Lifted Up

Believe Me

1:40 - “Believe Me. Believe Me. Believe Me.” - Believe who I am - what I’ve said - what I’ve done. We’ve spent a lot of time in doubt, fear, worry. But He is exactly who He says He is.

2:45 - Why is this important? Because all things are possible to him who believes.

Prayer for help in believing.

Let Go of Self-Centeredness

4:30 - Jesus tells us that we must lose our lives to find them. Deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Me. Selfishness.

6:00 - He asks us to deny ourselves because we were not created to live for self. Selfishness came through the fall. Born into Adam. God can’t just leave you that way. It’s a perversion of who He made you to be. He sent Jesus to show us what life in Him is all about and then He said, “Follow Me.”

6:40 - If we see that… then it’s no big deal to give up that old selfish life because it wasn’t mine in the first place. I’m trying to hold onto something that wasn’t given to me by God.

6:50 - Created in God’s image. What it was like before the fall.

7:10 - The fall. Eve was deceived. Adam committed treason by following Eve instead of God. Afterward all were born into Adam - selfishness. But this is not what we were created for.

7:35 - When you see that, it’s not a hard thing to let go of selfishness because selfishness is actually from the devil. The devil is all about himself. And he wants you looking like him.

7:55 - It’s really easy to let go of yourSELF when you understand the truth. It was never you in the first place. It’s a perversion of your created value - God’s original design for you.

8:10 - Let’s all let go and let God be God in our lives. Let’s walk in love. We were created in God’s image and God is love. And love doesn’t seek its own. It’s so clear. Selfishness is a perversion of your created value.

8:30 - Selfishness and love are contrary to one another. You can’t love and be selfish.

9:00 - Struggling to let go. We want to hold onto “me”. But without God there is no “me”.

9:20 - Prayer - Letting go of selfishness. That thing that we are holding onto is trying to keep us from You - Your love, Your power. What am I holding onto that for when it didn’t come from You? You created me for love - to look like You. I yield myself back to You.

Dual Covenant - Forgiveness & Healing

11:10 - Go to John 3

12:00 - The church can easily relate the crucifixion to the forgiveness of sin. We all accept that. Jesus died for the forgiveness of sin.

12:15 - When you talk about healing (as a reason why Jesus died) it tends to be a stumbling block in the church. There are a lot of differing views, backgrounds, experiences.

➡ 12:30 - I want to show you the connection between forgiveness and healing. It’s unmistakable to me. There are a lot of places in scripture where you can see that we are in a dual covenant (forgiveness & healing). If you are forgiven, you are healed. If you are healed, you’re forgiven. They go together.

12:45 - Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; - Ps. 103:2-3.

12:50 - You take the cup and the bread. You eat the bread - by His stripes you are healed. You drink the cup - the blood of the new covenant and through that blood you’re forgiven.

John 3 - Forgiveness & Healing Go Together

➡ 13:00 - But here in John 3 is a place where the connection is clear and undeniable. I want you to see healing here every bit as much as you see forgiveness. That’s why I am sharing this.

13:25 - v.1-2 - There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

13:50 - Jesus is so awesome. He's our teacher. He's a seed that is about to fall to the ground. And if He does that, He'll spring up and bear much fruit. Jesus is all about you becoming like Him. Ok? He didn't come to steal the show, He came to make many brethren and make many sons of God. He came to reproduce Himself in you. That's in scripture. He said to His disciples, "As the Father sent Me, I send you." - John 20:21.

14:20 - I know that when people come to people and say, "Nobody could do these things unless God is with them" a lot of people would answer at that point and say, "Yeah, God is really with me every day. In fact, I pray all of the time. In fact, I fast a lot too. And I read my Bible all the time." We would just acknowledge that God is with us and that He's doing good things. But guess what Jesus said? Jesus is so cool. He didn't even say a word about what Nicodemus said.

14:45 - v.3 - He said, Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. - NKJV Do you know what He was saying? He was saying, "What you are seeing through Me, you are called to see through your life. But unless you get born again it ain't going to happen. But if you do, it will."

15:30 - ...He [Jesus] didn't want the emphasis on the things that He was doing. He wanted the emphasis on the fact that you can get born again and become of the same anointing - the same Spirit - the same calling that He was standing in right now on the earth - a man anointed by God. So His answer was, "Well unless a man is born again, he can't see the kingdom of God." Well just flip it around and see what He really said. That means that if you are born again, you can see the kingdom of God. What does that mean? You can see God's kingdom moving on the earth and do these signs. They'll flow through your life too. That's what He's saying...

Water Baptism & The New Birth

16:15 - v. 4 - Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. - A phenomenal thing takes place when you are born again: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; - Mark 16:16

16:45 - Analogy of the spiritual womb - Israelites delivered through water from Egypt - Noah and family were delivered through the flood - symbolic of birth.

17:00 - Babies are carried for a time in water - delivered through water - water breaks - it’s time for the baby to be delivered.

17:20 - We were all spiritually dead. We needed to be born again. Light & Life goes back into man as if he never sinned. Like Adam before the fall.

17:55 - We were dead on the inside - just a form of what we were supposed to be. We need to be born again.

18:10 - In water baptism you are dying to the old - the old mentality - the old identity - the old sinful nature, lusts and passions. You’re saying, “God, I lived my own life. I lived for me. I lived a perversion of what I was supposed to be. Satan had me believing that it was my life to live. But it’s your life to live. And I’m giving it all back to you. And I am going down under this water as a symbol and sign that I am dying in the likeness of Jesus’ death. But if He died and rose, I’m going to die and rise. And when I come out of the water, I am going to be in a newness of life - in the likeness of your resurrection."

18:50 - Parallels of spiritual birth / water baptism compared to physical birth. What happens at spiritual birth detailed. He fills you with His own Spirit. You are born of water and the Spirit. Now you have what it takes. Now you have the life of God on the inside.

19:45 - Water baptism is neglected by the church.

20:45 - v.6 - That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. - Before we were born again all we could produce were the things after the flesh. When we are born again we can produce the things of God.

21:10 - Nicodemus was confused… Jesus responds...

In the World but not Of the World

21:15 - v. 12-13 - If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. - Jesus came down from heaven but He’s in heaven… why? how? Because His perspective is coming straight from heaven. He is in the earth but not of the earth. He’s seeing through the eye of God. God brought heaven to the earth (in Jesus). We’re waiting to go to heaven. But heaven has already come down. We say, “I know I’ll be healed in heaven.” But God has already paid the price to be healed on earth. “...On earth as it is in heaven…”

22:20 - v14 - And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:  - He explains this gospel. He’s comparing His work to the serpent being lifted up in the wilderness.

22:40 - v.15 - That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. - Let’s keep going here… I can cover both sets of verses…

God So Loved - He Couldn’t Leave it That Way

22:55 - v.16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. - Why did He give His only Son? To get us back from that selfish nature that we fell into - that we were born into. We need to be born again.

23:25 - Innate selfishness of young children - granddaughter - throwing fits - nobody taught her that. "Don’t touch that." And they want to touch it. Where do they learn that? It’s just in them.

25:00 - God so love us - "That isn’t how I created you. And I can’t let it stay that way. I’m going to give you a chance to be delivered. I'm going to give you a chance to look at both sides of this thing and let you decide who you want to serve. Do you want yourself - and remain a single seed and never fall to the ground and remain alone? Or do you want to give it all up for me so that I can spring you forth and reproduce your life again and again?"

25:30 - Unless a seed dies and falls to the ground it remains alone - John 12:24. Selfishness can only reproduce itself and in the end it’s all alone. All it has served is itself. It will stand before God a single seed. But it had the potential to become millions.

25:50 - If I lay down my life to follow Him it can greatly multiply. The multiplication of God is incredible.

26:40 - whoever - This gospel is for everybody.

Belief & Unbelief

26:50 - believes - Believe me. He says that He loves us through His Son and yet we struggle to believe that He loves us. He says that we are not condemned and yet we live in condemnation. He says I am for you and not against you and yet we live in fear. At what point do we just believe God for His word. At what point do we ignore how we feel and trust what He has said?

27:45 - eternal life - starts the day that you are born again. You’re never going to die - with Jesus forever. Why are we fretting? Believe Me. It’s the end of the fear of death - the end of the bondage of the fear of death.

28:30 - fear of death

28:55 - Job - What you fear is what makes you vulnerable. What Job feared the most came upon him. He was a righteous man but he walked in fear. The attack point of the devil.

29:35 - Fear of the death of a child. There is power in what you speak. Prayers motivated by fear and worry. Get your eyes off of your children and onto the Lord and your children will be fine.

Forgiveness & Healing - Serpent in the Wilderness

➡ 30:40 - v.17 - For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. - Saved, healed, delivered, protected, preserved, made whole, kept safe and sound. That’s enough for me. That right there establishes the connection between forgiveness and healing. But I want you to see that forgiveness and healing are tied together tightly.

31:20 - v14 - And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:  - As Moses… even so… Jesus is saying that even as it was with Moses so it will be with the Son of Man.

31:35 - Numbers 21 - Let’s learn from the Israelites and their trek through the wilderness. Let’s not make the same mistakes. If they complained and got destroyed, why are we complaining? They didn’t trust God and as a result put themselves through hell. Let’s trust God.

32:30 - v.4 - And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. - Discouragement - If you have selfishness in your life, you will be subject to discouragement because it’s all about you. When you’re not selfish, you can't be discouraged because you’re living for God and trusting God and living for others. On your worst day you are still OK because you still have something to give to others. Your life is an outflow not an inflow.

33:15 - Discouragement can only be found where there is self centeredness - because discouragement has to do with you. You’ve got your eyes on how things are affecting you - instead of having your eyes on how circumstances can make a greater draw of God through you - how you can be of greater impact and blessing in the midst of adverse circumstances.

33:45 - The Israelites kept saying to Moses, “It would be better for US if we were back in Egypt. At least we had leeks and onions.” But God didn’t deliver them out of Egypt just for them. He did it for His name’s sake. He did it so that He once again He could have a people to reveal Himself through.

34:15 - Surrender - For God to do that through you, you have to surrender and say, “Yes, I’m for You. You’re not for me. I’m for You.”

34:30 - You can’t be discouraged if you have denied yourself. It’s time to get out of the way and surrender that part of your life - how things are affecting you.

34:50 - Discouragement leads to blame-shifting  - Look what happens when you become discouraged… When you become discouraged, it comes out of your mouth. If you let your heart get discouraged it’s going to come out of your mouth somewhere along the line. You’ll blame it on leaders.

35:25 - Adam blames Eve - Adam blamed the woman

35:35 - Let go of self and receive a new perspective - You gave me. You take responsibility for nothing. But it’s because you are holding on to YOU. If you would let go you would see differently. Your perspective would change. Your eye would be clear. Your vessel would be filled with light. (Mt 6:22, Luke 11:34)

34:55 - v.5 - And the people spake against God..., - The clay becomes greater than the potter. People subpoena God in their mind. They have a case against God to take Him to court and win. “Wait till I get to heaven, because I’ve got a few things to ask God.” But when you get there you’ll be wrecked. His light will wake up your deceived soul. You’ll see things for the way that they really are and you’ll cry bitter tears. In the light all things are exposed. You will be humbled. Attitude towards God is from the devil.

The Muck & Mire of Sin

37:50 - Do you know why we can’t remain in sin? Why were they in Egypt in the first place? What was so bad about Egypt? Their needs were being met. Sometimes we think Christianity is all about having our needs met.

38:10 - In Egypt they were doing the will of another and building another’s kingdom with their labor. Every time you sin you are in the muck and mire (just like the Israelites in Egypt) making one more brick to put into Satan’s monuments. Satan loves it when the children of God build his kingdom.

38:50 - Description of brick making.

39:00 - Why were they making bricks? So that Pharoah could build his kingdom. And that’s what sin does. It’s just one more brick in the devil’s lie.

39:20 - He’s pulled me out of the miry clay and set my feet on solid ground. You too.

Serpent in the Wilderness - Forgiveness & Healing

39:30 - v.5 - And the people spake against God, and against Moses, - Like speaking against your pastor. Happens today.

40:15 - v.5b - Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. - The miracle of the bread - Look how twisted your perspective can be. God is revealing His supernatural love - power - favor. Every night while they sleep He rains bread. And they would have enough for the day.

40:50 - But in time their selfish nature wanted variety. Complained.

41:10 - Floods them with quail. But even though there was meat between their teeth their was leanness in their souls. Christianity is more than just having your needs met.

41:30 - Example of a thankful response. Don’t ever lose your heart of thankfulness.

42:10 - With selfishness things are never good enough - things never satisfy.

42:20 - v.6 - And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. - It sounds like God just whacked them. But you have to understand that it’s the law of sin and death. God doesn’t want His people destroyed. Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? - Ezek. 33:11

42:40 - These serpents came because of their sin. And many died.

42:50 - v.7 - Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. - They repented. They confessed. They realized that they had done wrong and confessed it. We brought this upon ourselves.

43:30 - Gets into intercession and mediation. Now Jesus mediates with the Father on behalf of the people. You can see the gospel right here.

43:50 - v.8 - And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. - Before Moses made the serpent and put it on a pole they were bitten and died. But now if they look at it they live.

44:10 - Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee… But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. - (Mt. 9:2b, 6) Right here you see remission of sin and healing from the effects of sin.

44:25 - Sin was bringing physical death. They were being bitten and dying. But if they looked at the bronze serpent they lived.

44:35 - Why a bronze serpent on a pole? Why not a symbol to point them to God and give them hope - the ark of the covenant etc.? Instead it was a bronze image of what was killing them. The Israelites knew that anything hanging on a pole was cursed by God. When they saw what Moses did and knew that it came from God, they knew that what was killing them was cursed. They knew that God had cursed it and that it couldn’t kill them any more. They realized that they were forgiven - that they were healed. “We’re forgiven. We’re healed.” And as soon as they said in their hearts, “We’re healed”, they lived.

Jesus on the Cross - Forgiveness & Healing

46:05 - Why is that so exciting? Because Jesus said, “Even as… so shall…”

46:25 - So they lift up Jesus - Son of God - Son of Man - but that’s not what He wants you to see at all. For He was made to be sin. Jesus was made to be sin.

46:50 - Realizing what we did to Jesus and grieving. It’s alright. If He did that to Him, He could get to me.

47:15 - When they raised Him up, He was made to be sin. So when we see Jesus on the cross we see the sin sacrifice - the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. What was killing us? Sin. What did He become? Sin. So when He hung on that tree what was God doing? God cursed sin. And even though we sinned, we repent and look to Him and by His stripes we are healed. How can you separate that (forgiveness and healing)?

48:05 - (Gal. 3:13) What God is saying is, “I’m cursing sin and its effects on humanity. And if any man repents and looks to Him and sees my heart of love through Him, they will be saved.” “Sozo”-ed (Greek) - saved, healed, delivered, protected, preserved, made whole, kept safe and sound.

48:30 - Do you see why we have a right to believe for the sick? A right to be forgiven? He was made to be sin.

48:40 - Romans 6 says that sin shall have no dominion over you. Romans 8 says that God has cursed sin in the flesh. John G. Lake defines sickness - sin manifesting in the flesh is the degeneration of flesh. And God has cursed it all.

49:20 - He forgives me of all my sin because there is the Master on the cross who became sin and God cursed sin in the flesh. God has heard my cry of repentance and He has cursed what is killing me. Be healed in Jesus’ name.