In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of surrendering oneself completely to God. He urges the audience to control their tongues and align their hearts with God's love and care. The preacher also highlights the need to engage in spiritual battle and take hold of God's promises. He emphasizes that God is interested in every aspect of our lives, no matter how small, and that we should rely on His power in every moment. The sermon concludes with a reminder to reckon the full work of the cross and align our lives with God's agenda.

Hi there, this is Ben Zorns of Ellerslie Mission Society. This message by Pastor Eric Moody is entitled, Horses and Chariots of Fire. The Apostle Paul told Timothy that as a good soldier, he needed to endure hardness. While that may not sound like much fun, it is a battle speech that every soldier of the cross must hear and heed. Please contact us at www.ellerslie.com. Now here's Eric Moody. Horses and chariots of fire. I've told you in the past that I like the majestic tones of scripture. And this particular statement out of Kings is one of my favorite statements in the entire Bible. I'm not giving you the scripture, it's right near the end of where this comes from, but I tell you what, this is just good stuff. This is a combination message of quite a few, it's like a compilation of a lot of different messages that you've heard at Ellerslie over the past year or so. And so we are going to overview something and just sort of walk through how God builds a recruit. You can grow up in a home, in a Christian home and be very serious about Jesus, read your Bible, memorize some scripture here and there, do a little praying off to the side, go to youth group. You can be a fairly serious Christian. You can be more serious than those around you. You can make your old purity commitments. You can do things right, dot a few I's, cross a few T's. Jesus is looking more, looking for more than just a half-hearted givenness where you keep your life, but then turn over a little bit of it to Jesus to make sure that spiritually you're okay. As if there's a certain dimension of your life and you just need to satisfy God with it, but the rest of your life belongs to you. When I talk about a recruit today, I am not talking about someone who lives partly for Jesus Christ. I'm talking about someone who gives 100% of their life to Jesus Christ. You see, we have this idea, it's called the 10% rule. I'm not saying it's incorrect at some degree, because it is. It's in the Old Testament where we're supposed to give 10% under the work of the priests in the temple. It's called the tithe. We have this idea that we tithe 10% of our life to God, 10% of our money to God. I want you to realize that the New Covenant makes it very clear that 100% of all you are and all you have belongs to Jesus Christ. That's the new rule. We call it the 100% rule. For those of us that live by the 10% rule in our Christian faith, and we take 90% of our life and we spend it on ourselves, and 10%, you know, we give God a little time. We give Him a little space in our life. You know, we give Him a Sunday morning here and there, maybe even a Sunday night. Hey, I gave Him a Wednesday night. I prayed a few times this week. God is interested in gaining what He purchased on that cross. And what He purchased was you. And He purchased, this is going to sound strange, but He didn't just purchase you inside, like the theoretical you that floats around inside of you. Actually, you're very real. I don't want to call you theoretical. But He also purchased your body. It says your body and your spirit, which are God's. Apostrophe S, which means possessive. God's. You belong to God. You are His property. It's as if you're a piece of property, but you just happen to be mobile, and you're walking around on legs. And there's an address, and it's called like Eric Lutie. You know, yours is called whatever you are. It's like we're an address on earth, and God purchased that property. And He said, mine. Just like the promised land in the Old Testament. God says, this is my territory. Go in and take it. Take it for the glory of God. But it all belonged to God. And He allowed us to participate in the process of sharing in that inheritance. We live in His body. We live in His territory. But it's His property. 100% His. And what He wants to do with it, He gets to do. That's what a recruit is. So when we talk about what most of us have grown up doing, we've been given the 10%. For those of you serious enough to become a recruit, it's time for 100%. And so this is basic training. The six steps of basic training. When you're ready to get serious, this is what we need to make sure we do first thing. So you enter boot camp. Basic training. And we get down to business. And we get down to business quick. Because there's a job to do. The enemy can have no access to your life. If the enemy is at work in any corner of your life, it's time for him to go. Because we have legal paperwork signed by the blood of Jesus which claims that the enemy has no more right to your property. He has been a squatter for all these years, which means he has no actual right to take claim to your body, to any part of your existence. And yet, because you didn't understand your legal arrangement with the heavenlies, you have not exerted it. And as a result, the enemy has been squatting on the territory of your life. And it is time to get that paperwork out and get him out. So, these are six steps of basic training. And one of the things you're going to notice with these six steps is these are not six steps that you go through once and then, you know, you're done. And you sort of float through life as a great Christian. You get done with these six, you go right back through them the next day. It's a constant deepening on these points. First, we enter the cloak. It's a term we use at Ellerslie for what in Isaiah 61 is called the robe of righteousness. It's sometimes hard because we don't wear robes. We don't really wear cloaks either. But it's a covering. You see, Jesus has accomplished something that we couldn't accomplish. You must live with perfect righteousness. You must behave the way God intended a man or a woman to behave to be able to enter into the presence of God. Otherwise, you're cut off for all eternity. And very bad things happen to those that are cut off for all eternity. It's called hell. So, this is serious business because if you were to evaluate yourself against the perfect righteousness of Scripture, you'll find that you can't match up. And no matter how hard you try from this day forward till the day you die, you cannot perform perfect righteousness. You can't. You're unable. Your righteousness, says God, is as filthy rags before Him. It's disgusting before Heaven. You are not able to bring to the heavenly table that which pleases God. You have a problem, which is why the cross of Jesus Christ is so important. So, a recruit has to understand the blood of Jesus. They can't esteem the blood. They must enter into it. They can't say, oh, thank you, Jesus, for dying and forgiving me. But now I'm going to attempt to knit my own cloak. I'm going to attempt to dress myself in a way that will please you. No, no, no. You must realize that Jesus Christ took this so seriously that He actually died to give it to you. In other words, what Jesus Christ gave you on that cross was worth the death, the life of God. It's serious stuff. So, when you go off to the side and attempt to do what only He can do and what only He did, it's spitting in the face of Jesus, saying, no, I could do that. Thanks for the example, but I too will live as you did, Jesus. He says, you can't do this your way. I need you to enter into my cloak. It's His blood. You know, you have guilt. You have the enemy accusing you. It's miserable. Who likes living that way? The enemy is holding your past against you and even some of you are Christians and you still have this accusation voice. You know what? The cloak deals with that voice. You get in Jesus and anything that can get through Jesus can get to you. But what can get through Jesus? When the enemy comes and accuses Jesus, how far does it get? When the enemy comes and tempts Jesus with lust, how far does it get? When the enemy comes and tries to bring fear against Jesus, how far does it get? Not very far. And guess who you're in? You're in Jesus. That's the first great secret of Christianity. Get in Jesus. If you're in Jesus, the enemy can no longer hound you. He can no longer hold you back. Now you have the ticket. You have the key. You have the way into the very presence of God. It's not the end. A lot of Christians, this is the end. It's like, oh, okay, so that means I'm no longer under any condemnation. I'm no longer guilty of my sin. It's been forgiven. Praise God. What a great gospel. Well, it is good. But there's more. And this isn't where we stop. This is where we begin. This is the first step. So we enter the cloak and find shelter in His grace. And by the way, grace is not just a cover-up. A big operational cover-up. Heaven's cover-up routine. Okay, we got some sinners down there. And we're going to somehow need to cover up their sins so we can get them into heaven. God is not coming down and just hugging. He's not just saying, you know, I love you, even though you're a mess. This is what God says. He does say that. I love you, even though you're a mess. But I love you too much to leave you that way. You see, the gospel and the work of Jesus Christ upon that cross included more than just cleaning the slate, than just removing the penalty. Jesus Christ has come to establish our feet on a rock so that we can live this life. Not just esteem Christ's life, worship Christ's life, and then live in the dungeons of depravity ourselves, but so that we could find triumph in our existence. The second thing we need to do is reckon the full work of the cross. Align with His agenda. So here I am saying the full work of the cross. Well, isn't that it? Isn't that that we get in the cloak and He forgives us? Ah! The full work of the cross! There is so much to the cross. So much depth and beauty and power. And a new recruit enters into Jesus Christ and says, I want the full work. Work it in me. And then we come into alignment. If we are out of order with God's word, then we say, God, change me. I want to be in alignment with you. And then we present our body unto the King. Empty all self-ambition. You know, we like this to be about ourselves. And it's sort of a scary thought to give up your body to the work of God. Isn't that a strange thought? You ever heard of demon possession? No, we don't really like to talk about those things. Demon possession. If you're demon possessed, who's operating you? A demon. Well, that isn't God's pattern. It's a counterfeit of God's pattern. You know what God's pattern is? God possession. He takes over the body of His saints and He rules and reigns within their body. And we are supposed to be possessed by God. Now, it doesn't mean He kicks us out and we have no say in the matter. He allows us to participate. Sort of like we're the master of an estate and then God says, that's my property. But He doesn't kick us off the grounds. He makes us the head butler. But we're no longer the master. And whatever the master says, the butler does. If the master says, sell all the furniture. Give it all to the poor. Guess what the butler does? Yes, sir. Well, he spent a lot of time traveling through Italy to get all that furniture. And now the new master comes in and sell it all? New master rules. Whatever the new master wants, he gets. Yet you still participate in this great drama. It's an incredible reality. Number four. We take hold the promises and engage in the spiritual battle. You see, you're not just set free. You're not just covered with the cloak and you don't just enter into Christ and have all this nice, sweet-smelling stuff taking place in your life. And then God just sets you on a shelf and stares at you and says, you know what? That's a good work that I did. He's making you fit for battle. So one of the reasons why it's so critical to be 100% given to God is so that He can prepare you to be equipped to go into this world and change it. To do that, we need to take hold of the promises. I'm going to go through each one of these in depth. So I'm just giving you an overview right now. Number five. You learn to wield the all-powerful name and you get familiar with your weaponry. I can just sort of see this new recruit. He's coming through and he's always been dealing with sort of like this pea shooter. It's like a, you know one of those straws that you used in junior high and you'd make your little spitwad and stick it in it. That's basically what's been our spiritual weaponry. The enemy is mocking us and we get our little spitwad out and shoot it at him and he just laughs in our face. We're like, how come it doesn't work? We're always backtracking. And then you come in, you give your life to Jesus Christ and say, let's get serious now. Okay? My children are not going to lose. I have given you weaponry that is mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. It's time you learn how to wield it. You know, it only makes sense. We're trained for battle. And so we need to come in to the war room and there's our king, our commander, and he's sitting there and he's going, okay, let's get serious. Sit down. You see all this armament? It's yours, purchased with my blood. I'm going to teach you how to swing this sword. I'm going to teach you how to hold this shield. See this battle axe over here? Nothing can stop it when you swing it in my name. Now I want to teach you who to swing at because the other thing we oftentimes do is we grab that and we're like, thank you! We go running out and we start hitting the wrong things. We need to know what we are assigned to clobber with God's weaponry. And when we fight that battle God's way, with God's equipment, God's children always win. Number six, we need to see with new eyes. Walk by the direction of a new life within. You are not your own. You've been bought with a price. It is no longer you who lives, but Christ who's now living in you. There is a new power at work. You're under new management. It's new ownership, new management. In other words, you are governed by a new life. Well, there's a whole new coordination. You're used to seeing things only in the natural realm. You judge things after the natural, after the flesh. So you go into a cocktail party and someone has their arms folded and you say, well, they don't want to talk to anyone. I'm not going to violate that. Well, that's judging things after the flesh. Social grace. You're motivated by a whole new motive now, a whole new governing power. You see someone in the corner with their arms folded saying, I don't want to talk to anyone. My wife dragged me here. Get away from me. But you see with your eyes and you see a man who's dying. You see a man who's desperate for someone to reach out to him. So you walk straight up to him and say, hi. He's like, don't you see my folded arms? I'm not wanting to talk. By the way, I see your folded arms, and I'm guessing you're probably saying to me you don't want to talk, but God sent me over here. And I just want you to know that he loves you. And if there's anything I can do for you, I'm ready to do it right now. In fact, in the middle of a cocktail party, how about I pray for you? Is that all right? And the guy's like, tears streaming down his face all of a sudden. He's like, what in the world is going on here? This is uncomfortable. Don't you realize we're not supposed to be doing this here? Oh, I realize that, but I don't care. I'm here because God's leading me. You are owned and operated. You see with new eyes. You are on a mission that is much higher. And this world will not understand it because they are not seen with the same eyes. You are walking by a direction of a new life within. All right. So, now you notice this is the first one in the list again. I gave you six things. Now, it doesn't mean there's only six things. There's six things I'm going to emphasize today. Six key dimensions of development in the new recruit. When you come unto Jesus, Jesus is looking to gain access to you. He's looking to build and establish something within you. But to do that, you need to come into alignment with his truth. You see, most of us esteem truth. We pass true-false tests. The old classic illustration. I've given it many times. Did Jesus Christ die on the cross? True. Did Jesus Christ rise from the dead on the third day? True. Did Jesus Christ ascend to be with the Father? Is He seated at the right hand? Is He going to return for His children someday? True. Most of us would say, there's your Christian for you. They agree with truth. Agreeing with truth is different than taking truth. To take truth, you actually have to get up and apprehend it. If these things are true, go get them. I use the illustration a lot at Ellerslie, but if there's a banquet in the back, and you're sitting here on the step, the banquet is made for you. God has made the ultimate feast just for you. And He says, I've made a feast for you. Go back and take it. And if I came up to you 20 minutes later, and you were just still sitting there, I'd go, why aren't you going back and getting the banquet? Well, because I don't smell it, I don't see it, and I don't taste it. Hey, buddy, the reason you're not smelling it, seeing it, and tasting it is because you're not getting up and getting it. If I asked you, do you believe that what God said is true? Do you believe there's a banquet back there? You'd probably say, yeah, I think there probably is. But if I get up and I don't find it, I risk disillusionment. And so I would rather sit here and just know that it's back there than get up and risk not finding it. Do you believe God? Did you know that God cannot lie? Did you know that His Word is truth? And His Word is the Word of God? And therefore, if He cannot lie, His Word cannot lie. And so if His Word says it, you can take Him at His Word. And there is a banquet in the back, but you must get up and start walking. Most of us are waiting for the banquet to come and be rolled up in front of us and a big spoon to be jammed into our mouth. God force-feeds us. That's not faith. Faith is what accesses the kingdom of heaven. You must believe even though you don't yet see. You must get up. You cannot see that back room where you're sitting. But it's still true. And if God is a truth-telling God, then you take Him at His Word. You either believe Him or you don't. What saves you is faith. What saves you is believing His Word. If He says it, it's true. So you get up and you start walking. You know what's gonna happen? You're gonna take a couple steps and you may still not smell it. Well, you're still a fairly good distance away from it. There's a process here and it's called the test of faith. Because these other people around you go, do you smell anything yet? Because I don't think there's anything back there. You still don't. You still don't see it. You still don't taste it. But do you believe your God? Because your God has promised and He cannot lie. Do you believe that? Because if you believe that, you'll keep walking. You know what? A couple steps later, I smell it! You'll begin to smell it. You round that bend, you'll see it. You walk into that room, big spoon waiting for you, you'll taste it. These spiritual realities that are hidden from many of us, we esteem them from a distance. We worship God. We sing songs about Him all the time. My chains are gone! I've been set free! The whole while we're singing with chains on our wrists. The chains are unlocked when you appropriate the key. Go and take it! Don't sit there and sing songs about your chains being gone if they're still on you. Knowing that your chains can be taken off is one thing. That's where it starts because most people don't even know that. But then you must go after the key. And Jesus says, here's where the key is. Do you trust me? Get up and take it. Get up and take it! Enter the cloak, find shelter in His grace. This is the concept in Scripture of coming into Christ. It's actually a deliberate grammatical thing that Paul uses in the New Testament as he talks about in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. And we just look over that. It's like, what else would you say? On Christ Jesus? No, you're in Christ Jesus. It's a positional thing. You actually are inside Him, which is why you can enter into the holy of holy of holies. Because only that which is perfect and righteous is allowed in. So if you are in Christ Jesus, that cloak is your way and avenue into the presence of God. However, there's something that takes place in this chamber of holiness. And that is, Christ, you get in Christ so that you can get into His presence and that He can get in you. You ever heard of Christ in us? Christ in you? That's a whole other dimension. It's very purposeful. There's two dimensions to Christianity. One is you getting into Christ. That's how it starts. Because if you don't get into Christ, you can't get into His presence. And if you can't get into His presence, His presence can't get into you. Let's start with first things first. So if we're gonna get dead serious about Christianity, I'm gonna say to you it's time to be all in. Let's ask a few hard questions. Do you believe you're God? Do you believe the word of God? Or do you believe it's just the word of men? Because if you believe it's the word of men, we cannot negotiate any further. You might as well give up on being a recruit until you can finally gather your wits and realize that God speaks truth. God cannot lie. Paul says it is impossible for God to lie. That is the anchor of Paul's soul. So when God speaks it, it's good. You can take it to the bank. It's assurance. And it's good yesterday, today, and forever. He doesn't change. That's another fact about God. So, if God speaks it, it's good. And it needs to be personalized to you. Because you have this other gymnastic routine you do in your mind. Well, that's good for other people. Yeah, it's true for other people. But it's not true for me. I have special problems. Don't think so highly of yourself. It's the fact that God's shed blood on His cross was not sufficient for you. He came, and He gave up His life. And He has brought you to the point where you can hear it, where you can understand it, and now it's time to take it. You must get into that cloak. From Adam into Jesus. From in Adam to in Jesus. We start, and the scripture describes it as us being in Adam. We are born in sin. We are in Adam, and as a result we are born with this behavior. We are born with a disposition where we are in the control position of our life. But we are controlled. Even though we're in the control position, we're still controlled. We're controlled by something called the old man, or the flesh. Being in Adam, to be honest, is absolutely miserable. There's a season of our life where it feels sort of fun to be in Adam. But then there comes a crisis in our life where we realize I can't actually do what is right. Because I keep spiraling downward morally, and I cannot change direction. The secret to changing direction is not human willpower, grit, and determination. You can't do it. Because the old man controls you. You need to get in Jesus. And that's the work of the cross. So in the name of Eric, that's how I lived. In the name of Eric, in my authority. So I could only muster. How many demons do you think tremble when I say, hey, I'm going to have a pure mind in the name of Jesus. Oh, I'm sorry, in the name of Eric. And all the demons are like, oh, wow, that's going to be impressive. You see, Eric wields no authority. Eric is deadly squat on earth. And the demons do not tremble before him. All the strongholds of sin in my life could care less when I exert my own authority. My own willpower. I'll tell you what to do. And they laugh back and then knock me over. And I get back on the ground where you belong. In the name of Eric doesn't mean a lot. But you get into Jesus and it's now in the name of Jesus. You speak with authority. He has accomplished it. He has defeated it. And now you wield that authority. We were in disobedience. You try and obey. You try and obey the word of God. You can't. You're living in disobedience when you're in Adam. But now we're in covenant. And when you're in covenant, you can obey. There's actually provision for the soul of men and women of God to actually obey scripture. We were in sin. Now we're in Christ. We were in the flesh. Now we're in the spirit. Ephesians 2.13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. How were you made nigh by the blood of Christ? You entered into Christ. When you enter into Christ, it's the equivalent of entering into that plane. Instead of trying to jump the Atlantic Ocean, you allow the plane to fly. Because the law of gravity prohibits you from making the jump. You can't do it. The law of gravity is too strong. But the law of aerodynamics is a stronger law. When you enter into Christ, the law of sin and death that has always held you down is nullified and trumped by the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. And you suddenly, as long as you are in Christ, are able to pull off the impossible. That's how it works. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Does that sound like your life? That is the testimony of every Christian. You must have that be your testimony. Because a lot of Christians are hanging around on the outside of the plane. They're plane crawlers. They esteem the plane. They sing worship songs about the plane. They know all the trivia about the plane. But when that plane takes off, they keep sliding down onto the tarmac face first. What's wrong with me? I can't seem to fly with the plane. I esteem the plane. The plane is so good. It can fly like I want to fly. Well, let's get something straight. You can't be in Adam and fly. You must be in Christ. And when you get into Christ, no one sees you. You have to die to self. We want to be on the outside of the plane because then people can look from inside the airport and go, Oh! Look at that guy! Standing on the plane! Wow! He's flying! No, you get into the plane and everyone sees Jesus. They only see the plane. Wow! Look at that plane! That's Christianity. Not, look at the guy in the plane! How many people say that? For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Now thanks be to God which always causes us to triumph. How? Because I know that that first line doesn't sound like your life. He always causes us to triumph in Christ and makes manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. In Christ is the secret. Get in Christ! Don't try and live this life in Adam. Don't try and live it on your merit. I can do this. I can do this. I can imitate Jesus Christ's perfection. I can be holy as he is holy. I can be perfect as he is perfect. I can love as he loves. Well, I don't know what gets us to think these thoughts. We all go through this. Where we actually esteem our ability at some level. That if we just pray hard enough, if we grit our teeth hard enough, if we read our Bible enough, we can prove to God how much we love him. You prove to God how much you love him by believing him. Because he says there is no other way into the heavenly Father, into that heavenly place but in him. So, the first step you want to take is get inside of Jesus. It's the equivalent of getting inside the ark when Noah's day. Get in the ark! Don't think you can tackle the reins by yourself and your own righteousness. God builds an answer. And he says there's only one rescue strategy in this generation. And it's what I'm building on earth through Noah. If you try and come up with your own rescue strategy, you die. Get in the ark. And has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places. Where? In Christ Jesus. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Number two. We need to reckon the full work of the cross and align with his agenda. Now, students this week have heard an ear full on this. Banquet in the back room. You may esteem the banquet but sitting on this step you can hear about it. I used the illustration last week. This probably would be a good illustration here. Sunset. Say I take a peek out these back what do you call those? Curtains. Take a peek. Oh, it's a beautiful sunset. And I'm like, oh wow! And then I come back to you guys and I'm like, oh you wouldn't believe the sunset. You're all sitting right where you're at. And I'm like, oh it's a beautiful sunset just on the other side of that curtain. And it's just, I mean, rosette and there's like a crimson hue and like an orange that goes above it and its clouds are like shimmering and oh it's just the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen over the mountains. Long's peak is just like smiling. And you're like really, oh wow! And then I say, let's sing a song about it. You see, it's not that you don't esteem the sunset. It's that you don't see it. And you must see it to truly apprehend it. If you are in shackles and Jesus is holding out the only key to unlock it, you may know that he has the key. And if someone asks you, does Jesus have the key for you to unlock the shackles? Yes, true. Big smile on your face. But you're still in shackles. Yeah, yeah. It's just the way it is. God didn't intend actually for me to take the key. Here's my advice. Reach out. Take the key. Stick it in the lock. It's called reckoning. Reckoning is different than knowing about something. You can historically understand something and agree with it. Oh sure, there was a character named Jesus that walked the earth 2,000 years ago. That isn't the end. You may agree that he was here. You may agree that he was God. You may agree that he died. And for you. But you must take that and apply it to your life. Reckoning is an accounting term. So you have a ledger and it's your bank balance. And you sort of carry it around. It's right in front of you all the time. You have a bank balance. We call it faith. And it says 0.00. And so when the enemy challenges you and says hey, I rule over you. You look into your ledger to fight back. And you don't actually have anything there to write a check. You don't have anything to exert back and say no. I have everything in my account needed to defy that. You see, what reckoning is is it takes the truth of heaven and it says the enemy is defeated. It like sticks. It's more than a thousand. I'm just going to use a small number here because it's easier to wield small numbers in discussion. So you have a thousand dollars. You take it and you stick it into your account. Then you come up and there's a $900 challenge in front of you. And guess what? If there's a $900 challenge in front of you and you have zero in your bank account, or you believe you have zero, you won't write a check. You're not going to bounce the crazy thing. You don't write a check if you have zero money in your account. But you do if you know you have a thousand and it's a $900 challenge. Reckoning is taking it into your spiritual ledger. It's there. And when you face the challenge, what do you say to the enemy? I have what it takes in my spiritual account because of what Christ did. He put it there. And I'm writing a check. And the enemy goes, oh no, the guy's reckoned. The guy's reckoned. All hell goes on red alert. Because now you know what's in your account. The problem is God has set the money here. A thousand dollars just sitting on the counter. But if you don't take it and stick it in your spiritual pocket, then when you are in that point, you will not have it when you need it. You may believe it. Someone said, did Jesus leave you $10,000? Yeah. But you didn't stick it in your pocket so you couldn't wield it when the test came. That's reckoning. You must reckon the full work of the cross. Align with his agenda. So let's talk about the full work. It's more than forgiveness. Jesus Christ's agenda was to get you in himself. Because if you enter into Christ, as we were talking about, if you allow that cloak, which is actually in Ephesians 6, the armor as well. It is the clothing of Christ. It is him. You are shielded by God Almighty and nothing can get through that. It's the ultimate barricade. It's the ultimate thick wall of defense. If it can get through Jesus, it can get to you. But nothing gets through Jesus. That's the wall I want. That's getting in Christ. The enemy's accusations just bounce off now. It's called the shield of faith. You know your position. However, it's not just forgiveness. When you get in Christ, Paul actually has the audacity to say that when Christ died, he died. He said, I am crucified with Christ. What? Paul, what's that supposed to mean? You're still alive. He's talking about his old man in Romans 6. And he's saying, my old man was dealt with. See, you have a problem inside of you. It's a sin propensity. You desire life on your terms. You want to gratify self. And you can't get away from that. Even as I'm talking, you sort of snarl. There's a snarl inside of you. I don't like messages like this. It's the flesh. It's the old man. You know that Jesus has given you a remedy for the old man? And it's not you. You are not the remedy. You cannot crucify the old man. Try and stick him on a cross. I remember Nathan Johnson last semester said, it's the one form of execution that you cannot implement yourself. You can nail one hand. You can nail your feet. And then you still have another hand. And you don't have a hand to nail it with. You can't crucify yourself. It's a great picture. You cannot get rid of your old man. Jesus did. 2,000 years ago, he died. And the old man was crucified with him. That's actually what Scripture says. And if God cannot lie, then that's a truth. The problem is, you're still dealing with your old man. And you're thinking, well, if he dealt with it, he sure didn't do a very good job. That banquet sitting back there, the fact that you haven't tasted it, seen it, smelled it, doesn't mean it's not there. Christ did something. But you must get up and take it and stick it into your account. And when you enter into Jesus Christ, then all the work that he did is good for you. Because you're in him. And when he went to that cross, you went to the cross. He died the death that you can't seem to die. You can't seem to whip it up inside of you. He did it. We all know that that's just good theology. He did the work we couldn't do. But he actually means it. The old man you cannot get rid of. He did. He dealt with it. On that tree 2,000 years ago, when he died, you died. So I am not going to listen to your moans and groans about how the old man is still ruling the roost in your life. Reckon it. I don't want to hear about how you're hungry and how you can't wait to eat at this supposed banquet when you're sitting on the step here. Get up and take it. Do you believe you're God or not? Take it. Stick it in your spiritual pocket. Start spending on God's promises. Writing checks on the truth of heaven. Romans 6. I'm going to read Romans 6, 1 through 13. And you're going to see the context for what I'm talking about. What shall we say then? Romans 5 is a great thing to add to this, but we'll be fine as far as Paul's argument here. It's intact. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Do you feel dead to sin? What Paul is about to talk about is going to seem very awkward for those of you that are very much alive to your flesh propensity, to your selfish compulsions. You're in these cyclical addictive patterns, whether it's sexual behavior, whether it's emotional behavior patterns. I mean, they're ridiculous, and you're sick and tired of them. It's like, oh, I'm disgusting. And Paul then has this audacity to say, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not. You're going to see this three times. He's going to talk about knowing. He's going to say, we know this, don't we? Don't you know? Believing involves knowing. If you don't know that the Rotary Club is offering the Burgers and Brats free dinner, you won't end up there. Why? Because you never knew about it. However, knowing about it doesn't mean you're there. Knowing about it is the first step. Believing involves knowing and going. That was sort of a rhyme. I might need to build on that. Know you not that so many of us, as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, we were literally immersed in him. That's what baptism is. We enter into him. We are submerged in him. We're baptized into his death. Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into his death. That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man, it's who we're talking about. Mine was called Old Eric. You have a name for yours too. Our old man is crucified with him. What? That the body of sin might be destroyed. That henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. And you're saying, well I'm trying to be dead. He died. And you, your old man died with him. Which means your old man is technically dead, but you need to reckon it into the account. Next time your old man tries to say something, you go, you're dead. He's like, they know too much. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Obviously the opposite would be true too. He who is alive is not freed from sin. If the old man is still there, you're still under the control of it. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that, Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more. Death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once. But in that he lives, he lives unto God. Okay, the whole conclusion. Likewise. You know all this? When Jesus died, you died with him. And his death on that cross was your old man's death. It dealt with the problem. And when he was buried, you were buried. And then when he was resurrected, you're in him, remember? You were also raised to newness of life. You enter into Christ at the most basic level, and then he takes you through the great passion of the Christ. And you find yourself dying. You find yourself living. But you need to reckon it. This is just fact out of the Bible. It's not wishful thinking. This is what the gospel throughout the ages has been. Don't measure it based on your experience. Your experience testifies that your old man rules the roost. And you're controlled by sin. And you're very much alive to it. You have 0.00 in your ledger right now to face this issue. The old man is hollering at you right now, going, this is a joke. I control you and you know it. Get that into your account and hit him in the teeth. He died 2,000 years ago. He has no more control. There's no banquet back there. You don't smell it. I will smell it. If God promised, he cannot lie. Let's prove it, people. Our God is a God who tells the truth. Likewise, reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. That's his conclusion after that. You know it. You reckon it. Hey, people, let it not rule in your mortal body. You're not a servant to sin anymore. Paul says it with such ease as if it's so obvious. It's obvious to him. It's not obvious to us because we've been living as Christians under the thumb of sin. We haven't taken the cash purchase and stuck it in our account and we're not writing checks off of it. We have no confidence that our God can come through for us because we know it, but we haven't reckoned it. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield or present yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Third, present your body unto the king. Empty all self-ambition. You'll see the very last scripture here was but yield or present yourselves unto God. It's exactly the same argument Paul uses in Romans 12. Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your reasonable act of service and worship. This is only reasonable. Jesus Christ has rescued you, not just from the penalty of an eternal punishment, but he has rescued you from the problem within, from the old man. Hey, when he died, you died. When he was buried, you were buried. When he rose again, this is newness of life for you. You've always wanted that newness of life. Take it. It's yours for the taking. The banquet is back there. Get up. Start walking. I don't care if you don't smell it after the first step. I don't even care if you don't smell it after the second step. You keep walking. You're going to smell it, then you're going to see it, then you're going to taste it. That's a guarantee, not on my good word, on his good word. The God who has promised cannot change, and he does not lie. His promise is good. Take him at it. So, as a natural result, Paul says it's only reasonable that you give him what he purchased on the cross. Because when he died and he set you free, he purchased something, and that is the property of your body. He owns it. Yield your body to him. You know what? If you reckon that the flesh is dead, there's actually no resistance to this. But if the flesh is still your counselor and you don't reckon him dead, you know what happens? He says, no way. Don't give up your control of your body and your life. You've got to be kidding me. You don't know what God will do to you. He can do all sorts of terrible things. Shut that voice up. Present and yield your body to the living God. Give him what he purchased on the cross. It's only reasonable, Paul says. Why wouldn't we? This is our act of worship, our act of thanksgiving in response to what he did. This isn't bonus Christianity. This is basic Christianity. This is kindergarten Christianity. This is where we start, not where we finish. What? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? Don't you realize that you're not your own? You don't actually have any say, technically. It's your reasonable response to give him his position. You know, if you don't give him his position, the old man swaggers right back in and controls the operation. You give him his position, that's the new management. You need new management. You will be ruled one way or the other by sin, by the flesh, by the old man, or by Jesus, by righteousness, by the Spirit of God. You are not your own, and you are bought with a price. What was that price? Precious blood. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's possessive. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. Neither yield or present, that's actually the Greek word, it encompasses two dimensions, and that is yield and allowing something in, and at the same time presenting, saying, take this. And so, it's sort of hard to capture it both ways, so that's why I'm giving you both words. Neither yield or present you, your member, as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves, yield, present yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. God, take these hands. They've been used for sin. I keep balling it up into a fist and punching people in the face with it. You take this hand and you make it your hand, and whatever you want to do with this body, you do. These eyes, which have always looked to only gratify me, now use them for righteousness. You own and operate this body and every part of it, which are called the members of the body. This tongue has been used to speak proud, self-serving words. It's been harsh and critical of others. It's judged others with a very great deal of harshness and attitude that was of hell and not of heaven. Take it. You own this tongue. Bridle it unto your purposes. This heart, which has been deceitful, give me your burdens now to love that which you love and to care about that which you care. These feet, which have always taken me to places I wanted to go, you take these feet and they'll take me to places you want me to go. My body is yours. Number four. Take hold the promises. Engage in the spiritual battle. God is not just emptying you and he's not just filling you so that you can just have a nice little romance with God for the rest of your life, which you will have, by the way. Where it's just like, you and me together. And it's just the two of us and we do a little waltz for the rest of our life while the rest of the world around us goes to hell. We're in hostile territory and it's not just time for the song and the dance. You can do the song and the dance. But it's more than that. God is building us to go into this world as a military operation. God is on the offensive. I know that sounds strange because Christianity is appears so passive. You know, we're just supposed to receive any blows that come our way. Yeah. You know how we get those blows? By being on the offensive. The world wouldn't care about us if we hit in a basement. It's because we take it to them. Because we love them. You need Jesus. Shut up. I can't. Sorry. You need Jesus. Will you stop this guy? Get a muzzle on him. Put something over his head. They put a gag on him. Love you. No matter what they do to you, out comes love. Out comes the message of the cross. Out comes the message of the gospel. This is why you're here. And you need to know what you were called to do and how to accomplish it. This is basic training. We don't even know that there's a job to be done, most of us. We think that Jesus just saves us to get us to heaven. Now we just pass time, you know, living in selfishness. Isn't that what we do? We just try and be more moral than the other people around us. No, we need to take hold of promises and engage in the spiritual battle. According as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. That by these you might become partakers of the divine nature. Well, if I were to ask you, so what are these exceeding great and precious promises? That we get eternal life? Well, yeah, that's a good one. There's a whole bunch promises and they're exceeding great and precious. It's time you figure out what they are. Because these are the inheritance of the saints. He says, you're in me. You come into my throne room. I groom you. I adorn you with all the armament needed to go into this world and win my battles for my glory. And I have given you promises. You take those promises by faith. You grab a hold of them. You bring them from heaven to earth. And then the world is literally turned upside down through the church of Jesus Christ. For all the promises of God in Him are yea and in Him are amen. Unto the glory of God. You see, this is a promise, by the way. It is a promise that what Jesus Christ did on the cross was for you. So if you're going to take any promise, let's start with the most basic. Christ's death was sufficient to meet the demands of your soul. Yes, you're a criminal. But Jesus' blood covers it. It deals with it. It absolves it. It cleanses. It purifies your conscience. There's no more guilt there. There's no more accusation. No more condemnation. But it's more than that. He also says that His death is your death. And the old man has been dealt with. Nullified. His power has been annulled in your life. And you have the legal papers now to walk into that body of yours and say, out in the name of Jesus, not my own authority. He did it 2,000 years ago on that tree. Read it and weep. Signed in blood, Jesus. It's authoritative. He cannot remain in control of your life. The sin disposition is ousted. Take that promise. What God says, the promises of God in Christ, by the way, that's a clarifying aspect of this grammatically. When you're in Christ, the promises of God are yes and amen, always. You come to God and you say, could I have the merits of that cross? Yes. Yes. God, I didn't even finish my request. Yes. Yes. He's always nodding yes to those who are in Christ. Those promises are yes and amen. So as I always joke with the students, I say, God's always saying yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And then the Spirit and the Son are off to the side going, amen, amen. They're in agreement. They're in agreement with the Word of God. And so if you align yourself with the Word of God, your life begins to work because God's saying yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. May it be done. Move forward. You have the authority of heaven backing what you are standing on and what you are going after. Number five, wield the all-powerful name. Get familiar with your weaponry. The Onima of Christ. The Onima is a name. Okay. So this is the name of Jesus. You've always heard it. People will say, and in the name of Jesus, amen. Is that just for like dinner time prayers? Or is that like what makes the prayer official? You know, if you don't say in the name of Jesus and the whole prayer like flops in heaven, God's like listening, but he's waiting. He's waiting. And then when he gets the in the name of Jesus, he's like, oh, okay. There we go. In the name of Jesus means in Christ. It means in the nature of Christ, in the person of Christ, in the authority of Christ, we pray. So the Onima of anything is the name of Christ is the essence of his person. It's his nature, his preeminence, his majesty, his kingly rank, his all-encompassing authority, his holy loving interest, his divine pleasures, his timeless commands, his perfect virtue and his exemplary deeds. You pray in accordance with this. If you're praying in the name of Jesus, you do not pray random prayers. You do not pray prayers that are selfish. You pray prayers that are in accordance with the name. What is Jesus after in this world? Well, that's the kind of prayers you pray. And you pray them with the authority of heaven backing you. To pray or speak in the Onima of Christ is to do a thing by his command, fortified in his all-encompassing authority, exerting his kingly rank, his holy loving interest, his divine pleasures, his timeless command, acting on his behalf and promoting his cause on this earth. The weaponry of Christ. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Most of us esteem these grandiose statements in the Bible. We can repeat them, we can memorize them for awanas, but we have no idea of their actual benefit in our life. Do you believe that God can lie? If your answer is no, and if you believe the word of God is in fact the word of God, that means the word of God cannot lie. And God's telling you, my weaponry that I've purchased for you is mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. Anything that stands up against you, you have weaponry to take it down. Do you realize this? Take it. Stick it into your ledger. You need to walk in accordance with the realities and the promises of Scripture instead of your piddly, diddly squat abilities. You don't have what it takes to take on the enemy. He does! Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. You try and stand against the wiles of the devil in your own grit and determination, you fail. But you take on Jesus. You get in Jesus, you learn to stand in Jesus, and you will learn how to fight this enemy, and you will be a victor. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof. That word, let not, is the term basileo, which is the word for king, like king of kings. It's authoritative, dictatorial rule exerted in the human body. And you say, let not sin reign any longer inside of you. Don't you realize what God has put in your account? Take it and wield it. If you have a sword in your sheath, and you keep getting hit, God says, take the sword out and do a little slicing. Use it. Implement my weaponry. That's the list I gave you last week. So I'm going to go through the weaponry. And you're going to just see it. I'm just going to read the scriptures, so we just cut and pasted this in. First of all, we are super conquering. It says in Romans 8 that we are more than conquerors. We're bequeathed with all power and authority. We are seated in Christ Jesus in the heavenly position of power and authority. We are given power over all the power of the enemy to tread upon their high places. We are immovable and invincible. We are able to repel all the fiery darts of the enemy. We are able to tread on lions, adders, serpents, scorpions, and dragons. We are able to drink poison and be unharmed. A thousand shall fall at our side, and ten thousand at our right hand, but it shall not come nigh us. There shall not a hair of our head perish. Jesus gives unto us eternal life, and we shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck us out of his hand. We're supposed to be fearless. The Lord is our light and our salvation, so whom shall we fear? The Lord is the strength of our life, so of whom shall we be afraid? Though a host should encamp against us, our heart shall not fear. Though wars should rise against us, we remain confident in our God, because God will never leave us or forsake us. He ever lives to make intercession for us. God is our refuge and strength, the very present help in our trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. And no weapon that is formed against us shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against us in judgment, God shall condemn. We are supposed to be unstoppable. The Lord is with us as a mighty, terrible one. The gates of hell shall not prevail against us. Whatsoever we bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever we loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. There is no restraint to the Lord, to say, by many or few. Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world, and since God is for us, who can be against us? A new recruit needs to understand that when God speaks, He means it. And that is the heritage of the true 100% recruit. You can't play at Christianity. You can't just esteem banquets in the back. You can't esteem a sword and a shield sitting on the counter and say, you know what? It's wonderful that Jesus provided swords and shields for His men and women. You have to take it. And your reasonable response is to yield your life to Him. It is all in. All of God for all of you. You get the essence, the person, the fullness of the deity. You get everything that He is. But He requests that you give everything that you are. We're supposed to see with new eyes, walk by the direction of a new life within. The floating ax said, Elisha has been invited down by the prophets to the river Jordan to build a little prophet house. Sort of a funny little request that takes place in the Bible. Everything in the Bible is critical. And yet we see this little zoom-in scene where God sort of stops and says, hey, I want you to see this. God skips over so many stories throughout history. So anything He does focus on is critical. And He focuses in on this little story where Elisha is invited down to build a house for the prophets. And so all these prophets are gathered around. They're right by the Jordan River. They're chopping down trees. And we'll pick it up there. So He went with them. And when they came down to the Jordan, they cut down trees. But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water. And he cried out and said, Alas, Master, for it was borrowed. So the man of God said, Where did it fall? And he showed him the place. So he cut off a stick and threw it in there. And he made the iron float. Therefore he said, Pick it up for yourself. So he reached out his hand and took it. This is a bizarre story. And even the context, as you will see, is extremely bizarre. Why is God showing this? Especially when you see the story that's next. But here you have these prophets. This guy, for whatever reason, probably a poor prophet. He doesn't have an ax of his own. So he borrows it. And he's chopping away near the Jordan. The ax head goes flying off. You know, I'm sure that's happened many times in history. And we could look back and go, Who cares? Who cares about an ax head falling into the Jordan? But for whatever reason, God's saying, Take a look at this. I don't want you to miss this. And this man says, Alas! My ax head, it was borrowed. And again, most of us could say, Just save up some money and buy him a new one, buddy. It's not like there was death or something. We're not talking about anything extreme here. It's just an ax head. A borrowed ax head. Who cares? Save up a little money. They can't be that expensive. Instead, God shows us that there's an intentionality. And here's my point. For small and for big, God is interested in the smallest dimensions of your life. And a recruit must realize that the smallest little moments of his life matter. And that the power of God is available to live every little moment. You must realize this story is incredibly invigorating when you see that. Because you know how many ax heads we have in our life that we are embarrassed to cry out and say, Alas! My ax head! You know, it's just sort of embarrassing. God's a busy guy. He's got a lot of people to be, you know, feeding and moving around and to the right places to, you know, make his little plan, his huge plan work. I say little? Can't believe I used that word. So, Elisha throws in a stick. It floats. Pick it up for yourself. So he reached out his hand and took it. This is the next story. Horses and chariots of fire. One of the greatest, most grand and epic scenes in the entire Bible follows the floating ax head. There's a direct comparison. Both the wielding of the power of God. But God wields his power on behalf of his saints to enable them to move forward at the smallest level and at the most majestic and epic levels. Your life will be a mixture of both. You're going to have ax head moments and you're going to have moments that fit the secondary. 2 Kings 6. Therefore he, the king of Syria, sent horses and chariots and a great army there and they came by night and surrounded the city and when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army surrounding the city with his horses and chariots. Okay, let's stop there because I need to give you a little background here. Elisha has gotten under the skin of the king of Syria. You see, the Syrians are trying to destroy Israel. Israel is weak right now. Israel is vulnerable and the king sees it. It's just like this hanging fruit. He keeps reaching out for it and every time he does, something keeps slapping his hand away. Every time he would make a military maneuver, the Israelites would know where he was going and would be able to respond. Yet they're this weak nation. How could they do this? How could they somehow offset the power of Syria every time? This is impossible. So the council is together and the king accuses his men. He says, one of you is a leak. You're giving away our plans to the Israelites. And then one of the council says, no, we're all loyal to you. Here's your problem, king. There's a guy named Elisha in Israel and he knows what you say in your bedroom at night. He knows what you're doing and he is the one that is causing the problems. The king of Syria is infuriated at this. Can you believe that? What that would feel like if you felt like you were bugged in your bedroom? You've got to be kidding. Of course, this is a spiritual bug. Elisha is hearing from the voice of God in the defense of Israel. But the king of Syria is furious about this. So he marshals his entire army to march on one man. Okay, an army against one man. Okay, your little ax head story before suddenly doesn't seem that big. Now we have an army marching against a single man. And they came by night and surrounded the city and when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, so Elisha's servant comes up and says, Alas, these guys always say Alas, Alas, my master, what shall we do? Okay, now, Alas, my ax head fell into the water. Alas, we have an army surrounding us. Okay, now this is worthy of the attentions of God. However, do you see? Don't miss it. God has given you new eyes to see that every moment is a moment to bring glory to Jesus Christ. He is teaching you how to walk after a new pattern. This is what happens to a recruit. They are brought into the kingdom of heaven. They are washed clean by the blood of Jesus. They are set aright and their life becomes new. New management moves in. They yield their body to the power of the living God. They are armed and dangerous for kingdom work. And then they're given eyes to see what God sees in this earth. Alas, my master, what shall we do? So he answered. This is his response. I love this. Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Uh, Elisha, I don't want to break this to you. You might be getting a little old. But there's a whole bunch of them and there's two of us. What does Elisha have? He has the ability to see. He has the ability to see what others do not see, even his servant. And as a result, there's perfect confidence and there's perfect peace because Elisha knows that God wins his battles. Elisha knows that God has a purpose on this earth. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see. Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Do you see that, by the way? You know your little issues that you're facing in life? They could be ax head issues. At the same time, you might feel like there are armies surrounding you. I want you to realize what that cross means to you. That cross means access into Christ. That means access into everything you need to live this life. Everything to get past those first initial hiccups of saying, but I've done so many things wrong. I'm wounded and abused and I'm just a mess. He says, let's start there and let's get that turned around. Let's get you clean. Let's get you up on your feet again. Let's make you strong so that you're useful to God. Most of us spend most of our time thinking about our issues. We have not a moment to think about God's issues in this earth. He has a job to do. He wants to make you strong so he can spend you in this world. He gets your body. He corrects it. He gives you those eyes. Then he says, okay, now we can start working because now you have the weaponry and you have the eyesight to see what needs to be done. Nothing can stop you, by the way. Nothing. When you see it, you see that a stick thrown into water can raise an axe head to the surface, but you also see that you are surrounded by everything that is needed. Every power that is possibly going to be required to push the agenda of God forward in your life. Don't you see it? It's all around us. It's a mountain full of horses and chariots of fire with swords drawn. And they're saying, for the glory of the lamb who was slain, we fight. And if the saints will trust their God, this sword is made available to them. They're wanting to swing it, but you must reckon it. You must take it into your spiritual war chest. And when the enemy comes against you, and they marshal his forces around you, and it all looks bleak, you say, open my eyes. Let me see what's true. Let me see what's real, for there are more with us than be with them. That must be your reality. This is how it starts in Christianity, not where it ends. You must know the God you serve. And you must know what this God that you serve has done for you. And you must take what He's done for you and bring it in to that ledger. Your faith is based on His word, not on your personal experience. Your personal experience will testify of all sorts of bizarre things. But they don't agree with the word. We agree with the word of God. We stand on it. We say, if my God said it, I believe it. And I start walking towards the promise. If He says there's a banquet, I rise up and I start walking. Even though everyone mocks me, and even though I don't yet smell it, I say, I will smell it, and I will smell it soon. Where are you going, Eric? I'm going to the banquet. Oh, that's not for today. What's the good of God saving us from the problem of sin if it's not good for today? What's the good of the God that is in us being greater than He that is in this world if it's not for today? What is this stuff? Just good poetry that we can sing songs about? Just write good songs. I'm giving you some good song fodder. This is fact. And we build our life upon it. We live as if it is true because it is. We take it into our spiritual ledger, and we live accordingly. And as a result, when the Syrian army comes, you know what Elisha just prayed after this scene? Blind them. I can just sort of see it. It's like the movie scene, the music. It's like you see the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire, and he says, Blind them. He sort of turns and walks off, and all the men of Syria suddenly can't see. They were taken captive. The whole army. One man. Blind them. That isn't just Old Testament. That's God. It's the same yesterday, today, and forever. The same God of Elisha. It's the same God that is inviting you to take him at his word today. And what he wants to do in us is precisely this and more. We need something more than what we have as Christians today. The testimony of Jesus Christ has fallen in the streets today. We need life and life abundance. We need our lives to come into agreement with the kingdom patterns so this world can look at us and say, I guess the word of God is true. Because the saints live it. We don't just talk about it. We don't just sing songs about it. We live it. There's a scripture that says, Whatsoever you ask in my name, that will I do. That the Father may be glorified in the Son. Whatsoever. An accent. A wedding feast. A meal in the boondocks. A quicker way across a lake. Withering a fig tree. Whatever. Jesus showed this. It's not just the big things. It's the small things. You need to know the God you serve. Whatsoever. In his name. In accordance with his nature. In accordance with his purpose. What he is wanting to accomplish on this earth. When you stand in agreement with that, there is nothing that stands against you. If ye ask, shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. That whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you. I know that sounds like too big of a license. It's like he's giving you this, you know, the James Bond license to kill type of thing. This is like license to ask. And, of course, we all know that if God really gives us a license to ask, you know, we're way out of control. But here's the key. What's Christianity? Christianity is your old man being removed from the controls and Jesus coming in and being the new management. This body now belongs to him. You know what? Your prayers belong to him. Your desires are renovated to fit his desires. The prayers that we oftentimes think of when we hear the whatsoever, we think of the flesh. It's the old man's version of praying. Hey, this is what I want. This is what I crave. And he burps and he scratches a little. He wants things that satisfy him. That's your old man, and that's why you're dying. Because you're listening to him. But when you were made new, suddenly the whatsoever prayer makes sense. Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, in accordance with his nature, purpose, truth, his word. You walk in accordance with his word, just like it said in the Old Testament. Maps out the promised land and says, wheresoever your foot shall tread, I will give it to you. Same concept. He maps out the territory, though. God has mapped out the territory in the New Testament as well. It's the promised land of truth, of the word of God. We ask whatsoever in that territory of the promised land. Wherever our foot shall tread in spiritual confidence, we gain it. There's three conditions of the whatsoever prayer. First of all, it has to be asked according to his will. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he will hear us. Okay? The Bible has to be used complementary of all other scriptures in the Bible. If you're going to establish a doctrine, it has to be in agreement with all the rest of the Bible. You can't just come up with your one scripture and say, see? It still has to be in concordance with everything else. And so these are the three things that God uses to say, okay, I said whatsoever. You want to know what that means? Well, it's in accordance with his will. You ask amiss to spend on your loss. You ask amiss and receive not. Wait a minute, you said ask whatsoever! He says you ask amiss, which means you're missing what you're supposed to be asking for. That you may consume it upon your lusts. That's why you are not receiving it. Lusts is the old man. When you're asking out of the old man, you will not receive this. This is not for you. It is the man or woman born of the spirit of God, praying out of the spirit of God, praying from the new management, praying clothed in Christ, that gets whatsoever they want. A new recruit must come into this situation and recognize that weaponry is only useful to those who are in Christ. Those promises are only given to those who are in Christ. That authority is only bequeathed to those who are in Christ, not just those that hang out in church. You have to gain it, access it, reckon it, get in him, take advantage of the work that he did and stand strong with all the promises of the whatsoever prayer promise. Whoa! That's extraordinary! And it's fact. There's one more. Nothing wavering. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that gives to all men liberally and upbraids not. And it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith. Nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. Wavering. I was talking to a young man yesterday and I said, Paul says that when Jesus died on the cross, that your old man, your old Brian died. Do you believe it? That means the old man no longer has control over you. That propensity inside of you that has always led you astray and led you away from God and has thumbed its nose at God no longer has power and voice within your life. Do you believe it? This is his response. He says, I want to believe it. That's not good enough. You want to believe it? Can God lie? No. Is God's word truth? Yes. Is it in fact the word of God? Yes. That means it cannot lie. Is that true? Yes. So if it says that when Christ died, your old Brian died, do you believe it? He smiles. He says, yeah. You need to first believe that your God cannot lie. You need to next believe that God's word is truth and that it is in fact the word of God and that it cannot lie because then when it speaks you don't spend time wondering if it's true. You believe it! There's no waffle in here. There's no place to waver. God says there's a banquet. You believe it. Why? Because it was God that said it. Not because it was me. It's God that said it. If God says it, it's true! It's that simple. I know it's become complicated because we live in a post-modern generation. Everything's milky. Everything's mushy. We don't really know. Well, that mentality sends people to hell. Nothing wavering! We trust our God and we take him at his word. We actually believe what he says. It's belief that saves. Not the old waffling, wishful thinking. Oh, you know, I'd like to believe a little of this, but I'm going to take a little of Jesus because I'm not exactly sure. I'll take a little of Buddha over here. Take a little of Hinduism here because I'm not exactly sure which one's right. Wavering kills you! There is no mixture in the kingdom of heaven. There is an exclusive path and his name is Jesus Christ. You either believe it or you don't! In, out! We're in serious business here in Christianity. Don't you love the political incorrectness in that statement? I know it. It's truth. And we either start believing truth and proclaiming truth, or we are doing a disservice to ourself, to this world around us, and to Jesus Christ who gave up his life to give us the only way to the Father! Lay it on our life to make that clear! This is truth. Nothing wavering. You want a prayer life that works? Stop waffling! Take your God at his word and start living it! The six basic steps of the new recruit? You start believing. You take God at his word and you start walking out the basics. For the rest of your life, you wake up every day and you take it. Make sure it's in your satchel when you go out. That's the truth of heaven. Because this world will try and rob it out of your satchel every day. But you fix your feet on a rock. You make sure it's firmly planted in your heart. You hide it in you! You do not allow the enemy to argue it out of you! You don't listen to him. You don't listen to the flesh because the flesh has no more control. Yes, he'll knock on the windows of your operation. Let me in, for old times' sake! Close the door! Mortify the deeds of the flesh! There's embalmment! Give him no voice in your life! You listen to one, and that's Jesus Christ. You follow one, that's the Spirit of God. You give glory to one, and that's your God! That's Christianity! 100% in! Not 10%. You give 10%, 90% of you is owned by the old man. That's not Christianity. It's time to be Christians once again. All in for Jesus. Let's pray. Holy Father, I pray that you would give us eyes to see the mountain that surrounds us, that is full of horses and chariots of fire. May we see it. May we know it. May we apprehend this reality that we are not alone in this battle. It is not our willpower that carries us through. It is you, us in you, you in us. It is the very real intimate connection with our God. But you don't just leave us off to the side, filled and happy. You make us mighty to go into this world and see others rescued the same way we were rescued. And you're the one that does the work in and through us. Lord Jesus, we love you. And we praise you and we thank you for what you're doing in our lives. And I pray that you would press forward your agenda in the Church of Jesus Christ today. Amen. But do not charge for these copies or alter their content in any way without express written permission. If you have any questions, comments, or just need more information about Ellerslie, please visit our website at www.ellerslie.com Again, that website is www.ellerslie.com For Ellerslie Mission Society, this is Ben Zorns cheering you on as Christ cultivates his set-apart life within you.