Oct. 11, 2024

Unveiling Righteousness: Jesus' Baptism (First Words 02)

Unveiling Righteousness: Jesus' Baptism (First Words 02)

Send us a text What if the first words of Jesus' ministry set the stage for the ultimate blueprint of righteousness? Join us as we uncover the profound impact of Jesus' declaration at His baptism and how it shaped His divine mission. From the moment He proclaimed, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness," we see a ministry grounded in a sinless pursuit of God's will. We'll dissect the purposeful nature of Jesus' actions and words, drawing parallels ...

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Season 1

Send us a text

What if the first words of Jesus' ministry set the stage for the ultimate blueprint of righteousness? Join us as we uncover the profound impact of Jesus' declaration at His baptism and how it shaped His divine mission. From the moment He proclaimed, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness," we see a ministry grounded in a sinless pursuit of God's will. We'll dissect the purposeful nature of Jesus' actions and words, drawing parallels to how we can lead meaningful lives aligned with divine intentions.

Ever wondered about the transformative power of baptism and the Holy Spirit? We delve into the radical shifts that occur when one embraces faith, using compelling examples like Paul's dramatic conversion and the life-altering experiences of the Philippian jailer. We'll reflect on Jesus' wilderness temptation, illustrating the necessity of living by God's Word for true spiritual nourishment and righteousness. Discover how embracing Jesus' teachings can lead to a Spirit-led life of profound change.

Tune in as we explore the nourishment of the Spirit and the critical need for humility in our spiritual journeys. We emphasize the importance of seeking direct revelations from God while balancing the wisdom of the Bible. Through compelling stories and practical insights, we demonstrate how pride can hinder our spiritual growth and the necessity of humility to understand and apply God's Word effectively. Don't miss this enlightening discussion that underscores the foundational words and actions of Jesus and their enduring relevance in our faith lives.

00:00 - The Power of Righteousness in Ministry

19:42 - The Significance of Baptism and Spirit

27:48 - Nourishing the Spirit Through God's Word

41:11 - God's Word and Pride

56:35 - Understanding God's Word and Pride

01:06:17 - The Significance of Jesus' First Words

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Well, praise God, hallelujah.

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Let's turn to Matthew, the third chapter.

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We're going to continue on in this theme that the Lord started on Sunday about first words.

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We talked about the first words on Sunday that Jesus spoke as he was raised from the dead, first speaking to Mary and then to the disciples.

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Amen, and the Lord put it on my heart to look at the Gospel of Matthew, the very first part of that book, to look at the first words that Jesus spoke after His baptism and actually as part of His baptism, and then shortly thereafter, after the time that he spent 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness.

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So praise God, because in those first words, as Jesus began his ministry now we know this that Jesus did not minister under the power of the Holy Ghost until he was baptized at John's baptism in the River Jordan.

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That time the Holy Ghost descended upon him and remained and God spoke from heaven certifying his ministry.

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And from that point on, jesus ministered the Bible says in the power of the Holy Ghost, preaching this gospel, and went about doing good and healing all those that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him, hallelujah.

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So when we look at John chapter 3, at the tail end of it and John, chapter 4, there are some key words here that Jesus spoke that put things into motion.

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First words in Scripture have this power.

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They have the power to put things into motion.

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When God saw on day one that there was darkness upon the face of the earth, the first thing he did was say let there be light.

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And when God said those words, the words that he spoke put, restored light back into this realm, because he essentially said light that is within me be, and he let that light that was in him become become visible, become manifested.

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Okay, so the words, the first words that he spoke at that, at that moment, were words that put things into motion, put, put something into existence and put it in and gave it some momentum.

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That then, from that point on, it would be that way.

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The Bible says in the book of Hebrews that Jesus upholds the worlds with the word of his power.

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So what that conveys to us is that once the worlds were put into existence, they are now sustained by that word that put them into existence.

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So the first word that is spoken has the power to sustain that which was spoken.

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Okay, without that defining word, without that word that gives it definition, shape limits and everything else that we talked about on Sunday.

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If it doesn't have that, it's just.

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You know, it kind of goes off in all directions.

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Our words are a lot like that.

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You know, it kind of goes off in all directions.

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Our words are a lot like that.

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You know, a lot of the words that we speak are aimless, they're pointless, they don't have purpose, they're just, we're just passing the time, we're just chit-chatting.

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You know what are you doing?

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Oh, I'm just chatting, just chit-chatting.

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Just.

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You know this, that and the other, instead of having words that have purpose, like God does.

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God doesn't chitchat.

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If you didn't notice that about God, he doesn't just drop in for a chitchat.

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When God speaks, it always has purpose, it always has destiny on, it always has something that he wants to accomplish with it.

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Hello, glory to God.

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So let's start in Matthew, the third chapter, verse 15, jesus talking to John.

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John had he had come to John to be baptized, and John said wait a minute, I should be baptized by you.

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Why is that?

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Because John's baptism was a baptism of repentance.

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It was a baptism for the repentance from sins.

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Now, jesus was sinless.

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He didn't need to go down into the river and be baptized for sin.

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John recognized that Jesus was sinless, but John was not.

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So John said I need to be baptized by you.

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And Jesus said to him Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

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And then John allowed Jesus to be baptized Amen.

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So not only did John identify Jesus as the Lamb of God, but he baptized him in this baptism.

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That was a baptism unto righteousness.

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It was a baptism that would separate people out from sin and draw them into righteousness.

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Now, why is this important?

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And why is it important what Jesus said it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness, amen.

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What Jesus was saying at this moment and these are important words was that righteousness is the preeminent standard.

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Amen.

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What does that mean?

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That means that when, when god does something, it has to measure up to God's righteousness and righteousness because Jesus says this right at the beginning of his ministry.

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He's saying that righteousness is the standard of my ministry.

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Everything I do in my ministry and everything that we do in our ministries and everything that the Holy Ghost does through us in these ministries has to conform to God's way of being, god's way of doing things.

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Amen, righteousness is the preeminent standard.

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He who knew no sin.

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Now, you can maybe not think of it like this, but when Paul said this, there was an aspect of what the Holy Ghost was saying through Paul that went back to this baptism.

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Listen to what the Spirit says, not what Paul wrote, but listen to what the Spirit says, Because the Spirit came down precisely at the moment that Jesus was baptized.

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So the Spirit, speaking through the Apostle Paul, said this he who knew no sin.

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Now, we always think about this as being something that happened at the crucifixion, but it happened first at the baptism.

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He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we might become what the righteousness of God in him.

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Now, that certainly did happen at crucifixion, but it also happened which was at the end of Jesus's ministry, but it also happened at the beginning of Jesus's ministry, so that righteousness was a were like columns or pillars, or signposts or or fixtures at either end of Jesus' ministry, at the, at the beginning, at his baptism, and at the end of his crucifixion.

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He became sin for us Because when he entered into the baptism, he gave a.

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He gave how can I even describe this?

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His, his righteousness and his submission to God went backwards in time and covered all of those that had been baptized before him in John's baptism.

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It was still so good that people were getting saved in John's baptism and didn't even know about the Holy Ghost.

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That happened in Acts 19.

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It happened to Apollo.

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Apollo knew John's baptism, but he didn't know about the Holy Ghost.

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Apollo knew John's baptism but he didn't know about the Holy Ghost.

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Amen.

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And Priscilla and Aquinas took him aside and taught him a more excellent way taught him about the Holy Spirit.

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So what am I saying?

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I'm saying that John's baptism was a baptism of repentance and when Jesus submitted himself to that baptism, he took everyone with him that would become one in him.

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So all those people that were baptized before were with him and all those like us who would be baptized after were in him.

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And he took all of us into that death that baptism represents and came up into the resurrection that the baptism represents, amen.

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And took you with them, took all those that were baptized before see Peter, james, peter and James and John and all of those that followed after, john the Baptist have been baptized, into that baptism, amen.

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So all of those were carried with Jesus down into the water and out.

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We were carried down into the water and out, amen, and we became he who knew no.

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Sin became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of Christ, of God in him.

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Jesus knew this.

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This is why he said to John it is fitting for us to fulfill what?

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All righteousness, because everything I do is about bringing people into the righteousness of God and bringing them into this in Him place, so that they can be righteous like he is righteous and like I am righteous, amen.

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Jesus established this as rule number one.

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He said if you think about it like this, okay, if you understand this, then you'll understand the significance of a lot of different scriptures.

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Seek ye first the kingdom of God and what, and his righteousness, all these things.

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Seek ye first the kingdom of God and what, and his righteousness, all these things will be added unto you.

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Well, why is it important to seek his righteousness?

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Because righteousness is the first thing about this gospel.

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It is the first thing about the kingdom.

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It is the first thing about God.

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It's his way of being.

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It's his way of being.

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It's his way of doing.

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It's how God gets things done.

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It's a long, older English word that just means God's character.

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It's how he does things, it's how he is.

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Amen.

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If you don't like this about God, well I got you need to change the way you like things, because he's not going to change, it's just it's.

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You know, you say, well, that's just the way I am, well, that's what God says, this is just the way I am, and we call it righteousness.

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And Jesus said we might, you might as well.

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Just get used to it, because when the kingdom is at hand, what that means is that God's way of doing things is here.

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Does it also mean right standing?

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It does mean that.

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It does definitely mean that so we have right standing because we no longer are in sin.

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We are in righteousness.

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We are in righteousness.

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Amen, praise God.

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Water baptism.

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Now, the other thing that happened at this moment was that water baptism was established as the entry point into the kingdom.

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Okay, now listen.

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I'm not going to argue the point tonight about separation in time between water baptism and spirit baptism.

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I'm not going to argue the point between separation in time, between saying yes to Jesus and getting dunked.

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I, you know those things.

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Those things are are because we live in an aberration of Christianity.

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Our form of Christianity is not New Testament form.

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Our form of Christianity has been so adulterated over the centuries that we don't even know what is real.

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But I'm telling you that in the New Testament what is real is that people get saved, people get water baptized and people get spirit baptized in the span of about 20 seconds, or some variation thereof.

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In Cornelius' case, they got saved and filled with the Holy Ghost and then got water baptized.

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In the jailer.

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At Philippi's case, he got saved.

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He said what must I do to be saved?

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Paul told him what he had to do.

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He immediately got water baptized.

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We assume he got spirit baptized, because everybody got spirit baptized when they got water baptized.

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We assume he got spirit baptized because everybody got spirit baptized when they got water baptized.

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There are almost no exceptions.

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So let's assume that that's the context for all of this.

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So water baptism and its concurrent spirit baptism.

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Because, listen, if you've got any questions about this, you need to take it up with Jesus, because that's exactly what happened to Jesus.

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And if Jesus is not our model in everything, then what are we doing?

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Why is he the author and the finisher of our faith?

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Why is he our forerunner?

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Why is he the one who goes before us?

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Why is he our waymaker?

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Why do we sing all these songs about him being the waymaker and all this kind of stuff?

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If he's not, if he doesn't set the tone in everything, then we are missing the mark in in by excluding him in anything and in this, this particular thing.

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And whether or not water baptism and spirit baptism are concurrent.

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They're not necessarily the same thing because they can be separated in time.

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But in Jesus's case it was at the same precise instant when he came up out of the water, the Spirit came down like a dove and alighted on him and remained on him.

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That had never happened before, happened a lot since then.

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Glory to God, praise the Lord.

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So water baptism is the separating act of submission unto salvation.

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It's the separating act of submission unto death and submission unto the resurrection and submission unto the spirit.

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It is defined by Jesus as an act of faith unto righteousness.

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In other words, we are submitting unto God's character.

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So, however, god presents himself and shows himself and reveals himself.

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The reason that Jesus came was to reveal God to man.

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So, however God wants to reveal himself, we are submitted unto that.

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Water baptism is the entry point into that process of submission.

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Okay, now I don't care whether people have taught you that water baptism is a symbol of being put down into death and being raised up again.

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It's not a symbol, it is.

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Peter says it is a pledge of a good conscience toward God.

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Now, what does that mean?

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That means that you have submitted to God's character.

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You have put on a name.

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Oh, glory to God.

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See, if you have acquired a name from your earthly father, there is a portion of you that is like him.

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Amen.

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You may look like him.

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You may laugh like him.

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Have you ever noticed that kids laugh like their parents?

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They learn laughter from their parents.

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You ever noticed that kids laugh like their parents?

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They learn laughter from their parents.

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You ever notice that?

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I mean, there's just some subtle things.

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They smile like them.

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Linda laughs like you.

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Yeah, when Katie laughs, it looks like you.

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You know those things?

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Those things are not.

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They're not genetic.

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They're just subtle traits of behavior that children pick up because they belong to somebody that they have their name.

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Okay, when you are baptized into.

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Okay, when you are baptized into this Jesus, amen.

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You acquire his name.

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They didn't call you a Christian before, but they call you one now, amen.

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I'm gonna tell you one thing you go to it.

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I don't encourage you to do this and I don't encourage you to you even think about it.

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Don't encourage you to even think about it.

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But if you ever were so inclined to go join a coven of witches, they would not even let you in the door, not because you present a baptism certificate, but because they know you, because you have been sealed, you've been marked.

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Glory to God, you have been given a name that can be seen in the Spirit.

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And we don't even have that level of discernment.

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We can't even discern when the devil comes through the door and tries to join our church.

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Glory to God, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

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Jesus defined this baptism as an act of faith, but it's an act of faith that is unto righteousness.

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We are making a public statement amen, that we are going to accept what this God says as our truth, as our reality, and that's just how it's going to be.

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Amen.

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We are submitting ourselves to that.

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Not only are we separated unto salvation, but we are also separated unto His Spirit, unto salvation, but we are also separated unto his spirit because Spirit baptism goes hand in hand with water baptism.

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So in the day that all this was written, people would get water baptized, they get spirit baptized.

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So not only were they separating themselves under the salvation that came by Jesus, they were separating themselves unto the life of the spirit, amen.

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That was an entirely different way of living.

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Listen, just think about this for a second.

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I mean, all of us had kind of a similar experience.

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We had a time when we weren't really saved, but we were kind of hovering around church and things like that, and then we got saved, and then there was this period of time that we went on and then we got drawn into the spirit baptism.

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And then we got, we got spirit baptized, you know.

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But just imagine, not not even like, not even like you were like Paul.

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Paul was just deceived, he was deluded, he was just, you know.

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But all of a sudden, within the span of a short period of time, he was saved, taken to a house, fasted for three days, got spirit baptized, got water baptized and his world was turned upside down.

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Well, just imagine that you've got this guy in Corinth, okay, who is just a hellion.

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I mean.

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Well, think of Philippi, think of the jailer in Philippi.

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I mean jailers are not notoriously pious people.

00:22:29.134 --> 00:22:35.846
I mean they've got to administer pious people.

00:22:35.846 --> 00:22:37.248
I mean they've got to administer.

00:22:37.248 --> 00:22:41.576
They don't get to administer justice, they get to administer discipline.

00:22:41.576 --> 00:22:45.686
You know, if you're acting up in the jail, guess what the jailer gets to do.

00:22:45.686 --> 00:22:52.016
He gets to beat on you, he gets to have weapons, and you don't get to have any.

00:22:52.016 --> 00:22:59.896
And you get to have the receiving end of a club, the receiving end of a stick, of a knife, of a sword.

00:22:59.896 --> 00:23:02.212
I mean, these guys were bad dudes.

00:23:02.212 --> 00:23:04.410
You know, you can't.

00:23:04.410 --> 00:23:10.576
Nobody ever teaches this, that a jailer is one of the worst people on the planet.

00:23:10.576 --> 00:23:21.692
You know, these people were not nicely uniformed, you know squeaky clean, you know playing it by the book, kind of guys.

00:23:21.692 --> 00:23:23.070
These guys were bad news.

00:23:23.944 --> 00:23:31.330
Now just imagine that this guy is about to kill himself with a sword because his life is over.

00:23:31.330 --> 00:23:35.173
I mean, the Romans are just going to eat him for lunch and he said you know, I'm just going to.

00:23:35.173 --> 00:23:37.097
You know, take the easy way out.

00:23:37.097 --> 00:23:38.106
Paul says wait a minute.

00:23:38.106 --> 00:23:46.311
Next thing, he knows he's getting saved, he's getting delivered, he's getting full of the Holy Ghost, he's getting water baptized.

00:23:46.933 --> 00:23:59.675
All of this is happening in a matter of minutes and all of a sudden, this guy who used to just torture people for amusement is now speaking in tongues.

00:23:59.675 --> 00:24:01.853
He's starting to prophesy.

00:24:01.853 --> 00:24:03.611
He's seeing visions.

00:24:03.611 --> 00:24:05.530
God's speaking to him.

00:24:05.530 --> 00:24:07.810
You know how do I know this?

00:24:07.810 --> 00:24:11.673
Because that's what God does in the books.

00:24:11.673 --> 00:24:12.394
Read the books.

00:24:12.394 --> 00:24:13.862
Angels show up, people prophesy.

00:24:13.862 --> 00:24:14.109
Read the books.

00:24:14.109 --> 00:24:15.648
Angels show up, people prophesy.

00:24:15.648 --> 00:24:17.634
People do this, people do that.

00:24:17.634 --> 00:24:19.833
It's entirely different.

00:24:19.833 --> 00:24:32.631
This guy's world just turned upside down and this was what it was like when the apostles went out and preached this gospel.

00:24:32.631 --> 00:24:33.914
Oh glory to God.

00:24:33.914 --> 00:24:42.836
This was all sealed right here when Jesus said it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

00:24:42.836 --> 00:24:55.296
That word put so many things in motion that later on come to fruition as people take this gospel and go out and preach it.

00:24:55.296 --> 00:24:55.997
Amen.

00:24:57.226 --> 00:24:59.994
Let's go to Matthew, the fourth chapter, verse, chapter four.

00:24:59.994 --> 00:25:09.817
We're going to look at three words that Jesus spoke when the tempter came and tempted him.

00:25:09.817 --> 00:25:12.131
Now we know the story.

00:25:12.131 --> 00:25:16.486
Came and tempted him.

00:25:16.486 --> 00:25:16.948
Now we know the story.

00:25:16.948 --> 00:25:17.910
The Bible says that immediately.

00:25:17.910 --> 00:25:27.914
Mark, the Gospel of Mark says that immediately after coming after John's baptism, the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness and there he was, he was.

00:25:27.914 --> 00:25:30.819
He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights.

00:25:30.819 --> 00:25:35.766
He was tempted at various times by all manners of temptation.

00:25:35.766 --> 00:25:51.769
So finally, at the end of the temptation, the devil shows up and says to him if you are the son of God, see, I don't think the devil was fully convinced yet that Jesus was the sent one.

00:25:51.769 --> 00:26:02.448
So he's saying if you're the son of God, command these stones to be turned into bread, because the Bible says that Jesus was, after 40 days and 40 nights, was hungry.

00:26:02.448 --> 00:26:05.592
Command these stones to be turned into bread.

00:26:05.652 --> 00:26:20.236
Jesus says that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word or rhema that proceeds from the mouth of God.

00:26:20.236 --> 00:26:40.392
Okay, now this is quoting a scripture that is in the Old Testament, but Jesus makes it a New Testament revelation and he says that what man lives by is not necessarily just bread, but he lives by the word that God speaks to his spirit.

00:26:40.392 --> 00:26:50.213
Amen, the word there is not logos, it is rhema, it is the mouth, it is the word that comes out of the mouth.

00:26:50.213 --> 00:26:54.074
So Jesus was saying the word that comes out of the mouth.

00:26:54.074 --> 00:27:07.585
So Jesus was saying the word that God speaks, that your spirit can hear, is more important to your life than the bread that you eat For spirit people.

00:27:08.769 --> 00:27:13.233
If you do not hear from God, your spirit man will shrivel up.

00:27:13.233 --> 00:27:26.296
It is unnourished, it will become a mere shadow of what it should be, because it is not getting the nourishment that it should.

00:27:26.296 --> 00:27:31.153
What would happen to your body if, all of a sudden, you didn't eat for a long period of time?

00:27:31.153 --> 00:27:43.808
Okay, body, if all of a sudden you didn't eat for a long period of time, okay, if you would get thinner, you would get weaker, you would get emaciated.

00:27:43.808 --> 00:27:44.109
You wouldn't.

00:27:44.170 --> 00:27:55.017
You know people that we see, that have in, that we read about, in the concentration camps in World War II or in prison camps during the Civil War.

00:27:55.017 --> 00:28:00.693
They came out, you know, they may have gone in weighing 150, 160 pounds.

00:28:00.693 --> 00:28:04.067
They come in out weighing half that, or you know.

00:28:04.067 --> 00:28:12.270
And Because they haven't had any nourishment for so long, their bones are brittle.

00:28:12.270 --> 00:28:14.170
Their bones will break easily.

00:28:14.170 --> 00:28:16.808
They're warped, they don't have strength.

00:28:16.808 --> 00:28:18.434
You've seen the pictures.

00:28:18.434 --> 00:28:22.972
The same thing happens to your spirit.

00:28:22.972 --> 00:28:27.248
If your spirit is unnourished, then it will.

00:28:27.248 --> 00:28:34.430
You may look the same in your body, but your spirit man is emaciated.

00:28:34.430 --> 00:28:44.820
You may look the same in your body, but your spirit man is emaciated, is undernourished, it's weak because it is not receiving its nourishment.

00:28:47.765 --> 00:28:50.558
And what is the nourishment for the spirit man?

00:28:50.558 --> 00:29:07.680
Now, people have taught you that the nourishment for the spirit man is to hear preaching, but that's only if the person that's preaching is preaching by the spirit of God, amen.

00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:18.195
And if that, furthermore, if that preacher that's preaching by the Spirit of God is appointed by God to preach to your spirit.

00:29:18.195 --> 00:29:23.593
See what we thought back in the 70s and the 80s.

00:29:23.593 --> 00:29:32.137
We thought we could go anywhere and we could listen to anything, and if they said, in the name of Jesus, it was good for us.

00:29:32.137 --> 00:29:38.374
Don't shout me down when I'm preaching, good Cause, we all went there, we all chased.

00:29:38.374 --> 00:29:41.205
We all chased after preachers like you know.

00:29:41.205 --> 00:29:45.996
Oh, it's just so wonderful.

00:29:45.996 --> 00:29:50.009
Well, it might've been wonderful, but I got a good.

00:29:50.130 --> 00:29:56.669
I have a pretty good estimate that most of the people that heard that weren't supposed to hear it.

00:29:56.669 --> 00:30:07.055
Not that it was badly presented, but it couldn't be properly received because they weren't appointed for that meeting.

00:30:07.055 --> 00:30:09.173
They weren't appointed for that place.

00:30:09.173 --> 00:30:13.432
They weren't appointed to hear those words out of that man's mouth.

00:30:13.432 --> 00:30:26.317
You got to understand this about God that your ears belong to him, your spirit belongs to him, your feet belong to him, your rear side belongs to him.

00:30:26.317 --> 00:30:38.732
So where he wants to park your rear side to allow your spiritual ears to hear words that come out of his servant's mouth is entirely up to his decision and not yours.

00:30:38.732 --> 00:30:54.906
And if you're making the decision and you've showed up to hear somebody that you think is anointed, but he is not anointed for you, amen, you are in the wrong place at the wrong time and it can do more damage to your spirit than it will do good.

00:30:56.770 --> 00:31:08.753
Now, you may not like this, but I got so much Bible on you you can't possibly argue with me, because the Bible says that he assembles the body together exactly as as it pleases him.

00:31:08.753 --> 00:31:11.997
So you don't get any say so in it.

00:31:11.997 --> 00:31:16.404
Oh, glory to God, hallelujah.

00:31:16.404 --> 00:31:32.377
If you come back to this first principle, that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, then where you go to hear the word.

00:31:32.377 --> 00:31:37.868
If you're going to hear the word of God coming out of his mouth from somebody else, then you better let God tell you where to go to hear it.

00:31:37.868 --> 00:31:40.950
Are you hearing me?

00:31:40.950 --> 00:31:43.172
You don't think God can speak to you.

00:31:43.172 --> 00:31:48.311
You don't think that God can talk to you.

00:31:48.311 --> 00:31:58.606
See, people think, people have substituted other people as as mediary, mediaries between God and man.

00:31:58.606 --> 00:32:03.257
But there is one mediator between God and man, and that is the man.

00:32:03.257 --> 00:32:05.226
Christ Jesus, amen.

00:32:05.306 --> 00:32:10.515
You don't need somebody to tell you all all I.

00:32:10.515 --> 00:32:11.998
I've told you this from day one.

00:32:11.998 --> 00:32:20.854
All I can ever do is say looky there, looky there, there it is, it's over there.

00:32:20.854 --> 00:32:21.930
It's that way.

00:32:21.930 --> 00:32:24.392
You want it?

00:32:24.392 --> 00:32:25.935
Go get it, it's over there.

00:32:25.935 --> 00:32:31.566
You can find clues to it here, here, here and here.

00:32:31.566 --> 00:32:34.455
But if you really want it, it's over there.

00:32:34.455 --> 00:32:39.211
You've got to seek after it, you've got to ask after it, you've got to run after it.

00:32:39.211 --> 00:32:40.730
You've got to go after it.

00:32:40.730 --> 00:32:42.451
It's over yonder.

00:32:45.025 --> 00:32:50.438
Because the only one that can really lead you into revelation is Jesus by His Spirit.

00:32:50.438 --> 00:32:51.628
He's the only one that can do it.

00:32:51.628 --> 00:32:55.984
I can't, I don't.

00:32:55.984 --> 00:32:56.025
I.

00:32:56.025 --> 00:32:57.388
Even if I, if I sat here and just which is what I do?

00:32:57.388 --> 00:32:58.592
I just read the scriptures.

00:32:58.592 --> 00:33:08.348
If, if I just sit here and read the scriptures to you, amen, if he doesn't come and take you by the hand and lead you into those scriptures, you're not going to get anything from it.

00:33:08.348 --> 00:33:09.751
I can't do that.

00:33:09.751 --> 00:33:12.616
That's not my job.

00:33:12.616 --> 00:33:20.296
My job is to say here it is, I've been there, you can go there.

00:33:20.296 --> 00:33:31.231
But if you want me to take you there, you're looking at the wrong person, because the only one who can take you there is Jesus, by His Spirit.

00:33:34.227 --> 00:33:40.470
Now we were sold a bill of goods but honestly, they didn't know, they really didn't know.

00:33:40.470 --> 00:33:46.654
So they did it with good intentions, but they were just misguided.

00:33:46.654 --> 00:33:59.435
We needed to take the whole listening to God up a notch, amen, so that we can hear Him speak to us, because we live by the Word that God speaks to us.

00:33:59.435 --> 00:34:11.414
So, rather than you know, focus on the things that.

00:34:11.414 --> 00:34:12.396
How can I say this?

00:34:12.396 --> 00:34:17.688
We need to focus more on hearing for ourselves than anything else.

00:34:17.688 --> 00:34:21.157
Then we can make proper decisions that God wants us to make.

00:34:21.157 --> 00:34:32.856
Now, I'm not saying that you can't learn from people and I'm not saying that God can't impart to you from other people, but I am saying that he gets to choose who those people are.

00:34:33.557 --> 00:34:36.670
It can't be a coincidence, it can't be an accident.

00:34:36.670 --> 00:34:44.771
You can't say well, I was just driving down the road and, and you know well, that looks like a good meeting, I think I'll go in here, and, oh boy, I got a couple of good points on that one tonight.

00:34:44.771 --> 00:34:46.074
That's really great, you know, and all it.

00:34:46.074 --> 00:34:48.949
Your spiritual life cannot be like that.

00:34:48.949 --> 00:34:52.117
Your spiritual life has to be.

00:34:52.117 --> 00:34:59.635
I was riding down the road and the Lord literally took control of the steering wheel and drove me into this parking lot.

00:34:59.956 --> 00:35:02.449
I went into this place.

00:35:02.449 --> 00:35:10.351
The man of God called me out, began to prophesy and read my mail, told me I was going to do this, that and the other thing Amen.

00:35:10.351 --> 00:35:11.494
I've had that happen.

00:35:11.494 --> 00:35:25.813
I've had people stand me up that didn't even know me and prophesy things that every one of those things that was prophesied has come to pass Didn't come to pass right away, but it came to pass.

00:35:25.813 --> 00:35:36.958
I had somebody stand me up before I was ever baptized in the Holy Ghost and started prophesying to me and telling me things that I had no frame of reference for.

00:35:36.958 --> 00:35:40.715
I didn't know what preaching under the power of God was.

00:35:40.715 --> 00:35:43.153
I didn't know what laying on of hands was.

00:35:43.153 --> 00:35:47.195
I didn't know what laying on hands and seeing people healed.

00:35:47.195 --> 00:35:56.172
I didn't know what it was to stand up in front of crowds of people that were standing in darkness and I was standing in light and they were coming to the light.

00:35:56.172 --> 00:35:58.356
I had no clue as to what that meant.

00:35:58.356 --> 00:36:08.896
None of those things made any sense to me, and yet God was speaking them to me through a person that was most unlikely to speak them.

00:36:08.896 --> 00:36:20.148
And yet every one of those things came to pass and I can remember the night that I looked at it coming to pass and it and it.

00:36:20.148 --> 00:36:21.773
Well, there's another one.

00:36:21.773 --> 00:36:24.210
That's happened many, many times.

00:36:24.210 --> 00:36:25.054
Sometimes it's happened.

00:36:25.405 --> 00:36:28.789
I've told you the story about being in the church and the curtains folding back.

00:36:28.789 --> 00:36:29.793
God did it himself.

00:36:29.793 --> 00:36:32.193
He didn't have, he didn't even get anybody involved.

00:36:32.193 --> 00:36:36.094
There wasn't anybody around that could have brought that prophecy.

00:36:36.094 --> 00:36:37.885
Are you hearing what I'm saying?

00:36:37.885 --> 00:36:46.235
When God couldn't find anybody that was qualified to bring that prophecy to me, he just opened up space and time and prophesied himself.

00:36:48.146 --> 00:36:51.815
Every word that proceeds from the mouth of God is what we live by.

00:36:51.815 --> 00:36:54.007
Every word that proceeds from the mouth of God is what we live by.

00:36:54.007 --> 00:37:06.177
My entire ministry has been defined by the words that God has spoken to me, not by things I wanted to do.

00:37:06.177 --> 00:37:10.751
I would have not dreamed of any of this, not one bit of it.

00:37:10.751 --> 00:37:12.034
I wouldn't have dreamed of any of it.

00:37:12.034 --> 00:37:13.177
Don't worry about it.

00:37:16.507 --> 00:37:19.699
Now here's something that God told me.

00:37:19.699 --> 00:37:29.550
Jesus establishes God's spoken word not just as being valid but as being necessary.

00:37:29.550 --> 00:37:30.916
See, some people?

00:37:30.916 --> 00:37:34.414
Yeah well, I know God can speak to us.

00:37:34.414 --> 00:37:40.291
I know God, I know he speaks to us in circumstances and he speaks to us in.

00:37:40.291 --> 00:37:45.733
You know the way things happen around us and you know I know God speaks to us.

00:37:45.733 --> 00:37:51.152
Well, you know, quit being so conciliatory unto God and just you know, get a grip.

00:37:51.152 --> 00:37:57.612
It's not only valid that he speaks, it's absolutely necessary for your spiritual growth.

00:37:57.612 --> 00:38:01.706
You're not going to grow if you don't hear him speak.

00:38:05.050 --> 00:38:33.559
And if you insist on putting somebody, a flesh and bone body, between you and God, then you might as well put a robe on them, you might as well put a crucifix around their neck and you might as well put an incense holder in their hand, because that's all you've done, is you've put somebody in the role of high priest that doesn't have the bona fides to be that.

00:38:33.559 --> 00:38:35.952
There is one mediator.

00:38:35.952 --> 00:38:38.253
There is one mediator.

00:38:38.253 --> 00:38:40.472
Can somebody tell me what one means?

00:38:40.472 --> 00:38:42.791
It doesn't mean two, does it?

00:38:42.791 --> 00:38:44.510
It doesn't mean ten.

00:38:44.510 --> 00:38:46.552
It doesn't mean minus one.

00:38:46.552 --> 00:38:49.525
It certainly doesn't mean zero.

00:38:49.525 --> 00:38:57.996
It means that there is one mediator between God and man, the man, christ Jesus, hallelujah.

00:38:57.996 --> 00:39:04.072
So if there's this one mediator, glory to God.

00:39:04.072 --> 00:39:15.278
It's absolutely essential that we hear him mediate and that we hear the words that he's speaking to us now.

00:39:15.278 --> 00:39:27.449
They are just not words that are spoken to you in your time, but they can be words that have been spoken to you out of your time.

00:39:27.449 --> 00:39:30.152
Well, I don't get that.

00:39:30.152 --> 00:39:31.414
Well, you're holding one.

00:39:34.356 --> 00:39:45.789
The Bible is a set of God's words and all of them were spoken at least 2,000 years ago.

00:39:45.789 --> 00:39:49.014
Some of them were spoken 2,500 years ago.

00:39:49.014 --> 00:39:57.326
Some of them were spoken 3,000 years ago, 4,000 years ago.

00:39:57.326 --> 00:39:59.329
Some of them were spoken 3,000 years ago, 4,000 years ago.

00:39:59.329 --> 00:40:30.682
I don't think we have any words that are in the Bible that were spoken before the flood, but we've got a chronology of those things that happened before the flood and we've got books, like the book of Enoch, that were written not before the flood, but they were written, as it were, a witness to those people who were before the flood.

00:40:30.682 --> 00:40:31.204
Are you hearing me?

00:40:31.585 --> 00:40:32.731
God's word has been on the planet for a long time.

00:40:32.731 --> 00:40:37.153
A lot of that word has been written down and a lot of that word was written to you.

00:40:37.153 --> 00:40:47.972
One of the most important things you can ever understand about the Bible is that not all of it was written for you, but some of it was.

00:40:47.972 --> 00:41:05.353
You need to be able to discern and not all of it was written for you at a specific point in time in your life, but you live another 10 years and another scripture that you didn't understand 10 years before, all of a sudden, you've got revelation on.

00:41:05.353 --> 00:41:07.097
Now it's been written to you.

00:41:07.097 --> 00:41:11.333
Go, I don't get that.

00:41:11.333 --> 00:41:13.699
That's the power of God's Word.

00:41:13.699 --> 00:41:15.210
God's Word is infinite.

00:41:15.210 --> 00:41:17.271
God's Word is eternal.

00:41:17.271 --> 00:41:22.045
So that's a good point, mike.

00:41:22.045 --> 00:41:40.293
So what that means is that he can speak to you outside of time and insert things that he's spoken back in time, or even outside of time, and insert things that he's spoken back in time or even outside of time and insert it into a time where it speaks to you.

00:41:40.293 --> 00:41:41.795
Amen.

00:41:42.195 --> 00:41:56.786
You're entitled to hear every word that God has spoken to you when he decides to make it part of you, to make it part of you.

00:41:56.786 --> 00:41:57.688
You're not entitled to miss any words.

00:41:57.688 --> 00:41:58.210
That's that's, that's not.

00:41:58.210 --> 00:41:59.793
That's never on God, that's always on you.

00:41:59.793 --> 00:42:08.206
If you miss words that were, that were intended for you in your time, and you miss them, amen, that's not on God.

00:42:08.206 --> 00:42:17.106
I guarantee you he made a way for you to receive them and if you missed him, he may be merciful and bring him back around.

00:42:17.106 --> 00:42:20.472
No, you don't know.

00:42:20.472 --> 00:42:25.686
I've had him tell me that I would have liked to have told you that when you were.

00:42:25.686 --> 00:42:30.429
But I would have liked to have told you that right then.

00:42:30.429 --> 00:42:34.965
But but okay, I got it.

00:42:34.965 --> 00:42:35.943
You going to tell me now?

00:42:35.943 --> 00:42:37.329
Or is this my punishment?

00:42:37.329 --> 00:42:39.204
Don't pray to God.

00:42:41.101 --> 00:42:43.949
There are words that have been written and preserved.

00:42:43.949 --> 00:42:45.786
Your Bible is a book of that.

00:42:45.786 --> 00:42:53.815
And then there are other words that are stored in a place in the Spirit that haven't been written, but they're just as valid.

00:42:53.815 --> 00:42:56.804
In a place in the Spirit that haven't been written, but they're just as valid.

00:42:56.804 --> 00:43:05.166
See, there are certain kinds of Christians that believe if it's not in the Bible, it doesn't exist.

00:43:05.166 --> 00:43:16.684
In other words, god's vocabulary and God's limit of speaking has all been written and if it's not in the Bible it's not real.

00:43:16.684 --> 00:43:22.349
Jesus Himself testifies that that's not the case.

00:43:22.349 --> 00:43:27.269
So I mean, I don't know where they get off doing that, but that's fine if they want to be like that.

00:43:27.269 --> 00:43:28.244
But we're not like that.

00:43:28.364 --> 00:43:38.653
We believe that there are a whole bunch of words out there that, first of all, god spoke to you when you were still in him, before you got here.

00:43:38.653 --> 00:43:39.922
There's all those words.

00:43:39.922 --> 00:43:42.610
There's all the words that Jesus spoke when he was here.

00:43:42.610 --> 00:43:49.134
There's all kinds of words that have not been recorded, that are still in the spirit, waiting to be manifest.

00:43:49.134 --> 00:43:53.570
And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

00:43:53.570 --> 00:43:54.612
Glory to God, hallelujah.

00:43:54.612 --> 00:43:56.978
And dwelt among us.

00:43:56.978 --> 00:44:00.460
Glory to God, hallelujah.

00:44:02.840 --> 00:44:16.146
So when Jesus said that this word is so important that it is what we live by, and he was telling the devil that he was preaching at the devil, because the devil will take the written word and beat you over the head with it.

00:44:16.146 --> 00:44:32.224
And if you don't have a word from God speaking to your spirit and say, tell him this, just tell him to shut up and tell him this, tell him this.

00:44:32.224 --> 00:44:39.072
I mean you can see this happening with Jesus, all through his ministry.

00:44:39.072 --> 00:44:42.027
He said I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

00:44:42.027 --> 00:44:43.289
He what he was.

00:44:43.289 --> 00:44:49.431
He was telling that to the disciples to get them to the point and say don't, don't get the big head about all this.

00:44:49.431 --> 00:44:51.585
But he was also telling the devil.

00:44:51.585 --> 00:45:01.914
He said you're not going, you're not going to get my guys to fall for that trick you know of of thinking there's somebody great just because they got a few people healed.

00:45:01.914 --> 00:45:04.668
You know, I'm not going to let them fall for that.

00:45:04.668 --> 00:45:22.068
I am so glad that Jesus did that when it first came up, because you know what, every time it comes up with you, every time it comes up with me, every time we're tempted to think that we're something more than we ought to think, amen.

00:45:22.068 --> 00:45:25.842
He will get right in your face and tell you.

00:45:25.842 --> 00:45:33.554
You know what, like he told me, I created John the Baptist and you are not.

00:45:33.554 --> 00:45:40.826
Now, if you don't think that'll jerk your slack and put you in your place.

00:45:40.826 --> 00:45:49.146
Then go ahead and challenge him on it if you want to, that you're something special, that you've got some power.

00:45:49.146 --> 00:45:57.226
You're like what was that guy in Acts, the 8th chapter, that thought he was somebody great, thought he had some great power?

00:45:57.226 --> 00:45:59.505
I mean, you know, the guy was nobody.

00:45:59.505 --> 00:46:02.204
Hallelujah, let's do one more.

00:46:02.204 --> 00:46:14.065
Jesus said to him verse 7, this is where the devil tempted Jesus to go, stand on the top of the temple and throw himself down.

00:46:14.065 --> 00:46:19.550
Jesus said to him you shall not tempt the Lord, your God.

00:46:22.681 --> 00:46:25.900
The essence of sin is pride.

00:46:25.900 --> 00:46:43.960
When the devil first sinned, he sinned because he thought of himself as equal with God, himself as equal with God.

00:46:43.960 --> 00:46:45.742
The sin of pride is the very core of what sin is Okay.

00:46:45.742 --> 00:46:48.385
And the first sin, again, first things first.

00:46:48.385 --> 00:46:59.273
The first sin was that Satan thought, thought himself equal with God and attempted to take over God's job.

00:46:59.273 --> 00:47:02.556
Okay, well, guess what?

00:47:02.556 --> 00:47:07.809
Created beings don't get to take over the job of eternal beings.

00:47:07.809 --> 00:47:09.472
That just doesn't make sense.

00:47:09.472 --> 00:47:15.833
But Satan thought it did and he challenged and he lost Amen.

00:47:15.833 --> 00:47:26.641
And he challenged and he lost Amen.

00:47:26.661 --> 00:47:32.673
The essence of sin is pride, and pride is when we think that some characteristic that we've got is greater than God's equivalent of that characteristic.

00:47:32.673 --> 00:47:37.248
So our knowledge is greater than God's knowledge.

00:47:37.248 --> 00:47:40.161
This is the pride of scientists.

00:47:40.161 --> 00:47:46.114
They think they're so smart that they think they're smarter than God.

00:47:46.114 --> 00:47:59.273
In fact, they think they're so smart that they think that God doesn't even exist because they have rendered him unnecessary because they're so smart.

00:47:59.273 --> 00:48:06.873
That's not smartness or intelligence, that's just unbelievable stupidity and pride.

00:48:09.820 --> 00:48:11.983
Humanism is a form of pride.

00:48:11.983 --> 00:48:18.554
It's saying that we don't need God because we are our own gods.

00:48:18.554 --> 00:48:20.887
Well, that's just another form of idolatry.

00:48:20.887 --> 00:48:35.454
You've just made yourself into God and if you think God's going to stand pat and watch that happen, you've got another thing coming Power, power.

00:48:35.454 --> 00:48:53.507
We think that because we've made this civilization that has all of this wonderful stuff in it and things like that, that we don't need God and we don't need His power because we're more powerful than God.

00:48:53.507 --> 00:48:55.182
But you must be.

00:48:55.182 --> 00:49:12.311
Just think of yourself, on this little pebble that happens to be 24,000 miles in circumference and we've done some of the things of how you know how infinitely small we are in the universe.

00:49:12.311 --> 00:49:21.947
And if you think that your power even you know you haven't even got there's not enough power in the galaxy to enable time travel.

00:49:21.947 --> 00:49:24.427
And yet God does it just like nothing.

00:49:24.427 --> 00:49:30.349
He jumps in and out of time and in and out of space like it's nothing.

00:49:30.349 --> 00:49:41.719
And if you and somebody has one of those smart guys that think that there's no god, they've already done the math and there's not enough power in the galaxy to enable that to happen.

00:49:41.719 --> 00:49:45.746
But god does it all the time and doesn't blow up the galaxy to do it.

00:49:45.746 --> 00:49:47.648
Glory to god.

00:49:47.648 --> 00:49:55.786
Now, if pride is the is the source of sin and jesus defines it right here.

00:49:55.786 --> 00:50:16.311
He said it is written that you shall not tempt the Lord, your God, amen Then the result of pride, if pride's allowed to break out, what's going to happen is you're going to have a tempting of God.

00:50:16.311 --> 00:50:23.291
Okay, so what happens when you tempt God?

00:50:23.371 --> 00:50:26.699
In the book of Psalms it tells about what happened to the children of Israel.

00:50:26.699 --> 00:50:36.586
When they got out into the wilderness and they ran out of water, they said can God provide water in the wilderness?

00:50:36.586 --> 00:50:42.190
These people had an incredibly short memory.

00:50:42.190 --> 00:51:15.391
Just a few days before God had parted the Red Sea, destroyed the mightiest army in that part of the world, amen had delivered them by the power of one man holding his rod up and parted the sea, not just a Charlton Heston kind of you know little deep, deep canyon of water, I mean.

00:51:15.391 --> 00:51:23.559
He moved that water back miles and miles and miles and made the mud at the bottom of the sea hard enough for them to pass over.

00:51:23.559 --> 00:51:39.545
And then, when, when, when they were the last one got through, amen and the army of Pharaoh was in those in the on that dry ground, amen, that water came back, that dry ground turned to mud, those chariot wheels got stuck and it was all over for them.

00:51:41.304 --> 00:51:42.949
And they're worried about getting a drink.

00:51:42.949 --> 00:51:54.264
They think that their knowledge of natural phenomenon is greater than the knowledge and power of God.

00:51:54.264 --> 00:51:58.581
Well, what kind of idiots are these people that saw this happening?

00:51:58.581 --> 00:52:03.213
Not only saw it, they weren't just standing there watching it, they participated.

00:52:03.213 --> 00:52:07.032
Every last one of them walked across the bed of that ocean.

00:52:07.032 --> 00:52:12.166
I mean they're sitting there counting starfish, crabs, lobsters, you know.

00:52:12.166 --> 00:52:15.001
I mean they're just, you know, the little crawly things that you know.

00:52:15.001 --> 00:52:22.090
They crawled as long as they could and then they just kind of gave it up, you know, and they're just going on, you know, walking on through.

00:52:23.501 --> 00:52:28.893
Every one of them participated in that miracle and they couldn't believe that God could do something.

00:52:28.893 --> 00:52:37.030
But what God did was something that was so miraculous it still defies belief.

00:52:37.030 --> 00:52:50.456
God caused a rock to be mobile and follow them around and create a Mississippi-sized river everywhere they went.

00:52:50.456 --> 00:52:54.288
So the rock went, the river went, water went.

00:52:54.288 --> 00:53:01.067
See, they were just looking for a canteen and God was saying wait a minute, what are you going to do with those mules over there?

00:53:01.067 --> 00:53:04.050
What are you going to do with all these animals?

00:53:04.050 --> 00:53:05.326
What are you going to do with your kids?

00:53:05.326 --> 00:53:09.206
I've already got it figured out.

00:53:09.206 --> 00:53:14.889
It's called the rock, paul said, and that rock was Christ.

00:53:14.889 --> 00:53:18.371
Oh, glory to God, hallelujah.

00:53:18.719 --> 00:53:22.952
See, pride will always result in our tempting God.

00:53:22.952 --> 00:53:39.166
The devil knows that he's very mindful of the things of men and he knew that if he could get Jesus to tempt God Now, he had Bible on him.

00:53:39.166 --> 00:53:47.791
He said you know, if you throw yourself off here, he'll give his angels charge over you and they'll not let your foot dash against the stone, amen.

00:53:47.791 --> 00:53:50.226
Jesus wasn't going to get moved by that.

00:53:50.226 --> 00:53:53.666
He sought for what it was.

00:53:53.666 --> 00:53:56.568
He said you don't get to tempt God that way.

00:53:56.568 --> 00:54:06.215
We don't get to tempt God with disobedience and pride and arrogance and stupidity.

00:54:06.215 --> 00:54:16.144
God I mean the Bible says repeatedly brethren, I would not have you be ignorant, praise God.

00:54:16.144 --> 00:54:18.568
We don't get to tempt God with ignorance.

00:54:24.197 --> 00:54:49.668
I admire, not only for this, but for many things, but I admire Smith Wigglesworth and one of the things I admire about him was that he went to God and he said I am not going to preach this gospel if I can't read it, because I want to be able to stand up there and read what other people can read.

00:54:49.668 --> 00:54:55.867
And then you speak through me about what we just read, so that.

00:54:55.867 --> 00:55:04.380
But I'm not going to get up here and just talk and start to ramble about something and think that it's you and it's not.

00:55:04.380 --> 00:55:07.606
I want to be able to read it.

00:55:07.606 --> 00:55:12.943
And God gave him the ability to read every word in that bible and not another word anywhere else.

00:55:12.943 --> 00:55:18.505
Well, that's one of the most amazing miracles I've ever heard of man could not read a street sign.

00:55:18.505 --> 00:55:20.469
He, he couldn't read a magazine he couldn't read.

00:55:20.469 --> 00:55:31.103
Pick up a book off the, you know, couldn't read a menu, could not read anything, but could fluently read and understand the scriptures.

00:55:31.103 --> 00:55:36.132
Unbelievable, unbelievable.

00:55:36.132 --> 00:55:43.005
But see, he humbled himself before the word.

00:55:43.005 --> 00:55:48.007
You see that he could have gone this route.

00:55:48.007 --> 00:55:51.088
Well, bless God, I'm just God's man.

00:55:51.088 --> 00:55:52.585
God's going to speak through me.

00:55:52.585 --> 00:55:54.106
I don't have to read the word of God.

00:55:54.106 --> 00:55:55.606
He's going to tell me what to speak.

00:55:55.940 --> 00:56:02.514
And I've heard people talk like that and I think to myself Smith Wigglesworth, you're not.

00:56:02.514 --> 00:56:09.452
You know, you don't get to make that kind of of of crazy statement.

00:56:09.452 --> 00:56:11.074
That's just craziness.

00:56:11.074 --> 00:56:16.608
There's too much blood that has been spilt to put that Bible in your hands.

00:56:16.608 --> 00:56:24.902
Amen, starting with the blood of the Lamb of God, to put that word in your hands, to ignore it.

00:56:24.902 --> 00:56:37.824
But you can't exclusively depend on it, to the exclusion of hearing God speak to your ears, because that's just another form of pride.

00:56:37.824 --> 00:56:39.708
Amen, go away to God.

00:56:39.708 --> 00:56:41.831
And laziness, in my opinion.

00:56:41.831 --> 00:56:47.958
But anyway, praise God, hallelujah, hallelujah.

00:56:47.958 --> 00:57:04.632
Jesus defines what sin is, what pride is, and the result of pride every time is going to be tempting God.

00:57:04.632 --> 00:57:08.086
Can God really do this?

00:57:08.086 --> 00:57:09.505
Can God provide?

00:57:09.505 --> 00:57:11.887
Can God do this?

00:57:11.887 --> 00:57:16.166
Can God deliver me?

00:57:16.166 --> 00:57:16.826
Can God keep me?

00:57:16.826 --> 00:57:17.394
Can God provide, deliver me?

00:57:17.394 --> 00:57:17.739
Can God keep me?

00:57:17.739 --> 00:57:19.827
Can God provide for me?

00:57:19.827 --> 00:57:24.583
Can God heal me?

00:57:24.583 --> 00:57:32.139
Amen, now people will.

00:57:32.742 --> 00:57:36.521
People will get crazy on all sides of all of those equations because they don't.

00:57:36.521 --> 00:57:46.835
People will get crazy on all sides of all of those equations Because they don't hear God speak and they don't know what God wants to do.

00:57:46.835 --> 00:57:55.501
So they think they know what God wants to do and what's just happened?

00:57:55.501 --> 00:57:59.268
They've inserted their thoughts in between.

00:57:59.268 --> 00:58:02.474
God's word to your spirit ears.

00:58:02.474 --> 00:58:06.762
Are you hearing what I'm saying, for example?

00:58:06.762 --> 00:58:09.251
Let me just give you an example.

00:58:10.079 --> 00:58:24.503
Does it not say in the book of Mark that they shall pick up serpents and they shall drink poison, and none of these things shall harm them?

00:58:24.503 --> 00:58:26.548
It says that, doesn't it?

00:58:26.548 --> 00:58:27.952
So what do you get?

00:58:27.952 --> 00:58:34.110
You get in the hills of Kentucky and Tennessee.

00:58:34.110 --> 00:58:49.590
You get a branch of people that insist that the only way to demonstrate your faith is to handle water moccasins, and they let those things just drape all over their necks and stuff like that.

00:58:49.590 --> 00:59:04.686
They teach their kids to do it and then, if they get bit, they're standing on the book of Acts where Paul just shook that thing off and they're believing God's going to heal them.

00:59:04.686 --> 00:59:08.568
Well, I got news for you.

00:59:08.568 --> 00:59:12.400
Paul didn't go looking for that snake, amen.

00:59:12.400 --> 00:59:20.307
Paul didn't get the poison, never hit his bloodstream, he didn't have to be healed.

00:59:20.307 --> 00:59:26.773
The snake had to be healed because it was infected with Holy Ghost, amen.

00:59:26.773 --> 00:59:28.947
And then it got tossed into the fire.

00:59:28.947 --> 00:59:51.451
But people that that that want to insert their thoughts rather than a revelation from God concerning this business, paul was a perfect example of what it means to be bitten by a serpent and not have it harm you.

00:59:51.451 --> 00:59:53.436
Amen, amen.

00:59:56.681 --> 01:00:21.668
I have eaten and consumed more poisonous stuff and, being out, where I go, where I've gone, here I am, I passed many a night when I had to stand on those words that it was going to harm me, that I was coming through, when it didn't look like I was coming through.

01:00:21.668 --> 01:00:24.105
It looked like everything else was coming through, but not me.

01:00:24.105 --> 01:00:28.074
Praise God, hallelujah.

01:00:28.074 --> 01:00:42.197
But we've got to have a word that gets in here and becomes real and not becomes an idea Amen.

01:00:42.197 --> 01:00:46.248
Everybody's got an idea and everybody's got a concept.

01:00:46.248 --> 01:00:47.132
Amen.

01:00:47.132 --> 01:00:48.014
I don't want an idea.

01:00:48.014 --> 01:00:49.980
I don't want a concept, I don't want a denomination.

01:00:49.980 --> 01:00:57.880
I want the reality of what God speaks to me to be right here, so that there's no filters between me and God.

01:00:57.880 --> 01:01:11.251
When God speaks to me, it's going to establish my reality, amen, and I'm not going to be tempted to put my thoughts in between what God has spoken to me.

01:01:11.271 --> 01:01:24.753
I I was facing a situation.

01:01:24.753 --> 01:01:27.304
I'm not going to go into details.

01:01:27.304 --> 01:01:29.248
It's not important that you know the details.

01:01:29.248 --> 01:01:30.150
That's not the issue.

01:01:30.150 --> 01:01:35.282
The issue is just to get a hold of what I'm about to tell you.

01:01:35.282 --> 01:01:40.266
I was facing a situation that if something didn't happen, I was going to die.

01:01:40.266 --> 01:01:43.152
Simple as that.

01:01:43.152 --> 01:01:50.391
This was just a biological fact.

01:01:50.391 --> 01:01:53.947
If this don't work, you're going to die.

01:01:53.947 --> 01:01:58.170
You don't really need to go to a doctor to figure that out.

01:01:58.170 --> 01:02:00.447
This is just how it's going to be.

01:02:03.221 --> 01:02:20.710
And I was presented with an operation, a procedure that I had been resisting for years, and it had gotten to the point where there wasn't any resisting it anymore.

01:02:20.710 --> 01:02:31.088
Either God was going to heal me or I was going to submit to the procedure, or I was going to die.

01:02:31.088 --> 01:02:40.304
And you know, all my spiritual friends just believe God, just believe God, just believe God.

01:02:40.304 --> 01:02:43.268
You know I'm saying well, that's good, you know.

01:02:43.268 --> 01:02:56.780
And I got a word from the Lord, and the Lord said I am going to bring you through this and it will not touch you anymore.

01:02:56.780 --> 01:03:04.418
Go ahead and have the operation I am going to bring you through and it will not harm you anymore.

01:03:04.418 --> 01:03:12.467
I have not had one day since.

01:03:12.467 --> 01:03:16.800
And that's been what 10 years ago or more, praise God since.

01:03:16.800 --> 01:03:21.190
And that's been what 10 years ago or more, praise God.

01:03:22.152 --> 01:03:23.235
I had a word from God.

01:03:23.235 --> 01:03:24.422
I didn't.

01:03:24.422 --> 01:03:46.355
I wasn't going to listen to anybody tell me any different, and I wasn't even going to listen to the doctor about all the wonderful things he was going to do, because all I knew about all the wonderful things he was going to do, because all I knew is that whatever he was going to do, it was God doing it.

01:03:46.355 --> 01:03:52.298
Because God said he's going to bring me through Amen.

01:03:52.298 --> 01:04:06.592
Now I don't know what I would have done had I not got that word, but I don't really want to know what I would have done if I had not got that word, because I've trained myself to get those words and I'm I'm not going to be.

01:04:06.840 --> 01:04:10.110
I'm not going to settle for things being half.

01:04:10.110 --> 01:04:16.047
I'm not going to settle for my thinking to get in the middle of all that, because my thinking is lousy.

01:04:16.047 --> 01:04:20.847
I mean I, you know, my thoughts are not his thoughts.

01:04:20.847 --> 01:04:22.911
I'd rather have his thoughts, wouldn't you?

01:04:22.911 --> 01:04:31.726
I mean, if he tells you point blank, he looks you right in the eye and says look here, I got some news for you.

01:04:31.726 --> 01:04:34.092
My thoughts are not your thoughts.

01:04:34.092 --> 01:04:36.684
What's that mean, lord?

01:04:36.684 --> 01:04:37.943
Well, it means this my thoughts are higher, not your thoughts.

01:04:37.943 --> 01:04:38.309
What's that mean, lord?

01:04:38.309 --> 01:04:39.882
Well, it means this my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.

01:04:39.882 --> 01:04:43.990
My ways are higher than your ways.

01:04:43.990 --> 01:04:45.661
You know what else?

01:04:45.661 --> 01:04:52.034
My righteousness is exalted and yours is as filthy rags.

01:04:54.460 --> 01:04:56.304
I'm talking about Jesus talking to you.

01:04:56.304 --> 01:04:58.643
I'm talking about the Holy Ghost writing these things.

01:04:58.643 --> 01:05:07.222
I'm talking about this is how the holy, this is how God speaks, and we've been talking, we've been studying for a year about how the Holy Ghost speaks.

01:05:07.222 --> 01:05:13.664
Now we're at these points about talking about how he speaks first words and puts things into motion.

01:05:13.664 --> 01:05:28.391
Amen, and one of the first things he's going to deal with when he establishes his steps upon the earth is to deal with the sin of pride, because it is the ranking sin on the planet.

01:05:28.391 --> 01:05:32.967
Are you hearing what the Holy Ghost is saying?

01:05:32.967 --> 01:05:35.463
Amen, he's going to deal with it.

01:05:35.463 --> 01:05:36.445
He dealt with it.

01:05:37.128 --> 01:06:03.467
Do you know how much, how much it would have saved Jesus in anguish, pain, suffering, death, had he just gone to the top of the temple and jumped down In full view of everybody, with untold number of angels accompanying him, and said hey, the Messiah is here, I'm here to clean house.

01:06:03.467 --> 01:06:11.507
I'm going to get rid of the Romans, I'm going to get rid of the priests, I'm going to get rid of the Pharisees, I'm going to just clean house.

01:06:11.507 --> 01:06:14.268
The kingdom of God is at hand.

01:06:14.268 --> 01:06:17.286
And here I am.

01:06:17.286 --> 01:06:27.746
And everybody would have been as happy as they could possibly get, except God, if he had done that.

01:06:28.239 --> 01:06:44.628
We would have never had Jesus coming up out of the river and God saying this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, because he wouldn't have pleased God, because he wouldn't have acted in faith.

01:06:44.628 --> 01:06:56.045
He would have acted in arrogance, and it is without faith it is impossible to please God.

01:06:56.045 --> 01:07:02.032
You can't arrogant yourself into pleasing God.

01:07:02.032 --> 01:07:06.005
Not going to happen, amen, just not going to happen.

01:07:06.005 --> 01:07:09.485
And Jesus knew that.

01:07:09.485 --> 01:07:12.563
Jesus knew, jesus knew.

01:07:12.563 --> 01:07:16.447
I'm not going that way, satan, because I'm not going to tempt him.

01:07:16.447 --> 01:07:19.688
I'm not going to tempt him.

01:07:19.688 --> 01:07:20.358
I'm not going to tempt him.

01:07:20.358 --> 01:07:47.889
I'm not going to tempt him with a way, any way, that cuts out the cross, because hanging on that cross and suffering everything that he had to suffer and shedding every drop of blood that he had, was infinitely more difficult and infinitely more important than jumping off the pinnacle of the temple.

01:07:47.889 --> 01:07:56.411
That would have been showy, but it wouldn't have canceled one lick of sin.

01:07:56.411 --> 01:07:59.668
It would have just added to the debt.

01:08:03.481 --> 01:08:07.291
Praise God, hallelujah, praise the Lord.

01:08:07.291 --> 01:08:09.206
First words are important.

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I said first words are important.

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Jesus' first words are perhaps more important than anybody's.

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Amen, and trust me, they are written in all of the Gospels for you.

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They are recorded there so that you could know what Jesus said first and foremost, what's important to us if we're going to be in him.

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Amen.

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We'll pick this up again on Sunday.

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These are important words.

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With these words, god in Jesus established the kingdom of God on the planet.

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Next thing we're going to see when we talk about this next time Is that First things he said Is that the kingdom of God is at hand.

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Amen, praise the Lord.

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Praise God.