Mike Bickle emphasizes the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old Covenant as articulated by Paul in 2 Corinthians 3. He explains that the New Covenant, established through Jesus' death and resurrection, offers a transformative glory that empowers believers to experience emotional liberation through the Holy Spirit. Bickle highlights the importance of confidence in this transformation, urging believers to engage with the Spirit and not settle for a diminished experience of faith. He reassures that even small, seemingly insignificant interactions with God can lead to profound changes in our hearts and emotions. Ultimately, Bickle encourages believers to embrace the New Covenant's promise of internal transformation and to actively participate in beholding God's glory.

For three, Paul the Apostle is comparing the Old Covenant with the New Covenant. You know the Old Covenant, the Old Testament experience of believers with God. Moses was the primary man that was associated with the Old Covenant, and Paul is coming along and saying that after Jesus' death and resurrection, God established a New Covenant. And his point of 2 Corinthians chapter 3 is to compare the two covenants together. And he makes this very dramatic statement. He goes, the New Covenant is so much more glorious than the Old. And the reason that, one of the reasons that Paul is making this point, he wants it to strengthen our confidence. Because if we understand the glory of the New Covenant and the way in which it is more glorious, and the way in which we engage with the Spirit, so we experience the power of the benefit of it, he wants us to have confidence. So he's contending for them to have confidence. Most of you know that the enemy attacks confidence as one of the primary strategies against the kingdom of God. He can minimize or make you question the truth about these key subjects. He can get you to draw back. He can get you to settle down and to be content with less than what God has promised you. So what's going on in this passage, just to kind of give you a snapshot of it, then we'll read a little bit of it, that he wants us confident in the glorious promise that we can be changed. Because Paul's going to say, emotional transformation is within the reach of everyone. And Paul wants us confident that we, even you and I, can be changed. There's liberty. This is one of the most practical promises in verse 17. We'll look at it in just a moment. But he wants us confident in how God feels about us in the process. And he wants us confident in how the Holy Spirit interacts with us throughout the process. Because a lot of believers are, they have wrong ideas about how the Holy Spirit interacts with us and releases the glory of God in us and through us. What happens is that because of misunderstanding, because of wrong perceptions, many believers end up settling down and growing accustomed to a Christianity that has almost no interaction with the Holy Spirit. That's what the enemy wants. He wants us to have a Christianity where we don't really have confidence to be transformed in our emotions and we don't really have confidence to interact with the Holy Spirit in a regular way. Because it doesn't seem like it really matters. And that's what the enemy wants to distract us with. And Paul is actually addressing these subjects. And this is therefore a one of the most practical chapters relating to this glorious subject called the New Covenant. Let's read verse 11. We'll jump right in the middle of Paul's argument. You got to read the whole chapter to get the whole flow of it. But we don't have time for that. We're going to jump right to the key point. It says in verse 11, Paul said, what is passing away, meaning the Old Covenant, was glorious. But what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such a hope, such a confidence, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with an unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the same image of Christ, from one degree of glory to another. And this is by the work of the Holy Spirit. Let's look at this passage again. Let's read through it again. I'll make a couple comments and then I'll highlight a few of the notes here in the handout. Although many of them I won't take time on this morning, let you read them on your own. So let's go back to verse 11, now that we read the passage kind of quickly. He says in verse 11, if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Paul says, I admit, the Old Covenant with Moses and David and Elijah and Elisha and all the prophets, it was glorious, I admit that. But he goes, what you have now in Jesus is much more glorious. But it's important that we understand why Paul is saying this and what he's referring to, and then how we respond to what he's referring to. Verse 12, he says, therefore, because the promises are more glorious, he goes, we have such a hope. Now the word hope can be used interchangeably many times with the word confidence. Hope in the New Testament is not wishful thinking, but it is truth that's anchored in biblical reality. It's certain, it's confident, and it's real. Paul said, here's the hope we want. Paul's contending that they would have confidence. They would have confidence that the promises is real of transformation. They'd have confidence that the way that God feels about them in the process of transformation, and they would have confidence that how the Spirit moves in and through them is real, so that they wouldn't draw back and just kind of lose interest, because it's not exactly the way they were expecting. He says, verse 12, therefore we have confidence. We have hope. Hope is what he's contending for. Now he gives the great promise in verse 17. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Now the liberty he's talking about is liberty of the heart. He's talking about transformation of our emotions. Now that's not the only thing he's talking about, but that's the most challenging dimension of transformation is the human emotions. He says God has promised through the New Covenant you can get liberated from condemnation. You can get liberated from fear. You can get liberated from the dominion of lustful desires. You can get liberated from the dominion of anger, depression, rejection. He goes these dark emotions don't need to have dominion over you. The distinction of the New Covenant, the thing that makes it so much more glorious is that in the New Covenant there is a promised liberty of the heart from these normal human emotions that we all experience. He says in verse 17, where the Spirit is, there's liberty. Now what he means, where the Spirit is understood, where the Spirit is recognized, where the Spirit is engaged with. That's the point, where we engage with the Spirit, the fruit will be liberty in the human emotions. Now this verse, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty, is usually quoted in context of a worship service. I've heard it for many years, this is the verse, that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty, and the idea is that people should do certain things in worship services. Be liberated to do this, that, and the other. And I appreciate that actually, but that's not exactly what this verse is talking about. Though I believe we can use that verse to enforce, I mean to encourage that, but Paul's talking about a liberty of the heart that is very unique from the Old Testament experience. This is our inheritance of every believer. He goes on, verse 18, for we all, does it matter what kind of bondage you've been in? Does it matter what kind of personality temperament you have? Everyone has the ability, has the inheritance, ability in the grace of God, has inheritance to behold the glory of the Lord like in a mirror. Now that's the key phrase, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. That's the phrase we're going to spend more time on, that phrase right there. That's the key condition, to understand what it means to behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. But he goes on to say we're transformed. Now the word liberty in verse 17 and being transformed in verse 18 is the same idea. He's talking about transformation of the emotions. Now it's not limited to the emotions, but the human emotions, that's the most challenging place of substantial transformation in our life. But that is what's being offered to every single New Testament believer. I want to hold out for that. I want to feel the presence of God. I want to feel love for righteousness. I don't want to be under the dominion of dark emotions as a New Covenant believer. But Paul goes on to say, he goes, now that transformation is into the image of Christ, and that transformation goes from one degree of glory to another. Now one of the big problems is the way that we view the glory of God. The way the glory of God, the way the Holy Spirit works in and through His meeting, our natural idea is we think about the glory of God being manifest as a big kind of expression of the glory of God that's historic, that's dramatic. I mean the glory of God was in the meeting, and that's not what Paul's talking about. Paul's encouraging us throughout his writings to see the truth about how the glory of God operates. And the glory of God mostly operates in our lives in very small measures as dim, faint whispers, but it is really the glory of God. But if we don't know that's how the Holy Spirit works in and through us, we look at it and we go, well that's not really that big a deal. We might as well just not pay that much attention to it. And Paul goes, no, no, no. You need to. You need to identify the glory in its proper context of the Bible and its small encounters with the Holy Spirit, little whispers, faint impressions, little moments of inspiration. That is the glory of God. Many believers would go, well I know technically it is, but not really. I mean, come on. And Paul would say, oh no, no. This is critical that you buy into this. And he goes, and this happens, the end of verse 18, by the Holy Spirit, by interacting with the Holy Spirit. That's the point. If we don't have confidence and understanding of how the Holy Spirit interacts with us in these small measures of glory released in and through us, we're going to end up settling for so much less. We're going to end up thinking it's not really worth the effort. It's not really that big a deal. And we end up settling down for a Christianity that is, minimizes interaction with the Holy Spirit. Let's look at paragraph A. I've already mentioned it, that confidence is the thing that Paul's contending for. This is what the enemy attacks often. This is what he wants to obscure our understanding, so we don't have confidence that we really can be transformed, that God really feels delight for us and towards us in the process, and that the Spirit is actually working, and it matters that we interact with Him in the small measures. Paragraph B. Paul makes the big statement. The new covenant is much more glorious. He says that in verse 11. Much more glorious, but it's important that we know what he means. So I imagine a panel discussion. Let's just for, kind of go with me, just imagination. We have some of the top Old Testament leaders all up here on the platform. Now we got Elijah and David, Moses, they're all up here. And the moderator of the panel discussion makes the big statement to a New Testament audience of believers, and he says, tell these gentlemen why the New Testament, why the New Covenant is so much more glorious than what they walked in. And these guys are a little perplexed. So much more glorious? I mean we had it pretty good, our walk with God. So the New Testament audience, they're going to raise their hand one at a time and say, this is why what Jesus did is so much better, what He did on the cross and accomplished so much better than the Old Testament, the Old Covenant. First guy stands up and he says, forgiveness of sins by the blood of Jesus, the love of God. That's what makes the New Covenant so much more glorious. King David raises his hand, he goes, moderator can I answer that? He goes, forgiveness? I committed adultery and then murdered the woman's husband, was totally forgiven, and I was ravished by the revelation of the love of God. That's not it. Yes it is the blood of Jesus that secures our forgiveness, but the Old Testament believers were able to draw on that love and forgiveness in their day. So the moderator says, well that's not the right answer. It's not the love of God and forgiveness. They had that in full measure. There's no more love in the New Testament than the Old Testament. That's a confused idea. Next guy says, oh I know what it is. He stands up and says, the New Testament believer, he goes, I know it's miracles, healing. By His stripes we are healed. I'm in the miracle working power in the name of Jesus. Moses says, I'll take that one. Miracles? Healing? He says, well the Red Sea divided and three million Jewish people walked through the Red Sea. Then when we got there, water came out of a rock every day. Enough for three million people. I mean there's only two million people in the Kansas City area. Water came out of a rock every day. Food came from the sky every day. A pillar of fire led us through the wilderness. Miracles? Says in Psalm 105, verse 37, that there was not one feeble one among them, meaning for a season they were all walking in health and wholeness. Moses goes, we had miracles. We had healing. Moderator says, well that's not the difference between the Old and the New Covenant. Another guy stands up, says the Manifest Glory. I mean what happened in the book of Acts? I mean a hundred and twenty people and the fire of God fell and the power hit the city and that's it. And those spiritual warfare that was involved and associated with the Manifest Glory. Elijah says, hey I'll enter this one. He says, I stood before all the false prophets, eight hundred and fifty false prophets in the nation called fire down from heaven and fire appeared before all of them. I got taken up in a whirlwind of glory and people witnessed me being captured up in the sky. He goes, we had glory in our day and we had spiritual warfare. Solomon goes, oh let me weigh in. He goes, when we dedicated the temple, the power of God hit so much, nobody could stand. I mean the glory of God filled the whole place. Moses was just really wanting to chime in but said, Moses you've answered enough. Another guy raises his hand and says, I know it's prophetic worship. David says, I got to answer the prophetic worship. We had four thousand full-time singers and musicians all trained in the prophetic. Guy goes, okay okay, not prophetic worship. You had that. How about the prophetic spirit? Elisha. I had the prophetic spirit. I could peer into the king's bedroom and heard the secret counsels of what he said. Well okay, it's not that. Ah, it's prosperity. Solomon goes, thank you. I could answer about prosperity. Joseph said, I had more money than you Solomon. I had more prosperity than you had. Transformation. Joseph would add, we saw a nation transformed in a time of drought because of the glory of God. Well how about prophetic insight about the future? Isaiah said, thank you. I got something to add about that. So what is it? It's not forgiveness. That's not the difference. It's not the love of God. It's not healing. It's not miracles. It's not the manifest glory. It's not spiritual warfare. What's the difference between the old and the new covenant? Not prophetic worship. Not the prophetic spirit moving through people. It's not prosperity. It's not transformation. It's not prophetic insight into the future. That is not the distinction. What is the distinction that makes the new covenant so much more powerful than signs, wonders, healing, manifest glory, the spirit of prophecy, so on and on and on and on? And Paul made it very clear again, verse 17. It's the Spirit of God inside of humans liberating the human heart. Moses, David, Solomon did not have that. They did not have the internal transformation by God Himself living in them. Let's look at paragraph B, continue on that. Hebrews chapter 10 summarizes real briefly in a very succinct way what that liberty of the new covenant looks like. Hebrews 10 verse 16. Here's what liberty and transformation looks like. This is a passage about the new covenant. God is prophesying through Jeremiah and Hebrews 10 is quoting it. Thus says the Lord, this is the new covenant I will make. I'll put my word in their hearts, meaning I'll change their emotions. This is the new covenant. I'll put my word in their mind. I'll give them inspired understanding that will affect their inner life in a dynamic way. The glory of the new covenant is not signs and wonders and prosperity and healing and miracles and love and forgiveness. Those are benefits. I mean, those are glories. I love those. And those are new covenant benefits, but those were in the old covenant as well. But never was there this dimension of the Spirit changing the heart, riding on the emotions, riding on the heart. Liberty, transformation from the inside out. Paragraph C. Liberty, that's the uniqueness of the new covenant. Liberty of the emotions. That summarizes the superiority. Why? Why am I pressing this? So you can win a Bible Jeopardy contest, say, hey, I know the difference between the two covenants. It's liberty. It's the indwelling Spirit. No, that's not why Paul sang it, just so they have theological accuracy. He says, this is what you want to contend for. Don't come up short of this in your lifestyle. This is yours. Don't be content with signs, wonders, miracles, prosperity, transformation, manifest glory, prophetic worship. There's something on the inside of you. You can feel God. You can love righteousness. You can overcome the dominion of the dark emotions of anger and lust and bitterness and spiritual dullness. You can live vibrant on the inside. That's what liberty is. Paragraph E. But Paul says, I want you to know, this liberty comes by beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. We're going to look at that in just a moment. That's the key phrase. Beholding as in a mirror the glory. That's how the transformation or the liberty, use the words interchangeably, that's how it happens. And if you don't behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, the liberty won't be as dynamic in your life. And again, Paul's not putting down the other benefits. He's saying those are glorious, but don't lose sight of this unique reality that Moses and David and Elijah did not have. What a glorious thing. What a glorious reality. He said it's by the Spirit. Now, the fact that this transformation from glory to glory is by the Spirit is key. Here's why. There's several points. Number one, the transformation is not an issue of your natural temperament. It's a supernatural work. Meaning, one guy says, you know, I don't have a exuberant, kind of outgoing, passionate personality like that lady or that guy over there. So, you know, I'm kind of stuck. Because I'm, you know, I'm just made different, my personality, my temperament. Paul said, no, no, no. This is bigger than temperament. Passion's not limited to your personality style. You can, passion is about engaging with the Spirit at the heart. Passion is not about external expression. It's about internal engagement. He goes, you can be the quietest, have the quietest disposition in your personality, but have the most passion of anybody. He says it's supernatural. It's bigger than your personality. You're not stuck because your personality is more quiet and you're in a, and you've got a different type of personality than somebody else that you imagine. And they go, okay, good, okay, I'm not, I'm not canceled out. And he says another thing, you've got to know this, it's by the Spirit. If you don't engage and interact with the Holy Spirit, the transformation is not going to happen in your emotions. It's not going to happen because you go to a church service or go to IHOP or go to a home group. It happens because you interact with a person on the inside. That's how the transformation happens, glory to glory. You can't experience the transformation without the interaction with that person called the Holy Spirit. Now it's from glory to glory. It's progressive. That's what glory to glory means, one step to the other. But another thing, the biblical view of how the glory of God works is that the progression is usually pretty slow. And I mean the progression, the emotional transformation. I mean, we can clean up our outward behavior in one day, but our emotions are still have the powerful, dark tendencies and draws and pulls. And what Paul is saying is, even the dark emotions, the dominion of them, you can have victory over that. But he goes, it's progressive and it's more times than not slow. And there's an occasional big step forward, but most of the progress is little by little. Most of it's in small measure. Most of it is the Holy Spirit touching us in a way we can't really measure. It's faint, dim whispers and inspirations, and you can't really measure it so good. The analogy I've used over the years about this is, it's like taking vitamins or doing exercise. There's, you know, it's not like next Tuesday I take vitamins and that's the day my health would recovered from the Tuesday vitamins. No, it's the vitamins or the eating right or the exercising over years. There's no one day where everything now is made healthy because of one day. It's the same with the Spirit. It's over time. It's little by little hard to measure it. I am in shape today, but yesterday I was not. It doesn't work that way. I wish it would. If they had that pill, I'd buy it. There's no such thing. Roman numeral two. It's a cooperation with the Holy Spirit. That's what Paul wants them to have confidence. He wants them to have a confidence the transformation is real. It's within their reach. Because we go, that's not really gonna work for me. I'm so stuck. And Paul goes, no, don't buy that. That's the glory of the new covenant. Don't let go of your inheritance on that. You can be changed. Okay. Now, but God's gonna cancel me out before I get changed. No, no, no. You have confidence in the way God sees you and feels about you in the process. That's part of the glory. We'll look at in a moment. Okay. Okay. Okay. The promise is real. I buy it and I believe that God delights in me and his whole approach towards me is in kindness and tenderness. Okay. But this little, this little interaction with the spirit, I don't really feel, I don't really, doesn't seem like it's getting me anywhere. It's like the vitamins I took yesterday, I don't feel any different today. Paul said, I want you to have confidence that the New Testament interaction with the spirit and the small, faint, dim whispers that are hard to measure, that is what will bring the transformation of your emotions over time. Stay with it. Stay with it. Stay with it. It will work is what he's telling them. Well, let's look at this paragraph, Roman numeral two. Paul said, here's the key. Beholding the glory of God. That's the condition. That's our part. God's part is to provide the power. Our part is to behold the glory. Now, it's defining this term in the right way and perceiving in the right way, it's critical. Because Paul means a lot in that one phrase right there. Instead of the word beholding, you might put the word engaging with the glory of God. You might put the word participating in the glory of God. So we're participating in the glory, we're engaging in the glory, that's the opposite of neglecting the glory of God in our lives. That's what the point is right here. Now, I don't have this on the notes, but I'm going to give you just three or four little simple one-two-threes about different ways you can participate in the glory of God, or you can engage in the glory of God. Now, you might not think this is engaging in the glory of God, and that's the point of correction that Paul's making to the church. Number one way we engage with the glory of God is we open our Bible and we talk to God. It's called prayer. Well, the prayer is not very anointed, a little bit distracted when it was happening. Paul says, no, that's engaging with the glory of God. Well, I didn't feel that much. It seemed a little bit boring, a little, I didn't get anything out of it. He says, no, that's part of engaging with the glory. You've got to do that. Stay with it. Fellowshiping with the Holy Spirit, worship, prayer, those are, that's one, one way we engage with the glory. We behold the glory. Another way we engage with the glory of God is by receiving the truth about what God's heart is like. We're going to look at that in just a few moments. It's the glory of how God feels. The enemy wants to obscure this in our minds, so we're always having a wrong idea about how God feels about us in our failure, in the process of being transformed, because we don't see the glory of God. We see of Him more as a strict coach, taskmaster, commander, but He's tender. He delights in us, and the enemy wants to obscure that dimension of the glory, so we don't engage in it, meaning we don't have conversation with God. We don't engage with God along that line, so that we just sink back in condemnation and despair and quit. Condemnation is the absolute number one. Condemnation and accusation, which is the same, is the number one thing the enemy does to sincere believers, to get us to give up and give in, so we don't engage with the glory of who God is. Another issue, another way that we engage with the glory of God, behold the glory of God, I use that synonymous, is we draw on or appropriate or access the Holy Spirit's power in us. It's very, very simple to do it. It's so simple, anyone can do it. Accessing, appropriating, drawing on the power of God. What do I mean by that? I'll be this 60 seconds on this. It's a something that I've taught over and over over the years. The day that you were born again, the Holy Spirit came to live in your human spirit. Before you were born again, your human spirit existed, but it was devoid. It was devoid of God's life. It was dead, but it did exist, but it didn't have any divine life in it. The day you're born again, God the Holy Spirit comes to live in your spirit, and the resources of God, all the resource of God in the Holy Spirit dwells in your spirit. That's great, I'm born again, I'm happy, but I can't necessarily feel or measure or get a handful of that resource. How do I know it's even in there? Well, the Word of God says it. I don't feel it by my natural senses. The challenge is to get that power, that resource of the Holy Spirit that lives in your human spirit to affect your emotions and your mind. Our emotions and our mind are not radically different the day we get saved. Our spirit man is a new creature, created in righteousness. The power of God lives in our spirit, but our mind and emotions are still hampered by the dark thoughts we had just the day before we were born again. I mean, it's that we're the same. What happens? Anger rises up in my heart. The Scripture says that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, etc. Galatians 5 22. The fruit of the Spirit, the result of the Spirit in me is love, joy, peace, patience. Beloved, the very peace of God, the resource of peace is in my spirit. My emotions are in a storm of anger, or fear, or lust, or bitterness, or negative feelings, or rejection, or depression. My emotions are in a storm. If I will look to my spirit and not ask the Holy Spirit, please give me peace. Say, thank you. You're there. You're a real person that's really in me, not sort of in me, not kind of in me. You're there. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for peace. I'm gonna guarantee you, you do that, the storm of anger will dissipate momentarily. It will leave. You'll go like, wow, how did that happen? The anger will come back again. You'd look at the Holy Spirit living in your spirit and say, thank you, Holy Spirit. Talk to him for the peace that's in me. Thank you for that peace. Thank you for that joy. And I'm telling you, those negative emotions will dispense again. They'll come back, but you keep doing that, beloved. You access the power of God. That's one way of beholding the glory of God, engaging with the glory. Another way we engage with the glory is that we express the impressions that the Holy Spirit gives us. Meaning, we participate with the Holy Spirit, His leadership in touching other people's lives, or just the way we conduct our lives. And what do I mean by that? Every believer, even though they don't, a lot of believers don't really grasp this, but it's really still true. The Spirit is giving them many impressions over the course of months and years. Little faint whispers, little hints, little nudges. And they go, well, I don't really pay attention to those. And Paul would say, that's how the Spirit works. Like, you're kidding. If He'll shout at me, I'll listen. But if He nudges me and whispers and faint impression, I'm going to ignore those. Paul says you can't ignore them, because beholding the glory, engaging with the glory, is paying attention to those impressions. You'll speak a little word of kindness. Just an idea, an impression will come to speak a word of kindness to this person, that person, your spouse, your children, to do something good over here, to do this little bit different thing in your business, a little this, a little that. And it's real easy to just ignore them. But the more that we pay attention to those, we're actually engaging with the glory. We're beholding the glory. We're interacting with the glory. You think, that's not the glory of God. Paul said, yeah, it is. It really is. It's called the prophetic Spirit. You've got a person in front of you that's in prayer, that's in need. Lay your hand on him and just whisper a little prayer. And a thought comes to you, a verse, a truth. Say it. Give expression to the impressions. And that's a way of engaging in the glory. Another way, final way, is expressing our gratitude. And what do I mean by that? Is that we are, by nature, so much more focused. We're so much more focused on what we lack in our natural circumstances than, we're more focused on that than what we have in the Spirit. And when I focus on what I have in the Spirit more than what I lack in the natural, and I express that with gratitude towards the Lord, I'm actually engaging in the glory of God. I'm beholding the glory. I'm participating in it. What do I mean by that? Well, we're all aware of what we lack. We lack finances. We lack cooperation with the people around us, whether friends, family, business, or the neighborhood, or whatever. They're not cooperating. Or we lack promotion. We lack the recognition we deserve. We lack the good feelings that we want. We lack the energy in our body. We lack the healing that we want. There's many areas that we lack, and we get real focused on those. And I think it's okay to be focused on those. We don't want it to be the primary focus. I get locked in on those, and I can get weighed down. Any one of those areas I lack, and that becomes the primary thing I'm preoccupied with. And the Lord might whisper in my heart, and says, you know, you're in the family of God. You're in my family. You have access to the Trinity. You'll have a resurrected body forever. You'll live in the new Jerusalem. Even the smallest deeds that you do, like give someone a cup of cold water, will be remembered forever. You'll be eternally rewarded for everything you do. I mean, your life is so meaningful right now. And I begin to, yeah, I begin to express my gratitude and my trust in those truths to the Lord. I go, Lord, you know, I do lack this, this, this, this, and this. I wish there was more money, more health, more cooperation, more energy, more promotion, more favor, more, more, more. But let's, we'll talk about some of that, Lord, and that's good to talk about some of that. But I want to, I want to lock into this. I'm a part of the family of God. I live in the new Jerusalem. I have a resurrected body already that's promised me. I got it made. I mean, I'm in the middle of an amazing storyline with my life. Beloved, that's part of beholding the glory. And a lot of folks don't go there. They just get lost in what they lack in the Spirit. They get lost in that focus and conversation inside themselves, and they lose sight of what they have in the Spirit. Well, I just gave you a bunch of, you know, about four or five examples of how we behold the glory, how we engage in the glory. But a lot of believers don't really take time to go there. And Paul would say, no, this transformation is real, but it's by the Spirit. You've got to interact with the Spirit in these ways. Well, it's not very glorious. It's not very powerful. It's not that dramatic. And Paul says, well, no, that's not supposed to be. Every now and then it's dramatic, but mostly it isn't. It's like taking vitamins and doing your exercise and eating healthy. It helps over time if you stay with it. Oh, really? I was wanting to just get, you know, knocked over the power of God and wake up and feel everything different. It doesn't work that way. Well, that one guy it worked. Well, maybe that one guy it worked a little bit that way, but some of that's exaggerated. Okay, paragraph C. Top of page two. Some of it isn't, but some of it is. But it's the progress. It's the glory to glory, and the implication is a small measure of glory to a small measure of glory, not drama to drama to drama. That's not what Paul's saying. He's going small measure to small measure to small measure. But you've got to value the small measure. You've got to interact with the small measure. You've got to participate in the small measure and not ignore it. That's how you grow in it. Top of page two. Just a few, I'm just gonna mention a point or two here. Then we're gonna pray for you. Paragraph C. Moses prayed in Exodus 33 that he would behold or see the glory. He says in Exodus 33 verse 18, show me the glory. Let me behold the glory. Look at Exodus 33 19. The Lord says, okay, Moses, I will. I'll show you the glory. I'll answer your prayer. But here's how I'm gonna answer. Here's how you're gonna see the glory. I'm gonna show you my name. In other words, I'm gonna show you what I'm like. I'm gonna show you my personality. Because when you recognize my personality and relate to me according to the truth of who I am, that is the glory of God touching your life. Moses goes, okay, I want to see the glory. You're gonna show me your name. Okay, that works for me. A couple verses later, same experience. Exodus 34 verse 6. So now the Lord's gonna answer the prayer to see the glory. And the Lord passed by Moses. He goes, here goes Moses. I'm gonna tell you my name. Like I said a minute ago, I'm gonna tell you my name. I'm merciful. I'm gracious. I'm long-suffering. I abound in thoughts of goodness towards you. That's my glory. Now relate to me on the truth of who I am. How I feel towards you while you're in the process. And you will experience the glory. You will engage in the glory by relating to me according to the truth. Reject the lies about me. Now here's what's interesting. Exodus 33 and 34, the passage we're looking at about the glory, that's the very passage that Paul's quoting in 2nd Corinthians 3. The passage we've been on the last half hour is all a, is Paul's elaboration on Exodus 33 and 34. Meaning this is exactly what he's talking about. Beholding the glory is about relating to God according to the truth of who God is and how God feels about us. Now a lot of folks, they think, okay God's powerful. God is like the commander of the army. I mean He's the coach of the team. He's the disciplinarian. He has the king. Yeah we get it. And then he says, no my glory isn't just my power. That is part of my glory. My glory is how I feel towards you in the process. Look at this. I got a few of them mentioned there. He's merciful, number two. He's tender when he relates to you and your weakness. Nobody relates to you in greater tenderness than God. And when you relate to God and you believe in His tenderness, you're beholding and engaging with the glory. Number three, he's gracious. He doesn't give us what we deserve. He gives us far better deal than we deserve. When you relate to God around the truth of His graciousness, you're engaging, you're beholding the glory. Number five, he's abounding in goodness. He has so many good plans for you. Short-term plans in this life, long-term plans in the age to come. He has so many plans of goodness related to your life. The devil comes and says you're a loser. It's not worth it. Your life is wasted. We say no, I'm gonna engage in the glory of God. I'm gonna engage with God according to the truth and God said I'll show you my glory. I abound in goodness. I have many good thoughts towards you. The devil's a liar. Paragraph D. I'll end with this key phrase here. This is such a very important phrase. Paragraph D, as in a mirror. Paul said you want liberty? It's promised to you. You want transformation? That's the same as liberty. It's promised to you. It comes progressively, glory by glory, little measures of glory at a time. It comes by interacting with the Spirit, all that. But he goes here's how you experience. Here's your part. You behold the glory as in a mirror. That phrase as in a mirror is critical part of how we behold the glory. What does it mean as in a mirror? Well it's interesting to the very people, the Corinthians. He wrote them a letter earlier, several years earlier and he actually defined what he meant in the first letter by a mirror. In 1st Corinthians chapter 13 he says, for we see in a mirror dimly in this age but in the age to come we will see God face to face. What does that mean? A mirror in the ancient world was very different than a mirror in the modern world. When you look at a mirror today you see a perfect reflection. What you see is what you get. You look in the mirror you go oh wow or whoa or something. How did my hair get there? Okay. You look at a mirror you get a perfect reflection. But a mirror in the ancient world 2,000 years ago was a piece of polished metal. It was a very dim reflection. Meaning you looked in the mirror and you thought I think we try to get a little light. Now I can't quite tell if things are set up right you know. Hmm. Because a mirror in the ancient world was a dim view not a clear view. Here's what Paul says. You want to experience more the transformation or the liberty of the heart? Here's what you do. You behold the glory of God is in a mirror. In a dim way. In a faint way. It's not very clear. But that's enough. That's sufficient. Stay with it. Stay with it. When you're interacting with the Lord and on the based on the truth of who he is you're gracious you're good you say Lord I don't even feel the truth of that. The Lord says keep interacting with me you're beholding the glory. When you pray you don't feel much but he says you're beholding the glory. When you're accessing the power of the Holy Spirit when you're speaking right to the Holy Spirit and thanking him for peace and you got a storm of anger in your emotions and that anger dissipates for a moment again it comes back but it dissipates again if you stay with it you're beholding the glory when you're expressing gratitude and and who you are and what you have in the spirit as the primary reality of your life not just what you lack in circumstances but what you have in the spirit beloved you're engaging in the glory and when you do that you say well it's not very powerful it's pretty faint it doesn't seem to impact Paul says it's good enough if you will do it at that level it will transform you stay with it keep taking your vitamins well I don't feel better I've been taking them for three months stay with it tell me in ten years if you're not better condition and better say the same is true in the spirit I remember years ago when this verse first struck me I mean I was so excited because my prayer times were so boring my time of reading the Bible was boring my time of accessing the Holy Spirit for that anger and different negative dark emotions to overcome them and those moments that you know it was working not always but sort of but I didn't feel it like I wanted to and I read this verse and it the light went on I went oh my goodness unanointed uninspired interactions with God still work it's a dimby holding but that's all that God asked was a dimby holding it works I said this is remarkable unanointed uninspired prayer still relevant it still changes me oh my goodness I was so excited I remember I would tell my friends like the hills are alive the sound of music my own anointed prayer time still matters and it changes me well I can do this I can get on this pathway and that's what the Lord says that's all that we've ever the Lord's ever asked of us is to behold the glory of those various ways in a dim way in a faint way engage with the Spirit worship team come on up engage with the Spirit from one small measure of the glory of God one small little experience you know increment of inspiration or the whisper of God to the next to the next to small installments if you will of the Spirit you'll be transformed beloved we don't need to live under the dominion of dark emotions I mean we fight dark emotions but there's liberty there's promise this is what Moses and David and Elijah none of them had this they had miracles and healings and glory and prophetic worship they didn't have this and Paul said you gotta go for this don't be content with that make sure you have that those other things that go for the glory go for the glory of the new covenant let God write it on your heart let him change the way you feel over time and how encouraging I mean I want to feel more like God feels as time goes by and I can look back over the years and I and I do it's not always an unbroken you know glorious escalation of the power of God but it's sometimes three steps forward two steps back three steps forward two steps back but I look back over 10 20 years ago I feel way different than I did then that's remarkable it worked broken weak unanointed me I did it the Lord says no he interacted with me it will work for anybody amen and amen let's stand I'm gonna fight anybody that come forward that would like prayer prayer for healing prayer to give your heart to the Lord but if prayer let's say one of these areas of interacting with the Lord you're saying I'm not really interacting with the Lord in those ways I want to make a intentional decision to interact with the Lord a whole new level and I like to prayer I just want someone to stand with me I want to invite you for anything you would like prayer for I want to invite you to come forward Lord I ask you for your manifest glory Lord I want all that you have for me I ask you to manifest your glory in this room touch the hearts of people Lord I say yes to the glory of God even the small measure I say yes to the promise I Oh Oh Oh