The Holy Spirit wants to change the image inside of people. You can’t move forward without that image change. You’re going to get stuck and stay in the past if you don’t begin to change that image. That’s what the Holy Spirit is here for. He was sent to help us effect change in our lives. So that we not only don’t stay the same, but that we don’t go backward. 

1 Corinthians 2:9, “ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed unto us through His Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, yes the deep things of God.” 

To some people the deep things of God are the big, spooky things. They take scripture out of context. What he is talking about here is everything in your inheritance, everything that was given to you at the cross. The Holy Spirit’s job is to bring that to you. First of all, His job is to give us the capacity to receive the things of God. To be able to understand them and to have them manifested in our life. 

Before we were born again, we were spiritually dead. We couldn’t receive anything from God. I know you probably look back now and realize you did not understand anything concerning God. I didn’t understand it. Then you were born again and you received the Holy Spirit and He came in and made your spirit “new.” Made you come alive. Your spirit was no longer dead, but now it was born from that second Adam, Jesus Christ. Now you’re able to begin the trip to understand the Word of God. That’s what He’s talking about. 

1 Cor. 2:11, “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” 

He’s talking about your born again spirit. He’s not talking about the Holy Spirit. He is, but He isn’t. He’s talking about the effect of the Holy Spirit upon your spirit which makes you now have the capacity to understand the things that have been freely given. So Paul was laying a foundation, because he was going to address some problems, and all through 1 Corinthians he addresses some severe problems. Once he said, “turn him over to the flesh”, “there’s immorality among you, people sleeping with people they shouldn’t be sleeping with. “Turn this man over to the flesh.” He was real tough in that area. 

What he was trying to get at here was that he was starting to correct doctrine. He said, “Here’s the Holy Spirit. He’s been sent to reveal the things of God, and you’re not going to know these things without the Holy Spirit’s work upon your born again spirit. You see, some have taught that whenever you get born again, then you know all things. That’s just not the case. You received the capacity to know those things, but you don’t know all things when you get born again. The capacity is there for the Holy Spirit to begin that teaching effort upon your life, and get across the things of God. 

The first thing he did is lay a foundation. The foundation is the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s not in men. So don’t be looking for it in men. Don’t say, “I’m of Brother Rogers, I’m of Brother Roberson, I’m of Brother Hagin.” He said, “Don’t say that!” He said, “The foundation is the Lord Jesus Christ, and there’s only one foundation.” Then, not only is that the true foundation, but it doesn’t just stop with that. It continues on, he says, “be careful how you lay upon this foundation.” We are going to build a little more upon that foundation now. 

When God called me to the ministry there was one thing that I had noticed that I did not like what I was seeing in the body of Christ. I saw ministers teaching the Word, and preaching the Word, and it sounded good. But they’re not laying the Word out where any of us “little dummies”, (I was speaking of myself at the time) can grab hold of these things and begin to apply it upon our life. They were not telling you how to achieve it, just that you ought to do it. I really wanted to change. The desire to change was there, it still is. I want to change. I want to change into His image. (Thank God a man by the name of Dave Roberson came into my life with a message to tell me how.) 
There were times I would hear message after message, where it seemed that you could not get anything out of it, and begin to apply it. It sounded like good theory, but when it came to putting “A” with “B”, and “B” with “C” I couldn’t grasp it. With many of these messages I heard, if somebody asked me what the message was about I couldn’t tell them for sure. But it sounded real good. 

I wanted to hear messages that I could apply to my life, and begin a change, or at least have that opportunity to apply something, so that I would at least have the opportunity to change. So I asked the Lord, “If you’re calling me to preach and teach Your Word, then Lord give me some things that these people can use. Give me some things that I can use on my own life and then I’ll know that because they worked on my life they’ll work on other people’s lives. Teach me in a way that I can teach others.” That’s been my heart’s cry all along, that He would give me those things.

Anyway, we’re going to lay more upon this foundation. So that you’ll begin to be able to apply some things in your life out of the Word of God and it won’t look so vague. It won’t look like just words on the paper, but things you can begin to put into action. Now there’s just one thing about this teaching. It doesn’t work, if you don’t apply it. If you don’t put it into action, you won’t get any results. You would sit here, and ten years from now, I would drift back into the church and you would be the same person I met today. Maybe even worse, because you knew more truth and you didn’t apply it. Therefore, you slipped back. See, you’re accountable. We’re accountable for the truth that we receive. We’re accountable for applying it in our lives. 

As we hear more truth from the Word we grow more into accountability. For example, you get born again, and you get a cold or a headache, and you lay hands on yourself and say, “Jesus, heal me.” I mean, He just comes and heals you. Five or six years down the road you’re slapping your forehead over and over saying, “Heal me, heal me.” and nothing happens except your forehead gets red from slapping it too much. That’s because you went into an area of accountability. You began to know more things out of the Word of God, but you didn’t apply them. The grace that you got by with when you were first born again no longer works anymore, because you are walking in more accountability because you have received more truth. It takes more. There’s not anything wrong with God, it’s just that you’re supposed to be growing up. Paul said, “There came a day that I put away childish things.” You have to begin to apply the things that you hear. If you don’t, you can even slide backwards in your spiritual growth, because of the accountability. 

Anyhow, Paul says to make sure that you’re careful how you build upon this foundation, because one day your works are going to be tested by fire. The works that are not of Him, not of the Holy Spirit, not under God’s will, those works will be burned up, because they are your own works, by your own hand. That which the Holy Spirit leads you into, that which the Holy Spirit transforms you and takes you into step by step, that will remain when tested by fire. 

When the day comes and you stand before the King of kings and the Lord of lords, you are going to know beyond a shadow of a doubt whether you followed your plan or God’s plan. And as you’re standing there, your wife isn’t going to be there to hold your hand. Your husband isn’t going to be able to hold your hand. Your Pastor is not going to be there to hold your hand. You were given the Holy Spirit to teach you, and guide you into all truth. He is called the “Spirit of Truth” that you might be careful how you lay upon this foundation. So, you can’t blame it on me. You can’t blame it on that evangelist that drifted in every now and then, and you can’t blame it on your spouse. My accountability is to give you the truth, whether you like the truth or not. Once you receive the truth, the rest is up to you.

Rom 5:1-2 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 

If there’s one thing that you want to go after in the kingdom of God my friends, it’s peace. With peace, there’s less defeat from the enemy. The peace is what enforces his defeat. He can’t do much with you, if you’re walking in God’s peace. He doesn’t have a whole lot he can grab a hold of when we’re walking in peace. That’s one thing I’ve been so appreciative is the early teaching that I received concerning peace and going after peace. Of course, that’s the job of the Holy Spirit also, to bring us into that peace with Him. But, we have to give the Holy Spirit access to our lives to allow transformation into the peace of God. 

In verse 2, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 

It’s by faith that you’re going to have access to everything that has been freely given to you. It’s by faith that the Holy Spirit is able to work. When we lay hands on someone that’s demonic, oppressed, or possessed, some people have the idea that the louder you yell, and the louder you scream, the quicker the devil comes out. That’s not true. There have been many times that I’ve whispered in a person’s ear, and commanded the devil to leave, and they were totally free in a split second. It’s the faith present that the Holy Spirit is able to operate off of. 

It’s Him that removes the demonic oppression. The faith that’s present in you is the faith He has to work with. The faith that is present in you is what He can operate off of. Now, whenever He said in Matt 17:21 “that this devil comes out by prayer and fasting.” He was talking about removing the doubt and unbelief from your life. When doubt and unbelief is removed through prayer and fasting and is replaced with hope, then faith, then the Holy Spirit is able to come in and remove that thing from that person. 

So, it’s by faith that we access to this grace. It’s through faith that we access this inheritance, which is by grace. So, the access to that is by faith. You might say, “Well, you’re trying to turn me into one of those faith people.” Because I thought that’s what they were trying to do to me at times, turn me into one of those faith people. What I found is that God is a faith God. Hebrews 11:6 “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.” You can call me whatever you want. People do all the time! But, I’ll tell you this, you might as well settle the issue in yourself, that God is a faith God. I tell you, we could stop right here and you would have enough to dwell on for a week. 

Continuing on with verse 2, “Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”

How many of you know that before you can have faith, you’ve got to have hope? Hope is not a bad word, I can remember a time that some around me would threaten to beat me with a stick if I said the dreaded words “I hope so.” You can’t have faith without hope. Hope is the first step. Believe me folks, I’ve run into lots of people that have lost hope. We can’t even talk about faith, because we’re trying to restore the hope first. We’ve got to restore the hope before we can restore the faith. That’s part of that image that we are talking about. You’ve got to begin to build that image, and begin to let the Holy Spirit bring that image forth in you, of what He is to you. 

What He is to you, what you are in Christ, what He has for you, whatever image that it may be that’s been destroyed. You’ve got to begin to have that image rebuilt, that you’ll have that hope back. Without that hope, you can’t even cross the line into faith. You’re to cross the line from hope into faith, and then that’s when you have the manifestation of whatever it is you need. Prosperity, healing, peace, no matter what it is. You’ve got to cross the line from hope to faith, but you have to have the hope before you can ever cross over into the area of faith. Its time we turn ourselves over to the Holy Spirit by doing things in the Word of God to begin that journey to regain our hope to then turn it into faith.

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