The Genius of Jesus (2nd service) - Pastor Brad Neuschwander (July 12, 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. You know, first service,

I didn't get to any of my notes, so we kind of

just... just kind of felt led of the Holy Spirit.

And we're talking about a series. We're teaching

a series, kind of we've jumped in. It's called

Jesus and the Journey to Pentecost. Jesus and

the Journey to Pentecost. Now, I need you to

understand the key. phrase of that is the journey.

And for me, I walk slow, so I'm not saying that

you think slow, but I'm kind of preaching this.

I kind of felt like the Lord spoke to me that

the summer is going to be, what he's asking me

to teach on is the fundamental process of getting

the church to move forward. from the very things

that God established in the Old Testament and

embracing how Jesus led the church and led the

building of his church into the understanding

of now what we would represent the Pentecost

celebration and moving forward. And if you've

been with us here for any amount of time in the

last few weeks or the last five, six weeks, you've

heard me from our communion messages all the

way through kind of... diving deep and illustrating

the point that God does what God can only do

for us, but that he's very specific about he

does things that only God can do, but then he

invites us to do the things to partner with him

so that we do it together. And that's a key.

And we started that understanding where we would

see it in Passover. Passover became that place

that represents the cross, that represents our

communion table. It's what? Blood on the doorpost

of our heart, the lamb slain, the provided sacrifice

that only God could do. And then what? The unleavened

bread portion is what? Clean out your house of

all the leaven. That is the partnership he established

right from the beginning that we're to operate

in that same understanding. That God expects

his people to participate in knowing him. It's

not just about only the salvific. Your name written

in the book of life. That is huge and that is

important. And Jesus is the door to salvation.

But he's also the door to fellowship. You can

say amen on that. It's okay. I didn't think we

were a Baptist congregation. You alright this

morning? Come on now. Listen, I was raised Mennonite

where nobody talked back. I'm telling you right

now, this is not a Mennonite congregation, okay?

Because you can actually say amen, hallelujah,

praise the Lord. I saw no one ever lift their

hands except when they were in a church business

meeting. And I'm telling you right now, this

is not a business meeting. This is about honoring

Jesus, amen? All right, there you go. You're

getting it a little bit. What we want to look

at here is as Jesus is, the genius of Jesus is

this. Not only is he the, he's the son of God.

Obviously he's the living word of God. He's the

God man. But the genius is he was able as master

teacher and preacher to bring some of the most

simple illustrations and take simple natural

things and bring us into spiritual understanding.

And Jesus is revealing the Father's heart to

give us an understanding of a new framework in

the things that he's trying to reveal. Now here's

the first thing. In order to grow in a new grid

and perspective of processing and motivation

from the heart of the Father and his love flowing

from within us, we have to actually be willing

to take a look at some things that's actually

in us. What do I mean by that? If I want to get

the heart of the Father inside of me, then I

have to actually say what part of my life and

my heart is not consistent with the Father's

life and heart. It means I have to be open to

the inspection of not just the light of Christ,

but the light of Christ shining in me to see

where are areas that I have walled off and like

to be me rather than open to change. Have you

noticed that there's some people that just love

change. Now, you know, my wife is one of them

that if I would have just said, Do whatever you

want with the house. I don't care if I was just

one of those husbands. I'm not saying that you're

that way. But if I was one of those husbands

that didn't even care, I would be stubbing my

toe constantly because she would rearrange the

furniture. I like to know and have paths clear.

That means I cannot turn on the lights. Why?

Because saving money. And walking in the dark

is more important than rearranged furniture.

So I like familiar things. And so there's part

of me that says, Jenny, just leave the couches

where they are. Just leave the coffee table.

And so I'm kind of a creature of habit. I don't

like change. She likes change. That's why opposites

attract. I'm like, it was good. It worked. It

works now. It'll work forever. But that doesn't

work in our heart. You might like that in your

natural world. But in your spiritual world, it

should never be that way. Meaning that once you

invite the Holy Spirit in, I've got news for

you. He's like my wife. Meaning what? He is constantly

at change. He's constantly moving things, stirring

things, revealing things. for the point of what?

Getting me to give more ground to him. Can I

get an amen? He loves the fact that I've yielded

myself, but he took me up on that promise a long

time ago. He's taking you up on that promise

a long time ago. When you say yes to the Lord,

you're saying to Jesus, come in and rearrange

things and make my home your home. Mi casa, you

casa, change the couch. Move the table. Move

the furniture. Why? I'm going to bring my presence

and I'm going to reveal to you where your heart

is not in alignment with mine. And my job is

what? My job is to change them. See, I could

quote the scripture. What does he say? I, the

Lord, changeth not. You're not the Lord. You

don't get to say that. Right? So that's usually

the first lesson in following the Spirit of God

is that we have to take that honestly. You are

not God. Thou must change us often. In essence,

if the Lord changes not, then he does what? He

expects us to change. And that's the genius of

Jesus. It's the genius of God hiding things.

in the Old Testament to show us that he is all

along wanting a people that would honor him for

who he is, but then in the midst of honoring

him for who he is, not just sit back and have

a distant relationship, but in honoring who he

is, come close and move into partnership. That's

the whole point of what God wanted to reveal

in the Old Testament. And as we get into the

New Testament, it is a big deal because your

New Testament understanding is a better covenant.

In fact, it's the whole book of Hebrews. If you

could just take one phrase and describe the whole

book of Hebrews from Hebrews 1 all the way through,

you would see The theme would be, it's a better

covenant. In fact, it's right in the middle of

Hebrews that says, listen, if you were to pay

attention to the covenant, the old covenant in

which angels were mediators of the covenant,

how much more should you now pay attention to

the new covenant that is now confirmed and ratified

by the blood of Jesus Christ and by the giving

of the Holy Spirit? Which means what? You're

supposed to be in and living in a better covenant,

which means what? If it's better, it means there's

more participation. Right? The whole goal of

moving you out of the old into the new was what?

No longer is there a separation and middlemen

in between you and worshiping God. Now that middleman

is cut out and God wants you to be the one that

comes in and officiates with him. Well, that's

a big deal. It's a big deal because if we understand

what the Lord is wanting from us, we're going

to have to begin to eliminate things that have

kept us in an Old Testament mindset. You might

say for those, especially here in second service,

where I realize we have both seasoned folks that

are in the Lord and fairly new folks that are

in Christ. What do I mean by an Old Testament

mindset? Well, an Old Testament mindset is this.

It's not that we shouldn't know what's in the

Old Testament. Of course, I believe that we should

know everything that's in the scripture. And

that's the joy of the journey of getting to know

the whole Bible and the God who wrote the whole

Bible. We don't just have a New Testament now.

We have a whole Bible. But the Old Testament

becomes the blueprint for which the New Testament

becomes the building of which we are. And so

as we go back into the blueprint, we gotta be

careful that we don't just stay in blueprints

only. That we actually have to shift and move

from blueprint to actually building. And building

means what? Has anybody ever, have you built

anything where you had to borrow money to build

it? Anybody ever done that? From houses to land

or anything? What happens when you do that? When

you sign on the line, Chris, this is what happened

for me. Jenny and I, over the years, we had bought

and sold multiple places, but when we decided

to build our home where we were believing God,

planted us and set us. When I signed that paperwork

on a construction loan, when the house wasn't

done, because we had sold everything we had,

we had invested in the land and we'd started

the building process, but then we needed to go

get a building loan to finish the rest of it.

When I signed that building loan document, it

wasn't something that I had now of a resource

that I could give. I now had no more resource

to give. You're in that, and the reason I'm giving

this analogy is because it fits. When you get

into the place where you have to actually begin

to pull on something that you don't have and

now build with what you don't have in your resources

and build, with borrowed finances, all of a sudden,

every area of weakness, every area of fear, every

area of timeline, you realize you better get

this done and you've never been that way before.

That doesn't stop you from building. Fact is,

it's supposed to actually put a little fire under

you and say, come on, Huckleberry, you can't

relax like you were building before when you

had the resources. Now you had to borrow resources

because you're on borrowed time. There are payments

coming due. You better get building. If there's

anything I could convey to you this morning is

that's what, not that God is saying you owe me,

of course not, but you are now in a moment where

you're actually, what has been provided from

you from God by the Holy Spirit is meant to come

into your life so that you can do what? You can

begin to build. You don't have the luxury anymore

in the New Testament saying, well, I just gotta

wait and see what God's going to do. You actually

have some mandates that you're called not to

wait. The upper room, folks, that was 2 ,000

years ago. If you're still waiting in the upper

room, it's time to build. Why? Because he brought

something of a tool and an agency for you to

begin to operate with the borrowed supply of

heaven. Why? Because he's got a work and a commission

to do. Are you there? Now, listen, as we go through

this journey, like I said, Jesus and the journey

from Passover to Pentecost, I want to try to

give you some things along the way. As we look

what Jesus did with his disciples as he fulfilled

scriptures all along the way in his ministry

in the three and a half years, Jesus did not

just talk about the Father. But he talked about

the Holy Spirit as much as he talked about the

Father. And here's what we find out. Here's what

we find. We find that in this area, and if I

can just, I'm gonna speak very frank to you this

morning. I'm gonna draw some things out of my

own life. I felt like the Lord really highlighted

this. Let me just start with my journey. When

we started this church, When the Lord asked us

to pioneer this church 25 plus years ago, we'll

celebrate 25 years this September, but we got

sent out in July. And so actually this weekend

was literally 25 years ago was the weekend we

got sent out in 2001 to pioneer church. I had

lots of things on my mind that I wanted to do.

And prior to this weekend, 25 years ago, In about

two months prior to that, the Lord had spoken

to me that he was gonna send us out and that

he was gonna open doors for us, but he didn't

tell me where. So man, I had served the church

I was at, been involved in it for 18 years. I'd

been on staff for eight years, met my wife there,

many families. I just knew God. I can come up

with some places. Here's some cities and here's

some states that I'd like to go. If you're sending

me, and I'll tell you what, Harrisburg was not

on the list. Okay, just so you know, because

I was born and raised here. I mean, my great,

great grandfather was the first. pioneering bishop

that came down from Sheridan, Oregon to pioneer

the Harrisburg Mennonite Church. And my great,

great grandfather, that was on my grandmother's

side. My great, great grandfather on my grandfather's

side was the first deacon. And my dad lives on

his original homestead of that church. I, five

plus generations of conservative Mennonite raised

farm kids. And I thought, oh God, no. I, I, I,

I moved seven years away. We were not seven years

away. That'd be a long journey. I, for seven

years, we had moved from Harrisburg to Springfield.

We were pastoring after we got married the first

year we lived in Harrisburg. And then we, then

we bought a little home in Springfield. And I,

I just, I didn't even think about Harrisburg

when I wrote. cities down. I know, of course,

Bend, Oregon came up. And then that was about

the only place, Bend and Sisters, Oregon, that

was the only two places I was thinking about

going. The rest of them were in other states.

I wanted either Rapid City, South Dakota, or

Sioux Falls, South Dakota, because I'd gone pheasant

hunting and whitetail hunting. And I loved the

hunting there. There were Army, there were Air

Force bases near there. They had incredible Did

I say hunting? Had incredible hunting. And I

just thought, man, this is the best place. And

the Black Hills still have gold. I mean, hey,

maybe I'll become a gold miner. I don't know.

I just thought, you know, this is the place to

go. Send me to South Dakota. There's no charismatic

churches. There's no Pentecostal churches. We

can just simply talk about the Holy Spirit. God,

you could do an amazing thing among the land

of Methodists and Lutherans. And I'll never forget

it. About six weeks before we'd have a send -off

service, the Lord spoke to me and said, I'm gonna

cause you to inherit the prayers of your forefathers.

And I remember that phrase. I said, Lord, I think

I know what you're saying here, but you're saying

you're sending me local. I heard it again. I'm

gonna cause you to inherit the prayers of your

forefathers. It was the first time That I had

really connected the understanding, even though

we had read it in scriptures, that all prayers

ascend to heaven and God oversees it, right?

We understand that the Bible says in other places

that the word of the Lord endures forever. If

it's God spoken or if it's God generated, it

endures forever because it's connected to him.

But prayers, the Bible talks about the bowls

of prayers that are collected with the saints

in heaven. And I hadn't actually thought this

through that when those prayers are not answered,

they're still alive and they're still waiting

for God to send the answer. And so when the Lord

spoke to me, he says, I'm going to send you to

inherit the prayers of your forefathers. Something

in me got really irritated and something got

really happy at the same time. Not that I'm,

at least I don't think I am, schizophrenic. No,

you are. Yes, I am. No, no. I mean, the reality

is inside of me, the Spirit of God knew that

what he was doing was going to birth something

that had always been before his throne for a

hundred years, and he was going to send a person

that would contend for prayers that had been

prayed. But the soul part of me is, Lord, I don't

want to go back there. And I'll tell you why

I didn't want to go back there. Because the environment

in which I was raised in, even though I love

many things that I was raised with, the environment

was an environment of fear. Meaning, I had greater

familiarity with limitation and fear on who God

was than actually walking in faith and liberty

in who God was. Because everything in my world,

everything from my parents, my grandparents,

every, listen, when I grew up, this is no joke,

within a 12 -mile radius, I was related to 400

people. I went to a first through eighth grade

schoolhouse. There were 45 kids. I was related

to 38 of them. First through eighth grade. That

is no joke. There was no lockers on the door.

We all had cubbies. I didn't even know that people

stole from one another. My upbringing was little

house on the prairie, squared. The reality is

I went to a church, wonderful people. It was

400 people that time in Lebanon, Albany area.

I didn't even know that divorce existed. I had

never seen it, never heard of it. So I had a

wonderful farm, conservative, that where we learned

about God the Father, we learned about God the

Son, but we had no idea who the Holy Spirit was.

So it was Father, Son, and the Bible. Because

the reality was replacement, how can I say this,

instead of pursuing the Holy Spirit as co -equal,

even though we would say that we believed that

the Holy Spirit was co -equal, we would not treat

him as co -equal. And therefore, everything in

my world was bound by fear. You say, well, how

does that happen? Because when you're living

in an Old Testament understanding, you're living

automatically under a covenant of limitation.

Let me say that again. You'll know you're living

in Old Testament understanding. When even in

the New Testament, you limit God, you limit his

word, and you're okay with it because you don't

want partnership at that level. So for me, being

a young boy, being raised as a farmer's son and

the only boy in the family, at least for our

immediate farm, the reality is what became normal.

We talked about God. We talked about the need

for salvation. My dad probably talked to me more

about the rapture in those days. I had a little

bitty New Testament in case the Russians invaded

that I could at least sneak in. How many were

born in the times where you tested for nuclear

drills at school and you knew that the Russians

were coming in the 80s that they were gonna invade

through nukes? I mean, that was just, if you

didn't live through that time, you don't even

know what I'm talking about. But if you lived

through that, everything, fact is, when my mom

and dad would go ferry machinery, my sister and

I would be at home. They'd say, oh, don't bother,

the kids will be right back. We're just going

down to one field, bring some machinery back.

All of a sudden, my sister and I would look around

and nobody was there. We'd run through the house,

run out to the barn, call for mom and dad, go

back to the middle of the living room, get down

on our knees and repent, say, God, send the rapture

again. I mean, it was just drilled into us that

if we were left alone, it was going to be hell

to pay, right? Now, I'm not negating the catching

away of God's people. I'm just telling you, we

talked a lot about Christian ideals, but everything

was drenched in fear. Fear of how I would respond

to God. Fear of how God would see me. And here's,

if you've been raised in that kind of, in conservative,

doesn't have to be Mennonite, but whether it's

Nazarene or whether it's Baptist or whether it's,

depending on the nature of, there's sliding scales

of all denominations. Whatever it was, I realized

for me, when I look back on my life, here was

the number one thing that was passed on to me.

It was fear. Fear of the future. Fear of failure.

Fear of, this is the big one, fear of being deceived.

Fear of not doing it right. Fear of not being

humiliated. And fear of looking foolish in the

eyes of others. Every part of my psyche was imparted

with fear. Now, I look back now and I go, man,

I lived a pretty miserable existence. But that's

all I knew because everyone around me had the

very same thing. You didn't branch out into new

things. You only became good and perfectionist

at what you already knew that could be proven.

Are you there? That is the fruit of religion.

It is the fruit of recognizing that I've actually

been bound to a covenant that does not want me

to move into new realms of faith on the basis

of what? I might do something wrong. I might

actually be deceived. I might, instead of a platform

of love, that if I am deceived, there's correction.

I expect correction and it's loving. It's not

about if you make a mistake, you're out of here.

It's like an umpire calling balls and strikes.

But the reality was whether that was meant to

be, that's exactly what God imparted. In the

culture that I lived in. And for 18 years. The

thing that dominated my life. And it took me

a lot longer than 18 years. But for 18 years.

The thing that dominated my life. Was a healthy

love for the father. A love for Jesus. But there

was no example. And there was no understanding.

Of how to do this thing. Of partnership in faith.

Faith became a salvation issue and then doing

right. That's what faith came. Did I do it right

or did I do it wrong? That was the judge. And

so every place I went, I was fearful. Now my

folks, I didn't realize that my folks early on

in their life, my dad had, this is kind of give

you how rebellious my dad was. I talked. first

service he was here. So I was telling stories

on him in public in front of his face. So if

you're saying, why are you telling stories? Because

I told it right to his face right here. And my

dad was a rebellious young little Mennonite.

And in his day, he dated a gal that was assembly

of God. We're talking weasel in the hen house.

Okay. And they went to a meeting while he was

still dating and he got filled with the Holy

Spirit. She got filled with the Holy Spirit.

They both started speaking in tongues. Now let

me tell you how this works. I never heard that

as a kid. I didn't know they were filled. I didn't

know they had a spiritual gifts. I didn't know

that they had tasted something that was beyond

what I was raised in. Because here was the culture.

The culture was, you kept that private. It was

so kept private that it wasn't even told to the

family. My sister and I had no understanding,

no model. So that when I was raised, anything

that looked beyond just the expression, Now,

hear me on this. Beyond the expression of singing

hymns without music to a pitch pipe. And we sang

that way. Any form of raise your hand, any form

of hallelujah or amen was frowned on. Why? Because

that in the culture was considered disrespectful

to God. So what covenant were we actually in?

We lived in a hybrid. We lived in an understanding

of Jesus was and is the son of God and died for

our salvation. And by grace and faith, we can

be saved. For all intents and purposes, that's

where we stayed. And we didn't move on from there

because to move on from there and to actually

treat the Holy Spirit as co -equal as God and

with God would mean I'd have to change. So what

do we do? We accept the new covenant of Jesus'

grace and we go back to that which is familiar

and religious and limited. That doesn't mean

that people didn't love Jesus. It doesn't mean

that their name wasn't written in the Lamb's

book of life. But it meant that they can progress

no further because they refused to actually break

the spirit of fear and move in partnership with

the kingdom of God. Now that spirit of fear,

you guys okay? That spirit of fear followed me

all the way through to this church plant. All

the way through. And I remember when God said,

he said, I'm going to cause you to inherit the

prayers of your forefathers. I knew what he was

saying. And then he quoted in my spirit, I heard

it as clear as he was standing in front of me

talking to me. He said, and he quoted Joshua.

Chapter one, verses six and following. He said,

from this river to Lebanon, all the way to the

great sea shall be your territory and no man

shall stand against you. Now I knew he wasn't

calling me Joshua. I knew that that was written

for Joshua, but spiritually, where was the territory

that I grew up? From the McKenzie River, Eugene,

to Lebanon, to Albany, all the way to the coast,

that was my territory. That's why this is called

the Tri -County Church. Three counties where

the river converges right here. Lynn, Lane, and

Benton County. That he would call me to that

area to do what? You know why I didn't want to

go there? Fear. Because I had experienced something

17 years in a conservative environment. 18 years

now in a more free environment that was pursuing

the Holy Spirit. And the thought of coming back

to this area dredged up everything inside of

me that was once there. And as soon as the Lord

spoke that to me, I began to say to him, Lord,

I don't want to go there. And I remember saying

this, and I look back now and go, what a selfish

prayer. But I remember saying, God, send me some

place where people are nice and they like me.

And it wasn't the fact that they didn't like

me as a person. They didn't like what was on

me and what I was bringing in his name. And the

Lord said, where did I tell you you're going?

So there's no negotiation on this. No, there's

no negotiation. I'm sending you back to the place

that you were designed to be. And that's why

we're here 25 years later. The fear of the people's

faces, the fear of knowing the resistance, the

fear of knowing the religion, the fear of the

idea that they're more concerned about being

deceived than they are about loving God and operating

in faith. Why? Because I lived it. When you think

about the atmosphere in this area, you think

about Lynn Lane and Benton County. You think

about every conservative denomination, and I'm

telling you there's a lot of them. What is the

number one thing that they hold to? We'll believe

in Jesus, we'll believe in the cross, and we'll

believe in the resurrection. From that point

on, we don't need anything else. And I'm here

to tell you that that's not Bible. Never written

that way. The only way you can come up with that

conclusion is you have to choose to have a hybrid

Old Testament and New Testament model yourself.

But if you truly want to actually follow Jesus

in what he's building. I'm not talking about

your salvation now because that salvation is

of grace and who he is and he writes your name

in and your name is written. But if you wanna

actually partner and become a mature son and

daughter and actually walk in the faith of discipleship,

you're going to have to come to a conclusion

that the Holy Spirit is God, he's good, he has

no negativity in him and anything that's from

him is good and is God. And therefore, if it's

from him, you should want him. You should not

just look at it and say, well, I only want the

part where you convict of sin and just give me

the seal of salvation. That's it, Holy Spirit.

Well, see, that's an untenable position. When

you honestly look at the scriptures, that's untenable.

Why is it? Because I'm actually, as a man or

a woman, I'm not confused, but whatever you are,

whether you're a woman or a man, the reality

is you have to decide, okay, am I going to tell

God that I don't need him in these areas? How

arrogant. We don't see it. Why? Because we're

fearful. Fearful we might get deceived. Fearful

we might look foolish. Fearful we might do something

wrong. Fearful that we will make a mistake. And

fearful that we don't know what we're doing.

And so we fall back on the familiar as I just

want to do what I know and then I'll become,

I'll just practice that and I'll get good in

that. Not realizing that that mindset actually

disintegrates and brings you back under the law

even more. Are you doing okay? Now why did I

tell you to turn to Matthew? No. Here we go.

Before I get there, I want to give you one other

verse. Luke 11, verse 1. Now it came to pass

Luke 11:1

that as the Lord was praying in a certain place,

when Jesus ceased, that one of his disciples

said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught

his disciples. Matthew 6, again, is another version

of this. Luke included part of it. Matthew is

teaching a little bit more. Listen to how Matthew

said it. Now, just a couple of important thoughts.

You need to understand that Luke is writing as

a Gentile writer. Matthew is writing as a Jewish

writer. So when you read the gospel of Luke,

you're looking at the gospel of Luke as one that

was a learned medical doctor of that time and

he got saved as a Gentile and he's writing this

as a Gentile. the perspective of where he received

it from the apostles, probably writing, and you'll

see it in this, to Theophilus. Now, when you

look at Matthew, Matthew includes the biblical

genealogy, and he's writing from a Jewish perspective

only. So you begin to see two different in the

gospels of the writers. You got John, Mark, Luke,

and Matthew. Listen to what Matthew says in Matthew

6, 5. Jesus saying, and when you pray, and I'm

starting a little bit before the Lord's prayer,

Jesus was actually commenting on the Sermon on

the Mount and listen to the phraseology. And

when you pray, you shall not, you shall what?

You shall, it's okay, we're speaking in church.

We're breaking that law of the Old Testament.

Here we go. And when you pray, you shall what?

Be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray

standing in synagogues and on the corners of

the street that they may be seen by men. Assuredly,

I say to you, they have their reward. Now, I

don't want to just spend the rest of the time

teaching this verse, but you need to understand

that what was in their heart of being seen and

recognized was their reward of prayer. Answered

prayer was not. So please make that distinction.

Answered prayer from the Father was not. The

reward was what? They got to be seen as those

who were spiritual and they built their own platform

so that they would be elevated in the eyes of

men and women. So he says, be careful not to

be like them. Verse six, but when you pray, go

into your room and shut the door, pray to your

father who is in secret and your father who sees

in secret will reward you openly. Which, how

does he reward you? He rewards you with answered

prayer. Verse seven, and when you pray, now notice

here, one side he's talking of the ditch that

goes to the religious side. Now he's gonna talk

about the, ditch on the other side of religion.

He said, and when you pray, do not use vain repetitions

as the heathen do. For they think that they will

be heard by their many words. Therefore, do not

be like them. For your father knows the things

you have need of before you ask them. So notice

the two divisions. You have a religious side

that actually turns a heart hypocritical. Why?

Because you can't, if you give yourself to where

religion goes, you end up becoming a hypocrite

because what you say you believe you will not

do. Isn't that the nature of hypocrisy? That

you declare that you know something, but yet

there's no obedience to actually bring yourself

to live it. Why? For whatever reason, whether

it's fear, whether it's justification, whether

you feel like you've already arrived and you

don't need to do some of those things. It does

what? It always brings the elevation of self.

Religion will always elevate self. Are you there?

Now, and then he says the heathen. Well, that's

quite a word. What does he then mean? It means

someone that has no real knowledge about the

one true living God. Doesn't mean they don't

have knowledge, but they're using, are you ready?

They're using knowledge about. other gods or

deities that they quote serve, trying to bring

that in of their framework of that lifestyle

into how that should work in actually serving

God. What they were born into, their culture,

their religion, they'll take that and now just

assume or that that's how God will answer them.

And God says, I say no to both. I say no to hypocrisy.

And I say no to your own understanding of trying

to use your understanding on how to reach me.

Then he says this, but you need to understand

the heathen don't know who I am. I would say

the religious don't either. In saying this, they

don't know who he is. And we're going to prove

this out in the weeks to come. But listen to

what he says. In this manner, when therefore

you pray, and notice what he's saying. Your father

knows the things you have need of before you

ask. Are you ready for this? It means that God

in his knowledge knows everything you need, but

he's expecting what? Remember, this is the difference

between Old Testament understanding and New Testament

understanding that Jesus comes to bring. the

people into because he's leading them to move

into a new covenant. We don't just pray to a

God and then believe that there's nothing that

happens. The God that Jesus is going to introduce

us to is a God who knows every aspect of our

life, but he's now opened the platform for participation.

And therefore he establishes the framework. that

even in your communication practice and in the

process of actually in spending time with him,

it's not that you literally have to go inside

a closet, get underneath your wardrobe, and pray

and sing. No, that was a metaphorical term. It

means you go into a place where you can just

be yourself before the Father, and it's just

you and him. You go into a place where that time

is your time with him. And he was saying, I...

have a nature that I want to engage you. I know

everything you need, but I'm waiting for you

to bring me into your life. And I want to partner

with you. That is new Testament understanding.

So notice what Jesus says here. Our father, here's

how he teaches the disciples to pray. Our father

in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom

come, your will be done as it is in heaven. So

first thing we, first thing that Jesus establishes

is what? Everything that he is, Everything that

is of his will. Everything that he has released

about himself. His rule. His ways. His word.

We should be praying. Embrace it. Embrace it.

Embrace it. Let it come. Let it come. Let it

come. Which means by nature. I will do. I will

do. I will do. You can't say. This is what a

hypocrite does. Your kingdom come. Your will

be done. Let somebody else do it. That by nature

is a hypocrite. You can't say I believe God that

he's Father, Son, Holy Spirit. He's one God in

the unity of the mind of God and yet there are

three distinct persons of plurality. You can't

say there's a Father, there's a Son, and a Junior.

You have to say Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And

the problem is most of us have grown up in areas

and we listen to sermons that are father, son,

and junior. And take or leave junior. We'll only

receive junior as the one who brings salvation

to our heart. But we don't have to partner with

junior because somewhere we've interpreted the

scripture. Not a verse. Not a passage. It's not

there. But somebody has convinced us that now

Junior Holy Spirit doesn't give gifts like he

used to 100 years after the apostles died, senior

became junior. What kind of spiritual crack is

that? That, I'm gonna just be honest with you.

The thing that we fight, that I fight in the

spirit of the atmosphere of this region, Other

regions like it where I'm asked to go and bring

a message like what I'm preaching today. The

number one thing I believe is this mindset of

the division of the Holy Spirit. I understand

it. I lived in it. Every person around me bought

it, reinforced it. But when I started reading

the Bible again and afresh and a hunger, I could

not see anywhere. And folks, I've read the Bible

a lot. I'm not here to brag how much I've read

the Bible, but I'm telling you some of the very

first words over my life from prophets were,

you're going to read the Bible. Four and five

times a year, you'll be known as a man who knows

the word of God. You'll have read this Bible

over a hundred times, cover to cover. And I have

believed that word of God. I love it. I read

it. I listen to it. I allow it to saturate me.

Why? Because there's nothing like God's word.

And once you begin to embrace God's word without

all of the presets of the religion, you will

find that Holy Spirit is never diminished. In

fact, God and the Son elevate the Holy Spirit's

ministry beyond. They all point to him. Why?

Because they sent him. Man. So listen to what

it says. Your kingdom come. Your will be done.

On earth as it is in heaven. Now notice what.

he teaches them to do. This was different than

the heathen. This was different than the hypocrite.

Give us this day our daily bread. So what is

the first thing? Let your kingdom come. Let your

will be done. Meaning what? I'm not, I'm going

to whatever is yours, whoever you are and the

fullness of how I know you and from the scriptures,

let it come because that is the highest revelation.

There's nothing higher, greater, grander. And

then the next thing, Father, give. The very first

thing that Jesus teaches as we embrace his will,

his kingdom, is that he's a giver. His nature.

Now when we think giver, many times we think

finances. That's not what he asked. Now we get

to this. But his first thing that he's wanting

us to actually ask for is give us daily bread.

Many of us would think that just means provision.

That means money for bills and that can fit in

there. But you know what it actually is? Jesus

defined it for us. Man shall not live by bread

alone, but by every word that proceeds from the

mouth of God. Just in John chapter six, he says,

I am the bread that come from heaven. I'm the

bread. Your fathers ate, please hear me on this.

Your fathers ate spiritual bread and they died.

Being spiritual bread does not guarantee you

life. Manna was spiritual bread. It was miraculous,

spiritual. manifested bread. Jesus said, I am

the bread from heaven. You shall eat this bread

and live. So when Jesus in Mark and Matthew.

Six is teaching the disciples to pray. What's

he asking them to pray? He said, first of all,

you've got to get in touch with a God that does

not stay distant because that's what you learned

in the Old Testament. There were mediaries in

the middle. All you did is you came to learn

about him and you handed off your sacrifices.

You handed off everything else for a holy priesthood

and you just stepped back and you watched and

they cleansed you. They declared you clean for

a year and so on and so forth. No, you've come

to the God of the New Testament that now wants

what? Partnership. Everything in your life prior

is about reaching out to something that may or

may not hear you and you have a hope of hearing

you and that you stayed separated. Everything

in the New Testament now that Jesus modeled was

to bring you into relationship that you would

have a father that would be a good giver, a gift

giver by nature. Gift of bread, gift of his word,

gift of his presence, gift of his protection,

gift of supply, gift of love, gift of forgiveness.

gift of grace. Everything about God would be

the gift giver. So why would we get to the New

Testament when God now all of a sudden pours

out himself, the third part of the Trinity, and

we would say, nope, that gift giver doesn't give

gifts anymore. How insane is that? That the gift

giver who gives of himself is not allowed now

to give gifts? Let me just try to help you just

embrace this a little more, Marcy. There's a

big difference. Oh, there she is. Hey, sweetie.

There's a big difference, and you know this,

between Jenny and me, right? Not just the obvious

that she has hair and I don't. Okay, but the

reality is in our personalities. She is a words

person. So if you give her a card or a letter

that's about how you feel and how you think,

she will treasure that and it is wonderful. If

you give me that, it's nice. I appreciate it.

but I don't store it in a drawer. I don't keep

it as like this is, why? Because she, in her

personality, is a words person. She wants words.

So if I give her a card on our anniversary and

says, love you, your husband, that's a negatory,

okay? That means it doesn't matter what roses

came, it doesn't matter what gift came, anniversary

bound, there better be a full card. Front, over

the writing, and on the back. Where I have sat

down and I have formulated every, and it feels

like I have to wring out my soul to write one

of those cards. Not because it's terror for me,

but because it just doesn't come naturally. I'm

trying, Jenny's looking at me, where is he going

with this? Because I'm having to wring out something

that by nature I'm not, I do words like this,

but I'm not words like gushy. Like if I just

say to Kyle, bro, you're a great friend. Anything

more than that is weird. Okay. I mean, Kyle would

feel very uncomfortable. I'll go, Kyle, so meaningful

in my life. I just want you to know sometimes.

Your love for me is so deep. You think, what

kind of church am I in? No, all right. Okay.

The point is, that's not me. I don't do that.

But if I was saying, Kyle, bro, you are an awesome

brother. Here's a hundred dollars. First of all,

it would blow his socks off the fact that I would

give him a hundred dollars without him doing

anything. Second of all, that would be my nature

as a gift giver to say, I'm giving you honor

from part of me. My nature is a gift giver. And

so I'm giving you something that I thought of,

or I bought him a A tool. Right? Jenny and I

are totally different. Let me tell you about

a gift giver. When you're a gift giver, you automatically

are giving of yourself in that gift. The worst

thing you can get as a gift giver is when somebody

says, I don't want your gifts. Because they're

not saying no to the gift. They're saying no

to the one who thought about it. who planned

it. It didn't just give it at an afterthought.

A gift giver thinks intentionally and thinks

this will honor them. This will show my love

for them. And when somebody says, I don't want

the gift, just think about God who embraces all

of the aspects of the various natures from affirmation,

words of affection, time with him, right? When

we say to the Holy Spirit, I don't want your

gifts. I don't need your gifts because I'm fearful.

I don't understand it. And I don't want to change.

We're actually telling God, I don't want what's

part of you. And to me, that's the biggest travesty

of all that this other philosophy has created.

Why? Because it's elevated the mind of man and

man's comfortability. Over actually embracing.

Who the Holy Spirit is as part of God. I'm telling

you fear. For almost 25 years of my life. Dominated

me in every aspect. I was more concerned about.

Doing something wrong. Being wrong. Looking foolish.

Being deceived. thinking about what would others

think of me? What am I going to have to face?

Fear of being rejected, fear of failure. That

was my whole grid of pursuing Christ. And when

God called me to plant this church, I said, Lord,

I don't want to go there because I know what

I'm going to face. And he said, you're going

to have with my power to confront this fear.

And I said, okay, Lord. Fear, you must come out.

And I didn't think anything was going to happen.

And right as I said that, I just threw up right

there on the flower bed in the parking lot, in

the church parking lot. I mean, just... I wiped

my mouth. I said, Lord, what was that? He said,

there's more. Tell it to go. And I began to command

fear to come. I began to leave deposits of puke.

Oh, I'm sorry. It's almost lunchtime, so I thought

I'd get you ready. deposits of puke in a flower

bed all along the church property. And it lasted

clear, and people that came from the church would

know, from the back of the parking lot all the

way along the side of those trees planted clear

to the north parking lot. I puked and puked and

puked each time. Finally, I couldn't even say

it anymore. I just kept saying, ah! I was confronting

fear because from a little boy, it's not that

my parents instilled fear to that degree, but

the atmosphere of everything I related to was

about fear, fear of being deceived, fear of failure.

It stopped me from pursuing the gifts of the

spirit. It stopped me at so many levels. And

I realized I had more faith in fear. Then I had

faith in the word of who God was. And that's

what we will do this summer. Is we're going to

continue to preach on this. Of who the Holy Spirit

is. Why he is fully God. Why he is the way he

is. And that this church hopefully. Of course

you're always welcome to find somewhere else.

But if you're planted here. There should be something

in your heart that says, I want to partner with

what is the full will, way, and word of God.

And I don't want fear to dominate. Do I want

to be deceived? No. But we have the scriptures

for that. We have the truth of God's word. I

don't have to cut the Holy Spirit off thinking

he's evil. He cannot be evil. He cannot be. He

is of God. He is God. And whatever he gives has

to be pure, right, and true. There's no shadow

of turning with him. Do people make mistakes?

Do we separate where people move past the Lord

and don't judge things? Absolutely. But that

does not indict the Holy Spirit. That indicts

their flesh and their soul. So would you pray

with me this morning? that we would just welcome

that, Trent, if you'd come, get ready to close

the service. Can we do that this morning? Would

you just do that with me? Would you bow your

head and close your eyes for a moment? Father,

in Jesus' name, I pray this morning, Lord, that

you would take these words and, Lord, the journey

that you've brought me through. And God, it would

speak to your people this morning. Take, Holy

Spirit, you could do more in a moment than I

could do in another hour or two. You know how

to get behind the scenes. You know how to unlock

hearts. And I'm asking now with the journey of

how gracious you've been to me, breaking fear

off of my life to begin to trust what is in your

word and to trust your nature. I pray that that

would be a hunger that would come upon everyone

in this congregation from the first service to

the second service. Whatever we were raised in,

however we were brought up, Lord, if there's

valves enough for places in us that say, I haven't

wanted to do that because I'm fearful. I'm fearful

what others would think. I'm fearful for what

I might do. I'm fearful for being taught wrong.

I'm fearful that I might be deceived. Lord, we

bring those to the light this morning. And we

say, Holy Spirit, establish the truth of your

word in my life and let that be the marker I

live from. No longer living under limitation.

No longer living a hybrid of Old Testament and

New Testament life, but living a full life by

the grace of God in the New Testament, having

understanding from the old, but living in the

kingdom and the spirit of truth. truth and the

power of your anointing. I pray that over this

church and I release that now in Jesus Christ's

holy name. Amen. Thank you for taking the time

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

for those who tune in each week and have given

generously to this ministry. If you are in need

of prayer, send us a text message at 541 -625

-1365. We would love to pray with you.