Feast of Tabernacles IV

We've been talking about the Feast of Tabernacles.

And just to remind you again, Wayne, am I on?

OK.

The Feast of Tabernacles is basically,

as we have said every week when we start,

position of restful dependence in hostile territory.

It's a position of restful dependence in hostile territory

where a people are sustained purely

by the indwelling presence.

Yeah, I'll repeat it.

Purely by the indwelling presence, by the overflow,

by the fullness and the life of God.

It's the purple one.

So let me say that again.

It's a position of restful dependence.

The Feast of Tabernacles, again, for those who missed some of it,

we move from Passover to Pentecost.

And then we move on to the Feast of Tabernacles.

Passover is deliverance.

Pentecost is liberty.

Feast of Tabernacles is rest.

Most churches stay here or go as far as here,

but very few enter here.

And we don't want to stop here.

We want to go all the way.

So the Feast of Tabernacles is a position

of restful dependence.

The Feast of Tabernacles is a position

of restful dependence in hostile territory.

It's not like all the conditions are good.

In hostile territory, where a people are sustained purely

by the indwelling presence of God, by the overflow of God.

Remember Jesus on the Feast of Tabernacles

goes into the temple and says, out of you shall flow rivers

of living water, by the overflow of God,

by the fullness of Christ in you,

or basically the fullness of the life of God in you.

That's what the Feast of Tabernacles represents.

And so this is the fourth or fifth part of the series

on the Feast of Tabernacles.

And today, last week we stopped at how

we walk by the Spirit as being part of how we move into rest.

This week, we'll talk about the life of another.

And before we go, for once we'll have a closing

song in this church today.

We'll sing that song, the life of another.

We'll be doing things traditionally today.

So the life of another, another word for the life of another

is Romans 8.2.

Romans 8.2 says, for the spirit, for the law

of the spirit of life in Christ has set me free.

Romans 8.1 says, therefore Jacob,

there is now no condemnation because you are in Christ.

So that takes care of the first part.

Therefore Jacob, therefore there is now no condemnation

against you in Christ.

And then it goes on to say, hey Jacob, but that's not it.

Just not being condemned is not the whole story.

This law of the spirit of life in Christ has set you free.

So not only am I not condemned, but I'm brought into freedom.

And I'm brought into freedom by this thing called

the law of the spirit of life.

And that's another fancy way of saying life of another.

The law of the spirit of life, life of another,

are kind of the same.

And we'll explain how it works.

Guys, do you know that the life of another

is also an insurance term?

At least in some countries, I believe,

where you take out an insurance on the life of another

so that you can cover all expenses

on the death of that person.

In a sense, that's what's happening here,

where on the death of this person called Christ,

all my expenses are covered.

But I'm not talking only about my financial expenses.

But the law of the spirit of life.

Now let's go back to the law of the spirit of life.

Guys, just like the law of aerodynamics

does not revoke gravity but surpasses it,

like let me put it this way.

Because the law of aerodynamics exists

doesn't mean that gravity no longer exists.

Watch this.

I'm flying now, but I still come down to the Earth.

So the law of aerodynamics had me in the air

for a fraction of a second.

But gravity brought me down to Earth.

So gravity is not revoked.

But the law of aerodynamics has the ability

to surpass gravity.

This is why planes fly.

Gravity.

This is why planes fly.

In the same way, the law of the spirit of life

doesn't revoke sin, doesn't revoke death,

doesn't revoke flesh yet.

But in this present world, it has the power to surpass it.

The law of the spirit of life does not revoke sin.

Sin still exists.

Does not revoke death.

Death will exist and is the last enemy

that will be taken care of.

And does not revoke the flesh or the old way of living,

which we talked about last week.

But what it does is it surpasses the law of sin, the law of death,

and the law of flesh.

The crazy thing is this surpassing power now

dwells in me through Christ.

The law of the spirit of life in Christ.

That's what it's called.

I mean, Paul could have been a brilliant lawyer.

He knew all the legalist terms, and yet he was not

legalistic at all.

But the law of the spirit of life in Christ,

that's what it's called.

I mean, Paul could have been a brilliant lawyer.

He was not legalistic at all.

What he's trying to say is, guys, in you now,

because Christ lives in you, there is this new law at work.

It's like, let's assume a child is born with this amazing ability

to fly.

All he has to do is flap his hands this way five times,

and he begins to fly.

Because in him dwells this amazing ability.

And that's what's happened to us.

Because of Christ in us now is this thing

that operates called the law of the spirit of life in Christ.

Because he lives in us, it's active.

That allows us to surpass sin, surpass death, eventually,

because we die.

Remember what we said about death.

Death is like this thing that happens

for a micro fraction of a second.

This life continues.

Death is a micro fraction of a second

where you shed this body.

Death is like a string that goes around the corner into this room.

For a second, you don't see me.

For a micro fraction of a second, you don't see me.

And during that time, I've just shed my body.

That didn't happen, but that's what would have happened.

And you come out with a brand new body.

That's what death is.

It's so not something that we need to be frightened of.

Because it is this life that's going to continue.

We're not going to get a new life after we die.

The new life is already ours.

This is a life that continues, which is why what we do with this life

is what we will be rewarded for in the future.

If it was a different life, God would not judge this life

to give us rewards in the future.

It's because we have eternal life that God is taking this life

and saying, aha, how did he do with this?

Because it is this life that continues into the future.

It's the same life, man.

Just imagine that.

The law of the spirit of life in Christ

is what I'm going to possess for the rest of my life.

Imagine that.

I'm not going to get a new life when I die.

I got new life about 22 years ago.

And it's staying.

It's staying for the rest of my life.

But yet, even though, guys, you and I have the fullness of Christ in us,

many areas of our life are like an artificial limb.

I know a lady who has an artificial limb.

And you can see how the texture and the tone of the limb

is exactly like the rest of the body.

So from a distance, you won't be able to make out

that she's got an artificial leg.

But the strange thing about an artificial limb

is it does not share the common life of the rest of the body.

It does not feel pain when the rest of the body feels pain.

It cannot feel elation when the rest of the body feels elation.

Because it looks the same as the real thing,

but it doesn't possess the common life of the rest of the body.

And so you'll see an artificial leg continuously striving

and trying to keep in step with the rest of the body,

because it has no life.

And this is sometimes how we live.

We've got this amazing thing called the spirit of life in Christ in us.

Yet many parts of our life are like artificial limbs.

They haven't fully been grafted into the person of Christ.

So there are some areas where we are flying around like eagles,

and other areas where it's like this artificial limb that

is trying to strive and keep up with what God is doing.

It doesn't have to be like that.

Everything that we do can come into unison

where we live like the song says, out of the life of another.

I don't know how long it will take for us to even grasp the idea of it,

but I know that that's where we're going.

Where this whole church will live by the life of another.

It would be a shame if some of us did and some of us didn't.

We've got to move as a whole body who understands what it

is to live the life of another in every area.

We'll talk more about that.

Guys, let's go to I no longer live that part.

One of the things we need to understand is that we really

don't know how helplessly fallen we are.

We have a pretty decent estimation of who we are as humans.

You'll hear it on radio.

He's a good person.

I'm a good person.

Are you spiritual?

I may not be spiritual, but I'm a good person.

Guys, we have no idea.

Our understanding of our fallenness is incomplete.

We somehow have a greater expectation of ourselves than we really should.

Your fallenness and my fallenness, your corruption and my pollution,

the distortion of the image of God is so drastic

that anything that we attempt to do out of this human nature

is actually like menstrual rags before God.

If you want to get a picture of it.

We're limited in our grasp of how helplessly fallen we are.

So we still have some expectations of ourselves.

And as a result of this faulty line of thinking,

we strive to please God with our natural life.

And yet that was the very life that God put to death on the cross.

So are they.

You know what that means, guys?

Everything that I do with this natural life of mine has to cease.

Everything that came out of the old system,

everything that was shaped by the dictates, the desires, the norms,

and the values of the present age, no point offering any of that to God.

No good in that.

This was the life that God put to death on the cross.

And when I take that life and try to do stuff, strive to offer God stuff.

Guys, God's normal for a Christian is simply this.

That's the first part.

Embed this in your heads.

That God's normal for a Christian is Galatians 2, 20, the first part.

I no longer live.

I mean, talk about positive confession.

Why not?

We never see this in this positive confession.

It's like, God's normal for a Christian is God's normal for Christians.

talk about positive confession. Why not? We never see this in those positive confession

sheets that are handed to us, where we should stand in the front of the mirror every morning

after we wake up and say, I no longer live. You never see that in positive confessions.

Yeah, they talk, we say, I am this, I am that, I am that, but I'd suggest tomorrow morning

stand in front of the mirror. Some of you do. Sorry. I was just thinking of the mirror,

talking back and saying, yeah, right now the way you look. So stand in front of the mirror

and say, I no longer live. Because that's God's normal for a Christian. I no longer

live. And then the second part of it is, now it is Christ who lives this life for all.

And in me. Try that, man. Try that. It's an amazing thing to even wrap our heads around.

But this is the truth. I'm really enjoying this because it needs wrapping my spirit,

my spirit knows it, but processing it and being able to shape my life around this. God's

normal for a Christian is that a Christian no longer lives. Now it is Christ who lives

this life for and in me. Oh, Christ who lives his life in me. Try this. Maybe I should try

it tomorrow in front of the mirror. I no longer live, but this life, it is Christ who lives

this life in me. Yeah. Sorry. I was just pretending. Guys, God didn't set us free from sin by helping

the old me to do anything. How did he set me free from sin? He did it by entirely removing

me from the scene of action. You know, what the church does is if Janet has a problem,

they'll tell her how to strengthen herself herself. Janet do this and do that. And maybe

you should try this and maybe you should try that. What did God do? God didn't come to

rehabilitate. He moved that Janet out of the way. He dismissed her. He removed her out

of the scene. If God wants to change me, I have to move out. Try, try understanding that.

If God lives in me, someone has to leave. I have to move out. Jacob has to move out.

Yeah, we'll get there. You're asking Matt's question before Matt can ask it. And then

he'll ask you. Yeah. Guys, God said the blood deals with the sin. We know that. But it's

a cross that dealt with the sinner. And at the cross, Jacob was terminated. I mean, if

you ever make a movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger called Terminator, it should be a whole different

plot. On the cross, Jacob was terminated. On the cross, Jacob was terminated. The first

Jacob, the cross terminated the first Jacob. And out of Christ's death has risen a new

Jacob. And the only reason he lives is because Christ lives in him. This is not theory. Let

me say that again. At the cross, the first Jacob was terminated. And through Christ's

death and his resurrection has now arisen a new Jacob. And that Jacob has only one life.

And that is the life of Christ in him. But the thing sometimes with Jacob the Christian

is he tries to live out the natural life he possesses, trying to please God, trying to

strive, trying to get things right. And God is saying, move out Jacob, move out. Leave

that to me. I now live in you. I am your real life. Don't try doing that. I'm not going

away from at the cross. You are up on a cross. Or I'm brought down from the cross. You are

not a jester. You are no liar. Roomie. You are down in a room. Show the life you had

ever lived. I

I can't repeat that because I don't have it in my notes, so you'll have to listen to it. But it was it was it was like

just right.

That's where we are going. That's kind of half the answer to Sue's question. How do we go about this?

It is so hard for us as Christians not to offer God anything out of our natural life.

We're continuously trying to.

And his response again to repeat what I said earlier is Jacob you can do

you can offer me nothing from your natural life. You can do nothing for me from your natural life.

Because your fallenness and your humanness is so

putrid

that there is nothing that I can receive.

Your offering to me will be like Cain's offering.

So let me

do everything that I need to do in you so that you become who I want you to become.

It's a seizing from my natural life guys.

The issue today is not whether you have Christ living in you. That is settled. The issue is whether you've moved out.

How do I move out? I move out by

I always like the song that we sang. I wrote it in about

I felt that we need to write a song with regard to what's happening in the church right now.

The life of another and I was quite sure that the Lord was saying write it. So I actually had to put off the all-star game

because I felt him saying right now if you write it, it'll be good.

So I put it off and I grabbed my guitar and it took me three minutes.

Okay, four minutes.

And I'm saying to God as I'm writing him, man, you're so on today

oh God, you're so on today and I literally felt God saying Jacob for once you're on.

Because I was thinking to myself man, you're writing the song really fast. Four minutes, that's all it took you.

It takes him less than that. It was me that was on today and I'm telling him he was on.

But what I'm saying is it happened so fast

that I knew that it had nothing to do with any exertion.

The exertion of the natural mind and the natural strength in things of God is so much in our lives. Step back.

Everything he does he will do. I will offer him nothing out of this natural life.

Everything he will do and I will just make a right choice and step into what he's doing.

Jesus didn't do anything out of his natural life. Let's take Jesus. It is so hard to find an earthly model.

So let's take Jesus. He was an earthly model. Jesus did nothing out of his natural life.

Nothing.

Everything was what was directed. What he knew God wanted to do in him and through him. That's what he would do.

I mean when he needed to pay taxes if the Lord told him to go catch a fish he would.

Otherwise, he would receive help from

women.

When he needed to go from Jerusalem to Judea he would travel through Samaria

which was absolutely unnecessary.

But the Bible very clearly says that he must go through Samaria. He had to go through Samaria. Why?

Because in his natural life it would have meant something else, but he did it this way.

When Philip brought some Greeks to him who said we want to see Jesus, he didn't meet them.

He didn't meet them. He sent them off without meeting them.

Because he didn't work out of his natural life. He didn't work out of his natural inklings. He didn't work out of his natural

emotions. He was emotional, but he didn't work out of it.

It's a very different way of living. It's not a denial of who you are, but it is living out of working out of another life.

Where you seize from everything else you do.

Yeah.

So we have to move from the average churchgoer because there is no average Christ.

There is no average Christ.

Yeah, but the reason I talked about that was to show you the ease with which things happen when we step into the

life of Christ and don't bring things out through our natural life.

It's a different way of operating, man.

As we continue, guys, I wish I could say to you I've got this all together.

I really don't.

So to the extent I can explain it, I will. And then we'll keep exploring this.

Listening and hearing is part of it, but it's a constant processing of the fact that I no longer live.

Now it's Christ who lives this life.

So when I begin to grasp that, I will even not worry about listening because at present we struggle with listening partly because

we live and we listen to Christ.

But when you come into a place where this is processed and you realize Christ is the only one who lives in you, you then begin to

expect to hear just as you expect to think the thoughts that you think.

We think thoughts naturally.

A thought comes and we decide should we think of it now or think of it later?

It's up to us.

In the same way, when we begin to live only by the life of Christness, even hearing will become like that because I'm living by somebody

else's life.

So now it becomes very natural.

It's just a natural thing to do.

So we want to live in the same way that we live in the same way that we live in the same way that we live in the same way that we live

in the same way.

It's a natural thing to do.

So we won't have to concentrate on hearing.

There'll be a knowing inside you.

Yeah, it'll be in natural knowing, a supernatural knowing.

Yeah, see right now guys we're almost divided.

There is a Jacob and there is a Jacob with Jesus.

And I keep alternating between this on Good Days.

I'm more Jacobjauses on Not Good Days.

Which isn't a bad deal by the way, but the point is that because there's a division of

Jacob and Jacob Jesus, what happens now is that when I want to hear, I have to become

something else to hear.

But if this is the only one that exists, it's very natural.

Guys, this scripture always blows me away.

First Corinthians 6 20.

I have become one spirit with the Lord.

I have become one spirit with the Lord.

Is that drastic or what?

I have become one spirit with the Lord.

I think it's first Corinthians 6 20 I think.

Yeah, it's one.

There's no division.

This is why the J.A., if he moves out, if my life becomes, I mean David didn't know

what he was saying, but when he said, unite my being to worship you, O God, I would suggest

to you that even though he didn't know what he was saying, it is when there is no such

demarcation because this is natural.

This is supernatural.

James, you were going to say something.

Yeah, it takes, unfortunately, because we don't always live in new clothes, we have

to, we are aware of it.

But yeah, but if we were always living in new clothes, then we wouldn't be aware of

it.

I mean, I remember when after driving a car for many years, I got the SUV three years

ago, I drew up to where you put the key in the, to open the garage at our place and it

was much higher man.

Where I, when I turned on the volume for the radio, he'd blasted out because it was in

the wrong place.

So it's like that.

We alternate so often between living as natural Christian Jacob and supernatural Jesus Jacob

that we never get used to this one lifestyle.

And I'm saying it is absolutely possible to live the life of another continuously.

It is possible.

Guys, you need to operate from this position.

Lord, I am unable to do anything for you.

That should be the first part of the statement.

Lord, I'm unable as Jacob, the natural, the natural Jacob, I'm unable to do anything

for you.

I can try, I can strive.

And you may even pat me on my head if I'm a child, like a baby Christian, but really,

I'm unable to do anything for you.

So I'm not even going to try.

But I trust that you can do everything in me.

But I trust that you can do everything in me.

Can you imagine how easy the life of a Christian becomes?

Well, Lord, I'm unable to do anything for you.

But I trust that you can do everything in me.

In me and with me.

Yeah.

I'm unable to do anything for you.

I'm not even going to try from now on.

I'm going to cease from all my exertions.

All my exertion of mind and strength, I'm going to cease from.

You want to do something, you do it in me and with me and I'll willingly do it.

But I'm not going to do anything anymore for you.

Sounds almost sacrilegious.

If the worship isn't working, that's fine with me.

Do whatever you want in me and it'll work.

I'm not going to do anything for you.

I'm not going to do one song or one guitar strum to make anything happen here.

You got to do it.

I'm preparing a sermon, it's not working out.

I'm not going to do anything for you.

If you want to do it, do anything in me and I'll do it.

I'm not going to do anything for you in terms of how to do church.

I don't know anyways and I'll have to get someone else's program to do it.

But if you want to do anything, go ahead and do it.

Questions?

Isn't that going to be fun?

This is living Christ's life where I'm living by the life of another.

What he does, I do.

I do nothing to help, aid, support, scaffold anything.

This is the thing.

We assume that we cannot be instantly there.

Watchman tells of a story where there was a thief who used to steal chickens.

He used to steal seven chickens a week.

So he decided that he was going to reform himself.

So here's how he decides to reform himself.

He says, every week I'll steal one chicken less.

So here is a thief who wants to reform himself.

The way he goes about it is, in the first week he'll steal seven, next week he'll steal

six.

So what he could have stopped in one day, he took how many weeks to do?

Okay, I thought it was six.

Seven.

Yeah, so seven weeks.

That's how long it took him to do.

Guys, I'm running ahead of myself but everything of the spirit has to be obtained, not attained.

It has to be received.

Everything of the spirit has to be obtained.

So I move into this place called, this is who Christ is in me.

And now that is where I start from.

I'm not, unfortunately we made this into attaining.

When it's obtaining, the difference between obtaining and attaining is attaining needs

time, obtaining is immediate.

So I start from this place of, we'll go over all this when I get there again, we start

from this place of this is who I am.

And I begin to process that in my mind.

My spirit knows it well.

For in my spirit I am fully renewed.

So in my mind I start with the premise that this is who I am.

And then I begin to walk.

But that is who I will become.

This is who I am.

That's where we start.

Go ahead, Elmer.

You said surrender is surrendering.

Yeah.

And in a way surrender is also, the yielding to God is a moving out.

Surrendering is not saying, I mean our way of surrendering is, oh Lord I give you myself.

And God looks down and says move out then.

Because I, that's what he's saying.

If James says Jacob I give you my house, first thing I want is James, Sapna, Shanna and Sarah

out of there.

Because I am living with another four people in that house.

I like my privacy.

Is it easier to think Jesus is with me than thinking Jesus is the only one?

Yeah.

I'm glad.

I was waiting to see how you would phrase it.

Jesus is in me.

Jesus is the only one in me.

I'm not there either in reality.

The old, meaning I have already.

I no longer live.

But Christ lives in me.

At the cross guys, a new creation started.

The old creation was terminated.

So shouldn't it be Jacob on one side and Jesus on the other side?

No I have become one spirit with the Lord.

We moved out.

Yeah in moving out.

The natural Jacob moved out.

Yeah.

Natural Jacob moved out.

Oh, thank God for that.

Yeah.

Our personalities will still be beautifully, uniquely crafted.

Because God always works with stones, not with bricks.

So we'll always be different.

So because we're sinful beings still, is that why we will always alternate but since we're

not as awesome?

Because we will still.

Yeah unfortunately the fact is we will still sin even though Jesus didn't because he loved

his father.

But we don't have to keep alternating and the frequency of sinning should go down like

crazy.

Where you will be able to stand and tell someone in the street or in the church, imitate me

as I imitate Christ.

This is not the realm of pastors by the way.

Every one of us should be able to say, imitate me as I imitate Christ.

James will go tell Sapna, imitate me as I imitate Christ.

Banees will go to Wayne, imitate me as I imitate Christ.

Yeah but telling makes it even harder because now you've got to put your money where your

mouth is.

Gosh, you announce it and you're done man.

The easier way to do it is whenever I do right, follow me.

To come and say to someone, I do right, follow me.

Now you put yourself in a place where you will be.

Therefore there is no condemnation and move on to the law of the spirit of life.

We know that the law of condemnation was actually revoked, no longer exists and we

move into the law of the spirit of life.

Gravity will still sometimes cause us to hit the ground but we are horses with wings.

We are horses with wings.

Guys again I've said this before, the feast of tabernacles is basically seizing from your

own works, seizing from your own works and resting on the work of another.

What do I mean by work?

By work I mean formulas.

Seize from all formulas.

Seize from all exertion of human strength and human wisdom.

Let me remind you of that scripture in Ezekiel 44 17 where God says to his priests, you will

wear linen turbans and linen loincloths so that you don't sweat or perspire when you

serve me.

Linen loincloths, the loins represent strength, the turban covers the head which represents

your mind and God is saying when you come and minister before me as priest, which is

our 24 7 job by the way, make sure that you don't perspire human wisdom and human strength.

I want you to be wearing linen.

Those guys had to wear it when they went to the temple but now we don't have to go to

the temple because we are the temple and because there's no class called the Levites, we've

all become priests.

This is our constant place of being, no exertion of human wisdom or human strength.

Works.

Guys, David Cho once wrote a book called The Holy Spirit, My Senior Partner.

Very often works as a result of you being the senior partner and the Holy Spirit being

the junior partner.

Works happens when I am the senior partner.

Works is self-made, stubborn, self-preserving character in my life.

Remember, who is self-preserving?

An orphan who does not know his father.

He'll always try to preserve and protect himself.

We're not orphans.

So what am I saying to you?

Seize immediately from your works, Jacob, seize immediately from your works, Acts 29

and let God deliver you if need be.

I read the story of this little girl who was asked, how do you overcome temptation?

And she says that in the beginning when I used to overcome temptation, when the devil

comes knocking at my door, I'd go tell the devil, don't you come in, don't you come

in in the name of Jesus Christ, don't you come in.

That's how I used to resist temptation.

Then she said, I learned and then nowadays when the devil comes knocking at my door,

I turn to the Lord and said, Lord, could you just open the door?

And so the Lord goes open the door and the devil says, sorry, wrong door, Annie, please.

Go ahead.

This is the first book I read this morning.

I was reading from Romans 4 this morning.

And it's an eminent passage.

And it's part of the Bible.

If Abraham, by what he did to God, God would forgive him.

He would certainly have taken credit for it.

But the story we're given is a God story, not an Abraham story.

And Abraham answered him to what God had said.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I have a line here that kind of ties in with that.

And it's basically what it says is victory does not depend on you since you have already

died.

Victory does not depend on you.

Joan, can I have a hug?

Yeah.

I'm going to go ahead and say that.

Victory does not depend on you.

Joan, can I have a cup of hot water too?

Victory does not depend on you because you've already died.

I mean, imagine if I needed victory in my life the day after my dad died.

What good would it be if I dragged his coffin with me wherever I went?

Why are you dragging your dad's coffin with you?

There are two of us.

I need victory.

No, he's dead.

There's nothing he can do for you.

Victory does not depend on you.

Thanks.

No, my dad was a nice looking guy.

I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding.

So, victory does not depend on you.

Victory doesn't depend on you.

Yeah.

Guys, yeah, so let me say that again.

Victory does not depend upon you since you have already died.

Just imagine, no more striving for victory.

No more striving for victory.

I live by the life of another.

I have died.

I don't have to fight for victory.

Victory comes through the life of another who is already victorious.

I enter into rest and I let him do what he wants to do in me in that situation where I need victory.

It's getting a little ridiculous because it almost seems like this is too easy-peasy.

You don't know how hard it is to enter into rest.

Strive to enter into rest.

You said, the secret code, you said, I let him.

Yes.

That's where we fight.

Yeah.

Strived.

I kind of had that question later on, but as I would say to Matt, we'll get there in

four minutes, but I'll get there immediately.

How can we achieve this?

Okay, Mariam, give me four minutes.

Give me four minutes.

Otherwise, he'll complain of this throughout.

Okay.

No, I'm not complaining.

I'm just saying that.

I'm just saying that.

I'm just saying that.

I'm just saying that.

I'm just saying that.

I'm just saying that.

No, and then when you ask, I'll have to respond to you also.

I'll get there, Mariam.

So guys, now we come to the life I now live.

The life I now live.

That's the second part of Galatians 2.20.

We think of Christian life as a life that is changed while God says Christian life is

a life that is exchanged.

You live by an exchanged life.

You live by an exchanged life.

Change somehow puts the onus on me.

I've got to change.

I've got to do better at this, better at this, better at this.

You know, I was teaching this fullness of Christ somewhere and someone who had a problem

with smoking came up to me and said, you know, I wanted to come and ask you to help me, to

pray for me to get out of smoking.

But now that I've heard this message, I think I'll just begin to live this other life.

I'm sure I'm going to get through this.

So I didn't pray for the person.

If the person has the ability to process that, great.

The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God.

I actually checked that, Vainal, I know the translation.

Could be off or in.

It's a, guys, it's a continual substitution.

My weakness, my failure, my inadequacy for Christ's strength.

So it's not that in my naturalness that I often revert to, there are no weaknesses,

failures or inadequacies.

My God, there is.

But I keep substituting.

This is why Paul could say with quite a lot of pizzazz actually that when I'm weak, then

I'm strong.

In my weakness, your strength is displayed because he got it.

That it was a continuous exchange.

It was a continuous exchange.

What a relief it'll be where in the areas of your weakness, you no longer strive, but

just release and rest in God to be able to change that around.

And we talked about this last week.

Remember who dwells in you when it comes to weaknesses and temptations, guys.

You have living within you.

The Holy Spirit who is in relentless, sometimes violent opposition to everything that is of

the flesh.

If you have living in you someone who is relentlessly opposing the things of the flesh, imagine

what will happen when you let that person take over.

Every time something comes, it's what the girl says.

Jesus, could you please go open the door?

And there is Jesus and he's in relentless opposition to everything that is of the flesh.

That's one part.

The second part is reckon yourself dead to sin.

Know that the seduction of sin actually does not have any mastery over you.

It's been broken.

We talked about that last week.

We applied practically by knowing that that's how it works, where now I don't have to fight

the devil as a natural Christian.

I rebuke you.

I command you.

I'm not saying don't use the words rebuke and command, but there's no striving.

There's no shouting loud.

There's no I got to pray some more.

It is I know who dwells in me.

I think that is the point.

I think that is the point.

I think that is the point.

I think that is the point.

I think that is the big thing with this teaching.

It's almost like we didn't know that before.

And when you get the teaching, you now know.

So now there is, it's just not the big deal of the question.

Yeah, it isn't the big deal.

It was you just know who is in.

And so now the confrontation with the devil come from this place of you are not coming

against Jacob because Jacob has moved out.

You are coming against the only one who lives in Jacob who is Christ.

And I know who Christ is and the authority he has.

And when I'm in sync with Christ, when I'm not divided as Jacob and Jacob Jesus, there

is only one.

My God, there is no confrontation.

There's no battle.

But if that was the case, then that person would never fall.

Jesus never fell.

It is possible, but for us humans...

...the individual who is in that face.

Yeah, the thing is I don't think anyone unfortunately ever reaches that face here on earth.

Paul said, forgetting what is behind me, I keep reaching towards...

Basically just living the old life.

Going back, forth, back, forth.

No, yeah.

It's when you take yourself out of it.

Guys, at the end of the day, what we are called to do is make righteous choices.

A man of choice is a man of rest is a man of destiny.

Righteous choices.

So what about choices?

Yes.

A man of choice is a man of rest.

Israel was at the brink of entering into rest.

They made a choice.

We will not go in there because they were afraid of giants.

A man of choice is a man of rest is a man of destiny.

Your destiny unfolds according to your choices, guys.

Our choices are the seed we talked about.

Remember, we got seed.

We are carriers of seed with two destinations and two potential harvests.

So to the flesh or so to the spirit.

Accordingly, there will be a harvest.

So a man of choices is a man of destiny and a man of rest.

Obedience is the seed for rest.

Righteous choices move us into a place of rest.

Righteous choices bring us into the fulfillment of our destiny.

Yes, like James is saying, we unfortunately will fall.

To say otherwise is a denial of how life really will be.

But here's the thing.

I start from this present position that there is only one living in me called Christ.

And now I begin to live it out.

I have already obtained it.

Everything in the spirit is obtained and received.

This is why even in Jesus' talk about prayer, he says,

Believe that you have received it.

Everything in the spirit is obtained and received.

Because the spirit is actually a present reality in my life.

There is no more of the spirit I can get.

The more I move out, the more the spirit has me.

I mean, Paul probably got this down quite well.

And yet there might have been others.

I understand how guys like Job did this without the Spirit of God.

I was thinking of that a few days ago.

With the Spirit of God, I still do this flip-flop.

How the heck did Job do it without the Spirit of God?

Go ahead, Anne.

I was going to come up with a story and say something.

And I didn't.

And the Lord is talking to me.

I was thinking of some of our spiritual studies

who are going through hard times.

And since then, I've been thinking again,

you no longer live, but I live in you.

But I want you to share it with them

and tell them that they should know the concept

that I live in them.

And therefore, life is worth their living

because they don't need to fear

and they can't do whatever they want.

Good. Good word. Good word.

I'm glad you spoke it out.

Anne sends us when she woke up in the morning

that there are people who are going through hard times.

And she was thinking about them.

And the Lord said, Anne, you don't have to worry

because I now live in you.

And you live by my life.

But you need to go and tell the ones

that you think are going through a difficult time

that this is the same with them.

And therefore, even though they are in scary situations,

they do not need to be afraid

because of He who lives in us.

Guys, please remember, we always talk about this.

You've got to know and resonate

and know it in your spirit.

You've got to process it in your mind.

You've got to live it out.

That's how it works.

So if you don't understand it in one and a half hours,

welcome to the club.

Join me.

But the idea is to keep enlarging on this.

The exchanged life is on one hand

passive in the sense that Christ lives in us.

On the other hand, it's active because we have to make

righteous choices.

A man of choices is a man of rest is a man of destiny.

Obedience brings us into rest.

Guys, think of it, eh?

I can't love the way

God expects me to love.

I can't be humble the way God expects me to be humble.

I can't be gentle the way God expects me to be gentle.

And yet,

God commands me

to be so because He expects this of me.

Why can He expect that of me?

Because He says, Jacob, I've given you the life of another

who was loving and humble and gentle.

That's why I demand of it of you.

You can't. But now living in you is

someone who can.

So begin to live by His life.

There's nothing God will demand of me

that is impossible.

When Roland Tann used to come here

ages ago, and I'd tell him,

man, I don't like that guy.

And he'd come up with this

terrible line,

I loved that with the love of the Lord.

And I used to think to myself, oh!

But he was right.

But he was right!

That was way back.

I have changed.

Guys, the exchanged

life means that I live

by the life of the Son of God.

The exchanged life means

I live,

just imagine,

I live by the life

of the Son of God.

I live by the,

I don't live by a little quantity of the Holy Spirit

as some of us were taught.

I live by the life

of the Son of God.

The Creator of all Heaven

and Earth, the Son of God.

I live by the life of the Son of God.

I no longer live.

I remember James once taking me in his

Prius cab.

And we were on

number 4 road and he was showing me

how you switch from gas to electric.

And that car can just switch.

And then run on electric.

It's like that. I live by the

electric life of

the Son of God.

I don't live on gas anymore.

I feel like, correct me if I'm wrong,

we're talking here about approach.

Our approach,

that same thing going back to the story

where the devil is knocking at the door

and the usual approach is the girl doing

and trying to tackle it. Now change the approach

is let Jesus tackle it.

Or like I said earlier,

you are approaching God

based on your circumstance.

And this is the picture you're getting, and you're getting a distorted

picture. Approach God first,

change your approach, approach God first,

and then see how you're approaching God.

How I would

perhaps work with what you said

is this way. I cannot

have an approach till I

become a certain person.

It is who I am that determines

my approach. It is not my approach

that determines what happens.

It is who I am. I have to come into

this understanding that

Jesus and Jacob,

that

it is only Christ who lives in

me. Once I become who I am,

then my approach changes.

Otherwise it's like band-aid.

Because approaches have been,

the church has been taught

approaches for many years.

I'm not saying what you're saying is wrong.

I'm saying there's a step before that.

One has to become who one is before

he can do what he's supposed to do.

Christianity today has become about

doing what you're supposed to do without

becoming who you're supposed to become.

That is the sad, sad state

of this thing. So this is why

your spirit is fully renewed

and knows the nature of God

fully well there. You process

it here now. What is the idea

of teaching? The whole idea of

teaching is to set up a system whereby

truths can be now practiced

after processing.

That's why we have teachers.

So that we can

become who we are. And once we become

who we are, we can

do what we are supposed to do.

A time should come

when,

I'm just picking on them,

when Elmer and Anne's ministry

should become redundant.

That is their desire

too.

Because if we are camped at

Pentecost and always need liberty,

when will we enter into rest?

Let them work with

the next group of people

that God brings in.

But these people

have to render them redundant.

When I first went to India,

Christy, the guy who hosts us there,

said, Jacob is coming with two old missionaries.

It was so funny.

And then the next

thing he emailed me and said,

are they okay about climbing steps?

Now, when I say redundant,

I'm not talking about old.

I'm talking about having

them render redundant

in terms of having to minister

to a people because

they have begun to move from Pentecost

towards Tabernacles, from a place of

always requiring liberty

to a place of rest,

where you need liberty.

But it's not like you'll park your car in the garage

forever.

Yeah.

Christ's meekness

now becomes my meekness.

I have to understand this,

that Christ's meekness

is now my meekness.

Christ's holiness becomes my holiness.

I love this next one.

His intimacy and fellowship

with the Lord,

his father, becomes my intimacy

and fellowship with God.

I operate on the same basis

because it is Christ that lives in me.

I just love that idea.

I feel quite nice about

the father even now.

But then we are talking about another level

where can you imagine the mornings

Christ spent walking the mountains

talking to his father?

God knows what kind of a conversation that was.

I mean, Joshua hung out by the

door of the tent to listen to the

conversation with God and he was awestruck.

Imagine hanging out listening to

Jesus talk with his father.

But that is where I can

head because I am already that.

The life of another.

It is marvelous, man.

Why he didn't leave the tent after he was

in Moses' lap?

Why he didn't?

Because the presence of God was in the tent.

Yeah, because the glory would fade slowly.

It was not like a light switch.

So he would wait there because Moses had

that glory on his face for days.

So that could be one of his reasons.

I am just hazarding a guess.

From now on, guys,

there is no sin too great for me to overcome.

No temptation too great for me to withstand

because is there any sin or temptation

too great for Christ to overcome?

Hehehehe!

I am not saying that

there is no sin or temptation

that is too great for me to overcome.

Why? Because is there any sin or temptation

too great for Christ to overcome?

Like I said last week,

all this time I thought when God says

there is no temptation that has overtaken you

that is not common to man, but with every

temptation there is a way out, I thought it is

this escape hatch that must be somewhere.

No, no, no, the escape

is this person called Christ.

Now we come to that question that

Matt started whining about.

So how do we achieve this?

We have already mentioned it, but I will just

recap it. We achieve this through three

main ways.

One, how do we get to this place where

the Lord is in the middle of the world

and the Lord is in the middle of the world?

The first is the place where

the Lord is in the middle of the world.

The second is the place where

the Lord is in the middle of the world.

The third is the place where

the Lord is in the middle of the world.

So how do we get to this place where

Christ becomes the life that I live by,

the life of another?

One, and you will have to flesh this out.

Move out!

Two,

seize from your works.

We will just pitch tent here for a few minutes.

Three,

obtain or receive who you already are.

So,

just to explain that, when I say

how do we get to this place,

move out means Jacob has to understand

that Jacob can't keep

flip-flopping between his natural

humanness out of which he wants to

do things for God, tries,

no, no, no. He is going to

not keep flip-flopping that way.

He is going to come into a place

of understanding that

there is only one life he possesses and that is

the life of the Son of God.

That is all he possesses.

And that he is not going to try to

exert his human wisdom, his human strength,

his natural Jacobness

to please God.

He will never be able to do it.

It is worse than the offering Cain gave.

To live out of this one life,

so the natural Jacob that tries

to please God is going to move out.

Secondly, I am going to seize from

works as a continuation of the first point.

Where works,

where I am the senior

partner, where there are formulas,

where there is human wisdom or human

strength required to go through stuff,

I am going to step back from all that.

I am going to let go.

There is not going to be self-preservation,

self-preservation, self-control,

self-exaltation,

self-preservation, control,

self-preservation, self-exaltation,

self-presence, everything is going to go.

You will have to...

There has to be a nakedness

about the natural Jacob so that

the supernatural Jesus in him can be seen.

Because I am a jar

of clay in whom rests a treasure.

And if there are cracks,

the treasure will show.

The veil of flesh has to thin down to a point

where the one behind the curtain

is seen in visible splendour.

So that requires

John the Baptist style.

I must decrease so that he can

increase.

It is in this context that Paul says

even though I am perplexed,

I am not completely undone.

I may be this, but I am not that.

I am pressed in from every side.

All that just brought even to the greater forefront

who Christ was in him.

Which is why he says that

we are going through

these hard times, but Christ is being

made more alive. Imagine that!

Do you see why Paul is saying that?

That in our suffering,

in our bodies being subjected to

what they are being subjected,

in our bodies going towards death,

the life of Christ is being more and more

evident, released.

I could sit down for you, but that won't help you, Mariana.

I feel bad.

Gosh, I guess my mom did this too, right?

I'll have to be nicer to her.

I'll have to be nicer to her.

This life is obtained, not attained.

We already said that.

All things pertaining to the Holy Spirit

are obtained.

All that which is related to victory

must be received.

Guys,

holiness movements

are not just about

holiness.

Holiness movements and doing movements

will collapse under their own weight, guys.

Christ is our holiness.

Being holy is a fruit of that holiness.

So, if ever there is a

holiness movement in this church, flee!

Holiness movement is saying,

how come you're wearing pants?

And you've cut your hair short?

Where we impose

standards of holiness?

No, that's not what the holiness movement was.

That was just plain legalism.

The holiness movement was an emphasis

on walking

in holiness. And what it did

is it put

what I did with you was not the

holiness movement. It was much better than that.

What the holiness movement

did was it put such a heavy emphasis

on being holy

that it forgot that

your holiness is because of Christ.

And the

focus shifted on the

acts of holiness

which should be the fruit of who Christ is in you.

This is why we have to

remember. Become who you are and you will

do what you're supposed to do.

What happened to the holiness movement is

they said, do this because you are Christian

but they didn't show

or teach that

it's an output of who you are.

So it became so much pressure.

It ended up with people being holy

for two hours in church but very unholy

at home for 22 hours.

Guys, for those

that are married,

your holiness and stand before

God is seen in how

you keep your marriage

bed sacred.

It is there that a man's

holiness is shown.

I'm not just talking about

the act of sex.

It's in the thoughts

that go.

That is one place where

the ones who are married need to check.

Okay, I can live holy here,

here and here but when I am with my

spouse in bed,

the whole idea of keeping the marriage bed

sacred was not some kind of a ritual

that we had to do before

couples married

people at sex. It was a whole idea of

keeping the marriage bed holy was

a thing of how do I approach this?

Because that is one place where a lot of unholiness

happens. If not,

necessarily in what is demanded or the act

in terms of the thinking.

Which no one can see.

Keep that in mind.

Just on the side.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

You don't need to.

You become your identity

is Christ.

That's why we sing that song.

You are my father.

You are my father.

In you I find my identity.

So in him, then I find my identity.

This is why I sing that song.

I find my identity.

This is why I can become more

and more transparent as

I come into this recognition that Christ

is the one who lives in me.

Because now there is less and less to hide.

Unless I am really living two lives.

Your personality, yes.

And that God treasures.

My God, he made you a certain way.

If this world was full of Jacobs,

it would be such a lovely place to live.

If this world was full of Jacobs,

there would be no baby.

Of all the things you could come in the middle of,

such a profound message.

Moving on.

That didn't get taped, right?

My mum would have a fit with that one, man.

I am not going to lie.

I am not going to lie.

I am not going to lie.

Moving on.

Oh, be quiet. Moving on.

If the sun has set you free, we come to the last bit.

If the sun has set you free.

Guys,

whenever you are a slave

people who are being set free,

there are a few steps and I got this from

the writings of a person who has written

extensively on this.

Whenever a slave

people are set free, the first thing

that has to happen is they need to know

about the

proclamation of freedom.

The first step is they need to know

the proclamation of the freedom.

So let's assume

that we are a slave people

and we just got emancipated

and it was signed in Ottawa.

And we in Vancouver

have no idea of it.

It has to be first proclaimed so that we

hear it.

And this is what is done

in Romans 8, 2, where it says

the law of sin and death,

the law of the spirit of life

in Christ has

set us free.

That was the proclamation.

Guys, hear ye, hear ye.

Out had gone a law called the law of the spirit

of life in Christ and

now the dhau has been set free.

And you have to go, yeah, yeah.

Oh, hear here, sorry.

And so first you know about the proclamation.

The second thing that had to happen

is once you know the proclamation

you have to believe it.

Reckon it to be so.

Romans 6, 11, likewise, reckon yourself

dead to Christ,

sorry, reckon yourself dead.

Reckon yourself

dead indeed unto sin.

Yes.

But alive unto God through Christ Jesus our Lord.

So they had to believe it was true.

Romans 6, 11.

I've got the scriptures on top of your page.

So that's the second part.

You have to believe it.

I'm writing this down because this is exactly

what we need to do with what

we have been talking about and what we'll

be talking about.

Thirdly,

once they believe it was true,

you have to believe it is

true.

It's not enough to believe it. You have to believe that it is actually true.

If it doesn't resonate with you,

you will not follow it.

By the way, Chris

has organized a dinner for us immediately after

the meeting.

That doesn't resonate

true with you, right?

That's exactly what I mean. It is not enough to

believe it. It has to

you have to believe

it is true.

Father,

I just thank you

for Mary Ann Abba.

I just

bless you, Father. I just speak into

a life right now.

I just speak into a life right now.

What do you want to say, Father?

Father, I just

thank you that

blessed are those

that hunger and thirst,

for they shall be fed.

And you are speaking it over with this woman,

Mary Ann Abba.

Not many know it, not many see it.

But my God, you have seen

it. And you are saying

that you have

chosen well and it is going to come

to pass.

You have hidden it well

too, but I have seen.

So I am bringing you

out of the winepress.

And I will satisfy your hunger

and thirst

to a point where it will

ooze out of you as wine

oozes out of the grape.

It won't be trodden over

harshly.

I will be the one who squeezes it out of you.

And people will drink of it.

You are a fruitful

wine, says God. You are a fruitful

wine.

So I thank you, Father, for this planting of yours.

The days ahead are good

and rich.

I pray that such an appetite

begins to develop in her

for not just the reading of the

word, but for the breaking of the word,

where husband and wife sit together

and break the word and suck out

the marrow inside the word.

This is the season I inaugurate

in her life right now.

For a day is coming when your children

and your husband shall rise and call you

blessed. And I speak that upon you right now

in Jesus' name.

Bless you, Father.

Bless you, Abba. Caleb liked that word.

Wasn't he sleeping?

That happens to people.

Third,

once you believe that it is

true, you have

to claim that freedom.

You have

to claim

that

freedom.

And how do you claim

that freedom? You have to show it. Pack your bags.

Move out.

Because if we were suddenly,

we receive this proclamation, and we say

it's true, it's true, it's true. And then

the next thing we have to do is take off those

darn shackles and throw them by the side

and do a few steps and then

begin to pack our bags and leave. Because we are

moving out. We are moving out.

So that's the third step.

Fourth,

and that's why it says in Galatians

5.13, you've been called

to liberty.

Pack your bags.

Don't use this liberty to go

back into the flesh. But

pack your bags and by love, begin to serve

one another. Not as slaves anymore,

but as free people.

Pack your bags. Don't go back into the

old way. Fourthly,

refuse to be a slave.

Refuse to be a slave now.

You've just been set free. Refuse to be a slave

again. Refuse

to be a

slave again.

Refuse to be a slave again.

It's in Galatians 5.1,

Stand fast therefore, in the

liberty wherein Christ has made us

free, and be not entangled

again with a yoke of bondage.

This life of

another that God is opening

up for us

is a life that has to be

entered into as a people. I'm

not interested in Elmer entering

this. I don't want

just Elmer to enter it. I want

all of us to enter it.

We are always going to work as

a people, guys. God is

interested in doing this as a people,

not with individuals.

Individuals make up a people, but He's

always looking at a people.

So, refuse to be a slave again.

Stand fast in the liberty wherein Christ

is drawing us, drawing us into the life

of another so that we don't keep going

back into our natural, human

fallenness to do things

for Him, to try and please Him, to strive.

Because what will happen is

always remember, you'll be an artificial

limb that looks like the real thing,

but doesn't share in the common

life of the body,

that cannot feel pain or elation,

that is always trying to keep in step

because it is not a natural part

of life. When there is this one life

called Christ, out of whom all

of me shall draw.

And lastly,

count on the power,

count

on the power

of

the emancipator

or the one who set you free,

count on the power of the emancipator

or the one who has brought you this freedom,

meaning Christ, to stand behind you,

to stand behind you.

Basically, to

hold you up.

This is why in John 8.36

it says,

If the Son,

Jacob,

If the Son

has set you free,

you are

free indeed.

You are free indeed.

You are free indeed.

You are free indeed.

You are free indeed.

He set you free from your natural

human fallenness, from sin,

from death, from the

old flesh way

of living its norms, dictates and values

and He's brought you into a place

where you can live the life of another.

And if the Son has set you free, then know

that you are free indeed and He'll do everything

in His power to help you

walk in that freedom. You have the

Spirit of God living in you.

You're going to walk in

the line of sight of the Spirit

within earshot of the Spirit's whisper,

within the pleasure

or the frown of the Spirit's

demeanor to you as you walk.

You will show behavior

that is

in accordance with who lives

within you.

They will know that someone lives within you because

you have a different behavior

and you will

always cultivate

things that are of God. You will

sow into the seasons of God, you will sow into the

things of the Spirit and you will sow out of you

the fruit that is already in you.