Sermon

Reality Within - Kingdom Love with Pastor Mike Krulick

Anchor Faith Church

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  1. Tonight I want to talk to you about reality within Kingdom

  2. love. Reality within Kingdom love.

  3. If you have your hard copy Bible or your digital instrument, go

  4. ahead and turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1.

    Ephesians 1 chapter mention

  5. But it's important that you follow along.

  6. I'm going to help you tonight with some Bible reading.

  7. We're going to read a whole chapter so you can almost maybe

  8. check off something on your on your Bible reading plane.

  9. We're going to read Ephesians 1 the whole chapter and I'm going

  10. to give you a focal point as we read.

  11. So before I take off in this, I want to go and define one word.

  12. And I want you to see this word as we read through Ephesians

    Ephesians 1 chapter mention

  13. chapter 1. So we're going to be looking for

  14. the word in in. All right, Everybody say in so

  15. we know what word, what word we're looking for.

  16. OK, I'm reading from the New King James Version.

  17. I do want to define this. The word in means this.

  18. It denotes a fixed position, a fixed position in place, time or

  19. state. It also means of those with whom

  20. someone is in near connection, an intimate union, one not

  21. oneness in mind, heart and purpose.

  22. So when we are in something there, that means there's an

  23. intimate connection, intimate union, there's oneness in heart,

  24. mind and purpose and we're in a fixed position when you're in

  25. something, say in. So let's launch out from

  26. Ephesians chapter 1. It says Paul, an apostle of

    Ephesians 1 chapter mention

  27. Jesus Christ. By the will of God to the Saints

  28. who are in Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace

  29. to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus

  30. Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of

  31. our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed, blessed us with every

  32. spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just

  33. as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we

  34. should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having

  35. predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself,

  36. according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of

  37. the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the

  38. beloved. In Him we have redemption

  39. through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according

  40. to the riches of His grace, which He has made a bound toward

  41. us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the

  42. mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He

  43. purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of

  44. times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ,

  45. both which are in heaven and which are on the earth in Him.

  46. In Him we also have obtained inheritance, being predestined

  47. according to the purpose of Him who works out all things

  48. according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted

  49. in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

  50. In Him You also, after you trusted her, the word of truth,

  51. the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed, you

  52. were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee

  53. of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased

  54. possession to the praise of His glory.

  55. Therefore I also after heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus

  56. Christ and your love for all the Saints.

  57. I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you

  58. in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the

  59. Father glory may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation,

  60. and the knowledge of Him. The odds of our understanding

  61. being enlightened, that we may know what is the hope of His

  62. calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in

  63. the Saints, and what is exceeding greatness of His power

  64. toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty

  65. power, which He worked in Christ, when He raised him from

  66. the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly

  67. places, far above, far above all principality and power, and

  68. might and dominion, in every name that is named, not only

  69. this age, but also in the one to come.

  70. He's put all things under His feet and gave Him to behead over

  71. all thanks to the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him

  72. who fills All in all. I want to key in on to launch

  73. out on Ephesians chapter one verse #7 it's one of the verses

  74. that we read within that chapter.

  75. It says in whom? In whom we have redemption

  76. through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to

  77. the riches of his, of his grace. Thank God we are redeemed.

  78. Thank God for the blood that's on the Mercy sea.

  79. Redemption is deliverance from the penalty of sin and

  80. transgression. Redemption is the recalling of

  81. captives and sinners from captivity.

  82. Through the payment of the ransom, the death of Christ.

  83. Was the ransom what Christ paid to release us from slavery of

  84. sin? There's deliverance and

  85. redemption. There's freedom and and

  86. redemption. Jesus paid the ransom for us.

  87. A ransom is money or the price that is paid to redeem a

  88. prisoner or slave for goods captured by an enemy.

  89. And he can. Restore us to liberty and to the

  90. original owner. Amen.

  91. We are redeemed. Say I'm redeemed.

  92. Say I'm redeemed. Redeem means you've been bought

  93. back. What Adam lost through

  94. disobedience in the fall and death passed to all men.

  95. There had to be a payment made, and on our own merit, on our own

  96. works, on our own effort, we could not match that payment for

  97. eternal life or relationship. With the Lord Jesus Christ,

  98. there's only one person. Who could have paid that price

  99. and who did pay that price to liberate us?

  100. Listen, we were in shackles because the Bible says whatever

  101. you has dominion over you is what you're slave to.

  102. If you go to Romans chapter 6 and when you're in

    Romans 6 chapter mention

  103. unrighteousness, you're a slave to unrighteousness because you

  104. don't have the nature. It hasn't been released or

  105. regenerated or born again to serve the Christ.

  106. And so a payment had to be made and that payment was made

  107. through Jesus Christ. And so I'm going to give you a

  108. few scriptures just to back this up.

  109. In first Peter chapter 1 verses verses 18 and 19, it says

    1 Peter 1 chapter mention

  110. knowing that you were not redeemed with the corruptible

  111. things like silver or gold, doesn't matter how much money

  112. you have in the earth or how much means you have in the

  113. earth, you cannot with that means buy your way out of

  114. slavery and sin. You are not redeemed with

  115. corruptible things, but we are redeemed with the precious blood

  116. of Christ, a lamb without blemish and without spot.

  117. Galatians chapter 3 verse #13 Galatians chapter 3 verse #13

    Galatians 3 chapter mention Galatians 3 chapter mention

  118. says Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having

  119. became a curse for us. For it is written cursed as

  120. everyone who hangs on a tree. He took on the curse for us and

  121. now we're blessed. Say I'm blessed because of

  122. Jesus. Say I'm blessed because of

  123. Jesus, because of his payment, the curse has been released.

  124. He freed us from the penalty of sin and the power of sin.

  125. I'll say it again, He, he released us from the penalty of

  126. sin, and his blood also released us from the power of sin.

  127. As a new creation believer, you don't have to be dominated by

  128. sin. You can live a holy life set

  129. apart to God. Let me say you should, you

  130. should, you should. You should be grateful every day

  131. when you wake up that his blood is on the mercy seat.

  132. If Cain's blood speaks from the ground, how much more does Jesus

  133. blood still speak today? It says free, delivered, healed,

  134. whole. We were guilty, we were guilty,

  135. death passed on to all men and we had the sentence upon us.

  136. It's just like in the natural somebody committed murder, there

  137. is a penalty according to our laws within this country,

  138. correct? And you go before a judge and

  139. that judge determines a sentence.

  140. It could be life, it could be the death penalty.

  141. But whoever committed that crime, they found them guilty

  142. because of the verdict, right? The facts, the circumstances

  143. actually took place and the only way they're going to get out

  144. though, naturally speaking, if somebody could take their place.

  145. And that's what Jesus did. It was like we were in prison

  146. for life. We're on death row and Jesus

  147. said, listen, I'm going to come into the prison for you.

  148. I'm going to open the gate because the price had to be

  149. paid. God just didn't wink at it, just

  150. didn't let excuse it, just didn't let it go.

  151. He sent his son and said I'm going to satisfy justice 'cause

  152. nobody deserved to die. Somebody died.

  153. Now that there's got to be the penalty's got to be passed on to

  154. somebody. So every morning when you wake

  155. up, you can think, man, he set me free.

  156. I was in prison, so to speak, in slavery.

  157. But he opened up the door and I can come out and I can live for

  158. him. So legally we've been redeemed.

  159. Colossians chapter 1 verses #14 says in whom Jesus, this is from

    Colossians 1 chapter mention

  160. the Amplified Bible in whom we have redemption because of his

  161. sacrifice resulting in the forgiveness of sins and the

  162. cancellation of sins penalty. He forgave sin but also

  163. cancelled the penalty of sin. So because of the redemption,

  164. the blood of Christ will redeem from the power and penalty of

  165. sin. And now we can live before Him

  166. in a holy, righteous, pleasing, obedient way that glorifies His

  167. name. In Galatians chapter 4 verse #5

    Galatians 4 chapter mention

  168. the word says this. Jesus redeemed those who were

  169. under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons.

  170. He redeemed those that were under the law that we may be

  171. adopted as sons, not only to redeem us from the penalty of

  172. sin, the power of the sin. Not only did he justify us and

  173. impute his nature to us, but He also positioned us to be a son

  174. and daughter of the King. Oh, if we could get a hold of

  175. this as a church body. Some think it's it's good enough

  176. that he just paid for the penalty of sin.

  177. Others understand that He's released me from the power of

  178. sin, but He's also positioned me because of His redemption, to be

  179. a son or a daughter of the King. I think our prayer needs to be,

  180. Father, help me to think like the son or daughter of a king.

  181. Get Me Out of stinking, thinking, slavery mentality.

  182. I'm not a victim. I'm not a victim, Hallelujah.

  183. I'm not from the wrong side of the tracks.

  184. I have the DNA of the Lord Jesus Christ on the inside of me.

  185. I have the genealogy of a thoroughbred, a champion of all

  186. champions. I'm in the bloodline of Christ.

  187. Whatever MyHeritage was before, it ceased, and now I'm in his

  188. line, in his genealogy, and I can take his name.

  189. I'm in Christ, I'm positioned, I'm in intimate union with him.

  190. I'm near to Him. I'm in oneness of mine heart and

  191. purpose. That's the legal side of being

  192. in Him. Legally speaking, you've been

  193. redeemed. Legally speaking, the penalty's

  194. been paid. Legally speaking, the power of

  195. sin has been broken over your life.

  196. Legally speaking, you've been positioned and destined to be

  197. adopted as a child of the King. But are you living it out

  198. vitally, 'cause there is a legal side and there's a vital side,

  199. there's a legal side and there's a vital side, and the vital side

  200. means there's actually life. You're actually experiencing the

  201. truth of the Word of God. Let me give you this example.

  202. In a marriage covenant, legally you could be wed legally.

  203. You could be married legally if you're a man in the Kingdom,

  204. Hallelujah. In the Kingdom, if you're born a

  205. man, you marry a woman that was born a woman, Hallelujah.

  206. And Lee, that's legal in the Kingdom of God, right?

  207. And she could take your name. So legally you've been wed, but

  208. vitally, is their life in that relationship?

  209. I'll put it this way, you can have a relationship, but

  210. vitally, you may not be having some fellowship.

  211. Let me put it this way. Legally you could have a house,

  212. but vitally you don't have a home because you're not in the

  213. Word and vitally applying it to your life.

  214. I'll say it this way, you're not experiencing God's best because

  215. you're not actually staying in. Don't vacillate.

  216. Don't straddle the fence at a men's meeting.

  217. I'd say if you straddle the fence and you fall, that would

  218. hurt. Hallelujah.

  219. In Revelation, he said don't be lukewarm.

  220. Be all in be hot for Christ, right on a on a team, a sports

  221. team or even on a work team, you could be legally employed.

  222. You could be legally on a team, right, but you may not have all

  223. the buy in vitally. Some of the best teams that have

  224. gone on sports teams to accomplish the most in the year

  225. have a thing called chemistry or buy in.

  226. And some of the worst teams, even though they're legally on

  227. the team, they're not all in vitally and they're more about

  228. themselves than they are about the team.

  229. And therefore they're not experiencing the success that

  230. they should be having. So my goal tonight is to bring

  231. the legal side and the vital side and have us walk this thing

  232. out all in because this is in Christ realities, in Christ

  233. realities. There are so many in Christ

  234. realities. I'm just going to hone in on one

  235. tonight that's going to be staying in love.

  236. But I could talk about being in confession, in forgiveness,

  237. right in meditation, in giving. I could talk about all these

  238. different in Christ realities. Are you doing them vitally, even

  239. though the legal side's already there because he came to give

  240. you life and to give it to you more abundantly legally, that's

  241. done now vitally, if you want to experience it, you better learn

  242. how to walk it out, elbow your neighbor and say walk it out,

  243. elbow the one on the other side. What say walk it out?

  244. So these are in Christ realities and truth and reality are

  245. synonymous. Reality means the state of

  246. things as they actually exist. You know, reality shows are not

  247. reality. I'll say it again, reality TV

  248. shows are not reality. Something happens when they turn

  249. on that camera. It's not reality.

  250. It's called a show put on. Amen.

  251. So reality's a state of things as they actually exist, or what

  252. actually happened, or what the actual situation is.

  253. It means real. So truth and reality are

  254. synonymous. Real means it's true, it's

  255. genuine. It's not artificial.

  256. It's not genetically modified. I'll go to Romans 1, which my

  257. wife has quoted this several times.

  258. It's talking about, you know, the reprobate mind and they gave

  259. themselves over, they serve the creature more than the creator.

  260. They didn't really serve reality.

  261. They didn't serve the genuine. They serve the art of they say

  262. were serving the artificial. They were serving the

  263. genetically modified. And God said he gave them over

  264. to reprobate mind. And it says that the women left

  265. the natural use and we're with other women.

  266. Men did the same thing. One translation of this in

  267. Romans 125 says for they exchanged the reality of God for

  268. the unreal. So John 14, six, we know this

  269. one. It says I am the way, the truth

  270. and the life. I could say this way.

  271. I could say this way. He's the way, the reality and

  272. the life. Because truth and reality are

  273. synonymous. It's genuine, it's authentic,

  274. it's real. John 1613 says when he the

  275. spirit of truth, I could say the spirit of reality has come.

  276. He will guide us into all reality or all truth.

  277. He wants you to be in Christ and have that reality of who you

  278. are. In that truth, in that reality,

  279. are you with me? The human heart cannot find no

  280. reality outside of the man Jesus Christ.

  281. The new creation is real. Our fellowship with the Father

  282. is real. Now I'm going to give you a

  283. couple examples from the word of two different people and then

  284. we're going to get in the Kingdom love.

  285. But I want to kind of set the context to get you to buy all in

  286. because my prayer is when you leave tonight, we just don't

  287. have a good message, but we actually apply this to our lives

  288. and any adjustments. Anything's we anything we need

  289. to correct anything we need to be in more.

  290. Let's get there. You need to make the choice.

  291. Your friend can't do it for you. Your spouse can't do it for you.

  292. You need to choose to be in Christ, not just legally, but

  293. vitally, and walk this thing out to experience God's best in his

  294. plan and his pathway for your life.

  295. So let's look at the life of Peter first in Pete, Peter in

  296. Matthew chapter 16. Verses 13 through 19 it says

    Matthew 16 chapter mention

  297. this. When Jesus came into the region

  298. of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, Who do men

  299. say that I, the Son of Man AM? So they said some say John the

  300. Baptist, some Elijah, others Jeremiah, one of the prophets.

  301. He said to them, but who do you say that I am?

  302. Simon Peter answering, said, You are the Christ, the Son of the

  303. living God. Jesus answered and said to him,

  304. Blessed are you Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not

  305. revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven, and I

  306. say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my

  307. church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

  308. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven.

  309. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.

  310. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

  311. Now in this encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, Peter had the

  312. revelation that he was the Messiah.

  313. And notice his name was Simon Barjona.

  314. But look what Jesus said after he had the revelation that he is

  315. the Christ. He said and your name is Peter.

  316. So he changed his name. You know God is in the business

  317. of changing your name and your identity.

  318. God is in the business of changing your name and your

  319. identity. All of us had a BC life.

  320. All of us had a BC life. Jacob in the Old Testament had a

  321. name change. His name meant con artist or

  322. trickster. But when he had an encounter

  323. with God Almighty on the way to Laban's house, God changed his

  324. name. He said your name should no

  325. longer be called. Jacob said he should called

  326. Israel. For you have prevailed with God

  327. and man. And we don't need to see

  328. ourselves as we used to be. We need to see ourselves as God

  329. created us to be. I know if I was able to have

  330. conversation of people I went to high school with, they would be

  331. blown away at me right now because I am not the same

  332. person. And my name among this body is

  333. way different than my name and my reputation in high school.

  334. And that's a good thing. Glory to God, and yours should

  335. be too. Amen.

  336. And he gave Peter this revelation and said, you're not

  337. going to be called that anymore. Your name is Peter, which means

  338. it's a piece of a large rock. You shouldn't be shaking

  339. anymore. You shouldn't vacillate anymore.

  340. You should be all in with me, united in harmony and concord

  341. with me and oneness of mind, purpose and heart.

  342. Peter, I'm calling you who you are because you know who I am.

  343. And you're only going to find out who you are when you know

  344. who he is, because our true identity in reality is found in

  345. him. Your job doesn't identify who

  346. you are. Your bank account doesn't

  347. identify who you are. Even your last name doesn't

  348. identify who you are. What identifies who you are is

  349. in the Kingdom of God with the Lord Jesus Christ.

  350. So Peter in Luke chapter 22. Though it's interesting when

    Luke 22 chapter mention

  351. trials, tests, and temptations hit, I find it fascinating that

  352. Peter has this revelation in Matthew 16.

  353. Jesus tells him who he is and you would think once we heard it

  354. the first time you would just be in that.

  355. You realize you don't always get everything the first time you

  356. hear it right or apply it every time that you get that you heard

  357. it for the first time, second time, third time it.

  358. Repetition is important in the learning process.

  359. So at the end of Jesus ministry before he's going to the cross,

  360. he says this he the Lord said to Peter, he said Simon, Simon.

  361. I find it interesting that he he called him back to the name that

  362. he had before the revelation that he was Christ the Messiah.

  363. He said Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you as

  364. we, but I have prayed for you that your faith failed not and

  365. when you are converted, strengthen the brethren.

  366. When I read this I thought why didn't Peter say Lord, that's

  367. not my name. You said it's not Simon.

  368. You said it's Peter a large rock.

  369. So he forgot what the Lord said he was supposed to be in Legally

  370. he's always Peter, but vitally he reverted back to Simon.

  371. Simon and a man without a vision for the future will always

  372. return to the past. And we know this from John,

  373. because how is the devil going to tempt Peter?

  374. We read on. He says that Satan's going to

  375. come. He's asked to sift you as wheat.

  376. And he said you're going to deny me three times.

  377. Before the rooster crows. And we find over in John 21 that

  378. Peter went back to fishing cause a man without a vision for the

  379. future always returns to the past.

  380. But Jesus prayed for me said I pray that your faith fail not

  381. there is consequential actions for of sin is guilt.

  382. When you miss the mark you going to shame and hiding.

  383. We need to have a soft conscience to the word of God,

  384. the truth and reality of the word.

  385. Don't ever let your conscience get seared.

  386. A seared conscience is an an act of conscience, which means you

  387. don't feel any regret for wicked behavior or immoral conduct.

  388. And we always want to be soft before the Lord, meaning I

  389. always have a heart to repent and get things right.

  390. When King David was confronted by the prophet Nathan, he said I

  391. am that man. He didn't pass the block buck.

  392. He didn't pass the responsibility.

  393. He said I am that man's soft conscience before God.

  394. And I like what Jesus said. He said when you're converted,

  395. strengthen the brethren. So Jesus knew this is going to

  396. happen. He was praying for his faith not

  397. to fail. You are not out of God's reach

  398. even if you've missed it. But I'm telling you that

  399. tonight, you don't have to miss it if you stay in him.

  400. The same way that Jesus is praying for Peter.

  401. He's interceding on our behalf right now and he's what he's

  402. saying is staying in the truth. Stay in the reality of who you

  403. are. Don't deviate, don't vacillate,

  404. don't compromise to who I've called you to be in Mark chapter

    Mark 16 chapter mention

  405. 16 verse #7 Think about how bad Peter felt when he heard that

  406. rooster crow the third time. He he put his head down in

  407. shame, 'cause he knew he missed it.

  408. He knew he blew it correct? And he went, he went to hide and

  409. he went back to fishing. But look what Jesus said.

  410. Mark 16 after Mark 16-7 after the resurrection.

  411. Actually, this is an Angel. When they went to look in the

  412. tomb and Jesus wasn't there, there was an Angel there and

  413. they said, but go tell his disciples and Peter, he's going

  414. ahead of you in the galley there.

  415. There you will see him just as he told you.

  416. That was a place where he welcomed Peter back into

  417. fellowship with him. Peter probably loved the fact

  418. that Jesus singled him out by name to get him because he

  419. probably didn't know his standing with him.

  420. He's thinking I've blown, I've gone too far, I've missed it.

  421. Jesus doesn't want me around. But Jesus said, no, I want you

  422. back in me, so get back up. The Bible says a just man falls

  423. down, but he rises back up. The problem is, is when we miss

  424. it, we tend to throw off the wrong things.

  425. We throw off prayer, we throw off going to church, we throw

  426. off goat reading the word. The legal side of forgiveness is

  427. it's done by the blood of Christ.

  428. The vital side is first. John 19 if you confess your sin,

  429. he is faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you

  430. from all unrighteousness. And so Peter was able to repent,

  431. you're able to repent, and you're able to get back in

  432. fellowship with God Almighty. So that's the good news.

  433. The vital side says this, of our relationship with the Lord Jesus

  434. Christ. James chapter 4 verse #8 says

    James 4 chapter mention

  435. draw near to me, and I will draw near to you.

  436. God's waiting on some of you tonight.

  437. Legally, it's been paid vitally, you need to make your move and

  438. say I'm coming after you. God.

  439. Some people say, where's God? He's never moved.

  440. You're the one that got out of position.

  441. Get back in position. Just like the parable of the

  442. prodigal, we think God's going to hit us with a giant fly

  443. swatter and smash us. No, when the Dick in the in the

  444. parable of the prodigal, when the son was in the pig slop, his

  445. attitude changed from give me my inheritance to make me.

  446. And when you have that attitude, Lord, just make me.

  447. Just make me guess what? The father's arms are wide open,

  448. just like in that parable. They're saying, come on home.

  449. He was waiting for him. Draw near to God and he will

  450. draw near to you. So don't forget who you are.

  451. Turn to your neighbor and say don't forget who you are.

  452. Tell them stay in Christ. Now, this isn't gospel, but this

  453. is Coach Boone from Remember the Titans.

  454. They're getting ready to get on the bus.

  455. And Coach Boone looks at Gary said take a good look at her.

  456. Because what you get on that bus, you ain't got no Mama no

  457. more. You got your brothers and you

  458. got this team and you got your daddy.

  459. Now who's your daddy? If you want to play on this

  460. team, you answer me when I ask you who's your daddy?

  461. Whose team? Is this your team or your

  462. daddy's team? And God saying this is my team,

  463. this ain't your team. No selfish ambition, no lost

  464. identity, no selfishness, no fake Trinity.

  465. Me, myself and I, we're all in on the real Trinity, the

  466. genuine, the real God Almighty. El Shaddai, Jehovah Jireh,

  467. Jehovah Makidish. Jehovah Shalom, Jehovah Tiskanu,

  468. Jehovah Nisi. My victory.

  469. Hallelujah, Jehovah, Shalom. God, my peace.

  470. I'm in him. He's Adonai, the total majesty,

  471. total authority in my life. He is Jehovah Rohy, the one who

  472. leads me and guides me and protects me.

  473. He is Elohim, the Creator and the governor of this universe,

  474. and I'm in him and it's his team.

  475. I know who my daddy is. I know who my name is.

  476. So Banaya and the Old Testament knew who he was in Second Samuel

    2 Samuel 23:20–22

  477. 23 verses 20 through 22. Second Samuel 23 verses 20

    2 Samuel 23:20–22

  478. through 22, it says Banaya, this is one of the mighty men of

  479. David, was the son of Jodiah, the son of a valiant man from

  480. Cabazeel who had done many deeds.

  481. He had killed 2 lion like heroes of Moab.

  482. He had also gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on

  483. a snowy day, and he killed an Egyptian, a spectacular man.

  484. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand.

  485. So he went down in with a staff, wrestled the staff, the spear

  486. out of the Egyptian's hand, and he killed him with his own

  487. spear. These things Banaya, the son of

  488. Joe Idai did and won a name or a reputation among the three

  489. mighty men. Although he wasn't part of the

  490. three of the chief mighty men, he still had a reputation of the

  491. three. And I bring up Banaya 'cause he

  492. never forgot who he was. He was in position.

  493. I like what the Scripture says about him.

  494. It says he was the son of a valiant man and he knew who he

  495. was. He knew whose lineage he was in

  496. and he never lost that position. And so the story should

  497. encourage you don't ever lose the position.

  498. Once he began a good work in you, he'll complete it.

  499. The thing I like about Daniel is he started right, he stayed

  500. right, and he ended right. The thing I like about Banaz, he

  501. started right, he stayed right, and he ended right because he

  502. knows he was a son of a valiant man.

  503. And listen, we've been adopted into the family of God, and we

  504. are the sons and daughters of a valiant king.

  505. Valiant means I have strength, I have force.

  506. I am a force to be reckoned with.

  507. No matter where I go, I have a presence about me.

  508. I have an atmosphere. It's not me.

  509. It's no longer I that live, it's Christ that's in me.

  510. When I walk into Walmart, when I'm at the gas station, when I

  511. go to Bailey's gym, wherever I am, there I am.

  512. I bring all that's within me. The hope of glory.

  513. Christ and Bonilla stayed right. Listen, there's going to be

  514. challenges in life. There's going to be tests.

  515. There's going to be circumstances you're not going

  516. to tip through. Tiptoe through the tulips on a

  517. flowery bed of ease. In this walk with Christ.

  518. There's going to be some mountaintop experiences and

  519. there's going to be some valley experiences.

  520. And thank God for the mountaintop.

  521. But things grow in the valley and Banaya.

  522. His name means Jehovah has built me.

  523. His name is Bill, me or he's built me up.

  524. And you need to be built in Christ.

  525. And if you haven't been built in Christ, start now.

  526. Preparation is the evidence you believe something's coming.

  527. There was a sign at a store, a flower store one time that a

  528. person saw it said the best time to plant a seed was 25 years

  529. ago. The second best time is to plant

  530. it today. And preparation is the evidence

  531. that you believe something's coming.

  532. So get built up. You don't wait for trouble to

  533. hit and then say, let me try to get built.

  534. You're reactive, not proactive. You get in the Word, you stay in

  535. the Word. The Bible says meditate in the

  536. Word day in night. Why?

  537. So you could be built up when something comes.

  538. Matthew Chapter 7 The winds and waves come to all of us.

    Matthew 7 chapter mention

  539. One was not prepared. One was because they started the

  540. building project on the rock and they stayed on the rock and in

  541. the rock. I like benign though, because he

  542. was all in. That's what I want you to get is

  543. to be all in tonight. All in, all in on Christ's

  544. realities, all in on truth, all in on his team, all in on who

  545. your daddy is, all in on who your identity is in him.

  546. And Banaya, this one thing that he did, this one thing, he had

  547. many different feats, but I like this this part of the story

  548. where it said he went into a pit on a snowy day and he killed a

  549. lion. I just see Banaya walking by and

  550. I'm thinking, dude, it's a challenge on a snowy day to get

  551. in a pit without a lion and try to get Buck out of the pit.

  552. But you went in a pit with a lion.

  553. That's a bad dude. I mean, you're all in at that

  554. point because if you don't win, you die.

  555. And I just, he just wanted to pick a fight.

  556. I think some of us just need to pick a spiritual fight.

  557. He wasn't scared, He was not scared.

  558. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but power loving, a

  559. sound mind. And ain't no devil in hell going

  560. to Take Me Out, tell me who I am.

  561. I'm going to put him where he belongs, under my feet.

  562. So but now I went down there and just annihilated the line and

  563. got out of the pit. That's a bad dude.

  564. That's a bad dude. And I like the other story too,

  565. because what the enemy went for bad.

  566. No weapon form to get yourself prospered.

  567. Just like King David took Goliath's sword, right?

  568. Benaiah in one of his fights took the other guy's spear, took

  569. it out of his hand and just killed him because he knew who

  570. he was in Christ. Now turn with me to Romans

    Romans 5 chapter mention

  571. chapter 5 verses one through 5. Romans chapter 5 verses one

    Romans 5 chapter mention

  572. through 5. This is training for reigning

  573. and schooling for ruling. Get built up right now, stay in

  574. Christ. So before we read these few

  575. verses, I want to give you Ephesians chapter one verse #4

  576. because this is my main take away of what I want you to leave

  577. with tonight, of what to be in for this message.

  578. We're going to be in love, intimately acquainted with love,

  579. oneness and mind, purpose and heart.

  580. We're going to be in a fixed position of love.

  581. If you want to excel and succeed as a believer and a son or

  582. daughter of God, you need to be in that position of love.

  583. There's a legal side you're going to see, but there's also a

  584. vital side of love that we have to walk out.

  585. Ephesians chapter one verse 4 says according as he has chosen

  586. us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be

  587. holding without blame before him in love.

  588. Now I'm going to read Romans chapter 5, these several verses

    Romans 5 chapter mention

  589. and I'm going to go ahead and explain some of these things.

  590. It says, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have

  591. peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we

  592. also have access by faith into this grace.

  593. In which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

  594. And not only that, but we also glory and tribulations, knowing

  595. that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance,

  596. character and character. Hope.

  597. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been

  598. poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

  599. Now legally, when we first start reading this verse, it says

  600. we've been justified by faith and we have peace with God.

  601. That means we have harmony and concord between God and us

  602. because of what Jesus did in redemption legally.

  603. So there's peace. I'll put it this way, the war is

  604. over. You just surrender and stay in

  605. the position of what he's provided legally and you live

  606. that out vitally and stay in peace.

  607. It says that we have peace and we have grace in which we can

  608. stand. So trials and tribulations are

  609. to come. Tests are going to come just

  610. like they came to Banaya, just like they came to Peter.

  611. But if you're going to overcome, you got to understand who you

  612. have access to and who you belong to.

  613. And because of this grace that was poured out in the Lord Jesus

  614. Christ, we have access, which means we have approach or we can

  615. come near the throne of God and have a relationship with Him.

  616. How many people talk to other people about their problems and

  617. not to God about their problems? We have access to the throne of

  618. heaven. Hebrews 4 says let us come

  619. boldly before the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to

  620. help in our time of need. If we could just get quiet, bow

  621. down, listen and come to God Almighty and understand the

  622. access we have. We don't have to Google

  623. something, right? You don't have to put on out on

  624. Facebook for advice. You have a Father in heaven.

  625. Matter of fact, there's a big difference between godly counsel

  626. and good advice and the distances between heaven and

  627. hell. Good advice could send you

  628. straight to hell. Godly counsel is going to bring

  629. heaven to earth. But we have access by grace, and

  630. it says in which we stand. That means it's a fixed position

  631. we're in. What He's telling us to do.

  632. He makes us firm. He makes us established.

  633. You can come before his throne. He can give you a word of

  634. wisdom, a word of knowledge. He can give you godly counsel

  635. for any situation you're going through.

  636. And in that you can stand. And having done all the stand,

  637. stand there for don't grow weary and well doing, for in due

  638. season you shall reap when you go before the throne.

  639. And you can listen to Daddy and get as counsel.

  640. There's no greater result that you can have in your life if you

  641. just follow through with that and listen to that.

  642. I think back to my life. I had to go before the throne in

  643. 1997 when I legally got born again, found out about the

  644. redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ.

  645. And I was asking God access to the throne.

  646. What do you want me to do with my life now?

  647. And I just knew on the inside I needed to go to school to get

  648. trained. That was access.

  649. And I had to stand in that word. And you know what?

  650. It seemed right to go to Rhema Bible Training Center.

  651. I'm in Columbus, OH, going to move to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

  652. Why haven't they fixed it yet? So I move way across country,

  653. right? But that's the access I had.

  654. That's the word I had and I was it always easy?

  655. Did I feel like quitting at times?

  656. Did I miss Ohio, one of the greatest states with force real

  657. seasons? Hallelujah, IO.

  658. Thank you. Did I feel like quitting

  659. sometimes again, I'm sure, but I had to stand on that word and

  660. then staying on that word. I finished my course and

  661. standing in that word, I got a godly wife and standing in that

  662. word, I met Pastor Owen Marcy and standing in that word, we

  663. formed a relationship and standing in that word, they

  664. decide they were going to come start a church.

  665. We went back to the throne of grace.

  666. Now that I'm married to Angie at the time and said, Lord, what do

  667. you want us to do now? When they first told us they're

  668. coming to Florida, we prayed. You know what the Lord said

  669. don't go. He said you did the first year

  670. of marriage, you just need to enjoy it, settle in.

  671. It's the merge. You know, you get to learn each

  672. other the first year of marriage, right?

  673. Hallelujah. Which way to put the toilet

  674. paper over or under? Don't leave the toilet seat up

  675. right. Don't leave dirty underwear and

  676. dirty stuff all over the floor. Be a blessing, not a curse.

  677. So the first Sherry said, just get to know each other, invest

  678. in the mirror. That was the word we got.

  679. Now, Pastor Aaron Marcy actually came to Florida.

  680. They stayed for a little bit. Then they ain't going back and

  681. being youth pastors in Sand Springs for several years.

  682. Then they told us the second time we that they were going.

  683. We prayed about again. We went to the throne.

  684. We got access and the Holy Spirit said what he released and

  685. said go with him and that's where we've been ever since 2004

  686. when we moved to Florida. But we have anybody can have

  687. access to the throne. Are you run into your Father in

  688. heaven? He cares about you.

  689. He has the best plans for you. He's always working for your

  690. highest benefit. Love agape love is always

  691. working for the highest benefit of the one loved and you can

  692. always go to the throne. David, I like rated some of the

  693. Psalms a day. He said, why is my soul

  694. downcast? Why am I going through it?

  695. But there's always resolve that he found in his relationship

  696. with God. And those Psalms change if you

  697. read them. All of a sudden he gets to

  698. rejoice in where he was sad just a few minutes ago 'cause he got

  699. in access with God and he got a word in due season.

  700. So you want to have access so you can stand to overcome

  701. anything that or any obstacle that comes your way.

  702. And it reads, it reads on like this.

  703. It says rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

  704. And not only that, but we also glory and tribulations.

  705. I'm going to read that again. We glory and tribulations.

  706. The word glory means we rejoice, we boast about it.

  707. We say bring it on. Is that all you got?

  708. It's kind of like Banaya walking by the lion and he's like, dude,

  709. I'll take you out. I got a great God.

  710. I've killed some men, but now I'm going to go after something

  711. more intimidating 'cause I want to be a giant Slayer.

  712. I heard about King David doing it, so let me do a great

  713. exploit. Daniel 1132 says those that know

  714. their God shall be strong and do great exploits.

  715. So we, we glory or we boast in tribulation.

  716. Tribulation means this. It's a a pressing together, It's

  717. a pressure, it's an affliction, it's a distress.

  718. I've learned this in lifting weights.

  719. There is no progress without resistance.

  720. Matter of fact, they call it a progressive resistant training

  721. because you can develop when pressure comes.

  722. You know, Paul over in Second Corinthians, he was praying one

  723. time. He said Lord remove this thing

  724. from me. He said I sought the Lord three

  725. times on that. God said, ain't going to do it.

  726. He said my strength is made perfect in your weakness.

  727. And Paul said I'd rather glory in tribulation that the power of

  728. Christ may rest upon me. Now you need to know what you

  729. need to know what to take authority on and put down now

  730. and what you're just going to walk through by the grace of

  731. God, sickness, you take authority over now, but there

  732. could be somebody at your work that's really pestering you,

  733. bugging you, giving you a hard time, making you just want to

  734. slap him upside the head. And God said, my grace is

  735. sufficient for you. Just stay in love.

  736. Stay in a position of love and you'll overcome.

  737. So we glory in tribulation because when we go through it

  738. right and stay in him, tribulation is going to work.

  739. Patience. This translation says

  740. perseverance. That means we're going to learn

  741. how to be steadfast and we're going to learn how to how to

  742. have endurance. This life is not a Sprint, it's

  743. a marathon. So you have to have endurance

  744. built in there. Sometimes you walk, sometimes

  745. you run, sometimes you may feel like you're crawling, but you're

  746. always moving forward. And we need to learn how to have

  747. patience or perseverance. And what happens with when you

  748. learn to have patience or perseverance, it means that

  749. you're going to go ahead and get character or experience, and

  750. that means that you're approved. You're a specimen of worth.

  751. I want to be around somebody who's overcome something.

  752. I'm not going to get advice to somebody whose marriage is

  753. failing and been divorced five times.

  754. I want to go to some, to somebody that's walked through

  755. some things and overcame them because they stayed in Christ

  756. and now they have heaven on earth, right?

  757. I want to say, what did you do so I could reproduce that?

  758. But they went through some pressure, some affliction, but

  759. they learned how to be steadfast.

  760. They learned how to be committed.

  761. They learned how to be bound, a course of action.

  762. And because of that, their character started to shine

  763. forth. And God puts no unproven

  764. character on his market. He wants to see the church rise

  765. up and see men and women be men and women of godly character in

  766. Christ's likeness, flow in the gifts of the Spirit, but also

  767. walk in the fruits of the Spirit.

  768. And out of that experience or out of that character comes hope

  769. because you learn that God's always going to come through the

  770. legal side. You've heard about it, but the

  771. vital side is when you're actually walking it out and you

  772. start to get, go through a test, what becomes a testimony.

  773. And you, you do, you're just like Siri.

  774. You could look back on the faith when it's a God and say, God did

  775. it for me before he's going to do it for me again.

  776. I just need to stay in him. And you know what Paul says at

  777. the end of this these 5 verses, he said hope makes not a shame.

  778. That means I'll never be dishonored or disgraced if I

  779. stay in Christ because the love of God's been shatter brought in

  780. my heart. The agape love of God is in our

  781. heart. Legally it's there, but vitally

  782. you need to walk it out every day.

  783. So I want to go to 1st Corinthians chapter 13.

  784. First Corinthians chapter 13, verses 4 through 8.

    1 Corinthians 13:4–8

  785. This is the great love chapter. I'm going to read these 4 verses

  786. from three different translations and I just want

  787. this to settle in on you because the love of God's been poured

  788. out in our heart by the Holy Ghost, we can always overcome if

  789. we stay in that love, not just legally but vitally, exercising

  790. it every day. So the New King James Version

  791. reads First Corinthians chapter 13 verses 4 through 8 is this

    1 Corinthians 13:4–8

  792. love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy.

  793. Love does not pray to itself. It is not puffed up.

  794. It does not behave rudely. It does not seek its own.

  795. It is not provoked. Love thinks no evil.

  796. Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the

  797. truth that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all

  798. things. It endures all things.

  799. Love never fails. The message Bible says it like

  800. this. Love never gives up.

  801. Love cares more for others than it does for self.

  802. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

  803. A child will throw a temper tantrum if they don't get what

  804. they want right then. Love doesn't want what it

  805. doesn't have. Love doesn't strut.

  806. It doesn't have a swelled head. Love doesn't force itself on

  807. others. Love isn't always me first.

  808. Love does not fly off the handle.

  809. Love doesn't keep the score of sins of others.

  810. Love doesn't revel when others grovel.

  811. Love takes pleasure in the flowering of truth.

  812. Love puts up with anything. Glory to God. 11 translation

  813. says love passes the breaking point without breaking.

  814. So when it says love could put up with anything in your flesh,

  815. you can't do it. Church, but in his love you

  816. could both say I'm going to come through this glory to God.

  817. This is just strengthen my love muscle right now just flex baby.

  818. I'm getting stronger. Maybe we need a rocky thing

  819. getting stronger in love as we exercise it vitally right, so

  820. it'll put up with anything. It trusts God always.

  821. Love always looks for the best and never looks back, but keeps

  822. going to the end. The JB Phillips translation says

  823. it like this. The love of which I speak is

  824. slow to lose patience. It looks for a way of being

  825. constructive. It's not possessive.

  826. It is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated

  827. ideas of its own importance. Love has good manners and does

  828. not pursue selfish advantage. Love is not touchy.

  829. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of

  830. other people. On the contrary, it is glad with

  831. all good men when truth prevails.

  832. Love knows no limits to its endurance, no end to its trust,

  833. no fading of its hope. It can outlast anything.

  834. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else

  835. has fallen. And I'm going to close with this

  836. worship team. You can come.

  837. Love never fails. Nobody sets out to be a loser.

  838. Let me say it again, your goal in life.

  839. Nobody says I'm going to be a loser.

  840. The one thing that'll guarantee your success church is staying

  841. in love.