Welcome to the River Mountain Church Preaching Library. It is our prayer and indeed our hope that this message might inspire your life. So sit back, relax and enjoy the preaching of God's Word. I don't think we're fully aware of just how much God desires us and desires to be with us. The human mind, the human brain, the fallen human brain, is continually forgetting God, is continually going away from God, is continually contrary to God. In other words, it's about our will, our kingdom, our plans, our desires, what we wanna do, and we're just continually forgetting. This unregenerated mind does that. But the church is called to speak to the part of our mind that is awakened to God's purposes, to God's kingdom, that has been metamorphosized. The only way you will ever know what God has for you, what his plans are, is that if you will bring your mind into a place where it is no longer conformed to this world, and the world thinks completely counter-culturally to the kingdom of heaven, Culture has a place in God's kingdom. There is a kingdom culture. Our mind is contrary to that culture. but we need to transform it, metamorphosize it, and here's why, that we may prove what the will of God is, what is good and acceptable and perfect. This mind is what I try to preach to every single Sunday. And one of the reasons I think the church lacks intimacy with God is because our preachers, and this is not an indictment on all preaching, but it's an indictment, I think, about how a lot of people go about preaching, trying to preach to felt needs, trying to preach to people's desires. I once went to a seminar in which the primary focus was this. Everybody in the church is saying, what's in it for me? And you need to recognize that. And so you need to kind of go after what people want to hear or what people need to hear. And how many people know this is completely contrary to God? Completely contrary to God. And my only ambition is that you would enter into the abundant life, the life that is so far beyond any life you could want, any life you can desire. And it's paradoxical because the only way you get to this abundant life is by losing the sub-abundant life. See, Jesus said it this way. He says, you must deny yourself. You must deny your ambitions. You must deny your desires. You must deny the natural mind and the way it thinks. And you must pick up a cross, which is the yoke of the spirit upon you. And you must follow God wherever he leads you. And he leads you away from your life. You must lose that old life in order for you to gain the abundant life. Now, that's what I want to talk about. How do you lose your life? How do you deny yourself? How do you walk away from this? How do you find the abundant life? By stimulating the part of your brain that has actually been transformed. And it's not by this. A lot of people in the church believe that what we're talking about here is a person to be more sacrificial, fast more. even deny yourself certain pleasures, beat yourself as the old monastic monks used to do, that somehow by us constantly beating ourselves down, by sacrificing certain things, that we would experience the abundant life. That is never God's way. And this is amazing to me. Not that we shouldn't fast. The only time you should ever fast is if the Spirit of God tells you to fast. Because here is what God said to the rich young ruler, which he says to every person. He says, now you need to get rid of everything. You need to deny all of your ambitions. You need to sell everything you have. You need to give everything away. And then you need to treasure heaven and treasure the pursuit of heaven and follow Christ. And Jesus made it clear that a lot of people could never do this and therefore could never enter the kingdom because they could never deny themselves of their own pursuits, of their own desires to follow themselves. And so Peter then says the sacrificial thing. He says, behold Jesus, we have left everything to follow you. And his emphasis is that they've left everything. that they have nothing left and Jesus quickly, firmly rebukes him and says, listen, you don't understand what you've gotten yourself into. Truly I say to you, no one who has left their house, their brothers, their sister, their mother, their father, their children, their farms for my sake and the gospel's sake will not receive a hundred times more in this present age, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers. In other words, don't think I'm gonna be indebted to you. Don't think that you made some great sacrifice to come follow me. How many people know how much you gained when you followed Christ? What you gave up was so minuscule, was so minute. It would be like this, it would be like somebody hitting the lottery. and getting millions upon millions upon millions of dollars for life. And then them saying, well, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm set for life. But it cost me a dollar. I mean, this isn't free, man. I had to put a dollar down. What an imbecile. I mean, don't you understand what you gave up was so minuscule that even if you had everything the world has to offer, you had gained everything. What does that compare if you lost your soul? So three common ways we get the gospel wrong, and we get it wrong because this mind is still conditioned, is still trained to think about ourselves first. not the kingdom first. And let me reveal it to you, the way we in the church get the gospel wrong. We're a lot like people were before Copernicus eventually said, listen, life doesn't revolve around us. But the idea was that since planets and moons kind of revolved around the earth, that somehow the earth was the center of the universe. And that's the way we are. We think that we are the center of the universe. It's all about what we decide, what we want, what our ambitions are. And then Copernicus says, no, no, no, it's the sun. It's the sun. We're all revolving around the sun. The sun isn't revolving around us. We are nothing more than planets that are going around the sun. And the sun gives us life. And the sun is all things. And without that gravitational pull of the sun, we would all fall to our deaths. It's all about the sun. And so here's the way it manifests in the church. I always hear people say, I found God. Really? I didn't know he was lost. Oh, he found religion. Oh, he got religion. We found God. See, that's the egocentric mind. That's the mind that is not metamorphosed. The truth of the matter is nobody finds God. The truth is God finds us. We are the ones who are lost, not God. We're the ones who need to be found, not God. And when did this process take place? And this is where our minds begin to blow up. He chose us when? Before the foundations of the earth. Yes, God is big enough and smart enough to realize that you at one point would come, that you would be born at a certain time, and He's already saw that birth and saw your life. As a matter of fact, He transcends time so much that you right now are already with Him. Wow! Right now I'm seated with God in heavenly places? Yes, right now you're seated with God in heavenly places. Because time does not have any meaning in the sense of God. God is eternal. Listen, He chose us before the foundations of the world. What did He predestine? And the word predestine means He predetermined this. He predetermined that we would be adopted. Why did He do this? It was according to His purpose and His will. In other words, it's all about Him. It's not about us. Choosing, making choices, it's about what God and what God has chose. When Jesus came, he said, listen, the people that are responding to me are responding to me for one reason. My sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. Why did you follow Christ? Because he must have been your shepherd. When you heard that voice, you said, I'm following that. Why? Why aren't you an atheist? Aren't you smart enough to be an atheist? Why do some people believe and some people don't believe? Because we believe, the Bible says, based upon the fact that we recognize the voice, He gives us eternal life. Listen again. For those He foreknow, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. God's plan for you is total conformity to the image of His Son. a total metamorphosis of your mind until you begin to think truly and accurately the way God intended you to think. He said to, you know, because his disciples and all the thought that maybe that they were following him because they had selected that, they wanted to. And Jesus said, no, you did not choose me, but I chose you and I appointed you. The Son of Man came to seek us. We were lost. We were like a treasure chest that God says, I must retrieve this because what is in there is valuable. How do you know what's in there is valuable? By what you're willing to pay to get it back. Do you understand that? I so hate self-esteem because people think that by esteeming themselves, they have such great value. What is your perspective of your self-worth? Nothing. You could self-esteem yourself to death. Doesn't mean you have any worth. You have worth because God said, I'm willing to die to get this. That's what gives it worth. Number two, how we misinterpret the gospel. How many of you have heard this expression? I'm going to heaven. I'm going to heaven. Now, this might sound like semantics, but it's really not. We don't go to heaven. The Bible clearly indicates that heaven has already come to us. Heaven has come to us. How many people believe that you have the Holy Spirit living in you? How many people believe the Holy Spirit is actually greater than heaven, the atmosphere? It is. It's superior to that. Heaven is already with us. Heaven is already in us. The only reason you go to heaven is because heaven is already in you. In other words, heaven goes to heaven. But you don't go to heaven without getting heaven here. The Bible put it this way. Jesus, neither say low or there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within. I am going to put my spirit within you, therefore my kingdom will be in you. I will put my throne on your heart. See, the kingdom of God is not about what we eat, drink, what we don't eat, what we don't drink. It's not about fasting, not about beating our body, not about buffeting or buffeting the body. It's about this. It's about being right with God. and experiencing the joy and the peace of heaven right now. Do you have the joy and the peace of heaven right now? See, if you have the Holy Ghost, there is potential for that, but I can't make you fully enter that. That's something you have to allow to happen. Jesus says, I'm gonna put a river in you. It is gonna be a living river. It is the spirit He said to the woman, this river is going to well up to the point that it takes you into eternal life. I'm going to give you eternal life and that eternal life is going to well up in you until it takes you into eternal life. Do you understand this? That's why I appreciated what Nate was sharing, you know, And Kathy as well, too. You know, this idea, not only that God is present, but also that God has this spirit that is meant to go out of us like water, and everywhere it goes, it brings life. See, what Ezekiel saw was a new temple, which we are now the new temples, and he saw that this water was coming out of us, and everywhere we went, we brought life. So the kingdom of heaven is not something we're waiting for. The kingdom of heaven is something right now that you're called to experience. I want you to do this. I want you to sit right now quiet. Quiet. And I want you to listen for the river. I want you to listen for the rustling of that river flowing through your heart. Because on that river will flow the words of God. He will speak to your heart. You'll hear him like the rustling of the little ripples of water flowing down the river. You'll hear him. You need to get quiet and listen for the river that is flowing through your heart. Don't ignore it. You did it a little bit here, but I'm going to challenge you to go do it. This afternoon, in the evening, listen. Here's the final thing. Somehow we put the emphasis on the fact that we love God. I love the Lord. I love the Lord. I, I love you, Lord. And that's not bad. That's not bad. But that's not really understanding love. The Bible says I love him, not only because he first loved me, but it's even deeper than that. God has always loved me, and he put the love of God in my heart through the Holy Spirit. So the only reason I do love him is because of the love he already put in me. Look, in this, the love of God is made manifest among us. In this, and this is love. Not that we love God. Not that we love God. That's not love. That's not love. But that he loved us. and that he sent his son to be a perpetuation for our sins. See, we put ourselves at the center. We're not. We didn't choose God, nor are we going to heaven, nor is it all about our love for God. It's really about God manifesting His love to us by choosing us, by putting His Spirit within us, by metamorphosizing our mind, by bringing us into the image of Christ. It's all Him. That's why we say, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy. You were perfect. You were right. You were holy. You were perfect. You were right. For all eternity. Because we realize how far we miss this. See, for a righteous person, Yeah, a good person might die for a righteous person, but God showed his love for us that while we were still sinners, while we had no love for heaven, while we had no love for the kingdom, Christ died for us. His love, without his love we have no love. Our love is nothing more than a byproduct of his love. And so we get to this closing thing about you being a treasure. And the reason why I talk about the fact that the mind has not been metamorphosized because we put ourselves at the center of all things is that when we read these parables, we think it's talking about us finding the kingdom. This is a classic example, because I think if I heard this preached 100 times by 100 pastors, almost 99% of them would interpret this as we are the ones who found the treasure. It says, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, in which a man found it, covered it up, and then in joy, he goes and sells everything, and he buys the field. I found God. I found the treasure. I found what's valuable. And I'm going to give up everything. To what? Buy it? How many people know you don't buy heaven? You can't afford it. No, the only one who emptied himself for a treasure, the only one who sold everything he had and came down was Christ. He is the founder and the perfecter of our faith. And for the joy that was set before him, the sheer joy of having this treasure, the sheer joy of having us. Yes, you, the sheer joy of you. When that was set before Him, He endured the cross. He despised the shame because He wanted you. He emptied Himself for you. Then again, in the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who is searching for a fine pearl. That fine pearl is you. who when he finds the one pearl of great value, he went out and sold all that he had and bought it. You see, it's paradoxical, isn't it? We put God at the center of all things, and then he says, the center of my heart is for you. You say, I'm not sure this is true. Well, believe it, it is. God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself. Some paraphrased or amplified transitions say of all of his attributes, his omnipresence, his his omniscience. He emptied himself of the attributes of God. He emptied himself of equality with God and he took on the likeness of a human being. He emptied himself to buy the treasure. And you say, Pastor, I'm still not absolutely sure that that's what it's talking about. Then listen to it in context. Context is king. After he talks about the merchant and he talks about the person giving rid of everything to find the treasure, he says this, and again, again, and let me tell it to you one more time. Again, the king of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea to gather fish of all kind. And when it was full, men drew it ashore and they sat down and they sorted out the good into containers, but threw away the bad. It's talking about God's pursuit of us. that he'll put a net out and he'll catch all of humanity and then he'll start sorting through it. You see here it is, Jesus actually defines what he's talking about. He says the angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and they will throw them into a fierce fire and in that place they'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. God is looking over humanity as a merchant looking for pearls, as a fisherman who throws out a net, and he's looking for the right kinds of people. That is to say, people who have responded to their calling before the foundations of the earth, and that is you. So why do I say all of this? Because when you take yourself from the center, you begin to realize that it's all about God. It's all about Him choosing you, It's all about Him loving you. It's all about Him bringing heaven to you. It's all about this eternal plan that is all about Him. And the more you comprehend that, the more you realize how much He loves you. And that's why Paul prayed that you would be strengthened to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, the length, the height, the depth, that you might know the love of God that blows your mind, it surpasses knowledge. That in God's mind this plan is unfolding and it's all about you because you have made it all about God. So these are the three ways we get the gospel right when we really understand the scriptures, that it was God who found us, that it was God who brought heaven to us, that it was all about God's love for you, which led to a byproduct of your love for God, that you did not love him until he loved you and put his spirit within you. I want to close with this verse. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, I want you to raise your hand if you believe that the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you today. Does it dwell in you? Is it in you? Do you understand what is in you? The dunamis, the dynamite, the power. Do you understand what is dwelling in you? It is the same power that raised Christ from the dead and it's dwelling in you. Well, then it will give life to your mortal bodies through the spirit that dwells in you. We're sitting on a keg of dynamite that could blow up the world. And yet we ignore it. I want you to walk through your life with the highest possible comprehension of what God did for you. His love for you. Thanks for listening to this message from River Mountain Church. If you'd like some more information, visit our website, rivermountainchurch.org.