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NOTE
Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver
Episode: Fortress Church
Publishing Date: 2025-06-29T06:04:44-07:00
Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca
Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/fortress-church/

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I really wanted to come back from less than a minute to teach because I didn't even know

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what we'd be talking about but had the sense that it would be important. So as we talk about

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the Fortress Church, we are talking about either what we have become or are becoming

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or will become or all three actually—what we have been becoming and what we will become.

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Some of it might sound boastful but the boast is in Christ so run with it.

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The idea of a fortress church is mentioned briefly in 2 Samuel 5.

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So if you want to turn there, 2 Samuel 5.

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Because Tuni really had a good teaching ready for you guys and you would have enjoyed it

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but he was quite disappointed when he heard I was coming back in time.

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So 2 Samuel 5 verse 6 onwards, it says,

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The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites who lived there.

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The Jebusites said to David, You will not get in here, even the blind and the lame can ward you off.

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They thought David cannot get in here. Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, the city of David.

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On that day David said, Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft

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to reach those lame and blind who are David's enemies.

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This is why they say the blind and the lame will not enter the palace.

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David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the city of David.

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He built up the area around it from the supporting terraces inward and he became more and more powerful

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because the Lord God Almighty was with him. So this was a turning point in David's reign

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where on one hand he takes a fortress that belonged to a tribe that was not Israelite called the Jebusites

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and it was a fortress that Judah had tried to take and failed.

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Joshua had tried to conquer in battle and failed.

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It was land that was allotted to the Benjamites and they, even though it was assigned to them, did not take it.

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Finally along comes David and he has this fortress that he wants to take and he takes it.

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As soon as he takes the fortress he calls it the city of David.

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It's a turning point in his life. From then on his reign began to flourish

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because the Lord God Almighty was with him, not because of the fortress, but the fortress was a changing point.

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So if when the enemy had that high place, that fortress, it was impregnable.

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Joshua, the Benjamites and Judah couldn't take it. Imagine what it would look like when the church takes it.

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And so the idea of the fortress church is what we want to examine.

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And so one of the things we will find out as we read about it is if you ask the question why should we talk about it?

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Partly because so that you know,

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so you know

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A. If you fit

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B. How or what to do to fit

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C. If you want to fit

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D. Why you aren't fitting

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E. What awaits

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And as you know,

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what awaits

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and F. What is being formed in us.

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These are the six things that we will perhaps kind of begin to grasp as we look at the idea of the fortress church.

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So if you ask the question why should we look at this?

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If this is an urgent need to talk about it, so that Tuni has to be sidelined from preaching,

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then perhaps the reason we need to ask the question why,

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if you ask the question why, the answer should fall into one of these categories.

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As we talk about the fortress church, you will figure out if you fit.

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Two, you will also figure out how or what to do to fit.

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Three, you'll have to figure out if you really want this, because what if this is not your cup of tea?

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Four, you'll find out why you aren't fitting.

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Five, you will begin to see what awaits us.

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And six, you'll begin to see what is being formed in us by God.

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So that's where we're going.

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Any questions on those things?

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I hate being excited about something, not knowing what I'm being excited about,

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until you find out what you're supposed to be excited about, so that's what I've been going through yesterday.

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Yeah?

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Okay.

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So one of the first scriptures we look at, the fortress church is where the king is installed.

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The fortress church is where the king is installed.

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The fortress church is where the king is installed.

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And so if you go to Psalm 2, verse 6, Psalm 2, verse 6,

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it talks about Zion, the very city that we are talking about that David took.

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It says in Psalm 2, verse 6, it says that, as for me, I have set my king,

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or some versions say, as for me, I have installed my king on Zion.

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As for me, I have installed my king in Zion.

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So if you also look at Psalm 9, verse 11, Psalm 48, verse 2, and Psalm 110, verse 2,

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and in all these you will see how Zion is a place where the king rules from.

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So here's a statement I'm making that I said might sound boastful.

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It's not that God isn't there in every church that believes in him.

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But I'm saying to you that because Acts 29 is either in the process of becoming a fortress church

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or is going to fill out into the mold of a fortress church,

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I'm saying to you that it isn't that God isn't in every church, but this is one of his favorite stops.

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As in Acts 29 is one of his favorite stops.

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Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, they had circuits that they would keep.

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They would go from Gilgal to Jericho to Bethel to Jordan, and they would,

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there were other places on the map, but they would stop at these places

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because those places became their favorite stops. Jesus had them.

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Any time Jesus went past Bethany, guess where he would stay?

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At Lazarus and Mary and Martha. That was his favorite stop.

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It's not that he wasn't available for the rest of Bethany.

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Oh my God, he loved going and eating and drinking with his friend Lazarus

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and eating Martha's really good food and telling Mary stories.

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That was his favorite place.

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And so I want to say to you, I've got zero doubt about this,

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and should you have doubts about it, I don't know how to settle it for you.

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Yeah? So all I can tell you is what I know is true.

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Jacob, how do you know it's true?

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That's hard to prove, right?

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It's not that God isn't in every church, but this is one of his favorite stops on the circuit.

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He has installed himself here. He has installed himself here.

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When these guys have their fourth kid, these kids will have four different houses

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in four different cities, and guess what?

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There will always be some place that Matt will like to go to and put his feet up,

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not because one of the children is special, but one of the homes will be special.

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Maybe it has the kind of recliner that Matt likes.

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And there will be another place that Rachel goes to. It will be another kid. Why?

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Because that kid is into crafts, and maybe Rachel likes crafts, or whatever.

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Parents have that. My mom preferred staying with me.

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I hope my sister doesn't hear this.

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So you have that happening, and I want you to know that because we are either...

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Because we are a fortress church that is becoming one that is going to be really strong on Earth.

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On Earth! I'm not talking about Vancouver only. On Earth!

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I want you to know that this is one of the favorite stops of God on a circuit,

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and the king is installed here.

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If I told you, for instance, that Mark Carney...

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Please, when I use examples like that, I don't keep them as my favorite friends

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or put them up on a pedestal.

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I'm using them as either a political figure or a financially rich figure.

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That's all I'm saying, right?

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If Mark Carney was supposed to be coming to this church every Sunday,

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if Trump was supposed to be coming to this church every Sunday,

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people would flock here because they knew that the president of the US

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and the prime minister of Canada come here.

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There's a speciality to churches like that. People flock in.

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You need to know that the king is installed here.

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And if the king is installed here... Thank you, Anne.

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If the king is installed here, then you also need to have the confidence to bring people here

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because there is someone here greater than you and me and Tuni.

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Yeah?

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Yeah.

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I see someone right now praying.

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Don't pray. Listen. Don't pray. Listen.

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I want you to listen to the teaching, not pray for yourself personally.

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Yeah? Listen to the teaching.

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Sometimes when the word is being broken and Christ is here,

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why settle for reading the Bible when the person of Christ is here?

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Why close your eyes and pray when he is living in here?

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I don't understand that sometimes.

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If the teaching is boring and uninteresting or perhaps heretical,

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then go check the Bible.

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Otherwise, when someone's preaching, listen. It's better.

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Yeah? And don't pray.

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Because if you close your eyes, you miss the fun.

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That was deliberately said so that whoever is praying will stop, yeah?

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Because it's annoying.

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Maybe there's something in the water in Lethbridge.

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The Fortress Church is a place of presence and power.

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The Fortress Church, FC, does not stand for football club, Derek. Yeah?

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It's just Fortress Church.

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Fortress Church is a place of presence.

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It's a place of presence and power.

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The Fortress Church is a place of presence and power.

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And therefore, it's impregnable to the enemy.

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It's impregnable to the enemy.

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It's impregnable to the enemy.

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If you go read Isaiah 33, Isaiah 33, Isaiah 33, verse 20, Isaiah 33, verse 20.

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So, Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, I come against anybody praying against what is happening right now in this church,

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or praying against me, or praying against anything that Acts 29 represents.

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I break that prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.

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I disallow it in Jesus' name.

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It shall not prosper, and one shall either come under the order of this church and the banner over it,

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or one shall find it difficult to even sit here.

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So, let's go to Isaiah 33, 20.

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Isaiah 33, 20, and here's what it says.

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Look upon Zion, the city of our festivals.

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Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved.

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Its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken.

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There the Lord will be a mighty one.

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It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams.

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No galley with oars will ride them.

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No mighty ship will sail them.

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Some other versions say, no pirate ship will sail them.

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For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king.

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It is he who will save us.

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So, the idea is that this is a place of power, and this is a place of his presence.

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And so, here's the other thing I'm suggesting to you.

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If it is a place of power, and if it's a place of presence,

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bring people who need protection and bring people who need freedom.

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Why? You think because Jacob has the ability to do it,

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or one of the leaders has the ability to do it?

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No. Why? Because his power and presence are installed here.

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And if they come here, they will not be ravaged.

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They will not be ravaged.

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They will not be able to be taken back by the enemy.

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They will be contended for.

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They will not be ravaged.

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Bring them.

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You know, if someone knows the fertile...

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If you know that a plot of land is highly fertile,

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then the farmer doesn't matter as much.

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Because whatever you throw on the land will grow.

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It's the same principle.

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This land is fertile for protection of people,

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for them not being ravaged, for a refuge in times of storm,

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and for a place where if people come,

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God Almighty will use some fool in this congregation to set them free.

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And if you are that fool, bless you.

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I've told you this before, that there's a guy in London

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who keeps walking the streets up and down.

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He wears an A-board.

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On front of the A-board it says,

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I'm a fool for Jesus.

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On the back of the A-board it says,

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Whose fool are you?

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Because everybody here is somebody's fool.

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Might as well belong to him.

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So if the soil is fertile,

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you know that the farmer counts less.

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His skills count less.

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Anybody can touch.

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Any questions on that?

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If you go to Psalm 48, verse 4 to 6,

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I'll read it from the passion translation, Psalm 48.

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Psalm 48, verse 4 to 6.

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It says, See how the mighty kings united to come against Zion.

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Yet when they saw God manifest in front of their eyes,

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they were stunned.

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Trembling, they all fled away, gripped with fear.

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Seized with panic, they doubled up in frightful anguish,

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like a woman in the labor pains of childbirth.

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Like a hurricane blowing and breaking invading ships,

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God blows upon them and breaks them to pieces.

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We have heard about these wonders,

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and then we saw them with our own eyes.

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For this is the city of the commander of the angel armies,

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the city of our God, safe and secure forever.

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Pause in his presence.

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This one I just read about is here.

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So bring them, because they will find protection here.

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Doesn't matter which church you bring them to,

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which service you bring them to, which church you bring them to.

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Bring them, and they will find protection here.

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Bring them, and they will be changed.

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Bring them, and they will be set free.

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Bring them, and the ones pursuing them,

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the demonic tyrants that have pursued them for years,

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right from their ancestral generations,

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will not be able to enter.

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They will come, look, they will see the mighty one of Israel,

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and they will turn and flee.

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That is the fortress church that we are becoming,

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and that he is saying you are,

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and which is why I am talking about this today.

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Bring them, because it's got less and less to do with you.

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Yes, skills are good,

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but when the soil is fertile, the farmer is less important.

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The fortress church is a life-giving church.

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The fortress church has a river run through it,

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and it gives life to anything it touches.

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That's the nature of the fortress church,

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and one of its foundations is joy.

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The fortress church has a river running through it.

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If you turn to Psalm 46, Psalm 46, 4 and 5,

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Psalm 46, 4 and 5.

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Psalm 46, 4 and 5.

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There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

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Zion, the holy place where the Most High dwells.

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God is within her, she will not fall.

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God will help her at break of dawn.

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Nations are in a pro, kingdoms fall,

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and the Lord will help her at the end of the day.

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The idea that if you bring someone here

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who has been struggling for years,

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over a period of time, and I pray that it be short always,

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over a period of time,

00:19:57.000 --> 00:20:01.000
any decay in their life will begin to fall away.

00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:06.000
There's a river in this church that will touch people.

00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:09.000
There's a river in this church that will touch people.

00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:14.000
There's a river in this church that will touch people.

00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:18.000
Every time we meet, it's almost impossible in this church,

00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:21.000
regardless of which service we are going to,

00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:27.000
it is impossible to not recognize the presence of the Spirit of God.

00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:28.000
It's impossible.

00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:30.000
Doesn't matter whether it's a small meeting,

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:32.000
whether there's a few people in someone's house,

00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:33.000
forget a service.

00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:36.000
I'm talking about any time believers in this church meet,

00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:41.000
you can recognize the Spirit of God.

00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:45.000
And so the river of God does flow here, and it will touch people.

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:47.000
Bring them.

00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:50.000
Bring them.

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.000
And if they get healed and go, that's fine.

00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:57.000
Never been looking for greater numbers.

00:20:57.000 --> 00:20:59.000
If they come, they come. If they stay, they stay.

00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:01.000
If they go, well, too bad.

00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:07.000
You should have stayed.

00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:11.000
One of the fundamental building principles of a fortress church is joy.

00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:14.000
When you think of a fortress church, you think of a place that is shut up,

00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:15.000
doesn't allow people in.

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.000
That's the worldly fortress where it's for defense, it's for protection,

00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:21.000
it's for keeping safe what is inside.

00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:24.000
This is a fortress from where things go out.

00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:27.000
One of the foundations that this church is built on,

00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:28.000
a fortress church is built on,

00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:31.000
and therefore, Acts 29 must always be built on, is joy.

00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:33.000
And joy is expressive.

00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:35.000
Joy is expressive.

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:40.000
That is why I said there are certain areas where we are still becoming.

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:42.000
Joy is expressive.

00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:44.000
I don't care much about shouting and dancing,

00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:48.000
because you can shout and dance and live like the devil.

00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:50.000
So that's not a big deal.

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:53.000
But when shouting and dancing is the result of joyful,

00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:58.000
is the expression of joy inside, regardless of your circumstances,

00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:00.000
that is a sacrifice.

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:06.000
That is a sacrifice.

00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:08.000
That's the nature of this church.

00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:14.000
Any questions?

00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:20.000
Go to verse 4, 46-4.

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.000
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.

00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:28.000
This is a church where there will always be joy.

00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:33.000
One of the hallmarks of my life for sure is the ability to rise up

00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:40.000
from anything that is happening that is tearing you down and be joyful.

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:47.000
You will not find me sorrowful.

00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:50.000
When we were writing that book at the retreat saying,

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:52.000
what's the story from the past?

00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:54.000
What would you name your life in the past?

00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:56.000
And what would you name your life in the future?

00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:59.000
The title of my book which I read out during the retreat was,

00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:01.000
You Cannot Keep a Good Man Down.

00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:03.000
Not because I am good, but because my God is good.

00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:04.000
You cannot keep me down.

00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:11.000
One of the things that you cannot, you can never keep a joyful man down.

00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:13.000
I can pick people in this church who,

00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:16.000
regardless of their circumstances, will be joyful.

00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:18.000
Kamal is one of them.

00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:20.000
It doesn't matter what happens to him.

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:31.000
You can cut off both his legs and he'll make a joke about how he's now a tree.

00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:34.000
Thank God joy doesn't mean good jokes.

00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:37.000
They don't correlate.

00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:40.000
He is joyful, but his jokes are terrible.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:42.000
Yeah?

00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:53.000
He's got a retort, but he doesn't know whether it's godly to open his mouth and say it,

00:23:53.000 --> 00:24:00.000
so he has to stay quiet. Praise the Lord.

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:07.000
So the life-giving spirit of God and the joy of the Lord are essential.

00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:10.000
Bring people that are really in trouble.

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:16.000
Tyrants and horned beasts that attack people, they will not touch this mountain

00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:19.000
because they know, as it says in Exodus 19,

00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:23.000
when someone runs for refuge here and you touch this mountain,

00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:27.000
that beast will be stoned or shot.

00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:33.000
These are bold things that God wants you to hear about us.

00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:39.000
I'm a messenger, but an excited one at that, and we haven't even scraped the surface.

00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:42.000
Thank God Tuni finished early today.

00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:50.000
The Fortress Church,

00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:04.000
go to Psalm 48, 12 and 13.

00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:07.000
It says,

00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:32.000
Towers, consider well our ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell the next generation.

00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:37.000
One of the things about the Fortress Church is that what is not conveyed,

00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:40.000
we must relay what we know about her.

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.000
We must relay. Take note of its dimensions so you can relay it forward.

00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:49.000
Take note of its dimensions so you can relay it forward.

00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:54.000
When you see, I mean, why do you do reviews? Why are there food reviews?

00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:58.000
Why do you tilt your phone upside down to shoot an ordinary place of pasta

00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:02.000
and then put it on wherever you put it on and then write a review on it?

00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:07.000
Why? Because you relay that the pasta here is really good when you turn your phone upside down.

00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:10.000
And so people then come to that place to eat.

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:15.000
The point being, anything that you think is of worth must be measured.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:18.000
The dimensions should be known and you should relay it to people.

00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:22.000
You should convey it. If you don't convey it, then it cannot be improved on.

00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:26.000
If you don't convey it, then it will not have others come to taste it.

00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:33.000
Convey it. God is giving us permission to publish, broadcast Acts 29,

00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:40.000
to go tell people so that they can pull at the sleeve of one and say,

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.000
hey, can you come? I'll take you to a place where God is present.

00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:51.000
It's permission to broadcast, permission to publish.

00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:56.000
Being able to do that with more zest than you've ever done in the past.

00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:02.000
Boast about where you belong. Remember what we said long ago.

00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:10.000
I was talking about it to someone on the ride to Calgary.

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:13.000
It's strange that you drive from Lethbridge to Calgary.

00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:17.000
The most exciting part is a roundabout and a left turn.

00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:21.000
Otherwise, it's just one straight road. Nothing happens.

00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:26.000
When you get to the roundabout, you find people with their arms outside their cars

00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:29.000
because they see the roundabout coming in.

00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:32.000
Then after that, there's one more left turn and that's the day.

00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:41.000
After we are done, just go give Emily a hug. She grew up there.

00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:52.000
Yeah, I was telling someone that we shouldn't forget what we learned long ago

00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:54.000
when we think about church.

00:27:54.000 --> 00:28:00.000
If this does not apply to you, then you must understand that you're always welcome here,

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:05.000
whosoever can come. Everyone is welcome.

00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:10.000
But once a whosoever comes, one must begin to change.

00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:14.000
So everyone's welcome. But here's what we said long ago.

00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:19.000
We said the process is, I am not my own.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:23.000
If someone asks you, who do you belong to?

00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:26.000
If someone asks you, who do you belong to?

00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:29.000
Here's the right answer. You cannot say you belong to Christ

00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:33.000
till you first say, I am not my own.

00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:39.000
Once you say, I am not my own, you can say, I belong to Christ.

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:46.000
And once you say, I belong to Christ, you can then choose to say or not to say that I belong to you.

00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:52.000
As in, I belong to you.

00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:57.000
That doesn't mean that you should belong to me. That's up to you.

00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:00.000
But it is my choice to say that I belong to you.

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.000
And that's the process. I am not my own. I belong to Christ.

00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:06.000
Only if I'm not my own.

00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:09.000
And then, do I belong to you?

00:29:09.000 --> 00:29:14.000
And do I have the guts to say and the heart to say and the conviction to say, I belong to you?

00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:21.000
Everybody's welcome, but belonging is a little more complicated according to scriptures.

00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:34.000
Acts 29 must operate by the thunder.

00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:45.000
If you're a fortress church, God is saying, then Acts 29 should operate by the thunder

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:50.000
that you hear in the courtroom of God.

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:58.000
You see that in Revelation 14, 2.

00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:04.000
That I heard a voice that was like thunder, and I heard the sound of harps too.

00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:11.000
But this idea that as we grow bigger, that we should compromise on anything is absurd.

00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:16.000
We don't compromise on anything.

00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:24.000
We still continue hearing the thunder in the courtrooms of God and then doing that here on earth.

00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:34.000
That has always been the way the church was formed, functioned, and that's still the way it should be.

00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:38.000
Go ahead, Pawan.

00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:50.000
It becomes... Sorry, finished the question.

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:56.000
I'm finding nowadays that I answer questions before they are asked and I answer them wrong, so please finish it.

00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:01.000
But really the low consumer is on that.

00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:03.000
But like, what's the line?

00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:31.000
But you can dress it up.

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:41.000
So it's easy to say, my boss is in the Lord, and you could be thinking, if they only knew.

00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:44.000
My boss is in the Lord and little Jacob.

00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:48.000
And so you could set yourself up as an idol in your own heart.

00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:52.000
It'll show eventually. Pride shows eventually.

00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:55.000
But it doesn't show initially.

00:31:55.000 --> 00:32:02.000
Yeah, so this church must only operate by the sound of thunder in the courtrooms of God, which then means two things.

00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:06.000
One, that you need to occupy the courtrooms of God.

00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:10.000
And two, only then will you hear.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.000
And three, if you hear, it's not amendable.

00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:18.000
And four, when it's not amendable, it's very hard to give people a reason.

00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:23.000
The hard thing about God decisions is that you find it very hard to give a good reason.

00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:29.000
Any questions?

00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:33.000
Yep.

00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:39.000
That's not amendable.

00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:40.000
Yeah.

00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:46.000
That's not amendable.

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:51.000
Yeah.

00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:58.000
I want people to come and say, we can get you this preacher.

00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:04.000
If Acts 29 brings this preacher on, you can invite all of Vancouver and all of Vancouver will come.

00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:07.000
Like really famous people.

00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:12.000
And that in an instant your church will become one of the most well-known churches here.

00:33:13.000 --> 00:33:20.000
You can have people come and say, why don't you begin to teach your church this course?

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:22.000
It's doing really well all over the world.

00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:25.000
You've already adapted a lot of it into your system.

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:30.000
Why don't you use this course to teach the different house churches that exist?

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:36.000
And you read it and you think to yourself, man, this tastes worse than sodas.

00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:44.000
Or why don't you have structured worship where you know the songs you're going to sing.

00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:47.000
There's a certain system to things you do.

00:33:47.000 --> 00:33:50.000
Not until the Lord tells us otherwise.

00:33:52.000 --> 00:34:00.000
Why don't you put up offering plates that go around the church while someone does a special song?

00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:05.000
I'd do it in a heartbeat, but not if you don't hear.

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:10.000
Why don't you start teaching tithing and just stop talking about giving.

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.000
Go tithing 10% so that people will give at least 3%.

00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:18.000
Not what we've learned.

00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:25.000
The list goes on and on and on.

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:28.000
Why don't you let people be if they want to be let alone.

00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:29.000
Just let them alone.

00:34:29.000 --> 00:34:32.000
Let them, they're attending church, they're good people, they're not disturbing you.

00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:34.000
Not a chance.

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:40.000
If you come to this church, then I pray God that there's some bulldog after you.

00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:52.000
And either you'll have to develop a backside that is resistant to bulldog bites or get bitten.

00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:53.000
It's one of the issues.

00:34:53.000 --> 00:34:55.000
Bulldog bites or get bitten.

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:56.000
It's one or the other.

00:34:57.000 --> 00:34:58.000
Both are possible.

00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:08.000
Next one.

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:12.000
Acts 29 is where sons learn to rule.

00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:22.000
Acts 29 is where sons, and son is a genderless term, it applies to male and female, where sons learn to rule.

00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:29.000
Acts 29 is where sons learn to rule, where their voices become trumpets.

00:35:33.000 --> 00:35:39.000
And where patterns that we discover become movements.

00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:43.000
Look around you church.

00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:44.000
Look around you church.

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:56.000
What do you see when you see a Derek or a Don or a Tooney or a Jillian or a Sheldon or a Jane or a Betty or a Sue or a Mae or a...

00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:58.000
I can give you a long list.

00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:00.000
They all came from different places.

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:01.000
They're young.

00:36:01.000 --> 00:36:02.000
This church is young.

00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:07.000
But one of the things that the sons in this church, and please don't think that it's limited to these.

00:36:07.000 --> 00:36:10.000
I'm just picking a few that came long ago except for Tooney.

00:36:11.000 --> 00:36:13.000
You seem to be the exception, Avril.

00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:20.000
People who came long ago, wave after wave of sons, but they will learn to rule.

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:21.000
They're not here to serve.

00:36:21.000 --> 00:36:22.000
They're here to rule.

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:28.000
Things will be handed over to them so that they will rule.

00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:32.000
This is what God is expecting of a fortress church like Acts 29.

00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:36.000
That fathers will have to face themselves off.

00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:39.000
You know the difference between the world and the church when it comes to fathers and sons?

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.000
In the world, fathers get old and they retire so that the sons can take over the business.

00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:50.000
In the church, fathers give things over to their sons and they go find new things to do.

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:51.000
They don't retire.

00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:54.000
They find new things to do.

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:57.000
These sons will have voices.

00:36:57.000 --> 00:36:59.000
They will not be quiet voices.

00:36:59.000 --> 00:37:01.000
They'll have voices that will sound like trumpets.

00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:04.000
When they speak, people will begin to listen.

00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:08.000
I've already seen that in some of you.

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:11.000
It's awesome.

00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:19.000
And not only will they have voices, when we discover patterns here, those patterns will become movement.

00:37:19.000 --> 00:37:21.000
Nothing in this church is meant to stay within the church.

00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:23.000
We are supposed to create models.

00:37:23.000 --> 00:37:29.000
If all that happens is that model is copied by Liam and Gabe and Phoebe, so be it.

00:37:29.000 --> 00:37:33.000
Three people now have a model to copy.

00:37:33.000 --> 00:37:37.000
But things here are created like Uzziah did in 2 Chronicles 26.

00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:40.000
He was an innovator. Our God is an innovator.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:45.000
This church, a fortress church, innovates so that things can be passed on to another generation.

00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:51.000
Understand that this is the DNA that God is bringing to work into you.

00:37:53.000 --> 00:37:57.000
And doesn't matter whether we are here or whether we are somewhere else.

00:37:57.000 --> 00:38:02.000
I think this is the right time to say that Chava will be leaving at some point to go home.

00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:09.000
But I'm praying and I'm praying with confidence that Chava will also come back here in about four or five months.

00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:14.000
He doesn't know this, but he's not going home.

00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:17.000
He's going somewhere else before he goes home, though he's planning to go home.

00:38:17.000 --> 00:38:19.000
But we'll talk about that later.

00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:23.000
But wherever Chava goes, he's going to come back.

00:38:23.000 --> 00:38:25.000
But we'll talk about that later.

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:30.000
But wherever Chava goes, Chava needs to realize that if this DNA becomes his,

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.000
it doesn't matter what situation you put him in, this is how he begins to function.

00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:37.000
But the question is, has Chava come to that place where he says,

00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:40.000
I am not my own, I belong to Christ and I belong to you?

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:48.000
Because this kind of transference of DNA does not happen if you don't get to the third part which says, I belong to you.

00:38:53.000 --> 00:38:58.000
Third, you can't come to Akshmanayana to get inspired.

00:38:58.000 --> 00:39:01.000
This is not a place for inspiration.

00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:04.000
This is a place where you get consecrated.

00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:10.000
You get set apart for something that God prepared for you before the foundations of the earth.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:17.000
Fourth, this is a place where your orphanhood can be dismantled.

00:39:17.000 --> 00:39:21.000
This is a place where you can be taken to the next level.

00:39:21.000 --> 00:39:29.000
This is a place where your orphanhood can be dismantled.

00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:35.000
This is a place where your orphanhood can be dismantled.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:42.000
There's not a single person here who did not come to Christ as an orphan.

00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:46.000
The question is, how far have we come out of it?

00:39:51.000 --> 00:39:54.000
My orphanhood should be completely dismantled.

00:39:54.000 --> 00:40:05.000
If I cannot dismantle my orphanhood, then I will not be able to carry the weight of my inheritance.

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:11.000
Meaning, here's the problem when orphanhood is not dismantled.

00:40:11.000 --> 00:40:14.000
You will always feel that you do not belong.

00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:19.000
You will always feel rivalry and competition.

00:40:19.000 --> 00:40:22.000
You will always feel you're being sidelined.

00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:26.000
You'll always strive for love.

00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:30.000
All of us have this problem.

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:33.000
But God is willing to dismantle this.

00:40:33.000 --> 00:40:38.000
What I wrote down on the side when I was flying in after I'd done these notes this morning,

00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:40.000
but one of the things I wrote is,

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:45.000
there will be sons and daughters who resist the touchstone of the fathers,

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:50.000
or seek familiarity more than growth, or avoid the pain of circumcision.

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:52.000
Three things that sons and daughters do.

00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:56.000
One, when the touchstone of parents is applied.

00:40:56.000 --> 00:41:00.000
Touchstone is what you use to find out whether gold is gold.

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:02.000
You rub it against the stone.

00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:03.000
I think it's called touchstone.

00:41:03.000 --> 00:41:05.000
Yeah, let's just call it touchstone for now.

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.000
So you rub gold against the touchstone and you find out if it's gold.

00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:14.000
When the touchstone of fatherhood is applied to sons and daughters,

00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:16.000
you will sometimes find them resisting it,

00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:20.000
because it will tell you whether the gold is real or not.

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:26.000
Second, some resist the pain of circumcision,

00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:28.000
because there might be something that needs to be cut away.

00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:32.000
Why not stay away? That way you don't have to cut away.

00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:36.000
Maintain a healthy distance, because a scissor doesn't go that far.

00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:40.000
And thirdly, what happens is,

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.000
you begin to desire familiarity, not fatherhood.

00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:49.000
Where the desire is, can I become familiar instead of can I become...

00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:53.000
This is what happens with Jacob and...

00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:56.000
What's Jacob's dad's name? Isaac.

00:41:56.000 --> 00:42:06.000
He says, I feel your hands and I feel like it's the hair of Isaac,

00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:08.000
but you smell different.

00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:14.000
But then the food you've cooked feels like Esau's.

00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:20.000
Sometimes when sons want familiarity and don't want actual help,

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:23.000
that's another way that orphanhood is not dismantled.

00:42:23.000 --> 00:42:25.000
Fight against it.

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:27.000
I'm saying to you that this is a place...

00:42:27.000 --> 00:42:35.000
And listen, you will not find a single father here that is not flawed.

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:37.000
You will not find a single father or mother here.

00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:39.000
I'm just using the word father as genderless.

00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:47.000
That will not at some point hurt you because of the way they treat you.

00:42:47.000 --> 00:42:51.000
If you want to find a father like that, die quickly.

00:42:51.000 --> 00:42:57.000
It's the only way you're going to find it, because he's the perfect father.

00:42:57.000 --> 00:43:03.000
But since none of you are planning to do that, you will find flawed ones here.

00:43:03.000 --> 00:43:06.000
But my God, at some point I'm going to ask them to stand,

00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:10.000
and I'll tell you what they go through and ask us to decide,

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.000
is this who we want to follow because the day is coming.

00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:23.000
When a Chava, when a Mark, when an Aaron and a Michelle,

00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:26.000
when a Hamari will be standing there.

00:43:26.000 --> 00:43:32.000
It's only a matter of time and a desire to step into those shoes.

00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:37.000
Any questions before I go on?

00:43:37.000 --> 00:43:57.000
Acts 29 is where gifting will give way to order, will give way to government.

00:43:57.000 --> 00:43:59.000
What do you mean by that, Jacob?

00:43:59.000 --> 00:44:05.000
Take Samson, highly gifted guy, highly disorderly,

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:10.000
did not rule even though he was a judge.

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:23.000
Take David, so not gifted that he just had to take his guitar and sing to sheep.

00:44:24.000 --> 00:44:28.000
Highly orderly, so much so that when he went to meet his brothers,

00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:31.000
he left his sheep with another keeper.

00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:34.000
What happened? He began to rule.

00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:37.000
We are the ones who think that David is highly gifted.

00:44:37.000 --> 00:44:45.000
He was so not gifted that he wasn't even in the lineup.

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.000
And you take Samson, the boy was born not just with gifting,

00:44:49.000 --> 00:44:56.000
but the gifting of the Spirit of God at a time when few were anointed with the Holy Spirit.

00:44:56.000 --> 00:45:00.000
This is a church where gifting will count for less, order will count for more,

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:02.000
and therefore government. Why?

00:45:02.000 --> 00:45:04.000
Because sons here are supposed to rule.

00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:08.000
A fortress church, it is out of a fortress church, it says in Isaiah 2, verse 4,

00:45:08.000 --> 00:45:18.000
which we'll read later, that the law goes out and the word goes forth.

00:45:18.000 --> 00:45:25.000
I mean, if you are here and relatively new,

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:32.000
this will just help you so well to decide whether this is a decent place to grow or not.

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:42.000
I like the next one.

00:45:42.000 --> 00:45:50.000
Verse 29 is a place where you will, where we will, or God is saying,

00:45:50.000 --> 00:46:11.000
where you will raise sons who can carry scrolls, eat them, and carry fire in their bellies.

00:46:11.000 --> 00:46:18.000
Now, Joey, are you one of those who will carry a scroll and eat it?

00:46:18.000 --> 00:46:24.000
It will be sweet in your mouth as it says in Revelation 12, but it will turn bitter in your stomach.

00:46:24.000 --> 00:46:28.000
But if you are able to do that, you will be able to carry the fire of God.

00:46:28.000 --> 00:46:31.000
Do you know what a scroll is?

00:46:31.000 --> 00:46:36.000
A scroll is anything that God writes on that gives us an idea of what's happening in the present

00:46:36.000 --> 00:46:41.000
and what's happening in the future. Like for instance, your dad is coming.

00:46:41.000 --> 00:46:44.000
And once you open that scroll, that's what scrolls are about.

00:46:44.000 --> 00:46:48.000
In Revelation, the idea of the scroll, why is it that it says,

00:46:48.000 --> 00:46:52.000
John began to weep saying, who can open the scroll?

00:46:52.000 --> 00:46:54.000
He was looking for a man who can open the scroll.

00:46:54.000 --> 00:46:56.000
Why does he want Jesus to open the scroll?

00:46:56.000 --> 00:47:00.000
Because in the scroll is the future of the entire universe.

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:06.000
If someone doesn't open it, the universe is going to die in sin.

00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:11.000
And then Jesus comes, opens it, and he begins to call out what will be judged,

00:47:11.000 --> 00:47:15.000
and he begins to call out what will be redeemed.

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.000
And so one of the things that will happen in Acts 29 is anybody who wants it,

00:47:19.000 --> 00:47:21.000
you must realize something about Acts 29.

00:47:21.000 --> 00:47:27.000
This is a church where a prophetic spirit has dwelt from the beginning.

00:47:28.000 --> 00:47:36.000
Anybody who really wants to grasp the grace of the prophetic will have it.

00:47:36.000 --> 00:47:39.000
Not so we can meet on birthdays and prophesy to each other,

00:47:39.000 --> 00:47:42.000
or catch someone on their way to the car and prophesy to someone on the car

00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:44.000
where nobody else is hearing.

00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:49.000
That kind of prophecy is not prophecy. It's called outhouse prophecy.

00:47:49.000 --> 00:47:51.000
Where on the way to the toilet, you waylay someone,

00:47:51.000 --> 00:47:55.000
give them a word so that they can sit on it.

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.000
I'm talking about the prophetic done in the way of 1 Corinthians 12 and 14.

00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:05.000
This church has had a prophetic spirit in it from the inception.

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.000
It is the kind of church where if it was in the Old Testament and Saul came along,

00:48:09.000 --> 00:48:14.000
he would lie naked and he would begin to prophesy even though he was not a prophet.

00:48:14.000 --> 00:48:15.000
Begin to use it well.

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:20.000
Don't use it to prophesy at birthdays because we develop something called prophetic fatigue then.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.000
We don't know what is God and what is not and what is scripture and what is God.

00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:29.000
But what if we began to realize that God has given us a grace?

00:48:29.000 --> 00:48:31.000
It's a grace.

00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:37.000
When you carry the scroll for individuals, for nations, for cities, for situations,

00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:41.000
what if we banned prophesying on birthdays?

00:48:41.000 --> 00:48:43.000
Just banned.

00:48:43.000 --> 00:48:47.000
And instead we shifted to let's think about cities, let's think about nations,

00:48:47.000 --> 00:48:53.000
let's think about circumstances, let's think about lives that we don't know.

00:48:53.000 --> 00:48:59.000
Let's think about death situations, decay situations.

00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:05.000
And now, oh God, would you send a word that will revive, that will bring to life that which is dying?

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.000
That grace is in this house.

00:49:09.000 --> 00:49:11.000
And that is what we need to tap into.

00:49:18.000 --> 00:49:20.000
Any questions?

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:25.000
And you can only carry that scroll if you're willing to eat it.

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:27.000
What do you mean eat the scroll?

00:49:27.000 --> 00:49:29.000
Learn.

00:49:29.000 --> 00:49:36.000
To learn how to do it.

00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:38.000
To learn how to do it.

00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:41.000
Because it will be sweet in the mouth, it will be bitter in the stomach.

00:49:41.000 --> 00:49:46.000
But my God, when you begin to speak, the fire of God will come out of you.

00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:52.000
What if, guys, what if what I'm saying is actually from God?

00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:55.000
Some of you don't need that benefit of doubt.

00:49:55.000 --> 00:50:02.000
Some of you trust me enough and know me long enough to know the caliber in,

00:50:02.000 --> 00:50:06.000
like Pawan said when he was up here, the caliber in this man of God.

00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:08.000
But some of you may need the benefit of doubt.

00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:10.000
So I'm giving you the benefit of doubt.

00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:13.000
What if what I'm saying is actually God?

00:50:13.000 --> 00:50:14.000
Ponder on it.

00:50:14.000 --> 00:50:16.000
Consider that perhaps it's true.

00:50:26.000 --> 00:50:30.000
Acts 29 will be a place, and we have made this mistake, and we will not continue making it.

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:36.000
Acts 29 is a place which will, which is a fortress, which will not,

00:50:36.000 --> 00:50:46.000
which will not babysit people's callings or people's destinies.

00:50:46.000 --> 00:50:48.000
Will not babysit.

00:50:48.000 --> 00:51:09.000
Instead, we will work at, we will work at breaking personal ambition

00:51:09.000 --> 00:51:26.000
so we can carry the weight of a calling beyond us.

00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:28.000
No more babysitting, no more pampering.

00:51:28.000 --> 00:51:30.000
Yeah, you know, you've got an amazing destiny.

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:32.000
You know, I pray God that you will.

00:51:32.000 --> 00:51:36.000
No more.

00:51:36.000 --> 00:51:40.000
One of the things about David's Mighty Three and David's Mighty Thirty,

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:45.000
one of the things about those men were they would set aside their personal ambition

00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:48.000
for the sake of a corporate vision.

00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:50.000
Do you know who showed them that brilliantly?

00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:56.000
It was a guy who wasn't even in David's Mighty Three, but was David's best friend, best friend, Jonathan.

00:51:56.000 --> 00:51:58.000
Jonathan was the next king.

00:51:58.000 --> 00:52:04.000
He sets aside his kingship and begins to go and have strife with his father

00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:10.000
because he recognizes what God wants to do in Israel.

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:18.000
What we don't realize is how responsible Jonathan is for the golden reign of Solomon.

00:52:18.000 --> 00:52:20.000
Saul would have continued as king.

00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:22.000
David would have been killed.

00:52:22.000 --> 00:52:24.000
Jonathan would have ascended to the throne.

00:52:24.000 --> 00:52:26.000
Solomon would not exist.

00:52:34.000 --> 00:52:38.000
So if we want to find out personal destiny from now on,

00:52:38.000 --> 00:52:46.000
we should understand that that personal destiny is superseded by a vision that God gives a larger group of people.

00:52:46.000 --> 00:52:48.000
And how does it fit?

00:52:48.000 --> 00:52:52.000
Very often you'll find that it's hard to make it fit.

00:52:52.000 --> 00:52:56.000
And that is when you'll have to submit your personal vision to the greater vision.

00:52:56.000 --> 00:52:58.000
And that is so difficult.

00:52:58.000 --> 00:53:00.000
That is when people hear God saying to them,

00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.000
you know, the Lord is saying to me, it's time to move on.

00:53:04.000 --> 00:53:06.000
Move on.

00:53:06.000 --> 00:53:08.000
But don't use that excuse.

00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:10.000
Just say, this isn't fitting for me.

00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:28.000
We are in a season where heaven is looking for apostolic fathers who can give birth to sons

00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:32.000
who just don't shout and dance, but they also build.

00:53:32.000 --> 00:53:36.000
And I want to call these people to ask these people to stand up.

00:53:36.000 --> 00:53:44.000
Can I ask first, may Jillian, Derek, Don, Jane, Sheldon, Tooney, Anile, and Heidi to stand up.

00:53:44.000 --> 00:53:54.000
May Jillian, Derek, Don, Jane, Sheldon, Tooney, Anile, Heidi to stand up.

00:53:54.000 --> 00:54:10.000
Can I then ask Sue, Betty, Evan, Iris, Kez, and Jeremy to stand up.

00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:16.000
My hope is that six months from now, I can add to this number.

00:54:16.000 --> 00:54:20.000
And that is a hope that I will bathe in prayer.

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:26.000
My hope is that I can ask more people to stand up than the ones I asked to stand up.

00:54:26.000 --> 00:54:29.000
The first set of names I called out was very deliberate.

00:54:29.000 --> 00:54:31.000
The second set of names was very deliberate.

00:54:31.000 --> 00:54:34.000
But I pray, God, that I can add to this number.

00:54:34.000 --> 00:54:39.000
And as they stand up, while they're standing, I want to say this.

00:54:39.000 --> 00:54:46.000
That these guys did not go to Bible school.

00:54:46.000 --> 00:54:49.000
But they carry a mantle.

00:54:49.000 --> 00:54:58.000
They are not influencers, but they know how to receive divine blueprints.

00:54:58.000 --> 00:55:01.000
They know how to lay foundations.

00:55:01.000 --> 00:55:05.000
You may not hear of what Betty and Evan may do every Sunday.

00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:07.000
You may not hear of what May does.

00:55:07.000 --> 00:55:10.000
You may not hear of what Dillion does, or Jane or Sheldon, or Derek and Iris.

00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:12.000
You may not hear of this.

00:55:12.000 --> 00:55:24.000
But I want to vouch for these guys and say today that these men and women face accusations, face hours of being awake, face attacks, face demonic attacks, face physical attacks.

00:55:24.000 --> 00:55:29.000
And they stand.

00:55:29.000 --> 00:55:32.000
But that is what a fortress church looks like.

00:55:32.000 --> 00:55:35.000
And they're not going to quit from this.

00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:44.000
So let me read out some of the things that God is saying about them so that you hear it.

00:55:44.000 --> 00:55:48.000
These are fathers that were not chosen by Bible colleges.

00:55:48.000 --> 00:56:02.000
But they were chosen by scars of rejection, of betrayal, of accusations,

00:56:02.000 --> 00:56:17.000
of attacks, of fiery darts from Satan, of being misunderstood,

00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:23.000
and scars of getting it wrong.

00:56:23.000 --> 00:56:29.000
And nobody suffers more than them when they get it wrong with you, when they make a mistake.

00:56:29.000 --> 00:56:35.000
They've been through the silence of God where they're asking for things for themselves,

00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:43.000
and it doesn't get answered, but that doesn't prevent them from continuously asking God for things for you.

00:56:43.000 --> 00:56:53.000
They have the ability to lay down patterns, blueprints, because they do hear God.

00:56:53.000 --> 00:56:57.000
And some of them keep increasing in hearing God.

00:56:57.000 --> 00:56:59.000
Here's what I really like about them.

00:56:59.000 --> 00:57:03.000
They have bent knees.

00:57:03.000 --> 00:57:07.000
They have pierced ears.

00:57:07.000 --> 00:57:15.000
And they have bloody altars, where they have sacrificed everything from time to emotions to money

00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:19.000
to any and everything you can think of.

00:57:19.000 --> 00:57:26.000
They're not looking to be admired.

00:57:26.000 --> 00:57:38.000
They are, in this church, as long as you're here, the architects of your inheritance.

00:57:38.000 --> 00:57:45.000
One of the things they'll do for some of you is God trusts them just as he trusts me.

00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:48.000
God trusts them to build.

00:57:48.000 --> 00:57:50.000
This just blew me away.

00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:54.000
This is what got me started on this teaching, when God said,

00:57:54.000 --> 00:58:05.000
trust them enough to build some of the guys and girls at Acts 29 into territories.

00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:07.000
This really got me.

00:58:07.000 --> 00:58:15.000
That a time may come, because Subin decides that he wants something from God.

00:58:15.000 --> 00:58:19.000
A time may come when Pawan decides he wants something from God, when Deshalty decides it,

00:58:19.000 --> 00:58:25.000
when Shireen decides it, when Megan decides it, that you will be turned into territories for God,

00:58:25.000 --> 00:58:32.000
not a man of God, not a woman of God, not a minister of God, not an equiper for God, but a territory for God.

00:58:32.000 --> 00:58:39.000
Do you even know what that means?

00:58:39.000 --> 00:58:48.000
When a whole place becomes something that God gives you, saying, take, I hate hearing my echo.

00:58:48.000 --> 00:58:53.000
That's what they're capable of.

00:58:53.000 --> 00:58:55.000
There's two things that we should then desire.

00:58:55.000 --> 00:59:02.000
If I was sitting there and an amazing Jacob-like guy was preaching, I was sitting there, I desire two things.

00:59:02.000 --> 00:59:06.000
I've always desired this all my life, whenever I've been sitting there.

00:59:06.000 --> 00:59:08.000
And this is my desire.

00:59:08.000 --> 00:59:12.000
Father, I want to learn from them quickly.

00:59:12.000 --> 00:59:16.000
And two, can I become like them?

00:59:16.000 --> 00:59:22.000
Until your heart and your head doesn't think like that, it is impossible to receive.

00:59:22.000 --> 00:59:26.000
Because when you look at Mae, what do you think?

00:59:26.000 --> 00:59:34.000
What good can come out of Mae from River District?

00:59:34.000 --> 00:59:39.000
Snowboarding, yes, she can teach us something.

00:59:39.000 --> 00:59:43.000
Skiing, she can teach us something.

00:59:43.000 --> 00:59:47.000
What else can she do besides that?

00:59:47.000 --> 00:59:50.000
Here's the thing we need to understand.

00:59:50.000 --> 00:59:52.000
I know I've said this before to you.

00:59:52.000 --> 01:00:02.000
I would beg the pastor of the church I was at to take me along to the airport to pick up evangelists and apostles and teachers and prophets that were coming.

01:00:02.000 --> 01:00:05.000
I'd beg him, and he would take me with him.

01:00:05.000 --> 01:00:12.000
Why? So that I could sit in the backseat and listen to their stories.

01:00:12.000 --> 01:00:20.000
But until our hearts begin to look at these men and women, and don't look at it as I belong to Revive, I'll only look at Jillian, I belong to Quest, I only look at her.

01:00:20.000 --> 01:00:30.000
No, when you begin to look at these men and women and realize what I've read is true of them, trusting that what I'm saying is of God, because you know I hardly praise anyone.

01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:41.000
And so if we were to trust this was from God, then if you begin to look at them and have two desires, one, God, I want to learn fast everything that I can do.

01:00:41.000 --> 01:00:45.000
I can learn from me, that I can learn from Don, that I can learn from Tony.

01:00:45.000 --> 01:00:50.000
And second, Father, I want to be like them one day.

01:00:50.000 --> 01:00:55.000
And the moment you say be like them, you'll find yourself going ahead of them.

01:00:55.000 --> 01:01:09.000
But till this changes in your heart, you know what God does, one of the terrible things he does is he usually uses people that don't appeal to us to teach us the most important things in the life.

01:01:09.000 --> 01:01:14.000
He sent Jesus, a carpenter, to teach Israel and they refused him.

01:01:14.000 --> 01:01:29.000
It's still the same thing. The body or the package someone comes in is usually not appealing, and they are the ones God usually uses to teach you some of the most important lessons in life.

01:01:29.000 --> 01:01:36.000
You can sit.

01:01:36.000 --> 01:01:38.000
Any questions before we go?

01:01:38.000 --> 01:01:49.000
Go ahead, Saba.

01:01:49.000 --> 01:01:52.000
Yeah.

01:01:52.000 --> 01:02:13.000
The initial understanding when I first heard about this was that some are the Holy Spirit gives all the gifts, but Christ appoints equipers like apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to help us the church to begin to actually do the work of ministry.

01:02:13.000 --> 01:02:21.000
And that's what they were meant for. They were like coaches. They trained players to play the game and win.

01:02:21.000 --> 01:02:28.000
That was their role. And then later on you realize that what was Paul?

01:02:28.000 --> 01:02:31.000
I mean, all these are facets of Jesus. Okay?

01:02:31.000 --> 01:02:35.000
So he distributes it at will and he appoints it to different people.

01:02:35.000 --> 01:02:37.000
So what was Paul?

01:02:37.000 --> 01:02:41.000
I can show you scripture after scripture in this Bible, which says Paul was an apostle.

01:02:41.000 --> 01:02:44.000
I can then show you scriptures where it says Paul was a teacher.

01:02:44.000 --> 01:02:49.000
Then I can show you scriptures where it says he was an evangelist meant to bring people into the kingdom.

01:02:49.000 --> 01:02:53.000
Then you will see scriptures where it says, and Paul had the ability to prophesy.

01:02:53.000 --> 01:03:01.000
And then you will find scriptures that said, but I am the one who brought you into the faith and I have been a shepherd to you, a father to you, a guardian to you.

01:03:01.000 --> 01:03:04.000
So which one was he?

01:03:04.000 --> 01:03:14.000
And so at the end of the day, let Christ appoint you to something for a time and do not wear that hat or print a business card.

01:03:14.000 --> 01:03:21.000
Wear it and then whenever you need, take it off because you can be something else at will.

01:03:21.000 --> 01:03:27.000
But when we get hung on to one particular thing, then you're stuck, eh?

01:03:27.000 --> 01:03:32.000
Because then you'll have to call me whatever I say I am.

01:03:32.000 --> 01:03:38.000
But my name is Jacob.

01:03:38.000 --> 01:03:44.000
And so don't. I just, yeah, I find it very difficult.

01:03:44.000 --> 01:03:53.000
And so all these, to answer, this time is on Chava, yeah? This was not part of the plan.

01:03:53.000 --> 01:04:00.000
Apostles have the ability to come up with blueprints or foundation drawings that can help you build something.

01:04:00.000 --> 01:04:07.000
And so the church is a place where the prophets then go around telling people of what God will do with the thing that he is forming.

01:04:07.000 --> 01:04:11.000
And they gather people around and convict them about what they should do.

01:04:11.000 --> 01:04:18.000
Teachers then break down the parts that have to be constructed into edible bits that we understand.

01:04:18.000 --> 01:04:22.000
Pastors then begin to shepherd people in different areas saying, let's do this.

01:04:22.000 --> 01:04:25.000
50 sit here, 100 sit here, let's work together on this.

01:04:25.000 --> 01:04:32.000
And so the church is built.

01:04:32.000 --> 01:04:40.000
But it is true that the apostolic and the prophetic forms the head of the spear and the shaft is the rest of us.

01:04:40.000 --> 01:04:45.000
Without the shaft, the spear does not fly. Without the spearhead, it has no penetration.

01:04:45.000 --> 01:04:50.000
One cannot live without the other.

01:04:50.000 --> 01:04:52.000
Let me end. Any other questions?

01:04:52.000 --> 01:04:59.000
Okay.

01:04:59.000 --> 01:05:07.000
Last scripture, Isaiah 2, verse 4.

01:05:07.000 --> 01:05:14.000
You know, when Eddie, Paul's dad, first came into my life, he took me to a conference.

01:05:14.000 --> 01:05:18.000
And at that conference, I saw amazing men of God.

01:05:18.000 --> 01:05:22.000
Guys who are changing the world.

01:05:22.000 --> 01:05:24.000
I was in awe.

01:05:24.000 --> 01:05:28.000
I came back and here was my conclusion.

01:05:28.000 --> 01:05:37.000
Do not decide that Eddie is the guy you're going to learn from because there are better people than him.

01:05:37.000 --> 01:05:45.000
And so I wouldn't commit to learning from Eddie because I thought there are far better people than him.

01:05:45.000 --> 01:05:51.000
Why should I settle for him when I can get better apostles, better prophets, better this, better that?

01:05:51.000 --> 01:06:01.000
I remember when God's saying to me that you're in the market for someone who will spiritually father you.

01:06:01.000 --> 01:06:07.000
That's what you are. You're in the marketplace, putting bids on people to see who will father you.

01:06:07.000 --> 01:06:14.000
He says, I have decided that it will be Eddie, just like I have decided that rain will always come from clouds,

01:06:14.000 --> 01:06:17.000
not from leaves, not from the beaks of sparrows.

01:06:17.000 --> 01:06:19.000
I wrote this down.

01:06:19.000 --> 01:06:23.000
I've decided that he's the one that I'm going to pour grace out to you too.

01:06:23.000 --> 01:06:25.000
So here's your choice, Jacob.

01:06:25.000 --> 01:06:36.000
Either learn from whoever I send you or go back to the marketplace and start auctioning or bidding on the most recent father that you can find.

01:06:36.000 --> 01:06:39.000
That settled it for me.

01:06:40.000 --> 01:06:47.000
So as you look around, you might think, ah, Don, not really all that hot on him.

01:06:47.000 --> 01:06:54.000
Derek, worse. And so it goes.

01:06:54.000 --> 01:06:58.000
That's not how this works.

01:06:58.000 --> 01:07:02.000
I might actually be more skilled than all of them.

01:07:02.000 --> 01:07:07.000
But the fact remains that if God chooses it to be Don, it doesn't matter how skilled I am,

01:07:07.000 --> 01:07:10.000
you will not get for your life what you're meant to.

01:07:10.000 --> 01:07:19.000
But once you decide that this is how it's going to work, then you will find everything that Jacob is supposed to give to you will come to you.

01:07:19.000 --> 01:07:21.000
These are not hard things to understand.

01:07:21.000 --> 01:07:23.000
This is not a heavy sermon.

01:07:23.000 --> 01:07:34.000
It is just in your face, true sermon, which will not give you or afford you the luxury of playing around with what God is building.

01:07:34.000 --> 01:07:39.000
Just taking away your options.

01:07:39.000 --> 01:07:51.000
Isaiah two, verse three.

01:07:51.000 --> 01:08:00.000
If you want sermons like this every week, just buy me a ticket to a Let's Praise every week.

01:08:00.000 --> 01:08:06.000
Isaiah two, verse three.

01:08:06.000 --> 01:08:15.000
Many peoples will come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.

01:08:15.000 --> 01:08:20.000
He will teach us his ways so that we may walk in his path.

01:08:20.000 --> 01:08:26.000
The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

01:08:26.000 --> 01:08:36.000
The law will go out of Zion.

01:08:36.000 --> 01:08:40.000
The law will go out of Zion.

01:08:40.000 --> 01:08:43.000
The word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

01:08:43.000 --> 01:08:49.000
We'll end with that.

01:08:49.000 --> 01:08:56.000
Guys, sometimes when you hear stuff like this being preached, it's hard to ask questions here, but you will have questions in your mind.

01:08:56.000 --> 01:09:02.000
Have the courage to come up and say, Jacob, I want to meet you and talk about some of the things you said.

01:09:02.000 --> 01:09:05.000
Sit across and talk about it.

01:09:05.000 --> 01:09:10.000
But don't let it hang saying, oh, maybe this is what he was trying to say.

01:09:10.000 --> 01:09:11.000
Maybe no.

01:09:11.000 --> 01:09:13.000
Come and lay it out.

01:09:13.000 --> 01:09:18.000
It's the best way to sort out stuff that's not clear.

01:09:18.000 --> 01:09:23.000
The law will go out of Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

01:09:23.000 --> 01:09:33.000
I want to end on this.

01:09:33.000 --> 01:09:40.000
Preaching is warfare.

01:09:40.000 --> 01:09:46.000
Proclamation is warfare.

01:09:46.000 --> 01:09:53.000
I hope you've gotten your safe, say one card or safeway cards like we said last Monday.

01:09:53.000 --> 01:09:55.000
Why is this warfare?

01:09:55.000 --> 01:10:08.000
Because it is through preaching and proclamation that captives are rescued from powers.

01:10:08.000 --> 01:10:27.000
It is through preaching and proclamation that sinners are called to submit to Christ's rule.

01:10:27.000 --> 01:10:46.000
It is through preaching and proclamation that they are asked to renounce allegiance to Christ's enemies.

01:10:46.000 --> 01:10:49.000
You see why it is warfare.

01:10:49.000 --> 01:10:56.000
Preaching and proclamation is warfare.

01:10:56.000 --> 01:11:00.000
Out of a fortress church goes an army that proclaims.

01:11:00.000 --> 01:11:03.000
They go two by two, three by three.

01:11:03.000 --> 01:11:07.000
But they realize that as they go, it is difficult.

01:11:07.000 --> 01:11:11.000
The reason it is difficult is because preaching is warfare.

01:11:11.000 --> 01:11:13.000
Proclamation is warfare.

01:11:13.000 --> 01:11:23.000
And therefore, ones that do not think of it as warfare will not be able to handle the pressure and will sit at home and will not do what they're supposed to do.

01:11:23.000 --> 01:11:25.000
Why is it warfare?

01:11:25.000 --> 01:11:33.000
Because in the process captives are rescued from powers and principalities.

01:11:33.000 --> 01:11:44.000
Second, sinners are called to submit to the rule of Christ, a new king.

01:11:44.000 --> 01:11:58.000
And third, you're asking those that are being rescued, those that are being redeemed, that will you now renounce your allegiance to the enemy and pledge your allegiance to a new king?

01:11:58.000 --> 01:12:04.000
This lies at the soul of man and it determines their eternal destiny.

01:12:04.000 --> 01:12:07.000
It is nothing else but warfare.

01:12:07.000 --> 01:12:14.000
And therefore, evangelism requires a wartime zeal.

01:12:14.000 --> 01:12:16.000
No one is gifted with this.

01:12:16.000 --> 01:12:20.000
What we are gifted is the ability to converse.

01:12:20.000 --> 01:12:22.000
But no one is gifted with wartime zeal.

01:12:22.000 --> 01:12:24.000
It comes from the Holy Spirit.

01:12:24.000 --> 01:12:27.000
The zeal of the Lord will accomplish it.

01:12:27.000 --> 01:12:30.000
Boldness and zeal comes from the Spirit of God.

01:12:30.000 --> 01:12:32.000
It's not a gift.

01:12:32.000 --> 01:12:35.000
There's no such gift that the Holy Spirit gives.

01:12:35.000 --> 01:12:39.000
Yes, some find it so easy to talk.

01:12:39.000 --> 01:12:45.000
That may be true, but put them amongst a group of scientists and you'll find them completely dumbstruck.

01:12:45.000 --> 01:12:51.000
But that's where Matt will begin to chat like Matt.

01:12:51.000 --> 01:12:58.000
He'll explain Christ through quantum physics.

01:12:58.000 --> 01:13:13.000
Any questions on this?

01:13:13.000 --> 01:13:26.000
Mission is the primary battlefield.

01:13:26.000 --> 01:13:29.000
Mission is the primary battleground.

01:13:29.000 --> 01:13:35.000
And therefore, if we don't, then we don't enter battle.

01:13:35.000 --> 01:13:47.000
Then it's only a matter of time before God either disperses us or takes us home.

01:13:47.000 --> 01:13:50.000
Any questions?

01:13:50.000 --> 01:13:58.000
So I hope that based on Monday and what we did on Monday last, that you've picked up Tim Horton's cards,

01:13:58.000 --> 01:14:02.000
you've picked up your Safeway cards, you've picked up your Savon cards,

01:14:02.000 --> 01:14:06.000
and that you've written notes or if you haven't written notes, you will write notes,

01:14:06.000 --> 01:14:10.000
that you will go into Richmond and that you will begin to converse with people.

01:14:10.000 --> 01:14:14.000
Even when you run out of cards, you will still converse.

01:14:14.000 --> 01:14:23.000
And I hope that we will have on us this wartime zeal for telling people about or preaching and proclaiming

01:14:23.000 --> 01:14:28.000
because out of the fortress of Zion, an army goes out to proclaim

01:14:28.000 --> 01:14:32.000
because the law and the word of God go forth from fortress churches.

01:14:32.000 --> 01:14:37.000
And when a fortress church doesn't do this, that's when the walls begin to close in

01:14:37.000 --> 01:14:47.000
and you become exclusive, isolated, growing, not outwards.

01:14:47.000 --> 01:14:53.000
There are many fortress churches, guys, that I've, I know of two fortress churches that I've been to.

01:14:53.000 --> 01:14:57.000
Solid, guys, that we could have learned from.

01:14:57.000 --> 01:15:01.000
But their condition today is so sad because the one thing they avoided

01:15:01.000 --> 01:15:05.000
in the apostolic, prophetic, and the amazing revelation teaching and all this stuff,

01:15:05.000 --> 01:15:11.000
the one thing they forgot was going out and declaring the word

01:15:11.000 --> 01:15:15.000
and declaring the law as in decree.

01:15:15.000 --> 01:15:17.000
That's the one thing they didn't do.

01:15:17.000 --> 01:15:23.000
And today, they're like old soldiers sitting around a fire.

01:15:27.000 --> 01:15:30.000
Let's pray. Any comments before we pray?

01:15:31.000 --> 01:15:32.000
Anything you want to say?

01:15:32.000 --> 01:15:37.000
Anything you want to say to God about this or to me about this?

01:15:37.000 --> 01:15:53.000
So, like, menisceria and menthy, it's relational, right?

01:15:53.000 --> 01:15:57.000
It's not like, like, how long do you...

01:15:57.000 --> 01:16:00.000
Yeah, it's very true. It's relational.

01:16:00.000 --> 01:16:03.000
Fathers and sons, mentals and menties, it's relational.

01:16:03.000 --> 01:16:06.000
And so if it's relational, and it's not...

01:16:06.000 --> 01:16:11.000
If you were, say, in the church that...

01:16:11.000 --> 01:16:13.000
Say I was running a quest and you were part of it,

01:16:13.000 --> 01:16:21.000
it is my job to draw you in, and you can either take that or you can resist it.

01:16:21.000 --> 01:16:25.000
Yeah, but it's mine to seek you out.

01:16:25.000 --> 01:16:26.000
Yeah?

01:16:26.000 --> 01:16:27.000
Yeah?

01:16:27.000 --> 01:16:30.000
So you have certain things that you do well in the kingdom.

01:16:30.000 --> 01:16:34.000
How do you go from just accepting the fact that you're good at this

01:16:34.000 --> 01:16:37.000
and say, you know, I can have more?

01:16:37.000 --> 01:16:41.000
Yeah. His question is, if you're good at something in the kingdom,

01:16:41.000 --> 01:16:44.000
how do you go from that to, I can do more? Right?

01:16:44.000 --> 01:16:47.000
Okay. Very easy, guys.

01:16:49.000 --> 01:16:54.000
I'm good at certain things, but I see others that are much better at other things.

01:16:54.000 --> 01:16:59.000
So I join them and I do anything and everything I can

01:16:59.000 --> 01:17:02.000
to help them get to where they are going to.

01:17:04.000 --> 01:17:11.000
What if nobody is really good in that area?

01:17:11.000 --> 01:17:20.000
Like say, I think our church still struggles in like healing.

01:17:20.000 --> 01:17:24.000
How can you go from that into that?

01:17:24.000 --> 01:17:28.000
Yeah. So his question is, our church still struggles in healing.

01:17:28.000 --> 01:17:30.000
How do we go further from that?

01:17:30.000 --> 01:17:32.000
So I'm going to change his words.

01:17:32.000 --> 01:17:35.000
Our church does not struggle with expecting healing

01:17:35.000 --> 01:17:38.000
or trusting that God will heal every time.

01:17:38.000 --> 01:17:44.000
Our church hasn't seen the results of our desire to see healing.

01:17:44.000 --> 01:17:49.000
And my only response to that is, I'm not going to stop.

01:17:49.000 --> 01:17:52.000
I'm going to expect it tonight and then tomorrow morning.

01:17:52.000 --> 01:17:55.000
And if it doesn't happen tomorrow morning, I'll keep doing it.

01:17:55.000 --> 01:18:00.000
I'm not going to stop because I've seen too much because I haven't stopped.

01:18:00.000 --> 01:18:02.000
I mean, just think of this, guys.

01:18:02.000 --> 01:18:06.000
This church was a dream that was 22 years ago.

01:18:06.000 --> 01:18:09.000
What if I had stopped because the only people that would keep coming

01:18:09.000 --> 01:18:13.000
was Heidi and Chris and they were getting annoying?

01:18:13.000 --> 01:18:18.000
Anything that God has for us, sometimes it will happen instantly.

01:18:18.000 --> 01:18:21.000
Sometimes it takes way too long.

01:18:21.000 --> 01:18:28.000
Well, what choice do you and I have but to persist?

01:18:28.000 --> 01:18:30.000
But to persist.

01:18:30.000 --> 01:18:34.000
For three years I've been looking forward to young people being touched by the Spirit of God.

01:18:34.000 --> 01:18:36.000
I've been talking about the Hebrides revival.

01:18:36.000 --> 01:18:41.000
I saw, I had a taste of it in Shillong when 2000 youth reacted a certain way.

01:18:41.000 --> 01:18:44.000
May was there, Gillian was there.

01:18:44.000 --> 01:18:45.000
They saw it too.

01:18:45.000 --> 01:18:47.000
And there were guys from the UK and Bahrain and all.

01:18:47.000 --> 01:18:49.000
But that's not what I want.

01:18:49.000 --> 01:18:51.000
I want to see it across the earth.

01:18:51.000 --> 01:18:54.000
But I'm not even 60.

01:18:54.000 --> 01:19:01.000
If I see it before I turn 70, I'll live happy.

01:19:01.000 --> 01:19:06.000
This time is his.

01:19:06.000 --> 01:19:09.000
Yeah.

01:19:09.000 --> 01:19:14.000
His question is in 1 Corinthians 12, it says are all apostles, are all prophets?

01:19:14.000 --> 01:19:19.000
And then it lists them as these guys, apostles, prophets, teachers, healers, miracle workers.

01:19:19.000 --> 01:19:22.000
Yeah.

01:19:22.000 --> 01:19:26.000
And then it lists them as these guys, apostles, prophets, teachers, healers, miracle workers.

01:19:27.000 --> 01:19:31.000
Yeah.

01:19:31.000 --> 01:19:32.000
So if miracle workers is a category mentioned in the Bible, absolutely.

01:19:32.000 --> 01:19:35.000
Yeah.

01:19:35.000 --> 01:19:36.000
Healers and miracle workers.

01:19:36.000 --> 01:19:39.000
And so I pray may you go out and prove yourself as a miracle worker so that we can come to you for miracles.

01:19:39.000 --> 01:19:40.000
Come to you for healing.

01:19:40.000 --> 01:19:43.000
There was a time in my life where if I prayed for anyone who had problems with their limbs, legs or hands,

01:19:43.000 --> 01:19:46.000
and she was in a state of shock, she was like, I'm going to die.

01:19:46.000 --> 01:19:47.000
I'm going to die.

01:19:47.000 --> 01:19:49.000
I'm going to die.

01:19:49.000 --> 01:19:51.000
I'm going to die.

01:19:51.000 --> 01:19:53.000
I'm going to die.

01:19:53.000 --> 01:19:56.000
So if you pray for anyone who had problems with their limbs, legs or hands, and shoulders, they'd get healed.

01:19:56.000 --> 01:19:59.000
Always.

01:19:59.000 --> 01:20:02.000
Okay.

01:20:02.000 --> 01:20:05.000
Let's pray.

01:20:05.000 --> 01:20:10.000
Jesus, I think that you wanted to talk to us about this.

01:20:10.000 --> 01:20:15.000
Because you want us to know your heart and your mind about what is right and what is wrong.

01:20:15.000 --> 01:20:18.000
You wanted it said.

01:20:18.000 --> 01:20:21.000
You wanted it said.

01:20:21.000 --> 01:20:24.000
Now that it's been spoken, there'll be an expectation from your part that we rise up to it.

01:20:24.000 --> 01:20:27.000
You want us to know your heart and your mind about what you think of us as.

01:20:27.000 --> 01:20:30.000
Some of it we become, some of it we are still becoming.

01:20:30.000 --> 01:20:33.000
But you wanted it said.

01:20:33.000 --> 01:20:36.000
You wanted it said.

01:20:36.000 --> 01:20:39.000
Now that it's been spoken, there'll be an expectation from your part that we rise up to it.

01:20:39.000 --> 01:20:42.000
So we as a church invite you, Holy Spirit.

01:20:42.000 --> 01:20:45.000
God has given us permission to grow into this fortress church.

01:20:45.000 --> 01:20:48.000
For we ask you, Holy Spirit, now to enable all of us, the entire church.

01:20:48.000 --> 01:20:51.000
I also pray that this be a line in the sand for some of us.

01:20:51.000 --> 01:20:54.000
Where do you want us to be?

01:20:54.000 --> 01:20:57.000
Where do you want us to be?

01:20:57.000 --> 01:21:00.000
Where do you want us to be?

01:21:00.000 --> 01:21:03.000
Where do you want us to be?

01:21:03.000 --> 01:21:06.000
Where do you want us to be?

01:21:06.000 --> 01:21:09.000
Let us be a line in the sand for some of us.

01:21:09.000 --> 01:21:12.000
Where do you want to stand?

01:21:12.000 --> 01:21:15.000
This side or that side?

01:21:15.000 --> 01:21:18.000
Let us be a line in the sand for some of us.

01:21:18.000 --> 01:21:21.000
No more dilly-dallying, tiptoeing, dancing on both sides.

01:21:21.000 --> 01:21:24.000
This side.

01:21:24.000 --> 01:21:27.000
But Spirit of God, since Christ has given us permission to become the fortress church

01:21:27.000 --> 01:21:30.000
you want us to now enable us because we do not have the ability,

01:21:30.000 --> 01:21:33.000
I certainly do not have the ability.

01:21:33.000 --> 01:21:36.000
This is what we ask for now in Jesus' name.

01:21:36.000 --> 01:21:39.000
And please, O God, we've been waiting too long to see healings and miracles break out.

01:21:39.000 --> 01:21:42.000
And so let us press in again today saying,

01:21:42.000 --> 01:21:45.000
where is the God of Elijah?

01:21:45.000 --> 01:21:48.000
Where is the God who does miracles and healings in the book of Acts?

01:21:48.000 --> 01:21:51.000
We want to see him again. Renew them, O God.

01:21:51.000 --> 01:21:54.000
Renew them in our day and in our time.

01:21:54.000 --> 01:21:57.000
Renew them in our time.

01:21:57.000 --> 01:22:00.000
Renew them in our time.

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Renew them in our day and in our time.

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In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.