Mike Bickle emphasizes the transformative power of the Gospel and the benefits of the Cross, highlighting that believers receive spiritual blessings, including the ability to abound in love through the Holy Spirit. He explains that salvation encompasses freedom from sin and the dominion of Satan, and that believers are empowered to share God's love with others. Bickle encourages Christians to actively claim their inheritance in Christ, resisting the enemy's accusations and walking in the authority given to them. He stresses the importance of confessing one's faith and the power of the word of testimony in experiencing the fullness of God's blessings.

But I really want to focus on practically walking in the benefits that we receive from the gospel and from the cross, which is the same thing. Now these benefits, there's many benefits. Some of them are blessed circumstances on the earth, but the ultimate are the fact that we've received all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. And those all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, the ultimate of that in my perspective is the fact that we received a new supernatural ability to abound in love. We received an ability by the Holy Spirit to receive the love of God and to return it back in the power of the Holy Spirit. And then the authority to help other people do the same and to walk in that. And in this way we participate in the fellowship within the Godhead. I mean that's the ultimate spiritual blessing, that we receive the love of God, empower to give it back, anointed to help other people enter into that. And then in the midst of that we see blessed circumstances as well in addition to that. So those are some of the, kind of a snapshot of the benefits of the cross. Let's look at Romans chapter 1, verse 16 and 17. Paul breaks forth in this enthusiastic declaration, he explodes. The gospel of Christ, it is the power of God to salvation. I can imagine the enthusiasm in his heart. And when it says the gospel is the power of God, what that means practically is the gospel releases the power of God in human experience. That if we accept the gospel and we apply the gospel truths, then it releases the power of the gospel, the power of the cross into the human experience. And it says that the gospel is the power of God to salvation. Now that salvation I just mentioned, I believe the ultimate is to abound in love, to interact with the love of God, to be supernaturally empowered to return it back, to have the authority and the anointing to help other people enter into that. That all that's included in being free from the power of sin and free from the penalty of sin and free from the dominion of Satan. All of that is wrapped up in this idea called salvation. Some people when they think of salvation, they only think of getting their passport stamped so they go to heaven and they escape hell. Beloved, we're liberated from the dominion of Satan. We are anointed to enter into this dynamic of abounding love in the fellowship the Father and the Son and the Spirit have with one another. I mean, what a glorious reality. We're liberated and set free from the dominion and the domain of darkness, the dominion of Satan. It says in verse 17, Paul now gives one of the most significant implications of the fact of the gospel bringing us to salvation. Verse 17 he says, for in it, that is in the gospel of Christ, the righteousness of God is revealed. Now there are several implications to this. Number one, the righteousness of God is revealed in the sense of God's righteousness is satisfied in the divine court in heaven. His righteousness is fully satisfied so now he can openly and fully and freely relate to us. No hindrance whatsoever from his point of view. So the righteousness of God is revealed in that the Father's justice and righteousness is satisfied by the death of Jesus. But it's also revealed in that the very righteousness of God is imparted to human beings that are still on the earth. I mean, imagine human beings having the righteousness of God dwelling in them in their born-again spirit that has become the very righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. What a glorious statement. Well the gospel of Christ has qualified us, freely, fully qualified us in one moment, the day we're born again, to receive the love of God, the power of God, the favor of God, and all the other benefits that are associated with that. Again, some blessed earthly circumstances, but all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. We've received them. They're ours the day we're born again. Well the challenge is, is that the enemy, that he constantly accuses us, it says in Revelation 12. We'll look at that in a few moments actually, we'll get to it. But he accuses us. He tells us we're disqualified. He says you're a failure. He says you're under condemnation. And he even kind of adapts it to people who know the Bible a little bit. You're under condemnation just a little bit, he might say. Just enough so we draw back. Just enough that we don't have confidence in the presence of God and we wait to clean things up and then maybe have confidence next week when things are better. And that's the devil breathing accusations into our mind, from very overt ones to very subtle ones, so that we draw back. We hesitate. We don't have confidence. We don't have peace in our heart. That's what the devil's doing to undermine this, our ability to walk in the benefits that have been made available to us. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1, for the message of the cross is foolishness to the people that aren't born again. Doesn't make any sense to them. But to the people that are being saved, it is the power of God, and again, that phrase, it is the power of God. It is the way the power of God is released to the human experience in the earthly realm. That's what it's talking about in a practical way. Well, in Romans 1, he called it the gospel of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 1, he called it the message of the cross. So that's the same thing. It's two phrases meaning the same thing. Paragraph B, 1 Corinthians 2, Paul said, I'm determined to know nothing. I'm determined to know nothing except for Christ Jesus and Him crucified. I've heard some people talk about this, and they misinterpret it. They think that Paul doesn't understand any of the details. That's the only two points he knows, and that's it. But there's many implications. There's many dimensions and implications to these truths. What Paul's saying, he's not saying I don't understand the details involved in all of this. He's saying that I don't need to add anything else to enhance my ability to be received by God. I don't need to enhance anything. I know nothing. I don't need any enhancement to this message. The message is complete. The message is full. Christ and Him crucified, and again, all the implications related to that. For instance, in Romans 3 to 8, in six chapters, Paul gives six amazing chapters. He's giving the implications to what it means, Christ Jesus and Him crucified. So though we want to be simplistic in our faith, we don't want to undermine or set aside the details of the book of Romans that Paul is referring to when he says, I know nothing except for Christ and Him crucified. I don't need any additives to that. I don't need any human dimension, any other religion to make it more acceptable to expand on this truth. It is fully sufficient in and of itself is what he's saying. Paragraph C, 2 Corinthians 5, Paul makes this most dramatic declaration. I can't get over how powerful this is. This is at the very heart of the gospel of Christ. It is the heart of the gospel of Christ. It's central to the message of the cross. Again, those are interchangeable phrases, that we have become a new creation in Christ Jesus. Paul says in verse 17, if anyone, no matter how entrenched in sin you've been, no matter how a bondage or addictions that you've had in sin, everyone who comes to Christ Jesus the day they're born again, in one moment, the moment they're born again, I mean they're still a very immature believer, but in one moment, he is a new creation. Paul is not exaggerating. He's talking about our human spirit. Our born again spirit is a brand new creation. He said old things have passed away. All things have become new. When I first read this years ago, I thought surely Paul's exaggerating. All things haven't become new, and I was thinking of my outer man. You know, you're the same height, your eyes are the same color, you have the same personality, I have some of the same struggles, all the same things. I go, all things aren't new. Paul's talking about all things pertaining to your born again spirit. They're all totally new. And he gives in verse 21, one of the most dramatic implications of this. He goes, let me tell you what's happened, that we, that being our born again spirit, have become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Beloved, it's not just you're forgiven, that God has imparted to you the very righteousness of God. You have become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, and you've received the indwelling spirit. And if your born again spirit was not made righteous with God's righteousness, the Holy Spirit wouldn't dwell in you. He could not dwell in you if there was sin in us, if we were just forgiven, but we remained in our corrupt state in terms of our dead spirit before, our spiritually dead spirit before the day we were born again. I mean, what a remarkable statement. You have become the righteousness of God. You've received it along with the literal person, third person of the Trinity, lives in you forever. He will never, ever not live in you. Beloved, this happened the day you were born again. Whether you could feel it, whether you knew it, this was the grand inheritance that you and I received instantly in one day. Now, when we receive the righteousness of God, it is a righteousness that even God can't improve. God can't give you a righteousness greater than the righteousness of God, His own. It's a righteousness that He has. His is not superior to you, to the righteousness He gave you. It's the very same righteousness as the idea. You either have it 100% or you don't have it 100%. You're either 100% qualified or 100% unqualified to stand in God's presence. It's given as a free gift in one moment the day we're born again. A billion years from now, in the resurrection, you will not have a righteousness improved upon the righteousness that you received the moment you were born again. That's how astounding the gospel is. That's how powerful the message of the cross ... I mean, it's staggering. All things related to your spirit man are new, and eventually your soul, your personality will be transformed, and you'll get a resurrected body, and body, soul, and spirit will all catch up together in the resurrection, and forever and forever we will have all things new, even in our body, and our mind and emotions will be completely filled with God's righteousness and God's presence. I mean, what a glorious reality. This ability to abound in love forever and forever is where this is going. Now when He says, old things have passed away, the condemnation you had the day before you were born again is gone. Now the devil will come, and he's sophisticated, he's subtle, he'll say, the condemnation in your case is mostly gone. Mostly gone. You've had a hard week, you've had a hard month spiritually, most of the condemnation is gone. Beloved, I've got good news for you, that's a lie. It's all gone. From God's point of view, He sees the righteousness of Christ and receives you like He receives Jesus unrelated to how good or how bad your week was, spiritually speaking. It's remarkable. Old things have passed away. You're not under the dominion of sin or the dominion of Satan anymore. Now Satan is counting on you not believing it and you not knowing it. Because Satan will still come and attack us and seek to torment us, and many Christians back away, and Satan's idea, his logic is if you'll back away and not resist him, then he's not going to back away, he's going to keep on coming. But if you'll take your authority in Christ and your new position and say, Satan, you have no authority to do this to me, I'm not backing away, I'm taking my stand, in the authority of Jesus, you must back away, and the scripture tells us to resist the devil and he will flee. But only if he's resisted. The devil's counting on, because it happens so often, is that believers back away from the battle and they give in, they give up, and the devil's logic is, if you back away I'm not. But if you'll take your stand and understand all things, the old things have passed away. The former position of being under his dominion is gone. You're not under the dominion of sin. Sin can still tempt us and sin can try to control us, but it doesn't have the same full mandatory dominion over you. Today in Christ we have the ability to resist it if we participate with the Holy Spirit in the way the Bible describes. Paragraph 2, it says, all things are new. Now the day you're born again, they're all new pertaining to your born again spirit. You're accepted by God, that's a new legal position. But in addition to having a new legal position before God of acceptance, you are enjoyed, there's an emotional dimension to the legal position. He doesn't just stamp our passport and say, well, come on in, come near me, I mean you are forgiven, he actually enjoys us. There's an emotional dimension, there's an affectionate enjoyment in the heart of the Father, and when the day we're born again he begins to enjoy the relationship with that brand new immature believer. All things are new. We receive the authority of Christ, the authority to use his name. The day before we were born again we couldn't use his name with any effectiveness. But now that we're part of the covenant, the covenant benefits are ours, we can use the authority of Jesus, we can use his name to receive the covenant benefits and to release the works of God and to hinder the works of darkness. That's what we can do in our covenant promises, our covenant standing by using the authority of Jesus' name. Well, it goes beyond that. We have the indwelling spirit, and again the indwelling spirit, the teacher lives in us. The teacher not only gives us new ideas of understanding, but he tenderizes our heart. The teacher helps us to know God, helps us to participate in the family dynamics within the Godhead itself. We can receive the love, return the love, enter into the fellowship. Beloved, that's the indwelling spirit. I mean, we haven't made, this is amazing, we've received all these spiritual blessings the day we were born again for free. But as many believers, they continue to live in poverty though they've received a great inheritance in the Lord, and they've received it all in one day. The analogy that I've liked to use over the years, I use the same one over and over, is the homeless beggar living under the bridge, and he receives news that he had a distant relative that gave him a great inheritance, he inherited a billion dollars, it's all yours, it's all yours legally right now. And the lawyer comes and meets the beggar under the bridge, locates him, he's got all the paperwork, and the beggar looks at him and says, you know, I don't know what you're talking about, I don't really understand law, I don't like lawyers, I don't know who you are, I can't really read the details and understand it, and I don't really understand banking because I've got to walk a mile down the road to go talk to the bankers and set this thing up so I can draw on the account, you know, I don't know, it's a mile away, it's a hot day, I'm tired, I don't like banking, I don't like lawyers, I don't get law, legal processes. I think I'll just stay under the bridge, tired and dirty, and freezing cold, and just stay like it is. And the guy goes, here's the paper, but if you don't interact with this paper, if you don't draw on it, if you don't go down to that bank and get it set up and write checks and draw on the account, you can live in poverty all your days. And many believers have, the day they're born again, the grand inheritance is fully theirs, but they live for years in depression and oppression, live in condemnation and guilt and turmoil and fear and all kinds of sense of failure and God's not looking and I've forgotten and nothing in my life matters. And the Holy Spirit says, would you go write a check? Would you draw on this account? Would you receive what is freely given you? Well, again, I don't really understand banking, I don't understand legal processes, I don't like lawyers, I don't know, miles, I don't want to mess with it. Because the simple act of writing the check is what gives you access to the wealth. And I'll apply that in a moment, that when we take a stand and the confession of our faith is that who we are in Christ, that we speak the word to the enemy, we speak the truth of the covenant blessings and who we are in Christ, that is what releases the blessings and the benefits into our everyday life and experience. Well, paragraph D, David was so zealous that he would receive all the covenant benefits of redemption and he says here in Psalm 103, he says, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits. He goes, I won't forget any of the covenant benefits for the redeemed. He goes, whatever the benefits are, I'm going to walk in all of them in my generation. All of them that are ordained for my generation in history. And he goes on and he lists a few of the benefits that are his covenant benefits. He says, verse 3, he says, bless the Lord who forgives all my iniquities. Bless the Lord that heals all of our diseases. Bless the Lord who redeems my life from destruction. Bless the Lord that crowns my life with love and mercy. I mean, these are amazing benefits and David was zealous. Now some people have this idea, well, you know, I just want everything for the Lord. I don't want anything. I just want you, Lord, and the Lord says, well, here's how it is, I'm real wealthy and I'm really nice and I really like you. I got so much wealth and I really like you and I paid so dearly for these benefits. I really would like you to receive them and say thank you and enter into them. Well, no, Lord, just everything for you. I'll just get out of the way and don't bother you. Let me say it again. I'm real rich, I'm real nice, and it cost me a lot to purchase these for you. I would actually rather you enter into them. And David, he was zealous for this because David understood that our ability to give ourself to God in love, the ability to abandon ourself, now listen carefully, the ability to abandon yourself to God is limited to the measure that you receive from God. If you only receive 10% of what he's offering, you'll only be able to give yourself in that measure in abandonment. You can be sincere, but your follow through will never ever be effective. And so the way a sincere believer enters into an effective follow through is we receive, we receive, we receive, because it's in receiving that we're empowered to give ourselves fully. You'll never out give God. You'll never neglect receiving and mysteriously give all. It just does not work that way. That is not how the kingdom of God operates. It said, there's a passage in Psalm 113 where the psalmist cries out, I think it's verse 12, Psalm 113 verse 12, I think I'm getting it right, no, I think it's Psalm 115, it's been a while since I read it, but anyway, it says that the psalmist says, what shall I render to the Lord for all the benefits he gave to me? And the psalmist says, I will take the cup of salvation and I'll drink it and say thank you. The way that we render what we give back to God for the benefits is by taking them and drinking them deep, not by in false humility putting them on the side. I want nothing from me and the Lord says, if you don't receive from me, you won't be able to give yourself for me. Peter, if I don't wash your feet, you have no part of me if you don't receive my free washing and the benefits I have for you. Well, David went on and he said, he redeems my life from destruction. That means the restoration of circumstances that the enemy has wrecked havoc in people's lives in various circumstances. David says, I want to see the restoration from destruction, those circumstances and you crown me with love and mercy. And what David is saying in that, he says, all of these benefits, they're guaranteed to me because they're on the basis of mercy. They're not on the basis of me deserving them, earning them. If I have a bad month, a bad week spiritually, the benefits aren't canceled. The covenant isn't cast aside because you crown me with mercy. You give me the benefits based on mercy because it's what Jesus did, not on what you did. God relates to us on the basis of what he did for us, not how well we've done the last week or the last month so we can have confidence in the covenant blessings and receive them from the Lord. David says, I have here in paragraph F, he heals all of our diseases. Now this seems a little bit exaggerated, but it's not because Jesus purchased our healing for us and he purchased our full healing for us. Now I believe the biblical position is that healing that he gave us. There's no exaggeration in David's statement here. The healing that he purchased for us, we receive in part in this age, substantially, but in part, in part. And we receive it in fullness and in the ultimate sense in the resurrection. What I mean by that is there's two, in my opinion, very exaggerated positions in the body of Christ. Those that say there is no healing today, we neglect it all. And those that exaggerate it and says everybody will be healed every time. And I don't believe that either one of them in this age is the biblical posture. I believe that there is partial healing in this age. It's substantial and we're to believe God for it. And we're to open our heart because he's a healing God, that's his nature. But healing is ultimate and it's forever for everyone. And the reason it's important to distinguish that, because if we exaggerate it or we completely neglect it, both positions end up sometime down the road with cynicism. People end up filled with cynicism. And so no matter how much, I'll say to the group that exaggerates it and says everybody will be healed every time, no matter how healed you get, you still age and you still die. Beloved, Jesus purchased more than that for us. He purchased full, eternal, ultimate healing by his stripes we are healed. Now having said that he's, that the ultimate and the fullness of it is in the resurrection, that some people then err with that. They see that biblical position and they go, okay, I'll just wait till then. And then the Lord would correct us and say, no, no, no, no, don't wait till then because look what he says right here in Matthew chapter 16. The scripture says, and these signs will follow those who believe. In my name, Mark 16 verse 17, in my name they will cast out demons. They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. It is the kingdom mandate to reach into that which is ultimate, the fullness of healing, and to participate and receive it in part now, even in substantial ways. I mean there's great miracles to be had in this age. And we should never ever back away from contending for full healing for everybody that we lay hands on. Jesus said, you lay hands on the sick and they will recover. That recover, that word recover indicates a process. Some of us, some people read this verse, they'll lay hands on the sick and there'll be instantaneous miracles. Miracles are instantaneous. Healing is a process. Jesus said, I promise you, you lay hands on people, in my name, the recovery process will begin. Now sometimes that recovery process is slow. Sometimes that recovery process is fast, it's instantaneous, it's a miracle. But healing takes place and every time we lay hands on somebody and pray in the name of Jesus in faith, it contributes to their healing and even has continuity to their ultimate healing in the fullness of the resurrection. And so we can't measure the recovery process, but it's our mandate to lay hands on the sick every time. That's a kingdom lifestyle. And to believe and tell a person breathe their last breath. I mean they can be on their deathbed, this is it. But no, in the name of Jesus, I'm believing you for a miracle, I'm believing for God to give you a miracle right now. And that's the kingdom tension that he paid for it. He's a healing God. It's his nature. It's part of the covenant. It's ultimate for everybody forever that's born again, I mean that's redeemed, believers, born again believers. It's for the whole family of God. It's partial but substantial for this age. And there's signs of the kingdom now breaking forth when healings take place, but we never draw back. It is our privilege, it is the kingdom lifestyle to do this. I want to encourage people to seize, like David did, the benefits of God. To seize the two and three minute opportunities that come regularly throughout the course of a week or a month where it's maybe in the marketplace with a few believers fellowshipping or maybe it's in the park, maybe it's at the parade with Wes and Amanda at the parade, you know. It might be in a friendship group, it might be in a ministry time here, it might be in a coffee shop. We lay hands on one another. Someone says, well I'm sick. You don't have to stop everything that minute but say okay, you know, the meeting's over and they're walking out of the business meeting and you say, hey, hey, brother, I'd like to, can I just pray for you for a minute? We seize those two and three minute opportunities. We don't let them pass. We lay hands on them. We don't have to feel anything. We don't have to see the recovery. Our mandate is to lay hands on the sick. It's his responsibility to determine the process of the recovery, how much and when and it's continuity to the ultimate healing in the age to come. But we are participating in it either way it comes, I mean, either way that it goes. And that's the kingdom mandate. So don't draw back from those two to three minute opportunities to seize the benefits. The kingdom people need to be aggressive and eager about this. Well you say, well because I've said it so I know how it goes. Well I'm tired today. I've had a bad week. I'm kind of not, I'm just really feeling bad emotionally. I've had a, I'm tired. I've had a really hard day. And the Holy Spirit says, well good news, I'm not tired. I don't feel bad and I haven't had a hard day. I've had a great day. And it's his power, not yours. So you know, you can pull your hand out of your pocket and lay it on him. I mean, it's not about your human ability. There's nothing special in that hand like, in the name of Jesus. It works. It works. Because it's the power of the name and the power of the spirit. He's not tired. He didn't have a bad week. He's not in a bad mood. He didn't have a hard day. So don't measure how God touches somebody by how you're feeling. Well no, I just did some really weird things, bad things last week. I'll go on probation for a few weeks, kind of upper my prayer and fasting, and I'll pray for you maybe next month. No! That's legalism! You take your hand out of your pocket, lay it and say, Jesus, oh merciful, you're so merciful. In the name of Jesus, I ask you for healing. And they get healed and say, oh Lord, you know, and the Lord might say, I know better than you know the real story of what just happened. But anyway, we want to be zealous to walk in the covenants, and to walk in the full benefit of the covenant. Let's look at the top of page two. And for those that are new with us, we never finish the notes, so I'll just make a few more points and I'll pray for you in just a few moments. Page two, Revelation chapter 12, verse 10 and 11, John heard a loud voice in heaven, and the loud voice, the heavenly voice said, he heard it, the accuser of the brethren, that would be Satan, he accuses the redeemed night and day before God. And so that's, he describes Satan's primary attack against us. It's accusation, if I had to summarize it, I would say Satan's primary accusation, I mean attack, he accuses us with lies and he releases fear on us. It's fear and accusation, all based in lies. Fear and accusation, I believe, are his two primary points of attack, and he doesn't need to change his strategy, because accusation and fear have been very, very successful for him for a whole long time. And so he accuses the redeemed before God, but his little emissaries, the demons that are under his authority, they're, I picture them like dragons with fire coming out of their mouth. They stand, individual demons are standing next to believers like breathing hot fire onto their mind and inspiring fear and inspiring accusing thoughts. But here's what the loud voice in heaven said in verse 11. It says, but they, that's the saints, this is actually the end time saints, this is in the midst of the, this is in the generation the Lord returns, I mean hundreds of millions of saints from all over the body of Christ, all the tribes and streams across the body of Christ, they overcame him. And the loud voice, the heavenly voice identifies three very, very significant realities and truths that are the reason that empowered them to overcome the devil. Number one, the blood of the lamb. Number two, the word of their testimony. And number three, they did not love their life even unto death. And so what happens is that Satan accuses us and he wants to undermine the benefits in our life to get us to back away from them. But we can overcome the accusations. We don't just overcome all of his issues, only we do, but we overcome even his accusations. That's where it begins. Those accusations are like flaming missiles that strike our heart. And those demonic accusations are sent to convince us we're failures, we're guilty, we're condemned, we're disqualified for the favor of God, disqualified for ministry, disqualified to be in God's presence, we're forgotten by God, our life is irrelevant, it's small, what we do doesn't matter, God doesn't see it, it doesn't move him, he doesn't really remember the giving of the cup of cold water, none of that's real. It's all fake. Your life, you're a loser, you're forgotten, God doesn't care, your life means nothing, you're disqualified, you're mostly condemned, not entirely, but mostly condemned, and people with that mindset, they just draw back, they just kind of wilt on the inside, and they kind of walk around, I'm just depressed, I'm just this, I'm that, and all these things, and just, I don't know, maybe the breakthrough will come next year. And the Lord says, the breakthrough already came, it came 2,000 years ago. And the breakthrough for you, personally, is the day you're born again, you've received the authority, you've received the gift of righteousness, you have the indwelling Spirit, you have all blessings in heavenly places. The accuser is stealing these things from you, I mean, your ability to experience them by lying to you. So the point that I really want to lock into is, of the three points, is that they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, that's all that he did on the cross, we've been talking about, but number two, by the word of their testimony. That's the point that I want to lock into for just the next four to five minutes before we pray for you. So let's go to paragraph C, the word of our testimony. The word of our testimony isn't just the story of how we were born again. You know, somebody says, tell me your testimony, well, you know, some years ago I met the Lord, that's a little bit of your testimony, but your testimony is your confession. It's what you believe about Jesus, that's part of your testimony. It's what you believe about who you are in Christ. It's what you believe about what you received the day you were born again. It's what you believe about the lies of the devil's assault against you. That is your testimony, and that testimony is verbalized, it's spoken. Other passages call it our confession, the confession of our faith. Let's look at Roman numeral three, paragraph C. I'm going to focus here for just a few moments on Romans chapter 10, Romans chapter 10, where Paul talks about this issue of our confession, which is the same thing as the word of our testimony. And it's by our confession that we actually enter into the experience of the benefits of the covenant in our everyday life, that we actually experience the power of them in a conscious, discernible way. Here's what Paul says in chapter 10, Romans chapter 10, verse 8. He says, for the word of the Lord, the word is near you, even in your mouth. Then he identifies this phrase, I mean, he uses, he says, that is, it's the word of faith is in your mouth. And that's a biblical phrase. The word of faith is in your mouth, and you must speak the word of faith for the salvation of God, the benefits of salvation, to be released into your experience, in your everyday experience. You must speak the word of faith. Now some camps are really big on the word of faith. What the word says, other camps are big on the manifest presence. But we don't pick between the two. The kingdom operates by the word of faith and the manifest presence, and sometimes one of them is the greater point of focus, but they both go together. They go together hand in hand. We want the manifest presence, but we have the word of faith when we feel nothing. And when we feel a lot, we still have the word of faith to be our guiding light. We go by what the word says. We don't go by what accusations say. We don't get our information from the lies of the devil. We don't get our information by our un-renewed mind and our emotions. What the word says, that's what we say. Now the confession of our faith, when we speak the word, it gets into our conversation with God. It gets into our dialogue, and it transforms our heart. So Paul says here in verse 8, the word is near you. It's in your mouth. It's the word of faith. He goes, if you'll confess, if you'll say the word of faith with your mouth, that you'll confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. This isn't a one-time deal where you say it the day you're born again, you pray the sinner's prayer. Well, I did that. No, this is an ongoing confession. It's an ongoing vital part of abiding in Christ. You believe in your heart, you will be saved. This doesn't just mean saved from hell, saved from the dominion of darkness, walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, walking in this dynamic of the love of God is what salvation is about. In verse 10 it goes on to say, for with the heart one believes, but with the mouth confession is made, and releases the covenant benefits into our everyday experience. Now there's a deep, verse 10, there's a deep connection between what the mouth says and how the heart has confidence, because when it says the heart believes, we're talking about a confident agreement that has peace and confidence in it. There's a dynamic connection by the word, what the mouth says, the word of faith, and how the heart responds, because this is far beyond just the day you're born again. This is the abiding in Christ lifestyle. Now one more passage, and then we'll pray for one another. And I don't have it on the notes, but I'm going to put it on the overhead. It's Deuteronomy 30, verse 11 to 14, so you can open your Bible or they'll put it up on the PowerPoint as well. Deuteronomy 30, verse 11 to 14, and the reason Deuteronomy 11, I mean chapter 30 is so important, because here in Romans 10, Paul is actually quoting Moses from Deuteronomy 30. He's quoting a very well-known passage, and in Deuteronomy 30, the theme is the first commandment, love God with all of your heart. That's the theme of Deuteronomy 30. That's the high point. Then in verse 11 of Deuteronomy 30, you can follow along in your Bible or in the PowerPoint. Let's go ahead and put that on the PowerPoint if you would. Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 11 to 14, I just want to wait to get that up there so you can follow along with me, is that what the Lord says through Moses, he goes, love the Lord your God, obey the Lord with all of your heart. But he says, don't say it's too mysterious, because the Lord was guessing all of the arguments that people would have. They said, don't say it's too mysterious, meaning it takes a, it's too confusing, it will take a special anointing to figure this out, a special revelation. He goes, it's not too mysterious to love the Lord your God with all your heart. It's not too mysterious to walk in the covenant benefits. Then it goes on, the next phrase, the Lord says, don't say that it's far off, meaning I'm so messed up, it's out of reach, I mean, I've got ADD, I don't really like to read, I don't know the Bible, I don't, I don't, I don't. He says, it's not too far. It's not out of reach for you. Then it goes on in verse 12 and says, the scripture says, don't say I will ascend to heaven. You don't need a heavenly experience. You know, the guy says, if I have an angel comes down or I go up, then I will begin to walk in the covenant benefits and love God. It says you don't need to ascend to heaven. You don't need another heavenly experience. The man already ascended to the heaven and he's seated at the right hand of the father. He already did that for you. Then the other guy, then the next verse in verse 13, it says, well, maybe I'll go beyond the seas to far away place, to the revival center far away or to the religious shrine, to the anointed place, the anointed people, the anointed man or woman of God. The Bible says you don't have to do that either. You don't have to do that either. And then he says in verse 14, I'll just bring it to a conclusion with this point. He says in verse 14, he says, the word is near you. It's in your mouth. You just speak it and it will activate the grace of God in your heart will be activated. You speak and agree with the word of God and you will find it's closer than you think. You don't need a special anointing to understand. You don't need a special visitation to heaven. You don't need to go to the revival center far away. You don't need the special man of God to pray for you. It's near you. It's in your mouth. You say it, you resist the devil and you say it and you speak the covenant blessings. And Paul says, by the word of your testimony, or the scripture says, by the word of your testimony, you will overcome the evil one. Amen. And amen. And amen. Let's stand. Now we're going to do this for a moment.