0:01

Coming up on the Potter's Touch. Christ

0:12

had come to do a new

0:14

thing, but one

0:17

cannot take new fabric and sew

0:19

it to old fabric without there

0:21

being a tear. And

0:24

some of us are so afraid of

0:26

a tear that we won't

0:28

accept anything new. Sometimes

0:38

we are loyal to a fault. Have

0:41

you ever been loyal to a

0:43

fault? All

0:45

the loyal people say, Amen. Yeah,

0:48

it takes something for you to

0:50

break away even when you know

0:52

you should break away because you

0:54

are loyal to a fault. The

0:58

Pharisees were loyal to a

1:00

tradition and an ideology that

1:02

was supposed to be expected

1:04

of a Messiah, and yet

1:06

when the Messiah comes, that

1:08

which they expected, they rejected

1:10

because they were loyal to

1:13

Orthodoxy because when you are

1:15

Orthodox, you are accepted. The

1:18

word Orthodox is to be, is

1:21

to fit in with that which

1:23

is acceptable. And

1:25

anytime you fall in love with

1:28

fitting in, it becomes

1:30

an idol in your life. Where

1:34

the opinions of other people become

1:36

more powerful to you than

1:39

the Word of God itself. Jesus

1:42

is the Word of God made flesh. He

1:45

is the Word incarnate. He

1:48

is the Word made physical. He

1:50

is the Word made tangible. He

1:53

is God revealed in human

1:55

form. He is

1:57

that which the Pharisees had studied.

2:00

all of their lives. They were

2:02

noted for being scholars and theologians

2:04

and studying the Word of God.

2:06

And here they are standing in

2:08

front of the Word they studied

2:10

and won't accept the Word that

2:12

they studied because He has come

2:14

in the flesh. The

2:17

arts of Oran is staggering

2:19

that the religious people actually

2:21

gave Jesus more trouble than

2:23

the sinners. It

2:26

was the church people that called Him

2:28

wine, remember. It was the church people

2:30

that called Him Beelzebub. It was the

2:32

church people that salvaged His theology. It

2:35

was the church people that attacked

2:38

Him. It was the church

2:40

people because He came with

2:42

new theology that threatened their

2:44

orthodoxy. And if they gave

2:46

up their orthodoxy, who would

2:48

they be? Sometimes

2:52

being somebody important to

2:54

people becomes more

2:57

important than being somebody

2:59

obedient to God. The

3:04

idolatry of it all is staggering.

3:06

And Jesus speaks to

3:08

them in parables because plain-out truth

3:10

did not seem to get through

3:13

to them. He called them a

3:15

generation of hypocrites and vipers and

3:17

they wouldn't accept that. So He

3:19

started talking to them in parables

3:21

in the hope that maybe they

3:24

would see themselves in the text,

3:28

that they would understand that they were

3:30

all fabric, that

3:33

they had lost the ability to

3:36

stretch, to

3:38

grow, to

3:40

evolve, to move

3:42

forward, to become. They

3:45

were worn and withered and

3:48

weary and stayed

3:50

and stubborn and absolute

3:53

and Christ had come to do

3:55

a new thing. But

3:57

one cannot take new fabric and new things.

4:00

and show it to old fabric without

4:02

there being a tear. And

4:05

some of us are so afraid of a

4:07

tear that we won't

4:09

accept anything new because

4:15

it might make the old

4:17

uncomfortable. And

4:20

whoever told you that God won't

4:22

make you uncomfortable didn't know God

4:25

because the God I know is

4:28

disruptive. The God I

4:30

know will make you uncomfortable. The

4:32

God I know will wake you up

4:34

at two o'clock in the morning. The God

4:36

I know will have you facing the

4:38

floor. The God I know will challenge

4:40

your ideas. The God I know will

4:42

call you out of the carpet. The

4:45

God I know will confront you. The

4:47

God I know will reveal you and

4:49

make you see yourself. I

4:52

am sick of prophets that can

4:54

see everybody but themselves. If

4:57

you got that kind of revelation,

4:59

how come you don't see you?

5:06

I see, I say, I

5:08

see, I say, I see,

5:10

see yourself. See

5:15

yourself, see

5:18

yourself. Get a

5:20

revelation on yourself. Hallelujah

5:23

to God. And

5:26

the older I get, the quicker I am to tell you. Don't

5:29

run up on me because I'll embarrass you

5:33

because I'm not going to play along with

5:35

few games. I'm not

5:38

going to be slain if I'm not slain.

5:40

I'm not going to fall out if I'm

5:42

not falling out. I'm not going to give

5:44

consent to something I don't agree with. I

5:47

don't agree with it. And the Bible said

5:49

that old fabric and new fabric did not

5:51

agree. Sometimes you got to

5:53

be bold enough to disagree. The

6:01

problem today we have too many

6:03

coward questions. You're

6:06

coward, you want to get along with the

6:09

culture. You want to be accepted by your

6:11

friends. You want to be accepted by your

6:13

peers. And you're not

6:16

willing to stand out and

6:18

be scandalized and ostracized. And

6:21

yet you say, no, he slayed me. Yet

6:23

shall I trust him. Do you really

6:26

trust him? Do

6:29

you trust him when people are talking

6:31

about you? Do you trust him when

6:33

people are scandalizing you? Do you trust

6:36

him when you're dealing with uncertainty?

6:38

Do you trust him when you

6:40

have to be vulnerable? Do you

6:42

trust him when you have to

6:44

be transparent? Or

6:47

are you a little bit new and a

6:50

little bit old? And

6:53

the trauma you deal with every day is that

6:55

you are torn between

6:57

the two. The

7:00

you you are at work and

7:04

the you you are at church. The

7:08

you you are when you're with your boys

7:12

and the you you are when you come in

7:14

the sanctuary. There

7:16

ought not to be two different yous. Hallelujah.

7:20

The reason you don't have any peace is

7:23

because there's too many of you standing in the

7:25

same pair of shoes. One

7:31

of the definitions of the word peace is

7:33

to be at one again. To

7:36

be one within yourself. The

7:38

Bible said if the eye is single, the

7:41

whole body is full of light.

7:43

You can't get revelation until you

7:45

get single. You talking

7:48

about getting married and you ain't single

7:50

yet. Oh

7:52

mess with me, I dare you. I'll fight you in

7:54

the air. You're not single.

7:56

How can you get married when

7:58

you're not single? You're

8:00

still fragmented. You're still three

8:03

quarters. You're still 5'16". You

8:06

got to find wholeness. It's

8:13

what the Bible calls singleness of heart.

8:17

Singleness of heart brings peace. But

8:21

it is not easy to have

8:24

singleness of

8:26

heart. Because

8:29

there's always something pulling

8:31

at you, drawing you,

8:34

a gravitational pull to

8:36

go backwards rather than

8:39

forwards. I often

8:41

say it, but it makes it no less true,

8:44

you don't have to struggle to fall. All

8:48

you have to do is let go. But

8:51

if you're going to climb a tree, it's going

8:53

to take some effort and some energy. When

8:55

you get ready to fall, you don't need

8:57

any energy, just let go. If you let

9:00

go, you're going to fall. But if you

9:02

hold on, you're going to go higher. But

9:05

expect to sweat if you're going to go

9:07

up. You're not going to go up just

9:09

because you're worn up. You're going to have

9:11

to put some work in it, some sweat

9:13

in it, and grind. But

9:17

all you have to do to fall is

9:21

let go. And

9:24

some of us are torn, should I

9:26

hold on or

9:29

should I let go? Should

9:32

I endure or

9:34

should I let go? Should

9:37

I fight for it or

9:39

should I just give in? And

9:41

we dress it up with religious say, if the

9:43

Lord wants me to have it, if

9:47

the Lord meant for me to be

9:49

there, he would open up. You blame

9:51

God because you're lazy. I

9:56

don't mean to make you mad tonight. You blame

9:58

God for your love. You

10:01

don't understand that there's some things that

10:03

you have to put some work in

10:06

it. Sometimes you have to stretch forth

10:08

your rod. Sometimes you have to stretch

10:10

forth a withered hand. Sometimes

10:12

you have to give your two fish and

10:14

five loaves of bread. And you're

10:17

praying to feed the five thousand,

10:19

but you're holding on to your

10:21

lunch and you're torn between

10:25

the two. How

10:28

can you say the Scriptures don't work when you

10:30

don't work them? Look

10:36

at somebody and tell them it'll work if you're working.

10:40

Yeah, it'll work if you're working every

10:42

promise of God. It'll work if you're

10:44

working. I've given you the land to

10:46

possess it, but you still got to

10:48

work it. Hallelujah, I'll give

10:50

you houses that you didn't build, but

10:52

you still got to move into it.

10:54

It'll work if you're working. It

10:59

don't work if you don't work it. To

11:04

your steadfast, unmovable, always

11:07

abounding, consistent.

11:13

Consistent, consistent,

11:17

consistency. Do

11:20

you hear what I'm saying to you? You

11:22

have to understand this, that if

11:24

you're diligent, diligence will get you

11:27

there. Oh

11:29

yeah, you got to be diligent. You got to go

11:31

after it. It'll get you there. But

11:34

consistency will keep you there.

11:39

And gratitude will give you more

11:41

of what's there. So

11:44

you have to be diligent to get

11:46

there. You have to

11:48

be consistent to stay there.

11:51

And you have to be grateful to get everything

11:54

out of being there. Some

11:56

people get there, but they're not grateful. They

11:58

get there, they got a bad attitude. They

12:00

quit, they get there, and they got a

12:02

bad disposition. But gratitude unlocks

12:05

the fullness of where you're at.

12:08

That's why the devil doesn't want you to be

12:10

grateful. He wants you to be worried. He

12:13

wants you to be worried. He can't

12:15

stop you from being in a blessed

12:17

place, but he wants you to be

12:19

worried. So you're torn between being blessed

12:21

and being worried. Oh, I'm going to

12:23

get with you tonight. And

12:26

you are torn between

12:29

the two. As

12:36

we prepare to offer up before

12:39

God in the spirit of thanksgiving

12:42

with a cheerfulness of heart

12:45

and a purity of mind into

12:49

Thy presence, we now come. Oh,

12:55

oh, oh, you

12:57

have been so good. I

13:01

can't even explain how good you've been. You've

13:03

been my everything, my

13:06

everything. And as

13:08

I lift up something before you, I

13:12

realize that whatever I have given

13:14

does not compare to your

13:17

everything. But

13:19

I want to have

13:22

reciprocity. I

13:24

cannot let you be this

13:26

good to me while I

13:28

ignore my responsibility to reciprocate

13:31

back to you. I

13:41

don't want to get torn. Let

13:45

me show you what I'm talking about. I'm going

13:47

to show you something. I'm going

13:49

to show you something I have to run through now. Get your Bible.

13:52

Go to John 3, Chapter 1 through 12. I'm

13:54

going to show you what I mean. And I want you

13:56

to take your religious glasses off and read

13:58

the text like you never heard of it. because if you read

14:01

it like you heard it, you're gonna miss it, right?

14:05

Because we're not gonna read it with old

14:07

skins. We're

14:11

just gonna read it like we never read it. Now there

14:13

was a man of Pharisees,

14:16

of the Pharisees named Nicodemus,

14:19

a ruler of

14:21

the Jews. That

14:24

same came to Jesus by

14:26

night. He snuck

14:29

to Jesus by

14:31

night because he is

14:33

a ruler of the

14:35

Pharisees. The very folk of

14:37

Jesus just got through fussing at it

14:40

and said unto him, Rabbi, we

14:43

know, new wine, that thou art

14:45

a teacher, come

14:48

from God. For no

14:50

man can do these miracles that

14:53

thou doeth except God be

14:55

with him. And

14:58

the moment he told Jesus he

15:01

had new wine, Jesus

15:03

told him, barely, barely I say

15:05

unto you, you

15:08

must be born again. Because

15:11

if you're not born again, you cannot see the

15:13

kingdom. You cannot have

15:16

this kind of revelation and

15:19

go back and play with the

15:21

Pharisees. Come

15:25

on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.

15:29

See, once you see

15:31

who he is, you

15:35

can't go back into blindness and act like

15:37

you don't know what you know. So

15:40

you can give up on being a secret

15:43

agent for Jesus and

15:45

coming by night to him, he

15:49

said, I know you must be born again

15:52

because you just showed me you got new wine.

15:55

But where you came from is

15:57

old skins. the

16:00

demon says unto him, how can a man

16:02

be born when he is old? Can

16:05

he enter into the second time, enter

16:07

the second time into his mother's womb

16:09

and be born? We're dealing with skin.

16:12

We're dealing with skin. And

16:14

Jesus answered, very, very I said to you, accept

16:17

a man be born of water

16:19

and of spirit. He cannot enter

16:21

into the kingdom of God. Cannot

16:24

go in. That which

16:26

is born of the flesh is flesh. And

16:29

that which is born of the spirit is

16:32

spirit. Marvel

16:34

not that I said unto thee, ye

16:38

must be born again. Hold

16:40

it a minute. Ye must

16:42

be born again. Jesus,

16:45

wait a minute. He didn't ask you

16:47

about being born again. He

16:50

just told you that he knew

16:53

that no man could do these things, save God

16:56

be with him. And

16:58

called you rabbi and

17:00

said, I know that you are the truth. And

17:03

Jesus says, you must be

17:05

born again because you

17:07

cannot hold revelation in

17:11

old skin. Now

17:14

Nicodemus is in a dilemma because

17:18

does he go back to

17:20

the skin and

17:24

he is a ruler of the Pharisees.

17:28

Or does he follow Jesus, which

17:32

is the why? Jesus

17:34

says to him, the wind bloweth, where

17:36

it listeth and thou hearest the sound

17:39

thereof, but canst not tell whence it

17:41

come and whether it

17:43

goeth, so is everyone that is

17:45

born of the spirit. You're looking

17:47

for physical stuff. I'm talking about

17:49

spiritual stuff. Nicodemus

17:52

answered and said unto him, how

17:56

can these things be?

17:58

Wait, Nicodemus did. and say,

18:00

yes, Lord, I repent. Yes,

18:03

Lord, I accept you. Yes, Lord,

18:05

I believe. Yes, Lord, I

18:08

follow you. Yes, Lord, I commit. He said,

18:10

how can these things be? Jesus

18:12

answered and said unto him, art

18:15

thou a master of Israel? And

18:18

knoweth not these things? Don't

18:21

you study the word? Don't you know the

18:23

word when you hear the word? Very,

18:27

very, I say unto thee, we

18:29

speak that we know, we

18:31

do know, and testify that

18:33

we have seen, and

18:36

ye receive not

18:40

our witness. If

18:43

I told you earthly things and ye believe not,

18:47

how should ye believe if I

18:49

tell you heavenly things?

18:55

So the

18:59

thing that most scholars wrestle

19:01

with is,

19:05

yes, Jesus told Nicodemus he must be

19:07

born again. But

19:11

was he? I

19:19

ain't going to bother you all tonight. Did

19:24

you read anything in that

19:26

text that

19:30

says Nicodemus was

19:32

born again? Did

19:36

Jesus not say you received

19:38

not what

19:41

I gave you? So

19:46

I'm not judging him. I

19:49

don't know. All

19:51

I know is that the Scriptures leave

19:54

some ambiguity as

19:57

if Nicodemus is torn. between

20:00

the two. He

20:03

is coming to see Jesus by

20:06

night, but he's

20:08

hanging out with the Pharisees by

20:12

day. And

20:15

we don't hear anything

20:17

else about Nicodemus

20:20

until the crucifixion. We

20:25

don't see him at the miracles. We

20:28

don't see him at the Last Supper. We

20:30

don't see him when the woman with the issue of blood

20:33

touched the hymn of his garment. We

20:35

don't see him when he raised Jairus' daughter

20:37

from the dead. We

20:39

don't even see him when he's on

20:41

his way to the cross when blind

20:44

Bartimaeus cried out, Have

20:46

mercy on me thou son of David. Oh

20:48

that I might receive my sight. The

20:51

only thing we know for sure is

20:54

that Nicodemus is torn between

20:58

the two. And the

21:00

question tonight, my brothers

21:03

and sisters, is

21:05

simply this. Did

21:09

Nicodemus spend all of

21:11

his life torn

21:15

between the two? Unable

21:22

to respond. I

21:25

don't know. The

21:27

Bible doesn't make it clear. I

21:31

cannot find any

21:33

place where he

21:35

obeyed what

21:37

Jesus said. He

21:40

only heard what

21:44

Jesus said. And

21:47

I want to know, do

21:49

you obey what

21:53

Jesus said? Or

21:55

do you only hear?

22:00

what Jesus had. And

22:03

if you hear it and

22:06

don't obey it, then

22:09

what is your

22:12

Pharisee that

22:20

keeps you torn

22:24

between the two? Was

22:27

it love that made him give the

22:31

hundred shekels or

22:34

guilt? I

22:40

cannot find a moment

22:45

that answers that

22:48

question. Are

22:51

you here because you love Jesus or

22:55

do you only come when you're guilty? And

23:04

the worst part of it is

23:08

that he knew who

23:11

Jesus was. He

23:15

said no man can do these things save

23:18

God be with him. And Jesus says

23:22

what you do with them Pharisees? Who

23:26

are your Pharisees? Who

23:32

is it that Jesus would ask how

23:34

could you know me like you know

23:36

me and

23:41

still stay with them? Vaily,

23:49

vaily I say unto you, you can't

23:51

know this much about me and not

23:53

be born again. You can't

23:56

take this new wine. and

24:00

put it in old skin? You're

24:03

watching me right now? How

24:06

can you know what you

24:08

know and

24:10

still run with who you run with? Has

24:19

the seduction of

24:22

being accepted by the Pharisees rivaled

24:27

the revelation of

24:29

what you know about

24:33

Jesus? And

24:36

are you just torn

24:41

between the two? So

24:49

let a man examine himself. Where

24:55

are your Pharisees? Who

25:00

would Jesus be shocked to

25:04

see that you

25:06

can't separate from to

25:10

be with Him? How

25:16

long will you have new

25:18

wine? In

25:23

old skin? Because

25:32

if you really know who

25:36

Jesus is, very,

25:40

very, I

25:42

stand to you. He

25:45

must be

25:48

born again. No

25:51

ifs, no ass, no maybes, no

25:53

choices. You

25:55

know too much. You've

25:57

seen too much. himself

26:00

too strong in your life. There

26:03

are people in this room that

26:06

are living in limbo.

26:11

You are not where you used to be, but

26:14

you're not where you're going to be. You

26:18

took a pit stop that

26:21

became permanent. Stop living in

26:23

limbo and focus on God's promises.

26:26

Why are you stuck

26:29

in limbo? For your gift

26:31

of support, you'll receive the Disruptive

26:34

Discovery Journal, which includes targeted promises

26:36

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26:38

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26:41

Series. My best days

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are not behind me. My

26:45

best days are in front of me. I

26:48

haven't tried my highest most. I

26:52

haven't done my greatest miracle yet.

26:55

I will not stay stuck in

26:57

this place. To show up

26:59

the old and walking God's new, call

27:01

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