WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Pentecost-Gilgal Publishing Date: 2022-06-05T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/pentecost-gilgal/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.440 So that's good. 00:00:02.440 --> 00:00:07.560 So over the next four weeks, we'll be talking about, 00:00:07.560 --> 00:00:09.880 I think we'll be talking about, there's no guarantee, 00:00:09.880 --> 00:00:12.080 but I think we'll be talking about Pentecost 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:15.400 and for the next four weeks, starting today. 00:00:15.400 --> 00:00:18.680 And we'll take it through four stages. 00:00:18.680 --> 00:00:24.080 So I want us to go to Second Kings. 00:00:24.080 --> 00:00:24.800 Second Kings. 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:31.120 Hey Mia, you want to come up now? 00:00:34.160 --> 00:00:35.080 What? 00:00:35.080 --> 00:00:36.800 Every time I call you, you say no, come. 00:00:41.760 --> 00:00:43.200 Mia, come, you and I will sing a song. 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:54.320 Second Kings 2. 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:59.760 And let me first go to verse 9 and then we'll trace our way back. 00:00:59.760 --> 00:01:05.600 And so in verse 9 it says, 00:01:05.600 --> 00:01:08.560 When they have crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:11.840 Tell me what I can do for you before I'm taken from you. 00:01:12.720 --> 00:01:15.680 Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit, Elisha replied. 00:01:16.720 --> 00:01:18.640 You have asked a difficult thing, Elijah said. 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:21.440 Yet if you see me when I'm taken from you, 00:01:22.080 --> 00:01:24.160 it will be yours, otherwise not. 00:01:24.880 --> 00:01:27.040 And so when we talk about Pentecost, 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:31.280 one of the things we desire is more of the Spirit of God. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:34.240 Let's just call it double portion for now. 00:01:34.240 --> 00:01:38.400 But the question is, how do we get to this place 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:40.640 where we have more of the Spirit of God? 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:43.920 When we already have said that we have all of the Spirit of God. 00:01:45.440 --> 00:01:48.640 How do we get to this place where we have more of the Spirit of God? 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:51.280 When we have already established from the scriptures 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:52.960 that we have all of the Spirit of God? 00:01:52.960 --> 00:01:54.880 I want to say to you that double portion, 00:01:56.160 --> 00:01:57.200 Hey, okay. 00:01:59.360 --> 00:02:01.520 Okay, that was not what I was planning to do. 00:02:04.720 --> 00:02:06.560 Okay, while I'm talking about that, 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:09.200 if someone could fix this and bring this a little lower. 00:02:09.200 --> 00:02:10.880 Jeevan, you look highly capable, come. 00:02:16.320 --> 00:02:19.360 So I'd like to say that when you talk about double portion, 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:22.800 double portion is not about an increase in the quantity of the Spirit. 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:26.560 It is an increase in your capacity to contain the Holy Spirit. 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:28.180 Down. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:31.060 That's good. 00:02:32.880 --> 00:02:37.600 Double portion is not about an increase in quantity of Spirit. 00:02:37.600 --> 00:02:41.840 Double portion is an increase in your capacity to receive Him. 00:02:43.040 --> 00:02:46.880 A double portion of the Spirit is not an increase in the quantity of the Spirit 00:02:46.880 --> 00:02:48.800 because the Holy Spirit is a person. 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:50.480 You can't quantify Him. 00:02:51.200 --> 00:02:54.400 But a double portion, pursuing a double portion 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:58.640 is an increase in your capacity to contain Him or your capacity to receive Him. 00:02:59.200 --> 00:03:02.000 And so the hope is over the next four weeks, we can talk about 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:05.440 how do I increase my capacity to receive the fullness of the Spirit? 00:03:05.440 --> 00:03:07.920 Because Jesus seemed to have accomplished it, so why not me? 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:13.120 So double portion is not, 00:03:18.720 --> 00:03:19.840 is not an increase 00:03:23.600 --> 00:03:27.200 in the quantity of the Spirit because He is a person. 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:31.360 But it is an increase 00:03:35.920 --> 00:03:37.120 in your capacity 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:42.480 to receive Him. 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:50.640 It is an increase in your capacity to receive Him. 00:03:50.640 --> 00:03:53.680 Hey, are there any more pens because this one's kind of beginning to die? 00:03:56.640 --> 00:04:00.160 So to look at how we can increase in capacity, 00:04:00.160 --> 00:04:03.200 let's go from chapter two, verse one to nine. 00:04:03.200 --> 00:04:04.480 And I know you're familiar with this. 00:04:05.440 --> 00:04:08.240 So second Kings chapter two, verse one to nine. 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:37.920 Yes, I know, Elijah replied, but do not speak of it. 00:04:48.080 --> 00:04:51.040 The company of prophets with Jericho went up to Elijah and asked him, 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:55.360 do you know what the Lord is going to, that the Lord is going to take your master from you today? 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:57.440 Yes, I know, he replied, but do not speak of it. 00:04:57.440 --> 00:04:58.960 Then Elijah said to him, stay here. 00:04:58.960 --> 00:05:00.320 The Lord has sent me to Jordan. 00:05:00.320 --> 00:05:03.600 And he replied, as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:05.200 So the two of them walked on. 00:05:05.200 --> 00:05:08.400 Fifty men of the company of prophets went and stood at a distance, 00:05:08.400 --> 00:05:11.360 facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:14.160 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, struck the water with it. 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:15.920 The water divided to the right and to the left, 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:18.000 and the two of them crossed over on dry ground. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:19.760 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, 00:05:19.760 --> 00:05:22.320 tell me what can I do for you before I'm taken away from you? 00:05:22.320 --> 00:05:25.440 Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit, Elisha replied. 00:05:25.440 --> 00:05:28.240 You have asked a difficult thing, Elijah said. 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:32.160 Yet if you see me when I'm taken from you, it will be yours otherwise not. 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:37.120 So I'd like to suggest to you, and over the next four weeks, 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:45.120 explore this pattern that one of the ways we can increase in our capacity 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:57.120 to receive a double portion of the spirit is to go through Gilgal to Jericho to, 00:05:57.120 --> 00:05:58.640 or is it Bethel? 00:05:58.640 --> 00:05:59.760 Or is it Bethel? 00:05:59.760 --> 00:06:06.720 Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho to the Jordan. 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:10.320 And so today we'll only talk about what this could mean for us. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:16.720 So like in the story of Elijah, always remember guys, 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:18.480 sorry, it's Gilgal Bethel Jericho. 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:20.880 Gilgal, yeah, Bethel Jericho Jordan. 00:06:20.880 --> 00:06:21.680 So that's the process. 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:24.160 So over the next four weeks, we'll talk about Pentecost, 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:33.120 Gilgal Pentecost, Bethel Pentecost, Jericho, and finally Pentecost Jordan. 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:40.320 And the intent is, how can I increase in my capacity to receive or contain or walk in 00:06:40.320 --> 00:06:41.920 the double portion of the spirit? 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:47.680 When we already know that his fullness is present in us, how do we do this? 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:52.560 So one of the first principles we need to establish is, like in the story of Elisha, 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:57.200 allegiance is the starting point of relationship with the spirit. 00:06:57.200 --> 00:07:02.720 Allegiance is the starting point of relationship with the spirit, allegiance 00:07:04.960 --> 00:07:20.000 is the starting point of relationship with the spirit. 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:28.160 It's a word that's rarely used nowadays. 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:36.600 Allegiance is the starting point of relationship with the Spirit, like in the story of Elisha. 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:42.560 The reason Elisha received a double portion of what was upon Elijah was because of his 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.640 allegiance to Elijah. 00:07:45.640 --> 00:07:51.360 There were others who were raised under Elijah, but they did not have the allegiance that 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:53.080 Elisha had with Elijah. 00:07:53.080 --> 00:07:58.960 Like in the story, allegiance is the starting point of relationship with the Spirit of Christ. 00:07:58.960 --> 00:08:04.760 Allegiance confronts, once I say I have an allegiance, it also means that I confront 00:08:04.760 --> 00:08:13.960 every other competing allegiance. 00:08:13.960 --> 00:08:19.440 This is why the word allegiance is not used very often now, because we live in a society 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:25.600 that compromises, that is pluralistic, that requires so much accommodation and tolerance 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:29.960 that allegiance is never singular nowadays. 00:08:29.960 --> 00:08:37.960 And so allegiance confronts other allegiances, and only after it confronts other allegiances, 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:43.200 every competing allegiance, only then can you enter into communion with the one you 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:50.720 have allegiance to. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:55.760 So Gilgal is where we will start today, but remember that all of this begins with this 00:08:55.760 --> 00:09:01.440 idea of allegiance to the Spirit, and in allegiance with the Spirit, I begin to come to this place 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:05.400 where I begin to confront every other competing allegiance. 00:09:05.400 --> 00:09:19.480 Once you do this, love for God or love for the Holy Spirit, love will fuel allegiance. 00:09:19.480 --> 00:09:25.960 Once you decide this, love will fuel allegiance. 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:33.040 Once love begins to fuel allegiance, it will prioritize things. 00:09:33.680 --> 00:09:37.760 So when Don gets married or when Manoj gets married, the first thing that is required 00:09:37.760 --> 00:09:40.560 is the words they speak when they say I do. 00:09:40.560 --> 00:09:47.360 It is not as if they can back that up with anything but words, and they're saying I pledge 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:51.280 allegiance to you, I betroth myself to you. 00:09:51.280 --> 00:09:53.480 So that is a pledge. 00:09:53.480 --> 00:09:56.600 That pledge is then fueled by love. 00:09:56.600 --> 00:10:01.760 Once it's fueled by love, what happens is priorities change. 00:10:01.760 --> 00:10:06.120 Everything is prioritized differently once allegiance happens. 00:10:06.120 --> 00:10:10.160 But first comes the words that pledge allegiance. 00:10:10.160 --> 00:10:14.960 Then comes the love that fuels that allegiance, and then comes priorities that prove that 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:17.440 allegiance. 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:22.720 Words that pledge allegiance, and words must be honest to the extent you can from your 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:25.080 heart and you pledge allegiance. 00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:28.880 Love then begins to fuel that allegiance. 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:34.040 And then priorities that you have thereafter proves that allegiance. 00:10:34.040 --> 00:10:36.800 It's the same with Elijah and Elisha. 00:10:36.800 --> 00:10:43.520 He uses these words in 2 Kings 2, 4, and the words are as long as the Lord lives and as 00:10:43.520 --> 00:10:46.680 you live, I will not leave you. 00:10:46.680 --> 00:10:49.600 Words, pledge. 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:53.240 Then love fuels it. 00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:57.280 As in I won't, it doesn't matter, I'm not going to, I'm going to cross the Jordan, I'm 00:10:57.320 --> 00:11:00.000 going to come to Jericho, I'm going to come to Jordan, Bethel. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:01.480 I am not. 00:11:01.480 --> 00:11:04.400 Love fuels it and then prioritizes it. 00:11:04.400 --> 00:11:07.920 All the others had the same thing going for them, but they did not go down this route. 00:11:07.920 --> 00:11:10.640 Fifty-one of them waited on one side. 00:11:10.640 --> 00:11:15.920 Fifty of them waited on one side. 00:11:15.920 --> 00:11:18.780 This is what increases capacity, guys. 00:11:18.780 --> 00:11:23.600 So it doesn't matter whether you want to receive from the Lord or receive from a person, or 00:11:23.680 --> 00:11:27.600 receive from an institution, or receive from a corporation. 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:28.880 It doesn't matter. 00:11:28.880 --> 00:11:32.560 This is how it works. 00:11:32.560 --> 00:11:35.840 If I want to receive from you, if I want to receive from the church, if I want to receive 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:40.120 from a corporation, if I want to receive from Elon Musk, if I want to receive from Jesus 00:11:40.120 --> 00:11:48.760 Christ, if I want to receive from the Holy Spirit, the principle is the same. 00:11:48.760 --> 00:11:57.080 No other method is able to cut through hard granite rock and create a channel that allows 00:11:57.080 --> 00:11:58.080 this to happen. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:05.640 I was reading a summary of a book written by a guy who saw how they built the Panama 00:12:05.640 --> 00:12:12.760 Canal and the amount of work that is involved in building a canal that cuts through and 00:12:13.760 --> 00:12:18.920 and builds these docks that raises water, lowers it. 00:12:18.920 --> 00:12:22.160 And you read it and you think to yourself, my God, this was a lot of work, but someone 00:12:22.160 --> 00:12:27.260 had the audacity to even attempt it. 00:12:27.260 --> 00:12:35.440 This cuts through so much granite that you get to the heart of God much faster. 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:41.380 Any questions? 00:12:41.380 --> 00:12:46.620 We never hesitate to offer words as long as you can put some honesty or sincerity behind 00:12:46.620 --> 00:12:47.820 it. 00:12:47.820 --> 00:12:53.900 We hesitate to offer words because we think we will not be able to sustain it. 00:12:53.900 --> 00:12:55.660 You will not be able to sustain it. 00:12:55.660 --> 00:12:57.900 You are absolutely right. 00:12:57.900 --> 00:13:02.940 But the best you can offer is what you think every time you say or you have said, I do, 00:13:02.940 --> 00:13:07.420 you thought you were going to sustain it. 00:13:07.420 --> 00:13:11.180 Foolish are you if you thought when you stood there and says to all those things the pastor 00:13:11.180 --> 00:13:15.940 reads out in a hurry and you say I do, if you thought you were going to be able to fulfill 00:13:15.940 --> 00:13:23.220 that I would warn her in advance that this guy is incapable of doing this. 00:13:23.220 --> 00:13:27.380 But words are the best we offer because it comes from a heart of sincerity. 00:13:27.380 --> 00:13:30.980 Words are what I want to do now in this one minute and then in the next minute I will 00:13:30.980 --> 00:13:33.460 offer it again and then the third minute I offer it again. 00:13:33.460 --> 00:13:36.340 Allegiance is always pledged with words. 00:13:36.340 --> 00:13:37.760 It is fueled by love. 00:13:37.760 --> 00:13:42.240 It is proven by priorities. 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:47.080 Any questions? 00:13:47.080 --> 00:13:51.320 This increases capacity. 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:56.720 It is never a question of God grudging to give what he wants to give. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:14:00.200 It is a question of can I receive what he wants to give. 00:14:07.760 --> 00:14:17.440 Yeah, every day, every day our capacity keeps increasing. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:23.760 Yeah, every day. 00:14:23.760 --> 00:14:27.360 A woman cannot imagine what she will be nine months down the line. 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:31.280 It's impossible to imagine that when she is pregnant. 00:14:31.520 --> 00:14:42.200 Every day she increases. 00:14:42.200 --> 00:14:47.000 But when you look at a Phoebe or a Mia and think to yourself my God this was in someone's 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:53.480 body, think to yourself impossible and yet every day and it happens a million times every 00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:58.000 day in different parts of the world. 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:01.720 It is the increase in capacity that allows you to partake of double portions. 00:15:01.720 --> 00:15:06.080 It is not an increase in the quantity of the spirit. 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:08.360 So focus on increasing capacity. 00:15:08.360 --> 00:15:17.240 Any questions guys? 00:15:17.240 --> 00:15:19.520 Allegiance is pledged with words. 00:15:19.520 --> 00:15:21.840 Allegiance is fueled by love. 00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:24.940 Allegiance is proven by priorities or actions. 00:15:24.940 --> 00:15:29.180 So I can pledge my allegiance to you because I'm sincere. 00:15:29.180 --> 00:15:33.980 But it is love for you that will fuel it as in I can keep it up tomorrow, the day after. 00:15:33.980 --> 00:15:41.100 But it is there's a stage after that where my priorities have to show that yeah my allegiance 00:15:41.100 --> 00:15:47.980 to you matters. 00:15:47.980 --> 00:15:56.380 So the first place that Elijah and Elisha went to was Gilgal. 00:15:56.380 --> 00:16:01.900 And Gilgal you find it in Joshua 4 verse 19 and 20. 00:16:01.900 --> 00:16:09.180 Joshua 4, 19 and 20. 00:16:09.180 --> 00:16:18.100 Joshua 4. 00:16:18.100 --> 00:16:19.820 See you don't have the problem of turning pages. 00:16:19.820 --> 00:16:22.020 Joshua 4, 19 and 20. 00:16:22.020 --> 00:16:26.980 On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal 00:16:26.980 --> 00:16:32.260 on the eastern border of Jericho and Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones that they 00:16:32.260 --> 00:16:33.940 had taken out of the Jordan. 00:16:33.940 --> 00:16:38.220 He said to the Israelites, in the future when your descendants ask their father what do 00:16:38.260 --> 00:16:43.660 these stones mean tell them Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground for the Lord your 00:16:43.660 --> 00:16:46.500 God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. 00:16:46.500 --> 00:16:51.160 The Lord your God did to Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before 00:16:51.160 --> 00:16:53.600 us until we had crossed over. 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:57.060 He did this so that all the people of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord 00:16:57.060 --> 00:17:01.540 is powerful and that you might always fear the Lord your God. 00:17:01.540 --> 00:17:06.140 So the first thing we know about Gilgal is that it was a reminder, it was a generational 00:17:06.180 --> 00:17:13.180 reminder, it was a generational reminder of the power of God. 00:17:17.540 --> 00:17:22.300 It was a generational reminder of the power of God and this stood for two thousand three 00:17:22.300 --> 00:17:28.540 thousand years till something else replaced the Red Sea crossing and the Jordan crossing 00:17:28.540 --> 00:17:32.380 and what replaced it was the Spirit of God raising up Christ. 00:17:32.620 --> 00:17:39.420 Till Christ rose the one thing that Yahweh was known for was the Red Sea crossing. 00:17:39.420 --> 00:17:43.420 Deliverance of a people by a sea opening and people crossing through. 00:17:43.420 --> 00:17:50.420 That was the ultimate, like if you think of some guy's accomplishment you always take 00:17:54.140 --> 00:17:55.980 the biggest accomplishment. 00:17:56.700 --> 00:18:02.420 Oh by the way the smallest building in Toronto is the Toronto Hall of Fame. 00:18:02.420 --> 00:18:09.420 But if you think of someone, sorry, stop it, yeah. 00:18:14.780 --> 00:18:18.980 So when you think of someone and you think of their accomplishment you take the height 00:18:18.980 --> 00:18:21.700 of their accomplishment and that's what they are always known for. 00:18:21.700 --> 00:18:27.500 So if you take Edmund Hillary it is climbing Mount Everest. 00:18:27.500 --> 00:18:34.500 If you take the Oilers it is winning the cup for years on end. 00:18:34.540 --> 00:18:39.460 If you take the number of runs in cricket it's a guy called Don Bradman. 00:18:39.460 --> 00:18:44.500 So there are these specific things that you connect with the greatest achievements and 00:18:44.500 --> 00:18:50.860 when it comes to the Bible Yahweh was always known for one thing and that was the Red Sea 00:18:50.860 --> 00:18:57.860 crossing and then it was reenacted again when Jordan was opened the same way. 00:19:01.540 --> 00:19:04.220 Only in the case of Jordan there was no enemy army chasing. 00:19:04.220 --> 00:19:08.660 So this was the ultimate achievement and then in the New, that is in the Old Testament and 00:19:08.660 --> 00:19:15.660 that stayed till one day in the New Testament a dead man rose and that was Christ. 00:19:16.660 --> 00:19:23.660 And so now the one thing that God is known for is the Spirit of God raising up Christ. 00:19:34.260 --> 00:19:39.060 To see how impossible it is you should pick up a dead fly which will soon come into your 00:19:39.060 --> 00:19:43.620 house in summer. You put a dead fly on the ground and try raising it up from the dead. 00:19:43.620 --> 00:19:48.700 You should shout at it. I would suggest mouth to mouth doesn't work because it will go 00:19:48.700 --> 00:19:52.660 into your mouth. So you can try everything with that fly. 00:19:52.660 --> 00:19:57.380 Try raising up that fly. It blooming will not live. 00:19:57.380 --> 00:20:03.180 I've tried this. I've tried raising a fly. Not because I wanted to raise a fly but because 00:20:03.180 --> 00:20:08.340 it shows you the absolute deadness of a small insect. You can do nothing to it. 00:20:08.340 --> 00:20:11.620 There's nothing you can do. Dead is so dead. 00:20:11.620 --> 00:20:18.140 I remember trying to raise my father. He was so dead that doesn't matter how many times 00:20:18.140 --> 00:20:25.140 you tell him to rise nothing would happen. But Christ rose from the dead. 00:20:26.500 --> 00:20:33.380 And then you have people rising from the dead. Like our friend there. 00:20:33.380 --> 00:20:38.340 That is a miracle. But Christ was the first man who rose from 00:20:38.380 --> 00:20:44.780 the dead after being in the grave for three days. 00:20:44.780 --> 00:20:49.780 Christ rose from the dead not to die again. That is the beauty of this. 00:20:49.780 --> 00:20:56.780 Lazarus will die again. Marcus will die again. Jesus does not. 00:21:00.300 --> 00:21:07.300 It's a new standard. And so Gilgal is a place where God sets up a generational reminder 00:21:07.460 --> 00:21:11.900 of the power of God. And so when it comes to the Holy Spirit, 00:21:11.900 --> 00:21:17.300 the new standard for power is the Holy Spirit. He was the one who raised Jesus from the dead. 00:21:17.300 --> 00:21:23.900 It says so in Romans 8. If the Spirit of Christ that raised Jesus 00:21:23.900 --> 00:21:29.420 from the dead now dwells in you, then in the same way that he raised Jesus from the dead, 00:21:29.420 --> 00:21:36.420 he will raise you also. So Gilgal is a place where there's a generational 00:21:37.060 --> 00:21:40.460 reminder of the power of God. One of the things this church talks a lot 00:21:40.460 --> 00:21:46.980 about but does not match in its walk is the power of God on constant display. 00:21:46.980 --> 00:21:52.020 But the day will come and it will happen. And the day is not far away. 00:21:52.020 --> 00:21:56.080 The day is not far away. I won't be limited to a couple of guys going 00:21:56.080 --> 00:22:00.680 to Perth or Sydney or London or Dublin. I'm talking about a common thing. 00:22:00.680 --> 00:22:06.140 One of the common things in this church is hearing. Everybody seems to be able to hear. 00:22:06.140 --> 00:22:12.500 One of the common things in this church is the ability to worship without much problems. 00:22:12.500 --> 00:22:15.700 You don't need drums. You don't need nothing. You can worship. 00:22:15.700 --> 00:22:21.100 One of the common things in this church is understanding how the body works. 00:22:21.100 --> 00:22:24.540 In the same way, one of the common things that will surely happen in this church is 00:22:24.540 --> 00:22:29.460 the power of God on display very naturally through its people. 00:22:29.460 --> 00:22:33.500 The day is coming. It hasn't come yet. We are more talk than walk. 00:22:33.500 --> 00:22:38.380 But it is very, very close. It's like a balloon that's waiting to burst. 00:22:38.380 --> 00:22:43.780 Another few drops and it'll burst. That's how close we are. 00:22:43.780 --> 00:22:50.700 It's a very thin filament that separates us from that place. 00:22:50.700 --> 00:22:56.580 The youth met at my house, my apartment on Friday and I don't know why, but they left 00:22:56.580 --> 00:23:01.420 about 60 balloons all over the place. My neighbors thought there was a machine gun 00:23:01.500 --> 00:23:07.140 firing in the morning. I was on my knees. 00:23:07.140 --> 00:23:13.020 But we are very close to this very natural display of power. 00:23:13.020 --> 00:23:16.780 It won't be a conference. It won't be a big thing. It'll become a natural part of us. 00:23:16.780 --> 00:23:23.620 I assure you of this. I assure you of this just based on the way God is going to do stuff. 00:23:23.620 --> 00:23:27.100 It's going to be a very natural part of our lives. That's what I love about this church. 00:23:27.100 --> 00:23:34.100 Most of the things that people write books about happens here quite naturally. 00:23:38.140 --> 00:23:41.980 So Gilgal was a generational reminder of the power of God. 00:23:41.980 --> 00:23:46.980 The reason I talked about this church breaking into it is because this church has to now 00:23:46.980 --> 00:23:51.440 perpetually through generations produce a group of people that will know that the power 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:56.980 of God is a very natural thing. We cannot be named Acts 29 and not step 00:23:56.980 --> 00:24:03.980 into it. The second thing Gilgal was, if you go to 00:24:05.980 --> 00:24:12.980 Joshua 5 verse 20, Joshua 5.20, or not 5.20, Joshua 5 verse 1 to 8, 1 to 8, 1 to 8, 1 to 00:24:26.980 --> 00:24:33.180 8. Let's start at verse 2. At that time the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives and 00:24:33.180 --> 00:24:38.220 circumcise the Israelites again. So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites 00:24:38.220 --> 00:24:42.580 at Gibeath Haraloth. Now this is why he did so. All those who came out of Egypt, all the 00:24:42.580 --> 00:24:46.980 men of military age had died in the desert on the way after leaving Egypt. All the people 00:24:46.980 --> 00:24:51.300 that came out had been circumcised. But the people born in the desert during the journey 00:24:51.300 --> 00:24:55.860 from Egypt had not. The Israelites had moved about in the desert for 40 years until all 00:24:55.940 --> 00:24:59.700 the men of military age when they had left Egypt had died since they had not obeyed the 00:24:59.700 --> 00:25:05.500 Lord. Verse 7, so he raised up sons in their places and these were the ones that Joshua 00:25:05.500 --> 00:25:09.220 circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the 00:25:09.220 --> 00:25:13.740 way. Verse 9, and then the Lord said to Joshua, today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt 00:25:13.740 --> 00:25:18.860 from you, so the place has been called Gilgal to this day. On the evening of the 14th day 00:25:18.860 --> 00:25:23.140 of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated 00:25:23.140 --> 00:25:27.420 Passover. The day after Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land, 00:25:27.420 --> 00:25:31.540 unleavened bread and roasted grain. The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from 00:25:31.540 --> 00:25:35.900 the land. There was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of 00:25:35.900 --> 00:25:42.900 the produce of the land. The second thing Gilgal does is it is a place where a sign 00:25:42.900 --> 00:25:49.900 of ownership is entered into. And it is a place where shame, reproach, old conditions 00:25:49.900 --> 00:25:57.900 and mindsets are rolled away by God. 00:26:19.900 --> 00:26:26.900 Gilgal is a place, first we said, which is a generational reminder of the power of God. 00:26:31.700 --> 00:26:38.180 Gilgal is also a place where a sign of divine ownership is established. Why, where else 00:26:38.180 --> 00:26:42.980 do we see this? We see this in Genesis 17, where God says to Abraham, hey Abraham, I 00:26:42.980 --> 00:26:49.220 want you to circumcise every male, be it a servant, be it a son, every male in your 00:26:49.220 --> 00:26:55.740 group has to be circumcised as a sign of a covenant that I now am your Lord. And in the 00:26:55.740 --> 00:27:02.740 same way in Joshua 5, we see sign of ownership being established, where it is literally saying 00:27:04.060 --> 00:27:08.700 you are mine now Israel. Your fathers and mothers died, they did not obey. As you start 00:27:08.700 --> 00:27:14.700 afresh, I want to establish a sign of ownership. I want to stamp you with a sign of ownership. 00:27:14.700 --> 00:27:19.020 And secondly, in stamping you with a sign of ownership, I want to take away your shame, 00:27:19.020 --> 00:27:24.740 your reproach, your psyche, your old condition and your mindsets. I want to roll it away. 00:27:24.740 --> 00:27:31.740 And so he actually names the place Gilgal, because Gilgal means to roll away. 00:27:31.740 --> 00:27:38.740 Once we understand that a sign of ownership is necessary, we'll have to start competing 00:27:41.300 --> 00:27:48.300 with other ownerships in our life. We'll have to start competing or dismantling or breaking 00:27:50.620 --> 00:27:57.620 away or cutting off other ownership in our life. And we'll just talk about five signs 00:28:01.740 --> 00:28:07.740 of ownership. And why are we talking about this? Because if we can navigate through Gilgal, 00:28:07.740 --> 00:28:14.340 we increase our capacity to receive a double portion. The great thing about double portion 00:28:14.340 --> 00:28:20.000 is next year I can receive a double of the double that I have. I just keep increasing. 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:27.000 Any questions before we go on? If anything is unclear, please ask. 00:28:31.740 --> 00:28:37.940 The Bible has always had signs of ownership. There was one point where a slave, if he was 00:28:37.940 --> 00:28:43.340 set free, would take his ear and nail it to the doorpost. Other signs of ownership was 00:28:43.340 --> 00:28:46.980 when a priest would be consecrated, they would take the blood of the bull or goat and put 00:28:46.980 --> 00:28:53.980 it on the ear, on the toe and on the hands, on the thumb. In Jewish belief, circumcision 00:28:54.980 --> 00:29:01.980 was a sign of ownership. So signs of ownership have always existed. Once you were branded 00:29:06.020 --> 00:29:13.020 thus, it meant that nobody else owned you. And if allegiance is a matter of being faithful 00:29:13.940 --> 00:29:19.380 in service to an owner, and if allegiance is what causes double portion, then great, 00:29:19.380 --> 00:29:23.180 let me step into it. I would need more of the Holy Spirit. For where we are going, we 00:29:23.180 --> 00:29:29.140 all need it. It changes us. The power of the Holy Spirit is not just for people to 00:29:29.140 --> 00:29:36.140 get healed. The power of the Holy Spirit is so that I change. Boy, do I need change. 00:29:37.780 --> 00:29:42.520 So here are some things that you have to be aware of so you can break out or cut away 00:29:42.520 --> 00:29:47.780 the ownership or the mastery of these usurpers in your life so that you legitimately are 00:29:47.780 --> 00:29:54.780 owned by only one. So one of the things that I must break away from is things of my former 00:29:54.780 --> 00:30:01.180 life. Things of my former life. All of us still struggle with sins, habits from our 00:30:01.180 --> 00:30:08.180 former life, as in our life before we got born again. In Ephesians 422, it says that 00:30:08.540 --> 00:30:14.620 putting away my old self and being renewed in the likeness and the image of God. I may 00:30:14.620 --> 00:30:20.900 be wrong, but I don't think there's anybody in this room who does not struggle with sins 00:30:20.900 --> 00:30:26.660 and habits from a former life. And by struggle I mean, for some of us the struggle is so 00:30:26.660 --> 00:30:31.540 intense that we succumb to it. For some of us the struggle still exists, so we have to 00:30:31.540 --> 00:30:36.220 walk circumspectly. For some of us in some areas, we don't even have to struggle because 00:30:36.220 --> 00:30:42.140 we escape the gravitational pull of sins and habits from our former life. But that is one 00:30:42.140 --> 00:30:49.140 of the things we have to get rid of. Ephesians 422 talks about it. Ephesians 422. In doing 00:30:52.740 --> 00:30:59.740 this I suddenly increase in capacity because when I'm emptied of the things of my former 00:31:00.100 --> 00:31:07.100 life there is more space. One of the ways you can measure your purity and your intimacy 00:31:07.500 --> 00:31:14.500 with God is your desire for holiness. A desire for holiness, a desire, and the operative word 00:31:14.860 --> 00:31:21.860 here is desire. A desire for holiness is a measure of your intimacy and purity. A desire 00:31:27.220 --> 00:31:34.220 for holiness. How, how, it's such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such 00:31:37.420 --> 00:31:42.380 a litmus, eh? Because it's one thing to be holy because you're a Christian, it's one 00:31:42.380 --> 00:31:48.380 thing to be holy because you're active in ministry, but a desire for holiness, a yearning 00:31:48.380 --> 00:31:55.380 that it is important for me to be holy, to be set apart. Holiness matters to me, it is 00:31:55.540 --> 00:32:02.540 critical to my life. I'm not a complete person if the desire for holiness is missing. A desire 00:32:03.140 --> 00:32:09.020 for holiness is a measure of my intimacy and my purity. When the desire is absent, immediately 00:32:09.020 --> 00:32:14.820 begin questioning life, eh? When the desire is absent, purity and intimacy will begin 00:32:14.820 --> 00:32:21.820 to unravel. Just keep that in mind. So the first one is your former life. Things that 00:32:22.920 --> 00:32:25.940 you struggled with in your former life. The next one, I didn't know what to call it. I 00:32:25.940 --> 00:32:30.100 wanted, I didn't know whether to call it my human life or my soul life, so I'll call it 00:32:30.100 --> 00:32:37.100 both. These are usurpers who try to exert mastery over my life and it lessens my capacity 00:32:38.980 --> 00:32:45.980 to receive the Holy Spirit. When I say human or soul, I mean my intellect, my emotions, 00:32:52.260 --> 00:32:59.260 my politics, my environment, not my environment, my intellect, my emotions, my life, my life, 00:33:00.100 --> 00:33:07.100 emotions, my politics, my culture. These begin to, these begin to just diminish my capacity 00:33:13.980 --> 00:33:20.980 to receive the Holy Spirit. And these are often hijacked, these are often hijacked to 00:33:30.300 --> 00:33:37.300 delay, divert, or deceive me and brings me to a place of diminishing. It diminishes my 00:33:45.780 --> 00:33:52.780 ability to receive the Holy Spirit. It diminishes my ability to receive more of the Spirit of 00:33:53.700 --> 00:34:00.700 God who already lives within me. I was checking on some scriptures on Nicodemus. Nicodemus 00:34:00.700 --> 00:34:06.900 was a guy who, please remember, as much as I love the movie Chosen and the series, Chosen 00:34:06.900 --> 00:34:11.780 is a narrative that is built out of scripture. It is not scripture. So when we see Nicodemus 00:34:11.780 --> 00:34:17.660 in the Chosen thing, it's very easy to think of Nicodemus as such a wonderful guy. And 00:34:17.660 --> 00:34:23.620 he may have been that. But Nicodemus struggled with this. In John chapter 3, you find him 00:34:23.620 --> 00:34:29.540 approaching Jesus at night. Why? Because Nicodemus was one of the Pharisees and it was not possible 00:34:29.540 --> 00:34:34.740 for him to come out in the open because he was scared of what his people would say if 00:34:34.740 --> 00:34:39.660 he was found associating with Jesus. So in John chapter 3, you hear him coming at night 00:34:39.660 --> 00:34:45.860 and having that conversation with Jesus. And then again, in John chapter 19, verse 39, 00:34:45.860 --> 00:34:50.700 he's coming again at night. This time he's coming with 100 pounds of spices. Why? Because 00:34:50.700 --> 00:34:55.340 he wants to put those spices on Jesus' body and bury him. And he still does not want to 00:34:55.340 --> 00:35:02.340 be out in the open. Our intellect, our emotions, our culture, our alliances, our political 00:35:02.340 --> 00:35:07.500 thinking, you have no idea how powerful political thinking is, especially in the United States. 00:35:07.500 --> 00:35:14.500 It is crippling the work of the Holy Spirit. The thing behind politics, guys, is not ideology, 00:35:17.700 --> 00:35:24.700 it is money. And yet politics is super important to Christ because Christ is about a king and 00:35:25.180 --> 00:35:32.180 a nation. And politics is also about power and cities and nations. It is important to 00:35:33.180 --> 00:35:40.180 him. Well, that's not for today. Nicodemus was a guy who struggled with this. Mary and 00:35:41.660 --> 00:35:48.660 her sons, Mary, his mother, and her sons, when you read Mark chapter 3, verse 20, you 00:35:49.340 --> 00:35:56.340 see Mary and her sons discussing that Jesus is out of his mind or that he's crazy. We 00:35:56.860 --> 00:36:03.860 need to do something about it. Emotions took over. And then after discussing that in verse 00:36:04.420 --> 00:36:10.260 31, Mary and her sons actually go and stand outside the place Jesus is preaching and says, 00:36:10.260 --> 00:36:17.260 ask him to come and meet us. And that is when Jesus has to take the kind of unnatural step 00:36:17.780 --> 00:36:24.780 as a son of saying, who is my mother and who is my brother? But they that follow my will. 00:36:25.660 --> 00:36:32.660 Why are we talking about that? Because we don't realize how much our emotional and intellectual 00:36:34.620 --> 00:36:41.620 makeup affects the work of the Spirit in our lives. We don't realize this. We think it 00:36:43.500 --> 00:36:50.500 is natural. It is not natural. Some things are natural. Some things need to be changed. 00:36:50.500 --> 00:36:56.060 We can't change it all at a time. So I go and ask the Holy Spirit, so in this area 00:36:56.060 --> 00:37:02.260 I seem to be struggling when it comes to emotions. I can be on an up or a down or I can be lashing 00:37:02.260 --> 00:37:07.900 out or holding back or I can be afraid or I can be too abrasive. So in this area could 00:37:07.900 --> 00:37:12.820 you help me? Because there's a certain reaction that keeps coming out. Culture. You think 00:37:12.820 --> 00:37:18.020 your culture doesn't affect you? You think being Indian doesn't come with a baggage? 00:37:18.020 --> 00:37:22.300 There is an attempt nowadays to redeem things from culture. It is important that you redeem 00:37:22.300 --> 00:37:25.380 things from culture. But first get rid of the garbage. If you can't get rid of the garbage 00:37:25.380 --> 00:37:32.380 you won't be able to see the treasure. Try to find a gold ring in one of those big thingies. 00:37:33.380 --> 00:37:39.860 Oh it is so funny. When I used to stay in the old building I was tossing garbage and 00:37:39.860 --> 00:37:46.860 my keys went down the chute also. It's the only keys I have. And so now I'm not going 00:37:48.180 --> 00:37:53.500 to find them. Five minutes later I'm in that huge thing. It was so hard to find my key 00:37:53.500 --> 00:37:59.940 and you know my biggest fear? Someone else sending garbage down. So my prayer was not 00:37:59.940 --> 00:38:04.620 father let me find the key. My prayer was father while I'm finding the key let no one 00:38:04.620 --> 00:38:10.060 throw garbage down because God knows what's coming down that chute. And I searched and 00:38:10.060 --> 00:38:14.060 searched and searched and couldn't find it. Nobody threw garbage down. What had happened 00:38:14.060 --> 00:38:18.740 was I threw the garbage down with such force that the key missed the whole bin and went 00:38:18.740 --> 00:38:25.740 out. That is the first time I had to have a shower because I handled my keys. So it's 00:38:27.380 --> 00:38:32.460 very hard to first get rid of some of this garbage that collects in my life because of 00:38:32.460 --> 00:38:36.540 my intellectual, emotional, political and cultural beliefs and systems before you go 00:38:36.540 --> 00:38:43.540 looking for the treasure. Jesus can find treasure in trash. You're not like that. 00:38:45.060 --> 00:38:52.060 You can be like that one day. Athens, if you read Acts 17 you see what culture did to Athens. 00:38:54.940 --> 00:39:00.700 When you read Acts chapter 17 verse 10 to 16 you see that their favorite thing was to 00:39:00.700 --> 00:39:05.020 have discussions about resurrection, about new life, about this, about that. But they 00:39:05.020 --> 00:39:09.260 would not believe anything to the point that Paul had to say in 1 Corinthians 1 that the 00:39:09.260 --> 00:39:16.260 Jews look for a sign and the Greeks look for knowledge. Cultures come with baggage. 00:39:18.380 --> 00:39:24.100 Your culture comes with baggage. It prevents the Spirit of God from doing the work of God. 00:39:24.100 --> 00:39:29.740 We must attempt to get rid of it by asking the Spirit of God to show things in my culture 00:39:29.740 --> 00:39:36.260 that prevent me from behaving a certain way. Why are we doing this? So that we can increase 00:39:36.300 --> 00:39:43.300 in our capacity. Okay, moving on. The third thing we have to deal with is our personality. 00:39:46.460 --> 00:39:53.460 Our personality. This is a huge one. Jesus, I don't know whether he knew it or not, but 00:39:56.780 --> 00:40:02.900 one of the things Jesus does in Mark chapter 3 verse 17 is he calls John and James the 00:40:02.940 --> 00:40:09.940 sons of Boanarges. I don't know how to pronounce it. Basically it means sons of thunder. He 00:40:10.500 --> 00:40:16.380 names them that because he knew what they could be in terms of their personality. And 00:40:16.380 --> 00:40:22.380 then you find in Mark chapter Luke 9 verse 54 John and James are so upset that the Samaritans 00:40:22.380 --> 00:40:27.300 are not receiving Jesus that their response is, hey Jesus, if you want we can do you a 00:40:27.300 --> 00:40:34.300 favor. We can just call down some fire and frizzle all these guys out. That is a reaction. 00:40:35.140 --> 00:40:37.860 Remember one guy saying to me, Jacob, if you want to call down fire from heaven, make sure 00:40:37.860 --> 00:40:43.700 you're wearing an asbestos suit. Meaning if you call down fire, you'll get burnt too, 00:40:43.700 --> 00:40:49.220 so be careful. And Jesus turns to them and he says, you are not of the same spirit. Your 00:40:49.220 --> 00:40:55.220 emotions and my, sorry, your personality and my personality is a certain type. I mean, 00:40:55.220 --> 00:41:01.380 if I stood next to Matt, you would know our personalities are different, right? Matt is 00:41:01.380 --> 00:41:08.380 a gentle soul. I'm a gentle soul. See, you laugh at it as if it's a joke. It's that bad. 00:41:12.020 --> 00:41:19.020 The point is our personalities are not all God. I want to say this in all humility and 00:41:19.020 --> 00:41:26.020 with much respect and gratitude. In most churches, a lot of things that I do would not have been 00:41:26.020 --> 00:41:33.020 tolerated by the church, but you have. You have. And so I, for a moment, I'm not under a delusion 00:41:40.620 --> 00:41:47.620 that my personality is Christ's personality. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. 00:41:49.020 --> 00:41:56.020 It can rub you wrong. It can sometimes be a barb that pokes you. But thank God that 00:41:57.380 --> 00:42:02.820 there are some good parts that prevents you from leaving. But our personalities need to 00:42:02.820 --> 00:42:09.820 change. As my personality changes, then I become more, I increase in capacity to receive 00:42:11.500 --> 00:42:16.380 more of the Spirit of God. At the end of the day, Jesus, it is the same Jesus who was gentle 00:42:16.380 --> 00:42:21.460 with the tax collector and the prostitute who did take a whip off and started chasing 00:42:21.460 --> 00:42:26.900 the moneylenders out. So it's not a personality type. It is that my personality does get in 00:42:26.900 --> 00:42:33.900 the way and yours does too. I pray God that you admit it. Some of our personalities are 00:42:34.260 --> 00:42:41.260 shaped by our background and our environment. But then we have the Holy Spirit, right? These 00:42:42.260 --> 00:42:49.260 are ways to increase. Personality is distorted by experience and background. One of the classic 00:42:50.380 --> 00:42:57.380 examples is Gideon. Gideon is threshing wheat in a wine press. He's afraid. He's speaking 00:42:59.980 --> 00:43:05.540 what has happened to him. Can God be trusted? He has not been around. We have been messed 00:43:05.540 --> 00:43:09.580 around with, beaten up so many times that I do not even trust when you call me mighty 00:43:09.580 --> 00:43:15.340 warrior. I'm the least of the tribe of Benjamin. My family is not of much value. This is what 00:43:15.340 --> 00:43:20.540 he's saying to an angel of God. To begin with, when an angel appears, you straighten up. 00:43:20.540 --> 00:43:24.440 But this guy cannot straighten up because his personality is so deeply affected by his 00:43:24.440 --> 00:43:31.440 environment and background. But then there is the Spirit of God. That changes Gideon. 00:43:31.700 --> 00:43:37.460 And God allows time for you to change. Gideon did not go pull down the Baal statues or idols 00:43:37.460 --> 00:43:41.860 in the daytime. He did it during night. When he was told to go do it openly, he did it 00:43:41.860 --> 00:43:46.960 quietly. God is okay with that because as the personality is changing, you are improving. 00:43:46.960 --> 00:43:53.740 But my God, if I don't make an attempt to change it, then you will have to live with 00:43:53.740 --> 00:44:00.740 Christ plus something. It affects our responses. It installs triggers in our life. It affects 00:44:07.660 --> 00:44:14.660 our life. I must change in this man. The next one, theology. All of these things we come 00:44:18.500 --> 00:44:25.500 with and if it doesn't change, it becomes a problem. Theology. Acts chapter 10, verse 00:44:26.460 --> 00:44:33.460 9 to 17. Here is a man who is arguing with God saying, I will not eat these creepy crawlies 00:44:34.260 --> 00:44:39.620 that you are lowering in a sheet because I am a good Jew and I want you to know Yahweh 00:44:39.620 --> 00:44:45.100 that there is no way I am going into a Gentiles house. Cornelius has sent people, they are 00:44:45.100 --> 00:44:50.660 waiting outside to take Peter. It is going to be the moment when the earth is changed 00:44:50.660 --> 00:44:55.380 where finally the Gentiles are participating with the Jews in the grace of God poured out 00:44:55.380 --> 00:45:01.580 through Christ. And three times God had to lower that sheet with creepy crawlies in it. 00:45:01.580 --> 00:45:06.620 He didn't do it three times to confirm what he was trying to say to Peter. He had to lower 00:45:06.620 --> 00:45:11.340 it three times because Peter was not willing to change his theology. He is arguing with 00:45:11.340 --> 00:45:18.340 Yahweh, the one who gave the laws in Leviticus about what is kosher and what is not kosher. 00:45:22.140 --> 00:45:27.700 We have our own theologies too. If Acts 29 doesn't change, if I don't change, if you 00:45:27.700 --> 00:45:34.700 don't change, we will have the same problem. Third time finally he comes to his senses. 00:45:36.300 --> 00:45:39.300 God had to do it three times because he did not listen the first time. Had he listened 00:45:39.300 --> 00:45:44.140 the first time it would have been done with. What is your theology on things? Does it match 00:45:44.140 --> 00:45:48.600 up with the nature of God? So important. Adorn the doctrine of God by adorning the nature 00:45:48.600 --> 00:45:55.080 of God. Adorn the doctrine of God by adorning the nature of God. You don't adorn the doctrine 00:45:55.080 --> 00:46:02.080 of God by adorning the Greek and the Hebrew. I was saying to Tuni a few days ago, you don't 00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:09.400 have to be educated to be a good dad. We think education means something. It doesn't. You 00:46:09.520 --> 00:46:15.000 can have illiterate dads that are splendid fathers and you can have highly literate dads 00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:22.000 with doctrine and a few letters after the name that are crappy fathers. Adorn the doctrine 00:46:23.000 --> 00:46:30.000 of God based on the, adorn the doctrine of God by adorning the nature of God. Meaning 00:46:30.500 --> 00:46:36.080 my theology should change based on my increasing knowledge of the nature of God. My theology 00:46:36.080 --> 00:46:40.460 must change based on the increasing nature of the knowledge of God. Increasing knowledge 00:46:40.460 --> 00:46:45.400 of the nature of God. If it doesn't then you're holding on to something from the past then 00:46:45.400 --> 00:46:50.560 you will not be able to participate in the greatest move amongst the Gentiles that happened 00:46:50.560 --> 00:46:57.560 in Acts chapter 10. You will be Peter the Great who did not make it. Change your theology. 00:47:01.880 --> 00:47:08.880 All of us have pet theologies. One of the questions I often ask when things, you know 00:47:12.120 --> 00:47:19.120 when theology gets really difficult, when what we believe in is not working. When what 00:47:19.400 --> 00:47:24.400 we believe is working it's great, it's easy to believe. But when we, what we believe is 00:47:24.400 --> 00:47:31.400 not working that is when we come up with stuff. Because we want to, we want to somehow fit. 00:47:33.680 --> 00:47:40.440 Be careful of that. That is not how this works. By name, if I don't get healed or I don't 00:47:40.440 --> 00:47:45.920 get delivered or I don't get what I need or I don't understand this or I don't understand 00:47:46.000 --> 00:47:52.560 that, I can't now take it and shape it so that I can fit in it. That's creating Michelangelo's. 00:47:52.560 --> 00:47:58.800 That's painting God as a human with a beard and slightly old. Sistine Chapel. God looks 00:47:58.800 --> 00:48:05.800 like man, slightly older. We can't do that. When theology doesn't work then I have to 00:48:06.320 --> 00:48:11.440 go and find out God, what is your nature? I don't understand why things are not happening 00:48:11.440 --> 00:48:16.560 but I've got to look at your nature. How do I look at his nature? I look at his nature 00:48:16.560 --> 00:48:22.400 by looking at the visible image of the one who represented his nature. And there I begin 00:48:22.400 --> 00:48:27.320 to start the process of I do not understand it, it is not working. But I see it working 00:48:27.320 --> 00:48:33.360 in this man's life. Who is your son? The brilliant, radiant and visible image of you, the invisible 00:48:33.360 --> 00:48:39.680 God. He I will trust, me I will not, for let God be true and every man a liar. Start there. 00:48:39.680 --> 00:48:44.400 That is your fundamental place of starting. Let God be true and every man a liar. There 00:48:44.400 --> 00:48:51.400 would be fewer books in the world if we could stick with this. That's where we start from. 00:48:54.600 --> 00:49:01.600 Then we build from there. Don't know what your previous background is. Hindu, Muslim, 00:49:01.600 --> 00:49:08.600 Buddhist, Pentecostal Protestant, Catholic. Pack it away. Come out of the tomb. Let them 00:49:15.040 --> 00:49:19.280 go and find it neatly wrapped and kept away. You didn't even take it with you. Let them 00:49:19.280 --> 00:49:24.320 build a shrine around it and call it the Shroud of Turin but you leave it. Come out of the 00:49:24.320 --> 00:49:29.680 tomb. Did you come from an orthodox church, a Pentecostal church? They both have enough 00:49:29.680 --> 00:49:36.680 rituals there that can drown you. Put them away. Fold them. You move on. One of the things 00:49:37.000 --> 00:49:43.200 that Romans chapter 7 says, and this is critical. Romans chapter 7 says that as long as a man 00:49:43.200 --> 00:49:48.600 is married to a woman, he cannot marry another because if he, he talks about the woman, as 00:49:48.600 --> 00:49:52.680 long as a woman is married to a man, Romans chapter 7 verse 1 onwards, as long as a woman 00:49:52.680 --> 00:49:58.280 is married to a man, she cannot marry another because if she marries another she is an adulteress. 00:49:58.280 --> 00:50:02.560 But if the man dies, then she is free to marry another. You would think he's talking 00:50:02.560 --> 00:50:05.880 about marriage. He's not talking about marriage. He's saying if you belong to Christ and if 00:50:05.880 --> 00:50:12.880 you want to marry Christ, you will have to have what you were married to before dead 00:50:13.600 --> 00:50:20.000 so that you can join yourself to Christ, your bridegroom. You cannot be in one system and 00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:27.000 marry another system. That is adultery. 00:50:28.720 --> 00:50:35.720 Last one. Spiritual caliber. As in, when we do well, we've got to be careful that that 00:50:37.520 --> 00:50:42.720 doesn't become something that limits the capacity that I have to handle the spirit. Spiritual 00:50:42.720 --> 00:50:49.720 caliber. Sometimes it is possible to be doing so well at Acts 29 or in your own individual 00:50:49.720 --> 00:50:56.720 lives or use our church as a model for others to copy and all that stuff that the spirit 00:50:56.720 --> 00:51:01.720 of God is not able to do anything more because we are so full of what the spirit of God has 00:51:01.720 --> 00:51:08.720 been doing. One of the cool things that happens at Gilgal is that they gather around the only 00:51:08.720 --> 00:51:14.720 calibration that we follow and that is the Passover lamb. They gather around to eat the 00:51:14.720 --> 00:51:21.720 Passover meal again. They had eaten it long ago in Jerusalem. This is a new breed, a new 00:51:21.720 --> 00:51:26.720 bunch of guys who don't know their fathers and mothers who disobeyed and they gather 00:51:26.720 --> 00:51:31.720 together to eat the Passover lamb. What they don't know is that as soon as they finish 00:51:31.720 --> 00:51:37.720 eating the Passover lamb, manna is going to stop. These kids had only grown up on manna 00:51:37.720 --> 00:51:43.720 and the moment they eat it, the next morning they go out and they're squat. There's nothing 00:51:43.720 --> 00:51:51.720 lying on the ground. Must have been like crazy. It's like kids who were born during 00:51:51.720 --> 00:51:56.720 COVID. They can't understand why people don't have that white thing over their faces anymore. 00:51:56.720 --> 00:52:08.720 Mama, alien. Masks are off. Most kids think that's how you're born. And so there are these 00:52:09.720 --> 00:52:17.720 40 year olds. They'll make a movie about this. You just watch. There are these 40 year olds 00:52:17.720 --> 00:52:25.720 who have known nothing else but manna burgers, manna dosas, masala manas. That's all they've 00:52:25.720 --> 00:52:34.720 known. Quail wrapped up with masala in manna. Manna burgers. Beyond manna burgers. That's 00:52:34.720 --> 00:52:41.720 the worst. Put vegetables in it and give it to you and call it beyond manna. And so this 00:52:41.720 --> 00:52:46.720 is what they were accustomed to and then they have Passover meal and suddenly it's all over 00:52:46.720 --> 00:52:54.720 and so the only constant with the Holy Spirit is change. The only constant with the Holy 00:52:54.720 --> 00:53:00.720 Spirit is change. And that is something God has done brilliantly in this church where 00:53:00.720 --> 00:53:05.720 change is not something you're averse to or if you're averse to it you are not showing 00:53:05.720 --> 00:53:11.720 it anymore. But change is the only constant. It's authored by, fueled by and sustained 00:53:11.720 --> 00:53:19.720 by the Holy Spirit. And so the only constant with the Holy Spirit is change. And that is 00:53:19.720 --> 00:53:24.720 the only constant that it's authored by, fueled by and sustained by the Holy Spirit. And 00:53:24.720 --> 00:53:30.720 it's the only constant. And just remember that sometimes our spiritual caliber can limit 00:53:30.720 --> 00:53:48.720 the capacity of the Spirit. Next time we'll do Bethel. I would suggest that you go home 00:53:48.720 --> 00:53:52.720 and look at this. The great advantage of teaching is I look at it before I come and 00:53:52.720 --> 00:53:57.720 then look at it after we are done. You have to try and look at it after you hear it. What 00:53:57.720 --> 00:54:02.720 is it in your former life that you can ask the Holy Spirit to break away or cut out and 00:54:02.720 --> 00:54:08.720 let him help you? If it happens instantly, blessed are you. Some of us have had to struggle 00:54:08.720 --> 00:54:15.720 with it. What about your intellectual, emotional, cultural baggage that is delaying, diverting 00:54:15.720 --> 00:54:22.720 or deceiving you? If it could happen to Nicodemus, Jesus' mother and brother, Peter, then it 00:54:25.720 --> 00:54:30.720 can happen to you. What about your personality, which has been distorted by experience and 00:54:30.720 --> 00:54:38.720 background, where you speak like Gideon, where there's an instant trigger or a response that 00:54:38.720 --> 00:54:43.720 affects everything you do, so much so that Jesus has to turn around and say, Jacob, you're 00:54:43.720 --> 00:54:50.720 not of my spirit. What about your theology? What are you holding on to? What have you 00:54:52.720 --> 00:54:57.720 shaped to match your circumstances? And finally, are you so full of what the Holy Spirit was 00:54:57.720 --> 00:55:02.720 doing two months ago that you do not allow the Holy Spirit any room to continue doing 00:55:02.720 --> 00:55:09.720 what he really wants to do? This is what the act of yielding looks like, guys. And so I 00:55:09.720 --> 00:55:15.720 end with a sign of divine ownership that we can practice. And I left this out for the 00:55:15.720 --> 00:55:20.720 end. The sign of divine ownership that we can practice is communion. That is the sign 00:55:20.720 --> 00:55:27.720 of divine ownership. So let's just partake in communion and then we can go. Wow, not 00:55:27.720 --> 00:55:34.720 bad. 101 with all those reports. I'll be here as far as I know, God willing, for the next 00:55:35.720 --> 00:55:41.720 four Sundays. My trips will be in between the week to places like New York or Los Angeles 00:55:41.720 --> 00:55:47.720 or Vernon. So if you need to get in touch with me, feel free. Guys, pray about what we need 00:55:47.720 --> 00:55:53.720 to do. Not pray about. Begin to try and talk, have conversations with God about what we 00:56:09.720 --> 00:56:14.720 need to do with this building because our lease expires in a month. And don't know what 00:56:14.720 --> 00:56:19.720 to do next, whether to continue here, whether there's some other place waiting for us, whether 00:56:19.720 --> 00:56:25.720 I should approach the owners or not, I don't know. So we'll just keep it for a second and 00:56:26.720 --> 00:56:32.720 then I'll give it to you. Yeah. So just begin asking, having conversations with God about it, 00:56:36.720 --> 00:56:42.720 let's see what happens. Because I don't think the owner has realized that there are no checks 00:56:43.720 --> 00:56:49.720 in July. So, then if you want to buy this place, feel free. Hey, don't. So after your marriage, you'll 00:57:00.720 --> 00:57:06.720 have a reception in Vancouver also? Yes. Okay. Derek, you escaped. You had a super small 00:57:06.720 --> 00:57:11.720 marriage. Yeah, I think that would be better. I think you should both do it together. Yeah. 00:57:11.720 --> 00:57:16.720 Because he escaped doing a big wedding in Kerala. He used COVID as an excuse, invited 20 people 00:57:16.720 --> 00:57:22.720 out of which 18 was family. And then he didn't have a reception when he came back here either. 00:57:22.720 --> 00:57:28.720 Derek, you escaped. You had a super small marriage. Yeah, I think that would be better. I think 00:57:28.720 --> 00:57:34.720 you should both do it together. Yeah. Because he escaped doing a big wedding in Kerala. He used 00:57:34.720 --> 00:57:39.720 COVID as an excuse. Yeah. I have a feeling these guys will go cheaper on us and just 00:57:39.720 --> 00:57:44.720 combine. In the end, there'll be four people having one reception. 00:58:10.720 --> 00:58:15.720 Come, guys. What are you? 00:58:15.720 --> 00:58:20.720 Oh, you're bringing the same... Oh, sorry. I thought it was the cup. No, no, you can wait. 00:58:24.720 --> 00:58:29.720 Yeah, I just wanted the cup. Yeah. So, guys, I just want us to remember that today when we are 00:58:29.720 --> 00:58:34.720 partaking of this, we are saying this is a sign of divine ownership. And so one of the things 00:58:34.720 --> 00:58:39.720 that I know you've heard before is this idea of the bride listening in as the bridegroom would 00:58:39.720 --> 00:58:44.720 come and offer the father the terms of betrothal. And it would be that he would provide for us, 00:58:44.720 --> 00:58:49.720 that he would bring us back to the house of the bridegroom. And so I think that would be 00:58:49.720 --> 00:58:54.720 a good idea. And I think that would be a good idea. 00:58:54.720 --> 00:58:59.720 And so I think that would be a good idea. 00:58:59.720 --> 00:59:04.720 And so I think that would be a good idea. 00:59:04.720 --> 00:59:09.720 And so I think that would be a good idea. 00:59:09.720 --> 00:59:14.720 And so I think that would be a good idea. 00:59:14.720 --> 00:59:19.720 And so I think that would be a good idea. 00:59:19.720 --> 00:59:24.720 And so I'll go with what I've heard. The bride would listen to it and there would be two cups 00:59:24.720 --> 00:59:29.720 kept there. And if the bride agreed to the 00:59:29.720 --> 00:59:34.720 price and to everything that was suggested during betrothal, she would take the cup, 00:59:34.720 --> 00:59:39.720 she would drink it, and she'd turn it upside down, saying that 00:59:39.720 --> 00:59:44.720 I commit to this betrothal. And the betrothal was, I only have eyes for you, 00:59:44.720 --> 00:59:49.720 I am yours now and nobody else's. It was a sign of divine ownership. 00:59:49.720 --> 00:59:54.720 So at the risk of even dirtying some of the chairs that we sit on, 00:59:54.720 --> 00:59:59.720 or maybe your palm, 00:59:59.720 --> 01:00:04.720 let's do that. Let's eat of this bread and drink of this cup and pledge our allegiance with 01:00:04.720 --> 01:00:09.720 words, in your own words to the Lord, saying this is my small sign 01:00:09.720 --> 01:00:14.720 of ownership that I want to enter into. Own me. You already own me, I'm just acknowledging it. 01:00:14.720 --> 01:00:19.720 It's not even own me. It is you have paid the price. I am yours. 1 Corinthians 6, so beautiful. 01:00:19.720 --> 01:00:24.720 Do you not know that you are not your own? You were bought with a price. Therefore now 01:00:24.720 --> 01:00:29.720 you are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Yeah? Let me just read the 01:00:29.720 --> 01:00:34.720 scripture. 1 Corinthians 01:00:39.720 --> 01:00:44.720 6, towards the end. 01:00:44.720 --> 01:00:49.720 Yeah. Let me start from verse 17. 01:00:49.720 --> 01:00:54.720 But he who 01:00:54.720 --> 01:00:59.720 is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual 01:00:59.720 --> 01:01:04.720 immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body. 01:01:04.720 --> 01:01:09.720 But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 01:01:09.720 --> 01:01:14.720 Don't worry about understanding that right now. Understand 6, 17. But he who is 01:01:14.720 --> 01:01:19.720 joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. And now go to verse 19 and 20. 01:01:19.720 --> 01:01:24.720 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? 01:01:24.720 --> 01:01:29.720 You are not your own, for you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. 01:01:29.720 --> 01:01:34.720 So we are already owned, but there's just a sign saying, I love my ownership. 01:01:34.720 --> 01:01:39.720 Thank you. Yeah? So guys, if you want to come and distribute. 01:01:39.720 --> 01:01:44.720 Father, can I just skip on the day that you were 01:01:44.720 --> 01:01:49.720 betrayed and go this route today? Okay. Let's take it. 01:01:49.720 --> 01:01:54.720 And the cup too. And then once we do, just do that symbolic act and 01:01:54.720 --> 01:01:55.720 we'll be done.