Living The Abundant Life By: Dr. Pete Norris

You're absolutely without spot, without Rico, without Blamey's because the finished work of Jesus Christ, you and I are absolutely perfect and old and righteous in Him. But we're spiritual beings living in a natural body. We're not natural, natural beings trying to be spiritual because you were born spiritually dead and now you made spiritually alive. So the real you is not the, not the one that I'm looking at. The real you is the one on the inside of you that's been recreated and born again in Christ Jesus. Welcome to Power in the World. Everyone wants to live an abundant life but how do we get there and just what does abundant living really mean? Well today Dr. Narshow just in the Word of God that abundant living begins by knowing who you are in Christ Jesus and what Christ wants of you is that uplifting and encouraging message so you stay with us. How do we live that abundant life? What does that mean? What does that look like? You know the Bible said in John 10 and the thief come to kill through the story but I came that you might have a life and that you might have that life more abundantly till the running over the amplifiers says. So you know I want you to understand today that God wants you to be blessed. Have any of you know God wants you to be blessed but I'm just not talking about financial blessing here. I've done about every part of your life God wants you to be blessed. God wants you to be well. He wants you to be happy. He wants you to be prosperous. That does not mean that you're not going to have obstacles. That does not mean you're not going to have circumstances. That sometime is going to get you down or get you discouraged but you're going to overcome those things right because greater is he that is in you that he gets in the world and no weapon formed against you can prosper. So today we want to talk about how to live in that abundance and how do you get to that point. How do you understand that you're living in abundance. So go me to Hebrews chapter 9 verse 13 and we're going to get started talking about living in abundance. For if the blood of bulls and goats and ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sacrifices for the purifying of the flesh. How many of you know in the old covenant when they would give sacrifices and bring the sacrifices that

sacrifice was only for the flesh part of them. It done absolutely nothing for the spirit or the recreated man because man couldn't be created. So the sins of people were covered for an entire year by presenting their sacrifice to the priest for an entire year. And this is pretty amazing because if under the old covenant your sins were forgiven for a year but under the new covenant we got to repent every 13 seconds. And it doesn't make any sense because what we've been taught is that the goodness of God is not big enough and the blood of Jesus is not big enough to remove all of our sins. How many of you know that every sin you've ever committed has already been removed. So you're sinless this morning, right? Let's go to verse 14. How much more shall the blood of Jesus who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God cleanse your conscious from dead works to serve a living God. How many of you know that under the old covenant year after year they had a sin consciousness. How many of you know that when Adam fell in the garden God didn't even recognize he fell because he asked Adam where you located, not where you're located geographically but where you at with me. And so immediately Adam had a consciousness of sin. The church today has a consciousness of sin all the time. They're so sin conscious that they're going to miss God over 13 minutes. And so we got to get away from that sin conscious and realize that we're God conscious, right? Now how do I do that? That's the point the blood of Jesus done. That blood was more powerful than the blood of bulls and ghosts. But the blood of bulls and ghosts would forgive sins or cover sins for a whole year. Now think about it. You went to the priest and you gave your sacrifice and that lasted the entire year. So for a year you were good but every year you had to go back. Every year you had to go back. You ever been in church and then the same people go every Sunday back to the altar. Same people go back to the altar every Sunday trying to get it right. And Jesus is the one that got it right. His blood is more powerful than you're sin. Think about it in a minute. If the blood of Jesus is so valuable, how valuable are you that the blood redeems you from? Now look at verse 15. And for this reason he is a mediator of a new

covenant by means of death. How many of you know he had to die to recreate and make you a nine new creations? For the what? Redemption of the transgression under the first covenant that those who called may receive the promise of what? Now listen to me a minute. What's an eternal man? How many of you know eternity is only in the spiritual realm? It's not in the physical realm. So you and I have eternal life. He come to have eternal life. That means there's no beginning or no end to that life. So you and I are eternal beings. Listen to me. We've got to get away from the mindset that eternity is when I step out of this physical world into the You've stepped into eternity now because you have eternal life. Eternal life is not when you go to heaven. Eternal life's what's in you right now because of the new creation of who you are in Christ Jesus. Are you with me? Do you understand that you've already stepped into eternal life? John 17, three says, this is the truth. The ability, all eternal life is, is the ability to know God. So you and I have stepped into eternal life. Nobody knew God before. That's why the Bible says in John 14 and six, "I'm the way, the truth, and the life. There's no way to the Father except through me." So we understand there's only one way to God and it's through Jesus Christ, right? But Jesus Christ put everybody has been reconciled to God because of Jesus Christ. Everybody, everybody's been reconciled to God because of Jesus Christ.

Everybody has been reconciled to God because of Jesus Christ. Whether they know it or whether they don't, they've still been reconciled. Same in. Okay, let's go to Hebrews nine and 26. How many of you know you've been reconciled? Listen to me, you're not one step away from eternal darkness. You've been sealed and fastened and seated in Christ Jesus. And he don't even know what sins you're talking about 'cause he don't even remember your sins and they've been cast as far as the east is to the west to be remembered no more. So you are not a sin being, you're a sinless individual. He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the cosmos, the actual Greek word there's cosmos for the world. But now once at the end of the ages, now think about this just a minute. We take this word and we run rapid with it and we make our own theology for that word. What he was saying is once at the end of the ages, the ages is not talking about the world, it's at the end of the old covenant and the beginning of the new covenant. He has appeared to put away sin how by the sacrifice of himself.

How many of you know that all of your sins have been put away and that you've been reconciled to God in Christ Jesus? So God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. Really, do you really believe that all of these sins have been removed? If you did, you would never think about where you're going to spend eternity anymore. You would never think about missing God anymore. You would not think about all the mistakes that you're making anymore because he removes your failures and your shortcomings. Right? And he removed every one of those things. Look at somebody say, I believe that. Let's go to Hebrews, 10 and one. I want you to realize, listen to me, you do not have to be afraid of God. He's not sitting here to strike you down. He passionately in love with you. He took time to mold you and form you and to give you a purpose in this life. He's not upset with mad with you and uptight with you and gonna strike you down if you don't do right. He knew you weren't gonna do right so he sent his son to do right so you'd be made right. Right? Look at this, for the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things

can never with these same sacrifices which they offered continually year after year, make those who approach perfect. So under the old covenant, they could not be made perfect. So if they could not be made perfect, wonder what the last covenant did. Let's look at verse two. For then would they not have ceased to be offered for the worshipers once purified would have no more consciousness of sin. In other words, Jesus fixed me and you so that we no longer have any consciousness of sin. They had a consciousness of sin year after year after year but once mine and your sins are forgiven, they're forgiven forever, all your sins. That's the only reason Jesus came to bring the kingdom of God to earth so that your sins will be removed forever more. And because of that, you and I are sinless today and so we've gotta get away from the mindset that I'm continuously missing in every minute. Because as long as you're sin conscious, you cannot be God conscious. Look at somebody say, are you sin conscious or God conscious? Let's go to 1 Corinthians 1557. But thanks be to God who gives us, who gives us, gives us what? The victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. So how many of you have the victory? Think about it, he gave you the what?

- Victory. - So do you have that victory? What are you doing with that victory? He's giving you the victory. Listen to me guys, you're not on a banana peel and it's just a slip in the hill. By anything you think or anything you do, you're absolutely without spot, without wrinkle, without blemish, because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, you and I are absolutely, absolutely perfect and ho and righteous in him. Now that's hard for our little concept minds to think because we're so thinking about the natural realm so much. But we're spiritual beings living in a way man alive than you are spiritually dead because you were born spiritually dead and now you made spiritually alive. So the real you is not the, not the one that I'm looking at. The real you is the one on the inside of you that's been recreated and born to get in Christ Jesus. Amen? Think about it a minute. That's a beautiful picture of what he's done for me and you and he's given us that opportunity to live in that victorious life. So he's given us who's give us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now go to John 16 and 33. That does not mean that you're not going to have some tribulations here. Look what he said. These things I've spoken to you that in me you may have what? What's he saying? I have given to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you may have some tribulation. You may have some struggles. You may have some hardship but be of good cheer. Why? I overcome the world. And because I've overcome it I've made it a way for this is not, listen to me. This is not your final destiny. This is just a place that you come as a stepping stone to get in, enjoy the blessings in the favor of God and then you're going to step into that dimension of where you're with him forever. Think about it a minute man. How good and how perfect God has strategically planned your life out for you. The steps of a righteous man has been ordered by the Lord. Think about it a minute. If not what I've

started in you don't think I'm going to bring it to completion? I'm the beginning of your faith and the author of your faith. In other words I started in you I'm going to bring it to completion. He knows every step you're going to take. He knows every design that God has for your life and it's good and not evil. He said I know the plans and thoughts I have for you. They're good and not evil. Jeremiah 2911. He knows everything about you that he's already planned out for you. Your life is absolutely some kind of gorgeous and glorious in Christ Jesus because it's going to be okay. Think about it a minute. It's going to be okay. That may not turn out just like you want it to but I promise you it's going to turn out for what's best. Think about that. Let's go to Romans 8 and 3. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that love us. Now how many of you know we went in? You've won. I've already read the book. You win. But think about what the world's doing. They're teaching all this culture that keeps people in fear, keeps people panicking. What's tomorrow going to look like? How am I going to make it when I get 70? How am I going to make it when I get 80? God ain't change when you're 80, 50, 40, 30, 10 or 12. He's the same God today, yesterday and forever. That's what Jesus said. Jesus is the same yesterday and the day and forever. So you and I realize that because of Jesus we're in a fixed position with him that we know exactly that in him we live and move and have our being. Think about it a minute guys. We're living an abundant life. That was his plan for us. Now I want you to go with me to Acts 3 and I want you to really read this scripture because I don't know if you've ever read it and really listened to it. "Ye are sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our Father saying to Abraham, now watch this, in your seed all the families of the earth shall be what?" Now how many of you know that means the power to prosper but also that word blessed has a different meaning. It means to speak well of. So now I want you to read 26 and now listen to scripture, very good. "To you first God having raised up his servant Jesus sent him to do what?" That don't sound like he's mad at me, does it? Now what's this? This next sentence is powerful in turning away every one of you from your what? So what did he do guys guys? Leave that scripture up. Now everyone is how many? "To you first God having raised up his servant sent him to do what? To bless you." Now the word blessed in his text means to speak well of. In other words that's what a righteous conscious man

thinks says and does regardless of his circumstances. "Sir are you speaking well of you said?" You know the Bible says it whatsoever man, think it in his heart that's what he is, Proverbs 23 and 7. So he's come to bless you. He's come to bless you. Now I'm going to make a comment right here. You say well pastor why does some people look like they get blessed and people look like they don't get blessed, choices. There's two places man, death and life. The avenue of the way you think is the avenue of where you're going to go. You're going to go towards your most dominant thought in your life. So if you're going to live the abundant life you've got to begin to see yourself making the right decisions. Listen to me, people make decisions based on the experience they have have to make that decision. "They don't have the wisdom and the knowledge "to make the right decision. "That's why they make a bad one over and over. "Here's what you need to get in to make your decisions." Some decisions are just common sense. Paul said this, and I love this scripture. Paul said, "You can do anything you want to. "It just might not be profitable." Think about it a minute. You can do anything you want to do, but it might not be profitable. 90% of the people live based on their feelings. I feel this and I'm gonna do this. I feel this and I'm gonna do this. They don't understand that they need to learn to listen to that still small voice on the inside of them and follow that spirit that's been put inside of them to lead them and to guide them into all truth. 'Cause the Bible said, and I believe it's in John 14 to 26, "He'll lead you into all truth.

"The Holy Spirit's been sent to lead you into all truth." And the Bible also says in 1613, "It'll teach you all things and guide you into that truth." Now, it won't force you to do it, but it'll guide you into that truth. That's what the person of the Holy Spirit's about. It's guiding us into the truth. See, we need to learn to listen. You know when you're about to do something you ought not to do. You know what the consequence is gonna be before you even say it, right? Let's go to Matthew chapter five, verse 44. By how many of you know when you're about to say something you know you ought not to say it before you say it? Anyway, God come to bless you, right? He sent Jesus to bless you. To empower you to prosper, to speak well things of you. Jesus spoke well about you. He blessed you. He honored you. He wanted you to walk in victory in this life and not be misled, but to walk in truth. And then he put, don't you think about it man, he put his Holy Spirit inside of me and you to guide us, to lead us, and to guide us into that truth. Now he will not force you to do it, but he wants to be that still small voice that you hear, that you know, that you know, that you know, that it's gonna turn out all right. How many of you know it's gonna be all right?

- Amen. - I want you to go with me to Matthew five and 44. But I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. And pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. That's tough isn't it? You can't do that on your own. But here's what you can do. If you'll start praying for people, you'll see a change in your heart toward people. You'll see a change in your heart toward people. And here's the thing, you're gonna get hurt in life. People hurt you 'cause they can't help it. Hurtin' people hurt people. You ever been a pastor? Most people don't come to you to talk to you because things are hunky-dory and everything's great in their life. They come to you 'cause they're going through issues and they're hurtin'. And you know what, sometimes you get bitten. But here's the thing I've learned in life, if you're gonna walk in victory, you gotta keep yourself clean. And you say, what do you mean by that? When you find yourself thinking things about people that you don't need to think, you need to pray for those people. And the more you begin to pray for those people,

you'll see your life begin to change. I can have a tendency a little bit to see, and maybe it's because of what I do, but I just believe there's good in everybody. And if you'll spend enough time, you'll find it. And I think that's difficult for some people because some people ain't got time to be, personal momentum, I ain't got time to skin on man. But sometimes you gotta go through some stuff 'cause they're goin' through some stuff. And that's what me and you're here for. And Jesus understood that because Peter and Judas was walkin' around with him. And he knew that what Judas was gonna do, he knew Peter was gonna deny him, he knew Peter was gonna cuss and say, you know what, I don't even know who this guy is, but he's still kept him close by. Why? Because you and I have been sent to change lives. And you know what, anybody can do it when things are good. But at the end of the day, what is our real purpose here? A real purpose here is to make a difference in people's lives. And you know, at the end of the day, that's all you're here for. I want you to go to Luke chapter six, verse 28. And we can see this very plainly throughout scripture. Bless those who curse you and pray for those who spotfully use you.

Now think about it a minute. What did Jesus say to Peter? Peter said to Peter, he said, Peter, I'm praying for you, brother, 'cause the enemy's out to sift you. So we understand that the whole time Jesus had been praying for Peter 'cause he knew what Peter was gonna do. See, he knows what you're gonna do before you do it. The day you confess is not when God found out you did it. (congregation laughing) You know what I mean? (congregation laughing) That's not when he found out when you told him. (congregation laughing) But here's what I've discovered. Jesus paid an ultimate price for me and you so that we could live victorious. Now how you live is based on you. (congregation laughing) But it's based on what you know and what you experience. Now I want you to go with me to Romans 12 and 14. And he said, "Bless those who persecute you, "and bless and do not curse." Now I wanna stop right there. Once the word "bless me," speak well of. What's you supposed to do to your enemies? Speak well of them. Talk about how wonderful they are. Well, pass it your line.

No, you're calling those things not as though they were at Romans 4 or 17, okay? Because the more you listen to me, and I want you to listen to me very good. I've been doing this a long time. If you get upset with somebody and you don't resolve that issue in your life, it'll get a different face, it'll get a different name, and you'll see the same thing in the next person that comes along. That's why people go through bad marriages. They marry another guy just like the one they had the first time, and they wonder why. A lot of times the second marriage, wife or husband, pay for what the first wife or husband did in the first marriage because they wouldn't let it go. Guys, you need to think, I'm here to help you. You gotta understand, why do you think, what you think? You think what you think because of what you felt and what you've been through. You're only gonna have experience based on what you've been through. That's why sometimes you look at people and say, "Well, they ought to know better. They've been in church all their life." They don't have revelation to make a different decision. And if you look at people and you judge people based on where you are, you're gonna always be disappointed. Now listen to me very carefully. You never get disappointed with people

until you expect something out of them they can't do. You need to get that. As long as you expect something out of people that they can't perform or they can't make happen, you can always be disappointed with people. So those people that persecute you, those people that you don't get along the best with talk highly of them. Bless them, speak well of them. Go to James 3 verse eight. Now here we go. You ready for this? But no man can tame the tongue. It's an unruly evil full of deadly poison. No man can tame the tongue. How many of you know death and life's in the power of your tongue? I mean, you know there's only two places that happen in life. There's death and there's life, okay? The Bible don't teach heaven and hell. The Bible teaches death and life. You choose death or you choose life. It doesn't say you choose heaven or you choose hell. Jesus said, "I come that you might have heaven." No, he said, "I come that you might have life." Now think about it a minute. That's not been taught in the church. But the reality is that God's trying to bring us to a place to a deeper level of life. That's why a lot of church people use faith the wrong way. Now listen to me very carefully.

If you go to the doctor and he diagnoses you got cancer and you walk around and say, "I don't have cancer," then that's not faith. Once you get a diagnosis of what you've got, you've got cancer whether you don't believe it or not. Correct? But there's a higher power called the spirit of Christ in you that can override that natural cancer. But the reality is walking around saying, "I don't have cancer." And denying that you have it is not absolutely correct. And that you can't use Romans 4 and 17. I call those things not as though they are. That doesn't line up with faith either. That's why people are so frustrated about the faith movement because they don't understand. If you go to the doctor and he says, "Okay, you got COPD." And you walk around and say, "Well, I don't have COPD." You got COPD. Now you know how to pray about the COPD and you know what the claim of scripture is for the COPD. And you can walk around and say, "I don't have it." It is absolutely crazy, okay? Amen? That'd be like me telling you, "I ain't got my hair. I really don't. My faith, I don't have any one hair." And you looking up and say, "Brother, I see it." Think about it a minute. That's where a lot of people get frustrated

with this faith movement because people are denying they have something that they got. Amen? God don't want you to deny that you don't have it. He wants you to understand that it's a spiritual thing and the spiritual power on the inside of you our God and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the semitude of God." Think about it. Let me help you know what you're saying about somebody you're saying about God. Look at verse 10, "Out of the same mouth, Mercedes, blessings, and curses, my brother, these things ought not to be sowed." Verse 11, "Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter water from the same opening?" Verse 12. Y'all good? "Can I fig tree my brother and bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh water." Now think about it a minute. So how powerful is this mouth? How powerful is what you're speaking out of your mouth about one another? Well they did me wrong. They couldn't do any better or they'd have done better. Oh pastor, you're just making excuses for it. They could have done better. No, they made a decision based on the experience they had. The things that are simple for you is not simple for everybody else. You said, "Pastor, why do you say that?" Because I know that. A family, a child that grows up in a stable home with a mom and dad is going to have a different mindset than a child that grows comes out of a broken home. You can say whatever you want to say, it's going to have a different mindset. A daughter without a father is going to live a different life than a daughter that has a father her whole life or a mother because a mother can't be a dad and a dad can't be a mother. How many of you want your kids to go through what you went through? How many of you want your kids to make decisions that you made? No. Why? Because you want a better relationship with him. That's why Jesus come to bless you. He come to take you out of what Adam fell and gave you and to give you the last Adam to where you could walk in victory and be overcome. Jesus is the same mindset. He wants his children to be better than he was. I want you to think about it in a minute today. Are you living the abundant life? You got so much today to be thankful for you. And we get tied up on things that really don't matter. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. But Jesus came and died for being you. Gave us an opportunity to live beyond anything we could ever imagine.

And I think sometimes that church and religion has destroyed people. To where they can't even enjoy the fiendish work that Cross done for you. It's not about your performance guys. It's about what he done for you. And because of that, you're free today to live that abundant life. Thank you so much for joining us today at Power and the Word. All of us here at Harvest Fellowship Church want you to know that God is not mad with you, but he loves you so very much. And he has a plan for your life. Please feel free to contact us here at Harvest Fellowship Church at our website, harvestfellowshipchurch.net. So until next week, please remember there's power in the Word.