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NOTE
Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver
Episode: Feast of Tabernacles III
Publishing Date: 2011-01-23T05:00:44-08:00
Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca
Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/feast-of-tabernacles-iii/

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Okay, guys, last week, and for the last few weeks,

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we've been talking about the Feast of Tabernacles.

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And last week, we spoke about how there are two...

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So there are two feasts that precede the Feast of Tabernacles.

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And we talked about that last week.

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We said one was the Feast of Trumpets,

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and the other one was the Day of Atonement.

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And so on the first day of the seventh month,

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you had the Feast of Trumpets.

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On the tenth day of the seventh month,

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you had the Feast of Atonement.

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And then on the 22nd day of the seventh month,

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you had the Feast of Tabernacles.

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And so we said that to understand the Feast of Tabernacles,

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we need to study the two feasts that preceded,

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because it leads to this thing called Tabernacles.

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And just to recap what we said three weeks ago,

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remember, the whole idea of studying the Feast of Tabernacles

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is to understand that in a Christian's life,

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you begin by deliverance out of Egypt,

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which is the point at which you get saved.

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Salvation or deliverance.

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Then you move on to liberty or freedom from bondage,

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which is Pentecost.

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But there is a place called Tabernacles

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that the church is missing out on.

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And Tabernacles is a place where you live by the life of another.

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You live by the life of another,

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and you come into sabbath rest.

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You come into a place of rest,

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because the fullness of God operates in you.

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We sang about it some today.

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Because the fullness of God is what you operate by.

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So we said that most Christians usually hover

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somewhere between deliverance out of Egypt and liberty.

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Most Christians hover between salvation and, sorry,

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hover between Passover.

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This is Passover.

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Deliverance out of Egypt is Passover.

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Most Christians hover between Passover and Pentecost

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when there's a third place that the church is supposed to enter into,

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which is Tabernacles.

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And so when we were talking about the two feasts that precede Tabernacles,

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we talked about how there's a point on the Day of Atonement

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when they pick two goats.

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One goat is sacrificed.

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The other goat is brought to the high priest.

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He lays his hands on the goat,

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transfers the sins of the nation onto the goat,

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sends it out into the wilderness,

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and they began to topple it over a cliff

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so that it wouldn't return back into the city.

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We talked about that last week.

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And we said that for Isaac, the son of promise to the city,

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the promise to thrive, Ishmael has to be sent away.

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And we said Ishmael is everything that stands for the flesh, for legalism,

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and Isaac is everything that stands for promise

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and that comes from the Spirit of God.

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And if the new Jacob is to thrive,

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if the new Jacob whom Christ has formed is to thrive,

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then I have to send Ishmael away.

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I have to send legalism away.

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I have to send anything that is of the flesh away.

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I have to find flesh.

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Flesh is not soma.

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Flesh is sarx, S-A-R-X.

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We've talked about it before,

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but we'll be revisiting some of the things we've spoken of before.

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So that's what we're going to talk about today.

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For the fullness of Christ to thrive in me,

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something has to be sent away to its death.

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Let me say that again.

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For the fullness of Christ to thrive in me,

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something has to be sent away to its death.

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Because Ishmael and Isaac cannot live under the same roof.

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Ishmael, being the older one,

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according to Galatians 4, 24-29,

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will persecute Isaac.

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We'll mock him.

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We'll treat him with disdain.

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We'll scorn him.

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We'll drive him out of the house.

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It is impossible for legalism

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and the ways and norms of the flesh

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to exist alongside this new fullness of Christ

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that dwells in me.

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It's impossible.

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So one has to be sent away to its death.

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And the Word of God furnishes for us

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this double-edged answer that we're going to study

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so that we can understand how we can walk

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in the fullness of Christ and send away to its death

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all that is of the flesh.

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So the premise that we're going to operate from

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is Galatians 6, 14 and Galatians 5, 17a.

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Go to Galatians 6, 14.

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Galatians 6, 14.

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It's almost orange if you want it.

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Good to go?

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Okay.

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Guys, so look at Galatians 6, 14, okay?

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This is the premise we're going to operate out of.

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Galatians 6, 14.

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And Galatians 6, 14 says,

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May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ

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through which the world has been crucified to me

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and I to the world.

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Okay?

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So here's what our premise is going to be.

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The first premise is that through the cross,

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through the cross, I am dead,

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I am dead to the world.

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I'm dead to its power of seduction.

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I'm dead to its norms.

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I'm dead to its dictates.

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I'm dead to its patterns.

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I'm dead to its observances.

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I'm dead to its values.

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I'm dead to its desires.

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Paul isn't theorizing here.

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He actually says that because he completely identifies himself

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with Christ on the cross,

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which is what you and I need to do.

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Guys, understand this.

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I know we've talked about it before,

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but it's good to revisit it.

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When Christ died, if you are born again,

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then your old self, the spirit that you were born with,

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the degenerate spirit, actually died.

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We know that.

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We've talked about that a million times.

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So Paul is saying this, that through the cross,

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you have been crucified and you are dead to the world.

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Through the cross, you've been crucified

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and you're dead to the world.

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We'll talk about it in an extended.

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I'm just giving you the premise.

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You're dead to the power of the seduction of the world.

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You're dead to the world's norms.

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You're dead to the world's dictates.

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You're dead to the world's values.

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You're dead to the world's desire.

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And we'll talk about how.

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The second premise is Galatians 5.17.

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Galatians 5.17.

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Galatians 5.17.

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It says in NIV, Galatians 5.17,

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for the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the spirit

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and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.

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So they are in conflict with each other.

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Okay?

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So the sinful nature, the sinful nature,

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desires what is contrary to the spirit

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and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.

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Guys, the spirit and the flesh are absolutely opposed to each other.

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Absolutely opposed to each other.

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The Holy Spirit stands in unrelenting opposition

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to the desires of the flesh.

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Why should you get excited about it?

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I'll tell you.

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But know this, that according to Galatians 5.17,

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the spirit and the flesh are absolutely antithetical to each other

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or absolutely opposed to each other.

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There's unrelenting opposition that the spirit stands

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or puts up against the flesh.

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Now why should this be something that we should praise God for?

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Because know this, guys, that the spirit of God who dwells in me

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has this unrelenting opposition to anything that is of the flesh

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that comes near my life.

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He is not passive.

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The spirit of God who dwells in me is not passive.

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It's like having an immune system in you

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which hates germs and parasites that come near you.

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You will have to compromise your immune system

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before the germs can do you harm.

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It's the same way.

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You will have to compromise the Holy Spirit

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by choosing to deliberately go and defile the temple

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before anything that is of the flesh

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can really begin to bring you back into slavery.

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I need to praise God for this.

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For the one who lives in me, the spirit of God,

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has this unrelenting opposition against everything that is of the flesh.

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And the spirit of God is sufficient.

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The spirit of God is sufficient.

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The one in me is sufficient when he chooses to oppose something

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for it to be beaten.

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It's like this electromagnetic shield

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which is sufficient to ward off whatever needs to be warded off.

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This is when in a Pentecostal church they would go praise God.

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Amen.

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You don't have to prove you're not Pentecostal.

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You can still say amen.

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Honk honk.

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So just remember that.

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The spirit and the flesh are absolutely antithetical to each other.

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The Holy Spirit stands in unrelenting opposition to the desires of the flesh.

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And he is sufficient.

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This gives me great comfort.

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So on one hand, here I walk in the premise

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that, Jacob, when you became born again

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and you accepted Christ's death on the cross as the death of you, the old you,

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that moment, everything that is of the world no longer had power over you.

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You have become dead through the cross

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to the seduction of the world, to the values of the world,

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to the norms of the world, to the desires of the world.

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This is the truth.

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I know our experience says otherwise,

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but we do not go by our experience.

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We go by what God says.

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We are so used to living a mediocre Christian life

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that we think that what the world has to offer still has the power to enslave us,

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when it's not true.

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God very clearly says it's not true.

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He says it's lost its power.

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I use that example often.

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Let's assume that Maurice is my slave.

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And I want my breakfast, my coffee, at a certain time in the morning.

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And if he doesn't bring it to me,

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I pull out this massive whip and start whipping him.

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And DJ is laughing.

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And I make sure that he brings me breakfast and coffee.

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One day, it's 8 o'clock and my breakfast and coffee haven't come.

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And I'm getting irritated.

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I'm thinking to myself, this guy needs a whipping.

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So I pull out my whip and I go and I find him sleeping.

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So I start whipping him.

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I start kicking him.

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I start beating him.

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But the guy doesn't budge.

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And it frustrates me that regardless of how much I whip him,

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he isn't doing anything.

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And then I go and I grab his wrist

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and that's when I realize that his pulse is completely...

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there is no pulse.

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Because during the night, Maurice, my slave, died.

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Now it doesn't matter how much I whip him, how much I beat him,

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there is no way I can make him do anything I want to

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because last night he escaped my mastery.

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We must understand that this is what happened, guys.

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This is exactly what happened.

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On the cross the day I got born again, on the cross I died.

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And the mastery, that sin and legalism

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and the seduction of the world

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and the norms and values and desires of the flesh

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that had mastery over me was ended.

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It can whip me.

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I will not move because I am dead.

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There's a new me in town that doesn't work anymore.

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This is the truth.

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I've got to fill my mind and my heart with this

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because my spirit knows it.

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But my heart and my mind need to catch on.

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You operate in facts and there's a chance that you will mess up.

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You operate in the truth and it will carry you.

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It will bring you into freedom.

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It will bring you into freedom.

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Facts don't bring you into freedom.

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Your experience doesn't bring you into freedom.

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The truth brings you into freedom.

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Thank you, Elmer.

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See what happens when men dance together.

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They start saying amen to each other.

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Thank you. I appreciate it.

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So Galatians 5.24 then is a marvelous collision of these two aspects.

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Galatians 5.24.

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It says that those who belong to Christ Jesus

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have crucified the sinful nature with its passion and desires.

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Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

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And so Galatians 5.24 is where there's this collision of,

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on one hand, the fact that the world is crucified to me

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and two, that the Spirit of God lives in me.

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And that's where both come to clash.

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And we'll talk about that some more.

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So let's go on to the next bit.

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Let's talk about how do you reckon yourself dead to sin?

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How do you reckon yourself dead to sin?

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Romans 6.11 says, Reckon yourself dead to sin.

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How do you reckon yourself dead to sin?

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Oh, by the way, Romans 7.1, this is just going on another train for a second.

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Romans 7.1 says that as long as a woman is,

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do we want to do anything as James enters?

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Thank you for coming and joining us.

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Oh, I'm sure you are.

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Yeah, so here's the thing.

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You guys are supposed to embarrass him as he walked in.

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Yeah. Okay, so.

00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:41.000
Yeah.

00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:42.000
Yeah.

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Guys, Romans 7.1, just go to Romans 7.2.

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Okay.

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Yeah, Romans 7.2.

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For example, by law, a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive.

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But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

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So then if she marries another man while her husband is still alive,

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she is called an adulteress.

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But if her husband dies, she is released from the law

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and is not an adulteress even though she marries another man.

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So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ

00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:15.000
that you might belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead

00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:17.000
in order that we might bear fruit to God.

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Do you realize then that if you and I continue in legalism,

00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:22.000
that we are living an adulterous life?

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What it is saying there is there was a time when you were married to legalism.

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As long as you are married to another husband, you cannot live with another man

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because that would be adultery.

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But once this husband dies, you can go join yourself to another man

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and you will be his legal wife.

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And then it goes on to say, the man you were married to is legalism.

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So now if you think you want to belong to Christ,

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make sure that you have completely cut yourself off from this thing called legalism.

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Because to hold on to legalism and hold on to Christ is adulterous.

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So there can't be any tolerance.

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I can't visit the other man's house occasionally.

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When a man is dead, you don't visit him anymore.

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On the cross, legalism was put to death.

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No, the law was put to death.

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All legalistic observances were put to death.

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It is an adulterous relationship when a church observes legalism and follows Christ.

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Can't do it.

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So make sure that you sweep from your life and make sure that we sweep from this house.

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Anything that is legalistic does not have a right to exist alongside Christ.

00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:25.000
So coming back to Reckon Yourself Dead.

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Guys, do you believe that you are dead to the observances in the Torah?

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Or do you think they still apply to you and hold sway over you?

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Do you believe that you are dead to Torah observances?

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Or do you believe the Torah observances are still alive in a part of your life?

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I'm asking you that the Torah, do you think the observances of the Torah

00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:54.000
are still something you should be, that you should follow?

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Are you dead to that? You are dead to it.

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You're absolutely sure that you don't follow those laws and that you're dead to it.

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It's not a part of your life. It shouldn't be.

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I'm saying to you that if you say you're dead to the Torah and dead to the legalistic observances in the Torah,

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then you ought to be dead to the flesh too,

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because both the flesh and the Torah were put to death on the cross.

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Yeah, but he fulfilled the law and we'll talk about that a little later.

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Here's the thing with the, we talked about this when we did the Ten Commandments,

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when we talked about the Ten Commandments and how they apply to the New Testament.

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Guys, this is what Jesus did. He would take one of the commandments,

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he would up the ante, he would fulfill it, and then he comes and lives in me and helps me to fulfill it.

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So what was do not commit adultery was relatively easy.

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All of us in this house could kind of abide by that.

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Yeah, I won't go sleep with someone else's spouse.

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Big deal. That was the law in the Old Testament.

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Jesus brings it out and raises it up to another standard, man.

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He says if you as much as look at a woman with evil intent, you've committed adultery.

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Suddenly it's not going and sleeping with someone else's spouse,

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it's thinking of her in a way that is wrong.

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And then Jesus fulfills it, lives a life where he follows the rules and the laws laid down,

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fulfills it because if he didn't fulfill it, he wouldn't rise from the dead.

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He rose from the dead because he fulfilled the law,

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because to break any law was to death, was to invite death.

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So Jesus fulfills it and after fulfilling it, now what does he do?

00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:22.000
He comes and lives in me.

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So by him coming and living in me, I now fulfill the law.

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Not just that, he now says, Jacob, not only have I fulfilled the law and I live in you,

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so you fulfill the law, I want you to show people how it works.

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You now begin to walk like I walked.

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You have the ability because I live in you.

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Yep. If you thought the Old Testament was hard to follow,

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I'm telling you the ante was up when Jesus came in.

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Do not kill. I don't expect to kill anybody as long as I'm living.

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But hate, I've done that a few times already this year.

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No, not this year, the last one and a half years.

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I don't want to be completely degenerate. I'm not.

00:16:57.000 --> 00:17:01.000
So guys, just as much as you're dead to Torah observances,

00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:04.000
count yourself dead to the demands of the flesh

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because both were nailed at the same time to the cross.

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So here's what we need to understand.

00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.000
To live according to the flesh, to live according to the flesh

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is to live according to the norms, values, desires of the present age.

00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:31.000
Yeah, of the present age.

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That is contradictory. That is an absolute contradiction to God.

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That is an absolute contradiction to God.

00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:41.000
So when Paul talks about the flesh, and we've talked about this before,

00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:43.000
he's not talking about Soma as the body,

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but he's using a Greek word called Sarx, S-A-R-X.

00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:52.000
And Sarx means values, norms, desires of the present age

00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:54.000
or the world that we presently live in.

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That is an absolute contradiction to God.

00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:01.000
So to live according to the flesh is to live by those values,

00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:03.000
those norms, those desires.

00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:10.000
And God is saying that, listen, Jacob, you've actually died to this.

00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.000
This does not have the power to rule over you anymore.

00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:16.000
This was nailed to the cross.

00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:19.000
On the cross you died, legalism died,

00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:24.000
the power of sin and the power of the present age over you died,

00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:27.000
the division between clergy and laity died,

00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:32.000
the division that would prevent you from entering into the Holy of Holies died,

00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:36.000
the demands of the law died, Satan's power was destroyed,

00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:41.000
all these things were killed on the cross in that one death that Jesus Christ dies.

00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:44.000
So I owe nothing to the flesh, guys. I owe nothing to the flesh.

00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:47.000
I don't live in that house anymore. I'm not obliged to follow it.

00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:50.000
My ears are deaf actually to the ways of the flesh.

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Whenever I talk about the way, about flesh, remember what I'm talking about.

00:18:53.000 --> 00:18:56.000
I'm talking about the norms, values, desires of the present age.

00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:01.000
So I don't owe this anything. I have no obligation to follow this.

00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:04.000
My ears are deaf to this. I don't have to listen to this.

00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:06.000
This is the truth. This is how it works.

00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:10.000
I do not have to listen to the norms, values and desires of the present age.

00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:12.000
I don't live in that house anymore.

00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:15.000
We've already established over the last many years the fact that

00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:18.000
there is no struggle between the flesh and the spirit.

00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:19.000
We've talked about that.

00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:22.000
I realize that even if we live by the spirit,

00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:25.000
it's not that we don't get tempted by the old life.

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It's not that we always manage to steer clear of it.

00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:31.000
I realize that we succumb to it.

00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:35.000
But I want us to understand that there is no struggle between the spirit and the flesh.

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:41.000
There are no two wolves living in me, pulling me apart.

00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:43.000
There is no tug of war inside me.

00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:49.000
My spirit is not struggling to rise up and live.

00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:52.000
Reckon yourself dead to that whole idea.

00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:54.000
If you have any questions, ask before we go on.

00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:59.000
I know this is a little thinky, but that's okay.

00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:04.000
If you don't get it the first time, you can always listen to the tape and get it the second time.

00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:07.000
So any questions, comments, disagreements?

00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:10.000
What would you say to the person who says they've seen you?

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:19.000
If it's a street person who does not know God, I would take him through Passover, which is deliverance from Egypt.

00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:21.000
Okay.

00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:25.000
I would take the person through Passover, which is salvation.

00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:28.000
I would take them through Pentecost, which is liberty.

00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:32.000
I would spend a lot of time helping them come to a place of freedom from bondage.

00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:38.000
But I would also then begin to teach them that, guys, this whole thing of living by experience,

00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:41.000
thinking that there are struggles within you is not the truth.

00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:47.000
At the end of the day, remember, if our mindset does not change, we stay with the old way of thinking.

00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:49.000
So I would advise them, teach them the truth.

00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:54.000
See, guys, if you teach the truth and someone receives it with meekness, they will be changed.

00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:59.000
If you teach the truth and someone resists it with pride, they will not be changed.

00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:05.000
At the end of the day, we are supposed to break bread, and the Holy Spirit is supposed to take the bread that has been broken by us

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:08.000
and now bring it into fulfillment in a person.

00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:10.000
He is the author.

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:16.000
My only demand on my life is to make sure that I break bread or divide it accurately.

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Once I divide it accurately and it is deposited in your life, you have to chew it.

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:23.000
Hey, when was the last time your wife chewed food for you?

00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:26.000
Hasn't happened for a while, right? Never, never.

00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:32.000
So if you don't expect your dear spouse to chew food for you, how can you expect others to do that for you?

00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:35.000
You only chew food for babies because they can't eat meat.

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:38.000
They are stuck on milk. So expect to chew this.

00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:43.000
You won't get it. I mean, you have no idea how many times I go over this.

00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:49.000
See, money and struggling financially have solutions to it.

00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:54.000
But we are talking about a person coming into the understanding that the fullness of God dwells in him,

00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:58.000
that there is no struggle really between the flesh and the spirit,

00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:02.000
that Romans 7 is a commentary on Paul's condition before he became a believer,

00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:08.000
and that I am actually dead to the norms and values and desires of the world.

00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:10.000
That's not where I operate.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:12.000
Hi guys, walk right in.

00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:15.000
Hey, we won't embarrass her. Let her just settle down.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:17.000
So, thanks Ryan.

00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:19.000
Hey, grab a chair that's comfortable.

00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:20.000
Okay, okay.

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:23.000
Okay, so to live according to...you know her, right?

00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:26.000
Okay, pardon? Mariana, Jason's wife. Yeah.

00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:33.000
To live according to the flesh...remember, whenever I use the word flesh, this is what it means. It doesn't mean body.

00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:37.000
Guys, there is no struggle between flesh and spirit.

00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:42.000
And remember, God is not so concerned about the occasional falls that happen,

00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:50.000
but there is...one of the things he expects of you and I is obedience in the same direction for a long time.

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:52.000
That's what he is after.

00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:57.000
He wants Jacob to obey in the same direction for a long time.

00:22:57.000 --> 00:22:59.000
That's what's important before him.

00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:04.000
Occasional stumblings and fallings, occasional succumbing to the old way of living,

00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:10.000
occasional cooperation with the seductions and the temptations of the world.

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.000
It's not that he tolerates us because he's uncompromisingly holy,

00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:16.000
but that's not what he's looking at.

00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:23.000
He's looking at does Jacob have the ability to keep obeying in the same direction for a long time.

00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:28.000
One of the things that you and I have to do is find out areas where that is lacking,

00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:33.000
where you find that you obey for a short stint and then immediately go back into sin.

00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:35.000
And there are those areas in your lives, guys.

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:40.000
There are in my life where there are certain areas I can obey in the same direction for a long time.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.000
There are other areas where I obey for short periods, meaning to stay the course.

00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:48.000
I can go a year in obedience in that area.

00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:49.000
Let's assume it's lies.

00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:55.000
I can choose to speak clear lies in the same direction, speaking honestly, continuously.

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:57.000
Let's take temper.

00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:02.000
I can choose not to lose my temper, walk in gentleness

00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:05.000
for a long period of time in the same direction of gentleness.

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.000
But there are areas in our lives where it's otherwise.

00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:12.000
And those are areas that we need to pull up our socks in.

00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:17.000
It means that in that area I haven't reckoned myself dead to it.

00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:18.000
I allow it.

00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:21.000
I have accepted it as a part of my being.

00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:23.000
I blame my past for it.

00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:25.000
I blame my spouse for it.

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:26.000
I blame the world for it.

00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:28.000
I blame my childhood for it.

00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:31.000
But I do not reckon myself dead to it.

00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:37.000
Guys, there is no sin in a Christian's life that has the power to enslave us ever again.

00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:39.000
Your spirit cannot be enslaved.

00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:40.000
It's brand new.

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:41.000
Christ dwells there.

00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:43.000
The fullness of God lives there.

00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:45.000
It's impossible to be enslaved there.

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:48.000
It is possible to have an addiction in certain areas, and it can be broken

00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:51.000
because it can only touch your body and your thinking and feeling.

00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:54.000
But in your spirit, man, it is impossible to be enslaved.

00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:56.000
And that is where you are strongest.

00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:59.000
Therefore, a Christian always has the ability to come out of it.

00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:04.000
I realize there are Christians who have bondage to porn, to drugs, to other things.

00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:07.000
Yeah, and it takes time because the body and the soul are caught in it.

00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:08.000
But not the spirit, man.

00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:14.000
The best way not to get into an addiction or bondage is to reckon myself dead to areas where I am weak.

00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:17.000
Man, if you nip things in the bud, you never get the flower.

00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:24.000
So in the areas of my weakness, in the areas of my weakness, I got to reckon myself dead to that.

00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:26.000
And remember, when I say reckon myself to dead, what am I saying?

00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:32.000
I'm saying that the values and the norms of this present age that cause me to be drawn to this particular sin

00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:35.000
actually do not have the ability to enslave me.

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.000
I understand that when Christ died on the cross, I died with him.

00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:43.000
And through the cross, I am dead to the seduction of the sin.

00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:47.000
It is not possible for the sin to enslave me unless I willingly cooperate.

00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:53.000
I also understand that the Spirit of God has this unrelenting opposition against this sin.

00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:55.000
And he is sufficient and he dwells in me.

00:25:55.000 --> 00:26:00.000
And I have the power of God in me to overcome this particular sin that's coming my way.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:07.000
The only way I can compromise my immunity is by choosing deliberately to walk otherwise.

00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:10.000
Yeah, by choosing willingly to cooperate with the sin.

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:11.000
Because you like the sin.

00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:15.000
Hey, why do people go into porn? Because they like it.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:17.000
Why do people smoke drugs? Because they like it.

00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:20.000
Why is a flaring of temper easy?

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.000
Because we like it. We like control. We like pride. We like things to be done in order.

00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:29.000
And if we think we are in a position of superiority, we take it out on those that are under us.

00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:32.000
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:37.000
The Spirit of God in you is unrelentingly opposed to temper.

00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:41.000
You have in you everything required to overcome the habit.

00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:42.000
So that is one.

00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:47.000
Two, whenever there's an act of sin in my life, it is because I have not recognized myself dead to it.

00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:52.000
I have allowed or accommodated or make allowance for it.

00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:54.000
There is justification for it.

00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:58.000
That's why we say when we use the word reality, are we saying it's the truth?

00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:00.000
Then I'm saying to you, no, it's not the truth.

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:03.000
When I say I reckon, it means take an inventory and conclude.

00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:05.000
Take an inventory of the truth. What does this say?

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:10.000
This says that, Jacob, if you take an inventory of the truth,

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:15.000
you will find that you are actually dead to every sin present on the face of the earth.

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:17.000
Every sin present on the face of the earth. Yeah.

00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:19.000
Yeah. So how do we deal with it?

00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:21.000
We'll come to walking by the Spirit and we'll deal with it.

00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:29.000
But see, guys, the problem is I don't often think that I have reckoned myself dead to sin in some areas.

00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:34.000
I was driving today and there were certain things that I was thinking of doing a certain way.

00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:36.000
And I was saying to myself, you don't have to do it that way.

00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:37.000
You know it's wrong.

00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:41.000
And then I was thinking of these notes and I was saying to myself, I am not going to do it that way.

00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:43.000
I reckon myself dead to doing it that way.

00:27:43.000 --> 00:27:44.000
I will choose not to do it that way.

00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:47.000
Then I thought, but it is so tempting to do it that way.

00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:48.000
It will take care of so many problems.

00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:51.000
And then as I'm thinking, oh shucks, I've got this desire to do it.

00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:54.000
I also remember that the Holy Spirit within me is more than sufficient

00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:57.000
and is an unrelenting opposition to what I'm going to do.

00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:01.000
And I was praying to God, I'm going to so rest in you because I know you're within me

00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:04.000
and you have the power to help me not touch this.

00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:08.000
And suddenly it was so restful because I knew it was beaten.

00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:10.000
Guys, it comes through practice.

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:11.000
You've got to practice it.

00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:12.000
You've got to practice it.

00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:13.000
Learn it.

00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:19.000
Mariam, I'd say it's related more to the knowledge of the truth than faith.

00:28:19.000 --> 00:28:23.000
There's nothing hidden about this.

00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:26.000
Faith usually requires that I hope for something I don't see.

00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:32.000
This is more about the knowledge of the truth so that I know this is the truth and I begin to operate by it.

00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:34.000
It's about changing my mindset.

00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:35.000
This is how it works.

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:38.000
And guys, we've got to break it down into steps if necessary.

00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:41.000
I pray God that we go home and begin to break this down.

00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:44.000
We've got to have a pattern so that we can operate by it.

00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:47.000
To reckon yourself is to make a decision.

00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:49.000
And then it's a discipline to practice it.

00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:53.000
Again, let me go back to that word, long obedience in the same direction.

00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:56.000
Long obedience in the same direction requires practice.

00:28:56.000 --> 00:29:00.000
There's a book written by Eugene Peterson called Long Obedience in the Same Direction.

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:02.000
Guys, Lynn, go ahead.

00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:04.000
Oh, Elmer had a question.

00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:08.000
Lynn raised her hand so that she could ask me to ask you to ask me a question.

00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:11.000
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:13.000
And the stumbling decreases.

00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:14.000
That's the beauty of it.

00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:15.000
The stumbling decreases.

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:22.000
Guys, when 2 Corinthians 5.18, when it says that the old order has gone and the new has come,

00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:31.000
what it's saying there is that the present age and its desires may continue to be something that we live in,

00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:39.000
but even though we live in this present age, we operate by the norms and values of the coming age.

00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:40.000
Guys, it's like this.

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:45.000
Let's assume it's a rainy, slushy, snowy day in Vancouver.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:46.000
But guess what?

00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:52.000
You have decided that you're going to climb into a Piper Cherokee and fly 1,000 feet, at 1,000 feet.

00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:55.000
You're still below the clouds, okay?

00:29:55.000 --> 00:30:00.000
And when you look out of your plain window, you can see droplets on the wing.

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.000
The windshields in the plane are working because there's drops on the windshield.

00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:11.000
You're under the clouds and it's snowing, but you look down below and you see that people on number 3 road in Richmond are messed up

00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:16.000
because they're slush and snow and dirt and they can hardly drive.

00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:19.000
But you have no problem operating from this level in the skies.

00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:26.000
That's our condition, where we at present live in this present age with all its hostility, with all its values, desires and norms,

00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:29.000
but we're not actually walking in the same place.

00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:30.000
We are positioned above.

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:33.000
We are not affected by the mess and the confusion.

00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:36.000
We operate under the same skies, but we are positioned above.

00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:37.000
This is the truth.

00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:40.000
This is why Christ said, you're in the world, but not off it.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:42.000
It's like flying above.

00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:49.000
The slush that the snow becomes on the ground are droplets on your wing or paragliding, but then you get wet.

00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:51.000
So that's the beauty of it.

00:30:51.000 --> 00:30:52.000
That's how you operate.

00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:58.000
Imagine it if we come to a place tonight, tomorrow, day after, where we actually think that there is not a single sin in the world.

00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:00.000
That now will ever have power over me.

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:09.000
That I can consistently go to a place where I am dead to this thing called the desires, norms and values of the present system

00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:14.000
and I operate by the values, norms and dictates of the coming age.

00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:16.000
Just imagine living like that, guys.

00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:23.000
Every time a sin comes up, every time a temptation comes up, you have two things immediately go off in your mind.

00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:25.000
One, that I'm actually dead to this.

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:26.000
It doesn't have power to take me.

00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:35.000
Two, that I have the Spirit of God who is sufficient and who is an unrelenting opposition to the sin and I have the power to beat it comfortably without exertion.

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:40.000
Hey, if you have Hulk Hogan living in you, what can James do to you?

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:42.000
Obviously not all of you know Hulk Hogan.

00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:46.000
He was this big guy with a yellow scarf on his head.

00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:50.000
I know that doesn't bring up the right image, but that kind of a thing.

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.000
He's a tough cookie with a yellow scarf on his head.

00:31:54.000 --> 00:32:01.000
But the point is, these are the two ways you've got to think.

00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:09.000
After you think that, if you still go ahead and succumb to the temptation, it is not because you were unable, but because you chose to and you wanted to cooperate with it.

00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:13.000
I love this. Every time I'm going to sin now, it will be because I chose to.

00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:18.000
I'm not excited about that. I'm saying I don't need to.

00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:21.000
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I look forward to this.

00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:26.000
Treat it as water off a duck's back. The beauty is the ease with which you can defeat it.

00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:31.000
Now do you see why God could say, no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.

00:32:31.000 --> 00:32:35.000
But with every temptation, there is a way out. What is the way out?

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:40.000
It's not some secret cavern that you traverse through and come out into the open light.

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:47.000
No, no, no, no. The way out is you've got the Spirit of God in you who is sufficient and you've been crucified to the world.

00:32:47.000 --> 00:32:50.000
The world is dead to you through the cross. That's the way out.

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:53.000
No, you succumb to it because you wanted more.

00:32:53.000 --> 00:32:58.000
Deception may play a part, but at some point after I succumb to a sin, it's no longer deception.

00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:03.000
It's sin and I know it. That's why God isn't...

00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:10.000
What are the sins? Assumed sins and presumed sins or something like that? Presumptuous sins? Yeah.

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:18.000
There are some sins which I do deliberately and there are other sins I stumble into either because I was deceived or I wasn't aware.

00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:21.000
God looks at it differently, but the point is I don't need to be taken anymore.

00:33:21.000 --> 00:33:26.000
So while you live in this body, you're subject to the realities of this present age,

00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:30.000
but you don't walk according to the desires and values of this present age.

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.000
And here's the thing guys, in Galatians 5.21, and I don't like saying this, but I have to say it.

00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:36.000
In Galatians 5.21 it says,

00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:42.000
One who continues to live by the desires and values of this present age will not inherit the kingdom of God.

00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:48.000
One who continues to live by the norms and values and desires of this present age,

00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:52.000
or the norms and values of the flesh, will not inherit the kingdom of God.

00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:54.000
So kind of keep that in mind.

00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:57.000
Hey, I remember when my dad died.

00:33:57.000 --> 00:34:04.000
We had to take him from one city to the other in India in a van.

00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:08.000
And so I was sitting in the back of the van with my dad's dead body.

00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:12.000
And I was looking at his body and I felt his face.

00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:16.000
And as I felt his face, I thought, man, this is so not my dad.

00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:20.000
Because his flesh was cold, there was no emotion.

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:23.000
He couldn't feel me, I couldn't feel him back.

00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:28.000
I tried getting emotional about him lying there, I thought to myself, but this isn't him.

00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:30.000
It was easy to bury him.

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:35.000
There was no breaking of my heart as the body was lowered because that body ain't my dad, man.

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:40.000
When something dies, it becomes impervious to all feeling, all touch, everything of that sort.

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:42.000
It becomes impervious to it.

00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:46.000
That is the extent to which you have actually died to sin.

00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:49.000
Imagine that, guys. That is the truth.

00:34:49.000 --> 00:34:51.000
People who are dead are impervious to sin.

00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:55.000
I remember my dad's body cold and dead and lifeless, mere flesh, unresponsive.

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:58.000
That's exactly how you and I actually are to sin.

00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:01.000
When Paul says, we've got to begin to think like that, we don't.

00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:06.000
All that I was in my old unregenerate condition before I met Christ is dead and lifeless.

00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:12.000
All that I was in my old unregenerate condition before I met Christ is dead.

00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:15.000
It's been crucified, lifeless.

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:21.000
All that I am as a new creation since my union with Christ cannot be enslaved and is dead to sin.

00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:25.000
Guys, the new man that I am today, according to Colossians 3.10,

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.000
the new man that I am today is perfectly renewed in its nature.

00:35:29.000 --> 00:35:30.000
Just imagine that, eh?

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.000
The new man that I am today because I have Christ living in me.

00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:37.000
The new man that this Jacob that you're looking at,

00:35:37.000 --> 00:35:40.000
this Jacob that you're looking at, this new man that I am today

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.000
is perfectly renewed in his nature, according to Colossians 3.10.

00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:47.000
He has perfect knowledge of God.

00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:48.000
Just imagine that.

00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:51.000
In my spirit, I have perfect knowledge of God.

00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:53.000
I'm perfectly renewed in my nature.

00:35:53.000 --> 00:35:55.000
And according to Ephesians 4.24,

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.000
I have the purity, the righteousness and the holiness of God.

00:35:59.000 --> 00:36:04.000
I take after the image of God in true righteousness and holiness in my spirit.

00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:05.000
That's who I am.

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:06.000
This is my true nature, guys.

00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:08.000
This is my true nature.

00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:13.000
I take after the image of my Father in true righteousness and holiness.

00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:15.000
Marian, it doesn't disturb us at all.

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:16.000
Yeah. Oh, not at all.

00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:19.000
You have no idea how the adults are worse.

00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:21.000
Yeah.

00:36:21.000 --> 00:36:23.000
It's just that Sarah and Shana are not here today.

00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:26.000
So you'll feel like she's making a lot of noise, but she's not.

00:36:26.000 --> 00:36:29.000
If James' kids are here, they beat her hollow.

00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:31.000
So, and we enjoy it.

00:36:31.000 --> 00:36:33.000
I love, I was telling James today,

00:36:33.000 --> 00:36:37.000
I miss Sarah because there's a boldness Sarah has here when she runs around,

00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:38.000
which I kind of enjoy.

00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:39.000
She's like her father, yeah.

00:36:39.000 --> 00:36:41.000
And she's a woman at the right place too, yeah.

00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:44.000
So the new man that I am, according to Colossians 3.10,

00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:46.000
is perfectly renewed in nature.

00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:48.000
I have perfect knowledge of God.

00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:52.000
And I take after the image of my Father in true righteousness and holiness.

00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:54.000
Guys, this is why Paul said,

00:36:54.000 --> 00:36:57.000
may you be strengthened in your inner man.

00:36:57.000 --> 00:37:00.000
My God, people, we have to come into a place

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:03.000
where we begin to live more and more by the inner man.

00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:04.000
Imagine this.

00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:08.000
Your inner man, Wayne, is perfectly renewed in nature.

00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:14.000
Your inner man, Marcus, has perfect knowledge of your God, perfect knowledge.

00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:19.000
Your inner man, Diana, takes after the image of your Father in true righteousness and holiness.

00:37:19.000 --> 00:37:21.000
This is who your inner man is.

00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:26.000
When we begin to live by the inner man that Paul says,

00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:28.000
may you be strengthened in your inner man,

00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:31.000
you begin to come into tabernacles.

00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:35.000
The fullness of God rests living by the life of another.

00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:38.000
Just like that song, remember when we were talking about that song,

00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:42.000
I said you have to walk into the song and wear it.

00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:44.000
You have to wear what I'm teaching right now.

00:37:44.000 --> 00:37:45.000
You have to wear it.

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:47.000
These clothes are too big for you.

00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:48.000
Answer me.

00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:50.000
They are 3XL.

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:51.000
You have to grow into it.

00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:53.000
You have to grow into it.

00:37:53.000 --> 00:37:55.000
Let's talk about walking by the Spirit.

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:57.000
Walking by the Spirit.

00:37:57.000 --> 00:38:03.000
So we talked about to live according to the flesh is to live according to the norms, values, desires of the present age.

00:38:03.000 --> 00:38:04.000
So what is it?

00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:07.000
What do we mean when we say to live according to the Spirit?

00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:17.000
To live according to the Spirit is to live according to the norms, values and desires of the coming age,

00:38:17.000 --> 00:38:25.000
inaugurated through Christ's death and resurrection.

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:28.000
That's what living according to the Spirit is.

00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:36.000
Okay, to live according to the Spirit is to live according to the norms and values and desires of the coming age,

00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:38.000
the age that is coming.

00:38:38.000 --> 00:38:41.000
It hasn't fully come, but the moment Christ died and rose again,

00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:48.000
a new kingdom, a new age, something from the future was coming into this present world.

00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:51.000
We live by the norms and values of that age.

00:38:51.000 --> 00:38:56.000
The norms and values and desires of that age are shaped by the king of that kingdom.

00:38:56.000 --> 00:39:01.000
We begin to live by those norms and values in this present world.

00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:03.000
We are not off it.

00:39:03.000 --> 00:39:04.000
I mean we are off it.

00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:06.000
We are in it, but not off it.

00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:12.000
You know, if you go to Saudi Arabia, there are these laws and rules there where you have to wear,

00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:16.000
if you are a woman, you have to wear a burqa and cover yourself.

00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:22.000
When you go out to a shop, when you are driving, women can't drive, at least couldn't drive till some years ago.

00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:26.000
Everywhere you go, every woman in this church would have to cover herself.

00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:34.000
But then they have these colonies run by the Brits or the Americans or the Canadians.

00:39:34.000 --> 00:39:39.000
And these are walled enclaves where you have families living.

00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:42.000
And strangely enough, within those walls you don't have to wear the burqa.

00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:46.000
So you have churches within these walls where you don't have to wear the burqa.

00:39:46.000 --> 00:39:50.000
You can go there dressed normal, in a country that demands that women wear a covering.

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:52.000
It's the same principle, guys.

00:39:52.000 --> 00:40:00.000
We live in the reality of the present age, but we live as those that operate by the values and the norms of the coming age.

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:03.000
The dictates of the present age do not hold sway over us.

00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:07.000
We are dead to that. There is a wall called the cross.

00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:10.000
So how does one go about walking by the Spirit?

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.000
We said we operate by the fact that the Spirit of God is in us.

00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:18.000
He is unrelentingly opposed to the desires of the flesh.

00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:22.000
He is antithetical to them, but he lives in us and he is more than sufficient.

00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:24.000
And then Paul goes on to say in Galatians 5 that,

00:40:24.000 --> 00:40:32.000
Hey, walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:35.000
Walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:40.000
So here's the thing, guys. How do we walk by the Spirit?

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.000
By the way, walking by the Spirit is not some kind of passive submission of kneeling and saying,

00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:46.000
Holy Spirit, come and follow me.

00:40:46.000 --> 00:40:48.000
No, no, no, no, no, that's passive submission.

00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:52.000
You can do that a million times and nothing will change because the Spirit of God already lives in you.

00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:56.000
So we're not talking about passive submission to the Spirit, but a conscious effort.

00:40:56.000 --> 00:41:02.000
It requires one to rise up and follow the Spirit by walking in obedience to the desires of the Spirit.

00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:06.000
There is no passive submission in terms of walking by the Spirit.

00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:10.000
It's not asking for more of the Spirit. You don't walk by the Spirit by asking for more of the Spirit.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:12.000
You can't have more of the Spirit.

00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:15.000
You can open your life to the Spirit, but you can't have more of the Spirit.

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:18.000
He's a person and he dwells in you in his fullness.

00:41:18.000 --> 00:41:24.000
But it requires a rising up and saying, I know that the Spirit of God is sufficient for me to live in this world.

00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:28.000
I am going to do everything in my power to walk in obedience to the Spirit.

00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:31.000
And we'll talk about how that happens.

00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:35.000
I just want you to know that it doesn't come by just asking because the asking is already done.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:41.000
More love, more power, more of you in my life is not a song that we can sing anymore because we have all of them in our life.

00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:55.000
Guys, here are the three things that will enable us to walk by the Spirit.

00:41:55.000 --> 00:42:02.000
One, it's a very elementary one, learn to walk.

00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:05.000
And I'll explain it by the Spirit. And what does that mean?

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:10.000
It means learn. Is she singing or is she? Great.

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:13.000
At least she likes the message.

00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:25.000
Guys, learn to walk in the arena of the Spirit's life, presence and activity.

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.000
That's the first thing we need to do. Learn to walk.

00:42:29.000 --> 00:42:34.000
Learn to walk in the arena of the Spirit's life, presence and activity.

00:42:34.000 --> 00:42:38.000
What do I mean by that? Here's how it works, guys.

00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:45.000
You know, I don't know if you've seen parents who have young kids who they take out to this playground.

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:53.000
And the child is so connected to the parent that the child is within the line of vision,

00:42:53.000 --> 00:43:02.000
within earshot of a whisper and within the ability to see the pleasure on the parent's face or the frown on the parent's face.

00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:06.000
That arena is where the child operates.

00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:09.000
The child is too young to start going off on its own.

00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:12.000
But there is a line of vision the child stays within.

00:43:12.000 --> 00:43:14.000
And the parent keeps the child within that line of vision.

00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:20.000
The child is within earshot to hear a whisper, if the parent would whisper.

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.000
And the child has the ability to see the face of the parent, to see the pleasure or the frown.

00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:28.000
That is the kind of awareness that you and I are capable of walking with the Spirit.

00:43:28.000 --> 00:43:32.000
Where we learn to walk with the Spirit in the sense of learning to walk in the Spirit's,

00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:36.000
in the arena of the Spirit's life, presence and activity.

00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:38.000
It is possible to live like that.

00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:42.000
Awareness. Walking by the Spirit requires that there be an awareness.

00:43:42.000 --> 00:43:45.000
I see that with my niece and nephew.

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:51.000
If I take them out for a walk before they cross the road, there'll be this look.

00:43:51.000 --> 00:43:54.000
They are the only people who think I'm tall.

00:43:54.000 --> 00:43:59.000
They look up at my face to see whether it's okay to cross the road now.

00:43:59.000 --> 00:44:01.000
And I don't have to shout.

00:44:01.000 --> 00:44:03.000
I'll just have to say, Hannah, not now.

00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:05.000
And she can hear me.

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:08.000
And if Caleb or Hannah jump across the street,

00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:12.000
the first thing they do is look on my face to see whether there's pleasure or whether there's a frown.

00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:14.000
Constantly aware. Childlike.

00:44:14.000 --> 00:44:16.000
This is how walking by the Spirit starts.

00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:24.000
It's an awareness where you're continuously in the arena of the Spirit's life, of his presence and his activity.

00:44:24.000 --> 00:44:26.000
Just imagine the possibilities, guys.

00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:27.000
So where do you start?

00:44:27.000 --> 00:44:32.000
You start by first operating according to what the Spirit has already written in the Word.

00:44:32.000 --> 00:44:35.000
And from there on, you move to experiencing him one-on-one.

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:40.000
Because many may say, but I don't know how to figure out the Holy Spirit.

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:42.000
I don't know how to walk in his awareness.

00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:43.000
Well, then start with the Word.

00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:45.000
The Spirit of God wrote the Word.

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:46.000
He's the author of the Word.

00:44:46.000 --> 00:44:48.000
The Word is called the soul of the Spirit.

00:44:48.000 --> 00:44:50.000
Start there. See what the Spirit of God says there.

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:53.000
And then begin to move into actually knowing what he wants.

00:44:53.000 --> 00:44:55.000
Isn't that going to be marvelous?

00:44:55.000 --> 00:45:01.000
As you lead worship, half the songs that you sing are not on the list of songs that I sent him.

00:45:01.000 --> 00:45:04.000
But you are aware of the Spirit's activity.

00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:07.000
You're aware of his presence and the direction he wants to go.

00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:09.000
You're aware of his life and you go wherever he leads.

00:45:09.000 --> 00:45:13.000
For Jesus said, the Spirit of God is like the wind.

00:45:13.000 --> 00:45:16.000
You do not know where the wind blows from and where it blows to.

00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:19.000
But what did the Lord say to us at the beginning of the year?

00:45:19.000 --> 00:45:21.000
Put up your sails, Acts 29.

00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:24.000
You're on course. Put up your sails so that you're carried to the port of my calling

00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:25.000
when the wind blows.

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:27.000
This is called being aware.

00:45:27.000 --> 00:45:30.000
To walk by the Spirit, you have to walk in awareness.

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:31.000
And it is not difficult.

00:45:31.000 --> 00:45:33.000
It's child-likeness, guys.

00:45:33.000 --> 00:45:35.000
It's what she does with her baby.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:37.000
Whisper. The pleasure of the frown.

00:45:37.000 --> 00:45:46.000
Hey guys, just so you know, if anyone needs to leave, don't wait till we finish because that might take a while.

00:45:46.000 --> 00:45:50.000
So I just want you guys to know that if you have to leave, feel free to get up.

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.000
And all we'll say is, Raquel and Jared are leaving the building.

00:45:54.000 --> 00:46:00.000
Yeah, yeah.

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.000
The preacher here is long-winded, so he just goes on and on.

00:46:04.000 --> 00:46:07.000
So if you have to leave, yeah, feel free.

00:46:07.000 --> 00:46:10.000
Jared and Raquel are leaving the building.

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:15.000
Let's say thanks for coming, guys.

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:16.000
Yeah.

00:46:16.000 --> 00:46:21.000
I forgot to say that right at the beginning because I know you might have other plans.

00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:23.000
See ya.

00:46:23.000 --> 00:46:24.000
Okay.

00:46:24.000 --> 00:46:26.000
The second thing you need to do.

00:46:26.000 --> 00:46:29.000
So the first one is awareness.

00:46:29.000 --> 00:46:36.000
The second thing you need to do is make sure that if you want to walk by the Spirit,

00:46:36.000 --> 00:46:39.000
make sure that you're learning to behave in keeping with the Spirit.

00:46:39.000 --> 00:46:42.000
You're learning to behave in keeping with the Spirit.

00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:46.000
You're learning to behave in keeping with the Spirit.

00:46:49.000 --> 00:46:54.000
You're learning to behave in keeping with the Spirit.

00:46:54.000 --> 00:46:59.000
Guys, if the character of the Savior is not evident, then what is the proof of being saved?

00:46:59.000 --> 00:47:05.000
If the character of the Savior is not evident in my life, what is the proof of being saved?

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:10.000
No wonder Paul's epistles keep emphasizing ethical behavior.

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:15.000
I mean, if you look at Paul's letters, there's such an emphasis on this is the way you should be,

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:16.000
this is what you should do.

00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:18.000
There's such an emphasis on ethical behavior.

00:47:18.000 --> 00:47:21.000
And it is expected of the people in whom God dwells.

00:47:21.000 --> 00:47:27.000
If the character of the Savior is not evident in my life, what is the proof that I am saved?

00:47:27.000 --> 00:47:31.000
Because if the Savior lives in my life, his character should be evident.

00:47:31.000 --> 00:47:34.000
And if it is not evident, you should question my salvation.

00:47:34.000 --> 00:47:38.000
Not as coming and judging me and telling me you're not saved and you're going to hell.

00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:40.000
But salvation can be questioned then.

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:43.000
Show me. If Christ's sins are new, show me the fruit.

00:47:43.000 --> 00:47:48.000
So, if you walk by the Spirit, learn to behave in keeping with the Spirit.

00:47:48.000 --> 00:47:54.000
Be aware. And after you're aware, learn to walk in a way that shows that the Spirit of God is active in you.

00:47:54.000 --> 00:47:57.000
It's expected of the people in whom God dwells.

00:47:57.000 --> 00:48:04.000
Oh, by the way, guys, whenever new folks come to Acts 29, make them aware of these little things so that we don't embarrass them.

00:48:04.000 --> 00:48:08.000
Just tell them that our services are three hours and we really enjoy it.

00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:10.000
Put it that way and then let them leave if they have to.

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.000
Don't go and say, our services are three hours long, just so you know.

00:48:14.000 --> 00:48:19.000
Don't do that. Things I have to teach.

00:48:19.000 --> 00:48:22.000
It's on the CD.

00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:28.000
No wonder Paul's epistles emphasize ethical behavior expected of the people in whom God dwells.

00:48:28.000 --> 00:48:34.000
Thirdly, if you want to walk by the Spirit, sow.

00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:36.000
Sow into the Spirit.

00:48:36.000 --> 00:48:37.000
Learn to sow to the Spirit.

00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:39.000
Learn to sow to the Spirit.

00:48:39.000 --> 00:48:41.000
Learn to sow to the Spirit.

00:48:41.000 --> 00:48:44.000
Sow into the seasons and the things of the Spirit.

00:48:44.000 --> 00:48:46.000
Sow in response to the Spirit.

00:48:46.000 --> 00:48:52.000
Sow good seed that the Spirit of God has already given into your life.

00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:53.000
We talked about good seed.

00:48:53.000 --> 00:48:56.000
Sow, learn to sow to the Spirit.

00:48:56.000 --> 00:48:59.000
Learn to sow into the seasons and the things of the Spirit.

00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:02.000
Learn to sow in response to the Spirit's command.

00:49:02.000 --> 00:49:07.000
Learn to sow the good seed that is already within you because the Spirit of God is within you.

00:49:07.000 --> 00:49:10.000
He already has seed within you that you can sow.

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:11.000
We talked about that.

00:49:11.000 --> 00:49:12.000
Carnal seed and good seed.

00:49:12.000 --> 00:49:17.000
And what will happen when you sow this way, you will reap Zoi life perpetually.

00:49:17.000 --> 00:49:19.000
Breakthrough will come into your life.

00:49:19.000 --> 00:49:22.000
Galatians 6, verse 7 talks about it.

00:49:22.000 --> 00:49:23.000
Verse 8.

00:49:23.000 --> 00:49:28.000
Sow into the Spirit and you will reap perpetual Zoi life or everlasting life.

00:49:28.000 --> 00:49:33.000
Sow into the flesh, the norms and values of the present age and you will reap corruption and decay.

00:49:33.000 --> 00:49:36.000
Guys, this is the ABC of walking by the Spirit.

00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:40.000
Awareness, behavior, cultivation.

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:43.000
Or crop or whatever you want to call it.

00:49:43.000 --> 00:49:44.000
Cultivation.

00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:47.000
So here's how it happens then.

00:49:47.000 --> 00:49:55.000
Now that I have learned this, I'll spend the rest of my days this year walking in awareness.

00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.000
Walking within earshot of the Spirit's whisper.

00:49:59.000 --> 00:50:02.000
If he shouts, great, but if he whispers, I'll still hear it.

00:50:02.000 --> 00:50:07.000
Walking in the line of sight of the Holy Spirit, aware of his activity.

00:50:07.000 --> 00:50:13.000
And walking in the sight of his face so that I know his pleasure or his frown.

00:50:13.000 --> 00:50:17.000
And when his frown comes on, I'll go out of my way to make sure I don't grieve him.

00:50:17.000 --> 00:50:18.000
But I enjoy his pleasure.

00:50:18.000 --> 00:50:21.000
This is the Spirit of my father, the Spirit of Christ.

00:50:21.000 --> 00:50:23.000
He's God the Holy Spirit.

00:50:23.000 --> 00:50:27.000
To walk in that kind of awareness, first through the Word and then through experiencing him.

00:50:27.000 --> 00:50:28.000
Knowing always.

00:50:28.000 --> 00:50:31.000
Can you imagine the rest you can enter into?

00:50:31.000 --> 00:50:34.000
Where there is no striving, that baby does not strive.

00:50:34.000 --> 00:50:39.000
Secondly, I understand that I can walk in the awareness of God, but that doesn't prove anything.

00:50:39.000 --> 00:50:45.000
I have to now behave as a one who is in keeping with the Spirit.

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:46.000
So I begin to behave.

00:50:46.000 --> 00:50:54.000
The food of the Spirit that is in my life, I will let it be evident.

00:50:54.000 --> 00:51:01.000
Kindness, gentleness, liking Elmer, self-control, joy.

00:51:01.000 --> 00:51:03.000
Man, these things are within me.

00:51:03.000 --> 00:51:06.000
There aren't many times I don't feel joyful, but when I don't,

00:51:06.000 --> 00:51:09.000
I love asking God to stir it up.

00:51:09.000 --> 00:51:11.000
Not asking God to stir up.

00:51:11.000 --> 00:51:16.000
I say, Father, I declare that I'm going to stir up the joy that is already within me.

00:51:16.000 --> 00:51:24.000
Because the Spirit of God is an unrelenting opposition to that which is joyless and that tries to drive me down.

00:51:24.000 --> 00:51:28.000
Therefore, knowing that the Spirit of God is an unrelenting opposition to it,

00:51:28.000 --> 00:51:31.000
and knowing that he is more than sufficient,

00:51:31.000 --> 00:51:36.000
I know it is possible for me to come to a place where I begin to bear that fruit.

00:51:36.000 --> 00:51:41.000
My behavior then corresponds to the one who lives within me.

00:51:41.000 --> 00:51:47.000
The living the life of another will result in your behavior being the behavior of another.

00:51:47.000 --> 00:51:49.000
My God, did you hear that?

00:51:49.000 --> 00:51:54.000
That you're going to live in a way that shows off the behavior of another in you.

00:51:54.000 --> 00:52:00.000
Imagine if somehow a pig's heart was inserted into you and you started snorting.

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:03.000
You would then be living the behavior of another.

00:52:03.000 --> 00:52:06.000
I didn't mean an actual snort, Chris.

00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:08.000
But this is completely different.

00:52:08.000 --> 00:52:10.000
I live by the life of another.

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:16.000
I just love the fact that when I behave well, what you're seeing is not some kind of refined Jacob.

00:52:16.000 --> 00:52:19.000
What you're seeing is the behavior of another.

00:52:19.000 --> 00:52:20.000
This is why.

00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.000
I give you all the glory.

00:52:24.000 --> 00:52:26.000
I worship you, O God.

00:52:26.000 --> 00:52:28.000
You are worthy to be praised.

00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:31.000
Because everything good in Jacob is the good of another.

00:52:31.000 --> 00:52:37.000
Everything in me that is good is not because I'm anything, but because the life of another is working through me.

00:52:37.000 --> 00:52:42.000
Every grace in my life that you partake of is not because I have anything of it.

00:52:42.000 --> 00:52:44.000
It is the grace of another.

00:52:44.000 --> 00:52:49.000
Every gift in my life that you benefit from is the gift of another.

00:52:49.000 --> 00:52:51.000
This is the beauty of it, guys.

00:52:51.000 --> 00:52:53.000
This is where we've been called to live.

00:52:53.000 --> 00:52:57.000
In the feast of Tabernacles, a place of rest where you live,

00:52:57.000 --> 00:53:03.000
by the life of another in a hostile world that wants you to be sustained by a different source.

00:53:03.000 --> 00:53:09.000
And then finally, after I understand the behavior part of it, I come to sowing to the Spirit.

00:53:09.000 --> 00:53:11.000
What a wonderful place to sow in.

00:53:11.000 --> 00:53:14.000
When I invest anything, I'll invest it in the Spirit.

00:53:14.000 --> 00:53:15.000
What do I mean by that?

00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:18.000
I'll listen to the seasons of the Spirit in my life.

00:53:18.000 --> 00:53:23.000
I'll see things of the Spirit in my life and say, I see what you're showing me, Holy Spirit, so I'm going to plunge right in.

00:53:23.000 --> 00:53:27.000
If this is the season you're bringing me into, I'm going to pour my life into that.

00:53:27.000 --> 00:53:29.000
Oh, is this something you're doing in Acts 29?

00:53:29.000 --> 00:53:34.000
I'm going to have all of us pour into that because it will blossom because you're the author.

00:53:34.000 --> 00:53:37.000
You've just broken Kronos and entered it in the fullness of time.

00:53:37.000 --> 00:53:39.000
We'll pour ourselves into that.

00:53:39.000 --> 00:53:41.000
Or I'll just sow good seed.

00:53:41.000 --> 00:53:44.000
My life is full of good seed because I've got Christ living in me.

00:53:44.000 --> 00:53:45.000
Take good seed and sow.

00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:48.000
Sow praise, cultivate His presence.

00:53:48.000 --> 00:53:51.000
Sow repentance, cultivate new wine.

00:53:51.000 --> 00:53:54.000
Sow assembling with the saints, cultivate safety.

00:53:54.000 --> 00:53:55.000
It's endless.

00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:58.000
And then finally I'll sow in response to the Spirit.

00:53:58.000 --> 00:54:03.000
The Spirit of God will say, go give Matt $200 and out comes $200 and I give it to Matt.

00:54:06.000 --> 00:54:07.000
No, I'm not going to say that.

00:54:07.000 --> 00:54:09.000
They'll actually think I gave Matt $200.

00:54:09.000 --> 00:54:11.000
Yeah. So that's how it works.

00:54:11.000 --> 00:54:15.000
Or if the Spirit of God says, go tell James to give Matt $200.

00:54:21.000 --> 00:54:24.000
So practice these guys.

00:54:24.000 --> 00:54:35.000
Practice these and you will enter into a fullness and a rest in the life of another that is going to be magical and brilliant and so much fun.

00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:37.000
You'll lick your lips, man, every time you wake up.

00:54:37.000 --> 00:54:39.000
It's like, what's next, Papa?

00:54:39.000 --> 00:54:41.000
Let's talk about crucified life and end.

00:54:41.000 --> 00:54:43.000
Crucified life in itself is such a contradiction.

00:54:43.000 --> 00:54:45.000
Crucified and life.

00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:47.000
But that's what we live, guys.

00:54:47.000 --> 00:54:53.000
Because those that belong to Christ keep the old ways and norms of living in a continuous state of crucifixion.

00:54:53.000 --> 00:54:54.000
Let me say that again.

00:54:54.000 --> 00:55:03.000
Those of us who have Christ in our life, we keep the old ways of the flesh, the old desires and norms of the present age.

00:55:03.000 --> 00:55:07.000
We keep it continuously crucified to the cross, nailed to the cross.

00:55:07.000 --> 00:55:09.000
That's where it is continuously kept.

00:55:09.000 --> 00:55:15.000
If you do that, you'll find that the Spirit of God keeps you in the state of crucifixion.

00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:21.000
You'll find that the Spirit of God can, without interruption, start cultivating fruit in you.

00:55:21.000 --> 00:55:22.000
Let me say that again.

00:55:22.000 --> 00:55:31.000
Those that belong to Christ keep the old ways and the norms of living according to this present age or the norms of the flesh in a continuous state of crucifixion

00:55:31.000 --> 00:55:36.000
so that the Spirit of God, relatively uninterrupted, can produce in me fruit.

00:55:36.000 --> 00:55:40.000
At the end of the day, the proof of God's fullness in me is fruit.

00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:46.000
At the end of the day, the fullness of God's life in Maurice is, Maurice show me your fruit.

00:55:46.000 --> 00:55:48.000
That is what I will measure Maurice by.

00:55:48.000 --> 00:55:52.000
At the end of 2011, hey, I do that with all of you.

00:55:52.000 --> 00:55:53.000
I don't tell you, that's all.

00:55:53.000 --> 00:55:56.000
But I look to see how far have you come in the last two years.

00:55:56.000 --> 00:55:57.000
Have you changed?

00:55:57.000 --> 00:55:59.000
I won't come and tell you whether you've changed or not.

00:55:59.000 --> 00:56:02.000
But you think that's not part of my responsibility?

00:56:02.000 --> 00:56:03.000
Of course it is.

00:56:03.000 --> 00:56:08.000
I bet you take that, I forgot her name, Mariana, sorry, Kyla.

00:56:08.000 --> 00:56:12.000
You take Kyla to measure her weight, see whether she's grown.

00:56:12.000 --> 00:56:13.000
A parent is supposed to do that.

00:56:13.000 --> 00:56:16.000
I was getting tired of saying, the baby.

00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:22.000
So, guys, we will get this, guys.

00:56:22.000 --> 00:56:23.000
We will be able to do this.

00:56:23.000 --> 00:56:29.000
Where we have the norms and the ways and the desires of this present age continuously crucified on the cross

00:56:29.000 --> 00:56:33.000
so that the Spirit of God does not have to bring us into liberty anymore

00:56:33.000 --> 00:56:34.000
because that's taken care of.

00:56:34.000 --> 00:56:36.000
We crucified it to the cross.

00:56:36.000 --> 00:56:37.000
It's continuously there.

00:56:37.000 --> 00:56:38.000
That's where we keep it.

00:56:38.000 --> 00:56:41.000
The Spirit of God doesn't have to bring us out of bondages now.

00:56:41.000 --> 00:56:43.000
He instead begins to cultivate fruit.

00:56:43.000 --> 00:56:47.000
He doesn't have to keep digging the ground around the little sapling that is planted,

00:56:47.000 --> 00:56:52.000
continuously clearing it of dry leaves, of insects, of termites, or whatever eats plants,

00:56:52.000 --> 00:56:54.000
and keeps cleaning that up.

00:56:54.000 --> 00:56:55.000
Don't have to do it anymore.

00:56:55.000 --> 00:56:57.000
Instead, he starts producing fruit.

00:56:57.000 --> 00:56:59.000
I'm thinking to myself, sometimes the Holy Spirit,

00:56:59.000 --> 00:57:03.000
but they're saying to myself, my God, I've cleaned this up so many times.

00:57:03.000 --> 00:57:05.000
We quit reckoning ourselves as dead.

00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:07.000
We quit reckoning it as crucified.

00:57:07.000 --> 00:57:10.000
So let me read the sentence one last time and then we'll move on.

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:17.000
Those that belong to Christ keep the old ways and norms of living in a continuous state of crucifixion.

00:57:17.000 --> 00:57:19.000
Romans 6.6 talks about it.

00:57:19.000 --> 00:57:21.000
Galatians 6.14 talks about it.

00:57:21.000 --> 00:57:25.000
The scriptures are right on top of the subheading.

00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:29.000
We keep the old ways and norms of living in a continuous state of crucifixion.

00:57:29.000 --> 00:57:30.000
Why?

00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:36.000
So that the Spirit, comparatively, relatively uninterrupted, can produce in me fruit.

00:57:36.000 --> 00:57:38.000
And at the end of the day, fruit is a proof of God life.

00:57:38.000 --> 00:57:43.000
When that happens, guys, your inward spirit man and your outward actions match up.

00:57:43.000 --> 00:57:45.000
They harmonize. They harmonize.

00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:51.000
We said that vain's inner man is perfectly renewed in its nature.

00:57:51.000 --> 00:58:02.000
No, I was saying that when we begin to exhibit fruit, then the inward man matches up with our...

00:58:02.000 --> 00:58:06.000
the outward actions we have matches up with the inward man, the outward actions of our life,

00:58:06.000 --> 00:58:10.000
because now we are bearing fruit outwardly and it's a reflection of our inward man.

00:58:10.000 --> 00:58:12.000
They harmonize. They harmonize.

00:58:12.000 --> 00:58:17.000
So as we said, vain in his inner man has a perfect nature.

00:58:17.000 --> 00:58:21.000
Vain in his inner man has the perfect knowledge of God.

00:58:21.000 --> 00:58:27.000
Vain in his inner man has taken on the image of his father in true righteousness and holiness.

00:58:27.000 --> 00:58:33.000
In the outward man, we know vain needs work in terms of his nature.

00:58:33.000 --> 00:58:39.000
In the outward man, we know that vain's knowledge of God is not perfect.

00:58:39.000 --> 00:58:43.000
And if you ask, Bernice, she'll say that he's not perfectly righteous and holy either.

00:58:44.000 --> 00:58:49.000
But what vain is going to attempt to do is he's going to have the outward man called vain Callahan

00:58:49.000 --> 00:58:53.000
match up with the inward man who is perfect and has taken on the image of his father.

00:58:53.000 --> 00:58:54.000
That's the goal.

00:58:54.000 --> 00:58:58.000
And we have presented these ways in which it is absolutely possible.

00:58:58.000 --> 00:59:01.000
It is not a pipe dream. It is not unattainable.

00:59:01.000 --> 00:59:05.000
It is always a little beyond my immediate reach, but then I'll always reach further.

00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:10.000
Comments? Go ahead, Bernice. Are you going to tell us vain is holy and righteous?

00:59:11.000 --> 00:59:16.000
She's thinking about that 41 years ago and now laughing.

00:59:16.000 --> 00:59:18.000
Yeah. Love is blind.

00:59:22.000 --> 00:59:25.000
There you go. She was right. We'll give you that much.

00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:28.000
Galatians 5.25 from the message puts it this way.

00:59:28.000 --> 00:59:33.000
Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the spirit,

00:59:33.000 --> 00:59:38.000
let us make sure that we do not just hold on to it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts,

00:59:38.000 --> 00:59:41.000
but work out its implications into every detail of life.

00:59:41.000 --> 00:59:47.000
What we have just heard, do not just hold on to it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts,

00:59:47.000 --> 00:59:51.000
but work out its implications into every detail of life.

00:59:51.000 --> 00:59:56.000
What we have just heard, may we not hold it as an idea in our head.

00:59:56.000 --> 00:59:58.000
Good idea. Profound revelation there.

00:59:58.000 --> 01:00:02.000
Or as a sentiment in our heart. Hallelujah, Spirit of God.

01:00:02.000 --> 01:00:09.000
No, but to actually work out its implications in every detail of our lives.

01:00:09.000 --> 01:00:12.000
That's what we are called to do now. Galatians 5.25.

01:00:12.000 --> 01:00:14.000
I love this line. I don't know who said it.

01:00:14.000 --> 01:00:19.000
We are to be executioners, dealing cruelly with the body of sin.

01:00:19.000 --> 01:00:22.000
Not as in this body of sin, as in the substance of sin.

01:00:22.000 --> 01:00:27.000
We are to be executioners, dealing cruelly with the body of sin,

01:00:27.000 --> 01:00:31.000
which caused the acting out of cruelties on Christ's body.

01:00:31.000 --> 01:00:36.000
We are to be executioners, who deal cruelly with the body of sin.

01:00:36.000 --> 01:00:41.000
Because it was this body of sin that caused cruelties to be inflicted on Christ's body.

01:00:41.000 --> 01:00:44.000
Now we stand to execute it, as in crucifying it.

01:00:46.000 --> 01:00:49.000
Guys, if you choose not to do so, and I'm almost at the end,

01:00:49.000 --> 01:00:54.000
if you choose not to do so, we are hardening our hearts in disobedience.

01:00:54.000 --> 01:00:56.000
See, that is the problem with these teachings, man.

01:00:56.000 --> 01:00:59.000
Like Jesus said, if you were blind, it would be okay.

01:00:59.000 --> 01:01:02.000
But you now see, you're not blind and you still don't see.

01:01:02.000 --> 01:01:03.000
Now there's a problem.

01:01:03.000 --> 01:01:07.000
So if we do not begin to move it from an idea in our head

01:01:07.000 --> 01:01:11.000
and a sentiment in our heart into practical living,

01:01:11.000 --> 01:01:15.000
then what will happen is we begin to harden our hearts.

01:01:15.000 --> 01:01:19.000
In Hebrews 3.7-14, here's what it says in Hebrews 3.7-14,

01:01:19.000 --> 01:01:23.000
that God wanted to bring a people into rest.

01:01:23.000 --> 01:01:26.000
God wanted to bring a people into rest.

01:01:26.000 --> 01:01:30.000
But because of their disobedience and because of the hardening of their hearts,

01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:33.000
none of them entered into his rest.

01:01:33.000 --> 01:01:35.000
They were delivered out of Egypt.

01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:39.000
The presence of God was with them in the wilderness, took care of them.

01:01:39.000 --> 01:01:41.000
But they never entered into rest.

01:01:41.000 --> 01:01:44.000
They never got past Pentecost.

01:01:44.000 --> 01:01:47.000
They came out of Egypt, they came out of Mount Sinai,

01:01:47.000 --> 01:01:50.000
where the first Pentecost was celebrated, but they never came into rest.

01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:52.000
And why didn't they come into rest?

01:01:52.000 --> 01:01:55.000
Because they hardened their hearts in fatelessness and disobedience.

01:01:55.000 --> 01:02:00.000
Hey, listen to this line because it really shocked me when Eddie first spoke this line to me.

01:02:00.000 --> 01:02:05.000
When you harden your heart, you become the architect of your own future.

01:02:05.000 --> 01:02:10.000
When you harden your heart to the voice of God, to the voice of the Spirit of God,

01:02:10.000 --> 01:02:13.000
you become the architect of your own future.

01:02:13.000 --> 01:02:19.000
And now if I were to go and speak this in a self-help seminar,

01:02:19.000 --> 01:02:23.000
they would applaud because everyone wants to be the architect of their own future.

01:02:23.000 --> 01:02:30.000
But for a child of God, being the architect of one's future is the worst thing that you can do, guys.

01:02:30.000 --> 01:02:36.000
When you harden your heart to the voice of the Spirit and choose to cooperate with that which is already dead,

01:02:36.000 --> 01:02:38.000
then you become the architect of your own future.

01:02:38.000 --> 01:02:43.000
And when Eddie first said this to me, it was like a shudder, man.

01:02:43.000 --> 01:02:46.000
My God, I don't want to be the architect of my own future.

01:02:46.000 --> 01:02:49.000
That would be such a miserable construction.

01:02:50.000 --> 01:02:52.000
So where is my heart hardened?

01:02:52.000 --> 01:02:57.000
Is it in mediocrity? Is it in stubbornness? Is it in control? Is it in my past?

01:02:57.000 --> 01:03:00.000
Is it in pornography? Is it in some other addiction?

01:03:00.000 --> 01:03:01.000
Where is my heart hardened?

01:03:01.000 --> 01:03:06.000
Because as my heart is hardened in that area, in certain areas of my life, I become the architect of my own future.

01:03:06.000 --> 01:03:12.000
And what I build is shabby. What I build will crumble. What I will will be shattered.

01:03:12.000 --> 01:03:17.000
You see how connected this is to the whole idea of entering into rest and the fullness of God.

01:03:17.000 --> 01:03:20.000
Feel free to ask questions. I'll end with one last scripture.

01:03:20.000 --> 01:03:22.000
Not explaining it. I'll just read it out.

01:03:22.000 --> 01:03:24.000
Any questions before we finish?

01:03:26.000 --> 01:03:28.000
Visual reminder to everyone around us?

01:03:28.000 --> 01:03:34.000
Absolutely. We are visual reminders to the world that this is what an image bearer of God looks like.

01:03:34.000 --> 01:03:44.000
In the ancient Near East, one of the things that kings used to do is they would set up images of themselves

01:03:44.000 --> 01:03:49.000
at either the borders of the nation or in different cities.

01:03:49.000 --> 01:03:56.000
They did this so that the people would know that they are king because their empires would be massive.

01:03:56.000 --> 01:03:59.000
They would set up these images of themselves.

01:03:59.000 --> 01:04:06.000
God has set up in this present age image bearers who are a visual reminder to the people today

01:04:06.000 --> 01:04:11.000
that this is who the king of the coming age is. This is what he looks like.

01:04:11.000 --> 01:04:17.000
The greatest tool of evangelism is the glory of God in you.

01:04:17.000 --> 01:04:21.000
It's not tracts. It's not Billy Graham or someone like Billy Graham.

01:04:21.000 --> 01:04:27.000
It's not some program. The greatest tool of evangelism is the glory of God in you.

01:04:27.000 --> 01:04:33.000
Not hidden because treasures of earthen jars of clay have cracks and it will show.

01:04:33.000 --> 01:04:38.000
So choosing to walk by the Spirit is beginning to enter into that beautiful, beautiful realm

01:04:38.000 --> 01:04:42.000
because living the life of another, I'm excited with the possibilities.

01:04:42.000 --> 01:04:48.000
Hey guys, you got to go home. You know what I do last night, this morning before I fall off to sleep,

01:04:48.000 --> 01:04:52.000
before I get up off my bed, I'm lying there going through each point in my mind

01:04:52.000 --> 01:04:56.000
because I've got to get the steps right.

01:04:56.000 --> 01:05:00.000
Only after that I'll go and look at my notes again because I have to know it here, guys.

01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:04.000
I must know it here. Tomorrow you can wake me up and without looking at my notes I can tell you this

01:05:04.000 --> 01:05:08.000
because it's the last thing I want to remember when I go off to sleep.

01:05:08.000 --> 01:05:11.000
It's the first thing I want to run over in my mind before I wake up.

01:05:11.000 --> 01:05:15.000
Like you know that time before you actually wake up because once you have it settled here,

01:05:15.000 --> 01:05:22.000
ABC, awareness, behavior, cultivation, debt to the world, the Spirit of God is sufficient for me.

01:05:22.000 --> 01:05:25.000
He is an unrelenting opposition to everything that is of the flesh.

01:05:25.000 --> 01:05:31.000
It is easy for me to overcome this, to run over this line by line, precept by precept, brick by brick.

01:05:31.000 --> 01:05:35.000
That is how we build strongholds of truth that will never be torn down,

01:05:35.000 --> 01:05:39.000
won't be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.

01:05:39.000 --> 01:05:42.000
Let me read Romans 8, 12 to 15 and conclude.

01:05:42.000 --> 01:05:47.000
So don't you see now Acts 29 from the message, Romans 8, 12 to 15.

01:05:47.000 --> 01:05:52.000
Just listen to it from the message and you can read it from your own thing because it sounds so conversational.

01:05:52.000 --> 01:06:00.000
Romans 8, 12 to 15. So don't you see Acts 29 that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life

01:06:00.000 --> 01:06:04.000
one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all.

01:06:04.000 --> 01:06:08.000
The best thing to do is to give it a decent burial and get on with your new life.

01:06:08.000 --> 01:06:12.000
God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do guys, places to go.

01:06:12.000 --> 01:06:17.000
This resurrection life you receive from God is not a timid, grave-tending life.

01:06:17.000 --> 01:06:24.000
It's an adventurous, it is, it's adventurously expectant, greeting God every morning with a child like,

01:06:25.000 --> 01:06:29.000
That is the life of the other that you've been called to live.

01:06:32.000 --> 01:06:38.000
Secondly, I understand that I can walk in the awareness of God, but that doesn't prove anything.

01:06:38.000 --> 01:06:45.000
I have to now behave as a one who is in keeping with the Spirit.

01:06:47.000 --> 01:06:48.000
So I begin to behave.

01:06:48.000 --> 01:06:57.000
The fruit of the Spirit that is in my life, I will let it be evident.

01:06:57.000 --> 01:07:04.000
Kindness, gentleness, liking Elmer,

01:07:04.000 --> 01:07:06.000
Humor,

01:07:11.000 --> 01:07:13.000
Self-control,

01:07:14.000 --> 01:07:16.000
Joy.

01:07:16.000 --> 01:07:19.000
Man, these things are within me.

01:07:22.000 --> 01:07:28.000
There aren't many times I don't feel joyful, but when I don't, I love asking God to stir it up,

01:07:28.000 --> 01:07:35.000
not asking God to stir up. I say, Father, I declare that I'm going to stir up the joy that is already within me.

01:07:35.000 --> 01:07:43.000
Because the Spirit of God is an unrelenting opposition to that which is joyless and that tries to drive me down.

01:07:45.000 --> 01:07:51.000
Therefore, knowing that the Spirit of God is an unrelenting opposition to it, and knowing that He is more than sufficient,

01:07:52.000 --> 01:07:57.000
I know it is possible for me to come to a place where I begin to bear that fruit.

01:07:57.000 --> 01:08:03.000
My behavior then corresponds to the one who lives within me.

01:08:03.000 --> 01:08:09.000
The living the life of another will result in your behavior being the behavior of another.

01:08:10.000 --> 01:08:18.000
My God, did you hear that? That you're going to live in a way that shows off the behavior of another in you.

01:08:21.000 --> 01:08:27.000
Imagine if somehow a pig's heart was inserted into you and you started snorting.

01:08:27.000 --> 01:08:30.000
You would then be living the behavior of another.

01:08:33.000 --> 01:08:36.000
I didn't mean an actual snort, Chris.

01:08:40.000 --> 01:08:44.000
But this is completely different. I live by the life of another.

01:08:45.000 --> 01:08:51.000
I just love the fact that when I behave well, what you're seeing is not some kind of refined Jacob.

01:08:51.000 --> 01:08:55.000
What you're seeing is the behavior of the life, behavior of another.

01:08:57.000 --> 01:08:58.000
This is why.

01:08:58.000 --> 01:09:05.000
I give you all the glory. I worship you, O God. You are worthy to be praised.

01:09:05.000 --> 01:09:10.000
Because everything good in Jacob is the good of another.

01:09:11.000 --> 01:09:17.000
Everything in me that is good is not because I'm anything, but because the life of another is working through me.

01:09:17.000 --> 01:09:23.000
Every grace in my life that you partake of is not because I have anything of it.

01:09:23.000 --> 01:09:25.000
It is the grace of another.

01:09:25.000 --> 01:09:30.000
Every gift in my life that you benefit from is the gift of another.

01:09:32.000 --> 01:09:34.000
This is the beauty of it, guys.

01:09:34.000 --> 01:09:39.000
This is where we've been called to live in the feast of tabernacles, a place of...

01:09:39.000 --> 01:09:47.000
a place of rest, where you live by the life of another in a hostile world that wants you to be sustained by a different source.

01:09:54.000 --> 01:10:00.000
And then finally, after I understand the behavior part of it, I come to sowing to the spirit.

01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:03.000
Ah, what a wonderful place to sow in.

01:10:03.000 --> 01:10:07.000
When I invest anything, I'll invest it in the spirit.

01:10:07.000 --> 01:10:11.000
What do I mean by that? I'll listen to the seasons of the spirit in my life.

01:10:11.000 --> 01:10:17.000
I'll see things of the spirit in my life and say, I see what you're showing me, Holy Spirit, so I'm going to plunge right in.

01:10:17.000 --> 01:10:20.000
If this is the season you're bringing me into, I'm going to pour my life into that.

01:10:20.000 --> 01:10:23.000
Oh, is this something you're doing in Acts 29?

01:10:23.000 --> 01:10:28.000
I'm going to have all of us pour into that because it will blossom, because you're the author.

01:10:28.000 --> 01:10:31.000
You've just broken Kronos and entered it in the fullness of time.

01:10:31.000 --> 01:10:34.000
We'll pour ourselves into that.

01:10:34.000 --> 01:10:41.000
Or I'll just sow good seed. My life is full of good seed because I've got Christ living in me.

01:10:41.000 --> 01:10:44.000
Take good seed and sow.

01:10:44.000 --> 01:10:47.000
Sow praise.

01:10:47.000 --> 01:10:50.000
Cultivate His presence.

01:10:50.000 --> 01:10:53.000
Sow repentance.

01:10:53.000 --> 01:10:57.000
Cultivate new wine.

01:10:57.000 --> 01:11:00.000
Sow assembling with the saints.

01:11:00.000 --> 01:11:03.000
Cultivate safety.

01:11:03.000 --> 01:11:07.000
It's endless.

01:11:07.000 --> 01:11:10.000
And then finally I'll sow in response to the spirit.

01:11:10.000 --> 01:11:17.000
The spirit of God will say, go give Matt $200 and out comes $200 and I give it to Matt.

01:11:17.000 --> 01:11:26.000
No, I'm not going to say that. They'll actually think I gave Matt $200.

01:11:26.000 --> 01:11:33.000
So that's how it works.

01:11:33.000 --> 01:11:52.000
Or if the spirit of God says, go tell James to give Matt $200.

01:11:52.000 --> 01:12:00.000
So practice these guys. Practice these and you will enter into a fullness and a rest in the life of another

01:12:00.000 --> 01:12:04.000
that is going to be magical and brilliant and so much fun.

01:12:04.000 --> 01:12:07.000
You'll lick your lips, man, every time you wake up.

01:12:07.000 --> 01:12:12.000
It's like, what's next, Papa?

01:12:12.000 --> 01:12:17.000
Let's talk about crucified life and end.

01:12:17.000 --> 01:12:19.000
Crucified life in itself is such a contradiction.

01:12:19.000 --> 01:12:29.000
Crucified in life, but that's what we live, guys, because those that belong to Christ

01:12:29.000 --> 01:12:34.000
keep the old ways and norms of living in a continuous state of crucifixion.

01:12:34.000 --> 01:12:42.000
Let me say that again. Those of us who have Christ in our life, we keep the old ways of the flesh,

01:12:42.000 --> 01:12:46.000
the old desires and norms of the present age.

01:12:46.000 --> 01:12:52.000
We keep it continuously crucified to the cross, nailed to the cross.

01:12:52.000 --> 01:12:54.000
That's where it is continuously kept.

01:12:54.000 --> 01:13:07.000
If you do that, you'll find that the spirit of God can, without interruption, start cultivating fruit in you.

01:13:07.000 --> 01:13:10.000
Let me say that again.

01:13:10.000 --> 01:13:15.000
Those that belong to Christ keep the old ways and the norms of living according to this present age

01:13:15.000 --> 01:13:19.000
or the norms of the flesh in a continuous state of crucifixion

01:13:19.000 --> 01:13:27.000
so that the spirit of God, relatively uninterrupted, can produce in me fruit.

01:13:27.000 --> 01:13:32.000
At the end of the day, the proof of God's fullness in me is fruit.

01:13:33.000 --> 01:13:38.000
At the end of the day, the fullness of God's life in Maurice is,

01:13:38.000 --> 01:13:42.000
Maurice, show me your fruit.

01:13:42.000 --> 01:13:45.000
That is what I will measure Maurice by.

01:13:45.000 --> 01:13:53.000
At the end of 2011, hey, I do that with all of you. I don't tell you, that's all.

01:13:53.000 --> 01:13:57.000
But I look to see how far have you come in the last two years.

01:13:57.000 --> 01:14:01.000
Have you changed? I won't come and tell you whether you've changed or not,

01:14:01.000 --> 01:14:07.000
but you think that's not part of my responsibility? Of course it is.

01:14:07.000 --> 01:14:13.000
I bet you take that, I forgot her name, sorry, Kyla.

01:14:13.000 --> 01:14:18.000
You take Kyla to measure her weight, see whether she's grown.

01:14:18.000 --> 01:14:25.000
A parent is supposed to do that.

01:14:25.000 --> 01:14:29.000
I was getting tired of saying the baby.

01:14:39.000 --> 01:14:46.000
So, guys, we will get this, guys. We will be able to do this.

01:14:46.000 --> 01:14:51.000
Where we have the norms and the ways and the desires of this present day,

01:14:51.000 --> 01:14:54.000
we have to keep the spirit of God,

01:14:54.000 --> 01:14:57.000
the spirit of God is continuously crucified on the cross,

01:14:57.000 --> 01:15:01.000
so that the spirit of God does not have to bring us into liberty anymore,

01:15:01.000 --> 01:15:04.000
because that's taken care of. We crucified it to the cross.

01:15:04.000 --> 01:15:06.000
It's continuously there, that's where we keep it.

01:15:06.000 --> 01:15:09.000
The spirit of God doesn't have to bring us out of bondages now.

01:15:09.000 --> 01:15:11.000
He instead begins to cultivate fruit.

01:15:11.000 --> 01:15:15.000
He doesn't have to keep digging the ground around the little sapling that is planted,

01:15:15.000 --> 01:15:19.000
continuously clearing it of dry leaves, of insects, of termites,

01:15:19.000 --> 01:15:22.000
instead, he starts producing fruit.

01:15:22.000 --> 01:15:25.000
I'm thinking to myself, sometimes the Holy Spirit is saying to myself,

01:15:25.000 --> 01:15:31.000
my God, I've cleaned this up so many times.

01:15:31.000 --> 01:15:37.000
We quit reckoning ourselves as dead, we quit reckoning it as crucified.

01:15:37.000 --> 01:15:41.000
So let me read the sentence one last time and then we move on.

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Those that belong to Christ,

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keep the old ways and norms of living in a continuous state of crucifixion.

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Romans 6.6 talks about it, Galatians 6.14 talks about it.

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The scriptures are right on top of the sub-edding.

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We keep the old ways and norms of living in a continuous state of crucifixion.

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Why? So that the spirit relatively uninterrupted

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can produce in me fruit.

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And at the end of the day, fruit is a proof of God life.

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When that happens, guys, your inward spirit man and your outward actions match up.

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They harmonize. They harmonize.

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We said that vain's inner man is the fruit of God's life.

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We said that vain's inner man is perfectly renewed in its nature.

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No, I was saying that when we begin to exhibit fruit,

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then the inward man matches up with our...

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the outward actions we have matches up with the inward man,

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the outward actions of our life, because now we are bearing fruit outwardly

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and it's a reflection of our inward man.

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They harmonize. They harmonize.

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So as we said, vain in his inner man has a perfect nature.

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Vain in his inner man has the perfect knowledge of God.

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Vain in his inner man has taken on the image of his father in true righteousness and holiness.

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In the outward man, we know vain needs work in terms of his nature.

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In the outward man, we know that vain's knowledge of God is not perfect.

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And if you ask, Bani Sheel said that he is not perfectly righteous and holy either.

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But what vain is going to attempt to do is he's going to have the outward man called vain Kalahan

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match up with the inward man who is perfect and has taken on the image of his father.

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That's the goal.

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And we have presented these ways in which it is absolutely possible.

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It is not a pipe dream. It is not unattainable.

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It is always a little beyond my immediate reach, but then I'll always reach further.

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Comments?

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Go ahead, Bani. Are you going to tell us vain is holy and righteous?

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She's thinking about that 41 years ago and now laughing.

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Love is blind.

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Yeah.

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There you go. She was right. We'll give you that much.

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Galatians 5.25 from the message puts it this way.

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Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the spirit,

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let us make sure that we do not just hold on to it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts,

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but work out its implications into every detail of life.

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What we have just heard, may we not hold on to it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts,

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but work out its implications into every detail of life.

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What we have just heard, may we not hold it as an idea in our head.

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Good idea. Profound revelation there.

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Or as a sentiment in our heart. Hallelujah, Spirit of God.

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But to actually work out its implication in every detail of our lives.

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That's what we are called to do now.

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Galatians 5.25. I love this line. I don't know who said it.

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We are to be executioners, dealing cruelly with the body of sin.

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Not as in this body of sin, as in the substance of sin.

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We are to be executioners, dealing cruelly with the body of sin,

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which caused the acting out of cruelties on Christ's body.

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We are to be executioners, who deal cruelly with the body of sin,

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because it was this body of sin that caused cruelties to be inflicted on Christ's body.

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Now we stand to execute it, as in crucifying it.

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Guys, if you choose not to do so, and I'm almost at the end,

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if you choose not to do so, we are hardening our hearts in disobedience.

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See, that is the problem with these teachings, man.

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Like Jesus said, if you were blind, it would be okay.

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But you now see, you're not blind and you still don't see. Now there's a problem.

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So if we do not begin to move it from an idea in our head and a sentiment in our heart,

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into practical living, then what will happen is we'll begin to harden our hearts.

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In Hebrews 3, 7-14, here's what it says in Hebrews 3, 7-14,

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that God wanted to bring a people into rest. God wanted to bring a people into rest.

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But because of the disobedience and because of the hardening of their hearts,

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none of them entered into his rest.

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They were delivered out of Egypt, and they were delivered from Egypt.

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They were delivered out of Egypt. The presence of God was with them in the wilderness, took care of them.

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But they never entered into rest. They never got past Pentecost.

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They came out of Egypt, they came out of Mount Sinai, where the first Pentecost was celebrated,

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but they never came into rest. And why didn't they come into rest?

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Because they hardened their hearts in fatelessness and disobedience.

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Hey, listen to this line because it really shocked me when Eddie first spoke this line to me.

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When you harden your heart, you become the architect of your own future.

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When you harden your heart to the voice of God, to the voice of the Spirit of God,

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you become the architect of your own future.

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And now if I were to go and speak this in a self-help seminar,

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they would applaud because everyone wants to be the architect of their own future.

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But for a child of God, being the architect of one's future is the worst thing that you can do, guys.

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When you harden your heart to the voice of the Spirit

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and choose to cooperate with that which is already dead,

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then you become the architect of your own future.

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And when Eddie first said this to me, it was like a shudder, man.

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My God, I don't want to be the architect of my own future.

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That would be such a miserable construction.

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So where is my heart hardened? Is it in mediocrity? Is it in stubbornness?

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Is it in control? Is it in my past? Is it in pornography? Is it in some other addiction?

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Where is my heart hardened?

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Because as my heart is hardened in that area, in certain areas of my life, I become the architect of my own future.

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And what I build is shabby. What I build will crumble. What I build will be shattered.

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You see how connected this is to the whole idea of entering into rest and the fullness of God.

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Feel free to ask questions. I'll end with one last scripture.

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Not explaining it, I'll just read it out. Any questions before we finish?

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Visual reminder to everyone around us?

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Absolutely. We are visual reminders to the world that this is what an image bearer of God looks like.

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In the ancient Near East, one of the things that kings used to do is they would set up images of themselves.

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At either the borders of the nation or in different cities.

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They did this so that the people would know that they are king because their empires would be massive.

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They would set up these images of themselves.

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God has set up, in this present age, image bearers who are a visual reminder to the people today.

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That this is who the king of the coming age is. This is what he looks like.

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And the greatest tool of evangelism is the glory of God in you.

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It's not tracts. It's not Billy Graham or someone like Billy Graham.

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It's not some program. The greatest tool of evangelism is the glory of God in you.

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Not hidden. Because treasures of earthen jars of clay have cracks and it will show.

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So choosing to walk by the Spirit is beautiful.

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I'm excited with the possibilities.

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Hey guys you got to go home. You know what I do last night.

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This morning before I fall off to sleep. Before I go to bed, I have a little bit of a headache.

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I have a headache. I have a headache. I have a headache.

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I have a headache. I have a headache.

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You got to go home. You know what I do last night.

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This morning before I fall off to sleep. Before I get up off my bed.

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I'm lying there going through each point in my mind because I've got to get the steps right.

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Only after that I'll go and look at my notes again because I have to know it here guys.

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I must know it here.

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Tomorrow you can wake me up and without looking at my notes I can tell you this.

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It's the last thing I want to remember when I go off to sleep.

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It's the first thing I want to run over in my mind before I wake up.

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Like you know that time before you actually wake up.

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Because once you have it settled here, ABC. Awareness, Behavior, Cultivation.

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Dead to the world.

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The Spirit of God is sufficient for me.

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He is an unrelenting opposition to everything that is of the flesh.

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It is easy for me to overcome this.

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To run over this.

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Sworn by line, precept by precept, brick by brick.

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That is how we build strongholds of truth.

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That will never be torn down.

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Won't be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.

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Let me read Romans 8, 12 to 15 and conclude.

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So don't you see now Acts 29 from the message.

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Romans 8, 12 to 15.

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Just listen to it from the message and you can read it from your own thing.

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Because it sounds so conversational.

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Romans 8, 12 to 15.

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So don't you see Acts 29 that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent.

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There is nothing in it for us.

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Nothing at all.

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The best thing to do is to give it a decent burial and get on with your new life.

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God's Spirit beckons.

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There are things to do guys. Places to go.

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This resurrection life you receive from God is not a timid, grave-tending life.

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It's an adventurous, it's adventurously expectant.

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Greeting God every morning with a child like, what's next Papa?

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That is the life of the other that you've been called to live.

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Thank you.