or not, the price is paid and he is qualified to be a son if he will just step into it. Where God is concerned the mercy is already there because the blood is on the mercy seat. You could be right with God in a MOMENT just by changing your heart and mind and saying yes. Not by doing a thing but by saying yes to what’s already been done.
14:00 - Continue in the way you came in - grace through faith by the Spirit - Why don’t we stay that simple? If we try to bring people in that simple and tell them it’s that simple, why don’t we walk out our Christian life that simple? Why does it change? They did it, as we can see, in Galatians. Why is it that you started in the Spirit and now you are trying to live this thing in the flesh - reverting back to doing it in the flesh. That’s what we tend to do.
14:40 - Crying out for understanding - So when we cry out for discernment and understanding - Father, I thank you that it is your good pleasure to give me the kingdom. Holy Spirit you are amazing in me. You are the Spirit of truth and you will guide me in all truth. You are my best friend and you love me. And you love to love me. That’s not the way we have prayed for things we know we could grow in. We have only prayed from where we are not.
15:30 - Example of communing - Proverbs 2 - not so that you puppet that prayer but so that you catch what we are talking about. That example can become a revelation - helps to understand concepts that we have been teaching.
18:15 - Don’t pray from what you are not - A little review - Don’t pray from a negative view. Don’t pray from where you’re not - letting that be your motivation. When you see joy in somebody’s life, don’t think, “Man, how come I don’t have joy?” Say, Wow, I see that joy is coming from what they believe and see. And God I thank you that you continue to open my heart. Or you will just covet what people have. You will revert back to self-centered thinking and be frustrated and mad because you don’t think this thing is working for you and it is working for everybody else. That is a lifeless mentality. That mentality gets chopped out of your life as you commune with God.
19:10 - Listen to the mouth to understand the heart - With your heart you believe, with your mouth you make confession unto salvation - Rom. 10:10. So what you really believe comes out of your heart and ultimately your mouth. You can find what somebody believes just by talking. You can find out what people believe by listening in on most people’s prayer lives. Some people take 20 minutes just to get past themselves. Making it all about them and what’s wrong with them and asking God to love them and have mercy on them etc. They feel like it is repentance but really it just a struggling identity that is faultfinding. That’s not healthy.
20:45 - Example of communing - Proverbs 2 - Reading Proverbs 2:1-11
21:45 - Just begin to release faith. Begin in a positive way to thank God for being your Father - that Holy Spirit is here. He’s the Spirit of truth. And He is guiding you in all truth. That you are not in this school to get more knowledge but the Spirit of grace is upon you to give understanding. And these things that we are talking about are becoming your reality.
22:15 - Father, I thank you that it’s your good pleasure to give me every good thing…
22:45 - Father, I thank you that you are even teaching us to seek you and to know you and understand you. I thank you that you are moving everything out of our way as a class that these students would see you for who you are so that they can see clearly who they are. And Lord I thank you that you give understanding. It’s your good pleasure to bless us and show us the way. Thank you for the grace that illuminates me and opens my eyes - opens my heart. Thank you Father…
23:30 - You love me. You want to illuminate my heart so I thank you that I am seeing more than I have ever seen before. I thank you that when circumstances come, when life affronts me, I thank you that I begin to respond more like you. More like you Jesus because your wisdom is in me.
23:40 - And Holy Spirit, you are the one that leads me. I yield to you. I am so not at the wheel. You are God. You are the one that lives through my life. I’m alive but it’s not me. It’s Christ in me. And I thank you that your mind is my mind and your ways are my ways. Thank you for the lights coming on.
24:10 - Thank you for causing all of us to see. Thank you that you are pushing away guilt and condemnation and shame. Thank you that you are pushing away any reason that we couldn’t enter in and know you and see your face. Thank you Father.
24:40 - Your prayer life is fellowship - Sometimes when you begin to pray like that one thing will lead into other things and more things and more things. That’s your prayer life. Don’t get rigid in your prayer life with a rigid plan for praying. You’ll find in a relationship it is just a flow. Just like a conversation flows from topic to topic - just having fellowship. It’s not that structured prayer is wrong but when do we ever just grow in fellowship with Him?
25:30 - Fellowship with Holy Spirit - The Bible says fellowship with Holy Spirit - communion with Holy Spirit. That means He is your best friend. And you want Him to grow into your best friend. And there are times when you will be just talking and something will get big in your heart. You just go with it and begin to pray. And then something else. And before you know it an hour will go by and I will have prayed about things I didn’t even think about. Or never even touched the things that I thought I went there to pray for. But the whole time I was in communion with God and I felt like I was being led by Him and my heart became one with Him. And there is a sense of knowing Him and His love in that place.
God's Voice
26:10 - Could you talk about hearing His voice? Sometimes it feels like me just talking. -
Don’t struggle to hear the voice of God - approach Him in faith - Don’t get hung up on hearing the voice of God. Some people struggle so bad with it and they say, “Man, I don’t hear the voice of God. I just feel like I am talking to myself.” It’s always going to go back to faith.
26:35 - Ways that God speaks - There are times when I just meditate and I feel like God speaks to me through that. There are other times when He will talk to me in my spirit in straight English and just straight up talk to me. You say, “Well, that doesn’t happen to me.” Don’t get hung up on that.
26:50 - Manifestations - You don’t hear me talk much about manifestations in my life - things I feel - and personal stuff. Because we start making that our barometer. And then again, we start weighing (comparing), “Well those things aren’t in my life. I mustn’t be close to God. I guess when I get closer to God, I’ll start having that.” No, it’s not like that. There are some people that hear God differently. Some people hear through pictures. Some people hear primarily through the word - you see it and you know it and you know God is communing. There are a lot of different ways to hear the voice of God.
27:25 - God speaks - If I were just to say how I hear the voice of God specifically, you would maybe weigh yourself against that and try to pursue that for your reality. But God will probably speak to you differently. Like a little thought and then a whole thing will open up. Sometimes God will speak in straight up English in my heart. And I have learned to know that it’s Him. He will do it out of the blue sometimes. Sometimes I’ll be jogging and He’ll say, “Hey Dan, you know…” and He will just talk to me.
28:30 - Running with God - “Hey, let’s go run together.” At 5 in the morning. Todd was snoring anyway. So you guys just left me? That’s just wrong dude.
30:55 - Running in Alaska - dog eating lady’s tire - Good thing I am in covenant. Moose attacks. Bear attacks. Skeleton along the road. Dead animal, dismembered. Drops me off. Big moose torn to shreds. Wolf tracks everywhere.
34:00 - Fellowship with Holy Spirit - There is relationship with Holy Spirit. You are growing with Him - having intimacy with Him - where you are hearing His voice. If He says let’s run together, everything will be cool.
34:15 - Running with God (cont.) - 5 miles. Back to the hotel in 28 minutes because the whole way He preached the revelation of the blood.
34:30 - Damage you do if your life doesn’t back up your comments on communing - Those times aren’t everyday with me. People talk like He talks like that with them every day and maybe He does but if He were talking like that I might not share that with everybody unless your life reveals that because it lessens the impact of Him talking to you everyday (it damages the impression people have of the importance of talking to Him every day). Some people talk all about their spiritual experiences when they have obvious issues - offense, hurt, cycles etc. And people look at that and think, “Man, if you are in the presence of God all the time how come you’ve got all those issues?” It confuses people. And it wanes (damages people's impression about) the power of being in His presence.
35:00 - You have to be careful when you are talking manifestations. You KNOW when someone has been with the Lord. You know by their life when they are walking with Him. The reason I don’t share my personal experiences too much is because I don’t want them to be the barometer. I don’t want people to chase after that for their experience.
35:30 - A unique and personal relationship - Here is what I know. If you preach identity and you start to enter in by faith in a secret place, He will see you there and He will meet you there. And then your relationship will be your relationship. Then you will have your own revelation and your own identity and the way that you hear the voice of God.
35:45 - But it is many ways with me. Sometime He will speak one word to me and open up a whole paragraph to me in a moment. Everything will make sense. Like I will just see what He is saying. When He said, “Why would you be discouraged?” That is all He said. And when He said it, I knew what He meant. I saw the whole picture in a millisecond.
36:20 - He speaks through the word - The number one way that He speaks to me is through His word. What I mean is I’ll read a scripture and three other scriptures will pop off in me. And all of the sudden the dots are connected. I’ll see what the Lord is saying. I’ll read a chapter and all of the sudden my heart will start to open. And there are things about Jesus’ life. I so treasure His word.
37:00 - Some people get pictures and visions.
37:10 - But conversations are two sided right? - I feel like I am just talking to myself. You may be thinking you talk too much in your prayers. God can’t speak to you. Conversations are two sided. He has plenty of time to speak to me. He can speak to me any time. But there is a time where I need to establish my heart in truth. I might go for 40 minutes and hardly take a breath. But the whole time I am doing that I am releasing faith and grace is establishing me in that. I am making declarations and proclaiming things and seeing things and God is actually praying through me. Holy Spirit is actually the one causing me to pray those things because when I pray them, I see them. I pray them, I see them. So is He speaking to me in that process? Absolutely, right while I am talking. Because as I am praying, I see what I am praying. I am becoming what I am saying. Grace is meeting me where faith is.
38:25 - It doesn’t FEEL like He is there - Or you can feel like, “Man, I am just talking to the air. I don’t feel like God is there.” He is absolutely there because He says He is. So don’t feel like you are talking to the walls. Continue in the word. You’ll know the truth. And the truth will make you free.
38:45 - Faith is not a method - When you find a reason to back off or pull back, or you say, “I tried that brother,” you are reducing the gospel to a method. Faith is not a method it’s a lifestyle.
39:00 - Persist in faith - If you have a friend and you know that they are your friend. They have a phone number. You may call and nobody answers. But you know that he is real. And you know that if you keep calling that you are going to get through. Because a revelation is established that I know who he is. I’ve settled that he hears my messages and that he will call me back.
40:15 - God is never on another line. And if He is, He can still be on yours. God’s door is never locked. It’s never “knock first.” It’s never “sorry, in a meeting.” He’s always available. You can always come boldly into the throne room of grace.
40:45 - Don’t make seeking Him a method. If you say, “I’ve tried that,” you’ve embraced a mindset that has discouraged or frustrated you. You’ve reduced your relationship to a method of seeking Him instead of an expression of heart towards Him.
41:25 - Taking a drive this morning to the water company. Communing with God. Presence of God. Misty Edwards song.
43:20 - God reality established through communion - That’s secret time. That’s personal. You give yourself to that because that is the only place where what we’re explaining in this class is real. It becomes your reality. That’s where it becomes established. You can sit here and get tons of information and without spending time in the secret place that is all it will be. Without communion everything you get here is just information. It’s knowledge. It will puff you up. And in the long run it will just bite you because you will here this whisper, “Yeah, you know all that but it’s not your experience.” And there you are in that cycle again, feeling like, “If I didn’t get it by now, I’m not going to get it.” This is your birthright.
44:25 - It’s not a method - You don’t hear me preaching about praying in tongues a lot because then people make it a method. We get into works so quickly. We’re like, “Ok, I’ve got to pray for 10 minutes in tongues every morning.” I might not even think to pray in tongues every morning. Every morning might look totally different. When it is like that, I think it is true relationship. Because I am not under pressure to perform anything. I don’t feel like I have to do something to get something. I don’t have to pray in tongues for 30 minutes to get something. I am entering into what I already know that I have. If I end up praying in tongues in the process - great. If I end up just singing a worship song to Him - great. If I end up parking along the road and crying - great. But none of those things are what is making it happen. I am doing all of those things because of Him. It’s just a flow. I am not doing that to get to Him. I've already gotten to Him. He's already gotten to me. It’s not works.
45:40 - Slipping into works. It’s like Christian aerobics or something. Morning exercises. The tendency of people is to turn it into something that they do to get somewhere. No, it’s the spontaneous response of your heart.
46:30 - Prostrate before the Lord - Hey why don’t you flip over and talk to me? I’ve asked Him to Father me and lead me and disciple me that way. When I start to slip into works I think Holy Spirit will let me know.
47:50 - He answers me later - that way I know it’s not me - “Is that God or me? Is that God or is that just what I want to do?” He will give me an answer later on. Three hours later when I am not even thinking about it, He will answer out of the blue. And I know that it is not me because I wasn’t even thinking about it. That’s how He fathers me.
48:40 - Don’t struggle to get an answer - I don’t get stressed out about hearing an answer. I know that he will convince my heart. I don’t want to live out of my head. I want to live out of my heart. I will release faith that He hears me and that He will answer me. And I won’t worry about it. And out of the blue, usually in that day, He will speak and you will know that it is God. So don’t struggle in knowing Him. If you are struggling you are making it some kind of method and not a relationship.
➡ 50:30 - Little things that keep you from entering in - We’ve been talking about all of these little side issues that can be stumbling blocks to us. Do you understand why I am talking about all of these little side areas? Because if I am just fellowshipping with God, these little things that keep you from entering in could still be there, if they are not exposed. The more they are exposed - the more we give understanding (to expose these problems), the better we see, the more we can become what we see.
Meditating in the Word
51:05 - Trouble keeping your mind focused? - Meditate in the word - How do you discipline your mind to keep it from going on tangents and in circles during prayer? - If your heart is to seek God and that is happening, if there is a song that really touches your heart - that means something to you - that you like to sing to Him - not just a prayer song that you receive - sing that. It might be good to pray in the Spirit a little. What we are going to do right now is the answer to what I have done in my life. That happens to all of us at some level at some time. Some people deal with it more than others. The way to step through that is by meditating in the word. And we are right ready to go there. This is what will get your mind locked in.
53:30 - Meditating in the word - Psalms 1 says that if you meditate day and night in the word, you will be like a tree planted by the rivers of living water. It talks about bearing fruit in your due season. Your leaf won’t wither.
53:50 - Going through a wilderness - So there is no such thing as going through a wilderness if He is there. “I am going through a wilderness.” Well you just have the same eye that the Hebrews had. And you are dying there like they did.
54:10 - Jesus v. Hebrew children in the wilderness - Jesus went through a wilderness and came out with the Spirit and power. He went through the wilderness selfless. They went through selfish.
54:20 - When God is there there is no wilderness - But the bottom line is that He is there. And He is our Father. There is no such thing as wilderness. You are in the world but not of it - John 17:15-16. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death - Ps. 23:4.
54:30 - Psalms 23 - for the born again Christian - Psalms 23 is not just a Psalm to read at a funeral. That’s a shallow interpretation. That’s actually a Psalm for the Christian when He gets born again. Because the earth is cursed in the sense that it has a time limit on it. Cursed in the sense that it is suffering from the fall of man until it is rolled up like a garment and burned with fire, there won’t be a new heaven or earth. So this earth, as you know it, is going to be totally removed. So you are walking in the valley of the shadow of death - a place that is going to be rolled up and burned with fire. But you are not fearing evil. Darkness covers the earth and deep darkness the people. Death and catastrophe are lingering in that valley. For people that are not prepared it will be a day of darkness because there is no hope when you are apart from Him. And they will cry out for the mountains to fall on them lest they have to face Him, having lived apart from Him. That’s serious thoughts.
56:00 - God brings right perspective - So there is no such thing as a wilderness when God is there. The closer you are to God and the more you walk with Him, the more you will see life for what it really is. You’ll see life as a headache without knowing Him. You’ll see the people you work with as a pain in the neck. If God is there, your perspective on life is crystal clear. If God is there, how can it be a wilderness? Were the Hebrews in trouble (danger) in the wilderness? Did they ever have a reason to complain? Were they ever going to die? But because they failed to see the truth, they died.
57:50 - We aren’t in a wilderness - Don’t think that you are in a wilderness. You are getting your eyes on you and on how circumstances are affecting you instead of manifesting God in the midst of those circumstances - manifesting God in the midst of trial. If your eyes get turned inward, you will just say that you are in a wilderness your whole life. We are in the world but we are not of it - John 17:15-16. God’s there.
➡ 58:30 - Do you see why we spend so much time in knowing Him. To know Him is eternal life. Not to pray a prayer.
58:50 - Meditating in the word - Psalms 1 - If you meditate in the word day and night, you don’t sit in the seat of the scornful. You are not hanging out with and running with the mindset of a sinful man. You're not living in the wisdom of the world. You are camping out in truth. It’s the word of God.
59:10 - Seeking the opinions of others - You don’t need opinions. You don’t need your friends to tell you what they think. You don’t need a piece of someone’s mind.
59:40 - I have no need to give you advice. He is the Spirit of counsel. I want to give you His mind.
1:00:00 - A lot of what people think has been derived through what they have been through. And they come up with reasoning to back up their own misunderstandings. And they interpret scripture through the eye of how life has been.
1:00:30 - People calling telling you the multiple opinions they have heard.
1:01:20 - You might just grab onto the opinion that comforts your flesh.
1:01:50 - If I need counsel, I am looking to God first. Or I’ll ask God who to call.
1:02:35 - Opinions of the pastor. Marking people. Seeing something over people. Cast it out. Do something about it. We draw identity out of it.
1:06:35 - Manifestations - You don’t hear me talking a lot about manifestations, visions, things I see on people. It’s the foundation of what those things flow from that we are hungry for. There is security in not talking about those things. I don’t have to bear witness of that. Paul said, It’s not ourselves we preach. It’s Christ.Meditating in 1 Corinthians 1
1:08:05 - Jesus is the wisdom of God - 1 Corinthians 1:30 - But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: - Don’t just frame this scripture and put it on your wall. Put it in your heart.
1:08:45 - 1 Corinthians 1 - reading of the whole chapter for context.
Unity & Division
1:10:20 - Joined together - same mind - same judgement - v.10 - Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. - You might not see totally eye to eye scripturally, doctrinally with everybody in our lives but we can see our identity, the purpose of Christ coming - the reason He sent His Son - there are some things that are so foundational that we need to begin to agree on. We can disagree on healing and still wake up in the same faith. The faith - that I am created in God’s image and I’m born again to be restored back to His image and become love and manifest the heart of God to the world around me. We can all still be living for the same reason.
1:11:55 - The good fight of faith - Is that spiritual warfare? No, it’s maintaining the identity you’ve received through Christ.
1:12:10 - The faith - The faith is the reason we are born again. We’re the righteousness of God in Christ. We are His sons and daughters. We’re created in His image. He saved us to redeem us back to original value. And we are called to bear witness to His image. We’re the body of Christ. We’re the children of God. We are the people who represent the heart of God. We are saved to become love.
1:12:50 - The faith is not preached - That’s the common Bible knowledge of the faith - all of those things I just preached - and some of us have never heard them preached in church. People tell me all of the time, “I feel like I heard the gospel for the first time.” And all I am preaching is the faith.
1:13:15 - Divisions in the church - We’ve made the faith all about demonic warfare - healing the sick - all about whether tongues is or isn’t of God - we’ve made all of these aspects of the Christian life the thing that is dividing us and we haven’t even preached clearly why we are Christians. And we build all of these camps and we have 600 churches in York county and a lot of it is not because they are called (to be formed). It’s just obvious that God doesn’t need 600 churches in York county.
1:14:05 - Churches arising out of division and judgement. Feeling the presence of God in church. Projection on leadership of the church.
1:17:15 - Listening to a sermon for others - Listening to a sermon for your spouse. Or you can go to hear for yourself and become a better spouse. Watching another to see how they are responding. That can mean you are carrying judgements.
1:19:10 - Using the pulpit to resolve issues - Projection - Speaking to specific situations from the pulpit. That is actually sin. If you have a chance to speak, don’t speak on a topic because of what you are aware of in that group. Just preach Jesus and it will all work out. It’s projection.
1:19:50 - Example of avoiding projection.
1:22:25 - Ministering from zeal - Vision one night of a lady going through depression. Lady sitting on second row. God wouldn’t let me see you. I was zealous.
1:24:00 - You are surrendered to Him. You have no need to do or be anything to anybody but what He is saying and doing. I had zeal in my heart. It wasn’t wrong to feel that way but in my heart I don’t ever want to miss God or project or be presumptuous. In my heart I am saying, Holy Spirit keep me from that place. So what does He do? He totally keeps me from seeing her the whole time.
1:24:40 - God’s way is better than our zeal - Kind of like David wanting to build a house for the Lord. No, it’s not for you to build but it’s good that you have the desire. You get the stuff prepared for your son. God affirmed David’s desire. It was kind of like that with that lady. “Dan it’s cool that you have that desire but I have a much better timing.” And He did a powerful thing in her. How sweet is that. That is not straight gifting but there is relationship in that.
1:25:40 - Being right v. being righteous
1:26:05 - Continuing to read 1 Corinthians 1
1:26:30 - v.10 (cont.) - Same mind to become love - So if every one of us has the same mind to become love, then love will rule among us. If there are issues that are self-centered, offended - if there is injustice among us, if love is our foundation and we are rooted and grounded in love, we will handle everything with love. There will be no division among us. We will understand the heart of God through the whole thing. We will understand how to correct one another. Why? Because we all understand why we are in this thing. And there is no self-centered, self-serving desire. We are one. We are the body of Christ. We are seeing through love.
1:27:10 - Difficulties and differences that arise in relationships in the church. The more that we are rooted in love, the more that we will respond from that steady place of love. That’s how God functions. He is love.
1:28:15 - Continuing to read 1 Corinthians 1
1:28:50 - v.14 - I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; -
Addressing division - It’s not that He doesn’t see the value of baptism. He just doesn’t want the division. Paulites v. Apolloites. “Who baptized you? Well, Paul baptized me.” That’s what people do. And that is what Paul is addressing.
1:29:30 - Projecting - “I fasted 40 days. Have you ever fasted 40 days? Well you ought to.” If you understand love you will never talk like that.
1:30:10 - Losing sight of pure motive - fasting - “If you fast past today, it’s for nothing.” I was so locked in, I didn’t even feel like I was fasting. I wasn’t hungry or weak. I was getting ready to reach a point I had never reached. “If you fast past today, it’s for nothing.” Why? Because you have lost sight of what you are doing. But Lord… The fact that you would “but Lord” shows exactly where you are Dan. I don’t have a “but” in me to this day. If it is about a number of days that you are fasting, then you open your heart to pride and fall into pride. You will hear someone talk about how long they fasted and you might not say it but you would think, “Well I fasted…” When those things matter, you have lost sight of who you are and what you are doing and why.
Father Me
1:33:15 - Father me please - Now why is He coming and intervening and saving me like that? Because I have talked to Him so much about fathering me and not letting me get off track. My ability to go off into darkness and weakness on my own is obvious and evident to you. And it would be daily if you weren’t the grace in my life. Come and father me. Don’t let me get off track. Kick me in the butt if you have to because I know that you love me. But don’t let me get off the straight and narrow. I talk to Him like that.
1:33:50 - He’s a good Father - He loves me and He can correct me. He is not coming in and saying, “You dummy. What are you doing? Didn’t I tell you not to do that? You make me so mad.” Because we have been touched that way our whole lives we are afraid to give Him total access to our lives and trust that He is a (good) father. He has saved me from those kinds of situations a bunch of times. If He hadn’t spoken, I would have been deceived. And I would have a resume of deception. And that can end up in weird places.
1:34:55 - Yield yourself to Him - I am convinced in my heart, that the more we get alone with Him and give ourselves to Him and let Him father us and ask Him to father us and give Him total access to our lives… My life is not my own. I’m on the earth for your glory. I’m on the earth for your image. I’m not in works, I’m in you. Your grace is able to take me where you desire. If I am one bit in the flesh, one bit off track, one bit in the wisdom of man, I thank you that you will father me in this thing and reveal the truth to me in every circumstance. It’s very important to ask Him to father you.
1:35:40 - Father - When you call Him Father, what are you saying? You’re my Father. I am your child. Father means “come forth from.” Every time that I call Him Father I am saying, I came forth from you. Your DNA is in me. I look just like you. I can see you in me. You know how people say, “You look just like your dad.” It doesn’t even matter how much you say, “I don’t look like my dad.” He’s still your dad.
Wisdom of the World vs. Wisdom of God
1:38:35 - v.14 (cont.) - He was thanking God that He didn’t baptize more of them because of the way that they were acting. Not because He didn’t see the beauty of baptism.
1:39:20 - v.17 reading again
1:39:50 - The wisdom on the earth - v.19 - For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. - He is talking about a wisdom that is on the earth - the mindset of men. It happens to be the way that seems right to man.
1:40:20 - v.20 - Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -
A renewed mind and new wisdom - That’s to make total sense to us now that he is writing. Because the wisdom of the world and the world’s ways are so no longer our ways. We have been so renewed in the spirit of our minds. We have been redeemed. We are seeing through Christ. We are no longer feeling unworthy because the gospel says we are worthy. Wisdom has shifted. The way it used to be, it is no more. “You say… but I say…” all through Matthew 6. He came and changed the language. He came and changed the wisdom. He’s expecting us to see the truth through Christ.
1:41:00 - He made foolish the wisdom of the world. Father I thank you that it is foolish for me to fear because you are the Lord God. It is foolish to worry because you are faithful. And if you sent your Son to die for me - if you sent your Son to raise me from the dead and put life in me, why would I worry if you are God Almighty. Because it’s not just about me any more. It’s about you in me and you through me. And my life is not my own. It is foolish to live in worry and fear - foolish to live in strife and stress because your love is what I have become. That’s the way we are called to pray.
Meditating in the Word
1:42:00 - Meditating in the word - When I read something like this… It’s meditating in the word. Meditate - to muse and mutter and repeat. Sometimes it’s quiet. Sometimes it’s very aggressive. Because it is foolish for me to think the way that I used to think. It makes no sense for me to be offended now that love has come. You weren’t offended in me. How could I be offended in any man. God, when I didn’t know what I was doing, you loved me. People don’t know what they are doing or they wouldn’t do what they do. I love the world around me. God, I see the value of people because you showed me the value of my life. That’s prayer.
1:42:50 - Grace touches it as you pray - It sounds like you are the only one talking. But inside of you, it is coming alive. Grace is touching it. Holy Spirit is making it your reality. And somewhere in the process your eye is getting converted and the way that you see is changing. And you CANNOT come out of the secret place the same. You might not FEEL any different. You might not know that you changed but you’ll start seeing things differently - responding differently. You’ll get thrown into a fire but because you pursued the gospel in truth - in the secret place - when the fire rises, the gospel is there to defend you. If you wait for the fire and then try to run to the gospel, you are late. And that’s why we lose so many battles.
Wisdom (continued)
1:43:50 - Twisted at the Fall - Foolishness of the world’s wisdom - Has not God - it’s a question - made foolish the wisdom of this world? When He sent His Son and showed us what truth really looks like? He came to His own and His own received Him not. The world was created through Him and the world knew Him not. Why? Because of perversion. The perversion of the fall. Man’s eye and perspective got totally contorted, twisted and perverted. And it turned inward - self-centered and deceived. Then the gospel 180 degrees turned it - totally changed. Has He not made foolish the wisdom that we lived by?
1:44:40 - How does the gospel become real to you? - Communion - By knowing it in your head? Or by reading it in your Bible? Or coming into agreement with it and exchanging it? Out of your heart you believe. But out of your mouth you make confession - Rom. 10:10. And all of the sudden you connect the two in a place of secret prayer. Holy Spirit is there. Faith is there. You’re accepting that - laying down your rights by saying, Wow - all of these things - worry and fear - I don’t even reserve the right for this. Natural knowledge has no place in me. The wisdom of God reigns in my life. Holy Spirit thank you for the revelation of these things. And as you are praying them, grace is making it your reality.
1:45:30 - The blindness of the world’s wisdom - Didn’t recognize Jesus - v.21a - For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, - So through the world’s wisdom, the world did not recognize God. So through the fall, afterward there was a period of time called the OT, old covenant, law of sin and death. There is a whole lot to see there and learn and understand. And by the wisdom of God we can look and see that through human wisdom, the world couldn’t know God. They thought that everything that happened was God. They had a terrible revelation of God. They were very sin-conscious, very self-conscious.
1:46:15 - The mighty word of God - v.21b - it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. - Humility right in the face of human pride. I love that He calls this the word of God and asks me to believe it. Because it chops to pieces every other opinion and mindset that would otherwise try to rule my life. It almost forces me to call everything else not true. It’s such a sanctifying thought to me. And the wisdom of man and the pride of man, still in the quest for knowledge, making his mind god and a god unto himself says, “Well men just wrote this. I can’t believe everything in that book.” All you are saying is, “I still want to be in charge. I want the wisdom I live by to be the wisdom that rules. I’m still a god unto myself.” I love that God handed us this and said, “It’s alive and active, sharper than any double edged sword. That it wasn’t penned by men but that it was inspired by Holy Spirit.”
1:48:05 - Perspective of truth - If my eye is single, my whole body is flooded with light - Mt. 6:22. It doesn’t say, unless you are faced with many issues and challenges. If your eye is single you will see all of your issues and challenges through that light and that light is truth. And it’s never about just you. It’s about manifesting Christ in every situation. It’s always about the integrity of who He is in the face of every situation. Even when it feels like you lose, your response is a sign of integrity and trust, to God.
Natural Loss - Grief
1:48:50 - You can’t lose - The bottom line is a Christian can’t ever lose. Oh, we lose some battles in the natural but if you really understand the big picture and the window of this little wisp of a vapor called life that we have, you’ll realize that you can’t lose when you are in Christ Jesus. And you will thank God for the blood that preserves your loved one that preserves them for eternity. And that will grow bigger than the fact that they left early.
1:49:30 - Revealing who He is in the midst of loss - life is a privilege - Or you are devastated and unproductive because they left early and now you are grieved beyond measure. You can’t function because of the natural reality of this. And even, “Where was God? How could I ever trust again?” You put all your marbles on this natural thing called life when this window is a privilege to reveal the integrity of your love for Him and who He really is and why.
1:50:00 - Thurman Scrivner testimony - Granddaughter was in head on collision. Didn’t even look like human. Looked like hamburger. God restored her with no scars - no brain damage - no blindness. His wife and daughter got dismembered and instantly killed. Because of extreme integrity in the midst of a horrendous calamity like that, he could believe for his granddaughter. There is a power that most of us have yet to see. He chuckled when they pulled life support on his granddaughter. That’s a shame because you don’t believe this book. Sitting her up. Standing her up. He didn’t do this to prove the gospel. He did it because he believed the gospel. Feeding tube. What am I not seeing? Not getting? Guest ministering - police officer came in and informs him of the deaths and injury. He ran up on the platform. Worship team. No ability to cry. It’s to show you how consumed you can be with an eternal revelation that you cannot lose. That doesn’t mean that he never missed his wife or never cried on his daughter’s birthday. Let’s worship Jesus for His precious blood - that has received my wife and daughter into His presence for all eternity.
2:00:05 - Coveting the gifts of life - God doesn’t give us the gifts of life to covet them at the cost of Him. Having a child is a gift. Having a spouse is a gift. But believing the blood in eternity is where you live from. That doesn’t mean we don’t fight to win. But when a tragedy happens where is our soul in understanding? When you get a phone call that you never wanted to get where is your revelation, your faith and the foundation from which you live? Because that determines how you will do (how you will react).
2:01:00 - Integrity in the face of life - It’s not wrong to cry. But it is deceived to be overcome with the wisdom of the world and make it all about you at the cost of who He is. And start judging Him in the face of the loss. Instead of upholding Him because nothing is truly lost - only for a while.
2:01:30 - This brief moment of light affliction - This brief moment of light affliction - that’s what Paul called it - 2 Cor. 4:17. We haven’t seen anything that Paul went through. We read about it and shudder. He called it a brief moment of light affliction compared to the weight of glory to be revealed when He comes. Faith will take you there.
2:02:00 - The impact of Therman Scrivner’s testimony on Dan when his wife had the seizures. On life support. If I had not heard that testimony, I probably would have reacted. I had no ability to react. I was just as peaceful as I am right now. I know in my heart we can’t lose. That doesn’t mean I am not going to fight and just let her slip away. But I do know in my heart we can’t lose. So it’s not about living and dying. I understand that He paid a price to redeem life and restore life and fulfill His will in every way. But death and the fear of death is not my motivation. It’s life and the promise of life. Because through Christ, even in the face of death we can’t lose.
➡ 2:03:10 - Misunderstandings, wrong motives and wrong perspective - These are the wrong understandings and the motives that are in our lives for the lack of understanding - where the wisdom of the world just eats us to pieces. And we have good hearts and we want to do right and we are seeking God and then tragedy hits and if we don’t see clear we will respond wrongly and affect us in a detrimental way. And you can lose years of productivity and challenge God. “If you are so amazing, where is my girl?” And that will go through your mind if you don’t lay this thing out now and let a foundation of faith come. Every trial will touch you wrong. You can’t lose. It’s never even about death.
2:04:40 - Where’s the power? We put it all on Him - Some of us wonder where the power of God is. He said don’t fear and don’t worry. It’s the first two things that we call normal. No wonder that we don’t manifest the power that we could. Because we don't have a clue yet who we are through Him. We just put it all on Him. “Well, if He is amazing why doesn’t He heal?” We are the body of Christ. He gave the earth to the children of men - Ps. 115:16. He wants to reveal His wisdom through us. His intent is that through the church, the wisdom of God would be revealed to the powers and principalities - Eph. 3:10. So we are not waiting on God. We are privileged with the kingdom. He’s waiting on us. Very patiently because He is love. He’s not tolerating us, He loves us.
2:05:30 - But honestly there is a lot of loss while He waits on us - in the natural. We need to make the shift of perspective to knowing that you can’t lose.
2:06:10 - Natural sense of loss. Empty chair etc. One person can talk straight. Let’s stop trying to act like it didn’t happen when we can’t. Let’s thank God for His precious blood that has them preserved him forever. Let’s thank God for the day he was born. Let’s thank God for his life. Was it way too soon? Absolutely. Do we understand everything about it? Not at all but we know one thing. God is good and He sent His Son to preserve his life. God did not take him. But he sure did receive Him.
2:08:30 - Sometimes we try to stuff natural reality and think that is spiritual. No, you have to face natural reality through spiritual truth.
Meditating in 1 Corinthians 1
2:08:40 - Reading in 1 Corinthians 1 at v.21
2:09:30 - v.26 - For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: - Ordinary folks. Not highly educated. Not millionaires. Not prestige and notoriety in the community. Everyday people. But the Spirit of God is in us.
2:10:10 - v.27 - But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; - There is a war there between pride and humility. And humility always wins.
2:10:20 - v.28 - And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: - Sounds like a 180 taking place here. It sounds like God is reverting things back to how they were.
2:10:30 - v.29 - That no flesh should glory in his presence. -
➡ 2:10:40 - v.30 - But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: - 1 Cor. 1:30. - This verse is why we were reading.
The good news of the gospel was all God's idea - But of Him you are in Christ - Whose will is it that you are in Christ? Whose grace made it possible? So it has nothing to do with you. You didn’t petition God. You didn’t plea bargain with God. You were in His heart from the beginning. He predestined Christ before the foundation of the world to be slain because you were there with Him. You were with Him in the beginning. None of this is our bright idea. That’s why it’s not presumption.
2:11:55 - Jesus - Our wisdom - Who became for us wisdom - The whole chapter was about the wisdom of the world. But now Christ Jesus is now your wisdom. He is the new source of wisdom. Of course He has always been that. But He is the conversion of your soul. Jesus is now your wisdom. Any other way is not the way.
2:12:25 - God has done it all through Jesus - Receive His love - and righteousness, sanctification and redemption - Can you make yourself righteous? Can you bring your life back to its original value? Can you be truly sanctified apart from the mercy and grace of God? So when you receive these things you honor Him all the more. It’s all a form of receiving His love. When you don’t feel righteous and then don’t accept righteousness, you are failing to receive God’s love. No wonder you don’t feel a lot of love for Him. Because you are not seeing the beauty of who He is.
2:13:20 - You can't go back and change the past - When I know that I can’t make myself righteous and I know that I have failed and can’t make the things that I have done wrong right… Can you ever go back and change something that you have done? No. But can the gospel? So who gets the glory? So He who glories, glories in the Lord.
2:13:40 - v.31 - That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. - The gospel brings all glory to God and gives great humility to man.
2:13:55 - Modeling meditating in the word - When you read a verse like that…
Meditating in the Word
2:14:30 - Prevent your mind from spinning - Meditating in the word - Going back to the topic: When I try to read my mind spins. If that is happening to you, don’t try to read and pray apart from the word. Once you learn this today you can do this any time with any section of scripture. A Psalm. Everything it is saying to you, you declare it back to Him. Like with Psalm 91 - you will come out of the secret place so assured that He is God - so assured that you are saved - so assured that there is no such thing as fear because of meditating in the word. Not just reading your Bible for knowledge. But reading your Bible to know Him.
2:15:30 - Extended Example of meditating in the word - v.30 - But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: -
How does that become real? - People say all the time to me, “But how does that become so real to you?” You have to believe and that means letting it come out of your heart. Getting in agreement. Settling that if is His idea, His wisdom it’s got to be right.
2:17:55 - Extended example of meditating in the word begins.
2:23:50 - That’s what meditating in the word looks like. You read one verse and there is no way that your mind will be distracted. It’s one thing to read your Bible. It’s another to turn your heart up, and out of your heart, with your mouth make confession unto salvation and say yes to every yes of God. Holy Spirit meets you there.
2:23:30 - Thank filled communion - I've been doing that (meditating in the word) from the beginning. I don’t even have to open my Bible to do that. I can be driving in my truck and a scripture will come to me and I will just start meditating on it and declaring what it means and thanking God that it is true. Do you see that I am not asking for peace. I’m thanking Him that I have it. I’m not asking Him to make me not afraid. I’m thanking Him that the righteous are as bold as the lion - Prov. 28:1. It’s not a false confession - hope so kind of thing. I thank you that I will never fear again… Why? Because truth has come and made me free.
2:24:15 - My perspective has changed - I’m not waiting for the day that I don’t feel afraid. That day has come and fear is driven out of my life by the gospel because wisdom has changed. And the only reason I was afraid was because of the wisdom I possessed. Now that wisdom is changed.
2:24:45 - You don’t necessarily FEEL different - You don’t have to leave that place (of meditating in the word) and feel like you are different. I have never left that place aware of a change - knowing that I am different. I just believe that I am because I believe that. And when I get the opportunity in life to manifest whether I am different or not, I'm different.
2:25:20 - I didn’t realize I was changing - When I first got saved, I didn’t even know that I was changing. But people around me were saying, “Man, what’s up with you.” I didn’t really know what they were talking about except I was in love. I knew I had this secret thing going on - a new Lover in my life.
2:25:55 - I was being restored to innocence - I never left my bedroom knowing that I was changing. Like a child I was believing that this was all true. And I was saying yeah. And it was restoring me back to a place of simple innocence where everything around me was lowered and everything going on in me was raised. And then you live by faith and not by sight.
2:26:30 - A change of perspective - The things around me didn’t change. There was a change in my eye. What I used to call wisdom was not wisdom any more. What I found in Him became my wisdom.
2:27:05 - Meditate in the word. Go on a journey. Don’t just read your Bible to be doing what you feel you should. Camp on things that speak to you until it becomes yours.
2:27:200 - Camping in Philippians 2 - God had me in Phil. 2 for 13 weeks. And told me don’t read anywhere else. I don’t want you to know that. I want you to become that. When you become that, I’ll let you read somewhere else. So that everything you read will be seen through that. Then you won’t be a Bible egghead. You’ll be a revelation of Christ. I still can’t quote the chapter because I didn’t read it to memorize it. I read it to become it.
2:28:15 - Closing prayer