Living From The Spirit

Mountain, go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere go, tell it on the

mountain that Jesus Christ is born.

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all righty

Where's Vidisha?

Oh, she's doing Sunday school. Okay, no worries.

Hey guys, it's Sophia's birthday too.

And it's Sophia's birthday today.

This is as bad as it'll get, eh?

To you.

Happy birthday dear Sophia.

Terrible.

Happy birthday to you.

Yeah.

That was bad.

That was really bad singing, guys.

Okay, guys, we'll talk about living from the Spirit today.

Living from the Spirit.

Okay, so 1 Corinthians 6.19.

1 Corinthians 6.19, it says that the Spirit of God and my Spirit have become one.

No, no, 1 Corinthians 6.19 says,

Do you not know that you have been purchased at a price and you're no longer yours,

and that you are at the temple of the Holy Spirit?

That's what 1 Corinthians 6.19 says.

And so if we were to infer what God is saying from that,

here's what he's saying.

Guys, the Holy Spirit resides in the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Here's what he's saying.

Guys, the Holy Spirit resides in you.

And you've heard that before, but here's another way to look at it.

If that is true, and 1 Corinthians 6.19 is true,

then it also means that I host or we host him.

We host him.

We host him.

Just think of that for a second, that I actually host the Spirit of God.

I host him.

This is why he then says,

Listen, you need to know that you actually have been purchased at a price.

I purchased you at a price because for you to be able to host him,

you have to be a certain kind of vessel, temple.

And so I needed to purchase you.

I needed to cleanse you.

But you host him.

So think along those lines.

Reside, it's almost an in and out thing because that's how we do house.

People come, people leave.

You come, you leave.

Jump into your bed at night, get up in the morning, you disappear, come back.

This is different. You host him.

So think along those lines.

We host him.

So on one hand, and the way we need to think of it is,

if this room is the Holy Spirit,

and if this is the world,

and if this is you,

and if this room is the Holy Spirit,

if this is the world and this is you,

then it's not...

Sometimes analogies don't fit God.

When we think that God lives in us,

we think of him just folding himself up and then living in us.

And he becomes terribly small.

When we're talking about someone who is as big as this room,

who now begins to come down to the earth and live continuously through a person.

God is continuous through me in this world.

If this room is the Holy Spirit,

and this...

If this room is the Holy Spirit,

and he fills beyond the universe,

and remember this analogy will not fit,

so don't take it too far because it will not fit.

If this room is the Holy Spirit,

and he is bigger than the universe,

if this was the earth,

this box,

and if that was you,

he lives continuously through you on this earth.

It's not that he folds himself up and lives in me.

It's not that he folds himself up and lives in us.

It is, listen, I am beyond your ability to comprehend.

If you think the universe is vast, I'm vaster, I'm bigger.

I can swallow a few universes inside me.

I was there when things were made.

He was there when things were made.

It says so in Genesis chapter 1,

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

that the Holy Spirit was brooding over what was chaotic.

The universe is easily contained in him.

This humongous Holy Spirit now begins to live continuously through me.

So he isn't folding himself up,

but I am his host here on earth.

We are his host here on earth.

And he is both continuous and contiguous.

Contiguous is when things bother each other or things touch each other.

The way he lives here on earth is if she is someone who doesn't know God,

then the Holy Spirit who fills the universe is hosted by me,

lives through me continuously,

and then touches her.

But I've got to understand this concept of I host him.

I host him.

It will change the way we think about ourselves,

and it will change the way we think about the Holy Spirit.

Remove the word reside from your vocabulary.

Change it to host.

Let's not go down that road of, oh, the Spirit of God resides in us.

Let's go with the word, the Holy Spirit is hosted by me.

The Holy Spirit is hosted by us.

It at once becomes a huge responsibility and a huge privilege.

So right now, each of us hosts the Holy Spirit.

Right now, we as a people host him.

Any questions on that before we go on?

Jesus did this in John 15.5 and John 5.19.

He says that, listen, I can't do anything without the Holy Spirit.

If I don't host him, if he doesn't live in me,

if I don't rely and completely depend on him, I can do nothing.

That's a whole thing that gives you the ability to do what Jesus did.

And it's a 24-7 thing, eh?

Because no longer do we get to say what David said or David sang when he said,

cast me not away from your presence of God, take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Ain't going to happen.

This is a permanent hosting.

That's the crazy part.

I can either be a cooperative host or I can force him to be a paying guest.

But I cannot get out of hosting him because I've been purchased at a price.

Whether he can be contiguous to the world, let's choose a simpler word.

Whether he can affect the world through me is completely up to me.

But whether I host him or not has been dealt with already.

When I was purchased by Jesus Christ, I became the host for the Holy Spirit.

That I don't have a choice in.

This now becomes the veil that either separates people from him

or it becomes a veil that becomes permeable to which he works.

Either this body, this flesh becomes a veil to which nobody can see him

or it becomes something that's been so torn that people can see him easily.

But I host him.

And if we start thinking host, there'll be a tendency to keep the place clean.

Airbnbs are always clean.

Surprising.

Because you've got to host others, right?

If we think host, then we will keep this place clean.

If we think host, we will keep this place clean the way we think,

the way we act, and the words we speak.

Because it matters now.

We host his, not his presence.

We host his holy presence.

Any questions?

So on one hand, to host God, you must understand, there is no greater privilege.

There is no greater privilege.

Guys, this is one place if you want to cough, cough loudly.

Just go for it.

Like, go for it.

My God, what has the world come to?

People can't even cough loudly.

And whenever I try not to cough, it gets worse.

It's usually on an aircraft and a guy is sitting next to me.

I'm trying to swallow the cough.

You cannot swallow a cough.

It gets worse.

Go for it, Celine.

Let's just do it together for her sake.

Stop it.

Okay.

To host God, there is no greater privilege and there is no greater responsibility.

This isn't a new thing, man.

Genesis 18.

Abraham, it's the middle of the afternoon.

He's sitting outside his tent.

And in the distance, he sees three people.

And I don't know what clicks in this man's mind.

He sees these three guys at a distance and he's camped by the oaks of Mamre.

And suddenly he knows that one of them is Yahweh.

And he knows what he needs to do next.

And it's fascinating what Abraham does.

He gets up and his intent is, can I refresh Yahweh?

He doesn't fully know it is Yahweh, but he knows inside him it is Yahweh.

He also isn't paying attention to the two others.

And yet the Bible says he saw three men.

What made Abraham distinguish one as Yahweh and the others as angels who had repute but were not to be paid enough attention to?

He serves them all, but his eyes are on one.

And what does he do?

He begins to refresh God.

Just think of it for a second, eh?

What does it mean to refresh God because you are his host?

What does it mean when your child refreshes you?

What does it even feel like?

I know what it feels like.

I do things for my mum and it refreshes her.

It brings like fresh wind into her life.

I can hear it in her voice.

I can hear it in the way she speaks to me when I do something for her.

What does he do?

He goes and washes their feet first.

He gets water, washes their feet.

After he washes their feet, he insists that they come and eat.

And he goes and quickly asks his servants to get a seer of flow and a calf that is just plump and ready for slaughter.

And he gets it all together and brings it.

Why?

Because he wants to refresh God.

What does it mean in your life to refresh God?

Think of it for a second.

It's not ministry.

It's not going to Costa Rica.

It's not even worship.

What does it mean to refresh God?

What does it mean to have God come to you because he needs a bright spot of sunlight that day?

What does it mean to come to you because you're actually happy and joyful?

What does it mean to come to you because he finds rest?

There are no complaints.

There's gratitude and rest.

There are houses I like going to because I can put my feet up and go and open their fridge and their cupboard and eat whatever I want.

He refreshes God.

And when you refresh God, a strange thing happens.

Here's what God says after he says, okay, I'll eat and drink with you.

And this is God coming in the form of man and actually eating and drinking.

After that, he says, as he's leaving, he says, shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do?

Genesis 18, verse 17.

Genesis 18:17

You begin to host the presence of God, you end up stepping into adventures of God.

You begin to host the presence of God and you end up getting permission for things that would not otherwise be released to you.

We've got to learn to host and you cannot learn to host in a day.

This will take time.

To be God conscious, and I'll repeat this line in the end again, to be God conscious is to be more conscious of God than yourself.

And I'm saying to you, it is not your condition and it is not my condition.

To be God conscious is to be more aware of him than of myself.

And I'm saying to you, you're not there and I'm not there.

More aware of him than myself.

Yep.

Okay.

Me too.

God doesn't need us, but if Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God,

then we have to look at his life and his relationships and his friendships and his pulling Peter aside and his letting John lean on his bosom and taking Peter and John up the mountain.

There are things that he did with some of them.

And it is a visible image of the invisible God.

There is nothing Jesus is doing that's a put on.

Everything he did, he was doing because it was him.

A part of that was some of his intense relationships.

He had a connection with John that was different.

There's a reason why he looks at John and says, John, here is your mother.

Woman, here is your son.

There is a reason why God says, shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do?

There is a reason he says in Psalm 89, I look for a champion and I found him in David.

He gives us the same allowance.

The privileges are the same.

I want you to understand that like any father or mother, some children have the ability to tug at the father's heart because of certain little things they do.

I want to be that.

And you must be that too because there's plenty of room in his heart.

There is a reason he turns to the Church of Philadelphia and he says, oh, you have little strength.

Yeah.

In Psalm 16, he says, out of all the brothers, Jesus found greater favor than anybody else.

There is a reason why there's a prophetic word with Joseph where he says, you shall be a fruitful branch.

And you'll be greater than your brothers.

So it's not that God is playing favorites because he does not.

He's unbiased.

He's impartial.

But you can please him and you can become a resting place for him.

One of the cool things is when churches become a resting place for him.

Where he has the freedom to be what he wants whenever he wants.

This is a side of God we don't think of because it becomes too personal and too intimate and seems like we are hoisting on him human impressions that we're taking, doing what Michelangelo did and just take something human and put it on him.

But don't look at anything human.

Look at Jesus.

Three things that make up, that really pull at God's heart.

Can you enter into his affection?

Can you enter into intimacy?

Can you enter into trust?

This is the yoke he wears.

And all three are different.

Can you enter into his affection?

As in, do you know his heart is highly affectionate towards you?

If you know his heart is highly affectionate towards you, it is now possible to step into intimacy.

It is not possible to step into intimacy till affection is first taken care of.

If you are not sure that your spouse is affectionate, there is no question of intimacy.

This is why intimate sex does not exist if spouses are not affectionate.

But if spouses are affectionate, intimacy kicks in.

And when intimacy kicks in, trust is guaranteed.

These are things that Jesus used to walk in.

When he says, take my yoke upon you, what's the yoke he's talking about?

He's only worn one yoke since the beginning of time.

Affection, intimacy, trust.

That's the yoke he's wearing.

And he says, come now, enter into it, Dilna.

You can enter into it too.

It's light, it's easy.

I'll teach you how to walk with my father in affection, intimacy and trust.

And it's an easy yoke.

And these are things that only the Spirit of God can bring us into.

Why only the Spirit of God can bring us into?

Because he's at present God's personal presence in your life and my life.

And he's the only one who knows the intimate secrets of the heart of God according to the first Corinthians 2, 10-12.

He knows the little things in God's heart.

And Jesus said, I'll go over it line by line with you.

And who does it on Jesus' behalf?

The Spirit of God.

But why not host him first?

Why not host him first?

Does that kind of answer it, Emily?

And the Holy Spirit actually, I've said this before, but the Holy Spirit actually thinks that this body belongs to him.

He actually thinks this is his body.

He's waiting for me to wake up every morning.

I woke up kind of early today.

He's just waiting for me to wake up.

Saying, get up.

I've got places to go, things to do, words to say, and you're still asleep.

Why?

Because he actually thinks that this body is his.

He actually thinks that his hands are his.

I've been purchased at a price.

I'm his temple.

I'm his host.

Till I wake up, at least through me, there's not much he can do.

Which is why the usage of time becomes important in the eyes of God.

Because if I'm the host, then there are things to do.

What's his main intent?

It's always the same, guys.

God has always looked for a people, a body to do one simple thing.

That the knowledge of my glory may be known across the earth as the waters cover the seas.

Habakkuk chapter 2.

Habakkuk 2 · chapter mention

That the knowledge of my glory may be known across the earth as the waters cover the seas.

Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 14.

Habakkuk 2:14

That was a banner that Rosalind made in 2009.

We found it in the storage and thought we'd hang it.

What's the intent?

The intent is, hey, Jacob, can I let the knowledge of my splendor, magnificence, weight, laughter, power, goodness be known across the earth through you?

Can you host me so that that can happen?

Because I live continuously through you.

So he is beyond the universe, and yet he lives continuously with that life through this person.

And when I learn to host him, I begin to function differently.

Where do you host him?

You host him in your spirit.

You host the spirit of God.

Where does he live?

You host the spirit in you.

You host the spirit in your spirit.

You host the spirit in your spirit.

1 Corinthians 6, 17.

The spirit of God and I have become one.

Romans 8, 16.

The spirit bears witness in my spirit.

John 4, 24.

You shall worship the Lord in spirit and truth.

You host him in your spirit.

Therefore, you must live, and I must live, from my spirit, not my soul, which is the default of the earth and is still a problem for us as believers.

Guys, here's something we don't realize.

The most accessible and real place to meet God is your spirit.

Pardon?

Because that's where he lives.

That's where he lives.

And yet we don't know how to.

We can understand, okay, the spirit of God lives in this body, so I guess there's some kind of space there where he holds himself and lives.

That's how we think in terms of the body.

In terms of the soul, emotions, feelings starts to rage through the day.

But where he actually lives, where he has become one with me, the oneness that I have with God is simply in the spirit.

The spirit of God and my spirit have become one.

But we don't know what it is to access him in that secret place.

Psalm 91, when Moses said, he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, he was talking about the Holy of Holies.

But there is a temple that's not made with human hands.

And that temple is us, and the temple is me.

The secret place of the Most High, surprisingly, is not heaven.

I have to learn, and I know it almost seems sad that some of us have been believers for so many years like me, and we're just beginning to scratch the paint of this.

That the most real and most accessible place to meet God is my spirit.

Proverbs 27.20 said that long ago, 20.27.

The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord.

Meaning, if you really want to find God, it's in your spirit.

And this was in the Old Testament when they didn't have an idea what it was.

Therefore, instead of always looking outward, up there to find God, the truth is the secret place of the Most High is here.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High.

There's an easier way to abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

We'll talk about that. We'll go further with that.

But live from the spirit which is the most real and most accessible.

Let me write it. Live from this place where God is most real.

Live from this place where God is most real.

And most easily accessible.

Most easily accessible.

Guys, there is this inner reality of His presence.

Inner reality of His presence.

I stand at the door and knock. If you open the door, I will come. My father and I will come and sup with you.

Jesus was talking about when the Holy Spirit would...

And Jesus said to them, the Holy Spirit is with you right now, but soon He will be in you.

John chapter 8, what He was trying to say was that He hadn't been glorified yet, but once He was glorified, the Holy Spirit would live in them.

John 8 · chapter mention

Ephesians 1.13 or thereabouts.

That I have deposited, guaranteed the Holy Spirit to live in you now.

Romans chapter 8. The entire book is about the Holy Spirit living in us.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

What we don't realize is that there is the inner reality of His presence.

And we as Christians are continuously looking for the external reality of His presence.

Therefore, we have our own ideas of what glory looks like.

What is it? What does glory look like? When someone falls? When someone's pinky starts vibrating?

When someone's muscle starts contorting? When feathers fall?

Or when worship reaches a crescendo?

Or you feel warm in your body?

At the end of the day, there's something called the inner reality of His presence.

But this will require disciplined men.

You know, everybody else in this room can have a picture of the baby in Iris' womb.

Even Derek, all he can get is that, what do you call those things you stick on the fridge and it doesn't matter whether it's upside down or not?

Ultrasound, yeah.

So, sorry, what I mean is, I never know whether it's this way or that way. It all looks the same.

But you have to be excited about it.

So, it doesn't matter. Even Derek doesn't know what it is to have the inner reality of the presence of a child.

There's only one person who knows that, and that's the mother.

Everyone else has to look at whether her belly is big, whether the ultrasound is there, whether they're buying clothes and stuff like that for little babies.

That's the only way you know.

But then there is this inner reality of His presence.

We don't know this, guys. We don't know when He kicks because we are always looking for the outside.

We can't shift it in a day. I just want you to be really bothered by it. That will be a start.

Because it's very bothersome.

But doesn't somebody's presence always do something?

Yes, and we'll get there.

But we've got to get the inner reality first.

And then, absolutely, it must show outside.

There must be faith, there must be feelings. It comes as a package. You can't separate it.

But if I don't start with this, then all I'm left with is the outside.

I'll need the visible.

The visible should be an outworking of what I understand in the invisible.

Yeah.

So, we've got to learn how to default to the inner reality.

To the inner reality of His presence. To default to it.

Because all things flow from the inner reality of His presence.

Jacob, back it up with scripture. Yep.

John 8, out of you shall what flow rivers of living water?

Where is it coming from? It's not coming out of my ears, man. It's coming from somewhere here.

Out of me shall flow rivers of living water.

There is a throne in the temple, man, in Ezekiel 47, out of which the river flows.

But there is a temple here right now.

And there is a God who dwells in the midst of His people.

If we get the hang of it, say in a year, it's going to be really crazy, man.

The way you think and the way you function, even if ten of us get it, it's contagious.

But I'll have to practice it.

I'll have to practice it till I become so God conscious that I'm less aware of me and more aware of Him.

That's my struggle, eh? Because I'm highly aware of myself.

Is the struggle with the soul greater than the struggle with the enemy?

Yes, every day. The struggle with the enemy.

Hey, God intervenes with the enemy.

But God can't intervene with the soul till I let Him intervene with the soul.

If I want to be sad and miserable, there's nothing God can do.

I'm just giving you an example of a soulless reaction.

If I dislike you, there's not much God can do.

He's given me everything to like you.

Remember, your spirit, your spirit, I'm not talking about the Holy Spirit, I'm talking about your spirit,

relates to the world to go to what Paul was saying.

This, Paula, your spirit relates to the world while you're in this body,

through your soul.

As in, through the way you think, feel, reason.

Your spirit relates to the world while you're in this body, through your soul.

This is why we need to renew our minds, which is a word that's interchangeable with soul.

Your spirit, which is one with the Holy Spirit, one with the Holy Spirit,

relates to the world while you're in this body, through your soul.

And your soul is colored from the moment you get born.

Your soul is colored by your environment, by the country you grew up in,

your soul is colored by the parents who brought you up,

your soul is colored by the church you grew up in,

your soul is colored by the religious upbringing you had,

your soul is colored by the bullying you must have faced,

your soul is colored by the gifts you have or you don't have,

your soul is colored by so many different things,

and now it gets in the way of a spirit that is brand new.

But that is how I relate to the world.

And then begins this process of, Jacob, can I shift your way of thinking?

And as we begin to think, as we begin to change, we get to see with his eyes.

Get to see with his eyes.

Get to think with his mind.

Yeah, get to be aware of his presence.

But all this comes through a million starts,

a million restarts,

repetitive patterns of thinking,

and practice, discipline.

There's no other way around this, guys.

Please understand there's no other way around this.

There's no, there's no, there's no thing that you can just mainline into your veins.

It's just, you got to start a million times.

I got to be conscious of it right now as I speak,

that everything I speak must come from the Spirit of God,

who isn't there but is in here.

And that the Spirit of God has enough to work with,

both in terms of the substance that he's already put in me

and sometimes substance that I don't have.

That if I don't do that, then you will get that which comes from my flesh.

And if you are given what you have,

then you will get what you have.

Then you will get that which comes from my flesh.

And if you are given what is from my flesh,

it will not profit, it will decay in you.

Flesh gives birth to flesh, Spirit gives birth to Spirit.

Even as I stand here right now and have my notes,

I've got to depend on him who is inside me.

Because out of that inner reality flows life.

Out of this external reality can flow at best stuff that I have learned,

which will not profit you.

1 Corinthians 15.50, you cannot embrace, inherit, imbibe anything of the kingdom

if you're of the flesh.

John 3.6, don't know where the wind goes and where the wind comes from,

but that is the way of the Spirit.

We're not trying to be new every service.

We're trying to follow him, find the wind and follow him.

Because if we don't, what are we doing?

Anything that does not follow the wind of the Spirit is religion.

That's a very categorical statement, but it is true.

This is what we're being invited into.

It's a high bar, guys, but one who was as human as you and as average as you met it.

Met it and now lives in you by the Spirit.

Any questions?

Hebrews 5.14 puts it this way, the only way we get to know is by practice.

So you will not know instantly.

What we want is a gift that we can switch on and immediately it goes into effect.

And yet Hebrews 5.14 says these kinds of ways of discerning and distinguishing things

comes through repeated practice.

And as I practice, I get better.

One of the things Christians have to abandon is a desire to get it right.

Getting it right is overrated.

Getting it right is overrated.

What is required is pursuit.

Pursue him.

In the process, you will one day get it right.

And just when you thought you'd get it right, you'll find someone else who's getting it righter.

That is why we have a body.

Things are shown as getting it right or not in the context of a family.

You cannot know whether you've cooked something right till you compare it to what your wife or Dawn does.

I'm talking about Derek right now.

That's why I picked on his wife and on his brother.

But it's in the context of a family that you will know whether you're getting it right.

How do you know a good soccer player?

Don't bring him to me.

But take him to some guys who play soccer and they'll tell you whether he plays well or not.

I mean, we've got two guys from LA who don't know a thing about hockey.

That's why we started you off with some snow, just to get you used to it.

There was a reason behind what we were doing.

It's a life-scripted.

Yeah.

But the thing is, guys...

Sorry.

Question?

Yeah.

Can you give us an example of how it looks to live from the inner reality?

Yeah.

How does it look to live from the inner reality?

Costa Rica.

External realities.

Look at the ticket prices.

External realities.

How many days?

External realities.

When do I need to get back?

External realities.

What's the cheapest way to do this?

External realities.

Who would be best for this trip?

Maybe someone who speaks Spanish, someone who has been there before.

All these are external realities.

Internal realities are, spirit of God, what are you saying?

Internal realities is, inner realities is, I don't want a sign.

I don't want to go by signs anymore.

I don't want a confirmation word.

I don't want to see a car with a number plate that says Costa Rica.

Nothing wrong with that.

I've got signs like that.

I love them.

But I want to get to a place where the inner reality of its presence is sufficient to know that I am on.

Where hearing is replaced by knowing.

Can you imagine how Jesus walked the earth?

He knew.

And He also spent lots of time with the Father.

Yeah.

Problems that come your way.

Not to find your truth or derive your truth from the circumstances that are around you.

But to immediately default to the Father's perspective brought to you by the Spirit.

So that you're never reacting to external circumstances.

There's a storm outside.

He's asleep in the boat.

Why?

Because He knows how to derive His truth not from external circumstances.

And He knows how to derive His truth from the Father's perspective provided to Him.

The same way that it's been provided to us by the Holy Spirit on whom He was as dependent as I am.

He didn't have any advantage over me.

Jesus did not have any advantage over me.

But then I have that time.

I have that privilege too.

I can spend as much time as I want with the Father.

I don't.

But He had zero advantage over me.

The only advantage Jesus had, He could have lived on forever.

And He could have probably stayed 33.

Because He didn't die.

He didn't sin.

He couldn't die.

Otherwise, apart from the Holy Spirit, He said, I can do nothing.

Like nada.

I am fascinated that He didn't know who touched Him.

Why?

Because He wasn't supplied that information by the Holy Spirit.

He didn't know.

Who touched me?

Didn't know.

The what?

Yeah.

So you don't die.

Your body is left behind for a second.

Jesus' body also would not have died because He wasn't born of Adam's.

Yeah.

He was born of a virgin.

When you say discipline, do you mean discipline or do you mean discipline?

Yeah.

So that is this part.

Practice.

Discipline.

The content of your life from being a virgin is, from doing those challenges or trying

So that's this part, practice discipline.

Practice discipline.

Is it possible for me, oh God, to now continuously think along the lines of, hey, there is the

inner presence of God that I can immediately default to and from Him live?

It will destroy fury.

Just think of this.

He said, I have given you my never-will-I-leave-you presence.

I have given you my never-will-I-leave-you presence.

What are you going to do now?

How can you even go to, why have you abandoned me?

Can't go there anymore.

I'm giving you my never-leave-you presence.

And where is that presence?

In here.

Guys, please, as I say this, do not think this is an extreme position.

It is not.

It is a Jesus position.

And so to think it's an extreme position is to lie to yourself.

I want to expose that lie so that you do not let it build a stronghold.

It is not an extreme position.

It is a Jesus position.

And since creation, God has been wanting to give you His personal presence.

After all, who is the Holy Spirit?

He is God's life-giving personal presence in your life.

God, personal presence in your life.

That's who He is.

He's been wanting to do this forever.

He started off in Eden, didn't work.

Then He goes to the tabernacle in the desert.

That lasted for a little while.

At Solomon's temple, 1 Kings 18, the presence of God was so powerful, nobody could stand.

At the burning bush, there was a voice.

Moses heard it.

The presence of God.

Exodus chapter 3, verse 2.

Exodus 3:2

Elisha saw and Elisha's servants saw the presence of God.

The chariots of fire.

Damascus rode in the book of Acts, chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Paul saw the presence of God.

On the road to Emmaus, the disciples saw God, but they did not recognize Him.

Sometimes God will do that and don't get thrown off by it.

God will change frequencies when He speaks to you.

Just remember that.

God will change frequencies when He speaks to you.

He dislikes it when you get stuck with one method.

He is in the wind.

He is in the fire.

He is in the whisper and He is in the earthquake.

Let Him choose how He speaks.

Do not decide that because Elijah heard Him in the whisper, that's the only way He speaks.

Not true.

He speaks any which way He wants to and He keeps changing frequencies because He doesn't

want you to get used to a formula.

And so He'll keep changing it.

And I have to be dexterous enough to catch the change.

And I have to make that change quick because if I don't, I'll begin to think that He isn't

talking.

He is.

He shifted frequencies.

He changed.

And now I've got to quickly catch up and learn.

And you should learn with the same enthusiasm of a kid who's been taught how to cheat at

cards.

No, that was wrong.

Like one of those tricks that gets you into a video game faster, that kind of a thing.

Little tricks.

Learn it.

This has been one of his favorite things to do, guys.

Which father does not want his presence known?

What was his initial plan?

Can I walk with you in the cool of the garden?

Can I come down every day?

Can I just walk with you?

Can you and I talk?

Were words used?

Don't know.

Why?

Because deep call to deep, spirit call to spirit.

Don't even know if they used words.

But there was a communion that we can't even imagine that is happening between father and

son.

Not the son and son.

Because he called Adam his son.

And they'd walk in the garden.

Oh, how I long to be one of those little animals there.

Man, that would have been good enough to see this.

There's one Psalm, I think it's 19 or thereabouts, where he talks about how when God would come,

the animals would do cartwheels.

What was it like in Eden for the first many months or years or days when God would come

and walk in the cool of the evening with Adam?

What kind of communion was that?

This is a father who longs to manifest his presence.

So having gone the route of inner reality of his presence, we have to go to the manifestation

of his presence too.

Is it even possible for a group of people like this to know how to function in the inner

reality of his presence?

Is it even possible for them to gather six months from now and not to manifest it externally?

It's not possible.

But it must start inside.

Everything in the kingdom starts on the inside.

Remember that always.

Everything in this kingdom starts on the inside.

If we don't get it on the inside, we'll have to fake it on the outside or use smoke and

mirrors.

It's not even important to understand it.

is the faith.

It says in Galatians chapter 3, what bewitched you foolish Galatians?

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

You started so well with the spirit, how have you turned back into flesh?

Did you receive the spirit of God through works of law or through the hearing of faith?

So even now as these words are being spoken, if I can hear it with faith, these things

become real in my heart.

Because you know where this every time one hears with faith, remember what happens.

Your spirit comes alive because your spirit already knows it.

And when your spirit comes alive, your mind says pay attention.

There's something happening here.

You may not understand it, but begin to shape yourself so that you become soil that can

grab this eventually.

You think I'm not listening to the words I'm speaking and then I'm not hearing with faith.

I want this as badly as you want it.

And then it's only a matter of time guys.

Before 10, 20, 30, 40 people begin to grasp this and there is a throne in the temple from

which water begins to flow.

And when it begins to flow, it is impossible for it not to affect the external.

And marshes and rivers that are salty will turn into sweet.

We do this collectively guys.

The days of individual superstars is over.

It ain't going to happen like that.

Sometimes I just want to touch on this.

On the road to Emmaus, Jesus deliberately hid himself.

Sometimes he hides himself deliberately so you can operate on what he has already taught

you or he can test you on what you have already been taught.

Hear me again.

Sometimes Jesus will hide himself deliberately so he can test you on what you have already

been taught.

I ain't going to show you anything.

I want to.

I've given you enough to handle the situation because I always teach you before it happens.

Remember, God doesn't supply you what you need when it happens.

God always supplies you what you need before it happens.

And then sometimes he'll go into hiding.

To see, you do that with the children.

You give them something to do and you're really scared of how they're going to mess it up.

But you pretend everything is okay and you walk off.

But you've got your eye on is she going to drop the Swarovski crystal or is she going

to carry it to the table?

It's the same thing God does.

He hides sometimes because you already have the substance for it.

The guys on the road to Emmaus already had the substance.

And when they didn't and they started saying things that were negative, something else

began to happen in their hearts by the Spirit of God.

Didn't our hearts burn as we listened to him?

They should have gone with it.

They'd have recognized him faster before the breaking of the bread.

This is a father who plays games, guys.

These games are meant to make us brilliant.

But flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom.

You cannot hold it, you cannot embrace it, you cannot imbibe it.

This is why the title for this teaching is Live from the Spirit.

Faith makes God's presence manifest.

So yes, it needs to be shown outside.

Here are some things about that.

One of the litmus tests for presence.

Presence is a space filled with joy and absolute delight.

So you got, that's from Psalm 6.

Shoot, what happened?

Yeah.

Nope.

Oops, disappeared.

Well, presence is a space.

This is a litmus test for presence.

Presence is a space filled with joy, filled with joy and absolute delight.

It says so in Psalm 16, verse 11.

Psalms 16:11

The word used in Psalm 16, verse 11 is gladness and joy and pleasures forevermore.

Psalms 16:11

The actual word meaning of the word pleasure is absolute delight.

So here's a question that we need to ask.

Is this, if I were to measure presence in your life, would that be what I find?

Would that be what I find?

If you were to measure my life, not on occasional worship times, in general, is my life a life

that has in it joy and absolute delight?

And the usual answer is no, because there are external circumstances that prevent me

from going there, which is why I need to now default to the inner reality of its presence.

Fight for this, because it's going to wrestle you to the ground and hogtie you.

Any questions?

Unreal stuff, but really real and practical.

Unreal because we get about 20 minutes of this a week.

But most of you will live another 30 or 40 years.

Dhillon is looking at me saying, is it me?

I said, yeah, Dhillon, it's you.

In your presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.

KJV, let's translate it in normal lingo.

Oh God, if your presence is in my life, a litmus test for presence is that I will be

filled with joy, which will express itself in many different ways.

Sometimes ha-ha, sometimes not.

I'll be someone who knows absolute delight.

And that comes from defaulting to the inner reality of his presence, because he lives

there.

I'm telling you something, it is impossible to be unhappy when God is present.

It won't be possible.

Impossible to be unhappy because even if you're unhappy, he'll know how to fix it.

Because there are unhappy things that happen.

Jesus was in the presence of a lot of unhappy people.

Mary and Martha were a classic example.

Turn my mourning into?

Thank you for that loud response.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then go to him and he's able to then turn it around and give you his perspective.

He wept at Lazarus' death.

Mary and Martha were broken.

He looked at Jerusalem and he starts weeping because he sees the plight.

That's not the focus.

The focus is in my unhappiness, can I grab the Father's perspective?

And once I get the Father's perspective, then I can still be unhappy.

Because trust me, when he looked over Jerusalem, he definitely had the Father's perspective,

but he still wept.

Yeah.

Guys, presence requires feelings.

Charismatic Christianity and non-charismatic Christianity has kind of banned feelings from

this whole presence thing or has exalted feelings to such a place that, like if you don't feel

God ain't there.

But it's both faith and feelings.

They are doors to the throne.

They are doors to the throne room, both faith and feelings.

Presence requires feelings also.

Presence requires feelings also.

Don't shy away from it.

When you say it requires feelings, I'm not sure anybody requires it, but feelings are

going to be there.

But when you say it requires...

Meaning it's part of the package, do not shun it because we have a tendency to go either

only by faith or by feelings.

We've got to combine both.

I mean, if Mike just say to you, I just want to tell you a fact, somewhere deep inside

there, I do love you and I just want you to be satisfied with that for the rest of your

life.

No, if Mike said that, it would be terrible.

He'll have to put some more feelings into it.

Yeah, like he plays the sax.

So, one of the things that happens is I'll have to put in feelings with faith.

Factual presence, Christianity ain't good enough.

Love that has no emotions or feelings in it is not really love.

Worship without feelings is not really worship.

Because we grew up in homes where feelings were banned.

Or we grew up in environments where feelings were banned.

Or we grew up in churches where feelings were banned.

Where it was wrong to express feelings.

Or, here's the other thing, with us as Christians in this church, I'll tell you about feelings

in this church, our feelings have a box within which they operate.

Okay, so let's just call it what it is.

We have feelings in this church when it comes to worship and stuff like that, but here's

the truth, it is within a box.

And it's been within that box for the last 7 to 8 to 16 years and it doesn't go further.

We've got a problem.

That box is created by each of us differently.

For me, maybe feelings will be two hops and that's it.

Because that's like 90 kilos that I have to keep going up and down.

So, might be a little too much for me.

But, I have seen what happens when I lose my mind and get involved in feelings and stuff like that.

We have boxes that we have around our own feelings, each of us.

What would it look like?

If you weren't trying to break that box, but if necessary, you would.

If necessary.

I don't know if Marcus remembers this.

Marcus, Laurie and Heidi were there when this happened.

There was a guy called Jawad.

Jeff?

He's one of the quietest guys in the church.

Eddie was here, Paul's dad.

And we were doing worship and then suddenly Jeff got out of his chair and he started running around dancing.

Diana was there too.

Ruth, I don't know whether Ruth and Joan and Sue were there.

But he started, were you guys there by then?

Okay, he started dancing.

And as he's running around, all the men get up and all the men start dancing.

And I've never seen the men at Axmanian.

Most of the men were good men.

And I have a picture of all of us dancing.

And I've never forgotten to tell Jeff every time I meet him,

Jeff, you started something that I never thought would happen.

That I thought I wouldn't do it.

Sometimes, I know we're going off topic here,

but when it comes to feelings, we've got to understand that presence provokes feelings.

And when presence provokes feelings, what if we decided that a box will not be there?

Keep your box. Keep your box most of the time.

But at least have an opening.

What would you, Jeff, for saying you worship in church or feeling nothing?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Then go for faith.

Go straight to faith.

Know that he's here.

Enjoy him.

Then it's a deeper problem.

Yeah, then it's a deeper problem.

But sometimes I've been in churches where everyone is jumping in,

I don't feel nothing.

Then I quickly switch to father.

I really don't feel like doing what they're doing, so can I just connect with you?

I really like you right now.

And so then it becomes a quiet thing.

So we don't follow mass happenings.

But I'm saying remove the box so the box is not an issue.

And if I don't feel nothing towards God, then there's a deeper problem.

Which brings us to another thing.

If these feelings only happen during corporate time of worship,

then it's not your lifestyle.

That's the next part.

If these feelings only happen during corporate times of worship,

when there are 60 or 70 people and Toonie, our well-paid worship leader, leading us,

then it's not your lifestyle.

Amen.

It has to be something.

Are you saying amen to Toonie or what I was saying?

So if it's your lifestyle, it should be happening at home too.

It should be happening in your car.

It should be happening when you're just sitting with friends.

If it is only happening during worship, we've got a more serious problem.

And you can see that.

People who are very quiet, who don't practice this, will come to a service and suddenly they go berserk.

And you realize, okay, this must be eventing.

Sometimes this must be my lifestyle.

I move away from the mirror when I dance at home.

Because looking at me dancing in the mirror kind of frightens me.

So I just decide I won't stand in front of the mirror, but I'll do my own thing with Ron Canole,

who's my favorite guy when it comes to dancing.

Yeah.

But if you have a problem with that, move away from the mirror.

It really helps.

And if you have a problem with that, move away from the mirror.

It really helps.

Yeah.

But if you have a problem with that, move away from the mirror.

It really helps.

Trust me.

It's a worship tactic.

Yeah.

Moving on to something else.

So I've got to conclude.

I forgot to tell our LA guests and our LA guest guests that the service goes long.

But if you have to leave, just feel free to get up and then we'll say something like,

they're leaving the building and it'll be good.

I'm sorry.

I wanted them yesterday.

Pardon.

You want them yesterday.

Trader.

If this is how you live, if you begin to live from the inner reality of its presence,

you will begin to engage God in conversation.

You will begin to receive permission for things that weren't even meant for you.

You will begin to show the richness of your relationship with God in prayer,

in conversations, in behavior.

You will have the ease of going in and out of Him.

It'll be awesome.

I love watching couples that are really in love after three, four years of marriage.

And they'll interrupt each other.

They'll go in and out of each other's lives.

They'll grab something from the other person's plate.

They'll drink out of their cup.

They got this friendship that is so natural.

There's no ask or please or embarrassment or anything of that sort.

That is how it should get with God.

Lorian is laughing thinking, Marcus always takes things from my plate.

Or is it?

So this in and out, guys, and when you speak, people will know that you have been with God.

It's super important.

When you speak, people will know that you have been with God.

Guys, we've got to shelve some of the Old Testament models,

like desiring the blazing light of God.

It's great to have the blazing light of God, but it won't stay forever.

Forget Moses' face blazing or a cloud appearing here so that we can't leave.

The service is already three hours long.

What we need is if you have spent time with God, will people know?

That is the shekayna now.

When they realize it in the way you speak, in the way you treat your spouse,

in the way you lead worship, in the way you pray, in the way you teach,

they'll know here is a guy who spends time with God.

You met people like that.

I have.

That is shekayna.

You've got to redefine glory because all our definitions of glory

are borrowed from the Old Testament where God lived outside.

Yeah.

Just a couple of lines before we get done.

Use words, eh?

Words make visible.

Words make visible the voice of the Spirit.

Words make visible.

My God, there are too many Ws and Vs for an Indian.

Words make visible the voice of God.

Words make visible the voice of God.

Your inner man, your inner spirit man must have a voice, must speak.

And so if you're a person who operates by the reality of the inner presence of God,

you'll have to use words.

They give expression to the Holy Spirit.

Use words, eh?

I don't mean during worship.

Use words during the day.

Speak to yourself.

There's nothing like when the Spirit speaks to you.

Write it down.

Speak it out.

Say things that he's saying about yourself.

Let your neighbors think you're crazy.

Use different accents.

It's more entertaining.

Pardon?

Start with yourself because you spend most of your time with yourself first.

Start with yourself.

And then it can...

Yeah, it should also show to others.

But here's the thing, guys.

What if...

Just think of this for a second.

I know that the Bible is the parameters within which we should operate.

But what if you move from being prophetic to letting the Holy Spirit be continuous through your life

where you're not even thinking in terms of I need to prophesy.

You're thinking in terms of I need to tell you what I sense God just engaging me in a conversation about you.

And now out of you flows the Holy Spirit, not a prophetic word.

When the Holy Spirit begins to flow through you, then all the gifts are active.

Otherwise, all you have is a gift that you think you're good at.

Now everything is active.

Pick this guy as an example.

Music flows through him.

Doesn't matter what you put him on.

You put him on there, say Bach.

He'll play Bach.

Say Tony.

He'll play Tony.

Whatever you want, it just flows out of him.

He's not particularly gifted in Tony or in Bach, but it just flows.

That's how this works, see?

Where you can teach, you can prophesy, you can lay hands.

Why? Because it's the river that is flowing.

Because you have defaulted to the inner presence, the reality of the inner presence of God.

Phoebe, I'm ending.

Let me just end with one last sentence that I've said already.

Please take this to heart.

To be God-conscious is to be more aware of Him than of myself.

In the routine, in the ridiculously important, to be more aware of Him.

Right now teaching is important, right?

But to be more aware of Him than the teaching.

And it's absolutely doable because He's on the inside, not on the outside.

He's seeking someone outside.

Any questions, guys?

Anything you want to add?

Anything you want to add?

This will be very hard at work, huh?

Because you're at work, you're so busy.

You're doing so many things at work.

And you become less aware of Him, or you completely lose awareness of Him.

Because work takes over.

What if you begin to practice it until you get it?

Well, it doesn't affect your work at all.

You still work really well.

But you work in the awareness of someone.

If you took your wife to work, you'd be very aware of her.

Some of us may not, but you'd be very aware.

I'm just reminded of some of your songs, but it says I must be sick of her.

Because otherwise this is going to be a hard work.

But I'm just thinking, when we're in love, you are at work, and you consist in the one you love.

My God, I used to...

I used to really like this girl.

And it was my first job.

I would run out in really hot weather.

Because you didn't have cell phones then.

You only had these blooming phone booths.

I would run out and I would put all the coins in my pocket.

Talk to her, then run back.

I'd be sweating mess by the time I get back.

Then another break, go out.

Because I didn't want her not to be there.

Didn't have text messages, so I would write on a piece of paper,

Miss you at this particular time, 6.45.

Miss you at this particular time, 8.15.

Then I'd take the paper and go and get her chocolates and give it to her.

You think that won't touch someone's heart?

My God, it would.

But I didn't want to be at work without thinking of this person.

And you didn't have text messages, so you had to scribble it on a piece of paper.

You hide it when the boss comes around.

Like he's saying, to be in love would be something that would help us be aware of him.

Anything else you want to add?

Cool.

I don't know how to end.

Father, we just take a minute to start this process today.

So, Spirit of God, could you just show us how?

Father, I shut my eyes. So we all will practice this in our own ways.

I'll just put it into words and then take a couple of minutes to practice it.

So I shut my eyes to the external, which is how I mostly live.

I open my heart to the reality of the inner presence of God himself in me.

I'll say that again, Abhan, then could you just help each of us differently to just ignite this or just start it off or to just launch it?

So I shut myself. I shut my eyes in my...

Yeah, I'll just say eyes for now, Father.

I shut my eyes to the external life around me, to the noise, to everything around me.

I shut my eyes to it.

And I open myself to the reality of your presence inside me.

After I do that, I'll open my eyes again, but not before that.

I just want to make that shift.

So could you help us talk to you about this before we leave?

Just take a couple of minutes to talk about that.

We want the river to flow from inside to the outside.

So that we can see the river flow from inside to outside.

So that we can see the river flow from inside to outside.

So that we can see the river flow from inside to outside.

So that we can see the river flow from inside to outside.

So that we can see the river flow from inside to outside.

So that we can see the river flow from inside to outside.

Prashant, how would you word it?

Just word it.

I'll just pick on a few people.

How would you word it? Just word it for us.

Okay.

Yeah. Spirit calling to spirit.

Emily, how would you word it?

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah. Guys, it's easy to enter into.

It's hard to stay in.

So enter a million times.

Yeah. It's easy to enter into.

It's hard to stay.

So enter a million times.

Jordan, how would you word it?

He's saying he'll make things fuzzy and blurry.

Everything else is fuzzy and blurry.

Like you do with those cameras and binoculars.

Everything else becomes fuzzy and blurry.

So you can focus on just this one thing.

Diana, how would you word it?

Speak a little louder, guys.

We have knowledge of the atoms.

And the other one is the present is now in us.

It's coming to visit us.

Yeah. Cool.

Anyone else wants to give it a shot?

Free-flowing.

Nice. Yeah.

Heidi, how would you word it?

Cool.

Anyone else?

Cool.

Cool.

Anyone else?

Yeah, when you lean your head on this button.

To be lovesick.

Like a trust fall?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Anyone else?

Operating from his embrace.

Like a child does.

Father, we want to stop because if I hit 130,

it'll be like a new record.

So it's 124.

May is particularly watching the clock.

So Father, want to stop?

Can you tug at us when we leave you outside our lives

for extended periods of time?

May I become aware that Ashak is out in the cold?

Let me become aware.

And then I'll start again.

I'll start again.

I'll start again.

So that my default will one day before,

much before I die, become living out of the reality

of the inner presence of God.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Can Jillian and May and Jane just come up for a second?

We'll just pray for them.

This is on May's time, eh?

I'm done.

Jake is leaving today, this evening.

But Jordan is unfortunately not staying on.

Tomorrow?

Tomorrow?

Praise the Lord.

This is not me.

This is Jane.

It's 1.30, man.

Okay, Father, we just want to pray for them.

We just stretch out our hands towards them.

And why do we stretch out our hands?

Because on one hand, we want to say we bless you as you go.

We bless you as you go to London, UK.

We bless you as you go to Bangladesh.

We bless you with the strength and the ability

the hearing and the knowing,

the sharpness to know what needs to be done.

Why do we stretch out our hands?

We stretch out our hands to bless you with protection.

And so we speak protection upon your body,

your possessions, your minds.

When you fight, we pray protection upon you.

And we pray protection upon your families,

the ones that you're leaving behind as you're going.

Why do we stretch out our hands towards you?

Because we are sending you.

You're not going in your own names.

We are sending you in the name of Jesus Christ,

who is the head of this body.

Father, I include myself in this.

And Ernie and Mark.

Yeah.

Why are we stretching out our hands towards you?

Because we want to bless you and resource you.

We want to bless you and resource you with monies,

with whatever is required for your going.

Father, prosper what they want to do

as they seek out your will to do it.

Prosper your will through them.

Prosper your will through them.

Amongst the peoples of Bangladesh and of the UK

and of Costa Rica, for your namesake.

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.