WEBINAR 360 - Reality or Religion

this morning i want to pick up where i left off  what seems a hundred years ago um in john chapter   four with the conversation that jesus had with  the woman of samaria and let me preface it today   i may say things today that will either shock  or upset or send your world spinning um so could   you be prepared for that uh forgive me ahead of  time and let the holy spirit make it real to you   okay in the middle of the conversation with the  woman of samaria john chapter 4 you remember he   suddenly out of nowhere introduces the fact she  has no husband has had five husbands and so on   and and we talked about that last time  but then she does not want to stay there   she is to a point of shock as i think every one  of us are when we realize the gospel is that god   joins us at our very worst he does not join us  when we've got our act together he joins us at   our worst and that is shocking and for many people  they can't handle it to begin with she couldn't   and so in verse 19 she immediately changes the  subject and says sir i perceive that you are   a prophet yeah let's not go there let's say  you're a prophet and she goes on our fathers   that's the original samaritans worshiped in  this mountain which would be mount gerizim   and you the jews say that in jerusalem  is the place where men ought to worship   and jesus now now this and i'm not going to talk  about this but you just got to say something about   it he he doesn't say lady i was talking about your  five husbands it doesn't do that if she changes   the subject he changes it with her that that to  me is amazing he is saying essentially what do   you want to talk about and it doesn't matter what  she wants to talk about he's going to take it back   to her heart relationship with the father and and  i find that is fantastic um and that is true if we   had you know lots of time you can go through the  scripture and it's the reverse of what we've been   taught so many times that he comes and just slams  on us and says now listen to me he never does that   essentially he says what do you want to talk  about where's your pain where is it that you're   hurting where is it you have your questions  we'll talk about that that's that's what and   that may be way off the subject but somehow  he always brings it back to the subject but he   does it through where we're at and so he answers  her and says woman and remember that's one high   word of respect um he called his own mother  woman you could say dear woman lovely woman   precious woman believe me an hour is coming when  neither in this mountain mountaineerism of the   samaritans nor in jerusalem will you worship the  father you samaritans worship what you do not know   we worship what we do know for salvation is from  the jews then he goes back but an hour is coming   and then he hesitates and says but now  is when true worshipers will worship   the father in spirit and in truth for such  people the father seeks to be his worshipers   god is spirit those who worship him must worship  in spirit and in truth they are the most amazing   words jesus said i think um it is the  foundation for the rest of the new testament   and it says things that we are very hesitant  to pursue so let let me look at it she brings   up the subject our fathers and we talked about  the fathers the samaritans were a mixed people   they were some israelites that had been left  behind from captivity but then those who took them   captive the assyrians brought in all other nations  and so you had this all spare parts people they   were they had no genealogy together they were just  a massive people mixed together and each brought   their own religion and so they mixed it together  in some unholy stew and that's what they believed   and the only connection they had to um what had  gone before was they did believe in the first five   books of the bible they believed in the pentateuch  and that was it and so they have this group of   essentially pagan people who have a pagan religion  but with a a thread of connection to the scripture   so she's saying our fathers taught us that  it is on this this mountain here in samaria   that we worship god and you jews you say it's in  jerusalem so which in jerusalem you worship at the   temple on mount zion it was a mountain and here we  have a mountain that we worship on mountaineerism   um so which religion is right if you can tell me  that i've had five husbands and the one i'm living   with is not my husband you must be some prophet  so now come on prophet tell me which religion is   right which people group have got it right where  where are we in all of this who's right which   place should we go to worship which way should we  adopt to worship what's going on who got it right now i know what everybody thinks jesus should  have said he should have said jerusalem   and mount zion is the place to worship  god he said nobody got it right do you does that if that doesn't affect you then  i i should start again um he was say what when he   said that jerusalem didn't get it right that's not  the the place to worship even certainly you didn't   get it right he did say that he says we we we at  least have got the gospel we've got the promise   you don't have anything but he said i mean you've  got nothing and even those who have the promise   they too no you don't worship god in jerusalem  would you well just to hold that been doing that   for the entire old testament what's jesus saying  he is saying the old testament didn't have all   right and he's saying no more than you pagans  had it right there's something coming that is   so utterly totally new that you'll recognize  it wasn't in jerusalem and it certainly isn't   in samaria it's in this other dimension  that nobody's ever thought of until now   this is this is getting very upsetting because  now what do i do with all of that old testament   what do i do with what andrew just read where he  says um we go to the house of the lord he he's   just saying no um it's not a house that's built  on a mountain that we say now this is the right   way he said that that's not it so what's  the old testament been talking about   and for goodness sake what are we doing today for  the christian church has adopted the language of   the old testament to talk about its present  kind of worship i i know that many many many   um evangelical believers talk about the building  that they meet in as the house of the lord   and they collect all the money  to build the house of the lord   um when it just says it's not on that mountain  it's not in that bill what what's seriously i'm in   daring to approach this i'm upsetting half  the world this is jesus says we they don't   even know the father and to know is a prerequisite  to worship you can't worship a god you don't know   and he says no it's not in either one of those and  in matthew 11 he's going to say at a point future   from this time by a couple of years but he's going  to say no one knows the father except the son   do you remember that that again is so massive  it leaves me speechless he said at his point in   history up until now no one and the greek there is  very emphatic it means no one it's no one no one   which means he is saying moses didn't have all  the pieces he's saying that isaiah jeremiah   amos didn't have all the pieces he says only  one person knows the father and that's me   and i know the father because i came out from  the father i am of one being with the father   to know me is to know the father this is a new  day that you've never imagined before it's not   worship in that building in jerusalem it's not any  other pagan center oh and he said that the father   is seeking worshipers not people who go to this  building or that building but worshipers who   worship him in spirit and in truth and he says  the father is seeking that means the father   takes the initiative i don't have to beat you  over their head and say you've got to worship god   no god says i'm the one doing the seeking  i'm the one taking the initiative i want you   more than you know how to want  i desire you and that desire   began before the creation of the world we've  talked about that before the intention of god   to create had a reason behind it the the intention  of god was that we should be created to be adopted   into the family of god and to worship god heart  to heart face to face to know and be known and so he he is seeking he he his seeking us is  the motive behind creation it is the seeking heart   of god that we should be worshippers that caused  him to create now that's that's the way it is um so when he created it's in the garden of eden  you could say was the garden of worshipers   have you noticed there was no temple there well  i mean seriously we don't don't skid over this   in the most perfect point at the  beginning of the human race where   everything was there to bring to pass what real  humanity was you have no temple there was no   religion everybody in the garden and i'll say this  very carefully laughed and played with the creator   because it says that the lord god walked in  in the cool of the day do you remember that   incidentally that is the most blatant statement  of the holy trinity in the old testament um   pull it apart lord yahweh i am but then  elohim the lord god elohim and and we've   talked about it before that elohim is a  strange word because it's always plural   there's an s on the end plural more than one  and yet it's linked with singular sentences   and so it is saying elohim is a plurality of  persons even though one so i am you could say   carefully guards the more than one in the cool of  the day that is forgive me but that's a terrible   translation um the word there cool is ruach  and ruach is a word that means wind or spirit   he is saying that yahweh elohim ruach that is  father and son in the holy spirit walked in the   garden of eden to play and laugh and what where  is the language of god in the garden of eden adam   where are you what have you been doing it sounds  more like a sandpit play that that than going to   church this is a relationship this is a friendship  this is why man was created um fellowship   well what is sin and this is generations  before you ever come to the ten commandments   it's got nothing to do with the ten commandments  sin was the entrance of the great blindness   a blindness so intense that as i've said  before that when a person is blind physically   they they know they're blind and they know there's  a reality out here they can't see and many times a   blind person sees more than we do because they use  all their senses to connect with the the reality   out here this is a blindness which is so blind you  believe that what you don't see is your reality   that there is nothing beyond that a blindness  it's it's in um in john 1 it says the blindness   the light couldn't come rather the darkness  couldn't comprehend the light it didn't understand   light in fact it took john the baptist to come  and tell the darkness look there's light here   they just couldn't see couldn't see that that's  the essence of sin you you are blind and you are   blinded by the great lie that you are independent  of god or our word today will be separated separated from god you think about that if i'm separated from  god that's interesting because if you ask   the average american or westerner even where  is god and they'll always point up he's up   and they may address god as the man upstairs but  he's always up why up up because he's not here   he's removed he's up he's over he's watching  there's a lot of words we use but never what   the bible says which is he's in us no blindness  and in that blindness created an alien reality   that god is separate he's away from us and  he's away from us because he doesn't like us   he's away from us because we really annoy him  and you get the impression that he created   us in order to be annoyed for all eternity  because that's a he's always upset with us   um but that that's the essence of sin so once  i i once i believe i'm separated from god   then i'm on my own to create my own reality with  behaviors that fit the reality separated from god that's interesting because that is the  key to understanding every religion on   the face of the earth and i i've traveled the  earth and i've sat down and talked with the   priests as well as the worshipers of many pagan  religions and it's the same when you talk into   a witch doctor you might as well be talking to  a shinto priest in japan it's the same thing   but god is up god is beyond us god is god is  uh away and then i come back to america and i   listen to preachers and all they can tell me  is you're separated from god you're away he's   away he's up there's no difference they all  have the same message god's not here we're on   our own so what do we do every religion does  the same thing he said they go to a mountain   isn't it strange if if it's not a mountain it's  a high hill and what they what they build a house   there for god to live in because he's not here  so we give him a house god can live in a house   and in the house well he's got a separate room  usually with a bad lock on it because because he   we don't can't have him escape it's like  having a line in a zoo you put god in the box   and and god there he then he has his keepers  his keepers are that elite class of humans   that are allowed to peek at him every  so often to make sure he's still there you do realize i'm talking about  religion wherever you find it think about it wherever you find  it it's the god who isn't here   and many many times let me state it plainly the  the evangelical talks about the building they meet   in every sunday as the house of the lord the house  the house the place he lives i guess you know   and who's in there where they're  professionals they're called clergy   and the clergy well they're an elite bunch they  they have special relationship to god you're   seeing so when you want to talk to god you go  to them and say would you pray for me that's odd   that's odd if god dwells in you and you dwell in  him why don't you talk to him yourself oh no he's   there they're the elite you know they're the lion  keepers they they they poke at him and talk to him   um yeah and and you see the the thing that god  would talk to me that that's utterly ridiculous   in fact he's scary i don't want that that  because he's up there he's safe up there if   he starts talking to me and so part of the whole  mountain house system is to have the prophets   oh there they make it safe there again they're  an elite bunch they can talk and he talks to   them and then they talk to you so so you don't  have to get involved and so you go to the prophet   and what what's my life look like why you're  going to do this or that that's good you know see   because god told the prophet the prophet told  me and i didn't have to get involved with god um   amazing isn't it because i thought he could talk  to you but um do you see what religion is religion   is separation from god and it shows up in  a hundred different ways we can't think of   god filling every day of our life 24 7. so no  we don't do that so that house on the mountain   they give special days so now on a sunday well  that's uh yes god's day at least half of it is   a and um and we go to god's house like going  to grandma's house and when you go and you   start talking in whispers because you know this  is god's house i'm not used to this and don't   you notice is it only because i travel to all  different churches and see this nonsense going on   and and people who are the funnest people  on the planet until they get in the church   parking lot then something happens to them and  they're the most miserable people on the earth   because they're coming into god's house and  they're all scared and they look around and   they sit there and no one talks it if the  if the child laughs that shut up good church we're laughing we should laugh but  you realize what i'm saying here   this is separation why don't you act like that  at the dining room table if the glory of god   fills your house then no we think he lives  there she lives there and you can't laugh   there and you can't have a barbecue there and the  children can't play there because it's god's house   it's on the mountain up there we go away  made it you know now we can act normal now   that's religion it's religion religion  is always exterior he's up he's above   he's away and i've got to do something to  perform so that he'll at least crack a smile and of course then you get to israel israel  and again we don't read this too often but   when they came to mount sinai you know they were  brought out of egypt and they came to mount sinai   and when they got there the lord told them why  he had brought them there he said you shall   be an entire nation of kings and priests  you're a holy nation nor jolly lot of you   which means every one of you has free access  to me and he said when you want to worship   me you just make a is a sort of dirt hump and  dad what would lead you in prayer and worship   and the glory of god came down onto mount sinai  and they're the only people ever created that   heard god himself speak to them in the hebrew  language and they say this is getting too close   we're separated they listen to the reality of  their darkness and says this can't be happening   and if it is happening it's so scary i don't  want to pursue it and they turn to moses says   you you go up there and talk to him we don't  want to this this is getting too upsetting   very upsetting we're scared of this because  it doesn't fit the darkness in our minds   and this is where it's almost back to the woman  of samaria and i i don't know if i can it stirs me   the the love of god what what's god gonna do  to the he has announced this is my plan and   it's the plan i had before i created mankind  and now you don't want it you're telling me   go away go away up the mountain go on we'll  send a special elite person to to talk to you why didn't god just wipe them out if he's the  god that we're told he is he should have been   royally upset and he should have said forget it if  you don't want it i'll find someone else who does instead i know hear me because  this is how he deals with all of us   he says then if that's where you're  at if your reality is the lie   because god doesn't believe in our reality  we're saying he's separate and god no he's not   but he said if that's where you're at then  because i want to love you and talk to you   and bring you to truth then i will  join you where you're at and i will   talk to you within the boundaries that  you have given to me does that make sense and so moses came down the mountain and he says  god said he'll live in a tent along with us   would that be okay kind of thing he's it's  as close as he can get without scaring you   he you'll have your tent he'll have his tent and  and he'll have a room in the middle of the tent   but he'll put a veil there so you can hide on this  side of the veil and you won't have to look at him   and i've given you the tribe of  levi to be an elite company who   deal with the sacrifices and once a year as  your representative they can go in there and and you you you really think that you can  live this life separated independent of him   so he says okay i'll i love you there  if that's if that's where you're at uh   i'll give you ten commandments have a go at that  um see if you can do that independently of me   um and and you you can't imagine me feeling  every day so i'll give you a sabbath okay   i'll give you a sabbath and then for one day  you'll say this is god's day you know and and now   i throw in a few feasts so that all  through the year it keeps punctuating with   remember god he's he's got this day he's  got that day and when you have the harvest   take a sheath and say this is god see okay  he doesn't have the rest but he's got this and as to your money i'll take ten percent i'll  make it thirty percent uh um and then you'll say   you know do you understand have you ever thought  of it like this the law was not given as what god   wanted it's what they wanted they felt safe with  that because now god's separate and we're doing   this we're doing that we're performing  this way and every time the love of god   came closer they rebelled against it couldn't  stand him they fell in love with their house   they fell in love with the mountain they fell  in love with all the bits and pieces of the law it's it's an amazing thing god says i want to speak to you you  won't listen you don't want to speak   okay i'll hang up i'll deal with you at that level   and i'll send you profits and the  prophets will tell you what i'm saying that's the way it was god deals with us where  we're at not where we should be it's marvelous talking to someone just the other day  and they were saying i've had it with   the church i'm never going back to church  so i suppose god's mad at me now no he's not   no he's not he says if you don't want to go  among god's poor that's perfectly okay i'll   sit with you in your bedroom you're  not going to get rid of me he says   but wherever you're at there i'll come and speak  to you that that will be where your journey is that i found so beautiful so comforting and he met  them where they were he gave them what they wanted   rules separation but in so doing he came closer to  them than they ever realized and he keeps in every   rule he gave and every detail of that house on the  mountain he kept telling them about a day that was   coming a day that was coming when it would all  change but just for now we're talking at this   level and i'm going to bring you to this whole  new day day of union and jeremiah comes along   because that was pharah that was 500 years before  jesus jeremiah says the day is coming he says   you you guys you've broken every covenant god made  with you but he said the day is coming when it's   a a new covenant something you've never dreamt  of in your wildest dreams and he said in that   day your sin and iniquity will be remembered  no more be a closed book dead issue no no more and in that day you will need a prophet to say  know the lord know the lord because every one of   you will know him he'll be talking to you on the  inside and no more will it be a law out here that   you're trying to keep but he said he will write  it in your heart and he'll put it into your mind   what was jeremiah saying there'll be no more  house on the mountain there'll be no more   mountain because it will be an inward matter  the holy spirit will write it inside of you it's all over this is this is just  because that's where i met you and   and but the day is coming and ezekiel came  along just a bit later and he said in that day   you'll be washed clean on the inside and i'll  give you a new heart and put it inside of you   and i will cause you to walk in my ways it  will be an inward matter of the spirit not   a house on the mountain with a list of rules and  a bunch of elite clergy to tell you what to do no then he said the hour is coming   boy lady do you know the hour is coming it's  almost here it's almost here when this is the hour   is coming you lady you will no longer worship on  this mountain nor will you trek down to jerusalem   the hour is coming an hour could i say a cosmic  hour could i say an hour that split the universe   an hour that had been waiting since before the  foundation of the world an hour is coming a   tick tock tick tock hour and he said it's over in  fact he said it is it's here how could it be here   because in jesus himself god and man are  united and that's the essence of all worship   and he said god who has been taking  the initiative since the very beginning   i'm here but i'm here so wrapped up in you that for you and i to be together is for you to be  drawn into this union that the old testament has   never once even imagined the hour is coming and it  now is and he talked about himself he said destroy   this temple in three days i'll raise it up but  then john had to write a sort of parenthesis he   was talking about his body um they thought he was  talking about the building the house the temple   on the mountain he was talking he says i i'm now  the temple i am where god and man meet together   and you're gonna destroy it but in three days  i'll raise it up and it will be the forever temple   that's what he meant when he said it's finished  the whole old system was done finished gone can you understand that i guess in some  respects i'm talking to the choir but um it's   see there are many today who believe that  the temple in jerusalem will be rebuilt   they really believe that i i'm not saying it might  indeed because it will cause world war three um   and on top of that it will be the greatest act  of blasphemy that has ever been committed on this   planet that when god himself came and became the  temple that we say no thank you we'll we'll take   the old way but he comes his blood shedding was what it  cost him to get inside our darkness   and seeing as we see separation from  the inside and in that inside to   declare god is light the very opposite of the  darkness god then is union god is friend god   is this coming together of god and man that's the  light and he says he come together in me in jesus   god is love he's not against  you he's not to be afraid of   and he blew to pieces the darkness and raised  and we were raised with him which means we now   think about this he who is the temple has  now given himself to us we join to him we become the temple okay this building is a bit  interestingly before we got here this was a bar   did you know that this was a  dude ranch and it was a bar that's good because it it's not the house of the  lord i know many persons have met with jesus in   this building but it's not the house of the lord  it's got to check at history this place has i'll   tell you where the house of the lord is sitting  right in front of me you are the stones that   make up the house of the lord the house of the  lord is it's not a mountain it's not a building   it's not an organization the house of the lord is  where god the holy spirit lives inside you and i i mean i want to shake myself this is this  is the reality as the glory of god filled   that in a room it says in the sufferings and  death of jesus he took us through the curtain   that is you're no longer hiding from god out here   jesus took us inside and on the  inside wand with the glory of god which means i don't have to go anywhere to  dwell in the glory of god i don't have to   go somewhere in order to hear god speak  i be this this oh but just a minute it's   i'm not an independent i'm not an  independent little godlet over here um   i am the house of the lord because  i am joined with you in jesus   and so we come together we we we're not going  to it's impossible from the scripture that you   can never go to church you you could always  go to the house of the lord on the mountain   but you can't go to church sometimes the  church gathers and then we separate away but   we we we are here today not because we  went to a place called church we are here   because you are the living dwelling place of  god through the holy spirit and you have come   and in our gathering we are the radiance  of god's glory gathered together and when   we part we are still held together by the same  holy spirit it's very different very different   and what am i what's andrew what's marshall we're  not elite and if you ever thought that please   flush that down the holy toilet it's there's no  no place for an elite company called clergy no   and don't you ever speak of yourself by that  wicked word laity because that means separation   i won't even go to how that  came to be in but no we are the ecclesia we are the body of  christ we are this incredible   gathering of persons in whom the spirit dwells   and i and marshall and andrew have been gifted  in certain ways in which to serve the rest of the   body we're not elite with the chief servants when  i ordained i know andrew probably you marshall too   i told you i am ordaining you to become the head  foot washer you you are coming to wash the feet of   our fellow believers we are now those who are the  family of god equal eye to eye face to face and   face to face with jesus and face to face in jesus  with the father and all of us in the holy spirit   all i have is a gift that i share with you  that's it i'm i'm one of you and then you see it   if you are the living dwelling place of the holy  spirit what does that do when you go to work   because another word of the separation  which belongs to the darkness is secular   there's no such thing as secular it's all  in the twisted imagination of the darkness   because secular the word means where god  is not if you are the dwelling of god   if he is in you and you are now the  temple along with all the other stones   that means that whatever you do  is actually god himself doing it i have talked to randy forgive me randy he's  on the computer right now but he's our ranch   manager and i how many times in the years  he's been here and and and i you know people   say you know especially like recently when all  the pipes busted and in the great freeze and i   said well they're they're kind of fixed now  and people said oh praise the lord i said no   the lord wasn't doing anything  until randy showed up it was   seriously and and when you pray before food  i suppose you thank god for the food i didn't   notice him in the kitchen i didn't notice him  in the field cutting corn do you understand you   are involved at every level as god in  christ through the spirit in you doing that when you sit as a teller in the bank  you that is god who loves people   giving them a means of putting their money  into safety you're his hand in doing that there's not a work we do which is not really  god looking after his people because that's   who you are and and so you have your gift and  your gift i look at you i could never do it   i couldn't do it you look at me some of you and  say i could never do it no that's the way it is um   not one above another it's just different gifts  that are serving each other and blessing each   other but it is christ in us the glory of god in  us for we are the place where he and humankind   meets together and oh by the way this isn't the  sabbath did you know that and i know it's sunday   on this sunday we remember recognize declare  celebrate that jesus rose from the dead i'll give   you that but this is not the christian sabbath  do you want do you understand that no the sabbath   is jesus that's what sabbath was all about resting  in god and jesus carries us to that rest this   isn't the sabbath this is a very convenient day  to get together and to declare the gospel and   resurrection but it's not a sabbath so so don't  start applying all the laws of the sabbath no   you are the you are the sabbath because  christ the sabbath is inside of you see what i mean um and and righteousness  is not keeping the ten commandments the   ten commandments are gone that was what now then  the holy spirit living in you the life of jesus   and we live the love of god and the love  of god is fulfilling all the lord plus so we don't live by law we don't live by rules we  don't live by this day and that day and this feast   and that feast that's very convenient that's all  it's convenient we have a building to meeting but   if necessary a palm tree would have done just as  good because we are we are the house of the lord   we have come together and the place that  we meet and the time that we meet and   it's it's all just a matter of convenience because  we are the pulsating throbbing presence of the   body of christ we are the presence of jesus in  the face of the earth you you you ladies well   not only ladies but for the most part you you  care for the house you care for the children   and some of you would look at ministry and say  if only i had time to be in the ministry you are   in the ministry for why do you care for the  children why why is it inside you that drives you   to clean and to cook and to care it's  the love of god in you that says i   am making you the shepherd of this  family take care of my lambs take care you are as much in ministry as i am so worship he seeks such to worship  him well here we go again watch worship   it's come down to us essentially is groveling in  one way or another you know i mean it's always   that sort of hang dog look and we're worshiping  them and it's telling this up there god that he's   bigger than us and and of course we got that  terrible definition of holiness that came to   us from the worst period of all time called the  middle ages when holiness was a god that hated sin   and sneered at you because you were  a sinner and said i can't look at you   and they called that holiness whereas in the new  testament holiness is the love of god and sheer   joy and peace in celebrating that love  holiness is the shepherd saying rejoice   with me i bound my sheep which is lost because  holy means separated but not in the sense of   up and over it means you've never seen a love  like this before it is unique beyond all loves   and therefore it is holy it is set apart from all  other loves but because it is love separated like   no other from you've never seen a love like  it that love comes back out to embrace you that's so so worship is not groveling before  a god who doesn't think you're up to snuff um   and really does it make sense to keep telling god  he's big and great serious i'm being very serious   now i'm not this is serious if there was somebody  here that couldn't rest until we'd all told them   that they're the best person here there's a word  for that in the dictionary called narcissism   i'm very serious if god is the one that must  be told all the time that he's the greatest   and the best that is not love it means  he loves himself and he wants you to love   or at least tell him you love him but god is love  which means he's utterly for us and utterly for us he never asks us to tell him how great he is he  spends his entire time opening our eyes to see   who we are in the middle of  his love so worship isn't that he's not seeking grovelling subjects   he he seeks friends the big word is  fellowship communion rejoice with me um he the the very beginning he wanted to adopt  us into the family so we would be friends   children playing in his house  because that house is the holy spirit   and joining with jesus in his  relationship to the father huh so we are the fulfillment of everything  the old testament was pointing to   and when jesus came he said that's over now this  is the new so there's no more reference to sin for   jesus blew the darkness apart we don't concentrate  on sin there's no more need for a prophet who's   going to tell you what your life is going to be  like the prophet of the new testament is entirely   different the prophet of the new testament  is telling you how jesus relates to your life and we don't have special days because  he fills every hour of every day and   wherever we are whatever we're doing we are  aware that we're inside the glory of god so paul wrote now paul was the most jewish of all  jews he was a pharisee of pharisees which means   he said that's his own testimony that i'm not  only jewish which would lock me into the old   testament he said i'm a pharisee and they were  so rigid even the jews felt sinful around them   that they they were the ultimate jew and for  saul of tarsus the ultimate jew who said that   well actually i tell you i i quote now from  jewish literature that the holy place the room   where they locked god in with the veil in front  of him they believed that was not only the center   of the universe literally but they believed  it was where heaven and earth met together   i can't tell you there's no words to express   how they looked at the temple how they looked at  mount zion how they looked at the holy of holies that man saul of tarsus wrote in corinthians  don't you know that your body is the holy of   holies the word he used we translated temple  that's not the word there in greek is naos   which means holy of holies he said you are  now what the holy of holies was in that temple he said heaven and earth meet inside of you  and all your work and all that you do takes   place within that god himself fills you in his  glory all your life takes place within that   i i we'll never forget for many  reasons when we were in israel   and had a very interesting guide it's another  story but um he said i can take you to the holy   of holies he said it's not on the regular track  because it is right behind the mosque of omar   the the muslims you know have their great  mosque there well behind it where no one goes   is where the original holy of holies  in the temple of the old testament was   and he said um you know if you're very quiet  and decent and don't upset anybody i'll take you   around there and he did and there we stood  in an area not much bigger than this room   and there was a plaque on the floor that  said this is the sight of the holy of holies   in the days prior to 1870  when there was a temple there   and some of the people were going goosebumpy  you know and uh wow you know this was the holy   of holies and i said look i i hate to upset  you but that is just a piece of antiquity   i mean i'm very glad to be here and as far as  antiquity goes we've stood here right at the holy   of holies but i said do you realize everything  the holy of holies was or hoped to be is now you the glory of god called in the altar  the shekinah glory dwells in you and not by the blood of bulls and goats that  was sprinkled on the mercy seat inside the holy   of holies but the blood of jesus christ  god's son has cleansed us from all sin   and we now are face to face with the father in  jesus christ i said would you you stop all your   goosebumps and start looking in the mirror and  realize you are the now walking holy of holies   and we do this as a very fascinating historical  thing we're standing in the original holy of   holies but that's it finished after  that understand the new covenant   says this is over we stand on the ruins of a  temple for a jolly good reason god says it's   over and there's no more priesthood there  because it's over it's done it's finished   and you now are the temple of the living  god and there's no more temples there's no   more buildings there's no more places there's no  more times that define something about god you are   people want to meet with god they meet  with you for jesus christ who is the way   dwells in you and you dwell in him and your  very life is an exposition of the gospel the father seeks the father seeks that's what  he seeks we we should thus worship him worship   um seeks that's a luke 15 word isn't it the  shepherd was seeking the sheep the woman was   seeking the last coin the father was seeking the  sons he wasn't seeking them to save them from hell   he was seeking them to include  them back into the family   that they might feel this that is  called worship it's this relationship he seeks that you would discover who you are  face to face with him with no separation and no   darkness in the old testament worship is linked  to a very unfortunate phrase i say unfortunate   because of how language changes but it says the  fear of the lord you remember reading that in   the old testament that translates into modern  english as those who are scared spitless of god   no it doesn't mean that at all and i've got  webster's dictionary on my side they still   define fear in its original meaning  fear has it's a neutral word   it's not just talking about being scared that's  one aspect of it but the word fear would mean   to behold something or someone it means to  acknowledge the presence of another so it's   got in the idea of recognition knowing and  then not only so but giving first place to   uh believing in trusting in resting  in to say how on earth can that   be the word fear well that's it what you  do when you're afraid isn't it um because   something comes into your life vision and  that something or someone you acknowledge   it as bigger than me and you  believe in its intention to hurt you   and so you go on down that list you give  it first place the fear controls your life   and um so it's linked with the idea of union  and abiding and fellowship and communion   so worship means i recognize i give place  to i see that he fills my life and i believe   i've trusted i fear that's the fear of the lord  there's not an item in my life that doesn't come   under that wonderful umbrella in fact if  i fear the lord i can't fear anything else   because he's bigger than anything else in  my life the fear of the lord but uh oh see   you fill my life so that means whenever  i look at you i see god dwelling in you   and if i'm out there the people i'm seeing  god dwell in don't know it they're still in   the dark well that's their problem i know  who you are i see the glory of god in you   and i talk to you as persons redeemed by the blood  of jesus in whom the glory of god dwells and in so   doing i'm worshiping god by acknowledging you  and loving you as he loved me that's worship so we behold him his immediate presence  the presence of love the presence of him   who has achieved his end we don't grovel  that that's what the word has come to mean   we we received it as a gift from the middle  ages and the witchcraft of the middle ages but   it doesn't no it's not is this other wonderful  word worship in fact the word worship in plain   english means to declare the worth of worship  worth ship it's saying the one is worthy   and so if a person is worthy then i surrender to  that person i surrender to their opinion and um   and and their their worth invades my life  and so if i come into the new testament   you'll find every word there that  i've just said for the last hour   um i didn't make it up i'm not i'm not being  a wacko out there this is the new testament   and and the the church has drifted so far  that they are living in the old testament   trying to use new testament  language and it doesn't work   see ephesians two the last verses it says  you are built together through the spirit   to be to be a dwelling of god that's what a  temple attempts to be well he says it's you   that's who you are in peter it says you all are  priests who are giving praise your offering is not   a dead animal your your offering is giving  praise to god and of course we've already   quoted from corinthians where it says your body  this this body we are the very holy of holies   that's who we are and anyway those words we  use all the time in christ christ in you in   in in he's not up it's not over he's not up the  mountain he's not in the house he's in you and   you are in him which means you live in a mutual  indwelling for me to live said paul is christ well as i said this is going to upset people  i know um and i i don't say that casually   there's a lot of what we say that if people  believed it it would cost them a lot of money   because they'd have to dismantle what they call  their religion they'd have to dismantle their   temples and realize the reality of christ  in us mind you we still have a building i met someone the other day who said well we  we no longer go to the church we meet in a home   and so that that's we're going to have revival now   as if now we don't meet in the building we meet  in another building and in the other building   because it's not that building then we're going  to have revival and we kicked out our pastor so   we're really on the road to something here um no  that's you missed the point i don't care where you   meet you can even meet in a building that you  call church just as long as you know it isn't   as long as you know that you are do you realize  we've risen above buildings or no buildings and   and of course someone's going to be the leader  just don't let him think he's an elite class and jesus said is no longer on the mountain  but he went to the mountains to pray so   obviously he's not against mountains  he's not against the hill country do you understand um we don't worship the bible  as the fourth member of the trinity but on the   other hand i exegete the scripture and recognize  his place but let's get get the balance you know   um back in the charismatic movement  juma some of you remember those days   and they stopped using hymn books oh that was so  funny they they said we're we're charismatic we   don't use a hymn book now we sing off the wall and  they had the you know put the words up on the wall   that was supposed to be now we're done you see  we're now we're free now we don't have him books   i mean you've got another hymn book it's on  the wall please can we get sense you know   we live so gloriously in the spirit we  use everything we can lay hands on but we   recognize that the reality is the holy spirit  within us and um so it's not on this mountain it's it's where we are so in zechariah  speaking of these days of the holy spirit   that began with the finished work  of christ zechariah said in that day   even the horses will have holiness unto  the lord hanging on their forehead um   which that means that you know those horses have  pulled the wagons they're sort of 18 wheelers of   the day well he said even the 18 wheelers  will have written on them the holy place you work in the oil fields well it's got holiness  unto the lord you can't escape this god owns his   creation and fills his creation and that's  what it was all about from the very beginning   so i guess that's it um i trust the holy  spirit has spoken deep into some of our hearts   and shown us the reality of our life  in christ and father we thank you how can we put words to it that in  christ jesus we are face to face with you   in the holy spirit we thank you we are at this  micro moment sharing literally sharing in the   relationship of jesus to you we are participating  in your relationship to jesus as to us we thank you we ask holy spirit  open the eyes of our understanding   that we may know the hope to  which we are called amen and amen you

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Length: 69min 2sec (4142 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 15 2021