Okay, guys, we've been on this series called Spirit and the Kingdom. This is part four.
And on a day like this, it will refer to Pentecost. And so one of the things that we see in Acts
chapter 1-8 and in Luke 24-49 is the fact that Jesus says in Acts 1-8 that the Holy
Spirit will come upon you with power. And in Luke 24-49 it says,
"'Wage in Jerusalem till you are clothed with the power of the Spirit.'"
So both Acts 1-8 and Luke 24-49 talk about extraordinary power. Extraordinary power.
That's what it's talking about. So it seems kind of sad to say there are two kinds of powers.
That's not the intent. The Spirit of God convicts me. He brings me into the Kingdom.
I get born again by the Spirit. But we are talking about an extraordinary power for an extraordinary
end that God wants to achieve. And it's towards that end that in Acts chapter 1-8 and in Luke 24-49
before Jesus leaves the earth, he says, listen, go to Jerusalem, wait there, and I'll cloth you with
power. And in Acts chapter 1-8 it says, and I will again send the Holy Spirit on you with such power
that you'll be able to witness. So we are talking about extraordinary power. So don't settle for what
we have. Yeah? What we see in the book of Acts is supposed to increase, not decrease. We can use the
book of Acts as a reference point that this did happen. That's the minimum we can expect. But we
don't think like that, and we need to think like that. How many here would happily settle for what
happened in the book of Acts? I would. I'd like to at least see that because I'm not seeing it yet.
But if you look at the river that flowed from the throne of God, as it goes further, it increases. It
starts as a trickle. It then grows up to ankle, knee, waist depth, and then it's impossible to even walk
in it. You'll have to swim. You'll have to be carried away by the Spirit. So one must live with the
expectation that there is more than the book of Acts, which started with 3,000 a day. It's at 174,000 a
day. There was not even a method to get to the nations of the world then. Now it takes less than 14 hours
to get to anywhere in the world. Things have changed. Extraordinary power. But why would I need
extraordinary power if my expectations are not extraordinary? So the question is, do you have
extraordinary expectations? Most of the guys who build anything that is worth anything and that changes
the world have extraordinary expectations. I mean, more than Karl Marx and more than the Beatles, it's the
Apple phone that has been the greatest revolution in the last 50 years. It was an extraordinary
expectation that every person would carry a phone that they could do everything on. So extraordinary
extraordinary power. So the first point is extraordinary power is not required if I don't have extraordinary
expectations. That's the first point. Extraordinary expectations require extraordinary power. And so the question is,
what are your extraordinary expectations? If your extraordinary expectations are about you, then God can give you that
without the Spirit of God doing anything. That comes out of the grace of God. If it's more money, if it's a bigger
business, if it's a bigger house, bigger car, a beautiful wife, an ugly dog, God can give you that without the
Spirit of God being involved. We're talking about extraordinary power for extraordinary ends that are
kingdom-oriented or king-oriented. And so if I were to ask you, what are your expectations, would you be able to
phrase it in a way that even some of the kids sitting in front would understand? And if you can't phrase it that way,
then you must then admit that that is not your expectation. We can't come up with stuff like, oh, I want to serve the Lord.
Oh, I want to do big things for God. That doesn't mean anything. Try getting a job like that. How do you phrase it?
What do you want? What are deeply seated that must be expressed and put into words? What is it called? It's called a
business plan that you present to God. But who starts the business plan? He does. And then what do you do? You present it
back to him. That's the beauty of this. He initiates it. He sustains it. He crafts it. He has you bring it to him. He says,
great, I'm glad you understood it. Here, have it. Any questions on that? Okay. Second point. This extraordinary power is required
for bearing witness to who and what Christ does. It's required for raising others that look like him.
And it's required for his rule advancing to the ends of the earth. These three things cannot be accomplished by sheer brain or strength,
bearing witness to who he is and what he does. It's a hostile environment that witnessing has always been conducted in. It doesn't matter which
era you take. Every time someone had to bear witness to the truth or bear witness to something new, bear witness to Christ and what he does,
there is always sufficient pushback because there is one who fights for souls, and that's why he's called the enemy. That's why he's called Satan.
That's why he's called the devil, adversary, accuser, deceiver. And so it's impossible to do this without the Spirit of God.
Always remember when God tells you to do something and you go and do it and you're rejected, rejection is not a sign of failure.
Rejection is a free choice that every human being has. Christ was rejected by entire towns. It doesn't mean he was a failure.
Capernaum and Nazareth wouldn't have him. That doesn't mean that he didn't do what God wanted him to. He still went ahead and did what God told him to,
but just because he went and people didn't accept doesn't mean he got it wrong. We think that when we go and say something to someone and they reject us,
that we probably heard wrong. No, we heard right, they chose wrong.
These are three really difficult things, to raise people that look like him, as in look like Christ, to witness and to advance his rule,
as in he's a good king. Can I take his rule and advance it?
So what do people around Trump do? Or what did people around Biden do? Or what did people around Obama do?
They knew that there was a policy that each of these presidents had and their intent was,
can we perpetuate or propagate or promote this policy so that the entire United States will now begin to subscribe to this policy?
It's the same principle. But these are difficult things to do. That's one of the reasons the Spirit of God is given.
That's the second point. The third point is most things that the Spirit of God does happen suddenly.
In verse 2 of chapter 2, book of Acts, on the day of Pentecost, suddenly. Why this word suddenly?
And it's often used in the Bible, eh, suddenly? Because as much as the Spirit of God loves me and even serves me for Christ's purpose,
now it sounds odd, eh, God's serving me. But you must understand, God has always been a servant.
This almost sounds sacrilegious. But when Jesus disrobed and then took a towel and began to wash the feet of his servants,
he wasn't putting on an act. He wasn't doing something he was not. He was doing the most natural thing.
At his essence, God is a servant. And therefore he expects the people that follow him also to be like servants.
Sounds almost wrong to say God can be servant-like. If he wasn't, he was putting on an act in John 13,
when he was just being humble. Let me be humble for a second and wash their feet. Not true.
That's part of his makeup. On one hand, he's king, and on the other hand, he's servant.
There's this old song called Servant King, which is who he was. Isaiah continuously refers to him as a servant king.
And so as much as the Holy Spirit wants to serve and love me for the cause of Christ,
he's not my rub-the-bottle-and-out-comes-a-dini called the Holy Spirit.
And so one of the reasons he does things suddenly is so that we can't begin to manipulate him, predict him, prefabricate him,
expect him to turn up when we do certain rituals, certain acts.
And today's Christianity, especially the charismatic Christianity kind, is full of this.
Where if you sing these two songs, and if you do this and if you do that, the Spirit of God must turn up,
and then just people should start falling over.
And then when you repeat it again and again, it just gets ugly and sometimes it's mixed up with other spirits than the Spirit of God.
Suddenly the Holy Spirit comes and he'll always do it that way.
So how do you get to this place where he suddenly appears?
By every day doing what you need to do in terms of walking in his grace, walking in awareness, walking in obedience.
And then one day suddenly everything happens like that.
You take any revival on the face of the earth, you'll find that people were doing what they were supposed to do consistently.
They were walking in his grace, walking in obedience and walking in faith.
And then suddenly you take the Hebrides revival, which we talked about at length over the last three years.
Two women, Peggy and Christine, 80 year olds, sitting and doing the one thing that they knew how to do,
pray and walk in faith, in obedience and in the grace of the Spirit.
And suddenly took the world by storm.
The Spirit of God came down on that town and people couldn't walk.
It happened just 70 years ago. It's not ancient history.
At my age, 70 is not ancient history.
So suddenly the Holy Spirit, why does he do that? He's not bound by time.
So whatever we are doing now, wait, wait, because suddenly it happens.
And one should be expectant of it.
I don't know if when we come together like this, you're expectant of something happening that has never happened before.
I sometimes open my eyes to just look around and see if God's moving differently, if you're being touched differently.
People are worshipping differently. Why?
Because there's this continuous expectation that something will give.
Three and a half years we've been at this. Something will give.
But the way to go about it is to be consistent in walking in his grace, in obedience to him, in faith.
Next point.
Revivals happen when extraordinary power, when extraordinary outpourings,
of the activity of the Spirit happen.
That's what revivals basically are.
They are times when the Spirit of God suddenly decides that, all right, the time has come to do something unique, distinct,
that will shift the way the world operates.
He thinks worldly. It's not a big deal for him.
For us, it seems like a big deal when we think of the earth. For him, he created the earth.
He hovered over the earth at the beginning as Jesus spoke, the earth was created. He thinks the earth.
And so whenever revivals break out in any part of the world, his intent is, can I shift the history of the world again?
Why? Because if I don't, they will not be able to avert disaster.
Can I raise up a few Billy Graham's? Can I raise up a few Moses's, David's, Adam's, Paul's, Barnabas's?
Can I raise a few of them? Can I avert disaster by bringing things back on track?
Because here's the thing, God's program will prosper.
The final thing is so written in stone, it cannot be changed.
At the end of the day, there'll be one kingdom standing and all the other kingdoms will collapse.
There'll be nothing left. There's just one kingdom that will remain.
It's guaranteed. Guaranteed. Work towards it.
Work towards it. Expectant eyes see.
Expectant. This is critically. What are we expectant of?
We expectant of God's goodness and the assurance that he will make all things new in every situation that we are engaged in.
Every situation you're engaged in, he'll make all things new.
He's continuously working towards that.
This thing called expectation is huge. What's another word for expectation?
What's a Christian word? Hope.
You can't name your daughter expectation, but you can name her hope.
But it actually means confident expectation.
That'll be something, eh?
Expectation. What's your name? Expectation.
I had this friend, we went to India and there was this girl there and he kept asking the girl,
Hey sweetie, what's your name? And she said, sweetie.
He said, no, no, no, sweetie, what's your name? Sweetie.
And I went on for a while before I helped him, but I don't know why I went there.
It's not important.
Revivals are extraordinary out, and then there is cute Sheldon.
Revivals are extraordinary outpouring of the spirit.
And who does this happen through?
What does this happen through?
It happens through people who do not settle for periodic awareness of presence.
Who does God outpour what he is doing through?
He does it through people who do not settle for a periodic awareness of God.
I've said this before many times.
The periodic awareness of God was never God's plan for man.
It was never God's design for man that Jacob be periodically aware of his presence on a Sunday afternoon.
No, no. He's looking for people who are constantly aware of him.
And through them, almost inevitably, he ends up pouring out the Spirit of God in extraordinary ways.
One of the things we want to do in this church is to become highly aware of him 24-7,
so that whenever he wants, it suddenly can happen.
The question is, when Dinnah goes to work tomorrow, and it's the end of the month,
and he has all his accounts to finish, will he be highly aware of the Spirit of God?
The question is, when Kezia thinks of the fact that she'll be giving birth to in a month,
and there are 101 things to think of, will she be highly aware of the presence of God?
It's critical for how this baby comes into the earth.
When these outpourings of extraordinary power happen,
and we keep going back to this idea of extraordinary power, which I'm saying to you, we have not seen.
We may have caught glimpses of it, we may have heard about it, but we haven't seen it.
And these extraordinary expressions of power can last for a while or can wreak a,
but once you see it, you enjoy it, you savor it, you let it go.
One of the things that often happens to people is they have one powerful encounter with God,
and after that powerful encounter, they talk about it for the rest of their lives.
You savor it, you love it, you thank God for it, and you let it go because there's more.
If he is infinite and if he has all power, there's never going to be a limit where he says,
I've shown you everything I've got. Never.
To try to capture anything in a bottle that God does is a really bad idea. It rots.
Manner, eat it, enjoy it, look for it the next day because it's going to be new manner.
Keep it, and it turns into maggots.
There must be this expectation, eh?
One of the things I look forward to when I meet as a church is, okay, today, oh God, what's your,
what are you going to pull out of the hat? Today, it was, hey, bring your Isaacs,
lay them on the altar, let me bring them back to life.
Take these things preciously home because, trust me, nobody knows what's happening out here in front.
Okay, one of the things that happens when the extraordinary power hits is,
extraordinary power hits is manifestations, as in,
you experience things of God that have precedent in the Bible.
So, there was the, in the Old Testament, there was the pillar of fire and the pillar of,
and the cloud, the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire.
When Jesus got baptized, the Holy Spirit turned up as a dove.
When they got together on a day like this in Acts chapter 2,
the Spirit of God turned up as fire.
In Acts chapter 6, Stephen's face began to shine like he was an angel.
It was almost like his face was transfigured.
In Acts chapter 4, while they were praying, the whole place began to shake.
In Acts chapter 16, there was an earthquake and Peter was set free.
These are manifestations.
And there is precedent in the Bible for different manifestations.
And there is precedent in the Bible for different manifestations, and they do keep recurring.
We drove past a house in Stornoway in the Hebrides Island,
where there was a house where things began to shake so violently,
when they began to pray that stuff started falling off the shelf.
It has happened again and again and again.
But is there an expectation?
Is there an opening of eyes to check and see how people are doing?
There must be the expectation, guys.
Anything that happened in the Bible can happen again.
And then there are things that will look similar.
But here's the thing.
Every manifestation in the Bible is followed by a voice.
There was never a thing that happened in the Bible where God manifested Himself that wasn't followed by a voice.
One of the best ways to authenticate a manifestation is to find out if after the manifestation there was this voice that spoke the truth.
When He put a rainbow in the sky, I'll never destroy the world again with a flood.
When there was a hand that began writing on the wall,
mene mene tekelu parsein, there was a voice.
When the dove came over Jesus' head, behold, my son, in whom I am well pleased.
Whenever there's a manifestation, there's a voice that authenticates what the Word of God says.
That's one way to test manifestations.
But it brings us into the experience of God.
Our God is a God who must be tasted.
He must be experienced.
A God who is not experienced is not the Christian God.
Crying, laughing, jumping, joy, great sorrow, bursting forth, speaking in tongues, dancing.
These are but natural to the Christian God.
And if it is not a part of your natural experience, then the cultural shift is not God's but yours.
And why can't I do that?
Because I feel like it's not me.
It's not me based on how I've been raised.
But it is me based on how I've been born again.
And the spirit of me must now rule over the thinking and the way my body is.
Any questions on that?
I don't have to copy what you do, but I do have to give expression because our God is one who is experienced.
Any questions?
Yeah.
How do you tie in the presence of God?
How do you tie in the presence of God with manifestations?
Yeah.
How do you tie in the presence of God with manifestations?
In the Old Testament, if God turned up, there was no question of not seeing his glorious presence.
Now, because he lives in us and is not visiting from outside, we don't necessarily see a display of glory.
That kind of glory would kill people or they would lie down on the ground and be afraid.
So today the presence of God is first the spirit and then the truth, then the emotions, then the action.
And that's why when worship tries to appeal to the flesh first, it's a really bad idea.
So you get your foot is stomping and your hand is clapping, but inside it's hollow.
It doesn't work.
First the spirit.
I want worshippers to worship me in spirit and truth and then onto emotions.
Anything that I know in my spirit as being true, I'll begin to feel about.
And when I begin to feel about, either my mouth will speak or my hands will move or there'll be some expression of it unless I'm dead.
And so presence and manifestation, in the Old Testament it was very obvious.
The New Testament doesn't happen too often, but suddenly the Holy Spirit can do something.
But one of the things we should do in worship is ask God to bless your holy imagination.
When we sing about the creatures and the elders bowing before him who sits on the throne, what is it that you remember?
Do you remember the truth of Revelation 4?
Do you remember the truth of Revelation 5?
Do you remember the truth of Revelation 20?
What is the truth that you see?
Do you remember the truth of Isaiah 6?
I saw the Lord seated on his throne and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Is that what you see?
It should immediately connect you.
Our experiences find context in the stories of the Bible, which is why it says in spirit and in truth.
And so the less we know the word, the harder it is to contextualize what is happening and the easier it is to get deceived.
If I'm not able to put in context my experience within the stories of the Bible, then one, it's harder to understand and two, it is easier to be deceived.
There are people who say that the Bible is a lie.
And so one, it's harder to understand and two, it is easier to be deceived.
There are people who say that the Spirit of God falls upon all flesh and by that they mean this flesh.
So anything you do when the Spirit of God falls upon you is kosher.
And I'm saying it contradicts the Bible, which says that the Spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet.
As in I don't have to react, I never lose control.
I can yield control.
I don't lose control.
The Old Testament, the Spirit of God would come upon people and they would lose control.
Saul would lie around naked prophesying.
Thank God that's not the method of prophecy nowadays.
But I have the ability to yield control to God, but I do not lose control.
If I jump on the piano and start dancing when Tunis playing, Heidi will have to pay this church a lot of money for that piano.
And I can't say the Spirit of God made me do it.
I'm completely in control.
Or we'll give that piano to Sheldon and he'll trade one in.
He's not here, right?
Cute Sheldon.
Here's the other thing, guys.
Whenever manifestations happen, there are two reactions.
One is what in the world is this?
Let's go check it out.
Two, these guys must be drunk.
A church will always be divided once God begins to manifest himself.
And I'm hoping that that won't happen to us.
That when the manifestations begin to happen, and they will, we've been patiently waiting and a suddenly will happen.
I guarantee you.
A suddenly will happen before guys like Sue and Joan and Ruth leave the earth.
Not because they are old, but because they've been here waiting for this for years.
They shall see the glory of the latter days of Acts 29.
And so when these happen, may not divide the church, because there's usually two reactions.
Some of them said, as they heard these tongues, what in this world is this?
They were perplexed.
And the others said, these guys are drunk.
Let that divide not happen, eh?
That's part of the reason we're talking about this, so that a precedent is set when it happens.
Galatians 3.5, and we'll end with that. Galatians 3.5.
It says,
Beautiful.
Does he who gives you the Spirit...
How does he do it?
How does he who gives you miracles and the Spirit...
Guys, think of this, eh?
There's a natural expectation in Paul's writing to the guys in Galatia that if the Spirit of God is working amongst you,
miracles and signs and wonders will also be working amongst you.
It's just a natural assumption.
He doesn't even explain it.
He just naturally assumes that the Spirit of God...
Who is the Spirit of God?
The Spirit of God is the personal presence of God in your life.
Just think of that for a second.
The God of the universe, who the universe cannot contain.
The Spirit of God is the personal presence of God right now in me and in you.
And there is nothing he does that is ordinary.
Just your physical body is so extraordinarily made that David, who didn't know anything about zoology,
talks about it in Psalm 139.
That child in Rachel's womb, in Kezia's womb, wonderfully, complexly made.
There is nothing he does that's ordinary.
Is there an expectation in Jane's life, in Matt's life, in Jillian's life, in Priyanka's life
that I serve a God who is so extraordinary that it must be my expectation,
regardless of the last ten days I have had, that were worse than ordinary, that were totally blah?
Does he who gives the Spirit and does he who does miracles among you,
does he do it by traditions, by rules, or does he do it by the hearing of faith?
Before we go there, ask yourself this question.
Why do you want an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in your life?
Why do you want, I'm assuming everybody here, thirsts for the Holy Spirit?
Why do you want, why are you thirsty for more of the Holy Spirit being expressed in your life?
He lives in you fully. He's not a quantity. You can't pour a little bit of him into a person.
He lives in his full person in you.
But why do you long for more of the Holy Spirit? What's your reason?
Okay. You'll have, her answer is good.
For transformation. So here are the four main reasons.
One, that he may be able to change me. So that's the first reason.
Here are the four reasons why one should be thirsty for the Spirit.
First one is 2 Corinthians 3.18.
As I behold him, I'll be transformed into his image.
These are the reasons. Everything else that comes with the Spirit of God is really good gravy.
But this is the meat. Second, Corinthians 3.18.
Next one, Colossians 1.28 and 29.
Why should we receive the Spirit so that we can raise others into maturity?
Why else should we thirst for the Spirit? These are the real reasons.
First Corinthians 12.4 to 11. What does it say?
In a church, there are many different ministries, many different workings, many different activities, many different gifts.
But it is one Spirit. And he distributes himself as required for the benefit of others.
To some he gives this, to some he gives that, to some he gives this.
It's for the entire body.
And then the last one, Romans 15. 17 to 21.
And what does that say? That from Illricum to some other place in Rome,
I blazed a trail with signs, miracles and wonders done by the Holy Spirit,
as I took the gospel from one place to the other, till there was no nation that I hadn't touched that was given to me.
This is Paul talking about it. This bearing witness to the ends of the earth.
These are the four main reasons. If these are not our reasons,
if our reason is to have a great crusade or to have thousands follow you or get an Instagram public figure thingy,
or see people fall or see healings done so that you become a big healer or a church becomes a healer church.
These are all gravy reasons. They are not the meat and potato reasons.
The meat and potato reasons are these.
Thirst after this and you get that. Thirst after that and you won't get this nor that.
See, it's Lewis. Put first things first and you will get the second also.
Put second things first and you will get neither the first nor the second.
So, how do we receive things of the Holy Spirit? It's this thing called hearing by faith.
Touch on that and then hearing by faith. Hearing by faith.
What does hearing by faith look like?
One, whenever you hear the word being preached, whenever you hear the word being read,
whenever you hear the Spirit of God speaking directly to you, whenever you hear a prophetic word,
whenever you hear anything that God is saying through someone to you,
whenever you receive a promise of God, whenever you hear anything like that,
the first step is childlike receiving, childlike receiving and helpless dependence.
That's the first step. What are we talking about? Hearing with faith.
Why are we talking about hearing with faith? Because anything that the Spirit wants to do with me or through me
happens through hearing with faith.
The Spirit of God is now God walking in your garden.
In Eden, He used to walk with Adam and Eve. Today, the Spirit of God walks with you.
He is your presence. He is God's personal presence in your Eden.
And the first thing for hearing with faith is childlike receiving. Childlike receiving.
The head gets in the way. Childlike receiving and then helpless dependence.
As in, now that I've received this, I don't know how to work with this. Dad, can you show me?
That's the first step.
Second step.
Believing, but this kind of believing is characterized,
by a persistent change in perception and thinking.
As in, I've received it, I'm helplessly dependent on the new Holy Spirit to show me how this works,
but I find it so difficult, so I'm going to persist in believing.
And don't be slow on this. We don't need to be slow on this.
Ask the question, when the Spirit of God tells you something, why am I slow on it?
Because it's not because you're slow on it.
It's because you're not slow on it.
When the Spirit of God tells you something, why am I slow on it?
Different reasons. Fear of change, traditional ways of thinking,
just the pleasure of continuing in what is normal,
sheer disobedience, and the cost if I change.
These are usually the reasons.
Why slow it down? Are any of those good reasons not to change?
Would you teach your children to do that?
This kind of believing is characterized by two things.
A change in perception, the way I view myself, view what God is showing,
and the way I think, must persistently be hammered away at.
Otherwise, it doesn't happen.
Third one.
Third one is immediate obedience.
And you won't like the next word I'm going to use.
I'm going to explain it.
Immediate obedience and reckless action.
If you know something is God, the action has to be reckless.
After God tells you something, you can't try to reason it out saying,
but what if?
That's absurd.
Immediate obedience and reckless action.
What choice do you have?
You're going to reason this out?
Show me a story in Hebrews chapter 11 that was not reckless action.
Had any of those guys had any sense, they would have thought it through.
And of course, there would be one chapter less in Hebrews.
Immediate obedience and reckless action.
This is what hearing with faith looks like.
Any questions?
Any pushback?
Go ahead.
I can't hear you.
Yeah.
Is it good to check in with someone before you take action?
Yes, just to verify that it is God.
I'm just working on the premise that by now you know it is God.
But if I'm not sure, great idea to check with somebody else whether it is a God thing.
Because what if it's something that God is saying that you can't even find the Scripture for,
but you know it's from the nature of God.
You know it's the way he's been leading you.
Not everything can be found in Scripture, eh?
It's just not true.
Oh, Scripture has an answer to everything.
It doesn't.
It's just 66 books.
It's not God.
Can someone call out the question because the fans are on?
Yeah, we'll get there, Rafael.
Just give me three minutes.
Fourth one.
Change of expressed intent and language.
One of the guys you see all this working in is Abraham.
Change of expressed intent and language.
As in once you know it is God, your words must show it.
Your way of talking must show it.
Your attitude must show it.
Your way of talking must show it.
Your intent, even if ridiculed, must show it.
Your language must change.
No, no, no, no, my name's changed.
I'm not Abraham. I'm Abraham.
What do you mean you're Abraham?
You're 90 and you're impotent and you don't have kids.
Yeah, yeah, but I'm still Abraham.
We keep things quiet till it's almost certain that it'll happen and then we speak about it.
That is not hearing with faith.
Abraham was a brilliant example of this.
And the last one, and then we'll deal with Rafael's question, and the last one is expectation of an outcome.
And it's the last one.
It's not any of the first ones.
But any man who does not have an expectation of an outcome is not hearing with faith.
There must be the expectation of an outcome.
You know why we don't have an expectation of an outcome?
Either because we've been disappointed in the past or because we are scared of being disappointed again.
Hey, ever tried falling in love without being afraid?
It's the scariest thing.
What if she says no?
Oh, that didn't go it.
You guys look like everyone here had arranged marriages, so I'll move on.
So expectation of an outcome.
It's that every time I hope for something, I must expect that it'll happen.
And I can't hollow out or lower my expectations.
One of the things Christians have become really good at is they lower their expectations so that if God disappoints, at least it won't sting that much.
That is so sucky.
I must have high expectations of a mighty God, especially when he's saying something.
And then you work towards it.
To lower my expectations is just wrong.
It's not faith.
It's not hearing with faith.
So those are the five ways we hear with faith.
And if we don't do this, you usually get left out of the work or the promise of the Spirit.
If this is not how I operate, I usually get left out of either the works of the Spirit or the promise of the Spirit because he's supplied through the hearing with faith.
And so anything that I desire for the church, anything that you have for your own life, anything that you have for your family, anything that you have for king and kingdom, anything you have for anything that God has given you as a gift happens only through this hearing with faith.
So double check on this, eh?
How do we then deal with the things that come against us?
Cultivate a violence against the fear of man.
Cultivate a violence.
What's violence against?
What does violence look like?
Let's assume you...
Let's assume a person breaks into rashes if you bring a cat near them.
Yeah?
Anytime you bring a cat near them, what will you do?
There's a violent reaction.
You step away or you throw the cat over the balcony because it has nine lives and you do whatever it takes to prevent that cat from getting to you.
You do everything in your power to keep the thing away.
There should be a violence.
It can't be...
I've said this before.
Anything you do not hate, you will tolerate.
And so when I'm talking about violence, it's what David talks about in Psalm 91 and Psalm 51...
No, not Psalm 51.
Psalm 91, he says, oh, God, I have a hatred towards it.
So here's the question, though.
Do you have a hatred towards the fear of man?
Have you realized how many times we've been crippled by it?
How many...
Some of our lives are entirely about the fear of man.
Every response is crafted to please man.
We are so scared of what someone will think.
If I don't begin to hate it, I will always tolerate it.
The Bible calls it a snare, as in a trap you cannot escape out of.
Cultivate a violence against the fear of man.
Second, cultivate a violence against the fear of foolishness.
Cultivate a violence against the fear of foolishness.
It is not possible to work with the spirit without being foolish.
Not possible.
Third, cultivate a violence against the fear of the unknown.
You can be afraid without becoming fearful.
You can be afraid without being fearful.
Sometimes things can make you afraid, but it doesn't have to go into fearfulness.
A fear of the unknown.
Our fear of the unknown comes because we no longer have control.
I was telling Edwin how there are a couple of areas in my life where I plan everything
because I'm afraid of losing control in those two areas where I've got to know what lies ahead.
And so in those two areas I don't need God. I just need me.
I'll go through elaborate planning.
The problem with planning like that is every time you plan something like this,
either someone or the devil will touch it and it will really throw you into a tailspin.
There's not a single person here who doesn't suffer from this disease.
Some of you more than others.
And we try to rationalize it.
Shouldn't we be thinking people?
Hasn't God given us common sense?
And all those questions, which we've answered a million times, so please don't ask them.
Fourth one, the fear of failure.
A violence against the fear of failure.
Especially if you're below 30, don't you dare be afraid.
You've got nothing to lose. You're only blooming 30.
What do you have to lose? You've got a lifetime ahead of you to try again.
That's what Dilna told me.
Anyone below 30, you must risk things now.
Why? So that you get used to risk.
The older you get, the harder it gets, guys,
because there's more stuff in your storeroom that you don't need, that you can't throw away.
Fifth one, this is a big one, eh?
Fear of insecurity.
That if I do this, I will not have a secure life.
For women, this is sometimes more critical than men.
And the last one, fear of God not backing me up.
If these fears exist, do you think there's anything, just look at that list, eh?
Is there anything that the Spirit of God can tell you that you would try?
Would you prophesy? No.
You would prophesy safely. Oh, the Lord has good plans for you.
That's a safe one.
Would you go somewhere, if he told you to?
Would you risk money? Would you risk a job?
Would you risk anything in your life if those fears exist?
It is not possible to work with the Spirit of God or have him work through me
if I don't cultivate a violence against these fears.
Any questions? Because I'm done.
Any questions?
Which one's the greatest in your life?
I noticed no volunteers, that's okay.
Farhan? Fear of failure.
Dennis? Six, fear of God disappointing.
Sorry? Oh, God not backing me up, yeah.
Real.
Two, fear of foolishness.
Fear of foolishness.
For me, all six.
Four and six.
Yeah.
Whatever is top on your list, begin to hate that with great hatred, eh?
You can't work on all six at the time, but write this down, carry it, and change it.
Men like this who overcome this, women like this who overcome this, gosh.
Through them, things happen.
Because now they're not afraid of ridicule.
Let's pray.
Father, the thing is we really want to work for you, with you.
It's our greatest joy. It's some of the most satisfying times we've had.
But then stuff like this gets in the way, oh God.
At different times, I can't think of one thing that I haven't gone through in the last three months.
I feel bad that number six is still active in our lives, in my life.
That sometimes I think, what if you don't show up?
What if you have your own sovereign reasons?
I sometimes hate the word sovereign, because it's like you'll do whatever you want.
But it's a lack of trust. Jesus didn't have these problems with you.
How come?
We need help, Holy Spirit.
We can't fix this.
Please help us.
We are hearing with faith right now.
And we are coming to you and we are saying, we are coming, receiving this like children.
Saying, this is real for us. It's a real problem.
And we come with childlike receiving.
But then we also come with helpless dependence.
Each of us will have to solve this differently.
But I plead to you, not because you are unwilling to give, but because it's desperate.
I plead with you.
Please change this in this.
Give us this Pentecost gift.
We are not asking for more of you. You live fully in us.
We are asking for the ability to give you more of us.
Please, oh God, grant this. Please.
Let this be your gift to us, this Pentecost.
This is our cry. Honor it.
I know you hear us. Honor it.
Honor it.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Hey, there's tons of money here.
Please feel free to come and take what you need.
What's the principle behind this?
2 Corinthians 8.
May your plenty supply my need today, so that my plenty can supply your need.
So that he who collected much, or he who collected little.
Neither had too much, neither had too less. Everyone had enough.
Yeah, that's the principle.
So I know that there are needs in the church.
And one of the ways we deal with needs and ban this from within our midst is to do exactly this.
Yeah, so come and take.
I have need. I'm going to take.
So let me just show you the way.
You can't take what you put.
You can take more or you can take less.
You can't take what you put.
Yeah, that's the only principle.
Yeah, but make sure the money disappears.
So just so you, and I'm not doing this to be a great example to you.
I'm doing this because I have a need.
Yeah.
Feel free.
And if you have anyone who needs prayer, feel free to come up for prayer.
And they'll pray with you. Cool?
Okay.
Yeah.