Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Far too many of us have a relationship with God
that is more like a flicker of a candle than
the brilliants of a noonday sun. We have church, we
have Christian eese.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
W.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
What we really need is a fresh encounter and experience
with the most High God. One of the most famous
encounters in Scripture is the encounter with God by Moses
(01:27):
at a burning bush. Some backstory will help us to
appreciate qualifying for an encounter. Moses is pasturing a flock
of his father in law's sheep in a wilderness. This
(01:52):
is the same Moses who grew up with a silver
spoon in his mouth. He was picked up up out
of the now river by Pharaoh's daughter, brought into Pharaoh's house,
raised as Pharaoh's son, and was an heir to Pharaoh's throne.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
But at forty years old, he had a misstep.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
At forty years old, even though he had made a
commitment to God, he blew it. He decided to go
independently of God, to take matters into his own hands,
and to depend on his own expertise and self sufficiency
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to accomplish the program of God of delivering his people
and out of that miscalculation, he committed murder, a sin
that you really can't recover from because the person that
the sinners against is gone. His murderous act was discovered,
(03:11):
reported on, and he had to run for his life.
When we find Moses in chapter three, he's eighty years old.
There is a forty year gap between his misstep and
(03:31):
his encounter. There's forty years between his failure and him
running smack dab into God. During these forty years, he's
in a wilderness leading sheep. I wonder whether there's anyone
(03:53):
here today who are leading sheep.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
And by that I simply mean.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Life is not working out like you had hoped it would.
Something happened years ago, and you're still wandering with sheep.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Now.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
If you could go back and redo it, rehash it,
correct it, you would if you could, but you can't.
And so you're just trying to make it. You're just
leading sheep. You're just doing the best you can with
what you got, and you're trying to make it life.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
And it's been going on a long time.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Moses has gone on for forty years from the time
of his infraction to the time of his encounter.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
So I want to start off by.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Giving you some good news, particularly if you're in a
wilderness with some sheep, if you're in a dry place,
if life has become dull and dreary as you perform
your routine day to day.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Task.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
The good news is that even though there's a forty
year gap, God had not forgotten Moses. So if you're
still here, that means there's still hope for a fresh
encounter with God. And the reason we want to look
(05:37):
at this encounter is because I wanted to inform your
encounter that we're praying that God gives you and me
and us. First of all, notice where Moses is. According
to verse one, he's on the west side of the wilderness,
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and he came to Horror the mountain of God. Now
the mountain of God or Horror is Mount Sinai. Mount
Sinai is the mountain where the Ten Commandments were given,
where God's presence would be manifested in a miraculous way
a few chapters from now, but it's called the Mountain
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of God. So before he ever experiences an encounter, he's
in God's vicinity.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
He's in the Mountain of God.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
See, a lot of people want an experience with God,
who don't want to hang out with where he's located.
If you want an encounter with God, you gotta hang
out where he is. He has positioned himself for an encounter.
We're told that the Angel.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Of the Lord appears to him.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Now this goes on to tell us that the Angel
of the Lord is in fact God, because it says,
and God said to him.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
So the angle of the Lord is equated with God.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Or to put it another way, the Angel of the Lord,
when equated with God, is Jesus Christ operating in the
Old Testament. He is the manifestation of the second person
of the Trinity, who is the spokesperson for the Father.
The Angle of the Lord appears to him in a
(07:30):
blazing fire from the midst of a bush.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Now, Moses is in a wilderness.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
He's seen plenty of bushes on fire in the dry
atmosphere of a wilderness. Brush fires happen all the time,
But this particular.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Fire was unusual because.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
The fire was burning and the bush was not being consumed.
Let me say that again, he saw a fire, that
is not what caught his attention. What caught his attention
was the fire wasn't doing what fires normally do which
is consumed that which is burning.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Let me say this another way. What he saw.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Was a contradiction. He saw something taking place.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Outside of the norm.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
One of the ways you know you're on the precipice
of an encounter with God is when he presents you
a contradictory situation. Moses said, I must turn aside now
and see this marvelous sight. Why the bush is not
burned up. He didn't skip it, He investigated it further.
(09:00):
He said, I've got to understand what's going on now,
because this doesn't make sense. Many of us have missed
an encounter with God because we ignored the contradiction. So
he turns aside. I love verse four. When the Lord
saw that he turned aside to look, God called him.
(09:22):
God did not call him until he responded to the contradiction.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
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(09:56):
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Speaker 2 (10:13):
When God saw him turn aside, it says he called
him from the midst of the bush, and then God
sticks to him and says Moses, Moses, we call that
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a Raima word. This is when God calls your name.
This is when you know he's talking to you. Perhaps
you've been in service and the sermon was for everybody,
but you heard it for you. It was though you
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are the only person there, and you knew God was
talking to you in your circumstance. That's a Raymer word.
It is an utterance with your name on it. The
question is do you hear it for you? Do you
hear God calling your name in the situation you're in,
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in the wilderness that has been an extended place for you.
Because there is a contradiction that does not make sense,
he says Moses, Moses. If you are seeking a personal
word for God this year, in your personal wilderness, in
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your personal circumstance, then you must be in His presence.
You must respond to the things that don't make sense
until you hear him call your name to be in
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his presence and prayer, and the word positions you in
the mountain of God. Moses says, here, I am you
called me, and I'm not running from you. I'm running
to you. I'm here. And now the Lord gives him
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more information because he responds to his name being called.
Do not come near here, remove your sandals verse five
from your feet, for the place on which you stand
is holy ground. Now, if you'll read this too fast,
(12:51):
it'll be easy to miss something. God is speaking from
the bush. Moses is standing on the ground. Moses is told,
don't come to the bush. Take off your shoes where
(13:16):
you are because you in my territory right now, you
in my vicinity. So the holy ground he wasn't the bush.
The holy ground was the place he was standing, which
wasn't the bush. I'm not gonna let you get this
close to the fire with your shoes on. So let
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me make something inextricably clear. You cannot have an encounter
with God if you're unwilling to deal with sin, if
you're unwilling to acknowledge it repent of it, if you're
unwilling you can't get to the bus bush because before
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you ever get to the bush, you gotta be willing
to take off your shoes.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
The accumulated dirt, because this is holy ground.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Holy means to separate, it's something that's sacredly separated. I
want to separate you from your sin so that I
can give you an encounter with a holy one. He
spoke to Moses in a contradictory situation using an ordinary object. See,
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the bush was already there. It's an ordinary bush that's
been invaded by a supernatural presence. So I don't know
how God is gonna meet you, but any old bush
will do to create the most.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Ingenious contradictions.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
In order to manifest himself, God identifies himself Moses, I
am the God of your father's I have seen the
affliction verse seven of my people. I have come down
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to deliver them. Well, remember this whole thing started eighty
years ago. Moses knew he was supposed to be used
of God to deliver the people. He knew God had
a hand on his life. He just didn't do it
God's way. That maybe those of us who knew, way
(15:45):
back somewhere God was gonna do something with my life.
But nothing has happened, not happening yet, we've been wandering
in the wilderness. God says, I did not forget what
I planned for you. I did not forget what I
(16:07):
planned for my people. But the problem back then is
that you wanted to do it your way, so I
had to bring you down to Earth. You had too
much Egypt in you, and often we have too much
(16:30):
world in us. So God can't do what he wants
to do at the time we think it ought to
be done because we are we've been too Egyptianized. Now,
he doesn't tell him the program until Moses has an
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encounter with the person. See a lot of folks want
to know the program who don't want the person. He
gives him a big job. I want you to go
to Pharaoh, and I want you to tell this monster
man to let my people go. That's a big job.
(17:15):
Let me tell you a secret. When you have an
encounter with God, if there's nothing in your life, then
only God can do. You'll forever be tending sheep. He
didn't know, but God was using this humbling of sheep
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to prepare him for the leading of people. So Moses
has a question. He has a question. Moses has a question.
He wants to know. Now, you want me.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
To go to.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Pharaoh where they already have threatened my life and I've
been hiding for forty years. Not only do I have
a Pharaoh problem, I got an israel problem.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Because they're the ones who told on me.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
In fact, the Bible says when he killed the Egyptian
who was beating up the Israelites, he looked in every
direction to make sure nobody was seeing him.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
He kills the Egyptian, it gets reported.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
To Pharaoh that one of his soldiers has been killed
by his adopted son, Moses. How did Pharaoh get this
information if there was nobody to be seen, There's only
two options. One is that it was somebody looking at
(19:05):
Moses didn't see. It's one option. But let's say Moses
was accurate that nobody saw him. That meant his own
brother told on him. So I got a problem even
with my peeps, because I'm gonna go back and tell
them looking like a fool. God told me to tell
(19:28):
y'all that I'm supposed to lead y'all out of here.
You actually want me to go tell them that I've
been in that censure for forty years, and you want
me to go back and tell you, do I have
this correct?
Speaker 1 (19:47):
God?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Well, they're gonna ask a question, and the question they're
gonna ask is what's his name. They're going to want
to know what's his name? God says to them. But
(20:17):
Moses said to God verse eleven, who am I that
I should go to Pharaoh? I'm nobody. Boy, that's a
change over forty years because he was somebody forty years ago.
He was a man that I should bring the people out.
He says that I'm gonna be with you. Moses said,
be hold, I'm going to the sons of Israel. I
will say to them verse thirteen, the God of your
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fathers have sent me to you. Now they may say
to me, what is his name? Who I am? Then
you will say verse fourteen, to the sons of Israel,
I am have sent you.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
What kind of name is that? He says? Who should
I tell them? Sent me? You tell them my name?
And my name is I am that I am? Not
only am I am?
Speaker 2 (21:15):
I am that I am. I define myself by me.
There's only one independent person in the universe, and that
is God because he exists. Because he exists and he
(21:39):
does not need anything outside of himself to be himself
because he's not dependent upon anything.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Outside of himself.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
You are all I am, We are all dependent on him. Well,
why does he want Moses to know this name because
of this encounter? He wants to know him to know
(22:07):
that name because when he runs into this next problem
that he's getting ready to run into, named Pharaoh. See,
encounter with God doesn't mean you're not running into no
new problems. He's running into a He's running into another
problem from an old foe. And he said, when you
run into this problem. Pharaoh is the big man on campus.
(22:30):
He's a's bon coon. He's the number one man. He's
the man. He's gonna threaten you. He's gonna he's gonna
challenge you. He's gonna scare you. But I want you
to know I am that I am. And the reason
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you need to know this is when you face Pharaoh,
big and bad Pharaoh, you're gonna have to know somebody
who is so self sufficient that he can be whatever
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you need when you run up against Veroh, so I
am gonna be your power. I am gonna be your deliverer.
I am gonna be your sustainer. I am gonna be
your victory. I am that I am, so I won't
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need help to be me for you, which goes back
to a theme that we've gone over and over again,
and that is you only have one source. You only
have one source. I am that I am, so you
ain't but he is. Because I am that I am
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I am the sufficient one, but I am personal. They
are therefore relational. Many people want his provision who don't
want his person. They want eloheen, his power, but not
yahweh his I am this. But if you desire and
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encounter with God this year, I invite you to pursue
the mountain of God to get in his presence. I
encourage you to not ignore the contradictory things that He
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allows you to see or experience, and to move closer
to Him when they occur. I invite you to listen
to the sound of his voice calling your name and
then the assignment that he attaches to the when things
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don't make sense, when you find life contradicting.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Itself, look for God.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
One of the primary times God reveals who he is
and identifies something about his person that you've never seen
before is when he puts you in a catch twenty two.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
When what you.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
See happening to you or around you has totally confused
you because it doesn't fit the order of light as
you think it ought to be.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Look for God. God loves to.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Reveal his person his uniqueness by something that you do
not understand on your own, because it is in that
minst that he can get your full attention. So in
your personal life, or even in the circumstances surrounding you,
even in the culture, look for him to show you
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a new thing, to identify himself in a new way,
to let you hear his name being spoken with a
clarity you've never had before.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yes, when life doesn't make sense, he does, And he
loves to show you how much sense He does make
when life seems out of control. You see, for many
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of us, the problem of us getting along with other
people is our inability to.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Get along with ourselves.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Everything visible and physical is preceded by something invisible and
the consequences we are dealing with in our lives, in
our homes, in our culture, We are dealing with them
because there is a gap between where God is and
where we are. He wants to know that you want
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him and not just want his stuff. See a lot
of folks go to church that get God's stuff, but
who don't want the God who gives it.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
So if you're in distress, don't let that drive you away.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Draw you near. When you get close and want to
live for him, want to please him, want to honor him,
want to exalt him, want to draw near to him,
then Heaven opens up and he lets you find him.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
He lets you fight.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
We're talking about igniting kingdom prayer. We're talking about having
Heaven's power and authority operating in your life and in
our realm.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
It is the divinely.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Authorized methodology, the divinely authorized methodology to access.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Heavenly authority for earthly intervention.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Kingdom prayer is the divinely authorized methodology to access heavenly
authority for earthly intervention. God established prayer as the means,
the primary means to draw down from Heaven into history.
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One of the great prayers in the Bible about this
subject of what I'm calling kingdom prayer is found in
the familiar passage of Ephesians, chapter three, beginning with verse fourteen.
I want to walk us through this prayer for power,
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This applies to all who are here who need power
one power, and you want heavenly authority for earthly intervention,
Paul says in verse fourteen, for this reason, I bow
my knees before the Father.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
So he enters into the humble posture of prayer.
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For what reason, Well, verse thirteen, he tells us he
doesn't want them to lose heart. To lose heart means
to become discouraged. To lose heart means to throw in
the towel. To lose heart means to want to quit,
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give up. The person that lives in a perpetual state
of depression has lost heart.
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The person who goes.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
To artificial means of surviving drugs, alcohol, something deeper is
going on. They have lost heart, and a myriad of
other ways of losing heart, becoming addicted to discouragement. That's
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what it means to lose heart. I wonder if there's
anyone here this morning whose heart has been lost. Perhaps
it's the marriage, perhaps it's the single hood. But you've
lost heart, he says. For this reason, because I don't
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want you to lose heart, I bow my knee to
the Father. I enter into a humble pasture of prayer.
He says, and I do this from whom every family
in heaven and on earth derives its name. So, if
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God is your father, you are a Christian, this truth
applies to you. If you're a believer and God is
your spiritual father, then Paul says my prayer, you can pray.
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So this is not just for Paul the apostle. It's
for job blow Christian who needs power, who is battling
with losing heart, discouragement, wanting to quit.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Tired.
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He gives three principles here for experiencing heavenly power, heavenly
authority through Kingdom prayer, this heavenly authority for earthly intervention.
The first principle is that if you want Heaven's power,
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you must be cultivating spiritual intimacy. He says in verse
sixteen that he would grant you, according to the riches
of His glory, to be strengthened with power through the
spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell
in your hearts through faith. He says, if you're going
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to experience this power, there has to be an inner connection.
If you're not connected intimately, then the flow of power.
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Can't get to you. If you are a believer.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
You don't have a power problem, but you could have
a connection problem. And if the connection is not there,
the power that you possess can flow through. He says,
I pray that you will be strengthened with power, but
it is in the inner man. It must happen in
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the inner man. In other words, most of the time
we pray for stuff we need out there, when God says,
it starts with what.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
You need in here, the inner man.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
It is the degree to which the spiritual connected with
God that the flow of power from God gets transferred
to you. So, no matter how much power you possess,
if the connection is not right, the power that you
possess won't flow in you and then through you to
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the circumstances you're in. He says, it is the job
of the Holy Spirit in the inner man to produce
the power.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
He goes deeper to explain this. He says.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. That
Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith the Greek
word for dwell. Because you say, well, Christ is already
in my heart, I'm already saved.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Now that's not quite what that means.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
The Greek word dwell means to make oneself at home,
to make oneself at home, So if you put that
phrase in the meaning of dwell, the word becomes more alive.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
If you want.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Power in the inner man, then Christ must dwell. That is,
not only be in you, but be at home inside
of you. Jesus is inside every believer's house, but he
doesn't necessarily feel welcome there. In order for you to
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have power, Christ must be at home, meaning the freedom
to go into any room of your life that he uses.
The Holy Spirit will never be free to move. If
Christ can't be at home, that means that he must
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be welcomed into every room of your life and be
free to take a tour whenever he wants. To make
yourself at home. But you say, how can I ask
Jesus to make himself at home with a dirty closet
or a chaotic garage. That's why he wants you to
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make himself.
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At home there.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
So he can help you clean it up. Don't lock
him out, Invite him in so that he can straighten
things out and transfer power in the inner man. If
he becomes the one you are dealing with as a lifestyle,
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not as an event, you will have opened yourself up
to power when you pray, kidnom prayer. I studied the
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Bible in college for four years. I studied the Bible
for four years working on my master's degree, another four
years working on my document degree. And then I've been
preaching all of these years, and I'm still learning new
things from this awesome, inexhaustible book, the Word of God.
That's why I'm so excited about the Tony Evans Study Bible.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
And it's a.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Company works the Tony Evans Bible Commentary. It will take
all of this training and this teaching and make it
available to you to understand, utilize, and apply God's most
powerful world. So the first thing is you must pray
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with the priority of spiritual intimacy. You must be drawing near.
Scripture says, draw dear to me, and I will draw
near to you. So forget power and heavenly authority if
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you're not pursuing intimacy. But if you are pursuing intimacy,
that leads to the second thing that will give you
heavenly authority while you're living on earth.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
As you do Kingdom prayer.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
He says, as you being second half of verse seventeen
rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
With all the saints.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
What is the breath of length, the height the depth
to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that
you may be filled to all the fullness of God.
The first thing is spiritual intimacy, but the second thing
is expanded spiritual capacity, that you might be filled to
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the fullness of God, so that you will experience more
of God. Having God is one thing, experiencing Him as another.
So he wants you to be filled with the fullness
of God. He wants you to a experience more of
what you already have. He says that this experience comes
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in a context being rooted and grounded in love. The
Bible says that God is love. He is loved by nature.
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There is no such thing as love without having an
object to love.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
In other words, love has to go somewhere.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
Because God is a triune being, three persons who are
distinct in personality, at one in essence, the Godhead, Father, Son,
Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
God has always had someone to love.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
God has never been alone because of his trying nature,
So He's always had somebody to love, and it's built
within his nature. This is why the Christian God is
unlike other so called deities called God. So when we
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are operating in a context of love, we're operating in
a context of God. Because God is love. That is
why God always wants you in a context. That's why
he's going to end this prayer with God be glory
in the church. Because one of the reasons God expects
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every believer to be part of a local church is
to be in a context of expressing love within his family.
So God just doesn't want you to come here for you.
He wants you to come here for you and for others.
That's why if you want to be blessed but are
unwilling to be a blessing, you can't be rooted and
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grounded in love. And if you're not rooted and grounded
in love, you're not expanding your capacity. So the first
thing is to be intimate. The second thing is to
expand your capacity for God to do more for you
and in you. The principle is simply this, God will
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only give you as much of God as you can handle.
God is not going to give you.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
What you can handle.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
So if there's no spiritual intimacy and expanded spiritual capacity,
then no matter how much you pray, it'll stop. So
the first principle is you must prioritize spiritual intimacy. You
must make time for God, make time for his word,
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make time for prayer.
Speaker 1 (44:10):
Then that must be expanded capacity.
Speaker 2 (44:16):
That's why sharing God's love, sharing God's word, praying for
others is key to expanding the capacity. If it's only
about you, you're not being rooted and grounded in love.
When you begin praying for spiritual intimacy, and when you
(44:39):
get expanded in spiritual capacity, now you're ready to experience
spiritual power. Notice the most popular verse in the book,
Now to him who is able to do far more
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abundantly beyond all that you, all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works in us. Here is
one of the most potent statements about God's power in
the Bible. Let me say a few things about this power.
(45:25):
First of all, his power is personal. Now unto him.
This is personal power because God is a person he
wants to be related to personally. He's not the force.
(45:45):
He's not this impersonal thing that people talk about. He
is a personal God. You see, the whole Trinity is
in this passage. He talks about the Father, he talks
about dwelling in Jesus Christ, and he talks about the
Holy Spirit and the inner Man. So he's got the
whole trinity in this passage. Now unto him, this is
(46:12):
what we call a doxology. A doxology is a praise,
a concluding praise. Power is tied to a person. It
is relationally driven. His power is potent. It's personal, but
(46:38):
it's potent. Notice the superlatives. Now unto him, who's able?
I know we'd like to say, ain't he able? This
refers to his ability, because of course we're talking about
(47:04):
supernatural power, and I just talk about what earth can do,
although much of what earth does depends on the power
of God. But we're talking about what he's able to do.
There are many verses that talk about Jesus. Ask a
blind man one day, do you believe I'm able to
heal you? The Book of Hebrews says he's able to
(47:27):
save to the uttermost. Now a d him who is able,
But he's able to do He's functionally able, not theoretically able.
He has the ability to perform his ability. But then
(47:51):
it gets gooder because of the word far more somebody say.
Speaker 1 (47:59):
Far more. He's not only filled.
Speaker 2 (48:03):
With capacity and ability. He's filled with capacity and ability
that can perform.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
And when his capacity and.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
Ability performs, it is far more abundant beyond.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
All that, says in excess of what you ask.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
So he assumes you ask because we're talking about kingdom prayer,
Jesus says, And maybe we'll get into this in one
of the other sermons. You have not because you ask not,
he says, God is able to do far beyond what
you ask.
Speaker 1 (48:49):
Now and then.
Speaker 2 (48:50):
Who's able to do more than you can ask or think?
But then he gives you a condition according to the
power that works within us. Ah, he didn't do it
(49:12):
just because you ask. He checked what was happening on
the inside before he did something on the outside. See
if he's not prioritized in your life. If you just
visit him, give him a weekly visit. He's not roaming
the rooms of your life. There's no capacity. It's according
(49:33):
to the power inside that determines how much is happening outside.
Many people want God to do the supernatural when there
is nothing inside. There is no kingdom priority, kingdom orientation.
Speaker 1 (49:58):
So I close with.
Speaker 2 (50:02):
An event I've shared a number of times, but it
makes the point. One time, when we went to Niagara
Falls for vacation many years ago, we went to and
I drove all the way from Dallas to Niagara Falls.
I don't advise you do that, but we went all
(50:22):
the way to Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls has two sides,
an American side in the Canadian side. Our hotel was
on the Canadian side. We got there late at night.
When we got into the hotel room, I opened the
curtain and way out in the distance you could see
(50:43):
the falls because it's a lid at night, and it
was a spectacle to behold. I mean, it was just
awe inspiring. It was way out there, couldn't hear it,
could see it enough that it was impressed. So I
was impressed by it. The next morning we went to
(51:06):
the falls. On the Canadian side of the falls is
a park. We stood in the park on the Canadian
side of the falls.
Speaker 1 (51:19):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
But this was different than the hotel room because I
could hear it the thunder of the roar of the
water going over the falls and hitting the basin of
the falls, and so it hit with such force that
the wind would blow up little drops of water even
across the street to the park, and you would feel
(51:40):
little drops of water every now and then.
Speaker 1 (51:43):
So in the hotel room, I.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
Was impressed by it. But in the park, I got
a little feel of it because I was close enough
to hear it. And every now and then I got
a drop of water on me because I was now
in the vicinity. But now that's another way you can
see the falls. It's called the maid of the Mist.
(52:07):
These are boats down in the basin of the fall. Now,
if you go to the boat in the basin of
the fall, they're going to give you a raincoat and
an umbrella because now you're getting ready to get drenched
because you're down there in the basin.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
Of the falls. So you're going to be overwhelmed with
the power. See.
Speaker 2 (52:31):
Some Christians relate to Jesus from the hotel room of
their lives. They're impressed by him at a distance.
Speaker 1 (52:41):
They don't ever hear anything. God never speaks to them.
Speaker 2 (52:45):
The supernatural is rare, if ever, but they'll go to
church because they're impressed with Jesus. Some Christians relate to
Jesus from the park. They are a lot closer than
the hotel room, and every now and again. They'll get
(53:05):
a drop here and a drop there. But they're those
shoes who are not satisfied with the hotel room. They're
those fees who are not satisfied with the park because
they want to get drenched. They want a raincoat and
an umbrella because they gonna take the risk of getting close.
(53:29):
So the question on the floor today is how much
God do you want? Because He will only give you
as much of God that you can handle. Spiritual intimacy
should lead to expanded spiritual capacity. Spiritual capacity brings on
more spiritual power, so that God gets glory as he
(53:53):
blows your mind.
Speaker 1 (53:55):
With the supernatural.
Speaker 2 (53:58):
So I invite you to ignite Kingdom prayer in your
life so that you can give testimony that He's real.
He's real because I've seen him with.
Speaker 1 (54:12):
My own eyes.
Speaker 2 (54:22):
Our spiritual power is directly related to the level of
our spiritual intimacy. We cannot experience the authority of God
operating into and through our lives if we have a
long distance relationship. You know, just like when we're driving
(54:42):
a car and you get too far away from the signal,
things get shoppy. There's a lot of static on the line,
and you don't pick up things. Clearly, when we get
too far from God, what he wants to do, that
exceedingly great power that he wants to demonstrate in our lives,
(55:02):
we don't see if we don't pick up the signal.
Speaker 1 (55:05):
There's a lot of static on the line.
Speaker 2 (55:07):
If you really want to experience God's power increase your
passionate pursuit of intimacy, then you won't have to look.
Speaker 1 (55:16):
For his power.
Speaker 2 (55:17):
His power will locate you