Leon Fontaine - What's Your Superpower?
The Scripture refers to this a lot the hidden man. As I was trying to think of modern analogies for it, I was thinking about Spider Man. And how that he looks like every normal teenager at school. You wouldn't know a thing but there's a hidden secret about this guy. And if he has to he'll crawl up roofs, walls, spin webs, take down bad guys. Incredible strength like a spider. You know, probably ten times more, there's something that's hidden about this guy. Or, take a look at The Hulk. The, you know, and all these Marvel Comics and that people are fascinated with superheroes because there's a hidden man. Superman is Clark Kent, doesn't look like much. In fact, he's kind of this bumbling, you know, horn-rimmed glasses nerdy guy. And then all of a sudden, if there's a problem, he's Superman. You see it everywhere. Go pick on Wolverine, pick on whoever.
And we seem to thrive on these movies. Those movies had made billions and billions and billions of dollars. And kids from the youngest age are just fascinated with this. You're not looking at a person. You don't know that there's a hidden person that you don't know what you're going to get. I believe much of the cultures of today come from a desire and an emptiness and an awareness that is on the inside of people. That there's something more than they are. I believe that in every little boy, it's not just him wanting to be a hero. There's a sense of God on the inside of him. That makes him want to get up and just do the impossible and thrive on stories about that. And so let's take a look at this because sometimes when we teacher a principle and we don't go through the principle. We just lose something. And so the hidden man. That hidden man is actually the real you. All right? That hidden man the Bible calls it the old self. Then it talks about a new self. Then it talks about the hidden man of the heart.
It's using these terms and people don't notice them sometimes. But you are a spirit. You are not a body. You do not cease to exist. Funerals lost their horror to me when I recognize the body is the earth suit for the real person. It's the glove that slides on the hand. If you saw a glove laying on the floor, you wouldn't freak because it's not the hand. It's the glove that fits over the hand. And believers, the reason we have such hope is because the body is like a glove over the spirit. And your spirit man looks something like your body if you were to actually look at the Bible. So, what is a spirit man look like? He's not a blob floating around like Ghostbusters. It is, the body was designed over top of a spirit. And your spirit is so gorgeous, so beautiful that even if your mom's legs were too short and you got them and your dad's nose was too flat and you got it. Whatever your physical glove looks like on, your spirit is absolutely gorgeous. And when you get to heaven that, you know, you won't be able to rate anything. Everybody is, the spirit man is so alive, so full of life, so full of love, so full of joy, so full of peace, so beautiful in every way. And so the hidden man then is the real you.
Now, your mind is not you. It is, but I want to, let's get to the core of this. Your emotions are not you. When people begin to have emotional troubles. When they begin to have identity issues, mind issues. They often think and they'll use the word, "I am losing it". No, actually you're not. You're not. Your spirit's still full of peace, if you're a believer. Your spirit is still full of joy, if you're a believer. But you have got to use the biblical principles of reining in the emotional aspect and the thinking aspect, the imaginary aspect. You can use your spirit to heal the physical body. You can heal. So we are a spirit. We are the hidden man, okay? And that hidden man is so stunningly powerful that it was made in the God class. But religion wants you to think you're made in the animal class. We're just one of the things walking the planet.
Then when I say, "Well, I'm actually in the God". Oh, whoa, whoa. That is so arrogant. That is so proud. Well, listen to me. Cats have kitties. Dogs have puppies and I'm God's kid. So how do you even handle that one? So the hidden man of the heart. That's the real you. Now, as we look at this, I want you to stay with me because there will be a revelation that'll take place on the inside. It'll cause you to walk in a way that you should. Because as you learn the worth God, and I'll show that to you. You begin to dominate the exterior with what the interior has. It's just that most people identify with their failures, their emotional disruptions, their physical body, their legal position, their history and its achievements. And none of those things mean a nothing when you go through the Bible. God delight in picking up the most scared guy on the backside of the desert named Gideon. And he was the wimpy of all wimps. And then taking him and using him. So the hidden man is the real you.
Now, the old self whenever you see that term. That is your spirit devoid of God's Spirit. That's the old self. The Bible would talk about put off the old man. That's the old self. Did you know that Adam when he fell got born again. Adam and Eve when they sinned in the garden and tremendously disobeyed God. They were born again in reverse. Their spirit was filled with the presence of God. And they were now born anew with the spirit and the nature of death, of sin and death, of doubt and fear. And so that born again experience was so dramatic, that when God showed up that day, he hid, trembled, didn't even know. He was just so filled with fear. And so the old self when you go through the Word is a human being, okay?
Now, when I use the word human, you keep thinking body. But I'm talking human spirit. There's human spirits, angelic spirits. There's God who is a spirit. And you are a spirit. And so the old self in Adam, we call the old was born into spiritual death. He, his spirit was in fellowship with the dark kingdom. And every person who's not born again today, their spirit is. Now that freaks some people out and it bugs some people. But I don't care because I have to be true to the Word of God. That doesn't mean people are evil. It doesn't mean that people are all killers. It doesn't mean moms aren't going to protect their kids, and dads aren't going to protect their families. It doesn't mean couples can't fall in love. No, no, no, no. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying, the part of you that was designed to house the very power, presence, and ability of God lost it.
And so now this darkness, this emptiness, this void is in real close proximity and fellowship with doubt, very in fellowship with unbelief, very in fellowship with fear, very in fellowship with looking after yourself, finding yourself, self-centered, etcetera. And so because of that, if you look at the history of mankind, then you go from Genesis on. You are going to find the most horrible things you could imagine. In fact, if I was just adults present, I could take you on a journey that would just about make you gag, as to what communities and societies looked like in the Old Testament. The world was so brutal. Women weren't respected. Kids weren't respected. Most men could kill either and never be held accountable for it and the list goes on. And then they worship God's that required child sacrifice, babies, I mean, it's just gross.
Now, I want you to know that. Just give you a sample. Why? Because the hidden man got born again. The real Adam got born again in the garden and his spirit man lost the presence of God. And he became connected to the spirit of darkness and all of the junk that goes with it. So this makes it impossible for a person who does not have a new self to understand the Word, because the Word isn't just a mental exercise in rules. The Word of God is a revelation to the heart of a human being that allows him to use faith that heals, that moves mountains, that they can walk on water. And this is where people start freaking out. They kind of go, "We don't see that today". Oh, we see a lot of miracles today. They're just never put on TV. You don't see them taken and people don't even know whether to believe them or not. But 1 Corinthians 2:14, says, "A person who does not have the spirit, does not accept truths that come from the Spirit of God". That person and thinks that they're foolish. And they can't understand them because they can only be discerned by the spirit.
So until your spirit man is alive with the presence of God. The Bible is an exercise in how to start a country and it's brilliant. Ten Commandments and all the laws have started the greatest countries the planet has ever seen. Okay, Judeo-Christian principles. The legal system of Canada, America, South Africa, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and others. They have a biblical based legal system. Now, you can go to Muslim countries. You can go to other countries with different religions and they'll have a different base of law. And how women are treated, men are treated. How your bank accounts are treated. Your money is treated. How you will defend yourself or not depend. How much power a leader has. Is it a democracy? Is a Republican? I mean, it gets complex.
So I just want you to understand that that if you are not born again, where the hidden man has the spirit of God in him. You can argue the Bible till you're blue in the face and that's not what it's doing. It's not just an information and a mental exercise of reasoning. It is a person that can't explain what's going on in them. But they will walk through that and they will not be taken out. They'll go through a storm. That people take their own lives, lose families, everything else, quit, etcetera. And they won't even be moved. And you go, "Where do you get this confidence"? Confidence comes in the very presence of God. Paul has an interesting looked at this. Before Paul was born again, he says in Acts 23:1, something stunning. He says, "Then Paul, looked earnestly at the council, and he said to Sanhedrin, 'Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until today'".
What did Paul do? Murdered. He captured women and children, took them to jail for following Jesus. His conscience was clear? Are you kidding me? Well, you see, conscience is the voice of the spirit. And so being in his old self, which was in relationship to the kingdom of darkness, doubt. He could do these things in good conscience. But when he gives his life to Jesus Christ, and then old self becomes the new self. The hidden man, the spirit, makes this born again experience from the darkness to light. This incredible love wakes up. And there's things you can't do.
Now, it doesn't mean that people without Christ don't have a sense of right and wrong because it's trained into their minds in society. But I can take you to a society and look at history where people are trained that normal, normal is death, killing. You know, accept torture, etcetera. And they're totally fine with that. Take a look at every nation and its history. And so we can teach it into the mind. We can teach it into the emotions. We can kind of touch the subconscious. So that a culture has a sense of rules and what is right and wrong. But Paul is not saying that he's talking about something deeper, in good conscience he did all these bad things. But once your spirit man comes alive, something changes.
And so when you, when you become born again, there's a nature change. And this hidden man becomes alive with confidence, alive with a sense of belonging, alive with a sense of peace, joy, powerfully energized. That's the new man made in the likeness and the image of God. Now, the development of this new man, this new creation is the nature of the Father taking over your life. God always deals with the spirit of man. Always deals with the spirit of man. He doesn't talk to your senses. He doesn't talk to your body, your emotions, your mind. He deals with the spirit of man. And this is something people don't get. They think they're full of faith when they feel good. And they think the faith is gone when they feel, feeling mighty low. It has nothing to do with it. Once I'd, once I recognize that I could be emotionally up and down a little, and not that it wouldn't wreck my faith.
And when I understood the process of faith, the farming of that end result. Then I found that my emotions were easier. But if I had this fear that, "Oh, I had just a thinking of thought. Oh, I just got a little bit angry there". And you think I'm finished. I'm done. And now there's some truth to that to people who won't, who will not renew their mind with the Word. Because renewing the mind, it means renewing your mind, your thinking, your emotions, your imagination, your dreaming of the future, etcetera. When Adam was thrown out of the garden, his spirit man, he had a born again experience that went first the most incredible love to the most brutal fear and doubt. Now he lived in a world that now was against him. In the garden with his spirit alive, no animal could touch him. No animal tried because man command who was the dominating dominion factor on the planet. The animals walked in love. It was a spirit and a culture of love even on the planet. But when the nature of man changed, the nature of the animals around him changed.
Now, there's different sciences that say different things. But that means that he now had to protect himself from marauding lions, animals, snakes, poisonous snakes, of things that would kill him. But his spirit man where the spirit of God was, which gave him incredible dominance and it gave him a perception to know things was gone. So he developed an ability to use his five senses. He had to see clearly. So he didn't lose his life. He had to hear very keenly or an animal would take advantage of him. His taste would tell him what was good to eat. He would touch things to know if they were hot or cold or sharp or bad. He could smell things and warn off what was up wind, a fire, or etcetera. So he became, he had this massive training now in using his five senses to run his life because before he was spirit.
So his five senses weren't used as much as in leadership. His five senses were submitted to his spirit. Which is how we must learn. That's why as you stay in God's Word, this will happen to you. Now, you can get there. So his spirit which was not... when I say his spirit was dead, we don't mean he didn't have a spirit. We mean God's Spirit wasn't in his spirit. But he was connecting to the spirit of darkness. The Psalmist says it this way, "Bring my spirit out of prison". In Psalms 142:7, because there's this knowing that something within me is bigger than my five senses. And it's this cry that mankind has always had a cry for liberty. This cry for freedom down through the ages. That made men, brilliant men that you can look in the 18th century, 17th century, the 16th century and today, who are so brilliant in areas of science and music.
And yet when you study their personal life, they're so messed up because there's this thing on the inside that is empty of the presence of God. And because it is empty of the presence of God. They become philosophers. They just feel like what pleasures do I need to balance my stress out with. At night time they can't sleep. They stare at the stars. They just don't know where they fit in. They feel lonely. They feel abandoned. They have an orphan's heart. They connect so easily to doubt, to heartbreak. Why? Because their spirit man is connected to the kingdom of darkness. John 8:36, says, "If the son therefore shall make you free. You shall be free indeed".
In John 8:32, it says, "You shall know the truth. And it's the truth that makes you free". Understand that when Holy Spirit begins to take the truth of the Word, and cause it to penetrate your heart and plant in your heart. And you begin to meditate and speak it and prophesy to your life and your future. I can't believe how few people prophesy to their future. That they, it's just, I'm stunned by it. You ought to know the truth. This truth, Holy Spirit reveals it to you. And He doesn't reveal. We can peek when He reveals it to my mind. No. Your mind will get things when it's renewed. But your spirit perceives things when Holy Spirit reveals things to it.
And people will often ask me, "How did you know that guy had that cancer? How did you know that person's going to try kill"? I just knew those things. How did you know? I can't explain it to you because if I could, I could give you five steps. And then we're moving out of spirit into mental. We're moving, you know, into mental ability. Now, I can show you how. I connected to God using the Bible. But this sensing of my spirit man which is now connected to the Spirit of God. And the Holy Spirit is omnipresent. He's everywhere and He's now within me and He gives me, shows me, all of us, every one of us, the things that we need to know. It took Adam over 900 years to die. Because of the influence of the spirit of life that was in him. After the flood, I think we're down to a 120. And that's fantastic if we make 120. You go, "You a 103"? Now, and were amazed by it.
So 1 Corinthians 2:14, says, "The natural man receives not the things of the spirit. For they are foolishness to him". Don't forget that. That you have a hidden man of the heart. That has abilities beyond anything your Daddy showed you, your Mommy showed you, your coach showed you, your football techniques got you. The skillset that's in your body. The skillsets that's in your mind. You could be good with numbers. You might be good with your hands. Okay, those are great physical. Those are all blessings and wonderful. That is not what I'm talking about, when I talk about the hidden man. In closing, in Ezekiel 11:19, it says, "Prophetically of the future where we are, I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you. I'll take the stony heart out, and I'll give you a heart of flesh. So that they can walk in My statutes, keep My ordinances. They'll be My people, and I'll be their God".
I want you to notice this word. I give them one heart. Nothing can touch the body of Christ. Here's something you need to understand. Church is people who are mostly born again. They have one heart. They have such an incredible ability to love each other. Now, this love means to value. It doesn't mean to be a doormat. It doesn't mean, you know, a steel sharpens steel. So one man sharpens and they'll confront you if you're out of the line. They'll do it with such love and hug you. That you just know you have to accept it. So the church of Jesus Christ has one heart. There's something about the love of the saints that come together. This valuing of one another. That if your job isn't valuing you. If your paycheck is not valuing you. If the government is not valuing you. If your mama ain't valuing you. You come to church and the Spirit of God here will touch you. And this one heartedness that God has placed in His church will touch you. We need to rise up and we begin to find great churches again.
So that we can, the world can look at us and go, "How do you belong to that club"? It's not the Knights of Columbus. It's not the Elks. It's not the mama's soccer team. It's, what is this? You almost kind of use the word church because it's just almost a curse word today. And you say, "It's the family of God filled with His love and ability". And remember that 2 Corinthians 4:16, "Although the outward man is perishing, the inner man is being renewed day by day". He's growing. And so allow the presence of God. Understand some of these things and you will treasure church, the Word. You'll treasure pastors that teach the Word. You'll treasure a wife, a husband beyond belief because it's not, you know, that they meet every little need. It's what you bring together. If one who put a thousand to flight. Two will put ten thousand to flight. And I want that to sink so deep in this message today. That you value the Spirit of God and the family of God.