Awaken Podcast
“This mystery of Christ, embedded within us, becomes a heavenly treasure chest of hope filled with the riches of glory for his people, and God wants everyone to know it! Christ is our message! We preach to awaken hearts and bring every person into the full understanding of truth. It has become my inspiration and passion in ministry to labor with a tireless intensity, with his power flowing through me, to present to every believer the revelation of being his perfect one in Jesus Christ.”Colossians 1:27-29 TPT
Awaken Podcast
Walking through Servant Leadership: part 2
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Brother Andrew continues his teaching on being faithful servants who can successfully lead others
Thank you, man.
SPEAKER_00I'm excited. So if everyone will stand, we're going to be in Ephesians chapter 1, starting in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasures of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. Hallelujah. Before I was born, God the Father picked me as his son. And no matter what I do, he loves me unconditionally. Man, that's exciting. That's exciting that there's nothing I have to do to earn his love. Before he even formed me in my mother's war womb, he picked me and said, I am his. And all I have to do is live loved to make sure that everyone that I interact with know that they are sons and daughters as well. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That's awesome. I love it. We're going to have some QR codes up there for offerings, giving, sowing of seeds. There's offer also an offering box in the back. There's one up here as Brother Andrew comes to get set up, take some time, sow seeds, because he is a faithful father who honors us and trusts us. Amen? Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_02Hallelujah. Are you excited to be here? Come on. Come on. I'm excited to be here. Amen. Yeah, it's it's uh it's interesting following God, that's for sure. And yeah, but we're gonna we're gonna continue um on the the leadership series that we've been doing about about following him. Um and we're pretty excited because I've got a new a new system for for the microphone that I'm using. And so there's not gonna be any more cutting out, hopefully. Um that's what we're believing the Lord for. And so um, well, I'm just gonna pray real quick before we dive right into this. And Lord, I just thank you. I thank you that that every heart and every mind be opened. Lord, not only in this room, but those watching online and those that will watch in the future. Lord, your presence is timeless and it stays present throughout time. So, Lord, I thank you for the anointing being on this message, Lord, to just help, guide, deliver, and just teach and encourage those that need it in this time, Lord. We love you, Holy Ghost, and we bless you in Jesus' name. And so uh Yeah, amen. Pretty, pretty awesome. Um a lot of the things that have that have been going been going on. Uh we just uh we just got back from our our annual um discipleship advance. And yeah, that was a that was a yeah, it was pretty awesome. And it's kind of funny because um talking to a lot of different people that have been on it, um they're uh we just got back today and and all of them are kind of explaining it like it's jet lag. They just feel a little jet-legged. And uh, you know, people people are blaming it on different things, and and I just I just want to teach for a moment that that's that's by the spirit. It's the it's the spirit of the whole it's the spirit of the Lord. Um I've had this happen several times to where you you have encounters with Holy Spirit to where dramatic things happen and then you get up and you walk away, and it's it's like it's not that nothing happened, it's just there's no lingering effect. But when the Holy Spirit does a deep work, it feels like you went on a trip and you're recovering from that trip because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, so the flesh is in shock of what the spirit just walked you through. And so that that's pretty exciting to me. And and I believe the Lord is just doing that in everything that we're doing here. Um, and he'll continue to do that because we're we are we are in a move of God. Um because lives are being transformed. Um, and that's what matters the most. It's it's not that something grows in numbers, it's that people grow in depth. People are being transformed in their minds and then their hearts, and and their language is beginning to change because their heart is beginning to change. And that that's what we're all about here. And so I'm gonna continue um right along where where we kind of left off last week. Um, and we're gonna start off in Luke, Luke chapter 22. I'm gonna read some stuff 31 and 32, and then we're gonna jump back to to John, we're gonna go to John 21, um, and read 15 through 17, and then we're gonna end up in some Romans and some different stuff. And so uh pretty exciting, a lot of scripture tonight, but you know, it it's important, it's important that we are uh deep in the word. And so we're we're gonna we're gonna be talking initially about Peter. You know, we we've done a lot about David, and I'm I'm continually studying out the life of David, but but more than that, uh the Lord is really showing me the difference between the the patriarchs and uh some of the New Testament guys and the first Adam. Because the the first Adam, when when he made a mistake, um you know, he hid from God. And that's that's the tendency of the fall of humanity, is that you mess up, so hide from God, isolate, shame, guilt, condemnation. But beloved identity speaks another word when he says, This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. It's important, and we talk about it a lot because Jesus hadn't done anything yet. He was he was a beloved son in whom he was well pleased, yet he hadn't done anything yet. And, you know, there's always that easy, that easy road of, well, that's why he loved him because he hadn't messed up enough yet. He hadn't made any real mistakes yet, but he still had some life to live. Now we know Jesus didn't make any mistakes, but we can live that way believing, yeah, that's what he did with Jesus. But if Jesus would have made a big enough mistake, the father wouldn't have loved him anymore. He wouldn't have been well pleased with him anymore. And that's not the heart of the father. And so when you look at David and he was a world-class sinner, a lot of mistakes. I mean, some of the stuff that this dude did was really horrendous. But it wasn't in what he did, it was what he did after he did it. He he didn't hide from the father, he ran to the father. And uh I think we find that in Peter's life as well. And so the the story of Peter is not like it's it's not Peter's failure. Like when we when we especially Luke, Luke 22, 31, 32, we're about to read, like it's it's easy, you know, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has dismanded or demanded permission to sift you like wheat, but I prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. This this story is not about Peter's failures, this is about Jesus' affection. A lot of the church, if you took away their ability to preach failure, to preach sin, to preach messages that make people coming back, keep coming back for more, because they're in need of another service to feel a little lifted up, they they wouldn't know what to preach. I think we could just preach Jesus. I think we could just talk about Jesus. I think the entirety of the scriptures is about Jesus. I one of one of my kids asked me, they said, You said they said, you know, Matthew, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, they all got books in the Bible. James has a book in the Bible. How come there's no book of Jesus? I said, the whole thing is the book of Jesus. All of it. And and he is in me and I am in him, so the whole book's about me too. There's not a book, there's not a book of Andrew, even though there was a disciple, but I'm in here. And I'm written into history because I'm in his story. And I've got to stop living from my history and more from his story. Because I've got to lift up Jesus, and when I lift up Jesus, I'm drawn to Jesus, and then I'm lifted to heavenly places and seated in glory. I didn't have to do anything to get seated in glory. I just lifted up the one that is can that is containing and is the essence of glory, and therefore I was delivered into glory. It's no different than if a little kid runs up and all they do is lift their hands and then you pick them up. They didn't do anything to get up there, they just lifted something up. And and we read these stories, and like we we read like the parables and the woman, the woman with the issue of blood, and man, it was a she with sickness and all this. No, Jesus was affectionate. Jesus was powerful. Jesus was the answer, Jesus was the way, he was the life, he was the truth, he was the light of men. And in him there is no darkness. And the adulterous woman being brought in, and we call it the adulterous woman instead of the compassionate savior.
SPEAKER_03It was about Jesus being on the move, not a sinner being brought in front of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02It was Jesus being brought in front of a sinner. The woman at the well, the uh you you you know, Saint Fotini, and it's it's we make it about her deliverance instead of about Jesus' arrival. I'm gonna tell you the moment that Jesus showed up on the scene, she was already in, she was already free. She just, her flesh hadn't caught up with it yet. Because you've heard me say that all the promises have already happened in God's world because he's outside time and space. We're just waiting for our time to align with his promise. And Jesus only did what he saw the Father do. So when he goes to the well, it's already happened. He's already saw it. It's not he saw it in his eyes, and so he believed it. No, it actually already happened. He was just stepping into what already happened. It's what y'all call deja vu, and it's actually your spirit going before you. Your spirit's already been there. Now you caught up. And now you know that you're where you're supposed to be because you remember being there, but you haven't been there. It's the Father showing you this is the way. And so when we read, when we read scripture and we make it about anything but Jesus, we're already making mistakes because we're not lifting him up. We're we're lifting up somebody's sin or somebody's issue or somebody's problem. You go back into the Old Testament and David going up against Goliath, and we made it about a giant and a little boy when it was always about a saving God that would deliver his people. The Spirit of the Lord was leading David. Absent of the Spirit, he couldn't defeat any demon. He couldn't defeat any giant, he couldn't defeat any lion, he couldn't defeat any bear. And David equated it to one thing. I had been with the Lord. I had worshiped him under the tree with my heart. I had learned that power comes from being with him. And I would even say it a different way. Power doesn't exactly come from being with him. Power flows from him through you by you being with him because he's more with you. You're more aware of his is-iness inside of you and it flows out. And every time, every time that there's a mistake, every time that there's a mess up and we turn towards him instead of away from him, it's an opportunity for us to be awakened to the more of him. You don't know somebody's character until they're standing with you in the trench. And then when they're with you in the trench, you trust them more. So every time that you're in a storm and you turn towards Jesus instead of away, you start to realize if he be for me, who could be against me? Let me say it like this: if he's with me in the trench, I can make it through anything. But so many of us look away from him instead of looking to him because shame, guilt, and condemnation brings us into something otherworldly, but not of his world, but of this world. And then we end up bearing the fruit of a world that's fallen instead of understanding that he already redeemed humanity. I'm a part of humanity. Redemption is my nature. This is what Luke 22 is saying. He's saying, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat. Satan's talking about you. I heard him whispering. But say, Thank you, but I prayed for you. What'd he say? I went into communion for you before the Father. I brought your name up. I brought your name up through the power of my relationship with God. And you, when once you have turned again, and we missed it. We've read that for years and we missed it. He's telling him you're gonna fall away, but you're gonna turn again. Oh my gosh, Peter denied him. It's already prophesied he'll turn again. Oh my gosh, Peter made a mistake, it's already prophesied he'll turn again. And I read it this way because Satan is so afraid of you, he's asked to destroy you. But I heard him whispering your name, and I took your name before the Father. And I didn't save you from what will seem like sifting. But me and the Father came into alignment that what would happen through the sifting is you would come out more powerful on the other side to the point that you now will be able to strengthen your brothers. Maybe he said it like this. Peter, because you're still a little selfish, there's gonna be a sifting that's gonna take place. But be of good cheer, because I've overcome the sifting, and you'll turn again. And because you walk through this, you're gonna come out a little less selfish, and your focus is gonna be strengthening your brothers because you're gonna follow me. Jesus saw Peter's weakness before he did, and he went into communion for him. So John, John 21. Let's jump there. 15 through 17. So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, tend my lambs. He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said to him, Shepherd my sheep. He said to him a third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, Do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things.
SPEAKER_03You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, tend my sheep. And we've we've read this.
SPEAKER_02And and Peter, Peter's response is just like us. I've already said yes. You ask me if I'd follow you, yes, I'll follow you. Will you give this up for me? Yes, I'll give it up for you. And and every time we say this, every time you give God your yes, it's permission for God to test that yes. Because right here, Jesus is restoring Peter with questions of love. Not condemnation. Peter, did you deny me three times before the rooster croaked? Yes, you know that I did it. You prophesied it. Peter, did you follow me, but at a distance so no one would know? Yes, you know that I did that, Lord. Peter, did you stand around the burning barrel with with the soldiers and curse and begin to talk like them so they wouldn't think that you were like me? Did you do that? Yes, Lord, you know all things. You know that I did that. He doesn't ask him any of those things, even though Peter acknowledges you know all things. You know everything I've done. You know everything I've said. That means you know my heart and you know that I love you. But restoration comes through the questioning, like the questions of love. Do you love me more than these? You made mistakes, but are you still ready to follow me? The qualification of following me is loving me. Not condemnation, love. And you've gotta know, like in the middle of these questions, Peter is thinking most likely the things that I said. I denied you. I messed up again. I made the mistake.
SPEAKER_03How could you want me? How could you love me?
SPEAKER_02He doesn't say, Peter, do you know that I love you? Yes, I know that you love me. And take care of my lambs. Peter, do you know that I love you? No, he says, Do you love me? Do you love me? Because I'm gonna tell you in your darkest, in your darkest, darkest moment, the love for God is still there. And just to Admitting it with your lips will restore you to where you fell from. Do you love me? Yes. And then I hear the Lord say, Nothing's changed. Do you love me? Yes. Nothing's changed. Do you love me? Yes. Nothing has changed. Your call is still intact. Your destiny is still on track. Your purpose is still here. You're still qualified. You're still counted as worthy. I still look at you as holy. I still see you as righteousness. Because to be able to say that you love him in any manner means that you've received his love. Romans, Romans 5.8, uh, I'm gonna I'm gonna touch this. You can you can go there, they might put it up.
SPEAKER_03I'll give them a second to do that.
SPEAKER_02But God demonstrates his own love towards us. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Love always moves first. Before you even did it, love moved already on your behalf. Satan has asked permission to sift you like wheat. But before he can even come and do it, I went to the Father with your name on my lips.
SPEAKER_03Remember, no one ever spoke like him before?
SPEAKER_02I bet when he says your name it means something different than when you say your name.
SPEAKER_03When you were but yet a sinner, love had already moved for you. Before the foundation of the earth, love had already moved for you.
SPEAKER_02Oh, but we're sinners. And we got to repent. You're right. But we're moving into repentance from being loved, not from being condemned. Condemnation bears the wrong fruit. That's why the scriptures say there's no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. And all have been invited in.
SPEAKER_03All are loved equally. When when when Jesus I'm yeah, I don't have to go here.
SPEAKER_02I'm just gonna read a little piece of of John John 17.
SPEAKER_03I'm just gonna read the red words. Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, so that your son also may glorify you.
SPEAKER_02As you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have glorified you on the earth, I have finished the work which you have given me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they have known that all things which you have given me are from you, for I've given to them the words which you have given me, and they've received them, and have known surely that I came forth from you, and they have believed that you sent me. We go back to Moses, the burning bush.
SPEAKER_03But but how will they know that you sent me? How will they believe?
SPEAKER_02Tell them I am. Tell them I am sent you, and they'll follow. They'll listen. It's the same thing right here. They know surely that I came forth from you because I manifested your name. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours, and all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you, holy Father, keep through your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name, those whom you gave me I have kept, and none of them I've lost except for the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled, but now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. We could dive right into that because one minute he says he's not in the world, now he's saying he's saying it in the world. I told Britney, I think I'm gonna spend uh when I when I get through this series, I think all the way until I go to India, I think we're gonna break down John 17. I've given them your word. They have kept the word. I have given them your word. By them having the word, they'll be kept. That's what he's saying. By having the word, you'll be kept. How do you have joy? I have the word. How do you have peace? I have the word. How do you have faith? I have the word. But because you have the word, the world will hate you. The world has hated them because they're not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified by the truth. As you sent me, I'm now sending them, and I'm going to add something to it. I'm going to sanctify myself so they go sanctified. Because everything that's mine is theirs. Well, I didn't do anything to get sanctified. No, Jesus did it. I don't know how to wash my mind with the word. Believe that Jesus already did it. Put on the mind of Christ. I don't have to wash a mind that's already been washed if my mind that I'm putting on is the mind that's been washed. We're spending so much time trying to transform a carnality that's supposed to die. It's no longer I who live, but Christ that lives in me. Your life's supposed to be gone. How do I sanctify my life? You put on his that's already sanctified. How do I change my mind? You put on his. I need to fix my heart. No, you need to have a transplant and put in his. Paul's pretty clear that no one can tame the tongue. But if you put on the mind of Christ, the mind of Christ will tame the tongue because he's not no one. You, Father in me, and I in you, that they also might be one in us. That the world may believe that you sent me. Their oneness will make the entire world know that you sent me. You thought it was about you. By the oneness that we step into, the union and delight that we live in, people are going to look at us and say nothing about us but say, My gosh, Jesus sent them. That's Peter. They recognized they were unlearned men, and they recognized them as the ones that had been with Jesus. They didn't say their name. They disqualify them, they're unlearned, but guess who they were with? Jesus.
SPEAKER_03That's why they're able to do what they're doing.
SPEAKER_02And the glory which you gave me, I've given them that they may be one, just as you were, we are one. I in them, and then you're in me, that they may be made perfect in one. But no one can be perfect, but we're going to be made perfect. Union is perfection. But perfection is not you do everything right. Perfection is you do everything from delight. Did you just hear what I said? Everything is done from presence, that's perfection. I'm doing everything from the Father. And when I make mistakes, I return to the Father. I'm excited to tell him how I messed up. I remember the first time Pastor Don taught me this. He said, Whenever I make a mistake, I go to the Father and I say, Lord, this is your mess. How are we gonna clean it up? It's your mess. But you did it. You need to fix it. It's your bed, you need to lie in it. No, he gave me a new bed. Come on.
SPEAKER_03We've all heard this stuff. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.
SPEAKER_02Jesus can. He is the fountain. He he makes the impossible possible.
SPEAKER_03You've sent me. He says, I am in them.
SPEAKER_02And you are in me. I don't know about you, but like when I do the math of that, that means God's in me. I don't have to cross some bridge that the cross made to get to the Father. Jesus said, I am in them, and you're in me. If God is in Jesus and Jesus is in me, God's in me. I don't need a bridge. We've said Jesus died on the cross and raised from the dead, but you need to do all these things. And we live in condemnation trying to measure up for something that he already did. And all it comes is follow me. Follow me becomes go and be because when you've been with him, you look like him. I don't know about you, but I don't have to cross a bridge to go be with someone that I'm already with. And he did. He rinned the heavens and he came down.
SPEAKER_03And then he stayed. Through the spirit of the Son, he stayed.
SPEAKER_02That they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me. And have love to them as you have loved me. Now with a similar kind. Same. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. This is my son. Listen to him.
SPEAKER_03This is the manifestation of me.
SPEAKER_02Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am. Oh man, I want to teach this so bad. That they may behold my glory, which you have given me, for you love me before the foundation of the world. I am not in this world. But I'm speaking into this world. But I'm also simultaneously setting in this world while I'm saying this, but I'm not of this world, and they're not of this world. I might need to do a series on how we're multidimensional beings. Because that's what we are. We're multidimensional beings. We're in the world, not of it. We're in the Father. The Father's in us. Jesus is in us. And simultaneously, he says that they might be with me where I am. And he just said, I am not in the world. Where is he? Seated in glory. He doesn't raise from the dead for three more chapters. His existential state was with the Father. Seated in glory before he finished the work. Before he ever said it's finished. Before he ever told the thief, today you'll be with me in paradise. Before he ever took the keys of hell, death in the grave.
SPEAKER_03He said, I'm already there. And they are as I am.
SPEAKER_02It destroys escapism, and one day I'll die and go to heaven. I'm supposed to already be there. I'm a multidimensional being. Why is there healing leaves on a tree in heaven when there's no sickness? Because we're multidimensional beings with the ability to go to glory, receive the leaves, and heal the nations. Now oh, it's some anointing. It's some manifestation. No, it's love. It's love. Because every time that you enter to the secret place, every time that heaven invades your space, you're in glory. And a manifestation of love is transforming your life in such a way that now when you stand in front of people, you can say a little bit more, a little bit longer. If you've seen me, you saw him, and looking at him heals all things.
unknownSo good.
SPEAKER_02And these have known that you sent me. Father, they think they know who you are. But because they don't have relationship with you, they don't know who you are. But I came so that they may have relationship with you by knowing me so they can better know who you are and see you rightly and be transformed into the image bearer that they were supposed to be from the beginning, that you may be glorified.
SPEAKER_03And I have declared to them your name.
SPEAKER_02And will declare it, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them. I want them to have equal access to your love. Because we will defeat the darkness with the multiplication of light. Every person who knows the Father becomes a revelation of the Father. Everyone is called to leadership.
SPEAKER_03I don't want leadership. That's to say you don't want God.
SPEAKER_02To be with him is for influence to become inevitable. Matthew five fourteen. On time. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
SPEAKER_03Light influences by nature.
SPEAKER_02When when it's dark in here and you turn on the lights, it influenced the room to be different than it was. Just by flipping a switch.
SPEAKER_03If there's no power, there's no light.
SPEAKER_02The power comes from being connected to the grid. Disconnection from the grid, no power, no light, no influence. Connection to the grid brings power. The light brings influence. But we all with unveiled face beholding is in a mirror. It's like looking at me. Beholding is in a mirror.
SPEAKER_03It's like looking at myself. The glory of the Lord. Want to see glory? Look in the mirror.
SPEAKER_02Just 2 Corinthians 3 18. Just go ahead and tattoo it on your arm. I don't feel loved. Look in the mirror. Are being transformed. Not will be, not could be, are. I just don't feel like I'm getting it. You need this tattoo. I don't feel like I'm going deeper with God. You need this tattoo. I don't feel like I loved Him like I used to. You need this tattoo. You don't have a choice. You are being transformed, not into the same like image. But the same image from glory to glory. Justice from the Lord, the Spirit. And as that happens in you and you awaken to that reality, that transformation will always affect those that are around you. When you're burning bright, you don't actually have to evangelize hard. People are drawn to you like bugs to a light. You do. His name is Jesus. And he's drawing you. I look like him.
SPEAKER_03And because of that, you think you know me because you know him, because he's known you from the beginning.
SPEAKER_02This is this is where we're gonna spend the the rest of our time. Tonight. Not for eternity, just tonight. First Corinthians 11. Verse one. Just one verse. We'll spend probably the rest of our time right here.
SPEAKER_03The imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
SPEAKER_02The power of leadership is following someone that looks like Christ, and by following them and being imitators of them, you look like Christ. I don't have to know the Father. I have to know Jesus, and by knowing Jesus, I know the Father. I don't have to have seek a relationship with Holy Spirit. I just have to have a relationship with Jesus because he connects me with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is exactly what Paul is saying here, but we need others to follow as they follow Christ because that allows us to follow Christ. Paul's leadership entirely flowed from following, not ambition. What's your dream, Pastor? To be a better imitator of Christ. What's your growth plan to figure out how to follow him better? How are you gonna raise money for your church? I'm gonna figure out how to follow him better. I bet if I live in pursuit of the one that didn't have financial problems, I won't have financial problems. I bet if I live in pursuit of the one that had healing on his lips, healing will get on my lips. I bet if I live as an imitator of someone that is more with God than what I am, I'll be more with God vicariously by following and imitating them.
SPEAKER_03I'm not a great leader. I'm a great follower. I submit really well.
SPEAKER_02Because I don't need my name to be known. I'm gonna read this. I wrote this about 1 Corinthians 11 1. As I read this, I found that Paul's exhortation in 1 Corinthians 11 1, be imitators of me as also I am of Christ, reveals more than a principle of leadership. It unveils the economy of the kingdom. The gospel is not merely communicated through instruction. It is incarnated through lives that have been conformed to Christ. Paul's not presenting himself as the destination, but as a living witness of what continual surrender to Jesus produces. Biblical imitation, imitation is rooted in participation. We behold Christ, are transformed into his image, and then become a visible testimony that invites others into the same communion. This is the mystery of discipleship. Grace received becomes grace embodied. The kingdom advances not primarily through information, but through impartation. Truth becomes flesh in yielded vessels, and spiritual inheritance is transmitted where there is covenant, honor, and proximity. The enemy has labored to sever generations, replacing spiritual fathers with isolated believers, and discipleship with personal preference. Yet scripture consistently reveals that inheritance flows through relational alignment.
SPEAKER_03You may not be getting touched, but I am. Joshua inherited Moses' courage.
SPEAKER_02Elijah received Elijah's mantle. Timothy carried Paul's doctrine because he first carried Paul's heart.
SPEAKER_03Change your color.
SPEAKER_02It's humility before God's chosen means of formation. Honor opens the heart to receive what striving never can. The Spirit forms Christ in us through lives that have themselves been crucified with Christ. The goal has never been the multiplication of personalities, but the revelation of Jesus in a people so transformed that every generation can say with confidence, follow me as I follow Christ. When Christ is fully formed in his church, imitation gives way to manifestation, and the world encounters not gifted men, but the living Son revealed through his body.
SPEAKER_03Right here. In eleven one. Be imitators of me just as I am of Christ. This is how we put on the Lordship of Holy Spirit. Because we're not yielding to leaders, we're yielding to the leader the lordship of Holy Spirit inside of the leaders.
SPEAKER_02And it's not easy because it's easy to get him as a savior, but it's really hard to submit to a Lord. Because we've been so used to controlling, deciding, living in opinions, choosing when to follow and when not to, when to come to church and when not to, when to listen and when not to, when to obey and when not to. When the Lord touched me in 2018, the first thing that he said to me is, You'll never tell me no again. Because Jesus never told the Father no. To be an imitator and a follower of Jesus is to never have no in your heart, regardless of what the Lordship of Holy Spirit asks. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, those are the sons of God. Anytime you're not led by the Spirit, you're not acting like a son any longer, you're acting like an orphan. I don't know how to be led. Just wait, he'll show you. It's resting and waiting and trusting. I'm gonna stop there. Some nights it feels like I don't have enough time, and some nights it feels like that was right, that was the right amount of time.
SPEAKER_03It's pretty awesome to me.
SPEAKER_02Hallelujah. So, Lord, I thank you. I thank you for your scriptures. I thank you for your truth, Lord. I thank you that you continually move in our hearts and in our minds, Lord, that you continually work to transform our families, Lord. I thank you for the city of Rome. And that you're moving even now in ways that we cannot imagine to make this city your own, Lord. And we know that it's not your own because it's not bearing the fruit that you said that it would bear to the believers that you have placed here, Lord. We thank you for a collaboration of transformation in this city as hearts and minds are transformed individually. I bless you, Holy Ghost. I love you, Jesus. Amen. Bless y'all.