WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Pentecost_II_Bethel Publishing Date: 2022-06-12T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/pentecost_ii_bethel/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:13.000 So last week we started on this series called Pentecost and trying to compare the journey that Elijah took with Elijah 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:20.000 through Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, Jordan to the place where he receives a double portion. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:37.000 One of the things we said last week was a double portion is not about an increase in the measure of the Spirit. 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:57.000 We have been given the full measure of the Spirit, but it is an increase in the capacity to receive Him. 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:04.000 Increase in your capacity, our capacity to receive Him. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:07.000 That's what we said last time. 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:12.000 So we said that as you go through these four places like Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, and Jordan, 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:19.000 we come to a place where it increases our capacity to receive the full measure of the Spirit who is already present. 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:23.000 So a double portion is not about an increase in the measure of the Spirit. 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:30.000 It's an increase in your capacity to receive the full measure of the Spirit. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:43.000 And as we explore Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, and Jordan, we will be able to increase in our capacity to receive Him. 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:49.000 So today we talk about Bethel. 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:57.000 And Bethel, you'll find it in Genesis 28, 12-19. Genesis 28, 12-19. 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:04.000 So if you want to turn there, Genesis 28, 12-19. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:08.000 Jeremy, can I have a tiny bit of volume more? 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:15.000 Sorry, not Jeremy 28, Genesis 28. 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:19.000 Genesis 28, 12-19. And here's what it says. 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:24.000 Starting at verse 10, Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Hiraan. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:29.000 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:34.000 Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and he lay down to sleep. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:41.000 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth with its top reaching to heaven. 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:45.000 And the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.000 There above it stood the Lord and He said, 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.000 I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:55.000 I will give you and your descendants the land on which you're lying. 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.000 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth and you will spread out to the west and to the east, 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:01.000 to the north and to the south. 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:04.000 All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:08.000 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:09.000 I will bring you back to this land. 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:12.000 I will not leave you until I've done what I promised you. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:14.000 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:17.000 surely the Lord is in this place and I was not aware of it. 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:21.000 He was afraid and he said, how awesome is this place? 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:23.000 This is none other than the house of God. 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:25.000 And that's the word Bethel, house of God. 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:27.000 This is the gate of heaven. 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:30.000 Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:33.000 and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:37.000 He called the place Bethel, though the city was called Luz. 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:40.000 So that's how that's a story of Bethel. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:48.000 So when we talk about Bethel, one of the things it means to us in the context of what we're teaching right now is Bethel is a place. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:57.000 Bethel is a place where one is under an open heaven. 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:01.000 Where one is under an open heaven. 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:05.000 Bethel is a place where one is under an open heaven. 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:09.000 But as soon as we say Bethel is a place where one is under an open heaven, 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:12.000 we have to begin to define what an open heaven means. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.000 And so let's go down that road. 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:23.000 So an open heaven, and it'll have to be a definition that corresponds with other scriptural examples. 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:35.000 So an open heaven is being where the Holy Spirit is descending. 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:40.000 An open heaven is being where the Holy Spirit is descending. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.000 An open heaven is being where the Holy Spirit is descending. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:45.000 That's the first one. 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:47.000 So if you go to Matthew 3.16. 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:49.000 Matthew 3.16. 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:55.000 Matthew 3.16. 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:59.000 Starting at verse 13. 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:02.000 Jesus then appeared, arriving at the Jordan River from Galilee. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:04.000 He wanted John to baptize him. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:07.000 John objected, I'm the one who needs to be baptized, not you. 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:11.000 But Jesus insisted, do it. 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:16.000 God's work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in the baptism. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:18.000 So John did it. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:23.000 The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up. 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:24.000 And he saw God's Spirit. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.000 It looked like a dove descending and landing on him. 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:32.000 And along with the Spirit, a voice, this is my son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:36.000 Let me read it from NIV. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:38.000 Jesus replied, let it be so now. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:41.000 It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:42.000 Then John consented. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:45.000 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:47.000 At that moment, heaven was opened. 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:51.000 And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and a lighting on him. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:56.000 And a voice from heaven said, this is my son whom I love, with whom I am well pleased. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:57.000 With him I am well pleased. 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:01.000 So an open heaven is being where the Holy Spirit is descending. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:09.000 It's the Holy Spirit who, at the end of the day, is the central piece or part of this idea of open heaven. 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:13.000 So an open heaven is a place where the Spirit is descending. 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:20.000 We'll talk about how to locate ourselves in places where we can walk under an open heaven. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:29.000 Second, an open heaven is access. 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:31.000 We're trying to define what an open heaven is. 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:34.000 An open heaven is access to the throne room. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:36.000 Access to the throne room. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:47.000 An open heaven is access to the throne room, to God's council, to conversations. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:55.000 And if you want to have a look at that, you can either go to Isaiah 6, 00:06:55.000 --> 00:07:02.000 where Isaiah has this experience of an open heaven. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:04.000 So if you go to Isaiah 6, it says, 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:11.000 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and exalted, seated on a throne, 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:13.000 and the train of his robe filled the temple. 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:15.000 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings. 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:19.000 With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:23.000 And they were calling to one another, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty. 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:25.000 The whole earth is full of his glory. 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:28.000 As the sound of their voices, the doorposts and the thresholds shook. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:30.000 The temple was filled with smoke. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:33.000 Wore to me, I cried, I'm ruined, for I'm a man of unclean lips, 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:38.000 and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:40.000 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:42.000 which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:45.000 He touched my mouth and said, See, this has touched your lips. 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:47.000 Your guilt has taken away. Your sin is atoned for. 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:49.000 Then I love this next part. 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:52.000 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:54.000 And he said, Here am I, send me. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:08:01.000 And so there is this idea of an open heaven being a place or a position that a church can occupy 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:07.000 or a person can occupy, where he or us or we have access to the throne room. 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:12.000 We have access to the council of God, and we have access to conversations that are happening in heaven. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:16.000 Acts chapter 7 56, Stephen is being stoned. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:18.000 He's almost at the point of dying. 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:24.000 And in Acts chapter 7 56, he again sees a glimpse of what it is that happens in heaven, 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:29.000 where he sees, behold, the Son of God seated at the right hand of the Father, 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:33.000 and Jesus stands to receive Stephen as he's being martyred. 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:38.000 So the idea of an open heaven is the ability to position ourselves to, 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:43.000 one, know where the Holy Spirit is descending so that there's very little you have to do. 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:47.000 You just have to be present. You just have to be present. 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:53.000 And if you're present there, the Spirit of God is able to take you where he wants you to go. 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:57.000 And the second one is an open heaven has access to the throne room. 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:00.000 A church can learn this. A church can learn this during worship. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:01.000 A church can learn this. 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:05.000 We are unconsciously doing it every so often during worship, 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:10.000 where you suddenly catch the drift of the Spirit, where it was important to sing the victory song today. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:16.000 Where it was important to sing the victory song today because it meant different things to different people. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:25.000 But in a second, the Holy Spirit descends and he begins to just brilliantly change things in and out of us. 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:28.000 And so it is not that we aren't doing this. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:34.000 It's just that we aren't necessarily intentional or conscious of it in a subconscious way, 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:37.000 where this is how you always walk. 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:41.000 But don't think that it is not part of your experience in this church. It is. 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:48.000 But it has to be experienced not just limited to a service, but unlimited in life. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.000 That's what we're trying to get at. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:53.000 The third thing, there is a grown-up who ran out. 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:57.000 The third thing is an open heaven. 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:10.000 So from now on, if it's an o movement, it means open heaven movement. 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:20.000 An open heaven is seeing in the Spirit, is seeing in the Spirit. 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:28.000 Seeing what? Seeing things that exist in God. 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:33.000 Seeing things that exist in God. 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:38.000 seeing things in other realms, 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:43.000 seeing things in Kairos. 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:46.000 So an open heaven is seeing in the Spirit. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:51.000 So you have examples of this, like Jesus did in John 1.51. 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:55.000 And so Jesus sees in the Spirit and he says, 00:10:55.000 --> 00:11:00.000 I saw you, Nathaniel, when you were sitting under the fig tree. 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:04.000 Jesus wasn't there. In John 1.51, 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:08.000 he actually sees things without having seen them. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:10.000 It's not a visible seeing. 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.000 And yet everything that Jesus does, at least by the power of the Spirit, 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:16.000 we have to do at least the same. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:18.000 And then after you do the same, you can do more. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:21.000 But Jesus was seeing in the Spirit. 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:24.000 Peter saw in the Spirit when he said, 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:27.000 why did you hide? He's saying to Ananias and Sapphira, 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:30.000 why did you keep back some of the money? 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:36.000 And then later on he talks to Sapphira and he talks to her 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:39.000 and she tries to hide something and he sees in the Spirit. 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:42.000 So part of an open heaven is his ability to see in the Spirit. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:48.000 These are things that we barely touch and occasionally cultivate, 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:52.000 but it is something that people, if they learn how to live like this, 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.000 we'll talk about what will happen. 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:57.000 It's seeing in the Spirit. It's seeing things that exist in God. 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:00.000 And what I mean by that is things in the Word that sometimes pop up 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:02.000 and you've never seen it before and you see it. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:04.000 There are things today that are being taught, 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:07.000 even in this message that maybe you and I haven't seen before, 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:09.000 that will pop up. Seeing things that exist in God. 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:12.000 Seeing things that exist in other realms. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:15.000 Seeing things in Kairos. Kairos as in in the fullness of time, 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:17.000 things begin to happen and you see it before it happens. 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:20.000 Abraham in Hebrews chapter 11, it says, 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.000 Abraham saw a city that was not built with human hands, 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:26.000 whose foundation was laid by God. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:30.000 And therefore he was okay going from tent to tent, pitching altar to altar. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.000 He was willing to go because he had already seen what is described 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:38.000 in Revelation 21 where there's this city that's coming out of the heavens. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:43.000 He already saw it. Four thousand years ago, a man saw it and he began a journey. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:48.000 Today, after Jesus and Moses, he's the next most important person. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:53.000 Nobody, not even Moses, God spoke to Moses face to face, 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:56.000 but nobody has been called the friend of God like Abraham was. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:06.000 Seeing something that God shows allows me to both be sustained through hard times 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:08.000 because I've seen what God has shown. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:14.000 And allows me to be fueled for long races because yes, I have seen what God has shown. 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:20.000 So an open heaven is seeing in the spirit. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:23.000 Next one. 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:29.000 Ah, another time when Jesus saw into... 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:36.000 Seeing Kairos is know the fullness of time. 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:42.000 Like Abraham saw that there is a time coming when a city 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:44.000 without foundations will be built by God. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:47.000 And therefore he's not going to cling to his clan, his country. 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:49.000 He's going to start moving. 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:53.000 He knew that he will not see many of the things promised to him. 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:58.000 But he knew having seen it that he can keep walking because the God who promised him is faithful. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.000 That your descendants will spread like the sand of the sea. 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:08.000 In another case, in Luke chapter 10, Jesus sees something of the other realm. 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:11.000 And we might say, but you're talking about Jesus. 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:15.000 No, we're talking about Jesus the Christ and his present body today. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:21.000 Where his spirit allows us to do the same because Jesus was as limited in what he could see as I am. 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:23.000 Because he was fully human. 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:25.000 And in Luke 10, Jesus sees something. 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.000 When the disciples come back joyfully and say, we cast out demons in your name. 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:32.000 Jesus says, I saw Satan fall like lightning. 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:37.000 I don't know whether he's seeing something in the past or whether he's seeing something at that moment. 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:39.000 Whether he's seeing something in the future after the cross. 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:42.000 But all I know is Jesus saw and he speaks it. 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:53.000 It's a great skill to eventually learn. 00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:56.000 We're not doing this for sensationalism. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:58.000 We're doing it for the sake of King and Kingdom. 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:00.000 The next one. 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:03.000 An open heaven. 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:04.000 I love this one. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:05.000 Is a release. 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:08.000 An open heaven is a release. 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:12.000 Of the sound of heaven. 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:16.000 An open heaven is a release of the sound of heaven. 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:20.000 And you hear the sound of heaven in Acts chapter 2 verse 2. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:23.000 And suddenly there was a sound of a mighty rushing wind. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:26.000 It is the release of the sound of heaven. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:27.000 Acts chapter 2 verse 2. 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:35.000 And it begins to usher in a new movement of God. 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:39.000 It begins to usher in a new movement of God. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:45.000 And it gives you wind beneath your wings. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:53.000 It gives you wind in your wings as in the wind of the Holy Spirit in your wings. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:56.000 And it gives you courage to endure. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:58.000 It gives you courage to endure. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:00.000 It gives you courage to endure. 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:07.000 So in 2 Kings 2.11. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:10.000 In 2 Kings 2.11 there was the... 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:13.000 Trust me when the chariots of fire came and a whirlwind came. 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:15.000 It was in the silent movie. 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:16.000 It was loud. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:19.000 As Elijah and Elisha part ways. 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:21.000 But a new movement begins on earth. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:23.000 It's the sound of heaven. 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:27.000 There was a sound of heaven that Elijah put in words before it even happens. 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:28.000 And he hears it. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:31.000 And he says to Ahab, you better go down. 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:34.000 Because I hear the sound of rain when there was not yet. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:36.000 The sound of wind dropped. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:38.000 Three and a half years it had not rained. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:40.000 And this man is hearing the sound of rain. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:42.000 It is not a faith statement. 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:46.000 It is being able to see what God is going to do. 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:52.000 Just because I don't understand or comprehend or haven't experienced something at present. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:55.000 Doesn't mean I can try and comprehend and make it happen. 00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:58.000 But I have to be open to the fact that these things are realities in the Bible. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:04.000 There are so many realities that have transpired in your life. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:07.000 Which at one point you didn't even know what to do. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:10.000 I mean some of you speak in tongues. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:12.000 Is it even humanly possible? 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:13.000 It will be gibberish. 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:16.000 Some of you have seen healings. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:18.000 Some of you have seen miracles. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:20.000 Did you ever think it was possible? 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:22.000 No. These are experiences that come our way. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:24.000 Not because we could think it through. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:26.000 But because we were open to it. 00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:31.000 So you can't think this to happen. 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:33.000 This is not positive thinking. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:41.000 But you can be positively open to anything biblical that the Holy Spirit wants to do. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:44.000 Another thing about open heaven. 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:47.000 An open heaven authenticates you. 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:49.000 The voice of God. 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:53.000 An open heaven is a place where the voice of God 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:55.000 where the voice of God 00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:57.000 authenticates you 00:17:57.000 --> 00:17:59.000 authenticates you 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:06.000 and expresses his pleasure. 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:08.000 expresses his pleasure. 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:12.000 Where the voice of God authenticates you and expresses his pleasure. 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:15.000 This is something I often look for. 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:16.000 For Acts 29. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:18.000 For the nations we go to. 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:19.000 For myself. 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:23.000 The Father, I must know that if I step here 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:26.000 I must know that if Acts 29 makes its move 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:31.000 I must know that you will authenticate it with your voice 00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:34.000 and you will give us your pleasure. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:36.000 Because if your voice does not authenticate it 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:39.000 and your pleasure and your presence does not go with us 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:41.000 then why should we go? 00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:51.000 The last one and then you can ask questions. 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:56.000 I mean and you see this happening in Jesus' life 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:58.000 both in Matthew 3.16 when he gets baptized 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:02.000 and in Matthew 17 where he's on the Mount of Transfiguration. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:04.000 These were hard things that they were stepping 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:05.000 Jesus was stepping into it. 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:07.000 Just before he steps into it 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:09.000 the voice of God authenticates him 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:11.000 and the voice of God shares his pleasure 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:13.000 expresses his pleasure. 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:14.000 Jesus needed it. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:15.000 You think you don't need it? 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:16.000 You think we don't need it? 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:17.000 We need it often. 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:21.000 One of the sterling qualities of our God is reassurance. 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:25.000 I mean the prophetic in Isaiah and Jeremiah 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:27.000 is always so reassuring. 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:30.000 It doesn't matter how many times you've rebelled. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:31.000 Let me give you a word of reassurance. 00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:37.000 Every book ends with a chapter that talks about reassurance. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:41.000 God is a reassuring God. 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:46.000 The last one is an open heaven. 00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:48.000 It's an invitation. 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:50.000 An open heaven is an invitation. 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:56.000 An open heaven is an invitation to see what happens next. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:58.000 To see what happens next. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:00.000 This is very important to God 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:03.000 because God said do I do anything without letting my prophets know? 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:09.000 In Abraham's case it was 00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:11.000 shall I hide from Abraham what I'm going to do? 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:15.000 It is a revealing of God's plans 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:17.000 and the doors God wants to open. 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:21.000 He loves having a people walk in a place 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:24.000 where they can easily respond 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:26.000 and recognize and then respond 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:28.000 to an invitation that God is giving. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:31.000 Saying, hey come I want to show you what happens next. 00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:34.000 One of the scriptures that points us out in Revelation 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:38.000 is Revelation chapter 4 verse 1. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:40.000 Revelation chapter 4 verse 1. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:41.000 And then I heard a voice. 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:44.000 And after that I heard a voice and I looked 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:46.000 and behold an open door in heaven. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:49.000 And a voice that said come up higher. 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:51.000 I want to show you what will happen next. 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:57.000 This idea of an open heaven is 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:01.000 something that will really help us 00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:03.000 increase in our capacity 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:05.000 of both receiving and working with the Holy Spirit. 00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:07.000 Any questions before we go on? 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:11.000 If there's something that's not clear 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:12.000 please ask. 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:19.000 So thus far here's what we've done. 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:22.000 We've defined Bethel as a place 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:24.000 where one is under an open heaven. 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:26.000 But as soon as we say that 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:28.000 because this guy calls it that, 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:30.000 Jacob calls it that, and it's in the Bible. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:32.000 And then we begin to define what an open heaven is. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.000 There might be more things that can be added 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:36.000 but this is enough for now. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:38.000 So any questions? 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:46.000 No? Okay. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:52.000 So what is required for us to position 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:53.000 under an open heaven? 00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:56.000 What is required, what is required 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:02.000 for us to position under an open heaven? 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:04.000 To position under an open heaven? 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:12.000 God is not reluctant to help us walk 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:15.000 under an open heaven. 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:17.000 But there are certain requirements 00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:20.000 that allow me to position under an open heaven. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:22.000 Allow us to position under an open heaven. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:26.000 To begin with, Jesus weeps, say, 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:30.000 in Luke 19.41, 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:32.000 depending on the version that you read. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:36.000 Jesus weeps that Jerusalem failed to recognize 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:39.000 the day of their visitation 00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:42.000 because their eyes and ears were dulled. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:46.000 In Luke 19.41, Jesus weeps. 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:50.000 I mean, it bothered me that Jesus wept 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:53.000 because of one simple thing, 00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:54.000 that listen, I was here. 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:56.000 This was your day of visitation. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:59.000 Heaven was here because the presence of God is heaven. 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:00.000 I was here. 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:02.000 And you did not recognize, 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:04.000 you did not discern the day of visitation. 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:08.000 This is exactly what happens to Jacob in Genesis 28. 00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:11.000 Wow, this is the house of God. 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:13.000 This is the gate of heaven. 00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:16.000 And I did not even know it. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:18.000 And the reason, one of the reasons, 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:21.000 we are not able to recognize times 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:24.000 when all those six definitions I gave are present. 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:25.000 The reason we don't recognize it 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:27.000 is because of a dullness of hearing 00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:29.000 and a dullness of seeing. 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:30.000 It's an Old Testament problem 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:31.000 and a New Testament problem. 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:33.000 Isaiah spoke about it in the Old Testament. 00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:35.000 Jesus reiterated it in the New Testament. 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:38.000 Luke talks about it in Acts 27. 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:42.000 That my people do suffer from dullness of hearing 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:45.000 and dullness of seeing. 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:47.000 And it prevents us from recognizing 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:49.000 the day of our visitation. 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:51.000 And sometimes it is, in your individual case, 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:53.000 sometimes it's together as a church, 00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:56.000 we fail to recognize that God is in this place. 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:57.000 We wake up and say, 00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:01.000 oh, God is in this place and I did not even know it. 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:05.000 And Jesus weeps about it. 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:06.000 And he doesn't do it once. 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:08.000 He does it multiple times. 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:11.000 He was in and out of Jerusalem for three years. 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:14.000 There was ample evidence that was provided for Jerusalem. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:17.000 But a dullness of hearing and a dullness of seeing 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:18.000 prevents you after three years 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:22.000 from seeing the one who is heaven himself. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:25.000 Heaven was on earth and they did not see it. 00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:27.000 These were the people of God. 00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:29.000 It was happening to the people of God. 00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:30.000 It was happening to the people 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:33.000 who had treasuries of scripture 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:34.000 that revealed what was to happen. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:36.000 And yet they did not see it. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:37.000 Do you think it can happen to us? 00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:45.000 I say yes, it can happen to me. 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:47.000 In Acts 28, verse 27, you read it. 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:49.000 Luke is talking about it. 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:53.000 Acts 28, verse 27. 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:58.000 Acts 28, verse 27. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:01.000 For this people's heart has become calloused. 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:02.000 They hardly hear with their ears 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:04.000 and they have closed their eyes. 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:06.000 Otherwise they might see with their eyes 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:07.000 and hear with their ears 00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:08.000 and understand with their hearts 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:12.000 and turn and I would heal them. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:14.000 The message puts it a little harsher. 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:17.000 These people are blockheads. 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:19.000 They stick their fingers in their ears 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:20.000 so they won't have to listen. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:23.000 They screw their eyes shut so they won't have to look. 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:25.000 So they won't have to deal with me face to face. 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:28.000 Let me heal them. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:32.000 And what happens when we continuously practice 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:33.000 missing our visitation 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:36.000 is that God moves on to another people. 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:39.000 We don't lose our salvation, but he says, 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:41.000 Okay Jacob, tried a lot. 00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:43.000 I got to move on. 00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:44.000 Let me pick Emmanuel. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:47.000 So he picks Emmanuel. 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:49.000 It has happened throughout history. 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:57.000 It should not happen to us. 00:25:57.000 --> 00:26:02.000 To respond to a Bethel invitation, 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:09.000 to respond to a Bethel invitation, 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:12.000 or in other words to position ourselves 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:14.000 under an open heaven. 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:21.000 The first thing is you have to let God find you. 00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:26.000 You have to let God find you. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:31.000 You have to let God find you 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:39.000 and begin to confront two things. 00:26:39.000 --> 00:26:46.000 Your deceit and your strength. 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:49.000 That's what happens to Jacob, eh? 00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:51.000 Deceitful guy who keeps running, 00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:52.000 who keeps manipulating, 00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:53.000 who keeps deceiving, 00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:55.000 who gets what he wants. 00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:57.000 And a strong guy who, 00:26:57.000 --> 00:26:59.000 before all this happened, 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:07.000 was at a well where Rachel was trying to feed her camels. 00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:09.000 And it needed many men to roll that stone away. 00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:11.000 And Jacob, without superhuman strength, 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:12.000 rolls the stone away. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:14.000 Here was a man who was very strong. 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:17.000 And here was a man who knew deceit 00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:19.000 and had lived his entire life 00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:22.000 and gotten everything in his life by deceit. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:24.000 One of the first things that has to happen 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:26.000 if you are to respond to a Bethel invitation 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:28.000 is you have to let God find you. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:31.000 And after finding you, begin to confront you. 00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:33.000 Begin to confront you on two levels. 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:35.000 Your deceit and your strength. 00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:38.000 Until that is done, there is no Bethel for me. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:44.000 Yeah, so how does God find me? 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:48.000 God finds me when I have time and I have a willingness. 00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:52.000 God is always aware of who I am. 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:57.000 But he finds me when I have time and I have willingness. 00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:01.000 God finds me when I have time and I have willingness. 00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:05.000 Both are such precious commodities today. 00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:07.000 We've got so many competing interests. 00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:09.000 There are two things we don't have, 00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:13.000 is time and willingness. 00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:16.000 But the more he gets to confront my deceit and my strength, 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:20.000 the more I walk under an open heaven. 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:22.000 It's beautiful when you actually think of it. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:24.000 The more he confronts my deceit, 00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:25.000 deceit is not just lying. 00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:28.000 Deceit is anything where I'm crooked and not straight. 00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:30.000 Any area where I'm crooked and not straight. 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:35.000 When he finds me and is able to deal with my deceit and my strength, 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:38.000 he has me under an open heaven. 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:41.000 That's the first requirement, and it's a beautiful requirement. 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:45.000 And he finds me when I have time and willingness. 00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:50.000 And those are the two things that none of us have. 00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.000 Those are the two things that I've fought for the most. 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:07.000 It's fascinating that in John chapter... 00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:11.000 First, in Hosea 12, verse 4, it says, 00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:13.000 And he found me at Bethel. 00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:16.000 That's what it says about Jacob in Hosea 12, 4, second part. 00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:18.000 He found me, God found me at Bethel. 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:20.000 But it's fascinating that in John 1.51, 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:22.000 when Jesus is talking to Nathaniel, 00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:25.000 he completely turns it around and he turns to Nathaniel and says, 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:28.000 Here is a man in whom there is no deceit. 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:30.000 Now see what's going to happen. 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:32.000 You will see angels ascending and descending. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:35.000 There's a direct connection, John 1.51, 00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.000 there's a direct connection between deceit and strength and open heavens. 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:42.000 Nathaniel is sitting there and he says, 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:44.000 Here is a man in whom there is no guile. 00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:48.000 And now you think you're fascinated by me saying I saw your little victory? 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:50.000 I'm going to show you more. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:55.000 Jacob had to come to the end of deceit and the end of its strength for an open heaven. 00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:58.000 There's something to it. 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:11.000 Second thing we have to do if we want to respond to the Bethel invitation 00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:15.000 is sharpen your ears, guys. 00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.000 Sharpen your ears because all of us are in the, 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:21.000 because we live in the world, 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:25.000 we are constantly having our hearing and our seeing dulled. 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:28.000 So pay attention to sharpening your ears. 00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:30.000 Sharpen your ears. 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:32.000 How? 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:34.000 By listening under. 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:37.000 Listening under, not listening around the word. 00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:41.000 Listening under the word, not listening around. 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:43.000 Not around. 00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:46.000 But listening under the word. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:49.000 The word Samuel means shamma ul. 00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:53.000 And shamma means to hear or listen, to heed. 00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:57.000 To hear or listen, to heed. 00:30:57.000 --> 00:31:00.000 That's the idea of shamma. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:06.000 The word Samuel means here is a boy or here is a name where he listens to L. 00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:11.000 But he listens not just to hear, he listens to hear and heed. 00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:15.000 There is a listening under the word that keeps sharpening my ears. 00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:20.000 It's a similar scripture that is spoken of in Hebrews chapter 5 verse 14 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:26.000 where it says that those who train themselves or practice discerning between right and wrong 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:30.000 are those that are now ready to chew meat and not just keep drinking milk. 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:32.000 Hebrews 5, 14. 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:38.000 So one of the ways we sharpen our ears is by listening under, not around the word. 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:41.000 Listening around the word is receiving it, being selective, 00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:44.000 deciding what is palatable, what is not, and listening around. 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:46.000 But listening under is different. 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:48.000 The problem with listening under the word, 00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:53.000 listening under the word, there's an additional problem if you decide to listen under the word. 00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:56.000 If you decide to listen under the word, 00:31:56.000 --> 00:32:00.000 you might have to end up listening to the person who is delivering the word too. 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:05.000 Because you can't listen under the word without listening to the person who is delivering the word. 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:12.000 The word is taught. It is taught through people. 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:14.000 The word can be read by you. 00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:16.000 The word can be taught by the Holy Spirit. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:19.000 Whether I like it or not, it is taught through people. 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:29.000 Another way to sharpen your ears is to just practice humility. 00:32:29.000 --> 00:32:33.000 Because in James chapter 1, verse 21, 00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:39.000 it says that the word is grafted to me, into my life, 00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:49.000 by receiving it with humility. 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:58.000 These are words, I'm just talking about ways to keep my ears sharpened. 00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:01.000 The next one is destroy legalism in your life. 00:33:01.000 --> 00:33:03.000 Destroy legalism in your life. 00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:08.000 Legalism was the problem that the Pharisees had that prevented them from hearing, 00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:12.000 and Galatians chapter 3, Paul says to the Galatians, 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:13.000 what has bewitched you? 00:33:13.000 --> 00:33:18.000 Why, after having started in the Spirit, have you begun to now walk in the law? 00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:21.000 There's such a dullness about you, Galatians. 00:33:21.000 --> 00:33:24.000 What happened? Galatians 3, 1-6. 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:27.000 And so destroy legalism. 00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:31.000 We must not for a second think that there is no legalism in our lives. 00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:34.000 Legalism is when I get used to doing something without Jesus. 00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:38.000 It eventually leads to the banishing of love and joy. 00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:41.000 But it begins with, I can do this without Jesus, 00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:43.000 because I know how to do this, and this is what I've been taught, 00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:46.000 this is what I've been practiced, this is what I can keep doing. 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:48.000 That's what legalism is. 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:51.000 Then it gets structured, then it's given a base and a foundation, 00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:54.000 then it gets institutionalized, but it starts with, 00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:56.000 this has become rote for me. 00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:58.000 That's where legalism starts. 00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:01.000 And we all have it, there's none of us that are exempt from it. 00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:03.000 None of us. 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:13.000 Number 3, James 1-21. 00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:15.000 James 1-21. 00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:17.000 James, a question. 00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:18.000 Yeah. 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:23.000 Assuming that I'm reading the Word and I want to read it, 00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:28.000 but I cannot, I cannot be comfortable, or it's difficult for me. 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:31.000 So how do I move forward in that? 00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:00.000 No giant is going to turn me away. 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:03.000 What the devil meant for evil, he will turn to good. 00:35:03.000 --> 00:35:04.000 So that's where I start. 00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:07.000 Then the other thing is to now go and tell someone, 00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:08.000 Prashanth, I'm struggling with this. 00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:10.000 I have a problem with pride in my life. 00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:13.000 I've got to bring it out into the light. 00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:15.000 There's such power in that. 00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.000 I know it's been often repeated, but if I can go tell someone, 00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:23.000 that itself is the first step of humility, 00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:25.000 where I have gone and told someone about it. 00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:28.000 My pride in there itself is broken, and that begins the second process. 00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:32.000 And the third process is to ask people to teach and help you get to a place 00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:36.000 where whatever you're struggling with, just two or three, 00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:41.000 or just a small group of people that know how to do it can help you out of it. 00:35:41.000 --> 00:35:45.000 These are the three hardest steps to getting anywhere. 00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:46.000 Three hardest steps. 00:35:46.000 --> 00:35:48.000 After that, it's easy. 00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:51.000 But these are the three hardest steps. 00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:56.000 Destroy legalism. 00:35:56.000 --> 00:36:02.000 And then the last one is resistance to being teachable. 00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:06.000 Resistance, which is the same as pride, really. 00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:10.000 Resistance to teachability. 00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:15.000 Resistance. 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:18.000 It goes back to the whole, it's the same thing. 00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:21.000 So sharpen your ears. 00:36:21.000 --> 00:36:23.000 Sharpen your ears. 00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:27.000 These are how we can learn to position under an open heaven. 00:36:27.000 --> 00:36:33.000 Really, at the end of the day, God wants churches to thrive under an open heaven, 00:36:33.000 --> 00:36:36.000 because he speaks into and through an open heaven. 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:41.000 Angelic activity happens when an open heaven is over a people, over a person, over a church. 00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:42.000 He wants this. 00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:47.000 But he's saying, Jacob, can you GPS yourself so that you know where I am, 00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:50.000 so that I can do these things for you? 00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:52.000 And it's not complicated. 00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:56.000 We're not talking about some flaky thing out there. 00:36:56.000 --> 00:36:58.000 It's a very natural thing. 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:06.000 These are not portals we are talking about, where, oh, there's an open heaven in Wally, 00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:07.000 so let's all go there. 00:37:07.000 --> 00:37:12.000 No, we're not thinking like that, like a portal where, like beam me up Scotty or something. 00:37:12.000 --> 00:37:17.000 No, we are talking about this being what God does. 00:37:17.000 --> 00:37:21.000 But I have to position myself to where God is going, 00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:25.000 and that is what we're trying to do, sharpen our ears. 00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:30.000 Confront deceit and strength. 00:37:33.000 --> 00:37:39.000 Then the third thing is, obey without compromise. 00:37:39.000 --> 00:37:43.000 Obey without compromise or dilution. 00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:45.000 Obey without compromise or dilution. 00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:48.000 Compromise or dilution. 00:37:49.000 --> 00:37:55.000 You know, in Deuteronomy 28 verse 23, it says, disobedience closes the heavens. 00:37:55.000 --> 00:38:00.000 Deuteronomy 28 verse 23, it says disobedience closes the heavens. 00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:02.000 Guess what then? 00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:05.000 Obedience opens the heavens. 00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.000 Deuteronomy 28, 23, disobedience closes the heavens. 00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:13.000 Well then, obedience opens the heavens. 00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:25.000 So, you can literally be sat-nav'd by an open heaven if you are willing to be obedient 00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:27.000 and not dilute what you've been told. 00:38:29.000 --> 00:38:31.000 I mean, Peter almost missed it, eh? 00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:39.000 He had an open heaven where he was sitting on the terrace of Simon the Tanner, 00:38:39.000 --> 00:38:42.000 and he is waiting for his food to be served. 00:38:42.000 --> 00:38:46.000 While he is waiting, he has a vision of heaven. 00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:50.000 And he is sitting there, but legalism kicks in. 00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:53.000 This is what I meant by how easily our ears can be dulled. 00:38:53.000 --> 00:38:57.000 A man like Peter, sitting on a terrace, has an open-eyed vision. 00:38:57.000 --> 00:39:01.000 And as he is sitting on the terrace and listening, legalism kicks in. 00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:04.000 What is the problem? 00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:07.000 He cannot go out with the Gentiles. 00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:09.000 A sheet is lowered. 00:39:09.000 --> 00:39:11.000 Not once, not twice. 00:39:11.000 --> 00:39:12.000 Three times. 00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:14.000 God wasn't trying to confirm his word. 00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:16.000 God was trying to get it through his dull head. 00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:19.000 That, listen, you need to eat this stuff. 00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:28.000 And instead, Peter is trying to educate Yahweh on Old Testament law. 00:39:28.000 --> 00:39:32.000 Till finally he gets it, and then there's a knock and the Gentiles are at the door. 00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:39.000 Legalism almost dulled Peter's hearing while he was under an open heaven. 00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:43.000 But because he was obedient and he does not know what's going to happen, 00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:45.000 you can imagine how he feels. 00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:53.000 He's walking through a Jewish neighborhood and heading out with a bunch of Gentiles. 00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:59.000 He's going to enter their house, eat their meals, and this is going to ruin his reputation for life. 00:39:59.000 --> 00:40:02.000 And he doesn't even know what's going to happen there. 00:40:02.000 --> 00:40:04.000 And he goes. 00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:07.000 And then the most amazing thing happens where Peter says, 00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:09.000 What can we do now? 00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:13.000 The same thing that happened to us is happening to them. 00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:21.000 What obedience does when you have an open heaven over you is that thousands and thousands and thousands benefit. 00:40:21.000 --> 00:40:27.000 An open heaven is not some kind of privilege you want to bask under. 00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:32.000 An open heaven is so that God can work around and through you to the benefit of others. 00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:37.000 Can you see how advantageous it would be for a church then? 00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:47.000 It's not everything you've learned, yes, but it does not counter the word. 00:40:47.000 --> 00:40:54.000 So we have a church in the United States, and it's a church in the United States. 00:40:54.000 --> 00:41:01.000 It's not everything you've learned, yes, but it does not counter the word. 00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:05.000 So we are fortunate. 00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.000 We have an advantage. Peter did have that advantage, too. 00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:14.000 We are fortunate in that whenever anything contradicts what we have learned, 00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:21.000 we can always look at Jesus and begin to kind of put things together based on his nature. 00:41:21.000 --> 00:41:23.000 Is this the nature of God? 00:41:23.000 --> 00:41:25.000 God makes it a little easier. 00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:28.000 And then once we do that, then we've got to go and look at scriptures. 00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:31.000 And we're not trying to find a scripture to support a position. 00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:33.000 We are trying to find the tapestry of scriptures. 00:41:33.000 --> 00:41:36.000 How was it done here? How was it done here? How was it done here? 00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:39.000 What is the first time this happened? What did he say to Abraham? 00:41:39.000 --> 00:41:42.000 He had said to Abraham, I'll make you a blessing to the nations. 00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:46.000 It was never a Jewish thing. 00:41:46.000 --> 00:41:48.000 Paul got it immediately. 00:41:48.000 --> 00:41:51.000 Paul says in Galatians 3, verse 28 and 29, 00:41:51.000 --> 00:41:55.000 that there is no Greek, no Jew, no Scythian, no barbarian, no man, no woman. 00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:57.000 But we are all one in Christ. 00:41:57.000 --> 00:41:59.000 He got the same thing from the same scriptures. 00:41:59.000 --> 00:42:03.000 Only Peter had Jesus as a teacher and Paul had the Spirit of Christ as a teacher. 00:42:03.000 --> 00:42:05.000 One was visible, one was invisible. 00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:08.000 The scriptures were the same. They were both referring to the same scriptures. 00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:12.000 Paul got it, Peter took time. 00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:14.000 But it comes out of the nature of God. 00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:17.000 Is God inclusive? Absolutely. 00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:20.000 So can he leave out a whole bunch of guys and just concentrate on the Jewish people? 00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.000 No. Does the scriptures prove it? Yes. 00:42:29.000 --> 00:42:32.000 Obey without compromise or dilution. 00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:35.000 Heaven is open when we set ourselves apart to obedience. 00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:37.000 Sometimes obedience is costly. 00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:39.000 Sometimes obedience is costly. 00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:41.000 Sometimes obedience to God is costly. 00:42:41.000 --> 00:42:44.000 Sometimes it is illogical. 00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:51.000 Sometimes it chafes because you are agreeing with what someone is saying is God's direction to you. 00:42:51.000 --> 00:42:53.000 That can chafe at times. 00:42:53.000 --> 00:43:01.000 You think when the fisherman was told by a carpenter to cast his nets again on the other side after 12 hours of fishing, 00:43:01.000 --> 00:43:07.000 you think the fisherman was thinking, great, all I needed was advice from a carpenter. 00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:15.000 And Luke 5, verse 5 says that I have fished all night and we have caught nothing. 00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.000 But because you have said it, I will do it. 00:43:19.000 --> 00:43:24.000 And this is at a stage where Peter still doesn't know who Jesus fully is. 00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:28.000 He does call him Rabbi or Master, but he's not calling him Lord. 00:43:28.000 --> 00:43:30.000 Obey without compromise or dilution. 00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:38.000 Obedience is costly. 00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:40.000 Where's Aaron? Oh, he's downstairs. 00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:42.000 Great coffee. 00:43:44.000 --> 00:43:50.000 Perhaps the last one is you have to cry out to God for open heaven, man. 00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:52.000 You have to cry out to God. 00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:56.000 Not because of his reluctance to give, but because you don't know how to position yourself. 00:43:56.000 --> 00:43:58.000 Cry out to God. 00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:07.000 Cry out to God for it. 00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:10.000 Saying, I started this way. 00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:12.000 I cannot have it closed on me. 00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:15.000 Moses is crying out, if your presence doesn't go, I'm not going. 00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:16.000 You brought me this far. 00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:17.000 You took me from the burning bush. 00:44:17.000 --> 00:44:18.000 You took me to Pharaoh. 00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:20.000 You made things 10 times tougher for me. 00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:21.000 I agreed with you. 00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:22.000 I stood with you. 00:44:22.000 --> 00:44:24.000 Now you brought me out here. 00:44:24.000 --> 00:44:26.000 Amazing hand of deliverance. 00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:27.000 Broke open the Red Sea. 00:44:27.000 --> 00:44:28.000 You are Yahweh. 00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:29.000 There's nobody else. 00:44:29.000 --> 00:44:32.000 But now that I've come to Mount Sinai, if you're going to shut things down now, I cannot go. 00:44:32.000 --> 00:44:34.000 I need your presence. 00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:36.000 I'm asking you to come with me. 00:44:36.000 --> 00:44:37.000 I'm not going to settle down for an angel. 00:44:37.000 --> 00:44:39.000 It doesn't matter that you send me the best angel you have. 00:44:39.000 --> 00:44:42.000 Yahweh, if you don't come, I can't go. 00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:46.000 There's a crying out. 00:44:46.000 --> 00:44:48.000 There's a desperation. 00:44:48.000 --> 00:44:50.000 There's a desire that I cannot settle for anything less. 00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:52.000 I must have this or I don't have anything. 00:44:54.000 --> 00:45:04.000 It's the same thing that's happening in Acts chapter 4, verse 28 to 31, where the disciples have seen the miracle that happened in Acts chapter 3, where a lame man rose. 00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:06.000 But now they're caught and they've been beaten. 00:45:06.000 --> 00:45:07.000 They've been thrown into prison. 00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:08.000 And now they've been released. 00:45:08.000 --> 00:45:11.000 And they're being told, you cannot speak the name of Jesus. 00:45:11.000 --> 00:45:18.000 And they're crying out saying, oh God, stretch out the hand of your mighty servant Jesus so that miracles and healings may start again. 00:45:18.000 --> 00:45:22.000 Even in the face of these threats, oh God, pour out your Spirit. 00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:23.000 And what happens? 00:45:23.000 --> 00:45:26.000 The whole place begins to shake like it did in Acts chapter 2. 00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:33.000 There's a crying out saying, if you do not stretch out your hand, we cannot do anything. 00:45:33.000 --> 00:45:35.000 And with that comes a boldness. 00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:38.000 With open heaven comes boldness. 00:45:38.000 --> 00:45:40.000 With open heaven comes boldness. 00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:41.000 You know why? 00:45:41.000 --> 00:45:45.000 Because you're at the end of your deceit and the end of your strength and you only have him. 00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.000 And with him comes boldness because he cloaks himself with zeal. 00:45:53.000 --> 00:46:02.000 Sometimes what you hear from God is only realized what you hear in Bethel. 00:46:02.000 --> 00:46:12.000 What you hear in Bethel is only realized through wrestling. 00:46:12.000 --> 00:46:32.000 What you hear in Bethel is only realized through wrestling at Pentiel. 00:46:32.000 --> 00:46:38.000 Sometimes, not always, but sometimes when God says something under an open heaven and you are so thrilled about it, 00:46:38.000 --> 00:46:44.000 you know that sometimes what is spoken at Bethel is only realized through wrestling at Pentiel 00:46:44.000 --> 00:46:51.000 because what God has said under an open heaven now requires you to be changed. 00:46:51.000 --> 00:46:53.000 Do not be afraid of it. 00:46:53.000 --> 00:46:57.000 You get to see God face to face in the dark. 00:46:57.000 --> 00:47:05.000 In the darkness of a gorge, all alone, completely dark, you will see his face. 00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:08.000 And he will wrestle with you and he will change you. 00:47:08.000 --> 00:47:10.000 Do not be afraid of it. 00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:13.000 Learn how to leave the place without a limp. 00:47:13.000 --> 00:47:16.000 But do not be afraid of it because some of the things that are spoken, 00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:23.000 some of what you hear in Bethel is only realized through wrestling at Pentiel. 00:47:23.000 --> 00:47:25.000 Don't be afraid of it. 00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:27.000 It changes you and prepares you. 00:47:28.000 --> 00:47:32.000 How can you be better in wrestling than in the world? 00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:34.000 A couple of things. 00:47:34.000 --> 00:47:38.000 One, things are getting hard but they are not destroying you. 00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:40.000 They are making you better. 00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:42.000 That's one of the things. 00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:48.000 Two, you are beginning to change in your very persona. 00:47:48.000 --> 00:47:55.000 Things are getting hard and life is challenging but it is not destroying you. 00:47:55.000 --> 00:48:00.000 You know that even though it's challenging, something is rising up in you. 00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:02.000 It's not spoiling you. 00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:04.000 It's not ruining you. 00:48:04.000 --> 00:48:09.000 It's almost like, okay, I know something is happening. 00:48:09.000 --> 00:48:12.000 This is very hard but I am being changed. 00:48:12.000 --> 00:48:14.000 Your very persona begins to change. 00:48:14.000 --> 00:48:18.000 Who you are, who you really are is beginning to change and you love it. 00:48:18.000 --> 00:48:20.000 You've struggled with this for years. 00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:22.000 You've never been able to get out of it. 00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:26.000 Now you are being needed and the process is not fun. 00:48:26.000 --> 00:48:31.000 But every time you look at yourself in the mirror, you are seeing that the vase is being recreated 00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:34.000 and there is something that is so liberating inside you that you think to yourself, 00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:39.000 my God, this is difficult and so fun. 00:48:39.000 --> 00:48:42.000 Two words that never go together. 00:48:46.000 --> 00:48:49.000 The guy wouldn't let go, man. 00:48:49.000 --> 00:48:50.000 He was dragging his feet. 00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:52.000 One feet is not dragging. 00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:55.000 Try wrestling with one foot limp. 00:48:58.000 --> 00:49:01.000 Okay, let's come in for a landing. 00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:13.000 So Bethel, like I said earlier, this idea of open heaven is, or Jacob called it the gate of heaven. 00:49:13.000 --> 00:49:15.000 The gate of heaven. 00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:17.000 The gate of heaven. 00:49:17.000 --> 00:49:27.000 The gate of heaven is like a nexus or an entry point between two realms. 00:49:27.000 --> 00:49:32.000 Nexus or an entry point between two realms. 00:49:32.000 --> 00:49:36.000 That's what the gate of heaven or open heaven is. 00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:38.000 God speaks. 00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:46.000 God speaks in open heaven situations. 00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:50.000 And there is a lot of angelic activity. 00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:52.000 Angelic activity. 00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:57.000 Which you don't need to see, but you need to be aware of that whenever there is an open heaven, 00:49:57.000 --> 00:50:00.000 there are millions and millions of angels that work. 00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:02.000 Hebrews chapter 1 talks about it. 00:50:02.000 --> 00:50:10.000 That God sends out his ministers of fire or sends out his spirits that are like wind. 00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:12.000 And there's a lot of angelic activity. 00:50:12.000 --> 00:50:16.000 And the main focus is to bring people to salvation. 00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:20.000 Hebrews chapter 1, the last, I think verse 14 or thereabouts, talks about that. 00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:26.000 But at the end of the day, an open heaven is where the Holy Spirit is at work. 00:50:26.000 --> 00:50:31.000 An open heaven is where you can hear the counsel of God and the conversations in the throne room. 00:50:31.000 --> 00:50:35.000 An open heaven is where the wind of the Spirit begins to carry you. 00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.000 An open heaven is where God begins to usher in new movements. 00:50:39.000 --> 00:50:43.000 When you are able to, as a church, when we are able to walk under something like that, 00:50:43.000 --> 00:50:50.000 what begins to happen is God uses you to now become the entry point, the gateway of heaven, 00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:53.000 through which others can be affected. 00:50:53.000 --> 00:50:55.000 And others can be affected with ease. 00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.000 Others can be affected in mass movements. 00:50:59.000 --> 00:51:05.000 Others can be affected with such power, with very little flesh, with a lot of spirit. 00:51:12.000 --> 00:51:16.000 Be the ladder on earth and let heaven ascend and descend. 00:51:16.000 --> 00:51:21.000 Be the ladder on earth and let heaven ascend and descend. 00:51:21.000 --> 00:51:24.000 Be the ladder on earth, let heaven ascend and descend. 00:51:24.000 --> 00:51:29.000 And I love it when I don't do any work and the Holy Spirit does something. 00:51:29.000 --> 00:51:34.000 And if people come and thank you or receive it, well, you know who did it. 00:51:38.000 --> 00:51:46.000 Be the ladder on earth that heaven can ascend and descend on, new commissions initiated and completed. 00:51:46.000 --> 00:51:49.000 And here's the odd thing, eh? 00:51:49.000 --> 00:51:53.000 Bethel means house of God. 00:51:53.000 --> 00:51:58.000 And it's the first mention in the Bible of this idea of the house of God. 00:51:58.000 --> 00:52:01.000 And guess what? There is no building. 00:52:01.000 --> 00:52:08.000 It's almost like God saying, hey, yes, you'll have a temple built by Solomon. 00:52:08.000 --> 00:52:11.000 Yes, you will have a tent built by Moses. 00:52:11.000 --> 00:52:16.000 Yes, you will put up an ark and you will come and worship me at this temple. 00:52:16.000 --> 00:52:20.000 But I want you to know that the first time I mentioned the house of God, 00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:23.000 it was when there was no building. 00:52:23.000 --> 00:52:29.000 It was always meant to be a place where there was no building, but it was a people. 00:52:29.000 --> 00:52:36.000 All that was there at this place called the house of God was a rock, which was a pillow. 00:52:36.000 --> 00:52:41.000 So right from the beginning, God's intent in terms of the house of God was never a building. 00:52:41.000 --> 00:52:44.000 It was never a building. 00:52:44.000 --> 00:52:47.000 And he's hoping that a church can respond this way 00:52:47.000 --> 00:52:51.000 because his preferred method of bringing the rule of heaven to earth 00:52:51.000 --> 00:52:54.000 is through the community of heaven on earth. 00:52:54.000 --> 00:53:11.000 His intent, can I bring the rule of heaven to earth 00:53:11.000 --> 00:53:22.000 through a community of heaven on earth? 00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:30.000 That's why he hopes it won't be an individual thing where a Derek or a Jeevan or a Jane or a Jillian or a Mae 00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:33.000 decide, okay, this is what I'm going to walk on. 00:53:33.000 --> 00:53:36.000 No, no, no, no. It is us as a people because his intent is, 00:53:36.000 --> 00:53:43.000 can I bring the rule of heaven on earth through a community of heaven on earth? 00:53:43.000 --> 00:53:46.000 That's always been his plan. 00:53:46.000 --> 00:53:49.000 And when that happens, then the glory of God is tangibly, 00:53:49.000 --> 00:53:54.000 then the glory of God which is in us is tangibly evident around us and through us. 00:53:54.000 --> 00:54:01.000 Then the glory of God that is in us becomes tangibly evident through us and around us. 00:54:01.000 --> 00:54:05.000 Now you have mountain, a mountain that is on fire. 00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:07.000 Now you have the mighty rushing wind. 00:54:07.000 --> 00:54:10.000 Now you have the wheels within the wheels as in Ezekiel. 00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:13.000 Now you have the Shekinah in the cloud and the pillar. 00:54:13.000 --> 00:54:18.000 Now you have, because the people learn to walk like this. 00:54:18.000 --> 00:54:25.000 Last thing I want to say before some of you fall off to sleep because you haven't been sleeping this week. 00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:52.000 People on the recording will wonder why everything has gone silent. 00:54:52.000 --> 00:54:58.000 We should do that once. In the middle of teaching or worship, everyone goes quiet. 00:54:58.000 --> 00:55:02.000 And then there's this letter that flashes across the screen, 00:55:02.000 --> 00:55:04.000 Rapture. 00:55:11.000 --> 00:55:13.000 Oh, they can still see the people standing. 00:55:13.000 --> 00:55:15.000 Oh, that won't help. 00:55:17.000 --> 00:55:21.000 Revivals are an expression of open heaven. 00:55:21.000 --> 00:55:25.000 That's what happens in a revival. It's an expression of an open heaven. 00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:28.000 The 20s and the 30s that we've talked about in terms of revival. 00:55:28.000 --> 00:55:30.000 I want to end with reading this. 00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:33.000 I just want you, then I'll ask Jeeva to come up and pray. 00:55:33.000 --> 00:55:36.000 I want to end with this. 00:55:36.000 --> 00:55:41.000 Revivals are an expression of an open heaven over a people, over a city, over a nation. 00:55:41.000 --> 00:55:45.000 I'm reading two excerpts that you heard last year. 00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:53.000 While this man was praying in his barn, I myself, taking part in the faith mission convention at Bangor in North Ireland, 00:55:53.000 --> 00:55:58.000 was suddenly arrested by the conviction that I must leave at once and go to the island of Bernera, 00:55:58.000 --> 00:56:01.000 where I found myself within three days. 00:56:01.000 --> 00:56:06.000 Almost immediately on arriving, I was in the midst of a most blessed movement. 00:56:06.000 --> 00:56:08.000 Again, the promise was being fulfilled. 00:56:08.000 --> 00:56:13.000 I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and I will flood dry ground. 00:56:13.000 --> 00:56:16.000 The first few meetings were very ordinary, 00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:21.000 but the prayers offered by elders of the congregation breathed a confidence in the sure promise of God. 00:56:21.000 --> 00:56:25.000 Again and again, reference was made to the words of Psalm 50 verse 3, 00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:28.000 Our God shall surely come. 00:56:28.000 --> 00:56:31.000 They did not wait long for the fulfillment of the word from God. 00:56:31.000 --> 00:56:34.000 Guys, you've got to think like this. 00:56:34.000 --> 00:56:39.000 Can a man who has addictions, who is broken, who is sin-ridden, 00:56:39.000 --> 00:56:44.000 can a man like that be saved and restored by God? 00:56:44.000 --> 00:56:47.000 And the answer is a resounding yes. 00:56:47.000 --> 00:56:54.000 Can a man then have God do the same thing to his family? 00:56:54.000 --> 00:56:58.000 Yes, he can change the man's family. 00:56:58.000 --> 00:57:02.000 He can save them one by one, restore them, bring them back to fullness. 00:57:02.000 --> 00:57:08.000 Can God then affect that man's neighbor? 00:57:08.000 --> 00:57:09.000 Yes. 00:57:09.000 --> 00:57:13.000 Can God affect that man's neighbor and his family? 00:57:13.000 --> 00:57:15.000 Yes. 00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:18.000 Over a period of weeks and months and years, 00:57:18.000 --> 00:57:25.000 can God begin to work like Levin through these few in their small group? 00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:31.000 Can God over seven or eight years begin to affect a village? 00:57:31.000 --> 00:57:37.000 What we don't realize is that for 2,000 years people were waiting for a prophecy to come to pass, 00:57:37.000 --> 00:57:40.000 that the Son of God, that the God of Israel would turn up in Israel. 00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:45.000 It took 2,000 years. It did happen. 00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:48.000 The reason for thinking most of these things are impossible, 00:57:48.000 --> 00:57:50.000 that the latter reigns which are supposed to come, 00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:54.000 that have been prophesied again and again and again over the last 56 years that I've been alive, 00:57:54.000 --> 00:57:57.000 I've been hearing about the latter reigns, I've been hearing about revival, 00:57:57.000 --> 00:58:00.000 I've been hearing about Joel chapter 2 coming, 00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:05.000 that the Spirit of God shall be poured upon all flesh and the earth shall see things that they've never seen before, 00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:08.000 that dry bones shall live, that the river shall flow. 00:58:08.000 --> 00:58:10.000 And you think how many times do we need to repeat this? 00:58:10.000 --> 00:58:11.000 How many Sundays? 00:58:11.000 --> 00:58:18.000 I pray to God, life by life, individual by individual, family by family, it will happen. 00:58:18.000 --> 00:58:23.000 Till one day my prayer is, Oh God keep me alive, Oh God keep me alive, Oh God keep me alive, 00:58:23.000 --> 00:58:28.000 do what you did with Anna and Ias and Simeon and Anna, I must see it, Oh God. 00:58:28.000 --> 00:58:33.000 Do not take me away before I see it. 00:58:33.000 --> 00:58:38.000 Because I know what I have seen, I know what I've been promised, 00:58:38.000 --> 00:58:45.000 not for myself but for this church and through this church. 00:58:45.000 --> 00:58:50.000 One evening, again and again reference was made to the words of Psalm 50 verse 3, 00:58:50.000 --> 00:58:52.000 Our God shall surely come. 00:58:52.000 --> 00:58:55.000 They did not wait long for the fulfillment of the word from God. 00:58:55.000 --> 00:59:00.000 One evening just as the congregation was leaving the church and moving down towards the main road, 00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:03.000 the Spirit of God fell upon the people in Pentecostal power. 00:59:03.000 --> 00:59:05.000 No other word can describe it. 00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:12.000 In a few minutes, the awareness of the presence of the Most High became so wonderful and subduing 00:59:12.000 --> 00:59:17.000 that one could only say with Jacob of old, surely the Lord is in this place. 00:59:17.000 --> 00:59:23.000 There under the open heavens by the roadside, the voice of prayer was mingled with groans of the penitent 00:59:23.000 --> 00:59:27.000 as free grace awoke men with light from on high. 00:59:27.000 --> 00:59:32.000 Soon the whole island was in the grip of a mighty movement of the Spirit, 00:59:32.000 --> 00:59:36.000 feeling deep conviction of sin and a hunger for God. 00:59:36.000 --> 00:59:39.000 This was less than 100 years ago. 00:59:39.000 --> 00:59:41.000 You think it cannot happen again. 00:59:41.000 --> 00:59:50.000 You think sin is any competition to the blood of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. 00:59:50.000 --> 00:59:52.000 Here's another story. 00:59:52.000 --> 00:59:57.000 In 1949, the Spirit of grace and supplication fell upon a congregation, 00:59:57.000 --> 01:00:00.000 fell upon a congregation, fell upon a congregation. 01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:05.000 He still thinks of the church as a primary vehicle through which the kingdom does things. 01:00:05.000 --> 01:00:10.000 He still thinks of the church as a primary vehicle through which he moves. 01:00:10.000 --> 01:00:17.000 In 1949, the Spirit of grace and supplication fell upon a congregation in the village of Arnall 01:00:17.000 --> 01:00:20.000 on the Isle of Lewis in the Scottish Hebrides. 01:00:20.000 --> 01:00:21.000 They prayed for revival. 01:00:21.000 --> 01:00:24.000 Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you? 01:00:24.000 --> 01:00:27.000 Show us your mercy, Lord, and grant us your salvation. 01:00:27.000 --> 01:00:29.000 From Psalm 85, verse 6 and 7. 01:00:29.000 --> 01:00:33.000 One night they crowded into the home of the blacksmith, a smith named Smith. 01:00:33.000 --> 01:00:35.000 But the spiritual atmosphere was dry. 01:00:35.000 --> 01:00:38.000 A sense of deadness prevailed as one after the other. 01:00:38.000 --> 01:00:40.000 They tried to break through in prayer. 01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:44.000 Duncan Campbell, a visiting evangelist, called on Mr. Smith to pray. 01:00:44.000 --> 01:00:46.000 The prayer was short and sharp. 01:00:46.000 --> 01:00:51.000 Oh God, you made a promise to pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. 01:00:51.000 --> 01:00:53.000 And Lord, it's not happening. 01:00:53.000 --> 01:00:55.000 He paused and then continued in a rising voice. 01:00:56.000 --> 01:00:59.000 Lord, I do not know how Mr. Campbell or these other men stand with you. 01:00:59.000 --> 01:01:02.000 But if I know my own heart, I know that I'm thirsty. 01:01:02.000 --> 01:01:05.000 You have promised to pour water on him who is thirsty. 01:01:05.000 --> 01:01:07.000 If you don't do it, how can I ever believe you again? 01:01:07.000 --> 01:01:09.000 Your honor is at stake. 01:01:09.000 --> 01:01:10.000 You're a covenant-keeping God. 01:01:10.000 --> 01:01:12.000 Fulfill your covenant engagement. 01:01:12.000 --> 01:01:15.000 At that instant, the granite house shook like a leaf. 01:01:15.000 --> 01:01:18.000 And a power was unleashed that swept the entire parish. 01:01:18.000 --> 01:01:24.000 Campbell said, I could stand only in silence as wave after wave of divine power swept through the house 01:01:24.000 --> 01:01:27.000 in a matter of minutes following this heaven-sent visitation. 01:01:27.000 --> 01:01:30.000 Men and women were on their faces in distress of soul. 01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:35.000 He steps outside and discovers that the whole village was astir. 01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:41.000 Though it was 11 o'clock at night, people with lanterns and flashlights were making their way along the roads 01:01:41.000 --> 01:01:46.000 and across the fields towards the meeting place as if summoned by a silent bell. 01:01:46.000 --> 01:01:53.000 And open heaven can change the lives of people. 01:01:54.000 --> 01:01:56.000 Amen.