The King Who Opens The Heavens
JULIAN ADAMS • August 30, 2017
Jesus came to reveal not an earthly kingdom, but a supernatural kingdom. In this teaching, Julian goes through Jesus’ supernatural walk throughout the Gospel of Mark.
– TRANSCRIPT
Julian: Yea, God. What an amazing time already. I’m so excited about this morning. And I get to kick off our new series this morning. We’re gonna be looking through the Gospel of Mark and encountering the King in the Gospel of Mark. Our series is called “Here and Now.” But before I drew that, I just wanted to play a very familiar clip that I’m sure many of you have seen before, just to remind you about the goodness of our King and I thought it was worth the three minutes of my preach time. So I wonder if we can roll that clip, that would be great. Thanks.
Male Voice: The Bible says my King is the king of the Jews. He’s the King of Israel. He’s the King of righteousness. He’s the King of the ages. He’s the King of heaven. He’s the King of glory. He’s the King of kings, and He’s the Lord of lords. That’s my King. I wonder, do you know Him?
My King is a sovereign King. No means of measure can define His limitless love. He’s enduringly strong. He’s entirely sincere. He’s eternally steadfast. He’s immortally graceful. He’s imperially powerful. He’s impartially merciful. Do you know Him?
He is the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world. He is God’s Son. He is the sinners’ Savior. He is the centerpiece of civilization. He’s unparalleled. He’s unprecedented. He’s the loftiest idea in literature. He’s the highest personality in philosophy. He’s the fundamental doctrine of true theology. He’s the only one who qualifies to be an all-sufficient Savior. I wonder if you know Him today.
He supplies strength for the weak. He’s available for the tempted and the tried. He sympathizes and He saves. He strengthens and sustains. He guards and He guides. He heals the sick. He cleansed the lepers. He forgives sinners. He discharges debtors. He delivers the captives. He defends the feeble. He blesses the young. He serves the unfortunate. He regards the aged. He rewards the diligent and He beautifies the meek. I wonder if you know Him.
He’s the key to knowledge. He’s the wellspring of wisdom. He’s the doorway of deliverance. He’s the pathway of peace. He is the roadway of righteousness. He is the highway of holiness. He is the gateway of glory. Do you know Him?
Well, His life is matchless. His goodness is limitless. His mercy is everlasting. His love never changes. His word is enough. His grace is sufficient. His reign is righteous, and His yoke is easy and His burden is light. I wish I could describe Him for you. He’s indescribable. He is incomprehensible. He’s invincible. He’s irresistible. Well, you can’t get Him out of your mind. You can’t get Him off of your head. You can’t outlive Him and you can’t live without Him.
Well, the Pharisees couldn’t stand Him but they found out they couldn’t stop Him. Pilate couldn’t find any fault in Him. Herod couldn’t kill Him. Death couldn’t handle Him, and the grave couldn’t hold Him. Yeah, that’s my King.
Julian: Come on. Let’s lift up and shout. Why don’t you just tell Him how great He is. You can do a little bit better than that. Come on, let’s lift up and shout our praise. He is good. That’s my King. That’s my king. Just a little bit longer, come on. Just a little bit longer. Let’s lift up His name. Let’s lift Him up. He’s good. Oh, that’s my King.
Congregation: Woo.
Julian: Woo. That just made me happy, we can go home now. Fantastic. Well, can you open your Bibles please to the gospel of Mark in chapter 1, and we’re gonna be tracking through this wonderful gospel over the next few weeks, and I get the joy of helping you encounter the King who opens the heavens over your life. And I’m trusting this morning that God will do some amazing things with us and in us.
I love being part of this community. Katia and I are just so enjoying what God is doing with us. I feel like we’re on the tiptoe of something significant that is going to shift and change not only the city of Durban but will attract the nations to this place. Amen.
Congregation: Amen.
Julian: So John chapter 1:4. John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the River Jordan confessing their sins. Now, John was clothed with camel’s hair, and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached saying, “After me comes He who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when He came up out of the water, immediately, He saw the heavens being torn open, and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven saying, “You are my beloved Son, with You I am well pleased.” The Spirit immediately drove Him out into the wilderness and He was in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by Satan. And He was with the wild animals and the angels were ministering to Him.
Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the good news, the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the gospel.”
I’m trusting that God can help me unpack this text and what we just read this morning. And I wanted to just help you by laying a little bit of a foundation about what’s happening in this context. Israel is in an incredible state of awakening. God has been doing something through the prophet John. The Bible says that Jesus regarded the Prophet John as the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. And so, he rocks up, and he’s baptizing at the River Jordan and people are coming out of Judea and Jerusalem in the thousands to be baptized and to confess their sins while they’re doing that. I wonder what kind of meeting that was where they are all confessing their sins, again, baptized in water in the same time. And something was awakening in the hearts of Israel at the time, something was stirring in the hearts of Israel.
Whenever God moves, like He does in this context, it’s because He is awakening hearts. It’s not because we can make anything happen. The Bible says in the Gospel of Luke that all of Israel was in expectation because something of the spiritual climate was beginning to change. And I just want to make a quick moment and a prophetic point here. God is doing something in South Africa at the moment when a few months ago a million people gathered to pray. God is awakening something of the hearts of people. That didn’t just happen by accident. It means something is moving. There’s an expectation of breakthrough.
And whenever there’s a spiritual climate like this, where God is moving, particularly in Jewish context, whenever there was an awakening, the expectation was that Messiah would come, that Jesus Christ or the Christ would be revealed in that context. So there was this expectation, “Could the Messiah come? Could it be now that He would overturn the Roman Empire with all of its illegitimate authority? Could it be now that Israel would finally enter into the fullness of its promises? Could it be now that this Messiah King would usher in Shalom, the peace and the rule and the reign of Yahweh in this context?” And so, they’re expecting something to happen. And they’re going out of their towns and out of their cities into the wilderness to be baptized at the River Jordan for the forgiveness of sins.
Now, this is quite a wild moment because if you know anything about Jewish history, you’ll understand that the Jews thought they were God’s favorite, and indeed they were in that context. They were chosen by God to be a holy people. There was no expectation they needed forgiveness of sin. There was no expectation that they needed any help because they already had the favor of God on them. That’s what they believed. In fact, the sign for the men in that community was that they were circumcised. It was a sign that they were God’s holy people. They were God’s special people. And so, John is inviting people to get baptized for the forgiveness of sins. And the Pharisees are getting extremely frustrated because the audacity of John baptizing Jewish people as if they needed forgiveness of sin. It’s a wonderful picture that the law and all of your ability to keep law does nothing to actually restrain the heart from sin.
And to the ordinary people who began to understand something was lacking in their life realized that all their law-keeping, all their sacrificing, all the stuff that they were doing to try and get right with God was not working. There was a sense of, “I must be baptized because I know that I’m a sinner.” And the Pharisees missed that moment completely.
I find it fascinating that whenever Jesus deals with Pharisees, He does so harshly because He’s wanting to offend their mind to reveal what’s in their heart. And so, even John calls them a brood of vipers in this context. And the Pharisees missed the moment because they did not recognize what God was doing either in John’s day or when Jesus was on the scene. And one of the big things about the religious spirit that you’ll find, the ability to try and keep the veneer of good works externally but have no inward change, to keep the veneer of behavior modification but no heart transformation, is that it gets you into a program of works in religion. That means you always have to try and attain God’s favor and miss out on what God is doing.
One of the key signs of a Pharisaical spirit is that they will recognize what God has done in the past, they will look forward to what God will do in the future, but they will persecute the present moves of God. And so, in Matthew 25, Jesus addresses the Pharisees and He says, “You glory in your father Abraham, and you celebrate him, and you look forward to the resurrection when that day comes, but you persecute Me. You do not come to Me who has the words of life.” And the Pharisees miss out on what God wants to do in that moment because they don’t recognize their spiritual bankruptness and their need for John’s baptism.
And John is baptizing at this amazing river called the River Jordan. Now, the Jordan was a memorial to promise. It was a space where all of Israel knew this represented the promises of God. How many of you remember the stories of old when Israel had to pass through the River Jordan to get into their Promised Land? This was a moment, and you’ll see that at every juncture of Israel’s history, Jordan is very specific and very connected to promise. And so, John is inviting people into the river of promise with an expectation that somehow, someday, it will be fulfilled. And onto the scene walks Jesus.
And Jesus comes to John, and other gospel writers tell us that John says to Jesus, “I need your baptism.” And Jesus replies, “In order that scripture might be fulfilled, you need to baptize me.” And I’ve often wondered, why did Jesus need to be baptized if He wasn’t a sinner? Because the baptism that John brought was the baptism for sin and the forgiveness of sin. And I think there are a number of theological reasons, but one I wanna point to is this beautiful fact that Jesus literally is the fulfilment of all of Israel’s longing, of all of Israel’s promises, of all of Israel’s desires. And so, Jesus walks into the river of promise, and gets baptized, and gets immersed into the promise. And He comes out of the promise and the Bible says, “The heavens were torn open.” And in that moment, the validation of all of Israel’s longing is found in one person called Jesus because all of the promises of God are yes and Amen in Christ Jesus.
Congregation: Amen.
Julian: All that Israel was hoping for, the shalom that they’re hoping for, all got unveiled in Jesus. Indeed, it’s why John came as a prophet. He came to reveal the Christ. It says in one other gospel, it says that, “I would not have known this was the Christ unless I come to baptize.” The whole point of His baptism was a revelation that this, this one man, is the embodiment of all of the promises of God, and they are yes and amen in Him. It’s a beautiful, beautiful picture. And we see the heavens are torn open.
Now, I love where it says that the Father speaks over His Son. And I’ve said this before in this church, but I wanna say it again just because I really love it when I hear this. Jesus had done nothing significant for the Father. He hadn’t healed the sick, He hadn’t raised the dead, He’d done absolutely nothing that was of any significance for the Father other than lived His life up until the age of 30. And the Father says, “I am well pleased in You.” I’m so glad that our pleasure, that the pleasure that God takes in us is not based on what we can offer Him or what we can do. The pleasure that God takes in us is simply because He loves us. If you are not a Christian here today, and you’re trying to figure out how I need to make my life right with God, I’ve got good news for you. In Jesus, you’ve been reconciled to Him. God simply wants to pour out His pleasure on you. All you need to do is receive it.
Congregation: Amen.
Julian: That’s the good news. That’s the good news. And the Bible says something incredible. It says that the heavens were torn open. I love this because we sometimes think that God is reluctant in meeting us where we’re at. And since the Garden of Eden, where heaven and earth dwelt together in perfect harmony and in divine unity, the heavens have been shut. And since then, God has been on tiptoe until this moment to tear open the heavens. Not just to neatly open it and give you a little glimpse, “Here’s a little window.” Who wants a window or a door when God has torn open the heavens? Jesus is the King who tears open the heavens for us.
Now, an open heaven or understanding this dynamic is really important because in Hebraic understanding, in Jewish understanding, the concept of compartmentalizing the way we do in the West, which comes from a Greek mindset, is foreign to them. In a Jewish or Hebraic mindset, heaven and earth are intertwined. Heaven is the place where God dwells. It’s not just a postmortem place, it’s not the place we go to when we die, heaven is the other reality that is impacting this reality. And as Christians, our worldview is not separated dynamics of the spirit and the physical realm. It is an intertwined reality because we understand that everything that has been created on the earth was first created out of the unseen realm of heaven.
Congregation: Amen.
Julian: Amen. And so, we need to understand that when the heavens are being torn open, it was an unveiling of the realm that has impact and control over everything. You see, for the Jew, they understood that heaven is the place where God dwells. It’s a place where His throne is established. It’s a place where He utters decrees. It’s a place where He communicates His love from. It’s the place where angels dwell. It’s the place where saints of old who’ve gone ahead bow down and worship Him. This is the realm of heaven. It’s the realm of God. And that realm was torn open in the person of Jesus. And so, Jesus says, “Change the way you think because the realm of God’s favor, the realm of heaven, the realm of where God dwells is now within arm’s reach. The kingdom is at hand.”
Congregation: Amen.
Julian: And they would have understood something of the beauty of this moment. Because, you see, Israel and the prophets of Israel used to pray prayers like this, “Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? Only who has clean hands and a pure heart.” And they’d all look around all of Israel and there was no one who could do that. Jesus comes and the heavens are torn open. The beauty of the prophets in that they cried in Isaiah, “Oh, that You would rend the heavens, tear the heavens and come down.”
You see, God’s desire and God’s design since Eden has always been to be Emmanuel, God with us. In fact, God is so passionate about being with His people that even in the Old Testament, He confines Himself to a little box called the Ark of the Covenant. It’s the only time that you see God in a box and He says, “If you touch that box, you’ll die.” But He wants to be with His people. And in this moment, we see the beautiful picture of the Trinity as heaven is torn open, the voice of the Father, the Spirit descending upon the Son, God with us.
Congregation: Amen.
Julian: And the beauty is that the heavens will never, ever be closed because I’m in Jesus. Because if you’re a Christian, you’re in Jesus. It means that there’s never gonna be a day where the realm of heaven, the supernatural activity of heaven, will ever be shut off or shut down to you.
Congregation: Amen.
Julian: That’s good news. You’ve got free access just like Jesus had into the very dynamics of the supernatural activity of heaven. Do you know what the Bible says in the book of Colossians in chapter 3? That we are to fix our mind or to set our mind on the things above. I used to read that saying I need to fix my mind on Jesus. And in a sense, that’s true. But what that verse is saying is there is an activity in heaven that we can fix our minds on even where Christ is seated. And the beauty is, we’re seeking in Him.
Congregation: Amen.
Julian: You see, Jesus is the King who opens the heavens and opens the realm of supernatural activity to us.
Male: Awesome.
Julian: You see, this kind of supernatural activity changes everything. Many of us are just waiting to die to engage with that supernatural realm of heaven when the reality is you get heaven right here, right now. You’ll see the world immediately throughout the Gospel of Mark because He wants you to understand the kingdom is, here and now. Something that the dynamic rule and reign of God’s supernatural activity is now all over the earth and is within arm’s reach. You get to grab it. It’s beautiful. It’s cataclysmic. It changes everything when you begin to understand that. When we begin to get a grasp of the kind of supernatural activity, everything changes.
I find it fascinating that most people do not need to be convinced of the activity of the enemy. I find Christians and non-Christians find it easy to believe that there are things like demons and the demonic realm. And I find that most Christians have been so preoccupied with the demonic realm that they’ve forgotten there’s a whole realm of activity that happens in the supernatural that involves all sorts of angels, and miracles, and amazing things. I wonder if we should focus and set our mind on that realm a whole lot more than the realm of the enemy.
You see, the dynamic of the supernatural realm of heaven is not disconnected from earth. Many Christians compartmentalize things like body, soul, and spirit as if they are separate entities when actually they are part of an integrated whole, that they work together and impact on each other. And when you live in a worldview that connects the realm of heaven to your life and to your sphere of influence, everything changes. Because when you begin to understand the supernatural activity of heaven, you begin to expect healing.
So at Harvest, as a community, we are believing here and now for more healings. In Breakthroughs, in our first meeting, within 20 seconds, we saw 8 people put up their hands to a measure of healing. You can celebrate that, I’ll just wait for a moment, because our expectation is that the kingdom of God is here and now.
Congregation: Amen.
Julian: Our expectation is that the supernatural realm of God is breaking in on us because Jesus said we can grasp that, it’s an arm’s reach. We expect miracles. We expect breakthroughs. I love what’s happening in Mark chapter 1. It’s quite a wild one. You’ll understand that when the Bible talks about Jesus going into the wilderness to be tempted, it’s an allegory or an image of what happened in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were tempted in the Garden of Eden. Jesus is tempted in the wilderness. All of the writers are trying to draw a prophetic picture of what’s happening. And in the Garden of Eden, one of the things I love…don’t worry about the baby, that’s okay. We love babies at Harvest. We don’t mind them crying, it’s part of the deal.
I always love it how people think the Holy Spirit is gonna go when a baby cries. I promise you that the Holy Spirit is a dove but he’s not that scared. I mean, I’m scared of crying babies, but the Holy Spirit is not.
One of the things I love about what’s happening here is it says that Jesus was hanging out with the wild beasts in the wilderness. Have you ever read that? I mean, that is like a little throwaway comment that Mark is putting out there. The reason he’s doing that is because in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve would have hung out with lions and elephants and bears. They would have hung out with animals that were humongous and they would be in perfect harmony. And Mark is giving us a quick little picture of this new kingdom that’s breaking out, that even the disorder that is coming to creation, Jesus is redeeming. Man, alive, that’s amazing. Listen, we can expect authority over weather patterns.
Congregation: Yes.
Julian: I’ve been in a context where I had the joy of commanding a storm to pass over and for the duration of our conference or our meeting, it was an outdoor meeting, it did not rain over that area, even though it rained all around, because we now have authority even over nature. I know that’s wild but it’s true.
Congregation: That’s true.
Julian: I mean, Shekuabuzka right? Listen, we can expect the miraculous. We can expect unusual signs and wonders. I believe…oh, I’ll throw this one out very quickly. I am so looking forward to the day when rather than affirm natural disasters as the judgment of God, happy prophets will rise up and command those weather patterns to be changed around so that there is right equilibrium in the weather patterns as a sign of the blessing of God. I don’t get prophets who prophesy storms and impending doom because Jesus paid the price for all of the judgment that was against us. That one we insist for free and I know it offended someone, so God bless you.
We can expect multiplication of food miracles. I can think of three times in my family history. We grew up at times with relative need and we’ll often have to trust God for our food. I can think of times when angelic beings supplied food for us. I can think of times, one of the big things we used to do as a family, my mom and dad still do this, and it really taught us a lot about generosity, is that when we’re in need, we would give. That’s just how we lived our life. And if we didn’t have any money to give, we’ll give our food. And if we didn’t have enough food to give, we’d share our food.
And one of the things I loved is seeing my mom say, “Right. We do not have enough food even for our family of five, so we’re just gonna invite another family of five and have a meal together.” And God would multiply the food and we go all have seconds.
Congregation: Amen.
Julian: This is what it means to be part of a supernatural Kingdom. I mean, like, I don’t wanna settle for just, you know, a little bit of provision. I wanna see the incredible overflow, an abundance of the miraculous in what God’s doing. It’s what happens. We can expect this every time. We can expect dreams and visions. We can expect gifts and graces from the Holy Spirit. That’s what it means to be part of a supernatural open heaven Kingdom. This is what Jesus does, because from here on out, after His baptism, what follows Jesus? Miracles, signs, wonders, multiplication, dynamic demonstrations of the here and now Kingdom.
Oh, brothers and sisters, why settle for an ordinary, well, actually a not so ordinary Christian life when you can have the extraordinary? Not only that. We can expect angelic visitation and encounters. I mean, Jesus in this context, this is the Bible saying this, not Julian Adams, has angels ministering to Him. If Jesus needed angels to minister to Him, I’d like to suggest that we might need them too
Congregation: Amen.
Julian: It fascinates me, friends, that we so often expect demonic visitations in the night that we’ve forgotten there are more angels than there are demons. We should expect that more than often, and we should expect God to break in through the angelic. There’s a whole host of demilitarized and engaged angelic beings because we’ve not encountered them or entered into a partnership with heaven to expect them to move on our behalf.
The Bible says in the book of Hebrews that angels are ministering spirits sent to minister to those who would inherit salvation. I’m an inheritor of salvation that means I can expect angelic interventions or visitation. It’s in the Bible. And we start getting a little bit scared. There are only three warnings against angels in the New Testament, only three. And there are hundreds of scriptures about the angelic.
Listen, the angelic, and I’ll talk about those warnings in a moment, the angelic was so expected in the book of Acts, I love this, that when Peter is in prison and gets freed up by an angel, by the way, all right? He gets freed up by an angel. Peter walks up at the door of…I forget whose house it is. They’re all praying. And Rhoda, the servant girl runs down halfway, hears his voice, gets so startled that she runs back up and says to the guys, “Guys, Peter is downstairs.” And you know what their response is? They said, “It is only his angel.” I mean, that tells me two things. One, that we should expect guardian angels because the early church expected that. I’m just simply saying what the Bible says here. Not only that, they were so accustomed to angelic visitation, they were like, “It’s only his angel.” I’m like, “Duh, open the door, find…” I mean, I don’t get that. I feel like running downstairs, “Where is the angel? I wanna see.” But we become so fearful that we’re gonna miss Jesus in it that we forget that we should expect the angelic.
There are three examples of warnings against angels in the Bible. The first one is in Corinthians where Paul talks about true apostleship and what apostleship looks like. And he says, “Even if an angel, even if an apostle comes to you and says, ‘This is what it looks like,’ if it is contrary to what I’ve revealed to you, they are not true apostles because even the devil masquerades as an angel of light.”
The second one is quite a weird one. It’s in Galatians. And Paul is saying to you, “If an angel preaches a gospel to you that mixes law with grace, it’s a demon. He is literally saying, you can go read this in the book of Galatians, that any gospel that mixes your legalistic efforts to try and gain God’s approval is demonic in nature. He says, “Oh, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, who has brought you under a demonic spell when you mix your attempts at getting closer to God, when you try and obey any aspect of the law and the jury system of the law, and you try and live in that now, you are under a demonic spell because it’s all of grace, and that’s it, full stop. Nogal.
And then, the last one is in the book of Colossians. He says, “Do not get caught up with people who have all these images vainly puffed up and do not get caught up in those who worship angels.” I want to suggest to you it is really stupid to worship an angel. But I also want to suggest to you that the letter to John, who had an incredible revelation has an encounter with an angel and falls down and worships him or tries to worship him in the book of Revelation. And the reason is because they carry the presence of Jesus. It was so beautiful to him that he thought, “This could be Jesus I’m worshipping.” Now, a true angel would say, “I’m not Jesus.” But here’s the deal, friends. The angelic carries the presence of Jesus into our circumstances, and when rightly discerned, we get to partner with that.
I’ve heard some people say we shouldn’t pray for encounters with the angels, that we shouldn’t pray for visitation from the angelic. Well, Elisha the prophet prays for it. He prays on behalf of Gehazi who is overwhelmed by the things that he’s facing and he doesn’t know what to do. And so he says, “God open his eyes.” And immediately Gehazi’s eyes are opened to have an encounter with the angelic and he realizes that there are more with us than those who are coming against us. It’s good news. We can expect angelic activity in our lives. You can pray for it. You can expect it.
The Bible says in the book of Psalms that He sets His angels charge over us. I’m believing God for all sorts of manifested dynamics and expressions of angelic activity because when that happens, we get to give Him glory.
And here’s how you measure all of those things. It’s very, very simple. One, is it gonna cause you to love Jesus more? Do you want to live holy? The Bible says you will know them by their…?
Congregation: Fruits.
Julian: In 1994, there was an incredible outpouring of the Holy Spirit called “The Toronto Blessing.” By the way, that’s still going. The river is still flowing. I quoted the part that says there was all sorts of signs of people falling out, laughing, being filled with the Spirit. It was some of the meetings were pandemonium as God brought down…It was just credible. And people would say, “It must be the devil.” People use words like, “It’s the Kundalini spirit.” I didn’t even know where they got the Kundalini spirit from, but anyway, here’s the deal. If you are loving Jesus more, if you’re living holy, if you’re reading His Word more, how can that be of demonic inspiration? Because the devil would be real stupid to try and get you to love Jesus more, to read His Word more, and to live holy. It’s totally contrary to his nature.
I remember when in some of my meetings I got very offended by God. We have seen a lot of people receive gold dust on their hands, or on their faces, or on their clothes. And the first time that happened, I was like, “Jesus, I did not want these in my meetings. You know, how dare You interrupt my meetings with all this gold being pulled out?” And I remember trying to think now, “How do I measure these ways?” And you just need to use your brain sometimes. You know, that’s what the church often needs to do. If it’s in the Bible, in principle, we can receive it in experience, all right? And the reality is, friends, that not all truth is in the Bible, but the Bible is all truth.
The truth of aerodynamics is not in the Bible. You know, the truth of projectors and how light works is not in the Bible, but the principles are there in that God is the creator of everything. And so, when this gold dust starts to kind of pouring out, not any dust, I think it’s just a little bit of dust from the streets of gold, but anyway, I started to fear, “How do I measure this?” Then had to look to the fruits. Are there principles of this in the Bible?
Do you know there are some incredible manifestations of God in the Bible? I mean, if you read the book of Ezekiel, most of us will get freaked out by it because it’s outrageously full of incredible encounter. The principles are there. And so, what we’re looking for is, “Is this giving glory to God? Are we gonna live holy? Are we enjoying God more?” And two, “Does it connect with the heart of Scripture?” That’s very simple. It’s not very difficult. But we’re to expect these kinds of supernatural encounters. I think that’s good news, right? I’m so glad that the God of the angel armies are with me and on my side. They’re on your side too.
And Jesus gets baptized and the Holy Spirit comes down and rest upon Him because something is happening here in this moment as the heavens are opened. And John is intentional…sorry, the gospel writer of Mark, his intention is trying to contrast John with Jesus. And so, you see John saying, “I baptize with water, the one who comes will baptize in the Spirit.” He’s trying to help you understand that, “I’m coming to the end of my ministry and there is a new ministry coming.” And then, the gospel writer to Mark says, “And when John was arrested, Jesus began to declare, ‘My kingdom is here.’ It’s within arms’ reach.” It changed the way you think.
And I believe it’s very important for us to understand this, because Jesus came to establish a new way of being the people of God. He came to establish a new way of living a life in the person and the Spirit of God. And so this word “baptize” means to immerse, it means to marinate. It means to find your place in.
The beauty of being a Christian, friends, is that we’ve been immersed into the very life of the Spirit. And John came to declare this King. John came to declare this Messiah. But the Bible says, “As great as John is,” and you remember some verses in other gospels, like John saying, “I must decrease that He might…
Congregation: Increase.
Julian: …increase.” We sometimes use that to talk about how we need to become less of ourselves when actually that is not what that verse is saying. You see, friends, the beauty of life in the Spirit is that when the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in you, he makes you fully you.
Jesus became fully who He was in expression. He was always God, always man, but became fully who He was in expression when the Holy Spirit came upon Him. When flesh was empowered by the life of the Spirit, He could be fully God and fully human at the same time. I want to suggest to you that for us to be fully who God’s called us, we need the indwelling work of the Spirit. It’s not that we become less, because what John is referring to here is the fact that he, as the Old Testament law-based prophet, was now coming to an end because there was a new era being introduced in the person of Jesus. That way you had to repent for sin, there is now good news. The Heaven is open and accessible, and it comes by the Spirit.
Jesus…sorry, John says to Jesus, “I need Your baptism.” And Jesus says, “In order that might be fulfilled, you need to baptize Me.” And you remember Jesus said, “Anyone who is least in the kingdom is greater than John the Baptist.” You see, the reality is John never got to enter into the life of the Spirit like you and I do. And so, anyone since the ascension of Jesus and the outpouring of the Spirit is greater than John the Baptist because where John the Baptist got to reveal Jesus and got to show Jesus to the world, we now get to live in the life of Jesus by the Spirit and demonstrate who He is in a way that John could never.
Man, alive, that’s amazing. Do you realize you carry the Spirit of Jesus in you and on you? That where John only got a taste tester to try and forerun and try to show something, we now get to live in the reality of Jesus’ Spirit. Oh, brothers and sisters, that should make you really happy.
Congregation: Yeah.
Julian: You see, baptism in the Spirit or being filled with the Spirit, being marinated in the Spirit is not a one-time event, it’s a dwelling place. That’s why Ephesians 5, what I like to call the happy command in the Bible, says, “Do not get drunk on wine but be filled.” And it’s a continual verb. It means be filled. Be filled. Be filled again. Be filled some more, be filled some more, be filled some more, be filled some more. Be filled, be filled. Be filled, keep on being filled. Have a little bit more, drink some more, be filled, be filled, be filled, be filled, be filled again. And when you are again getting filled, be filled some more.
Congregant: Yeah.
Julian: It’s a happy command. Why don’t you just go ahead and be filled right now? Just drink from His presence right now. This is what it means to live life in the Spirit. And that opens up all sorts of things like speaking in tongues. I wanna encourage you if you’ve not spoken in tongues and you are a Christian, God wants to give you that gift free just because. Prophecy, joy. You see, the difference between Jesus’ prophetic ministry and John’s prophetic ministry is that John’s came saying…This is about the forgiveness of sins. Jesus came anointed with the oil of joy saying, “This about my Father’s kingdom you get to enter in.” That’s what it means to live under an open heaven. You see, the least in the kingdom now gets to enter into the life of the Spirit. Yeah, Harvest, we’re going after a supernatural community.
Congregation: Amen.
Julian: It’s gonna look different to an actual community because we are in super to the natural. And the thing about our natural or our supernatural, that’s God’s natural. We’re gonna live in the natural realm of heaven because it’s open to us.
Brothers and sisters, can I encourage you? This life in the Spirit is what provides assurance, it’s what provides power, it’s what provides love. It’s everything. In Him we live and move and have our being. We are expecting supernatural outbreaks. We are expecting supernatural breakthroughs because that’s just who our God is. I’m so hungry for more of that. And that’s what we’re going after. It might not always make sense, but it will always lead us to Jesus. What’s your expectation? Won’t you stand, please?
John is the last of the Old Testament prophets. The law has been fulfilled in Jesus. The prophetic ministry that Jesus introduces us to is one of the Spirit not of judgment. I’m so glad, it’s good news.
Your expectation today, brothers and sisters, is that God wants to fill you with His Spirit not with judgment or wrath. And I wonder if you’d lift up your hands because I want us to marinate just for a few seconds in the person of the Holy Spirit because he’s the empowering dynamic. I just wanna say this very quickly. The Bible says that Jesus was driven into the desert by the Spirit. If Jesus had to submit to the life of the Spirit, so do we. Some people are afraid that if we pray to the Holy Spirit we’ll dishonor Jesus. That’s just the spirit of stupid. Whenever you’re touching the Trinity, they’ll reveal each other because they can’t help but to reveal each other. They are not insecure.
And so, Holy Spirit, we invite you again. We release your presence, not because we have control over it, but because you are so eager to meet with us. And so I say be filled with the Holy Spirit. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Father, we thank you for angel armies that are already in this room waiting to work with us this week. We release angelic activity right now. We release the expectation of the supernatural Kingdom of God to break out wherever we go. And so, we say, come Holy Spirit. Manifest your presence all over this place. Release Your glory and Your grace right now. We release habitation right now over people and fresh baptism of the Spirit right now.
Oh, God is shaking it up right now. I can feel His presence in this place. There’s a shaking and a moving that’s beginning to happen right now. The power of God is breaking on upon many of you right now. There’s a dynamic of favor that’s being unlocked right now in you. We declare healing right now. We declare miracles right now. The supernatural Kingdom, the King who opens the heavens. We release the open heavens right now.
By Julian Adams
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January 3, 2025
We are living in a world of dramatic change. The relentless pace of development often leaves us breathless and exhausted. The demand for innovative ways of communicating, inventing, and staying ahead of cultural trends can feel daunting and demoralizing. It can push us into a space where we find ourselves trying to copy rather than be authentic, to imitate rather than create. This pressure can lead us to believe that we need to be more creative, and that our individual stories do not matter. But nothing could be further from the truth. Your story, no matter how small, matters and is powerful. One of the remarkable aspects of ancient manuscripts, like the Bible, is that they tell the stories of individuals whose lives may seem small and insignificant. Yet, God chose to make their lives a memorial of what He could do with a life that the world deems insignificant. The incredible power of the gospel is that it changes lives one at a time. God is as interested in the individual story as He is in redeeming the cosmos. The aim of the gospel is not just dealing with personal sin; it is about restoring individuals to a relationship with a kind Father. In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis beautifully said, "The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God." Justification addresses our standing before God, but our adoption invites us into a relationship with the Father. It allows us to partake of who He is and to live in a place of deep joy from who He is. Romans 3:23 reminds us that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Many of us forget that the work of salvation has turned this verse around. Through Jesus, we have been restored to the glory of God. One description of the word "glory" refers to the divine quality, the unspoken manifestation of God, and splendor. It is the revelation of God's intrinsic worth and beauty. Do you see that? We have been restored to His divine quality, splendor, and beauty. In a world where it can be easy to feel like just another face in the crowd, remember that your story is significant. Your experiences, your journey, and your voice matter. Embrace the unique narrative God has given you and let it shine. You are not just a spectator; you are a vital participant in God's grand story. Your authenticity, creativity, and individuality are valuable. As you navigate the rapid changes of our world, hold on to the truth that your story has power and purpose. God sees you, knows you, and has a plan for your life that is uniquely yours. Let us celebrate the beauty and significance of each individual story, knowing that together, we contribute to a tapestry of divine splendor and glory.
By Julian Adams
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July 17, 2024
Rejection is a powerful force that can shape the trajectory of our lives, often in ways we don't fully realize until much later. For me, this journey began in childhood. I was born with a cleft palate, which affected my ability to speak, and coupled with my passionate devotion to Jesus, I faced daily ridicule and rejection throughout my school years. My speech and my fervent faith made me a target, and I found myself isolated and misunderstood. Despite the rejection, something beautiful began to grow within me: a deep and abiding friendship with Jesus. Through profound encounters with the Lord, I began to walk in the prophetic. This newfound gift led me to public ministry, where I started releasing prophetic words. However, beneath the surface, I was carrying an immense amount of pain that I hadn't dealt with. This pain manifested as a lifestyle of performance, driven by the need for acceptance and validation. Though I was a new creation in Christ, I was living as if I were still bound by my old wounds. In Matthew 23:27-28 (MSG), Jesus describes the Pharisees as "manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it's all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you're saints, but beneath the skin, you're total frauds." These words struck a chord with me because I realized I was living like a professional Pharisee. Outwardly, I appeared to have it all together, but inside, I was disconnected from the healing process that God wanted to take me through. This disconnect had a significant impact on my prophetic ministry. My words, especially those concerning sin, were often harsh and unkind, reflecting my damaged perspective of myself and the world. It wasn't until I began to address my heart issues that my approach to the prophetic truly changed. God started speaking to me about the connection between my gift, my performance, and my worth. Through this process, He took me back to moments of pain and difficulty from my childhood and even into my adult life. In one profound moment, God said to me, "Son, I want you to grow up and be a child." This statement might seem paradoxical, but it revealed a crucial truth: the posture of the kingdom is one of childlike fascination and trust. My journey into sonship transformed how I viewed the prophetic and how I ministered to others. No longer driven by judgment and legalism, I began to approach people with love, kindness, and the heart of the Father. Understanding my identity as a beloved child of God allowed me to see others through His eyes. This shift not only brought healing to my heart but also enabled me to minister more effectively and compassionately. Rejection and pain had shaped my early years, but God's love and healing power brought me to a place of wholeness. This journey has taught me that dealing with our heart issues is essential for authentic and impactful ministry. As we pursue wholeness, we open ourselves to deeper intimacy with God and greater effectiveness in serving His people. If you find yourself struggling with similar issues of rejection, pain, or performance, I encourage you to invite God into those wounded places. Allow Him to heal and transform you, just as He did for me. Embrace the posture of childlike wonder and trust, knowing that you are deeply loved and valued by your Heavenly Father. In this place of wholeness, you will find the freedom to live and minister authentically, reflecting the heart of God to a world in need.
By Julian Adams
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July 21, 2023
In my years of teaching people the prophetic and how to hear God's voice, I've learned several practices that help people hear Him. Here are a few of my most helpful!
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