Hey, so we've been talking about Ezekiel 47 verses 1 to 5 and let me read that again
Ezekiel 47 verses 1 to 5
Here's what it says
Yeah, the man brought me back to the entrance of the temple and I saw water coming from under the threshold of the temple towards the east, for the temple faced east.
The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar.
He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side.
Here's where the real thing begins.
As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through the water that was ankle deep.
He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee deep.
He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist.
He measured off another thousand but now it was a river that I could not cross because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in.
A river that no one could cross. He asked me, son of man, do you see this?
So we started last week with ankle deep water and today we deal with knee deep water.
And I think the ankle deep water teaching is up on the website already.
So this is a river, we said last week, that moves you from your measure to the fullness of God.
Most of us operate by our own measure, as in we have our skills, our abilities, our spiritual gifts, and our character at its best.
That's usually what we operate by.
And that's within our own measure. It's things that we have that we now operate by.
But once you step into this river or this flow from God that comes from his Holy Spirit,
what happens is you move from your own measure to the fullness of God and then suddenly your limitations are no longer the ceiling.
That's a great advantage with stepping into this river.
Because as long as I operate in my own measure, there's a degree of teaching that I can accomplish because I might have the gift of teaching.
Or there might be some charisma that I can exude. Or there might be some oratorial skill that I can use.
But it's still within my measure.
But what if I'm able to step into this flow that the Spirit of God brings from the very throne of God?
Because that's where this river starts. And suddenly Jacob is not operating on his own measure, but he's stepping into the fullness of God.
And limitations are no longer the ceiling and God becomes evident.
God is on display through mere human vessels like you and I.
This is the brilliance of stepping into this river.
Whether you're leading worship, whether you're working on a car, whether you're washing dishes,
you can step into a whole different way of doing things where the fullness of God becomes your measure.
This is how Jesus operated. I want to remind us that Jesus had the same limitations that I had.
The only difference was he could have lived on forever.
There might have been some talents that I had that he didn't have.
He was not super gifted. He wasn't the best carpenter in town.
We just assume that he was this perfect chiseled, atom-like, perfect man who came down to the earth.
They say that if you looked at him you wouldn't give him a second look. I get second looks.
The point is... You're laughing too loud. I'll have to talk to your husband about this.
So the point is that we just assume he was the best carpenter, that his tables and chairs would never break and stuff like that.
He was diligent. He would have done everything he could, but we must understand that he had limitations just like you and I.
So how did a man with such limitations, because he had to be 100% man, walk in the fullness of God?
Because he learned how to step into the fullness of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is the beautiful thing about Jesus. That's what makes him a high priest.
Otherwise he's not a high priest. He's a heaven sent God-man who cannot intervene on our behalf.
Any questions on that?
So what does it take to walk in knee-deep water?
That's what we'll talk about today. What does it take to walk in knee-deep water?
Guys, if you want to walk in knee-deep water, you have to take on a certain characteristic of Christ.
And it's open to everybody. Everyone can become like this.
Because if we are the body and we're connected to the head, then we do have what is in the head flow into the body.
Or in other words, we have to walk in knee-deep water.
If you are connected to Christ, then his nature becomes your nature by the Spirit of God.
So one of the things that we need to become if you want to walk in knee-deep water is you have to become a forerunner.
A forerunner. You have to become a forerunner.
You have to become a forerunner. Or you have to become a forerunner.
Or you have to become a forerunner.
You have to become a forerunner.
Or forerunners are basically, I mean if you watched ships being towed into port,
you'll have this small tugboat that's latched onto this huge ocean liner.
And you can hear every bit of the engine straining as it pulls this massive thing into port.
A forerunner is the advance guard. They go before.
And you can hear the engine straining, but they somehow are able to bring this humongous thing behind it into the port.
To walk in knee-deep water, you have to be a forerunner. Your entrance must open the way for others to follow.
Your entrance, your entrance must open the way for others to follow.
This is a predominant characteristic of Jesus Christ.
And if it is a predominant characteristic of Christ, the bridegroom, it must become a predominant characteristic of the bride.
We must, if you're a believer, we must if you're part of any church, become like this.
Because it's critical to knee-deep walking.
Leave alone what happens when we go waist-deep and then enter water that we'll have to swim in
because we can't even see the bottom of the river that we're walking in.
This is just basic stuff, man.
Uncle Deep, we said, was about first love, about the ability to dismantle self, and about finding your treasure.
Knee-deep is about taking on this characteristic of God where you are a forerunner.
Because why is the Holy Spirit poured on you so that you may pour yourself out?
How can you pour yourself out?
By being someone who has the ability to enter into situations and in the process open the way for others to follow.
Hebrews 6, 19 and 20.
Hebrews chapter 6, verse 19 and 20.
The NIR, we put it this way.
It says, our hope is certain.
It goes all the way into the most holy room behind the curtain.
That is where Jesus has gone.
He went there to open the way ahead of us.
Hear it again.
Our hope is certain.
It goes all the way into the most holy room behind the curtain.
This is where Jesus has gone.
He went there to open the way ahead of us.
Hebrews 6, 19 and 20.
Jesus is called a forerunner.
There are people in the Bible who lived like this, eh?
And the rewards were great.
And so we need to nurture this mentality of a forerunner.
Nurture the mentality.
What mentality is this?
The forerunner mentality.
This church, given the promises that have been spoken over it, must have this mentality.
See, the great thing about a spear is that the spearhead is relatively small compared to the shaft.
But it's the spearhead that goes ahead.
The shaft gives it balance, but it's the spearhead that penetrates.
So one can't do without the other.
But there must be the ability to be a forerunner so that you can break open that which is not broken open.
Not so that you can say, I'm a breakthrough person.
No, no, no, no.
Once you break it open, you stand aside so that the rest can come in.
This is what Jesus did.
Comes down, becomes man, breaks open the way out of sin and bondage, ransoms us, breaks the system that ruled the world and opens the world.
Opens heaven for the entire world.
And it's his desire to do this again and again and again through his people now.
We must nurture this mentality, guys.
I pray, God, that even as I speak today that something will begin to happen inside you where you realize that this is part of who Christ is and therefore must be part of who you are.
It prevents us from taking a backseat, eh?
I mean, think of...
What's his name?
Isaiah.
Isaiah chapter 6, verse 8.
I mean, I know I've said this before, but God is musing in heaven and he decides that his musings will be audible.
He's not speaking to anyone particular.
He's just throwing it out there.
And he says, who shall I send who will go for us?
It ain't directed at Isaiah.
It just so happens that Isaiah hears and he rises up and he says,
I will go, God sent me.
This is the forerunner mentality that volunteers for assignments that you don't know the full picture of.
You first volunteer and then find out what this is about.
And then by that time it's too late.
Because God is safe, eh?
God is safe.
Whenever he wants to...
I mean, guys, I'm telling you something.
There are so many opportunities in life that are not supposed to be yours, but can be yours if you so choose.
It's like Mission Impossible.
Should you choose this mission, go ahead.
But this message will self-destruct in 10 seconds.
Dan, da, dan, dan, dan, dan, dan, dan, dan, dan.
The point is this, that...
Listen, listen, listen.
God gives assignments that aren't necessarily meant for you, but are thrown out there saying,
Here's something. Do you want to take it up?
Look at...
Isaiah was one of the guys who did that.
The next guy is Jonathan.
In 1 Samuel 14, in 1 Samuel 14, here's what's happening.
Saul and about 600 men are sitting under a pomegranate tree.
They're sitting there even though the Philistines are gathering in the valley below.
Jonathan and his armor bearer decide that, hey, let's venture out.
So they begin to go out.
They go between two cliffs, one called Bozes, the other called Sene, and they march their way up.
And they look at the enemy.
And this is what Jonathan says.
God can deliver with a few or with plenty.
Let's go up and enter the valley.
And they go up and enter the valley.
God can deliver with a few or with plenty.
Let's go up and engage the enemy.
If they say, come here, we'll go.
If they say, don't come, we'll stay here.
And Jonathan and his armor bearer go out.
You know what happens?
They rout the enemy.
That's in verse 6.
In verse 22 or thereabouts, Saul suddenly hears that the enemy is fleeing.
So now what does Saul and the rest of the army do?
They all gather up, muster their strength, shout.
And there's a rout of the Philistines from one end to the other.
But who started the process?
Jonathan and his armor bearer.
At the end of the day, all this is for one purpose so that others benefit.
You pull yourself out so that others can make an entry.
It's like this machete-wielding guy who cuts through bush.
Because if he cuts through this bush, the rest of the people can access what needs to be accessed.
This is the nature of God.
This is your nature just because he lives in you.
You don't have to be apostolic for this.
You just have to be a believer.
You don't have to be a pioneer and go on a mission trip.
You just have to be a believer.
Another guy who did this was Joab, J-O-A-B.
He was a general in David's army.
How did he become a general?
Strange story.
If he wrote his history, and you'll see it in 2 Samuel 5, 8 and 1 Chronicles 11, 6,
here's what happens.
David wants to take Zion.
Zion is a stronghold of the Jebusites.
It used to be on a hill.
It used to be a powerful fortress.
Nobody could get there.
So much so that people in that fortress would say,
even a lame and blind can dispel any attack.
David hears this and he makes a statement.
He says, there is a water shaft that goes right up into the fortress.
Anybody who takes the city by going up through the water shaft,
here's what I'll do.
I'll make him the general of my army.
This is like one of those movies where they say,
I'm going it alone.
You guys don't have to come with me.
But if you want to, and they'll say, I'm on.
That kind of thing.
All those movies are built on this simple story.
And so Joab decides that he's going to do it.
So he volunteers to go up the water shaft and take the city.
And guess what happens?
An ordinary soldier called Joab becomes the next general of Israel's army.
And he remained that till he was killed much later.
This is how this man became a general.
Take another story.
David, he's come to supply people with cheese and wine and stuff like that
because he's got a whole lot of brothers who are whining in the foxhole.
And so David's going around and he wants to fight.
He walks around in 1 Samuel 17 saying, allow me to fight.
Allow me to fight.
Saul puts armor on him.
He says no to the armor.
And finally he goes against the Philistine Goliath.
And what happens next?
As soon as he takes a sword and cuts off Goliath's head,
out come the same soldiers who till now were hidden in their foxholes for 40 days.
Every time Goliath comes out, one man stands up, cuts off Goliath's head.
And now the entire Israelite army comes storming out
because we are going to take the Philistines.
This is what forerunners do.
Hey, who doesn't want to be someone like this?
You'll have to be dead if you can't respond to this.
And obviously you are not dead.
Yeah, you're not.
Did I tell you about that church where someone died during the service?
Someone died during the service in the church and they called 911
and the medics came and it took them 20 minutes to find the person.
So, moving on.
At some point if it clicks, it clicks. Otherwise we move on.
So, forerunners, I thought it was funny.
Yeah, so forerunners are those that advance God.
If you want to walk in knee-deep water, you must nurture the mentality
of these men I've talked about and of Jesus.
Any questions before we go on?
Yeah, because it's the nature of God.
In the process you may be appointed to different things.
But we are all called to be ones that open the way for others.
No one's an exception.
The opposite of forerunners is what Jesus blamed the Pharisees for and the scribes for.
He said, you do not enter and you take away the keys so that others cannot enter.
That's the opposite of forerunning.
Where we stand before the door, we have the key in our hands,
we do not open it for others to enter, and we take away their ability to enter.
We all have the ability to help people enter by cultivating this mentality of being a forerunner.
It's God's nature.
And then in the process he may send some off into a missionary land
or he may send someone to start a business in a really hard place to start a business.
Or he may send someone to do something that really breaks a system apart.
Those are roles that God then gives, and those roles are based on one or two things.
One, the calling upon your life and the gifting he has given you for it, and two, your faithfulness.
Breakthrough doesn't happen except because you have proven yourself faithful.
There is no way of taking Goliath if you haven't taken the lion and the bear.
There's no way you give up Isaac without giving up country clan, Ishmael Hagar, Lot, and finally Isaac.
In the process, here's the other really cool thing that happens.
Forerunners create room for Timothes and Tituses.
Timothes and Tituses.
Forerunners create room for Timothes and Tituses.
As in their intent is not that they be known as forerunners,
but that they are known as forerunners.
As in their intent is not that they be known as forerunners,
I mean Christ was buried in a tomb that was perhaps worthy, but he was hung as a thief.
Little did they know that this thief, hanging between two thieves,
would be the one that would open the kingdom of God for all mankind.
Our intent is can we create room for the next generation of Timothes and Tituses.
My desire for these young adults is my God, can I create room,
not by abdicating my responsibility, but by allowing them to stand on my shoulders.
This is how the father works. What does the father do?
The father says I'm going to step back and let my son stand in the forefront.
It's very natural for God to do this.
It's very natural for anything that God does to be done here on earth by his children.
So forerunners create room for Timothy and Titus,
not by abdicating responsibility, not by retiring like Elijah.
Elijah retired. He was a nice man, but he retired.
But letting them stand on your shoulder while you step into the background.
You've got to do this guys, you've got to do this.
We don't have a choice in these matters, this is the nature of God.
Do you have a choice? No.
You don't have a choice.
Okay, we might not get there tonight, we can get there the day after tomorrow.
Any questions?
Okay, to walk in knee-deep water, if you read Hebrews chapter 6, 19,
it says you have to enter behind the curtain.
Hebrews chapter 6, verse 19, Jesus entered behind the veil, behind the curtain
to become the forerunner type, to be able to walk in knee-deep water.
We talked about this when we talked about ankle-deep.
You have to enter behind the veil, as in you have to enter and begin to dwell in presence.
Dwell in presence. We talked about it last time.
We said some of the ways to dwell in presence is to recover first love.
First love requires time to dismantle self and to figure out where your treasure is.
And how do you know where your treasure is?
Treasure is measured by the pleasure that you have in things.
Pleasure is the experience of joy that you have over treasure
and that kind of treasure you will sell anything for.
This is a question we must confront perhaps on a monthly or a weekly basis.
Jacob, what is your treasure?
And Jacob, your treasure will be betrayed by the pleasure you take in it.
And Jacob, how much are you willing to sell for this treasure?
And that's a question I want to ask you right now.
What are you willing to sell for the treasure that you take great pleasure in?
Who is it?
What is it?
And then we talked about the pleasure of God.
We said what is the pleasure of God?
And the pleasure of God is very simple.
If he calls himself the bridegroom, then his pleasure is in his bride.
And therefore if I lose the centrality of the church in my life,
then I lose out on the centerpiece of God's heart.
Just think of that.
Just think of spending your entire life on earth,
not having the same pleasure that your father has.
That will be a stunning awakening.
I thought it was prosperity, oh God.
No, son, it was the centrality of the church.
And then we talked about the pleasure of God.
To walk in knee-deep water, I must enter behind the curtain and live in presence.
I want to read something written by Watchman Nee.
Here's what he said.
I'll read it twice if necessary.
How hard we often find.
How hard we often find it to drag ourselves into his presence.
We shrink into the presence of God.
We drag ourselves into his presence.
We shrink from the solitude.
And even when we do detach ourselves physically,
our thoughts still keep wandering outside.
Many of us can enjoy working among people,
but how many of us can draw near to God in the holier folies?
Yet it is only when we draw near to him that we can minister to him.
Unless we really know what it is to draw near to God,
we cannot know what it is to serve him.
Unless we really know what it is to draw near to God,
we cannot know what it is to serve him.
It is impossible to stand afar off and still minister to him.
We cannot serve him from a distance.
Ezekiel 44, 16.
They shall enter my sanctuary,
and they shall come to my table to minister unto me,
and they shall keep my charge.
Ministry that is unto me is in the inner sanctuary,
in the hidden place,
not in the outer court exposed to public view.
People may think we are doing nothing,
but service to God within the holy place far transcends service to people in the outer court.
Brilliant, eh?
Ministry unto God is not in the public courts amongst people.
Ministry unto God is in the inner sanctuary.
If I get that right, you will benefit.
If I don't get that right, all you'll get is a teaching.
Thirst for it, eh?
Create time for it.
Any intimate relationship requires time.
Nothing replaces it.
No amount of gifts, no service, nothing replaces time.
And clumsy time, clumsy time,
as in stumbling, wandering, coming back, falling, spilling tea over the person,
roses with bees in it, all kinds of things.
Clumsy time, as in you offer the person a rose and there was a bee in it and you didn't know.
Meaning you'll make mistakes, but it's still time spent with someone.
This is important.
Try this with your spouse, eh, for two weeks.
Don't spend time with her.
Bring her gifts and see how it works after two weeks.
She'll get tired regardless of how much you've spent on her,
because what she requires is time.
To walk in knee-deep water, forerunners have to be prophetic.
And what do I mean by prophetic?
It means to be a person who is not so much a person as a person,
but a person who is not so much a person as a person.
Forerunners have to be prophetic.
And what do I mean by prophetic?
I don't mean prophesying.
By prophetic, I mean they have to have the ability to take the present
and connect it to the future
by looking at the blueprints,
by looking at the blueprints of the past.
This is what real prophetic can be like.
Not real prophetic.
This is what, this is what,
this is what biblical prophecy actually looks like.
If you take any of the prophets in the Old Testament or the New Testament,
you will find that it was not so much about prophesying.
It was not known for personal prophecy or prophesying.
It was about taking the present,
connecting it to the future of God by looking at blueprints in the past.
This is what Peter does in Acts chapter 2.
He stands up and he says,
this is that.
And what does he mean by that?
He's saying, you've just heard these guys speak in tongues.
This is the present.
But now let me tell you what it is about.
It is about the future kingdom that has now come.
How do we know that?
Let me show you the book of Joel
and take you to Joel chapter 2 and show you that this was prophesied then.
This is that.
Take Paul, Acts chapter 10.
Not Acts chapter 10.
Take Paul, Ephesians chapter 3, verse 3 to 6.
And he says,
this is a mystery that has been hidden since the beginning of time
and has now been revealed through his holy apostles and prophets.
And what is the mystery?
That Christ now has decided to reveal himself
not to the Jews only, but to the Gentiles,
and to make one man out of the Jew and the Gentile,
and that Christ in us, the hope of glory,
is the mystery that has been hidden for the ages.
What does he do?
He goes, takes the present amongst the Ephesus,
connects it to the future,
that God is redeeming every nation,
and then takes them back to the past
and shows them that this has always been the plan of God.
I'll take the Old Testament story of Elisha.
He goes to Jericho.
He's just lost his master,
who was taken up in a chariot.
And so Elisha's standing there,
and the people come and say,
hey, Elisha, just so you know, while you're in Jericho,
it's a really pleasant city, but the water is toxic.
It causes barrenness.
And Elisha takes the present and says,
bring me a bowl with salt in it.
And he's going to make the future completely okay
by going into the past and breaking a curse
that was laid upon Jericho
when Heal, the king of Jericho,
built the city at the cost of his firstborn
by sacrificing him.
He breaks the curse upon a city from the past
and takes it into the future of God,
where he says, from now on,
there shall be no barrenness in this land
because the waters are healed.
What are we talking about here
when we talk about forerunners?
They have the ability to be prophetic
by taking the present,
connecting it to what God says,
and then taking you back to the past
and showing you, hey, but this was already revealed.
This is basically the shutting and the opening
of ancient doors mentioned in Psalm 24, verse 7.
There are ancient doors that the forerunners
are able to shut, as Elisha did,
or open, as Peter did.
And once an ancient door is open,
things of God that have been waiting patiently
to be unleashed upon the earth are unleashed by who?
By ordinary people like you and I.
By a Betty, by a Rosalind, by a Subin, by a Corey.
Nobody's, except perhaps Betty.
I mean, you're famous, you sang up front here just now.
You see how this works, guys?
Man, I never sell myself short when it comes to these areas,
because I know a very, very big God.
I never sell myself short in this.
I think to myself, if I go into a place,
there is every possibility that this place might be affected
by a simple guy called Jacob.
When Eric comes here next time,
he's going to be like, hey, I'm going to be a good guy.
When Eric comes here next time,
ask him what happened in Vernon the day before yesterday.
I've been to that city many times,
and suddenly I feel God saying,
you need to go to the center of the city,
and you will find how the city started and what you need to do.
I expect God to show up in ways that are remarkable
through a simple, ordinary person like me,
so that the entire destiny of a city or a nation can be changed.
Will I see it? Perhaps. Will I not see it? Big deal.
What if Eric's kids benefit?
Because the intent is, can I open a door so that the rest can enter?
Can I shut a door so that the rest can never be affected?
Don't sell yourself short, man.
Your God is pretty awesome.
Any questions?
Yep.
Yeah.
We don't have these in church.
We either have prophets or we don't have prophets.
We either have prophets or we have theologians.
We don't have prophet theologians.
People who have a good knowledge of the word,
but they can go into the past and see,
aha, so this is what God has already revealed.
And people who have the ability to look into the future and say,
aha, this is where God is taking us.
And then stand in the middle and do what John the Baptist did.
400 years of silence since Malachi.
Catch his hold of that.
And now begins to talk about this Jesus who has come and connects it.
And suddenly the silence between men and women is so powerful.
And the silence between Malachi 4 and Matthew 1 is undone.
No longer is the land under a curse
because Elijah has come in the type of John
and he begins to say, behold the Lamb of God
where for 400 years there was silence.
What is this?
This is an ability to see the prophetic
and to take theology and bring them together.
And we have that, we don't have that in churches.
We either have prophets who are always looking into the future
or we have theologians who are always looking into the past.
And therefore we are stuck in the middle.
And the presence sucks.
What if you put both together?
You can all hear him, right?
I'm trying hard to.
Okay, so here's what Sheldon is saying.
Sheldon is saying, so it's not...
Go ahead Sheldon.
Yeah, and I'm saying that is really what prophetic is about.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because this is what Isaiah did.
This is what Jeremiah did.
This is what they would look into what Moses had written
and then they would begin to talk about the future.
They would say, God showed us this way.
It's now can't you be this way because God want to take you here.
Hosea, all these guys.
Hosea talks about the Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria
to the ends of the earth.
No, not Hosea.
Amos, Amos talks about it.
In chapter 9 verse 12 he says,
and we shall take the ends of Edom.
How does that even work?
How does Amos know anything about it?
To walk in knee deep water,
you must be cloaked with zeal.
To walk in knee deep walker
you must be cloaked with zeal.
To walk in knee deep walker
you must be cloaked with zeal.
It's getting warm here, man.
To walk in knee deep water
you must be creect with zeal.
Psalm 69 9.
Ha! Man, one of the things that consumes God has been repeated so many times.
You see it in the New Testament, you see it in the Old Testament.
Psalm 69 says this,
Oh God, zeal for your house has eaten me up.
Zeal for your house has eaten me up.
Man, you've got to desire this.
Hey, I'll tell you one of the biggest advantages that I have as a pastor
and that you have in me being your pastor
is that zeal for the house of God consumes me, man.
You are so blessed that it does.
You are blessed because it consumes me.
Oh, how blessed will I be and the rest of the world be
if all of us got into the same river.
Zeal for your house of God consumes me.
What happened to Jesus, eh?
That was a statement that Mark, Matthew, Luke and John wrote
when he cleansed the temple, zeal for God had consumed him.
The body, the people of God, the bride, the city, New Jerusalem, Zion, choose any name you want.
If you want to walk in knee-deep water, learn how to be stirred up by the Spirit.
Learn how to be stirred up by the Spirit.
This is so important for some of us here.
So important for some of us here.
Why? Because sometimes life is taking over.
And when life takes over, it becomes very hard to stir ourselves up
and we get very, very angry.
And we are very, very angry.
To stir ourselves up and we get blunt.
And then we wonder why it takes so long to chop down a tree.
When the axe is blunt, it takes longer.
Some of it is not because you aren't trying.
Some of it is because there's so much happening in your life
that draws so much of your attention away.
Sometimes it's just sheer physical exhaustion or pain.
Sometimes it's responsibilities.
And you wish you could be cloaked with the zeal of God.
That you could wrap yourself up in zeal.
And so learn how to stir yourself up in the Holy Spirit.
And here are some beautiful ways that we can.
One, find, I said this last week,
to find God's priority, season, mountain He wants you to climb
or walk on water assignment He has for you at this present time.
He has for you.
It can be something very mundane like taking care of your spouse.
But find out.
Don't just go with whatever life throws your way.
Go with what God throws your way.
And then life begins to behave.
Find out, oh God, right now between August and December,
what's your priority?
What kind of a season am I in?
What's the mountain that you want me to climb?
What's the walk on water assignment that you are assigning to me?
Purpose always provokes the Holy Spirit
and stirs a man or a woman up.
Always does.
Ask.
Now if you're saying, but I've asked and I've found none,
then ask again.
And then go sit with people who know how to ask and ask with them.
And when they tell you, please embrace it.
Don't go asking God to confirm it.
And then when He confirms it, don't go ask for another confirmation
and another rainbow in the sky.
Because it will be 2021 by then.
Second.
Zeal is still there.
Zeal is stillborn
if it's not voiced.
It says in Isaiah 42, 13, that God stirred himself up with zeal
and he was marching forward as a soldier.
And then it says, God began to shout and declare who He was.
There is something to zeal.
There's something that happens to zeal when it hits you
and you do not voice it.
As in, you stirred up in your spirit and like you know it in your stomach,
but you don't want to say anything because you're either Canadian or British.
That doesn't work.
You have to speak it out.
Isaiah 42, 13 talks about it.
I find it very difficult when something is happening inside
and you can't say it. You've got to say it, man.
If you want to kill zeal, stay quiet.
It's the easiest way to destroy zeal.
Zeal requires expression.
And sometimes all it'll be is a,
WHAAAA!
I know, that frightened everybody. I did that deliberately.
Sometimes that's all. You don't even have words to put things in.
Your kids must have woken up.
They're not frightened, right?
You can come back next week.
Yeah.
So, zeal requires expression, man.
Sometimes it's just a shout, but it requires expression.
Do not stifle it, you'll kill it.
Next.
That's in Isaiah 42, 13.
Next one.
Zeal is fueled by knowledge.
Proverbs 19, verse 2.
That zeal without knowledge is like a misguided missile
that might go sideways.
It doesn't put it that way. That's my own paraphrased version.
Zeal without knowledge is dangerous.
Proverbs 19, verse 2.
And in Romans 10, 2,
Paul uses the very same scripture from Proverbs 19, 2.
And he puts it this way.
My fellow Jews have tremendous zeal,
but their zeal is not based on knowledge.
Romans chapter 10, verse 2.
And so if you want to stir up zeal,
if you want to be cloaked with zeal,
if you want the stirring of the Holy Spirit to now become something for you,
you have to add knowledge to it.
And by knowledge I simply mean the knowledge of the Word
and the knowledge of the nature of God.
Now you begin to mix them together
and it's like gunpowder, man.
It's just waiting for ignition.
When you receive a prophetic word,
my God, you've got to take that and run to the Word
and find out what the Word says about the prophetic word.
Mix both together and now you're ready for an explosion.
Let's throw another one in.
Zeal is kept alive by serving.
Zeal is kept alive by serving and praise.
As in one, you have to serve.
Having a whole lot of zeal inside you with nothing to do
will cause you to explode.
It's like a horse.
It's like a horse that really wants to run,
but you've tied it to a millstone
and it goes around and around threshing corn.
When it's supposed to gallop, man,
zeal must serve.
Zeal must serve.
Romans 12 verse 11.
One of the easiest ways to stifle zeal
is to turn up with a whole lot of Holy Spirit stirring and do nothing.
This is what often happens in conferences.
You go to a conference, you get stirred up mighty.
You pull down things you didn't even know you were pulling down.
And then you come back to the church
and everything is back to sedation.
And now you're on sedatives again and everything is dead.
And now the zeal that you had stirred up
becomes harder to stir up next time.
So you need a better speaker at the next conference.
It happens again and again and again, man.
And zeal can be fueled with praise.
Habakkuk 3, 18 and 19.
In the message it says,
even though the fig tree has not blossomed,
even though there's nothing happening,
I am expecting God's rule
and I will engage in cartwheels of that.
And I will engage in the same thing
and I will engage in cartwheels of joy and rejoice in God
who will give me the hind feet of a deer
and I will scale the mountains for God.
There is this thing where you persevere.
Zeal only grows with perseverance.
I don't know if you've seen steam locomotives.
In India when I was growing up, all the locomotives were steam.
I used to love it, man.
It's so hot in India standing next to a steam locomotive
doesn't make any difference.
So you don't know whether it's the heat from the sun
or the heat of the locomotive.
And so there's this huge furnace that this guy takes coal into
and keeps throwing.
And he has to do that for an hour and a half or two hours
before the train leaves the station
because you've got to build it up.
But he perseveres with it
until finally he's ready to go.
And then there's that whistle
and then the train begins.
Choo, choo, choo, choo, choo, choo, choo, choo, choo, train.
The chuck. Sorry.
That's an old ABBA song.
Gosh.
Some of this is being recorded.
Any questions on this?
I've got two more points and we're done.
Any questions on this?
You guys go listen to these messages, they're pretty good.
Sometimes I get scared.
Rosh shucks, this sounds so good.
What will I do next week?
Forerunners have the faith to carry the Ark of God
into the Jordan in flood.
Every time Israel marched out as an army,
every time the cloud moved,
what would happen after they had the Ark
was the Ark of God would go in the front.
When they arrived at the Jordan
and they're now going to cross into the Promised Land,
the Jordan was in flood.
And so there were these priests
that had to carry the Ark on their shoulders
and step into the water.
So the first principle that we need to understand as forerunners
is that forerunners have the faith
to carry the Ark of God into the Jordan in flood.
Joshua chapter 3 verse 8.
This is a flooded river.
It overflows its bank.
And you expect that if you were to take the step of a forerunner
and stand at the Jordan,
that something's going to happen. That requires faith.
Faith is embracing the activity of God because He said so.
What a cool, easy statement it is.
And then it makes it much easier.
Faith is embracing the activity of God because He said so.
There's an action that God wants to engage in.
He wants you to be involved in it.
So He says, hey, come along.
And so they go into the Jordan and the water begins to pile
at a place called...
I forgot the name of the place.
A place called Adam.
80 miles away the water begins to pile up.
So not only do they have to have the faith,
they then have to have the obedience
to carry the ark on their shoulders.
Because if you carry it any other way,
it doesn't bring God glory.
There's this thing that goes with faith called obedience.
And forerunners have to do it right.
Forerunners have to do it right.
They have to say, okay, I'll carry it on my shoulders.
I'll carry it on my shoulders.
You know what happened to David when he didn't?
Forerunners know how to accurately represent God's glory.
Because they know that if they accurately represent God's glory,
that God's government or God's rule will come into a place.
You have to do it exactly as God tells you.
You cannot amend God's ways.
There is protocol with the Holy One of Israel.
And some of this protocol, even though He is Father,
cannot be amended.
That is the cool thing about the apostolic.
The apostolic does not amend what God has decreed.
There is no other way to build it.
If he says so, Moses had to stick with it.
He goes up the mountain, he receives a blueprint
of every thread that should go into the curtain
that covers the Holy of Holies.
And he has to do it.
So the Holy of Holies, and he has to do it
to the nth degree because he cannot amend
the vision that he received on the mountain.
And then it says in Hebrews chapter 12,
if you approached a mountain that was earthly
and you heard a voice that shook,
then imagine what it is right now
to come to a God who speaks and who is alive.
And how dare you amend what He says.
Because there is a shaking that's coming
that will remove all the junk.
We cannot amend, guys.
sell your heart for it, eh? That I will not amend.
His ways are his ways and they shall be mine.
This is just knee-deep water. Imagine what the next one will be like.
When we begin to walk like this, guys, the greatness of God's rule and the greatness of his shalom or unlimited wholeness is released through you into situations.
It's released through you into situations. And nations recover their desolate heritage. As it says in Isaiah 49, you can lead nations into their inheritance.
Hey, if you look at the New Testament, this is exactly what is happening, man.
Paul would go into a place. He would represent God's glory accurately. It doesn't matter whether it's in Athens with all those idols, whether it's in Ephesus with Diana of Artemis,
or whether it's in Philippi with a woman with the spirit of divination. He knew how to bring the rule of God and the shalom of God into cities.
So much so that the Christians were known as troublers. We can be troublers. We can be troublers. On one hand, we bring trouble. On the other hand, we dispense peace.
It's brilliant. You must not sell yourself short. You must understand that you can do it because you belong to a body in whom the nature of God dwells, not Acts 29, the church.
We sell ourselves short, man. I mean, that phrase that they always use, which I used to think was very silly, is really smart as I grow older.
Without God, you're zero. With God, you're a hero. Sounds like a little childish ditty, but it makes so much sense now, man. Don't sell yourself short.
Any questions?
Greater darkness, greater light. It's in the midst of tumult that glory is revealed.
Arise and shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee.
In Aftali and in Zebulun, there is a great darkness.
Where there is great darkness, there is great light.
For the increase of this government, there will be no end.
And the government of God shall rest upon his shoulders.
This whole row is eating, huh?
Its very advantageous to sit next to Jane.
Yeah.
Last point.
If you want to walk in knee-deep water, you must endure war.
If you want to walk in knee-deep water, you must endure.
You must train to endure war.
What a god, eh?
If you want to walk in knee-deep water, you must train to endure war.
And it's a team sport. You cannot do this alone.
It's not some cage fight between you and Hulk Hogan.
This is like a huge joint thing, eh?
You know, Judges, Chapter 3, Verse 1 and 2, we talked about it.
God says, I will leave opposition in the land so that the descendants of Israel,
who did not experience war, can now be trained and become battle-ready.
Church, some of the problems you are having in your life right now need to be persevered through.
They will not go away. You must endure them.
Otherwise, you will not be trained.
Sometimes I deliberately put you into situations which are highly uncomfortable for you,
just so that you can be trained.
Without friction being created, there is no grip.
You only know your sons when you offend them.
Until then, everyone is happy.
If you want to walk in knee-deep water, you must train to endure war.
You know, one of the things I keep thinking is, okay, Father, I've got to persevere through this.
I was telling God this morning that, Father, there are so many times where I just get tired
and I think to myself, well, you be God, I'm not going to do this anymore.
That is such a throwing in the towel where I begin to say to Him,
You are God, you'll have to deal with this. No, I want to work with you as you deal with this.
When He comes, will He find faith?
Will I begin to mourn and complain about the fact that it looks like He's sleeping at the stern of the boat?
I hate it when I do that.
Instead of actively participating in what He said and saying to the other disciples,
Hey, it's okay. He said we're going to cross over to the other side.
So what if there's a storm?
Hey, here's a bucket, just pouring out water, bailing out some water so that we don't go under.
But we won't go under because I don't do that, man.
Instead, I just start looking at Him and saying, how come you're not coming through?
It's been so long. I've stood in faith. I've spoken. I've decreed.
I've declared nothing's happening. Oh, God, now.
And then I end up saying, okay, you have to do it now because I'm tired of this.
I hate it when I do that.
I don't want to hear Him say stuff like, Oh, you have little faith.
Oh, big Jacob of little faith.
Big as in big.
I don't want Him to say that.
I want to listen to Him and say, Oh, you have little faith.
Oh, big Jacob of little faith.
I want to listen to Him.
Oh, big as in big.
I don't want Him to say that.
I wanted to say that.
It's a little hard preaching to you today.
So let me end.
May you be like the 10,000 that Gideon had left.
I love it man. He started out with 32,000
and he has to go again.
So you got 200,000 here and he's got 32,000 here.
God says, okay, go and ask people who want to go home to go home.
And so 22,000 go home and he's got 10,000 left.
You got to be like the 10,000 man who didn't want to go home.
That's knee deep walking.
These 10,000 know that 22,000 have gone home
but they know also that if they win,
this will be the end of the Philistines for a very long time
and the rest of Israel can walk in.
And God was happy with the 10,000 day
and then he says, go to the river and drink.
Now why was it that 300 drank one way
and the others drank the other way?
Very simple guys.
300 drank with their eyes still engaged
because they were in enemy territory.
And instead of going down on their knees
and putting their faces to the water,
they still had eyes for everything that was happening around.
As they scooped water and began to lap it from their hand.
Like dogs do.
They wouldn't let go of the alertness
that they needed to possess in enemy territory.
Animals do that.
If you've watched animals near a watering hole,
doesn't matter how hot it is, they don't go straight into the water.
Most antelopes, deer and all those animals that are prey
always drink by making sure that their eyes and ears
are alert to predators.
And out of that he chooses 300.
Those are the kind that can then proceed
to waste deep water.
But the 10,000 are knee deep.
Lap up water like dogs and we can go next week
and see what happens to guys who are waist deep in water.
What does it mean to be 300 strong?
300 strong is to be unengaged in civilian affairs
like Paul says to Timothy,
hey Timothy, if you're a soldier, be disengaged with civilian affairs.
Don't get caught up in it.
Be ready, be alert.
Eyes always looking.
I love driving around or starting a day or going to Vernon or whatever
and being alert.
Father, is there anything you're showing me that will stand out
even though I've seen it a million times?
And if it stands out, what do you want to do?
Isn't that how you are?
Isn't that how you are when you know danger is around?
And isn't that how you are when you're in love?
That's the only two times this happens.
You're either in love and you're watching her every move
because if she coughs, you'll bring her not cough syrup but a coke.
If she snaps a finger, you'll bring whatever she wants
because you're in love.
So that's one time when you're highly alert
and the rest of the world is like shadows like we sang.
All that surrounds becomes shadows in the light of earth.
That's one time you're highly alert.
The other time you're highly alert is when there's danger.
When you know you're in a dangerous place
and now you're highly alert, every face,
every little dog that comes out of the alley
is something you're frightened of.
These are the two things that make you highly alert.
May I suggest to you that that's how we need to walk?
One, because we are deeply in love.
Two, because there is a world that is still under the sway
of the prince of the power of the air.
Christ's nature is that of a forerunner.
When I disconnect from this nature,
here's what happens to kingdom life.
Kingdom life is reduced to maintenance.
Kingdom life is reduced to zealous training of gnats.
Kingdom life is reduced to personalised planning.
Kingdom life is reduced to preservation.
When you don't live as a forerunner,
where you're working with God to open the door for others,
all you end up doing is maintaining or preserving
what someone else has already run and got for you.
Isn't it a shame that so many endeavours,
so many churches, so many movements,
that was started by brilliant forerunners.
The following generations have no desire
to keep walking in being a forerunner.
So what do they do?
They maintain or preserve what was won for them
by a previous forerunner.
What a shame.
What if we all die and the next bunch of kids
that come up after us,
instead of continuing with what we have done,
they decide, well, we have this,
this will last for another 30 years and they don't do anything.
Problem with settlers is settlers will always turn up,
turn against the next group of pioneers.
That's the problem with settlers.
Go ahead.
Sorry?
Yeah.
Yeah, it is.
But together,
you can't just go into this very often.
I know so many big churches that we all know of
that was started by breakthrough people
that now has gone into maintenance and preservation.
Maintenance and preservation will still grow you,
but it will grow so much that it will be a problem
and preservation will still grow you,
but it will grow softies that are big bellies.
Not muscle six-packs like this.
Okay.
I can only hold my breath in for that long.
So that's what happens.
If you don't go forerunning, you end up here or you end up here.
Or you get very legalistic.
You have something that has to be done.
You nitpick on the colour of the carpet,
on how many people should be on the committee,
how many cents and dollars need to be spent,
whether the pastor took one hour or one hour, five minutes.
These are the things you begin to focus on.
Because you've got to have some purpose.
This is easy.
Or you end up here.
Personalised plans.
Personalised plans,
which is Christianity becomes highly individualistic.
I've got to figure out how I do this, how I grow,
how my family does well, how my business grows,
how my church grows, how my ministry grows.
It's all about personalised planning for the glory of the Lord.
Hallelujah.
So, this is what happens if you're not forerunning.
Any questions? I'm done.
Any questions?
Are the ones who are not forerunners?
Yes.
Yes, remember guys, God does not make leaders and followers.
God does not make leaders and followers.
God makes leaders and servants.
He does not make followers.
He made us in His own image.
He's not a leader and a follower.
He's a leader and a servant.
All of us are leaders and servants.
There are no followers in the kingdom.
So today, if we are forerunning,
there might be people that come through with us,
but the intent is tomorrow we can disciple them to be forerunners
so that they can take on the nature of God,
so that the next group can come in.
Because there's always people coming into the kingdom.
And so the ones that are mature have to take on the nature of God
so that they walk as forerunners,
so that the next group can come in.
There are no followers really in the kingdom
because God is not a follower.
God is a leader or a servant.
He makes us in His image.
He doesn't make us followers.
It's odd, but if the church gets it,
then we will not remain in the pews as followers.
Because most churches think,
oh, those guys there are the leaders
and the rest of us are followers.
Not true.
Leaders and servants.
Yeah, follow me to become what?
To become like me.
And He is a leader and a servant.
We are made in the image of God.
Very cool, eh?
Had Adam not messed up, one of us would have.
But had Adam not messed up.
Things would have been very different, eh?
Let's pray.
Father, I think you're brilliant.
I think this teaching is brilliant too.
And that's why I wanted to say first that you are brilliant.
Because stuff like this only you can provide, Father.
Really.
So thank you for showing us this stuff, Lord.
Thank you for showing us what knee-deep water looks like.
I'm looking forward to next week, Abha.
What does waist-deep water look like?
So we thank you, Holy Spirit.
And now I just ask Holy Spirit
that you would take this teaching that you have given
and begin to do something in my spirit
so that I'll desire to walk like this.
So God, that we'll desire to walk like this
so that we can open the gates for others.
Everybody here, Lord, without exception,
I pray for each one here.
Father, I actually have the faith to pray for each one here
to step into this role.
I have the faith for it.
And there are people here who have the faith for it,
who can join me in desiring this.
For everybody sitting here and everyone who isn't here,
I pray that, O God, for Your name's sake,
You must do this, O God, for Your name's sake,
so that others can enter.
This is our prayer, granted in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Cool, guys.