WEBVTT

NOTE
Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver
Episode: Presence – Perfecting Holiness
Publishing Date: 2013-11-17T05:00:44-08:00
Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca
Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/presence-perfecting-holiness/

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:24.600
Okay, we've been talking about characteristics of the presence of God in a people.

00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:37.600
So what happens to people when they actually begin to not just mentally agree that God lives in the midst,

00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:46.100
but they actually begin to practice or begin to manifest the presence of God who is in their midst.

00:00:46.100 --> 00:00:47.600
What happens to people like that?

00:00:48.100 --> 00:00:54.100
Remember where we started, Exodus 34 or 33, where Moses says to God,

00:00:54.100 --> 00:01:03.100
Father, he doesn't call him father, he says, Oh God, what else will distinguish us as a people than your presence with us?

00:01:03.100 --> 00:01:06.600
What makes us distinct except for your presence?

00:01:06.600 --> 00:01:12.600
That's what he said to God, that you can't leave us, your presence has to go with us,

00:01:12.600 --> 00:01:17.600
because the only thing that distinguishes us from the rest of the earth, from all the other nations of the earth,

00:01:17.600 --> 00:01:21.600
the only thing that makes us distinct is your presence in our midst.

00:01:21.600 --> 00:01:26.100
And so what distinguishes Christians from the rest of the world?

00:01:26.100 --> 00:01:34.600
Not our churches, not our worship, not our music, not even sometimes healings and stuff like that, that's important.

00:01:34.600 --> 00:01:39.600
But what distinguishes us from the rest of the world is we are a people who carry the presence of God in us,

00:01:39.600 --> 00:01:45.100
and it has to manifest, it has to show, it has to become obvious.

00:01:45.100 --> 00:01:53.600
And so we've been looking at characteristics of a people in whom the presence of God is evident.

00:01:53.600 --> 00:02:00.100
And so we covered reconciliation, we covered prosperity, we covered the fear of God last week.

00:02:00.100 --> 00:02:04.100
And so today we talk about perfecting holiness, perfecting holiness.

00:02:04.100 --> 00:02:14.100
A people in whom the presence of God dwells, a people in whom the presence of God is made evident,

00:02:14.100 --> 00:02:27.100
are a people who you will find are always attempting to make the temple that they are fit for him.

00:02:27.100 --> 00:02:32.100
See, we don't become holy by trying to become holier, we know that already.

00:02:32.100 --> 00:02:36.100
Paul never says to the Christians, hey, I want you to become holy.

00:02:36.100 --> 00:02:39.600
He says, listen, you are holy, so live it out.

00:02:39.600 --> 00:02:42.100
Who makes us holy? Jesus Christ makes us holy.

00:02:42.100 --> 00:02:45.100
So we never have to attempt to become holy.

00:02:45.100 --> 00:02:51.100
It's he who has already made us holy, and now he says, be holy because your father in heaven is holy.

00:02:51.100 --> 00:02:57.100
Never does the Bible tell us, you've got to get holier, you cannot get holier.

00:02:57.100 --> 00:02:59.600
Because Christ lives in you, you are holy.

00:02:59.600 --> 00:03:07.100
So now what he's saying is, hey Jacob, since Christ the holy one lives in you and you are holy, live it out.

00:03:07.100 --> 00:03:18.600
And so this whole idea of perfecting holiness is basically the idea of fitting or getting this temple that I am

00:03:18.600 --> 00:03:27.600
ready to be everything it needs to be for God to be absolutely at ease in.

00:03:27.600 --> 00:03:31.600
2 Corinthians 7, one puts it this way, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

00:03:31.600 --> 00:03:34.600
And we talked about the fear of God last week. What is the fear of God?

00:03:34.600 --> 00:03:38.600
The fear of God is the dread you have of the father that you love.

00:03:38.600 --> 00:03:44.600
The dread of not being everything you can be for the father that you love.

00:03:44.600 --> 00:03:50.600
It's not a dread that is afraid and frightened because there's nothing in my relationship with God

00:03:50.600 --> 00:03:55.600
that should come out of a place of frightened fear because the Bible says in 1 John

00:03:55.600 --> 00:04:00.600
that perfect love casts out fear and that whenever there is fear in my relationship with God,

00:04:00.600 --> 00:04:04.600
it brings torment and torment is not from God.

00:04:04.600 --> 00:04:10.600
So we defined the fear of God last week and we said the fear of God is the dread you have

00:04:10.600 --> 00:04:15.600
of not being everything you want to be for the father that you love.

00:04:15.600 --> 00:04:24.600
It's like a husband who is not afraid of his wife but hates doing anything that would hurt her.

00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:27.600
Where you just don't want to do anything that will hurt her.

00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:35.600
You change your habits so that your wife won't be hurt by certain habits that are normal for you.

00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:41.600
You change what you eat and drink because there may be smells that she doesn't like during her pregnancy

00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:46.600
so you swear off non-veg food for nine months so that she doesn't throw up.

00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:51.600
Obviously it hasn't happened to you but it's happened to some people I know.

00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:55.600
Second Corinthians 7.1.

00:04:55.600 --> 00:05:03.600
My sister when she was pregnant with her third baby would throw up if she went past a KFC.

00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:10.600
So we'd have to take circuit roads back home because you have to avoid all KFCs on the way.

00:05:10.600 --> 00:05:16.600
To take longer to get home because they live in an area where there are quite a few KFCs down the road.

00:05:16.600 --> 00:05:22.600
The dread of not pleasing a father that you love.

00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:23.600
That is the fear of God.

00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:28.600
And so Second Corinthians 7.1 says, so Jacob now, begin to perfect holiness in the fear of God.

00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:34.600
As in begin to get yourself fit to be a holy temple that God can live in.

00:05:34.600 --> 00:05:39.600
And as the people begin to do this guys, the presence of God becomes more evident to the world around

00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:44.600
because your desire is I have or we have to become a temple that is holy and fit for God.

00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:46.600
And so that's where we are starting off.

00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:55.600
And understand this that Satan is opposed to fit and holy temples both on a personal level and a corporate level.

00:05:55.600 --> 00:06:00.600
Satan is opposed to the fact that he is a person of faith.

00:06:00.600 --> 00:06:07.600
Satan is opposed to any concept of a fit and holy temple both on a personal level and on a corporate level.

00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:08.600
So what does he do?

00:06:08.600 --> 00:06:16.600
He tries everything in his power to bring in situations that will dismantle the ability that a church has to become a fit and holy temple.

00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:26.600
So I need to be vigilant to both spot and thwart any attack or any deception that tries to come into the church.

00:06:26.600 --> 00:06:27.600
Or tries to come into my life.

00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:30.600
Because remember, Satan always comes in as the angel of light into a church.

00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:36.600
He rarely comes in with a frontal assault.

00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:47.600
In a church like this, which is sufficiently mature, it is highly unlikely that Satan can come in with evil agendas and we not spot it.

00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:51.600
But he does come in as an angel of light.

00:06:52.600 --> 00:06:58.600
And therefore it's important that I begin to spot and then thwart any attack or any deception.

00:06:58.600 --> 00:06:59.600
And how do I do that?

00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:04.600
By becoming vigilant, discerning, wise.

00:07:04.600 --> 00:07:12.600
I've been saying this to a few people over the last one week that the one gift that we sometimes ignore is the gift of discernment.

00:07:12.600 --> 00:07:18.600
The ability to discern what is from God and what is from the devil and what is from sheer faith.

00:07:18.600 --> 00:07:23.600
What is from God and what is from the devil and what is from sheer flesh.

00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:25.600
It's one of the gifts we don't practice enough.

00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:27.600
And I encourage this church to begin to practice it.

00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:40.600
Because these things that I'm going to say to you are ways that are being hatched to undo our ability to function as a fit and holy temple.

00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:45.600
How do you practice that? Why everything you think of in the scripture?

00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:50.600
No, you practice it by first realizing that it's a gift given by the Holy Spirit.

00:07:50.600 --> 00:07:54.600
Two, you begin to ask the Holy Spirit to help you discern.

00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:58.600
Three, you go to people who discern at a level that is higher than you.

00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:01.600
Four, you then go and ask them, this is what I sense. What do you think?

00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:04.600
Do you discern this is of God or this is not of God?

00:08:04.600 --> 00:08:08.600
Five, I begin to get open to both correction and counsel.

00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:13.600
Because sometimes I'm not at a place to discern certain things.

00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:16.600
Baking is not my specialty.

00:08:16.600 --> 00:08:21.600
So I don't have the ability to discern how much soda to put in a...

00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:23.600
Do you put soda in flour?

00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:26.600
Yeah, because I've tasted cakes that taste like soda.

00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:28.600
Obviously discernment was missing.

00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:32.600
But in that area of baking, it won't be good if I discern.

00:08:32.600 --> 00:08:35.600
I have to go to someone who discerns and ask them for help.

00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:38.600
I've got to be open to correction and open to counsel.

00:08:38.600 --> 00:08:43.600
Part of me is speaking as a set man in this house, as the one who leads.

00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:46.600
Part of me is speaking as Jacob who needs this personally.

00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:50.600
Part of me is speaking on behalf of this church.

00:08:50.600 --> 00:08:55.600
So that's three parts of me.

00:08:55.600 --> 00:09:03.600
So one of the things that we have to guard against in your personal life and in this church...

00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:13.600
is this whole aspect of...

00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:15.600
Dullness.

00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:17.600
Dullness.

00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:23.600
I'm going to use Leviticus 21, 17-23 every now and then to illustrate the point.

00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:35.600
Guys, dullness is a prevalent spirit in many churches.

00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:39.600
And it can and sometimes does afflict this church too.

00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:41.600
And it's got nothing to do with your IQ, okay?

00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:43.600
Most of you are geniuses.

00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:45.600
But...

00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:48.600
But dullness...

00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:52.600
Let me explain how dullness is a prevalent spirit that affects us.

00:09:52.600 --> 00:09:53.600
And it's on many different levels.

00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:57.600
On one level, guys, here's a question you need to ask.

00:09:57.600 --> 00:09:59.600
Here's a statement I want to make.

00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:11.600
Dullness is often displayed when I don't have vision or purpose.

00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:35.600
Proverbs 29, verse 18 says that...

00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:37.600
That's what Proverbs 29, 18...

00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:39.600
That's what Proverbs 29, 18 says.

00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:49.600
So if you look at Leviticus 21, verses 17-23, there's a scripture which says that...

00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:54.600
ministers who minister before God cannot afford to be blind.

00:10:54.600 --> 00:11:04.600
And blindness is this inability to have vision, this inability to have any idea of where you're going, any purpose.

00:11:04.600 --> 00:11:11.600
And so all you can do is sing Ksirasara.

00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:13.600
Those of you who don't know the song...

00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:17.600
No, I won't break into it right now.

00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:21.600
Which basically says whatever will be, will be.

00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:25.600
And Leviticus says that no one can come to an altar by fire if they are evil.

00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:28.600
Yeah, and one of the first defects there is blindness.

00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:33.600
Blindness is an inability to see with clarity.

00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:34.600
There is no vision.

00:11:34.600 --> 00:11:37.600
So here's a question you need to ask yourself.

00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:50.600
Do you have an ability to write down what God has for you over the next little while?

00:11:50.600 --> 00:11:53.600
Where do I take that from? Habakkuk 2, verses 1 and 2.

00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:55.600
God says to Habakkuk...

00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:57.600
What a name to have, eh?

00:11:57.600 --> 00:11:58.600
Habakkuk.

00:11:58.600 --> 00:12:00.600
Yeah, so God says to Habakkuk...

00:12:00.600 --> 00:12:03.600
Listen Habakkuk, I want you to write down the vision.

00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:06.600
When you write it down, I want you to write it down with clarity.

00:12:06.600 --> 00:12:10.600
After you write it down with clarity, I want you to be able to communicate it.

00:12:10.600 --> 00:12:11.600
So write it on a billboard.

00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:17.600
And after you write it with sufficient clarity and are able to communicate it, then begin to act on it.

00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:25.600
If you say you have a degree of purpose or a vision, then first, here's a litmus to find out whether you do.

00:12:26.600 --> 00:12:36.600
Write it down, see if it makes sense to you and sense to another, be able to communicate it in words, and then finally put it into action.

00:12:36.600 --> 00:12:45.600
And then you know, aha, I have these four components of what constitutes a vision that has sufficient clarity now.

00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:54.600
And I can begin to walk not as one who is blind, not as one who has cast off his restraints, but one that begins to figure out, here are the paths that I should walk in.

00:12:54.600 --> 00:13:00.600
So, if you're retiring in a little while, do you have a vision or a purpose for what lies ahead?

00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:08.600
If you're entering 2014, which I'm assuming all of us will, do you have vision and purpose?

00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:13.600
If you're starting something new, do you have vision and purpose?

00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:16.600
So does God always do this?

00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:22.600
Usually, he gives you an understanding of, okay Jacob, here are the steps you need to now walk.

00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:23.600
Begin to walk in this.

00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:25.600
This is not about things that you need to do, Jacob.

00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:27.600
These are things that you need to become.

00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:30.600
Because as I've always said, what you become is what you will do.

00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:34.600
God rarely gives us a list of things to do.

00:13:34.600 --> 00:13:38.600
He always gives us a list of things we can become by his power.

00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:41.600
And once I've become it, it's natural for me to do it.

00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:48.600
Because the people without vision or purpose are a people who cast off restraint.

00:13:48.600 --> 00:13:54.600
As in, there is no fence that now keeps them within the pathways that they should walk in.

00:13:54.600 --> 00:13:59.600
They go in and out, stepping into and beyond boundaries that they should be in,

00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:01.600
not knowing what they should walk in.

00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:06.600
And you find them all over the place and they are half-baked and don't know what they're doing.

00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:10.600
Questions, comments, disagreements, challenges?

00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:13.600
Questions, comments, disagreements, challenges?

00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:30.600
Half the time when I sit with you on the occasions that I've sat with you one-on-one,

00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:34.600
most of the time I'm giving you things to do that have nothing to do with,

00:14:34.600 --> 00:14:37.600
here's a list of things you need to accomplish.

00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:40.600
It's usually, here are the things you need to become.

00:14:40.600 --> 00:14:45.600
And I'll keep supplying you things to read, points to ponder on, ways that your mind needs to shift.

00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:48.600
Why? Because you need to become that.

00:14:58.600 --> 00:15:01.600
Another thing that happens with regard to dullness, guys,

00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:10.600
is sometimes we've lost clarity or track of who we are in Leviticus 21, 17 to 23.

00:15:10.600 --> 00:15:11.600
Here's what it says.

00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:18.600
It says, one of the defects that a priest had that would cut him off from ministering before God

00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:23.600
was a deformed face or a disfigured face or a face with a flat nose.

00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:27.600
I mean, that's the actual word, flat-nosed.

00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:32.600
So a disfigured face would prevent you from actually partaking in ministering before God.

00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:35.600
This was in the Old Testament. Thank God it doesn't apply anymore.

00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:38.600
So here's what a disfigurement is, guys.

00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:49.600
A disfigurement is when you are dulled to what God thinks of you

00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:59.600
because you live by what others say you need to become.

00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:06.600
A disfigured face is a face where you've forgotten what you look like

00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:09.600
because you've stopped catching what you look like.

00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:11.600
You've stopped being a person.

00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:13.600
You've stopped being a person.

00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:15.600
You've stopped being a person.

00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:18.600
Where you've forgotten what you look like

00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:23.600
because you've stopped catching glimpses of yourself in the written word and the counsel of God.

00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:28.600
You live to please others and it's almost impossible to please others.

00:16:28.600 --> 00:16:30.600
You live by what others say.

00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:33.600
You live to become what others say.

00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:39.600
That's a face that is marred.

00:16:42.600 --> 00:16:44.600
It brings in dullness, guys.

00:16:44.600 --> 00:16:48.600
No longer are you living out of the written word or the counsel of God.

00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:50.600
You've forgotten what you look like.

00:16:50.600 --> 00:16:52.600
It's like when you look...

00:16:52.600 --> 00:16:57.600
I know I'm good looking, but I really don't know what I look like right now because I can't see my face.

00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:01.600
Why are you smiling, Rachel?

00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:05.600
The point being, I don't remember my face.

00:17:05.600 --> 00:17:06.600
It's literally like that.

00:17:06.600 --> 00:17:10.600
We do not have an idea of what we look like simply because...

00:17:10.600 --> 00:17:16.600
When I face confusion, guilt, shame, accusation, sometimes rightly and sometimes wrongly,

00:17:16.600 --> 00:17:17.600
the first place I run to is,

00:17:17.600 --> 00:17:20.600
Father, I've got to catch a glimpse of what you actually think of me

00:17:20.600 --> 00:17:24.600
because if I don't, I'll be ruined by what I've just heard

00:17:24.600 --> 00:17:27.600
or I'll be ruined by what I've just done.

00:17:30.600 --> 00:17:36.600
I've got to run back to the world and open it and hear the last thing God said about Jacob.

00:17:37.600 --> 00:17:43.600
He's not all mushy and touchy-feely always, but often he is.

00:17:43.600 --> 00:17:48.600
And he begins to tell you who you are and it restores your image.

00:17:48.600 --> 00:17:51.600
And now I can handle the accusation that Kamal has brought,

00:17:51.600 --> 00:17:55.600
which may be right or may be wrong, but at least now I'm in a place to handle it.

00:17:55.600 --> 00:18:01.600
Otherwise, what Kamal says to me may ruin me if I do not have an idea of what God thinks of me.

00:18:02.600 --> 00:18:08.600
Brings in such dullness because you're always laboring under the expectations of others.

00:18:17.600 --> 00:18:22.600
Some of your sons and daughters say things about you that are nasty.

00:18:22.600 --> 00:18:24.600
They're your own flesh and blood and they say it.

00:18:26.600 --> 00:18:30.600
Hard for a mother to stand up or a father to stand up when that's happening.

00:18:30.600 --> 00:18:34.600
Unless you have a glimpse of who you are from the father.

00:18:35.600 --> 00:18:40.600
Some of your husbands and wives have said things to each other that rip you apart.

00:18:40.600 --> 00:18:44.600
Impossible to stand unless you have a glimpse of who you are.

00:18:46.600 --> 00:18:52.600
Some of the things you have done are so shameful, so wrong, so sinful that you would trash yourself.

00:18:53.600 --> 00:18:55.600
Unless you catch a glimpse of who you are.

00:18:55.600 --> 00:19:05.600
Some of the people you trusted, did you harm and it'll ruin you unless you have a repeated ability to go and catch a glimpse of who you are.

00:19:05.600 --> 00:19:10.600
I'm saying to us, how much longer do we stay in this cesspool, guys?

00:19:15.600 --> 00:19:21.600
How much longer? Aren't you afraid of missing out on life?

00:19:25.600 --> 00:19:28.600
Some of you are 23, think, I've just begun living, true.

00:19:28.600 --> 00:19:31.600
But some of us are 50 and 60 and 70.

00:19:31.600 --> 00:19:42.600
Aren't you afraid of missing out on a large chunk of your life because you refuse to catch a glimpse of yourself as God has shown you?

00:19:42.600 --> 00:19:48.600
And you come out smelling of that cesspool that someone dripped you in 20 years ago.

00:19:48.600 --> 00:19:51.600
When, when, when? How much longer?

00:19:51.600 --> 00:19:56.600
I'm not angry. I am so full, filled with urgency for you guys.

00:19:56.600 --> 00:19:58.600
I'm so filled with urgency for you.

00:19:58.600 --> 00:20:04.600
Because it's brought years and years of grave cloth like dullness into our lives.

00:20:05.600 --> 00:20:09.600
How much longer? Aren't you afraid of missing out?

00:20:09.600 --> 00:20:23.600
You got an opportunity today to say, I'm getting out of this today.

00:20:23.600 --> 00:20:26.600
20 years is too long.

00:20:31.600 --> 00:20:35.600
I won't be angry at all today. My voice will go up a couple of times again, I promise you that.

00:20:35.600 --> 00:20:38.600
But it's not anger, it's urgency.

00:20:39.600 --> 00:20:47.600
Then there's lameness guys, lameness.

00:20:47.600 --> 00:20:51.600
That's in Leviticus 21, 7.

00:20:51.600 --> 00:20:56.600
Lameness is when you, when you, when you have the ability to see what God wants you to do.

00:20:56.600 --> 00:20:58.600
But you don't have the ability to walk in it.

00:20:58.600 --> 00:21:01.600
Isn't that frustrating? It happens to me so often man.

00:21:01.600 --> 00:21:05.600
I know the purpose of God. I know the vision God has for me.

00:21:05.600 --> 00:21:08.600
But I blooming can't walk in it.

00:21:08.600 --> 00:21:11.600
I just don't seem able to be able to walk in it.

00:21:11.600 --> 00:21:15.600
I know it all. I can, I can communicate it with clarity.

00:21:15.600 --> 00:21:17.600
But I don't know how to walk in it.

00:21:17.600 --> 00:21:19.600
That's called lameness.

00:21:19.600 --> 00:21:22.600
That brings in its own set of dullnesses.

00:21:22.600 --> 00:21:26.600
Because the Bible says do not be one who keeps hearing but not doing.

00:21:26.600 --> 00:21:31.600
Because you're like a guy who looks in a mirror and walks away not remembering what he looks like.

00:21:32.600 --> 00:21:34.600
That brings in dullness.

00:21:34.600 --> 00:21:37.600
Where I can talk the talk just brilliantly.

00:21:37.600 --> 00:21:39.600
But I don't know how to walk it.

00:21:44.600 --> 00:21:47.600
I don't know how to grasp it and transfer it into action.

00:21:47.600 --> 00:21:50.600
Guys, sometimes that's because of stunted growth.

00:21:50.600 --> 00:21:53.600
And stunted growth can be through many different means.

00:21:53.600 --> 00:21:57.600
Stunted growth can be a result of just continuously feeding on infant food.

00:21:58.600 --> 00:22:03.600
By infant food I mean you have a basic understanding of Christianity and you'll stay there.

00:22:04.600 --> 00:22:05.600
Don't want to go further.

00:22:05.600 --> 00:22:13.600
Or it can be because you have and I have our self set spiritual stature that we want to attain.

00:22:13.600 --> 00:22:16.600
That has nothing to do with the stature of Christ.

00:22:17.600 --> 00:22:19.600
I'm talking about things in our house.

00:22:19.600 --> 00:22:22.600
I'm not talking about things outside in someone else's church.

00:22:23.600 --> 00:22:27.600
Some of us insist and I'm not thinking of you right now.

00:22:27.600 --> 00:22:31.600
Because I didn't go over a list of people here to say who's got which problem.

00:22:31.600 --> 00:22:35.600
Some of us don't mind feeding on infant food.

00:22:36.600 --> 00:22:38.600
Same thing over and over again.

00:22:38.600 --> 00:22:42.600
These newfangled revelations that comes up every now and then in action.

00:22:42.600 --> 00:22:44.600
That's for someone else, not for me.

00:22:44.600 --> 00:22:47.600
Right now this is what I understand, this is what I live it.

00:22:49.600 --> 00:22:51.600
Bad idea. It brings dullness.

00:22:53.600 --> 00:22:57.600
Sometimes it's self set stature that you want to attain.

00:22:57.600 --> 00:23:00.600
Instead of attaining the stature of Christ.

00:23:01.600 --> 00:23:03.600
Brings a dullness guys.

00:23:03.600 --> 00:23:10.600
Hey, this is a prevalent spirit that is at work to unseat things in this church.

00:23:17.600 --> 00:23:19.600
How do you work this out then?

00:23:19.600 --> 00:23:22.600
This kind of dullness where you have sight but you can't walk in it?

00:23:22.600 --> 00:23:29.600
Guys, I would suggest to you that one of the strongest ways to do it is recognize grace carriers.

00:23:29.600 --> 00:23:34.600
Particularly the grace carrier of an apostle and begin to connect to them.

00:23:36.600 --> 00:23:38.600
Let me put it this way.

00:23:38.600 --> 00:23:40.600
If you want...

00:23:45.600 --> 00:23:47.600
Okay, let me give you an example.

00:23:47.600 --> 00:23:52.600
Yesterday, because Ryan wasn't here, whenever we turn on the projector it wasn't working.

00:23:52.600 --> 00:23:55.600
So, initially I called Derek.

00:23:55.600 --> 00:23:57.600
Now Derek is not a computer wiz.

00:23:57.600 --> 00:23:59.600
He is an environmental wiz.

00:23:59.600 --> 00:24:02.600
He can tell you how to save energy.

00:24:02.600 --> 00:24:05.600
But he is not a guy who can tell you how to fix your computer.

00:24:05.600 --> 00:24:08.600
So, I just said, hey Derek, can you take care of the computer?

00:24:08.600 --> 00:24:11.600
Ryan is not here, can you put the picture on the screen?

00:24:11.600 --> 00:24:14.600
And because he hasn't done it before, he was trying to figure it out.

00:24:14.600 --> 00:24:16.600
And I watched him figure it out for a while.

00:24:16.600 --> 00:24:18.600
I watched Ann trying to figure it out for a while.

00:24:18.600 --> 00:24:22.600
I watched Kamal offering suggestions that weren't working.

00:24:23.600 --> 00:24:28.600
And then, at some point, I realized that if I wanted breakthrough,

00:24:28.600 --> 00:24:36.600
that I needed now to call someone who has the ability to know exactly what to do and bring it to pass.

00:24:36.600 --> 00:24:38.600
So, I called on Matt.

00:24:38.600 --> 00:24:42.600
Because he knows computers more than most other people in this room.

00:24:42.600 --> 00:24:46.600
And so he comes and he does a few things and it works.

00:24:46.600 --> 00:24:50.600
Why didn't I call someone else?

00:24:50.600 --> 00:24:54.600
Because I could have called all of you one by one by one.

00:24:54.600 --> 00:24:56.600
And we'd have left here at about 11 p.m. last night.

00:24:56.600 --> 00:25:03.600
Instead, why not connect to the one who has the ability or the grace to do it and have it done?

00:25:03.600 --> 00:25:12.600
The way you destroy dullness in your life in terms of the inability to walk in what you know is your purpose

00:25:12.600 --> 00:25:18.600
is to connect to apostolic grace, to connect to grace carriers who are apostles.

00:25:18.600 --> 00:25:24.600
Because they have an ability to break things that are holding you back.

00:25:24.600 --> 00:25:26.600
Look at Ephesians 2 verses 3 to 5.

00:25:26.600 --> 00:25:32.600
Ephesians 2, 3 to 5.

00:25:32.600 --> 00:25:36.600
Ephesians 2, 3 to 5.

00:25:36.600 --> 00:25:38.600
Hey, Nikki and Natasha, just so you know,

00:25:38.600 --> 00:25:44.600
the preacher just goes on forever so it might take an hour before I'm done.

00:25:44.600 --> 00:25:46.600
Oh, you want them already?

00:25:46.600 --> 00:25:48.600
Okay.

00:25:48.600 --> 00:25:54.600
I don't know whether that's a compliment or whether that's a diss that you want them already.

00:25:54.600 --> 00:26:00.600
Ephesians 2.

00:26:00.600 --> 00:26:04.600
And if you have to leave, guys, at any point, feel free to get up and leave.

00:26:04.600 --> 00:26:10.600
All that will happen is I'll say you're leaving the building and it'll be a little embarrassing.

00:26:10.600 --> 00:26:12.600
But feel free to leave.

00:26:12.600 --> 00:26:14.600
Some of us have to go.

00:26:14.600 --> 00:26:16.600
We can't stay forever.

00:26:16.600 --> 00:26:18.600
But I'll finish by 12 as usual.

00:26:18.600 --> 00:26:22.600
Ephesians 2 verses 3 to 5.

00:26:22.600 --> 00:26:24.600
Is it Ephesians 2?

00:26:24.600 --> 00:26:26.600
Ephesians 3, 2 to 5.

00:26:26.600 --> 00:26:28.600
Ephesians 3, 2 to 5.

00:26:28.600 --> 00:26:32.600
Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and start with the first one.

00:26:32.600 --> 00:26:36.600
Okay, listen to what Paul is saying about himself.

00:26:36.600 --> 00:26:40.600
Not about him as a man, but as one who is called to the office of an apostle.

00:26:40.600 --> 00:26:45.600
For this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner for Jesus Christ on behalf of the Gentiles,

00:26:45.600 --> 00:26:50.600
assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you.

00:26:50.600 --> 00:26:52.600
Look at that.

00:26:52.600 --> 00:26:56.600
The stewardship as in the ability to steward over something that the Master gives.

00:26:56.600 --> 00:26:58.600
Of whose grace? God's grace.

00:26:58.600 --> 00:27:00.600
And what does grace do?

00:27:00.600 --> 00:27:04.600
Grace flows into every depression in your life and levels it off.

00:27:04.600 --> 00:27:06.600
That was given.

00:27:06.600 --> 00:27:10.600
Not appropriated, not seized, but given to me.

00:27:10.600 --> 00:27:12.600
For whom? For you.

00:27:12.600 --> 00:27:14.600
Who? The church in Ephesus.

00:27:14.600 --> 00:27:18.600
And how the mystery was made known to me?

00:27:18.600 --> 00:27:20.600
By revelation.

00:27:20.600 --> 00:27:22.600
So how did this come to Paul?

00:27:22.600 --> 00:27:26.600
Through revelation, as I have written briefly.

00:27:26.600 --> 00:27:30.600
And if you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ,

00:27:30.600 --> 00:27:34.600
which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations,

00:27:34.600 --> 00:27:40.600
but has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

00:27:40.600 --> 00:27:46.600
People don't want to preach about this because it looks like you're pumping your own muscle.

00:27:46.600 --> 00:27:48.600
No, man. It's the truth.

00:27:48.600 --> 00:27:52.600
Equipers are given to the body so that breakthrough can happen.

00:27:52.600 --> 00:27:54.600
It's sheerly by the grace of God.

00:27:54.600 --> 00:27:56.600
Given for your benefit.

00:28:02.600 --> 00:28:07.600
Connect with this grace, this apostolic grace, covenant with it.

00:28:07.600 --> 00:28:14.600
If you don't, guys, I'm saying to you, based on what I know of what Paul explains in the word,

00:28:14.600 --> 00:28:19.600
if you don't connect with it, if you don't connect with this resident grace of apostates,

00:28:19.600 --> 00:28:22.600
of apostates, even in this church, for the rest of your life,

00:28:22.600 --> 00:28:25.600
you can roam around like a Christian vagabond.

00:28:30.600 --> 00:28:32.600
Go ahead, Dana.

00:28:41.600 --> 00:28:44.600
Let's start with this house first, man.

00:28:49.600 --> 00:28:52.600
How does that work, Mark?

00:29:05.600 --> 00:29:07.600
Draining, no. Connecting, yes.

00:29:07.600 --> 00:29:08.600
Good.

00:29:08.600 --> 00:29:11.600
Yeah, but not that. So what happens?

00:29:11.600 --> 00:29:15.600
When you identify a grace carrier, build an upper room.

00:29:16.600 --> 00:29:22.600
Build an upper room for him in the sense, position the grace carrier above you.

00:29:22.600 --> 00:29:24.600
Begin to draw from him.

00:29:24.600 --> 00:29:27.600
Come to a place where you begin to draw from the person.

00:29:27.600 --> 00:29:33.600
How do you draw from a person? If I want to draw from you, I have to come under.

00:29:33.600 --> 00:29:37.600
I have to say, okay, here I am. I want to learn.

00:29:37.600 --> 00:29:44.600
Whenever you meet a grace carrier and if you know that here is someone who has the grace of an apostle prophet,

00:29:44.600 --> 00:29:48.600
teacher, evangelist, a pastor, build an upper room for the person.

00:29:48.600 --> 00:29:50.600
Not as in a real room.

00:29:50.600 --> 00:29:54.600
Build an upper room as in place the person in a position where you can draw from them.

00:29:54.600 --> 00:29:57.600
And drawing always comes through honor, through patience,

00:29:57.600 --> 00:30:04.600
and through the ability to say, okay, I'm willing to come under and learn over a sustained period of time.

00:30:05.600 --> 00:30:10.600
This sounds so self-exalting and yet it's not. It's for your benefit.

00:30:14.600 --> 00:30:20.600
At present in terms of apostolic grace? Not yet.

00:30:20.600 --> 00:30:22.600
Not yet.

00:30:22.600 --> 00:30:27.600
Probably nascent, but it has to be recognized by the body.

00:30:35.600 --> 00:30:41.600
After that you'll have to receive and imitate the doctrine of the grace carrier.

00:30:41.600 --> 00:30:44.600
Because man shall not live by friendship with the grace carrier,

00:30:44.600 --> 00:30:49.600
but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God through the grace carrier.

00:30:49.600 --> 00:30:52.600
Man shall not live by friendship with the grace carrier,

00:30:52.600 --> 00:30:57.600
but out of every word that comes out of the mouth of God through the grace carrier.

00:30:57.600 --> 00:31:01.600
Guys, ask me questions because I'm not awkward about this.

00:31:01.600 --> 00:31:05.600
Challenge me. I'm still not awkward about it.

00:31:05.600 --> 00:31:08.600
Can you open it up and read it again?

00:31:08.600 --> 00:31:10.600
Okay.

00:31:10.600 --> 00:31:15.600
So, again, let's go back to the computer thing.

00:31:15.600 --> 00:31:18.600
So, again, let's go back to the computer thing.

00:31:18.600 --> 00:31:21.600
So, again, let's go back to the computer thing.

00:31:21.600 --> 00:31:24.600
So, again, let's go back to the computer thing.

00:31:24.600 --> 00:31:27.600
So, again, let's go back to the computer thing.

00:31:27.600 --> 00:31:31.600
So, let's assume he's a grace carrier and his grace,

00:31:31.600 --> 00:31:34.600
by grace I mean here an ability for now.

00:31:34.600 --> 00:31:43.600
His ability, he's a carrier of an ability to solve all audio-visual, technical, computer-related problems.

00:31:43.600 --> 00:31:45.600
That's his ability.

00:31:45.600 --> 00:31:56.600
So, if I want this church to be outfitted with audio-visual, technical stuff,

00:31:56.600 --> 00:31:58.600
then here's what I'll have to do.

00:31:58.600 --> 00:32:01.600
I will have to build an upper room for him,

00:32:01.600 --> 00:32:05.600
as in I will have to position him in a place where I don't go and say,

00:32:05.600 --> 00:32:07.600
Hey, Matt, you want to help me? No, no, no.

00:32:07.600 --> 00:32:11.600
Hey, Matt, will you please help me? I need help.

00:32:11.600 --> 00:32:15.600
The hardest thing to do to receive grace is to humble yourself.

00:32:15.600 --> 00:32:17.600
It is very hard.

00:32:17.600 --> 00:32:21.600
We don't like, like I've always said, we love peer-to-peer relationships.

00:32:21.600 --> 00:32:23.600
We never want to come down lower.

00:32:23.600 --> 00:32:27.600
If I want anything from his life or your life, and I'm talking about anything,

00:32:27.600 --> 00:32:31.600
let's assume you have an ability to be super kind and generous,

00:32:31.600 --> 00:32:32.600
and I don't have that ability.

00:32:32.600 --> 00:32:35.600
If I want to learn that from you, I'll have to come under.

00:32:35.600 --> 00:32:39.600
I'll have to acknowledge that here you are with an ability that I don't have.

00:32:39.600 --> 00:32:41.600
I want to learn from you, so let me come under you.

00:32:41.600 --> 00:32:44.600
I'll tell you what prevents us.

00:32:44.600 --> 00:32:50.600
An independent streak, pride, and a great desire for peer-to-peer relationships.

00:32:50.600 --> 00:32:53.600
All our relationships are like that. We've talked about that before.

00:32:53.600 --> 00:32:58.600
So I come and position him above me and say, I need your help.

00:32:58.600 --> 00:33:01.600
Hey, I needed his help four weeks ago.

00:33:01.600 --> 00:33:04.600
And so when I called him to come, knowing that he has work,

00:33:04.600 --> 00:33:06.600
my words to Jason was this,

00:33:06.600 --> 00:33:10.600
Jason, I would like you to come not so that you can learn anything from me.

00:33:10.600 --> 00:33:13.600
I would like you to come because I need your help today,

00:33:13.600 --> 00:33:16.600
and I would so appreciate it if you came.

00:33:23.600 --> 00:33:26.600
I wasn't hard to say.

00:33:26.600 --> 00:33:29.600
So now that I have placed him that way, he is now willing to help.

00:33:29.600 --> 00:33:35.600
And when he is helping, now I will do anything he asks me to do.

00:33:35.600 --> 00:33:37.600
Because I've asked him to help.

00:33:37.600 --> 00:33:41.600
Now I won't tell him, but that's not the way I do it.

00:33:41.600 --> 00:33:44.600
Doesn't matter, Jacob, you don't know a thing about computers.

00:33:44.600 --> 00:33:48.600
I'll listen to him as he tells me how to do it.

00:33:48.600 --> 00:33:53.600
I connect to this grace, and now he brings breakthrough into what I'm building,

00:33:53.600 --> 00:33:55.600
just because he has that ability.

00:33:55.600 --> 00:33:57.600
Otherwise, I'll tell you what I'll be.

00:33:57.600 --> 00:34:01.600
I'll be a technical vagabond for the next six months.

00:34:01.600 --> 00:34:03.600
And what does a technical vagabond do?

00:34:03.600 --> 00:34:05.600
Hey, let's try this. See, there's a button there.

00:34:05.600 --> 00:34:07.600
Try pressing that button. Didn't work?

00:34:07.600 --> 00:34:09.600
Hey, do you have a safety pin? Let's poke that in and see.

00:34:09.600 --> 00:34:13.600
Didn't work? Oh, well, then let's just say hands and pray for it.

00:34:13.600 --> 00:34:17.600
Didn't work? Sometimes it might.

00:34:17.600 --> 00:34:20.600
And so we keep doing things, and we are like technical vagabonds,

00:34:20.600 --> 00:34:23.600
roaming around, trying everything.

00:34:23.600 --> 00:34:25.600
And a vagabond is someone who has dullness,

00:34:25.600 --> 00:34:29.600
because he doesn't know what to do, so he tries everything.

00:34:34.600 --> 00:34:37.600
Grace carriers? Mentoring and grace carrier is different,

00:34:37.600 --> 00:34:43.600
because a carrier of grace equips you as if that's the only interest in his life.

00:34:43.600 --> 00:34:45.600
Mentoring is a role you play.

00:34:45.600 --> 00:34:48.600
An equiper is someone who is there for the long haul,

00:34:48.600 --> 00:34:51.600
whose only intent is, I've got to bring you to a place

00:34:51.600 --> 00:34:53.600
where you have the same stature as Christ,

00:34:53.600 --> 00:34:57.600
and I will invest everything I have to make that happen in your life.

00:34:57.600 --> 00:35:00.600
While a mentor may be for a time.

00:35:00.600 --> 00:35:03.600
A mentor usually has to be invited.

00:35:03.600 --> 00:35:07.600
An equiper comes into your life, and you'll have to kick him out.

00:35:14.600 --> 00:35:17.600
Any other questions?

00:35:19.600 --> 00:35:21.600
Dullness is a prevalent spirit in this church.

00:35:21.600 --> 00:35:24.600
It affects me, and it affects you.

00:35:24.600 --> 00:35:28.600
I was sitting with a leader a few days ago, and the person said,

00:35:28.600 --> 00:35:31.600
you know, I need to struggle with this too.

00:35:33.600 --> 00:35:35.600
I know I have this problem every now and then.

00:35:35.600 --> 00:35:37.600
It washes over me.

00:35:37.600 --> 00:35:39.600
I hate it.

00:35:43.600 --> 00:35:46.600
Dullness is also because of a religious spirit, guys.

00:35:46.600 --> 00:35:49.600
The Bible talks about legalism, and a religious spirit,

00:35:49.600 --> 00:35:53.600
or a deaf and dumb spirit, brings in dullness.

00:35:53.600 --> 00:35:57.600
A religious spirit is a spirit that deafens you, so you cannot hear,

00:35:57.600 --> 00:36:00.600
and dumbs you down so that you can't understand.

00:36:05.600 --> 00:36:09.600
A religious spirit is a spirit that prevents you from being able to receive.

00:36:09.600 --> 00:36:14.600
Haven't you noticed how sometimes you can hear, and yet you're not understanding?

00:36:15.600 --> 00:36:19.600
And it's not because the guy who's preaching isn't preaching properly.

00:36:19.600 --> 00:36:21.600
It's just this dullness that settles over you.

00:36:21.600 --> 00:36:24.600
Fight it, guys. Fight it.

00:36:28.600 --> 00:36:30.600
By recognizing it as dullness.

00:36:30.600 --> 00:36:34.600
What we do with dullness is when it comes over, we say, ah, I can get the CD.

00:36:36.600 --> 00:36:40.600
When I'm sitting somewhere and dullness takes over, I refuse to switch off.

00:36:40.600 --> 00:36:44.600
Instead, I quickly write down a point and say, I did not understand this, oh God,

00:36:44.600 --> 00:36:47.600
you've got to explain it to me, because I don't want to get stuck there.

00:36:47.600 --> 00:36:49.600
I've got to keep going with whatever the person's teaching.

00:36:49.600 --> 00:36:54.600
So I'll keep going with the person while, oh God, here is something that I can't afford to lose out on.

00:36:54.600 --> 00:36:57.600
I don't settle for, I can listen to the CD later.

00:36:59.600 --> 00:37:04.600
Is it natural for us when the word of God is being broken to us that we go dull?

00:37:04.600 --> 00:37:07.600
Hey, listen, listen to me again. Let me say that again.

00:37:07.600 --> 00:37:13.600
Is it natural that when the word of God is being broken to us that we go into dullness?

00:37:14.600 --> 00:37:17.600
And by dullness, I mean this inability to comprehend, this shutting down.

00:37:17.600 --> 00:37:21.600
Is that natural? Other than if you haven't slept a whole night last night.

00:37:25.600 --> 00:37:30.600
Is it natural? If it is not natural, then what is it? It's abnormal.

00:37:31.600 --> 00:37:34.600
It is spiritual. And if it is spiritual, fight it.

00:37:36.600 --> 00:37:39.600
If it is cultivated for a while, it becomes a bondage.

00:37:40.600 --> 00:37:42.600
Churches are some of the best places to come and sleep.

00:37:43.600 --> 00:37:45.600
I've seen it for the last 25 years.

00:37:46.600 --> 00:37:50.600
Been in four or five different churches. And it's the nicest place to sleep.

00:37:50.600 --> 00:37:53.600
I don't know why, but churches are some of the most comfortable places to sleep.

00:37:53.600 --> 00:37:57.600
And the larger the church, the easier it is to sleep without being noticed.

00:37:57.600 --> 00:37:59.600
The smaller the church, the more difficult it gets.

00:38:09.600 --> 00:38:10.600
Hasn't come in.

00:38:12.600 --> 00:38:14.600
In a sense, it's a double whammy.

00:38:14.600 --> 00:38:16.600
Because on one hand they're saying we'll solve it.

00:38:16.600 --> 00:38:18.600
On the other hand, they're saying come in, you can sleep.

00:38:21.600 --> 00:38:26.600
When we started Acts 29, there used to be a couple of people who used to come.

00:38:26.600 --> 00:38:30.600
And about seven minutes into the sermon, that person would knock off.

00:38:30.600 --> 00:38:34.600
And I wouldn't have to check my watch because I'd knock at seven minutes.

00:38:42.600 --> 00:38:46.600
Hebrews 5.11 actually says that...

00:38:47.600 --> 00:38:50.600
Let me read it. Hebrews 5.11.

00:39:00.600 --> 00:39:03.600
Hebrews 5.11.

00:39:04.600 --> 00:39:08.600
About this we have much to say, and it's hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing.

00:39:09.600 --> 00:39:14.600
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the Oracles of God.

00:39:14.600 --> 00:39:20.600
You need milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child.

00:39:21.600 --> 00:39:25.600
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have the powers of discernment,

00:39:25.600 --> 00:39:29.600
trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

00:39:29.600 --> 00:39:31.600
Doesn't that sum up everything we are saying?

00:39:34.600 --> 00:39:36.600
A dullness. A dullness of hearing.

00:39:38.600 --> 00:39:42.600
One of the things that I used to do, and I still sometimes have to avoid it,

00:39:42.600 --> 00:39:45.600
I'll be sitting in some other church and someone else is preaching,

00:39:45.600 --> 00:39:51.600
and halfway through while he's giving a scripture I read the scripture and then I start reading all the other scriptures nearby

00:39:51.600 --> 00:39:55.600
and completely miss out on what the guy is saying, because after all I'm a pastor, what can you teach me?

00:39:56.600 --> 00:40:00.600
I'm saying to you that it happens at Acts 29 too. It's just that I keep quiet about it.

00:40:00.600 --> 00:40:05.600
But who misses out? You. Because what is coming out of Jacob is a benefit to you.

00:40:05.600 --> 00:40:08.600
Not just because it's a word, but because it's the great resident in me.

00:40:12.600 --> 00:40:19.600
Questions guys before we move on? How's it going in there, Tavis? Good?

00:40:19.600 --> 00:40:22.600
Your mom doing a good job?

00:40:31.600 --> 00:40:32.600
I won't ask again.

00:40:32.600 --> 00:40:41.600
No, no. Grace goes into places of depression when it's poured out, and grace always flows from top to bottom.

00:40:41.600 --> 00:40:47.600
Remember what I said? Man shall not live by friendship with grace carriers.

00:40:47.600 --> 00:40:53.600
Man shall live by every word that comes from the mouth of God through grace carriers.

00:40:53.600 --> 00:40:59.600
Me being friendly with Eddie does me no good. All I get is him on my Facebook, big deal.

00:40:59.600 --> 00:41:02.600
He doesn't even do that.

00:41:06.600 --> 00:41:10.600
So guys, here's what I want to do before we move on.

00:41:10.600 --> 00:41:14.600
I want to talk about the grace of God.

00:41:14.600 --> 00:41:18.600
So guys, here's what I want to do before we move on.

00:41:18.600 --> 00:41:23.600
I want to rebuke the deaf and dumb spirit, the spirit of religion, the spirit of dullness

00:41:23.600 --> 00:41:26.600
that has an outward form of piety in your life and my life.

00:41:26.600 --> 00:41:33.600
There is nothing that I'm speaking about that hasn't happened to me in this church.

00:41:33.600 --> 00:41:39.600
I want to rebuke that. And then I want to ask God to strengthen us by His Spirit in our inner being

00:41:39.600 --> 00:41:46.600
so that Christ can begin to dwell and we can grasp His knowledge and begin to live out of it.

00:41:46.600 --> 00:41:48.600
So I'm going to do that right now.

00:41:48.600 --> 00:41:54.600
So in Jesus Christ's name right now, I rebuke out of our lives as a corporate body

00:41:54.600 --> 00:41:57.600
this prevalent spirit of dullness.

00:41:57.600 --> 00:42:01.600
In exposing the spirit we are saying you cannot have us,

00:42:01.600 --> 00:42:05.600
that you cannot keep coming over us and dulling us to the things of God.

00:42:05.600 --> 00:42:08.600
So we say to this deaf and dumb spirit of religion,

00:42:08.600 --> 00:42:12.600
leave because you have no room amongst the people.

00:42:12.600 --> 00:42:17.600
And I say to ones who are under the bondage of the spirit of dullness,

00:42:17.600 --> 00:42:23.600
I break that bondage off you and off my life so that we can walk free of it.

00:42:23.600 --> 00:42:29.600
And I ask Holy Spirit that He would strengthen us in our inner being,

00:42:29.600 --> 00:42:36.600
enlighten and open our eyes to the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ

00:42:36.600 --> 00:42:39.600
so that we may know the extravagant dimensions in Him.

00:42:39.600 --> 00:42:46.600
So that we may begin to understand that we are filled with the fullness of you are alpha and omega.

00:42:46.600 --> 00:42:50.600
And I speak this over us personally and over us corporately.

00:42:50.600 --> 00:42:54.600
And I thank you, O God, that you are possible, you are able to bring this to pass.

00:42:54.600 --> 00:42:57.600
And I thank you, O God, that you are possible, you are able to bring this to pass.

00:42:58.600 --> 00:43:01.600
I declare that now in Jesus' name. Amen.

00:43:04.600 --> 00:43:06.600
Let's move on to the next one.

00:43:06.600 --> 00:43:17.600
Guys, another thing that's happening at Acts 29 that just so bothers you and I is

00:43:17.600 --> 00:43:23.600
many of us are going through situations where we're being denuded,

00:43:23.600 --> 00:43:34.600
denuded, and I'll explain that word, stripped, ravaged, kept in prison,

00:43:34.600 --> 00:43:43.600
be it of sickness or sadness or just downtrodden.

00:43:43.600 --> 00:44:02.600
It's almost like someone who seems to always want to destroy that which we have.

00:44:02.600 --> 00:44:07.600
Many of us have been in bondage for so long in different areas.

00:44:07.600 --> 00:44:10.600
Sometimes it's in finances. Sometimes it's in sickness.

00:44:10.600 --> 00:44:16.600
Sometimes it's in an inability to come out of the doldrums that we've been in for ages.

00:44:16.600 --> 00:44:19.600
And it's just robbing, stealing, plundering.

00:44:19.600 --> 00:44:24.600
It's almost like these Goliaths that keep coming up in our life and impossible to destroy them.

00:44:24.600 --> 00:44:26.600
Instead, we are being destroyed.

00:44:26.600 --> 00:44:29.600
Or here's the other thing that's happening.

00:44:29.600 --> 00:44:35.600
We are settling for a life that is less than what God is willing to give.

00:44:35.600 --> 00:44:40.600
Because it's literally hunting our backs.

00:44:40.600 --> 00:44:45.600
Because the pressure of what we've been going through has caused a curvature of our spine.

00:44:45.600 --> 00:44:50.600
And we walk around like this thinking this is the natural way of walking.

00:44:50.600 --> 00:44:56.600
So we can spend the next 20 years walking like this because we've gotten so used to this posture to even walk straight.

00:44:56.600 --> 00:45:03.600
It's like, why would I want that? I'm so comfortable with this.

00:45:03.600 --> 00:45:06.600
I want to bring an end to that, guys, in our lives.

00:45:06.600 --> 00:45:18.600
Where the trials and demands of life have forced your spiritual muscles into submission.

00:45:18.600 --> 00:45:30.600
I want some of us who are going through situations like this to understand that sight and sound are used by the spirit realm

00:45:30.600 --> 00:45:35.600
to create fear and to build strongholds in our lives.

00:45:35.600 --> 00:45:45.600
Sight and sound are used by the spirit realm, by the satanic realm, to create fear, to create intimidation,

00:45:45.600 --> 00:45:54.600
and to create strongholds in our hearts and minds and force us into guys who have spiritual hunchbacks.

00:45:54.600 --> 00:45:56.600
Here's how it works, guys.

00:45:57.600 --> 00:46:04.600
Most of our reactions to any situation are based on what we see and what we hear.

00:46:04.600 --> 00:46:07.600
It jaundices the way we react to things.

00:46:07.600 --> 00:46:11.600
And if you are in an environment where you're continuously seeing and hearing things,

00:46:11.600 --> 00:46:14.600
and you've been in that environment for 10 or 15 years,

00:46:14.600 --> 00:46:22.600
don't be surprised if this is how you're walking because the hunchback has become normal for you and I.

00:46:22.600 --> 00:46:25.600
Time to get out of it, guys. How do you get out of it?

00:46:25.600 --> 00:46:30.600
By first denying sight and sound to determine your response.

00:46:32.600 --> 00:46:40.600
We get so jaundiced by our environment, so jaundiced by what others have said they went through when they went through the same situation,

00:46:40.600 --> 00:46:44.600
so jaundiced by our lack of understanding of the word.

00:46:46.600 --> 00:46:53.600
One of the reasons I appreciate Chris who is not here is even though her ear has been riddled with tinnitus for over the last 7 or 8 years,

00:46:53.600 --> 00:46:56.600
she refuses to accept that as normal.

00:47:01.600 --> 00:47:07.600
Why is it that we accept things that are not normal as normal when God has something better?

00:47:12.600 --> 00:47:18.600
Till the day I die, I don't want to accept anything as normal when that is not God's prescribed best for me.

00:47:18.600 --> 00:47:22.600
So Jacob, isn't it possible that you could still go to your grave and not have things solved?

00:47:22.600 --> 00:47:28.600
If that be the case, so be it, but I'll still not accept it as normal. I died with an abnormal problem.

00:47:37.600 --> 00:47:42.600
Do not hide behind the sovereignty of God as, oh, this may be what God wills.

00:47:42.600 --> 00:47:44.600
That is such a lame excuse.

00:47:44.600 --> 00:47:46.600
Let's break out of this, guys.

00:47:46.600 --> 00:47:55.600
This thing that's destroying our lives through disease, through sickness, through thorns in our flesh that sometimes come from our own families,

00:47:55.600 --> 00:48:03.600
through bondages that we've been suffering for for ages, let's break out of this.

00:48:03.600 --> 00:48:06.600
Because this isn't what you were created for.

00:48:07.600 --> 00:48:13.600
And a people who have the presence of God in them needs to show the rest of the world that this is not normal.

00:48:13.600 --> 00:48:17.600
Because the world thinks it's normal. Who will show them?

00:48:17.600 --> 00:48:21.600
We come up with theologies to support the abnormal.

00:48:25.600 --> 00:48:30.600
Let this small group of people begin to realize that they are not normal.

00:48:31.600 --> 00:48:35.600
Let this small group of people begin to rise up against these things.

00:48:40.600 --> 00:48:45.600
You know, in Hebrews 10, 39 to 35, I know that's the other way around.

00:48:45.600 --> 00:48:55.600
In Hebrews 10, 39 to 35, it actually says that the destroyer has power because of our shrinking back.

00:48:56.600 --> 00:49:00.600
The destroyer has power because of our shrinking back.

00:49:00.600 --> 00:49:07.600
It actually says, we are not those who shrink back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and preserve their souls.

00:49:07.600 --> 00:49:17.600
We are not those that are destroyed because we shrink back, but we are those that have faith and we preserve our souls.

00:49:17.600 --> 00:49:21.600
We are not those that are destroyed because they shrink back.

00:49:21.600 --> 00:49:28.600
They shrink back. Shrink back into what? Shrink back into experiences that others may have had or you may have had.

00:49:28.600 --> 00:49:32.600
Shrink back into a word that was spoken to you for last year.

00:49:32.600 --> 00:49:37.600
Hey, do you have a situation in your home that you're dealing with that God said deal with it like this?

00:49:37.600 --> 00:49:44.600
And he said that to you in 2010. Well, it's 2014 guys. Get a new way of doing things with it.

00:49:44.600 --> 00:49:54.600
Find out, father, you told me this in 2010. This is how I'm to deal with my parents or with my children or with my spouse.

00:49:54.600 --> 00:49:59.600
Okay, father, now it's 2014. Could you tell me what do I need to do now?

00:49:59.600 --> 00:50:05.600
Father, I got an ear problem or an eye problem now for the last five years. I'm coming into a new place.

00:50:05.600 --> 00:50:12.600
What do you want me to do, father? Send me a proceeding word, a word that proceeds from the mouth of God for now,

00:50:12.600 --> 00:50:18.600
not a preceding word that was spoken to me five years ago that I'll hold on to, but I'll add to it.

00:50:23.600 --> 00:50:29.600
Imagine if we were functioning as Acts 29 with words that were spoken to us in 2006.

00:50:33.600 --> 00:50:35.600
We would still be in the coffee shop.

00:50:35.600 --> 00:50:40.600
We cannot shrink back into things that allow us to be destroyed.

00:50:40.600 --> 00:50:46.600
We cannot shrink back into human examples where someone else had the problem. This is how they did it.

00:50:46.600 --> 00:50:51.600
We cannot shrink back into inaccurate teaching. We cannot shrink back into feelings.

00:50:51.600 --> 00:50:56.600
We cannot shrink back into facts. We cannot shrink back into this.

00:50:56.600 --> 00:51:01.600
We cannot shrink back into the theologies we come up with because something happened to us.

00:51:01.600 --> 00:51:07.600
When preachers have a problem with sickness, they come up with a theology that God sent the sickness.

00:51:07.600 --> 00:51:10.600
Till then they were fine. Till then God was a healer.

00:51:10.600 --> 00:51:15.600
But the moment it happened to them, they come up with a theology of, oh, God sent it.

00:51:15.600 --> 00:51:18.600
Refuse this, guys. We've got to break out of these bondages.

00:51:18.600 --> 00:51:23.600
We've got to show how the Father is to the world outside.

00:51:24.600 --> 00:51:29.600
Hebrews 10 verse 35 says, But my righteous one shall live by faith.

00:51:29.600 --> 00:51:33.600
And God then says, If he shrinks back, I have no pleasure in him.

00:51:33.600 --> 00:51:38.600
As in, I do not approve even though I'm accepting of you, Jacob, even when you shrink back.

00:51:38.600 --> 00:51:41.600
I have no pleasure in you when you shrink back.

00:51:41.600 --> 00:51:44.600
I have no pleasure in you when you shrink back.

00:51:44.600 --> 00:51:47.600
I have no pleasure in you when you shrink back.

00:51:47.600 --> 00:51:51.600
I do not approve even though I'm accepting of you, Jacob, even when you shrink back.

00:51:51.600 --> 00:51:55.600
I have no pleasure in you when you shrink back.

00:51:55.600 --> 00:51:58.600
What did we say the fear of God is?

00:51:58.600 --> 00:52:07.600
The fear of God is the dread of offending or hurting or taking away pleasure from the Father that you love.

00:52:07.600 --> 00:52:11.600
My righteous one shall live by faith.

00:52:11.600 --> 00:52:15.600
Guys, there's three things. Unbelief, lack of faith, and faith.

00:52:15.600 --> 00:52:22.600
Unbelief is this place, and I would suggest to you that in our lives all three exist in different areas.

00:52:22.600 --> 00:52:31.600
Unbelief is when you have a healthy suspicion or have a very skeptical attitude about the character of God in an area.

00:52:31.600 --> 00:52:33.600
That's unbelief.

00:52:33.600 --> 00:52:40.600
Unbelief is when you have a healthy suspicion of the character, sorry, an unhealthy suspicion of the character of God.

00:52:40.600 --> 00:52:46.600
And the skepticism as in you may say this is who you are, this is not who I think you are.

00:52:46.600 --> 00:52:48.600
That's unbelief.

00:52:48.600 --> 00:52:58.600
Lack of faith is this inability to trust Jesus fully in an area because you are riddled with doubt and hesitation.

00:52:58.600 --> 00:53:02.600
And then there is faith.

00:53:02.600 --> 00:53:09.600
And faith is something that is when I'm confident of what I hope for even though I can't see it.

00:53:09.600 --> 00:53:11.600
What a difference, what a difference.

00:53:11.600 --> 00:53:18.600
Unbelief is, you know God, yeah, yeah, yeah, you said all that, but I really don't think so.

00:53:18.600 --> 00:53:20.600
I highly suspect your ability to come through.

00:53:20.600 --> 00:53:23.600
I'm not persuaded that you are that kind of guy.

00:53:23.600 --> 00:53:25.600
That's unbelief.

00:53:25.600 --> 00:53:27.600
Lack of faith, you know, I really trust you.

00:53:27.600 --> 00:53:28.600
Please help my unbelief.

00:53:28.600 --> 00:53:29.600
I'm riddled with doubt.

00:53:29.600 --> 00:53:30.600
I want to trust you.

00:53:30.600 --> 00:53:32.600
I know you are this way, but look at the doubt.

00:53:32.600 --> 00:53:36.600
And Jesus says, okay, come to me and say you have unbelief.

00:53:36.600 --> 00:53:38.600
I'll help my unbelief and I'll help you.

00:53:38.600 --> 00:53:40.600
That's the lack of faith, a little faith.

00:53:40.600 --> 00:53:47.600
And then there's this place of faith where you are confident of the hope that has been brought to you by the Holy Spirit.

00:53:47.600 --> 00:53:50.600
And that has been born out of the Word of God.

00:53:50.600 --> 00:53:53.600
You're confident in that hope even though you don't see it.

00:53:53.600 --> 00:53:56.600
What a difference, what a difference.

00:53:56.600 --> 00:54:03.600
And don't you want to be located, progressing forward in every area of your life?

00:54:03.600 --> 00:54:11.600
We will not allow the destroyer to eat up our fruit and our seeds, guys.

00:54:11.600 --> 00:54:19.600
Remember in Malachi it says, I will rebuke the devourer for you.

00:54:19.600 --> 00:54:26.600
In February of this year, remember the word God gave this church, that despite lavish revelation,

00:54:26.600 --> 00:54:32.600
you are a people that are plundered and in prison and are being kept captive.

00:54:32.600 --> 00:54:40.600
And it said, won't you come to me and say restore so that I can change your dead ground into Eden?

00:54:40.600 --> 00:54:44.600
That was the word given to us.

00:54:44.600 --> 00:54:48.600
Embrace it for your own personal lives and for us as a corporate body.

00:54:48.600 --> 00:54:53.600
I'm pleading with God, oh, Father, Father, bring me back to my life.

00:54:53.600 --> 00:54:58.600
I'm pleading with God, oh, Father, Father, bring us into a place where we are free.

00:55:06.600 --> 00:55:13.600
Proverbs 19.8 says, he who is slack at work is brother to the destroyer.

00:55:13.600 --> 00:55:17.600
He who is slack at his work is brother to his destroyer.

00:55:17.600 --> 00:55:20.600
Guys, sometimes faith needs work.

00:55:24.600 --> 00:55:26.600
Sometimes faith needs work.

00:55:26.600 --> 00:55:31.600
What does faith needs work mean? Faith needs to see correctly, perceive correctly.

00:55:31.600 --> 00:55:34.600
The battle is always in the perceiving.

00:55:34.600 --> 00:55:39.600
The battle of faith is always in your perceiving.

00:55:39.600 --> 00:55:43.600
The battle of faith is always in your perceiving of things.

00:55:43.600 --> 00:55:47.600
And when I think to myself, ah, forget it, this is too much effort.

00:55:47.600 --> 00:55:51.600
Oh, well, I'll live it with, live it that the grace of God is sufficient for me.

00:55:51.600 --> 00:55:58.600
I would suggest to you that suddenly you're slacking off in terms of living in a place of faith.

00:55:58.600 --> 00:56:04.600
And when you slack off, you become brother to the destroyer and devouring happens.

00:56:06.600 --> 00:56:16.600
When we change this equation around, God neutralizes, rebukes and reverses what the devourer and the destroyer have done.

00:56:17.600 --> 00:56:22.600
I've worn this in my life. Sometimes I find that two, three days I'll allow this.

00:56:22.600 --> 00:56:32.600
And then there's this holy rage that just comes up with me and says, no, won't take this.

00:56:32.600 --> 00:56:35.600
Can't take this. This is not normal.

00:56:35.600 --> 00:56:39.600
Guys, I want us to become like this, guys.

00:56:39.600 --> 00:56:43.600
Questions, comments before we move on.

00:56:44.600 --> 00:56:47.600
Additions to what I'm saying.

00:56:54.600 --> 00:57:04.600
So let's pray this, guys. Let's pray that you and I and we as a body will not waver through unbelief regarding God's promises.

00:57:05.600 --> 00:57:12.600
That in the areas and you know the areas in your life where the destroyer is having a field day.

00:57:12.600 --> 00:57:18.600
Is it your marriage? Is it your body? Is it your finances? Is it your relationship with your spouse?

00:57:18.600 --> 00:57:21.600
Is it your children? You know those areas.

00:57:21.600 --> 00:57:27.600
In those areas where I'm being robbed, where I'm being forced to settle for less,

00:57:27.600 --> 00:57:34.600
I want to renew my mind and destroy the strongholds that are so strong that that's the only way I think now.

00:57:38.600 --> 00:57:41.600
I want to repent of spiritual laziness.

00:57:41.600 --> 00:57:47.600
I want to repent of resisting the Holy Spirit and refusing to practice the word.

00:57:47.600 --> 00:57:56.600
And I want to cry out saying, restore, O God, renew my mind so that I may be fully persuaded that you have the power to do what you have promised.

00:57:56.600 --> 00:57:59.600
As he said to Abraham. So shall we do that?

00:58:02.600 --> 00:58:10.600
So Father, I say this very slowly so that we understand it and it's not some kind of a prayer we are repeating like parrots.

00:58:13.600 --> 00:58:25.600
Father, I will not, I choose not to waver regarding your promises, O God.

00:58:25.600 --> 00:58:35.600
I choose not to waver in unbelief or doubt regarding your promises, O God, in my marriage, in my diseases and sicknesses,

00:58:35.600 --> 00:58:45.600
with regard to my children, with regard to the bondages I am in, with regard to the financial situations that I am in,

00:58:46.600 --> 00:58:55.600
with regard to my fears, all those phobias we wrote down on the board, I refuse to keep wavering because of unbelief.

00:58:56.600 --> 00:59:06.600
And in the areas where I am being robbed, where I am being forced to settle for less, and I speak this for not me, not just for me, but for all of us here.

00:59:06.600 --> 00:59:12.600
And for those that are not necessarily able to grasp what I am saying or participating, I speak on behalf of them too.

00:59:15.600 --> 00:59:23.600
O God, in the areas where I am being robbed and where I am forced to settle for less, please renew my mind, O God, through the Word.

00:59:23.600 --> 00:59:32.600
Please give me an appetite. I don't even have a hunger for the Word. Please renew my appetite for the Word so that these struggles can be raised and destroyed.

00:59:32.600 --> 00:59:38.600
I have been trapped in them for so long, I only think a certain way. I want to stop it, Father. I want to stop it.

00:59:38.600 --> 00:59:46.600
I can't have the destroyer devouring my children, my wife, my husband, my life. How long, O God?

00:59:48.600 --> 00:59:59.600
I can't let this happen, Father. And so I repent of my spiritual laziness. My refusal to listen to counsel, I repent of.

01:00:00.600 --> 01:00:09.600
Say it in your hearts, guys. Some of us need to repent of the refusal to listen to counsel. Repent of spiritual laziness, about.

01:00:11.600 --> 01:00:23.600
And I want to practice your Word. So we say to you, O God, what you told us in Feb of this year. We say, please restore, O God, please restore our dead ground into Eden again.

01:00:24.600 --> 01:00:30.600
Please renew our minds so that we may be fully persuaded that you are able to do what you say you can.

01:00:31.600 --> 01:00:38.600
Could you now combine the destruction of dullness with the rebuking of the destroyer in our lives, O God?

01:00:38.600 --> 01:00:47.600
Start it today. Only you can do this. Only you can do this, Holy Spirit. And I plead for this in Jesus' name. Amen.

01:00:48.600 --> 01:00:51.600
The last part, guys.

01:01:06.600 --> 01:01:13.600
Pride. Pride.

01:01:14.600 --> 01:01:23.600
That's another thing that we are fighting with this in the Church, both corporately and personally. Destroyer, dullness, pride.

01:01:23.600 --> 01:01:47.600
You know, in Job 41.34, there is a scripture which says that Leviathan is king over the children of pride.

01:01:47.600 --> 01:02:00.600
Leviathan is king over the children of pride. Job 41.34. Leviathan is king over the children of pride.

01:02:02.600 --> 01:02:14.600
And I suggest to you that because of pride that sometimes this Church has corporately, and I am greatly responsible for that.

01:02:14.600 --> 01:02:18.600
I have been telling the Lord, I'm sorry, and I say it publicly to you, I'm sorry.

01:02:18.600 --> 01:02:29.600
One of the things that I've cultivated in this Church, sometimes unknowingly, sometimes at a sheer bravado, is this sense that we are sometimes better than other churches.

01:02:29.600 --> 01:02:39.600
That there's an elitism that has crept in. Sometimes in my teaching, I criticize other churches or I compare.

01:02:39.600 --> 01:02:48.600
There may be occasions where comparison is necessary, but in doing so, I've cultivated within us this prideful attitude.

01:02:48.600 --> 01:02:55.600
And I'm going to try not to do that. I started last Tuesday actually, stopping it.

01:02:55.600 --> 01:02:58.600
I'm hoping that I can continue with it.

01:02:58.600 --> 01:03:07.600
But it is pride that gives this spirit, Leviathan, access into your life and influence through your life.

01:03:07.600 --> 01:03:12.600
This spirit, and it is a real spirit. It is a real spirit.

01:03:14.600 --> 01:03:22.600
Leviathan is one of the hardest spirits the Bible talks about.

01:03:27.600 --> 01:03:29.600
Leviathan is king over the children of pride.

01:03:30.600 --> 01:03:36.600
And so pride allows the spirit to access people's lives and influence through our lives.

01:03:36.600 --> 01:03:43.600
And it's hidden usually in a church. It lurks in a church, ready to strike when given the opportunity.

01:03:43.600 --> 01:03:47.600
And I'm saying, no, it can't happen. Cannot go on. Will not happen.

01:03:49.600 --> 01:03:55.600
And when it's exposed, it loses its power and it loses its hold over people if they repent.

01:03:56.600 --> 01:04:04.600
I've written a line here saying, forgive me, O God, forgive us, O God, particularly Jacob, for elitism, comparison, criticism.

01:04:04.600 --> 01:04:07.600
And I've ceased from it and I pray that we cease from it.

01:04:09.600 --> 01:04:17.600
Some of us are inadvertently under the influence of the spirit. Others serve the spirit.

01:04:17.600 --> 01:04:27.600
In this church I'm talking about, because of their continued pride, continued independence, self-taught standards, and a refusal to repent.

01:04:27.600 --> 01:04:32.600
Let me say it again. Some of us serve the spirit inadvertently.

01:04:32.600 --> 01:04:57.600
As in, it happens. But some of us serve the spirit because either I refuse to repent of my pride or refuse to give up my independence or refuse to just repent or choose to operate by self-taught standards.

01:04:57.600 --> 01:05:05.600
And let me say this to you. Anyone who is operating under the spirit of Leviathan, you cannot enter into covenant with them.

01:05:05.600 --> 01:05:12.600
It's almost impossible because of their pride. It's not because you don't want to. It's impossible to enter into covenant with them because of their pride.

01:05:12.600 --> 01:05:17.600
Where does that come from? Read Job. It says, you cannot enter into covenant with Leviathan.

01:05:17.600 --> 01:05:25.600
He's too hard-scaled. His pride disallows you to even play with him. You cannot enter into covenant or partnership with him.

01:05:25.600 --> 01:05:35.600
When this is my attitude, you can try all you want but you will not be able to form a covenant with me because of my pride.

01:05:35.600 --> 01:05:44.600
This spirit, and if I am under the influence of the spirit, this spirit twists the truth.

01:05:44.600 --> 01:05:54.600
Actually, the word Leviathan in a sense is twister. This spirit twists the truth.

01:05:54.600 --> 01:06:04.600
And so those under the influence of the spirit, when they hear the truth, it will still come out twisted.

01:06:04.600 --> 01:06:12.600
The spirit twists the truth. Those under its influence hear things in a twisted way.

01:06:12.600 --> 01:06:19.600
And so it becomes a difficult spirit to deal with because even when you say something, it's heard in a twisted way.

01:06:19.600 --> 01:06:24.600
And therefore when it is spoken, it comes out twisted and creates confusion.

01:06:24.600 --> 01:06:36.600
Another thing that happens when this spirit is active is I become someone whose words become negative, whose words become destructive, and I have the effect of pulling down people.

01:06:36.600 --> 01:06:42.600
There's this mocking that comes up in my way and so I attack people with mockery.

01:06:42.600 --> 01:06:49.600
That's another thing that caught my attention that Jacob was a very good person.

01:06:50.600 --> 01:07:02.600
That's another thing that caught my attention that Jacob, when you talk, it's one thing to have a smart retort but refuse to mock people, which I have done.

01:07:02.600 --> 01:07:10.600
Which I have done. That's another thing I want to cease from, refusing mockery as a means of pulling people down.

01:07:10.600 --> 01:07:16.600
Where are you getting all this from, Jacob? Let's turn to Job 41.

01:07:19.600 --> 01:07:26.600
Here, I didn't even see them leave.

01:07:37.600 --> 01:07:40.600
All of Job 41 talks about it.

01:07:40.600 --> 01:07:45.600
Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook?

01:07:45.600 --> 01:07:48.600
The first part talks about how it's hard to tame it.

01:07:48.600 --> 01:07:55.600
Verse 4, will he make a covenant with you? Will you play with him as a bird?

01:07:55.600 --> 01:08:00.600
The whole thing is about Leviathan.

01:08:00.600 --> 01:08:05.600
Verse 24, his heart is as hard as stone.

01:08:11.600 --> 01:08:17.600
Verse 34, he sees everything that is high. He's the king over all the sons of pride.

01:08:17.600 --> 01:08:28.600
What that means, guys, he sees everything that is high, is this spirit looks for people who have a lofty, elevated, exaggerated sense about themselves.

01:08:28.600 --> 01:08:32.600
He sees all those that are high.

01:08:32.600 --> 01:08:37.600
As in, this is a spirit that looks for those that walk proudly.

01:08:37.600 --> 01:08:47.600
And pride will always go hand in hand with independence, inability to be corrected, refusal to submit.

01:08:47.600 --> 01:08:52.600
It's a twister. It twists the truth and it creates confusion.

01:08:52.600 --> 01:09:00.600
It uses mockery and it uses destructive, that's from Isaiah 27, destructive ways to convey things.

01:09:01.600 --> 01:09:07.600
Resists submission to spiritual authority.

01:09:07.600 --> 01:09:14.600
And tries to undermine fathers like Absalom did.

01:09:14.600 --> 01:09:18.600
Here's what Absalom did.

01:09:18.600 --> 01:09:25.600
David would be waiting and giving justice and giving things to people.

01:09:25.600 --> 01:09:29.600
Absalom would wait and see as people came out and then Absalom would ask them,

01:09:29.600 --> 01:09:32.600
So, what did David do for you?

01:09:32.600 --> 01:09:37.600
And then Ryan would say, Oh, David gave me two sacks of rice and three burgers.

01:09:37.600 --> 01:09:44.600
And so Absalom would say, Well, if you had come to me, Alec, when you have four sacks of rice and six burgers, that's okay.

01:09:47.600 --> 01:09:55.600
It's breaking away from the doctrine and the covering of the father and offering things on the side that you have not gained the right to offer.

01:09:55.600 --> 01:09:58.600
It is a drawing away of people.

01:09:58.600 --> 01:10:02.600
What ends up happening is we end up being people with damaged testicles.

01:10:02.600 --> 01:10:05.600
I'm glad the guests left.

01:10:05.600 --> 01:10:08.600
That's in Leviticus 21.

01:10:08.600 --> 01:10:11.600
That a priest who has damaged testicles cannot serve.

01:10:11.600 --> 01:10:15.600
And what do I mean when I say someone with damaged testicles?

01:10:15.600 --> 01:10:17.600
And it applies to women too.

01:10:17.600 --> 01:10:25.600
What it means is that we can be loyal husbands, but we cannot be ones who have the ability to produce life in others.

01:10:25.600 --> 01:10:33.600
So you will have a church full of people who are loyal in serving each other, but have no ability to produce life in the other,

01:10:33.600 --> 01:10:37.600
because only one who is potent can produce children.

01:10:37.600 --> 01:10:40.600
One who is important cannot.

01:10:40.600 --> 01:10:44.600
This is a strong spirit.

01:10:44.600 --> 01:10:48.600
And I'm saying to you that these three spirits are at work in Acts 29.

01:10:48.600 --> 01:10:53.600
And the reason I have been teaching this today is to expose it.

01:10:53.600 --> 01:11:12.600
And as I have repented of some things, some of us need to repent depending on which is active in our lives so that we don't continue in it.

01:11:12.600 --> 01:11:16.600
So here's what I want us to think of doing.

01:11:16.600 --> 01:11:20.600
And here's what I've written for myself and for us as a corporate body.

01:11:20.600 --> 01:11:24.600
I've written, Lord, I ask you, and I'll read it again.

01:11:24.600 --> 01:11:40.600
I ask you to remove from my life any influence of the spirit of Leviathan who looks for people who are proud.

01:11:40.600 --> 01:11:42.600
And who is king over them.

01:11:42.600 --> 01:11:49.600
Some of us inadvertently, some of us serve it on a regular basis because we choose not to change our ways.

01:11:49.600 --> 01:11:54.600
And then I'm saying I reject this spirit completely and wholeheartedly, O God.

01:11:54.600 --> 01:12:02.600
Then I'm saying forgive me of any ways that I have served the spirit, either intentionally or inadvertently.

01:12:02.600 --> 01:12:06.600
Then I'm saying forgive me for ways in which I've twisted the truth, Abba,

01:12:06.600 --> 01:12:12.600
where I've listened to the distortion of the truth and I've distorted the truth.

01:12:12.600 --> 01:12:19.600
Then I'm saying, Father, I want to work towards bringing unity, not division, not confusion into the church.

01:12:19.600 --> 01:12:25.600
And that I'll honor other members that you have placed in authority and under authority.

01:12:25.600 --> 01:12:30.600
And then I'll quote from Isaiah 27 where it says, O God, unsheathe your sword,

01:12:30.600 --> 01:12:38.600
your merciless, massive, mighty sword, your word, and lop off the head of the Leviathan and serve him up as a stew for animals.

01:12:38.600 --> 01:12:41.600
That's what it says.

01:12:41.600 --> 01:12:46.600
So that's what we pray.

01:12:46.600 --> 01:12:51.600
So Father, again on my behalf, on behalf of people here and as a corporate body,

01:12:51.600 --> 01:13:04.600
we come and say, O God, I ask you to remove from my life the influence from the spirit of Leviathan.

01:13:04.600 --> 01:13:11.600
I reject the spirit and the pride that I may and have operated in.

01:13:11.600 --> 01:13:17.600
I reject it wholeheartedly and completely, O God.

01:13:17.600 --> 01:13:28.600
Forgive me, Father, for the ways that I have served the spirit intentionally and inadvertently.

01:13:28.600 --> 01:13:35.600
Forgive me for the ways that I may have, that not I may have, that I have at times twisted the truth.

01:13:35.600 --> 01:13:40.600
Forgive me for the ways that I have distorted what I have heard.

01:13:40.600 --> 01:13:50.600
Forgive me for confusion that I have sown in my pride and in my attitude.

01:13:50.600 --> 01:14:01.600
I devote myself today by your sheer power to, Father, bring unity into this body and not division and confusion.

01:14:01.600 --> 01:14:12.600
And I choose to honor members of this body, be they over me in authority or under me in authority, in spiritual authority.

01:14:12.600 --> 01:14:17.600
And so I ask, O God, God, please listen to this one, Father, and the other one too.

01:14:17.600 --> 01:14:27.600
But, O God, unsheathe. Unsheathe your sword, your merciless, massive, mighty sword. Unsheathe it.

01:14:27.600 --> 01:14:35.600
Even as we speak your word, which is the sword of God, unsheathe it, O God, and lop off the head of Leviathan from this church.

01:14:35.600 --> 01:14:40.600
Lop it off, Abba, and serve it as a stew for animals.

01:14:40.600 --> 01:14:45.600
Do that, Abba. Do that, Father, so that we as a people can walk free.

01:14:45.600 --> 01:14:50.600
This is what we ask for, Father, in Jesus' name.

01:14:50.600 --> 01:14:55.600
Questions, comments, challenges, additions, subtractions?