 okay welcome back okay so we are in chapter 14 the power and blessings of the cross let's look at the next point on the cross Jesus Christ broke sin's power over our lives Romans 6 and verse 6 very powerful words let's read that Romans 6 and 6 knowing this that our 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 the body of sin should be done away with because we should no longer be slaves to sin what is a slave when the master says go here and do that he has to do it right you have to sit the whole night and clean this entire house he has to do it right because he's a slave now slave to sin means whenever the devil is telling you know you are this you are this you do this you do that if we keep doing it what happens we become a slave to sin but the Bible verse says in Romans 6 6 we were slaves to sin but now that is broken off we're no longer a slave to sin we sing that song no no longer slaves but I am a child of God identity and we were in Christ so that when Christ died our old man died with him on the cross when we say the older man especially in the book of Romans the man refers to our sinful nature right the old man our sinful nature therefore if anyone is in Christ he's a new creation all things have passed away the sinful nature the moment Jesus died on the cross and you and I believe in that okay Jesus I believe that you died on the cross for me and your blood forgives all my sins I accept you as my personal savior that moment our sin nature is crucified on the cross what is the sin nature death death came into the world because of sin that moment that sin nature that we live in is crucified on the cross then comes Romans 12 1 and 2 so be not be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind right believers not living in sin nature because it's crucified on the cross but we have to transform we must not conform ourselves to this world but be transformed in our mind right as a believer you do not have a sinful nature because this old nature sinful nature has been crucified on the cross so that the power of sin over our lives is broken and we are no longer slaves to sin now we may say to ourselves but this sin is too much it is too difficult I'm not able to come out of this you know it's a bondage it's just there I love Jesus I love going to church I listen to his word every day I pray every day but this little sin is not getting out of my life what should I do everything is alright I believe in Jesus I know that he's resurrected again God has blessed me you know I go to church I volunteer in church I get opportunity to preach also in church sometimes I'm a leader in the church everything is okay but this small area in my life not able to let go it's there it's still there that means what saying we are not standing on what Jesus did on the cross everything else is okay but this area no remember there is no sin that the blood of Jesus cannot wipe away right everything was done on the cross so we must know this we must know that hey if this is a sin that is you know keeping me in bondage I'm being a slave to sin the Bible says I'm not a slave so I must work to come out of it right it's like taking a step and saying God I don't want to do this this is not right in my life I know it's a hindrance for me for me and you so I'm going to do all I can in the natural in the spiritual as well to come out of it and when we take that step that's when we see God coming in and he will help us right second we must reckon this to know reckon means we must know it as truth right this is this is what Jesus is saying about you now we can't go to Jesus and say but no Jesus I'm a slave in one area other areas I'm a child of God but altogether it becomes a slave only right if you're a slave in one area and in 10 areas you're a blessed child of God still you're a slave it becomes like you know there's a slave but we must reckon we must know this truth that we don't have to live in that we don't have to live in that they come out of it right you know this person recently came up to me and when he was saying no pastor when I pray you know I keep praying I pray and I pray and I pray but one thing happens to me as the praying I fall asleep so then I wake up again and I don't know where I am in the prayer but then I pray I say God help me he's very genuine very sweet right he's being very true to himself I really want to pray but you know the sleep it just gets me I'm not able to control my sleep during the time other times I'm able to stay awake so he asked me what should I do why is this happening so I said see it's a natural thing right it's a natural thing it happens and he's just you know couple of years in the Lord this is a natural thing what you do is you try different things when you walk around like sing a song just praise him just use scriptures praise him right oh he still is not able to speak in tongue so I said ask God for that but you do the natural right you walk around something that helped me was when you wake up wash your face it clears up you know feel a little better and walk around and keep the phone away keep distractions away right and and see if that can help you and he came back to me and said yeah that really helped me you know initially I would pray for 15 20 minutes like you know just focusing on God 15 20 minutes now when I walk around I was able to sing songs I was able to just talk to the Lord and think of Bible scriptures and you know I didn't feel sleepy I sat for some time I said is that okay or I should only be kneeling or should only be sitting is God pleased I said it's not a you know it's not about what we are how we are walking standing kneeling all of that are postures of worship but it's the heart that matters our oneness with God our prayer our communion fellowship with God that matters and it was a simple thing but he was able to overcome practically there was no need of Holy Spirit break this bondage I think it was a practical thing sleep you gave wake up we feel how we feel sleepy just overcome it right do things practically and so he was able to one of the things that we can do is you know even drinking a lot of water in the morning will help you to stay awake and it helps you drink warm water you feel refreshed all of a sudden right and it's good right so sometimes we blame the enemy for everything and it's not and it's some things that you just need to practically do right and once we practically do it it's better like for example our bodies if we're always tired always weak break that devil's curse over my body no now sometimes it's not the devil we have to go exercise you know not eating healthy not exercising healthy bodies become weak devil I command you the spirit of infirmity devil is saying I didn't do anything you are not looking after your body what can I do right you understand what I'm saying so but then yes there are times when the enemy comes and there's unusual sicknesses which come or that we break it off and so first we must know second we must reckon that this is the truth of God's word that we are no longer slaves and three must walk in it it's not enough to know and to reckon that as truth we need to walk in it right we have to walk in it so it says there Roman 630 let's read that powerful words and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin but present yourself to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God do not present your body or your instruments to the what is the first portion says to the the first portion 613 did not present your body to sin rather present them to righteousness to God for righteousness let me basically what is he saying here Paul is saying you as a believer don't open doors for the enemy don't present yourself to the enemy so okay devil these are certain areas that those are open I'm presenting myself to those doors devil will say thank you very much and he will come rather present yourselves to God and say God these are my weaknesses these are places where I need to gain strength these are places where I need to walk in holiness present to God and he will work in your life don't be opening up doors for the enemy to come in he will take every small dough every small dough he will take right so you need to close the doors shut the door you know there'll be times when you don't feel like praying you don't feel like worshiping you tell the devil devil it's not about my feeling it's not about how I feel I may be angry upset sleepy there's maybe unforgiveness whatever's there in my heart you shut the door to the devil and say I am going into the presence of God through the gift of righteousness that is there given to me through the cross devil will say no you're not righteous you say I am righteous I've asked for forgiveness I am righteous and you just come in to the presence of God you don't have to fall into his trap he's a master deceiver he knows how to deceive people but praise God for the Spirit of God inside us when we know that the Spirit of God is there we who we are we don't have to fall into his trap right on the cross Jesus Christ annulled Satan's power over our lives Christ triumph on the cross when Christ triumph we triumphed we must understand that we are winners we have dominion over Satan through the cross we are delivered from the powers of darkness Satan has no authority over us look at the last part accept what we permit him to have Satan has no authority over our lives accept what we permit right this recently a grieving parent you know they came up to me and they said please pray for my child she's about 13 years old and she is addicted to Instagram and Facebook if I don't give the phone she starts breaking things at home she's not studying she's not and they said this right and it was very sad to listen to the parents say this 13 years old she's using abusive language also and but in the outside she's very good outside of home she's very good she listens obeys everything the moment she gets home she wants Facebook Instagram she's recently opened her own Facebook account 13 years old so mother was very sad weeping right and it is very sad to listen to it and she would spend hours what happened to our eyes pastor what will happen to her well she's not studying she's good in studies you know but she's been getting average marks now only on Facebook Instagram I don't know what she does I don't know if she's addicted to other things I really don't know she knows how to change settings she knows everything what must I do it's a sad it's a sad case and sometimes you know we allow things to happen as parents we may not have corrected at the right time maybe for different reasons or sometimes it just becomes an addiction over time and so the only thing I said was let her cry don't give the phone don't give the phone like let her cry but you begin to minister you have to get somebody to counsel her and talk to her or what you can also do is if she's using for three years break it down then I'll give you one hour break it down then she asked me why is the devil doing this I said see sometimes we open doors to the enemy we allow it to happen now it was a genuine case because she's working she had no other choice you know just give the phone and you know she had to work and do other things but little did she know that it'll come up to this but God is bigger than our mistakes we can't say oh this is the biggest mistake I've done in my life gone it is all because of me no Christ power is able to annul all of this that's happening it may be our mistake we have opened the door and the devil has entered the door happily and made it a tight bondage but Christ power is able to deliver us now these times these things may take time but we need to say the course right it may require counseling continuous prayer fasting and prayer just being there you know caring for the child because is he not an adult it's a 13 year old girl right but that's one thing that I mentioned to her I remember I said know that she's a child of God so when you deal with her deal with her as a child of God don't deal with her as what the enemy looks at her look at her as a child of God this is just a bondage this is something that the door is open but she's a child of God right a simple reminder of the blessings that come to us through the cross forgiveness of sins and restoration unto God healing from sickness and disease the power of sin is broken and we are sanctified by the cross what is sanctified what is the meaning of sanctified being changed set apart I'm searching for that one word come on online students sanctified cleansed okay I'm searching for one word from there righteous purified VJ was not sure okay what else I'm searching for one word like the most an important word sanctified made holy right made holy sanctified set apart and made holy why are we set apart not so that we know okay we are part of the kingdom of Israel no set apart to be made holy right we receive wholeness there's authority and dominion over the enemy the blessings of Abraham are upon us and we looked at that in the first portion the covenants we looked at Abraham's blessings which included righteousness by faith friendship with God financial and material blessings material prosperity healing and wholeness and a lot more right when God made this promise to Abraham I will bless you he was stating that all who God is and all that God does was being released to Abraham as a blessing God did not need to itemize the list of blessings that fact that he said I will was more than sufficient right when we look at the Abrahamic blessing it is a long list of blessings and when God said I will bless you he blessed Abraham the blessings came from every angle Abraham was like maybe in one point he said God what is I can't even count how many servants I have I can't even count how much of camels and herd I have it's just overflowing going on and on and on wherever he goes if he goes to the wilderness he's put up his tent wherever he goes the blessing he goes for to fight against the other the enemies this blessing look at his family there is blessing every angle there's blessings and God is saying this Abrahamic blessing will be for generations and generations and generations and it's for you and me as well right a new covenant has better promises but remember there are blessing Steelers that we must fight against and the boy you know Apostle Paul was brilliant when he spoke about all of this what did he say he said in second Corinthians he says the weapons of our warfare not carnal they are mighty in God right now what is weapons for to sit and look at it imagine a soldier he's got his weapons everything and he's seeing the enemy come oh I've got nice weapons I wish my sword was shining better than this imagine he's looking at his shield and saying is this a like a bulletproof shield he's wasting his time the enemy is coming oh the enemy is coming what do I do now common sense put on your shield and go that's all he had to do now Paul is saying hey the enemy is coming but the weapons of warfare not carnal they might even God they bring down strongholds bring down arguments and reasonings and anything that comes against the word of God and Ephesians 6 he says no put on the armor of God sorry thank you put on the armor of God why would you put on the armor of God because the devil is there right so he's trying to you know the end of the chapter says he has his fiery dance but he used the shield of faith that when quench every fiery dart of the wicked one so the devil is you know you can picture him hiding behind those pillars using those fiery darts but the moment you see the fiery dark you put the shield of faith that dart will just fall off so Paul made it very clear that there are enemies there are blessing stealers there are there you know in the last chapter in his last letter he says and second Timothy he says you fight the good fight right now most of his life Paul is writing saying you know we are blessed we are seated with him in heavenly places we are children of God we are no longer slaves you look at all his episodes so wonderful in the end the last letter he's saying you fight the good fight of faith it's not going to be easy Timothy you fight it you run the race nobody can run it for you you run it and when you run you run in the right way and there is a reward waiting for you you fight the good fight of faith right now here's another important point I'd like to make there are battles that we need to fight but we don't have to fight every battle right there are some battles you don't even have to waste time on that people come and say oh you can't do this you know you are this you are this don't fight that battle no but he said like this no how can he say this how can he say this how can she say this how did from what mindset they're talking you know who I am you know what I can do the battles you don't have to fight choose your battle wisely right to look at Saul I was teaching this yesterday for the second years you look at Saul King Saul he fought battles some of the battles were not really needed especially when David was became famous and he was running for is it needed to go pasting his time trying to kill David he knew that David is going to be the next king why is he wasting his time you know instead of that what he could have done now he killed David used this thing killed Goliath and now everyone are singing oh now Saul killed thousands David killed tens of thousands Saul is standing there and saying tens of thousands he killed one fellow I went to so many armies and I've killed I've killed so many people you were singing about him he's upset he wants to get rid of him but he knew that God had already chosen David asking what he could have done he could have said okay David I know that we're going to be the next king you're a shepherd boy come on I'll take you up come join the army I'll train you how to use this word how to you know warfare how to attack how to protect your people I'll teach you everything so that when you're 30 35 years old you can transition to being the king of Israel did he do that no he wasted his time trying to fight battles that were not when required but on the other side God made it a way of training for David what made him wait 17 years to become the king of course that became a training for him but Saul he shouldn't have fought those battles are not when required so you and I can choose our battles don't fight every battle whatever the enemy brings against you right everyone with me okay shall we go to the next one is it too much let's go to let's do as much as we can finish quickly from the cross to the throne now this is really interesting right really interesting on the cross what did Jesus say his last words second last word to say today you will be with me in paradise now we talked about this during the mentoring hour right pastor explained the whole thing of paradise but let's go over it again for our online students as well Luke 23 24 43 so Jesus is on the cross he tells the thief who repented today you will be with me in paradise and then again Jesus talking in Matthew chapter 12 he says as Jonah was in the belly of the fish the same way the son of man will be you know will be put away for and he will rise again on the third day now let's go to Abraham's bosom the old paradise right now this is really interesting and the Old Testament the word Hades was called she all right now what is Hades Hades is divided into two parts right so one part is Abraham's bosom one part is paradise right so you look at this the now the same word in Hebrew in the Old Testament and in the New Testament is different right so hell the Greek word is Hades which is revealed as the place of departed human spirits between death and resurrection right so in the New Testament when they say Hades it refers to this place where people who are dead right and their spirits before the resurrection right now this old this word hell is equivalent to the Old Testament word she all I will see the word she all in the book of in Psalms and Isaiah Jeremiah you'll see these the word she all now let's look at what is this what is this whole thing of Hades where is it now where's it gone is it still there who's there in it all of that Hades before the ascension of Christ now this passage occurs in many places of the passage in this word occurs make it makes it clear that Hades was a place with two divisions one Abraham's bosom and it's paradise both designations was separated by a Gulf meaning there was it was one place of torment and the other place was a place of rest right Abraham's bosom and then you have a place of torment right now when Jesus died on the cross what did he say today you will be with me in paradise right remember Lazarus he goes he dies he goes to Abraham's bosom it's a place of rest right and he was at peace there but where did the rich man go he went to hell and hell was a place of yeah but it was a place of torment and not exactly fire but a place of torment because later on Jesus says you know they'd be put into the lake of fire but it was a place of torment right torment torment means extreme pain right so there's going to be two kinds of pain one is the physical pain and then is the the soul the pain the separation right so when Lazarus was in hell this place of torment he could feel right he feel the burns revelation says they will seek death but they will not find it right and what is this one say the rich man says send somebody at least need a drop of water so there was this physical urge as well then he says oh the soul is there the soul is saying my brothers are there go and tell them what is happening right so the soul aspect also was there of that pain I don't want my brothers to go through what I'm going through so you see two things one was a physical pain one is the soul now the same thing in heaven like now I'm talking about after the cross right in heaven you and I well so there was Abraham's bosom it's a place of rest the soul is at rest there's no torment right there's no you know devil trying to torment there's no pain there's no physical pain nothing it's just a place of rest it's like when you wake up in the morning you have nothing to do but you're having a cup of tea and it's a place of rest on Abraham's bosom they may not be tea but it's a place of rest right no problem just the soul is at peace the body is at peace everything is peace now this rich man who is there in hell he's burning his physical pain the soul is in pain and he's looking into Abraham's bosom you say hey I know you now after the cross what happened Ephesians 4 he went down he took captivity captive right so what did Jesus do he the this whole place this paradise right he went there he took people he took those who are in this place of rest right and he ascended into heaven right so now who's there in Abraham's bosom nobody right but what happened to hell hell which was the place of torment becomes this place which is the lake of fire a place where Satan will be banished forever so you got the picture now yes you want me to explain again those online you want me to explain this portion again okay okay I'll explain it for those here yeah just given the mic like that rich man he died so he's not in physically in hell he's a spirit in hell so how can a spirit be thirsty and how can a spirit be like physically burned yeah so it is like this see how in the God has made it in a way now see Jesus was in a glorified body right in the glorified body all the doors were closed but Jesus came in and he said peace be unto you then what did he tell Thomas Thomas you're doubting no come here you touch you touch and see so he touched Jesus right Jesus could feel obviously he could feel the marks and he said you touch my side also that's my side right Jesus didn't say initially what did Jesus say don't touch me I haven't yet gone remember to marry to Mary Magdalene at the tomb so don't touch me yet but here after the glorified body this thing you touch come and touch me so a glorified body just like how in heaven we can experience you know in revelations in the last chapter says that we will we will drink of the river that flows there right there'll be a river the river of life flowing now if I want to experience see Jesus also says I'm building mansions for you in heaven now if I want to experience something nice my physical thing should be there right the physical the attributes of enjoying the things so God has made the glorified body in a way that we can experience the good things in heaven he can experience it the freshness the the presence of God the fullness of God the things that he's available in heaven the same way in hell there's no point of them being in hell here put you to hell and there nothing is happening the fire is there and they're all like chewing gum and standing nothing's happening to me there's no point of that so the point of hell was it's a place of torment right so God has designed it in a way that they will get such a body that they will burn their hands the feeling of the burn will be there but it's not burn they do not need a bandage like this they will only experience the pain it's not like a natural body where you burn the body it will become ashes right it's not like that you may be in like in the fire right in the fire like the furnace is there oh it's burning not like Shadrach and Meshach in a bed me go they were not struggling right but you know they'll be in the fire they'll be burning and you're waiting for that burning sensation to stop but it's not stopping I didn't understand what you're saying use the mic no the illusion of you burning in the fire will be so real that you won't know it's illusion it'll feel it's real yeah so you'll feel it's real but it is real but the outcome is not real you know in the natural you burn something it becomes ashes it's done but in hell it's going to be a such a place of torment where you know even even that burns you'll feel it but it'll it'll not you'll not burn out it'll still be there and this is for eternity and on the other side we are with eternity with God in his presence enjoying so the choice is so open right and that is why Jesus he came on the cross because he didn't want people to go to this place right but those who will fully disobey that's the place that's the outcome right so now you've got Abraham's bosom Hades and then you've got now this Abraham's bosom will go up right it just goes and now there's heaven and that is hell right so nobody is there in Abraham's bosom now Paul says to be absent in the body is to be present with Abraham or to be present with the Lord yes to be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord right so that's going to happen and then later on we you know like we discussed there will be the the judgment seat of Christ for those who are believers we'll stand in front of the judgment seat of Christ this judgment is called the Bema seat where we will be given rewards it's not about going heaven hell it's a reward what you have done and then in the end there in revelations we see the great white throne judgment where death and Hades will give up everyone right and everyone that is for the unbelievers they will stand before the great white throne judgment and the Bible says that they will have to give an account of their lives meaning they'll have to say why you didn't believe what happened why you didn't believe that's a scary thing but it's such a joy to know that all we have to do is believe in Jesus and we have a great great kingdom ahead of us it is not to put fear in us right we are children of God and we thank God for calling us right that we are no longer part of what the enemy is doing but we are part of what God is doing right the Lord Jesus made a proclamation to the Spirit in prison first Peter 3 18 through 20 let's read that Nina you have a question please go ahead can I unmute and speak yes go ahead yeah yeah so this thing about now those who have gone ahead I mean we have died in the Lord already so we we've just looked and said that if we are absent from the body then we are present with the Lord so yeah and we I mean when we looked at the example of the rich man and Lazarus and the rich man was able to you know go through all the whether whether it was the tongue or eyes or everything so that is that a spiritual body is that kind of a spiritual body that people who have gone to be with the Lord already so is that talking about a spiritual body because we are all I mean believers now or later there is a resurrection that's going to happen right so that is different isn't it yes is that different yeah that's different right resurrection the resurrected body yes that's a good question so so what's going to happen is so let me just paraphrase Nina's question thank you Nina for asking the question now Nina's question was the the one who died and went to hell you know the rich man could feel right though the burns they could feel was feeling thirsty but now we are absent to the body present with the Lord so her question was will we be feeling the things in heaven right now the answer is during the rapture right in the book of Thessalonians it says that the Lord will come on the clouds right with this with the saints that is with the holy ones and in it and those here on earth and those spirits up in heaven that is those who are absent in the body present with the Lord their spirits they will we will all meet in the clouds in the twinkling of an eye we will be changed with a glorified body right so the to answer your question Nina right now our spirit is with the Lord right we are with the Lord but the resurrected body that body that we need will come during the time of the rapture right so when the rapture comes we will get a glorified body and those here on earth will see him just as he is we will all have a glorified body and we'll go up into heaven right so Nina I hope that answers your question yes thank you if I mean if Jesus went sorry I'll just have one more question if you don't mind yeah they see when Jesus was resurrected and he came back yes he had a meal with his disciples right yes so which means that the body is made in such a way of course he could walk through doors and all of that it had that kind of power but he made a meal and he had the meal with them so it is kind of a very different kind of body that is that the I mean that's the kind of body we're going to have right later glorified yes yes so we can do all the yeah all those things in the normal that we do is it going to be like that I mean I'm just going by the example of what Jesus did so I'm just asking that yeah so so when Jesus came back and you know so what happened was he came back he could when he was in his glorified body yes he walked through the doors but he still had that flesh right he said to Thomas come and touch me touch my side and he also had food now that is the glorified body that Jesus had and that is the same kind of body that you and I will have but the point is it's not like when we go to heaven we'll be hungry and we want to eat that's the that's not the point but the glorified body given to us for you know after the rapture the glorified body that we have is so that you and I can experience the the the presence of God right we can experience and taste and feel the goodness of God the presence of God and what is available up in heaven for us so yes it is the same kind of body right is that okay Nina all right any other questions go ahead I'm positive like relating to like before Jesus resurrection and before he took all the people who were in Abraham's bosom to heaven I mean what about those people I mean who lived before Abraham I mean what about Noah and the others who lived before Abraham Abraham yeah why is it telling Abraham's bosom and not about Noah and the atoms the others okay okay we don't know why it's not Moses's bosom or you know Noah's bosom the reason is God made a covenant with Abraham I believe that so he chose Abraham's bosom like chose the name Abraham's bosom but those who who died during the old covenant were in that place so even if it was Moses and the ones before that they were in that place the name of the place is Abraham's bosom now why is it named Abraham's bosom that I don't know right but everyone were there the place of rest it was a place of rest right so even those before Abraham would have been there okay right so we run out of time let's just quickly close in prayer and let's pray Father we thank you for this time we thank you for just giving us this opportunity to just learn together and I pray God that even as we study today about the cross and this divine exchange that you have done for us a god I pray that each one of us will know will reckon and walk this identity of who we are in you Lord we thank you we pray that you will teach us Lord and empower us by your Holy Spirit we give you all the praise and glory in Jesus name we pray amen amen thank you everyone thank you students online have a good week