WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Relentless Publishing Date: 2020-04-26T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/relentless-2/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000 I want to talk about this thing called being relentless. 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:10.000 And before I go into what we should be relentless about, 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:18.000 I want to give you an idea of certain post-COVID things that we need to prepare for. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:22.000 And so here are some of the post-COVID things. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:26.000 Once Derek grabs me a pen, I'll start on it. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:36.000 Because the rest of the world is preparing for what post-COVID will look like. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:39.000 And so the church needs to be aware of certain things too. 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:45.000 And so, hey, can you check my bag? Maybe there's a pen in that. 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:50.000 So one of the things that will happen once things begin to lift, 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:54.000 and it will happen starting in the next few weeks, 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:57.000 is there will be ruthless self-preservation. 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:00.000 There will be ruthless self-preservation. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:06.000 This sense where people who talked about staying calm, being kind, and stuff like that, 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:08.000 will suddenly go into a different mode. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:10.000 It's the way the world works. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:12.000 Ruthless self-preservation. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:18.000 Second thing that will happen is the weaker, the older, and the poorer will be dispensable. 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:22.000 The weaker, the older, and the poorer will be dispensable. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:28.000 It's unfortunate. It happens after each of these situations, things like this happen. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:30.000 Why am I telling you this? 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:33.000 Because as a church and as churches across the earth, 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:37.000 we have to be aware of the things that will happen after COVID. 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:40.000 The weaker, the poorer, and the older will be dispensable. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.000 Do you know that there are 40 million migrant workers at present? 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:49.000 There are homeless, shelterless, and foodless in India. 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:53.000 Now 40 million is 6 million more than Canada's population. 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:56.000 But in a country of 1.2 billion, it isn't much. 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:04.000 And the third thing that will happen is great loneliness. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:07.000 People who have been itching to get back to meeting one-on-one 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:13.000 and being able to shake hands and actually be with people in person 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:18.000 will find that it was much easier being kind and desperately willing to help people. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:22.000 And desperately wanting relationships when they were on social media. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:25.000 That once they get to meet each other, nothing has changed. 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:27.000 You cannot become what you never were. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:32.000 Great loneliness. 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:38.000 That aside, by the time this begins to shift and change, 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:43.000 the earth will be in such a grip of fear, greed, and pride 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:52.000 that fat nations, and why do I call them fat nations in Ezekiel 34 verse 18? 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:57.000 Ezekiel talks about fat sheep and lean sheep. 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:00.000 And fat nations will trade souls for seed. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:03.000 Fat nations will trade souls for seed. 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:09.000 What do you mean by that? If you go to Genesis 47, 13-20, 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:11.000 Genesis 47, 13-20, 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:18.000 I was really wondering whether I needed to say these things because why talk about it? 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:22.000 And I felt God saying, nope, mention it because these things are going to happen 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:24.000 and the church needs to hear it. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:28.000 Genesis 47 was 13 onwards, 13-20. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:31.000 It's a surprising passage and when you read it, 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:36.000 I mean I used to like Joseph but sometimes I don't like Joseph. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:39.000 Genesis 47, 13-20. 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:40.000 And it says there, 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:13.000 And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock. 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:17.000 When that year was over, they came to him the following year and they said, 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:21.000 we cannot hide from our Lord the fact that since our money is gone 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:26.000 and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our Lord except our bodies and our land. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:30.000 Why should we perish before your eyes, we and our land as well? 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.000 And they said, we cannot hide from our Lord the fact that since our money is gone 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:38.000 and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our Lord except our bodies and our land. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:42.000 And our land as well. Buy us and our land in exchange for food. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:45.000 And we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:50.000 Give us seed so that we may live and not die and that the land may not become desolate. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:53.000 So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:57.000 The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields because the famine was too severe for them. 00:04:57.000 --> 00:05:03.000 The land became Pharaoh's and Joseph reduced the people to servitude from one end of Egypt to the other. 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:11.000 And that's one of the things that somehow God wants us to know that in the grip of fear, greed and pride, 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:14.000 fat nations will trade souls for seed. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:24.000 And you'll be surprised at how in bondage the world can be once post-COVID is over. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.000 This is to say that this is what is afoot. 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:29.000 And why am I saying this? 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:30.000 And we'll talk about that. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.000 The other thing that will happen, particularly in churchianity, 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:43.000 is that golden calves will suddenly be set up in church because of the prolonged nature of this pandemic. 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:49.000 Because I have a feeling that in most nations churches will be the last place that will be allowed to meet in large groups. 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:53.000 And that's why I'm saying that we need to be prepared to meet in large groups. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:06:02.000 And so as the time gets prolonged in church, we begin to make compromises and set up golden calves. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:07.000 Act 7, verse 40 talks about it where Stephen is recounting Israel's history and he says, 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:13.000 Hey guys, because Moses took long, you started building yourself a golden calf. 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:22.000 And so as the time gets prolonged, in church we begin to make compromises and set up golden calves. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:28.000 And then in 1 Kings 12, 28, there's another king, I think it was Jeroboam, 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:32.000 who besides having political reasons says to the people of the land, 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:35.000 Why go all the way to Jerusalem to worship? 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:40.000 Let me set you up a golden calf here in Dan and here in Bethel so you don't have to go very far. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:50.000 And so be aware of that, guys, that golden calves that compromise the church and its affection for Christ will begin to take root during this time. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:59.000 And the way it will feature most strongly will be through disaffection, a disaffection for giving, 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:07.000 a disaffection for gathering, a disaffection for reverence, a disaffection for the way a people should function. 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:10.000 We'll talk about that another time, but I just want you to be aware of it. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:13.000 Here's another thing that really bothered me. 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:17.000 Surprisingly, this bothered me most from the list that God was giving. 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:21.000 There'll be a spike in sexual exploitation when COVID begins to lift. 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:24.000 There'll be a spike in sexual exploitation. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:27.000 There'll be a spike in child labor. 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:31.000 And there'll be a spike in abortions. 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:38.000 And it's bothersome because the shedding of innocent blood will cause this earth to convulse. 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:44.000 I mean, just imagine toxic wastes being dumped into, say, the freezer. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:52.000 A point comes where when you dump toxic wastes on a land or into a river, the earth itself begins to shrink and convulse. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:54.000 Imagine if toxic waste can do that. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:57.000 What will happen when innocent blood is shed? 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:00.000 There'll be a spike in sexual exploitation. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.000 There will be a spike in child labor. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:07.000 And there will be a spike in abortions. 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:14.000 You watch in the next about three months from now the number of abortions that will happen and the earth will convulse. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:21.000 And when the earth convulses, things begin to happen on earth that will just complicate the situation. 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:28.000 By the way, just on the side, this is not to diminish any death, 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:35.000 but there have been about, say, 250,000 deaths that are COVID related. 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:40.000 And that's an exaggerated number that I am giving you because it's lower than that. 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:50.000 But the strange thing is since January 1st to today, there have been 13.5 million abortions, 13.5 million abortions, 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:57.000 at the rate of 125,000 babies that die without being born every day. 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:06.000 Odd, eh? One is sanctioned and okay, the other is not. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:16.000 All to say that the church needs to prepare for some of these things that are about to happen on the earth. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:22.000 And when we say prepare, a response can be, man, this is so pointless. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:24.000 This is going to happen anyways, so why prepare? 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:30.000 Guys, the thing is whenever God says that this is where things are going, guess what happens? 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:35.000 The spirit begins to intercede. The spirit begins to intercede. 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:49.000 And when the spirit begins to intercede, he expects the body to intervene by joining him in both prayer and action. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:10:01.000 And then once he expects the body to intervene, what then happens is evil is interrupted or mitigated. 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:20.000 And so one is not to be fatalistic and just throw up one's arms and say the earth is anyways going down the tube, so why bother? 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.000 No, there is need to bother because we reflect a God who bothers. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:43.000 And so what I said to you is what I believe is the intent of the systems of the world and satanic systems to bring an irreversible change to the earth in ways that are crippling. 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:49.000 And so what we need to realize is that the spirit of God is interceding. 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:58.000 And when he intercedes, he expects the body to join with him in prayer and in action so that the body can intervene. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:02.000 And when the body intervenes, then evil is interrupted or mitigated. 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:07.000 Thousands are saved and irreversible changes are decelerated. 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:13.000 And every time there's a deceleration of evil, there is a population of heaven. 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:22.000 So the next question then becomes, I mean, let's put it this way. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:33.000 Jesus said in John 16 33 that I know that you will have troubles and tribulations on earth and there is an end to the earth as we see it now. 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:37.000 But do not worry. I have overcome the world. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:42.000 We live in that kind of tension. 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:53.000 And don't think that because Acts 29 is only 80 people or because H.O.F. Vernon or H.O.F. Bahrain is only 70 people or 90 people. 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:58.000 Don't think that because we are a small number that it doesn't matter. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:07.000 Because when a people agree with God, Jesus transforms hundreds of small daily decisions into a powerful tsunami. 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:15.000 When people agree with God, Jesus has the ability just because he is absolute sovereign ascended Lord. 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:24.000 He has the ability to transform a thousand small daily decisions into a tsunami that becomes very powerful. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:33.000 I mean, I was just reading this passage about when the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, I think. 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:40.000 In a period of 48 hours, 800,000 East Germans crossed over into West Germany. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:42.000 800,000 East Germans. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:43.000 And guess what? 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:49.000 Each of them had either a hammer or a chisel or something that would carry on their hands. 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:54.000 And as they crossed over, they would take their hammer or chisel and just hit the wall. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:13:02.000 And it would break off a little piece till in a matter of days, there was nothing of this evil wall that was left. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:08.000 Because 800,000 hammers rained on it at least once or twice. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:12.000 I was reading that and I thought to myself, man, I know how you do this of God. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:14.000 And that is human effort. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:18.000 This is just God becoming the majority of one-minus people agree with him. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:25.000 This is what I wanted to set up for you before we go into talking about why be relentless. 00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:29.000 Any questions? 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.000 Guys, different churches have different roles at times like this. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:50.000 So there are churches that may be teaching how this time is a time of Sabbath for life and land. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.000 And that is a role they have been given. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:14:01.000 There are other churches that might be teaching you how to be socially aware and work with people on the front line. 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:02.000 That's the role given to them. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:12.000 The role given to us as a church is to come against the satanic systems that are trying to cripple or affect the earth irreversibly. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:14.000 That's the role that's been given to us. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:20.000 So there is a view that we are approaching these weeks and these messages from. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.000 And I guess you already know it, but I just thought I'd let you say that again. 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:30.000 So coming back to this idea of being relentless, in present times, we have to be relentless. 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:33.000 And to be relentless is not robotic. 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:41.000 So I'm not saying we need to be robotic because relentlessness can be like a conveyor belt where you have a hand going up and down continuously, relentlessly. 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:45.000 No, it's not robotic. It's very deliberate. 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:50.000 It's very deliberate because it sees the beginning. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:52.000 It sees the end from the beginning. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:56.000 It sees the end from the beginning. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:04.000 There's a rhythm of godly perseverance to what we do. 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:11.000 There's a rhythm of godly perseverance to relentlessness. 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:15.000 There's a knowing of the end from the beginning. 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:27.000 And there's a seeking out of or a hunting of what we need to affect, what we need to affect. 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:31.000 So it is a thoughtful relentlessness. 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:36.000 It's not a thoughtless, robotic relentlessness. 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:43.000 God is asking us that in these present times, guys, I want you to be relentless, but it has to be deliberate. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:46.000 It has to be thoughtful. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:48.000 It has to know the end from the beginning. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:57.000 It should seek out or hunt that which needs to be changed, seek out good things that need to be affected and hunt out bad things that need to be undone. 00:15:57.000 --> 00:15:59.000 And it has to have a persevering. 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:02.000 It has to have a rhythm that of godly perseverance. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:06.000 That is a sense of relentlessness. 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:16.000 And so regardless of imposing odds that might be facing us during a time like this, where it seems nations are crippled and they don't know what to do, 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:24.000 in the face of those odds, how do we stand with relentlessness? 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:29.000 How do you be relentless? 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:41.000 And to be relentless, I have to get a grasp of his presence because his presence gives me courage. 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:55.000 So through this time, ever since COVID started, one of the things I've been doing with others, both in the church and in different parts of the world, 00:16:55.000 --> 00:17:06.000 is know his presence so that from his presence I'll know his thoughts and what he wants to do through us. 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:16.000 And if I know his presence, that he is endorsing or validating what is being said or is behind what we are trying to do, 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:20.000 then it gives me courage to keep doing it because we are small fry. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:22.000 Who are we? 00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:26.000 It gives me courage. 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:32.000 The second thing, if you want to be relentless, you have to grasp his presence which gives you courage to persist. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:36.000 It gives you courage to persist. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:40.000 And then you have to grasp his permission. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:43.000 You have to grasp his permission. 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:51.000 Because once you know he is permitting you to go down a certain pathway, it fuels your passion. 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:54.000 It fuels your passion. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:05.000 As in, God's given me permission to go down this route where when famous people, famous churches, famous preachers are talking about a Sabbath to the land, 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:15.000 some talking about judgment of the earth, God is saying no, rage against the systems of the world and satanic demonic forces that are trying to cripple the earth. 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:23.000 Man, if I didn't know that this was permission given by God, I'd be walking in presumption, I'd be leading you into presumption. 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:34.000 Permission then fuels, oh sorry, permission fuels, permission fuels passion. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:37.000 There was one word that I was looking for. 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:40.000 Permission fuels fearless passion. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:42.000 Fearless passion. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:45.000 Permission fuels fearless passion. 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:51.000 And then the third thing I need to grip or grasp is that I need to grasp his purpose. 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:54.000 What's your purpose in all this? 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:57.000 I need to grasp his purpose. 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:00.000 What is his purpose for us as a people during a time like this? 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:03.000 What is his purpose for us as a people during this time like this? 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:11.000 Because once I know his purpose for me or us, then I'm able to forge discipline or habits. 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:20.000 I'm able to forge discipline or habits, meaning every day, regardless of the fact that we are working from home or not able to go out, 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:31.000 we develop habits that help God accomplish his purpose through us. 00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:36.000 And so this is basically what relentlessness looks like. 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:45.000 And I want us to be relentless in four areas that I believe God is leading us to. 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.000 Four areas and we'll go over those four areas. 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:56.000 The first one is... Sure. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:59.000 Don, could you help? 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:12.000 This, by the way, is Don. He finds some excuse to come and help me every time so that you see him. 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:15.000 All good? Okay. 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:22.000 Hey, Josh, I can't hear you eating today. Is everything okay? 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:30.000 Okay. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.000 So there are four areas I want us to be relentless in. 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:40.000 And guys, this is not a rehashed message from five, six years ago. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:46.000 So I really think that God has desires for us. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:50.000 So four areas that he wants us to be relentless in. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:56.000 One is relentless in pursuit of him. Relentless in pursuit of him. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:59.000 And why is he telling us these things? 00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:04.000 I would say to you that he's telling us these things so that we can be well poised, 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:13.000 well prepared in the right place with the right attitude when and as COVID begins to lift. 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:18.000 Because of all the other things that I said await the earth. 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:24.000 It's strange how before every famine he already prepares and sends a Joseph. 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:32.000 Before the famine struck, Joseph, through extremely odd methods, was sent to Egypt. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:37.000 First as a prisoner, then in Potiphar's palace and then as Pharaoh's prime minister. 00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:41.000 And so much before of famine, God sends Joseph. 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:47.000 And so he tries to prepare and then position them so that they're ready when the famine comes. 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:51.000 Yeah. So relentless in pursuit. 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:58.000 And then the second one is relentless in loving kindness. 00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:03.000 Because the earth will need it, eh? 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:10.000 The third one is relentless in contending. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:13.000 And the fourth one is relentless in justice. 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:16.000 These are the four things we'll talk about. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:22.000 And then after that, I want us to respond with a particular song. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:29.000 So when I finish the teaching, don't switch your hearts and minds off, but we'll get a chance to respond. 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:33.000 Yeah. So relentless in pursuit. Let's start with that. 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:38.000 Guys, the wonderful thing is an appetite for God has been awakened. 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:42.000 An appetite for God has already been awakened in our hearts. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:46.000 And the strange thing with appetite is when you have an appetite, 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:54.000 it draws your attention towards a certain food item, draws your attention. 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:59.000 And once your attention is drawn, it draws your affection. 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:04.000 And once it draws your affection, it determines your direction. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:09.000 That's the cool thing with appetite. 00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:16.000 And I'm so thankful that over the weeks, one of the things that happened, that's happened to us is that 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:21.000 most of us have had an opportunity to encounter God in the burning bush. 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:25.000 And once an upgrade like that happens, something clicks within you. 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.000 So an appetite has already been awakened for God. 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:31.000 And that begins to then draw your attention. 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:35.000 It begins to shape your affection and it begins to determine your direction. 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:43.000 In fact, I don't know whether it was Piper or someone else who said that the strongest Christians are the hungriest. 00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:47.000 The strongest Christians are the hungriest. 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:51.000 And the strange thing is Jesus said that God satisfies them. 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:53.000 The strongest Christians are the hungriest. 00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:57.000 When I said that, Don is looking at Derek. 00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:01.000 So the strongest Christians, I was looking at Jeevan. 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:04.000 The strongest Christians are the hungriest. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:11.000 And so, and the strange thing is according to Matthew 5.5, God satisfies. 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:16.000 Because he said, blessed are those that hunger enters for they shall be satisfied. 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:24.000 And Tozer put it this way, when you are most satisfied in him, he will be most glorified in you. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:30.000 When you are most satisfied in him, he will be most glorified in you. 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.000 And yet, to be satisfied, one must have hunger. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:41.000 In fact, what you hunger for reveals your heart. 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:44.000 What you hunger for reveals your heart. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:46.000 And I'm sometimes appalled at what I hunger for. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:51.000 When I become obsessed with something other than God. 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:58.000 Because anything that I'm obsessed with other than God becomes an enemy of what God wants to do. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:04.000 So when we started, for instance, when the video and stuff was going wrong, 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:09.000 I suddenly realized that I was becoming obsessed with getting the live stream or the online thing right. 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:11.000 And so I walked away. 00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:18.000 Because here is Jane saying, hey, focus on the courts of God where the action is. 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:21.000 Focus on Christ and the Father. 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:33.000 And so why should I then become so obsessed with the live stream where I miss out on the one who this live stream is about? 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:38.000 That's Josh's problem. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:43.000 And God has a certain grace for Josh in that area. 00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:45.000 So what you hunger for reveals your heart. 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:47.000 And the strange thing about hunger, guys, 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:49.000 we're talking about relentlessness in pursuit. 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:51.000 For pursuit, you need hunger. 00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:56.000 But the strange thing is, most of us haven't experienced this. 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:00.000 Perhaps Jeevan has from the stories he's told me. 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:03.000 Hunger is painful. 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:05.000 Hunger should pain you. 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:07.000 Hunger should pain you. 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:10.000 Hunger should pain you. 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:17.000 And if it does not pain you, then somehow we haven't reached a place of that kind of hunger. 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:20.000 I am grateful for the times when hunger pains me. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:22.000 I get desperate. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:25.000 I go, I remember in August last year this happened. 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:27.000 Things were going really well at Acts 29. 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:28.000 Church was doing well. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.000 My trips were working out well. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:31.000 God was doing great things. 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:35.000 But inside me was this gnawing hunger saying this isn't enough. 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:37.000 I remember going to Chad. 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:38.000 I remember going to Pastor Mike. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:41.000 I remember going to a couple of other people and saying to them, 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:45.000 if something doesn't change, I will die. 00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.000 Because it should be that painful that you must feed it. 00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:54.000 If you don't feed it, you cannot live happily. 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:59.000 And I'm saying this to you because this relentlessness in pursuit must increase. 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:01.000 And so here's then the problem. 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:03.000 If I don't have hunger, what do I do? 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:04.000 Guys, ask for it. 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:05.000 This is a strange God. 00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:08.000 You can go ask him for hunger. 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:10.000 Ask him for hunger. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:15.000 Ask God to replace the hunger you have for anything besides him. 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:21.000 Ask him for hunger and then ask him to replace anything that you hunger for besides him. 00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:27.000 Once he begins to do that work, discipline your body as it says in 1 Corinthians 9, 26 and 27. 00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:32.000 Paul says, I will not disqualify myself by eating or drinking. 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:38.000 I will not disqualify myself by not disciplining myself. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:44.000 I will buffet my body so that I may be able to run this race properly. 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:53.000 And so there is this idea of disciplining your body once you ask God to replace what you used to junk on. 00:27:53.000 --> 00:27:56.000 When you ask him to replace it with true hunger, ask him for it. 00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:00.000 If you are satisfied, ask him for hunger. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:09.000 Because the strange thing about the relentless pursuit of God is it can never be satisfied because he is infinite. 00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:12.000 And so here's the progression. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:16.000 Hunger, ask for it. 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:23.000 Once you ask for it, it will cause you to locate the source of food. 00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:26.000 And in this case it's God. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:29.000 Once you locate it, you will fight. 00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:32.000 Don't stop sending text messages and pay attention to the teaching. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:39.000 Once you locate it, fight your way through to the source. 00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:41.000 Fight through distractions. 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:43.000 Fight through the crowd. 00:28:43.000 --> 00:28:54.000 Fight your way through the source and sell anything you need to get what you know will satisfy your hunger. 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:57.000 Sell anything. 00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:03.000 If your job is in the way, if other distractions are in the way, sell it. 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:06.000 Do whatever it takes. 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:13.000 And then once you get to that source where you know your hunger can be met, engage it. 00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:19.000 Wrestle with it. 00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:23.000 Engage and wrestle with it. 00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:25.000 What happens then as you do that? 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:27.000 You begin to eat his presence. 00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:29.000 You begin to eat his presence. 00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:31.000 Really? How does that work? 00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:36.000 Jesus actually talked about it in John chapter 6 where he said, eat my flesh. 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:38.000 As in, come guys, come into my presence. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:41.000 Take from me whatever you want. 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:43.000 I am the bread of life. 00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:47.000 Eat his presence. 00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:50.000 People were put off when he said this in John 6. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.000 Eat his presence. 00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:56.000 That then satisfies your hunger. 00:29:56.000 --> 00:30:04.000 But I would so suggest that the way you need to progress from there is to now pour yourself out 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:09.000 because you are now full so that you can begin your pursuit all over again. 00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:19.000 This leads to a virtuous, relentless cycle of pursuit. 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:21.000 What a cool God, huh? 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:24.000 You can ask him for hunger so that he can satisfy it. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:28.000 And then you pour it out so that you can start pursuing again. 00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:32.000 It's like kids who once you show them a game, 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:37.000 My God, you're stuck because they want to play it 48 times. 00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:41.000 You just have to keep repeating it again and again and again. 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:44.000 But what can you do? 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:48.000 Once this child starts enjoying it, even though you want to walk away, 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:51.000 every time it comes to a certain point in the game, 00:30:51.000 --> 00:30:56.000 the child just starts laughing and there's nothing as magical as a child laughing. 00:30:56.000 --> 00:30:57.000 And what do you do again? 00:30:57.000 --> 00:31:00.000 Even though you want to walk away, you do it all over again. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:03.000 And a father can't resist it when you are hungry. 00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:07.000 He is drawn to hungry children. 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:10.000 He is drawn to someone who hungers. 00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:13.000 Which is why Jesus had to say what he said, 00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:18.000 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for they shall be satisfied. 00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:21.000 Other times in Psalms, I don't know which Psalm it is, 00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:27.000 he says, I wish you would have opened your mouth because I would have filled it with good things. 00:31:27.000 --> 00:31:32.000 Any questions, guys? 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:38.000 You have to be relentless in pursuit of him at this present time 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:43.000 because God is preparing you for a world that awaits 00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:49.000 and will need ones who eat his presence before they go out. 00:31:49.000 --> 00:31:54.000 The second thing, guys, is relentlessness in loving kindness. 00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:57.000 Be relentless in loving kindness. 00:31:57.000 --> 00:32:00.000 Be relentless in loving kindness. 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:05.000 Be relentless in loving kindness. 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:12.000 You know the word loving kindness is hardly seen in the newer versions of the Bible 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:18.000 like NIV or ESV or any of those versions change loving kindness 00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:21.000 usually to mercy or compassion and stuff like that. 00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:26.000 But the NKJV still translates the word hesed 00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:32.000 which is the Hebrew word for it and it actually means loving kindness. 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:34.000 So some of the scriptures I'm quoting, 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:38.000 you will only see the word loving kindness if you're looking at the NKJV. 00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:45.000 And so this loving kindness of God, 00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.000 be relentless in loving kindness both in receiving it 00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:52.000 and in pouring it out. 00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:56.000 This is critical in the months that lie ahead of us. 00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:04.000 Critical because the earth is going to get ruthlessly self-preservative. 00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:07.000 Ruthless in their self-preservation. 00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:15.000 You know, it always bothers me that whenever someone dies, 00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:18.000 the first three or four days people gather around them 00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:20.000 but then after that they're left on their own 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:23.000 and they go through some really lonely patches after that. 00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:25.000 And that's what's going to happen to the earth 00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:27.000 where there'll be a lot of stay calm, be kind. 00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:29.000 But once things start getting back to normal, 00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:33.000 people will try to hoard and go back to ways that they were. 00:33:33.000 --> 00:33:37.000 Guys, you can never become what you never were without God. 00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:41.000 Things will return to a place where it used to be only it'll be worse 00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:44.000 because we'll be in the vicious grip of fear, greed and pride. 00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:46.000 I'm not a doomsday prophet. 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:49.000 Guy who's trying to say we shall change times of doom 00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:53.000 into times of the intervention of God with winds of refreshing. 00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:56.000 Which is why we are talking about this. 00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:59.000 So we position ourselves as God plans. 00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:01.000 So relentless in loving kindness. 00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:05.000 One of the first places you see God's loving kindnesses 00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:07.000 in Genesis chapter 3 verse 9 00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:11.000 where God immediately seeks out man 00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:15.000 who was trying to hide and cover his shame and guilt. 00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:18.000 You want to grasp the essence of loving kindness? 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:20.000 Look at Genesis 3, 9. 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:22.000 Here is a man who has turned his back on God, 00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:24.000 who he used to walk with. 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:26.000 Here is a man who defies God. 00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:30.000 Here is a man who makes an alliance with the arch enemy of God, 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:31.000 the serpent. 00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:34.000 Here is a man who chooses a serpent above the living God. 00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:39.000 And the first thing that God does in an act of amazing loving kindness 00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:43.000 is God immediately seeks out the man who was hiding 00:34:43.000 --> 00:34:45.000 and trying to cover his shame. 00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.000 And once he finds him, God immediately slaughters an animal 00:34:49.000 --> 00:34:53.000 and takes the skin of the animal to cover his external shame 00:34:53.000 --> 00:34:56.000 and begins the process of restoring his internal dignity. 00:34:56.000 --> 00:34:59.000 And what started then culminates on the cross and it still goes on. 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:02.000 What kind of God is this man? 00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:04.000 This is the nature of loving kindness. 00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:07.000 And as you hear it being said, 00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:09.000 you have to on one hand receive it 00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:11.000 and then also think along the lines of, 00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:13.000 this is what I have to give. 00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:18.000 Immediately seeking out those that are trying to cover their shame and their guilt 00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:21.000 and then doing what is necessary on the external 00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:23.000 and then beginning the work on the internal. 00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:28.000 And when you talk about the loving kindness of God, 00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:30.000 these three things interact. 00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:33.000 One, his strength. 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:37.000 Two, his steadfastness. 00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:43.000 And three, his love, his loyal love. 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:46.000 These three interact. 00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:49.000 The word hesed or loving kindness, 00:35:49.000 --> 00:35:52.000 if any of these are missing, then it ain't that. 00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:54.000 There's a strength of God, meaning 00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.000 he does something with his loving kindness. 00:35:59.000 --> 00:36:03.000 It's not mush. 00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:05.000 He does something with it. 00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:06.000 There's strength in it. 00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:08.000 There's steadfastness in it, which means then 00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:11.000 that we need to have the same kind of loving kindness 00:36:11.000 --> 00:36:14.000 towards the earth as these days ahead come. 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:17.000 Because otherwise what will happen guys, 00:36:17.000 --> 00:36:22.000 is the flood will be over, 00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:24.000 the nations will start rebuilding again, 00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:26.000 and the Tower of Babel will be rebuilt. 00:36:26.000 --> 00:36:28.000 Not rebuilt, will be built. 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:30.000 That's what happened after the flood. 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:42.000 These are three powerful components of loving kindness. 00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:44.000 This is how God reacts with you. 00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:46.000 And so here is something that I'd suggest 00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:48.000 you try out this week. 00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:51.000 In Psalm 143, verse 8 from the New King James, 00:36:51.000 --> 00:36:55.000 it says that I hear his loving kindness in the morning. 00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:57.000 Try that, eh? 00:36:57.000 --> 00:36:59.000 What a way to start the day. 00:36:59.000 --> 00:37:02.000 Isn't that how every child that has good parents 00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:04.000 starts his or her day? 00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:08.000 I hear his loving kindness in the morning. 00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:12.000 I hear his immediate desire to come to me 00:37:12.000 --> 00:37:16.000 with his strength, his steadfastness, and his loyal love. 00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:19.000 I hear him walking to cover my shame 00:37:19.000 --> 00:37:21.000 and my guilt from the previous day. 00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:25.000 Hear his loving kindness in the morning. 00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:27.000 We need to, eh, because we've become dull 00:37:27.000 --> 00:37:31.000 to the 24-7 kindness and love that God commands 00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:34.000 and directs our way on a daily basis. 00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:38.000 It says so in Psalm 42, verse 8, again in the New King James. 00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:43.000 It says, God commands or directs his loving kindness to me. 00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:46.000 And it's a 24-7 attitude on nature that he has. 00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:49.000 And perhaps I need to begin to hear him in the morning. 00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:53.000 And once you recognize it, you're able to receive it. 00:37:53.000 --> 00:37:55.000 And if you can receive it, you can release it. 00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:02.000 And it's important to release it, 00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:05.000 because one of the greatest things that you can do for the father 00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:07.000 is to be kind to someone else made in his image. 00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:11.000 One of the greatest things that you can do for the father 00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:13.000 I'll get there a little later. 00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:15.000 Let's listen to the question first. There's a question. 00:38:17.000 --> 00:38:19.000 What's the difference between loving kindness and mercy? 00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:22.000 Hesed is the word used for loving kindness. 00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:26.000 Raham is the word used for mercy. 00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:30.000 This is the compassion that is born 00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:33.000 out of a mother's womb for a child. 00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:40.000 And this is defined as this. 00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:47.000 In both cases, it's undeserved, unbidden generosity. 00:38:51.000 --> 00:38:56.000 But the words are different. 00:38:56.000 --> 00:39:00.000 One is Raham, as in the compassion a mother has for the child 00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:02.000 that is born out of a womb. 00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:06.000 And then there is hesed, which is strength, steadfastness, 00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:10.000 and the loyal love of God that comes to wrap you up, 00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.000 cover you, change you outside and inside. 00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:18.000 And so one of the greatest things we can do for the father 00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:24.000 is to be kind to people that are made in his image. 00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:26.000 This is the idea of being relentless 00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:29.000 in now showing people loving kindness. 00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:33.000 Not Christians, showing anybody made in the image of God. 00:39:33.000 --> 00:39:36.000 This is the idea of being relentless 00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:39.000 in now showing people loving kindness. 00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:41.000 And that means every person on the face of the earth. 00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:47.000 Matthew 25, verse 37, the people who showed kindness to the prisoner, 00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:51.000 who gave water to the thirsty, they come to Jesus and they say, 00:39:51.000 --> 00:39:52.000 when did we see you naked? 00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:53.000 When did we visit you in prison? 00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:55.000 When did we give you water? 00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:58.000 And Jesus' response was, as much as you did to the least of them. 00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:02.000 And there is this thing that really is a sweet-smelling offering before God. 00:40:02.000 --> 00:40:05.000 The grace of God is in the water. 00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:07.000 The greatest thing you can do for the father 00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:10.000 is to be kind to others made in his image. 00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.000 Because loving kindness requires that I be tender-hearted 00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:20.000 and demands of me an unbidden or unasked for generosity. 00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:22.000 And the earth will need it. 00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:23.000 The earth will need it. 00:40:23.000 --> 00:40:26.000 I pray God that somehow this teaching goes to different places. 00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:32.000 That you take it, learn it and make it yours and then spread it. 00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:36.000 And we will have to show this kind of loving kindness and generosity 00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:41.000 and tender-heartedness in the face of indifference and sometimes hostility. 00:40:41.000 --> 00:40:46.000 Because this is the kind of loving kindness that turns people's hearts towards God. 00:40:46.000 --> 00:40:48.000 Because it says in Romans chapter 2, verse 4, 00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:53.000 that it is the kindness of God that causes people to change. 00:40:53.000 --> 00:40:56.000 It is the kindness of God that causes people to change. 00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:58.000 And so Abin Dari said, 00:40:58.000 --> 00:41:01.000 It is the kindness of God that causes people to change. 00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:06.000 And so Abin trying to practice this over the last week in different situations 00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:12.000 where can I show unbidden generosity, unasked for generosity? 00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:13.000 Can I be tender-hearted? 00:41:13.000 --> 00:41:20.000 Can I be loving and kind in the face of indifference or even hostility? 00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:23.000 Because it is this kind of kindness that people will need going forward 00:41:23.000 --> 00:41:26.000 and it will turn their hearts to God. 00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:32.000 And if I become like this, God will begin to intertwine my life with the life of others 00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:35.000 and it will help change them. 00:41:37.000 --> 00:41:42.000 It will dismantle the oppression of the kingdom of darkness. 00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:47.000 Hey, I'm telling you man, I wish I could share with you some of the things I've seen 00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:49.000 but that sounds so anecdotal. 00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:53.000 So I won't go there but the point is, 00:41:53.000 --> 00:42:00.000 there is a darkness that wants to wrap the world in its cloak 00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:06.000 and make darkness seem normal, as if it wasn't before all this began. 00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:12.000 But this will be a dismal, hard to fight against, veering darkness 00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:19.000 where we will accept as our fate that which is not normal for humans. 00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.000 And this kind of kindness dismantles this darkness. 00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:27.000 It's a part of what we need to do. 00:42:27.000 --> 00:42:30.000 I mean, you take these two stories of father and son. 00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:33.000 You take the father and the father is David. 00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:36.000 And David now has Mefi Boshet come before him. 00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:41.000 Mefi Boshet is the son of the same man who was trying to kill David. 00:42:41.000 --> 00:42:45.000 And he says to Mefi Boshet in 2 Samuel 9, 00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:48.000 that from this day on you will sit at my table, you will eat at my table. 00:42:48.000 --> 00:42:56.000 And it is a story of tremendous kindness showed by David to the son of an enemy. 00:42:56.000 --> 00:43:00.000 And then you go to David's son Solomon, 00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:03.000 and you see a completely different picture in 1 Kings 12 00:43:03.000 --> 00:43:06.000 where people come to Solomon and they try to say, 00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:08.000 hey, can't you be kinder to us? 00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:10.000 And Solomon doesn't take the advice of the elders. 00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:13.000 He takes the advice of his young friends. 00:43:13.000 --> 00:43:16.000 And he turns to the rest of Israel and he says to them, 00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:19.000 if you thought my father Solomon, 00:43:19.000 --> 00:43:23.000 no, this is Rehoboam, sorry, the grandson of David. 00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:27.000 Rehoboam says, if you thought my father Solomon was good, 00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:29.000 I will be worse than him. 00:43:29.000 --> 00:43:34.000 And he begins to be really cruel to Israel and Israel walks away. 00:43:34.000 --> 00:43:37.000 Kindness makes a difference, man. 00:43:37.000 --> 00:43:41.000 There's a script in Jeremiah 2,2 where God turns to Israel and he says, 00:43:41.000 --> 00:43:43.000 hey, I remember the kindness of your youth. 00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:48.000 So here's a question I want to ask you before we go on to the next section. 00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:52.000 What does God remember of your kindness from last week? 00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:57.000 What does God remember of your kindness from last week? 00:43:57.000 --> 00:44:00.000 What does God remember of your kindness to him directly 00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:03.000 where you were kind to God? 00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:08.000 And what does God remember of your kindness to others from last week? 00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:10.000 How can you be kind to God? 00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:13.000 The same way you can be kind to your wife, to your children, 00:44:13.000 --> 00:44:18.000 to your friends, acknowledging, speaking, saying, 00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:21.000 mouthing words, expressed from your heart. 00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:26.000 Man, it's so easy to be kind to God. 00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:29.000 Relentless in loving kindness. 00:44:29.000 --> 00:44:32.000 Any questions? 00:44:32.000 --> 00:44:36.000 Can you make sure I'm in the frame because I'm walking around a little? 00:44:46.000 --> 00:44:47.000 Okay. 00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:50.000 The next one is relentless in contending. 00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:52.000 Relentless in contending. 00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:54.000 I'm going to read it out loud. 00:44:54.000 --> 00:44:56.000 I'm going to read it out loud. 00:44:56.000 --> 00:44:58.000 I'm going to read it out loud. 00:44:58.000 --> 00:45:00.000 This is relentless in contending. 00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:02.000 Relentless in contending. 00:45:02.000 --> 00:45:07.000 And this goes to the passage that Airy was reading. 00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:09.000 Relentless in contending. 00:45:09.000 --> 00:45:16.000 Relentless in contending. 00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:22.000 And when you look at 1 Kings 18, 36-46, which Airy read, 00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:27.000 one of the things we need to realize is that we need to contend in this present ravage. 00:45:27.000 --> 00:45:32.000 I see COVID as a ravage. 00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:35.000 As a ravage of the poor, the weaker, the older. 00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:38.000 As a ravage that changes the nature of nations. 00:45:38.000 --> 00:45:44.000 As a ravage that depletes, that compromises. 00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:50.000 Contend in this present ravage against the deviance of Ahab, 00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:56.000 who is supposed to be protective, but ends up being a victim of the current ravage. 00:45:56.000 --> 00:46:01.000 And who ends up being deviant against the sorcery of Jezebel. 00:46:01.000 --> 00:46:07.000 Contend that the rains come and that people return to Yahweh. 00:46:07.000 --> 00:46:13.000 That's why I had Airy read that passage. 00:46:13.000 --> 00:46:19.000 And so in this idea of being relentless in contending, 00:46:19.000 --> 00:46:23.000 one of the things that we, I mean, if we were just to look at that story 00:46:23.000 --> 00:46:28.000 Elijah goes up Carmel and he begins to pray for the rain. 00:46:28.000 --> 00:46:35.000 It's odd how Elijah does something that most Hebrews wouldn't do. 00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.000 Most of them would either stand up with their arms lifted up and pray, 00:46:39.000 --> 00:46:41.000 or they would kneel and they would pray, 00:46:41.000 --> 00:46:45.000 or they would lie before God right on the floor and pray. 00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:51.000 But Elijah takes on this position that you will not find anywhere in the Bible 00:46:51.000 --> 00:46:59.000 where his posture is that of his head between his knees literally as he begins to pray. 00:46:59.000 --> 00:47:06.000 And in relentless contending, there is an unusual posture that one must take 00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:27.000 that births, that one must take that births or delivers Heaven's desire or intent on earth. 00:47:27.000 --> 00:47:31.000 Guys, it's not just contending. There is this word before it. 00:47:31.000 --> 00:47:42.000 Relentlessness is this decision not to back off till what has been started is completed. 00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:48.000 It's that idea of Isaiah 62, I think, verse 6 and 7, where it says, 00:47:48.000 --> 00:47:53.000 where God says to the watchman, hey, do not give me rest. 00:47:53.000 --> 00:47:59.000 You do not rest and do not give me rest till what needs to be accomplished is accomplished. 00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:06.000 So in 1 Kings 18 42, you see this unusual posture that Elijah takes in praying, 00:48:06.000 --> 00:48:10.000 which is very different from the normal Hebrew ways of praying. 00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:15.000 But the intent is that when you want to relentlessly contend, 00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:20.000 you have to take a posture that will help birth what Heaven desires. 00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.000 Or sometimes it's not Heaven's desire, it's Heaven's judgment. 00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:32.000 Regardless of what it is, one must take an unusual posture of I am relentless in this. 00:48:32.000 --> 00:48:44.000 In relentless contending, supplication follows declaration. 00:48:44.000 --> 00:48:47.000 Supplication follows declaration. 00:48:47.000 --> 00:48:56.000 In the sense, Acts 29 and churches like Acts 29 can easily walk into declaration 00:48:56.000 --> 00:48:58.000 where we declare the intent of God. 00:48:58.000 --> 00:49:01.000 And that's fine, you can declare the intent of God. 00:49:01.000 --> 00:49:07.000 But when it comes to this kind of contending, the declaration is made in verse 41. 00:49:07.000 --> 00:49:12.000 And the declaration is, hey, Ehad, you better start going down the mountain 00:49:12.000 --> 00:49:15.000 because I can hear the sound of rain. 00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:21.000 But that declaration is then followed by strenuous supplication 00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:25.000 where he goes up the mountain and he begins to bow down and he begins to pray. 00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:27.000 He begins to pray. 00:49:27.000 --> 00:49:29.000 And this is hard work. 00:49:29.000 --> 00:49:33.000 The great thing about declarations is you know the will of God and you declare it, you speak it. 00:49:33.000 --> 00:49:39.000 But here, when it comes to relentless contending, supplication follows declaration. 00:49:39.000 --> 00:49:44.000 It is this idea in 1 Timothy 1, 18, where Paul says to Timothy, 00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:46.000 and depending on the version you read, it says, 00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:48.000 War with the prophetic word. 00:49:48.000 --> 00:49:50.000 Yes, the prophetic word has been spoken over you. 00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.000 Now wrestle, grapple, war with it so that it can shape you. 00:49:59.000 --> 00:50:01.000 This is the kind of praying that we need to do, 00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:08.000 which is partly why we are sending these series of Open Up Your Ancient Doors videos 00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:10.000 once every two or three days. 00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:13.000 I'll send the next one Monday night or early Tuesday morning. 00:50:13.000 --> 00:50:20.000 But the point is that we are supposed to take these prayers that are being asked that we pray 00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:22.000 and really work at it, eh? 00:50:24.000 --> 00:50:28.000 Why? Not for your sake, but for the sake of the earth around you. 00:50:28.000 --> 00:50:34.000 Third, in relentless contending, time is not a factor. 00:50:34.000 --> 00:50:36.000 Time is not a factor. 00:50:36.000 --> 00:50:40.000 Meaning it doesn't matter how much time it takes. 00:50:41.000 --> 00:50:44.000 Elijah didn't care how long it took. 00:50:44.000 --> 00:50:52.000 We think that Elijah asked a servant to go and look at the fifth-sized cloud for seven times. 00:50:52.000 --> 00:50:56.000 But we are assuming it was an actual seven times. 00:50:56.000 --> 00:50:58.000 Often seven was just a number of completion. 00:50:58.000 --> 00:51:01.000 God only knows how many times that servant went up and down. 00:51:01.000 --> 00:51:03.000 The guy must have wanted another job. 00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:07.000 Time is not a factor. 00:51:07.000 --> 00:51:11.000 And the strange thing is you don't even need to see things, eh? 00:51:11.000 --> 00:51:14.000 You don't need a line of sight. You don't need to see things. 00:51:14.000 --> 00:51:15.000 What do you mean by that? 00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:20.000 See, I don't know why Elijah couldn't go and sit in a place and pray 00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:23.000 where he can see whether there's a cloud coming or not. 00:51:23.000 --> 00:51:28.000 He sits in a place where he cannot see the ocean, cannot see the water. 00:51:28.000 --> 00:51:33.000 Every time he prays, he has to send a servant to another spot to look out at the sea 00:51:33.000 --> 00:51:36.000 and see if there is a cloud rising up from the sea. 00:51:36.000 --> 00:51:39.000 In relentless contending, time is not a factor. 00:51:39.000 --> 00:51:40.000 You are not bound by time. 00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:46.000 Nor do you need a line of sight because you realize that 00:51:46.000 --> 00:51:51.000 just because someone says there is nothing here does not mean there is nothing happening. 00:51:51.000 --> 00:51:56.000 Every time the servant comes back, you see it in verse 43 of 1 Kings 18, 00:51:56.000 --> 00:52:00.000 every time the servant comes back, the servant says there is nothing here. 00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:05.000 And it doesn't bother Elijah at all because when it comes to relentless contending, 00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.000 there is nothing here does not translate into there is nothing happening. 00:52:09.000 --> 00:52:12.000 One is different from the other. 00:52:12.000 --> 00:52:15.000 There is nothing here. You can come and tell me as many times as you want 00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:17.000 because I know there is something happening. 00:52:17.000 --> 00:52:20.000 And it's only a matter of time. 00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:22.000 That is what relentless contending looks like. 00:52:22.000 --> 00:52:26.000 When we've been contending for nations, when we've been contending for lives, 00:52:26.000 --> 00:52:31.000 when we've been contending for certain things to change during these last six weeks, 00:52:31.000 --> 00:52:34.000 I've been fascinated by how it has changed. 00:52:34.000 --> 00:52:41.000 But when you pray, there's absolutely no sign that anything is going to change. 00:52:41.000 --> 00:52:45.000 One day we'll tell those stories. 00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:54.000 Perhaps not on live stream because they involve people and governments and nations. 00:52:55.000 --> 00:53:19.000 Always remember guys, the route of any enemy or any evil in a season 00:53:19.000 --> 00:53:23.000 is determined by the violence of your contention. 00:53:23.000 --> 00:53:30.000 The route of any enemy or any evil in a particular season 00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:35.000 is determined by the violence of your contention. 00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:44.000 It's determined by the violence of your contention. 00:53:44.000 --> 00:53:52.000 Matthew 11 verse 12, it says, 00:53:52.000 --> 00:53:57.000 the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force. 00:53:57.000 --> 00:54:04.000 There is a violence that is required for things of the kingdom to break upon the earth. 00:54:04.000 --> 00:54:11.000 In 2 Kings 13, 19, it talks about Joash and Elisha saying to Joash, 00:54:11.000 --> 00:54:15.000 why did you only strike the ground thrice? 00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:17.000 Why didn't you strike it five or six times? 00:54:17.000 --> 00:54:22.000 You could have completely routed them, but you would only strike it two or three times. 00:54:22.000 --> 00:54:27.000 The point being that when it comes to relentless contending, 00:54:27.000 --> 00:54:32.000 the route of the enemy or the route of evil in a particular season 00:54:32.000 --> 00:54:39.000 is determined by the violence of your contention. 00:54:39.000 --> 00:54:44.000 My hope was through the videos that we can teach how to wrestle a blessing on the land 00:54:44.000 --> 00:54:49.000 and how to overpower demonic forces from ravaging life. 00:54:49.000 --> 00:54:55.000 That is the intent of these videos and I hope you take it to heart. 00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:59.000 Because these are things man that we learn at times like this that will last us a lifetime 00:54:59.000 --> 00:55:02.000 that may affect the next generation because we learned it well. 00:55:02.000 --> 00:55:07.000 Or we raise up another generation that does not know what it is to war 00:55:07.000 --> 00:55:12.000 and then God will have to take them through times where they become seasoned. 00:55:12.000 --> 00:55:20.000 I cannot bear the thought of leaving the earth without raising a generation of ones who know how to do this. 00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:29.000 I cannot bear the thought. 00:55:29.000 --> 00:55:37.000 I have zero interest in raising a big church. 00:55:37.000 --> 00:55:45.000 If it becomes big, praise God, I will get a private jet. 00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:48.000 And even that does not help nowadays because you could fly out, 00:55:48.000 --> 00:55:51.000 but you would have to come back and quarantine yourself for two weeks. 00:55:51.000 --> 00:55:53.000 That does not help much. 00:55:53.000 --> 00:55:55.000 Anyways, moving on. 00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:58.000 The last one is relentless injustice. 00:55:58.000 --> 00:56:03.000 Relentless injustice, which is a relatively new place for us to go to, 00:56:03.000 --> 00:56:07.000 but which is important given the times that await us. 00:56:07.000 --> 00:56:09.000 It is super important. 00:56:09.000 --> 00:56:16.000 And so we can just begin to dig the ground up so we can start planting. 00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:18.000 Relentless injustice. 00:56:18.000 --> 00:56:22.000 Any questions about the private jet? None came in? 00:56:22.000 --> 00:56:25.000 No? Okay. 00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:28.000 Relentless injustice. 00:56:28.000 --> 00:56:32.000 So there is a need to be relentless in justice. 00:56:32.000 --> 00:56:35.000 And what does that look like? Go to Isaiah 58.12. 00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:41.000 Isaiah 58.12. 00:56:41.000 --> 00:56:45.000 Isaiah 58.12. 00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:47.000 And this is what God says, 00:56:47.000 --> 00:56:49.000 God says, 00:57:03.000 --> 00:57:08.000 So one of the things God desires is to work through us to repair, 00:57:08.000 --> 00:57:11.000 to restore, to raise up generations and foundations. 00:57:11.000 --> 00:57:13.000 Let me read that verse again. 00:57:17.000 --> 00:57:19.000 So how do we go about this? 00:57:19.000 --> 00:57:23.000 How do we go about God's idea of being relentless in justice? 00:57:23.000 --> 00:57:28.000 One of the first things we have to do is recognize, 00:57:28.000 --> 00:57:36.000 recognize that people have rights to their own lives. 00:57:36.000 --> 00:57:38.000 And that is what God wants us to do. 00:57:38.000 --> 00:57:41.000 And so we have to be relentless in justice. 00:57:41.000 --> 00:57:51.000 Recognize that people have rights 00:57:51.000 --> 00:58:03.000 because they are made in the image of God. 00:58:03.000 --> 00:58:13.000 And when I say people, it means every kind in terms of sexual orientation, 00:58:13.000 --> 00:58:21.000 ethnicity, status, 00:58:21.000 --> 00:58:35.000 criminals, model citizens, women, children, slaves, 00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:39.000 those that have challenges, 00:58:39.000 --> 00:58:51.000 the old, the dying, the vulnerable, the marginalized, 00:58:51.000 --> 00:59:00.000 the drug lord, the drug addict. 00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:03.000 It's just limitless. 00:59:03.000 --> 00:59:05.000 Yeah. 00:59:10.000 --> 00:59:12.000 Come Josh. 00:59:12.000 --> 00:59:17.000 This is Josh. This is the guy who drums and then, 00:59:17.000 --> 00:59:23.000 this is the guy responsible if you ever mess up on a video, 00:59:23.000 --> 00:59:25.000 he's the one responsible. 00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:28.000 This is also the guy who hides cookies in his hands 00:59:28.000 --> 00:59:31.000 and eats and makes a noise. 00:59:31.000 --> 00:59:35.000 We're going to ask a question. 00:59:35.000 --> 00:59:42.000 This is from Kevin. 00:59:42.000 --> 00:59:45.000 Kevin asks, when we are contending, 00:59:45.000 --> 00:59:49.000 is it good to expect encouragement from God or other believers? 00:59:49.000 --> 00:59:53.000 The fear is praying after a cause or for a place 00:59:53.000 --> 00:59:56.000 and not living up to what God has called me. 00:59:56.000 --> 01:00:05.000 Yeah. So to answer that, I would go back to the idea of being relentless 01:00:05.000 --> 01:00:11.000 by grasping three things. 01:00:11.000 --> 01:00:13.000 One, presence. 01:00:13.000 --> 01:00:18.000 And so that then gives me the courage to persist 01:00:19.000 --> 01:00:27.000 because I don't go out and contend from a Jacobish point of view 01:00:27.000 --> 01:00:32.000 or Jacob's strength or Jacob's present ability or Jacob's knowledge, 01:00:32.000 --> 01:00:34.000 which is how the world contends. 01:00:34.000 --> 01:00:38.000 The world contends based on what one presently knows 01:00:38.000 --> 01:00:41.000 or one's present strength. 01:00:41.000 --> 01:00:46.000 But when it comes to contending for God or with God, 01:00:46.000 --> 01:00:48.000 presence is critical. 01:00:48.000 --> 01:00:53.000 Otherwise, you can't contend because the idea that God has when it comes to contention is 01:00:53.000 --> 01:00:56.000 I can do this on my own with you. 01:00:56.000 --> 01:01:00.000 Now, it'll be a lot of fun because you'll know what I'm like. 01:01:00.000 --> 01:01:02.000 We become a majority of one. 01:01:02.000 --> 01:01:05.000 And it doesn't matter whether there are a thousand with you or it's just you. 01:01:05.000 --> 01:01:10.000 I'd love to have you contend for this here on Earth. 01:01:10.000 --> 01:01:13.000 And so the first thing I would need is presence 01:01:13.000 --> 01:01:16.000 so that it gives me the courage to persist. 01:01:16.000 --> 01:01:20.000 And then it doesn't matter that I might be the only prophet left on Earth 01:01:20.000 --> 01:01:23.000 hiding in a cave or where there are 7,000 others. 01:01:23.000 --> 01:01:27.000 It doesn't matter because you're the majority of one 01:01:27.000 --> 01:01:29.000 because you are with God. 01:01:29.000 --> 01:01:35.000 The second thing then would be besides presence is permission. 01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:40.000 Has God given me the permission to enter into contending 01:01:40.000 --> 01:01:43.000 where I am at present walking? 01:01:43.000 --> 01:01:50.000 Because if He hasn't given me permission, then I'm walking in presumption 01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:53.000 which then is fraught with all kinds of dangers. 01:01:53.000 --> 01:02:00.000 So if He has given me permission, then it fuels fearless passion. 01:02:00.000 --> 01:02:03.000 It fuels fearless passion. 01:02:03.000 --> 01:02:09.000 There is nothing like knowing an enemy who is scared of you. 01:02:09.000 --> 01:02:16.000 So when the commander of the armies of Israel gives Joshua permission 01:02:16.000 --> 01:02:18.000 to take Jericho and tells him that, 01:02:18.000 --> 01:02:25.000 listen, Jericho is shut up because of you and I am the commander of the armies of Israel, 01:02:25.000 --> 01:02:29.000 at once Joshua knew that victory was his 01:02:29.000 --> 01:02:33.000 because he was operating from a place of the outcome, not a place of the process. 01:02:33.000 --> 01:02:38.000 He didn't care what the process was because he knew the outcome. 01:02:38.000 --> 01:02:47.000 And third, if I know His purpose for me or His purpose for us, 01:02:47.000 --> 01:02:53.000 then it forges discipline or habit. 01:02:53.000 --> 01:03:00.000 It forges discipline or habit where this is where I begin to train 01:03:00.000 --> 01:03:03.000 because I know that I must fulfill His purpose. 01:03:03.000 --> 01:03:05.000 Because training is required. 01:03:05.000 --> 01:03:08.000 Next year I'll be better than where I'm at this year. 01:03:08.000 --> 01:03:10.000 So I hope that answers you. 01:03:20.000 --> 01:03:23.000 Yes, so the question is how do we raise a generation 01:03:23.000 --> 01:03:27.000 that begins to pray like this, fight like this, contend like this? 01:03:27.000 --> 01:03:29.000 What are some practical steps towards it? 01:03:29.000 --> 01:03:41.000 And so it's always relational, generational, and revelatory. 01:03:41.000 --> 01:03:47.000 So whenever you want to raise another group of people 01:03:47.000 --> 01:03:52.000 who can be what God wants them to be, 01:03:52.000 --> 01:03:55.000 you have to do it relationally. 01:03:55.000 --> 01:03:58.000 It has to be generational. 01:03:58.000 --> 01:04:01.000 So that the next generation gets it. 01:04:01.000 --> 01:04:04.000 And it has to be revelatory. 01:04:04.000 --> 01:04:09.000 Meaning you have to get your directions from God. 01:04:09.000 --> 01:04:11.000 Once you get the directions from God, 01:04:11.000 --> 01:04:15.000 you have to build relationship and invite people into what God has shown you. 01:04:15.000 --> 01:04:19.000 And once you invite people into what God has shown you, 01:04:19.000 --> 01:04:24.000 and you train them month after month, year after year, 01:04:24.000 --> 01:04:26.000 as hey, do you want to see how to pray? 01:04:26.000 --> 01:04:29.000 Let me not teach you a prayer, let me show you how to pray. 01:04:29.000 --> 01:04:32.000 Jesus could have so easily given the Lord's Prayer to them and said, 01:04:32.000 --> 01:04:34.000 all right guys, you're ready for prayer. 01:04:34.000 --> 01:04:37.000 No, they would watch as he would disappear. 01:04:37.000 --> 01:04:39.000 They watched him in the garden of Gethsemane. 01:04:39.000 --> 01:04:43.000 They watched how he would be up in the mountains during the day. 01:04:43.000 --> 01:04:47.000 They watched him in Mark chapter 3 or Mark chapter 5, I'm not too sure. 01:04:47.000 --> 01:04:51.000 It says, and he called 12 to himself so that they could be with him 01:04:51.000 --> 01:04:54.000 and they could learn of him before he sent them. 01:04:54.000 --> 01:04:59.000 And so one of the only ways to learn is to be relational 01:04:59.000 --> 01:05:03.000 after you know what God is revealing to you 01:05:03.000 --> 01:05:07.000 so that what you give is fresh manner, not old strategies. 01:05:07.000 --> 01:05:11.000 It has to be new wine for every generation. 01:05:11.000 --> 01:05:16.000 Otherwise, if I teach them what I learned 30 years ago, 01:05:16.000 --> 01:05:20.000 we'll still be assuming that salvation happens 01:05:20.000 --> 01:05:23.000 when you step into the ark and float upon the waters. 01:05:23.000 --> 01:05:28.000 And so what is it that at present is required 01:05:28.000 --> 01:05:31.000 for people right now and for the next generation? 01:05:31.000 --> 01:05:34.000 How do I teach them? By imitation. 01:05:34.000 --> 01:05:36.000 Because we've talked about this before. 01:05:36.000 --> 01:05:42.000 When you associate with people, you give them an opportunity to imitate you. 01:05:42.000 --> 01:05:45.000 And when they imitate you, Christ is formed in them. 01:05:45.000 --> 01:05:49.000 So there's association, imitation, formation. 01:05:49.000 --> 01:05:51.000 Christ is formed in them. 01:05:51.000 --> 01:05:54.000 And so you better make sure that you're imitating Christ. 01:06:01.000 --> 01:06:03.000 So going back to the justice issue. 01:06:03.000 --> 01:06:05.000 Yep. 01:06:10.000 --> 01:06:13.000 How do you know you have God's permission for something? 01:06:13.000 --> 01:06:16.000 How do you know you have your boss's permission for something? 01:06:16.000 --> 01:06:19.000 How do you know you have your boss's permission for something? 01:06:19.000 --> 01:06:22.000 Your boss comes to you and begins to ask you, 01:06:22.000 --> 01:06:25.000 hey, do you think you can do this? 01:06:25.000 --> 01:06:28.000 And then you begin to say, yeah, yeah, I've done this before, 01:06:28.000 --> 01:06:30.000 I've done this before, I've done this before. 01:06:30.000 --> 01:06:32.000 And then the boss says to you, 01:06:32.000 --> 01:06:35.000 but you haven't gone the way I'm taking you. 01:06:35.000 --> 01:06:37.000 And you say, you could try me out, 01:06:37.000 --> 01:06:39.000 but I'm not going to do this. 01:06:39.000 --> 01:06:42.000 And then you begin to respond the way I'm taking you. 01:06:42.000 --> 01:06:45.000 And you say, you could try me out. 01:06:45.000 --> 01:06:47.000 And then that begins a process. 01:06:47.000 --> 01:06:49.000 So whenever permission is given, 01:06:49.000 --> 01:06:52.000 it is God who comes and first begins to lay the groundwork for it. 01:06:52.000 --> 01:06:54.000 And then as you begin to respond, 01:06:54.000 --> 01:06:59.000 he shows you how impossible it is to step into what he's giving you permission for. 01:06:59.000 --> 01:07:03.000 And then you get afraid and you say, no, no, no, this is not a good idea. 01:07:03.000 --> 01:07:07.000 Every commission that God has given on earth accepted Jesus, 01:07:07.000 --> 01:07:10.000 and then you began with, hey, I have called you for this. 01:07:10.000 --> 01:07:16.000 And the immediate response was, no, no, no, no, don't call me, call Aaron, call Joshua, call someone else. 01:07:16.000 --> 01:07:19.000 And then once permission was given, 01:07:19.000 --> 01:07:27.000 God would have to now take time to fit you into the mold that was required for stepping into the place. 01:07:27.000 --> 01:07:32.000 So Moses took 40 years, David took a few years running as a refugee, 01:07:32.000 --> 01:07:36.000 Joseph took many years as a prisoner until he became Prime Minister, 01:07:36.000 --> 01:07:42.000 Paul spent 14 years in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and Damascus. 01:07:42.000 --> 01:07:47.000 There is a time when God says, here, I'm giving you permission, 01:07:47.000 --> 01:07:50.000 but now that you have taken on this permission, 01:07:50.000 --> 01:07:55.000 let me begin to train you so that you fill the shoes that will allow you to walk in the permission that I have given. 01:07:59.000 --> 01:08:03.000 So contending injustice, we said Isaiah 58.12 is where we start. 01:08:03.000 --> 01:08:06.000 And the first thing we do is we recognize that everyone, 01:08:06.000 --> 01:08:10.000 and I mentioned that list of people, is made in the image of God. 01:08:10.000 --> 01:08:14.000 In Deuteronomy 27, verse 19, God gets quite upset and he says, 01:08:14.000 --> 01:08:20.000 I will curse those that do not take care of the orphan, the widow, the immigrant, the alien. 01:08:20.000 --> 01:08:23.000 If you treat them badly, I will curse you. 01:08:23.000 --> 01:08:28.000 He's that particular about people being treated fairly. 01:08:29.000 --> 01:08:35.000 And so recognize that people have rights as his image bearers, 01:08:35.000 --> 01:08:39.000 and these are people made in the image of God. 01:08:39.000 --> 01:08:41.000 And it doesn't matter what their sexual identity is. 01:08:41.000 --> 01:08:43.000 It doesn't matter that they may be criminals. 01:08:43.000 --> 01:08:45.000 It doesn't matter that they may have challenges. 01:08:45.000 --> 01:08:47.000 It doesn't matter that they are the drug lord. 01:08:47.000 --> 01:08:49.000 It doesn't matter that they are the drug addict. 01:08:49.000 --> 01:08:50.000 It doesn't matter. 01:08:50.000 --> 01:08:54.000 It doesn't matter because they are made in the image of God. 01:08:54.000 --> 01:08:56.000 They were made to represent him. 01:08:56.000 --> 01:09:03.000 Their image is distorted, but God hasn't rescinded his intent when he made the earth and man, 01:09:03.000 --> 01:09:05.000 that you are my deputies. 01:09:05.000 --> 01:09:07.000 You will deputize on my behalf. 01:09:07.000 --> 01:09:09.000 You will steward the earth on my behalf. 01:09:09.000 --> 01:09:11.000 That hasn't been rescinded. 01:09:11.000 --> 01:09:14.000 And so recognize that people have rights. 01:09:14.000 --> 01:09:15.000 What rights? 01:09:15.000 --> 01:09:18.000 We'll talk about it next Sunday and the Sundays after, 01:09:18.000 --> 01:09:22.000 but the same rights that are given to you, the right to be loved, the right to be secure, 01:09:22.000 --> 01:09:25.000 the right to freedom of will, the right to be taken care of, 01:09:25.000 --> 01:09:29.000 the right to be warm when it is cold, the right to be cold when it is hot, 01:09:29.000 --> 01:09:32.000 the right to be fed, the right to be shown kindness, 01:09:32.000 --> 01:09:35.000 the right to be lifted up, the right of dignity, 01:09:35.000 --> 01:09:37.000 the right to be protected from harm. 01:09:37.000 --> 01:09:41.000 The very rights that you would rise up for when it comes to your own family 01:09:41.000 --> 01:09:44.000 are the very rights that belong to every person, 01:09:44.000 --> 01:09:48.000 off, made in the image of God because God is their father. 01:09:48.000 --> 01:09:50.000 They don't know it. 01:09:51.000 --> 01:09:56.000 So justice at the end of the day is rendering to people those rights. 01:09:56.000 --> 01:10:03.000 Justice is rendering to people. 01:10:03.000 --> 01:10:07.000 And by people I mean anybody, those rights. 01:10:07.000 --> 01:10:13.000 And injustice is depriving people, 01:10:13.000 --> 01:10:16.000 is rendering to people those rights. 01:10:16.000 --> 01:10:23.000 And injustice is depriving people of those rights. 01:10:27.000 --> 01:10:32.000 Our problem as a church and as churches is not that we deprive people of their rights. 01:10:32.000 --> 01:10:36.000 It is that we do not speak up for people whose rights are being deprived 01:10:36.000 --> 01:10:39.000 and they do not have a voice anyways. 01:10:39.000 --> 01:10:43.000 And in our silence we become complicit. 01:10:43.000 --> 01:10:47.000 And in the ravage that awaits the earth, 01:10:47.000 --> 01:10:51.000 if the voice of God is not heard through the people of God, 01:10:51.000 --> 01:10:54.000 then who can speak it clearer? 01:10:54.000 --> 01:10:57.000 And like I said, my voice doesn't count true, 01:10:57.000 --> 01:11:00.000 but when my voice joins with a thousand other voices, 01:11:00.000 --> 01:11:06.000 it is fashioned by Jesus Christ into a voice that breaks down a wall. 01:11:06.000 --> 01:11:10.000 God expects His restored community of image bearers. 01:11:10.000 --> 01:11:12.000 All of us bear the image of God. 01:11:12.000 --> 01:11:14.000 We were all made in the image of God. 01:11:14.000 --> 01:11:18.000 But we, as believers, are the restored community of image bearers. 01:11:18.000 --> 01:11:23.000 God expects the restored community of image bearers to render justice on His behalf. 01:11:23.000 --> 01:11:27.000 Hey, you want to see how serious God is about this? 01:11:27.000 --> 01:11:29.000 You don't even have to look at the New Testament. 01:11:29.000 --> 01:11:30.000 You just go to the Old Testament. 01:11:30.000 --> 01:11:32.000 Read the Book of Leviticus. 01:11:32.000 --> 01:11:35.000 You will see the justice God wants to prevail. 01:11:35.000 --> 01:11:36.000 Read the Book of Isaiah. 01:11:36.000 --> 01:11:39.000 Isaiah is so much about justice. 01:11:39.000 --> 01:11:48.000 We see Isaiah as a prophet, but he's a prophet who begins to seek justice. 01:11:48.000 --> 01:11:50.000 Those are just in the Old Testament. 01:11:50.000 --> 01:11:53.000 Leave alone how Jesus walked. 01:11:53.000 --> 01:11:54.000 So that's the first step. 01:11:54.000 --> 01:11:58.000 Recognize that people are not just the people of God. 01:11:59.000 --> 01:12:00.000 So that's the first step. 01:12:00.000 --> 01:12:03.000 Recognize that people are made in the image of God. 01:12:03.000 --> 01:12:08.000 The second step is awareness. 01:12:08.000 --> 01:12:11.000 Once you recognize that, then you have to become aware. 01:12:11.000 --> 01:12:13.000 And how do you become aware? 01:12:13.000 --> 01:12:15.000 Guys, please don't switch off. 01:12:15.000 --> 01:12:19.000 I want Jeevan to come and talk about Nandigama. 01:12:19.000 --> 01:12:22.000 What changed his heart about the people at Nandigama? 01:12:22.000 --> 01:12:23.000 He had come to Canada. 01:12:23.000 --> 01:12:24.000 He was here now. 01:12:24.000 --> 01:12:26.000 Life was good. 01:12:26.000 --> 01:12:30.000 What is it that drove him to raise up things for people in Nandigama? 01:12:30.000 --> 01:12:33.000 He'll take a few minutes to talk about that. 01:12:33.000 --> 01:12:36.000 But don't switch off yet because this is important. 01:12:36.000 --> 01:12:38.000 Awareness. 01:12:38.000 --> 01:12:44.000 Awareness of, oh God, which is the desolate heritage that you are turning our attention to? 01:12:44.000 --> 01:12:47.000 In Isaiah 49, it says you will restore desolate heritage. 01:12:48.000 --> 01:12:56.000 Inheritances that have been ruined, that have been robbed, that have been completely made desolate, destroyed. 01:12:56.000 --> 01:13:05.000 Oh God, which is that desolate heritage in Vancouver or in another nation that you are asking us to become aware of? 01:13:08.000 --> 01:13:15.000 And once you become aware of it, then the question arises, how did this get to where it got to? 01:13:15.000 --> 01:13:20.000 It now requires that I research or find out how did we get to where we got. 01:13:20.000 --> 01:13:25.000 This is the use of our gray cells. 01:13:25.000 --> 01:13:32.000 And then the third part of awareness is now how do I resource a solution? 01:13:32.000 --> 01:13:33.000 How do I resource a solution? 01:13:33.000 --> 01:13:35.000 I got five bucks in my pocket. 01:13:35.000 --> 01:13:44.000 How do I multiply this five so that the oil and the flour ends up paying off what is required? 01:13:44.000 --> 01:13:46.000 How do I resource this? 01:13:46.000 --> 01:13:53.000 How do you go from a $10 sewing machine that Jeevan picked up from Coquitlam and took all the way to India, 01:13:53.000 --> 01:13:58.000 how do you go from that to six other machines that the ladies at Richmond Pentecostal gave, 01:13:58.000 --> 01:14:07.000 to machines now that are massive and that can spin off 40,000 pieces in a matter of days? 01:14:07.000 --> 01:14:12.000 How do you go from $10 to $50,000 worth of machines? 01:14:12.000 --> 01:14:13.000 How? 01:14:15.000 --> 01:14:21.000 And then the third part, which is a part that I really want us to get to, the action. 01:14:21.000 --> 01:14:26.000 So there's the recognition, there is the awareness, the recognition of people made in the image of God, 01:14:26.000 --> 01:14:30.000 an awareness of, oh God, which desolate heritage are you calling me to restore? 01:14:30.000 --> 01:14:33.000 And it may differ from people to people, church to church. 01:14:33.000 --> 01:14:35.000 And the third one is action. 01:14:35.000 --> 01:14:37.000 And what is the action? Where does the action begin? 01:14:37.000 --> 01:14:40.000 We'll just take one point in terms of where the action begins. 01:14:40.000 --> 01:14:48.000 The action begins, the first response of God, sorry, the first response of God's people throughout the Bible is lament. 01:14:50.000 --> 01:14:53.000 Lament is lament. 01:14:56.000 --> 01:14:59.000 It is individual lament and corporate lament. 01:14:59.000 --> 01:15:03.000 It's an expression of grief and sorrow and frustration and indignation. 01:15:03.000 --> 01:15:08.000 That's something that you know is so ungodly that it becomes unbearable. 01:15:10.000 --> 01:15:24.000 And if lament doesn't grab my heart, then I will do things once or twice a year or I'll cut out checks or I'll join some GoFundThing or I will do something. 01:15:24.000 --> 01:15:28.000 But it does not grasp my insides. It doesn't do anything to me. 01:15:28.000 --> 01:15:38.000 And it is strange how every time a prophet or a people had to do anything, they had to be just caught up in lament. 01:15:38.000 --> 01:15:47.000 So what is the desolate heritage that you begin to feel a spirit-induced lament rise in your insides? 01:15:47.000 --> 01:15:54.000 Once that begins, guys, and I pray that we are given a desolate heritage to restore as a church. 01:15:54.000 --> 01:15:58.000 Let it be here in Vancouver and it be in some other place. 01:15:58.000 --> 01:16:07.000 Where lament is not a forcing of emotions, guys, even though I may be emotional right now, it's not a forcing of emotions because emotions can come and go. 01:16:08.000 --> 01:16:22.000 But it is this deep expression of grief, sorrow, frustration and indignation at a certain injustice or something that is desolate that people are being robbed of and they can't speak about it. 01:16:22.000 --> 01:16:28.000 It's not an emotion, but it prepares our heart. It prepares our heart to respond as a prophetic people. 01:16:28.000 --> 01:16:34.000 It prepares our heart. Lament prepares your heart to respond as a prophetic people. 01:16:35.000 --> 01:16:39.000 Lament prepares your heart to respond as a prophetic people. 01:16:39.000 --> 01:16:42.000 And what do I mean by a prophetic people? A people that prophesy? No. 01:16:42.000 --> 01:16:59.000 A people that are so eager to bring the values of a future kingdom into the here and now. 01:17:05.000 --> 01:17:08.000 Into the here and now. 01:17:13.000 --> 01:17:29.000 And these values are physical, they are spiritual, and they are eschatological of future, from the future. 01:17:29.000 --> 01:17:34.000 Or from when heaven will finally reign on earth in its fullness. 01:17:34.000 --> 01:17:38.000 And so let me show you three scriptures to kind of explain what I mean. 01:17:38.000 --> 01:17:44.000 Go to Job chapter 29. I've always been so impressed by this scripture. 01:17:44.000 --> 01:17:50.000 I remembered it yesterday. Job 29, verse 11 to 17. 01:17:50.000 --> 01:17:54.000 This is how we should be. 01:17:54.000 --> 01:17:59.000 If there are three righteous men that God always pointed out, it was Job, Daniel, and Noah. 01:17:59.000 --> 01:18:08.000 And here is what Job used to function as. Job chapter 29, verse 11 to 17, and here's what it says. 01:18:24.000 --> 01:18:43.000 Powerful. 01:18:43.000 --> 01:18:50.000 And so that is how we are supposed to walk, because the earth that awaits is not an earth. 01:18:50.000 --> 01:18:57.000 If the earth is not an earth, that will be conducive to that. My God, but when the church arises. 01:18:57.000 --> 01:19:01.000 You want to see the spiritual side of it? Look at Luke chapter 4. 01:19:01.000 --> 01:19:18.000 Luke chapter 4, verse 18 and 19, when Jesus goes into the synagogue and he picks up the scroll and he begins to read. 01:19:18.000 --> 01:19:22.000 Luke chapter 4, verses 18 and 19, starting at verse 17. 01:19:22.000 --> 01:19:27.000 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written. 01:19:27.000 --> 01:19:32.000 The Spirit of the Lord is the one on me because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. 01:19:32.000 --> 01:19:42.000 He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. 01:19:42.000 --> 01:19:47.000 Then he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. 01:19:47.000 --> 01:19:56.000 And then if you want to see how it will all end one day, Maranatha, come Lord Jesus, go to Revelation 21, verse 4. 01:19:56.000 --> 01:20:07.000 Can I have a tissue someone? If there is one around. Revelation 21, verse 4. 01:20:07.000 --> 01:20:22.000 I asked for a tissue and Derek, oh my God! 01:20:22.000 --> 01:20:31.000 This is what happens when a girl gives you a tissue. 01:20:31.000 --> 01:20:40.000 My nose shudders as I take this tissue to it. 01:20:40.000 --> 01:20:44.000 Yeah, Revelation 21, verse 4. 01:20:44.000 --> 01:20:47.000 A day is coming, guys, a day is coming. 01:20:47.000 --> 01:20:53.000 Now the dwelling of God is with men and he will live with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. 01:20:53.000 --> 01:20:55.000 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. 01:20:55.000 --> 01:21:03.000 There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things that's passed away. 01:21:03.000 --> 01:21:06.000 Guys, I know that that awaits us in the future. 01:21:06.000 --> 01:21:13.000 But if we are supposed to be a prophetic people who are moved by a spirit induced lament, 01:21:13.000 --> 01:21:31.000 then what happens is we begin to have this eagerness to bring those values of Revelation 21, verse 4 from a future kingdom into the present. 01:21:31.000 --> 01:21:35.000 That is what this looks like. 01:21:35.000 --> 01:21:39.000 Let me just call Jeevan and ask him this simple question. 01:21:39.000 --> 01:21:45.000 What is it that caused him to take up the cause of these girls in Nandigama? 01:21:45.000 --> 01:21:53.000 And then I'll return to just the last point before we sing and close. 01:21:53.000 --> 01:21:57.000 Hey guys, my name is Jeevan. 01:21:57.000 --> 01:22:13.000 When I was 17, I saw a young kid behind a bush drinking and smoking and I saw him in the middle of the night and that broke my heart. 01:22:13.000 --> 01:22:16.000 I went to home and then I couldn't sleep the whole night. 01:22:16.000 --> 01:22:21.000 I was crying because I know who God is. 01:22:22.000 --> 01:22:33.000 I know what Jesus Christ has done on the cross and then how he has changed my life and how it gave me strength and the value and the identity to live. 01:22:33.000 --> 01:22:38.000 And then that's when I started to go to villages and started to talk to kids. 01:22:38.000 --> 01:22:44.000 And then Sunday school started to happen and there are hundreds and hundreds of kids coming from different villages. 01:22:44.000 --> 01:22:48.000 And then after four years, I started to understand something. 01:22:48.000 --> 01:22:51.000 The girls, especially the girls, are super excited in Sunday school. 01:22:51.000 --> 01:22:56.000 There's a girl, her name is Rajkumari, and she's 14 years old. 01:22:56.000 --> 01:23:00.000 She is actually a Sunday school teacher for one of the villages. 01:23:00.000 --> 01:23:02.000 She's the leader of the Sunday school. 01:23:02.000 --> 01:23:07.000 She always goes out and she brings her friends to Sunday school. 01:23:07.000 --> 01:23:13.000 And then one Sunday she brought eight of her friends to Sunday school and then eight of them gave life to Christ. 01:23:13.000 --> 01:23:16.000 And she's like such an energetic and such a wonderful leader. 01:23:16.000 --> 01:23:21.000 And then the next Sunday I went to Sunday school and then I couldn't see her. 01:23:21.000 --> 01:23:23.000 I thought maybe she was sick. 01:23:23.000 --> 01:23:24.000 I thought maybe she went out. 01:23:24.000 --> 01:23:28.000 She went to her relative's home for a holiday, but she didn't come back. 01:23:28.000 --> 01:23:36.000 And I went to her parents and then I found out that 14-year-old girl and then parents forced her into marriage. 01:23:36.000 --> 01:23:38.000 And that broke my heart. 01:23:39.000 --> 01:23:45.000 The cultural bondage, the cultural social bondage, and then financial. 01:23:45.000 --> 01:23:51.000 And it's not just the parents, it's the enemy that's working. 01:23:51.000 --> 01:23:55.000 And for thousands and thousands of years, the bondage is after bondage. 01:23:55.000 --> 01:23:59.000 And the entire communities have become enslaved to that. 01:23:59.000 --> 01:24:01.000 And that broke my heart. 01:24:01.000 --> 01:24:02.000 I didn't know what to do. 01:24:02.000 --> 01:24:03.000 I didn't know who to go. 01:24:03.000 --> 01:24:04.000 I didn't know what to do. 01:24:04.000 --> 01:24:06.000 I went and told my parents and told my friends. 01:24:06.000 --> 01:24:10.000 And then we all come from that same background and it's normal to us. 01:24:10.000 --> 01:24:13.000 And then everybody's like, yeah, that's how it works. 01:24:13.000 --> 01:24:14.000 That's how the world works. 01:24:14.000 --> 01:24:18.000 And then I came to Canada and then one person gave me a menstrual hygiene kit. 01:24:18.000 --> 01:24:21.000 And then that night I started to pray about it. 01:24:21.000 --> 01:24:24.000 And then God spoke to me to go and then search for a sewing machine. 01:24:24.000 --> 01:24:26.000 And I was student at the time. 01:24:26.000 --> 01:24:27.000 I didn't have any connections. 01:24:27.000 --> 01:24:29.000 I didn't have any money. 01:24:29.000 --> 01:24:30.000 I only had $10. 01:24:30.000 --> 01:24:32.000 And then I found one port coquette. 01:24:32.000 --> 01:24:35.000 Took a bus for two hours, 40 minutes. 01:24:35.000 --> 01:24:37.000 Went there and then got the sewing machine. 01:24:37.000 --> 01:24:38.000 And then I came back. 01:24:38.000 --> 01:24:41.000 And then when I went to India, I took it along with the kit. 01:24:41.000 --> 01:24:42.000 And I gave it to my sister. 01:24:42.000 --> 01:24:45.000 And then my sister, she came back the next day and then she said, 01:24:45.000 --> 01:24:48.000 Jeevan, this will change the lives of the girls. 01:24:48.000 --> 01:24:49.000 I didn't know how. 01:24:49.000 --> 01:24:50.000 And she didn't know how. 01:24:50.000 --> 01:24:54.000 She's like, I know this will change the lives of the girls. 01:24:54.000 --> 01:25:00.000 She started to make more of those kits and then started to meet girls right in their homes. 01:25:00.000 --> 01:25:05.000 When the girls were able to go into the places where they shouldn't go. 01:25:05.000 --> 01:25:08.000 Because these girls are supposed to go and then work. 01:25:08.000 --> 01:25:10.000 Like 16, 17 year old girls. 01:25:10.000 --> 01:25:15.000 They're supposed to go to school and then enjoy the life and then plan for the career. 01:25:15.000 --> 01:25:23.000 But their lives are in such a slavery that they had to go and work for the whole day under the sun just for $2. 01:25:23.000 --> 01:25:28.000 And then their lives get worse by worse day by day, day by day, day by day. 01:25:28.000 --> 01:25:31.000 And that's when we started to go and started to meet them. 01:25:31.000 --> 01:25:39.000 Because if we know who God is, because I come from that community and I know that I believe that's normal. 01:25:39.000 --> 01:25:41.000 That's how it should be. 01:25:41.000 --> 01:25:46.000 But then God brought me out from there and then I started to understand who God is and what God can do. 01:25:46.000 --> 01:25:54.000 And just like what Jacob said from Luke, it's like if the Spirit of the Lord is upon us and then he has anointed us for a certain reason. 01:25:54.000 --> 01:25:57.000 And that's what triggered all of our hearts. 01:25:57.000 --> 01:25:58.000 Not just mine. 01:25:58.000 --> 01:26:01.000 They're like our team, our family, everybody. 01:26:01.000 --> 01:26:05.000 We started to go and then one after the other, one after the other. 01:26:05.000 --> 01:26:10.000 Yesterday I got a call from one of the girls who works at our ministry. 01:26:10.000 --> 01:26:12.000 And because of the COVID, they were all locked down. 01:26:12.000 --> 01:26:15.000 They cannot come out and they cannot do any work. 01:26:15.000 --> 01:26:17.000 So they started to stay at home. 01:26:17.000 --> 01:26:23.000 And then she started to call me and then she said, three girls from the company. 01:26:23.000 --> 01:26:30.000 They said three of their brothers now accepted Christ because of the change and because of the lives that they are living. 01:26:30.000 --> 01:26:33.000 And because of the power and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. 01:26:33.000 --> 01:26:35.000 They started to preach the gospel. 01:26:35.000 --> 01:26:38.000 And then now they started to the entire family started to come together. 01:26:38.000 --> 01:26:43.000 And this is catching one family after other, one family after other. 01:26:43.000 --> 01:26:44.000 And that's the power of God. 01:26:44.000 --> 01:26:48.000 When we stand up and that's how God does amazing miracles. 01:26:48.000 --> 01:26:51.000 All we got to do is stand up, take an action. 01:26:51.000 --> 01:26:55.000 And I also want to say, I also want to tell you one more thing before I go. 01:26:55.000 --> 01:26:58.000 You need to let God break your heart. 01:26:58.000 --> 01:27:03.000 You need to let God break your heart towards the things that God has prepared you for. 01:27:03.000 --> 01:27:06.000 So many times that we run away from it. 01:27:06.000 --> 01:27:14.000 And then I would say, go face it, open your heart and lament and go to God and then cry and then have this, have this. 01:27:14.000 --> 01:27:17.000 You can't understand this feeling, but struggle with it. 01:27:17.000 --> 01:27:20.000 And then out of that bonds the anointing. 01:27:26.000 --> 01:27:33.000 I pray God that lament grabs our hearts at Acts 29 so that justice will flow from this church. 01:27:33.000 --> 01:27:37.000 That kind of justice is, like I said, not just physical. 01:27:37.000 --> 01:27:43.000 Like Jeevan was saying, it begins to affect you spiritually. 01:27:43.000 --> 01:27:50.000 Where people are set free, not just in their physical condition, but they're set free forever, for eternity. 01:27:50.000 --> 01:27:56.000 Spirit of God, I just pray, I just pray that you would do this for us, please. 01:27:56.000 --> 01:28:08.000 Oh God, it's an area we haven't entered into and I'm pleading with you for the sake of the earth ahead, in the months ahead, for our own sakes, so that we can reflect the nature of God. 01:28:08.000 --> 01:28:14.000 Let justice begin to flow from this church too, from our lives too. 01:28:14.000 --> 01:28:28.000 Let lament for desolate heritages grab us corporately and then also grab us individually, whether it be downtown Eastside or whether it be a nation somewhere far away. 01:28:28.000 --> 01:28:31.000 Please begin this process, Holy Spirit. 01:28:31.000 --> 01:28:37.000 Ignite so that our treasure, our time, our talent and strength, 01:28:37.000 --> 01:28:42.000 will now be used to live out Micah Chapter 6 verse 8. 01:28:42.000 --> 01:28:56.000 And this is what God requires of you, church, that you act justly, that you love mercy and that you walk humbly with your God.