ALTAR EGO - JOHN GRAY

"Lay down the pride and ego and fear of being judged and bring your broken self to Jesus."

Pastor John Gray, Lakewood Church, Houston, TX 

Spoke blessings over Mama Dodie.
God has the power to break every chain.
Tasha Cobbs will sing next Wednesday.
Luke 17
To see Gods blessings we must take hold of some principles.
Can you really stand to be blessed?
Luke 17:11-17 NKJV
10 lepers asked Jesus for mercy.
The 1 that gave thanks was a Samaritan.
Leprosy was an Irreversible and incurable disease.
In this season miracles will happen for both believers and unbelievers.
That will give them faith.
Miracles take people off the fence.
Do you know anybody that needs a miracle?
Celebrate others breakthroughs.
Miracles coming in the next 2 weeks.
For some after many years of waiting.
The foreigner saw he was healed and gave thanks with a loud voice.
Some will get your miracle in a public place and you will be loud.
Nobody had to teach the Samaritan how to praise.
Your miracle will unlock something that was in there the whole time.
The other ones got their miracle and took off.
But there was one who understood that the altar they were going to was secondary to HIM.
Something has changed in me and I need to let Him know what He did for me.
I've just been set free.
I know I'm supposed to go to the priest but I have to praise Jesus first.

ALTAR EGO
The bible is the Word of God revealed.
The bible makes it clear that when you hear the gospel and respond something inside will shift.
When you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior things will change.
It takes a while to get your roots down.
That’s why Osteens say "give us a year of your life".
We need to lay down our ego and stop judging each other because without the blood of Jesus we'd all be lost.
Sometimes religious people want to see you changed overnight.
They expect you to know the whole bible overnight.
Your salvation is a personal walk.
There are times when the old man and the new man are at war with one another.
Its a war.
Have you ever wanted to do right but wrong was sitting right there?
The enemy wants you to be defeated and/or accept that it will always be that way.
If you’re struggling God loves you enough to apply the blood of Jesus to that area.
God is able to do it.
There’s also part of us that wants to "help" God save us.
I’ll give you these areas, but I’ll work on these other areas on my own
Our ego wont let us take it to the altar.
Note the man whose 4 friends brought him to Jesus. [Luke 5:17-26]
They laid him at the feet of Jesus.
It became an altar.
Whatever you bring to Jesus becomes an altar.
Son your sins are forgiven. [Luke 5:20]
Most people think the next thing was the miracle.
What’s easier: forgiving sins or commanding the lame to walk?
The man was still paralyzed but the thing that led him there (sins) was already moved.
Have you ever been saved and stuck?
Jesus handled your sin first because he wanted to deal with the inside first.
Otherwise you’ll be paralyzed again.
Jesus wants to remove the root of pride.
Pride makes us think we did God a favor by showing up here.
God is glad to see us but we ought to be more glad to see Him.
It’s time to stop following the crowd and run after Jesus.
Bring it to Jesus.
Lay down the pride and ego and fear of being judged and bring your broken self to Jesus.
I need to change from the inside out.
When you get saved your character should begin to change.
Salvation is not for you to keep the same sin.
At some point there should be signs you’re making a shift.
Every real altar has a full length mirror.
It’s real easy to see others sins.
Ask the Lord to show you you.
Altar ego...
The fight between the old man and the new man.
College level calculus attacks.
The Holy Spirit goes inside and moves things around.
Lord at what God does with you in the earth.
Your will is laid down for His will.
Our perspective submitted to His vision.
We want to feel like changing.
True change is not always what you feel.
We need the Holy Spirit to radically change us.
Removing the nature of our flesh.
This is the regenerating power of Jesus Christ, and it doesn’t come with religion - it comes with encounter.
Some people have spiritual leprosy.
Areas that will hinder Gods ability to deal with us.
Like offense-
Who has ever been offended?
We’ve got to trust God to get us free from things what would block our blessings.
Lord’s prayer contains the key.
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others.
Lead us not into temptation.
The temptation is to hold unto offense.
I forgive you but I don’t trust you.
Ego causes us to live in offense.
I’m above being offended - I'm so and so.
E.G.O. = Edging God Out
That’s all ego is.
The fight is for the seat of your will.
If you have an issue with others go to them first before you go to the altar.
Go seek forgiveness first.
Get the issue right with them first.
Altar Ego
The altar is a place of sacrifice, humility, and worship.
Guard against offense.
The enemy wants you to walk in offense.
How would it be the character of God to give you heavens best when you’re acting like the devil’s worst?
Make the phone call tonight so you can get free.
It feels good to hold on to it.
"I deserve to be angry."
Luke 23:33
Father forgive them...
He couldn’t complete his assignment until he let go of offense.
John probably would've said "I’m innocent and they’re killing me - kill em Jesus."
Your flesh wants the people who hurt you to suffer.
Jesus couldn’t even die until he released people who offended him.
If Jesus had to do it then so do you and I.
There are some people you have to get right with.
Your miracle is on the other side of I’m sorry.
The devil stops by Johns every Wednesday at 4 when he has to preach that evening.
A wedge starts small and gets bigger.
When we allow it to get bigger it looks like it’s impossible to fix.
But nothing is impossible for God.
3 Things/types of altars.
Noah, Abraham, and David
Watch out for the wedge issues.
John demonstrated forgiveness to his wife by publicly apologizing to her.
The altar of Noah Genesis 8:20
It broke curses.
There’s an altar you can make in your home that will break curses.
I won’t curse the earth anymore.
I won't deal with man the way I dealt with him anymore.
Your altar could change your entire family.
John feels a breakthrough in here.
I don’t want a miracle if my character ain't right.
Altar of Abraham Genesis 22
Sacrifice that thing of value.
It’s an altar of obedience and faith.
God will ask you to do things that don’t make sense.
As he was going up one side of the mountain the ram was coming up the other side of the mountain.
You won't see the answer until you take a step.
The altar of David 2 Samuel 24.
David got caught up in pride near the end of his life;
—Counting his mighty men.
Threshing floor sacrifice to stop the plague.
There is an altar that will break pride.
Places where we have pride.
It’s time to lay it down.
We cab break curses and we can break pride.
Next week we will break every chain.

DISCLAIMER: This is not a transcript, but my personal notes which I share to bless others. They are not published nor endorsed by Lakewood Church or Joel Osteen Ministries.

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