You pray for me? Come on. Jesus! Come on. All right. Do me a favor. Put your hand on either your head or your heart whatever needs it most. Or you can put one on each. Jesus... I can't quite get my hand on his head. It's just like there's this buffer. So Father in the name of Jesus we just know that today your heart is to see those that you've died for, those that you went to the cross for, come to know you. Lord I pray that the power of the cross would be released in this place and the power of the resurrection would just go forth. Holy Spirit, you were sent because you were just like Jesus. He told us he was sending another just like himself and Lord we receive what you are doing. So we bless Todd right now. Fill him Lord like never before and impact Lord, our head or our heart. Break the lies of our head and sow truth in there, seeds that will be never taken away but it will only bear fruit. And in our heart Lord build intimacy like never before, an ongoing 24/7 relationship with you that just overflows to the world. We ask it in the name of (say it with me) Jesus! Amen. Thank you, buddy. Wow. You guys ready? All right. I love morning sessions because that's where hungry people are. I really do. Like, the mornings you find out like who's hungry. People are like "Ah, I'll just wait till the night." But Jesus Jesus is into the a.m. too, right? My wife says I have two speeds-- high and off. She does. She says you only have two speeds, you're either you're either awake and on high, or you're asleep and on off. But even though I'm on off, God's ministering to me Like it's pretty amazing. You know it says in Job It actually says, "In deep sleep when men slumber upon their beds, the Lord seals up the instructions from the day to keep them from getting haughty. To keep me from thinking that I can get it all myself. God seals it all up, so when I go to bed my night times are the Lord's. I used to have these terrors. I used to have night terrors. It was horrible. and at night when I would go to sleep I'd have these nightmares all night long when I'm being attacked in my sleep and running and just these demons were chasing me and stuff. And then Jesus shut all that off, and then he came into my night. Every night, you can give Holy Spirit your nigh. Like God, I thank you that I'm going to sleep, but you're never asleep, and I'm gonna rest for a couple hours but you can make these couple hours be like eight. Because who knows, like with schedules, like the intensity of schedules and stuff, you can have three or four hours of sleep but God can give you an eight hour sleep in a four hour period. You know I opened up. I opened up the other day, and I shared my heart on on Matthew 11:28, and I said "Come to me." Jesus says. Not come to me, but Jesus said come to him. "Come to me all of you who are weary and burdened down my life, weighed down by life. Come to me and I will give you rest." That's what Jesus said. Then and then a lot of the body of Christ goes to that "Xome to me to Jesus to get rest" but they never learn from him to maintain it. And so the learning from Christ and the reality of who Jesus says you are is priority, and that when you're in that school of Holy Spirit, school of training, to where the Holy Spirit is training you-- what happens is he teaches you who you are. So When I came home from Teen Challenge-- I keep bringing that up because you can never forget where you came from and you can never be grown up in the Lord for-- I don't care how many years it is-- it's only been eleven years. It's been eleven and a half years. I've still got spiritual huggies on. I'm so excited about it. I am. And I don't want to grow up in the sense of thinking that I know it all. I want to always remain a child and remain teachable. Blessed are those that are poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are those whose soul is thirsty, because to the thirsty soul It says that any bitter thing is sweet. To those that are thirst and the Bible tells us to hunger and thirst for something. Right after that Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, blessed are the meek. And it goes through in the Beatitudes, the attitudes of being right? Not the attitudes of doing, but the attitudes of being in the Sermon on the Mount. Because those are the attitudes that we become when we give our life to Christ, but if you never realize what you've become you'll always be looking towards the cross and towards the finished work instead of living from the finished work. Living towards the finished work is wondering when your breakthrough's gonna come, but living from it is that your breakthrough has come. Now you become breakthrough. It's really important. but without the Word, like you could go to conference to conference to conference and you can actually grow in great gifting and prophesy amazing prophecies and heal the sick and cleanse the lepers and raise the dead and cast out devils and do all the things of the kingdom but not know Him and that's not okay. See, because God will use you regardless of where your heart's at. It's necessary to get into the truth of what God says so that he can weed our garden for us. If I were to tell you that I wanted you to have an acre garden... how many of you have ever gardened before? Okay, like a small garden, maybe 20 by 25, which is kind of a big garden but let's just say. That involves a little bit of weeding. A little, but what if it's like a 40 by 40 That's a lot of weeding. That's like some work. Like you better be dedicated. You better like That's like almost like, that's a part-time job. Like for real. What if it was a hundred by a hundred, that's a full-time job. That's a lot, if you want to bear the fruit, if you want to bear the vegetables, if you want to produce the yield. If you want the yield of your garden you're gonna have to make sure that thing stays weeded. You can't just say there's no weeds in my garden. There's no weeds in my garden. That's not how it works., Right? You've got to take care of it, so what if I told you that I wanted you to grow an acre, a football field garden? Like how many of you have gardened again before? You've gardened before? What if I told you I wanted you to have an acre garden? No joke. Like unless you're planning on being there full-time, that's a full-time job. Full-time job is weeding a garden like that. You actually need help. You need helpers to actually come, and know what they're doing. Landscapers would be good. Like a greenhouse expert would be good to come in there. What if I told you I wanted you to have that acre garden but I was gonna hire you a team that was gonna take care of it for you and then you could yield the fruit from it. How many of you would have that garden? That's silly. That's an easy answer. There's no ..really there's no work involved. Jesus said that God is the gardener. He's the vine. We're the branches. Any branch that doesn't bear fruit it says that he clips and trims. Why would you want to enter into heaven with a dead branch anyway? So here's what happens. When you have relationship with God because you're focused and fixed on the one thing that he told you to focus and fix on the Holy Spirit becomes your greatest friend. He becomes your clipper, your pruner, your gardener, and he gets out all the stuff so you can be a short bushy tree bearing much fruit. Okay, I wasn't ever good at gardening, but I used to grow weed. So now listen I've been free for 11 1/2 years, so weed's not a part of my life and weed shouldn't be a part of the church's life. I don't care if you call it medicinal. The only reason you need it is because you don't know Him. You can say what you want. I like... really. it's all things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial. Yeah, but God made weed, bro. Why wouldn't you want me to have it? Well God made coca plants too. Would we want you to have cocaine? God made... This just twisted. All that stuff is just weird. Stop trying to justify sin, and just like fall in love with Jesus so that you'll be free from it. Right? Really. So in growing a garden, in a tomato plant or I remember like doing this when I was a kid, because when you grow something what happens is when you prune it, two grow out. So when you... a tomato plant, when you trim it back, two stems come out and so you bear twice as much. You have twice as much yield going out on your stems. If you trim those two back, you've got four growing out. If you trim four back you've got eight. If you trim eight, you've got sixteen and before you know it you've got this amazing tree that could have been ten feet high but instead it's vined out and it's grown out, and it bears like 10 times 30 times 60 times 100 times more fruit than it could have before. And if you don't learn to have relationship with the Holy Spirit and have the Word come and trim and prune you... He's the most amazing gardener ever, so in my life, that's been established. When I came out of Teen Challenge I went to church to a class called Transformers Class. It was every Saturday morning. It was at my home church, where Dan Mohler was associate pastor and another Jack Hashman was the head pastor. And they used to have this class that they used to teach us about don't be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I told you that most of the answers I gave were wrong because I didn't finish the program that I went into but I learned, and even though they corrected me in a place where I thought I was right, I would write down the answers just to make sure that I'm always teachable, always trainable, always learning. And so it pushed me into a place called my closet. You know when I first got saved Dan Mohler was this guy that was in my life And I'm like, dude. I came up, I remember telling him, "Dude. You're my spiritual father." This is amazing. So much talk about spiritual fathers, and he said, "Todd I get what you're saying, and it sounds good, and you can glean from me. I can train you I can teach you. You can learn from me, but you have to understand something. There's only one on earth you call your father, and that's God." I'm not against spiritual fathers. I'm just telling you that If you go to call your spiritual father on the phone and they don't answer, you'll be an orphan on the other line unless you understand that God's your Father. And you can't afford to live as an orphan and to be codependent upon somebody here. Learning and gleaning and growing and mentoring. Mentoring should be different. Mentoring isn't just, "I got you man. I'm your accountability partner." Nobody nobody can keep you accountable. I'm not being mean. There's a time when your accountability partner that's supposed to keep you straight ain't around... like most of the time. And then if they're not there, you're gonna do things that you don't want to do. It's that Romans 7 thing that I talked about. Remember? I talked about Romans three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Read them in context. Romans 7 is trying to live according to the law, but if you don't understand what grace is and what the Spirit of grace and truth that's been given to you is, if you try to look for somebody to keep you accountable, they can never, because you'll be in front of a TV set when no one's looking. You'll be in front of a computer when no one's looking. But what if, what if, like I said, your hand can't cause you to sin. What if your hand has to only do what your mind has told it to? What if your heart gets fixed and you're actually in a relationship with the One that trims and prunes and clips? Okay What if you've got this amazing relationship with Love itself and you're convicted of your love relationship? The Holy Spirit, I said it the other day. I'm just gonna cap a bunch of stuff and then talk about my most amazing friend Jesus. The Holy Spirit, Jesus says, is coming and when He comes He's gonna convict the world of sin because they don't believe in Him, of righteousness because I'm gonna go to be with my Father, and of judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged. Convicted of sin... When you come to Jesus all of a sudden the conviction of the life that you lived, and your eyes are open and It's that "come to me all of you who are weary and burdened down and weighed down by life and I will give you rest." So we come to Jesus and he gives us that momentary rest. Are you with me? So then Jesus says the Holy Spirit is gonna convict the world of righteousness. I personally believe that in my life, I've had a lot of people say "Well Todd not everybody believes that way," like but well you know I grew up in the Masonic homes I was raised by the Freemasons for five and a half years of my life. My mom didn't have finances to support us. She worked three jobs. I was rebellious, angry, all that stuff. She didn't know what the Masons were. All she knew was these people are gonna take care of me. So I go in to the Freemasons. I'm in there-- not joined the club, but in a home sponsored by them. I come out. I join the military because I just am lost. I'm gonna straighten out my life. I join the Marines. I go to boot camp I do well, and then after boot camp I went home, and then I ran away. Then I ran away from the military. Then I go out west and I'm in the Rocky Mountains hiding. Then I get arrested one day because you can't hide forever and then they put me in jail, and then they extradite me across the US and put me in the brig. Then I'm in Camp Lejeune in the military prison. And then months and months later they let me out, and I'm on base awaiting orders, but I don't want to be there, so I run away again. So I'm out in Colorado hiding in the Rocky Mountains. Got a job as a ski bum, and then one day a year later I get arrested in a traffic violation.They put me in jail. They extradited me across America, put me in the brig again. So now I'm in the military prison down there, Camp Lejeune again. So then after months and months and months, they let me out, but they're not gonna keep me on base. They kicked me out and gave me a bad conduct discharge. So now I'm lost, and now I have all this stuff. Like no one wants to hire a guy like that. So I have to lie on every application to get a job. Now if you have to lie to get one, you have to lie to keep it, and so my whole life is just a twisted mess man. Everything. And then I'm as lost as lost could be. A couple years later I meet a girl in this bar, and I trick her into thinking. I'm this cool guy. I'm a good maneuverer. I'm a great liar. And I trick her into thinking I'm this cool guy, we moved in together. A year-and-a-half later we have our daughter. My daughter was born, and I didn't know how to be a dad. My dad wanted to be a dad, but he didn't know how to be a father in the fact of having a relationship with the Father, because he didn't know the Father. And his father died when he was five, so I'm continuing that thing. Same thing. So then my girl's gonna leave me, so I threaten to kill her if she ever left. You leave me. I'll kill myself, and first I'll find who you're with, and kill them and kill you and make you watch. And that's how I thought. I really thought that way. And my mind my soul is twisted and messed up as messed up as messed up can be and Then I'm with her for seven and a half years of my daughter's life. There's a reason why I'm sharing this. Some of you have heard it before. Some of you have not. You need to understand something. God can use anybody that's available. The reason why I have a passion to do what I do and to say what I say and to bring what I bring is because all this time in my life, not one person shared Jesus with me. Not one. So why is my heart so on fire for the fact that you could witness to one? Because nobody shared Jesus with me for 34 years of my life. Not one. That's not okay. So my daughter grew up with this animal as a father. Seven and a half years old, and all I did was lie steal kill destroy. Couldn't hold a job. Quit, got fired from everything. Never ever ever could I ever hold a job. Lied on every application, then I would get high on my way to take a drug test. How crazy. I had no concept. Because I didn't know the King. And seven and a half years of this life, when I come home one day after a drug binge, and my girlfriend is gone. She took my daughter, and I drove to her stepdad's house because I was getting ready to get a rifle. I was gonna get a shotgun actually. And I was just gonna shoot myself, and I was gonna write goodbye. I didn't have anything. Goodbye. I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to say. I'm as lost as lost could be. And on the way to the gun cabinet I flipped open this phone book right beside the notepad. And it opens to churches. Well, that's ridiculous because that's the last thing I'm looking for. Sorry. So I drive, so I drive to this church as angry as can be. I mean with fury. I drive to this church and this really happy guy comes to the door, in the back door of a little church in York, Pennsylvania. And I said to this guy, I said, " I need to talk to somebody." He goes, "Come on in buddy." I'm really not kidding. You guys would know him as Dan Mohler. So this is the guy that I met. So he's just smiling at me and he won't stop smiling. It's making me mad, and I'm like, "Dude What is wrong with you man. Like why are you so happy?" "It's not what's wrong. It's what's been made, right." And we go upstairs, and I'm like, right. Like Pilate. What is right. What is truth. I've no clue man. And I'm looking at this dude, and his eyes are shiny like I'm talking like really, there's a lamp there. I can see it. And I had trouble looking at him. And I'm telling him all my junk. "I just came from this, man I was going to a gun cabinet shoot myself man. I don't know why I cam to this stupid church, man." I'm serious. He's just listening. He's a great listener. Sometimes we need to be great listeners. So he's just talking and I'm talking to him, and then he's just a little statement here, and I'm like, "I grew up..." and I was so angry, and it was everybody else's fault. Sometimes people in the church think it's everybody else's fault. I can promise you that if you have a problem with this one this one or this one. It's not them. It's you. Okay, so I'm just like freaking out. This guy's, "Hey let me tell you about Jesus." "I did not come here to hear about Jesus, man." He said, "Why did you come here? This is a church." It sounds funny, but to a man that's never been witnessed before by people that confess to be Christians that makes perfect sense. I thought a church was a place where people hide. Where they need a crutch to get through life because they can't handle life. That's what I thought. I didn't realize that Jesus could become the anchor of our soul. That's where it's at. And so I'm talking to this dude, and he's like he's like, "Let me tell you, share my heart with you," so he starts, shares his heart. And I'm like, "Dude, if there is a God, He's gonna be really pleased with you, man." So he said, "Oh, there is. I promise you." And he shares the cross, and I'm like and he's like, "Why don't you, since you don't want your life, won't you give It to somebody that does." And in my heart I couldn't understand why somebody would want my life. Why would somebody want this, all I've done was hurt people? Like all I've done was destroy my daughter's life, my girlfriend, dude I trashed it, like atheists all the way around. Just trashed people's lives. And he talked to me about the price that Jesus paid and I was like, "Okay, whatever dude. If he wants it He can have it. There, I did it. There. You happy?" he said, "Amen."I I know it sounds crazy, but that's really what he said. And he goes, "Here's my number. You're gonna need it." I go, "Why would I need your number man? I'm good, dude." He's like, "No you're gonna need it. I'll just be there. I'll help you." "Look, all right, man. Thanks. Whatever." I went home and called my daughter. I said, "Tell mommy that daddy found God. My daughter's words were, "What's he like Dad?" And I said, "I don't know, but I saw this man, and he knows this God. And I'm going to take you to meet this man." That's what I kept thinking. Then I'm telling her. She's like, "Oh Daddy. This is great. But mommy's never coming home." And I said, "No," I said. "You kick and scream, and you get mommy home, whatever you gotta do." So my daughter did, and mommy came home. Boy, she was mad, buddy. See, her grandmother became a Jehovah Witness a few months before she passed away and she cut the family off from everything. Any kind of presents, gifts, family functions, Christmas all that stuff, so that's her view, that's my girlfriend's view of who God is. So now I'm gonna bring God into this life, with all the drugs and the mayhem in my life. "Now you're gonna be a hypocrite." "No no no way. Things are gonna be different." That first night I put my daughter to bed, told her everything's gonna change, and I'm out on a coke binge in like an hour and a half. Out smoking a bunch of coke. Just ripped off my family again. That happened again and again and again, and I remember calling Dan and telling him like the second day, and "I fell. I did it again, man. I did it again. I thought you said this thing was gonna work, man." He said, "Todd how does that make you feel that you did it again?" I said, "Horrible man. " He said, "Good for you Todd." He said,"There was a time in your life where you wouldn't even have cared. Thank God you care." Like, "I don't care man. You don't understand." "No, there's a seed inside of you Todd. See God comes in seed form. He's in you. He loves you." " Look, if he loved me then why am I doing this? If he loved me then why this and why that? i had all those why questions. Whys are very scary questions to ask because the devil likes to answer all of them. He does. So Dan poured into me. Five and a half months later I go out one night, pick up This kid from New York City, rip him off a bunch of coke, rip him off tell him to get out of my car. And when he gets out of the car I hit the gas to get away and this guy unloads a 9-millimeter at me. Flashes come out from here to here. Boom boom boom boom boom boom. And I hear a voice say, "I took those bullets for you. Are you ready to live for me yet?" Now The crazy thing is is not many people get this opportunity when they get shot at from 10 feet away. I went out of town and spun out as fast as I could. I thought I was dead because the ringing of the gunshots and the sound of his voice. But I didn't know it was his voice, I just knew this was crazy, and I thought I had like I thought I died. It was loud. A 9 millimeter is loud. And I'm out of town, and I break open every bag of cocaine I have and smoke a quarter ounce of coke that night. They were like what's wrong with you. I didn't know what had been made right that was wrong. All night long God killed my buzz. I took this bullets for you. Are you ready to live for me yet? I took them for you Are you ready? You have to be ready. And killed my buzz all night long, didn't let me get high. And I come home, pull into my driveway. I went out of my car, shined a flashlight. Not one bullet hole in my car. From ten feet. This is real. And the voice is tormenting me from the inside. I go to the door, girlfriend kicks me out, I leave. I went to a place called Teen Challenge. I went to this rehab for two months I'm in Teen Challenge for two months. The Bible opens up to me, and I want to share a scripture that happened for me. How many of you have trouble understanding the Bible? How many? Only four of you. You know that you lie, you fry, right? This isn't a good session to do that right now. Come on. The Bible is not meant for your brain. It is meant for your heart. Your heart can take you places your brain can never fit into. Your heart will take you there. It's with the heart one believes. It's not with the brain one believes. So a scripture in James hit me. It says, "If you lack wisdom, ask God," and I was in the prayer room at Teen Challenge, and I went, "Oh my gosh! That's it! I don't have a clue. I don't have any wisdom!" And I celebrated it loud at 5:30 in the morning I mean jumping around like a maniac. That's where it's at. Admitting that you lack wisdom, and saying God. I don't have a clue, and if you teach me. I'll walk out everything you show me. And so I just started to go after that in the prayer room that day. Yes God. I shut my book. I didn't even read what's after that. He who lacks wisdom let him ask God. Ha! That was it. Like enough for me. Boom! I started freaking I started realizing I have no clue. All the wisdom that I thought I had was demonic. Everything. iI was all about me. It was selfish. I was selfish. And the wisdom of the world is sensual and demonic and self-seeking and full of envy and everything evil is in there. That's not God's wisdom. God's wisdom is peaceable and gentle and willing to yield, full of good fruits and without partiality and without hypocrisy. God's wisdom is fully without hypocrisy at all. And so man, it started started to grow in this. Because right after that "if you lack wisdom ask God" then he says "who gives to all." He gives to all, not some. He doesn't just give wisdom to the wise. If you're wise you don't need wisdom because you think you know it all. If you're wise you're not poor in spirit because you think you've got it all figured out. You're unteachable. You know the Holy Spirit is called the teacher. You know in 1 John 2:27 it says you need that nobody teach you. That doesn't mean we avoid teachers. You need no one to teach you for you have the anointing that teaches you all things that are true So Jesus said, "When the Spirit of Truth comes, when the Spirit of Truth comes he will guide you into all truth. That scripture doesn't mean that I avoid teachers, because teachers are part of the fivefold gift. That just means that if I don't have a relationship with the Teacher because I'm being trained in my bedroom. Dan said, "If God's not your Father you'll call me on the line, and I won't answer. You'll be an orphan." I said, "Well, then you're my mentor, bro. That's the next best thing If you're not my... if you're not my spiritual father, then obviously you're my mentor." And he said, "Todd it sounds right what you're saying," and I'm like, "But it's not, right?" He says, "No, it's not." He's like, "Let me explain something to you Todd. He said if God doesn't become your father and the Holy Spirit doesn't become your teacher you're in big trouble. Because you need to have a relationship I can guide you. You can learn from me. You can glean from me, but you have to have intimacy." I'm like, "What is that?" Because I come out of Teen Challenge man. And I went to Dan and told him spiritual father mentor, and Dan said, "Todd, go into your closet and seek your father in the secret place." I'm like, "How do I know he's there?" Because the Bible says is if I seek him in secret he'll reward me in the open. What am I seeking in the secret? I'm seeking him. So what does he rewarded me with in the open? Him. Listen. I promise you, this is where it's at guys. It says, "But seek first.." This is the answer to worry. Don't worry about this. Don't worry about that. Don't worry. Consider the birds of the air guys. In Matthew 6. Are you with me? Hang with me here. Matthew 622 says, "The eye is the lamp of the body, and if your eye is single your whole body will be full of light." Matthew 6:19 right before that says this, "Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust can't destroy and thieves can't break in and steal; For where your treasure is your heart will be also. For the eye is the lamp of the body, and if your eye is single your whole body will be full of light But if the light that is in you is darkness how great is that darkness?" And then it goes into it. iI talks about the birds, "Oh don't worry. Don't worry. Consider the birds. They neither reap nor store away in barns, yet your heavenly Father provides for each one of those. Of how much more (here's the word) VALUE are you than they? Ooh he defines value. Value value value. See, the cross isn't the revelation of your sin, guys. The cross is the revealing of your value. If you understand that something underneath of that sin was of great value. He didn't just die, he didn't just die for your sins. He died to restore your identity as a son to the Father. Sin was an issue. When you come to Jesus, he condemns sin in the flesh. Jesus Christ wiped out the handwritings of requirements against you. The problem is... Are you ready? A lot of us don't believe that. "What do you mean, I don't believe that? Do you know I'm saved? Don't say I'm not." Oh, I don't say you're not saved. But how many of you look back? Let's talk about some real destructive stuff here. I'm telling you from a place of 11 1/2 years living free from guilt shame condemnation and believing a lie. I'm not saying that to condemn you. "What are you trying to say? I'm condemned, so you're trying to say that..." I'm not trying to say anything except this: there's freedom in him See, it says in the Beatitudes... Are you guys following me? Are you okay? You tracking? See, people always tell me, "Todd how do you pray for all these people? How do you have such boldness? Like, what's the deal?" So I'm trying to explain it in the simplest way. Do you understand that 2 Corinthians 11:3 says this Verse 11:1 says, "Oh that you would bear with me in a little folly and indeed you do bear with me, for I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I have betrothed you to one husband that I might present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." Let me tell you what that means to me. He says "Oh, I'm jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I've got this trembling in my heart, this fire that burns inside of me called passion, a passion for the name of Jesus, but a passion to make his name known But also to take out the trash that the Body of Christ believes that she could walk free and remove the stumbling stones that are in her way so she has a straight path to follow. So that remove the stones. Let every valley be brought up and every mountain be brought low. Make a straight way for the Lord to travel. That's what John the Baptist did. Now I'm not John the Baptist. I'm just a Christ-ian that's on fire. I have not lived with regret my whole life. I don't do things that cause regret. See, the thing is, is that when God forgave me,I know he forgave me, but he didn't just forgive it. He forgot it. And if the blood of Jesus is that powerful and he removes not just some sin, but all sin, why would we remember things that God says he forgave and forgot? Maybe we're listening to the voice of the devil. Do you know that the stranger will constantly bring up stuff that you were so you can never realize who you are. Listen to me. The devil will constantly drag up stuff that you wish you've never done so you can never get to the things you're supposed to do. When I came into the gospel--I'm not preaching some strange doctrine. This is the only Bible I know. This is the only gospel I know. So people want me to help them, but when I talk about this we're almost, we feel like, "Man, he's stepping on my toes," or "maybe he's coming against my ministry." I'm not. I've had people tell me, "Todd not everybody believes the way you believe." If the blood of Jesus violates what you think your niche is, your niche isn't from the Lord. If the blood of Jesus violates your ministry you ought not have one. I'm not being mean. I'm being real. The blood of Jesus. The name of Jesus be lifted high. Come on. Listen. I've had people come to me and say, "Todd. let's see where you are in 10 years. Okay, because this isn't gonna work." It's been 11 1/2, and I'm more on fire than I've ever been, and I believe the truth clearer than I've ever believed. The Bible says that regret produces death, but godly sorrow ladeth unto repentance. There's a difference between regret and godly sorrow Regret is trying to go back and fix things that you wish you never did, and trying to fix people and regret is trying to change things that Jesus says are finished. Let's just boil it down here. He talks about worry, goes through talks about the birds-- of how much more value are you than they--talks about the lilies of the field They neither toil nor spin yet Solomon and all of his glory wasn't arrayed like one of these yet, they're here today and tomorrow are thrown in the oven. Guys why do you worry? Worry doesn't add one moment, one second one... Nothing to your life. Do you know, your heavenly Father knows the things that you need. That means I don't have to tell him what I need, because he already knows what I need. He says, "But you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be added to you." So Dan in the beginning of my life he said, "Todd you need to go into your bedroom. You need to seek your father in secret. You need to understand the Holy Spirit's your mentor. I'll be here to help you, but the Holy Spirit is your greatest teacher. He needs to become your best friend." So I went into my bedroom by myself on my face and read the Bible said, "God make this my life," and It's never stopped because today. It's the same thing. Make this my life, make your Word my life. He says in 2 Corinthians 11:1, "Bear with me. And indeed you do bear with me in a little foolishness," he says. And then he says, "I've betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." What he's saying is that now that I have given you to Jesus and you're married to Jesus, let your soul, your mind, will and emotions be completely washed clean as if you've never slept with the world before. I'm really so serious. I want to present you as a chaste virgin, one that's never had another lover. I can feel that. Oh he loves me. I have lived every day of my life for 11 1/2 years in the love of God just because of the simplicity that's in the truth of the gospel. I believe what God says I am. When the devil says something else I don't command him to get behind me. He already is. I just thank God for who I really am. I don't spend time: "I command you in the name of Jesus, get behind me Satan." I don't care about Satan. That's not warfare. Warfare is not trying to with your carnal mind tell him to shut up. Warfare is bringing every thought captive that comes to you from the stranger. You bring a thought captive to the obedience of the mind of Christ because it's trying to exalt itself against the knowledge of God. I'm just talking about simple gospel. And then it says, "But I fear," after he says, "I desire to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ," Chaste virgin: one whose soul, whose mind, whose will, whose emotions has never ever been with the world. Ever. A blank canvas for the Lord to write on. Romans 12:1: "I beseech you therefore brethren to offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is your reasonable and pleasing service." Oh, "and don't be conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you can approve what God's will is and what it is not." Be transformed by the renewing of this, so that you can think like him. That's not blasphemy. The Holy Spirit and our spirit, they commune. The deep things of God are revealed to the deep things of you. Who knows the deep things of God except the Spirit that's from God? And the deep things of man except the spirit that's in man? And when you come to God you become one spirit, like that Avatar movie. You become one with the Spirit. But because we read the Bible for intellect and memorization skills and we try to get it as head knowledge, it never changes us. Because it's not meant for your head It's made for your heart. You take the word and you throw it in here and then God bubbles it up and renews your mind and teaches your lips what to say and teaches your life how to respond. And when the word is here and it's sound and foundational and grounded in here, your hand can no longer cause you to sin because you're too in love with Jesus and you're being convicted of the very thing God told you to seek first. He says Matthew 6:33, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and everything will be added to you." Righteousness isn't just a positional thing. We've said that. We've just worn that thing out. "Well. I know I'm positionally right, but..." Stop your but's and what-ifs, man. They're all devils. What if it's all about right standing with God? What if in the Old Testament, right standing with God and righteousness was to be pursued and sought after? The whole Old Testament was about trying to get to righteousness, pursuing it. But you had to do, to be. And In the New Testament, he did so you could be. Now we be, so we can do. It's totally different. That's why it's called the Beatitudes not the do attitudes. 2nd Corinthians 11:3 says, "But I fear lest as Satan deceived Eve by his craftiness." How did he deceive Eve? Adam was there too. I'm not blaming anybody. Adam ate it too. He obeyed the voice the voice of her instead of the voice of God. He did it too. "But I fear lest as Satan deceived Eve..." What did God really say? There's where we are guys right there. Oh, I promise you. Well if God said you're forgiven ,then why are you still thinking about it? If God says that it's not there then why are you still thinking about it? Well, how about this one and this one and this one and this Remember when you did that and this and this and this? And all of a sudden we huddle in the corner. We're waiting for the voices to stop they never stop. Jesus said, "My sheep will hear my voice and a stranger's they will not follow." It's not a request, It's a command. But you need to know your shepherd's voice so that the stranger's is exposed, because when it's exposed you never go after it. You just let it push you deeper into Jesus. I promise. "But I fear lest as Satan deceived Eve, so your mind might be corrupted from, taken away from, twisted away from the simplicity," and it says "and the purity that's in the Christ." So as Satan deceived Eve by his craftiness so your minds might be corrupted and twisted and taken away from the simplicity and the purity that's in the Christ. It's all about Jesus. It's about Christ in us, the hope of glory. See, people say that we're not worth it. Well. You're wrong. You're wrong. The price that was paid for you determines your value. That's where your value comes from. Because there was such a dear price-- heaven went bankrupt to get us back and when you see that that's the price that heaven paid for you, you can never look in the mirror and see worthless again. Ever. Ever. The Bible says... See, sometimes we as the body of Christ would come out of a place of legalism and then don't know that the Spirit is available, and then we move past this amazing balance of Holy Spirit and Truth.We move into the Holy Spirit or spiritual place with no truth. And then we get into this hyper-grace category, and it gets really really whacked. Really twisted, where you think, "It's okay, dude. This is good." We talked about that the first day. When you're convicted of righteousness, when you're convicted of your right standing with God... The Old Testament, in order for you to be right with God there are 613 laws and ten commandments. In order for you to be right with God you don't just have to obey some, you have to obey every one, not missing any. And if you don't miss any, then it will be given to you, righteousness. But no flesh will glory in in the presence of the Lord. None. All have sinned and all have fallen short. See, sometimes people hear a testimony like mine, and be like "Dude. I wish I was a drug addict, and had a testimony like yours, dude." I've heard that so many times. I'm like, what are you thinking? No you don't. "You don't understand. I grew up in the church." Let me tell you what self-righteousness looks like. It's scary. because this is subtle and you don't see it. People have come up to me and said, "Todd, you know why you love so much? Because you have been forgiven much. That's why." And it almost justifies people to not love much, if they haven't been forgiven much. Boy wouldn't that be twisted? "Todd you've been forgiven way more than I have. That's why you love so much." Maybe you just don't realize the standard of holiness. See, because it says if you transgress one commandment, you've missed them all. James 2:10 reiterates it. It says, "He who has transgressed one, has transgressed all." So if you don't do this. So that means for 30 years if I walk perfect and never ever missed it, and then all of a sudden look lustfully... boom. Whole thing. Done. All my life. Everything is a wash. So that means if I broke 613 laws and ten commandments purposefully, or if you broke one by mistake, every one of them, you have fallen short of. I never forget what God did. It was five years ago. Maybe six years ago. I was getting ready to share my heart. I was with Dan, and we were sharing. I think I was in Virginia, West Virginia. I was in Wheeling, West Virginia. It's crazy. I remember it coming into the hotel and God spoke to me. He told me to go to Luke 7. So I'm looking at Luke 7 and Ii's this lady that busts into the Pharisee's house. Right? You guys remember that movie, the old movie, "Jesus of Nazareth" with Jesus with those amazing blue eyes? Right? Do you guys remember? That scene when she breaks in there, and she comes in and she washes Jesus' feet? You know the story: the alabaster jar, right? Breaks the jar open, pours it on. Judas is like, "What's she doing? This money coulda been used for this." And Jesus says, "Stop. She's anointed me for burial," and but he's talking and he says this: "This woman whose sins are many because she's been forgiven much, she'll love much. And then he gives the example and you have this one that that's like blaspheming Jesus in his heart. He sees him he senses them reasoning in their hearts and says "Simon, suppose you have two, one owes 50 one owes 500. One is 50 little. One is 500 big. Both of them were forgiven because the master knew that he couldn't repay the debt. Which one will be more loved? He says, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." He said, "You have chosen right." And then he gives the example this woman, whose sins are many. "Because she's been forgiven much, she'll love much." God spoke to me that day and he said, "Todd, the body of Christ hasn't gotten to a place where they truly believe Ive forgiven them, because they keep digging up their past, so they can't love much." Do you know how scary that is? People have told me, "Todd you've been forgiven much, so that's why you love much." What if I just believe that I've been forgiven? How many of you would like to never look back again? Okay great. Today's your day. 2,000 years ago was your day actually, but... Are you guys with me? Okay? I've told you like a thousand times to go to Romans 8 and I never got to it. I just want to go there. My freedom from condemnation, guilt and shame. I want to define it again today. Because I really... if there's one thing, one thing, that I believe that God's given me a real grace on my life, because he's told me to never pursue anything else. So it's been 11 1/2 years of pursuing the Word of righteousness. I haven't... that's been it right there. Because the kingdom of God is neither meat nor drink, but it is righteousness, peace and joy. When I come to Jesus Jesus says "Come to me you all of you who are weighed down and burdened by the issues of life. Come to me and I will give you rest." So He extends the scepter of righteousness to us. We've been extended a scepter, but if you don't see what's been extended to you, and you don't pursue relationship from that point on, you can be in the same state that you were the second that you said to Jesus, "Please forgive me." But you'll be in that state for the rest of your life, "Please forgive me again." "Please forgive me again." "Please forgive me again." "Please forgive me again." "Please forgive me again." And once you start digging up the things that you've been forgiven of, the devil understands that there's a never-ending closet of bones that you're not supposed to put on flesh, put flesh on, that he wants to resurrect and bring into your present tense. Things that bear dead fruit in your present reality. I'm not being mean. This is a big deal. I have lived free from my past, free from regret. There's nothing from yesterday that can whisper into today, because it's been finished and thrown into a sea called Forgetfulness by the Lord. David said that their sins and their lawless deeds. I will remember no more. What do you think "remember no more" means? If God says he'll remember them no more who would remember them? The devil. Why? Because he wants to drag you back into somebody that you're not, so that you can never step into who you really are. This is so crucial. It's so powerful. "Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled." 2 Timothy 3:16: "All Scripture is God-breathed." It is inspired by God. It is used for reproof, for correction, for teaching, for admonishment. It is used for training in righteousness. When this thing opens up to you, I promise that you will never read the Bible without the lens of righteousness again. Every time you read the Bible, you'll read it through the lens of being right with God. And if God be for you, who cares who's against you? Watch this. "I am unashamed of the gospel." Romans 1:16. "I am unashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for them that believe, first for the Jew and then for the Greek, for in it..." In what? In the gospel? What's in the gospel? The power of it. What is the power of the gospel? For in it the righteousness of God is revealed, from faith to faith. For it is written, "The just..." What does "just" mean? Just as if I never ate the tree. "For the just shall live by faith." This is so powerful. I promise. It's just the simple gospel. God has given me a real grace to explain this and define it, because I've lived it for 11 1/2 years. When I say "condemnation free, guilt free, and shame free," it's only because of the blood of Jesus that's cleansed my conscience from dead works in order to serve God. We are not supposed to be heading towards the cross. We're supposed to carry it. But you have to see. You know that song, "I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross"? You should change it and say "I need to know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross." Because when you see the cost, you see your value. What if the voices that you've been hearing aren't your Father, about the past that He forgave? What if it all boils down to me saying "yes" to what God says. Because when I say "yes" to what God says, I already have a "no" to what the devil says. I fear that just as Satan deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds your mind, might be corrupted and taken away. Corrupted, twisted, from the simplicity that's in the Christ. What did Jesus pay for? Did he pay a price just to get you to heaven? Or did he pay a price for heaven to get into you? And if it's just to get into you for miracles, what happens to your brain? What if the biggest miracle that you can get into is being free from you? And what if when you're free from you, you're free from everybody else? I would put these scriptures all around my trailer when I just got saved. Everywhere. My wife was like, "What is wrong with you?" I was like, "It's not what's wrong. It's what's right." I'm excited about this thing, but I'm going after it with everything. Now you know what? My wife was like watching reality shows and TV and all that stuff. I just was done. I'm like I'm done. I'm so done. So done. I'm like, "I'm going back into my bedroom, and I'm just going to read this Bible." Because I never read a book before. I couldn't read. I couldn't comprehend. The Bible is the first book that I can understand. It's not meant for your brain. It's meant for your heart, and if your heart is good.... And I'm going after this thing with everything I am. Yes, and I believe the fact that I've been forgiven. Like he doesn't have the right to bring up my past. When he brings up something that you wish you never did, thank God that that's no longer who you are. Stop biting the bait. Stop believing the lie. "Yeah, but I have to deal with this." Do you know many people have come to me and said, "Todd do you know you were in the Masonic homes. You have a lot of hooks and you have a lot of things inside of you. You have generational curses. Oh my gosh, the Masons touched you. You're gonna break this off and break this off and break this off." We've become so "break this thing off." And we've gone after all these things that are wrong, and I'm not saying that there's not a need to help people. I just sometimes believe that there's a tendency to make somebody codependent upon us to keep them free, instead of the One that paid a price to get them free. That's all. You can't afford to have somebody codependent on you. You can't afford... you have to teach them to be dependent upon their Father. Listen to me. A baby constantly there's a pacifier, then there's a thumb. So a baby doesn't get anything but for a while it pacifies the child from crying. Are you with me? But the baby doesn't get any nutrients from the thumb. We can't afford to be thumb-sucking Christians any longer. Come on. Do you understand that Jesus wants to feed us? Do you know that He said that My flesh-- the bread-- his flesh. That's the bread. His blood. That's the drink. Jesus said that to people. It sounded like he was talking about cannibalism. "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood." He wasn't talking just about communion, guys. He's talking about this: if I'm not your everything, if I'm not your answer for everything you need, you cannot be my disciple. Do you understand he's saying that? Do you understand the Israelites were out there. They were in... they wandered out of Egypt across the Red Sea, and they're out there in the wilderness, and they're out there wandering around and God fed them every day with manna that sat right in front of their tent. Right in front of their tent. Every morning manna. Every morning manna. Every morning manna, and it wasn't enough. The rock. Bang Water. That rock was Christ. That manna was Christ. That bread that came down from heaven was Christ. That water that came out of that rock, that was Christ. Godly contentment is great gain. Do you understand? Don't say Jesus isn't enough for you. Don't say the price He paid isn't enough. Don't think you need something else. You don't need something else. You need to know who He's created you to be. It's the gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation. It's right standing. Jesus paid a price for you to live in two commandments: Love God with all your heart your soul your mind your strength. and And love your neighbor as yourself. You can't love your neighbour unless you love you. And you can't love you unless you see the price He paid for you. It's really hard to love you if you can't forgive you. And since God forgave you, why don't you let it go? God wiped out the transgressions against you, things that you should have been crucified for. Jesus who knew no sin became sin on the tree so that you might become the righteousness of God that's in Christ Jesus. You have become the righteousness of God, that's who you are. It's not what you have to get to, that's who you are. You have been made right with God. You're not worthless. You're a son. This thing is all about sons and daughters. this thing is all about us being a son and a daughter of the King. God is your dad. You're not an orphan. Jesus said," I won't leave you as orphans. I will come again." "Parakletos" another just like me, the difference between Jesus walking with them. He says, "Guys. It's gonna be better that I go away. If I don't go, He won't come. But if I go, He's gonna come, and when he comes... Now we have Him. The Old Testament, the prophets, they prophesied about this day to come. This day that was coming, they prophesied about it. Do you understand this? They prophesied about righteousness apart from the law was gonna be imputed to you, to me. Right standing with God. Not because of anything that you did, but because you could just believe the simplicity of what Jesus did. Prophesied it. They prophesied about it and they were glad. They couldn't have it, but they saw what we have. Maybe we don't know what we've got, because they were way more excited sometimes than we are when we wake up. What if you woke up on the right side of the bed, because there is no wrong side of the bed? What if when you go to bed and hug your pillow God, bBefore you go to sleep because you can't believe the day's finally over, "Oh, God. Thank you." Problem. You gotta leave the pillow God in the morning. So you hit snooze. No! No! No! What about waking up, "Oh God Thank you. Another day to manifest you and not me.God, thank you for the privilege of being alive today. Somebody's gonna get rocked. Somebody's gonna get blessed. I am gonna bring the gospel to a lost and dying world, because I'm not gonna just sit there and let the devil pound me any longer." That's who you are. That's our King. It's not about being afraid. It's about knowing him. It's about knowing the price He paid for you, so that you can know the price He paid for others. When you look in the mirror, you're supposed to see with an unveiled face. It says, "The Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty." That means that where He's not, there's bondage. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. Where he's not, there's bondage. Simple. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, and we all with unveiled face.... Why? Come on. The renewal of the mind. The truth of your mind being transformed. Jesus, up on the mountain. Peter, James and John. Remember? I think I talked about it the other day. He's there. Peter, James and John were there. Peter's like, "Lord, let' us build three tabernacles. Moses is here, Elijah is here, and you're here and we don't really know who you are, but we need a tabernacle." The Lord interrupts Peter. Takes Moses out of the picture. Takes Elijah out of the picture. Jesus is left. Then He says, "This is my beloved son. Hear Him." Amplified Him. Exclamation point. Him! Jesus. Manna. Let Jesus be enough. Take it back to the basics. Take it back to the simplicity of the cross. Take it back to the simplicity of the purity, the reality of Christ and Him crucified. Paul said, "If I boast, I dare boast in nothing else but..." And Paul knew it all. You've got Peter. Peter's at Caesarea Philippi and the disciples are there. Jesus is talking to him in Matthew 16:17, right in there. He's like, "Hey who do men say that I am?" "Well, some say this, some say that, some say this. A lot of things.They're actually saying a lot of things, Lord." "Yeah, but who do you say I am?" Peter: "You're the Christ, son of God." Just like: Wow. Blessed are you, Simon. You didn't come up with that one yourself. Sorry dude. It didn't come from you. Mm-hmm. It came from Daddy. "Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you, but my Father did, and I tell you this, that upon this rock..." (The rock is not Peter. The rock is the revelation of Christ.) Okay. "And upon this rock I'm going to build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." That's what He says. For in that day I'll give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in heaven." That's what He says. Then He says, "Listen, guys. Don't be telling anybody about this." And then Pete, a couple of scriptures later, Jesus was like, "Hey, by the way, I'm gonna die soon." That did not go over well at all. Why? Because Jesus is the best thing that ever happened to Peter. He's thinking like, "No one's taking You out, dude. I got you. Forget it man. No way, no how. Lord, listen here." Lots of people can say, "I can relate to Peter." I hear people say that all the time. "Oh, I really relate to Peter." All you're doing is justifying a carnal nature that needs to die. Because if you relate to Peter--and my question is which one? The one before he was saved or the one after he got saved? Because you read 1st and 2nd Peter. It's totally different than the situation that I'm describing to you. Because he was thinking like an orphan back then, but in 1st and 2nd Peter, he's thinking like a son. Totally changes things. So Jesus says, "Get behind me, Satan. Your mind is full of the things of man and not the things of God." You are thinking like a man, and you're not thinking like your Father. It's amazing to me because he didn't really have the ability to think like the Father, but Jesus brought correction because he got a whisper from the Father. You're the Christ. "Get behind me Satan. You're thinking like a man." Jesus says. You know what? You're thinking like a man, and you're thinking demonically. So to say, "I'm only human" is to say "I'm only demonic." That's not mean. That's the Bible Sometimes we tried to justify our carnal thinking And say, "Back off. I'm only human," because we think too much is expected of us. We think, "Oh, man, I'm like a doormat." Man, let's never forget. People say that about Jesus too, but he wasn't a doormat. He was the door. He was the example. And then Jesus rolls right into this:"What what profit would it be for a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?" What would a man give for his soul? He says, "No one can come to Me unless he first denies himself, picks up his cross and follows Me." There's a way that seems right to a man and the way that seems right remembers all the things that you wish you'd never done. Jesus says, "Flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you but my Father did." That's what He says. And then He says, "In that day I'll give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in heaven." I would like to tell you that your sins and your lawless deeds have been forgiven and there's blood crying out on the mercy seat and as it is in heaven so it is to be here in your soul. If your sins have been forgiven, and you're digging up your past, you're listening to the wrong voice. Listen to me very carefully on this thing. I have watched more people be destroyed because of this thing than ever. Regret. Trying to change things that you can't. God knew that you couldn't. That's why He sent His Son. He had mercy on us. The blood of Jesus cleanses our conscience from dead works in order to serve God. He makes our conscience a blank canvas, and when your conscience is clean, He trains your senses to discern between both good and evil. And all of a sudden when something's twisted, your heart goes "Whoa" and you back away. What I talked about the first day. This is priority. He said. "The gates of Hell will not prevail against it." I would like to tell you that He's not talking about the gates of Hell chasing us. He's talking about the way that seems right to a man between our ears. The gates of hell would be right here. Gates that let in hellish thinking. There is a place of believing that you've been forgiven. There's a place of right standing with God where all the things that you wish you've never done are completely crushed. Do you understand that Adam and Eve, when they were in that garden and Eve ate the tree and then Adam followed suit, Satan got them to question God and then they ate the tree. God walked with them in the garden. Do you understand that the first Adam and the last Adam--not the second Adam, the last Adam-- He paid a price to instead of God walk with us, God could dwell in us. And when Christ is in you and the fear of the Lord grips your heart, and you realize that you've been made right with the God, right with the God of the universe, and you stop listening to the liar that's trying to tell you who you're not... It keeps you from ever eating the tree, because the Spirit of the Lord is in you and righteousness trains your senses to discern between both good and evil. And you eat strong meat. Because strong meat is for the mature who have their senses trained. So it's just the course of the day, something comes your way, and all of a sudden it starts to tremble your heart. You just back away. You don't step into it. The purity of the gospel and the reality of you being forgiven much, it helps you just to love much. But all of you have been equally forgiven as I have but not all of you have believed it. When you step into belief that you've been completely forgiven, when you step into the truth that God said "Your sins and your lawless acts I will remember no more," and He didn't just say, "Okay, you're forgiven, but I'll remember them tomorrow." No. He said you're forgiven and it will never come back. When you seek your Father in the secret place, and ask God to establish the truth of who He says you are in your soul, it helps to be your guard in here. And all of a sudden It's truth and you're so focused on the truth of what God says you are, that when the devil tries to tell you who you're not, you're just focused. And self-control is being so focused on God's voice that the other one loses its voice. But it's a constant daily thing. It's not I did it ten years ago. I'm good thanks. No. It's daily getting before the Lord being in a humble position, being teachable and going after the kingdom of God and righteousness. And understanding that right standing with God is what the Old Testament couldn't have. The New Testament we've become. Prophets prophesied that this day was coming. Now we're in that day that they prophesied about. We need to be more excited for what we have. I'm almost done, Tom. I see you I see. Okay. So Romans 8, "Are you ready?" Yeah, you thought I forgot. No. All right, you ready? Romans 8. Oh my. It's so good. Okay: 31. We'll just start at 31. The whole thing is amazing, like crazy awesome. "What then shall I say to these things? If God is for us, then who can be (oh, that's good) who can be against us? He did not spare his own son, but delivered Him up for us. How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect?" Do you know who God's elect are? I'm looking at God's best. I really am. If you see who you are, you'll wake up this way every day. I've woke up for 11 and a half years in love with Jesus, knowing that He loves me every day. I've never ever questioned His love for me, because the love of God is determined by the price that was paid for me on the tree. Love hung there on the tree. When I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me. When I was as twisted as could be, Christ died for me. He saw me and He said, "I want that one." As worthless and as twisted as I was, God said, "I want that one." And when His eyes connect with yours... You look in a mirror and you see Christ in you. You walk by the mirror and go, "Oh, I see you in there." That only happens when you don't believe the lie of yesterday. Because here's what happens. See, when you're taught miraculous and stuff like that, what happens is you'll pray for somebody and then what it does, is it gets you occupied with doing this stuff and you enter into works again through the miraculous and prophecy. And you're only as good as your last word, and you're only as good as your last healing. But that's not. You're only as good as the price that Jesus paid for you, and that never changes. So righteousness is everything. See, if I'm right with God every day whether somebody gets out of a wheelchair, some blind eye sees, I'm still right with God. See, when you're right with God, sonship is the priority. The miraculous is just the fringe benefits. When sonship is the priority, and you realize that you're a son and a daughter, all of a sudden that becomes your focal point and you wake up right with God. The miraculous is inevitable, because it's a byproduct of being a child of God. It's really awesome. And your hands can't cause you to sin. You don't want nothing to do with that now that you have this. That's it. It's relationship. I am so in love with God. I'm convicted of being right with God, that I don't want to play with this. This is so silly. That's just silly. Why would I want that, now that I've got this? But when this thing isn't intact, you need this to satisfy your feelings. But when your feelings are satisfied-- because love satisfies-- then all of a sudden you don't need this. That temptation to go this way is totally crushed by the desire to stay this way. Okay. "If God is for us who can be against us? He who did not spare His son, His own son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not freely with Him give us freely all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. So if God justified you, who is he who condemns?" The devil. He wants to condemn you. You could be condemned to hell forever because you don't know who Jesus is, and we have the opportunity to bring people to the Christ, so that nobody goes to hell. Do you understand that? "It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. For we are counted as sheep to the slaughter. Yet, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Watch this.) " I am persuaded neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Now watch. Before we Amen that, I just want to point out something here. Listen to the list. "I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us." It says, life, death, angels, principalities, powers, things present, things to come." Your past didn't make the list. Because your past, not believing the right standing that Jesus has given you and the fact that you've been completely forgiven, has the ability to separate you from receiving the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. Your past did not make God's list. Life, death, angels, principalities, powers, things present, things to come. The reason why your past didn't make that list is because Jesus wiped out the transgressions and the handwriting against you. Boom on the tree it was wiped out. The blood of Jesus removes who you were. Now people say, "Well, yeah. But I messed up after." Okay, great. God says in His word that if I trip, if I stumble--it's in 1st John. It says, "If I confess to God." Confession doesn't mean like, "God please forgive me. Help me." Confession looks like this: "Oh God, that is not you. Father, I thank you that's not the man you created me to be God. I thank you so much. You're amazing." The Bible says that if I confess to God, He is faithful and just to cleanse me of what? All unrighteousness. And if all unrighteousness is gone, the only thing that remains is righteousness. But if you don't do this (turns around), if you don't do this, With a hiccup, if you don't do this it still remains. And the devil will pound you. And if you don't know this truth right here, "Oh God, I can't believe I did that." All of a sudden, "Oh no." And then you do it again, and then you do it again. Then you do it again. Before you know it, you're way over here in a lie. But when relationship is there and Holy Spirit is there. when you trip, "Whoa. Wow God you're amazing. That is not who I am. God I thank you that you've created me to be a man that's after your own heart, God. You've created me in your image. I'm a son, God. I have your heart. God, You have given me the mind of Christ. I thank you that you have given me all things pertaining to life and godliness. God, you're amazing. God, regret produces death, and I'm never gonna step there again, because I'm not in a place of regret. I'm in a place of repentance. and I have godly sorrow for what just happened. You're awesome. Thank you so much that you are able to keep me from stumbling ever again, Father Thank you so much. You're amazing," and I thank God for who I am and all of a sudden you stay right with God, which if you live in this place, it keeps you from ever doing this (stumbles). But if you do, you have an advocate, a lawyer, Who is faithful and just to cleanse you of all that junk. You turn and you run with God. Right standing is everything. Not looking back at what you wish you'd never done is everything. "He who puts his hands to the plow and looks back isn't fit for the kingdom." Everything that I'm sharing with you is the gospel. It's not I come up with it with my own opinion. If you look back, it will separate you from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. Because when you look forward because the kingdom is forcefully advancing and the violent take it by force. We are forcefully advancing. We are running forward. God has your back. There's a helmet of salvation that's on your head. Why? It's to encapsulate the soul of a believer. The helmet of salvation. It's to keep your brain solid and who Jesus has created you to be. A breastplate of righteousness is on you. Why? Because I'm right with God. That's why. It covers my heart. I am right with God. Why do I have feet that are shod with the gospel of peace? You know there's those shoes that they used to fight in wars. They had big, they had big points on them that dug in so that you wouldn't be moved. It's like five fingers on the edge of the stage. Shod with the gospel of peace. I have my belt of truth buckled around my waist. I keep my loins girded. I am in a place of truth. I have a shield of faith to quench every dart that comes. It's a shield of faith. Faith in what? Not just faith for miracles. Faith in the price that Jesus paid for me to be right with Him. There is no dart that gets through there, ever. That's why I've got it. And most of all, the sword of the Spirit. Why? Because I'm Bible man. My kids watch that still today. They love it. It's awesome. Briley goes, "Which is the Word of God." She says. All I've talked about today is a Bible session, a gospel session. The simple truth of the gospel. Don't be weaponless. Use the weapons that the Lord has given you. Make sure that you have the truth in you. And listen. Every day is another day to learn. Don't think, "Man, this is gonna take ten years to get that way." You know where it starts? On your knees before God. "God, here I am. I didn't see it this way, but now I do. Help!" And the Holy Spirit's a Helper, so He will overwhelm you with the truth of who God says you are. He will rock you forever. You can be free from all that junk. You get it? All right. Come on up, Tom. We're just gonna pray for you guys. Hey. You know He says this, that nothing can separate you? He says, "I'm persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels, nor principalities, nor present, nor things to come, nor life, death, present, things to come, height, depth, nor other created thing." You know this is a letter, so it's separated in chapters in our Bible. But it's a letter. Then it says, "I tell the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience also bears witness with me in the Holy Spirit. I have a great sorrow in continual grief in my heart. I wish could that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren my countrymen according to the flesh who are Israelites to whom pertain the adoption." So Paul is talking about these Jews, that he came out from. He's like, "Man. My conscience is completely completely completely clean in bearing witness with this thing. Paul said one thing in Philippians 3. I just want to close with this. Paul said this, he said, "There's one thing I've laid hold of. One thing I've accounted." He could have said, "Dude fell out the window when I preached that long sermon. I went down, raised him from the dead." He could have said, "I saw blind eyes open. I saw deaf ears open. It was amazing. I saw dead raised. I saw all that. That's not what Paul said. Paul, he said he was the chief of sinners, the greatest of the greatest of sinners man, the twisted of the twisted, the least of the least. Paul said this. Now Paul had a pretty amazing testimony. Right? Killed Christians. This guy had a lot to be forgiven of. It says, "There's one thing I've laid hold of. Letting go and forgetting those things that lie behind, pressing forward to those things that lie ahead." Paul said, "My conscience is bearing witness with me. Your conscience, when you come to the King, Jesus Christ because of blood removes the reality of who you were, so that you can get this thing on with God. Paul is talking about his conscience being cleaned, being completely washed, and the Holy Spirit bearing witness. Your conscience is where Holy Spirit bears witness of something being evil and something being good. Are you with me? And the blood of Jesus cleanses your conscience. I've lived with a clean conscience for 11 1/2 years and I haven't violated it, and if I don't violate it there's no room for condemnation. See, when conviction comes and you obey your conviction, you never get condemned. When conviction comes and you obey the conviction that God brings to you, it never ever gets to condemnation, because the devil has nothing to work with. Keep your hearts pure and your hands clean. This is a really big deal. He said, "I forget those things that are behind and I press forward to the goal for the upward prize for what Jesus has laid hold of me for." Paul saying all this stuff before I count it as dung to be thrown on a pile of poop. All things as lost for the sake of knowing Him. It's all about knowing Jesus, but knowing him begins on the foundation of right standing with God, having your conscience clean and your hearts pure, your hands clean. So that we can live and walk holy as He is holy. lLve free from sin or the want to sin, because Jesus who knew no sin became sin, so that we could become the righteousness of God. Stand up, please. I don't have to break the spirit of fear again. We're good. Yeah. God didn't give you a spirit of fear, but of love and power and a sound mind, right? Come on. Put your hands on your head, please. Jesus I thank you that I have been forgiven of all of my sin, things that I wish I had never done. Things that were done to me. I forgive them because they didn't know what they were doing. I choose to let it all go. I choose to know nothing except Christ and Him crucified. Holy Spirit, reveal right-standing to me all the days of my life, so that I can walk with no shame, with no guilt, with no condemnation. Because we have become the righteousness of God that is in Christ Jesus. Now let me pray over you. Father, I thank you in the name of Jesus God, for ridiculous words of knowledge today flowing through a pure heart. I thank you God in the name of Jesus for every bit of that stuff that's tried to separate us from receiving your love, God I thank you for the reality of our past being cut off, so that we could live in today and tomorrow. Jesus Thank you so much for your word of truth. I thank you for clean consciences. I thank you for every dead work, every dead work, leaving. I thank you for the reality of the cross. God let us reach people today. Father I thank you that we would see ourselves in a mirror today like you see, and we would see others like we see ourselves. Loved. Loved. God, I'm asking you for the love of God upon this whole body today. I thank you that people all over the city, pPeople all over the world, are about to experience what the love of God looks like in action. In Jesus name. Everybody said: "Amen!"
