WEBVTT

NOTE
Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver
Episode: Advance Guard
Publishing Date: 2018-10-07T06:00:44-07:00
Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca
Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/advance-guard/

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The message is really good though.

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Heidi, the teaching is really good.

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Okay.

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No.

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Takes all kinds.

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Alrighty, so guys today we talk about this idea

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of being an advanced guard.

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And last week when we were here,

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day after day, we talked about what an apostolic people are.

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I just want to remind you of what they are.

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Apostolic people, apostolic people

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are those that while pressing

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while pressing

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towards

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maturity,

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while pressing towards maturity,

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are actively engaged, are actively engaged

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in the proclamation and demonstration of the gospel.

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And demonstration of the gospel,

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proclamation slash demonstration of the gospel.

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Two, in the establishing of churches.

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And three, in appointing

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and entrusting.

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These churches to leaders.

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I remember when we first talked about

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what an apostolic people look like.

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I remember saying that an apostolic people

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are people that are set apart to be sent

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to represent them accurately.

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And that was sufficient for then.

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And this was more than six years ago

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when we talked about it.

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We said an apostolic people are people

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that are set apart to be sent to represent him accurately.

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And so how do we represent him accurately?

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And that's what we're talking about here.

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When an apostolic people are those that

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while pressing towards maturity,

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meaning we never lose sight of the fact

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that we need to keep maturing

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so that we conform to the stature of Christ.

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So that is never set aside.

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While we are pressing towards maturity,

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we are actively, not passively,

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but actively engaged in three things.

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One, the proclamation, the demonstration of the gospel

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through our lives and through our words.

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Two, once that happens in the establishing of churches,

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so all these cities and places we showed on the map

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is not just to go there and have a crusade and come back,

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but to then do something by establishing churches there.

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Once you establish one, it starts multiplying.

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And then the next thing is to appoint

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and entrust these churches with leaders

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so that they can function on their own.

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In a sense, that has been what has happened at Vernon.

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That has been what has happened at Bahrain

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and three different churches.

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That has been what has happened to an extent in Mongolia.

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So it's not that we haven't done this,

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but we're getting more and more intentional

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about what we do,

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because we understand what we're doing.

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And so stumbling around doing things that were right,

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but not knowing what we were doing.

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So that then is what an apostolic people is,

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which means that every church has the opportunity

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to be apostolic, and it has nothing to do

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with being apostles and prophets and teachers.

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It's just the nature of the church.

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But to be like this, you have to be a different kind

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of people, and the Bible uses a word for them.

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In Hebrews 6.20, it calls them forerunners.

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Forerunners.

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And Christ was a forerunner.

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Christ is called the forerunner there.

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And that's the idea of advanced God.

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To be a forerunner is to be someone who goes in advance.

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And here the word God is not a sentry or a security person.

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Advanced God is the guy who go ahead to pave open the way.

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That's the idea of the advanced God.

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And so if you go to Hebrews 6.20,

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Hebrews 6.20, it calls Jesus Christ a forerunner.

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And if they call the head the forerunner,

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then we must learn how to be forerunners too.

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So Hebrews 6.20, where is 20?

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Yeah.

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Yeah, we have this hope, starting at verse 19.

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We have this hope as an anchor for the soul,

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firm and secure.

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It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain

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where Jesus who went before us has entered on our behalf.

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And the actual word used there is this idea of

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he who goes before us and has entered on our behalf.

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That whole idea is this advanced God or forerunner idea.

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He who goes before us and has entered on our behalf.

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And so what God wants us to become then

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are people who go ahead and enter

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so that others can also follow.

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To go ahead and enter on behalf of others.

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This has to be not something we wear or put on

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or see as a duty.

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This must become a lifestyle.

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And I assure you that this is in the core DNA of Acts 29.

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Right from when Acts 29 was conceived

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and there were just two people in a warehouse,

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not even a warehouse, it was the office of the warehouse.

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And in that place when we first started,

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we still had this idea that the nations were given

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to us to explore.

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In the very core of this church is this essential DNA

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of being ones who go and break something open

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so that we can enter in and those that are coming

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can then follow.

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And that hasn't changed.

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All these years it's been there.

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That's part of the reason why this church

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may not be the best for everybody.

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Because God has different traits for different churches.

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We'd be miserable at social work.

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We've tried that.

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I remember getting toothpaste and socks and gloves

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and giving it to certain people at Acts 29

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to distribute for Christmas.

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And they did distribute it two Christmases later.

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It wasn't even Christmas, it was the middle of summer

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and they couldn't understand why nobody wanted the gloves.

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So some things we are not very good at

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but certain other things we are really good at.

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And one of the things that they didn't understand

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and one of the things that this church is meant to do

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is be forerunners.

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And so here are some of the,

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and please understand it must become a lifestyle.

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And what do I mean by it must become a lifestyle?

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It must become something that you are on Sundays,

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Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays,

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Fridays, Saturdays.

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It is not something that is limited to Christian activity.

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It becomes part of everything you do.

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Forerunner is when you enter something

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on behalf of others,

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you go ahead and you enter in.

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You do the hard work of entering in.

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You develop a forehead like Flint.

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You become someone who is willing to take the risk

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of looking foolish, of not having anything but going in.

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It becomes a lifestyle.

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And please understand that if you believe this,

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then you will find it becoming your lifestyle.

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So here are some of the characteristics

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of the advanced God one.

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And it doesn't matter whether you,

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please remember this is not about going to nations

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or stuff like that guys.

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This is about opening things up for people

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so that others can follow in different areas.

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It could be in marriages, in single people's lives,

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in homes, in healing, in casting out demons,

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in going to the nations, in being hospitable.

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Every area, God will allow forerunners

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to model a prototype that others can then look at

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and say, aha, now it has become easier

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because you've shown us how.

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That's the whole idea.

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And therefore that will become a lifestyle.

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It doesn't matter what age you are.

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You've got to think like that.

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Because this is, I remember Pastor Mike coming here

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ages ago.

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Derek had just joined the church

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and Derek was trying to figure out in his mind

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whether he should continue at Acts 29 or not.

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He was at UBC asking him to join their churches.

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And he was sitting there and Pastor Mike said these words.

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He said, some of you should know

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that you did not come here by accident,

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that God brought you here to be joined

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to a certain kind of people

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and this is the place that you now must put your roots in.

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And Derek heard that and he decided,

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okay, this is where I'm going to stay.

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And had that not happened,

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we wouldn't have had this wonderful guy, John here.

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That was the moral of the story, Don.

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It was not about Derek.

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He's in Liverpool watching a game on Sunday.

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So here's the thing about forerunners or advanced God.

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Their entrance opens the way for the faithful to follow.

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Their entrance, their entrance opens the way

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for the faithful to follow.

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Their entrance opens the way for the faithful to follow.

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So it doesn't matter whether you're a businessman,

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whether you're a IT guy, whether you're an engineer.

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Doesn't matter, this is how you think

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that my entrance will allow others to follow.

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And if you don't have a forehead like Flint,

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get someone else in the church who has a forehead like Flint

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and bang his head against the wall.

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Really?

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I mean, if for instance, Don doesn't have a forehead

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like Flint, because he is still tentative

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and he's only 24 and is learning the trick,

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then you pull Jeevan out and you say,

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Jeevan, Don will walk with you, but you go hit the wall.

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And now when he breaks this wall,

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now Don has the strength and the courage to run with him.

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This is how it works, guys.

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A Timothy or a Titus don't happen

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till a Paul breaks open the wall.

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And so if you don't think you are there yet,

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find someone who is there and bang his head against the wall

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and then run with him.

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When you start playing the guitar,

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your fingers hurt like crazy.

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But after a while, these fingers develop a callus

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that is so hard that now it's like a wall.

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And then you run with him.

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And then you run with him.

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A callus that is so hard that now it doesn't matter

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what you do, it doesn't hurt.

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Same principle, some, because you have been doing this

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for a while or because you are seasoned at it,

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you've developed a forehead like Flint.

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When you bump into a wall, the wall breaks first.

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And there are different walls allotted to different people.

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Some have financial walls allotted to them.

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Some have spiritual walls, demonic walls allotted to them.

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Some have marriage walls allotted to them.

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They have the ability to bring down these walls quickly

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because they've learned how.

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And so, and guys, here are the things we must do.

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If you are going to enter to open the way

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for the faithful to follow, get your arsenal ready.

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What do you have in your quiver?

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Is it a machete?

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Because sometimes you can't break down walls

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until you get aggressive and take out the sword

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and begin to cut through the bush

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so that you can pave a way for others to follow.

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Other times, it's not that way that you enter.

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The Bible says that you can open your pathway

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into the palace of kings with your gifts.

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So you use your gifts.

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It says gifts will bring you before kings.

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You use your gifts.

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Sometimes it's not gifts,

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it's simply your connections in the world.

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Do you know a Nebuchadnezzar?

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Do you know a Xerxes?

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Do you know Pharaoh, a Herod?

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Do you know one of them?

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Well, they will open the door for you.

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Or a Cyrus.

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These are the, or an Abimelech.

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Doesn't matter.

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Know that you are sometimes placed in the world located

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not just to make money, but to make money

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and to have power or a say in the corridors of power.

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God uses different methods, man.

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One of the things that gets me before kings

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is the giftings I have.

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Especially the prophetic has brought me before kings,

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governors, people, just simply through a gift.

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Other times it's a machete.

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Second point.

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The advanced God enters behind the curtain.

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It says in Hebrews 620,

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the advanced God enters behind the curtain.

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Enters behind the curtain

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into the presence of God.

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Into the presence of God.

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The advanced God enters behind the curtain

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into the presence of God.

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Hebrews 620 talks about it.

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How he entered the inner sanctuary behind the curtain

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where Jesus went before us

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and has entered on our behalf.

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You have to learn how to do that

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because people do not benefit

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till you have had an encounter with God.

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People do not benefit till I have had an encounter with God.

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It is the scariest responsibility that I have

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because I can preach well, I can sing well,

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I can lead worship, I can do so many things

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because I'm gifted.

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But giftedness won't necessarily help you.

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What will help you is if I have regular encounters with God,

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then you will be helped.

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And if that applies to a pastor and the church,

00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:12.040
then it also applies to you and the rest of the world.

00:15:13.400 --> 00:15:14.640
Enter behind the curtain.

00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:21.920
Because one thing that really helps people when,

00:15:21.920 --> 00:15:24.400
helps you in any circumstance

00:15:24.400 --> 00:15:26.840
is when you know his favor.

00:15:26.840 --> 00:15:28.840
See, what sustained Joseph?

00:15:28.920 --> 00:15:30.320
What sustained Joseph?

00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:31.160
Favor.

00:15:32.360 --> 00:15:34.480
Joseph was sustained by favor.

00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:36.240
What sustained Job?

00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:37.080
Favor.

00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:42.040
What sustained Moses?

00:15:42.040 --> 00:15:42.880
Favor.

00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:49.160
So much so that in Exodus 33, Moses says,

00:15:49.160 --> 00:15:50.000
Oh God,

00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:54.320
if I have found favor in your sight,

00:15:55.800 --> 00:15:57.480
please show me your ways

00:15:57.520 --> 00:15:58.760
that I am a know you

00:15:58.760 --> 00:16:00.160
in order to find favor in your sight.

00:16:00.160 --> 00:16:01.240
I love that.

00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:03.360
Guys, I'm just gonna deviate for a second

00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:04.760
to this thing called favor.

00:16:04.760 --> 00:16:08.800
Favor is God's demonstrated delight.

00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:13.440
Favor is God's demonstrated delight.

00:16:15.040 --> 00:16:17.560
The word grace comes from the word cane,

00:16:17.560 --> 00:16:22.560
which again means favor that a superior shows an inferior.

00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:26.240
By stooping down, God shows his grace or his favor.

00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:27.640
It's also called hesed.

00:16:30.400 --> 00:16:32.040
All these words are so connected,

00:16:32.040 --> 00:16:35.080
but basically it means God's demonstrated delight.

00:16:35.080 --> 00:16:35.920
And so,

00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:40.440
it's not that his favor is absent,

00:16:40.440 --> 00:16:42.720
but you will not know his favor

00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:45.200
till you go behind the curtain

00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:48.720
and realize, ah shucks, here is the presence of God

00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:50.880
and here is the presence of God.

00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:54.000
Presence of God and here is the place of favor.

00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.640
Joseph was constantly aware of it.

00:16:56.640 --> 00:16:58.440
This is why wherever he went,

00:16:58.440 --> 00:17:00.680
it says, and the favor of God was upon him

00:17:00.680 --> 00:17:01.840
and the favor of God was upon him

00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:03.280
and the favor of God was upon him.

00:17:03.280 --> 00:17:05.880
It sustained you during really difficult times.

00:17:05.880 --> 00:17:10.640
And if I can realize this, I can handle walls.

00:17:12.600 --> 00:17:14.760
And so, how do you stay in favor?

00:17:14.760 --> 00:17:16.320
And that's such a cool,

00:17:16.320 --> 00:17:17.760
I know we've talked about it before,

00:17:17.760 --> 00:17:19.360
but here's what Moses says.

00:17:19.360 --> 00:17:24.360
I have found favor in your sight.

00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:29.920
That's where we all begin.

00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:31.920
There is nobody in this room right now,

00:17:31.920 --> 00:17:33.280
nobody in this room.

00:17:33.280 --> 00:17:34.200
Just think of that.

00:17:34.200 --> 00:17:36.120
What a marvelous people we are.

00:17:36.120 --> 00:17:37.280
And we are a marvelous people

00:17:37.280 --> 00:17:39.240
because of a super marvelous God.

00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:40.840
There is nobody in this room right now,

00:17:40.840 --> 00:17:42.320
not one person in this room

00:17:42.320 --> 00:17:45.240
who cannot start with this sentence.

00:17:45.240 --> 00:17:47.920
This sentence applies to everybody in this room,

00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:51.920
that I have found favor in your sight, period.

00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:52.880
That is established.

00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:54.800
There is nobody missing in this.

00:17:54.800 --> 00:17:56.920
You don't have to do anything to get in here.

00:17:56.920 --> 00:17:58.480
It had nothing to do with you.

00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:02.480
This was not a choice God made on your merit.

00:18:05.320 --> 00:18:06.840
So this is where everybody starts.

00:18:06.840 --> 00:18:07.680
Moses starts here.

00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:10.960
He says, I know that I have found favor in your sight.

00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:15.960
Then he being smart says, show me your ways.

00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:22.000
Exodus 33, verse 13, show me your ways.

00:18:25.120 --> 00:18:26.440
Show me your ways.

00:18:28.800 --> 00:18:30.400
Please show me now your ways.

00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:35.400
And then he tells God why, that I may know you.

00:18:42.280 --> 00:18:43.640
Why?

00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:48.680
So that I can continue in your favor.

00:18:55.360 --> 00:18:57.680
Show me your ways so that I can continue

00:18:59.400 --> 00:19:01.000
to find favor in your sight.

00:19:01.960 --> 00:19:03.680
Everybody today gets a chance

00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:05.440
to start with this first sentence.

00:19:06.600 --> 00:19:10.880
And then the next sentence is, oh God, show me your ways.

00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:12.720
As I go to Jodhpur, as I go to Pune,

00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:16.320
as I go to Chennai, as I go to where my mom lives,

00:19:16.320 --> 00:19:18.400
as I go to Tokyo, show me your ways.

00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:20.160
And if I can find your ways,

00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:22.040
then it doesn't matter what happens,

00:19:22.040 --> 00:19:25.280
I will also continue in your favor.

00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:29.080
That's how this thing works.

00:19:29.080 --> 00:19:31.960
And God says, all right, I'll show you my ways.

00:19:31.960 --> 00:19:35.120
And then in Exodus 33, verse 17, the Lord says to Moses,

00:19:35.120 --> 00:19:36.920
this very thing that you asked for,

00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:39.200
that you have spoken, I will do,

00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:41.560
for you have found favor in my sight

00:19:41.600 --> 00:19:43.080
and I know you by name.

00:19:43.080 --> 00:19:46.920
And that is how Moses kept walking in the favor of God.

00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:49.040
Doesn't matter what happened,

00:19:49.040 --> 00:19:51.640
Moses kept walking in the favor of God.

00:19:51.640 --> 00:19:53.160
Any questions before we go on?

00:19:59.240 --> 00:20:01.560
You can't find this favor in the word,

00:20:01.560 --> 00:20:03.680
you can't find this favor in church,

00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:05.680
you can't find this favor in the prophetic,

00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:07.680
you find this favor in his presence.

00:20:08.560 --> 00:20:10.760
You can't substitute the word, the church,

00:20:10.760 --> 00:20:13.400
or a prophetic word for him.

00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:19.400
You got to have the ability to go behind the curtain

00:20:19.720 --> 00:20:21.400
into his presence.

00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:23.240
And once you're in his presence,

00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:28.240
now just seeing him or realizing him

00:20:28.520 --> 00:20:30.760
makes you aware of, oh shucks.

00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:36.440
Any questions, any thoughts?

00:20:38.040 --> 00:20:41.040
This is why Jesus used to go

00:20:41.040 --> 00:20:42.680
and find his father's favor every morning

00:20:42.680 --> 00:20:44.680
because his life was difficult every day.

00:20:50.800 --> 00:20:53.640
This is why Moses' blessing in numbers

00:20:53.640 --> 00:20:55.280
carries so much weight when it says,

00:20:55.280 --> 00:20:58.160
the Lord bless you and keep you

00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:01.520
and may the Lord make his face to shine upon you.

00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:03.800
I've said this before,

00:21:03.800 --> 00:21:04.640
I've said this before,

00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:05.480
I've said this before,

00:21:05.840 --> 00:21:06.680
I've said this before,

00:21:06.680 --> 00:21:08.800
but both the word face and presence

00:21:08.800 --> 00:21:13.080
come from the same Hebrew word, panim.

00:21:13.080 --> 00:21:17.280
And panim means face, panim means presence.

00:21:18.320 --> 00:21:20.200
And so what are we saying?

00:21:20.200 --> 00:21:23.120
Oh God, let your face shine on me.

00:21:23.120 --> 00:21:25.440
Let your favor, let your presence shine on me.

00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:26.280
That is sufficient.

00:21:26.280 --> 00:21:28.960
And I mean, of all the blessings

00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:32.200
that God would have declared on Israel,

00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:34.920
here is what he says to Aaron,

00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:38.000
go speak this on them and when you do,

00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:41.000
my name, my person, my influence, my character,

00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:43.280
my name will settle upon them and say to them,

00:21:43.280 --> 00:21:46.120
the Lord bless you, the Lord keep you,

00:21:47.080 --> 00:21:49.640
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you

00:21:49.640 --> 00:21:51.120
and make it shine upon you.

00:21:51.120 --> 00:21:53.280
The Lord give you grace.

00:21:53.280 --> 00:21:55.480
And in the word grace was the word favor.

00:21:57.240 --> 00:21:59.840
That was a blessing that they were supposed to carry.

00:21:59.840 --> 00:22:04.840
Have you heard this guy's song?

00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:10.200
May the Lord bless you and keep you.

00:22:10.200 --> 00:22:14.200
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you.

00:22:14.200 --> 00:22:17.280
Matt Redmond, check it out, it's a nice one.

00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:19.480
Not right now.

00:22:22.600 --> 00:22:27.600
May he do do do do do do do do do do do do do do.

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:31.840
Do do do do do do do.

00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:37.520
Matt Redmond would have problems with that

00:22:37.520 --> 00:22:39.640
because usually every song I sing

00:22:39.640 --> 00:22:41.240
is not the original version.

00:22:42.320 --> 00:22:43.820
But thank you Diana.

00:22:44.800 --> 00:22:45.800
Are you still on probation?

00:22:45.800 --> 00:22:47.960
Because we'd like to lift it off you right now.

00:22:49.280 --> 00:22:53.320
Okay, Dawn, if she is on your list, just tick her off.

00:22:53.320 --> 00:22:56.120
In the end, you'll be the only one who's still on probation.

00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:01.520
No, he's still on that, he's back on that.

00:23:01.520 --> 00:23:02.520
He goes in and out.

00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:10.320
Next thing is the advanced guard.

00:23:11.600 --> 00:23:16.600
The advanced guard carries the arc on their shoulders.

00:23:21.240 --> 00:23:24.040
The advanced guard carries the arc on their shoulders.

00:23:24.040 --> 00:23:25.760
If you want to go to numbers,

00:23:30.320 --> 00:23:33.360
it talks about how Moses would send out the priests

00:23:33.360 --> 00:23:35.960
and the priests would carry the arc on their shoulders.

00:23:35.960 --> 00:23:38.000
And anything that had to happen

00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:41.440
would require that the priest step forward first.

00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:43.600
So it doesn't matter whether it's Jehoshaphat

00:23:43.600 --> 00:23:45.080
and he sends the priest,

00:23:45.080 --> 00:23:47.200
or whether it's Moses and he sends the priest

00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:48.600
to step into the Red Sea,

00:23:48.600 --> 00:23:50.640
or whether it's Joshua and he sends the priest

00:23:50.640 --> 00:23:53.640
to step into the Jordan.

00:23:53.640 --> 00:23:56.840
It always required that the advanced guard

00:23:56.840 --> 00:23:59.120
carried the arc on their shoulders.

00:23:59.120 --> 00:24:00.720
So what's the significance of that?

00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:05.720
Guys, it is impossible to make any headway as forerunners

00:24:06.600 --> 00:24:08.880
or the ones who break things open.

00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:10.480
What are we breaking open, guys?

00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:12.080
Remember what we are breaking open.

00:24:12.080 --> 00:24:15.000
Either they are, and we've talked about this in the past,

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:20.000
ancient demonic doors or ancient kingdom doors.

00:24:21.240 --> 00:24:22.840
This is what we're breaking open.

00:24:23.640 --> 00:24:28.640
So I know we explained this when we talked about

00:24:31.560 --> 00:24:35.440
administrating or stewarding doors some months ago.

00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:38.160
But think of this, in the world,

00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:39.960
there are demonic doors that are being opened

00:24:39.960 --> 00:24:41.440
that have to be shut,

00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:44.160
or demons that have shut doors that need to be opened.

00:24:45.560 --> 00:24:47.560
And then there are kingdom doors

00:24:47.560 --> 00:24:49.800
that God ordained before the foundations of the earth

00:24:49.800 --> 00:24:52.280
and in the fullness of time, he opens them.

00:24:52.280 --> 00:24:53.280
And things happen.

00:24:54.440 --> 00:24:57.680
And so when it is God, you will see these lines always.

00:24:57.680 --> 00:24:59.840
In the fullness of time.

00:24:59.840 --> 00:25:01.000
And so in the fullness of time,

00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:02.720
there was a deliverer called Moses.

00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:06.120
In the fullness of time, there was one called Jesus.

00:25:06.120 --> 00:25:08.000
In the fullness of time, there was a voice

00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:10.360
in the wilderness saying, prepare either way.

00:25:10.360 --> 00:25:13.720
John the Baptist was an atypical,

00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:16.800
I don't know whether atypical means typical or not typical,

00:25:16.800 --> 00:25:18.360
so I'll leave that word alone,

00:25:18.360 --> 00:25:20.600
though it really sounded good.

00:25:20.600 --> 00:25:22.120
John the Baptist was,

00:25:25.040 --> 00:25:26.320
well then, forget the word.

00:25:27.320 --> 00:25:29.160
It just sounded so right.

00:25:29.160 --> 00:25:32.360
It's terrible when a word that sounds right is wrong.

00:25:32.360 --> 00:25:35.320
John the Baptist was a poster boy for forerunners.

00:25:37.800 --> 00:25:41.760
Like he, he was just the forerunner,

00:25:41.760 --> 00:25:44.040
coming to announce what was going to happen

00:25:44.040 --> 00:25:46.920
in very difficult circumstances, unafraid,

00:25:46.920 --> 00:25:48.680
born for something like that.

00:25:51.560 --> 00:25:56.560
And so what are we opening and what are we going into?

00:25:57.000 --> 00:25:59.800
We are either opening demonic doors or shutting them,

00:25:59.800 --> 00:26:02.240
or we're opening kingdom doors and shutting them.

00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:03.080
Any questions on that?

00:26:03.080 --> 00:26:06.440
If you want to have me explain that a little better, I can.

00:26:08.440 --> 00:26:10.800
You just kind of stopped.

00:26:10.800 --> 00:26:14.920
Did Wapu go and make you headway as forerunners?

00:26:14.920 --> 00:26:17.480
Huh, okay.

00:26:17.480 --> 00:26:20.760
It's impossible to make any headway as forerunners

00:26:20.760 --> 00:26:25.760
if we don't carry government and order correctly,

00:26:26.440 --> 00:26:28.160
because the whole idea of carrying the ark

00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:29.160
on your shoulders,

00:26:30.840 --> 00:26:33.400
every time the Bible mentions anything being carried

00:26:33.400 --> 00:26:36.400
on the shoulders, know that it is God's protocol,

00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:38.520
God's order, God's government.

00:26:38.520 --> 00:26:40.280
In Isaiah chapter nine, verse six,

00:26:40.280 --> 00:26:42.400
which you will start hearing in about a month

00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:44.240
towards Christmas, is that,

00:26:44.280 --> 00:26:48.440
and the government shall be upon his shoulders.

00:26:48.440 --> 00:26:51.520
When the ark was carried, it was not carried this way.

00:26:51.520 --> 00:26:53.080
It was not carried on your head.

00:26:53.080 --> 00:26:55.520
It was carried on your shoulders.

00:26:55.520 --> 00:27:00.520
When Hilkiah's son, Eliakim, was called and spoken to

00:27:01.840 --> 00:27:04.560
by God, God says to him that,

00:27:04.560 --> 00:27:06.720
what you shall open, no one shall shut one.

00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:08.200
You shall shut, no one shall open.

00:27:08.200 --> 00:27:11.480
And I give you the keys, the keys hung on the shoulder

00:27:11.480 --> 00:27:13.360
of the magistrate or the one who was in charge

00:27:13.360 --> 00:27:14.360
of the palace.

00:27:14.360 --> 00:27:16.920
The whole idea of shoulders carries in it

00:27:16.920 --> 00:27:20.840
a sense of order, of God's protocol, and God's government.

00:27:20.840 --> 00:27:24.560
And so it's impossible to become these kind of forerunners

00:27:24.560 --> 00:27:28.740
or advanced God if I don't understand and keep increasing

00:27:28.740 --> 00:27:31.680
in this beautiful thing called the arrangement of God

00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:36.040
here on earth, the protocol that he prescribes, and order.

00:27:36.040 --> 00:27:39.040
Therefore, David finds out the hard way

00:27:39.040 --> 00:27:41.240
that if you don't carry the ark on your shoulders

00:27:41.240 --> 00:27:43.640
and put them on a cart like the Philistines used to do,

00:27:43.640 --> 00:27:45.840
that Uzziah and Ahiyo would die.

00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:51.680
And so David says, oops, I'm really sorry that happened.

00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:54.080
Let's do it the right way, and he calls the Levites

00:27:54.080 --> 00:27:56.880
and has them carry it on their shoulders.

00:27:57.760 --> 00:28:01.560
When you deal with demonic doors,

00:28:01.560 --> 00:28:03.720
they look for the absence of order,

00:28:04.600 --> 00:28:07.840
because they specialize in disrupting order.

00:28:07.840 --> 00:28:10.280
Disorder was the first thing they did,

00:28:10.280 --> 00:28:11.600
and therefore got thrown out.

00:28:11.600 --> 00:28:15.040
So they always look for ways to break order

00:28:15.040 --> 00:28:16.280
and to break order.

00:28:16.280 --> 00:28:18.880
And so David is the one who calls the Levites

00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:21.480
and has them carry it on their shoulders.

00:28:21.480 --> 00:28:23.840
And so David is the one who calls the Levites

00:28:23.840 --> 00:28:26.320
and has them carry it on their shoulders.

00:28:26.520 --> 00:28:29.240
And so we have to break order in our lives

00:28:29.240 --> 00:28:31.760
so that we end up in the same circumstances as they,

00:28:31.760 --> 00:28:34.960
and they have some advantage in their battle with us.

00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:37.440
But when you keep order, when you keep protocol

00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:39.240
that God prescribes, and when you understand

00:28:39.240 --> 00:28:41.280
that there is this thing called the arrangement of God

00:28:41.280 --> 00:28:43.000
in things here on earth, be it in a marriage,

00:28:43.000 --> 00:28:45.400
be it in office, be it in church,

00:28:45.400 --> 00:28:48.520
be it amongst your siblings,

00:28:48.520 --> 00:28:50.480
the moment we realize that guys know

00:28:50.480 --> 00:28:54.480
that we now have the ability to handle these doors

00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:56.480
these doors?

00:28:56.600 --> 00:28:58.600
Questions, thoughts?

00:29:01.080 --> 00:29:03.080
Here is a demonic door that Elisha

00:29:04.200 --> 00:29:05.740
opened.

00:29:05.740 --> 00:29:13.500
There was a curse on Jericho because the king called Heal said that anyone who builds Jericho, no, there was a curse on Jericho because

00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:19.680
Joshua said anybody who rebuilds Jericho will rebuild it at the cost of their

00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:21.920
son.

00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:29.080
And so now years later Elisha comes and the people at Jericho say that it's, can you do something about the water here?

00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:32.880
Because it's

00:29:33.080 --> 00:29:37.560
basically poisonous and causes barrenness. Elisha comes and opens that door.

00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:44.600
There are many stories in the Bible where you'll see a door that was shut

00:29:45.960 --> 00:29:49.080
opened because of forerunners going in and

00:29:50.080 --> 00:29:55.160
changing it. Any questions? So how does this apply to you?

00:29:59.400 --> 00:30:06.000
See we are not fully convinced that we have the power in our words and in our

00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:12.600
hard attitude and understanding of God to open doors for others. We do not think so.

00:30:13.160 --> 00:30:15.880
I'm surprised at how after all these years

00:30:15.880 --> 00:30:21.320
I'm still not convinced that the words that I speak are actually bringing life or bringing death.

00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:29.440
I'm still not convinced of it. I still pray a lot after I've spoken because I think what if it didn't work?

00:30:35.120 --> 00:30:41.000
I'm not convinced that that is what God can do through an ordinary mortal like me and

00:30:41.840 --> 00:30:43.840
unfortunately, we are not convinced either.

00:30:47.880 --> 00:30:49.880
We are not.

00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:59.480
After all this we will think that yeah one day when the church does this we will all do it together or we will think

00:30:59.520 --> 00:31:03.240
one day some of the leaders of the church will do this and we will pray at home.

00:31:03.320 --> 00:31:09.360
This is not about going anywhere. This is a lifestyle. This is a way of living. This is the way of living.

00:31:10.360 --> 00:31:15.080
This is a way of living. It applies to every little thing and every big thing.

00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:27.320
What are you basically doing? You are going before others and entering on their behalf so that it becomes easy for them to

00:31:28.240 --> 00:31:33.000
enter. It applies to your parents. It applies to your siblings. It applies to your church. It applies to your neighbors.

00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:37.960
It applies to your friends. It applies to the city of Richmond. It applies to the nation. It applies to the nations.

00:31:39.400 --> 00:31:41.400
It just goes on and on.

00:31:42.120 --> 00:31:47.280
Tell me anything in the world in the Bible that was not wrought by a single man and his words.

00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:53.800
Show me anything in the Bible, any story in the Bible that was not wrought, W-R-O-U-G-H-T,

00:31:53.800 --> 00:31:56.560
that was not wrought by a single person speaking.

00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:05.840
Everything in the Bible, this is what bothers me that when I say this I think to myself, oh God, this is marvelous and

00:32:06.320 --> 00:32:09.480
then I don't have the ability to stand on it 24-7.

00:32:09.760 --> 00:32:15.560
That most things in the world and every story in the Bible happened because one individual,

00:32:16.440 --> 00:32:18.440
man or woman,

00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:21.920
had the ability to actually hear God and

00:32:22.560 --> 00:32:28.880
then had the ability to stand and say what God said and then had the ability to trust God that what he said

00:32:29.120 --> 00:32:33.280
would come to pass because he was fully persuaded that what God said he would do.

00:32:33.320 --> 00:32:39.440
And then I had the ability to stand for 12 years, 25 years, 40 years to see it come to pass and

00:32:39.580 --> 00:32:46.800
then had the ability to be torn asunder and die not seeing what he had said come to pass, but his children saw it.

00:32:47.640 --> 00:32:50.480
But they left the earth with a good report,

00:32:50.920 --> 00:32:56.360
being absolutely sure that what God had said he would do even if they didn't see it in their lifetime here on earth,

00:32:56.360 --> 00:32:58.360
they would see it from heaven.

00:32:59.080 --> 00:33:04.560
These are the kind of people God is looking for and these are the kind of people that forerunners are and these are the kind

00:33:04.560 --> 00:33:06.960
of people that I would like to become and you would like to become.

00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:16.200
Every story in the Bible was wrought by one man or one woman saying something that they heard God say.

00:33:18.320 --> 00:33:24.040
As ludicrous as making the sun stand still and yet the planets not being thrown out of their orbits,

00:33:24.840 --> 00:33:31.240
to something as simple as go and you will find a donkey tied to a post and say to them the master has need of it.

00:33:44.440 --> 00:33:45.440
Yeah.

00:33:48.840 --> 00:33:49.840
Ancient Kingdom Doze.

00:33:49.840 --> 00:33:50.840
Ancient Kingdom Doze.

00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:53.240
Ancient Kingdom Doze.

00:33:54.360 --> 00:33:59.040
And so one day, 4000 years later,

00:34:02.280 --> 00:34:12.440
Peter stands up and he's speaking to the guys in Cornelius' house in Acts chapter 10 and a promise given to Abraham 4000 years ago

00:34:13.560 --> 00:34:15.320
that you shall be a blessing to the nations.

00:34:16.320 --> 00:34:22.920
4000 years later, Peter being forced to go to a gentile's house through a dream.

00:34:23.520 --> 00:34:32.320
Now he stands there and as he's speaking, the same Holy Spirit who was the sole possession, they thought, of Israel falls on the

00:34:33.120 --> 00:34:40.320
gentiles and they start speaking in tongues and Peter says, what can prevent them from being baptized?

00:34:40.320 --> 00:34:45.320
That's an ancient door that was opened 4000 years later or Acts chapter 2, Pentecost.

00:34:46.120 --> 00:34:54.520
This is what Joel spoke of, that your son shall prophesy, your daughter shall see dreams that the Holy Spirit shall fall upon all flesh.

00:34:54.520 --> 00:34:55.920
This is what we are seeing now.

00:35:00.320 --> 00:35:08.320
It's fascinating how something that God promised 4000 years ago, someone has now the ability to open that door and suddenly everything is open.

00:35:08.320 --> 00:35:12.120
Open that door and suddenly everything changes.

00:35:14.920 --> 00:35:21.520
And things that he has spoken years ago still continue to happen, but someone has to go in, open that door.

00:35:21.520 --> 00:35:31.720
Sometimes you are the one person who can open the door in a certain city, certain family, certain place just because you chose stupid obedience.

00:35:39.120 --> 00:35:40.320
Yeah, Prague.

00:35:41.120 --> 00:35:52.720
I had to go, 6-7 hours traveled to a certain bridge in Prague and stand there and begin to prophesy that this city was meant to be a city of prophets.

00:35:52.720 --> 00:35:57.520
It's been turned into a city of false prophets that once again, there'll be prophets that emerge from the city.

00:35:57.820 --> 00:36:07.820
And one and a half years later, went to Vienna and there were people coming for the prophetic school and many of them were from Prague.

00:36:08.720 --> 00:36:13.720
And once you open the door, then it's not yours to necessarily build the whole thing through.

00:36:14.120 --> 00:36:16.720
Forerunners open the door for others to enter.

00:36:16.820 --> 00:36:21.120
So you may never know it or never get the credit for it.

00:36:24.620 --> 00:36:28.420
God knows the number of people who laid down their lives for places like Russia.

00:36:29.620 --> 00:36:33.720
When the Iron Curtain existed that laid down their lives for China.

00:36:37.120 --> 00:36:38.120
Door openers, eh?

00:36:38.920 --> 00:36:39.520
Next one.

00:36:42.720 --> 00:36:47.220
Man, I got to plan all my sermons as two parts because one part doesn't work.

00:36:53.920 --> 00:36:56.620
Advanced Guard entered.

00:36:57.220 --> 00:36:57.920
Let's take...

00:37:05.920 --> 00:37:07.520
Let's just follow order.

00:37:08.120 --> 00:37:09.920
Advanced Guard enter territory.

00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:15.220
They enter enemy territory.

00:37:20.120 --> 00:37:23.420
And rout the enemy.

00:37:26.120 --> 00:37:30.320
1 Samuel 14, 1 to 3.

00:37:32.920 --> 00:37:36.820
King Saul and the rest of his army are sitting under a tree.

00:37:37.620 --> 00:37:39.520
A pomegranate tree, I think.

00:37:40.120 --> 00:37:43.420
And wondering, should we go to war, should we not go to war?

00:37:44.120 --> 00:37:49.620
And King Saul even pronounces a curse upon anybody who goes to war.

00:37:50.020 --> 00:37:53.120
Unfortunately, Jonathan and his armor bearer never heard about it.

00:37:54.020 --> 00:37:58.520
So they decide, hmm, we're doing nothing but twiddling our thumbs.

00:37:58.520 --> 00:38:00.020
Let's go and check out the enemy.

00:38:00.020 --> 00:38:01.620
So they go out into enemy territory.

00:38:02.020 --> 00:38:03.520
And here is what Jonathan says.

00:38:03.520 --> 00:38:07.320
Jonathan says, if they say to us, come to us, we'll go.

00:38:07.520 --> 00:38:09.720
And perhaps God will give them into our hands.

00:38:10.020 --> 00:38:12.820
But if they say to us, we'll come to you, then we'll stand still.

00:38:12.920 --> 00:38:13.520
So they go.

00:38:13.820 --> 00:38:15.820
And the guys say, come to us.

00:38:15.820 --> 00:38:18.520
So they go and they demolish the opposition.

00:38:20.420 --> 00:38:25.520
The Advanced Guard has to sometimes deal with severe opposition,

00:38:25.520 --> 00:38:28.520
both of a physical and a spiritual nature.

00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:33.620
But most of our fighting does not look like fighting

00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:37.320
because the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.

00:38:38.320 --> 00:38:46.320
So what happens to us as Christians is very often we get drawn into verbal,

00:38:47.820 --> 00:38:55.120
emotional, sometimes physical fights.

00:38:55.520 --> 00:39:01.120
And whenever you go this route, you have feelings like bitterness,

00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:11.120
shame, fear, anger, and the offshoots of that.

00:39:11.320 --> 00:39:17.120
This is what happens when we war verbally, emotionally, physically.

00:39:17.420 --> 00:39:20.020
When we get into fights like that, that is what happens.

00:39:20.220 --> 00:39:25.320
It results in these to you if you lose and even if you win.

00:39:26.320 --> 00:39:31.120
But the whole idea of routing the enemy and entering enemy territory

00:39:31.120 --> 00:39:37.620
is to understand that all battles are first spiritual.

00:39:46.320 --> 00:39:51.920
And so if you and I can figure out from God in His presence

00:39:51.920 --> 00:39:54.520
as to what the nature of the battle is spiritually,

00:39:54.520 --> 00:39:58.120
then I don't have to descend into this.

00:40:05.720 --> 00:40:11.120
Because we war by prophesying blessing, by blessing those who persecute us,

00:40:11.820 --> 00:40:15.320
by binding kings and their nobles with fetters of iron

00:40:15.720 --> 00:40:17.520
and executing sentence upon them,

00:40:17.920 --> 00:40:21.720
with the weapons of praise that silences the enemy.

00:40:21.720 --> 00:40:24.120
These are our forms of battle.

00:40:25.120 --> 00:40:29.120
But because we first go here, it really messes us up.

00:40:29.920 --> 00:40:33.020
But if you can first go there and then come here, it's a whole different thing.

00:40:33.520 --> 00:40:35.720
Here's the thing, David first went here.

00:40:36.320 --> 00:40:40.920
I have fought the lion and the bear and God gave me victory.

00:40:41.120 --> 00:40:45.120
Who are you, you uncircumcised Philistine, to come against Jehovah?

00:40:45.820 --> 00:40:50.620
I will cut off your head and then I'll cut off the heads of your compadres

00:40:50.620 --> 00:40:54.020
and then I'll serve them all as a feast to the birds.

00:40:54.420 --> 00:40:59.020
His verbal assault came after a spiritual understanding.

00:41:04.320 --> 00:41:08.820
Yeah, so our weapons are we bless those who persecute us

00:41:09.620 --> 00:41:14.520
and in doing so we set their head on fire because it's like burning coals.

00:41:14.920 --> 00:41:16.520
That's not the intent, but that's what happens.

00:41:16.720 --> 00:41:21.420
We prophesied blessing on cities that have done us harm

00:41:21.420 --> 00:41:22.820
or people that have done us harm.

00:41:23.220 --> 00:41:28.720
We execute vengeance upon demonic nobles and kings

00:41:29.020 --> 00:41:33.620
and bind them with fetters as it says in Psalm 149 verses 6 to 8.

00:41:34.120 --> 00:41:37.520
We have the high praises of God in our mouth

00:41:38.220 --> 00:41:43.520
and we silence the enemy with high praises as it says in Psalm 8 verse 2.

00:41:43.820 --> 00:41:48.020
These are the weapons of our warfare and when we first go there

00:41:48.220 --> 00:41:52.320
and then come down to verbal, emotional and physical fights,

00:41:52.420 --> 00:41:53.520
then there is victory.

00:41:53.620 --> 00:41:59.020
Otherwise there are these feelings and these feelings can really take over.

00:42:04.620 --> 00:42:07.220
So hard to learn all these things there, but we can.

00:42:07.820 --> 00:42:08.720
It's not impossible.

00:42:08.720 --> 00:42:09.920
It is just difficult.

00:42:10.220 --> 00:42:16.120
God is an awareness of a way, but you need discipline to cross that line.

00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:26.620
Sometimes you'll have to go into enemy territory to fight,

00:42:26.620 --> 00:42:30.120
but don't go unless the Lord tells you to, but when he tells you must go,

00:42:30.320 --> 00:42:32.520
and it is scary, but you must go.

00:42:36.120 --> 00:42:39.120
And guys, you're not looking for some ministry opportunity for this.

00:42:39.320 --> 00:42:42.720
This presents itself to us every day, every day.

00:42:44.420 --> 00:42:47.420
Every day these situations present ourselves.

00:42:47.420 --> 00:42:52.620
Remember you have an active enemy, an active opponent,

00:42:53.020 --> 00:42:54.820
which is why he is called the adversary.

00:42:56.020 --> 00:43:01.620
One who is actively trying to prevent, trying to fight, trying to deceive,

00:43:01.820 --> 00:43:06.020
trying to poison, trying to abort, trying to sabotage,

00:43:06.220 --> 00:43:12.820
trying to deviate you from life's plans, trying to force you to depend on God.

00:43:12.820 --> 00:43:17.820
Trying to help you find some joy in a way that does not include God.

00:43:18.020 --> 00:43:19.620
There's an active enemy.

00:43:23.420 --> 00:43:29.420
Therefore, when things come against you to be able to find yourself hiding in the rock

00:43:29.420 --> 00:43:34.420
that is higher than I and from that vantage point examining both the

00:43:34.420 --> 00:43:36.620
advantages and the disadvantages of the world,

00:43:36.820 --> 00:43:39.820
and the advantages of the world, and the advantages of the world,

00:43:39.820 --> 00:43:44.820
from that vantage point, examining both your life and the situation and saying,

00:43:45.020 --> 00:43:48.020
here I need to correct myself and there I need to correct that situation.

00:43:48.220 --> 00:43:48.820
Wow.

00:43:53.820 --> 00:44:00.020
What a cool thing it will be if we can do this well and often.

00:44:06.020 --> 00:44:08.220
And when you can't and your arms are tired,

00:44:08.420 --> 00:44:10.020
do what Joan and Chantal did for me.

00:44:12.420 --> 00:44:16.220
And then if their arms get tired, get two more to hold up their arms.

00:44:24.220 --> 00:44:27.820
And if their arms get tired, then ask your friends to help you morally and economically.

00:44:30.020 --> 00:44:31.420
I can't forget that line, Abel.

00:44:31.420 --> 00:44:32.020
Okay.

00:44:38.020 --> 00:44:40.420
Advanced God assent with authority.

00:44:44.420 --> 00:44:48.020
To prepare the way with their voice.

00:44:48.620 --> 00:44:52.020
Prepare the way with their voice.

00:44:58.020 --> 00:45:00.420
It brings us back to that favorite topic we hate.

00:45:01.420 --> 00:45:03.220
Which is giving voice.

00:45:04.220 --> 00:45:05.820
You prepare the way by being a voice.

00:45:06.620 --> 00:45:08.020
What? You guys got offended?

00:45:17.820 --> 00:45:21.020
You prepare the way, but you prepare the way with your voice.

00:45:21.020 --> 00:45:25.220
It's not possible to prepare the way by being silent.

00:45:25.220 --> 00:45:28.020
Ways are prepared with your voice.

00:45:29.020 --> 00:45:33.620
Before God does anything on the earth, he announces it.

00:45:38.820 --> 00:45:42.420
We've got such amazing biblical precedents in the Bible.

00:45:42.620 --> 00:45:44.620
That should give us an idea of how these things work.

00:45:44.820 --> 00:45:48.020
Every time he has wanted to do something, he first announces it.

00:45:50.420 --> 00:45:56.020
Before he made man, he would announce it to the triune, the Godhead.

00:45:56.020 --> 00:45:57.820
Let us make man in our image.

00:45:59.420 --> 00:46:02.220
After he made man, he began to say to man.

00:46:07.420 --> 00:46:17.620
So if you want to prepare the way for yourself, for your marriage, for your wife, for your family, for the nation, for whatever, you need to first use words.

00:46:17.620 --> 00:46:21.420
And you must use those words loudly enough so that the devil can hear it and you can hear it.

00:46:21.620 --> 00:46:24.620
God doesn't have to hear it to know it.

00:46:24.820 --> 00:46:27.820
But these other two people, you and the devil, need to hear.

00:46:32.020 --> 00:46:36.020
Prepare the way requires voicing what God wants you to.

00:46:36.220 --> 00:46:38.020
Otherwise, ways are not prepared.

00:46:40.020 --> 00:46:41.020
Any questions?

00:46:41.220 --> 00:46:43.020
I mean, isn't that marvelous?

00:46:44.020 --> 00:46:45.420
Any questions?

00:46:45.620 --> 00:46:49.420
I mean, isn't that marvelous that we have to speak it to prepare the way?

00:46:56.420 --> 00:46:57.420
Prepare whose way?

00:46:57.620 --> 00:46:58.620
Not your way.

00:46:58.820 --> 00:46:59.820
Prepare his way.

00:47:00.020 --> 00:47:04.820
And so to prepare his way, you have to have his words to open up the way that he wants here on earth and you use words.

00:47:05.020 --> 00:47:06.420
And you use them loudly.

00:47:06.620 --> 00:47:08.820
You don't have to shout them out, but they must be audible.

00:47:13.020 --> 00:47:20.220
And what are you doing when you voice things?

00:47:20.420 --> 00:47:25.620
You're connecting God's future, God's plans for tomorrow.

00:47:25.820 --> 00:47:30.420
You're speaking them in your present today.

00:47:30.620 --> 00:47:32.820
And that's what you're doing.

00:47:33.020 --> 00:47:39.820
That's what prophets or the prophetic voice or anyone who wants to speak for God does.

00:47:40.020 --> 00:47:42.820
He's taking what God wants done tomorrow.

00:47:43.020 --> 00:47:48.620
And he's saying, I'm preparing the way today for what is going to happen tomorrow.

00:47:52.620 --> 00:47:54.220
Such a beautiful thing.

00:47:55.420 --> 00:47:56.820
That's why I went, go ahead.

00:48:01.820 --> 00:48:08.820
Yeah, call into being things that are not even though they already are in his time and presence.

00:48:08.820 --> 00:48:15.220
And so let's assume I meet nobody in Jodhpur and I meet nobody in Tokyo.

00:48:15.420 --> 00:48:18.220
Then what would I do spending a day there?

00:48:18.420 --> 00:48:24.620
I'd just be doing this saying, oh God, Reni and Aaron will be coming here in November.

00:48:24.820 --> 00:48:26.620
Sheldon and Jane may go there later.

00:48:26.820 --> 00:48:29.820
I might go there a time after, but perhaps it's got nothing to do with any of us.

00:48:30.020 --> 00:48:38.620
But give me what I need to so that I can stand at the window in a hotel in Tokyo and begin to speak what you have for this city.

00:48:38.820 --> 00:48:45.620
And it's actually has role in it so that today I can say what you're going to do tomorrow.

00:48:45.820 --> 00:48:48.620
Because we prepare the way with our words.

00:48:49.820 --> 00:48:53.620
I mean, you heard Chad talk about what we did in the mountains of Uttarakhand.

00:48:53.820 --> 00:48:55.620
Same thing, same principle.

00:48:58.820 --> 00:49:02.620
I'm so blessed to have had someone teach me these things.

00:49:02.820 --> 00:49:07.620
We are so blessed to have had these insights because now we can do these things, guys.

00:49:09.820 --> 00:49:15.620
Otherwise we'd have praise and worship and get saved multiple times.

00:49:15.820 --> 00:49:17.620
Next one.

00:49:19.820 --> 00:49:26.620
The advanced God is keenly aware that they have to bring the rest in.

00:49:26.820 --> 00:49:35.620
That they have to bring the rest in.

00:49:35.620 --> 00:49:41.420
This was Paul's heart and it's something I ask God for quite a lot.

00:49:41.620 --> 00:49:48.420
That, Father, give me a heart that won't want just the ones that are running well to run.

00:49:48.620 --> 00:49:57.420
But everybody in, because if you're a forerunner, you're opening the door not just so a few select can enter in.

00:49:57.620 --> 00:50:02.420
You're opening the door so that everybody can enter in.

00:50:02.420 --> 00:50:11.220
If Jesus was to just open the door for a few select to enter in, I wouldn't have made it.

00:50:12.420 --> 00:50:16.220
But Jeevan may have made it.

00:50:20.420 --> 00:50:27.220
But it is so that everybody enters in and that is a cry you hear in Paul's letters.

00:50:27.420 --> 00:50:29.220
Paul does not want to enter in.

00:50:29.220 --> 00:50:32.020
A cry you hear in Paul's letters.

00:50:32.220 --> 00:50:34.020
Paul does not want anyone left out.

00:50:34.220 --> 00:50:37.020
At one point he goes to the extent, and this is in a different context.

00:50:37.220 --> 00:50:44.020
He says that I would rather be accursed so that my fellow Jews would be saved.

00:50:44.220 --> 00:50:46.020
Moses did this.

00:50:46.220 --> 00:50:48.020
Oh, remove me.

00:50:48.220 --> 00:50:51.020
If you're not taking Israel, remove me.

00:50:51.220 --> 00:50:53.020
What a statement to make.

00:50:53.220 --> 00:50:58.020
Here is God saying to him, hey, Don, you can be the new leader.

00:50:58.020 --> 00:50:59.820
I'll start a brand new nation through you.

00:51:00.020 --> 00:51:01.820
I'll start a brand new family through you.

00:51:02.020 --> 00:51:04.820
And you can lead your nation into the future.

00:51:05.020 --> 00:51:06.820
And Don says, no.

00:51:07.020 --> 00:51:10.820
If that is the case, then destroy me with these people.

00:51:11.020 --> 00:51:12.820
That is just nuts.

00:51:13.020 --> 00:51:15.820
It wasn't a holy, humble moment.

00:51:21.020 --> 00:51:22.820
Forerunners.

00:51:29.020 --> 00:51:30.820
Two more and we're done.

00:51:31.020 --> 00:51:33.820
I won't be here next week so I want to finish it.

00:51:37.020 --> 00:51:42.820
Advanced God is resourced to reform.

00:51:47.020 --> 00:51:49.820
Advanced God is resourced to reform.

00:51:50.020 --> 00:51:52.820
Nehemiah, chapter 2.

00:51:52.820 --> 00:51:56.620
Hey, Jeevan, you're not busy this evening, are you?

00:51:56.820 --> 00:51:57.620
Cool.

00:51:57.820 --> 00:52:00.620
You said it before all these witnesses.

00:52:05.820 --> 00:52:07.620
Nehemiah, chapter 2.

00:52:17.820 --> 00:52:19.620
Verse 17.

00:52:19.620 --> 00:52:21.420
Verse 17.

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And what did the king say to him?

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The king said to Nehemiah, you'll find it in chapter 2, verse 7.

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The king says to him, listen, whatever you need,

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go ask the governors in the Transufritus area.

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I'll give you a letter.

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Whatever you need, you'll get from them.

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The point being, advanced God, when they go into places to open the door

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for the rest to follow, God gives them the resources for it.

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God gives them the resources for it.

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This is a head space that if you can enter into,

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you will stay in for the rest of your life.

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And if you don't enter into, you will pray a lot and struggle.

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And the prayers will be answered,

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but you'll have to go from struggle prayer to struggle prayer.

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But if you can enter in here, where you are absolutely confident

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that God resources you before he sends you out to be an advanced God.

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An advanced God. If you can have that settled in your mind,

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then it doesn't matter whether you're a pastor going to Jodhpur,

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or you're a businessman starting a business,

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or you're a retired person wanting to begin an endeavor,

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or you're an employee who has a plan, God resources.

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It doesn't matter whether it's a small thing,

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like taking someone out for dinner because you want to have a conversation with them,

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or whether it's a big thing like flying to an unknown place,

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or a bigger thing like starting a business with squat.

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It doesn't matter.

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But a door opener, once you're commanded to open a door,

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must understand that the advanced God is resource to reform.

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This must be settled.

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And it must happen without taking up offerings.

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Because only pastors can take up offerings.

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You can't take up offerings.

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Try that at your workplace.

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Thoughts, questions?

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This is very important, because money is required for the things we do.

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Nobody should give you money for what you do.

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That should be secondary.

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They should give you money for who they know you are.

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They should know that this is who Mae is.

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I don't care if I don't get a report from her telling me what and how she's going to do it.

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This is who Mae is.

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I trust the person Mae here.

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I want to give you this.

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Do what you want with it.

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That is where we should begin.

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The secondary question should be, what did you use it for?

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Can I ask about that providing a resource again?

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Because Mae and I are actually asking for medicine recommendations.

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So, how do you differentiate between taking up offerings and asking for them?

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It's not a hard and fast rule, so there will be times when you need to take up an offering.

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But I'm saying that should not become the default.

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Because for pastors, that is the default.

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Take up an offering.

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Because I have to go to Tokyo to take up an offering.

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Somewhere along the line, I found out that that's not the way God provides.

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Or how just people who are on mission trips always have to get support?

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Yeah, get support, sign up.

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It doesn't have to be that way.

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I'm not saying it can't be that way.

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God can use any number of ways.

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Ravens, money in your drawer that falls out of a map, money that someone gives you as an inheritance even though you are not related to them.

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Yesterday, a guy was explaining to me how he won $24,000 twice and missed winning $8,000 yesterday

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because he was a little short on the over-under in the hockey.

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And I thought to myself, man, there are so many ways you can make money, but that wasn't one of the ways I was going to do it.

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I was just surprised at how there are different ways the world has found it, but we struggle with it.

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That's odd, eh?

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The devil wanted to give Jesus all the money he wanted.

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So yeah, it doesn't have to be...

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I'm not saying it can't be, I'm just saying if my trust becomes in the offering,

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then I will have to come up with a sob story every time I want money from you.

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Think of those faceless millions he's given to you.

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Faceless millions who work hard every day in Tokyo and then walk into those tubes that hurtle at 180 km per hour

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not looking at each other's faces, reading their newspapers, tired after a long day's work, dying, going to hell.

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I'm talking about Japan.

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Last.

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Advanced God have excellent spirits in that they have eyes of faith.

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Numbers 14-24.

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Numbers 14-24.

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Just because you're part of an advanced God does not mean that you will do well unless you have eyes of faith,

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for there were 12 of them and two had eyes of faith.

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The 12 of them were the advanced God.

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You realize how critical a role you play if you have been chosen to be the advanced God

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because on your words hinge the destiny, not the destiny of a nation.

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On your words hinge the destiny of at least a major portion of the nation.

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All of the Israelites who were over 20 never entered the promised land

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because 10 from the advanced God gave them a bad report.

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That is just nuts.

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A whole nation taken captive by 10.

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And two were of an excellent spirit and they saw with eyes of faith.

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Sometimes I'm afraid, I was thinking, this is why I went this route today.

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Sometimes I'm afraid that in the pursuit of progression, proclamation of the gospel

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that we forget some of the basics like faith.

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That maybe not forget those things that are so critical to doing what we need to do.

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Always with eyes of faith.

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Always with eyes of faith.

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Did I say the last one? This is the last one.

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It is the advanced God laps up water like dogs.

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What a point to end on, huh?

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Advanced God laps up water like dogs.

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Like dogs.

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Okay, sorry.

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That is from a Bruce Willis movie.

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Advanced God lapped up water like dogs.

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Judges chapter 7 verse 5.

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Judges chapter 7 verse 5. You know the story.

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What is this lapping up water like dogs?

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Symbolize. It symbolizes ready obedience.

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Ready obedience. Like ready urgent obedience.

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It's not trying to figure out.

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It's not trying to understand.

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It is, this is what God is saying and sometimes unfortunately for us,

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God will speak through people and not directly to you.

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And that makes it even more difficult to understand.

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And that's why I'm saying,

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God will speak through people and not directly to you.

01:01:13.620 --> 01:01:15.420
And that makes it even tougher.

01:01:15.620 --> 01:01:17.420
Because that's what these guys did.

01:01:17.620 --> 01:01:19.420
There were tons of them at the river.

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And God says take them to the water and have them drink.

01:01:22.620 --> 01:01:26.420
And these are supposed to be soldiers alert, ready for the battle.

01:01:26.620 --> 01:01:31.420
And God wants to sift them and choose the ones that are ready, alert, obedient.

01:01:31.620 --> 01:01:35.420
And He finds some of them who are scooping up water like they're on a picnic.

01:01:35.620 --> 01:01:39.420
And then there are others who go down, put their head in the water and they're like,

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You can imagine 300 people doing that.

01:01:41.420 --> 01:01:44.220
And those are the ones God chooses.

01:01:44.420 --> 01:01:51.220
Ready, undignified obedience.

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Because often when obedience is urgent and ready, it is undignified.

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The advanced God is like that.

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I must come to a place and you must come to a place where we do not afford ourselves

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the option of I will or I may not.

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I will not.

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I will not.

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I will not.

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I will not.

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I will not.

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I will not.

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I will not.

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The harder thing is when it's being said to you, not by God directly, but by someone else.

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Then it becomes harder.

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Because now you're not hearing from Refrain from God.

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You're hearing from someone who is either appointed by God or you have recognized as a...

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Let's take church for instance.

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When I ask you to do something, it'll be harder for you to do it

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because now you have a choice.

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You have a choice.

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harder for you to do it because now you haven't even necessarily checked with

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God you have to obey what if there's something in you that rises up saying

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no if it is wrong you have a right to say no but if it ain't what are you

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gonna do I've been in situations like this guys some of you have heard this

01:03:16.820 --> 01:03:29.260
story and I want to say this to you and then I was at Chris's and Gisela's place

01:03:29.260 --> 01:03:39.020
once for lunch Eddie was here and I've gone to Chris and Gisela's place a

01:03:39.020 --> 01:03:45.660
thousand times may not be an exaggeration they're partly responsible

01:03:45.660 --> 01:03:51.580
for my weight scalloped potatoes and stuff like that and so I would go there

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and so Eddie had come to acts 29 so I took him there for lunch and Gisela would

01:03:57.340 --> 01:04:00.380
allow me to sit at the head of the table which was an honor only given to Chris's

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dad and then when her dad passed away I would be asked to sit at the table and I

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sat ate had a really good meal and then as was normal practice for me after the

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meal didn't feel like sitting at the table so I got up from the table I went

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and sat down at the sofa sat down the sofas because it was more relaxed sat

01:04:15.780 --> 01:04:21.660
on the sofas and then Eddie looks at me and says boy you will come back and sit

01:04:21.660 --> 01:04:29.900
at the table till we are finished and everything in me rose up because I'm

01:04:29.900 --> 01:04:34.620
thinking to myself you have come to Vancouver I brought you here to

01:04:34.620 --> 01:04:39.140
Gisela and Chris's place I come here often I've been here a thousand times I

01:04:39.460 --> 01:04:44.540
have tremendous freedom in this house nobody has objected to this before and

01:04:44.540 --> 01:04:48.100
how dare you tell me to come and sit at the table and how dare you do it in

01:04:48.100 --> 01:04:52.780
front of people how dare you say it boy you will come back and sit at the table

01:04:52.780 --> 01:04:58.940
till we are all done and there's this critical moment I think Diana was there

01:04:58.940 --> 01:05:03.460
to critical moment where I'm thinking to myself what do I do and my choices are

01:05:03.460 --> 01:05:07.900
come up with a joke that will diffuse the situation and then take your own

01:05:07.900 --> 01:05:11.340
sweet time going to the table so you get you kind of do what he wants and

01:05:11.340 --> 01:05:17.420
kind of do what you want second refuse and talk about it later with Eddie you

01:05:17.420 --> 01:05:23.740
can argue your way out because you argue well third third was not even a choice

01:05:23.740 --> 01:05:27.700
and of all the things I can think of myself doing I get up and I go back to

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the table and I turn around to the rest of the people sitting on the table I

01:05:31.340 --> 01:05:35.660
said I'm sorry I got up and I went and sat there and finished waited till

01:05:35.700 --> 01:05:39.420
everybody finished and that day something in me broke and what broke this

01:05:39.420 --> 01:05:48.540
this this this sense that I only take orders from God was one thing that went

01:05:48.540 --> 01:05:53.460
away too if I say that this is someone who was my spiritual father then now was

01:05:53.460 --> 01:05:57.540
a grind why am I telling you this story because please don't think I don't

01:05:57.540 --> 01:06:03.100
understand how difficult it is but ready undignified obedience

01:06:03.140 --> 01:06:09.260
unfortunately sometimes has to come through man it changed my relationship

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with God and with this man called Eddie

01:06:14.540 --> 01:06:18.340
still that's all I want is I don't want to bring a moral out of the story

01:06:18.340 --> 01:06:26.780
sailor this is a really good teaching father every time something is a good

01:06:26.780 --> 01:06:30.060
teaching you are behind