Speaker 1: Well, I just wanted to be the one to introduce our guest, Pastor Rafael Cruz.
Speaker 1: We met almost four years ago in Austin.
Speaker 1: We were at a meeting together and of course I'd heard of him.
Speaker 1: I hadn't had a chance to meet him, but we wound up sitting together for dinner with Pastor Dave Welch and several other preachers, and it was so impressive to meet him personally and to hear some of his insights.
Speaker 1: He has just filled with the Word and filled with the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1: Everywhere he goes he's overflowing and I was so impressed.
Speaker 1: Back then I just had no idea that our paths would cross.
Speaker 1: And, lo and behold, when we had Restoring of Merit's Foundations, he was our main speaker, so we got to have him on Sunday morning and Sunday.
Speaker 1: Now we got a double blessing.
Speaker 1: You're going to be blessed tonight and I'll tell you I just honor this man.
Speaker 1: He's doing a great work and let's just stand and give him a hand clap as he comes.
Speaker 1: Take your liberty, Pastor.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: We love you.
Speaker 2: Thank you, pastor.
Speaker 2: I'm going to stand down here, I'm not going to go up there.
Speaker 2: God bless you, love you, man Love you, but praise God.
Speaker 2: Please have a seat.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you, we had a visitation of the Holy Spirit this evening.
Speaker 2: As we were singing, come Holy Spirit, that a cloud of the Holy Spirit descended upon this place.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you, my knees were buckling, I didn't know if I could stay there standing.
Speaker 2: But I want to just close your eyes and just bask in His presence.
Speaker 2: Oh, hallelujah.
Speaker 2: Oh, enjoy that presence.
Speaker 2: His presence is here.
Speaker 2: He is here to heal, he's here to touch, he's here to make you whole, to make you new.
Speaker 2: Just receive, just bask in His presence.
Speaker 2: Psalm 223 says in His presence there is fullness of joy.
Speaker 2: Let that joy fill you to overflowing.
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you, jesus, hallelujah, thank you, lord.
Speaker 2: Thank you for your presence.
Speaker 2: Father, we glory in you.
Speaker 2: Father, what a glorious way to be in glorious way in your presence.
Speaker 2: Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, glory, glory, glory.
Speaker 2: Before we get started, I want to share.
Speaker 2: Thank you, sir.
Speaker 2: I'm going to just put it right here.
Speaker 2: I want to share with you three verses of scripture from John, chapter 1.
Speaker 2: It has nothing to do with my message today and it has everything to do with my message tonight.
Speaker 2: I want to share with you John, chapter 1, verses 1, 2, and 14.
Speaker 2: And the word of God says in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.
Speaker 2: The same was with God in the beginning, and verse 14.
Speaker 2: And the word became flesh and dwell among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Speaker 2: You know what those three verses are saying?
Speaker 2: Those three verses are saying that this and Jesus are one and the same.
Speaker 2: This is Jesus.
Speaker 2: If you get a revelation of that truth, you're never going to read this Bible the same way.
Speaker 2: And then, actually, it goes beyond that.
Speaker 2: In verse 3, it says that all things were created by Him and without Him, nothing that was created was created.
Speaker 2: So if you go to Genesis, chapter 1, there's a phrase that you see eight times Seven of them are in creation and that phrase is and God said.
Speaker 2: And God said let there be light.
Speaker 2: And there was light.
Speaker 2: And, by the way, in the Hebrew it says light be and light was.
Speaker 2: Well, you go to your Bible and you underline that little word said that you see repeatedly.
Speaker 2: You know what that word is.
Speaker 2: That's Jesus.
Speaker 2: That word, that's Jesus.
Speaker 2: He is the creator of all things.
Speaker 2: Hallelujah, glory, glory, glory.
Speaker 2: I want to talk to you about a challenge that is one of the biggest challenges that we have in the body of Christ.
Speaker 2: He said Christians don't know who they are and many Christians have a very, very minute conception of who they are and because of that the enemy eats them for lunch and spits them out the side.
Speaker 2: So I want to talk to you tonight about who you are in Christ.
Speaker 2: Oh, I guess I got to turn it on.
Speaker 2: It doesn't work if you don't turn it on.
Speaker 2: How about that?
Speaker 2: There we go.
Speaker 2: If you look at 1 Peter 1, 13 to 16, I'm just going to read the last phrase.
Speaker 2: It said God is saying be ye holy, for I am holy.
Speaker 2: And that word in the Greek is the word hageos, which means pure, spotless.
Speaker 2: And then let's look at another scripture, matthew 548.
Speaker 2: And it says be ye therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Speaker 2: And I am sure that all of us have heard some preachers say well, it doesn't really mean perfect, it means mature.
Speaker 2: Have you heard that?
Speaker 2: You probably said it, but the word is teleos in the Greek, and that word means perfect, complete.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you something.
Speaker 2: Perhaps we mean mature because we want to justify our shortcomings, but I'll tell you something If God had wanted to say mature, he would have said mature.
Speaker 2: Now let's go back and put mature in Matthew 548.
Speaker 2: Be ye, therefore mature, as your heavenly Father is mature.
Speaker 2: Don't I look ridiculous?
Speaker 2: I mean, are you going to consider God as mature?
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2: When he's saying perfect, he means perfect.
Speaker 2: And you ask yourself how am I going to do that?
Speaker 2: Well, you know something.
Speaker 2: That is the wrong question.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, as I was meditating upon this message when I talked with James I think it was Friday, right, and I was meditating upon this message, and I was on this scripture, and God dropped a little nugget in my spirit and he said to me you know, sometimes I say something just to jar people and cause them to realize they cannot do it.
Speaker 2: See, this is the wrong question.
Speaker 2: How am I going to do it?
Speaker 2: Well, as a matter of fact, you're not going to be able to do it.
Speaker 2: You're not going to be able to do it.
Speaker 2: The question should be what has he already done?
Speaker 2: You know, not too long ago I was at a church that I was preaching at, and I preach in all kinds of churches.
Speaker 2: Whoever invites me I'll go, if they, you know the Lord will have me there for a particular reason, maybe to open the eyes of some that are close.
Speaker 2: And who knows, it is a privilege to be in a church that is so full of the Word of God and so centered on the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.
Speaker 2: But you know, I don't.
Speaker 2: If the Lord opens the door, I'm going to walk through it and his purpose will be manifested.
Speaker 2: And this is what the Lord told me.
Speaker 2: He said, you know, have you considered?
Speaker 2: You know, the Lord has a sense of humor sometimes how he talks.
Speaker 2: And he said have you considered that maybe the reason I said be ye therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect, was for you to realize that you cannot do it and point to the need of a Savior?
Speaker 2: You see, maybe we read this verse a hundred times and never thought of that.
Speaker 2: Maybe he's trying to challenge you to consider how impossible it is for you to be perfect.
Speaker 2: And anyway, this Sunday school that I was at, I had such a hard time sitting in that Sunday school for an hour, because the whole hour was about how we can become holy and it was nothing more than exalting the flesh and about what we can do to make ourselves accepted by God.
Speaker 2: Well, as a matter of fact, you know, in Ephesians, chapter 1, it says that we are accepted in the beloved, not for anything we have done, but for what he did.
Speaker 2: Hallelujah, glory, glory, glory.
Speaker 2: Romans, chapter 5, verse 12.
Speaker 2: Wherefore, if by one man who is he talking about?
Speaker 2: Aram?
Speaker 2: By one man, sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed on to all men, for all have sinned.
Speaker 2: Romans 3, 23 says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Speaker 2: So this basically tells you that all humanity is under condemnation.
Speaker 2: That's why Jesus had to come, because none of us could earn heaven by our own efforts.
Speaker 2: Psalms 49 says salvation is of a great price and no one can pay for it.
Speaker 2: Well, through Aram, the sin nature passed upon all of us, and that's why Romans 3, 23 says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Speaker 2: But that's not the end of the story.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, let me talk to you about one of my favorite verses in scripture Romans, chapter 5, verse 17.
Speaker 2: For if, by one man's offense, sin reign, death reign by one, who is that one?
Speaker 2: Aram much more.
Speaker 2: And it is much more because he's going to talk about another man that is much greater than Adam.
Speaker 2: Much more.
Speaker 2: Those who receive two things Number one, the abundance of grace, and number two, the gift of righteousness, shall reign R-E-I-G-N.
Speaker 2: Reign in life through the one, christ Jesus.
Speaker 2: Now we know we're going to reign over there, but he's talking about reigning over here right now.
Speaker 2: And perhaps you said what do you mean?
Speaker 2: Reigning life?
Speaker 2: I know, reigning over anything, it's a matter of fact.
Speaker 2: I feel that I'm overwhelmed by my circumstances, but he's saying let me just stop here for a minute.
Speaker 2: Do any of you remember Oral Roberts?
Speaker 2: There was one time, many years ago, that Oral Roberts said that he had had a vision of Jesus and Jesus was 900 feet tall.
Speaker 2: Remember that?
Speaker 2: And Oral Roberts was criticized to no end, especially in Christian circles.
Speaker 2: Well, about a month passed and Oral Roberts is being interviewed by Pat Robertson in the 700 Club and Pat says to Oral Oral, what about this business that you had a vision of Jesus and Jesus was 900 feet tall?
Speaker 2: The response of Oral was engraved in my heart.
Speaker 2: I've never been able to forget it.
Speaker 2: Oral said you know, pat, what my problem was I saw him too small.
Speaker 2: I saw him too small.
Speaker 2: My question to you is how big is your God?
Speaker 2: How big is your God?
Speaker 2: Is your God bigger than your circumstances?
Speaker 2: And if your God is bigger than your circumstances, why then are you worried about your circumstances?
Speaker 2: If you're worried about your circumstances, god's not bigger than your circumstances.
Speaker 2: You may give it lip service, but they ain't here.
Speaker 2: I remember one time I was having lunch with a pastor in Fort Worth.
Speaker 2: We went out to a shopping center, a restaurant in a shopping center, and after lunch we are walking back through the mall, back to the car and pastor Jim, there comes a friend of pastor Jim, and he says pastor Jim, hi.
Speaker 2: And so pastor Jim says hi, charlie, how are you?
Speaker 2: And Charlie says well, under the circumstances.
Speaker 2: And my friend, pastor Jim, says and what are you doing under there?
Speaker 2: What are you doing under the circumstances?
Speaker 2: You're supposed to be above the circumstances.
Speaker 2: That's what it means to reign in life.
Speaker 2: Reign above all the circumstances.
Speaker 2: Greater is he?
Speaker 2: Greater is he, greater is he that sends you than he that is in the world.
Speaker 2: We say it.
Speaker 2: But do you believe it?
Speaker 2: Do you really believe it?
Speaker 2: Again, if you really believe it, why do you get overwhelmed when the enemy comes against you?
Speaker 2: When the enemy comes against you like a flood, what the Bible said the Lord will raise up a standard.
Speaker 2: You know what that word standard, that word nisi, means in the Hebrew.
Speaker 2: That's a flag of battle.
Speaker 2: Last time I was here, I preached on covenant.
Speaker 2: You know what that flag of battle means.
Speaker 2: The Lord fights the battle for you, and if God is for me, who can be against me?
Speaker 2: You see, it's a matter of perception.
Speaker 2: It's a matter of understanding who you are.
Speaker 2: Now, in order to reign, you need to receive two gifts.
Speaker 2: You need to receive the abundance of grace and you also need to receive the gift of righteousness, and then you will be able to reign right here, right now, through Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: Now let's first talk about the abundance of grace.
Speaker 2: What is grace?
Speaker 2: Grace is the favor of God.
Speaker 2: Let me give you another definition of grace.
Speaker 2: Grace is what God has already done for you.
Speaker 2: All you have to do is take it.
Speaker 2: All you have to do is receive it.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you something.
Speaker 2: How do you receive that grace.
Speaker 2: I want to share with you three different scriptures that give you the key to getting a hold of that overwhelming supply of grace that God has.
Speaker 2: Look at Romans 4.16, and I want you to pay close attention to the English.
Speaker 2: It is of faith that it may be by grace.
Speaker 2: That's what Romans 4.16 says.
Speaker 2: It is of faith that it may be by grace.
Speaker 2: Look at Romans 5, too.
Speaker 2: By whom, also, we have access?
Speaker 2: How?
Speaker 2: By faith, into His grace.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, if we look at the first two verses that we memorized right after John 3.16, what were they?
Speaker 2: Efficiency 2.8 and 9, right or by grace?
Speaker 2: Are you saved through faith?
Speaker 2: Let me give you the punchline Faith is the key that opens the door to grace.
Speaker 2: Faith is the key that opens the door to grace.
Speaker 2: Without faith, you cannot receive the grace.
Speaker 2: It's there, it's all there for you, but you've got to have the right key.
Speaker 2: Faith is the door that unlocks, the key that unlocks the door to grace.
Speaker 2: Hebrews 11.6 says before without grace, it is impossible to please Him, without faith.
Speaker 2: So faith is fundamental for you to be able to receive the grace.
Speaker 2: And, of course, we already talked about this verse, so I'm going to just go ahead and keep on going.
Speaker 2: See, we don't have any problem understanding that salvation is by grace.
Speaker 2: I mean, that has been just so much taught to us that every church preaches that salvation is by grace.
Speaker 2: Well, almost every church.
Speaker 2: There's some that call themselves churches that they preach other ways of salvation.
Speaker 2: Only Jesus.
Speaker 2: He is not a way, he is the way.
Speaker 2: And.
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you what grace goes way, way, way beyond salvation.
Speaker 2: But the problem is many of us only see grace for salvation.
Speaker 2: We've got to understand what Jesus said at the cross it is finished.
Speaker 2: That means I've done it all.
Speaker 2: I've done it all.
Speaker 2: It's all done.
Speaker 2: Salvation, healing, deliverance, provision was all provided at the cross.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, let me shock you.
Speaker 2: You don't have to pray for healing.
Speaker 2: Jesus already healed you 2,000 years ago.
Speaker 2: All you have to do remember when we were talking about Romans, chapter 4, verse 16, look at the next verse, verse 17.
Speaker 2: What is it said?
Speaker 2: Calling the things which are not as though they were.
Speaker 2: You declare what is already a reality in the spiritual.
Speaker 2: You're not praying for God to heal somebody.
Speaker 2: He's already done it.
Speaker 2: All you're praying is for the physical manifestation of what's already a reality.
Speaker 2: All you want is a manifestation of what he has already done.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2: If we understand this, our faith to pray for healing is going to change, because it's already done.
Speaker 2: He's already done it.
Speaker 2: Do you realize that if you pray Lord, if it is your will, heal me, that that is a prayer of unbelief, because it is His will to heal you?
Speaker 2: He took it at the cross.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2: Let me see.
Speaker 2: Look at Isaiah 53, verses 4 and 5.
Speaker 2: He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
Speaker 2: That word griefs is the word coli in the Hebrew.
Speaker 2: It means sickness.
Speaker 2: It's sad that the King James translates it griefs.
Speaker 2: And then the word sorrows is the word makobe, which means pains.
Speaker 2: He's talking about physical.
Speaker 2: He carried our sicknesses and our pains.
Speaker 2: Yet we did stimming, stricken and smitten of God and afflicted.
Speaker 2: But he was wounded for our transgressions.
Speaker 2: He was bruised for our inequities, detestment for our peace.
Speaker 2: That word peace, in the Hebrew is the word shalom.
Speaker 2: Shalom means much, much more than peace.
Speaker 2: Shalom means wholeness.
Speaker 2: How long means everything, your well-being, he was.
Speaker 2: So he took it upon Himself and he said with your stripes, you are healed, you are healed.
Speaker 2: Now let me go to the New Testament.
Speaker 2: Let's look at.
Speaker 2: Oh, I guess it's going to take me somewhere else.
Speaker 2: I'll get there when?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Matthew 8, 16.
Speaker 2: It says when the evening was come, they brought unto Jesus many that were demon possessed and with His word he cast out the demons and he healed.
Speaker 2: How many, all that were sick.
Speaker 2: That should clarify whether it is God's will to heal or not.
Speaker 2: He wasn't picking and choosing.
Speaker 2: He healed all that were sick.
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 2: That it may be fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah and he, quoting Isaiah, 50, 53, 4.
Speaker 2: He said Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.
Speaker 2: He's already done it.
Speaker 2: So if he's already done it, all you are praying is for the manifestation of what's already a reality.
Speaker 2: You see, the problem is the world tells us you got to see it to believe it.
Speaker 2: That's not God's way.
Speaker 2: You have to believe it to see it.
Speaker 2: You got to see yourself whole.
Speaker 2: You have to see yourself healed.
Speaker 2: And then you declare it it's already done and you receive it.
Speaker 2: You receive it.
Speaker 2: Oh, father, look at God right now.
Speaker 2: Right now, just whatever you're feeling in your body, just see yourself healed.
Speaker 2: See that tumor in the body of Jesus.
Speaker 2: See that diabetes in the blood of Jesus.
Speaker 2: He took it for you.
Speaker 2: And if he took it for you, you don't have to take it.
Speaker 2: Just declare it unto Him and receive your healing right now.
Speaker 2: We don't have to have a special invitation, just receive it in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 2: Jesus wants you to be whole.
Speaker 2: Receive it in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 2: He healed all, all, all that it may be fulfilled.
Speaker 2: What was spoken by the prophet Isaiah saying himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.
Speaker 2: Receive it.
Speaker 2: You know, if you go to Matthew, I mean on Matthew, deuteronomy, chapter 28.
Speaker 2: Deuteronomy, chapter 28, is called the blessings and the curses.
Speaker 2: Verses 1 through 14 are called the blessings of the covenant and verses 15 through 68 are the curses of the covenant.
Speaker 2: And in that those verses 15 to 68, you can find every sickness and every disease.
Speaker 2: You'll find poverty, you'll find strife, you'll find every bad thing you could think of there.
Speaker 2: But I want you to memorize Galatians 3, 13.
Speaker 2: And Galatians 3, 13 says that Jesus took the curse of the law upon Himself, because it is written curse is everyone that hangs upon a tree.
Speaker 2: Go to Deuteronomy 28 and find your tumor there.
Speaker 2: Find your tumor there in Deuteronomy 28 and tell the devil.
Speaker 2: Devil, you see that tumor there.
Speaker 2: Look at Galatians 3, 13.
Speaker 2: Jesus already carried it.
Speaker 2: That means I don't have to carry it.
Speaker 2: Get out of here, hallelujah, glory, and walk in the victory that you have in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 2: Hallelujah Now.
Speaker 2: Jesus already paid for your deliverance.
Speaker 2: Look at you know, in Luke, chapter 4.
Speaker 2: Jesus is in a synagogue and he picks up the scroll of Isaiah and he begins to read from Isaiah 61.
Speaker 2: And he says I came to heal the broken hearted.
Speaker 2: Perhaps today you're feeling broken hearted.
Speaker 2: You've had something that has really, really broken.
Speaker 2: Maybe your spouse walked away from you or your fiance decided that you're not the man or the woman for you and just walked away.
Speaker 2: You've had a disappointment and you feel broken hearted.
Speaker 2: All right now, receive, receive the balm of Gilead, apply to that broken heart and receive, receive healing for your broken heartedness.
Speaker 2: Just look to him, close your eyes and look to him and receive healing for that broken heart Right now.
Speaker 2: He came to bring healing to the broken hearted.
Speaker 2: Secondly, he said he came to bring deliverance to the captives, and perhaps some of you are captive to alcohol, or you're captive to cigarettes, or you're captive to alcohol, or you're captive to pornography, or you're captive to gossiping, or you're captive to a critical spirit.
Speaker 2: And Jesus says I came to bring deliverance to the captives.
Speaker 2: Now, bring that bondage to Jesus right now and receive deliverance from your captivity.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you a personal testimony.
Speaker 2: I was a drunk when I came to Christ.
Speaker 2: I was a drunk, I was drunk every night and when I came to Christ, I remember I was drinking a beer and I drank a beer and I ordered a second beer and through the middle of the second beer, god changed the taste of that beer and it tasted horrible and I put that bottle of beer down and that was it.
Speaker 2: That was 45 years ago.
Speaker 2: God is no respecter of persons.
Speaker 2: If he did it for me, he'll do it for you.
Speaker 2: Just receive it in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 2: He's already done it.
Speaker 2: He did it on the cross.
Speaker 2: Whatever you are in bondage of, I want you to right now confess it to the Lord and receive your deliverance right now, in the name of Jesus and the name of Jesus I know I'm talking to many of you lift up your hands and confess that bondage and declare that you are free from that bondage in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 2: Right now, people are being delivered from pornography.
Speaker 2: People are being delivered from alcoholism.
Speaker 2: Oh, I see people being delivered from gossiping.
Speaker 2: Whatever you are in bondage for right now.
Speaker 2: Receive your deliverance in the name of Jesus, hallelujah.
Speaker 2: Thank you Jesus.
Speaker 2: Just receive it and thank Him.
Speaker 2: Thank Him, praise Him, lord, praise Him, thank Him, Hallelujah, thank you Lord, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, hallelujah.
Speaker 2: He came to bring recovery of sight to the blind.
Speaker 2: Now, this is two-fold.
Speaker 2: Many of us are blind to the truth of God.
Speaker 2: We are blinded to the greatness of God.
Speaker 2: We may be a Christian, but you are blinded to all that God is.
Speaker 2: And right now I pray that that veil is removed from your eyes and that you see Him as he is, that you see Him in all His glory, in all His majesty, in all His fullness.
Speaker 2: And you know, there's a precious verse of Scripture talking about Jesus and he says that as he is, so are we in this world.
Speaker 2: And it's also talking the Scripture about your eyesight.
Speaker 2: There may be some people here with glaucoma and you had a bad report from the doctor.
Speaker 2: And the doctor says glaucoma will get worse and worse and worse until you become blind.
Speaker 2: In the name of Jesus, I speak against that lie from the enemy and I say glaucoma will be removed and your eyesight will be restored.
Speaker 2: Hallelujah, hallelujah In the name of Jesus.
Speaker 2: Receive recovery of sight.
Speaker 2: In the name of Jesus, I pray for restoration.
Speaker 2: I just declare restoration of your eyesight right now.
Speaker 2: Receive it in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 2: Say if you have any kind of eye problem, say I receive total restoration of my eyesight.
Speaker 2: And thank Him.
Speaker 2: Give Him thanks, church.
Speaker 2: Give Him thanks in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 2: Thank you, lord, thank you Jesus, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
Speaker 2: And then he said to set at liberty those that are bruised.
Speaker 2: You know, sometimes we put ourselves in bondage.
Speaker 2: Somebody has offended us.
Speaker 2: Have you encountered somebody that was coming to church for years and one person maybe?
Speaker 2: Look at this person cross-eyed or did whatever, and that person walks out of this church to go to another church, but to sulk at home and they have allowed a bruise, perhaps through a misunderstanding, to just put them in bondage.
Speaker 2: You know, in Matthew chapter 6, it talks about if you come to the altar Bringing a gift and there you remember that someone has ought against you, not even that you done something wrong against somebody else.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, somebody did you wrong.
Speaker 2: Jesus said you leave the gift, you go back and you be reconciled to your brother.
Speaker 2: See what Jesus is saying.
Speaker 2: I don't care if the other person is in the wrong, you go and make it right.
Speaker 2: You got the spirit of God within you.
Speaker 2: Jesus has forgiven each and every one of us and the forgiveness that he did for me is so overwhelming that any forgiveness I have to do towards somebody else is miniscule.
Speaker 2: I had one experience one time.
Speaker 2: There was a man in Houston, his name was Ed and he done me great, great harm.
Speaker 2: And I remember one time that I was at my office and I was doing early morning devotions in my office before people came to work and the Lord brought me to this scripture and he brought Ed to my remembrance and I put the Bible aside.
Speaker 2: I got on my car and I drove to Ed's office and I said to Ed Ed, I want you to forgive me.
Speaker 2: And he was shocked because he knew what he had done against me.
Speaker 2: And I said to him I want you to forgive me.
Speaker 2: Because of what you did against me, I've allowed a root of bitterness in my heart against you and I want you to forgive me.
Speaker 2: And this man began weeping and God brought restoration through my being obedient and not allowed the bruise to put me in bondage.
Speaker 2: Hallelujah, glory, glory, glory.
Speaker 2: Thank you, jesus.
Speaker 2: God wants you to be delivered, but grace goes even beyond that.
Speaker 2: Anything you need.
Speaker 2: The bank account of heaven is inexhaustible.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, james was talking about Philippians, chapter 4, and he was talking about giving.
Speaker 2: But it doesn't even need to relate to giving.
Speaker 2: He talks in Philippians, chapter 4,.
Speaker 2: Paul talks about the fact that you have a heavenly account.
Speaker 2: You have a heavenly account and you need to withdraw from that account.
Speaker 2: Dealing deliverance, salvation provision.
Speaker 2: It's all in that account.
Speaker 2: You just need to make withdrawals.
Speaker 2: Now, in the physical, if you have a bank account, what do you have to do before you make a withdrawal?
Speaker 2: You got to make some deposits, don't you?
Speaker 2: You got to make some deposits In Galatians, chapter 6, verse 3, verse 7, it's called the law of the harvest and it says do not be deceived.
Speaker 2: God is not mocked for whatsoever.
Speaker 2: A man saweth that, shall he also reap.
Speaker 2: Let's say, somebody comes to you and says boy, nobody loves me.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you how you solve that.
Speaker 2: Start loving people.
Speaker 2: Start sowing love into other people.
Speaker 2: What's going to happen if you sow love into other people?
Speaker 2: What are you going to reap Love?
Speaker 2: What's going to happen if you sow hatred into other people.
Speaker 2: What are you going to receive?
Speaker 2: Enjoy the retreat.
Speaker 2: The harvest depends on the seed.
Speaker 2: You go back to Genesis and it says that everything reproduces after it's kind.
Speaker 2: You can't play in corn and harvest bananas.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, let me just put it in the area of money I've had.
Speaker 2: I don't know how many times I've been preaching at a church and here comes somebody oh pastor, could you pray for me?
Speaker 2: I am not making enough money.
Speaker 2: I can't make ends meet.
Speaker 2: I need to make more money.
Speaker 2: I need a raise.
Speaker 2: My first question to that person is are you tithing?
Speaker 2: No, I can't afford to tithe.
Speaker 2: Well, why would God bless you with more money when you're not being faithful with what you got?
Speaker 2: Or you are sitting in a corner praying that forgot to increase your finances.
Speaker 2: Nothing wrong with praying, but it's the wrong seed.
Speaker 2: If you need to receive finances, you know what you need to do Find a plane to give and so some finances.
Speaker 2: Now you need to realize that the principle in scripture is seed, time and harvest.
Speaker 2: See, we live in an age that everybody wants instant gratification.
Speaker 2: We think we're going to plant a seed today and tomorrow morning there's a harvest.
Speaker 2: There's time between the seed and the harvest and you got to water it.
Speaker 2: You got to water it.
Speaker 2: You know how do you water it Efficiency 526.
Speaker 2: By the daily washing of the water of the world, you keep confessing, you keep declaring.
Speaker 2: And, by the way, we misunderstood this Bible so much.
Speaker 2: You know, in the book of Hebrews when it talks about how fast your confession has nothing to do with confession of sin, and so many people think that the confession you need to hold fast is confession of sin.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2: It's confession of who you are.
Speaker 2: It's confession of what's already yours.
Speaker 2: Declare the promises of God.
Speaker 2: You know, I like what my friend Kenneth Copeland says Look for the answer to your prayer in the Bible and pray the answer.
Speaker 2: Pray the answer.
Speaker 2: Look for the promise here and pray the promise.
Speaker 2: Declare the promise as a reality in your life.
Speaker 2: Because when you're doing that what Guess what?
Speaker 2: When you're declaring God's promises, you're praying according to His will.
Speaker 2: Look at 1 John, chapter five.
Speaker 2: It says that if you pray according to His will, he hears you.
Speaker 2: And if he hears you, you know that you have the petitions that you ask of Him.
Speaker 2: So we just need to declare the word of God.
Speaker 2: Now let's talk about the gift of righteousness, this one.
Speaker 2: We have a little more problem with 2 Corinthians 521, which I quoted when I was here talking about covenant, but it is such an important verse and so critical to understanding who we are.
Speaker 2: It says but he, god, made Him, jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, so that we may become the righteousness of God in Him, in Christ.
Speaker 2: So when I was here before I said, talking about covenant, that at the cross there was an exchange of robes.
Speaker 2: Jesus put on our filthy rags that we may put on His robe of righteousness.
Speaker 2: Okay, and actually let me tell you something that may shock you Jesus sees you as righteous as he is.
Speaker 2: That word says you are righteous.
Speaker 2: Jesus sees you as righteous as he is.
Speaker 2: That word says you are as righteous as Jesus.
Speaker 2: And perhaps there's a religious spirit that tells you oh, how can I say I'm as righteous as Jesus?
Speaker 2: Well, you have two choices you either have His righteousness or you got self-righteousness.
Speaker 2: Take your pick.
Speaker 2: It's not your righteousness anyway, it's His righteousness that is put on you, but he has made you as righteous as Jesus.
Speaker 2: Now you see, if we don't get this revelation, it's very, very difficult for us to get to the reigning in life, part Because you see the gift of righteousness.
Speaker 2: You have been justified before God.
Speaker 2: The righteousness of God has been imputed on to you and you are as righteous as Jesus.
Speaker 2: You have to do nothing to deserve it.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, none of us deserve it.
Speaker 2: Romans, chapter 5, verse 8, says and this is demonstrated the love of God towards us In that, while we were yet sinners, christ died for us, not because we deserve it, but in spite of the fact that we don't deserve it.
Speaker 2: Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, glory, Glory, glory, glory.
Speaker 2: That means you can reign over the power of sin, you can reign over the circumstances, you can reign over the power of the enemy.
Speaker 2: You see so many Christians walk around afraid of the devil, when the reality is that devil is afraid of you.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, if you say to the devil, boo, the devil runs.
Speaker 2: James 4, 7 says submit yourselves, therefore, to God, resist the devil.
Speaker 2: And what does?
Speaker 2: It says he will flee from you.
Speaker 2: So stop being afraid of the devil.
Speaker 2: The devil is afraid of you.
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 2: Because greater is he that's in you than he that is in the world.
Speaker 2: But you see, if you don't know that, the devil will eat your lunch Ignorance.
Speaker 2: You need to understand and realize who you are.
Speaker 2: You need to tell the devil you know who you're messing with.
Speaker 2: See, if you know who you are and you tell the devil you know who you're messing with, he's going to scat.
Speaker 2: But if you don't know who you are, he's going to crawl all over you.
Speaker 2: You got the control.
Speaker 2: Look at Romans 5.20.
Speaker 2: Moreover, the law entered that the offense may abound, but where sin abounded grace, much more abounded Grace, grace, grace, grace.
Speaker 2: And remember what I said a little while ago Faith is the key that opens the door to God's grace.
Speaker 2: So the poor purpose of the law.
Speaker 2: The law was not given for salvation.
Speaker 2: You cannot be saved, you cannot earn heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments.
Speaker 2: That was not the purpose of the law.
Speaker 2: The purpose of the law was to make you realize your need for a Savior.
Speaker 2: Now the law serves a secondary purpose.
Speaker 2: It is a great makeup for how to live in a harmonious society.
Speaker 2: Those principles are valid principles, but you cannot be justified by the law.
Speaker 2: But it points out that you can make it on your own.
Speaker 2: A lot of what you see in the Bible is to point you to the need of Savior.
Speaker 2: Look at John 1.17.
Speaker 2: The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: Now look at Romans, chapter 6, verse 3.
Speaker 2: No, ye not that as many of you as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death.
Speaker 2: Did you know that this verse has absolutely nothing to do with water, nothing whatsoever to do with water.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, that word baptized was never translated from the Greek.
Speaker 2: That word is the word baptism, and baptism means immerse, totally identified with him, made one with him.
Speaker 2: Now let's replace that word.
Speaker 2: No, ye, not that you were immersed into Jesus Christ, you were immersed into his death.
Speaker 2: Water is not the media of this baptism.
Speaker 2: Jesus is.
Speaker 2: You are immersed into Jesus.
Speaker 2: You have.
Speaker 2: No, ye, not that as many of us as were totally identified with Jesus Christ Were totally identified with his death.
Speaker 2: No, ye not that as many of us as were made one with him were made one with his death.
Speaker 2: Now it continues.
Speaker 2: That means total identification with him, being made one with him.
Speaker 2: Water baptism is only a representation of a spiritual reality which has nothing to do with water.
Speaker 2: Now we quote this verse in water baptism because water baptism is a physical representation of a spiritual reality.
Speaker 2: Do you understand that.
Speaker 2: But the spiritual is much greater than the physical.
Speaker 2: Verse 4.
Speaker 2: Therefore, we were buried with him by baptism unto death.
Speaker 2: That, as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, we shall also rise in newness of life.
Speaker 2: We are becoming a new creation.
Speaker 2: 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says that if you are in Christ says that you are a new creation.
Speaker 2: In the Greek it says you are a new creature, you are a new species.
Speaker 2: Old things have passed away.
Speaker 2: Behold all AWL, all things have become new.
Speaker 2: The way the Apostle Peter put it is you have been translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his dear son.
Speaker 2: You become a new, totally new creation.
Speaker 2: Verse 4.
Speaker 2: Now look at Romans 5, 6, 5 and 6, 4.
Speaker 2: If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing that our old man is crucified with him.
Speaker 2: Now, here I may step on some sacred cows, but we're going to slay those sacred cows today.
Speaker 2: Our old man is our sin nature and I am going to prove to you conclusively today that your sin nature died 2000 years ago.
Speaker 2: See, I've been in churches that they preach that you have to crucify your old nature to the cross every day and that means you live a life of total condemnation, trying to crucify yourself every day.
Speaker 2: That negates the work of the cross.
Speaker 2: No, jesus said, it is finished.
Speaker 2: I've done it all.
Speaker 2: You died 2000 years ago that the body of sin talking about the sin nature might be destroyed, destroyed.
Speaker 2: Done away with that.
Speaker 2: Henceforth, that means from now on, you should not serve sin.
Speaker 2: In other words, you should not be slaves to the sin nature.
Speaker 2: You know, if you look at Romans, chapter six, you're going to find the word sin in almost every verse.
Speaker 2: In every verse in Romans six where the word sin appears, it is a noun, except for verse 15.
Speaker 2: In verse 15, it is a verb and it's the act of sinning.
Speaker 2: Everywhere else, that word sin in Romans chapter six means sin nature.
Speaker 2: You all sin nature died 2000 years ago.
Speaker 2: If you can receive this revelation, you're going to live totally free from the power of sin.
Speaker 2: Hallelujah, second Corinthians, five seventeen.
Speaker 2: I've already quoted you are a new creation.
Speaker 2: All things have passed away.
Speaker 2: You become a new person, new creation, new creature, new species, and now your spirit has been created as righteous as Jesus.
Speaker 2: Remember Paul when he says walk in the spirit and you shall not satisfy the desires of the flesh it is listen to me carefully it is absolutely impossible to sin in the spirit.
Speaker 2: Your spirit is a new creation, as righteous as Jesus.
Speaker 2: Now let's go to verse seven, and I'm going to come back to verse seven a little later on, because this and another verse are key in this whole chapter.
Speaker 2: Verse seven, for he that is dead is being made free from sin, free from the sin nature, free from the power of sin, from the power of sin.
Speaker 2: If you understand that who you wear is dead.
Speaker 2: The devils got no power over you, none whatsoever.
Speaker 2: Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
Speaker 2: And how many of you have heard this phrase?
Speaker 2: I am nothing but a sinner saved by grace.
Speaker 2: Have you heard it?
Speaker 2: Let me see your hands.
Speaker 2: I am not going to ask you if you said it.
Speaker 2: It sounds so pious, I mean, it sounds so good, I mean you know, but it's not scriptural.
Speaker 2: It's not scriptural.
Speaker 2: Look at Romans 6-7 again.
Speaker 2: You see, the challenge is this If you have been born again, if you have Jesus in your heart the Bible says we just quoted it a little while ago you are the righteousness of God in Christ.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, no, no, you're not a sinner saved by grace.
Speaker 2: I was a sinner who was saved by grace.
Speaker 2: Right now, I am the righteousness of God in Christ.
Speaker 2: Now let me tell you why it is so crucial that you change your cassette.
Speaker 2: If you keep saying, well, I am nothing but a sinner saved by grace, what do you become?
Speaker 2: You become sin-conscious.
Speaker 2: Right, and if you become sin-conscious, you're always on the condemnation, because you're always on the edge as to whether you're going to sin again or not.
Speaker 2: And you know what that does.
Speaker 2: That drives you to sin.
Speaker 2: You become sin-conscious.
Speaker 2: You keep saying I'm nothing but a sinner saved by grace.
Speaker 2: First of all, you're on the constant condemnation.
Speaker 2: Do you remember in the little comic strip P-notes, the little guy that had a cloud over his head?
Speaker 2: Do you remember that guy?
Speaker 2: That's this guy.
Speaker 2: You're on the constant condemnation and that's going to drive you to sin.
Speaker 2: You know something that's not the abundant life that Jesus talked about in John 10.
Speaker 2: Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Speaker 2: But if you believe you're the righteousness of God in Christ, you become righteousness-conscious Instead of being sin-conscious.
Speaker 2: Now you're righteousness-conscious and you know what.
Speaker 2: You're free from condemnation.
Speaker 2: The condemnation of the devil cannot touch you.
Speaker 2: If you keep saying I'm the righteousness of God in Christ.
Speaker 2: I'm the righteousness of God in Christ.
Speaker 2: The devil's got nothing to work with.
Speaker 2: So you're free from condemnation.
Speaker 2: And here's the punchline.
Speaker 2: It will draw you to do acts of righteousness, because as a man believes in his heart, so is he, and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Speaker 2: So you see, you are who you believe.
Speaker 2: If you believe, you are nothing but a sinner saved by grace, you're going to be in bondage to sin-consciousness and you're going to be on the constant condemnation and you will be driven to sin.
Speaker 2: Yes, right, I know, you know.
Speaker 2: If you look at John 10.10, we love to quote the second half of John 10.10.
Speaker 2: Where Jesus said I am calm, that you may have life and you may have it more abundantly.
Speaker 2: That means life to the fullness.
Speaker 2: That's not this life of condemnation, is it?
Speaker 2: But if you look at the front of John 10.10, I call that the ministry of the devil and it says the thief comes not but to steal, to kill and to destroy, and the most important of those three is steal.
Speaker 2: The devil comes to steal the word from your heart.
Speaker 2: If you look at Mark 4, the parable of the sword, it talks about four different kinds of seed.
Speaker 2: The first one is the seed that falls by the wayside and it says the birds of the air steal the seed.
Speaker 2: Every time you see in Scripture the birds of the air or the beast of the field, it's always talking about demons.
Speaker 2: The primary thing that the devil steals from you is the word of God, because if he can steal the word of God from you, he can steal your money, he can kill your body with sickness and disease, he can destroy your relationships.
Speaker 2: But if the word is rooted in your heart, you got the sword.
Speaker 2: You got the sword.
Speaker 2: You understand me.
Speaker 2: You got the sword and you can slay all those dragons.
Speaker 2: Hallelujah, don't let the enemy steal the seed.
Speaker 2: That's why you need to be in this word every day.
Speaker 2: You need to be in this word every day.
Speaker 2: You know this is an interesting Scripture from the Amplified.
Speaker 2: In 1 John it says no one born begotten of God deliberately, knowingly and habitually practices sin, for God's nature abides in him.
Speaker 2: Look at this description, his principle of life, that divine sperm is in you.
Speaker 2: The very nature of God is in you.
Speaker 2: Do you understand what he's saying?
Speaker 2: I mean this will blow your mind.
Speaker 2: The very nature of God is in you and it says it's permanently within you, remains permanently within you and you cannot practice sin because you're begotten of the Father.
Speaker 2: Now you're free from the power of sin.
Speaker 2: Let's look at verse 11.
Speaker 2: Verse 11 is probably tied with verse 7, the two most important verses in chapter 6.
Speaker 2: Verse 11 says Recon yourself to be dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Speaker 2: That word, recon, is a lousy translation in the English.
Speaker 2: The word in the Greek is a word logisomai, and logisomai means count it as a fact, count it as a fact that you're dead.
Speaker 2: Count it as a fact that you died 2,000 years ago.
Speaker 2: Now the devil comes to tempt you and you say devil, you can't tempt me.
Speaker 2: Look at verse 7, I'm dead, and verse 7 said if I'm dead, I am free from the power of sin.
Speaker 2: You ain't got no power over me because I'm dead.
Speaker 2: Those two verses hold the key.
Speaker 2: You need to count it as a fact that your sin nature died 2,000 years ago.
Speaker 2: That means you don't have to sin and if you're dead, you're free from over the power of the enemy.
Speaker 2: The enemy has no power over you.
Speaker 2: You're dead.
Speaker 2: Am I making sense?
Speaker 2: Hallelujah, hallelujah, glory, glory, glory.
Speaker 2: Now verses 8 through 10 corroborate this fact.
Speaker 2: Verses 8 through 10, if we look through them.
Speaker 2: It says Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, died no more.
Speaker 2: He was raised from the dead once and for all.
Speaker 2: He's now seated at the right hand of the Father.
Speaker 2: Death has no more dominion over Him, for in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth unto God.
Speaker 2: Your sin nature is dead.
Speaker 2: You need to keep confessing it.
Speaker 2: My sin nature is dead.
Speaker 2: The devil has no power over me.
Speaker 2: Let not sin, therefore.
Speaker 2: What is therefore, therefore, for you to realize that you're dead and that the enemy has no power over you?
Speaker 2: Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lost thereof.
Speaker 2: If you understand that your sin nature is dead, you that the enemy doesn't have any control over you.
Speaker 2: Sin has no control over you because your sin nature is dead, so you can just reject it Now.
Speaker 2: Verse 13,.
Speaker 2: And now we're going to come to where we start having some problems.
Speaker 2: Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness.
Speaker 2: Now let me just stop here for a minute.
Speaker 2: Your members are not your arms and your legs, your members refers to your soul, mind, will and emotions.
Speaker 2: Those are your members, mind, will and emotions.
Speaker 2: Don't put them as instruments of unrighteousness.
Speaker 2: Why not?
Speaker 2: Because you're no longer your sin.
Speaker 2: Nature is dead Unto sin, but yield yourself unto God as those who are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Speaker 2: But here we get into the same problem of that Sunday School teacher that I was telling you about.
Speaker 2: We tried to do this in our own power.
Speaker 2: You know, I tried to make my mind, will and emotions to align with the Word of God.
Speaker 2: And I'll tell you what how many of you have come to realize that the more you try, the more you fail.
Speaker 2: You know, if I told you, don't think of a pink elephant, what comes to your mind?
Speaker 2: Pink elephant, right?
Speaker 2: So here's the problem.
Speaker 2: I mean, we try in our own efforts and we fall flat on our face.
Speaker 2: But you see, that's not what God wants us to do.
Speaker 2: We have to realize, and you know again, you know, the English leaves so much to be desired from the original language.
Speaker 2: We say, well, this is self-control.
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2: What we mean self-control is an act of our will and we try to our own will do the right thing.
Speaker 2: And the more we try, the more we fall flat on our face.
Speaker 2: Am I just talking to myself, or have any of you experiences?
Speaker 2: The more you try, the more you fail.
Speaker 2: And guess what?
Speaker 2: The devil puts you back into condemnation.
Speaker 2: Well, how are we going to solve this?
Speaker 2: See, we are trying, by ourselves, to present our members as instruments of righteousness, by our efforts.
Speaker 2: And the problem, you know and you think about it.
Speaker 2: The motivation is good, because even James said that.
Speaker 2: You know, we ought to try to just do acts to justify our faith.
Speaker 2: And we try to do the right thing.
Speaker 2: But the problem is we fail over and over again because we are trying to do it by our own efforts.
Speaker 2: That's not.
Speaker 2: That doesn't lead us to that abundant life that Jesus talked about.
Speaker 2: See, we need to realize this.
Speaker 2: First, thessalonians, chapter 5 says that we are a three-part being spirit, soul and body.
Speaker 2: And that's the order spirit, soul and body.
Speaker 2: The most important of those is spirit.
Speaker 2: Your spirit has already been recreated.
Speaker 2: Your spirit is as righteous as Jesus.
Speaker 2: Your spirit cannot sin.
Speaker 2: Do you understand that your spirit was totally redeemed?
Speaker 2: Now, the soul is not the soul, our mind, will and emotions.
Speaker 2: You got to work on that.
Speaker 2: This is a lifelong process that in Christianity is called sanctification, and I don't want to talk Christianity, but that's a if you want to know how Christianity refers to that.
Speaker 2: It's a process of sanctification and I'm going to talk to that in more down-to-earth terms.
Speaker 2: You see, and it is because of this that all that was redeemed was your spirit.
Speaker 2: Your soul was not redeemed.
Speaker 2: Your mind, will and emotions were not redeemed, and our bodies are not going to redeem until we're raised from the dead when Jesus comes back.
Speaker 2: But so we need to realize that the renewal of the mind.
Speaker 2: Paul says in Romans, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.
Speaker 2: He said I visit you.
Speaker 2: Therefore, my brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewal of your mind that you may prove what is at good and perfect and acceptable will of God.
Speaker 2: How do you renew your mind?
Speaker 2: Efficiency 526 tells you how you renew your mind by the daily washing of the water, by the word.
Speaker 2: That's the renewal of your mind.
Speaker 2: It's by the daily washing of the water by the word.
Speaker 2: That's why you have to be in the Word of God every day.
Speaker 2: We need to make it a priority in your life.
Speaker 2: This is Jesus.
Speaker 2: Remember what I said at the beginning this is Jesus.
Speaker 2: You need to be in the Word every day and you need to immerse yourself in the Word.
Speaker 2: You need to meditate in the Scriptures.
Speaker 2: You know and you need to.
Speaker 2: You know something you need to see yourself in the Scripture.
Speaker 2: You need to see yourself writing that verse.
Speaker 2: Put yourself in it.
Speaker 2: You know, in Joshua 1-8, he says this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night.
Speaker 2: You know something?
Speaker 2: A few months ago I was meditating upon this verse and the Lord said to me meditating is like a cow.
Speaker 2: Meditating is like a cow.
Speaker 2: A cow chews the cod and then swallows it and then regurgitates it and chews it some more.
Speaker 2: And the Lord said to me meditating is like a cow.
Speaker 2: You need to chew on the Word of God.
Speaker 2: And chew on the Word of God and get as much juice as you can out of it and then internalize it and then bring it back and chew on it some more and guess what?
Speaker 2: You get more juice out of it.
Speaker 2: You get fresh revelation every time you chew on it and you keep getting more revelation and more revelation and you got to internalize it, bring it back and chew on it some more.
Speaker 2: You know, I love this.
Speaker 2: Analogies Only the Lord could come up with that.
Speaker 2: I'd never heard anybody say that.
Speaker 2: But the Lord glory, glory, glory.
Speaker 2: So now you got a new one Meditating is like a cow, hallelujah.
Speaker 2: So rendering your members as instruments of righteousness.
Speaker 2: The problem is we try to do that by our own will and we think we are doing it by the Spirit, with our self-control.
Speaker 2: But you see Galatians, chapter 5, verse 22 and 23,.
Speaker 2: Of course, is the fruit of the Spirit.
Speaker 2: What is the last of the nine manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit?
Speaker 2: Self-control.
Speaker 2: I think that's a lousy translation because it is really Spirit control.
Speaker 2: It's not your control, is God controlling it through you.
Speaker 2: So I think that's a very, very poor translation.
Speaker 2: It's really Spirit control.
Speaker 2: If we are trying to control it, we're going to flop.
Speaker 2: He has to control it, of course, through you.
Speaker 2: You have to render yourself, so it's not by our will.
Speaker 2: We need to understand self-control as the manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: This is why I say it is probably more understandable if we call it Spirit control, spirit control.
Speaker 2: Now, if my sin nature is dead, why do I still sin?
Speaker 2: I'm sure you asked yourself this question already tonight.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, if you look at in Galatians, chapter 5, verse 16, it says walk in the Spirit and you shall not satisfy the desires of the flesh.
Speaker 2: Because I told you before, your spirit cannot sin.
Speaker 2: But let's go beyond that.
Speaker 2: We sin because we walk in the flesh.
Speaker 2: That is under the control of our soul, when it's a soul, mind, will and emotions.
Speaker 2: Now what's the problem with the flesh?
Speaker 2: Well, let me give you my own example.
Speaker 2: I didn't come to Christ till I was 36 years old.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of bad programming up here, a lot of bad programming, and that programming will guide my soul.
Speaker 2: But even if you were, even if you came to Christ as a child, we get a lot of bad input through movies, through television, through conversations, even through things that we hear, even without wanting to hear, and all that bad programming can lead you down the wrong path, so that bad programming is going to influence your behavior unless you continue to renew your mind.
Speaker 2: You got to overcome the bad programming with good programming.
Speaker 2: What do we have to do?
Speaker 2: Feed on the Word, feed on the Word of God.
Speaker 2: Don't feed on soap operas on television, which are nothing more than glorified pornography.
Speaker 2: Five, step on the toes of young ladies that love to watch soap operas.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, but that's the reality.
Speaker 2: Most of them are nothing more than glorified pornography, and they are right.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 2: Television and school system is trying to program our kids into moral inclusiveness, into liberalism of sex and everything else, and that's the bad input, even if they're Christians.
Speaker 2: The bad input is coming in.
Speaker 2: We got to overcome it with the Word of God.
Speaker 2: We got to put this thing into the minds and the hearts of our young people.
Speaker 2: Now let me tell you something I've heard so many people say well, romans, chapter seven, is a parenthesis.
Speaker 2: Actually, romans five, six and eight you go together Romans seven is a parenthesis of Paul talking about his life before Christ.
Speaker 2: Everything could be further from the truth.
Speaker 2: Romans seven is a chapter of absolute victory.
Speaker 2: Look what it says.
Speaker 2: Look at verse 20.
Speaker 2: That's Paul talking.
Speaker 2: Now, if I do what I would not, what is it that Paul wants to do?
Speaker 2: Good, right, that's the new creation.
Speaker 2: If I do what I would not.
Speaker 2: In other words, if I do evil, look at this, it is no more I that do it.
Speaker 2: This is shouting ground.
Speaker 2: It's no more my new creation, but sin that dwells in me, in other words, that dwells in my members.
Speaker 2: It is no longer I that sin, a sin that dwells in my flesh, in my soul, because of the bad programming.
Speaker 2: What do we have to do?
Speaker 2: Renew our minds, get rid of the bad programming.
Speaker 2: But here is where you find.
Speaker 2: I find, then, a new law that when I would do good, evil is present in me.
Speaker 2: What is that the bad programming?
Speaker 2: For I delight in the law of God.
Speaker 2: After the in one man who is speaking, the new creation, right, the new creation delights in the law of God.
Speaker 2: And so he says and this is this, is this is really shouting ground.
Speaker 2: But I see another law in my members.
Speaker 2: What are the members?
Speaker 2: The soul, which is a mind, will and emotions.
Speaker 2: Those are your members mind, will and emotions.
Speaker 2: I see another law in my members.
Speaker 2: What are we talking about?
Speaker 2: That bad programming?
Speaker 2: Warring against the law of my mind, which means the law of my spirit, which is the new creation, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Speaker 2: That means mind, will and emotion.
Speaker 2: Look at, he says but it is no longer I that does it, but sin that dwells in my members.
Speaker 2: It is no longer I that does it, because I'm a new creation.
Speaker 2: It is a new creation.
Speaker 2: This is shouting ground, so how do you overcome it?
Speaker 2: Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Speaker 2: This is why you have to realize that you continue struggling and falling.
Speaker 2: You need to, which is because you're trying to do it in your own efforts.
Speaker 2: You need to realize you ain't gonna do able to do it by your own efforts, and so you cannot do it by your own efforts.
Speaker 2: You gotta do it.
Speaker 2: Self control as a fruit of the Holy Spirit, holy Spirit control.
Speaker 2: And so we, each and every one of us, needs to come to our Gethsemane.
Speaker 2: You know, I was in Israel last month and this is my third trip to Israel and I was at the Garden of Gethsemane and you see all those warped trees that have been there for thousands of years, and I could visualize Jesus kneeling, hanging upon one of those trees, sweating blood for you and for me.
Speaker 2: He knew what the cross would cost.
Speaker 2: That's why he was sweating blood, but even though he knew what it would cost.
Speaker 2: He said, father, not my will, but yours, be done.
Speaker 2: We must come to our Gethsemane and we must surrender our will to his will.
Speaker 2: Then you'll have total victory.
Speaker 2: You'll have total victory.
Speaker 2: When you do that.
Speaker 2: You look at Romans, chapter 8, verse 1.
Speaker 2: Romans, chapter 8, verse 1, says there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 2: Now, if you have a King James, the King James says there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Spirit but walk after the flesh.
Speaker 2: The second half of Romans 8 1 is not in the earlier documents.
Speaker 2: It was added by the scribes from verse 4.
Speaker 2: The original verse said there is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 2: Period, no conditions.
Speaker 2: If you feel under condemnation that came from the devil, that doesn't come from God, if you are a child of God, if you are a born again believer, romans, chapter 8, verse 1, is telling you there is therefore now no condemnation.
Speaker 2: When you receive that revelation, the enemy has nowhere to make you feel condemned.
Speaker 2: You need to understand who you are and you need to confess it.
Speaker 2: You may have to start confessing it 20 times a day, 30 times a day.
Speaker 2: I am the righteous as a God in Christ.
Speaker 2: And let it drop from your head to your heart, let it drop to your spirit, and then you will walk in the fullness of the spirit.
Speaker 2: Then the Holy Spirit has total freedom to work through you and begin to manifest through you, and then you are going to begin to see signs and wonders of the Holy Spirit confirming His word through you.
Speaker 2: I want to wrap this thing up differently than I had intended, because it's not what I want to do.
Speaker 2: It's what God wants to do and what God has told me to do.
Speaker 2: As I said, it's not what I plan to do, what God told me to do.
Speaker 2: It's His time that we come before God and we get on our face.
Speaker 2: I want you to come to the front and just get on your face and surrender your will to God and tell God, not my will, but yours be done, and let the Holy Spirit transform you into a vessel that can make great exploits for the glory of God.
Speaker 2: Just come.
Speaker 2: Just come and do business with God, hallelujah.