WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Exodus 34 Jealous God Publishing Date: 2021-03-21T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/exodus-34-jealous-god/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.680 So today we deal with the second part of Exodus, second part from Exodus 34. 00:00:10.680 --> 00:00:16.320 Guys, God isn't playing good cop, bad cop. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:17.320 He never does that. 00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:24.120 Because we have a tendency to think he's, he'll say, oh, I'm full of love and then he'll 00:00:24.120 --> 00:00:28.680 say, oh, but I'm going to vac you for the next four generations and then love you for 00:00:28.680 --> 00:00:29.680 a thousand more. 00:00:29.680 --> 00:00:34.000 And it doesn't make much difference to you because you're in the third and fourth generation. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:35.200 So you get whacked. 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:36.200 He's not like that. 00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:39.080 He's not a good cop and a bad cop. 00:00:39.080 --> 00:00:46.960 So on one hand, Exodus 34.6 says, I'm gracious, compassionate, merciful and rich in loyal 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:47.960 love. 00:00:47.960 --> 00:00:52.520 And Exodus 34 verse 14 says, I'm jealous. 00:00:52.520 --> 00:00:55.900 And it almost seems like he's saying, okay, this is who I am. 00:00:55.900 --> 00:01:00.940 But now just so you know, don't get too comfortable with this because this is who I am too. 00:01:00.940 --> 00:01:05.460 It's because we don't understand sometimes what he really means. 00:01:05.460 --> 00:01:09.660 This idea of God being a jealous God actually put Oprah off. 00:01:09.660 --> 00:01:14.520 Oprah Winfrey decided not to follow the Christian God because she read a scripture or someone 00:01:14.520 --> 00:01:17.180 said to her that the Christian God is a jealous God. 00:01:17.180 --> 00:01:18.580 She said, I don't want a God like that. 00:01:18.580 --> 00:01:22.460 And I'm thinking to myself, for all your brilliance, couldn't you have gone and read a little more 00:01:22.460 --> 00:01:25.280 and you'd have figured it out? 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:29.960 And unfortunately, many of us think like that too. 00:01:29.960 --> 00:01:37.320 Where we think God is good cop, bad cop that don't get too close to him because just when 00:01:37.320 --> 00:01:41.600 he said he's gracious, compassionate, full of loyal love and mercy, he'll also say, I'm 00:01:41.600 --> 00:01:44.720 jealous and I'm very possessive and controlling. 00:01:44.720 --> 00:01:46.000 That's not the way this works. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:51.100 I know it seems like such a flippant start to a teaching, but these are some of the thoughts 00:01:51.100 --> 00:01:54.940 that we go through. 00:01:54.940 --> 00:01:58.980 So in Exodus 34, 14, look at what he says. 00:01:58.980 --> 00:02:08.220 He's so determined about what he's saying that you can't misread his intent. 00:02:08.220 --> 00:02:12.780 Exodus 34, verse 14. 00:02:12.780 --> 00:02:15.260 He's not even saying that he's a jealous God. 00:02:15.260 --> 00:02:19.300 He's literally saying, my name is jealous. 00:02:19.300 --> 00:02:20.580 My name is jealous. 00:02:20.580 --> 00:02:21.580 That's what he says there. 00:02:21.580 --> 00:02:27.780 In the NIV, it says, do not worship any other God for the Lord whose name is jealous is 00:02:27.780 --> 00:02:29.660 a jealous God. 00:02:29.660 --> 00:02:32.300 He's not talking about, oh, I feel jealous. 00:02:32.300 --> 00:02:34.620 He says, my name is jealous. 00:02:34.620 --> 00:02:38.220 His very name is jealous. 00:02:38.220 --> 00:02:45.020 This is important to grasp in our present context because all religious reform, all 00:02:45.020 --> 00:02:50.460 religious revival, when you look at Israel's history, all religious reform or revival in 00:02:50.540 --> 00:02:55.860 Israel was brought about by a leader or a people who understood this and were jealous 00:02:55.860 --> 00:02:59.300 for their God. 00:02:59.300 --> 00:03:03.820 Without a jealousy for your God and without understanding the jealous nature of your God, 00:03:03.820 --> 00:03:10.140 it is impossible for a leader or a people to bring about reform or revival. 00:03:10.140 --> 00:03:15.900 All religious reform or revival in Israel was brought about by either a prophet or a 00:03:15.980 --> 00:03:22.220 king or a leader who understood that God was jealous, that he wanted his people for himself, 00:03:22.220 --> 00:03:23.660 and who were jealous for their God. 00:03:23.660 --> 00:03:29.700 You take Elijah, my God, he takes it to a new level when he taunts the prophets of Baal. 00:03:29.700 --> 00:03:34.980 We look at examples from the Old Testament where their jealousy for the God of Israel 00:03:34.980 --> 00:03:39.220 drove them to reform and brought revival to the land. 00:03:39.220 --> 00:03:42.180 When we talk about jealousy, it's two-pronged. 00:03:42.180 --> 00:03:54.500 On one hand, there is the jealousy that encapsulates or captures, there's a jealousy that encapsulates 00:03:54.500 --> 00:04:01.500 God's commitment to bring glory to himself. 00:04:01.500 --> 00:04:11.660 God's commitment to bring glory to himself. 00:04:11.660 --> 00:04:14.260 So there's that jealousy that he has. 00:04:14.260 --> 00:04:20.860 He's absolutely committed to bringing glory to himself. 00:04:20.860 --> 00:04:25.580 If I were to say that about someone on the earth, you would think they're highly insecure 00:04:25.580 --> 00:04:29.380 or highly self-focused. 00:04:29.380 --> 00:04:35.980 But when it comes to God, we need to understand that even though he is in our midst, he is 00:04:35.980 --> 00:04:44.140 transcendent, meaning he does not belong, is not part of this created order, that he 00:04:44.140 --> 00:04:47.980 is beyond that and he introduces himself into it. 00:04:47.980 --> 00:04:49.540 But that's not the reason. 00:04:49.540 --> 00:04:57.380 The reason God has committed himself to bring glory to himself is because he is the infinite, 00:04:57.380 --> 00:05:03.700 perfect creator. 00:05:03.700 --> 00:05:13.820 He is the infinite, perfect creator who intends creation to know him for who he is. 00:05:13.820 --> 00:05:17.180 Who intends creation to know him for who he is. 00:05:17.180 --> 00:05:23.780 And he does not want his glory, he doesn't want his kabod, distorted, adulterated, scorned 00:05:23.780 --> 00:05:24.780 or misrepresented. 00:05:24.780 --> 00:05:26.820 He cannot afford it. 00:05:26.820 --> 00:05:27.940 He cannot. 00:05:27.940 --> 00:05:30.980 He is the infinite, perfect creator. 00:05:30.980 --> 00:05:36.460 And if he does not commit to bringing glory to himself, as in displaying his splendor, 00:05:36.460 --> 00:05:41.460 his magnificence, his kabod, his weight, his power, his majesty, if he does not commit 00:05:41.460 --> 00:05:48.380 to it, then his creation will never know him for who he is. 00:05:48.380 --> 00:05:54.340 After having displayed himself as a glorious one, creation has still exchanged him for 00:05:55.020 --> 00:06:04.700 Sculptures made of stone and wood, worshipping cows and crosses and rats and grotesque masks 00:06:04.700 --> 00:06:09.260 and figures after displaying his glory. 00:06:09.260 --> 00:06:13.780 The Psalms say that he displays his glory through creation every day and yet in Romans 00:06:13.780 --> 00:06:22.540 chapter 1 it says, they exchange the glory of their creator for idols of created. 00:06:22.540 --> 00:06:25.740 Because God is committed to his glory. 00:06:25.740 --> 00:06:28.340 That's part of his jealousy guys. 00:06:28.340 --> 00:06:36.020 And he will not allow his splendor to be distorted and adulterated, scorned or misrepresented. 00:06:36.020 --> 00:06:39.140 He will not allow it. 00:06:39.140 --> 00:06:42.380 He tries to make that happen through his body now. 00:06:42.380 --> 00:06:48.620 This body must carry his glory like the Israelites carried his glory with sufficient fear and 00:06:48.620 --> 00:06:54.620 trembling. 00:06:54.620 --> 00:07:00.140 The problem with grace, and it is a problem God knew would happen, the problem with grace 00:07:00.140 --> 00:07:08.340 is grace allows us the luxury to sin and gives us a sense that we can afford it because his 00:07:08.340 --> 00:07:12.260 grace will cover it. 00:07:12.260 --> 00:07:18.580 And wherever sin increases, lawlessness increases but grace increases too. 00:07:18.580 --> 00:07:20.460 So God was aware of this. 00:07:20.460 --> 00:07:23.300 But that doesn't prevent him from giving it. 00:07:23.300 --> 00:07:25.500 But we need to be aware of this flip side of it. 00:07:25.500 --> 00:07:31.380 My sister was saying to me that nowadays your preaching seems to bring in a certain element 00:07:31.380 --> 00:07:35.780 that in the past was not there as and it was always God is so loving, now you're saying 00:07:35.780 --> 00:07:36.780 God is not loving. 00:07:36.780 --> 00:07:38.980 I'm not saying that. 00:07:38.980 --> 00:07:43.900 I'm saying that God is absolutely loving but things exist in God together and they must 00:07:43.940 --> 00:07:49.500 be held in tension. 00:07:49.500 --> 00:07:56.500 I remember, this is such a pathetic example compared to God, but I remember travelling 00:07:56.780 --> 00:08:03.540 with somebody and the person knows me well but the person kept saying, ah you're such 00:08:03.540 --> 00:08:08.180 a miser, you're such a miser, you're such a miser, kept saying it. 00:08:08.180 --> 00:08:11.700 I listened to it the first time, I laughed the second time, I was quiet the third time. 00:08:11.700 --> 00:08:17.260 The fourth time he said it, something rose in me because I am not a miser. 00:08:17.260 --> 00:08:22.860 I know how generous I've been allowed to be by God. 00:08:22.860 --> 00:08:28.700 And so the fourth time he said it, I had to speak up because I knew that is not me. 00:08:28.700 --> 00:08:30.980 It was important to speak up. 00:08:30.980 --> 00:08:36.380 And so I turned to the person I said, I may be many things but the one thing I am not, 00:08:36.580 --> 00:08:39.540 I am not a miser. 00:08:39.540 --> 00:08:46.540 I know people say, oh you've lived alone for so many years, you must be so lonely. 00:08:46.820 --> 00:08:48.420 That's another thing that gets me. 00:08:48.420 --> 00:08:51.340 I have never known loneliness in my life. 00:08:51.340 --> 00:08:56.820 I'm quite happy when I'm alone. 00:08:56.820 --> 00:09:02.140 And whenever people say that, I always retort saying, nope, never been lonely in my life. 00:09:02.140 --> 00:09:03.140 Why? 00:09:03.140 --> 00:09:05.700 Because it is important for me to state who I am. 00:09:05.700 --> 00:09:14.820 If me, a flawed, relatively pathetic being compared to God, feels this way, then imagine 00:09:14.820 --> 00:09:19.700 what God feels when his nature is distorted. 00:09:19.700 --> 00:09:21.540 We don't realize this guys. 00:09:21.540 --> 00:09:28.540 He is committed to bringing glory to himself and this won't change. 00:09:28.540 --> 00:09:31.740 Jealousy, he is jealous over his glory. 00:09:31.740 --> 00:09:34.460 He is jealous over his glory. 00:09:34.580 --> 00:09:41.580 That's why he would rather have his name, this is such a strange thing, God would rather 00:09:41.580 --> 00:09:49.780 be true to his nature and have his name smudged, be smudged, dragged to the ground than change 00:09:49.780 --> 00:09:53.980 his nature and be deceitful and cover up stuff. 00:09:53.980 --> 00:09:58.900 This is why many ministries, when they fall, why doesn't God come and cover it up? 00:09:58.900 --> 00:10:04.420 When people fall, why doesn't God turn up and say, let's make this go away. 00:10:04.420 --> 00:10:06.140 Let's hide this, let's conceal this. 00:10:06.140 --> 00:10:07.140 Why? 00:10:07.140 --> 00:10:10.380 Because God's reputation is at stake but he still allows it to be exposed. 00:10:10.380 --> 00:10:13.300 Why is it that we hear about David's shenanigans? 00:10:13.300 --> 00:10:16.600 Why do we hear about Saul's fall? 00:10:16.600 --> 00:10:19.380 Why do we hear about Noah sleeping with his daughters? 00:10:19.380 --> 00:10:27.220 Why can't a God who is so powerful, sanitize what he says about his dealings with man so 00:10:27.220 --> 00:10:30.580 that he comes out looking better because that's not his nature. 00:10:30.660 --> 00:10:33.860 He's so jealous about his nature. 00:10:33.860 --> 00:10:40.420 Until a people that are his begin to understand his jealousy and his commitment to his glory, 00:10:40.420 --> 00:10:45.500 they'll never be able to be ones who can bring about reform or revival because they have 00:10:45.500 --> 00:10:48.060 to be jealous about his name too, Phoebe. 00:10:52.060 --> 00:10:54.260 Phoebe was doing this so I just had to respond. 00:10:54.260 --> 00:11:04.340 This is also why Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple in John chapter 2 verse 00:11:04.340 --> 00:11:05.340 17. 00:11:05.340 --> 00:11:06.340 He drives them out. 00:11:06.340 --> 00:11:07.340 Why? 00:11:07.340 --> 00:11:09.700 He actually says, zeal for my house has consumed me. 00:11:09.700 --> 00:11:13.920 You have made my house a den of thieves and robbers. 00:11:13.920 --> 00:11:14.920 What was the intent there? 00:11:14.920 --> 00:11:16.420 Intent was very simple. 00:11:16.420 --> 00:11:23.180 The Gentiles were watching, the poor and the oppressed were watching and they were turning 00:11:23.180 --> 00:11:28.660 that place which was supposed to be the dwelling of the glory of the God of Israel into a marketplace. 00:11:28.660 --> 00:11:33.540 And at some point you see an indignant Jesus who will not be preached in most churches 00:11:33.540 --> 00:11:37.500 and he comes with a whip and he begins to chase them out, flipping tables and driving 00:11:37.500 --> 00:11:38.500 them out. 00:11:38.500 --> 00:11:39.500 Why? 00:11:39.500 --> 00:11:42.660 Because he said, the zeal for the house of God has consumed me. 00:11:42.660 --> 00:11:47.020 I am jealous for the glory of my father. 00:11:47.860 --> 00:11:55.860 This is also why in Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12 ends with these verses which says 00:11:55.860 --> 00:12:01.340 that, listen, another shaking is coming and the reason I am bringing this shaking is so 00:12:01.340 --> 00:12:07.260 that all religious and historical junk will be thrown out because I, your God, am a consuming 00:12:07.260 --> 00:12:12.700 fire. 00:12:12.700 --> 00:12:19.460 The reason he says he is a jealous God is because he is really committed to not having 00:12:19.460 --> 00:12:25.660 his glory distorted, particularly by his people. 00:12:25.660 --> 00:12:34.020 He can understand those who don't know him, messing around with him, saying things like 00:12:34.020 --> 00:12:39.260 Richard Dawkins said when he said, Jesus is the most worthless thing that could have happened 00:12:39.260 --> 00:12:40.260 to the world. 00:12:40.260 --> 00:12:41.260 Those were his words. 00:12:41.340 --> 00:12:50.180 I am listening to it and it is just grabbing my heart and I want to reach into the TV. 00:12:50.180 --> 00:12:59.100 And yet God listens to that and he can handle it because his intent is, will my body display 00:12:59.100 --> 00:13:09.940 my glory and can my body, can my church become jealous about my name, for my name is jealous. 00:13:09.940 --> 00:13:15.920 The second aspect about jealousy, as God's jealousy we are talking about, God's jealousy 00:13:15.920 --> 00:13:21.500 restricts the compromise of our exclusive allegiance to him. 00:13:21.500 --> 00:13:37.220 God's jealousy, God's jealousy restricts the compromise of our exclusive set-apartedness 00:13:37.460 --> 00:13:43.580 or our exclusive allegiance to him. 00:13:43.580 --> 00:13:54.420 As in, he says, hey, I know that you are mine, you accept me as Lord and Savior, you are 00:13:54.420 --> 00:14:03.140 the bride, I am the groom, well, I do not take lightly your compromise of your exclusive 00:14:03.140 --> 00:14:04.300 allegiance to me. 00:14:04.780 --> 00:14:13.020 I am going to say something which I find hard to say because if you hear it wrongly, it 00:14:13.020 --> 00:14:14.900 will be ugly. 00:14:14.900 --> 00:14:20.180 God is love but his love is intolerant when it comes to people who belong to him. 00:14:20.180 --> 00:14:25.860 God is love but it is an intolerant love that does not entertain two husbands or loyalty 00:14:25.860 --> 00:14:29.420 to two masters. 00:14:29.500 --> 00:14:36.460 God is love but it is an intolerant love that does not entertain two husbands or loyalty 00:14:36.460 --> 00:14:38.780 to two masters. 00:14:38.780 --> 00:14:43.500 You cannot serve God in mammon, you cannot serve God in other gods, you cannot serve 00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:47.000 God in other pleasures that draw you away, you cannot. 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:51.260 Any husband who doesn't care that his wife committed adultery certainly does not love 00:14:51.260 --> 00:14:52.540 her. 00:14:52.540 --> 00:14:56.300 Any husband that says, ah, she committed adultery, I don't care. 00:14:56.380 --> 00:15:00.460 It is one thing for the husband to resolve and reconcile it, that is the heart of God, 00:15:00.460 --> 00:15:01.460 heart of God. 00:15:01.460 --> 00:15:06.020 But when a wife commits adultery, if the husband would say, ah, I don't care, it just means 00:15:06.020 --> 00:15:08.540 that there was no relationship. 00:15:08.540 --> 00:15:14.140 A husband who doesn't care that his wife committed adultery certainly does not love her. 00:15:14.140 --> 00:15:19.860 This God that we have committed to and who has committed to us, in that sense his love 00:15:19.860 --> 00:15:21.220 is intolerant. 00:15:21.220 --> 00:15:27.500 You cannot immediately think intolerant means he is going to slap me around or beat me or 00:15:27.500 --> 00:15:28.500 do me harm. 00:15:28.500 --> 00:15:30.500 That's not what intolerant means. 00:15:30.500 --> 00:15:34.780 This is how we think because when we think intolerance, our intolerance is always followed 00:15:34.780 --> 00:15:40.260 by some nasty action or some nasty words or a nasty attitude. 00:15:40.260 --> 00:15:41.940 We are talking about God. 00:15:41.940 --> 00:15:46.620 The problem with perhaps charismatic Christianity in particular is that we get so friendly with 00:15:46.660 --> 00:15:52.820 God that we make him a better version of us. 00:15:52.820 --> 00:15:53.820 He is transcendent. 00:15:53.820 --> 00:15:55.540 He is nothing like me. 00:15:55.540 --> 00:16:00.220 That he comes and makes me his, it's just such a beautiful thing that he does. 00:16:00.220 --> 00:16:01.220 But he is nothing like me. 00:16:01.220 --> 00:16:02.220 He is infinite. 00:16:02.220 --> 00:16:05.980 He is perfect. 00:16:05.980 --> 00:16:07.580 He is creator. 00:16:07.580 --> 00:16:12.380 He chooses to introduce himself into creation but he is actually separate from creation. 00:16:13.380 --> 00:16:18.100 We are not talking about a Hindu God or some other God that is part of creation. 00:16:18.100 --> 00:16:20.180 No, this is a very different God. 00:16:20.180 --> 00:16:21.580 I'm not angry. 00:16:21.580 --> 00:16:27.100 I'm just super passionate about what I'm saying right now. 00:16:27.100 --> 00:16:33.060 His name is jealous and thank God for that because how, I mean just think of it. 00:16:33.060 --> 00:16:38.380 We are so blessed in that the self-existent one, Yahweh, who does not need anything like 00:16:38.380 --> 00:16:42.380 Jesus, he could have created a walnut and been completely happy. 00:16:42.380 --> 00:16:46.140 He didn't need to create man. 00:16:46.140 --> 00:16:51.740 We are blessed in that the self-existent Yahweh, this self-existent God has entered into an 00:16:51.740 --> 00:16:55.900 intimate relationship with you and I. 00:16:55.900 --> 00:16:59.180 And he is jealous when we are unfaithful. 00:16:59.180 --> 00:17:00.780 We are blessed because of this. 00:17:00.780 --> 00:17:05.780 He is jealous that we are unfaithful and at the same time he is also able to present us 00:17:05.900 --> 00:17:10.260 blameless before his father as it says in Jude chapter 124. 00:17:10.260 --> 00:17:13.580 It's so many things that God can do. 00:17:13.580 --> 00:17:15.660 He is jealous when I'm unfaithful. 00:17:15.660 --> 00:17:22.180 He is jealous when I am drawn away by other loves and at the same time even though he 00:17:22.180 --> 00:17:27.300 is jealous, even though the self-existent one who really doesn't need me has come into 00:17:27.300 --> 00:17:32.020 an intimate relationship with me and now that he is so intimate with me, he is jealous when 00:17:32.020 --> 00:17:37.100 I'm drawn away by other loves and at the same time he is also able to bring me to a 00:17:37.100 --> 00:17:44.100 place where I'm presented blameless before him as it says in Jude 124. 00:17:48.540 --> 00:17:55.540 God's jealousy is an annoying speed bump to believers who love the world and keep God 00:17:55.960 --> 00:17:58.500 as a mistress. 00:17:58.500 --> 00:18:01.500 God's jealousy is an annoying speed bump. 00:18:01.500 --> 00:18:05.940 Like every time a believer is driving down the road and decides that his heart is in 00:18:05.940 --> 00:18:12.940 the world, God's jealousy is an annoying speed bump with sometimes nails. 00:18:13.100 --> 00:18:15.100 Why? 00:18:15.100 --> 00:18:19.940 Because you can't keep God as a mistress. 00:18:19.940 --> 00:18:22.100 You can't keep God as a mistress. 00:18:22.100 --> 00:18:24.620 He is too jealous to allow that to happen. 00:18:24.620 --> 00:18:31.540 You can't keep him on the side. 00:18:31.540 --> 00:18:33.140 What happens when we do that? 00:18:33.140 --> 00:18:39.140 Guys, whatever draws my affection away from God will come back to strip me bare. 00:18:39.140 --> 00:18:44.140 Whatever draws my affections away from God will come back to strip me bare. 00:18:44.140 --> 00:18:51.140 It's only a matter of time before the Delilah on whose lap I am languishing will strip me 00:18:52.140 --> 00:18:57.540 bare. 00:18:57.540 --> 00:19:01.260 Blessed are you if you are on a short leash. 00:19:01.260 --> 00:19:04.220 All my life I've been on a short leash. 00:19:04.220 --> 00:19:08.540 Ever since I became a believer, I've always been on a short leash. 00:19:08.540 --> 00:19:15.540 I don't get much leeway when it comes to sin. 00:19:15.540 --> 00:19:22.540 I've always had to come back quickly because otherwise whatever has drawn my affection 00:19:26.860 --> 00:19:32.020 away from God in the last 32 years has always ended up stripping me bare. 00:19:32.020 --> 00:19:38.020 I come back quickly to him. 00:19:38.020 --> 00:19:41.740 Blessed are you if you are on a short leash. 00:19:41.740 --> 00:19:47.940 The short leash grows longer when you struggle against it. 00:19:47.940 --> 00:19:53.420 Don't struggle against it. 00:19:53.420 --> 00:19:56.420 Be thankful that he is jealous. 00:19:56.420 --> 00:20:03.420 One of the hardest things to hear is when you meet children or young people who are 00:20:03.420 --> 00:20:10.420 out on the streets or who haven't returned home at 2 and 3 a.m. and you meet them. 00:20:10.420 --> 00:20:15.420 I've had this experience a few times in different countries and I'll ask them, what about your 00:20:15.420 --> 00:20:16.420 dad and mom? 00:20:16.420 --> 00:20:19.420 And their response is, ah, they don't care. 00:20:19.420 --> 00:20:20.420 And it is so true. 00:20:20.420 --> 00:20:24.420 You can come home at 3 or 4 in the night and they don't care. 00:20:24.420 --> 00:20:27.420 Do you want a dad like that? 00:20:27.420 --> 00:20:30.420 I'm talking about the father now. 00:20:31.420 --> 00:20:38.420 I don't. 00:20:40.420 --> 00:20:47.420 It's a blessed thing that your God is jealous. 00:20:47.420 --> 00:20:51.420 Guys, there's a distinction. 00:20:51.420 --> 00:20:53.420 God does not become jealous. 00:20:53.420 --> 00:20:57.420 He is jealous. 00:20:57.420 --> 00:20:59.420 And he is not envious. 00:20:59.420 --> 00:21:01.420 God does not become jealous. 00:21:01.420 --> 00:21:06.420 As in these are not feelings that wash over him. 00:21:06.420 --> 00:21:08.420 God does not become jealous. 00:21:08.420 --> 00:21:09.420 He is jealous. 00:21:09.420 --> 00:21:11.420 That is my name. 00:21:11.420 --> 00:21:13.420 And it is not envy. 00:21:13.420 --> 00:21:14.420 He's not envious. 00:21:14.420 --> 00:21:19.420 Envy is a desire to possess something that doesn't belong to you. 00:21:19.420 --> 00:21:22.420 Envy is a desire to possess something that doesn't belong to you. 00:21:22.420 --> 00:21:25.420 And it lies at the core of Satan's rebellion. 00:21:25.420 --> 00:21:28.420 Satan wanted something that didn't belong to him. 00:21:28.420 --> 00:21:32.420 This is why the Bible is so strong, especially Paul's writings. 00:21:32.420 --> 00:21:35.420 Do not succumb to bitter envy. 00:21:35.420 --> 00:21:40.420 Because where there is envy and jealousy, and this is the other kind of envy and jealousy, 00:21:40.420 --> 00:21:43.420 where you desire to possess something that doesn't belong to you, 00:21:43.420 --> 00:21:48.420 or you desire to have someone else who has something that you don't have, 00:21:48.420 --> 00:21:52.420 to be deprived of it. 00:21:52.420 --> 00:21:55.420 That kind of envy and jealousy, the Bible says, 00:21:55.420 --> 00:21:57.420 wherever there is that kind of bitter envy and jealousy, 00:21:57.420 --> 00:22:02.420 there is always that which is sensual, demonic, and sinful. 00:22:02.420 --> 00:22:06.420 Confusion, sensual, centrality, and demonic is always present 00:22:06.420 --> 00:22:10.420 where there is bitter envy and jealousy. 00:22:10.420 --> 00:22:12.420 We are not talking about that here. 00:22:12.420 --> 00:22:13.420 God does not become jealous. 00:22:13.420 --> 00:22:15.420 He is jealous and he is not envious. 00:22:15.420 --> 00:22:21.420 Envy or jealousy from an earthly sense is a desire to possess something that doesn't belong to you. 00:22:21.420 --> 00:22:24.420 Or a desire to deprive someone who has something you don't have. 00:22:24.420 --> 00:22:28.420 And this lies at the core of Satan's rebellion. 00:22:28.420 --> 00:22:30.420 God's jealousy is different. 00:22:30.420 --> 00:22:36.420 God's jealousy is a strong desire to maintain relational faithfulness with those who belong to him. 00:22:36.420 --> 00:22:41.420 God's jealousy is a strong desire, is a very strong desire, 00:22:41.420 --> 00:22:50.420 to maintain relational faithfulness, to maintain relational faithfulness with those who belong to him. 00:22:50.420 --> 00:22:57.420 Relational faithfulness with those that belong to him. 00:22:57.420 --> 00:23:06.420 Relational faithfulness with those that belong to him. 00:23:06.420 --> 00:23:13.420 His jealousy doesn't ever lead to rivalry, to manipulation or possessiveness. 00:23:13.420 --> 00:23:19.420 His jealousy led to his death. 00:23:19.420 --> 00:23:21.420 So strange, eh? 00:23:21.420 --> 00:23:23.420 When we think of jealousy, we think of an... 00:23:23.420 --> 00:23:29.420 I mean, I was looking for pictures to put up for a jealous God. 00:23:29.420 --> 00:23:31.420 And you type in the word jealous and you say images. 00:23:31.420 --> 00:23:38.420 And it's always some husband or wife who has a frown on their face 00:23:38.420 --> 00:23:42.420 and who is either being abusive or suspicious. 00:23:42.420 --> 00:23:44.420 This is not what we are talking about. 00:23:44.420 --> 00:23:50.420 We are talking about a God whose jealousy led to his death. 00:23:50.420 --> 00:23:56.420 It didn't lead to rivalry, it didn't lead to manipulation, it didn't lead to possessiveness, it led to his death. 00:23:56.420 --> 00:24:05.420 Why? Because he is committed to maintaining relational faithfulness. 00:24:06.420 --> 00:24:14.420 Ever since he created man, he has committed himself to maintaining relational faithfulness. 00:24:14.420 --> 00:24:21.420 He knows our frailty, his compassion kicks in from 34.6, but he expects relational faithfulness. 00:24:21.420 --> 00:24:27.420 And he is jealous over me. 00:24:27.420 --> 00:24:29.420 Allow his jealousy to win your heart, guys. 00:24:29.420 --> 00:24:32.420 Allow his jealousy to win your heart. 00:24:32.420 --> 00:24:34.420 Allow his jealousy to win your heart. 00:24:34.420 --> 00:24:37.420 Allow his jealousy to win your heart. 00:24:37.420 --> 00:24:41.420 I remember going with Pastor Mike in 1999. 00:24:41.420 --> 00:24:47.420 Someone had asked us to go for a meeting to Seattle. 00:24:47.420 --> 00:24:50.420 So Pastor Mike and I drove across. 00:24:50.420 --> 00:24:53.420 This was before 9-11. 00:24:53.420 --> 00:24:59.420 And we entered this house and there's this prophet there called Ira Milligan. 00:24:59.420 --> 00:25:06.420 And as soon as we enter, he looks at me and says, what's your name? 00:25:06.420 --> 00:25:08.420 And I said, Jacob. 00:25:08.420 --> 00:25:12.420 I was not doing well those days, Jacob. 00:25:12.420 --> 00:25:16.420 Going through really difficult times, really difficult times. 00:25:16.420 --> 00:25:24.420 And I haven't even sat down, I walked through and he says, Jacob, you are special to God. 00:25:24.420 --> 00:25:29.420 God distributes things equally. 00:25:29.420 --> 00:25:33.420 He's like a parent who gives children the same allowance. 00:25:33.420 --> 00:25:37.420 There's something about you that attracts the heart of God. 00:25:37.420 --> 00:25:39.420 You're special to him. 00:25:39.420 --> 00:25:42.420 So when Satan comes to whoop you up when you're going through difficult times 00:25:42.420 --> 00:25:46.420 and you feel like throwing in the towel, don't. 00:25:46.420 --> 00:25:51.420 Because Satan knows that God likes you and he's jealous of it. 00:25:51.420 --> 00:25:56.420 The reason I can say these words so easily is so many times since 1999, 00:25:56.420 --> 00:26:00.420 I have had times that are difficult and I remember the simple words. 00:26:00.420 --> 00:26:03.420 And the way he said it, he almost said it on behalf of God. 00:26:03.420 --> 00:26:06.420 Jacob, you are special to God. 00:26:06.420 --> 00:26:11.420 I almost think it carried the sense of what God was saying. 00:26:11.420 --> 00:26:18.420 Let his jealousy win your heart. 00:26:19.420 --> 00:26:22.420 He says different things to you, eh? 00:26:22.420 --> 00:26:25.420 This is what he said to me. 00:26:25.420 --> 00:26:38.420 What has he said to you? 00:26:38.420 --> 00:26:46.420 Thing is, guys, again, this might sound very possessive from my end, 00:26:46.420 --> 00:26:48.420 but God is already mine. 00:26:48.420 --> 00:26:52.420 He is already mine because of his jealous love for me. 00:26:52.420 --> 00:26:54.420 He is already mine. 00:26:54.420 --> 00:26:57.420 It's scriptural. It says everything is yours. 00:26:57.420 --> 00:26:59.420 Christ is yours, too. 00:26:59.420 --> 00:27:02.420 On one hand, we have absolutely no ownership over God, 00:27:02.420 --> 00:27:07.420 but because of his relational faithfulness, he is already mine. 00:27:07.420 --> 00:27:12.420 I find that so odd and so overwhelming and overpowering. 00:27:12.420 --> 00:27:20.420 He, as in, oh God, you are already mine because of your jealous love for me. 00:27:20.420 --> 00:27:26.420 I asked Emily to learn this song called Already Yours. 00:27:26.420 --> 00:27:28.420 That's basically what it says. 00:27:28.420 --> 00:27:31.420 He is already mine. 00:27:31.420 --> 00:27:35.420 Everything belongs to me because everything is contained in Christ, 00:27:35.420 --> 00:27:41.420 and Christ is already mine. 00:27:41.420 --> 00:27:44.420 Any questions? 00:27:50.420 --> 00:27:55.420 Where is the scripture? Everything is... 00:27:55.420 --> 00:27:59.420 I just want to make sure I'm quoting it right. 00:28:11.420 --> 00:28:36.420 I can't find it. If I find it, I'll let you know. 00:28:41.420 --> 00:28:44.420 Okay. 00:28:44.420 --> 00:28:49.420 Don't go looking for it right now because you'll miss out on the points I'm going to make. 00:28:49.420 --> 00:28:53.420 So how does this... 00:28:53.420 --> 00:29:09.420 Oh, a time for him. 00:29:09.420 --> 00:29:16.420 How about $60,000 in debt, no job, promises that haven't come to pass, 00:29:16.420 --> 00:29:25.420 nothing working out, no ministry, didn't have money to travel, 00:29:25.420 --> 00:29:31.420 could barely have money to put $3 worth of gas to drive to the airport to pick up people, 00:29:31.420 --> 00:29:36.420 would pretend that I left my wallet at home because how can you tell someone 00:29:36.420 --> 00:29:45.420 you didn't have $3 to fill your gas tank? 00:29:45.420 --> 00:29:52.420 Once I had to go past the fast food window of Burger King because the 99 cent burgers, 00:29:52.420 --> 00:29:58.420 I forgot that tax was six cents and I didn't have six cents. 00:29:58.420 --> 00:30:04.420 People didn't want me to teach, preach, though it was so much on my heart. 00:30:04.420 --> 00:30:14.420 And the worst thing was that all these promises were alive and I absolutely believed them. 00:30:14.420 --> 00:30:19.420 But none of them had come to pass yet and I didn't know what was going to happen. 00:30:19.420 --> 00:30:27.420 I knew an Axe 29 would be in the wings. I knew the nations awaited. 00:30:27.420 --> 00:30:39.420 Had sins that I was struggling with that I couldn't snap out of completely, had returned to sins. 00:30:39.420 --> 00:30:44.420 Anything good that would come into my hand would eventually slip out so that 00:30:44.420 --> 00:30:48.420 whatever I held was like sand that slipped through. 00:30:48.420 --> 00:30:52.420 Finally got so discouraged I wanted to throw it all up and say, 00:30:52.420 --> 00:30:54.420 forget it, just go and do what I'm supposed to do. 00:30:54.420 --> 00:30:59.420 Had job offers that I would refuse because I thought I was supposed to plant a church 00:30:59.420 --> 00:31:03.420 or at least work in a church and then nothing would happen. 00:31:03.420 --> 00:31:08.420 Lost friends, lost the trust of even family members because they thought, 00:31:08.420 --> 00:31:19.420 why are you doing this? We gave you a good start. Does that help or should I go on? 00:31:19.420 --> 00:31:23.420 But what kept you going was, but Father you said so, it must happen, it must happen. 00:31:23.420 --> 00:31:26.420 I can easily take this job, Father. 00:31:26.420 --> 00:31:35.420 Oh my God, I remember May 1st, 2000. I got a job from a local newspaper. 00:31:35.420 --> 00:31:47.420 I have a dilemma. If I take the job, I make good money or there's a church that's offering me a job for $550 a month. 00:31:47.420 --> 00:31:50.420 And I'm thinking, which one do I choose? It is such a dumb question. 00:31:50.420 --> 00:31:55.420 When you have that big a debt, choose what you need to choose. 00:31:55.420 --> 00:31:58.420 By the way, my car got repossessed because I didn't have money to pay for it. 00:31:58.420 --> 00:32:04.420 I've never seen a sheriff appear at your door. It's not a very peaceful, pleasant sight. 00:32:04.420 --> 00:32:12.420 I'm thinking, which one should I take? Feel the Lord saying, go read Isaiah 49. 00:32:12.420 --> 00:32:15.420 So I go read Isaiah 49 and here's what it says, 00:32:15.420 --> 00:32:22.420 your work is with the Lord and your recompense will come from him and you will be rewarded by him. 00:32:22.420 --> 00:32:25.420 And now I'm thinking, okay, so I can't take up the job. 00:32:25.420 --> 00:32:36.420 And so I take up the other $550 job and that is the beginning of the restoration of God in my life. 00:32:36.420 --> 00:32:48.420 People were so kind to me, people that I owed money to forgave my debts. 00:32:48.420 --> 00:32:56.420 And slowly, bit by bit, every promise started coming to pass, every promise. 00:32:56.420 --> 00:32:59.420 Psalm 40 is one of my favorite psalms. 00:32:59.420 --> 00:33:04.420 I waited patiently for the Lord, he turned and heard my cry. 00:33:04.420 --> 00:33:09.420 He lifted me from the mire, from the... 00:33:09.420 --> 00:33:14.420 He set my feet on a rock and he gave me a firm place to stand. 00:33:14.420 --> 00:33:23.420 He put a new song in my lips, a hymn of praise to God, a hymn of praise to God. 00:33:23.420 --> 00:33:32.420 Many will see, many will fear, many will put their trust in the Lord. 00:33:32.420 --> 00:33:37.420 What does a short leash look like? 00:33:37.420 --> 00:33:47.420 A short leash looks like every time I would fall into sin, fall into disobedience, I'd pay a very heavy cost. 00:33:47.420 --> 00:33:51.420 And so it wasn't fun. 00:33:51.420 --> 00:33:58.420 It was like, what father, everybody else can do it, they do it and you do nothing about it and I just take one step, prack! 00:33:58.420 --> 00:34:01.420 It was never a prack, it was never... 00:34:01.420 --> 00:34:10.420 It was a sense that, man, you can't get away with nothing. 00:34:10.420 --> 00:34:18.420 It was like those times when your mom has eyes at the back of her head where you do something and you get caught and she wasn't even watching. 00:34:18.420 --> 00:34:20.420 It was like that, man. 00:34:20.420 --> 00:34:22.420 That's what I mean by short leash. 00:34:22.420 --> 00:34:25.420 And it's a wonderful thing, I always thank God for a short leash. 00:34:25.420 --> 00:34:30.420 Many times I thank him saying, Father, bless you for keeping me on a short leash. 00:34:30.420 --> 00:34:40.420 Okay, before any other questions come from whoever this person is, is it Diana? 00:34:40.420 --> 00:34:44.420 Two different people. Was one of them Diana? Thank God for her. 00:34:44.420 --> 00:34:48.420 Exodus 34, back to Exodus 34. 00:34:48.420 --> 00:34:52.420 My God, why did I tell you all those things? You didn't need to know all those things. 00:34:52.420 --> 00:34:55.420 Exodus 34. 00:34:55.420 --> 00:35:05.420 Guys, after we read Exodus 34, 14, we need to go above and see what God says will happen in verses 11 to 13. 00:35:05.420 --> 00:35:14.420 Because that's how it connects to what we need to do now, that he's a jealous God. 00:35:14.420 --> 00:35:24.420 My mom came here the first time. I had to do three and a half jobs because I didn't have enough money to maintain myself. 00:35:24.420 --> 00:35:34.420 And so I remember Joan's dad employed me and then there was a church that employed me and then there was Jeremy's dad who employed me. 00:35:34.420 --> 00:35:37.420 Yeah, they were so kind, man. 00:35:37.420 --> 00:35:42.420 Anyways, Exodus 34, 11 to 13. 00:35:42.420 --> 00:35:50.420 It says there, the New King James Version puts it this way, observe, as in take note for yourself what I command you this day. 00:35:50.420 --> 00:35:55.420 This is a jealous God's sake. If I'm jealous, then these are some of the things I command you to do. 00:35:55.420 --> 00:36:00.420 One, because I'm jealous, I will drive out the enemy from before you. 00:36:00.420 --> 00:36:05.420 I will drive out the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites out from before you. 00:36:05.420 --> 00:36:09.420 I will drive out the enemy. 00:36:09.420 --> 00:36:16.420 So these are the advantages that we have because God is jealous because when he's starting something on earth 00:36:16.420 --> 00:36:23.420 and he chooses the people through whom he will do it, like he did with Israel, he gives us some solid promises because his name is jealous. 00:36:23.420 --> 00:36:28.420 One of the first promises he gives us in Acts 29, I hope you're in a position to receive this. 00:36:28.420 --> 00:36:32.420 The first thing he says is, I will drive out the enemy from before you. 00:36:32.420 --> 00:36:34.420 And he names the enemies that are before them. 00:36:34.420 --> 00:36:40.420 The second thing he says is, make sure that you don't make a treaty with the cultures around you. 00:36:40.420 --> 00:36:43.420 Don't make a treaty with the cultures around you. 00:36:43.420 --> 00:36:47.420 Don't make a treaty with the cultures around you because it will ensnare you. 00:36:47.420 --> 00:36:52.420 Because it will ensnare you. 00:36:52.420 --> 00:36:57.420 And then the third thing he says is, tear down. 00:36:57.420 --> 00:37:07.420 Shaken altars and Asherah poles. 00:37:07.420 --> 00:37:14.420 These are three things he's commanding us now because of what he's instituting on earth in terms of this revival. 00:37:14.420 --> 00:37:19.420 So the first thing is, his jealousy will drive out the enemy relentlessly for two years. 00:37:19.420 --> 00:37:24.420 Relentlessly for the next two years because the third year will be such an amazing harvest. 00:37:24.420 --> 00:37:28.420 You see the harvest already but the third year will be such a crazy harvest. 00:37:28.420 --> 00:37:33.420 But for the first two years, he'll relentlessly drive out the enemy. 00:37:33.420 --> 00:37:35.420 Because everyone, why does he do this? 00:37:35.420 --> 00:37:38.420 Because he's so jealous for people. 00:37:38.420 --> 00:37:45.420 Why would he do this? Because everyone, communists, materialists, democrats, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslim devotees, 00:37:45.420 --> 00:37:50.420 everyone actually belong to and exist for the pleasure of the one true God 00:37:50.420 --> 00:37:53.420 and have been reconciled through the cross of Christ and need to hear it. 00:37:53.420 --> 00:37:56.420 And this is a jealous God and he's jealous for those that he made. 00:37:56.420 --> 00:38:03.420 He is creator but he is jealous and it is his jealousy that sent Christ to the cross and his jealousy still loves. 00:38:03.420 --> 00:38:08.420 We don't realize that a revival is a result of God's jealousy. 00:38:08.420 --> 00:38:18.420 And that it is impossible to participate in a God revival without a people and the leaders being jealous about the jealousy that God has. 00:38:18.420 --> 00:38:27.420 No reformation, no revival comes without a people being jealous for God. 00:38:35.420 --> 00:38:41.420 Gosh, I wish you guys were here because for some reason the sound crew doesn't shout hallelujah. 00:38:41.420 --> 00:38:43.420 Now they did. 00:38:47.420 --> 00:38:52.420 God will go before us city after city out working Deutronomy 9, 1-3. 00:38:52.420 --> 00:38:57.420 Deutronomy 9, 1-3. Beautiful. 00:38:57.420 --> 00:39:04.420 Deutronomy 9, 1-3. 00:39:04.420 --> 00:39:06.420 Attention Israel. 00:39:06.420 --> 00:39:08.420 Let me read from the Aniomi. 00:39:08.420 --> 00:39:17.420 Be careful to follow every command I'm giving you today so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. 00:39:17.420 --> 00:39:22.420 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these 40 years. 00:39:22.420 --> 00:39:25.420 That's Deutronomy 8. Let's go to Deutronomy 9. 00:39:25.420 --> 00:39:31.420 Here Israel, you are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and disobey the law of the earth. 00:39:31.420 --> 00:39:41.420 Here Israel, you are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you with large cities that have walls up to the sky. 00:39:41.420 --> 00:39:43.420 The people are strong and tall, Anakites. 00:39:43.420 --> 00:39:47.420 You know about them and I've heard it said who can stand up against the Anakites. 00:39:47.420 --> 00:39:53.420 But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. 00:39:53.420 --> 00:39:55.420 He will destroy them. He will subdue them. 00:39:55.420 --> 00:39:59.420 He will drive them out and annihilate them quickly as the Lord has promised. 00:40:01.420 --> 00:40:07.420 This is what he is going to do city by city by city by city across this earth. 00:40:07.420 --> 00:40:09.420 Yah man! 00:40:09.420 --> 00:40:16.420 And then look at Zechariah 8 verse 1 to 8 that was given to us before Covid. 00:40:16.420 --> 00:40:19.420 Zechariah 8 1 to 8. 00:40:19.420 --> 00:40:28.420 Ah! Love this! Sometimes when you see in hindsight what God said you think to yourself, my God you're setting us up. 00:40:28.420 --> 00:40:30.420 The word of the Lord Almighty came to me. 00:40:30.420 --> 00:40:32.420 Zechariah 8 1 to 8. 00:40:32.420 --> 00:40:34.420 This is what the Lord Almighty says. 00:40:34.420 --> 00:40:36.420 I'm very jealous for Zion. 00:40:36.420 --> 00:40:39.420 I'm burning with jealousy for her. 00:40:39.420 --> 00:40:40.420 This is what the Lord says. 00:40:40.420 --> 00:40:42.420 I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. 00:40:42.420 --> 00:40:48.420 Then Jerusalem will be called the faithful city and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the holy mountain. 00:40:48.420 --> 00:40:50.420 This is what the Lord Almighty says. 00:40:50.420 --> 00:40:54.420 Once again men and women of ripe old ages will be in the streets of Jerusalem. 00:40:54.420 --> 00:40:56.420 Each of them with cane in hand because of their age. 00:40:56.420 --> 00:40:59.420 The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there. 00:40:59.420 --> 00:41:00.420 This is what the Lord Almighty says. 00:41:00.420 --> 00:41:05.420 It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at the time but will it seem marvelous to me? 00:41:05.420 --> 00:41:07.420 Not really declares the Lord Almighty. 00:41:07.420 --> 00:41:08.420 I added the not really. 00:41:08.420 --> 00:41:10.420 This is what the Lord Almighty says. 00:41:10.420 --> 00:41:16.420 I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west and I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem. 00:41:16.420 --> 00:41:21.420 They will be my people and I will be their faithful and righteous to them as their God. 00:41:21.420 --> 00:41:23.420 Hallelujah! 00:41:24.420 --> 00:41:29.420 Now you understand why we read out that prophetic word given to us for this revival. 00:41:29.420 --> 00:41:30.420 So don't be afraid. 00:41:30.420 --> 00:41:36.420 I am with you for I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on dry ground. 00:41:36.420 --> 00:41:40.420 I will pour out my spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants. 00:41:40.420 --> 00:41:43.420 I will bring your children from the east and gather them from the west. 00:41:43.420 --> 00:41:45.420 I'll send orders to the north and to the south. 00:41:45.420 --> 00:41:49.420 I'll say to the north give them up and to the south do not hold them back. 00:41:49.420 --> 00:41:53.420 Return my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth. 00:41:53.420 --> 00:41:54.420 I want them back. 00:41:54.420 --> 00:41:56.420 Every last one who bears my name. 00:41:56.420 --> 00:41:59.420 Every man, woman and child who I created for my glory. 00:41:59.420 --> 00:42:01.420 How wonderful and beautiful they will be. 00:42:01.420 --> 00:42:06.420 The young men will thrive on abundant grain and the young women will flourish on new wine. 00:42:06.420 --> 00:42:09.420 They will spring up among the grass like willows by watercourses. 00:42:09.420 --> 00:42:11.420 You will raise up young men and young women. 00:42:11.420 --> 00:42:18.420 Bishops, strong apostolic ministry, strong teachers going out from your company and they will reproduce this anointing. 00:42:18.420 --> 00:42:26.420 Your young people will freely join you at the break of dawn with all the vigor of youth resplendent in holy armor on the day of your conquest. 00:42:26.420 --> 00:42:31.420 I can take breaths in between it's just that it is so exciting. 00:42:31.420 --> 00:42:33.420 What can you do? 00:42:33.420 --> 00:42:43.420 I will drive out the enemy from before you. 00:42:43.420 --> 00:42:48.420 He vines, periscides, jebiscides driven out so that you can have your inheritance. 00:42:48.420 --> 00:42:55.420 God will go before a city after city and outwork these scriptures so that anyone who calls on his name will be saved. 00:42:55.420 --> 00:42:57.420 Especially the young. 00:42:57.420 --> 00:43:01.420 The second thing he says is do not compromise with the cultures around you. 00:43:02.420 --> 00:43:05.420 Do not make treaties with the pagan cultures around you. 00:43:05.420 --> 00:43:06.420 Why? 00:43:06.420 --> 00:43:09.420 So that we may escape spiritual traps. 00:43:09.420 --> 00:43:13.420 So that we may not be taken by Trojan horses. 00:43:13.420 --> 00:43:23.420 So that we may not have our loyalties divided between things of the earth, things of the world and things of God. 00:43:24.420 --> 00:43:34.420 In Numbers 33, 55 God says, hey make sure that with these other cultures you guys don't mix because if you do they will become like thorns in your side. 00:43:34.420 --> 00:43:42.420 And blindness to your eyes, Numbers 33, 55. 00:43:42.420 --> 00:43:48.420 There is a need guys to avoid and escape spiritual traps. 00:43:49.420 --> 00:43:53.420 There is so much of it around us right now and I know this church is aware of it. 00:43:53.420 --> 00:44:05.420 But there is so much that comes from practices that are not rooted in Christian tradition that are being allowed into churches. 00:44:05.420 --> 00:44:07.420 And I'm being cryptic here. 00:44:07.420 --> 00:44:13.420 That are being allowed into churches and embraced because it gives you some physical benefit. 00:44:13.420 --> 00:44:16.420 Churches are awash especially in this part of the world. 00:44:16.420 --> 00:44:25.420 Just receiving with open arms things that are deeply rooted in traditions, religions and mysticism. 00:44:25.420 --> 00:44:31.420 These are Trojan horses that once they enter your fortress will have it open. 00:44:31.420 --> 00:44:34.420 That will cause spiritual snares to develop. 00:44:34.420 --> 00:44:40.420 That aside as a church, God against being relevant and attractive. 00:44:40.420 --> 00:44:43.420 God against being relevant and attractive. 00:44:43.420 --> 00:44:49.420 You don't have to be irrelevant and shabby but you don't have to aim for relevance and attractiveness. 00:44:49.420 --> 00:44:52.420 God against secular psychology. 00:44:52.420 --> 00:44:56.420 The name of Jesus Christ does marvelous things. 00:44:56.420 --> 00:44:58.420 The wisdom of Christ does marvelous things. 00:44:58.420 --> 00:45:00.420 God against secular psychology. 00:45:00.420 --> 00:45:08.420 God against experiential theology where my theology is defined by my experience or your experience and not by the truth of God. 00:45:08.420 --> 00:45:11.420 God against sexual standards being lowered. 00:45:11.420 --> 00:45:17.420 Or accommodating sexual standards that if you don't will make you look narrow minded. 00:45:17.420 --> 00:45:21.420 You are narrow minded. 00:45:21.420 --> 00:45:26.420 God against building anything around personalities. 00:45:26.420 --> 00:45:30.420 Any personality driven brand will collapse. 00:45:30.420 --> 00:45:33.420 God against building anything around personalities. 00:45:33.420 --> 00:45:37.420 Any personality driven brand will collapse. 00:45:37.420 --> 00:45:49.420 The beautiful thing is guys when nothing competes with God we mirror him well. 00:45:49.420 --> 00:45:53.420 When nothing competes with God we mirror him well. 00:45:53.420 --> 00:46:00.420 When things compete in our lives with God what is mirrored is a mixture, is a distortion. 00:46:00.420 --> 00:46:04.420 But when nothing competes with God you mirror him well. 00:46:04.420 --> 00:46:06.420 And then the last one is tear down altars. 00:46:06.420 --> 00:46:08.420 Why should you tear down altars? 00:46:08.420 --> 00:46:12.420 You should tear down altars to guard the lives of your children. 00:46:12.420 --> 00:46:15.420 Guard the hearts of your children. 00:46:15.420 --> 00:46:21.420 If you don't tear down altars today your children will not be able to withstand them tomorrow. 00:46:21.420 --> 00:46:26.420 Tear down pagan altars. 00:46:26.420 --> 00:46:30.420 Tearing down altars is basically subduing powers. 00:46:30.420 --> 00:46:34.420 Subduing powers. 00:46:34.420 --> 00:46:37.420 These are things the church has taught but I'm just bringing them back. 00:46:37.420 --> 00:46:39.420 This is a jealous God. 00:46:39.420 --> 00:46:50.420 One of the reasons he would not allow Israel to mix with pagan cultures is because he did not want the purity of Israel to be sabotaged. 00:46:50.420 --> 00:46:53.420 Tear down pagan altars as in subdue the enemy. 00:46:53.420 --> 00:47:01.420 Because if we don't subdue pagan powers they will take others captive and they will wait for your children to grow up to take them captive too. 00:47:01.420 --> 00:47:05.420 You don't know how serious I am. 00:47:05.420 --> 00:47:16.420 Which is why you see kings like Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18.3 going and pulling down altars, cutting down Asherah poles. 00:47:16.420 --> 00:47:22.420 This is why you see a king like Jehoiada in 2 Kings 11.17 doing the same thing. 00:47:22.420 --> 00:47:25.420 Destroying pagan altars, cutting down Asherah poles. 00:47:25.420 --> 00:47:29.420 One of my favorite kings in the Old Testament besides David is Josiah. 00:47:29.420 --> 00:47:35.420 Comes to kingship when he was 8 years old under a guardian. 00:47:35.420 --> 00:47:38.420 But as he begins to grow he is something else. 00:47:38.420 --> 00:47:41.420 He was one of the finest kings who took on the ways of David. 00:47:42.420 --> 00:47:55.420 And when you read 2 Kings 23, I mean the first 20 verses are dedicated to how Josiah stripped bare every high place. 00:47:55.420 --> 00:47:58.420 Cut down every Asherah pole. 00:47:58.420 --> 00:48:01.420 Destroyed every pagan altar. 00:48:01.420 --> 00:48:05.420 Killed every pagan prophet and priest. 00:48:05.420 --> 00:48:09.420 Putting an end to evil in the land. 00:48:10.420 --> 00:48:13.420 Do you know why he did it? 00:48:13.420 --> 00:48:19.420 Not to establish his kingship but because he was jealous for the God of Israel. 00:48:22.420 --> 00:48:27.420 Many versions of the Bible translate jealousy as zealous. 00:48:27.420 --> 00:48:29.420 Jealous becomes zealous. 00:48:29.420 --> 00:48:32.420 You have to be jealous first to become zealous. 00:48:32.420 --> 00:48:36.420 Jealousy is what gives you zeal for something. 00:48:36.420 --> 00:48:40.420 I am jealous over this so there is a zeal that possesses me. 00:48:40.420 --> 00:48:42.420 That is my prayer for us. 00:48:42.420 --> 00:48:49.420 That you serve a jealous God and that jealousy should become yours so that you can possess a zeal to undo this. 00:48:49.420 --> 00:48:53.420 Otherwise it will be left to a few to do that. 00:48:53.420 --> 00:48:56.420 And the few will do it. 00:48:56.420 --> 00:49:01.420 And you will reap the benefits but will not be part of the adventure. 00:49:01.420 --> 00:49:04.420 That is such a sad deal. 00:49:06.420 --> 00:49:14.420 All religious revival starts with a jealous leader or a jealous people. 00:49:14.420 --> 00:49:18.420 And jealousy for God's honor saves lives. 00:49:18.420 --> 00:49:21.420 Jealousy for God's honor saves lives. 00:49:21.420 --> 00:49:28.420 Numbers 25, this guy called Phinehas who would have never come into prominence except that 00:49:28.420 --> 00:49:32.420 Moses is meeting God in the tent of meeting. 00:49:32.420 --> 00:49:44.420 And Zimri goes and gets a woman who is a Midianite called Cosby and he brings her and in front of Israel while they are worshiping the God of Israel 00:49:44.420 --> 00:49:52.420 what is insinuated there is that he brings this Midianite woman into the camp while the cloud has settled on the tent 00:49:52.420 --> 00:49:58.420 and he begins to caress her and is caught up in caressing her. 00:49:58.420 --> 00:50:00.420 That is the actual sense of the word there. 00:50:00.420 --> 00:50:09.420 And Phinehas sees it and he grabs a javelin and he takes a javelin and shoves it both through Zimri and through Cosby. 00:50:09.420 --> 00:50:13.420 And you would think God would say it's not a good thing to do Phinehas. 00:50:13.420 --> 00:50:21.420 Instead he says this man will be recorded for the future forever because it's the zeal of God that consumed him. 00:50:21.420 --> 00:50:24.420 And a plague had already broken out through the camp. 00:50:24.420 --> 00:50:28.420 If Phinehas hadn't done that, that plague would have consumed thousands. 00:50:28.420 --> 00:50:32.420 One man's zeal saves the people. 00:50:32.420 --> 00:50:36.420 Jealous for the honor of God. 00:50:36.420 --> 00:50:39.420 You know, do you know that God wears zeal like a cloak? 00:50:39.420 --> 00:50:41.420 We talked about it last week. 00:50:41.420 --> 00:50:47.420 He wraps himself in a cloak of zeal. 00:50:47.420 --> 00:50:54.420 Hey, if passion is missing in your life and you're a believer, ask for it because it is something your God wears. 00:51:03.420 --> 00:51:08.420 I was talking to a pastor four days ago. 00:51:08.420 --> 00:51:16.420 And he was telling me about this really great meeting that camp like thing that he was having. 00:51:16.420 --> 00:51:25.420 While they were having the camp, at one point he sees this vision and in that vision the Holy Spirit begins to fall and it actually began to happen. 00:51:25.420 --> 00:51:36.420 But in the vision he sees women just breaking out of their limitations, receiving the Holy Spirit and coming alight. 00:51:36.420 --> 00:51:43.420 And the same Holy Spirit begins to pour and rain upon the men with the same power. 00:51:43.420 --> 00:51:51.420 And the men in that vision can sense it, know it, they are aware of what is happening. 00:51:51.420 --> 00:52:03.420 But the men somehow are able to disconnect, harden their hearts, hold back their feelings and not commit to the passion and the zeal of the Spirit of God there. 00:52:03.420 --> 00:52:07.420 And then the vision ends. 00:52:07.420 --> 00:52:11.420 And the pastor was literally weeping as he was telling me this story. 00:52:12.420 --> 00:52:16.420 And I say to the men who were listening to me, 00:52:20.420 --> 00:52:26.420 You ain't man enough if you are not responding to the Holy Spirit. 00:52:26.420 --> 00:52:31.420 You're not a man's man if you're not responding to the Holy Spirit. 00:52:31.420 --> 00:52:40.420 You're just responding to some, sorry I'm going to use the hard word, stupid idea of what a man should be in your head. 00:52:41.420 --> 00:52:52.420 Men need to be passionate. 00:52:52.420 --> 00:52:55.420 Men need to be passionate. 00:52:55.420 --> 00:53:00.420 It's almost like a curse upon men across churches in the entire world. 00:53:00.420 --> 00:53:07.420 When the women step up and sometimes the women have to fight against authority and order. 00:53:07.420 --> 00:53:12.420 Or stay quiet in the background because the men are not there. 00:53:12.420 --> 00:53:18.420 They will not weep, they will not be passionate, they will not step up, they will not show the zeal. 00:53:18.420 --> 00:53:25.420 Why? Why? It's a curse that should be broken and if we don't break it at Acts 29 what will we show others? 00:53:30.420 --> 00:53:34.420 In this area imitate me and you will be imitating Christ. 00:53:34.420 --> 00:53:37.420 I'm talking to the men. 00:53:55.420 --> 00:54:00.420 The weapons of our warfare are obviously divine like it says in 2 Corinthians 10. 00:54:00.420 --> 00:54:19.420 Father I just come against the dullness, the sloth, the fear, the lack of passion, the lack of zeal. 00:54:19.420 --> 00:54:29.420 Amongst the men, first at Acts 29, amongst, in my life where there is a limitation, where there is a ceiling, where there is inhibition. 00:54:29.420 --> 00:54:32.420 Where there is fear, where there is sloth. 00:54:32.420 --> 00:54:36.420 I come against it in my life, I come against it in the life of every man. 00:54:36.420 --> 00:54:41.420 Stand up men to your feet. Right here, stand up to your feet, only the men. 00:54:41.420 --> 00:54:45.420 And in the name of Jesus Christ I come and break it in Christ's name. 00:54:45.420 --> 00:54:52.420 I break it in our lives that we shall not be men who do not know how to be cloaked with the zeal of God. 00:54:52.420 --> 00:54:56.420 It is time for the men of Acts 29 to step up so that it can be repeated. 00:54:56.420 --> 00:54:59.420 Put your hands up guys. What are we standing like this for? 00:54:59.420 --> 00:55:03.420 I'm sorry, I'm not angry, I promise you I'm not angry. 00:55:03.420 --> 00:55:08.420 But it is time, it is time for men to let go of their inhibition. 00:55:08.420 --> 00:55:12.420 Raise their hands up, bless God, shout without provocation. 00:55:12.420 --> 00:55:16.420 Without provocation, shout without provocation. 00:55:16.420 --> 00:55:18.420 Shout without provocation. 00:55:18.420 --> 00:55:20.420 That God is God. 00:55:20.420 --> 00:55:22.420 That we are made in His image. 00:55:22.420 --> 00:55:25.420 That He has placed us in the order of things. 00:55:25.420 --> 00:55:28.420 As below Christ, with Christ as our head. 00:55:28.420 --> 00:55:34.420 Why will we not shout and behave like Jesus who was a man? 00:55:34.420 --> 00:55:37.420 Come church. 00:55:41.420 --> 00:55:46.420 We shall be this way not during services, we shall be this way during the day, during the night. 00:55:46.420 --> 00:55:52.420 We shall be men that are called by God with Christ as our head. 00:55:53.420 --> 00:55:59.420 I break this curse, this flop, this dullness amongst us first. 00:55:59.420 --> 00:56:07.420 And having broken it here, it shall travel from city to city to nation to nation among the young and the old. 00:56:11.420 --> 00:56:16.420 In Jesus name, hallelujah. 00:56:16.420 --> 00:56:19.420 Hey Phoebs, I'm okay. 00:56:23.420 --> 00:56:25.420 Let her come. 00:56:31.420 --> 00:56:33.420 You can sit guys. 00:56:33.420 --> 00:56:35.420 Thank you for responding. 00:56:35.420 --> 00:56:38.420 I hope men at home responded too. 00:56:40.420 --> 00:56:43.420 The weapons of our warfare are divine. 00:56:46.420 --> 00:56:50.420 We are not meant to be violent like in the Old Testament. 00:56:50.420 --> 00:56:52.420 Jesus makes it very clear. 00:56:52.420 --> 00:56:59.420 When Peter cuts off Malchus' ear, Jesus responded saying, put the sword away. 00:56:59.420 --> 00:57:07.420 When James and John wanted to call down fire upon the Samaritans, Jesus responded and said, you're not of the same spirit. 00:57:09.420 --> 00:57:15.420 So our weapons are weapons that are divine for the pulling down of strongholds. 00:57:15.420 --> 00:57:17.420 2 Corinthians 10, 3 to 5. 00:57:17.420 --> 00:57:22.420 And here are the simple weapons that we'll be using for the next two years. 00:57:22.420 --> 00:57:25.420 The first weapon is righteousness. 00:57:25.420 --> 00:57:28.420 You wear righteousness, you can be bold as a lion. 00:57:28.420 --> 00:57:31.420 You do not walk in righteousness, you do not have boldness. 00:57:31.420 --> 00:57:33.420 Righteousness is a weapon. 00:57:33.420 --> 00:57:35.420 Righteous living makes me bold. 00:57:35.420 --> 00:57:38.420 Righteous living makes me bold. 00:57:38.420 --> 00:57:45.420 It gives me the audacity to do things because I know that I now am one who walks with the King of glory, 00:57:45.420 --> 00:57:53.420 mighty in battle and have the ability to open ancient doors to let him in and to shut down demonic doors that have existed for hundreds of years. 00:57:53.420 --> 00:57:56.420 Righteous living makes me bold. 00:57:56.420 --> 00:57:57.420 It's a weapon. 00:57:57.420 --> 00:57:59.420 Righteous living is a weapon. 00:57:59.420 --> 00:58:00.420 Righteousness exalts a nation. 00:58:00.420 --> 00:58:02.420 Wickedness tears it down. 00:58:02.420 --> 00:58:03.420 Righteousness is a weapon. 00:58:03.420 --> 00:58:06.420 Practice it for no other reason sometimes. 00:58:06.420 --> 00:58:08.420 Righteousness makes me bold. 00:58:10.420 --> 00:58:12.420 Second weapon is the gospel. 00:58:12.420 --> 00:58:14.420 The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. 00:58:14.420 --> 00:58:15.420 Romans 1. 00:58:15.420 --> 00:58:17.420 The gospel is the weapon. 00:58:17.420 --> 00:58:19.420 The gospel is the power of God that rescues. 00:58:19.420 --> 00:58:21.420 It's the power that rescues. 00:58:21.420 --> 00:58:24.420 The gospel is the power that rescues. 00:58:24.420 --> 00:58:27.420 The gospel is the power that rescues. 00:58:29.420 --> 00:58:31.420 Third weapon is the word of God. 00:58:31.420 --> 00:58:36.420 The word is a sword with which you can slay the enemy. 00:58:36.420 --> 00:58:39.420 To slay the enemy. 00:58:39.420 --> 00:58:48.420 The more you can wield it under the control of the Holy Spirit, the more fluid you are with it, the more you see bodies of the enemy lying on the ground. 00:58:48.420 --> 00:58:56.420 The word is used to slay the enemy and the enemy in this case is Satan and his demonic agents. 00:58:58.420 --> 00:59:01.420 Then you have the Holy Spirit, the anointing of the Spirit. 00:59:01.420 --> 00:59:03.420 The anointing of the Spirit. 00:59:03.420 --> 00:59:05.420 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. 00:59:05.420 --> 00:59:10.420 For he does two things with the Holy Spirit. 00:59:10.420 --> 00:59:19.420 On one hand you release captives and on the other hand you announce jubilee. 00:59:19.420 --> 00:59:22.420 You announce jubilee of favor. 00:59:22.420 --> 00:59:24.420 These are all weapons. 00:59:24.420 --> 00:59:26.420 You announce jubilee. 00:59:29.420 --> 00:59:30.420 Two more. 00:59:30.420 --> 00:59:32.420 The knowledge of the truth. 00:59:32.420 --> 00:59:34.420 The knowledge of the truth. 00:59:35.420 --> 00:59:37.420 Sets you free. 00:59:37.420 --> 00:59:39.420 The knowledge of the truth sets you free. 00:59:39.420 --> 00:59:43.420 Continuously seek the knowledge of the truth from the word. 00:59:43.420 --> 00:59:47.420 And abhor and denounce false teaching. 00:59:47.420 --> 00:59:50.420 Abhor and denounce false teaching. 00:59:50.420 --> 00:59:51.420 False teaching. 00:59:51.420 --> 00:59:55.420 Even at the risk of sounding intolerant, even at the risk of sounding divisive. 00:59:55.420 --> 00:59:58.420 Abhor and denounce false teaching. 00:59:58.420 --> 01:00:00.420 The knowledge of the truth sets you free. 01:00:00.420 --> 01:00:03.420 False teaching takes people captive. 01:00:03.420 --> 01:00:08.420 You denounce it, abhor it, even at the risk of sounding intolerant and divisive. 01:00:08.420 --> 01:00:12.420 Which is why I sometimes call out and name things here. 01:00:12.420 --> 01:00:13.420 Because they are false. 01:00:13.420 --> 01:00:19.420 They bring into Christianity, because of the enormity of the popularity of the leaders who preach this, 01:00:19.420 --> 01:00:24.420 it brings into Christianity a falsehood that is hollowing it out. 01:00:24.420 --> 01:00:26.420 And then the last one, giving. 01:00:26.420 --> 01:00:28.420 Giving is a weapon. 01:00:28.420 --> 01:00:30.420 It rebukes the devourer. 01:00:30.420 --> 01:00:32.420 It rebukes the devourer. 01:00:32.420 --> 01:00:35.420 Malachi 3, it rebukes the devourer. 01:00:35.420 --> 01:00:38.420 Generosity rebukes the devourer. 01:00:38.420 --> 01:00:42.420 Generosity rebukes the devourer. 01:00:42.420 --> 01:00:45.420 He is unable to eat the fruit of our harvest. 01:00:45.420 --> 01:00:48.420 Because he stands rebuked by our generosity. 01:00:48.420 --> 01:00:51.420 And this allows us to increase in it. 01:00:51.420 --> 01:00:54.420 These are our weapons, guys. 01:00:54.420 --> 01:00:59.420 Please men, don't take what happened here as a token exercise we engaged in. 01:00:59.420 --> 01:01:08.420 Know that God has broken sloth, dullness, curse from our lives so that we can walk with a degree of Aman and be cloaked with the same zeal that Christ your king and the ultimate man, if you want to call him that, 01:01:08.420 --> 01:01:22.420 Know that God has broken sloth, dullness, curse from our lives so that we can walk with a degree of passion and be cloaked with the same zeal that Christ your king and the ultimate man, if you want to call him that, 01:01:22.420 --> 01:01:25.420 wears and has been wearing forever. 01:01:25.420 --> 01:01:27.420 Walk in that with passion. 01:01:27.420 --> 01:01:29.420 Less inhibition, less afraid. 01:01:29.420 --> 01:01:33.420 Loud speaking words. 01:01:33.420 --> 01:01:43.420 Framing the world around you and benefiting others with your words. 01:01:43.420 --> 01:01:55.420 I'm done. 01:01:55.420 --> 01:01:58.420 We're going to just sing this song called He is Jealous for Me. 01:01:58.420 --> 01:02:26.420 After that we'll break bread. 01:02:26.420 --> 01:02:32.420 This song is both the jealousy of God and the love of God. 01:02:32.420 --> 01:02:41.420 Sometimes when I think, when I sing these words, I think to myself, 01:02:41.420 --> 01:02:47.420 sometimes men find it hard to sing this song. 01:02:47.420 --> 01:02:49.420 But try it, men. 01:02:49.420 --> 01:02:51.420 Try it. 01:02:51.420 --> 01:02:57.420 Try it in terms of father and son.