Wednesday 30 January 2008

"Invading the Impossible" - 13th January 2008 - City Church

I don't want to make many comments about this sermon for fear of distracting from the pure glory of what Rob said - but I have listened to this sermon three times know and have just been overwhealmed by the glory of revelation he has preached. Like his first sermon of 2008 - if this sermon is setting a pattern for the quality of preaching that City Church have in store for this year, then it is going to be QUITE a year in Hong Kong!

"I want to talk today about such an exciting subject - I have given quite a bit of thought to this. God dropped it into my head on Monday. I believe it is designed to bring every person that gets revelation as they hear this - to lift you to a new level of rest and into a place of peace from which you can invade the impossible and make impossibilities bow their knees to you as you walk over them with the conquering authority of the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

This subject is so wonderful I couldn't just give one title to it so I have decided to call it "Invading the Impossible" or "How to Make the Promises of God Manifest in Your Life" or "How to See God's Promises Fulfilled". It could be "How to access grace to invade the impossible" or "How to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God manifesting in your life". So let's pray together! I want to be like David and look at Goliath and be appalled at the fact that Israel has been intimidated by a man who doesn't have a covenant. Israel was looking at his size but David saw him as uncircumcised. He knew that Goliath was uncircumcised under the Old Covenant, he did not have a covenant with the God that he, David, knew as his intimate friend.

David saw that giant as opposition that looked big but it was an impossibility that would bow it's knee - if he didn't run off.

So he ran at that giant and took it out and he forced from a place of revelation, impossibility to bow it's knee to him - a friend of God!

Many of us have got giants we are facing. For some it can be cancer, for some it can be financial pressure, for some it can be marriage problems, for some it can be children problems. It can be all kinds of issues - these giants. But if we do not invade these giants then these giants will invade us. You do not hold up a white flag to giants and hope they will keep their territory. They will eat up your territory and even more of you.

There is no place for passivity in the kingdom of heaven. If we do not invade the impossible then we begin to form life philosophies and theologies that make excuses seem legitimate to live in defate. But there is no excuse in the kingdom of heaven to live in defeat. We are called to advance the authority of the kingdom of heaven.

Bill Johnson says something I can't improve on; "God majors on giving us assignments that are impossible for us to do. God seems to take great delight in asking you and me to do things that it is not possible for us to do". It is not possible for a South African man and woman who lived in Australia to come to Hong Kong not knowing the language and against all the challenges of the issues that the city faces and the pressures on ex-pats and cultural differences and try and build up a base church that will be a gateway church to invade China and the other nations with a new expression of Christianity. It's not possible! But God asked us to do it! He will ask you to do with me the equal thing of the impossibility. It's not just Glenda and me - it is us! Isn't that right?

But He is asking me on a personal level to do impossible things. He is asking you on a personal level to do impossible things. After a while when we realise we can't do it we think we are telling God something that profound or He will be amazed by. We say "God I can't do it". Elijah said "Kill me now God - I can't do". Moses said, "Kill me - I can't lead these people into the Promised Land - they are a stiff-necked people. I don't want to do it anymore. Kill me!". God said, "I won't!". He loves to hear us say "I can't do it". His answer to that - look through Scripture - is always "I always will be with you". That's His answer.

His Presence qualifies you to invade the impossible. His Presence requires every Christian to do the impossible. You and I, if we say "Jesus is our Lord" - that means we carry the Presence of another world. If we are not trampling on demons, we are not walking where we have been sent because they are subject to us.

Let me ask you this question; "Are you overwhelmed by troubles or are you overwhelmed by the assignment of God?". On Saturday night God gave me three sequential dreams with a recurring theme but different settings. When I woke up I was very disturbed but God was trying to talk to me. That in a particular area of leading I was being overwhelmed by troubles and not overwhelmed by the assignment He had given me. I wish I had time to tell you those dreams - they were very clear and very graphic. But I want to say this - to be overwhelmed by troubles is the demonic counterfeit.

It is illegitimate to be overwhelmed by troubles - it is the distraction of the devil to overwhelm you by troubles. The blessing of heaven is to be overwhelmed by your assignment to do the impossible. I want to say that again; "To be overwhelmed by troubles is the demonic counterfeit. It is the devil trying to make you think that is what life is about - to be overwhelmed by troubles". It is the distraction from the blessing of heaven to do the impossible.

If you are ovewhelmed by your troubles you are self-concious. If you are overwhelmed by the assignment of God to do the impossible then you are God-concious. If you are overwhelmed by troubles your prayers are focused on self-preservation. If you are overwhelmed by the assignment of God and it's enormity then your prayers are focused on abandoning yourself to obtaining supernatural resources from heaven to do the impossible.

If you and me live concious from an assignment from heaven that we came into earth for an assignment that is impossible to do - it will place us in a place of vulnerability and trust before God to keep receiving supernatural resources.

But if we reduce the assignment of God down to what is humanly possible then we condemn ourselves to dial down the power of God and live occupied and overwhelmed by our troubles.

To live more concious of who you are than who God is is foolish and you will not have the courage to do what you came to the earth for. But to live more concious of who God is than who you are is to have the courage to run the race with the last breath that you have and finish the assignment as to why you came to earth. The question is - okay Rob, how then do I live my life more concious of who God is than who I am? What is the answer to that? Well I have by trial and error and then revelation, I believe, gained insight into the answer for that - and I have been trying to tell people for years because I know the devil's trap is to always get me more concious of my inadequacies and deficiencies and my ego-centricities and plain simple weirdness.

But God wants me to be more concious of who He is than who I am. The devil wants you and me to be more concious of who we are than who He is. So when we look at the Goliath we are concious of who we are. But when we can see the man isn't circumcised that means he is more concious of God because he realises those who have a covenant and those who don't have a covenant are in an unfair fight! But the rest of Israel had been going to synagogue for years (like many Christians have for years). Because all they want is nice and comfortable church - they don't want to be challenged! Maybe a few people aren't here this week because of the challenge I gave last week! Maybe not. They don't want to be challenged so they will go to church for years. They will do all that is humanly possible - but it is humanly possible to go to the moon.

You can do amazing things without God - but this earth is crying out for the manifestations of the sons of God to bring in the Kingdom of heaven and the rule and government of God that manifests what man cannot do just by technology and cleverness.

Amen? No Christian should ever be against technology. I believe God gave us the talents to bring that about but it is natural operations. The way to become more concious of God than you are of yourself is very simple - I have been trying to walk in it and live in it especially for the last few years - it is simply this. Are you ready for the answer? Are you going to be disappointed? You may say that I know this! But thousands of Israeli troops are going to synagogue and learning about circumcision and they sat there on one side of the valley and the Philistine giant stood on the other and mocked and ridiculed them and NONE of them dared take him on! Because they were more concious of who they were than who their God was.

It is a reality - I have faced it and walked in it and felt very concious of who I am than of who God is. I have faced Goliaths like that and have backed off. The excuses I gave for backing off were very convincing. Because we become good at explaining away not doing the will of God which is impossible to do.

It is very reasonable and intellectually acceptable to explain in a reasonable and philosphical way why I am not doing what's impossible to do! That is logical! But David saw that the man wasn't circumcised. And he knew he did! And it was through that revelation of circumcision that he could take Goliath on at the impossible and slap the impossible down and pull out Goliath's sword and cut the impossible's head off.

He ran through Israel as the man that God loved with this gruesome trophy shouting "Yess!". And rallied an army to chase the Philistines away. He did the impossible away because of covenant revelation. So here is the answer - and don't be disappointed because you see people hear this - but this is the key to being more concious of God than themselves. Are you ready?

BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE GIFT OF GOD's RIGHTEOUSNESS BECAUSE THOSE WHO TRULY BELIEVE THAT THROUGH REVELATION ARE NOT FOCUSSED ON THEIR SHORTCOMINGS AND SINS AND FAILURES AND MISTAKES - BUT ARE FOCUSSED ON GRACE AND WHEN YOU ARE FOCUSSED ON GRACE, YOU ARE FOCUSSED ON SEEING THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD'S GLORY AND GOD'S PRESENCE QUALIFIES YOU TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE.

Amen? Let me ask you this question. How many of you believe that Jesus taught that having a child-like heart is what capacitates you to do the miraculous? It is having a child-like heart that enables you to invade the impossible. What is a child-like heart? It is a heart of innocence.

Innocent people have a capacity to believe in an awesome God.

I believe in 2008 God is going to restore innocence to those who believe the Gospel. How do we lose innocence? We lose innocence by disappointments. If you have disappointment about your sin or your failure or if you are disappointed about the way that others have treated you and the way that they have sinned against you - then you lose innocence. Disappointment produces defensiveness and cynicism. When you see people cynical and skeptical and full of unbelief, you are not seeing intelligent people but people corrupted by another wisdom - who have been hi-jacked by forces that are more intelligent than them.

Let me ask you this - and I want you to access your emotions when I ask you this. How would you feel if you had never sinned or failed once? Let me ask you another question; If no one had ever sinned against you or disappointed you or betrayed you - not even once - how would you feel whatever your age is now? Be honest! How would you feel? You would feel innocent!

You wouldn't feel the need to defend yourself and would feel childlike and trusting. Let me say this: Through the gift of God's righteousness - you have access to both emotions. To the emotions of innocence, feelings like you have never sinned (because that is how God sees you) and to feelings of the fact that no one has ever hurt you or offended you or disappointed you or sinned against you. Under the Old Covenant, it said "Forgive my sins as I forgive others". Under the Old Covenant if you did not forgive other people's sins then yours could not be forgiven. That means you are on your way to hell. No one under the Old Covenant could be sure of heaven - and you cannot be sure you have forgiven everyone then your sins can only be forgiven according to how you have forgiven others. But under the New Covenant, Paul says forgive others as Christ has already forgiven you.

So now we forgive not to get forgiveness but we forgive because no matter what we do we are innocent and we are forgiven. Accept one another as Christ has accepted you. (Romans 5:15). The New Covenant doesn't say if you don't accept others, I won't accept you. Accept others just as I have accepted you.

The Cross was never there so we would carry the pain of our sin or the pain of people's sins against us. In the gift of righteousness we are called everyone of us - we are empowered to live a life free from the painful memory of our sin and the memory of other people's sins against us.

(Philippians 2) People ask; "If I believe I have a righteousness that is equal with God's righteousness then won't I become arrogant and full of pride?". I would say the very opposite. We do have a righteousness equal to God's righteousness in the Gospel! I did not say an ability equal to God's ability - I said a righteousness equal to God's because the Bible says a righteousness from God is revealed that is by faith from first to last.

I promise you can sit there today and say "I don't want to invade impossible - I just want to retreat to a safe place in my life". Folks if you do not invade the impossible then the impossible will invade you.

There are nations that are talking about a war on terror. There is no war on terror. That's a cover-up. Terror is a means by which they are perpetrating the ideology but we are not having a war on terror. Nations are having a war on ideology and those ideologies are expressing themselves by rabid, fierce, suicidal expressions of terror. There are people who are voting presidents into their nations who are hoping they can pretend that its a war on terror not ideolo gies. But folks if it is just a war on terror then you can pretend its not there.

But if it is a rabid radical ideology of extremism that is committed to the death to fight you, if you don't deal with it then it will invade you. It will invade your homes and your children. You may think "I don't have a war on cancer". Yes but in the future you may have it. Or a loved one may get it. In Reading, they said they want Reading to be a cancer-free zone. The church want to be such salt and light and carry such an anointing that the whole of the earth will be the Lord's and the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

So evil government will be toppled and the government of God will reign in the earth and it won't be a weird religious Utopia but it will people who don't carry cancer or abused children or rape and no proud arrogant people oppressing others.

There comes such a pressure on me when I am driving to church and I think it can't be the perfect will of God to preach to just 70 or 80 people! Of course it isn't! We are contending for something bigger! If you don't understand it, you won't understand the passion or radicalism and if you don't contend for it, you won't understand the passion or radicalism. It will not go away - if you do not invade the impossible, the impossible will invade you.

I believe the righteousness we have is equal to God and that righteousness doesn't make us equal to us in ability but it means God can resource us with His ability because we are righteous in Him as a gift. So are we equal to God in righteousness? Yes! I want to say it loudly - because it is HIS righteousness that He has given us! So we don't have to take righteousness as something to be grasped through the law because if you are grasping for it then you don't really have it! But if you have it as a gift then you don't have to grasp for it anymore. So rest comes. Then when you don't grasp for it through the law anymore but rest can come.

The devil knew he wasn't equal to God but tried to grasp for it. He actually tried to exalt himself over God and he was flung down in the judgements of God. The Christian who tries to exalt himself through self-righteousness or through the law are not gaining righteousness and are flung down.

But those who have received God's righteousness as a gift and know that revelation will humble themselves knowing they don't have to grasp for it.

(Philippians 2:5) "Your attitude should be like that of Christ Jesus". That is an incredible request or advice! The SAME as that of Christ Jesus!

"Who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made Himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, He became obedient to death, even death on a Cross. Therefore God has exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every Name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father".

As you humble yourself secure in the fact that you are righteous and become obedient to the purpose of God, God will exalt you, God will lift you up, God will reveal you. There's a whole load of stuff I want to say but I need to give up soon.

When revelation comes to you that you are equal to God in righteousness, you stop grasping for self-righteousness through the law and know you know it is your identity (your identity is 'I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus') and when you believe that you are righteous in Christ Jesus, you find rest and out of rest you humble yourself, you obey and then you work hard at invading the impossible.

Paul the apostle says in 1 Corinthians, "I work harder than all the other apostles - but not I, but the grace of God in me". Religion says you find your identity in working, in religious works and the keeping of the law. They work hard but still feel insecure with no rest and no sense of identity and they feel driven by franticness. The Gospel says righteousness is a gift and there is your identity. When people ask you "Where do you get your identity from, what do you DO? What works do you do to get your identity?". You say, "I do NOTHING. I do no works to get my identity. If I sat on my backside and did nothing for the rest of my life, if I sinned every day and made mistakes if I get this revelation - then I do no works. I get my identity by being in Christ and by being the righteousness of God. That gives me rest and from that rest I work hard at invading the impossible!

Are you getting this? (Romans 4:4) "Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift but as an obligation". Say "obligation" - that is the key word for the next 5 minutes. Let's read (v4) again. "However to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness". (v8); "Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him". Have you got a revelation that the Lord will never count your sin against you? No matter how many sins you did yesterday or the day before, the Father is not counting them against you. He is not sending you an ultimatum - "Alright I won't count these against you but if you keep doing them then I will".

Why is the church not innocent with child-like capacity for great miracles? Because they don't understand righteousness. So they are grasping after it and it is making them so driven with insecurity and condemnation and they cannot work the mighty works of God and be the heirs of the world with global influence. They look at their Goliath's and run away because they don't understand covenant - New Covenant is an even better covenant than the one David had!

Now let's look at (v13); "It was not .... It was not ... It was not". I am not stuttering. "It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be the heir of the world but through the righteousness that comes by faith ... faith has no value and the promises are worthless".

If you are grasping at righteousness through the law then the promises of God will never work in your life. You won't get healed - you won't invade the impossible - you won't see the mighty powerful promises that the New Testament gives through grace. But if you try to grasp after right standing with God through your performance then you make the promises of God worthless.

Many people are saying today; "The promises aren't working Rob!". Then I ask them - "How are you trying to obtain these promises?". Then they tell me all the things they are doing. And I say "That is why they aren't working - you have made the promises worthless". I am slowly today because I believe it is sinking in even though I have preached this for 3 and a half years. I believe it is sinking in - I can feel seed is being sowed in good soil and hearts are going to germinate 100 fold. All you have to do is water and people suddenly start invading the impossible and the seed is bearing fruit. If you don't get the seed of revelation in your heart then nothing can bear fruit supernaturally. I believe seed is going in this local church and into the nations and as I speak over the internet to the nations.

(Galatians 5) Truth sets free! You shall know the truth and the truth shall set free! You So many people go to counselling and yet don't understand that they should sit under the preaching of the word in a disciplined way and when the truth registers on your heart then freedom automatically comes! But for some reason some people do not sit regularly under the Word and so therefore don't get revelation from the Word and they carry to their grave a feeling of cynicalness and defensiveness and get invaded by the impossible rather than invading the impossible and become prisoners of war sitting in church congregations and they are taken prisoner by an enemy called the devil.

Now I don't want you to fear being taken prisoner by the devil - this truth means you will deal with him and you will take HIM captive and you will never be put off your assignment - you will invade him! You will go on seek and destroy missions! A Christian is called to obey their commanding officer!

There is a mentality in the religious world that God is obligated to heal me or do healing through me or give me supernatural resources or do me favour or bless me through my works, my efforts, my keeping of the law. I don't know how to say this kindly - but that is almost blasphemy against the Cross - when you get revelation of this. That is entirely an Old Covenant mentality that was done away with at the Cross - "It is finished".

How many of you have heard this term - "They had fallen from grace"? Now that term is so prevelent that it is now used in the secular world. You will hear in companys that aren't Christian - the term will be used "They have fallen from grace" - when they lose their jobs. Now what Christians mean when they use the term fallen from grace is that they have fallen into sin when they use that term. That is absolutely unbiblical but it is so in our psyche that we actually think when we sin we have fallen from grace. Actually if we read this Bible and the New Testament, you will find it is the absolute opposite! Falling into sin is not falling from grace.

Falling from grace is going back under law and grasping for a righteousness that is through the law to obligate God to bless you.

Sinning can't cause you to fall from grace - because Romans 5 says where sin abounds, grace does much more abound so how can your sinning cause you to fall from grace when sinning causes you to fall into abounding grace?! The more you get a revelation that your righteousness is a gift from God and you are equal in righteousness and you are equal in righteousness with God - the more you get a revelation of that - the less and less you want to sin. In fact the more power you have to resist sin and habits and pattersns of life begin to fall away and gradually become something that doesn't even interest you anymore.

Whereas they used to seduce you with promises of such pleasure and life fulfillment that they pale into insignificance when you see the assignment of God to invade the impossible and you don't become more and more passive and lazy and people say "I don't go to church regularly because I am under grace not law". Folks that is not grace - that is licence for stupidity! People say I don't submit to godly authority ordained by God because I am not under law - I am under grace. Well they don't know the New Testament. I know people living under grace are godly and teachable and supportive.

People living in grace have the capacity to discern true anointed leaders and Hebrews 13:17 says "Submit to your leaders for they have an authority over you and must give an account for you". I have people who leave this church and don't tell me. They obviously don't think that I as a leader live in the fear of God, that one day I am going to have to give an account to God for how I led that person and that I was called and commissioned by God to present every member of the church I lead as mature in Christ. A leader will be judged more severely than the average Christian because one day he will have to give account. So I have to email these people and say "Look I am not trying to manipulate you into staying - I just want to know am I still accountable to God for you? Because you obviously don't think I feel accountable and you can leave just like that - you obviously don't have a recognition of authority and leadership, the government of God - for you it is just "I attend church!".

Folks there is nothing about - "I attend church" - in the Bible.

The church is a community for 24 hours a day - 7 days a week called together to invade the impossible.

Falling from grace is not falling into sin - falling from grace is falling into the devil's deception that if I keep laws and rules I obligate God to bless me. If anyone goes under law, that's what it is. (Galatians 5:4) - "You have fallen away from grace".

Next time someone says to you; "Oh someone has fallen from grace" then ask them. "Oh did they go back under law?". "Oh no - no - they broke the law!". "Are you reading the New Testament friend? Did Jesus die on the Cross for nothing? Are you still under the curse of the Law? Which Bible are you reading!?". "Yes but they sinned!". "Well praise God - grace more abounds! But my friend I think you have fallen from grace because you think sin causes you to fall from grace - so actually YOU have fallen from grace!". "How dare you?!". "Turn to Galatians 5:4!".

What does the word "justified" mean? A lot of people say "Well God looks at me just as if I had never sinned. Just as if I had always obeyed Him. And that is wonderful! But actually theologically what justification means is God gives you HIS righteousness as a gift and that is how God sees you all the time.

Millions of Christians in the church world have fallen from grace - I know I had for many years of my Christianity. I tried to get God to do good to me by me trying to be holy enough to earn it. But now under this Gospel I want to be holy. I hate sin! I don't want to sin! I want to live so holy, so obedient to God. I want to give my money and my time and invest who I am in eternal purpose. (Romans 11).

You have got 8, 000 hours a year and only 30 hours to teach you the Word of God. You say why don't we have more miracles, signs and wonders? I have only got 1 hour a Sunday morning and most people miss on average 20 Sundays because of travel and going all over the world. So I have got 30 hours a year to transform people with multiple religious cultures and ethnic into a kingdom culture that can carry the glory of God. In between that hour I got got on a Sunday morning, you are exposed to all other contrary influences throughout the week and then we have got some who come to Thursday night which is a wonderful shot at imparting the kingdom. But it is just two little shots a week. I don't think we go too long when we go to services for two hours. The early church went 3 or 4 hours average.

To try and obligate God to bless you by what you do for Him is just not on (Romans 11:35). "Who has ever given to God that God should repay Him?". God gave to the world! "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son" and out of that came the Gospel where God gives you His righteousness and then you no longer grasp after it but you find your identity in the gift of righteousness - you find rest, you find peace and then under the power of God you begin to invade the impossible.

(Romans 4:15) - "Because the law brings wrath and where there is no law, there is no transgression". If the law of God can be taken off your life then there would be no basis for God to have wrath on your life anymore. The law brings wrath - but where there is no law - there is NO wrath!

(Colossians 2:14) - "Having cancelled the written code with it's regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us, He took it away nailing it to the Cross". (v9) - "You have been given fullness in Christ". He has cancelled the written code! Now why did He have to cancel that? Because Jesus could not give you His righteousness while the Law existed towards you and it's towards the world and those not saved but for those in Christ, we come into the benefits of the Cross and so that Law has been cancelled.

Why did it have to be cancelled? If it was not cancelled - the 10 Commandments would demand a righteousness of you that you couldn't give. But once it is cancelled now legally Christ can give you His. What did He give you? His righteousness. What's that? Right standing with the Father. That means right standing equal to the standing Jesus has. That means you stand before the Father on equal terms with how Jesus stands before the Father. YOU have access to the Father. Access to grace. Access to intimacy with the Father - you can stand there with innocence just as if you have never sinned and just as if no one had sinned against you. YOU are accepted in the Beloved just as Jesus is because the Law that demanded righteousness and brought wrath on your life has been cancelled.

"And where there is NO law - there is NO transgression".

Not only has God forgiven all your sins up until the point where you got saved and all the future has been blotted out on the Cross but He has taken away the means by which the devil accused you or God could condemn you. He has taken away the Law and you no longer grasp after righteousness through the Law or try to obligate God to bless you through what you do but now having got this righteousness as a gift and you no longer grasp after it and humble yourself and lay your life down to the point of death if necessary not out of a place to get identity but because YOU have identity.

There are millions of backslidden Christians around the world who had ideas to change the world and follow Jesus and they were hyped up to do it, but they weren't taught the foundations of this Gospel. They only lasted a few years because driven to get identity of righteousness leaves you with a feeling that you are never doing enough.

But when you are gifted with a righteusness by grace then even when you fail and mess up on your assignment - you STILL have peace and rest with God and you just get up and go on and invade the impossible.

I said one more Scripture and let's give it to you; (Romans 5:1-2). Please I am going to ask you friends even in the best humour, don't come up to me after the service and make jokes about how long I preached. Please don't do that anymore. If I choose to joke about it - let me joke about it but don't you do that anymore because it is not a joke. You know what it is saying to the devil? I am just making light of all that he said. I am just dismissing the content because I come to church to be entertained with 20 minute preaching - that is the way church is run today. So you have people entertained but they don't know how to invade the impossible! They know how to use their natural gifts and natural education and technology to do things man can do. Man can build a Tower of Babel but God came and smashed it down because God will not have man build Utopia on earth based on rejection of the living God.

When we humble ourselves in righteousness then technology and science will help us get the job done. But without this Gospel, technology and science will make man get 666 on his forehead. "3" - the number of perfection and "6" - the number of man unperfect without God. Self-righteousness - grasping for the heavens when they are going to drop into hell. But we don't have to grasp. We can humble ourselves and invade the impossible.

How do we invade the impossible? How do we access this grace? Through this gift of righteousness.

(Romans 5:1-2) - "By faith" - when you know you are righteous, a peace between you and God comes. "Access by faith into this grace and we rejoice in manifest glory". This is where the devil streals this profound revelation because we begin to logically reason, okay fine if I am righteous through faith then if my faith is not that strong one day or may decline a bit. How many of you may feel some days that you can fervently believe believe this message that God sees me as righteous? Some days I just don't feel that righteous!

We have a Covenant you see and it doesn't matter how I feel - that covenant is eternally true.

I don't feel very righteous on those days and on those days your faith may not be strong. So on those days the devil comes and says, "Okay Rob has shown you can't be righteous by the law - only by faith". The devil is a master at half-truths. "But today you don't have much faith so you are not fully righteous because you are only righteous according to the level of your faith". You may not have thought that though intellectually but sub-conciously you feel that and the devil has just turned faith into more works. Some people are not gifted to be intuative - but you have to monitor.

That is why God is bringing dreams into the Church again - lots of dreams! Some dreams are demonic. Some are Holy Spirit. Others are eating too much pizza. And Ryan and Kylie said; "Write your dreams down". You must must monitor what is going on in your sub-concious because if you are not monitoring it your innocence is being involved by something that pollutes that innocence and brings a jaded sense of cyncism again and defensiveness and then you are building your life on that foundation of child-like innocence, you are building a structure that will invade the supernatural and the impossible.

But if the outflow of your heart is one that is divided and confused and uncertain then you will sew uncertainity and confusion and uncertain then you will sew uncertainity and confusion into your relationships, your career, your prophesying, your Bible-reading (Proverbs 4) - "Guard your heart". Faith is not another means of working for your righteousness. The Bible says in Hebrews that Jesus is the Author and Perfector of our faith. Now if you needed a Messiah/Mediator/High Priest to perfect your faith and He is doing it all the time then it means God understands your faith is imperfect.

We have access into perfect grace and perfect righteousness so the devil says if you need perfect grace and perfect righteousness then you need perfect faith. "If you don't get through the law then you had better have perfect faith!". The devil is fast at changing his tactics. The devil is good at judo - he uses your strength - he has none because he lost it at the Cross! You need perfect righteousness because that is why the law is useless! You come to the Father with imperfect faith in a perfect Saviour and that's all God wanted.

(Hebrews 10:14) - "Perfect before the Father". The more you understand that, the more your faith will grow!

Boldly ask for baptisms of the Spirit every day! Get up in the morning and ask for more power today to invade the impossible! If I fall into sin, I don't fall from grace but into MORE grace! Jesus has enough faith that I am the righteousness of Him! Not through the Law or perfect faith - "I live by the faith of the Son of God".

5 comments:

Peter Day said...

It's a great message isn't it. Everyone would benefit from reading it, hearing it and pressing into the truth. This is just so liberating. When I think of just how righteous He has made us, then that means the resources are available for us to do anything He asks. Not because we deserve it in ourselves, but because Jesus deserves it and we are in Him!

Dan Bowen said...

We have shared together, haven't we - that at times listening to this incredible message, that the sheer glory and weight of the wonder of hearing about how righteous He has imputed us - is just .... well there isn't a word to describe it!!

How I have lived 30 years of Christian life and haven't really plugged into this glorious truth that we live in NEW COVENANT GLORY!! THE OLD COVENANT IS DEAD - NAILED TO THE CROSS!! And I want to listen to message after message until it is drummed into my psyche so it will NEVER leave me!!

THAT is a truth that I "never want to move on from"! Because that is a truth linked to a LIVING Person not a dead icon. This truth leads me and points me to a risen and glorified Lord and King seated and reigning in power and glory!! And when I see that I have HIS righteousness and have as much standing with the Father as the One who sits on His right hand?!!?

Why don't I pray more?!!? :)

I never could quite "get" Graham Kendrick's hymn that began "All heaven waits with bated breath for saints on earth to pray - majestic angels ready stand with swords amighty flame". I couldn't quite believe it! But now ... I see it.

lydia said...

Amen you two!
Dan thanks for taking the time to transcribe this - my husband has been listening to it over and over at work and keeps calling me to talk about how amazing it is -and keeps saying have you listened to it yet....now I can understand why He was so excited!!
Thanks again!
I AM THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD! -(boy I wonder how people would look at me if I said that in my old church!!)

Anonymous said...

Dan, thankyou for taking all that time over doing this for the Body.I think it is interesting that you began by digging around in Ern's material and now it seems like something else is fast happening....something that is feeding a lot of hungry people. There is a great verse which probably means quite a few things...it is where the (dead) Body is there the eagles/carrion/vultures gather. Whenever we share the full power of what Christ did through His bodily death and mighty resurrection, hungry believers have a natural homing instinct, diving in and being made into that overcoming kind of high diving believer,represented by eagles.True invaders of the impossible.

Dan Bowen said...

Hey Chris, thanks so much for that comment - although I love transcribing and personally receiving and learning from men like Ern and Rob Rufus it is such a joy to know that it is blessing other people. And when people don't leave comments, you are not always sure that it is blessing people! I loved your picture - so true! Let's keep on invading the impossible!