EW-2019 - Session 1
➡ 1 - I’m going to switch things up. Sometimes you do Mt. 10 - you preach the kingdom and then you heal the sick. But sometimes you do Luke 10 - you heal the sick first and then you tell them that the kingdom is here.
1 - I think the Lord has told me to follow Luke 10 tonight.
Praying for the Sick
2 - Conditions where healing would be apparent tonight vs. not immediately apparent.
2 - [Congregation prays for both groups of the sick]:
8 - You don’t need a lot of details - Tell the person who will pray for you what’s wrong - the 3 second version.
9 - When you pray for the sick you want to believe that God is good and He paid a price to redeem their life and heal their body.
9 - Pray short prayers - Mt. 17 says that if you have faith you will say to the mountain, “Move!” and the mountain move. So if it’s arthritis, faith says, “Arthritis, leave their body. Every pain go - right now - in Jesus’ name.”
10 - Healing isn’t a works thing - Only 6 second window to pray. Why? So that you don’t try too hard. So that you don’t get into works. So that you don’t try to pray right, powerful, spiritual… So that you don’t have time to think of the 3 favorite scriptures that rev you up.
10 - It’s not your prayer that heals the sick - It’s what you believe - When we pray for the sick we shift into self-consciousness immediately, across the board almost. We try to pray a “good” prayer. It is not your prayer tonight that is going to heal the sick. Your prayer never has and never will heal the sick. It’s what you believe about who He is and what He accomplished and how He LOVES that person you are about to pray for. “Be healed in Jesus’ name” is probably plenty when there is a revelation.
11 - In sincerity, I think we’ve tried a little too hard.
12 - [Finishing out for those who would not be able to tell if they were healed.] “Father thank you for loving me. Thank you that these things will never come back and this situation is over. You are so good. Thanks for nailing it down through nailing your Son to the cross. Thanks for loving me.”
12 - If you would be able to tell if you are healed - Check your body - Take your time and check your body. Make sure your body changed. If so, then wave.
13 - All healings are significant - Same price paid - One healing is not more significant than another. Pain vs. hearing. But they cost the same.
13 - If your body doesn’t seem to change - Keep faith engaged - Thank God that He is good - that He’s a healer - thank Him for what He’s doing in you and you check your body again. Don’t disconnect. Don’t let your mind spin. “Boy here we go again. I knew I shouldn’t have stood up. I never get healed. This is about the 7th time. You can’t tell me that something isn’t blocking my healing. I think I need deliverance.” Turn your spinning mind off tonight and stay engaged in faith.
14 - Stay in faith - Testimonies - Not turning faith into a point in time. No matter what you experience keep your heart in faith. After a handful of testimonies, you watch what will happen. Stay engaged and stay thankful. Listen to the testimonies. Then it’s like popcorn in a bag - the hands up will triple.
15 - Jesus is teaching us about faith - So in one sweep Jesus is going to teach us that He is good - that He’s a healer. He’s going to teach us how faith works. He’ll teach us how to not let go. How to not live “analytical” and talk yourself out of truth with “facts”. A lot is going to happen in the next few minutes.
15 - Praying…
16 - Check your bodies… Make sure… Wave a hand… It’s changing as you’re checking.
18 - Testimonies… heel, back, back… Give glory to Jesus. It helps others. Back, collar bone, ankle, pain, back…
27 - This is not about one person. It’s about Jesus among us. It’s just people saying that we believe. And there is a synergism. Corporate hunger and outcry.
28 - Change but not complete healing. Many.
30 - There’s a reason that Jesus does this stuff. He’s good. He paid a price for redemption.
31 - Objection: Don’t pray for the unsaved - “You can’t pray for the sick. You didn’t even have an altar call. There might be unsaved people out there.” Luke 10 says that whatever city you are in heal THE sick and tell them the kingdom is here. Whatever sick, whatever city... Sounds like John 5 - pool of Bethesda - whoever got healed of whatever.
32 - Everyday impact - I’m looking at an army. What if we prayed for the sick in our everyday lives.
33 - Biggest fear - Nothing happens - “But what if nothing happens?” We’ve already got nothing happening. The more people we start praying for, the more things we’ll see happen. The #1 reason people don’t pray is because they are afraid that nothing will happen. So they don’t pray and they already have what they are afraid of. So let’s get past ourselves and how we feel. Just do it.
34 - Before we end tonight we’ll check to see what else is happening in your bodies. He’s not finished yet. Wave at me.
Righteousness
➡ 34 - Righteousness is central to the kingdom - What is it? - Here’s what’s in my heart in this whole praying for the sick thing. Jesus rules His kingdom - it’s in Heb. 1 - with a scepter of righteousness. Righteousness is a really big deal in the kingdom. We have to understand righteousness and we have to understand what it means to live by faith.
34 - Faith - Receive what God says - If God says, “I forgive you through the blood” then be forgiven. I’m a simple guy. If the gospel were complicated and deep I would never get it. If He says, “I love you” through the Son on the cross, then receive His love. If He says, “I forgive you” then don’t keep bringing up old stuff. Throw away guilt, condemnation and shame.
35 - Feelings of condemnation prove that you’re alive - You care - If you are wearing guilt, condemnation and shame then you know that your heart cares. There is life inside of you. There is something good going on inside of you if you care. People that don’t care can’t be condemned.
36 - Many people live in condemnation because they ARE so alive on the inside. They nip-pick and fault find with themselves. But that whole response of feeling condemned means that the gospel has purified your heart to a large degree. The trouble is that you identify with what’s wrong instead of growing in what’s being made right. You’re caught in troubleshooting about something that hasn’t been fixed yet in your life.
37 - Righteousness - God’s way of seeing - Now let me tell you what righteousness is. Righteousness isn’t just about being “right”. Righteousness makes wrong things right. God looks at us for what we were created to be - what we’re predestined to be - what He knows from the beginning. He doesn’t see you for where you’ve been and what you’ve done. He sees you through His Son, when you are born again.
37 -Step into righteousness with repentance - It takes repentance. You have to step into that through caring enough to say, “Duh, What was I thinking? What was I doing? Man, I wasn’t made for that…”
37 - Repentance - Change the way that you think - Repentance isn’t just, “Boohoo, I’m sorry…” Repentance is changing the way that you think. “Wow, I used to live for myself. Wow, I used to live at the expense of others.” And then you go, “Man, I’m done living for me. What an empty street…” And all of the sudden there is a shift in your life.
38 - Reject feelings of guilt, condemnation, shame after being born again - Too many Christians are walking in guilt, condemnation and shame. That should never be. Guilt, condemnation and shame are anti-finished work of Christ. When a Christian is living in any of those three, it means that they don’t see the truth. It doesn’t mean that you didn’t do something wrong but you are responding in a nonproductive way. You’re responding as if you don’t understand - as if you don’t know Him. You are responding as if what you did is who you are - when at the same time your heart is crying out for change.
38 - Be the product of what He did - You say, “Yeah, but you don’t know what I’ve done.” But what about what He has done. When you get your eyes fixed on what you’ve done you can’t get your eyes on what He’s done. So you become a product of what you’ve done. And you push aside, without realizing it, what He’s done and what you become through what He’s done. You justify condemnation.
39 - You say, “I should know better. If something hasn’t changed by now maybe something is wrong with my heart. Maybe I’m not even saved.” I’ve heard that more times than I can remember.
39 - Receive His mercy and love - He rules His kingdom with a scepter called righteousness. The power of the gospel hinges on His sacrifice - His shed blood - but you’ve got to give Him a landing strip. It’s one thing for God to be merciful but you’ve got to receive His mercy. I can say that He loves you but it’s a different thing for you to be loved by God - to receive that love. It takes YOU becoming something - YOU understanding His heart - YOU participating and co-laboring and releasing faith so that grace has a place to land. Grace is empowerment. You’re saved by grace through faith.
40 - His gift of righteousness allows you access to the Father - So He rules His kingdom with a scepter called righteousness. I believe in the spirit that He dubs you like a knight. He touches you with righteousness and that makes you right with God. It unveils you. It gives you access to the Father.
40 - Many Christians don’t have confidence to pray to God when they are alone. They nitpick their lives. They think that they don’t qualify to talk to Him. But the truth is that Jesus qualified you.
41 - Intimacy - Everything He wants to do in you and through you arises out of intimate relationship with Him - Get alone with Him and be with Him. If you are kept from being alone with Him and being with Him, you won’t be intimate with Him. And how can you bear fruit if you are not intimate with Him? How can you ever receive anything from Him if you are not with Him?
41 - Eternal life is not a prayer that sends you to heaven when you physically die. Eternal life is knowing the Father - John 17.
41 - The gospel - Transformed to shine - We make eternal life a prayer and a promise - receive Jesus and go to heaven when you die. That is barely the gospel. The gospel is: His life coming inside of you - His nature coming inside of you. The gospel is old things passing away and all things all things becoming new. It’s you walking in the light as He is in the light. It’s you shining as a light, in your life on the earth. You’re not waiting to go to heaven. Heaven came to you - to come inside and bring change.
42 - Die to self - To live in Him - We print gospel tracts that are all about when you die. But what about when you come alive in Him? You’re supposed to die now. You die NOW - to yourself and your own ambitions and your self-centered motives - that thing that lives at the expense of people instead of laying down it’s life for others - that perverse, twisted thing.
➡ 43 - Here to encourage you in the truth - Get you out of the lie - I’m not mad at you. I came to tell you who you are. I came to cheer you on - to be another voice of encouragement - to sow into you what your pastors are sowing into you. I’m intense about the topic but I’m not mad at you. I see people living in lies, when their hearts are good. I see sincere people take a hit because they weren’t understanding. The fact that you care so much says everything about you on the inside.
43 - You’re not what you’ve done - There’s a difference between being addicted and feeling terrible about it and someone who is still trying to figure out how to stay high. The person who is broken up about their addiction is really close to being more free than they ever thought that they could be.
44 - It’s about what you believe - You get tricked into thinking that you are what you do. But you are what He did. In Christianity it’s not about you changing first. It’s about you believing first. It’s not performance based.
44 - Grace - Empowerment for transformation - But you be careful about any grace teaching that allows you to claim grace without any transformation. That’s rubbish. What you believe is what brings change. (Faith is the landing strip for grace.)
44 - Transformation is not merely self-improvement - I never tried to change myself. I never bit my lip to be a good boy. My HEART is different. My life is changed. What I see has changed me. I’ve never woken up and tried not to sin. I just don’t think about it.
44 - God is bigger than sin - Reject sin-consciousness - That freaks people out. “Did he just say that he never sins?” We are geared to hear it that way. We are so sin-conscious. We have made sin mighty and powerful. No, I think a whole lot more of the Spirit and grace and the finished work of Jesus. But because we lord our experience over His grace we can hardly preach this thing in church without calls of heresy. We raise our own experience way about His working power and ability.
45 - False humility: I’m still a sinner - Humility: wearing what He paid for: righteousness - So we make ourselves be (sinners) what we’ve always been (sinners) and call it humility but it’s not humility at all - it’s false humility. When you wear what He paid for (righteousness), that’s humility. He told me to reckon myself dead to sin and alive unto God in Christ. So how is it right to stay conscious of sin if I am to be dead to sin.
45 - Sin-consciousness - Why do our minds always go to, “Did he just say that he is perfect. Well, nobody is perfect.” We have been trained to be sin-conscious - to speak of ourselves in terms of sin.
45 - Righteousness supersedes the stain of sin - But He rules His kingdom with a scepter called righteousness. While you were yet sinning, He sent His Son. So your sin couldn’t stop Him coming. His coming wasn’t hinged on you cleaning up. His coming WAS to clean you up. This is gospel 101.
46 - No condemnation - The Bible says that Jesus did not come to judge the world. Then why do people judge themselves? The Bible continues… but that through Jesus the world might be saved. He said in John 12 that we would have His word that would judge us in that day. But John 3 says that He didn’t come to condemn the world. That means to give the world what it deserves.
46 - A new integrity through the gift of righteousness - There is something about righteousness that we’ve got to get a hold of as a people. Righteousness is what will keep you running straight and narrow. It’s what will keep moving forward.
47 - Freedom from the consciousness of sin - Brings joy & holiness - Rom. 6 - Isn’t it amazing that the Bible tells us to die to sin and yet we can hardly talk about that without also boasting in our ability to commit sin? Everybody thinks the preacher is on risky ground when he speaks about righteousness - dead to sin. The first thing in our minds is “What are you saying that you don’t sin? We’re probably sinning right now even though we don’t know it. We’re probably sinning while we’re breathing.” We talk like that. And when we talk like that we prove that we have no idea what God is saying in Rom. 6. So we haven’t tasted the joy of righteousness. We don’t know what it’s like to not think about sin but live in the power of His Spirit. We don’t get righteousness which produces its fruit unto holiness without you TRYING to be holy.
48 - Receive righteousness - Changed thinking brings changed living - Galatians says that if I live in the Spirit, I won’t fulfill the lusts of the flesh. “Now that might be heresy… because you know that everybody has their moments brother.” No, that’s why you have your moments - because you won’t let the gospel change your thinking. So your thinking has no power to change your life. You stay the same. So now you justify what you believe through what you live (your experience) instead of what He lived (what He showed was possible).
49 - He said, “Follow Me” and He meant it. The things I do, you’ll do, if you believe. So maybe I’m just talking our belief system.
49 - The word says that you’re dead to sin - Please don’t let your human experience determine your belief system. Let the word determine your belief system. I’ve quoted you several Bible passages where “you died,” “you died to sin,” “you reckon yourself dead to sin,”... 1 Peter 2 - “having died to sin, might live for righteousness.” When you die to sin, it shifts your mind to righteousness.
50 - Dead to sin - What it looks like - What does it mean to “die to sin”? To die to it’s stain, it’s sting, it’s memory, it’s defilement and it’s desire. You wake up in the morning and say, Father, I thank you that I was not made for the flesh. I thank you that I was designed to live in, and out of, my spirit. Thank you that I am not prone and destined to sin in every waking moment. Your Life is on the inside of me. You’re the One that washed me clean. You’re the One that filled me with who You are. And I agree with the way that You see me - holy, blameless and above reproach. Thank you for loving me and washing me and making me brand new. Now do you think someone is going to sincerely talk to God like that and then turn around feed their flesh? Do you think that I’ve just found a way to sin and get away with it or do you think that I’ve found a way to think apart from sin and be free from it? But you can hardly talk about it in the church because we so empower our ability to sin - in our minds and in our language.
51 - Purity - Not perfection - We think perfection instead of purity. But the pure in heart shall see God. No wonder Satan has this stuff muddied up - so that we argue over perfection instead just living in purity - so that we won’t see God. Purity will take you places that you’ve never been. You’ll live in ways that you didn’t even think were possible. So maybe the issue isn’t perfection - whether it’s possible to be perfect - but life change - what brings life change.
52 - The privilege of walking free from continual sin-consciousness - Grace meets faith - Maybe I’ve never said that I have never sinned since I was born again or in the last month… but I can tell you this: I don’t think about it (trying not to sin). And if I would mess up, don’t you think I would know it immediately if I am in communion with God? Don’t you think that I would run right to Him and thank Him for the truth in my life that separates me from that action - and how He empowers me to live free from that thing that used to own me? Don’t you think that it’s enough to WANT to be perfect - to want to be pure - to want to walk holy? Don’t you think that grace will meet you there - when you know that you can’t do it on your own? But if you don’t believe what He paid for - that you can be free from sin - how would you walk in the grace that makes it fruitful - brings it into reality?
53 - If we’re saved by grace through faith, but we don’t wrap any faith around what we’re talking about (righteousness), how will you receive any grace for change?
53 - There’s no limit on what we can be through His grace - So what is the limit on how we can live as human beings filled with the Spirit? Does anybody even really know yet? Have we gone after that thing strong enough? Or if somebody did kind of find out, can he even talk about it - without getting stoned in men’s minds?
53 - Here is my question: What is it possible to be, when you receive the full measure of grace that He paid for through Christ? Tell me what that man looks like. That’s what He paid for us to be. Let’s all just go after what that looks like and don’t let anybody talk you out of that. And don’t compare your progress to the progress of others.
54 - Be a good steward of your heart - You live with yourself. Your conscience is before God. The cleaner you walk and live in this thing called righteousness, the more you will have connection with God and understand His love - and then the more you will live with His love towards others.
54 - Don’t get trapped in theological debates on righteousness - Believe and watch how grace lands on that faith and changes your life - Righteousness is not just a matter of theological debate. I wish we would just grow up and get past our little theological debates that have never accomplished one single thing for the kingdom. Arguments cause pride. They make men “right” and others “wrong”. And the whole time we’ve missed the gospel. I’m not talking about a theological dispute. I’m talking about grace sufficient to change you - and a faith that allows grace to flow.
55 - Grace meets faith - Producing holy living - If you’re not releasing faith in this area (righteousness) then you are not receiving grace in this area, so of course you life looks the same as it used to. And in time you’ll judge yourself. In time you’ll get condemned. You’ll feel like you’re not what you should be. Or you’ll get confused or harden your heart and say, “Whatever, God knows that we’re always going to miss it. At least He loves me I hope.” But you will stop living your convictions and you’ll let your convictions change.
55 - Let’s look at Rom. 3 real quick… Color coded Bible - Giving them to new believers.
58 - 21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;58 - Why the enemy wants you sin-conscious - To keep you from shining - Now watch… Here is why the enemy wants us to stay so sin conscious - and yet call it humility. But it’s really false humility. You are to reckon yourself dead to sin - Rom. 6:11 - but alive to God. He bore your sin and my sin in His body on a tree - why? - that we having died to sin might live to be found right in the sight of God. So watch… When you are sin conscious - remembering your sin, boasting in your ability to continue in sin, marked in your mind as guilty of sin - you will always fall short of the glory of God.
59 - Sin-consciousness interferes with the light we should be shining - What is the glory of God? Any manifest, made seen, realized, attribute of God - that’s the body of Christ - that’s what the body of Christ is designed to manifest. The Christ in you is the hope of glory. But when you are conscious of sin, there is no glory of God coming through your life. (Being bogged down in continual sorrow over sin is inconsistent with what He looks like - with who He is.)
100 - The reason that He lives inside of us isn’t so that you feel warm and fuzzy. It’s so that you shine. And if you don’t shine, you miss the point of why He is inside of you. Walk in the light as He is in the light. In your light, we see light. We walk in the light as He is in the light. He’s the light of the world. Then He said that you are lights in the world. Therefore, walk in the light as He is in the light. In Matthew He says, Let your light so shine before men… When you are sin-conscious there is no revealed glory of God and there’s no light.
101 - And Christians quickly respond, “Yeah but brother we’re all sinning. We all sin.” The reason that the devil wants you to keep believing that and saying that is because when you believe that you cancel the expression of God. You stop the glory of God.
101 - When you reckon yourself dead to sin and alive to God what is the result of that? The expression of God. And the expression of God is the glory of God.
102 - God prophesied to Moses of this kind of shining - Remember God’s prophecy to Moses? As surely as I live, the whole earth shall be filled with my glory. What was He saying? He made man for His image. He has a plan through the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. He was looking at a bunch of people living under the law of sin and death that are getting it wrong constantly and being fueled by their flesh. But God is talking about a people that are empowered by the Spirit - led by the Spirit - not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh - shining shining as lights in the earth. Waking up for one reason - to shine. Waking up for one reason - to walk in love. Waking up for one reason - His image. They are all the same - one reason - three things.
103 - Unity - To shine - To love - Living for the same reason is what makes us “one”. That’s what makes us effective. That’s what makes us an army. We might not agree on every doctrinal issue but we can all agree on love. And love is the goal and the purpose of the commandment. And if we miss love, we’ve missed it all.103 - What is love? The Bible says that it doesn’t seek its own. It keeps no account - no record of wrongs. It doesn’t rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in truth. It never gives up - never fails. It never changes its mind.
103 - We’re quick to say, “I love you.” “I can’t believe you did that. I’m mad.” Love takes no account of a suffered wrong. It keeps no record of wrong. If we really love each other then why are we so broken up by each other? We’ve learned how to say “I love you” but now we really need to become that love.
104 - What love is not - I love you for me - A lot of times when we say, “I love you,” it’s really just self-serving. We’re saying, “I love you” but meaning, “I need you.” We prove that we don’t really love them by our reactions to them.
105 - God’s prophecy before Moses (cont.) - God said, “As surely as I live, the whole earth will be filled with my glory.” What is God doing? He’s prophesying. He’s saying that it doesn’t matter what things look like now, I know what I see is coming. What you are seeing now is men apart from my image.
105 - We’ve misrepresented the gospel - We were all born into the perversity of the fall of man that’s why we have to get born again. We’ve turned it into a prayer to go to heaven that benefits me in the end instead of brand new life and a transformation now - so that I can live effectively and bring glory to His name - and write a legacy.
105 - Self-centered gospel message - The gospel message preached in the U.S. is a message that benefits me, blesses me or gives me something. That’s what keeps people coming to church - what God promised you. But what about what you become? Why are we just always after something from God? What about what we become? Why are we always just looking to get more out of God? What about what we are to become? This isn’t a self-beneficial gospel. This is a transforming gospel.
106 - The gospel as a survival kit - The gospel isn’t a survival kit - “I’m going to grab a hold of God and hope to make it to the end.” What does that mean?
106 - The messages we preach SERVE US. They keep us holding on to get something instead of becoming something. You can get all the the getting you want but if we don’t become something (love) we’re missing the point.
106 - Living at the expense of others - The opposite of love - Love lays down it’s life for another. Do you know what the opposite of that is? Living at the expense of another. Every time you force others to live around your self-centeredness, you’re living at the expense of others. Every time that you’re moody - every time that you’re walking outside of the light, you’re living at the expense of people. You’re forcing them into a position that Jesus would never put them into. Every time that you think selfishly and do things for your own gain - for your own name - your own prestige, you are living outside of why you are here.
107 - Life is tough? - You’re living outside of grace - Do you know why people think that life is tough? Because they are living it outside of grace. They are living it outside of why they are here - outside of how God designed them to live - outside of what God designed them to do.
107 - Life is a gift when you are living in what He designed you to live - No, life is a gift. When you wake up in the morning and nobody owes you a thing, that’s freedom. When all you are doing is following Him and He’s loving people through you, that’s freedom. There’s no attitudes, disappointment, despair, anxiety in that kind of life. You aren’t trying to “make it” any more. You have already arrived. You understand why you are here. You’re here for nobody to owe you anything so that you can owe no man anything but to love - Rom 13.
108 - People didn’t determine Jesus - Jesus changed people - You can’t talk me out of this - this approach to life. I don’t see Jesus letting people change who He is. That’s why He is changing people. Nobody did Jesus right. Even his own disciples were scattered when the Shepherd was struck. They all said that they would die for Him. When they got their chance, they all fled. None of that changed Jesus but He changed them.
109 - Jesus wasn’t hurt - Why is that in our lives? - [Hypothetical conversation at the last supper - being hurt by the disciples] We never heard Jesus talk like that. So where did we learn how to talk like that? If we are saying what He never said, where did we learn it?
110 - Jesus wasn’t discouraged by people or circumstances - [Hypothetical conversation - Jesus being depressed, discouraged] That conversation is not in the Bible. Why? Because He’s Jesus? No, because He’s love.
111 - Hurt & discouragement are not part of His image - He is love - Here’s the problem. We make Him a special man. But what makes Him special is that He is love. And that is what you are here for - that’s what you are to become - love. Let us make man in Our image. The whole reason that we’re on the planet is to be found in His image and His likeness. And He is love.
112 - Hurt & discouragement originated with the fall - And these things that we learned - being hurt, being depressed and discouraged - weren’t from Him. Those things were from the fall of man. The language that we spoke didn’t come from God. The attitudes that we had were never seen in Jesus - the unforgiveness - the bitterness. Why? Because He is love. Every day, He is love.
113 - He is love - And we’re to follow Him - Where sin abounds, grace comes greater. Love covers a multitude of sin. And while we were all sinners, falling short of the glory of God, He was showing us what love looks like (the cross). And He said, “Follow me.” That’s the gospel in a nutshell.
113 - The essence of the gospel - You’re born again - You did not pray a prayer to go to heaven - even it that’s what somebody told you. You die to your old life so that you can step into the new one that was prepared before time. You step out of what Adam made you to be, to step into what Christ paid for. You did not pray a prayer to go to heaven someday when you die.
114 - Self-centered gospel - We’ve reduced the gospel to a self-serving gesture. We have made the gospel benefit us at the cost of it not transforming us - so that you can claim eternal life but keep your attitude.
114 - [Typical altar call] I know that God works with our frail efforts but He never told us to teach that. You can’t back any of that up with scripture.
114 - The gospel message - Die to live - He said, deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me. Unless you love less… [a whole list of things and people] there is no way that you will fulfill what I have called you to and what I’ve created you for. That’s the word of the Lord. It’s die to live.115 - It says in Rom. 6…
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
116 - “Therefore” - “In light of what I just said…” Understand the context.
116 - Objection to freedom from sin - 1 John 1:8 out of context - In regard to the topic of freedom from sin people will use a verse out of context. They say, “Well brother, if you say that you have no sin you deceive yourself and truth isn’t in you.” That’s 1 John 1:8 out of context. But what he is talking about is that if you say that you have no need of the blood.
1 John 1:8-2:2 - 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
117 - In v.10 he clarifies what he said in v.8. In v.7 you are forgiven of your sin and cleansed from all unrighteousness. That sounds pretty clean. 1 John 2:1 he writes so that we do not sin. Sounds heretical?!?
118 - Back to Rom. 6…
118 - False humility - Rejects the grace that brings change - “Well sure brother, we all sin. We’re not perfect. We’re probably sinning right now.” That’s not what Romans 6 says. So why do we say that all the time in the body of Christ? We lift high our ability to sin and thereby reject the grace that’s designed to change our lives.
118 - v.2 - When you got saved you might not have been told this. It might have been all about going to heaven instead of all about transformation.
119 - The night that I got saved it had nothing to do with going to heaven. It had to do with me becoming a brand new person and heaven coming into me and getting changed. I gave Him my life and He gave me His.
119 - v.3 - baptized into His death - What does that mean? He didn’t ask us to hang on a cross. He just told us to carry a cross.
119 - v.4 - This isn’t a confession to go to heaven. It’s a brand new life.
120 - v.5 - It’s not just about dying. It’s also about living.
120 - v.6 - slave - bound and chained. It’s not my sermon. This is the Bible. I suggest that we all be Bible believers - not experiential believers.
121 - Grace vs. mercy - It’s grace that changes you. You don’t say, “Man, I really blew up on my wife this morning. Thank God for His grace.” No, it’s His grace that keeps you from blowing up.
121 - Grace meets faith - Grace for change so that we shine - So you are claiming something (to be a Christian) without a revelation to become something (to become love). That’s misrepresenting what Christianity is. This is how, likewise, sin causes us to fall short of the glory of God (sin keeps us from shining - we claim but lack revelation and faith in truth that is met with grace that brings real change to our lives). That’s why you reckon yourself dead to sin (by faith) so that the glory shines (grace meets that faith and causes us to shine).
122 - v.7 - This verse must be heresy. “You’re always going to sin brother. What are you saying? That you’re perfect?” It’s not my sermon notes. This is Romans 6.
122 - How many people prayed a prayer to go to heaven and didn’t understand that they were dying to to themselves? See? When you died to yourself, you died to sin. Here’s what we don’t understand… I’ll get criticized for this…
123 - Critical spirit - There are some people that just listen to criticize. That’s what happened to Jesus for three years. Here is the scary part. Total truth was standing right before them and they were so sure that He was wrong that He was worthy to die. He was total truth and they were sure that He was total wrong. They couldn’t even hear truth Himself. That’s scary.
123 - Jesus models freedom from sin as a man - Most people teach that Jesus couldn’t sin - because He was God. If that’s why He couldn’t sin then it’s pretty pointless to give us all of these scriptures about being dead to sin - walking free from sin and not sinning.
123 - He came as a man - He didn’t not sin because He was God. He came as a man. He laid down His glory and made Himself of no reputation. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth - the man. If He came as God, He wouldn’t need anointing. If He came as God He’s already anointed. Why would Holy Spirit have to come upon Him in a water baptism. He was tempted at all points yet without sin. Can you tempt God? Then how could He be tempted. Does God ever slumber? No. Where was Jesus in the boat during the storm? Hmmm. How many more indications do you need that He was a man? [Notetaker’s note]
124 - Jesus models freedom from sin because He was selfless - Can I tell you very simply why Jesus didn’t sin? He was selfless. And there is not one sin that will be committed apart from selfishness. When you think for yourself - selfishly - you are subject to sin. When you think for the kingdom you walk free. How do you know that? V.7 - He who has died to his own life and his own self - died in the likeness of His death.
125 - Dying to live vs. Prayer to go to heaven - He who has died… I can’t speak for someone who has just prayed a prayer to go to heaven - that’s probably why we’ve got a problem. For generations that’s what we’ve made the gospel. We’ve just tried to get fish into the boat. “God will scale them and clean them. My job is just to get them into the boat.” No, your job is to preach the gospel - not a self-serving little invite.
125 - If you preach a gospel that’s only about what a man can get from God… you don’t even have to be a believer to give a little head nod. “I’ll just say yes in case he’s right.” Why wouldn’t you throw your name into the sweepstakes? Publisher’s Clearinghouse might knock on my door. That doesn’t mean that you’re a believer.
126 - v.7 - Jesus models freedom from sin through being selfless - This verse tells me that Jesus didn’t sin because He was selfless. He was a selfless man. If He wasn’t selfless He would have been mad. He would have felt ripped off. He would have never made it to the cross. People really did Him wrong - and all of that time He was really right. But it’s not all about right and wrong. No, He continued to see us for what He knew we could be with His Spirit living on the inside (“righteous judgement”).
126 - So Jesus says, “Forgive them father, they don’t have a clue. They are blind. But we know who they are. We know what we’re doing. They don’t see it. They don’t know what they do.”
127 - [Hypothetical conversation between God and Jesus on the cross - How Jesus could have been disgusted with men]
128 - Jesus - Our Model for Life - Somehow we’ve only looked at Him as a hero - instead of someone to follow. We made Him a superstar instead of role model. But He doesn’t want you to say, “Well, that was Jesus.” That doesn’t bring Him honor. By saying that you make Him someone that you can’t follow.
128 - If I can’t find an attitude in Him, I don’t want it in me. If I can’t see something in His life, why would it be permissible in my life? I don’t need to have issues when I have Him.
128 - Why couldn’t He think like we often think - attitudes etc? Because He is love - not because He’s Jesus.
129 - v.7 - Freedom from sin - “What are you saying? We’re probably sinning right now.” I want this to sound so foolish that we stop listening to it. It may not stop people from saying this kind of thing but let’s stop listening to it. Because v.7 is the word of the Lord and it says that if you’ve died to yourself and you wake up to pursue Him - to pursue His image and to live by the Spirit - whether you are doing it perfectly or not - it’s going to make you free from sin. And it’s not your fight any more because He’s already won it. That doesn’t mean that you disregard sin. That means that you start living apart from it - like you never thought was possible.
130 - Resistance to this freedom - Preaching from experience - And then when you do that, you’ll find that you can’t talk about it because other people will call it heresy. Why? Because they are only preaching their experience. So it’s a warning signal when a pastor can’t hear what I’m saying. It means that he has so many issues in his life… that he can’t hear it.
130 - Pastor - “Be careful preaching this stuff. Everybody has their stuff” - their secrets. Because that was his experience, he was figuring that that had to be truth. So now he can only preach as high as his experience. So when he hears me speak he is frustrated because I am speaking above that level and he thinks I am not real - that I’m in denial.
131 - This freedom is good news - The idea that nobody can really be OK. If nobody can be OK then what are we so happy about? No, you should be so ecstatic that He paid a price to get you free from you - so that you can get free from everybody else - so that you can finally walk in love and understand what it’s like to be a Christian. That’s worth getting excited about.
132 - Freedom to shine - So what’s the good news? “Well, I lived like a rat and one day He is going to treat me like I didn’t.” No, come out from among them and be ye separate. Being like a rat isn’t shining.
132 - Rat race - You can be winning a rat race but still be a rat. What does it matter if you are winning that race if you are still a rat?
133 - Righteousness - It’s real and available - Listen to what we are saying tonight. You can leave here saying, “I’m forgiven - I’m clean in the presence of God” because of the blood is speaking better things. When you say those things in sincerity and faith all of the sudden it does something to your conscience, your heart, your life. And then you find that you have no nonsense going on in your life. You don’t have time for it. You are fixed on something. You are free. You aren’t Lot’s wife looking back any more - staying stuck. No, you’re His bride and looking up.
134 - Don’t get tired of this topic. It’s what He rules His kingdom with - a scepter called righteousness. It’s the power of the gospel - the fact that the blood makes you right in the sight of God when you’ve been wrong. What a gift! What a grace! What a God!
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
134 - v.8 - So it’s not just about dying but also about living.
134 - v.9 - You better know. The best way to know is to get alone with Him. Thanks for loving me. Thanks for washing me in your blood Jesus. Father, I thank you that you see me spotless and blameless and blemish free in your sight. Most Christians never think this way, much less pray this way. They just pray about what they need - things they are worried about - praying for loved ones. That’s all good. Keep doing that. But what about receiving His love? What about communing with the Lord? What about waking up and not trying not to sin but waking up being righteous? Father, I just thank you for another day. Man, what a gift. What a grace to be alive. That job that I used to think of as a grind is a gift. I used to not be able to stand my boss. But now I see him for who he is called to be - created to be. You’ve done such a work in my heart. I can’t wait to get to work today. I believe that I will shine without even trying because you’ve really changed me.
136 - That would be amazing if you were to wake up thinking like that. That sure beats, “Oh no... 6 o’clock already? Got to go back to that place? God, when are you going to get me a new job?” You call that prayer when it’s just a self-centered delusion. God didn’t hear anything that you said. That’s in the book of James - asking amiss your own lusts and desires - nothing happens.
137 - v.9 - He lives forever. You live in Him forever - with Him. Why does death have no dominion over Him?...
137 - v.10 - It’s talking about what He died to. He died to sin - once, for all. Now watch how He makes us one in…
138 - v.11 - You also - because we follow Him. Indeed - that’s strong.
138 - v.12
139 - v.13 - Yield - think yourself, believe yourself, give yourself as instruments of unrighteousness.
139 - v.14
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
139 - v.15 - So then we don’t need to care? We can just sin and not really think about it because we are sinners. We’re probably sinning now in some way. Certainly not!
139 - v.16 - You better know (4th time). As a man thinketh so he is - Prov. 23:7. Slave - bound and chained to do one’s will.
140 - Who you present yourself and see yourself to be is exactly what you will produce.
140 - v.17 - Secret self-condemnation of the pure in heart - You obeyed from the heart - that’s the key. When you are sincere, your sincerity is the only thing that satan can play on. He tries to get you into fault finding - feeling like you are not living up to your desire for God so that you believe that you are failing. And then when you believe that you are failing, you are labeled in your heart as a failure. So until that thinking changes, you don’t see yourself different. That’s where condemnation comes in.
141 - So, many of the purest people towards God are secretly condemned in their hearts because they feel like they are not living up to their pure heart towards God. They feel like their life doesn’t measure up. They cry themselves to sleep but they really love God on the inside.
141 - doctrine which was delivered you - Here is the sad thing. Some Christians live their whole life and were never delivered this doctrine. They were just living, “Well, we’re always going to sin. Just be thankful that God forgives us anyhow. There’s no way to ever escape that. You have that nature in you.” And I’m like, I’m trying to be nice but please read your Bible before you preach what you were taught.
142 - v.18 - Believe the word - It says we’re free - Is this heresy. Past tense - it already happened. It would be nice if you believed it.
142 - The gospel brings transformation - If all you do is pray a prayer to go to heaven you might not fit that. You might pray a prayer to go to heaven and still be mad at your boss and still create animosity in your home - and think nothing of it because it’s normal. But if heaven came into you and you died to yourself, that changes all of that. Now you take account and responsibility for your own life and not somebody else's. You don’t listen to the sermon for them. You listen for you so that you can become more like Christ. Because Christ in you is the hope of glory. The only hope of God being seen and known is the Christ in you.
143 - If you were the enemy, wouldn’t you try to interfere with that?
143 - v.19 - You become what you believe - Before Jesus whatever you thought of yourself just led to more of the same. Patterns of self-reinforcing opinions. We live up to what we believe. So why don’t we put on something new?
145 - Fruit of righteousness: holiness - Do you see what righteousness produces? Holiness - without you biting your lip to be holy.
145 - Start where He finished - If you start waking up believing that you’re a son, your life will start looking like sonship. If you start waking up believing what He paid for - what He accomplished… If you start where He finished, you’ll run well. If you don’t start where He finished you’ll try to work up to where He finished. But it’s already finished.
145 - Here is where He finished: You are right with God. You’re justified - just as if you never sinned. You’re holy, blameless and above reproach in His sight if indeed you keep believing it and don’t let anything change your mind - Col. 1.
20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
145 - v.20 - See there is no agreement.
146 - v.21 -
146 - v.22 - having been set free from sin - third time. Fruit to holiness. And the end of that scenario? Everlasting life.
146 - Overview of chapter 7. People say, “Paul struggled.” But Paul was talking about his life apart from Jesus. It’s so obvious. How could Paul have written all that he wrote in chapter 6 and then turn around and imply that we are all just damned to sin - the thing I don’t want to do, I’m doing and the thing I want to do I never do.
147 - He’s not writing about his present experience. It’s inconsistent with everything else that he has written. He’s talking about his old life under the law. From chapter 7...
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
148 - And then in chapter 8 he is talking about living by the Spirit. He talks about not living in Romans 7 because you are in the Spirit, not the law. Don’t let anybody sell you cheap. You’ve been bought at too high of a price.148 - [abrupt switch to Rom 3:23] 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
149 - The essence of the gospel - Transformation - Back to who we were designed to be - That is awesome. Nobody has ever loved us this way - from the place of where we’ve been to the place of who we’re created to be. The gospel is not about getting forgiven of every wrong thing you ever did. The gospel is about becoming what He paid for and becoming what you were designed to be from the beginning. It’s an exchange of life. He takes the old dead thing. He puts on the new thing. Colossians 3 tells you to put off the old man and his deed and put the new man - renewed in knowledge according to the image of the One who made you.
150 - What gifting do you think you have? I don’t think about it. The pastor said, “He’s an image consultant.”
150 - Born into the effects of the fall - Born into neediness - From the time you were born you were trying to find who you were - because Adam lost himself through sin. So you and I were born into having no clue as to who we were, our value or our future. That’s why you had a powerful inner need for stability, love, appreciation, encouraging words… and a lot of us didn’t get those things. And whether you get those or not, a short time into life, you’re nothing more than a product of how you responded to how life unfolded. Why? Because you didn’t know yourself in the first place. So you come to believe things about yourself. And that becomes you. But it was all apart from truth.
151 - Not the real you - So can that identity be truth? Not at all. It’s just a reaction to life. Some people are introverted. Some people are fighters. Some people get broken and almost die on the inside. Some people toughen up. Different people respond differently. But the whole time, everything that they are sitting on is a lie. It’s not the real them.
152 - You must be born again - Die to live - So Jesus says that you’ve got to come and get born again. As if you were never born before. You’ve got to die to everything that you’ve been so that you can live to everything that He is. It’s called Christianity. Anything else is only an imitation.
152 - When you get saved isn’t when a preacher has an altar call. When you get saved is when you say in your heart, “Duh, I’ve been living for myself. It’s time to die to living for myself. What a lonely place. It’s time to start living for His great name - so that my life doesn’t point to me. Help me Holy Spirit that I would live in such a way that my life points to You.
153 - If you’re a Christian for yourself, you’re already in trouble. If you are a Christian for His great name, you are going to grow up into Him in all things. Let’s just set the record straight to get our motives pure - because the pure in heart shall see God.
153 - Encouragement to go after what’s possible through the gospel - So let’s go after this thing. I’m looking at an army.
154 - Nobody owes me a thing - A place of great strength - This is good news. You take good news out of here and present yourself as being made right with God everyday. Even if you don’t get a whole lot out of this weekend, get this one thing - if you let the gospel teach you this one thing it will change everything - that every day that you wake up you set your heart on this one thing: nobody owes me a thing. It’s the most powerful place that you will find that you have ever lived. Nobody can break your heart in that place. There are no hurt feelings in that place. There’s no anxiety of survival in that place.
154 - Fear is a wretched liar on the earth and do you know the paradox about fear? You have no authority over what you fear.
155 - Nobody owes you a thing. “That’s easy for you to say. You aren’t living with my spouse.” So you are going to let where your spouse isn’t decide where you are. (How your spouse sees you is not the truth about how your life is going.) You’re going to let what they are not seeing decide what you do see. Ooops. (Let truth be the wellspring of your life - not what anyone else says or does to you.) If one person is going to decide who and how you are, you probably ought to make sure that their name is Jesus - Son of God.
155 - Don’t say, “I wouldn’t be this way if it wasn’t for....” “Wasn’t for” isn’t Lord. Why are you letting it matter more than what matters most. We can live this thing.
156 - Check your bodies. Many feeling change in their bodies.
156 - If no change, then go to bed with this attitude: Father, thank you for what you’re doing - that you are a Healer - that you love me. God, I appreciate the grace working in my life and the change that you’re bringing to my body. That’s how your body will change.
156 - If you go to bed questioning… you’ll cloud over what your heart once knew. Don’t do that.
155 - Closing prayer - We yield to You. We ask you to continue to encourage and build up our hearts and teach us. We want to shine. We want to run this race worthy of a prize - without straining, striving, struggling. We want to live in grace. We want our lives to make a difference in the lives of others.