The message is really good though.
Heidi, the teaching is really good.
Okay.
No.
Takes all kinds.
Alrighty, so guys today we talk about this idea
of being an advanced guard.
And last week when we were here,
day after day, we talked about what an apostolic people are.
I just want to remind you of what they are.
Apostolic people, apostolic people
are those that while pressing
while pressing
towards
maturity,
while pressing towards maturity,
are actively engaged, are actively engaged
in the proclamation and demonstration of the gospel.
And demonstration of the gospel,
proclamation slash demonstration of the gospel.
Two, in the establishing of churches.
And three, in appointing
and entrusting.
These churches to leaders.
I remember when we first talked about
what an apostolic people look like.
I remember saying that an apostolic people
are people that are set apart to be sent
to represent them accurately.
And that was sufficient for then.
And this was more than six years ago
when we talked about it.
We said an apostolic people are people
that are set apart to be sent to represent him accurately.
And so how do we represent him accurately?
And that's what we're talking about here.
When an apostolic people are those that
while pressing towards maturity,
meaning we never lose sight of the fact
that we need to keep maturing
so that we conform to the stature of Christ.
So that is never set aside.
While we are pressing towards maturity,
we are actively, not passively,
but actively engaged in three things.
One, the proclamation, the demonstration of the gospel
through our lives and through our words.
Two, once that happens in the establishing of churches,
so all these cities and places we showed on the map
is not just to go there and have a crusade and come back,
but to then do something by establishing churches there.
Once you establish one, it starts multiplying.
And then the next thing is to appoint
and entrust these churches with leaders
so that they can function on their own.
In a sense, that has been what has happened at Vernon.
That has been what has happened at Bahrain
and three different churches.
That has been what has happened to an extent in Mongolia.
So it's not that we haven't done this,
but we're getting more and more intentional
about what we do,
because we understand what we're doing.
And so stumbling around doing things that were right,
but not knowing what we were doing.
So that then is what an apostolic people is,
which means that every church has the opportunity
to be apostolic, and it has nothing to do
with being apostles and prophets and teachers.
It's just the nature of the church.
But to be like this, you have to be a different kind
of people, and the Bible uses a word for them.
In Hebrews 6.20, it calls them forerunners.
Forerunners.
And Christ was a forerunner.
Christ is called the forerunner there.
And that's the idea of advanced God.
To be a forerunner is to be someone who goes in advance.
And here the word God is not a sentry or a security person.
Advanced God is the guy who go ahead to pave open the way.
That's the idea of the advanced God.
And so if you go to Hebrews 6.20,
Hebrews 6.20, it calls Jesus Christ a forerunner.
And if they call the head the forerunner,
then we must learn how to be forerunners too.
So Hebrews 6.20, where is 20?
Yeah.
Yeah, we have this hope, starting at verse 19.
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul,
firm and secure.
It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain
where Jesus who went before us has entered on our behalf.
And the actual word used there is this idea of
he who goes before us and has entered on our behalf.
That whole idea is this advanced God or forerunner idea.
He who goes before us and has entered on our behalf.
And so what God wants us to become then
are people who go ahead and enter
so that others can also follow.
To go ahead and enter on behalf of others.
This has to be not something we wear or put on
or see as a duty.
This must become a lifestyle.
And I assure you that this is in the core DNA of Acts 29.
Right from when Acts 29 was conceived
and there were just two people in a warehouse,
not even a warehouse, it was the office of the warehouse.
And in that place when we first started,
we still had this idea that the nations were given
to us to explore.
In the very core of this church is this essential DNA
of being ones who go and break something open
so that we can enter in and those that are coming
can then follow.
And that hasn't changed.
All these years it's been there.
That's part of the reason why this church
may not be the best for everybody.
Because God has different traits for different churches.
We'd be miserable at social work.
We've tried that.
I remember getting toothpaste and socks and gloves
and giving it to certain people at Acts 29
to distribute for Christmas.
And they did distribute it two Christmases later.
It wasn't even Christmas, it was the middle of summer
and they couldn't understand why nobody wanted the gloves.
So some things we are not very good at
but certain other things we are really good at.
And one of the things that they didn't understand
and one of the things that this church is meant to do
is be forerunners.
And so here are some of the,
and please understand it must become a lifestyle.
And what do I mean by it must become a lifestyle?
It must become something that you are on Sundays,
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays,
Fridays, Saturdays.
It is not something that is limited to Christian activity.
It becomes part of everything you do.
Forerunner is when you enter something
on behalf of others,
you go ahead and you enter in.
You do the hard work of entering in.
You develop a forehead like Flint.
You become someone who is willing to take the risk
of looking foolish, of not having anything but going in.
It becomes a lifestyle.
And please understand that if you believe this,
then you will find it becoming your lifestyle.
So here are some of the characteristics
of the advanced God one.
And it doesn't matter whether you,
please remember this is not about going to nations
or stuff like that guys.
This is about opening things up for people
so that others can follow in different areas.
It could be in marriages, in single people's lives,
in homes, in healing, in casting out demons,
in going to the nations, in being hospitable.
Every area, God will allow forerunners
to model a prototype that others can then look at
and say, aha, now it has become easier
because you've shown us how.
That's the whole idea.
And therefore that will become a lifestyle.
It doesn't matter what age you are.
You've got to think like that.
Because this is, I remember Pastor Mike coming here
ages ago.
Derek had just joined the church
and Derek was trying to figure out in his mind
whether he should continue at Acts 29 or not.
He was at UBC asking him to join their churches.
And he was sitting there and Pastor Mike said these words.
He said, some of you should know
that you did not come here by accident,
that God brought you here to be joined
to a certain kind of people
and this is the place that you now must put your roots in.
And Derek heard that and he decided,
okay, this is where I'm going to stay.
And had that not happened,
we wouldn't have had this wonderful guy, John here.
That was the moral of the story, Don.
It was not about Derek.
He's in Liverpool watching a game on Sunday.
So here's the thing about forerunners or advanced God.
Their entrance opens the way for the faithful to follow.
Their entrance, their entrance opens the way
for the faithful to follow.
Their entrance opens the way for the faithful to follow.
So it doesn't matter whether you're a businessman,
whether you're a IT guy, whether you're an engineer.
Doesn't matter, this is how you think
that my entrance will allow others to follow.
And if you don't have a forehead like Flint,
get someone else in the church who has a forehead like Flint
and bang his head against the wall.
Really?
I mean, if for instance, Don doesn't have a forehead
like Flint, because he is still tentative
and he's only 24 and is learning the trick,
then you pull Jeevan out and you say,
Jeevan, Don will walk with you, but you go hit the wall.
And now when he breaks this wall,
now Don has the strength and the courage to run with him.
This is how it works, guys.
A Timothy or a Titus don't happen
till a Paul breaks open the wall.
And so if you don't think you are there yet,
find someone who is there and bang his head against the wall
and then run with him.
When you start playing the guitar,
your fingers hurt like crazy.
But after a while, these fingers develop a callus
that is so hard that now it's like a wall.
And then you run with him.
A callus that is so hard that now it doesn't matter
what you do, it doesn't hurt.
Same principle, some, because you have been doing this
for a while or because you are seasoned at it,
you've developed a forehead like Flint.
When you bump into a wall, the wall breaks first.
And there are different walls allotted to different people.
Some have financial walls allotted to them.
Some have spiritual walls, demonic walls allotted to them.
Some have marriage walls allotted to them.
They have the ability to bring down these walls quickly
because they've learned how.
And so, and guys, here are the things we must do.
If you are going to enter to open the way
for the faithful to follow, get your arsenal ready.
What do you have in your quiver?
Is it a machete?
Because sometimes you can't break down walls
until you get aggressive and take out the sword
and begin to cut through the bush
so that you can pave a way for others to follow.
Other times, it's not that way that you enter.
The Bible says that you can open your pathway
into the palace of kings with your gifts.
So you use your gifts.
It says gifts will bring you before kings.
You use your gifts.
Sometimes it's not gifts,
it's simply your connections in the world.
Do you know a Nebuchadnezzar?
Do you know a Xerxes?
Do you know Pharaoh, a Herod?
Do you know one of them?
Well, they will open the door for you.
Or a Cyrus.
These are the, or an Abimelech.
Doesn't matter.
Know that you are sometimes placed in the world located
not just to make money, but to make money
and to have power or a say in the corridors of power.
God uses different methods, man.
One of the things that gets me before kings
is the giftings I have.
Especially the prophetic has brought me before kings,
governors, people, just simply through a gift.
Other times it's a machete.
Second point.
The advanced God enters behind the curtain.
It says in Hebrews 620,
the advanced God enters behind the curtain.
Enters behind the curtain
into the presence of God.
Into the presence of God.
The advanced God enters behind the curtain
into the presence of God.
Hebrews 620 talks about it.
How he entered the inner sanctuary behind the curtain
where Jesus went before us
and has entered on our behalf.
You have to learn how to do that
because people do not benefit
till you have had an encounter with God.
People do not benefit till I have had an encounter with God.
It is the scariest responsibility that I have
because I can preach well, I can sing well,
I can lead worship, I can do so many things
because I'm gifted.
But giftedness won't necessarily help you.
What will help you is if I have regular encounters with God,
then you will be helped.
And if that applies to a pastor and the church,
then it also applies to you and the rest of the world.
Enter behind the curtain.
Because one thing that really helps people when,
helps you in any circumstance
is when you know his favor.
See, what sustained Joseph?
What sustained Joseph?
Favor.
Joseph was sustained by favor.
What sustained Job?
Favor.
What sustained Moses?
Favor.
So much so that in Exodus 33, Moses says,
Oh God,
if I have found favor in your sight,
please show me your ways
that I am a know you
in order to find favor in your sight.
I love that.
Guys, I'm just gonna deviate for a second
to this thing called favor.
Favor is God's demonstrated delight.
The word grace comes from the word cane,
which again means favor that a superior shows an inferior.
By stooping down, God shows his grace or his favor.
It's also called hesed.
All these words are so connected,
but basically it means God's demonstrated delight.
And so,
it's not that his favor is absent,
but you will not know his favor
till you go behind the curtain
and realize, ah shucks, here is the presence of God
and here is the presence of God.
Presence of God and here is the place of favor.
Joseph was constantly aware of it.
This is why wherever he went,
it says, and the favor of God was upon him
and the favor of God was upon him
and the favor of God was upon him.
It sustained you during really difficult times.
And if I can realize this, I can handle walls.
And so, how do you stay in favor?
And that's such a cool,
I know we've talked about it before,
but here's what Moses says.
I have found favor in your sight.
That's where we all begin.
There is nobody in this room right now,
nobody in this room.
Just think of that.
What a marvelous people we are.
And we are a marvelous people
because of a super marvelous God.
There is nobody in this room right now,
not one person in this room
who cannot start with this sentence.
This sentence applies to everybody in this room,
that I have found favor in your sight, period.
That is established.
There is nobody missing in this.
You don't have to do anything to get in here.
It had nothing to do with you.
This was not a choice God made on your merit.
So this is where everybody starts.
Moses starts here.
He says, I know that I have found favor in your sight.
Then he being smart says, show me your ways.
Exodus 33, verse 13, show me your ways.
Show me your ways.
Please show me now your ways.
And then he tells God why, that I may know you.
Why?
So that I can continue in your favor.
Show me your ways so that I can continue
to find favor in your sight.
Everybody today gets a chance
to start with this first sentence.
And then the next sentence is, oh God, show me your ways.
As I go to Jodhpur, as I go to Pune,
as I go to Chennai, as I go to where my mom lives,
as I go to Tokyo, show me your ways.
And if I can find your ways,
then it doesn't matter what happens,
I will also continue in your favor.
That's how this thing works.
And God says, all right, I'll show you my ways.
And then in Exodus 33, verse 17, the Lord says to Moses,
this very thing that you asked for,
that you have spoken, I will do,
for you have found favor in my sight
and I know you by name.
And that is how Moses kept walking in the favor of God.
Doesn't matter what happened,
Moses kept walking in the favor of God.
Any questions before we go on?
You can't find this favor in the word,
you can't find this favor in church,
you can't find this favor in the prophetic,
you find this favor in his presence.
You can't substitute the word, the church,
or a prophetic word for him.
You got to have the ability to go behind the curtain
into his presence.
And once you're in his presence,
now just seeing him or realizing him
makes you aware of, oh shucks.
Any questions, any thoughts?
This is why Jesus used to go
and find his father's favor every morning
because his life was difficult every day.
This is why Moses' blessing in numbers
carries so much weight when it says,
the Lord bless you and keep you
and may the Lord make his face to shine upon you.
I've said this before,
but both the word face and presence
come from the same Hebrew word, panim.
And panim means face, panim means presence.
And so what are we saying?
Oh God, let your face shine on me.
Let your favor, let your presence shine on me.
That is sufficient.
And I mean, of all the blessings
that God would have declared on Israel,
here is what he says to Aaron,
go speak this on them and when you do,
my name, my person, my influence, my character,
my name will settle upon them and say to them,
the Lord bless you, the Lord keep you,
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you
and make it shine upon you.
The Lord give you grace.
And in the word grace was the word favor.
That was a blessing that they were supposed to carry.
Have you heard this guy's song?
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you.
Matt Redmond, check it out, it's a nice one.
Not right now.
May he do do do do do do do do do do do do do do.
Do do do do do do do.
Matt Redmond would have problems with that
because usually every song I sing
is not the original version.
But thank you Diana.
Are you still on probation?
Because we'd like to lift it off you right now.
Okay, Dawn, if she is on your list, just tick her off.
In the end, you'll be the only one who's still on probation.
No, he's still on that, he's back on that.
He goes in and out.
Next thing is the advanced guard.
The advanced guard carries the arc on their shoulders.
If you want to go to numbers,
it talks about how Moses would send out the priests
and the priests would carry the arc on their shoulders.
And anything that had to happen
would require that the priest step forward first.
So it doesn't matter whether it's Jehoshaphat
and he sends the priest,
or whether it's Moses and he sends the priest
to step into the Red Sea,
or whether it's Joshua and he sends the priest
to step into the Jordan.
It always required that the advanced guard
carried the arc on their shoulders.
So what's the significance of that?
Guys, it is impossible to make any headway as forerunners
or the ones who break things open.
What are we breaking open, guys?
Remember what we are breaking open.
Either they are, and we've talked about this in the past,
ancient demonic doors or ancient kingdom doors.
This is what we're breaking open.
So I know we explained this when we talked about
administrating or stewarding doors some months ago.
But think of this, in the world,
there are demonic doors that are being opened
that have to be shut,
or demons that have shut doors that need to be opened.
And then there are kingdom doors
that God ordained before the foundations of the earth
and in the fullness of time, he opens them.
And things happen.
And so when it is God, you will see these lines always.
In the fullness of time.
And so in the fullness of time,
there was a deliverer called Moses.
In the fullness of time, there was one called Jesus.
In the fullness of time, there was a voice
in the wilderness saying, prepare either way.
John the Baptist was an atypical,
I don't know whether atypical means typical or not typical,
so I'll leave that word alone,
though it really sounded good.
John the Baptist was,
well then, forget the word.
It just sounded so right.
It's terrible when a word that sounds right is wrong.
John the Baptist was a poster boy for forerunners.
Like he, he was just the forerunner,
coming to announce what was going to happen
in very difficult circumstances, unafraid,
born for something like that.
And so what are we opening and what are we going into?
We are either opening demonic doors or shutting them,
or we're opening kingdom doors and shutting them.
Any questions on that?
If you want to have me explain that a little better, I can.
You just kind of stopped.
Did Wapu go and make you headway as forerunners?
Huh, okay.
It's impossible to make any headway as forerunners
if we don't carry government and order correctly,
because the whole idea of carrying the ark
on your shoulders,
every time the Bible mentions anything being carried
on the shoulders, know that it is God's protocol,
God's order, God's government.
In Isaiah chapter nine, verse six,
which you will start hearing in about a month
towards Christmas, is that,
and the government shall be upon his shoulders.
When the ark was carried, it was not carried this way.
It was not carried on your head.
It was carried on your shoulders.
When Hilkiah's son, Eliakim, was called and spoken to
by God, God says to him that,
what you shall open, no one shall shut one.
You shall shut, no one shall open.
And I give you the keys, the keys hung on the shoulder
of the magistrate or the one who was in charge
of the palace.
The whole idea of shoulders carries in it
a sense of order, of God's protocol, and God's government.
And so it's impossible to become these kind of forerunners
or advanced God if I don't understand and keep increasing
in this beautiful thing called the arrangement of God
here on earth, the protocol that he prescribes, and order.
Therefore, David finds out the hard way
that if you don't carry the ark on your shoulders
and put them on a cart like the Philistines used to do,
that Uzziah and Ahiyo would die.
And so David says, oops, I'm really sorry that happened.
Let's do it the right way, and he calls the Levites
and has them carry it on their shoulders.
When you deal with demonic doors,
they look for the absence of order,
because they specialize in disrupting order.
Disorder was the first thing they did,
and therefore got thrown out.
So they always look for ways to break order
and to break order.
And so David is the one who calls the Levites
and has them carry it on their shoulders.
And so David is the one who calls the Levites
and has them carry it on their shoulders.
And so we have to break order in our lives
so that we end up in the same circumstances as they,
and they have some advantage in their battle with us.
But when you keep order, when you keep protocol
that God prescribes, and when you understand
that there is this thing called the arrangement of God
in things here on earth, be it in a marriage,
be it in office, be it in church,
be it amongst your siblings,
the moment we realize that guys know
that we now have the ability to handle these doors
these doors?
Questions, thoughts?
Here is a demonic door that Elisha
opened.
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
Joshua said anybody who rebuilds Jericho will rebuild it at the cost of their
son.
And so now years later Elisha comes and the people at Jericho say that it's, can you do something about the water here?
Because it's
basically poisonous and causes barrenness. Elisha comes and opens that door.
There are many stories in the Bible where you'll see a door that was shut
opened because of forerunners going in and
changing it. Any questions? So how does this apply to you?
See we are not fully convinced that we have the power in our words and in our
hard attitude and understanding of God to open doors for others. We do not think so.
I'm surprised at how after all these years
I'm still not convinced that the words that I speak are actually bringing life or bringing death.
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?
I'm not convinced that that is what God can do through an ordinary mortal like me and
unfortunately, we are not convinced either.
We are not.
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
one day some of the leaders of the church will do this and we will pray at home.
This is not about going anywhere. This is a lifestyle. This is a way of living. This is the way of living.
This is a way of living. It applies to every little thing and every big thing.
What are you basically doing? You are going before others and entering on their behalf so that it becomes easy for them to
enter. It applies to your parents. It applies to your siblings. It applies to your church. It applies to your neighbors.
It applies to your friends. It applies to the city of Richmond. It applies to the nation. It applies to the nations.
It just goes on and on.
Tell me anything in the world in the Bible that was not wrought by a single man and his words.
Show me anything in the Bible, any story in the Bible that was not wrought, W-R-O-U-G-H-T,
that was not wrought by a single person speaking.
Everything in the Bible, this is what bothers me that when I say this I think to myself, oh God, this is marvelous and
then I don't have the ability to stand on it 24-7.
That most things in the world and every story in the Bible happened because one individual,
man or woman,
had the ability to actually hear God and
then had the ability to stand and say what God said and then had the ability to trust God that what he said
would come to pass because he was fully persuaded that what God said he would do.
And then I had the ability to stand for 12 years, 25 years, 40 years to see it come to pass and
then had the ability to be torn asunder and die not seeing what he had said come to pass, but his children saw it.
But they left the earth with a good report,
being absolutely sure that what God had said he would do even if they didn't see it in their lifetime here on earth,
they would see it from heaven.
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
of people that I would like to become and you would like to become.
Every story in the Bible was wrought by one man or one woman saying something that they heard God say.
As ludicrous as making the sun stand still and yet the planets not being thrown out of their orbits,
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.
Yeah.
Ancient Kingdom Doze.
And so one day, 4000 years later,
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
that you shall be a blessing to the nations.
4000 years later, Peter being forced to go to a gentile's house through a dream.
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
gentiles and they start speaking in tongues and Peter says, what can prevent them from being baptized?
That's an ancient door that was opened 4000 years later or Acts chapter 2, Pentecost.
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.
This is what we are seeing now.
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.
Open that door and suddenly everything changes.
And things that he has spoken years ago still continue to happen, but someone has to go in, open that door.
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.
Yeah, Prague.
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.
It's been turned into a city of false prophets that once again, there'll be prophets that emerge from the city.
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.
And once you open the door, then it's not yours to necessarily build the whole thing through.
Forerunners open the door for others to enter.
So you may never know it or never get the credit for it.
God knows the number of people who laid down their lives for places like Russia.
When the Iron Curtain existed that laid down their lives for China.
Door openers, eh?
Next one.
Man, I got to plan all my sermons as two parts because one part doesn't work.
Advanced Guard entered.
Let's take...
Let's just follow order.
Advanced Guard enter territory.
They enter enemy territory.
And rout the enemy.
1 Samuel 14, 1 to 3.
King Saul and the rest of his army are sitting under a tree.
A pomegranate tree, I think.
And wondering, should we go to war, should we not go to war?
And King Saul even pronounces a curse upon anybody who goes to war.
Unfortunately, Jonathan and his armor bearer never heard about it.
So they decide, hmm, we're doing nothing but twiddling our thumbs.
Let's go and check out the enemy.
So they go out into enemy territory.
And here is what Jonathan says.
Jonathan says, if they say to us, come to us, we'll go.
And perhaps God will give them into our hands.
But if they say to us, we'll come to you, then we'll stand still.
So they go.
And the guys say, come to us.
So they go and they demolish the opposition.
The Advanced Guard has to sometimes deal with severe opposition,
both of a physical and a spiritual nature.
But most of our fighting does not look like fighting
because the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.
So what happens to us as Christians is very often we get drawn into verbal,
emotional, sometimes physical fights.
And whenever you go this route, you have feelings like bitterness,
shame, fear, anger, and the offshoots of that.
This is what happens when we war verbally, emotionally, physically.
When we get into fights like that, that is what happens.
It results in these to you if you lose and even if you win.
But the whole idea of routing the enemy and entering enemy territory
is to understand that all battles are first spiritual.
And so if you and I can figure out from God in His presence
as to what the nature of the battle is spiritually,
then I don't have to descend into this.
Because we war by prophesying blessing, by blessing those who persecute us,
by binding kings and their nobles with fetters of iron
and executing sentence upon them,
with the weapons of praise that silences the enemy.
These are our forms of battle.
But because we first go here, it really messes us up.
But if you can first go there and then come here, it's a whole different thing.
Here's the thing, David first went here.
I have fought the lion and the bear and God gave me victory.
Who are you, you uncircumcised Philistine, to come against Jehovah?
I will cut off your head and then I'll cut off the heads of your compadres
and then I'll serve them all as a feast to the birds.
His verbal assault came after a spiritual understanding.
Yeah, so our weapons are we bless those who persecute us
and in doing so we set their head on fire because it's like burning coals.
That's not the intent, but that's what happens.
We prophesied blessing on cities that have done us harm
or people that have done us harm.
We execute vengeance upon demonic nobles and kings
and bind them with fetters as it says in Psalm 149 verses 6 to 8.
We have the high praises of God in our mouth
and we silence the enemy with high praises as it says in Psalm 8 verse 2.
These are the weapons of our warfare and when we first go there
and then come down to verbal, emotional and physical fights,
then there is victory.
Otherwise there are these feelings and these feelings can really take over.
So hard to learn all these things there, but we can.
It's not impossible.
It is just difficult.
God is an awareness of a way, but you need discipline to cross that line.
Sometimes you'll have to go into enemy territory to fight,
but don't go unless the Lord tells you to, but when he tells you must go,
and it is scary, but you must go.
And guys, you're not looking for some ministry opportunity for this.
This presents itself to us every day, every day.
Every day these situations present ourselves.
Remember you have an active enemy, an active opponent,
which is why he is called the adversary.
One who is actively trying to prevent, trying to fight, trying to deceive,
trying to poison, trying to abort, trying to sabotage,
trying to deviate you from life's plans, trying to force you to depend on God.
Trying to help you find some joy in a way that does not include God.
There's an active enemy.
Therefore, when things come against you to be able to find yourself hiding in the rock
that is higher than I and from that vantage point examining both the
advantages and the disadvantages of the world,
and the advantages of the world, and the advantages of the world,
from that vantage point, examining both your life and the situation and saying,
here I need to correct myself and there I need to correct that situation.
Wow.
What a cool thing it will be if we can do this well and often.
And when you can't and your arms are tired,
do what Joan and Chantal did for me.
And then if their arms get tired, get two more to hold up their arms.
And if their arms get tired, then ask your friends to help you morally and economically.
I can't forget that line, Abel.
Okay.
Advanced God assent with authority.
To prepare the way with their voice.
Prepare the way with their voice.
It brings us back to that favorite topic we hate.
Which is giving voice.
You prepare the way by being a voice.
What? You guys got offended?
You prepare the way, but you prepare the way with your voice.
It's not possible to prepare the way by being silent.
Ways are prepared with your voice.
Before God does anything on the earth, he announces it.
We've got such amazing biblical precedents in the Bible.
That should give us an idea of how these things work.
Every time he has wanted to do something, he first announces it.
Before he made man, he would announce it to the triune, the Godhead.
Let us make man in our image.
After he made man, he began to say to man.
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.
And you must use those words loudly enough so that the devil can hear it and you can hear it.
God doesn't have to hear it to know it.
But these other two people, you and the devil, need to hear.
Prepare the way requires voicing what God wants you to.
Otherwise, ways are not prepared.
Any questions?
I mean, isn't that marvelous?
Any questions?
I mean, isn't that marvelous that we have to speak it to prepare the way?
Prepare whose way?
Not your way.
Prepare his way.
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.
And you use them loudly.
You don't have to shout them out, but they must be audible.
And what are you doing when you voice things?
You're connecting God's future, God's plans for tomorrow.
You're speaking them in your present today.
And that's what you're doing.
That's what prophets or the prophetic voice or anyone who wants to speak for God does.
He's taking what God wants done tomorrow.
And he's saying, I'm preparing the way today for what is going to happen tomorrow.
Such a beautiful thing.
That's why I went, go ahead.
Yeah, call into being things that are not even though they already are in his time and presence.
And so let's assume I meet nobody in Jodhpur and I meet nobody in Tokyo.
Then what would I do spending a day there?
I'd just be doing this saying, oh God, Reni and Aaron will be coming here in November.
Sheldon and Jane may go there later.
I might go there a time after, but perhaps it's got nothing to do with any of us.
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.
And it's actually has role in it so that today I can say what you're going to do tomorrow.
Because we prepare the way with our words.
I mean, you heard Chad talk about what we did in the mountains of Uttarakhand.
Same thing, same principle.
I'm so blessed to have had someone teach me these things.
We are so blessed to have had these insights because now we can do these things, guys.
Otherwise we'd have praise and worship and get saved multiple times.
Next one.
The advanced God is keenly aware that they have to bring the rest in.
That they have to bring the rest in.
This was Paul's heart and it's something I ask God for quite a lot.
That, Father, give me a heart that won't want just the ones that are running well to run.
But everybody in, because if you're a forerunner, you're opening the door not just so a few select can enter in.
You're opening the door so that everybody can enter in.
If Jesus was to just open the door for a few select to enter in, I wouldn't have made it.
But Jeevan may have made it.
But it is so that everybody enters in and that is a cry you hear in Paul's letters.
Paul does not want to enter in.
A cry you hear in Paul's letters.
Paul does not want anyone left out.
At one point he goes to the extent, and this is in a different context.
He says that I would rather be accursed so that my fellow Jews would be saved.
Moses did this.
Oh, remove me.
If you're not taking Israel, remove me.
What a statement to make.
Here is God saying to him, hey, Don, you can be the new leader.
I'll start a brand new nation through you.
I'll start a brand new family through you.
And you can lead your nation into the future.
And Don says, no.
If that is the case, then destroy me with these people.
That is just nuts.
It wasn't a holy, humble moment.
Forerunners.
Two more and we're done.
I won't be here next week so I want to finish it.
Advanced God is resourced to reform.
Nehemiah, chapter 2.
Hey, Jeevan, you're not busy this evening, are you?
Cool.
You said it before all these witnesses.
Nehemiah, chapter 2.
Verse 17.
And what did the king say to him?
The king said to Nehemiah, you'll find it in chapter 2, verse 7.
The king says to him, listen, whatever you need,
go ask the governors in the Transufritus area.
I'll give you a letter.
Whatever you need, you'll get from them.
The point being, advanced God, when they go into places to open the door
for the rest to follow, God gives them the resources for it.
God gives them the resources for it.
This is a head space that if you can enter into,
you will stay in for the rest of your life.
And if you don't enter into, you will pray a lot and struggle.
And the prayers will be answered,
but you'll have to go from struggle prayer to struggle prayer.
But if you can enter in here, where you are absolutely confident
that God resources you before he sends you out to be an advanced God.
An advanced God. If you can have that settled in your mind,
then it doesn't matter whether you're a pastor going to Jodhpur,
or you're a businessman starting a business,
or you're a retired person wanting to begin an endeavor,
or you're an employee who has a plan, God resources.
It doesn't matter whether it's a small thing,
like taking someone out for dinner because you want to have a conversation with them,
or whether it's a big thing like flying to an unknown place,
or a bigger thing like starting a business with squat.
It doesn't matter.
But a door opener, once you're commanded to open a door,
must understand that the advanced God is resource to reform.
This must be settled.
And it must happen without taking up offerings.
Because only pastors can take up offerings.
You can't take up offerings.
Try that at your workplace.
Thoughts, questions?
This is very important, because money is required for the things we do.
Nobody should give you money for what you do.
That should be secondary.
They should give you money for who they know you are.
They should know that this is who Mae is.
I don't care if I don't get a report from her telling me what and how she's going to do it.
This is who Mae is.
I trust the person Mae here.
I want to give you this.
Do what you want with it.
That is where we should begin.
The secondary question should be, what did you use it for?
Can I ask about that providing a resource again?
Because Mae and I are actually asking for medicine recommendations.
So, how do you differentiate between taking up offerings and asking for them?
It's not a hard and fast rule, so there will be times when you need to take up an offering.
But I'm saying that should not become the default.
Because for pastors, that is the default.
Take up an offering.
Because I have to go to Tokyo to take up an offering.
Somewhere along the line, I found out that that's not the way God provides.
Or how just people who are on mission trips always have to get support?
Yeah, get support, sign up.
It doesn't have to be that way.
I'm not saying it can't be that way.
God can use any number of ways.
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.
Yesterday, a guy was explaining to me how he won $24,000 twice and missed winning $8,000 yesterday
because he was a little short on the over-under in the hockey.
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.
I was just surprised at how there are different ways the world has found it, but we struggle with it.
That's odd, eh?
The devil wanted to give Jesus all the money he wanted.
So yeah, it doesn't have to be...
I'm not saying it can't be, I'm just saying if my trust becomes in the offering,
then I will have to come up with a sob story every time I want money from you.
Think of those faceless millions he's given to you.
Faceless millions who work hard every day in Tokyo and then walk into those tubes that hurtle at 180 km per hour
not looking at each other's faces, reading their newspapers, tired after a long day's work, dying, going to hell.
I'm talking about Japan.
Last.
Advanced God have excellent spirits in that they have eyes of faith.
Numbers 14-24.
Just because you're part of an advanced God does not mean that you will do well unless you have eyes of faith,
for there were 12 of them and two had eyes of faith.
The 12 of them were the advanced God.
You realize how critical a role you play if you have been chosen to be the advanced God
because on your words hinge the destiny, not the destiny of a nation.
On your words hinge the destiny of at least a major portion of the nation.
All of the Israelites who were over 20 never entered the promised land
because 10 from the advanced God gave them a bad report.
That is just nuts.
A whole nation taken captive by 10.
And two were of an excellent spirit and they saw with eyes of faith.
Sometimes I'm afraid, I was thinking, this is why I went this route today.
Sometimes I'm afraid that in the pursuit of progression, proclamation of the gospel
that we forget some of the basics like faith.
That maybe not forget those things that are so critical to doing what we need to do.
Always with eyes of faith.
Did I say the last one? This is the last one.
It is the advanced God laps up water like dogs.
What a point to end on, huh?
Advanced God laps up water like dogs.
Like dogs.
Okay, sorry.
That is from a Bruce Willis movie.
Advanced God lapped up water like dogs.
Judges chapter 7 verse 5.
Judges chapter 7 verse 5. You know the story.
What is this lapping up water like dogs?
Symbolize. It symbolizes ready obedience.
Ready obedience. Like ready urgent obedience.
It's not trying to figure out.
It's not trying to understand.
It is, this is what God is saying and sometimes unfortunately for us,
God will speak through people and not directly to you.
And that makes it even more difficult to understand.
And that's why I'm saying,
God will speak through people and not directly to you.
And that makes it even tougher.
Because that's what these guys did.
There were tons of them at the river.
And God says take them to the water and have them drink.
And these are supposed to be soldiers alert, ready for the battle.
And God wants to sift them and choose the ones that are ready, alert, obedient.
And He finds some of them who are scooping up water like they're on a picnic.
And then there are others who go down, put their head in the water and they're like,
You can imagine 300 people doing that.
And those are the ones God chooses.
Ready, undignified obedience.
Because often when obedience is urgent and ready, it is undignified.
The advanced God is like that.
I must come to a place and you must come to a place where we do not afford ourselves
the option of I will or I may not.
I will not.
The harder thing is when it's being said to you, not by God directly, but by someone else.
Then it becomes harder.
Because now you're not hearing from Refrain from God.
You're hearing from someone who is either appointed by God or you have recognized as a...
Let's take church for instance.
When I ask you to do something, it'll be harder for you to do it
because now you have a choice.
You have a choice.
harder for you to do it because now you haven't even necessarily checked with
God you have to obey what if there's something in you that rises up saying
no if it is wrong you have a right to say no but if it ain't what are you
gonna do I've been in situations like this guys some of you have heard this
story and I want to say this to you and then I was at Chris's and Gisela's place
once for lunch Eddie was here and I've gone to Chris and Gisela's place a
thousand times may not be an exaggeration they're partly responsible
for my weight scalloped potatoes and stuff like that and so I would go there
and so Eddie had come to acts 29 so I took him there for lunch and Gisela would
allow me to sit at the head of the table which was an honor only given to Chris's
dad and then when her dad passed away I would be asked to sit at the table and I
sat ate had a really good meal and then as was normal practice for me after the
meal didn't feel like sitting at the table so I got up from the table I went
and sat down at the sofa sat down the sofas because it was more relaxed sat
on the sofas and then Eddie looks at me and says boy you will come back and sit
at the table till we are finished and everything in me rose up because I'm
thinking to myself you have come to Vancouver I brought you here to
Gisela and Chris's place I come here often I've been here a thousand times I
have tremendous freedom in this house nobody has objected to this before and
how dare you tell me to come and sit at the table and how dare you do it in
front of people how dare you say it boy you will come back and sit at the table
till we are all done and there's this critical moment I think Diana was there
to critical moment where I'm thinking to myself what do I do and my choices are
come up with a joke that will diffuse the situation and then take your own
sweet time going to the table so you get you kind of do what he wants and
kind of do what you want second refuse and talk about it later with Eddie you
can argue your way out because you argue well third third was not even a choice
and of all the things I can think of myself doing I get up and I go back to
the table and I turn around to the rest of the people sitting on the table I
said I'm sorry I got up and I went and sat there and finished waited till
everybody finished and that day something in me broke and what broke this
this this this sense that I only take orders from God was one thing that went
away too if I say that this is someone who was my spiritual father then now was
a grind why am I telling you this story because please don't think I don't
understand how difficult it is but ready undignified obedience
unfortunately sometimes has to come through man it changed my relationship
with God and with this man called Eddie
still that's all I want is I don't want to bring a moral out of the story
sailor this is a really good teaching father every time something is a good
teaching you are behind