 Hello David Diga Hernandez here. Welcome to Spirit Church. Today I'm going to be talking about knowing Christ in greater depths. If in your heart you've been longing to know Jesus more and draw closer to God then today is really going to bless you. We're going to get right into that but first Stephen Mock to zoom us here. He's going to lead us in some worship. Thank you Diga. You know wherever you're at just begin to see God and just thank him. Father we thank you God for just the moments that you give us God with you. Jesus let us find you God wherever we're at God. I'll just sing on hallelujah and hallelujah. I'll just simple words sing again. We're going to get into the word and I'm going to be talking to you about knowing the depths of Christ. I'm going to pray with you before we begin. Normally I wait to pray until toward the end of the Spirit Church broadcast and we are we're going to pray again then too. But something in my heart just told me that there are many of you who are watching this. There's someone watching this and you're coming and you're watching this video. You're coming to this video tired and frustrated and there's a lot weighing on your shoulders right now and everything within you wants to connect with the Lord. You're saying Lord Jesus I want to know you in greater depths. I desire to understand who you are more and more and I want to step into closer relationship with you. I want to step further into this journey with you than I've ever stepped before and that's somebody but you're hindered right now because there's so much on your mind. There's so much coming against you. There's so much that you can look at and be distracted by but I want to pray with you that the God of all peace that the Prince of peace would touch your life right now and that God would bring a calm in the midst of the chaos that God would bring a confidence in the areas where you feel the weakest. So Holy Spirit I pray for that one watching right now in Jesus name. I prayed that you help to settle the heart settle the mind and settle the soul learn that every thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God be brought down in the captivity in Jesus name. Lord let the frustration and the anger and Lord the doubt and the fear let it all fade away now in the precious name of Jesus we pray and I want you to say it say amen. That means you agree. So we're gonna get into this now interesting times we're living in. A lot of stuff going on right now but whatever it is that you think of what's happening right now I want to remind you that God is in control and that there is nothing that can happen to upset the kingdom of God here in the earth. I do not become bothered when the world is the world. I don't become fearful when wicked people in government or wicked people in rulership or wicked people in any form of authority choose to make decisions that go contrary to the word. So it was on my heart to minister this message because there are many who are wanting to know Christ in greater depths and let me tell you something. Now more than ever before it's important that we become rooted in Jesus. Now especially in these times it is so important that we understand the nature of Christ that we understand the person that we understand who he truly is that we understand the magnitude of the person with whom we are dealing that we're talking about God the one who spoke all of reality into existence and so when you're grounded in him when you know him it's impossible let me tell you something it's impossible to be swept away by demonic doctrines when you're rooted in Christ Jesus so especially in these times it's so important that the believers become more rooted than they ever have before let me tell you something I'm excited about everything that's going on in the world many people are afraid I mean you talk about what's going on with ISIS you talk about what's going on with Greece and their economic instability you talk about what's going on here in the United States where they just the Supreme Court just legalized in all state same-sex marriage you talk about a rampant abortion in this nation you talk about a changing and growing culture and it can become somewhat intimidating if you forget who we are that we are the church of the living God and the truth has prevailed through kingdoms and civilizations and nations and even rulers who tried to oppress the truth the truth can never be silenced and so what's interesting is now that believers you're going to find as you've been finding that the world has moved from loving us or tolerating us to attacking us so in other words the church has gone through these three phases just in the past several decades we have gone from being celebrated to tolerated to hate it and Jesus said that what happened so it doesn't concern me it doesn't concern me when people do such things because here's the truth God's setting the nation up this is how God sets things up for great awakenings this is how God sets up the nations to experience the revival that he has planned for that nation this is how God sets up the nations it's like chess pieces on a board and God has everything set and he's going to move sovereignly in this nation let me tell you something if Abraham could have found ten righteous in the land God would have spared that land and in this land there are more than ten righteous and you and I are the preservation of nations you and I are the salt of the earth and so long as we are here there is hope for a turning there's hope for renewal there's hope for awakening and I say all that because it has to do with what I'm talking about because I don't want to sound hateful let me tell you something and I'll just say this because people are gonna you know want some very direct responses from me let me just say this the Bible teaches that homosexuality is sin there's no way around that there's no there's nothing you can do to maneuver around that text okay I mean we're talking Romans we're talking Jude we're talking 1st Corinthians 6 there's nothing I mean Levitical law obviously that's funneled through the cross and everything with Levitical law was absorbed in Christ's life but we're talking New Testament now and there's really nothing anyone can do to get around that I mean they may try but the Bible is very clear having said that I was just talking to my my team here and they asked me if I was going to address it and at first I thought I wasn't but you know after prayerfully considering it I thought it's important just so you as my ministry partners and you who are members of Spirit Church you who follow this channel so that you understand where we as a ministry stand on these issues now I'm not gonna go campaigning against it I'm not gonna go trying to undo what the Supreme Court did look the world's gonna be the world let them do what they're gonna do it doesn't affect us so long as we keep preaching the gospel so if I start attacking one particular sin I gotta go start attacking all the other sin when my message is not the attacking of sin it's the preaching of salvation from sin through turning to Christ Jesus Jesus said when you preach the gospel preach repentance in the remission of sins that's what we preach so all sins need to be repented of having said that so that I don't sound angry if you're someone who comes from that lifestyle or you're from the world you're not a Christian I'm not talking to you right now this is Spirit Church this is for believers so as to not come across hateful know that I'm just being very candid I'm just being very matter-of-fact I'm not being very I'm not approaching it with emotions considered right now this is just for the church what does concern me are the believers or so-called believers who will stand and say well they stand and they say things that are supportive of it and I can go on all day about why it's not the same thing as interracial marriage I can go on all day about why it's it's unhealthy for our culture it's unhealthy for the individual psychologically physically emotionally we can go down that road but really that's not what this lesson is about what I thought about this was that Lord we need to be rooted it is so important that we as the people of God become rooted in Christ Jesus so I looked at the verse and this is pretty astounding here it's gonna be in Philippians chapter 3 starting at verse 1 this is what the scripture says whatever happens my dear brothers and sisters rejoice in the Lord I never get tired of telling you these things and I do it to safeguard your faith watch out for those dogs there he's being real secret sensitive there he says watch out for those dogs those people who do evil those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved for we who worship by the spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised we rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us we put no confidence in human effort though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could indeed if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts I have even more so Paul the Apostle is saying here look we can't put our confidence in our accomplishments we can't put our confidence in our religious capability in our disciplines in our beliefs in our rigid strict order of life he says if anybody could boast in what they did as a religious person if anybody could truly boast and say look by accomplishment it means something or by accomplishment I can get in or by accomplishment I could be counted as worthy Paul the Apostle says if anyone who if there's anyone who can say that it's me that's what he's saying he then he gives a reason for that he starts to list all of his credentials his religious credentials verse 5 he says this I was circumcised when I was 8 days old I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin a real Hebrew if there ever was one I was a member of the Pharisees who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church and as for righteousness I obeyed the law without fault then verse 7 says I once thought these things were valuable but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done yes everything else is worthless when compared to the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for his sake I have discarded everything else counting it all as garbage so that I could gain Christ verse 9 and become one with him I no longer count my own righteousness through obeying the law rather I become righteous through faith in Christ for God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith so Paul the Apostle saying look when you come to know and understand when you come into contact and you touch and you connect with Christ in a real tangible and true way when there's an authentic divine connection that is established between you and the risen Christ then false doctrine begins to become exposed everything about the false doctrine that he was a part of everything about the religious order that he was participating in everything about that not only did he see that it was not valuable anymore but he also saw it for what it truly was so to expose false doctrine in your life in order to have the deception unveiled from your eyes you have to connect with Christ the scripture says that describing the context of the last days that this will be a time when even the very elect will be deceived if it's possible we need to be on our guard we need to be watchful we need to be vigilant we need to be rooted so Paul the Apostle is saying look when I connect with Jesus when I truly come to know him and who he is all of the false doctrine all of the religion everything that I was once a part of it's nothing not only is it nothing I see how deceptive it truly was Paul the Apostle's eyes were open the moment he came into contact with Christ and the same is true of us that if we will keep our eyes on Jesus if we will stay focused on who he is and and completely give ourselves to the person of Christ then everything else will find its place and so he prefaces these statements so he prefaces the verse that we're about to get into now Paul sees the weakness of the false doctrine when he comes into crisis we saw in verse 8 and then verse 10 11 says this and this is so powerful so remember he goes down the list this is the context here he's going down the list he's listing his credentials he says ah but now that I've met Christ I realize that's nothing and now that I met Christ I realize that wasn't even the way to get in so two things happened when he met Christ he no longer valued the things of this world and secondly he was no longer deceived by false doctrine and so then he goes on to say this and this is verse let's start at verse 10 he says I want to know Christ and experience the power that raised him from the dead I want to suffer with him sharing in his death I love the way the king James puts it I believe the king James puts it I don't know if I can quote it verbatim but it says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings and then verse 11 says so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead now this is a powerful verse because in this verse Paul is saying I want to know three things because I want to know him the person I want to know the power that raised him from the dead or I want to experience the power that raised him from the dead number two the power and then he says and I want to know the fellowship of his sufferings I want to share in his pain number three the pain so Paul wanted to know the person Paul wanted to know the power and Paul wanted to know the pain he also wanted to know the promise which is salvation that's an entirely different message for an entirely different time but Paul wanted to know Christ in these depths he was so passionate to know Jesus that he wasn't satisfied seeing him in one dimension it's almost as if you saw a painting of Jesus you could see the two dimensions but if you actually saw Jesus in person you could see all three so Paul is mentioning the three dimensions here by which he comes to know Christ and that is the person the power and the pain each experience each understanding as you come to know each one of these things you come to know Christ in greater detail it's like different colors on a painting and they're coming to form an image and more detail is being presented before your eyes and the eyes of your heart begin to behold the master with vivid intense reality as the Holy Spirit reveals him as we begin to know the person as we begin to know the power as we begin to know his pain number one Paul wanted to know the person how do we come to know this you know Paul didn't consider himself as having obtained it there are people who say I have everything I need in Christ and though I agree with that to some extent they say that to imply that they don't need to learn that they don't need to grow I heard someone say the other day that they don't believe there are different levels of the anointing it's only logical to conclude that there are different levels in the anointing for if I can grow in something then there are therefore levels of something if I can grow in maturity there are levels of maturity if I can grow in power there are levels of power if I can grow in truth there are levels of truth if I can draw closer to Christ there are levels that I can have in my relationship with Christ yes Christ purchased the way but the Holy Spirit shows the way and the Holy Spirit shows the way if you will look for the way if you will dedicate yourself to finding him so some say well we already have it we've already obtained it we don't need to speak seek anymore we don't need to ask anymore and they act as if they don't need to be taught they act as if they don't need to mature they act as if there are not different levels of the anointing when they're most certainly are and you can grow in all of those and so Paul the apostle even says look at the verse after this verse 12 he says I don't mean to say that I have already reached these things or that I've already reached perfection but I press on to reach that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me no dear brothers and sisters I have not achieved it but I focus on this one thing for getting the past and looking forward to what is ahead verse 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God through Christ Jesus is calling us now this is powerful because not even Paul the apostle considered himself to fully know Christ yet how can we I mean this man wrote most of the New Testament we can't consider ourselves as having arrived if Paul the apostle hasn't either and so this is what the scripture says says that I may know him you know the person of Christ is much more than you might think so number one now the person we often say you know when I get to heaven I'm gonna walk up to the throne with God I'm gonna ask him this I'm gonna ask him that I'm gonna eat over here I'm gonna you know and I'm not trying to be critical so please don't feel like I'm being critical but you know there's this culture that's permeated the church and it's it's very it we've grown very aloof to God it's almost like this hippie culture where it's like oh he's my daddy he's my buddy he's my you know that's what that's what they call man I'm all for terms of endearment toward God for the scripture says we call my father but this lacks a day's ago attitude this aloof approach this lack of reverence this lack of holy fear and trembling when we speak of God as if oh you know he's just our buddy that's not the case I mean revelation describes his throne was having lightning proceeding from it that his eyes like fire that when he speaks his voice is like the rumbling of many waters that there's thunder and lightning around his throne that creatures fly about that there's this immaculate heavenly display when we approach the throne in fact everyone who even caught a glimpse of him fell face downward in dread they fell to the ground trembling and shaking and awestruck the children of Israel they couldn't even approach the mountain and someone say well yeah well now we can approach through Christ yes we approach through Christ but I'm talking about God the Father whom Christ is a reflection of there still needs to be this reverence in fact when Jesus walked around there was a scripture there were the men who are on the road to Aramaic said did not our hearts burn he had such a power about him that just being even near him changed the very atmosphere where he was we're talking about a holy God here even when he spoke people said we've never heard anyone even speak like this this is the person there is great depth to him there is great depth to him it's not shallow it's not all i'm gonna go have a cup of coffee with him it's knowing and understanding you explore Christ as if an explorer would explore the vastness of the ocean or the cosmos standing on the very verge the very edge of something greater than oneself you're inspired and you get this sense that you're stepping into something greater than you let me tell you something there have been meetings that we've had as a ministry where the glory of God rested so heavily on that place that it was terrifying that people begin to tremble they didn't go jumping around and shouting and laughing and that's all part of different moves of God but i'm talking about touching the deep deep glory i'm not talking about new ageism i'm not talking about spiritualism much of that is coming to the church and it cheapens what you would call glory the glory is the full weight the fullness of who he is and he's holy and he's majestic and he's grand that's the person there is great richness in the person of Christ even as i'm talking you're longing to know him that's because when you talk about how great he is it inspires a thirst, a hunger you thirst after him you long for him david the psalmist wrote as the deer pants for the water so my soul longs after they and let me tell you something believer that longing was placed there by the Holy Spirit he wants to draw you in he wants to take you to the places of knowing understanding his nature not just understanding his actions see some believers they understand his actions and they go from event to event because they want to experience his power which is good but i want to understand his ways so the person is known by the Spirit 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 13 you can read it later for the sake of time i won't be able to read it now 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 13 in fact 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 10 12 and 13 are all great verses that talk about how only the Holy Spirit can give revelation so number one the person is known by the Spirit you look in John 1 1 in the beginning was the word the word was with God and the word was God John 1 14 and the word became flesh and we beheld his glory full of grace and truth and the scripture describes this fleshing out of the sun this creation this incarnation where the Holy Spirit takes God the son God the word and he manifest him as a vivid reality in our world the Holy Spirit reveals the sun the Holy Spirit can reveal Christ such vivid reality such intense reality that he can become more real to you in a moment than your surroundings or even yourself Christ can become more of a reality to you than yourself and that's only by the Spirit so it's always the Holy Spirit who takes the sun and brings them about as a revelation so that's number one Paul wanted to know the power and the power the person and the person is known by the Spirit number two Paul said I want to know his power the key to knowing power is surrender I'm not saying that God can't use anybody I mean God spoke to a donkey God can use the sinner I mean he used you know Rahab I know Pastor who before he got saved because he had grown up in church he was drunk and his friend asked him to lead him to the Lord you know you know Ron Simpkins he tells the story all the time and he says that at a bar or some place like that his friend was under heavy conviction and well Pastor Ron Simpkins was drunk he led his friend in the sinner's prayer to the Lord now God can use sinners God can use donkeys God can use sometimes disobedient people I mean look at Jonah he was running from the call of God he was on the boat he was heading away from where he was supposed to head to Tarsus and not to Tarsus to Nineveh and so he's heading away and the men on the boat as Jonah is disobeying God the men on the boat come to know the Lord well he's running so God used Jonah to save those men so I'm not talking about those exceptions but someone who wants to surrender life someone who wants their life to be continuously used by God and by the power of the Holy Spirit you have to surrender so sanctity is part of surrender yielding is surrender willingness is surrender humility is surrender God can only multiply what you give he can only feel what is empty he can only empower what is surrendered you cannot be filled with power if your life is full of self you have to become empty John 3.30 says I must decrease but he must increase so that when I surrender when I present myself as a living sacrifice when I lay down my life I say father I wanna know your power put your power on my life and he'll do it if you'll surrender if you'll say Lord take all that I am I'm not gonna ask questions I'm not gonna put conditions you use my life how you want so number one the person is known by the Spirit the power is known by surrender James 4.7 says that you draw near to God and he will draw near to you you have to initiate it through surrender so we see that the person again is known by the Spirit the power is known by surrender how then do we know the pain so Paul's so desired to know Christ think about this passion on Christ he's so desired to know Christ that he even wanted to share his pain he was so intrigued so fascinated by the person and the image of Jesus that he said if I can understand him from just one more angle if I can understand him just a little more if I can come to gather the richness that is the revelation of his person if I can just eat of that revelation just a little bit I'll suffer for it if I have to I'm not talking about buying the anointing Christ already paid for it but I'm talking about walking worthy as Ephesians chapter 4 I believe verse 1 tells us to do Ephesians 1 through 3 tells us that the gospel is all Christ works that it's finished there's the mystery of the gospel and then he says in light of all of this and the fact that God has worked all this out for us he doesn't say now relax and just soak it in and do nothing and let God take care of it he says now walk worthy so we have to walk worthy and we do so in the fellowship of sufferings so again I'm not talking about purchasing salvation I'm not talking about purchasing power I'm talking about understanding Christ and we understand Him because we suffer with Him so Isaiah chapter 53 verse 3 says that he was rejected and despised we will be rejected and despised Galatians 2 20 says that I'm crucified with Christ 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 31 says that I die daily you know the person through the spirit the power through surrender but you're gonna know the pain through sacrifice and really I hesitate to even call anything sacrifice because anything we give unto the Lord he's gonna give it right back in greater measures so you can also say it as submission and that is somewhat of a sacrifice but you have to step out in faith there's a price to pay for the anointing let me tell you something you think this all come I mean people look I mean I'm just gonna share my testimony with you right now and don't take it as bragging this is just my story but you know you look at what God has blessed me with and you look at the television minister you see the people healed you see the power and presence of God touching people you see the influence you see the revelation this comes at a price and that price I wish you would increase the price of because it's prayer it's spending time with the Lord it's staying away from evil this doesn't just come in a day this doesn't just come in a week this is years and years and years of faithfulness you know I'm 26 now I've been in the ministry since I was 13 years old I'm not talking about paying your dues this is not a union the kingdom of God doesn't work that way anyway and this is not about seniority the kingdom of God doesn't work that way either this is about the heart and God works on the heart over long periods of time even though he does miraculous moments where he touches the heart but I'm talking about experiencing and suffering with Christ the pain people often say oh you disappoint the Lord with your sin well if he loves me enough to be disappointed by me surely he loves me enough to be elated by me you know when you worship him when you obey him that you touch his heart and you make him glad think about that that is so powerful that you can make God glad and so when I talk about the fellowship of his suffering you know that when you're in pain when you're in a time of great struggle when you're in a time where you're saying Lord I don't know what to do I don't know how I'm supposed to get through this people are persecuting me people are hurting me I feel disconnected I feel, I remember I prayed with you at the beginning because I sensed that was you or some of you watching at least but really when you're in pain and you worship in your pain that's fellowship of his suffering it draws you closer God will do more through your pain God will do more through your pain than almost anything else when you worship in your time of pain you're fellowshiping in his suffering don't waste the time of pain don't waste the hurt don't waste the rejection don't waste the calamity don't waste the trial don't waste the circumstance worship, obey, love God and when you worship in your time of pain it'll draw you closer and it's the fellowship of his suffering this is your opportunity what a privilege it is what a joyful, glorious privilege it is to share in the fellowship in the fellowship, in the union, in the connection with Christ's suffering that I may know him that I may know him you come to know him in your pain you come to know him in your problem when you can worship him time of despair you're connected to the divine don't let your pain go to waste let it be the fellowship of his suffering by whenever you worship he comes nearer whenever you worship he's drawn closer so when you worship in your pain he's nearer, the scripture says he's nearer to the broken hearted God resists the problem, gives grace to the humble when you're in pain you're humbled it is in the brokenness that we find our dependency it's the blessedness of brokenness when you realize really there is great liberty in realizing one's own brokenness for in such realization we find a greater dependency upon the Holy Spirit and it's the fellowship of his suffering that I may know him that I may know him I just want to know you I remember when I used to pray when I first got saved when I used to pray prayers like Lord I want to know you I still pray but when I first started I remember my whole body would tense up I thought it was in physical or emotional tension that I could really yearn for and I remember just saying Lord I just want to know you I care about ministry but in comparison to knowing you I don't care in comparison to knowing who you are in comparison to connecting with you in comparison to understanding the great riches of the revelation of the person of Jesus nothing else compares all loss it's nothing let's pray that you would be drawn in close Father in Jesus name touch that one watching let that one be drawn closer to you Lord they want to know the person let them meet the spirit in the word Father they want to know the power thank you for the privilege that we can pay that price thank you that we can pay the price let them pay the price for the anointing Lord let them for the power be surrendered and Father in Jesus name that we would know the fellowship of your suffering let not our pain go to waste let not our problem go to waste let not our despair go to waste let us fellowship, let us worship in that time of suffering and be drawn closer to you in Jesus name don't turn off the video yet there's somebody watching me Lord help me get this right Lord I assure this is you every step of the way I see there's a problem there's an infection right in your throat and it's toward the back and it moves up and it's affecting your ears sinus is everything God's bringing healing to you right now Lord in Jesus name let the healing power of God begin to flow and touch that one watching in Jesus name there's a woman watching you're wearing something red there's a woman watching you're wearing something red it's like a reddish shirt and you're praying for your son you're concerned for him God's gonna take care of him his name starts with a D I'm just getting a D we have a red shirt you're praying for your son his name starts with a D and you're believing God to touch his life because you've seen you've been concerned about the influence of people that have come into his life and you're praying for that to be separated you're concerned for the music he's listening to as well God's gonna set him free wow God's really moving well before I head out now and before we bring the spirit church to close spirit family you're a member of this church remember to support this guys we need all the support you can get you're receiving from this ministry you love this ministry you're blessed by this ministry look we don't want to just continue doing what we're doing well we want to continue what we're doing and do even greater things we have some big doors opening don't I don't want to have to say no I want you today to sew into this ministry you're watching this on YouTube and you're just searching through videos you're not planning on giving but God's speaking to your heart $100 I just heard that someone's gonna sew $100 into this ministry that's you because before I said it it was in your heart go obey the Lord go do it I'm challenging you to do it because when you do God's gonna meet you at his word you're gonna meet you at his promise there's somebody who can sew $1000 right now into this ministry and you're gonna help the gospel you're gonna help with the evangelism you're gonna help with the television you're gonna help with spirit you're gonna help with the projects various projects that we do so go ahead do that today support this ministry if you're a friend if you're a watch of your I'm challenging you to do we need your help guys I need your help I need my brothers and sisters to come alongside me and stand with me as I continue to preach the gospel and we continue to see lives change remember if one life can be changed by the gospel that implies an entire nation an entire world can be changed so let's do it together so today thank you for it I will see you next time at Spirit Church and until next time remember this that nothing absolutely nothing is impossible with God