WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Naphtali Publishing Date: 2021-12-31T05:00:44-08:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/naphtali/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000 If you want a title for today's teaching, it's naftali. 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:07.000 Naftali. 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:10.000 Naftali, naftali, naftali, naftali. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:12.000 Naftali. 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:27.000 Naftali means wrestling. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:32.000 Naftali means wrestling. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:36.000 Hey, can you grab me some hot water? 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:40.000 Naftali means wrestling. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:46.000 Usually on New Year's Eve, we glibly use Philippians 3.14, 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:53.000 and we say stuff like, not looking backwards, but looking forward, 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:58.000 pressing on towards things that God has grasped us for. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:05.000 That's a great passage, but the thing is, most of the things we wrestle with in 2021, 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:08.000 we will have to take into 2022. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:11.000 We can't leave things and just walk away. 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:17.000 A restart doesn't mean that you don't carry into 2022 things that need to be dealt with. 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:22.000 A restart means God's giving us a fresh page saying, 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:25.000 let's scribble your problems on this page again, 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:27.000 let's scribble the things you're wrestling with, 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:30.000 and let's start all over again. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:36.000 Times like this are a fresh opportunity to deal with unfresh things, 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:40.000 and a fresh opportunity to deal with fresh things. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.000 It's not just glibly throwing things that have happened in the past, 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.000 because they really don't go away. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:51.000 I want to look at some wrestlings that have happened in 2021 in your life, 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:55.000 and then see how we can wrestle them into 2022. 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:58.000 What am I wrestling into 2022? 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:06.000 The first one is wrestling with sisters and brothers, 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:10.000 wrestling with sisters and brothers, wrestling with sisters and brothers, 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:15.000 as in there have been problems in relationships, 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:20.000 and we may need to wrestle with that as we go into 2022. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:27.000 In fact, Naftali was named Naftali because Leah and Rachel were wrestling. 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:28.000 Thanks, man. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:30.000 Leah and Rachel were wrestling. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:37.000 Rachel names her child through one of her maidservants, Naftali, 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:40.000 in Genesis 30, verse 8. 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:46.000 She names the child Naftali because she says, 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:52.000 I have wrestled with God, and I now am one step higher than my sister kind of a thing. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:56.000 Genesis 30, verse 8. 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:13.000 So she named him Naftali. 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:15.000 That's why she names him Naftali. 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:18.000 There was a rivalry between sisters, and she had won. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:22.000 And so one of the things you need to wrestle into 2022 is, 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:28.000 are there people that you have a rivalry with, 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:36.000 that you need to fix things with? 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:41.000 And we'll talk about how, but are there people that we need to do these things with? 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:45.000 Sometimes they're not close relatives, sometimes they are close relatives, 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:47.000 but it's worth considering. 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:55.000 In 2 Corinthians 13, verse 11, Paul says, strive for full restoration. 00:03:55.000 --> 00:04:00.000 Strive for full restoration. 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:05.000 So when we deal with relationships, 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:09.000 here are some of the things we need to look at as we go into 2022. 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:17.000 First, review the relationship, but review, not review, review the relationship. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:22.000 As in, have a fresh look at it. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:29.000 And in reviewing the relationship, you will know where you are right in terms of where it's at 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:33.000 and where you are wrong in terms of where it's at. 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:41.000 After you review the relationship, you may have to reconfigure the relationship. 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:45.000 Reconfigure the relationship. 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.000 You may have to set new parameters, you may have to make new efforts, 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:53.000 you may have to settle for a relationship that has changed. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:58.000 One of the things you have to expect in terms of relationships as you go into 2022 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:03.000 is that we often long for relationships to be restored to where they used to be. 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:06.000 But God is saying, hey, that was where it used to be. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:12.000 I want you to take it to a new place where it's built on the parameters that I am setting for you. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:18.000 I find it very difficult as I grow older that I have to change my relationship. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:22.000 That there are people who want a certain relationship with me, 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:29.000 but because I have changed, I cannot be what I used to be, and they find it very difficult. 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:35.000 And sometimes we have to review our relationships and then reconfigure our relationships, 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:41.000 and only then do you move on to reconciling those relationships. 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:45.000 So, any questions on this? 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:50.000 Some of the things we need to wrestle and take into 2022. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:53.000 Wrestling with relationships. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:56.000 Genesis 30 verse 8. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:05.000 I have strived with my sister, and now I have won, and therefore I name my child Naftali, which means to wrestle. 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:08.000 Think of the relationships you are wrestling with. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:13.000 Some are family, some are not, some are friends, some are not, some are within the body, some are not, 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:15.000 some are sisters and brothers, some are not. 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:20.000 You need to review them. I have to. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.000 What is it about my present relationships that are so broken? What did I do to break them? 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:28.000 What did I not do to break them? 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:31.000 What am I laboring under? Where am I guilty? 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:35.000 Where am I struggling with guilt when it is not my fault? 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:42.000 Review it. Have a fresh perspective on relationships with your dads, your mums, your brothers, your sisters. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:46.000 The only relationship you need to fix immediately is that with your spouse. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:52.000 But other than that, all other relationships need to be reviewed and then reconfigured. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:57.000 As you change, expect relationships to change. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:03.000 Any questions? 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:07.000 Do you think we are going to keep those same relationships? 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:09.000 No, that is why you need the review. 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:13.000 Some of them will have to be let go of. 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:20.000 Jesus had to do this. Jesus had situations where he had to change his relationship with his mother, 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:23.000 change his relationship with his brothers and sisters. 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:26.000 Paul had to change his relationship with Barnabas. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:30.000 Paul had to change his relationship with Mark. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.000 Paul had to change his relationship with Demas. 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:40.000 Abraham had to change his relationship with Lot. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:46.000 Abraham had to change his relationship with Hagar and Ishmael. 00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:57.000 Any questions? 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:01.000 Miguel and his family will have to change relationships with people in Brazil. 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:04.000 They will have to reconfigure relationships. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:07.000 It is not the same. 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:13.000 It should get richer, it doesn't get poorer, but the shape of it changes. 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:16.000 You need to be aware of it. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:22.000 You will have to change your relationship with places that you used to connect to in the past in a certain way. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:26.000 You will now have to change as you enter a new place. 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:35.000 Certain relationships that are important to you, you will have to put extra effort into. 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:42.000 Certain relationships you are suspicious of, you will have to work so that those suspicions are removed. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:49.000 Certain relationships that you know you need to commit to if your life is to be richer, you will have to find the time to. 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:55.000 Otherwise another year will pass and you will still walk with Elijah without being Elijah, 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:59.000 though you have the potential to be an Elijah. 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:03.000 Elijah had a choice. 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:18.000 Drop the 12 yoke of oxen, burn the yoke, walk with Elijah, or continue and be part of the school of prophets, one of the 52, instead of being the firstborn. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:21.000 These are choices we make. 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:24.000 We have to configure relationships. 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:30.000 Any questions before we move on? 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:35.000 You cannot eat at two tables. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.000 Okay. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:40.000 Yes? 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:58.000 Yeah, which is the reconfiguring part. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:03.000 We have to build certain relationships and parameters that God gives us freshly. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:14.000 And whenever God gives the parameters for a relationship, the beautiful thing is you now know that this will prosper the person and will prosper you. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:20.000 You now know that if a person is put in your charge, it will cause the person to go further. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:22.000 Parents do this all the time. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:31.000 Parents that don't change their relationship with their children on almost a four or five year basis are parents that end up having children that do not mature. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:44.000 Parents that don't change their relationship with their children every four or five years, because you can almost take a child's life and break it into five to six year segments. 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:52.000 Parents that do not do that end up raising children that fail to mature, not because of their fault, but because they're being treated the same way. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:58.000 God does that with us too. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:00.000 Go ahead, Nick. 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:04.000 Yeah, parameters means fresh boundaries. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:09.000 Sometimes a boundary has to be broadened so there can be more of an embracing. 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:14.000 Sometimes the boundaries have to be set so that the person has to try harder. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:22.000 Sometimes the boundary has to be reset because the person should have greater independence or greater dependence. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:43.000 The cool thing about this kind of wrestling with relationships is that a conversation is necessary so that both parties know. 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:45.000 That's the cool thing about God. 00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:46.000 That's the cool thing about God. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:48.000 When God changes, I mean this is so strange. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:55.000 I'm driving down Westminster Highway and I'm asking God for an answer and I'm sensing him saying, 00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:58.000 No, I am going to give you this answer. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:00.000 This one's by faith. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.000 But I'm so glad he was having this conversation so that I stopped asking. 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:12.000 It was almost like him telling Moses, Listen, I know you want to go into the promised land, but I just want you to stop this conversation because you ain't going. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:13.000 And Moses drops it. 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:18.000 He's missing out on one of the 649 lottery he's missing out on. 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:21.000 But that was the end of that conversation. 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:23.000 Till then he was saying, Please, oh God, please, oh God. 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:25.000 And I'm driving down and I'm saying, I need an answer. 00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:28.000 If you can tell me, if you can show me some signs so that I know that I can go. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:31.000 And his thing is, Sorry. 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:38.000 And then as if he needed to convince me, he has one of these buses go right in front of me and it's not in service. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:41.000 And there's this sorry flashing like crazy. 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:43.000 And I'm saying, OK, I get it, Father, I get it. 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:45.000 So you're not going to give me an answer on this one. 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:51.000 And he says, Yep, I've told you, you know the promises and you know the word with regard to what you're asking. 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:55.000 Walk by faith because you ain't getting no sign. 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:59.000 I'm thinking to myself, What a brilliant parent. 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:03.000 And it wouldn't have mattered how often I went asking him. 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:13.000 The one arm that you can't twist is his right arm. 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:14.000 Boundaries. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:16.000 The next wrestling. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:23.000 The next wrestling is wrestling with God and the prophetic word that may have been spoken over you. 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:26.000 And you wrestle with him to change. 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:28.000 You wrestle with him to change. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:34.000 Obviously, it's in Genesis 32, 24, where there's that scene where Jacob is wrestling with God. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:37.000 And in the process, his name is changed from Jacob to Israel. 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:49.000 So the second wrestling that you have to take into 2022 is wrestling with the promises of God and wrestling with God himself because his word is him. 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:52.000 Wrestling with the promises of God. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:14:01.000 And this is such a, such a, I find it very difficult to hold on to what God is saying about me. 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:05.000 I find it very difficult. 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:16.000 Because most of the things that he says about us are so not within our scope, so beyond us, that it is very difficult to think like that. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:21.000 I struggle with it. 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:28.000 And in 1 Timothy 1, 18, it says, and this is Paul talking to Timothy, and Paul says to Timothy, 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:34.000 Hey Timothy, I want you to call to remembrance the prophetic words spoken over you. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:38.000 Because you will be able to fight a good war with those prophetic words. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.000 Hey, am I losing out on battery? 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:42.000 Or am I good? 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:46.000 Okay, can I have a little more volume, please? 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:54.000 Yeah, so he says, Timothy, I want you to remember or call to remembrance the prophetic words that I spoke over you. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:15:00.000 And I want you to call to remembrance those words so that you can fight a good war, that you can fight this war well. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.000 And so there is this thing that we need to recognize. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:15.000 One, that when we look at the words spoken over us by God prophetically, directly through the written word, that you cannot fight well. 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:19.000 You cannot fight well till you... 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:23.000 Hey, now I'm too loud. 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:26.000 You might have to reduce it some. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:39.000 You cannot fight well till you are changed by the word spoken. 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:43.000 You cannot fight well till you are changed by the word spoken. 00:15:43.000 --> 00:16:08.000 And you cannot fight or walk in divine time, in divine timeframes, till you are changed by God and his word. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:16.000 Both are important. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:23.000 So this is one of my biggest struggles when I think of the things God says about me, about the church. 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:31.000 They are so ludicrous, in a sense, so impossible, so beyond me and beyond the ability of this church. 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:40.000 I think that to me, things said to me regarding Jacob, or things said to me regarding Acts 29, that you have to wrestle with it. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:43.000 It is in wrestling that you are changed. 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:45.000 And you don't wrestle with it once every month. 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:48.000 You don't wrestle with it once every three months. 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:50.000 You don't wrestle with it once every year. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:52.000 You wrestle with it on a regular basis. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:54.000 Because it is in the wrestling that you are changed. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.000 And if you don't wrestle, you will not be changed. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:00.000 I'm not talking about a promise of provision or healing or stuff like that. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:02.000 I'm not saying that that is important too. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:10.000 But I'm talking about the person being changed or the body of Christ being changed, so much so that God can occupy the space he has created. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:12.000 God must occupy. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:16.000 For God to occupy, he must have capacity. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:20.000 For that capacity to increase, he must wrestle you. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.000 And for him to wrestle you, you must be a willing combatant. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:36.000 And I think of some of the words spoken over some of you. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:40.000 I look at you now and I think to myself, you ain't going to make it. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:42.000 You ain't going to make it, Emily. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:44.000 You ain't going to make it, Evan. 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:46.000 You ain't going to make it, Pawan, for sure. 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:48.000 You ain't going to make it, Nick. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:50.000 Impossible. 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:04.000 And if you think this can happen in isolation, I want to say to you, it ain't going to happen in isolation. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:08.000 Because God always uses people to shape you. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:10.000 Iron sharpens iron. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:13.000 I want to say this to you, Pawan, very straight. 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:21.000 If you do not find a way to be part of this body in a very organic flesh to flesh fashion, 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:26.000 regardless of your time schedule and your work schedule and your college schedule, 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:29.000 you're going to lose out and you're going to miss your window. 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:31.000 It'll come again. 00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:32.000 It'll come again. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:33.000 But it will not be there for you. 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:34.000 That's the first thing. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:39.000 The second thing is, and it's very strange I'm saying this to you in a public setting, 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:45.000 you have to begin to believe that you can trust me and you do not need to be suspicious of me. 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:51.000 And when you get those two things right, in a matter of months, you will rock it. 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:56.000 I'm saying it directly to you so that it's very clearly heard. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:00.000 Because now both you and I are responsible. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:05.000 And it's a good thing because I've rarely met people with as much potential as you. 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:07.000 I'm saying that publicly too. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:21.000 Yeah, wrestling with God is God usually wrestles with his by sending his word and say, 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:23.000 here, this is what I think of you. 00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:25.000 This is how I want to change your mind. 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:27.000 This is what I want you to become. 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:29.000 Here is what I'm saying over you. 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:31.000 That begins the process. 00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:38.000 You don't have to limp for the rest of your life if you accept the process early. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:41.000 The reason Jacob limped is because he refused to change. 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:48.000 He had to be caught aside at J-Bach and God had to fight him. 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:54.000 He knew right from when he was born that he was second and yet he was first. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:56.000 He knew he would be the inheritor. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:00.000 But he had his own conniving ways and so there was this fight. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:07.000 But what happens is when the word is sent forth, the best thing is to now have it shape you. 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:08.000 Have it wrestle you. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:10.000 Have you wrestle with it. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:11.000 Because what are we trying to change? 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:14.000 We are trying to change this. 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:17.000 And everything around us is screaming otherwise. 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:22.000 Everything around us is screaming otherwise. 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:27.000 I look at the word that God says and I look at myself and they don't match. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:32.000 I look at what God says about Acts 29 and I look at Acts 29 and they don't match. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:35.000 I look at what God says and I look at my bank account. 00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:40.000 They don't match. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:48.000 And God is rubbing his hands and saying exactly I have you where I want you. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:52.000 That is the wrestling. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:54.000 Okay so let me give you an example. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:01.000 Let's say there was a direct word from God that you cannot doubt which very clearly says hey Diana, 00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:07.000 you are going to go to most of the South Asian countries in the next three years. 00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:11.000 And you are going to set up a school system for them. 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:16.000 That will not only educate them academically but that will make them spiritual giants. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:20.000 And it's going to happen before the end of 2026. 00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:28.000 And God says you can start in Feb. 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:30.000 Feb 1st is your launch date. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:33.000 What are you going to do man? 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:35.000 Run the other direction. 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:37.000 Run the other direction exactly. 00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:39.000 That is exactly what happens to us. 00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:41.000 We begin to run the other direction. 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:43.000 Now you have to wrestle with the word. 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:45.000 Not just with the prophetic word. 00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:48.000 Now that you have the prophetic word you have to take the rest of the written word too. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:50.000 And you have to wrestle with it. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:52.000 You have to look at all the other things that you are learning. 00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:59.000 And you have to wrestle with it because Diana has less than three years to change the shape of schools 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:02.000 in many South Asian countries in three years. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:04.000 How are you going to do it? 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:10.000 I am grateful that that is not a word for me. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:18.000 If you get that same book from the prophetic word, how will you make it more specific? 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:21.000 I know that if I run I will be swallowed by a whale. 00:22:21.000 --> 00:22:25.000 So I know that is not a good choice because I don't want to. 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.000 So now the question is, okay Father I don't believe this so help me. 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:32.000 And therefore I will start reading it every day. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:34.000 Therefore I will rewrite it. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:37.000 Therefore I will speak it and record it and play it in the car. 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:42.000 Therefore I will buy things and set myself up so that I see it wherever I go. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:44.000 I cannot escape it. 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:49.000 Then I will go tell two or three people that won't laugh at me or will laugh at me and then won't laugh at me. 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:52.000 So that they begin to remind me. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:58.000 And then I tell four or five other people that I know may want to laugh at me but will not because they respect me. 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:04.000 And so I begin to say the more I say the more I get comfortable with the fact that oh my God you actually believe this. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:09.000 And then I get thoroughly discouraged because nothing is happening. 00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:11.000 And then I go back to the whole process again. 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:14.000 Till one day you see small glimpses of it. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:18.000 And now you have gotten to a point where you actually begin to believe it. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:26.000 And then after two years of believing, God does in three months of 2026 what he wants in Diana's life. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:27.000 In three months. Why? 00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:36.000 Because I don't know which president said it but it takes 10 hours to sharpen the axe and one hour to chop down the tree. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:41.000 The sharpening of the axe is the process of wrestling. 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:45.000 Bringing the tree down is super easy. 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:48.000 The sharpening of the axe is the wrestling. 00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:04.000 It's important that I do that as quickly as I can so that I do it within divine time frames. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:14.000 It's possible to miss divine time frames which then makes your work harder because within a certain time frame it's easier to do stuff. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:20.000 Salting the place before the snow falls usually makes it easier. 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:26.000 As James would give, if James were to tell you, he would tell you that. 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:32.000 Or he wouldn't tell you that. 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:38.000 So divine time frames and then changed by the words spoken of. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:44.000 Next one. The next wrestling is wrestling with spiritual forces of darkness. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:46.000 Wrestling with spiritual forces of darkness. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:48.000 Wrestling with spiritual forces of darkness. 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:54.000 These are things that we are taking into 2022. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:57.000 These are things that we are taking into 2022. 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:06.000 What I've been doing for the last two days, I've been rewriting everything. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:09.000 I cannot find it easy to believe right now. 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:13.000 I've been rewriting it. Going over it, listening to it again and again. 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:18.000 Wrestling with spiritual forces of darkness. 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:23.000 Have you identified the demons and the Goliaths that have been assigned to you? 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:28.000 Not by God. God can use them to your advantage and to his advantage. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:34.000 But have you identified the demons and the Goliaths that have been assigned to bring you down? 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:39.000 Have you identified the Delilahs that have been sent to bring you down? 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:47.000 It's very easy to identify them because they have been having degrees of success in your life. 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:49.000 That's how you identify them. 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:54.000 What are the Goliaths in 2021 that sent you scurrying into your foxhole? 00:25:54.000 --> 00:26:02.000 What are the Delilahs that you laid your head on her lap for a while while she shaved your locks off? 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:07.000 What are the demons that have been assigned to you that seem to have a degree of success 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:13.000 because they have this ability to come at a time when you're doing well or not doing well 00:26:13.000 --> 00:26:16.000 and pull you down further or knock you off your horse? 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:23.000 What are these demons that have been assigned to block your progress in the kingdom? 00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:36.000 What is it? Was it laziness? Was it fear? Was it mediocrity? Was it lust? Was it isolation? 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:43.000 Was it discouragement? Was it aloneness? Was it shame? Was it anger? 00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:50.000 Was it being an authority unto yourself? Was it self-centeredness? What was it? 00:26:50.000 --> 00:27:00.000 I think I've had all of these things happen to me at some point or the other. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:05.000 But a Goliath does not leave till he's knocked down with a stone. 00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.000 Goliath turns up every morning and evening as long as he's successful. 00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:20.000 Now one day he gets a stone between his eyes and he never comes back again. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:26.000 It's not hard to identify these Goliaths and these demonic forces that are assigned against you 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:39.000 because you identify them based on the success or the degree of success they've had. 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:44.000 Any questions on that one? These are the wrestlings we'll be taking into 2022. 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:54.000 But what if in the first few days of 2022 we deliver a death blow? 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:58.000 Same question there, Jacob. How do you deal with them? 00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:02.000 How do you deal with them? One of the ways I deal with them is first saying, 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:08.000 okay, Father, why are they having so much success against me? 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:15.000 Sure, let's say it's a sinful thing. Yeah, but why are they having so much success against me? 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:21.000 Guys, remember this thing. Sin has strength because of habits that I have. 00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:35.000 Sin loses its ability to spring a snare that traps me when I destroy the habits that lead me to places where these snares are set. 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:40.000 So my question to God then is, why is it that I'm not able to believe? 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.000 Why is it that I always fall in this area? Why? What is it? 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:55.000 And he begins to expose. Sometimes it's one simple thing, sometimes it's multiple things. 00:28:55.000 --> 00:29:02.000 Most things that we do wrong can be avoided by a changing of habit, really. 00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:07.000 When you read Proverbs 6, it tells you how to avoid the other woman or the prostitute. 00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:16.000 Do not go wandering down that lane, Jacob, because she stands at the crossroads calling out to every simpleton who is willing to walk into her pathway. 00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:21.000 And she has a table spread out. I'm not talking about just lust right now. I'm talking about any sin. 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:33.000 She has a table spread out and she says, come. And like a fool being led to the slaughter, the simpleton walks in and before he knows. 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:36.000 It's habits. 00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:46.000 Where's my phone? 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:10.000 I'm trying to find this bit where one of the areas that God said to me, you need to change in this. 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:21.000 You've got to be more disciplined, Jacob. If you don't, he gave me first Corinthians 9, 24 to 27, where Paul talks about not shadow boxing, not beating the air simply, but being disciplined. 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:32.000 And then he began to point out areas in my life where I need to live a disciplined life in certain areas so that I'll have greater success. 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:45.000 And that the reason I am not having success in areas or I'm failing in areas is because in these areas, Jacob, you are not disciplined. 00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:51.000 You may be gifted enough to pull it off, but you fail because you are not disciplined. 00:30:57.000 --> 00:30:59.000 Pardon? 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:01.000 Up? 00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:08.000 What if it's a fear? Hey, can you turn on the heat? I think it's gone off. I'm feeling cold even though I'm preaching. 00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:22.000 These guys who go skiing, they're so blooming frozen that they don't realize. 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:25.000 It goes off? 00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:28.000 It boils in the nursery. 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:32.000 Too bad, Phoebe. 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:35.000 Pardon? 00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:42.000 Which went? Oh, the nursery went. Thought you had left some door open. 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:46.000 That answers Don's question. Moving on. Sorry, Don, what was your question? 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:51.000 So if it's not a habit, right? If it's a fear, then there's no habit. It's more like an intent. 00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:56.000 Yeah, so if it's a fear, then I'll have to create habits that bring courage. 00:31:56.000 --> 00:32:03.000 So it's not always a habit that may cause something to happen, but a habit can create what is required to beat that. 00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:09.000 So for instance, if it's a fear, then I have to create a habit that will cause me to be courageous. 00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:16.000 Whatever that habit be, is it to confront the fear? I remember this was such a crazy thing I used to do when I was your age, 18, right? 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:31.000 And so there was this corridor in the uni that I used to study in that was haunted by a supposed ghost that nobody would go there. 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:42.000 I wasn't a believer, but I thought, gotta go deal with this. Can't be afraid of it, because every time I used to go that way, I used to feel very scared. 00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:49.000 So one night I decided I'll take my pillow. It's super dark, and I take my pillow and I go there and I decide I'll sleep there for one hour. 00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:57.000 You don't know how scared I was. And I'm telling myself, this is not real. Don't be afraid. This is not real. Don't be afraid. 00:32:57.000 --> 00:33:02.000 It was pointless because I was trying to beat something by trying to think a certain way. 00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:11.000 But with God it's different because fear can be dealt with with a word that begins to change this, change this, and affects your spirit. It's not willpower. 00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:26.000 But the thing is, I can create new habits to escape snares like fear, escape snares like loneliness, escape snares like idleness, escape snares like self-pity, escape snares like control. 00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:29.000 I can build new habits to overcome these things. 00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:37.000 One of the ways you build habits is by going telling Nick, Nick, in this area I'm struggling and I'm going to build new habits. 00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:46.000 Building habits on your own without telling anybody about it, nobody will know when you stop building them. And nobody will examine what you're building. 00:33:56.000 --> 00:34:07.000 We find it so hard to go tell somebody that we're building a new habit or trying to take down an old fortress. We find it so hard. 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:18.000 There is a reason why there is a scripture in the Bible that says, confess your sins to each other for your healing. 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:24.000 I'm not saying come and stand here and confess it. But it is important. 00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:36.000 Sorry? 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:47.000 Most of us don't have experience being accountable to others for us building habits. So I know that you're accountable. How does that work? How do we get people on board to do that? 00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:14.000 I'm finding him trustworthy. Now that I've told him the actual dimensions of my struggle, I'll see whether he says anything back. 00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:23.000 Assuming that he's older and wiser or younger and wiser, he now begins to tell me things. I now begin to have conversations with him about it. 00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:31.000 This is not some kind of accountability deal because those things really suck. This is completely relational. 00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:36.000 Completely relational. 00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:46.000 Where now we begin to talk to each other and I'm finding that in just talking to him, I'm finding someone I can trust who I can really begin to say things to. 00:35:46.000 --> 00:35:52.000 Maybe I find one or two other people because there might be more wisdom than just with him. 00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:59.000 And so now Nick and him know, but they have this desire to see me do better. 00:35:59.000 --> 00:36:03.000 Now I begin to improve. 00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:13.000 It begins there. It's a hard thing to do. For a pastor, it's even harder. 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:23.000 Healers are some of the most toxic people in the world because they only go to Jesus. I know that sounds like a terrible sentence. 00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:31.000 Pastors and healers are some of the most toxic people in the world because they only go to Jesus. They don't have anybody here on earth to go to. 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:47.000 Sounds like a terrible thing to say because isn't Jesus supposed to heal? Yes, he heals. But certain things need to be spoken. Otherwise, Jesus wouldn't say confess your sins one to another so that you may be healed. 00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:57.000 God could provide rain without clouds, but he chooses to provide clouds before he provides rain. 00:36:57.000 --> 00:37:03.000 There are certain systems he's arranged. You can't go around them. There's nothing you can do about it. 00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:09.000 Just the way he set it up. He's wise. Oh, sorry. 00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:13.000 Okay, the next one is... 00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:17.000 Sorry, what if you're walking in someone and maybe they go away somewhere? 00:37:17.000 --> 00:37:21.000 Yeah, you just told that before they go, you change. 00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:25.000 What do you do after? 00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:31.000 Yeah, then you start looking again. 00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:37.000 The idea is not to have this relationship go on forever. The idea is that you keep getting better. 00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:43.000 You keep getting better. 00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:49.000 Mothers find it very difficult when their daughters don't come and tell them their problems anymore. 00:37:49.000 --> 00:37:55.000 Thank God. Because the problems are not there. 00:37:55.000 --> 00:38:01.000 Manoj, I'm sure you're writing down notes and reading the word. 00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:07.000 I'm sorry. 00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:13.000 I'm sorry. 00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:19.000 I'm sorry. 00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:25.000 Next one. 00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.000 Next one. 00:38:29.000 --> 00:38:33.000 Sorry, Manoj. It was very obvious. 00:38:33.000 --> 00:38:37.000 Next one. 00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:41.000 Wrestling off any sin that holds tightly. 00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:49.000 It's such a myth that on the 31st, if you pray enough, the sin won't follow you into 2022. 00:38:49.000 --> 00:38:57.000 Sheldon, if this water was hot, thank you. 00:38:57.000 --> 00:39:05.000 Don't breathe on it. 00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.000 I was kind of suspicious when you brought the water so quickly. 00:39:09.000 --> 00:39:13.000 Thanks anyways. 00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:17.000 Wrestling off any sin that holds tightly. 00:39:17.000 --> 00:39:23.000 We think that if you promise God enough, tomorrow everything will be taken care of. 00:39:23.000 --> 00:39:29.000 Unfortunately, taken from a guy who's older than you, that it doesn't work that way. 00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:33.000 Wrestling off any sin that holds tightly. 00:39:33.000 --> 00:39:41.000 What I want to ask 29, as in you guys and I should do, is in 2022, in the areas of our sin, we should, 00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:49.000 I know this sounds terrible, these two words really don't go together, we should invite discipline. 00:39:49.000 --> 00:39:56.000 We should invite discipline. As in God, could you discipline me if I continue in these sins? 00:39:56.000 --> 00:40:02.000 We should invite discipline. 00:40:02.000 --> 00:40:12.000 How much longer do you want to continue this? Is it in time to stop? It's been years. 00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:30.000 I mean I said this two, three weeks ago, I was surprised that there are ways that I have... 00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:35.000 That's the kind of water that David would like to pour out, but I won't. 00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:43.000 Thanks though. 00:40:43.000 --> 00:40:47.000 So invite discipline. So what does invite discipline look like? 00:40:47.000 --> 00:40:58.000 Initially it looked like instruction, then it looked like correction, then it looked like pruning. 00:40:58.000 --> 00:41:06.000 Then it happens with the word. Then it goes to warning. 00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:14.000 Then it goes to unpleasant consequences. 00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:37.000 All with the intent of breaking you out of sin that is ruining you and your relationship with God 00:41:37.000 --> 00:41:46.000 and ruining God's purpose through you. 00:41:46.000 --> 00:41:53.000 Invite discipline. 00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:57.000 And it all comes from a father, so it's never meant to destroy you. 00:41:57.000 --> 00:42:06.000 I think Acts 29 can come to a place where having been taught, having been shown patience by God for years, 00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:12.000 I should invite discipline saying, Father, I'm tired of... Someone came here and said, I think it was Nick or someone, 00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:16.000 I'm tired of living any other kind of life. I just want to be all yours. 00:42:16.000 --> 00:42:24.000 So if there are these things that come up, please, oh God, I invite your discipline because you're a good, good father. 00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:30.000 And it always begins with instruction, then it goes to correction, then it goes to rebuke. 00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:37.000 I forgot to put rebuke. Then it goes to pruning and pruning as in the trimming away a branch so it produces more fruit. 00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:40.000 All done by the word. Then it goes to warning. 00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:59.000 Then it goes to unpleasant consequences that stop us, like Balaam was stopped by an angel with a drawn sword. 00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:01.000 What is pruning? 00:43:01.000 --> 00:43:05.000 Pruning is... I mean, take it from an expert gardener. 00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:13.000 Pruning is when you have to take away the old leaves and... What's pruning, guys? I've got no idea. 00:43:13.000 --> 00:43:17.000 All I know is that you basically chop things away. 00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:22.000 Yeah, branches and dead twigs or whatever and then it comes there and you shoot it. 00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:25.000 That's exactly what I was saying. 00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.000 And so what happens in the process of pruning is it produces more fruit. 00:43:29.000 --> 00:43:37.000 So God begins to take away that which is dead, that which is decaying, that which is old and says, okay. 00:43:37.000 --> 00:43:44.000 And sometimes pruning is a little painful because it requires cutting away things that are not necessary. 00:43:44.000 --> 00:43:46.000 Sometimes it's cutting away green things. 00:43:46.000 --> 00:43:52.000 Yeah, sometimes it's cutting away green things so that it can be greener. 00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:57.000 The purpose is to so that the energy is focused towards the things that need to be cut. 00:43:57.000 --> 00:44:01.000 Yeah. Everyone's an expert on gardening suddenly. 00:44:01.000 --> 00:44:06.000 So I garden, so then I want more branches. 00:44:06.000 --> 00:44:14.000 The plant is shooting up this way, growing this way, so I prune the top and stuff from the sides and then I prune again. 00:44:14.000 --> 00:44:20.000 So from one it becomes two, two to four and then I get more yield, higher yield. 00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:23.000 There you go. 00:44:23.000 --> 00:44:26.000 What are the most important terms in real life that looks like this? 00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:34.000 In real life it would be, hey Nick, you keep wasting your time in this area, so let's just cut that off. 00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:37.000 No Jacob, but I don't want to. This is my favorite thing to do. 00:44:37.000 --> 00:44:41.000 I've been doing it for 34 years. How old are you? I don't know. 00:44:41.000 --> 00:44:49.000 But I've been doing this for 34 years and so now there's a cutting off and it's unpleasant. You don't want to do it. 00:44:49.000 --> 00:44:55.000 Pruning is correction with a little more strength. 00:44:55.000 --> 00:45:03.000 It's something that he does with his word and through his word, sometimes directly, sometimes through people. 00:45:08.000 --> 00:45:15.000 I remember telling a great example of pruning and I'm sure Diana won't mind. 00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.000 Not that I'm asking, but I'm sure she won't mind. 00:45:19.000 --> 00:45:26.000 There was a time where for six months I told Diana, you cannot ask a single question. 00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:32.000 For six months she didn't ask a question. For three months she didn't ask a question. 00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:35.000 Maybe I wanted to say six, I ended up saying three. 00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:37.000 For three months she didn't ask a question. 00:45:37.000 --> 00:45:48.000 And it was a discipline. Not in a harsh way, but in a way that would change certain ways of thinking, change certain habits and she stuck with it. 00:45:48.000 --> 00:45:51.000 Go ahead. 00:45:51.000 --> 00:45:53.000 Can I add a thing? 00:45:53.000 --> 00:45:55.000 Yes. 00:45:55.000 --> 00:46:03.000 Jacob also gave me this challenge of having more questions. He did say I could ask him later if I still had the time. 00:46:03.000 --> 00:46:05.000 Yes. 00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:13.000 But what happened as a result though, is that others started asking questions and it was wonderful. I didn't have to ask anymore. 00:46:13.000 --> 00:46:18.000 Yes. But after three months she returned. 00:46:19.000 --> 00:46:26.000 No, you're much better. But thank God you're going to South Asia now for three years. 00:46:26.000 --> 00:46:33.000 So here's just another question on the side. What is the one thing you need to sell? 00:46:33.000 --> 00:46:41.000 What is the one thing you need to sell? Mark 10, 21. Jesus said to the ruler, one thing you lack, go sell it if you really want to follow me. 00:46:41.000 --> 00:46:45.000 Go sell it if you really want to follow me. Mark 10, 21. 00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:51.000 What is the one thing you need to sell that will help you follow him better? 00:46:51.000 --> 00:47:05.000 Is it pride? Is it indiscipline? Is it lack of discipline? Is it your sense of privacy and self-preservation? 00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:10.000 What is the one thing that if you sell will help you follow him better? 00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:20.000 I pray God that you find time to go through these lists because the advantage I have is I go through these lists before I present it to you. 00:47:23.000 --> 00:47:25.000 Next one. 00:47:26.000 --> 00:47:31.000 Wrestling to enter rest. Wrestling to enter rest. 00:47:31.000 --> 00:47:40.000 It's something that I hope you've been trying in 2021 and that you will try and continue to excel in in 2022. 00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:58.000 The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 4 to 11 or thereabouts, that strive or wrestle to enter into rest. 00:48:01.000 --> 00:48:05.000 Strive or wrestle to enter into rest. 00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:16.000 Most of us have to wrestle against things that prevent you from entering rest. 00:48:16.000 --> 00:48:22.000 God is at rest, as in, he's got everything under control. 00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:27.000 There's nothing that I need to tinker with in terms of what he's doing in my life. 00:48:27.000 --> 00:48:34.000 But circumstances around me can create resentment, create travail, create turbulence. 00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:46.000 One of the areas that you find yourself constantly flailing, one of the areas in my life where despite years of being a believer, 00:48:46.000 --> 00:48:52.000 despite all the promises of the word of God that I know, despite seeing his goodness every year, 00:48:52.000 --> 00:49:00.000 one of the areas in my life where as soon as those things happen, it provokes a lot of flailing, a lot of what do I do now, 00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:05.000 a lot of this is how I can handle it, a lot of my own strength, my own effort, my own human thinking. 00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:13.000 What are those areas? In those areas, I must wrestle to enter into rest because it's those areas that will always be touched. 00:49:13.000 --> 00:49:21.000 Why is it that in certain parts of my life, I cannot put my head on a pillow and go to sleep in the middle of a storm? 00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:27.000 Why? Man, we are meant for this. We are meant to be storm sleepers. 00:49:27.000 --> 00:49:34.000 This is how we are a distinct people. We sleep in a storm. 00:49:34.000 --> 00:49:42.000 Remember that teaching from long ago, you begin by hiding yourself in the cleft of the rock. 00:49:42.000 --> 00:49:50.000 That's how all Christians begin. When you're scared, run, hide in the cleft of the rock. 00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:56.000 That's where you begin. But then you begin to sleep in a storm. That's the next stage. 00:49:56.000 --> 00:50:02.000 Where you have this ability to sleep in a storm and the third one is you run towards Goliath. 00:50:02.000 --> 00:50:12.000 It's not even trying to stay calm in a bad situation. It is, ah, a bad situation. I must run towards it. 00:50:12.000 --> 00:50:19.000 So the question is, what are the storms in your life that seem to always get you? 00:50:19.000 --> 00:50:24.000 What are the storms that cause you to bail out water? 00:50:24.000 --> 00:50:31.000 Causes you to turn to Jesus and say, where are you? 00:50:31.000 --> 00:50:36.000 In those areas, I must make an effort to enter into rest. 00:50:36.000 --> 00:50:40.000 Wrestle to enter into rest. Trive to enter into rest. 00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:47.000 Instead of the usual resentment, let there be transformation. 00:50:47.000 --> 00:50:55.000 These are hard things, man. These are hard things. But my God, I want to take a hard thing and make it easy in 2022. 00:50:55.000 --> 00:51:00.000 What are the areas? 00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:07.000 Two more. 00:51:07.000 --> 00:51:16.000 Just remember that because Satan knows patterns and operates by patterns, he always uses the same patterns again and again. 00:51:16.000 --> 00:51:21.000 Satan knows patterns. He knows your father's patterns. He knows your grandfather's patterns. 00:51:21.000 --> 00:51:31.000 He'll offer you the same bait every generation to see whether what your grandfather and father did can now be thrown at you and you might take the bait. 00:51:31.000 --> 00:51:45.000 He knows patterns. He knows cultural patterns. He knows denominational patterns. 00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:53.000 And so when he sees a pattern with Jacob, he is not able to walk in rest like he walks in other areas. 00:51:53.000 --> 00:51:58.000 What is it? Is it finances? Is it fear? Is it sickness? 00:51:58.000 --> 00:52:04.000 What is the area in your life where you immediately go into Jacob mode? Coping mechanisms. 00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:07.000 Coping mechanisms are great when you're beginning as a Christian. 00:52:07.000 --> 00:52:17.000 Coping mechanisms should disappear as you continue your walk. 00:52:17.000 --> 00:52:21.000 Abraham had coping mechanisms. He transferred them to Isaac. 00:52:21.000 --> 00:52:26.000 She is not my wife. She is my sister. She is not my wife. She is my sister. 00:52:26.000 --> 00:52:34.000 A generation later. 00:52:34.000 --> 00:52:40.000 Next one. Wrestling with the Spirit. I love this one. 00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:57.000 Looking forward to this. Wrestling with the Spirit. Wrestling with the Spirit. 00:52:57.000 --> 00:53:02.000 You must enter the New Year wrestling with the Spirit. 00:53:02.000 --> 00:53:05.000 What do you mean wrestling with the Spirit? 00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:13.000 In Ezekiel 47 verse 5, it says that if you continue walking with the Spirit. 00:53:13.000 --> 00:53:18.000 I mean I loved what Miguel was saying. Miguel, what he said really touched my heart, man. 00:53:18.000 --> 00:53:26.000 What he was saying was, oh God, where the wind comes we do not know. Where the wind goes we do not know. 00:53:26.000 --> 00:53:31.000 We thank you for the Spirit of God that you will carry us. 00:53:31.000 --> 00:53:34.000 Wrestling with the Spirit. Ezekiel 47 verse 5. 00:53:34.000 --> 00:53:41.000 It says that the water got to a point where you could not walk anymore. 00:53:41.000 --> 00:53:53.000 Could not walk anymore. You either drowned in it or you lost track of the ground. 00:53:53.000 --> 00:53:59.000 Wrestling with the Spirit is when the Spirit of God takes away your control. 00:53:59.000 --> 00:54:06.000 And now after he takes away your control, you begin to hold on to him for dear life and you surrender to him. 00:54:06.000 --> 00:54:13.000 You do not try to accommodate him. You absolutely surrender to him and let him carry you. 00:54:13.000 --> 00:54:23.000 And you abandon all, I mean you become undignified and you abandon and surrender and you get carried to wherever he wants to carry you. 00:54:23.000 --> 00:54:30.000 John 21 verse 18. This is how it says it. 00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.000 When you were a child you decided what you would wear and where you would go. 00:54:34.000 --> 00:54:41.000 But as you have grown older now, Jesus is saying this to Peter, you will stretch out your hands and someone will tie them. 00:54:41.000 --> 00:54:49.000 And you will wear what they tell you to wear and they will take you or carry you to places you do not want to go. 00:54:49.000 --> 00:54:55.000 This is why it's best not to wrestle with the Spirit. 00:54:55.000 --> 00:55:01.000 Because to wrestle with the Spirit is to lose your ability to walk on ground you can see. 00:55:01.000 --> 00:55:07.000 This is why it's best to be Pentecostal because you can get away with enough of the Spirit. 00:55:07.000 --> 00:55:13.000 I mean that not in a disrespectful way to Pentecostalism. 00:55:13.000 --> 00:55:26.000 But I'm saying we have used Pentecostalism as a way to be immersed in the Spirit without being ones who have lost control. 00:55:26.000 --> 00:55:32.000 And by losing control I don't mean falling backward or twitching. 00:55:32.000 --> 00:55:43.000 Losing control means losing control of deliberately choosing to lose the ability to decide with your mind and with your heart and with your feelings and your finances what you will choose to do. 00:55:43.000 --> 00:55:49.000 That's what wrestling with the Spirit will end up as. 00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:56.000 This is why it's best not to wrestle with him. 00:55:56.000 --> 00:56:01.000 Because he ain't interested in changing your name. 00:56:01.000 --> 00:56:07.000 He's interested in taking you with him wherever he wants to go. 00:56:07.000 --> 00:56:11.000 He's not interested in changing your name from Jacob to Israel. 00:56:11.000 --> 00:56:17.000 He leaves that with someone else in the triune Godhead. 00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:22.000 He's just interested in, alrighty let me take you to Calvary and beyond. 00:56:27.000 --> 00:56:35.000 Because it was the Holy Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:40.000 In those 40 days all of Israel's history was reversed. 00:56:42.000 --> 00:56:45.000 It's brilliant. 00:56:48.000 --> 00:56:54.000 It was the Holy Spirit who then set Jesus' face like flint towards the cross. 00:56:57.000 --> 00:57:05.000 Wrestle with the Holy Spirit and you lose all shred of self-determination. 00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:10.000 Self-determination is lost when you start wrestling with the Holy Spirit. 00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:19.000 So wrestle with the Spirit of God and lose your right to determine your life. 00:57:19.000 --> 00:57:22.000 Crazy eh? 00:57:22.000 --> 00:57:28.000 This is a religion and this is a God worth following. 00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:35.000 After Jesus tells Peter that someone will bind your hands and take you where you don't want to go 00:57:35.000 --> 00:57:38.000 guess what his next words are? 00:57:38.000 --> 00:57:41.000 Follow me. 00:57:44.000 --> 00:57:47.000 Not on Twitter, like real. 00:57:51.000 --> 00:57:53.000 Paul learned this eh? 00:57:53.000 --> 00:57:57.000 In Acts chapter 20 verse 22 to 24. 00:57:57.000 --> 00:58:01.000 Paul says I know that I'm compelled to go to Jerusalem. 00:58:01.000 --> 00:58:03.000 I'm compelled to go to Rome. 00:58:03.000 --> 00:58:06.000 Agabus comes and tells him not a good idea, don't go. 00:58:06.000 --> 00:58:08.000 Acts 21. 00:58:08.000 --> 00:58:13.000 People listening to Agabus the prophet who says if you go to Jerusalem you're going to be bound. 00:58:13.000 --> 00:58:16.000 People come and say don't go, Paul don't go. 00:58:16.000 --> 00:58:18.000 Where Paul will listen? 00:58:18.000 --> 00:58:20.000 Compelled. 00:58:23.000 --> 00:58:25.000 Last one. 00:58:26.000 --> 00:58:28.000 Last one. 00:58:33.000 --> 00:58:35.000 Wrestling to Stuart. 00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:39.000 Wrestling to Stuart. 00:58:39.000 --> 00:58:42.000 And this we'll follow up on Sunday. 00:58:42.000 --> 00:58:45.000 Wrestling to Stuart. 00:58:46.000 --> 00:58:50.000 You know I was listening to the radio. 00:58:50.000 --> 00:58:56.000 The radio is for you young adults, the radio is a thing that has been forever eh? 00:58:56.000 --> 00:58:58.000 Check with your parents they'll tell you about it. 00:58:58.000 --> 00:59:00.000 It was before TV and they still have it. 00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:08.000 So I was listening to radio and it was this First Nations lady from Spokane 00:59:08.000 --> 00:59:13.000 and she runs a school called the Spokane Salish School. 00:59:14.000 --> 00:59:26.000 And here's what she found out that there were only four speakers of this particular Salish dialect left on the earth. 00:59:26.000 --> 00:59:28.000 Four. 00:59:28.000 --> 00:59:31.000 And these were elders of the tribe. 00:59:31.000 --> 00:59:37.000 And these elders are like repositories of First Nations history and culture. 00:59:38.000 --> 00:59:48.000 And if they die, that's the end of all oral history and culture that has been transferred down generations. 00:59:48.000 --> 00:59:58.000 And so this lady decides with the help of someone else here in Vancouver to revive this language 00:59:58.000 --> 01:00:02.000 and to steward this language so that it'll not die. 01:00:03.000 --> 01:00:08.000 And so she's building schools, she's building a curriculum because there's no other way to teach it. 01:00:08.000 --> 01:00:10.000 And slowly the language is coming alive. 01:00:10.000 --> 01:00:16.000 I was listening to that and I was thinking to myself, Father what is it that you have given me to steward? 01:00:16.000 --> 01:00:18.000 And what is it that you've given Acts 29 to steward? 01:00:18.000 --> 01:00:26.000 So that it does not die, but that it comes to life and more and more and more and more people get fluid in the language of the kingdom 01:00:26.000 --> 01:00:29.000 or a certain aspect of God. 01:00:29.000 --> 01:00:32.000 What is it that Acts 29 is supposed to steward? 01:00:32.000 --> 01:00:35.000 What is it that Jacob is supposed to steward? 01:00:36.000 --> 01:00:43.000 Because once you find that out, it'll both cost you and it will be something that you'll have to be responsible for. 01:00:43.000 --> 01:00:49.000 Stewardship is a great idea, but stewards are always called to account. 01:00:51.000 --> 01:00:52.000 People love the idea of stewardship. 01:00:52.000 --> 01:00:53.000 I want to be a good steward. 01:00:53.000 --> 01:00:59.000 The problem with being a good steward is the moment you decide to be a steward, your master will hold you to account. 01:00:59.000 --> 01:01:02.000 The moment you choose to be a steward, you will pay the cost. 01:01:02.000 --> 01:01:05.000 A servant does not pay the cost, a steward pays the cost. 01:01:09.000 --> 01:01:11.000 And you're called to account. 01:01:11.000 --> 01:01:16.000 I'm listening to this story and I'm thinking to myself, boy these guys are raising funds. 01:01:16.000 --> 01:01:18.000 They have a budget of 1.1 million. 01:01:18.000 --> 01:01:23.000 The two ladies, sometimes they're struggling to raise $4,500. 01:01:23.000 --> 01:01:26.000 How are they going to reach 1.1 million? 01:01:26.000 --> 01:01:28.000 They're creating an entire curriculum. 01:01:28.000 --> 01:01:35.000 I'm thinking to myself, father, what is it that this church is supposed to steward on earth so that this language does not die out? 01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:38.000 What is it that I am supposed to steward as one who is... 01:01:38.000 --> 01:01:41.000 What are you supposed to steward? 01:01:41.000 --> 01:01:43.000 And you steward it till you die. 01:01:44.000 --> 01:01:53.000 But when you die, you now have inheritors on earth that have taken what you have given to them as an inheritance that you have somehow fought to preserve. 01:01:53.000 --> 01:01:57.000 Fought the demonic, fought people, fought culture to preserve. 01:01:57.000 --> 01:02:00.000 And now you have it ready to pass on. 01:02:00.000 --> 01:02:06.000 You cannot pass on anything that you have not stewarded because you do not have the right to pass it on. 01:02:06.000 --> 01:02:11.000 You cannot pass on anything that you have not stewarded. 01:02:12.000 --> 01:02:18.000 And stewardship always costs, and stewardship requires giving an account. 01:02:18.000 --> 01:02:21.000 Therefore, it doesn't matter what you think of me. 01:02:21.000 --> 01:02:24.000 Really, that is such a great relief. 01:02:24.000 --> 01:02:28.000 It does not matter what you think of me in terms of how I steward this church. 01:02:28.000 --> 01:02:35.000 As long as I'm not doing something immoral or ungodly, it does not matter what you think of me because I am not accountable to you. 01:02:35.000 --> 01:02:40.000 I have someone that I'm accountable to who is far more accurate in his judgment than you. 01:02:48.000 --> 01:03:00.000 I didn't say that in any degree of anger, but I said that with a degree of boldness because I will not be owned by anybody except the one that I'm accountable to. 01:03:00.000 --> 01:03:03.000 That's why I said it the way I said it. 01:03:03.000 --> 01:03:10.000 Not because you guys are difficult. You're some of the nicest people I've met with 20 or 30 exceptions. 01:03:10.000 --> 01:03:12.000 I'm kidding, I'm kidding. 01:03:18.000 --> 01:03:21.000 Let's just look at a couple of scriptures and we'll stop. 01:03:21.000 --> 01:03:23.000 Second Corinthians 6. 01:03:23.000 --> 01:03:25.000 Let's try this. 01:03:30.000 --> 01:03:34.000 You should read this. Don't go to 2 Corinthians. Go to 1 Corinthians 3. 01:03:34.000 --> 01:03:36.000 No, actually no. 01:03:38.000 --> 01:03:40.000 Let's try 2 Corinthians 6. 01:03:40.000 --> 01:03:43.000 No, it's some other scripture. I can't find it. 01:03:45.000 --> 01:03:47.000 Let me just check. 01:03:47.000 --> 01:03:49.000 This is really cool scripture. 01:03:53.000 --> 01:03:56.000 Let's start with 2 Corinthians 6. 01:03:57.000 --> 01:04:02.000 3 to 13. 01:04:03.000 --> 01:04:06.000 This is what I mean by stewardship costs. 01:04:08.000 --> 01:04:13.000 We don't know what Paul is going through. We don't understand it, but let me just read it. 01:04:14.000 --> 01:04:19.000 We put no stumbling block in anyone's path so that our ministry will not be discredited. 01:04:19.000 --> 01:04:23.000 Rather, as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way. 01:04:23.000 --> 01:04:37.000 In great endurance, in troubles, hardships, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard work, sleepless nights, hunger, impurity, understanding, patience, kindness in the Holy Spirit, 01:04:37.000 --> 01:04:47.000 in sincere love, in truthful speech, in the power of God, with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left, through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report, 01:04:47.000 --> 01:05:02.000 genuine yet regarded as imposters, known yet regarded as unknown, dying yet we live on, beaten yet not killed, sorrowful yet always rejoicing, poor yet making many rich, having nothing yet possessing everything. 01:05:02.000 --> 01:05:06.000 We have spoken freely to you Corinthians and opened wide our hearts to you. 01:05:06.000 --> 01:05:10.000 We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. 01:05:10.000 --> 01:05:15.000 As a fair exchange, I speak as to my children, open wide your hearts also. 01:05:17.000 --> 01:05:19.000 It costs to steward. 01:05:20.000 --> 01:05:22.000 Go to 1 Corinthians 3. 01:05:24.000 --> 01:05:26.000 1 Corinthians 3. 01:05:27.000 --> 01:05:30.000 Verse 10 to 15. You have to give a count. 01:05:30.000 --> 01:05:34.000 If you're steward, 1 Corinthians 3, 10 to 15. 01:05:36.000 --> 01:05:43.000 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. 01:05:43.000 --> 01:05:50.000 But each one should be careful how he builds, for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 01:05:50.000 --> 01:06:00.000 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light. 01:06:00.000 --> 01:06:04.000 It will be revealed with the fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 01:06:04.000 --> 01:06:07.000 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 01:06:07.000 --> 01:06:09.000 If it is burnt up, he will suffer loss. 01:06:09.000 --> 01:06:19.000 He himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames, as in what you do with the inheritance God wants you to pass on, 01:06:19.000 --> 01:06:24.000 will be taken into account. God will say, okay, let me see how you did with it. 01:06:24.000 --> 01:06:34.000 I'll continue this on Sunday. Acts 29 must know what it's stewarding. I must know what I'm stewarding. 01:06:34.000 --> 01:06:40.000 Because once you know what you're stewarding, a strange thing happens. It happens to parents. 01:06:41.000 --> 01:06:47.000 Here is this guy who lived like a playboy, and here is this woman who didn't have a care in her life. 01:06:47.000 --> 01:06:54.000 Suddenly they get married and they're still living the same way, and then they have a child and something changes. 01:06:57.000 --> 01:07:03.000 Suddenly the woman who was drinking does not drink. The guy who was smoking doesn't smoke. 01:07:04.000 --> 01:07:09.000 They don't even smoke within the vicinity of the child. Why? 01:07:09.000 --> 01:07:14.000 Because you suddenly realize that you're stewarding something precious, and you will do anything now, 01:07:14.000 --> 01:07:19.000 because you're completely dedicated to it. Stewardship brings on an odd thing. 01:07:19.000 --> 01:07:25.000 It dedicates you. Hear me? It is not that you become dedicated to something. 01:07:25.000 --> 01:07:30.000 It dedicates you, as in you become devoted. 01:07:30.000 --> 01:07:40.000 In the Old Testament there was this idea of dedicating something, as in this belongs to you, or God, it doesn't even belong to me. 01:07:40.000 --> 01:07:47.000 Stewardship dedicates you, where you are now so committed to this thing that you have been called to steward, 01:07:47.000 --> 01:07:54.000 that you will not amend anything in your life for yourself, because everything is towards one purpose. 01:07:54.000 --> 01:07:58.000 I have to steward this and raise it. 01:07:58.000 --> 01:08:03.000 When that happens, God gets to do what he wants to do. 01:08:04.000 --> 01:08:11.000 Until that happens, we get to do what we want to do with what God has asked us to do. 01:08:14.000 --> 01:08:18.000 Cool? Any questions? 01:08:18.000 --> 01:08:20.000 No? 01:08:25.000 --> 01:08:28.000 Okay, so how do we end? 01:08:28.000 --> 01:08:30.000 What time is it? 01:08:30.000 --> 01:08:32.000 Whoa! 01:08:32.000 --> 01:08:37.000 You guys are not sleepy, you guys look so awake, I could go on for another hour. 01:08:37.000 --> 01:08:40.000 Just for a moment I saw... 01:08:40.000 --> 01:08:43.000 Oh really? Pressure? 01:08:43.000 --> 01:08:45.000 Oh really? 01:08:45.000 --> 01:08:49.000 Prashant closed his eyes for about three or four seconds, but he opened it. 01:08:49.000 --> 01:08:53.000 So it was four seconds, that's why I didn't shout euticus. 01:08:53.000 --> 01:08:54.000 Let's close. 01:08:54.000 --> 01:08:57.000 I insist we stop before ten. 01:08:57.000 --> 01:09:00.000 How do we close, Father? 01:09:00.000 --> 01:09:09.000 I'm sure your friends Jane and Linnie didn't warn you that this would go on for long, but... 01:09:09.000 --> 01:09:12.000 So how do we end? 01:09:16.000 --> 01:09:19.000 Father, is there something you want to do before we close? 01:09:19.000 --> 01:09:22.000 You got six minutes, Aba? 01:09:29.000 --> 01:09:31.000 A song would be the easiest way. 01:09:31.000 --> 01:09:35.000 Is there anything else that you want to do? 01:09:35.000 --> 01:09:38.000 Okay, so here's how we're going to end. 01:09:38.000 --> 01:09:42.000 We're going to have Prashant... No! 01:09:42.000 --> 01:09:46.000 Okay, we'll end this way, we'll have two. 01:09:46.000 --> 01:09:49.000 Clear the decks. 01:09:51.000 --> 01:09:54.000 So, we're going to have two people, 01:09:54.000 --> 01:09:57.000 and we're going to have two people, 01:09:57.000 --> 01:10:00.000 and we're going to have two people, 01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:03.000 and we're going to have two people, 01:10:04.000 --> 01:10:07.000 so first it'll be... 01:10:10.000 --> 01:10:11.000 Let's see. 01:10:11.000 --> 01:10:15.000 Yeah, it'll have to be Prashant and Pawan. 01:10:15.000 --> 01:10:18.000 We'll arm wrestle, 01:10:18.000 --> 01:10:21.000 and then whoever wins will arm wrestle James and... 01:10:21.000 --> 01:10:24.000 And then we'll have James and Don arm wrestle.