The Two Natures

Amen. Everybody have your Bibles. Amen. If you don't have your Bible, say, "Oh no, oh Lord, help me. I need you to help me." And after the sermon, I'm going to call up those that are going to get baptized, and we will have an altar call, and we will have the baptism. But let's get right. If you open your Bibles in John chapter 3, the PowerPoint says right there, verses one through eight, the Gospel of Deliverance and the Two Natures. The Gospel of Deliverance. How many know we're living in the time of deliverance? We've been preaching since the New Year that 14 is the number of deliverance. And part of deliverance and part of God's blessing is that God gives, but will you take what He has? God is willing to give you deliverance and bless your life, but are you willing to take what God has for you? Because sometimes we pray for people, and people get blessed, and people say, "I want to serve Jesus," but then God gives them His blood, He gives them His mercy, He gives them grace, He gives them all these great blessings, and then they turn around and leave Him. But I'm going to tell you today that Jesus wants to and will deliver you if you want to be delivered. Because we're going to talk about the two natures. How many know that you have body, soul, mind, and spirit? You're comprised of soul, mind, and spirit. But let's look at John 3 and the verses said like this:

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This came to Jesus by night, and he said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with you." How many know that God will do signs and miracles when God is with you? Because God was with Jesus, and Jesus is with us. Verse 3: And Jesus said unto him, "Moses, surely I say to you, unless you are born of again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time in his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Most surely I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Now, verse 6 is going to be a key verse. I want you to see that which is born of the flesh is flesh. Why don't you say with me, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and which is born of the Spirit is spirit." And Jesus says like that, "Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again." And we know that that term "born again" means being born from heaven, being born above. We can't enter into our mother's womb again because Nicodemus is thinking about the natural, but Jesus is talking about the spiritual. Verse 8: "The wind blows where it wishes; do you hear the sound of it, but you cannot tell where it comes or where it goes. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit."

Let's pray. Father, we thank you right now for this time. We thank you for Your word. We ask You Your divine graces and mercies, God. Your goodness be with us today. Your loving kindness, Lord. Open our minds and our hearts that we could perceive and understand what Your will is and what Your word is today. God, You know the secret of the hearts. We don't know, Father, but You know all things. The Lord bring in illumination and revelation of Jesus Christ. And somebody say, "In Jesus' name." Somebody say, "Amen."

First slide: Natural Wisdom versus Holy Spirit Wisdom. Now, according to First Corinthians 2:12 or 14, I want you to see the Bible says, "Now we have not received the spirit of the world." Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God. There's a difference between God's Spirit and the worldly spirit. There's a difference between mindsets that are for God and mindsets that are against God. There's a natural wisdom, and there is a Holy Spirit wisdom. And most of us are born absolutely in the natural wisdom of things. And it says right here that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God. So, in order to have knowledge about what God has for you, you need spiritual illumination or spiritual guidance. Amen. Holy Spirit wisdom. "These things we speak also not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual." So Paul's writing and trying to make them understand one thing: that when you come to God, you have to understand that God is spirit. God is spirit, and He speaks to us spiritually, to our heart, in our spirit, man. Our natural man. That's why so many people have a problem with the Bible, or they have a problem understanding God, or they haven't heard from God, because God will not use many times the natural wisdom of men to talk to you. Now, how many of you have been spoken to by God? How many know that God has spoken to you by the Holy Spirit? Amen. Now we're using spiritual things to show you spiritual, but the natural man—and I like this verse so much, like we never get to preach it enough—but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. See, your natural ability, your natural wisdom is not sufficient to hear or understand God. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. So what is Paul saying here? Just look at it. If you're going to understand God, God is spirit. But also, uh, the natural man, when he begins to consider life, uh, they, they, they figure everything out by their natural ability. And even talking to you about a man that came and died on a cross 2,000 years ago and shed His blood for you—how could that help you today? Well, in your natural wisdom, how could a man 2,000 years ago do anything for you unless it was God in the flesh, unless it was a spiritual reason that God came, and He was like a lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. And I want you to understand, when Jesus came, He came with a plan and a purpose to save us and to help us. Amen. And many times we suffer in this life when we don't know. Sometimes people don't know that they don't know that they don't know that they don't know that they don't know that they're oblivious to true wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Because being on the streets—if we were born and raised in the East Side of San Jose, we were brought up pretty much in church, but then we ended up on the streets. But here's the thing: the natural man would always try to dictate it, or that the natural mentality of the East Side was the man is against us, and you know it's a white thing, it's a black thing, it's a brown thing, it's a purple thing, it's a polka dot thing, and we were stuck in the mentality that the police were against us, and that all the people that weren't our color were against us. But see, that's the natural man; that's the natural thing. But you can see what you can taste, what you can hear, and what your people or your la raza told you. But I'ma tell you, there is a higher wisdom today. It's not a natural battle; we're fighting a spiritual battle. We're not fighting a natural battle; there is a spiritual battle. Your parents and your rallies could have brought you up and say, yeah, it's all about, you know, your hunting, your family, and all this, and you know, listening to your dead uncle and this and that. But I'm gonna tell you something today: Let the dead bury the dead. I said, "Let the dead bury the dead." You know, you're thinking about all those things from the past, but I'm gonna tell you right now today, God has a new thing for you. I said, "God has a new thing for you today." God has a new wisdom.

Let's go to the next slide: The First Adam versus the Last Adam. Now, I know these notes are a little more, um, maybe in-depth, but I want you to get this. This is First Corinthians 15:45-49. So it is written: "The first Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit." See, Paul is again telling, according to people, the first Adam we know bit to death. How many know that Adam and Eve bit the dust, or in the biblical terms, they ate at the fruit of the knowledge of the tree, and they died of spiritual death? See, Adam and Eve were made to live forever. Adam and Eve had dominion in the garden, but they believed the lie that if they ate of the fruit, they could be as gods. And here's the biggest lie of the whole universe: that man can be a god, that man does not need God, that man is self-sufficient, self-righteous enough that he doesn't need anybody. But I'm gonna tell you, everybody needs somebody. Hallelujah. Nobody is in this all by themselves. Everybody needs somebody. And I'm gonna tell you, everybody needs Jesus. Hallelujah. I don't care what you may think or what you may say, everybody ought to know who Jesus Christ is. See, the first Adam was in the natural; the first Adam was a living being, but the last Adam was a life-giving spirit. There's a different—there's a first Adam, and there's a last Adam, just in case you didn't know. But when Jesus came again, and He was God in the flesh, and when He died on that cross and He resurrected, He was the last Adam. It means He started a new creation. There's a new federal head; there is a new person in Jesus. See, because nobody ever rose from the dead before. Nobody ever conquered the devil before. Nobody came—and as soon as Jesus came on the earth, let me give you a revelation here, you biblical theologian or theologically inclined, check this out: Why is it, if you read the Old Testament, it says very little about demonic oppression, but as soon as Jesus came in and began to preach the Gospel and began to stand up, the Bible says the devils began to react and began to say, "We know who you are; you are the Son of the living God." The devils began to react because, see, as soon as they saw Jesus, they knew something new happened. They knew that that was God in the flesh. They knew who He was. And I'ma tell you, do you know Him today? I said, "Do you know Him today?" Do you know who Jesus really is? Do you know that He's the lily of the valley and the bright and morning star? Do you know His name is Wonderful, the Counselor, the mighty God, and everlasting Father? Do you know He's the Prince of Peace and the Lord of lords? Do you know He's a King of kings? He is the first, and He is the last. His name is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the first, and He is the last. The first man was of the earth, made of dust. How many know that when you die, you become dust again? I don't care what people tell you; I don't care what scientists tell you; I don't believe you came from a baboon. I don't think you're a monkey's uncle. I'm about you, but I am not a monkey's uncle. I do admit, when I was on the street, I was born like a donkey—stubborn and all about me and what I wanted, when I wanted it, how I wanted it. And that's why I ended up on the streets all by myself with no money, acting like a wild donkey. So if I came back, I pray I'd be a rhino, but I might be a donkey. But I don't want you to trip, potato chip, because we don't believe in reincarnation. There ain't no four or five times; you ain't coming back as a rhino or a monkey or gorilla. You only get one life, and when you—when you die, the Bible says you become dust. Blessed you are, and that's you shall return. But I gotta tell you something today: When you have the Spirit of God in your heart and you have Jesus, He's gonna take that dust and resurrect that dust, so that when you see Him, we will be like Him. The first man was of the earth, made of dust. The second man was the Lord from heaven. I said, "The second man was the Lord from heaven." There was a man that came down from heaven, and His name was Jesus Christ. He left His glory; He left His authority, and He disrobed Himself. He took away all the angels and the worship and the accolades and came down into the smelly flesh. But that's like some of us—our flesh is stinky; our flesh is our old nature; our flesh is our Adamic old nature. We are born into sin. Job said, "A man born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble." Oh, you didn't hear me; I'm gonna say that again. Job said, "A man born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble." How many have had trouble in your life? Come on. I wish I was in church today. Hallelujah. How many could be honest? He said, "I, I've had troubles before. I've been down and out. I've been down and dirty. I've been on the streets. I've been arrested." Hallelujah. Like the pastor—I'm sorry, I'm not a little perfect pastor. I've had problems. I've been arrested. I've been down and dirty. I've been on drugs before. I had to be delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ. Devils had to come out of me because Jesus was greater, because the Bible says, "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." How many know we are made of dust? We are—have that fallen nature. As was the man of dust, now check this out: As was the man of death, so are we. Those who are made of dust and—and is as is a heavenly man, so also those who are heavenly. Do you realize, when you receive Jesus into your heart and are born again, your natural man puts on the heavenly man? The natural man has to put on the spiritual man because there is a choice today. Can I tell you and get to the point? Every one of us has a choice. Everybody has a choice. You could serve God or you could serve the devil. And here's the thing: We talk about casting out devils, but can I tell you, most of our troubles dealing with people—I always like to say this, so if some of you are new today, I'll just tell you like it is: The problem with the church today, you know why the church has so much problems? Because there's people in the church, and people got problems. There ain't no perfect church. Like one old preacher said, you know, "Don't go to that church because you might mess it up." See, here's my point: We talk about fighting spiritual warfare and fighting the devil. You know what—what's the hardest spirit to win? Is your spirit. The human spirit. Our fallen Adamic, fallen nature. How many know when you were born—or let me give you a little story. How about—how about those little children that they're four or five years old, and they break Mama's china, and their Mama comes and says, "Did you break it?" Automatically, the child learns to lie for self-preservation. How many have you ever lied because you wanted to preserve yourself? Come on now. Oh, we got on about three or four people that are honest here. The rest of you, I'm gonna pray for you. You still go to heaven somehow. I don't know. You know, God's watching you right now, right? Liar, liar, pants on fire, hanging from a telephone wire. Yeah, I said the devil is alive. He told Adam and Eve, "Don't worry; go ahead and eat." And that's what the devil's telling you today: "It's all right; you can do drugs; ain't gonna hurt you; just do a little bit of drugs." Can I tell you, the little bit is what gets most of us? In fact, I'll tell you that little bit is what's gonna drive you down and suck you in. It's the little bit. That's why they're legalizing marijuana; they're legalizing all these drugs. That little bit of door, that little itty-bitty door—I'm glad my daughter's here—but I'm gonna tell you, Brother James back there, he turned me on when I was 13, man. We smoked our first uh, marijuana at four—at 13, man. I'm gonna tell you, that little door opened another door, that opened another door, then opened another door, until we were all the way live. So I was out there in San Jose and East Side back in the late '70s when they had 10,000 lowriders and shadows. There was a KJ capital of the world, so I know what I'm talking about. I'm telling you that that is a lie of the devil. If you give the devil a little bit, he's going to take a lot. If you let the—say, "Well, I'm just going to take a little bit faster. I'm going to take a little drink. I'll just drink a little bit of Thunderbird. Just give me some 20/20, Mad Dog 20/20, just—I'll just take a zip." No, you know, if you take a little sip, you're going to take some more. He said, "Well, I already took two sips, man. Take three." Oh, wow. "I'll just drink half the bottle." Before you know it, you're—"Oh, I said, 'Lord, have mercy. Somebody help me.'" Today, the natural man is always going to want to do evil. The natural man is always going to want to do wrong. The natural man will drag you down. And today, for you that are going to get baptized, I want you to get this revelation that you must fight the natural man. You must know that there is a Holy Spirit man. Now let's go to the next line. I hope you're ready for me.

The battle of two natures. Are you ready? I say to you, "Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh; for the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another." So you're not—you will not do the things you wish. I want you to realize, you—they're going to get baptized; there's a spiritual warfare we fight. And if the fight is—and I'm going to walk in my natural man, I'm going to do it my way, how I want, when I want, according to my own desire—are you going to say, "Lord, help me. I'm going to walk according to the Holy Spirit and read my Bible and follow us and what Jesus says and walk in the newness of life, and I'm going to walk in power, I'm going to walk in authority"? Because the greatest thing I love about Jesus when I came off the streets was when I began to serve the Lord and walk His way. I found out I don't lose any more battles. I don't get thrown up no more. I don't end up in jail no more. I don't end up—I'll be that—Hallelujah! Because I know what it is to be beat up by the popo and the homeboys. Homeboys jumped me one time; had to call my—all my cousins. Oh, I don't go there. Baseball bats flying and everything. "Lord, have mercy." Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. What is the flesh? The flesh is that fallen nature. It's that—some people say it's like that negative, uh, angel or demon talk to you on one side, and the little angel on this—about—see, the thing is, you don't need the devil to beat yourself up because most of you beat yourself up already. Almost—I want you to get this: Most of us beat our own selves up. We say we're unworthy; we're no good, because it's in—it's innate; it's in our nature to think negative thoughts. How—we know the psychologists say you spend about 70 percent of your time thinking about past history, and usually the negative. But that's why the Bible says you have to put on the new mind and walk in the Spirit. He said, "These are contrary to one another. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." Now the works of the flesh are these. Now here's some of the works of the flesh. If you want to go to Galatians 5, I only could fit so many, but I'm going to go to Galatians 5 if you want, broke fast, and verse 16 for you that have your Bibles and you know your Bible's Galatians, and go to uh, verse 5 and 16. Galatians 5. And I just want to share this with you. I know that it might not be...

What you expected today, but for those that are getting baptized and those that are giving their hearts to Christ, I want you to know absolutely that where the battle is at. Because the Bible says right here in Galatians 5:16—we already read 16, 17, and go down to 19. Now, the works of the flesh—now this is our flesh, this is our fallen nature. This doesn't mean that it's you, but it just means every man's battle are different. Some battle with different things, but the Bible says where this is the work of the flesh: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contention, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambition, dissensions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like of such. I tell you before, and as I told you in the time past, these—uh, practice these things—will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those that are in Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If you live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Now, for you that are going to be new to the Gospel, I would encourage you to read these. Because if you fall into uh—uh—outbursts of anger, like say some of you have had anger issues—how many have been had anger issues?—well, the pastor talking about myself, I've had to fight anger issues. I'll be transparent, because we were taught that anger was the way a man acted when he wanted to do something, and if anybody told him anything, you had to get like, really—I mean, like angry and just throw your weight around and be the man. Well, I'm a tell you that's the lie of the devil. The Bible says that the wrath of men does not work the righteousness of God. No matter how much a man gets mad, it's not going to work out for the good, because things are resolved with love and kindness and meekness and gentleness and goodness. Beings are blessed when you have love in your heart and mercy for one another. That's why more men would stay married if they know how to love their wives. I think there's women today looking like for real men that know how to love them, because love is about sacrifice and giving yourself for somebody else. It's not about me; it's about somebody else. And I'm gonna say it again, but I thank God—yes, last Friday my wife and I celebrated 27 years of marriage. Now that is a miracle, where I come from; that is a miracle. The Holy Ghost has to be in my life and the Holy Ghost has to be in her life, so that way we know how to love one another, we know how to sacrifice, we know how to have mercy, and when we know how to button it up when it needs to be buttoned up. You can't tell me you love your wife and you're beating her up. God didn't call the man to mistreat the wife; He called the man and says, "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her." I'ma tell you, young women, you got to pray for a man of God that knows how to give himself for you and is willing to pay the price and willing to sacrifice. See, that's the difference between the flesh, because the flesh, the first thing that starts off with is adultery. Oh, Lord, it's in the church: ambition, jealousies, selfish ambitions, heresies, envy, murder—all these things are the flesh. So if you're a man or woman of God and you're thinking about hating somebody, I'm gonna give you a revelation. Are you ready? I'm gonna give you a revelation. The Bible says, "Love your enemies and bless those who persecute you and despitefully use you." The Bible says, "Love your enemies." You know what that means? Start praying for your enemies. We say, "Lord, that enemy, they did me so wrong," but you know what? "Bless them, Father." Oh, Lord, I want you to bless them right now. I mean, bless them, good God, because you're too busy blessing your enemy, you ain't got no time to talk negative about them. Just like I tell you, you should pray for the pastor and the ministry all the time, because you're so busy praying for us, you have no time to talk negative about the ministry of the pastor all the time. See how that worked with Daniel? You like that one, huh? See that one? It's like a feather in the cap. All right, ready? We're gonna go to part three; we're gonna go a little deeper. Are you ready? Go to Romans chapter 6, verse 4. Those are getting baptized today, you have to—uh—should know this verse, and that's why I put it in, because Jesus said, "Unless you're born of the water and the flesh, you can't come to the kingdom of God." Romans chapter 6, verse 4. Are you ready? Romans 6:4. Here we go: "Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised up by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. What does that mean? That means that those that are getting baptized today, when you go in the water, it's a type of death—the burial. Your sins are going to stay in that water; you're going to die—the self and all your sins, everything you've done, every lie, every hurtful thing that either happened to you or that you did in your life—Jesus washed away all your sins, and you die in that water like He died and went in the grave. And when you come out of the water, the Bible says you're going to be raised in the newness of life. That means that when you're raised out of the water, calling upon the name of the Lord, you will be saved and your sins will be washed away. And this is a brand new start, and you will be born again. You get it? You will be born again; you will have a new start, a new time. And you know, uh, people say like, "Turning over a leaf." No, it's greater than just turn it over. "Well, I'll just turn over a new leaf, brother." No, it's greater than that; it's greater than that. Now look what the Bible says—uh, verse 5—4: "For we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." Knowing this, that our old man—that's the fallen Adamic—Adamic nature—the old Adam, fallen nature in us—knowing that this old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Now I want you to get that: We should no longer be slaves to sin. We should no longer be slaves to sin. That means that once you come to Jesus, you get baptized, you do not have to be a slave to sin if you don't want to be a slave to sin. You can say, "Well, we have this sin in our family; there's generational curses on our family." I'm gonna tell you today that's a lie of the devil. Jesus destroys generational curses; Jesus destroys the work of the devil; Jesus—Jesus destroys all kinds of garbage, and most of us got too much junk in our trunk anyway. Oh, okay. All right. Yeah, that one—they like—they got that one, Pastor Randolph: "We got too much junk in the trunk." And when Jesus comes, He don't just clean out your trunk, man, He gives you a brand new car with a brand new start, with a brand new day and a brand new season. The Bible says right here in verse 7: "For he that is dead is freed from sin." See, you've been freed from sin. For those that have died, and said the old Richard is going to die and the new Richard's going to live. For verse 8: "For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, we believe that we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." Knowing that Christ being raised from—how many know that Jesus was raised from the dead? Verse 9: "And being raised from the dead dies no more; death no longer has dominion over him." That's what I love about Jesus: Death could not hold Him in that grave. There was a power; there was a resurrection power that Jesus resurrected on that third day, and He lives today because of that power of God, and He overcame death. So guess what, people of God, you—they're going to be baptized today—guess what? You too will have dominion over death. Death cannot hold you; death will not overthrow you. If the devil shows up for you, you can say, "Hold on, wait a minute. I've been baptized in Jesus' name; I've been washed by the blood of the Lamb, and I have right and access to heaven." Because the Bible says, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; all things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." And also the Bible says, "To be absent from the body for the Christian is to be present with the Lord." So if I would die tomorrow—God forbid—if I would die tomorrow, guess what? I don't go to hell; I don't go visit my Uncle Tata and Louie and Chewie; I don't go see what's up with Beto. Come on. No. To be absent from this body for the Christian—now for those that have been washed in the blood—is to be present with the Lord. Death cannot come and grab you, because as soon as death will try to seize you—and I'm talking about your spirit man—like this flesh is going to die, this flesh is going to go to the grave, but I'm talking about your spiritual man, I'm talking about the real you that's inside this temple—this flesh will be saved because death will have no dominion over you. That's the kind of promise I could sink my teeth in. Me. Verse 10: "For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God." How many are going to live for God now? Come on. If you're going to be a baptizer, are you going to live for God now? Verse 11. Here's the key verses: "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Therefore do not—somebody say, "Do not"—do not let sin reign in your body that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. That means once you're born again, you serve Jesus; you should not obey the lust of your flesh. Here's a revelation: If the devil comes or your own flesh tells you, "Why you ought to do this and that; you ought to go slap that sister over there," Jesus ain't no—"Don't do it," because we don't fight against flesh and blood, but against principalities, the powers, the rulers of darkness. If somebody would tell you, "Well, go steal with me," or, "Let's go do drugs," you're going, "No, wait a minute. No." The Bible says drunkards aren't going to make it; liars and cheaters ain't going to make it. So do not let sin reign in your mind or body. You make the decision; you have the right; you take authority; say, "No, I'm not going to let this have authority over me, but by the blood of Jesus, I'm going to walk in the newness of life." Yes. Verse 13: "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." Verse 14: "For sin shall—somebody say with me—"For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." You know what that means? That because Jesus died on the cross for us when we were unworthy and He resurrected, He has saved us by grace and not by works. There's nothing you can do to obtain salvation; there's nothing that you can do to deserve it but to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe that He died for you; believe and know that He shed His blood to cover your sins; and believe that He resurrected, knowing that you're gonna resurrect too. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. It's not about religion; that's why here at Mission 24 it says, "Come to Jesus, not religion." It's not how many hours a day you pray; it's not how many doors you knock; is that how many times you fasted? When you get to heaven, you can't say, "God, well, I fasted 10,000 hours, but I hated my brother." Jesus is going to say, "Depart from me," because the Bible says, "If you can't love your brother, then you can see how you're going to love God that you can't see." See, it's not about fulfilling conditions of a religious sort; it's not about saying the right words or wearing the right clothes. Hallelujah. It's not about driving the right car, associating with the right people. It's all about knowing that Jesus is your Savior; Jesus is your rock and your fortress; He is your deliverer; and there's nobody—nobody—that can save you but Jesus alone. "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Reckon means to count on the plan and provision God is to be sufficient. Now let me make this point before we come to a close: For you that are getting baptized, will you sin again? Yes. Will you make mistakes? Yes. Do ministers make mistakes? Yes. Do we all fall short of God's glory? Yes. There's a false mentality, a false preaching that preachers and pastors are perfect, but I'm going to tell you, people are people, but we're all saved by the grace of God; we're all saved by the mercy of God; we're all saved by the goodness of God. We're not saved by works, and I hope the devil don't like it, because we are saved not by what we do; we're saved by who He is. We're not saved by fulfilled conditions; we're saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go to the last—the next—the next—the spiritual. I'm going to give you the spiritual symbolism. I want you to take this home with you: A dead leaf that may have clung to the twig through the external raging storms of winter and suddenly fall to the ground when the new flow of sap from within has begun in the spring. The leaf falls because there is a new manifestation of life passing—pressing from within outward. A dead leaf cannot remain where there is new blood springing, nor can the worldliness remain where the blessings of the Spirit are flowing. That means like us, a dead leaf on the tree falls because there is a new bud coming, because the source is not the leaf; it's in the tree of life. It's because the power of God that's pressing on the inside. I want you to get this: The Holy Spirit, once He comes into your life, will give you power over the flesh; will give you strength and ability which you can't do in the natural. Because see, just like the leaf that falls, it's because something's pressing outward. A dead leaf cannot remain where a new bud is springing, nor can worldliness remain where the—uh—blessing of the Spirit are flowing. The preacher is not called upon to preach against dead leaves. That means when people manifest bad fruit in their lives, we can't just say and preach against their dead leaves: "So why you did this wrong, brother? You did that wrong, brother. And you did this wrong, brother. And you did that wrong, brother. And you did this, and you shouldn't do this, and you shouldn't do that," and all we do is sit around pointing the finger at one another, what we shouldn't do. But how about preaching about what we can do through Christ? Because Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," and, "If God be for me, who can be against me?" Do you hear what I'm saying today? We're not here to preach you—your sins into hell; we're preaching you life to overcome—overcome. There's an outflow, because see, right here He has a message of an imperishable spring. It is the outflow of the limitless life of God. When by the Spirit you are walking, you cannot do the things that you otherwise would. Now what does that mean? That means if you allow Christ to really live in your life and you allow the Holy Spirit to live in your life, He's going to give you dominion and authority and power over the devil, dominion and authority and power over the world. The devil cannot just come to your house and take over your house because you are a living spirit that has been born again by Jesus Christ. You belong to Jesus now, and because you belong to Jesus, the devil can't have you. Let's bow our heads right now. Father, we thank you right now for the word of God; we thank you for the truth of God; and we thank you for the mercy of God in the blood of Jesus today. Father, right now I pray that the illumination and revelation of Jesus Christ be strong in them today; make them understand that yes, there is a spiritual warfare; yes, there is the natural man and the spiritual man, but I thank you for the spiritual man; I thank you for the Holy Ghost today. I thank you, Father, because You've given us power—who shot that about—when You said, "If you go to Jerusalem, you told the disciples, and you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses and My disciples into all the world." Oh, hallelujah. Right now, in Jesus—somebody say, "In Jesus' name." Come on, somebody say, "In Jesus' name."