Jesus Above All Rolland Baker Session 9

peaches are supposed to explain how Christianity works I think that's so hilarious it's infinite it works in an infinite number of ways there's no end of ways to minister there's no end of ways to have church there's no end of ways to approach God and sometimes you don't need to think much at all other times we need to think a lot sometimes we need the combination don't you think he's trained not to look at me some of you are doing here you don't know what's going on I need to do I I promised myself today this would be a serious meeting I would not crack any dumb jokes it's like New Year's resolutions [Music] thank you what do I do I'm supposed to preach you got all that black you look like such a German minister complete with acts in a sense of humor that's deadly you know I've been speaking and I've been throwing out a lot of verses just for memory for anything my laptop crashed that's my excuse so now I have to use some verses there's my Bibles on the laptop now in Harvest school for example how you scripture thoroughly I really do I don't have a bunch of notes I have a bunch of scriptures I have this interesting idea that I should back up what I say with Scripture the scripture actually is living and active there's no it's that explanation of Hawaii we trusted so much but we find out when you get into it then it has power it affects us we realize things we get convicted of things we agree with things it resonates with us it changes us and that's why we think it's inspired there's lots of other reasons to think it's inspired to but there's a lot of discussion about word and spirit and how the two work together a lot of movements are split supplements concentrate on the word they concentrate on cara's mania I mean that gives years ago when I was a in college I was in Southern California at Calvary Chapel it was kind of desponding area the the origin of the Jesus Movement in the 70s and when I first went there coppy chapel I was not even that didn't seem to be a problem we had lots of Bible teaching and also lots of after glows and the Holy Spirit to hit and it was fantastic for me because for the first time I would go to church not just to hear a sermon and hear the organ play and sing hymns but to actually worship and get hugged and feel the love of God and see people saved by the hundreds and thousands in fact that church we baptized at least 1500 people a month in the ocean right nearby and it was such a revival you couldn't go on the beach without giving witness to you couldn't go to Disneyland without getting witness to you can even walk down the street without getting witness to and it was a very big church but to get in that church she had to get there hours early in fact a lot of people had to sit out in the parking lot and they put up speakers and trees down the blocks and I've lots of people sitting on the floor and they would get Bible studies for hours at a time without any noise without anybody getting up you can hear a pin drop and they covered the whole entire Bible week by week chapter by chapter it was just immersed in the Word of God but then they had believers meetings like Wednesday night and all where anything goes in the Holy Spirit and that was fantastic too that's when Lonnie frisbee was also a leader there and he was extremely anointed and oh you just go there that we've been crying laughing after blows two past midnight at every service and the combination was just extraordinary then human nature the whole ministry split one ministry decided that they wanted a strictly a pure Bible study ministry didn't want anything unusual or scary or you know threatening or misunderstood to the outside public when they came in on Sunday morning so we decided that they just wanted a very quiet controlled Bible study for their regular meetings and then the other side split off into a whole nother movement we all know but I don't need to mention and that was holy chaos I mean chairs strewn all over the place everybody doing backflips it was it was it lots lots of experiential stuff all kinds of teaching but not a whole lot of word and so the word wasn't used as much the teachings developed in all sorts of different directions and now we have a problem when side is trying to be very strict about the word but they don't understand enough of the word to appreciate the work of the Holy Spirit and the other side is so in two totally non objective experience that they're not checked by the Word of God as much as they should be so in iris we've always tried to think about a combination of rooted spirit but it's easy to say we're going to combine word and spirit it's another thing to understand how they combined I thought that actually works in other words when you're in trouble and you're seeking and you need spiritual help what do you do first get into the Bible or start praying you go to the word or do you go to the spirit which do you do what's the first thing you do and a lot of people have talked about it like this they said well yes I based my faith on the word but I'm not too sure that how accurate it is or this or that so I based my faith on Jesus you know I'm not too sure about some of the things that where it says it's not a person anyway it's just a book and so I I'm just gonna base my Christian life on on Jesus I want to actually experience him and relate to him and well that has led to problems too the fact is that there's a reason we have a Bible there's a reason we have words there's a reason that God has given us a body of Revelation that can be shared and agreed on instead of each individual's saying Jesus told me this Jesus told me that then we have to argue over but we don't know how to argue about it because each person claims to hear directly from Jesus so I think we need to talk about that in harvest school we had weeks and weeks to talk about these things and I'm trying to cover some of the things I think I need to get across as much as I can in this last meeting in in one day but think about that how do we combine word and spirit it's a big issue but how did I first wave to Hong Kong for example some of you may know of Jackie Pillinger she's a very very good friend of mine the hidys of mind and iris she's been that was a beacon we worked with her for years but when she went into Hong Kong she went into the worst part walled city dendup heroin addicts and when she started the minister the addicts complained they said we've come to this meeting to because you were going to give us God and instead you give us a book come on we want God not just the book don't mind a Bible study we want to encounter God know what gives signed up for well that's a good question don't you think but then I look at the life of Jesus he didn't really just have a big wild charismatic service he taught half the time he taught a lot of things then the other half he had a supernatural ministry but that teaching was a partner now we're entering a time where the young generations the Millennials have not been emphasizing reading the Bible that much there's a lot of especially the younger people know very little of about what the Bible actually says most of the foundation of what they have in the Bible they get from whatever gets preached from the pulpit on Sunday or whenever they have meetings that's about it the older generation much has a much more of a record of reading through the Bible having Bible reading programs make sure you get through the whole thing and you have various ways of doing that and you must work familiar with basic Bible teachings it's astonishing actually I sometimes get too naive and I just assume all of you who have read the Bible and I say things and I cook things and then I have to check myself later and realize a lot of you had being read back before then one thing I have a habit of doing is filling in the gaps because I listen to what a lot of other painters teach I've been in school for a long time and when I see gaps I like to fill them in I like to mention scriptures I've actually never heard preached that I think are really important I've been in video conferences now for 20-some years and there's a ton of scripture that I've never seen preached or taught from the pulpit or you can't find them on YouTube or anywhere and I kind of want to balance things out I don't need to repeat the things that are always taught I'm trying to fill in what doesn't usually get taught and that's sort of what I'm trying to do in harvestable too we have a lot of guest speakers and they're all good so I listened to everything I can't and then feeling what where I see gaps I don't want to withhold anything that would really be profitable useful good for you so I'm starting tonight with this cut this discussion of word and spirit lots of ways you could approach that one ways to suggest that the word is kind of like a marriage manual but you need a marriage you can't actually worship just the book I was saying that it's a living and active and powerful but it's still teaching you things about somebody but you still need the marriage now one thing I've been emphasizing in the last few days is the idea of romantic love for Jesus and so in that way I look at the book as a marriage manual but you still need the marriage so we don't get married to the book but we it's quite a manual about marriage it's it's off the Bible's also like a cookbook but it's not enough to read a cookbook you actually need to cook right it's it's like a map but a map doesn't do me any good unless you follow the map and go somewhere missed oh it doesn't do a lot of good just to study a map right you're on a journey you're trying to get somewhere and the Bible is kind of about well that immediately gets into a discussion of how precise and complete in particular and detail is that map does it tell us everything we need to know there's a broad range of opinion about that one extreme is that yeah they we need we need the Bible but it's not very specific it's just kind of a general compass points us in the general direction we don't have to get too literal or to specific cases it's just kind of a general arrow pointing in there somewhere and we might have to go off the map of different ways to get the fullness of the knowledge of God and experience in him other people and then complete opposite extreme we're not going to play any instruments in church unless we read about them in the Bible you know that was a big thing still is in some churches and you know if it's not in the Bible it's just not God and they get very carried away about that it's a huge discussion about whether we should get emotional at all we have the Word of God that's sufficient that's all we need and there's a huge body percentage of the body that insists that God has given us everything we need in the Bible we don't need experience or feelings or emotions or visions or extrasensory supernatural advancer we have what we need we just need the book a lot of great mystics in the church in history we're so strong at that point that they didn't feel that it was Dudley to seek any kind of experience in God because it's sensual it's it's based on feeling I'm just not going to name names and this this particular meeting but I think we'd know the names that if I mentioned them you would know them but the idea you know a lot of the Mystics were actually afraid of visions they were afraid of encounters they were afraid of miracles because they felt like they were they had gotten to the point where they didn't want to be anything to distract them from Jesus himself and they felt like even having a vision even feeling electric shock bolts in your body or are experiencing manifestations of whatever was a distraction from that pure pure pure pure pure concentration just on the spirit of Jesus you didn't want to feel things they didn't want to see things they just wanted that that pure connection with Jesus they were serious they don't want any any distractions so these are really big big big questions now I've been spending some effort in the last few days saying that the Bible gives us a lot of instructions that we actually don't know how to carry out we need the spirit we need the word and the spirit and basically everything instruction the scripture gives us I think it's predicated on being spirit filled having the ability to obey you have to understand when the Paul says do this and do that cleanse yourself you know do this or that that's the understanding there is that your spirit filled and therefore have the ability to do that so that helps to understand the Bible because the Bible is full of instructions now for example James 1:25 this is a very very very critical verse for me as are all of these James 1:25 says but whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom think about that how could a law give freedom we're not supposed to be legalistic we're not supposed to be under the law this is not the Old Testament we need freedom but James says there is a perfect law that gives freedom now if you don't understand that don't pay attention to that you're gonna get lost because this is a map this is a marriage manual this is the cookbook it tells us how things work a perfect law that gives freedom and the only a perfect law can do that when we just start throwing out our own religious laws they don't work like that but there is a perfect law that's what's amazing about the Bible it's a perfect law and when you look in deadly at it it's important word there whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it not forgetting what they have heard but doing it they will be blessed in what they do that's how the Christian life works we read the Bible to know how the Christian life works nowadays in our stream what often happens is people teach and teach and teach but they don't teach the Bible that much they have their ideas but I I just take the Bible out early seriously that's all I do is just intently read it beginning to end I want to know everything the Bible has to say about a certain subject before you draw a conclusion before you make an interpretation everything about it it's past its history original situation you name it everything you can they will be blessed in what they do so this is pretty simple how would you like to be blessed and everything you do what you need to do then is to look intently into the perfect law and do it that's super basic like I was saying yesterday that happens when God does something to you and gives you the ability to do it and what I tried to say was that that doesn't mean that we just sit around in our passage what that means is that you use the ability that he has already given you if you have any attraction to God at all Eddie and he love in your heart at all God has already done something to you he's already given you something he's already done something in your life and given you a certain amount of ability to live the Christian life so you exercise that now another verse here is Hebrews 5:14 solid food is for the mature who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil this is an extremely important point you know I was asking the question yesterday how do we get more holy how do we improve ourselves how do we begin to love God how do we change ourselves now for the whole body of Scripture we understand that we cannot make ourselves even a little bit better we are God's workmanship every good thing we do is prepared before the foundation of the world that we should walk in them so what does it mean training ourselves to distinguish good from evil well here we learn something about God in His wisdom he is decided he is chosen to put us through a lifetime of experience in order to give us an understanding of the difference between good and evil it takes experience you can tell someone when they're young don't do this it's really bad for you if they don't believe it often they have to actually do it and get a severe understanding of why they shouldn't have done it this is how we learn things it doesn't work that just doesn't hit you and then suddenly you're holy he makes you holy through a lifetime of experience we learned from experience that was really not good and we learned from experience that was really good and that's what shapes us experience I often wish that didn't need experience to learn the things that hurt sometimes it takes years of pain and mistakes and all to learn what we learn every great man of God every great friend of mine has gotten through the same thing going through incredible things in life to learn what they've learned and I keep asking God why don't you just give us that understanding right at the start so we don't waste a lifetime just muddling around making mistakes but there's a reason for that we learned by experience so whenever someone comes up to you and say I'm sanctified last night yes that was a major teaching in the church especially the late 18-hundreds entire sanctification and there's certain versions of it in the hyper graves doctrines and so forth you know you just zapped and there you're perfect well I haven't met any one of those people yet so that helps us understand how the Christian life works we actually need experience to grow to understand the difference between good and evil now again when you talk about God's sovereignty it gives a lot of people the impression that we just don't need to try you don't actually need to do anything oh let's just relax let God do the work and we'll pop out the other end perfect that's not actually what the Bible says anywhere Hebrews 12:1 says therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses I just take this phrase at a time we actually are we're actually better off than people in the early days of the church because now we have two thousand years of witnesses church history who have lived lives of experience distinguishing good from evil we have a huge heritage much greater than people who lived a thousand years ago or eighteen hundred years ago it's just incredible the great cloud of witnesses I was born and raised in China and Asia and I was surrounded by a fantastic cloud of witnesses in the Cultural Revolution the communism took over China and people became real estates real apostles you know not the kind you know with just you know personal jetson huge gospel Tabernacles and now these are real apostles we have a huge cloud of witnesses and so Hebrews tells us to throw off everything that hinders that's something you do and if you don't want to do it and you don't do it that's just evidence that God is not at working you you should be really scared really terrified the only way to know that God is at work in you is if you go and do these things that makes sense that just corrects a lot of misunderstanding we have in the church we are to throw off everything that hinders we are in a race we throw off the sin that so easily entangles now can you agree with me that sin easily entangles you it just really does we need a lifetime of experience dealing with it it's a total cop-out to say God's just taking care of it I don't need to throw off anything I'm already arrived we actually need to get rid of everything that hinders now that sounds to some people like legalism and the hard sayings of Jesus this is not so fun but actually these things entangle you would you like to be just free and unentangled this is the only way to get there this is the truth this is why we read the word to find this out to get these instructions let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us to life requires running it requires perseverance you get nowhere just sitting there you need to you have a race that has been - for you now Heidi and I have had quite a Trix I have had quite a race there are times I really didn't like that race but I had no choice about it it got marked out for me you know the way to get to heaven from here is to run that race you can't detour you can't go off in some other direction you're not gonna get there you're gonna have to run the race that is set out for you and you might be jealous of somebody else because they have an easier racer you prefer someone else's race but there is a race marked out for you and there's no way around it there are no shortcuts in the Christian life I looked I tried I had like books that have shortcuts for me go to this conference go to this meeting get this teaching it you will be home free doesn't work that way we're not done heavens over there I'm here somehow I gotta get there from here one of my grandfather's orphaned children in China had a vision she saw the Christian life as a tightrope over the flames of hell life is a walking a tightrope over the flames of hell one slip in your toast but Jesus is holding your hand and you're holding his hand but that's just how narrow it is jesus said there'll be the road that goes up the mountains you know to salvation does it the gate is narrow view of their being that finding well if you want to get there you need to run that race run of your race is no fun when you bit way down this stuff no fun if you got a bunch of rocks in your backpack and you're trying to run a marathon and most people have been in comfort of him entangle themselves weight themselves down with all kinds of extra weight and running the Christian life then becomes really hard really confuse it totally frustrating you get so exhausted well the way not to get exhausted and run like a true champion marathoner is to get rid of all that unnecessary weight this is this is our instruction book fixing our eyes on Jesus how do you run the race the last few days I haven't been concentrating on Scripture like this I've just been talking about falling in love with Jesus but I want to take time today the read verses that discuss what happens in the real Christian life we could spend a lot of time talking about what fixing her eyes on Jesus means how do you fix your eyes on somebody you can't see obviously that's metaphorical but still what does it mean that's where things get really mystical very experiential very romantic very emotional you know when your eyes are on Jesus you know when your heart and mind are connected just like you know when you're in a relationship with a person when the two of you are connected very difficult to describe is the 19 but 1975 I was walking on the beach Dana Point California late at night after service and I had already been through Bible School and had a degree in biblical studies and Greek and everything but I never was connected in the way that I suddenly became that night suddenly I realized this is it it wasn't it wasn't understanding the doctrines and arguing them all out it was a connection now I won't even try to describe it I can't it's for those with eyes to see and ears to hear but we fix her eyes on Jesus the Pioneer and perfecter of faith who perfects your faith one person is that the example now for the joy set before him he endured the cross joy was Jesus's motivation to do everything that he did well last night I was saying everything we need to do everything we do out of love for Jesus but that produces joy if you don't have it something's wrong with your love for him but Jesus was motivated by the joy set before him now that's important not many people talk about what that means what do you have set before you what are you looking forward to do you have anything in your life that that you just are anticipating you're excited about that raises another issue we're gonna be here till midnight you know how it goes in in renewal meetings we're desperate we're desperate we're miserable were desperate Lord we need you we're just so desperate that needs a little discussion suppose you go out on a date with your girlfriend boyfriend and you're out on the river banks and the moon's up and the candles and the opera singers Saturday to you it's exactly we're hiding now gonna be in a few weeks we're going to be on the Seine River on a riverboat cruise when I tell you an opera singer singing Pesta those are gone with the funeral candles on the table and may or may not be any wine but for the joy set before him but what if I am on a mom on the riverboat with Heidi and she's right there beautiful and I say to her I'm desperate for you I'm in misery until I can't find you I'm not gonna live another day without you and she's sitting right there all the time in meetings people just absolute misery because they're just so hungry for God that's not how Paul sounded that's not how the New Testament sounded when it's more like is real life real life means you can enjoy what you have now and at the same time anticipate getting more later it is neither just thinking that what you have now is all you're ever going to get which is the typical epidemic 'el position this is as good as church is going to get this is as well as you're ever going to know Jesus this is not heaven yet so don't expect anything and there's a ceiling and you can't break that ceiling so just get used to it well the other extreme is you're totally miserable of what you already have you don't appreciate it you don't enjoy you're just in agony because hmm you want what's coming next right now and you don't appreciate what you have now so either those positions don't make sense to me we should be able to enjoy what we have in Jesus how much we know him already and how much we've already experienced and the fact that he has already given us so much and we already have a family and good experiences and he's been very good to us in many ways and we can be very thankful and praise him for these things and be thrilled actually thrilled with what we have now but it'd be terrible if there was nothing more so right away this instruction book of ours tells us we can be thrilled with what we have in Jesus now it also be thrilled with how much more we're gonna have in him coming up and that's what makes life so fascinating exciting knowing that every day there's more every single day you can have more without being miserable unable to enjoy what you already have you can get a lot out of each phrase in the Bible for the joy set before him if Jesus needed to joy to motivate him so will you that's almost never preached it's one of those gaps that I'm going to fill in if you want motivation to keep going - no matter how tough things get or whatever you need joy to do it you need something set before you you need something that you can look forward to don't have it all right now but you need that you need to be excited about what's coming genuinely moved and excited have real joy about what's set before you that's how he endured the cross now some people say Jesus suffered on the cross so we wouldn't have to he suffered so people would treat us better than they treated Jesus that's not going to happen Jesus said because if they hated me they will hate you the servants are not above their master Jesus suffered and died so that you could love the way he loved and if you don't want to suffer that really means you don't want to love you don't want to go to the Second Mile you don't want to turn the other cheek you don't want to forgive you enemies so that teaches us something Jesus scorned it Shane sat down at the right hand of the throne of God consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and news heart as anybody in this room grown weary had lost her yeah me every three days I did not quit the ministry every three days and in the morning we owe it's amazing how networks you collapse in the bed at night you just completely blown away by the hard harsh they're all the stuff that's happened and you just don't know how you can go another inch and you wake up in the morning all ready to go again but we need to understand what Jesus went through he endured a lot of opposition from sinners people didn't always treat him very well you may have noticed a lot of people hated him Jesus does flat said if they hated me they will hate you don't be surprised the Bible says first Peter in many other places don't be surprised if you're having a hard time a lot of opposition we are half sinful opposition in this world we can't pretend it's not there a lot of preachers teach that the devil should have no power over you so ever he shouldn't be able to bother you in any way you should know who you are in going and not let the devil bother you in any way that's not what the Bible says Jesus himself was greatly bodied by evil opposition and so will we because we Jesus told us to take up a cross deny ourselves and follow him I try to talk that that doesn't apply to us because that's another that was before the cross it's three covenants Old Testament before the cross and after the cross that's that's that's a big teaching out there but I'm just looking at scripture here so that you will not grow weary and lose heart I know I asked the question why God why don't you just make us not weary why do we have to sit there and read the word and consider what Jesus went through to get unwary well this is God's in his wisdom his way of developing you we have this Bible for a reason it's not Jesus but it tells us what we need to know about it we do need to know this you can't just say I don't care about the Bible I'm just going to love Jesus doesn't work that way Hebrews 12 for in your struggle against sin that's a big phrase sin is a struggle have you ever heard teaching that says she'd be no struggle at all it's just I just gotta just carry you along well remember yesterday I said priest your life should be like laying on accounts just floating down the stream over the rapids and rock there are times when it feels like that there are times when yours are so high in the spirit and your joy is so great in it and even when horrendous things are going on in your life you don't feel them you feel like you're on a couch but that's a gift there's no technique to staying on that couch there's no there's no way you could just hop on your couch whenever you want it's it's a gift and a lot of the time God chooses you just struggling against sin it's a struggle in fact Hebrews says you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood there's a lot of Christians in this world that struggle against evil opposition to the point of shedding their blood now I've heard a talk that that's never guards will doesn't want you to shed your blood to struggle against sin that's not how Christianity works I'm trying to sit here and say as much as I can that would be helpful to you some of you may have a window more than this I don't need to say any of this to you but I'm just trying to cover some bases there is a struggle against sin and until God puts Satan away in the pit forever at the end of Revelation there will be this evil opposition and it will be a struggle right now in most would be many of our people our own people in our own churches that we started in villages where we have gone on out reaches places where we have trained pastors in our Bible School where houses are being burned down by the hundreds dozens and dozens and now hundreds of people have been shot and killed and beheaded and tortured every way imaginable and they are resisting evil opposition to the point of shedding their blood and have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son my son do not make light of the Lord's discipline and do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the Lord disciplines the one he loves and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son there are translations that say and he urges everyone he accepts as his son this is part of the Christian life I'm not here to big secret sensitive I'm not here trying to attract people to church I'm here to tell you the truth that's what I care about I care about the truth I'm not blessed by unity or anything if it's not the truth truth is that there's actually no limit to what does my discipline you wish to get you straight down now Heidi was unique I had a lot of relationships before Heidi I never met anyone like her when I met her she was the one and only person who along with me said all the time in prayer God smashed me break me crush me do whatever it takes to make me what you want Jesus is silly with all her heart pray that way and we both do and that was a huge bond whatever it takes I don't want to miss out I do not want to miss out on anything in the Christian life when I get to heaven I don't want the situation to be that I just proves denied refuse discipline and it did didn't want to lay aside stuff it didn't run the race and I just missed out on a better resurrection and there are degrees of resurrection it's a degrees of inheritance whose degrees in rewards well who preaches about that who preaches about that Jesus said that laid up treasure in heaven don't lay up treasure on earth words Steve's break in and steal things rust lay up treasure how much treasure is running lay up most of the emphasis in preaching today is about how much we can get in this life and you can't take any of it with you why not spend your life at laying up treasure in heaven how great a resurrection do you want how much treasure do you want to get when you get up there that's a very practical question if your hardship is discipline God is treating you as his children what children are not disciplined by their father no discipline seems Pleasant at the time but painful how many can attest to that no discipline is Pleasant at the time that's for sure just ask me it's painful later on however that produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it I've often asked the Lord instead of all that pain and discipline why don't you just give me righteousness and peace why not a shortcut why do I need discipline why do I need to make mistakes why do I need experience why do I need to taste what's wrong in order to appreciate what's right that's a tricky way because a lot of people said to Paul well if that's the process why don't you just go out and sin a lot more so we can get more experience and get more grace that's not how it works that's the process we have to go through to love righteousness as much as Jesus did what do we have to go through to understand evil enough to hate it as much as God does most of us are sort of ambivalent in the middle somewhere that's good that's not so good but to God that's fantastic and that's horrible even even the little things joy was the reward that Jesus got for loving righteousness and hating wickedness that's the that's the reward he got now I've often thought in how do I get a harvest of righteousness and peace jesus said blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness well this is an issue a lot of people are longing for Jesus but not longing for righteousness as Bunch well which is it am I supposed to go around seeking and searching for righteousness or am I supposed to go around seeking his face every thought every ask that question what do I set my heart on righteousness of Jesus you know preachers teach a lot of things that we should be doing that are good but we're lonely we don't have Jesus so that can't be true but a lot of people just they just want this supernatural experience with Jesus but they do hey understand pretty much what righteousness and evil are well it's a huge revelation when you discover that Jesus is righteousness it's not some abstract thing you chase apart from him did you really know Jesus you're gonna know he is righteousness and the more you know him closer you get to him you realize you are my sanctification that's what the scripture actually says impossible words he has become to us our sanctification so you get the whole package Jesus is perfect he this is not somebody you like he is holiness he is righteousness you don't get righteousness unless you get him and if you try to get him without righteousness you don't and if you're trying to get right just right out here you don't so that's a very good that's a good point therefore strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees make level pants from your feet so that the lame may not be disabled but rather hear the Christian life is not passive much as I talk about God's sovereignty and the last thing I am is passive scripture gives us directions the only way you know that God is with you and its sovereignty working in you is if you do these things make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy without holiness no one will see the Lord there has been such a reaction against holiness in recent generations and decades that's because of legalism and Religion ideas of what holiness is it's just not religiously avoiding certain things and dressing a certain way you all know that holiness is not just avoiding things it's also doing things out of love it's a joint life out of love it's a whole lot of things very energetic very fruitful very productive but the scripture is very very serious without holiness no one will see the Lord now if our whole ambition is to find Jesus and experience him and know him and encounter him and have visions and supernatural things the whole subject of holiness gets kind of drowned out in conferences because we're trying to experience the supernatural but trying to experience a supernatural without it and equal dire and hunger for righteousness just doesn't work that's not how the Christian life works and so often what happens is it signs and wonders conferences it's more smoke and mirrors than actual actually miraculous happenings people talk but you don't see the Lord and you don't see his glory and you don't see when you're after without holiness so this is the interesting thing we need to be chasing after and hungry righteousness as much as the Lord and actually it is the same thing it's the same thing if you're chasing after Jesus and you're not hungry for righteousness you're after you're not gonna get them and if you're just trying to be holy and without them that's not gonna work either this is critical this is why we read the Bible now I've been saying the last few days you need to be really romantically connected with Jesus in a way that satisfies you but we just finished reading a whole bunch of verses that simply say be holy lay aside things that hinder so where's Jesus and all of that we just found a whole bunch of instructions here and what to do and what not to do where's Jesus and a lot of preaching from one side of the spectrum is that way preachers are just always telling people what to do give of yourself learn to love people serve on the mission field go out and save the Lost heal the sick van july's without any explanation of where Jesus fits in now actually we're gonna be here till tomorrow actually a lot of Christians don't have a function for Jesus yes he died 2,000 years ago paid for my sins bought his blessings but he's done he's retired he's on a rocking chair in some golden porch interceding for us or something but he's gone we don't have a function from him anymore and actually ask yourself what function do you have for Jesus in your daily life is he even Barry what does he do how do you relate to him usually it's I've heard it preached often that Jesus has already done everything he's going to do on the cross and from now on we're going to need to take his promises obey Him and do the things that he did out of obedience just by faith that what he has already done for us so he's gone and we just get the words of knowledge or certain gifts of the Spirit to keep functioning somehow but we don't have a use for Jesus we thank him we're grateful for him for dying for our sins and so we worship Him for that reason but what do you have to do with him today how do you relate to him day to day I've been to conferences where the name of Jesus wasn't mentioned the entire conference and it was a renewal conference I've also been to conferences where all that was talked about is the Holy Spirit either the father of the Spirit where's Jesus is that a fair question just asking what what is his function in your day-to-day life if I only read two verses like I've just been reading to you you'd have to ask that question but the Bible has answers john 6:53 I've been talking about intimacy linty maseeh not just intimacy so that you can be more fruitful but marriage real love real romance of the kind that satisfies you well I don't know of any verses that can be any more descriptive of that than john 6:53 jesus said to them very truly I tell you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you that's powerful that's heavy that's deep and Jesus meant it to be so far from just just believing in what he did 2,000 years ago you need to eat his flesh and drink his blood or you have no life in you obviously that's also metaphorical but that is ultimate extreme total intimacy you need Jesus just too heavy life in you what does eating his flesh and drinking his blood me that is an infinite metaphorical linguistic description of extreme connection we are embedded in him we're actually eating him and drinking him we're so close we're so involved we're so connected he's so so so part of us and everything we do is out of out of that because of that and we're feeling that we're experiencing that we're feeling his involvement at every second of her life he is our motivation it's because of how we feel when we're connected with like that that we can function at all and have life a lot of equations are trying to carry on without that kind of extreme connection they're trying to have life and it's not working so what he's really saying is is that unless you are eating his flesh and drinking his blood you can't follow all the verses that I was just reading to you that's the implicit understanding biblical instructions are predicated on being filled with the Holy Spirit what does the Holy Spirit do he creates the relationship between you and Jesus that's what he does he doesn't just give you words of knowledge he doesn't just give you miraculous powers he doesn't just produce phenomena there's another big huge issue here every time you make a spiritual or theological statement it begs a whole lot of other questions and you can go off in all kinds of directions but there's a big discussion about how to treat the different members of the Trinity wouldn't it sound very strange if Paul said I have suffered the loss of all things for the surpassing value of knowing the Holy Spirit didn't it strike you as not quite right he says Christ's Holy Spirit is not somebody to be worshipped and loved and appreciated apart from Jesus now I know there's lots of books I mean any old everything I've said I'm aware of a whole slew of books that treat it in all sorts of different ways you know everything from the book good morning Holy Spirit Oh picture better ones but the Holy Spirit is never saying hey what about me you know your lavishing all your attention on Jesus but I am over here too you know that's not what he does he's the Spirit of God he's the spirit of Jesus you wouldn't hear God's saying this is my beloved spirit and whom I am well-pleased they're not symmetrical they did that three separate persons the holy spirit creates relationship it's one of the biggest things I've ever learned God isn't just waiting for us to love him that would be a long wait it's the Holy Spirit that creates the love you have for him that's the greatest creation of God is just your body it's not just the planet it's not just the water and trees it's the love he creates in your heart for your God for your Savior that's the greatest creation of God it's not your doing but you experience it as you're doing you're not sitting there just passively saying okay I dare you Holy Spirit to make me love God you experience it as total freedom he creates real love in you for Jesus until you love Jesus because you can't help it there's nobody else you love more there's nobody else you would want to follow more there's nothing else you would enjoy more you're in total agreement that's freedom so we have this verse 1st Corinthians 6:17 but the one who joins himself to the lord is one spirit with him actually in the Greek there's not even a with him in the one who joins himself to the lord is one spirit how would you like to be so intimate with Jesus that when you connect yourself to him and you eat his flesh and drink his blood you find out hey we're one spirit union with God that was the great goal of all the great mystics and saints of church history this is not me talking this is scripture and history and testimony an experience of saints of the ages the closer you get to God the more the two of you become wet spirit that's that's actually my goal that's where we're headed to become one spirit with Jesus without that and unless that happens you can't obey all these verses I was reading before but it's in Scripture for a reason now I've been talking about romance how can you get more specific than this one I'm going to read you 2nd Corinthians 11:2 for I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy for I betrothed you to one husband so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin now how can you get any more specific than that about what our purpose is what we're trying to do in the ministry but the Christian life is about how Christianity works we're headed for a wedding feast we're the bride in first and yet I don't hear many messages about romance I need four it usually just told go do things Christian life is usually described as you know the business of going and doing good things but it's romantic there's lots of other verses just picking out a few it's 5:30 oh that's eight hours to go here how when do we do our a good service anybody want any more you know it talked about being so romantically loving in Jesus that we don't love the world anymore well where's that inscription because I hear a lot of preaching about both and more you don't have to wait til the sweet by-and-by you can have it now - both anymore God just wants to really bless you as much as possible in every possible way and I've seen ministries describe their mission in exactly those words and what does Paul say what a scriptures say but whatever things were gain to me those things I have counted is lost for the sake of Christ more than that I count all things to be lost in the view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ that's my prosperity message for today he's not trying to get it all that sound like he's trying to get both and more he actually had to suffer the loss of all things so that he might gain Christ now not everybody's going to lose as much as Paul did I mean we could have another sign-up sheet in the back if he doesn't want to be real apostles like Paul just absolutely but that's what Jesus meant to him Jesus is not a way to gain all things but there's always a dichotomy because Roman says Romans 8 if God did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also along with him give us all things ok Paul loses all things and now Paul says we're going to gain all things now which isn't the answer is as Christians have learned by experience through the ages that God does not always reward their righteousness right away and that diffuses people that think that if they are good or do something good whether they real ever not that God is then obligated to bless them right away and so Christianity becomes a way to just get things it's not what happens it's not how Christianity works a lot of people ask the question hey I lived a good life I've done so many good things for the Lord I'm exercised my faith I've served the church and and look what happened to me where's God it's not fair it doesn't work so they go to chase after another church that read another book get something more positive and it doesn't work the fact is that God does not reward righteousness necessarily right away some people may not get anything for it until heaven and in any case the whole point in everything that God does is to glorify Him everything God does is to glorify himself not us not our stuff not her not her work not a reputation not us at all it's to glorify Him and that means to show the glory of real righteousness real holiness make it shine in the dark and so the scripture tells us he tests hearts where's Peter chapter one talks about those who are experiencing light and momentary affliction so that their faith may be proven to be genuine to the devil to the demons to the onlookers of heaven to the people of the world to believers unbelievers everybody it's your faith and your testings are gonna prove your love for God and if you just instantly get protection and you instantly become a wimp in a bubble if you become instantly rewarded for every good thing you do most everybody would be doing what they do for totally the wrong reasons just to get something so Paul what's done tested Joe and he tests a lot of people for his own glory to show the devil how much we love him that's where the whole battle is that's the whole battle with Joe the devil said the only reason he loves you and all of that stuff is because you do this this and this way well just give him a hard time for a while see that less your whole life is for the glory of God we have a description that spells these sounds things out very very specifically Philippians 3:12 not that I've already obtained it or have already become perfect now for a hyper grace people just dance all around trying to explain that verse and it doesn't work fact is I'm not aware of any perfect human being in history the Enoch was taken up Elijah was taken up it doesn't mean they were perfect but I knew one type of great sky that renamed himself in it because he thought he had reached it and I've mentioned this before and he causes more trouble in Mozambique than anyone Paul says I press on even though I'm not already perfect I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus we press on it's kind of my signature an email onward and upward I just love it that's what we're doing we're going we're pressing onward and upward we're not just passive sitting around we're pressing on to what lies ahead actively because we're anticipating it and at the same time enjoying what we have now that's a pretty critical phrase here one thing I do doesn't that pique your interest what could be the one thing he does forget what lies behind love try telling that to some counselors forget what lies behind me what guy explained it like this if you look back either you're going to see your faults and become self condemned or are you going to look back and really be impressed by what you did they become proud so the best thing to do is forget it doesn't help anything the only thing that gives you license to be so in love with Jesus that what lies ahead just appeals to you so much that what lies behind doesn't bother you anymore that's the only healing there really is now you don't just get there necessarily right away so you may need help them counseling but remember what Paul said here this is the one thing he does should be kind of important that strikes a chord in me this is not just some preachers opinion this is the Apostle Paul and the Word of God reaching forward of what lies ahead I press on toward the goal for the prize in the upward call of God in Christ Jesus that's something active now I've been saying over and over for a few days that we need to be so caught up with Jesus that this world gets dim in our eyes I don't believe that God has called us to make their first job the changing of earth into heaven why not because of Scripture Colossians 3:1 therefore if you have been raised up with Christ keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God set your mind on the things above not the things that are on earth how specific can you get another verse 2nd Corinthians 4:18 so we fix her eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal I don't need to discuss that very much that is just point blank black and white anybody agree you can't keep anything down here the thought of fixing everything on earth it's a little bit exhausting oh I could really get into that the question of course is how do you fix your eyes on something you can't see most preaching is about things that are felt and seen even if they are temporary the attitude is well we don't know much about heaven and we don't know where Jesus is gonna come back and we do we're not we're not going to just live in a cave somewhere so we need to be busy doing something so what since all we have is the world around us let's get busy making the world a better place well of course to something to that result like anywhere we have Christians who do what's right there of course going to affect things their course going to make things better in some ways of course if they have the freedom they're gonna be involved in government business and all kinds of things just because they're Christians just because they're doing good and doing what's right they'll be effecting everything but that's not where we set our hearts that's we're sending examples of what holiness looks like but that's not where we set our hearts that's not ultimately what we're looking forward to that's not where we're headed now I really admire and jealous actually the people who have had extended visions of heaven when I spent time in these people it completely changes me also people that have had extended visions of hell and other things that really changes people but you don't have to have a specific picture I mean I've read many many accounts of visions that are very specific of heaven my grandfather was involved a lot of that when I grew up he used to tell me stories over and over and over if these power encounters and visions and experiences people had of heaven and angels and demons oh that's all that's how I was aware of when I was five years old but you don't have to have exact pictures of buildings and streets although people that have seen those things they just just saw overwhelmed they can't talk but again it's spirit to spirit it's like the love I was trying to describe yesterday it's it's it's not in traction for something physical it's spirit to spirit you're attracted to God as a spirit and to the whole environment that he's in and you don't have to have the specifics to have a deep deep settling in your heart a fixation of your heart on those things you need to be up in heaven in your mind and heart all the time regardless of what's going on well while we're down here you need to be in heaven in your spirit all the time you need just be gone you need to be out of here already this is not our home we are deep behind enemy lines we are deep in enemy territory it is a dangerous treacherous place we are in right now this is no place to get settled this is no place to build your dream destiny we're here very temporarily we are all going to be out of here soon enough question is where are you going like I said oh really do you want a better resurrection or just a temporary big house I wouldn't how big of a bed do you need how big a closet do you need how many suits do you need I think of a boat do you need I don't need a good tenant and it could cook but really scripture is very specific if you want to argue you can't argue with me you're gonna have to argue in the Bible that's why when I teach at harvest going on I just use scripture constantly I didn't even have my own notes I just read verse after verse after verse after verse and if you want a fuss fuss with the Bible another big discussion are you okay it's just all right just raise your hand if you're bored to tears a lot of discussion about the eventual course of the world the destiny what's going to happen to it is it going to be eventually totally restored and fixed are we gonna pull heaven down until heaven and earth to the same place what is our job to make that happen what's gonna happen to the world what's the future of the world it's not that easy actually because it depends on how you look at Scripture that's why Toni's discussing hermeneutics in his MA program study of how to interpret the Bible Romans 8 talks about the restoration of all things you know no test that talks about some day the line is good if the land is better lay down with the lion and you know all kinds of things that some people assigned to the tribulation or to the millennium and and who knows when and then there's the mantra of our moment thy kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven and that's interpreted as the idea that God wants earth to be like heaven and our job is to keep working until it is well that makes one extremely huge assumption and nobody talks about and that assumption is that God's will for the earth is the same as it is for heaven as I said we're going to have evil opposition here until God puts the way Satan into the pit and then till then according to many many scriptures God is deliberately allowing evil opposition so that we can prove our faith and our love for God there is no persecution in heaven there are no healing meetings in heaven there's no no trials of your faith in heaven there's no evil opposition in heaven but there is here and I don't think we'll have time to get to it but there are two verses that I could read expressing how we need to suffer according to the will of God and another verse that says we need to suffer according to the power of God now when I grew up I was praying God when can I suffer for righteousness sake instead of for being stupid would it be great to actually suffer for righteousness sake that would actually give you joy instead I went and did that but God's will for this earth is not the same we don't need intercessory prayer beatings in heaven we don't need to exercise faith in patience and endurance we don't need to deny ourselves take up a cross we don't need to feed our enemies and go the Second Mile in heaven you realize that this short short life on Earth is just a tiny tiny almost infinitely compared to eternity slice of your eternal life in which you have the chance to prove that you love God you will never have this chance again everybody's trying to get out of persecution everybody's trying to avoid having their faith tested but this is the only chance you're gonna have for all eternity to prove what you got do you think you were going to be rewarded in heaven for being an entitled wimp in a bubble in fact there's a verse we won't get to it but there's a verse that says according to what we will be rewarded in heaven according to how we shared the sufferings of Christ the Fellowship of his sufferings as Paul puts it you know when you and a friend go through hardships together for good reason that builds a bun doesn't it between you you don't get any other way it's like army veterans that served together in a war somewhere nears later the rest of the life they're bonding it's the same way with Jesus and to go through some of the things that Jesus went through we were bonded to him in a different and special way and we're rewarded for it we're not rewarded in heaven for nothing if you want to just avoid any issues and needing to exercise any strength any character any devotion you just don't want you just want to be rewarded for absolutely nothing it's not gonna work it's just not going to work so we have some verses here that then just point blank say what's going to happen and once again I've been to 23 24 years or renewed conferences I had never heard these verses preached there in the Bible if you want to argue second Peter 3:7 by the same word that present heavens and earth are reserved for fire for any specific being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly I never thought of fire as being the way to restore the earth they are kept the world the present heavens and earth are kept for the day of judgment and destruction now we have this verse you know answering the question how come has been so long where is the promise of his coming you know you know this has been going on for thousands of years what's what's going on second Peter 3:9 the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness instead he is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance okay that's pretty clear but it's also clear that if that's not going to go on forever his patience isn't just going to keep going on endlessly he is going to draw a line somewhere in history that's why we need the fear of the Lord he's not gonna put up with evil forever it's just not going to happen so it's patience is going to come to an end at some point that's just what scripture says I didn't invent that so second Peter goes on the day of the Lord will come like a thief the heavens will disappear with a roar the elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare since everything will be destroyed in his way that's pretty specific everything will be destroyed now I have a lot of opposition about this and I really huge in that opposition as people want to be part of restoring things fixing things you want to feel like what they've done to work and build and improve in this world are going to last I had PhD professors myself presidents of a university one point say that everything we do to paint a building or build a school or what it's going to not be useless and burned up one day it's going to be part of the eventual heaven well have you seen building construction in Mozambique I hope there's something better than this world I hope there's something better than outside living right now plumbing doesn't even keep you know just turn a faucet there breaks it's a cheap thing from China we're gonna need something a little better but I'm just talking about the Word of God I'm they're not just spouting off here mm-hmm what kind of people ought you to be if everything's going to be destroyed well a lot of people fuss hey Ron if you think everything's is going to be destroyed you're just sitting around waiting for heaven what are you going to do just sit in a cave just sit around not try to fix anything just be passive just hang out just you know not care about anything don't care about global warming green earth nothing nothing nothing no but it says I keep saying what all else fails read the book what kind of people aren't you to be you ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed it's coming that day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire and the elements will melt in the heat but in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells how many of you have heard the of the painter of Kiana she lives in the Gold Coast actually now with a new husband moved Australia from Idaho recently came from Eastern Europe I visited her in her home in Coeur d'Alene Idaho as you as some of you know who have heard of her Jesus taught her to paint she started painting at age three and by the time she was eight years old she was painting like that Rembrandt master she never had an art lesson she her parents any turn art lesson once she came home all disgusting I don't need teachers I need students she's a little kid and I was there she paints what she sees and visions painted Jesus and I've met other people had visions of Jesus and they looked at her painting go that's him it's extraordinary her paintings but she also has been given a lot of visions and a lot of wasted and a lot of Revelation and I'm sitting there looking at all her regional paintings in her house and I asked her a lot of questions she writes poetry as profound and as supernatural as the paintings people call her up from all over the world for wisdom you know Buddhist monks in caves in Tibet collar up and ask her questions but I asked her hey Aki Anna are we getting a new world or are we just gonna fix the old planet instantly she turned around said oh no we got it I'll do it and she pointed to a painting on the wall and there were two planets there she's I saw them there's one with the Pacific and Atlantic oceans renewing dissolved she destructive sis obvious and it was always obvious to me growing up the Bible says we get a new heaven Jesus went away to prepare a place for us not made with hens and inheritance nobody can mess with or take away if he's doing that what are we doing down here trying to do the same thing or maybe we get a choice of retirement plans or something anyway that affects our attitude toward what we do in life I think it actually affects everything we do as Christians if this world is going away then our job is to take as many people as we can to the next one and a job is not to fix this world our job is to testify to another one and that fundamentally affects our attitude toward life where we have our minds what we're trying to do where values are fundamentally changes everything so then dear friend since you are looking forward to this not everybody is looking forward to the earth burning up you have to know Jesus most any problem you have is is because you don't know Jesus well enough no I said yesterday if he had promised but it's because you're not romantically in love with him enough well not knowing it well enough is the same thing if you know him well enough you will love him and you will look forward to all of this make every effort to be found spotless blameless and at peace with him that's a quite a phrase make every effort now there's two kinds of effort I think what effort is an unloving one it's an unfaithful one it's a negative one where everything is just hard work it's no fun you're not pressed it doesn't make you happy it's just a grind but that's not the kind of effort we're talking about here cuz Jesus said also take my load upon you my burden upon you my load is easy my burden is light and so as I said earlier when everything to do with obedience is predicated on being full of the Spirit making every effort is actually a pleasant thing it was not pleasant if it's hard work to you it's not really making an effort it's like someone saying to you I'm making every effort to love you it doesn't fill your heart but if you really love that same phrase making every effort it's just you just flooded with love and you just you just thinking of everything possible you can do to love that person that kind of making every effort is a very very different thing don't you think and we need to distinguish these things you just don't always do that Oh 607 I'm just gonna mention when when one last category thought here three verses sometimes people think that my preaching is too heavily minded to be a mini earthly good you're so caught up with Jesus you're so caught up with heaven you're so caught up in theological you know infinities and Dreamland yeah there's hungry thirsty people around this problems to fix work house how's that supposed to benefit anybody if you dissolve caught up with this highfalutin spirituality well read the book one of the main reasons we went to Mozambique is to follow my grandfather's example of going to the least of these that's a direct result of simply reading Matthew 25 Matthew 25 was the main reason we went to most of it as missionaries we started off in Hong Kong and London working with street people and so forth but it's Mozambique the world's poorest country at the time there was an expression of my understanding of Matthew 25 and you all know the story says God at some point it's going to gather everybody and he's going to separate everybody into sheep and goats and the interesting thing is what makes a sheep a sheep is somebody who gives water to the thirsty food to the hungry clothes to the naked and you know the story jesus said whatever you've done for the least of these you've done for me and then the goats are those where Jesus just said I'm gonna be dragged off then he will say to those on his left which are the goats depart from me you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels why would he put somebody in eternal fire because I was thirsty and you didn't give me a drink I was hungry and you didn't give me any food I was naked and you gave me no clothes I was in prison and you didn't visit me that is enough reason you'd be put into eternal fire well how do you get out of it how do you think I'm a sheep it's not passive you don't just sit around and depend on God's grace we deliberately figured out what was the poorest country in the world we could find then when we got there we deliberately tried to find the lowest people in society they're deliberately trying to find people that nobody else cared about there was no safety net for them whatsoever even the churches had no interest in them the government had no use for them the police didn't think of thing about them absolutely totally abandoned nobody's starving in gutters eating dead rats full of disease fighting demon-possessed full of parasites dying young half were dead before five why did we do that because we love the Lord and if you love them you love righteousness if you love righteousness you love people and if you love people you start with the point of their need you can't talk about heaven and people just plain hungry right now that's one of our core values and ours five of them actually determined to make our first goal seeking and finding him we depend on him for miracles for everything not just some things not just occasional things but for everything starting with money thirdly we go to the least of these like I've just been talking about firstly we're willing to suffer for the gospel if necessary fifth of the best would the joy of the reserved students you

Channel: Healinglife Barry Manuel

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Length: 111min 34sec (6694 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 25 2019