WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Prevailing Church : Overcomers (April 1) Publishing Date: 2018-04-01T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/prevailing-church-overcomers-april-1/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.120 We've been talking about the prevailing church and that God wants to build a prevailing church 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:06.120 on earth. 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:10.160 And we've been talking about that for the last, I think, four months. 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:17.920 And so today we talk about how if God wants to build a prevailing church, God wants to 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:22.240 build a people who have the capacity to overcome. 00:00:22.240 --> 00:00:26.080 That overcoming is an essential part of being a prevailing church. 00:00:26.080 --> 00:00:32.080 To go back just one or two steps, why do we say God wants to build a prevailing church? 00:00:32.080 --> 00:00:40.080 Because it says in Matthew 16 that I will build my church and the gates of hell shall 00:00:40.080 --> 00:00:42.840 not prevail against this church. 00:00:42.840 --> 00:00:48.320 And then we talked about how prevailing means that there needs to be contention. 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:49.800 There needs to be engagement. 00:00:49.800 --> 00:00:51.500 There needs to be contention. 00:00:51.500 --> 00:00:53.480 There needs to be overcoming. 00:00:53.480 --> 00:01:00.160 A church that does not engage with the world and with the enemy does not need to contend. 00:01:00.160 --> 00:01:03.200 And a church that does not contend will never overcome. 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:09.000 The very nature of the church is that of engaging, of contending, and of overcoming. 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:14.840 And today we just begin talking about what it means to overcome. 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:19.960 So if we are building, the thing is, guys, we're not trying to build something that is 00:01:19.960 --> 00:01:20.960 not biblical. 00:01:20.960 --> 00:01:22.760 This is God's desire. 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:26.040 God desires to build a prevailing church. 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:27.520 It is his desire. 00:01:27.520 --> 00:01:28.520 It is not yours. 00:01:28.520 --> 00:01:29.520 It's not mine. 00:01:29.520 --> 00:01:30.960 We're not trying to build an empire. 00:01:30.960 --> 00:01:32.780 We're not trying to build something strong. 00:01:32.780 --> 00:01:35.520 We're just building his desire. 00:01:35.520 --> 00:01:38.440 And his desire must prosper amongst us. 00:01:38.440 --> 00:01:42.560 And his desire is, can I build a church that engages, contends, and overcomes? 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:44.600 And what does he mean when he says church? 00:01:44.600 --> 00:01:45.800 He means us. 00:01:45.800 --> 00:01:48.060 So here's the whole thing rephrased. 00:01:48.060 --> 00:01:49.960 Can I build you up? 00:01:49.960 --> 00:01:52.340 Asks Jesus, the head of the church. 00:01:52.340 --> 00:02:04.020 Can I build you up to become a people that engage, that contend, and that overcome? 00:02:04.020 --> 00:02:05.980 He's not asking that I build a few leaders. 00:02:05.980 --> 00:02:08.180 He's asking that I build an entire people. 00:02:08.180 --> 00:02:10.740 You, me, us. 00:02:10.740 --> 00:02:14.020 It's his desire. 00:02:14.020 --> 00:02:16.700 And so what should be my response, your response? 00:02:16.700 --> 00:02:19.980 We should be jostling, jockeying for position literally. 00:02:20.020 --> 00:02:25.580 Jostling, shoving each other out of the way in a nice kind manner like Canadians do. 00:02:25.580 --> 00:02:29.300 Jostling to present ourselves as living stones to him. 00:02:29.300 --> 00:02:31.020 As in me, me, me, me, me, me, me. 00:02:31.020 --> 00:02:34.920 This is the one place where you get so selfish that you try to push yourself to the front 00:02:34.920 --> 00:02:36.980 of the line saying, I'm a living stone. 00:02:36.980 --> 00:02:37.980 Put me in place. 00:02:37.980 --> 00:02:42.020 Make me part of this prevailing church you're building because at the end of the day, you're 00:02:42.020 --> 00:02:47.740 a living stone and you are just desperate to be built into this thing called the prevailing 00:02:47.740 --> 00:02:48.740 church. 00:02:50.940 --> 00:02:52.620 Any questions on that? 00:02:52.620 --> 00:02:54.500 There should be an eagerness, guys. 00:02:54.500 --> 00:02:57.900 This is not something that happens to a passive people. 00:03:04.140 --> 00:03:05.380 It's his heart's pleasure. 00:03:05.380 --> 00:03:06.380 This is what he wants. 00:03:06.380 --> 00:03:08.660 We cannot be passive about this. 00:03:11.660 --> 00:03:17.380 And it's an active 24-7, every day of the week attitude that, oh God, will you build 00:03:17.380 --> 00:03:24.820 us into a people that are continuously asking to be engaged in the lives of others in the 00:03:24.820 --> 00:03:28.500 world against opposition. 00:03:28.500 --> 00:03:34.540 The easiest thing to do is come to church on Sunday and pretend that it is church. 00:03:34.540 --> 00:03:38.580 But it's not. 00:03:38.580 --> 00:03:42.460 I mean, we know that. 00:03:42.460 --> 00:03:43.460 So ask for it. 00:03:43.460 --> 00:03:45.820 It must be an active asking. 00:03:45.820 --> 00:03:46.820 It must be a hungering. 00:03:47.260 --> 00:03:51.700 It must be a hunger that is beyond your hunger for your family, your children, your wife, 00:03:51.700 --> 00:03:52.700 your work. 00:03:52.700 --> 00:04:01.580 It actually doesn't compare. 00:04:01.580 --> 00:04:05.820 Your silence just means that you fully agree, right? 00:04:05.820 --> 00:04:06.940 Good. 00:04:06.940 --> 00:04:15.780 So no, I'm realizing that your silence speaks volumes and I'm very happy when I know you 00:04:15.780 --> 00:04:18.980 agree, even if you don't say anything. 00:04:18.980 --> 00:04:23.060 A prevailing church takes on the nature of its head, the Christ. 00:04:23.060 --> 00:04:25.460 That's the beauty of it. 00:04:25.460 --> 00:04:27.220 Who is the church to look like? 00:04:27.220 --> 00:04:29.260 Who should it take after? 00:04:29.260 --> 00:04:33.980 It should take after the head. 00:04:33.980 --> 00:04:36.860 What is the nature of Christ, the head of the church? 00:04:36.860 --> 00:04:38.420 He was someone who contended. 00:04:38.420 --> 00:04:41.140 Oh boy, did he contend. 00:04:41.140 --> 00:04:42.740 Did he contend? 00:04:42.740 --> 00:04:43.740 Of course he did. 00:04:43.740 --> 00:04:46.820 He contended with everything that needed to be contended. 00:04:46.820 --> 00:04:52.500 He did not back down, nor did he jump into a fight that was not his. 00:04:52.500 --> 00:04:54.500 He contended. 00:04:54.500 --> 00:04:59.380 And if you don't contend, you never learn endurance. 00:04:59.380 --> 00:05:02.180 How can you learn endurance without contending? 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:11.420 Hey, by the way, never get into arm wrestling with Renny. 00:05:11.420 --> 00:05:13.700 Just a quick word of advice. 00:05:13.700 --> 00:05:17.320 Derek did and he lost bad. 00:05:17.320 --> 00:05:20.220 I had much more wisdom. 00:05:20.220 --> 00:05:25.460 So you cannot endure until you contend. 00:05:25.460 --> 00:05:30.960 It's when you contend that endurance kicks in. 00:05:30.960 --> 00:05:35.700 Anything that is forged by God upon his anvil. 00:05:35.700 --> 00:05:41.340 Prashanth, you've just been promoted to fourth associate pastor. 00:05:42.260 --> 00:05:43.260 Yeah. 00:05:43.260 --> 00:05:44.260 Thanks, man. 00:05:44.260 --> 00:05:48.260 Where did these come from? 00:05:48.260 --> 00:05:49.260 Pardon? 00:05:49.260 --> 00:05:52.260 I doubt it. 00:05:52.260 --> 00:05:57.540 I'm making the second associate pastor then. 00:05:57.540 --> 00:06:04.420 So guys, if you don't contend, you cannot endure. 00:06:04.420 --> 00:06:07.540 If you don't engage, you cannot contend. 00:06:07.540 --> 00:06:10.540 If you don't contend, there is no need to endure. 00:06:10.740 --> 00:06:18.100 My God, we are forged on the anvil of contention against things that may come our way, but 00:06:18.100 --> 00:06:20.380 that is where we learn to endure. 00:06:20.380 --> 00:06:26.380 And the scriptures are full of this progression. 00:06:26.380 --> 00:06:31.620 I'm not asking God to send us trouble, but I'm asking God to invite us into places where 00:06:31.620 --> 00:06:39.100 we have to contend, where backbone has to be shown. 00:06:39.140 --> 00:06:41.660 When you endure, then you overcome. 00:06:41.660 --> 00:06:43.740 It's when you endure that you overcome. 00:06:43.740 --> 00:06:48.620 There is no overcoming without enduring. 00:06:48.620 --> 00:06:53.360 If Christ didn't contend with the Pharisees and legalism that was prevalent in Israel, 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:56.060 he would never have had to endure the cross. 00:06:56.060 --> 00:07:00.940 And if he did not endure the cross, he would not have to overcome sin, death and Satan. 00:07:00.940 --> 00:07:07.660 He could have gone back to heaven and been Lord, but he would never be savior. 00:07:08.660 --> 00:07:11.420 He would be Christ the Son. 00:07:11.420 --> 00:07:13.260 Just think of this for a moment. 00:07:13.260 --> 00:07:18.060 He would be the sovereign head of the universe, Christ the Son of the living God, equal with 00:07:18.060 --> 00:07:21.340 God, but he would not be Lord and he would not be savior. 00:07:21.340 --> 00:07:25.400 For because he made himself obedient unto death, therefore God has exalted him and given 00:07:25.400 --> 00:07:31.660 him a name that is above every name, and he is savior too. 00:07:37.820 --> 00:07:40.300 So prevailing church just takes on the nature of its head. 00:07:40.300 --> 00:07:43.300 We're not being asked too much. 00:07:43.300 --> 00:07:46.860 We are being asked to be like the head. 00:07:46.860 --> 00:07:48.860 Otherwise, a headless body is useless. 00:07:48.860 --> 00:07:55.460 It usually runs around for a while and then falls dead. 00:07:55.460 --> 00:08:00.780 I mean, my dad used to slaughter, instead of going to the market and buying it, he would 00:08:00.780 --> 00:08:03.900 sometimes slaughter chicken. 00:08:03.900 --> 00:08:05.620 You should see a headless chicken. 00:08:05.700 --> 00:08:11.980 It is the funniest, saddest sight in the world because it's running around like a normal 00:08:11.980 --> 00:08:17.540 chicken and you're laughing your head off, not realizing that its head is off and it's 00:08:17.540 --> 00:08:22.540 running around and it's an odd thing, man. 00:08:22.540 --> 00:08:27.420 It is a grotesque, funny, sad thing. 00:08:27.420 --> 00:08:38.020 And so Jesus contends, Jesus endures, Jesus overcomes. 00:08:38.020 --> 00:08:44.540 He overcomes sin, he overcomes Satan, he overcomes death by living, dying and rising again. 00:08:44.540 --> 00:08:46.780 And that is the nature of the church he wants to build. 00:08:46.780 --> 00:08:49.620 And if that is not where we are going, we might as well pack up and go home. 00:08:49.620 --> 00:08:54.620 There are really nice churches around that do much better music, much better worship. 00:08:54.700 --> 00:08:57.820 I don't know about the teaching, but those two things surely do well. 00:08:57.820 --> 00:09:00.420 Sorry, they do much better teaching too, I'm just kidding. 00:09:00.420 --> 00:09:02.540 The point is this, guys. 00:09:02.540 --> 00:09:12.060 Overcomer implies, the moment you use the word overcomer, it implies battle. 00:09:12.060 --> 00:09:15.520 It implies engaging in the battle. 00:09:15.520 --> 00:09:19.700 It implies contending, it implies enduring, it implies overcoming. 00:09:19.700 --> 00:09:24.460 This is what, I pray God, happens to Acts 29. 00:09:24.460 --> 00:09:26.860 I'm not wishing it, I'm praying it. 00:09:26.860 --> 00:09:34.020 I'm praying it that, oh God, make us a prevailing church by bringing us into this. 00:09:34.020 --> 00:09:40.060 Not from the devil, but from the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the Holy Spirit was led into 00:09:40.060 --> 00:09:44.540 the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, led by the Holy Spirit. 00:09:44.540 --> 00:09:46.540 I pray this for us. 00:09:46.540 --> 00:09:51.860 And I pray God that when it happens, one thing that will not happen is strife, contention 00:09:52.060 --> 00:09:53.060 between us. 00:10:05.540 --> 00:10:11.780 We must raise disciples that are overcomers, because it's that kind of disciple that fulfills 00:10:11.780 --> 00:10:13.460 the mission that Christ has for us. 00:10:13.460 --> 00:10:15.140 And what is Christ's mission for us? 00:10:15.140 --> 00:10:16.940 What's the mission of the church? 00:10:17.020 --> 00:10:22.820 Just remind me guys, because we reminded ourselves that most churches forget their mission once 00:10:22.820 --> 00:10:24.260 every three weeks. 00:10:24.260 --> 00:10:25.940 So what's the mission of the church? 00:10:30.380 --> 00:10:34.860 I mean, you don't have to fall for the three week thing, you know. 00:10:34.860 --> 00:10:36.180 What's the mission of the church? 00:10:40.420 --> 00:10:41.420 Oh, come on. 00:10:44.100 --> 00:10:45.100 Okay. 00:10:45.980 --> 00:10:48.180 Make disciples. 00:10:48.180 --> 00:10:50.180 Make disciples of all nations. 00:10:50.180 --> 00:10:55.940 We have been set aside by Christ to assist him in setting others aside. 00:10:55.940 --> 00:11:01.300 Guys, we've got to learn this so well that there should be no hesitation. 00:11:01.300 --> 00:11:03.260 The mission of the church is very simple. 00:11:03.260 --> 00:11:08.580 I have been set aside by Christ to assist him in setting others aside. 00:11:08.580 --> 00:11:09.580 Do not forget this. 00:11:09.580 --> 00:11:11.140 There is no other mission. 00:11:11.140 --> 00:11:12.860 Everything else is gravy. 00:11:12.860 --> 00:11:14.220 This is the centerpiece. 00:11:14.220 --> 00:11:19.700 I have been, we have been set aside by Jesus Christ. 00:11:19.700 --> 00:11:25.260 We have been set apart by Jesus Christ to assist him in setting others apart. 00:11:25.260 --> 00:11:26.660 And how do we do this? 00:11:26.660 --> 00:11:32.020 We do this through making disciples of all nations. 00:11:32.020 --> 00:11:34.700 How do we go about making disciples of all nations? 00:11:34.700 --> 00:11:42.660 By proclaiming the gospel, by demonstrating it, by going into places, penetrating places 00:11:42.700 --> 00:11:47.380 that people haven't gone to, and by causing the gospel to progress. 00:11:47.380 --> 00:11:49.540 Proclamation, penetration, progression. 00:11:49.540 --> 00:11:50.540 We talked about this. 00:11:53.740 --> 00:12:01.180 And in the process, once we make disciples, we build credible communities of Christ. 00:12:01.180 --> 00:12:03.460 It's so worth going over it again. 00:12:03.460 --> 00:12:04.860 What is the mission of the church? 00:12:04.860 --> 00:12:07.340 The church keeps forgetting once every three weeks. 00:12:07.340 --> 00:12:10.820 In our case, from now on, it will be once every five weeks. 00:12:10.820 --> 00:12:11.820 What is the mission of the church? 00:12:11.860 --> 00:12:18.820 The mission of the church is to make disciples of all nations. 00:12:18.820 --> 00:12:20.380 How do we go about this? 00:12:20.380 --> 00:12:26.500 We go about this through the proclamation of the gospel, through the penetration of the 00:12:26.500 --> 00:12:30.180 gospel, because we don't want to take it to the same places where people have given their 00:12:30.180 --> 00:12:33.100 lives to the Lord 14 times in the last three months. 00:12:33.100 --> 00:12:39.080 And the progression of the gospel, where the gospel progresses, affecting lives. 00:12:39.080 --> 00:12:47.280 In the process, we now have disciples that need to be raised in this thing called the 00:12:47.280 --> 00:12:48.280 church. 00:12:48.280 --> 00:12:52.020 So we call it credible communities of Christ. 00:12:52.020 --> 00:12:55.720 Credible communities of Christ. 00:12:55.720 --> 00:13:00.120 Not communities that just gather around and don't live the way Christ wants, but credible 00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:01.800 communities of Christ. 00:13:01.800 --> 00:13:03.720 This is the mission of the church. 00:13:03.760 --> 00:13:05.360 The church forgets its mission. 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:06.660 It forgets. 00:13:06.660 --> 00:13:11.800 It does not have a reason to continue. 00:13:11.800 --> 00:13:13.300 This is why we have house churches. 00:13:13.300 --> 00:13:15.320 This is why we have outposts. 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:16.380 Don't forget this, guys. 00:13:16.380 --> 00:13:19.040 You must learn this by heart. 00:13:19.040 --> 00:13:21.440 Even if you don't understand it, learn it by heart. 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:30.220 The understanding will come later. 00:13:30.220 --> 00:13:44.900 And it'll come out of you anyways. 00:13:44.900 --> 00:13:50.220 You know where contention and battle and engagement come in? 00:13:50.220 --> 00:13:51.740 Here. 00:13:51.740 --> 00:13:56.180 This is why the western church loves making disciples. 00:13:56.180 --> 00:14:03.500 After every Indian, African, Asian, Mongolian, Czechoslovakian and North Korean has spilled 00:14:03.500 --> 00:14:10.120 their blood, now come Jacob and his team from Acts 29 to make disciples after they have 00:14:10.120 --> 00:14:11.120 spilled the blood. 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:14.380 Now we go make disciples, teach them discipleship courses. 00:14:14.380 --> 00:14:15.940 That is the easy part. 00:14:15.940 --> 00:14:21.500 Making disciples by doing courses in foreign nations is easy. 00:14:21.500 --> 00:14:27.100 The hard part where the battle, the contention, the engagement and the overcoming, that happens 00:14:27.100 --> 00:14:30.540 here. 00:14:30.540 --> 00:14:34.900 That is the hard part. 00:14:34.900 --> 00:14:37.340 This is where you will be opposed. 00:14:37.340 --> 00:14:48.380 And as long as we can avoid this, we are good. 00:14:48.380 --> 00:14:53.880 Avoid proclamation, avoid penetration, avoid the progression of the gospel and you will 00:14:53.880 --> 00:14:56.460 be fine. 00:14:56.460 --> 00:15:01.060 You will go to heaven unscathed. 00:15:01.060 --> 00:15:06.180 That's a good deal. 00:15:06.180 --> 00:15:12.260 Any questions, thoughts, comments, disagreements? 00:15:12.260 --> 00:15:22.220 The reason we need to learn this is if we don't learn this, we won't remind ourselves. 00:15:22.220 --> 00:15:26.460 If we don't remind ourselves, we can continue living the Christian life that we presently 00:15:26.460 --> 00:15:27.460 live. 00:15:27.460 --> 00:15:33.460 And we won't even realize that Cinderella's shoe is missing because she doesn't even remember 00:15:33.460 --> 00:15:35.060 that she wore shoes. 00:15:35.060 --> 00:15:38.100 And we continue in amnesia. 00:15:38.100 --> 00:15:42.540 When Prince Charming arrives with the shoe, you sell it in the market because it doesn't 00:15:42.540 --> 00:15:43.540 belong to you anymore. 00:15:43.540 --> 00:15:47.220 You have forgotten. 00:15:47.220 --> 00:15:53.460 Any questions? 00:15:53.460 --> 00:15:55.180 So what are we overcoming? 00:15:55.180 --> 00:16:07.300 If we are supposed to be overcomers, what are we overcoming? 00:16:07.300 --> 00:16:10.460 Here are the things that we are overcoming. 00:16:10.460 --> 00:16:12.180 What do overcomers overcome? 00:16:12.180 --> 00:16:16.940 We overcome the seduction of the world. 00:16:16.940 --> 00:16:18.800 Powerful stuff does it say. 00:16:18.800 --> 00:16:20.340 Seduction of the world. 00:16:20.340 --> 00:16:29.220 We overcome the opposition of the world, of the world or the enemy. 00:16:29.220 --> 00:16:30.660 Both. 00:16:30.660 --> 00:16:36.340 We overcome persecution, which only happens if you engage and contend. 00:16:36.420 --> 00:16:42.860 We overcome the culture of the world. 00:16:42.860 --> 00:16:46.220 These are the four things that overcomers overcome. 00:16:46.220 --> 00:16:48.280 And we are all exposed to it. 00:16:48.280 --> 00:16:52.300 It is a subtle inroad that these things make. 00:16:52.300 --> 00:16:53.620 What do overcomers overcome? 00:16:53.620 --> 00:16:58.500 They overcome the seduction of the world, the opposition of the world, which is spiritual, 00:16:58.500 --> 00:17:01.220 the persecution of the world, which is physical. 00:17:01.220 --> 00:17:05.020 And then finally, what you overcome is the culture of the world. 00:17:05.020 --> 00:17:06.020 Why? 00:17:06.180 --> 00:17:09.700 Because the world, it says in Ephesians 2,2, is presently under the sway of the prince 00:17:09.700 --> 00:17:11.020 of the power of the air. 00:17:11.020 --> 00:17:13.420 And so these are the things offered to you. 00:17:13.420 --> 00:17:15.580 So what does seduction look like? 00:17:15.580 --> 00:17:32.900 Seduction looks like variations of mammon, hubris, cronos, pathos and a fifth one. 00:17:32.900 --> 00:17:36.980 Money, pride, time, passion. 00:17:36.980 --> 00:17:40.100 These are the things that the world will seduce us with. 00:17:40.100 --> 00:17:48.900 Pathos, though it means passion, is more, carries a sense of a lust after fulfilling 00:17:48.900 --> 00:17:51.660 a feeling or a desire you have. 00:17:51.660 --> 00:17:52.940 These are the seductions of the world. 00:17:52.940 --> 00:17:58.540 They are offered at every level, from grade one to the CEO of the biggest companies in 00:17:58.540 --> 00:18:01.760 the world are offered variations of this. 00:18:01.760 --> 00:18:08.560 This is, guys, the strange thing is, this is what was offered to Jesus in the wilderness. 00:18:08.560 --> 00:18:20.960 If you bow down to me, I will give you all this. 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:22.720 The seduction of the world. 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:24.120 Opposition is from the enemy. 00:18:24.120 --> 00:18:30.560 And the enemy does not oppose till you engage in three things, proclamation, which is both 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:34.840 the profession and the demonstration of the gospel, penetration, which is to take the 00:18:34.840 --> 00:18:41.680 gospel into places where it is not making much of an inroad and progression, where after 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:47.820 the gospel is proclaimed, you do something with your story that has been affected by 00:18:47.820 --> 00:18:49.200 Christ's story. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:51.760 You use your story to influence. 00:18:51.760 --> 00:18:52.920 Now it begins to progress. 00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:57.080 The gospel begins to progress because it is the only thing that changes people. 00:18:57.120 --> 00:19:02.280 There is nothing else in the face of the world that can change a man than the power that 00:19:02.280 --> 00:19:09.440 is present in the story of Jesus Christ, of which you have a part. 00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:10.440 It's odd, eh? 00:19:10.440 --> 00:19:14.720 My story is such an important part of Jesus's story. 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:22.740 It just stuns me that my story is such an important part of Jesus's story. 00:19:22.740 --> 00:19:27.580 Because he is the author, the chapter he has written into my life now becomes the chapter 00:19:27.580 --> 00:19:31.100 through which he displays himself. 00:19:31.100 --> 00:19:36.220 And the more I'm yielded to him, the more I'm available to him, the more he writes into 00:19:36.220 --> 00:19:42.540 that chapter and it begins to tell of who he is through my life. 00:19:42.540 --> 00:19:51.540 It's marvelous what God has done, including me in his metastory. 00:19:51.540 --> 00:19:55.100 So when you are going through tough times, who has the final word? 00:19:55.100 --> 00:19:56.100 He. 00:19:56.100 --> 00:19:57.100 Why? 00:19:57.100 --> 00:20:00.380 Because like Reni was saying, he's the author and the finisher of your story. 00:20:00.380 --> 00:20:01.620 Endure! 00:20:01.620 --> 00:20:04.420 Because there is good that is going to come out of this. 00:20:04.420 --> 00:20:05.420 Not to you. 00:20:05.420 --> 00:20:09.180 The good that happens to you is a testimony that you share in church. 00:20:09.180 --> 00:20:13.540 But the good that happens to the ones that are watching and waiting just creates ripple 00:20:13.540 --> 00:20:18.420 effect after ripple effect where it just spreads. 00:20:18.420 --> 00:20:21.060 Who cares about you? 00:20:21.060 --> 00:20:22.260 I do. 00:20:22.260 --> 00:20:30.460 But it's really not about you. 00:20:30.460 --> 00:20:37.940 It's really not about you. 00:20:37.940 --> 00:20:43.020 Persecution comes when spiritual opposition turns into physical resistance or physical 00:20:43.020 --> 00:20:44.860 aggression. 00:20:44.860 --> 00:20:45.860 That is when persecution comes. 00:20:45.860 --> 00:20:48.300 So that's a physical element of opposition. 00:20:48.300 --> 00:20:50.020 We have not faced it. 00:20:50.180 --> 00:20:52.460 I'm not asking for it either. 00:20:52.460 --> 00:20:58.740 But spiritual opposition will come the moment you begin proclaiming, penetrating and progressing 00:20:58.740 --> 00:21:00.340 the gospel into the world. 00:21:00.340 --> 00:21:05.100 And then that is usually followed by physical opposition, which takes the form of persecution. 00:21:05.100 --> 00:21:10.060 And finally, there is that word culture, which is the collective thinking of a people. 00:21:10.060 --> 00:21:12.460 Culture is the collective thinking of a people. 00:21:12.460 --> 00:21:17.860 And if there is one thing that Satan and the world fight for, it is can I influence the 00:21:17.900 --> 00:21:21.060 collective thinking of the church at large? 00:21:21.060 --> 00:21:25.940 Can I influence the collective thinking of all the kids in Finn's class? 00:21:25.940 --> 00:21:30.980 Can I influence the collective thinking of young adults in churches? 00:21:30.980 --> 00:21:33.940 Because there is a certain way each group behaves. 00:21:33.940 --> 00:21:35.540 Can I influence that? 00:21:35.540 --> 00:21:46.140 And the way it influences that is through edutainment. 00:21:46.140 --> 00:21:52.740 And the only opposition to this culture comes in places like this, through the teachings 00:21:52.740 --> 00:21:54.020 of Christ. 00:21:54.020 --> 00:21:56.700 Why did Paul write the letters? 00:21:56.700 --> 00:22:02.260 If you look at the letters really to the churches, usually the last two chapters of every letter 00:22:02.260 --> 00:22:06.100 is dedicated to the changing of thinking. 00:22:06.100 --> 00:22:10.220 That you live in the midst of Rome where Caesar is worshipped. 00:22:10.220 --> 00:22:14.080 You live in the midst of Rome where pagan deities exist. 00:22:14.080 --> 00:22:19.160 You live in the midst of Corinth where you cannot trade if you do not belong to a guild 00:22:19.160 --> 00:22:21.680 that declares Caesar as Lord. 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:29.320 Now then, since you live in this pagan atmosphere, let me tell you what it is to be a counterculture 00:22:29.320 --> 00:22:30.760 in the world. 00:22:30.760 --> 00:22:34.560 And then Paul begins to say, this is how you need to behave. 00:22:34.560 --> 00:22:39.600 At the end of the day, be Jesus's beatitudes or Paul's epistles, they point towards one 00:22:39.600 --> 00:22:40.600 thing. 00:22:40.600 --> 00:22:42.520 There is a way that people of the kingdom live. 00:22:42.520 --> 00:22:47.120 And there is a culture that belongs to the people who declare Christ as king. 00:22:47.120 --> 00:22:49.900 Will you now behave like that or not? 00:22:49.900 --> 00:22:54.360 And that is what we are taught in places like this. 00:22:54.360 --> 00:22:59.460 This is what Sunday church is about. 00:22:59.460 --> 00:23:03.900 Sunday we come and chisel away so that our sculptures don't look like the sculptures 00:23:03.900 --> 00:23:08.120 of the world, but they have a certain way. 00:23:08.120 --> 00:23:10.800 That is what happens on Sundays. 00:23:10.840 --> 00:23:14.280 That is the only thing that we are meeting together for. 00:23:14.280 --> 00:23:19.600 Everything else we can do without a building like this, without a pastor, but with leaders. 00:23:19.600 --> 00:23:20.600 Yes. 00:23:20.600 --> 00:23:27.200 It's not the only thing. 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:31.920 It's one of the main things. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:33.680 These are the four things we are supposed to overcome. 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:34.680 Any questions guys? 00:23:34.680 --> 00:23:35.680 Thoughts, questions? 00:23:36.560 --> 00:23:41.720 I mean I sometimes listen to bits of my teaching later on in the week. 00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:44.200 I think to myself, man you shout so much. 00:23:44.200 --> 00:23:50.360 But guys please understand, I am not shouting because of any other reason, but because these 00:23:50.360 --> 00:23:52.160 things need to be shouted out man. 00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:55.680 They are so powerful, so potent. 00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:57.120 How can you say this in a whisper? 00:23:57.120 --> 00:24:02.120 You know, there is a culture that we need to cultivate called the kingdom culture. 00:24:02.560 --> 00:24:06.560 It doesn't carry the same thing man. 00:24:06.560 --> 00:24:07.560 Questions? 00:24:12.560 --> 00:24:13.560 Pride? 00:24:13.560 --> 00:24:14.560 The pride of life? 00:24:14.560 --> 00:24:16.560 They are the fifth one. 00:24:16.560 --> 00:24:23.160 I keep forgetting the fifth one. 00:24:23.160 --> 00:24:26.160 Mammon is variations of security and money. 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:29.560 Hubris is pride where the pride of life takes over. 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:35.000 Chronos is time where if mammon doesn't get you, time will try to rob you. 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:40.960 Blind because you have just figured out that oh I am not very interested in money and I 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:45.360 walk humbly, but I am going to dedicate all my time to this particular pursuit or this 00:24:45.360 --> 00:24:50.960 particular business and you just lose the one critical thing that God has given you 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:51.960 to use well. 00:24:51.960 --> 00:24:52.960 Time. 00:24:53.360 --> 00:25:00.360 Or you get so passionate about things that are valid, legit, but replace Christ. 00:25:03.720 --> 00:25:07.660 If I get passionate about Acts 29, I will replace Christ. 00:25:07.660 --> 00:25:10.720 If I get passionate about worship, I will replace Christ. 00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:14.000 If I get passionate about prosperity, I will replace Christ. 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:17.040 If I get passionate about healing, I will replace Christ. 00:25:17.040 --> 00:25:22.600 And whatever replaces Christ, in that area you will find depletion. 00:25:22.600 --> 00:25:27.920 So if you put prosperity at the center and put Christ alongside it or to the side, you 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:32.800 will find that you will begin to have a lack. 00:25:32.800 --> 00:25:37.360 If you put the church at the center, you will find that your church will begin to dismantle 00:25:37.360 --> 00:25:44.520 because whatever is placed at the center will cause depletion in that very area. 00:25:44.520 --> 00:25:48.360 Strange how this works. 00:25:48.360 --> 00:25:54.080 Put security at the center and Christ to the side or Christ as your security giver. 00:25:54.080 --> 00:25:55.640 Here's the other thing churches do. 00:25:55.640 --> 00:26:00.880 We decide that Christ is security giver, Christ is healer, Christ is this, Christ is that. 00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:06.840 And the moment you do that, in that area you begin to see lack because Christ is someone 00:26:06.840 --> 00:26:11.200 of unsurpassing worth and he stands alone. 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:16.480 And you lay yourself down saying you can be whatever you want to be to me right now and 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:17.960 today and tomorrow. 00:26:17.960 --> 00:26:19.840 You be what you want me to be. 00:26:19.840 --> 00:26:37.320 I don't demand you to be something to me. 00:26:37.320 --> 00:26:43.160 You know it is because the church in the book of Revelation fell for these things that Jesus 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:55.160 to the church of Philadelphia, he was very, his letter was very, I mean it was full of 00:26:55.160 --> 00:26:56.320 commendation. 00:26:56.320 --> 00:27:01.240 But to the other six churches, the reason he had to write is because they succumb to 00:27:01.240 --> 00:27:04.280 one or the other of these. 00:27:04.280 --> 00:27:05.880 And so he had to write to them. 00:27:05.880 --> 00:27:09.480 Personal letters, personal letters. 00:27:09.800 --> 00:27:14.840 Hey church in Pergamum, I know you have love and faith and perseverance, but you have begun 00:27:14.840 --> 00:27:20.120 to tolerate that woman Jezebel and you have begun to tolerate idolatry. 00:27:20.120 --> 00:27:23.000 And so he would write to all of them because they succumb to one of these. 00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:24.440 You think we won't. 00:27:24.440 --> 00:27:32.440 You think we aren't. 00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:36.520 You know there's a lady called Yvonne, most of you haven't met her. 00:27:36.560 --> 00:27:40.760 She, long ago when she had come to this church, she had this dream and God has added to this 00:27:40.760 --> 00:27:43.120 dream ever since. 00:27:43.120 --> 00:27:52.720 And she talked about how there was this beautiful bride who's on a float in a parade and she's 00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:57.480 not a float, one of those, yeah, I think the truck that takes you down the parade route 00:27:57.480 --> 00:27:58.880 like it does today. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:01.280 And she's decked in beautiful white. 00:28:01.280 --> 00:28:06.480 And at some point while people are cheering and saying this is beautiful, someone offers 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:13.240 her stuff to eat that she knows she shouldn't eat, but she decides it's a parade, things 00:28:13.240 --> 00:28:16.680 are going well, she'll just take a bite of what is offered to her. 00:28:16.680 --> 00:28:20.080 So she takes a bite and it's tasty, she takes another bite. 00:28:20.080 --> 00:28:24.280 And now while the parade route is snaking itself through the city, her stomach begins 00:28:24.280 --> 00:28:26.920 to feel upset. 00:28:26.920 --> 00:28:32.000 So she gets off this truck that's taking her down the parade and she runs into the fairgrounds 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:33.620 because she needs to go to the toilet. 00:28:33.620 --> 00:28:38.780 She goes to the toilet, but when she comes out, her white gown is spattered with all 00:28:38.780 --> 00:28:40.640 kinds of refuse and stuff. 00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:45.620 And now she is back on the truck and people don't know whether to cheer for her or cheer 00:28:45.620 --> 00:28:51.620 at her because here is this beautiful bride, but her dress is spoiled with all kinds of 00:28:51.620 --> 00:28:52.620 yuck. 00:28:52.620 --> 00:28:57.120 And at some point, people decide that there are still spots left on her. 00:28:57.120 --> 00:29:00.100 So they take mud balls and they begin to throw it at her. 00:29:00.100 --> 00:29:04.460 Initially she ducks, but then she begins to enjoy the game and allows people to throw 00:29:04.460 --> 00:29:06.340 stuff at her and it begins to stick. 00:29:06.340 --> 00:29:11.660 And there is this beautiful bride whose dress is now completely ruined from pure white to 00:29:11.660 --> 00:29:14.900 just yuck. 00:29:14.900 --> 00:29:20.140 Yvonne saw this ages ago, 13 or 14 years ago, and since then God has added to this vision. 00:29:20.140 --> 00:29:23.840 And it's a vision of the church sometimes. 00:29:23.840 --> 00:29:30.020 And yet in Zechariah 3, God turns that around on its head and he says, listen, Zechariah, 00:29:30.380 --> 00:29:34.360 you see Joshua the priest there, let's look at him. 00:29:34.360 --> 00:29:39.100 And so when you open to Zechariah 3, you see God doing something and this is what we must 00:29:39.100 --> 00:29:44.560 aim to as Jesus, could you do this with Acts 29, where we've contaminated ourselves first 00:29:44.560 --> 00:29:46.180 with food we should not eat. 00:29:46.180 --> 00:29:52.980 Then we've allowed ourselves to go into a toilet where we were just completely besmirched 00:29:52.980 --> 00:29:55.660 with stuff that is yuck. 00:29:55.660 --> 00:29:58.500 And then somehow we think it's a funny thing. 00:29:58.500 --> 00:30:00.940 Actually we were ashamed of what we looked like. 00:30:00.940 --> 00:30:05.300 And now we allow others to put more stuff on us because it's become a game. 00:30:05.300 --> 00:30:09.020 And then in Zechariah chapter 3, God says, listen to what I'm going to do. 00:30:09.020 --> 00:30:12.620 Then he showed me Joshua, the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and 00:30:12.620 --> 00:30:16.800 Satan standing at his right side and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 00:30:16.800 --> 00:30:21.460 The Lord said to Satan, the Lord rebuke you Satan, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke 00:30:21.460 --> 00:30:22.460 you. 00:30:22.460 --> 00:30:25.620 Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire? 00:30:25.620 --> 00:30:29.740 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 00:30:29.740 --> 00:30:33.580 The angel said to those who were standing before him, take off his filthy clothes. 00:30:33.580 --> 00:30:35.940 And he said to Joshua, see I've taken away your sin. 00:30:35.940 --> 00:30:38.020 I'll put rich garments on you. 00:30:38.020 --> 00:30:40.100 Then I said, put a clean turban on my head. 00:30:40.100 --> 00:30:44.180 So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him while the angel of the Lord stood 00:30:44.180 --> 00:30:46.060 by. 00:30:46.060 --> 00:30:50.400 And then the angel of the Lord says, if you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, 00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:53.620 then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts. 00:30:53.620 --> 00:30:57.660 And I will give you a place among those standing here. 00:30:57.660 --> 00:31:01.480 This is what we will pray for tonight, this evening before we go that, Oh God, would you 00:31:01.480 --> 00:31:08.660 give us a clean turban and clean clothes? 00:31:08.660 --> 00:31:13.000 The first three weeks I will pray that God give us purity and holiness. 00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:16.620 Last week we prayed that God, we're not looking to be filled with faith. 00:31:16.620 --> 00:31:18.860 We are looking to be fearless people. 00:31:18.980 --> 00:31:31.540 Today we'll pray that, Oh God, could you now give us a passion for your bride? 00:31:31.540 --> 00:31:33.820 Be zealous for the purity of the church, guys. 00:31:33.820 --> 00:31:35.740 Be zealous for the purity of the church. 00:31:35.740 --> 00:31:41.980 How can we build a church that prevails if we don't have a zeal for the purity of the 00:31:41.980 --> 00:31:43.340 church? 00:31:43.340 --> 00:31:45.420 Be zealous for the purity of the church. 00:31:45.420 --> 00:31:49.900 It'll be shown in many different ways, many different ways, which I won't go into right 00:31:49.900 --> 00:31:52.900 now, but be zealous for the purity of the church. 00:31:52.900 --> 00:31:55.300 Jesus was when he cleansed the temple. 00:31:55.300 --> 00:31:59.780 What do you think grasped him when he takes a whip and he goes chasing moneylenders out 00:31:59.780 --> 00:32:00.780 of the temple? 00:32:00.780 --> 00:32:02.180 He's saying, this is my father's house. 00:32:02.180 --> 00:32:04.060 There is a way this house must be. 00:32:04.060 --> 00:32:06.940 Be zealous for the purity of the church. 00:32:06.940 --> 00:32:09.220 And by purity of the church, what do I mean? 00:32:09.220 --> 00:32:13.340 Our corporate purity. 00:32:13.460 --> 00:32:20.060 Our desire to have a bride decked in white, spotless and clean and doing everything in 00:32:20.060 --> 00:32:26.380 our power so that we can then stand and be a prevailing church. 00:32:26.380 --> 00:32:29.940 Because I keep taking us back to Psalm 24. 00:32:29.940 --> 00:32:31.860 Who shall ascend his holy hill? 00:32:31.860 --> 00:32:37.460 Who shall stand and say, lift up your ancient gates, lift up your doors. 00:32:37.460 --> 00:32:42.980 But he whose hands are clean, who he whose heart is pure and he who has not slandered, 00:32:42.980 --> 00:32:45.380 he shall stand. 00:32:45.380 --> 00:32:48.740 And then the king of glory says, aha, I'll come. 00:32:48.740 --> 00:32:50.140 It's always that way. 00:32:50.140 --> 00:32:55.980 We made this grace message so accommodating that it doesn't matter how you live, God will 00:32:55.980 --> 00:32:57.580 turn up. 00:32:57.580 --> 00:33:04.440 But you see again and again and again, Isaiah says, whoa, I'm a man of unclean lips. 00:33:04.440 --> 00:33:05.620 God has to come and change that. 00:33:05.620 --> 00:33:08.140 Joshua stands there with clothes that are dirty. 00:33:08.140 --> 00:33:09.660 God has to come and change that. 00:33:09.660 --> 00:33:11.740 He is the one who points it out. 00:33:11.740 --> 00:33:15.400 But if we are willing, he's the one who then takes the coal to cleansers. 00:33:15.400 --> 00:33:18.940 And then if we are willing, he will give us a clean turban and new clothes. 00:33:18.940 --> 00:33:19.940 Why? 00:33:19.940 --> 00:33:25.140 Because it's his heart's desire. 00:33:25.140 --> 00:33:28.780 The strange thing about repentance is he initiates it. 00:33:28.780 --> 00:33:30.940 He helps you with it. 00:33:30.940 --> 00:33:33.540 And he's looking forward to finishing it. 00:33:33.540 --> 00:33:38.860 All he wants from you in repentance is, will you admit to me what I already know? 00:33:39.860 --> 00:33:43.860 Will you tell me what I already know? 00:33:49.860 --> 00:33:52.980 And sometimes he doesn't let you get through that either. 00:33:52.980 --> 00:33:56.740 Like the prodigal son's father wouldn't let him even finish his confession. 00:33:56.740 --> 00:33:59.540 I am here to tell you that I have done wrong. 00:33:59.540 --> 00:34:00.900 You can treat me as a servant. 00:34:00.900 --> 00:34:01.900 Shush! 00:34:01.900 --> 00:34:03.900 I saw your repentance a mile away. 00:34:09.860 --> 00:34:12.420 Be zealous for the purity of the church. 00:34:12.420 --> 00:34:14.860 Jesus was when he cleansed the temple in John chapter 2. 00:34:14.860 --> 00:34:16.860 And the Holy Spirit was zealous. 00:34:16.860 --> 00:34:20.860 See, it's odd when God gets zealous, better watch out, eh? 00:34:20.860 --> 00:34:27.060 One of the disadvantages of being in this church is that I have a strange feeling that 00:34:27.060 --> 00:34:31.700 God, if he really gets zealous about this church, it won't be good for us to continue 00:34:31.700 --> 00:34:32.700 the way we are. 00:34:32.700 --> 00:34:36.060 I'll have to change in whatever area he requires me to change. 00:34:36.060 --> 00:34:38.660 Because when Jesus got zealous about the temple, what did he do? 00:34:38.660 --> 00:34:39.820 Took a whip and cleansed it. 00:34:39.820 --> 00:34:43.340 When the Holy Spirit got zealous about the church, what did he do? 00:34:43.340 --> 00:34:46.060 Decided that Ananias and Sapphira were in the way. 00:34:54.060 --> 00:34:56.580 And who can give you the zeal? 00:34:56.580 --> 00:34:59.020 Only one, God. 00:34:59.020 --> 00:35:03.560 This zeal cannot be fabricated, it cannot be stirred, it can't be rarad, I can't make 00:35:03.560 --> 00:35:04.560 it happen. 00:35:04.560 --> 00:35:11.480 The only one who can initiate it, fire it up, pour oil into it, make it a burning inferno, 00:35:11.480 --> 00:35:12.480 is God. 00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:13.960 But there is one thing I need to do. 00:35:13.960 --> 00:35:18.520 Oh God, I want it. 00:35:18.520 --> 00:35:23.480 Someone asked me recently, I'll come there later. 00:35:23.480 --> 00:35:27.520 Guys I am zealous for the bride of Christ. 00:35:27.520 --> 00:35:31.920 Because love for the bridegroom must be seen in your passion for the bride. 00:35:31.920 --> 00:35:36.920 Love for the bridegroom must be seen in passion, in your passion for the bride. 00:35:36.920 --> 00:35:43.040 If you say that you are in love with the bridegroom, then show me your passion for the bride and 00:35:43.040 --> 00:35:44.160 I will agree. 00:35:44.160 --> 00:35:48.660 But if you say you're passionate about, that you love the bridegroom and I don't see your 00:35:48.660 --> 00:35:55.440 passion for the bride expressed, then I have a right to call you a hypocrite. 00:35:55.440 --> 00:35:56.440 As you do me. 00:36:01.920 --> 00:36:16.440 Four distortions that you must resist at Acts 29 or in any church that you are at, 00:36:16.440 --> 00:36:26.840 four distortions that you must resist is one, following Christ without flowing in the body, 00:36:26.840 --> 00:36:35.160 following Christ without flowing with the body. 00:36:35.160 --> 00:36:38.360 This is a distortion. 00:36:38.360 --> 00:36:43.520 You cannot love the bridegroom and not have a passion for the bride. 00:36:43.520 --> 00:36:49.840 You cannot. 00:36:49.840 --> 00:37:02.760 Two, flowing with the body without pursuing Christ, flowing with the body without pursuing 00:37:02.760 --> 00:37:04.360 Christ. 00:37:04.360 --> 00:37:10.280 That's another thing that can happen where the body or the denomination or the doctrine 00:37:10.280 --> 00:37:15.380 or the movement becomes so important that it is all consuming. 00:37:15.380 --> 00:37:16.760 It is all consuming. 00:37:16.760 --> 00:37:25.520 And Christ and his will no longer matter because the movement, the revival, the new thing that 00:37:25.520 --> 00:37:30.480 God is doing is all consuming. 00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:41.320 Three, following the leader at the expense of Christ and the body, following the leader 00:37:42.320 --> 00:37:52.480 of Christ and the body. 00:37:52.480 --> 00:37:58.800 Where because the leader is charismatic or because the leader is intimidating or has 00:37:58.800 --> 00:38:06.640 an imposing presence or because the leader is brilliant, you begin to now follow the 00:38:07.320 --> 00:38:11.720 and you are benefiting, you are getting better, but it is at the expense of Christ and the 00:38:11.720 --> 00:38:16.360 body. 00:38:16.360 --> 00:38:29.600 And the last one. 00:38:30.160 --> 00:38:36.760 Where let's assume someone thinks I'm brilliant. 00:38:36.760 --> 00:38:40.680 We won't debate whether they are right or wrong because we are short of time. 00:38:40.680 --> 00:38:44.720 But let's assume someone thought I was brilliant. 00:38:44.720 --> 00:38:49.280 And now they want to spend time with me, learn from me. 00:38:49.280 --> 00:38:52.100 They want everything that I've got. 00:38:52.100 --> 00:38:56.640 They want me to prophesy on them, help their grace come out and all that and all that is 00:38:56.640 --> 00:38:57.640 fine. 00:38:57.680 --> 00:38:59.720 They don't really learn of the rest of the body. 00:38:59.720 --> 00:39:02.440 They don't seek anybody else out. 00:39:02.440 --> 00:39:08.000 Everyone else becomes secondary. 00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:12.260 And I begin to speak for Christ into that person's life. 00:39:12.260 --> 00:39:18.160 And the person now only has me as reference point, not Christ as reference point. 00:39:18.160 --> 00:39:25.560 This happens easily when the leader is charismatic or has a certain gifting. 00:39:25.560 --> 00:39:29.360 It's very easy to go down this road guys. 00:39:29.360 --> 00:39:37.320 And is a ruin of many leaders in many churches. 00:39:37.320 --> 00:39:43.240 Because all it takes if Aaron was doing that is for me to do something that hurts him so 00:39:43.240 --> 00:39:47.040 badly that it will dismantle his life. 00:39:47.040 --> 00:39:51.200 Because he put everything into this relationship. 00:39:51.200 --> 00:39:54.360 And I hurt him once and he will turn his back on Christ. 00:39:54.360 --> 00:39:58.420 Because he never had Christ to begin with as a solid foundation. 00:39:58.420 --> 00:40:01.040 He had me. 00:40:01.040 --> 00:40:05.040 And fat good that will do to him. 00:40:09.040 --> 00:40:17.960 And the last one is following Christ in the body and the leader. 00:40:18.720 --> 00:40:22.040 This applies to Acts 29. 00:40:22.040 --> 00:40:29.280 Following Christ and the body and the leader. 00:40:29.280 --> 00:40:31.120 This seems such a cool thing to do. 00:40:31.120 --> 00:40:46.520 You got all things right but not willing to lose your life. 00:40:47.080 --> 00:40:50.180 Acts 29 is a church that is willing to follow Christ. 00:40:50.180 --> 00:40:52.080 Willing to flow with the body. 00:40:52.080 --> 00:40:54.720 Willing to listen to the leader and leaders. 00:40:54.720 --> 00:41:01.680 But Acts 29 is nowhere near willing to lose their life. 00:41:01.680 --> 00:41:06.240 As in deny life itself. 00:41:06.240 --> 00:41:07.520 And how do you deny life? 00:41:07.520 --> 00:41:09.760 By refusing self preservation. 00:41:09.760 --> 00:41:12.920 By refusing self exaltation. 00:41:12.920 --> 00:41:15.840 That's how you deny yourself. 00:41:16.160 --> 00:41:19.400 Self preservation is something that's so deep rooted in our culture. 00:41:19.400 --> 00:41:21.600 And in us as people at Acts 29. 00:41:21.600 --> 00:41:30.080 That if this doesn't go, we ain't going anywhere near a prevailing church. 00:41:30.080 --> 00:41:33.520 So if you fall into one of these categories. 00:41:33.520 --> 00:41:36.400 Then admit to God what he already knows. 00:41:36.400 --> 00:41:41.400 I definitely fall into this category. 00:41:46.400 --> 00:41:50.400 Questions, comments, thoughts? 00:41:57.400 --> 00:42:00.400 I'm zealous for your ways. 00:42:00.400 --> 00:42:03.560 You don't know how much zeal I have for you. 00:42:03.560 --> 00:42:05.200 You don't know. 00:42:05.200 --> 00:42:07.600 I want to say this. 00:42:07.600 --> 00:42:10.400 I want to quote Paul from 2 Corinthians 6. 00:42:10.400 --> 00:42:13.920 If you don't know how zealous I am for you. 00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:17.000 It is not because my love for you is small. 00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:20.000 But because your heart is not open to me. 00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:25.000 Let me say that again. 00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:27.000 I am zealous for you. 00:42:27.000 --> 00:42:30.000 It is easy to be zealous for a small number of people. 00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:33.000 It is within my capacity to be zealous for you. 00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:34.000 I am zealous for you. 00:42:34.000 --> 00:42:36.000 Zealous not that you give more to the church. 00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:38.000 Zealous not that you stay in this church. 00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:42.000 But I'm zealous for you in terms of you becoming everything God needs you to become. 00:42:42.080 --> 00:42:45.080 And if you don't think I'm zealous towards you. 00:42:45.080 --> 00:42:48.080 It is not because of a lack of love on my part. 00:42:48.080 --> 00:42:50.080 A lack of zeal on my part. 00:42:50.080 --> 00:42:54.080 It is simply because your heart is too small to receive what I have to give. 00:42:54.080 --> 00:42:57.080 2 Corinthians 6 talks about it. 00:42:57.080 --> 00:42:59.080 And I quote Paul. 00:42:59.080 --> 00:43:00.080 Because I'm zealous for you. 00:43:00.080 --> 00:43:05.080 I'm zealous for myself and I'm zealous for this thing called the bride of Christ. 00:43:12.080 --> 00:43:19.080 And one must, if he or she loves the bride group, one must have a passion for the bride. 00:43:19.080 --> 00:43:24.080 I'm going to ask Ralph to come up and share something he wrote about what a church would look like. 00:43:24.080 --> 00:43:27.080 What a church would look like. 00:43:27.080 --> 00:43:32.080 Hey, he speaks softer than me so turn up the volume a little. 00:43:38.080 --> 00:43:39.080 Hi. 00:43:39.160 --> 00:43:40.160 Hi. 00:43:42.160 --> 00:43:43.160 Something I wrote a few weeks ago. 00:43:43.160 --> 00:43:45.160 Oh by the way, sorry, before he starts, I'm not done. 00:43:45.160 --> 00:43:47.160 I'll continue after this. 00:43:47.160 --> 00:43:50.160 That's in part, in case you've heard this or haven't heard it. 00:43:50.160 --> 00:43:55.160 This is something I wrote about three weeks ago at half past one in the morning. 00:43:55.160 --> 00:43:59.160 I couldn't sleep and I sensed the Holy Spirit wanting to speak to me. 00:43:59.160 --> 00:44:04.160 And for years people have been telling me to write a church that you can see leaders and people I know. 00:44:04.160 --> 00:44:06.160 And I ignored them. 00:44:06.240 --> 00:44:08.240 Because I didn't feel ready. 00:44:08.240 --> 00:44:12.240 But I knew I needed to write something that evening so I wrote it and I shared it with Jacob. 00:44:12.240 --> 00:44:13.240 So this is what I wrote. 00:44:13.240 --> 00:44:22.240 I said, in these moments, it is in these moments that great choices are made to defy the status quo, the safe path, 00:44:22.240 --> 00:44:26.240 the well-trodden road where expectations are placed upon you. 00:44:26.240 --> 00:44:32.240 To choose an alternative line that only makes sense in your heart, a logic-defying moment of clarity. 00:44:32.320 --> 00:44:40.320 This is the path to be chosen, to push away from the safety of the shore and venture out into the turbulences of the deep. 00:44:40.320 --> 00:44:45.320 Where you have no safety other than the assurance that you'll be okay because you are with him. 00:44:45.320 --> 00:44:48.320 It is this path that I am compelled to choose. 00:44:48.320 --> 00:44:53.320 In my heart resonates a cry for more, for something more. 00:44:53.320 --> 00:44:58.320 I see a church filled with happy people, where the gospel is preached and lived, 00:44:58.400 --> 00:45:05.400 where the law of love is followed, where less is more, where the common priesthood is celebrated, 00:45:05.400 --> 00:45:09.400 where women have a voice and are released into their destiny, 00:45:09.400 --> 00:45:13.400 where the gospel of inclusion filters into an inclusive church, 00:45:13.400 --> 00:45:19.400 where anyone and everyone can find the glorious redemptive hope of Christ, 00:45:19.400 --> 00:45:23.400 where generosity is celebrated over percentages, 00:45:23.480 --> 00:45:28.480 where we gather to glorify and celebrate him, not to get our weakly spiritual fix, 00:45:28.480 --> 00:45:34.480 where going out to make disciples trumps the allure of meetings, where we gather to go, 00:45:34.480 --> 00:45:38.480 where devotion is championed over discipline, 00:45:38.480 --> 00:45:42.480 where diligence and faithfulness are desired more than excellence, 00:45:42.480 --> 00:45:45.480 where children are part of the life of the church, 00:45:45.480 --> 00:45:50.480 where fathers raise sons, demonstrating this by laying their lives down for their sons, 00:45:50.560 --> 00:45:55.560 where we hold on to people loosely and celebrate their going out to fulfill their call, 00:45:55.560 --> 00:45:59.560 where people are more important than programs and buildings, 00:45:59.560 --> 00:46:04.560 where prayer is heartfelt communion with God, contemplative and active, 00:46:04.560 --> 00:46:06.560 and embraces the practice of listening, 00:46:06.560 --> 00:46:11.560 where rest is valued and resting in him is seen as something to be desired, 00:46:11.560 --> 00:46:16.560 where the church actively seeks to build bridges inroads into society, 00:46:16.640 --> 00:46:20.640 where the aim is to equip believers to be disciple makers who go out, 00:46:20.640 --> 00:46:23.640 where we stand with those on the outskirts of society, 00:46:23.640 --> 00:46:27.640 where prayer prevails because we seek to see things through, 00:46:27.640 --> 00:46:30.640 where honor is practiced mutually, 00:46:30.640 --> 00:46:33.640 where submission one to another becomes culture, 00:46:33.640 --> 00:46:35.640 where order is respected, 00:46:35.640 --> 00:46:38.640 where suffering is not seen as failing but part of learning, 00:46:38.640 --> 00:46:41.640 where the gospel of grace is proclaimed, 00:46:41.720 --> 00:46:46.720 where our desire to be a people of faith that goes beyond money, jobs and healing 00:46:46.720 --> 00:46:49.720 but reflects the faith we read in Hebrews 11, 00:46:49.720 --> 00:46:52.720 where we desire truth but guard against becoming exclusive 00:46:52.720 --> 00:46:57.720 because we have cornered all truth, a closed-hand, open-hand approach, 00:46:57.720 --> 00:47:00.720 where we are always celebrating the beautiful dance of the Trinity 00:47:00.720 --> 00:47:03.720 and continue to invite others into the same dance. 00:47:03.720 --> 00:47:07.720 For us, this is a moment to decide if we are willing to build this church 00:47:07.720 --> 00:47:10.720 that Jesus desires for us to build. 00:47:10.800 --> 00:47:13.800 This is Happy Church, a place of intoxicating joy, 00:47:13.800 --> 00:47:17.800 where happiness and joy are synonymous because of our uniqueness in Him. 00:47:17.800 --> 00:47:20.800 Each week is a joyful celebration of Him, 00:47:20.800 --> 00:47:24.800 expressed through His gifts and the creative gifts He has given to the church, 00:47:24.800 --> 00:47:27.800 where households are the lifeblood of church, 00:47:27.800 --> 00:47:29.800 where open lives are cultivated, 00:47:29.800 --> 00:47:32.800 where people will see and discover what it means to have good homes, 00:47:32.800 --> 00:47:36.800 good lives and good works, the bedrock of discipleship. 00:47:40.800 --> 00:47:42.800 Go listen to it, guys. 00:47:42.800 --> 00:47:45.800 I've now heard it three times and it's marvelous. 00:47:45.800 --> 00:47:47.800 Go listen to it. 00:47:53.800 --> 00:47:56.800 We'll just talk about how do we overcome and then we'll end 00:47:56.800 --> 00:47:58.800 because I've got how overcoming, 00:47:58.800 --> 00:48:01.800 overcomers will be rewarded, we won't be able to do that today. 00:48:01.800 --> 00:48:03.800 You'll have to wait for two weeks. 00:48:03.800 --> 00:48:05.800 How do we overcome? How do we overcome? 00:48:05.800 --> 00:48:07.800 We'll talk about that now. 00:48:07.800 --> 00:48:09.800 How do we overcome? 00:48:09.880 --> 00:48:11.880 Because we are led by... 00:48:11.880 --> 00:48:14.880 Hey, remember that song, Take Me to Your Leader, Son? 00:48:16.880 --> 00:48:18.880 No. 00:48:19.880 --> 00:48:21.880 You guys. 00:48:21.880 --> 00:48:24.880 Do you know a group called DC Talk? 00:48:24.880 --> 00:48:27.880 Do you know a group called Audio Adrenaline? 00:48:27.880 --> 00:48:30.880 OK, Charlene, you must have been born before. 00:48:30.880 --> 00:48:33.880 We'll leave it at that. 00:48:33.880 --> 00:48:36.880 OK, so we'll talk about that. 00:48:36.960 --> 00:48:39.960 We'll leave it at that. 00:48:41.960 --> 00:48:47.960 You know, most of you guys were born at a time when music was declining. 00:49:01.960 --> 00:49:05.960 You're already on probation, so I don't know what to do with you, Mark. 00:49:06.960 --> 00:49:09.960 OK, how do we overcome? 00:49:09.960 --> 00:49:11.960 Because Christ is the Overcomer, 00:49:11.960 --> 00:49:14.960 He left us some very, very useful ways of overcoming, 00:49:14.960 --> 00:49:17.960 which I would suggest we just take and run with 00:49:17.960 --> 00:49:19.960 because there's no need to interpret it. 00:49:20.960 --> 00:49:22.960 One of the ways Christ said you overcome 00:49:22.960 --> 00:49:25.960 is you hear what the Spirit is saying. 00:49:26.960 --> 00:49:28.960 Hear what the Spirit is saying. 00:49:29.040 --> 00:49:32.040 Hear what the Spirit is saying. 00:49:32.040 --> 00:49:35.040 Hear what the Spirit is saying. 00:49:38.040 --> 00:49:41.040 In Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3, 00:49:41.040 --> 00:49:44.040 Revelation 2, 7, 11, 17, chapter 3, 00:49:44.040 --> 00:49:46.040 one of the things He keeps saying is 00:49:46.040 --> 00:49:49.040 hear what the Holy Spirit is saying, 00:49:49.040 --> 00:49:51.040 and if you hear what the Spirit is saying, 00:49:51.040 --> 00:49:53.040 you will overcome. 00:49:53.040 --> 00:49:56.040 Hear what the Spirit is saying. 00:49:56.120 --> 00:49:59.120 Someone asked me yesterday, 00:49:59.120 --> 00:50:01.120 Hey, Jacob, how come every Sunday, 00:50:01.120 --> 00:50:03.120 and every time I've met you, 00:50:03.120 --> 00:50:06.120 and I've known you for five or six years now, 00:50:06.120 --> 00:50:08.120 every time I meet you, and every Sunday, 00:50:08.120 --> 00:50:10.120 or every time you're talking to somebody, 00:50:10.120 --> 00:50:14.120 how come you can do it as passionately as you do it? 00:50:14.120 --> 00:50:18.120 Because I've never seen you not doing it with a passion. 00:50:18.120 --> 00:50:21.120 And my only response was, 00:50:21.120 --> 00:50:24.120 because when I do what I'm doing, 00:50:24.200 --> 00:50:26.200 when I do what I'm doing, 00:50:26.200 --> 00:50:29.200 I do it after hearing what the Spirit of God says, 00:50:29.200 --> 00:50:32.200 and if I have heard what the Spirit of God says, 00:50:32.200 --> 00:50:34.200 it is life and spirit. 00:50:34.200 --> 00:50:37.200 So what else can you do but do it passionately? 00:50:39.200 --> 00:50:41.200 What else can you do? 00:50:44.200 --> 00:50:46.200 And therefore it is required that I hear, 00:50:46.200 --> 00:50:49.200 and you hear, and we hear the Spirit 00:50:49.200 --> 00:50:52.200 very clearly for everything, 00:50:52.280 --> 00:50:55.280 and the Spirit of God will change the background, 00:50:55.280 --> 00:50:58.280 the backdrop, the scenery, the environment 00:50:58.280 --> 00:51:01.280 every three or four months, 00:51:01.280 --> 00:51:04.280 or less sometimes. 00:51:06.280 --> 00:51:08.280 The only predictable thing about Jesus 00:51:08.280 --> 00:51:11.280 was his unpredictability, 00:51:11.280 --> 00:51:13.280 because he did not know 00:51:13.280 --> 00:51:16.280 what the Spirit of God would do next, 00:51:16.280 --> 00:51:18.280 so he did not know how he would heal, 00:51:18.280 --> 00:51:20.280 how he would travel, 00:51:20.360 --> 00:51:22.360 when he would go, when he would not, 00:51:22.360 --> 00:51:23.360 what he would say, 00:51:23.360 --> 00:51:25.360 whether he should say the same thing 00:51:25.360 --> 00:51:27.360 or whether he shouldn't. 00:51:30.360 --> 00:51:33.360 Hear what the Spirit is saying, 00:51:34.360 --> 00:51:35.360 because it's absurd 00:51:35.360 --> 00:51:36.360 and it will be consequential 00:51:36.360 --> 00:51:38.360 if you hear what the Spirit is saying 00:51:38.360 --> 00:51:40.360 and then choose not to participate 00:51:40.360 --> 00:51:42.360 in what the Spirit of God wants to do 00:51:42.360 --> 00:51:44.360 in his community. 00:51:44.360 --> 00:51:47.360 By the way, you are the community of the Spirit. 00:51:47.440 --> 00:51:50.440 You are not Acts 29 first. 00:51:50.440 --> 00:51:52.440 You are not whatever denomination 00:51:52.440 --> 00:51:54.440 we belong to every other week. 00:51:54.440 --> 00:51:57.440 You are not a church that is pastored by Jacob. 00:51:57.440 --> 00:51:59.440 You are not the people that you are with. 00:51:59.440 --> 00:52:03.440 First and foremost, you are the community of the Spirit, 00:52:03.440 --> 00:52:06.440 which is why Tony Mark, Patsy, 00:52:06.440 --> 00:52:10.440 Charlene and Catherine, Kathy, right, 00:52:10.440 --> 00:52:12.440 can come from anywhere they want 00:52:12.440 --> 00:52:15.440 and find absolute location, 00:52:15.520 --> 00:52:18.520 inheritance in any place they go to 00:52:18.520 --> 00:52:19.520 in the body of Christ 00:52:19.520 --> 00:52:22.520 because we are the community of the Spirit. 00:52:22.520 --> 00:52:25.520 We are not Acts 29 first by a mile. 00:52:29.520 --> 00:52:32.520 And therefore, it is absurd 00:52:32.520 --> 00:52:35.520 if you sense the Spirit of God speaking here 00:52:35.520 --> 00:52:38.520 and inviting the church to do something. 00:52:38.520 --> 00:52:41.520 And it is both absurd and consequential to your life 00:52:41.520 --> 00:52:44.520 if after you hear it and know it is the Spirit of God 00:52:44.600 --> 00:52:45.600 if you don't participate 00:52:45.600 --> 00:52:48.600 and still continue to be a part of his community. 00:52:50.600 --> 00:52:52.600 That's like saying, I'm part of this house 00:52:52.600 --> 00:52:54.600 but I don't care what you say, 00:52:54.600 --> 00:52:56.600 I just want to live here. 00:52:56.600 --> 00:52:59.600 That's called friends with benefits. 00:52:59.600 --> 00:53:03.600 It's not sons and daughters. 00:53:03.600 --> 00:53:05.600 How do we overcome? 00:53:05.600 --> 00:53:07.600 Jesus said, hear what the Spirit is saying. 00:53:07.600 --> 00:53:09.600 Second, 00:53:09.680 --> 00:53:12.680 be of good cheer. 00:53:12.680 --> 00:53:14.680 Hard thing, eh? 00:53:14.680 --> 00:53:17.680 Hard thing to do when things are not going well. 00:53:17.680 --> 00:53:20.680 Some of us have made it a habit of being not in good cheer. 00:53:21.680 --> 00:53:24.680 Be of good cheer in tribulation. 00:53:25.680 --> 00:53:28.680 John 16 verse 33, Jesus says, 00:53:28.680 --> 00:53:29.680 be of good cheer, Jacob, 00:53:29.680 --> 00:53:32.680 when you're going through really difficult times 00:53:32.680 --> 00:53:35.680 because I have overcome the world. 00:53:35.680 --> 00:53:36.680 In this world, Jacob, 00:53:36.760 --> 00:53:39.760 I assure you, you will have trials and tribulations. 00:53:39.760 --> 00:53:40.760 If you didn't want it, 00:53:40.760 --> 00:53:41.760 you should have stayed in the world. 00:53:41.760 --> 00:53:43.760 It was a pleasanter place to stay. 00:53:43.760 --> 00:53:46.760 But because the Prince of the Power of the air at present 00:53:46.760 --> 00:53:48.760 holds sway over the world, 00:53:48.760 --> 00:53:50.760 you will have trials and tribulations. 00:53:50.760 --> 00:53:52.760 But be of good cheer, Jacob, 00:53:52.760 --> 00:53:55.760 because I have overcome the world. 00:54:00.760 --> 00:54:02.760 In James chapter 1, 00:54:02.760 --> 00:54:03.760 verse 3 or 4, 00:54:03.840 --> 00:54:04.840 in James chapter 1, 00:54:04.840 --> 00:54:06.840 verse 3 onwards, it says, 00:54:06.840 --> 00:54:10.840 testing forces your faith life into the open. 00:54:10.840 --> 00:54:14.840 It makes you mature so that you lack nothing. 00:54:14.840 --> 00:54:17.840 One of the things that should be taught in the prosperity gospel 00:54:17.840 --> 00:54:19.840 is that testing is going to come. 00:54:19.840 --> 00:54:20.840 And when testing comes, 00:54:20.840 --> 00:54:24.840 you will be made mature and you will lack nothing. 00:54:24.920 --> 00:54:27.920 Testing forces your faith life into the open. 00:54:27.920 --> 00:54:29.920 Beautifully said in the message. 00:54:29.920 --> 00:54:35.920 Jacob, testing forces your faith life into the open. 00:54:35.920 --> 00:54:37.920 Be of good cheer. 00:54:37.920 --> 00:54:39.920 That's the second part. 00:54:39.920 --> 00:54:40.920 Third part, 00:54:42.920 --> 00:54:45.920 it says, your faith. 00:54:45.920 --> 00:54:48.920 Your faith helps you to be mature. 00:54:48.920 --> 00:54:50.920 It's not just about your faith. 00:54:50.920 --> 00:54:52.920 It's about your faith. 00:54:53.000 --> 00:54:56.000 Your faith helps you overcome. 00:54:56.000 --> 00:54:59.000 It says in 1 John, chapter 5, verse 4, 00:54:59.000 --> 00:55:02.000 your faith endures and conquers 00:55:02.000 --> 00:55:04.000 and it brings the world to its knees. 00:55:04.000 --> 00:55:06.000 In other versions, it says, 00:55:06.000 --> 00:55:08.000 your faith overcomes. 00:55:08.000 --> 00:55:10.000 Your faith overcomes. 00:55:12.000 --> 00:55:14.000 It's such a beautiful progression 00:55:14.000 --> 00:55:16.000 if you want to be an overcomer 00:55:16.000 --> 00:55:18.000 and if you want to be an overcoming church. 00:55:18.000 --> 00:55:19.000 The first is, 00:55:19.000 --> 00:55:21.000 hear what the Spirit is saying. 00:55:21.080 --> 00:55:22.080 Even when He says, 00:55:22.080 --> 00:55:24.080 I am taking you into the wilderness 00:55:24.080 --> 00:55:26.080 to be tempted by the devil. 00:55:26.080 --> 00:55:28.080 Hear what the Spirit is saying. 00:55:28.080 --> 00:55:30.080 Now that you hear what the Spirit has said, 00:55:30.080 --> 00:55:32.080 be of good cheer. 00:55:32.080 --> 00:55:35.080 Even though you're going through trials and tribulations, 00:55:35.080 --> 00:55:37.080 be of good cheer because I have overcome. 00:55:37.080 --> 00:55:40.080 As in, Jacob, I've already engaged what you're going to engage. 00:55:40.080 --> 00:55:43.080 I have already contended with what you're going to contend with. 00:55:43.080 --> 00:55:46.080 I've already overcome or prevailed over it 00:55:46.080 --> 00:55:49.080 and I assure you I have the final word in this. 00:55:49.160 --> 00:55:51.160 So please, Jacob, be of good cheer. 00:55:51.160 --> 00:55:54.160 Hold my hand. I will be what I need to be to you through this. 00:55:54.160 --> 00:55:56.160 Comforter, rescuer, butt kicker, 00:55:56.160 --> 00:55:58.160 whatever you want me to be, 00:55:58.160 --> 00:56:01.160 I will be so that you can get through this. 00:56:06.160 --> 00:56:08.160 I take back the kicker thingy 00:56:08.160 --> 00:56:10.160 because it might be offensive to some. 00:56:10.160 --> 00:56:13.160 What I meant is someone who is not your comforter 00:56:13.160 --> 00:56:17.160 but someone who suddenly wants to really kick the backside 00:56:17.240 --> 00:56:18.240 of opposition. 00:56:20.240 --> 00:56:23.240 Backside kicker, that's what I really wanted to say. 00:56:28.240 --> 00:56:31.240 Your faith overcomes. 00:56:31.240 --> 00:56:34.240 Now that you're of good cheer, show me your faith, Jacob. 00:56:34.240 --> 00:56:37.240 I've been teaching you so long about how to stand in faith. 00:56:37.240 --> 00:56:39.240 Now show me your faith. 00:56:39.240 --> 00:56:41.240 What kind of faith? 00:56:41.240 --> 00:56:44.240 The Hebrews 11, 33-35 faith. 00:56:44.320 --> 00:56:47.320 Hebrews 11, 33-35 faith. 00:56:47.320 --> 00:56:49.320 Worth reading again. 00:56:49.320 --> 00:56:52.320 Hebrews 11, 33-35. 00:56:53.320 --> 00:56:57.320 I hope you do turn to the Scriptures when I call them out 00:56:57.320 --> 00:57:01.320 because you really don't know these Scriptures by heart 00:57:01.320 --> 00:57:03.320 because they never talked about. 00:57:03.320 --> 00:57:05.320 At least I don't. 00:57:07.320 --> 00:57:09.320 Who threw faith? 00:57:09.320 --> 00:57:11.320 Chapter 11, 33-35. 00:57:11.320 --> 00:57:13.320 Hebrews 11, 33-35. 00:57:13.400 --> 00:57:16.400 Who threw faith, conquered kingdoms, 00:57:16.400 --> 00:57:21.400 administered justice, gained what was promised, 00:57:21.400 --> 00:57:24.400 who shut the mouths of lions, 00:57:24.400 --> 00:57:27.400 quenched the fury of flames, 00:57:27.400 --> 00:57:30.400 escaped the edge of the sword, 00:57:30.400 --> 00:57:32.400 whose weakness was turned to strength, 00:57:32.400 --> 00:57:34.400 who became powerful in battle, 00:57:34.400 --> 00:57:36.400 and routed foreign armies. 00:57:36.400 --> 00:57:39.400 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. 00:57:39.400 --> 00:57:42.400 Others were tortured and refused to be released. 00:57:42.480 --> 00:57:45.480 So that they might gain a better resurrection. 00:57:45.480 --> 00:57:47.480 Some faced years and flogging 00:57:47.480 --> 00:57:49.480 while still others were changed and put in prison. 00:57:49.480 --> 00:57:51.480 They were stoned, they were sawed in two, 00:57:51.480 --> 00:57:53.480 they were put to death by the sword. 00:57:53.480 --> 00:57:55.480 They went about in sheepskin and goatskins, 00:57:55.480 --> 00:57:57.480 destitute, persecuted, mistreated. 00:57:57.480 --> 00:57:59.480 The world was not worthy of them. 00:57:59.480 --> 00:58:01.480 They wandered in deserts and mountains 00:58:01.480 --> 00:58:03.480 and in caves and holes in the ground. 00:58:03.480 --> 00:58:05.480 They were all commended for their faith. 00:58:06.480 --> 00:58:08.480 Wow. 00:58:08.480 --> 00:58:11.480 That is the nature of a prevailing church. 00:58:11.560 --> 00:58:13.560 Now you see how far we are from it 00:58:13.560 --> 00:58:16.560 and how we have to work at this for a while. 00:58:17.560 --> 00:58:20.560 And the last one, and then we'll end with that, 00:58:20.560 --> 00:58:22.560 is the assurance of his love. 00:58:22.560 --> 00:58:25.560 The assurance of his love. 00:58:25.560 --> 00:58:27.560 These seem like simple ways to overcome, 00:58:27.560 --> 00:58:30.560 but Jesus was always simple. 00:58:34.560 --> 00:58:36.560 So that comes from Revelation 2 and 3, 00:58:36.560 --> 00:58:39.560 that comes from John 16, 33, 00:58:39.640 --> 00:58:42.640 and James 1, 3 to 5, 00:58:42.640 --> 00:58:45.640 that comes from 1 John 5, 00:58:47.640 --> 00:58:50.640 1 John 5, 4, 00:58:50.640 --> 00:58:53.640 and Hebrews 11, 33 to 35, 00:58:53.640 --> 00:58:56.640 and this one comes from Romans 8, 37, 00:58:56.640 --> 00:58:59.640 where it says that 00:58:59.640 --> 00:59:02.640 we are more than conquerors through what? 00:59:02.640 --> 00:59:05.640 We are conquerors through the Lord. 00:59:05.640 --> 00:59:08.640 We are conquerors through the Lord. 00:59:08.720 --> 00:59:09.720 Through what? 00:59:09.720 --> 00:59:11.720 We are more than conquerors through Christ, 00:59:11.720 --> 00:59:14.720 who loves us. 00:59:14.720 --> 00:59:15.720 The verse before that says, 00:59:15.720 --> 00:59:18.720 who can separate us from the love of God? 00:59:19.720 --> 00:59:21.720 We are more than conquerors through him who loves us. 00:59:21.720 --> 00:59:24.720 So there is the assurance of his love 00:59:24.720 --> 00:59:28.720 and his presence that makes you an overcomer. 00:59:28.720 --> 00:59:31.720 Assurance of his love and presence 00:59:31.720 --> 00:59:32.720 is something that makes you an overcomer. 00:59:32.720 --> 00:59:34.720 Because in all these things, 00:59:34.720 --> 00:59:35.720 as in all what things, 00:59:35.720 --> 00:59:37.720 in the face of the seduction of the world, 00:59:37.800 --> 00:59:39.800 in the face of opposition from spiritual forces, 00:59:39.800 --> 00:59:42.800 in the face of persecution by agents of, 00:59:42.800 --> 00:59:43.800 human agents of the enemy, 00:59:43.800 --> 00:59:45.800 in the face of the culture of the world 00:59:45.800 --> 00:59:48.800 that is insidiously making its way into the church, 00:59:48.800 --> 00:59:49.800 in the face of all this, 00:59:49.800 --> 00:59:52.800 know that you, Acts 29, 00:59:52.800 --> 00:59:54.800 can be more than conquerors 00:59:54.800 --> 00:59:57.800 because I love you and you cannot be separated from me. 00:59:57.800 --> 00:59:59.800 I love you and you cannot be separated from me. 00:59:59.800 --> 01:00:02.800 I love you and you cannot be separated from me. 01:00:03.800 --> 01:00:06.800 This is why it's critical to practice 01:00:06.880 --> 01:00:09.880 locating yourself in him. 01:00:09.880 --> 01:00:11.880 Critical to practice locating yourself in him. 01:00:11.880 --> 01:00:12.880 Locate yourself. 01:00:12.880 --> 01:00:15.880 Practicing the presence is so often used now, 01:00:15.880 --> 01:00:16.880 I don't even know what it means. 01:00:16.880 --> 01:00:19.880 But I kind of understand locating him. 01:00:19.880 --> 01:00:21.880 Ashaqs, there you are. 01:00:21.880 --> 01:00:23.880 Now I've got you in my line of vision. 01:00:23.880 --> 01:00:26.880 I'm within your earshot. 01:00:26.880 --> 01:00:27.880 I got you. 01:00:27.880 --> 01:00:29.880 Locate him. 01:00:29.880 --> 01:00:31.880 To stay located in him 01:00:31.880 --> 01:00:34.880 will take you through the worst times of trouble 01:00:34.960 --> 01:00:36.960 because you know you're not star. 01:00:36.960 --> 01:00:37.960 You know you're not star. 01:00:37.960 --> 01:00:40.960 You know he's there. 01:00:40.960 --> 01:00:42.960 Children live like this. 01:00:42.960 --> 01:00:44.960 Children dare things like this. 01:00:44.960 --> 01:00:46.960 Children take risks like this. 01:00:46.960 --> 01:00:49.960 Children experiment with things like this 01:00:49.960 --> 01:00:50.960 and they are safe 01:00:50.960 --> 01:00:52.960 and they grow stronger and stronger and stronger 01:00:52.960 --> 01:00:54.960 because the one thing they look for 01:00:54.960 --> 01:00:56.960 is can I locate dad or mom? 01:00:56.960 --> 01:00:59.960 And if I can see their face, 01:00:59.960 --> 01:01:01.960 if I'm within their line of vision 01:01:01.960 --> 01:01:02.960 and within earshot, 01:01:03.040 --> 01:01:06.040 I am safe. 01:01:08.040 --> 01:01:11.040 Locate him. 01:01:11.040 --> 01:01:13.040 And the strange thing with locating him that way 01:01:13.040 --> 01:01:16.040 is you will behave a certain way too. 01:01:16.040 --> 01:01:17.040 Children behave. 01:01:17.040 --> 01:01:19.040 Children use the right words. 01:01:19.040 --> 01:01:20.040 They don't say wrong words 01:01:20.040 --> 01:01:23.040 when their parents are within earshot. 01:01:24.040 --> 01:01:27.040 You will behave properly. 01:01:27.040 --> 01:01:30.040 A man is betrayed by the words he speaks. 01:01:33.040 --> 01:01:36.040 Locate him. 01:01:36.040 --> 01:01:40.040 Or else you will be like Jacob at Bethel 01:01:40.040 --> 01:01:43.040 where he says God is in this place 01:01:43.040 --> 01:01:46.040 and I did not even know it. 01:01:46.040 --> 01:01:47.040 Why? 01:01:47.040 --> 01:01:49.040 Because he didn't live locating God. 01:01:49.040 --> 01:01:51.040 God had to locate him continuously. 01:01:51.040 --> 01:01:53.040 When he was in the womb, 01:01:53.040 --> 01:01:54.040 God had to locate him. 01:01:54.040 --> 01:01:57.040 Saying stop fighting with Esau. 01:01:57.040 --> 01:01:58.040 You'll come out in due time 01:01:58.040 --> 01:02:00.040 and I'll make you bigger than your brother. 01:02:00.040 --> 01:02:01.040 God had to locate him 01:02:01.040 --> 01:02:02.040 and he's cheating his father. 01:02:02.120 --> 01:02:03.120 God has to locate him in Bethel. 01:02:03.120 --> 01:02:05.120 God has to locate him at Peniel. 01:02:05.120 --> 01:02:06.120 If you don't locate God, 01:02:06.120 --> 01:02:07.120 here's what happens. 01:02:07.120 --> 01:02:09.120 You miss out. 01:02:09.120 --> 01:02:10.120 You don't realize he's there 01:02:10.120 --> 01:02:13.120 till you wake up in the morning. 01:02:13.120 --> 01:02:14.120 Or you locate him. 01:02:14.120 --> 01:02:15.120 Yes, you find him. 01:02:15.120 --> 01:02:17.120 You find him but you find that you're limping 01:02:17.120 --> 01:02:20.120 because he just dislocated your hip. 01:02:20.120 --> 01:02:22.120 That's not the best way to locate him. 01:02:22.120 --> 01:02:25.120 Or you find that you panicked in the boat 01:02:25.120 --> 01:02:28.120 and he was there all along. 01:02:32.120 --> 01:02:35.120 But what if that wasn't the way we did things? 01:02:48.120 --> 01:02:49.120 I think with me and Dan, 01:02:49.120 --> 01:02:53.120 I'm going to have Derek and all the other guys 01:02:53.120 --> 01:02:56.120 I called up front except Dano. 01:02:56.120 --> 01:02:58.120 Dano can take care of the kids 01:02:58.120 --> 01:03:01.120 and Blessy can come up to pray for people. 01:03:01.200 --> 01:03:02.200 And if you need prayer, 01:03:02.200 --> 01:03:03.200 feel free to come up 01:03:03.200 --> 01:03:04.200 and we'll pray for you. 01:03:04.200 --> 01:03:07.200 Hey Ryan, can you put up oceans?