Tommy Miller: The Authority to Redefine Reality (Doxa)

[00:00:00]Good morning everybody. Good >> morning.

[00:00:02]>> How are you?

[00:00:04]>> Good. I have an announcement for you before we get into the word. Hi Davies.

[00:00:08]How are you wonderful people?

[00:00:12]That good, huh?

[00:00:14]>> So good to see you.

[00:00:17]You guys ready?

[00:00:19]>> Okay. So the conference, you have to come to the conference. Uh, I have not done an appropriate job of giving our marketing team the information for what's going down on Saturday night, but Saturday night the guys from Living Beyond Sunday are coming to record a live podcast. So that's Caleb Garrett and Adrian. They're amazing. Um, and they're going to have all of the speakers on couches up here talking about the new creation gospel.

[00:00:49]Yeah. And Saturday you don't even get to leave.

[00:00:54]They're doing workshops in the afternoon for embodiment.

[00:00:59]It's incredible. That's not my announcement. And you thought that was good. So my announcement is that we are opening an interest group. And the reason that we have to open an interest group is because we've figured out that we can only steward about 15 people at a time.

[00:01:17]And sacred biology is getting two new expressions. The one that I get to tell you about today is the sacred biology integration intensive.

[00:01:27]It's 21 days and it involves yours truly.

[00:01:36]I've got like three weeks before I can say it officially.

[00:01:43]>> Dr. Shanda Miller [applause] and Dr. Ricky Miller.

[00:01:51]Yeah. I had a guy named Eli Miller tell me that there's two types of people in the world. Millers and people that want to be.

[00:01:59][laughter] The integration intensive is probably one of the most significant things we've ever launched.

[00:02:11]There's 21 days of embodiment exercise for everyone. Uh, but you get to talk with a soul expert, a body expert, and me, whatever you want to call me.

[00:02:26]And they by the end of 21 days, we've sat numerous times around my kitchen table asking what the outcome that we'd like uh is. And we've come down to one word, and I think you guys will love it.

[00:02:39]Um, is this a weight loss thing? Is this a fitness thing? Is this a nutrition thing? Is this a soul rest thing? Is this an identity thing? It's it's none of those because I could present all of those things to you on a silver platter and you would probably reject them if I had peace on the other platter.

[00:02:59]>> Yes. [snorts] So the intention of the sacred biology integration uh intensive is for you to come out the other side aligned.

[00:03:11]And there's a passage in James that lets us know that if you tell someone to be warmed and be filled, but you do not give them the things needed for the body, then it's of the utmost hypocrisy.

[00:03:24]So if the church is constantly handle handling spiritual things but they never talk about embodiment, it doesn't matter because the incarnation is the evidence that the gospel works.

[00:03:36]>> Yes.

[00:03:36]>> So if the gospel stays spiritual, it's not really that good of news.

[00:03:41]Good news has to be defined by the hearer as good news.

[00:03:47]So, if we preach good news and then we give the ability to integrate good news, then we're being responsible. According to the book of James, you'll get to spend one-on-one time with the clinicians.

[00:04:00]Everybody will go through the same 21-day embodiment intensive, but everyone gets specialized attention from the clinicians.

[00:04:09]It's hard to put into words, but there's nothing else like it on the planet.

[00:04:17]If you'd like to be interested, that should be accomplished by now. If you'd like to be involved, we are going to start an interest group and we're going to take 15 from that group at a time so that the attention that people deserve uh is there. What we don't want is to max out our capacities and then depreciate the experience that you have.

[00:04:38]So, we have one way for our international folks to be involved. Um, is that this okay international family sacred biology intensive you what's app to 330442539 right for our USA family if you'd like to be involved you text the word SBI to the phone number 330 6323993.

[00:05:12]That doesn't commit you to anything.

[00:05:14]That lets us know that you want to be notified when this gets a kickoff date and that you'd like to be one of the candidates to be involved in the 21-day intensive. Excellent.

[00:05:26]>> Yes.

[00:05:27]>> All right. Oo. Now, you guys ready?

[00:05:30]Okay. Good news and bad news.

[00:05:33]The good news is DOCA became a series.

[00:05:38]And there is no bad news. Unless you don't like Docsa becoming a series, go to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 7.

[00:05:49]The title of today's message is the authority to redefine reality.

[00:05:58]The authority to redefine reality.

[00:06:06][snorts and sighs] You guys ready?

[00:06:08]>> You sure? Did you like doca last week?

[00:06:12]>> Are you glad that it's a series?

[00:06:13]>> Okay, it's a big deal. Ready? 2 Corinthians 3. This is review from last week. The rest of this will not be review, but this is one of the clearest pictures that it paints for us. It says, "If the ministry of death written and engraved on stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the spirit not be more glorious?

[00:06:37]For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect because of the glory that excels. For if what was passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech.

[00:07:00]Unlike Moses who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament because the veil is taken away in Christ.

[00:07:20]Holy smokes.

[00:07:22]And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled face behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the spirit of the Lord. I'm going to pray for you then we'll get rocking. All right. Father, thank you so much for this remarkable group of human beings. I ask right now that this revelatory word bring us to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Holy Spirit, you're Lord of this place. Angels, you are free to minister.

[00:07:55]free to defend, free to swing swords, free to deliver, free to heal.

[00:08:01]I'm going to preach. You do the heavy lifting.

[00:08:06]Father, we thank you that this place is an open heaven. We thank you that the nations are our inheritance. And we thank you that this city is the blueprint for heaven on earth.

[00:08:15][snorts] In Jesus name, everybody said, >> "Amen." Okay, first let's open with scandal. Scandal gets attention, right?

[00:08:23]>> Let's open with scandal. When you and I read this passage, it is fitting for us to hear something like the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament because you and I have this book that conveniently has two parts.

[00:08:39]Right? So when we hear that there's a veil when you read the Old Testament, we're like, "Oh, well, I'll just read this part."

[00:08:47]Okay, this is a big deal. They didn't have this part. They're actively writing this part.

[00:08:53]So the voice of God through an apostolic leader was saying, "I'm trying to get you away from the book [laughter] scandal, right?

[00:09:12]There are two things that happen when you interpret scripture.

[00:09:18]One of them is called exogesis. Exog Jesus is when you properly extrapolate from the text its original meaning. You do that through asking proper questions.

[00:09:29]Who wrote this? Who' they write it to?

[00:09:32]When did they write it? Where did they write it? Those things matter, right?

[00:09:36]Because right here when we crack a can open, it is pop, right? My Arcanin daughter-in-law over there is like ready to throw down because she teaches her kids to ask for sodas at Mimi and Pap's house. And we're like, we don't know what those are, right? So, geography matters, time matters, audience matters. So, if this guy is saying, listen, there's a veil when you read the Old Testament. There was no New Testament as an alternative.

[00:10:07]What he's saying was when you read your book, there's a veil on your heart. And the only way that veil can go away is if you stop [clears throat] reading the Old Testament and start looking at the incarnate word.

[00:10:20]>> Come on. Yes.

[00:10:21]>> Yeah. Yep. So now we're able to understand what those two glories are.

[00:10:26]By the way, for anyone listening to me for the first time, this thing is like my tenth because I beat them up. I love it. Okay? So don't think that I'm anti-Bible. I'm not. I love this thing.

[00:10:37]It smells good. It looks good. It tastes good. I mean, you got to try everything.

[00:10:43]You know, so I'm not anti-book, but what I am saying is if you were in the Corinthian church and Paul is clearly confronting something that is identity based and he says, listen, if you keep reading that, you'll never see who you are.

[00:11:01]When Moses sat the laws against the side of the ark of the covenant, your Bible, our Bible says that he sat them there as a witness against the nation of Israel.

[00:11:14]How could you miss it?

[00:11:17]Those things are there to condemn you.

[00:11:19]And if you continue to read systems that condemn you, you'll never see yourself.

[00:11:23]So, you need to be transformed from glory to glory. the glory of a book that was meant to condemn you to the glory of the word that was meant to reveal you.

[00:11:32]It's one transition from death to life, lost to found book to the government of the spirit.

[00:11:40]>> You with me?

[00:11:42]>> The authority to redefine reality. There is a reality captured in the pages of the Old Testament. When Paul talks about that reality, he refers to it as the ministry of death and the ministry of condemnation. When he talks about what it does in the beginning of the book of Romans, he says it condemns everyone. It confines everyone to sin. And get this, it arouses your sin nature.

[00:12:08]It doesn't cure Adam. It exposes Adam and it expands Adam. The law made Adam worse. The law created Adam in the first place.

[00:12:20]>> You understand what I'm saying? Right?

[00:12:22]Adam would not have been a problem had Adam not tried to follow a law.

[00:12:26]>> Add more laws, get more Adam.

[00:12:30]Right?

[00:12:33]There's a reason there's a reason that the Bible says that the gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing.

[00:12:46]If Adam's eyes try to look upon freedom, it sees freedom as something to be apprehended rather than something to receive, something to earn rather than something that you intrinsically already possess. So you can add as many behavior modifications to Adam as you would like.

[00:13:03]It doesn't fix him. It exposes him.

[00:13:06]Right? Do you want to hear a funny story? You guys familiar with the uh the golden calf?

[00:13:11]>> Yeah. Yeah. Do you know what it was made out of?

[00:13:14]Stolen jewelry.

[00:13:16]>> Yeah. Yep. Do you know what Aaron said when Moses came down the mountain? He's like, "Where'd that come from?"

[00:13:23]Got me, bro. Like, Yep. Don't worship false idols. Don't lie. Don't steal.

[00:13:31]Right before the law even came down off the mountain, they were already in progress.

[00:13:36]Right? It wasn't there beforehand. It didn't happen before that. The law aroused Adam's nature. So the more you try to modify your behaviors, the more the opinion of that system redefineses you.

[00:13:50]>> You with me?

[00:13:52]>> Okay. Do you want to understand how a human works?

[00:13:55]Cuz humans don't work the way you think they work.

[00:13:59]I have a brother. His name is Tyler.

[00:14:02]And Tyler was a fantastic wrestler in high school. And our senior year he was wrestling 112 119 and I was 250.

[00:14:15]>> 250. Yeah. Yep. And I had like my whole life I'm asking this these questions like I train, I diet, I have muffin tops.

[00:14:26]This kid does whatever he wants. He's strolling around with a six-pack all the time. Then I realized that if you have an issue with food, then food becomes a law.

[00:14:41]And if you look at most of the punishment in the New Testament after the law, we think God changed his character. God did not change his character. Humanity became judge, jury, and execution.

[00:14:55]So when somebody breaks the law, they take him outside the city gate and they stone him to death. And then they say, "God made it happen.

[00:15:01]Snakes come in and invade your village and like that was that's because we picked up sticks on Sunday. We knew we shouldn't have picked up sticks on Sunday, right? No, they just start seeing God through poor covenant. They start seeing him through a bad glory. So when you grow up with a skinny brother and you're the chubby kid and you see him eat whatever he wants and you're like, so you take the cake and the moment you take the cake, you're trying to earn health, >> right? As a matter of fact, let me put it this way. The moment you take the steak, you're trying to earn health. The moment you take the cake, you realize that you're breaking the law. Your body will punish yourself for it. Guess what?

[00:15:37]It punishes itself with muffin tops. [laughter] Yeah. My whole life, listen, I'm I'm I'm trying to battle this thing and it's like, oh, you're ectomorph, you're messomorph, you're endomectomorph. I don't think that's it. I think I created a law for myself. My consciousness is self-imposing judgment on me >> and now every time I break my diet, I deserve punished.

[00:16:01]Yep. I deserve punishment. So what we see happen here is that if you continue to read this thing, it's death and condemnation because you heap death and condemnation on yourself, >> right? How many laws did Adam and Eve have?

[00:16:17]Yeah. Ironically, it was don't live by the law, right? Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Why? Because that's the thing that you participate in to become something you already are.

[00:16:28]That's what legalism does, right? And then what happens? They hear God coming, so they run. Why they run?

[00:16:36]Because God's angry? No. Self-imposed judgment, >> right? The naked bodies that God created in his own image were God's capstone to creation. Now they're hiding them from him because they're miseing him according to their own condemnation.

[00:16:56]That's what one law did. What do you think 613 does when you read the Old Testament?

[00:17:02]>> Yeah.

[00:17:05]Do you know? Do you know your your t-shirt today qualifies you for execution under the old covenant?

[00:17:16]These beard, can you believe this? These beard lines qualify me for execution.

[00:17:21]I need to provide a sacrifice for having god-like beard lines. Yeah. You're not supposed to trim the corners of your beard. I don't even know what that means.

[00:17:30]Yeah. That's why rabbis are all round dead, right?

[00:17:35]Do you understand how this works? So, when Paul's when Paul's saying this, it's important to recognize that he's in Corenth in the first century and saying, "Listen, until this day when Moses has read, there's a veil on your heart."

[00:17:47]Meaning, if you keep living by that, you'll never see him.

[00:17:52]If you keep trying to behave your way out of Adam, you can never step into Christ because Christ is received.

[00:17:57]Adam's earned.

[00:18:00]Adam gives you an earned identity.

[00:18:02]Christ gives you an assigned one. Get it?

[00:18:07]>> Okay. So, the Greek word doca, you don't have to look very far for this. It is the first like four definitions in the Strong's concordance which we know is an accompaniment, an extra biblical accompaniment to the King James version.

[00:18:20]So often times they will rewrite their definitions to frame up their theology.

[00:18:26]This is one that thankfully they missed.

[00:18:27]Now they added a few definitions that aren't the real definitions of a first century Greek. But if you say the word doca to a first century Greek, they will hear estimate, opinion, or judgment.

[00:18:41]So when it says that the old covenant had glory, it's not saying that it was shining. It was saying that it had something to say.

[00:18:52]And what it had to say was death and condemnation.

[00:18:56]Moses came down off the mountain with a veil over his face, not because it was beautiful, because it was death and condemnation. Nobody wanted to see what he had to offer.

[00:19:05]That's why legalists have to scare you with evangelism rather than invite you into relationship.

[00:19:12]Get it? So there there cannot be a world where Jesus exists, gets transfigured on the mountain, comes down off the mountain, then cities start swarming to him. And if we think that he wasn't shining as radiantly as Moses was, we have something else to learn.

[00:19:30]Moses was not unappealing to the children of Israel because he was too glorious. He was unappealing to the children of Israel because his face shone with death and condemnation from the law that had just been delivered.

[00:19:46]Jesus hears these words. It's my son. I like him. [snorts] Right? Think of this. It's my kid. I like him and that's enough.

[00:20:04]Yep. As a matter of fact, there's so many parts to this. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.

[00:20:16]Right? You you again proper exesus. You need to make sure that you're reading this in the components that they're presented because it's easy to believe that you're his beloved. It's hard to believe that he's pleased with you.

[00:20:31]>> Yeah. Sometimes love is an obligation.

[00:20:33]How many of you love your kids?

[00:20:35]How many of you like them?

[00:20:37]>> You [laughter] know, that's different.

[00:20:41]>> I They're not both in the room, >> are they? Yeah. So, I always like to say I really like one of them [laughter] and then I never >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So they just have to talk about that afterwards to figure out who it is. [snorts] Y'all good?

[00:21:07]Okay. So if you keep reading that, you'll never find yourself.

[00:21:15]Stop reading, start looking, and you'll be transformed into the thing that you're beholding. And you don't go from glory to glory to glory to glory to glory in some endless theological graduation system.

[00:21:31]It's out of the glory of death and condemnation into the glory of the beloved son. Then you're done.

[00:21:39]>> Thank you, Lord.

[00:21:41]>> Then you're done. There's a reason. How many of you are familiar with this journey that the children of Israel took out of Egypt and into the promised land?

[00:21:48]Do you know how long it took?

[00:21:50]>> Careful.

[00:21:53]80 years. They went twice. They got there in 40, saw some giants, were like, "Y'all scary." Went back out, circled around some more, and then came back later with Caleb and Joshua as their leader. Do you know how long it took to get from Egypt to the promised land?

[00:22:09]19 days.

[00:22:12]It was a trip right across the top of the wilderness called the way of the Philistine. They could have been there in 20 days, but they didn't.

[00:22:21]Jesus goes to the wilderness though and he shows you that you can go from hanging with the devil in the garden to being transfigured on a mountain like that.

[00:22:38]Don't have to waste 40 years on your wilderness journey because he took it for you. He overcome overcame everything that you'd ever face in it.

[00:22:46]And then he brought you into his transfiguration without the voice of Allah and a prophet. You realize that's what was happening on the on the mountain cuz Moses and Elijah showed up and Peter wanted to build three tents. And in the middle of him saying, "Hey, let's build three tents." God's like, "Sh, [laughter] just one's fine. This is my kid. Listen to him."

[00:23:09]Why does he have to listen to him?

[00:23:13]Because Moses kills you.

[00:23:17]Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.

[00:23:21]Good.

[00:23:22]>> Yes.

[00:23:22]>> Okay.

[00:23:24][sighs] You want to be done?

[00:23:28]>> Of course not.

[00:23:31]Okay. Daxa comes from the Greek word dooo which means to think, suppose, seem, appear, consider, or form an opinion of. DAXa was an opinion, a judgment, a reputation or what someone or something is thought to be. Do you hear anything about fog machines or glitter or clouds or anything that we think of when we say the word glory?

[00:23:50]Right. So the Bible I just I just want if Greeks could see us now.

[00:24:00]The way that we define holy, right? When when somebody asks you to act holy, what are they saying? Or be holy?

[00:24:07]Perfect. Right? So, imagine that holiness is behavioral perfection and then angels are actually singing in English around the throne and they're going, "Behave, behave, >> behave." Right? It's not that It's not that cool. [laughter] It's not that cool. It's also not cool in the US to shout glory because we're saying opinion.

[00:24:34]Yeah. Greeks would be super confused by our willingness to adopt words that we don't understand, then yelled him at inappropriate Christian times.

[00:24:43]Yep. They just wouldn't get it. So, doca, glory, it's used all throughout your New Testament. And in your New Testament, it's nearly always talking about the same thing. Classic Greek writers use this term to define public opinions, personal reputation, someone's estimation of a thing, or a consensus regarding a person. That's just what it means. Okay.

[00:25:08]So, in John 1, we're actually going to stay in John for the rest of the message, I think.

[00:25:14]In John 1, we have to recognize that John is the first New Testament writer to write revelatory content.

[00:25:24]Matthew, Mark, Luke wrote historical content.

[00:25:31]They recorded either their eyewitness account or Jesus verbatim.

[00:25:37]John is the first guy that opens his book by saying, "In the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God and the word became flesh."

[00:25:48]Right? So the other gospel writers would have been like, "Whoa, he never said that."

[00:25:54]and he didn't.

[00:25:56]But John got it by revelation. So what you continue to see throughout the book of John is John doing a compare and contrast of the glory of the Old Testament with the glory that we behold in Jesus. It happens in nearly every chapter.

[00:26:14]>> In nearly every chapter. So when it talks about Jesus in John 1 and it says we beheld his glory, it's not talking about Jesus showing up in a glowing robe. We literally get to see God's opinion of somebody that's fully human walking in flesh in front of us.

[00:26:29]Somebody that hasn't been tainted by a damic lineage. Some somebody that hasn't started to strive try to strive to become remember we were just talking about the nutrition thing.

[00:26:39]The very system that you build to fix it is the system that kills you. Right? So eat the cake, condemned by the cake, punish myself for the cake, get the muffin tops.

[00:26:49]Yep.

[00:26:51]Same thing happened in the garden. I'm not like God. I want to become like God.

[00:26:54]I'll reach out to become like God. And in reaching out, I prove that I'm not like him.

[00:27:01]Yep. I prove that I'm not like him. So, it is the reach that is the confession.

[00:27:06]Get it? It's the reach that is the confession.

[00:27:11]So Jesus comes fully confident in, this is so good because you're going to see it repeated over and over and over in the book of John, fully confident in the father's glory of him.

[00:27:24]>> And because he's fully confident in the father's glory of him, he becomes manipulationproof in religious crowds.

[00:27:35]>> Yeah. Imagine this. Imagine being in front of hundreds, maybe thousands of people that disagree with you completely and standing your ground because one person agrees with you.

[00:27:49]Yeah. Makes you manipulation proof, right? Well, you got to do this to be part of our club. Wait, no. And then they get mad at him. He says, "Your witness isn't true. You you you bear witness of yourself." He's like, "Actually, no, I don't. I and the father are one. We get two votes. Your law says that whatever I say has to be confirmed by two to three witnesses. I've got two.

[00:28:12]Done deal. Thousand religious people are there telling him he's not enough. Do you know what? John chapter 5. You don't have to turn here, but John chapter 5.

[00:28:19]You know the initial reason why they sought to kill Jesus was the word pater.

[00:28:30]First time the the the first time the word pater was used in the entire biblical narrative and it is not religious. It is not reverent. It's like if a salesman comes to your door and you say, "I'm sorry, dad's not home right now."

[00:28:53]The word dad in Greek is pater where we get petristic and where we get the English word father. So in John 5 it says, "They sought to kill him all the more because he called God."

[00:29:07]Claiming equality with God. Right?

[00:29:12]If you want religious people to come after you, there's a blueprint.

[00:29:17]Yep. Call God.

[00:29:21]So John 5, they sought to kill him all the more. So the the initial reason for the execution demand on Jesus's life wasn't because he was uprooting the system. It's because his relationship with the creator of the universe was too good to be true. It was familiar. So the reason that he was able to withstand the constant criticism of his ministry and finish his race is because the doca of men was not the doca that he was counting on for a definition of himself.

[00:29:51]Get it? Okay.

[00:29:55]The doxa of his father is what defined him, which made him able to selflessly love the people that wanted to kill him and kept him from conforming and becoming anything that he wasn't before the foundation of the world.

[00:30:12]Good so far?

[00:30:14]>> Okay. So, let's talk about this real quick.

[00:30:18]The word logos. You guys know that word.

[00:30:21][snorts] In the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God and all things were made through him. Without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life. That life was the light of men. So we we talked about this before.

[00:30:38]John is the first one to give us revelation uh and insight into these things. And one of the reason that he gives this revelation is because he's actually combating Greek philosophy.

[00:30:51]Logos isn't a Christian term.

[00:30:54]Logos was a term that came from a guy named Heracitis.

[00:30:59]It's about 300 years prior to this. And Heracitis posited that there was something called logos that essentially was the record of the written universe.

[00:31:08]It's not God. It's unknowable and it's unconcerned. The only thing you can do is get aligned with it or stay out of it. It's it's the thought process that follows us into new age.

[00:31:19]When people say like, "I'm trying to align myself with the universe." Some somehow someway there's some type of favor that comes with accidentally stumbling into what Logos has for you.

[00:31:30]Okay? So, they were close.

[00:31:33]But the reason John starts his letter the way he starts it is because he's he's refuting Greek philosophers and simultaneously using language that they'll understand. So, they would have said he would have said in the beginning was the logos, right? And beginning again we have to define this beginning means origin archetype or a concept that is entirely apart from time not the beginning chronologically the beginning foundationally so somebody that would have been in Greek philosophy would have said yeah absolutely that's exactly what the logos is in the beginning in the ara was the logos and the logos was with God they might have bought that and the the logos cross was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life and that life was the light of men. So John was directly confronting the philosophical view of creation with the in introduction of the incarnate word.

[00:32:32]Heracitis. This is how he defined logos.

[00:32:35]The divine record or discourse that governs and coordinates creation.

[00:32:42]So when John moves in to the part of his letter that says, "And the logos put on flesh and dwelt among us," that's when a philosopher would have been like, "Wait a minute."

[00:32:57]They would have been extremely offended.

[00:33:00]Thing I like about some of these early letters is they were snarky before snark was cool.

[00:33:08]Yeah. He like drags you in. He's like, "Yeah, in the beginning was the logos."

[00:33:11]You're like, "Yeah." And the logos was God. Yeah. And he put on flesh and came and hang out. Wait a minute. Yeah. So that's that's what he's trying to to to to to put in front of you, right? And this is this is why the title is the authority to redefine reality. So Jesus doesn't come to fix a system. Jesus comes to introduce a new one completely apart from senses and experience. So when he comes and it says we beheld his glory, it's not talking about his robe lighting up. It's literally saying that God finally gets to have his opinion made known to humans through a human, right?

[00:33:46]Which has never happened before 4,000 years without the thoughts of God being made manifest in creation outside of God himself putting on human flesh and then us beholding God's opinion.

[00:34:00]>> It's a big deal, right? Because it takes us straight back to Genesis. God says they're very good. Then a serpent comes up and says, "I don't think you're very good. You might be one step away from very good. If you grab that and eat it, then you'll be very good." What do we have competing right now for our conscience? Two docs.

[00:34:18]>> Yes.

[00:34:20]>> Two docs. What if the whole story's been about two docases the entire time?

[00:34:24]>> And then the moment that Adam and Eve separate themselves from the doca of God, their self-imposed separation keeps them from knowing his thoughts. So now they're just being constantly fed a narrative that's stuck in a feedback loop that they themselves are creating, >> right?

[00:34:42]>> They're creating it because God swn into creation. Creation's obedience to submit itself to the expectations of humanity.

[00:34:52]Now humanity is believing a different logos. So creation gets subject to humanity's frustration.

[00:35:00]So every time humanity has a poor opinion of themselves, THEY CAN FIND PROOF THAT IT'S TRUE.

[00:35:09]>> Get me?

[00:35:11]>> This is why, listen, people die.

[00:35:18]>> Not joking.

[00:35:20]This is why people die because your brain is literally trained to detect and prove the opinion that you already have.

[00:35:29]>> Yes, >> that's right.

[00:35:31]>> Yep. If you think you're a victim, you'll find proof. You can bypass a hundred blessings to find proof that goes along with your doca and then say, "I told you so." Right?

[00:35:46]Your threat detection system is constantly trying to keep you alive and it thinks because you're detecting so many threats that dying might actually be safer for you. So it ushers you into a safe grave >> with me so far?

[00:36:02]>> Yes.

[00:36:04]>> That's why they call it the cycle of sin and death. Yeah. righteousness and life. Yep. Good stuff, right? So, in John, when Jesus shows up, God, you need to read your Bible. No one has seen God at any time.

[00:36:30]Right?

[00:36:32]That means Joshua didn't see God. Ruth didn't see God. Samuel didn't see God.

[00:36:37]These kings didn't see God. Ezra didn't see God. Nehemiah didn't see God. Esther didn't see a God. Job didn't see God.

[00:36:42]David didn't see God. Solomon didn't see God. Isaiah didn't see God. Jeremiah didn't see God.

[00:36:49]Daniel didn't see God. Yep.

[00:36:53]Estimates, >> best estimates.

[00:36:58]But there's one that's come down from the bosom of the Father, and he has declared him, and in him we have beheld his glory.

[00:37:06]>> Amen.

[00:37:07]>> Right.

[00:37:07]>> Get it? This is good news. Yes.

[00:37:10]>> So what John is trying to say, I'm not getting very far. Promise I will. What John is trying to say that there is something that defines reality, but sorry Heracitis, it's not your logos. It is word. It is the creation of the entire universe that literally created the universe from and of himself.

[00:37:31]Yep. So he doesn't just get to define it. He is it. So it can't contradict who he is.

[00:37:41]Right? It's either in Christ created from the fabric of divinity or wrong.

[00:37:49]Good.

[00:37:50]>> Okay. You want to venture through John a little bit with me? All right. 600 BC.

[00:37:54]Heracitis, the universe, something apart from all things that governed all things. Greek wouldn't have attributed this to an unknowable. Excuse me. The Greeks would have attributed this term to an unknowable impersonal impersonal fatelike pattern that no one can know or understand.

[00:38:13]So when John is like he's right there, Greeks would have been very upset.

[00:38:21]Here's a quote. Although this logos is eternally valid, men were unable to understand it. not only before hearing it but after they have heard it for the first time. That is to say, although all things come to pass in accordance with this logos, men seem to be quite without any experience of it. At least they are judged in light of such words and deeds as I am here setting forth. We should let ourselves be guided by what is common to all. Yet, although the logos is common to all, most men live as if each of them had a private intelligence of its own. This is Greek. This isn't Bible. So what I'm saying is they knew that something outside of time created everything inside of time, but it was unknowable, unconcerned, and impersonal.

[00:39:06]So John's saying, "Yeah, um I know it.

[00:39:12]I know it." So rather than stumbling into the universe's plan with you, you actually get to be in the one that created the universe. Much better news.

[00:39:22]You ready? Okay. John 1. Don't have to go here.

[00:39:27]John 1:14, "The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth." Ready?

[00:39:38]Okay. Only begotten of the father.

[00:39:44]Jesus is an only child.

[00:39:48]Adam's not God's kid.

[00:39:52]Adam's an illusion.

[00:39:58]only begotten. The the Greek word is mono janes, meaning only one being on the entire planet is God's biological child. He doesn't have a second son.

[00:40:09]You're not a second son.

[00:40:11]The Bible says you're counted as the seed.

[00:40:16]So, you're in the firstborn, right? Only begotten.

[00:40:24]this. Oh, wait. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. John bore witness of him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, "He who comes after me is preferred before me, and he was before me, and of the fullness we have all received, grace for grace."

[00:40:38]Ready? For the law was given through Moses.

[00:40:43]But grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

[00:40:47]No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father. He's declared him.

[00:40:56]Grace and truth came through Jesus.

[00:41:01]Which means truth didn't come through Moses.

[00:41:06]So stop mistaking the thing that was meant to disqualify you as true.

[00:41:12]Right? Not making it up. It's right here.

[00:41:16]John 1, introduction to understanding revelatory things. The law came through Moses. Jesus constantly confronted us.

[00:41:26]He says, "You read Moses thinking that you'll find life.

[00:41:29]There's one that condemns you, Moses."

[00:41:33]And then we're like reading the devotional of Ezekiel thinking we're going to snap out of it.

[00:41:42][laughter] Okay. The only record, account, or discourse that accurately represents the pattern for all things stepped into human flesh and declared that which governs and established the order and nature of all things. Not philosophy, not religion, the creator of the universe himself.

[00:42:01]Moses wrote the Genesis record, but no one has seen God at any time. That means Moses could not see what God caused.

[00:42:09]Excuse me. Moses could see what God caused, but didn't fully discern word himself.

[00:42:15]Good.

[00:42:18]Okay. You ready for this? John 5.

[00:42:39]I'm not super old school, but I love to hear your pages turning.

[00:42:53]John 5. Everybody there?

[00:42:57]Where do you want to start?

[00:42:59]30 31 [clears throat] 31 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

[00:43:14]Fair enough, right? Okay. This might be one of the most empowering statements that you will ever read because if your opinion is different than your father's, it's wrong.

[00:43:30]>> Yeah.

[00:43:31]>> Yep. Once you read that, you realize that he actually tried to say this quite a few times.

[00:43:36]Yep. He tried to say this quite a few times. If our heart condemns us, be of good cheer. He's greater than our heart.

[00:43:44]>> Yep. So even if you're self- condemned, doesn't make you wrong.

[00:43:50]>> Excuse me. It doesn't make you less. It does make you wrong.

[00:43:55]>> Yeah. If our heart condemns us, be of good cheer. He's greater than our heart.

[00:43:59]Yep. Good. So if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of me. I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true.

[00:44:15]You have sent to John and he has borne witness to the truth. Can we talk about John for a minute? Oh, can we talk about John for a minute? By the way, this is John writing, so he's clearly not talking about himself. John the Baptist.

[00:44:32]Imagine trusting. Listen, imagine Jesus trusting John the Baptist for his identity.

[00:44:40]John the Baptist was Jesus's forerunner, [clears throat and snorts] right?

[00:44:48]Jesus said on numerous occasions, "John bore witness of me, but he's not the witness." Do you know why? Because the second John got put in jail, he sent two of his disciples to Jesus and said, "Ask him if he's the Messiah for waiting on somebody better.

[00:45:04]Yeah. So, even if you have a current fan, putting your eggs in that basket, sometimes in Jesus's own narrative can lead to massive disappointment.

[00:45:25]When people approve of you, they're not actually approving of you.

[00:45:30]They're approving of the fact that you affirm their value.

[00:45:36]Yep. If people disapprove of you, they're not disapproving of you. They're disapproving of the fact that you're confronting their value.

[00:45:47]So both applause and criticism are unstable sources.

[00:45:52]>> Yeah. So John is literally the one that bore witness of the one that's greater.

[00:45:57]He said, 'I'm not even worthy to tie your shoes until he falls upon hard times. And all of a sudden, he's like, "Hey, go ask Jesus if he's really the Messiah for waiting on a better one."

[00:46:07]Yeah, that's that's not a real question.

[00:46:09]That's a rhetorical question that shows everybody how ticked off he is.

[00:46:13]>> Yeah.

[00:46:15]Good.

[00:46:18]Ready for this? You have you have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.

[00:46:25]But I don't receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for the time to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater witness than John's. For the works which the Father has given me to finish, the very works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father has sent me. and the Father himself who sent me, he testified of me. You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form, but you do not have his word abiding in you because whom he sent him you do not believe. You search the scriptures. Ready? For in them you think you'll have eternal life. And these are they which testify of me. But you're not willing to come to me that you might have life. I don't receive honor from men. Okay, pop quiz.

[00:47:19]What do you think the Greek word that we translated into honor here is? It's doca. [laughter] Wow. It's doca again. And how like biblical translators to confuse us. It's like glory, glory, glory, glory, honor.

[00:47:33][laughter] Yeah. But you got to make it fit your narrative, >> right? So what's he saying?

[00:47:42]It doesn't even matter to me what John said. I don't receive doca from men.

[00:47:51]Right? And listen, we we can isolate this to make it kind of self-s serving, but it's not that he's saying eternally forever apart from time and space. Not one thing that I have experienced through senses and time am I going to allow to doxa me.

[00:48:17]You search the scriptures. You think you have life in them because they are excuse me uh and these are they which testify of me, but you're not willing to come to me that you might have life. I don't receive honor from men, but I know you that you do not have the love of God in you. Ready? I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me.

[00:48:35]If another comes in his own name, you'll receive him.

[00:48:40]How can you believe who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor which comes from the only God.

[00:48:53]Do not, man, listen. Do not think that I shall accuse you to the father. There's one that accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust. Yeah. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you did not believe his writings, how you believe my words. So, do you understand what's what's going down here? Same thing that's going down through the whole biblical narrative.

[00:49:14]Yep. The incarnate word is coming to redefine reality for you. Yep. You can't change the story. You can't modify the behaviors. You have to adopt a new existence that comes from a brand new resource from which no human has ever seen. Yeah. Good news. So what's he saying?

[00:49:31]He says that you receive honor from one another and that's your problem.

[00:49:39]Yep. That's your problem. If you receive honor from one another, but you won't receive the honor that comes from the only God, how will you ever know who I am?

[00:49:49]>> Right.

[00:49:50]Yeah. Listen, this happens all through.

[00:49:52]Do you know what just happened before this passage? Jesus is in his hometown teaching the word. Guess where it can't happen? Because he's in his hometown.

[00:50:01]>> Yeah. No miracles, right? No mighty miracles among them because they became too familiar. Do you know what familiar means?

[00:50:09]Yeah. They they didn't say bad things about him. They said, "I know his mom and dad."

[00:50:15]That's what cost them the divine impartation available from the creator of the universe is because they saw him according to human opinion. Different docta.

[00:50:24]That's it. Good. You sure? This should have been a couple sermons.

[00:50:32][sighs] Go to John 8. Skip that one. We'll do that next week. Go to John 12.

[00:50:42]>> [snorts] >> Start in verse 37.

[00:50:52]Everybody there?

[00:50:55][sighs] But although he had done so many signs before him, they did not believe that the word of Isaiah, which the prophet, excuse me, the word Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report.

[00:51:12]To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed.

[00:51:16]Therefore, they could not believe because Isaiah said again, "He has blinded their eyes, hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes lest they should understand with their hearts in turn." so that I should heal them. These things Isaiah said when he saw his glory and spoke of him.

[00:51:33]Ready?

[00:51:35]Nevertheless, even among the rulers, many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Question for you, pop quiz.

[00:51:54]What Greek word do you think they translated [laughter] into the word praise?

[00:52:02]>> Doca.

[00:52:04]You got it.

[00:52:06]Yeah. So why were Pharisees not okay with people that believed in the one and only begotten son of the father?

[00:52:14]Ha. They loved the doca of men more than the doca of God.

[00:52:24]Then Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And he who sees me sees him who sent me.

[00:52:36]>> I have I have come as a light into the world. And whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not believe, I do not judge him.

[00:52:56]We have to cancel like 400 years of ministry.

[00:53:01]Ready? For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. He who rejects me and does not receive my words has that which judges him. The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.

[00:53:17]Now, sound like a threat. It's not a threat.

[00:53:21]It's a promise. It's a good one.

[00:53:28]That means my estimate will have the final say.

[00:53:35]>> Yep. It's what it says. Yeah. When you read stuff like this and there's just seeming contradiction all through it, like I didn't come to judge, but I'm going to judge.

[00:53:44]No, he has that which judges him. Do you know what judges him? The other glory.

[00:53:51]the other glory. If you don't believe me, then you have the thing that's going to judge you. He doesn't have to do a thing. He proved that at in John 8, the thing we skipped when he catches the woman in adultery, right? There's men standing there. He's like, if you're without sin, cast the first stone and they walk out. Why? It says because they were convicted by their conscience.

[00:54:14]They walked away from the creator of the universe because they judge themselves.

[00:54:16]If you don't believe the word of God, you have the thing that's going to judge you already. It's your own opinion of yourself.

[00:54:25]>> Ready?

[00:54:28]>> I have come as a light into the world.

[00:54:29]Whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness. If anyone hears my words and doesn't believe him, I don't judge him. I didn't come to judge the world. I came to save the world. He who rejects me does not and and does not receive my words has that which judges him. Right?

[00:54:43]The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. Right? Don't worry, we'll get there. Is what he's saying.

[00:54:49]For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me gave me a command that what I should say and what I should speak, and I know that his command is everlasting life.

[00:55:00]Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told me, so I speak.

[00:55:06]Good. I feel like we need to go back just just for a second.

[00:55:11]Okay. Jesus cried out. Okay. Could you imagine? Do you know why Jesus cries out?

[00:55:16]usually because of the thing that it talks about right before him. Right? So nevertheless, even among the rulers, many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. Imagine this. These are religious men that believe in Jesus that don't want to say they believe in Jesus because they've spent their entire life earning, striving, trying, and deserving. And they've gotten to a place where what they've done has gained them some credibility. And they're about to have their medals that they've earned stripped to be given one that somebody else earned for them. Makes you look kind of silly.

[00:55:50]Yep. They wouldn't confess them. So Jesus yells. He's like, "Listen, you love the doca of men more than the doca that comes from the only God.

[00:56:06]You would rather earn your way to righteousness than receive righteousness as a free gift.

[00:56:15]You'd rather earn your way to righteousness, then receive righteousness as a free gift. Why do you think Nicodemus came to Jesus under the guise of nighttime?

[00:56:26]>> Yeah. So he wouldn't be judged because everything that he had earned didn't compare with the free gift that he saw in Jesus and his disciples life. He's like, "What do I have to do to get what you're packing?"

[00:56:37]Yep. And what did Jesus say?

[00:56:41]New dad, man.

[00:56:43]You need a new dad. Yep. New DACA, new opinion, new lineage, new history, an existence outside of time that redefineses reality for you.

[00:56:54]Partnership with the one who has authority to redefine reality.

[00:57:00]A doca that doesn't breed death and condemnation.

[00:57:06]Good.

[00:57:08]There's going to be a doca week three.

[00:57:12]>> It's going to be a doc week three.

[00:57:13]Listen, would you guys stand with me just for a moment?

[00:57:16]>> How was this?

[00:57:18]>> Yeah.

[00:57:19]>> I want it to be practical. That's why you're standing.

[00:57:25]Uh, one of the the really really important things that the church maybe the word I don't want to blame anything the church has has done is we sometimes don't like to confess what we what we actually believe. When we were buying the building, Chris Blackabe, he uh he said, "You have to say something out loud." I said, "What is it?" He said, "You have to say, 'I hate faith."

[00:57:51]Why would I say that? He said, ' Because it's true.

[00:57:53]and if you say it, then you can deal with it." And I'm like, "Why do you think I hate faith?" He's like, "Because you'd rather have a bank account with a million dollars in it than believe that God will give you everything that you want." I'm like, "Dang, you right, man."

[00:58:04]Yeah.

[00:58:06]Yeah. Yep. He got me. Yeah. He's like, "Okay, so say it." I was like, "I hate faith. God, I hate faith." [laughter] Yep. He's like, "Okay, now you can deal with it." Right? So the word of faith movement taught you to deny the thing that you actually believe and then just become this confessing idiot, right? Confession was never the end.

[00:58:30]Confession was the beginning and confession was supposed to lead to manifestation. And it can't unless you tell yourself, listen, I value the praise of men more than the praise OF GOD.

[00:58:42]IT'S just true. I hate it, but it's true. Yes, criticism destroys me. Yes, praise makes me go further and longer and harder. I love the doca of men.

[00:59:00]>> And if I would just receive the doca that comes from the only God, then I could be free to serve humanity whether they applaud or criticize.

[00:59:11]Yep. I could be free to step into the identity that he has for me apart from the creation of the world without being infiltrated by Moses, the one that tries to define me based on what I've done, where I've been, who I did it with, who I did it to.

[00:59:25]Yeah. I have the opportunity now to come out of this is what I love. One glory, one doza that encompasses everything that ever defined me according to time and space. and then be transformed into the very image by beholding the face of the Lord in a mirror. As it's important as in a mirror. When you look at that mirror, you do not see your reflection.

[00:59:49]You see him.

[00:59:52]>> He's your reflection.

[00:59:54]And then you get transformed into the very image from DA to DAX. Right? So right now deal with yourself.

[01:00:07]I'll pray, but while I pray, deal with yourself. You want one of the things like the sacred biology led me to, I was a confessing idiot, right? I'm healthy in Jesus name. I'm whole in Jesus name.

[01:00:19]I have the 120 over 80 blood pressure in Jesus name. I didn't. It was 186 over 135. Right? And the confession's good, but if I'm not like, listen, I feel 85 when I wake up [laughter] and that's not okay. Right? It's okay to say that. It's not okay. And then you sit there, you're like, "This hurts. I have pain in my right knee, left hip, low back, right side of my traps." And that is not okay. Me saying that doesn't make it real. Me saying that gives truth somewhere to land because truth is more important than facts, >> so good, >> right?

[01:00:57]>> Yes.

[01:00:57]>> So you can say it. You can say, "I love the praise of men."

[01:01:01]>> Even if you don't love the praise of men, you put way more value in it.

[01:01:07]>> [snorts] >> You put way more value in it than you do the doca of the only God.

[01:01:14]>> I'm going to pray while I pray. You deal with yourself. Father, thank you so much for these beautiful, beautiful humans.

[01:01:19]Thank you for the revelation of the doca of God. Thank you that there's an opinion of us that is from apart from the foundation of the world. that we exist in you apart from time and space that senses and experience and encounters and earnings striving trying and deserving none of those things determine who we are.

[01:01:38]You said even if our heart condemns us be of good cheer. You're better than that.

[01:01:44]The condemnation that we've heaped upon ourselves does not make your truth less real. So right now, Father, we deal with ourselves and we're asking that you show us, show us the invisible ceilings where we've allowed the opinions of Adam to creep in and limit us. We confess right now that we are not not enough and we are not too much. We're everything you are and nothing that you're not.

[01:02:16]>> You alone have the authority to redefine reality, Father. And we partner with your doca. Our conscience has been cleansed by the appearing of a better word.

[01:02:31]And right now, Father, put your hands up. This is this is what you'll receive right now. Father, we receive being known as we're known.

[01:02:45]Not known as we think. Right now we say every man be a liar.

[01:02:52]Let God be true and every man be a liar.

[01:02:57]And father right now we receive an impartation. We see it as a matter of fact experientially right now to be known as we are known in Jesus name.

[01:03:06]Everybody said >> amen. Amen. [applause] Happy Sunday. Listen real quick before you go. This is the Davyy family. They are beloved friends of Legacy. They come in from was it like three and a half, four hours away? 3 hours. This is the Craft Chick Howser Craft Check Dynamic Duo. Um, you guys are local now, so the Peacemakers are just here forever. We had more travel in Sam. Sam and Milin and Karen came from Michigan. They came from the northwest corner of Ohio. Um, just make sure you hug those guys. Who else is in? Is that your whole crew?

[01:03:59]Anyone else in from out of town?

[01:04:05]Family, right?

[01:04:07]So good. I love you all very much. Hug these guys. I intend to. All right. Love you all.

[01:04:44]>> [music] [music]