WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Judah Publishing Date: 2025-10-12T03:04:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/judah/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:17.480 I had this brilliant teaching on stewardship that they have a picture for and stuff like 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:24.640 that, but after hearing what Derek was talking about and after sensing what we now should 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:29.320 talk about, we are going to talk about Judah. So we will do stewardship next time. So you 00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:33.480 will have to change the title so we are not doing stewardship. 00:00:33.480 --> 00:00:40.800 Guys, so I have written it down so we can follow along. When you look at the tribe of 00:00:40.800 --> 00:00:48.360 Judah, there were a certain kind of people that God needed to advance into the things 00:00:48.360 --> 00:00:54.840 that Israel needed to do as they moved from being a slave people to a people that were 00:00:54.840 --> 00:01:01.840 going to possess the land that was promised to Abraham. But for that, He needed a people 00:01:02.760 --> 00:01:07.920 that were a certain kind. All the tribes had their traits—twelve tribes, twelve different 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:13.160 traits—but Judah was always the one that was supposed to stand on the forefront. Why 00:01:13.160 --> 00:01:19.120 are we talking about Judah? Because based on some of the things that Derek was talking 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:23.680 about, based on some of the things that we are trying to accomplish in Richmond, we have 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:30.680 to take on this kind of a trait or an attitude. And as I talk about this, check and see if 00:01:32.680 --> 00:01:39.680 this is the kind of person you want to be. Because some of us may decide, no, it's not 00:01:42.840 --> 00:01:49.640 for me. Some of us may not have the time for it. It's like when I make some more money, 00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:56.080 when I get a good job, when I retire, then I'll think of this. But some of us may just 00:01:56.080 --> 00:02:02.320 need to hear this to say, okay, this is who I want to be. One of the first times I met 00:02:02.320 --> 00:02:08.080 this Immanuel, one of the things God said about him was that you're this kind of a person, 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:15.080 this kind of a person that can walk in this. He's the kind of guy who can literally have 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:22.360 the tooth of a lion on his chain. That was what was said about him. And so there'll be 00:02:23.920 --> 00:02:28.720 different things said about people. God says things based on what he sees. And then it 00:02:28.720 --> 00:02:32.600 is up to me whether I step into it or not. I can hold back because there are a hundred 00:02:32.600 --> 00:02:37.440 different things that I have to accomplish, so I might just postpone it. Or I can step 00:02:37.440 --> 00:02:44.440 into it. But right now, this church should take on this attitude. And I think that's 00:02:45.480 --> 00:02:52.480 these traits. And so as I talk about it, check. So first, you'll always find that when there 00:02:52.720 --> 00:02:59.040 was any movement of the Israelite camp in the wilderness or into a situation where there 00:02:59.040 --> 00:03:06.040 needed to be a battle with the Philistines or the Canaanites or the Midianites, God would 00:03:06.040 --> 00:03:12.160 say, Judah will go up first. It was always Judah going up first. And so one of the first 00:03:12.200 --> 00:03:17.960 things about Judah is Judah is on the forefront. It's always sent into battle first. This was 00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:22.640 God's choice. It wasn't Judah screaming, saying, send me, send me, send me. They actually 00:03:22.640 --> 00:03:27.520 go and ask God. They say to God, okay, oh God, who do you want to go up first? Because 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:32.520 there are 12 tribes. Who goes up first? And God's immediate reply was Judah goes up first. 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:39.520 And so that's one of the things that will be demanded of us. When I take you into a 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:44.920 situation, can you not wait for an invitation? Can you understand that I expect you to go 00:03:44.920 --> 00:03:51.920 up first? Is that you? And if it's not you, are you willing to give your mind? Because 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:03.640 that's what needs to be changed. Their hearts can have the courage, their spirits know the 00:04:03.640 --> 00:04:10.640 truth, but our minds struggle with this. Because our minds are the ones that say, not me, not 00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:18.600 now. It's the same excuses in the parable that Jesus speaks. Jesus went out and said, 00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:21.920 invite them to the banquet. And they said, I've got to take care of my work first. I've 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:26.160 got family to take care of. I've got this and that to take care of. And in the end, 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:33.160 nobody turns up. And so the question is, are you the type that wants to be on the forefront? 00:04:34.360 --> 00:04:41.360 Forefront of what? Forefront of dealing with those five things. Disease, the demonic, the 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:50.560 damaged, the decaying, and the dying. Do you want to be on the forefront of that? Who are 00:04:53.680 --> 00:04:58.760 we following? Strangely enough, even though Levi was a tribe that God always depended 00:04:58.760 --> 00:05:05.760 on. Strangely enough, though Ruben was the first born of Jacob and Simeon. Strangely 00:05:06.080 --> 00:05:12.160 enough, in Hebrews it talks about it. In Hebrews it says that when Jesus came, he changed the 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:19.160 order. No more was it Ruben or Simeon. It moved from Ruben, Simeon, Levi to Judah. Why? Because 00:05:20.320 --> 00:05:26.640 out of Judah would come one who was like the cub of a lion. Out of Judah would come one 00:05:26.640 --> 00:05:33.640 that if aroused would have his foot on the neck of his enemies. Out of Judah. So I know 00:05:39.280 --> 00:05:42.760 that this is what we're being called to. This is not new. We've been talking about this 00:05:42.760 --> 00:05:48.520 for a while now. Question is, is this your mindset? And if it's not your mindset, is 00:05:48.520 --> 00:05:55.520 it worth examining? And if it's not worth examining, then it doesn't mean that you still 00:05:56.400 --> 00:06:03.400 don't get a ringside seat, but you don't get to engage. That's the difference. So Judah 00:06:08.360 --> 00:06:13.200 is on the forefront. God will always set us up wherever we go. Be it Richmond, be it another 00:06:13.200 --> 00:06:17.560 city after this, be it another country in the world, be it Zurich, be it Kelowna. It 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:22.680 will be always on the forefront saying, can I put you up front so that standing here you 00:06:22.680 --> 00:06:28.360 can handle the worst onslaught and after having taken care of it, can you not keep 00:06:28.360 --> 00:06:35.360 moving forward? It needs muscling up. How do Christians muscle up? Very simple. Spirit 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:42.360 and word. That's it. How do Christians muscle up? Spirit and word. What does that look like? 00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:48.160 Word inside you, word that comes out of you and the Spirit of God inside you directing 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:55.160 you. That's why it's called the word or the sword of the Spirit. That's how we muscle 00:06:55.160 --> 00:07:02.160 up. So that's one. Second, Judah is a forerunner. Judah is a forerunner. A forerunner is, I 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:10.560 don't know if you've seen these little tugboats going up and down the Fraser River or you 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:17.360 see them at the port too. These little tugboats have the ability to hook on to this huge ocean 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:24.360 liner or cruise ship and draw it into the port. What's it doing? It's going ahead of 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:29.200 the much larger thing that is supposed to come behind. But a forerunner is one who goes 00:07:29.200 --> 00:07:35.160 before you and draws in that which is supposed to come after. It's a tiny little tugboat, 00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:41.840 but somehow that tugboat has enough power in its engine to draw the huge ocean liner 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:48.760 behind it. In Hebrews chapter 6 verse 20, Jesus is called a forerunner. As in, he went 00:07:48.760 --> 00:07:55.760 ahead of us, he entered the heavenlies, he paid for our sins and now that he's entered, 00:07:55.760 --> 00:08:01.760 he is waiting for the rest of us to come in. He's the first fruit we will come after. So 00:08:01.760 --> 00:08:06.640 one of the things this church has to be, and you've got to ask this question of yourself, 00:08:06.640 --> 00:08:13.280 am I a forerunner? Am I someone who's constantly working hard, clearing the way for others 00:08:13.280 --> 00:08:17.400 to come? What does a forerunner look like if you take him out of the water and put him 00:08:17.400 --> 00:08:22.080 in a forest? A forerunner is a guy who has a machete in his hand and starts cutting down 00:08:22.080 --> 00:08:27.160 the bush, right hand and left. Why? So that he can clear a path for the rest of the people 00:08:27.160 --> 00:08:30.460 who are coming behind to come in. What does a forerunner look like if you're climbing 00:08:30.460 --> 00:08:36.660 a mountain? A forerunner in a mountain situation is a sherpa who carries on his back the oxygen 00:08:36.660 --> 00:08:42.540 tank, the supplies and goes ahead sometimes without an oxygen mask, setting up steps so 00:08:42.540 --> 00:08:46.620 that you can set up base camps because the rest of the climbers are coming. Take away 00:08:46.620 --> 00:08:53.620 the sherpas and no one climbs Mount Everest. That's what forerunning looks like. It is 00:08:54.620 --> 00:09:01.620 the willingness that people have to say, let me go first and cut a path for the rest to 00:09:01.820 --> 00:09:08.820 follow. That's what forerunners. Question is, is that my mentality and is that your mentality? 00:09:09.660 --> 00:09:16.660 Or you know, I read this somewhere just today. They said there are three kinds of people 00:09:17.340 --> 00:09:24.340 when it comes to moving pianos. Ones who push it, ones who pull it and ones who move the 00:09:24.540 --> 00:09:31.540 piano seat. Ones who push it and these are guys who put all their strength behind pushing 00:09:31.540 --> 00:09:37.060 it. Ones who pull it and then there will always be this one guy who will carry the piano seat 00:09:37.060 --> 00:09:44.060 and won't break into a sweat but he's playing a part in it. Very often we are piano seat 00:09:44.220 --> 00:09:51.220 carriers and that's not what forerunners do. So what's your mentality? I know who you are 00:09:55.140 --> 00:10:02.140 thinking of, Don. Stop thinking of him. I know who all of you are thinking of. Stop 00:10:03.060 --> 00:10:10.060 thinking of him. Moving on. This is so unfair. I know you're thinking of Don. I know you're 00:10:14.060 --> 00:10:21.060 thinking of Don. Okay, Judah. The next one is Judah enters behind the curtain. This is 00:10:21.060 --> 00:10:28.060 such a cool thing, eh? Because there is no sense to anything Judah does. There is no 00:10:29.500 --> 00:10:36.500 sense to anything he accomplishes. If it weren't for the fact that Judah has the ability to 00:10:36.580 --> 00:10:40.940 enter behind the curtain, what is... Thank God little Judah is not here today. He'll 00:10:40.940 --> 00:10:45.220 go behind one of these curtains. But Judah enters behind the curtain. So what does that 00:10:45.220 --> 00:10:52.220 mean? Judah is not satisfied with meeting God at a distance. To go behind the curtain 00:10:55.500 --> 00:11:01.500 is to go behind the veil. There's an old song that none of you will or very few of you will 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:08.180 know. It says, Within the veil I long to go. To see the beauty there that dwells behind 00:11:08.180 --> 00:11:12.700 the veil. The idea is in the Old Testament there used to be a veil that used to separate 00:11:12.700 --> 00:11:18.700 people from the holy of holies. Judah is not satisfied with anything else but intimacy 00:11:18.700 --> 00:11:23.980 behind the curtain. I know the curtain doesn't exist now because it was torn in the New Testament. 00:11:23.980 --> 00:11:29.500 But intimacy is still something that can only be had if you go beyond, Happy birthday to 00:11:29.500 --> 00:11:36.500 you, Vibi. Okay, okay. I won't sing. I won't sing. You can come back. 00:11:38.660 --> 00:11:45.660 I won't sing, Vibi. I promise. Come, come, come. Come back in. Kids are not allowed to 00:11:45.860 --> 00:11:52.860 sit on the stairs. Come in, come in. We won't sing. I won't. 00:11:53.940 --> 00:11:59.380 Yeah. Okay. So Judah enters behind the curtain. The idea of entering behind the curtain is 00:11:59.380 --> 00:12:05.620 can I find times of deep intimacy? Because out of that comes courage, out of that comes 00:12:05.620 --> 00:12:10.940 faith, out of that comes the laughter, out of that comes the goodness of God, out of 00:12:10.940 --> 00:12:16.300 that comes power, out of that comes expectation. Why do you think Moses was unafraid? Why do 00:12:16.300 --> 00:12:22.580 you think Joshua was unafraid? Just for one simple reason. They knew how to spend time 00:12:22.580 --> 00:12:29.580 in the tent. How do you not be changed by beholding him? 2 Corinthians 3, 18. As we 00:12:29.580 --> 00:12:36.580 behold him, we are changed from glory to glory, strength to strength, faith to faith. This 00:12:39.940 --> 00:12:45.940 is critically, and this is the one thing that will always be robbed of Judah. In this church 00:12:45.940 --> 00:12:50.100 too, one of the things I'm always scared of is Jacob. You get so involved in things, so 00:12:50.100 --> 00:12:53.740 involved in trips, so involved in planning stuff, that the one thing you do not do is 00:12:53.740 --> 00:13:00.740 enter behind the curtain. There was not a day when Moses didn't. He loved the presence 00:13:02.580 --> 00:13:07.580 of God. He'd go to this tent of meeting in the middle of the desert and he'd go behold. 00:13:07.580 --> 00:13:11.980 What's he beholding? He's beholding a form. He can't see God. Nobody sees God and lives, 00:13:11.980 --> 00:13:17.900 but he beholds him. Oh my God, once we get a taste of it guys, you will not be able to 00:13:18.220 --> 00:13:25.220 stay away. But the important thing is to persist till we get that taste. Sometimes what happens 00:13:26.180 --> 00:13:31.300 in praise and worship in this church is that we just about are getting there and then for 00:13:31.300 --> 00:13:36.300 some reason it fizzles out because Tooney stopped singing or Jane stopped singing and 00:13:36.300 --> 00:13:40.700 it begins to fizzle out. And you're so close to tasting or getting a glimpse of something 00:13:40.700 --> 00:13:47.700 so magnificent that that becomes your new high. God is addictive. God is addictive. 00:13:48.220 --> 00:13:55.220 It's very hard once you begin to taste God to settle for anything less. Any questions 00:14:02.900 --> 00:14:09.900 before we go on? Any questions? No? Okay. Judah carries the ark on his shoulder. What 00:14:09.900 --> 00:14:16.900 does that mean? There was a protocol. There's a protocol to how we do things with God. What 00:14:21.260 --> 00:14:25.620 did the ark represent? The ark represents the presence of God and the government of 00:14:25.620 --> 00:14:32.620 God. Please hear this. It's important to understand that Judah, where did the king come from? Where 00:14:33.340 --> 00:14:38.940 was Jesus from? The tribe of Judah. Who is he? The king. What does it talk about him 00:14:38.940 --> 00:14:45.940 in Revelation chapter 4? He's the Lion of Judah. The very word Judah means government. 00:14:46.460 --> 00:14:52.580 Of the increase of his government there shall be no end. This is something that God is willing 00:14:52.580 --> 00:14:59.580 to give us church. It's a gift that he said he would give us 20 years ago, 2005, 2006. 00:15:00.060 --> 00:15:07.060 This was the word given to Acts 29. You should check. I've got, we used to use slides then. 00:15:08.060 --> 00:15:15.060 Like, you know that thing? No, like this box that had light. Overhead projector, yeah. 00:15:17.740 --> 00:15:23.420 I was at the Canuck game on Thursday and they called this little kid and they said, can 00:15:23.420 --> 00:15:29.180 you identify these items? And these were things from the past. If you identified it, you would 00:15:29.180 --> 00:15:36.180 get a free Canuck jersey. The guy got the VHS thingy. He got a VHS, a VHS, a VHS, a 00:15:37.060 --> 00:15:43.260 VHS, the Sony Walkman thing. But you know what he didn't get? This machine. That was 00:15:43.260 --> 00:15:49.860 the old credit card thingy where it's a metal thing and you'd, and the kid is looking at 00:15:49.860 --> 00:15:56.860 it and he has no idea what it is. So he didn't, I think he still won, but when we talk about, 00:15:58.940 --> 00:16:05.940 why are we talking about that? Yeah, 2006. He just got it. He got it. He got it. He got 00:16:07.060 --> 00:16:13.220 it. Six years ago, we had words that said when it comes to a tribe, this tribe that 00:16:13.220 --> 00:16:17.380 this church belongs to is a tribe that will behave like Duda. Meaning this church must 00:16:17.380 --> 00:16:24.380 behave like Duda. That was 20 years ago, man. And so to carry the arc on your shoulders 00:16:25.380 --> 00:16:31.900 means to carry government on your shoulders. What does government mean? How do you rule, 00:16:31.900 --> 00:16:38.900 God? How should we rule? What does it look like to rule over sickness? What does it look 00:16:39.660 --> 00:16:45.500 like to rule over the demonic, the decaying, the disease, the death, the damage? How does 00:16:45.500 --> 00:16:52.060 it look like to rule over imposters and false gods and false kings and false rulers? What 00:16:52.060 --> 00:16:59.060 does it look like? And the thing about government is you can't just do what you want. One of 00:17:00.060 --> 00:17:05.900 the things that happened to David was he decided that he would begin to rule and govern like 00:17:05.900 --> 00:17:12.900 the Philistines did. So what did he do? He took the arc and he put it on a cart. All 00:17:12.900 --> 00:17:19.900 his life, every Israelite knew that the arc had to be borne on the shoulders. But he puts 00:17:20.500 --> 00:17:26.540 it on a cart. When we prosecute things that the kingdom of God wants here in the city, 00:17:26.540 --> 00:17:31.660 we have to do it the prescribed way of the word or of the spirit. We can't just go willy 00:17:31.660 --> 00:17:36.500 nilly and do stuff. How does God want us to do things? One of the primary things about 00:17:36.500 --> 00:17:43.500 the government of God is it's a government of love. It's a government that frees. It's 00:17:46.220 --> 00:17:52.100 a government that will never stop increasing. It is a government that is Christo-centric, 00:17:52.860 --> 00:17:59.860 as in it's based entirely on the life of Christ. That's what we are talking about. So my question 00:18:00.180 --> 00:18:07.180 to you again is, so Daniel, so Shireen, so Jessen, how does it look like in your life? 00:18:09.460 --> 00:18:16.460 What would it look like for you to say, okay, I want to learn how to walk in this? I'm just 00:18:16.460 --> 00:18:23.460 picking on names. Will I make sure that I follow order when I do things? Will I make 00:18:27.100 --> 00:18:32.700 sure that I know how God's rule and reign looks like? Will it be tethered to the nature 00:18:32.700 --> 00:18:37.380 of God? Will it be how we conduct ourselves here? Will it be how we conduct ourselves 00:18:37.380 --> 00:18:43.360 there? You know something? One of the methods Satan uses to strike back at the church is 00:18:43.360 --> 00:18:48.400 to see if the church is rebelling. If the church is in rebellion, he finds it very easy 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:53.200 to deal with the church in rebellion, because that's one of the first things he did in the 00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:59.960 backyard of heaven. And so when a church learns how to walk in order and to understand that 00:18:59.960 --> 00:19:06.960 God wants to rule, but he wants to rule a certain way and we'll function that way, it 00:19:07.040 --> 00:19:14.040 literally shuts the door to the enemy. We think that the church is peripheral to Richmond. 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:21.480 Here's what Jesus said in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 20 to 23, that the church is central 00:19:21.480 --> 00:19:27.320 to Richmond. Richmond is peripheral to the church. That all of Christ dwells as the head 00:19:27.320 --> 00:19:30.720 of the church. Not just this church, other churches too. All of Christ dwells as the 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:36.080 head of the church. And everything that Christ is, is invested in the church. And that the 00:19:36.080 --> 00:19:43.080 church is the primary vehicle, the central piece of God's plan of salvation for Richmond. 00:19:43.560 --> 00:19:50.560 Do I begin to think like that? It's here guys, it's here. Any questions? Challenge me on 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:03.960 this if you think. It's not from scriptures. His rule is not from scriptures. His rule 00:20:06.080 --> 00:20:13.080 is benevolent. His rule is loving. His rule liberates. His rule rescues. His rule restores 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:20.440 dignity. His rule provides security. His rule brings provision. His rule heals. His rule 00:20:20.760 --> 00:20:27.760 gives you intimacy. His rule gives you companionship. His rule blesses. His rule goes from generation 00:20:27.960 --> 00:20:33.800 to generation. This is what his rule is like. And it's personified in Christ. And that Christ 00:20:33.800 --> 00:20:38.880 in his fullness dwells in the church. And he says, can you carry me on your shoulders? 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:45.880 This is why it says that in Isaiah 22, 22, and I will give you the keys of David. And 00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:50.440 where will you wear it? You wear it on your shoulders. Why? Because this is where government 00:20:50.440 --> 00:20:54.000 rests. Whenever he talks about his shoulders, he's talking about the people who have learned 00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:00.320 how to rule and reign. Is there a desire to do that? Or are we just consumed with our 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:07.400 tiny little things that we are trying to organize? This is where Matthew 6.33 is loud. Seek first. 00:21:15.880 --> 00:21:22.880 And all these other things that you're so focusing on, Jacob, I'll add to you. Next 00:21:24.040 --> 00:21:30.120 one. Judah enters into territory and routs the enemy. Judah does not wait for an invitation. 00:21:30.120 --> 00:21:36.720 Judah never waits for an invitation. Judah doesn't wait for, please come and help us. 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:43.720 Judah sees a need and goes into enemy territory to rescue and bring out. Do we know how to 00:21:45.360 --> 00:21:52.360 do it? Do we know what Matthew 12.29 is? Matthew 12.29. When you enter a strong man's house, 00:21:52.360 --> 00:21:59.360 you have to bind up the strong man. Once you bind him up, you can enter his house and plunder 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:05.680 his goods and take away things that Satan has held in bondage. But can you bind up the 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:11.600 strong man first? Christ bound him up. Can you exert that authority now? Can you enter 00:22:11.600 --> 00:22:16.520 into territory appointed to you? Where you know that there are people caught up in the 00:22:16.520 --> 00:22:21.280 worship of false God or there are people caught up in diseases. There are people caught up 00:22:21.280 --> 00:22:25.520 in depravity. Can you enter there because I am saying go? And once you go there, can 00:22:25.520 --> 00:22:29.480 you rescue them? Can you do this in different places in Richmond or are you going to spend 00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:33.680 all your services talking about the five Ds without doing anything about the five Ds? 00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:40.680 The six Ds do. I love preaching a message I didn't prepare for. This is more fun than 00:22:40.680 --> 00:22:47.680 I thought. Judah enters enemy territory and routes the enemy. Routes the enemy. It's 00:22:53.800 --> 00:23:00.800 not, would you mind moving? It's routing the enemy. I was talking at Pursuit some days 00:23:02.600 --> 00:23:09.000 ago and I was saying at Pursuit that, listen guys, we as a church do not know how to fight. 00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:14.280 We have a few people that may know how to pray and fight but as a church we do not 00:23:14.280 --> 00:23:21.280 know how to. And who should be blamed for that? Partly me. I said partly. Partly me. 00:23:23.120 --> 00:23:30.120 The point being it's time now for anybody who's enthusiastic to be helped to become 00:23:31.120 --> 00:23:38.120 someone who learns how to fight when God calls us into situations where people need to be 00:23:43.480 --> 00:23:50.160 set free. All fighting in the kingdom is towards liberation of someone else. And all fighting 00:23:50.160 --> 00:23:53.400 in the kingdom does not look like fighting. You know what fighting looks like? Sometimes 00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:58.040 it looks like praise. You know what the word Judah means? Judah means praise. And what 00:23:58.040 --> 00:24:04.000 happens when people begin to praise? Just like I said at the end of the worship, every 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:11.000 religion uses words, songs, chants. Sometimes prayers five times a day. Sometimes 24 hour 00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:18.600 chants. Why? Because there is power in words and there's power in incantations and there 00:24:18.600 --> 00:24:25.600 is power in the release of words to do harm or to do good. And then we have a people whose 00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:31.800 very savior came from the tribe of Judah which means praise. And Psalm 8 verse 2 says, out 00:24:31.800 --> 00:24:38.000 of the mouth of babes I have ordained praise to silence the avenger. And so when a people 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:41.840 begin to actually put their minds together, there is something called the oneness of mind 00:24:41.840 --> 00:24:48.840 even in worship and praise. And when that oneness hits, it's like what goes out of 00:24:48.920 --> 00:24:55.920 here is very destructive to the enemy and very helpful to the ones that are caught up. 00:25:01.320 --> 00:25:05.640 Daniel thrown into the lion's den begins to praise. Jonah in the belly of a whale begins 00:25:05.640 --> 00:25:12.400 to praise. Jehoshaphat and his singers begin to praise. Paul and Silas stuck in the prison 00:25:12.680 --> 00:25:19.680 begin to praise. The ones who are being persecuted on earth, Revelation 5 and 6 begin to praise. 00:25:21.760 --> 00:25:28.760 Bowls of incense of praise and prayer. It's still a powerful weapon guys. Joshua when 00:25:29.600 --> 00:25:36.600 he went to battle Jericho, who did he send out in the front? Singers. What does it say 00:25:37.600 --> 00:25:44.600 to the barren woman? Single barren woman. What did the morning stars do as the earth 00:25:45.400 --> 00:25:50.720 was being created? The morning stars sang. It was one of the first activities that we 00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:57.720 hear of in terms of angelic participation in what God was doing. When a people come 00:25:58.200 --> 00:26:02.960 together, not because Tunis leading worship but because they understand that this is a 00:26:03.280 --> 00:26:10.280 weapon. It is a weapon. Zephaniah 317. God sings. It is a weapon. What do you think the 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:16.880 Psalms were? Songs. Why were they written? Because they were sometimes used by David 00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:23.880 to either prepare himself before a battle or celebrate after a battle. Man I pray that 00:26:23.880 --> 00:26:30.880 we never gather here, assemble here and switch off. That we come with one mind and when the 00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:37.280 mind begins to wander do the same thing that you would do if a hundred dollar fell out 00:26:37.280 --> 00:26:44.280 of your wallet. Go pick it up. And if it wanders again, go pick it up again. 00:26:48.840 --> 00:26:52.640 Judah enters territory and rouse the enemy. The next one is Judah throws the enemy into 00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:59.520 disarray with praise. Judah throws the enemy into disarray with praise. Judah throws the 00:26:59.520 --> 00:27:06.520 enemy into disarray with praise. And so we need to form a people that can together participate 00:27:07.400 --> 00:27:14.400 in prayer, praise and learning how to deal with the demonic, the damage, the disease, 00:27:14.840 --> 00:27:21.840 the decay and the death of things. Why? Why is the Holy Spirit here? Why is the Holy Spirit 00:27:23.640 --> 00:27:30.640 here? Now that he lives in us, what's his other major role? Anybody? What's the one thing 00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:39.960 he's after through us? Make things new. That's why in Revelation 21, verse 5 we hear the 00:27:42.680 --> 00:27:49.680 voice from the throne saying, behold I have made all things new. We have the Holy Spirit. 00:27:50.040 --> 00:27:56.000 We have the Holy Spirit. We have the fullness of Christ. Now what's his main desire through 00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:02.040 us? Hey, can I make things new through you? Just like Jesus went about making things new, 00:28:02.040 --> 00:28:07.080 can I the Spirit of Christ make all things new through you in every life, in every situation 00:28:07.080 --> 00:28:13.400 and these five D's that I've given you? Come church, make things new with me. What does 00:28:13.400 --> 00:28:19.360 changing decay look like? Changing decay looks like sometimes putting a coat of paint on 00:28:19.360 --> 00:28:26.360 someone's face, not face, on their life. Just a fresh coat of paint so that it stops decaying. 00:28:26.840 --> 00:28:33.840 It's small things guys. Jesus is a, we throw the enemy into disarray with praise. One of 00:28:36.600 --> 00:28:42.600 the things we have to be careful of and this is particularly to young believers. By young 00:28:42.600 --> 00:28:48.160 I don't mean in age, just in age, but in terms of how long you've been a believer and in 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:55.160 terms of age. The worst thing that Christians do when we talk about stuff like this is to 00:28:57.360 --> 00:29:04.360 Google and find out what we should do. Google and God have only two things in common. The 00:29:05.600 --> 00:29:12.600 first two letters. After that all similarity ends. We don't Google to find things out. 00:29:13.600 --> 00:29:20.600 I was here and we were talking about immediately I could see people Googling finding out where 00:29:20.600 --> 00:29:27.040 we should go and, no he's the commander, let him direct us. He knows what we are capable 00:29:27.040 --> 00:29:32.880 of. He was so smart that he would not allow Israel that came out of slavery to reach the 00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:37.380 promised land in 14 days because he knew there were a slave people that would be beaten to 00:29:37.380 --> 00:29:44.380 pulp. So he took them on a roundabout route so that he can train them to fight. Discernment 00:29:46.900 --> 00:29:53.900 is not the same as Google. I'm sorry I'm insisting on this, but it's a rotten habit that we have 00:29:54.140 --> 00:30:00.980 because of Google and social media. We try to find out God's desire by Googling stuff. 00:30:00.980 --> 00:30:07.980 Stop it! Like Paul, like Bob Newhart would say. That reference never makes any sense 00:30:09.940 --> 00:30:16.940 to anybody here. The next one. Judah learns authority and prepares the way with his voice 00:30:17.340 --> 00:30:24.140 and his words. Judah learns authority. So we'll deal with that first. Judah learns authority. 00:30:24.140 --> 00:30:29.880 Authority is learned guys. It doesn't matter that you might be the son of a royal prince 00:30:29.880 --> 00:30:34.880 in the Middle East, you still learn authority. Anybody who does not learn authority is a 00:30:34.880 --> 00:30:41.760 spoiled brat that does not know authority but exerts his own whims or fancies just because 00:30:41.760 --> 00:30:46.720 his father is a king. But then there are people that learn authority. You know how you learn 00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:51.240 authority? Just two or three ways to learn authority. The first one. You learn authority 00:30:51.240 --> 00:30:56.480 by being submitted to authority. There is no way of learning authority unless one is 00:30:56.480 --> 00:31:02.800 submitted to authority. Who said it? Jesus. When? When the centurion came to him. And 00:31:02.800 --> 00:31:07.480 the centurion says, Jesus, I know that you have authority because I am one who serves 00:31:07.480 --> 00:31:12.000 under. I tell someone to go, they go. I tell someone to come, they come. I know what it 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:15.720 is to be under authority. I know what it is to command. And he's looking at Jesus and 00:31:15.720 --> 00:31:21.680 he's saying, you are like that too. I don't know how this centurion recognized that this 00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:26.480 man called Jesus of Nazareth was under God and that therefore he had authority over everything 00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:32.600 else too. It is impossible to learn authority for Judah if you're not submitted to authority. 00:31:32.600 --> 00:31:37.160 So that's the first one. The second one is it is impossible to exert authority without 00:31:37.160 --> 00:31:44.160 purity. All authority crumbles if it is not built on purity. I didn't say perfection. 00:31:45.160 --> 00:31:52.160 I said purity. Because I cannot drive out darkness if there is darkness in me. I cannot 00:31:59.640 --> 00:32:06.640 run a clean government if I'm corrupt and taking bribes. This is why Jesus in John says 00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:13.640 these words. He says, the prince of darkness is coming but he has nothing in me. As in, 00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:22.320 there's nothing he has on me. And therefore, because Christ was fully submitted to the 00:32:22.320 --> 00:32:29.320 authority of God, everything on earth submitted to him. We learn authority. And then we prepare 00:32:29.520 --> 00:32:36.520 the way with voice and words. You know, Satan's power was not decreased on the cross. Satan 00:32:46.440 --> 00:32:52.640 did not lose his power on the cross. Satan still has the same power that he had before. 00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:59.640 In fact, he rages even more according to scriptures because his time is short. Satan's 00:32:59.640 --> 00:33:05.640 power has not decreased. Well, what has been stripped away is his authority. And that is 00:33:05.640 --> 00:33:12.640 huge. You may be the... I knew a Filipino gentleman who was a police chief in Philippines. 00:33:13.640 --> 00:33:19.640 I remember talking to him once and he said, Jacob, it doesn't matter that I was a police 00:33:19.640 --> 00:33:26.640 chief in the Philippines. In Manila, if I stood up and I put my hand up like this, all 00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:35.880 traffic would stop. He says, here if I put up my hand like this, all traffic will go 00:33:36.880 --> 00:33:43.880 over me. He was making a good point. It is not enough to have power. It is critical that 00:33:45.440 --> 00:33:51.760 you have authority. And what was stripped away on the cross was authority. And that 00:33:51.760 --> 00:33:58.760 is huge. Judah learns authority. How do you exert authority? With your voice and with 00:33:58.760 --> 00:34:05.760 words. With your voice and with words. With your voice and with words. Otherwise, people 00:34:07.160 --> 00:34:14.160 do not know what you are trying to accomplish. Voice and words. That's why it isn't difficult 00:34:15.980 --> 00:34:21.160 for me to interrupt worship when everybody is having a really good time singing. Because 00:34:21.160 --> 00:34:28.160 if worship is not informed by the truth, then our worship is partial. Words are not important. 00:34:28.760 --> 00:34:35.760 Voice and voice. We must use our voice. We must use our voice. Go ahead. 00:34:43.600 --> 00:34:49.240 So Satan having power but his authority being stripped means that I can now exert authority 00:34:49.240 --> 00:34:55.580 to shut down his power. That's the advantage we as believers have. All authority in heaven 00:34:55.580 --> 00:35:02.580 and earth has been given to me. And I give you now the, I give you permission to trample 00:35:02.780 --> 00:35:09.020 over serpents and scorpions. And no harm by any means shall come to you. I give you authority 00:35:09.020 --> 00:35:13.420 over all the power of the enemy. Strange. Look at the wording. I give you authority 00:35:13.420 --> 00:35:20.420 over all the power of the enemy. And go ahead now. Trample upon serpents and scorpions. 00:35:21.060 --> 00:35:28.060 I know this that no harm or hurt shall come to you. This is where we need to muscle up. 00:35:28.120 --> 00:35:32.060 Not one or two. Not five or six. Not eight or ten liters. But what if a church began 00:35:32.060 --> 00:35:38.060 to do this? This is why the Bible says that listen, one can chase a thousand, two can 00:35:38.060 --> 00:35:43.260 chase, I don't remember the multiplication, but let's say ten thousand. Why? Because remember 00:35:43.260 --> 00:35:49.620 Satan is finite. He is finite. He is not infinite. He is not omnipresent. He is not omniscient. 00:35:49.620 --> 00:35:54.940 He is not omnipotent. He is finite. Can you imagine when Meera starts using the sword 00:35:54.940 --> 00:35:58.540 of the spirit, when Dane starts using sword of the spirit, when Ella starts using the 00:35:58.540 --> 00:36:02.540 sword of the spirit, when I start using the sword of the spirit, what do you think is 00:36:02.540 --> 00:36:09.540 happening in the spirit realm? How many places can you look at the same time? He is finite. 00:36:09.540 --> 00:36:16.540 He is finite. That's what begins to happen. One of the things that's so critical for 00:36:19.380 --> 00:36:26.380 us is one-mindedness. One-mindedness. I go back to Pawan's Reserves. If he is not in 00:36:29.780 --> 00:36:36.300 one mind with his buddies and with the one who is commanding, he will be out of step. 00:36:36.300 --> 00:36:43.300 And it takes one person to be out of step for a whole army to begin to walk in disarray. 00:36:44.300 --> 00:36:50.420 It's fascinating. Have you seen those dances where there are twelve people dancing on 00:36:50.420 --> 00:36:57.420 stage and one person always kicks the leg up about half a second later? Where's the 00:36:57.900 --> 00:37:04.900 focus then? Everyone goes together and then one person kicks up the left leg. It's... 00:37:07.300 --> 00:37:14.300 Tony got reminded of something. Judah learns authority and then prepares the way with voice. 00:37:19.700 --> 00:37:26.700 This is why it says in... What's the last book of the Bible? Malachi. It says in Malachi 00:37:27.620 --> 00:37:33.500 and it says in the first few chapters of Matthew, and then I hear a voice in the desert crying, 00:37:33.500 --> 00:37:38.700 prepare either way. There's a voice that needs to prepare it. God does nothing. And there's 00:37:38.700 --> 00:37:43.380 a scripture. It's in the book of Amos. God does nothing without first announcing it. 00:37:43.380 --> 00:37:47.620 God does nothing without first announcing it. There's not a single event in the Bible 00:37:47.620 --> 00:37:54.620 that came to pass without it first being announced. You know what's the saddest thing about Judah 00:37:56.900 --> 00:38:03.020 or a lion? The saddest thing about a lion, you take away the role of a lion and you take 00:38:03.020 --> 00:38:08.580 away its strength. I pray God that you remember this forever. You take away the role of a 00:38:08.580 --> 00:38:15.580 lion and you take away its strength. You read Amos chapter 3. It talks about that. You take 00:38:17.860 --> 00:38:24.860 away the role of a lion. You end its strength. You can see now why God shut the lion's mouth 00:38:24.860 --> 00:38:31.860 when Daniel was thrown into the cave. Surely just because God shut the lion's mouth doesn't 00:38:33.140 --> 00:38:38.340 mean the lions can't maul Daniel to death because all the others that were thrown in, 00:38:38.340 --> 00:38:43.540 they mauled him to death. How come they didn't do anything to Daniel? Yes, it was God's intervention. 00:38:43.540 --> 00:38:50.020 One of the things we need to realize is that the praise of Judah silences the avenger. 00:38:50.020 --> 00:38:57.020 He is like a roaring lion but we are the actual thing. And so it's important that I give voice 00:38:57.740 --> 00:39:02.780 and that I use words and my words, if they are from the word of God, are even more powerful 00:39:02.780 --> 00:39:06.960 because it's a double-edged sword. It's one thing to cut with words that I use that have 00:39:06.960 --> 00:39:11.740 to be phrased well. But what if I use the double-edged sword? Is there anything more 00:39:11.740 --> 00:39:16.380 powerful? I can tell you all about praise but how about out of the mouth of babes, God 00:39:16.380 --> 00:39:21.060 has ordained strength to silence the avenger. You don't know what that does because it was 00:39:21.060 --> 00:39:26.980 first heard thousands of years ago and it's been used thousands of times against the enemy. 00:39:26.980 --> 00:39:33.980 And he knows every time someone speaks it and understands it. Oh shucks, the sword is 00:39:33.980 --> 00:39:40.980 coming. I mean, in the good old days when my dad used to watch wrestling, boy, in tag 00:39:41.980 --> 00:39:48.980 team wrestling, the moment you saw Hulk Hogan coming, you knew it was over. Oh, I'm glad 00:39:50.020 --> 00:39:57.020 someone knows Hulk Hogan here. Fuyo is pretending he doesn't know Hulk Hogan. He's keeping a 00:40:01.620 --> 00:40:08.620 straight face. Well, I know you know Hulk Hogan. I've seen you tear your shirt off. 00:40:10.980 --> 00:40:17.500 Next one, Judah opens doors for Timothes and Jehus. Judah opens doors. And this is 00:40:17.500 --> 00:40:21.820 where I'm saying I have partly failed you in opening the doors for some and not opening 00:40:21.820 --> 00:40:26.300 the doors for enough because in 20 years, a church should have more people who know 00:40:26.300 --> 00:40:33.300 how to fight. And we don't. We have a few. It's not good enough. Judah opens doors for 00:40:33.540 --> 00:40:40.540 Timothes and Jehus. Hey, can I train you? Spotting people and saying, come train. Let 00:40:45.300 --> 00:40:52.300 me teach you how to. It's one thing to invite people. It's another thing whether they train 00:40:53.300 --> 00:41:00.300 or not. But it should be, the bar should be lower for training people. So Judah opens 00:41:01.300 --> 00:41:08.300 the doors for Timothes and Jehus. Can you imagine Elijah not raising Jehu? If Elijah 00:41:08.860 --> 00:41:15.860 did not raise Jehu, Jezebel would have continued. If Elijah did not raise Jehu, Ahab would have 00:41:17.060 --> 00:41:23.580 continued. The only reason Ahab and Jezebel came to an end was because there was a violence 00:41:23.580 --> 00:41:30.580 in Jehu who went out. And every successive generation should be more skilled at dealing 00:41:31.300 --> 00:41:37.540 with these five things. One-mindedness, guys. I mean, can you imagine the pleasure after 00:41:37.540 --> 00:41:44.180 the service today where people come not with enthusiasm but with like flint-like forehead 00:41:44.180 --> 00:41:51.180 commitment saying, Jacob, Tuni, Derek or whoever, could you train me? I really want this. Whatever 00:41:52.180 --> 00:41:58.180 you want. Whatever you ask. And then two weeks later, they still are on. Four weeks later, 00:41:58.180 --> 00:42:05.180 they still are on. Eight weeks later, they still are on. That would be tremendous. Next 00:42:07.740 --> 00:42:14.740 one. The next one is Judah brings others into rest. Judah brings others into rest. 00:42:14.740 --> 00:42:20.620 Judah brings others into rest. Judah brings others into rest. Judah brings others into 00:42:20.620 --> 00:42:27.620 rest. What it means is I am not doing this for myself. I do not want a secure life. We 00:42:29.060 --> 00:42:34.100 do this so that others can enter into rest. One of the beautiful scriptures in Hebrews 00:42:34.100 --> 00:42:41.100 goes like this. Make level paths for others so that the ones that are lame can walk. Make 00:42:41.740 --> 00:42:47.740 level paths. Flatten the earth so that there aren't too many mountains that people have 00:42:47.740 --> 00:42:51.580 to climb. There aren't too many valleys they have to go because they are lame. Strengthen 00:42:51.580 --> 00:42:58.580 the lame legs but flatten the earth so that they can walk. That's so important that we 00:43:00.100 --> 00:43:05.580 are not doing this for ourselves. You know, one of the scary things about revivals, one 00:43:05.580 --> 00:43:12.500 of the scary things about revivals is with any genuine revival will come an increase 00:43:12.500 --> 00:43:19.500 in resources. And when I say resources, I mean time, talent, treasure, strength. There 00:43:21.460 --> 00:43:26.060 will be lots of time. There will be more people. There will be talents that will increase in 00:43:26.060 --> 00:43:30.220 the church. There will be treasure as in money that will increase in the church. The church 00:43:30.220 --> 00:43:37.220 will have a lot of strength. Very often revivals weaken because when the rewards of staying 00:43:38.780 --> 00:43:45.780 with the revival come in, people start getting drawn away by the rewards than the revival. 00:43:49.340 --> 00:43:54.980 So many revivals have fallen because of the rewards that came with it. The church grew 00:43:54.980 --> 00:44:00.540 larger. The church grew more famous. The worship team produced a few songs. The pastor preached 00:44:00.540 --> 00:44:05.300 an amazing message. People got healed. Oh my God, there's a buzz now. Go there, go there, 00:44:05.300 --> 00:44:12.300 go there. And then as it begins to happen, the church begins to weaken. When we pursue 00:44:13.660 --> 00:44:18.940 righteousness, we have to make sure that the rewards of our pursuit do not then weaken 00:44:18.940 --> 00:44:25.260 us. When you pursue righteousness, it's very natural for us to be blessed. But we have 00:44:25.260 --> 00:44:29.740 to make sure that when you pursue righteousness, the rewards of the pursuit do not sideline 00:44:29.740 --> 00:44:36.740 us. Judah brings others into rest. The next one, Judah is resource to reform. Judah is 00:44:39.420 --> 00:44:46.420 resource to reform as in if you have the attitude of Judah, you never settle for what you're 00:44:46.420 --> 00:44:53.420 doing now. It's not good enough. Why is it not good enough? Because where God is going 00:44:54.820 --> 00:45:01.820 is a place that we continuously have to reach out for. Settlers are not Judah. Judah in 00:45:02.060 --> 00:45:09.060 its very DNA is forerunner, pioneer, moving forward, going where God is, not where he 00:45:10.060 --> 00:45:16.460 was, advanced God. Those are the words you use for Judah. There is nothing about Judah 00:45:16.460 --> 00:45:23.460 that settles. There is nothing about Judah that pitches tent. Judah always builds, alters, 00:45:24.820 --> 00:45:29.780 calls on the name of God and keeps moving. It does not pitch tent. I don't think we'll 00:45:29.780 --> 00:45:33.820 own a building ever. If someone gives us a building, they'll also have to promise that 00:45:33.820 --> 00:45:40.820 they'll maintain it. There's a freedom in being able to move wherever you want to unless 00:45:49.020 --> 00:45:52.900 the Lord says, hey, go buy that building. Kamal is going to give you the money. Then 00:45:52.900 --> 00:45:59.900 it's easy. But till that day comes, we shall just pray that Kamal does that. Judah is resource 00:46:00.900 --> 00:46:05.620 to reform. One of the things Judah has to do is continuously look at what we are doing 00:46:05.620 --> 00:46:11.060 now and say, it's been great the way Tuni leads worship. What is it that was missing 00:46:11.060 --> 00:46:18.060 today and what can we fix? How do we press through? It's great that we are approaching 00:46:19.620 --> 00:46:24.820 Richmond this way. We did that for four months. What's a new way of doing things? The house 00:46:24.860 --> 00:46:30.180 churches are functioning this way. What needs to happen if Pursuit, Quest, Revive, Wellspring 00:46:30.180 --> 00:46:34.620 and all the other names? What needs to happen? What needs to change to make ourselves more 00:46:34.620 --> 00:46:41.620 effective? The idea of reforming is to always check and see, is this still what God desires? 00:46:48.500 --> 00:46:52.340 I mean, it's been ages since I said this, but if you went and asked Noah, how shall 00:46:52.340 --> 00:46:58.700 I be saved? What would he say? Step into the boat. If you went and asked Moses, how shall 00:46:58.700 --> 00:47:05.380 I be saved? What would he say? Follow the Ten Commandments. If you went and asked David, 00:47:05.380 --> 00:47:11.300 what shall I do to be saved? What would he say? Dance before the ark, worship the Lord. 00:47:11.300 --> 00:47:15.100 If you went and asked John the Baptist, what shall I do to be saved? What would he say? 00:47:15.100 --> 00:47:21.500 Be baptized. You go and ask Jesus, what shall I do to be saved? Unless you be born again. 00:47:21.540 --> 00:47:25.540 You think it would end there. You go to Paul and you ask him, what shall I do to be saved? 00:47:25.540 --> 00:47:31.020 What's his answer? Not by faith, but by? Not by works, but by? Faith. Same question, six 00:47:31.020 --> 00:47:37.380 people, 4,000 years, different answers. There's this continuous unfolding of the truth of 00:47:37.380 --> 00:47:42.500 God. It's not that truth changes, but it is, truth is absolute, but it keeps unfolding, 00:47:42.500 --> 00:47:47.140 keeps unfolding. So tomorrow we have to ask, Father, how is it that we need to function 00:47:47.140 --> 00:47:50.980 in Richmond so that you get everything you want from a people called Judah? 00:47:50.980 --> 00:48:01.100 Next one, Judah has an excellent spirit and sees with eyes of faith. Judah has an excellent 00:48:01.100 --> 00:48:08.620 spirit. Guys who had excellent spirits in the Bible, Daniel, Caleb, Joshua, these guys 00:48:08.620 --> 00:48:16.580 were spoken off as having excellent spirits. Maybe next week, if God permits, we'll talk 00:48:16.580 --> 00:48:21.380 about what does an excellent spirit look like? We spoke about it some five or six years 00:48:21.380 --> 00:48:28.420 ago. What does an excellent spirit look like? But when you look at Daniel's life, when you 00:48:28.420 --> 00:48:35.460 look at Joshua's life, when you look at Caleb's life, you realize that these men had spirits 00:48:35.460 --> 00:48:42.020 that were different and they saw with eyes of faith. I just want to pick on Caleb. Here 00:48:42.020 --> 00:48:51.460 is a guy who's 85. This is what an excellent spirit looks like, who is 85 and he goes up 00:48:51.460 --> 00:48:58.740 to Joshua and he says to Joshua, Joshua, I was given a promise 40 years ago and it's 00:48:58.740 --> 00:49:07.700 time to pay up. I have held on to this promise of 40 years. I'm 85, but this promise has 00:49:07.700 --> 00:49:14.260 kept me alive. I believed God then. I have believed him through 40 years. There's just 00:49:14.260 --> 00:49:21.980 two of us alive from that generation. Everybody else has died. Sometimes, listen to this carefully, 00:49:21.980 --> 00:49:30.140 sometimes a promise that God has given you that you believe in gives you life. Sometimes 00:49:30.140 --> 00:49:37.540 the way to undo decay and death in any country, in any city, in a group of people, in an 00:49:37.540 --> 00:49:43.820 individual life, sometimes the way to undo decay and death is to remind people of promises 00:49:43.820 --> 00:49:48.020 of God that were given to them and as they begin to hear it again, something stirs up 00:49:48.020 --> 00:49:58.660 within them and they are given life that destroys decay, destroys death. This man was full of 00:49:58.660 --> 00:50:04.960 life at 85 and at 85, he's so full of life that he's asking for hills where the anach 00:50:04.960 --> 00:50:09.160 dwell. Why? Because those are the hills he wants because that was a territory promised 00:50:09.160 --> 00:50:13.320 to him. There's something about an excellent spirit that refuses to settle for something 00:50:13.320 --> 00:50:21.680 less and refuses to look at present condition. And with eyes of faith, eh? With eyes of faith 00:50:21.680 --> 00:50:26.200 where the circumstances are wrong, but the promise and the conditions are still right 00:50:26.200 --> 00:50:38.520 because God said so. Sometimes all we need to do is go and remind people of certain promises 00:50:38.520 --> 00:50:43.600 that they've given upon and say, but Jane, don't you remember? Amari, don't you remember? 00:50:43.600 --> 00:50:51.720 Crystal, don't you remember? And it begins to come up again. This is why Israel had monuments. 00:50:51.720 --> 00:50:57.080 They would build up stone pillars, stone monuments. Why? Tell your children what I promised you 00:50:57.080 --> 00:51:04.840 and every time they see these stones or pillars, let them be reminded that I am faithful. And 00:51:04.840 --> 00:51:11.200 20 years is nothing, guys. 2006 was just a few years ago. Heidi and I still look the 00:51:11.200 --> 00:51:23.720 same. Heidi does. I know you folded up your laptop thinking we were done, but unfortunately 00:51:23.720 --> 00:51:29.360 more came up. I don't know how this thing keeps writing, but I think that's the end 00:51:29.360 --> 00:51:39.360 and I will finish before 6.30. He won't. He won't. Judah laps up water like dogs. Judah 00:51:39.360 --> 00:51:47.160 laps up water like dogs. You will think to yourself, how is that a compliment? It is. 00:51:47.160 --> 00:51:55.000 It is what Gideon's 300 do. They have an alertness. There's something called passionate alertness. 00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:58.920 Passionate alertness. There's alertness and then there's passionate alertness. Alertness 00:51:58.920 --> 00:52:05.880 is what happens when you are given a responsibility or a duty. Passionate alertness is when you 00:52:06.440 --> 00:52:16.040 are given a responsibility or duty by someone you just value highly or love greatly. You 00:52:16.040 --> 00:52:21.000 tell me to go pick up your wife, I'll be alert at the airport looking for her. But if you 00:52:21.000 --> 00:52:25.040 go to pick up your wife, there's passionate alertness. Oh my God, where is she? I don't 00:52:25.040 --> 00:52:28.720 need to see her. I just need to smell the perfume or hear the click of her heels and 00:52:28.720 --> 00:52:35.600 I'll know she's here. That's passionate alertness. There's something about Judah lapping up water 00:52:35.600 --> 00:52:42.600 like dogs. Always alert. Always alert. I love it when people come up to me and say, Jacob, 00:52:42.600 --> 00:52:51.600 can I do this? And every so often it happens. Can I take it on? And the moment you say, 00:52:51.600 --> 00:52:55.480 can I take it on, it doesn't mean, yeah, you can, because what if you can't? But then begins 00:52:55.480 --> 00:53:08.160 the process of training you so you can. Any questions? I know I've said this to you before, 00:53:08.160 --> 00:53:14.080 but for those who haven't heard it, in the first few years of my life as a young believer, 00:53:14.080 --> 00:53:20.000 I plead with the pastor saying, when you go to pick up preachers who are coming to preach 00:53:21.000 --> 00:53:26.880 can I come along and sit in the back of the car and carry their bags? Because I did it 00:53:26.880 --> 00:53:34.000 once by mistake. And I found out that the conversations between the preachers and the 00:53:34.000 --> 00:53:38.800 pastors would be so rich that I would scratch my head thinking, my God, when will I get 00:53:38.800 --> 00:53:44.280 to this level? And so I became the permanent bag carrier for any preacher that came to 00:53:44.280 --> 00:53:54.040 town for about two years. Didn't have a job, what better thing to do? And they would sit in front 00:53:54.040 --> 00:53:57.960 and they would talk. They'd talk about pioneering, they would talk about the apostolic, they'd talk 00:53:57.960 --> 00:54:01.680 about people rising from the dead, they'd talk about healing and I'd scratch my head saying, 00:54:01.680 --> 00:54:11.280 when oh God, when oh God, when oh God, when oh God. Lap of water like dogs alert saying, please me, 00:54:11.280 --> 00:54:16.400 come on guys who are young. You know, you know, with the young guys here, it's not that you don't 00:54:16.400 --> 00:54:27.000 want to, but do you have the ability to stay with it? Can you stay with it? Can you be consistent 00:54:28.000 --> 00:54:49.040 with it? Because you're a bunch of amazingly gifted guys. Yeah, you are. Judah stewards 00:54:49.040 --> 00:54:55.000 mission and momentum, Judah stewards mission and momentum. When Judah gets a mission, they 00:54:55.000 --> 00:55:01.760 ain't no backing off. They know we'll wait for it. Nah, Judah stewards mission and momentum. 00:55:01.760 --> 00:55:09.120 It takes it on, knows that God is giving it to me. I don't need an invitation. When God gives me a 00:55:09.120 --> 00:55:14.240 promise, he's giving me permission. When God gives us a promise, he's giving us permission. If God is 00:55:14.240 --> 00:55:20.200 saying, hey, I sent you to Richmond, then he's giving us permission. And he's also saying, listen, 00:55:20.200 --> 00:55:25.920 I'm staking a claim in Richmond through you so you can stake a claim for what you need through me. 00:55:25.920 --> 00:55:31.280 Hear me again. When God gives a promise, he's giving you permission. Doesn't matter whether 00:55:31.280 --> 00:55:35.160 it's church or an individual promise. When God gives you a promise, he's giving you permission. 00:55:35.160 --> 00:55:41.920 And he's saying that I am going to claim a stake in Richmond through you so you can claim what you 00:55:41.920 --> 00:55:52.600 need from me for you to accomplish your mission. Precious truths that if we can somehow digest and 00:55:52.600 --> 00:55:57.960 make part of your being, you won't forget it. That Jesus, if you are asking me to go on this 00:55:57.960 --> 00:56:03.160 mission, surely there'll be a donkey tied to a pole that I'm supposed to untie. And when I untie it, 00:56:03.160 --> 00:56:07.640 the guy will come and ask me, why are you taking this donkey? And I will say the words you told me 00:56:07.640 --> 00:56:12.040 to. The master has need of it. And for some strange reason, the guy will say, all right. 00:56:12.040 --> 00:56:30.120 Yeah. If God is saying that he's going to stake a claim in Richmond through us, 00:56:30.120 --> 00:56:39.920 then he's also saying that you can claim what you need for this mission from me. It's how 00:56:39.920 --> 00:56:47.600 businesses work. So Remy and Hamari send Tooney off because Tooney works for their business. 00:56:47.600 --> 00:56:52.880 They send Tooney off to Kelowna saying, Tooney, go to Kelowna and get this business done. And 00:56:52.880 --> 00:56:58.960 Tooney says, great, I'll go. But I will also claim the gas money, the food money, the hotel 00:56:58.960 --> 00:57:02.000 money from you because it's your business that's sending me. He has the right to. 00:57:02.000 --> 00:57:11.920 You know, no soldier in the US Army that's fighting outside or stationed outside ever worries about, 00:57:11.920 --> 00:57:16.280 do I have boots? Do I have bullets? Do I have guns? Will my family be taken care of? Is there a house? 00:57:16.280 --> 00:57:20.800 Do they have warm clothes? They never worry about that because that is the responsibility of the 00:57:20.800 --> 00:57:26.640 sender. The sender is responsible for the one he sends. Somehow I have to internalize it to a point 00:57:26.640 --> 00:57:33.200 where it is such a solid truth proven by scripture again and again that I will not be afraid. We are 00:57:33.200 --> 00:57:38.720 afraid to go out because we don't know what will happen if we go out. How will this be taken care 00:57:38.720 --> 00:57:47.920 of? Judah does not deviate from a mandator position. As in once a position is taken, 00:57:47.920 --> 00:57:53.640 you don't leave it. One of the best movies that I recommend in terms of this is violent, 00:57:53.720 --> 00:58:04.320 but it's such a cool movie, Hacksaw Ridge. It's a story of a guy who's a pacifist. He refuses to 00:58:04.320 --> 00:58:12.360 fight but he will go to war as one who will be a medic. And the way he rescues, true story, 00:58:12.360 --> 00:58:23.280 from a Mormon background and he begins to rescue people, 10, 12, bombs all around. Any fool would 00:58:23.320 --> 00:58:29.000 save his life. He's already saved 12, 15, 18. People tell him to leave, does not, 20, 24, 00:58:29.000 --> 00:58:38.120 gets shrapnels, 28, 30, 43 people saved on Hacksaw Ridge by one man. He would tie them to a rope, 00:58:38.120 --> 00:58:42.760 pull them, let them over the cliff, go back for another one, go back for another one with no regard 00:58:42.760 --> 00:58:50.520 for his life. One more. His words were always, he would look to God and say, one more, O God, 00:58:50.560 --> 00:58:56.160 one more. My God, can you imagine people like that in this church who say, one more O God in 00:58:56.160 --> 00:59:01.360 Richmond, one more, one more O God. From delay, decay, from death, from damage, from disease, 00:59:01.360 --> 00:59:06.600 from demonic, one more. Start in prayer, start with prayer, give me one more O God, give me one 00:59:06.600 --> 00:59:15.040 more in prayer. After prayer comes the action. In prayer my courage is stirred and my feet begin 00:59:15.040 --> 00:59:21.040 to move and my mind begins to think a certain way. And once that begins to happen, it gets easier. 00:59:21.040 --> 00:59:26.960 It is always like that Acts chapter 4, they've just been threatened by the Sanhedrin. And what 00:59:26.960 --> 00:59:32.720 did they do? They come back and they begin to pray, O God, give us the boldness, give us the 00:59:32.720 --> 00:59:37.200 ability so that as we go out, you will stretch forth your hand and you will begin to heal in 00:59:37.200 --> 00:59:41.840 the name of your mighty servant Jesus. And the place began to shake and they went out boldly. 00:59:41.840 --> 00:59:55.560 We do not deviate from mandate. You know, there's this term called Shaliyah. Shaliyah is like an 00:59:55.560 --> 01:00:05.480 exact copy of the original. And Shaliyah means you represent the one who sent you and you will not 01:00:05.480 --> 01:00:11.720 say anything else except the words he's put in your mouth. Which means that you do not have the 01:00:11.720 --> 01:00:19.680 right to amend or deviate anything that is said or you're sent out for. That's what the ambassadors 01:00:19.680 --> 01:00:32.360 do. When the Gulf War was happening, I remember this foreign minister of Iraq called Aziz, he was 01:00:32.360 --> 01:00:40.080 on TV on CNN and they're asking him, so how is the condition of Baghdad? Is everything okay? And he's 01:00:40.080 --> 01:00:45.200 saying exactly what Saddam Hussein asked him to say. Everything is peaceful, the city is calm, 01:00:45.200 --> 01:00:50.960 people are going about normally. What he doesn't know is behind him, they're showing scenes of 01:00:50.960 --> 01:00:56.960 allied tanks going through the streets of Baghdad. But he will not deviate from what he's been told 01:00:56.960 --> 01:01:03.880 to say because he represents someone else. That's what it means when we say Judah does not deviate 01:01:03.880 --> 01:01:13.840 from mandate or position. Last one. Judah is a new order that stewards things in the scene so they 01:01:13.840 --> 01:01:25.360 can access true riches in the unseen. Guys, how I deal with money, resources, talent, strength, 01:01:25.440 --> 01:01:35.240 treasure, seen things, material blessings, how I deal with that is only how I will get to deal 01:01:35.240 --> 01:01:47.840 with true riches. Luke 16 verse 12, if you do not know how to take care of someone else's goods, 01:01:47.840 --> 01:02:01.360 how will I give you your own? Crazy. Or the parables of the stewards, at the end of the day, 01:02:01.360 --> 01:02:15.440 if you want insight, revelation, gifts, graces from God, heavenly permission, visions, walking 01:02:15.760 --> 01:02:21.760 in greater intimacy, all these things await us. The unseen realm is greater than the seen realm, 01:02:21.760 --> 01:02:31.080 but strangely enough, how I deal with material things here on earth seriously affects what true 01:02:31.080 --> 01:02:41.840 riches are released to me. Let me read you some scriptures so you don't think I'm pulling this 01:02:41.840 --> 01:02:50.840 out of nowhere. Judah knows how to deal with things in the seen realm and they don't get 01:02:50.840 --> 01:02:59.000 caught up in it. Let me read you, and really this is, I'm not doing another point, it's stopping 01:02:59.000 --> 01:03:06.800 with this. If I'm not trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give me my own? It 01:03:06.800 --> 01:03:11.600 could be a rented car, it could be the news of the promotion of a friend, it could be tools, 01:03:11.760 --> 01:03:15.840 that your neighbor loaned you, it could be possessions that belong to another. 01:03:17.760 --> 01:03:23.520 Returning the borrowed tools cleaner and better than they were when they were borrowed often 01:03:23.520 --> 01:03:31.200 becomes the measure in which I'm given tools of my own to manage. God sets us up through 01:03:31.200 --> 01:03:37.600 godly stewardship to have something to call our own only if we deal with what we have been given 01:03:37.600 --> 01:03:43.840 well. Luke 16 12, if I'm not trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give me my own? 01:03:44.720 --> 01:03:50.320 This is why it is sometimes important when we come into someone else's property that we do well with 01:03:54.080 --> 01:03:55.200 it. He who is faithful in 01:03:57.920 --> 01:04:02.800 things that are unimportant like mammon will be given things that are more important. 01:04:02.800 --> 01:04:10.800 True riches are always a result of how we deal with present things. Again, it's scripture. 01:04:15.920 --> 01:04:16.880 I think we should end there. 01:04:16.960 --> 01:04:25.120 Jura knows how to make sure that life is measured not in possessions. The more life is measured by 01:04:25.120 --> 01:04:33.840 possessions, the more we will sell our soul for increase. It is a slow burn. 01:04:34.800 --> 01:04:43.120 It is a slow burn. It is a slow burn. It is a slow burn. It is a slow burn. It is a slow burn. 01:04:43.520 --> 01:04:52.560 It is a slow burn as the desire for more robs. The desire for more robs me of my desire for God. 01:04:55.840 --> 01:05:02.480 If you crave after things, take measures to restrict yourself. If you crave after things, 01:05:02.480 --> 01:05:08.480 take measures to restrict yourself. Proverbs 23 words 2. If you are a glutton and you have an 01:05:08.480 --> 01:05:13.680 appetite, put a knife to your neck when you go to someone's house for dinner. 01:05:23.680 --> 01:05:25.680 We'll talk about that next week. Let's pray. 01:05:25.840 --> 01:05:33.680 Hey Jesus, you're the one who said talk about Judah, not about stewardship. 01:05:36.960 --> 01:05:45.280 So I'll have to trust that Spirit of God, you were able to take the words we talked about, heard, 01:05:46.320 --> 01:05:53.200 and you were able to take the words we talked about, heard, and you were able to take the words we 01:05:53.280 --> 01:06:04.000 talked about, heard, and bring this church to a place where there's a one-minded 01:06:08.480 --> 01:06:19.040 grasp and a desire to reach out and take hold of this Judah-like nature that you want us to possess 01:06:19.040 --> 01:06:28.400 to deal with the five D's. My prayer is Father that starting with me down to the youngest here 01:06:28.400 --> 01:06:35.200 that you would begin to give us a desire to become like that. Only you can do that Holy Spirit. 01:06:37.440 --> 01:06:41.440 Paul put it this way, I did not come to you with oratorial skills but I came to you 01:06:41.440 --> 01:06:45.600 with a demonstration of power. I came to you in weakness. Father my words won't cut it 01:06:46.560 --> 01:06:52.880 but your Spirit can. There is a purpose here in Richmond that you want accomplished. I pray, 01:06:52.880 --> 01:06:57.760 O God, that you would take the words of seed and Spirit of God that you would cause every heart 01:06:57.760 --> 01:07:03.600 in this room to figure out if they want it or not but not to escape Lord the demand of this word. 01:07:05.520 --> 01:07:10.480 It's strange how if I go to what Derek was saying about the water that came out from beneath the 01:07:10.560 --> 01:07:16.560 throne it came out as a trickle. It doesn't tell us how it increased. It came out as a trickle. 01:07:16.560 --> 01:07:21.120 Let the trickle begin here today. Let the trickle begin here today I pray 01:07:22.720 --> 01:07:27.200 and then increase it as only you can because it was a miracle that it came up to 01:07:27.200 --> 01:07:31.200 the ankle then the waist then was too deep to swim in. 01:07:41.440 --> 01:07:45.440 Thank you Holy Spirit in Jesus name. Amen. 01:07:48.640 --> 01:07:49.040 Cool.