Life after death - Part 2

Hi, okay. Alrighty. Hey guys, before we start, I just want us as a church to just stretch

out our hands towards Carmen and pray that just like she knows how to lead things and

administer things in the world or in her job, that she will suddenly become the same person

in terms of church and kingdom. Yeah, let's just pray for that. Father, for whatever reason,

you want us to pray for Carmen and pray that that which you've placed in her, in terms of the gift

of administration, which is not sitting behind a desk. The gift of administration is the ability

to pilot things, to navigate things. Just as you've given her that skill at work, that this church

will benefit from it and many things that we do under your rule or as a kingdom people,

she'll begin to now begin to grow and blossom in it. So today as a church, we call that out

of her. So as we stretch our hands towards her, we're doing what Paul did for Timothy, stirring up

the gift and calling it out so that a year from now we look back and say, where did that come from?

How did that happen? So we pray that for her right now in Jesus' name. Amen.

Um, Emily K has an announcement. Emily, you just want to come up and make that announcement?

No? You want to make it from there? No? Okay, well then I have an announcement with regard to

Emily K. It's a birthday on the 22nd. So you can stand and we can sing.

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, Emily K and Diana. Happy birthday

to you.

Emily K, we are so glad you're part of this church.

Really? Cool. So let's go. Um, guys, so last week, you remember my prop? Where's my prop?

Come my prop. Remember we were talking about, uh, lighting?

Yeah. So we're going to have a little bit of a

little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little

bit. Remember we were talking about life after death and this is part two and we said there are

certain things that die here on earth and then there's death and there's, we'll talk about heaven

at another time. So if you want to take your place, yeah. So if you remember, um, last week,

are you ticklish? No, just checking. So last week, uh, we killed a few things. Um, and what was put

to death and buried at baptism last week, it was, um, Vivek's old sinful self, um, the fear of death

that he had, the power of sin over him, and, uh, the law. And we talked at length about the law.

These things were put to death in Vivek's life last week, but there might still be cadavers in

his closet. Yeah. And there might still be things that he's carrying. There might things be things

that he still has on life support when Christ meant to bring us back to new life. And so today

we'll talk about what else has to be put to death or was put to death by Christ. And we'll cover a

few things and then maybe next week or the week after we'll talk about. So what does it look like

in terms of heaven life after death here on earth, but this, we are talking about the things that

Christ already put to death and, um, actually you can go and sit and I'll call you back later.

He looks a little sleepy Vidusha.

You look disappointed, Vivek. You want to stay here? No, it's okay. Okay. So, um,

what was put to death? Uh, and before we talk about that, we must understand he died as in

Christ died to put things to death and to give life. Christ died for that reason.

And so we need to take this seriously because very often what happens with the things that

Christ put to death is we think that's nice, but it's not our reality. And that one day when we get

to heaven, these things will happen. It's not true. Some of the things that we need to do must be done

here on earth. We don't wait till we get to heaven for some things to be solved. And so here are some

of the things we'll put to death today. Tony, where are you? Remember? Yep. So the first thing

that was put to death. One of the things that was put to death that we need to really take

into account is our fragmented life, fragmented life. So if you look at

first Corinthians, 12, 13, first Corinthians, 12, 13,

I'll read it from the message first Corinthians, 12, 13.

It says that by means of his one spirit, we all said goodbye to our partial and piecemeal lives.

We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated

life in which he has the final say in everything. This is what we proclaimed in word and action

when we were baptized. Each of us is now part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at

one fountain, his spirit, where we all come to drink. Crazy, eh? Just listen to that again.

By means of his one spirit, we all said goodbye to our partial and piecemeal existence. So

one of the things Christ did is he put an end to our fragmented individual lives.

And how did he put an end to it? By joining us

as his body. He actually did this, eh? So if you go to first Corinthians, 10, first Corinthians, 10,

10, verse 16 and 17, first Corinthians 10, verse 16 and 17,

1 Corinthians 10:16

I'll read it from the NIV. First Corinthians 10, 16 and 17. Is not the cup of thanksgiving

for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ, and is not the bread that we

break, a participation in the body of Christ. Because there is one loaf, we who are many are

one body, for we all share one loaf. So here's what Paul is trying to say. That listen guys,

this word called koinonia in Greek actually means fellowship participation. And it's not an option.

Fellowship participation. And what does it look like? It is to share something with someone.

It is to share something with someone or share with someone in something. Share with someone in

something or share something. Now that sounds better. To share with someone

in something. Only in our case the sharing happens two ways or the fellowship participation

happens two ways. One, it happens with the deity and two, it happens with each other. This is

important guys. When we talk about fellowship or partnership or koinonia, this is how it works. You

can't have one or the other. The very sense of the word means I must have participation and

fellowship with deity and participation and fellowship with you. I can't have one or the other.

And Christ is saying, listen I died and put death, put to death your fragmented lives. As in you do

not have really a right to exist as individual fragments. You don't have that right. You can

take that right but you don't actually have that right.

He put to death our individual existence. This is why later on in the chapter he says, guys

you partake in the communion. How can you go and eat with idols? Why does he say that? What's the

context? He says when you eat with idols you're eating with the people who worship that idol

and you are participating with the demon behind the deity. It says so. Read a few words later.

It says so. It answers your question as to whether you can partake in someone else's feast

to some other god. You cannot. Why? Because Paul very clearly says that listen when you go

to another feast dedicated to another god you need to realize that not only are you in fellowship

participation with the people eating the feast you are also in fellowship participation with

the demon behind the deity that they are worshiping. It's not a cultural thing. It's a biblical thing.

And so Jesus Christ deliberately put to death my right or ability to exist as Jacob the believer

or Jacob the Christian. I don't have that right anymore. What did he do? He said hey I died so I

could put to death your fragmented existence and in the process I have now joined you

to two things. One I've joined you to me. Two I've joined you to others.

This is not an option guys.

Any questions? It's not even an option.

And this is important to Jesus. It is important to Jesus Christ.

So what should that do for me? I mean I know I've said this before and I've shown it but just

for the sake of the teaching. Each of us is a ear, a nose, an eye, a mustache, teeth,

and I a mustache, teeth, chin, hair. That's who we are. Yeah that's really who it looks like

Egyptian hieroglyphics or something. But this is who we really are. This is who you are.

And so what Christ has done is taken all this and put it together so that you now have

a face. A face. Oh forgot the hair. So now you are part of a body.

This is what Christ came to do and to insist on living like this

is to negate something that Christ is asking you. It's wrong. It's not right because what we think

is we are individual Christs that join together to form the Christ. If that were the case, Christ

gets his identity from us. We are not little Christians coming together to form a big Christ.

We are not micro Christs coming together to form the macro Christ. We are parts of a body

and this must settle and I pray God that it'll settle today so we don't live like this anymore.

So what does that mean? That means in you it should provoke

a desire to participate. Provoke a desire to participate

in the body. And participate how? Participate not as a prosthesis. Diana and I and Heidi know of a

lady that used to come to the church we were at where she would come and then she would sit down

and once you sit down you realize that her right leg is not real. It's a it's a prosthesis that she

fits and then she would go home and when she goes home she'll take off the leg put it on the side

and go to bed. She wouldn't sleep with it. You could put it on. You could take it off.

Church doesn't work that way. You cannot be a prosthesis. You're either joined to Christ and

you draw from the very like Paul says from the foundation called the spirit. You either draw from

it but you can't go home and take it off.

And so you should either two things must happen. If Nick is new here then on one hand Nick must

desire to participate in the context of the body regardless of how new he is. On the other hand we

should desire to include him regardless of how annoying he is. Goes both ways. He should have a

desire to participate and we should have a desire to include and when either fails it harms each

other. One of the reasons we don't have ushers here is partly because we don't have anything to

distribute and partly because there's still plenty of space you don't have to move people to sit

but one of the reasons we don't have ushers here is because everybody here is supposed to be someone

who is able to welcome someone. One of the questions we need to ask is if I don't feel a

sense of belonging you must question why. If you don't have a sense of belonging you must question

why. If you don't question why the only answer you will come to is hip said something that offended me.

We'll talk about offense. That is sucky

but one must question why don't I belong and if you find an answer then have the courage to go up

to a leader who you think is kind, gentle, favorable, oozing with love and very godlike and I can only

think of one who's like that and just go to the person and begin to talk to the person and tell

them why. Yeah any questions? This is important guys because Christ died for this.

Yeah

About the food of the idols. Yeah there are two scriptures the other scripture that Meera is going

to read is going to say but when you go don't ask questions just eat. That's fine and that really

idols don't have demons behind them they're just idols so we got to have hold both scriptures

together. On one hand you have a scripture that says when you go to the marketplace don't ask

where the meat came from if they serve it just eat it because otherwise you'll die in India

within a month because all food is offered to idols there or you might die in the Middle East

too. On the other hand if someone deliberately comes and tells you hey Meera this food was

offered to idols then it's Paul says desist from partaking in it because if you partake in it you

send mixed messages. On one hand he says idols are nothing because really only god is god on the other

hand he says behind these deities are demons so we hold them together to come to a conclusion.

So it also says but he wants

yeah he wants that freedom can become a stumbling block to the other believers.

While I understand that what about if I accepted despite being told I keep from

not offending them yeah so in doing so they feel respected yeah and they're more open to

listening to my beliefs. Is that okay despite all warnings so much against you?

No because if I offend if I'm choosing between offending them not offending them and obeying

a command and in those circumstances I would choose to obey the command because in obeying

the command god knows how to take care of them but in not obeying the command and trying not

to offend them but accommodate them it doesn't work out. It's not the offense I'm worried about.

It's the yeah will they be open to receiving

about god yeah surprisingly guys and I understand Meera's point surprisingly when it comes to

certain things that we need to stand for you'll be surprised at how the world really admires you

when you stand for certain things that you think are god's command and you won't deviate from them.

I totally understand the tolerance thing like I've been in situations like this but the thing is

if god clearly says no you can't if they are it says there you will send mixed messages don't do it

so then the don't do it becomes a don't do it and so we don't have much of an option there.

Is your hand raised? Go ahead.

Yeah you don't so just eat it. The moment let's say I bring samosas and then I tell you

that this is being offered to a Hindu god and I just wanted to celebrate the festival

now you'll have to find a way to say I'll pass on it today don't feel like samosas

but if it's not said then paul basically says hey eat what is placed before you don't ask questions

but if they say then you now have a choice to make because in saying that they're saying we are

celebrating our god we would like you to join us and then we go to 1st Corinthians where it says

when you partake in this food you partake not just in fellowship with people but you partake

it with the deity too and then he goes on to say at the end of the chapter he says I don't want you

partaking in food at the table of the lord and then go slumming with demons that's the word used

in the message so these are things where christ wants me to take a stance and guys it was very

difficult for the guys in the church in Corinth to live up to this because they could not survive

in Corinth without going to the guilds that promoted business in Corinth and those guilds

you would enter the room and there'd be this huge statue of Caesar and you had to pay homage to

Caesar and then come and shout things saying Caesar is lord Caesar is lord before you ate the meals

there was no gray area there and to that church paul is writing saying you can't do this guys

and so many of them would not be included in guilds would not be included in the chamber of

commerce would not be able to do business so later on when john writes to them that you'll have to

take a number if you want to trade for them it was a reality already so that's the context of it

but one of the things that we have to make sure that we understand is that

the thing we've often said i am not my own

therefore i can now belong to christ but it doesn't stop there i am not my own

i belong to christ i belong to you

and when i say i belong to you i'm not saying i belong to you for three hours of a service

i'm saying i belong to you for the rest of my life those are the three phases of christianity

first corinthian six says do you not know that you are not your own you were bought at a price

i am not my own and then it says once someone stops belonging to anybody else he can be christ

belonging to anybody else he can be christ i'm not my own i belong to christ but it doesn't end

there because he's now taken and joined us to a body and then it goes on to say i belong to and

you look around the entire room once you like and once you may not like and you say i belong to you

and you can't demand that often you can only offer yourself

this is what christ is calling us to and this is something we have to decide

whether we want to take up or not because he put this to death

now you understand relational ownership this is a horrible word relational ownership as in

if you belong to the body of christ you have to be able to say the same things that root said to naomi

your god is my god where you go there i'll go where you die there i'll die it doesn't mean

you're stuck in a church forever we're talking about the body of christ yeah

we be is still in a body of christ it's in dimapur

so we have to be able to say the same things that root said to naomi

this is what christ put to death and this is what christ brought alive and this is important to him

so one last statement before we go down and decide what we want to do

you have to decide that you will initiate the process when you come to a church and you

don't belong when you come to a church and you are new and you want to be there when you come to a

church it is not only the responsibility of the rest of the church to make you feel included

there is a responsibility on me to desire participation and sometimes i'll have to fight

through nick through hip through daniel because the first three i meet exactly the people i didn't

want to meet and then i think finally i meet a guy who looks old and gentle and plays the sax and

there's no wind there also finally i go around and i meet prosper and prosper makes me feel at home

but i had to fight through four people to get there we usually lose out after the first three

because we don't want it you have to initiate second you can't be put off you cannot be put off

you know what put off really is offense is basically my pride kicking in

you cannot be put off because there'll be plenty that will put you off guys in this church i can

put you off first and then there are another 10 waiting in line mark is smiling stop smiling

that was not funny at all so and then here's the other thing that i want us to know

my koinonia or my fellowship or my participation is with the body it's not with a leader

it's not with a leader or a ministry or a teaching or a couple of people who

like me and can help me

destroy this way of thinking

i'm participating with everybody i can't be selective i can't say okay this is exactly

what paul referred to in first corinthians three what's he saying in first corinthians three stop

saying that you're for a paulist you're for paul you're for safest who are we

and so you can't participate or have fellowship with one or two that will benefit you or a leader

benefit you or a leader a ministry or a teaching he didn't baptize you into a leader he didn't

baptize you into a ministry he didn't baptize you into a teaching he didn't baptize you into a couple

of really good guys who can help you he baptized you into a body made up of many parts that are

still trying to fit and the crazy thing is god does not build with bricks he always builds with

stones and stones take time to fit bricks can fit man stones don't

any questions before we move on to the next one any questions

the way we have to think is local body first and then the church in general because tomorrow you

may leave so you're not this is not a way to capture a person and lock them into a church

but you cannot imagine the worldwide church without imagining the local church

you cannot it would be like me selling vacuum saying i'm a world vacuum salesman

you won't buy nothing from me till i tell you i'm hoover or dirt devil or whatever

so it is in the context of the local but it's absolutely translates to the broader but to think

broader and not think local that is another mistake we make i must be able to call someone

and say hey tell me about diana

so

i'm just going to pray that you were able to make that movie

i'm not my own i belong to christ i belong to you yeah don't take on the pressure of it

it's not easy and god doesn't take promises made flippantly to you and you don't take on

god doesn't take promises made flippantly well so we'll visit this again if this is not something

you want to do don't do it but if it is something you want to do then as he plays in the background

just have a conversation with god and then we'll just pray yeah and you may have if you if you

think this is for you now you can stand yeah but after a few minutes of thinking

father you put things to death your son put things to death one of the things he put to death

is my right to live in isolation

is my right to just be a piece of the loaf and not part of the loaf

i want to read from ruhtaba

i want to see what she actually said

so

ruth replied don't urge me to leave you

or to turn my back from you where you go i will go where you stay i will stay

your people will be my people

your god my god where you die i will die and there i'll be buried buried

so father this woman who was a mower biter said that to her mother-in-law

so father could you just help us get to this place your son died to put us together

so

father would you free us from guilt if we can't do this right now

you want to reassure us that i won't stop i'll teach you how but i free you from guilt if this

is not a commitment you can make right now

you remember the lines again and i just pray that if people are ready they can stand up it says

i am not my own i belong to christ

and then we look around and we say i belong to you

so father i just asked that if there are people that want to take the step that they stand up where they are

so we thank you father as we come into this thing called fellowship participation

as we say to you i do not belong to myself i belong to you and then we open our eyes and we look around

and then we look around and then we say i do not belong to myself i belong to you and then we open

our eyes and we look around and we say as i look at mike as i look at jane as i look at

chris and ashish and kamal with open eyes and with a heart that is full and enjoys people

enjoys me enjoys way look around guys the last sentence cannot be done with your eyes closed

these are the ones we belong to you belong to them it's crazy i belong to evan

i belong to shreene i belong to sue

so try saying it it's a little difficult but it'll come out

hey berri i belong to you

i belong to you

kens i belong to you

vignesh i actually belong to you take advantage starting tomorrow may i belong to you

karen you're such a joy i belong to you

i belong to you too

crazy

stop interrupting the service and sit down

so

next one the next thing god destroys is divisions he destroys divisions through his death he destroys

divisions go to there are certain divisions that are traditional let's look at the traditional

divisions first so you know you know tunie came to me after i preached last week and he said this

is good because it's doctrinal and in a sense it is where we are trying to establish this is

a doctrine that we believe so when it comes to divisions some divisions are traditional

but they've been superseded by the new covenant they used to exist in the mosaic law but it's

been superseded by the new covenant so let's look at some of them go to luke chapter luke 23

luke 23 44 to 46 let me tell you what happens there luke 23 44 to 46 the curtain tears the

moment the curtain tore a lot of the divisions in the old testament fell apart and here are some of

the divisions in the old testament that no longer hold when the curtain tore the first thing that

happened is the priest and the people became one so there is no longer a divide between clergy

and lady no longer a divide

because we now share the common priesthood of believers everybody here is a priest everybody

here is a priest and by the way in a marriage the male is not the priest the male and the female are

priests somehow we've been taught that the male is the priest so what is the female

you don't even have a term for her you can't call her your congregation

both are priests it's just that the husband is first among equals but both are priests

so the clergy lady divide was destroyed by jesus's death we shouldn't reinvent it

to put pastors or priests on pedestals pastors priests pedestals nice is a bad idea the

the best you should do for a pastor is giving a give him a parking spot yeah anything more than

that bad idea yeah so that was a late divide that was broken the next divide that was taken care of

was jew and gentile jew and gentile and so how do that's in efficiency 214 efficiency 214

efficiency 248 this could work out like a like a church in southern part of america

where as i begin to increase my volume you play like

we might be on to a new thing man

so jew and gentile but when we talk about the jew and gentile we have to talk about

other divides pakistani and indian republicans and democrats afghanis and iraqis and iranians and you

israeli and iranian both have to be saved the same way there's no special dispensation that gets the

israelite saved and an iranian not saved and there's no greater value placed on an israelite

than an iranian than on you it's the same they all get same through they all get saved through

jesus christ and it's the same value allotted to them so that's another divide that falls

so that's another divide that falls

what we're trying to say is i must you know one of the questions i had to ask myself

some years ago is is there any ethnic group that you have a prejudice or a dislike for

i was surprised at the answer that i had a certain notion about a certain ethnic group

well it was like what else do you expect

and you need to ask that question because it'll expose dark areas in our hearts where we do have

prejudices and christ put it to death so ask the question is there any ethnicity one of the other

ways to ask us and is no let's not go there okay so that's a question you need to ask

and the third thing is there is no longer a divide between man and woman

there is no longer a divide between man and woman galatians 3 28 galatians 3 28

what are we trying to say here that there is no female holy spirit and male holy spirit that is

the holy spirit who fills us that any gift that the holy spirit gives a man can be given to a

woman that any ministry that is given to a man can be given to a woman it's at the discretion of the

holy spirit and so we got to stop this divide as man and woman are not equal there are things only

men do there are things only women women are not allowed to do it's not it's not it's not biblical

there's order order is different from ministry and gifts we've got to destroy this divide

galatians 3 28 says no longer man or woman greek or jew barbarian sithian

so these are the traditional divides that were destroyed but then you have to ask yourself

you have to ask yourself whether in this church because we can only start with our present

situation in this church are there divisions between young and old

poor and rich

newbies and oldies please don't get offended by it because the newbies can get offended too

it's just an easier way to write it i'm an oldie and are there other subculture affinities like

i'm from this part of the world or i've been here this long or i'm in this line of work those are

subcultures is it possible in this church to have this situation

because in first corinthians 11 it actually dealt with this where paul is saying hey how

come you guys come for a meal and when you come for a meal some of you start eating and you eat

first before the rest come in you guys have kfc the rest come in and they get crackers why is this

distinction between the rich and the poor so i would suggest to you that this does exist and if

it exists we must again destroy it and that's what we're going to do we're going to destroy it

because it was put to death these things are anathema for god an abomination before him

and so one of the teachings i want to do either next week or the week after is how does a person

that is 50 plus or 55 plus be productive and fruitful in a church like this where most people

are young

how does a for me it's a little easier because i'm the pastor so i get to do a whole lot of things

but how does a jone a sue a mike a karen a diana a vane a kamal and an a heidi how how

a bernice a vane how are they going to be fruitful and productive in a church that seems to be getting

younger and we'll talk about that because it otherwise after a while it'll be like ah there's

a young people's church we just come and don't have much to do that must change remember after

three services ago jone coming and saying jacob i want to be a part of this tell me i'm ready

there's a readiness but now how do you do something about it

so we'll have to deal with that either next week or the week after

there are three things that bring division in the church guys

lovelessness

callousness

tribalism

lovelessness callousness tribalism lovelessness if you want to read scriptures

first corinthians 1 10 aficion's 4 1 to 3 first corinthians 1 10

aficion's 4 1 to 3 and then of course what jesus said in john 17

21 you know it's odd that jesus is sure that if acts 29 can visibly display

self-giving intimate unity that he has with the father the people in richmond will put their faith

in jesus jesus is sure based on john 17 21 onwards jesus is sure that if acts 29 visibly

expresses intimate unity that he has with the father amongst them jesus is sure that if acts

29 does that that richmond will begin to believe in him that's crazy but he is sure and he's the boss

and he's the boss

what he says there is hey can you guys have the same kind of solidarity it's a it's a stronger

word than unity can you can you guys have the same degree of solidarity and intimacy that i have with

the father and if you have that amongst yourself then many will turn and put their trust in me

he's very sure of it

so

what does this mean then that ya 2.0 young adults 2.0 and young adults 1.0 will have to

embrace the old adults 8.0 and 7.0 and 6.0 and vice versa that there will never be a feeling of

rich or poor in this church never that there'll never be a sense of oh they've been here a long

time we are new so we don't get to participate they'll never be one of the other structures

that has to be destroyed is is it's some kind of exclusivity to leadership there will be leaders

in a church and not everybody can be leaders but everybody in this church has a potential to be a

leader but when an exclusivity amongst the leaders develops then it is going to be poisonous at some

stage and my aim is to destroy that whenever it rises when it seems like oh that's a click

and that's hard to break into that must be destroyed too

otherwise it perpetuates itself these are things christ put to death you cannot raise this corpse

any questions

this has happened they have been to places where people you know you're the only guys who treat me

like less than normal but many other places that i go to i'm treated really well

you know

when i go to those places i find that there's there is this divide that happens

where it is like ah jacob and a bunch of guys around him that seem to have time and everything

but we have to stay thank god it's not something here and we should destroy it everywhere so that

it never happens eh gotta make sure that doesn't happen

so

erin i was looking at you

so

can we decide no divisions

and can you i don't know whether the spelling is right tattletale when

it happens

can you decide that our distinctives

will be secondary

can you decide this

yeah

so father we come as a church and we decide

that we will not spite your death i know it sounds like an extreme statement but the one thing the

cross is is oneness same kind of oneness that the triune god has the father son and the holy spirit

and if you want to dance in our midst you require us to make sure that there are no divisions

and so we lay down our divisions and as i call them out father i just pray that this church will

turn away from this we lay down the division of following safest paul apollos and swearing our

allegiance not to you and the body but to certain leaders we lay down right now

we lay down the division of any prejudice that we have against any ethnicity of people group

and we will search our hearts for it we lay down our distinctives be it language be the places we

come from be the education we have this is the reason we lay down our distinctives that there

will be no other hoop that a person has to jump through we as the pastor of the church will will

work furiously oh god to prevent leadership from being raised in a way that is ungodly

that that distinctive will be broken

so

that acts four and acts two will happen in this church it says in acts four the people brought

and shared things commonly nobody had too much nobody had too less everybody shared

and there was fear in the city a favor on the people and then oh god you will begin to dance

you always dance where there is oneness

they were in one accord and you turned up in act chapter two

we seek that and we receive it now in jesus name amen

you didn't play it stronger when i went up

i'm gonna skip temple and human wisdom i'm going to go to all authority

there's so much to finish okay let's let's deal with two more and then we'll stop

next thing

guys um end to offense this is something he came to do a on the cross he put to death our right

to carry offense c.s louis put it this way to forgive the inexcusable to forgive the inexcusable

the inexcusable because god forgave the inexcusable in us the inexcusable in us

to forgive the inexcusable because god forgave the inexcusable in us we don't realize that christ

put to death

your

right to carry offense

how do you do this you look at the sin that someone did against you look at the sin done against you

you look at its meanness you look at the malice you look at the horror of it

this is committed against you and then after that you begin the process

of being reconciled to the offender

but should i go and be friends with the one who did me harm again no but do you begin the process

of reconciling with the offender yes what's the word reconciliation

but do you begin the process of reconciling with the offender yes

what's the word reconciliation erin will tell you reconciliation is balancing the debt a debt

column with a credit column where it matches up in a ledger this is not a choice he died to put

to an end my right to carry offense

what does that mean i have to lose the desire to hurt humiliate

or extract justice or revenge

against the offender

how many times do i have to do it as often as it resurfaces

that's what mortifying the flesh or crucifying the flesh means

crucifying it till it ceases to breathe

any questions on that

there's nobody here who hasn't been through it some of you through stories that are so horrible

that it's unbearable even to listen to it but we don't have a choice in this

he died to put to death your right to carry offense

okay so i can say someone who did me harm and now

yeah first yeah we we won't be able to deal with that part today today we can only deal with

how do i respond to it yeah guys always seek the justice of other for others but do not seek it for

your own self when someone else is harmed go seek justice for them it should be done with a passion

but when i am harmed the first reaction shouldn't be i need justice

okay pardon what about if i take christ as my example even that i'll have to lay down

it's not that it's not my right it is that it is not my first response it can come later

but if all if i want to be christ-like

like first peter

acts 832 he went he went to his shears like a sheep that was going to be slaughtered and he

stayed silent and did not offer a word in his defense what good is it if you only do good to

those who are good to you but you react to those that are bad to you i'm not saying there is no

place for defense or justice in the hey i get i get emails i got an email this morning i won't

tell you who it comes from not from here from the u.s. inviting the elders or the leaders of this

church to register for a course where we can learn how to carry guns so that we can shoot people if

they do us harm on one hand you think to yourself if someone comes in here and tries to shoot me i

sure hope kamal will shoot him first but then the second thought is is that how desus would have

reacted what would desus do where is the balance it's not a question of balance it's always a

question of holding things in tension it's never balanced guys there are times when i have to rise

up to defend others but to defend myself it doesn't seem to be christ's way does that mean i do not

defend myself no but it means that my first reaction is not that this is the path or the way

of christ it's an extreme way

but if you see someone else being harmed you should rise to their defend

him

he was quite upset that nobody rose to the defense of the man who was lying on the street and only a

samaritan did justice is super important to god but strangely it is justice for others

and he keeps saying i will avenge you go ahead

um

yeah terrible terrible and then the question is so now what do you do thousands of being slaughtered

but then the question is isn't that what persecution looks like for years on end

and i don't even know how to answer it till you're in the situation i've been i've never been in a

situation where someone's going to beat me to kill me but i've met people who are being beaten

to almost be killed and when you meet with them they took the beating and their captors or their

the people that did violence to them either god took care of them or they became believers

one of the guys who came to pick us up from an airport was a guy who used to beat them up

he comes in his jeep and he's coming us to coming to pick us up so would i would i suggest that what

we do is carry guns just in case someone comes here and kills people i'm not able to suggest that

and what about what she said where you have people being killed by the hundreds where it's only

where it's almost like an elimination of christians this is exactly what was happening

in new testament days the question is then do we avenge by shooting back or don't we and my

my i'm not going to be humble about this my strong suggestion i was going to say my humble

suggestion it wouldn't be true my strong suggestion is that no that is not christ's way

yeah that is not christ's way i mean when john is on the island of patmas christians are being

killed by the thousands have you noticed how in revelations 13 it says they overcame the devil by

the blood of the lamb and the word of the testimony and they love not their life

unto death what about um the scripture that says i long to know the power of his and his and

and

the chaplain knows the substance

malachi 4 7 says

just checking

there is no malachi 4 7 it starts at six so i wanted to see if i could get him but unfortunately

he didn't take the bait guys if you have no reputation

and if you are a servant who walks in humility it is very hard to offend you

it's very hard to offend you if you are a person who has no concern for reputation

and if you are someone who is self-forgetful as in you don't care whether you're acknowledged or

not that kind of humility is hard to offend that's your april challenge that's your april

challenge for the rest of april that's your challenge can you walk you know in you don't

see this here i was sharing this with derrick and i was yesterday or someone i think it was

someone i think i'm not sure maybe it was not derrick narrows he in many parts of the world

you have bond servants even today we don't call them bond servants but they basically come and

work in your homes for a pittance maybe cleaning maybe taking care of animals maybe um washing the

dishes or cooking they they when you see them they just stand there some of them are young

um 17 or 18 year old girls or 15 year old boys they just stand there they're waiting for the

master who pays them a pittance to tell them to do something or do that do this they'll go do that

do that absolutely no gratitude they'll wait till you finish eating and then whatever is left over

they go sit usually in the kitchen on the floor and they finish their food they're going to make

sure everything is cleaned up they go to bed late and they get up early that is a bond servant

when you look at them you realize that they don't care any bit about their reputation

they have total self-forgetfulness they don't they don't wait around saying i did all this

for you karen come on now thank me no self-forgetfulness humility those kind of people

you cannot offend here's the thing they've got culture to it jivan used to tell me how

how untouchables would be treated in india you have no reputation you have no dignity

you walk in self-forgetfulness and you walk in humility and jesus is saying that's what i want

you to be i want you to be a bond servant that's your april challenge that's my april challenge

when people don't acknowledge you when people look at you strangely when people look at you

and say you don't seem to have the right to come in here when people ask you to show

your id to them because they're not sure you're the right person

when people treat you badly the offense that comes up my god it comes up in me

are you able to take that up as your april challenge

i think that god put to death you do not have a right i do not have a right to carry offense

then justice is true justice

you know why christ can judge so well because he does not carry offense his judgments are right

his judgments are right

last thing we'll deal with and then we'll end with that and we'll do the rest whatever

christ put to death sickness really take him if you put to death sickness then how come it exists

christ put to death sickness go to matthew 8 14 to 17 matthew 8 14 to 17

this this this master that we serve is an extreme person he's extreme

christianity is disruptive revolutionary extreme it's not for namby pambys

matthew 8 14 to 17 look at what it says when jesus came into peter's house

he saw peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever if you read luke 4 37 it says he rebuked

the fever as and he spoke to the disease and rebuked it but here it says in matthew he touched her hand

and the fever left her and she got up and began to wait on him when evening came many who were demon

possessed were brought to him and he drove out the spirits of the word and he healed all the sick

this was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet isaiah and here's what isaiah said

he jesus took as in carried our infirmities

as in disease as in feebleness i'm just giving you the actual word meaning or sickness

and he bore as in removed

lifted endured

and he bore disease so the question jacob is did he really is this true can you believe it or can

you not that's a question and this question is something that you will have to wrestle through

nobody can wrestle this through for you but this is the question

he as in jesus took as in carried our infirmities as in our sickness and our weakness and he bore

as in removed bore as in endured bore as in he lifted up our disease the question is did he really

and the day you arrive at the conclusion that he did it becomes a question of did he really

that he did it becomes such a solid foundation from which you deal with infirmity sickness disease

for the rest of your life some things have to be wrestled through so you arrive at a at that moment

where you don't doubt anymore

this is a ridiculous importance if especially if you are young because you can live a life that

is different in the future which is not to say someone like me can't deal with this

but it's so much easier to learn something when you're young and practice it for years on end

so any questions on that statement

um it's just a word meaning of the word bore so if you don't want to take and your use removed

and lifted these are these are explanations for the greek word that is therefore bore so remove

endured endured as in he took a beating his back was plowed open he endured it so that by his stripes

he but you can pick any of those he bore as he removed he lifted our disease did he really

that's the question

he put to death sickness he put to death death he put to death sin he put to death the penalty of

sin he put to death danger he when he put to that he also rescued you from it so the word sozo which

is often used for healing means rescue so did he i pray god that you wrestle with this to a point

where you either conclude he didn't or you conclude he did and then it changes your life forever

it doesn't mean that sickness and disease may not come your way we live in a fallen world and there

are certain results of fallenness that we unfortunately cannot avoid oh my god there's

a way to combat it and get out of it

these are the extreme positions we can take in christ not because of church doctrine but because

of church doctrine but because of scripture

as the world is waiting for a group of people to say this is what we believe and we see it so often

if it's not modeled it cannot be tasted

so if that's the case rediscover when it comes to healing rediscover the promise rediscover the

promise as in malachi 4 2 malachi 4 2 what does it say and the son of righteousness will rise with

healing in his wings and you will leave your stalls and jump around like calves as you leave

isaiah 53 4 i'm just giving you some there are many more isaiah 53 4 he was bruised for my he was

bruised or chastised for my peace and he was striped for my sickness and my healing some 103

was five or thereabouts he sent his word and he healed my disease and he has renewed my youth like

an eagle matthew 8 17 and he went around healing many that were demon possessed and that was sick

that were brought to him so that isaiah may be fulfilled that he himself took our infirmities

and he bore our diseases exodus 23 verse 25 i am yave your healer i will not put on you

Exodus 23:25

any of the diseases that were put on you in egypt exodus 15 verse 26 i will take away from you

Exodus 15:26

any sickness or disease i will take it away from you one is he won't put it on us two he will take

it away this is the nature of yave rafa we must understand this guys it is his nature

before even christ came he was already saying listen i will not put the diseases of egypt on

you and i will take away that which you're afflicted with this is yave and jesus himself

comes and says he is yave this is his nature this is his nature

rediscover the rediscover the promise next reclaim

reclaim what has already been done what has already been done

as an active truth

as something granted as something finished

as and how do you reclaim things you begin to believe it and speak it

in the face of sickness

how does that look like you can say to someone else you can say to yourself you can say to your

body you can say to god you can say it in front of the church but he already did this for me

he said i was healed

that he already paid the price this is already granted it is a present truth it's not from the

past it's not in the future it's my present reality that christ who is alive and present here right

now listening to my words has already done this i don't know if you only see scars on his hands

scars on his hands or whether you see marks on his back the bible doesn't talk about it

but if those marks have disappeared they're still real if i can go into his throne room every day

despite having sinned because there's a freshly slain blood pathway into the throne room that

lasts forever surely the freshly opened back of christ is sufficient for my healing

these things cannot be spurned or turned away from you can't explain this away with greek

and hebrew you can never explain away the nature of god with greek and hebrew

you can explain scriptures with greek and hebrew but you can never explain the nature of god away

you can come up with 20 definitions of kind but my god i know he is kind and you can't change that

even if you came up with a greek word that says otherwise

you can't take away the fact that he's a father you can show me all kinds of old testaments

creatures the scriptures where he looks like an ogre a monster but this one thing i know

that you can spell monster in greek but you do not know my father because he is kind and he is a father

this is his nature guys

this is what we need to stand for these things are put to death

this is what we need to stand for these things are put to death and then things were brought to life

then receive when you reclaim you must expect to receive when i go to claim something

i expect to receive it how do i receive it god answers i'm sorry i'm shouting but it is

important god answers immediately what he has said is in his will

god answers immediately you receive it in your spirit by faith immediately and then you process

it with your mind and then you see it expressed in a physical situation but when god says something

that he says is his will he answers immediately receive it in your spirit immediately

receive it in your spirit immediately

the one who said he will never leave me his presence is here now

the one who said my name is immanuel is a with us god who is for us too and his promises hold

good now because he's i am not i was or i will be

so receive it immediately as in jesus you said this i can't see it but i receive it in my spirit

immediately as my present reality

then the mind begins to doubt question and you work your mind through the scriptures

because god be true and every man be a liar you receive it immediately every morning you go and

stand in the mirror to see if things have changed and when it doesn't change you begin to indulge

in something called praise where you start rejoicing where you start rejoicing not rejoicing

to make something happen rejoicing because your father is true rejoicing because your father is

true you do not rejoice because it's some kind of a mantra to make feeling happen you rejoice

because the one who said he will do what he will do is true that's why you rejoice you don't rejoice

to make things happen that's an old way of doing things just keep praising even it feels like

sawdust in your mouth just keep praising if you praise enough something will happen

that's not sincere praise praise must have a reason and the reason must be the beauty or the

nature of god of the beauty or the nature of what he said and so after you receive you rejoice and

so

after you receive you rejoice and then you go into rebuking rebuke as in what is what is

what does rebuke mean you impose a new kingdom value

a new kingdom value over what is not from god anything that is not from god can be rebuked

you impose a new kingdom value you override you forbid

you force out you expel this is what jesus does in luke 4 37 he goes up to peter's mother-in-law

but she has a fever she can hardly move he goes up to her and he rebukes the fever he speaks to

this thing that is a condition but he speaks to it almost as if it is animate and he rebukes

the fever and it leaves to rebuke is to impose a new value if this is what is happening impose a

new kingdom value what is the kingdom value a kingdom value is anything that christ has done

for us and finished on the cross that's a kingdom value you impose it and after having imposed it

now you have the right to force it out expel it dismiss it stop it command it undone

some of this is work and we don't like work

it's not in the words guys

it's not how you say it how loudly you say it it's

this remember this

this everybody has it

you rebuke it

and then you begin to only after this i would suggest do you go and ask the holy spirit to

reveal to reveal to you if there's anything else

to be dealt with

like

sin or fallenness or demonic or diet or whatever

very often what happens with charismatic christians or penicastal christians is we first go and try to

find out the sin part of it man because we are not very good with guilt and condemnation we talked

about this last week when you go first thinking that god reckons your sin against you it puts

you at a disadvantage deal with the sin yes but later deal with the diet yes later deal with the

demonic or the fallenness of the world later but don't deal with it first on because you

cripple yourself by always going to god saying here's a magnifying glass look at me examine me

because i'm sure there's some sin and that's why i'm suffering it just puts you at such a disadvantage

go to what he's already done because strangely the scriptures say that he does not count your

sins against you

i've been in ministries 20 years ago where you always try to find out the sin

yes it must be dealt with i remember having backaches and asking god father

dealt with everything and finally god said go read isaiah 17 four and it says that jacob's fat

shall grow thin all that meant was jacob start walking you lose some weight and your back pain

will go but i didn't know there was a scripture in the bible it says jacob's fat shall grow thin

it actually says that so there it was not demons it was not sin it was not the fallenness of the

world it was just walking diet so this is when you begin to see father is there anything else

you want to reveal that i can deal with and then you remember when as you go through this you begin

to remember his goodness and his faithfulness his goodness and his faithfulness his goodness and his

faithfulness you begin to remember it you you talk about it you recall it you broadcast it you know

how israel used to walk into the future i love how israel used to walk in the future they would walk

into the future this way why because they would have their eyes locked on the past and remember

the faithfulness of god and the goodness of god they would always walk into the future backwards

and blind because they would see what he has done you've done this you've done this you've done this

you've done this again and again and again i am willing to keep my eyes locked on who you are

your goodness and your faithfulness and i will walk backwards into the future now it makes sense

why it says in isaiah that god knows the end from the beginning so why not keep your eyes locked on

the beginning and all the things he's done so that you can keep moving backwards this these

principles apply to every area of life i'm just using sickness as a method to deal with this

you remember david psalm 42 verse 4 these things i remember as i pour out my soul how i used to

Psalms 42:4

praise you god amongst the happy crowd but why are you so sad my soul why so distressed

within me put your hope in god for i will yet praise him that's the kind of god we serve man

yes this is doctrinal and yes this is what this church believes

which is why trees of healing wells of healing shall be found in this church and this city and

others will benefit because we believe in something there's no iffiness of watchiness about this

and if you're on the outskirts if you're not fully convinced don't worry

we'll keep going over this message again and again truth when it's repeated changes the mind

and when truth is manifest and you begin to see healings happening then you'll be like queen

i had heard of you but now i have seen you'll be like job i had heard of you but now i have seen

the other thing you do with sickness is you you break bread and you remember the benefits of his

death you break bread and remember the benefits of his death how is it a conference in switzerland

many years ago and the preacher was a doctor and i used to have severe pain in my tailbone

where if i sat for more than a little while my tailbone would begin to pain where i would have

to stand and then not sit for a while severe pain and this doctor is telling us about the same thing

that he would suffer and he was a medical doctor not a toony doctor and so he knew what he was

talking about and so he said one of the things he began doing is he began to break bread

because when he talked to the lord the lord said you need to begin to remember the benefits of

my death so he and his wife would sit together and break bread and within a matter of i think

six days or six weeks i don't remember it disappeared and i'm listening to it and i'm sitting there and

i can feel my tailbone hurting i was staying at this house as a guest and i asked them for

some bread and the swiss make really good bread and i asked them for some juice and that morning

i began to break bread and remember the benefits of his death the Passover was supposed to do that

guys the intent was listen i'm rescuing you from bondage i'm rescuing you from the diseases of

Egypt i'm rescuing you rescuing you from the gods of Egypt i'm judging the gods of Egypt and i'm

judging the diseases of Egypt that was the idea of Passover and it still holds good while things

were breaking out all across Egypt in Goshen were a people that were distinct

and the blood of the Passover lamb it still holds good

sometimes break bread with people you don't have to be a pastor to do that

you don't have to be in a church to do that and then last step repeat

start from the beginning and go through it so here's what we're going to do we're going to

trust that what we said is the truth and the truth manifests itself and so regardless of what sickness

or disease you have you don't have to get up you don't have to do anything we're just going to sing

songs of healing i know i've said this to you before i was in a church in hoshen run by a guy

called Colin Urquhart his son was leading worship and he asks people who have sickness and disease

to stand and they stood and then he asked the worship team to come up and begin to sing and

they only sang songs with healing scriptures there was nothing else there was not oh god you're a

wonderful healer no it was you're the lord that healed me just pure scripture and then this young

boy Colin Urquhart's son says as we sing our scriptures it says he sent his word and he healed

our disease he said as we sing all these scriptures can you trust that the same thing

will begin to happen again and as it begins to happen if you know for sure that you are healed

and you know it because you you either know it or you feel it sit down and i watched there's 110

people stood because i almost took a count and then in the end by the time i left there were 25 or 26

standing he sent forth his word and he healed our disease we'll do that and we leave yeah whenever

you want to leave you leave there'll be people here to pray for anything but healing today there's no

prayer for healing today you can pray for other things people will be here to pray but if you want

healing ain't nobody going to pray for healing today because we're going to trust that the word

is sent to you and you have the ability to do that yeah okay

just sit here you don't need a mic you can just sit here and sing

jesus we so believe what we have heard today i believe it with all my heart

and so i just thank you as we hear testimonies from this evening

of how the word was sent as it was sent years ago and how it healed diseases

so holy spirit we come into a position of receiving and remembering promises reclaiming

what is already done

we don't have a song full of scripture but we'll do the best we can

but i just thank you spirit of god that you're present here because it says in mark 16 that as

they began to preach the word christ who is seated in heaven began to confirm their words with

attest their words with signs and wonders so let it be so now in jesus name

attest their words with signs and wonders so let it be so now in jesus name

i love it lord you're the doer caution you do such a great job a perfect job

the perfect one is here hallelujah the perfect one is here the kind one is here

the compassionate one is here the all-powerful one is here jave rafa is here

so

I sent my son and he healed your disease. I am the Lord your healer.

Thank you Jesus for what you're doing. I am the Lord that healeth these.

I am the Lord your healer. I sent my word and I healed your disease.

I am the Lord your healer. By my stripes, by my stripes you have been healed.

By my bruises you have my peace.

By my death you now have new life. I am the Lord your healer.

He is the Lord that healeth me. He is the Lord that healeth me.

He is the Lord my healer.

He sends his word and he heals my disease.

He is the Lord my healer.

So we thank you for digestive systems that are being healed.

Digestive systems that are being healed. Thank you. Thank you for the end to bleeding across this room.

Internal bleeding above. Thank you.

Thank you. Keep playing.

May bless you Father.

I trust in you.

I trust in you.

I so believe you're my healer.

I so believe you are all we need.

I so believe that you're a portion.

I so believe you're more than enough for me.

Jesus you're all I need.

Thank you Father. Thank you. But nothing is impossible.

Nothing is impossible.

So even as Tony plays loud the service has ended. We can leave when we want but

some of us will just receive your touch quietly.

You know strangely you're saying you'll receive a touch in your heart first

and you will see me as who I am and then your body.

So we look forward to that touch oh God.

you