Fresh Infusion of His Power

Praise the Lord. I've heard good things from everybody that's visited down here lately. I've heard they bring back such good reports that honestly my first instinct was to come down here and say, "I want to listen." That's the truth because I'm not all that anxious to be up here and be speaking. The longer we go the more we realize how many needs we have and how much the work the Lord needs to do in us. But I'm so thankful he's faithful. Well, we've sung so many wonderful songs this morning about the kind of a God he is and the love and the patience that he has with us because if he wasn't, well, I for one wouldn't have any hope today that God is so merciful and faithful. I've had some thoughts going through my head the last few days. Certainly they apply to me in a very definite way and I have one thing that I have to overcome and that's when I start thinking about a subject. My mind goes everywhere and there's so many scriptures that all come in and I've thought of so many things. I just pray the Lord will take out all of that and just focus on what he wants because there are a lot of scriptures and a lot of truths that all bear on what I've been thinking about today. I may refer to a lot of them but there's a focus and I think I will go ahead and just begin in chapter three of Philippians with familiar scripture but I think the Lord's actually focused my mind on something that's just a little deeper and a little way I hadn't really quite seen it before. That's always a good thing, isn't it? Because we need to be taken forward, not backward. But anyway, Paul is writing to the Philippian believers and encouraging them in the Lord and he's talking about how do we gain confidence with God in chapter three and I won't read all of that beginning part but he talks about, you know, if anybody has basis for confidence toward God, it's me. And of course, he grew up in the Jews' religion, there was revelation from Moses, they got

turned into a religion but he was a faithful, visellus practitioner confident that he had what he needed to stand before God until he met Jesus one day. And Jesus said in that great vision and he said, "Who are you?" And I said, "I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting." Oh wow, did Paul's world come tumbling down. But he saw in a very short period of time the Lord showed him the vanity of what he had been doing. God helped us never to turn what we have into religion and it's the most natural tendency as long as we're doing it right, saying it right, we're good. But I believe there's something deeper that God wants to take, a deeper place that God wants to take all of us. But anyway, you go on and you talk about how Paul said, "What I've had is just a bunch of garbage. Throw it out. Throw it out. I got something better." And I walked out, I had every intention of bringing the new living translation with me today, which is not something I use very often, but I walked out the door and I picked up the old version of the NIV. So here we are. That's okay, the Lord could speak anyway. So anyway, Paul is talking about now he wants to know Christ and be found in him verse 9 is that, "Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ." The only way we can gain it, isn't it? The righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. Then his focus of his life, I want to know Christ, yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death and so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this or have already arrived at my goal, but I press

on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. There's a lot of rich truth in there, and I just pray that the Lord will guide my thoughts to where I can focus on the spirit. One of the early things he talks about is the power of the resurrection. How many of you realize we need power? Yes absolutely. That we're up against real power. That it's not just bad stuff we do and wrong thoughts and all that that you can just kind of correct and go on. There is a real power in darkness. You've got satanic power. You certainly got the power of the world system in which we live but we've got it in here. That's the problem. We were born with a nature that absolutely agrees with Satan that hates God and cannot be fixed. I don't care what you do. You can train it. You can do all you want to. It cannot be fixed and it's not just a okay with either or kind of thing. This is a power. And when we're talking about living for God, I don't need better information and techniques. I need power. And one of the burdens that I've had and I've sensed others having it, we need a fresh infusion, not just of good information and how to practice religion correctly. We need Jesus to come in power and invade His people and we need a younger generation that gets it, not because they've heard about all the wonderful things God did in the past or overseas or that. We need Him here right now invading our space. And we think about power. We tend to think of miracles. It can include that. I've mentioned, I guess, many times that when Jim and I first went to India, we had a meeting at a family home. Well, the man sometime prior to this had been very dramatically raised from the dead. Well, God still does that. And we think about healing, things that we can see, things that we can feel, especially, "Oh, the power. Oh, I feel it." And it has nothing to do with that. God can manifest Himself any way He wants to. But I'll tell you, we need power. And one way that it's very evident, and I'm thankful for the context we've had with people like Mercy Tree up there in North Carolina, where you're seeing people whose lives were wrecked by sin, by drugs, by alcohol, with crime. They spent time in prison. Their lives were totally broken to the point where they had no way to escape except God invaded their lives and changed everything from the inside. And suddenly they had power

to say no to all of this. Whoa, we need, yeah, that's a wonderful thing. We can see that kind of transformation that everybody knows. Whoa, they are not the same person. And they didn't, they're not the ones who fixed it. God invaded their space and changed everything from the inside. But that is what the gospel is about. We think of the gospel as, "Well, God's going to erase my record, so now I get to go to heaven." I thank God that He erased my record. Thank God, that's the absolute truth. That just gets me to, that gets me to home plate. I'm not even in the game until He erases my sins. The praise God, that's just the beginning. There's a scripture that I have, I know I've referred to a lot of these things in the past, but there's a scripture that I have enjoyed using sometimes when I have been overseas teaching ministers. And I said, "How many of you know that we were not saved by the, by the death of Jesus Christ?" They're about to throw me out. We are reconciled to God by the death. We're saved by what? By His life, His life. So salvation is the process of changing me from what I was into what I will one day be. Thank God for the, for the death that erases my sins. That just, that just changes me from being God's enemy to being His friend. Now I'm in the game, so to speak. Now I can come, now the real work of saving me and changing me and making me ready for another life in another kingdom, that begins and that's the work of a lifetime. So salvation, it certainly is a beginning. I don't want to minimize that in the least because it sets me on the path and the mark is put on my forehead if it's real. God puts that mark there and I'm His and He's guaranteed to finish what He started. So that, I thank God for all of that, but it still talks about the process of being saved. And to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. There's a scripture that says that. Let's get everybody to make a decision." Thank God for where every time that that's real. But Paul is talking about the power that we need. And I just, I sense that. And again, I say, I pray and we need to pray that God will invade us in whatever way will make it evident that His power and His saving power is real. Because we are seeing it. But I'll tell you the danger is that we can grow up with respectable lives and we go to church and we sing the songs. And we're not out there with all those bad people doing bad things. And we think, "Oh, I'm okay. Are we now?" Because the issue is what's really in charge on a day-to-day basis. When people interact with me, what are they feeling? What are they sensing? What vibe am I giving off? Is it just the old me being respectable? Or is it the new me? And that's the danger that I see in myself. And this is what Paul is really getting at. The whole focus of his life. One reason I wanted to bring the NLT is because when it talks about, "I want to know Christ and to know the power of His resurrection." It uses the word "experience." I want to experience the power of His resurrection because that's the sense of the Greek word that's translated "no."

It's not just "know the facts." This is "I want to really know." I want to know this because I've been there, you know, got the t-shirt kind of thing. Done that death the t-shirt. So Paul wanted to actually experience what Jesus died to give us. Again, did He just die to give us a ticket to heaven or did He die so that His death led to the newness of life that He could now share with us that would absolutely give us an entire different foundation for living. Because all we're doing is living out in the strength of our old life. What is that? That's nothing. That's just religion again. That's all Paul had before. And Paul certainly, if you want to read Romans 7, I'm going to jump around all over the place. So just hang with me. But you remember Paul talked about this problem of how do I do it? And Paul actually went through something. God had to take Him through this so that He could write it and share it with us. When He said, "Okay, I've got it now. I've know Jesus. I know what He wants. I'm going to give it everything I've got." How did that work out? Absolutely He batted zero because He discovered, "Hey, there's something in me that won't let me do even what I know is right to do." I just can't overcome that. It's in there. And He discovered the power that He had to overcome. So now, what was Paul's life when he got up in the morning? About? What was Paul's daily life about? "Oh, I've got a study. I've got a preach. The focus of His life was, I want that power." "Okay, I've got stuff that needs to change in my heart and my daily life. This is the life of an apostle now." If you want to lift Him up there in our estimation, He would just like us, just had a particular call. But His life when He got up in the morning, what was it about? What is my life about today? God's growing me up. He's changing me. I presented my life to Him, but now He's going to work on my mind so that I understand, "Oh my God, I was thinking wrong. I had the wrong ideas. I saw myself in the wrong way, and I've got to see things the way God sees them. And He's going to have to go to work on me to help me to understand that so I can be changed. But it's not like one of these snappy things. That's the thing, when you talk about the power of God, you think, "Oh God, I know how that works." You come down to the altar and somebody lays their hand on you and wham! You just get hit with this bolt of lightning and then suddenly you're a different person. "Oh God, I wish it worked that way. God can meet people in special ways, but it does not eliminate what this is talking about. It never eliminates the fact that when we get up in the morning, this is what my day is meant to be about. God has designed a pathway for me to walk. And He wants me to be lifting my heart and looking to Him. And so my life is about, well, God helped me to organize these thoughts because I didn't obviously organize this into a sermon, which is a good thing. But Paul is focused on, well, what does he say here? One thing I do, forgetting what is behind, straining toward what is ahead, I press on. what does that mean? If he has to press, yeah well he's having to work at it, why? Opposition? Yeah, there's a whole lot that that comes, now we think of opposition, oh that big bad devil is going to come down and bother me, well he does. But if he, if all he had,

if that's all we have is just him coming from the outside, yeah we would need strength, but I'll tell you the problem I've got is in here. Because if the devil didn't have something in here, well it'd be kind of like Jesus, yeah there were times he had to pray and get strength from heaven, but I'll tell you there was nothing, the devil had no hold in him. Why is it that we act and react and think as we do in life? Yeah, because so often it's just simply our human nature that we've learned how to think and how to act and how to react. And if that has power over us, where did that power come from? I mean let me put it this way, did we not give that power? Does, do we not give that power when we yield to it? Now let's say that you meet somebody and they they make you mad, you know I've made the point many times nobody can make you mad, it's a choice we make. But the reality is if that is how we react, do we have the right to blame them or do we need to look in here and say something in me caused me to react that way? That was not the way Jesus would have reacted. That was not Jesus coming out. That's the thing. I tell you if we're born of God we have new life that's in us. The question is are we learning to live out what God has given in us? You remember in chapter 2 Paul talks about the fact that we were exhorted to live out, to work out. That is to put into action. Let me go back and read it. Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Let's take it seriously. Why? For it is God who works in you. What does he work? What's his purpose? What kind of work is that? What's the need? To will and to do. I need help wanting to do what is right and then I need the power to actually do it. I need divine energy because I have not got what it takes to be the person that God has designed me to be. But has God given us everything we need? Has he not given us everything we need? That's the power of the resurrection. Paul saw something in that that was amazing. He said I've got a reservoir of genuine divine power and I need to learn how to recognize my need and to access that so that I can begin to live that without act or react that way. I haven't arrived yet but this is what my day is about. There's a consciousness of that. Now you know we I think there's a realization that we we think in time in terms of I've got a past. I've got today and I've got the future. And the devil is real good at using that fact against us. And there are many people who recognize you know all I've got is today. Well there's a reality to that. I can't control. I can't change what happened then and I can't guarantee what's going to happen tomorrow. I've got today. And there's a sense that God was focusing my attention on recently. This is all I've got. Praise God. But listen to what Paul begins

that with. Okay. What is the first phrase that he uses? It's the middle of verse 13. Forgetting what is behind. How many of you got a behind that needs to be forgotten? How many of how many of you have the devil constantly loading your mind up with the stuff that's passed that's kind of taught you this is what you are because and you did this or they did this to you and I just can't get over it and it goes on and on and on with things that have happened. And yet Paul says forget it. Do I need power to do that? You better believe it. But is that what God wants? Where does that burden of carrying our past forward come from? Certainly comes from the enemy and it comes from from the nature that we have. Why don't we live out the reality of what He has done for us? See, that's something that needs to be gained. That's something I need to lay hold of because the devil's gone constantly, well, that comes from this direction, isn't it? The devil's gone constantly pull back and point my eyes back. That happened. That hurt. Things hurt and God can heal. If we're willing, God will heal. But oh, what a blessed place that God has for us to be able to say, all of that, I lay down at the cross, He has taken care of it. God's not the one holding my past over my head and saying, "You're bad because and you need to fix it." God deliver us and help us to actually believe what we say. Now here's another thing that popped into this weak old brain. We're all familiar with the Scripture that in all things, in most things, in all things, God is at work. What? For our good, for those who love Him and call according to His purpose, well, when did He call us? If you're His, if you've been born with His Spirit, that's the one I'm talking to. When did He call us before the foundation of the world?

So does that mean that there's anything that's ever happened in our lives that He did not design for our good? That's a lot to wrap your brain around, isn't it? But is that the truth? And realize that yes, there are things that were terrible that happened in my life. There are things that made me lose all confidence that I could be anybody. They thought this about me. It goes on and on endlessly. Does God hold any of that against you? Then why do we hold it against ourselves or against somebody else? And I'll tell you, where there is a struggle to really believe, where do I get the strength to believe? That kind of comes out of the power of the resurrection, doesn't it? You see, where Paul's focused, I've got to get to the power of the resurrection. God has given me everything I need, but I need to lay hold of it for this need that has come to my light, come to the light. I've become aware today that there is this area of my life where there have been holds and there have been weaknesses and needs. And I realize that this is causing me to turn and say, "Oh God, I need your help." And he says, "Yeah, I'm right here. I love you. I've got your hand. You're my child. Praise God." Amen. And, you know, one area where, I mean, even natural people understand that if you hold something from the past where somebody needs to be forgiven, somebody's hurt you, the one that's in prison is the one that's holding on to the hurt. But where do I get the power to forgive? The power of the resurrection, it all goes back to that.

Everything God has given to us was released in that resurrection. You know, it reminds me of a scripture that I'll just read a little bit from the first chapter of Ephesians. And Paul is praying for the people, says, "For this reason ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better." Now that's another instance of that word "no," where it's not talking about it, it's knowing more about him. This is knowing him in a very experiential way. Okay? "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you. The riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people. And his, what, incomparably great power for us who believe." Okay, what's that like? That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. above all. And so it goes on to talk about the greatness of that. But those words? For us, depends on translation, I guess, but for us. It's for us. That's why he did it. He didn't do it just for Jesus. He did that so that you and I right here this morning could experience his power in greater ways than we have in the past. Now that absolutely is a process and it doesn't have to do with feelings. It could come with wonderful feelings like the head of the day of Pentecost or it could become with tongues. It could come with a lot of things, but that's not the focus. It's not about miracles and all those kinds of things. I can experience his power in very quiet ways. It just gives me peace in the midst of a storm. That's his power just as much. I need divine enabling. What about, oh boy, there's so many things. What about the end of chapter three where Paul says, and this is back in Ephesians, now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than what? Then all we ask or imagine goes beyond, this is things I can't even

imagine that I need. He goes beyond that according to what? His power that is at work within us. That's the focus of Paul's life on a day-to-day basis. If I'm going to get through this, if I'm going to grow as his child and become more mature and more like him, God's going to arrange my day so that I run into things where I need his power. A lot of times there's quiet little things where attitudes arise within us. We say, whoa, wait a minute, that didn't come from Jesus. If we're alert, we realize that didn't happen because God's power was at work in me. That was me. Now do we say, oh God. We say, thank you Lord. Thank you for showing me what I am. Does he do that with anger? We've sung so many songs this morning that are so perfect and so relevant. Is there the least bit of, I'm mad with you, what's the matter with you? You think about a little child and how they act in their immature and they try to do this and try to do that and you look at them and you say, what's the matter with you? Straighten up. Don't you recognize? They're just a little child. I wonder how the Lord sees us many times. He just probably has to laugh. I'll tell you, we've got an awesome father that just loves us. Thank God. Thank God. Well, let me see if I can get to where I was going here. Paul talked about, let's go back to verse 10 of Philippians 3. There's one thing I hadn't really, really noticed in all the times I've read this throughout my life. I want to know Christ. This is experiential knowledge. He has to experience, I'll say, the power of his resurrection and the participation, the experience of his sufferings becoming like him in his death and so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the flesh from the dead. The last part is actually the same as the second part, the power of his resurrection. I want to know this. So what is the pathway to resurrection life? How did Jesus get to resurrection life? He died. There was a laying down of one life in order to possess another. He laid down a life he couldn't keep to gain when he couldn't lose. So what Paul is saying in the last part of that little verse is the same thing as he was saying in the first. This is how you get there. I want to know his power, but how do I get there? There's some Diana's got to happen. There are some choices that need to be made. And I don't even have the power to make the choices. Sometimes I don't even want to, but oh, God, I reach out. Every time I find a need in my heart, what do I do about it? Do I say, oh, God, I got to fix this? No, there's a source of power that God wants me to lay hold of. I actually believe that he is at work. And again, do we really believe that in all things, God is at work. I'll tell you, God has written our story before it ever happened. But he also

knows ahead of times the choices we're going to make and he works. But I'll tell you, we've got a God who knows how to arrange our day and to bring circumstances and feelings, you could have physical needs, you could have problems arise, you could have people you've got to interact with, and all kinds of opportunities to see what's really controlling our person. What life are we living out? And I'll tell you, this is where the danger comes. It's one thing to see somebody in a sewer of sin and say, "Oh, I know what's wrong with them. They need Jesus." Well, I need Jesus because I get up in the morning and there's more of the old man in me that it's actually still operating than I'm willing to recognize many times. And if we're tuned in and saying, "Lord, I want to be a participant in all of this." I don't want to just learn about it and know about it and sing about it and say, "That's great. I want you to actually help me to grow up." It's one thing to be born of God's Spirit, it's another thing to grow up. And growing up is very much a day to day, moment by moment process. So Paul's day was, "Lord, you're charting my course. If something happens today that I don't happen to like, "Oh God, why are you doing this to me?" He's doing it because he loves you and wants us many times to recognize, "Hey, I've got a need. And because I've got a need, I want to remind you that I have also already given you the answer, but are you going to actually reach out and ask me?" We sang songs this morning about asking and believing. Is this something God wants? Does he actually want it? What does he say about praying for things that are His will? If we ask anything according to His will, what does He do? He hears us. Praise God. You put a need this this morning? Yeah. It's such simple truth and it factors in so many scriptures that we know. I just praise God. I'll tell you, He is absolutely charting my course. You think about what Paul went through late well into his ministry anyway. I don't know exactly the time frame, but well into his ministry, but all of a sudden the Lord allowed a demon to oppress Him. A thorn in the flesh, He calls it. You can say whatever, however that affected Him. I don't know. People debate that. I'm not worried about that. But the source of it was a demon. What could that demon have bothered him if God had not allowed it? Absolutely not. So what in the world was that about? Why would God allow a demon to attack Him? That doesn't make any sense to us in our carnal thinking. He kept praying and praying and there was a definite reaching out, "Oh God, I want to serve you. Lord, this is in

the way. Help me until the Lord finally opened up His understanding." So He realized why it was happening. Paul was in a dangerous place of being proud. Anybody here ever wrestled with pride? Do you think I'm really getting it? I'm growing up in the Lord. Things are doing good. I've got this. You don't got this. Neither do I. We need the Lord. And so Paul wanted him to realize, I don't care how well you do in your own eyes and in the eyes of others and all the things you experience. I'm not rewarding your goodness. You don't have any. That's why Jesus came. We don't have goodness to rely upon. It's always looking to Him for what He has given to us and the love that He gives to us. And so Paul came to see the whole thing in a different light. Boy, I was in danger of really getting proud. And God wanted to do something about that and set me free. That one had a hold on me. I didn't even know it. And so the Lord allowed Him to experience that and His whole attitude changed. Thank you, God, that I'm weak. Thank you, Lord, that I'm weak. Oh, that's awesome. Because that means I can rely on your power and you get the glory. Because you're the only one that deserves it anyway. Oh, how much we take credit and try to do things in our way and that make us feel good about ourselves. Oh, God, God help us. So many facets of truth baked into this whole subject. But I'll tell you what, we need the Lord, don't we? Now Paul does briefly mention the future, doesn't he? Because we have a future. You know, I think you heard the service last week where Carter Conlon was asked about his five-year plan. And he said, "I want to get through tomorrow. I think getting through the day is probably enough." But anyway, he's absolutely right. It's one thing to say, "I have an eye for the future." It's another thing to say, "Man, I've got to worry about that now." See, that's not the focus. And he deals with that, of course, in the familiar scripture over in chapter 4, where he tells us not to be anxious, because this is another way the devil taxes. He tax our past and tries to burden us down with something that is holding us back because it happened. We can't fix that. God did that. He fixed it. Once we accept that, "Oh my God, what's going to happen? Can I really handle it? Will he really love me? Will I fail?" Endless source of fear about things that are tomorrow and they're in the future. What do we do with that? Is that God loading us down with those anxieties and fears? Of course it isn't. That's not his heart. And so what do we do? We have the

right to come to him, to ask him for strength, and to put those things in his hands. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him. There's always that sense in scripture. I can't control the future, and it's not my job to plan it. He has already charted my course. He's marked out the race. I'm running a race that is marked out for me. He's already planted. And he's working in me every day from my good. All those scriptures all factor into this. That's what I need to see. I need to see the future, not with eyes of uncertainty or fear or any of that. I can look and say and have a positive hope. And again, hope in scripture is not just, I hope so. This is an expectation based upon God's heart and his promise, a God who cannot lie. Thank God. I can leave back the past and his hands completely laid at the foot of the cross and know that as far as God's concern is done and gone, it's in that grave. Never to be brought out. So I can get up in the morning free from everything. You know, one thing that I think scripture teaches us is that being able to forget the past certainly involves it being resolved. Now, suppose you go through a day and you really fall in the mud real good. God reveals something in your heart and he allows you not because he's happy about it, but he wants us to see. And so we really mess up when we come to the end of the day. How do we get to the point where we can in the morning say, I'm forgetting yesterday. Well, what does scripture say? Confess? Yeah, confess your, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just. Now, how can he be just? Doesn't justice demand that if I sin, it has to be paid for somehow? It was paid for. That's the thing. He can be just because that sin was already charged to his son. What he wants is a heart level agreement with him that says, Yes, Lord, I did it. I trust. I've helped me. I don't want to fall into this. I need you. I need your forgiveness. Is he faithful? Amen. Amen. He is absolutely completely faithful. That means that just like every other thing in my past, I can wake up in the morning and be free from even what I did yesterday and fell into because he has cleansed me and forgiven me. If I'm cleansed from all unrighteousness, that's pretty clean. Thank God. You see how all this factors into what he's talking about there in his daily life? I'll tell you what. And I'll just mention this. It's been talked about. I've said things and we've sung about it. But again, how does God see us in the midst of this day-to-day thing? He recognizes, I mean, he loves us as his dearly loved children. Closhing is three, I believe. If you'll dig around in that scripture, you'll find that phrase, dearly loved children. That's how

he sees you. Do you believe that that's how he sees you? Does he see you as his dearly loved child? Thank God. What did Jesus say about, "Take my yoke and learn from me." Rest. So the life that Paul is describing is not one of anxious striving, oh God if I mess up he's going to be mad at me. That's not the spirit of it at all. It means there is real opposition and I'm going to have to call on God and get strengthened, make a choice to believe God and not me and not my old nature. But God is actually ordering my path. That thing happened to me because God allowed it because he wanted me to be free. And the only path for freedom is to be, for me to die to that thing, recognize that that thing has no power over me unless I give it power. And I have the right because of what Jesus did to lay hold of his wife and make that choice and learn to make that choice. And that's a day to day thing that takes a lifetime or however long the Lord has us here. Praise God. But oh it's a spirit of love and rest and hope and peace. Isn't that what he said happens by the way when we take our anxieties to him? What happens? The peace of God which transcends all understandings will keep your hearts and minds. I mean there's so many scripts, so much scripture that we know that I wonder how much we experience. That's what Paul was after. I don't want to just talk about the doctrine we believe. What he did and I've got the ticket to heaven in my pocket and that's good enough. As long as I don't go out and rob banks. No, he's wanting to change me and give me a real experience of that power.

Well I don't get there unless I die. Well I don't even know there's stuff I need to die to. Unless the Lord has a range of circumstances that brings that out. And he's not doing that because he's angry at me. He's doing it because he loves me and wants me to learn how to recognize the needs that I have. Now I know one danger is I'm constantly putting myself under a microscope. That's not the point. I can look to him looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith. That's where my eyes are. But I'll tell you when I see him and then I encounter a circumstance where that old nature just wants to rise up and do its thing. I can say wait a minute Lord I know that didn't come from you. And I know you allowed me to experience this because you loved me enough to want me to lay hold of what you have given me. I didn't earn that. You gave it to me. That resurrection life. Lord I need to experience that power just like the person that we need to see come out of the gutter. Do they need to experience God's power to break that hold? Well I need him to break the holds that are in me. Anybody here got holds in your life? Your old nature still wants to act up and act out? That's why things happen in our lives. And I just want to have that same heart that Paul had. You can go on and on with this and I don't want to do that. This whole business, I guess I go back to the what he said you know I want to know Christ in the power of his resurrection. I always thought that was a progressive thing. But what he's saying is I want to know I want to experience the power of the resurrection.

But here's how you get there. You've got to share in his death because that's how Jesus got to the resurrection. That's the only way you get to that. That's the only way we get to experience God's power in our lives is dying. And we're dying to something that's very real that we were born with. But God has absolutely given us power. It has no right to control us. I'll tell you we've come to Christ and handed our lives over to him. There's no more legal right for that flesh to rule over us. It does because we still have the habits of listening and responding we just kind of it's baked into our daily thinking. That's why scripture talks about being transformed by the renewing of our minds. That you may know and understand all of those things. There's got to be that daily work. Well that's something the Lord has kind of focused my attention on. I'm so thankful today that I have say a loving Father. He uses the word Abba. It's like Papa. That's how he feels. He's looking down on us with love that we can't even imagine. He's not looking for opportunities to spank us and be mad with us. He says I see your need and I love you and I have everything you need but you don't even see it right now. I need to help you with this. And that's the heart with which we need to get up and see ourselves every single day. I'm loved. And he's going to help me today to grow from my past is dealt with and gone. And I don't have to even consider it or think about it. I mean, we can remember good stuff and all that. You know what I'm talking about? The stuff that would hold us back and condemn us and make us feel unworthy and unable. All of that is done and gone. And tomorrow? Oh, I know who holds tomorrow. And I know He holds my hand. I thought about, I think this is probably good enough, but I thought about a song. I don't if I can remember all the

words. And I'm not going to try to sing it. But anyway, the old song I'm free. Remember the old Gather song? I'm free from the fear of tomorrow. I'm free from the guilt of my past. I've traded my shackles for a glorious song and now praise God. I'm free at last. That's the chorus. I'm free from the guilt that I carried, a dull empty life. I'm set free. But when I met Jesus and He made me complete, He forgot the foolish man I used to be. And then, of course, the chorus again. But what an awesome, simple truth that this is. So what are our daily lives about? I know we've got things to do and it's not already being religious all day. That's not what it. But I think we can be in tune enough and reaching out to Him, recognizing this is what God wants to accomplish in me today. He wants me to experience more real resurrection life and not to go by feelings or worry about how it happens or all that. But just, Lord's going to allow things where we have a struggle against something that always comes from in here at some point. Whether it's a demon just oppressing from the outside or whatever. He wouldn't have any hold of anyone that was in here. But God is going to allow things in your life so that you will absolutely have, if you're tuned in, you're going to be turning to Him and saying, "Lord, I thank you, but I also thank you for your life." So right now, help me. Empower me because I don't just need the, I don't have the strength to make this choice. But I'm trusting in your power to help me make the choice to be, have the right attitude, to do the right thing, whatever it is that is being touched. And God will help us to learn and to grow. And then I'll tell you, we'll have a testimony. And I'll tell you, people will see it in your life when you start being a different person because of His work, not because we learn to act religious. Oh God, help us. It's such a danger in it to be coming religion in some fashion. And I just pray, I see that danger in my own heart, my own life, but I know God's working. And He certainly showed me plenty in me that needs help, needs work. But He's doing it because He loves me. Thank God. That goes for you too. Every one of you here is a dearly loved child. And He has got such things planned for us and He has made every provision so that we can be His people and that we can have something that we can really share with others that will change, not just their, change their earthly lives, but it'll change their destiny. They can join your church all you all they want to. That's never, joining a church has never saved anybody. Coming to know Jesus in life changing power, laying down our hearts and giving them to Him, Him coming in and giving us that new heart and the new spirit within us. That then, it gives us something to grow into. Well, I guess I'm saying the same things over and over again, but that's

all right. I just thank God for His mercy. To me, I need it. I feel my need and I'm older than some of you anyway, but that's all right. I'm still in the journey and there's still plenty of God's doing in me, but He knows what He's doing. And I just thank Him today for everything that He is doing to God be the glory. I certainly didn't want to follow that, but I read this last week and I'm glad I didn't share it because something came up this week that really applies now. We spoke Wednesday about it and Phil mentioned it today, the power of prayer. The VA has answered my prayers. I am going to talk to my retirement people tomorrow. So, I will be entering a new chapter, Ms. Joam. So, talking about fear, whether it be fear of a loved one passing, fear of a new job, fear of an illness. In Exodus 14, 14, the Lord Himself will fight for you. Just stay calm. When the Israelites left Egypt in fear, the sea on the horizon and the Egyptians and slavers quickly approaching. Commentary must have been flowing from all directions on Moses. Our moments of crisis can sound the same. But in Moses embrace the holy pause. Victorious God, we thank you for moments of pause that we may rest in your plants. Amen. Amen. The Lord sure has fed us with bread from heaven this morning. And so encouraged. This is like an amen to what we've heard here. I was reading this morning in Hebrews. The writer wrote here in chapter 12. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encombrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and has set down

at the right hand of the throne of God. And finally, I love these closing prayers that the gospel writers and the books of the Word of God have included here. But this is chapter 13 verse 20. Now the God of peace who brought up from the dead, the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do his will, working in us, that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. - Hey, Mike. Go. - Yeah. - Can you hear me? - Yeah. - Go on, go on, go on. We'll eat the end to greet you. This has been such a blessing. You mean okay? Yeah. Praise God. Oh God, what a free we have in Jesus. This has been over the first couple of weeks has been a rather circuitous route, at least. But I am so glad we serve a Savior that walks closer than abroad. I want to share a scripture with you that someone shared with me. You know, we know Rowan's 828 Donald Carroll's got a tattoo. He just won't show you where it's at today. I've been so blessed, but I appreciate you this morning. And this is James 1 verse, James 1 verse 2. Consider it pure joy. My brothers and sisters. Whenever you face trials of any kind, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance and let perseverance finish its work. So you may be mature and complete lacking nothing. Sometimes it's kind of hard to wrap your brain around pure joy. But I'm just telling you God has, as he always has every time I've been up there, the Lord has gone before me. You and I believe the young nurses that I have at night, Mandy knows and Joanne knows. This younger generation, I think they get it a lot quicker than we got it. And I'm so thankful for them, because they have a depth of the word, they have a depth in the spirit. And I believe you have to know how to minister to people. No doubt, it's kind of, I don't know, a prerequisite to do what Mandy and Jo and all of y'all do. There's no doubt. But I want to share this last thing with you. Good Lord, listen to this. I don't deserve it. I don't deserve it. I shared that scripture. My lead oncologist is a Christian place in a Christian praise band church. He's not near as good as a guitar George, but he's a sweet brother. And he shot straight with me, gave me some hope. I have hope in the times of sorrow. I have peace in the right-peaching storm. I have faith that Jesus holds to borrow. I have hope. I'm resting in his arms. So this young, perky little Joanne and him know her, she's an oncologist. She kind of flits around the sweetest spirit. You ready to rock and roll?" I said, "Well, I was born ready. You backed enough you waiting

on me." And I said, "Can I share a scripture with you?" And Paul Campbell shared that scripture in James. I said, "Yeah, let's do it." And I shared that scripture with her. People, she walked over. She grabbed my hand, put my her hand on my forehead and prayed for me. Can you believe that? And I know that happens, but I'm going to tell you, it's like a shot of aponephrine. It gave me hope. And the state seal has a saying, "Doom spiro spiro," while I live a hope. And I'm hoping. And buddy, I'm telling you, I feel your prayers. Hear me this morning. I feel your prayers. And God is good. We serve a faithful high priest. And I love you. Can't wait to see you, brother Phil. Soon. Hollywood. Glad you guys came through. And just, let's praise God. Amen. Bye! [BLANK_AUDIO]