Conforming To The Image Of Christ - Pastor Taisha Locke

0:00 This is the message. This is the message tonight cuz I was up here. I was like, Lord, what do you want me to do? You know, I was a little bit scared to move. Y'all wouldn't know this, but tonight, you don't have to take your seats cuz they're staying with us. Cuz I just believe that God wants to do something so unbelievable in the hearts of his people tonight. I believe that God's desire in the earth in this hour is that his children would truly be conformed to his image. That they would not only carry his image, but that they would bear his name. That they would bear his name. And that everything that they do would cry holy. Every way that they respond cries holy. Every way that

0:47 they walk cries holy. Every way that they talk cries holy. every way that they parent and teach and prophesy and sing and beat on a drum and some keys would just cry holy. So the message tonight, y'all didn't know this, you're going to know it right now. I'm going to give you like a on the fly, okay? This on the fly because I know God still wants this word to go forth cuz I can just feel it in the atmosphere all around. This is what God wants to do tonight. Now listen, y'all know that I'm all about fire of the Holy Ghost. I'm all about miracles, signs, and wonders. But let me tell you something. None of that means anything without the glory of God on my life.

1:33 No, I don't think you heard me. It doesn't mean anything without the glory of God on my life. You see, because the glory of God will conform you to his image. I'm going to do this on the fly and I need you to stick with me because God desires to conform you to his image tonight in this house. So in second Corinthians chapter 3, Paul is writing to the church at Corinth and he begins to compare the old covenant to the new covenant and he begins to say to them that there was this former glory that was fading. You'll remember in the book of Exodus, the Bible says that when Moses came down off of Mount Si that he had to put a veil over his face until the glory faded. You see, Moses had a

2:19 glory that faded. We have a glory that remains that takes us from glory to glory. And you want to know what Paul said that was? Watch this. I'm going to find my place, y'all, cuz we were going through the whole thing. But maybe I'll just read it and then I'll just tell you. Let's just do that. So the word goes forth. Amen. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 says, "Do we begin again to commend ourselves or do we need us some others letters of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?" What Paul is saying is you see in these days they would like like write letters of recommendation and they would send them. You'll remember that Paul wrote one for Timothy before he sent him out. He wrote a letter ahead of him in the book of Phileiman and said, "Hey, he's coming to you." This is what they did in that

3:04 culture. And so he's asking the people, he's like, "Do you really need a letter of recommendation from me?" Paul was a spiritual father to them. And this is what he says. You are let our letter written in our hearts, known and read by all men. For you are prominently declared to be the letter of Christ prepared by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God. Not on tablets of stone, but on human tablets of the heart. You'll remember a couple Sundays ago, I referenced in the book of Jeremiah and also Ezekiel that God's going to take a heart of stone and he's going to turn it into a heart of flesh and he's going to write the law of God on our hearts by his spirit. Amen. This is what Paul is saying to them. In verse four, he says, "We have such trust through Christ toward God, not that we

3:52 are sufficient in ourselves to take credit for anything of ourselves." You know what Paul said? Paul said, "I was sent by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. I am an apostle of Jesus Christ and I think nothing of myself because nothing that I have to offer you do I get any commendation for. Don't put me up on a pedestal. You're going to be sorely disappointed." All right? It's the spirit of God. So Paul says to them, listen, you are the letter that is written on the heart. you how you are the walking living letter of Christ. This is what Paul's saying to them. And then he says this, where do we pick up?

4:38 Verse five. Verse six, who has made us able ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit. For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. In the book of Galatians, the Bible says that the law of God was a school master. In the book of Romans, it says that the law reveals our sinful nature to us. So what Paul is saying to them is that very thing. The letter of the law kills, but the life given by the spirit brings forth life. Are you with me? And so Paul is comparing the old covenant to the new covenant. In verse 7, he says, "If the ministry that brought death written and engraved on stones was glorious, was it glorious when fire fell on Mount Si? It was

5:23 glorious enough that Moses had to put a veil over his face, it was pretty glorious." So he said, "If that law that was written on engraved stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, the glory which was to fade away. How will, listen to this, how will the ministry of the spirit not be more glorious?" You know what the Bible says? The Bible says that the Holy Spirit will reveal all things of the scriptures to you. He will bring to remembrance the very word of God within you so that the word of God begins to conform you by the spirit of God into the image of God

6:09 under the blood of Christ. If you're with me, say amen. That's what the Holy Spirit does. Did you know that when Jesus walked the earth that the miracles, the signs, the wonders, the deliverance, the healing, the peace, be still, all of those different things? Did you know that? That was just an outpouring. He was the glory. I don't think you heard me. Jesus was the glory. He was God clothed in human flesh. He was the glory of God walking the earth. The glory was not the miracles. The glory was not the sign. It wasn't the wonder. The glory was Jesus himself.

6:54 [Music] Everything that Jesus did was an outpouring. It was an outpouring of being the very glory of God on the earth. This is why we need the glory of God. Not so you can look good. Let me just prophesy to y'all real quick. I'm fired up. The glory of God on your life is not for you to lay hands on the sick so that they shall recover. That was a commission. He commissioned you in Mark 16. He said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. Preach repentance to the nations. And in my name you shall cast out devils. You shall lay your hands on the sick and they shall recover. You

7:40 shall take up serpents. You can drink any deadly thing and it shall not harm you. That was not the glory of God. It was the commission on the earth. Okay. Help me, Lord Jesus. I'm not being mean. I'm just telling y'all. You think we're up here contending for the glory of God, for miracles, signs, and wonders. Oh, they'll just happen over an outpouring when the glory of God is in a house. But the glory of God is not for you to get a demon cast out of you. The glory of God is so that you can look more like him. Okay.

8:25 Oh, help me Jesus. All right. I don't remember where we were. We're just going to pick up. All right. was glorious so that the children of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, the glory which was to fade away. How will the ministry of the spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation is glorious, he said, if the law that condemned you is glorious, oh my gosh, the ministry of righteousness is much more exceeds it in glory. He didn't say your miracles, signs, and wonders exceed the law that condemned. He said that righteousness exceeds the law that condemns you in

9:12 glory. You want the glory of God on your life, then you need to learn how to live in righteousness. That's why the church is in a mess. I'm just gonna tell y'all like it is tonight. I told y'all a long time ago, I'm not here to make friends. Listen, the hour is short. We need to look up for our redemption draws nigh. And God is looking for a bride on the earth in this hour that will bear his name, that will bear his image, that will walk out in righteousness. And God is going to spew a lot of the church right out of his mouth because we think that being the accuser of the brethren makes us righteous. No, it doesn't. It puts you

9:59 in the glory of the law that condemned. Everybody's like, "I want the glory of God." Do you? Do you really want the glory of God? That has to change who you are. It has to change how you respond. It has to change how you treat people that you don't like. He said that it was righteousness that exceeds an even greater glory in your life. Okay, I'm sorry y'all. I still love you. I really do. Let me tell you something. We ain't got time to play games, y'all. This is not the hour to play games with a holy God. He is sitting on his throne and his heart is grieved at his children because

10:47 we want everything but the righteousness that Christ made us in him. Okay. Oh Lord, help me. I feel like I'm being mean. I'm not being mean. I'm just telling you what the Bible says. Amen. Even that which was made glorious had no glory in comparison to the glory that excels. You know what Paul said? That fire that fell on Mount Si, it does not even compare to the glory of God on your life that will conform you to his righteousness. It doesn't even compare to deliverance. It doesn't compare to miracles, signs, and wonders. Nothing compares to the glory of God on your

11:35 life that will conform you to his image. Nothing. Seeing then that we have such hope, we speak with great boldness, not as Moses who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look intently at the end of what was fading away. Instead, their minds were blinded. For until this day, the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the old covenant. The veil which was done away with in Christ. But even to this day when Moses is read, the veil is in their hearts. Listen, you have to understand Paul is writing the book of Corinthians to Judean Christians. These are Jews that

12:23 have professed Christ as the Messiah. And he's writing to them and he's writing to people who are believers in Christ and he's telling them that veil still remains to this very day and you are blinded by the veil. And the church everywhere out here walking around blind. I'm convinced that's why Jesus said so many time have eyes to see and ears to hear. Amen. He's like, "Y'all got to rip that veil off your face. I don't know what kind of glory you're living in, but I've been living in the kind of glory that makes me look not so good." Okay, let me let me tell y'all what happened. I'm going to tell y'all how this all came about. Are you ready? I'm

13:09 going to be nice for a minute. We were in Florida with the girls. And you know, if you've ever been in a hotel room and they have those magnifying mirrors for women, those things are garbage. No woman really needs that. You see every pore, every imperfection, every eyelash out of place, every eyebrow you should have plucked that you didn't. I don't know who ever decided that a woman needed that to get ready, but we don't. You can take them things right out of the hotel rooms cuz we just can't help ourselves. We look anyway knowing that we're going to see every imperfection on us. So, we're standing there and and there's this magnifying mirror and and we're like, "Holy moly, I didn't know I looked like that. My makeup looks better from far away."

13:55 Yeah. So, does the veil over your face. And Paul says in this context that the glory of God is like a mirror. And so now, every time I think about this, I think about that magnifying mirror in the hotel room that the closer you get to the glory of God, the more imperfections begin to show in your life, those pores that you've been oozing out on everybody, they look real big when you get in that mirror. And Paul said in this context, we use this for deliverance all the time. I'm just here to tell you tonight this is not a deliverance thing. Are y'all

14:42 with me? Paul says right here in the glory of God, for where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Freedom from what? All of the bondage that you've lived in. All of the disobedience that you've lived in. all of your discord and your division and your bitterness and your things that you sit on and you clothe them as honor, but it's still dishonorable in the eyes of God. Can I just give you a warning? You can take your dishonor somewhere else cuz God is not pleased. And when you get in the glory of God and that stuff begins to be magnified in your heart, you learn real quick what honor means when you're in the presence of a

15:29 holy God. And God said, "When you get in my presence and you get in my glory, my spirit leads to freedom for you to live righteous." That's what Paul said the spirit of the Lord is for. And everybody just wants to walk around. Well, she does the most. You absolutely. And I'm going to tell you why. I tell them myself all the time, "Y'all ain't got to worry about me. I'll tell you everything." Back in October, I was having a real hard time. People online, they like to say, "Oh, well, that's because God left you and oh, here she goes again." No, I was just in the glory of God, so mind your business. Amen. So, I sat my little self down in October right in the glory of God while

16:15 everybody around was telling me that God left me and God wasn't pleased with me. Well, you was right about that. He was not pleased with me. But he didn't leave me. He sent me his glory right there in the midst of his displeasing in the way that I had grieved his spirit. And he sent his glory to me in a in a bathroom floor. Y'all ain't ready. The glory of God hit me in a bathroom floor. And all of the sudden, I knew every single way that I had grieved the heart of God. And I had to sit in the glory of God knowing that I had grieved his spirit. And everybody's like, "Oh, but God left you. God wasn't with you." Oh, no. He very much was. He very much was.

17:00 Just cuz everybody doesn't want the glory of God like that, I welcome the glory of God into my life. I need the glory of God on my life or else I'm a poor leader. I'm a poor wife, a poor mother, a poor grandmother, and a poor friend. Without the glory of God on my life, everything I do is unrighteous. And Paul says to these people, "This glory, oh, it will take you from glory to glory to glory to glory to glory." And everybody's like, "Oh yeah, God, send the signs. Send the wonders. Send the miracles." And God said, "No, sit in my glory. Get conformed to my image or I will not open up heaven over this

17:46 warehouse." Y'all used to me bringing the feel-good words, right? This ain't a feel-good word, but I'm going to tell you what I know by the spirit of God. God desires to open up heaven over this warehouse. But first, he's going to conform you to his image. Because if he does not conform us to his image, and he does not teach uh teach us how to steward people well, then he can't send the people. So tonight, y'all thought I was just up here trying to be cute. No, I was just trying to get y'all into the glory of God. I was just trying to get you to sing how holy he was until you believed how holy that he is. I just want you to behold him for just a minute. And does it feel good? No. But

18:33 this isn't supposed to be a feel-good message. We serve a holy, righteous God who sits on the throne who is breaking the sills in this hour. And he's calling his church, his bride to be conformed to his image. And guess what? Once we get the glory, the outpouring just starts happening everywhere. Everywhere that you go, the outpouring of the Holy Ghost going to be all over your life. Everybody wants that, but nobody wants the process and the submission to the lordship of Christ in our lives to actually get in his glory. So that is oil, his oil, not

19:19 mine. His oil will overflow in the earth. So listen, that's the message. There y'all go. I gave you the Bible. Amen. Listen, we're going to go back into a time of worship and we're going to sing how holy God is until you believe how holy God is. Cuz I'm going to tell you something. I was out here doing the most in our tent days. Y'all ain't ready. I was out here doing the most in our tent days. Talking about I had the glory of God all over my life. No, I didn't. I had miracles, signs, and wonders. I had no glory. Do not mistake those things together. And it wasn't until I got into the glory of God that I realized that heaven could

20:07 open up for me because that veil was torn and I can boldly enter in to the throne of grace in my time of need and I can obtain mercy there. And God says tonight, you need some mercy from the throne room of heaven. You need to sit down and get real about some stuff with God so that his mercy, I said his mercy can overflow onto your life. Some of y'all listen, I love you, but you wear so much condemnation. You wear so much guilt and so much shame. And if you would just get in the glory of God for a minute, you would find yourself reconciled by the blood of

20:52 Christ at the mercy seat of the one who sits on the throne. And everywhere that you go, you'll have kingdom on earth. But you will not seek kingdom on earth without glory. It's not possible. That's why Jesus said when you pray, pray like this. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You can have the kingdom of God on earth if you'll lift up the name of Jesus. If you'll sit in his glory, if you'll tell him how holy that is, how righteous that he is, he'll conform you to his image. But you have to crucify yourself under

21:39 the lordship of Christ for the glory of God to burst forth in the earth in this hour. And God so desires to send his glory. God wants his glory on your life more than you want it. God's not mad at you. Come on. God didn't leave you. You out here living under the letter of the law that brings death. You brought death on yourself cuz you're too ashamed to go into the presence of God and let that word Oh, come on, somebody. His word is quick and powerful. It's sharper than any

22:25 two-edged sword. And it divides us under between bone and marrow. It's soul and spirit. And when you get in the word of God, in the presence of God, his word will cut you going in and it will cut you coming out. But it will always produce glory. It will always produce glory. Some of y'all just so scared to go to God. Like, can he forgive me? What? [Music] There is no sin taken you such as as common to man. He was then always tempted yet without sin because we couldn't be without sin. So he that knew no sin he became sin for us. He didn't

23:12 just take your sin he became your sin. So much so that when he hung on the cross, the Bible says that darkness flooded the earth and the father looked away from the son because he couldn't look upon the sins of the world that his son had became. And his blood, his blood is reconciled you back to God. So tonight, this is what we're going to do all over the house. We're going to let the blood of the lamb. I said the blood of the lamb speak a

23:58 better word for you than that of Abel. Come on. The blood is going to speak a better word for you. Y'all don't even know it, but we've been in the courtroom of heaven for about 45 minutes now. So, I'm going to need y'all to just press in real quick and go before the Lord and say, "Lord, I call upon the great cloud of witnesses that can testify on my behalf. And God, I shut the mouth of the accuser of the brethren that's before your throne day and night making accusations against the saints. And God, I ask that the blood of the lamb would speak a better word over

24:46 this house tonight. Come on, let your glory fall. Come on and let your glory fall. Come on. The blood is speaking a better word for you. Come on. If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God, let your glory come and make us righteous. [Music]

25:33 Come on. Let righteousness flood the earth. Baptize us in your glory. Conform us to your image. Conform us to your image.