In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of knowing Jesus through the spirit and truth rather than just through religious teachings. He highlights the difference between obtaining knowledge from flesh and blood, such as relying on pastors or church traditions, versus receiving revelation from the Holy Spirit. The speaker also discusses the impact of indoctrination and fear in certain religious contexts, using the example of the Catholic Church. The sermon concludes with the message that encountering Jesus and surrendering to Him can bring about a transformative change, as seen in the conversion of Paul and Peter's restoration.

Luke chapter 10. Now watch very carefully. Remember I said there's only two kinds of knowledge in the universe, flesh and blood or spirit and truth. Now how you come to know about Jesus is not so much being able to say Lord, Lord. Jesus says not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven. You can say Lord, Lord out of your flesh or you can say Lord, Lord out of your spirit. One is, I know who Jesus is because of what? Well, I went to church. My parents took me to church. I've been to Sunday school. I've heard this religion all my life. I know who Jesus is. I hear the preacher talking about it, talking about him on television. I go to church so I know who Jesus is. Well, that is flesh and blood. It is only when the spirit of God reveals, Jesus says you're blessed Peter because flesh and blood didn't show this to you. You didn't get it from anybody else. You didn't get it from any human authority. Why? Because no human, no flesh and blood source can give you this knowledge. But it came by the revelation of my father in heaven. So I'm going to make the statement that you can't really know who Jesus is unless the father reveals him, unless the father reveals him by the spirit. Okay. In verse 21 of Luke 10, we're going to demonstrate that. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank you, father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them unto babes. Even so father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered to me of my father and no man knows who the son is, but the father and who the father is, but the son and he to whom the son will reveal him. What does that saying? It is saying that God has hidden Jesus. He has hidden the knowledge of who Jesus is. And he only reveals it to those who humble themselves as little children. That's why Jesus says, if you want to enter the kingdom of God, now the kingdom of God is not just your final destination. When you leave this earth, the kingdom of God is that awareness of Christ as preeminent. It is something which affects your mind. It affects your heart. It affects your life. The kingdom of God is the domain where Christ has the preeminence and to enter into that kind of a kingdom. It's not like entering into the United Kingdom. You get off the plane and now I'm in the United Kingdom. It is a state of heart that says, I am submitted to God's will in Christ. Jesus says, don't look for the kingdom around you because the kingdom is where within you, within you. God is not establishing his kingdom out there somewhere. He is moving and building and working that revelation in the hearts of men and women. It is an eternal and an internal work that he is doing. And that's why the Jews missed it because they were expecting the Messiah to come, conquer the Romans and rule and reign from Jerusalem. And Jesus was not about that at all. In fact, he says, my kingdom is not of this earth. And he specifically said to them, don't look for the kingdom here there because the kingdom is within and it's not of this world. What is he talking about? It is talking about God coming to rule, not outwardly like some kind of a government, but the government of the Holy Spirit ruling and reigning within the hearts of men and women who are submitted to him, submitted to him inwardly. That's where it begins. And it starts by revelation because Jesus says, you can't come to me unless the father reveals it. He says, you're blessed, Peter, the father revealed to you the significance of who I am. Now, letter B. Well, before we do that, let's go on to John 16. John 16 and verse 12. Now, reference this last time. Why doesn't God just pour everything out onto us all at once? Well, because quite simply, we can't handle it. You may have already reached your limit today. I don't know. I might just be talking to the wall from here on now because it's a lot, it's a lot to absorb. It's a lot to digest. And we can sense that it's the truth, but it's still a lot to digest. And Jesus is sensitive to the fact that it takes us a while to get it. He's got more patience than I have. I want people to see it and go with it. But I didn't see it and go with it. It was a process with me. It's a process for all of us because discipleship is a process. But look at this in John 16, beginning in verse 12. He says, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. You just can't handle it. However, when he, the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself. Well, who shall he speak of? Whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will show you things to come. He shall glorify who? Me. He shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall show it to you. That is the work of the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ. So you see, Jesus says there's a lot I want to share with you. You can't handle it, but the Holy Spirit who will come will lead you into all truth. And so what is the ministry of the Holy Spirit? The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to increase Christ. It's to increase Christ, period. You say, well, it's power. Yeah, it's power. If you increase Christ, you've got power. You say, well, it's spiritual gifts. Well, yeah, if you're increasing Christ, there will be spiritual gifts. You say, but it's the fruit of the spirit is love, joy and all of those things. Yes, that's true. And if you increase Christ, you'll see an increase of spiritual fruit. See, you've got to connect it back to Jesus. Jesus says he will take what is mine and will reveal it to you. In Galatians chapter one, beginning in verse seven. And again, where does the increase begin? What is the starting point? God says, I want to increase my son. I want to bring people into a full knowledge of who he is. Where does it begin? It begins with revelation. Now, we were talking this morning about how Paul had that focus. He had that direction. He says, this one thing I do. And he was passionate in his pursuit of Jesus. Amen. If that is the case, where did it start? You would have to believe that it began with the revelation of Christ. How else could you come to Jesus and know Jesus and really get turned on and turn and put and set on fire for Jesus until and unless you really saw him for who he is. You see, everybody else is saying, well, some say you're this and some say you're that. And if you'll turn on the radio or the television set or surf the web long enough, you'll hear this group says Jesus is this. This one says this, that and the other. But the Holy Spirit is always, always, always bringing us right back to the question of who do you say that I am and your answer. Your response is going to either be based on spirit and truth or on flesh and blood. OK, now what we want to do is get out of flesh and blood because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The carnal mind is enmity with God. And Paul says that the natural man cannot receive the things of the spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned. So if we're walking in the flesh, we're not going to understand Jesus at all, who is spirit and truth. OK, so in Galatians, in Galatians chapter one, beginning with. Well, let's see, it says verse seven. Let's start in verse six. Paul gets right to the point. He says, I marvel, I am amazed that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ. Unto another gospel, which is not another, but there are some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. And he says, if we verse eight, if we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel I mean, there's no question about where he stands, right? If we if if we if I, Paul, come to you and tell you something different than what I told you the last time I visited, or even if an angel from heaven comes down and tells you something different, if they preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed, as we said before. So say I now again, if any man say he wants to make sure that you really get this. So he says it twice. If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed. Then he asked a rhetorical question for do I now persuade men or God or do I seek to please men? Because if I wanted to please men, I would not be the servant of Christ. Paul is just focused, isn't he? I just admire that focus on Christ, on the Lord forever and forever coming back to that center. And then and you see that this church gets over here and the Corinthians kind of drift this way and the Galatians go after this. And all of these epistles, all of these letters that Paul wrote is simply saying the same thing back to Jesus, back to the foundation, back to the simplicity of Christ, back to the gospel that we first preached, the grace of Christ. It is the grace of Christ, of Christ, of Christ whom we preach, whom we preach. And what happened to the Galatians and what happened to the Corinthians and what happened to the Ephesians and the Laodiceans and all these other people that we read about is they got distracted from that. Distracted from the simplicity of Jesus into something else. And we see the same history repeating itself today. And it's so bad that it's very difficult to find a church or a ministry or anything that is really dedicated wholeheartedly and completely to the simplicity of Jesus putting him first above everything else. They've got their own genre and their own niche of what they specialize in. Well, this ministry is all about deliverance. And this ministry is all about spiritual warfare. And this ministry is all about praise and worship. And this ministry is all about intercession. I mean, you've been there. You can you can count off all of the things about Jesus that people specialize in and you need. Yes, there are different teachings. There are different parts of the body, and they all are working together. But if you don't connect it back to God's purpose, then it is another gospel. It's a different gospel. And the problem, as I see it, is we have accepted and settled for these things, which are the lesser things and the many things when Jesus says only one thing is needed. And some people just don't believe that. They just don't believe that Jesus is enough. And that's why they've got to be decreased, because you don't really you can't really appreciate that Jesus is enough until Jesus is all you have. Our problem is not that we don't have enough. That we've got too much, too much, too many books, too many tapes, too many churches, too many teachers on television and too many preachers on the radio and everyone kind of spinning around in a circle doing their own little thing with no cohesion, no connectivity, no unity. And I don't mean we all get along that not that kind of fleshly unity. I mean, the prophetic voice is like a trumpet that should send out a clear message and a clear note. And it should be what Christ centered, spirit led and scripturally based. And a lot of things, they just simply are not Christ centered. They fail in the very first point. And if they're not Christ centered, they can't be spirit led because we have already seen in John how the spirit will lead you into all truth. Jesus says, I am truth. In Revelation 1910, it says that the testimony of Jesus is the inspiration of prophecy. But you ask people, what is a prophet? What is prophecy? And you'll get 15 different definitions. It's not fortune telling. It's not personal words. It's not all of these things that we have made it in to be. It is simply the spirit proclaiming forth the truth concerning Jesus, not our idea of who we think Jesus is. And that's where most people come to. They don't come to the Lord Jesus as he in fact is. They come to their own idea of who they think Jesus is. And the problem is we have made Jesus into our image instead of allowing ourselves to be conformed to his image. See, we have got it all the way backwards and we've got to get it turned back around. And someone has got to say it is all about Jesus. And thank God for Paul. If it wasn't for Paul, I don't know. The church in Antioch would have been segregated just the way it is now. Where are the Pauls of this generation, Mike? Where are the Pauls and the Peters and the Johns of this generation who will stand up and say this is the truth concerning Jesus? And we're just not going to accept all of these other things. Now you can look into those other things and they have their place. Where is their place? Beneath Jesus. Beneath that purpose, not the sole purpose of our existence. From a marketing standpoint, you have to specialize. And that's why they do it. Can I be very blunt with you? Marketing is kind of a hobby of mine. I enjoy marketing. I enjoy the psychology of why people do what they do and what makes them buy. And I've studied it. I've used it in my own business. And it has a place, but it doesn't have a place in the kingdom of God. Now from a marketing standpoint, you have to specialize. You have to pick a niche. You can't be all things to all people. You have to say this is my customer. This is the service I'm going to provide. This is where they are. This is how I'm going to reach them. And this is what we do. We sell fried chicken. We're not going to sell pizza. We're not going to sell hamburgers. We're not going to sell fish. We are in the chicken business. And then you gather all your resources together towards that one niche. That one niche market. There is a niche market. There are thousands of niche markets. There's the teenage market. And then the preteen. And then you've got the single mom market. And all of these messages are bombarding you. When you watch a particular program on television, there's a commercial that comes on. And do you notice how the commercial kind of matches? Not all the time, but a lot of times it will match the content of the program. For instance, if you're watching Lifetime, the women's network, a commercial will come on and it will be offering something appealing to whom? To women, not to men. So if I'm going to advertise Sports Illustrated, I'm probably not going to run that ad on Lifetime. Why? That's not my market. That's not my niche. That's Marketing 101. But when you consider that and then you look and you see how what is being done in the name of Jesus is being done, you understand why people are into all kinds of niche markets. Spiritual warfare, deliverance, healing. All of these things and they're good in their place, but you can't build a whole ministry around one little aspect of God's kingdom. You just can't do it. They have to do it to survive. Now, if I were to come to Wilson and say, we're going to have a healing crusade, we're going to get people because people are sick and they're in pain. And so they'll come to a healing conference. They'll know me from Adam, but if they think they'll be healed, they'll come. If I came and announced a prophetic seminar, people who are into that will attend that not knowing who I am, but expecting to get some type of word from God. You see what I'm saying? You can't come into a town like this or like any other town and say, we're just going to have a seminar where we are focused on the preeminence of Christ over all things. That's too general. People, they can't hang on to that. I want something that speaks to my need and meets my need right where I am. And then it's all about me and my needs. And I'm saying it's all about Jesus and meeting his need. And he has a need. He has a need to increase and to fill all things and see if you will give him the right place, you'll find all these other things will be added, will be added unto you. When God wanted to teach me about victory and about spiritual warfare, he didn't teach me about spiritual warfare. He taught me about his son, because when I saw his son, I saw myself victorious in him. And that was the extent of my training in spiritual warfare. Hallelujah. I mean, it's so simple. You just all the Holy Spirit is doing is showing you one facet of truth concerning Jesus. Salvation. Everyone here has had the revelation of Christ concerning he is my savior. If you don't have that revelation, you're not sure that you're saved today. So that is the beginning point. It is revelation. But there are so many other dimensions and facets of Jesus Christ besides he is my savior. But what do you hear everywhere you go? Well, Jesus is my savior. He died on the cross for me. That's important. That's foundational. But let us go on to maturity. Let us go on to perfection. Do you realize that there is a depth and a height and a width and a breadth and a length of Christ that goes beyond just the fact that he died for my sins? That's important. But you have got to move on. You have got to move on. Revelation is the beginning. And see, here's the thing. You enter the gate by revelation of who Christ is and you're saved. And as you walk the path, the Holy Spirit continually, continually, continually does what? Lead you into more truth concerning Jesus and your eyes. It's not so much that he is increasing as much as he is being magnified in your sight. For example, you take something that is small and you put it under a microscope and you zoom in on it. Does the specimen actually get bigger? No, but it becomes larger in your eyes. See, now Jesus, he already feels all things. God's already exalted him. But in the book of Psalms, how many times does it say, oh, magnify the Lord, magnify the Lord. You're not making God any bigger. He's already big enough. He fills the whole universe. But when he is magnified, he becomes larger in my sight. And the larger he becomes, the smaller these other things become. The things of this world become strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. And the brighter that light is, the less I am able to be affected by all these other strange lights and darkness. What darkness? His light is so great. His light is so bright. The Chinese have a saying, don't curse the darkness, just light a candle. And Jesus said, just let your light shine. That's all you need to know about spiritual warfare. Everything else is a distraction. Maybe that's for somebody. I don't know. It's just all the spiritual warfare teaching that I have heard. What is it trying to do? It's trying to give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation into the knowledge of the devil. And since the spirit reveals Christ, where do you think the revelation of the devil comes from? It's not coming from the Holy Spirit. See, that is just when you make when you make a decision for Christ, you are deciding against everything else. For him, for him, for him, and everything is measured by that. Everything is measured by him. And that's exactly where Paul is. How did he get there? What made Paul the way he is? Now, he's he's pretty adamant here. He says, if anybody preaches anything different than my gospel, let him be a curse. Let him go to hell. That's where they're heading. That's what Paul says. That's what it means. And then he says, I'm not a man pleaser. I'm a God pleaser. Where does he get that from? What makes someone that focused, that purposeful, that narrow minded? Verse 11. The difference between Paul and every other person out there is this. The difference is in where they got the information from. Most people get their information from flesh and blood. I believe it because the pastor said it. I heard Dr. So-and-so teach on it last week. Or I grew up in the church and they taught me this. And you think, well, that's not really, that's not that big of a problem. You just, you don't understand if you've never been in a Catholic church, what a hold that has on somebody for years and years and years and years. So much of a decrease that has to happen. Because they have been indoctrinated and put into fear. Fear to question the church, fear. And it's easy to pick on the Catholics because you see them in the news and all of the trouble that they're having. But it is the same thing going on in religion. It doesn't make any difference if it's the Catholics, if it's a denomination. There are house churches that are just as bad as denominations. And some of them are worse. At least with the denomination, you've got some accountability. House churches, you pretty much, it's a breeding ground for problems. See, but you don't solve those problems by trying to meet those problems. You solve those problems by focusing on what you're supposed to focus on. If you will put Jesus first, put his kingdom first, he says, all these things will be added to you. And only one thing you really need anyway. How did Paul get the way he was? Verse 11, he says, I certify to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. He says, I preach the gospel of Jesus, but I did not get it from man. I didn't receive it from flesh and blood, he says. Verse 12, he says, I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but it came by the revelation of Jesus Christ. By the revelation of Jesus Christ. And then he goes on to talk about how he was pretty important in the Jewish religion. I think it's interesting here that he says, I profited. Verse 14, he says, or he says it in 13. So let's read it. He says, you have heard of my of my manner of life in time past. And look what he calls this in the Jews religion. He has really separated himself now. He said, and he gives a better list in Philippians. He says, I was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. The tribe of Benjamin circumcised on the eighth day. I said, under the feet of Gamaliel, I was trained in the law. And as far as the law is concerned, blameless, the model Jew. And now he's referring to the Jews religion as something that's apart from him. What has happened to cause this schism in Paul that he no longer identifies with the Jews religion? Verse 15, he says, but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me, to reveal his son in me. Colossians 1, he says, it is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And that's what Paul got ahold of. Not a Messiah sitting on a throne in Jerusalem, ruling the nations of this world. But Christ in me, God in us, God with us. That was a revelation, he says. God was pleased to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen. He says immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. In other words, he received this revelation of Christ. And he says he did not check with flesh and blood. He didn't have to check with flesh and blood because when God reveals something to you in your spirit, by his spirit, you know it is truth. Jesus says my sheep hear my voice and the voice of another they won't hear. So Paul says when I received this revelation of Christ, he says I didn't go up to Jerusalem. I just love it. I didn't go check with Peter and make sure this is okay. He's kind of rebellious in this letter here. This is the letter where he says I confronted Peter to his face because he was to be blamed. Paul's pretty bold. What makes somebody that, what gives somebody that kind of boldness? It's having seen the truth and being dedicated to the truth no matter what. He says I don't please man. If I was going to please man, I would not be the servant of Christ. What does that mean, Paul? It means if you're going to serve Jesus, you are going to be put at odds with other people. Not because you want to, but just by reason of the fact that he is who he is and he is so totally other than what we expect him to be and so totally different from what we imagine him to be. Because who he is, the knowledge of who he is for most of us is coming to us not by the Holy Spirit. It's coming to us through flesh and blood, through the voice of religion, through the voice of the pastor, through the voice of a system, through the voice of institutionalism. Not through spirit and truth revealing in me who he is. But when you see who he is in you, it changes you. It can't help but change you. And you may not have a road to Damascus experience. God may not knock you down with a lightning bolt. It doesn't have to be that way. For somebody like Paul, it took that. But just look at the transformation. And Paul says, you know, pretty much I'm the example. I'm the model. God saved me to show that he could save anybody. I'm paraphrasing. But basically, what's the lesson? If he can do that for Paul, just by revealing himself, all he did was call his name. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Paul said, Saul said, who are you, Lord? I am Jesus. That's it. What will you have me do, Lord? That's it. That's all it takes. As soon as your eyes are open to see the significance of this man, this person, this one in whom God has put all of the riches of the glory of his grace into him. What a difference it makes. That's not flesh and blood. Flesh and blood cannot do that for you. Flesh and blood would not have gotten Paul any further than Damascus. As soon as, well, I was going to say as soon as people would come against him, he would quit if it was flesh and blood. But here's the thing. If you're in the flesh, people don't come against you. They accept you. They're not threatened if you're in the flesh. You only have a problem when you begin to speak. Peter, look at Peter and John before the Sanhedrin in the book of Acts. They had the revelation of Christ. Here they go. They heal the man. He says, Jesus Christ heals you. Stand up. And what do they do? They grab him and put them in court before the Sanhedrin, before the very same high priest that just a few weeks ago condemned Jesus and turned him over to the Romans to be crucified. Now, Peter, who before was afraid and was behind the locked doors and wanted to quit, now he's full of the Holy Spirit. And he's standing before this same group of people who very likely could do the same thing to them that they just did to Jesus. And they asked him and said, by whose authority and by what power has this man been healed? And it says that Peter and John were filled with the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. Filled with the Holy Spirit. And they said, we want you to know that it's by the authority and by the power of Jesus Christ that this man stands whole. Hallelujah. He says, we cannot help but speak. Let's turn over there. It's so good that if I just paraphrase it, I'm not going to do it justice. Acts chapter 4. I want you to look at this testimony before the Sanhedrin. Here is Peter who said before, Lord, I'll never deny you. Jesus says, you don't know yourself, Peter. You will deny me. Not once, not twice, but three times. And so Peter did. And Peter was decreased. And Jesus says, feed my sheep. He restored Peter. And he says, wait in Jerusalem till you're filled with the power from on high. And so all of that happened. And you know the story. In Acts chapter 4, verse 7. And when they had set them in the midst, this is Peter and John, they asked, by what power or by what name have you done this? Then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel. I mean, he just lifts up his voice right in the midst of it. This is a changed man. Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand before you whole. And not only that, Peter said, as he was filled with the Holy Ghost, this Jesus whom you crucified is the stone which was set at naught, rejected by the builders, which has become the head of the corner. And there is salvation. And there is not salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Not only did Jesus heal this man, but I'm telling you, this Jesus whom you crucified, God has exalted. And there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Now, look at this. Verse 13. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John. See, here's where I think I understand what's happening. A long time in the Pentecostal church and in the charismatic movement, we've been told that the purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is to give you boldness to witness. Right? And they base that on Acts chapter one, verse eight, in the charismatic religion, just like the Jews religion. I'm just... They say that the purpose of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is to be filled with boldness so that you can go out and witness. And that's kind of a half-truth. You know what the real truth is? The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to reveal Jesus and to increase Him. And when you see Him for who He is, boldness just can't help but come. Boldness is the result of having seen Him for who He is. That is boldness. Because when I see Him for who He is, I'm not afraid of anything. When I see Him for who He is, I'm not afraid of you. I'm not afraid of your opinion. You can kill me. You can chop my head off. Doesn't matter. When I see Him, because I'm filled with the Holy Spirit, I see Jesus in all of His fullness. And with that seeing comes power, comes authority, comes boldness. But see, people are seeking the power and the authority and the boldness, but they ain't seen anything. They haven't seen the Lord, so there is no boldness. They're trying to grab hold of boldness as a thing. Authority as a thing. Well, you just got to take authority. You can't take authority. You need to see that Jesus is authority. And see Him. And see yourself in Him. That's where your authority comes from. There's no authority anywhere else. Jesus says what? All authority in heaven and in earth is given unto me. Now go. See, when you see that in Him all the power of God, all the authority of God, all the anointing of God, every spiritual blessing is in Him. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him, in Him, in Him. There's really only one thing left to do. Holy Spirit, open my eyes to see Him, to appreciate Him. Open my eyes to the revelation of who He is. That I may see Him and know Him for who He is. Because when you see Him and know Him for who He is by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, all of these things that you think you need, that you've been chasing after, they'll come. Because they're in Him. They're in Him. Boldness comes because I see Him for who He is. Power comes because I see Him as all-powerful. Authority comes because I see that He has been given all authority in heaven and earth. Victory comes because I see that His name is above every name. You see? It's all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus.