Hey, so I'm starting, so if you can come in, if you can hear my voice out there.
If you can't, too bad.
So today's topic is called Power Search because last week we said how do we go about experiencing
healing for ourselves and experiencing healing for others?
How can we distribute healing?
By healing I don't mean just sick bodies being healed.
It's demonic deliverance.
It's mental problems being healed.
So when we were talking about healing last week we said that how is it that we can seek
healing for ourselves and seek healing for others?
And instead of teaching about healing, we felt that what we needed to do is teach about
how do we get the power of God to work through our lives.
That might be a better way to go about it.
So rather than focus on what healing is about, why not look at what is required to get a
surge of power into our lives that stays permanent?
That's where we want to go, so that's why I'm calling it Power Search.
So if you look at Acts 1, verse 8, Acts 1, 8, it says there,
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.
So almost everything in the kingdom is a result of the work or the power of the Holy Spirit.
And so Jesus before leaving says in Acts 1, verse 8,
Hey guys, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
And so it's not like we haven't received the Holy Spirit, but where is the surge?
Where is the power?
That's what we want to look at.
What does it take to have a power surge affect your life and my life?
Because he's present and he's present in his fullness, so how come it's not showing?
How come it's not showing in words and deeds?
Our words should carry an impact and our actions should carry an impact.
How come it's not showing?
And that's what we'll try and look at.
Yeah, any questions on the question?
So we're not saying that we don't have the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
The moment you're born again, you have the fullness of the Spirit.
We are saying if you have the fullness of the Spirit, where is the power?
Show me the beef.
Yeah?
Can't understand Beyond Burgers, but let's not go there.
So Acts 1, verse 8, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.
So one thing is established, that power is connected to the Spirit.
That's how it works.
And then if you look at Luke 5, 17, Luke 5, 17, Luke 5, 17, let's look at Luke 5, 17.
Luke 5, 17, One day he was teaching the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who had come from
every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem and was sitting there, and the power
of the Lord was present to heal the sick.
Crazy script, right?
It says that the power of the Lord was present to heal.
The power of the Lord was present to heal.
Which means that the Spirit of the Lord was present to heal.
The thing is, Jesus knew how to, knew when the Spirit was planning to do what.
Jesus knew when the Spirit was planning to do what.
He saw how in that particular scripture he says, and the power of God was present to
heal.
I'm sure the Holy Spirit was there always, but why in Luke 5, 17 does he say that?
And then he begins to heal people.
Because there are times when the Spirit of God has an intent from heaven and he wants
to do something.
It's just that we may have to train ourselves to recognize it so that he gets to do exactly
what heaven wants.
Part of thy will be done here on earth as it is in heaven is to know when heaven wants
something.
And at those opportune moments, things begin to happen like they will never happen any
other time because it's God's destined, Kairos intent.
Yeah, so Jesus can turn water into wine whenever he wants to, but he also says, this is not
my time.
So it's not that he does not or that he will not.
In fact, he loves taking care of people's brokenness.
So he'll do it anyways.
But there are moments when heaven desires to do something.
And in those moments, if we as his children know those moments, you'll be surprised at
the results and the ease of the results.
That's the difference.
But God can be appealed to anytime and he'll always oblige because he loves taking care
of brokenness.
So this idea of power is basically connected to the Holy Spirit.
And so that is one of the things we wanted to establish.
You will see it in Luke 1.35 where it says that the Spirit of God hovered over Mary with
power and what was conceived in Mary was the Son of the Most High.
Then you go to Micah 3.8 and you'll see it again.
Micah 3.8, it talks about the Holy Spirit who is a Spirit of power and a Spirit of justice.
So in the Old Testament and the New Testament, there's this continuous reference to the presence
of the Spirit as the presence of the power of God.
And so it makes it worse.
It doesn't make it any better.
If I have the fullness of the Holy Spirit, why doesn't the power always show?
Because we do have his fullness.
If you're born again, you have him dwelling in you fully.
In a sense, Isaiah 61 is the same, right?
Isaiah 61, 1-5.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.
It's basically an outworking.
It's an outworking of the power of the Spirit.
Outworking of the power of the Spirit in deeds, in proclamation or in words and in action.
And in action.
That's what Isaiah 61 is.
And that's the scroll that Jesus opens.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me.
Anointed is to empower.
To anoint is to empower.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me or empowered me to do what?
To preach the good news to the poor, to open the eyes of the blind, to set captives free,
to open prison doors.
Some of it is proclamation, some of it is action.
And everything in Isaiah 61, 1-5 that he opens and reads is simply the power of the Holy
Spirit at work through us.
Any questions?
No?
So there's no absence of power, but there's something that, there's a disconnect between
the presence of power and the expression of power.
So what is required for a power surge?
So let's look at that.
One bearing witness.
What are we dealing with now?
We are saying if we look at these, if we practice these things that God has said, then it is
almost inevitable that the power will show.
So the first thing is bearing witness because Acts 1-8 says, look at Acts 1-8 again, it
says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.
That's only the first part of the verse.
The second part of the verse is, and you will be witnesses.
So one of the primary desires of the Holy Spirit for the outworking of his power is
bearing witness.
So when a people don't bear witness, yes, he's in you and he'll help you with your
stuff, but he's not in us just for us.
He's in us for others and there is no need to express that power because there is no
witnessing to who Christ is, both in words and in deeds.
So bearing witness is an essential part of seeing power, which is why in Mark 16 also
it says, and the disciples went out and God affirmed what they were doing.
So there was this going out.
So bearing witness is critical to this.
Acts 1-8, the second half is basically saying, hey, I will come upon you and I will display
my power, but my power will be displayed for one sole reason, so that you can bear witness
to me and for me from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and the ends of the earth.
What does this power look like?
It's different in different cases because we have an expectation of what this power
should look like, depending on our background sometimes.
For charismatics, it might be healing the sick, raising the dead, opening blind eyes,
making the crippled walk.
For a non-charismatic, it might be some deep change that is brought by words that convicts
the heart and changes the person.
I was listening to a guy who now, this is just on the side, I was listening to a guy
who now is the head of, or one of the main guys at Y-Van, and he was a hippie, he was
into drugs, he was going to jail, and then someone comes and witnesses to him.
And over a period of three days, he decides that he will give his life to the Lord.
His name is Mark something.
He decides he'll give his life to the Lord.
So he comes up to this guy and says, I'm willing to give my life to the Lord.
And the guy says, nope, I'm not interested in leading you in a salvation prayer.
And he says to him, you're living with your girlfriend right now.
You are totally into playing in this rock band and you love your rock guitar.
And you have intentions of finishing medical, med school, because there's nothing else that
obsesses you more than becoming a doctor.
And he says, when you're ready to lay these three things down, come and we'll pray.
The guy said it took him three and a half or four hours to wrestle through this.
I'm not saying this applies to all of us, I'm just saying wrestle through this.
And when he was testifying, he said this, I did not get saved, I got converted.
There was a conversion, there was a deep change where he laid down everything for the sake
of Christ.
Sometimes the power of the Holy Spirit is in deep conversion.
Sometimes it's in emotions being healed.
Sometimes it is in strongholds that have remained for years being changed.
Sometimes it is intimacy with the Father that blows your mind away that how can someone
be in love with God like this?
So we need to change perhaps our expectations of what power looks like.
Because when we are talking about witnessing to the ends of the earth, we are looking at
power looking like what Jane needs today.
Power looking like what power looking like what I need today.
Power looking like what James, and I don't know which James needs today.
That's what it looks like.
Because the Spirit's intent is, can I take care of that?
So expectation of what power looks like to change.
And so the first one is bearing witness.
The power of the Spirit is the work of witness bearing, is for the work of witness bearing.
The power of the Spirit is for the work of witness bearing.
So in Isaiah 46, Isaiah 49 verse 6, God says to Israel, hey Israel, you will be my witnesses.
I will send you to the ends of the earth.
You will let them know who I am and Israel failed.
And so the same commission that was given to Israel is now the same commission that
the risen Christ gives to his apostles when he says to them, you will be my witnesses.
And the anointing that comes upon them or the empowering of the Holy Spirit is so that
they can carry, so that they can carry God's salvation to the ends of the earth.
And if this is not part of my life, then Jacob should not, despite the amount of prayer he
May pray despite having prophetic words, despite desiring deeply what he wants, Jacob should
not expect the power of the Spirit to flow freely and regularly if bearing witness is
not part of the equation of my life or the equation of the church.
I may say that it's really not.
It is there, but it's really not.
Salvation, by the way, is rescue.
We've done this before.
Rescue from sin, the penalty of sin, death, danger, sickness, false doctrine, Satan, and
hell, which is a penalty of sin.
All that is salvation.
It's not some little package where it's going to heaven is not salvation.
All that is salvation.
That's what he gets striped for.
That's what he gets nailed for.
That's what he gets bruised for.
Isaiah 53 gives you the full package of what salvation looks like.
So the first one is bearing witness.
Second one is no confidence in the flesh.
No confidence in the flesh.
If I want to see the power of the Spirit of God at work, then I need to absolutely demolish
the confidence I have in my flesh or the confidence we have in what we are gifted at, gifted
by the Spirit at, talented at, talented from God at, accomplished by the power of the Spirit.
And yet, every day, one has to look at that as trash.
We're not looking at what the Spirit of God has done as trash, but we're looking at wearing
that as a mark of some kind of superiority or some kind of accomplishment as trash.
Because the power of the Spirit of God is so powerfully expressed when a person is nothing.
When a person is nothing.
And the nothingness is a condition of the heart, eh?
Because very often, one can be pious and proud, or one can be pious and absolutely
simple.
It's a condition of the heart.
But no confidence in the flesh.
This is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 3 and 4, that I came to you, and look
at the words he's using.
I came to you.
This is the same Paul who writes later to Timothy and says, the Spirit of God is the
Spirit of love, power, and a sound mind.
And yet in 1 Corinthians 2, here's what he's saying.
I came to you in fear, in trembling.
And there's one more thing he says.
Fear is something in trembling.
I came to you in this.
The same guy who later tells Timothy, don't be this, is coming to Corinth with this, and
then he says, but in coming to you like this, I was able to demonstrate to you the power
of the Spirit so that your trust may be in nothing else but the Spirit.
The power of the Spirit is demonstrated when you and I have no confidence in our flesh.
John 6, 63, the flesh profits nothing.
The Spirit gives life.
My speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom, but in the demonstration
of the Spirit and of power.
And I was with you in weakness, in fear, in trembling.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 1, 5.
1 Thessalonians 1, 5.
It says there, our gospel came to you not merely in the form of words, but in mighty
power infused with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.
What happens when that happens?
The next verse says, you became imitators of us.
You became imitators of us.
That when you begin to operate not in the confidence of your flesh, but in the, even
the words that you speak, when they get infused with the Spirit, it changes people.
Which is why fine skilled, refined preaching will get you applause and will be a self help
method, but it doesn't do anything deeper.
And so have no confidence in the flesh, which means your inadequacy has to become some kind
of a badge you wear.
Inadequacy doesn't mean lack of preparation.
Inadequacy means preparing and going in there with great fear and trembling, knowing that
you can't hold a candle to most of the others who've gone before you.
And that you're going to sound really unsophisticated, messy, clumsy, and won't have the right words
and you won't get a single hallelujah.
And having come to the conclusion that that is where things are at, you let the Spirit
of God tent on you.
And as it begins to tent on you, because you are so weak and infirm, the only thing that
flows through you is the Spirit of God.
And that's one of the hardest things for us humans to do, is not to pretend or not to
disguise, not to costume who we really are.
We're constantly costuming.
We're even costuming the cross so that it is more attractive to people that seek.
Not to costume it at all.
Which doesn't mean that we stay there.
We keep improving.
Improving how?
By the renewing of a mind, the reading of the word, following the Spirit and ethical
behavior.
It isn't that I'm an inadequate sinner.
Ha ha ha.
Watch me.
No, that's not where we're going.
Yes, this is where I'm at today, but I'll be better tomorrow.
But meanwhile, I work with my inadequacy.
Any questions?
No?
It's not easy to be inadequate, hey?
It's not easy to be inadequate.
It's easy to be inadequate perhaps with someone you know really well.
But once you have others in the room that are better than you, it is hard to still go
without pretense.
And I'm not talking about this in a Christian circle.
I'm talking about it in every situation in life because you can't turn on the Christian
switch.
We're not talking about doing this for Christianity or when you preach.
This is the condition of life.
C.S.
Lewis put it this way.
A jolly beggar.
That's how you should behave.
A jolly beggar.
Self forgetfulness and nothingness are some of the coolest virtues a Christian can develop.
Self forgetfulness and nothingness.
Having done something amazing, you forget that you did something amazing.
Next one.
Faithful in testing.
These are ways the Spirit of God surges through us.
Luke chapter 4 verse 1.
Luke 4 verse 1.
So he was full of the Holy Spirit and yet he returned from the Jordan and was led by
the Spirit into the wilderness.
And then look at verse 14.
Verse 14.
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.
This is exactly what we're talking about.
Verse 1 says he was full of the Spirit.
Verse 14 says he returned in the power of the Spirit.
What happens between 2 and 13?
This man is tested in terms of his faithfulness to the living God.
And if I can pass the test, then what happens is the fullness of the Holy Spirit in me turns
into the power of the Holy Spirit through me.
So we've already seen how the Holy Spirit descended on him.
We've already seen the voice from heaven saying this is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased.
We've already seen him being led by the Spirit into the desert full of the Holy Spirit.
And yet verse 14 it says now he returns in the power of the Spirit.
And then he begins his ministry.
But in between verse 2 and 13 is this time of testing.
And during that time of testing, he demonstrates his faithfulness to God.
He demonstrates his faithfulness to God.
He aligns his course with God.
He surrenders his will and his personal entitlement and rightly his because he's the son of God.
He does this and then he refuses to provide for himself.
Or take and use the rightful power he has.
This is crazy.
Faithful in testing.
Faithful in testing is when a test comes, will you use what is rightfully yours given by God?
Or will you depend on him?
Faithful testing is always about dependence.
When I'm tested, how does God prove my faithfulness?
Were you dependent or were you faithful to the little things that I asked you to?
That's how he tests faithfulness.
So Jesus is able to demonstrate his faithfulness to God.
One, he aligns himself with the course of God.
As in I'm full of the Holy Spirit but I will go where you want me to go.
I will do what Israel could not do in the desert.
The same temptations that were offered to Israel, I will go and face.
But the difference between Israel and me, says Jesus, was that Israel succumbed.
They took things into their own hands.
This is so difficult to surrender my entitlement.
As in the things that have been given to me by God saying this is yours.
Philippians 2, 6 to 9 is basically that.
A man who is entitled to divinity emptying himself when he has the right to.
And Satan isn't playing around when he says to Jesus,
listen you do have the power to turn stones into bread.
He actually turned two loaves into thousands.
He has the power.
But faithfulness tests your dependence.
Faithfulness tests your dependence.
And there is a mark in all our lives where that dependence turns into independence
or that dependence turns into control or that dependence turns into
I've got to do something to solve this.
Three things that undermine dependence that will be tested in all our lives.
All our lives.
This is where Yahweh will manifest himself, takes on a whole new meaning.
When we sang it we were saying how has Yahweh manifested himself?
How can he be to you?
But Yahweh cannot manifest himself as Yaira when I take upon myself the weight of my provision.
Yahweh cannot be protector when I take upon myself my security.
There's a word we've talked about this in Hebrew there's a name for God, Yahweh Ezer.
Which means God my helper.
It's in Hebrews 13 too.
What can my mortal man do to me?
God is my helper.
But God is your helper doesn't mean God is your assistant.
Because we when we think helper, hey can you help me?
What does that mean?
It means can you come in?
Assist me.
When God says he's my helper, he is what he's thinking.
I'm your helper because you're helpless.
Do you think so?
Until I come to a place of helplessness, I cannot come to a place of dependency.
And at some point dependency breaks.
Every one of us has a testing point.
When you come to that point somehow stand guys.
And you will find the power of God beginning to flow through you.
And what undermines it?
Here are the three things that undermine it.
One, independence where we suddenly say, now I got to take this and do it on my own.
Two, control.
And three, providing for myself.
Finding the essentials of life outside of God.
This is what happens when testing happens.
This is where Abraham at some point could not bear it anymore.
I have to go and have a child not by promise but by the slave woman.
And so depending on what your poison is, focus.
Is it independence?
Is it control?
Is it finding the essentials of life outside of God?
Sometimes through friends, sometimes through legal means, sometimes through illegal means.
It's not that God won't ask you to go to friends.
He won't ask you to do anything illegal.
It's not that he won't.
But the question is Jacob, did you hear me or did you take off on your own?
Any questions?
And then watch the power of God flow.
This is why Elijah could see ravens, could see the brook.
Elijah could see a woman with little flower having it multiply.
Oil not ending.
Why?
Because surely he could have found some other method of feeding himself.
But he won't.
He just won't.
You know, maybe all of us don't have to get all of this right.
But what if each of us gets some of this right?
Suddenly you have a church through whom the Spirit of God begins to express his power.
Next one.
Delighting in the sun.
You know, in John 16, 14.
Or is it 14, 16?
Might be 14, 16.
John 14, 16 first.
John 14, yeah, 14, 16.
John 14, 16.
It says, and I will ask the Father and he will give you another counselor to be with you.
The Spirit of truth.
The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him.
But you know him for he lives with you and will be in you.
So the thing is, Jesus gave us another.
Who is this another?
He is the Spirit of the Father and he is the Spirit of Christ.
So what is he?
He is an exact, accurate representation of the Father and the Son living in you.
Why?
So we'll talk about a few why's later.
But one of the things he does is he rises in you.
I'll explain this rather than write it.
He rises in you to express through you his joy in the Son and the Father.
Guys, see because the Spirit of God has become one with you.
The Spirit of God and your Spirit are one.
One of the things the Holy Spirit does is he rises up in you.
Because he is joyful in God.
But when he rises up in you, you can rise with him and have the same joy in God.
It's like a baby kicking within a mother's womb.
When a baby kicks within his mother's womb, it's not that the mother doesn't feel it.
Everything in the mother knows that the baby is kicking.
It's the same way.
The Spirit of God delights in the Father.
The Spirit of God loves glorifying Jesus.
We know this for a fact from what Jesus has said about him.
But every time the Spirit of God delights in the Father or is joyous in Jesus,
you must realize that you can participate in it.
This is what Jesus does when he's walking with his disciples
and they come back saying,
we cast out demons, we healed the sick.
And what does Jesus say?
He says, heaven is rejoicing and he bursts out and prays to God,
saying, oh God, you've hidden these things from the wise,
but you've revealed it to the simple.
And there's joy in Jesus' heart.
What we don't realize is many times during a day,
not necessarily during worship, but definitely during worship.
But forget worship because we only do that once in a while.
During the day, there are many times when the Spirit of God will burst forth
in praise, in joy, in recognition of the Father and of the Son.
And because he is one with you, it's like having a baby in your womb.
It's possible to move with the Spirit in joyous bursts.
And that is when sometimes you can begin to speak in tongues
because you don't even know what to say.
This is true.
He loves glorifying Jesus.
He delights in him.
He loves the Father.
He digs the mind of the Father to find out what's happening.
He doesn't do this during worship.
He doesn't do this when you pray.
He does this continuously through groanings,
through delight, through joy.
Romans 8 talks about it.
He's your inside man in heaven.
He's on your team.
But he so wishes that, Jacob, sometimes when I see something
and I burst into joy because I remember the day of creation
and how I first brought this flower into bloom,
I wish you could catch my drift and become like the eagle
that goes up a thermal current.
Then, when I see you, I wish you could catch my drift
and become like the eagle that goes up a thermal current.
We become people of unceasing praise.
Then, praise and worship, you wouldn't even call it that.
You would just call it singing
because you praise and worship all the time.
You just happen to do it in a song this time.
And for different people, the expression will be different.
Not all of us were created the same way.
I'm sure there were people that laughed louder than Jesus
Fisherman usually laughs louder, louder than carpenters.
Through words, just think of this.
I mean if someone here could experiment with it and come back and say.
So he expresses, he reveals his, this joy that he has through with words.
Hey Shiloh, you can, oh, okay, I thought you were thinking you, sorry.
With words, with thoughts, with experiences that he can draw you into, with groanings, with creation.
He just revels in the Father and the Son.
And if you go down this route, he awakens in you affections for the Son and the Father.
And in the process, you become more like Christ.
Any questions? It is beautiful, we should try it.
Some of us should try it this week.
What would be required to try this? An awareness.
Will he be pressing in? Yes.
It's not even a great awareness.
It's the awareness that you have when you're in India and it's summer.
You don't have to work hard on fire knowing that it's hot.
It's that kind of an awareness.
It's an awareness that, ah.
And then to maybe indulge in it.
And in the process, he will awaken in you affections for the Son and the Father.
It would be like, let's say your wife planted a beautiful garden.
And she's gone away for a few months for a course somewhere.
And you as a husband had helped her dig that garden, do things in the garden.
Each plant there represents a certain period in your life or a certain incident in your life.
And you're taking someone who really is into gardening, knows you well and knows your wife well.
And you're walking in the garden as you walk.
Your heart just leaps because you see that rose there.
And you remember that was the rose that she first planted just before she got married shortly after the engagement.
You go further down and you see a cactus there.
That was the first time you took her to Arizona and then to Vegas and watch the golden nights lose.
And so these things remind you.
These things remind you of occasions.
Sorry, the beautiful picture was shattered by the golden nights.
But the point is, and as you begin to express it, the person who's walking with you gets to participate in something that is so precious to you that you and your wife did together.
And she's not here right now, but she'll be coming back soon.
But everything now is an expression of joy or a poem or an occasion or an event or a certain thing that happened.
And that is what the Spirit of God does.
Any questions?
No?
Is it possible to do this?
Yeah, you should have seen Thu Nhi when Anile was away.
Every time he ate something, he would think of her.
Yeah, because what he cooked used to taste terrible.
These are such beautiful ways to allow the Spirit of God to be expressive through you.
Next one is hearing of faith.
Hearing of or by faith.
Guys, there's nothing automatic about power.
There's nothing automatic about power.
The key lies in faith.
If you go to Galatians chapter 3, verse 2 to 5, Galatians 3, 2 to 5,
you'll find Paul saying to the church in Galatia,
Hey guys, what happened to you?
You started by faith. Why have you now slipped into the law?
Did the works of the Holy Spirit and the miracles of the Holy Spirit that he's done in the midst of you,
did they happen through the hearing of faith or through works?
And so the things of the Spirit of God are stepped into and expressed by the exertion of faith.
The hearing of faith is the act.
So when we talk about the hearing of faith, we're talking about three things that happen simultaneously.
Hearing, believing, being empowered.
All three happen at once.
So Peter is at, in Acts chapter 8 or 9, it's Paul.
I think it's Paul. I'm not sure. One of them.
There's a man crippled and he goes up to the man and he sees that he has faith.
And he says to him, take your bed and walk.
Something happens in that man. Something springs in that man.
So there's hearing, there's believing, there's empowering.
All three happen together.
Sometimes, and I say this really humbly,
sometimes even as you hear me teaching, if you listen with faith, things can trigger.
Sometimes a song like oceans, if you sing with faith, can trigger something.
Some massive thing that you're struggling with.
Sometimes singing Yahweh, when you come to the word Yaira or Jaira, something will trigger.
The word Yaira, what does it mean? It means God will see it.
It's not we are the ones who change it into God will provide.
The actual sense of it is God will see it.
And because he sees it and he's a father, what will he do?
He will provide.
God sees it. God sees it.
Sometimes hearing or singing with faith can open a huge door for you that was otherwise closed.
One of the habits I had was when someone was teaching, I'd open the Bible and when they would show a scripture,
and I'd begin to read and then I would keep reading, not listening to the scripture.
Then I remember one guy saying, hey, when the author is here, why are you still stuck in the book?
We do that, eh? When the author is here, not the person who's preaching.
When Christ is here, because Christ is in the midst of us.
When the author is here, why are you stuck in the book?
I remember I'd go to Richmond Pentecostal and they'd be teaching and it would be good teaching and I'd get stuck with the verse.
And then just reading, going off on tandems.
But guess what? Hearing comes by.
Faith comes by, hearing.
And hearing the word.
Don't get stuck in the book when the author is here.
And the author ain't me, it's him.
And he is always here in the midst of us.
The assurance that nothing will be impossible for you is promised to anybody who has mustard seed faith.
So things of the Spirit are released to us by faith.
Things of the Spirit are released to us by faith.
The Spirit said in Acts 13, set apart Paul and Barnabas and send them.
You think it required faith? Yes.
In Acts 16, they come to Phrygia, Mycea, Bithynia.
And the Spirit of God says, do not go in.
Did that require faith? Yes.
Because it was exactly the path that most people would take if they wanted to go.
When the Spirit of God sent a vision in which it says, go to Macedonia, did it require faith?
Absolutely. You're following a blooming dream.
To see the power of the Spirit released, it is impossible to do it without active faith.
And that's why Paul says, hey, if you started with faith, why are you now going into works?
Stick with faith. Increase in it. It's faith to faith, not faith to works.
Increase in it. Any questions?
Yeah, but it's not his preferred method because without faith it is impossible to.
Please. Yeah. He can do it.
I think he spends half of his time doing things for me when I don't have faith.
Yeah. But he preferred this.
Any questions?
Okay.
If you are someone who reveals the Father or loves revealing the Father,
then know that the Spirit will be active through you.
In John 20 verse 21 it says, As I have been sent, so do I send you.
As I have been sent, so do I send you. Why was he sent?
Why was he sent?
Yeah. He was sent to show us the Father.
He was sent to show us the Father.
The Spirit loves the day. He loves doing that.
Your privilege in life, I love this line, not mine, your privilege in life,
your privilege in life is to reveal the Father.
You can't do it without the fullness of the Spirit.
The whole earth is an orphanage.
Anyone who does not know Christ is hungering for a God who is a Father.
I met a guy who said his name was Andy. This was in Indonesia.
And he comes up and he asks for prayer for his corn business.
So I'm going to pray for his corn business and instead I hear God saying,
tell him that he's always been looking for a Father and that I am the Father he's looking for.
Tell him. And so I begin to tell him that you've always desired a Father.
You serve a God but you don't know him as Father.
Let me tell you about Jesus Christ the Son and the Father that he came to present.
And I tell him, and this man, we're in a pretty upmarket hotel in Jakarta and there are people around me,
and he gets up and he must be just a little younger than my dad, and he gets up and he comes over to my side
and then he puts his head on my chest and he starts weeping.
And he's weeping saying, you don't know who I am. You don't know who I am. You don't know what's happening inside me.
And I find out later that he was, his actual name was Hassanuddin,
and he was someone who had constructed some mosques and was one of the guys who takes care of criminals
when you don't have to take them to the legal system.
And so that's why he kept saying, you don't know who I am. You don't know who I am.
And this guy came for his corn business, but despite the fact that he was deep in another religion,
despite the fact that he was cruel, despite the fact that he was very highly placed,
the one thing that he wanted was a God that was a Father.
Later on, his daughters, he sent his daughters to another meeting where he said,
you should go listen to this Christ that they talk about.
And so there's not a human being on earth because the earth is an orphanage that does not want a Father.
And if we don't know him as Father, how can we present him?
And so the greater we get to know him as Father, the greater becomes your privilege in life to reveal the Father,
but you can't do it without the fullness and the power of the Spirit.
Can't do it without the fullness of the Spirit,
because the fullness of the Spirit will give you an idea of what Karen needs in terms of a Father,
not what you want to experience as a Father.
How do we ask for the fullness of the Spirit?
One, remember the promise. What is the promise he has given you?
If there is a promise that has been given to you,
know that the fullness of the Spirit will move in to bring that promise to pass,
because he is more invested in that promise than you are.
It is his words.
Both in terms of the logos where he's already said it, the written word,
and words that have been spoken to each of us at different times, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly through people.
What is the promise?
Whenever you want the fullness of the Spirit, go to the promise.
You said, oh God, not in a challenging court fashion where you're a lawyer, but you said, oh God,
it comes from a place of I know you said this and I know you want to bring this to pass, the promise.
Second, ask for it. Ask for the fullness. Ask for the fullness.
Throughout the Bible, in the book of Acts, and before, during the Gospel, Jesus would say,
ask for the Holy Spirit. My Father loves to give the Holy Spirit.
It's his pleasure, little flock, to give you the kingdom. Ask for it.
Third, there are times when the Holy Spirit will descend without you even doing anything.
Look out for those times.
Acts chapter 10, verse 44 to 46.
And while Paul was still preaching, the Holy Spirit fell upon those in Cornelius' house.
And the six Jewish men who had gone with Paul from Joppa to Caesarea
suddenly saw the Gentiles speaking in languages that they'd never heard before.
They saw and heard the Holy Spirit upon people.
Sometimes he descends. Sometimes he descends on an entire church.
Other times he descends in pockets. Why pockets?
Because sometimes there's a greater yieldedness in perhaps T.W.U. than in Vancouver.
Sometimes he just responds to yieldedness.
Every time of worship, corporate worship, is a time that you can look for the descent of the Holy Spirit.
Every time. And the descent of the Holy Spirit is not so that we shake a little and fall over.
The descent of the Holy Spirit is so that something concrete can be formed in your heart.
What's the point of falling over when you get up and nothing's changed?
I had one lady try to push me and I decided, no, I won't fall.
And so she's pushing me and I'm not falling. She's pushing me and saying, I won't let go.
And I'm saying, I won't fall. So then I decided to look for the closest way to fall.
And so I went and sat on the chair and she was happy and I was happy.
But falling doesn't do nothing if change doesn't happen.
There must be a concrete change. And that happens with the descent of the Spirit.
And look for it in corporate gatherings.
Because the Spirit of God, remember one thing, guys.
Christ reveals himself completely on the Holy Spirit.
Christ reveals himself completely only to the bride.
Christ will never reveal himself completely to individuals.
He's the bridegroom of the bride. He reveals himself completely to the bride.
And so corporate gatherings are a place where he begins to show things about himself that are special.
You look at Acts chapter 2, it is a corporate gathering.
You look at Cornelius' house, it is a corporate gathering.
You look at Samaria, corporate gathering.
You'll get Acts chapter 4 when the disciples came back and said,
we are scared, we need boldness, corporate gathering.
There is something to it. It's not that individual experiences are not intense and amazing,
but he reveals himself to the bride.
Here's another one. How interested are you in...
That's not the way to phrase it.
How are you, Kingdom, obsessed?
Are you Kingdom obsessed?
He was. He was.
What did he preach for 40 days after he rose again?
Kingdom of God. What were all his parables about?
The Kingdom. It has been from everlasting, will be in the end.
Are you Kingdom obsessed? Because one of the things Jesus said in Matthew 12, 28,
when he was talking about the Spirit, was he said,
hey, if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, know that the Kingdom has come.
At the end of the day, everything in the Kingdom happens through the work of the Spirit.
The power of the Spirit is the power of the Kingdom.
This is why he says the Kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking.
But it is about righteousness, peace and joy and one more, power.
Righteousness, peace and joy in one scripture,
then he talks about the Kingdom of God as not a matter of talking and eating, but of power.
If you combine it, then here's what the Kingdom of God is about.
It is about righteousness, peace, joy and power.
And who brings it all?
He's obsessed with it because Christ was obsessed with it.
Is it your obsession?
When, what's his name? What's your name?
Sheldon. When Sheldon is doing his music, when Jane is doing her counseling,
when Marcus is working at the warehouse, when Prashant is working at Langara,
when Aaron is working at his huge accounting firm where he counts millions of dollars,
during all this time, during all this time, is it possible for us to center the Kingdom?
And it would require that we read a little, understand a little,
go back and visit some of the things we talked about.
Because the Spirit of God loves Kingdom activity.
That's what he's here for.
Because the day will come in Revelation 13 where it will say,
the kingdoms of the earth have become the kingdoms of God and King.
Till then, he's continuously working to do what? To make things new.
Because that kingdom is new, man. Everything there is old.
These miserable, decaying Middle Earth kingdoms, like it says in the Lord of the Rings,
is so broken and he's continuously making things new.
It's part of his activity.
We can't take all this and go work on this this week.
Pick one. Pick one.
See, there is another power called, if you go to Acts 26, 18.
In Acts 26, 18, Jesus says to Paul,
I am sending you to bring people out of the power of Satan
into the Kingdom of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.
So in Acts 26, 18, we see that there is something active called the power of Satan.
And then in Acts 10, 38, such a beautiful verse.
So Acts 26, 18 says there is a power of darkness called the power,
and that it's a satanic power.
In Acts 10, 38 it says, and God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit
and with power to do what?
To set those that were harassed by Satan free.
It's a counter-kingdom, man.
Last two.
Intentional prayer. Intentional prayer. Intentional prayer.
Guys, thank God this is not true now, though it should be.
But in Jesus' times, if you said you were someone's disciple,
what it meant was that you actually represented your master,
and the messenger of a man, the messenger of a man,
or the disciple of a man, was the man himself.
As in, if you were May's disciple, then when you went and spoke,
it would be as if you were speaking as May.
Thank God we don't have those standards.
Rabbis wouldn't take on people, man,
they absolutely subscribed to your doctrine and your way of living.
And so, in the good old days, and it should be the same now too, but it isn't,
the message of a man was the man himself, or the disciple of a man was the man himself.
Now you can see, based on that premise,
what the guy who brought his son to be healed by Jesus' disciples taught.
In Luke 9, he brings his son.
His son's falling into the fire, his son's almost trying to kill himself,
and he brings him to Jesus. Jesus has gone up the Mount of Transfiguration.
He brings him to his disciples, and the disciples try casting him out.
Nothing works. And he's beginning to wonder whether this man is real.
So he says to Jesus, Jesus, I brought them to your disciples, and they couldn't do anything.
Can you do something? Is it even possible?
He begins to doubt Jesus based on what the disciples couldn't do.
Thank God people don't think like that nowadays.
When they bring people to us and nothing happens, they go away thinking, it's normal.
Actually, people don't bring anyone to us.
The church is not the first place that people come to for healing and deliverance.
We don't have that reputation. Maybe in Reading they do, not here.
And so, one of the things that we need to understand is that Jesus turns to his disciples
after they failed at showing the power of the Holy Spirit.
He pulls them aside, and they ask him, why didn't this go?
And he says, this kind only goes out through prayer.
And in Italian it says fasting.
This kind only goes out through prayer.
James 5 says the same thing.
The Catevi puts it this way.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
So one of the ways the Spirit of God...
This is actually a measure of desperation.
This is the measure of desperation.
If you or I really want the power of the Spirit expressed through our lives,
then it'll show in intentional times of prayer.
And that is the measure of desperation.
And most of the guys that we know who did things in different parts of the earth,
you take any other guys in the UK or the US or South Korea,
it doesn't matter where you take them,
you'll find that at the end of the day things happened at some point through their lives
because the one thing that they became desperate about
was times of not conversational prayer, but intentional prayer.
And we're not talking about 16 minutes.
16 minutes is just the start.
And this is where I find myself doing this for about two days, three days,
and then it unravels.
Any questions?
I was thinking today, this was just a thought,
that you and Thuany have tons of time for prayer.
I calculated that over the next 45 years between you and Thuany,
you'll have 1800 hours more than the rest of us men
because you don't have to shave and he doesn't have to shave.
I mean, on average it takes 10 minutes.
Thuany doesn't shave.
No, he doesn't.
So between Thuany and between you guys you have 3600 hours more of prayer.
And Delilah will get either of you.
But you will be like hairless Samson's, like giants of faith
because you've got 3600 hours more of prayer.
So make sure you use it well because we want to see things happen.
This was just a passing thought while I was shaving because it was taking long.
Thuany, where were we?
So guys, I'm always appalled at how I'm not desperate enough.
I'm always appalled at how I'm not desperate enough.
But prayer isn't so important that it demands all.
It isn't.
Why?
Because sometimes being a pastor that's better than average
can sometimes be a happy place to settle.
We were doing enough.
Doing enough trips, see occasional healings, preach.
Church is doing well, things are happening.
It's good enough.
Good is the enemy of the best.
And whenever good is the enemy of the best, good will always go into mediocrity.
So I'm appalled that it's not enough of a heart cry.
And so I could well go to my grave without seeing what I should see,
without realizing the promise that has been spoken since I was 27.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit does things regardless of our failure
because he operates in what is called this is that.
This is that is when God makes a promise.
And the Holy Spirit says,
all right, the time has come for that promise now to happen.
And so in Acts chapter 2, verse 16, when the people in Jerusalem gather
because they hear people speaking in various tongues
and speaking in their own languages and extolling God,
people gather and Peter stands up and he says in Acts chapter 2, 16,
this is that which was spoken by Joel the prophet,
that I will pour my spirit upon your sons and your daughters.
And sometimes the Holy Spirit goes for the this is that mode.
And when he does that, if you're there, blessed are you, man,
you'll see things that you didn't work for, you didn't try for,
you didn't have faith for, but this is that and it begins to happen.
And there are many situations like this where a promise of God
that was spoken generations ago comes to pass.
And I pray God that we experience all these different things,
all these different things, prophetic announcements,
prophetic announcements will burst through,
will burst through at Kairos moments.
Kairos just means fullness of time, Kairos moments.
When the time is right, they just burst through.
And when they burst through, what happens?
Nations change in a matter of days.
Rulers are removed.
Events, upturn, culture.
It just happens and God makes it happen.
This is why the Holy Spirit keeps saying in the book of Revelation,
let him who has ears hear.
Why?
Because if you hear and don't despise,
if you hear and don't despise, you can prosper and participate.
But if you despise, then if you scorn it, it's at your own peril,
especially when there's words that have been given to you or given to the church.
Don't despise them even if they're taking long to happen, don't despise them.
Because if you don't despise it, you will prosper, you will participate.
In the Second Chronicles, 2020, it says,
believe in the Lord and you will be established,
believe in his prophets and you will succeed.
Second Chronicles, 2020.
And so if there have been words given to you personally that you know is God,
it isn't someone's dream one night, suddenly the next morning, it's you know it.
Or if something has been released to a church or to a nation, don't despise it.
Because you despise it at your own peril,
but if you believe it, you begin to prosper in it, you begin to succeed.
So just be aware of that.
Any questions?
That's why, oh, I thought you were raising your hand.
That's why things that have been spoken to the church, it doesn't matter how long it takes,
maybe we delay it, but we do not despise it.
Because one day, if not in this generation, then in the next generation.
But I pray that Kairos is this generation.
Despising looks like there was a king called Ahaz.
God goes up to him and says to him, listen, I want to show you that I'm for you.
And the sun is going to hit this sundial.
And instead of going three steps forward, it will move two steps backward.
Ahaz says, oh Lord, be it not unto me to receive a sign like this.
And he says, oh, I don't need any such sign.
And God gets really upset with him, saying, here I am trying to give you a blessing.
Don't go humble on me now.
Don't go pious saying, I don't need anything.
That's one way you despise it.
Another way you despise it is by sometimes seeing the package that's delivering it.
And the package may be defective, and you despise the word because the package is defective.
All of Israel missed prophetic words. Why?
Because it despised prophets.
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jesus.
Sometimes a package something comes in will sometimes be deliberately unattractive.
It's like God is saying, let me humble you.
You want to receive this word?
Receive it from someone who is not your cup of tea.
Sometimes we despise the word because the package that it comes in is defective.
Or sometimes it's not even defective. It's not your cup of tea.
Third way you despise it is to just say, no, no, no, this is not true.
It's good that you told me this, but there are other ways God is going to do it.
Sometimes you despise it because your heart is resentful and bitter.
And God will forgive, eh?
But when I keep going down this road, at some point he'll say, okay, to your own peril.
So don't despise it. It's very easy not to despise it.
All you have to do is be neutral.
If you believe it, you begin to prosper and succeed.
But at least you don't go into peril for despising it.
This is why it says in 1 Thessalonians 5, do not despise the prophetic word.
Weigh it. Absolutely. Weighing it is not despising it, eh?
Weighing it is what the Barians do. Weigh it.
Occasionally, the Holy Spirit's power works through you through impartation.
I wanted to leave this at the end because on one hand it is true,
on the other hand it's so sometimes controversial that I didn't want it to be one of the main points, but it is true.
If you could look at Numbers 11, Numbers 11, verse 17 and 25, Numbers 11, verse 17 and 25, here's what God says.
God says to Moses, hey Moses, I'm going to take some of the Spirit that is on you,
and I'm going to take that Spirit and put it on the 70.
Sometimes God takes what is on you and gives it to somebody else so that they can also participate in what is being expressed to you freely now because you kind of tapped in on it.
And so why I left it to the end is because it has been abused a lot, but it's only the authentic that is abused.
The same happens with Timothy. So in 2 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 6 or thereabouts, Paul is saying to Timothy,
Timothy, I want you to fan into flames the gift of God that was given to you.
And then he goes on to say what the gift of God is. He says you haven't received the Spirit of timidity,
but you've received the Spirit of love, power and a sound mind. What was Paul saying?
Paul was saying, listen, I know that you must access and now you should give rise to what I put on you.
And so there is this thing called impartation. Just because it's abused doesn't mean that it shouldn't be practiced.
But don't line up for an impartation. Let ones come to you and say, hey, this is something God has for you.
What has happened nowadays is people will line up and they'll even pay $20.
It's hidden in breakfast costs, but you come for breakfast and then after breakfast you line up
and the person comes and lays hands on all of you and says, I'm imparting what I have to you.
Impartation is something that must happen through relationship. Paul, Timothy, Elijah, Elisha.
Some of the words you hear in 2 Kings 2.15 and thereabouts is, now arise and go in the power of Elijah.
The same Spirit that was upon Elijah now is resting upon Elisha. So this thing is real, guys.
And when it happens, have the humility to receive it. One, because you're in relationship.
Two, because you know what is happening. Three, because you want to run in it.
Hunger for it. And as you hunger for it, a day will come when you have enough of a relationship to ask Elijah,
saying, could I have a double portion of your Spirit? Other times when you ask for it, you will not get it because your reasons are wrong.
Where is that story? James and John. Jesus, when you come into your kingdom, can you make sure that I sit on your right and my brother sits on your left?
That was impartation for all the wrong reasons. But sometimes your relationship can be strong enough to say, I want this, can I have it?
Other times you don't even need to ask. The person recognizes and the person says, good, here, let me give this to you.
This is real. Any questions?
And to have money involved in this is simply divination. Because this is exactly what Barthes did.
Simon Magus, he goes up to Philip and he says, can I have this power? I'll pay you for it.
Any kind of money involved in this is wrong. And a lot of it is involved in this. Any questions?
Any questions?
Ask again.
So in the Bible there seem to be three methods. One, the person who is walking in a certain arena of the Holy Spirit recognizes that, ah, Mark is of the same fabric. It is time to impart this to him.
So that's one way it happens. Two, the person goes and asks for it, saying, can I have this thing that you have? Elisha did that with? Elijah.
He actually went and asked. I don't know if what transpired would transpire the way it did if Elisha hadn't asked.
And then the third thing is when, as in Timothy, in 1 Timothy 4, 14 it says that the elders gathered around you and prayed for you.
And then in 2 Timothy 1, 6 it says, remember to fan into flame that which has already been deposited in you. So there it wasn't even one on one.
It was a group of people asking for something that the Spirit of God had for you that was reserved from when you were born, suddenly being released to you at a certain time.
None of this is me giving you anything or you giving me anything. This is God having something for you.
But he almost always uses man to release it to you. And in the process, dependency and humility must be developed.
That's the catch. Water, grace, anointing always flows downward.
And therefore one needs to lower oneself.
That's why there's this bestowing. Why is there a bestowing? Let me mess your hair up a little. Why is there a bestowing?
There's a bestowing. Someone has to take a lower place and someone has to, man you look different, someone has to bless.
On that fine note, let us end. Let's just pray.
Father, could people in this room choose maybe one or two things and try it out?
That's a long list like this. 10 things that we can't practice 10 things.
But one or two things?
And so we come to you Holy Spirit. I mean Jesus must have taught the disciples tons and tons of things.
They were with him for three and a half years. He must have been constantly talking about different stuff.
And then he gives them a word of comfort. He says, do not worry.
The Spirit of God will bring out the truth that you require at any given time so that you can put it into practice.
So dear Spirit of God, as you look at all of us, can you pull out that which we need the most or someone else needs the most?
And could you help us practice it this week? Just one or two things.
We know we have your fullness, but we want your power displayed and there's a disconnect in this church.
There's desire, there's fullness, but it's not enough.
We call ourselves Acts 29. We want to live up to our name.
We can't, and we have no, we can't take confidence in the flesh.
So humbly we come with bowed hearts, all of us, and say please for your namesake, for the sake of the kingdom,
for the sake of the promises you've given us, for the sake of others who are waiting.
We ask that you do this this week.
Things cannot be made new without power.
Things cannot be made new without power, neither in my own life nor through my life.
We need it. Let desperation settle on some and let me be among the some so that prayer will increase.
In Jesus' name we ask. Amen.
Guys, remember to say hello to James and Orion before they go so they come back next week.
And then after that, we don't need to worry.
Remember to say bye to Derek's dad and mom.
And if you need prayer, there'll be people here to pray for you. Feel free to come up for prayer.
That's it. Yeah.
What time is it? What? Are you kidding me? You should have told me.
I kept looking at that clock and I was praising God that it had stopped.
Someone should tell me once it goes past 6.30.