Feast of Tabernacles III

Okay, guys, last week, and for the last few weeks,

we've been talking about the Feast of Tabernacles.

And last week, we spoke about how there are two...

So there are two feasts that precede the Feast of Tabernacles.

And we talked about that last week.

We said one was the Feast of Trumpets,

and the other one was the Day of Atonement.

And so on the first day of the seventh month,

you had the Feast of Trumpets.

On the tenth day of the seventh month,

you had the Feast of Atonement.

And then on the 22nd day of the seventh month,

you had the Feast of Tabernacles.

And so we said that to understand the Feast of Tabernacles,

we need to study the two feasts that preceded,

because it leads to this thing called Tabernacles.

And just to recap what we said three weeks ago,

remember, the whole idea of studying the Feast of Tabernacles

is to understand that in a Christian's life,

you begin by deliverance out of Egypt,

which is the point at which you get saved.

Salvation or deliverance.

Then you move on to liberty or freedom from bondage,

which is Pentecost.

But there is a place called Tabernacles

that the church is missing out on.

And Tabernacles is a place where you live by the life of another.

You live by the life of another,

and you come into sabbath rest.

You come into a place of rest,

because the fullness of God operates in you.

We sang about it some today.

Because the fullness of God is what you operate by.

So we said that most Christians usually hover

somewhere between deliverance out of Egypt and liberty.

Most Christians hover between salvation and, sorry,

hover between Passover.

This is Passover.

Deliverance out of Egypt is Passover.

Most Christians hover between Passover and Pentecost

when there's a third place that the church is supposed to enter into,

which is Tabernacles.

And so when we were talking about the two feasts that precede Tabernacles,

we talked about how there's a point on the Day of Atonement

when they pick two goats.

One goat is sacrificed.

The other goat is brought to the high priest.

He lays his hands on the goat,

transfers the sins of the nation onto the goat,

sends it out into the wilderness,

and they began to topple it over a cliff

so that it wouldn't return back into the city.

We talked about that last week.

And we said that for Isaac, the son of promise to the city,

the promise to thrive, Ishmael has to be sent away.

And we said Ishmael is everything that stands for the flesh, for legalism,

and Isaac is everything that stands for promise

and that comes from the Spirit of God.

And if the new Jacob is to thrive,

if the new Jacob whom Christ has formed is to thrive,

then I have to send Ishmael away.

I have to send legalism away.

I have to send anything that is of the flesh away.

I have to find flesh.

Flesh is not soma.

Flesh is sarx, S-A-R-X.

We've talked about it before,

but we'll be revisiting some of the things we've spoken of before.

So that's what we're going to talk about today.

For the fullness of Christ to thrive in me,

something has to be sent away to its death.

Let me say that again.

For the fullness of Christ to thrive in me,

something has to be sent away to its death.

Because Ishmael and Isaac cannot live under the same roof.

Ishmael, being the older one,

according to Galatians 4, 24-29,

will persecute Isaac.

We'll mock him.

We'll treat him with disdain.

We'll scorn him.

We'll drive him out of the house.

It is impossible for legalism

and the ways and norms of the flesh

to exist alongside this new fullness of Christ

that dwells in me.

It's impossible.

So one has to be sent away to its death.

And the Word of God furnishes for us

this double-edged answer that we're going to study

so that we can understand how we can walk

in the fullness of Christ and send away to its death

all that is of the flesh.

So the premise that we're going to operate from

is Galatians 6, 14 and Galatians 5, 17a.

Go to Galatians 6, 14.

Galatians 6, 14.

It's almost orange if you want it.

Good to go?

Okay.

Guys, so look at Galatians 6, 14, okay?

This is the premise we're going to operate out of.

Galatians 6, 14.

And Galatians 6, 14 says,

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ

through which the world has been crucified to me

and I to the world.

Okay?

So here's what our premise is going to be.

The first premise is that through the cross,

through the cross, I am dead,

I am dead to the world.

I'm dead to its power of seduction.

I'm dead to its norms.

I'm dead to its dictates.

I'm dead to its patterns.

I'm dead to its observances.

I'm dead to its values.

I'm dead to its desires.

Paul isn't theorizing here.

He actually says that because he completely identifies himself

with Christ on the cross,

which is what you and I need to do.

Guys, understand this.

I know we've talked about it before,

but it's good to revisit it.

When Christ died, if you are born again,

then your old self, the spirit that you were born with,

the degenerate spirit, actually died.

We know that.

We've talked about that a million times.

So Paul is saying this, that through the cross,

you have been crucified and you are dead to the world.

Through the cross, you've been crucified

and you're dead to the world.

We'll talk about it in an extended.

I'm just giving you the premise.

You're dead to the power of the seduction of the world.

You're dead to the world's norms.

You're dead to the world's dictates.

You're dead to the world's values.

You're dead to the world's desire.

And we'll talk about how.

The second premise is Galatians 5.17.

Galatians 5.17.

Galatians 5.17.

It says in NIV, Galatians 5.17,

for the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the spirit

and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.

So they are in conflict with each other.

Okay?

So the sinful nature, the sinful nature,

desires what is contrary to the spirit

and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.

Guys, the spirit and the flesh are absolutely opposed to each other.

Absolutely opposed to each other.

The Holy Spirit stands in unrelenting opposition

to the desires of the flesh.

Why should you get excited about it?

I'll tell you.

But know this, that according to Galatians 5.17,

the spirit and the flesh are absolutely antithetical to each other

or absolutely opposed to each other.

There's unrelenting opposition that the spirit stands

or puts up against the flesh.

Now why should this be something that we should praise God for?

Because know this, guys, that the spirit of God who dwells in me

has this unrelenting opposition to anything that is of the flesh

that comes near my life.

He is not passive.

The spirit of God who dwells in me is not passive.

It's like having an immune system in you

which hates germs and parasites that come near you.

You will have to compromise your immune system

before the germs can do you harm.

It's the same way.

You will have to compromise the Holy Spirit

by choosing to deliberately go and defile the temple

before anything that is of the flesh

can really begin to bring you back into slavery.

I need to praise God for this.

For the one who lives in me, the spirit of God,

has this unrelenting opposition against everything that is of the flesh.

And the spirit of God is sufficient.

The spirit of God is sufficient.

The one in me is sufficient when he chooses to oppose something

for it to be beaten.

It's like this electromagnetic shield

which is sufficient to ward off whatever needs to be warded off.

This is when in a Pentecostal church they would go praise God.

Amen.

You don't have to prove you're not Pentecostal.

You can still say amen.

Honk honk.

So just remember that.

The spirit and the flesh are absolutely antithetical to each other.

The Holy Spirit stands in unrelenting opposition to the desires of the flesh.

And he is sufficient.

This gives me great comfort.

So on one hand, here I walk in the premise

that, Jacob, when you became born again

and you accepted Christ's death on the cross as the death of you, the old you,

that moment, everything that is of the world no longer had power over you.

You have become dead through the cross

to the seduction of the world, to the values of the world,

to the norms of the world, to the desires of the world.

This is the truth.

I know our experience says otherwise,

but we do not go by our experience.

We go by what God says.

We are so used to living a mediocre Christian life

that we think that what the world has to offer still has the power to enslave us,

when it's not true.

God very clearly says it's not true.

He says it's lost its power.

I use that example often.

Let's assume that Maurice is my slave.

And I want my breakfast, my coffee, at a certain time in the morning.

And if he doesn't bring it to me,

I pull out this massive whip and start whipping him.

And DJ is laughing.

And I make sure that he brings me breakfast and coffee.

One day, it's 8 o'clock and my breakfast and coffee haven't come.

And I'm getting irritated.

I'm thinking to myself, this guy needs a whipping.

So I pull out my whip and I go and I find him sleeping.

So I start whipping him.

I start kicking him.

I start beating him.

But the guy doesn't budge.

And it frustrates me that regardless of how much I whip him,

he isn't doing anything.

And then I go and I grab his wrist

and that's when I realize that his pulse is completely...

there is no pulse.

Because during the night, Maurice, my slave, died.

Now it doesn't matter how much I whip him, how much I beat him,

there is no way I can make him do anything I want to

because last night he escaped my mastery.

We must understand that this is what happened, guys.

This is exactly what happened.

On the cross the day I got born again, on the cross I died.

And the mastery, that sin and legalism

and the seduction of the world

and the norms and values and desires of the flesh

that had mastery over me was ended.

It can whip me.

I will not move because I am dead.

There's a new me in town that doesn't work anymore.

This is the truth.

I've got to fill my mind and my heart with this

because my spirit knows it.

But my heart and my mind need to catch on.

You operate in facts and there's a chance that you will mess up.

You operate in the truth and it will carry you.

It will bring you into freedom.

It will bring you into freedom.

Facts don't bring you into freedom.

Your experience doesn't bring you into freedom.

The truth brings you into freedom.

Thank you, Elmer.

See what happens when men dance together.

They start saying amen to each other.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

So Galatians 5.24 then is a marvelous collision of these two aspects.

Galatians 5.24.

It says that those who belong to Christ Jesus

have crucified the sinful nature with its passion and desires.

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

And so Galatians 5.24 is where there's this collision of,

on one hand, the fact that the world is crucified to me

and two, that the Spirit of God lives in me.

And that's where both come to clash.

And we'll talk about that some more.

So let's go on to the next bit.

Let's talk about how do you reckon yourself dead to sin?

How do you reckon yourself dead to sin?

Romans 6.11 says, Reckon yourself dead to sin.

How do you reckon yourself dead to sin?

Oh, by the way, Romans 7.1, this is just going on another train for a second.

Romans 7.1 says that as long as a woman is,

do we want to do anything as James enters?

Thank you for coming and joining us.

Oh, I'm sure you are.

Yeah, so here's the thing.

You guys are supposed to embarrass him as he walked in.

Yeah. Okay, so.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Guys, Romans 7.1, just go to Romans 7.2.

Okay.

Yeah, Romans 7.2.

For example, by law, a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive.

But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

So then if she marries another man while her husband is still alive,

she is called an adulteress.

But if her husband dies, she is released from the law

and is not an adulteress even though she marries another man.

So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ

that you might belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead

in order that we might bear fruit to God.

Do you realize then that if you and I continue in legalism,

that we are living an adulterous life?

What it is saying there is there was a time when you were married to legalism.

As long as you are married to another husband, you cannot live with another man

because that would be adultery.

But once this husband dies, you can go join yourself to another man

and you will be his legal wife.

And then it goes on to say, the man you were married to is legalism.

So now if you think you want to belong to Christ,

make sure that you have completely cut yourself off from this thing called legalism.

Because to hold on to legalism and hold on to Christ is adulterous.

So there can't be any tolerance.

I can't visit the other man's house occasionally.

When a man is dead, you don't visit him anymore.

On the cross, legalism was put to death.

No, the law was put to death.

All legalistic observances were put to death.

It is an adulterous relationship when a church observes legalism and follows Christ.

Can't do it.

So make sure that you sweep from your life and make sure that we sweep from this house.

Anything that is legalistic does not have a right to exist alongside Christ.

So coming back to Reckon Yourself Dead.

Guys, do you believe that you are dead to the observances in the Torah?

Or do you think they still apply to you and hold sway over you?

Do you believe that you are dead to Torah observances?

Or do you believe the Torah observances are still alive in a part of your life?

I'm asking you that the Torah, do you think the observances of the Torah

are still something you should be, that you should follow?

Are you dead to that? You are dead to it.

You're absolutely sure that you don't follow those laws and that you're dead to it.

It's not a part of your life. It shouldn't be.

I'm saying to you that if you say you're dead to the Torah and dead to the legalistic observances in the Torah,

then you ought to be dead to the flesh too,

because both the flesh and the Torah were put to death on the cross.

Yeah, but he fulfilled the law and we'll talk about that a little later.

Here's the thing with the, we talked about this when we did the Ten Commandments,

when we talked about the Ten Commandments and how they apply to the New Testament.

Guys, this is what Jesus did. He would take one of the commandments,

he would up the ante, he would fulfill it, and then he comes and lives in me and helps me to fulfill it.

So what was do not commit adultery was relatively easy.

All of us in this house could kind of abide by that.

Yeah, I won't go sleep with someone else's spouse.

Big deal. That was the law in the Old Testament.

Jesus brings it out and raises it up to another standard, man.

He says if you as much as look at a woman with evil intent, you've committed adultery.

Suddenly it's not going and sleeping with someone else's spouse,

it's thinking of her in a way that is wrong.

And then Jesus fulfills it, lives a life where he follows the rules and the laws laid down,

fulfills it because if he didn't fulfill it, he wouldn't rise from the dead.

He rose from the dead because he fulfilled the law,

because to break any law was to death, was to invite death.

So Jesus fulfills it and after fulfilling it, now what does he do?

He comes and lives in me.

So by him coming and living in me, I now fulfill the law.

Not just that, he now says, Jacob, not only have I fulfilled the law and I live in you,

so you fulfill the law, I want you to show people how it works.

You now begin to walk like I walked.

You have the ability because I live in you.

Yep. If you thought the Old Testament was hard to follow,

I'm telling you the ante was up when Jesus came in.

Do not kill. I don't expect to kill anybody as long as I'm living.

But hate, I've done that a few times already this year.

No, not this year, the last one and a half years.

I don't want to be completely degenerate. I'm not.

So guys, just as much as you're dead to Torah observances,

count yourself dead to the demands of the flesh

because both were nailed at the same time to the cross.

So here's what we need to understand.

To live according to the flesh, to live according to the flesh

is to live according to the norms, values, desires of the present age.

Yeah, of the present age.

That is contradictory. That is an absolute contradiction to God.

That is an absolute contradiction to God.

So when Paul talks about the flesh, and we've talked about this before,

he's not talking about Soma as the body,

but he's using a Greek word called Sarx, S-A-R-X.

And Sarx means values, norms, desires of the present age

or the world that we presently live in.

That is an absolute contradiction to God.

So to live according to the flesh is to live by those values,

those norms, those desires.

And God is saying that, listen, Jacob, you've actually died to this.

This does not have the power to rule over you anymore.

This was nailed to the cross.

On the cross you died, legalism died,

the power of sin and the power of the present age over you died,

the division between clergy and laity died,

the division that would prevent you from entering into the Holy of Holies died,

the demands of the law died, Satan's power was destroyed,

all these things were killed on the cross in that one death that Jesus Christ dies.

So I owe nothing to the flesh, guys. I owe nothing to the flesh.

I don't live in that house anymore. I'm not obliged to follow it.

My ears are deaf actually to the ways of the flesh.

Whenever I talk about the way, about flesh, remember what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about the norms, values, desires of the present age.

So I don't owe this anything. I have no obligation to follow this.

My ears are deaf to this. I don't have to listen to this.

This is the truth. This is how it works.

I do not have to listen to the norms, values and desires of the present age.

I don't live in that house anymore.

We've already established over the last many years the fact that

there is no struggle between the flesh and the spirit.

We've talked about that.

I realize that even if we live by the spirit,

it's not that we don't get tempted by the old life.

It's not that we always manage to steer clear of it.

I realize that we succumb to it.

But I want us to understand that there is no struggle between the spirit and the flesh.

There are no two wolves living in me, pulling me apart.

There is no tug of war inside me.

My spirit is not struggling to rise up and live.

Reckon yourself dead to that whole idea.

If you have any questions, ask before we go on.

I know this is a little thinky, but that's okay.

If you don't get it the first time, you can always listen to the tape and get it the second time.

So any questions, comments, disagreements?

What would you say to the person who says they've seen you?

If it's a street person who does not know God, I would take him through Passover, which is deliverance from Egypt.

Okay.

I would take the person through Passover, which is salvation.

I would take them through Pentecost, which is liberty.

I would spend a lot of time helping them come to a place of freedom from bondage.

But I would also then begin to teach them that, guys, this whole thing of living by experience,

thinking that there are struggles within you is not the truth.

At the end of the day, remember, if our mindset does not change, we stay with the old way of thinking.

So I would advise them, teach them the truth.

See, guys, if you teach the truth and someone receives it with meekness, they will be changed.

If you teach the truth and someone resists it with pride, they will not be changed.

At the end of the day, we are supposed to break bread, and the Holy Spirit is supposed to take the bread that has been broken by us

and now bring it into fulfillment in a person.

He is the author.

My only demand on my life is to make sure that I break bread or divide it accurately.

Once I divide it accurately and it is deposited in your life, you have to chew it.

Hey, when was the last time your wife chewed food for you?

Hasn't happened for a while, right? Never, never.

So if you don't expect your dear spouse to chew food for you, how can you expect others to do that for you?

You only chew food for babies because they can't eat meat.

They are stuck on milk. So expect to chew this.

You won't get it. I mean, you have no idea how many times I go over this.

See, money and struggling financially have solutions to it.

But we are talking about a person coming into the understanding that the fullness of God dwells in him,

that there is no struggle really between the flesh and the spirit,

that Romans 7 is a commentary on Paul's condition before he became a believer,

and that I am actually dead to the norms and values and desires of the world.

That's not where I operate.

Hi guys, walk right in.

Hey, we won't embarrass her. Let her just settle down.

So, thanks Ryan.

Hey, grab a chair that's comfortable.

Okay, okay.

Okay, so to live according to...you know her, right?

Okay, pardon? Mariana, Jason's wife. Yeah.

To live according to the flesh...remember, whenever I use the word flesh, this is what it means. It doesn't mean body.

Guys, there is no struggle between flesh and spirit.

And remember, God is not so concerned about the occasional falls that happen,

but there is...one of the things he expects of you and I is obedience in the same direction for a long time.

That's what he is after.

He wants Jacob to obey in the same direction for a long time.

That's what's important before him.

Occasional stumblings and fallings, occasional succumbing to the old way of living,

occasional cooperation with the seductions and the temptations of the world.

It's not that he tolerates us because he's uncompromisingly holy,

but that's not what he's looking at.

He's looking at does Jacob have the ability to keep obeying in the same direction for a long time.

One of the things that you and I have to do is find out areas where that is lacking,

where you find that you obey for a short stint and then immediately go back into sin.

And there are those areas in your lives, guys.

There are in my life where there are certain areas I can obey in the same direction for a long time.

There are other areas where I obey for short periods, meaning to stay the course.

I can go a year in obedience in that area.

Let's assume it's lies.

I can choose to speak clear lies in the same direction, speaking honestly, continuously.

Let's take temper.

I can choose not to lose my temper, walk in gentleness

for a long period of time in the same direction of gentleness.

But there are areas in our lives where it's otherwise.

And those are areas that we need to pull up our socks in.

It means that in that area I haven't reckoned myself dead to it.

I allow it.

I have accepted it as a part of my being.

I blame my past for it.

I blame my spouse for it.

I blame the world for it.

I blame my childhood for it.

But I do not reckon myself dead to it.

Guys, there is no sin in a Christian's life that has the power to enslave us ever again.

Your spirit cannot be enslaved.

It's brand new.

Christ dwells there.

The fullness of God lives there.

It's impossible to be enslaved there.

It is possible to have an addiction in certain areas, and it can be broken

because it can only touch your body and your thinking and feeling.

But in your spirit, man, it is impossible to be enslaved.

And that is where you are strongest.

Therefore, a Christian always has the ability to come out of it.

I realize there are Christians who have bondage to porn, to drugs, to other things.

Yeah, and it takes time because the body and the soul are caught in it.

But not the spirit, man.

The best way not to get into an addiction or bondage is to reckon myself dead to areas where I am weak.

Man, if you nip things in the bud, you never get the flower.

So in the areas of my weakness, in the areas of my weakness, I got to reckon myself dead to that.

And remember, when I say reckon myself to dead, what am I saying?

I'm saying that the values and the norms of this present age that cause me to be drawn to this particular sin

actually do not have the ability to enslave me.

I understand that when Christ died on the cross, I died with him.

And through the cross, I am dead to the seduction of the sin.

It is not possible for the sin to enslave me unless I willingly cooperate.

I also understand that the Spirit of God has this unrelenting opposition against this sin.

And he is sufficient and he dwells in me.

And I have the power of God in me to overcome this particular sin that's coming my way.

The only way I can compromise my immunity is by choosing deliberately to walk otherwise.

Yeah, by choosing willingly to cooperate with the sin.

Because you like the sin.

Hey, why do people go into porn? Because they like it.

Why do people smoke drugs? Because they like it.

Why is a flaring of temper easy?

Because we like it. We like control. We like pride. We like things to be done in order.

And if we think we are in a position of superiority, we take it out on those that are under us.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The Spirit of God in you is unrelentingly opposed to temper.

You have in you everything required to overcome the habit.

So that is one.

Two, whenever there's an act of sin in my life, it is because I have not recognized myself dead to it.

I have allowed or accommodated or make allowance for it.

There is justification for it.

That's why we say when we use the word reality, are we saying it's the truth?

Then I'm saying to you, no, it's not the truth.

When I say I reckon, it means take an inventory and conclude.

Take an inventory of the truth. What does this say?

This says that, Jacob, if you take an inventory of the truth,

you will find that you are actually dead to every sin present on the face of the earth.

Every sin present on the face of the earth. Yeah.

Yeah. So how do we deal with it?

We'll come to walking by the Spirit and we'll deal with it.

But see, guys, the problem is I don't often think that I have reckoned myself dead to sin in some areas.

I was driving today and there were certain things that I was thinking of doing a certain way.

And I was saying to myself, you don't have to do it that way.

You know it's wrong.

And then I was thinking of these notes and I was saying to myself, I am not going to do it that way.

I reckon myself dead to doing it that way.

I will choose not to do it that way.

Then I thought, but it is so tempting to do it that way.

It will take care of so many problems.

And then as I'm thinking, oh shucks, I've got this desire to do it.

I also remember that the Holy Spirit within me is more than sufficient

and is an unrelenting opposition to what I'm going to do.

And I was praying to God, I'm going to so rest in you because I know you're within me

and you have the power to help me not touch this.

And suddenly it was so restful because I knew it was beaten.

Guys, it comes through practice.

You've got to practice it.

You've got to practice it.

Learn it.

Mariam, I'd say it's related more to the knowledge of the truth than faith.

There's nothing hidden about this.

Faith usually requires that I hope for something I don't see.

This is more about the knowledge of the truth so that I know this is the truth and I begin to operate by it.

It's about changing my mindset.

This is how it works.

And guys, we've got to break it down into steps if necessary.

I pray God that we go home and begin to break this down.

We've got to have a pattern so that we can operate by it.

To reckon yourself is to make a decision.

And then it's a discipline to practice it.

Again, let me go back to that word, long obedience in the same direction.

Long obedience in the same direction requires practice.

There's a book written by Eugene Peterson called Long Obedience in the Same Direction.

Guys, Lynn, go ahead.

Oh, Elmer had a question.

Lynn raised her hand so that she could ask me to ask you to ask me a question.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And the stumbling decreases.

That's the beauty of it.

The stumbling decreases.

Guys, when 2 Corinthians 5.18, when it says that the old order has gone and the new has come,

what it's saying there is that the present age and its desires may continue to be something that we live in,

but even though we live in this present age, we operate by the norms and values of the coming age.

Guys, it's like this.

Let's assume it's a rainy, slushy, snowy day in Vancouver.

But guess what?

You have decided that you're going to climb into a Piper Cherokee and fly 1,000 feet, at 1,000 feet.

You're still below the clouds, okay?

And when you look out of your plain window, you can see droplets on the wing.

The windshields in the plane are working because there's drops on the windshield.

You're under the clouds and it's snowing, but you look down below and you see that people on number 3 road in Richmond are messed up

because they're slush and snow and dirt and they can hardly drive.

But you have no problem operating from this level in the skies.

That's our condition, where we at present live in this present age with all its hostility, with all its values, desires and norms,

but we're not actually walking in the same place.

We are positioned above.

We are not affected by the mess and the confusion.

We operate under the same skies, but we are positioned above.

This is the truth.

This is why Christ said, you're in the world, but not off it.

It's like flying above.

The slush that the snow becomes on the ground are droplets on your wing or paragliding, but then you get wet.

So that's the beauty of it.

That's how you operate.

Imagine it if we come to a place tonight, tomorrow, day after, where we actually think that there is not a single sin in the world.

That now will ever have power over me.

That I can consistently go to a place where I am dead to this thing called the desires, norms and values of the present system

and I operate by the values, norms and dictates of the coming age.

Just imagine living like that, guys.

Every time a sin comes up, every time a temptation comes up, you have two things immediately go off in your mind.

One, that I'm actually dead to this.

It doesn't have power to take me.

Two, that I have the Spirit of God who is sufficient and who is an unrelenting opposition to the sin and I have the power to beat it comfortably without exertion.

Hey, if you have Hulk Hogan living in you, what can James do to you?

Obviously not all of you know Hulk Hogan.

He was this big guy with a yellow scarf on his head.

I know that doesn't bring up the right image, but that kind of a thing.

He's a tough cookie with a yellow scarf on his head.

But the point is, these are the two ways you've got to think.

After you think that, if you still go ahead and succumb to the temptation, it is not because you were unable, but because you chose to and you wanted to cooperate with it.

I love this. Every time I'm going to sin now, it will be because I chose to.

I'm not excited about that. I'm saying I don't need to.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I look forward to this.

Treat it as water off a duck's back. The beauty is the ease with which you can defeat it.

Now do you see why God could say, no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.

But with every temptation, there is a way out. What is the way out?

It's not some secret cavern that you traverse through and come out into the open light.

No, no, no, no. The way out is you've got the Spirit of God in you who is sufficient and you've been crucified to the world.

The world is dead to you through the cross. That's the way out.

No, you succumb to it because you wanted more.

Deception may play a part, but at some point after I succumb to a sin, it's no longer deception.

It's sin and I know it. That's why God isn't...

What are the sins? Assumed sins and presumed sins or something like that? Presumptuous sins? Yeah.

There are some sins which I do deliberately and there are other sins I stumble into either because I was deceived or I wasn't aware.

God looks at it differently, but the point is I don't need to be taken anymore.

So while you live in this body, you're subject to the realities of this present age,

but you don't walk according to the desires and values of this present age.

And here's the thing guys, in Galatians 5.21, and I don't like saying this, but I have to say it.

In Galatians 5.21 it says,

One who continues to live by the desires and values of this present age will not inherit the kingdom of God.

One who continues to live by the norms and values and desires of this present age,

or the norms and values of the flesh, will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So kind of keep that in mind.

Hey, I remember when my dad died.

We had to take him from one city to the other in India in a van.

And so I was sitting in the back of the van with my dad's dead body.

And I was looking at his body and I felt his face.

And as I felt his face, I thought, man, this is so not my dad.

Because his flesh was cold, there was no emotion.

He couldn't feel me, I couldn't feel him back.

I tried getting emotional about him lying there, I thought to myself, but this isn't him.

It was easy to bury him.

There was no breaking of my heart as the body was lowered because that body ain't my dad, man.

When something dies, it becomes impervious to all feeling, all touch, everything of that sort.

It becomes impervious to it.

That is the extent to which you have actually died to sin.

Imagine that, guys. That is the truth.

People who are dead are impervious to sin.

I remember my dad's body cold and dead and lifeless, mere flesh, unresponsive.

That's exactly how you and I actually are to sin.

When Paul says, we've got to begin to think like that, we don't.

All that I was in my old unregenerate condition before I met Christ is dead and lifeless.

All that I was in my old unregenerate condition before I met Christ is dead.

It's been crucified, lifeless.

All that I am as a new creation since my union with Christ cannot be enslaved and is dead to sin.

Guys, the new man that I am today, according to Colossians 3.10,

the new man that I am today is perfectly renewed in its nature.

Just imagine that, eh?

The new man that I am today because I have Christ living in me.

The new man that this Jacob that you're looking at,

this Jacob that you're looking at, this new man that I am today

is perfectly renewed in his nature, according to Colossians 3.10.

He has perfect knowledge of God.

Just imagine that.

In my spirit, I have perfect knowledge of God.

I'm perfectly renewed in my nature.

And according to Ephesians 4.24,

I have the purity, the righteousness and the holiness of God.

I take after the image of God in true righteousness and holiness in my spirit.

That's who I am.

This is my true nature, guys.

This is my true nature.

I take after the image of my Father in true righteousness and holiness.

Marian, it doesn't disturb us at all.

Yeah. Oh, not at all.

You have no idea how the adults are worse.

Yeah.

It's just that Sarah and Shana are not here today.

So you'll feel like she's making a lot of noise, but she's not.

If James' kids are here, they beat her hollow.

So, and we enjoy it.

I love, I was telling James today,

I miss Sarah because there's a boldness Sarah has here when she runs around,

which I kind of enjoy.

She's like her father, yeah.

And she's a woman at the right place too, yeah.

So the new man that I am, according to Colossians 3.10,

is perfectly renewed in nature.

I have perfect knowledge of God.

And I take after the image of my Father in true righteousness and holiness.

Guys, this is why Paul said,

may you be strengthened in your inner man.

My God, people, we have to come into a place

where we begin to live more and more by the inner man.

Imagine this.

Your inner man, Wayne, is perfectly renewed in nature.

Your inner man, Marcus, has perfect knowledge of your God, perfect knowledge.

Your inner man, Diana, takes after the image of your Father in true righteousness and holiness.

This is who your inner man is.

When we begin to live by the inner man that Paul says,

may you be strengthened in your inner man,

you begin to come into tabernacles.

The fullness of God rests living by the life of another.

Just like that song, remember when we were talking about that song,

I said you have to walk into the song and wear it.

You have to wear what I'm teaching right now.

You have to wear it.

These clothes are too big for you.

Answer me.

They are 3XL.

You have to grow into it.

You have to grow into it.

Let's talk about walking by the Spirit.

Walking by the Spirit.

So we talked about to live according to the flesh is to live according to the norms, values, desires of the present age.

So what is it?

What do we mean when we say to live according to the Spirit?

To live according to the Spirit is to live according to the norms, values and desires of the coming age,

inaugurated through Christ's death and resurrection.

That's what living according to the Spirit is.

Okay, to live according to the Spirit is to live according to the norms and values and desires of the coming age,

the age that is coming.

It hasn't fully come, but the moment Christ died and rose again,

a new kingdom, a new age, something from the future was coming into this present world.

We live by the norms and values of that age.

The norms and values and desires of that age are shaped by the king of that kingdom.

We begin to live by those norms and values in this present world.

We are not off it.

I mean we are off it.

We are in it, but not off it.

You know, if you go to Saudi Arabia, there are these laws and rules there where you have to wear,

if you are a woman, you have to wear a burqa and cover yourself.

When you go out to a shop, when you are driving, women can't drive, at least couldn't drive till some years ago.

Everywhere you go, every woman in this church would have to cover herself.

But then they have these colonies run by the Brits or the Americans or the Canadians.

And these are walled enclaves where you have families living.

And strangely enough, within those walls you don't have to wear the burqa.

So you have churches within these walls where you don't have to wear the burqa.

You can go there dressed normal, in a country that demands that women wear a covering.

It's the same principle, guys.

We live in the reality of the present age, but we live as those that operate by the values and the norms of the coming age.

The dictates of the present age do not hold sway over us.

We are dead to that. There is a wall called the cross.

So how does one go about walking by the Spirit?

We said we operate by the fact that the Spirit of God is in us.

He is unrelentingly opposed to the desires of the flesh.

He is antithetical to them, but he lives in us and he is more than sufficient.

And then Paul goes on to say in Galatians 5 that,

Hey, walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

Walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

So here's the thing, guys. How do we walk by the Spirit?

By the way, walking by the Spirit is not some kind of passive submission of kneeling and saying,

Holy Spirit, come and follow me.

No, no, no, no, no, that's passive submission.

You can do that a million times and nothing will change because the Spirit of God already lives in you.

So we're not talking about passive submission to the Spirit, but a conscious effort.

It requires one to rise up and follow the Spirit by walking in obedience to the desires of the Spirit.

There is no passive submission in terms of walking by the Spirit.

It's not asking for more of the Spirit. You don't walk by the Spirit by asking for more of the Spirit.

You can't have more of the Spirit.

You can open your life to the Spirit, but you can't have more of the Spirit.

He's a person and he dwells in you in his fullness.

But it requires a rising up and saying, I know that the Spirit of God is sufficient for me to live in this world.

I am going to do everything in my power to walk in obedience to the Spirit.

And we'll talk about how that happens.

I just want you to know that it doesn't come by just asking because the asking is already done.

More love, more power, more of you in my life is not a song that we can sing anymore because we have all of them in our life.

Guys, here are the three things that will enable us to walk by the Spirit.

One, it's a very elementary one, learn to walk.

And I'll explain it by the Spirit. And what does that mean?

It means learn. Is she singing or is she? Great.

At least she likes the message.

Guys, learn to walk in the arena of the Spirit's life, presence and activity.

That's the first thing we need to do. Learn to walk.

Learn to walk in the arena of the Spirit's life, presence and activity.

What do I mean by that? Here's how it works, guys.

You know, I don't know if you've seen parents who have young kids who they take out to this playground.

And the child is so connected to the parent that the child is within the line of vision,

within earshot of a whisper and within the ability to see the pleasure on the parent's face or the frown on the parent's face.

That arena is where the child operates.

The child is too young to start going off on its own.

But there is a line of vision the child stays within.

And the parent keeps the child within that line of vision.

The child is within earshot to hear a whisper, if the parent would whisper.

And the child has the ability to see the face of the parent, to see the pleasure or the frown.

That is the kind of awareness that you and I are capable of walking with the Spirit.

Where we learn to walk with the Spirit in the sense of learning to walk in the Spirit's,

in the arena of the Spirit's life, presence and activity.

It is possible to live like that.

Awareness. Walking by the Spirit requires that there be an awareness.

I see that with my niece and nephew.

If I take them out for a walk before they cross the road, there'll be this look.

They are the only people who think I'm tall.

They look up at my face to see whether it's okay to cross the road now.

And I don't have to shout.

I'll just have to say, Hannah, not now.

And she can hear me.

And if Caleb or Hannah jump across the street,

the first thing they do is look on my face to see whether there's pleasure or whether there's a frown.

Constantly aware. Childlike.

This is how walking by the Spirit starts.

It's an awareness where you're continuously in the arena of the Spirit's life, of his presence and his activity.

Just imagine the possibilities, guys.

So where do you start?

You start by first operating according to what the Spirit has already written in the Word.

And from there on, you move to experiencing him one-on-one.

Because many may say, but I don't know how to figure out the Holy Spirit.

I don't know how to walk in his awareness.

Well, then start with the Word.

The Spirit of God wrote the Word.

He's the author of the Word.

The Word is called the soul of the Spirit.

Start there. See what the Spirit of God says there.

And then begin to move into actually knowing what he wants.

Isn't that going to be marvelous?

As you lead worship, half the songs that you sing are not on the list of songs that I sent him.

But you are aware of the Spirit's activity.

You're aware of his presence and the direction he wants to go.

You're aware of his life and you go wherever he leads.

For Jesus said, the Spirit of God is like the wind.

You do not know where the wind blows from and where it blows to.

But what did the Lord say to us at the beginning of the year?

Put up your sails, Acts 29.

You're on course. Put up your sails so that you're carried to the port of my calling

when the wind blows.

This is called being aware.

To walk by the Spirit, you have to walk in awareness.

And it is not difficult.

It's child-likeness, guys.

It's what she does with her baby.

Whisper. The pleasure of the frown.

Hey guys, just so you know, if anyone needs to leave, don't wait till we finish because that might take a while.

So I just want you guys to know that if you have to leave, feel free to get up.

And all we'll say is, Raquel and Jared are leaving the building.

Yeah, yeah.

The preacher here is long-winded, so he just goes on and on.

So if you have to leave, yeah, feel free.

Jared and Raquel are leaving the building.

Let's say thanks for coming, guys.

Yeah.

I forgot to say that right at the beginning because I know you might have other plans.

See ya.

Okay.

The second thing you need to do.

So the first one is awareness.

The second thing you need to do is make sure that if you want to walk by the Spirit,

make sure that you're learning to behave in keeping with the Spirit.

You're learning to behave in keeping with the Spirit.

You're learning to behave in keeping with the Spirit.

You're learning to behave in keeping with the Spirit.

Guys, if the character of the Savior is not evident, then what is the proof of being saved?

If the character of the Savior is not evident in my life, what is the proof of being saved?

No wonder Paul's epistles keep emphasizing ethical behavior.

I mean, if you look at Paul's letters, there's such an emphasis on this is the way you should be,

this is what you should do.

There's such an emphasis on ethical behavior.

And it is expected of the people in whom God dwells.

If the character of the Savior is not evident in my life, what is the proof that I am saved?

Because if the Savior lives in my life, his character should be evident.

And if it is not evident, you should question my salvation.

Not as coming and judging me and telling me you're not saved and you're going to hell.

But salvation can be questioned then.

Show me. If Christ's sins are new, show me the fruit.

So, if you walk by the Spirit, learn to behave in keeping with the Spirit.

Be aware. And after you're aware, learn to walk in a way that shows that the Spirit of God is active in you.

It's expected of the people in whom God dwells.

Oh, by the way, guys, whenever new folks come to Acts 29, make them aware of these little things so that we don't embarrass them.

Just tell them that our services are three hours and we really enjoy it.

Put it that way and then let them leave if they have to.

Don't go and say, our services are three hours long, just so you know.

Don't do that. Things I have to teach.

It's on the CD.

No wonder Paul's epistles emphasize ethical behavior expected of the people in whom God dwells.

Thirdly, if you want to walk by the Spirit, sow.

Sow into the Spirit.

Learn to sow to the Spirit.

Learn to sow to the Spirit.

Learn to sow to the Spirit.

Sow into the seasons and the things of the Spirit.

Sow in response to the Spirit.

Sow good seed that the Spirit of God has already given into your life.

We talked about good seed.

Sow, learn to sow to the Spirit.

Learn to sow into the seasons and the things of the Spirit.

Learn to sow in response to the Spirit's command.

Learn to sow the good seed that is already within you because the Spirit of God is within you.

He already has seed within you that you can sow.

We talked about that.

Carnal seed and good seed.

And what will happen when you sow this way, you will reap Zoi life perpetually.

Breakthrough will come into your life.

Galatians 6, verse 7 talks about it.

Galatians 6:7

Verse 8.

Sow into the Spirit and you will reap perpetual Zoi life or everlasting life.

Sow into the flesh, the norms and values of the present age and you will reap corruption and decay.

Guys, this is the ABC of walking by the Spirit.

Awareness, behavior, cultivation.

Or crop or whatever you want to call it.

Cultivation.

So here's how it happens then.

Now that I have learned this, I'll spend the rest of my days this year walking in awareness.

Walking within earshot of the Spirit's whisper.

If he shouts, great, but if he whispers, I'll still hear it.

Walking in the line of sight of the Holy Spirit, aware of his activity.

And walking in the sight of his face so that I know his pleasure or his frown.

And when his frown comes on, I'll go out of my way to make sure I don't grieve him.

But I enjoy his pleasure.

This is the Spirit of my father, the Spirit of Christ.

He's God the Holy Spirit.

To walk in that kind of awareness, first through the Word and then through experiencing him.

Knowing always.

Can you imagine the rest you can enter into?

Where there is no striving, that baby does not strive.

Secondly, I understand that I can walk in the awareness of God, but that doesn't prove anything.

I have to now behave as a one who is in keeping with the Spirit.

So I begin to behave.

The food of the Spirit that is in my life, I will let it be evident.

Kindness, gentleness, liking Elmer, self-control, joy.

Man, these things are within me.

There aren't many times I don't feel joyful, but when I don't,

I love asking God to stir it up.

Not asking God to stir up.

I say, Father, I declare that I'm going to stir up the joy that is already within me.

Because the Spirit of God is an unrelenting opposition to that which is joyless and that tries to drive me down.

Therefore, knowing that the Spirit of God is an unrelenting opposition to it,

and knowing that he is more than sufficient,

I know it is possible for me to come to a place where I begin to bear that fruit.

My behavior then corresponds to the one who lives within me.

The living the life of another will result in your behavior being the behavior of another.

My God, did you hear that?

That you're going to live in a way that shows off the behavior of another in you.

Imagine if somehow a pig's heart was inserted into you and you started snorting.

You would then be living the behavior of another.

I didn't mean an actual snort, Chris.

But this is completely different.

I live by the life of another.

I just love the fact that when I behave well, what you're seeing is not some kind of refined Jacob.

What you're seeing is the behavior of another.

This is why.

I give you all the glory.

I worship you, O God.

You are worthy to be praised.

Because everything good in Jacob is the good of another.

Everything in me that is good is not because I'm anything, but because the life of another is working through me.

Every grace in my life that you partake of is not because I have anything of it.

It is the grace of another.

Every gift in my life that you benefit from is the gift of another.

This is the beauty of it, guys.

This is where we've been called to live.

In the feast of Tabernacles, a place of rest where you live,

by the life of another in a hostile world that wants you to be sustained by a different source.

And then finally, after I understand the behavior part of it, I come to sowing to the Spirit.

What a wonderful place to sow in.

When I invest anything, I'll invest it in the Spirit.

What do I mean by that?

I'll listen to the seasons of the Spirit in my life.

I'll see things of the Spirit in my life and say, I see what you're showing me, Holy Spirit, so I'm going to plunge right in.

If this is the season you're bringing me into, I'm going to pour my life into that.

Oh, is this something you're doing in Acts 29?

I'm going to have all of us pour into that because it will blossom because you're the author.

You've just broken Kronos and entered it in the fullness of time.

We'll pour ourselves into that.

Or I'll just sow good seed.

My life is full of good seed because I've got Christ living in me.

Take good seed and sow.

Sow praise, cultivate His presence.

Sow repentance, cultivate new wine.

Sow assembling with the saints, cultivate safety.

It's endless.

And then finally I'll sow in response to the Spirit.

The Spirit of God will say, go give Matt $200 and out comes $200 and I give it to Matt.

No, I'm not going to say that.

They'll actually think I gave Matt $200.

Yeah. So that's how it works.

Or if the Spirit of God says, go tell James to give Matt $200.

So practice these guys.

Practice these and you will enter into a fullness and a rest in the life of another that is going to be magical and brilliant and so much fun.

You'll lick your lips, man, every time you wake up.

It's like, what's next, Papa?

Let's talk about crucified life and end.

Crucified life in itself is such a contradiction.

Crucified and life.

But that's what we live, guys.

Because those that belong to Christ keep the old ways and norms of living in a continuous state of crucifixion.

Let me say that again.

Those of us who have Christ in our life, we keep the old ways of the flesh, the old desires and norms of the present age.

We keep it continuously crucified to the cross, nailed to the cross.

That's where it is continuously kept.

If you do that, you'll find that the Spirit of God keeps you in the state of crucifixion.

You'll find that the Spirit of God can, without interruption, start cultivating fruit in you.

Let me say that again.

Those that belong to Christ keep the old ways and the norms of living according to this present age or the norms of the flesh in a continuous state of crucifixion

so that the Spirit of God, relatively uninterrupted, can produce in me fruit.

At the end of the day, the proof of God's fullness in me is fruit.

At the end of the day, the fullness of God's life in Maurice is, Maurice show me your fruit.

That is what I will measure Maurice by.

At the end of 2011, hey, I do that with all of you.

I don't tell you, that's all.

But I look to see how far have you come in the last two years.

Have you changed?

I won't come and tell you whether you've changed or not.

But you think that's not part of my responsibility?

Of course it is.

I bet you take that, I forgot her name, Mariana, sorry, Kyla.

You take Kyla to measure her weight, see whether she's grown.

A parent is supposed to do that.

I was getting tired of saying, the baby.

So, guys, we will get this, guys.

We will be able to do this.

Where we have the norms and the ways and the desires of this present age continuously crucified on the cross

so that the Spirit of God does not have to bring us into liberty anymore

because that's taken care of.

We crucified it to the cross.

It's continuously there.

That's where we keep it.

The Spirit of God doesn't have to bring us out of bondages now.

He instead begins to cultivate fruit.

He doesn't have to keep digging the ground around the little sapling that is planted,

continuously clearing it of dry leaves, of insects, of termites, or whatever eats plants,

and keeps cleaning that up.

Don't have to do it anymore.

Instead, he starts producing fruit.

I'm thinking to myself, sometimes the Holy Spirit,

but they're saying to myself, my God, I've cleaned this up so many times.

We quit reckoning ourselves as dead.

We quit reckoning it as crucified.

So let me read the sentence one last time and then we'll move on.

Those that belong to Christ keep the old ways and norms of living in a continuous state of crucifixion.

Romans 6.6 talks about it.

Galatians 6.14 talks about it.

The scriptures are right on top of the subheading.

We keep the old ways and norms of living in a continuous state of crucifixion.

Why?

So that the Spirit, comparatively, relatively uninterrupted, can produce in me fruit.

And at the end of the day, fruit is a proof of God life.

When that happens, guys, your inward spirit man and your outward actions match up.

They harmonize. They harmonize.

We said that vain's inner man is perfectly renewed in its nature.

No, I was saying that when we begin to exhibit fruit, then the inward man matches up with our...

the outward actions we have matches up with the inward man, the outward actions of our life,

because now we are bearing fruit outwardly and it's a reflection of our inward man.

They harmonize. They harmonize.

So as we said, vain in his inner man has a perfect nature.

Vain in his inner man has the perfect knowledge of God.

Vain in his inner man has taken on the image of his father in true righteousness and holiness.

In the outward man, we know vain needs work in terms of his nature.

In the outward man, we know that vain's knowledge of God is not perfect.

And if you ask, Bernice, she'll say that he's not perfectly righteous and holy either.

But what vain is going to attempt to do is he's going to have the outward man called vain Callahan

match up with the inward man who is perfect and has taken on the image of his father.

That's the goal.

And we have presented these ways in which it is absolutely possible.

It is not a pipe dream. It is not unattainable.

It is always a little beyond my immediate reach, but then I'll always reach further.

Comments? Go ahead, Bernice. Are you going to tell us vain is holy and righteous?

She's thinking about that 41 years ago and now laughing.

Yeah. Love is blind.

There you go. She was right. We'll give you that much.

Galatians 5.25 from the message puts it this way.

Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the spirit,

let us make sure that we do not just hold on to it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts,

but work out its implications into every detail of life.

What we have just heard, do not just hold on to it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts,

but work out its implications into every detail of life.

What we have just heard, may we not hold it as an idea in our head.

Good idea. Profound revelation there.

Or as a sentiment in our heart. Hallelujah, Spirit of God.

No, but to actually work out its implications in every detail of our lives.

That's what we are called to do now. Galatians 5.25.

I love this line. I don't know who said it.

We are to be executioners, dealing cruelly with the body of sin.

Not as in this body of sin, as in the substance of sin.

We are to be executioners, dealing cruelly with the body of sin,

which caused the acting out of cruelties on Christ's body.

We are to be executioners, who deal cruelly with the body of sin.

Because it was this body of sin that caused cruelties to be inflicted on Christ's body.

Now we stand to execute it, as in crucifying it.

Guys, if you choose not to do so, and I'm almost at the end,

if you choose not to do so, we are hardening our hearts in disobedience.

See, that is the problem with these teachings, man.

Like Jesus said, if you were blind, it would be okay.

But you now see, you're not blind and you still don't see.

Now there's a problem.

So if we do not begin to move it from an idea in our head

and a sentiment in our heart into practical living,

then what will happen is we begin to harden our hearts.

In Hebrews 3.7-14, here's what it says in Hebrews 3.7-14,

that God wanted to bring a people into rest.

God wanted to bring a people into rest.

But because of their disobedience and because of the hardening of their hearts,

none of them entered into his rest.

They were delivered out of Egypt.

The presence of God was with them in the wilderness, took care of them.

But they never entered into rest.

They never got past Pentecost.

They came out of Egypt, they came out of Mount Sinai,

where the first Pentecost was celebrated, but they never came into rest.

And why didn't they come into rest?

Because they hardened their hearts in fatelessness and disobedience.

Hey, listen to this line because it really shocked me when Eddie first spoke this line to me.

When you harden your heart, you become the architect of your own future.

When you harden your heart to the voice of God, to the voice of the Spirit of God,

you become the architect of your own future.

And now if I were to go and speak this in a self-help seminar,

they would applaud because everyone wants to be the architect of their own future.

But for a child of God, being the architect of one's future is the worst thing that you can do, guys.

When you harden your heart to the voice of the Spirit and choose to cooperate with that which is already dead,

then you become the architect of your own future.

And when Eddie first said this to me, it was like a shudder, man.

My God, I don't want to be the architect of my own future.

That would be such a miserable construction.

So where is my heart hardened?

Is it in mediocrity? Is it in stubbornness? Is it in control? Is it in my past?

Is it in pornography? Is it in some other addiction?

Where is my heart hardened?

Because as my heart is hardened in that area, in certain areas of my life, I become the architect of my own future.

And what I build is shabby. What I build will crumble. What I will will be shattered.

You see how connected this is to the whole idea of entering into rest and the fullness of God.

Feel free to ask questions. I'll end with one last scripture.

Not explaining it. I'll just read it out.

Any questions before we finish?

Visual reminder to everyone around us?

Absolutely. We are visual reminders to the world that this is what an image bearer of God looks like.

In the ancient Near East, one of the things that kings used to do is they would set up images of themselves

at either the borders of the nation or in different cities.

They did this so that the people would know that they are king because their empires would be massive.

They would set up these images of themselves.

God has set up in this present age image bearers who are a visual reminder to the people today

that this is who the king of the coming age is. This is what he looks like.

The greatest tool of evangelism is the glory of God in you.

It's not tracts. It's not Billy Graham or someone like Billy Graham.

It's not some program. The greatest tool of evangelism is the glory of God in you.

Not hidden because treasures of earthen jars of clay have cracks and it will show.

So choosing to walk by the Spirit is beginning to enter into that beautiful, beautiful realm

because living the life of another, I'm excited with the possibilities.

Hey guys, you got to go home. You know what I do last night, this morning before I fall off to sleep,

before I get up off my bed, I'm lying there going through each point in my mind

because I've got to get the steps right.

Only after that I'll go and look at my notes again because I have to know it here, guys.

I must know it here. Tomorrow you can wake me up and without looking at my notes I can tell you this

because it's the last thing I want to remember when I go off to sleep.

It's the first thing I want to run over in my mind before I wake up.

Like you know that time before you actually wake up because once you have it settled here,

ABC, awareness, behavior, cultivation, debt to the world, the Spirit of God is sufficient for me.

He is an unrelenting opposition to everything that is of the flesh.

It is easy for me to overcome this, to run over this line by line, precept by precept, brick by brick.

That is how we build strongholds of truth that will never be torn down,

won't be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.

Let me read Romans 8, 12 to 15 and conclude.

So don't you see now Acts 29 from the message, Romans 8, 12 to 15.

Just listen to it from the message and you can read it from your own thing because it sounds so conversational.

Romans 8, 12 to 15. So don't you see Acts 29 that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life

one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all.

The best thing to do is to give it a decent burial and get on with your new life.

God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do guys, places to go.

This resurrection life you receive from God is not a timid, grave-tending life.

It's an adventurous, it is, it's adventurously expectant, greeting God every morning with a child like,

That is the life of the other that you've been called to live.

Secondly, I understand that I can walk in the awareness of God, but that doesn't prove anything.

I have to now behave as a one who is in keeping with the Spirit.

So I begin to behave.

The fruit of the Spirit that is in my life, I will let it be evident.

Kindness, gentleness, liking Elmer,

Humor,

Self-control,

Joy.

Man, these things are within me.

There aren't many times I don't feel joyful, but when I don't, I love asking God to stir it up,

not asking God to stir up. I say, Father, I declare that I'm going to stir up the joy that is already within me.

Because the Spirit of God is an unrelenting opposition to that which is joyless and that tries to drive me down.

Therefore, knowing that the Spirit of God is an unrelenting opposition to it, and knowing that He is more than sufficient,

I know it is possible for me to come to a place where I begin to bear that fruit.

My behavior then corresponds to the one who lives within me.

The living the life of another will result in your behavior being the behavior of another.

My God, did you hear that? That you're going to live in a way that shows off the behavior of another in you.

Imagine if somehow a pig's heart was inserted into you and you started snorting.

You would then be living the behavior of another.

I didn't mean an actual snort, Chris.

But this is completely different. I live by the life of another.

I just love the fact that when I behave well, what you're seeing is not some kind of refined Jacob.

What you're seeing is the behavior of the life, behavior of another.

This is why.

I give you all the glory. I worship you, O God. You are worthy to be praised.

Because everything good in Jacob is the good of another.

Everything in me that is good is not because I'm anything, but because the life of another is working through me.

Every grace in my life that you partake of is not because I have anything of it.

It is the grace of another.

Every gift in my life that you benefit from is the gift of another.

This is the beauty of it, guys.

This is where we've been called to live in the feast of tabernacles, a place of...

a place of rest, where you live by the life of another in a hostile world that wants you to be sustained by a different source.

And then finally, after I understand the behavior part of it, I come to sowing to the spirit.

Ah, what a wonderful place to sow in.

When I invest anything, I'll invest it in the spirit.

What do I mean by that? I'll listen to the seasons of the spirit in my life.

I'll see things of the spirit in my life and say, I see what you're showing me, Holy Spirit, so I'm going to plunge right in.

If this is the season you're bringing me into, I'm going to pour my life into that.

Oh, is this something you're doing in Acts 29?

I'm going to have all of us pour into that because it will blossom, because you're the author.

You've just broken Kronos and entered it in the fullness of time.

We'll pour ourselves into that.

Or I'll just sow good seed. My life is full of good seed because I've got Christ living in me.

Take good seed and sow.

Sow praise.

Cultivate His presence.

Sow repentance.

Cultivate new wine.

Sow assembling with the saints.

Cultivate safety.

It's endless.

And then finally I'll sow in response to the spirit.

The spirit of God will say, go give Matt $200 and out comes $200 and I give it to Matt.

No, I'm not going to say that. They'll actually think I gave Matt $200.

So that's how it works.

Or if the spirit of God says, go tell James to give Matt $200.

So practice these guys. Practice these and you will enter into a fullness and a rest in the life of another

that is going to be magical and brilliant and so much fun.

You'll lick your lips, man, every time you wake up.

It's like, what's next, Papa?

Let's talk about crucified life and end.

Crucified life in itself is such a contradiction.

Crucified in life, but that's what we live, guys, because those that belong to Christ

keep the old ways and norms of living in a continuous state of crucifixion.

Let me say that again. Those of us who have Christ in our life, we keep the old ways of the flesh,

the old desires and norms of the present age.

We keep it continuously crucified to the cross, nailed to the cross.

That's where it is continuously kept.

If you do that, you'll find that the spirit of God can, without interruption, start cultivating fruit in you.

Let me say that again.

Those that belong to Christ keep the old ways and the norms of living according to this present age

or the norms of the flesh in a continuous state of crucifixion

so that the spirit of God, relatively uninterrupted, can produce in me fruit.

At the end of the day, the proof of God's fullness in me is fruit.

At the end of the day, the fullness of God's life in Maurice is,

Maurice, show me your fruit.

That is what I will measure Maurice by.

At the end of 2011, hey, I do that with all of you. I don't tell you, that's all.

But I look to see how far have you come in the last two years.

Have you changed? I won't come and tell you whether you've changed or not,

but you think that's not part of my responsibility? Of course it is.

I bet you take that, I forgot her name, sorry, Kyla.

You take Kyla to measure her weight, see whether she's grown.

A parent is supposed to do that.

I was getting tired of saying the baby.

So, guys, we will get this, guys. We will be able to do this.

Where we have the norms and the ways and the desires of this present day,

we have to keep the spirit of God,

the spirit of God is continuously crucified on the cross,

so that the spirit of God does not have to bring us into liberty anymore,

because that's taken care of. We crucified it to the cross.

It's continuously there, that's where we keep it.

The spirit of God doesn't have to bring us out of bondages now.

He instead begins to cultivate fruit.

He doesn't have to keep digging the ground around the little sapling that is planted,

continuously clearing it of dry leaves, of insects, of termites,

instead, he starts producing fruit.

I'm thinking to myself, sometimes the Holy Spirit is saying to myself,

my God, I've cleaned this up so many times.

We quit reckoning ourselves as dead, we quit reckoning it as crucified.

So let me read the sentence one last time and then we move on.

Those that belong to Christ,

keep the old ways and norms of living in a continuous state of crucifixion.

Romans 6.6 talks about it, Galatians 6.14 talks about it.

The scriptures are right on top of the sub-edding.

We keep the old ways and norms of living in a continuous state of crucifixion.

Why? So that the spirit relatively uninterrupted

can produce in me fruit.

And at the end of the day, fruit is a proof of God life.

When that happens, guys, your inward spirit man and your outward actions match up.

They harmonize. They harmonize.

We said that vain's inner man is the fruit of God's life.

We said that vain's inner man is perfectly renewed in its nature.

No, I was saying that when we begin to exhibit fruit,

then the inward man matches up with our...

the outward actions we have matches up with the inward man,

the outward actions of our life, because now we are bearing fruit outwardly

and it's a reflection of our inward man.

They harmonize. They harmonize.

So as we said, vain in his inner man has a perfect nature.

Vain in his inner man has the perfect knowledge of God.

Vain in his inner man has taken on the image of his father in true righteousness and holiness.

In the outward man, we know vain needs work in terms of his nature.

In the outward man, we know that vain's knowledge of God is not perfect.

And if you ask, Bani Sheel said that he is not perfectly righteous and holy either.

But what vain is going to attempt to do is he's going to have the outward man called vain Kalahan

match up with the inward man who is perfect and has taken on the image of his father.

That's the goal.

And we have presented these ways in which it is absolutely possible.

It is not a pipe dream. It is not unattainable.

It is always a little beyond my immediate reach, but then I'll always reach further.

Comments?

Go ahead, Bani. Are you going to tell us vain is holy and righteous?

She's thinking about that 41 years ago and now laughing.

Love is blind.

Yeah.

There you go. She was right. We'll give you that much.

Galatians 5.25 from the message puts it this way.

Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the spirit,

let us make sure that we do not just hold on to it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts,

but work out its implications into every detail of life.

What we have just heard, may we not hold on to it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts,

but work out its implications into every detail of life.

What we have just heard, may we not hold it as an idea in our head.

Good idea. Profound revelation there.

Or as a sentiment in our heart. Hallelujah, Spirit of God.

But to actually work out its implication in every detail of our lives.

That's what we are called to do now.

Galatians 5.25. I love this line. I don't know who said it.

We are to be executioners, dealing cruelly with the body of sin.

Not as in this body of sin, as in the substance of sin.

We are to be executioners, dealing cruelly with the body of sin,

which caused the acting out of cruelties on Christ's body.

We are to be executioners, who deal cruelly with the body of sin,

because it was this body of sin that caused cruelties to be inflicted on Christ's body.

Now we stand to execute it, as in crucifying it.

Guys, if you choose not to do so, and I'm almost at the end,

if you choose not to do so, we are hardening our hearts in disobedience.

See, that is the problem with these teachings, man.

Like Jesus said, if you were blind, it would be okay.

But you now see, you're not blind and you still don't see. Now there's a problem.

So if we do not begin to move it from an idea in our head and a sentiment in our heart,

into practical living, then what will happen is we'll begin to harden our hearts.

In Hebrews 3, 7-14, here's what it says in Hebrews 3, 7-14,

that God wanted to bring a people into rest. God wanted to bring a people into rest.

But because of the disobedience and because of the hardening of their hearts,

none of them entered into his rest.

They were delivered out of Egypt, and they were delivered from Egypt.

They were delivered out of Egypt. The presence of God was with them in the wilderness, took care of them.

But they never entered into rest. They never got past Pentecost.

They came out of Egypt, they came out of Mount Sinai, where the first Pentecost was celebrated,

but they never came into rest. And why didn't they come into rest?

Because they hardened their hearts in fatelessness and disobedience.

Hey, listen to this line because it really shocked me when Eddie first spoke this line to me.

When you harden your heart, you become the architect of your own future.

When you harden your heart to the voice of God, to the voice of the Spirit of God,

you become the architect of your own future.

And now if I were to go and speak this in a self-help seminar,

they would applaud because everyone wants to be the architect of their own future.

But for a child of God, being the architect of one's future is the worst thing that you can do, guys.

When you harden your heart to the voice of the Spirit

and choose to cooperate with that which is already dead,

then you become the architect of your own future.

And when Eddie first said this to me, it was like a shudder, man.

My God, I don't want to be the architect of my own future.

That would be such a miserable construction.

So where is my heart hardened? Is it in mediocrity? Is it in stubbornness?

Is it in control? Is it in my past? Is it in pornography? Is it in some other addiction?

Where is my heart hardened?

Because as my heart is hardened in that area, in certain areas of my life, I become the architect of my own future.

And what I build is shabby. What I build will crumble. What I build will be shattered.

You see how connected this is to the whole idea of entering into rest and the fullness of God.

Feel free to ask questions. I'll end with one last scripture.

Not explaining it, I'll just read it out. Any questions before we finish?

Visual reminder to everyone around us?

Absolutely. We are visual reminders to the world that this is what an image bearer of God looks like.

In the ancient Near East, one of the things that kings used to do is they would set up images of themselves.

At either the borders of the nation or in different cities.

They did this so that the people would know that they are king because their empires would be massive.

They would set up these images of themselves.

God has set up, in this present age, image bearers who are a visual reminder to the people today.

That this is who the king of the coming age is. This is what he looks like.

And the greatest tool of evangelism is the glory of God in you.

It's not tracts. It's not Billy Graham or someone like Billy Graham.

It's not some program. The greatest tool of evangelism is the glory of God in you.

Not hidden. Because treasures of earthen jars of clay have cracks and it will show.

So choosing to walk by the Spirit is beautiful.

I'm excited with the possibilities.

Hey guys you got to go home. You know what I do last night.

This morning before I fall off to sleep. Before I go to bed, I have a little bit of a headache.

I have a headache. I have a headache. I have a headache.

I have a headache. I have a headache.

You got to go home. You know what I do last night.

This morning before I fall off to sleep. Before I get up off my bed.

I'm lying there going through each point in my mind because I've got to get the steps right.

Only after that I'll go and look at my notes again because I have to know it here guys.

I must know it here.

Tomorrow you can wake me up and without looking at my notes I can tell you this.

It's the last thing I want to remember when I go off to sleep.

It's the first thing I want to run over in my mind before I wake up.

Like you know that time before you actually wake up.

Because once you have it settled here, ABC. Awareness, Behavior, Cultivation.

Dead to the world.

The Spirit of God is sufficient for me.

He is an unrelenting opposition to everything that is of the flesh.

It is easy for me to overcome this.

To run over this.

Sworn by line, precept by precept, brick by brick.

That is how we build strongholds of truth.

That will never be torn down.

Won't be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.

Let me read Romans 8, 12 to 15 and conclude.

So don't you see now Acts 29 from the message.

Romans 8, 12 to 15.

Just listen to it from the message and you can read it from your own thing.

Because it sounds so conversational.

Romans 8, 12 to 15.

So don't you see Acts 29 that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent.

There is nothing in it for us.

Nothing at all.

The best thing to do is to give it a decent burial and get on with your new life.

God's Spirit beckons.

There are things to do guys. Places to go.

This resurrection life you receive from God is not a timid, grave-tending life.

It's an adventurous, it's adventurously expectant.

Greeting God every morning with a child like, what's next Papa?

That is the life of the other that you've been called to live.

Thank you.