UNION WITH GOD

Good. Good morning everybody. Welcome to the grace gang. This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and we will be exceedingly glad in it because God's good and he's worthy to be praised. God is good and he's worthy to be praised. Come on here now.

God is good. You better you better shout now. God is good and he's worthy to be praised. I I sense somebody woke up with some goodness. What you say now? Oh man. Welcome to the grace gang. We set the thermostat. We don't take the temperature, boy. We're like this ther the thermostat is set on blessings.

We are blessed and highly favored. And um God is so good. So so so so good. And he's worthy to be praised. So I declare that you're blessed today. And um God bless you. and welcome today. And I pray today will will be a blessing to you and help you out.

And so, where are you from? Uh you're logging on with me on Friday. Praise God. Good Friday again. Amen. Every Friday a Good Friday. Praise the Lord. I'm just so thankful. Uh yesterday we talked about, you know, that oneness and union with God and we talked about the benefits of it.

And today we're going to add some more to it. Amen. Uh, somebody said after the uh, Johannesburg, they can't wait for the confessions. Yeah, I tell you what, man. We had a the Grace Life conference in Johannesburg was pretty amazing. It was pretty amazing. And I'm just so thankful for everybody who participated.

All of our office staff and and volunteers. And we had people from Atlanta there. People from World Changers Church was were there. It was just amazing. Great great great time. Uh, all right. Let's see who in the house with us this this morning. Nusa, is that right? Nusa, Australia.

Um, welcome to the grace gang this morning. Tulsa, I saw Belfast, Ireland is in the house with us today and we welcome you. Send blessings to you. Massachusetts is in the house today. Cape Coral, Florida. Uh Maryland, Richland, Washington, Durban, South Africa. Uh New York City is in the house with us.

Uh McKenna, Texas, Chicago, Red Bank, New Jersey. Come on now. Liberia is in the house with us. And London in the UK. Las Vegas is here. We send blessings to you guys. Bronx, New York is here. Ethiopia is in the house this morning. Uh Joberg in South Africa is here with us.

We welcome you. Send blessings to Buffalo in Jesus night. In Jesus name. All Benny New York is here. Ptoria South uh Indian. Oh I that I thought Ptoria is in South Africa. I think it is. Fedville, Georgia. Hampton, Georgia. Um, God bless the Grace Gang, man. Uh, Dallas, Texas, Philadelphia in the house.

Nigeria is in the house with us this morning. The international city, Kylie Park. You've been there. Appreciate you. Las Vegas and California and Seattle, Washington. Welcome to the grace gang. We got good news today. You blessed. You are blessed and highly favored of the Lord. Praise God. Uh just so excited, man.

I got to make sure I stop by Cape Town and Pritoria the next time that I'm there uh in South Africa. I I I tell you it was it was life-changing. It got me stirred up. Uh Zurich, Switzerland is in the house with us this morning and uh all is well.

Somebody said do a grace conference on on the water cruising. I'm have to pray about that. Praise the Lord. Uh God bless you guys. Louisville, Kentucky in the house. Ptoria is uh South Africa is like on all four platforms and we just welcome you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Um let's see. I got two more minutes. Let's keep going here. Yeah, I'm stirred up too, man. I'm stirred up. I I man, I tell you what, I want to I I I I guess I need to uh Newton, Texas is in the house. I need to just just go ahead and shout about this thing.

Springfield, Ohio is here. Nashville is here. Welcome to the Grace Gang. Um, Tennessee, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota in the house. Welcome. And uh, we just thank God for you so much. So, what what is this grace gang? We're just growing in grace, man, and spreading the word so Jesus can come back.

You want to make it simple? We're just we're growing in grace, spreading the world word, and um you know, preparing to wait for Jesus to come back when this gospel has been preached. Amen. The Dominican Republic is in the house with us this morning. Welcome. The Ukraine, uh shalom is in the house.

Ukraine is in the house with us. We send blessings. We keep praying for y'all, man. God bless you. Um yeah, all is well and um we just think God is is doing some amazing things. I'm looking forward to uh coming to Salt Lake City, Utah next week. Um praise God.

Iran is in the house this morning. We send blessings to all our brothers and sisters in Iran. We send blessings to those of you in England. We send blessings to those of you in the islands of the world. Yeah, man. you're all here this morning and we are so grateful to you.

Uh we love you so much and we thank God for you. I I I didn't bring it with me, but I wrote something down from my study this morning. Literally brought tears to my eyes. I was like I'm getting ready to definitely teach a series on renewing the mind because I always thought that renewing the mind was about dropping something from my head down to my heart.

And I realized in my study, it's um trying to get stuff from my heart to my head. And um it's going to be an amazing series. I I have to teach on what Renewing the Mind is all about in order for me to teach on some radical subjects that I'll be teaching on after that.

So, the next couple of months, uh make sure you download the Sunday services and stuff like that. Grace gang, I've given you a little bit of of all of that, so you're not going to be totally surprised if you've been on here. So, amen. Let's go ahead and make some declarations.

Let's get Psalms 91 equipped. How about that? Repeat after me. I dwell in the shelter of the most high God. I rest in the shadow of the Almighty. God is my refuge and my fortress. You are my God in whom I trust and with great confidence in whom I will rely.

God rescues me from every trap and protects me from every disease. I'm covered. I'm protected by his outstretch arms. God's faithful promises are my armor and my protection. I am not afraid of the terrors of the night, nor of the arrows that fly in the day. I do not dread any disease that stalks in the darkness, nor any disaster that strikes at midnight, midday or midnight.

Come on, repel for me. Because God is my refuge and the almighty God of my home, no evil can befall me. No plague can come near my dwelling. God has ordered his angels to guard, defend, and protect me in my house. God's armies of heaven will keep me from falling.

I will walk unharmed and kick anything that is evil from my path. Because of God's love for me, I will call upon him. He will set me ab above all my troubles. Therefore, I am set above all my troubles. Oh my God, I am delivered from all my fears.

I am honored with God's presence and power. I declare that I have long life and his salvation. It's in Jesus name I pray. I declare this now. to remind myself of what is already true. Thank you, Father. Amen. And amen. All right. So, yesterday we were talking about the benefits of our union with uh Christ, the benefits of our being one with Christ.

And and you know, sometimes when I'm doing this, I drop notes. I'm like trying to find out what's going on. So, just pray that I don't drop my notes and and there's such a small time in here. Uh I I I I most of the time will teach you straight from my notes because I I want to try to get in as much as I can, but today I'm going to kind of go off just a little bit because I want to show you some things u in John chapter 15 I think will be a blessing.

So, we we we looked at some practical benefits of of our union with God. I'll review those. And if my notes served me correctly, uh we stopped at like what number five. Uh right, number five. Those of you were here yesterday. Yeah, number five. So, I'll review and then we'll we'll pick up u with number five.

And I'm just going to give them to you. But these are the benefits of being one with God. And we are one with God. We have been uh born again into the family. And we talk about that um um the the branch vine connection which makes us one with him.

So we don't have to have a transaction uh because we're in union with him just because of our relationship and our union. We receive what he has for us. Our relationship and our union. So the first benefit was uh a consistent inner peace. A consistent inner peace. So this is what happens.

You're connected with peace. So you have this inner peace that even when things are like freaking out on the outside, you're you're peace. You you've got this peace that passes all understanding because this peace flows into the branches and into our lives and we have this consistent inner peace.

Praise God. Number two, I think what we talked about was effortless transformation and it'll be like less striving and more fruit. So being in union with God is effortless transformation. Now, one of the things I'm learning is that, you know, the transformation takes place in your mind first and then you see it in in all a lot of areas of your life.

Uh uh the Bible doesn't say renew your mind. The Bible says be renewed. Oo, we're going to talk about that, brother. That that is going to be amazing. So, the second benefit was effortless transformation. Okay, let's see. The third benefit, freedom from condemnation. Freedom from condemnation. And when you get free from condemnation, you're free from uh sin consciousness.

So our union from God helps us to be free from condemnation. You remember the Bible said there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Period. All right? You don't have to. It it's it's not based on how you walking. If you're in Christ Jesus, which means you share with his accomplishments, you share with what Jesus achieved.

He achieved righteousness. We we share in that righteousness. He achieved redemption. We share in that redemption. And our union with God is is uh is what's going to help us to walk in the freedom of condemnation and sin consciousness. Number four, our union with God. Here's the benefit.

Confidence and boldness in in our in our everyday lives. Number four, confidence and boldness in our everyday lives. Uh and this is why this upcoming series starting Sunday is going to be so vital. When you talk about confidence and boldness that comes from your union with with uh Christ, you have to you have to remind yourself of what already is.

Okay? Um, and then you begin to see confidence and you begin to see boldness because every day you wake up with um with reminding yourself of what what what already is. I'm already righteous. I'm already delivered. I'm already redeemed. I'm already one with him. I'm already connected with him.

You get bold and you get confident as a result of that. Okay? and then everything you start seeing it in every every every aspect of your life. Number five, now according to my notes, this is kind of where we we stopped at. Uh okay, number five. Uh here's a benefit of being in union with God.

Clearer spiritual sensitivity. you you remember that you're in union with God and you you're going to have a lot clearer spiritual sensitivity and that that's talking about um hearing and discerning things. A lot of spiritual sensitivity. It I don't I I'm going to spend one day getting very very practical with this.

But when you're in union with God and you're reminding yourself every day that you're in union with God and you see the branch connected to the vine, dude, you start hearing clearer. You start discerning uh clearer. You have your sensitivity and awareness. When you are aware of the of the spirit of God that lives on the inside of you and that you are in union with him.

Oh wow. You know, when you're in union with him, it's a relationship. And uh as he is, so are you in this world. That's powerful. And you start hearing clearer. You start discerning clearer. Uh you recognize that the voice is already within you. The voice is already within you. um you begin to uh quit trying to listen to the voice, you know, up way up in space and you start realizing, dude, I'm connected to him.

That voice is in me. And you look for that inward voice. you you stop trying to listen to something with these ears and and you you you get a you get a hold and you keep reminding yourself, wait a minute, I am in union with the one that I need to hear.

So Jesus said in John 10, my my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they know me. A lot of this happens because we have this wrong perspective of God. We think God is in the distance somewhere and you're connected with him. And once you begin to see that spiritually, you become very sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

You remember when I was talking to you about the anointing and a lot of people thought, well, I'm going to fast more and pray more so I can be more anointed. No, no, no. It's not that someone is more anointed than you are. It's just they're more aware of their union with with with the Holy Spirit.

They're more aware of the the the anointing and the power in them. And so fasting and prayer will help you to be more aware and remind you and align you into what you already have. Okay. Number six, love becomes something that's natural and not forced. uh love becomes something that's natural and not forced.

How? When you when you just start realizing you're in union with him and it becomes natural. It it flows. I mean, God is the very pure source of love. And that love flows from God straight to you. And if you you're ever in a situation where you might find yourself struggling with what somebody did to you or how maybe they were insensitive to you and you still love them, you're not a fool.

You're in union with God. Something must be wrong with me. I let you, you know, you're not a fool. You're just in union with God. Love should be something that flows uh naturally in a sense. the best way I can say that something that flows rather than something that's forced.

Okay? And then number seven, stability regardless of the circumstances. When you're in union with God, you know, we got, you know, doing this journey of life, there are all kinds of circumstances that come up. Circumstance or the circle that you stand in. Uh but you have stability. You're not the guy that loses it.

You know, all of a sudden we don't see the best version of who you are because you are reminding yourself that you are in union with God. I know for some people it might sound well this is boring. We got to get this piece right here because we start living our life through this union.

Um, it's like the only issue that we as humans have is that we have forgotten who we really are. And God is trying to remind us of who we are and trying to remind us of our connection. And we keep making this a heaven to hell issue. And he's just trying to say, I need you to realize who you are.

I need you to realize that when you look at me, you looking at yourself. Wake up. Wake up. That just so does something to me. Like God's trying to wake me up to who I am. And oh, I know everything is going to be explained to us when you know we we see him, but you know, we got seduced into this uh weird wickedness and it blinded us to who we really are.

And the day we wake up to who we really are and who we are connected to and and the day we wake up to that union in Christ, oh my god, you're not going to have any a lot. You know, you're talking about issues with bad behavior. Once you realize who you are, he's just trying to wake you up to who you are.

We keep trying to work to get something and uh and to change something and we keep trying to manage behavior. And God's like, "All of that is going to be taken care of as soon as you wake up out of your coma and realize who you are." And and that's that's basically what I what I'm what I'm after today.

Uh now, I I want to read this. I wrote this down and it's it's a very easy way to remember what I what I'm saying here. Listen to this. Abiding is not a spiritual activity. All right, go with me slow on this. Abiding is not a spiritual activity.

Abiding is a spiritual awareness. Abiding is not a spiritual activity. Abiding is a spiritual awareness. I'm aware of who I am and I'm aware of this union that I have with God. It's all about awareness. It's it's like we can't keep saying these things, saying these scriptures, and not believe it.

And then it's even more than believing it. It's waking up in in the awareness of it. It's an awakening to to these scriptures. It's awakening to this identity. It's an awakening to my union with God. And it's an awakening to the point where you move in the automatic.

All right? You move in the automatic. That's why I feel like I must do this series on on uh renewing the mind. And so I can show you from a grace-based perspective what it is and what it is not. And um it's a spiritual awareness. And I'm talking about every day waking up in the awareness that I am in union with God.

That I'm not qualifying to try to be with him. That's how it is. I am in union with God. All right. So the rest of this is that. Okay. So abiding is not a spiritual activity. It is a spiritual awareness. Abiding is living every day conscious that you and God are not separate.

It's living every day conscience that you and God are not separate. Let me say that one more time. It's living every day with a consciousness that you and God are not separate. That's so something, guys. I mean, I I spent most of of of of yesterday just I could not get out of the word.

I got up early this morning, got back into the word around 6:00. I was just kind of weeping because I was I wish I'd have brought this thing with me, but I was just weeping about about what I saw in the book of Ephesians, which which I'm going to share this week.

I'm like I'm like, "Are you serious, God?" And and there it is in the scripture. I mean, I I never even recognized that the Bible didn't say, you know, renew your mind. It said, "Be renewed." And I'll show you the distinction between that. Um, this is bigger than what I ever dreamed.

This is big. This is bigger than some sermon. um or some religion or playing church. This is gigantic. This is huge. This is huge that that God is trying to wake up mankind to who he is and to who and to his his union with him. He's trying to wake you up.

It's like the day you wake up uh and you realize your identity and you realize what this whole thing is about. It's no longer this you're going to heaven because you you got a better behavior than the other guy and then he's going to hell because even though he got saved and he's still going to hell.

Uh I got some I got something happened when I was in South Africa and what happened was is a fresh boldness came over me and a fresh boldness to say some things and to show you some things in the word that I don't know it's going to take courage to say but this is bigger than what we ever known.

This is so much bigger than western religion. This is so much bigger than our rules and regulations and you know this is how we go to church go to church. This is so much bigger than that. This is a a waking up to the truth that has already been finished.

And a lot of it concerns you. It's it's waking up and realizing that when I look in the mirror of the word and see Jesus, that reflection is is coming right back at me. You hear what I just said? When I look in the mirror of the word of God and I see Jesus, Jesus said, "These scriptures speak of me."

Then, oh, how do it's almost like now follow what I'm saying? Now, these scriptures speak of me and you're his reflection. They speak of you, too. Those scriptures are trying to wake you up to who you are. Those scriptures about Jesus is trying to wake you up to who you are because you're in union with him.

Do you understand what I am saying? You You remember Chris Tucker? Chris Tucker in um in whatever the movie was he played, he says, "Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?" And I would say that a lot of religious people cannot even fathom some of the stuff I'm going to begin to share.

And I notice uh that the more real my union with God becomes, you remember the scripture that says that we are changed just by beholding him by the Holy Ghost. We're changed by beholding him by the Holy Ghost. And and things become effortless. the the transformation becomes effortless.

They're just things you don't want to do anymore because you have gotten a view of who you are, who you really are. And I keep going back to the Superman example. I'm sure Clark Kent didn't always realize that he was Superman and it was a journey that he had to go on and he's just a cartoon character.

He it was a journey that Clark Kent had to go on before he came into full realization that he was a Superman. And I always knew that it's more to it than this stuff that we, you know, come to church. If you come to church, you'll get blessed.

If you don't, God can't bless you. Yeah. It's good to gather at church. Yeah. It because we get But for what? For what? So we can get the word that helps to wake us up to who we really are. Um but y'all know what I'm saying. All of the little stuff we do, all the little things that we do and how we judge people and how we judge ourselves.

And woo. So I I I'm I'm you know, don't get mad at me if I say a few things that you Well, I don't know about that yet. Just just hang in there with me. Just just keep going down the road cuz there are things I I couldn't even articulate what I'm saying to you right now.

I get it. I get it. And and and listen, I do not want to die and go die and and and then have to realize that the whole time God was trying to show me who I really was in him. The whole time he was trying to show me.

And we kept being distracted by behavior and managing bad behavior and behavior modification and didn't even realize who we are. Big, big, big, big, big. And I'm going all the way through with it, man. I hope y'all on the bus with me, boy. I hope y'all on the bus with me.

And you understand once you awaken to who you are. Signs and wonders start flowing out of you cuz you're no longer this. I I tell you I tell you what happened. I tell you what happened. You remember when Peter saw Jesus walking on water? I thought about this when when when when let me back up.

Make sure I'm saying saying everything right. You remember when Peter was walking on water? Well, let me back up. You remember when Jesus was walking on water? All right, come on. Remember when Jesus was walking on water? And Peter saw Jesus walking on the water and he said, "If it be thou, if this is really you, then bid me to come."

And and Jesus said come. All right. Now watch what I'm saying. Now he said come. He said if thou be the son if thou be if you really are who you say you are. If this if thou be you then bid me to come. Well Jesus wasn't going to say it be not me.

Because it was him right? So Jesus said come. Now check this out. This guy, a man gets out the boat and this man start walking on the water. Forget about he sunk. Forget about he fell. He started walking on the water. He started walking on the water and he was walking to Jesus.

Do you see what I'm saying? Here is Jesus and here is Peter and Peter Peter is mirroring Jesus. Ah, he's mirroring Jesus and the and the only thing that happened was in his mind he started paying attention to the circumstances around him and immediately let go of who he really was and begin to sink.

But now watch this. This is just as powerful. When Jesus reached out to help him back up, they walked on the water together back to the boat. Jesus didn't carry him back to the boat. He picked him up. Which lets me know that this fallen man can have the image of God, but he's got to be totally dependent on Jesus. total dependence on Jesus to walk in this union because he's still a branch and this branch can't break away from the vine and do what the vine was doing or or receive what the vine gives it.

I hope y'all on the bus. I hope y'all on the bus. I hope y'all on the bus. Woo! Oo, he took his eye. And so I'm trying to get our eyes back on Jesus. I'm trying to get our eyes back on this union. I'm trying to get our eyes back on this abiding this abiding this abiding.

For just those few moments, he was abiding in union with Jesus. And he was doing what Jesus could do. Man, y'all better hear me. We f to get ready to take off now. Get ready, grace gang. We getting ready to take off with signs and wonders. And when when people ask, just tell them, man, I'm just I'm just um participating in this union I have with my Lord.

Oo Jesus. Oo Jesus. Oh Jesus. It is good to be here today. It's good. Some of y'all going to get off and y'all going to feel that anointing talking about it is it was oh my goodness and I'm talking about you. So when Jesus said in John chapter 5, "These scriptures speak of me," he's also saying these scriptures because you abide in me, they speak of you.

Oh my gosh, they speak of you. Grace gang, this is uh this is gonna the next two the next two or three months is going to be amazing. I have so much in me. I may have to start teaching on Wednesdays a little bit too because I got to I got to get this out and I need y'all to get it.

I need y'all to study it out. Let go of of tradition that that that tells you nah, I don't know about that. Well, it's time to know about it. Well, I don't know about that, Reb. Well, it's time to know. It's time to know. And uh yeah, this is this is going to be an amazing time.

And so, I guess you can sense the excitement on me, Grace Gang. We going to go to another level. And I want to I want to explode a lot of this on on um uh Salt Lake City, Utah. I know. I know. Oh, I know. Well, you know, I don't know why you coming to Salt Lake City cuz the Holy Ghost says so.

And I'm just going to pour out on whoever. If two people come, I'm pouring out on you. You going to spend most of the time on the floor cuz the power of God is going to be so anointed. I know who I am, dude. I know who I'm connected to.

You ain't scared of nothing. April the 24th, Salt Lake City, Utah. You got like about about another six days to register. Be one of 500 and uh let's get this thing right after Salt Lake City. I'm coming to Denver, Colorado while we up there. And uh uh that's May the 8th, Denver, Colorado.

You can go ahead and register and uh be a part of these Grace Life uh these Grace Life meetings. I got two books that are coming out. One of them uh is called a radical mind shift. A radical mind shift. How to rightly divide the word of grace.

I need everybody to read that. Uh because it's going to explain all the stuff I don't ever have time to explain from the very beginning to the end. And if you can rightly divide it, you can see yourself. And uh so I'll talk to you about that later.

I love y'all. I know your weekend's going to be amazing. I know you're stirred up right now. There's no time or distance in the spirit. I believe that anointing came through the screen. No matter where you are in the world and and you you picked up something, you caught something.

Ha. Thank you. You caught something in the name of Jesus. And uh Oh my goodness. I don't Oh my goodness. I feel the Holy Ghost. feel I feel the Holy Ghost. Thank you. And u man uh I just feel like what I just released is going to the Holy Spirit's going to just start speaking to you about some things and just you know you'll find the scripture in there.

You'll see it. Uh happy Friday everybody. Happy Friday. I love you grace gang. Let's keep growing. Let's keep expanding. and let's uh let's get a hold of who we are uh in the mighty name of Jesus. Have a great day today. Um I'm I'm trying to say bye, but I'm I'm caught up.

Thank y'all. You know how they doing Baptist Church. Hey, I'm kind of caught up, man. I hope y'all got some of that. If not, go back and listen to this again and um it's going to be a it's going to be a good good time. Well, I love y'all and uh love people no matter how they act.

Love them anyway because of your union with God. You can love crazy. You can love slanderous. You can love lying no good for nothing. Well, let me hold up a minute. You can love people and love them out of their uh They're only acting like that cuz they're asleep to who they are.

When we were acting crazy, we we acted crazy because we were asleep to who we who we who we were and who we are. Now we're waking up to who we are and a lot of things are about to change. You're going to find stuff happening that you didn't even remember praying for.

You just you connected with him. It's stuff just going to start happening. You going to walk in the favor of God. Hallelujah. The favor of the Lord. The tsunami of favor is about to invade your house. Thank you. Glory to God. All right, I got I gotta let y'all go, man.

I'm because I'm gonna tear something up in here. I'm gonna turn this these uh platforms off and I might do me a little step right quick. Glory be to God. Love y'all. Have an amazing day today. Spread the word. Spread the word. Hallelujah. Tell people you not what you think you are.

And this journey is about waking us up to who we are. All right, guys. I'll see y'all Sunday. Don't miss Sunday. Don't miss Sunday. And in the midst of a lot of stuff that's going on, make sure you live life as givers. Don't let nothing stop you giving because that's a lot.

I got a lot to talk about. Don't let nothing stop you giving. Be people that love being blessing other people. All of our supplies in here for somebody. Praise God. I got to go. I love y'all so much. Glory to God. I got to get out of here.

Byebye. Have a great day. All is well. Jesus is Lord. Um, all that. Amen. Bye-bye.