Don't worry about it.
All right, you guys, let's go.
Hey, so we continue with running with horses, part four.
Running with horses, part four.
So sometimes when we talk about running with horses,
I think it's an event or some kind of a mission where we have to,
we said, just to go back a little,
we said when we talk about running with horses,
one of the statements we had made from about four or five weeks ago is,
thanks man, running with horses is not natural.
Everything about it is supernatural.
That's what we said, just to refresh our memories.
And then we said what is unnatural is not to have an appetite,
for the impossible,
because your God is supernatural.
That's how we started it.
So don't forget that.
That we are running with horses,
the idea of running with horses is not natural.
It's not natural.
Everything about it is supernatural.
What is unnatural is that as believers, as Christians,
we sometimes don't have an appetite for the impossible,
even though we know our God is supernatural.
We don't have an appetite for it.
That is unnatural.
And so over the last four teachings on running with horses,
the intent is, can I cultivate an appetite for a God who relishes the impossible?
Who relishes the impossible.
Can every opportunity that I face that is difficult be an opportunity
where I first open the door of my life and of situations that be difficult?
Open the door of my life and of situations that God can enter.
So that's the premise.
And so today we go to the fourth part.
And we need to understand that when we talk about this,
this is not event-based or a mission that you're on,
but it's a lifestyle cultivated every day.
So we can't go running with horses when we go on a mission trip.
We can't go running with horses when we have a crisis
or when we need an impossible intervention of God.
It's either a way of living on a regular basis
so that when these things come along, it's the most natural thing.
So it's not an event, it's not a mission.
It's not an event, it's not a mission.
It's a way of living.
Two, so here are some of the things that make it easy to run with horses.
One, it's a way of living.
This is how your God is always.
And the Bible proves it again and again and again and again.
And every time people forget, God reminds them.
Revivals are usually God's way of making people aware
of his largeness and his closeness, both, of his largeness and his closeness.
Second, are you persuaded, are you persuaded of his raging goodness
and is that an unshakable, unnegotiable belief?
That's the second one, eh?
It's impossible to invite God into opportunities so that he can be supernatural
if I'm not convinced of his raging goodness.
And that's the second one.
And the third one is, is it possible to invite God into opportunities
so that he can be supernatural?
If I'm not convinced of his raging goodness, his goodness isn't some kind of trickle.
It's a raging torrent of goodness because it's one of the only things he is.
And we see that when Moses goes up Mount Sinai and asks that God show people his glory,
God's response is, I'll show you my goodness.
His raging goodness is a torrent of goodness.
I'll show you my goodness.
His raging goodness, am I persuaded of that?
And if I'm persuaded of that, then is that an unnegotiable, unshakable belief?
So it has to be unshakable, eh?
Circumstances cannot distort it and it has to be unnegotiable.
It doesn't matter what people say.
You might have Job's wife as your spouse and she may come and say curse him and die
and you have the ability to be unnegotiable and unshakable in that.
It is the highest form of praise.
It's the highest form of praise.
It's the ultimate sacrifice of praise to recognize continuously the goodness of God.
It's like a fire that burns continuously if that's part of your life.
It's an altar that is always alive.
It's the lamp in the tabernacle that is constantly lit.
So that's the second thing.
The third thing is, and this is how it becomes a way of living, running with horses.
Third thing is, are you aware of what God thinks of you through your actions?
Are you aware of what God thinks of you through different seasons of life?
I'm not talking about I'm a child of God.
I'm not talking about I'm forgiven.
Those are critical, really important things that form the platform on which everything is built.
But are you aware of more than that?
If you're aware of more of what God actually thinks of you at this particular season in your life,
you also know the things you have permission for.
At work it's like that.
At work you get a promotion, and as soon as you get a promotion,
you have to begin to become aware of how the boss thinks of you.
And if you aren't aware of how the boss thinks of you,
you cannot operate how the boss wants you to operate.
So when we are asking the question, are you aware of how God thinks of you in this present or through present seasons,
then are you aware of it? Can you write it down?
Are you confident of it?
Because that then allows you to know the arena in which God will predominantly work his supernatural ways
to turn things impossible into possible.
Are you aware of it?
There was a woman called, what's her name, the one who wrote Chasing the Dragon?
Sorry?
Jackie Palinger was highly aware of what would happen if she, who wanted to go as a missionary to Hong Kong
and wasn't being allowed by anybody, she knew that if she could go there, she could change people.
She goes there and she mixes with gangs that are triad gangs and drug addicts in Hong Kong.
And her way of setting them free is the ultimate way of setting them free.
She would have the Holy Spirit set them free and they would be freed forever.
It wouldn't be through therapy, it wouldn't be through methadone,
it would be through the Spirit of God instantly delivering people.
And she had great success.
The book is about what she did in Hong Kong.
She knew her area, she knew what she was called to.
And this shouldn't be a surprise to anybody coming to Acts 29 regularly.
The only surprise is when we don't put in the time to discover it season after season after season.
It is not difficult. It is hard work, but it's not difficult.
It is hard work, but it is not difficult.
It's hard work here because this is where the mind begins to question, doubt, fight against who God says you are
besides the fact that you are a much loved child, besides the fact that you are forgiven,
besides the fact that you are precious.
Those things are the platform that these things are built on.
So I'm not devaluing that.
The next one is, can you go from hearing, can you go from not just hearing
to engaging him,
engaging him
so that you are actively figuring out
how he operates
and how he thinks.
This is another beautiful thing, eh?
Where we aren't satisfied with hearing God,
where we try to get answers for our problems or the next step for the situations we face.
We go from there to engaging him in conversation.
It's like if I had a problem in math, I would go to my dad,
I would go to my dad, I'd ask him and I'd listen to him because I wanted an answer.
That's why I was never good at math.
On the other hand, if I had engaged him to figure out how he got to the end of the problem,
I'd have been a math whiz by now and I wouldn't be a pastor, praise the Lord.
But what happened was that all I wanted was the answer.
Sometimes we hear God and when we hear God, we want answers.
We want his perspective, we want the next step.
Engaging is different. Engaging is when you want to know how something works.
You begin to dig into the mind of God.
It requires a conversation and it requires a relationship.
Yes, and over a period of time you really get good at it.
And if we do this, a strange thing happens.
When you focus on hearing,
hearing lets you
hearing lets you step
hearing lets you step into the capacity of faith
that he, as in God, knows you have.
He tells you what's the next step.
But when it comes to engaging,
engaging him,
engaging lets you step into the capacity
that God has.
It's not the capacity of your faith, it is the capacity of God.
What are examples?
One of the examples that we'll talk about shortly is when Moses,
sorry, Abraham decides that, hey,
hey, I'm not going to operate on my faith.
I know what you, O God, are capable of in your justice,
in your righteousness, and in your mercy.
So I am going to engage you with regard to Sodom
and bring you down from 50 to 10.
50 to 15, or 10, I think.
He brings him down so that Sodom can be spared.
Another man who did not depend on his faith
but depended on how he used to engage with God is Joshua.
In Joshua chapter 10, and the Bible says it so clearly,
it says never before had a man ever asked
or literally commanded God to cause the son to stay still.
Never had a man done that.
That is beyond the capacity of faith.
It is stepping into the capacity of what God can do.
There are many examples like this in the Bible
where you begin to engage God to the point where
you know you don't have the faith for it,
but you are confident that this God can do anything he wants,
so you begin to delve into the impossible.
I will give you time for questions shortly after this.
These are, I mean, I told you about this guy called Tom Hamlin
who used to walk around in the Middle East.
He would carry Bibles with him.
He would go only into Muslim countries.
When he would enter the Muslim country,
they would ask him, do you have anything to declare?
And his response would always be,
I have the Bible and I have a suitcase load of it
that I'm bringing into your country.
How dumb is that?
And so what would happen in every Muslim nation?
They would haul him off into customs.
And then he'd sit in the customs,
and they'd say, why are you bringing this Bible?
He says, it's injeel, meaning it's the word of God.
I wanted to bring it.
He wouldn't hide it.
And then every time he does it,
someone would walk along and they'd say, hi, Tom,
what are you doing here?
And then he would say, I'm stuck here because I brought in Bibles.
And they would be highly connected,
and they would take him out and take his suitcases out.
He saturated the Middle East with Bibles.
Not once did he hide from the authorities
that he was smuggling Bibles in.
Never did he pray, shut their eyes.
That is not faith.
That is a step beyond.
Commanding the sun to stand still, that ain't faith.
It should shake the whole solar system out of whack.
Engaging God allows you to know what someone is capable of.
If you engage someone that you know is smarter than you,
you begin to go to him not with your faith,
but you go to him knowing that he is capable.
It's no longer about the capacity of faith you have.
It is the capacity of the person that you are beginning to trust in.
Exponentially, what you believe for increases.
You meet people like this every so often, guys.
They've tapped into this.
Why not us? Why not you?
Okay, you can ask questions.
Sorry, Anna, can you speak louder?
Because there are these fans now.
Yeah, so her question is, is it based on us engaging God
or is it based on the Word of God?
Both. One cannot exist without the other.
You cannot engage God without knowing what he has said in the Word.
But the Word is a launching pad for us to begin to understand how God thinks.
I mean, you can get stuck at different parts in the Word.
I remember a pastor who was far more academic than me,
far more a thinker than me,
and his thing was Isaiah, where in Isaiah 55 or there,
it says, his ways are higher than ours, his thoughts are higher than ours.
What did this pastor decide?
That God's ways are nebulous. They cannot be fathomed.
His ways are higher than ours. His thoughts are higher than ours.
And so he stayed there.
While if you move further, you'll find in Proverbs 25 verse 2
that it is the glory of God to conceal a matter.
It is the glory of Kings 2.
Discover it.
You go further and you find in Romans chapter 7,
the last verse says, who has the mind of Christ?
We have the mind of Christ.
You go further to 1 Corinthians 2
and you find that the Spirit of God has been given to you
so that you may know things that are spiritual
that the world cannot understand.
What happened to all those scriptures?
So sometimes, guys, scripture is important,
but the tapestry of scripture should be used in our lives
to begin to explore the mind of an infinite God
because the Bible with 66 books is only the written word
and he is the living word.
The written word is supposed to be used to become intimate
with his heart and his mind
so that we begin to fathom this God who can do the impossible.
Here's a question though.
How did Joshua know that he could do what he did?
What scriptures did he go to?
We've been given the scriptures.
We have no longer any excuse but to know God
like your own father, like your own master,
closer than a brother living inside of you.
We've run out of excuses.
In fact, God goes ahead in Isaiah and says,
hey, when you come to me, please understand,
I don't speak in riddles.
I speak quite plainly.
Crazy, eh?
We've got to know God this way, guys.
You know why?
Not because you may get a few answers
or you may step into a few adventures
or you do something supernatural.
We've got to know God like this
because there's a generation after us
that has been given the scriptures
and a generation after us
that will not know God like this.
And that should pain you.
That should hurt you.
That should give you spiritual ulcers.
Saying, that I cannot afford.
I cannot afford the next two generations
to know the God who has been sterile,
domesticated, no longer a lion,
but a blooming cat.
I really didn't mean the cat to come in between there.
It was just what happens when you domesticate a lion.
Really, honestly.
But the point is this, guys,
father, my thing is,
okay, so you do a few supernatural things.
I live the next thirty years of my life supernaturally.
Great.
And then, takes one generation to forget the God of Joshua.
This Joshua, who commanded the sons of Sansthal,
Judges 2, verse 10, what does it say?
And a generation came up after Joshua
and they did not know the God of their fathers.
What did Joshua do that messed up the very next generation?
That we must keep in mind.
It should pain you.
It should hurt you.
And if it's not hurting you, you should ask why.
Do it not for yourself, man.
Live this kind of a life so your kids can.
I know I've said this before, but I love what happened with my nephew
when my sister prayed for his ear
and it was hurting like crazy.
She prayed for his ear
and then she went to the medicine cabinet
to get some medicine to put in his ear.
And he said,
Mama, give Jesus some time.
Like you just prayed.
Give him some time to do something.
Don't put medicine immediately after.
You know, it's not like that.
It's like, you know,
do something.
Don't put medicine immediately after.
Praying.
But as a mother, you can't bear seeing a child in pain.
But a child can bear the pain
because he wants to see Jesus do something.
What a way to raise kids, eh?
But they only learn by seeing, eh?
Imitate, imitate.
Any other questions?
Yep.
Oh, sorry, Dilna.
You lifted your hand and Dilna spoke.
What can I do?
Yeah.
Go ahead.
You know, you're saying you're a little bit...
But like, with that line,
you know, something's invoking like new age.
Yeah.
New age is way too big.
Yeah.
So, so, um, uh, but Dilna's question is,
where is the line when you begin to,
when you begin to, uh,
discover God's nature like this,
where is the line?
Because so many veer off and go,
forget new age.
They veer off and go into charismatic nonsense
that is, uh, that invites other spirits into a place.
Let's, let's, let's give the new age, new ageers a break.
Just charismatic mumbo jumbo.
Where is the line?
Um, the plumb line is always the word,
where if there is no precedent in the word,
it should not be entertained.
If there is no precedent in the word,
it should not be entertained.
So that's one.
Two, in the safety or the multitude of counselors,
there is safety.
So when one begins to isolate himself
and start going down this route,
it is dangerous.
You know, um, there's a guy in Abbotsford.
He started, um, seeing angels,
and, uh, he, he's, he ruined his life,
uh, and is now back in ministry,
because nowadays, um, you just have to repent for three months
and you can be back in ministry.
And so he really messed up,
but every day he was bringing in a million dollars into his ministry.
That's a lot of money.
Nobody would correct him.
But long ago, when he first started talking about angel of this and angel of that,
a guy called Keith Abraham, who's been to Acts 29,
said to him, if you want to preach in my pulpit,
you better stop talking about angels and start talking about Jesus.
And he did not agree.
He left the church.
It's very hard in a place that has others
who are well worse than the plumb line of the word
for you to continuously go into error without being stopped.
It is difficult.
There are safeguards like that.
But there is no inventor who has invented anything
without blowing up their kitchen.
Yeah.
Any other questions?
Abhilash? Abhishek? Amitabh?
Choose whichever.
I can't hear you.
These fans, man, blame these fans.
Appetite for impossible?
Versus greed.
Very, very...
How do you distinguish between greed?
Let's use another word for greed alongside greed.
Greed and personal grain or personal exalting or the impossible.
Whenever God invites you into the impossible,
it's almost always for the benefit of others.
Take any story in the Bible.
Take Joseph's impossibility with the grain.
Take Elijah's impossibility with Mount Carmel.
Take Paul's impossibility with a snake tied around his hand.
Take any story in the Bible where God did something impossible.
It was for one simple reason.
Many will see, many will fear and put their trust in the Lord.
When it is personal stuff...
You know, at the end of the day,
our personal impossibilities are very simple.
I want a job, I want a visa, and I want some money.
And occasionally, if you're single, I want a wife.
Those are the four impossibilities that exist in our lives.
But we are talking about stepping continuously into things that God crafts,
saying, I'm looking for a man.
I'm looking for a man who can show himself loyal and steadfast on my behalf.
I want to show them...
I want to roll up my mighty arm and show them what I can do.
Hebrews chapter 11.
Take any person in Hebrews chapter 11.
What's their story?
Their story is very simple.
God found someone who was willing to do something
that would let the world know that he is God.
In the bargain, God will take care of your personal needs too.
Joseph had enough to eat, but my God, he was the reason Israel survived.
Twelve sons, one gone.
Seventy-two people come into Pharaoh's land and live in Goshen.
From that seventy-two, they grow into a nation.
Why?
Because when they needed grain, before the famine, God sent a man.
Remember that, guys.
Before the famine, God sends people.
And there's nobody here, and I mean it in sincerity because of the nature of God,
not because this is some great prophetic word I'm giving,
because of the nature of God.
There is nobody here sitting here that God is not willing to send into a place of famine,
ahead of time.
But will you at that time go through certain tortuous turns,
go through certain pressures, go through certain crushings,
go through what Joseph went through in Psalm 105 where it says,
and they put him in chains till the word of God came to pass.
The word of the Lord tested him.
They put him in chains, and then the word of God came to pass.
Go through those difficult times.
Why?
Because God sends people before the famine so that when the famine arrives,
Joseph can rise.
Where did Joseph learn his trade?
In his father's house.
Where should you learn the trade?
In your father's house.
You learn the trade here, and then it doesn't matter whether you're a potiphar's favorite,
or whether you're in prison, or whether you're in Pharaoh's palace.
This is why I said running with horses is letting the people in the house
and horses is letting the opportunities that seem so difficult in our lives
become occasions for God to turn up and show his mighty right arm.
And everybody here is going through something, eh?
Nobody here.
That's a strange thing.
There's such a common denominator for mankind,
believer or not believer, all of us are going through something.
And into that thing, we bring someone.
And we go to his word and see what he can do.
And we begin to discover who he is.
But Jacob, what about the times that I've done it in the past and nothing happened?
Well then, get up tomorrow morning, smarten up and try again.
Because that's what you've done every day of your life.
Your car breaks down, you don't go and say, that's it, I'm taking the horse from today on.
You go back and try to start the car again.
I mean, I had a friend in another church before I joined this church.
He unfriended me because he was a mechanic
and I had an old Hyundai that would break down on Night Street.
And then he would have to drive and come and start my car.
Finally, he unfriended me.
He's no longer my friend.
He didn't even invite me to his wedding.
That's how bad it can get.
But trust me, every time it broke down on Night Street,
I didn't go amish and think, I'm going to take a horse and buggy to church.
Neither should you.
Genesis 18.
This guy, without the Spirit of God in him, was something else.
The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre
while I was sitting at the entrance to the tent in the heat of the day.
One of the things about God, he is, he is the Lord.
He visits when he pleases.
With Adam, cool of the evening.
With Abraham, hot Iraqi sun.
Which is really hot, by the way.
It's really hot.
He chooses when he visits.
Iraqi is not a Greek word.
It's just Iraqi.
Yeah, Iraqi.
And then the strange thing is, he meets these three people.
Three people come walking towards him, and he doesn't realize immediately.
Yahweh and two angels.
Yahweh and two angels appear to Abraham.
Abraham.
Guys, Hebrews 13 says that we entertain angels unaware.
We entertain angels unaware.
We think these words just don't apply to us.
But it is New Testament scripture.
There are times where God shows up, not in this form like he showed up with Abraham.
There are times when the angels of God show up.
And sometimes we don't recognize them because we do not know how to host people.
When you learn how to host people, sometimes you entertain angels without being aware of it.
Three people turn up and all three stand before Abraham.
And he doesn't immediately know who they are.
They look like three ordinary men.
One of the things God loves doing is, he turns up initially in the routine and the ordinary.
If you can spot him, then he begins to turn into someone who is extraordinary and supernatural.
If I keep looking for him, only in the extraordinary, I'm an event-based visitation person.
But if I know that in my routine he is engaged, that in the ordinary he turns up,
at some point you will recognize that God is in the place.
If you notice, Abraham's conversation with the three, he only refers to one of them as Lord.
I don't know how he spotted who that was because all three look the same.
But he notices one as Lord.
And unaware, if we are a people that begin to host others, host strangers, host friends,
in an extravagant, caring, watching over, waiter-like manner,
you will be surprised at how many times you will end up entertaining angels
that are on some assignment here on earth.
And every time you entertain an angel, without even knowing it, your house will be blessed.
This is not Old Testament scripture. This is Hebrews chapter 13, verse 2.
I remember shortly after I became a believer, I was so scared of what my friends will think
of me going from heroin to now the Bible, that I would wrap my Bible in newspaper
so that nobody would know that I was reading the Bible.
And I would keep reading the Bible. I was traveling by train once and reading my Bible
and saw this guy who hardly had a loin cloth around him, a complete beggar, skin and bones,
sitting near the toilet of an Indian train, which in those days was really not good.
And so he's sitting at the toilet. Nobody approaches him. He looks like he's got bad skin.
He smells. The only place he can sit is the toilet.
And I'm reading this newspaper-covered Bible, and I'm thinking to myself,
I can't sit here and read what I'm reading and not do something about him.
I searched for stuff in my bag, I had some food in my bag, took the food, went to him,
and I thought, give him the food. But then I'm thinking to myself, that's so blooming easy.
So I sit next to him. And sitting next to him, he and I began to eat.
And as I'm eating, I've been a Christian for a week, but I begin to tell him that,
listen, I want you to know about Jesus, and I begin to share Jesus with him.
The train is moving. I think to myself, all right, so he's like really putting the food down.
So I think I'll go and get the rest that I'd save for myself.
So I go get the rest that I'd save for myself, and I come to him and he's disappeared.
And this is not one of those compartments where you could go from one to the other.
The only explanation is he jumped off the train, which people would have seen.
I had no idea what happened to him. Shortly after, I read Hebrews 13, 2,
and it talks about how without being aware, you entertain angels.
Why am I sharing this story with you?
Because it's important that we understand certain New Testament things that still happen.
It's not an Old Testament pattern. What has been accomplished through that?
I have no idea. All I knew that was I did what I was supposed to do.
When we begin to host strangers, ones not like us, ones that need help,
without knowing, we end up hosting angels.
Maybe out of ten, you host ten real people,
and then by the time you get to the hundredth, you host someone that God has sent.
What's God's purpose? Don't worry about it. Get to be a good host first.
So Abraham now begins to call one person Lord, and he begins to wait on them.
He goes, and you should see what he feeds them. He feeds them cake.
See, I knew there was some biblical value to this. He starts with dessert.
He feeds them cake and curds, and then he goes to meat and something else.
He feeds them four different things, and he's waiting there.
It's his home. He's a rich man. He has a towel on his shoulder, perhaps,
if waiters still did that then, and he's waiting. He's hosting them.
And in the process of hosting, God begins to speak.
Guys, please understand this. Can we convert our quiet time into one anothering with God?
Can you convert your quiet time into one anothering with God?
Where there's a one another thing happening.
What we do is we have quiet time, our time of reading our time,
but can we convert it, instead of getting up from it,
begin to move from it to another thing?
But can we convert it, instead of getting up from it,
begin to move into this thing called one anothering with God?
And in the process, without even seeking for things,
God begins to deliver promises to you.
So here he is hosting, and then God begins to say stuff like,
I want you to know that one year from now, your wife will bear a son.
All this time it has been, you will have a descendant.
You will have a descendant. There's nothing concrete.
But as he's hosting, God begins to speak, and he says,
one year from now, suddenly possibility becomes specificity.
God has His way. When we begin to host Him,
where we one another with Him, where it's no longer hearing,
where it's no longer getting things done, but like two people in love,
like a father and a son, like a husband and a wife,
you can take any such example, like a shepherd and a sheep.
You take any of these examples, there's continuous one anothering,
and in one anothering, promises are delivered to you like nowhere else.
Come on, man, we can do this. We have the ability to do this.
You got enough word, you got enough examples to do this.
The one thing that fights us again and again to destroy the main thing is time.
It's time. It's time.
But the moment we bring passion, love, pursuit, time begins to serve us.
Remember that always. Anything that has in it,
passion, love or pursuit, will have time serve it.
Anything that does not have passion, love and pursuit in it,
time will rob it.
Take anything in life that you have a passion for, love for,
or that you are engaged in pursuit of, time will serve it.
Time becomes a servant.
And when you don't have that, time will be an enemy, it will rob you.
It's very simple.
So narrow down the things that you are passionate about, that you love,
that you pursue. Narrow it down so that you're aware of it.
Once you write it down, you know what you should include and what you should exclude.
Once you write it down, you know what to include, what's missing,
or you know what to exclude.
When you engage God, when you one another with him, he shifts your obsession.
He shifts your obsession beyond the situation and solution.
He moves you from the situation you are being crushed under
or the solution you are seeking, to the situation you are being crushed under.
to the domino effect of God's unfolding plan.
What I mean is, one of the things God loves doing is,
Hey Jacob, I know you're going through a situation,
that's the intent you initially came to me with.
You said, I'm going to be a good friend of yours.
I'm going to be a good friend of yours.
Hey Jacob, I know you're going through a situation,
that's the intent you initially came to me with.
But now that we are engaging and talking, we're talking about all the other things,
I'll take care of the situation and solution.
By the way, there's some other things I want you to do.
I want you to stop here, then I want you to go give that there,
and then I want you to do this here.
Because I've got an unfolding plan that I want to accomplish through you.
So can you take your eyes off your situation, off your solution?
Because I've got so much more that I want to do.
Don't get stuck with this.
It's something he loves doing.
He doesn't want you to focus on that one thing,
that is completely personal, important, and it is important to God.
Anything that matters to you, matters to God.
Why? Because he's your father and you're his child.
Anything that matters to your child, matters to you as a father.
Anything that matters to you, matters to God.
And since it matters to God, his thing is, now that you've spoken to me about it,
can we shift the obsession with the situation and the solution
to so many other things that I want to do today?
Have you noticed how the thing begins to just begin to drill through your head?
It's so difficult to get rid of.
In Vietnam, in this temple that people frequent,
there are these trees, man, banyan trees.
Their roots worm themselves into the concrete, into the stone,
and the living tree becomes one with a dead stone.
It's freaky how it happens.
Sometimes these dead trees that are situations begin to root themselves inside our head,
and we can't remove them, eh?
One of the best ways to remove things is to talk to somebody about it.
I got a tree running right through my brain, out through my nose.
Can you please clip it here and then pull it out here?
I don't know how it works, but you get the idea.
Abraham isn't treating this as a visitation.
Hey, here's the crazy thing.
There are two things that are so cool about Abraham.
He's just fed them. They're quite happy.
They tell him they've come to check Sodom out.
And God is so smart.
He knows Abraham's going to ask him,
aren't you a just God?
Won't you spare Sodom?
Aren't you a righteous God?
What if there are two things that are so cool about Abraham?
Won't you spare Sodom?
Aren't you a righteous God?
What if there are 20 people that want you to spare Sodom?
And so what does God do?
God loves playing chess, and occasionally he lets you win, but usually he wins.
So knowing what Abraham is going to ask, here's what God is saying to Abraham.
I have heard that Sodom is pretty evil.
That it is evil, there is no question of.
But I decided that I would come down and verify it for myself.
He's already telling Abraham ahead of time that, listen, I'm a just God.
I'm going an extra mile in anticipation of your question.
You're asking me if I'll be just and righteous.
I'm coming down to verify the stench myself.
So he knows ahead of time.
But Abraham has just fed him, washed his feet, fed him all the things he did.
And now as they leave, he doesn't just stay there.
Sodom is about 18 miles away from where they are,
based on today's calculations.
Instead of letting God and the two angels go, he begins to walk with them.
He walks about three to four miles with them.
He walks with them. He doesn't let them go.
Enoch walked with God and then was taken.
Abraham walked with God and he was still.
And you and I have an opportunity to do exactly what Abraham did.
Walk with God.
When your thing, your business with him is done, don't let him go.
There are other places he's going that he'll willingly take you with him.
Walk with him.
What does walking with him look like?
Father, thanks for giving me the answer.
Thanks for giving me the peace.
So what else are you up to?
That's engagement.
What else are you up to?
There are some friends you meet and when they leave, you don't want them to go.
So you say, so what else do you have this evening?
And then they say they're going to a restaurant.
Oh, really?
I'd like to come.
And then you force yourself on them and you go with them.
Yeah?
It's not the restaurant really.
It's a company.
Come on, man.
We are not users of God.
We are sons and daughters of God.
He walks with them.
He walks with them for a distance.
And then it's during that walk that he hears more.
And what does he hear?
Beautiful things.
Shall I hide from Abraham?
Shall I conceal from Abraham what I'm going to do?
He would have missed out on that statement had he decided that the meal is done al-vidah,
which is Greek for not Greek.
It's some other language for goodbye.
No, he doesn't stop.
He walks with them.
And in the walking, Proverbs 25.2 comes to play.
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.
It is the glory of kings to explore and discover it.
And what does Abraham discover?
He discovers God making the statement loud enough for him to hear.
Shall I conceal from Abraham what I'm about to do?
The destination was Sodom.
But in the process of that simple walk, God begins to show him things about nations that Abraham will be part of.
He says, why will I not conceal it from him?
Because there is a day coming when Abraham will be the one that is a blester of nations.
A day is coming when he will teach his children justice and righteousness.
A day is coming when the promise I gave him in Genesis 12.3 will come to pass.
All this is revealed in a walk.
This is what Elisha did with Elijah.
Jordan, Bethel, Gilgal, Jericho.
As the Lord lives, I will not let you go.
This is engagement.
How can you not enter into a supernatural life when this is your habit?
It becomes natural for you.
And then he gets to a point where he's done enough walking and now the two angels keep going ahead.
But not Abraham.
Yahweh is standing there.
The Bible says Abraham stood there.
He still wouldn't let go.
Where else do you see it?
You see it with Jacob, the guy who kept running.
Won't let go.
Come on man, you have it in you.
It's a lie that you don't have it in you.
It's a lie that you need to get to another level to have it.
It's a lie that I don't have that kind of a calling.
This is not a calling.
This is something that's been planted in each child of God.
What are we talking about?
A desire to grab God.
It's very natural for you.
Why?
Because you have his spirit.
It is just that our flesh is weak, but the spirit is really willing.
If you are not stirred up by what I'm saying, you're dead and we have to get an ambulance for you.
The question is, after getting stirred up, what can we do for you?
That's the part that's difficult.
But stirring up, the spirit of God will do.
Why do we meet corporately?
So that the spirit of God can stir us up into the purpose of God.
A coal that is left alone will turn dark, dull and lose its fire.
In a furnace or a fireplace, it keeps burning.
Part of the reason we meet together like this is so that the spirit of God can stir us up.
And if you're not stirred up, it means only two things.
One, you're actually dead or two, you're spiritually dead.
What we do after that is difficult.
That's when you're like a lazy dog by a fireplace.
That's what the message says.
The spirit is willing, but the rest of me is like a lazy dog by a fireplace.
You know the first nation that was blessed by Abraham?
Sodom.
Abraham is interceding, man.
Yes, Sodom got destroyed, but the first nation that he begins to intercede for,
even before there were a people called Israel,
the first nation that Abraham intercedes for is Sodom.
Oh God, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Abraham intercedes for his Sodom.
Oh God, spare the city.
Spare the city.
Beautifully, of the most wicked of cities,
that's where sometimes God will ask you to begin the process of blessing.
He's bringing you down from 50 to 40 to 30 to 10.
That's the first place.
And this is how we become a prophetic people.
A prophetic people are a people to whom God reveals what he's going to do
so that they can intercede.
Hear me again.
A prophetic people is not some prophetic anointing.
A prophetic people is a people who God reveals things to before it happens
so that you can intercede.
Amos chapter 3, verse 7 says that.
It says that I do not do things without first announcing my intent to my prophets.
We're not talking about one or two prophets.
You're talking about a people that can do it.
So therefore, at times when God says, hey, church, pray for this nation or pray for this situation,
sometimes he's revealing things so that people can be prophetic
and start making decrees that God is sending from heaven through worship,
through a person saying, can you speak this out on my behalf?
Because I do not do things without first telling my people.
That's what he did with Abraham.
Shall I conceal what I'm going to do?
I'm here to find out whether Sodom is actually wicked or not.
Man, we got such a splendid God.
You keep preaching and preaching and preaching and it never ends because there's still more.
While God knows you, while God chooses you, while God commits you to a life of running with horses,
it's not enough to be known.
It's not enough to have a sense of destiny.
You have to have intimacy.
See, God knows us, chooses us and commits us to the impossible.
That's his intent.
Do you really think, guys, do you really think for a second that this God actually knows you
and chooses you to surrender you or commit you to a logical, mundane life like all other people on earth?
Do you really think that's who he is?
Go back to Eden and you will see what his intent with man was.
So he chooses you, he knows you, he commits you to the impossible.
But it's not enough to be chosen or to know one's destiny.
Then comes the intimacy because it's intimacy that triggers or ignites what needs to be ignited.
And what does the enemy kill in most churches?
Intimacy.
How is intimacy killed?
Through religion.
And in us, all of us, there is religion.
Intimacy is killed through religion.
Some have stayed in churches for 60, 70, 40, 30 years.
I've stayed in churches for 40, 50 years.
I know that religion can kill intimacy.
Without intimacy, I'll finish in the next 10 minutes.
I think if I travel and come, I seem to have more energy.
I just landed at 3.30.
I could go for another hour and a half.
Thanks, James.
You were the only one who was encouraging me to.
Without intimacy, engagement with God turns to argument, suspicion, and
suspicion, suspicion, distortion, and scapegoating.
With intimacy, without intimacy, with intimacy, you begin to see his mind,
his perspective.
You advantage his nature.
You waylay his intent, as in you know where he's going to go, so you wait for him there.
You worship when you don't understand.
And you trust.
At the end of the day, this is what all of us go through when we go through difficult situations.
Our problem is not that, oh, why did God allow this?
We don't, we may have gotten to the place where we know God doesn't do harm,
but we do get stuck in the same situation.
That's a question that is asked so often.
And so what happens without intimacy, my engagement with God turns into argument,
into suspicion, into distortion, and scapegoating.
Scapegoating is when you put the blame on it.
Well, if you had all this power and you say you're a father and I'm your child,
why didn't you stop it?
And then you're going to be in a situation where you're going to be in a situation
where you're going to be in a situation where you're going to be in a situation
and yet you can't do squat when your child decides to do something.
I should ask you, why didn't you stop it?
Because you can't, because each one chooses.
An all-powerful God is weakened by my personal will, which he will not use up.
With intimacy though, I begin to see his mind, ah, so that's what you're thinking.
All right, I'll wait.
Oh shucks, that's your perspective.
I zoomed out and now I can see the whole thing.
I'll advantage your nature.
I know you're merciful so I know what's going to happen.
Now, you might be saying this right now, but if I stand here,
I bet you're going to heal this woman, this syrophenician woman and her daughter.
I'll worship you.
I don't understand what's happening.
It actually hurts, but through my pain, I'll worship you.
Even if you slay me, I will bless you and worship you.
I will trust you.
Weh-leh is when you wait, knowing that the syrophenician woman was the perfect example.
She knew that she could get from Jesus healing for her daughter who was demonized.
It didn't matter that Jesus was saying, even the dogs, bread shouldn't be thrown to dogs.
It's for the children and her responses, but dogs get the scraps that fall off the table.
It's this conversation that's going on because she knows.
Blind Bartimaeus knew it.
There are people telling him not to go, but he knows that the son of David is merciful,
that he will get what he wants.
Hezekiah knew it.
Nathan had just come and said, you're going to die.
And Hezekiah's response is to turn himself to the wall because he knows that he has been faithful and God can relent.
It is knowing what's going to happen and standing in the way,
knowing that God is going to come this way and he will turn.
You know who didn't know it?
The guys in the boat when they're rowing against the storm, his own disciples.
They see Jesus walking and Jesus even appeared to be passing by.
But really you think he's going to let them drown in the storm?
Sometimes our cries for help are just because we don't know this God.
If we knew him, we would know how he takes care of us.
One of the things that really bothers me even today is the first flight I took with my niece from Luton Airport to Zurich.
And it was the first flight and she was sitting next to me.
And she wanted to sit next to me because I was her favorite uncle.
I was the, my sister's only brother, by the way.
And so I was her favorite uncle and she's sitting next to me, but she wants to be brave.
But she was so scared.
She could have sat with her parents, but she didn't.
And instead of being aware of her, when the plane began to take off, she reached out her hand.
And I'm moving my hand and sitting like telling her about the plane,
but I should be holding her hand because she was afraid.
That's how we sometimes think God is.
We reach out and we think he won't reach out and hold your hand.
He loves doing it.
Advantage is nature.
Know how he is and you will not be afraid.
I regretted to this day that I didn't reach out and calm her hand.
She probably has forgotten, but it stayed with me because she was so scared.
But she wanted to show her chacha, her uncle, that she was brave.
God ain't like that.
Know his nature and our prayers will change because some things we won't pray for.
Let me end with this story.
Can you put up that picture?
This is a guy called Blondin.
Almost July 15th, so almost 175 years exactly to the day,
he decided he would walk across the Niagara from the US side to the Canadian side.
He does that and he goes back.
He even walks backward.
And then people were cheering, so he decides to take a wheelbarrow.
And he takes a wheelbarrow instead of a tightrope balancing stick.
And he takes a wheelbarrow and he goes across the Niagara from one end to the other.
And people started cheering again.
And then he asks this question,
does anyone want to sit in this wheelbarrow and go back with me?
Suddenly there was deadly silence.
This is what I mean by running with the horses.
The ability to decide that,
oh God, I don't have the faith for it, but I know your capacity.
So I'll come along for the ride.
Not a single soul did that.
That was in 1859, July 15th.
Years later, not years later, a month later, on August 17th,
he calls his manager and his friend.
This is a dangerous guy to be managing, eh?
He calls his manager and his friend,
and he says to the manager and the friend,
hey, can you strap yourself onto my back?
Can you strap yourself onto my back?
So Blondin carried this guy called Harry Colcord,
the guy on his back, across the Niagara, strapped to his back.
And they were doing fine, and then he comes midway
where the shaking of the rope is pretty drastic.
And he says, Harry, you are no longer Colcord.
You are Blondin.
Be a part of me, mind, body, and soul, till I clear the span.
Sway when I sway.
Do not attempt to do any balancing yourselves,
and we will live.
His words were, Harry, you are no longer Colcord.
That's his full name, Harry Colcord.
Harry, you are no longer Colcord.
You are Blondin.
Be a part of me, mind, body, and soul, till I clear the span.
Sway when I sway.
Do not attempt to do any balancing yourself, and you will live.
It's a definition of rest,
where you become one with the one you're walking with,
and you're not trying to balance.
You're not doing anything to help yourself.
Nothing.
That is the definition of rest,
where you know God is sufficient,
and you will not add a thing or do a thing.
You will sway when he sways.
It's like the wheels of Ezekiel 1.21, wheel inside wheel.
But they all move together. Why?
Because the spirit of God was within the wheels,
and they would move.
Running with the horses is becoming, you know,
there used to be this show called Cavalia.
Cavalia.
It used to be a show that was much like,
what's that thing where those guys swing,
that famous thing in Montreal?
Cirque du Soleil.
The same guy who started Cirque du Soleil started Cavalia.
And then his friend, a guy called Latterelle,
decided to do it with horses.
You should see that show, man.
Too bad it's gone.
But in that show, you'll find people running with horses.
They run with horses and have the ability
to leap off the ground and sit on these horses
without saddles, stand on it,
do things that are so amazing that will blow your mind.
They run through water, they run on horses,
and they literally become one with the animal.
I've seen that show twice. It's stunning.
To run with horses, you have to become one
with the spirit of God as he invites you into things.
You have to do what Blondin and Harry did.
That's how this works.
Yeah?
There's a lot of meat in what has been taught today, guys.
And it's been supplied by the king of the universe.
I'm just a raven.
Let's take this meat and eat,
because it'll do you well.
Why? Not even for yourself, not even for your situation to be settled,
because there's a generation after this man
that has to know a God who is supernatural.
Turn to Joshua 2.10.
Let's leave on that sober note.
Joshua 2.10.
Sorry, Judges 2.10.
Judges 2.10.
Covenant with God that you will do everything in your power
to prevent this from happening.
Judges 2.10. It doesn't matter how old you are
or how young you are, that you will not let this happen.
Judges 2.2.
Verse 10.
Covenant with God, I will not let this happen.
After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers,
another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord
nor what He had done for Israel.
We will not let that happen.
You will not let that flag fall.
Remember that statue, the Iwo Jima statue,
where someone grabs the flag and they keep climbing over,
because they've got to plant that flag.
One of the flags that we have to plant for the next generation is,
this is your God.
Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah-Rapha, Jehovah-Shamah, Jehovah-Jairah,
this is your God.
You don't let that flag fall.
Yeah? Let's pray.
Father, take the word that you have supplied, O God,
and feed us, so that we can go like Elijah did,
and do whatever is required next.
Whatever is required next, if it's to Mount Carmel, then to Mount Carmel.
Jesus, we are making ourselves available, saying,
please, Lord, use us to birth what you want in the next generation.
If you are 90, then it's for the 60s.
If you are 60, then it's for the 40s.
If you're 40s, then for the 20s, and so on.
Jesus, please, Lord, teach us to run with horses, not even for our sake,
not because it's a personal accomplishment,
but so that the world can, the ones growing up can,
the next generation can come and say,
aha, so this is the God that the Bible speaks of.
Allow us to show you off.
Our God is an awesome God.
He reigns from heaven above with wisdom and power and love.
Our God is an awesome God.
He reigns from heaven above with wisdom and power and love.
Our God is an awesome God.
One last time.
Our God is an awesome God.
He reigns from heaven above with wisdom and power and love.
Our God is an awesome God.
Bless you, guys.
See you when the church meets next.