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NOTE
Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver
Episode: Prevailing Church (part 1)
Publishing Date: 2018-02-25T05:00:44-08:00
Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca
Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/prevailing-church-part-1/

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You can't build a prevailing church unless you raise a church that knows how to prevail

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in prayer.

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You can't build a prevailing church, as in a church that has the ability to overcome

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situations without raising a church that contends in prevailing prayer, as in the kind of prayer

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that helps you break through things.

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So that's what we said three weeks ago.

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And by the way, Matthew 16, 19 says that, I will build my church and the gates of hell

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shall not prevail against it.

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So know that you have an active enemy called the devil who also likes to prevail.

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So prevailing is not a Christian word.

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Prevailing is just a word that anybody can take and use.

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And so Satan or the devil, hell, loves prevailing too.

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And so how do we define prevailing so that we know what we're talking about?

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To contend, to engage in battle, to overcome, to not be beaten, to grapple or wrestle and

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win.

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This is what we mean by prevailing.

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And God wants to build a prevailing church here on earth.

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He doesn't want churches that don't know how to battle.

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He doesn't want a church that does not know how to wrestle and grapple and win, jockey

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for position and win.

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He does not want churches to be overcome, but wants churches that know how to overcome.

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He wants churches that have a desire to contend, have this gleeful anticipation of a fight,

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which is so alien to our way of thinking.

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But that's the kind of church he wants to build.

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But to build a prevailing church, you must have a people that understand prevailing prayer,

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as in the kind of prayer that contends, the kind of prayer that engages in battle, the

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kind of prayer that overcomes, the kind of prayer that does not get beaten, and the kind

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of prayer that wrestles and jockeys for position.

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And over the next, hopefully, a couple of months, we'll be going over this, but today

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we just start.

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And so Satan also likes prevailing.

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Satan also likes prevailing.

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And our lives have had so many situations where we saw the enemy prevail, where things

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broke in our lives, where things were beaten in our lives, where things were trampled down

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in our lives.

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And so there are two methods that the devil uses to prevail.

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The first one is he tries to ravage.

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He tries to ravage.

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He tries to ravage.

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And then the second one is he tries to corrode.

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And both are different in that ravaging is an outright onslaught that has, that cannot

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be mistaken.

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It just is wave after wave of attack till a person crumbles because of just absolute

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hopelessness and weariness.

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And corrosion is a slow acid drip where it just keeps gnawing at you till, in the end,

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it's hollowed out from inside.

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And you see both these methods in the Bible.

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So if you go to Judges chapter 6 verses 3 to 6, Judges 6, 3 to 6, you'll see that happening

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there.

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Judges chapter 6, verse 3 to 6, Judges 6, 3 to 6, and I'm reading.

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It says here, whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and

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other Eastern people invaded the country.

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They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living

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thing for Israel, neither sheep, nor cattle, nor donkeys.

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They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts.

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It was impossible to count the men and their camels.

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They invaded the land to ravage it.

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Midians so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

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This is when wave after wave just comes against you.

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Just when you, this is what happened to Job.

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Job heard some bad news and while he's still trying to figure out that bad news, here comes

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more bad news and then more and then more.

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Where the intent is, can I bring you down to your knees because you can't handle the

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onslaughts I'm bringing.

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So that's one way that the enemy prevails.

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The other way is corrosion, where it's eating away, nibbling away at the root and the fruit

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where nothing is ever whole.

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There's always a pain here or a pain there or something breaking down here and something

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breaking down there.

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It's nothing big but a group of little things happening.

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And that's from Song of Songs 2.15 where it says that little foxes are gnawing away at

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your vineyard where Satan has his ability to send little things that keep eating away

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the root of your vineyard.

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And so it doesn't matter that you have a really good vineyard, that you're nurturing it well,

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that you're watering it well, that the climate is good, that everything you're doing is good.

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The stock is good.

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But you still can't see the kind of fruit you want to see because there are these little

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foxes that keep coming and eating away.

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Our lives fall into one of these two categories when it comes to the enemy attack.

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And Satan is really someone who does this for a living because it says in Ephesians

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chapter 6 that Satan comes with fiery arrows that are continuously being shot, that he

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comes to steal, kill and destroy.

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This is an active, active enemy.

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It is scary that the church is losing sight of its enemy, the devil, that we attribute

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things to psychosomatic conditions and rarely attribute anything to the devil.

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But he's a really active enemy.

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If there was no devil, there would be no need of a savior because it was someone who took

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us captive that Jesus needed to come and free us from, which is why it says in 1st John

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4 that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came down to the earth in flesh to destroy the

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works of the devil.

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It is one of the reasons he came down to the earth.

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It's one of the reasons he hung on a cross.

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Colossians 2 says that he made a public spectacle of the devil and caused him to dismount from

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where he sat and is now paraded as a prisoner in Christ's triumphant procession, meaning

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when a returning army general used to come into a city after victory, behind him would

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be slaves in tow.

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They would be paraded as part of his victorious procession.

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That is the true condition of the devil, but more and more churches are becoming unaware

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of it and may you never come to that place where you're not aware of the fact that you

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have an active, alive enemy who's more powerful than you, were it not for Christ.

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So these are the two methods he uses to ravage or to undo or to prevail over us and one of

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the ways we prevail over him is through prayer.

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Here's the strange thing.

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The devil does not know how to stop, handle, negate prayer.

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He does not know what to do with it.

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Right from when this guy called Seth, who was one of Adam's son in Genesis 5, right

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from when Seth was born, man has been seeking God and the devil does not know how to stop

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it.

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Through guilt, he tries to make man hide.

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He was able to cause Adam and Eve to hide.

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It's one of the ways the enemy removes prayer.

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He causes enough guilt, enough shame, enough hopelessness to force you to hide.

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As long as you're not hiding, he cannot stop prayer.

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Yeah.

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Any questions?

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Any questions?

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Okay.

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So here are some ways that we can begin to get to know the devil.

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So here's the first one.

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The second one.

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The third one.

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The fourth one.

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The fifth one.

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The sixth one.

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The seventh one.

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The seventh one.

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That we can begin this whole idea of prevailing prayer.

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When things begin to overwhelm you, here are some conditions for prevailing prayer.

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This is not the content of prevailing prayer.

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We'll talk about the content of prevailing prayer later.

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But these are the conditions for prevailing prayer.

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As in, if you begin to think like this, prevailing prayer becomes easier when situations get

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overwhelming.

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I'm not just talking about your life.

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your life. I'm talking about lives that you are praying for. Lives that you are praying

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for. How do we contend? How do we prevail? How do we engage in battle? Because this is

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the kind of church that God is looking for and a prevailing church must be a church that

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engages in prevailing prayer. So the first thing is guys, if you want to be someone,

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either an individual or if you want to be a church that knows how to contend, engage,

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battle and win in prayer, the first thing you need to do is rebuke untruth. Rebuke untruth.

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Titus 1.13. Rebuke untruth. Rebuke untruth. Titus 1.13. Let me read it and then I'll explain

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it. Titus 1 verse 13. It says that if you are a church that knows how to contend, you

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must, this testimony is true, therefore rebuke them sharply so that they will be sound in

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the faith. And if you read the previous verses, it tells you how there was a need to refute

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those that do not speak the truth. I'm taking the verse out of context, but the first thing

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you need to know if you want to be a person who knows how to prevail in prayer is that

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you've got to rebuke untruth. You've got to rebuke untruth in your mind. You've got to

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rebuke untruth in circumstances. What do I mean by that? So let's assume you are going

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through a situation and the lie that has been spoken to you is that you will not recover,

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that God is not interested, that he's going to bring you through, he's not going to bring

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you through this, that there is a reason he's doing this, that God is trying to teach you

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a lesson by breaking your leg, that the doctor's prognosis will be right, that your circumstances

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will not change, that God has meant for you to suffer. When you hear these untruths, it's

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not enough to say, no, no, no, not really, not really. No, no, no, you've got to rebuke

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it. To rebuke it is to come against. Jesus rebuked the wind and the wave. You know what

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happens when you rebuke? You put a new value on that which was wrong. To rebuke is to say,

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this cannot be, this is not the truth. Stop. That's the idea of rebuke. There has to be

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an active rebuking of that which is a lie. So even amongst us, when I hear stuff that

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you are saying that is not true, I'll gently say something that's contradictory to what

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you're saying because I don't want to hurt you. But if I had a chance and you were not

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the type that hurts, I'd say it really bluntly, as some do to me. You've got to rebuke deception

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and untruth. You can't let it take hold of a church, take hold of a person because once

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a person has untruth established in their heart or their head, there is no question

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of anything being built on that foundation, guys. How can you build God who is the truth?

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He said, I am the way, the truth and the life. How can you build God's principles who said

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he is the truth? How can you build it on a foundation that you strongly believe but is

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false? You can't rebuke untruth. Any questions on that before we go on? It doesn't matter

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who is bringing it to you. What if it is not received? If it's not received, then you just

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have to go back after a while and try again. You just have to keep going back and trying

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again. That's how God does with us, right? He tells us something we don't listen to.

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He comes back again and says it again. That's the only thing. He won't take away your free

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will. There's nothing God will do with your will. He won't take it away. So you have the

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choice. But man, untruth needs to be rebuked gently, gently because it says in 1st Timothy

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that if you speak and correct someone gently, it might so be that they will escape the snares

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of the devil and will come to their senses. But it very clearly says do not be quarrelsome,

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but be gentle. Therefore, truth can rebuke can be gentle man. Rebuke doesn't have to

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be at the top of your voice. So rebuke untruth. Second one, overcome weariness, overcome weariness

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because when things begin to happen where you're getting slammed again and again, overcome

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weariness. How? Surprisingly through revelation and we'll explain that overcome weariness

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through revelation. What do we mean by that? Go to John chapter 4, John chapter 4, verse

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6, John chapter 4. Guys, we saw Molly Caudill, those that speak things that you know are

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false, but we just sympathize and it just helps them dig a deeper hole because we give them

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a extra spade to dig that hole. If you have nothing truthful to say, just don't say it,

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but do not sympathize because it gives the person a spade to dig a deeper grave. John

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chapter 4, verse 6. Jacob's well was there and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey,

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sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. So here Jesus is walked like crazy,

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done a lot. He's tired and he sees Jacob's well there and he comes and sits down because

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he's tired. He's weary and he would think that now that he's sat down, he's weary.

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He should be left alone, but then go to verse 31. You know the story, but let's go to verse

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31. And then he starts saying, meanwhile, his disciples urged him, Rabbi, eat something.

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But he said to them, I have food to eat that you know nothing about. Then his disciples

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said to each other, could someone have brought him food? Then in verse 34, he says, my food,

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Jesus, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say

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four months more? And then he goes on to talk about the harvest. But here's the point I

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want to make from those scriptures. Whenever you get weary, while it's a good idea when

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you're weary to rest, one of the things that takes weariness away is to dive back into

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finding out father, I am so tired by this onslaught after onslaught after onslaught.

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Could you reveal to me truths out of your word that will build me up right now? Because

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it is always a revelation of the truth that takes away weariness. There that weighed upon

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the Lord for water, she will renew their strength. How is there, what are you waiting on the

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Lord for? More oxygen? There's plenty of it around. More food? That ain't going to come

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from heaven. The days of man are over. So what are you waiting on him for? What is the

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idea of waiting there? The idea of waiting is to crane your neck forward, waiting in

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anticipation of God, I will wait on you. Even though others say that God is does not care,

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even though I'm overwhelmed, I wait on you. And as I wait on who you are and what you

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will show me with regard to the situation after situation I'm going through, I will

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renew my strength and I will rise up like what? Like the eagle. I will mount with wings

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of an eagle. This is such a cool answer to weariness. But Jesus is sitting there, this

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woman from the village comes and she pours him water and he begins to speak. He says,

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you have no idea of the water you that I can give. And then he begins to tell her that

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the father is looking for worshipers. What is he doing with a woman who has that five husbands,

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who's an adulterous, who has a bad reputation, who's coming in the middle of the afternoon to

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draw water because she doesn't even want to associate with other women who come to draw

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water. What's he doing with her explaining worship theology out of him is pouring revelation after

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revelation that the father is looking for worshipers who will worship him in spirit and truth that I

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am he that you should be looking for. She begins to engage him and she says, but the Jews worship

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there and we Samaritans worship here. And then he talks about other things. And as he does,

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she gets full man. And he says, I've got food and drink that you don't even know of

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in situations as you begin to wait on God and waiting is not some kind of,

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that's not waiting. That's resigned acceptance of your condition with God thrown in waiting. Is

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this father? This is my situation. I've taken blow after blow after blow after blow. If I can

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catch a glimpse of what you want to show of the truth of who you are, something will happen inside

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of God and my veeringness will begin to disappear. This is what happened to Hagar. She's lying by the

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side of the road. She wants to stay at a distance from Ishmael because Ishmael is dying. And then

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she has just one revelation that I am the God, something where I am the God who

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sees and she sees that and God turns up, gives water to Hagar, Ishmael and restores her back

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and says, go back to your mistress, Sarah, and I will take care of this boy and I will make him a nation.

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I think vision is the medium. Revelation is the subject. Revelation is the subject, as in

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God revealing a truth. And when God says I want to reveal a truth, what he usually means is,

00:20:01.980 --> 00:20:09.180
I want to reveal to you something about myself. That's what he means. Because everything consists

00:20:09.180 --> 00:20:15.340
in God. All truths are consistent in God. Is gravity real? Well, God discovered it. Is laughter real?

00:20:15.340 --> 00:20:18.620
God discovered it. Is peace real? You can't touch it, but God discovered it.

00:20:20.540 --> 00:20:24.540
Is creation real? God discovered it. Is love real? God is.

00:20:27.100 --> 00:20:29.100
Does creation happen through words? Yes.

00:20:32.300 --> 00:20:37.500
So all truths are basically God saying, let me show you something about myself or let me show you

00:20:37.500 --> 00:20:41.660
something I have done in the past and I will do again. Let me show you how I will do it for you.

00:20:43.020 --> 00:20:48.540
And it takes away weariness. It takes away weariness, whether you're a mom who has a little

00:20:48.540 --> 00:20:54.860
baby or you're a mom who has four kids and a dog, or you're a single person who doesn't know what

00:20:54.860 --> 00:21:00.380
to do with time or you're a person with disease and sickness or you're a person who has financial

00:21:00.380 --> 00:21:06.780
situations or a family that is broken. It does not matter. Revelation has a way. You will look

00:21:06.780 --> 00:21:11.100
in the Bible and you will find time and time and time and time again. What did David do when he

00:21:11.100 --> 00:21:15.900
was weary, tired, running like a refugee? He would go and sit, start singing to God. He would see

00:21:15.900 --> 00:21:22.140
something about God. Halfway through the Psalm, the Psalm would change. You'll see the first 10

00:21:22.140 --> 00:21:27.260
verses of the Psalm lamenting his condition saying, Oh, woe is me. Could you pour some hot oil on the

00:21:27.260 --> 00:21:33.740
guy who destroyed me and then pour some on his children too. And that'll be the first few verses.

00:21:33.740 --> 00:21:40.620
And by the next few verses, it'll be, Oh, forgive. Oh God, show your mercy just as you've shown me

00:21:40.620 --> 00:21:48.620
mercy. And the whole thing changes. What was causing that change? A sudden mood swing? No.

00:21:48.620 --> 00:22:03.180
No. Got sight of something. Third, overcome diversion. When we are under onslaught,

00:22:04.060 --> 00:22:11.740
purpose goes out of the window. Overcome diversion from purpose, overcome diversion from purpose

00:22:11.740 --> 00:22:28.780
through resolve and persistence, resolve and persistence. One of the things that happens when

00:22:30.300 --> 00:22:36.220
the onslaughts from the enemy, regardless of whether he uses people or does it directly

00:22:36.860 --> 00:22:43.900
or circumstances, when it gets overwhelming as you lose, you're diverted from your purpose.

00:22:43.900 --> 00:22:50.700
And yet one of the ways that you overcome diversion from purpose is through resolve and persistence.

00:22:50.700 --> 00:22:57.180
And you see this in Nehemiah, in Nehemiah chapter six, verse one to four. You'll see,

00:22:57.180 --> 00:23:01.340
just turn to Nehemiah six, one to four, Nehemiah six, one to four.

00:23:06.380 --> 00:23:07.500
Nehemiah six.

00:23:16.700 --> 00:23:17.660
Where is Nehemiah?

00:23:24.780 --> 00:23:31.420
Yeah. If, if I can be distracted from my purpose, if I can be diverted from my purpose because of

00:23:31.420 --> 00:23:38.940
different things that are happening in my life, then a man who loses or a woman who loses

00:23:38.940 --> 00:23:52.860
a reason for life is just like a person who never met Christ. Christ brings to you a reason for life.

00:23:55.180 --> 00:23:58.060
And when that is taken away, what do you have, man?

00:23:58.060 --> 00:24:07.020
What did Jesus say? What did God say in Hosea four, verse six? A people without vision perish,

00:24:09.020 --> 00:24:16.940
take away purpose and the decline begins. And I'm not talking about purpose as in goals and targets,

00:24:16.940 --> 00:24:22.860
and I want to be this and I want to be that, but something inside you that begins to bring hope

00:24:23.100 --> 00:24:28.940
inside you that begins to bring hope every day that you wake up thinking today is the day

00:24:28.940 --> 00:24:32.060
when I will know a little more. I'll add a little more to what I know.

00:24:35.820 --> 00:24:42.700
Let this be your condition that regardless of who's died last night or who will die today,

00:24:42.700 --> 00:24:47.740
or what may collapse last night or what may collapse today, every morning you get up with

00:24:47.820 --> 00:24:54.940
this understanding that today is a new day. His mercies, as in his compassion filled attitude

00:24:54.940 --> 00:25:01.260
towards you is new, that today there is reason to wake up with tremendous hope.

00:25:01.260 --> 00:25:16.460
Nehemiah chapter six, verses one to four. It says that when the word came to Sanballat,

00:25:16.460 --> 00:25:21.660
Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies, that I had rebuilt the wall

00:25:21.660 --> 00:25:27.820
and not a gap was left in it. Though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates,

00:25:27.820 --> 00:25:32.700
Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message, come let us meet together in one of the villages

00:25:32.700 --> 00:25:37.900
on the plain of Ono. But they were steaming to harm me, so I sent messengers to them with this

00:25:37.900 --> 00:25:44.220
reply, I'm carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it

00:25:44.220 --> 00:25:49.660
and go down to you? Four times they sent me the same message and each time I gave them the same

00:25:49.660 --> 00:25:55.180
answer. Then the fifth time Sanballat sent his aid to me with the same message and in his hand was

00:25:55.180 --> 00:26:01.020
an unseen letter and it goes on. The point being this guys, decide the things that you are non-negotiable

00:26:01.020 --> 00:26:08.940
in your life. Decide that which is non-negotiable and do not move away from them. You know for the

00:26:08.940 --> 00:26:16.220
last 27 or 28 years and I've been doing what I do on Sundays for the last 27 or 28 years, it does not

00:26:16.220 --> 00:26:22.140
matter who dies, even when it was my dad, it does not matter what happens. There are certain things

00:26:22.140 --> 00:26:28.300
in my life that are non-negotiable and nothing stops for it. Is that cruel? No, it's not cruel,

00:26:28.300 --> 00:26:33.500
it's just this is how it's going to be. These are non-negotiables and for each one it may differ,

00:26:35.020 --> 00:26:36.780
but do not be diverted from your purpose.

00:26:36.780 --> 00:26:56.140
For me, if I can walk and someone doesn't have to carry me, then meeting together as a body,

00:26:56.140 --> 00:27:04.140
assembling of the saints is non-negotiable all my life. For me, standing up here and giving

00:27:04.940 --> 00:27:13.180
every ounce of everything I have during worship is non-negotiable. God has never gotten a bad deal

00:27:13.180 --> 00:27:18.940
from me during worship and since the day I was born again, there has not been a single worship

00:27:18.940 --> 00:27:25.740
session in all the 28 years that I've been a believer that he has received anything less

00:27:25.740 --> 00:27:30.460
than the best I can give during worship. It is non-negotiable. He deserves nothing less,

00:27:30.460 --> 00:27:35.340
I have given nothing less and it is by the grace of God, yes, but there is a resolve inside.

00:27:37.820 --> 00:27:40.940
It's non-negotiable. I'm just giving you two examples.

00:27:48.460 --> 00:27:55.580
Since Acts 29 has begun, I would rather mess up, change what I'm doing, look a little foolish

00:27:55.580 --> 00:28:03.900
and uneducated and ignorant than follow what I have prepared. If I know that this is God, then

00:28:03.900 --> 00:28:09.260
it is non-negotiable. It will happen. It cannot be anything else, even if it costs.

00:28:15.420 --> 00:28:20.700
There should be a ferocity with non-negotiables, ferocity.

00:28:25.580 --> 00:28:30.700
When you're growing up, they call it stubbornness. When you grow up a little more, it's resilience.

00:28:30.700 --> 00:28:34.700
By the time you're my age, it is non-negotiable.

00:28:37.900 --> 00:28:46.060
Yes, it is impossible to maintain non-negotiables if you aren't in love with somebody and that is

00:28:46.060 --> 00:28:49.900
the reason why it's a non-negotiable because you don't have the willpower to do it.

00:28:50.060 --> 00:28:57.820
You're doing it solely because there is someone who is far more important than you for whom you're doing it and it is not possible to break it.

00:28:59.820 --> 00:29:04.940
If that isn't the motive, then at some point you will be broken. It has to be for someone else

00:29:06.220 --> 00:29:08.220
that you love more than yourself.

00:29:08.380 --> 00:29:15.580
So, decide that through resolve and persistence, you will overcome diversion from purpose.

00:29:17.580 --> 00:29:23.420
Fourth one, overcome discouragement and fear. Overcome discouragement and fear. Overcome

00:29:24.540 --> 00:29:32.620
discouragement and fear. Overcome discouragement and fear. Overcome discouragement and fear.

00:29:33.500 --> 00:29:41.900
Overcome discouragement and fear. Overcome discouragement and fear.

00:29:43.660 --> 00:29:48.220
Through overcome discouragement and fear.

00:29:50.540 --> 00:29:57.020
Through remembering, through two ways. One, remembering what he has done. Remembering what he has done.

00:29:57.020 --> 00:30:02.620
Two, depending on Aaron's and hers.

00:30:02.620 --> 00:30:06.620
Depending on Aaron and Reni. Sorry, Aaron and hers.

00:30:12.620 --> 00:30:18.620
So, discouragement and fear is so regularly used by the devil. So regularly used by the devil.

00:30:18.620 --> 00:30:24.620
The number of people in this church who are in this church who are in this church who are in this church who are in this church

00:30:24.620 --> 00:30:28.780
regularly used by the devil. The number of people in this church who go through discouragement and fear

00:30:30.300 --> 00:30:32.300
is the same as the number of people in any other church.

00:30:34.140 --> 00:30:40.300
Because this is the common common weapon used by the devil to break us.

00:30:40.940 --> 00:30:46.460
Discourage, discourage, discourage. Nothing's working out. It's been a while. Bleak, bleak, bleak. Fear.

00:30:54.620 --> 00:30:58.620
They don't know what kind of God he is. They don't know what he is.

00:30:58.620 --> 00:31:02.620
In Jesus' name, almighty God in heaven, we seek.

00:31:02.620 --> 00:31:08.620
It's fascinating how someone who can be really strong in the Lord is still afraid of doctors.

00:31:08.620 --> 00:31:14.620
It can easily happen. I know people who are really strong in the Lord who when they go to doctors start feeling afraid.

00:31:14.620 --> 00:31:20.620
It's not because they have less word in them. It's just because anyone with a white coat

00:31:20.620 --> 00:31:28.620
Yeah, it kind of frightens you. So the point is it's not that we don't know scripture, but the devil has used discouragement and fear

00:31:28.620 --> 00:31:36.620
to bring us to a place where we get scared. And so there's two ways we overcome it.

00:31:36.620 --> 00:31:42.620
One, through remembering what God has done in the past.

00:31:42.620 --> 00:31:48.620
Why that? Because the Bible talks about it. David would make statements like this.

00:31:48.620 --> 00:31:54.620
These things I remember as I pour out my soul. So even as he's crying and pouring out his soul,

00:31:54.620 --> 00:31:58.620
he's thinking of all the good things God has done.

00:31:58.620 --> 00:32:06.620
In Psalm 42, verse 4, he does that. In Psalm 53, he says, I put my life in the hands of the devil.

00:32:06.620 --> 00:32:14.620
In Psalm 42, verse 4, he does that. In Psalm 53, he says, I put my trust in God whose word I trust.

00:32:14.620 --> 00:32:20.620
I put my trust in God whose word I trust. I put my trust.

00:32:20.620 --> 00:32:24.620
That's what he says in Psalm 56, verse 3, where he begins to remember what God has done in the past.

00:32:24.620 --> 00:32:28.620
And it doesn't mean that God will do it the same way this time, but he knows God did it before.

00:32:28.620 --> 00:32:34.620
And the last situation was really bad and he delivered me. We don't recount what God has done.

00:32:34.620 --> 00:32:39.620
One of the ways you recount what God has done is by speaking it.

00:32:39.620 --> 00:32:45.620
So the less you speak about it, the more it becomes a memory and becomes a hazy memory.

00:32:46.620 --> 00:32:51.620
Speak often of it. In Malachi, it says that there was a book that God opened.

00:32:51.620 --> 00:32:55.620
And you know what the name of the book was? It was called the Book of Remembrance.

00:32:55.620 --> 00:33:02.620
And what would he write down in it? He would write down the names of people who were talking about him and the things he had done.

00:33:02.620 --> 00:33:07.620
And then the other way is to be dependent on Aaron's and hers.

00:33:07.620 --> 00:33:16.620
And what does that mean? Moses, at one point, had to lift up his hands and hold them up for a while when a battle was going on and his arms became tired.

00:33:16.620 --> 00:33:22.620
It says so in Exodus 17. And so Aaron, this guy called Aaron, and this guy called Her.

00:33:22.620 --> 00:33:27.620
Poor guy, what a name to live with. And so Aaron and Her came and stood on both sides and held up his arms.

00:33:28.620 --> 00:33:37.620
And so sometimes when I'm discouraged and I'm afraid, I need people to come and say, Hey, Jacob, let me buy you a burger.

00:33:37.620 --> 00:33:44.620
That only fills your stomach. And that's comfort food, especially a baconator.

00:33:44.620 --> 00:33:54.620
But fear and discouragement need people to come alongside and say things that will build you up, not give you platitudes like, Oh, don't worry, I'm here.

00:33:54.620 --> 00:34:03.620
Really? Tell me something new. Give me something a little more solid than God is still in control because that I could get out of a Hallmark card.

00:34:03.620 --> 00:34:09.620
Give me something solid. And that's when Aaron's and hers come into play.

00:34:09.620 --> 00:34:18.620
Next one. I love this one. This is so simple that it bothers me that we don't think like this.

00:34:18.620 --> 00:34:28.620
Know that you have a good father who won't give you a serpent when you ask for fish.

00:34:31.620 --> 00:34:33.620
Luke 11.11.

00:34:33.620 --> 00:34:40.620
Hey, when you go pray, why is it that you think that he is going to give you a serpent?

00:34:40.620 --> 00:34:46.620
A good father will not give you a serpent. It says, Will a good father when you go and ask him for fish, give you a serpent?

00:34:46.620 --> 00:34:48.620
Will he give you a serpent?

00:34:50.620 --> 00:34:59.620
There is no one who won't give you a serpent when you ask for fish.

00:34:59.620 --> 00:35:02.060
Will a good father, when you go and ask him for fish,

00:35:02.060 --> 00:35:03.580
give you a serpent?

00:35:03.580 --> 00:35:05.780
Will he give you a scorpion when you ask for egg?

00:35:05.780 --> 00:35:09.000
Will he give you stone when you ask for bread?

00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:10.820
Well, you have a good, good father.

00:35:10.820 --> 00:35:13.120
So Jacob, when you pray,

00:35:13.120 --> 00:35:15.400
even when it's taking long to happen,

00:35:15.400 --> 00:35:16.820
know without a shadow of a doubt

00:35:16.820 --> 00:35:21.020
that your good father will not give you a serpent

00:35:21.020 --> 00:35:23.520
when you are asking for fish.

00:35:25.500 --> 00:35:26.860
If it's taking a little longer,

00:35:26.860 --> 00:35:30.860
maybe it's a fish that's bigger than you asked for,

00:35:30.860 --> 00:35:33.460
but it ain't going to be a serpent.

00:35:33.460 --> 00:35:36.740
It's going to come.

00:35:36.740 --> 00:35:40.740
Just simple assurance that children know.

00:35:44.260 --> 00:35:46.540
I didn't know you're not supposed to disappoint a kid.

00:35:46.540 --> 00:35:49.380
When you tell a kid something, you better deliver.

00:35:49.380 --> 00:35:51.540
Yeah, or else they have these memories

00:35:51.540 --> 00:35:54.420
that transform them into elephants.

00:35:54.420 --> 00:35:56.340
But I didn't know this.

00:35:56.340 --> 00:36:00.340
So I promised a kid the moon and then, didn't deliver.

00:36:00.340 --> 00:36:02.060
And Eric called me and said,

00:36:02.060 --> 00:36:03.540
hey Jacob, if you tell a kid something,

00:36:03.540 --> 00:36:05.180
because he's got four of them.

00:36:05.180 --> 00:36:07.380
He had four of them, then now he's got five.

00:36:07.380 --> 00:36:09.540
So he said, you gotta deliver.

00:36:09.540 --> 00:36:11.200
And this kid was waiting, man.

00:36:11.200 --> 00:36:12.440
This kid was waiting.

00:36:14.820 --> 00:36:17.940
And so what I've decided is not to make any promises to kids.

00:36:20.300 --> 00:36:22.340
Because the thing is with kids, you...

00:36:23.340 --> 00:36:26.340
But Lorient, at least with kids, when you make,

00:36:26.340 --> 00:36:27.900
you tell them you'll play a game with them

00:36:27.900 --> 00:36:28.740
and you play it once.

00:36:28.740 --> 00:36:30.940
They want to play it 14 times, man.

00:36:30.940 --> 00:36:32.940
With grownups, you only need to play it once.

00:36:34.660 --> 00:36:35.500
Pardon?

00:36:40.540 --> 00:36:41.380
Moving on.

00:36:42.820 --> 00:36:43.660
Yeah.

00:36:45.660 --> 00:36:47.660
Why did I open this?

00:36:47.660 --> 00:36:48.660
It's awful.

00:36:48.660 --> 00:36:49.940
Why did I open this?

00:36:49.940 --> 00:36:50.940
It's awful.

00:37:01.620 --> 00:37:02.460
Yeah.

00:37:07.700 --> 00:37:09.220
Yeah, I thought you were gonna take a shot at me,

00:37:09.220 --> 00:37:11.380
but I'm glad that you quoted a verse instead.

00:37:11.380 --> 00:37:12.820
So you're on my...

00:37:14.140 --> 00:37:14.980
So the next one.

00:37:14.980 --> 00:37:15.820
This is...

00:37:21.420 --> 00:37:23.100
Stay within the hedge.

00:37:23.100 --> 00:37:26.380
Stay within the hedge

00:37:29.340 --> 00:37:31.020
within which God wants to bless,

00:37:31.020 --> 00:37:36.020
within which God wants to bless.

00:37:37.560 --> 00:37:42.260
It's in Job 1, verse 10ish, I think.

00:37:42.260 --> 00:37:43.620
Here's the thing, guys.

00:37:43.660 --> 00:37:45.740
God loves putting a hedge around you.

00:37:46.660 --> 00:37:49.020
A hedge is like a protective fence around you.

00:37:49.020 --> 00:37:50.420
Stay within it.

00:37:50.420 --> 00:37:51.940
Stay within it.

00:37:51.940 --> 00:37:53.380
God puts a hedge around you.

00:37:53.380 --> 00:37:54.260
Stay within it.

00:37:56.580 --> 00:37:59.100
The strange thing is it's not with Job that he started it.

00:37:59.100 --> 00:38:01.860
He did it in the beginning of creation,

00:38:01.860 --> 00:38:04.500
where he took Adam and Eve, put them in a garden,

00:38:04.500 --> 00:38:08.460
and said, within these confines of Eden, stay.

00:38:08.460 --> 00:38:11.300
Everything within this area is yours.

00:38:11.300 --> 00:38:12.580
The serpent was on the outside.

00:38:12.580 --> 00:38:14.620
He wasn't on the inside.

00:38:14.620 --> 00:38:17.060
And God loves putting a hedge around you.

00:38:17.060 --> 00:38:19.300
He did that for Job, so much so that the devil

00:38:19.300 --> 00:38:22.380
had to come and say, if it were not for this hedge

00:38:22.380 --> 00:38:23.660
that you put around him.

00:38:25.020 --> 00:38:27.180
And that won't be taken away in our case

00:38:27.180 --> 00:38:31.260
because Jesus Christ has already defeated the devil.

00:38:31.260 --> 00:38:32.940
Job won't be repeated in your case,

00:38:32.940 --> 00:38:36.140
where God does not take away your protective covering.

00:38:36.140 --> 00:38:37.780
You're his possession.

00:38:37.780 --> 00:38:39.940
You're the apple of his eye.

00:38:39.940 --> 00:38:41.380
He loves putting a hedge around you.

00:38:41.380 --> 00:38:42.620
Once he puts a hedge around you,

00:38:42.620 --> 00:38:45.140
he likes blessing you within that boundary.

00:38:45.140 --> 00:38:49.540
But you and I have the ability to step out of the hedge

00:38:49.540 --> 00:38:52.900
through habits, through bondages, through sin,

00:38:52.900 --> 00:38:54.700
through broken relationships.

00:38:57.180 --> 00:39:00.740
Stay within the hedge that God loves blessing you within.

00:39:00.740 --> 00:39:02.540
He's been doing it since Eden.

00:39:02.540 --> 00:39:05.100
And if you step out, repent and return

00:39:05.100 --> 00:39:09.100
on the freshly slain blood pathway that Jesus has created.

00:39:10.060 --> 00:39:13.220
Freshly slain blood pathway.

00:39:15.220 --> 00:39:18.500
Jesus' blood isn't dried old blood.

00:39:18.500 --> 00:39:20.340
It is freshly slain.

00:39:20.340 --> 00:39:23.340
Thousands and thousands come to the Lord every day

00:39:23.340 --> 00:39:26.820
because his blood is alive and calls out for mercy.

00:39:28.100 --> 00:39:30.180
So anytime I break the hedge and I'm out of it,

00:39:30.180 --> 00:39:31.460
repent and come back.

00:39:32.380 --> 00:39:33.260
Don't stay out.

00:39:35.700 --> 00:39:37.220
I used to do this ages ago

00:39:37.220 --> 00:39:39.180
when I first started preaching that

00:39:39.180 --> 00:39:42.060
it's never that God removes his hand.

00:39:43.260 --> 00:39:47.380
It is always that I can step from under his covering.

00:39:49.140 --> 00:39:50.220
It's never that God says,

00:39:50.220 --> 00:39:51.620
okay, I'm gonna let you go.

00:39:51.620 --> 00:39:52.700
I'm gonna abandon you.

00:39:52.700 --> 00:39:53.940
That does not happen.

00:39:55.660 --> 00:39:57.620
This is another truth.

00:39:57.620 --> 00:39:58.460
Here's the untruth.

00:39:58.460 --> 00:40:00.780
The untruth is, oh, God has abandoned me.

00:40:00.780 --> 00:40:01.780
Not true.

00:40:01.780 --> 00:40:03.660
Oh, God has taken my protection away.

00:40:03.660 --> 00:40:04.500
Not true.

00:40:04.500 --> 00:40:05.900
Oh, God has let go of my hand.

00:40:05.900 --> 00:40:06.740
Not true.

00:40:07.260 --> 00:40:09.300
These are the untruths we need to rebuke.

00:40:09.300 --> 00:40:11.500
God does not take away his hand.

00:40:11.500 --> 00:40:14.700
You and I can step out of it.

00:40:14.700 --> 00:40:16.100
And if we step out of it,

00:40:16.100 --> 00:40:20.140
there's an easy way of turning to him and coming back to.

00:40:22.140 --> 00:40:22.980
Any questions on that

00:40:22.980 --> 00:40:24.900
before we go on to the content of prayer?

00:40:26.380 --> 00:40:27.220
Any questions?

00:40:29.380 --> 00:40:30.540
Anything you wanna add?

00:40:32.860 --> 00:40:33.700
Yep.

00:40:37.740 --> 00:40:40.060
Partly because someone sent it to me

00:40:40.060 --> 00:40:41.420
on WhatsApp from Australia.

00:40:42.860 --> 00:40:46.060
But no, there's no reason for the order.

00:40:46.060 --> 00:40:46.900
Yeah.

00:40:48.900 --> 00:40:49.740
Yep.

00:40:51.780 --> 00:40:52.620
Yep.

00:41:00.020 --> 00:41:00.860
Reach out.

00:41:02.140 --> 00:41:03.260
Reach out.

00:41:03.260 --> 00:41:04.100
Ask.

00:41:04.100 --> 00:41:05.540
Ask.

00:41:05.540 --> 00:41:08.740
Ask someone you think you can depend on.

00:41:08.740 --> 00:41:10.140
Ask someone you trust.

00:41:10.140 --> 00:41:12.860
Or ask someone you don't know if you can depend on

00:41:12.860 --> 00:41:14.660
and don't know well,

00:41:14.660 --> 00:41:17.340
but you trust has the ability to help.

00:41:17.340 --> 00:41:18.180
Go and ask.

00:41:19.740 --> 00:41:20.580
Yeah.

00:41:20.580 --> 00:41:22.620
And let's assume this body was really messed up

00:41:22.620 --> 00:41:24.260
and broken and not nice.

00:41:24.260 --> 00:41:26.260
You can still go and ask.

00:41:26.260 --> 00:41:27.300
We do that in the world, huh?

00:41:27.300 --> 00:41:29.100
We take on doctors who we don't know.

00:41:29.100 --> 00:41:29.940
Ask.

00:41:29.940 --> 00:41:34.940
Our problem with asking is sometimes that we're all peers,

00:41:34.940 --> 00:41:36.900
so it's difficult.

00:41:36.900 --> 00:41:39.140
Otherwise, I think you should just ask.

00:41:42.060 --> 00:41:43.940
And never start a conversation with,

00:41:43.940 --> 00:41:47.740
I think you may be busy, but just forget that.

00:41:47.740 --> 00:41:48.580
Just ask.

00:41:54.820 --> 00:41:55.660
Ask.

00:41:55.660 --> 00:41:57.460
Ask someone you trust.

00:41:57.580 --> 00:41:58.420
Ask.

00:42:00.500 --> 00:42:01.500
Any other questions?

00:42:03.540 --> 00:42:04.380
Okay.

00:42:09.180 --> 00:42:12.740
We won't probably finish the content of prayers

00:42:12.740 --> 00:42:15.380
and what does prevailing prayer look like.

00:42:15.380 --> 00:42:17.380
We'll just start one or two and then stop

00:42:18.540 --> 00:42:21.420
and continue another time.

00:42:21.420 --> 00:42:23.060
If someone can remind me when I'm back that,

00:42:23.060 --> 00:42:24.300
hey, you didn't finish it.

00:42:25.900 --> 00:42:27.100
Since no one wants to remind me,

00:42:27.740 --> 00:42:30.060
I guess I'll go right through it for the next one hour.

00:42:31.500 --> 00:42:32.700
Could someone remind me?

00:42:34.060 --> 00:42:36.300
Oh my Lord, there are volunteers.

00:42:39.300 --> 00:42:40.300
Okay.

00:42:40.300 --> 00:42:41.140
The content.

00:42:41.140 --> 00:42:43.180
What does prevailing prayer look like?

00:42:43.180 --> 00:42:45.620
One, it's a kind of prayer that,

00:42:45.620 --> 00:42:47.780
guys, this is not the way we pray, huh?

00:42:47.780 --> 00:42:49.260
It is not the way we as a church pray.

00:42:49.260 --> 00:42:51.580
It's not the way that we as individuals pray.

00:42:52.700 --> 00:42:56.420
So the first one is we inflict loss,

00:42:56.420 --> 00:42:58.980
inflict loss

00:43:01.420 --> 00:43:03.420
upon Satan.

00:43:04.620 --> 00:43:08.220
We inflict loss upon Satan.

00:43:08.220 --> 00:43:10.340
We provoke hostilities.

00:43:11.220 --> 00:43:14.460
We provoke hostilities.

00:43:16.660 --> 00:43:20.380
We smite the lion

00:43:21.780 --> 00:43:23.180
and the bear.

00:43:23.180 --> 00:43:27.420
That's from 1 Samuel 15 or 17.

00:43:27.420 --> 00:43:31.660
This is part of what prevailing prayer looks like,

00:43:31.660 --> 00:43:34.020
where you inflict loss upon the enemy.

00:43:34.020 --> 00:43:37.940
When was the last time you inflicted loss upon the devil

00:43:37.940 --> 00:43:39.620
where the devil touched you

00:43:39.620 --> 00:43:44.140
and you came back in prayer in such a strong way

00:43:44.140 --> 00:43:47.820
that inflicted loss upon the enemy and you saw it.

00:43:47.820 --> 00:43:51.260
You saw damage done to the satanic kingdom.

00:43:51.260 --> 00:43:52.340
You saw it.

00:43:54.180 --> 00:43:57.860
This was common practice in the Old Testament

00:43:57.860 --> 00:44:00.700
and surprisingly in the New Testament too.

00:44:00.700 --> 00:44:03.460
Yet it is such an alien concept to us.

00:44:06.460 --> 00:44:08.620
We presume that things are happening,

00:44:08.620 --> 00:44:11.580
but there's no evidence to show that loss has been inflicted.

00:44:11.580 --> 00:44:14.180
In the Bible, there was always evidence that showed

00:44:14.180 --> 00:44:17.020
that my God, this prayer inflicted loss upon the enemy.

00:44:19.020 --> 00:44:22.540
That when was the last time you provoked hostilities?

00:44:23.260 --> 00:44:26.060
Where we as a church provoked hostilities saying,

00:44:26.060 --> 00:44:27.540
all righty, you want to fight, Gisela?

00:44:27.540 --> 00:44:28.780
You want to fight, come.

00:44:29.740 --> 00:44:31.700
When was the last time we did that?

00:44:31.700 --> 00:44:36.540
Don't do it to Gisela, but take on Kamal.

00:44:40.020 --> 00:44:41.420
He'll drive his car over you.

00:44:44.060 --> 00:44:46.860
So provoking hostilities.

00:44:46.860 --> 00:44:48.900
And then the third one was smiting the lion and the bear.

00:44:48.900 --> 00:44:50.340
So let's look at those three

00:44:50.340 --> 00:44:53.100
then maybe we'll take one more and stop.

00:44:54.020 --> 00:44:57.660
So if you go to first Exodus 17.9, Exodus 17.9,

00:44:58.700 --> 00:45:00.140
depending, I mean there's one version

00:45:00.140 --> 00:45:03.020
which actually uses the word provoke hostilities.

00:45:03.020 --> 00:45:08.020
Hostilities, Exodus 17.9, Exodus, Exodus 17.9.

00:45:11.100 --> 00:45:14.660
It says that starting at verse eight.

00:45:17.660 --> 00:45:22.220
The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Dreyfidim.

00:45:22.220 --> 00:45:26.380
Moses said to Joshua, choose some of our men

00:45:26.380 --> 00:45:29.460
and go out to fight the Amalekites.

00:45:30.580 --> 00:45:33.740
And another version it says, choose some men

00:45:33.740 --> 00:45:36.860
and go provoke a fight with the Amalekites.

00:45:36.860 --> 00:45:38.860
Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill

00:45:38.860 --> 00:45:40.580
with the staff of God in my hand

00:45:40.580 --> 00:45:41.940
and then the victory is won.

00:45:41.940 --> 00:45:45.980
So there is this idea where God sometimes would say to,

00:45:45.980 --> 00:45:50.580
if he in the book of Acts, in Acts 18 and 19 particularly,

00:45:50.580 --> 00:45:51.980
and in other places that listen,

00:45:52.740 --> 00:45:54.060
I want you to engage a fight.

00:45:54.060 --> 00:45:55.820
I want you to start a fight

00:45:55.820 --> 00:45:57.460
because I wanna do some damage.

00:45:58.300 --> 00:46:00.380
But he can't say to us because

00:46:00.380 --> 00:46:02.420
to begin with we don't like fighting.

00:46:02.420 --> 00:46:04.380
Forget provoking a fight.

00:46:05.740 --> 00:46:09.140
I'm talking about fighting with invisible beings.

00:46:09.140 --> 00:46:12.500
I mean if you are not someone who knows the Bible,

00:46:12.500 --> 00:46:15.060
even me talking like this will freak you out.

00:46:22.020 --> 00:46:25.500
And then the first one is inflict loss upon Satan

00:46:26.540 --> 00:46:29.020
where there is damage and loss done to the devil.

00:46:30.020 --> 00:46:32.420
I mean there's a pastor down in California

00:46:33.300 --> 00:46:35.020
and he writes about the story where

00:46:35.020 --> 00:46:36.940
he went up to his church one day

00:46:36.940 --> 00:46:38.900
and brought all the newspapers with him

00:46:38.900 --> 00:46:41.620
from the day before and he started reading out news,

00:46:41.620 --> 00:46:43.220
article after news article,

00:46:43.220 --> 00:46:46.620
and it was depressing the news

00:46:46.620 --> 00:46:49.140
of all the things that were happening in their town.

00:46:49.140 --> 00:46:51.660
And people started like good Christians saying,

00:46:52.420 --> 00:46:54.540
end of the world, the world is going to the dogs

00:46:54.540 --> 00:46:57.780
and oh this is the devil and oh God come quickly,

00:46:57.780 --> 00:46:59.820
oh let's get raptured and all this stuff.

00:46:59.820 --> 00:47:02.820
So they're lamenting the condition of their town

00:47:02.820 --> 00:47:04.100
and at one point he asked us,

00:47:04.100 --> 00:47:06.300
he said do you know the reason this is happening

00:47:06.300 --> 00:47:08.140
is because we as a people,

00:47:08.140 --> 00:47:11.020
as a people of God do nothing about it.

00:47:12.020 --> 00:47:15.740
And so starting that night they would gather in a barn

00:47:17.380 --> 00:47:19.940
on the far end of the city

00:47:19.980 --> 00:47:21.980
and they began to pray every night.

00:47:21.980 --> 00:47:25.980
A few people would just gather in that barn, open field

00:47:25.980 --> 00:47:29.820
and then there's this wilderness at the edge of the city

00:47:29.820 --> 00:47:31.180
and they would gather.

00:47:31.180 --> 00:47:33.300
One day went by 365 days went by,

00:47:33.300 --> 00:47:34.900
one and a half years went by

00:47:34.900 --> 00:47:36.740
and they would not let up man.

00:47:36.740 --> 00:47:39.820
And then one night, about a year and a half later

00:47:39.820 --> 00:47:42.300
while they're praying, there is this loud

00:47:43.340 --> 00:47:48.340
blood curdling streak at the end of where the woods are

00:47:48.900 --> 00:47:49.980
and there's nobody there

00:47:49.980 --> 00:47:52.300
but they can hear this blood curdling streak

00:47:53.740 --> 00:47:55.020
and something fleeing.

00:47:56.820 --> 00:47:59.300
And that day the town began to change.

00:48:01.380 --> 00:48:02.860
And today if you go through that town

00:48:02.860 --> 00:48:06.500
which was like a place that people would not even buy land,

00:48:06.500 --> 00:48:09.500
it's a land that is doing well.

00:48:11.220 --> 00:48:14.820
Older couples go there to retire because it's that peaceful.

00:48:19.140 --> 00:48:22.540
Inflicts loss, there was a situation at Acts 29

00:48:22.540 --> 00:48:24.180
which some of you may remember

00:48:24.180 --> 00:48:26.860
where someone in this church brought us a prayer request

00:48:26.860 --> 00:48:30.860
on a Sunday morning and said that a friend of his

00:48:30.860 --> 00:48:35.420
had gone and eaten from a temple in India.

00:48:37.180 --> 00:48:39.020
And he'd eaten from a temple in India

00:48:39.020 --> 00:48:44.020
and now he was a Christian, eaten from a temple in India

00:48:44.060 --> 00:48:46.980
Christian, eaten from a temple in India

00:48:46.980 --> 00:48:51.140
and because of some demonic possession

00:48:51.140 --> 00:48:53.300
literally started writing around like a snake

00:48:53.300 --> 00:48:56.140
trying to climb up the wall like a snake.

00:48:56.140 --> 00:48:59.460
And that morning this man gets a call

00:48:59.460 --> 00:49:03.420
from the boy's mother saying, can you please pray?

00:49:03.420 --> 00:49:06.620
And as we began to pray that morning

00:49:06.620 --> 00:49:10.900
this boy began to get set free 12,000 kilometers away.

00:49:10.900 --> 00:49:14.540
Inflict loss, inflict loss.

00:49:17.820 --> 00:49:22.100
Where things, I mean the story that I just told you

00:49:22.100 --> 00:49:24.940
is not so much as a loss as a deliverance.

00:49:24.940 --> 00:49:29.940
I'm talking about the devil paying a price for doing harm.

00:49:32.980 --> 00:49:37.220
I remember Graham Cook going up to the city council

00:49:37.260 --> 00:49:40.740
that was denying him an application to set up

00:49:42.340 --> 00:49:45.300
place that would help the poor and the downcast

00:49:45.300 --> 00:49:47.740
and he kept going back with the application saying,

00:49:47.740 --> 00:49:50.220
I'd like to do it right, here is everything you need

00:49:50.220 --> 00:49:51.740
and they kept rejecting it, kept rejecting it

00:49:51.740 --> 00:49:53.940
and then he goes in one day to the city council

00:49:53.940 --> 00:49:55.980
somewhere in the UK and he says to them,

00:49:55.980 --> 00:49:57.780
I have brought you everything you need

00:49:57.780 --> 00:49:59.700
and I've brought the documents,

00:49:59.700 --> 00:50:01.620
I've done everything you've asked me to.

00:50:01.620 --> 00:50:03.660
I've done it three, four, five times

00:50:03.660 --> 00:50:05.660
and now I want you to know that you have no reason

00:50:05.660 --> 00:50:06.900
to deny me permission

00:50:07.540 --> 00:50:10.020
and I want you to know this, if this is denied,

00:50:10.020 --> 00:50:13.060
every embezzlement in this room,

00:50:13.900 --> 00:50:18.420
every adulterous relationship, every form of corruption

00:50:18.420 --> 00:50:20.060
practiced by anyone in this room

00:50:20.060 --> 00:50:23.060
will be exposed over the next week by my God.

00:50:23.060 --> 00:50:26.300
So either go ahead and grant this document

00:50:26.300 --> 00:50:29.020
and release it to me or know what's gonna happen.

00:50:29.020 --> 00:50:31.020
He got permission within minutes.

00:50:31.020 --> 00:50:34.020
But how do you get to a point where you are so sure

00:50:34.020 --> 00:50:35.500
of praying like this?

00:50:37.180 --> 00:50:41.140
You see how poor we are in that, how poor we are in that.

00:50:42.780 --> 00:50:43.860
We don't know how to.

00:50:47.980 --> 00:50:49.900
Some of the things that are happening in India

00:50:49.900 --> 00:50:51.340
based on the letter that was read

00:50:51.340 --> 00:50:52.780
and some of the other things that are happening

00:50:52.780 --> 00:50:55.300
are causing actual loss and damage.

00:50:55.300 --> 00:50:57.980
I remember showing you bullets being fired

00:50:58.020 --> 00:50:59.820
at this guy who runs this conference.

00:51:05.620 --> 00:51:07.780
Some of the stories are untellable guys

00:51:07.780 --> 00:51:11.300
because it is on one hand scary,

00:51:11.300 --> 00:51:13.620
on the other hand, will freak you out.

00:51:20.780 --> 00:51:22.580
God wants to make us a church.

00:51:22.580 --> 00:51:25.260
Like the smite the lion and the bear is the church.

00:51:25.300 --> 00:51:26.460
God wants to make us a church.

00:51:26.460 --> 00:51:27.940
Like the smite the lion and the bear

00:51:27.940 --> 00:51:29.900
is another thing that David would practice.

00:51:29.900 --> 00:51:32.980
David said in 1 Samuel 17 that listen, Saul,

00:51:32.980 --> 00:51:34.620
Saul is trying to put his armor on David.

00:51:34.620 --> 00:51:37.340
And David says, now Saul, I don't want your armor.

00:51:37.340 --> 00:51:38.180
Why David?

00:51:38.180 --> 00:51:42.140
Because I've learned how to use just stick and stone

00:51:42.140 --> 00:51:44.300
because when I would be in the field

00:51:44.300 --> 00:51:46.460
and there would be a lion or a bear

00:51:46.460 --> 00:51:49.820
that would come towards me and try to take one of the sheep,

00:51:49.820 --> 00:51:51.220
I would smite it.

00:51:51.220 --> 00:51:53.460
And if it didn't release the sheep,

00:51:53.500 --> 00:51:56.100
I would go grab its jaws, pull it open,

00:51:56.100 --> 00:51:58.380
pull out the sheep and smite it so hard

00:51:58.380 --> 00:51:59.780
that it would learn a lesson.

00:52:01.460 --> 00:52:03.180
When was the last time you prayed?

00:52:03.180 --> 00:52:05.580
And if you prayed this, make sure that you don't pray

00:52:05.580 --> 00:52:08.140
out of presumption but pray it out of absolute faith

00:52:08.140 --> 00:52:09.900
that Satan, if you do this again,

00:52:09.900 --> 00:52:12.580
I will cause the smiting of God to fall upon you.

00:52:14.180 --> 00:52:16.300
But the thing is, you've got to make sure

00:52:16.300 --> 00:52:17.740
that you can follow through

00:52:17.740 --> 00:52:19.700
and you know how to follow through.

00:52:19.700 --> 00:52:23.740
I remember once a guy in front of me who was driving slow

00:52:23.740 --> 00:52:27.380
and I honked and he gave me the finger

00:52:27.380 --> 00:52:30.220
and I started following him thinking he was a small guy.

00:52:30.220 --> 00:52:31.980
And then he stopped and he got out of the car

00:52:31.980 --> 00:52:33.420
and I rolled up my windows.

00:52:35.900 --> 00:52:38.860
Because I thought to myself, oops, this is not one of the,

00:52:38.860 --> 00:52:41.260
this is not a fight I want to go through.

00:52:41.260 --> 00:52:43.660
I rolled up the window and I said, it's okay, it's okay.

00:52:43.660 --> 00:52:44.900
And I went off on the side.

00:52:44.900 --> 00:52:47.020
If we begin to take this on,

00:52:47.020 --> 00:52:50.060
you've got to know that you can see through.

00:52:50.060 --> 00:52:52.140
Otherwise, out of the car will come a guy

00:52:52.140 --> 00:52:53.660
who's twice your size.

00:52:56.860 --> 00:52:58.860
So I'm not saying let's go and do this.

00:52:58.860 --> 00:53:02.540
I'm saying look at what awaits us and look at where we are.

00:53:04.620 --> 00:53:06.860
I was thinking of all the stories I could tell

00:53:06.860 --> 00:53:08.740
of these three and one day I will.

00:53:10.140 --> 00:53:11.980
I just wanted to write it down accurately

00:53:11.980 --> 00:53:13.980
and then read it out so that it's not piecemeal

00:53:13.980 --> 00:53:15.100
because I don't want to exaggerate.

00:53:15.100 --> 00:53:17.100
One of the things that you've got to be careful of

00:53:17.100 --> 00:53:20.780
whenever you talk about any victory over the devil

00:53:20.780 --> 00:53:22.860
is that you do not exaggerate

00:53:22.860 --> 00:53:26.700
because he's a liar, a thief and a murderer.

00:53:26.700 --> 00:53:29.820
And so when you tell stories of what God has done

00:53:29.820 --> 00:53:32.220
and when you tell stories of how the devil was defeated,

00:53:32.220 --> 00:53:35.100
it is very easy to add a little here and there.

00:53:35.100 --> 00:53:37.260
And that's exactly what he's looking for.

00:53:37.260 --> 00:53:39.540
Because if in your testimony of what you have done,

00:53:39.540 --> 00:53:42.900
you can add lies, then it plays straight into the hand

00:53:42.900 --> 00:53:44.580
of the one you're trying to defeat.

00:53:46.060 --> 00:53:47.140
This is why when I was driving,

00:53:47.140 --> 00:53:48.580
I was thinking of different stories and thought,

00:53:48.580 --> 00:53:50.580
Father, I've got to make sure every one of them

00:53:50.580 --> 00:53:54.220
is exactly what I saw and not presumption

00:53:56.180 --> 00:53:58.780
that this could have happened or this may have happened.

00:54:01.860 --> 00:54:04.460
We don't realize sometimes that when we tell a story,

00:54:04.460 --> 00:54:07.820
the moment you add exaggeration to it, it thrills the crowd,

00:54:07.820 --> 00:54:10.620
but it impoverishes the work of the spirit in the crowd.

00:54:10.620 --> 00:54:13.620
There can be no presumption in your stories.

00:54:13.620 --> 00:54:14.740
And then I believe God did this.

00:54:14.740 --> 00:54:16.540
No, if you didn't see it, then you can only say,

00:54:16.540 --> 00:54:18.260
I'm praying that God would have done that.

00:54:18.260 --> 00:54:19.540
I don't know for sure.

00:54:24.420 --> 00:54:27.340
So we look at this and then let's touch on one

00:54:27.340 --> 00:54:30.020
and then stop, let me see which one we should take.

00:54:35.020 --> 00:54:37.940
Look at this scriptury and then we'll see

00:54:38.460 --> 00:54:41.460
Look at this scriptury and then we'll stop with that.

00:54:41.460 --> 00:54:46.460
Isaiah 62, Isaiah 62, Isaiah 62.

00:54:59.660 --> 00:55:02.660
Guys, I don't know, you probably heard of this word,

00:55:02.660 --> 00:55:05.300
push prayers, right, you've heard of it?

00:55:06.140 --> 00:55:11.140
Push is basically prevail until something happens.

00:55:19.340 --> 00:55:21.940
Basically the idea that hey, there are times

00:55:21.940 --> 00:55:24.260
when prevailing prayer is a kind of prayer

00:55:24.260 --> 00:55:26.540
where you keep pushing, you keep pushing,

00:55:26.540 --> 00:55:31.340
you give God no rest, you give God no rest.

00:55:32.660 --> 00:55:34.820
But what do you mean give God no rest?

00:55:34.820 --> 00:55:38.140
If you read Isaiah 62 verse six onwards,

00:55:39.860 --> 00:55:44.060
Isaiah 62 verse six, look at what it says there.

00:55:44.060 --> 00:55:46.900
Let me stop with this, I've got six others.

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Yes, six of us.

00:55:50.660 --> 00:55:54.020
Isaiah 62 verse six to eight, five others.

00:55:55.580 --> 00:55:59.820
I have posted watchmen on your walls of Jerusalem.

00:55:59.820 --> 00:56:02.480
They will never be silent day or night.

00:56:02.480 --> 00:56:05.360
You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest

00:56:05.360 --> 00:56:09.480
and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem

00:56:09.480 --> 00:56:11.840
and makes her the praise of the earth.

00:56:13.920 --> 00:56:16.680
Imagine what God is saying, God is saying listen,

00:56:16.680 --> 00:56:21.480
I have decreed some things, you know what I wanna do.

00:56:21.480 --> 00:56:25.560
But now I want you to get up and stand like watchmen

00:56:25.560 --> 00:56:28.560
on the wall and do not give me rest,

00:56:28.560 --> 00:56:31.600
nor do you take a rest till this comes through.

00:56:31.640 --> 00:56:36.640
He's literally saying come and press into me

00:56:36.840 --> 00:56:39.080
and press into what I've already decreed.

00:56:39.080 --> 00:56:42.600
He's not, because it's not like God,

00:56:42.600 --> 00:56:45.440
what are we asking, what is God asking us to do?

00:56:45.440 --> 00:56:47.760
God is saying hey, don't give me any rest.

00:56:47.760 --> 00:56:51.320
I said something, now wait till I do it,

00:56:51.320 --> 00:56:53.840
but don't you back off, you keep persisting after me,

00:56:53.840 --> 00:56:56.200
saying you said so, you said so, you said so,

00:56:56.200 --> 00:56:58.720
you said so, don't let go of me.

00:56:58.720 --> 00:57:00.700
I'm inviting you to do that.

00:57:00.700 --> 00:57:01.940
When he invites you to do that,

00:57:01.940 --> 00:57:03.340
it's perfectly okay to do that.

00:57:03.340 --> 00:57:05.060
When he does not invite you to do that,

00:57:05.060 --> 00:57:08.020
it is harassment, it is lack of faith,

00:57:08.020 --> 00:57:11.660
it is being a child that is not convinced

00:57:11.660 --> 00:57:14.820
of the Father's goodness, it's tugging at the Father's shirt

00:57:14.820 --> 00:57:16.380
till it's out of his belt loop.

00:57:17.380 --> 00:57:19.380
But when he invites you to do that,

00:57:19.380 --> 00:57:21.340
then my God, don't let go.

00:57:23.420 --> 00:57:28.420
Yes, Diana, you'll have to hear the invitation.

00:57:29.260 --> 00:57:31.220
Here he specifically says,

00:57:31.220 --> 00:57:34.980
I have set watchmen on your walls,

00:57:34.980 --> 00:57:38.940
do not give me rest, just persist,

00:57:38.940 --> 00:57:40.260
because I have decreed it,

00:57:40.260 --> 00:57:43.740
that Jerusalem shall be a city on its own.

00:57:43.740 --> 00:57:46.420
So keep pushing, keep persisting, keep persisting,

00:57:46.420 --> 00:57:47.580
do not let off.

00:57:50.540 --> 00:57:52.380
In the process, what God wants to do

00:57:52.380 --> 00:57:55.380
is not get all stirred up to do anything,

00:57:55.380 --> 00:57:58.420
no, in the process, he wants you to be stirred up

00:58:00.140 --> 00:58:02.160
and you to build the kind of muscle

00:58:02.160 --> 00:58:05.140
that will allow you to take what he wants you to take.

00:58:07.180 --> 00:58:08.580
That's the difference, guys.

00:58:09.660 --> 00:58:11.260
And when he invites you to do that,

00:58:11.260 --> 00:58:13.820
my God, don't back off, don't be like that woman

00:58:13.820 --> 00:58:16.580
in the Song of Songs who heard a knock on her door.

00:58:17.500 --> 00:58:18.980
And she's lying in her bed and she says,

00:58:18.980 --> 00:58:23.080
but I'm in my nice comfy warm socks and my PJs are on,

00:58:23.080 --> 00:58:26.760
I can hear you knock, but I don't feel like getting up.

00:58:26.760 --> 00:58:28.640
And then her lover leaves,

00:58:28.640 --> 00:58:31.160
and now she goes to open the door and she can't find him,

00:58:31.160 --> 00:58:33.000
and so she goes running through the city,

00:58:33.000 --> 00:58:35.300
looking for him, gets beaten up by a few people,

00:58:35.300 --> 00:58:38.160
my God, you could have done it without getting beaten up.

00:58:48.960 --> 00:58:52.920
Prevail through prayer that gives God no rest

00:58:52.920 --> 00:58:56.520
because you know he has decreed it, he has decreed it.

00:58:56.520 --> 00:58:57.560
It has to happen.

00:58:57.560 --> 00:59:00.080
Guys, there are times when I know,

00:59:00.080 --> 00:59:02.640
I mean, you can ask my mom this because she sees it.

00:59:02.640 --> 00:59:04.920
Most of these prevailing, these kind of prayers,

00:59:04.920 --> 00:59:06.520
no one else will see.

00:59:06.520 --> 00:59:08.860
This is the kind of prayer that Jesus engaged in,

00:59:08.860 --> 00:59:12.280
in Mark and Luke when he had to go up on a mountain

00:59:12.280 --> 00:59:15.560
and pray through the night to find 12.

00:59:17.160 --> 00:59:19.520
He knew that the gospel would spread through the earth.

00:59:19.520 --> 00:59:21.520
He knew that he had his father's ear.

00:59:21.520 --> 00:59:23.760
He knew that his father was delighted in him,

00:59:23.760 --> 00:59:25.840
and yet he spends an entire night praying

00:59:25.840 --> 00:59:30.840
because he knows that on this choice will depend so much.

00:59:31.700 --> 00:59:34.260
And he also knew that one of them would betray him.

00:59:34.260 --> 00:59:37.440
And he also knew that all 10 would flee and one would remain.

00:59:39.820 --> 00:59:41.420
Nobody sees this kind of prayer,

00:59:43.040 --> 00:59:45.040
where you will pace up and down through the night.

00:59:45.040 --> 00:59:46.820
No one knows about it.

00:59:46.820 --> 00:59:48.780
And you know the outcome, but you know that,

00:59:48.780 --> 00:59:51.200
my God, I can get this done because God has said

00:59:51.200 --> 00:59:52.760
it will happen, it must happen.

00:59:52.760 --> 00:59:56.720
So stay up and stay through half an hour, one hour,

00:59:56.720 --> 00:59:59.560
prayer that you can never imagine praying for one hour.

00:59:59.560 --> 01:00:02.060
You keep going at it in tongues, in English,

01:00:02.060 --> 01:00:04.160
with understanding, without understanding.

01:00:04.160 --> 01:00:06.440
You keep at it because you know God has decreed it.

01:00:06.440 --> 01:00:08.400
So I will give you no rest.

01:00:08.400 --> 01:00:09.440
I will call on you.

01:00:09.440 --> 01:00:10.720
I will not harass you,

01:00:10.720 --> 01:00:13.240
but I will say that there is no other name

01:00:13.240 --> 01:00:14.240
that is above your name,

01:00:14.240 --> 01:00:16.080
that you are high and lifted up,

01:00:16.080 --> 01:00:17.800
that this thing shall come to pass,

01:00:17.800 --> 01:00:20.580
that you are the undefeated one.

01:00:20.620 --> 01:00:21.580
And you keep at it.

01:00:21.580 --> 01:00:24.380
You begin to tell yourself, you tell the enemy,

01:00:24.380 --> 01:00:26.220
you tell the world and you tell God,

01:00:26.220 --> 01:00:27.900
God, this is who you are.

01:00:27.900 --> 01:00:29.260
This is what you said.

01:00:29.260 --> 01:00:30.700
This is what will happen.

01:00:30.700 --> 01:00:32.880
And I am not leaving.

01:00:34.980 --> 01:00:37.420
It's called persistent prayer.

01:00:37.420 --> 01:00:39.700
I remember teaching this in the course of faith.

01:00:39.700 --> 01:00:41.660
And whenever I talk about faith stories,

01:00:41.660 --> 01:00:44.760
I talk about Kony the circle drawer,

01:00:44.760 --> 01:00:48.480
this Hebrew boy who once decided

01:00:48.480 --> 01:00:51.440
that he will not move till the rains come,

01:00:51.440 --> 01:00:53.520
because it's been years,

01:00:53.520 --> 01:00:55.400
it's been a drought and he wants the rain.

01:00:55.400 --> 01:00:58.560
So he steps out into the middle of the village square,

01:00:58.560 --> 01:01:00.520
draws a circle around himself and he says,

01:01:00.520 --> 01:01:02.960
oh God, I am not leaving the circle

01:01:04.200 --> 01:01:05.220
till the rains come.

01:01:06.640 --> 01:01:10.160
And there were many good Christians in that village.

01:01:11.120 --> 01:01:14.560
And they said, presumptuous little fella.

01:01:14.560 --> 01:01:16.040
He thinks he can draw a circle

01:01:16.040 --> 01:01:17.600
and make God do things for him.

01:01:17.600 --> 01:01:20.760
But Kony knew something, that God is the sender of rain,

01:01:20.760 --> 01:01:22.680
that God is not the sender of drought,

01:01:22.680 --> 01:01:25.360
that God likes blessing his people.

01:01:25.360 --> 01:01:27.300
And so he decides he's not moving.

01:01:27.300 --> 01:01:30.640
And the older people and the pastors begin to say,

01:01:30.640 --> 01:01:32.160
fellows twisting God's arm.

01:01:32.160 --> 01:01:34.280
All the usual stuff we say,

01:01:34.280 --> 01:01:36.520
when we don't have the courage to trust him.

01:01:38.200 --> 01:01:39.040
He stood there.

01:01:39.960 --> 01:01:41.720
And guess what happened after a while?

01:01:43.320 --> 01:01:44.200
Drops of rain.

01:01:45.620 --> 01:01:46.920
And everybody started shouting saying,

01:01:46.960 --> 01:01:48.720
Kony, Kony, come in, come in.

01:01:48.720 --> 01:01:51.120
The showers have started and Kony said,

01:01:51.120 --> 01:01:54.180
this ain't enough, we've had one and a half years of drought.

01:01:54.180 --> 01:01:56.640
These are small mercy showers.

01:01:56.640 --> 01:01:57.720
This is not what I asked for.

01:01:57.720 --> 01:02:02.720
This will not help the ground get moist again.

01:02:03.480 --> 01:02:06.120
I'm not leaving till the rains really come down.

01:02:06.120 --> 01:02:07.720
And so he stays in that circle.

01:02:09.040 --> 01:02:12.520
Few minutes later, it starts pouring torrents

01:02:12.520 --> 01:02:14.280
that rip up the earth.

01:02:14.280 --> 01:02:16.280
And they say, Kony, Kony, come in.

01:02:16.320 --> 01:02:18.560
Because look at how profuse the rain is.

01:02:18.560 --> 01:02:20.880
And he says, no, this kind of rain ain't God.

01:02:20.880 --> 01:02:22.360
Because God's rain ain't violent.

01:02:22.360 --> 01:02:23.800
This is tearing up the ground.

01:02:23.800 --> 01:02:25.400
This won't be good for the crops.

01:02:26.880 --> 01:02:30.500
And a few minutes later, it begins to rain.

01:02:31.860 --> 01:02:34.520
Like good rain that doesn't tear up the ground,

01:02:34.520 --> 01:02:35.760
but wets the soil.

01:02:36.920 --> 01:02:38.960
And now Kony, they say, Kony, Kony, come in.

01:02:38.960 --> 01:02:41.140
He says, no, I'm beginning to enjoy this rain.

01:02:41.140 --> 01:02:42.440
Let me stand here a little while more

01:02:42.440 --> 01:02:44.600
and I'll come in once I'm wet.

01:02:44.640 --> 01:02:47.160
And now he begins to enjoy what has happened.

01:02:49.880 --> 01:02:53.080
This kind of prayer is prevailing prayer

01:02:53.080 --> 01:02:56.320
that has the ability to give God no rest.

01:02:57.360 --> 01:02:59.720
It takes a certain substance inside us

01:02:59.720 --> 01:03:01.160
to be able to stand like this

01:03:01.160 --> 01:03:03.600
without coming up with foolish excuses, eh?

01:03:05.080 --> 01:03:07.160
He is sovereign, but my God,

01:03:07.160 --> 01:03:09.640
he is a sovereign God who is not nebulous.

01:03:09.640 --> 01:03:11.400
He says, when was the last time

01:03:11.400 --> 01:03:14.080
I spoke to you in riddles, Isaiah?

01:03:14.080 --> 01:03:16.080
Don't I say things plainly?

01:03:16.080 --> 01:03:19.120
When have I been hazy and nebulous?

01:03:19.120 --> 01:03:20.420
Whenever I have to say some things,

01:03:20.420 --> 01:03:21.620
I say to you, it's plain.

01:03:22.960 --> 01:03:26.320
So why don't you begin to stand up and give me no rest?

01:03:29.160 --> 01:03:30.960
There are four or five other categories,

01:03:30.960 --> 01:03:33.960
so we'll talk about them later, yeah?

01:03:33.960 --> 01:03:34.920
Be encouraged, church.

01:03:34.920 --> 01:03:37.000
We are going somewhere with this.

01:03:37.000 --> 01:03:38.480
If you heard me during the time of worship,

01:03:38.480 --> 01:03:41.440
I said, there's a thin filament that separates us

01:03:41.440 --> 01:03:44.560
from breaking into the next kairos of this church,

01:03:44.560 --> 01:03:46.840
as in the next fluid timeframe

01:03:46.840 --> 01:03:48.760
that God has constructed for us.

01:03:50.600 --> 01:03:51.440
And it's coming.

01:03:52.400 --> 01:03:53.680
We've been talking about building the church,

01:03:53.680 --> 01:03:56.440
now we're talking about prevailing church.

01:03:56.440 --> 01:03:59.600
How to prevail, how to become a strong, strong people

01:03:59.600 --> 01:04:03.320
who God can use both as a gateway and as gatekeepers.

01:04:03.320 --> 01:04:05.240
We talked about this two, three weeks ago.

01:04:05.240 --> 01:04:08.040
So let's just rise and sing these two songs,

01:04:08.040 --> 01:04:09.200
and then we'll go home.

01:04:09.200 --> 01:04:10.400
Why sing it now?

01:04:10.400 --> 01:04:12.120
Because I don't know, this song has something

01:04:12.120 --> 01:04:15.200
that will perhaps drive the message home.

01:04:15.200 --> 01:04:17.020
Think about this, go home, listen to it,

01:04:17.020 --> 01:04:18.920
understand where we are heading.

01:04:18.920 --> 01:04:19.760
If you are part of this,