Latest / Rick Manis Ministries Podcast / The Truth About Truth

Transcript

The Truth About Truth · Rick Manis Ministries Podcast

0:08
SPEAKER_00: So good to see you all this morning.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: So good to be here today.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: This is Chili Day.
0:14
SPEAKER_00: I love love this day.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: You gotta love Chili to love the day like I do.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: I get excited about it.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: So I the pressure's all off of me.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: I don't even have to have to speak well today.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a good day.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: We got chili.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, Jesus made a statement.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: John said, We beheld the exceeding brightness of his glory, full of grace, full of truth.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: And today I want to have fun with this.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: We're going to look at truth, and we're going to get a I was going to say at least an idea.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: We're going to get more than an idea.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: There's a there is this thing that God refers to as truth.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: And uh I believe it's different than what humans normally refer to as truth.
1:13
SPEAKER_00: So I want to get right into this and uh look at a scripture in John chapter 18 and just roll into it because I've got a bit of a mouthful to say, and I don't want to take a long time because we've got chili.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: Praise God.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: But in John chapter 18, verse 37, Governor Pilate is talking to Jesus.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: This is the trial, right?
1:35
SPEAKER_00: And Pilate therefore said to him, Are you a king then?
1:38
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus answered and said, You say rightly that I am a king.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: Everyone who's of the truth hears my voice.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: Now think about that.
1:55
SPEAKER_00: That's primary cause.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: Now he did so much, and in doing that, he still bore witness to the truth.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: Yes, he shed his blood, he died on the cross for us, as us.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: He he rose from the dead.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: He made all things new in that act.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: And that's why Paul said, I preached the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's it.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: But in that, and with everything else that he came to teach and demonstrate in his life, before, during the cross, he did it, and after the cross, was a bearing witness of truth.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: I love the the verse in John where he says, No man had seen God or has perceived God at any time, but the Son who's in the bosom or the heart of the Father, he has declared him or revealed him to us.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: And uh that tells me that people of the time until Jesus stepped into the scene, they they didn't know.
2:49
SPEAKER_00: They didn't perceive God.
2:49
SPEAKER_00: Now they had lots of things to say about God, they had lots of things to read about God, they had lots of things to teach about God, a lot of things to talk about God.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: Um there are a lot of things about God that they would have sworn were true, but Jesus came to bear witness of the truth, and it turned out not to be the truth that they were saying, right?
3:09
SPEAKER_00: So continuing on, he said, Everyone who's of the truth hears my voice.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: And Pilate said, What is truth?
3:18
SPEAKER_00: I love this.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: What is truth?
3:21
SPEAKER_00: And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find no fault in him at all.
3:26
SPEAKER_00: What is truth?
3:26
SPEAKER_00: Now put yourself in Governor Pilate's shoes.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: Um the Romans are saying one thing.
3:37
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees and Sadducees and all those guys, they're all saying another thing to him.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: Got the Jews out there saying Jesus is saying something here, and you know, Pilate's wife is saying something to him, too.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: She's had this dream.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, What's truth?
3:51
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's telling me truth.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: What is truth?
3:55
SPEAKER_00: And you come to bear witness to the truth.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: And I think that Pilate knows that what's going on is everybody's got their own subjective truth.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: So he wants to see it.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: So he's like, What is it?
4:05
SPEAKER_00: Is it even something real?
4:06
SPEAKER_00: Everybody just has opinions on things and they believe it's truth.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: What is truth really?
4:11
SPEAKER_00: And uh, so I want to use, if we've got that graphic, you know, you've seen this.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: I've I put it up here one time before, but I don't know if you've seen this graphic if we have the dress.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, I hope this works.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: If I got the right picture up, some of you will see a white and gold dress, some of you see a black and blue dress, uh, black and blue.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: Anybody see the blue and black dress?
4:31
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: So a lot of you see that, and you some of you see the white and the gold dress.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now I've showed this before and talked about it, but I want to make a different point about it that I didn't bring up last time.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: This thing bothered me.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: So I did research because I couldn't believe when you know when I would start reading comments online and somebody would say, Yeah, the dress is definitely black and blue, and I'd go, What?
4:53
SPEAKER_00: Because I happen to see white and gold every time.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and and and at first I thought people were joking, and then I kept saying, I'm like, people really believe it's black and blue.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and and then you start talking to people, and you say, What do you see?
5:06
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, black and blue.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, you know, I was in one church and they were doing that, had a husband and wife right here on the uh front row, and they started arguing right there, just as what's wrong with you?
5:18
SPEAKER_00: Are you ignorant?
5:18
SPEAKER_00: Look at it again, can't you see?
5:20
SPEAKER_00: You know.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: Another woman was over here.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: I said, How many see black and blue?
5:25
SPEAKER_00: And she and they people raised their hand.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: She goes, Oh my god.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: She just couldn't believe that somebody saw it, saw something differently than they do.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: It's like, can can you believe your eyes?
5:36
SPEAKER_00: One woman told me when I revealed that I well, I see a white and gold dress.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: She speaks out from about right there.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: She goes, she goes, Are you is it because you're colorblind?
5:46
SPEAKER_00: And I said, No, I'm not.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: She said, Are you sure?
5:47
SPEAKER_00: Do you have a problem with other colors besides this?
5:50
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, No.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: And she was she's questioning because the first thing you do when somebody counters your truth is that you think something is wrong with them.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: She didn't consider something might have been wrong with the way she was seeing it.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: Something had to be wrong with me, because that's what we what what what we often do.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: But here's but but it bothered me, so I did research.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: Here's why it works.
6:12
SPEAKER_00: If you get nothing else, this whole little tidbit right here is really amazing.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: This thing works the way it does, and people see different colors because your brain is doing something that you're you're not aware of.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: It is all it is subconsciously, so you don't have to worry about it.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: It's taking care of something for you.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: It's making a prejudgment, it's making an assumption for you so you can see the truest color that you can.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: So when you look at an object, let's say you're outside, you're looking at trees.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: When you're looking at that object, the way that it works, the way that vision works, the way that you see color, is that light is hitting that tree, right?
6:51
SPEAKER_00: Light is first hitting that tree and it's reflecting back to you, and it's going into your eyes, and then your brain is interpreting what that is.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: And you know, and you know it in a in an instant.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: But but light's coming going to it and light reflecting from it.
7:07
SPEAKER_00: And so what your brain will do for you is that to give you the truest color of that tree, is it will filter in its interpretation.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: It will take into account the light going to that tree.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: So if it's natural light, sunlight, then it's going to be taking yellows, some yellows out of that to give you the perfect reflection or the best reflection.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: It's interpreting this for you.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: If it's, if it, if you're looking at an object that's indoors, you're having artificial light, which is a blue blue light, then it'll it'll filter that for you so you get the color.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, that's what happens.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: So the brain is making a judgment for you.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: The brain is making a call here.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: This is why people see two different things.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: Because your brain has to decide in a moment when it looks at this, to so it can tell you what you're looking at.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: It has to decide: is this indoor light, is this artificial lighting or is it natural lighting?
8:06
SPEAKER_00: Now, my brain came up with the decision.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: I didn't ask it to, I wasn't aware of it.
8:13
SPEAKER_00: I'm seeing a white and gold dress.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: That's all I know.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, but my brain is making an assumption.
8:21
SPEAKER_00: My brain is assuming that this is artificial lighting, so it's compensating, taking out some my brain is is calculating, taking out some blue, and it's giving me this image in my brain.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: And and that's a reasonable assumption because come on, it's a it's a dress on a mannequin.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: Those are indoors, not outdoors, right?
8:44
SPEAKER_00: So it's a reasonable assumption, but this the original photo happened to be in natural lighting, and to my chagrin, it happened to be a blue and black dress, which I don't see.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: But my my brain has a prejudice, a pre-judgment that has caused me to see it differently.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: And if you really look at it, if you look to the right of it and to behind it, you can see natural lighting flooding in.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: So it was a blue and black dress taken in natural light.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: And if your brain guessed, judged, or assumed that that was in natural light, then you see a blue and black dress because it has interpreted your brain is interpreting it correctly.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: Mine is not.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: Yet I'm up here speaking to you.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: But I didn't ask my brain to do that.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: It already had an idea that this is indoor artificial lighting.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: It did some filtering for me.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: I don't see as much blue as some of you do, and I see something else.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: And so my brain did that for me.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: So this is why this applies to so many things.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: Here's why I've done this.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: Because if we're aware, if we can at least be aware that there are prejudgments maybe and assumptions that go on that we're looking at things with, and at least being aware of that humbles us to say, you know what?
10:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm seeing through my own filter or my own truth or with my own assumptions or my own default uh baselines of my thinking.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: And this is why everybody can have such varied and different and conflicting and even angry opinions toward each other, because this person swears that it's blue and black, and the other one swears that it's white and gold.
10:39
SPEAKER_00: And what's gonna happen if enough of you blue and black people start getting into authority?
10:47
SPEAKER_00: What's that gonna do to me and my my cause when we're I'm one of the white and gold people?
10:54
SPEAKER_00: And what if you start persecuting me?
10:56
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, we have all these all these assumptions.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to go into that, that's a whole other other talk.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: But but we have these assumptions about religion.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: We have it about the Bible, right?
11:06
SPEAKER_00: Somebody says, Well, I know what truth is, I don't know where you're getting at.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: Truth is the Bible, right?
11:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, but you people look at it through filters, right?
11:17
SPEAKER_00: Assumptions, pre-judgments.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: You know this.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: This is why every everybody can look at the same book and see something different, right?
11:26
SPEAKER_00: Totally.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: I mean, and such a in such a variety of ways.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: Because when we're talking about things that are factual to us, or things that we see, or things that we we we we we take in in this temporal realm, so much of it is is a is is a subjective truth.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: So I'm not talking about that.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: I I just want to do all this to show you what I'm not talking about.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking about facts of this temporal existence.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about something much, much differently.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: I'll get to that in just a moment.
12:04
SPEAKER_00: But we have such varieties of ways to see things, and our brains are going to do this.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: My brain is doing it.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: Hate to admit it, I'm seeing it wrong.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm not seeing the original, I'm not seeing the original reflection.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: And my brain has a filter in it that is causing me to see it differently than some of you.
12:31
SPEAKER_00: And I, and if I don't, if I if I didn't know that, see, that humbled me when I found that out because I was fighting this.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no way.
12:40
SPEAKER_00: I know I'm seeing the right thing.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: And but it humbled me when I read that and I went, huh, maybe my filter is working and I'm, it's kind of maybe it's distorted.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: You know, Jesus made a statement uh here that I think applies to this.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: He said in uh John chapter 4, verse 41.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: He said, Jesus told them, if you would acknowledge your blindness, then your sin would be removed, but now you claim to see, so your sin remains you.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: So so if I look at that and I say, I it's it's it's white and gold, and there's no other way about it, because I know what I know and I see what I see.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: And and Jesus would know that, knows this whole time, Rick, you're looking through a filter, you're not really seeing it clearly.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: But if I won't acknowledge that, then I then I remain with a white and gold dress, and I remain that person, I remain in that camp or whatever, or or whatever else.
13:28
SPEAKER_00: And we see that religiously with the Pharisees, that they they did the ones that did not receive him was because they said, No, we know the truth.
13:38
SPEAKER_00: And he says, You're not really seeing.
13:41
SPEAKER_00: You're not seeing the truth.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: You don't, you don't, you're that you're looking through this Phariseeal, religious, Judaism, this moralistic, legalistic, looking through all these filters.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: And you don't see the truth, but you're looking at something, and what you're seeing, you're swearing it's the truth.
13:59
SPEAKER_00: That's why you're staying the same.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: Your sin remains.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: You stay in the exact same condition.
14:08
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians 13, 12.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: We know we know this verse.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: He says, For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known.
14:23
SPEAKER_00: So this gets us out of subjective truth into truth.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: Now, very recently I had, I woke up and I had experienced the word, I'll call an experience.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: I have these these times quite a bit.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: But I woke up and my mind was on God, which it normally is.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: But I was just, I just kept going and I was just, I found myself very much aware.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: And awareness is a word that I I like to use a lot because what we're when we're talking about truth, we're talking about that which is, that which has always been, is now, and always will be, and you're there, you're living in Him right now.
15:03
SPEAKER_00: You're there, you're in the Spirit, you're in Christ, you're in the kingdom, it's reality, it's truth.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: You may not be aware of it.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: And when we're not aware of it, we often can suffer because of that, right?
15:14
SPEAKER_00: Because then we're sort of at the mercy of these temporal facts and temporal truths that are going on in our existence.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: But I'm in this awareness.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: You ever do that?
15:28
SPEAKER_00: You can do it in worship real easy, and that's really the purpose of it, I think, so that we all just get aware, become very much focused and attentive and aware of reality that God is here, He is with you, He is for you, He is in you, and all is well.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: And when you enter into worship, you can feel that.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: I've seen it happen.
15:48
SPEAKER_00: I've seen it happen in services where I knew people came in and they had things on their mind because they're dealing with life, and then they get into the worship, and suddenly they're just aware of God and his goodness, and they have faith, and they believe, and they have hope, and their their tears have turned to smiles and sometimes laughter, and all that, and it all it all becomes different because now they're looking at the truth.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: And the truth goes beyond the ups and downs of the of the temporal situations that we all deal with.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: It goes beyond that.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: It is constant and consistent, always has been, always is now and will be.
16:23
SPEAKER_00: It is reality and all is well.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm I'm I'm I'm laying there in bed, hadn't even gotten up there, I'm just laying there and I'm just looking, so to speak, in the spirit.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm being aware of the reality of God in his life and the bigness of that in me, about me, around me, and all that, and I am absolutely a thousand percent convinced that all is well.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: In my temporal realm, I've got my stuff I'm dealing with like you do.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: But I'm home.
16:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm in reality, I'm looking at the truth.
16:55
SPEAKER_00: I have absolute in that moment, I have perfect peace, just like Jesus said.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: I have a feeling of full joy in my heart, just like he said in that moment.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: And and I do, and and and so do you.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: We all walk in degrees of this, and many of us know how to access this pretty pretty easily.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: I have found that in my walk it becomes much easier that in those moments when the world tries to, you know, starts to overtake your mind and you get distracted by that and you start feeling the the pain or the stress or the anger or what or whatever.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: I found it it gets it's getting much easier to to quickly turn to reality and find that rest for your soul where all is well.
17:43
SPEAKER_00: Then you operate from a bigger and wiser place because now you're in truth.
17:47
SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm talking about today.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: Eternal truth.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about that which is real, even if you're not aware of it.
17:56
SPEAKER_00: That which is real when the fluctuations of this life just come and go, and the ups and downs come and go, and all that stuff is happening, and we're dealing with the flow of events of this temporal realm.
18:06
SPEAKER_00: The truth is still right there all the time.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: And it's the truth that makes us free.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: And that's why we've fallen in love with it, because we've tasted its freedom, we've experienced its freedom, and we fall in love with it.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: When you're aware of truth, or what I'll say, when we're standing in truth, that's awareness.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: You have this knowledge, this reality, this awareness that all is well.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: Because truth is a place and it's a person that you abide in.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: It's in him you live and move and have your being.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: It's in him, in his kingdom, that you live and move and have your being.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: You're living in reality, you're living in truth, and it's a place where love abounds, where joy and peace is abundant, and faith seems very easy with that kind of awareness.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: Anybody know what I'm talking about?
19:10
SPEAKER_00: You've experienced it or you walk into it.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
19:13
SPEAKER_00: See?
19:13
SPEAKER_00: So we know this.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: And and and I walk into it to degree, but man, there's those moments like that where I'm like a thousand percent aware.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: And it's good because that even helps me to grow because because because you know, after that morning, now I'm walking around and it's on my mind all the time, and I'm and I'm always looking at it, and and I'm experiencing, and you experience as you're as you're beholding this truth, you can't help, it seems, but experience the the love and the peace of joy and being in that place.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: This place of of absolute heaven.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: It is it it is it is heaven, it is the kingdom, it is truth, it's it's it's it's all of that.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: And it and it does something to you where it just makes these things that get in front of your face and they look so big sometimes, it puts them in their perspective, and I love this.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: They become very, very small in comparison to reality and in truth.
20:10
SPEAKER_00: And in truth, truth is it becomes much more um easily to be aware of.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh, I am so much bigger than this, because greater is he that's in me.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: And what I'm talking about, how many of you can see that I'm not just talking about educated truth?
20:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm not just talking about book learning truth.
20:33
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about the person, the living person of truth that you're a part of, that you live in, that he lives in you.
20:41
SPEAKER_00: You're all you're you're you're intermingled in this oneness here, and you're there, and and real spirituality, and this is what I gotta get to because what I've just told you is not my message.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: This is the forward, because my message today is you know that truth.
20:57
SPEAKER_00: And we want to we wanna look at that.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: So let's go to Ezekiel chapter 36.
21:03
SPEAKER_00: Verse 26 tells us the Old Testament promise of what God was gonna do for us, right?
21:10
SPEAKER_00: He says, I'll give you a new heart, a new heart, and a new spirit within you.
21:15
SPEAKER_00: I'll take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I'll give you a heart of flesh or a soft heart.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: What I what we're I'm talking about, many of you can see this, I can tell already, is that we're talking about reality spiritual truth and not just brain truth, which can be subjective.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: And and the and and the brain, though I've said it often before, the brain is a magnificent computer, a wonderful tool that God has gave us, given us, but it's not our shepherd.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is our shepherd, the spirit within us.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: He is our shepherd, and that's what we're led by.
21:56
SPEAKER_00: We use our heads, but I was told all my life use your head, my parents said, Use your head.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Head, my employer said, use your head.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: My teacher said, Use your head.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: So I got that one down.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: That's what you're supposed to do, and I try using my head.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: But you don't have a lot of people saying, Use your spirit, use your spirit.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: You having a hard time?
22:16
SPEAKER_00: Use your spirit.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: Hard time trusting God?
22:20
SPEAKER_00: Use your spirit.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: Because these things are spiritually known, spiritually discerned, spiritually experienced because the kingdom's within you.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: So this is where heaven, this is where you live, this is where you experience heaven, not out here.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said that very plainly.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: They were asking, when are you gonna fix all this?
22:39
SPEAKER_00: That's what they meant when they said, When will you establish your kingdom on the earth?
22:43
SPEAKER_00: He said it doesn't come with observation.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: You can't see it with ocular observation.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom is within you, it's right here.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: It's at hand, it's nigh.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: It's in us.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: This is where we live.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: And that's why it's independent of the situations we're dealing with.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: Because you can have that perfect peace.
23:06
SPEAKER_00: I've done it, I do it countless times.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: You can have that perfect peace when there's hell breaking loose in front of you.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: Just like the opposite, you can you can have an inner turmoil, a hell happening inside you when it seems like things are going pretty smooth outwardly.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: I've dealt with that too.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm like, first you try to appeal to their logic, and it's like, why are you why are you so troubled?
23:29
SPEAKER_00: Look at this.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: You're blessed, you got all this and this and this and this and this going for you.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: But they can't they can't see that because they're experiencing this inner turmoil going on.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: So the reality that we live is in here, not just out there.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: Right?
23:44
SPEAKER_00: And so it's spiritually discerned, and God says, I'm gonna give them my spirit.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna show you why this is powerful and important.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: We go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love 1 Corinthians chapter 2.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: Any of y'all know what it's about?
24:00
SPEAKER_00: It's all about the spirit, the spirit, the spirit, the spirit, the spirit.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: That's where the life is.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: And then when you can know that there's a difference between just brain education, see, a lot of people are brain educated about grace.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: But they but they struggle with graciousness.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: And it's because it just hasn't been spiritually discerned or spiritually received yet.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, but anyway, it says, verse 9 says, as it is written, I has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: So that's good news right there.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: There's lots of stuff we haven't seen.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: That excites me.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: But he's prepared them for us, or he's given them to us.
24:43
SPEAKER_00: But God has revealed them to us through his spirit.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: Because the spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
24:51
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: So the spirit is the revealer of all these things.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: All these things that are that are there, all these things that are spirit, all these things that are real, all these things that are that are there.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: And isn't it time for Christianity to become spiritual?
25:08
SPEAKER_00: To be spirit-led, to be have spiritual knowledge, to spiritually discern truth, God, to know God in your heart, not just your head.
25:21
SPEAKER_00: Right?
25:22
SPEAKER_00: This is where you find the peace that lasts.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: He says, but God reveals them to us through his spirit.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: So this is how we know these things.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: Now look at the next part.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: For the spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God, for what man knows?
25:42
SPEAKER_00: The things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: Even so, no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: Now, what man knows the mind of the man except the spirit that's in him?
26:02
SPEAKER_00: What man knows?
26:02
SPEAKER_00: Now, um, I know Bob here.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: I know him pretty well.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: We've talked a lot, we've sat down and had conversations, and I don't I know Bob and I like Bob.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: But I don't know a lot of, I mean, there's a lot about Bob I don't know, because who can know Bob really except the Bob that's in him, except the spirit of Bob that's in him?
26:23
SPEAKER_00: And and so there's a lot I don't know.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: I know some things, but I don't know, he's he's much more, he's got much more about him than what I know.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: He's got things he's thought that I never that I've never thought of thought of.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: He's got things, he's got all his things about him.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: And who can know, as the Bible says, who can know the who can know the mind, really, the mind of the man, except the spirit that's in him?
26:50
SPEAKER_00: So I can't know everything about Bob.
26:57
SPEAKER_00: No matter how many books I read about him, no matter how many seminars on Bob I go to.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: But if Bob, if it were possible, if he were able to take his spirit and say, Rick, I really want you to know me better, and he says, here, and he puts his spirit in me, and I go, Well, I had no idea.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: Now I know Bob.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: Right?
27:26
SPEAKER_00: Now I know everything.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: And I really like him now.
27:33
SPEAKER_00: Even so, nobody can know God except for the spirit that's in God.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: But what if God wanted us to know him and he says, I want you to know all of me, so he says, Here's my spirit, boom, and we go, whoo, shund.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what he did.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: So you have it.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: It's there, it's done, it's complete, it's all living right in there.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: And so what we get to do now is be aware.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: Let's listen, let's access.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people tell me, I I I know I say this a lot, but but it's so so real, so true.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: People say, I can't I can't hear God's voice, and I all I know to tell him is shh.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: Be still and know, because there is a voice.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: There's a spirit in man.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: There is a part of you.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: Like I say, sometimes, you know, right now, I want you to think, I want you, I want, I'm gonna go ahead and do this.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: Everybody think about your right foot.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a right foot, think about your other foot.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: Think about, you know, because you know, some people don't.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: But think about your about that foot.
28:48
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
28:48
SPEAKER_00: Feel it, think about it.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: You can feel that, maybe you can feel your shoe, maybe your toes start moving or something, but you're thinking on it, and it's and and and and and you maybe you haven't thought about it since you got here, but it's been there the whole time.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: You just weren't aware.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: But you've had that foot the whole time.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: In fact, you've been walking on it, and you probably didn't even think about it, and it's been doing all this for you, and you haven't given it any thought because it's just there.
29:13
SPEAKER_00: But you're not aware.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: I think it's similar with the spirit that that there's a part of you.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: So you've got hands, you've got feet, you've got a brain, you've got a pumping heart and all that, but you have a spirit, his spirit, living in you.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: And and and that's the thing, is I think a lot of times people we get so caught up in just being smart, just being our brain and and and and truth and what we call truth, and and and and I think a lot of times, just in my travels, I feel like my Christian brains are getting hijacked by very subjective truth that's going on out there a lot of times.
29:46
SPEAKER_00: But there is the truth that'll bring you peace, that'll bring you joy, bring you love, and make your faith much more easier.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: There's a reality that'll find that you can live in rest for your soul.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: If you can see the truth, all will be well.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: I love what, you know, you've you've heard Clark say this a lot.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: If you can see what I see, you would feel what I feel.
30:10
unknown: Right?
30:14
SPEAKER_00: So he says, even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: And now we have received.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: Not the Spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: Isn't this good news?
30:29
SPEAKER_00: I know it's simple.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: Everything I say is simple.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: The spirit who's from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: He gave He gave us the Spirit so we would know.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: Stupid old dumb Rick, he said, No, it don't matter.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: Here, now you can know me.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: Because he's that good and wants us to know.
30:56
SPEAKER_00: And isn't that isn't that one of the reasons why we, some of us, and I'm one of those that stumbled through Christianity for a time, trying to piece together God, trying to understand God, taking my Bible and taking some of this and taking some of that, and constructing this figure of God that just seemed to not ever quite come together and trying to make it work and stumble with all that.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: But then at some point, revelation happens.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: Truth is seen.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: And one of the biggest ones for me was what I talk about, laying on that floor and looking up at the ceiling and seeing truth.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I describe it this way: truth came to sup with me that day, and it's never left since.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: But after 20 years of Christianity, I saw Jesus.
31:52
SPEAKER_00: When I say that, I don't mean like seeing a, you know, I just I was aware, I knew.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: I saw absolute love, I saw absolute goodness, I saw amazing grace that covered everything about me, that filled everything about me.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: It didn't need any help from me.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: It was a bigger God, a better God than I ever could have made up in my mind or tried to put together with my brain.
32:18
SPEAKER_00: And I saw truth.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: And I honestly felt like I went back to square.
32:23
SPEAKER_00: I was going back to square one.
32:24
SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, I all these things that I knew, that I talked about, that I sounded so smart.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: It's nothing.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: I count it all dung, it's lost, nothing.
32:35
SPEAKER_00: I count it, that's what Paul said.
32:37
SPEAKER_00: I counted all garbage for the excellency of knowing.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ, my Lord.
32:46
SPEAKER_00: Because of God that Paul had learned for so many years, a quote, truth that he had learned for so many years in his brain.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: He said, I count it all garbage for the excellency of what I now see, what I now know.
33:01
SPEAKER_00: Are y'all hearing this?
33:05
SPEAKER_00: He says, next verse, these are the things that we speak, not in the words that man's wisdom teaches, but what the Holy Spirit is teaching us.
33:15
SPEAKER_00: Comparing spiritual things with spiritual, or one translation says, says, explaining spiritual things with spiritual words.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: But the natural man doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God, they're foolishness to him.
33:27
SPEAKER_00: See, it you you it'll try.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: But this isn't just a brain thing, is it?
33:33
SPEAKER_00: Because your brain's got all these filters, and this is why when you're just all up in here, the the God in your head argues with the God in your neighbor's head.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: They clash, they're not the same God, they don't they don't match up.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: You know, because we have our own images of God up in here, but he's given us his spirit and said, I see, because we've had a brain, humans have had brains all this time.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: We were never going to know God that way.
34:00
SPEAKER_00: Who can know God except the spirit that's in him?
34:02
SPEAKER_00: So he says, Here, boom, here's my spirit.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: So we're walking around with that.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: The natural man doesn't receive the things of the spirit of God, their foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.
34:23
SPEAKER_00: Oh, there again.
34:24
SPEAKER_00: I think it's time that Christians get excited about being spiritual.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: Not just smart.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're smart.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: I know that.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: Lots of you are smart.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: I've talked to you.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: I can tell you're all smarter than me.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: But not just smart, spiritual.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual, because this is where the unity happens, because what I find is when people are aware of the truth, they get down to the simplicity and the power and the bigness and goodness of God their daddy.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: And how we are there in him and all is well.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: And we do operate with this life and all the things that are going on ups and downs, but we operate from that place, don't we?
35:14
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom.
35:23
SPEAKER_00: But the natural man is foolishness to him.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh, next verse.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: But he that is spiritual judges all things, or you could say discerns all things, yet he himself is rightly discerned by no one.
35:33
SPEAKER_00: For watch this, for who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ.
35:43
SPEAKER_00: You see how that, how clear that is now?
35:46
SPEAKER_00: Where do we get the mind of Christ?
35:47
SPEAKER_00: He put it there.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: Boom.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: That's the mind of Christ, not this, this is.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
35:55
SPEAKER_00: And somebody says, I know that, Rick, but how come it don't seem like it?
36:03
SPEAKER_00: I have a problem getting it, thinking it.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: I have a problem.
36:06
SPEAKER_00: I know it says I have the mind of Christ, but how come my mind's so messed up?
36:11
SPEAKER_00: It's awareness that you do have.
36:14
SPEAKER_00: Just like you have a right foot that maybe you haven't been aware of, but it's been there all this time.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: You got something bigger and better than your foot, your hand, your brain, your you have the mind of Christ, the spirit of God.
36:30
SPEAKER_00: I will put my spirit in them, I will put my mind in them, I will put my ways in them, I will put my laws in them.
36:37
SPEAKER_00: And we carry this.
36:38
SPEAKER_00: It's just a matter of, like the Bible says, if we're risen with Christ, and we are, what's that mean?
36:44
SPEAKER_00: We're in that place.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: We're there, really.
36:47
SPEAKER_00: And when you see truth, you know it.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: You're not trying to think it up, you're not trying to faith it up, you're not trying to talk yourself into it.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: When you're aware, you know it, you feel it.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: And it's right there.
36:58
SPEAKER_00: That's why he said, the kingdom of heaven's at hand.
36:59
SPEAKER_00: Think again, he said.
37:01
SPEAKER_00: Repent.
37:02
SPEAKER_00: He didn't say repent.
37:03
SPEAKER_00: That was King James language.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: He said, change your mind.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: Think again, because the kingdom's at hand.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: It's here.
37:16
SPEAKER_00: We have the mind of Christ.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: Well, why do I see so seem so stupid?
37:20
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's because you just seem so stupid, but the truth is you know.
37:24
SPEAKER_00: What does 1 John 2 say?
37:26
SPEAKER_00: You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
37:35
SPEAKER_00: See, that's that goes beyond just a mere, just a confession of being smart.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: I know everything in Christ.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: I know everything in Christ.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: I know everything in Christ.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, but it's just a reality, a truth.
37:45
SPEAKER_00: We do know by the Spirit.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we haven't accessed it all.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's a maybe there's uh jillions of things that we have no need of to even access yet, but it's all there.
37:58
SPEAKER_00: And forever we'll be living out of our spirit, whether in this body or out.
38:06
SPEAKER_00: It's better to start now.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: We're going to be living as who we really are, spiritual beings, children of the Most High God.
38:15
SPEAKER_00: As he is, so are we, one with him and in him.
38:19
SPEAKER_00: Behold, he's made everything new.
38:22
SPEAKER_00: Boom.
38:24
SPEAKER_00: So this is good news, right?
38:27
SPEAKER_00: When you feel confusion going in, remember there's a you do have the mind of Christ.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: You're not trying to convince yourself you do.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: You have it, you just access your heart.
38:37
SPEAKER_00: Put your attention.
38:38
SPEAKER_00: If we're risen with Christ, then set your affection or attention or focus on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, in the Spirit.
38:49
SPEAKER_00: We're not trying to be spiritual.
38:52
SPEAKER_00: We are spiritual.
38:53
SPEAKER_00: We were made spiritual.
38:54
SPEAKER_00: God did that.
39:01
SPEAKER_00: I love what Paul said in Romans chapter 8.
39:04
SPEAKER_00: He said, but you are not in the flesh, you're in the spirit, if Christ be in you.
39:11
SPEAKER_00: If Christ be in you.
39:13
SPEAKER_00: That's why I love what the truth does.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: When we look at this and we see it all in the written word.
39:19
SPEAKER_00: That he's not a God separated, he's not a God far off, he's God with you, he's Christ in you, he's the hope of glory, he's God dwelling in you, he's one with you.
39:28
SPEAKER_00: He's a God who's always very near.
39:30
SPEAKER_00: He's not out there, he's not in there.
39:31
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to invite him in, you don't have to call him down.
39:37
SPEAKER_00: We are complete in him.
39:39
SPEAKER_00: Now the mind is there.
39:43
SPEAKER_00: Is this clear this morning?
39:47
SPEAKER_00: Why do I even ask?
39:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna keep going anyway.
39:50
SPEAKER_00: Um finally, the book of Job.
39:57
SPEAKER_00: Verse 32.
39:59
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me, excuse me, chapter 32, verse 8.
40:02
SPEAKER_00: Says it so plainly and so clearly.
40:06
SPEAKER_00: But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.
40:13
SPEAKER_00: If you know a little bit about the story there for the for the previous 31 chapters, there's there's these subjective truths going on.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: You got his friend saying, Job, come on, you had to have done something.
40:24
SPEAKER_00: God wouldn't have done this to you if you didn't do something to deserve it.
40:27
SPEAKER_00: Just fess up, admit it, and then it'll be over.
40:29
SPEAKER_00: And Job's like, I can't think of anything.
40:31
SPEAKER_00: I did nothing.
40:34
SPEAKER_00: And Elihu or Elihu, however you pronounce it, he's looking at it.
40:38
SPEAKER_00: He's watching this whole thing for 31 chapters, and he's and he's like, I sat here and I didn't say anything because you guys are all older than me.
40:44
SPEAKER_00: I thought you guys were smarter.
40:46
SPEAKER_00: I thought that that you guys were wise, and you should be the ones doing all the talking, but I'm listening, and ain't none of y'all telling the truth.
40:54
SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm I'm too young to be standing up here doing this.
40:57
SPEAKER_00: It should be you guys.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: He says, and I thought all you older men would do it.
41:03
SPEAKER_00: Here, you guys have been condemning Job, and Job, you've been justifying yourself.
41:08
SPEAKER_00: Neither one of those.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: So now I'm gonna speak.
41:11
SPEAKER_00: Even though I'm younger than all you guys, it's okay because there's a spirit, even though I'm younger in years and you guys have more experience and life wisdom and all that stuff.
41:22
SPEAKER_00: I can still speak truth because there's a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty is what gives us understanding.
41:31
SPEAKER_00: So now I will speak.
41:34
SPEAKER_00: Let's all stand up.
41:42
SPEAKER_00: How many can see that you're complete in him?
41:46
SPEAKER_00: See, it's already done.
41:47
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think that this this picture gives you the idea that shows you that you're not trying to get complete.
41:53
SPEAKER_00: You are, but our growth is simply knowing it, being aware of it, paying attention to it.
42:04
SPEAKER_00: But we're complete.
42:07
SPEAKER_00: And I love it that me or you, we never have to go far to get it.
42:13
SPEAKER_00: It's as close as the beat of your heart.
42:16
SPEAKER_00: Your help is very near.
42:25
SPEAKER_00: Somebody contacted me early this morning.
42:27
SPEAKER_00: I was ministering to somebody reached out to me.
42:35
SPEAKER_00: I mean I really felt this person going through some hard circumstances.
42:44
SPEAKER_00: First thing you want to do now.
42:47
SPEAKER_00: Before worrying about everything else getting fixed, the first thing you want to do find rest.
42:53
SPEAKER_00: Find peace.
42:55
SPEAKER_00: And let's go from there.
42:57
SPEAKER_00: Where is it?
42:58
SPEAKER_00: There's a peace that's in there.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: Let's be aware of it.
43:03
SPEAKER_00: Let's acknowledge it.
43:05
SPEAKER_00: Because our faith becomes affected by the acknowledging of that good thing that's in us.
43:11
SPEAKER_00: It's in us.
43:15
SPEAKER_00: I bless the people today, Father, with the spirit of wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of you.
43:21
SPEAKER_00: The spirit of wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of you.
43:30
SPEAKER_00: That the eyes of our understanding are open to the greatness of this inheritance that resides within us and the exceeding greatness of its power within us.
43:46
SPEAKER_00: The same power that you worked with Christ when you raised him up and set him above every name that is named and made him to be head over all things to us, the church.
44:01
SPEAKER_00: Let this morning be a day of applying ISAV.
44:06
SPEAKER_00: That awareness happens in such an easy, fresh, more natural way.
44:16
SPEAKER_00: So that every all these people that I love here very much can have a good day today and tomorrow and the next.
44:28
SPEAKER_00: For in the kingdom, in you, in the spirit today, here's the truth all is well, and there is not a ripple on this crystal seed that we stand on.
44:44
SPEAKER_00: For that we give you thanks in Jesus' name.
44:49
SPEAKER_00: Amen.