The Resting Place

The Spirit's Power in Community

• Ben and Logan Robbins • Season 1 • Episode 49

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In this episode of The Resting Place podcast, we unravel the journey towards authentic faith by exploring stories of baptism, holiness, and becoming Christ-like with profound insights from the lives of John the Baptist and Jesus. We hope through this teaching you'll gain a deeper understanding of the Holy Spirit's essential role in reshaping church culture, challenging the norms, and catalyzing radical "rechristing" in pursuit of genuine spiritual renewal.

Join us as we reflect on the transformative power of the Spirit within families and communities. Through discussions on unity and diversity within the body of Christ, we share personal anecdotes that illuminate the importance of spiritual families in fostering revival and nurturing a culture of growth for future generations. We'll explore the Spirit's profound impact on entire households, where unity and purpose collectively usher in spiritual change.

In this episode, we share insights on how to create a lasting culture of spiritual inheritance, encouraging listeners to reflect on their own roles in nurturing a legacy of faith. Join us for a compelling conversation that focuses on building connected communities and communicating with clarity and purpose.

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Speaker 1:

Hi everyone. I'm Ben and I'm Logan and we're the Robins. Welcome to the Resting Place Podcast. Matthew 3, verse 11. This is John the Baptist. This is the.

Speaker 1:

This is kind of the um narration of John the Baptist interaction with some of the religious leaders and the crowds that were coming to be baptized by him, and then his revelation of Yeshua. And it says this in verse 11, those who repent, I baptize with water. And you have to understand when he says something like this. There are thousands of people coming to the Jordan to be baptized by John. It wasn't five of us in a room like we have today. It's thousands of people coming to be baptized by John. And John's making an announcement Jesus calls him the greatest man born of a woman. So, under the old covenant, john is the greatest man born of a woman, the greatest prophet to ever live and the greatest man born of a woman. And I have some thoughts on why he was the greatest prophet to ever live that I'll save for another time. Those who repent I baptize with water, but there is coming a man after me who is more powerful than I. In fact, I'm not even worthy to pick up his sandals. He will. In fact, I'm not even worthy to pick up his sandals. He will submerge you into union with the spirit of holiness and with a raging fire He'll baptize the new King James would say. He'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Speaker 1:

Alan Hood taught a message one time, called Jesus the Baptist, and it's one of the most powerful teachings I've ever heard on the Holy Spirit and the necessity of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and how it's actually Jesus who releases the gift of the Father to us. The protocol for the baptism of the Spirit is not that we beg, beg, beg, beg, beg. It's Jesus said. I'm going to send you the gift of the Father. Jesus is the one responsible for our baptism. He releases the gift of the Spirit to us. He comes with a winnowing fork in his hands and comes to his threshing floor to sift what is worthless from what is pure, and he is ready to sweep out his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his granary, but the straw he will burn up with a fire that can't be extinguished. Then Jesus left Galilee.

Speaker 1:

After that announcement, jesus leaves Galilee to come to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But when he waded into the water, john resisted him, saying why are you doing this? I'm the one who needs to be baptized by you, and yet you have come to be baptized by me. Jesus replied it is only right to do all that God requires. Then John baptized Jesus and as Jesus rose up out of the water, the heavenly realm opened up over him and he saw the Holy Spirit descend out of heaven and rest on him in the form of a dove. Then, suddenly, the voice of the Father shouted from the sky, saying this is my Son, the Beloved. My greatest delight is in him. Now let's go over to John, chapter one, john 1 29.

Speaker 1:

The very next day, john saw Jesus coming to be baptized, and John cried out look there, he is God's lamb. He takes away the sin of the entire world. I told you that a mighty one would come. What do you mean? You didn't recognize him, john. You just called him the lamb that takes away the sin of the entire world. The sin of the entire world, the sin of the entire world. The sin of the entire world.

Speaker 1:

Because of Adam's fall, all of creation was subjected to futility. Yeshua came as the second Adam and freed creation from its futility and empowered us to make the announcement to creation, you're no longer subject to futility. Creation is still under futility because we have, by and large, failed in our assignment to announce to the cosmos you are no longer under futility. Why have we failed in announcing to the cosmos that you're no longer under futility? Why have we failed in announcing to the cosmos that you're no longer under futility? Because we have failed as a, as a, as a, as a, as a religion. We have failed in the area of being transfigured into the image of Christ, to the point that we're qualified to make the announcement to creation that you're no longer held subject to futility. Creation is waiting for another that looks like Christ to announce to it that, no, that's not your identity, that's not who you are, you're free. And the earth oh, jesus, I feel it, the culture of our age is waiting for Christ-like ones to come and make an announcement to them that you're no longer subject to anxiety, you're no longer subject to sickness, you're no longer subject to fear, you're no longer subject to gnawing, aching loneliness. There's a better way, and let the christ in me announce to you that there's a better path for your life. Or we can keep building corporations.

Speaker 1:

I touched on in the podcast that the. The principle of becoming what you behold has been a foundational message to our family, to our stream I'll say it's stream, or large at large, family at large. For years now, since I can remember 15 years or more now that message has been, you know, kind of a huge deal in our stream. Right, you become what you behold. I remember men's ramp and pop talking about you become what you behold and all these things and we'd, we'd go through the whole thing and continues to pass the test of the witness, of making the transition from from the old age into the new age. That message you will become what you behold is a principle that remains true. We see that in again I touched on in our podcast.

Speaker 1:

We see that in Jacob's dealing with Laban and Laban saying Jacob, here's the deal I'll give you all the spotted and striped goats as your inheritance If you'll continue to work for me. Because Laban was shrewd and realized that the blessing of God had been on his finances and on his herds and on his whole household because Jacob was blessed by God and Jacob was working in his household. So Laban says I can't lose the blessing of God because I'll lose my wealth. So he says to him I'll give you the striped and spotted goats because they were the genetically inferior of the herd. He said I'll give you the weak ones, I'll remain stronger. So he'll. It's genius how Laban did that If you're a manipulator and manipulators still do that today but you'll still be required to rely on me, even though it looks like your herds are growing, because your herds are weak and won't be able to make a journey. The genetically weaker goats would have been incapable of making the sojourn that Jacob was going to be required. I feel the Holy ghost man that Jacob was going to be required to make.

Speaker 1:

So Laban said let me keep you codependent on me while looking like I'm growing you. If there isn't a better picture of the American church, let me keep you codependent on my face being in front of you week after week. Let me. Let me keep you codependent on our worship, on our worship experience. Let me keep you codependent on our Wednesday night Bible studies. Let me keep you. Let me create enough things to make it look like I'm growing you. But what I'm doing is I'm creating someone who is completely codependent on the corporation that I've built to even be able to function. And Jacob says okay, I'll take that deal, laban, but what I'm going to do is I'm going to score some sticks. I'm going to strip some bark and I'm going to score some sticks. I'm going to strip some bark and I'm going to score some sticks and cast it into the water so that when the so that when the genetically superior goats and sheep go to breed, they'll be looking while they're, while they're procreating, they'll be looking at things that look like how I want their babies to look. And what started to happen is the genetically superior goats and sheep started to create striped and spotted babies, and so Jacob flipped the strength of the herd to his side, because he also was skilled in the art of manipulation Two manipulators just taking advantage of each other. Is that story? That's what it was? Well, it ends with Jacob winning, but Jacob ends up with a limp Um. So so Jacob creates a genetically superior herd to Laban's herd, because he was shrewd in the way that he that he cast their gaze while they reproduced.

Speaker 1:

And I wonder sometimes I've been having this thought too. I wonder sometimes if the American church isn't so unhealthy, because all we do is we stare at corporations to get our direction. We like it fast and we like it easy and we like very little required of us. It's all transactional and every successful model that is being used to grow churches is a transactional model. Um, my baptism was for the was for the preparation of his appearing to Israel, even though I didn't recognize him. Then, as he baptized Yeshua, he proclaimed these words I see the spirit of God descending like a dove, descending from the heavenly realm and landing upon him. Now it's important to behold the becoming. What you behold is important. Why important Becoming what you behold is important, why Our apostle is teaching a series on the radical rechristing of the church. I encourage all of you to go listen to it. I encourage all of you go listen. If you're listening to this, stop listening to this and go listen to that. Come back later. Come back because this will be important too in your process of rechristing. This will be important too. This is a nuance. This is a nuance to being able to see Christ correctly.

Speaker 1:

In my cursory research, I did a little cursory research today. I haven't dug super deep yet, but I've done a little bit of cursory research and Paul, in his epistles somewhere between 143 and 160 times, uses the phrase in Christ. In his epistles somewhere between 143 and 160, I'll get an exact figure as I look at it more. But Paul uses the phrase in Jesus, in Christ or in him, describing where we are in relation to Jesus. We're in Christ. Why is he doing that? Why is he so adamant about saying you're in Christ, you're hidden in Christ, you're in him, you're seated with him in heavenly places?

Speaker 1:

Go through the Rolodex and see Paul's making the point that the Father cannot see us apart from Jesus. The Father chooses not to. Not only does he choose not to. I don't think in the Father's mind there's any separation, because what Christ accomplished was eternal Bringing us back into union. Okay, so Damon for years has been saying if the Father will not see us apart from the lens of Jesus, it then becomes incumbent upon us to not see the Father apart from Jesus. We have to use the same lens the Father uses in order to find a congruency.

Speaker 1:

The issue we have is we can't see Jesus rightly without the assistance of the Spirit. So if we're going to become what we behold, if we're going to have a radical rechristing of the church, it then means that believers need to be radically rechristed. How can you do that if you can't even see him. It requires the assistance of the Spirit to even interpret Scripture rightly. How am I going to peer into?

Speaker 1:

And the scripture is replete with examples and you can look at John 1.18, and Hebrews is probably the two primary ones that I would go to. But Hebrews 1 and John 1.18, where it says that Jesus is the express image of the Father. In him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily that's such a profound thought all by itself I could I could spend hours. In him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That's the old, new King James. In Christ dwells the fullness of the expression of the father, son and spirit. And our first example. So we look at scripture and there's in hermeneutical study there's something called the Law of First Mentions and in the law of first mentions, in the law of first mentions states that something to the effect of the first time something is mentioned in scripture. That context should be used throughout the whole of scripture as a way to help you interpret what is being said essentially. Does that make sense to everybody?

Speaker 1:

Okay, so if we look at Yeshua and the first three people to recognize Yeshua, one oh, what's his name? Oh, gosh, I'm going to, I'm going to mess it up when he went to the temple Simeon Yep. Led by the spirit into the temple Simeon yep, led by the Spirit, into the temple Simeon, at Jesus' dedication, was a man full of the Spirit in the Old Covenant. A man full of the Spirit who it had been revealed to him by the Spirit that he would not die until he saw the Christ. And, led by the Spirit into the temple, he saw Yeshua, anna, a widow for 80 years who had given herself to fasting and prayer, revealed to her by the spirit that Christ, that Jesus was the Christ. And then we I feel it man.

Speaker 1:

And then we have John's first public announcement of who Jesus is. And he's not allowed to make the announcement. Until when? When is he not allowed to make the announcement? Watch, then, as he baptized Jesus, he proclaimed these words I see the spirit of God appear like a dove descending from the heavenly realm and landing upon him, and it remained on him. Before this, I didn not know who. He was Restricted from making the announcement until the Spirit descended on Jesus. Spirit descended on, jesus Understood that Yeshua was from God from the beginning, because he said this is the Lamb of God, but was restricted by God from making the announcement as a prophet, until the Spirit landed on Jesus and gave him permission to see who he really was. I see the Spirit of God appear like a dove, descending on him from the heavenly realm and landing upon him, and it remained on him. Before this, I didn't know who he was, but the one who sent me to baptize with water had told me you will see the Spirit come down and stay on someone. He will be the one I have sent to baptize with the Holy Spirit. Now I have seen. Now I have seen this happen and I can tell you for sure, this man is the Son of God.

Speaker 1:

The necessity of the assistance of the Spirit in seeing Christ rightly becomes the guide in the journey of becoming Christ-like. So we've essentially come to where I ended the last podcast, right it's the necessity of the Spirit in seeing Yeshua. The necessity of the assistance of the Spirit of seeing Jesus rightly becomes the catalyst for, the engine of transformation in our hearts. I believe. I believe the role of the Spirit is to be the catalyst in the transfiguration of the believer, the Spirit being the catalyst, the essence of God being the catalyst in the transfiguration of the believer, the Spirit being the catalyst, the essence of God being the catalyst.

Speaker 1:

One of the things I want to show us about the Spirit is this the Spirit falls on families. The Spirit will fall on you individually, but it's always in the context of the Spirit. Am I saying that rightly? The Spirit will fall on you individually, but in possible to create a subversive culture that becomes a force of change inside of a culture that has gone so far from its original intent. I don't believe it's possible to create the kind of culture we're trying to create without the spirit falling on us as a whole. So there's a there's an individual baptism that comes to you Absolutely 100%. There's a corporate baptism that comes to a group of people. So, in the context of the family discussion, we had to start this, that I did not intend to go, I did not intend to talk for an hour about all that, but we did. Um, I think it was important Some of the obstacles in living from the realm of the kingdom joined as a family.

Speaker 1:

Right, because ultimately, what's going to happen is you'll remain living from two different worlds as long as you remain isolated. I don't know of a single human being in human history that has been able to walk the way of the kingdom. In isolation, you cannot do it. You cannot do it. Isolation will kill you. You cannot do it. Isolation will kill you. So the idea of the instruction of quit living like you're from two different worlds requires union with Christ, union with the Spirit. All the Father, son and Spirit, this Trinitarian vision of perichoresis, inside of the shared experience of a spiritual family. On the day of Pentecost there were a group of 120 that were all together of one accord.

Speaker 1:

That idea is like an orchestra, all beautifully playing their part that's the literal word, is like an orchestra would have been the picture that is being painted there, like the violinists are doing the thing that the violin does, the oboe is doing the thing. I just like the word oboe. I actually High-end oboes are created. High-end oboes are created from african blackwood and they cost upwards of ten or twenty thousand dollars for a good one. Because the wood is, because the, because the, because of the strain that gets put on those instruments, they're prone to cracking. They're prone to cracking and it requires the highest quality of wood to put them together. So each instrument is made of something different too.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and each instrument is required to be made of something different. In order to create the specific sound that it's required, that it's created to create, you have to have the different shared experiences to be together in one accord. That's what diversity is. That's the value of diversity inside of the body of Christ is each of us doing our part, each of us singing the song that we were created to sing. The violin sings a different song than the flute. The flute sings a different song than the cello. The cello sings a different song than the bass, and it ought to be that way. I ought to sing a different song than Lou sings, and Lou ought to sing a different song than I sing. But that does not take away from the value that I have for Lou and that doesn't take away from the value Lou has for me. And in our shared value from one another, we're allowed to be like the seraphs that cry holy, holy, holy is the Lord, god almighty, who was and is and is to come and throw fire back and forth at one another because we have shared value. That's what the body of Christ ought to look like Burning ones, throwing fire back and forth at one another without even intentionally doing it all the time, just living the life they were created to live, doing ultimately what you were created to do in this earth, and you will not be able to do that successfully apart from the body you were intended to be joined to, and I want us to be joined to the body we were intended to be joined to. So Lou likes to wake up in the morning at 3 am and and, and, and mystically get blown away by the spirit of God. And I listen, cannot do that. I love, I love and probably will when I'm his age. Probably when you're his age, you will, probably will when I'm his age. Ben, he's standing at the door knocking. That's right, it's a picture of Lou knocking on my door at 3 am.

Speaker 1:

Wake up and some of the most profound thought processes I work out with the Lord are in the middle of extreme physical exertion. So, just transparently, I'll get in on a set of squats and like, be miserable, and like pushing my, pushing my it's a multi-chain movement pushing my central nervous system and the whole thing, and all of a sudden the heavens part and the Lord starts to download deep truth in my heart and I'll end up crying in the gym. I was the other day. I was at the gym, I'm doing squats. I'm crying. It's the weirdest thing of all time. I realize how weird that is when I say that. I really do. I realize how weird that is.

Speaker 1:

The Lord likes to talk to me over coffee. When I'm drinking coffee and while I'm at the gym those are the two times that I really hear from the Lord strongly is when I'm enjoying a really well-crafted cup of good coffee. It just opens heaven for me. It really does. There we go, we have that in common. And then when I'm in physical discomfort, he likes to say okay, now there's something about that exertion that has caused your walls to come down to the point that you can actually hear me. Oh man, okay, in this journey, what we'll find? And you can look through Scripture. You can look through Scripture.

Speaker 1:

So the Lord falls on those that are together in one accord in Acts 1. In Acts 3, he comes again at their request. And then you'll find in Acts 10, an entire household gets baptized in the spirit. You won't find a lot. I'm going to be careful in the way that I say this because I don't want it to sound how it's going to sound. But you're not going to find a lot of examples of the spirit falling on people apart from the context of family.

Speaker 1:

Lot of examples of the spirit falling on people apart from the context of family. Even when the Lord breaks out in revival and they send Peter and John to confirm what the Lord's doing and they ask if they've been baptized in the spirit and they say no, they start laying hands on all that have been born again and they're all baptized in the spirit. That's in the context of renewal family. The Philippian jailer, his household, his, they didn't get a choice. They didn't get a choice. That man gets shaken to his core and says what do I have to do to know the Jesus that just broke those chains off of you? And Paul looks at him and says what do I have to do to know the Jesus that just broke those chains off of you? And Paul looks at him and says you and your whole family. You won't find a lot of context for the spirit falling on people and sustaining renewal outside of the context of family.

Speaker 1:

One of the reasons revival people are so flaky is because they refuse to join themselves to family. They won't do it and we chase. Oh my God. This is so far different than what I had intended to share, but I feel like it's important for a foundational piece of the resting place. We chase things and I love conferences. I'm going to go see Randy Clark the next chance I get. I will. I promise you I will. He's coming the week of my birthday again to Ankeny and you can find me huddled in the corner getting smashed some night during that week, maybe more than one night during that week. You will find me in the corner somewhere huddled up in a little piece of carpet that's all my own and I'll be soaking it with my tears. It will happen. Bill's going to be there too. I'm not going to miss that. You have bumped your head if you think I'm going to miss that.

Speaker 1:

You can't find an example in scripture of a healthy believer outside of the context of spiritual family. You can't find it. Furthermore, you're not going to find a lot of examples of the spirit falling on people outside of the context of spiritual family, of examples of the Spirit falling on people outside of the context of spiritual family. The life of the Spirit was designed to be done in union with one another.

Speaker 1:

You know, in North America the first publicized or the first recorded baptism of the Spirit happened in Topeka, kansas in 1901, on New Year's Day, and it happened, and I have a hard time with his name. Do you remember his name? Yeah, parham, she always remembers his name. I'm great at remembering details. It was Parham, so Charles Parham is his name. Charles Parham, he was born in Iowa, on the river. I'm forgetting the name of the town? Yeah, muscatine. He was born in Muscatine, iowa.

Speaker 1:

Um, so Charles Parham starts what he called a faith home, like a faith Bible school, where he bought this home and invited people to join him in studying the word and said the only thing is, y'all are not allowed to work a job. You have to believe God to provide for. You had 26 individuals join him and for two weeks before new year's day in 1901, he he challenged everyone and said I want you to search the scriptures to see what the evidence in scripture is of the baptism of the spirit. And they all individually came to the same conclusion that the primary evidence that they found in Scripture was speaking in other tongues. It's not the only there's prophecy and there's power and there's other things, but the primary evidence that they saw in Scripture was speaking in other tongues. And they all began to seek God together for the outpouring of the Spirit.

Speaker 1:

What you won't hear too many people say is that Jesus, that New Year's Day 1900, the Pope declared the Jesus declared 1900, is that the 20th century Was 1900. The 20th century Declared the 20th century to be the century of the Spirit. There hadn't. The year before New Year's Day, 1900, he issued an edict to the entire Catholic Church that the 20th century would be the century of the Spirit. And inside of that context, the Lord falls on a family of people that were seeking him together and I want to say that every damaging thing that gets done inside of revival to people, people get damaged and they get hurt and they get burnt out and things happen that aren't right. It's because people refuse to get joined to a father and will not get joined to the culture that father is creating, and because of that refusal they begin to damage people.

Speaker 1:

Individualism will kill the move of the spirit. This is some truth that is going to help us in the days to come. Individualism will kill your isolation, is cutting you off from the vitality of a family and from the vitality of the shared enjoyment of the Spirit, and in order to quit living like you're from two different worlds and get out of the schizophrenic place of thinking with the mind of Christ one moment and your unrenewed mind the other moment. We're going to have to come into a place of union with one another and union with the Spirit. There is no other path. So, one of the things that, in the days to come, so we're going to come together next week, okay. One of the things that I just to come, so we're going to come together next week, okay.

Speaker 1:

One of the things that I just to set expectation I'm going to start to cut back on the amount of time that I'm speaking Now. That's going to be a challenge for me. That's going to be a challenge for me, but we're going to. We're going to do our best, because I'm long winded. Bill Johnson has this unreal gift, and so does. Damon has this unreal gift of saying more in three sentences than you could ever say in an hour, and I can say less in an hour than they can in three sentences. So it has to. Just three hours is what it takes for me to get about three sentences of what they say. So, so, um, we're going to do a couple of things as a family. We're going to do a couple of things. As a family, we're going to seek man, an outpouring of the spirit that's going to see the whole of the Midwest shake under the weight of the glory of the Lord. That is the end goal For me. That is the end goal, but that cannot be done outside of mutual connection, because I don't want this to be something that in 50 years there's no fruit that remains.

Speaker 1:

And we have seen ministers and ministries with powerful anointings that created no culture around them, raised no sons and daughters, created no culture around them, and they had powerful church services and they healed. They had healings, good Lord. They had healings, good Lord, pulling people, healings, good Lord, pulling people out of wheelchairs and pulling cancer off people's faces. I've watched it on. You find it on YouTube Jack Coe, pulling cancer off people's faces. You can see, you can watch it happen on YouTube. Just look up Jack Coe on YouTube and you'll see videos of him. Jack Coe, c-o-e-a-a Allen is another one who has some incredible videos out there. You can even find some of Oral Roberts and they've got these amazing giftings and amazing anointings.

Speaker 1:

And I'm not speaking ill of these men. They walked in something that is unlike what the North American church has seen before or since, unlike what the North American church has seen before or since. But when they died, their ministry died and you just don't see that. No, and the goal of this is, for one me, not to build something that our kids are not interested in being a part of. These two and the little stink pot, stink kids sleeping upstairs and the boys, this is as much. This is more their inheritance than it is mine. Thank you.