Raised To Life Starts Now (Not Later) - Heaven Part 12

Good morning, guys. You give up this fantastic

worship team in Bay, Chile in here yet?

Well, if you come this up, it was like 73 with heat on.

It was like, let's turn it down a little bit.

They turned down a little bit. So we're going to turn up a

little bit. So anyway, yeah, if I'm cold, I

know you're cold. So anyway, man, we're going to

talk about heaven for all eternity.

Amen. This is the 11th week in our

series of heaven. And I'll be honest with you,

I've never preached an 11 week series before.

I'm loving it. So if you're not loving it, I'm

sorry. We're going to keep preaching

it. So it's going to happen, all

right, But I want to celebrate a few things for a jump in one.

Last week was our Life group Community week and we had over

50 first time guests come to our community week.

Is that awesome? It's awesome and they're in

different groups, had different number of tents and everything,

but it was just cool to see people that don't even normally

come to our church. Just friends, family,

grandparents, kids show up to groups and really get connected.

There was really no agenda just to hang out and just just to

feel the Spirit of God and get connected to God's people.

I just know overtime usually works like this.

Give it two months, six months, a year or whatever and they'll

say, man, I, they'll visit, they'll visit again.

They'll say, man, I came one time.

It's just like life group thing. I was like community week.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I was at that thing.

It's just how God works this through relationships.

So thank you guys for inviting out.

Can you give it up for those who came out to this that aren't

normally going to life groups? I want to say a huge thank you

guys are inviting. I know you might have invited.

And you're like, man, they didn't show up.

Hey, it happened to me too. Amen But you, you know, we're

not charging people coming in charge of just planting seed.

Amen. So some plants, some water and

God brings increase. It's just not about them getting

to a thing, but just let you know, like that God is still

moving. I mean, one week, all these

different guests, I keep thinking like, what would happen

if we got behind Easter just a little bit?

It'd be crazy, right? I mean, last year we had just

shy of 600. We, we didn't that's, that's

insane. By the way, OK, we, we sent no

Mailer. There's just an ad on, you know,

just like a video online, right? Like we're, we're, it's just you

guys bringing people. Amen.

Like some guys spend lots and lots of money on Facebook.

We do not. And it's you guys, right?

And so I will say thank you guys to our inviting and you know,

it'll pay off. And so just keep inviting and

just ultimately that they find Jesus, right?

I mean, be praying for them. It's really not about coming

here, but then getting to Christ.

But also say thank you to our life group team and our life

group of leaders. There's a lot of work that

behind the scenes for this. It's our first time ever.

So give it up for them as well. Lot of effort.

My house was was something different.

I usually run, I don't know, we had like 14 or 12 or something

and there was 44 people that showed up and it was 31° high

weather a last Monday. You guys remember that?

It was great. And I was like, no, Nope,

deflatables aren't going to come.

No, we're not going to do a backyard BBQ.

We're out in the like we're going to cram my house.

And I felt so bad. I don't know who it was, but

there was a it was a grandma there and she's at the kitchen

table and there's just you couldn't get through anywhere,

you know, and she was at the table and she was like this.

I was like, this is a bad representation of church in

Jesus, but we'll do better. Lord give us better weather.

Amen. It was crazy.

So anyway, today is just going to be a good day.

I've been inviting people to Easter.

There's a lady that I'm working on we've mentioned before we

keep praying for her names Heather and just come through

huge burn church experience and I'm just praying she comes out

just put another bug in here last week.

And then there's some guys in my neighborhood, some some families

that used to come that haven't come a while.

And I'm also working on a barbecue joint in more so

getting them out as well. So anyway, just be inviting and

see what God can do. Amen.

Just don't know how like one relationship can change

somebody's life. And it's just a simple, simple

invite. I want to give a huge shout out

real quick before we jump in. There's a family of church.

I don't know if you familiar with the term like a shut in

family, like there's health concerns.

They really can't get out. They can't come here on Sundays,

can't go to life groups. They have a lot of like they're

small things, but big to them. And so a couple of our guys this

week and, and if you ask them, they, they would tell you

straight up, they did not do a whole lot, which they didn't.

There was like 10 or 15 minutes, but they made time and showed up

and they're committed to go there every single month.

And they show up this lady's house and this is what she said.

She said what a godsend. She was so excited and she

really said this and I couldn't believe it.

I'm blessed beyond my wildest dreams.

You guys make dreams come true last week, wildest dreams are

like this. They showed up for for 10 or 15

minutes and hung out and then make commitment.

I'm going to be here. Whatever it is, right, Moving

things, picking up things. They're they're just not in that

stage of life. They can do certain things.

And so I want you to give a big shout out big real life.

Thank you to Bruce Cornell and to Mike Baker.

I know where he's at, but I see Bruce back here.

So thank you guys for doing that.

Feel like why you clapping man? I was there 10 minutes.

But for Jesus, Amen. And it makes a big difference.

She felt so the word is covered, right?

You ever felt uncovered like nobody, nobody sees me, nobody

knows I'm there, Nobody's praying for me.

And what you get to do is show up and just cover people with

your love and and your grace and your servanthood.

And we got to get really good at that.

Amen. There's a church that just gets

involved in people's lives. So thank you guys for that.

It really means me a lot. Means a lot.

Well, today we're jumping in. We're going to talk about

heaven, but we're going to take a different spin on it.

I've been praying all week. We're going to tive into this

idea of baptism. And I'm praying that your

baptism, you're so moved by what it truly means, will actually

change how you live on earth, your baptism.

So it's going to be a little different.

You can be like, where are we going with this?

And you're going to see it's going to be awesome.

So this is dedicated to those you guys may be wondering about

baptism. You may grew up in church and

your whole life and going, I'm not sure what this really is.

There's so many variations of it out there.

Maybe didn't grow up in church, Like that's just weird.

And be like that little weird. That was me growing up.

I didn't grow up in church. I was like, why would people do

this weird thing, right? You may think it's just a

symbol, the past. You may not know what to think

of it. So we're going to dive into

that. Maybe you're here today and you

know what it is, but you're on the fence.

Like, should I do this or shouldn't do this?

Like, you know, is it gonna line out for some of you guys?

You've been baptized and you're wondering like why you're still

struggling. Like you're obedient to God.

You're, you're faithfully fallen God.

You're in the Bible. You do all the right things on

the outside, but you just, there's just trials, right?

There's things happening and you're wondering you might feel

overwhelmed, you may feel like you're not enough.

And these, these are all natural things.

But I just want to give you today, like why it's happening.

I'll give you a illustration of being overwhelmed, the tidbit of

my life. We're a little behind anybody

behind it. May got Christmas stuff up

still. We're getting ready for next

year. Amen.

Yeah, we're early. We're not late.

Come on, somebody, you know, now the tree is down one of the

trees. But I'll give you the why This

is why this is. But if you go to my house,

there's still a tree on the outside by my door.

Anybody seen the tree by my door a little bit?

OK, you know what I'm talking about.

You're like, why is the Christmas thing still outside?

Well, here's what happened. OK, we wait a little too long

and it's a little birdies made a little nest in there and it was

like eggs in the tree. I'm like, are you serious?

Like Jesus put this bird to lay eggs in this tree.

So I can't take this tree down, right?

So it's just like committed to this tree.

And yesterday there was bird poop all over my driveway and I

was like, they have hatched. It is time.

It is time, right? The Lion King moment, right?

There's just like, it was just so ironic.

Like let's go take it down. It's like, oh, look, great,

thank you. The Robin laid eggs and the

Christmas decorations. That's a problem.

Anybody like that little overwhelmed, little behind like

that. Welcome to life.

Amen. So we're talking about baptism.

So how many guys have been baptized?

Show hands real high show hands. How many baptized?

Wow, dude, dude, nice dude. Give it up for a basement

baptized. That's amazing.

That's really good that wow, that's actually kind of

impressive, right. And I got baptized.

I was, I think I was 16 or 17 because I came to Christ at 15.

It was not too long after, but I, I went to those churches.

The, the pastor wore the black robe.

You know what I'm talking about. And I must have like weight on

the bottom because the thing would sink.

It wouldn't like float around like some weird thing.

And he put waders on before he put the robe on.

OK. And so he had like just hunter

waders that went real high. It was really fun.

If somebody was got him off kilter was leave it that way.

And it'd fill up the water into the waders.

You know what I'm talking about. So you'd be like, I was like,

yeah, defeated, right. And he'd raise his hand.

All right. And he'd say, because your faith

and trust in the Lord, I'm not doing right, right.

I baptize you, my brother. Come on, somebody.

And then my father, son, the Holy Spirit buried lack of his

death, right, just gets all into it, right.

It's like because you're faith and trust, it's all this, raise

your hand. And it's all very regiment.

Anybody like that. It's just me, right, It's just

me, it's just me. It's cool, right?

So so I was on staff. I got hired back on staff.

I came to Christ, came back to the church, got hired staff.

And of course, like first time baptizing, I get a youth pastor

like, hey, baptized these youth kids, like, you know, whatever.

And so I go up there and like by the power vested in me, by the

way, that's how you finished the wedding, right?

So I was like, we're doing a wedding right now, you know, And

I was like, what? I was no recovery.

I was like, Bruce getting baptized three times.

You sent it, right? Oh, man, I'll hold down longer

if I need to. Amen.

You just tell me you going to baptize your family?

Do lectures a couple seconds under?

There it is. But anyway, so I know your

experiences with baptism, but that was my experience.

The black robe, right, Thank God.

I mean, maybe you like that kind of thing, but thank God we're

not into that. OK, Like we're we've retired the

black robe, you know, I mean, now we have swim trunks.

It's great. But anyway, we used to say this

all time baptism. We trampled that word.

Baptism is an outward expression of an inward transformation.

Have you heard that before? Most of us, I mean, some of

y'all like that's the first time we heard that right.

But we, we talk about this symbol like if something

happened in your past, you can do it because Jesus got baptized

because you followed his commands.

And there's always reasons to get baptized.

And I started thinking about this last week.

I was like, man, this is a partial gospel.

Remember last week we talked about a partial gospel.

It's not the fullest of the gospel.

That statement is only partially true.

It is 100% true, but it actually leaves out the very best part of

baptism. Like we don't get baptized just

because, well, you came to Christ.

It's a symbol of you coming to Christ.

It's just an outward symbol of an inward change.

That's all we talk about, right? That's just the, I mean, it's

just the Baptist world, right? But here's the reality of your

baptism. It's actually actually a

declaration that the resurrection life of Jesus lives

in you. It's a declaration, so it's not

looking back as like this happened then.

It's a declaration now and where I'm going, that's what it says.

You're buried likes of his death and you're raised to what newest

life, right? It's you're going to live

differently now. So I want to talk about what it

is that heaven lived inside of you.

Not this just this symbol, but a new identity in Christ that the

resurrection isn't something that happened way back there or

way out in the future actually happened in your life right here

and right now. So if you got your Bible being

in Colossians chapter 1 and we're going to start with Jesus,

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

this what a great idea, Amen. We talk about Jesus at church.

And so Colossians chapter one, verse 15, it says this, the sun

is the image of the what invisible God.

You know, people kind of wonder what does God look like?

What was what's his character? Who is he?

And just look at Jesus, Amen. So I encourage you guys read the

gospels, get in the book of John.

If you wonder who God is, just look directly at Jesus.

It says this. He is the first born of all

creation. Now look at all these in hymns.

For in Him all things were what things in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible, with their Thrones or powers or

rulers or authority, all things have been created through Jesus.

And for Jesus verse 17, He is before all things, there is

again, and in Him all things hold together.

You guys heard of Laminin? It's a great message by Luke.

You lamb and lacrosse holds everything together in your

body. Look it up.

It's Google it. OK, I'm not Louis.

I'm not going to preach the message.

OK, he's fantastic. But verse 18 and he is the head

of the body, the church, and he's the beginning and the what

says again, he's the first born from among the what among the

dead. All right, just put that in your

mind. We'll come back to it.

This is an interesting statement.

Here's the purpose. So that in everything he might

have the supremacy, the supremacy of Christ.

Brett sent me a video yesterday he saw on Facebook and it was a

it was about Judas like betraying Jesus.

And it says Satan ere and him at the, at the Lord's supper.

And then Jesus says to Judas, he says, whatever you do, do it

quickly. But they made the point that he

wasn't actually talking to Judas.

He was actually talking to Satan inside of Judas that Satan

himself had to get permission from Jesus to, to to betray him

and put him on the cross. That's pretty good, isn't it?

And I text Brett back. I said, Amen.

This is the supremacy of Christ. He has all authority.

Jesus is not even crucified without Jesus himself giving

authority and permission to save himself to even do it.

Amen. That's God.

So it says this verse 19 for God was pleased to have been all his

to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to

reconcile himself all things were things on earth or things

in heaven by making peace through his blood shed on the

cross. Can I get an Amen.

That's good. That's good news for all of us

and that Jesus in charge of everything the creation.

So verse 18 he's the beginning and the first born among the

dead. Now this is this is really

interesting thought. What does it mean?

There's a first born among the dead?

Because the natural answer is like, well, he rose again, but

but he was not the first person to raise from the dead.

Chronologically. There's other people.

So you got to go all the way back to Old Testament, go first

King 17, you got to go to Elijah, and Elijah raises the

widow's son from the dead. Then you got to go as protege,

you got to go Elijah, and he raises the woman's son, and then

Elijah dies. And we sang this song, guys, no

rattle. And you throw the dead man's

body on the bones of Elijah, and he came back to life.

So there's three right there in the Old Testament.

Then you have Jarius's daughter, that Jesus rose.

OK. And then you have another woman,

son, Those rose in Luke 7. And then you got to abort

Lazarus. Come on, somebody.

So. So now you've got six people

that are raised from the dead. So it's not chronological.

That's how we say it all. What?

What it really is. Well, first of all, those other

people, there's six people. They're actually raised to the

same life. To the same life, they're in the

same sin, the same brokenness, the same sin nature grave still

has or death has a sting, grave has a claim.

They're just raised back and go back.

But Jesus is is something different.

He's a prototype of heaven. He's the first person to

actually be raised in the resurrection power.

And for him himself, the resurrection power of Jesus,

Amen. He did something special on the

cross. You know, we talked about Silent

Saturday. We're going to get into this in

a couple weeks, right? But Silent Saturday wasn't

silent for Jesus. He he would, he was finding

death, hell in the grave for us. And the Bible says in

Revelation, he goes down to hell and he actually steals the keys

of our salvation. So Jesus was busy, Amen.

And so he roast the dead. He was the first type of a new

family. He's a new origin, a new way of

living. He's a leader of a resurrected

humanity. And so it's a whole new kind of

life where sin has no power, Amen, where death has no claim

and grave has no future. He's the first crack of heaven

into humanity. And so when Jesus rose from the

dead, he's the first born from the dead.

And what's amazing about Jesus being the first born, wouldn't

you think that there'd be a second born?

Come on, somebody that Jesus started something.

He was the very beginning of a resurrected life.

Then there's a part of you that looks just like heaven.

There's a part of you that is perfectly holy through Jesus.

There's a part of you that was resurrected to life through

Christ, Amen. So what this means is it means

you're not who your mom and dad or your old friend, your ex says

you were, Amen, That there's no nobody has power over you.

Even sin doesn't have power over you, Amen.

Now, I talked to a lot of Christians and it's like who can

have the worst possible story by, you know, it's like you talk

to him. It's like how you doing and

you're like ready, like man, I love you brother, I'm praying

for you, but I cannot sit here any longer than hear the saddest

story in history, right, because you don't really want to step

out and change. Just like moping.

And I'm like, man, as Christians, we should have the

greatest story ever. The power of Jesus lives in US.

Amen. And we're not defeated.

So you know, you may take a a six month window of anybody's

life when they're adult. And sadly, you can put it in any

six months, the most of their life, and it looks very similar

because they're not living under the power of Jesus or even

through the power of Jesus. And so those old habits, even

though they're dead to those habits, they're still living in

the wrong way. So I'm about you, I'm excited.

I'm maybe the like the, I don't know, make a number out five

billionth person that you know what I mean?

Like Jesus, the first born, I'm like the five billionth born.

I have no idea, Amen. But I'm just glad I'm born.

Amen. I mean, the Holy Spirit has

changed my life. I'm resurrected to life just

like Jesus. So what happened to us?

Let's dive through it. Romans chapter 6, this is

Romans 6 · chapter mention

probably the most prolific passage on baptism in the Bible.

It says this as Paul speaking. He says, or do you not know that

all of us, let me say all that's you and me, you know Jesus, OK,

We're baptized into who? Christ Jesus.

And we're baptized into his man. That sounds sexy, doesn't it?

Baptized into his death. Like what?

What does this even mean? And you know, it says then say

you're baptized around Jesus or close to Jesus.

We're actually baptized into Jesus.

And it's so significant that we're united with Christ like

this. The moment we called on Jesus as

our Lord and Savior that we are actually baptized with Jesus.

That means that we are sharing in his life.

We also share into his death and the the death the part of us

that died with Jesus, we're crucified with Christ is no

longer I that lives, but Christ that lives in US.

We're joined in, we're connected to him.

We're placed inside his life. We're also placed inside of his

death. What's really cool is that his

story is actually become our story.

Now, if you, if you ever studied this, if you get a chance, you

should and you can do it like real easily.

You got Google chat, CPT all the different AIS, but you guys just

go in and say, what are all the things that happened at the

moment that I start a relationship with Jesus when I

called Jesus when I got saved. What are all the things that

changed? You guys would take a guess how

many things changed the moment you called on Jesus.

There's, there's at least 25 major, major, major things that

change. I mean, you're adopted as a son,

you're forgiven, you're given a new identity.

Your name is written in the Lamb's book of life.

You're, you're made an heir to the throne.

The Holy Spirit lives in you. The power of the Holy Spirit is

on you. You're gifted in the church.

You become part of the body of Christ.

You're in the family believers. You're, you're a son or daughter

of the king. I mean, just go on, on.

Amen. And then thank you Jesus.

And one of the things that happens is they're baptized into

Jesus. We're united with Jesus fully.

You know, some people think, well, Jesus is on the throne

since the right hand, the Father, He's omnipresent, Amen.

He's ever at all times, and he's in US.

You know, we think the Holy Spirit's not as well.

Jesus is also in US. We're joined with him.

So verse 4 says this. We therefore buried with him

through the baptism into what? Into death in order that just as

Jesus raised the dead through the glory of the Father, we too

may live a new life. That's when we get baptized.

You said bury his death and resurrect your life, but that

buried his death. Think about this.

There's actually a part of you that died with Jesus.

When you accepted Jesus, you got united with Christ and there's a

sin nature. There's a authority over sin.

There's a your spirit of God was buried by Jesus to death and was

crucified and put to death. There's a part of you that no

longer exists there. There's an old version of you

that you no longer have. Amen.

You have a new identity. And this is so soul shaping

because so many times I've been there that we live defeated or

under a power that is no longer in charge of us.

And I've seen so many conversations and and when

people are full of anxiety and fear, we all have these these

moments, but you have to look into it.

And if something is making you fearful or have anxiety or

you're worried or you're stressed, it has power over you.

Amen. And I see so many grown men,

they're still talking about something that happened 30-40

years ago and things they wish they were, and they're upset

about all these things. I'm not saying it's right or

like should happen that way, But the gospel truth is that your

baptism and the resurrection power of God is far greater than

anything else in your life. That that, that's the endless

wall of God's grace. Amen.

And I think as a church, as men, as women of God, if we could

just dive into the resurrected part of our life and the power

of God through us, we can say, you know what, it wasn't right,

it wasn't fair. But thank you, Jesus, that

heaven lives in me. God, I'm living for the power of

God that's through me. And that's a war we're going to

talk about in a little bit. But just know positionally,

you're forever changed. Your old identity is gone.

You're no longer a slave to sin. There's a version of you that no

longer exists. Verse 5 says this.

For if we have been united with him and death like this, will we

certainly be also united with him and the resurrection like

his? For we know that our old self

was crucified with him. Somebody say old self, dude, I'm

so glad the old self is gone. Amen.

This old self that's buried, it's crucified, it's dead has no

power over me. It's a memory of the past.

And yes, we like to think it may still be there.

And that old man that we have to say Jesus lives in your heart.

But but grandpa lives in your bones, right?

And we, we like to go back to the old man, but the old man is

dead, Amen. He's gone.

We, we sing so many great songs about this, by the way.

But if we were to know that the old self was crucified with

Jesus so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,

anybody excited by ruled by sin is done away with.

That mean you're absent from sin but has no power over you.

It says that we should no longer be slaves of sin because anyone

has died, has been set free from sin.

Can I get Amen. What it's saying is you're no

longer a slave to sin. You're actually check this out.

You're actually a slave to righteousness.

Your dispensation has changed. That's how you know you know

Jesus because when you sin, you actually feel conviction.

It doesn't mean that you're not going to sin, but there's a

conviction from God and it's not the conviction of you should do

better and earn me. It is the conviction of son, I

love you. Step into my grace, Amen.

Step into the the the life I have for you.

Quit choosing a path that's breaking you and breaking

relationship. Step into the grace of God.

I'll never leave you or forsake you.

I've chosen you. You're my son or daughter and

live in my power and strength. I have a far better life for you

than you're putting out. Amen.

But so awful. We got our head down and Jesus

said, no, I've already set you free.

That's your baptism is a picture, It's a declaration.

You're going to live from that cause.

Verse 8 says this. Now if we've died with Christ,

we believe that we'll also live with him.

For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he

cannot die again. Death no longer has mastery over

him. The death he died, he died to

sin once and for all, but the life he lives, he lives to who

Jesus is living to God. He died for our sin and he's

choosing to live for God. Verse 11 in the same way, count

yourselves what? Dead to sin, but alive to God in

Christ Jesus. Amen.

You didn't become a bad person becoming good, you're a dead

person becoming alive. Don't forget it.

Don't forget it because when you're, when you look in the

mirror and you're like, oh, I'm too worried, I've got too much

going on. I'm too afraid, like I'm not

enough. And all these things we tell

ourselves, all these inadequacies and all the shame.

Hey, you got to look in the mirror and say, look, I'm dead

to the old man and I'm living for Christ, not my power.

Look, what was this say at the end of the verse?

It says you're alive to God in Christ Jesus.

It's Christ in you. Amen.

Like I know we like to read self help books, you know, we've all

done it. We read the books and like I'm

going to become a better version of myself.

Jesus made you a better version of yourself.

Amen. It's not that you have to be

somebody different. You have to learn to walk in the

ways of Jesus. You have to walk in the Spirit's

power. You have to walk differently

through Christ, knowing that sin's not your master, that

you're dead, but the party is resurrected just like Christ.

So you might ask the question like, why do we still battle,

right? Anybody in the battle right now?

Show of hands. Just one person.

Just it. This should be called Victory

Church. Amen.

Victory Church. You show up on Easter side.

We preach victory. Not nobody has battles in this

church. We have won them all, baby.

Thank you for your honesty, John.

The rest of you need to pray. I probably just put you to

sleep, But it's all right. We'll blame you guys.

I'm just kidding. Oh, man.

So why do we still battle, right?

We're all in a battle. We all have trials.

I mean, it just you don't take very long to talk about somebody

to see that, right? And may feel like you keep

losing or you feel adequate, you even desire to do the right

thing and then you mess up like you want to do it and then it

doesn't work. And you might have been saved,

baptized, gone to church, read the Bible in the disciple making

groups. You might be on staff.

You might all the things right. And then you're like, man, I

just don't look like Jesus. Still, there's a pardon me and

there's rule is just so heavy and you feel a little defeated.

And so there's a verse you might know it, but Matthew 2641.

It says this the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Man, I love that. You know, when you get a little

more jacked up and you can't do something right and you're like,

man, the spirit's willing, but the flesh is weak.

Like I just can't do what I used to do, right?

But the reality, what's talking about is there's desire inside

your soul, your spirit, it's resurrected, it's pure, it's

holy. Think about this, for the Holy

Spirit to live in you, you actually have to part of you

that actually has to be perfectly holy.

Think about it. The Holy Spirit cannot take up

residence in something that's not set apart to him fully.

And so the God of the universe, when he resurrected, when Jesus

resurrected, he gave us a part of ourselves so the Holy Spirit

can enter into the first time. That's what makes you different

than all the rest of the Old Testament, all these rest of the

people who raised from the dead, their body was raised, but Jesus

raised our soul to life and the Holy Spirit now lives in it.

And that spirit is willing. It's calling us, it knows, but

he's saying Sean don't, right? And he's speaking to us and he's

drinking us. But the flesh is weak.

And So what you have is a war, right?

You, you, you, you got the, the Spirit of God and the flesh of

man and they're warring to each other.

And you might like wonder like man, why am I, why am I still

struggling? It's because you're in a battle,

Amen. You're in a real battle, like

legit part of you is the Holy Spirit and looks perfect like

Jesus. It will not be changed when you

go to heaven because it's already been resurrected.

Amen. What does heaven look like,

right? Resurrected soul, resurrected

body with a resurrected Jesus, with a resurrected earth.

That's heaven, Amen. And there's a part of you that

already looks just like heaven. Hallelujah.

Praise God like we're partly there and that part of us we

have to let shine through the rest of us.

The Spirit's resurrected, but the flesh is still being

renewed. So you got the old man versus

new man, right? But the good news is this, the

resurrection power lives in you. So chapter 8, Romans 8, verse

Romans 8:11

11, it says the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is

where living in you. There you go, there you go.

It says He's living just in your pastor.

The Holy Spirit is living just in the past.

So many people put pastors on this pedestal, like, like

they're the only Holy Spirit in the room, Amen.

Like you're just like, oh, the pastor's professional pastor.

You have enough of God to look just like God.

Amen. You.

I get to encourage you. I get to shepherd you.

I get to teach you. But ultimately you have the

greatest teacher and shepherd and leader who lives in you, the

Holy Spirit of God, Amen. They say the Holy Spirit lives

in a church building or the Holy Spirit just lives in the Bible.

Does it? Does it say that?

I mean, we, we, we, but think about how we live though, right?

Like we were like, OK, bitch, I just know enough of the Bible,

which I'm all for knowing the Bible.

You know me, right? Like I'm all for memorizing

Scripture and hold close to your heart and open every day.

But you know what? The power of God and the Holy

Spirit doesn't live in the Bible.

It lives in listen to you, listen to you, you, you have you

have enough in you to wake up in the morning and say, God's put

me here on purpose. I'm going to walk so fire my

step like I'm going to radically change because Jesus radically

changed my life. Like I'm not going to put myself

under my past. You know, sometimes you think,

oh, the Holy Spirit's reserved for those people who are really

smart and have degrees in the Bible.

They just so they're so spiritual, these people.

I'm going to tell you something. Just because you go to college

doesn't make you more spiritual. Amen.

Sometimes you get Dumber. Any parents out there sent their

kids to college? Let's get nice.

We've been to college and it's like the experience.

You're like, oh, cool. You know, I used to walk with

Jesus, but now it is do my thing, right?

You might think, well, the Holy Spirit reserved just for mature

Christians. The Holy Spirit just lives fully

mature Christians. That is not true, Amen.

Sometimes you show up the church like, Oh, these people, man, I'm

I'm behind the a ball spiritually.

I remember walking into to college and I met all sorts of

guys. They're pastors, kids and

they're fifth generation church planters, and I'm just do that a

Raytown come on, somebody right. And I felt like I was behind the

a ball spiritually for so long in my life because these guys

had habits and they walk with God.

You can tell like they had God's presence and I was like, man,

I'm just just got to do more together.

I try things. I'm just not good enough.

I can't get there. And I realized where time is

like man, you are enough, Amen. Like I don't need to be them.

I need to be what God's asking me to be like.

I don't answer to nobody. I answer.

I answer to Jesus himself, not to any man.

Like I'm not looking for validation or approval.

I'm not looking for your likes or your opinions.

You will give them or not. Doesn't mean I care, right?

I love you. But there's a voice I was

listening to is the name of Jesus.

Amen. And when you when you're

baptized, you're making the decision that you're going to

live and declare, I'm living every day by the power of God

through me, I am crucified. I'm living a new life.

It's not just a symbol like, oh, it's just a symbol.

What happened? No, no, it's a life I now live

for Jesus. And that is very powerful.

It's like it will. It just changes your whole

dynamic, you know, think about my children and, and the future

they have. And I'm just thank Jesus that

there's parts of me look much more like Jesus than it did in

the past. Amen.

Because I look at my kids and they're just spitting image of

me, good, bad and ugly. Amen.

And, and, and I just get to like be more humble and say, no, Lord

just changed my life and I get to see it in my kids.

Now. I, I can't look back and say,

well, you know, my dad didn't do this and this didn't work out

and oh man, and duh, duh, duh. And the church I used to be at

and all So what, like the power of God lives in me.

So I get to act like that, Amen. I, I, I get to say no to my

flesh. I, I can't make excuses for bad

behavior. Amen.

Because the Holy Spirit, the Bible calls it when you sin and

you're a Christian, you grieve the Holy Spirit of promise

because the Holy Spirit wants a better life for you, not because

he's trying to conform you, which a lot of churches somehow

think that's their job. But he, he wants you, yeah,

transform you. He want, he wants to shape you

into the image of his son. So God gets glory.

The best way to worship God, it's spelled OBEY is to obey.

The best way to worship God is to humble yourself and say yes

and Amen. And we, we don't know why we, we

go through this stuff, right? Like y'all walking through some

hard stuff, just John, but I know y'all working through hard

stuff, right? Y'all walking through hard stuff

and you're wondering like why to walk through all this stuff

because God's trying to teach you like the if the power is in

you, then the question is, are you walking to God's power?

Are are you choosing to say yes to the Spirit of God?

Do you know what that even looks like?

It's not like we're always trying to look for answers.

Oh, it's out there and I'll become like this and I'll learn

this skill and I'll do this thing.

It's like what you need to do is look to God to humble yourself

and say God used my life. I'm listening to your voice and

we the way God shapes you. We're not going to like it, but

you learn to like it is through trials.

Somebody say trials. We don't like trials, but God

gives us trials on purpose. And this is what you see.

Like how does God teach us to walk in his power?

And you know, you thought I was going to say go to church more.

You thought I was going to say go to go to life group, right?

You thought I was going to say memorize some scripture.

No, God knows exactly where to put the pressure.

Amen. He he knows what makes you tick.

And he knows how to squeeze. He knows how to pull.

I call it the rub and hug, Right?

He knows when to push on you. And he knows when to get

something out of you. He knows and encourage you.

She's laughing. Some people.

Yeah. Somebody's.

I don't know what they're over there.

We're praying for you. I know.

I saw Urania. I was like, must be guilty.

But James 1-2 says this. Consider it pure.

What joy? Consider it pure joy, my

brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.

That's interesting. I mean, how many of us really

enjoy trials? That's assigned maturity,

though, isn't it? Because when you walk through

something hard, it's not, oh man, God's chastising me.

Or the stuff in the past, like if I was just better at this and

this and this. And I can't believe we're here.

And it's those people out there and we'd like to talk about

everything else. We've been trying to solve the

trial. Do you solve trials?

What was the point of the trial? The point of the trial.

Look what it says. Count all joy.

Because you know that the testing of your faith produces

what? Perseverance.

This is the last word I'd used on the American church.

Perseverance. I don't know, man.

I see a lot of people come and go in church.

I see a lot of people come for a season, then it gets hard and

somebody says something. Wow, Welcome the people, man.

I love it. People expect everybody else to

be more mature than them, and we judge others.

As my wife came to this conclusion, she figured this

out. We judge others by their actions

and we judge ourself by our intentions.

True. And we use like, it's like

saying we use any excuse just to get you away from the things of

God. And we get these trials and it's

like, oh man, perseverance doesn't exist.

What's perseverance? It's endurance.

It's stamina. How many books in the New

Testament are written with a theme?

Stand firm, pull in the armor of God, don't move.

I mean, most every single book Paul writes and Peter writes is

all about standing firm in your faith.

How do you stand firm? You go through hard stuff.

So he says let hard stuff, let perseverance finish its work so

that you may be what? Mature and complete and lacking,

not lacking anything. So, so trials are opportunities

for the resurrection power of Jesus to shine through your life

past your flesh. Just opportunities.

It's an opportunity. So, so, so when your family

dynamic is crazy and you get really hard news or finances are

all messed up or relationships not where it should be, or

somebody says something about you, they'll never happen,

right? Or you're betrayed or there's

people who are walking beside you that now are against you and

never looked, then looked away. You go, God, what are you doing?

And what you need to do is say thank you, Jesus, that you've

given me another trial because there's a part of me that you're

trying to kill. Still.

There's a part of me that doesn't look like you.

And what an opportunity to be shaped.

I came to the point in my Christian life, I was sharing

this with a young man this week that began to thank God for my

Saul's. Guess who your Saul was the

first king of Israel, because everybody's got a king.

We need a king too, right? They put him in charge and they

got real prideful and real arrogant.

And then he, he, he was going to all this witchcraft and

crystals, all the things, right? These mediums, instead of going

to the, the, the God of the universe who established him,

he's trying everything else and God just strips him of his power

and he gives it to a little boy named David.

He was leftover. His dad didn't even care.

I was telling the young man he, there's seven brothers.

He, he wasn't even in the room when Samuel showed up.

Who can I anoint? Oh, here's my sons.

Oh, yeah, I guess there's a 7th one.

Get him out there from the sheep.

Bring him in. That's just my leftover son.

He really, he won't mount to anything.

And the guy anoints him. And for 14 years he runs from

Saul. Saul tried to kill him.

And the opportunity that we talked about, but to, to, to

kill him in a cave. Saul's relieving himself.

Not going to go into details. And he cuts part of his cloak

and he comes out after he goes out and he says he could have

killed you today, but I only killed God's man, his anointed.

And so here's a piece of your cloak back.

And all the men that followed Saul are like stand up guy, man,

integrity, God's guy's back. And they walked off.

And then David becomes the next king through trial.

And so if you walk through a hard season, I was to encourage

you, God has put your Saul there on purpose.

Saul's not your problem. Saul reveals the problem.

It's like an orange. We talk about a lot, right?

If you take an orange, you squeeze it, what do you get?

Who said apple juice? I'm scared, right?

You get orange juice, right? And when trials come, they

squeeze you. It does it look more like Jesus

or does it look more like you? Because the pressure is not the

problem, Amen. You can't, you can't change the

circumstances, nor you're called to.

Jesus can if you want to remove all your circumstances, He can

remove all your circumstances. He could change them.

But you know, what wouldn't happen is we wouldn't develop.

Amen. How many of us go to church and,

and, and read books or do stuff and we're not living in the Holy

Spirit's power? How many of us just show up and

go through the motions, right? And Jesus like, well, I'm going

to make it a little harder on you and make it a little more

difficult on you. Like, you know, I think great

Christians all walk with a limp. I don't know any Christian that

goes well. My life was easy and turned out

great. And I'm here because I'm such a

great person. I'm obedient to God.

I haven't found one yet. That's not me.

Sorry. Right, all of us have to walk

through the limp because Jesus is always trying to get our

attention. And it goes back to our baptism.

Think about our baptism. Your, your, your union with

Christ. You're 9 with Christ and his

death, and you're raised to new life.

This is really cool. This means that there's more

Jesus in you than you think. Amen.

There's more Jesus in you than you think.

And if you wouldn't just give up on what God is doing, if you

just stand a little perseverance and a little more stamina and

you just go, you know what? I'm going to outlast this trial.

Jesus. Jesus is changing me.

Like I'm learning a lot of patience.

Amen. Same here.

I'll learn a lot of patience and a lot of hard things.

But here's what's cool about your baptism.

It's not a symbol. It's not just a tradition.

There's all partial things, right?

It's not even a good person getting better.

It's not just because Christians get baptized.

We don't get baptized because everybody gets baptized.

You saw everybody get don't get baptized because the rest of the

people raise their hand. Amen.

Get baptized because you're declaring that the victories are

one in your life and you're going to choose as best you can

with all of your being, you're going to live from victory in

God. That's what your baptism is.

So when you get up there, it's like, well, I'm just doing this

because, you know, everybody wants it.

No, no, you're doing it because a part of you died and you were

celebrating a funeral of your old man, Amen.

How many knew your bachelors was a funeral?

That's pretty cool. You can use you just look at

that moment and be like, that's when I died.

I didn't live in it yet fully, but that's when I died.

That's good news, Amen. Because you are you are

accountable to God. You there's there's no limits to

what the Holy Spirit can do. And you look at it like why?

I can't really change my family. Yes, you can.

God can change your family through you.

Amen. I've I've reread the I've

rewritten the legacy through Jesus in my family, all to God's

glory. Amen.

It's not me, it's Christ in me. You think why?

I can't really do a lot of stuff.

You could do everything through Christ.

If God's calling you to do it, he'll supply the way to do it.

And if we just get our eyes off ourselves for a little bit, like

off of our own dreams and own legacy and our own past and the

sins around us and the sins in US.

And since we've done it was look at the resurrection and power of

Jesus. There is no limits to what God

can do through your life. Have you heard that before?

And you get to tell that to your kids.

Amen. You get to share that with every

person you meet this week. How many people need to hear

that this week in your life? You may.

Yeah. Somebody needs to hear that this

week. The Holy Spirit's power in you

is greater than anything else in your life.

If you just want to step into that man like I don't.

I'm not perfect, but I can show you like he's done this in my

life. He could do it for you.

That's the greatest thing you could ever share.

I once was a man living for myself and then God killed me.

I live for him. What a great story, Amen?

And we get to celebrate that on Easter.

And I'm going to tell you what heaven is going to make it

through Easter. I know that much, Amen.

We're going to make it 13 weeks. We'll see what we're going to

do. I want to encourage you guys.

We're going to just pray your prayers, surrender, and that's

about you guys. Put your hands out and to God.

God will come before you got to pray your prayers.

Surrender got our life not built on our old man God.

He is dead, He is gone, He is finished as far as the east is

from the West. God, you removed the power of

sin for my life and you've wiped out every sin that I do and I

have done, God, and help me, Lord, to step into your fullness

and to your grace. Not because I'm earning this,

Lord, not because I deserve this, because you love me.

Help me step in and know what it's like to be loved deeply,

God. Help me to live from your power,

God. Help me to remove anxiety and

fear and worry. Take those things from me, God.

Remind me, God, of your Holy Spirit's power.

God, I declare today I want to live by your grace, got to live

with your power, the Holy Spirit.

God, thank you as a part of me that looks just like Jesus, the

part that looks just like heaven, God, help me to tap into

that. Help me to walk wisely, God,

teach me, God, through trial, say thank you for my soul.

So God, I surrender my will, God, because I know my will is

not your will. And so I trust you.

I trust you. In this hard season, I trust

you. It's difficult.

I trust him, overwhelmed Lord, because now your good, You know

your goodness to shine through me.

And God, you want to use me for your glory so it could help me

be a person that's marked by you, by your power and your

strength. And when people look at my life,

at the end of the day they'll know that only Jesus could have

done what happened in his life because I was baptized into

Christ. So thank you Jesus.

I want to pray for one more group of people in the house.

That's those of you. Let's say you know what, I need

to be baptized into Christ today.

Like maybe you seem like I get baptized with water, sign the

card. But some of you are like, man, I

get baptized with Christ today. I've never been united with

Christ. I don't have the Holy Spirit

power in me. There's not a part that looks

like heaven. I've just been playing church.

I maybe just showed up. I don't really know what this is

all about, but you recognize that Jesus died for you and that

you're united as death and you can have new life in Christ

today and the power of God live in you today.

What greater promise is there that Jesus came and died for us

and gave us the Father gave us one only son who should

believeth him shall not perish, but everlasting life.

And that's not a promise for tomorrow.

That's a promise for right now. You can walk out of here with

everlasting life through Jesus in literally in Christ forgiven.

And so Dave, you need Jesus, you need forgiven.

You need new life. The mouth says it's open to

anyone who calls the name of the Lord and today is the day that

believe Jesus. The Holy Spirit's calling you to

cry out and humble yourself and obey God and say yes to Jesus.

If that's you, you need to call on Jesus, then I'd be looking

around. Just raise your hand high and

says to me, I need Jesus today. Not going to make it weird to

call you out. I need Jesus.

Come on, see your hands up all across the room.

I need Christ today. The Spirit of God speaking to

you, just humble yourself. Say Lord, I need you.

This prayer does not save you, but your heart towards him.

Say I believe in you. Jesus, I believe this book is

true. These words are true.

I feel you, Holy Spirit, calling me to yourself today.

God, thank you that you sent Jesus to dine across my sins.

God, I ask for new life. God, I am now baptized.

In this moment I feel the weight of my sin being lifted.

God, I'm a new creation, creation.

God, I can feel the oldest gone. God, I'm being crucified with

you right now. Lord, I have a new identity in

you. God shaped me.

God call me into your path and your way.

God enter into me. God thank you Holy Spirit for

living in me. I'm a new creation.

The old is gone. God thank you for new life in

Jesus. God help me to walk in your

power and I praise in Jesus name The church said Amen.

Come on, give some glory to Jesus today.

Amen. And what a reminder, this is the

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