WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Kingdom Ethics 3 Publishing Date: 2017-03-26T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/kingdom-ethics-3/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.500 We've been talking about the Beatitudes and we have two more to go, or actually one more to go. 00:00:07.500 --> 00:00:13.000 And then if time permits, we'll sum up what we've been doing over the last five or six weeks. 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:20.500 And then next week we'll start with the rest of the Kingdom thing we were talking about. 00:00:20.500 --> 00:00:24.500 So all this started when we started talking about the Kingdom. 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:36.500 And we said that the Beatitudes are basically the profile or the lifestyle or the nature of people who belong to the Kingdom, 00:00:36.500 --> 00:00:40.500 whose lives have been invaded by the King. 00:00:40.500 --> 00:00:42.500 That's what he said the Beatitudes are. 00:00:42.500 --> 00:00:48.500 The Beatitudes are basically the way people who belong to the Kingdom behave, 00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:51.500 which is totally different from the way the world behaves. 00:00:51.500 --> 00:00:56.500 I mean everything about the Beatitudes is so different from how the world would behave. 00:00:56.500 --> 00:01:01.500 But it is specific to Kingdom people and who are Kingdom? 00:01:01.500 --> 00:01:03.500 What did we define Kingdom as? 00:01:03.500 --> 00:01:06.500 Kingdom is the governing influence of the King. 00:01:06.500 --> 00:01:09.500 The governing influence of the King, that's what we said it is. 00:01:09.500 --> 00:01:10.500 And we'll go over it again. 00:01:10.500 --> 00:01:13.500 But it's the governing influence of the King. 00:01:13.500 --> 00:01:18.500 And when the governing influence of the King touches someone's life, it changes the way they behave. 00:01:18.500 --> 00:01:26.500 And the Beatitudes are basically a profile on this is how people whose lives have been invaded by the King behave. 00:01:26.500 --> 00:01:30.500 And then Jesus says, hey look at me, this is how I behave. 00:01:30.500 --> 00:01:33.500 And so that's what the Beatitudes are. 00:01:33.500 --> 00:01:39.500 And today we look at, last week we looked at blessed are the pure, for they shall see God. 00:01:39.500 --> 00:01:41.500 That's where we left off. 00:01:41.500 --> 00:01:47.500 And I think we might have time to just look at the whole thing at the end. 00:01:47.500 --> 00:01:53.500 But we left off at blessed are the pure and we talked about that. 00:01:53.500 --> 00:01:55.500 But here's the part we didn't touch. 00:01:55.500 --> 00:01:57.500 Blessed are the pure for they shall see God. 00:01:57.500 --> 00:02:00.500 So how do the pure see God? 00:02:00.500 --> 00:02:03.500 How does that work and what's the seeing God about? 00:02:03.500 --> 00:02:06.500 What a brilliant phrase, a line for Jesus to use. 00:02:06.500 --> 00:02:10.500 Saying hey Jacob if you're pure you'll see me. 00:02:10.500 --> 00:02:12.500 So what does that even look like? 00:02:12.500 --> 00:02:14.500 I mean do you actually see God? 00:02:15.500 --> 00:02:18.500 Because at the end of the day God is spirit. 00:02:18.500 --> 00:02:19.500 So what do you see? 00:02:19.500 --> 00:02:20.500 How do you see God? 00:02:20.500 --> 00:02:22.500 And yet Jesus isn't exaggerating. 00:02:22.500 --> 00:02:25.500 He didn't expect us to go search out Greek or Hebrew. 00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:28.500 He was plain speak kind of a carpenter. 00:02:28.500 --> 00:02:30.500 Blessed are the pure for they shall see God. 00:02:30.500 --> 00:02:31.500 Simple. 00:02:31.500 --> 00:02:33.500 So how do you see God? 00:02:33.500 --> 00:02:40.500 If you go to Psalm 24, Psalm 24. 00:02:40.500 --> 00:02:41.500 And you look at that. 00:02:41.500 --> 00:02:44.500 Say verses 1 to 5, Psalm 24. 00:02:44.500 --> 00:02:46.500 1 to 5. 00:02:47.500 --> 00:02:54.500 Hey both the teachings from last week and the week before are on sent1.org. 00:02:54.500 --> 00:02:56.500 If you want to listen or catch up. 00:02:56.500 --> 00:03:00.500 So Psalm 24. 00:03:04.500 --> 00:03:06.500 So here's what it says. 00:03:06.500 --> 00:03:08.500 Psalm 24 verse 1. 00:03:08.500 --> 00:03:11.500 To you O Lord I lift up my soul. 00:03:11.500 --> 00:03:14.500 In you I trust O my God. 00:03:14.500 --> 00:03:15.500 No that's Psalm 25. 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:17.500 So let's try 24. 00:03:17.500 --> 00:03:21.500 The earth is the Lord's and everything in it. 00:03:21.500 --> 00:03:23.500 The world and all who live in it. 00:03:23.500 --> 00:03:25.500 The earth is the Lord's and everything in it. 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:27.500 The world and all who live in it. 00:03:27.500 --> 00:03:32.500 For he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:35.500 So on one hand David starts off saying hey listen. 00:03:35.500 --> 00:03:37.500 The entire world belongs to God. 00:03:37.500 --> 00:03:39.500 So he's king over the entire world. 00:03:39.500 --> 00:03:40.500 But then he shifts. 00:03:40.500 --> 00:03:42.500 In verse 3 he says. 00:03:42.500 --> 00:03:45.500 Who may ascend the hill of the Lord. 00:03:45.500 --> 00:03:47.500 Who may stand in his holy place. 00:03:47.500 --> 00:03:50.500 He who has clean hands and a pure heart. 00:03:50.500 --> 00:03:52.500 Who does not lift up his soul to an idol. 00:03:52.500 --> 00:03:54.500 Or swear by what is false. 00:03:54.500 --> 00:03:56.500 He will receive blessing from the Lord. 00:03:56.500 --> 00:03:58.500 And vindication from God his savior. 00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:00.500 Such is the generation of those who seek him. 00:04:00.500 --> 00:04:02.500 Who seek your face of God of Jacob. 00:04:02.500 --> 00:04:03.500 So on one hand he's saying. 00:04:03.500 --> 00:04:05.500 Hey if you want to discover the king. 00:04:05.500 --> 00:04:07.500 You can be anywhere on the earth and you can discover the king. 00:04:07.500 --> 00:04:09.500 But then he changes it a little. 00:04:09.500 --> 00:04:10.500 And he says. 00:04:10.500 --> 00:04:13.500 But who will ascend the hill of God. 00:04:13.500 --> 00:04:18.500 As in there is a place where God can be found. 00:04:18.500 --> 00:04:20.500 Who gets to find him. 00:04:20.500 --> 00:04:21.500 Then he goes on to say. 00:04:21.500 --> 00:04:26.500 Ones who live a life or prosecute a life that is pure. 00:04:26.500 --> 00:04:31.500 And so what does God mean when he says. 00:04:31.500 --> 00:04:33.500 You will see him. 00:04:33.500 --> 00:04:35.500 Here's how we need to think of it guys. 00:04:35.500 --> 00:04:39.500 It's not that God limits his access to anybody. 00:04:39.500 --> 00:04:46.500 But to find your way into how he thinks. 00:04:46.500 --> 00:04:49.500 How he feels. 00:04:49.500 --> 00:04:51.500 What he wants to do. 00:04:51.500 --> 00:04:53.500 Purity is a requirement. 00:04:53.500 --> 00:04:55.500 Because it allows you to. 00:04:55.500 --> 00:04:57.500 I mean it's like playing a video game. 00:04:57.500 --> 00:04:58.500 You know when you play a video game. 00:04:58.500 --> 00:05:00.500 There are times when there are these secret doors. 00:05:00.500 --> 00:05:03.500 Or you pluck an apple from a tree and suddenly it begins to glow. 00:05:03.500 --> 00:05:05.500 And you get an extra shot of power. 00:05:05.500 --> 00:05:07.500 And now you run twice as fast. 00:05:07.500 --> 00:05:09.500 And you jump through this trap door. 00:05:09.500 --> 00:05:11.500 And you find a new path into the next level. 00:05:11.500 --> 00:05:13.500 It's literally like that. 00:05:13.500 --> 00:05:17.500 Purity allows you to find trap doors into God. 00:05:17.500 --> 00:05:20.500 That's the best way to put it. 00:05:20.500 --> 00:05:23.500 It allows you to find trap doors into God. 00:05:23.500 --> 00:05:25.500 Where you have these secret entrances. 00:05:25.500 --> 00:05:27.500 Where you have these secret entrances. 00:05:28.500 --> 00:05:30.500 Where you have these secret entrances. 00:05:30.500 --> 00:05:33.500 Where you have these things that if you touch it suddenly opens. 00:05:33.500 --> 00:05:35.500 It's like the Chronicles of Narnia. 00:05:35.500 --> 00:05:37.500 Remember the girl goes up to the mirror in the cupboard. 00:05:37.500 --> 00:05:39.500 And then she steps in and she enters a whole new world. 00:05:39.500 --> 00:05:41.500 It was there all the time. 00:05:41.500 --> 00:05:43.500 But she finds it. 00:05:43.500 --> 00:05:45.500 It's literally like that. 00:05:45.500 --> 00:05:49.500 Purity allows you to find paths that are hidden in open sight. 00:05:49.500 --> 00:05:55.500 God never hides anything in such a way that it can't be discovered. 00:05:55.500 --> 00:06:02.500 It's always like these curtains that just open for a second. 00:06:02.500 --> 00:06:05.500 And if you see it, you can look and see what's outside. 00:06:05.500 --> 00:06:10.500 But our problem is most of the time we're so not interested in what God is doing around us. 00:06:10.500 --> 00:06:12.500 That we don't see when the curtains spot. 00:06:12.500 --> 00:06:15.500 But if you see it, he'll show you the next thing. 00:06:18.500 --> 00:06:21.500 And for some reason, because God is brilliantly pure. 00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:23.500 When you and I walk in purity. 00:06:23.500 --> 00:06:26.500 It is easy to discover these paths. 00:06:26.500 --> 00:06:28.500 This is what happened to Peter at one point. 00:06:28.500 --> 00:06:31.500 Where Jesus asks a question in Matthew 16, 15. 00:06:31.500 --> 00:06:35.500 He says to all his disciples, who do they say I am? 00:06:35.500 --> 00:06:37.500 And they come up with all kinds of answers. 00:06:37.500 --> 00:06:39.500 And Peter makes such a bold statement. 00:06:39.500 --> 00:06:41.500 Which has never been made on the face of the earth before. 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:44.500 He says, you are Jesus Christ, the son of the living God. 00:06:44.500 --> 00:06:47.500 And Jesus says, this revelation did not come to you from the earth. 00:06:47.500 --> 00:06:49.500 It came to you from the father. 00:06:49.500 --> 00:06:51.500 This revelation was not from flesh. 00:06:51.500 --> 00:06:52.500 This revelation was not from flesh. 00:06:52.500 --> 00:06:54.500 It was divine. 00:06:54.500 --> 00:06:56.500 How did Peter suddenly stumble upon it? 00:06:57.500 --> 00:06:59.500 One of the ways you discover God is not by... 00:06:59.500 --> 00:07:01.500 I mean people want to see God. 00:07:01.500 --> 00:07:04.500 And they think if they see God, you'll be transformed for life. 00:07:04.500 --> 00:07:06.500 Won't happen man. 00:07:06.500 --> 00:07:08.500 People saw God and nothing changed. 00:07:08.500 --> 00:07:11.500 They saw Jesus Christ walk the earth. 00:07:11.500 --> 00:07:12.500 They saw him do miracles. 00:07:12.500 --> 00:07:13.500 They saw him buried. 00:07:13.500 --> 00:07:14.500 They saw him rise again. 00:07:14.500 --> 00:07:18.500 And yet it says in Matthew 28 that they still didn't believe him. 00:07:19.500 --> 00:07:22.500 You think everyone who has a near death experience and God knows if it's true or not. 00:07:22.500 --> 00:07:26.500 And sees a bright light, comes back to the earth and becomes all good. 00:07:26.500 --> 00:07:28.500 No. They are all good for about six days. 00:07:28.500 --> 00:07:30.500 They write a book and then go back to being bad. 00:07:31.500 --> 00:07:33.500 It doesn't last. 00:07:35.500 --> 00:07:37.500 It's not seeing God that... 00:07:37.500 --> 00:07:40.500 And anyways, whenever you see God, remember. 00:07:40.500 --> 00:07:43.500 It's what people call an anthropomorphic image of God. 00:07:43.500 --> 00:07:45.500 As in God is spirit. 00:07:45.500 --> 00:07:48.500 But he comes in the form of something a man can understand. 00:07:48.500 --> 00:07:52.500 So when God says he's got a mighty right arm, he really doesn't. 00:07:55.500 --> 00:07:59.500 Or when God says to Moses, I'll hide you so that you only see my back. 00:07:59.500 --> 00:08:02.500 Can you imagine what a massive back that must have been? 00:08:03.500 --> 00:08:06.500 It wasn't God saying, okay, you can only see my back. 00:08:06.500 --> 00:08:14.500 No. The point is that God is trying to say, listen, I'll reveal myself to you in ways that you can understand so deeply that it'll not shake you. 00:08:16.500 --> 00:08:23.500 It is not Paul falling off his horse because he saw a bright light in Damascus that changed his life. 00:08:23.500 --> 00:08:27.500 It is the voice of Jesus Christ saying to him, Paul, Paul, why do you persecute me? 00:08:27.500 --> 00:08:29.500 Who are you? I am Jesus of Nazareth. 00:08:29.500 --> 00:08:31.500 That changes life. 00:08:31.500 --> 00:08:35.500 It is the revelation of who God is that begins to change people. 00:08:35.500 --> 00:08:38.500 And when you and I walk pure, something strange begins to happen. 00:08:38.500 --> 00:08:43.500 God begins to part the curtains and hold it for a little while so that you see what is beyond. 00:08:43.500 --> 00:08:49.500 And boy, when you see what is beyond, it is very difficult, very difficult to turn away. 00:08:51.500 --> 00:08:53.500 I was going through some old notes on my phone. 00:08:54.500 --> 00:08:56.500 March 18th, 2013. 00:08:57.500 --> 00:09:00.500 I'm in this place called, I've told some of you this before. 00:09:00.500 --> 00:09:02.500 I'm in this place called Miri. 00:09:02.500 --> 00:09:04.500 M-I-R-I. It's in Borneo. 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:09.500 And I'm in this church called Canada Hill Church. 00:09:11.500 --> 00:09:12.500 In Borneo. 00:09:12.500 --> 00:09:17.500 And I'm in the church and I'm looking around and I know I've been in this city before. 00:09:17.500 --> 00:09:19.500 And I know I've never been there before. 00:09:19.500 --> 00:09:21.500 It's the first time I'm visiting this place. 00:09:21.500 --> 00:09:23.500 But everything about the place I know. 00:09:23.500 --> 00:09:28.500 It's almost like I've been here before and it wasn't some deja vu kind of stuff. 00:09:28.500 --> 00:09:32.500 It was just this sense where I know I've never been here before but I know everything about this place. 00:09:34.500 --> 00:09:39.500 And I started asking God, Father, why do I know this place so well? 00:09:39.500 --> 00:09:46.500 And I go to this church called Canada Hill and go and ask one of the older men sitting there. 00:09:46.500 --> 00:09:48.500 Hey, do you know a guy called Tom Hamlin? 00:09:48.500 --> 00:09:51.500 Tom Hamlin was a British missionary. 00:09:51.500 --> 00:09:55.500 He was the first preacher I had ever heard in my life. 00:09:55.500 --> 00:10:02.500 Three days after becoming a Christian, I went to this little US Navy chapel called the Juffair Chapel in the Middle East. 00:10:02.500 --> 00:10:08.500 I went there and I sat there and there was this British missionary, old guy, who's sitting there and he starts telling the story. 00:10:08.500 --> 00:10:13.500 About tribes in Borneo that were headhunters and cannibalistic. 00:10:15.500 --> 00:10:25.500 And he begins to talk about how one day on top of a hill, close to where these tribes live, there's this light that begins to glow. 00:10:26.500 --> 00:10:31.500 And all these people from the tribes start going up the hill. 00:10:31.500 --> 00:10:35.500 They climb right up to the top and no one knows what happens there. 00:10:35.500 --> 00:10:41.500 But all of them come back just repeating one word, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. 00:10:41.500 --> 00:10:43.500 That's all that they repeat. 00:10:44.500 --> 00:10:47.500 And Tom Hamlin was a missionary to that village. 00:10:47.500 --> 00:10:50.500 And he talked about how things change dramatically. 00:10:50.500 --> 00:10:53.500 There's a book called Drunk Until Dawn. 00:10:53.500 --> 00:11:01.500 It was written by someone who went to Borneo and said these tribes will wipe themselves off the face of the earth because all they do is drink. 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:06.500 And before 20 or 30 years expire, they will have died. 00:11:07.500 --> 00:11:11.500 And yet that day they go up the mountain and come back and they never change again. 00:11:11.500 --> 00:11:15.500 This church called Canada Hill was the church that was established amongst those tribes. 00:11:16.500 --> 00:11:20.500 And that's why I realized and as soon as I asked a really old man, do you know Tom Hamlin? 00:11:20.500 --> 00:11:22.500 He said yes, he used to come here. 00:11:22.500 --> 00:11:24.500 And then everything began to click. 00:11:26.500 --> 00:11:28.500 I was asking God, why did you do this father? 00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:32.500 Why did you park the curtains a little so that I can get a glimpse of what's happening? 00:11:32.500 --> 00:11:49.500 And God said 24 years ago, Jacob, you sat in that little chapel in Bahrain and you listened to this guy called Tom Hamlin telling you stories of what Jesus Christ did to remote tribe in the middle of nowhere that were headhunters and cannibals. 00:11:49.500 --> 00:11:56.500 And I remember you praying and saying, if this is the Christianity that you can give me, I will follow you all the days of my life. 00:11:57.500 --> 00:11:59.500 And that was when I was three days old as a Christian, man. 00:11:59.500 --> 00:12:07.500 I didn't know nothing about Christ, but I'm sitting there listening to Tom Hamlin preach and I know that if this is who Jesus is, then this Jesus I badly want, man. 00:12:09.500 --> 00:12:15.500 And 24 years to the day, perhaps not to the day, 24 years later, God is saying, I brought you full circle son. 00:12:16.500 --> 00:12:17.500 I brought you full circle. 00:12:18.500 --> 00:12:20.500 And he said, keep catching glimpses of me. 00:12:20.500 --> 00:12:25.500 And if you walk this way, I'll give you another 24 where I'll bring you back to a place like this and remind you. 00:12:26.500 --> 00:12:32.500 Guys, I'm telling you, God just enjoys it when we make an attempt to walk like him. 00:12:32.500 --> 00:12:36.500 He's not saying, be perfect so that I can do things with you. 00:12:36.500 --> 00:12:42.500 He's saying, desire purity, man, desire purity, because something resonates with him. 00:12:42.500 --> 00:12:44.500 And when it begins to resonate with him, it begins to part the curtain. 00:12:44.500 --> 00:12:48.500 So you catch glimpses and he'll bring you full circle, man. 00:12:50.500 --> 00:12:53.500 I tried Googling Tom Hamlin, can't find him. 00:12:53.500 --> 00:13:00.500 Must have been a nobody, must have been a nobody who God used to change tribes, tribes, man. 00:13:00.500 --> 00:13:02.500 He used to go there again and again and again. 00:13:03.500 --> 00:13:05.500 You think you don't have a destiny. 00:13:05.500 --> 00:13:07.500 You think he doesn't want to bring you full circle. 00:13:09.500 --> 00:13:10.500 That was in 2013. 00:13:10.500 --> 00:13:17.500 I just happened to read it again because it was March 18, 2013 and I saw it on my phone and I thought, oh, shucks, father, four years have gone by. 00:13:17.500 --> 00:13:21.500 I want to do everything in my power to begin to catch glimpses of what you want to show. 00:13:22.500 --> 00:13:24.500 Because it's easy to walk life when you can see God. 00:13:24.500 --> 00:13:28.500 And by seeing God, I really don't mean seeing God in person. 00:13:28.500 --> 00:13:33.500 I'm talking about seeing how God thinks, seeing how God plans things far ahead, man. 00:13:35.500 --> 00:13:38.500 You know how much it touched me when that boy asked, so where is God? 00:13:38.500 --> 00:13:43.500 I prayed that some nights ago in Cloverdale that let Liam, early in his life, 00:13:43.500 --> 00:13:44.500 begin to discover who Jesus is. 00:13:44.500 --> 00:13:45.500 You know what that'll do to that boy? 00:13:49.500 --> 00:13:53.500 No one may know his name, but he'll walk the earth like a giant who knows his God. 00:13:57.500 --> 00:13:59.500 This is where God wants us to go. 00:14:01.500 --> 00:14:02.500 In Revelation chapter 14, verse 1, it says, 00:14:02.500 --> 00:14:10.500 And I looked up and I saw the Lamb of God standing in Mount Zion with 144,000 others, 00:14:10.500 --> 00:14:15.500 who had the name of the Father written on their foreheads, who had walked in pure ways. 00:14:17.500 --> 00:14:18.500 Yeah, that's what it says. 00:14:18.500 --> 00:14:20.500 Revelation 14, verse 1-3. 00:14:20.500 --> 00:14:21.500 What is God trying to say there? 00:14:21.500 --> 00:14:28.500 Hey, whenever God says, I'll put my name on your mind, it is I'll help you think the way I am. 00:14:29.500 --> 00:14:31.500 His name is his nature, his influence. 00:14:31.500 --> 00:14:36.500 And he says, and they had the name of his father written on their foreheads. 00:14:36.500 --> 00:14:39.500 I'll show you, Jacob, how I think, and I'll show you my ways. 00:14:39.500 --> 00:14:43.500 One of my favorite scriptures in Psalm 105 or 106 is, 00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:47.500 Israel knew God's acts, Moses knew his ways. 00:14:50.500 --> 00:14:52.500 Churches crave after acts. 00:14:52.500 --> 00:14:54.500 Show me another sign of miracle. 00:14:54.500 --> 00:14:56.500 Like it says in Jesus Christ Superstar, 00:14:56.500 --> 00:14:59.500 Walk over my swimming pool and I'll believe you, Jesus. 00:14:59.500 --> 00:15:01.500 I don't recommend that movie at all. 00:15:01.500 --> 00:15:02.500 I don't recommend that movie at all. 00:15:02.500 --> 00:15:06.500 But the point is this, that God's soul wants us to know his ways. 00:15:06.500 --> 00:15:09.500 After you know his ways, acts just happen. 00:15:12.500 --> 00:15:13.500 Acts just happen. 00:15:14.500 --> 00:15:16.500 Who will ascend to my holy hill? 00:15:17.500 --> 00:15:18.500 Ones who have pure hands. 00:15:18.500 --> 00:15:20.500 And we talked about purity. 00:15:20.500 --> 00:15:23.500 So if you, I'm not talking about really perfectionism, 00:15:23.500 --> 00:15:25.500 is, you know, the way you think. 00:15:25.500 --> 00:15:28.500 You think, I'm going to be a man, I'm going to be a woman, 00:15:28.500 --> 00:15:30.500 I'm going to be a woman, I'm going to be a woman, 00:15:30.500 --> 00:15:34.500 but really perfectionism is, is anti-Christ. 00:15:37.500 --> 00:15:41.500 Perfectionism will always drive away love and joy. 00:15:42.500 --> 00:15:45.500 Anything that banishes love and joy is evil. 00:15:50.500 --> 00:15:54.500 One thing that really drives away my love and joy is the annual general meeting. 00:15:54.500 --> 00:15:55.500 Just so you know. 00:15:56.500 --> 00:15:58.500 But we will move on because that's a necessity. 00:15:59.500 --> 00:16:02.500 We are off the world, but we are in the world, but not off it. 00:16:03.500 --> 00:16:05.500 We shall put that under that. 00:16:05.500 --> 00:16:09.500 Guys, in Psalm 77, verse 19, it talks about how, 00:16:11.500 --> 00:16:16.500 David talks about how they saw God's footprint in the sea. 00:16:16.500 --> 00:16:20.500 I mean, the Red Sea parted and they could see the footprints of God. 00:16:20.500 --> 00:16:25.500 And sometimes God will, the whole idea of blessed are the pure in spirit, 00:16:25.500 --> 00:16:26.500 blessed are the pure, for they shall see God is, 00:16:26.500 --> 00:16:30.500 you'll see God without having to see a billboard or a sign 00:16:30.500 --> 00:16:32.500 or flipping through your Bible and putting your finger 00:16:32.500 --> 00:16:35.500 or all those other tricks we do. 00:16:35.500 --> 00:16:37.500 And those tricks work, eh? 00:16:38.500 --> 00:16:42.500 But that's not what he wants us to walk in. 00:16:42.500 --> 00:16:44.500 He wants you to know. 00:16:45.500 --> 00:16:48.500 Blessed are the pure, for they shall see God as in you'll know, 00:16:48.500 --> 00:16:50.500 you'll see him before he emerges. 00:16:50.500 --> 00:16:55.500 Because you know how to position yourself exactly the way he's coming. 00:16:55.500 --> 00:16:58.500 How do you do that? You do that by knowing a person's. 00:16:59.500 --> 00:17:00.500 You case the joint. 00:17:01.500 --> 00:17:02.500 That's what they do in movies. 00:17:02.500 --> 00:17:06.500 They'll go and they'll watch with binoculars and write down every moment. 00:17:06.500 --> 00:17:09.500 They know when to get the getaway car to come here and there, 00:17:09.500 --> 00:17:10.500 because they time it. 00:17:10.500 --> 00:17:13.500 You begin to know God's ways. 00:17:14.500 --> 00:17:17.500 This is real. It's not false. It's not pretend. 00:17:17.500 --> 00:17:19.500 I mean, think of this. 00:17:19.500 --> 00:17:22.500 There are maybe seven or eight guys in the boat that morning. 00:17:22.500 --> 00:17:24.500 It's hazy. 00:17:24.500 --> 00:17:26.500 They haven't caught nothing. 00:17:26.500 --> 00:17:29.500 And there is the silhouette of a man walking on the beach. 00:17:29.500 --> 00:17:32.500 All of them look at him, but one recognizes him. 00:17:32.500 --> 00:17:36.500 And it's the same guy who recognized he was Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 00:17:36.500 --> 00:17:41.500 It is the same guy who later on denied him thrice and wept bitter tears. 00:17:41.500 --> 00:17:45.500 Yet there was something about Peter that was authentic and pure man. 00:17:45.500 --> 00:17:49.500 That was so, so flawed that other than Judas, he was the worst. 00:17:51.500 --> 00:17:56.500 And yet he's the guy who on two occasions sees Jesus and says, I know him. 00:17:57.500 --> 00:18:00.500 And on the beach, nobody else spots him. 00:18:00.500 --> 00:18:04.500 But Peter screams out, that is the Lord. 00:18:04.500 --> 00:18:09.500 And then enthusiastically, he throws out his outer garment, 00:18:09.500 --> 00:18:11.500 dives into the water and swims. 00:18:11.500 --> 00:18:12.500 Why is he swimming? 00:18:12.500 --> 00:18:13.500 To say, oh, I'm so glad you're alive. 00:18:13.500 --> 00:18:18.500 No, he's swimming so that he can go grab Jesus's knees and say, I am so sorry. 00:18:22.500 --> 00:18:25.500 This is what God is inviting us into, guys. 00:18:25.500 --> 00:18:29.500 And know one thing, that every time the word is preached, 00:18:29.500 --> 00:18:31.500 God is waiting to test us on it. 00:18:31.500 --> 00:18:35.500 Every time the word is preached, God is waiting to test us on it. 00:18:35.500 --> 00:18:37.500 And what do you mean by testing us on it? 00:18:37.500 --> 00:18:39.500 He'll give us an opportunity to live this world. 00:18:39.500 --> 00:18:41.500 He'll give us an opportunity to live it out. 00:18:44.500 --> 00:18:47.500 As he'll say, okay, Joel, you've been listening to me. 00:18:47.500 --> 00:18:48.500 You want to know me better? 00:18:48.500 --> 00:18:52.500 I'll give you a chance this week, where I'll show myself to you. 00:18:52.500 --> 00:18:53.500 You'll know me. 00:18:53.500 --> 00:18:54.500 You'll recognize me. 00:18:54.500 --> 00:18:56.500 That's going to happen to everybody here. 00:18:57.500 --> 00:18:59.500 That's a strange thing. 00:18:59.500 --> 00:19:02.500 Everyone here will be given an opportunity. 00:19:02.500 --> 00:19:04.500 Whether we take it or not, it's completely up to you. 00:19:04.500 --> 00:19:06.500 You'll be given an opportunity. 00:19:06.500 --> 00:19:08.500 Whether we take it or not, it's completely up to us. 00:19:11.500 --> 00:19:12.500 Any questions before we go on? 00:19:16.500 --> 00:19:17.500 Any questions, any thoughts? 00:19:19.500 --> 00:19:20.500 Yeah. 00:19:20.500 --> 00:19:21.500 Yeah. 00:19:28.500 --> 00:19:33.500 I look at it this way, based on what we taught over the last two weeks. 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:37.500 I was made in the image and the likeness of God. 00:19:39.500 --> 00:19:45.500 When God made me and you, he sculpted us. 00:19:45.500 --> 00:19:48.500 He painted a picture that was a self-portrait. 00:19:48.500 --> 00:19:49.500 That's what he did. 00:19:50.500 --> 00:19:53.500 If I'm made in the true image and likeness of God, 00:19:53.500 --> 00:19:55.500 I actually am a self-image of God. 00:19:58.500 --> 00:20:02.500 It got distorted because I was made in the image and the likeness of God. 00:20:03.500 --> 00:20:04.500 It got distorted because of sin. 00:20:05.500 --> 00:20:07.500 But it's been restored again. 00:20:09.500 --> 00:20:13.500 Like I said over the last two weeks, there are no mirrors in heaven 00:20:13.500 --> 00:20:17.500 because every time God wants to look at his reflection, he looks at you. 00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:19.500 Why? 00:20:20.500 --> 00:20:23.500 Because the distorted image has been restored. 00:20:23.500 --> 00:20:26.500 You and I don't see ourselves like that, which is what Rhonda said. 00:20:26.500 --> 00:20:30.500 That she doesn't think that she's a person at rest or is peaceful, 00:20:30.500 --> 00:20:32.500 but others are beginning to see it. 00:20:34.500 --> 00:20:40.500 So there is nothing you can do to get purer if Jesus Christ lives in you. 00:20:40.500 --> 00:20:42.500 Nothing. 00:20:42.500 --> 00:20:46.500 If you don't have Jesus Christ in you, you can do something to get purer. 00:20:46.500 --> 00:20:47.500 Receive Christ. 00:20:48.500 --> 00:20:49.500 It's like a blood transfusion. 00:20:49.500 --> 00:20:53.500 You got really contaminated blood with every known disease in the world. 00:20:56.500 --> 00:20:59.500 And you can keep visiting the doctors or you can get a blood transfusion 00:20:59.500 --> 00:21:00.500 that solves you once and for all. 00:21:00.500 --> 00:21:02.500 And once you get it, then there's nothing you can do 00:21:02.500 --> 00:21:04.500 because you've received the best blood in the world. 00:21:04.500 --> 00:21:06.500 You're as holy as you can get. 00:21:06.500 --> 00:21:08.500 And now God is saying, now that I've made you holy, live it. 00:21:10.500 --> 00:21:12.500 Now that I've made you holy, live it. 00:21:15.500 --> 00:21:21.500 Purity is, as we are looking at it, is living out that which you have already become. 00:21:22.500 --> 00:21:25.500 Living out that which you have already become. 00:21:25.500 --> 00:21:27.500 And the last two weeks we've been talking about it. 00:21:27.500 --> 00:21:29.500 Nothing will make you holy because the holy one lives in you. 00:21:29.500 --> 00:21:31.500 Can't do better than that? 00:21:31.500 --> 00:21:33.500 How can you improve on that? 00:21:36.500 --> 00:21:40.500 Well, I pray God that this week when you get opportunities, 00:21:40.500 --> 00:21:42.500 you'll catch glimpses of God. 00:21:42.500 --> 00:21:45.500 Ask him, eh, when you go home tonight, when you're talking to him, 00:21:45.500 --> 00:21:48.500 say, Father, heard about how you show yourself. 00:21:48.500 --> 00:21:51.500 So can you do that this week? 00:21:51.500 --> 00:21:53.500 Can you do that this week? 00:21:53.500 --> 00:21:55.500 And he'll do it in a way that only you understand. 00:21:55.500 --> 00:21:57.500 Any other questions? 00:21:59.500 --> 00:22:01.500 Hey, the King is in our midst, eh? 00:22:01.500 --> 00:22:03.500 The Kingdom has come. 00:22:03.500 --> 00:22:05.500 The Kingdom is not going to come. 00:22:05.500 --> 00:22:08.500 The Kingdom has come and will keep growing till one day 00:22:08.500 --> 00:22:10.500 there'll only be one Kingdom standing. 00:22:10.500 --> 00:22:12.500 But the Kingdom has come. 00:22:12.500 --> 00:22:14.500 Jesus Christ is present. 00:22:14.500 --> 00:22:16.500 He's present. 00:22:16.500 --> 00:22:18.500 He's present. 00:22:18.500 --> 00:22:20.500 He's present. 00:22:20.500 --> 00:22:22.500 The Kingdom has come. 00:22:22.500 --> 00:22:24.500 Jesus Christ is present. 00:22:24.500 --> 00:22:26.500 And if he is present, he does two things. 00:22:26.500 --> 00:22:30.500 With us believers, he changes our nature and our lifestyle. 00:22:30.500 --> 00:22:34.500 And in the world, he just breaks in whenever he wants 00:22:34.500 --> 00:22:36.500 because he's the sovereign King of the universe. 00:22:36.500 --> 00:22:39.500 I was reading up on the Sultan of Brunei. 00:22:39.500 --> 00:22:42.500 Has 20 billion dollars in his bank. 00:22:42.500 --> 00:22:44.500 Little more than all of us put together. 00:22:46.500 --> 00:22:48.500 And so he needs a big house. 00:22:49.500 --> 00:22:51.500 Guess how many rooms in his house? 00:22:52.500 --> 00:22:57.500 Anyone who gets the number right will get a free ticket to Hawaii. 00:22:59.500 --> 00:23:01.500 Close. 00:23:01.500 --> 00:23:03.500 72. 00:23:09.500 --> 00:23:12.500 No one's going to Hawaii from this church. 00:23:12.500 --> 00:23:14.500 1,788. 00:23:14.500 --> 00:23:16.500 Okay, let's try another one. 00:23:16.500 --> 00:23:18.500 How many toilets then? How many bathrooms? 00:23:26.500 --> 00:23:28.500 257. 00:23:28.500 --> 00:23:30.500 I don't know why we're going here. 00:23:30.500 --> 00:23:32.500 It has nothing to do with what I was talking about. 00:23:32.500 --> 00:23:37.500 But he is absolute monarch of Brunei. 00:23:37.500 --> 00:23:40.500 He decides to change the religion, it becomes a state religion. 00:23:40.500 --> 00:23:44.500 He decides to change the way the religion is practiced, he changes it. 00:23:44.500 --> 00:23:46.500 Whatever he wants, he does. 00:23:46.500 --> 00:23:49.500 He breaks in sovereignly into any... 00:23:49.500 --> 00:23:51.500 He decided to ban Christmas, so no more Christmas. 00:23:51.500 --> 00:23:53.500 No more trees, no more ornaments. 00:23:53.500 --> 00:23:55.500 He decided some years ago, sorry, no more Christmas. 00:23:55.500 --> 00:23:57.500 That is the end of Christmas. 00:24:00.500 --> 00:24:02.500 Say that when you're in Brunei. 00:24:03.500 --> 00:24:08.500 The point being, guys, that a sovereign King can do as he pleases. 00:24:08.500 --> 00:24:10.500 And this is something Jesus does. 00:24:11.500 --> 00:24:14.500 And he says, but here's what I want you to be like. 00:24:16.500 --> 00:24:21.500 Ah, kids like Liam need an answer from grownups. 00:24:21.500 --> 00:24:23.500 How do I see God? 00:24:23.500 --> 00:24:25.500 God has shown them. 00:24:25.500 --> 00:24:27.500 Can't send them to Sunday school for this. 00:24:27.500 --> 00:24:29.500 I mean, he's in Sunday school right now, but the point is, 00:24:29.500 --> 00:24:32.500 it's only an hour a week. 00:24:32.500 --> 00:24:34.500 It doesn't cut it, guys. 00:24:37.500 --> 00:24:39.500 Any questions on this? Is it clear or is it not? 00:24:39.500 --> 00:24:49.500 Okay. 00:24:49.500 --> 00:24:51.500 Let's take the last one. 00:24:51.500 --> 00:24:54.500 I'll try and finish in 10 minutes and then I want to do one last thing before we go. 00:24:54.500 --> 00:24:56.500 Guys, blessed are the peacemakers. 00:24:56.500 --> 00:24:58.500 Blessed are the peacemakers. 00:24:58.500 --> 00:25:00.500 That's the last Beatitude, so we wrap it up today. 00:25:00.500 --> 00:25:02.500 And then we continue with the Kingdom next week. 00:25:02.500 --> 00:25:05.500 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. 00:25:05.500 --> 00:25:08.500 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. 00:25:08.500 --> 00:25:12.500 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. 00:25:12.500 --> 00:25:14.500 The word for peace in the Bible is shalom. 00:25:14.500 --> 00:25:17.500 And shalom does not mean conflict resolution. 00:25:17.500 --> 00:25:23.500 Shalom means soundness, well-being, wholeness. 00:25:23.500 --> 00:25:31.500 Our definition of peacemaker is this Christian who gets in the way of two people having an argument 00:25:32.500 --> 00:25:40.500 and with diplomatic statesmen like platitudes, tries to calm everyone down and then sings hallelujah at the end of it. 00:25:40.500 --> 00:25:43.500 That is not peacemaking. 00:25:43.500 --> 00:25:46.500 Nor is it conflict resolution. 00:25:46.500 --> 00:26:00.500 Blessed are the peacemakers means I am someone who first in my life has wholeness, has soundness, has well-being. 00:26:00.500 --> 00:26:06.500 And then God uses me to bring it into somebody else's life. 00:26:06.500 --> 00:26:10.500 This kind of peace is a distinctive of the people of the Kingdom. 00:26:10.500 --> 00:26:18.500 If you and I don't have it and don't practice it, it's because perhaps there are areas in our lives that need to be invaded by King Jesus. 00:26:18.500 --> 00:26:26.500 Wholeness doesn't mean that you can't have a flu or a cold or an ache or a sickness. 00:26:26.500 --> 00:26:30.500 Wholeness means in the midst of a flu or a cold or an ache or a sickness. 00:26:30.500 --> 00:26:41.500 You keep walking towards being whole because you know the one who brings wholeness. 00:26:41.500 --> 00:26:45.500 To be sound in body, mind and spirit. 00:26:45.500 --> 00:26:49.500 If not Christians, then who guys? Who? 00:26:49.500 --> 00:26:52.500 Which other God can provide it? 00:26:52.500 --> 00:26:56.500 Religions have to come up with multiple Gods so that they cover all the provision. 00:26:56.500 --> 00:27:02.500 We got one God who is all sufficient. 00:27:02.500 --> 00:27:06.500 Who else can provide this? And he lives in you. 00:27:06.500 --> 00:27:11.500 And he says blessed are those that bring wholeness, shalom, well-being and soundness. 00:27:11.500 --> 00:27:21.500 And I desperately want you to be peacemakers because this is a world that is so unsound, so unwholesome and so not at peace or well-being. 00:27:21.500 --> 00:27:24.500 Who else can he use but us? 00:27:24.500 --> 00:27:32.500 I've said this before. God always uses man to fulfill his purposes here on earth. 00:27:32.500 --> 00:27:36.500 And if he can't find you, he'll find me. 00:27:36.500 --> 00:27:42.500 And if he can't find me, he'll find somebody else. 00:27:42.500 --> 00:27:47.500 We love saying the Holy Spirit will do it, but the Holy Spirit uses people. 00:27:47.500 --> 00:27:52.500 Use Jesus, use Mary. 00:27:52.500 --> 00:27:56.500 Our grasp of peacemaking is that of conflict resolution. 00:27:56.500 --> 00:27:58.500 While the kingdom defines peace, I mean just think of this. 00:27:58.500 --> 00:28:02.500 Isaiah 9, 6, famous scripture, always repeated in every play at Christmas. 00:28:02.500 --> 00:28:08.500 Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders. 00:28:08.500 --> 00:28:15.500 And then it goes on to say that off his government and off his shalom, there shall be no end. 00:28:15.500 --> 00:28:22.500 That is limitless, limitless. 00:28:22.500 --> 00:28:27.500 Hey, people don't know that you and I are a gift to humanity. 00:28:27.500 --> 00:28:32.500 Don't say that to your wife, but it is true. 00:28:32.500 --> 00:28:41.500 You and I are a gift to humanity, not because of anything we are, but because of who we have. 00:28:41.500 --> 00:28:44.500 You have no idea how easily you can... 00:28:44.500 --> 00:28:48.500 Guys, don't go by your flaw, sickness, disease. 00:28:48.500 --> 00:28:53.500 You are made in the image of God, created in His likeness and His holiness. 00:28:53.500 --> 00:28:57.500 You have someone to give, not something to give, someone to give. 00:28:57.500 --> 00:28:59.500 Silver and gold I have, none. 00:28:59.500 --> 00:29:01.500 But what I have, I will give you. 00:29:01.500 --> 00:29:07.500 And it wasn't healing, it was in the name of Jesus Christ, as in the influence and the character of Christ. 00:29:07.500 --> 00:29:11.500 There is not a person here who has received Christ who does not have this to give away. 00:29:11.500 --> 00:29:14.500 Wholeness is our trademark, man. 00:29:14.500 --> 00:29:23.500 Don't think in terms of power, think in terms of wholeness. 00:29:23.500 --> 00:29:24.500 It's ours to give away. 00:29:24.500 --> 00:29:28.500 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. 00:29:28.500 --> 00:29:30.500 They shall be called children of God. 00:29:30.500 --> 00:29:32.500 It's the sheer work of the Holy Spirit. 00:29:32.500 --> 00:29:34.500 Romans 14, 17, what does it say? 00:29:34.500 --> 00:29:39.500 The kingdom of God is not about talk, nor is it about food and drink. 00:29:39.500 --> 00:29:46.500 It's about righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Ghost. 00:29:46.500 --> 00:29:56.500 Itch this week to disperse wholeness. 00:29:56.500 --> 00:29:59.500 I mean, some people are fortunate. 00:29:59.500 --> 00:30:08.500 They work on Hastings in downtown and they have umpteen opportunities to distribute wholeness like Rhonda or at Kuman or in her school. 00:30:08.500 --> 00:30:09.500 People waiting for wholeness. 00:30:09.500 --> 00:30:18.500 Some of us sit behind a desk, but there's someone sitting behind another desk. 00:30:18.500 --> 00:30:24.500 Disperse wholeness this week. 00:30:24.500 --> 00:30:34.500 Jesus calls ordinary people like me and you to partner with him in the divine work of shalom making. 00:30:34.500 --> 00:30:38.500 Declaring soundness, declaring wholeness, declaring well-being. 00:30:38.500 --> 00:30:40.500 To whom? To the nations of the world, man. 00:30:40.500 --> 00:30:44.500 In Vancouver, in Bahrain, in Mongolia. 00:30:44.500 --> 00:30:45.500 Releasing wholeness. 00:30:45.500 --> 00:30:48.500 How? Speak, act, do. 00:30:48.500 --> 00:30:51.500 So, let's assume there are three people. 00:30:51.500 --> 00:30:53.500 One, two, three. 00:30:53.500 --> 00:30:57.500 She, you can speak and say this is what God wants to give to you. 00:30:57.500 --> 00:31:00.500 Whatever you sense God saying, will you get it wrong? 00:31:00.500 --> 00:31:02.500 You're saying something good. 00:31:02.500 --> 00:31:04.500 If you get it wrong, you're only getting the good wrong. 00:31:04.500 --> 00:31:08.500 It won't damage you. 00:31:08.500 --> 00:31:10.500 Act. 00:31:10.500 --> 00:31:13.500 If it is generosity, then generosity. 00:31:13.500 --> 00:31:14.500 Do. 00:31:14.500 --> 00:31:18.500 If it needs laying on of hands and rebuking something, do it. 00:31:18.500 --> 00:31:24.500 I will never know my ability to disperse wholeness till I find a place to do it. 00:31:24.500 --> 00:31:29.500 As long as I think this is something that one day will happen, we'll never, never do it. 00:31:29.500 --> 00:31:31.500 This week, attempt it. 00:31:31.500 --> 00:31:38.500 Next week, come back with stories. 00:31:38.500 --> 00:31:41.500 Ordinary people like you and me are shalom makers. 00:31:41.500 --> 00:31:45.500 Partaking with Jesus Christ in a divine work here on earth. 00:31:45.500 --> 00:31:47.500 In Vancouver, in UB, everywhere. 00:31:47.500 --> 00:31:50.500 Don't miss out a single opportunity this week. 00:31:50.500 --> 00:31:55.500 Yesterday I was walking through Landsdown and I knew there was this lady who was cleaning there. 00:31:55.500 --> 00:31:56.500 I was supposed to pull out and give money to. 00:31:56.500 --> 00:31:58.500 But you know why I didn't give it? 00:31:58.500 --> 00:32:00.500 Because I had too many things in my hand. 00:32:00.500 --> 00:32:08.500 I didn't want the inconveniences of then putting them down and taking my wallet out of my pocket. 00:32:08.500 --> 00:32:14.500 That's how lazy it can get. 00:32:14.500 --> 00:32:19.500 There's this really sad verse in Ecclesiastes 5. 00:32:19.500 --> 00:32:25.500 Where the woman who has just put on her pajamas and is going to sleep hears a knock on the door. 00:32:25.500 --> 00:32:28.500 Because the lover is outside the door. 00:32:28.500 --> 00:32:31.500 And she knows it's him and she almost gets up and then she says, 00:32:31.500 --> 00:32:34.500 but I put on my PJs and I got my socks on. 00:32:34.500 --> 00:32:38.500 This will be too inconvenient to get up and go and so she stays in bed. 00:32:38.500 --> 00:32:41.500 He knocks a few times and he leaves. 00:32:41.500 --> 00:32:43.500 Song of songs. What did I say? 00:32:43.500 --> 00:32:45.500 Ecclesiastes. 00:32:45.500 --> 00:32:48.500 Okay, someone's not sleeping. 00:32:48.500 --> 00:32:50.500 Song of songs. Thanks. 00:32:50.500 --> 00:32:56.500 And so she decides after a while she decides, let me go and open the door for him. 00:32:56.500 --> 00:32:59.500 She goes and opens the door for him and he's gone. 00:32:59.500 --> 00:33:02.500 And now she starts running through the streets trying to find him. 00:33:02.500 --> 00:33:05.500 Gets beaten up. 00:33:05.500 --> 00:33:08.500 Knocking around saying, have you seen him? Have you seen him? 00:33:08.500 --> 00:33:12.500 Hey, when he parts the curtain, run like crazy. 00:33:12.500 --> 00:33:19.500 When God gives you a glimpse of something you step, want to step into PJs or not, run in your PJs. 00:33:19.500 --> 00:33:23.500 Because these are divine moments, man. 00:33:23.500 --> 00:33:25.500 Abraham knew it. 00:33:25.500 --> 00:33:29.500 He knew that there was going to, that the torch would come. 00:33:29.500 --> 00:33:31.500 A torch with fire would come. 00:33:31.500 --> 00:33:33.500 Come right between the sacrifice and consume it. 00:33:33.500 --> 00:33:35.500 And so what does he do? He doesn't fall asleep. 00:33:35.500 --> 00:33:38.500 He's continuously chasing away vultures that come to eat up the sacrifice. 00:33:38.500 --> 00:33:40.500 Why? Because he knows God is up to something. 00:33:40.500 --> 00:33:42.500 I've got to stay awake. 00:33:48.500 --> 00:33:50.500 Blessed are the peacemakers. 00:33:52.500 --> 00:33:54.500 Hey, the other thing about peacemaking is 00:33:56.500 --> 00:34:02.500 you can't give out wholeness, soundness and well-being 00:34:02.500 --> 00:34:06.500 without dealing with the good news of Jesus Christ. 00:34:06.500 --> 00:34:08.500 2 Corinthians 5.20 00:34:08.500 --> 00:34:14.500 For your ambassadors who are called to bring people into reconciliation with Jesus Christ 00:34:14.500 --> 00:34:17.500 in the armor of God, what are the shoes called? 00:34:17.500 --> 00:34:21.500 The shoes of the gospel of? Peace. 00:34:21.500 --> 00:34:26.500 Part of shallow making or peacemaking, part of being a peacemaker 00:34:26.500 --> 00:34:34.500 is to be able to go and tell people that Jesus Christ has ended the enmity between God and you 00:34:34.500 --> 00:34:41.500 by dying on a cross and taking away your sin so that you can approach him boldly. 00:34:41.500 --> 00:34:45.500 That there is no longer a hostility between you and God. 00:34:45.500 --> 00:34:47.500 That is the good news. 00:34:47.500 --> 00:34:49.500 What did the angels sing at Christmas? 00:34:49.500 --> 00:34:51.500 They didn't call it Christmas then. 00:34:51.500 --> 00:34:56.500 What did the angels sing in the middle of summer in the Middle East? 00:34:56.500 --> 00:35:00.500 It was peace and goodwill too? 00:35:00.500 --> 00:35:02.500 All men. 00:35:02.500 --> 00:35:05.500 This peace thing is big with God, man. 00:35:05.500 --> 00:35:07.500 And it's limitless. 00:35:07.500 --> 00:35:09.500 Blessed are the peacemakers. 00:35:09.500 --> 00:35:16.500 It is impossible to be a peacemaker without being willing to share the gospel. 00:35:17.500 --> 00:35:24.500 We are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us on Christ's behalf. 00:35:24.500 --> 00:35:33.500 And the last bit about shalom is peacemaking cannot be done if you don't deal with the messy truth. 00:35:33.500 --> 00:35:40.500 As in, God used to get really upset with people who would say, 00:35:40.500 --> 00:35:42.500 Peace, peace, when the wound is bleeding. 00:35:42.500 --> 00:35:45.500 His intent is, Hey Jacob, you got an issue with somebody? 00:35:45.500 --> 00:35:49.500 You'll have to sit down and sort it out and it's going to be really messy. 00:35:49.500 --> 00:35:53.500 And there'll be tears and there'll be emotions and you'll get upset and they'll get upset. 00:35:53.500 --> 00:35:55.500 But it's the only way around peacemaking. 00:35:55.500 --> 00:35:57.500 Peacemaking takes time. 00:35:57.500 --> 00:36:00.500 What we want is not peacemaking. 00:36:00.500 --> 00:36:01.500 We want to peace keep. 00:36:01.500 --> 00:36:02.500 We want to be peacekeepers. 00:36:02.500 --> 00:36:04.500 Join the United Nations for that. 00:36:04.500 --> 00:36:06.500 But if you want to be peacemakers, join the kingdom. 00:36:06.500 --> 00:36:09.500 Peacemaking is so different. 00:36:09.500 --> 00:36:12.500 Peacekeeping is, let's just make sure everything is okay. 00:36:12.500 --> 00:36:15.500 You don't say nothing and I don't say nothing and everything is fine. 00:36:15.500 --> 00:36:19.500 That's peacekeeping and Christians love peacekeeping. 00:36:19.500 --> 00:36:23.500 Peacemaking is when you deal with the messy truth. 00:36:23.500 --> 00:36:26.500 I read this quote by a Brazilian bishop. 00:36:26.500 --> 00:36:30.500 He said, When I feed the poor, they call me a saint. 00:36:30.500 --> 00:36:33.500 When I ask them why the poor are poor, they call me a communist. 00:36:33.500 --> 00:36:37.500 When I feed the poor, they call me a saint. 00:36:37.500 --> 00:36:41.500 When I ask them why the poor are poor, they call me a communist. 00:36:41.500 --> 00:36:49.500 The point being, shallow making requires delving in and dealing with the messy truth. 00:36:49.500 --> 00:36:56.500 That's something we avoid because we don't want to pay the cost of it. 00:36:56.500 --> 00:37:01.500 Peacemakers are men and women of maturity, of meekness and zeal. 00:37:01.500 --> 00:37:04.500 Hey, Phinehas was a peacemaker. 00:37:04.500 --> 00:37:05.500 Strange, eh? 00:37:05.500 --> 00:37:07.500 Look how he made peace. 00:37:07.500 --> 00:37:09.500 God was upset with Israel. 00:37:09.500 --> 00:37:11.500 God was upset with Israel. 00:37:11.500 --> 00:37:13.500 So here's what Phinehas does. 00:37:13.500 --> 00:37:28.500 He takes a javelin and he goes and is so zealous that he takes the javelin and drives it through the guy who was sinning and the woman he was sinning with. 00:37:28.500 --> 00:37:36.500 And he skewers both of them with a javelin and he's a peacemaker. 00:37:36.500 --> 00:37:40.500 Thank God we don't have to do stuff like that to prove that we are peacemakers. 00:37:40.500 --> 00:37:43.500 But the point is, here are the things required for peacemaking. 00:37:43.500 --> 00:37:47.500 Zeal, wisdom, meekness. 00:37:47.500 --> 00:37:52.500 Zeal, wisdom, meekness. 00:37:52.500 --> 00:37:59.500 And at times the sacrifice of being misunderstood. 00:37:59.500 --> 00:38:06.500 Because someone will not like your peacemaking, always. 00:38:06.500 --> 00:38:08.500 We'll talk about this more next time. 00:38:08.500 --> 00:38:14.500 Guys, if you don't have this kind of peace in your life, then here are some things that you need to consider. 00:38:14.500 --> 00:38:34.500 Here is what jettison speaks from your life. 00:38:34.500 --> 00:38:39.500 Striving, as in working everything out. 00:38:39.500 --> 00:38:40.500 You've got to work it out. 00:38:40.500 --> 00:38:43.500 You find it very difficult to receive anything from God. 00:38:43.500 --> 00:38:45.500 You've got to work for everything you do. 00:38:45.500 --> 00:38:50.500 And the last one is, I forgot one. 00:38:50.500 --> 00:38:58.500 These are peace destroyers. 00:38:58.500 --> 00:39:02.500 Anger, stubbornness. 00:39:02.500 --> 00:39:06.500 Fear, pride. 00:39:06.500 --> 00:39:10.500 Control, striving. 00:39:10.500 --> 00:39:20.500 When I cultivate these, all of us will struggle with this at some point, but when I cultivate these, this is always destroyed. 00:39:20.500 --> 00:39:23.500 Always. 00:39:23.500 --> 00:39:32.500 So identify one in your life and you'll realize why most of the time you find it very hard to walk in peace. 00:39:32.500 --> 00:39:39.500 Because if any one of them are present in a very strong way, it's very hard for this to combine. 00:39:39.500 --> 00:39:41.500 So how do you correct it? 00:39:41.500 --> 00:39:45.500 Before you even try dealing with this, do what Paul does in all his letters. 00:39:45.500 --> 00:39:48.500 Here's how he starts all his letters or finishes all his letters. 00:39:48.500 --> 00:39:52.500 Grace to you and peace. 00:39:52.500 --> 00:39:56.500 The way to get peace into your life is to go and plead with God, saying, 00:39:56.500 --> 00:39:59.500 Father, this is what I've been struggling with for the last little while. 00:39:59.500 --> 00:40:08.500 Whatever you pick out of this, I need some kind of grace that will start knocking the heebie-jeebies out of it. 00:40:08.500 --> 00:40:14.500 And then once that happens, this begins to have more traction. 00:40:14.500 --> 00:40:18.500 And when you ask for grace, here's another thing you can really do well. 00:40:18.500 --> 00:40:20.500 Grace with thanksgiving. 00:40:20.500 --> 00:40:22.500 Philippians 4, 8. 00:40:22.500 --> 00:40:26.500 Make your request known to God with thanksgiving. 00:40:26.500 --> 00:40:32.500 And the peace of God that passes all understanding will mount God over your heart and mind. 00:40:32.500 --> 00:40:34.500 Try this, guys. It always works. 00:40:34.500 --> 00:40:37.500 These things will destroy peace. 00:40:38.500 --> 00:40:43.500 What it's literally doing is chasing the Prince of Peace out. 00:40:45.500 --> 00:40:47.500 Call him back in. 00:40:47.500 --> 00:40:49.500 Ask for grace. 00:40:49.500 --> 00:40:53.500 And sometimes the grace will look like a whip that will turn every table upside down. 00:40:53.500 --> 00:40:57.500 So what? You end up destroying these things. 00:40:57.500 --> 00:40:59.500 Is control a problem? 00:40:59.500 --> 00:41:02.500 Control and peace never mix, oil and water. 00:41:03.500 --> 00:41:07.500 I think it's one of the coolest tricks of the enemy. 00:41:07.500 --> 00:41:10.500 I want all my ducks lined up. Go ahead, line them up. 00:41:10.500 --> 00:41:14.500 And then he comes and just shoves one duck out of the way and... 00:41:16.500 --> 00:41:19.500 Control is so anti-peace. 00:41:21.500 --> 00:41:26.500 Never seek to have your ducks lined up because there's someone who's going to unline them up. 00:41:26.500 --> 00:41:29.500 Other words for control? You can come up with them. 00:41:29.500 --> 00:41:32.500 I'll stop now because I've got one last thing to do before I finish. 00:41:33.500 --> 00:41:36.500 Just want to call up Joshua and pray for him. 00:41:36.500 --> 00:41:39.500 And then if there are other people that need to be prayed for, we'll pray. 00:41:39.500 --> 00:41:47.500 If we had time, I wanted Joshua to share some about Mongolia, but he'll give me some pictures and I'll show those pictures next week. 00:41:50.500 --> 00:41:53.500 He's got some photos of the people that he's praying for. 00:41:54.500 --> 00:42:01.500 He's got some phenomenal videos where he's in the Gobi Desert, which he wants me to come along with him. 00:42:01.500 --> 00:42:04.500 He walks a lot and that's the one thing I hate about him. 00:42:05.500 --> 00:42:07.500 And he makes others walk with him. 00:42:09.500 --> 00:42:15.500 Yesterday he wanted to go to Stanley Park and I knew what that meant, so I decided not to. 00:42:15.500 --> 00:42:17.500 So, come Joshua. 00:42:17.500 --> 00:42:27.500 The first time I met him, I had my dress shoes on because I thought he's a pastor. 00:42:27.500 --> 00:42:30.500 He'll probably take a cab and show me the city. 00:42:30.500 --> 00:42:33.500 He decided to walk all across Ulaanbaatar. 00:42:33.500 --> 00:42:36.500 And I'm thinking to myself, this is the first time I'm meeting him. 00:42:36.500 --> 00:42:39.500 I can't tell him how much I hate walking, so I kept walking. 00:42:39.500 --> 00:42:41.500 He made me walk for about four hours that day. 00:42:41.500 --> 00:42:47.500 Do you want to share anything before we pray for you? 00:42:47.500 --> 00:42:48.500 Say something. 00:42:51.500 --> 00:42:56.500 Yeah, I'm greeting to you in the name of Jesus, on behalf of Mongolian Church. 00:42:56.500 --> 00:43:01.500 And it's good to be here, very good to be here. 00:43:02.500 --> 00:43:13.500 Because Jacob came a couple times and Mark and I heard that your church was praying for nations and praying for Mongolia. 00:43:13.500 --> 00:43:19.500 And what God is doing through Jacob and us together, it's incredible. 00:43:19.500 --> 00:43:27.500 You know, Mongolia was a, as you know, Mongolia was a communist country and then totally isolated. 00:43:28.500 --> 00:43:34.500 And God opened the door of Mongolia back in early 90s. 00:43:34.500 --> 00:43:44.500 And I was a teenager and I received a gospel book from foreign missionary in the street of Ulaanbaatar. 00:43:44.500 --> 00:43:51.500 And God strongly touched my heart and I received Christ as my savior. 00:43:51.500 --> 00:43:58.500 And then from that on I started serving Mongolian Church since 1992. 00:43:58.500 --> 00:44:05.500 We started one of the first Mongolian Church in Ulaanbaatar. 00:44:05.500 --> 00:44:09.500 And since then I keep serving the Lord. 00:44:09.500 --> 00:44:17.500 And then one day Jacob came to Mongolia and it was God's time, I think, God's time. 00:44:17.500 --> 00:44:30.500 And then he prophesied that, you know, on me that God is going to, I mean, the king of the world will offer you the good offerings. 00:44:30.500 --> 00:44:36.500 But there's a lot of laws going to offer you, God is going to offer you the best one. 00:44:36.500 --> 00:44:42.500 Which is that that time was for my life was kind of, you know, I was going through this transition. 00:44:42.500 --> 00:44:52.500 And I had a lot of offering to, I could be a pastor, a Mongolian Church in USA or UK and some other places. 00:44:52.500 --> 00:45:02.500 But God was really telling me, I mean, I had that, I got the offerings but I couldn't do that prophecy, you know. 00:45:02.500 --> 00:45:09.500 And then God was strongly telling me that Mongolia is your ministry place, you know. 00:45:09.500 --> 00:45:12.500 And then also Jacob was praying for me.