WEBINAR 342 - Radical New Discipleship

i want to read a couple of scriptures um it's  it's pretty obvious um they're scriptures that   i'm sure you've all um had at one time or another  but i just want to read them so that you'll be   aware of where we're going with this um and the  first one is in matthew's gospel and chapter 9 and in verse 9 as jesus passed on from there he  saw a man called matthew sitting in the tax office   and he said to him follow me. and he arose and  followed him okay then over in mark's gospel and verse 16 of chapter one it says he  was going along by the sea of galilee   and he saw simon and andrew the brother of simon  casting a net in the sea for they were fishermen   and jesus said to them follow me and i will make  you fishers of men and they immediately left the   nets and followed him it's that word follow  that has a hold on me it it it's it's uh you   could say it it grips me follow me and in both  cases in matthew's case he was a tax collector   which was a person um well he was hated by the  people but that's not the subject right now   um the subject is that he was a very rich man and  sitting on the receipt of custom he was sitting   on a cash cow and for him to get up and follow so  jesus said follow me and it's followed immediately   by they followed him and then in mark's gospel it  points out they were fishermen and they seemed to   have had quite a business it was peter was one of  the fishermen but then it seems there was james   and john with their father zebedee um so they sort  of owned a a joint venture it was a big business   and the the three of them uh peter james john  just dropped their nets and followed him and   so what does that mean they followed him and it  was a matter of jesus saying follow me and they   now drop everything and follow him and what does  that really mean what does it look like today   when we look at that follow me i will say this  and it's very important the old testament did not   end properly until the second chapter of acts  uh that might shock you the gospels are not   really part of the new covenant it was an overlap  so here you've got the old covenant and the finale   of the old covenant was john the baptist he was  the last prophet of the old testament old covenant   and jesus now comes but he's not doing or  finishing his work until he rises from the dead   is exalted and sends the holy spirit and so you  have the old testament but the new testament jesus   begins in the middle of that we call it the  gospels and jesus lived and they're living   in this overlap and the follow me is occurring  right here in the middle of that overlap the   old testament's still there the new testament  hasn't properly arrived yet and here they are   and he says follow me and those who heard that  call and followed him we call them disciples and   in some churches today that's a big deal there are  discipleship um courses discipleship meetings and   what on earth does it really mean follow me i  mean think about it don't say it too quickly   follow me well the word actually means  um come be with me uh it was almost   a formal statement that a teacher rabbi would say  to his students it was a formal way of saying come   and be my student come and be with me come and  hang out with me until you know exactly what   i'm saying exactly what i'm doing and you can  say it after me and that was the idea behind   it it it would mean come and join my adventure  as i pursue my way into the knowledge of god   join me in this come with me come with me where  i am but also come and go where i go and actually   end up where i'm going if you can swallow that  lord um it's a matter of join your life with mine   come be with me put your feet in my footsteps  follow me and and i think that would make sense   put your feet in my footsteps that  looks like following him and follow me   that's a big statement it's not follow about me  this isn't learning about jesus this is an actual   being with him and so it's actually learning to  move with what he's being and doing it's sort of   getting into his mind to think with him follow  me i'm not going to give you textbooks you see   you're not going to learn and memorize anything  you are going to actually be one with me   as we walk through life and you're going to just  learn who i am and that will teach you who you are   it's all about me and you very personal follow me   so it means watch me come hang out me  just watch me see what i do listen to me   open your ears and listen because not one thing i  say will be what you expect me to say everything i   say is gonna blow your minds apart so listen  listen let's follow me um it means entwine your   life with me um the old english would be cleave  to me it it that would no you probably wouldn't   know that's you got to be english to know that  word it's an old word when your tongue is so dry   it sticks to the roof of your mouth and the old  english word is it cleaves um and so you cleave it   you know you you can put a grape on your lips  and it won't move because it's you're so dry   and um that's cleaving well he said the ancient  english they would be cleaved to me come and   join yourself to me follow me learn of me  and i must emphasize no textbooks they they   didn't have to even to memorize scripture that's  what the pharisees did they they memorized   the entire old testament that was being a  follower of the pharisees but jesus had no   any no no formal times of prayer do you  remember john's disciples who followed john   they they came to jesus and said what was  going on you haven't taught your disciples   a bunch of prayers you haven't insisted that  they have a quiet time and memorize scripture   what what you're just hanging out together this  is disgusting if you're going to be religious for   good to say be religious and jesus said that  time for that not right now he says they're   having too much fun and um jesus himself is  the subject of the teaching jesus himself   i say again not a textbook you can't learn this  from a textbook it's going to come directly   from jesus himself that's why he said follow me  didn't say follow my doctrine he said follow me   and i think that you've you've got to  think about that follow me follow this   man and he is god with us but please understand  these men the likes of matthew and peter james   john and all the others that followed  they didn't know that he was god with us   that they couldn't figure out who he was but they  never thought of that but this one please hear me   this one that says follow me everything i've  just said that was the crazy thing about it   he's one of us he's so one of us that the  people who he lived with for 30 years were   very upset when he claimed even began to claim  that he was the messiah when he said the spirit   of the lord is upon me quoting isaiah and says  this day is this scripture fulfilled in yours   they wanted to stone him they said who do you  think you are you're just the carpenter down   the street we've lived together for 30 years who  do you think you are he you realize that jesus   has got papers he's a citizen of this planet um  and remember we were talking the other week about   saul saul why do you persevere i am jesus of  nazareth that is the the high god says i've   got an address in nazareth he he he would come  and follow me he's acquainted with your life   you don't have to explain what it feels like to  be human he says follow me i'm a hundred percent   human i know what it's like to face the temptation  i know the pressures i know the decision i.e jesus   had to pay taxes and and he was a businessman  so i had that together and it was taxes to the   temple which today were it was called tithing but  then it was taxes to the romans on top of that   yeah he's one of us and he i don't know how  some people even preach from it because jesus   jesus couldn't be a pastor in many of our  denominations i mean he went to weddings   for goodness sake and turned water into  wine i mean hear that please and you said   well it was grape juice don't be daft look if  obviously if you say that you don't know greek   because the word for wine there that jesus turned  water from from water into wine that would whine   in greek is the same word used in genesis where  it says that um noah drank wine and got drunk   and so that's the wine and they said it was the  best wine and he turned 180 gallons of water into   wine not bad and of course in most churches today  he would have had to turn wine into water in order   to join the church um no jesus i mean he went  even tax collectors wanted him to come for dinner   they they they sure weren't religious i i want  you to hear that i'm not pushing for stupidity   this is someone that the religious pharisees  were horrified because the way he just hangs out   with society it doesn't get upset that people are  doing things that are not religious he's the most   irreligious of all the persons that claimed to be  holy men in israel of that day and so it ended up   the 12th became his most intimate disciples  and that's what they did they followed him   they were just around him when he walked down  the street they'd be behind him beside him   and and they were there and  it was a time to question him   and listen to his answers and discuss it  and if you want to feel it they walked   along the sea of galilee and as they walked  they talked and when they talked something   they sat down sometimes they would sleep up  in the hills of the campfire and just hung out   along the roads and when he spoke to the crowds  afterward they discussed with him what he'd said this you see yes remember this was  still part of the old testament   and so this is what moses did with joshua if  you remember that story or maybe you remember   elijah with elisha disciples uh jeremiah one of  his disciples was daniel and um then of course you   have the others that we know as shadrach meshach  and abednego they they had to been in jerusalem   in all probability part of jeremiah's discipleship  group and um that's the way it was same category the difference here and this is where we've got  the overlap this is no moses this is no elijah   this is god who has become human a human being the  god who created the entire cosmos and specifically   created humans to be in his image god now becomes  one of us and does it so perfectly that he's a   hundred percent human while remaining god but  he's completely us which means he doesn't look   like the god we thought he was how on earth could  he do that well the only reason i could ever say   what i just said how on earth could he do that is  because at that point i'm addressing adam's god   see when you think i'm not addressing any you  in particular but when people think of god we   have been taught in western christianity  to think of almighty that's usually the   first word that comes to mind almighty all power  and that power looks something like a you know   mega atomic explosion power and god is  understood smiting people with power   you know so when he walks his feet go  right through the ground and he's power   he's your ultimate superman leaps over towers  because that's what god does you know big stuff   and he's sovereign so he can do what he jolly  well wants get out of his way god's arriving   we tremble and god's here and he knows everything  about you no just a minute that's right we get   mixed up with santa claus there don't we um that's  where religion took us but um now the fact is   dare i say it flush that idea of god down  the toilet because he's not that kind of god   in fact he's shockingly not like  that god god could remain god 100   and be the man who made toys and doors  in the carpenter shop down the street   and he didn't make any holes in the  floor or the walls when he touched them   he didn't turn cats into  spiders because he got upset why because the real god is love period  and therefore love can not only dwell in   our humanity but our humanity was wired for that  it's fascinating to me that any doctor that knows   what they're talking about and certainly with  the recent quantum science um sort of explosion   um it is established that the very  nerve endings of our body we are wired   to be loved and we are wired to love and unlove  self for myself has no connections inside of me   and therefore if i live a self for self life  my body doesn't know what to do with that   if i produce anxiety because i'm not understanding  that i'm loved my body can't handle anxiety and   all that results in disease in the body because  the body can't handle it we were created i say to   be loved and to love and anything else  the body doesn't know what to do with it   so when god became human he could have sat in  this circle and you'd never dream he was god   because the mark of god is being  everything humans were supposed to be   divine love think about that so i might come back  to it jesus the one who said follow me he's god   being god inside the limitations of  our humanity and it works perfectly   did you hear me he was god being  god inside the limitations of our   humanity but it worked perfectly so he as  god could know all the this this human flesh   wants to throw up all the urges of flesh or the  temptations that come to my humanity my flesh   all the pressures that this humanity  goes through he could know all of that   but in every step he took he refused to make  the same choice as adam made he chose instead   to keep his eyes locked into his father  to believe his father is the truth and to   listen to his father and do his father's will  but obviously he did that as a human being   so again i say in our original design we are  wired to be able to live god inside of us that's   that was the plan he's so he's the design you've  got a human being who is indwelt with the fullness   of god and it doesn't look like sparks flying and  you know all the adam's gut stuff does the show   off god um doesn't exist except in the demonic  and um jesus just is this one of us except he is   divine love and he meets all of life as we  meet it but he answers it with love in union   with his father listens to his father does the  love will so did you get it he's the design he   he's the blueprint of what humans were always  meant to be he's the prototype of a new humanity and so what does he teach these 12 guys what is  follow me he was teaching them who they really are   um in fact the word educate you know the  word educate i think it's the latin the   word we got the word um educated it means  to call forth it doesn't mean to shove in it   educate someone is to call forth from within them  it's it's it's it's to open your eyes to who you   are show you your potential that's education  that's to bring it out not to sit you down   stuff you full of text and say now take this exam  that's got nothing to do with education education   is bringing it out well this is the ultimate here  is the creator who now walks among us as a human   being and he addresses our original design and  there's no better not only did he design but he is   now the actual design in front of your eyes  god dwelling inhuman love beloved and loving   and carrying love to the  absolute end so he is the design   and he is living now the design so he's  the model of what humans are supposed to be   and i say then he becomes a  prototype well he's addressing that do you realize how shocking that is   this world is self for itself and when  divine love comes to dwell in our humanity   it shocks you speechless sure did them because  he is not only in his own life saying no to the lie that is self for myself ultimately  but he is modeling it and telling them   this is the way you live i mean it really the  biggest thing of all remembering everything   everything i've just said you talk about  acting like god he said i came to serve   uh well just realize how  absolutely off the wall that is   i say they didn't know or realize he was god but  they certainly saw him as the number one and he   said i have not come to be served but to serve  that the characteristic of jesus was humility   not once does he parade around and say don't  you know who i am he serves and of course that   came to its grand finale in that he washed their  feet which was the thing of the lowest servant in   the house and he did it while they were arguing  us who is the greatest who's going to get first   seat in the kingdom of god and he that's love  love by its definition serves love by definition   is not looking out for self it is seeking to be  a benefit to the other that's that's love and um it also meant he forgave and  peter got excited one day   you know he says i i did it i did it i forgave my  brother seven times and jesus said um you know uh   what i'm talking about is forgive you brother  70 times seven um that is without limit you're   not going to count it's it's you just go into  a lifestyle of forgiving and releasing persons   you don't you don't become their jailers you  release them that's love and the life of knowing i   am loved which means it is without anxiety  without fear how many times jesus said don't   be anxious for anything your father knows relax or  when the storm is ripping the boat apart he says   what are you afraid of and he wasn't being snarky  he really i mean you've been listening to me talk   you should know by now there's nothing no fear  we're in father's hands um it's the compassion   that he showed toward the sinner and that was  where he got a bit hairy when the pharisees   the official religion representatives of the  god of adam um they said stone her to death   that was religion's law and jesus refused to get  involved in it and you said i i do not condemn you   i mean can they get through when god became  flesh a woman taken in the act of adultery   said what's the fast i don't condemn you go  and sin no more um to these tax collectors   who were the scum of the earth the most  hated betrayers traitors of their own people   jesus said i'm coming for dinner  let's sit down that yeah um it's something they could not comprehend  compassion of jesus sat down with all the   wrong people he sat down to forgive  to love and he healed the sick and in   such days um it was understood that if you  are sick there must be sin in your life and so the fact he healed the sick was um a slap in the  face to it so remember they said to him when they   saw the the man um they they said who sinned well  they're they're gonna be right on that one who's   in did he sin or was it his parents sin in the  family do you need all those you know jesus said   nobody said you know let's go healing um maybe  that's not shocking to you thank god but it was   shocking to these people um he kept company with  people that holy people didn't keep company with   i mean dear god they smoked they drank and it's  disgusting i i saw a religious fellow on a plane   was traveling and they brought around the  cocktails you know well that's what they do   i mean they paid that's their job and he says  don't bring those things to me i'm a christian exactly saying give me five of them i mean just  forget i know that's a pharisee see because   i'm holy i don't touch that i'm holy i  stop swearing in front of me i'm a holy   no i don't listen to those kind of jokes no  dude no i'm holy shut up love loves and it   will be the impact of love that might indeed shut  people up but it won't be your stupid religiosity so they were horrified i'd love to see their faces  as they sat down to dinner with tax collectors   all their life they've been taught  you don't go near a tax collector   little children ran away from tax  collectors their mothers told them to   prostitutes what what will the neighbors  think we're we don't i mean i mean b john   b james they're horrified they don't know what  to do with this follow him is this where we   followed him where he's loving the unlovables and  the untouchables and he did it with no religiosity   he fitted in but his love and his  love for the father shaped and molded   so out of that bunch there came his disciples and  came a mary magdalene and came these people that they were taught never to walk with these  people never to talk with these people   but here they were and they didn't get it they  listened and they questioned and they watched him   and they went along with him but they never  got it so much so that in the upper room   hours just hours before the crucifixion they  are arguing as to who is the greatest among   us when the kingdom of god comes who's going to  be the prime minister you don't get it and that   i said before jesus while they're arguing jesus  kneels down and starts washing their feet because   they had seen themselves as so important not one  of them would take the place of the door to wash   their feet as they came in which was the custom  not one because daniel at that floor says i'm   not the greatest jesus says haven't you heard me  yet we've been talking about this for three years the greatest among you shall be the  servant of all they didn't get it and in that upper room it just  seemed that everything fell apart   if and i'm i'm very serious at this point if it  had stopped there where tragically many do stop   but remember we're still in  the old testament at this point   but if we had stopped there if you'd have stopped  at the upper room where they'd listened to him   they'd heard what he said they didn't get  it at best they were trying hard to see it   if they'd stopped there we would have ended  up with a religion something like christianity   where what would jesus do what would jesus do  because he's up there over there what would he do   because that leaves your imagination i think  what he might do we've got to follow him yeah   this is where it ended up he's there we're  here he says this i listen to him i watch him   i say how does he do it um i gotta try gotta  try these poor guys tried for three years   and all they could do at the end of it is do what  they were doing at the beginning of it arguing   arguing sounds very much like churches we've  got 12 different denominations out of this that   everybody's split from everybody  because i'm the great i've got it right   how on earth is this not going to descend into the  chaos of a religion that is all about jesus and   knows nothing of jesus they followed him to the  upper room and this is where it gets interesting   because it's not nice he says one of you  would betray me that was the beginning of   our world is collapsing then he says and all  of you will run away and then peter big mouth   and i'm better than you stands up and says  all you will probably reject him but i will   jesus then told him you'll  deny me before the night's out   try and you've heard that but try and  be the disciples disciples the follow me   they followed him right up here three years  it's been all over the place and now they're   they're here they followed him to  the upper room and now he's saying   i'm leaving and i mean i'm so leaving where i'm  going you cannot come there's a big statement   where i'm going you can't come then oh if that  isn't the bottom falling out of your world   we left everything we left our business we  left our money source because we believed   that you were well i don't know what we believe  but it we believed you were something like messiah   and now you're leaving just like that  because you say you're leaving and not only   leaving you're not even giving us the option of  coming wherever you're going you say you can't   and then he starts talking what on earth is he  talking about please get in their heads if you   don't understand this they didn't understand  it understand it it was incomprehensible   remember follow me that's what they thought now  they followed him to where does follow me end   where does it go he says where does he go it goes  to i'm leaving and you can't come with me this is   this is utterly different he never said anything  like this before i say again it's incomprehensible   and he says i i'm going but but hold it before you  get upset i i'm going to prepare a place for you   okay in my father's house there's many many  abiding there's room for everybody there and   i'm going to get a place for you there so  that ultimately where i am there you will   be also what's he talking about i'm going  away you can't come but i'm going to prepare   prepare what abiding places is the  greek word abiding where you can rest   there's a lot of resting places  in my father's head my father says   where's my father's house give us the  address you know where's your father's   house you don't understand now but i'm doing  this so that where i am there you may be also   but i'm going away and let me tell you oh this  is the fun part it is infinitely better for you   that i go away oh come on uh you you've broken  our world apart now you say it's the best thing   that ever happened because he said if i go  away and i am i'm going to send someone else but that someone else will be exactly like me it's a very strong word in the greek um another  there's i i could say that in this room i'm a   human and there's another human and another human  um well yeah that's true but we are not alike   we're we share humanity but we're not alike even  though we are alike at one level well that's   as far as we can go in english but in the greek  there's another another another word for another   um but the other word means not just you're  another human it means you're my mirror image   it means to see me as to see you it means we  are absolutely in sync together in harmony   another exactly like me but different but like me   and when that one comes now that one he will  explain to you what i'm trying to tell you now   he's going to be your teacher he will  be your guide into what to you right   now is totally incomprehensible unknown  territory he's coming and in that day i want to say stop jesus all right  you overload it's overload well   what do you mean i'm following you but that seems  to have gone into invisible but now you're saying   that in that new situation another one will come  yeah he'll come and he will be in you oh come on   you mean it's no longer you there and us here  and us listening to you when you talking to us   you're saying the new teacher is going to be  inside of us so follow me is now from the inside   do i get you right jesus is it that's what you're  saying it's no longer me coming along behind you   it is somehow you but this other one coming inside  and actually teaching me from inside not outside   so i'm not hearing you with these ears  as you talk over here it's come inside so   i'm hearing you from inside me so that will  sound like me wouldn't it if it's inside me yes he said in that day you will know that that's  how i live with the father i'm inside the father   and he's inside of me but in that day  you'll also know that i'm inside of you   and you're inside of me and it's all  because of this other teacher that's coming yeah well that means then if you're inside  the father the father's inside of you   now you're inside of me then that means i  am inside of the father talk slowly jesus it means you're you're talking about a  relationship of such intimacy and such tightness   that i can hardly think it and i'm  being discipleshipped i'm going to be   following from inside where you will talk to me   from inside and you'll guide me from inside  but it will be through this other one so i'll know the father  just as you know the father   and the father will relate to me just like he  relates to you because we're all one in one yeah and he says when the new teacher  comes he's gonna tell you all about that   i've got so much i want to tell you now but  you you're not able to even comprehend what   i'm talking about so when the teacher  comes he's going to really explain this but now i'm leaving and where i am going you  cannot come that is i really need another   hour to talk about that because this woman who  has become human and as human has faced every   temptation and darkness and lie that we have ever  faced and refused to be adam but has refused ins   rather chosen instead to be one with the father  but now now he's going to do the unthinkable god became a human but now he is going to become the whole human race and the only way i can comprehend that   and stop it just being a religious  saying is to say he became me and if every one of us says he  became me you're getting the picture   please i've been trying to say  this for about five weeks now   god in christ jesus became me he didn't  do something for me he actually became me so it means that everything i am has only god  knows me all my brokenness my craziness my   wrong decisions my life of despair my hopelessness  am i missing the mark down to the very bottom   of that fact he lifted the  whole lot me and he became my identity only i didn't know that you see because  he said i'm going to do this all by myself   i'm sorry you've just got to watch it  and you won't understand what's happening   so you're going to look at me  as i become you at your worst and that's why i've told people so many times when  you look at the cross see your face in the face of   jesus it is a fact that in the real world it is  recorded and done that every sin every mistake   every twistedness every brokenness of your life  every abuse of your life every grief of your life   is lifted out of you and it becomes one with  jesus so it says he became sin for us and also   elsewhere it says he became the curse or all  the brokenness that that brings he became it so he became then the object of satan's  fury satan now has him like he had us   it's a transfer suddenly i'm over here  watching and i can't understand what's   going on anymore as the disciples did  they they they're beyond horrified   they're speechless they're paralyzed or they  could say we had hoped and it's all over   because we see the man going into death and  suffering unspeakable grief sorrow agony yeah you don't know do you that's you he  has become you and you it is now recorded   was crucified with christ and you now go into  death with say goodbye to you it's over it's   finished say goodbye don't try and redo the past  there's no redo in the past it is put into jesus   and he dies that's follow me what follow they  followed him into himself and he became as them and in that act the father declared that  all the sin he carried was released and gone   absorbed in love and the death he went into is  destroyed by his life which is greater than death   and he rose from the dead  that's you because he became you   so do you understand me when i say that you are  as if i use an evangelical expression you are as   saved as jesus is you are as innocent  as jesus you are guiltless blameless and you are seated face to face with the father as   jesus is because he became you  but in so doing you became him   in in in i am in the father but i'm in you and you  are in me so what happens to him happens to you   you you could come back and look at it from a  bigger distance and say if he is the creator   and the creator is the life of all creation  including you if the creator dies then you die   because you're getting your source life from him  does that make sense he in him all things consist   everything holds together he's the creator and  the upholder of all things well when he died   he carried the whole creation with him it's all  over it's finished done and i mean done you died but if he rose from the dead in that that means  he defeated death it means he wiped out sin   guilt it means he refashioned you brings  you out that isn't the one that went in jesus came out fully human many cults say  that jesus sort of dissolved into gases and   it's a sort of spirit no he came out and  he says i'm not a ghost handle me touch me   and then thomas of course wasn't there so he said  put your hands into the nail print uh it's me he   said i'm still the human i'm the human that has  overcome death the human that has wiped out sin   the human that now takes you human with me  to the father follow me they didn't realize   it they couldn't grasp it but they  actually followed him onto the cross let me say this he did that  without their permission   ever thought of that god saved  you without your permission   he placed you inside of christ without asking you  huh i can hear the house of rage from some people gotta make a decision to accept  jesus yeah i said okay but   you're gonna understand he already decided it's  okay if you uh yeah you should join in with that   but he's already accepted you already included you   what you're doing right now is waking up  to that yours is the wow is this possible   i've got news for you you died you're trying to  get your life back together yeah no understand you   died it's over and over by an act of  god that is beyond our comprehension   and you now are resurrected so wake up and  understand there's a new life that is beyond your   comprehension and you're like well the bible  says i has never seen it ear has never heard it   never entered into the heart of man what love has  prepared for you no they he said you cannot come   this is my work i'm gonna do it as you and for you  and you can't touch it it's nothing to do with you   when you find out about this  it's all over all done it's yours   but right now you can't come with me i do  this alone it didn't say i'm doing a lot   i'm doing a lot but really after i've done  as much as i can do it's really up to you see   i i i've done 60 maybe but if you don't believe  forget it no who took him through he says i go   alone you cannot come then whose faith took  him through that whose faith brought him to   resurrection it was his faith he did that all i  can do is lean back in the chair and say thank you and really you do know what  i'm talking about because   okay i remember when i you know i was over here  in the 60s flying around wasn't the best thing   in the world in those days and um i've been  through storms and thunders and lightnings   and everything else in little tiny planes that no  human being should ever be in the air in and um   i i remember one of those little planes  that flies over pennsylvania and the midwest   and the guy next to me as soon as he sat and  you could see you know the pilot comes in well   the truth is i look at that pilot and i trust his  faith that he's going to get me to new york city   i don't have a clue it's beyond me  how anybody can get this thing off   the ground let alone get to new york city but  i believe in his faith he believes he can do it   i believe in his faith the man next to  me what was obviously not on that page   and as soon as the engines revved up he  grabbed hold of the seat in front of him all the way to new york city and  as we landed he says we did it uh i guess he thought that his faith was helping  the pilot um no you you'd better just trust in   the faith of the pilot and lean back and it's  so you know first responders when that when you   need a first responder you'd better trust their  faith they know what they're doing and they're   going to carry you through the moment you try and  insert your faith you'll blow the whole operation   we do know when i say it's his  faith and we trust in his faith   i mean carry these silly little illustrations to  the nth degree but that's what i'm talking about when he died all our relationship to  the false deity the god of adam died   we met the real god and jesus took our identity  that was false and full of the lies i i'm not to   the atoms god told me i was or went it's dead i i checked i i do it regularly what what other  people are saying i never want to accuse people   falsely i want to make sure they are  saying what i say they say and i was   utterly horrified this was last week i i read  i won't say who it was but somebody who leads   evangelicals and um he said the whole  thing everything hangs on your faith   now listen listen it gets worse he said you  come to the foot of the cross and you see   jesus on the cross and you've got to believe you  have to have faith to put yourself on the cross   it's all your faithful does it it's right there  so i'm not making this up so it means jesus died   but it doesn't work unless you had the faith no  follow me means i follow him right into the cross   into his death into his resurrection and i never  dreamt follow me when there but on the other side   the teacher comes the holy spirit and he says now  let me tell you what happened here because it was   impossible before he went where you couldn't come  he had to do it alone with his faith and his love   but now let me explain and the holy spirit teaches  us that's what he that's who he is um and when he   ascended we humans ascended with him and the  father greets us with joy and with love and we   are greeted with the same love the same rejoicing  as as jesus for we are absolutely one with him and the whole new testament discipleship began  which is never again you here and jesus here and   let's see if we can communicate no it is the holy  spirit in whom i meet with jesus and the father   they are here and the incredible  new language is for me me to live which is really alive is christ say that again for me to live is christ so how many of us are there  two because i just said it you heard me me so   me is but then christ but  it's a union that is so real   that for me to live is christ but i'm not absorbed  in him i don't disappear it's not that crazy stuff   where they say it wasn't me it was the lord um  or what was the other song we sang in the 50s   um you know all of him and none of me what  do you mean you mean you disappear you   you're not kind of spiritual suicide um how  pathetic must be terribly boring you're not there   so if you're not there how can you enjoy  being there you to understand if it's   just all jesus then who's to enjoy him but for me  to live is christ together one but not absorbed that means i live in the continual wonder of him   and he lives in the continual joy of  me oh what about christ who is our life christ in you the hope of glory so i don't have to try and be like him because  him is entwined with me and he's not only alive he he's in me so he speaks in me and  sometimes it sounds like my own voice   but it's a me that is beyond anything  me could ever imagine in terms of what i   see and understand and turn into lifestyle and  word style and i realize that i have become in   guarded in fact more than that  i am peter says you partake you partake of the divine nature you say well  am i a god um i wouldn't put it like that   because that sounds very much like the  garden of eden doesn't it you shall be as god   um and of course if you were a god then somebody  would have to worship you so that didn't work no that's the wonder and the mystery that he has  placed us in christ but more than that christ   in us that's god in us and it says he now  has begotten us as sons and that's not to   the exclusion of the the ladies that's not that's  not um agenda son is god the son the son and you   are in the son who's the son is son of god and  anyway the word son to the hebrew meant same as   and so son means yes i mean guarded i'm a son of  god i'm i'm in the family of the trinity but not   innately i'm not a god that would  make the fourth member of the trinity   no there's only three but i am inside the sun  and the sun is inside of me and and it's not a   patchwork quilt he is me i is him by grace grace  grace grace its gift upon gift upon gift upon gift and therefore i am i live divine  nature i live god loves i am agape i am   for agape himself lives in me so yes i am and i can lay hands on the second  they recover and jesus did that yeah he said   the works that i do you will do also just  on that that doesn't mean he's sitting here   and say well you've seen what i did you're  going to do the same that's not what it says   he's talking present tense it means that when  he would heal the sick today he's going to do   it in you and through you the works that  i do you would do them we do it together i remember down at the what's that  theater in san antonio doesn't matter   um long before i lived here i came there and had  meetings yeah majestic and um had meetings there   and at the end of the meetings i i we did it  in those days i said anyone who wants prayer   laying on of hands just come forward well  the entire theater came forward and um it   was already 10 o'clock at night and they all sat  on the front row you know and they were lined   up on either side coming and i don't know what  time it was but i was i mean i was getting tired   and this is very hard to put into words because i  can't really say what happened enough that i saw   jesus and it was very real at that moment  and and here's the front row the theater   seats you know in the front row and i'm behind  i'm in the second row laying hands on people   and i suddenly jesus was there and i had put my  hands on this person's head and his hands came   on top of mine and i this is very difficult but  he laughed winked at me and said isn't this fun   and a surge of life came in to be written   but that was it the works that i do who who was  bringing life to the who was healing these people   who who was he was but i was doing it  also to the point where he we did it that that's this life you love  yeah you love yes you love   but if you're saying that you love it it's  if you said you know i i am a guppy oh sorry   you're very very foolish there but you are because  he is agape entwined with you to the point you are   with a wink i wink at him and he winks  at me and if you have anything to do   with it i wink at you because you know  that i know and he knows that we know   i i live with the wink i live yet not i it's  christ and as i live i'm receiving life from him   as i live he lives and imparts life  to me and in micro moments he can   whisper to the point where i just think  it's my desires is what i want to do   and there's no religiosity about it and  there's no pressure it's unforced it's god love   and it's a mutual indwelling he in me  and i in him he became me on the cross   and now he has come to dwell in me and i  if i dare say the words to become him thy   gift by grace and that's the  christian life that's why   that god is beyond a religion called christianity  that was when they're arguing in the upper room   we've come into what the new testament  speaks of new covenant new creation new life   where jesus still says follow me only  it's not him there and me here it is he's   in the depth of my being and that's where i  follow he speaks within me and it's not you know   it's not like a roll of thunder it's it's not all  that stuff that adam's god comes up with you know   where lights around your head and all religious  voices and talking in king james english and   well that's stupidity he's so real he can relax  at a party you know he can hang out with people   that religions you don't talk to those people well  he does so i do you know i don't have to apologize   for being here or being there or hanging out with  this one or that one and it's amazing how they   those terrible people they recognize jesus in me  and i haven't said a word yet but they feel safe   they do this is of course other people recognize  jesus in me and do everything in their power to   kill me but then they did that to jesus too so  that's okay do you understand what i'm saying   jesus is living his human life today in me  that's discipleship and i'm going to cut   that's only half of it we'll be back next  week to finish it but um just let me say this   in so many churches when a person makes their  decision and i would say they've woken up to   who jesus is but whatever when they do that then  the the church gives them a list of rules they   kill it right there you know you've  got to read your bible every day now so you've got a textbook um going to pray  every day about what i i'm going to pray every   day you've always got to come to church when the  doors are open and try and be like jesus i'd do it   no that'll kill it you'll be you'll lose  everything in the sense of understanding you'll be   confused in chaos what is this i came to a living  person and you've given me a textbook jesus said   to the pharisees you search the scriptures you  memorize the scriptures but you won't come to me   so that means you can memorize the scriptures and  not even know jesus is i have memorized the new   testament so i'm not against it all i'm saying is  for goodness sake don't think that means anything   what means something is that the jesus i discover  through the holy spirit in the new testament   is the one who dwells within me and in me  incidentally is bigger than the body you see   i'm much bigger than that there's a spirit  of malcolm that is bigger than my body   and jesus is there so sometimes i feel him deep  within and sometimes he's right in my face um but   all within me and i within him equals me okay now  the blessing of this incredible god who is love   the father the son and the holy spirit make  himself known to us in the face of jesus christ   and through the enlightenment of the holy  spirit and i declare that is the way it is amen

Channel: MalcolmSmithWebinars

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Id: WdrH1BaEEDU

Length: 70min 13sec (4213 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 17 2020