Hey Paul, we know you're watching. So much love to you guys from us. We miss you. Fuyo
took your place though. Not Fuyo. Sorry. What's your name? What's your name?
Fuyo's wife, Eko took your place. Thank you Eko. And Emmanuel is watching. So we'll get
started guys. Father, we thank you. We love you Abba. We love you. We really love you.
And it's a privilege for us to come together. And I thank you for your words. And I thank
you for your words that revive us. That lift us up. So Father, we recognize that this place
and the people here, we belong to you. We belong to no one else. We belong to you. We
belong to you. Father, do everything you want to do. Holy Spirit, what you started us off
with. Continue. You work with us, in us. This place belongs to you. We belong to you. In
Jesus' name, Amen. Guys, I only have pink. I don't have any other color. So pink is what
we go with. Also for the guys, when you get married you'll realize that there are different
shades of pink. There is onion pink. I didn't know there was onion pink. There's onion pink.
There's many other shades. Evan, you got to know this. Very important. Oh, you have green.
Alright, we're going to talk about encounter. But yeah, there are definitely many shades
to pink for sure. We're going to talk about encounter. Our Father, He enjoys disrupting
our lives with His goodness, with His presence, with His kindness, with His laughter, with
His power. He enjoys disrupting our lives. A few months ago when we started going on
with this encounter topic, we started meeting. We continue to meet. The idea is that He enjoys
disrupting our lives. Two years ago when Jacob started talking about Shekinah, glory, the
words he used were disruptive glory. Because there is no way that God shows up and our
lives will continue to be the same way. His glory, His presence, the weight of His presence,
His laughter, His power, His goodness, His kindness, all of those things together that
we call glory, it is disruptive. It disrupts our lives. It absolutely disrupts our lives.
And I want you guys today, if you've been going, I believe all of, is anyone here who
hasn't been to the encounter meetings? Okay, just the two of you guys. Plus Mohini, that's
okay. You guys will be going in the next few days, I'm sure. So here's the thing guys.
The encounter meetings are one thing. When we gather, it is one thing. Another thing.
When we are at our homes, it's another thing. It doesn't matter where. His glory is to be
encountered. His glory is to be desired by His people. I want to go back to what I said
before. There is something that I know that the Father is doing with us. Because in heaven,
the writing is Christ in us, the hope of glory. There is something that He wants to understand.
In us, Christ, not in me, Christ, not in just you, Christ in us, the hope of glory. Those
are the words in heaven which will echo down on earth in our midst with what He is going
to do through us, in us, that I'm sure about. So our Father, He disrupts our life. He enjoys
doing it. Mathew, the tax collector, is sitting somewhere. Here comes Jesus and Jesus says,
come follow me. He's at His post. He's doing what He's supposed to do. Jesus says, come
follow me. Elijah is doing something. He's plowing. Elijah comes around and He says,
come follow me. Daniel is, sorry, David is keeping his sheep or his father's sheep. There
comes a call saying, come. He loves disrupting both the mundane and the interesting. He loves
Him. Nothing stops Him. And when He comes through, everything that He wants to accomplish,
He will accomplish. So I want us to position our hearts like that. Father, there is something
you're doing whereby you want to encounter. You want us to encounter your presence, your
glory. We're not talking about meetings. Meetings happen here, Tuesdays, whenever. But we're
talking about individually and collectively, us encountering His glory because that's
His desire for us. So on one hand, we can argue, and there will be people who argue,
that the Word of God is the way to encounter God, which is rightfully true. We encounter
Him through His Word. But what I'm talking about today is not just that. What I'm talking
about today is, yes, while we encounter Him through His Word, there is another place in
Him for us where we say, I want more. And it is not coming out of a deficiency of what
we're reading, my goodness. But while we read the Word, the Word comes alive and says, I
want more of Him. So we are not desperately only limited to what is written, while what
is written is the source of every truth, and it drives us closer and closer to Him.
But we are not limiting Him by just what is written. Is that clear? It's very important.
We're not saying anything else, but my goodness, the Word that we've been given, it helps us.
It drives us closer to this Father, closer to our Savior. Everything that is needed for
life and sustenance is in this Word. But what we're talking about today is saying, we need
more of you. We need your disruptive glory to come interrupt my life, our life. So it
is a lie and a deception that we can somehow think this is for a select few. It is a lie
and a deception that we think somehow when we hear about stories of God encounters or
revivals that it is for a select few. What I'm arguing today is that this is for all
of us. This is for a people. This is for all of us and for a people. Having said that,
it is very possible for us to walk through all of the days of our lives without desiring
an intimate life altering encounter with Him. It is possible for me as a child of God
who is legs up, I want to go to heaven because I have received Him. I've said the prayer.
I know that He is good. I know that He is merciful. I'm ready for heaven. It is possible
for me and for you and for us to go through our lives, live through our days not desiring
an intimate life changing, life altering encounter with the beauty of God, with the person of
God. So that's what we want to avoid because we want to at this time with what He is doing
in us, we want to be readied. We want to be desiring knowing that I could miss it but
I don't want to. I'm committed to be in this. I'm committed to follow what you're saying.
I'm committed to walking with you. So we don't want life altering moments of divine disruption
to be wasted. We want to pursue it individually and as a people. So we have a mission, right?
This is Matthew 28, I believe 19. What's the mission? Three M's. What are our three M's?
That Jacob talks about. Make the Father known. Make disciples. Multiply churches. So that
comes from Matthew 28, 19. It's just a different way of saying the same thing. I want to, we
want to, as a people, we want to make the Father known because there is no making disciples
without making Him known. Jesus said go make disciples of all nations. So we want to make
the Father known. We want to multiply, make disciples and we want to multiply churches.
This call is a collective call, right? This is for all of us. There is no one person in
this room who is left out from this call. It is for all of us. Having said that, there
are specificities to our call in that what Jillian is called to is very different from,
could be different from what Remy is called to, could be different from what Anna is called
to. So while we have this common call, which is making the Father known, making disciples,
multiplying churches, there are specificities to what God is calling us to. And it is impossible
really for us to walk into everything He has for us without allowing Him to show His disruptive
glory and for His glory to interrupt our lives. I was talking to someone, Iris yesterday.
I was saying this idea of we should not think that we can do things without meeting Him
in the way He wants to meet us. It is a lie that makes us believe that we can do certain
things without meeting Him in the way that He wants to meet with us. We've got to meet
with Him like He wants to meet us. Not on my terms, not in the way I want Him to meet
me. He wants to meet me a certain way. He wants to meet you a certain way. And so I've
got to say, I want to meet with you. I want you to change my life. This encounter word
or disruptive glory that we're talking about, it has to, it will change our lives. We cannot
be the same after. It will change our lives. So what I'm hoping we can do over the next
few minutes is I want to talk about what are some things to keep in mind as we go down
this path. What are some things to keep in mind? So I want to start from Psalm 106 20.
If you can read that. Psalm 106 20 and then read Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 11. I want you
to read Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 11. I want you to read that. I want you to read that.
Psalm 106 20. They exchanged their glory with a capital G. I talked about this briefly last
week for an image of the bull. Jeremiah 2 verse 11, the last part of it. But my people, God
says, have changed their glory for that which does not profit. We must be, guys, we must
be accounted among those who sought after His glory and did not exchange it for the
image of the bull. We must be accounted in heaven as a people who sought after His presence,
who sought after His glory and did not exchange it. This is a cry in heaven that there are
His people who would rather exchange our glory. It's a capital G glory. His glory. Christ,
in us, hope of glory. It's our glory. His glory which is meant for us to pursue and
possess and inhabit. We must be accounted therefore to be a people who did not discount it, who
did not let go of it. So what's the image of the bull today in our lives? So going by
Psalm 106.20, I just want to talk about two or three things and then we'll move on. But
it's important to touch on this too. What's the image of the bull? One of the things that
we should be careful about is religion and tradition. Religion and tradition. Religion
and tradition. One of the things that we should be careful about is religion and tradition.
This is one thing that Jesus attacked while on earth. Religion and tradition of men. We
must be militant against this. You know one thing that religion and tradition does? It
will try to box God. It will try to make Him fit a pattern that we're used to. It will
try to domesticate the Lion of Judah. He will never be domesticated. But we can try to say
this is the mold that we're used to. This is the pattern that I've followed all my life.
And you know what? It's not just my life. My dad and my dad's dad and his dad, they've
all gone through the process and this is what we're used to. And I'm not talking about
just our physical parents. This is the ways of men that have come into the church. The
way of being a people and what to expect. And we are saying as a people collectively
that we do not want to box Him. We will not even try to. That if there is any possibility
for us and there is to encounter His beautiful disruptive glory, we have to be militant against
religion and tradition in our lives. Has to be. Second one, image of the self. I want
to read it out this way. All idolatry of self has at its core the three lusts found in 1
John 2.16. Lust of the eyes, pride of life, lust of the flesh. We won't explain it today.
We don't have time to do that. But we can do it another time perhaps. Image of the self.
This is, I'm at the center of everything. Everything revolves around me. I'm at the very center
of my life and I'd like you to be living a life where I'm at the center of your lives
too. My life is not enough for me. I'd like you to. Image of the self. Next, image of
Caesar. By that what I mean is going back to what Jesus said. On this coin, whose image
are you seeing? Image of Caesar. In other words, the systems that we are used to. The
systems that we sometimes ignorantly bow down to. The environment that we're used to. My
identity in a job, in a system, my reliance on things of the world before I rely on him
will cost me. It is a huge price to pay and we don't want to do that. On the other hand,
to write a couple more things without going into the details, comfort can be another
thing. Comfort and entertainment, let's say. It may not be for all, but maybe for some.
Another thing is our souls in that there are still parts of our thinking, our mindset that
will try to say, no, this is how far God can come. This is how far he can be. I won't
allow him to move past this barrier in my mind. That's where we say no. It's not just
religion and tradition or self or Caesar or comfort or soul. Nothing can stand in his
way that he has prescribed for me to encounter his beauty, his glory. Guys, I need you to
just think about this over the next minute or two because I don't want to run from this
to the next without addressing this in our lives. One of the ways we can do it is asking
the question, where do I spend most of my time? Where do I spend my money? How do I
derive joy in my life? Those are questions that will help answer this for you. This may
be different for each of us, but those questions are very important. Where do I spend my time?
Where do I spend my money? Where do I derive my joy from? Back in the day, I think it's
changed. Facebook had this thing when I was in school. What's on your mind? I think they've
changed the whole thing. They used to ask, what's on your mind? What's on your mind?
Xavier is laughing. He's older than that. Just kidding. Yeah, what I meant there is
our corrupted thinking that limits God from doing everything he wants to do. Our soul
is in the process of being transformed to the image of God. In the process, there can
be things in our thinking, our mindset that limits him. Can you take a couple of minutes
and think about your life? If we are in pursuit of his glory, I'm telling you that these questions
are very important. That you shouldn't bypass them. That you should think about it and you
should pledge. Because you've pledged allegiance to the Lamb, these are things that you have
to drop. I'll let you talk with God over the next minute or two before we go further.
Okay.
Cool. We'll continue. Here are some things to keep in mind. This is the main thing I
want to talk about today. The other thing was mostly on the side in that we have to
deal with it. Here are some things to keep in mind in our pursuit of his disruptive glory.
We cannot experience his glory without leaving the tent. I'll explain it. We cannot experience
his glory without leaving the tent. This is from Genesis chapter 18. You see this picture.
It is a pretty hot day somewhere in the Middle East. Abraham is sitting at the tent door.
He is resting perhaps. Whatever he was doing, he is taking a break from it. He is sitting
and he sees three people, three men on the other side. What he does is as soon as he
sees them, he leaves his tent door and he runs to them. He says, please don't go by
without sitting down and without me entertaining you. I want to make sure that you drink something.
I want to make sure that you eat something. I want to feed you and provide drink before
you move on. It's important for me. Please come and sit down. He recognizes what's happening
and he flees the tent door and he runs to them. I'm going to translate that to our lives
here in the Old Testament. I'm saying we cannot experience his glory without leaving the tendencies,
the patterns, the familiarity of our flesh. Like Abraham did, it was a model in that Abraham,
this is your tent, but you know what? As I encounter him, I'm running from what I'm used
to to this place of being in awe of his beauty. I'm going to fall right before him and say,
please don't go. Please do not leave me. I want you to come and sit down under the shadow
of this tree. I'm going to feed you. I'm going to make sure that you have everything you
need before you go on. And I cannot and you cannot hear me out very clearly. This is so
important for us. We cannot experience God by being dependent or being dictated by our
flesh. It cannot happen. It is very important if as a people we are pursuing this, we will
have to leave behind the tendencies of our flesh. I'm not talking about sin. I'm talking
about the way I'm used to engaging with God with my flesh. The way I'm used to in my pursuit
of God in my mind. I have to, will have to leave that for me to experience him the way
he wants me to experience him. So my patterns, the things that I'm familiar with and the
limitations of my flesh, because our flesh is limited, I will have to learn to let go
of it if I am to experience his glory the way he wants us to. In Acts 29, this is important
for us. It will show in the way we worship. It will show in the way we live our lives
every day. And there is no encountering him by being at the tent door. We have to leave
the tent. This is crucial for as a people we will have to let go of the ways that we
are used to. Not just in worship. Not just the 30 minutes when we are worshiping him
together. In our lives there are patterns and my goodness if God is calling us this
way, do we think that he will not expose these things to us so that we can change from it?
He will expose it. He will tell us what they are. But are you willing to go to him and
say, I'm so done being at the tent door, I'm so done with my life, I'm so done with my
life, I'm so done being at the tent door and having my flesh limit you, I'm going to run
to you. It goes back to what we heard a couple of weeks ago. I will need to be foolish. And
we as a church will need to recognize how to respond to the foolishness of man in pursuit
of his glory. It is important for us. When we see foolishness, will we be watchful of
the foolishness? Will we sit on the fence and see how foolish someone is or will we
also join them in their foolishness of the pursuit of God? It is important. It is important
Acts 29. It is important. And we haven't gotten there. We have to as a people do this. So
leave your tent. We cannot, you cannot, we cannot, I cannot experience his glory without
doing that. Number two, I can choose to disengage when his glory is near.
We will go back to the same story. I will explain it. So the three men, they sit down
under the shade of the tree and they are having the meal. The meal is done. And it says the
Lord asks, where is Sarah? See in the previous chapter, Sarah had become Sarah's wife. Sarah
had become Sarah's wife. And Sarah had become Sarah's wife. And Sarah had become Sarah's
wife. And in the previous chapter, Sarah had become Sarah because God gave her a new
name. And God asks, where is Sarah? And it says Sarah was hiding behind Abraham. She
did not respond. You see what's happening in the story. We sometimes only think about
Abraham because he is the main guy in the story. But you don't see what Sarah has done.
After the meal, because she was preparing the cake or the bread before, she is done
with the meal. Now they have had the meal. And God asks, where is Sarah? Where is Adam?
Where is Sarah? And Sarah is hearing this. She is behind the tent door. She doesn't
respond. But what she does is when God proceeds to say, in a year's time, Sarah, I'm going
to bless you. He actually talks about Sarah. He doesn't talk about Abraham. He says, Sarah,
in a year, I'm going to bless you. You're going to have a child. She laughs. It's not
the laughing that we are thinking of today. It's the part that she does not engage. She
chooses to disengage. And do not think that this is Middle Eastern culture. It's not.
She could have absolutely engaged with the God of the universe right there at that time
if she opted to do that. If she chose to do that, she could have done that. And we sometimes
choose to disengage. And we cannot afford to do that. And so if God is again doing this
with us as a people, what if I and Iris choose to disengage? What if three or four of us
choose to disengage? My goodness, we shouldn't. We shouldn't do it. We shouldn't choose to
disengage because we cannot say, I didn't know. We cannot. Sarah cannot say that. She
was asked, Hey, where is Sarah? She could have responded. She did not. So I don't want
to spend more time there, but I pray that as a people, we completely engage with God
in what he's doing. There is a cry. Come out. Will you come out of the place where you're
hiding? The place of comfort, the place of shelter, the place of the normal that you're
used to, the place of convenience. The question is, could Sarah have come out? And the answer
is yes. And I'll even say if Sarah had come out, she would have had an experience and
an encounter with God that would then also have dictated the life of Isaac and Jacob
more than we know today. We don't think like that because Abraham met God multiple times.
Sarah, here's a chance for her to encounter God and his glory in a new way. So when she
loses note to, she lacks that, that very thing that she can or could have passed on to Isaac
and Jacob. So when I don't engage, it's not just I who lose out. The ones who are coming
behind me, they will lose out too. So your life is not just about yourself anymore. All
of the people who are connected to us in one capacity or the other, all of them will lose
out if I choose to disengage. Next. I'll read it out so you can write it. Your recognition
of your need for him, your recognition of your need for him, your lack and brokenness
sets you up for an encounter with your all powerful father. Your recognition of your
need for him, your lack and brokenness sets you up for an encounter with your all powerful
father. I want us to go to, you don't have to read it, but this is from Genesis 32. The
chapter is titled Jacob Fears Ezo. This guy has lived a life. See, Jacob was already taught
about God and previous to this chapter, he's already had encounters or he's already met
with God. He's seen him in that not the same type of seeing in Genesis 32, but he's had
encounters with him. He knows the God of his fathers. He's familiar with him. Now, Genesis
32 begins with Jacob Fears Ezo. He's at a place in his life where everything he has
tried has failed. And he is running. And what happens before this encounter story is this.
It's important in that he is working so much with his mind and his controlling thinking
that he says, you know what, the people that I have, I'm going to break them out into two
camps because if one camp goes away, I still have another. And even better, you know what,
after this time, I'm going to have my two wives, my two female servants and my children.
I'm going to cross them over to across this book and then I'm going to stay here. And
it says he was left alone. He is, he must have been so tired because he's running away
from Ezo, but trying to meet him at the same time by appeasing him with a gift. He must
have been physically exhausted. At the end of everything that he knows, he can manage
and control. Doesn't have anything left in the tank. If he verses before that, he cries
out, Lord help me. And just the beautiful thing about that passage is it doesn't tell
much about how it happened. It's almost like it just says verse three or around that it
says, and Jacob was left alone and a man was with him until the breaking of the day. There's
nothing in between. And Jacob was left alone and a man was still with him until the breaking
of the day. Guys, there is something beautiful about us getting to a place of such brokenness
and need, which will cause our father in heaven to show up because he's all powerful. The
more we think we can do it and the more we hold on to ourself, the more we say, I got
it and I can try to make it and manage it. We are farther away from what he can do.
There is something about us getting to a place with our lives where we say, I am so needy,
so broken that I desperately need you. So I serve and we serve a father who is compassionate
and merciful and loving and kind. He will fight for us. He will fight for you and bring
breakthrough in your circumstances when you're at the end of yourself. It is a good, great
place to be when I find myself at the end of everything that I have. I remember this
time years ago when probably the first few years or first couple of years that I started
coming to AXE, I remember one time Jacob pulled me aside. I don't remember when or where.
He told me, man, one of the things that is such a stronghold in your life is a fear of
man. I remember him saying that and I was like, fear of man. Then I realized that it's
so easy not to understand it because I'm used to my own ways. Then he said, you have that
and you can't go ahead in life with what God has for you until this is not an issue anymore,
until God sets you free. Then once he said it, I began to see it. Once he said it, I was like,
oh, that and this and that. I can now see it. I remember it was a few years where I would go to
God and I would tell him, hey, I need out of this. I need out of this. There are things, the
reason I'm sharing this story is because there are sometimes things in our lives that it only
comes up every now and then. It's not a daily thing. When it's not a daily thing, it's easy
for us to overlook it and say, think, that's not a big deal. But my father, our father is so
interested in our lives every day that he doesn't want anything that's not of him in our lives at
all. I remember going to the father and saying, I need help with this. Then something will happen
and experience, a particular situation will happen. Then I'm also aware of this. My goodness, man,
this is such a thing in my life. I want out of this thing. I'll run to him and say, I want out of
this. I went on for some time and I thought I was making progress. Then there was this day when
something happened. My immediate reaction when this thing happened is I have such a brokenness
feeling inside me. It's like, I need out of this so bad that I'm running out of this place. I ran
out of where I was. I went to my room and I found myself on my bed and I started talking to him. I
started crying. As I'm crying and I'm talking to him, suddenly, man, I cannot explain it. I felt
like I was let loose of chains. It was almost this feeling of I could feel the chains fall off. I've
not been the same since that day. I can tell you that. There is something about our father when you
run to him and you say, I need help with this and I will not let you go unless you bless me. He
will show up. Guys, the best news today is that he is the God he is. He is the father he is and he is
able. That is the place where we operate from. And because he is loving and all powerful, there is no
such thing that can stand between him and you. These verses in the scripture must come alive for all of
us. And he desperately wants now me to move from that to another to another to another because I'm
continually being transformed in the image of his son. But I can settle. I can say, you know, that was a
good one. Thank you very much. And sit there. And I pray we we take to him things we need out of. And he is
able. That's the good news. It's a very good news that it's not based on or dependent on you. It is dependent
on him. Now the question is, will we do something about it? Because I should you should be asking him and
telling him there is no way God there is no way father I'm going to leave you without you changing this in my life.
There is no way I'm going to let you go. You see you can come into meetings or when you're by yourself having this
attitude. There is no way I'm going to leave this place until and unless you do this. It is rightfully our inheritance
to be like that. We do not take it and run with it sometimes. I'm telling you man we shouldn't we shouldn't divide
life into this prayer meeting here this prayer meeting there and then my time at the office and then my time with my wife
or whatever. We should never divide. We should be so expectant for him to do things wherever we are.
There's this this line. No one is excluded unless they exclude themselves or themselves. Right. If I exclude myself from this
person, then he is not not as dependent on what I want to do. And his desire for all of us is that we do not exclude ourselves.
Okay let's move on to the next one.
Couple more. I think this is for the words of your mouth. Make way for the arrival of your king.
I just want to speak want to speak on this from another passage. I think this explains it pretty well. The words of your mouth
make way for the arrival of your king. And it's not that we don't know it or understand it. We have to practice it as a people and
individually because the words of our mouth are very important. It's super important. And there is no one here who cannot speak.
He doesn't look at how proficient my languages or how big the words are that I use. He's so interested in your words though.
And the words of my mouth are an overflow of words in my heart. It's Luke 6 45 out of the abundance of the heart. The mouth speaks.
Psalm 139 4 even before a word is on my tongue. Behold, O Lord, you know it all together. Everything that I speak comes from my heart.
When we manufacture words, he knows it well. And I have manufactured words before. I'm pretty sure you guys have too. But getting to this place where our words flow out of our heart
and we don't even need to try because the barrier between the heart and the mouth is broken. It's broken. Again, as a people, I'm sorry I keep saying as a people. I'm not sorry.
As a people, I keep saying this. It's important for us. This will take us to another place together as a church. It will.
And there is no one sitting here who is exempt from this. The words of your mouth make a way for the arrival of your King.
The passage is Daniel chapter 10. In Daniel chapter 10, you see Daniel standing on the bank of the river Tigris. And while he is standing there, he sees a vision during the day.
The guys with him, they don't see what he is seeing. But they all sense that there is something happening. So they are frightened and they run away. They hide themselves.
But Daniel is still there. And as soon as he sees this, Bible keeps on talking about the experience these men and women had when they met God.
Physically, they couldn't handle it. So he falls to the ground as well. And then I want to hear this word, okay, because the other parts we can skip for today.
But essentially, he sees Jesus. What is written in Revelation? Daniel sees in Daniel chapter 10. And here is what I want us to listen to.
Listen to verse 12. Then he said to me, fear not, Daniel, for from the first day, from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before the Lord, your words have been heard and I have come because of your words.
From the first day, Daniel, you set your heart on him and then you humbled himself. But I have come here today because of your words.
This is something we can run with. This is something we must experience. This is something we must create stories for, for our, for the generation to come.
They must know the importance of words. We must show the next generation the importance of words. Words adoring him, words welcoming him, words shouting out loud who he is.
And it can only happen out of the abundance of my heart. And so when I am with him and when I am beholding him, when I spend my days and nights with him, I don't need to be ready for something because this is who I am as a person and my heart is full of him.
So my mouth overflows with words that adore him.
That's why today if you ask Subin, sorry guys, I can't run away from my soccer examples. My wife hates it, but it's okay.
Today if you ask Subin, is he happy? My goodness, man, he'll be so happy because he is five points or something top of the table in the English Premier League.
He came today. The first thing he did was look at Savior.
He's full of it. He's very happy. Look at him. I haven't seen him this happy. It's short lived though, but that's okay.
Again, the words of your mouth make way for the arrival of your King.
Yeah, we'll move on to the next one.
You cannot engage with his glory unless you turn away from your sins.
It's a pretty harsh statement. You cannot engage with his glory unless you're willing to turn away from your sin, but it's very true.
One of the things that this revival that we're talking about, Jacob said this a few times over, he said this revival is about God purifying us, that this is about a people who are being devoted to him.
And we have to hear his cry for us. He really wants a beautiful bride.
And I'm sure we'll go down this path more and more together, pretty certain about it. But can we say this?
This is what happened to Isaiah. We know the story.
But the beautiful thing about that passage is when Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6 says,
God addresses exactly that by bringing the call and it touches his lips.
The exact same thing that you need help with, he will address that exact thing because it's his desire for you.
He doesn't come and have the call touch his forehead. I'm a man of unclean lips. We are a people of unclean lips.
Hey, you've recognized it. You want to turn away from it. Here you go. My fire over you is a purifying fire.
This wind that I'm blowing is a purifying wind. And therefore that which you need help with, I'll set you free from.
Happened to Moses in Exodus chapter 3. The guy has been wandering for 40 years.
What a change in life, right? In the palace to what he was doing for about 40 years.
He's saying, I'm doing the worst job ever. No one has a job but me.
He does that. And what's interesting is this. In that passage, you see him. It says he moved from the west side of the wilderness to the Mount Horeb.
Now this Mount Horeb is the mountain of God, but he did not know it. We call it the mountain of God. He did not know it.
He later received commandments on this mountain, but he did not know it.
So there is something about, although in this case he didn't know, there is something about us approaching him.
Because one of the things that while worship was happening, it's amazing how we can as a people be so close to the temple, be so close to what's happening, but not enter the Holy of Holies.
I find that very true about me. I'm always close to the temple.
I'm always close to the activity. I occasionally visit the Holy of Holies, but I don't live out of there.
So if what we sang is true, the veil is broken and the doors have flung wide, then we must live from that place where he purifies me.
These words are not words just for the sake of saying it, but I must be in awe and wonder of the beauty and the holiness of the God I serve.
And therefore he will show to me what I need to let go of, and I can let go of it.
Moving from glory to glory in him. This is my inheritance.
So Derek, do you desire now to stop your going around the temple and being in the temple and occasionally visiting the Holy of Holies to living out of this place?
Living out of this place where we behold his beauty, we know his worth. We know how much he loves us.
And so we can't hold on to these things that have clung on so long. We will let go of them.
And it's my decision and your decision, but we can.
And God says, Moses, Moses, he calls out his name and says, Do not come near.
Take your sandals off your feet for the place on which you're standing is holy ground.
It's this idea of all of the accumulated dirt. All of the stuff you've carried with you.
Take it off.
I know what I need to change in. You guys know what you need to change in.
What do you what you need his desperate help with?
And let's go down this path. This part I can tell you guys.
I know for certain that with what we've been talking about, this is such heaven's desire for us to purify us, to change us.
It is his desire for us.
And I am not even attempting to use big words because I really want him to do this with me and you.
I pray that this is your heart's cry, that you'll say, I want to be your bride.
The bridegroom loves his bride.
I want to be your bride. Blemish less spotless.
I will not entertain these things in me. It's a hard no.
And please, please, this is not just sins and all of the stuff that we know we need help with because we have anyone here, I believe, may have their habitual sins, patterns, thinking.
They're all sins. But it's also see James took it to another level.
Not James. James does take things to another level, but not this James.
James chapter four, 17, it says when you know of something that is right and you must do it, you ought to do it and you don't do it.
It is a sin.
So we we are we are going to this place of being like our savior.
We are being fashioned from one place, taken from there to another place in him.
And so while there are other things we need help with, we are not stopping there.
We need more and more.
Can we be like that? That right?
That thing which is right and I ought to do it.
But when I don't do it, it is a sin.
And then there is mindset.
My goodness, mindsets.
So now we are not just talking about lust of the eyes.
We're not talking about murder and adultery.
While those things are wrong, Jesus's bar is much higher.
And that's the bar we are after.
A true encounter with the beauty of God will mark you and set you apart for a life of holiness.
The other thing I want to say from that story is we'll wrap up in 10 minutes.
See, God could have used anything really to speak with Moses, but he chooses an ordinary Bush to speak from.
There was a contradiction in that while there were other bushes that were burning, because it does burn like that in the Middle East,
while there were other bushes that were burning, this Bush was not consumed by the fire.
And that was the only contradiction.
And so we are not stopping there.
We are not stopping there.
But there is this thing of he can use the ordinary to change me.
Guys, please listen to this.
He can use the ordinary to change me.
He can use an ordinary day to change me.
He can bring about a life altering moment in my life in the ordinary.
He can bring about a life altering moment in my life through the ordinary.
And it is important.
Let's go to the next one.
Encounter with his glory causes you to depend on his bride.
If your encounter with God makes you independent, be very watchful.
It is what happens.
Saul is on his way to Damascus.
And he is encountered by God.
But while God can give the entire mission to Saul, right there, just like that, he chooses to withhold it from him.
And what he says is, you need to go to this place and there you will be told what to do.
Because, Paul, Paul, Paul, I have spent time with the disciples.
They know that they have to go two by two.
They know that they have to be dependent.
But, Paul, you don't know that.
And because you don't know that, I am going to teach you.
Right from here, you need to go to this man.
And this man will lay his hands on you.
And then the scales will fall off.
Because I can very well cause the scales to fall off right now.
But I won't have that.
Because you need to be dependent on a people.
You need to be dependent on a people.
Because there is a Titus coming.
There is a Timothy coming.
There is a Barnabas coming.
You won't have any of them anywhere close to you unless I teach you this.
So if your encounter with God makes you independent, be watchful.
Because your encounter with him must make you dependent on the body.
Must make you dependent on the bride.
So Paul got it right from the start.
Because he knew very well what happened.
Oh wow! I need to go to this man and this man will tell me what to do.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's how I am going to set you up.
That's what I am going to train you in.
So, here is the thing.
Father, as a people, we want to go down this way, this path.
Guys, one thing that I think is important is we must not allow self-pity and doubt to stop us.
Somehow that's important.
Must not allow self-pity and doubt to come in the way.
Self-pity is, oh, but I am not like that.
Oh, but this happened to me.
Oh, but I don't have this.
Must not allow self-pity and doubt to stop us.
Father, we come to you and we say,
we are all in. Are we all in church?
Yeah.
Yeah. Father, hear this. We are all in.
We don't know what we are touching, but we know it's you.
We know what we are touching, but we don't know what to expect really.
But we are in it.
Not in it for this minute.
Not in it for just this week.
Not in it for just one encounter.
But this body, you're training up to have encounters after encounters,
because we will never be satisfied with you.
We will always be desperate for you.
So, we are not talking about one life-altering moment that just changes everything.
Yes, while it changes everything,
we want to be a people who will hunger and thirst for more.
So, hear this cry, Father.
Father, you're also reminding us that we have to now steward it.
These things must be stewarded on our own and collectively.
So, I pray that everyone here and those watching, we will steward this well.
It will run after you.
So that let others...Sekarai 12 talks about...
Let others say that all of them were a certain type.
All of them were a certain type.
That's what we want to be about, because we want to leave a legacy.
We want to leave a legacy for those behind us.
In Jesus' name, Amen.