Rob Rufus - "Living with Intention in 2011" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday
Showing posts with label Church Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Church Life. Show all posts
Monday, 31 January 2011
Rob Rufus on Church Growth
"We cannot produce growth! Only God can produce growth. We can only remove the obstacles to church growth".
Saturday, 2 May 2009
Attitudes that Attract the Empowering Grace of God - Part 2
This sermon was preached by Rob Rufus at City Church International in Hong Kong on 27th July 2008
"Why don't you turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 4. It is wonderful to see so many of you here this morning. We have about 50% of people away and I am amazed how God is bringing and adding people. It is very exciting - this is the year He promised us He would bring people from within Hong Kong and also from many from different nations and He will bring resources to us. How many believe we will not be meeting in this hall forever? I have just signed on an 800 seater hall for March next year where we are hosting "Glory and Grace - Hong Kong" and we have Patricia King coming and Josh Mills and Fini and Isi and I believe it will be an awesome time of the glory of God manifesting in Hong Kong. So we thought shall we meet here with the credit crunch and flights and hotels for people? But we just felt that I was standing outside that building and praying "God what will we do if there is a shortfall? We have to make up the shortfall! And I don't want to waste your money!". I felt God say;
"Son, son - go big, think big and trust Me! You will look on this in a few years time and say "How pathetically small was an 800 seater in Hong Kong!?".
We are going to host "Glory and Grace" in the next few years in the rugby stadium - I am telling you right now!
I have heard so many testimonies in the last six weeks of local Chinese, Hong Kong people have been saved in our services! A lot through the ministry of Angela and Randy who are on holiday but also Alice's testimony of what miracles God is doing and it is so thrilling! How many went on our website this week? I got a call from a pastor friend in Australia and he said "Rob have you seen what's happened on the website front page?". Our Muslim friends hacked in again! They love our website and really feel it is an opportunity for free advertising for Islam! We bless them for that! They had advertising for Ramadam and Muslim songs and praise God for our brothers! If I could trace their address I would send a love message and say thank you because there has been a team in City Church International that have been meeting for a number of weeks and consulting with website designers and we have a website designer coming to join this church in a few months from South Africa and we have been strategising to upgrade our website and make it more user friendly as well as translating our messages into Mandarin and Cantonese. So God used the blessing of Muslim friends to give us a sign and a wonder; "Yes I want you to upgrade!".
God works ALL things together for good to those that love Him and are called together according to His purpose! The ministry of the Word is like a bank - the more you put into it, the more interest you get out of it. The more you set your heart - "I am going to learn today from the Word of God and it will advantage me and cause me to have understanding and wisdom to deal with issues in my life much more effectively and give me prophetic wisdom to deal with the context I am in right now and deal with my circumstances by the wisdom of God!".
"Thank You that we are as secure in this covenant as Jesus is because we are in Him ... give us revelation that you have put all things under the feet of Jesus ... open our understanding to see that we are Your glorious inheritance that You take pleasure in as a delighting Father!"
How many of you have found in life that the rhythms are different? Sometimes you go through times where everything you do is going well and succeeding and all blessing and all good? Then it comes to an abrupt end and for another season or time you go through negative and bad and then you come out of that and it becomes good for a while? I believe that right now we are NOT in that sort of a time!
I believe that right NOW we are in a time where we are living in the BEST of times and the WORST of times at the SAME time! And that is because the devil is intimidated about what is going on in the earth.
There are things going on in the earth that I get regular reports on and some of you do as well where millions are being swept into the Kingdom! Across the border in China the estimates are 40,000 people are born again EVERY single DAY! This year we have seen several people come out of wheelchairs and blind eyes open and deaf ears opened! Deaf ears! Cancers healed! At the same time we have faced all kinds of heartaches and disappointments like some of you are! There are things going on in families and friends all around the world. So great things are happening but it's also the worst time at the same time because the devil is trying to target those who God is using and will use to the greatest degree in this time!
The least people He is using are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers! Their job is not to be the superstars who do the work! Their job is to equip every believer to be a manifestor of the Kingdom of God and to have influence in their context!
Ordinary people are having great effect in their time and many more will come out with greater influence! Some of you sit in relative obscurity today and you think; "What do I do? I don't do anything much! I would love to! I go to sleep and go to work! What do I do?". Something is at move and at work in the earth!
The devil will target those who God is using to the greatest degree (or is about to use) by giving them the greatest degree of distraction! The devil is not interested in your money. I promise you he doesn't need it and He can't spend it or want it. But he will attack your finances and he will attack your economy because he doesn't want your money. He wants to rob you of your peace. Agitated people seldom hear the voice of God! Agitated people hear the voice of deception, discouragement, confusion and condemnation! People under the government of God's peace hear His audible voice and hear His instruction and get His leading and they know what God wants them to do. The devil couldn't care if you had a good or bad marriage - honestly! It doesn't interest him! But he will attack your marriage to rob you of peace to agitate you with distraction! The devil doesn't care if you have a visa to stay in Hong Kong or not. But he will attack you on every kind of issue he can - because those who God is going to use to the greatest degree will be distracted by the devil to the greatest degree.
The word is "Distraction" friends! In a time of opportunity, distraction is the strategy of the devil and God's agenda is FOCUS! Laser-like focus! "I was born for this reason - I was raised for this time and I didn't go through hell and back and difficulties and betrayals for three decades to come to this awesome town to go down in flames of bitterness and cynicism and rejection complex! This is the time to stand strong! God is not interested in talking to you about your circumstances of distraction. A lot of people say "I am crying out God! Deal with this issue - finances, money etc!". God is not a magic genii that comes out and offers you three wishes! He is not coming down to reduce His kingly lordship on the issue of difficult circumstances.
Now He loves you and me and cares about us but He won't talk to you about the issue of your circumstances. God will talk to you on the issue of your DESTINY.
As soon as you say "God I want to talk about my destiny. These are the distractions and they are hurting me but what is my destiny? How will I move to next level of my destiny?".
Your destiny is not your career! Your career is a vehicle by which God can express destiny!
When Gideon was threshing wheat in a winevat as a coward and afraid, and complaining and mumbling saying "Where is the God of my forefathers?" and he wanted God to come and use His miracles to change his economic dysfunctional situation. God would not talk to Gideon on the basis of his circumstances but on the basis of his destiny - because God is after destiny for you and me! He said to a coward hiding in a winevat; "MIGHTY warrior!". When Gideon tried to talk circumstances, God said; "Shut up! I am not here to talk circumstances! I am not a God who will be reduced to making men and women just feel a bit happier and sort their problems out!". That is not God! God said; "I am here not to give you a bit of economic empowerment - not to change your circumstances but to make you the greatest general Israel has ever seen and drive out the Mideanites and;
When you obey destiny - your circumstances will improve! But if you focus on your self-pity and rejection and my problems and ask God why He's not helping - you will find He will not speak to you about your problems. He WILL talk to you about why you are on the earth and what your destiny is and what He has equipped you for!
If you do not live in the unfolding sequence of your destiny and the reason why you are on this planet then you will feel your existance on this earth is a mistake and it is NOT a mistake! You will feel you are living a mistake if you are not living your destiny! If you want to have maximum impact in your life then you have to allow God Almighty to have maximum impact in your life because we grow and develop on purpose through process!
There is no microwave Christianity! I am the most impatient man on the planet! Even microwaves don't do it fast enough! Every red traffic light is a demonic conspiracy to frustrate me! I want to go and arrive and get somewhere! If you are not like that then something has been stealing your guts and making you defeatest and passive! The herd mentality is just being mesmerised and trivialised! The Kingdom doesn't have microwave spirituality! I have people who come to me and say "Rob will you pray I'll never sin again?!". I say "Okay I will try. I may have to ask God to kill you and take you to heaven! That's the only place you will not have those issues!". Christianity is not microwave - it is a consistant process! People say to Glenda and me; "How did you get to where you are in the world? How are you influencing so many people?!". Three decades of no sulking, no backsliding, no giving up, no blaming this or that, rejection or oppression! It is not the greatest talents or the greatest gifts or the greatest anointing! It is those who understand that Christanity is not microwave - it is a process!
Today is an event - this message! How you respond to this message, how you deliberately decide to make decisions of wisdom in response to this message is a process that will bring purpose and unfolding evelation and promotion in the purposes of God.
The modern church has overestimated the value of event and underestimated the value of process.
People go to conferences and fill their notes and talk about the experience they had in the event. Great! Wonderful! Do it more! But that is an event and it is the purpose of you making decisions that I am here for DESTINY and if I do not fulfill destiny I will feel like I am living as a mistake in the earth. Which will explain the majority of suicides. It is not because their circumstances went down because of changes in the earth or the oil price went up and they faced bankruptcy. Those are circumstances. If they talked to God about their destiny then God would lift them up in their destiny and in the following of their destiny, their circumstances would be dealt with and they would become economically empowered again. If the nations of the earth cried out to God not for their circumstances but asked God what their destiny was; "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it - God what do you want done with your nations?" - then this planet is so wealthy and every human being could be a billionaire! There is enough wealth in the nations for everyone to be a billionaire!
It is because of the rebellion against the King of Kings and the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Everyone - you and me - can become great if we will value process more than the trivia of events. You say "Do you always preach like this?". No sometimes I am a bit worse!
The motives for living out the process is a revelation of acceptance grace. I am talking in the second part of a series; "Attitudes that attract empowering grace". And I said last week that I am deeply disturbed by the emphasis in the church world today on empowering grace at the expense of undervaluing the foundation of acceptance grace. I am going to quickly review that. Grace has two components.
1. Acceptance Grace.
2. Empowering Grace - enables you to raise the dead, do miracles, signs, wonders and enables you to say no to sin. Enables you to work hard! "I worked harder than anyone else but not I but the grace of God" - that is empowering grace.
Wonderful!
I want every part of empowering grace on my life! The way into empowering grace MUST be a revelation of acceptance grace. Even if I don't raise the dead or do any great things or don't get victory over sin or get holy enough or do enough - my Father accepts me in Christ Jesus because He has given me the gift of righteousness not based on my obedience or disobedience. The righteousness I have is the permament, stable, eternal righteousness of Jesus Christ given to me! Ephesians 1:3 - "I am accepted in the Beloved". Romans 15:7; "We are accepted in Christ Jesus". 2 Corinthians 3 says that what the Father sees in you is the glory that radiates and reflects from the face of Jesus.
I said to you last week that the secret of my prayer life is simply this. I know the Holy Spirit really likes me and loves being with me because He knows that I know that He knows that I know that the Father sees Rob Rufus in the righteousness of Christ and I am in the same standing as Jesus. Romans 8:16 - I am a joint equal heir with Christ and an heir of God and I don't have co-equal divine-ness with God and will never be! But I have a co-equal righteousness with Jesus because I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!
Now that is a process! It is not 3 months or 1 year of hearing acceptance grace. It is a process over years of getting deeper and deeper into understanding acceptance grace. When you understand by revelation deeply acceptance grace then this will be growing fruit and will build into your life inner security, inner stability, inner sense of safety and an inner sense of significance even if you don't do anything great. In other words you don't have to do great things to feel important - you know your value is because the Father accepts you as He sees Jesus! The fruit of acceptance grace revelation is humility - humility is inner security, no more drivenness or franticness to impress people. Inner security produces a freedom from jealousy, comparing yourself with others, looking at others salary and what others get and you don't get, you don't feel inferior or superior to anyone else because you have got inner security because you know that you are accepted! People that have to prove something all the time is a sign that they don't understand acceptance grace and have got to "do things" all the time by the power of acceptance grace.
Now when we believe the gospel of acceptance grace then three fruit immediately grows through a process;
1. Boldness.
2. Obedience.
3. Humility.
Rejection of acceptance grace in Christians produces;
1. Fear of rejection.
2. Drivenness to prove themselves.
3. Comparisons between people.
That is a sign of rejecting acceptance grace. Unbelief in acceptance grace produces fear, rebellion (which is like the sin of witchcraft) and pride! 1 Peter 5; "Therefore clothe yourself in humility all of you to one another for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under God's mighty hand and He will lift you up in due time casting all your cares on Him for He cares for you". You have just seen the working of acceptance grace and empowering grace right there. Acceptance grace will produce humility whereby you will humble yourselves under God's mighty hand and you will be loving and humble towards one another and God will then lift you up by His mighty hand. When God lifts you up by His mighty hand that is empowering grace! If you are proud and insecure and jealous and driven then God has to oppose you because of self-righteousness. If God is opposing you then you can fast, bind devils and be concious of devils and oppression all you like but they are not going away because God is resisting you.
Though the devil comes and wants to attack us - that is not what I am talking about. You can build alliances with men and get every denomination on the planet to support you - you are in trouble if God is resisting you! When you humble yourself from inner security and acceptance grace then the empowering grace of God's mighty hand lifts you up in due time by process! When He lifts you up no devil in darkness can attack you successfully! No human being can stand against you all the days of your life and you become invincible with the invincibility of God! To be lifted up by His mighty hand is to have favour and influence and jurisdiction and authority! Every Christian on the planet is either in a place of being resisted by God's mighty hand or they are in a place of God's mighty hand lifting them up and it is all dependent on a posture of pride or humility.
Those that walk in humility are not caught up in the seduction of the distraction of circumstances, what's happening or difficulties - they are caught up in what their destiny is through inner security in what acceptance grace brings. Rather they are captured by a vision and destiny to fulfill. Let's go quickly to Philippians 4 and I want to show you these attitudes that attract the empowering grace. Attitudes that attract the empowering grace! Philippians 4:1. I am not under pressure to rush the message and I have been rebuked by the majority of people in this church who say "You rob us! Why are you always rushing? We need this stuff!". Anyone can leave anytime they like but don't pressure me into rushing by your body language! I will finish when God says "Finish!".
"Therefore my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord - dear friends".
There are four attitudes there that attract the empowering grace of God. Last week I mentioned that Paul the apostle is the preeminant apostle that ever walked this earth except Jesus who was the apostle of apostles. He wrote two thirds of the New Testament but I think most churches would kick him out if he came to preach in their churches today. He was wild. He was loving and gracious father as well. He raised people from the dead and we have accounts of it in the New Testament. He himself I think was raised from the dead because he was stoned for preaching the gospel and God raised him up. He had revelation and was caught up into the third heaven. This guy makes all of us look tame! He was a preeminant apostle! Yet when he comes to talk to his fellow believers, he does not say; "I apostle ding-a-ling, prophet, bishop, reverend!". No he doesn't say "my sermon fodder, my followers that are there to make me look great!". This preeminant apostle - which speaks so loudly to the modern church which is so gripped by this hierarchial sense of ranking and ecclesiology and titles and names and positions that are driven by a misguided theology that has emphasised empowering grace instead of acceptance grace.
Paul was the champion of acceptance grace and he understood that his father loved him and he was accepted - so he needed no titles or things to make him look important in the eyes of men because he knew that his Father loved him. Out of that acceptance grace God lifted him up and gave him empowering grace to do mighty things. But he was not not concious of his merit or his badge or his significance in the things he DID but in the REALITY of acceptance in the Father's love.
So he relates to his fellow believers - this preeminent apostle - as "my brothers who I love and long for - my joy and my crown. This is how you should stand firm in the Lord Jesus - my dear friends". So his first connection with his fellow believers is "brothers". That means "sisters" too. Sisters as well! He calls them "brothers". How many of you know that all the three and a half years that Jesus walked with His disciples He never once called them "brothers". He called them "friends" and "servants" but He never referred to them as "brothers". When He was crucified and raised from the dead and Mary came to Him in John 20:17- He says "Mary go tell my brothers that I go to their Father and My Father - their God and My God".
The first time Jesus calls His disciples brothers is AFTER the finished work of the Cross and the resurrection.
Why could Jesus not call them brothers before the Cross? They were not born again! They were under the Law and judgement and the wrath of God! Romans 2 - Paul lays it all out. He says that the result of law is that not one is righteous. Under the law no one was righteous. They were all under the wrath and the curse of the law. Before the law came Abraham was given righteousness as a gift because of his faith. But after the law came, Paul said in Romans 2 that there is not one righteous person on the entire planet through trying to keep laws to be good enough to gain acceptance with God. So they could never have been His brothers because they were under the law. He fulfilled the Law! He didn't come to remove but fulfill the Law. The Law is now fulfilled and on the Cross (Colossians 2 says) He abolished the Law and cancelled the written code that stood opposed to us. Once He had cancelled the written code He could then give us His righteousness. You cannot have a gift of righteousness and be under the Law! When you behave wrong or sin wrong the Law will say "You have done something wrong". If you say "But I have a gift of righteousness" then the Law will say "You are not righteous by a gift because I say you have done something wrong!".
So God had to cancel the law in Colossians 2 and obliterate the Law and then declare you to be the righteousness of God through Jesus taking all your sin past, present and future and giving you all His righteousness as a permament unconditional standing before the Father. Only after the Cross and Resurrection could He say "Go call My brothers and tell them I go to My Father and their Father, My God and their God". Co-equal heirs with Christ! Romans 8:29 says "Jesus was the first-born among many brothers". Now first Adam was the firstborn from spiritual life to spiritual death. Everyone born into the planet was born into first Adam's death. Jesus Christ was the first born from spiritual death because He took our death at the Cross - spirit, soul and physical death and He was raised from the dead by the power of God and He is the firstborn among many brothers! I don't know who was the second and third born and it doesn't matter. You are IN the first born! Hebrews 2:11 says Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers.
I don't know if you understand this because when this came on in my heart some time ago - it has changed my entire life. I have realised that I have a brother in heaven. Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood. I have a brother of DNA in heaven who is the King of heaven and is not ashamed to call me brother! He was the firstborn among many brothers and His Father is my Father and His God is my God! That has changed me on the inside! I am so tired of these inner healing courses that have gone on for centuries in the church to deal with Christian insecurity and need of self-value and self-esteem. When you realise by revelation that you are accepted and you are a brother of Jesus Christ then there is no more inferiority left or superiority left! The next time you feel some Christian putting a superiority onto you - look them in the eye with amusement! "I don't know who you think you are! Jesus is my brother! And I am co-equal with Him in righteousness as an heir! And I am going to judge angels throughout all eternity with my brother Jesus! Not because of any good or holiness I have done but I am accepted in the beloved!".
It is not about ministry! People run about the church saying "What's my ministry!? What's my ministry?!". What they mean is what makes them important in the church. Ministry means service. Where do I serve Lord? What is my service in the church? Your service may be only a small part of your destiny and your destiny could be a lot bigger than how you serve in the church but Lord where do I serve? You know you believe you are a servant when people treat you like a servant! Will you do that or that? Huh! Don't you know my ministry!? I am a son first! And out of my security as a son - I can minister as a servant. I said in Cape Town that they were driving me crazy! I honestly didn't know whether I was coming or going! "Can you pray for me? Can you pray for me!?". Don't these people understand that I need to go for a cup of coffee?! Then I realised that they are treating me like a servant! Yes I will pray. I am here to serve.
Servants - no hierarchy! I have taken four years to appoint leaders and I know I haven't demolished under God's power hierarchial thinking that somehow means that appointments mean superiority! Position! Prestige! It gets two extremes. "Oh now he is superior - he is an elder and deacon so I have got to fawn and flatter him". Rubbish! He is your brother! Or the other extreme; "Who do they think they are?! I don't recognise them - bunch of nothings!". Rebellion! That is insecurity and jealousy!
The New Testament atmosphere is a preeminant apostle addressing fellow believers as "brothers". Why? Because the preeminant apostle of all apostles - God the Son who was God from all eternity and never was anything but God and who clothed Himself in all humanity - the Man Christ Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father who is fully man - that man dimension of Him is my brother! You and me! Todd is my brother! Our other brother is Jesus! My brother Glenda! My other brother Jesus! The next thing here levels it all. "You whom I love". That word love here is this lovely Greek word; "Agape". It means "my beloved". Paul says in Philippians 2:12; "So then my beloved". Romans 16:9; "Greet my beloved in the Lord". 2 Corinthians 11:11; "God knows I love you". 12:15; "I will most gladly be expended for your sake". This preeminent apostle says to a bunch of problem people who are misbehaving; "I will most gladly be expended for your sake".
Something has gone wrong when leaders or Christian fellow believers see others as a "duty" or a burden or a responsibility.
When the worship leaders or connect group leaders or childrens group leaders start seeing it as a burden; "I don't want to expend myself" then something has gone wrong. Ministry is serving! It is exhausting! He didn't say; "Well I am so anointed that I never feel tired and I never can expend because I have an infinite resource". No - he said "expend myself". When you have expended everything out of your bank and you try to draw money they will say "No". There are times as a Christian when you get to the place where there is nothing left in the soul tank. Nothing. You did it because of a motive of acceptance grace empowering you to serve. Why? Because it's my duty? No! My brothers whom I love! My beloved! I have watched leaders raise up a group of people and after a while they get so frustrated and want to hurt the people. How do you see people sitting around you? Do you see them as your brothers? Do you see them as your beloved? Paul wouldn't have known every Christian in every church in which he was working yet his attitude was "You are my beloved because you are His beloved and you are my brothers because you are His brothers. I am not superior or inferior to you. You Corinthians are getting so arrogant that you are acting like you are superior to me. It doesn't intimidate me. You are my brothers". He didn't sabotage his own ministry because he operated from an inner security.
It is only a matter of time when everyone in this room and everyone listening to this website will not be left on the planet. We will all go into eternity. Modern technology has deceived us to think we have immortality. I don't know who's going first and I am not volunteering! One of us could be gone tomorrow! I guarantee you that within 30 years most of us will be gone and within 50 years there will be not one of us left on this planet. Then everything will be weighed up as to what we have focused on - our circumstances and our difficulties or did we focus on our destiny? I am getting to a place of rewards - that doesn't contradict grace - but I want to talk about rewards in eternity.
Then he says "You who I long for". He isn't just saying "I long to see you" but he is saying "I long to see you". He is saying "I have ambitions for you! I see greatness in you!". God saw Gideon and He didn't see a coward in a vinevat but a great general. When Paul saw his fellow believers he didn't see them as they were but he saw them in their full destiny in God! "I long for you! I have desires for you!". I have to say that I have not seen anything else attract God's empowering grace on a man or a woman's life who has longings for fellow brothers and sisters. When you have this longing - "You are my brothers and my beloved and I long to see you grow more in grace and get out of those dysfucntional patterns and insecurities and fears of rejections! I long to see the Cross of Jesus Christ have an effect that you would embrace it and not modern Christian therapy and the latest book but come back to the simplicity of the Cross and the gospel! I have longings!
Nothing thrills me more than to see people making progress.
I am going to make a statement that sounds big but God knows that I am telling the truth;
I have never been part of a church like this one. I have been part of some of the most outstanding churches on the planet - two of them are very healthy churches currently. And they planted dozens of churches out of those churches. But I have never been part of a church like this one where I have seen such amazing transformations in people's lives. In just four years I have never seen such miraculous transformations in people's lives. I still shake my head and say "It can't be".
Glenda and I had lunch with Rob Gordon last Tuesday and to look into his eyes and see confidence and bright eyes and I said "When you first came into that service in our church - when you walked in I thought "My God what are we going to do with this guy?!". He said "This church has raised the dead! I was walking death. You have no idea how deep in death I was". The man I am talking to today is not the man that walked in a year and a half ago. I literally could go person to person and say "Wow!". I look at Todd here. Todd you shock me! When you first came in I thought you had escaped from an asylum and you were an axe murderer! He used to run out of meetings because the demons in him used to make him run out! We would run out and say "You are not running away!" and pull him back and they would say "Rob, Todd heard voices telling him to run" and I would say "So why are you bringing him to me?! Take him to your leader and His Name is Jesus!". That is the way I lead! There has been no microwave with Todd! None! We didn't do it as a church! I look at a very sane man and it is not my ministry but the ministry of a local church. That is the truth! A very intelligent man and an integrated man! A man bordering on genius in his intelligence! And for a year and a half that darkness was broken off him because he came into a church preaching grace. Not a series on grace! Everything we preach is acceptance grace and it produces in God's people not a drivenness of insecurity and selfish ambition but suddenly they start seeing others as "my beloved, you who I long for". We had longings for Todd! And he has come through.
Barry! Who is not well today. When Barry came - we met him in a real Chinese resturant and spoke to him for about 4 hours. He talked about how he was abused in Hong Kong as a little boy and sexually abused and every kind of abuse. Not making it up! He had the scars! I could not believe one human being could go through this pain! He represents hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong people! He was so angry - barking and biting at everyone, swearing and blaspheming and I think he was trying to trigger some religious reaction in Glenda and me! And we sat there and smiled and blasphemed and swore. We didn't say "Don't you use those words in my presence! Don't you know I am archbishop semi-apostle?!!?". We sat there and he swore and cursed and spoke about unbelievable stuff. A year and a half later I am shocked at how well adjusted Barry is! Barry is the most transformed human being I have ever witnessed in 30 years of ministry! When he talks there is no bitterness. He was street smart and now he comes and talks about other people! Brothers who he has longing for!
Four weeks ago I prophesied from here that God would take his story - the longest surviving man with HIV/AIDS and openly speaks about his homosexual past and now the doctors can't find any problem with his immune system. He is off the retro-viral drugs and no problems with his immune system! He is like a normal man! I prophesied that God is going to take his story around the world! God will take his story across Hong Kong! Four weeks ago I prophesied that! In November this year he is going on television and meeting with the Hong Kong television with his two doctors to talk about how he is the longest survivor with HIV/AIDS in Hong Kong and what he went through and how it is Jesus who has healed him! But the greatest healing in Barry that he will talk about is not the physical AIDS but the healing and liberation of his soul! That is what he is going to talk about! He will talk about it with integrity because people in this church had longings!
This isn't a church where people have a sweet meeting and pop out. This is a community with integrity that are connecting! In Galatians 4:19 the believers had been under law and they went back to the law and got themselves under the deception of legalistic modern day religious Christianity and Paul didn't say "Well I have prayed for you and preached to you and I have exhausted myself and that is it! I will forget about you!". In Galatians 4:19 he said; "My dear children I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ be formed in you!". Paul's longings NEVER gave up!
I came to Hong Kong and God said; "You do not leave any wounded behind. You don't give up on anyone until they give up on you. You don't stop loving them or seeing them as your brothers!". There are people that come and go and we don't see them for months and they come back and get into all kinds of stuff. We don't stop loving them, reaching out to them and I am not just talking about me and Glenda! I mean people in this church. They will come through! This word "longed for" is the most powerful word you can use in the Greek language to describe human emotions.
Philippians 1:7, 8. Love is a decision! An act of the will! But love is an act of the will! If you never feel anything then something is wrong! I have feelings! I feel for people! I have longings! "It is right for me to feel this way about all of you. Since I have you in my heart for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me". The whole church is sharing in a common inheritance with Paul - the same grace! "God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus". Where is this supernatural love and longings come from? A revelation of acceptance grace that brings you into the Father's love and He gives you affections for your brothers around you and you can say "My brothers - you - my beloved! I long for you! You are my joy and my crown!".
I wanted to get into how this translates into rewards where Paul says "You are my victory wreath!". The Bible says a lot about rewards and it is not meant to inspire fear in us but to inspire faith to find inner security and stability and humility that will enable us to care and equip for each other so when Jesus comes again - Paul makes it clear that what you have done for your brothers around the world, you will share in equal rewards! Glenda and I have been going in ministry for 30 years and when you see Glenda and I as your brothers and as your beloved and as your longed for and you are praying that you stand firm - when you go to heaven then everything Glenda and I have done you will share in our rewards. Everything each of you have done with the right motives to honour him - if I see you as my beloved and not my joy - then everything you have done in God and born fruit, then I will share in the rewards! We all share! Whatever we have done! Partners we are involved in!
I feel so sorry for anyone who isn't part of a local church and can say "You are my victory wreath - the way you are standing in God and I am connected to the rewards of your maturity". All those believers will get is what they have personally done. But you and I will share collective rewards. Jesus will talk about common reward and common judgement. If you are in a church living in grace - then the only churches Jesus rebuked in Revelation were self-righteous. "Poor and blind". If you are part of a church where acceptance grace is part of the gospel then you will find shared reward on that day. I am here in Hong Kong by destiny! We don't focus on our circumstances! God will come and talk to us about our destiny! When you respond to destiny through process - not microwave - and process is by decade then our focus on destiny will mean He talks to us every single day!
Don't miss next Sunday! If you are a visitor passing through Hong Kong then download it next Sunday! Get this message! It is a misunderstood doctrine in the church today! Many Christians don't throw themselves into grace-filled works because they don't believe it! God said we are going to continue in momentum! Stay alert about your destiny and don't let anyone rob you of your destiny!
"Why don't you turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 4. It is wonderful to see so many of you here this morning. We have about 50% of people away and I am amazed how God is bringing and adding people. It is very exciting - this is the year He promised us He would bring people from within Hong Kong and also from many from different nations and He will bring resources to us. How many believe we will not be meeting in this hall forever? I have just signed on an 800 seater hall for March next year where we are hosting "Glory and Grace - Hong Kong" and we have Patricia King coming and Josh Mills and Fini and Isi and I believe it will be an awesome time of the glory of God manifesting in Hong Kong. So we thought shall we meet here with the credit crunch and flights and hotels for people? But we just felt that I was standing outside that building and praying "God what will we do if there is a shortfall? We have to make up the shortfall! And I don't want to waste your money!". I felt God say;
"Son, son - go big, think big and trust Me! You will look on this in a few years time and say "How pathetically small was an 800 seater in Hong Kong!?".
We are going to host "Glory and Grace" in the next few years in the rugby stadium - I am telling you right now!
I have heard so many testimonies in the last six weeks of local Chinese, Hong Kong people have been saved in our services! A lot through the ministry of Angela and Randy who are on holiday but also Alice's testimony of what miracles God is doing and it is so thrilling! How many went on our website this week? I got a call from a pastor friend in Australia and he said "Rob have you seen what's happened on the website front page?". Our Muslim friends hacked in again! They love our website and really feel it is an opportunity for free advertising for Islam! We bless them for that! They had advertising for Ramadam and Muslim songs and praise God for our brothers! If I could trace their address I would send a love message and say thank you because there has been a team in City Church International that have been meeting for a number of weeks and consulting with website designers and we have a website designer coming to join this church in a few months from South Africa and we have been strategising to upgrade our website and make it more user friendly as well as translating our messages into Mandarin and Cantonese. So God used the blessing of Muslim friends to give us a sign and a wonder; "Yes I want you to upgrade!".
God works ALL things together for good to those that love Him and are called together according to His purpose! The ministry of the Word is like a bank - the more you put into it, the more interest you get out of it. The more you set your heart - "I am going to learn today from the Word of God and it will advantage me and cause me to have understanding and wisdom to deal with issues in my life much more effectively and give me prophetic wisdom to deal with the context I am in right now and deal with my circumstances by the wisdom of God!".
"Thank You that we are as secure in this covenant as Jesus is because we are in Him ... give us revelation that you have put all things under the feet of Jesus ... open our understanding to see that we are Your glorious inheritance that You take pleasure in as a delighting Father!"
How many of you have found in life that the rhythms are different? Sometimes you go through times where everything you do is going well and succeeding and all blessing and all good? Then it comes to an abrupt end and for another season or time you go through negative and bad and then you come out of that and it becomes good for a while? I believe that right now we are NOT in that sort of a time!
I believe that right NOW we are in a time where we are living in the BEST of times and the WORST of times at the SAME time! And that is because the devil is intimidated about what is going on in the earth.
There are things going on in the earth that I get regular reports on and some of you do as well where millions are being swept into the Kingdom! Across the border in China the estimates are 40,000 people are born again EVERY single DAY! This year we have seen several people come out of wheelchairs and blind eyes open and deaf ears opened! Deaf ears! Cancers healed! At the same time we have faced all kinds of heartaches and disappointments like some of you are! There are things going on in families and friends all around the world. So great things are happening but it's also the worst time at the same time because the devil is trying to target those who God is using and will use to the greatest degree in this time!
The least people He is using are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers! Their job is not to be the superstars who do the work! Their job is to equip every believer to be a manifestor of the Kingdom of God and to have influence in their context!
Ordinary people are having great effect in their time and many more will come out with greater influence! Some of you sit in relative obscurity today and you think; "What do I do? I don't do anything much! I would love to! I go to sleep and go to work! What do I do?". Something is at move and at work in the earth!
The devil will target those who God is using to the greatest degree (or is about to use) by giving them the greatest degree of distraction! The devil is not interested in your money. I promise you he doesn't need it and He can't spend it or want it. But he will attack your finances and he will attack your economy because he doesn't want your money. He wants to rob you of your peace. Agitated people seldom hear the voice of God! Agitated people hear the voice of deception, discouragement, confusion and condemnation! People under the government of God's peace hear His audible voice and hear His instruction and get His leading and they know what God wants them to do. The devil couldn't care if you had a good or bad marriage - honestly! It doesn't interest him! But he will attack your marriage to rob you of peace to agitate you with distraction! The devil doesn't care if you have a visa to stay in Hong Kong or not. But he will attack you on every kind of issue he can - because those who God is going to use to the greatest degree will be distracted by the devil to the greatest degree.
The word is "Distraction" friends! In a time of opportunity, distraction is the strategy of the devil and God's agenda is FOCUS! Laser-like focus! "I was born for this reason - I was raised for this time and I didn't go through hell and back and difficulties and betrayals for three decades to come to this awesome town to go down in flames of bitterness and cynicism and rejection complex! This is the time to stand strong! God is not interested in talking to you about your circumstances of distraction. A lot of people say "I am crying out God! Deal with this issue - finances, money etc!". God is not a magic genii that comes out and offers you three wishes! He is not coming down to reduce His kingly lordship on the issue of difficult circumstances.
Now He loves you and me and cares about us but He won't talk to you about the issue of your circumstances. God will talk to you on the issue of your DESTINY.
As soon as you say "God I want to talk about my destiny. These are the distractions and they are hurting me but what is my destiny? How will I move to next level of my destiny?".
Your destiny is not your career! Your career is a vehicle by which God can express destiny!
When Gideon was threshing wheat in a winevat as a coward and afraid, and complaining and mumbling saying "Where is the God of my forefathers?" and he wanted God to come and use His miracles to change his economic dysfunctional situation. God would not talk to Gideon on the basis of his circumstances but on the basis of his destiny - because God is after destiny for you and me! He said to a coward hiding in a winevat; "MIGHTY warrior!". When Gideon tried to talk circumstances, God said; "Shut up! I am not here to talk circumstances! I am not a God who will be reduced to making men and women just feel a bit happier and sort their problems out!". That is not God! God said; "I am here not to give you a bit of economic empowerment - not to change your circumstances but to make you the greatest general Israel has ever seen and drive out the Mideanites and;
When you obey destiny - your circumstances will improve! But if you focus on your self-pity and rejection and my problems and ask God why He's not helping - you will find He will not speak to you about your problems. He WILL talk to you about why you are on the earth and what your destiny is and what He has equipped you for!
If you do not live in the unfolding sequence of your destiny and the reason why you are on this planet then you will feel your existance on this earth is a mistake and it is NOT a mistake! You will feel you are living a mistake if you are not living your destiny! If you want to have maximum impact in your life then you have to allow God Almighty to have maximum impact in your life because we grow and develop on purpose through process!
There is no microwave Christianity! I am the most impatient man on the planet! Even microwaves don't do it fast enough! Every red traffic light is a demonic conspiracy to frustrate me! I want to go and arrive and get somewhere! If you are not like that then something has been stealing your guts and making you defeatest and passive! The herd mentality is just being mesmerised and trivialised! The Kingdom doesn't have microwave spirituality! I have people who come to me and say "Rob will you pray I'll never sin again?!". I say "Okay I will try. I may have to ask God to kill you and take you to heaven! That's the only place you will not have those issues!". Christianity is not microwave - it is a consistant process! People say to Glenda and me; "How did you get to where you are in the world? How are you influencing so many people?!". Three decades of no sulking, no backsliding, no giving up, no blaming this or that, rejection or oppression! It is not the greatest talents or the greatest gifts or the greatest anointing! It is those who understand that Christanity is not microwave - it is a process!
Today is an event - this message! How you respond to this message, how you deliberately decide to make decisions of wisdom in response to this message is a process that will bring purpose and unfolding evelation and promotion in the purposes of God.
The modern church has overestimated the value of event and underestimated the value of process.
People go to conferences and fill their notes and talk about the experience they had in the event. Great! Wonderful! Do it more! But that is an event and it is the purpose of you making decisions that I am here for DESTINY and if I do not fulfill destiny I will feel like I am living as a mistake in the earth. Which will explain the majority of suicides. It is not because their circumstances went down because of changes in the earth or the oil price went up and they faced bankruptcy. Those are circumstances. If they talked to God about their destiny then God would lift them up in their destiny and in the following of their destiny, their circumstances would be dealt with and they would become economically empowered again. If the nations of the earth cried out to God not for their circumstances but asked God what their destiny was; "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it - God what do you want done with your nations?" - then this planet is so wealthy and every human being could be a billionaire! There is enough wealth in the nations for everyone to be a billionaire!
It is because of the rebellion against the King of Kings and the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Everyone - you and me - can become great if we will value process more than the trivia of events. You say "Do you always preach like this?". No sometimes I am a bit worse!
The motives for living out the process is a revelation of acceptance grace. I am talking in the second part of a series; "Attitudes that attract empowering grace". And I said last week that I am deeply disturbed by the emphasis in the church world today on empowering grace at the expense of undervaluing the foundation of acceptance grace. I am going to quickly review that. Grace has two components.
1. Acceptance Grace.
2. Empowering Grace - enables you to raise the dead, do miracles, signs, wonders and enables you to say no to sin. Enables you to work hard! "I worked harder than anyone else but not I but the grace of God" - that is empowering grace.
Wonderful!
I want every part of empowering grace on my life! The way into empowering grace MUST be a revelation of acceptance grace. Even if I don't raise the dead or do any great things or don't get victory over sin or get holy enough or do enough - my Father accepts me in Christ Jesus because He has given me the gift of righteousness not based on my obedience or disobedience. The righteousness I have is the permament, stable, eternal righteousness of Jesus Christ given to me! Ephesians 1:3 - "I am accepted in the Beloved". Romans 15:7; "We are accepted in Christ Jesus". 2 Corinthians 3 says that what the Father sees in you is the glory that radiates and reflects from the face of Jesus.
I said to you last week that the secret of my prayer life is simply this. I know the Holy Spirit really likes me and loves being with me because He knows that I know that He knows that I know that the Father sees Rob Rufus in the righteousness of Christ and I am in the same standing as Jesus. Romans 8:16 - I am a joint equal heir with Christ and an heir of God and I don't have co-equal divine-ness with God and will never be! But I have a co-equal righteousness with Jesus because I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!
Now that is a process! It is not 3 months or 1 year of hearing acceptance grace. It is a process over years of getting deeper and deeper into understanding acceptance grace. When you understand by revelation deeply acceptance grace then this will be growing fruit and will build into your life inner security, inner stability, inner sense of safety and an inner sense of significance even if you don't do anything great. In other words you don't have to do great things to feel important - you know your value is because the Father accepts you as He sees Jesus! The fruit of acceptance grace revelation is humility - humility is inner security, no more drivenness or franticness to impress people. Inner security produces a freedom from jealousy, comparing yourself with others, looking at others salary and what others get and you don't get, you don't feel inferior or superior to anyone else because you have got inner security because you know that you are accepted! People that have to prove something all the time is a sign that they don't understand acceptance grace and have got to "do things" all the time by the power of acceptance grace.
Now when we believe the gospel of acceptance grace then three fruit immediately grows through a process;
1. Boldness.
2. Obedience.
3. Humility.
Rejection of acceptance grace in Christians produces;
1. Fear of rejection.
2. Drivenness to prove themselves.
3. Comparisons between people.
That is a sign of rejecting acceptance grace. Unbelief in acceptance grace produces fear, rebellion (which is like the sin of witchcraft) and pride! 1 Peter 5; "Therefore clothe yourself in humility all of you to one another for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under God's mighty hand and He will lift you up in due time casting all your cares on Him for He cares for you". You have just seen the working of acceptance grace and empowering grace right there. Acceptance grace will produce humility whereby you will humble yourselves under God's mighty hand and you will be loving and humble towards one another and God will then lift you up by His mighty hand. When God lifts you up by His mighty hand that is empowering grace! If you are proud and insecure and jealous and driven then God has to oppose you because of self-righteousness. If God is opposing you then you can fast, bind devils and be concious of devils and oppression all you like but they are not going away because God is resisting you.
Though the devil comes and wants to attack us - that is not what I am talking about. You can build alliances with men and get every denomination on the planet to support you - you are in trouble if God is resisting you! When you humble yourself from inner security and acceptance grace then the empowering grace of God's mighty hand lifts you up in due time by process! When He lifts you up no devil in darkness can attack you successfully! No human being can stand against you all the days of your life and you become invincible with the invincibility of God! To be lifted up by His mighty hand is to have favour and influence and jurisdiction and authority! Every Christian on the planet is either in a place of being resisted by God's mighty hand or they are in a place of God's mighty hand lifting them up and it is all dependent on a posture of pride or humility.
Those that walk in humility are not caught up in the seduction of the distraction of circumstances, what's happening or difficulties - they are caught up in what their destiny is through inner security in what acceptance grace brings. Rather they are captured by a vision and destiny to fulfill. Let's go quickly to Philippians 4 and I want to show you these attitudes that attract the empowering grace. Attitudes that attract the empowering grace! Philippians 4:1. I am not under pressure to rush the message and I have been rebuked by the majority of people in this church who say "You rob us! Why are you always rushing? We need this stuff!". Anyone can leave anytime they like but don't pressure me into rushing by your body language! I will finish when God says "Finish!".
"Therefore my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord - dear friends".
There are four attitudes there that attract the empowering grace of God. Last week I mentioned that Paul the apostle is the preeminant apostle that ever walked this earth except Jesus who was the apostle of apostles. He wrote two thirds of the New Testament but I think most churches would kick him out if he came to preach in their churches today. He was wild. He was loving and gracious father as well. He raised people from the dead and we have accounts of it in the New Testament. He himself I think was raised from the dead because he was stoned for preaching the gospel and God raised him up. He had revelation and was caught up into the third heaven. This guy makes all of us look tame! He was a preeminant apostle! Yet when he comes to talk to his fellow believers, he does not say; "I apostle ding-a-ling, prophet, bishop, reverend!". No he doesn't say "my sermon fodder, my followers that are there to make me look great!". This preeminant apostle - which speaks so loudly to the modern church which is so gripped by this hierarchial sense of ranking and ecclesiology and titles and names and positions that are driven by a misguided theology that has emphasised empowering grace instead of acceptance grace.
Paul was the champion of acceptance grace and he understood that his father loved him and he was accepted - so he needed no titles or things to make him look important in the eyes of men because he knew that his Father loved him. Out of that acceptance grace God lifted him up and gave him empowering grace to do mighty things. But he was not not concious of his merit or his badge or his significance in the things he DID but in the REALITY of acceptance in the Father's love.
So he relates to his fellow believers - this preeminent apostle - as "my brothers who I love and long for - my joy and my crown. This is how you should stand firm in the Lord Jesus - my dear friends". So his first connection with his fellow believers is "brothers". That means "sisters" too. Sisters as well! He calls them "brothers". How many of you know that all the three and a half years that Jesus walked with His disciples He never once called them "brothers". He called them "friends" and "servants" but He never referred to them as "brothers". When He was crucified and raised from the dead and Mary came to Him in John 20:17- He says "Mary go tell my brothers that I go to their Father and My Father - their God and My God".
The first time Jesus calls His disciples brothers is AFTER the finished work of the Cross and the resurrection.
Why could Jesus not call them brothers before the Cross? They were not born again! They were under the Law and judgement and the wrath of God! Romans 2 - Paul lays it all out. He says that the result of law is that not one is righteous. Under the law no one was righteous. They were all under the wrath and the curse of the law. Before the law came Abraham was given righteousness as a gift because of his faith. But after the law came, Paul said in Romans 2 that there is not one righteous person on the entire planet through trying to keep laws to be good enough to gain acceptance with God. So they could never have been His brothers because they were under the law. He fulfilled the Law! He didn't come to remove but fulfill the Law. The Law is now fulfilled and on the Cross (Colossians 2 says) He abolished the Law and cancelled the written code that stood opposed to us. Once He had cancelled the written code He could then give us His righteousness. You cannot have a gift of righteousness and be under the Law! When you behave wrong or sin wrong the Law will say "You have done something wrong". If you say "But I have a gift of righteousness" then the Law will say "You are not righteous by a gift because I say you have done something wrong!".
So God had to cancel the law in Colossians 2 and obliterate the Law and then declare you to be the righteousness of God through Jesus taking all your sin past, present and future and giving you all His righteousness as a permament unconditional standing before the Father. Only after the Cross and Resurrection could He say "Go call My brothers and tell them I go to My Father and their Father, My God and their God". Co-equal heirs with Christ! Romans 8:29 says "Jesus was the first-born among many brothers". Now first Adam was the firstborn from spiritual life to spiritual death. Everyone born into the planet was born into first Adam's death. Jesus Christ was the first born from spiritual death because He took our death at the Cross - spirit, soul and physical death and He was raised from the dead by the power of God and He is the firstborn among many brothers! I don't know who was the second and third born and it doesn't matter. You are IN the first born! Hebrews 2:11 says Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers.
I don't know if you understand this because when this came on in my heart some time ago - it has changed my entire life. I have realised that I have a brother in heaven. Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood. I have a brother of DNA in heaven who is the King of heaven and is not ashamed to call me brother! He was the firstborn among many brothers and His Father is my Father and His God is my God! That has changed me on the inside! I am so tired of these inner healing courses that have gone on for centuries in the church to deal with Christian insecurity and need of self-value and self-esteem. When you realise by revelation that you are accepted and you are a brother of Jesus Christ then there is no more inferiority left or superiority left! The next time you feel some Christian putting a superiority onto you - look them in the eye with amusement! "I don't know who you think you are! Jesus is my brother! And I am co-equal with Him in righteousness as an heir! And I am going to judge angels throughout all eternity with my brother Jesus! Not because of any good or holiness I have done but I am accepted in the beloved!".
It is not about ministry! People run about the church saying "What's my ministry!? What's my ministry?!". What they mean is what makes them important in the church. Ministry means service. Where do I serve Lord? What is my service in the church? Your service may be only a small part of your destiny and your destiny could be a lot bigger than how you serve in the church but Lord where do I serve? You know you believe you are a servant when people treat you like a servant! Will you do that or that? Huh! Don't you know my ministry!? I am a son first! And out of my security as a son - I can minister as a servant. I said in Cape Town that they were driving me crazy! I honestly didn't know whether I was coming or going! "Can you pray for me? Can you pray for me!?". Don't these people understand that I need to go for a cup of coffee?! Then I realised that they are treating me like a servant! Yes I will pray. I am here to serve.
Servants - no hierarchy! I have taken four years to appoint leaders and I know I haven't demolished under God's power hierarchial thinking that somehow means that appointments mean superiority! Position! Prestige! It gets two extremes. "Oh now he is superior - he is an elder and deacon so I have got to fawn and flatter him". Rubbish! He is your brother! Or the other extreme; "Who do they think they are?! I don't recognise them - bunch of nothings!". Rebellion! That is insecurity and jealousy!
The New Testament atmosphere is a preeminant apostle addressing fellow believers as "brothers". Why? Because the preeminant apostle of all apostles - God the Son who was God from all eternity and never was anything but God and who clothed Himself in all humanity - the Man Christ Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father who is fully man - that man dimension of Him is my brother! You and me! Todd is my brother! Our other brother is Jesus! My brother Glenda! My other brother Jesus! The next thing here levels it all. "You whom I love". That word love here is this lovely Greek word; "Agape". It means "my beloved". Paul says in Philippians 2:12; "So then my beloved". Romans 16:9; "Greet my beloved in the Lord". 2 Corinthians 11:11; "God knows I love you". 12:15; "I will most gladly be expended for your sake". This preeminent apostle says to a bunch of problem people who are misbehaving; "I will most gladly be expended for your sake".
Something has gone wrong when leaders or Christian fellow believers see others as a "duty" or a burden or a responsibility.
When the worship leaders or connect group leaders or childrens group leaders start seeing it as a burden; "I don't want to expend myself" then something has gone wrong. Ministry is serving! It is exhausting! He didn't say; "Well I am so anointed that I never feel tired and I never can expend because I have an infinite resource". No - he said "expend myself". When you have expended everything out of your bank and you try to draw money they will say "No". There are times as a Christian when you get to the place where there is nothing left in the soul tank. Nothing. You did it because of a motive of acceptance grace empowering you to serve. Why? Because it's my duty? No! My brothers whom I love! My beloved! I have watched leaders raise up a group of people and after a while they get so frustrated and want to hurt the people. How do you see people sitting around you? Do you see them as your brothers? Do you see them as your beloved? Paul wouldn't have known every Christian in every church in which he was working yet his attitude was "You are my beloved because you are His beloved and you are my brothers because you are His brothers. I am not superior or inferior to you. You Corinthians are getting so arrogant that you are acting like you are superior to me. It doesn't intimidate me. You are my brothers". He didn't sabotage his own ministry because he operated from an inner security.
It is only a matter of time when everyone in this room and everyone listening to this website will not be left on the planet. We will all go into eternity. Modern technology has deceived us to think we have immortality. I don't know who's going first and I am not volunteering! One of us could be gone tomorrow! I guarantee you that within 30 years most of us will be gone and within 50 years there will be not one of us left on this planet. Then everything will be weighed up as to what we have focused on - our circumstances and our difficulties or did we focus on our destiny? I am getting to a place of rewards - that doesn't contradict grace - but I want to talk about rewards in eternity.
Then he says "You who I long for". He isn't just saying "I long to see you" but he is saying "I long to see you". He is saying "I have ambitions for you! I see greatness in you!". God saw Gideon and He didn't see a coward in a vinevat but a great general. When Paul saw his fellow believers he didn't see them as they were but he saw them in their full destiny in God! "I long for you! I have desires for you!". I have to say that I have not seen anything else attract God's empowering grace on a man or a woman's life who has longings for fellow brothers and sisters. When you have this longing - "You are my brothers and my beloved and I long to see you grow more in grace and get out of those dysfucntional patterns and insecurities and fears of rejections! I long to see the Cross of Jesus Christ have an effect that you would embrace it and not modern Christian therapy and the latest book but come back to the simplicity of the Cross and the gospel! I have longings!
Nothing thrills me more than to see people making progress.
I am going to make a statement that sounds big but God knows that I am telling the truth;
I have never been part of a church like this one. I have been part of some of the most outstanding churches on the planet - two of them are very healthy churches currently. And they planted dozens of churches out of those churches. But I have never been part of a church like this one where I have seen such amazing transformations in people's lives. In just four years I have never seen such miraculous transformations in people's lives. I still shake my head and say "It can't be".
Glenda and I had lunch with Rob Gordon last Tuesday and to look into his eyes and see confidence and bright eyes and I said "When you first came into that service in our church - when you walked in I thought "My God what are we going to do with this guy?!". He said "This church has raised the dead! I was walking death. You have no idea how deep in death I was". The man I am talking to today is not the man that walked in a year and a half ago. I literally could go person to person and say "Wow!". I look at Todd here. Todd you shock me! When you first came in I thought you had escaped from an asylum and you were an axe murderer! He used to run out of meetings because the demons in him used to make him run out! We would run out and say "You are not running away!" and pull him back and they would say "Rob, Todd heard voices telling him to run" and I would say "So why are you bringing him to me?! Take him to your leader and His Name is Jesus!". That is the way I lead! There has been no microwave with Todd! None! We didn't do it as a church! I look at a very sane man and it is not my ministry but the ministry of a local church. That is the truth! A very intelligent man and an integrated man! A man bordering on genius in his intelligence! And for a year and a half that darkness was broken off him because he came into a church preaching grace. Not a series on grace! Everything we preach is acceptance grace and it produces in God's people not a drivenness of insecurity and selfish ambition but suddenly they start seeing others as "my beloved, you who I long for". We had longings for Todd! And he has come through.
Barry! Who is not well today. When Barry came - we met him in a real Chinese resturant and spoke to him for about 4 hours. He talked about how he was abused in Hong Kong as a little boy and sexually abused and every kind of abuse. Not making it up! He had the scars! I could not believe one human being could go through this pain! He represents hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong people! He was so angry - barking and biting at everyone, swearing and blaspheming and I think he was trying to trigger some religious reaction in Glenda and me! And we sat there and smiled and blasphemed and swore. We didn't say "Don't you use those words in my presence! Don't you know I am archbishop semi-apostle?!!?". We sat there and he swore and cursed and spoke about unbelievable stuff. A year and a half later I am shocked at how well adjusted Barry is! Barry is the most transformed human being I have ever witnessed in 30 years of ministry! When he talks there is no bitterness. He was street smart and now he comes and talks about other people! Brothers who he has longing for!
Four weeks ago I prophesied from here that God would take his story - the longest surviving man with HIV/AIDS and openly speaks about his homosexual past and now the doctors can't find any problem with his immune system. He is off the retro-viral drugs and no problems with his immune system! He is like a normal man! I prophesied that God is going to take his story around the world! God will take his story across Hong Kong! Four weeks ago I prophesied that! In November this year he is going on television and meeting with the Hong Kong television with his two doctors to talk about how he is the longest survivor with HIV/AIDS in Hong Kong and what he went through and how it is Jesus who has healed him! But the greatest healing in Barry that he will talk about is not the physical AIDS but the healing and liberation of his soul! That is what he is going to talk about! He will talk about it with integrity because people in this church had longings!
This isn't a church where people have a sweet meeting and pop out. This is a community with integrity that are connecting! In Galatians 4:19 the believers had been under law and they went back to the law and got themselves under the deception of legalistic modern day religious Christianity and Paul didn't say "Well I have prayed for you and preached to you and I have exhausted myself and that is it! I will forget about you!". In Galatians 4:19 he said; "My dear children I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ be formed in you!". Paul's longings NEVER gave up!
I came to Hong Kong and God said; "You do not leave any wounded behind. You don't give up on anyone until they give up on you. You don't stop loving them or seeing them as your brothers!". There are people that come and go and we don't see them for months and they come back and get into all kinds of stuff. We don't stop loving them, reaching out to them and I am not just talking about me and Glenda! I mean people in this church. They will come through! This word "longed for" is the most powerful word you can use in the Greek language to describe human emotions.
Philippians 1:7, 8. Love is a decision! An act of the will! But love is an act of the will! If you never feel anything then something is wrong! I have feelings! I feel for people! I have longings! "It is right for me to feel this way about all of you. Since I have you in my heart for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me". The whole church is sharing in a common inheritance with Paul - the same grace! "God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus". Where is this supernatural love and longings come from? A revelation of acceptance grace that brings you into the Father's love and He gives you affections for your brothers around you and you can say "My brothers - you - my beloved! I long for you! You are my joy and my crown!".
I wanted to get into how this translates into rewards where Paul says "You are my victory wreath!". The Bible says a lot about rewards and it is not meant to inspire fear in us but to inspire faith to find inner security and stability and humility that will enable us to care and equip for each other so when Jesus comes again - Paul makes it clear that what you have done for your brothers around the world, you will share in equal rewards! Glenda and I have been going in ministry for 30 years and when you see Glenda and I as your brothers and as your beloved and as your longed for and you are praying that you stand firm - when you go to heaven then everything Glenda and I have done you will share in our rewards. Everything each of you have done with the right motives to honour him - if I see you as my beloved and not my joy - then everything you have done in God and born fruit, then I will share in the rewards! We all share! Whatever we have done! Partners we are involved in!
I feel so sorry for anyone who isn't part of a local church and can say "You are my victory wreath - the way you are standing in God and I am connected to the rewards of your maturity". All those believers will get is what they have personally done. But you and I will share collective rewards. Jesus will talk about common reward and common judgement. If you are in a church living in grace - then the only churches Jesus rebuked in Revelation were self-righteous. "Poor and blind". If you are part of a church where acceptance grace is part of the gospel then you will find shared reward on that day. I am here in Hong Kong by destiny! We don't focus on our circumstances! God will come and talk to us about our destiny! When you respond to destiny through process - not microwave - and process is by decade then our focus on destiny will mean He talks to us every single day!
Don't miss next Sunday! If you are a visitor passing through Hong Kong then download it next Sunday! Get this message! It is a misunderstood doctrine in the church today! Many Christians don't throw themselves into grace-filled works because they don't believe it! God said we are going to continue in momentum! Stay alert about your destiny and don't let anyone rob you of your destiny!
Monday, 2 March 2009
Ryan Rufus - "Keys to Understanding Romans 5, 6, 7 and 8"
Rob's sermon on the "Covenant of Increased Blessing" so excited me and thrilled me that I couldn't leave it there for one night so I scrolled through my IPOD and this sermon by Ryan caught my eye. And it was incredible! There was particularly heaps of material ideal for the "Glory and Grace Blank Bible" so keep an eye open!
He preached it on Sunday 24th August 2008.
This morning I am a bit nervous! I feel like I am carrying something I want to get out. I don't feel I am nervous about public speaking so much as I am about communicating what I feel God wants me to say here this morning. What I am wanting to do is preach on four precious chapters from the Bible this morning and that could be the most ambitious and the most stupid thing I have tried to do! I don't want to give you the content so much of this chapters as the context of these four chapters so that context will arm and equip you to be able to go and study this four chapters and to unlock them and to be able to see the sequence and the flow. I've got about five or six Bibles at home and these four chapters have got the most underlined bits, there is writing down the side, they highlight and circle some bits of the texts. They are my favourite chapters!
I believe these four chapters are the bedrock chapters of understanding grace and as we study them and understand them, then we will be able to look at any verse that poses a "problem" for grace, that seems a bit contradictory of grace - but when you understand these four chapters you will be able to put those "rogue verses" into their proper context. If you understand these four chapters and then read another verse in the Bible that seems to undermine grace then the chances are you have misunderstood that verse and what that verse is actually saying. As you study these four chapters and understand them then you will be able to unlock the rest of the Bible.
The four chapters are Romans 5, 6, 7 and 8. My favourite chapters along with Hebrews chapter 10! I love the whole Word but particularly Romans 5-8 and that is where we get our theology of grace. Those four chapters come as a package - they are together and it is not good to isolate one chapter and build a theology around them. There is a flow and a sequence to those chapters that God has only begun to unlock to me in the last few months. I've seen a few things that has helped to unlock those chapters! What I want to do is arm you with a tool or a method on how to understand these four chapters. I wish I could state it in one sentance but I am going to have to state it in a few. Please resist the temptation of turning off! It's very distracting as a preacher! Just keep going, keep walking wiht me and it will drop and click into place! So I will state it and what I am on about then we will go back and look at it with some key Scriptures and establish the context.
What is Romans 5, 6, 7 and 8 talking about? I believe that Romans 5 through 8 are talking about TWO states of being. TWO positions that we are in. TWO kinds of races of people on the earth. Those that are in first Adam and those in last Adam - Jesus Christ. The theme of Romans 5 through 8 is contrasting the two states of those in first Adam and those in last Adam. Two states of being! You are either in first Adam or last Adam.
Romans chapter 5 is all about that. Adam or Christ. It is contrasting are you in Adam or Christ? There is nothing you can do to put yourself in either one of those. You were born in first Adam and we had nothing to do with that. When we come into Christ we are born again - we had nothing to do with that except believe. No righteous act got us into Christ and nothing we did got us into first Adam. Romans 5 is all about people's position. People are either in Adam or Christ.
Romans chapter 6 is contrasting that you are either in the position of SIN or RIGHTEOUSNESS. People read Romans 6 and get confused and think it is about "sinning" or "doing sins" or "being righteous" or "doing righteousness". Actually the position is either you are IN sin or you are IN righteousness. Because people are in Adam they are automatically in sin. People who are IN Christ are automatically IN righteousness!
Those who are in Adam and in sin - it doesn't matter how many good works they do - they can never be IN righteousness or IN Christ. Consequently those who are IN Christ and IN righteousness - it doesn't matter how many bad works they do - they can never be IN first Adam or IN sin again! They are IN Christ and IN righteousness!
Romans chapter 7 is contrasting those who are under the Law and those who are in grace. It is actually talking about how we have died to the Law so that we might belong to another and come into grace. It is also talking about POSITION. You are either in the position of being under the Law or you are in a position of being in grace.
The flow is this - if you are in Adam then you are in sin and under the Law. If you are in Christ then you are in righteousness and you are under grace.
People who are under the Law can try and live in grace but unless they die with Christ and believe by faith in Jesus then they can never come into Christ. Those who are in grace can put themselves back under law but positionally they are in grace whether they like it or not. With their mind and their body they can try and keep laws and fulfill the law and we say they have "fallen from grace".
To fall from grace is not a POSITIONAL thing, it is a CONDITIONAL thing. You haven't "fallen from grace" in your position. Your position is still in grace and still in Christ and in righteousness but you have gone back to the Law which Romans 5 says is "spiritual adultery". That is to "fall from grace". You are still saved and still in Christ but you are trying to impress God by the things that you do.
Romans chapter 8 - those who walk after the flesh then there is condemnation but those who walk after the Spirit then there is no condemnation. The problem with Romans chapter 8 and it's interpretation then people think "One moment I am walking by the Spirit and the next moment I am walking by the flesh and sinful nature". Something there is condemnation and then there isn't. Romans chapter 8 isn't talking about that - it is talking about your position. You are either IN the flesh or you are IN the Spirit.
If you are in Adam then you are in sin and under the Law and IN the flesh. If you are in Christ then you are in righteousness and under grace and IN the Spirit!
Positionally if you are in Christ then you are NOT in the flesh! You are in the Spirit! So a key to understanding Romans 5 through 8 is to understand what position or state it is talking about. Another key is to understand that at any point there are eight simultaneous things happening at one time.
Romans 8:1 - Someone who is in the flesh is not in the Spirit. They are in Adam and not in Christ. They are in sin and not in righteousness. They are under the Law and not under grace.
Someone who is under grace is not under the Law. They are in Christ and not in Adam. They are in righteousness and not in sin. They are in the Spirit and not in the flesh!
We look at Romans 7:1 and see "Shall we continue in sin?" and we think that is talking about "should I keep sinning or try and stop sinning?". It's not talking about that! It is talking about someone who is IN sin and not IN righteousness! "Shall I continue IN sin that grace may abound?". He is saying shall I continue under the Law so I can expose and keep exposing that sin then more grace will be revealed to overcome that sin! So do we keep living in that place of sin? No! God forbid! You can't be in that place of sin if you are in Christ and have come out from Adam! You cannot live in sin if you are in righteousness! You cannot be in sin if you are in righteousness! Now you can do sinful things but that does not make you IN sin! You are in the position of righteousness! Someone who is IN sin can do all the righteous things that they want but that does not put them in the position of righteousness. They have to be united with Christ and be born again!
Let me give some key Scriptures here. They will help form a context when you go to study them. (Romans 5:12) My three study books at home are the King James, the NIV and Vines Expository Dictionary of Greek words and between those three the job gets done. (And the Holy Spirit!!).
Romans 5:12; "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world". That is talking about through Adam sin entered into the world and the consequence was death and judgement. "For that all have sinned". Those in Adam are imputed with Adam's sin.
Romans 5:19; "For by one man's disobedience ... many were MADE sinners so by the obedience of one so shall many be MADE righteous". So if you were born into Adam then you received the free gift of sin! Hallelujah! Isn't that awesome?! You didn't need to have faith for the consequences of that sin. The consequences just came upon you whether you did anything bad or good! You received seperation from God! You received future judgement! You received condemnation! No good work that you can do can cause you to backslide out of Adam and into Christ. Just like those that are in Christ who are MADE righteous. You are imputed with the gift of righteousness. It wasn't your righteousness - it was given to you as a gift. You were MADE righteous! You don't have to have faith for the blessings or for the consequences of that righteousness. You are given the free gift of righteousness and you receive all the consequences of that righteousness. Relationship with God, being made alive in Christ, blessed in the heavenly realm with every blessing in Christ and NO bad works can cause you to backslide out of righteousness and back into sin.
Romans 6:1; "Shall we continue in sin?". It doesn't say shall we continue "sinning". It says shall we continue "in sin" that grace may abound. We cannot live any longer in sin because we have died with Christ. The next few verses talk about being united with Christ in death, burial and resurrection. We have been released from the position of sin and into Christ and into righteousness.
Romans 6:7; "He that is dead is freed from sin". Many of us think that means we are free from "sinning". But I still sin! So that means I am not dead! Oh I need to kill myself! Kill my flesh and my sinful nature! And so we get into all these DEAD WORKS thinking that we have to do something that the Bible says has ALREADAY taken place! He that is dead died with Christ and is FREED from the POSITION of sin! Understand that you died with Christ! Believe it! Don't try and believe it to be true! Believe it because it IS true! It is not your believing that makes it true! It just IS true so believe it!
Romans 6:18; "Being then freed from sin you became the servants of righteousness". The NIV says the "slaves of righteousness". You do want to be a slave of righteousness! It is good to be a slave of righteousness because even if you do bad things then you are still the slave of righteousness and righteousness is not letting you go ANYWHERE! Righteousness is cracking the whip and not letting you go back to being in sin! For all eternity you are in Christ and in righteousness! Righteousness is your master! We are slaves of righteousness!
No wonder Romans 8:1 says there is NO condemnation for those in Christ! We are not in sin! We are a slave of righteousness!
Romans 6:14; "Sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under grace". Oh but sometimes it feels like sin has got dominion over me! It is not talking about that! It is saying that the consequences and the judgement of sin will no longer have dominion over you. You are free from sin! You are free from the consequences of sin and so no matter how much sin wants to intimidate you and lie to you and rule over you, it will not have dominion over you! It can have no more consequence or judgement over you because you are in Christ and in righteousness. You are FREE from sin, consequences, judgement and death and you have come into grace, life, freedom! You are free because you are no longer under the Law - that's what it says!
That sets up Romans chapter 7 for us! Romans chapter 7 is talking about how you are either under Law or you are in grace. It is talking about how we have died to the Law so we can come into grace in Christ Jesus.
Let's look at Romans 7:1; "Speak to them that know the Law that the Law has dominion over a man as long as he liveth". If we are under the Law we cannot just think that we can go into grace. That is spiritual adultery! Something needs to happen to release us from the Law. We cannot be in grace and try and keep the Law to impress God! We need to be released from the Law to belong to grace. It is not by righteous acts that we belong to Jesus but by being released from the Law and through faith.
Romans 7:4; "You have died to the Law". Why do people still preach that we are under the Law?! The Bible said we DIED to the Law! That we might belong to another - Jesus Christ!
Romans 7:5; "To bring forth fruit unto death". We weren't trying to keep the Law under Adam but we were still under it. The reason God gave us the Law was not so that we should try and keep it to get into Christ. He gave us the Law to show us that we have an internal sin problem that we cannot fix on our own! Paul said he would not have known what sin was but through the Law! The Law stirred up the sin nature in us! The sin nature then tries to drive us into sin! So the Law came to expose how unrighteous we are and how in desperate need of Jesus Christ we are! Once we get that revelation then the Law has done it's job! The whole of the Old Testament is about the Law and the Prophets proclaiming the Christ! Pointing to the Christ! Once we come to Christ then the Law has done it's purpose and we have died to the Law and so we might belong to another. He has given us a new nature that wants to live for God and wants to serve God!
Many people struggle reading the latter part of Romans chapter 7 where Paul says "the things I want to do I didn't" and vice versa. And there is a big dispute in the church where people are asking if that is Paul talking about himself before he was saved or after he was saved. Is that the life of a Christian? That the things we do want to do we don't and the things we don't want to do we do!? If you understand what I am saying to you today about being in sin and in righteousness or being in Adam and in Christ or law and grace - if you understand that then go and read from verse 14 and put that in it's right context!
(v14); "I am carnal, sold under sin". Does that sound like someone who is in Christ, in grace and in the Spirit? To me that sounds like someone who is in Adam, in sin and under the Law and in the flesh.
Romans chapter 8 is awesome and will help you understand that we are in the Spirit not in the flesh! What does it mean to be in the flesh? In Adam, in sin, under the law and in the flesh. In the Spirit we are under grace, in Christ and in righteousness!
Romans chapter 8:9; "Be that the Spirit of God dwells in you". If you are born again then the Spirit dwells in you and the Bible says clearly that you are not in the flesh! These people that teach on Romans 8 about being in the flesh one moment and the Spirit the next - I don't want to be too harsh but it is rubbish and it is putting Christians into the wrong direction! We must read it in context! Otherwise there is condemnation! When you realise that you are always in the Spirit and can never be in the flesh but can do fleshy things and do carnal things that STILL doesn't mean you are in the flesh! Just like you cannot be in the flesh and do Spirit things which can never make you IN the Spirit. It does not take you out of that position!
Once Paul gets through that then he launches into awesome truths about the outflow of our position in Christ! Once Paul gets through teaching on this stuff he gets so exciting in Romans 8:11 and he talks about the Spirit giving life to our mortal bodies, and that we are joint heirs with Christ, the promise of glory that is ours, the Holy Spirit helps us to pray and connect with God, God is working all things together for our good! If God is for us who can be against us!? God will freely give us ALL things! God did not spare His own Son so how will He not freely give us ALL things?! God is blessed with our life because when He sees us, He sees us in Christ, in grace and in the Spirit! He sees the glory of Christ's face when He looks at us! No charge can be laid against us and therefore we are MORE than conquerors as we go through the things we face in this world!
And the final climax of these four chapters - Paul says there is NOTHING that can seperate us from God's love in Christ Jesus! There is NOTHING that can seperate us! That is our POSITION in God! That can NEVER EVER change! That is IT! It can NEVER change! No bad works can cause you to backslide out of Christ and into Adam!
He preached it on Sunday 24th August 2008.
This morning I am a bit nervous! I feel like I am carrying something I want to get out. I don't feel I am nervous about public speaking so much as I am about communicating what I feel God wants me to say here this morning. What I am wanting to do is preach on four precious chapters from the Bible this morning and that could be the most ambitious and the most stupid thing I have tried to do! I don't want to give you the content so much of this chapters as the context of these four chapters so that context will arm and equip you to be able to go and study this four chapters and to unlock them and to be able to see the sequence and the flow. I've got about five or six Bibles at home and these four chapters have got the most underlined bits, there is writing down the side, they highlight and circle some bits of the texts. They are my favourite chapters!
I believe these four chapters are the bedrock chapters of understanding grace and as we study them and understand them, then we will be able to look at any verse that poses a "problem" for grace, that seems a bit contradictory of grace - but when you understand these four chapters you will be able to put those "rogue verses" into their proper context. If you understand these four chapters and then read another verse in the Bible that seems to undermine grace then the chances are you have misunderstood that verse and what that verse is actually saying. As you study these four chapters and understand them then you will be able to unlock the rest of the Bible.
The four chapters are Romans 5, 6, 7 and 8. My favourite chapters along with Hebrews chapter 10! I love the whole Word but particularly Romans 5-8 and that is where we get our theology of grace. Those four chapters come as a package - they are together and it is not good to isolate one chapter and build a theology around them. There is a flow and a sequence to those chapters that God has only begun to unlock to me in the last few months. I've seen a few things that has helped to unlock those chapters! What I want to do is arm you with a tool or a method on how to understand these four chapters. I wish I could state it in one sentance but I am going to have to state it in a few. Please resist the temptation of turning off! It's very distracting as a preacher! Just keep going, keep walking wiht me and it will drop and click into place! So I will state it and what I am on about then we will go back and look at it with some key Scriptures and establish the context.
What is Romans 5, 6, 7 and 8 talking about? I believe that Romans 5 through 8 are talking about TWO states of being. TWO positions that we are in. TWO kinds of races of people on the earth. Those that are in first Adam and those in last Adam - Jesus Christ. The theme of Romans 5 through 8 is contrasting the two states of those in first Adam and those in last Adam. Two states of being! You are either in first Adam or last Adam.
Romans chapter 5 is all about that. Adam or Christ. It is contrasting are you in Adam or Christ? There is nothing you can do to put yourself in either one of those. You were born in first Adam and we had nothing to do with that. When we come into Christ we are born again - we had nothing to do with that except believe. No righteous act got us into Christ and nothing we did got us into first Adam. Romans 5 is all about people's position. People are either in Adam or Christ.
Romans chapter 6 is contrasting that you are either in the position of SIN or RIGHTEOUSNESS. People read Romans 6 and get confused and think it is about "sinning" or "doing sins" or "being righteous" or "doing righteousness". Actually the position is either you are IN sin or you are IN righteousness. Because people are in Adam they are automatically in sin. People who are IN Christ are automatically IN righteousness!
Those who are in Adam and in sin - it doesn't matter how many good works they do - they can never be IN righteousness or IN Christ. Consequently those who are IN Christ and IN righteousness - it doesn't matter how many bad works they do - they can never be IN first Adam or IN sin again! They are IN Christ and IN righteousness!
Romans chapter 7 is contrasting those who are under the Law and those who are in grace. It is actually talking about how we have died to the Law so that we might belong to another and come into grace. It is also talking about POSITION. You are either in the position of being under the Law or you are in a position of being in grace.
The flow is this - if you are in Adam then you are in sin and under the Law. If you are in Christ then you are in righteousness and you are under grace.
People who are under the Law can try and live in grace but unless they die with Christ and believe by faith in Jesus then they can never come into Christ. Those who are in grace can put themselves back under law but positionally they are in grace whether they like it or not. With their mind and their body they can try and keep laws and fulfill the law and we say they have "fallen from grace".
To fall from grace is not a POSITIONAL thing, it is a CONDITIONAL thing. You haven't "fallen from grace" in your position. Your position is still in grace and still in Christ and in righteousness but you have gone back to the Law which Romans 5 says is "spiritual adultery". That is to "fall from grace". You are still saved and still in Christ but you are trying to impress God by the things that you do.
Romans chapter 8 - those who walk after the flesh then there is condemnation but those who walk after the Spirit then there is no condemnation. The problem with Romans chapter 8 and it's interpretation then people think "One moment I am walking by the Spirit and the next moment I am walking by the flesh and sinful nature". Something there is condemnation and then there isn't. Romans chapter 8 isn't talking about that - it is talking about your position. You are either IN the flesh or you are IN the Spirit.
If you are in Adam then you are in sin and under the Law and IN the flesh. If you are in Christ then you are in righteousness and under grace and IN the Spirit!
Positionally if you are in Christ then you are NOT in the flesh! You are in the Spirit! So a key to understanding Romans 5 through 8 is to understand what position or state it is talking about. Another key is to understand that at any point there are eight simultaneous things happening at one time.
Romans 8:1 - Someone who is in the flesh is not in the Spirit. They are in Adam and not in Christ. They are in sin and not in righteousness. They are under the Law and not under grace.
Someone who is under grace is not under the Law. They are in Christ and not in Adam. They are in righteousness and not in sin. They are in the Spirit and not in the flesh!
We look at Romans 7:1 and see "Shall we continue in sin?" and we think that is talking about "should I keep sinning or try and stop sinning?". It's not talking about that! It is talking about someone who is IN sin and not IN righteousness! "Shall I continue IN sin that grace may abound?". He is saying shall I continue under the Law so I can expose and keep exposing that sin then more grace will be revealed to overcome that sin! So do we keep living in that place of sin? No! God forbid! You can't be in that place of sin if you are in Christ and have come out from Adam! You cannot live in sin if you are in righteousness! You cannot be in sin if you are in righteousness! Now you can do sinful things but that does not make you IN sin! You are in the position of righteousness! Someone who is IN sin can do all the righteous things that they want but that does not put them in the position of righteousness. They have to be united with Christ and be born again!
Let me give some key Scriptures here. They will help form a context when you go to study them. (Romans 5:12) My three study books at home are the King James, the NIV and Vines Expository Dictionary of Greek words and between those three the job gets done. (And the Holy Spirit!!).
Romans 5:12; "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world". That is talking about through Adam sin entered into the world and the consequence was death and judgement. "For that all have sinned". Those in Adam are imputed with Adam's sin.
Romans 5:19; "For by one man's disobedience ... many were MADE sinners so by the obedience of one so shall many be MADE righteous". So if you were born into Adam then you received the free gift of sin! Hallelujah! Isn't that awesome?! You didn't need to have faith for the consequences of that sin. The consequences just came upon you whether you did anything bad or good! You received seperation from God! You received future judgement! You received condemnation! No good work that you can do can cause you to backslide out of Adam and into Christ. Just like those that are in Christ who are MADE righteous. You are imputed with the gift of righteousness. It wasn't your righteousness - it was given to you as a gift. You were MADE righteous! You don't have to have faith for the blessings or for the consequences of that righteousness. You are given the free gift of righteousness and you receive all the consequences of that righteousness. Relationship with God, being made alive in Christ, blessed in the heavenly realm with every blessing in Christ and NO bad works can cause you to backslide out of righteousness and back into sin.
Romans 6:1; "Shall we continue in sin?". It doesn't say shall we continue "sinning". It says shall we continue "in sin" that grace may abound. We cannot live any longer in sin because we have died with Christ. The next few verses talk about being united with Christ in death, burial and resurrection. We have been released from the position of sin and into Christ and into righteousness.
Romans 6:7; "He that is dead is freed from sin". Many of us think that means we are free from "sinning". But I still sin! So that means I am not dead! Oh I need to kill myself! Kill my flesh and my sinful nature! And so we get into all these DEAD WORKS thinking that we have to do something that the Bible says has ALREADAY taken place! He that is dead died with Christ and is FREED from the POSITION of sin! Understand that you died with Christ! Believe it! Don't try and believe it to be true! Believe it because it IS true! It is not your believing that makes it true! It just IS true so believe it!
Romans 6:18; "Being then freed from sin you became the servants of righteousness". The NIV says the "slaves of righteousness". You do want to be a slave of righteousness! It is good to be a slave of righteousness because even if you do bad things then you are still the slave of righteousness and righteousness is not letting you go ANYWHERE! Righteousness is cracking the whip and not letting you go back to being in sin! For all eternity you are in Christ and in righteousness! Righteousness is your master! We are slaves of righteousness!
No wonder Romans 8:1 says there is NO condemnation for those in Christ! We are not in sin! We are a slave of righteousness!
Romans 6:14; "Sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under grace". Oh but sometimes it feels like sin has got dominion over me! It is not talking about that! It is saying that the consequences and the judgement of sin will no longer have dominion over you. You are free from sin! You are free from the consequences of sin and so no matter how much sin wants to intimidate you and lie to you and rule over you, it will not have dominion over you! It can have no more consequence or judgement over you because you are in Christ and in righteousness. You are FREE from sin, consequences, judgement and death and you have come into grace, life, freedom! You are free because you are no longer under the Law - that's what it says!
That sets up Romans chapter 7 for us! Romans chapter 7 is talking about how you are either under Law or you are in grace. It is talking about how we have died to the Law so we can come into grace in Christ Jesus.
Let's look at Romans 7:1; "Speak to them that know the Law that the Law has dominion over a man as long as he liveth". If we are under the Law we cannot just think that we can go into grace. That is spiritual adultery! Something needs to happen to release us from the Law. We cannot be in grace and try and keep the Law to impress God! We need to be released from the Law to belong to grace. It is not by righteous acts that we belong to Jesus but by being released from the Law and through faith.
Romans 7:4; "You have died to the Law". Why do people still preach that we are under the Law?! The Bible said we DIED to the Law! That we might belong to another - Jesus Christ!
Romans 7:5; "To bring forth fruit unto death". We weren't trying to keep the Law under Adam but we were still under it. The reason God gave us the Law was not so that we should try and keep it to get into Christ. He gave us the Law to show us that we have an internal sin problem that we cannot fix on our own! Paul said he would not have known what sin was but through the Law! The Law stirred up the sin nature in us! The sin nature then tries to drive us into sin! So the Law came to expose how unrighteous we are and how in desperate need of Jesus Christ we are! Once we get that revelation then the Law has done it's job! The whole of the Old Testament is about the Law and the Prophets proclaiming the Christ! Pointing to the Christ! Once we come to Christ then the Law has done it's purpose and we have died to the Law and so we might belong to another. He has given us a new nature that wants to live for God and wants to serve God!
Many people struggle reading the latter part of Romans chapter 7 where Paul says "the things I want to do I didn't" and vice versa. And there is a big dispute in the church where people are asking if that is Paul talking about himself before he was saved or after he was saved. Is that the life of a Christian? That the things we do want to do we don't and the things we don't want to do we do!? If you understand what I am saying to you today about being in sin and in righteousness or being in Adam and in Christ or law and grace - if you understand that then go and read from verse 14 and put that in it's right context!
(v14); "I am carnal, sold under sin". Does that sound like someone who is in Christ, in grace and in the Spirit? To me that sounds like someone who is in Adam, in sin and under the Law and in the flesh.
Romans chapter 8 is awesome and will help you understand that we are in the Spirit not in the flesh! What does it mean to be in the flesh? In Adam, in sin, under the law and in the flesh. In the Spirit we are under grace, in Christ and in righteousness!
Romans chapter 8:9; "Be that the Spirit of God dwells in you". If you are born again then the Spirit dwells in you and the Bible says clearly that you are not in the flesh! These people that teach on Romans 8 about being in the flesh one moment and the Spirit the next - I don't want to be too harsh but it is rubbish and it is putting Christians into the wrong direction! We must read it in context! Otherwise there is condemnation! When you realise that you are always in the Spirit and can never be in the flesh but can do fleshy things and do carnal things that STILL doesn't mean you are in the flesh! Just like you cannot be in the flesh and do Spirit things which can never make you IN the Spirit. It does not take you out of that position!
Once Paul gets through that then he launches into awesome truths about the outflow of our position in Christ! Once Paul gets through teaching on this stuff he gets so exciting in Romans 8:11 and he talks about the Spirit giving life to our mortal bodies, and that we are joint heirs with Christ, the promise of glory that is ours, the Holy Spirit helps us to pray and connect with God, God is working all things together for our good! If God is for us who can be against us!? God will freely give us ALL things! God did not spare His own Son so how will He not freely give us ALL things?! God is blessed with our life because when He sees us, He sees us in Christ, in grace and in the Spirit! He sees the glory of Christ's face when He looks at us! No charge can be laid against us and therefore we are MORE than conquerors as we go through the things we face in this world!
And the final climax of these four chapters - Paul says there is NOTHING that can seperate us from God's love in Christ Jesus! There is NOTHING that can seperate us! That is our POSITION in God! That can NEVER EVER change! That is IT! It can NEVER change! No bad works can cause you to backslide out of Christ and into Adam!
Friday, 27 February 2009
Aligning Our Allegiances For The Anointing To Flow at Full Volume
Now that my transcribing output has been able to increase and speed up I thought I would use the time to start going back into the wealth of the archives of City Church International and typing them up too as well as keeping in step with the preaching output from this incredible church in Hong Kong this year. And where else or better to start than the very significant time in June 2007? I heard Rob mention this event when angels turned up at City Church International in July 2007 in Brighton and I was absolutely riveted! This was new to me.
So this is the transcript of the actual sermon that Rob preached the Sunday that the angels turned up. Fortunately the recording was left running and it is possible to get a strong sense of the anointing that was falling on the church. The sermon itself is incredible. I've heard many sermons on "unity" that seek to blackmail the church of God. This doesn't even have a hint of it. There is some amazingly humble teaching mid-way through on marriage as well. I can honestly say it is the first teaching on marriage that I have benefited from as a single person.
So here it is! Preached on Sunday 10th June 2007 - the day that two angels arrived at City Church International!
"Why don't you open your Bibles please to Psalm 133. This week while I was training in the gym I felt God gave me a very clear word for this morning. He said "I am bringing City Church International into allegiances of alignment for the anointing to increase". Psalm 133;
"How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity - it is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, down on .... even life forevermore".
See the anointing comes when there is a unity. The blessings of God are commanded when the people of God live together in unity. Turn to Romans chapter 15. I want to give four Scriptures here on how important unity is. Reading from (vv1, 5, 7);
"We who are strong ... give you a spirit of unity ... with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ". (v7) is a MASSIVE verse; "Accept one another then just as Christ accepted you".
Then 1st Corinthians chapter 12;
(v12); "The body is a unit ... form one body ... we were all baptised by one Spirit into one body ...". (v25); "one part suffers then every part suffers with it".
Then Ephesians chapter 4:2-4;
" ... with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling".
Then Philippians 2:1-7;
"Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ" - Notice those words "from united with Christ" - we relate to other people to the degree we realise we are united with Christ. We do not preach the brotherhood of man - we preach the Fatherhood of God. The brotherhood of man can have no unity if there is no fatherhood of God to which we are related to in Christ. "... if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men".
When there is a spirit of unity in the body then God causes the anointing to flow down and then it pervades the body and drips down our tunic and there He commands the blessing. The unlimited power of God to do the works that Jesus did and greater works is available now to the church! That anointing has been available for two thousand years since the finished work of the Cross and Resurrection. The power that Jesus operated in His human body is available to the body of Christ in the earth right now. It is not how much you pray that makes it flow or how holy you are or you meriting it or deserving it - since the Cross God turned the tap of the supernatural power of God on and it has been flowing constantly for two thousand years!
I wanted to show you a five inch hosepipe and the tap turned on full! I have had this experience before in Australia while watering my garden. The tap is on full and the water is coming out the hosepipe! It is spraying the dogs and cats and everything! Suddenly nothing happens! I check the tap and it is on full blast! But I notice in my excitement and fun that the pipe has got bends and twists and kinks in it. I didn't need to turn the tap on but get the kinks out of the hosepipe and get them straight again! I believe as a local body this is a pretty well united church! We are known in different parts of the world for the Presence of God that comes into our meeting.
The Lord says there are four areas that we need to work on getting the kinks out of our relationships so the full volume of the anointing can flow.
Winners play on teams and losers hide in crowds. Lots of people come to church but very few people BECOME the church. The tragedy is not that people are dying but that so many people are living for nothing. There is nothing more important on the earth than the church! By you building this church with Jesus you are doing the most important thing in the world because the church is the main agency of the Kingdom. If we get thousands of people saved out there but no strong mature church to add them to then they will be baby Christians for the rest of their lives. The church is the passion of Jesus! Not people coming to church but people becoming the church united with the common purpose of seeing Jesus glorified!
Four kinks in our hosepipes;
1. Our relationship with the Living God.
How do you have continual perfect peace with the living God? He is absolutely perfect and everyone is imperfect! How do you have no kinks in your relationship with God? No condemnation but perfect peace 24 hours a day? If you have a kink in your relationship with God then He can't download the fullness of His anointing in your life. How do we have no separation every split second of every second? It is very simple to have that kind of relationship with God! We have to repent! Repent of our self-righteousness! The false religious system in this world says if you will do good and try and avoid doing evil then you will get so close to God. That lie preached in all religions is from Satan himself and not God! When Satan came to Eve and tempted her to eat, he said; "You will be LIKE God". Without trying to be insulting to Mr Devil I have never heard anything so stupid in my entire life. The Bible says that Adam and Eve were already made in the image and likeness of God! They didn't need to eat to become like God - they were already like God! Eating of the knowledge of good and evil did not bring the power and Presence of God on their lives - it made them hide from God, it made them confused and scared of God!
So for thousands of years mankind lived with a big kink in their hosepipe with God. Then God introduced the law of God during the time of Moses.
The law is the knowledge of good and evil! The law is perfect, holy and good. It shows you what is good and the evil that you shouldn't do. But what does the Bible say? Why did God introduce the law? Did God introduce the law to make us more holy and righteous and to bring us closer to God? Not at all! Romans 5:20 says that God introduced the law to increase sin in mankind! Romans 7:5 says that God introduced the law to arouse sinful passion in man! The law drove people further away from God! The law made people judgemental and harsh with each other! The Bible says the law condemned and cursed men! Then when Jesus came 1700 years after the law He came with grace and truth.
But to the Pharisees who believed they could be made right through God by the law - Jesus taught the law even HIGHER than Moses taught the law! He did this to show the Pharisees that they weren’t living up to the law and the law condemned them and none of them were righteous whatsoever! To the humble and broken Jesus taught grace, mercy and favour. Because God wants the human race to know that He isn't interested in our religious attempts to impress Him with our law keeping one bit! God is only interested in His infallible righteousness that is given to us as a gift freely through His Son! Romans 5:19 says through the disobedience of the one man all were condemned but through the obedience of the one Man many were made righteous!
Your obedience and my obedience never ever produces righteousness! It is the obedience of the one Man that has given us the gift of right standing with God forever! This is a fool proof, failure proof and Satan proof righteousness! Because if it depended on the level of my performance then it wouldn't be failure proof because there is not one day where I can keep the law 100% but I live in faith that every split second of every day I am right with God because my righteousness is based on Jesus Christ obedience and never on mine!
Your obedience and my obedience is important but if you ever shift the ground of your confidence before God from Jesus obedience on your behalf to your obedience then you have just put a big kink in your hosepipe! It is called becoming self-righteous. Self-righteous people are judgemental, critical and legalistic and they do not have the power of God. On the Cross Jesus absorbed you into Himself. Colossians 2 says He absorbed the laws and codes that stood opposed to you and He CANCELLED them! He redeemed you and me from the curse of the law so the blessings can come to us freely! Everything about you that could be judged was swallowed up and absorbed into Jesus Christ! Everything you have done past, present and future was totally removed from the memory of God! Jesus who never sinned once was made your sin so that you and I who don't live obediently all the time can be seen as TOTALLY righteous ALL the time in God's eyes!
You died in the body of Jesus! That is what the Bible teaches in Romans 6 and Galatians 2. You were buried with Jesus, united with Him in His resurrection. When He came out the grave so did you. You were co-ascended to the heavenly realms with Jesus and are currently coseated with Jesus in heavenly places! You are not trying to get to heaven - you are in heaven already with Jesus! Romans 5:20 says that where sin increased grace did MUCH MORE abound! What it is saying is that the law of the Old Covenat made people sin more but the grace of the New Covenant empowers us to get strength and mastery over sinning as well!
Romans 6:14 says that sin will not have mastery over you because you are not under law but under grace! When sin increased through the law grace came in abundance to take away the mastery of sin off our lives. When people say that if you take the law off me then nothing is left to restrain me from sinning - people say but if you take the law off me then I can go out and commit adultery! They are giving a revelation of the adultery that is in their hearts. Because the law stirs up sin but grace gives us mastery over sin. Galatians 3:24 says that the law was put in charge to lead the human race to Jesus Christ. The law was to be so severe, perfect, holy, harsh and beyond the standards of man so that we would admit we have absolutely no hope but to depend on Jesus Christ.
The Bible says in Galatians 3 that now we have come to Christ we are no longer prisoners of the law and Romans 7 says we are dead to the law so that we may bear fruit to God. So we must love the law of God for the REASON that God gave the law. If you love the law because you know that the law was meant to lead you to God then you will get closer to God and more humble and more anointed. But if you love the law because you think it makes you more holy and more righteous then you will get further from God and you will get more self-righteous. The law has gone! All I have got is grace and love and mercy and blessing! Not dependant on my performance but on Jesus! What is left?! Permanent joy, happiness, signs and wonders, unity! 100% of your relational problems is based on what I am talking about today. From the Old Covenant to the New God totally changed the way that He relates to you. Under the Old Covenant God only relates to you through the law and never by grace. Under the New Covenant God NEVER relates to you through the law but ONLY through grace!
Hebrews 8:6 says we have a better covenant with better promises and a superior Mediator!
Under the law God demanded of you a perfect righteousness but under grace He provides for you His perfect righteousness.
The law says do - do - do but grace says it is done - done - done! You have perfect peace with God! At the Cross Jesus Christ identified with you and me at our very worst so that we can identify with Him at His very best. There is no height of intimacy and close communion with God that you cannot ascend to because there was no depravity that Jesus would not descend to on our behalf.
One of the most ungodly selfish sinning churches in the New Testament was the Corinthian church. They were having sex with temple prostitutes, getting drunk and were divided, they were very immature. You would have thought that Paul would have written to them, put them under the law and put rules and regulations on them. Paul does not do that because he understood as an apostle better than any other ministry that they did not understand grace but had law thinking! The clearest teaching in the entire New Testament about the superiority of grace over law is given to the most sinful churches in 2 Corinthians 3. Paul says in this chapter that those in the law - that was written on tablets of stone was a ministry of death and condemnation that drives people away from God. We are competent ministers of the New Covenant not of the letter that kills but of the Spirit that gives life. The glory of the Old Covenant was a fading glory compared to the glory of the New Covenant that gave the gift of righteousness! Paul says under law Moses had to hide his face with a veil so the people could not see the glory shining out from his face.
The glory of the Old Covenant revealed God's opinion and view of you through the law. People didn’t want to see that glory. They hid from God! The glory of the New Covenant shining in the face of Jesus is His opinion of you through grace. We are nearly finished point 1! The next 3 are going to be much quicker! This was my most exciting day in Hong Kong because the message of grace is being preached in clear Chinese today! Thousands of Chinese can hear the message of grace in their own language! Now Paul as an apostle noticed false teachers were continually seeking to blur and mix the Old and the New into confusion.
For many of God's people didn't know whether we were under the Old or the New Covenant. It was a confusing mixture! It seemed like nothing else made Paul as passionate in his anger as when people mixed the Old and New Covenant. Paul warns in Galatians 5 that if you try to get close to God through law then you have made Christ of no value and have alienated grace. Today it is the same. I really say this with pain. Today many are hearing a mixture of the Old and New confusingly blurred together. You are either under total law or total grace but you cannot be in between! It doesn't exist in the Bible! In Deuteronomy 28 God said if you will keep the law perfectly then you will be blessed but if you don't keep the law perfectly then you will be cursed!
You see the precious people of Israel cursed and cursed and cursed. It wasn't just Hitler that killed six million. It is the normal story of the people of Israel. Through the obedience of the one man many will be given the gift of righteousness! How many of you believe that the obedience of Jesus was full! Where are you positioned today? You are positioned in the one who was perfectly obedient and ALL His obedience is credited to you! In Christ Jesus all the blessings of Deut 28 belong to the church and all the curses do NOT belong to the church in Christ! If you look at the church today you cannot say they are walking in all the blessings promised!
When you hear someone say if you obey this and do this and pray a bit longer and do this and don't do that and do this and if you do that then God will love you and bless you more - then you have just heard the Old Covenant and you have NOT heard the New Covenant.
The New Covenant says that God accepts you, loves you, favours you, accepts you not because of your performance but because of Jesus obedience and performance on your behalf. That is the New Covenant! Jesus is the superior Mediator! Where the ministry of death and condemnation finishes forever and the ministry of blessing starts forever!
The entire New Covenant can be summed up in this; Jesus is ENOUGH! All Paul's writings to Romans and Galatians can be summed up in this; Jesus plus anything equals NOTHING. Jesus plus nothing equals EVERYTHING!
The church world today is being challenged by the Spirit as to how they will align their relationship to God - a mixture of law and grace which is nothing at all or a pure atmosphere of grace of New Covenant.
I hate sin and I don't encourage sin! I hate it if it come to me! I forgive it in you! As you do to me! I do not encourage sin at all! But the time you are under the most pressure to go back to the law is when you have just done something wrong! You think if I can do enough and pray enough then I may earn my way back to God! You do not earn your way back to God - Jesus already earned your way back to God! You are ALWAYS the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! If you have just sinned don't go into gloom or condemnation then thank the Father that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and;
My disobedience does not disqualify Christ's obedience on my behalf!
I am going to talk about the other three kinks in the pipe very quickly now. Before we go to the next three points let's lift our hands and say "Father I want to transition fully into that realm of grace". Thank Him! Thank You Jesus for the New Covenant! Wonderful Jesus! We have a covenant of peace!
2. The second relationship we need to take the kinks out of is our marriage relationships.
Marriage is a wonderful picture of Christ and the church - us married people say enjoy your singleness while you can. Don't think it will complete your life because it won't! It is not for the faint hearted! Some days it doesn't feel like heaven but hell! In order to get a car license you have to study and take a test. In order to get a degree you have to study for years. But to get married all you have to do is go down the local registry office. Marriage is the most important relationship after God. It is the most sacred covenant on the planet. The covenant of marriage is left in tatters by the world and sadly the church. The divorce rate in the church in the USA is worse than the divorce rate in the world. It may be similar in other countries. Jesus showed the New Covenant by breaking bread and pouring wine and He wanted His disciples to enter into the New Covenant right there. When a married couple get married they break cake, exchange rings - that is a covenant!
The reason why God gives us a sex drive before we can express it in marriage, is that our victory in holding onto it is the victory trophy we can give to our partner. Those that have lost their trophy of sexual virginity - God can restore that trophy of virginal purity before marriage.
At the covenant meal Judas did not take part of it. He got up and walked out.
Later he betrayed Jesus with an intimate kiss. There are people who want intimacy without covenant. Then there are people that want covenant without inconvenience. But covenant means death! When you come into covenant you die to yourself to live to make that person you have entered into covenant with happy and joyful. That is why many Christians avoid water baptism because they know what water baptism means. When we are buried in that water we die to ourselves and rise to a new life living only to please God. The only way to have true life is to first have true self-death. If you do not die to self you will only smile from your face and not from your heart. People who enter a covenant of marriage with the idea that I am going into this for them to make me happy have not got the first idea of what biblical marriage is about. It is guaranteed that thing will not work unless an alignment of covenant life and God's government comes over that marriage. Unless that happens that marriage has got no hope under the sun. Married brothers and sisters - you have never given covenantal love until you have loved beyond inconvenience into sacrifice.
Love is not love until it costs you your entire life to give it away.
In 1997 Glenda and I had been married 22 years. We had a really good marriage and people saw a pretty good marriage. In 1997 God said that He would bring our marriage into covenant pattern and order. Without realising it we are absorbing the patterns from the world around us and not from the Holy Spirit. God said He would bring Kingdom order into our marriage so He could increase the anointing and authority on our lives. I want to talk about the three years of hell that we went through from 1997 to 2000. Don't think I am exaggerating. I have Glenda's permission to say this and wouldn't dare say this without it. There was no adultery or affair or third party - that had nothing to do with it. It was all about God wanting to order our marriage according to Kingdom pattern and government. There wasn't one day in three years without horror and tension and anger in our home. If you had walked past our street you would have never thought a pastor and his wife lived there. They would have heard the way Glenda shouted at me!! We shouted at each other! The anger and frustration! Every time God reminded us what we were going through this for we found temporary peace and the next day the war would start again and this went on for 3 years every day.
I didn't hurt her physically but words can hurt more sometimes. Words that she would say to me would be devastating. We would repent and cry and ask each other for forgiveness and then the war would start again. I felt the manifestation of tangible presence of demons as they tried to take advantage of the reason why we were going through this. I nearly walked out of my marriage several times during those years. Where do you go when you have been preaching marriage for all those years? Glenda knows this is the truth! I wanted to leave Australia and go and study biology and be a ranger in the wilderness of Africa. Glenda was so traumatised that she almost stopped eating very little for 3 years. The rumour went around our city that she had anorexia and that I was beating her up. The doctor was desperately trying to put her on anti-depressants. Several times she walked down to the railway line thinking strongly about throwing herself in front of the train. Every day the devil would say that I should compromise and back off or my wife would end up killing herself.
The Spirit of God said I want to realign your relationship so I can increase the anointing on your life. In the year 2000 we smelt the first permanent peace on our marriage and knew the government of God take place in our marriage and our relationship. Month after month the kingdom order of male and female government began to come into God's alignment and we felt God's peace come and stay and the trauma and pain become a thing of the past. 2003 - four years before we came to plant the church year and it was our 25th wedding anniversary. We didn't know we were coming to plant the church in Hong Kong but we decided to come to Hong Kong to celebrate it. We took a wonderful hotel overlooking the view on Central Island. On our 25th anniversary we ordered room service in our hotel. A table next to the view looking out on Hong Kong. Glenda dressed up in the most stunning dress and I put a suit and a tie on. We had three years of horror and three months of daily government of peace in our marriage. And we sat at the table and exchanged new rings and we re-stated our vows and we read our poems that we had written for each other. In the middle of that without exaggerating we both burst into tears and sob looking into each others eyes.
Because we knew the war was over and the Father was endorsing the government on our marriage. From that anniversary for the next three years we led tens of thousands of people to Christ in the crusades. None of the people knew the hell we had been through and the price we had paid for the anointing. In 2004 we came to plant the church here in July. If we didn't get this marriage right and come into kingdom government then not only would Glenda and I be divorced and our kids and grandkids be robbed, not only would people not be saved - but you wouldn't even be sitting in a church today and would be on your way to a Christ-less eternity. Not only that but a relationship that is tender and deep right now would have been lost for all time because regularly we wanted to take the easy route out.
When I look at the fruit of God getting the government right then I say to you today; "Please fight for your marriage - there is more at stake than just you being happy". It is not about your happiness - there is more about your marriage than just you being happy.
God wants to set something in order!
How did we survive the 3 years? By understanding the message of grace!
3. Our relationships with every person in this local congregation.
If your relationship is kinked in any way with anyone in this congregation then you are buckling the full flow of the anointing upon us. We all irritate each other at some point! There are people in this church that are so gracious that even when they are irritating they don't know because I am so gracious back! I am that way to some of you! But the truth is whether we are living in delusion or not - not only do people irritate you but you irritate others! That's why I believe in the church! There is no such thing as individual piety! We have love one another, accept one another! How many people have left church after church because someone offended them and now they are sitting somewhere else in some other church!?
That is fine if God has called you here - but if you left the church because someone offended you then you are sitting with a kink and left to avoid pain instead of letting the government of God sort out that relationship. And it is called being immature. There is no place for jealousy! There is no place for competing and comparing! There is no place for politics in the church! There is no place for putting on a mask or a face that is not telling the truth! Neither am I saying that you should manipulate everyone with your sulky face either! Mature people deal with their pain and ask for prayer and move on! I want to live so authentically that when I compliment a person then they know that I mean it not to just get something out of them! I want everyone to know that if I have a problem then I will come to you personally and not use the pulpit to get at you personally!
Remember Romans 15:7 says accept one another just as Christ has accepted you! How has Christ accepted you? Remember the message of grace and not law! Christ holds nothing against you at all! You are permanently forgiven! The thief on the Cross says Lord remember me when You come into Your Kingdom today! A criminal! Jesus says to this criminal TODAY you will be with Me in Paradise! Jesus went into the waiting place for three days and rose with all the people with Him! As Jesus walks back into heaven after being away for 33 years the trumpets are playing! All the angels are saying open up the gates! The King of glory is coming back! The Lion of the tribe of Judah mighty in battle! Jesus walks in His robes of majesty and glory! Arch angels singing hosanna in the highest! Right next to Jesus there is a little thief walking along! The angels say; "Jesus who's he?". "I don’t know but he asked me to accept him and I did!". "Did he speak in tongues on the Cross?". "Has he been water baptised yet?". "No there was no water!". "What's his education, his pedigree, his ancestry?". "I don't know!". "He asked me to accept him and I did! Have you got a problem with that any of the angels?!". "No Lord Jesus! If You accept him then we accept him!".
Accept one another just as Christ accepted you! Rejection and pride is because we don't understand grace and still live under the law! If you have any bitterness with anyone outside of this church - any ministry - any person, saved or not saved - if you have criticised them unjustly or gossiped about them and they don't know about it then don't go tell them! Ask the Father to forgive you and go ask those persons you gossiped to to forgive you so that kink can get right. I learnt a hard lesson here. When people come into this church and criticise other churches I should realise that sooner or later they will be criticising me! 100% it will take place. If the person knows you have gossiped about them or if you defrauded them financially by wrong business transactions or done something that is wrong to a person whether they are saved or unsaved, write to them or email them and ask them to forgive you and apologise if they know that you have done it to them.
Lets get every kink undone so that His volume of anointing can flow at full volume!
Father we thank You that Your prophesied 3 Sundays ago that a move of the Spirit is coming whether we are ready or not. That means that people that are not ready for it will not participate in it. It will come and those that are ready with their oil lamps full will go into the inner chambers of the Bridegroom but the foolish virgins who did not make themselves ready will miss the visitation of the Bridegroom. Spirit of God move! Awaken us with a holy righteous urgency! Where there is any haughtiness or high-mindedness or pride then soften it Lord before it is too late. When there is fear of submitting to You, fear of integrity and humility, fear of taking the mask off and being humble and real and honest then deliver us from stubbornness and pride in Jesus Name.
May we stand in the fullness of Your grace. Lord as we make these commitments to You to live in grace, to fight for our marriages and not give up, to be perfectly united in Christ with each other and to not gossip or be judgemental or do harm to others outside this church - we believe for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to come rushing unhindered for everyone who prepares themselves. As you order our marriages we know there is a process of pain. We will not be surprised by that pain! Deliver us from the idea of quick shallow fixes and help us to be people who persevere and endure for Your Kingdom. May the sacred honour of the covenant of marriage come upon us in joy, liberty and the genuine fear of God. I pray for every marriage here who's husband or wife is not saved or backslidden and is making it difficult then I pray that person will get saved in Jesus Name! You are the God of miracles and we believe You can do it! I pray for every single person here who is not married but wants to be married - lead them with wisdom O God to find the right person who is going on the same journey with You as they are! That the covenant of marriage would be something of Your destiny and that everyone who wants to get married in You may be married as soon as possible!
Let's stand and lift our hands. This is my desire to honour You in every area of life. Not just in one section but every part of my life. Some of you - the Holy Spirit is going to come and lovingly baptise you in death. Not the ministry of death of the Old Covenant but the revelation that you DIED and are in Christ - in covenant with your God! That your marriage covenant - you died and you are going to live for the happiness of your partner whether they appreciate it or not!"
So this is the transcript of the actual sermon that Rob preached the Sunday that the angels turned up. Fortunately the recording was left running and it is possible to get a strong sense of the anointing that was falling on the church. The sermon itself is incredible. I've heard many sermons on "unity" that seek to blackmail the church of God. This doesn't even have a hint of it. There is some amazingly humble teaching mid-way through on marriage as well. I can honestly say it is the first teaching on marriage that I have benefited from as a single person.
So here it is! Preached on Sunday 10th June 2007 - the day that two angels arrived at City Church International!
"Why don't you open your Bibles please to Psalm 133. This week while I was training in the gym I felt God gave me a very clear word for this morning. He said "I am bringing City Church International into allegiances of alignment for the anointing to increase". Psalm 133;
"How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity - it is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, down on .... even life forevermore".
See the anointing comes when there is a unity. The blessings of God are commanded when the people of God live together in unity. Turn to Romans chapter 15. I want to give four Scriptures here on how important unity is. Reading from (vv1, 5, 7);
"We who are strong ... give you a spirit of unity ... with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ". (v7) is a MASSIVE verse; "Accept one another then just as Christ accepted you".
Then 1st Corinthians chapter 12;
(v12); "The body is a unit ... form one body ... we were all baptised by one Spirit into one body ...". (v25); "one part suffers then every part suffers with it".
Then Ephesians chapter 4:2-4;
" ... with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling".
Then Philippians 2:1-7;
"Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ" - Notice those words "from united with Christ" - we relate to other people to the degree we realise we are united with Christ. We do not preach the brotherhood of man - we preach the Fatherhood of God. The brotherhood of man can have no unity if there is no fatherhood of God to which we are related to in Christ. "... if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men".
When there is a spirit of unity in the body then God causes the anointing to flow down and then it pervades the body and drips down our tunic and there He commands the blessing. The unlimited power of God to do the works that Jesus did and greater works is available now to the church! That anointing has been available for two thousand years since the finished work of the Cross and Resurrection. The power that Jesus operated in His human body is available to the body of Christ in the earth right now. It is not how much you pray that makes it flow or how holy you are or you meriting it or deserving it - since the Cross God turned the tap of the supernatural power of God on and it has been flowing constantly for two thousand years!
I wanted to show you a five inch hosepipe and the tap turned on full! I have had this experience before in Australia while watering my garden. The tap is on full and the water is coming out the hosepipe! It is spraying the dogs and cats and everything! Suddenly nothing happens! I check the tap and it is on full blast! But I notice in my excitement and fun that the pipe has got bends and twists and kinks in it. I didn't need to turn the tap on but get the kinks out of the hosepipe and get them straight again! I believe as a local body this is a pretty well united church! We are known in different parts of the world for the Presence of God that comes into our meeting.
The Lord says there are four areas that we need to work on getting the kinks out of our relationships so the full volume of the anointing can flow.
Winners play on teams and losers hide in crowds. Lots of people come to church but very few people BECOME the church. The tragedy is not that people are dying but that so many people are living for nothing. There is nothing more important on the earth than the church! By you building this church with Jesus you are doing the most important thing in the world because the church is the main agency of the Kingdom. If we get thousands of people saved out there but no strong mature church to add them to then they will be baby Christians for the rest of their lives. The church is the passion of Jesus! Not people coming to church but people becoming the church united with the common purpose of seeing Jesus glorified!
Four kinks in our hosepipes;
1. Our relationship with the Living God.
How do you have continual perfect peace with the living God? He is absolutely perfect and everyone is imperfect! How do you have no kinks in your relationship with God? No condemnation but perfect peace 24 hours a day? If you have a kink in your relationship with God then He can't download the fullness of His anointing in your life. How do we have no separation every split second of every second? It is very simple to have that kind of relationship with God! We have to repent! Repent of our self-righteousness! The false religious system in this world says if you will do good and try and avoid doing evil then you will get so close to God. That lie preached in all religions is from Satan himself and not God! When Satan came to Eve and tempted her to eat, he said; "You will be LIKE God". Without trying to be insulting to Mr Devil I have never heard anything so stupid in my entire life. The Bible says that Adam and Eve were already made in the image and likeness of God! They didn't need to eat to become like God - they were already like God! Eating of the knowledge of good and evil did not bring the power and Presence of God on their lives - it made them hide from God, it made them confused and scared of God!
So for thousands of years mankind lived with a big kink in their hosepipe with God. Then God introduced the law of God during the time of Moses.
The law is the knowledge of good and evil! The law is perfect, holy and good. It shows you what is good and the evil that you shouldn't do. But what does the Bible say? Why did God introduce the law? Did God introduce the law to make us more holy and righteous and to bring us closer to God? Not at all! Romans 5:20 says that God introduced the law to increase sin in mankind! Romans 7:5 says that God introduced the law to arouse sinful passion in man! The law drove people further away from God! The law made people judgemental and harsh with each other! The Bible says the law condemned and cursed men! Then when Jesus came 1700 years after the law He came with grace and truth.
But to the Pharisees who believed they could be made right through God by the law - Jesus taught the law even HIGHER than Moses taught the law! He did this to show the Pharisees that they weren’t living up to the law and the law condemned them and none of them were righteous whatsoever! To the humble and broken Jesus taught grace, mercy and favour. Because God wants the human race to know that He isn't interested in our religious attempts to impress Him with our law keeping one bit! God is only interested in His infallible righteousness that is given to us as a gift freely through His Son! Romans 5:19 says through the disobedience of the one man all were condemned but through the obedience of the one Man many were made righteous!
Your obedience and my obedience never ever produces righteousness! It is the obedience of the one Man that has given us the gift of right standing with God forever! This is a fool proof, failure proof and Satan proof righteousness! Because if it depended on the level of my performance then it wouldn't be failure proof because there is not one day where I can keep the law 100% but I live in faith that every split second of every day I am right with God because my righteousness is based on Jesus Christ obedience and never on mine!
Your obedience and my obedience is important but if you ever shift the ground of your confidence before God from Jesus obedience on your behalf to your obedience then you have just put a big kink in your hosepipe! It is called becoming self-righteous. Self-righteous people are judgemental, critical and legalistic and they do not have the power of God. On the Cross Jesus absorbed you into Himself. Colossians 2 says He absorbed the laws and codes that stood opposed to you and He CANCELLED them! He redeemed you and me from the curse of the law so the blessings can come to us freely! Everything about you that could be judged was swallowed up and absorbed into Jesus Christ! Everything you have done past, present and future was totally removed from the memory of God! Jesus who never sinned once was made your sin so that you and I who don't live obediently all the time can be seen as TOTALLY righteous ALL the time in God's eyes!
You died in the body of Jesus! That is what the Bible teaches in Romans 6 and Galatians 2. You were buried with Jesus, united with Him in His resurrection. When He came out the grave so did you. You were co-ascended to the heavenly realms with Jesus and are currently coseated with Jesus in heavenly places! You are not trying to get to heaven - you are in heaven already with Jesus! Romans 5:20 says that where sin increased grace did MUCH MORE abound! What it is saying is that the law of the Old Covenat made people sin more but the grace of the New Covenant empowers us to get strength and mastery over sinning as well!
Romans 6:14 says that sin will not have mastery over you because you are not under law but under grace! When sin increased through the law grace came in abundance to take away the mastery of sin off our lives. When people say that if you take the law off me then nothing is left to restrain me from sinning - people say but if you take the law off me then I can go out and commit adultery! They are giving a revelation of the adultery that is in their hearts. Because the law stirs up sin but grace gives us mastery over sin. Galatians 3:24 says that the law was put in charge to lead the human race to Jesus Christ. The law was to be so severe, perfect, holy, harsh and beyond the standards of man so that we would admit we have absolutely no hope but to depend on Jesus Christ.
The Bible says in Galatians 3 that now we have come to Christ we are no longer prisoners of the law and Romans 7 says we are dead to the law so that we may bear fruit to God. So we must love the law of God for the REASON that God gave the law. If you love the law because you know that the law was meant to lead you to God then you will get closer to God and more humble and more anointed. But if you love the law because you think it makes you more holy and more righteous then you will get further from God and you will get more self-righteous. The law has gone! All I have got is grace and love and mercy and blessing! Not dependant on my performance but on Jesus! What is left?! Permanent joy, happiness, signs and wonders, unity! 100% of your relational problems is based on what I am talking about today. From the Old Covenant to the New God totally changed the way that He relates to you. Under the Old Covenant God only relates to you through the law and never by grace. Under the New Covenant God NEVER relates to you through the law but ONLY through grace!
Hebrews 8:6 says we have a better covenant with better promises and a superior Mediator!
Under the law God demanded of you a perfect righteousness but under grace He provides for you His perfect righteousness.
The law says do - do - do but grace says it is done - done - done! You have perfect peace with God! At the Cross Jesus Christ identified with you and me at our very worst so that we can identify with Him at His very best. There is no height of intimacy and close communion with God that you cannot ascend to because there was no depravity that Jesus would not descend to on our behalf.
One of the most ungodly selfish sinning churches in the New Testament was the Corinthian church. They were having sex with temple prostitutes, getting drunk and were divided, they were very immature. You would have thought that Paul would have written to them, put them under the law and put rules and regulations on them. Paul does not do that because he understood as an apostle better than any other ministry that they did not understand grace but had law thinking! The clearest teaching in the entire New Testament about the superiority of grace over law is given to the most sinful churches in 2 Corinthians 3. Paul says in this chapter that those in the law - that was written on tablets of stone was a ministry of death and condemnation that drives people away from God. We are competent ministers of the New Covenant not of the letter that kills but of the Spirit that gives life. The glory of the Old Covenant was a fading glory compared to the glory of the New Covenant that gave the gift of righteousness! Paul says under law Moses had to hide his face with a veil so the people could not see the glory shining out from his face.
The glory of the Old Covenant revealed God's opinion and view of you through the law. People didn’t want to see that glory. They hid from God! The glory of the New Covenant shining in the face of Jesus is His opinion of you through grace. We are nearly finished point 1! The next 3 are going to be much quicker! This was my most exciting day in Hong Kong because the message of grace is being preached in clear Chinese today! Thousands of Chinese can hear the message of grace in their own language! Now Paul as an apostle noticed false teachers were continually seeking to blur and mix the Old and the New into confusion.
For many of God's people didn't know whether we were under the Old or the New Covenant. It was a confusing mixture! It seemed like nothing else made Paul as passionate in his anger as when people mixed the Old and New Covenant. Paul warns in Galatians 5 that if you try to get close to God through law then you have made Christ of no value and have alienated grace. Today it is the same. I really say this with pain. Today many are hearing a mixture of the Old and New confusingly blurred together. You are either under total law or total grace but you cannot be in between! It doesn't exist in the Bible! In Deuteronomy 28 God said if you will keep the law perfectly then you will be blessed but if you don't keep the law perfectly then you will be cursed!
You see the precious people of Israel cursed and cursed and cursed. It wasn't just Hitler that killed six million. It is the normal story of the people of Israel. Through the obedience of the one man many will be given the gift of righteousness! How many of you believe that the obedience of Jesus was full! Where are you positioned today? You are positioned in the one who was perfectly obedient and ALL His obedience is credited to you! In Christ Jesus all the blessings of Deut 28 belong to the church and all the curses do NOT belong to the church in Christ! If you look at the church today you cannot say they are walking in all the blessings promised!
When you hear someone say if you obey this and do this and pray a bit longer and do this and don't do that and do this and if you do that then God will love you and bless you more - then you have just heard the Old Covenant and you have NOT heard the New Covenant.
The New Covenant says that God accepts you, loves you, favours you, accepts you not because of your performance but because of Jesus obedience and performance on your behalf. That is the New Covenant! Jesus is the superior Mediator! Where the ministry of death and condemnation finishes forever and the ministry of blessing starts forever!
The entire New Covenant can be summed up in this; Jesus is ENOUGH! All Paul's writings to Romans and Galatians can be summed up in this; Jesus plus anything equals NOTHING. Jesus plus nothing equals EVERYTHING!
The church world today is being challenged by the Spirit as to how they will align their relationship to God - a mixture of law and grace which is nothing at all or a pure atmosphere of grace of New Covenant.
I hate sin and I don't encourage sin! I hate it if it come to me! I forgive it in you! As you do to me! I do not encourage sin at all! But the time you are under the most pressure to go back to the law is when you have just done something wrong! You think if I can do enough and pray enough then I may earn my way back to God! You do not earn your way back to God - Jesus already earned your way back to God! You are ALWAYS the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! If you have just sinned don't go into gloom or condemnation then thank the Father that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and;
My disobedience does not disqualify Christ's obedience on my behalf!
I am going to talk about the other three kinks in the pipe very quickly now. Before we go to the next three points let's lift our hands and say "Father I want to transition fully into that realm of grace". Thank Him! Thank You Jesus for the New Covenant! Wonderful Jesus! We have a covenant of peace!
2. The second relationship we need to take the kinks out of is our marriage relationships.
Marriage is a wonderful picture of Christ and the church - us married people say enjoy your singleness while you can. Don't think it will complete your life because it won't! It is not for the faint hearted! Some days it doesn't feel like heaven but hell! In order to get a car license you have to study and take a test. In order to get a degree you have to study for years. But to get married all you have to do is go down the local registry office. Marriage is the most important relationship after God. It is the most sacred covenant on the planet. The covenant of marriage is left in tatters by the world and sadly the church. The divorce rate in the church in the USA is worse than the divorce rate in the world. It may be similar in other countries. Jesus showed the New Covenant by breaking bread and pouring wine and He wanted His disciples to enter into the New Covenant right there. When a married couple get married they break cake, exchange rings - that is a covenant!
The reason why God gives us a sex drive before we can express it in marriage, is that our victory in holding onto it is the victory trophy we can give to our partner. Those that have lost their trophy of sexual virginity - God can restore that trophy of virginal purity before marriage.
At the covenant meal Judas did not take part of it. He got up and walked out.
Later he betrayed Jesus with an intimate kiss. There are people who want intimacy without covenant. Then there are people that want covenant without inconvenience. But covenant means death! When you come into covenant you die to yourself to live to make that person you have entered into covenant with happy and joyful. That is why many Christians avoid water baptism because they know what water baptism means. When we are buried in that water we die to ourselves and rise to a new life living only to please God. The only way to have true life is to first have true self-death. If you do not die to self you will only smile from your face and not from your heart. People who enter a covenant of marriage with the idea that I am going into this for them to make me happy have not got the first idea of what biblical marriage is about. It is guaranteed that thing will not work unless an alignment of covenant life and God's government comes over that marriage. Unless that happens that marriage has got no hope under the sun. Married brothers and sisters - you have never given covenantal love until you have loved beyond inconvenience into sacrifice.
Love is not love until it costs you your entire life to give it away.
In 1997 Glenda and I had been married 22 years. We had a really good marriage and people saw a pretty good marriage. In 1997 God said that He would bring our marriage into covenant pattern and order. Without realising it we are absorbing the patterns from the world around us and not from the Holy Spirit. God said He would bring Kingdom order into our marriage so He could increase the anointing and authority on our lives. I want to talk about the three years of hell that we went through from 1997 to 2000. Don't think I am exaggerating. I have Glenda's permission to say this and wouldn't dare say this without it. There was no adultery or affair or third party - that had nothing to do with it. It was all about God wanting to order our marriage according to Kingdom pattern and government. There wasn't one day in three years without horror and tension and anger in our home. If you had walked past our street you would have never thought a pastor and his wife lived there. They would have heard the way Glenda shouted at me!! We shouted at each other! The anger and frustration! Every time God reminded us what we were going through this for we found temporary peace and the next day the war would start again and this went on for 3 years every day.
I didn't hurt her physically but words can hurt more sometimes. Words that she would say to me would be devastating. We would repent and cry and ask each other for forgiveness and then the war would start again. I felt the manifestation of tangible presence of demons as they tried to take advantage of the reason why we were going through this. I nearly walked out of my marriage several times during those years. Where do you go when you have been preaching marriage for all those years? Glenda knows this is the truth! I wanted to leave Australia and go and study biology and be a ranger in the wilderness of Africa. Glenda was so traumatised that she almost stopped eating very little for 3 years. The rumour went around our city that she had anorexia and that I was beating her up. The doctor was desperately trying to put her on anti-depressants. Several times she walked down to the railway line thinking strongly about throwing herself in front of the train. Every day the devil would say that I should compromise and back off or my wife would end up killing herself.
The Spirit of God said I want to realign your relationship so I can increase the anointing on your life. In the year 2000 we smelt the first permanent peace on our marriage and knew the government of God take place in our marriage and our relationship. Month after month the kingdom order of male and female government began to come into God's alignment and we felt God's peace come and stay and the trauma and pain become a thing of the past. 2003 - four years before we came to plant the church year and it was our 25th wedding anniversary. We didn't know we were coming to plant the church in Hong Kong but we decided to come to Hong Kong to celebrate it. We took a wonderful hotel overlooking the view on Central Island. On our 25th anniversary we ordered room service in our hotel. A table next to the view looking out on Hong Kong. Glenda dressed up in the most stunning dress and I put a suit and a tie on. We had three years of horror and three months of daily government of peace in our marriage. And we sat at the table and exchanged new rings and we re-stated our vows and we read our poems that we had written for each other. In the middle of that without exaggerating we both burst into tears and sob looking into each others eyes.
Because we knew the war was over and the Father was endorsing the government on our marriage. From that anniversary for the next three years we led tens of thousands of people to Christ in the crusades. None of the people knew the hell we had been through and the price we had paid for the anointing. In 2004 we came to plant the church here in July. If we didn't get this marriage right and come into kingdom government then not only would Glenda and I be divorced and our kids and grandkids be robbed, not only would people not be saved - but you wouldn't even be sitting in a church today and would be on your way to a Christ-less eternity. Not only that but a relationship that is tender and deep right now would have been lost for all time because regularly we wanted to take the easy route out.
When I look at the fruit of God getting the government right then I say to you today; "Please fight for your marriage - there is more at stake than just you being happy". It is not about your happiness - there is more about your marriage than just you being happy.
God wants to set something in order!
How did we survive the 3 years? By understanding the message of grace!
3. Our relationships with every person in this local congregation.
If your relationship is kinked in any way with anyone in this congregation then you are buckling the full flow of the anointing upon us. We all irritate each other at some point! There are people in this church that are so gracious that even when they are irritating they don't know because I am so gracious back! I am that way to some of you! But the truth is whether we are living in delusion or not - not only do people irritate you but you irritate others! That's why I believe in the church! There is no such thing as individual piety! We have love one another, accept one another! How many people have left church after church because someone offended them and now they are sitting somewhere else in some other church!?
That is fine if God has called you here - but if you left the church because someone offended you then you are sitting with a kink and left to avoid pain instead of letting the government of God sort out that relationship. And it is called being immature. There is no place for jealousy! There is no place for competing and comparing! There is no place for politics in the church! There is no place for putting on a mask or a face that is not telling the truth! Neither am I saying that you should manipulate everyone with your sulky face either! Mature people deal with their pain and ask for prayer and move on! I want to live so authentically that when I compliment a person then they know that I mean it not to just get something out of them! I want everyone to know that if I have a problem then I will come to you personally and not use the pulpit to get at you personally!
Remember Romans 15:7 says accept one another just as Christ has accepted you! How has Christ accepted you? Remember the message of grace and not law! Christ holds nothing against you at all! You are permanently forgiven! The thief on the Cross says Lord remember me when You come into Your Kingdom today! A criminal! Jesus says to this criminal TODAY you will be with Me in Paradise! Jesus went into the waiting place for three days and rose with all the people with Him! As Jesus walks back into heaven after being away for 33 years the trumpets are playing! All the angels are saying open up the gates! The King of glory is coming back! The Lion of the tribe of Judah mighty in battle! Jesus walks in His robes of majesty and glory! Arch angels singing hosanna in the highest! Right next to Jesus there is a little thief walking along! The angels say; "Jesus who's he?". "I don’t know but he asked me to accept him and I did!". "Did he speak in tongues on the Cross?". "Has he been water baptised yet?". "No there was no water!". "What's his education, his pedigree, his ancestry?". "I don't know!". "He asked me to accept him and I did! Have you got a problem with that any of the angels?!". "No Lord Jesus! If You accept him then we accept him!".
Accept one another just as Christ accepted you! Rejection and pride is because we don't understand grace and still live under the law! If you have any bitterness with anyone outside of this church - any ministry - any person, saved or not saved - if you have criticised them unjustly or gossiped about them and they don't know about it then don't go tell them! Ask the Father to forgive you and go ask those persons you gossiped to to forgive you so that kink can get right. I learnt a hard lesson here. When people come into this church and criticise other churches I should realise that sooner or later they will be criticising me! 100% it will take place. If the person knows you have gossiped about them or if you defrauded them financially by wrong business transactions or done something that is wrong to a person whether they are saved or unsaved, write to them or email them and ask them to forgive you and apologise if they know that you have done it to them.
Lets get every kink undone so that His volume of anointing can flow at full volume!
Father we thank You that Your prophesied 3 Sundays ago that a move of the Spirit is coming whether we are ready or not. That means that people that are not ready for it will not participate in it. It will come and those that are ready with their oil lamps full will go into the inner chambers of the Bridegroom but the foolish virgins who did not make themselves ready will miss the visitation of the Bridegroom. Spirit of God move! Awaken us with a holy righteous urgency! Where there is any haughtiness or high-mindedness or pride then soften it Lord before it is too late. When there is fear of submitting to You, fear of integrity and humility, fear of taking the mask off and being humble and real and honest then deliver us from stubbornness and pride in Jesus Name.
May we stand in the fullness of Your grace. Lord as we make these commitments to You to live in grace, to fight for our marriages and not give up, to be perfectly united in Christ with each other and to not gossip or be judgemental or do harm to others outside this church - we believe for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to come rushing unhindered for everyone who prepares themselves. As you order our marriages we know there is a process of pain. We will not be surprised by that pain! Deliver us from the idea of quick shallow fixes and help us to be people who persevere and endure for Your Kingdom. May the sacred honour of the covenant of marriage come upon us in joy, liberty and the genuine fear of God. I pray for every marriage here who's husband or wife is not saved or backslidden and is making it difficult then I pray that person will get saved in Jesus Name! You are the God of miracles and we believe You can do it! I pray for every single person here who is not married but wants to be married - lead them with wisdom O God to find the right person who is going on the same journey with You as they are! That the covenant of marriage would be something of Your destiny and that everyone who wants to get married in You may be married as soon as possible!
Let's stand and lift our hands. This is my desire to honour You in every area of life. Not just in one section but every part of my life. Some of you - the Holy Spirit is going to come and lovingly baptise you in death. Not the ministry of death of the Old Covenant but the revelation that you DIED and are in Christ - in covenant with your God! That your marriage covenant - you died and you are going to live for the happiness of your partner whether they appreciate it or not!"
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Becoming a Lightning Conductor - Part 2
This was the main sermon preached on Sunday 22nd February 2009 and it ... is ... AMAZING!!
"What Is Sin In The New Covenant?"
Something that is burning in my heart and all of your hearts I trust is that we are persuaded that;
The church is meant to be a heavenly society residing on earth - a community of people that embody the understanding that God is with us and that we are the temple of God, we are the people who are the walking embassys of God, that we carry heaven's Presence here on the earth because we have learnt how to conduct heaven's influence onto the earth.
This series is simply called; "Faith is Conducting Heaven's Influence into the Earth". The more members of this congregation that learn how to conduct heaven's influence into the earth, the easier and higher and greater will be the miracles.
I am of the persuasion in reading the Bible that we are not meant to sweat and struggle to see the miracles of God. If sweat and struggle is required on our behalf then that means we have got something in our natural soul that can make supernatural miracles happen - but we don't. Every miracle is totally of God and all He wants is partnership with man to do that.
God doesn't work in a vacuum - God works with human beings that cooperate with Him. So I have known over years that something is wrong with church and I couldn't figure it out. Particularly Sunday morning congregations were the hardest to preach into. You go there on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday night and at first it is tough because the ceiling for supernatural miracles is very low in the average church. Then by Thursday night they start to get faith and believe a bit and God is delivering them from hang ups and condemnation and by Saturday night they are rocking and the heavens are starting to come down. The same crowd turn up Sunday morning and they dress and talk and act differently because they have gone straight back into their religious traditions that they have been brainwashed with. So I would go and fast 2 to 3 days in the early 80s. I just was in my room alone with God going without food day and night. I would get as much of the power of God that I could and with all of these downloads. I lost many friends, wouldn't watch TV, denying my wife and wouldn't have fun - just locked in with God and came out and did miracles.
And the people loved it! They just turned up in any state of mind that they wanted and their pastor was full of anointing oil that miracles would happen. Eventually it became unhealthy because we developed like a movie house where the congregation just watches and were entertained or it was a preaching hall and they would come in and watch the pastor do miracles. And I mean miracles! When any of them were sick they would call me and when an aunty was sick they would tell me to go and when I nearly burned out like many pastors - 80% pastors leave the ministry within 7 years because they are finished. They are burned out and their marriage is in trouble because they did it the wrong way like I was doing. And I couldn't figure out how to do miracles without having to get Reinhard Bonke in for a crusade and how you got miracles like the early church had. People were being saved every single day and getting healed every single day and they were meeting every day and had miracles all the time!
And Peter, John, Paul weren't burned out! Why? What was going on there?
They understood that there was no seperation between clergy and laity and they understood that there is a royal priesthood and every believer is to be equipped and trained by apostles, by prophets, by evangelists and pastor/teachers and every believer can learn the trade secrets from these ministries and every believer is to be a conductor of heavens influence.
I am almost embarressed to say that I have only seen in the last few months how easy it is to have a church that is so full of the glory of God that someone can walk in that door with crutches and look at them and while they are standing there in the worship there is so much condensity of heaven's presence in the meeting that before they know it the crutches are gone and they are dancing and no one even prayed for them because 70-80% of the members know how to conduct heaven's presence into the room! Though I still fast and spend hours with God it won't be at the expense of a normal sane life and neither will you have to burn yourself out praying hours and hours a day because what we are learning in this series is how to be a conductor of heaven's influence - not earning it or deserving it but by getting free from condemnation and free from guilt and all the lies of the devil that says; "You are disqualified because of the sin in your life - God cannot use you". Yes He can use you!
If He is only using people with no sin in their lives then there is not one person He can use on the planet!
How would you like to die one day and when you look back on your life the Father says; "You played your part in partnering with others in that local church and turned up regularly not through legalism!". There is no religious date in the Christian calendar by the way! I would do this on Monday morning if you had it of or Saturday! But you come regularly because you are being equipped and trained and when you miss meetings you get the downloads of the website and the CDs because you want to keep on-page with all your partners in bringing heaven to earth! So that it is so easy and effortless - every member in the congregation is worshipping God and bringing their sacrifice of praise. That pain they had during the week - they are not sulking! They are saying; "The pleasure You get Father when I praise You in difficult times - I WILL praise You! I will not sit here and analyse and criticise!".
We are not going to allow fanaticism in this church! What is fanaticism? It is doing things without the anointing and doing things without faith. Whenever you go beyond the anointing and go beyond faith then that is fanaticism!
Every member knows how to conduct heaven. Every member walks in and says; "I will pull heaven down!". The Bible says one can a thousand to flight but two can put ten thousand to flight! There is release of anointing in unity! When people come together who all know that they are royal priests and know they have got equality of faith within their spirits that attracts heaven's presence into the room then the whole thing goes up expenetially! Then we can sneeze and someone jumps out of a wheelchair! I promise you that if we can understand what we are saying in this series then it is this close! It is not complicated! When I fasted in the early 80s because I thought that I had to produce the miracles then I robbed my family and robbed them of their destiny! Now I am including you! I am saying to you that we understand that we get revelation and are regular in involvement in this church! How busy can you be to be distracted from something that will bring heaven to earth! I know that one day you think I am going to heaven and that is so far away and a lot of people will die and go to hell before you go to heaven!
We have got to get heaven to earth so multitudes get saved and multitudes get healed!
Hong Kong is not going to be saved by great preaching or great theology or great cemetaries ... I mean seminaries! Or great churches! If it is just religion and tradition it won't work! Hong Kong will be saved when heaven comes down so beautiful and intense! The people know that God Almighty is there in power! And there is no great evangelist or guru there - just a royal priesthood! And people come and say; "Who is doing this?". Jesus is doing this! Jesus is our leader! Jesus is the leader of this royal band and we are co-ordinated by the Holy Spirit who is anointing us and leading us! We are people of the Holy Spirit!
How many of you remember multiple choice questions as a student? I used to like them because when you didn't study at least you could guess! You get a question and there are 4 or 5 possible answers! God gives you and me a multiple question today! Galatians 3:5.
Question: Does God give you His Spirit and work miracles through the evangelist, clergy, among you?
Answer: Because you observe the law.
Or because you believed what you heard?
Only one is right! One is totally wrong and one is totally right! The Spirit moves through and among the people of God by hearing the message of the Cross and they are relieved from the curse of the law. (v8). Those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham the man of faith. (v12). The law is not based on faith. I am going to say something that some of you have never seen or heard before. It will be a major departure from years of religious tradition. I am going to set you up before I say it and I will warn you before I say it. This revelation that I am going to say I did not get from books. God gave it to me. It will make you a better conductor. (Hebrews 11:6); "Without faith it is impossible to please God". Anything without faith doesn't please God. You can keep all 10 Commandments 100% - no one has except Jesus - but even if you did, God wouldn't be pleased and it wouldn't make Him happy because the law is not based on faith.
So what is faith? Faith is the recognition that God is so good and He is good all the time and His whole nature and His whole being is constantly positioned and His demenour is to constantly bless you without you earning it or deserving it. His nature is so good that even if you are sinning He STILL wants to bless you.
That isn't even the big thing that will shock people! While you are still sinning, the nature of God is to still heal you, bless you, anoint you and love you and show compassion and kindness to you!
Abraham was a lying, cheating Iraqui and God came to him and said; "I am going to bless you". Abraham said; "I believe that!". God said; "You are righteous" because Abraham believed. The nature of God is so good that He wants to bless me and He wants to make my name great! I don't have to earn a thing - I don't have the law! The law is 430 years in the future! But El-Shaddi manifested Himself and I encountered the living God! I didn't encounter religion or a church service! I was an Iraqui and was out in the desert and the God of heavens and earth came to me in manifest glory and said "I will bless you and make your name great! All nations will be blessed through you!". Abraham didn't say; "Oh I don't deserve it, I sinned this week, I haven't been having a good week". He just said; "Yes sure!". And God said "I declare you to be righteous".
Who are the righteous? Those who have faith that God is good and that His desire to bless you is not based on the law.
Now the law will blind you and blind millions of church-goers. Romans 4 - Paul said the law DECEIVED him! The law will BLIND you to the goodness of God and get you into a religious, driven-works programme to try and make you good enough to earn the blessing. That is sin against God. God hates that! It is an accusation against the goodness of His character that He is mean and wants to punish you and judge you and if you aren't being good enough then He doesn't want to bless you but if you really try hard enough then He may get around to blessing you. That unbelief is evil!
To think of God through the law - to think that God wants you to keep the law to earn the blessing is partnership with demonic powers.
I don't believe that Rob! Go check John chapter 8. Jesus is talking to people under the law and who believe that the law earns them the blessing of heaven. "Our father is Abraham". The answer? "Your father is not Abraham! Your father is the devil!". These were people that prided themselves that they were the elite of the religious orthodox of the day! Jesus said; "If Abraham was your father then you would do the things that Abraham did. Your father is the devil and when the devil speaks he lies because lying is his native language".
People who are under the law are liars and they are in partnership with the devil because the devil is their father while they carry their Bibles to their Sunday morning services.
That's terrible then why did God bring the law in the first place!? If being under the law blinds you! You saw from Hebrews 10 and Galatians 3 that God NEVER wanted to bring the law but to relate to man from the generous nature of His heart because He knew that if He continued to bless people in their sin then they would begin to adjust and DEAL with their sin and get victory over their sin and get more holy in their lifestyle! He brought them out of Egypt and slavery under Abraham blessing them and providing for them but they kept on being grumpy and complaining against His goodness and they insulted Him by their unbelief and were in partnership with satanic lies.
Until eventually God said; "Alright if you don't believe in My goodness and are in unbelief against My goodness then I will now give you church and religion full of unbelief - what you want - something not based on faith".
Does God give you His Spirit and work miracles based on law or because you believe? All those who believe are blessed along with Abraham - the man of faith! It is the most difficult thing to understand that God NEVER wanted to bring the law! He brought it because man's evil heart of unbelief in His goodness!
We have religion today so full of moral pride and they are telling everyone about the successful formulas and steps to be an effective person - you have ATHEISTS who are just as successful as they are and are doing it with their sole power.
But it comes to curse and it all comes into misery. Abraham's descendants are walking in joy because they know their God! Faith knows that God is good all the time! Let me give you a Scripture - 2 Peter 1:2; "Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and the Lord Jesus Christ". So as you get knowledge of the nature of God then grace and peace is multiplied to you. Grace is heaven's influence on your life. It is influencing and capacitating your life to do things that you have never done before. It is a confidence to be so close to the Father and to know the Father! What does the devil say? "Grace and peace will be taken away from you the less you know the nature of God". Grace and peace will be subtracted drastically the more wrong ideas that I - the devil - can put into their minds!
Why does 2 Corinthians 10:4 talk about the weapons we fight with are not carnal but mighty for the demolishing of strongholds that exalt themselves above the knowledge of God? Who puts these imaginations in your mind that is seeking to exalt itself above the image of God? Satan! Most people live on the planet utterly disillusioned with the goodness of God - they try harder and harder and get tired. Remember what this is about? This is about getting more of heaven to earth! This is about getting heaven in - this is about a faith conducting heaven in! Faith isn't something you switch on and switch off. If you have got faith then heaven is attracted to you! Not because you are doing rules and laws! But because you have got faith! There are atheists that are more moral than Christians but there is nothing miraculous in their lives because they have no faith in the goodness of God!
If you want heaven's power by the Holy Spirit then Luke 11 talks about "you who are evil know how to give good things to your children then how much MORE will your heavenly Father?". When you are a dad and you look at your children and sometimes you just want to give them everything! There are times you just want to bless them not because they have earned it!
How much more does a perfect Father full of love just want to dump the Holy Spirit in power on us who come together?!
Now we are getting close to the warning okay!? Go to Galatians 3 and let's look at this well known verse. (v23); "Before this faith came we were held prisoners by the law and locked up until faith should be revealed". Faith should be revealed! That is the important thing!
FAITH SHOULD BE REVEALED!
Something that is revealed is not something your head analyses through academic study. You can study about glasses and learn academic education about glasses but they have never been revealed to you. Glasses are only revealed when you wear them! Until faith is revealed you are locked up and a prisoner of the law! Until faith is revealed you are locked up whether you like it or not! Like the majority of Christians on our planet you are locked up in the limitations of earthly experiences and earthly encounters and you don't know the heavens.
It is not talking about the idea of faith. Paul is talking about the difference between the Old Covenant of Moses law and the New Covenant! This is the big one. The easy one comes first and then the big one.
1. Under the Old Covenant the law was given so that you would do your best to keep it but you would have to keep it 100% to earn the blessing. No one did. Everyone became cursed and Romans 2 says that there was none righteous. Under the New Covenant the law is taken away and cancelled at the Cross.
Under the New Covenant promises are given to believe to get the blessing.
Why are there people who seem to strive to get the blessing but don't get much? Firstly because they are under the law. While they are under the law they have no capacity to have faith. The law has locked them up. You give them the promises and you announce what God has for them but they have no capacity to believe the promises because they are locked up to academic human talents and earthly prison limitations.
When faith is revealed and promises are presented then they don't even think of the law but just believe God is good and just believe that God wants to give this to them!
Here it comes:
SIN IS DEFINED DIFFERENTLY ACCORDING TO THE CONTEXT OF THE COVENANT. UNDER LAW SIN IS DEFINED AS FALLING SHORT OF THE LAW.
Missing the target. Not keeping the law.
UNDER THE NEW COVENANT SIN IS NOT DEFINED THAT WAY AT ALL. UNDER THE NEW COVENANT SIN IS DEFINED AS UNBELIEF IN THE GOODNESS OF GOD.
Everyone who does not believe in the grace of God is in sin! Everyone who is in unbelief is in sin. They are keeping the law but are in sin because the law is not based on faith.
Romans 4:5 says where there is NO law there is NO sin! So the law has been taken off you - it has been cancelled at the Cross! So there is nothing to fall short of! So sin under the New Covenant is unbelief!
SO LEGALISTIC CHURCHES ARE THE MOST SINNING CHURCHES ON THE PLANET!
It is sad! Legalistic churches do not believe God wants to bless them just because of who God is despite their failures or lack of holiness that God wants to bless them like He did Abraham. They don't believe that! They believe you have got to do things to earn the blessing! They are in sin while they think that they are so holy. Let's go to Colossians 2. I want to encourage you - once you are in Christ where do you have to confess your sin? Don't give me 1 John1:8,9 - we have dealt with that! The Bible talks about only one form of repentance in the New Covenant and that is repentance from dead works.
What are dead works? Works done without faith! Dead works are useless religious ceremonies!
All through the book of Hebrews the writer is saying you must repent from UNBELIEF! Repent from DEAD WORKS! So whenever Hebrews talks about sin for those that are in Christ or those that have heard the Gospel but some haven't come to Christ - he is talking about unbelief. Hebrews 3 talks about having an "evil heart of unbelief" - what in? The grace and goodness of God! Hebrews 10 and it says that they are continually deliberately sinning (v26) - why are they trampling Jesus blood under foot? Because they don't have faith that Jesus blood can save them. They believe that the blood of shadow and symbolism and the Temple system is worthy of relying on. They have rejected the blood of Jesus because they don't have faith in the Gospel and are relying on the law and the temple system and priesthood which is what millions of believers around the world are doing! They are sinning and deliberately so!
If you die in Moses then you are going straight to hell. You can only be in Christ to go to heaven. Every sin is taken off and Christ has destroyed every sin but there was just one sin that He could not die for and that is unbelief in the grace of God. To die in Moses is to die in unbelief of the grace of God. Hebrews 11 starts about faith - the substance. And he goes on to give a list of dozens of people who did mighty things. "Through faith". Then it is those who through faith were persecuted and endured! All about faith! Hebrews 12:1; "Since we are surrounded by so great a crowd of witnesses" - who are all the people of faith! "And THE sin that so easily entangles us and run ... the Author and Perfector of our faith". One single sin! Religious people's obsession with themselves and their effort are locked up in a prison of earth. No ability to pull heaven into the earth! The sin that was constantly entangling the Hebrews was unbelief!
Everyone always thinks that the sin that "so easily entangles" must be pornography or lying or some other sin that I have done. We are not encouraging pornography!
I would rather have someone struggling with pornography but with strong faith in the love and glory of a loving Father - because if he keeps believing in the goodness of God then somewhere pornography will lose it's allure and desire and they will be free by the power of the Gospel!
The one full of unbelief is the one so easily entangled and they are putting people in bondage! Colossians 2. How many of you want to see fulness in your life? There is nothing more the Father can give you because He has already given you everything in Christ. Your journey is to grow in revelation of faith revealed - a revelation of what the gospel and law and sin under law and sin under the New Covenant is. A faith revealed! Colossians 2:8. Paul knows that the grace of God is driving the Pharisees into hysterical frothing at the mouth anger! "See to it that noone takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy that depends on human tradition of this world ...". The basic principle of this world is not Christ! (v9); "ALL the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form and you HAVE been given" - it has already taken place!
(v11); "You were circumcised in the putting of the sinful nature". That happened when you were born again. (v13); "Forgave us ALL our sins having cancelled the written code with it's regulations that is AGAINST us". The law is AGAINST you! "He took it AWAY nailing it to the Cross and having disarmed the powers and authorities triumphing over them by the Cross".
What is fullness in Christ that you have been given?
1. Your sinful nature was cut away when you were born again.
"But Rob I still sin!". Oh you still live in unbelief? "Oh I forgot what sin in the New Covenant is!". He cut away your sinful nature! What is the sinful nature of man? The sinful nature of fallen man is that nature that is suspicious about the integrity of God and secretly believe that God is evil and doesn't really want to do good to you unless you do well. How did it get in there? God had given Adam everything except one restriction - one tree. The devil came and said "Hey God is restricting you - you can't eat from the tree of religion - try to do good, try to avoid evil. God is trying to stop you! What did he do? He created a credibility gap in Adam's conciousness as to the integrity of God's goodness. He said you can do better than what God has given you. God had made Adam in His likeness - he had nothing to aspire to! He had government of the whole planet! But the devil succeeded in making Adam think that God wasn't good and He was holding out on Adam and was being stingy! So Adam ate and the conciousness that dropped into him and the sinning nature - an evil nature that suspected God was not good. A nature of unbelief in the goodness of God.
The sinful nature means that the day you got born again that was cut out - all of that suspicion - and a new nature put inside you that capacitates you to know that God is good all the time in fullness! What is the problem? Our heads! The way we were regenerated! Our heads are still programmed with inferiority and our mind thinks but we must listen to our new nature, our born again nature and it will say "God is good!".
2. He forgave ALL your sins!
When did He forgive our sins? After we have confessed our sins and repented? Ten hail Marys? When? 2, 000 years before you ever sinned! You arrived on the planet with all your sins totally wiped out - the slate clean and can never be dirtied again! The sins are all gone! I have got a new nature! Fully all sins gone!
3. All the Law of Moses - the 10 Commandments - the ministry of death that rates and condemns you was cancelled at the Cross.
Fullness of the law has gone! When that happened principalities and powers had nothing left to condemn you so you are not measuring up! "You are not measuring up!". To what?! The law! Come here devil you haven't been to a good church! Cancelled! As a result they were disarmed! What are preachers doing today? They are preaching the law back on the church and are re-arming a disarmed enemy and then they get the church to fast and pray to do spiritual warfare and bombard the powers operating in this area. No they are operating in this area because you are partnering with them through your unbelief and preaching of the law. YOU empowered principalities! Hong Kong doesn't need any more lies! It doesn't need anyone more telling us that if we fast and pray enough then we will bind principalities and authorities! How much more is fullness DISARMED? They have NO more power or authority! They are disarmed but the church RE ARMS them! People in unbelief love something that is not of faith because you don't have to get out the boat or step out in the supernatural - you can do everything by earthly control based on earthly talent. That is being locked up under the law!
If you have an inner heart that constantly struggles to believe God is good then maybe you are not saved. If you are constantly suspicious of God's goodness then maybe you have been a church-goer all your life but have never had your heart fully saved.
Your conditioning is different. If your inner nature constantly suspects God then you are still under law. How do I get born again? Jesus I believe you are good and that at that Cross you cut away that nature! Give me a circumcision of my heart! Cut religion out of me today! You can't receive it until you believe it! There will a people in hell who have been forgiven all their sins. Because there was one sin that Jesus couldn't die for. Unbelief. The only sin that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of; "because they do not believe on Me". What is the law? Not based on faith! What else did you do? Took away the law - sin conciousness is all gone! Powers and authorities are disarmed! You don't have to fast to disarm them! Just believe! Does God move by His Spirit and do miracles because you are under the law or because you believe!
There is a momentum of grace on the planet - it is so difficult to be a legalist now! There are grace congregations being raised up!
This is too important to not let the Holy Spirit water the seed. The devil tries to steal the seed by hardship so your mind says "This stuff doesn't work". But when the Holy Spirit waters the seed then it starts to produce multiple-fold. It has gone over the website today - the seed of heaven has gone into your heart. This is God's seed and it will keep producing for the rest of your life crops of blessing! Lies have been broken off your life! You are partnering with God conducting heaven's influence into the earth! You are not a pauper but an ambassador! A conductor that we might see the increase of heaven come into Hong Kong!
I am righteous in Him! I am righteous in Him! I am the righteousness of God in Christ!
I am righteous in Him! I am righteous in Him! I am the righteousness of God in Christ!
All my trangressions have been removed and all my mistakes are made new!
All my trangressions have been removed and all my mistakes are made new!
I am righteous in Him! I am righteous in Him! I am the righteousness of God in Christ!
I am righteous in Him! I am righteous in Him! I am the righteousness of God in Christ!
No more condemnation - no accusation now! I am free from the power of sin and death!
I have had a revelation of the glorious grace of God and I am living in perfect grace!
Heaven come to Hong Kong! Heaven come to City Church!
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