Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Romans, chapter eight. We're in a series right now called life in the spirit. Life in the spirit. Everybody say, life in the spirit.
[00:00:14] God's going to speak to us. He's going to help us. We're going to begin at verse seven. I'm reading out of the new king James.
[00:00:22] I do have the notes available in the Bible app youversion. You can see us on under events there.
[00:00:28] Romans eight seven says this. Because the carnal or the fleshly mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be so then those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
[00:00:47] But you are not in the flesh.
[00:00:51] You are in the spirit.
[00:00:55] If indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not his.
[00:01:04] And if Christ dwells, if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.
[00:01:16] If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. I want you to jump down to verse 14. This is kind of the theme for this entire chapter, 14 through 17. This is kind of the crux of the message, our series that we're doing right here. Verse 14. Switching translations. This is the new living translation, says this, all who are led by the spirit of God, children of God. Come on. I want you to tell your neighbor, I'm a child of God.
[00:01:56] I want you to tell the person on the other side of you, you are a child of God.
[00:02:02] That's right.
[00:02:04] Here. Now look back on the word. Okay? Hey, hey, hey. Take it easy.
[00:02:09] Verse 15.
[00:02:11] You have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. You have received God's spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him Abba, father. His spirit, oh, I like this, joins with our spirit to affirm we are God's children. And since we are his children, oh, my goodness. We are his heirs.
[00:02:40] In fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God's glory. What if we share in his glory, we must also share in his suffering.
[00:02:54] And we will. And we will, if that's what he asks of us.
[00:02:59] Let's pray. And let's ask the Lord to make this word alive in each and every one of our hearts. Amen. Lord, I thank you for your word. I thank you that it is light, it's life, it's instruction, it's correction where we need it. I ask you, Holy Spirit, to breathe on this word today. May it be a. May it be active in. May it produce all you desire in our lives. Come on, church, let's ask the Holy Spirit to come. Pray in the spirit. Pray in your understanding. Ask the Holy Spirit to come and release a mighty anointing upon us right now. Holy Spirit, we ask you to come. We ask you to fill and to baptize us afresh in this place. Almighty God, we ask for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of the glory of the Lord to be released in each and every one of our lives. O God, we pray that you would give us eyes that see, ears that hear, a heart and a mind that perceives what you are speaking to us. I pray, O Lord, the same anointing that was upon Jesus as he preached good news to those who were in need. May that same anointing rest upon me, O God. And I bind the works of the enemy. He who would seek to distract, to distort, to confuse or uproot the word as it comes forward. Give us liberty, Lord, in receiving your word today. In Jesus name I pray. And everybody say amen. You may be seated.
[00:04:25] I think this is fitting, even for just the moment that we had in the spirit just a few moments ago. It's like, I desire, you know, what I believe part of what God's doing in this day and age is there was. There was a time and there's a season, and much of the church is still kind of built around these sorts of heroes in the faith. And I don't mind that so much. You know, I love people like Doctor Morocco and Jesse Duplantis, and, you know, name your favorite preacher, your favorite minister. I think God raises up people when the Lord determines to do something. He finds a man, he finds a woman who will come in agreement with what he desires to do. He'll place an anointing upon them, he'll raise them up, he'll equip them, he'll release them. And it's incredible.
[00:05:14] But do you realize that the very same anointing that is on your favorite minister is an anointing that you can walk in?
[00:05:26] You realize the very same spirit that was upon Jesus Christ is available for you to walk in? The Bible says that signs and wonders will follow. Not just apostles and ordained ministers and those who are in the assembly of God. He said signs and wonders will follow all who believe. How many of you are believers in the house of God? Do you realize that means you are equipped and you are qualified to lay hands on the sick and see them recover, to speak to demon powers and watch them flee, to speak to those who are dead and to see them raised up. Well, pastor, that seems a little far fetched. Well, one day somebody's gonna read the Bible and believe what it says.
[00:06:16] And one day many christians are going to be embarrassed because some simple person is going to come along, just take God at his word and believe, wow, if that's. I can move mountains, if I can speak to this, if I can just ask and I receive.
[00:06:36] This is what God's going to move us into.
[00:06:40] The earth is literally groaning.
[00:06:44] The Bible says it's crying out for the revealing of the sons of God. Where are these who have a new nature, the divine nature, just as God does? When are the people going to act like children of God, just like Jesus was the son of God? Where are those people?
[00:07:04] The world is crying out. The Bible says the spirit himself is groaning for the revealing of the sons of God. The Bible says that even other people are crying out for the revealing of the sons of God in the earth. And that's going to be us. Some of us, I pray all of us are going to come into the awareness, the revelation that I'm an heir with an inheritance, that the very same spirit that was upon Jesus is upon me and my life, that the very same things that Jesus did, I have been called to do. You realize we live in two parallel realities. You know this, right? We've this kind of a quick review, but we live in the natural world. We see and we see natural things all around us, but we also have a life in the spirit. In fact, I don't know if you get freaked out by the fact that we're gonna do deliverance ministry on Thursdays and like, well, I guess this isn't time for me to invite my first time guests. No, this is actually the perfect time to invite a first time guest. I'm just telling you, I've learned. I spent years as an evangelist. I spent years as an evangelist and I'm just telling you, one of the fastest. Open doors to the things of God.
[00:08:29] Ask people if they've ever had paranormal experiences. You ever seen a ghost? You ever have your dead grandma come visit you? You ever have this kind of stuff going? I'm serious. Go talk to people. Because what you'll discover is most people, even Bible deniers and God haters, most people have had stuff happen that they cannot explain.
[00:08:52] But the Bible has answers for these things. No, that wasn't your grandma that came. No, she's either in the presence of God or out of the presence of God. Only two choices. She didn't decide to hang around here. I'm sorry. It's probably a demon, and we need to deal with that. And so you start talking about this kind of thing. But most people have experienced, at least in some capacity, the spirit world and our goal. Jesus demonstrated for us so well what it was like to live a life in the flesh, but to be filled with and led by the spirit.
[00:09:30] This is what Jesus did. Yes. He took on robes of flesh, and he lived this life in the natural. I mean, jesus grew up just like you and I did. Jesus went through puberty. Jesus had his voice cracked. Jesus had pimples for a time, Jesus, I don't know if you ever think like this, but Jesus went through the same things that you and I do.
[00:09:56] But he was filled with and led by the spirit. I shared out of this, out of Luke, chapter four last week, how Jesus was filled with the spirit, and he was led by the spirit. And even when Satan himself came to harass him for 40 days, he overcame every temptation. He walked in victory. He overcame the devil. And the Bible says that at the end of that 40 day fast, he came out in the power of the spirit. Spirit.
[00:10:24] Jesus lived as a model. It is an example for every single one of us.
[00:10:30] Can I submit to you that most christians, as we follow after Jesus, we get stuck in the wilderness, we get stuck in the temptation, the war of the flesh, and the temptation of Satan. And we never go beyond that into the realm of the power of the spirit.
[00:10:53] I remember what happened for me. I had the wonderful privilege of having one of the most incredible spiritual fathers that I could ever ask for. If you were in the spirit filled church in the nineties, you probably remember a move of God called the Brownsville Revival or the Pensacola revival. And the evangelist of that revival was a man named Steve Hill. I met Steve as shortly after I got saved in Bible school. And I just simply approached him and said, will you mentor me? Will you disciple me? And he said, absolutely, I will. And he gave me some clear instructions. He says, I want you to show up to my office at this time. Don't be late. I want you to come with a notebook ready to take notes. I want you to come with ten topics that you and I can discuss. If I don't have something for you, then you come with questions to ask me. And I. So I did. So I got my notebook. I had to leave school early. I had to drive almost an hour to where his office was. I was in Bible college at the time, but I drove up to that meeting. I had my ten questions that were written down in my notebook, and I sat down across from this amazing revivalist evangelist, one of the greatest men of God I've ever known.
[00:12:05] And he looks across after he shares with me kind of the nature of what he feels like our relationship is going to look like. And the spiritual heritage that I'm coming into shared with me who his spirit spiritual fathers were. Leonard Raven Hill and David Wilkerson. And kind of tracing it back to Lester Sumrall and Smith Wigglesworth, and going back on, he's like, you're coming into this spiritual DNA. By the way, if you hang out in the church, that's your spiritual DNA, too. You know that you're coming into that flow. And so I'm sitting there, and then he tells me something that was shocking.
[00:12:40] He says, listen, did you guys ever hear Steve Hill? How many of you know of Steve Hill? Okay. A handful of you do. He's a hard man.
[00:12:50] Are you?
[00:12:51] Did you sin this week? How many hours did you pray? I mean, this is a kind of mentor I had. If you think that I'm hard, I'm not hard, friend. I'm just telling you. And he looked at me across the room. He'd be like, this is what he said. He said, if you're still struggling with sin, this is not the meeting for you. If you have questions about, is it okay to smoke cigarettes or weed, if you're still struggling with luster, pornography, if you wonder if it's okay for me to take a little off the top for my business from myself, he's like, if you have those kinds of questions, this is not the meeting for you. Stop it.
[00:13:30] Whoa. So I marked off about five things on my list, questions that I had, and.
[00:13:37] Okay, I guess we're not talking about those, so.
[00:13:41] But you know. You know what that did for me?
[00:13:44] It raised the standard.
[00:13:46] It raised the standard. Here I am, a Bible school student. Here I am, a fairly new Christian. And all I had known in my christian walk was, I'm gonna do my best. I'm gonna resist the devil. I'm gonna try and stay in the spirit, and I'm gonna do the, you know, I'm gonna overcome just. I was living in the wilderness ministry of Jesus, but I have not come out of that into the realm where Jesus, the Bible says, went about doing good and healing all who are oppressed by the devil. You see, there was a transition in his life, where he went from the place of I am overcoming temptation, I am overcoming the devil, to where he left the wilderness and went about and released the same victory, the same freedom, the same ministry to everyone he came in conquest with.
[00:14:40] And that's what the Lord is calling us to.
[00:14:44] I praise God. If you've been filled with led by the spirit, I know temptation comes and we'll pray with you through those things and we'll see the devil broken off of your back. But there comes a time for every one of us where we say, and now that phase is done and it's time for me to move on to greater things, higher things. I'm going to be the son, the daughter that God has called me to be. Amen. He's calling us higher. Come on, tell your neighbor. He's calling you higher.
[00:15:20] That's right. Now I want you to write down a couple ideas and this is going to begin. Our text is in Romans. I've been going through this verse by verse and this is a very important topic today. Romans eight. In verse seven it says, the carnal, or the fleshly mind is enmity against God. Anybody know what enmity is? Enmity is it's rebellion. It's resistance. It's at war with God. And let me just point out something here. Do you know that even if you're, should I say this? Yeah, I'm going to say it. Even if you're outside of God, when God, the Bible says he reconciles the world to himself.
[00:16:07] He reconciles the world. Reconciliation is to bring us into a peaceful relationship with God. It's the opposite of enmity.
[00:16:17] I want you to understand something here.
[00:16:21] He's reconciling the world to himself.
[00:16:25] He's not reconciling himself to the world.
[00:16:33] He's reconciling the world to himself.
[00:16:36] He's not reconciling himself to the world. You say, what's the difference? Well, here's the difference. I can be angry at my wife and maybe she's not angry with me.
[00:16:50] She loves me. She doesn't even know that I'm upset or frustrated. This is an imaginary scenario, okay? But she doesn't know that anything's going on between us. She doesn't need to be reconciled to me. I need to be reconciled to her.
[00:17:05] I'm the one who has enmity, a hostile mind towards her. She doesn't have that towards me. Now what some people have done when they're dealing with the gospel is they think God's at war with me, that God is angry with me? No. Even while you were a sinner, he loved you. This is why I can stand on a street corner. This is why we can go to the gay district. This is why we can go to drug addicts. This is why we can go in every. And I can tell them with full confidence, Jesus loves you and he has a plan for your life.
[00:17:40] But right now, your mind is hostile towards him. Right now you're at enmity, and you need to be reconciled to him.
[00:17:51] God's crazy about you. Do you know that?
[00:17:54] I want you to write this down. You have a father. In fact, write it. Make it personal. I have a father and a spiritual family. I have a father and a spiritual family. I want you to write that down.
[00:18:08] I have three declarations for us today. I have a father and a spiritual family. Some of you may struggle with this idea of, like, does God really love me? Is God really pleased with me, or am I still at enmity with him?
[00:18:26] And there's only one question that you need to answer to know if you're at enmity with God or if you're at peace with God.
[00:18:34] One question.
[00:18:36] Not about how much you've blown it in the last week, not about how faithful your church attendance, not about how much you gave in the offering. There's only one question that you need to answer to know, am I. Is God pleased with me? Or am I at enmity with God? And the question is this. Have you been born again?
[00:18:57] That's it.
[00:18:59] Because the moment you are born of the spirit, the declaration of the Father, God is the very same thing that he declared over his son.
[00:19:11] This is my son whom I love, and with him I am so pleased. You see, God deals kind of in extremes. If you didn't know this, you are either your righteousness is like a dirty rag, or you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You're either as filthy as a horrible, filthy rag, or you are just as righteous as Jesus is. There's no middle ground. Once you're born again, Jesus accomplished work is released in your life. The fullness of the Holy Spirit is released in your life the moment that you believe in him before you do anything. And part of the evidence in this is the fact that when Jesus was baptized, the Father declared over him. He said, this is my beloved son, or, this is my son whom I love. With him, I am well pleased. Jesus had not preached a sermon. Jesus had not worked a miracle. Jesus. Up to that point, Jesus was a 30 year old living with his mom, no ministry. So there's hope. Parents, you just. I hope that my kids want to stay with me for a long time. I actually do. Don't leave 30 years old running his daddy's carpentry business, right?
[00:20:40] But, God, this is my son, and I love him, and I'm so pleased. And that used to confuse me until I had kids. Any parent will understand this. I remember the day that Moriah was born. I took one look at her. She came out the womb. I'm sorry if this is graphic, but this is real, and every parent knows this. She was dirty, she was messy, she was screaming, she was crying. And I took one look at her, and I said, I love her. Wow. She's amazing.
[00:21:14] She did nothing but make mess and cry and noise and poop and all of that, you understand?
[00:21:22] But I just. Wow.
[00:21:25] I love her.
[00:21:27] I'd come up on my son, and he's like. He had this little hand puppet thing, this old MacDonald book, and it had all the animals on your finger. And I'd walk up on him and be like, it's a cow. And old MacDonald had a far emai mo with a moo moo cow and a moo moo cow.
[00:21:51] I'm listening to this and, like, that's so awesome, son. I love you so much. I'm so happy with you.
[00:22:00] Anybody know what I'm talking about? Your kids, you just get excited about anything that they do. I mean, even I feel that way about kids. In our church, I was listening to one little kid in our church, and he was singing.
[00:22:14] What was the song? What's it?
[00:22:18] Come alive in the name of Jesus? But this is how he was singing it. He was saying, call my wife in the name of Jesus. Call my wife in the name of wish. That works, too.
[00:22:31] Bob's listening to him, and I'm like, oh, man. And you know what? But that's like, it's a son in the house. And it's like, I love that. That's so sweet. And I. You know, you just feel. Anybody know what I'm talking about? It's just like, you don't even have to. Like, they don't. They're not doing anything. They're not contributing anything, but. But you just love them. I'm so pleased. Let me ask you a question.
[00:22:55] You've been in Walmart.
[00:23:01] I don't know. This kind of stuff doesn't seem to happen in target, but you're in Walmart, and you hear some demon possessed kid going off, like, three aisles over. I want this. I hate you.
[00:23:16] Do you ever hear how many of you have heard that. You've heard that? Okay, do you ever hear that and think, I love you?
[00:23:25] I'm so proud of you. No. You think, like, I'm going to go teach those parents how to spank their child? Like, that's what I think usually.
[00:23:35] Why? Because they're not in my family. I don't know who that is. And you know what it creates in me?
[00:23:42] Hostility, enmity. Enmity. I'm telling you, and this is literally what our nature with God is. We're either outside of the family and at hostility with God, or we're in the family, and all we're receiving is his declaration, I love you, and I'm pleased with you. Now, you'll notice something.
[00:24:04] I phrased the wording in our first point very, very specifically, because even if you're not a born again believer, can you bring that first point back up? I have a father, and I have a spiritual family.
[00:24:19] This is true of you whether you're a born again believer or not.
[00:24:25] Jesus talked about how he gave himself that we could receive the right to become children of God. We all have the invitation to come into the family of God, to be born into his family. Ganeo regened his character, his likeness, his. His everything.
[00:24:46] But there was an occasion where there were a group of hypocrites of religious, and Jesus blasted them and actually says, you're a part of a different family.
[00:24:57] He says to them, he says that you are like your father, the devil.
[00:25:04] He said, your father is the father of lies. He's a murderous father. This is in John, chapter eight from the words of Jesus, and even talked about how you as fathers, are also producing spirits, spiritual sons and daughters, but they're twice the children of hell that. That you are. This is a strong word, and I need you to understand here today that you are a part of a family.
[00:25:30] You're a part of a family. You are either outside the family of God, which means you have a father who is hell bent on destroying your life.
[00:25:41] And what you produce will be death and perdition.
[00:25:47] But we've all been given the privilege, through the accomplished work of Jesus, to come into a new family under the affection of a loving father who gave his son for us, who is calling us. He loves you, and he's pleased with you, even when you offer him nothing.
[00:26:05] So which family are you a part of?
[00:26:08] I want you to be a part of God's family. That's what I feel like this revival is all about, is what God's going to do in our family. And he's going to add to our family and the reality of a father who is delighted in you the moment you get born again.
[00:26:26] All right, you got it? Okay, we're going to go a little deeper. Can you handle this? Oh, my. I need to go faster.
[00:26:33] Okay, look at verse nine here.
[00:26:37] Here's the line in the sand. You are not in the flesh.
[00:26:43] Praise God.
[00:26:44] You are not in the. Tell your neighbor. You are not in the flesh, not for real, like, come out of the wilderness. You're not in the flesh anymore. If you have been born again, if you have been born again, you are in the spirit.
[00:27:00] If indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not his. If that concerns you, I'm going to help you with that in a moment. But look at the new living translation. I like how it reads. You are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the spirit. If you have the spirit of God living in you. So I want you to write this down. I live my life in the spirit.
[00:27:28] I live my life in the spirit. This is actually the name of our series, life the spirit. And this is where, this is where I'm praying that God will help all of us walk in this awareness that I live my life in and with and through the Holy Spirit. And there's a clear distinction, you understand? He talks about, I need you to hear me because I'm going to set some of you free from a wrong mindset. Right now, he's dealing with. He says, listen, there are some who are outside of the family, and they are at enmity with God. They're angry at God and they resist God and they are not pleasing to God. We just read that.
[00:28:11] But you are not in the flesh.
[00:28:16] You are in the spirit. And by the way, he's writing to people who have plenty of mess in their life. But Paul's declaration over the church at Rome is, you are not fleshly, you are not carnal, you are not controlled by the lust of your flesh. You are controlled by the spirit.
[00:28:41] You are controlled. And this is why, this is why I holler at you guys all the time. Stop declaring, oh, I'm just a sinner. I stumble every day. I sin every day. Stop that.
[00:28:56] Stop that. I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I have been born again. I am holy. You say what? You're holy? Yes, I am holy. In first corinthians, chapter six, it gives a whole list of sins, every type of sexual immorality, idolatry drunkenness. Talks about those who have diarrhea of the mouth. They tear down other people, gossip, slanderers, greedy on and on. I promise. You read that list on there somewhere.
[00:29:31] But then it says, bring this up. Verse eleven, first corinthians 611.
[00:29:36] That's what some of you were.
[00:29:42] That's what some of you were. Well, pastor, once an addict, always an addict. No, I was an addict. I was an addict.
[00:29:52] Well, pastor, every man is always going to struggle with lust. No, that's what I was. That's what I used to be. But what does it say? I get excited about this stuff. You were washed, you were made holy. You were set right in the name of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah and by the spirit, the ruach of God.
[00:30:26] So stop. Woe is me.
[00:30:32] Woe is me. I just stumbled again.
[00:30:36] Stop it.
[00:30:38] Stop it. Not for real. Just stop it. Just stop it.
[00:30:43] You were washed.
[00:30:46] You were made holy by the power of Jesus, the messiah, the savior, and you have received the ruach, the spirit of God. The Holy Spirit. You know that the greatest sign of the Holy Ghost in your life. I'm quoting Ravenhill here, the greatest sign of the Holy Ghost in your life is a holy life.
[00:31:11] There's people praying in tongues, falling into hell. Praise God, but. Okay, I better move on.
[00:31:19] Just stop it.
[00:31:21] I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I am not a sinner. I'm a saint. According to scripture, I'm a saint.
[00:31:30] No need to build a statue, you know. Pray to me. Praise God.
[00:31:35] Now, you are not controlled by your sinful nature. This is verse nine. You are controlled by the spirit. If you have the spirit of God living in you. Now let me just. Let me just share something here. This is really important for us to understand here.
[00:31:53] Being filled with the spirit has little to nothing to do with praying in tongues. I need you to understand this because there are some who are sitting here today, even those who are watching online, and. And they wonder, well, I don't pray in tongues, so do I have this, Pastor Jacob? Do I have. And I just. You know what? You want to know how you're filled with the spirit? I'm going to classify some things. I wrote about this in my book, God's will, what it is to be filled with and to be baptized by the spirit. To be filled with the spirit and to be baptized in the spirit. So let me teach you something here. Are you ready for this? First Corinthians 316 says, as a believer, not a tongue talker, not a miracle worker, but as a born again believer. You are the temple of the Holy Ghost.
[00:32:48] You're the temple of the Holy Ghost. Say it. I'm a temple.
[00:32:53] Praise God. That's why we say like, I am the church. That's right. And this is why I work out, because I don't want to be a mega church.
[00:33:03] It took some of you a second, but you got it, huh?
[00:33:10] I'm a temple. I'm the temple of the Holy. The moment that I believed in Jesus, I received his spirit. I became the temple of the Holy Spirit. In John chapter three, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus. In verses five through eight, he said, when you're born again, you are born of the spirit. In Ephesians 113 and 14, he says, when you put your faith in Jesus, you receive the Holy Spirit as a seal, as a deposit, as a down payment of your eternal life. That happens the moment you believe. And guess what? That happens at the baptist church. Even though they deny miracles today, that happens for those who put authentic faith in Jesus, that can happen to a Catholic who has authentic faith in Jesus. They can be born of the spirit in the moment they put their faith in. In Jesus, they receive the spirit of God. They receive the spirit of God. And so again, this isn't about gifts. Romans chapter eight. We read the verse in verse 16. It says that his spirit joins with our spirit to affirm we are God's children. The moment you are Ganeo, the moment you are born again, you receive his spirit. I need you to understand this. You are a triune being, just like the Lord is. Father, son, Holy Spirit. You are also a Triune being. You have a body. You have a spirit, and you have a soul. We see our body. This is what we have on and around us. What you see in the mirror, you have your soul. This is your mind, your will, and your emotions.
[00:34:51] Everyone has a spirit now, a person who has not been born again, the Bible says in the spirit, they're dead.
[00:35:04] But for those of us who come to faith, we are born again. The spirit of God joins with our spirit to bring us into eternal life.
[00:35:19] You understand?
[00:35:21] I like just throwing out things. And for the theologians, you just got to chew on this. Eternal life doesn't begin when you die.
[00:35:29] Eternal life began the moment you believed on Jesus.
[00:35:34] What does that mean? Just think about it. I don't have time to go into it. It's a big deal. You were born of the spirit. That's the spirit of God in you. Now, there's another function of the Holy Spirit. In acts one eight, Jesus said, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will receive the power to be a witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. You understand there's two relationships that we have with the Holy Spirit. The moment that you believe in Jesus, you receive his spirit, and that's the spirit in you. And it's for you. He teaches you, he instructs you, he convicts you, he leads you, he's. I'm telling the spirit in me, it's all about me.
[00:36:25] But the spirit of God, when it comes upon me, when the spirit comes upon me, it's the power to be a witness. It's a prophetic word. For you, it's miracle working power. For you it's a word of wisdom. For you it's a word of knowledge. For you, it's the working of miracles. That's what casting out demons is. That's for you, it's the power to be a witness. Do you understand the difference? So we have the spirit in us, the life giving spirit, and we can receive the spirit upon us.
[00:37:04] Now let's review here quickly because this is going to get deep for us.
[00:37:09] What was our second point? Who's writing it down?
[00:37:14] I live my life in the spirit.
[00:37:19] Let's read that verse again. Romans eight, nine. This is like Bible study today. Is this okay for you?
[00:37:25] I'm giving you. Just leave that verse there.
[00:37:30] Why? How did I know to stay in worship a moment longer today?
[00:37:38] How did I know that the Lord wanted to refresh those who were in ministry in some capacity? How did I know? Pray. Start with this person. Pray right here. And the power of God.
[00:37:51] How do I know that? I'm trying to give you the secret sauce, if you will. I'm trying to give you the formula to what it is to have a life in the spirit. Now watch what this says.
[00:38:06] You are not in the flesh.
[00:38:10] You are in the spirit. That's what ruach Hebrew.
[00:38:18] You are in the spirit.
[00:38:23] You are in the spirit.
[00:38:31] If you have been born again, you are in the spirit.
[00:38:41] And I know some of you wondering like, pastor, do you realize you said that like four or five times? I'm not having a Joe Biden moment here. I'm sorry. I'm.
[00:38:57] I know we can cut that out of the video.
[00:39:10] Let me. I want, I want to give any aspiring Bible scholars just some help here, okay?
[00:39:18] When I first got saved, I just began reading my Bible.
[00:39:23] And you ask my wife, I'd have people come up to me all the time, literally. People called me Bible man, when I was in Bible school, because, you know, if they needed a theology question answered or something, they'd come to me. And I really. I mean, that was a point of arrogance for me for a time, because I'm just like, God has given me great revelation, you know? Yes, come to me, and we'd have these. And, you know, it was awesome. But as I went along, you know what I came to realize? I don't have crazy revelation. I just read my Bible, and most people even in Bible school, didn't.
[00:40:01] You want to know one of the keys to walking in the spirit? Being led by the spirit.
[00:40:07] Read your Bible and take your time.
[00:40:15] You know, I was on a bike for about an hour and 15 minutes earlier this week as I'm training for this triathlon, and I just mulled over this phrase, meditated on this phrase, I am in the spirit.
[00:40:40] I am in the spirit.
[00:40:47] I am in the spirit.
[00:40:58] Some of you need to do this. Slow down. Don't assume you know what this is talking about.
[00:41:05] I am in the spirit.
[00:41:16] You know what I believe happened in acts chapter two when the Holy Spirit was poured out.
[00:41:22] I like the way the tree of life, it uses the Hebrew Ruach.
[00:41:26] Ruach Hakodesh is the breath or the blast of God.
[00:41:34] And when the Bible says in acts one eight that a mighty rushing wind. You know what I believe that was? The Bible says Jesus breathed on his disciples in the upper room, receive the Holy Spirit. And I believe that hurricane blast that came into that room, that ruach, it was the breath of the living God. And we see paintings of this, like, cute little tongues of fire hanging on people's heads. I don't think that's what that was.
[00:42:02] To be baptized literally means to be immersed. It means to be overwhelmed. It means to be overcome. That's why we dunk people in water when we baptize them. They come out of that water and from the top of their head to the soles of their feet into their clothes, whatever they've got on them, it's all wet. They have been immersed, they have been submerged. And in that moment when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, it's not just a cute little flame that's hanging up over your head. I believe that when they looked at one another in the upper room, what they saw as a tongue of fire wasn't just a little lick of fire sitting on somebody's head. I believe they were absolutely immersed in gulf, submerged in fire.
[00:42:53] If you could see me in the spirit, I know what you see is my flesh.
[00:43:01] That's not who I am.
[00:43:05] I'm a spirit, eternally alive. And his spirit is joined with my spirit.
[00:43:13] I am in the spirit.
[00:43:16] I am immersed in the spirit. I am overwhelmed by the spirit. It's on me. It's around me. Where I go. The spirit of God goes where you go. The spirit of God is on you. It's in you. It's around you. Listen to me, friend.
[00:43:39] This is your inheritance.
[00:43:44] You are an heir with an inheritance. The moment Jesus was baptized, the spirit came upon him and he modeled for us what our life is supposed to look like. If you have been born again, the spirit of God is in you and you live a life in the spirit.
[00:44:07] If we would believe this, it would change everything.
[00:44:12] It would change everything. Oh, my goodness. Now, here's the last verse, and I've got just a moment to cover this. Oh, verse ten. Are you still alive?
[00:44:25] If not, we're going to pray. Resurrection power on you. It'll work.
[00:44:29] And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin. The spirit is life because of righteousness. I know that's a little confusing, but another translation says, even though your body will die because of sin, the spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. Oh, that is awesome. You realize if you've been made right with God, the spirit of God will give you life for all eternity. Oh, that is awesome. Your body will decay, it'll die, and that's fine. One day you're going to get a new body, but your spirit and your soul will continue forever with God. Now, this is another slow down and think about it moment. Are you ready?
[00:45:17] Verse ten.
[00:45:19] Christ lives within you.
[00:45:33] Jesus Christ. Another translation says, lives his life in you.
[00:45:42] Christ is in you.
[00:45:49] I want you to write this down. Jesus Christ lives in me.
[00:45:57] I know this seems like a very simple statement, but I also know none of us know this with full revelation.
[00:46:07] Because if we did, I'd already be hearing the stories of dead resurrections and blind eyes opening and people would be busting down walls just to get to you. If you understood what this means.
[00:46:23] This is not. I know you're having flashbacks to Sunday school. Let's all ask Jesus into our heart. That's not what this is.
[00:46:32] Jesus Christ himself lives in you.
[00:46:42] Jesus Christ himself lives in me.
[00:46:50] I feel like even that dream God gave me last night was really an affirmation. Yeah, you're on the right track, Jacob. I am with you. I am in. Isn't that what he prayed in John 17? Father, I pray that just as I am in you and you are in me, I pray they will be in me and we will be in one and the spirit will be in them.
[00:47:18] I mean, it's this beautiful dance with the Trinity that you get incorporated into the working of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that we have been baptized into the body of Jesus Christ. You in him.
[00:47:40] This says he is in you, the spirit is in you, and you are in the spirit, and we are one with the father.
[00:47:58] Everywhere Jesus went, I've been watching the chosen again. You've been watching the news. Oh, my goodness. I love it.
[00:48:06] And you watch. I mean, Jesus just stands up and the masses begin to come and they begin to press in and gather around. And that's how it was.
[00:48:17] That's how it was. And people knew, if I can just get to Jesus, I'll be healed. If I can just get to Jesus, I will be whole. If I can just get to Jesus, I will have. This is why they would cut holes in the roof. This is why they would press through the crowd. Because if I can just get to him.
[00:48:42] But then Jesus said something.
[00:48:45] It's to your advantage that I leave, because if I go, I'm going to send another helper, the spirit of the living God. And he will be in you. And then he prayed, Father, may they be in you, and I in them and on and on. This whole deal.
[00:49:06] Worship team, would you come? I'm closing.
[00:49:12] Do you realize everywhere you go, everywhere you go, Jesus is with you.
[00:49:32] For real.
[00:49:36] Everywhere you go, he's with you.
[00:49:42] Like, make this your homework. I'm in the spirit and Jesus is in me. You just take those two thoughts and just chew on it.
[00:49:52] Whoa.
[00:49:57] I know this seems elementary, but I'm telling you, it's the reason that I can lay hands on the sick and they will recover.
[00:50:08] It's a reason I can go and pray for my kids when they're having nightmares. And I know with all authority that whatever devil's harassing them, no, you do not have right place or authority any longer. Because, listen, I know this sounds strange, but when I step into my daughter's room and I pray for her healing, Jesus himself has just stepped into the room.
[00:50:37] And that's not just me.
[00:50:44] Teresa, when you're witnessing on the streets and you're sharing the love of Jesus, it's not just you and your words and your wisdom.
[00:50:56] The spirit of God is literally speaking through you and compelling people to be reconciled to God. That's straight bible.
[00:51:06] What did Jesus say? All you missionaries as you go out. Jesus said, I am with you even to the ends of the earth.
[00:51:18] It's not some spiritual. Oh, he's in my heart. No, he is with you.
[00:51:25] Jesus is with me. He is in me. He lives his life in and through me.
[00:51:37] And you.
[00:51:39] Oh, my. Okay. Why don't you stand? Why don't you stand? I'm going to pray for us.
[00:51:49] Help us, Lord.
[00:51:52] Help us, Lord.
[00:51:56] Help us, Jesus.
[00:52:01] Lord, I have been faithful to preach this word as you gave it to me.
[00:52:10] And I ask right now, Lord, that you would confirm your word.
[00:52:16] May we live in the reality that the spirit is more real than the physical world we see around us.
[00:52:27] We're in the spirit.
[00:52:30] And, Jesus, you're in us.
[00:52:33] And you're in the Father.
[00:52:35] And we've received your spirit.
[00:52:39] We're an heir with an inheritance. We are sons of God. We are daughters of God.
[00:52:49] God, let this be more than a teaching or a theology.
[00:52:53] Let this be our new living reality.
