Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hey, I want you to bring up. I do have the notes available on the Bible app. I don't know if Anybody uses the YouVersion Bible app, but there's a QR code I think that you can scan somewhere here.
[00:00:13] And today will be a good day to get the notes because I think I've got a lot more than I'm going to actually have time to share. If you scan that, it'll take you into the Bible app. You'll have all the points, all my verses in the right place, version, all of that. That'll be helpful. Speaking of the Bible, why don't you stand to your feet as we honor the reading of God's word? I want you to turn with me to the book of second Peter.
[00:00:39] Second Peter.
[00:00:41] We're going to begin at verse one. Pastor began something last week that I want to pick up on today.
[00:00:51] Second Peter, Chapter one. We're just going to read verses one through four.
[00:00:56] Follow along with me right here. Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ.
[00:01:04] To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus, our Lord, his divine power. Everybody say divine.
[00:01:32] His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge.
[00:01:44] You see, these words are important through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which we have been, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you might be partakers of the divine nature. You ought to say divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
[00:02:16] Hallelujah. This, ladies and gentlemen, is God's word and believe it to be true. You may be seated.
[00:02:28] The preacher gets nervous when other preachers are going right before him. So when I saw pastor was receiving the offering today and then Pastor Becky wants to come up and share something, I got a little nervous. But in the unity of the spirit, these they were sharing Exactly. Actually what I wanted to launch my message with. In fact, I might be able to skip my whole first page because of what pastor just shared.
[00:02:55] I learned something about our pastors a number of years ago.
[00:02:59] About 10 years ago, I realized that their default is yes.
[00:03:07] We say yes to turkeys. We say yes to opportunities that are in front of us. And it challenged my thinking because about 10 years ago, I was sitting in my office, I got a call from a pastor and he said, hey, I have a church building in Irving do you guys want to.
[00:03:28] Do you guys want to take over this building?
[00:03:31] My immediate reaction to this was, no, I don't want to go to Irving.
[00:03:36] But I remember walking into Pastor Jim's office and presenting him like, hey, this is available to us. Would you have any interest in doing this? And his immediate no hesitation response was, yes.
[00:03:52] I'm like, what? I'm like, irving. Like, this is Irving. Okay. I don't know if anybody's coming from Irving today. But we didn't end up taking that because it was. It was not a very good offer. It wasn't a great building.
[00:04:06] But it shocked me that his default response was yes.
[00:04:13] And it challenged me because I realized I had, I guess you could say, some confusion. His default was immediately, faith. God can do this. We don't know what God's opening. My default was, well, here's all the problems, here's why it wouldn't work. And it began me on a process for literally the last 10 years. And I'm still in this process of really beginning to examine and look at are there areas of my life where my default is confusion, unbelief.
[00:04:48] Like I have an opportunity to be generous, but my default is poverty. Even if I don't say it that way, what first comes to mind is that's not possible for me or my desire is to believe, for healing, either for myself or somebody else. But my default says, but actually I don't feel very good and let me just pray a comfort prayer, and let's just suffer through this until I rather than the word of God says, are you trekking with me so far? There's this. This challenge that comes into each and every one of us. You understand what you believe and what you declare matters a lot.
[00:05:34] Have we attached our. You'll notice this word knowledge is used a lot throughout the book of Second Peter. It's about six different times, and every time it's connected to a different promise or a different idea. And I'm just here to tell you today, if you can change your declaration, you'll change your destiny.
[00:05:55] What you begin to speak out the words that you meditate on. I'm telling you over time, it's not just here, it's not just a memory verse that I can quote, but it actually begins to flow out of the spirit. It begins to become your default. Where it used to be fear or anxiety or unbelief or poverty or lack or sin or fill in the blank. Now my default is, yes, I believe God. And I believe God could do something, see The Bible says Proverbs 18:21, that death, life are in the power of the tongue.
[00:06:37] Death and life are in the power of the tongue. What are you speaking?
[00:06:44] What are you declaring?
[00:06:46] What are you believing for? Joshua 1:8 says, the book of the law is talking about the word of God shall not depart from your mouth. What are you saying?
[00:06:56] But you shall meditate on it.
[00:06:59] What are you believing? You shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
[00:07:14] Your declarations matter.
[00:07:17] That's why this last week we had about 160 different educators who are together. And I've been told that the part that everyone is most excited about is when we release these declarations.
[00:07:32] You are an educator. Your classroom is a sanctuary.
[00:07:36] You are a beacon of hope.
[00:07:38] You are an example of peace to these who come in your classroom.
[00:07:45] It's powerful because these are constantly. You know, parents don't often show up to parent teacher conferences and compliment their teachers. What a great job they're doing. It's kind of like pastors. The only emails we ever get are complaints. You got this wrong. And somebody hurt my feelings and you didn't show up.
[00:08:03] So to have a moment where we invite teachers and educators and we just encourage them, and we declare life and we speak truth. All of a sudden, what begins to happen is now they're being affirmed and they're receiving new declarations, new promises.
[00:08:20] And you watch as hearts begin to shift in this.
[00:08:25] So here's what I want to highlight. Look at verse three.
[00:08:30] It says, his divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Watch this through the knowledge. Everybody say knowledge.
[00:08:42] This is an intimate knowing. Not just. Not just. I got the idea. I wrote down the point, but I know it. It's in my heart. It is my default now. But verse four, I want to read it out of a couple different translations. First, I'm sorry, Second Peter two, four out of the new living translation says, these are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature.
[00:09:13] These are the promises. What are these promises? These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature in the passion. It says this as a result of this, these promises, he has given you magnificent promises that are beyond all price. So that through the power of these tremendous promises, we can experience partnership with the divine nature. That word partaker is literally the same root word that we use for communion.
[00:09:46] And we understand that it's more than Just a remembrance, but it's actually a partnership.
[00:09:52] It's a union. It's a one ship. This is what it is to know God.
[00:09:58] We have union. Everybody say union.
[00:10:02] Partnership to share with.
[00:10:07] Now here's the word that really trips me out. Pastor touched on this last week.
[00:10:11] We are partnering with what?
[00:10:14] The divine.
[00:10:17] That word. I copied and pasted it straight from Strong's Concordance because I don't want you to think that I'm making something up. But you'll see that the word divine is the word theos and it means godlike, divine or godhead.
[00:10:35] This is a huge idea. Have you ever had somebody pray for you and you know that it was more than just encouraging words? I felt God in that prayer. Anybody know what I'm talking about? You had a moment where somebody cared for you, but it was more than just a gesture of love. It's like I felt God through that.
[00:10:57] I think we've all had moments. Maybe you've heard the preaching of the word or you've heard worship and you realize that's more than just some skilled musicians and a good vocalist. This is. There's God moving through. What is that?
[00:11:11] That is partnership. That is union. That is sharing in the divine nature.
[00:11:18] If we knew to read it again out of the new living translation. These are the prom that enable you or empower you to share in divine nature.
[00:11:32] Now I want to give you.
[00:11:34] So what are these? He's actually listed a few of them. We read it a moment ago, but you may not have seen it on face value. I want to give you seven divine blessings.
[00:11:44] That is an overflow of exceedingly great and precious promises.
[00:11:50] I know that was a mouthful. I'll say it again. Seven divine blessings.
[00:11:55] An overflow of exceedingly great and precious promises. I want to give you some handles today, okay?
[00:12:04] We can have union with the divine nature.
[00:12:07] We can stand on God's promises. We can believe God's promises. I need to know his promises. But what are they? Well, there's many, but I'm going to give you seven today. Number one, if you're taking notes, write this down. We are partakers of divine family.
[00:12:26] We are partakers. We are receiving. We are releasing. We are being blessed by divine family. You'll see this in verse one.
[00:12:37] The ESV says Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours.
[00:12:51] A faith of equal standing with ours. Now just wait a second.
[00:12:59] This is Peter.
[00:13:02] I know we dog on Peter a lot and talk about how He's a sailor. He cussed, he's brash and all that. But think for a moment.
[00:13:11] This is Peter who walked on water.
[00:13:17] This is Peter who spoke to a lame man and saw him healed.
[00:13:21] This is Peter who gained such a reputation for healing that literally, people would come and drag their sick and paralyzed out into the streets, hoping that just by walking by his shadow would pass over him, that they might be healed. This is Peter, who has been revered as an apostolic father of faith. This is Peter, one of the foundation blocks of the church of Jesus Christ. This is Peter, who Jesus said, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church.
[00:13:54] And Peter is saying, you have the same stuff as I do.
[00:14:03] That's a trip. How's that possible?
[00:14:07] It's divine.
[00:14:09] We are partnering with that which is divine. We have, like, precious faith. So I want you to understand, you may have come from a mess. You may. You may have a horrible family line, but realize that through your union with God, this divine nature, you have been grafted into a legacy of generational blessings.
[00:14:35] You want to talk about promises? The Bible says In Galatians, chapter 3, verses 8 and 9, and the scripture foreseeing God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, in you shall all nations be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Come on, I want you to say it. I am blessed.
[00:15:05] That is the gospel truth.
[00:15:08] And there, by the way, are about 50 promises that were given to Abraham that you and I. This is why you can just search the Scripture. This is why singing songs like Psalm 103 are powerful. Forget not his benefits. You heal my diseases, you forgive my sin. You realize that's for you.
[00:15:32] Because you've been grafted into this family of faith, you can literally begin to search the scripture. I hope you're trekking with me this morning. Are you getting encouraged yet?
[00:15:43] If not, just hang on. We'll get there.
[00:15:46] You can literally search the Scripture and there are promises like, I want to believe for long life.
[00:15:53] How many of you want a long life?
[00:15:55] You know, the Bible says Psalm 91:16, with long life, I will satisfy him. That's a promise you can grab hold of. Or how many of you desire a sound mind.
[00:16:07] Isaiah 26, verse 3 says, you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is set on you. The Bible says that everything you touch shall be blessed. That's Deuteronomy 28:8. The Lord will command his blessing on all. You set your hand to Psalm 1:3. That whatever you do shall prosper. Literally, everything you touch as you walk in these divine promises will be blessed.
[00:16:36] Will be blessed. You have the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. According to John 14:16, Jesus prayed. I pray the Father give you another helper, and he will abide with you forever.
[00:16:49] That means you're never without help.
[00:16:52] You have a helper, the Holy Ghost, who will show up in every moment that you need.
[00:16:58] You have God's protection. According to Psalm 91:10. You have God ordering your steps. You need to never need to be confused over the will of God. As you walk after him. He orders your steps. According to Psalm 37:23, God is a defender of your name.
[00:17:15] Never have to defend yourself. The Lord, Exodus 14:14, will fight for you.
[00:17:21] God is giving you land. Come on, you know you can lay claim to. I'm believing for a home. I'm believing for land. I'm believing for properties. That's exactly what God promised Joshua in Joshua 24:13. I will give you land for which you did not labor, cities which you did not build, and you shall dwell in them.
[00:17:42] Had somebody who was given to. Can you imagine? And God told him, just this last year, as we were coming into the second year, you need to double what you had committed. They doubled it. And then they proceeded to tell me, pastor, God's opening a wonderful door. We are about to move into a house that we did not build. God's giving us a house and that's being funded by a business we did not start. It was given to us.
[00:18:07] What is that? Those are the promises of God. You realize that was a promise given to Joshua.
[00:18:14] But you have been grafted into the very same promises because you are a part of this family of faith. And you can lay hold of the very same things that God told Abraham that God shared with others. In fact, I've learned this from Cindy Jacobs. You can borrow prophetic words.
[00:18:32] I like that word. I'm gonna take that for myself.
[00:18:34] Why? Because if that's what God is doing, you can grab hold of it.
[00:18:39] This is why there was a word over this house. This will be a cancer free zone.
[00:18:44] This will be a cancer free zone. And so this is why, like, anytime I was a guest speaker, if I'd go preach somewhere else, I would just declare the Church of Jesus Christ is a cancer free zone. Now, I know that was a word for Trinity Church, but if God's going to be doing that here, why not do that everywhere we go? Why? Because I'm grabbing hold of a promise. There's a prophetic word over plunge that those waters would be a pool of Bethesda. An area that when people go down into those waters, they would come up healed. You know, Just a couple weeks back, we hosted a ladies event, Stacy Cathcart Assemblies of God. They had ladies here. There was a woman who was baptized, who had cervical cancer. She came out of the waters of baptism completely healed.
[00:19:35] That's a miracle.
[00:19:37] What is that? We're standing on promises. There have been words that have been declared over this house. There have been words declared over your life. There have been words declared all throughout scripture. And, friend, you can lay hold of them because you are a part of a divine family.
[00:19:58] Seven blessings. Number two. Oh, I need to move faster. Number two, you are partakers of divine righteousness.
[00:20:06] Everybody say righteousness.
[00:20:09] This again is in verse one. We have obtained like precious faith by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Through your union with God, you are receiving his righteousness.
[00:20:25] This is a big deal.
[00:20:27] This is not just behavior modification, but this is actually beginning to partake of the very same nature, the very same righteousness that Jesus Christ himself walked in.
[00:20:40] This is a big deal. In fact, I want you to bring up this second Corinthians. You ought to memorize this verse. Second Corinthians, chapter five. And verse 21, it says that he, this is the Father. God made him Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for you, for me, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
[00:21:09] This in theology terms, maybe you've heard this before, but I love sharing the gospel. In fact, we were. We were at. Just leave this verse up here for a moment. We were at a memorial service for Doris Son, and it was a beautiful gathering. I shared a couple verses. Pastor Tim came up and he shared the eulogy. Then I had a gentleman come up to me immediately after the service, and he says, it's a joy to meet fellow brothers in Christ.
[00:21:41] Same family.
[00:21:42] I don't know this guy, but we're brothers.
[00:21:45] And then he says, I love to hear the gospel.
[00:21:50] And that's what we did. We had preached the simplicity of the gospel. This is the gospel, Jesus. This is what we call the great exchange. He knew no sin. Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, sinless in every way. He knew no sin, but God made him to be sin for us, that we might become, not perform not, do not just have applied, but when we are partakers of divine righteousness. I'm telling you, it's not just behavior modification. It is who I Am I have become the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus. And this is your holy inheritance as well. This is a promise that you and I can lay hold of. This is why I don't. I try and correct people like, listen, stop going around declaring, well, I'm just a sinner.
[00:22:44] I'm just a sinner. We all make mistakes. No, you are the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus.
[00:22:52] Oh, my goodness. Righteousness, hear me, friend, isn't just distance from the world. It is nearness to the divine nature of God. God, want to know the path to integrity, the path to holiness.
[00:23:06] Get close to Jesus.
[00:23:09] I was raised like the reason you're still in lust is because you don't hate your sin enough.
[00:23:14] I've just learned. I don't think that's true, man. Because I hated that sin quite a bit.
[00:23:19] I hated sin. You've all hated sin. You've had moments that you just feel guilt and remorse and shame over the things that you've done.
[00:23:27] But as you draw near to the Lord, all of a sudden you realize there's this great exchange that's happening. I'm gonna take those things that are shameful. I'm gonna take those areas that are broken. I'm gonna take those ugly things and I'm gonna. I'm gonna place them upon myself.
[00:23:42] And I am going to give you. Not just apply to you, but from the inside out. What does the Bible say? I am cross Christ.
[00:23:53] We used to emphasize the crucifixion. You need to die to yourself. You need to crucify that flesh man. That's true. But the key to success in Galatians 2:20 is that you have been crucified with Christ.
[00:24:06] You are in union with him. You want to know where your flesh dies?
[00:24:11] Union. You want to know where righteousness comes?
[00:24:15] Union.
[00:24:18] He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become.
[00:24:25] Oh my, we are. Thirdly, these are seven blessings. The overflow of exceeding great and precious promises. Just helping you. Yet me too.
[00:24:37] Number three. We are partakers of divine grace and peace.
[00:24:44] In fact, you'll notice we read this just a moment ago. He said grace and peace multiplied.
[00:24:55] Not just grace, but grace. Grace.
[00:24:59] That should be a familiar word to us. Not just peace, but peace. Peace.
[00:25:05] This is grace multiplied. I actually believe that greater measures of God's divine attributes and attitudes towards us should be made manifest the closer and closer we get to meeting God for all eternity.
[00:25:23] His kingdom is not diminishing in power, it's increasing in power. Of the increase of your governance and kingdom. There will be no end of the Bible. Promised glory is getting more glorious.
[00:25:35] Grace is getting more gracious.
[00:25:38] Peace is getting more peaceful.
[00:25:41] It's multiplied the longer time goes on. In fact, the Bible, God actually declares over himself when he's revealing himself to Moses on Mount Sinai in Exodus 34.
[00:25:55] This is his declaration. The lord, merciful, gracious, long suffering, abounding in goodness and truth, expressing mercy to a thousand generations.
[00:26:12] And then the Bible repeats that again in numbers and then again in nehemiah and then again in psalms about four times, and then again in Joel two times, and then in Jonah and nahum and Romans and second Peter and first Timothy, over and over and over again. God is gracious and he is merciful, and he is slow to anger, and he is of great kindness, and he relents from doing harm. He does not want to bring judgment. He desires to leave a blessing. Yes, curses endure three to four generations, but my blessing is to a thousand generations.
[00:26:50] This is grace and this is peace.
[00:26:54] Now, I believe that a great evidence of this pastor made a statement last week. I think he's going to build on it more in the coming weeks.
[00:27:02] That promises attract trouble.
[00:27:08] How many have ever experienced this?
[00:27:11] I remember praying for a young man who he felt the call, I'm going to be a great healing minister.
[00:27:17] And he declared over himself during a church service. I was watching him preach. I walk in divine health. I never get sick. And I'm going to believe for divine healing for you. You're never going to get sick, boy. The next day, I watched that kid get the most serious sinus infection I've ever seen anybody have. He got slammed with sickness so fast.
[00:27:37] And the default would be like, well, that must not have been God's word over my life. I say, now, I think you're on track, buddy. And I think you need to double, double down. In fact, the evidence of a promise is often the presence of a problem.
[00:27:55] How do you know you're in the will of God? Well, what's the devil pushing back on?
[00:28:01] It makes me wonder that the last five years in particular, we have seen an epidemic. I'm telling you, Covid, is not the worst epidemic that's come in the last five years. But it's been the onslaught of fear and anxiety as an overflow of that season.
[00:28:21] Fear and anxiety and the fact that this has become a worldwide phenomenon. I mean, you turn on the radio, you turn on the television, you listen to preachers, you listen to psychiatrists, you listen to secular, you listen to religious Everybody's talking about fear and anxiety and it just makes me wonder, devil, what are you, what promise are you pushing back on so adamantly that you feel like this needs to be a worldwide demonic agenda of fear and anxiety? I would submit to you that I believe we're moving into a season of the greatest grace and peace would be to God, that people who are gripped by fear and anxiety would step into places of worship all around the world. And the anxiety and the fear that grips the their heart in the world, all of a sudden they come amongst the people of God and they're encountering greater grace and greater peace than they've ever experienced in their life.
[00:29:26] May this be that grace and peace be multiplied unto you.
[00:29:35] We are fourthly partakers of divine provision.
[00:29:42] We're partakers of divine provision.
[00:29:46] Verse 3. Second Peter says his divine power has given to us all things. Everybody say all things.
[00:29:57] All things that pertain to life and godliness.
[00:30:02] Now if you've learned anything about this church, you know, we like words, we like definitions.
[00:30:07] We'll look at the Greek and the Hebrew, we'll look at Strong's, we'll look at Webster's, all of it.
[00:30:12] Then the Bible says that you have received all things.
[00:30:17] I'm not, I'm actually not joking. I've said this jokingly before. It means all. But it actually does mean all. It means all, always, every, as many, whole and whosoever.
[00:30:33] God has given you all, every, as many, the whole thing for whosoever. That's what all means. So is your promise included in that always?
[00:30:47] Is it included in this? Am I a part of this? Whosoever? Absolutely you are. If you have come into this family of faith, if you have come to believe and are in union, this is one of the divine promises that you can grab hold of. You have all things that pertain to life and godliness.
[00:31:07] All things.
[00:31:09] I know it's a heavy thing. You watch people get married and all of a sudden the husband realizes I need to provide for my family and it feels big.
[00:31:18] But he's given you all things that pertain to life and godliness. God gave you a vision for a business.
[00:31:26] You believe that it's going to become a multimillion dollar endeavor. He's giving you all things that pertain to life and godliness. He wants you to run for office. Maybe he's asked you, listen, I know this has been a generational curse on your family. There's been addiction, there's been poverty. But I'm going to change that with You. How's that going to happen?
[00:31:45] Whosoever all things, every. I'm going to believe that. This is God's promise for me, friend. You got to know it.
[00:31:58] You got to declare this over your. This is one of my divine promises. This is what it is to partake of divine nature.
[00:32:06] It's not a lack of provision.
[00:32:10] I remember. I don't think I've shared this here, but there was a homeless gentleman in the city that I grew up. I can't even call it a city. I grew up in a little town and we had like one homeless person in town. Anybody grow up in a town like that, you had the one homeless guy push a cart around.
[00:32:30] His name was Granville. Push the cart around. And everybody knew Granville. He's kind of a local legend in our town. And I'll never forget when Granville died, I was in high school and he passed away. And then there was a news article that came out about Granville. And come to find out Granville had wealthy parents who had left him a large inheritance. Come to find out, this man who walked around homeless his entire life had multiple millions of dollars and had a massive home on the other side of town.
[00:33:03] He had all of this inheritance, yet he never accessed it.
[00:33:08] And I remember the Lord speaking to me in a context I was believing for faith to cast out a demon. And I remember the Lord speaking to it. So strange, but I remember him speaking to me and as I was contending over deliverance, and he says, you know what, Jacob? You're like Granville.
[00:33:26] What are you talking about?
[00:33:28] You have my authority, you have my power, you have my provision. All things that pertain to life in God. You have my word and yet you live as though you have nothing.
[00:33:44] Stop waiting for a deposit and start living from your divine inheritance.
[00:33:51] This is what God has for us.
[00:33:55] I could never give to Cane. You imagine I could never be debt free. You don't understand. We've always had debt.
[00:34:00] Divine inheritance.
[00:34:03] You're a co heir with Christ. You have come into this family of faith. Oh, my goodness.
[00:34:10] I need to continue.
[00:34:11] I got two more and these will go fast.
[00:34:14] Seven blessings overflow of exceedingly great and precious promises. Is this helping you? All right, Number four. Got some of you. Number five. You are partakers of divine elevation.
[00:34:26] Ooh, I like this. Number three. Through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue.
[00:34:34] It's virtue or excellence.
[00:34:37] I could spend all week just on this word itself. But literally most word for word translations, study the words in this.
[00:34:47] Has he called us to glory and virtue or excellence. Most word for word translations actually break it down and say, he has called us to his own glory and virtue. His own glory and excellence. God's call is calling us to his own glory and excellence. Now, let me. Let me just simplify this for you. The Bible says that we've all fallen short of his glory, yet he has all called us to his glory.
[00:35:23] And you'll notice this pattern all throughout the Bible when you are united with Him.
[00:35:29] The very next verses that often follow begin to talk about, now you.
[00:35:36] You've been united with Christ. So now you. There are all these great and precious things that have happened through Jesus. Now you. And you'll see this pattern all throughout. So God's desire, part of his great and precious promises over your life. I need you to hear me on this.
[00:35:55] The Bible says that God will elevate you if you humble yourself.
[00:36:00] That's first Peter 5, 6. That he will make you the first and not the last. That's Deuteronomy 28:13. The Bible says that he will prosper you. Jeremiah 29:11, 3 John 1:2. And he will make your name great.
[00:36:16] See, we think that this is like wrong in the body of Christ.
[00:36:20] Well, it's not about me. It's all about Him. Stop with the false humility thing.
[00:36:27] Somebody taught me something when I was in Bible school. Like, someone comes up to you and says, man, that was a great sermon. Well, just praise the Lord. It's not me. It's all him. Baloney.
[00:36:37] You don't think that I was taught to do this? You say, thank you.
[00:36:44] And then when you get alone with Jesus, you say, lord, I understand that everything that I have the privilege of doing, it's all you.
[00:36:51] This isn't my gift. It's yours. It's not my glory, it's yours. Lord. Thank you for the privilege of serving in honor. So when somebody compliments you. Hey, you look really nice today. Well, praise God. It's just.
[00:37:03] Thank you.
[00:37:04] My wife got me this shirt. Hallelujah. Thanks. I combed my hair today. Praise God.
[00:37:13] He will make your name great. He will empower you to be a lender and not a borrower. He will increase you exceedingly. Psalm 115, 14. He. He will lift you up. Psalm 33. But this is found. Listen, hear me. This is not found in puffing yourself up, building your own platform. Well, I figured out the algorithm and so now I've got some followers pushing doors open on your own? No, it comes from abiding and serving and honoring and loving the Lord. And what he begins to do is he will lift you, you up.
[00:37:48] Remember the sons of thunder. Mark 10:37. This is awesome. These two boys come to Jesus and say, lord, would you permit to us when you're on your throne, we want to sit on your right hand and on your left hand.
[00:38:03] You remember what Jesus said? He didn't rebuke them.
[00:38:07] How dare you ask to be great? How dare you ask for a position. No, he says, you want to be elevated.
[00:38:14] You must be willing to drink what I drink and be baptized. Union.
[00:38:21] You must be willing to be the same that I am. I'm going to obtain greatness because I suffer and because I serve. And if you are willing to do that, you will be great.
[00:38:35] And then you'll notice, you know who those two boys were? Peter, James, and John.
[00:38:41] And you'll notice before that, you'd hear all about Peter. It's. Everything's Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter.
[00:38:46] But after they make that request, you start hearing about three boys who get invited up on the mountain. Three boys who get to see the dead race. Three boys who get invited into particular meetings that nobody else was a part of. Peter, James, and John. They got exactly what they asked for.
[00:39:02] Friend, you ought to believe for divine elevation as you come into the body of Christ. Elevation will come. Now, this is what The Bible says. First Corinthians 3.
[00:39:16] As you behold the Lord, you look upon his glorious image. And the Bible says that you begin to reflect his glory as in a mirror. So hear me. For the believer, glory is not the spotlight.
[00:39:32] It's a reflection.
[00:39:35] I see him and I'm becoming like him.
[00:39:39] And any glory you perceive in me is a reflection of what God himself has done.
[00:39:47] Hallelujah.
[00:39:51] Hey, I'm doing good on time. I'm closing with this worship team. You can come.
[00:39:56] The last two kind of go together.
[00:39:58] Seven divine blessings overflow of exceeding, great and precious promise. I'm just giving you handles today to grab. What are the promises I can believe for?
[00:40:07] What are the things that I can stand on the word of God?
[00:40:11] Well, number six, it's actually the theme of the entire message. You are partakers of divine nature.
[00:40:19] You are partakers of the God nature.
[00:40:23] You're becoming more and more like Jesus.
[00:40:28] You're becoming more and more like the Lord, and that's a big deal.
[00:40:34] The Bible says that we are in the world as Jesus himself was.
[00:40:40] That means you can walk into a place where there is a storm and you're carrying the prince of Peace on the inside of you. And storms are Neutralized.
[00:40:51] You can come in where people are tormented and harassed by devils, but the moment that you step foot in that place, there is an authority. Because you're walking in union. You are a partaker of the divine nature.
[00:41:03] A simple example that I always give. Like, we would not question for a moment if Jesus Christ himself in body walked into this room and prayed for you and your sick body, we would all believe in that moment. Oh, you about to get healed, right?
[00:41:20] But you and I are partakers of the very same divine nature you and I are receiving of. I'm fed by the same source. I've been washed by the same blood. I have been filled with the same spirit. The very same anointing that was on him is upon me. It's upon you.
[00:41:39] And so when we step into a place, it's as if Jesus himself stepped onto the scene because you're in union with him. Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. He's with you. He's in you. He's upon you. He's giving you all things that pertain to life and godliness.
[00:42:04] Here's the last one.
[00:42:07] Every one of these is awesome. Everyone I read, I want to say this is my favorite, but these are all just great promises.
[00:42:13] We are partakers of divine rescue.
[00:42:19] You received of the divine nature, verse 4.
[00:42:23] You may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
[00:42:33] This really goes hand in hand with that great exchange point that I made earlier.
[00:42:41] You have received the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
[00:42:46] You want to know how you end corruption and lust?
[00:42:51] Transformation doesn't happen through striving, but through union.
[00:42:58] I want to help. I want to help you today.
[00:43:06] I spent a lot of years ministering to Teen Challenge. I didn't get a lot of preaching opportunities when I was first starting out. So I'd go volunteer and meet these guys in Teen Challenge, and they just like the same sin cycles over and over and over and over and over. If I could just get the right teaching, if I could just, you know, have accountability, if I could just hate that sin enough and love Jesus more, if I could just.
[00:43:33] And you watch these guys go in the same cycles over and over.
[00:43:40] Transformation comes through union.
[00:43:44] If we would come into the presence of God and behold the Lord. You know, maybe the simplest example I could give of this through my relationship with my wife.
[00:43:59] We got married, we exchanged vows in front of witnesses, and I don't even remember what's all on that list of Vows, I think better and worse, richer, poorer. I don't know if that one even made it, to be honest, but I know there was a list. I know there were things that I had to agree. But I have never my pursuit of this woman gone back to my wedding vows. And let me double check this list of commands once again.
[00:44:33] Why?
[00:44:35] Because I know her.
[00:44:38] I'm in union with her.
[00:44:41] I know what she loves, I know what she hates.
[00:44:45] And I live my life in a way that's pleasing to her. I know when I grieve her, I can hear her breath.
[00:44:55] And I know if we're flirting or if we're fighting, you know what I'm talking about.
[00:45:02] And what's incredible, you guys, the longer we have spent together, the more we think the same.
[00:45:11] Like we finish each other's sentences. I can't tell you how often I pick up the phone to message her and I see she's already in the exact same moments typing a message to me like we were thinking about each other at the same time. And I see some couples raising their hands and saying, yes, we do the same.
[00:45:27] What is that? You ever notice that couples that spend a lot of time, years and years together end up looking the same?
[00:45:39] But I know, yeah, people are looking at their neighbors.
[00:45:42] I could point out a couple that are close to me right now.
[00:45:48] People spend time with their dog and it's not very long before the dog has the same haircut as the owner.
[00:45:55] Husband acts the same way as the dog.
[00:45:59] Spend time.
[00:46:02] This union that change, that transformation happens not because now give me a list, Leah, of all of your attributes, all of your likes and all of your dislikes. And I'm going to try my best. I never got that list list.
[00:46:19] But I know her.
[00:46:22] And it's the very same way with the Lord.
[00:46:25] There are lists of things that please him and displease him. And I'm not saying you shouldn't ever look at that stuff or check your life in comparison to that. It's a wonderful thing to do.
[00:46:37] But what I want to invite you into today is this beautiful union that you and I get to share with him.
[00:46:44] Because I'm here to tell you, if you spend time with him, you're going to look like him.
[00:46:51] You're going to start talking like him and thinking like him. And you're going to know instinctively. I don't even have to check the list. I know that pleased the Lord. I don't have to check the list. I know that grieved the Lord. I know because I hear his breath. I feel his. He doesn't even have to say a word. I know if I'm pleasing to him or if I'm grieving him.
[00:47:12] Union partakers of the divine nature, help us, Lord.
