The Genius of Jesus (2nd service) - Pastor Brad Neuschwander (July 26, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

want to thank you for joining us today, and we

hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

To find service times and watch messages online,

see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. Would you turn in

your Bibles, if you would, please, to John chapter

John 4 · chapter mention

4. We might get... farther than what we did first

service this morning. I had them open to John

4, and at least you're as far as we got for the

first service right there. And we did a little

bit of a review. Great. It's great to see everyone

this morning. Welcome, welcome. Hey, guys. I'm

so glad you're in the house of the Lord. I trust

that you, just in that worship time, you experienced

God's closeness and nearness. Just thank you,

Jenny, for playing. I really did feel so strongly

this morning as, was it Jenny? Oh, it wasn't

Jenny. Who was it? Jackie? Jackie. All right.

I get them all mixed up. You know, I thought

it was a great idea to name all our kids J names.

Jenny, Jackie, Jesse, and I get them all mixed

up now. So anyway, but sounded like you. I mean,

there you go. I guess that's a great compliment.

Anyways, I love you. Okay. All right. So I'm

like, why are they laughing? And then I looked

down. Oh, well, there you go. Okay. All right.

All right, here we go. We'll start again. This

morning, I did sense so strongly in the prayer

room as I gave you that word, the Lord spoke

to me of how how he is so desirous to have all

of us. Now when I say all of us, I mean to be

able to give ourselves completely to him. How

easy it is, even for me, to be distracted with

things about God and not just give him the fullness

of the attention. And I think it's a word for

all of us that as the Lord speaks these things

that are on his heart. That is the heart of God.

His love for us is to impart himself to us. I

mean, that's the goal of the New Testament, isn't

it? Not, yes, to get us saved, but way more than

get you saved, to actually have Christ be formed

in you. That's the whole point of the New Testament.

That's the whole, if we call it the whole, the

full meal deal. If you're like me and you're

looking not just to buy a la carte, right? Christianity

is not an a la carte option. And we've made it

that. We'll just take a little salvation and

that's what we'll have. No, no, no. It comes

with the full meal deal. His whole goal and purpose

in mind is to get Christ formed in you. That

Christ would be, yes, he dwells in you when you

accepted Jesus Christ through salvation, through

the faith that he gives you. But he doesn't want

you just to stay with that initial deposit. He

expects you to walk with him, to grow with him,

and in fellowship and in discipleship, he's what?

Being formed in you that he would take up more

residence. Amen? All right, got six of you that

are getting that this morning. Let's dive into

this. I think it's important that you understand

as we're, I know I'm in this series of from Passover

to Pentecost, and I want to eventually get us

into the book of Acts, but I feel compelled to

lay for us a foundation so that you and I both

understand how important it was that God revealed

the necessity of the Holy Spirit all the way

through the scriptures as part of our partnership.

It was his goal. And as believers, if we can

have an understanding of the building blocks

of our faith, to see that there is to be a progression

in our discipleship and partnership in extending

his kingdom. I hope that you understand as I'm

preaching and delivering the word this morning,

I do feel it's part of my mandate to try to remove

the staves or the stopping places where we have

put in our heart stopping places to say, Lord,

that's enough. I don't want this that is revealed

in your word. I'm fine with where I'm at. It's

time to move that stave. It's time to remove

that section. And it's to actually become what

God intended us to be. Now, Jesus is the only

one that can lead us into this, right? He's the

one that fills the gap. He's the one that bridges

where our relationship was with the father that

was broken. Jesus is that gap that does that.

He's the one that pulls both the Old and the

New Testament together in him. And before we

dive into the fullness of why God would want

the disciples and our understanding of Pentecost

and why it's so important, before we dive into

the fullness of that and look at the book of

Acts, and specifically Acts chapter 2, when that

Acts 2 · chapter mention

day of Pentecost fully arrived, we need to see

that our biblical framework must include load

-bearing blocks about the Holy Spirit and understand

it's the Father's heart to give us the Holy Spirit

so that we can partner with the will, the purpose,

and the heart of God. If there's anything of

why we've received the Holy Spirit, it's to receive

partnership for fellowship. and extending his

kingdom and his will. Okay? So as we continue

to go through the scriptures, we should see both

the strategic and the incredible connections

that Jesus Christ released to his disciples about

receiving the heart of the Father and the partnership

with God's will, his plan, his purpose, and how

the Holy Spirit is... At the center of every

one of these things. The Holy Spirit is at the

center of releasing God's will. Releasing God's

plan. Releasing and furthering God's purpose.

And releasing the extending of God's kingdom.

It is the Holy Spirit. That Jesus spends most

all of his ministry. Focusing on the evidence

of the partnership. of connecting God's will

with the Holy Spirit. If you think about it,

notice that Jesus said, if you don't believe

me, believe. Remember when he said this? If you

don't believe the words I've given to you, which

the words that I give you are not mine, they

come from the Father, at least believe the works

that are done in his name. Now, can you connect

that a bit? He's saying the works that are done

are done by who? The Holy Spirit that's connected

to the will, to the purpose, and the extended

of the kingdom of God. Jesus again bringing everything.

Notice he didn't say, yes, he talked about himself.

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man

comes to the Father but by me. the Lord's ministry

was more about introducing the Holy Spirit. Yes,

he revealed himself for his purpose and what

he was called to do and who he was, but the majority

of the gospels focuses on the ministry of the

Holy Spirit as he's operating in Jesus' life

and what he would do in the lives of those who

would now confess him, yield to him, and become

disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the

key. And that's the genius of Jesus. He's the

master teacher, isn't he? I mean, he's the one.

I mean, I like to put it this way. Jesus, you

may think you have a little lunch, but Jesus

can take your little lunch and feed thousands.

Now, I would like this to actually work at Subway

for me, especially at Jimmy John's. That is even

a better sandwich. You know, I just buy the small

minimum six inch sub and all of a sudden the

power of the Holy Ghost would multiply it and

I could eat for weeks. Hallelujah. That would

be, that would be wonderful. But that is the

nature. If they, well, I'm using a kind of a

silly illustration to say the nature is Jesus

knows how to take something small. and know how

to expand it in discipleship and extend his presence,

his nature, and his truth inside of you. He takes

the deposit that he puts inside of you. It was

never meant to stay just a little six -inch sub

in Jesus. You were never meant just to stay in

the original deposit of your salvation. God is

always about multiplying that little lunch. About

multiplying the loaves and fishes. Why? Even

the leftovers of the revelation as you walk with

him is meant to carry with you that you still

get more of that supernatural residue even as

you walk further with him. That's the whole point

of Christ being in you and walking with you and

talking with you and fellowship because God multiplies

his heavenly presence. In you. And there should

be something in us that says, I want that. I

want that. I kind of, I'm going to stay with

my sub analogy here. The reality is Jenny and

I can go into the same sub shop. We can go into

Jimmy John's and I want a large sandwich. And

I'll look at the special and I'll find the special

and I'll say, you know, this sandwich for this

amount. And she goes, I just don't want that

much and so I'll just take this. But it costs

the same amount. Get the full sandwich. And that's

what I feel like my job is in the pulpit this

morning is saying, quit settling for half a sub.

Get the full sandwich. My goodness. How many

are hungry for Jimmy John's right now? Anyway,

all right. Lord. All right. Now, let's talk a

little bit. Come on. If you pray harder, just

pull it out of me. Here it goes. All right. We

need to understand something. As we looked at

last week, and I just remind ourselves, before

Jesus, as he's starting the ministry and the

disciples are watching Jesus move in his relationship

with the Father, this This was so important because

Jesus had to remove in the disciples' mindsets

from two streams. There were two streams that

were really affecting the disciples. And in Matthew

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6, Jesus... describes two of these streams.

Before he ever teaches them what he's going to

teach them about prayer, and I believe it's not

so much about prayer as it was the understanding

of how to approach the Father, which is a form

of prayer, but sometimes we make it more formal

than what I think Jesus was trying to do. So

he's taking the disciples, and in Matthew chapter

Matthew 6:5–13

6, verses 5 through 13, the very first thing

he does is he tells them two things not to do.

How many were raised in a home that the first

thing your parents told you before they told

you what to do is they told you what not to do?

Okay, you're in good company because that's what

Jesus is doing right here. They ask us, teach

us how to pray, and Jesus says, here's two things

you don't do. He says it this way, when you pray,

do not be like the hypocrites. So the first thing

that Jesus has to remove from the disciples is

he has to remove from them the filters in their

mind that religion and their upbringing actually

placed inside of them. There were staves, if

you will, that I talked about earlier that actually

began to shape them. Why? They saw And lived

in a culture that knew God. Was to love God.

Was about God. Did everything they did even for

God. In fact, God wrote about some of their attitudes

even in Isaiah. Is this the fast I call? Is this

the fast that I want? Is this the offerings that

I want? I'll tell you what I want. I want your

heart to be about. Because you can actually become

a hypocrite in the midst of doing everything

you think you're doing for God. And the first

thing he had to do to reset the stage in the

disciples' mind is he taught them how to pray

because they saw something different. He had

to remove the hypocrisy. He had to remind them

that there's no place when you're coming to the

Father for believing something and living contrary.

Ooh, sharabah. That'll preach. See, in Jesus'

heart, in approaching the Father, because the

Father sees everything, knows everything, there's

no thing hiding from him. He doesn't play the

religious game. Therefore, the first thing they

have to understand is that the Father sees all,

and the Father wants what? He wants the truth

of what is believed. To what is actually lived.

Don't divide your heart. Thinking that you're

pleasing God. When your heart is far from it.

I mean I could give you prophecy after prophecy.

That's in the scripture. Jesus quoted the famous

one out of Isaiah 6. Starting in verse 9. This

people worships me with their lips. But their

heart is far from me. What was he trying to do?

He was trying to remove. The hypocritical. of

being involved in something of God, for God,

with God, while being divided in their heart,

their thinking and their emotions and their will.

God sees it all, bring it to him. And then the

next thing he does is he moves on in a few more

verses and he says, and do not be like the heathen.

Now we would think, okay, first of all, that's

kind of a little bit harsh when he says, don't

be like the heathen. So he says, don't be like

the hypocrites when you pray and don't be like

the heathen. Why would he say, don't be like

the heathen? The heathen kind of sounds kind

of derogatory, but bottom line, it was a term

that they would use for what? Being ignorant

about God. To say that they were heathen means

they didn't understand his nature. They didn't

understand God's character. They didn't understand

who Yahweh was or Jehovah was. They were completely

in the dark without understanding. Their minds,

are you ready for this? Their minds had been,

come on Solomon, I'm looking at you. Their minds

had been shaped by culture and idolatry of how

in their own system they were able to connect

with their God. So two things that they had to

do. They had to remove the hypocrisy and then

they had to remove any type of stimulus or input

that came from any form of idolatry or culture

of the world of thinking how, quote, God would

answer them or respond to them. Folks, you understand

that that is the very same thing that has to

be removed from our lives as well. Because in

order for us to embrace who God says he really

is and who Jesus is trying to portray the father

as, you have to remove the hypocritical religious

tradition. As long as I do this, I'm good. No,

no, no, no, no. And I have to remove the influence

of where culture says, well, if I just do this,

and if I just do this, and this is how God will

hear me. And Jesus defines it over there. They

think that by their many words and repetition,

they'll be heard. That's what all the other nations

who worshiped other gods actually modeled. And

it's easy sometimes for that current to get mingled

into the stream. Because if we're not actually

understanding of who our father is, we'll pick

up other things that will try to define God for

us. Religion will try to find him or idolatry

will try to define him. Once Jesus told them

the do nots, then he could move them into, and

this is important where we're going this morning

because we are going somewhere. It might be slow.

But we are going there in Jesus' name. He said,

then you can pray in this manner. Our Father

in heaven, hallowed be your name. This is one

of the very first times that we begin to really

deal with as the disciples encounter that Jesus

is now passing. His intimate relationship that

they saw with him and the father, now he's giving

them permission to engage God who is holy, who

is pure, who is true into a father relationship.

You see, you have to remember, and we'll go back

to this, ever since the fall of mankind in the

garden, And Adam and Eve were ushered out of

the garden and there was a cherub put in the

way with the flaming stored. Sin separated us

from God. It didn't change God, but it changed

us. And it changed how the Lord had to deal with

us. And so from that point on, all the way up

to Jesus' time, what had been reinforced? Distance,

distance, distance, distance. Even though God

had been saying through his prophets, even though

God came and visited Abraham in covenant making

and visited him. in person where Abraham saw

the angel of the Lord and walked with him and

interceded over Sodom and Gomorrah, even though

Moses went up on the mountain and ate and drank,

70 elders ate and drank in the presence of the

Lord, even though Moses stayed up on the mountain

40 days and 40 nights twice, even though you

begin to see this, what got emphasized mostly

to the people, the takeaway, distance, distance,

distance. And what was Jesus' primary purpose?

Yes, of course it was to be that pure and holy

sacrifice as the Lamb of God, the God -man, if

we would say it, the Son of Man and the Son of

God, as Jesus referred to himself in the various

gospels. The Son of Man, the Son of God, what

did he do? He came to take away the sin of the

world. He became the sacrifice for humanity's...

blunder and he and he bridged the gap now through

the cross and the resurrection of Christ who

bridged now the gap and became if you will the

mediator which he is of the new covenant through

faith now Jesus because of that now has the right

given the right by the father to do what to bring

Back his people into what? A personal, fatherly,

and son and daughter relationship. That's the

whole point. It wasn't just satisfying the requirement

of the law. Yes. Yes. And the other. See, where

most of us have lived, many of us, Is that we've

just got our salvation. And that's what we've

kept around. We have not understood. That that

was never the purpose. In the garden. The garden

wasn't salvation. The garden was what? Relationship.

The garden. If I could say it this way please.

Was partnership. In fact. The walking and the

talking with the Lord in the garden was the very

means of which now, Duane, Lon, I'll just use

you. You sit here on the end. There's a couple

here. The whole means of fellowship in the garden

was to do what? Are you ready? It meant to extend

the garden to a larger expression of the garden.

You go back and read the original commission.

Before sin ever entered in, it was not an issue

of trying to get clean or trying to present myself

and feel right. No, they were completely clothed.

Most commentator scholars believe they were clothed

in light. They didn't have, even though they

were made, they had the propensity to be fallen.

They were not fallen. They were clothed in light.

And that fellowship meant what? They obeyed God

and enjoyed his company. enjoyed theirs and the

whole point was the fellowship every day they

had an expectation that God would visit them

now please just get the framework here the original

design of mankind of us being created in his

image was visitation how far have we actually

allowed The influence of Christianity that's

not based on original purpose to shape us into

something different. I know that was a big yee.

But let's just try to ease into it. Original

purpose and design was what? To love God. And

to be in his presence. And to be joy to him.

To walk with him. To talk with him. Come on.

To have fellowship with him. And what to receive

his will. So that we could partner with him.

In what he wanted. In what where he placed us.

And what he created. And so much so that he allowed

Adam and Eve to not only name the creation, but

then what the original charge was to extend the

garden of what we have here in the boundaries

of the garden and extend it to a place that had

not yet been his kingdom extended to it. Even

though he's over all things and in charge of

all things, apparently there was a boundary between

the garden And the rest of the place that wasn't

like the garden. So the charge was what? Take

what I have given you here. In my name. In my

presence. In my power. In my fellowship. In my

love. And now take this and extend it. It wasn't

just about. God just wasn't wanting to. You know

what? I think I want to farm some more acres.

God was not thinking that. Well I just want a

few more almond trees. A few more hazelnuts.

A few more oranges. I'm into big. acreage that

wasn't what God was thinking he was saying what

I want a garden experience and the garden experience

extending has a connection with how much you

know me let me say that again the garden growing

comes down to original design of knowing God

and partnering now in his will, in his way, and

his truth. That's what was to extend the garden.

The plants to till, to tend, to keep was still

under the guise of what? Fellowship. Are you

there? Many times we miss that. We automatically

Because it's easy for us, we automatically translate

tilling, tending, and doing that to work. Work

was not defined work until sin came. Prior to

that, it was what? Partnership. Are you there?

Get the definition of work until what? Sin came.

By the sweat of your brow, Will, you will till

the ground and eat of it and weeds will be your

portion all your life. That's because of sin.

Prior to that, it was not named work. It was

named what? Will of God partnership. Will of

God fellowship. Will of God communion. presence

and you being in it and it was what together

that is incredible so God Jesus has to do what

he has to start pulling the staves of things

that we've maligned and misdefined and in the

disciples he had to pull out the hypocrisy and

he had to pull out the ignorance of idolatry

of how other nations, other cultures chose to

worship their God, that there was any bleed over,

it had to be eradicated so that they could come

purely to the one that he set in the stage going,

when you pray, pray this, our father. He sets

the stage right from the beginning to say he

wants fellowship and relationship as an Abba,

as a dad. Not as a harsh dad or somehow a broken

dad, but as a dad whose nature it is in wholeness

and in goodness to do what? To extend inheritance

and all that he has to the fruit of his loins,

so to speak. That's the nature of what a dad

is. without getting gross or trying to paint

too many pictures, the nature of a father is

what? A giver. The nature of a mother is what?

A receiver and a nurturer. By nature, just in

your sexuality, men are givers of seed. Women

are receivers of seed. Right? We're doing okay.

You haven't bought the woke agenda yet. There's

only two sexes, right? Okay. Okay. Okay. Come

on. There's no shim. By nature, the Father is

a giver. And when you remove sin, every father

is to be a giver of what? Life. That's why Jesus

has to introduce the disciples. yes, they had

the platform that he's holy, he's righteous,

he's true, he's good, he's to be revered, he's

to be worshiped. All of that was important because

all of that is true of God's nature. But because

of sin, and God was getting ready to reveal that

he was bringing... payment for that breach. Once

Jesus came, Jesus's focus was, yes, I've come

to finish the work and the will of the father

to bring the breach, to close the breach. According

to Isaiah, I found no one who would stand in

the gap. So my own arm stood in the breach. Jesus

was the fulfillment of that prophecy. And in

addition to being the breach filler or the gap

filler between God and man. He was also the one

who would point to how to have relationship with

the Father and how to partner with the Holy Spirit

who would be the Spirit of the Father and the

Son on the earth. That's why Jesus introduced

them to the Father's nature and character. And

his very first example of this, and you can see

it in the Lord's prayer here. The very first

example is our father in heaven. He goes back

to hallowed be your name, your kingdom come,

your will be done as in heaven. So he established

the father. He establishes that it's all about

the will of the father, the purpose of the father

for God's glory, all encompassing. And then he

moves to what? The first thing. give us this

day our daily bread. The very first thing he

does after describing the father is to remind

the disciples that God by his nature, when you

remind yourself who he is, he doesn't remind

them of God's holiness. He starts that with his

name being holy. So he does. He says, hallowed

be your name. Our father in heaven, hallowed

be your name. You see, in the old covenant, it

was reversed. It was hallowed be your name. And

we'll talk about God. It never got to father.

Righteousness, holiness, and don't approach me

because of sin. Jesus sets the mark straight.

Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Meaning he. He already in prayer begins to change

the framework of saying, now you've got to pray

differently. That's why he said, don't pray like

the heathen do. Why? Because they can't get close

to the fellowship of a living Holy Father. And

don't pray like the hypocrite that has just a

standard form of tradition and religion and knows

all the things about God without being able to

approach God and the heart being totally pure.

Once you remove both of those, you can now come

to our Father. Hallowed be your name. And then

you begin to understand that everything I do

and everything he does is about his will. It's

about honoring him, your kingdom. It's your kingdom.

You're the king that sits on the throne. Your

will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now,

meaning what? You must bring heaven's perspective

down. That's what Jesus was doing in the Lord's

prayer. He was reframing them and bringing heaven's

perspective to them. Moses went up to get the

law. Jesus came down to give the father's perspective

to mankind. Are you there? He went up to get

the law. When the children of Israel said, no,

Moses, you go for us. Jesus said, now I'm the

answer. To why the nations and why the nation

couldn't fulfill everything in the law. God had

to send me. I came down. So that you could understand

who he is. And Jesus. Then starts with give us

this day our daily bread. You see for some of

us in this room. We don't know if we want what

the Holy Spirit has totally. Which is such a

tragic. to me. It's a travesty and tragedy at

the same time. Because you can be saved and miss

out on the fullness of your discipleship journey

with Jesus. The whole point here is give us this

day our daily bread. Do you understand why that's

so important? Because daily bread means what?

Not does it just mean provision that we've boiled

it down to. No, it actually means understanding,

illumination, revelation, and fellowship with

God. You see, this is where we've missed the

mark. We've taken give us this day our daily

bread only to mean provision. God, give us the

money we need. Yes, that is a small part of it.

But the bigger part of it is give us the revelation

of your word and of your presence and of your

fellowship. Why? Because that prayer was taking

us back to the garden. Give us this day our daily

bread. Meaning what? Give us the provision of

fellowship and communion that we had with you

before we made such a foolish mistake and yielded

our authority and that place that we once had.

You see, even in the old covenant law, Kyle,

in the old covenant, they changed bread every

seven days. Some of us don't even believe in

getting fresh. We haven't had fresh bread in

years. Why? Because we've camped just around

our salvation and we haven't wanted to grow in

discipleship and partnership. And even in the

old covenant, you've got to change your bread

once a week. But he moves from the changing of

the bread once a week to actually encouraging

you. It's now not just once a week as a religious

tradition. I'm moving you from Old Testament

revelation into New Testament reality. I don't

come to visit you on Sabbath only. I come to

live with you every day. And I come to give you

bread of revelation of my presence, my love,

my power, my purpose every day in your heart.

That's discipleship. And that's expanding the

kingdom of God. Man, I could preach myself happy

this morning. I could probably do a few of those

up downs. Hallelujah. Are you hearing what the

Holy Spirit is saying this morning? He had to

get out of the... hypocritical mindset of religion

and tradition and the no's that I just want to

be safe. And they had to get out of the idolatrous

perspective of culture of how to approach and

do and live in other ways and get back to a place

of getting the heart of what was written in the

old and see it from the basis of he's a father

that's now called us to have fellowship again.

Not through just one tribe of the 12. Levi and

everybody else just does their thing. No, Levi

now was a picture of what all of God's people

would do in grace through Jesus. And so he taught

the disciples, the father's a giver. Give us

this day our daily bread. Notice the next thing.

And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

Do you notice the partnership there? Notice you

can forgive debt and not love. Jesus is actually

focusing on love. Why? In order to forgive other

people, to be free of the debt that you have

with the Lord, you actually genuinely have to

love. You see, as a business owner, you can write

off loss. And I'm not gonna ask you who's just

written off people in their lives. You can write

off people. That doesn't mean that you actually

operated in the truth of forgiving and releasing.

God doesn't just come as the debt forgiver. He

comes as the lover of your soul that forgives.

And there's a big deal because that's the nature

of a giving father. He gives love to forgive

debt and trespass. Every area of the Lord's prayer,

the Lord was redefining the disciples' relationship

of how to engage a father. You see, because a

father is a giver. The Father is a supplier.

The Father is a protector. The Father is a leader.

The Father is a forgiver and a deliverer. And

can you see right in the midst of this, these

categories of prayer explaining to the disciples

as they were watching Jesus interact with God

the Father, they saw it both naturally and spiritually.

There was no hypocrisy in Jesus. There was no

form of idolatry or ignorance. He was in full

knowledge and understanding, completely engaging

with a relationship that he saw was life -giving,

not punitive. And right in the midst of it, as

they're watching Jesus, so much so that their

hearts burn, Lord, teach us to pray. We've not

experienced it anywhere else. Right in the midst

of it, they would experience now what would be

Kingdom commissioning and kingdom partnership

in which Jesus was actively walking in the Father's

will, the Father's way, and the Father's word.

And that's what he was trying to convey to us.

He didn't stop there. You see, this is where

we miss it. Because our Heavenly Father is a

giver of gifts. That's his nature. Fact is, every

good gift, all that we have as good comes from

the Father. That's why James can say this in

James 1, 17. It says, every good and perfect

gift is from where? Above. Now, where does it

stay above? No. Look at this. Every good gift

and perfect gift is from above coming down. from

the father of lights in whom there's no shadow

or variation of change. So we have to establish

right from the beginning, knowing the scripture

that God, there's another verse that says, I

am the Lord, I change us not. Says there's no

shadow or variation of change with God. Meaning

what? He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

We've just now looked at three verses that establish

as witnesses that God does not change. Yet in

our theology, we've tried to change him. You

say, what do you mean? See, in Genesis 1, Verses

Genesis 1:26

26 and 27, he said, let us make man in our image,

talking Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and after our

likeness. So God created man in his own image.

In the image of God, he created them male and

female. So I need to ask you a question. When

sin happened after a time in the garden, we don't

know how long that was, but when sin happened

in the garden, Did God change? Answer it honestly.

Did God change? No, he didn't. So why did we

stop seeing him as a father? See, whether you

realize it or not, we've allowed cultural streams

of teaching To try to keep us from embracing

the fact that he always has been and always will

be at the nature a life -giving father. And we've

allowed substitutes to try to convince us that

we should fear. Sometimes it's on the basis of

our experience with our earthly fathers. Sometimes

it's on the basis of our experience with earthly

authorities. But the bottom line is, whatever

it's tried to come in, it has tried to alter

our perspective of the father. Therefore, we

would have the defense mechanism of saying to

God and his good and pure gifts that only come

from himself. To say to him, no, I don't want

you. Isn't that what, come on now, stay with

me. Isn't that exactly what it is? That somewhere,

some form of teaching, some form of understanding,

some form of experience, some form of thing.

If I had a dollar for every person that told

me that they didn't believe in the fullness of

the Holy Spirit or the gifts of the Holy Spirit

because of some bad experience or somebody else's

bad experience, you know how many pastors I've

talked to, over the years have based their doctrinal

perspective on somebody else's bad experience.

And what does that do? It puts a stave into the

church that says God can be trusted in everything

else except this. That the Holy Spirit is weird.

That the Holy Spirit is For some and not for

others. That the Holy Spirit in that dimension

now doesn't need to happen because now we have

the whole Bible and now he doesn't operate in

these things anymore. What happens? Somebody

puts stave after stave after stave. And now you

honestly don't believe that the Father's gifts

that are pure, light, and full of truth actually

are for you. And you actually make a doctrinal

statement, and many do, that God changed. God

has never changed. In fact, he's been trying

to get us in New Testament understanding to embrace

what he started in the garden all the way back.

For the whole point of the garden was to expand

what would be a representation of him living

in us. You're the garden. You're the garden.

You're the building. You're the temple. The whole

point of the Old Testament was to take external

things, the vineyards, The fields, the physical

temple always had representation of a type and

shadow that pointed to a greater reality. So

that when we get to 1 Corinthians 3, verse 9,

1 Corinthians 3:9

it says, but you are God's field. You are God's

building. Meaning what? Christ's whole point,

Chris. Every time I say somebody's name, all

of a sudden their eyes twitch a little bit. It's

like, oh, all right. The whole point is Christ

in you. What did Paul say? Christ in me, the

hope of glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory.

The whole point is that Christ would be what?

Formed in you. Not just in the deposit of salvation

alone, but that what? That God would now take

that. if I could just say, take that dough and

begin to knead it and grow it and build it and

strengthen it and cause more of your life to

be yielded to Christ. The whole point is God

wants to what? Expand in you. I understand that

there's multiple processes to it. It's not just

a... He's doing it. It's by grace that you partner

with grace. And it's his sovereignty. In addition,

he gives you the faith to believe it. He says,

now put off the old man. Means there's some choice

of your will to put off your old nature. You

can't completely put it off unless he helps you

put it off. Right? But then he says, and put

on the new man. Meaning what? I have to what?

Have his help in putting on the new man, but

I have to engage my will. The whole point is

partnership. The whole point of the New Testament

is actually living in fellowship with God and

allowing Christ to fill me and to expand me that

more of Christ I might, the old nature dies so

that the new man lives in a greater, fuller,

and I grow up into maturity. The goal is that

Jesus would actually fill this five foot seven

and three quarter person. And it's shrinking.

I used to be five eight. But over time and gravity,

come on. The whole point is that Christ spiritually

would fill me and I would die to the old nature.

That is not of his nature and of his will and

his purpose. Why? That means he wants to expand

me. That means he took the deposit of the Holy

Spirit, the what? The seal and the guarantee

of my salvation. He didn't just want it to stay

in the ground. He wants it, what? To be invested.

He didn't just bury salvation inside of me to

have me have my name only in the Lamb's book

of life. That's part of it. The other side of

it is that the talents, the graces and the giftings

would now be worked for what? Kingdom partnership.

And what's the goal of kingdom partnership? Fellowship.

Communion. Presence. Intimacy. The joy of relationship,

of peace and security. The very thing that they

had in the garden is what he's looking to establish

in us. That's what he's after. Why would we ever?

Want to say no to a gift that is holy and pure

and true and has no shadow of variation or change

but is only an expression of God himself. Why

would we ever say no to it? It's because somewhere

tradition or experience or faulty culture or

ignorance of things got in and blocked. And God

wants to kick those walls out in Jesus' name

and begin to expand and give you the gifts of

himself. If it is the Holy Spirit, it is God

himself. God doesn't give bad gifts. God doesn't

do weird. Nick, you and I can do weird on our

own. But God doesn't do weird. God is perfect.

He's holy. He's true. He's life -giving. He gives

that which is of himself and of his nature. Can

I pray with you? Father, in Jesus' name, Lord,

we thank you this morning that you're here in

this room. You are the gift giver. You are holy

and true. And Lord, this morning, even as we

look at the scriptures, Lord, we got to the same

place that first service did. We still want to

look at John 4, so help me get there next week.

But God, build in us a platform to see what you're

wanting to do. That Christ would be formed in

us. Christ would be matured in us. Christ would

grow in us. Not that Christ needs anything. The

Holy Spirit is fully formed. We, the God part

of us, would yield to us being made in your image.

Expand the garden of your presence. Expand the

fruit. of the spirit in our lives, the trees,

the plantings, the extending of your presence

of fellowship and communion. Lord, that we would

be people who are life givers. Teach us to love

you, Lord. Help us in spirit and in truth. I

ask, Lord, that you would release this over our

hearts in this congregation. that we would be

a people hungry, hungry for you, hungry for more

of you. Give us our daily bread. In Jesus' name,

amen. Thank you for taking the time to listen

to this week's message. We are so grateful for

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