WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: No Maximum Publishing Date: 2023-09-17T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/no-maximum/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.000 When it comes to God, He said there is no maximum. 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:13.000 When it comes to God, there is no maximum. 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:17.000 There is no upper limit. There is no ceiling. 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:20.000 There is no maximum. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:22.000 If you want a title for today, that's a title. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:25.000 There is no maximum. 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:27.000 There is no measure. 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:32.000 You can't look at the Gospels or the Book of Acts and say, that's all. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:34.000 There is no maximum. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:37.000 Infinite, unlimited. 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:43.000 And in a sense, God's limitlessness underlies all His character attributes. 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:48.000 God's limitlessness underlies all His character attributes. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:54.000 You take His power, you take His knowledge, you take His love, you take His mercy. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:59.000 There is no measuring any aspect of God. 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:02.000 The problem is we measure everything. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:05.000 We measure everything. 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:14.000 And yet, I love this quote by Reinhard Bonnke, there is no maximum. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:17.000 You can somehow embrace it. 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:22.000 You can somehow embrace it. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:29.000 That regardless of how old you are or how young you are, when it comes to God, there is no maximum. 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:40.000 Not just in His words, but what He can do with you, for you, in you, through you, there is no maximum. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:47.000 There is a term that fighter pilots use, it's called kavus. 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:54.000 It means feeling and visibility. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:59.000 Unlimited. 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:02.000 That's when you have clear skies. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:05.000 There is no maximum. 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:08.000 There is no maximum. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:10.000 But are you able to embrace it? 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:17.000 And if you're not able to embrace it, if it doesn't ring true, we must ask the question, why doesn't it ring true? 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:21.000 Does Dilna want to live an unprecedented life? 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:26.000 Does he want to live a life no human being has ever lived? 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:28.000 You must ask yourself that question. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:34.000 Do you want to live a life no other human being has yet lived? 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:40.000 Not for your own sake, but for the sake of King and Kingdom. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:50.000 Everything in God is an extreme. There is no balance. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:53.000 Christians seek balance. God doesn't. 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:59.000 Everything is an extreme. 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:07.000 There is no maximum. 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:16.000 These mics are off. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:34.000 The Bible says the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:48.000 But in 1 Thessalonians we find out that that power is the Holy Spirit. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:52.000 Because it says, when we came and preached the word to you, let me read from 1 Thessalonians. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:04:13.000 1 Thessalonians 1.5. 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:15.000 1 Thessalonians 1.5. 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:24.000 It says here, for we know, brothers, loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our Gospel came to you not simply with words, 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:29.000 but also with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with deep conviction. 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:35.000 So the Gospel may be the power of God, but the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation for all human beings. 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:41.000 But we must realize that every time someone turns to God, every time you speak about God to somebody, 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:44.000 it is the sheer power of the Holy Spirit that begins to affect them. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:50.000 The words are just absolutely useless without the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:56.000 The power of the Holy Spirit is the power of God. And we possess it in His fullness. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:00.000 If you go to John 3, verse 34, it says, 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:06.000 Whenever I send anyone to represent and speak my words, I also provide them with the Spirit unlimited. 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:13.000 It's talking about Jesus. But after Jesus left, He gave us the Holy Spirit to the same measure that He has. 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:18.000 There is no junior Holy Spirit. There is no smaller measure of the Holy Spirit. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:21.000 He's a person. And in John 3, 34, it says, 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:30.000 Jacob, when I send you out to represent me and speak my words, you have the Spirit in unlimited measure, just as Jesus did. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.000 Unlimited measure. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:39.000 That is how the supernatural gospel then becomes supernatural in its works. 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:45.000 This is the stuff we know. I just want to deal with one thing and we can go home. 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:48.000 And that is... 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:56.000 Yeah, really, I can literally take the first half of this notes and tear it, because I think everything else we know. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:00.000 We don't need more teaching, right? People are saying that again and again in prayer. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.000 Didn't particularly make me happy, but I can live with that. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:13.000 So, why is... why is... why are works being held back? 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:21.000 Why are works being held back? Why is it that we are not stepping into this thing that we were crying out for? 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:28.000 Is He holding it back? Can't be. So why is it being held back? 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:33.000 Let's look at Acts chapter 4, verse 29 and 30. Acts 4, 29 and 30. 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:36.000 I'll regret having toned that up. Suddenly I want to put it back together. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:41.000 Once I did this long ago and Diana had to go and put it together, and I toned it into many small pieces. 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:48.000 She's always good at games and puzzles. For once it was useful. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:07:04.000 So, go to Acts chapter 4, verse 29 and 30. Acts chapter 4, 29 and 30. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:09.000 It says there... 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:27.000 Now, Lord, consider their threats. So let's make it consider our circumstances, or consider my circumstances. 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:32.000 Then it goes on to say enable. But before it says enable, it calls us a certain name. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:36.000 It says enable your servants. So it talks about servants. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:44.000 The actual word used there is dulos, which actually means slaves. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:59.000 Consider my circumstances. And we as your servants, could you please enable or empower us? 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:24.000 Could you please enable or empower us to speak your words with great boldness? 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:34.000 That's a prayer, eh? That's verse 29. Acts 4, 29. Consider my circumstances. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:37.000 Whatever your circumstances may be. Sometimes you're afraid at work. 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:42.000 Sometimes you and I are too concerned with our reputation. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:47.000 Sometimes we lack the courage. Sometimes we are just cowards. 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:50.000 Sometimes we don't have the words to say. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:58.000 Sometimes speaking up might cause us to lose dignity or lose our jobs, lose money. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:02.000 Sometimes it's just plain inconvenience. Sometimes it's laziness. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:05.000 Sometimes it's beating around the bush. 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:10.000 There's a market trend right now. And the market trend is very simple. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:16.000 Man is at the center. What can your God do to help? 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:25.000 J.I. Packer put it that way. Packer said that it is no longer God at the center and God's ways towards man. 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:32.000 It is man at the center. And what can your God offer to help man's problems? 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:39.000 That's how it works. And you and I are under that pressure, eh? 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:43.000 Never able to say things straight out like God wants it said. 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:49.000 Always kowtowing, always going around. 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:52.000 So whatever my circumstance may be. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:55.000 I was thinking of the three things that God put his finger on in my life. 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:59.000 And it was convenience. 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:11.000 So one was convenience. The other one was a reticence or a hesitation to lose all dignity for the sake of Christ. 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:15.000 As in lose reputation, lose sophistication, lose dignity. 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:20.000 Be probably laughed at. Be mocked. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:26.000 To lose my dignity or my reputation completely and convenience are the two things that God put his finger on. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:36.000 What was it for you? Don't say it. I'm just telling you. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:39.000 And so whatever your circumstances be, consider your circumstances. 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:42.000 Second, know that you're a servant. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:51.000 First Thessalonians 2 verse 4 talks about how everybody in this room, if you're a believer, 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:56.000 you've been appointed as a servant and entrusted with the gospel. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:01.000 You have been appointed as a servant and entrusted with the gospel by whom? By God. 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:06.000 Now think of this. He actually appoints you and entrusts you because he thinks you're able. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:11.000 He's not saying one day when you qualify. 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:22.000 He's saying I appoint you, Aaron, and I entrust you with the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:25.000 And the word used there is actually doulos, which is slave, not even servants. 00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:27.000 For Jesus, the holy servant, it's a different word. 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:31.000 For us, it's doulos, which is basically slave, which is a little lower than servants. 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:36.000 Not a term we like using right now. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:40.000 So consider your circumstances, understand your servants. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:45.000 And once you understand your servants, you're crying out to God saying, can you enable me or empower me? 00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:51.000 Can you enable me or empower me? To do what? To speak your words. 00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:56.000 To do what? To speak your words. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:01.000 How? With great boldness. That's a prayer. 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:04.000 Speak your words. 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:12.000 It is not possible to speak his words in a crisis. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:16.000 Speak his words, speak your words, speak words to someone sitting by the side of the road. 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:21.000 Speak words to someone you bump into and you begin to feel the sense that you have to do something. 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:25.000 It's not possible to do that till we practice because boldness has to be practiced. 00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:28.000 Someone asked me what's the difference between boldness and courage. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:37.000 Courage is the ability to...the way I explain the term is boldness is the expression of what courage decides to do. 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:41.000 Boldness is the expression of what courage decides to do. 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:44.000 So if you want a definition for boldness, here it is. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:46.000 Boldness is not a personality trait. 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:50.000 So please don't think that because you're introverted, because you're shy, 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:56.000 because you grow up in a culture where it's better to stay quiet, 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:01.000 or because you think a woman should have a certain place or a man should have a certain place, 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:04.000 boldness is not a personality trait. 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:08.000 So there's nobody here who can claim that as your Fifth Amendment. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:11.000 Boldness is not a personality trait. 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:14.000 So let me define boldness according to God. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:31.000 Boldness is acting with courage, acting with courage by the power of the Spirit 00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:52.000 on an urgent conviction in the face of resistance or opposition. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:54.000 That's what boldness is. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:14:02.000 Boldness is acting with courage by the power of the Spirit with an urgency of conviction 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:07.000 or on an urgent conviction in the face of resistance and opposition. 00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:12.000 That's what boldness is. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:13.000 And they are calling out saying, 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:19.000 Oh God, could you please see us as your servant, approved by you and trusted with the Gospel? 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:25.000 Can you please help us to now, despite our circumstances, 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:27.000 speak your words with great boldness? 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:28.000 And this is what boldness looks like. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:30.000 Boldness is not a personality trait. 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:36.000 It's acting with courage by the power of the Spirit on an urgent conviction in the face of resistance and opposition. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.000 So there are three words here that you need to look at. 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:43.000 One is conviction. 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:47.000 The other one is courage. 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:50.000 The other one is urgency. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:58.000 All three are by the power of the Spirit. 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:00.000 And here's the clincher. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:11.000 All three will be opposed by the flesh. 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:14.000 Not by the devil, not by people, but by the flesh. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:16.000 We'll talk about that. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:24.000 Boldness is acting with courage by the power of the Spirit on an urgent conviction in the face of resistance or opposition. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:28.000 Conviction is something that you begin to feel deeply. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:30.000 Many of us may not feel things deeply. 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.000 Many of us may not feel an urge to go and speak to people. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:36.000 Many of us would rather sit quietly. 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:37.000 And that's fine. 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:38.000 That's where you start. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:40.000 You start from a place of coldness. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.000 In anything with God, you always start from a place of coldness 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:47.000 or non-feelingness or non-interest. 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:48.000 You start from there. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:51.000 You go to him and say, I'm really not interested. 00:15:51.000 --> 00:16:02.000 I would rather sit here alone with my AirPods on, listen to some amazing teaching by this famous guy called Jacob, and just enjoy these moments with God. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:05.000 And so that's where you start. 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:07.000 You start with that baseline. 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:12.000 And from there, the Spirit goes to work, saying, OK, now let me bring in conviction. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:14.000 That's where it begins. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:17.000 Conviction then leads to courage. 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:22.000 I've got to do something because this is so strong a feeling now that courage will begin to rise. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:27.000 Courage doesn't rise if there is no conviction. 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:36.000 That's why people stand up, man, and say stuff, because they are so convicted by it that, and for so many different reasons, people stand up and speak. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:38.000 I'm not talking about believers. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:40.000 I'm talking about any human being on earth. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:43.000 When they're deeply convicted, they stand up and speak. 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:44.000 Courage comes. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:49.000 Urgency, urgency makes your feet do something about it. 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:53.000 Because nowadays, you can have conviction, you can have courage, but you don't have to do anything. 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:58.000 You just have to tweet on X. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:02.000 That's it. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:06.000 But urgency puts feet to it, which goes back to what Derek was saying. 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:11.000 There's no point asking if there is no intent of going. 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:15.000 There is no point asking if there is no intent of going. 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:24.000 And going does not mean Wally. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:28.000 And it's all brought about by the power of the Spirit. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:32.000 That the Spirit of God alone can do this. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:36.000 Any questions before we go on? 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:38.000 We'll deal with the last bit. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:44.000 Any questions before we go on? 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:46.000 So what does it mean? 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:47.000 What does it? 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:49.000 You're saying it doesn't mean this. 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:51.000 Sorry, I didn't ask again. 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:54.000 When you say it doesn't mean Wally, what does it mean? 00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:04.000 It means your own Wally in Richmond or your own neighbor in White Rock. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:06.000 It doesn't mean Wally. 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:12.000 This is not an attempt to get us all to go to Wally. 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:14.000 But there is a going required. 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:22.000 Wally provides an opportunity, an intentional, deliberate opportunity to do something 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:31.000 that most of us find highly inconvenient and would rather not be part of every week. 00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:33.000 That's the great thing about Wally. 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:36.000 It provides you an avenue. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:43.000 It's like what do you do when there's a gym under your building? 00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:45.000 You can still not go. 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:51.000 I know there's a gym under my building. 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:58.000 The next thing is a part that really you need to figure out and we need to somehow come back. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:03.000 The flesh will oppose conviction, courage, and urgency by the power of the spirit. 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:04.000 Your flesh. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:07.000 Your flesh will oppose it. 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:09.000 Galatians 5.17. 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:15.000 The desires of the spirit will always be contrary to the desires of the flesh. 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:22.000 The desires of the spirit will conflict with the desires of the flesh. 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:24.000 It happens to us every day. 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:25.000 Even today it happened. 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:33.000 There were many of you or there were some of you that wanted to break out of the shell that you have so carefully constructed 00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:37.000 and everything inside of you is saying break out of it, break off it. 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:44.000 But there is a flesh that says don't. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:47.000 What are we talking about when we talk about the flesh? 00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:50.000 A way of thinking? 00:19:50.000 --> 00:20:01.000 And just the pleasure of sitting in my old nature that doesn't want to pay a cost, doesn't want to take a risk. 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:08.000 Let me read from Galatians 5.17. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:13.000 The flesh opposes the desires of the spirit so I don't do what I want to. 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:18.000 The flesh opposes the desires of the spirit so I don't do what I want to. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:25.000 Galatians 5.17. 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:36.000 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the spirit and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:43.000 They are in conflict with each other so that you do not do what you want. 00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:45.000 Let's just look at it for a second. 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:51.000 Everybody here wants God to break out into signs and wonders and works. 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:53.000 Nobody here does not want that. 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:58.000 You desire that with all your heart. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:00.000 And then the flesh kicks up. Why? 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:09.000 Because to do that I must go. 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:11.000 The spirit really wants to. 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:13.000 I mean not even talking about the Holy Spirit. 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:15.000 I'm talking about your spirit. You desire to. 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:21.000 But to go, do you know how much you'll have to change to do that? 00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:28.000 Everything in you will begin to oppose it. 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:34.000 What is the way around it? We'll talk about that and then end. 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:37.000 God is willing to give me boldness. 00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:42.000 But what will I do with that boldness if I cannot overcome the flesh? 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:45.000 Guys, this is not some particular problem that is yours. 00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:48.000 It is a problem with Christianity in general. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:55.000 Which is why you have to have professional missionaries, professional evangelists, professional people. 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:56.000 They are paid to do this. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:22:07.000 They do it out of love but they also get paid for it. 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:14.000 So our enemy is not really the devil. He comes later. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:16.000 Our enemy is not the devil. He comes later. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:21.000 He meets us only after we go. 00:22:21.000 --> 00:22:24.000 He doesn't touch you till you go. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:29.000 It's that kind of thing where let barking dogs lie. 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:32.000 Like let them learn as much as they want. Let them be taught as much as they want. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:34.000 Don't touch them. Don't stir them up. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:37.000 They'll just lie there by the fire like a lazy dog. 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:39.000 The spirit is willing but their flesh is super weak. 00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:43.000 Don't even provoke them. 00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:47.000 It is after you go that you actually meet the enemy's opposition. 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:49.000 And the enemy's opposition will come in different forms. 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:52.000 It may come in people rejecting you, in people scoffing you, in people mocking you, 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:54.000 in people being violent with you. 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:57.000 Like remember the guy that went up to Power and Derek and said, 00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:04.000 I have two choices right now. I can either be violent or I can ask you for help. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:07.000 The flesh is the first thing that needs to be overcome. 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:11.000 Not even subdued, overcome. 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:14.000 And the flesh is a whole slew of things. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:24.000 It is my schedule, the things I have to do, my responsibilities, valid legitimate things. 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:34.000 My laziness, my convenience, my hesitation, my reticence, my inability, my inadequacy, 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:44.000 my lack of time, other distractions, sin, pleasures, the need for money, 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:49.000 this fear of losing my reputation, my dignity by going out there on the street and talking 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:52.000 and suddenly you find someone sophisticated who comes by who knows you 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:58.000 and then Jesus becomes friend and not savior anymore. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:04.000 And it's not even winter yet. It gets worse in winter. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:12.000 And even that's not the devil. 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:16.000 Any questions? 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:22.000 The devil doesn't touch you till you go out. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:24.000 Pardon? 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:27.000 Yeah, we would like to think that it is the devil that's preventing us. 00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:42.000 It's not. It's just sheer flesh. 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:57.000 Go and then you'll meet the devil. 00:24:57.000 --> 00:24:59.000 So how do we beat it? 00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:03.000 Galatians 5.17 is the flesh opposes the desires of the spirit. 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:10.000 Guys, it's so evident that the desire of the spirits in each of our hearts is to go. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:12.000 It is so evident. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:15.000 I saw you while we were praying. 00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:17.000 It is so evident that you wanted. 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:20.000 You wanted not for your sake but for his. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:22.000 You want to see. 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:29.000 You want to show. You want to see and you want to show them that this is true. 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:31.000 You should read that scripture. 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:34.000 The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak from the message. 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:37.000 It's quite funny. 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:40.000 Can you tell me where it is? 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:42.000 Matthew? 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:47.000 Oh, okay. Sorry. 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:50.000 I'm so sorry. That is so uncalled for. 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:59.000 This is why people don't call out stuff in church because when they call out something they're made fun of. 00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:05.000 Matthew 26, what? Now that you've shown us the chapter. 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:14.000 Now it better be Matthew 26. 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:20.000 Oh yeah, Matthew 26, 41. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:26.000 Stay alert. Be in prayer so you don't wander into temptation without even knowing you're in danger. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:28.000 And here's the thing that I like. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:32.000 There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:40.000 But there's another part of you that's as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire. 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.000 There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:50.000 But there's another part that's as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:56.000 Matthew 26, 41 message. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:07.000 Maybe we should have titled this lazy old dogs. 00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:16.000 If you notice the animal used here is not a cat. Yeah. 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:20.000 So what shall we do about this? How do we overcome this? 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:27.000 You've got to recognize what the problem is guys. That it is your flesh. 00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:35.000 I have a question. Before you go out, should you have an understanding of the kids? 00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:42.000 Maybe laying them on their hands. Just some sort of feeling because otherwise you're sort of going out without knowing. 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:45.000 Yeah. 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:52.000 So one of the easiest ways to overcome it is to go with someone else who's done this before and learn on the job. 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:57.000 So like we do shadowing at work, someone shadows you, they learn. 00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:03.000 And so to overcome my inadequacy, my not sure of what to say, what to do. 00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:07.000 I mean the Jehovah's Witnesses do it. They always take a junior guy with an older guy. 00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:12.000 They never let the junior guy out of their sight because he can get converted to Christianity. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:18.000 So they always go like that. So one of the things we do is shadow. 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:29.000 That's one easy way to learn. That aside, most of us in this room, I think have enough to lead anyone to Christ. 00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:38.000 And so what do you mean by I think you have enough to lead anyone to Christ? You have him. Who? The Holy Spirit. 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:43.000 You can have the finest spiel to get someone saved. 00:28:43.000 --> 00:28:54.000 And it might work. And then you can have zilt and it works wonders because of the Spirit of God. 00:28:54.000 --> 00:29:01.000 So face up to the fact that most of us sitting in this room, our biggest problem is not the devil. 00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:13.000 It is the laziness of an old dog that does not allow the desires of the flesh to be overcome by the desire of the Spirit. 00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:19.000 And the Spirit of God wants this almost daily. He doesn't want you to go out and speak to someone daily. 00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:30.000 But he wants you to train yourself this way so that when he calls, it's an easy go. 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:36.000 So you know what to repent of. Forget repenting. You know what to discipline yourself in. 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:49.000 You know what to discipline yourself in. Two quick ways to get everybody to start going out and preaching and doing the works of God. 00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:52.000 Either offer them a million dollars or tell them they're going to die in a week. 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:57.000 And if they go, that dying will be canceled. Like in the movie, Sholey, suicide canceled. 00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:02.000 Forget it. Forget that reference. Sorry. 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:12.000 It is this idea of either people learn when there's enough threat of fear or people learn when there's enough reward. 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:19.000 It's always like that. People either learn because of great reward or people learn because of great fear or pain. 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:23.000 God is trying to say, can I not use any of those worldly ways of doing things? 00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:29.000 Can I just help you do it because you love me? 00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:33.000 Otherwise, people only learn through pain, fear or through reward. 00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:40.000 People will change when there's enough reward or when there's enough pain and fear. 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:53.000 I mean, you're interrupting me. Yes. 00:30:53.000 --> 00:31:01.000 So here are some methods to overcome it. Efficient 619, Efficient 619, Efficient 619. 00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:09.000 Try and try and beat this with scripture and what scripture say. Efficient 619. 00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:14.000 Here's what it says. 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:25.000 Pray also for me that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly in some versions boldly, 00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:31.000 I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains. 00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:34.000 Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should. 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:47.000 So one is to pray for someone's boldness. 00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:53.000 Look around this room. Try to see if you can pray for someone's boldness this week. 00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:59.000 And let it not be me. I'll ask someone to pray for me. Think of someone else. 00:31:59.000 --> 00:32:06.000 Someone that you will pray that they have boldness. Efficient 619 talks about it. 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:21.000 I'll pray for you that you have boldness. 00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:25.000 Someone in this room pray for this week. 00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:34.000 Maybe you won't get to pray for them every day, but what if you got two days right? 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:40.000 Second one. 00:32:40.000 --> 00:33:03.000 Romans 813. 00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:07.000 If you live according to the sinful nature, you will die. 00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:13.000 But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the cose, you will live. 00:33:13.000 --> 00:33:17.000 If you live according to the sinful nature, you will die. 00:33:17.000 --> 00:33:27.000 But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the cce, you will live because those that are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. 00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:30.000 Romans 813, guys. 00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:36.480 If we are able, by the power of the Spirit, who is sufficient to overcome the desire of 00:33:36.480 --> 00:33:44.280 my flesh to continue being as I am, then I promise you that you will be led by the Spirit 00:33:44.280 --> 00:33:48.240 of God into the same kind of adventures that we read about. 00:33:48.240 --> 00:33:54.480 It will begin to happen in your life. 00:33:54.480 --> 00:33:57.880 We'll meet the devil on the road and beat him. 00:33:57.880 --> 00:34:04.000 Because it is only when you meet the devil that you find out how big your God is. 00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:09.280 You only find out how big your God is when you meet the devil. 00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:17.120 You do not know the size of your God till you meet Goliath. 00:34:17.120 --> 00:34:18.640 How do you learn to war? 00:34:18.640 --> 00:34:22.720 You learn to war by going to fight. 00:34:22.720 --> 00:34:24.800 How do you know how strong your enemy is? 00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:26.240 By fighting the enemy. 00:34:26.240 --> 00:34:33.680 No amount of studying will help. 00:34:33.680 --> 00:34:44.800 Put to death, put to death the laziness of my body, of my schedule, of my way of thinking, 00:34:44.800 --> 00:34:53.880 of my convenience, of my reticence, of my inadequacy, of my unwillingness to change. 00:34:53.880 --> 00:34:58.760 Begin with smaller things. 00:34:58.760 --> 00:35:02.520 Does it say in the scriptures, lift up your holy hands and praise the Lord? 00:35:02.520 --> 00:35:04.960 Well, don't do it because you're feeling like it. 00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:06.720 Do it because the Bible tells you. 00:35:06.720 --> 00:35:09.160 These are small things. 00:35:09.160 --> 00:35:11.680 Does it say, open your mouth and speak? 00:35:11.680 --> 00:35:12.680 Do it. 00:35:12.680 --> 00:35:14.640 These are simple, obedient things. 00:35:14.640 --> 00:35:16.600 We don't need to start with big things. 00:35:16.600 --> 00:35:23.640 It's always the small things that eventually lead to greater things. 00:35:23.640 --> 00:35:25.000 You don't need to do it throughout. 00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:28.840 You don't need to do it for a fast song or a slow song. 00:35:28.840 --> 00:35:34.880 Try different forms of obedience throughout the week, quietly. 00:35:34.880 --> 00:35:37.080 Does the Bible say, be joyful? 00:35:37.080 --> 00:35:47.200 Try being joyful and try it, especially on a day when there's real sadness in your life. 00:35:47.200 --> 00:35:50.560 I think she was talking about it. 00:35:51.400 --> 00:35:56.880 When we meet circumstances, help us to know how to deal with those circumstances. 00:35:56.880 --> 00:35:59.400 The joy is already given. 00:35:59.400 --> 00:36:02.400 Help us to express the joy. 00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:12.540 These are realities that I must not allow my flesh to subdue and lock in. 00:36:12.540 --> 00:36:15.160 And then a strange thing will happen. 00:36:15.160 --> 00:36:21.160 It says in Romans 8.13, put to death the misdeeds of the body. 00:36:21.160 --> 00:36:27.160 Because those that are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. 00:36:27.160 --> 00:36:31.280 You will find yourself being told, all of us here. 00:36:31.280 --> 00:36:33.040 It is not even about hearing God. 00:36:33.040 --> 00:36:38.400 It is just God saying, my God, this is perfect for me. 00:36:38.400 --> 00:36:47.800 This person is so willing to subdue the flesh now and let the Spirit of God take over that 00:36:47.800 --> 00:36:49.120 I'm going to send them. 00:36:49.120 --> 00:36:53.800 And so, Diana, go stand by the road there and there'll be an Ethiopian driving down 00:36:53.800 --> 00:36:56.920 in a Mercedes. 00:36:56.920 --> 00:37:02.560 And when he does, go and speak to him. 00:37:02.560 --> 00:37:07.120 And he happens to be the finance minister of Ethiopia. 00:37:07.120 --> 00:37:11.320 These stories will become the stories of Acts 29. 00:37:11.320 --> 00:37:12.320 And they are not happening. 00:37:12.320 --> 00:37:14.760 They are few and far between. 00:37:14.760 --> 00:37:19.500 Like Jonah was praying, sick of it being an occasional here and occasional there. 00:37:19.500 --> 00:37:22.680 That is not the God that I know from the Bible. 00:37:22.680 --> 00:37:32.920 That is not the God I wanted. 00:37:33.920 --> 00:37:36.920 Not that our individual lives don't have testimonies. 00:37:36.920 --> 00:37:42.000 But I'm talking about us as a collective. 00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:43.680 I can stand here and share testimonies. 00:37:43.680 --> 00:37:44.680 This happened, that happened. 00:37:44.680 --> 00:37:45.680 You can do that too. 00:37:45.680 --> 00:37:47.160 But that's our individual lives. 00:37:47.160 --> 00:37:57.760 What about us as a collective people? 00:37:57.760 --> 00:37:58.760 Last scripture. 00:37:58.760 --> 00:37:59.760 Galatians 5.16. 00:37:59.920 --> 00:38:15.920 Galatians 5.16. 00:38:15.920 --> 00:38:22.740 So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 00:38:22.740 --> 00:38:27.480 So the first one said, pray for me that I might be bold. 00:38:27.480 --> 00:38:35.640 The second one said, put to death the misdeeds or the desires of the flesh so that you can 00:38:35.640 --> 00:38:42.480 walk directed by the Spirit and walk like actual sons of God, which you already are. 00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:46.400 And then the third one says, hey, walk in the Spirit. 00:38:46.400 --> 00:38:47.400 Walk in the Spirit. 00:38:47.400 --> 00:38:53.040 One of the simplest ways of translating walk in the Spirit is, walk in the awareness of 00:38:53.040 --> 00:38:56.200 his presence. 00:38:56.200 --> 00:38:58.400 Practice the awareness of his presence. 00:38:58.400 --> 00:39:00.480 Remember the statement we always make. 00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:06.760 It was never God's design for man to have periodic awareness of his presence. 00:39:06.760 --> 00:39:14.000 The periodic awareness of God's presence was never God's design for man. 00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:18.920 The periodic awareness of God's presence was never God's design for man. 00:39:18.920 --> 00:39:25.240 Any person whose greatest treasure is the presence of God will find himself beginning 00:39:25.240 --> 00:39:31.120 to live the kind of life that Adam lived in Eden. 00:39:31.120 --> 00:39:37.320 Silla. 00:39:37.320 --> 00:39:44.080 Anyone whose greatest treasure is the presence of God, as in you're locked onto this treasure, 00:39:44.080 --> 00:39:50.120 there is nothing that distracts you from it. 00:39:50.120 --> 00:39:52.440 Nothing that distracts you from it. 00:39:52.440 --> 00:39:55.480 Locked onto it. 00:39:55.480 --> 00:40:01.840 Once that happens, you will find yourself returning to how life used to be in Eden. 00:40:01.840 --> 00:40:03.400 Why? 00:40:03.400 --> 00:40:08.880 Because you will begin to get all the essentials of life from him. 00:40:08.880 --> 00:40:11.120 And it has never been revoked. 00:40:11.120 --> 00:40:21.320 Security, companionship, intimacy, provision, freedom, blessing. 00:40:21.320 --> 00:40:23.440 Seven or eight different things that were given to him. 00:40:23.440 --> 00:40:30.320 Dignity, worth. 00:40:30.320 --> 00:40:35.280 And then others begin to participate in the life that is yours. 00:40:35.320 --> 00:40:39.320 To walk in the spirit is to walk in continuous awareness of presence. 00:40:39.320 --> 00:40:41.320 It cannot be cultivated in a day. 00:40:41.320 --> 00:40:42.320 But today is Rosh Hashanah. 00:40:42.320 --> 00:40:44.560 Start today, man. 00:40:44.560 --> 00:40:47.160 I'm not into Jewish holidays and stuff like that. 00:40:47.160 --> 00:40:50.360 I'm just using it to our advantage. 00:40:50.360 --> 00:40:51.360 That it is the New Year. 00:40:51.360 --> 00:40:53.480 It is the Jewish New Year. 00:40:53.480 --> 00:40:54.480 Use it to your advantage. 00:41:05.520 --> 00:41:07.400 Because presence will give you boldness. 00:41:07.400 --> 00:41:17.760 If you knew, when you meet a man sitting by a store asking for alms, like happened in 00:41:17.760 --> 00:41:25.240 Acts 3, if you knew that God was standing at your right hand with infinite power and 00:41:25.240 --> 00:41:33.600 with his right hand on your shoulder, he's egging you on, you would be bold as a lion. 00:41:33.760 --> 00:41:39.080 If you knew that God was standing at your right hand and has his right hand on your 00:41:39.080 --> 00:41:44.080 shoulder saying, hey, go ahead. 00:41:44.080 --> 00:41:47.200 And that is what Acts chapter 4 verse 30 is saying. 00:41:47.200 --> 00:41:49.400 Oh God, this is what we want. 00:41:49.400 --> 00:41:56.880 Now stretch out your hand or stretch out the hand of your holy servant Jesus in signs and 00:41:56.880 --> 00:41:58.240 wonders. 00:41:58.240 --> 00:42:00.040 Stretch out your hand. 00:42:00.080 --> 00:42:04.760 At the end of the day, after having done all this, we come back to the one simple thing. 00:42:04.760 --> 00:42:07.840 We got nothing but the Spirit. 00:42:07.840 --> 00:42:11.560 And when we have the Spirit, there is no maximum. 00:42:11.560 --> 00:42:18.400 At the end of the day, after everything we've learned, after all the praying is done, you 00:42:18.400 --> 00:42:21.080 still got nothing. 00:42:21.080 --> 00:42:25.520 And you go back to Jesus in John chapter 14 and 15 and go back to that simple verse, apart 00:42:25.520 --> 00:42:28.360 from you. 00:42:28.360 --> 00:42:32.240 I can do nothing. 00:42:32.240 --> 00:42:38.280 But with you, oh Spirit of God, there is no maximum. 00:42:38.280 --> 00:42:44.520 The book of Acts, hey, remember always, the further you go from the throne, the greater 00:42:44.520 --> 00:42:47.680 the level of water keeps rising. 00:42:51.560 --> 00:42:54.840 If Acts was ankle deep, you're supposed to swim deeper. 00:42:54.840 --> 00:42:55.840 This is what... 00:42:56.520 --> 00:42:59.000 Yeah, let's just stop there. 00:42:59.000 --> 00:43:00.720 And the place shook. 00:43:00.720 --> 00:43:04.520 They were filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God boldly. 00:43:08.520 --> 00:43:10.520 Here's the thing, guys. 00:43:10.520 --> 00:43:31.240 Can I ask people here, can I pick people here to pray that we subdue our flesh? 00:43:31.240 --> 00:43:37.400 Not subdue, we put to death the deeds of our flesh. 00:43:40.520 --> 00:43:51.960 Turn it on. 00:43:51.960 --> 00:43:57.960 Can you hear me? 00:43:57.960 --> 00:43:58.960 Not yet. 00:43:58.960 --> 00:43:59.960 I'll start. 00:43:59.960 --> 00:44:00.960 I think you can hear me. 00:44:00.960 --> 00:44:09.960 I tried not to share the story, but I'll share it later. 00:44:10.400 --> 00:44:13.400 Should I give him this or take this? 00:44:13.400 --> 00:44:16.400 All good? 00:44:16.400 --> 00:44:21.400 Go ahead, go ahead. 00:44:21.400 --> 00:44:22.400 It's working. 00:44:22.400 --> 00:44:23.400 Hello. 00:44:23.400 --> 00:44:24.400 Yes. 00:44:24.400 --> 00:44:27.400 I really felt like I should come up and share the story. 00:44:27.400 --> 00:44:32.720 Mark, Pawan and I were walking a couple of weeks ago and we felt like we should go to 00:44:32.720 --> 00:44:33.720 this park. 00:44:33.720 --> 00:44:36.960 We went there, there's a man who is from Fiji. 00:44:36.960 --> 00:44:38.320 We begin to talk with him. 00:44:38.680 --> 00:44:41.680 We talk with him, we find out about his life, his story. 00:44:41.680 --> 00:44:46.600 We have, you know, Emily had good Bibles with us, so we told him, hey, why don't you read 00:44:46.600 --> 00:44:47.600 this when you go back? 00:44:47.600 --> 00:44:50.400 He said, you know what, my house, I have too many things in my house. 00:44:50.400 --> 00:44:52.080 I don't want to read it. 00:44:52.080 --> 00:44:53.080 This is just another book. 00:44:53.080 --> 00:44:54.080 I don't want it. 00:44:54.080 --> 00:44:57.160 So while we're talking, there's a guy in the backdrop on the ground. 00:44:57.160 --> 00:45:02.800 He's sleeping, he's tired, and there is another guy who comes and puts a jacket over him. 00:45:02.800 --> 00:45:07.280 I can see some movements at the back while this conversation is happening. 00:45:07.360 --> 00:45:12.280 We finished talking with this Fijian person and just about when we were about to leave, 00:45:12.280 --> 00:45:17.080 the guy in the background, he comes up and he immediately gets angry. 00:45:17.080 --> 00:45:18.880 He's almost like, who are you? 00:45:18.880 --> 00:45:19.880 He heard what we were talking. 00:45:19.880 --> 00:45:24.520 We were talking about Jesus with the other guy and he said, your God, he does not care 00:45:24.520 --> 00:45:25.520 about people. 00:45:25.520 --> 00:45:27.000 Your God, he is not real. 00:45:27.000 --> 00:45:31.760 Your God, he's not, he causes bad things to happen. 00:45:31.760 --> 00:45:37.120 Don't think that you're a goody-goody guy and goody-goody people coming and sharing 00:45:37.120 --> 00:45:41.120 these things when people like this, he points to the man on the ground, when people like 00:45:41.120 --> 00:45:45.080 that are on the ground, you didn't even put a jacket over him. 00:45:45.080 --> 00:45:49.080 You ignored him, didn't put a jacket over him, and you went and talked with this other 00:45:49.080 --> 00:45:50.080 guy. 00:45:50.080 --> 00:45:51.080 How dare you? 00:45:51.080 --> 00:45:56.760 So he went on like that for a couple of minutes and I did notice a knife in his pocket and 00:45:56.760 --> 00:46:00.880 I had to at one point go to Pawan and at one point go to Mark and say, just so that you 00:46:00.880 --> 00:46:02.600 guys know, I can see a knife. 00:46:02.600 --> 00:46:04.280 Don't go too close to him. 00:46:04.280 --> 00:46:05.280 Be aware. 00:46:05.680 --> 00:46:10.320 While this is happening, the guy started yelling, started saying things and he said, you have 00:46:10.320 --> 00:46:12.600 no idea what I've done in my life. 00:46:12.600 --> 00:46:13.600 I'm from Guatemala. 00:46:13.600 --> 00:46:15.240 I used to belong to a gang. 00:46:15.240 --> 00:46:16.240 I'm a gangster. 00:46:16.240 --> 00:46:17.240 Stay away. 00:46:17.240 --> 00:46:19.960 You have no idea who I am. 00:46:19.960 --> 00:46:20.960 Started going on like this. 00:46:20.960 --> 00:46:23.300 At one point we said, please know this. 00:46:23.300 --> 00:46:25.520 We would like to help if we can. 00:46:25.520 --> 00:46:29.160 We said we'd like to help, you know, this apparently the man on the ground, he is his 00:46:29.160 --> 00:46:33.580 friend and they used to drink together and he came to help out this friend. 00:46:33.580 --> 00:46:34.940 So we said, we want to do this. 00:46:34.940 --> 00:46:36.420 We want to help you a friend. 00:46:36.420 --> 00:46:41.180 Eventually we help him get a cab, go to the shelter. 00:46:41.180 --> 00:46:44.540 So we end up having, so Pawan left with the man. 00:46:44.540 --> 00:46:49.220 Mark and I are left with this other guy, the guy who said he's from Guatemala and that 00:46:49.220 --> 00:46:50.220 he's a gangster. 00:46:50.220 --> 00:46:53.100 We have about five, 10 minutes there to talk with him. 00:46:53.100 --> 00:46:54.900 He's really aggressive. 00:46:54.900 --> 00:47:01.500 When Jacob wrote down their opposition and people trying to oppose, he really wants to 00:47:01.500 --> 00:47:03.180 do harm if he can. 00:47:03.180 --> 00:47:07.300 He's saying, stay away from me because if you come close, you have no idea what I may 00:47:07.300 --> 00:47:08.300 do to you. 00:47:08.300 --> 00:47:11.940 There is a part of me, on one hand I'm looking at him and there's a part of me that can see 00:47:11.940 --> 00:47:15.900 what's exactly in front of me, which is a man who could do anything. 00:47:15.900 --> 00:47:19.460 And then there is another view that I have while I'm seeing this, which is from above, 00:47:19.460 --> 00:47:22.860 which is that man, something is about to happen. 00:47:22.860 --> 00:47:24.260 God is here, speak. 00:47:24.260 --> 00:47:30.600 So he comes very close to Mark, looks Mark in the eye and he says, you know Jesus? 00:47:30.600 --> 00:47:34.960 So Mark says yes, he then pulls to my side and he said, you really know Jesus? 00:47:34.960 --> 00:47:37.240 I said, yes I do. 00:47:37.240 --> 00:47:39.120 He said, how do you know him? 00:47:39.120 --> 00:47:40.840 How do you know Jesus? 00:47:40.840 --> 00:47:44.920 So I get about two, three minutes to quickly share my story. 00:47:44.920 --> 00:47:49.600 The thing is, whenever someone asks you who Jesus is, it's always good to share your story. 00:47:49.600 --> 00:47:51.160 I don't have a story like Pawan. 00:47:51.160 --> 00:47:55.160 Man, you hear a Pawan story or Jacob story, it's something else. 00:47:55.160 --> 00:47:56.360 But my story is different. 00:47:56.360 --> 00:48:02.080 My story does not have the great wow moments like Jacob or Pawan has, but I have a story 00:48:02.080 --> 00:48:03.620 that's unique to me. 00:48:03.620 --> 00:48:07.840 That's my story in terms of where I come from, what God did in my life and where God took 00:48:07.840 --> 00:48:08.840 me. 00:48:08.840 --> 00:48:13.960 And I begin to tell him who God is to me, how God brought me out of land in India, how 00:48:13.960 --> 00:48:14.960 God brought me here. 00:48:14.960 --> 00:48:17.880 As I am saying, at one point he says stop. 00:48:17.880 --> 00:48:20.600 When he says stop, you stop. 00:48:20.600 --> 00:48:21.600 He said stop. 00:48:21.600 --> 00:48:22.920 So I stopped and I said what? 00:48:22.920 --> 00:48:25.280 He said, you know him. 00:48:25.320 --> 00:48:26.560 I said what do you mean? 00:48:26.560 --> 00:48:27.560 You know him. 00:48:27.560 --> 00:48:29.120 I said yes I know him. 00:48:29.120 --> 00:48:30.400 It's evident that you know him. 00:48:30.400 --> 00:48:31.520 I said absolutely. 00:48:31.520 --> 00:48:39.440 So I now get even more hope and the power inside me is like go for it, this is it, go 00:48:39.440 --> 00:48:40.440 for it. 00:48:40.440 --> 00:48:44.440 So I begin to go for it and I tell him that God is a father, that God cares. 00:48:44.440 --> 00:48:47.360 All of these things, with the time I have I go at it. 00:48:47.360 --> 00:48:52.720 And in a couple of minutes he says stop again and then he says, I am a son of the war, the 00:48:52.720 --> 00:48:54.560 war that happened in Guatemala. 00:48:54.560 --> 00:48:55.720 My dad left me. 00:48:55.720 --> 00:48:58.080 I was born to a woman who raised me. 00:48:58.080 --> 00:49:01.280 I jumped trains to get to Canada because no one cares for me. 00:49:01.280 --> 00:49:06.760 I wanted to knock on the door of my father who left my mother in Guatemala, came here. 00:49:06.760 --> 00:49:09.080 He had his own family. 00:49:09.080 --> 00:49:15.200 I said in my mind, he told us, I will never let the man live that way, his father. 00:49:15.200 --> 00:49:17.680 So I knocked on his door, tried to do stuff. 00:49:17.680 --> 00:49:22.920 He kept on sharing a little few details about his life and then he said, you have no idea 00:49:22.920 --> 00:49:23.920 what just happened. 00:49:24.280 --> 00:49:25.280 I said what? 00:49:25.280 --> 00:49:26.280 He said, you're a preacher. 00:49:26.280 --> 00:49:27.280 I said, yes, I am a preacher. 00:49:27.280 --> 00:49:30.200 He said, the guys here, they are surrounding me. 00:49:30.200 --> 00:49:32.000 I said, yes, they are surrounding you. 00:49:32.000 --> 00:49:38.280 Then he said, 10 years ago, 10 years ago, my mom, who was a believer, the mom said at 00:49:38.280 --> 00:49:42.840 one point, hey, you can live this life of gangsterhood, whatever you want to live. 00:49:42.840 --> 00:49:48.720 But at one point you will have a man come to you and there will be three men surrounding 00:49:48.720 --> 00:49:53.080 you and at that point, you know that God is calling you back. 00:49:53.240 --> 00:49:56.760 And as soon as he said it, now we're like, yeah, man, let's go. 00:49:56.760 --> 00:49:57.920 Let's do this. 00:49:57.920 --> 00:50:02.400 So we begin to talk to him more and more at a point, guys, when Jacob wrote down, when 00:50:02.400 --> 00:50:08.160 you speak with conviction, the conviction of sin happens in man. 00:50:08.160 --> 00:50:12.960 When you speak with conviction that what you know is what you know is true, that this is 00:50:12.960 --> 00:50:14.200 who you are. 00:50:14.200 --> 00:50:18.600 It creates conviction of sin in people. 00:50:18.600 --> 00:50:22.120 Here's the thing that I really liked in the entire story. 00:50:22.160 --> 00:50:24.360 I tell him, can you pray? 00:50:24.360 --> 00:50:25.880 And he said, no, I won't pray. 00:50:25.880 --> 00:50:27.680 I said, why can't you pray? 00:50:27.680 --> 00:50:31.360 He said, I can't pray because as soon as you guys are done here, I'm going to take that 00:50:31.360 --> 00:50:34.160 bottle and I'm going to drink again. 00:50:34.160 --> 00:50:37.560 I thought to myself, amazing, honest man. 00:50:37.560 --> 00:50:42.640 If we can be this honest, the church will be so far greater than where the church is 00:50:42.640 --> 00:50:43.640 today. 00:50:43.640 --> 00:50:45.000 I said, that's okay. 00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:48.040 You feel like you're a sinner and that you can't do it. 00:50:48.040 --> 00:50:53.000 This is exactly where Jesus comes into play because in your sin, you can touch him. 00:50:53.000 --> 00:50:55.280 In your sin, he'll talk to you. 00:50:55.280 --> 00:50:57.840 In your sin, he'll deal with you. 00:50:57.840 --> 00:51:03.280 In about a couple of minutes, we began to talk more to him about how to pray. 00:51:03.280 --> 00:51:05.320 He recognized that God is father. 00:51:05.320 --> 00:51:07.480 He recognized that Jesus died for him. 00:51:07.480 --> 00:51:12.440 He recognized that in his sin, he can speak to God. 00:51:12.440 --> 00:51:16.480 At the end of the whole thing, he said, we said, we want to give you this Bible too because 00:51:16.600 --> 00:51:19.320 he doesn't want to exchange his number or anything because there's a whole lot happening 00:51:19.320 --> 00:51:20.320 in his life. 00:51:20.320 --> 00:51:21.320 It's very clear. 00:51:21.320 --> 00:51:25.680 We gave him the Bible and he said, can you write down your names and the date because 00:51:25.680 --> 00:51:28.360 I don't want to forget what happened right now. 00:51:28.360 --> 00:51:33.320 We wrote down our names, wrote down the date. 00:51:33.320 --> 00:51:36.040 We hugged away from there. 00:51:36.040 --> 00:51:41.160 The man who wanted to almost harm us, he said, hug me. 00:51:41.160 --> 00:51:42.160 Hug me. 00:51:42.160 --> 00:51:44.120 I'd like that. 00:51:44.120 --> 00:51:45.440 His posture changed. 00:51:45.440 --> 00:51:47.520 His demeanor changed. 00:51:47.520 --> 00:51:52.680 Everything that Jacob said, guys, is so true because when we open our mouth with confidence, 00:51:52.680 --> 00:51:58.040 with boldness of who God is and what he has done for us, the thing is the spirit of God 00:51:58.040 --> 00:52:00.920 will always back you. 00:52:00.920 --> 00:52:06.840 There is a backing of the spirit, which is so real because the spirit of God, when you 00:52:06.840 --> 00:52:12.840 are trying to be foolish for him, he likes it and he will back you up. 00:52:13.240 --> 00:52:16.240 Always he will back you up. 00:52:16.240 --> 00:52:22.040 If you're willing to open your mouth, sound as foolish as you can be, trust me, there 00:52:22.040 --> 00:52:26.120 is a backing of the spirit. 00:52:26.120 --> 00:52:32.840 There is absolutely a backing of the spirit because the spirit of God, as Jacob said, 00:52:32.840 --> 00:52:34.960 is the power unto salvation. 00:52:34.960 --> 00:52:37.480 I just felt like I should share that story. 00:52:38.120 --> 00:52:41.320 Leaders, leaders in prayer, come guys. 00:52:41.320 --> 00:52:42.320 Just desire this. 00:52:42.320 --> 00:52:45.720 It's such a cool, amazing story. 00:52:45.720 --> 00:52:48.080 This is being led by the spirit. 00:52:48.080 --> 00:52:51.840 Those that are led by the spirit are the sons of God. 00:52:51.840 --> 00:52:59.000 Pray that our flesh is subdued so that we can walk out like this. 00:52:59.000 --> 00:53:00.800 And there's plenty of opportunity. 00:53:00.800 --> 00:53:02.480 The world is our play field. 00:53:02.480 --> 00:53:03.880 Yeah, come. 00:53:04.280 --> 00:53:06.280 Join him in praying. 00:53:06.280 --> 00:53:07.880 Don't just listen to him. 00:53:07.880 --> 00:53:10.280 Yeah, it's our hearts that are crying out. 00:53:10.280 --> 00:53:16.480 Abba, we come as your sons and daughters, rightful heirs, Abba. 00:53:16.480 --> 00:53:17.480 Rightful heirs. 00:53:17.480 --> 00:53:27.480 There is no sin in us, no shortcoming in us, no past of us that can stop us from pursuing 00:53:27.480 --> 00:53:29.280 our path in you. 00:53:29.280 --> 00:53:35.080 So Father, first of all, before we even go further, we say no to the voices of the enemy 00:53:35.080 --> 00:53:39.280 that tries to condemn, that tries to say that you're not good enough, that this is not for 00:53:39.280 --> 00:53:41.680 you, that there are others who can do this. 00:53:41.680 --> 00:53:42.680 Look at your past. 00:53:42.680 --> 00:53:44.080 How dare you can speak like this? 00:53:44.080 --> 00:53:45.080 No. 00:53:45.080 --> 00:53:48.080 Father, we say a big no to voices of condemnation. 00:53:48.080 --> 00:53:51.280 We recognize that we are sons and daughters. 00:53:51.280 --> 00:53:54.680 We are sons and daughters, rightful heirs, Abba. 00:53:54.680 --> 00:53:57.880 We thank you, Jesus, that you now live inside of us. 00:53:57.880 --> 00:54:00.880 That your spirit is not somewhere out there. 00:54:00.880 --> 00:54:03.180 Your spirit lives inside of us. 00:54:03.180 --> 00:54:04.680 Your spirit gives life. 00:54:04.680 --> 00:54:06.880 Your spirit gives boldness. 00:54:06.880 --> 00:54:10.680 Your spirit gives us strength to do the impossible. 00:54:10.680 --> 00:54:17.280 So Father, we recognize as a people that we are those people who have no maximum. 00:54:17.280 --> 00:54:19.080 We do not have a maximum. 00:54:19.080 --> 00:54:25.880 The power has no maximum because the spirit of God is greater than any other spirit out 00:54:25.880 --> 00:54:26.880 there. 00:54:26.880 --> 00:54:29.280 He is greater than the spirit of slavery. 00:54:29.280 --> 00:54:31.580 He is greater than the spirit of poverty. 00:54:31.580 --> 00:54:34.280 He is greater than the spirit of infirmities. 00:54:34.280 --> 00:54:37.280 He is greater than every spirit out there. 00:54:37.280 --> 00:54:42.680 Father, we recognizealo your spirit lives inside of us. 00:54:42.680 --> 00:54:47.280 We cry Abba because your spirit lives inside of us. 00:54:47.280 --> 00:54:48.880 We cry strength Abba. 00:54:48.880 --> 00:54:54.280 With strength we cry because Mechanize We know, we know, we know that your spirit is 00:54:54.280 --> 00:54:55.280 inside of us. 00:54:55.280 --> 00:55:00.680 I may be wrong, but maybe this year Jacob said this is the year of the Holy Spirit. 00:55:00.680 --> 00:55:03.200 This is the year of the Holy Spirit. 00:55:03.200 --> 00:55:04.780 This is the year of the Holy Spirit. 00:55:04.780 --> 00:55:10.320 So we recognize, father, we also come to you and we say, you've been asking us to lay things 00:55:10.320 --> 00:55:11.320 down here. 00:55:11.320 --> 00:55:15.660 We are about, we really mean this. 00:55:15.660 --> 00:55:21.460 We recognize that Jesus, if you really died for me, if you really died for us, then this 00:55:21.460 --> 00:55:23.840 is a cause for each of us. 00:55:23.840 --> 00:55:26.680 You did not die for them and not me. 00:55:26.680 --> 00:55:28.640 You did not die for the other and not me. 00:55:28.640 --> 00:55:30.540 You died for me. 00:55:30.540 --> 00:55:35.280 If you died for me, then all of what you have is for me as well. 00:55:35.280 --> 00:55:36.720 I will contend for it. 00:55:36.720 --> 00:55:39.480 We will contend for it as a church father. 00:55:39.480 --> 00:55:43.120 We will because this is a rightful position in you. 00:55:43.120 --> 00:55:48.000 We're not trying to do something that's way out there and that's not for us. 00:55:48.000 --> 00:55:52.260 This is the exact thing, exact thing that he called us to. 00:55:52.260 --> 00:55:53.260 This is the thing. 00:55:53.380 --> 00:55:59.300 There is nothing beyond it to carry your name, to wear your badge, to go with your authority 00:55:59.300 --> 00:56:03.020 and to say scorpions and lions, I'll trample over you. 00:56:03.020 --> 00:56:06.460 To say to the sick, I know someone who heals. 00:56:06.460 --> 00:56:12.300 To say to the ones who are in bondage, I know someone who can set you free. 00:56:12.300 --> 00:56:14.620 Father, we want to speak these words. 00:56:14.620 --> 00:56:21.100 We have had times when we have fallen about, when it didn't happen, when it didn't go the 00:56:21.100 --> 00:56:23.580 way we planned, the way we purposed it. 00:56:23.580 --> 00:56:29.980 But those times and those days will not stop us because the power, this power has no maxima. 00:56:29.980 --> 00:56:31.300 There is no maxima. 00:56:31.300 --> 00:56:39.100 So father, as a body, as a people, we say and we decree and we decide in our hearts 00:56:39.100 --> 00:56:44.540 that because Jesus, you died for me, I will live for you. 00:56:44.540 --> 00:56:47.940 Because you died for me, I will live for you. 00:56:48.100 --> 00:56:55.060 There is a cost that is worthy for all these things that I carry on myself to be laid down 00:56:55.060 --> 00:57:00.900 at your feet and for me to say, Jesus, I carry your presence inside me. 00:57:00.900 --> 00:57:03.300 I carry your spirit inside me. 00:57:03.300 --> 00:57:05.220 You make me able. 00:57:05.220 --> 00:57:09.980 You make me your heir and therefore I can do this. 00:57:09.980 --> 00:57:13.900 This is not something meant for a few select people. 00:57:13.900 --> 00:57:17.420 This is not something meant for a few ministers. 00:57:17.420 --> 00:57:20.340 This is not something meant for evangelists. 00:57:20.340 --> 00:57:29.740 This is meant for the body of Jesus Christ to take on and walk because this is your rightful inheritance. 00:57:29.740 --> 00:57:32.540 If you believe this, you can walk in it. 00:57:32.540 --> 00:57:36.020 If you believe in this, this is for yours to march in. 00:57:36.020 --> 00:57:42.540 If you believe in this, he will bring a bandhood of brothers and sisters around you and you 00:57:42.540 --> 00:57:44.860 will march out as an army. 00:57:44.860 --> 00:57:47.820 Because guys, this is our rightful inheritance. 00:57:47.820 --> 00:57:50.860 It doesn't matter what result you see. 00:57:50.860 --> 00:57:52.460 It does not matter. 00:57:52.460 --> 00:57:54.380 It matters that we obey. 00:57:54.380 --> 00:57:58.380 It matters that we struggle in our faithlessness. 00:57:58.380 --> 00:58:03.100 It matters that in that we say, I doubt, help my unbelief. 00:58:03.100 --> 00:58:09.180 In that it matters that we say, I need you Jesus because I can't do it here. 00:58:09.180 --> 00:58:11.460 We're not trying for results. 00:58:11.540 --> 00:58:14.980 We're trying to obey everything that he asked us to. 00:58:14.980 --> 00:58:18.380 And we can guys because this is for all of us. 00:58:18.380 --> 00:58:23.660 There is not one person sitting under this roof who is not qualified for this. 00:58:23.660 --> 00:58:29.500 If you have his spirit inside you, you have the full measure and maximum power and beyond 00:58:29.500 --> 00:58:31.220 available for you. 00:58:31.220 --> 00:58:35.420 We thank you about because you are stirring us up in this path, in this journey that you 00:58:35.420 --> 00:58:38.700 have for us and we're willing to go together in Jesus name. 00:58:42.460 --> 00:58:44.460 Bless you guys. 00:58:44.460 --> 00:58:45.460 Go well eh? 00:58:45.460 --> 00:58:46.460 Go well. 00:58:46.460 --> 00:58:47.460 If you need...