I want us to take this to heart during this week.
I was watching someone preach and while they were preaching, they put images behind them
of mothers fleeing with their children as married, pregnant mothers unsure of what will
happen to their child because they were poor.
Long arduous journeys that refugees were taking, nations where persecution is happening.
These were the pictures that were being cast on the screen as the person was preaching.
And it's very unreal for us, like I said, because of our romanticized stained glass
version of the nativity.
I just want to read this scripture and I pray that almost all of us, without exception, will
be able to partake in these scriptures.
So I'm reading from Matthew 25 to 40.
If you haven't watched this movie, and it's a really old movie and people laugh at me
every time I repeat it every year, it's called The Fourth Wise Man.
You should watch it, it's a Martin Sheen movie and it kind of goes down this road.
So let me just read it.
Matthew 25, 35 to 40.
For when you saw me hungry, you fed me.
When you found me thirsty, you gave me something to drink.
And I had no place to stay, you invited me in.
When I was poorly clothed, you covered me.
When I was sick, you tenderly cared for me.
When I was in prison, you visited me.
Then the godly will answer him.
Lord, when, that's godly as in you, then the godly will answer him.
Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or give you food and something to drink?
When did we see you with no place to stay and invite you in?
When did we see you poorly clothed and cover you?
When did we see you sick and tenderly care for you or in prison and visit you?
And the king will answer them.
Don't you know?
When you cared for one of the least important of these, my little ones, my true brothers
and sisters, you demonstrated love for me.
Love that line.
And the king will answer them.
Don't you know?
When you cared for one of the least important of these, my little ones, may you find the
least important in the eyes of the world who are highly treasured in the eyes of the
king.
May you find them between now and Christmas.
May you find at least one that you can be Christ to.
Yeah?
Cool.
Hey guys, before I preach, I just thought I'll throw this up on the video.
I really liked what Josh and Charlene did.
And if you haven't already watched it, here's a chance to watch it.
It's pretty good.
The first Noel the angel did say was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay.
It fields where they lay keeping their sheep on a cold winter's night that was so deep.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel.
Born is the king of Israel.
A look at up and saw a star shining in the east beyond them far.
And to the earth it gave great light and so it continued both day and night.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel.
Born is the king of Israel.
Then let us all with one accord sing praises to our heavenly Lord
who has made heaven and earth of naught.
And with his blood mankind has bought.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel.
Born is the king, born is the king, born is the king of Israel.
Whoo!
I was trying there, but we should leave the singing to Charlene.
Okay guys, today's teaching if you want a title is Breaking In, Breaking In, Breaking In.
Guys, Christmas is a breaking in of the kingdom. Christmas is a breaking in of the kingdom.
If you go to Galatians 4.4, Galatians 4.4,
it talks about how at a certain point in the fullness of time,
when the set time had fully come, God sent his son born of a woman,
born under the law to redeem those under the law that we might receive adoption to sonship.
So it's the breaking in of something that God had promised when he spoke to Adam and Eve when they fell,
that the seed will come and he will crush the serpent's head.
And so Christmas is the breaking in of the kingdom and Mary actually recognized this.
Mary recognized this and she sings it in Luke chapter 1, verse 50 to 55.
Luke chapter 1, 50 to 55, Mary recognizes it and she begins to sing.
She sings of a flawed world into which a new king enters and he turns things upside down.
That's literally what she's singing.
Few think that Mary was actually prophetic, but in this song of praise,
she's actually prophetic when she says that,
His mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm.
He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their throne, but he has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things, but sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel remembering to be merciful in Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he has promised our ancestors.
So in this she's talking about a flawed world into which a king enters,
who throws the tyrants off, brings in new order, who takes care of the poor and the wretched,
who brings to pass exactly what Jesus later does in Matthew 5 when he talks about the Beatitudes.
This was something that was already spoken of in Haggai chapter 2, verse 22 and 23.
Guys, I've got an echo on this thingy, if I could not have it somehow.
Haggai chapter 2, verse 22 and 23, you see mention of a new king and a new kingdom in the form of Zerubbabel.
Haggai chapter 2, verse 22 to 23.
I'm just bringing all this up so you know how neatly the Old and the New Testament are tied up together.
And so it says in 22 and 23, I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of foreign kingdoms.
I will overthrow chariots and their drivers. Horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.
On that day, declares the Lord Almighty, I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, declares the Lord,
and I'll make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord Almighty.
And so we see Mary singing of a new king and a kingdom breaking into a broken world.
And whenever God wants to break into your life situation, he does it through the Spirit.
And the Spirit broods or hovers or overshadows whatever God is planning to break into.
And to the degree that the vessel that is going to be broken into responds, to that degree God accomplishes or births his purpose.
So if you go to Luke 1.35, you see that happening with Mary.
I'll read from the message, Luke 1.35.
Luke 1.35.
It says there, the angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the highest hover over you,
therefore the child you bring to birth will be called Holy, Son of God.
And so grasp this principally, that whenever God wants to break into something, into your life, into a situation in the world,
what he does is, before even people know of it, before anybody catches whiff of it,
he does it through the Spirit.
So that his desire may be birthed.
As the same with us, first he wants to break into my life.
And after breaking into my life, he wants to break into my life.
And what he does is, he wants to break into my life.
And then he wants to break into the life of the person who has been born into my life.
wants to break into my life and after breaking into my life, he wants to break into lives
through me. First he wants to break into my life and after breaking into my life, he wants
to break into lives through me. Far before God reveals to me that he wants me to change
or become something or do something, the Holy Spirit is already brooding and hovering saying,
I hope Jacob sees what I'm trying to say and responds. At the moment he does, the Spirit of
God is able to bring the change. And then we are supposed to function the same way with others,
where we function like the Spirit brooding over them, hovering over them, releasing the word,
waiting for the moment when they open up. One of the things I sense God saying and sometimes
dislike using words like this, but what do you do if this is what God is saying? I sense God saying,
listen, there's an anointing for breaking in that is present today, an anointing for breaking in
that is present today. As in, I am present with my power, that is what he means by anointing,
I am present with my power to break into your lives in certain areas and then break through
your lives into other lives, other situations, other nations as individuals and as a church.
And my power is present to do that. We read that in the Gospels where it says,
and the power of God to heal was present with Jesus. And I'm saying to you based on faith,
and what I heard, that the anointing to break into your life and then break through your life into
nations, people's, family's situations is present here today. And I'm hoping that at the end of the
service, we are able to respond. So here are some of the conditions that really catalyze the hovering
of the Holy Spirit over you and the breaking in of the Holy Spirit over you. Here are some of the
conditions. Rafful, can I have a tiny bit of volume or let me hear myself a little better?
One or the other? Okay. So the first principle is know your beginning, know your beginning,
and I'll explain it. Sounds kind of weird, but know your beginning, know your beginning.
If you go to Genesis 1 verse 1 and 2, know your beginning. Genesis 1, 1 and 2, it says first,
Genesis 1, 1 and 2, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without
form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over
the face of the waters. Know your beginning, as in know the areas of your void, know the face of
your waters. Know it. This is my condition, O God. One of the things that happens when we don't know
our condition is we don't know that we require surgery. We don't know we require replacement.
We don't know we require change. One of the ways to know your beginning or know your condition or
know your void or know the face of the waters in your life is the Word, because the Word is
a perfect mirror that exposes things. That aside, there are others in your life that can help you
see areas where there is a void or where the face of the waters in your life need to be changed.
Know your beginning. If you haven't already begun the process, which we started at least two weeks
ago in this church, then find time. Because otherwise next year will be a repeat of this
year without COVID. Know your beginning. Know your void. Know the face of your waters. Know the areas
that you've been failing in. Know the stubbornness, the frustrations, the areas that haven't changed.
Know it. And the Spirit of God is pointing it out. He's pointed it out many times.
And He gives you opportunities to correct it. Once you know your void, the next thing to know
is know the words spoken over you. Know the words spoken over you. Know the words spoken over you.
Know the words spoken over you. A void is something the Spirit of God loves to fill.
The face of the waters, if turbulent, He loves to calm. But one of the things He wants to do before
that is to have you go and check the words spoken over you so that you may agree with Him.
Agreement with God is what causes God to begin to move in with you because it says in Amos 3,
verse 3 I think, can two walk together except they be agreed. Know the words spoken over you.
It causes the hovering of the Holy Spirit now to become a breaking in.
Function the same way with others. Function like the Spirit over others. Discern their Genesis point.
Discern where they are at. Discern the void in their lives. Discern the face of the waters in their
lives. It's not one size fit all. It's one of the favorite things I like doing as I sit with someone
new is sit with a stranger. Father, what is the void in their life? Father, what is it that
is happening in their lives? Can you show? Because once He shows, now you can say or do things
just like the Spirit of God would do with you. Where initially you speak a word that they may be
able to receive or will receive later. Once they do that, you keep meeting them with them again
because the Spirit of God broods. The word brood has in it patience and long-term patience.
We're over a period of time people begin to change. Function like the Spirit over others.
Discern their Genesis point. Discern the direction of the Spirit. Isaiah 28 verse 23 to 29 puts it so
well in terms of not treating everybody just as you were treated or just as you think they should
be treated. Isaiah 28 verse 23 to 29 is so instructive and it comes from the Lord it says,
give ear and hear my voice, give attention and hear my speech. Does He who plow for sowing plow
continually? Does He who continually open and harrow His ground? When He has leveled its surface,
does He not scatter dill, sow cumin and put wheat and rose and barley in its proper place
and emmer as the border? For He is rightly instructed, His God teaches Him, dill is not
threshed with a threshing sledge nor is a cartwheel rolled over cumin but dill is beaten out with a
stick and cumin with a rod. All these things are totally unfamiliar to me. I know salt and pepper.
Does one crush grain for bread? No, he does not thresh it forever. When he drives his cartwheel
over it with his horses, he does not crush it. This also comes from the Lord of hosts. He's
wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom. Brilliant! This is how the Holy Spirit deals with
us. This is how we deal with others. We're not just talking about the Holy Spirit breaking into my
life. We're talking about the Holy Spirit breaking into my life and then me being able to break into
other lives, into other situations, into other nations. Acts 29 must have a sense of the Genesis
point of nations, of the face of the waters and the void in nations so that at the appropriate
time we are able to enter precisely as the Holy Spirit wants us to because He is brooding over
certain nations, certain situations, certain families, certain individuals.
The strange thing is the Holy Spirit chooses to work through people. He can do it himself,
but He chooses to work through people. The next principle that really helps us
become absolutely clear is the principle of the Holy Spirit.
The next principle that really helps us become absolutely pliable to this hovering of the Holy Spirit
and is breaking in is to be a unified man or woman, a unified man or woman. In Psalm 86,
verse 11, David says, Unite my heart to fear you, O God. Unite my heart to fear you, O God. There is
something to being a unified man and I think it's important for us as we go forward into 2021
as a church. A unified man, as in let your outer man, let your outer man,
let your outer man, that is your will, your thoughts, your emotions,
let your outer man and inner man, as in the new spirit man, be in sync.
Be in sync. Quite often our will is more conditioned to the buzz of the iPhone
than to the buzz of the Holy Spirit. I mean the way we react to everything is dropped because
the iPhone is buzzing. It doesn't matter how loudly the Holy Spirit buzzes.
It's odd how our outer man, our will, thought and emotions is so conditioned to things that are on
the external and therefore once you're divided it is very hard for the Holy Spirit to break into
your life even though he's brooding and hovering. You see this with Mary and with Zechariah. Mary
was someone who was able to unite her outer and inner person. Zechariah wasn't even though he was
more learned. Both of them were asked the same question. How can it be? Zechariah was told your
wife is going to have a son. His question was how can it be because he couldn't believe. Mary was
told you are going to have a son and you're a virgin yet you're going to have a son. She asks
the same question how can it be but somewhere in her heart she was able to take what she felt in her
will, her thoughts and emotion and match it with who she was. The Holy Spirit loves working with
those that are able to let the inner man rule over the external, rule over the will, rule over the
thoughts, rule over the emotions. He loves it because now he's not dealing with a divided person.
It's much easier to break into a person who is one than a person who is divided. When a person is
divided there is a need to work on the work of the inner man. He's not dealing with the inner man.
There is a need to work on the will, thought and emotions because the inner man knows what is true
but now you have this battle with but this is what I want but these are my thoughts, these are my
desires, there's this clash. I have to learn how to unite my heart to fear God so that the Holy Spirit
finds me very easy to work with because almost everything he asks of me will be beyond my logic,
beyond the five senses and contrary to my fleshly desires.
The soul if allowed to dominate is like an octopus that covers the ears and eyes of the Spirit.
The soul if allowed to dominate is like an octopus that covers the eyes and the ears of my Spirit
with tentacles of logic, with tentacles of desire, with tentacles of five senses. It just
blinds me and deafens me so that the Holy Spirit now has to pull double time because he's got to
first make my will pliable. He has to renew my thoughts. He has to get me to a place where my
emotions and my desires don't drive me. He has to get to me to a place where five senses aren't what
dictates my direction. There is so much more work involved if my person is not united. If you want
God to hover over you and if you want God to take you through a process without striking you dumb
like he did with Zechariah then uniting your outer and inner man is critical.
I remember saying this line four or five years ago and it's a brilliant line.
Things which are seen in my life must not be made from things that are visible.
Hebrews 11.3 talks about it. Significant things in my life, significant events in my life,
significant movements in my life, significant progress in my life, significant challenges in
my life, significant adventures in my life, significant directions in my life
must not be made out of that which is visible. It must be drawn from a realm
that is invisible but is solidly rooted in God. When that happens, my life begins
to show God. When that does not happen, my life shows you the best of Jacob. And
the best of Jacob is like filthy rags on his best day compared to what God can do.
The third principle that really helps the life of the spirit to hover and then
break in and flow through you is the idea of operating in order. The idea of
operating in order. Wherever there is order, it provokes the
wherever there is order, it provokes the anointing of the spirit and it forges
unity. Wherever there is order,
it provokes
the anointing of the spirit as in his presence and it forges unity. Psalm 133,
verse 1 and 2 give evidence of this where it says, sure it starts off with
the idea of how blessed are the brothers and sisters who dwell together. So it
starts off with the idea of unity but then it talks about how the unity is
achieved. Unity is achieved because the body is connected to the head and the
oil that flows from the head begins to go down the face, down the beard, into
the garments, into the body. The idea is wherever there is order, whenever
there is divine order anywhere, and the kind of order that is
prevalent because of a culture of honor, order that is prevalent because of fear,
order that is prevalent because of forced submission, order that is
prevalent because of dictatorial leaders is not the kind of order that is tethered
to the nature of God. Order that is tethered to the nature of God has in it
on one hand an arrangement or a hierarchy that is based on the principle
of honor both ways, bottom to top, top to bottom.
Wherever there is order, you will find two things happening. One, the Holy Spirit
turns up and two, he forges the kind of one accordness or unity that can only be
achieved in the church. Only the Holy Spirit knows how to connect one bone to
the other the correct way to reform the structure of the body. The body is
reform the structure of the bones to revive dead bones as it says in Ezekiel 37.
One of the things you can be assured of at Acts 29, I'm not saying it because
I'm the pastor, I'm not saying it with any degree of pride, but the thing is
if you join this church you will find that regardless of the condition of the
bone that you are, whether you're decaying, whether you're thriving, whether
you are lost, whether you are found, any bone that enters this body will by the
power of the Spirit be located correctly. If you are a fibia you'll be placed
next to the tibia. Both bones are wrong. But the point is you'll fit
correctly in this body. Not because the body has amazing leaders or stuff like
this, they do, but because the Holy Spirit knows how to put bones together
in this body. You will always find your place in this body. This is a
gift that the Holy Spirit has given to this body. You will always find your
place. You will always know where you best fit and in that fit you will begin
to grow. Guaranteed. There's one catch though to this whole order thing. You can
isolate and submit to order or you can be vitally connected and you can submit
to order. You can isolate and submit to order or you can be vitally connected
and submit to order. In both cases the benefits are the same but the experience
is different. I'll illustrate this from the scriptures. This is so important for
all of us listening and for some of us it is even more critical for you in the
coming year. Because this church surprisingly is a church that cherishes
order. But make sure that in your submission to order you're not isolated
but in your submission to order you are vitally connected. The benefits are the
same but the experience is different. Don't isolate yourself. Don't isolate
yourself. It doesn't matter how brilliant you are. Don't isolate yourself.
Don't isolate yourself. Look at Numbers chapter 11. You'll get all the benefits
but the experience is just not the same. Numbers chapter 11.
Verse 16 and 17 first and then we'll go to 25 and 29. Then the Lord said to Moses,
gather for me 70 men of the elders of Israel whom you know to be the elders of
the people and officers over them and bring them to the tent of meeting and
let them take their stand there with me. Again there's an arrangement and order
always has an arrangement and it is not a structure that doesn't change. The idea
of God when it comes to arrangements is that we continuously move upwards to his
calling. And so initially he calls verse 17, and I will come down and talk with you
there and I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them and
they shall bear the burden of the people with you so that you may not bear it
yourself alone. And so when a people appear before God in order at his command,
God begins to pour his spirit who's been hovering over them upon them. But now
look at 25 to 29. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took
some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the 70 elders. As soon as the
spirit rested on them, they prophesied but they did not continue doing it. Now
two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other named Medad, and the
spirit rested on them. They were among those registered but they had not gone
out to the tent and so they prophesied in the camp. The benefits were the same.
And a young man ran and told Moses, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.
And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth said, my Lord
Moses stopped them. But Moses said to him, are you jealous for my sake? Would that
all the Lord's people were prophets that the Lord would put his spirit on them?
And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp. The point here being Eldad and
Medad did choose for whatever reason not to go up when Moses summoned them up the
mountain. They stayed in the camp, they had the spirit of God fall upon them, they
prophesied. But guess what they missed out on? You can have the benefits but you can
miss out on the experience. And what is the experience? The experience was being in the
presence of God, being consumed by the same Shekinah cloud that Moses was to experience later.
Being in the presence of God and having something happen to them and being away from the
presence of God and having something happen to them. The benefits were the same. The
experience was completely different. I plead with you and I know I'm getting bolder sometimes in
my preaching but I plead with you, stop your isolation. Be vitally connected.
Just on a point on the side, I love verse 29. Moses said to them, are you jealous for my sake?
Would that all Lord's people were prophets that the Lord would put his spirit on them?
And it did happen on Pentecost man. And it is okay and normal for Christians to prophesy,
encourage edification and exhortation according to 1 Corinthians 14. It is something that churches
must engage in. That everybody in a church prophesies or prophesies particularly along
the lines of 1 Corinthians 14.3 is very normal. It should be the norm. It's not abnormal.
Just because the prophetic is abused does not mean that it becomes untrue. Only that which is
true is abused so that it may get a bad rep and maybe put away. The next point, what are we talking
about? What helps the Holy Spirit who hovers over us to break into our lives with ease? What helps?
What catalyzes it? What makes it something that you enjoy entering into an experience?
What makes it easy? The next one is rest. Rest. Rest. Rest really helps the Holy Spirit do what
he wants to do. Rest is desisting from self-effort. Rest is to desist from self-effort.
Rest is to desist from self-effort. To forsake self-effort. To move only when the cloud moves.
To move only after hearing a proceeding word. Exodus 40, verse 36 and 37. Israel learned that
and every so often forgot that. Exodus 40, verse 36 and 37. Throughout all their journeys, whenever
the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the
cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. As in, if it
stayed put for 40 days, there ain't no movement for 40 days. Can you imagine that kind of life?
That is when you forsake self-effort and you move only by the cloud and the proceeding word of God.
Rest is critical to the Holy Spirit who hovers over you, coming into your life. Because guys,
we don't think like this, but God has appointed times for everything and the reason he has appointed
times is he knows when the moment is mature. So the disciples waited in Jerusalem 10 days after the
Ascension. They didn't leave. They went up to that mountain, saw Jesus disappear behind the clouds
and they could have gone back to their old ways, but he had told them, wait in Jerusalem.
And so they wait. One day, two days, three days, four days, five days, six days, seven days, surely
seven is God's favorite number, time to go back to Jerusalem. But they didn't leave. They went up to
that mountain, saw Jesus disappear behind the clouds and they could have gone back to their old ways,
but time to leave now. No, eight days, nine days, 10 days.
And then suddenly the wind of the Spirit breaks in, in the form of tongues of fire and it changes
the entire world. Guys, it changes the entire world. Do you know the number of people that leave
a day before it is actually going to happen? I remember this really sad story told by a friend
of mine in South Africa who had a man who was trusting God for a change in fortunes and nothing
happened. And then two weeks before the incident occurred, he comes up to this pastor called Seigi
and he says, all this stuff is so untrue. It's not real. God isn't faithful and all this stuff. And
he leaves. Two weeks later, a man comes to him, comes to the pastor with an envelope, with a check.
That is so massive. And he gives him the check saying, I want to give it to this man. And he
names the man. But the man had left. He did not give a forwarding address. He was very upset and he leaves.
That story makes it a little more tangible. What about intangible things that we can't measure in
terms of money and stuff like that? The number of times people leave because they cannot rest
anymore. And when they leave, what are they leaving to? They're leaving to engage in frantic
activity to bring to pass what God had said because resting ain't cutting it because it feels like
you're doing nothing. But the strange thing is inactivity from God's point of view is some of the
best times to learn his nature.
Rest is a time of training and building
where you possess nothing but God and his nature by faith through his word. Guys, for me, when COVID
began, it is like a horse with a bit in its mouth. I was traveling every two and a half weeks.
I was pleading with God, please send me somewhere. I don't, it's okay. I can go during COVID. Let me
serve you during COVID. I tried every trick in the book to manipulate him.
It's been 10 months since I saw the inside of a plane and it has been some of the best months of
my life. One, because I get to spend it with you and I mean that in such sincerity that even I am
a little surprised. And two, it's just enriched my life and has enriched others' lives because of
what God has been able to do. The point being, rest is a time of training and building
where you possess nothing
but God and his nature through the word by faith. And times of rest precede burning bush encounters.
Hear me, hear me, hear me. These are, these are the things that I have to do. I have to do
it. Hear me, hear me, hear me. These are, these are patterns in the word.
Times of rest precede burning bush encounters. I've experienced this in my life. I've seen it in
the Bible. I've seen it in other people's lives. It precedes burning bush encounters.
It preceded Moses's burning bush encounter, 40 years of rest. It preceded Jesus's encounters,
40 days in the wilderness. It precedes Paul's encounters, years spent in the deserts of Sinai
and in Damascus. It precedes the revelations of John on the island of Patmos.
Moses in Exodus 24, 15 to 18, God calls Moses up the mountain but Moses is smart. He knows how
this God works. If you go to Exodus 24, he won't move till he hears a command. It is a hard thing
to do. It is like horses that are trained not to move a muscle till you say so.
So God's already called Moses up starting at verse 14, chapter 24 Exodus. And he said unto the elders,
wait here for us until we return to you and behold Aaron and her are here with you.
Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them. Then Moses went up to the mountain and the cloud covered
the mountain as in... Go ahead.
So what if you did not wait and you moved on ahead and now what happens? Does that
opportunity that you missed come back? How does that work? Different ways. One, God sends the
opportunity your way again because God is interested in your growth not in time. So he has all the time
in the world so he'll have the same opportunity come again so that you may have another shot at it.
Hopefully by now I've learned because I can again make the same mistake.
God keeps bringing back opportunities into my life. The only difference is the more opportunities I
squander, the lesser time I have to accomplish what he has set for me. So if there was a task I was
supposed to do over a period of seven years and I kept messing up the first three years and finally
get the hang of it. I now have four years to do it when I could have had seven years to do it.
Now the way he restores is by giving you back the years the locusts have eaten because sometimes
missing an opportunity comes to sheer disobedience and rebellion and that is when locusts enter too.
It's not just missing an opportunity because you were stubborn or because you squandered something
out of just callousness. This is deliberate rebellion and disobedience. In times like that
even with Ahab, a very evil king, God would give them another opportunity. He would try to restore
the years the locusts have eaten. That's the second way it happens. The third is to
beg with tears saying oh God I missed out please please please please father please can you come
back and give me another shot at it and like Hezekiah you can get another shot at it but if
you make a habit of it then another scripture from Hebrews 13 kicks in or Hebrews 12 kicks in which
says that Esau begged with tears but it was of no avail. So God doesn't mind being taken advantage
of. God doesn't mind being exploited but God is not mocked and there is this fine line between
taken advantage, exploited and mocked and it is when I cross into the mocking that things become
a little difficult. Moses would not go up. So verse 16, the glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai
and the cloud covered it six days and on the seventh day he called out to Moses out of the
midst of the cloud and here is Moses waiting. I'm talking about seven days man he's waiting on the
mountain. God's already said come up but he won't step into the cloud till he hears the proceeding
word saying come. Then he steps up. Six days he waits. Seven days he steps into the cloud
and then he's in the cloud for 40 days and 40 nights. What is this cloud? The cloud with the
absolute glory, the Shekinah of God that Moses now enters.
There is this thing to resting till God says come or till God says go and it is such a hard
thing to learn because most of us want to be wild stallion thoroughbreds who roam the
whatever stallions roam and God's really not interested.
That aside, rest if learnt. Disadvantage is the devil. Rest if learnt. Disadvantage is Satan
because he can't use external circumstances to bait you into error. He can't use external
circumstances to bait you into error. He can't use external circumstances to bait you into error.
He can't use external circumstances to bait you into error because now you've learnt rest.
You ain't moving till you hear. You ain't moving till the cloud moves. You ain't moving till you
know that the Spirit of God is saying all right time to move on. Now that that happens, Satan finds
himself at a disadvantage because he's not able to use logic. He's not able to use your natural
desires. He's not able to use your five senses to draw you into failing aimlessly or exerting
yourself or using your human strength and your mental powers to bring to pass what God has ordained.
It puts him at a disadvantage. This is why Saul lost his kingdom. He was told specifically wait
Samuel will come and offer the sacrifice. Saul couldn't wait. It gets to you man.
This idea of doing something is so important. Activity is seen as growth and progress and
strength in God. Inactivity is the hardest thing. Activity is easy.
Inactivity is not the absence of a work ethic. You still work hard
but you work as you are told. Holy Spirit loves it when I can walk like this because now I'm not
tinkering with what God does perfectly. Holy Spirit loves it that I wait because now that he can tell
me when where it's optimal it happens exactly as it's supposed to happen.
I'm always reminded of Mongolia. That was something else man. Talk about rest.
Landing there being taken to a hotel having no contact except this one person that I emailed
and he sent someone to pick me up and I'm sitting in my hotel. First day goes by, second day goes
by, third day goes by and I'm getting scared. I've got to do something. I've got to make something
happen. I can't go back to Acts 29 and say God send me to Mongolia but I have nothing to show.
I stayed in a hotel and came back. That would be embarrassing. And on the third night this pastor
emails me saying I'll come and see you on the fourth morning. He comes and the first question
he asked me is why are you here? What have you come to do? I'm saying got nothing
that I've come to do and he says that's not possible because everybody from the west
who comes to Mongolia comes with an agenda. I'm saying I don't have an agenda and he takes me
for a long walk in proper shoes throughout Mongolia. Couldn't tell a stranger that this
is not my favorite mode of transport. And after walking for two or three hours he brings me
back to the hotel and says if you're doing nothing you can come to church.
Thinking really? That's all? So I turn up at church. Doesn't give me a front seat sitting in the back.
Tells me to sing a song in Hindi
which I do so I was part of the cultural thingy.
I'm thinking to myself boy this trip sucks and so I'm leaving the next day evening and after
all that is over he calls me home and I found out later that when you're called home it's usually
a sign of some respect and then he says these words that two years ago someone came to this
church and said there will be a person coming from a place that is on the same latitude as
Ulaanbaatar and when he comes to your church listen to him and do whatever he asks you to do
and he says I've watched you for two and a half days you actually don't have an agenda
but you are welcome to use this church and tell us what to do and we will do it.
That was the beginning of a four-year journey where from 2013 to 2017
we kept going back to Mongolia. People from Acts 29 went too.
This is what I mean by the Holy Spirit brooding over you,
seeing that you're at rest, that you're not jumping the gun and swooping in like an eagle
and doing what he wants to in seconds. This is a great thing with rest. People who walk in rest
can accomplish in five days what it takes others three years to complete. I'm not kidding you man
and so what does that do? So Jacob what's the advantage of rest? If you finish in five days
what people take three years to do you realize how many extra days you have to do nothing and
to watch hockey and to do things. You realize that you have to do a lot of things.
You get so many more days to do nothing and you get so many more days to do a lot.
Fourth point, perseverance, perseverance which is very similar to rest. Perseverance.
The Holy Spirit can break into lives. The Holy Spirit who hovers over us even before we know
something is going to happen can break into our lives when we persevere and don't do anything.
Don't amend what God is trying to accomplish because we do not have the endurance and the patience
to walk through it. In Genesis 8 verse 1 it says, God remembered Noah and sent the wind
12 months and 11 days later. That's how long that lockdown lasted. 12 months and 11 days.
God remembered Noah and sent the wind 12 months and 11 days later and Noah and his family
disembarked from the ark. The guy had the ability to stay. What if he decided this is getting too
much? No more masks, no more sitting in the ark. Let's just step out. Didn't happen that way man.
Somewhere between the word that is released and the word being realized our minds resign because
of the delay. Somewhere between the word being released and the word being realized our minds
resign because of the delay. And once you resign it doesn't matter that you're walking. Once you
resign your walk is slow, your face is glum, your mind is resentful and your heart is closed.
My problem is not that I might have times of down, feelings like ah shucks lot this is taking too
long. My thing is doesn't matter that you're feeling this way can you keep your mind active
about what God has said so that you don't resign in your mind. The moment you resign in your mind
remember your walk slows down, your heart closes, your mind is resentful.
I love what Abraham does in Genesis 15. Genesis 15 God comes and tells him hey Abraham I'm going
to give you a promise but before I confirm that promise to you here's what I want you to do. I
want you to take some animals bring them cut them in half and lay them before me and I also want you
to bring some birds and I lay them before me and so Abraham does that. So you go to Genesis 15 and
you read it. Genesis 15 verse 5 and he brought him outside and said look towards the heaven
and number the stars if you're able to number them then he said to me so shall your offspring be.
So this begins let's assume let's say it's a Saturday this begins on this begins on a Saturday
night because God calls him out into the open and shows him the stars and this doesn't end on a
Saturday night. The next day Abraham and so then God says bring me a sacrifice Abraham brings him
a sacrifice verse 10 and he brought him all these cut them in half and laid each half over against
the other but he did not cut the birds in half and then the birds of the prey come birds of prey
don't come at night they come during the day so he started on Saturday God has shown him a promise
he knows God is going to turn up he has to persevere he stays he he takes branches he takes clothes he
starts driving away the birds of prey it's through the night onto the day the birds of prey come he
keeps chasing them away where verse 12 as the sun was going down a deep sleep fell on Abraham this
is the next day Sunday evening and behold dreadful and great darkness fell upon him it is the dread
of the god of Jacob as in the fear of God that falls upon him and then in verse 17 you see when
the sun had gone down and it was dark behold a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed
between these pieces and God confirms his covenant to Abraham guys if you want to walk in covenants
that God wants to establish with you persevere persevere persevere chase away the things that
come to draw you away to distract no you got to persevere
in 2012 we'd been praying for Australia for years it was one of the first nations we began to pray
for was praying for Australia for years you can ask Heidi and a few others who were there at that
time we had a flag from Australia that we would gather around and pray for and finally felt go
to Australia land up in Sydney again just like Mongolia two days go by and nothing happens and
I'm getting scared and I remember asking this question from Germany and I remember asking
this question from Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 11 God asking me what do you see and in my eyes with my
eyes closed I'm saying father I see a lighthouse and I'm walking the streets because when you don't
know anybody you can't sit in a hotel for more than 48 hours so you actually do things you don't
like like walk and so I'm walking the streets and I've just asked God's asking me what do you see and
I say I see a lighthouse I'm thinking to myself okay father what that's what you've shown but what
does it mean and I come to this place called Darling Harbor and I've just told the Lord I've
seen a I see a lighthouse and I turn around the corner and there's a maritime museum and as I turn
around the corner there is this lighthouse that they've taken from some coast and placed in the
maritime museum and as soon as I see it God says to me you have seen correctly don't worry that
nothing's happened over the last two days persevere and I'll bring to pass what I want to in Australia
years later eight years later now when I see what's happening in Sydney in Brisbane I marvel at God's
faithfulness guys we sometimes think God is not faithful because we do not know how to persevere
to see God's faithfulness because there are so many things that are happening at the same time
when God is doing something God isn't just interested in proving to you that I am faithful
he ain't going to jump off the steeple every time you want proof for his faithfulness when he is
about doing something with you he's also doing it with 40 50 60 and sometimes an entire nation
12 2012 August was when I went the first time to Sydney eight years later eight and a half years
later I can say to you that what God is presently doing in Sydney and Brisbane is beyond what you
and I could imagine and it's not even started birth remains because there was a promise given
by more man called Paul in India that out of Perth will come such rich stock that you and your
church will be blessed that word was given in 2009 in 2010 I remember having something called the
state of the union some of the guys like Marcus and Heidi and Chris and all I remember where this
promise was given that out of Australia we will have a lot of stock st ock
it'll come to pass the faithfulness of God is often seen through perseverance
there is something to persevere till the fullness of appointed times like it says in habakkuk 2 3
this vision is for an appointed time
do not worry it will come to pass there is something to waiting till the fullness of appointed times
and as young people learn it
that we must learn so that God can bring things together into maturity so that God can bring
things together into maturity I used to have this recurring dream for years where every few months
I'd have this dream for years on end after I became a believer and in the dream I'd be chased
by people or what looked like people and I'd come to the edge of this cliff then I'd jump off the
cliff and every time I'd jump off the cliff I land in this most beautiful valley on my feet
and it's the most amazing beautiful valley that I could ever have landed in and I used to think ah
so God wants me to jump off cliffs and he'll make sure he has me land in amazing valleys till one day
God said to me no what I'm trying to convey through this dream over and over again to you
and you don't seem to get it is why is it that you always jump off before I tell you to
that I'm having you land in decent places is my grace but can you stop jumping off till I tell you
to can you persevere can you wait because my life was a series of incidents or events during that
time where God would say something and I would immediately do it the idea of timing was missing
perseverance as the ability to take what God is saying take time take obedience put it all together
and wait for things to mature go to James chapter 5 verse 11 James 5 11
I'm reading from the passion translation James 5 11
actually I'm reading from the message James chapter 5 verse 11 from the message
what a gift life is to those who stay the course you've heard of course of Job's staying power
staying power is perseverance what a gift life is to those who stay the course you've heard of
of course of Job's staying power and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end
that's because because God cares cares right down to the last detail sometimes when we don't persevere
we don't get all the details you get something that does not have the cumin and the
dill added in it gets baked before all the ingredients go in and then it doesn't taste good
and last point if you want the Holy Spirit to break into your life or break into anything you're
building if you want the Holy Spirit is hovering over things to enter into your life and then
through your life flow into others guys I love this one and this is something that I pray God
that we do at Acts 29 you do at your house churches whatever you're in charge of make sure
by pattern, that you build by pattern. There's two ways you build by pattern. One by building
according to His nature and two by building according to His plan. It's not enough to
have one or the other, it has to be both. You have to build according to His nature,
meaning God can give me a plan and I can be a slave driver as I drive you into that plan.
And that does not, it is not conducive to the work of the Spirit. I need to have the plan that
God gives and I also need to have the nature that God has if something is to have the Spirit of God
absolutely validated. Nor can I have just the nature of God and not have the plan of God because
then I do have God's nature but I don't know where I'm going. It has to be both. Whenever you
build, build according to pattern and the Holy Spirit will come upon it like a ton of bricks.
You see that in the Bible. Moses built by pattern. You look at Exodus 25, Exodus 25 verse 40,
Exodus 25 verse 40. God says to Moses, hey Moses as I, go ahead. How can you make the
difference between? How do we know the difference between God having us wait and God and the devil
delaying plans? What I do when things don't happen is I go and ask God, so how come it's taking time
Father? Is this you trying to sort out details, sort me out or is this the devil trying to interrupt
and stop? Because based on what you, based on the answer you arrive at will be your response. If
it is the devil doing it then we need to combat it and drive him out of it so that things begin
to flow. If it is God doing it then I have to make the changes that I need to make. You see this with
Nehemiah. There was a time when Nehemiah was building the wall and a guy who's friends with
Tobiah I think comes to Nehemiah and says to him, hey Nehemiah it might be best that you stay within
the temple because people are out to kill you so stay in here. And Nehemiah realizes this ain't
from God and he says am I going to hide? This is a method being used by the enemy to cause me to
hide so that they will go and say Nehemiah is hiding, don't worry nothing is going to be built.
Nehemiah knew that it was a trick of the enemy. So one asks God when things get delayed, Abba is
this something that you are trying to prevent, you are trying to sort out, you're trying to fix,
you're trying to show or is this the enemy and if it is the enemy father show me how to combat it
and if it is you show me what you want to change. We must get to a point where when we talk like
this we don't think it is a hard thing because when we talk like this we think oh so I got to go
talk to an invisible God who will then speak back in an inaudible voice, how's that going to work?
We don't think like that because we know it works and that it is becoming more and more normal.
So we don't even go down that route of this ain't going to be easy, this answer won't come,
this will be guesswork again, not true.
1 Corinthians 2 says spirit people will be shown spirit truths by the Holy Spirit who lives within
you, who knows the mind of God and reveals it to you. Building by pattern, so Exodus 25 40 God says
see that you make everything that I've told you according to the pattern shown to you on the
mountain when he disappears into that cloud God begins to show him the pattern according to which
things have to be made. Moses does it exactly as he's told. Go to Exodus 40, Exodus 40 verse 34
whenever you build according to pattern see what happens Exodus 40 verse 34.
I started verse 33 then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the
curtain at the entrance to the courtyard and so Moses finished the work then the cloud covered
the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Guys it doesn't matter
whether it's your business, it doesn't matter whether it's your baby, it doesn't matter whether
it's Acts 29, it doesn't matter whether it's your travel plans, whenever you build according to
pattern God by his power, by his glory descends to validate what you have built because whenever,
whenever anybody takes the plan of God and the nature of God and employs it in building anything
God says this piece was created by me I need to sign it so that they know this piece is authentic.
In every area of life if you're a businessman my God build according to the nature of God
and the plan of God.
If you're planning to start a business same principle applies.
Man these things that I'm saying these principles are so precious for life it could give us such a
smooth 2021 with only the devil to deal with which is easy in the name of Christ it is us
that's hard to deal with.
Now the example is David. David makes this really cool statement in first chronicles
chapter 28 verse 10 even when he got directions for the temple man God literally gave it to him
I don't know how he gave it to him go to first chronicles 28.
It's fascinating how the Bible just slips in these lines as if it was matter of fact
first chronicles 28 verse 10.
So he's telling Solomon listen consider now for the Lord has chosen you because David's got all
the stuff to leave for Solomon and consider now for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as
a sanctuary be strong and do the work goes go to verse 19.
He's explaining to Solomon listen follow the plan and then he says all this David said I have in
writing as a result of the Lord's hand on me and he enabled me to understand all the details of
the plan just imagine this you think God is not willing to let you in on his plans then why does
he say stuff like Jeremiah 29 11 my plans are good for you really father what are those plans
oh I won't tell you no his plans if they're good if they're meant for a future are meant to be
revealed to you if you can do it to David in the old covenant how much more to Jacob in the new
covenant look at what David is saying he's saying that he's going to do it to David in the old
covenant look at what David is saying all this David said I have in writing as in as God dictated
or as God showed guys started writing why because he's got to leave it for Solomon we got to leave
plans for the generation after us so that they don't have to start from scratch
so that they can build a second tier not the ground floor
I have in writing as a result of the Lord's hand on me and I don't know what that meant
whether it was like Ezekiel the Lord's hand was on me or the spirit of God showing him or a vision
and he enabled me to understand all the details of the plan as in almost like an architect or an
engineer David was able to understand what God was saying and he began to write it down so that he
knew how round what the diameter of the bronze lava was supposed to be how the pomegranates were
supposed to be how the pillars were supposed to be everything in detail and the spirit of God
enabled him to understand it and look what happens when Solomon decides
to build according to pran first kings 8 11 first kings 8 11
oh my god man this is something else
and when the priests okay so Solomon has now built the thing built the temple
and then he brings the ark into the temple and starting at verse 9 first kings 8 verse 9
there was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb
where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt
when the priest withdrew from the holy place the cloud filled the temple of the Lord
and the priests could not perform this service because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord
filled the temple do you see it's a standard line the glory of the Lord filled the temple
the Moses the glory of the Lord filled the tent of meeting Solomon the glory of the Lord filled
the temple you build according to the plan of God that constitutes two things contains two things
the nature of God and the actual schematics of God you build according to the plan of God
the glory of the Lord will fill the temple every time acts 29 employs any schematic that God gives
for the building of this church and does it according to the nature of God it does not matter
how uneducated and illiterate your leaders may be if it is built this way God turns up and he
validates what is built and how does he validate it with his glory and what is his glory his
glory is his presence his glory is his power his glory is his goodness and his glory is his laughter
I don't use the word joy because joy has become so Christian that we don't even smile at it
except when we sing joy to the world laughter God's glory is God's presence God's power God's
goodness and God's laughter
God validated and then it doesn't matter that you might be a fisherman with no education
you suddenly have the greatest weapon of the kingdom dwelling upon you the glory of God
it is the greatest weapon in the kingdom it is the greatest tool of evangelism
it breaks upon you you wear it and then it breaks through you it becomes your sword it becomes your
sickle it becomes your plow the glory of God becomes your sword becomes your sickle becomes your plow
this picture that I put up on the screen I don't know if you can see it but the idea of this picture
was the ability to break in doesn't matter how hard things are God has a strange ability to take
you a tender shoot like his son was as it says in Isaiah 53 a tender shoot he takes and he has the
power to break into hard nations hard situations hard lives but let him first flow to you and let
him first flow to you so that you begin to open up and once you open up he can take you and put you
into the hardest of nations hardest of grounds hardest of lives hardest of situations and you
end up cracking the foundation of that place take these points man sometimes when I teach these
points I think to myself oh shucks this is brilliant where did this come from
so like I said before we started the power for breaking in is here the anointing for breaking in
is here it is here and it is present and therefore it is there in your house and it is present
and he hovers over us right now the Holy Spirit in God's faithfulness hovers over us the promise is
the promise is I want you guys to become a people who can break in
the situations I have placed before you in 2021 but first allow me to break into your lives and
the response is Luke 138 look at Luke 138 and then we'll pray Luke 138
it's Mary's response and her response is I am the Lord's servant Mary answered may your word to me
be fulfilled may your word to me be fulfilled so I'll just let you pray quietly for a minute and
then I'll end up praying and what are we praying that Holy Spirit you who brood over us right now
you who hover over us so that you may break into our lives
bring forth fruit and then break into lives through us this is something that you want to
give us an anointing for as in you're giving us the power to do that not starting on January 1st
starting today but continuing into 2021 some of it may show forth in healing some in prophecy
some in comfort some in teaching some in helping the naked the prisoners the poor
but you will have us break into hard ground that needs just a touch from the master
so just pray on your own in your house for a minute and then I'll conclude
you
by the way thank you for your words thank you that you're doing something new about
yes you're doing something new
it's almost like we are at that place where you're saying allow me allow me if you allow me
the long desires of your heart for many many years the things that you wanted to see even as it says
in the book of hey guy with the days of ladder glory which will be greater than the days of
former glory that is going to that's going to happen father none of these things can happen
without us giving you time none of these things can happen without us yielding to you
so right now right now as a body as a people as acts 29 we say yes father we say yes
I want to give you the time about for your seed to break forth we want to give you the time for
your seed to break forth we want to allow you god and we want to say our emotions the ways we feel
about things the ways we hear sometimes sometimes it being mutated by the ways of our old thinking
no no no we are surrendering that we are surrendering that because jesus you're saying
i'm going to break forth a new thing life is going to shoot forth and i want to surrender
everything father so even right now even right now all of us at acts 29 regardless of when and
where we hear from we say yes holy spirit break forth into my life break forth into our lives
so that through our lives others lives will be broken open
so that others lives will be broken open father i pray that this week and moving forward
let there be stories about stories of healing breaking open stories where addiction stop
stories where heaven comes down stories where the treasures of earth are exposed
the treasures of earth are exposed father i ask you for your eyes so that when we go out into the
world we will see the the treasures of the earth the treasures of the dark places which is lives
lives lives that jesus is wanting to break into oh father i thank you i thank you that you have
given us this word today and we surrender we surrender individually we surrender corporately
and we say yes to your breaking into our lives yes to your breaking into our lives
enough is enough father enough is enough we have heard much now we want to do now we want to act
now we want to see now we want to see lord and so when we go go forth when we when we when we are
out in the world we expect to see we expect to see the treasures of darkness coming out because
you're seeing appear you're seeing come out and so our words will say the same words appear come
out prison doors broken open blind eyes seeing ears hearing because the word of the lord is going
forth father we say yes we say yes father i say one more thing and this is my prayer for
axe 29 that when these things happen about let us not hide it and say this is a small thing oh yeah
it happened there's something else is going to happen after and then i'll share it with others
no no no come out speak it speak it speak it speak it speak it from the rooftops let others see
let others hear the goodness of god in jesus name we pray amen