So, let's sing Happy Birthday to Caleb.
So if Caleb can stand because we don't know who Caleb is.
Ah!
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday dear Caleb.
Yay!
Happy birthday to you.
Cool.
How old?
Really?
Gosh.
I was 20 in 1985.
Okay.
Moving on.
Jeremiah 12-5.
We've been...
Was Derek's preaching okay last week?
Yeah, sounds pretty bad, eh?
Okay, moving on.
Jeremiah 12-5.
It says...
So this is part three.
Jeremiah 12-5.
If you have raised with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with
horses or how can you run with horses?
If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage when the Jordan is flooded?
If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the tickets of the Jordan or when
the Jordan is flooded?
So that was Jeremiah 12-5.
And so the question being, and we said this before, that running with horses is not natural.
Running with horses is not natural.
Everything about it is supernatural.
Running with horses is not natural.
Everything about it is supernatural.
What is unnatural is that...
Is when Christians or when you and I do not have an appetite for the impossible, that's
unnatural.
Why?
Because your God is supernatural.
Just remember that equation.
It's important that we remember that equation.
Running with horses is not natural.
Everything about it is supernatural.
What is unnatural is when you and I do not have an appetite for the impossible.
Why?
Because our God is supernatural and not to have an appetite for the impossible shows
you the gap between me and God.
And we said when we started that most of us don't live with an appetite for the impossible.
If anything, the impossible becomes a challenge and it's like, ah shucks, not again.
And everybody in Hebrews 11 went, ah shucks, praise God again.
Very odd the way they reacted and the way we react.
And so that's where we started.
And so here it talks about how if you have raced with men on foot and they have worn
you out, how are you going to run with the horses?
As in if the natural and the demands of the natural are beginning to wear you out, how
are you going to handle the supernatural?
How are you going to run with the horses?
Or the other part says, if you have gotten weary running on plain ground, as in in natural
circumstances, how are you going to handle it when the Jordan is flooded?
Because once it gets flooded, how are you going to cross over?
And strangely enough, there was a bunch of guys in the Old Testament who actually fit
this bill.
They were called the Gadites.
If you go to 1 Chronicles 12, you'll read about them.
You'll read about guys who actually fit Jeremiah 12.5, the Jeremiah 12.5 description.
So if you go to 1 Chronicles 12, 1 Chronicles 12, Chronicles is before Nehemiah, after Kings.
1 Chronicles 12, and you go to verse 15, 14 and 8.
15, 14 and 8, you'll find out about the Gadites.
So 1 Chronicles 12, 15, here's what it says, starting at verse 15, and then I'll go to
14 and then to 8.
The Gadites were the ones who crossed the Jordan in the first month when it was overflowing
all its banks.
Remember what Jeremiah said?
And now here are the Gadites who crossed the Jordan in the first month when it was overflowing
all its banks.
And they put to flight everyone living in the valleys to the east and to the west.
Then go to verse 14.
These Gadites were army commanders.
The least was a match for a hundred and the greatest for a thousand.
Now remember, this is not, while the Bible does indulge in hyperbole, in situations like
this, it's not saying that they could not.
It was that there were times when one man would stand in the middle of a lentil field
with a sword in his hand and he would actually slay 300 people.
So these are not exaggerations.
We know that when we look at the mighty three or the mighty 30, that they actually did that.
So this isn't some kind of exaggerated version that 1 Chronicles is coming up with.
But these guys were warriors who had the ability to sometimes, one man could take care of a
hundred and ten could take care of a thousand.
These were those kind of men.
That's how God raised them.
And so they do qualify for the Jeremiah 12.5 kind of people.
And then go to verse 8.
And in verse 8 it says,
And so what does it take to run with the horses?
I'd suggest that we look at some of the ways the Gaddaids behaved and figure out what it
takes to run with the horses because they seem to qualify.
So the first thing we need to look at is that this idea of the majority of one, the majority
As in, how is it that a people are able to match a hundred?
The least of them, the least of them could battle a hundred.
And the greatest of them could take on a thousand.
How?
It's because of this idea called the majority of one.
Samson did that.
What would he do?
He'd go pick up a jawbone.
And with a jawbone he'd slay 300 Philistines.
How's that possible?
Very simple.
Proceeding all these verses, you'll hear the simple verse saying,
The idea of running with horses is almost impossible if I'm not able or do not have
the capacity to receive into my life the Spirit of God to the point that he gets to do whatever
he wants through me.
Whatever he wants.
This is what we talked about yesterday when we said double portion is not twice the Spirit.
It is twice the capacity to increase or become twice as much you are in terms of being able
to receive the Spirit.
That's how this works.
Every time Samson did it, every time one of David's men did it.
Every time anybody in the Bible did something it was because suddenly the Holy Spirit would
come and dwell upon them.
He was in present then 24-7.
Now he is.
And we should actually be in a position to at command jump into this.
That's how in this present date people are able to go and open doors.
To dig up ancient wells.
That's how it works.
And it's absolutely possible.
I assure you, you will.
And I say you, it's both a corporate view and an individual view for anyone who is willing.
I assure you, we will.
Any questions on that before we go on?
Okay.
So if you go to Isaiah 60 verse 22, you see that again.
Isaiah 60 verse 22.
If you read it from the message, it calls the least of them the runt.
Isaiah 60 verse 22.
It says, the runt will become a great tribe.
The weakling become a strong nation.
I am God.
At the right time, I'll make it happen.
I love statements like that.
The runt will become a great tribe.
The weakling become a strong nation.
And then, how do you know this will happen?
Because I am God and I'll make it happen at the right time.
Let's look at the NIV.
The least of you will become a thousand.
The smallest a mighty nation.
I am the Lord.
In its time, I will do this swiftly.
And if you think this is going to happen with somebody else, then that's an absurd way to leave.
Every promise that is given in the scriptures should be something you desire, that you long for, that you see it in your days.
Lord, I have seen, I've heard of your...
Don't remember the song?
I have heard of your deeds, I stand in awe of your...
Nope, okay, moving on.
So, where there is a desire to see again what happened in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Because remember guys, as the river begins to flow further from the throne, what happens? It increases in depth.
And so we are not supposed to be stuck in the New Testament church, we are supposed to be stuck in the church that waits for us tomorrow.
Greater than what happened in the New Testament.
We can look back at that as a reference point, but that is not the limit.
We go further than that.
So, when it comes to the majority of one, you'll find that whenever a people took upon themselves
the task of accomplishing anything
through natural means
striving, help
they at best did better than most humans.
So if you go to Isaiah 30 verse 15, you'll see this working out.
Isaiah 30 verse 15.
I was talking to somebody about this earlier today.
Isaiah 30 verse 15.
Oh, let's go to verse 16.
Isaiah 30 verse 16.
You said, no we will flee on horses, therefore you will flee.
You said, we will ride off on swift horses, therefore your pursuers will be swift.
Go back to verse 12.
Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says.
Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression, depended on deceit,
sin will become for you like a high wall cracked and bulging.
He goes on to say before that, that when Israel needed help, go to verse two, or verse one.
War to the obstinate children declares the Lord, to those who carry out plans that are not mine,
forming an alliance but not by my spirit, heaping sin upon sin,
who go down to Egypt without consulting me, who look for help to Pharaoh's protection,
to Egypt's shade for refuge.
Every time I begin to depend on any other primary source other than God first,
it's a recipe for at best doing better than average or at worst making huge mistakes that will cost me.
It doesn't matter in which area, is it your job, is it sickness, is it finances.
Any area where my primary source is not God or He's not the first person I turn to,
it doesn't matter whether it's preaching, whether it's worship, whether it's church,
whether it's putting things together, any area where my first call or cry is not to God
and my primary source is not to God, it's a recipe for two things.
Either I'll average out or do slightly better than average or two, it'll be disastrous.
The opposite of faith is not doubt, the opposite of faith is self-reliance.
Every time I'm self-reliant or reliant on someone else before I turn to Him and cry out to Him,
it's a recipe for either disaster or for doing just above average.
And therefore in Isaiah 30 verse 15, here's what God says.
God says, in returning and rest is your salvation.
In quietness and strength you will find relief.
And so at the end of the day, when you are confused,
go from wrestling and confusion to this place of rest, to a place of resolution.
Three stages, eh?
Every time you're confused and we have confusion every day,
every time I'm confused, I go wrestling, confusion,
to a place of rest,
to a place of resolution, where God resolves things.
This is the progression.
What we do is we go from wrestling, confusion to two places.
Help from natural resources or prayer.
While this seems good, the place we need to go to is this place called rest.
And what is rest? Rest is seizing from striving.
How do we, what does rest look like in the Bible?
Rest is seizing from striving.
Self-effort.
Sweating it out.
Machinations.
Exertion.
Warring thoughts.
It's to seize or desist from all striving
and instead get into a place
where I only do exactly what I am directed by God.
Which is why you can't enter into rest
without, one, hearing, and two, obeying the word
because you actually believe it.
It's in Hebrews 4.
Yep?
Because that's where we normally go.
What do children do when they are in trouble?
They immediately call out to their parents, help.
And that's nice when they are children.
But as children grow up, you expect them not to go that route.
You expect them to have learned how to find other ways
to deal with the situation they are in.
So while help is a nice thing,
let that be as you grow older,
something that happens after you have tried everything else
the Lord has taught you.
Rest is a place where you come into this place
where there's no striving, there's no self-effort.
On one hand, you are childlike.
On the other hand, you're not childish.
You're childlike in resting in the goodness of the Father
and knowing that I am not going to do a thing more
than what I am being directed to do.
Not a thing more.
Not one iota more.
Even if it means that I am not able to provide for myself
not one iota more,
because that's what he has asked me to do
and I will not do anything else.
If the brook dries up, I'll have to wait
till he tells me to go to the woman
who has very little oil and flour.
If the ravens stop, I'll have to wait.
That is the very definition of rest.
When you are in trouble,
you go for rest.
While prayer will immediately cry,
I need food, please help me, I'm hungry.
That's good, but that's not the best.
Go for rest before you go for
this thing called help.
No, I'm saying our usual tendency is to cry out to God for help
and not find the help that God has already taught us to practice.
Yeah.
But the point is
instead of crying out for help, learn how to walk in.
Rest.
Rest is the solution, guys.
Rest allows you to walk in the supernatural
because now you refuse to do anything natural.
You refuse to provide for yourself
any other way.
Rest is so supernatural that you don't even use
the power you have from God.
What do you think Jesus is doing in Luke chapter 4
when he goes into this place called rest
when he refuses to turn
stone into bread.
He had the power to, which is why the devil is saying
you can turn stone into bread.
But he is into such deep rest
as in such leaning back
on only what the father commands.
He won't even use
legitimate power
to change things to his advantage.
How crazy is that?
He isn't even using the power he has
legitimately, divinely
to take care of his needs.
That's just nuts.
People would say he should have used his common sense.
He didn't.
His common sense would have dictated
you're hungry, 40 days is a lot,
eat something, turn the stones into bread.
Refuses to.
This is why Hebrews chapter 4 says
labor to enter into rest.
It's not natural. Labor.
You have to strive to stop striving.
Crazy, eh?
But these are the people that end up doing
supernatural things. These are the people
that end up building an ark for ages
not having seen rain ever. These are the people
that go around the city till the walls
fall.
I'm not a believer. I'm just right.
God, that's why he's God.
And I'm not.
I actually agree with you.
It's counterintuitive.
Let me give you an example.
The question was
Jacob, what does that look like?
I was going to talk about this at the end
but as usual, Dilna makes me talk things.
I just like doing this to you, Dilna.
It's unfortunate you're in the same age bracket
as I am. There I go and do it again.
So this was, so I had this opportunity
to practice rest when I was
away in India visiting my mom.
So I go in there and she's got
a catheter and then a tube up her nose
and then a tube in her hands and
has a tube in her hand.
So I go in there and she's got a catheter
in her hands and had a stroke and she's lying there.
And I've seen this happen to my dad
and it wasn't a pleasant experience
and I'm seeing her right now. I'm thinking
what do I do? So even before I get there
my question to God, and I wrote this down
that's why I'm reading it, I'll tell you.
My question was
I've got it in my notes.
My question was, Father
what's your take on Amma?
What is your take on Amma, Lord?
That I may walk rightly.
Look at the question. The question isn't
Oh God heal her, oh God help.
It's what's your take on Amma, oh God?
So that I may walk rightly.
Rightly where? Rightly for whom?
For whom? For Him.
How do I walk this rightly? Because if I walk
rightly for Him, I'll walk rightly for everybody.
So the question I'm asking
as I'm flying in is
what's your take, oh God?
What's your take on Amma, Lord, that I may walk rightly?
What's my expectation?
And then that was my only question
and the first thing I hear is, listen.
Keep dreaming forward.
Every day I'll tell you what to do
and when I tell you to do it, pray that
establish that as a baseline and dream forward.
So
given that
I almost failed zoology in my undergrad
I had nothing to do with medicine.
So the first day I'm asking the Lord, Father
so what do you want to do today?
And the first thing
he says is
I want you to pray for her
swallowing and this is day two.
I want you to pray that she begins to swallow
and I want you to pray that her left arm
that is immobile because of the stroke
starts moving. And so
I go tell my brother-in-law who's a doctor
that this is what God is saying
so you're willing to pray this
and he says, yep, let's do that.
So he and I begin to pray this.
That evening
they do a swallow test on her.
So in the morning she can't swallow, she's being fed through tubes.
Because if she swallows water
or swallows anything that's solid
it goes down the wrong gullet and then you'll have to aspirate her
because it goes into the lungs.
And so this is what we pray. In the evening the doctors come to do a swallow test.
And they test it.
And her swallowing begins to come back.
And her left arm
I've got pictures, eh?
Because I would take video shots of this.
Her left arm begins to move.
This is just seven days old.
I go to the window
because I didn't want anyone to see me cry.
I'm thinking to myself
how do you do this? How do you say something in the morning?
How do you just do this?
How?
Understanding their weeping. I remember texting a few people saying
I must have started swallowing.
The next day I thought okay so now we
perhaps have to deal with
bladder movement and bowel movement.
Instead I'm asking God and God is saying
just pray, this is day three
just pray for core strengthening.
I don't even know what core strengthening.
I didn't know I had a core.
So I begin to pray for core strengthening.
And I didn't realize that
when one suffers a stroke and has
the left side not working well
that even getting out of a chair is difficult.
You sit on the chair, it's impossible to get up.
The next day the physio comes
and they have her get out of the chair
and she's using her arms and pulling herself up.
What do I know about this?
The fourth day was
pray for the bowel and the bladder movement
to now become natural.
And that is when we started. It took two days
but the catheter got removed.
We started going to the washroom on our own.
Why am I getting so personal about this story?
Because this is how we know these things work
even though it's counterintuitive.
The fifth day was
can the palsy that had affected her left side
and the face was drooping
begin to disappear?
And it began to disappear.
The problem now is her tongue muscles
have almost lost muscle memory
and she's not able to still
use her tongue the way she wants to.
And so I left on the sixth day
and every day I asked the Lord, Father what do you want to do today?
This is how rest works.
You only do what you're asked to.
You don't go with expert opinion.
Expert opinion comes in second.
It's not that you don't care for it
but it comes in second.
First is the one who created all things
and has all power.
The core strength thing
she had a stroke.
The blood clot disappeared.
I'm not kidding you.
These are not suppositions of a pastor who's imagining.
Because my brother-in-law is a doc
he showed me the things that needed to be seen.
The clot disappeared so that was taken care of.
Then she starts getting up, walking with help
and the physio says she's walking on her own strength
but they needed two people beside them.
By the fourth day she's holding the table
and walking around the table.
By the fifth day she doesn't need the table
and she wants to walk towards the gate of her house.
The sixth day she got discharged
from the hospital.
The sixth day she was home.
This has nothing to do with you and I.
This is God at work.
None of us.
I definitely can't claim anything.
It was not my faith, it was nothing.
It was just a simple prayer based on what he said.
It wasn't even faith guys.
There was no exertion of faith.
It was let us pray this because
this is what he's saying.
I wish I could say it was great faith.
It wasn't.
And so we'd establish a baseline every day
and say now let's move on.
So what's her present situation?
Over the last two days my brother in-law told me
that she's getting a little lazy
and she's not working as hard.
But praise God my sister landed there today
and she is a drill sergeant.
Things will be back on track.
It's not because of her involvement
or my involvement but at the end of the day
may the grace of God carry her
as many days that she needs to be carried.
And it is
I think one of the most important things that you can take from this story
is the first question.
Father,
how do you want me to approach this
so that I can walk with you rightly?
That is the best part of this story.
That is the best part of the story
because you want to walk with him rightly.
The rest will take care of it.
And you can only ask that question
if you actually believe he's a good father.
Pardon?
He's still good.
That's a crazy thing.
His goodness doesn't change because of me.
Because he's a good father
I can now begin to have an interaction with a good father.
But if I don't interact with a good father
a good father doesn't become bad.
He still is good.
We all as kids realize that.
Some days our parents were really good.
Other days they were really sucky.
But
that was your perception of him.
That was your perception.
They were still good.
Rest is the antidote guys.
Nothing like rest to reverse a situation.
And when you're scared
when you don't do anything
and when you're scared
God will send help your way to encourage your heart
saying hey you're on the right track.
Gideon was scared.
He asked to go into rest.
And his rest was worse than ours.
He's got 30,000 people and God says whittle it down to 300.
Now he's got 300 people.
And he's supposed to go out with them.
He was scared.
What did God do?
Send him down near the enemy's camp and he hears people whispering saying
you know we're really scared of these Israelites
because they're going to come and they're going to treat us like bread.
They're going to eat us up.
He gets so thrilled with it that he comes back and says
we'll go with 300.
Practice rest and God will encourage you
when your heart is afraid.
It's a very cool way to live.
Why? Because God shows up like crazy.
In everything, hey?
Please don't think this is to do with finances or healing.
It's a way of life.
That's why we have this thing called Sabbath.
To seize from exertion.
To desist from exertion.
And what's a Sabbath like today?
27.
24-7.
It says thereafter
that David
let's look at 1 Chronicles 12-8.
1 Chronicles 12-8.
It says some Gadites
defected to David at his stronghold in the wilderness.
They were brave warriors ready for battle
able to handle shield and spear.
Their faces were the face of lions
and they were swift as gazelles in the mountain.
So, one, they defected to David.
Just so you remember, don't forget this part.
We can only seize from exertion
warring thoughts or desist from
striving if we are in a place
where we do exactly
what we are directed by God.
But to do what we are directed by God
we can't go there unless
we
learn how to hear
and it's a continuous process
and we learn how to obey the word
and actually believe it.
Faith in what is written.
This is why we must continue
to press into
hearing both the written word
and hearing the Father in conversation.
Both.
It's an essential.
You cannot do Christian life without this.
And don't go into that funk
where you say, but I tried and I don't hear God.
That's exactly how you started learning languages.
You didn't quit.
So don't go into that funk.
It's a continuous process.
Ten years from now you'll be so much better
than you are today.
One year from now you'll be so much better than you are today.
So we continually hear and believe.
Hear and believe.
In fact in Hebrews chapter 4 it says,
they did not enter into my rest because they heard
but they did not believe.
So hearing the voice of the Father
and hearing the word of God
and believing it is the way into rest
and it's impossible to enter into rest without these two things.
So what choice do we have?
These are the essentials of Christianity.
And that's how we became believers.
How does one become a believer?
By hearing that Jesus Christ
came down to the earth
so that he could remove the hostility
between God and man
by taking upon him
every wrong thing that you and I
have done will do.
So that you don't have to pay
the penalty for it.
He takes it upon himself and he says
now that I have paid the price
if you choose to
you can be mine.
And what is required for that?
First an acknowledgement that I have wronged
God and man.
Or I have wronged God
because God is perfect.
That I am not
and I have wronged God.
That's step one.
Because if you don't acknowledge sin
you don't need a savior.
One of the hardest things for humans to do
is to acknowledge that we
have sinned.
That's the hardest thing to do, eh?
Because to say that
is to really come to a place
where you admit your bankruptcy.
Admitting bankruptcy
is one of the hardest things for humans to do.
Because we can't admit
our bankruptcy that we
are not good people as the world
says. We have thoughts
ways and actions that are continuously
against a holy God.
Once I admit my bankruptcy
I need a savior.
Once I need a savior
he comes into my life.
Once he comes into my life
I get saved. Once I get saved
I re-enter the relationship
that one should have with God
which is that of a father and a son
and a father and a daughter. Who makes it possible?
Christ. By doing what?
By removing the hostility and the sin
that we have to pay a price for.
Crazy.
So
they defected to David.
One of the things
if you want to run with horses
run with horses
one of the things required
is to
shed
misplaced loyalties
allegiances
to
to clan
culture
laban
remember the
Abraham story, Jacob story
to
marry
as Jesus did when he said who is my mother
who is my brother. To Saul
Jonathan and Michael couldn't
but sometimes we get stuck.
So to shed
misplaced loyalties and allegiances
that's the first step to running with horses
because it will require
that we break free
from
loyalties
that
are old
stale
or affect
progress.
People do this
every day in the world.
You start
learning piano from me
and then you realize that he doesn't know much piano
so you move on to Sheldon.
You don't say
ah but Jacob's such a sweet guy
he gives me coffee every time I come
and play piano. I won't help you
with piano playing. It will just get you hyper.
So you move on to Sheldon.
We've got no problems
doing that. But when it comes to
moving with God we have misplaced loyalties
and allegiances. So they defected to David.
Where did they defect to?
They defected into the stronghold
in the wilderness.
Stronghold in the wilderness.
David had this ability
to find places in the wilderness
and he did this for years together
when Saul was after him.
Where he'd find this formation of caves
and he'd go in there and it would almost be like a fortress
that would be hard to access
but he'd always find
in that formation
a spring that brought in living water
or water that would give life.
He'd get into these strongholds
and he'd begin to operate from there.
That's where he goes eh?
And that's why Saul
found it so difficult to follow him
and ends up in one of those caves
where David could almost have had him.
And David spares his life.
So he would find these
rock fortresses
that were supplied by a spring.
Water was plenty.
I do that every time you find yourself
in a wilderness eh?
Every time you find yourself in a dry place
find your spot
find your spot with God
where in the midst of everything
that's turning upside down
you have this safe place where
there's a continuous source
of living water.
Practice it, create it
form it, it'll keep you safe.
Guys, always learn to nip things in the bud.
Whenever you see trouble beginning to brew
don't wait for it to get bigger.
As soon as it begins to brew
find your spot.
Don't let it grow bigger
because then it gets out of hand.
Find it early.
You see trouble coming?
They don't wait for the cyclone to hit
before they nail boards
to their windows, man.
The warning comes in early.
They were brave warriors.
They defected to David's
in his stronghold in the wilderness.
And they were brave warriors.
How did they get to be brave warriors?
This is so cool.
Who are they? They're the Gadites.
Where did the Gadites get land
on the eastern end
of the Jordan?
Why?
Because they said, can we have this land
because we have a lot of cattle.
Can we settle here?
So they get land on the eastern side of the Jordan.
They were a frontier town.
Who were their neighbors?
The brutal Ammonites.
Amorites.
Sorry, Ammonites.
So what did they have to do?
They had to learn
to fight.
So much so
that in Genesis 49
verse 19
Jacob prophesies on them
and says,
God will be
the great warrior
and the great warrior.
And they say,
God will be
raided
but they
will
raid
their raider's
heels.
As in, they'll attack them
even as the enemy is retreating.
They learned how to fight
because of where they lived.
And Jacob prophesies that.
It's almost 400 years before it happens.
That God
will be attacked, will be raided,
but they in turn will raid
their raider's heels. As in, they'll
destroy them on their retreat.
The only time we learn to fight is
when we have circumstances that are negative.
Otherwise, we don't need to fight.
Go to Judges chapter 3, verse 1-5,
you see it there. Judges chapter 3.
I know you've read this before,
look how brilliant it is. Judges chapter 3,
verse 1-5.
Judges 3.
Let me read an IV
and then I'll see if the message says anything different.
These are the nations the Lord left
to do what? To test all those
Israelites. What kind of Israelites?
Who had not experienced
any of the wars in Canaan.
Why did he do this?
Verse 2. He did this only
to teach warfare to the descendants
of the Israelites who had no
previous battle experience. How
nuts is that?
What kind of God is this?
Who wants you
to be able to war.
Why? Because in his nature, he is
a divine warrior too.
The only opportunity we have
to learn these skills
is when things are not
going well.
Am I asking you to invite
bad things into your life? No. But am I asking
you to look at every negative situation
in your life as an opportunity
for God to show muscle? Yes.
It's the only
way we learn how
to respond like him
and war like him. It's odd.
Our battle is not against flesh
and blood.
That's a part of the war.
How do we respond like him?
By showing kindness, by being
compassionate.
These are the only opportunities
we have. We will not get these opportunities in
heaven. It's
only here on earth that you get to become like Christ.
There you instantly become like him.
And he sometimes
does not
create situations for you where you
are not going to be able to do this.
But he looks at every situation that's happening
and says, Jacob,
how do you want to deal with this?
Can I come into this
as comforter? Can I come into this
as rescuer? Can I come into this
as fighter?
He will tell you how he wants to enter
a situation. And once he does,
you begin to change into who he is.
In your present situation,
whatever it is,
loneliness,
ickness,
videoconcurrencies, sickness,
confusion. The first question you ask him is,
Father, how do you want to enter this
situation? What form are you entering
the situation as?
What we always want is please rescue.
Please provide.
But why not ask him,
how do you want to enter this situation?
What form are you taking?
It's notgesthasura,
it's not whatever will be will be.
I'll get out if I die so I'll die no I'm not being job what I'm saying is oh God
how do you want to enter this situation it's an active seeking of his nature his
will his form into that situation so that you can measure up accordingly it
involves work involves searching the mind of God once you know that you are
now able to shape yourself and your response based on how he wants to be
yes it's work but that's how you know the mind of Christ there's no other way to
know the mind of God and if you're married my god you got such an advantage
two of you seeking it if you're not married you've got even a bigger
advantage because you got the rest of us they just have to each other all the
single people sorry that just came out by mistake we'll forget that we'll just
go back to see over generations out of necessity got Gad transformed into a
tribe that was killed in the art of war that was killed in the art of war and
God will sometimes place you in situations where you're doing everything
godly and he sends you a situation because he knows that in the future
you'll have to deal with something that will set a whole lot of people free hear
me again please this is this is so cool God while you're doing things that you
he has asked you to do like he says to David hey David can you shepherd your
father's sheep so David says yep and he takes his sheep out with his guitar and
he sings and writes songs and takes care of the sheep he's a good shepherd and
then knowing what awaits David while he's taking care of sheep along comes a
lion what does David do catches the lion which tries to take a sheep smites it
pulls the lamb out of the lion's mouth rescues it he does the same thing to the
bear he knows how to handle lion and bear now that he knows how to handle
lion and bear along comes Goliath but this is a battle he is ready for he
doesn't say oh lord have you noticed he never wrote a psalm saying why did thou
send it me a lion no his psalms say I smote the lion and the bear what can
this uncircumcised Philistine do to me sometimes the things that God sends our
ways is not to destroy us but to prepare us to set a whole lot of other people
who would be destroyed if you were not ready these are opportunities guys it's
it's like a complete change of perspective a based on the one fact that
he is good and so he deals with the lion he deals with the bear and now he's able
to deal with Goliath and because he deals with a group with Goliath an entire
nation benefits but the boy learned it shepherding God's sheep enjoy this
process he wants people a metal METTLE caliber but you have to train with the
lion and the sheep now you can see why a lion and the bear you now you can see
why he was so skilled with using two things well the rod and the staff the
rod to beat away predatory animals the staff to keep the sheep safe this is who
God is the divine warrior on one hand has the ability to provoke hostilities
against predators and then he has the ability to hook and bring sheep closer
himself with the staff the rod and the staff everyone here is supposed to be
like that if you believe in Christ because if we are supposed to be ones
that take after his image the rod and the stuff it's not one or the other you
take one or the other you'll have sheep that are pampered that get eaten after
being pampered or you'll have sheep that are protected they'll die starving
because you don't feed them
brave warriors ready for battle a ready for battle and you can't be neutral in
this you be neutral in this you'll suffocate what will suffocate you
dullness if you go gung-ho and are an untrained enthusiastic warrior you'll
get strangled and if you're going it alone you'll get crippled so what's the
best way learn how to fight with others together so that we learn how to wield
rod and stuff their faces were like faces of lions they had faces that were
faces of lions all day that that someone should describe a people can you imagine
someone coming to this church and saying I came here on Sunday June the 30th and
I looked around and all of them had faces of lions the only one that I can
see like that is Jobin like you got a main dawn is trying but it's not getting
there but but the thing is how does one describe someone like that faces of
lions but these guys actually looked like that like they had a fierceness
about them and which brings in this idea that if you want to run with the horses
you have to learn how to cultivate the Matthew 11 12 kind of violence it's a
what kind of violence is this initially it's a violence that'll elbow others to
God you know if you see these documentaries or news reports where
people have been starving for longer there it's in a war-thorn area and you
see food coming down through parachutes and stuff like that what happens people
elbow people out of the way to get to that life-giving food why would someone
call a whole tribe ones that have a face like a lion it talks about an aggression
a violence we need this violence at different levels the first level is when
God is about to distribute something can you have the same violence that will
cause you to elbow people out of the way because it is something he has for you
and you want to get to it at that time you don't choose politeness thing you
first it is yours it is yours for the taking run for it a hungry a hungry
desire for those things sometimes when you know that an invitation that is
is is resonating with your spirit then don't stay run
it only displays your firstbornness they only increases your capacity
Matthew 11 12 the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by
force how else are we supposed to be violent furious love in prayer have you
seen the movie hacks or ridge that is furious love that is violence that is
loving furious love that rescues the guy keeps going back he knows his life is
in jeopardy but he will not quit quit one after the other 25 people 30 people
35 people the whole place is exploding but he says one more oh god one more oh
god and he keeps going back he rescues 38 of them what is he he's he he works
for the medical core what is he in real life he's a pacifist he doesn't believe
in war but he keeps going back I highly recommend that movie hacks or ridge
hacks or ridge yeah I hope that's not the only thing you take from this
teaching but it's a great movie it's furious love there's a there's a it
refuses to settle down we are talking about a violence that the Spirit of God
gives you which which makes it impossible for you to stop short you
would rather die trying than not try it's a violence because of the violence
because of the adversary you face Satan who is evil who is evil and just great
evil it's a violence that then keeps you safe from lukewarmness if you don't have
this kind of aggression that begins to build into your life and it's not the
aggression that you think of in terms of the world but the another word that God
uses for it is zeal the zeal that possesses you to begin to do what God
wants you to do where he cloaks himself he robs himself in zeal the Bible says
if you don't have that lukewarmness is usually a few days away
in first Samuel 11 verse 6 talks about that that it talks about how the Spirit
of God came upon Saul and Saul became angry that's what the words say John
chapter 2 after Jesus begins to clear the temple it says the zeal of the Lord
shall accomplish it and the last bit last point I want to make is it says
the Gadites were swift as gazelles on the mountain in Habakkuk 3 19 it says he
makes my feet like deer's feet and I tread on the heights in Psalm 18 34 it
says we were designed like deer to scale high places when the going gets tough
so what am I supposed to do I need to consider my circumstances and the
difficult circumstances that I'm undergoing and then discover the
sure-footedness that I have in the word and in the goodness of the Father so
that he can help me scale new heights guys I was reading up on like sometimes
when you drive to Banff you see these mountain goat I mean they got this much
space to stand on it but they have this amazing ability to use their two toes
and back they're called dew claws to have all four legs in one spot that's how
they manage they don't need they don't need space for two legs and two front
and two back legs they they have the ability to put all four legs in one spot
and they begin to climb one of the things God gives us especially in
difficult situations is hey Jacob I know you're in a difficult situation but can
you get sure-footedness in two things one do you really believe I'm your
father and I'm good good so we got that sorted out now do you really are you
really able to believe the promise I'm gonna give you either from the written
word or from what I say to you or both can you really believe that good
now you got all four feet on places that no man has any business walking on and
I'll take you to new heights these are the ones that end up then doing things
that are supernatural it's not normal not normal I've got a video of a of a
that's scaling a damn it's a fascinating video you begin to scale vertical cliffs
unafraid undeterred by seemingly impassable terrain you begin to scale
vertical cliffs unafraid undeterred by seemingly impassable terrain
supernatural unto supernatural strength supernatural strength how do you
cultivate this and after that we can watch the video how do you cultivate
this three things guys how do you cultivate the ability to be sure-footed
when the cliff that you are facing is literally vertical how do you cultivate
the ability to supernaturally scale vertical cliffs unafraid undeterred one
intense attentiveness in the midst of what you're going through second instant
commitment to whatever is asked of you by God
and third an awareness of your impossible circumstances you're not an
ostrich you're not denying what's happening
intense attentiveness it's a I think the first step is the most important some of
you may not have fees to pay for the next course or the next semester or the
next rent some of you may have struggled with a physical condition some of you
may have struggled with relationships some of you may have struggled with
confusion whatever it be the first thing I try and if I'm not able to do it get
two others that you trust intense attentiveness father before this sours
or decays more hi if I'm not able we'll get two others who'll help me but I'll
go into this place called intense attentiveness where my attention is
drawn not by the things that are swirling around me because I'm drowning
anyways but I begin to intensely pay attention to you and every time it wavers
I'll come back to you doesn't matter how many times it'll happen I'll keep coming
back to you intense attentiveness second now that I'm paying attention Oh God I
know because you are the father that you say you and because you're good and you
love me like crazy as much as you love Jesus I know that you will reply when
you respond I'll instantly commit to whatever you ask I'll instantly commit I
won't delay I won't try to reason it out I won't try to doubt I'll do nothing of
that I'll instantly commit meanwhile Oh God I also am aware of my impossible
circumstances I'm not an ostrich I know this is going on I know that is going
wrong but I'll keep asking you and every time I fail I get up again and start
again every time I feel what happens one day Emmanuel comes through that door and
he walks in like Samson takes the gates on his back and walks away one day
Rachel comes through that door and she turns things around because she has gone
through this enough times to know that she can now rescue 20 or 30 other people
at the end of the day guys every circumstance that you go through is for
the benefit of someone else one year down the line just remember that every
circumstance that you go through be it from the devil be through our own
mistakes be through the nature of the fallen world be through persecution be
in a trial be the testing I've given you five different scenarios be from the
devil be from your own failure or mistake or sin be because of a trial
imposed on you because of someone else's mistake be it's satanic weights and
adversary attacking you be the fallen nature of the world or be it
persecution every circumstance is this magnificent opportunity for you to see
how God enters it and begin to work with him why so that you learn today what can
help 20 other people tomorrow we are being prepared for others this is the
only organization in the world that exists for the benefit of others this
club called Christianity exists for the benefit of others and so when you're
getting prepared today it is so that tomorrow you can help someone in
in Abu Dhabi yeah on that note we'll end you want to play the video we started
with Abu Dhabi and we landed we ended with Abu Dhabi what's this say it's I
took the sound off but you get the hang of it and then we'll break bread
love it without these minerals the bones won't grow muscles won't function
movement and coordination can falter
that's crazy it's not just the mother that goes up now the kid follows that's
a training party where we learn from others that have gone this route before
us
you
salt that helps them grow makes their bones strong
look at that a can we have a few of us do this I want to show you this because we
were designed for this you were designed for this please believe it
because this is what he's saying you were designed for this
people who finally begin to run with horses because they know how to work
with a God who's supernatural let's break bread that's where we usually live
we'll get there guys we'll get there
we break bread because we want to remember Christ's sacrifice for us
before he went to the cross he sat with his disciples and he said that my body
is going to be broken as payment for your sins for the sins of the world my
body is going to be broken as you break this bread remember that my body was
broken for your forgiveness and then he took the cup and he said I'm gonna
write a new agreement with you the agreement before was God is holy you are
not the new agreement is I'm paying for your sins you can come to me I will not
abandon you I'll introduce you to my father so you can be his son and
daughter I'll live in you that's a new agreement and he signs that agreement
with his blood
everyone got it
thanks
so in eating and drinking we are remembering what he did for us say and
it's not a somber occasion it's actually an occasion where we do smile and talk
and are happy that he did this for us it's not a funeral because he ain't dead
yeah so
once everyone's gotten it
hey so what are the benefits of his death you occasionally shout it out so
what are the benefits of his death to you you'll have to shout it out
righteousness benefit of his death anyone else what are the benefits of
his death access yeah access to God himself that's just nuts healing
relationship what else eternal life doesn't end here sorry presence yeah
presence is restored that which was lost in Eden has now been restored what else
forgiveness of my sins yesterday today tomorrow which is nuts what else sorry
adventure you get to go on adventures with God what else I have a father what
else sorry exuberant Wow what else family deliverance my god I needed to
be delivered from things probably still do from a few more what else
yeah the end to my sinful self what else there's still tons to go guys peace
peace that surpasses all understanding more healing fullness joy don't care
about me repeating it shout these are the benefits of his death we are not
talking about a dead man we are talking about a man who is alive who is in this
room who is Christ who is King who is God who is Lord of heaven and earth who
is present in our lives and in our midst right now are we saying this to him a
acknowledging the benefits of his death anything else making things new I love
that receiving the Spirit of God himself sonship rest hope people like Caleb get
born he was born 20 years ago saved the guy behind you who else anything else
participation in his life he's given us divine promises so that we may
participate in his life the word victory in different circumstances climbing up
Steve walls like this because he makes it possible living with the supernatural
God beyond natural means sorry go at John John protection pardon the body of
Christ
inheritance victory over the gates of hell relationship sorry sorry freedom
okay grace my god tons of it a justice sorry boldness wholeness and boldness
anymore abundant provision new spirit absolutely strong strong arms of God
victory what rest sorry stories yeah written by God this is nuts we could go
on and on it's still not exhausted crazy a this is the God we serve this is the
God we sing to so on the night he was betrayed he took bread he broke it he
thanks and he said this is my body which I'm breaking for you sacrifice he
sacrificed and so as you eat it remember what he did a and remember the benefits
of his death that we just shouted out every day we get to enjoy this every day
eat well he can run at a funeral no in the same way after supper and now the
because he drank the cup already freedom from guilt so true don't beat yourself
up yeah could someone give that with another cup if you have one you're okay
okay so in this in the same way after supper he took the cup and he said guys
this is my blood with which I sign a new agreement a new covenant with you that's
what he said yeah that I will never leave you I will never forsake you I
will never leave you I will never forsake you my father and your father is
good yeah so let's raise our glasses to him who is magnificent Christ the Lord
and King we thank you father for your son we raise the glasses to him we honor
him we bless him and we remember what he did for us as we drink now in Jesus name
then if you need prayer there'll be people up front here to pray for you if
you need prayer for anything otherwise Judah do you want to lead us in a
closing song no okay no closing song see you next Sunday or whenever the church
meets I don't think quest and pursuit are meeting tomorrow and day after so
you