Growing and Maturing Spiritually with Don Carpenter

Forgiven And Made New

0:07 SPEAKER_01: When we come into the kingdom of God, the biggest thing that we worry about, or many people are concerned about, is what about all my sins? What about all the things that I've done that I regret? That people only knew how bad I am. It is a wonderful thing that when we hear the news that God has made a way for every human being to have all of that dealt with. To be born again, taken away, covered by the blood of Jesus. That's wonderful. Then we come into the kingdom of God, and one day we finally realize that God really has forgiven us everything.

0:54 SPEAKER_01: Then we're saying, okay, what is this? What do I give? Do I just wait until I die and go to heaven or the Lord comes and takes me? What is the plan here?

What Happens After Salvation

1:05 SPEAKER_01: And some Christians think that is the plan. They think that's all there is to do is just to wait around. But we find quite quickly that there are things for us to do in the body. We begin to learn that we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We learn that we need to be baptized in water. We realize that we could do things in the church, physical things, sweep of all, buy a new light bulb, whatever, with the things that we feel that we could do. Isn't interesting that as we grow and as we mature in the Lord, down inside of us is this longing and this desire, and we're thinking, Lord, I feel like you got more for me.

Seeking God For Fresh Revelation

1:57 SPEAKER_01: Then we start to seek the Lord, and then we find out that when God does, He brings his revelation. There's the Christ's nature, and that God wants us to walk as tongues. Have you ever noticed that when the Lord begins to speak to you about something, when you spend time praying or you're reading, the Lord will seem to draw you to passages in the Bible, or He will bring an understanding. It's like a light bulb goes along, and you get a knowledge of something. You're thinking, where did that come from?

2:36 SPEAKER_01: That comes from God. Can you imagine living a life of limitation? I cannot do that. I cannot look at my life and think I've received everything, I know everything. I couldn't live a life like that. There's something inside of me that I just want to keep pressing into the Lord more and more. Somedays we search for something and we think it's going to be more of what we already know. I think it's always something wonderful when it's something that's brand new to us.

Called Beyond Your Current Understanding

3:17 SPEAKER_01: There is a place in God that that is past the realm of our understanding right now. God is calling his sons to occupy this unlimited realm. In the unlimited realm, there is a people that's being called to that. I've read of countries here in the world where huge cities have been built. City. Very few people. They built them with the hopes that somebody would go there. Large communities of houses, and these houses still remain empty. Nobody's gone there. Can you imagine God building something for us?

Ananias And The God Who Speaks

4:02 SPEAKER_01: His desire is for us to press into the Acts chapter 9. Verse 10. There was a certain disciple, just like you or I, we're those or a certain follower of Christ named Ananias, and him said the Lord.

4:25 SPEAKER_01: I contend today that God is still speaking to a people. His people. I contend today, and stand here today to tell you that if you will listen, you will hear the Lord speaking unto you. That's when we pray, when we read the scriptures, things begin to open up to us. The Lord said to him, the Lord appeared to him as in a vision. He said, And last, and he said, Behold, I'm here, Lord. This is what I'm talking to you about today. The people that I minister to, we are a prophetic people. And by that, we are open to the Holy Spirit.

5:13 SPEAKER_01: We believe that the Holy Spirit will speak to us. We believe that the Holy Spirit motivates us. We believe that our heart's desire is to have the Holy Spirit manifesting in our lives and to us. When we are in a battle, when we don't know what to do, isn't it nice to suddenly have a thought come to you? This is probably what I should do. Or God will send somebody to you, but sometimes you're in a situation where nobody can get to you. Isn't it interesting that God will give you the knowledge on something?

5:57 SPEAKER_01: I don't know what Ananias was doing this day. My thoughts are that he was spending time with the Lord before he started moving out amongst the street and in the marketplace. And God began to speak to him. And he said, Arise and go into a street which is called street, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold he prayeth. But the Lord is very specific here. That is something that Ananias would have, this kind of knowledge. God speaks to him, tells him what he wants them to do.

6:40 SPEAKER_01: He names to him a street. And there's a person there that I want you to speak to and minister to.

When God Gets Very Specific

7:04 SPEAKER_01: That as we grow and as we develop and as we mature and as we come into God's purpose and plan for us right now, we believe that God will come and speak to us. If I was to have picked anybody that I read about in the book of Acts, and not knowing the outcome, not knowing the ongoing work of God, I would say that this solid Carthagist, who did everything in his power, he was not a believer, but he came against believers and he would try to prevent them and he'd try to say it wouldn't happen. We're going to think of anybody, God fairly, this God fairly will never come into the kingdom.

7:51 SPEAKER_01: But one thing about Saul of Tarsus is whatever he believed in, he gave himself to at 100%. And it was going to require a supernatural event that they quite. God says, He's praying. Don't get excited, Ananias. Listen to me. I want to tell you about Saul, what he's doing right now. I want you to know this. And that's how we know things. God speaks those things to us. That's how we know things. I believe that even when we think we're just playing around, because when we spend time and allow the Spirit of God to move in our lives, you will be amazed how often the Spirit of God will move through you.

8:39 SPEAKER_01: And you will touch things, see things, hear things, understand things, or I say hear things, understand things in the spirit, and you just keep moving along and not realizing how this is happening. It's because you are growing, it's because you are moving up into the dimension and the realm that God is bringing you. And it says here, he has seen in a vision, and this buried him that Saul of Tarsus is having is from God. What happened was Saul got converted out on the Damascus Road in the dust. On his face in the dust in the road, Jesus is there.

9:26 SPEAKER_01: He recognized Jesus as Lord. If I'm to give a point of contact where Saul of Tarsus was converted, I would say it was on the road. He's now waiting, he's praying to God. He's praying the best way he knows how. He's a Pharisee. He's praying in these ways, but he's on this journey, and God is listening, and God is telling one of a sudden what the Saul of Tarsus is doing. He saw a man named Ananias. And that's who God is talking to. A man named Ananias. To me. This is one of the most powerful where plenches in the Bible, early church, said that we see God in the early days speaking to Ananias.

10:30 SPEAKER_01: Now, two thousand years later, do you know how much further we have come? And do you know how much more of a people that are like Ananias that are now upon the face of the earth? There are heavens, if not hundreds of thousands of these kinds of people who hear from God. We know that there are millions claiming to be born again. I do not think for one moment that they are fully growing. I believe that they are meant to grow. I believe that they're meant to be in jerk. I believe that they're meant to gather together and they'll sit under the word of the Lord and develop.

11:13 SPEAKER_01: But to have this unlimited ability where there is no hindrance whatsoever, that is the place of sun ministry. That is an awesome place to be.

Fear, Resistance, And What You Heard

11:29 SPEAKER_01: Then Ananias answered the Lord. Even though we're advancing in God, it's amazing how that we rely upon understanding of what we know in the natural. Ananias answered the Lord and he said, I have heard by many of this man. A lot of people have told me what they think about this man, Saul of Tarsus. That's what holds us back a lot of the times. We see here the rinse of resistance when we hear this. We look at Ananias, a mighty man of God, and if we look at this closely, the Lord says, even when we are strong and mighty in the Lord, if we are not careful, we risk of not moving forward in God.

12:24 SPEAKER_01: We have to be strong. We have to remain vigilant. We have to keep encouraging. We have to keep reminding. We have to keep coming to a time and time again of what God's plan and purpose is for us. What have you heard, Ananias? I love that he's brought a lot of evil to the saints of Jerusalem. And I've heard also that he's got authority to bind everybody in this city that's going to call unto you, Lord. I've heard that. It's me. Listen to me, Ananias now is one of the challenges that we face. Are we going to believe what we have heard, what we've been told?

13:09 SPEAKER_01: Because anybody who tells you that you cannot row and cannot move forward in God, anybody who tells you that, they are not rowing and they are not moving forward. Anyone who tells you that, they believe they fully arrived, they believe they know it all, that they're permitted to know. And they have now become bound in that level. You have to listen to somebody who tells you you can go beyond this. We don't know his level in the church in Damascus, but we do know this much from what we can see from his relationship with the Lord, he was definitely a leading elder in the city.

13:56 SPEAKER_01: It's God himself that is saying, are you gonna listen to God who said look out for Saul? Or are you gonna listen to me and I'm gonna tell you to look out for Saul? One lookout is, think he's gonna hurt. And the other lookout is you're gonna be responsible and you're gonna develop him and you're gonna bring him forth and you're gonna teach him how to walk in my way.

Chosen Vessels And Obedient Hands

14:25 SPEAKER_01: The Lord said, Go on, go thy way, verse 15. God gives Ananias a revelation and an understanding of who he's dealing with. Just like God give his apostles, prophets, and evangelists, pastors, and teachers. He gives them an understanding of where they're going and who the people are that they're ministering to. We moved by one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit at least, and that's discernment. We know who we're talking to, and we talk to them in this way. God said, Listen, he's a chosen vessel unto me.

14:57 SPEAKER_01: And God is saying this about the church today. You are a chosen vessel unto me. And he's going to bear my name before the Gentiles and the kings and the children of Israel. I'm going to show them how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. I like this about verse 17. Ananias went his way. His way was God's way. He entered into the house. He put his hands on him and said, This is how I know that Saul was already saved on the Damascus Road. He says to him, Brother Saul. King James said, Brother Saul.

15:33 SPEAKER_01: And I would not have used that term lightly. God has already said, He's my son. Saul is already my son. He goes there and he says, Brother Saul, the Lord. It's the same name, rather, that Paul called Jesus on the Damascus road. Who art thou? Lord? Even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way, as thou cameest has sent me, and thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost. Saved on the road, filled with the Holy Ghost in Damascus. Came to bind the church. I want you to be hungry today.

16:18 SPEAKER_01: One thing I want you to get out of this today is don't go by what people tell you about somebody. God sends you there. You'll be open to hear what God wants you to know about them. You all had a past. Everybody that's born again had a past. God doesn't remember it anymore because you can't ask the Lord. And if you've forgotten it, count that a blessing. But God wants to meet us where we're at. And he wants us to go from being a child, he wants us under governors and tutors, and he wants us to come onto the fullness that he plans for us.

16:58 SPEAKER_01: That we walk in victory and in sonship and in authority and in anointing. There's just so much that he wants to do with us.

Partnering To Share The Gospel

17:07 SPEAKER_00: This ministry is made up of the clear and generous support of listeners like you. Your giving helps us continue sharing the gospel, encouraging believers, and reaching more people with the hope of Jesus Christ. If you'd like to partner with us and support this ministry, or learn more about our work, please go to doncarpenter.ca