Dr. Tony Evans

Tony Evans - The Family of Fellowship

March 8, 2026 | 27:29

Dr. Tony Evans is known as a relevant expositor and is a pastor of pastors and a father in the faith.

#WordofGod #Family #Fellowship #Transformation #Change #LoveofGod #Intimacy #Convert/Conversion #Children #TonyEvans

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Dr. Tony Evans | Tony Evans - The Family of Fellowship | March 8, 2026

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Tony evans: abiding means you and god are hanging out
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As a way of life.
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He is part of the whole of your life,
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Not just somebody you visit on sunday for an hour
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And 40 or 45 minutes.
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Many of god's children visit him and don't hang out with him
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And, therefore, are not transformed by him.
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There must be this abiding relationship.
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♪♪♪
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Tony: god is in the transformational business.
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His goal is to change us.
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His goal is to take us from where we are
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To where he wants us to be and to conform us to his image.
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2 corinthians chapter 3, verses 17 and 18 says
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That's god's goal for every believer.
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He says but we all.
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He says we're all being transformed
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From one level of glory to another.
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God is in the changing business.
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So no matter where you are or who you are today,
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God's got a love jones on you.
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He wants to see love change us.
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The book of john is the book of intimacy.
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John wrote st. john--he wrote 1 john, 2 john, 3 john--
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And he even wrote the book of revelation
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Under the auspices of the holy spirit.
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In st. john he was primarily concerned with entering into
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A relationship with god
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By accepting christ and getting converted.
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In 1 john, the book we are walking through,
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He is speaking to christians,
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People who are already converted,
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And he's speaking about the transformational nature
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Of intimacy with the god who we're now related to
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Once you become a christian.
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We're now in chapter 3 as we walk verse by verse
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Through this book.
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He said, "see"--some versions say, "behold, look at it"--
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"how great a love the father has bestowed on us
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That we should be called children of god."
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Now, i don't know if you know who you are,
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But once you are converted, you became a child of god.
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Simply being human makes you a creation of god,
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But when you are converted, you become a son or daughter
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Of god.
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He says the father has now taken us into his family
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And he changed our name
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To now be in a familiar, familial relationship
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With the living god.
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And the purpose of this, as you will see in a moment,
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Is to bring transformation,
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But you first gotta know who you are.
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Because if you don't know
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That you're a child of the father,
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You may not have a concern about acting like your daddy.
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He said in verse 1 we would be called the children of god.
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He says in verse 2, "beloved fellow christians,
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Now we are children of god."
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He says in verse 7, "little children."
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He says in verse 10, "by this the children of god."
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So he wants you to know that you now belong
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To another order and another family.
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So he doesn't want you to bring the rules of the old family
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Into this new household, because you got a new daddy now.
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He says you shall be called the children of god.
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He says, beloved, verse 2,
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"now," not when you go to heaven,
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"now, we are children of god.
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It has not yet appeared what we will be.
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We know that when he appears we will be like him
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Because we will see him as he is.
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And everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself
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Just as he is pure."
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So he says one day you're gonna see jesus
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Just like he is.
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So one day you and i are gonna be transformed bodily
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Into the image of jesus christ when he comes back.
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"when you see me, you will be like me."
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But on the way there right now i want to do some transformation
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On the inside so the inside that's being made brand-new
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Will be ready for the outside when the outside shows up.
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I don't want the inside and the outside to look like
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They're strangers to one another.
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So we're gonna work on purifying
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As now while we're waiting for the lord to come.
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But first of all, you have to understand
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You're a child of your heavenly father,
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So your heavenly father wants you to bear the dna of daddy.
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He wants you to be conformed to his image
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And you are purified as you are pure.
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When satan can cause us to forget who we are,
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He can keep us from living up to
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The guidelines of our heavenly father.
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So he first of all wants you to know who your daddy is
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And what the expectations of your father are.
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Because expectations informs behavior.
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If you want to be a doctor, you can't say,
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"i'm not going to college."
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Because what you expect and what you plan to do
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Don't match.
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If you say, i want to make it to the nfl or the nba
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But i'm not going to do no practicing
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And i'm not gonna ever pick up a ball,
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What you expect does not fit what you say you want to be.
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In other words, expectations will control movements.
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So if you don't ever expect to be like your heavenly father,
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Don't worry, you won't be, because your expectation
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And your behavior don't match.
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So he wants you to get an expectation
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As a child of your father to be like your father
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So that you'll be--begin-- the process
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Of matching expectations to behavior
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To wind up with results.
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Biblical expectations, the biblical word for that,
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Is hope.
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Hope is unrealized expectations.
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I expect it, i'm looking for it, but i haven't realized it yet.
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That's the biblical definition of hope:
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An unrealized expectation.
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God says we ought to be people of hope--
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That is, of expectancy--
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But that expectancy is to inform behavior
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So that we arrive at the goal that we expect
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Because we expect to be like the daddy,
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Who's adopted us into his family.
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So he says, see, behold, look at it, pay attention.
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You're not just any old body,
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You're not just another human being,
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You're not just any old man or any old woman.
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No, you are a child, a son or daughter, of daddy,
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Of the heavenly father.
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And he wants to make himself real, alive, and visible.
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He wants you to see him at work.
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See you've been made a child of the father.
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He wants you to see the fact that god is your father,
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Not just know it intellectually.
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What he wants you to do is he wants you to see
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What the father can produce internally,
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Spiritually, while we're waiting for him to come
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To change us physically.
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So he says even now you are the children of god.
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So this is not something you're waiting on.
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This is something he wants you to experience
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In an intimate relationship with him in the here and now,
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Not just in the life to come.
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To do that, he's got to bring some changes in our lives.
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He says in verse 4: "everyone who practices sin
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Practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness."
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A law is a standard, it's a rule.
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When you break god's rule, that's called sin.
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And all of us, to varying degrees,
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Break god's rule.
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God says, "thou shalt not," and we say we shall, okay?
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So we do what is against the rule of god.
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What god wants to do is break sin
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So that we're not against his rules,
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Against his laws.
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Now, that centers on one word.
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It is a word we've been looking at
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Throughout the book of john.
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He talks about it in st. john.
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We brought it up as we've been going through 1 john,
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And you will see the word repeated over and over
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And over again in this section.
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Let's look at the word.
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Verse 6: "no one who abides in him."
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Verse 9: "his seed abides in him."
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Verse 14: "he does not love abides in death."
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Verse 15: "abiding in him."
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Verse 17: "the love of god abides in him."
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So that's our word.
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Abide, abide, abide, abide, abide, abide, abide, abide,
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Abide, okay?
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The greek word "abide" means to stay, hang out, or loiter.
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It's where you roam.
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It's where--it's a hangout kind of situation, okay?
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It's where you stay. it's a place of abode.
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It's where you abide, where you stay, okay?
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You're being here this morning, you are visiting god.
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This is a visit.
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This is a 1 hour and 40 minute visit that you, i, we, and us,
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We are hanging out with god for an hour and 40 minutes.
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That's a visit.
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You're not gonna be transformed by a visit.
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You can be informed by a visit,
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But you can't be transformed by a visit.
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To be transformed, you must move from a visit to an abiding.
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Abiding means you and god are hanging out
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As a way of life.
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He's hanging out when you hit the parking lot in the car.
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He's hanging out with you when you go home.
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He's hanging out with you on the job.
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He's hanging out with your interaction with friends.
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In other words, he is part of the whole of your life,
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Not just somebody you visit on sunday
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For an hour and 40 or 45 minutes, you know?
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So, many of god's children visit him
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And don't hang out with him
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And, therefore, are not transformed by him.
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He says you must abide in order for the lawlessness
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To no longer hold you hostage.
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There must be this abiding relationship.
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I've said it before: many of us lie when folk come to our house.
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We lie, number one, by the welcome sign we have
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Outside the front door.
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Because, in fact, they may not be welcome, okay?
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Or they may not be welcome right now, okay?
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But we got this lie out there, "welcome."
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Then they come into the house and we lie again.
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We say, "make yourself at home." we don't mean all that.
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We mean, "make yourself at the room i take you to.
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I'm gonna take you to the den or the kitchen and the bathroom,
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But you can't be going all up to them
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And you sleeping in my bed
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And you going all up in my closet
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And you roaming my attic and all that.
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You can't do all that.
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I didn't mean make yourself at home.
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I meant make yourself at room.
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I'm gonna take you and you stay right here, okay?"
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That's what we mean. but that's not what god means.
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When he says abide, he wants to go to the whole house.
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He wants to be involved in all of life.
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All of life is to be connected with him,
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And that is the statement of abide.
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He says, "if you will hang out with me, not just visit me,
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But if you will hang out with me,
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You will see something happen."
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Here's a confusing verse for you.
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Look at verse number 9: "no one who is born of god
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Practices sin, because his seed abides in him;
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And he cannot sin, because he is born of god."
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I'm gonna read that again.
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"no one who is born of god practices sin,
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Because his seed abides in him;
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And he cannot sin, because he's born of god."
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Now, that ought to mess with you a little bit.
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Because he just said, "you're born of god, you have the seed,
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And you cannot sin."
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But that's not true to our experience.
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We all sin in word and deed and thought, you know?
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But he says you can't, but we do.
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So if we can't but we do, why do we do it when we can't?
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Why, why, why-- how does that work?
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It's all centered in the word "seed."
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The word "seed" refers to your divine nature.
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Talked about this last week.
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When you come to christ, you are converted in seed form.
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Watch this now.
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You are converted in seed form, not fully-grown form.
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The seed of the new nature,
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The god spirit that is placed inside you,
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That seed has not opened up yet.
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It's in seed form.
00:13:51.446 --> 00:13:53.248
So, therefore, it hasn't expressed itself yet,
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Because it's still a seed.
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When you see a watermelon seed, you don't see a watermelon;
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You see the potential for a watermelon, okay?
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When you see an apple seed, you don't see an apple;
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You see the potential for an apple.
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When you see the flower seed, you don't see the flower;
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You see the potential of the flower.
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When you see a vegetable seed, you don't see the vegetable.
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You see what the vegetable is designed to come from
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When the seed is fully expressing itself.
00:14:23.244 --> 00:14:26.648
So the whole idea is that you have something,
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I have something, we have something
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Perfect inside of us.
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It is the new nature but it's in seed form.
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The new nature cannot sin, because the new nature
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Is the nature of god and god is perfect.
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So you've got this perfect thing,
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I've got this perfect thing
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Situated inside of me that cannot sin,
00:14:46.567 --> 00:14:50.471
But the problem is it's still a seed.
00:14:50.471 --> 00:14:53.341
So in order for me to see the perfection
00:14:53.341 --> 00:14:57.612
That is inside of me, the seed must be able to grow.
00:14:57.612 --> 00:15:02.283
The acorn must be able to become an oak.
00:15:02.283 --> 00:15:05.787
The watermelon seed must be able to be--
00:15:05.787 --> 00:15:08.923
Express itself, break open, and become a watermelon.
00:15:08.923 --> 00:15:12.660
So you have the perfection of god,
00:15:12.660 --> 00:15:15.129
We have the perfection of god,
00:15:15.129 --> 00:15:17.165
Sitting inside of us, but it's in seed form.
00:15:17.165 --> 00:15:21.135
Now, if you have a seed that's not exposed to sunlight
00:15:21.135 --> 00:15:25.306
And to rain, it's never going to express itself,
00:15:25.306 --> 00:15:28.776
Because it's not in the environment
00:15:28.776 --> 00:15:30.712
Conducive to its development.
00:15:30.712 --> 00:15:33.381
So the reason why we can live defeated
00:15:33.381 --> 00:15:36.617
Is because the environment designed to break the seed open
00:15:36.617 --> 00:15:41.055
And let the seed express itself
00:15:41.055 --> 00:15:43.257
Is not being allowed to do what it does.
00:15:43.257 --> 00:15:45.827
So the seed stays a seed
00:15:45.827 --> 00:15:48.763
And we don't find the transformation and victory.
00:15:48.763 --> 00:15:52.734
The bigger the seed grows, the more the soul conforms.
00:15:52.734 --> 00:15:59.240
The less the seed grows, the more the soul dominates.
00:15:59.240 --> 00:16:03.845
So when the soul dominates,
00:16:03.845 --> 00:16:05.780
Because the seed isn't developing,
00:16:05.780 --> 00:16:07.915
Then the sinlessness of god is not free to express itself,
00:16:07.915 --> 00:16:12.086
So the soullessness of sin dominates and expresses itself
00:16:12.086 --> 00:16:16.991
Even though you possess the seed.
00:16:16.991 --> 00:16:18.960
So having the seed doesn't mean the seed is expressed,
00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:22.630
It just means you possess it.
00:16:22.630 --> 00:16:24.432
Having christ doesn't mean christ is expressed,
00:16:24.432 --> 00:16:27.635
It just means you have him.
00:16:27.635 --> 00:16:29.337
But unless the environment is such that the seed can grow
00:16:29.337 --> 00:16:33.541
So that the perfection of god expands in the soul
00:16:33.541 --> 00:16:37.512
And the soul is now being overrun
00:16:37.512 --> 00:16:40.415
With the perfection of god,
00:16:40.415 --> 00:16:42.050
Then you do not have the victory that you were meant to have,
00:16:42.050 --> 00:16:46.154
Because the seed was never allowed to be
00:16:46.154 --> 00:16:48.356
What the seed was designed to do.
00:16:48.356 --> 00:16:51.626
But he says, "if you will abide with me, hang out with me,
00:16:51.626 --> 00:16:57.231
Make me a part of your world, not just visit me,
00:16:57.231 --> 00:17:01.569
Then you will see the seed expanding."
00:17:01.569 --> 00:17:04.272
Okay, let's talk about some dishes.
00:17:04.272 --> 00:17:07.675
You have food on the dishes, and you've not washed the dishes
00:17:07.675 --> 00:17:11.479
For a while, and so the dishes have become crusty and hard
00:17:11.479 --> 00:17:16.284
With the stain of the food on it.
00:17:16.284 --> 00:17:18.286
So now you can try to scrub it and get it off,
00:17:18.286 --> 00:17:21.923
Or as most i'm sure of you do,
00:17:21.923 --> 00:17:25.093
You can run some hot water in the sink,
00:17:25.093 --> 00:17:27.895
Put some suds in the hot water,
00:17:27.895 --> 00:17:29.330
And just let it abide in the hot water,
00:17:29.330 --> 00:17:31.666
Just let it soak in the hot water,
00:17:31.666 --> 00:17:34.535
Just let it sit in the hot water.
00:17:34.535 --> 00:17:36.804
And when you've let it sit and soak and abide
00:17:36.804 --> 00:17:40.174
In the hot water for a period of time,
00:17:40.174 --> 00:17:42.410
That which you had to try to scrub,
00:17:42.410 --> 00:17:44.645
You can now slide off.
00:17:44.645 --> 00:17:46.747
You can slide it off.
00:17:46.747 --> 00:17:48.483
And the way you can slide it off
00:17:48.483 --> 00:17:50.418
Is because of where you let it hang out.
00:17:50.418 --> 00:17:52.753
You let it abide in the right environment
00:17:52.753 --> 00:17:56.124
And what you had to do was no longer scrub.
00:17:56.124 --> 00:17:59.327
You could just slide it.
00:17:59.327 --> 00:18:00.895
Many of us are trying to scrub ourselves clean,
00:18:00.895 --> 00:18:03.764
And scrub overcometh that addiction,
00:18:03.764 --> 00:18:05.867
And we scrub and scrub until, if it's not coming off,
00:18:05.867 --> 00:18:09.470
We decide, "this too hard, i'm not scrubbing anymore."
00:18:09.470 --> 00:18:12.373
What god is saying is "stop scrubbing
00:18:12.373 --> 00:18:14.842
And start abiding, and then you'll find out
00:18:14.842 --> 00:18:17.478
I can slide some of that stuff away,
00:18:17.478 --> 00:18:20.581
Slide that attitude away, slide that addiction away,
00:18:20.581 --> 00:18:24.785
Because you've been abiding
00:18:24.785 --> 00:18:26.387
And you've been hanging out with me."
00:18:26.387 --> 00:18:28.923
He says, "i want you to abide.
00:18:28.923 --> 00:18:30.825
And if you abide, if you will include me in all of your life,
00:18:30.825 --> 00:18:35.530
All of your world, you will begin to see me work
00:18:35.530 --> 00:18:38.966
And bring transformation," why?
00:18:38.966 --> 00:18:40.968
Because daddy loves you.
00:18:40.968 --> 00:18:43.070
He says, "what manner of love the father has shown.
00:18:43.070 --> 00:18:47.441
What manner of love is this?"
00:18:47.441 --> 00:18:50.044
He goes on and he says we are the children of god.
00:18:50.044 --> 00:18:54.015
Verse 11: "for this is the message which you have heard
00:18:54.015 --> 00:18:56.918
From the beginning: that we should love one another,
00:18:56.918 --> 00:18:59.220
Not as cain who was of the evil one
00:18:59.220 --> 00:19:01.989
And slew his brother.
00:19:01.989 --> 00:19:03.324
But for what reason did he slay him?
00:19:03.324 --> 00:19:05.560
Because his deeds were evil
00:19:05.560 --> 00:19:06.994
And his brother's were righteous."
00:19:06.994 --> 00:19:10.164
He says there's a second thing you must do.
00:19:10.164 --> 00:19:12.867
To get the transformation you must abide with me,
00:19:12.867 --> 00:19:17.371
But you must love your siblings.
00:19:17.371 --> 00:19:19.974
Ah.
00:19:19.974 --> 00:19:21.742
The vertical without the horizontal
00:19:21.742 --> 00:19:25.246
Will stop transformation.
00:19:25.246 --> 00:19:28.115
The vertical-- just being with god,
00:19:28.115 --> 00:19:30.084
Loving god, reading the bible, praying, including god in--
00:19:30.084 --> 00:19:33.120
That's half of it.
00:19:33.120 --> 00:19:34.689
But he says there is another piece of this, why?
00:19:34.689 --> 00:19:38.693
Because you're not an only child.
00:19:38.693 --> 00:19:41.395
There are siblings and how you relate to the body of christ
00:19:41.395 --> 00:19:47.401
Will affect how your daddy relates to you.
00:19:47.401 --> 00:19:49.804
So when there is not the horizontal,
00:19:49.804 --> 00:19:52.340
We break fellowship with the father,
00:19:52.340 --> 00:19:57.511
We break fellowship with the father.
00:19:57.511 --> 00:19:58.846
That's what he says.
00:19:58.846 --> 00:20:00.581
And he's talking about people who are related to one another.
00:20:00.581 --> 00:20:03.718
Cain and abel were family! cain and abel were brothers!
00:20:03.718 --> 00:20:08.823
You are with brothers and sisters in the house of god,
00:20:08.823 --> 00:20:12.927
And he wants the love he wants to show to you
00:20:12.927 --> 00:20:15.796
To flow through you,
00:20:15.796 --> 00:20:17.198
And that's why he always wants christians to be connected
00:20:17.198 --> 00:20:20.868
To a body of other believers, other siblings,
00:20:20.868 --> 00:20:24.071
So that you have the opportunity to express
00:20:24.071 --> 00:20:26.807
The love that you are wanting from heaven.
00:20:26.807 --> 00:20:29.310
God wants to see you show it on earth.
00:20:29.310 --> 00:20:32.280
There must be the horizontal and the vertical.
00:20:32.280 --> 00:20:35.950
Without that, you break fellowship with the father.
00:20:35.950 --> 00:20:39.287
And the transformation work of god no longer continues,
00:20:39.287 --> 00:20:43.157
Because you're not flowing,
00:20:43.157 --> 00:20:45.359
You're not functioning as he functions.
00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:48.696
God wants to soften us.
00:20:48.696 --> 00:20:51.032
He wants to soften the things that seem too hard to break,
00:20:51.032 --> 00:20:54.769
The problems that are too hard to get over,
00:20:54.769 --> 00:20:57.471
The challenges too difficult to deal with.
00:20:57.471 --> 00:21:00.141
He said, "if you will abide, i can soften that stuff.
00:21:00.141 --> 00:21:04.812
I can make that stuff more movable,
00:21:04.812 --> 00:21:07.114
More pliable with you if you abide."
00:21:07.114 --> 00:21:09.417
But that abiding must be in relationship.
00:21:09.417 --> 00:21:12.320
If you are a lone ranger christian,
00:21:12.320 --> 00:21:14.789
You're stifling god changing you.
00:21:14.789 --> 00:21:18.092
If you just come to sit, soak, and sour.
00:21:18.092 --> 00:21:21.362
If you just come to sit in church every week,
00:21:21.362 --> 00:21:23.597
You're not gonna experience a whole bunch of transformation.
00:21:23.597 --> 00:21:26.067
You're gonna experience, you know, every now and then,
00:21:26.067 --> 00:21:28.169
You'll get a little something, but you won't get the change,
00:21:28.169 --> 00:21:30.438
Because you're not abiding.
00:21:30.438 --> 00:21:31.772
If you just want everybody to serve you
00:21:31.772 --> 00:21:33.841
But you serve nobody, you don't love anybody,
00:21:33.841 --> 00:21:36.310
You don't reach out to anybody, you're just here for you,
00:21:36.310 --> 00:21:39.080
You think you're an only child and you're not.
00:21:39.080 --> 00:21:43.117
He wants the love that belongs to him.
00:21:43.117 --> 00:21:45.152
God is a giver.
00:21:45.152 --> 00:21:46.487
"for god so loved the world that he gave."
00:21:46.487 --> 00:21:48.422
He's always giving something.
00:21:48.422 --> 00:21:49.757
He's always giving something, and that's why we said earlier
00:21:49.757 --> 00:21:53.627
You must be a "pass through" not just a "pass to."
00:21:53.627 --> 00:21:56.797
Guests can't come to you.
00:21:56.797 --> 00:21:58.499
It's got to come to you-- that's fine--
00:21:58.499 --> 00:22:00.134
But also through you.
00:22:00.134 --> 00:22:01.502
And as long as we're being a blessing,
00:22:01.502 --> 00:22:03.170
You'll never have to worry about being blessed,
00:22:03.170 --> 00:22:04.905
Because now you're being like your father,
00:22:04.905 --> 00:22:07.775
And we are children of the father.
00:22:07.775 --> 00:22:10.511
And so he's calling us to be like him
00:22:10.511 --> 00:22:12.747
And to have his character in-- working in our lives.
00:22:12.747 --> 00:22:17.818
The battle is between the flesh and the new seed
00:22:17.818 --> 00:22:21.322
That god has dropped in you and dropped in every believer.
00:22:21.322 --> 00:22:24.592
Paul struggled with this.
00:22:24.592 --> 00:22:25.926
Romans chapter 7, verses 14 to 25.
00:22:25.926 --> 00:22:28.496
Paul talked about his struggle and he says:
00:22:28.496 --> 00:22:31.966
"the things i don't want to do, i do.
00:22:31.966 --> 00:22:34.034
And the things i do is stuff i don't want to do."
00:22:34.034 --> 00:22:35.836
Anybody ever been there?
00:22:35.836 --> 00:22:37.238
Doing stuff you don't want to do
00:22:37.238 --> 00:22:38.739
And not doing stuff you know you ought to do?
00:22:38.739 --> 00:22:40.708
And he says, "every time i want to do good, evil shows up."
00:22:40.708 --> 00:22:46.547
He says, "every time."
00:22:46.547 --> 00:22:47.882
That's because we have souls that have been infected by sin.
00:22:47.882 --> 00:22:53.020
And so it's there, and let me tell you something else
00:22:53.020 --> 00:22:56.524
About it.
00:22:56.524 --> 00:22:58.592
Like, we have fat and muscle,
00:22:58.592 --> 00:23:00.828
We have fat and muscle as part of our physical frame.
00:23:00.828 --> 00:23:03.831
In case you didn't know it,
00:23:03.831 --> 00:23:05.466
You can't change fat into muscle.
00:23:05.466 --> 00:23:08.269
I don't know if you knew that or not.
00:23:08.269 --> 00:23:09.603
You can't change fat into muscle.
00:23:09.603 --> 00:23:12.473
Fat will never become muscle. they are two distinct realities.
00:23:12.473 --> 00:23:18.078
Now, you can lose fat and build muscle,
00:23:18.078 --> 00:23:22.349
But you can't change fat into muscle.
00:23:22.349 --> 00:23:26.353
You can't change flesh into spirit.
00:23:26.353 --> 00:23:29.190
You can't change your soul
00:23:29.190 --> 00:23:31.358
Into something that your soul can never be.
00:23:31.358 --> 00:23:33.894
But what you can do is grow muscle
00:23:33.894 --> 00:23:37.198
So that it overrides fat,
00:23:37.198 --> 00:23:39.467
And you can grow spirit so that it overrides soul.
00:23:39.467 --> 00:23:43.370
And as you grow spirit through abiding
00:23:43.370 --> 00:23:46.540
And through loving,
00:23:46.540 --> 00:23:47.875
The soul is now being infiltrated by the seed
00:23:47.875 --> 00:23:53.347
That is broken open,
00:23:53.347 --> 00:23:54.982
And the acorn is becoming an oak inside your soul,
00:23:54.982 --> 00:23:59.587
Taking over.
00:23:59.587 --> 00:24:02.156
And so that is the transformation process
00:24:02.156 --> 00:24:05.159
Of intimacy-- but not only intimacy with god,
00:24:05.159 --> 00:24:08.262
But intimacy appropriately with his people.
00:24:08.262 --> 00:24:11.365
He's going to go into a whole section of love
00:24:11.365 --> 00:24:13.801
In 2 weeks when he talks about the character of god's love.
00:24:13.801 --> 00:24:18.072
But he goes into this-- in conclusion he says,
00:24:18.072 --> 00:24:21.475
"don't be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you."
00:24:21.475 --> 00:24:26.580
The more you look like your heavenly father
00:24:26.580 --> 00:24:28.782
The more rejection you'll get from the earth, okay?
00:24:28.782 --> 00:24:33.454
He says they hated him when his values
00:24:33.454 --> 00:24:36.323
Were being expressed, and they not gonna like you
00:24:36.323 --> 00:24:39.793
When you look too much like daddy, okay?
00:24:39.793 --> 00:24:42.630
When you're looking like god-- across racial lines,
00:24:42.630 --> 00:24:46.600
Across gender lines, across class lines--
00:24:46.600 --> 00:24:48.903
When you're looking like your father,
00:24:48.903 --> 00:24:51.505
They're not gonna like you, and if you don't look like him,
00:24:51.505 --> 00:24:54.375
He says in verse 14, "you will abide in death."
00:24:54.375 --> 00:24:58.345
And he's talking to christians.
00:24:58.345 --> 00:25:00.247
There are a lot of christians who are living in death.
00:25:00.247 --> 00:25:03.284
They're living in a spiritual graveyard
00:25:03.284 --> 00:25:05.586
Because either they're not abiding
00:25:05.586 --> 00:25:07.555
Or they're not loving or both.
00:25:07.555 --> 00:25:10.124
And if you're not abiding and you're not loving,
00:25:10.124 --> 00:25:13.093
You're operating in a realm that god is not in.
00:25:13.093 --> 00:25:16.163
You're operating in a spiritual cemetery,
00:25:16.163 --> 00:25:18.132
Asking to be blessed.
00:25:18.132 --> 00:25:19.700
And god's not gonna bless you over there,
00:25:19.700 --> 00:25:21.735
Because he doesn't operate over there.
00:25:21.735 --> 00:25:23.470
He operates over here.
00:25:23.470 --> 00:25:25.105
We saw in chapter 1, he operates in the light,
00:25:25.105 --> 00:25:27.808
He operates in the abiding relationship with him
00:25:27.808 --> 00:25:31.178
That is being influenced by love.
00:25:31.178 --> 00:25:37.318
You know, the enemy of transformation is religion.
00:25:37.318 --> 00:25:43.791
Because religion can make you think you're abiding.
00:25:43.791 --> 00:25:47.695
We know this love by this. how do we know god loves us?
00:25:47.695 --> 00:25:51.765
Verse 16: "that he laid down his life for us,
00:25:51.765 --> 00:25:55.669
And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
00:25:55.669 --> 00:25:58.672
But whoever has the world's goods
00:25:58.672 --> 00:26:00.808
And sees his brother in need
00:26:00.808 --> 00:26:02.142
And closes his heart against him,
00:26:02.142 --> 00:26:04.311
How does the love of god abide in him?"
00:26:04.311 --> 00:26:07.414
He says if the horizontal isn't there,
00:26:07.414 --> 00:26:09.817
It's because the vertical is missing.
00:26:09.817 --> 00:26:11.852
Because if the vertical is there,
00:26:11.852 --> 00:26:13.654
The horizontal has got to show
00:26:13.654 --> 00:26:14.989
Because that's who your daddy is
00:26:14.989 --> 00:26:16.323
And you got his dna.
00:26:16.323 --> 00:26:17.958
So when the abiding is occurring
00:26:17.958 --> 00:26:20.694
And you and god are hanging out with each other
00:26:20.694 --> 00:26:22.296
As a way of life and the love is being expressed,
00:26:22.296 --> 00:26:25.766
You won't have to worry about being changed;
00:26:25.766 --> 00:26:28.502
You will be transformed.
00:26:28.502 --> 00:26:30.237
It will happen out of the nature of your daddy's dna
00:26:30.237 --> 00:26:34.475
Operating inside of you.
00:26:34.475 --> 00:26:36.577
It's a family affair.
00:26:36.577 --> 00:26:38.145
You're children of god,
00:26:38.145 --> 00:26:39.546
You've got siblings in the family,
00:26:39.546 --> 00:26:41.348
He says when you connect that, your daddy, with yourself
00:26:41.348 --> 00:26:45.486
And with your siblings,
00:26:45.486 --> 00:26:47.121
You will see daddy show you more of his love
00:26:47.121 --> 00:26:51.158
Operating and changing you.
00:26:51.158 --> 00:26:54.094
You know when you have a designer--
00:26:54.094 --> 00:26:55.462
Esau laurent or whatever the designer is--
00:26:55.462 --> 00:26:58.999
They have a mark, they have a trademark.
00:26:58.999 --> 00:27:02.102
They have a name where you're known by.
00:27:02.102 --> 00:27:05.339
He says, "by this shall all men know you're my disciples--
00:27:05.339 --> 00:27:08.542
That you love one another, that you belong to me,"
00:27:08.542 --> 00:27:11.478
Because of how you relate to us in a biblically appropriate way.
00:27:11.478 --> 00:27:15.549
But to understand this principle and to watch it change you,
00:27:15.549 --> 00:27:19.753
Sliding off of you rather than scrubbing off of you,
00:27:19.753 --> 00:27:23.857
Is a life-transforming reality.
00:27:23.857 --> 00:27:23.857

Tony Evans - The Family of Fellowship

March 8, 2026 | 27:29

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