How to Meet with Jesus: full transcript and answers

▶ 0:00 But before we get into the subject of praise there’s two things that we’ve got to establish this is very important all right and the first thing we want to establish is that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world and the church he didn’t just die for the sinner he died for the church that sins. Okay and it’s found in other scriptures but here’s one first John chapter 2 verse 1 I write to you that you sin not ain’t that the goal sin is the Violation of God’s law all right. But if anyone sins we have an advocate a lawyer a mediator with the father Jesus Christ the righteous we have a mediator we mess up we got a mediator we got somebody standing up there pleading our case who’s who understands our afflictions [unclear] everything he experienced only he didn’t sin he himself is the propitiation or atonement or covering.

▶ 1:16 For our sins he’s not only our mediator he’s the one that took on the sins of the world and the church am I right I mean is the Bible right. And not for ours only but also for the what the whole world now we got to get that. Jesus Christ is died both for the world who doesn’t know him yet and for the church who messes up I mean can you raise your hand and say yeah mess up every once in a while yeah I mean my goal is not to sin but sometimes I say things and do things I shouldn’t do and I have to repent yeah so this is very important it’s very important for what we’re going to be talking about you got to get this the second thing is all are invited to have a conversation and meeting with Jesus.

▶ 2:18 Everyone both the world and the church. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus said come to me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. for my yoke is easy and my burden is light and you will find rest for your what soul. The word soul there is spirit you will find rest for your spirit inside of us is a spirit. See the spirit goes on living when we die in the body the worms eat okay so this is Jesus is talking about the spirit you’re going to find rest for your spirit now we got to understand the labor here is not talking about you get tired of being an employee at work you get tired of the honey-do list that your wife has for you at home and you get tired and he’s not talking about that he’s talking about the labor and the burden see Jesus’s burdens are light he’s talking about the burden of your spirit.

▶ 3:44 Okay the spiritual thing and you remember Jesus said in Matthew 23 the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’s seat that. Authority a seat of authority. But you don’t do after their works because they say and do not. Okay they tell you things to do in fact they tell you things to do that God didn’t say to do and he says they bind you with burdens that are grievous to be borne and lay them on men’s shoulders and they don’t do even what they asked you to do and all their works are to be seen of men they just do things to be seen of men and to.

▶ 4:37 Look spiritual. And Jesus said you know don’t follow the doctrines of men now the Jews back then had like you can only travel so far on a Sabbath day okay. They made up a rule that you know if you give to the house of God you don’t have to help your parents and they get old they call it corban and they had all these rules of washing of dishes and pots and pan and they put burdens on the people that God didn’t put on them that’s the scribes and the Pharisees and they didn’t do them themselves but they got the people doing religious things today. We got the same stuff right. He that looketh upon a woman.

▶ 5:30 Committeth adultery already in his heart for they have everybody thinking man if you even think about. Sex or lust whatever you’re out a burden that people can’t bear you got to have a covering on your head Jews men and women put a covering on their head no jewelry no lipstick don’t cut your hair I go into churches where the women are seated on one side and the men on the other the holy thing that’s the spiritual thing. Special clothing you gotta wear special clothing in some groups you have to have a formula for praying you got to do it right you know you gotta and you can’t just pray you got to do it right you got to put the hand on the right place on the body and all this stuff and you got to say the right thing.

▶ 6:33 Ridiculous. the Catholics go through the stations of the cross the 12 stations of the cross and they do all this stuff I’ve been in nations where Catholics are on her hands and knees crawling to the Catholic church trying to do penance trying to do penance trying to punish themselves for their sins and even in some protestant circles they can’t just be forgiven they got to be punished I got to punish myself. and so [unclear] even today you can’t cut your hair. Holy water and holy oil when something comes to service the holy oil comes out [unclear]. They have the holy water and you can buy it from them.

▶ 7:29 You got to speak in tongues or you can’t be saved there’s a group that actually believes that totally unscriptural. You can’t eat pork they’re going back to Old Testament dietary laws that pointed to [unclear] they pointed to a spiritual truth and they burden the people down with that stuff you can’t play cards when I was a kid you could couldn’t have a deck of cards in the house and you can’t play pool [unclear] billiards it’s a it’s a sin I like the billiard table is going to do something to you I mean. This is the fact and I. Could go on and on and on and on I go into churches and I see all this stuff burdens put on people that aren’t God’s burden.

▶ 8:26 The Bible says when they asked Jesus what must we do to work the works of God what was Jesus’s answer believe. Believe on him alright and then just follow him pray seek him assemble together his burdens are light you see there’s no clothing there’s no haircut. With makeup or without makeup or whatever is going to make you any more spiritual what’s going to make you spiritual is working on the inner man amen. Following Jesus and we’ve got to understand that okay he’s invited us to come to him period.

▶ 9:21 With your sins with your stupid doctrines. He overlooks all this stuff that I listed I go into [unclear] his presence comes he loves people he overlooks all this nonsense to come and meet with people and he’s invited all of us to come okay so don’t let your sin don’t let your funny doctrines exempt you or don’t let your funny doctrines exempt others we judge others all right they God invites us all to come John 6:37 he that comes to me I will in no wise cast out you know I have seen I mean I’ve been pastoring for years and I’ve seen prostitutes meet with God and drug addicts and drug pushers and I mean the scum of the earth come in and the presence of God would come upon them [unclear].

▶ 10:24 Why cuz he loves people. He wants to touch them he wants to talk to them he wants to encounter them so no matter how you feel God’s inviting you in is the point and you have to make the choice Exodus 25:22 I will meet and speak with you above the mercy seat [unclear] meet and speak I will have an intimate encounter with you and I will converse with you above the [unclear] even in the old testament God wanted to meet and speak with his people amen ain’t that beautiful God wants us to come to him now so you understand here is a pictorial a picture of the tabernacle this is where God dwelt in a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day he actually was there you could see his presence you could hear his voice.

▶ 11:33 Amen they actually could hear and it says that God spoke to Moses from off the mercy seat he spoke to him told him what to do and so we have a gate to get in this is the gate this is called the courtyard what’s this what’s this [unclear] ok this is the court of the bronze sacrifice. This is the courtyard of the laver and the bronze altar I should say and here is the entryway into the holy place and this is the holy of holies where God dwelt where his voice was and God says I want to meet with you and I want to converse with you and this is what I’ve been trying to tell the church for 40 years God just doesn’t come to make you feel good he comes to talk to you and in his talk with you can change your life it’s great to feel good but it’s better to learn something.

▶ 12:44 could I have an amen yeah and so there are principles for coming into and meeting with Jesus okay first one Hebrews 10:19 therefore brethren having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way in the Old Testament not everybody could go into the holy of holies but in the New Testament we all can come in to the presence of God by what the blood of Jesus our faith and his death on the cross. His resurrection. Gives us the right to enter in to his presence plus nothing are you with me as a sinner I can come in as a unlearned Christian I can come in as a guy that’s got a warped doctrine [unclear] can come in why by a new and living way Jesus made a new a fresh and a living way is this this is real so here again is a pictorial of the tabernacle.

▶ 14:01 Enter the holiest here’s the holiest holy of holies so I come in through the gate I have to come in through the gate right who’s the door Jesus is the door he’s the gate and I come into the courts where the laver is and the altar brazen altar where they sacrifice I don’t have to sacrifice any animals now Jesus is my sacrifice ain’t that right the laver is the cleansing Jesus cleanse me right I can go into the holy place where the candlestick is and the. table of showbread and the altar of incense and I can go into the holy of holies and communicate with God and meet with him alleluia by what the blood the blood my faith and his death and burial on the cross the forgiving cleanse me of my sins gives me the right to have an encounter with Jesus and him talk to me.

▶ 15:08 Now we could stop right there and it’d be great principle number two. Okay it’s not a hit and miss thing here it’s not a game of chance and it’s not a hit and miss and it’s not my doctrine against your doctrine and it’s not a struggle. You see back in the 50s you had to struggle to touch God you know you had to fight with yourself yeah yeah. Going into God was a struggle it’s not a struggle all right principle number two Psalms 100:4 enter his gates with what thanksgiving enter his courts with what praise when you get in be thankful unto him and what bless his name so I enter by thanksgiving and praise and once I’m there I what bless him and thank him now ain’t that just common sense I don’t have to do the Holy Ghost jitterbug ah and I’m not really knocking that I mean when God comes on you sometimes you just and I just can’t contain yourself really I mean but the objective is to just thank him because your name is written in the lamb’s book of life thank him for dying for you and bless him bless means to speak good things.

▶ 16:38 Speak good of him Lord you’re good you’re holy you’re wise you’re the king of kings the Lord of lords are you with me you see we don’t have to take a chance what maybe gotta show up today we don’t have to be hitting and missing the target is always moving well you know this worked last week but it’s not working this week and this work you know it’s not a hit and miss thing you could hit the target every time by entering his gates with thanksgiving and entering his courts with praise here it is again the gate the courts and here he is and I don’t have to come in struggling I don’t have to come in with a heavy spirit I don’t have to come in beating myself up for my mistakes through the week I can come in praising him and thanking him and when he comes I can bless him.

▶ 17:34 Hello. Psalms 22:3 you are holy oh you that inhabit the praises of Israel now he’s coming to me I’m not coming to him he’s coming to me he’s coming to me when I what when I praise him ain’t that something I don’t even have to wait for church to assemble I can get up in the morning and praise God and he will what inhabit my praises he will come to me encounter me and talk with me and this is what he revealed in that fourth awakening in the late 40s that we could come in with praise before that they tarried and they groaned and moaned and did all kinds of things beat the floor and whatever but in that last awakening in the late forties awakening when God moved again he revealed this procedure to the church and man how refreshing that was.

▶ 18:36 Amen before that you were taught you were not worthy you were taught you know yeah you gotta do the I mean you gotta [unclear] you know you gotta do something and then God revealed hey all you gotta do is come in thanking me come in praising me praise means to boast and brag of him and now we learned that he will come to us. Alleluia if I praise him going down the road in the car on my way to work he’ll come if I praise him and talk about him and brag about him Matthew 18:20 if two or three are gathered together in my name there I am in the midst. Did you hear that is he here today yeah when you say God’s not here you better give a scripture for that because the Bible says when you gather in his name for his purpose he’s right there.

▶ 19:46 So you got to look for him. Amen. Hebrews 13:15 by him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God how long how often. Continually yes do I have to wait the next Sunday to praise God no I can do it Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday why because he will inhabit my praises and I need him to inhabit my praises I need encounters with God don’t you and then he tells us what this sacrifice of praise is now you know a sacrifice is something you may not want to do and I right so if you don’t want to praise him and you praise him that’s the sacrifice. The fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name you got to use your mouth.

▶ 20:46 Well I’m just not that kind of person well you’re going to miss out on a lot of stuff and you say you’re not that kind of person to what you’re saying is I’m stubborn hard-headed and I’m not budging. That’s what you’re saying. Now we got to remember this sacrifice of praise is called the peace offering in the Old Testament there’s five offerings in the Old Testament the burnt offering the sin offering the trespass or guilt offering in the meal offering and the peace offering which is a thank offering which is a praise offering and the only offering of those five that is not required is the peace offering you do it willingly you do it because you appreciate him what he’s done for you because you love him it’s totally your choice but if you want forgiveness of sin you got to go to Christ and be forgiven you got to do that if you want to get rid of guilt that’s destroying you you go to him who is the guilt offering those are requirements are you with me but the peace offering is totally your choice if you don’t thank him and you don’t want to thank him you don’t want to bless him you want to brag about him and praise him that is your choice so don’t bother people that don’t want to praise God let God deal with them are you there but we find that

▶ 22:17 civil government leaders are going to come in that’s last day and what praise him so there’s something on the horizon folks that’s much bigger than your hearing out there ain’t that exciting I think it’s [unclear] I think it’s tremendous now. Psalms 102 verse 18 we got a prophetic. Statement here a prediction. This shall be written for the generation to come first of all there’s a generation of people coming alright at a certain age in a certain age time period there is a people there is a generation that’s going to come it wasn’t when this was written but it’s somewhere down the road got it and the people which shall be created this generation in this age are going to be created they’re going to be fashioned they’re going to be molded and made.

▶ 23:25 And what are they going to be molded and made to do praise the Lord that’s a prediction that’s a prophetic prediction. Now I’m going to make this statement Jesus followers are the fulfillment of this prophetic scripture if they what praise the Lord if they don’t they’re not. Fulfillment of that scripture. So how do you know this generation. Because they praise the Lord yeah. Alleluia so. Peter tells us who is the fulfillment first Peter 2:9 you are a chosen generation.

▶ 24:18 Duh. Amen a generation to come is already what here and it’s been here for two thousand years. ain’t that beautiful that the scriptures are so. Definite so defined. You are a royal priesthood everybody’s a priest it’s not just the high priest that goes into the holy of holies now all of us are priests and go into the holy of holy a holy nation a holy people a special people peculiar people the Pentecostals used to think that our weird stuff we did was the peculiar people yeah we’re it. It really means special your unique.

▶ 25:13 Is it and that you may proclaim what oh. Duh. The generation proclaiming his what praises proclaim is a verb it’s action they actually praise the Lord these people do are you there and it started two thousand years ago. Second Corinthians 5:17 if any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are passed away all things have become new when we come to Christ we are what new creatures duh a people which shall be what created shall what praise the Lord how do you identify these people.

▶ 26:12 They praise the Lord oh. Yeah. They enter into his gates with thanksgiving they enter into his presence they have an encounter with him on a consistent basis and they talk to their God and their God talks to them sometimes we need to shut up and listen have you ever experienced that you can go into prayer and just have a thousand million words to say and God never has a chance to say anything back and then you say amen you go back to business but in this thing God talks back and you let him talk back. Again I submit to you Jesus followers are the fulfillment of this prophetic scripture if they what if they what praise the Lord I want to be a fulfillment of scripture yeah good great I don’t want to be standing on the sidelines I want to be a participant.

▶ 27:15 First of all Hebrews 8:11 all shall know me from the least to the greatest that’s the new covenant all shall what know me that word is used as a relationship between a man and woman a married man and a woman intimate sexual relationship all shall what have an intimate encounter with me all in the covenant from the least to the greatest I don’t care how worthless you feel in the kingdom you can know your God and you know how many Christians don’t know him and that’s the main part of the new covenant. Job 19:25 one of the oldest books in the Old Testament he knew I know my redeemer lives see same word. Through an intimate encounter I know that my redeemer who’s the redeemer Jesus was Jesus born yet no well had he been given the name of Jesus yet no been given the name of Emmanuel he knew his redeemer lives that Jesus was alive back in the Old Testament and he shall stand at last or at the end on the earth he knew that there was coming in the end and Jesus was going to come in an

▶ 28:40 appearance in a real body on the earth are you with me now he knew this before Isaiah and all these guys come along telling us about it are you there. After my skin is destroyed I die the worms eat me up. Okay I’m just dust now in my flesh I shall see God for myself. ain’t that something this man in the old is one of the oldest books in the Bible I think best I can remember I figured him just before Abraham or right at the time of Abraham I mean this guy was back there. He says my flesh I’m going to die but I’m going to be resurrected and in my flesh I am going to see him for myself oh.

▶ 29:37 Yeah. How my heart what yearns within me don’t you want God to give you a yearning for him like Job had not just be satisfied with status quo but I a yearning a compelling a drawing to him and he revealed Job these things that other people didn’t know he talked with Job and he showed Job things. And he gave Job the empowerment to go through a tremendously difficult attack of the enemy had his kids taken away as well taken away his health taken away and Job did not budge stayed faithful to God why because he had encounters with God and God talked to him and [unclear] his cry was if I could get God to come to me during this time he would save me why he had encounters before but now God has stepped back and lets Satan do his thing and Job kept saying over and over if my redeemer come if God comes to me he will hear me he will have compassion on me and he will deliver me and he was right it’s just God wanted to show the world that people would serve him regardless of their situation.

▶ 31:05 Hey man yes. Ephesians 3:16 he will grant you to be strengthened with might through the spirit in the inner man might is the miraculous power supernatural power church please hear this one of the things praise and prayer and reading your word does it brings his presence to strengthen you with supernatural power in your inner man your spirit.

▶ 31:42 That’s powerful so the prayer is not a drudgery it is a source of me being refreshed and strengthened in God supernaturally able to speak and do things that I wouldn’t normally do in my own flesh that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith see he wants to live in us and he wants to stir up that presence and he wants to meet with us second Corinthians 5:14 the love of Christ what compels us to what live no longer for ourselves but for him I need that compelling I need that encouragement I need that urging to God I yeah I can’t do what the world does I can I gotta I gotta live for you I got to be a light for you and there’s a there’s a there’s a compelling inside to do it instead of a [unclear] I got a duty to do it.

▶ 32:44 see a good marriage is two people that are compelled to each other not duty. And all right yeah that’s a as an effective marriage when they they’re compelled they’re encouraged to serve one another and love one another that’s the way it is with God alleluia he wants to come and compel you. He wants to strengthen you. Hallelujah. And we can sure use it.