Preconceptions Become Misconceptions

We have such an amazing culture of revival here that we don't always get to teach. And um that that is difficult for some people, especially people who travel in and that's why what they wanted to be here for. But we don't really determine what happens from night to night. We just get in the river.

and see where the Lord wants to take us. And some of the nights I'm come in most convinced that I will teach, I don't, and some of the nights I come in not sure if I will, I usually do. But today, all day I felt like the Lord would have a a space for us to deliver some teaching that's going to help us move further into our understanding of what we mean when we say already and not yet.

And one of the the challenges for understanding the life of the kingdom is that the kingdom doesn't work oftentimes the way we would like for it to. It works the way it's supposed to. And you can't make the kingdom work the way you want the kingdom to work. You just have to trust that the king causes his kingdom to work in a way in which his kingdom was intended to work. And his kingdom works like seed. And his kingdom works like leaven.

His kingdom, and I say this often, but I want us I want you to hear this. His kingdom does not work like the eighty second Airborne Division. Where one minute we're not kingdom, next minute we are kingdom in the kingdom. No, the kingdom had three different phases according to the announcement of Yeshua. Number one, he said the kingdom is among you. He takes that from John the Baptist.

One, the kingdom is among you. Then he goes a little further and says the kingdom is at hand. And then he goes a step further than that and says the kingdom is within. The kingdom is among you. The kingdom is at hand, and the kingdom is within. How many of you understand that's a maturation into different manifestations of the same kingdom?

Basilia, the Greek word for kingdom, is the word used for kingdom every time. He talks about the kingdom. He is talking about something that comes incrementally yet consistently. incrementally yet consistently. And the mature are those who can recognize what I'm engaging with is working, even if I would like for it to be working according to a different time frame.

Anybody honest enough to say I'd like for this to be working on a different time frame, yet I'm trusting that it's working like the leaven that a lady puts. that the kingdom of heaven was like a mustard seed, the tiniest of all seeds, that but when it's placed in the ground, watch this, it ultimately grows into a tree significant enough for the birds of the field to be able to come and build their nest in.

So what one of the things you and I have to quit doing is digging up the seed to check on it. And therefore aborting the process of the seed, because we want to see and and I said this the last time that I was in Canada and I know that this is controversial because of the way that other people do things, but people who check their symptoms don't understand healing.

Because healing has zero to do with your symptoms. So if I pray for you to be healed and you check your symptoms to determine if you've been healed, you don't understand healing. Now miracles are different. But if we're talking about healing, then we have to understand that there's a process to you believing what you don't yet have symptomatic evidence for, or symptoms you may still have, that that I say it like this, I use this analogy up.

Seems like every time I go to Texas, I get the golden opportunity to kill a rattlesnake. And uh the we'll we'll we'll kill the rattlesnake, and then what you have to be careful of is even though the rattlesnake is dead, there's there's poisonous reflexes.

And so I love to cut the rattles off. I got a collection of them in my office there with the see me how many buttons are on. That's country, isn't it? See how many buttons are on the rattlesnake? But what you better do, I don't care how dead it is, you better stand on its head when you cut the rattle off. Or there can be a reflex of response from something that's already dead. And the moment you ask him to heal you, you are healed.

And you if you keep digging the seed up to check on it, you may be aborting your own breakthrough in the area of healing instead of saying, I'm healed because he said that I'm healed.

And so one of the things that that comes to the mature believer is the ability to walk in the tension of what you already have and what you do not yet have. And what you can do is you can get, listen to this, hyper-thankful for what you already have, and use hyper-thanksgiving to provoke what you don't yet have. Instead of complaining about what I don't have, you'll find out that panic and thanksgiving cannot occupy the same seat.

This is Judah taught me this. This is true scientifically. Panic and thanksgiving cannot occupy the same seat. So instead of panicking about what hasn't happened and what you need to happen and the breakthrough you're expecting, get thankful for the breakthrough you already have and let that become provocation to bring you into the not yet that you were designed for.

So I want to show you, I want to talk about, let me try to come up with the title for this that works. I want to talk about tonight how preconceptions can become misconceptions. Preconceptions become misconceptions. Oftentimes the Father is doing exactly what it is we've asked him to do, not at all in the way we expected him to do it, and certainly not within the time frame we expected him to do it. But faith does not require Things to happen at a certain time.

Nor does faith require things to happen in a certain way. Faith believes he's watching over his word to perform it. And even if I don't have physical evidence yet, I know there's soon going to be a mustard tree significant enough for the birds of the field to come build their nest.

Y'all hanging tonight. So I want to just kind of teach you some of the way this has worked in my own life, some of the ways it's worked in the lives of other people that I've walked with. And and and it's going to tie a little bit into my favorite new word that I'm messing with called crucification.

Now what we've done is we've taken this great orthodox idea of theosis. Theosis, uh, where it comes from the Greek word theos, which is where we get the word English word God. So theos or theosis is us becoming by grace what God is by nature. When the Lord gave me the term and I feel like the Lord gave it to me, crucification, in essence he was saying God can be a generic term. The crap.

The Bible w one verse says your God is your belly. So I may be in Theosis already. You know, uh the god the Bible talks about the God of this world. But Christ is the face of God. Jesus is the express image of the Father. He says to Philip, If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Go a little bit further and find out that Paul said this is that he was the icon of Of the weos of theos.

That he literally, Jesus was the icon son of the Father. He was the archetype of the future sons that were to come. He's the principal son who becomes the firstborn among many brethren, who is now the mediator between God and man. Which means Adam is not. The New Testament says there's one mediator between God and man. Religion tells you Adam is still a mediator between God and man.

But the New Testament says there's one mediator, not between God and the believer. There's one mediator between God and man. And the problem is we're letting Adam still play a mediating role because the church has not made a big enough deal out of Christ. But when Jesus begins to be preached the way Jesus was intended and designed to be preached, and Jesus begins to be experienced the way Jesus was intended and designed to be experienced.

Something begins to happen to you and I whereby we find the face of the Father revealed in the person of Jesus and Jesus revealed to us by the way of the Lordship of the Holy Spirit. It works like this. The Holy Spirit. falls in a meeting like we just experienced and he said, there's Jesus. You have grace now to see him like you've never seen him before. Jesus stands and says, now that you've seen me like you've never seen me before, you're now going to see the Father as he actually is.

Not as religion revealed him to be, not as the Old Testament revealed him to be, not as Job believed him to be, but you're going to see him as he actually is. Okay. I'm not a disciple of Job. I'm a disciple of Jesus. Job is not who teaches me what the Father is like. Job is who helps me wrestle with the questions that Job had to wrestle with when he was in a season of extreme disappointment. Which is a bad place to develop your theology. You better have it developed before you get there

So that you can come out on the other side like gold that's been tried in the fire where all the dross has been swept away. And now the only thing that remains is unshakable naked trust in the nature of God revealed to you in the person of Jesus.

Man. So as we as we as we jump into this, I want to say to you that If you could get excited about where you are in the already. You do more to move yourself toward the not yet by instead of by in frustration looking toward the not yet and asking the question, why am I not there yet? Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, the Holy Spirit wrote through Paul to the church at Philippi in

And says this, be anxious for nothing but in everything through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your request be made known unto God. God and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. Now what's the first statement? The first statement is be anxious and then for nothing. But in everything through prayer and supplication, watch this. With thanksgiving. Which is not normally how we pray in anxiety.

We normally pray with panic, and Paul's saying, learn to operate in thanksgiving, even if you're anxious, because it's how the peace of God starts winning the race against your understanding. And understanding is the issue and peace is the breakthrough. So you're either which one's winning the race? I won't tell you which one's winning the race. The one you're focusing on. The thanksgiving or the anxiousness?

All right. Now, these are simple, practical things to do, but I want to go into the depth of some of what I mean when I say Christification. I mean you and I. Have to come to believe in predestination, and have to come to believe that predestination has nothing to do with your eternal post-mortem condition. It has everything to do with the fact that you were hardwired and prewired to look like Jesus.

The recreated man that understands his status as the beloved righteousness of God will begin to effort to look like Jesus in the same way Adam did. Not at all. was created in the image and likeness of God, not based upon his own effort, but based upon his proximity to the one who had given him that image. Literally his job was to keep walking with the one who had pre-designed him to be the image

Of the Father, Son, and Spirit in the earth. Notice the two plural pronouns. Let us, plural, make man in our image. Salah. So what did Adam have to do to be in the image of God? Not a thing. He was made that way. You were remade that way.

Every person in them, whether they've come to a born-again experience or not, already has some measure of the image of God on the inside of them. But crucification is not us being God-like in a generic sense. Follow this. Crucification is us being godlike in a light sense. In the sense that we are carriers of light.

because we are like beings, and when that like being is ac is functioning the way that it was designed to in the area of union, all of a sudden we have the ability to be more than like God in a generic sense. We become like God in a practical sense. And you begin to become agents for other people's breakthrough simply based upon the measure of light you are releasing as a secondary consequence of union. We are light beings whether we want to be or not. Hello?

We are light beings. Scientists have studied this for years. We are beings of light, but what has happened is we've allowed the light to be dimmed by the expectation that we're going to continue to be people of darkness. And many of us go to a church every week where they remind us that we're dark and make it our job to get rid of the darkness. And that's not how light and darkness work. Focusing on darkness doesn't eliminate darkness. Releasing light eliminates darkness.

And because we've not had the necessary measure of light to release, we've become hyper focused on darkness as if darkness is the problem. Oh here we go. As if darkness is the problem and darkness is only the problem because of the absence of light. Therefore what th what is the problem?

The absence of light. If darkness is only a problem because of the absence of light, then it would be easy to focus on the darkness as if the darkness was the issue. And the darkness is not the issue. Darkness has no ontology. Darkness by definition is the absence of light. You can measure light, you can't measure darkness. There's waves to light, not to darkness.

Oh, here we go. So we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna talk a little bit about the movement toward crucification and the danger of preconceptions as to what that process is going to look like. I love this story. I heard Bill Johnson share this story years ago. He said he had people always stand in line in his meetings and want him to pray for them, which I probably would too.

But he has always has people standing in line and wanting to pray for me. He said he has a guy come up to him in line. He goes, I just want you to pray for me. I want a I want a double portion of what's on your life. Bill said, Me too. He said, Me too. If I could have double of what I have, I wouldn't give it to you, cowboy. I'd be operating in it myself. But that's how people want this to work. And especially if you were raised in the charismatic world.

Somebody to give you a word. Somebody to give you confirmation for your breakthrough. Somebody to lay hands on you. Somebody to Huh? What's it gonna take? What's it gonna take? What's it gonna take? It's going to take you trusting that the leaven is working, even if you can't

see it spreading throughout the whole of the loaf of bread. It's gonna trust that the seed is working, even if I don't yet have a tree that the birds of the field can build their nest. I'm just going to trust that this is work. Are you are you hearing this? I'm going to trust that this is working. Now one of the ways we stay there is thanksgiving.

Peter says this, 2 Peter 1.4, before we go into the to the verses we're gonna we're gonna share together. I want to remind you of this quick review. Second Peter 1 4, Peter says that you and I are partakers of the divine nature. Cornonos is the word partaker, and it means a sharer or a companion. We are sharers

Now divine there is that word theos where we get the word God. So we are sharers in the godlike nature. But I want to give you this next word. Tammy told me I did too many Greek words last time, so I'm doing better this time. Nature is fusis, and it means the sum of innate properties and powers by by which one person differs from another. So we are sharers. in the godlike sum of intimate properties and power.

by which one person differs from another. And then here's three words. If you're taking notes, you can write this down. If you go back and listen to it later, you can write it. Well when when we're defining fousis, which is this word nature, it's distinct, native Peculiarities. We are partakers, sharers in godlike, distinct, native peculiarities. What is God like is the great question in theology.

But there's also another side to theology. I spent probably my third and fourth years when I was studying theology, studying something we called negative theology, which is to say what is God not like? What is God like? What is God not like? Both of those are uh catechismic questions. What does that mean? And a catechism is a teaching. If some of you are raised in the Catholic tradition, you know catechism is a teaching by way of asking and answering questions.

That's where they got the idea of what is the chief end of man. And and and the fathers got together and determined that the chief end of man was to glorify God and enjoy him forever. I have changed that. I tell people I don't change the Bible, but I will adjust a creed. I don't believe the chief end of man is simply to glorify God and enjoy him forever. I believe the chief end of man is to be glorious like God until other people can enjoy him forever.

It's to be glorious in the way that God is glorious. That, after all, is the prayer of John seventeen. That's the declaration of John that says, in that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you, and the world will know that Jesus is the sent one of the Father because the way that you and I operate in the area of love.

Now, to see this clearly uh and and the power of how preconceptions can become misconceptions, I want to go to Luke 4. I'm gonna skip ahead a little bit. You and I are sharers in Godlike, distinctive, native peculiarities. And I've been talking some, we're doing this some in our teaching in Canada, I've been talking some about the idea of shifting language away from revival.

And that that offends people, man. I mean good God Almighty. The w is his word's not even in the Bible, but we'll fight for it right now, like like rapture. Another word, not in the Bible. So so so so the idea of revival, revival w well I think there's we have some now we have some preconceptions. And those have become dangerous because we think revival means sinners repeating a prayer at an altar every night of the week.

And that can be a part of revival, sure. But the Orthodox world would not use the term revival simply because by definition, it means to restore lost vitality. Revive to make alive again. That means somebody keeps dying and coming back to life. And it's probably accurate as to what we've had in revival, but it's not work to change the culture. And in order to change the culture, we're going to have to rem move from a dying and coming back to life and calling that season.

It's dangerous. I'm on the mountain, I'm in the valley, I'm I'm you know, it's winter, spring, summer, fall. No, the man who is planted by rivers of living water doesn't have seasons anymore. Remember Psalm one Blessed is a man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in that law does he meditate day and night? He shall be like a tree planted by rivers of living water that brings forth fruit not in its own. Season, that's a poor translation, brings forth fruit in every season, and his leaf never withers, and whatsoever he does prosper.

That sounds like the life we need to sign up for. So we don't settle for seasons. We don't settle for uh dead and alive, dead and alive. And I've I've I've spent too many Previous seasons of my life, probably the first 10 years almost of ministry, I spent somewhere between apathy and zeal. Moments where I touched absolute zeal and moments where I touched absolute apathy, but a lot of moments where I lived in neither one.

Judging myself based on whether I was closer to zeal or apathy. And you can fall into the trap of defining that as normal. But the orthodox term is not revival, the orthodox term is renewal. I beseech you, brethren, therefore, by the mercies of God, Romans 12.1, that you present your bodies as living sacrifices holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Be not conformed to this world.

But be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And I said a couple of weeks ago, last time I spoke here, I said that the renewing of your mind is literally your mind coming to believe what your spirit already knows is true. to the New Living Translation when we get this term that's this beautiful term um to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. The New Living Translation translates that beautifully this way. The New Living Translation says it's not

simply you being renewed in the spirit of your mind. It is the spirit controlling how your mind thinks. That's a little different ballgame. Is the spirit controlling how your mind thinks, or are your circumstances controlling how your mind thinks? Are your five senses controlling how your mind thinks? Or is your spirit controlling how your mind thinks? Because your spirit knows some stuff your mind has got to come to believe.

And if your mind could ever start to believe what your spirit knows to be true, you'll live in this place of being not conformed to the pattern of the world. But transformed by the renewing of your mind. Be not conformed to this world. I don't know how far to go here, but I do want to say this. This this idea of being conformed to the world, again, another terrible translation, the word world. Because we we have to reconcile that that that Jesus loves the world and then tells us not to.

Unless we understand that there are two terms used in the Bible, both translated world. One is Aeon, and it literally means Aegis, plural. The other is cosmos, and that literally means the natural world. So the the idea is be not conformed not to the cosmos, be not conformed to the Aeon. This is big. Be not don't don't share the pattern of the age.

And I want to show you some things tonight about how I believe John got trapped in sharing the pattern of the age, Baptist, and kept him from the renewal that could have caused him to be an unbelievable resource in the advancement of the kingdom of God.

All right. Suke Matizo is that word for conformed. Be not conformed. Suske Matizo. And then the word for Renew is anachinosis, but there's another part of this that's really important. Be not conformed in this world, be transformed. Transformed there is metamorphosis. And do you know metamorpho? Listen to this, is the Greek opposite of the word hamartia, which is the word sin. Sin is failing to evolve. Sin is missing the blueprint that's inviting you into promotion as you become

Through crucification, what it is that you were designed to be. We think of sin always in terms of activity, but how many of you know the activity can be a consequence of where you're not growing? The idle mind place. The place where you're not becoming. It's hard to be who you're not and be becoming who you are.

That's a deep thought. It's hard to be who you're not while becoming who you are. And you're not becoming something other than who you were designed to be. You're becoming more fully who you were ultimately designed to be, and you're Predest. predestined to be conformed metamorpho into that icon. Of the weos of Thaos, of the Son of God. Predestined can form the image of the Son of God. So when we talk about renewal, I want to talk to you about how I m in my opinion, John the Baptist got stuck.

Apostle Aaron shaking his head, yes, that's the confirmation I needed. So that's a I believe John the Baptist got stuck and I want to show you why I believe that is. So go with me to Luke four. Uh let's start in verse sixteen. They got these up on the screen for you. Back who's back there, Noah? It's the man.

Now I'm going to read these slowly, and I want you to think with me. Don't wait for my point. You go ahead and go there on your own. When he came to Nazareth, what's his next words? Where he had been raised. He went into the synagogue as he always did on the Sabbath day. When Jesus came to the front to read the scriptures, they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.

He unrolled the scroll and read where it was written. He's going into Isaiah 61 right now, verse 1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to be hope for the poor, freedom for the brokenhearted, and new eyes for the blind, and to preach to prisoners, you are set free. I have come to share the message of Jubilee. For the time of God's great acceptance has begun. Verse twenty. After he read this, he rolled up the scroll. Now go back to verse 19. Can you do that, Noah?

Look at verse 19 again. This is very, very important. I have come to share the message of Jubilee, for the time of God's great acceptance has begun. Now he rolls up the scroll. After he says this, he rolls up the scroll, handed it back to the minister, and sat down. Everyone stared at Jesus, wondering what he was about to say. Why are they wondering what he's about to say? Because he's quoting Isaiah 61, and he left out their favorite part of the verse.

The day of God's vengeance on his enemies. Jesus stopped in the middle of a verse. And left out their favorite part. And their favorite part was not Jubilee. Go back to verse nineteen. Their favorite part was not the time of God's great acceptance has begun. The time that was we want that part to be us and we want the next part to be about our enemy. So go to Isaiah sixty one. Let's look at verse one. Remember where he stopped, Isaiah sixty one.

Verse 1, the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who are. those who mourn that the time of the Lord's favor has come and with it the day of God's anger against their enemies. You forgot something there, Jesus. And they're staring at him to see what he's going to do.

Because they understood they had a theological commitment to context. And Jesus is messing with the context. Jesus is omitting things from their sacred scripture. Go b go back to Luke four. Oh this stuff's so f I hope you have to teach stuff like this in front of people one day just so you can know what it feels like. Luke chapter four again.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, is a anointed me. Hope for the poor, freedom for the broken hearted, new eyes for the blind, priests or prisoners, you are set free. I have come to share the message of jubilee. For the time of God's great acceptance has begun. Come on, man. After he read this, he rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the minister, and they sat down. Everyone stared at Jesus, wondering what he was about to say. He rolled up the scroll and sat down.

That's what he was about to say. Mic drop. He said, all right, y'all want some more? I'll help you. He added These scriptures came true today in front of you. Everyone was impressed by how well Jesus spoke in all of the beautiful words of grace that came from his lips, but they were surprised at his presumption to speak as a prophet. He wasn't speaking as a prophet. He was reading the scroll of Isaiah, except he was prophetically overriding Isaiah.

Cause he's Jesus. Let me say he's prophetically overriding Isaiah because he's the word of God. They were surprised at his presumption to speak as a prophet, so they said among themselves, Who does he think he is? This is Joseph's son. He grew up here in Nazareth. Jesus said to them, I suppose you'll quote to me the proverb, Doctor, go and heal yourself before you try to heal others. And you'll say, Work the miracles here.

in your hometown that we heard you did in Capernaum, verse 24. But let me tell you, no prophet is welcomed and honored in his own hometown. Now this is where we're going, he's about to tick him off, son. Watch this. Isn't it true that there were many widows in the land of Israel during the days of the prophet Elijah, where he locked up the heavens for three and a half years and brought a devastating famine over all of the land? But he wasn't sent to any of the widows living in that region.

Instead, he was sent to a foreign place to a widow of Zarephath in Sidon. He sent to a Sidonian when there were many Israelites struggling from the famine. Verse 28. No, I'm sorry, verse twenty seven. You're right, you're right. I'm sorry, go back. Yep. Or have you not considered that the prophet Elisha healed only Naaman the Syrian rather than one of the many Jewish lepers living in the land? When everyone present heard these words, they erupted with furious rage. They mobbed Jesus.

and threw him out of the city, dragging him to the edge of the cliff on a hill on which the city had been built, ready to hurl him off. But he walked right through the crowd, leaving them all stunned.

They can't stand that he's going to take their retributive justice away and tell them that the Jubilee is for Naaman too. Who was Naaman? Naaman was the captain of the host of the king of Syria, Israel's great arch enemies. They had just defeated Israel in war. When we find Naaman the leper, they have just defeated Israel in war, and he was the captain of the king's host that helped win the war over Israel, and he took a little Hebrew girl as his personal slave.

And he's got a Hebrew girl who's a prisoner of war living as his personal slave. And she's so filled with the light and love of Yahweh. That she sees him dealing with leprosy and says, I would to God that my Lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. Rather than saying, that's what you deserve.

That's what you get. Leprosy. You should have gotten more than leprosy. Here I am as a prisoner of war. And here she is. Moved with compassion that the man who led the army that not only conquered her land, Paul. And Jesus said, We don't like that story around here. We don't like that story around here.

We like the story where the people we want to get jubilee get jubilee, and the people we want to get retributive justice get retributive justice because we're unwilling to admit that we all deserve retributive justice. We're unwilling to admit that we are no more entitled for breakthrough than she is, and in essence, he's standing there saying, This scripture is fulfilled in your ears, and he's gonna pass by some of you'cause you can't admit you're in a famine.

And he's going to find the people that will admit that they're in a famine. And so who got passed by when the messianic hope finally arrived? the people who had most been studying, praying, believing, and declaring it was going to happen. They're the people that missed him because he did not come to reinforce their biases and tell them your preconceptions are right.

He came to say God's gonna bring Jubilee to the Jew, he's gonna bring Jubilee to the Gentile, He is gonna so offend them by telling the story of the good jihadist, I mean of the good Samaritan. That's what that's the equivalent of. And he doesn't say to them, which one of them do you think was a good guy? He says, which one do you think was a neighbor to him?

It was the man who... who poured in the oil and the wine and carried him to the inn and paid the bill and told the innkeeper, if I've come back and there's more to owe, then I'll pay you more than I paid you when I originally dropped him off. And Jesus is saying, you cannot call that guy bad because he's a Samaritan. We are not going to operate according to those prejudices anymore. And if your preconceived idea is I'm going to come bomb Rome, you're wrong.

I'm not coming like Samson. I'm coming like God. I'm not coming like Gideon, I'm coming like God.

This is tough. I know it's tough. It's hard to hear, but we've got to hear it. Because you've got to understand that Jesus is coming with the full revelation of who the Father is. And Isaiah did not have that. And it's not Isaiah's fault. Isaiah's not supposed to have that. He didn't have Jesus yet, but we do. And we need to begin to think in terms of what God is like exclusively by looking through the lens of Jesus.

Exclusively by looking at people through the lens of Jesus and understanding first of all that we are exclusively viewed by the Father through the lens of Jesus. What a breakthrough, huh? What a breakthrough. So let's let's now let's get to this John the Baptist part of this. You saw what we've got there, Luke 4, Isaiah 61, Jesus leaves out retributive justice and then goes on to tell them God's going to use some of your enemies in this story.

If he did it under an inferior covenant before the manifestation of the Christ, he's going to certainly do it under a superior covenant with the manifestation of the Christ. And some of the people you think are most positioned to receive this.

are not going to receive it, and some of the people you think are least positioned to receive it are the very people that are going to receive it. And he's going to make the last the first and the first the last. And some of your whole problem is you think you're first. And he said, no, we're going to do this with the last being first. I'll show you three different occasions in the scripture where people talk about greatness and 100% of the time Jesus brings a child into the story.

Wow. He said, you want to know what greatness looks like? First of all, let's quit flexing our maturity and let's re let's just recover childlike wonder because greatness in the kingdom of God is the one who's still dancing all over the room even though been serving God for 30 years.

Still can't wait to get in the room, still chewing at the opportunity, uh uh chomping at the bit to get in the presence of God tonight, because you can't stop saying thank you for the lifestyle he's given you. That's what maturity looks like. Maturity doesn't look like apathy. Maturity looks like renewal that never stopped.

Now let's look at John the Baptist a little bit. This is gonna be fun. For me. I don't know how well you're liking it, but it's Let's start And I'm gonna give you some verses, Noah, that I didn't give you, but you're back there, you the man. Not because of gaming, I'm sorry I mentioned that. That's not true. We wouldn't have let Aaron marry you if that was a story. Matt Matthew chapter three. Look at Matthew chapter three, verse two.

Watch how fast he is on this. It fascinates me. It takes me half an hour to do a text, I ain't gonna lie. And then it's probably not gonna be right, and I'm gonna have to do the asterisk thing next to several words that I did wrong. These are words of John the Baptist. Go back to verse one if you don't mind, Noah. It was at that time that that John the Baptizer began to preach in

The desert of Judah. His message was this, the realm of heaven's kingdom is about to appear, so you'd better keep turning away from evil and turn back to God. First person to ever preach the kingdom was not Jesus. The first person to ever preach the kingdom was John the Baptist. We in the New Testament get introduced to the word metanoia to change the way that you think through this man, John the Baptist. And I wish his story stopped with

Him standing in the waters of Jordan, pointing his finger, saying, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. I I I I wish that his story stopped there, but we have to be honest and go to Luke chapter seven. Let's look at Luke seven. We'll begin in verse eighteen. I'll just I'm going to talk to you again tonight. We're talking about the danger of missing

Of preconceptions becoming misconceptions. John's disciples reported to him in prison all about the wonderful miracles and the works Jesus was doing. Why is John the Baptist in prison? John the Baptist is in prison because he confronted Herod over an illegal marriage to a woman named Herodias. Herodias was the wife of Herod's brother Philip. So Herod has a brother named Philip. Supreme political ruler in in this Herod has a brother named Philip who has a wife named Herodias.

Because of Herod's political position, he goes in by authority and takes his sister-in-law to be his wife. John the Baptist confronts him over it. John the Baptist is in jail. Watch verse 19. So John dispatched two of his disciples when, after hearing about all the glorious things Jesus was doing.

probably not guessing that being the forerunner that was called to be the voice in the wilderness declaring, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, probably didn't think that was ending with him in jail. So he's in jail. He dispatches two of his disciples to go inquire of Jesus. When they came before the Master, they asked him, Are you the coming Messiah we've been expecting?

Or are we to continue to look for someone else? John the prophet has sent us to you to seek your answer. Now, John, you're the one. Who said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? You made the announcement. You were the heavenly validation. that was sent to declare, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. According to John one, I think about verse thirty three. John had received a message that said this.

Spirit descend and remain. He's the one that you're to baptize. He is going to be the messianic hope for Israel. He sees that happen. He says, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. He sees the Spirit descend on Jesus like a dove and remain. He baptizes Jesus.

The sky splits, the heavens rip apart is what the word literally means in Greek. And the audible voice of the Father says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I find my highest pleasure, or whom my soul finds its highest pleasure. And now John Is dealing with preconceptions that are bringing about misconceptions, and he is questioning things he knew to be true before he had to ask the question in jail.

And when circumstances don't work out the way they thought we thought that they would, those preconceptions can turn into misconceptions. And you've got to guard yourself against developing misconceptions. It's it's it's so interesting to watch the people. go through the process of relocating because we've gone through that process ourselves. And we all kind of have this thought in our mind because we've radically obeyed God

and move to Mobile, Alabama, then all of a sudden life is going to be absolutely amazing and we're not going to have any problems and the the marital conflict we had when we lived, you know, in Mississippi doesn't translate all across the line. We're we're nine miles away from Mississippi. It might can move that far. You know what I mean? And so you think it's it's the magic thing where everything gets fixed, and those are preconceptions that people have.

The preconceptions that people carry that if you're not careful, a disappointment concerning things you preconceived can actually then become misconceptions. And now you've got John questioning what John really knows.

And he says to him, he says, this is the question. Isn't this fascinating? Before we get to the question, let me ask this. Who in the world wants to be a disciple of John now that John told us who Jesus is? I don't think John ought to have any disciples. I think John should have become one. Well that's good.

Disciples of John, do you know when G when John says behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world it says some of John's disciples left and started following Jesus? What do you other jokers do? Unless they're glad somebody moves so maybe they can have a higher position in the army that means nothing. You'd be the head of the group doing nothing. Congratulations. But this is a mindset that people have and you're going, Why does John have any disciples? This is the Lamb of God.

who takes away the sin of the entire world. I'm thinking, John, you first climb out of the water, quit your little baptizing thing you've been doing, and follow the guy who you said, I baptize you with water, but he'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. You're staying over here in the water, John, and there's water there's fire that you could be being baptized in, but it'll make you have to deal with your preconceptions.

John Jesus hears word. Listen to this. Jesus hears word that people are saying Jesus is drawing greater crowds than John. And you know what Jesus does? He disappears into the wilderness. 'Cause he said, I'm not getting in that race. But I don't think John ever got out of it. And now here John is

I believe he's offended, this is my personal opinion, I believe John is offended over the subversive way in which Jesus is bringing the kingdom. John had preconceptions about what Jesus bringing the kingdom would look like. His winnowing fork is gonna be in his hand.

So what he's gonna do, is this stuff going on at Herod, Jesus is gonna fix that. And then Jesus is not talking about Herod at all. Jesus is hanging out at a well all day to talk to one woman who had such a horrible reputation she couldn't even go draw water with the rest of the ladies in town. That's what Jesus was gonna be doing. Jesus was gonna be washing feet.

and suffering little children to come unto him. Jesus wasn't going to be fixing everything that needed to be straightened out in Israel. And Jesus was not going to come and break the oppressive back of Rome. Jesus was not coming with political power and I think John wanted Jesus to come with political power and Jesus is not coming to bring breakthrough the way Judah Maccabees did and Jesus is not coming

to bring breakthrough the way Gideon did, and Jesus is not coming to bring breakthrough the way Samson did. Jesus is coming to bring breakthrough the way God wanted breakthrough to be brought. And God wanted Jesus to come like a lamb with a dove on him. And who's afraid of a lamb with a dove on them? What happens when your preconceptions become misconceptions?

And I thought he was gonna deal with it this way and he's dealing with it that way. I thought he was gonna take that person and deal with them and instead he's teaching me to wash their feet. How many of us have wanted him to do things by way of force with everybody but us? Show mercy to me and retributive justice to them. Yeah, but I didn't do what they did. I'm sorry, friend, that's not how it works. Jesus brings this thinking aspect in that overrides just our commitment to behavior.

Don't commit adultery. He said a man that looks at a woman as to desire her has already committed adultery in his heart. Therefore there probably few more adulterers in the room, me included. Let all the men go silent. He said you you you all you had was don't commit murder. That's easy. But if you say raka in your heart and you have hatred toward a brother, it's the same thing. So there might be some more murderers in the room than any of us would like to admit. Just ask me during traffic.

Thank you. Do we want Jesus to do things the Jesus way or do we want Jesus to come do things the American way? We won't we have a listen to this, I'm gonna make this statement. This you can be tough to hear, but I want you to hear it. We have a non-militaristic messiah. Sorry. And we would love for him to come set things right, and I'm telling you, he is setting things right.

by sending you and I like light and love into the darkness to begin to see things turn not through military power, but through the greatest power measurable in the universe, divine love. That's not listen, as a dude, this is not how I want it to work. I'm not big into leavening dough. I like the eighty second airborne thing.

I'm being honest with you. I like the 82nd Airborne thing. I like Jesus to come, set everything right. And that's what John wanted him to do. And John wanted him to come and set everything right. And I think this is what John wanted. I think John expected Jesus to become a vibrational match for the spirit of his age. And Jesus was coming to be a vibrational match of the ancient of days. Jesus was not there to deal with Rome. Jesus was there to reveal his father.

Jesus is not there to deal with Herod's infidelity. Jesus is there to reveal the Father. And if Herod would let the spirit of repentance come, it could bring transformation by way of Jesus. But the problem is we do not currently have a big enough Jesus to allow Jesus to do what only Jesus can do. And Jesus wants to do a lot of this through you and I becoming like Jesus, which is that process of crucification.

Are y'all hangin'? You good? Let me give you a little bit more and we'll pray or sing or dance or something.

Let's go a little further in Luke 7. Let me just go a little bit further. When they came before the Master, they asked him, Are you the coming Messiah we've been expecting? Or are we to continue to look for someone else? John the prophet has sent us to you to seek your answer. I'd been nervous to ask that question. I ain't gonna lie. John, you know, I'm not doing I'm not your disciple anymore, John. Verse twenty two only then did Jesus.

Well no I'm sorry, verse twenty one. I'm sorry, I keep skipping ahead. Without answering Jesus turned to the crowd. and healed many of their incurable diseases. His miracle power freed many from their suffering. He restored the gift of sight to the blind, and he drove out demonic spirits from those who were tormented. Only then, after doing all of that, did Jesus answer the question posed by John's disciples.

Now go back and tell John what you have just seen and heard here today. The blind are now seeing, the crippled are now walking, those who were lepers are now cured. Those who were deaf are now hearing. Those who were dead are now raised back to life. The poor and the broken are given the hope of salvation. And tell John these words, the blessing of heaven comes upon those who never lose their faith in me no matter what happens.

Then we get this weird transition. Jesus turns away from John's disciples, and he turns to the crowd, and he asks the crowd, What did you go out into the wilderness to see? What? Did you go out into the wilderness to see a reed shaken in the wind? What did you go out into the wilderness to see a man dressed in five raiment fine raiment? No, I tell you those who are dressed in fine clothes lives in kings houses. What did you go out into the wilderness to see a voice?

A prophet, yes I say to you, a prophet, a voice, never has there been a man born of women greater than John, yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than him. Least is the Greek word micros. The most microscopic person in the kingdom of God is greater than John. I wanna close tonight with this thought. John announced a kingdom he was incapable of entering himself because of his preconceptions.

And many have announced the outpouring of the Spirit, and they're going to be the very ones that are going to miss the outpouring of the Spirit, because the outpouring of the Spirit is going to come like a lamb with a dove on it, not like taking over the woke agenda. Not by hating liberals and homosexuals.

That's not how the breakthrough is going to come. And many who have announced that we're going to enter into this great outpouring of the Spirit are going to be the very people that are going to miss it. And they're going to miss it because like John, they had preconceived ideas as to what this was going to look like.

And Jesus is not gonna bow down to our preconceptions, and our preconceptions are in danger of becoming misconceptions, and we're gonna miss that love is going to rule the day. And the next great outpouring of the Spirit. is going to be driven by people who are so lamb-obsessed.

That's going to be led by people who are so lamb-obsessed that the message is not about black and white. The message is not about right and left. The message is not about liberal and conservative. The message is about the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sin of the world. I know how unpopular that may be, but it doesn't stop it from being true. Think about this. Think about this thought. Think about this thought. John failed to repent. And John got offended that Jesus wouldn't repent.

John wanted Jesus to repent and believe John's gospel. But John was going to be required to repent and believe Jesus' gospel.

We've got to be careful that we're not trying to Make Jesus into what we would like Jesus to be in order to reinforce our biases. Jesus did not come on the scene to reinforce the biases of John. The gospel did not come on the scene to reinforce the biases of John. The kingdom was not about reinforcing the biases of John, and neither is Jesus or his kingdom or his gospel on the scene to reinforce our biases.

The kingdom, Jesus and his gospel is on the earth to announce to the world that the price has been paid. The atonement has been accomplished, and now they get the beauty of being able to come. Find the face of the Father revealed in the person of Jesus. And this is better news than we ever could have imagined in a million lifetimes. But it's going to make us repent. It's gonna make us repent.

The spirit of the age. I want a second boy this. Let me think about this for a set. I don't do that very often. The spirit of the age. The spirit of the age is that it's perfectly fine. For you to have the wrong spirit if you're on the right side. That's the spirit of the age. As long as you're right on the issues, it matters little to nothing the way you treat people that are not in agreement with you on the issue.

And I want to say to you, as Christ followers, we're going to have to pour oil and wine on Samaritans. As Christ followers, this I hate this, but it is true. As Christ followers, we're going to have to wash Judas's feet. If Jesus could stoop down and wash the feet of a betrayer and a traitor, then you and I, whether we want to hear it or not, are not going to get to clept that course because Jesus did it for us. If we're gonna say yes to Christification, then it's gonna be yes to humble

service. It's gonna be yes to turning the other cheek. It's gonna be yes to giving up our right to see retributive justice. It's gonna be you and I saying yes to the ways of love. regardless of how contrary that may be to the way we've been raised and to the spirit of our age, we are going to get to match the spirit of Christ in our age, not throw Christ out to match the spirit of the age.

Amen, brother. I I I say this on such a regular basis, but Only the Lord would have us preach this in Alabama. Only the genius of the Lord. The Holy Spirit's genius is to come right to the place on the planet. That most feels justified in treating people any way we want to as long as we're on the right side of the issues. You're gonna have to be pro-life with the right spirit. You're gonna have to want to see immigration reform with the right spirit.

You're gonna have to weep over wars in the Middle East taking people's lives, even if it's not the side that you want to win that might be losing some of the lives. Because war sucks.

Feel it. I'm I'm gonna let you sit with this. This is big. This is stuff that's happening on the inside of me. And I'm I'm I'm becoming too pro-Jesus. To be anti everybody else. And I think if we're s considering ourselves pro Jesus and we're still anti everybody that doesn't

Think like us, dress like us, talk like us, walk like us, and go to church at ten o'clock AM Sunday morning Central Standard Time once a week, then we've got to back up and begin to ask ourselves who's our model and who's the standard. Standard is Yeshua. There's a lamb with a dove on him. And he's asking you and I if we'd like to live like lambs, but it doesn't mean he's weak. He saved the world.

John the Baptist missed the kingdom. when preconceptions became misconceptions. And the man who made the announcement Is a very man who missed the kingdom. The first person here, let me remind you of this, and we'll close. The first person in the New Testament to use the word kingdom was John the Baptist, not Jesus. And Jesus says the least in the kingdom that he announced is greater than him because he announced something he wasn't permitted to enter into.

I used to get all these prophetic words about being John the Baptist. I mean I was barefoot with dreadlocks preaching. I'm probably gonna get a John the Baptist prophetic word. You don't you don't even have to be dialed in to the right station to get that one. Uh tattoos and dreadlocks and barefoot and screaming and yelling and hollering and

And so people would go, You're John the Baptist and I start reading that story and I go, Oh now, well You know, that whole getting your head cut off thing at somebody's birthday party'cause this chick was dancing, I don't just don't know if that's really how I'd like for my story to turn out. But religion will turn you into a martyr. When Jesus is trying to help you have life and life more abundantly. And the abundance of your life and the joy of your life and the

sweetness of your marriage and the glory of the relationship you have with your children and your friends and what God's doing in the earth. I'm telling you I'm seeing love change people in such a way that I'm going what what what determination couldn't do, what discipline couldn't do, what what what what spirituality couldn't do, what what what what memorizing another Bible verse couldn't do. All of a sudden the love of God comes in and begins to soften.

our hearts and move us into such a place of renewal that we begin to become agents of that transformation in the culture around us. You feeling this tonight? You hearing this? Is this helping you? So here's here's Here's where I think the Father has us. I think principally where the Father has us is such. A Christocentricity. Such a Christ centered existence. They begin to sing about it.

Tonight, I guess, I don't know if it's spontaneous or what begins this is you're our focus. You're the it all revolves around you, our you're our focus. It all revolves around. All of a sudden what happens then is you and this is what's happening in my own life. I become so Jesus obsessed. That I stop using Christians and/or Christian leaders as the chief model of what it looks like to be a Christian.

That's big. And all of a sudden I don't get to go Now, there is biblical precedent for somebody becoming so like Jesus that they're able to, like Paul, say, imitate me. As I imitate him. But there is no biblical precedent for saying, imitate me as I imitate Christian culture. If they're not imitating Christ, they're not worth imitating.

And we become so Christ centered and so Christ focused and we're singing about Jesus and we're dancing about Jesus and every service I'm having to buy more communion. So have start having communion delivered by the pilot. Cảm ơn các bạn đã theo dõi và hẹn gặp lại. Costco needs to start carrying these communion cups.

We can go in there and get a pallet load on a flatbed truck once a week. So it's uh just and everybody's Jesus, it's Jesus, it's Jesus, it's Jesus, it's Jesus. And what's happening is we're going, it's Jesus, oh that sounds right. Doesn't every church believe that? And you're going In what way do you believe it? Do you believe it unto it becoming leavened that transforms you?

Do you believe Jesus until Jesus becomes the seed that makes you the tree that the birds of the field can come build their nest in? Because you've been established in the love of God by way of having an encounter with the person of Jesus. There are just certain nights we just teach, and this is just one of those nights. Just one of those nights. Thank you. Great. I can see John the Baptist. Knocking on Herod's door. Jesus is not gonna straighten this out, I will.

I don't like the way Jesus is using his winnowing fork. I don't like this subversive servant spirituality. So Jesus, you do it that way if you want to, but I'm gonna do it this way. And that's how we got in the mess we're in, by saying, Jesus, you can do it that way, but this is the way that we're gonna do it, because by God, we're American. You don't even use the A, just Americans.

And I'm looking and I'm going, how are we going to have the impact we were intended to have on the culture by being Americans? We never were called to have an impact on the culture by representing America. We're supposed to have an impact on the culture by representing the kingdom of God who has a king whose name is Jesus. And Jesus is Lord and Jesus is king and he's inviting you on a journey that moves us away.

from self-deception and self-centeredness and believing that we are right because this is the way we were raised and we are right because we can find other people who think this way and we're gonna say, no, no, no. My only template for life is Jesus. My only template for marriage is G it's so clear. Love your wife like Christ loves the church. The template for marriage is a man who wasn't married.

He will be. Right? And you go, but the template for that is no bring Jesus into this and raise your children. Jesus didn't have any children. Well, Or did he? Is not everybody in the room? The offspring of the one who became the progenator of a new race who's the firstborn among many brethren. So here we go. We look at this, we go.

to have such a high Christology that out of that Christology we begin to go through this reform and what we believe it looks like to be a Christ follower. And I think we've made this mistake and I'm gonna close. I think we've made this mistake. I think that we've been Boy y'all were quiet tonight, I tell you. We've been followers of John the Baptist and say that's pretty close.

And I'm saying this to you. Once John the Baptist tells us who Jesus is, we need to get off the John the Baptist train and we need to get on the Jesus train. Let that hit your spirit the way it needs to hit your spirit. I'm not a disciple of Elijah, I'm a disciple of Jesus.

I had this thought numerous times over the years. I'll share this to you, share this with you. I'm not going to do any music or anything. I just think we did what did what the Lord asked us to do tonight. These nights are good. When we have nights where we don't teach and we just lay on the floor, it's spiritual. Don't make these nights less spiritual. Right? These are important too. I ha I have a conviction that the greatest warrior in the history of the Bible's name is Esther.

Because she's the only person in the history of the Bible to single handedly stop a Holocaust. And she did not do it by might or by force, she did it through intimacy with the king. She had a yes vál. Samson, no razor, no dead thing, no strong drink. I was what is she doing? How are you warring over there, Esther? I'm soaking in these spices.

until I so capture the attention of the king that I can ask him for whatever I want and he'll give it to me. Have we failed to miss that maybe the greatest warrior in the history of Israel was just a woman who so captured The heart of the king, that the king would give her anything she asked for. You and I are so capturing the heart of the king that he's saying to you, what would you like to see happen in the homeless community?

in in the Tillman's Corner area right here where I planted you. What would you like to see come out of this? What would you like for your children? What would you like for Legacy Academy? What would you like for Union University? What would you like in the marriages that are reflected in this culture? What would you like to see start happening in the earth? You have so captured my heart, not because you're militant about being on the right.

the right side, but because you're passionate about intimacy with the king. And I'll I'll say this to you, it requires very little repentance for me to think like a American man requires very little repentance. For m lit no, I'm just telling you, for me to think like a red-blooded individualistic American capitalist takes no repentance.

But the kingdom requires repentance. It starts with repentance, and it's making us rethink some things and coming to be people who trust the frequency of love more than we trust the power of sword. Amen. Father, we thank you tonight that your word is spirit and it is life to us. I thank you, Father, that you're making men of war, men of peace. I thank you, Lord, that we will be peacemakers. I thank you, Father, that you're causing us to be people who are so conditioned by your love.

so conditioned by your word, so conditioned by the truth of who you are, that everything about who we are begins to change in light of the beauty of who we know Jesus Christ to be. Jesus We're seeing you. And in you we're seeing the Father. Holy Spirit, we ask you to continue to be Lord in such a way that you pull back all of the veil from our eyes so that we can see Jesus as Jesus actually is.

Let the seeds of reform begin to come forth, even out of this small family in Mobile, where people, Father, you hear me say this to you all the time, where people sow begin to experience the love of Jesus. that their personalities begin to transform, that their opinions begin to transform, that their Lord, that their biases begin to be transformed into your intention and your design.

Thank you for being patient with me, Lord. Thank you for being patient with us in this journey of becoming like you. But I'm seeing you, and I don't want anything else. I'm seeing you and I don't want to be anything else. I'm seeing you and I don't want another definition of strength. I'm seeing you and I don't want another definition of right. I'm seeing you and I don't want another definition of truth. Jesus, you are the way, you are the truth, you are the light.

We thank you for this. In the awesome name of Yeshua. What a night, huh? Amen. We bless you. We love you. We'll see you Tuesday morning at prayer. Tuesday prayer 9 to 11.