In this sermon, the speaker shares a personal experience of learning to use a video camera while on an African safari. He reflects on how we often focus too much on the details and lose sight of the bigger picture. The Holy Spirit reminds him of the importance of gaining perspective and understanding the freedom and deliverance that God offers. The speaker then references John 9 in the Bible, where Jesus heals a blind man and teaches about the transformative power of the Spirit in a believer's life.

This message is one of the Times Square Church Pulpit Series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan in New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas, 75771, or calling 903-963-8626. You're welcome to make additional cassettes of this message for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission, existing copyright laws apply. Well, my message this afternoon is Supernatural Sight. Supernatural Sight. And we're going to be looking in the book of 1 Corinthians in the New Testament, chapter 2, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, and also, if you have a marker, John chapter 9. John 9 and 1 Corinthians 2. Hallelujah. And I'm going to open by praying. Father, I worship you today and I praise you, Lord. Lord, I just ask you to send the Holy Spirit. Lord, I acknowledge my great need today, the need of the Holy Spirit to come and lead in this word and teach it to us. We thank you, Lord, that you have given us the gift of the Holy Spirit to animate your church, Lord, that we don't have to guess about you, that, Lord, we can know you. We can know your mind for us. We can know transformed thoughts, O God, because your spirit teaches and leads us into things, O God, that is impossible without him. So, Lord, we give you this message today. Lord, I yield myself and I pray that for an anointing to hear and an anointing, O God, to take to heart and hold the truth that you speak to us today. Lord, that we could live lives, O God, that truly glorify and honor you. And, Lord, we'll be careful to give you the praise and the glory, for, God, we know that all these things are from you and that, Lord, when we lift you up, O God, we see miracles happen. So have your way today on our lives and we thank you for it. In Jesus' precious name, amen and amen. Supernatural sight. About a year ago, I had the great misfortune of having to learn to use a video camera on one of the most exciting picture-taking events of my life. You see, I didn't know how to use one. Most technology tends to be a little foreign to me, more than a little foreign. And I went to South Africa about a year ago this time and I was able to go on an African safari. And before I left, I had a 15-minute lesson on how to use a video camera. And then I had to remember it a week later on the other side of the world. And so we were on this safari and the most incredible sight you could ever imagine. I mean, they were truly National Geographic moments. The people who took us on this safari, this expedition said they had rarely seen all the animals in one time, in one place that we in the van got to see. And while everybody else was very expert at taking their pictures and their camcorders and all that, I was fumbling around and missing the pictures of my life. And I remember in one place we stopped and we were looking and all of a sudden there was pandemonium in the van I was in and everybody took their camera out and their recorders out and they were just whirring and buzzing away and oohing and aahing. And I took mine out and I'm looking in the viewfinder and all I can see is something that's fuzzy and green. And everybody is this, they cannot believe the shots they're getting and they cannot believe what they're seeing. And I'm looking into this camcorder, this video recorder, and it's green and it's fuzzy. And finally my friend beside me, he looks over into it and he goes, you know, you've got to pull the zoom back. And all of a sudden as he pulled that zoom back, what was, you know, fuzzy and green, all of a sudden began to take shape and it was a leaf. And when I pulled it back there was a tree. And when I pulled it back there was a field. And in the field looking right at me was a full-grown lion. It was an amazing picture. And I was, due to my own ignorance and due to a lot of factors, I was so over-focused. Not only did I know not what's happening, I was missing the best scene of my life, picture speaking wise. And God was reminding me that, he said that, what I want to speak to you today, he's saying that the Holy Spirit wants his finger on the zoom button of our life. Because us in the natural, in the spirit, we're going to get focused and over-focused on something fuzzy and green and we're going to forget there's a lion in our picture. That there is a powerful lion and it's a shot we can't fail to miss and all that it needs. And we get over-focused. And beloved, it may be and usually is very serious things that we zoom in on, that we lose all perspective, that we can't even understand the beginning to the end of it. Things that can consume our mind and hearts in the natural, that's all we know to do. That's what our friends do, that's what the world does, that's what we've been trained to do. We focus in, we over-focus, we lose perspective and we forget the big picture. And today the Holy Spirit was reminding me of some verses that if we allow him to put his finger on the zoom button of our lives and he pulls everything back so that we get things in perspective, then what we are facing in our life is going to have such a different perspective. I now have a little picture on my desk of that lion. I know the green leaf is somewhere hidden in the background. I would never be able to see it. It's swallowed up in the picture of that lion. Nobody goes to my desk, picks up that picture and goes, what an incredible tiny little leaf on the top of that tree. No one. All they can see is the lion. And the Holy Spirit wants us in that there's certain critical times in our life that we have to pull back and we have to see the lion in our picture, the lion of Judah, Jesus Christ. And when we have that picture firmly burned in our minds, no matter what is out of focus or we've over-focused or we are recessing on, or what is dominating our thoughts, when it's pulled back into perspective, we can begin to know that the reality where Jesus Christ so dominates the picture, we can't even see anymore what it was that was dominating our thoughts and our lives. In 1 Corinthians 2, it says something in starting in verse 9. Here's the big picture. But as it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. There's a big picture. God says there is no man's eye that is seen and no man's ear that has heard the things God has prepared for them that love him. He's saying it can't even enter into the natural heart of man to begin to sigh for and wish for and hope for or thought of things that God is preparing to give to us and has prepared to give us. The natural man cannot know and is incapable of knowing what God has prepared for his bride, for his saints. And God has revealed them to us. And it's going to be our privilege to know what they are and to begin to move in what God says is ours. And that is where a triumphant church, a militant church, a victorious church, that's the ground we have, is that God, you have things prepared for those that love you that no one else even knows about, let alone can access except the believers. And the scripture says in verse 10, verse 9 says, no eye, no ear, not even the heart of man can know, but it says, except God has revealed them unto us by his spirit, for the spirit searches all things. Yea, the deep things of God and God is saying the things that I have prepared for the believer cannot be known in by any natural manner, by any natural means. But those that have my spirit. Those that I have redeemed, those I've called to myself and I have washed and have have washed in my blood, that means there's peace with God because sin is forgiven. He says, and the reason that we know we have that assurance, it says, I give you of my Holy Spirit. He said, believers have the Holy Spirit and that Holy Spirit now is commissioned, is given to us to reveal to us what God has prepared for us. There's the secret of how we pull back from the obsessing, murky confusion and non-understanding in our life and pull back and see the lion in our picture because God says I've given you the Holy Spirit to begin to reveal things to you. You need to keep seeing me in the picture and what I have prepared for you because it's true, because it's real and because they're yours by the spirit. So if God has revealed them unto us by his spirit, that means that God has removed a veil exposing to open view what was hidden before. Because in the Old Testament, it was the things of God were never as clearly known or understood as is the privilege of New Testament saints, because after the cross came the flooding, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all believers, upon his sons and his daughters. God says that something so awesome was done at the work of the cross where man's sin is forgiven, where I can now have fellowship with man, that I'm going to flood them with my presence and they are going to see clearly me. If they will ask me, if they will begin to understand that I have promised to reveal to them things that no man, no other nation, no other people can know except those that I put my spirit in. And I'm going to reveal things to them clearly like no other generation, no other group of people have ever known things about me, things about what happens in the spirit, things that are absolute truth and reality, how things truly work in the spirit world with powers and principalities. He says, by my spirit that I deposit in you, I give you revelation. I pull back a veil and I give to you things no one else can know. And I thank God that he gives it to all believers, that God is not a respecter of persons. It's not about those from a certain group or a certain education or a certain level of basic intelligence. But God says, those that have a heart for me, those that have opened their heart to me, he said, I give without respect of persons my spirit and I will teach them things with wisdom of the heavenlies, wisdom of my mind that will astound those that hear them. I will give them an understanding of things of how I work, how the human heart works, how the spirit realm works, and I will give it to every hungry heart that can hear me. I will give it to every heart that says, God, pull back now my worry, my anxiety, my fears, my doubts, pull them back and remind me once again of the truth of this scripture, that you will not leave me without understanding, that God, you somehow in this trial are going to reveal more of yourself to me and I will be richer and wiser for it. You know, it's said in the New Testament that in this scripture that God has revealed them unto us, his body by the spirit. One time Jesus, when he was speaking to his disciples, he said, prophets and kings have longed to see what you can see. The big guys, the big people, those that have made it a life study, those that consider themselves wise or powerful, those that have said, I want to know about God. And they've turned to the scriptures and they have tried to keep the commandments. But God says, when I appear in flesh in my son, Jesus Christ, I'm going to gather a group. Who did he gather? The average man, not those with education. He didn't go to Jerusalem Bible school. He didn't go to those that we would pick to be disciples. But God to speak to us, to every generation, went to the common man and he went to the common woman. And he said, when you walk with me, he said, I'm going to reveal things to you that those that you would consider far your superior would long to know what you can know, would have given anything to see what you see with the eyes of your heart and the eyes of your mind. And God promises this. He says he has revealed them unto us by his spirit. Mysteries, dark things, truth that's making shot, that's going to stand like in strong sunlight at noonday. Beloved, for those who have a measure of the spirit and say, Lord, lead on this. I don't know you and I don't know your ways by studying you. But God, you have sent something so outside of me. It is your Holy Spirit and you've made me promises. Now, the scripture says here for the spirit, verse 10 searches all things. Yay, the deep things of God. Now, beloved, in this, it is telling us that the Holy Spirit has been sent and he has been sent to search out us and then to search out the things of God. The Holy Spirit has been sent and he is going to go into every part of our mind, every part of our body, every part of our will, our emotion, every part that composes us. And in that searching, he's going to be revealing things. And beloved, after he does that, he promises that then he's going to search out the things of God. Yay, the deep things, the full hidden things of God. And it's like this is what he's teaching us. He's saying that when I come into you, that there is I'm going to bring a light. And I'm going to know every part of you and my job is going to reveal what we need to know at a certain time, one truth at a time. But then he said, I'm going to be faithful to you because after I give you a revelation of myself, I'm going to give you a revelation of your God. And those truths combined is what's going to set us free. It's not one to have. It's not a balance to have one without the other. We cannot spend our time looking in, searching in and no revelation of God. And at the same time, we can't have these great and exalted views of God unless it is tied to how it applies to me. How it is supposed to change me, how truth is supposed to set me free, how the two come together and they powerfully become a living force in me and I begin to have access to things a natural man does not because I have a light in me and it searches me for my healing. It searches me for my understanding. It searches me so that I begin to be wise above those that have not the spirit. And at the same time, it teaches me about the things of God I could not know otherwise. And a powerful combination is made. You know, as the disciples began to walk with Jesus, they began to see things that were incredible. And I'm reminded one time when Jesus sent them out into the villages two by two. And they came back and they said, we thought we saw Satan fall as lightning out of the sky. And when God give that revelation to them, it's like Jesus, you are who you say you are. There was areas of their heart of doubt and questions and there was a revelation of seeing Satan. First of all, did they know him before? Did they understand the enemy they had and then to see him fall as they went out preaching and teaching the gospel? It says after the cross that they began the disciples to have this testimony, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with him. And they said, we saw Jesus do that. He did go around and every oppression that was encountered by him, he healed all that were oppressed of the devil. But they said, but then he gave that to us. He began that same anointing that was on him. He began to give to him, to his followers. And they began to say that there is something going on here. There is a knowledge of Jesus and there is a knowledge of ourselves. And when we put together in the power of the Holy Ghost, we see things we've never seen or understood before. And Jesus says in revelation, fear not. I am the last. I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth was dead and behold, I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys of hell and death. And beloved, we are beginning by the spirit to have that revelation. But now God's saying, I want you to apply it to your life. God is saying that we want to take this truth by the spirit and begin to understand that Satan does not have control over our lives. When Jesus says, I have the keys, he says, I have the keys to the kingdom of heaven. I have the keys to hell and death. And he said in Ephesians, when he gave a revelation of himself, Paul said under this revelation in Ephesians 4, he that ascended on high, he led captivity captive and he gave gifts unto men. And beloved here is under the revelation of the Holy Spirit. People who are saying when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, he took captivity captive and then he gave gifts unto us. There's a revelation of Jesus, but now it's got to apply to us. And God says that when I rose from the dead and I took hell and sin and death captive, he said, I started giving celebration gifts to my church. He said, now he that ascended, he also descended first. That means that when Christ first to ascend had to go to the lower parts of the earth in his burial and beloved, we get this revelation. Now it says that Christ might fill all things. And Paul's trying to give us his revelation of the spirit. He went to heaven. He went to hell. He walked the earth. And it said that everywhere that Jesus went, it said he filled all things. And we don't have an understanding of that except by the spirit. But I want to tell you that I believe that when Jesus visited hell, he robbed it. And when Jesus filled the earth, walked the earth, he redeemed it. And when Jesus went to heaven, he borrowed from it and he gave us gifts. And beloved, there is a revelation only in the spirit of God, of this Jesus, of this God that we serve, that we have to long for. And then we have to say, God, this is, this is incredible. But how does this apply to me? In verse 10, it says, sorry, verse 10, but these things, the deep things of God are revealed by his spirit. Beloved, this is telling me that the church, but that which Christ left behind after he ascended on high, the two things he left behind were his church and the Holy Spirit. And he is telling us here that his church, the only way that we are not blinded, the only way that we have power on this earth is that we must ask for the spirit. We must be asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And then we must acknowledge that without the spirit, his church is blind and helpless, that we always need the quickening power of the Holy Spirit. You see, we can talk about the things of the spirit, but till we experience it, till we say, God, this is real. This is something that you have left, that you can bring me into an understanding my mind can't take me to. But God, as you begin to reveal yourself to me in a powerful way, God, then show me how it applies to my life. And the Holy Spirit will keep revealing God's point of view. The Holy Spirit will keep giving us God's understanding of the spirit world and the natural world of his creation, his humanity and all the depths of it. And then it says not only when we are searched. I'm sorry, when he shows the things of God, then it says that we are going to be searched by the Holy Spirit. And I believe that the gift of God, of the Holy Spirit and this searching is that God gives us the revelation of an understanding heart. And God, we heard this so clearly today. That is the prodigal that gets the ring of authority. We heard it powerfully today, that those that will come to God being drawn of the Holy Spirit, that those will say, I can do nothing without you. Father, I come to you and I have messed up. But now, Lord, I want father, I come to you. Will you receive me? And he says, I will more than receive you. What we heard so eloquently today is because you've come to me recognizing who you are. Now you can represent me faithfully throughout the earth. And so I will give you a ring of authority that you're going to be able to speak with knowledge and understanding because I give the Holy Spirit to those that come to me with a prodigal's heart, with saying, God, I cannot. I come to you returning empty and I only I have only you and I can only move forward in you and with you and the spirit that you give to me. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Now, many claim to know and teach about God, but unless it is revealed truth about God by the Holy Spirit, the scripture is telling us here that it is not truth. Verse 11 says, For what man knoweth the things of man save the spirit of man, which is in him? Even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God and every truth that we have of God is brought to us of the Holy Spirit. In verse 12, it says, Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit, which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Now, we have not received from God the spirit of the world. We have received the exact opposite. God is saying that I have given the Holy Spirit to every believer. He is going to search your heart. He's going to give you revelation of me. And that combination, if we are going to be able to assess the spirit of the world and reject it, we're going to be able to recognize it. And the Holy Spirit given to us as saying, being able to turn from it, there's going to become a distaste for it created in us by the Holy Spirit. And it says, But the spirit he does give us is that that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. It is saying that God has this incredible gift to give to us, but we will never know the fullness of our salvation. We will never know the depths of our Jesus. We will never know what it is to move in the spirit unless we say, God, I thank you that the spirit you have given me is to teach me what you have freely given in abundance to me, that I may walk as you would have me walk, that I might love you as you would have me love you, that I may pray, O God, as I may, as you want me to pray. Beloved, when we let the spirit reveal our heart to us. And we don't shy away from it, we get the knowledge, Lord, it's for our healing, it is for our good. That when you bring things to memory and to mind is that we may give it to you and commit it to you. But then we get the revelation that God, I thank you that you tell me in prayer, I come to you boldly. I come to you without shame. I come to you because I need you. I come to you because I have to. I come to you because you hear me. I come to me because prayer, O God, you're going to make it my delight. And beloved, when these two revelations come together, we're able to lift our voice up knowing that we are heard because we're not presenting our righteousness. We're not saying I was good this week, so you'll hear me. I've had a great day, so now you'll touch my son. But when we let the Holy Spirit know our true standing and then we come to him in prayer because we have a revelation, we have a God who hears us, a God who loves us. It changes us. It changes the way we pray. We have a revelation of ourselves, but it causes us to love him more. We have a revelation of ourselves, but in it we see God, you must love me. And I thank you you're showing it because you're going to change me. That God, I recognize I cannot change this in myself, so I keep giving it to you. I keep declaring you to be Lord over it. I keep declaring you to be the only one who can change me in this area. Beloved, that's what a revelation is when it comes, when we see our own heart and who God is. There is power in it. We look away from ourselves. There is power in it because we realize the depths of God's love and mercy towards us. We come boldly to him and we're able to praise him. Beloved, we have to let the Holy Spirit take us on a journey of how to have a real walk with God, not a religious one. In Ephesians 5, it says Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Christ loved the church and he gave himself for it. But then it tells us something amazing. It says that he might present it to himself, a church without spot or wrinkle. And the Holy Spirit will teach us here that God loved the church and gave himself, that beloved, that we might be the present he gives back to himself. That God before time said there is a people that I'm going to gather to myself and love. I'm going to give myself. And when I give myself to them, and that's made real to the heart by the Holy Spirit, there's going to be a people that are going to open themselves wide to me. There's going to be a people that are going to not be afraid that every part of their mind, heart, soul, and body is searched because there's such hope in it. Because I hear your word, Jesus, that you say you're going to present to yourself a church without spot or wrinkle, washed in the blood of the Lamb. That Jesus, when I open myself up to your truth, you said that you're going to do such a work in me because Christ gave us a gift of holiness and righteousness. It's not ours, it's given to us. And we are presented to the Father and he declares us to be righteous and holy. But you and I know there's a day-to-day walk that goes on and that there are failings, that there are sin, there are areas of issues in our life. And the Holy Spirit is now sent to work in us on an issue by issue, day by day, oppression and stronghold by oppression and stronghold. And the Holy Spirit will now work with us to bring us to change our day-to-day state so that we can be brought up, little by little, to the standing that we have in Christ before the throne. There is a two-pronged work going on in our hearts. We are declared righteous and holy so that God can have fellowship with us, so that God can work on our behalf, so that we can be called God's people, so that he can be strong against our enemies. But at the same time, he sends a Holy Spirit now, and the gift of the Holy Spirit is that we become dissatisfied with sin, that we can't make peace with sin, that when the Holy Spirit begins to stir in us and search every corner of the heart, there's something in us that say, oh God, do it. Oh God, change me. And I thank you, Lord, that you're not going to let me be satisfied, that you put in me a longing to be like Jesus. And beloved, that is what's happening. And so when Jesus now says that I've come and I've got a bride in mind, and someday she's going to be presented faultless, without spot or wrinkle. And there was a people down there that I declared righteous, but then my Holy Spirit came and began to speak great and precious promises. And by faith, they began to hear it. And by faith, they began to see that our Jesus now is committed to changing us into a bride that changes from day to day. That is our privilege, that there is a bride, that the Holy Spirit will come and will be faithful and will begin to challenge us in areas so lovingly with such power, will bring such hope. And beloved, we begin to change so that the world can see the works of God in us. It's a true work. The Holy Spirit reveals to us that in the ages to come, God is going to show us for all of his creation, he's going to take his bride, he's going to take his redeemed people, he's going to take his chosen people, and we're going to be a trophy to his grace and kindness forever. That the Holy Spirit reveals the mind of God in this, that there is going to be a day when angels and seraphims and cherubims and archangels are going to gaze upon us with wonder at the mercy of our God, at the power of our God, at the long-suffering of our God, at the loving-kindness of our God. God says that his intention is for all the ages, that then they look upon us, they sink his glory and his praise from the depths of their being. God's saying, I'm going to do something in my people that's going to defy the ages. And those that can hear by the Spirit, those that are saying, God, I thank you that the Holy Spirit, you're going to reveal things in this scripture to me that blow my mind, that I could never have thought these thoughts, I was incapable of it, except that you show me these things in your scripture. And then you stir up and say, this is for me. This is for me. That what you say I'm going to be, oh God, I'm trusting you for it. I thank you, God, I don't have to trust myself. I thank you, God, every time I look to myself, it's sinking sand. But I stand on Christ, the solid rock to bring these changes in me. And when we stand on Christ, our head is lifted up around about our enemies and we can see over their heads and we begin to see by the Spirit that what God has said he determined to do for every believer, for every believer that will believe, for every believer that will trust what the Holy Spirit is opening our spiritual minds to see and read and then say, God, this is not for the good few. This is not for the powerful, but it's for the weak. It is for me. It is for those that fail you, but my God, you will be God because you take the weak. You take those that are so convinced that in ourselves, we cannot bring a spiritual transformation in ourselves. We cannot do anything that pleases you in our flesh, but God, I trust you every day. You'll give me a heart. Oh God, to want to please you. You will give me a heart to want to pray. You will give me a heart to believe you in my area of failing. You will allow me. Oh God, if I focus on you to see the change happened little by little, because my eyes are upon a never failing God. Hallelujah. We see in scripture that it says that we are built together for a habitation of God through the spirit. It says in Ephesians that God is building a church and it's a place for a habitation of God through the spirit and beloved in the old Testament, when the spirit of God filled the temple, the glory of it filled it and the priest could not stand the minister. But when the glory of the Lord filled the temple, everything must bow. We are that temple. God says, here's my plan for your life. On top of it all that my glory filled your mind, that my glory fill your home, that my glory fill you. It's not for those holy in themselves. It's not those who are trying harder. It's not about trying harder. It's about those that say, God, your spirit is saying to me that your church is going to be built together to be a habitation of God through the spirit that I am your temple and that God, I'm believing you now to come in greater and greater glory and measure and everything that resists you in my heart, everything in my mind that resists wanting to bow. God, you overpower it. You overrule it. I want you to know when we come to Christ, our will has been released. When we were caught in sin, beloved, we were bound captive at the enemy's will. We were at his beck and call, but we truly were freed and we were freed in our will. And beloved, we can worship and praise him. And yes, I know what it is to live under a mountain of oppression and unbelief. But I tell you, there have been times at my lowest when from the bottom of my heart, I said his name. And when I said his name, beloved, I tell you everything bowed. There were times in my life when I was confused, when I was angry, when I was depressed. And when I got to my lowest, little did I know I was at my most powerless because then I was not presenting myself. God, do this for me because I'm this. But when I got the lowest and the darkest and that cry was heartfelt, God said, I've been waiting for that one. And he separated. I don't know how he did it, but the red sea of my confusion and the red sea of my unbelief and the red sea of my oppression was parted. And my Jesus walked through and took me to the other side. Hallelujah. And when that honest cry, Jesus came from the bottom of my heart and everything bowed, I knew it. I didn't have the theology behind it. I could only explain it in praise to him in my most intimate moments. It wasn't something I could share with every everyone. I didn't have the words for it, but I had the experience, the reality of it. And I know. That his glory filled the temple at that moment and I was set free and beloved, the Holy Spirit comes. He shows us this truth. And then he says, this is how it applies to us. And beloved powerful. Now I can hear many say, sister, that's how I love it. I love that kind of preaching, but right now that seems so far off because my camera is so focused on this green leaf. I can't see I'm confused. I believe that Jesus will, but I try so hard. I want so badly, but God, I am so bound. And God says, I gave you a living word, a living Testament so that every believer for all times can see themselves in this book. And know my power, know my way, know how I operate in a heart open to me and know that I bring you through. I bring you into a place of my choosing that is full of freedom and deliverance. That even though I'm speaking this and you may be feeling under a mountain of oppression, that you have felt like you have had a week from hell, that you have felt at your lowest, at your most sinful, at your most failing time, you may be here feeling cold and removed from the things of God. You may be here visiting, not understanding one out of 10 words, beloved, but there is a living word in this book that God wants to show and make real to what I'm saying. And it's in John nine, John nine. I want to explain in the life of this believer, what, what I have just been saying, how we can see in the life of this believer. What happens when a life gets lighted by the spirit of God in John nine, it's a picture of a life of a, of a believer. And it says in verse one, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth and his disciples asked him saying, master, who did sin this man or his parents that he was born blind. And Jesus answered, neither have this man sin nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him, that the works of God should be seen in him. And it, it seems like a very curious salvation, but I'll tell you something, something was happening there. You see the religion of their day said, if you were sitting there blind, if you were sitting there from mainstream society, somebody really messed up. So it was either the parents or it was him. And it was a very good reason why society as a whole could forget someone like that or be callous to someone like that. But you have to appreciate this blind man was hearing this conversation and he was hearing a man called Jesus saying this man has a sin. His parents has a sin. I'll tell you why he is like he is for the glory of God. God is going to be seen in this man. And that man sitting there despised and rejected all his life. I'll tell you something that wasn't a word of life. I don't know what was or what is. And so Jesus, it says when he had spoken, he spit on the ground and he took that, that clay and he put it on the man's eyes and it says he go and wash in the pool of Siloam. And it's the scripture says in verse 70, went his way and washed and he came back seeing. Now, you know, that's a change. Did he have theology? No. Could he tell you what had happened? No. He knows very little except the most important thing. I once was blind, but now I see. And that's us. That's a type of salvation. And here is this man saved. And now the neighbors, the neighbors always get into this, the neighbors see a change. And they say, you know, in verse eight, this is the man that was blind and then others said, no, that can't be him. And then some said it is like him. And then finally the man says, no, it's it's me that it's me. And they said, how did you see? And he said, a man called Jesus did this. And beloved, that's such a picture of when we first know Christ, we don't know a lot. We know his name. We know now the power of his name. We don't know much beyond that. And then questions about Jesus start. And they said to him, where is he? And he said, I don't know where, how do we get to him? How do we, what, this is an incredible story. So what did they do? They brought him to the Pharisees. In verse 13. And it tells us that they begin to share this testimony with the Pharisees. And an interesting thing happens as he begins to share his testimony in verse 15, he says, they asked him and he said, he put clay on my eyes. I washed and I do see. And they, the Pharisees said to him in verse 16, this man is not a God. This man is not a God. Think about that. Beloved, think about now what we're talking about, how a Holy spirit comes into a life and begins to show them things they never knew before. And here's a group of people that he probably esteemed, maybe a little bit feared. He was put out by them. They wouldn't have thought much of him, but he probably thought much of them. They were holy men. They weren't blind. So they didn't see. But now here's a group that he comes before them and say, a man called Jesus opened my eyes and they go, this man is not of God. Now I'll tell you something. He doesn't know a lot of things, but that is beginning to the people he had formerly esteemed are coming against him. And he's probably wondering how, how can the issue isn't the issue me seeing? That's probably what he thought. Well, I don't know. The issue is not him seeing because the, the Pharisees, as we know, are representing the enemy and all the organized force of the enemy and everything sent down to shut out truth in the lives of believers come against truth that sets people free. He thought they would be happy. He sees, and now he comes up against people who are telling him this man that did that is not from God. And something is beginning to open, not just his physical life, but something beginning to open. And he says, how could a man that, that does miracles, other Pharisees begin to hear this and they go, this man is not for God. How can he do such miracles? And there was division between them. And all of a sudden, it seems that these people who he esteemed as knowledgeable see more confused than he is. It's all of a sudden, he's not the blind one. And the spirit of God is searching him, searching his mind, searching his heart. And he's being led into truth. And now after hearing their conversation, they asked him in verse 17, they say unto the blind man, what sayest thou of him that has opened your eyes? And he says, he is a prophet. Now, beloved, he started out by confessing that he was a man. His name was Jesus. But now you see the spirit of God is in him. And the spirit of God is beginning to let him hear things he couldn't hear. See things physically he could never see. See things in the spiritual realm he could never see before. He's not looking for this. He's not out gunning for unbelievers. He just had a real experience with the living God. And now he knows things he never knew before. He sees things he never saw before. And he's got this revelation now and he's getting a greater revelation of the spirit. Because beloved, the greater the light, the greater the darkness to cover the light. And beloved, so many times the unbelieving world doesn't believe that he who had been born blind can see. And they're going to do everything in their power to shut down the truth in us. And all of a sudden this man is saying, what is going on here? And the scripture tells us in verse 18, they don't believe his testimony. And many times, beloved, our testimony is not received. And many times what we are now experiencing in our lives, we cannot believe the opposition. We cannot believe why all of a sudden everything is such a big deal. We can't understand why those that we thought, why are they so upset at the office? Why is my family not understanding? Why aren't they have their hands up saying, you see, that's wonderful. Why all of a sudden is this, has he entered into a realm he never even knew existed before? So they call his parents in and he said, this parents say, this is our son. He was born blind, but why does he see? Ask him yourself. And you have to stand alone in our families many times. But beloved, the scripture tells us that if they had pursued this, they would have been put out of the synagogue. And this is a people who live under a curse. There are people it's either they send or their sons send why they're under this curse. And beloved, this man that can now see is not going to let go because he's got a testimony that cannot be denied. He is God gripped by truth. He sees and he can't not, not see now. And he's seeing in many more dimensions. And beloved, I know that this son, I, it's not in scripture, but it's just as bold testimony. The scripture tells us that those that are will glorify God, even in places, they don't understand before family members and, and before neighbors and before those that seem should know better when we hold onto that testimony and we speak the truth and God, we ask you to be able to speak it by the spirit. Something incredible happens. And I believe that this man became an incredible blessing to his family. And beloved, I was thinking as I was writing this of many times of those that have children under a curse, those that have had children because of sin and those that even though the sin is in the act, beloved, let me tell you, the blessing is in the child. And though the sin and there's a curse around in the act, God granted life. And God says that those that let life be, he says, if you will trust me, this life will be a blessing. This child will be a blessing. That which all around you said would be a curse in me will be a blessing. And God is saying that I've come to cut off and give you new eyes and let my spirit show you where blessing truly lies. And now this new believer is going to learn a very valuable lesson in verse 24. The Pharisees tell him, they call him back again, and they're not getting anywhere against this testimony of this man. And they tell him, give God the praise. We know this man is a sinner and that he answers. And he says, I don't know if he's a sinner or not, but I know I was blind, but now I see. But beloved, the lesson in this is he has an incomplete picture of Jesus. He doesn't know if he's a sinner yet, but I tell you something, because he's standing firm, the Holy Spirit is going to lead him into all truth about Jesus. And he has an incomplete picture. I don't know if he's a sinner or not. It's an incomplete picture. Beloved, we have an incomplete picture of Jesus, but I'll tell you what happens. They begin to revile him even stronger. These Pharisees, because he contradicts them, comes against him with full fury. And beloved, when we have an incomplete Jesus, I'll tell you something, we will be at the mercy of a mad devil. And so the Holy Spirit is going to drive us deeper. When we have an incomplete Jesus, but we still say, God, I don't understand everything. Please help me in this. The Holy Spirit will come and show us where we are deficient in our understanding of him so that we may stand against a mad devil, so we may stand against everything that comes against us. And so all things are working together for good, because even though he has an incomplete picture of Jesus, God is using it to deepen him. God is using it to bring him down the road where he needs to have a full picture of Christ. And beloved, I was so blessed on Friday. I was in New Believers class and there was a man stood up and he had a testimony. And he said, when he came to Christ, he may even be here this afternoon. He, after opposing Christians for 20 years, God revealed himself to him and he accepted Christ into his life. And he thought the first thing that would happen is his Christian wife, whom he deserted, would come back to him. And when it didn't happen after three months and four months, and he began asking God, why have I given my life to you? He said he began to petition God, and then he got angry at God, and he got bitter of God, and he went through the whole gamut of his heart, went through all that was in his mind. Everything that was really there got pushed to the surface. And then finally the Lord revealed to him, you love her more than me. You want what you want more than me. You want your own way that you've been used to having, and you're living your life the way you've been used to living it, and you want that to continue, calling me Lord. He says, no. He says, you have an incomplete picture of me, and it's not going to satisfy you. And so when he began to pray, God, I want to want you more than her. Jesus was faithful to him. And he can honestly say, and there was a release in his spirit, I want Jesus more than her. I want Jesus more than my own plans. I want Jesus more than what my own heart and mind is telling me what I need. And in that growing trust in a more complete picture of Christ came a fulfillment in his heart and a peace. And beloved, God is preparing him to be the husband he needs to be. God is preparing that wife for him to bring them back that they may have a true Christian marriage. And beloved, he had an incomplete picture. He said, I don't know if he's a sinner or not. And then these Pharisees rile up finally a full blast against him. And I'll tell you something. At that moment, that man began to see sin unmasked. That man began to understand these people are not rejoicing that I can see. Why are they so stirred up? And beloved, we need the Holy Spirit to see every time sin in whatever form raises its head in our lives, that it is the enemy, that it is a corruption, that unrestrained sin in our heart allowed to go unchallenged will overpower and eventually devour us. That every time that sin, and there's a contention in our heart and mind, like what's happening in these Pharisees, sin gets unmasked. And with new spiritual insight, we begin to see my problem is not my situation. My problem is a sin from without or from within that is a poison in itself that will separate me from the life of Christ. And because the Holy Spirit dwells in us every time sin in us raises our heads, we can offer it by the power of the spirit. We can say, God, this, this will poison me. This will be a death to me. But God, by the power of the spirit, I offer it to you. And if I have to offer it a thousand times a day, I thank you. It's my privilege to offer it a thousand times a day. I will not make peace with it. I've had my eyes opened like this man born blind and they revile him. And they say, you are altogether barred in sin and you're going to teach us. And the scripture says they put him from their midst. And beloved, you know, the story that when he was put out from their midst, that Jesus came to him in verse 35 and he said, and Jesus heard, they had cast him out. And when he had found him, he said unto him, does thou believe on the son of God? Does thou believe on the son of God? And beloved, the Holy spirit will keep taking us back to that question. We may have to answer it six times a day to get through the struggle that we're facing. We have to have that branded on our heart. Does thou believe the son of God? God, by the spirit was faithful to this man and kept giving him a progressive revelation of who Jesus was. He started out by saying he's a man called Jesus. And now Jesus himself is coming to this man and saying, does thou believe on the son of God? And that's the question. The Holy spirit will keep bringing to us to bring us into freedom because every time we can answer from the depths of our heart, God, I believe help my unbelief. God, I want to believe you any honest answer that saying God in the midst of my struggle, reveal yourself to me. I see my heart. I see my condition. Now give me the greater revelation of your power, of your love, of your keeping power for me. And God caused me to believe in you for my struggle at this moment. He says, do you believe in the son of God? He said, who is the Lord that I might believe on him? Jesus said, thou has both seen him. And it is he that talks with me. Beloved. I want to close with this. The Holy spirit sent in the life of a believer. It is our privilege to say this Jesus, the son of God, I had seen him now with our physical life. We have to see him by faith. We have to see him as he is. We have to see him as he says who he is. We have to see him in every particular situation. We have to see him. And then it says, and he that talks with me, you see the spirit has come to reveal him that we may see him, but now he has come that we may talk to him. And he talks to us. It's a practical application. It is the spirit that does two things at one. And as we have the Holy spirit, beloved, we are able to see him. We ask Holy spirit, show me now through this word, show me now, Jesus, let me see him as he is. Let me see him high and lifted up at this moment. Let me see him as the lion of Judah. Let me see him has an all conquering king. Let me see that everything bows before him. And God talked to me, cause me to talk to you. Love it. I think I thank God that with the spirit in us, this is our experience. And he says, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him and he worshiped. And the Holy spirit has come that he is going to cause us to be worshipers. Every time we need to be, the Holy spirit has been sent that we see him. We talk to him. We worship a God. We know we worship a God. We know. And the more the Holy spirit reveals him, the more we worship him. The scripture says, we got the father seeks those who can worship him in spirit and in truth. That's a revelation. We think, Oh God, I love you. And now we find that the father has been seeking. The father is looking down on his people and he's seeking at this moment who will lift up their spirit, who will say, God, make your word real to me by your spirit, reveal yourself to me, talk to me. That's my privilege. You've sent the spirit to reveal my heart, which I won't shy from because there's only healing and seeing, and then show me Jesus. And God, I thank you that I can worship and seeing both and Lord, I will not be overcome. Such is a true worshiper. Those that are led by the spirit of God, those that are filled and see others can't see those that are led and shown the things of God through their experience, through their seeking him love it. It's hard to have the word when God means this to be an experience, but it can only go so far because God says, that's my privilege in your privilege to have an ever increasing revelation of Jesus. Like the blind man did that we withstand everything. And every trial reveals him more just like that blind man, everything the enemy threw at him, caused him to see Jesus more clearly. Hallelujah. Till Jesus made him a worshiper. And beloved, when we get to that point, when we've been trained by the Holy ghost, that my first response in a time of trouble, in a time of oppression is Lord, I lift up my hand, lead me now to worship you and show me who you are beloved. We're going to have a testimony that the world will crave because we see things they can. Will you stand with me? As the musicians play, there are some here today that are saying that right now you are battling something. There is something going on in your heart and in your mind. No one else may know it, but you're saying, God, I'm coming by faith to get a revelation. I see that you promised me your spirit and I need something from you. There's a bottleneck in me. There is causing pressure in me and the enemy wants to be able to, to take it and turn me back. But God, I thank you that your spirit, you want to show me the bottleneck. You want to show me the point of pressure. You want to show me God, what is it? I try to figure it out, but God, I need spiritual eyes and those that will come forward and say, God, I give it to you. And I ask the spirit now to reveal to me what is going on that Lord, my eyes may be open, that I may know, I may have an understanding heart. Would you come? Jesus said, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. And Jesus will be our light. When we come to him, he will be light to us. And it said, he said to that blind man, I am coming to this world that they which see not might see, that they which see not might see. And he says, those that say they see, they're going to be made blind. God is saying those that will come to me, acknowledging the only way I can see spiritual things is if I come to you, Lord, I'm blind. I need you to see into the spirit. God, you are spirit. You know, this realm, you know, this world. I do not. I am flesh and I'm manipulated by spirit. So I come God and I need to see. And beloved, he will be faithful. He has been faithful to me and he's been faithful to many here. And those that came, he will be faithful to you. And he is going to show you things, things in the spirit. And you're going to have an understanding heart. And beloved, when he gives us an understanding heart, we are able to apply to so many situations and the enemy loses his ability to oppress us. He loses the ability to lie to us. He loses the ability to cause us to fear. But when Jesus, who is the light of the world, causes us to see, we're able to put the enemy under our heel where he belongs. Whereas believers in Christ, it is our privilege to see when we ask him, we say, I cannot see, but Jesus be the light of my world. And beloved, we keep coming with not a one time thing. God is going to start a pattern for many of you that have come to the altar. That is going to be the cry and the prayer of your life like it is mine. God, cause me to see. Show me what I need to see by the spirit. Show me what is happening here. And God, may I return to you with an understanding heart full of thanksgiving. And then God, I deal in compassion with people because I remember how blind I was. I don't stand as people's judges. I remember who I was. And having been judged, I won't judge anymore. Because God, only you caused me to see. Only your spirit caused me to see what is happening in my life and was showing me the way out. So beloved, we're just now in faith, going to lift our hands to him, those that want to join me in this. And beloved, we come by faith to a God who is so glad we've come, who is so desirous to show us the bottleneck, to show us the problem, to show us the root, to show us the spiritual truths and reality, and then to show us Jesus. Father, I just come now and I thank you for those that have joined me. Lord, I thank you that we come so needy. We don't come to you fearing, O God, because as you search our mind and heart, it is to change us. It is, Lord, to lift us up, to take us out of the mire, Lord, to heal, to heal memories, to heal relationships, to heal a heart with bad attitudes, to heal bad way and wrong ways of dealing with people. O God, we come now. We come and we thank you, O God, that you're going to open our eyes and that we're going to freely confess that what is there. But then we're going to freely confess a God that forgives, a God that cleanses, a God that is able to keep us from falling back, a God that if we will lift up our eyes and see him and ask to see him, that he will fill us with faith. He will fill us with a vision of himself and it will keep us. We will remember what we see. It will be branded on our hearts and mind. And every time we get confused and we live in darkness, the Holy Spirit will come and pull back the zoom and give us a big picture of a Jesus triumphant, of a Jesus who causes us to see, a Jesus who causes us to live, a Jesus who lets us see truth and it sets us free, a Jesus who says that this is our heritage, that we live in light, we live healed, we live in truth, we live restored. And I thank you, God, for everyone that's come in this altar or in their hearts, that God, you bring us to a better place, a more healed place, a more restored place every time we come. So God, we come. We ask you to cause us to see. And then we ask you to cause us to rejoice in the God of light and our salvation. Now, Lord, we give you the praise and we give you all the glory. We thank you for a Holy Ghost that causes us to see. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This is the conclusion of the message.