WEBVTT

NOTE
Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver
Episode: Take Your Rightful Place Part 6
Publishing Date: 2024-02-11T05:00:44-08:00
Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca
Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/take-your-rightful-place-part-6/

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.560
Okay, so we're on to take your rightful place six.

00:00:05.560 --> 00:00:08.440
From now on it's easier to write TYRP.

00:00:08.440 --> 00:00:11.880
Take your rightful place six, sixth part of the series.

00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:14.120
And today we're going to talk about opposition.

00:00:14.120 --> 00:00:17.440
When there's opposition, how do you take your rightful place?

00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:21.240
When there is opposition, how do you take your rightful place?

00:00:21.240 --> 00:00:31.760
And in 1 Corinthians 16, 9, for instance, it says that Paul is saying that a wide door

00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:37.200
for effective work has opened to me, but there are many adversaries.

00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:39.020
There's a lot of opposition.

00:00:39.020 --> 00:00:40.840
There are hindrances.

00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:46.860
So even sometimes when there is a wide door open for us from God, there can be opposition.

00:00:46.860 --> 00:00:51.320
Opposition is not a sign of the displeasure of God.

00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:56.500
Opposition is not a sign of the displeasure of God.

00:00:56.500 --> 00:00:58.760
One has to figure out why the opposition.

00:00:58.760 --> 00:01:03.380
And then we have to take our rightful place in the sense if there is opposition, how do

00:01:03.380 --> 00:01:05.500
I position myself?

00:01:05.500 --> 00:01:11.260
So even though he had a wide door for effective work, 1 Corinthians 16, 9, even though I have

00:01:12.260 --> 00:01:19.660
for effective work, depending on the version, it says even though a wide door for effective

00:01:19.660 --> 00:01:25.700
work has opened to me, there are many adversaries or there is much opposition or there are hindrances.

00:01:25.700 --> 00:01:27.380
And so where does the opposition come from?

00:01:27.380 --> 00:01:29.580
There are a few places it can come from.

00:01:29.580 --> 00:01:32.300
From spiritual forces.

00:01:32.300 --> 00:01:38.020
From spiritual forces.

00:01:38.020 --> 00:01:40.820
From false teachers.

00:01:40.820 --> 00:01:46.420
These are the ones mentioned in the Bible from false teachers and legalists as in those

00:01:46.420 --> 00:01:51.140
that are farisakal in their outlook or religious.

00:01:51.140 --> 00:01:54.500
From the culture and traditions of men.

00:01:54.500 --> 00:01:58.100
From the culture and traditions of men.

00:01:58.100 --> 00:02:03.980
As in the things that our culture, our tradition, the ones that and there are so many different

00:02:03.980 --> 00:02:06.420
ways that we can look at it, we will later.

00:02:06.420 --> 00:02:09.700
Culture and traditions of men.

00:02:09.700 --> 00:02:12.880
From warped philosophies.

00:02:12.880 --> 00:02:14.740
It talks about this in Colossians.

00:02:14.740 --> 00:02:18.540
Warped philosophies of the world.

00:02:18.540 --> 00:02:25.420
Warped philosophies and mindsets of the world.

00:02:25.420 --> 00:02:30.700
This is where the opposition comes from and there are instances of this in scripture.

00:02:31.700 --> 00:02:33.700
From warped philosophies and mindsets of the world.

00:02:33.700 --> 00:02:49.700
Five, from the human agents of the devil which can be both institutions or individuals.

00:02:49.700 --> 00:02:55.980
It can be both.

00:02:56.980 --> 00:03:03.340
From sin and snarements in our own lives where sometimes because of sin and snarements as

00:03:03.340 --> 00:03:09.940
it says in Hebrews 12, there is opposition to the progress that we can make.

00:03:09.940 --> 00:03:14.700
And then finally, from God.

00:03:14.700 --> 00:03:16.500
That's all they, but God sometimes opposes.

00:03:16.500 --> 00:03:20.180
We are talking about believers, we are not talking about non-believers.

00:03:20.180 --> 00:03:22.020
We are talking about believers.

00:03:22.020 --> 00:03:27.820
God sometimes opposes believers when they behave a certain way, he opposes them.

00:03:27.820 --> 00:03:30.260
So this is where opposition can come from.

00:03:30.260 --> 00:03:36.620
Any questions?

00:03:36.620 --> 00:03:40.740
These are some of the areas, there might be more, but these broadly cover most of the

00:03:40.740 --> 00:03:44.140
areas in the Bible where there was opposition.

00:03:44.140 --> 00:03:51.800
And the question is, how do we position ourselves rightly so that when this kind of opposition

00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:59.800
comes we have a way to beat it or negotiate it according to the word.

00:03:59.800 --> 00:04:01.800
So, yeah.

00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:11.320
No, sometimes God just, like I'll, let me spill the beans early.

00:04:11.320 --> 00:04:19.000
In Hebrews, sorry, in James chapter 4 verse 6, it says God opposes the proud.

00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:20.520
And it's being written to the church.

00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:26.880
And the word opposed there is the word resist, as in when an army resists.

00:04:26.880 --> 00:04:34.200
So when I become proud and I continue in pride, God opposes the proud, as in he takes a stance

00:04:34.200 --> 00:04:40.360
and resists you so that you get to the place where you can humble yourself.

00:04:40.360 --> 00:04:44.840
And then immediately he shifts to the other part of chapter 4 verse 6 which says, but

00:04:44.840 --> 00:04:47.360
he gives grace to the humble.

00:04:48.200 --> 00:04:51.120
And we don't recognize this, but it often happens in our life.

00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:55.040
Sometimes it's God, it's not the devil.

00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:56.040
So that's just one example.

00:04:56.040 --> 00:04:59.760
There are two other examples of how God opposes.

00:05:03.760 --> 00:05:05.760
Any other questions?

00:05:08.760 --> 00:05:10.760
Okay.

00:05:11.160 --> 00:05:16.600
So we have to figure out, we have to figure out from the word, have to figure out from

00:05:16.600 --> 00:05:34.760
the word and by the spirit, and by the spirit, the stance we must adopt, the stance we must

00:05:34.760 --> 00:05:38.520
adopt to deal with the opposition.

00:05:38.520 --> 00:05:47.760
Because there might be a tendency sometimes to have a set way of dealing with it.

00:05:47.760 --> 00:05:52.280
And I'd like to say that given the different examples in the Bible, I have to figure out

00:05:52.280 --> 00:05:56.560
in this particular situation, how do I stand up against this opposition?

00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:59.120
Because sometimes you're not supposed to do something.

00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:00.680
Other times you're supposed to do something.

00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:04.360
So it has to be both from the word and from the spirit.

00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:06.760
I should know the stance that I must adopt.

00:06:06.760 --> 00:06:08.840
It can't be a blanket thing.

00:06:08.840 --> 00:06:19.020
Which is why we can't, while it is pious and sometimes, and by pious I mean genuine piety

00:06:19.020 --> 00:06:24.880
and sometimes genuine faith, it is to say that God will take care of it in the Lord's

00:06:24.880 --> 00:06:29.720
timing or I'll just wait for the Lord to act.

00:06:29.800 --> 00:06:34.400
While there are times when piety like that is godly and there are times when that is

00:06:34.400 --> 00:06:39.920
an actual statement of faith, one of the things that often happens if you keep going down

00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:45.800
that road is we really don't know the ways of God because it'll involve finding out.

00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:50.540
Sometimes it's much easier to be lazy.

00:06:50.540 --> 00:06:56.800
God wants us to find out what the stance is.

00:06:56.880 --> 00:07:06.360
So be careful of that kind of piety and faith which at times is genuine but there are times

00:07:06.360 --> 00:07:10.600
when it could be just laziness, dullness and an ignorance of God's ways.

00:07:10.600 --> 00:07:15.600
So we've got to make sure that we may start with piety and faith but we have to figure

00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:17.720
out, okay, Father, what do you want us to do?

00:07:17.720 --> 00:07:22.120
This is why David was so different from the kings before him and the kings after him.

00:07:22.120 --> 00:07:26.080
In every situation this question will be, what do you want me to do?

00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:29.720
Other times it will be, you'll recover all, so go to Ziklag, get them back.

00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:34.920
Other times it will be, wait till you hear the sound of marching about the mulberry bushes

00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:37.260
and then go.

00:07:37.260 --> 00:07:41.620
Other times it will be, this woman who just came to you, her name's Abigail, she told

00:07:41.620 --> 00:07:44.140
you not to do anything, do nothing.

00:07:44.140 --> 00:07:46.740
So it changed from situation to situation.

00:07:46.740 --> 00:07:49.000
Other times it would be, run towards Goliath.

00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:53.160
Don't even wait for him to come, run towards him.

00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:54.560
Every situation was different.

00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:55.560
Why?

00:07:55.560 --> 00:08:05.480
Because he knew how to find out and after he found out he would have an approach.

00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:11.000
So here are some of the stances that we can look at as we go down this road.

00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:20.120
The first one is from Isaiah 53 verse 7.

00:08:20.200 --> 00:08:26.280
Sometimes when opposition comes, sometimes when opposition comes in the form of someone

00:08:26.280 --> 00:08:36.960
oppressing you, doing you harm, it doesn't matter whether it's at work or government

00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:43.600
or institutions or a friend or someone in church or a pastor, it doesn't matter who's

00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:45.160
doing it.

00:08:45.160 --> 00:08:50.760
Sometimes when opposition comes, you have to follow Isaiah 53 verse 7.

00:08:50.760 --> 00:08:55.760
And let's look at Isaiah 53, 7.

00:08:55.760 --> 00:08:59.160
Isaiah 53, 7, and it says that,

00:09:15.160 --> 00:09:17.440
in his mouth.

00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:19.400
Not a word was said.

00:09:19.400 --> 00:09:23.800
There was no fight back.

00:09:23.800 --> 00:09:29.720
The two things about this scripture, on one hand this is sometimes the blanket approach

00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:35.440
that people have when there's oppression or there's opposition.

00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:39.120
On the other hand, it's also very difficult.

00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:40.480
He didn't say a word.

00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:43.780
It wasn't even he didn't say a word back to his oppressors.

00:09:43.780 --> 00:09:48.140
It is that when Matt oppresses me, it's one thing not to say a word to Matt, but do I

00:09:48.140 --> 00:09:53.980
go and talk to Sheldon and Sen and Tilna about the thing.

00:09:53.980 --> 00:10:01.900
He was completely silent, like a sheep being led to slaughter.

00:10:01.900 --> 00:10:03.340
There's one way of dealing with it.

00:10:03.340 --> 00:10:05.980
These are Jesus' ways.

00:10:05.980 --> 00:10:12.540
And so sometimes when accusations or opposition and oppression comes, we have to think of,

00:10:12.580 --> 00:10:17.580
once we hear these different scenarios, the Holy Spirit will bring it to remembrance.

00:10:17.580 --> 00:10:20.340
But it won't be a blanket way of dealing with it.

00:10:20.340 --> 00:10:24.460
At work, anywhere, it doesn't matter where, it applies to life.

00:10:24.460 --> 00:10:27.240
And some of it applies directly to the church.

00:10:27.240 --> 00:10:30.500
So Isaiah 53, 7, he did not say a word.

00:10:30.500 --> 00:10:31.900
He did not say a word.

00:10:31.900 --> 00:10:43.740
And then if you look at Matthew 5, 11, and combine that with 1 Corinthians 4, 12, basically

00:10:43.740 --> 00:10:54.060
here's what it says, blessed are you when reviled, blessed are you when reviled.

00:10:54.060 --> 00:10:56.340
That must bring the walls down.

00:10:56.340 --> 00:10:58.380
Blessed are you when reviled.

00:10:58.380 --> 00:11:07.460
And then it says, bless those who revile you.

00:11:07.460 --> 00:11:08.860
Bless those who revile you.

00:11:08.860 --> 00:11:13.940
So blessed are you when reviled and blessed are those who revile you.

00:11:13.940 --> 00:11:21.740
In 2 Chronicles 20, verse 15, 2 Chronicles 20, verse 15, it says that, hey, don't do

00:11:21.740 --> 00:11:23.060
anything.

00:11:23.060 --> 00:11:25.980
Stand and see what God will do.

00:11:26.620 --> 00:11:30.980
So this is one approach where there is absolutely no fight back.

00:11:30.980 --> 00:11:34.980
This is the give the other cheek approach.

00:11:34.980 --> 00:11:41.420
But this is the same God who later on in Isaiah 54, 17 says that if someone accuses you, no

00:11:41.420 --> 00:11:46.900
courtroom lie against you will stand and you will refute with your words the lie that has

00:11:46.900 --> 00:11:47.900
been spoken against you.

00:11:47.900 --> 00:11:51.460
So that's why we can't use blanket statements.

00:11:52.460 --> 00:11:58.460
This is to give you a series of options and then you and the Holy Spirit get to choose.

00:12:00.460 --> 00:12:02.460
So that's the first one.

00:12:03.460 --> 00:12:05.460
Next one.

00:12:07.460 --> 00:12:09.460
Any questions?

00:12:11.460 --> 00:12:12.460
Okay.

00:12:12.460 --> 00:12:19.460
Next one's from Jeremiah 12, 5 where it says, if you have run with footmen and they have

00:12:19.460 --> 00:12:22.460
worn you out, how will you run with?

00:12:22.460 --> 00:12:23.460
Horses.

00:12:23.460 --> 00:12:24.460
Jeremiah 12, 5.

00:12:24.460 --> 00:12:37.460
The context of that verse is that in Jeremiah 23, 21, it seems there were prophets that

00:12:37.460 --> 00:12:39.460
were competing with Jeremiah.

00:12:39.460 --> 00:12:42.460
They were giving a good run.

00:12:42.460 --> 00:12:43.460
They were opposing him.

00:12:43.460 --> 00:12:50.460
And in the context of that, God says to Jeremiah, hey, why are you so upset that you're facing

00:12:50.460 --> 00:12:51.460
some adversity?

00:12:51.460 --> 00:12:54.460
Why are you so troubled by your opposition?

00:12:54.460 --> 00:12:59.460
If this opposition is going to wear you out, how are you going to run against the horses?

00:12:59.460 --> 00:13:04.460
He's talking about footmen and comparing them to the prophets that were opposing Jeremiah.

00:13:04.460 --> 00:13:06.460
Jeremiah had that throughout his life.

00:13:06.460 --> 00:13:10.460
Every time he'd do something, some guy called Hananiah or some other guy called something

00:13:10.460 --> 00:13:14.460
Ayah would come and he would stand and he would begin to oppose Jeremiah.

00:13:14.460 --> 00:13:18.460
So God is saying, if you are tired and weary of running with his footmen, how will you

00:13:18.460 --> 00:13:20.460
run against the horses?

00:13:20.460 --> 00:13:21.460
And what's he referring to there?

00:13:21.460 --> 00:13:23.460
The Babylonian military.

00:13:23.460 --> 00:13:26.460
Because Babylon had put a siege around Jerusalem.

00:13:26.460 --> 00:13:31.460
Part of the thing that we need to understand sometimes when there is opposition is God

00:13:31.460 --> 00:13:36.460
will not do anything because he wants you to know that this is given to you so that

00:13:36.460 --> 00:13:41.460
you can toughen up for the next battle, which will be far more worse or far more serious.

00:13:41.460 --> 00:13:45.460
Sometimes God doesn't do anything, not because he does not want to vindicate you, but he

00:13:45.460 --> 00:13:53.460
is hoping that by not doing something, you will muscle up.

00:13:53.460 --> 00:13:56.460
Not a rah rah message.

00:13:56.460 --> 00:13:58.460
The first one was stay silent.

00:13:58.460 --> 00:14:04.460
The second one is, if running with men seems to be difficult for Jeremiah, how are you

00:14:04.460 --> 00:14:09.460
going to come against the might of Babylon, the military might of Babylon in the face

00:14:09.460 --> 00:14:10.460
of opposition?

00:14:10.460 --> 00:14:11.460
Muscle up.

00:14:11.460 --> 00:14:17.460
The present resistance must be seen as nothing because there are greater battles to fight.

00:14:17.460 --> 00:14:20.460
Muscle up.

00:14:20.460 --> 00:14:44.460
I am not going to rescue you out of this one because I want you to be seasoned for the

00:14:44.460 --> 00:14:46.460
next battle.

00:14:50.460 --> 00:14:53.460
Where is another situation where this happens?

00:14:53.460 --> 00:15:06.460
Turn to Judges 3, Judges 3, Judges 3, verse 1-3.

00:15:06.460 --> 00:15:12.460
These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced

00:15:12.460 --> 00:15:14.460
any of the wars and canon.

00:15:14.460 --> 00:15:20.460
He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not

00:15:20.460 --> 00:15:22.460
previous battle experience.

00:15:22.460 --> 00:15:27.460
The five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, the Hivites living

00:15:27.460 --> 00:15:32.460
in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebol Hamad, they were left to test the

00:15:32.460 --> 00:15:37.460
Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord's commands.

00:15:38.460 --> 00:15:43.460
So the idea was I'm going to leave opposition just so you are battle ready.

00:15:43.460 --> 00:15:46.460
Any questions on that one?

00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:55.460
That's the thing where we work with the word and the Holy Spirit.

00:15:55.460 --> 00:15:57.460
That's the seeking out.

00:15:57.460 --> 00:16:03.460
That's the part where it's so much easier to adopt whatever the Lord wants to do.

00:16:03.460 --> 00:16:05.460
I'm his servant.

00:16:05.460 --> 00:16:12.460
While that is pious and that may even show faith, it does not teach you the ways of God.

00:16:12.460 --> 00:16:18.460
It does not teach you the mind of God.

00:16:18.460 --> 00:16:24.460
So Ruth, what are you looking for?

00:16:24.460 --> 00:16:34.460
The reference was, one was Jeremiah 12-5 and the last one was Judges 3, 1-3.

00:16:34.460 --> 00:16:38.460
Any other questions guys?

00:16:38.460 --> 00:16:44.460
Just going back to where you say let's go to the following.

00:16:44.460 --> 00:16:48.460
How do you balance that obviously?

00:16:48.460 --> 00:16:51.460
You take the desktop and you take the desktop.

00:16:51.460 --> 00:16:53.460
You don't balance it.

00:16:53.460 --> 00:16:56.460
Also when Jesus is out, you pray to the Lord.

00:16:56.460 --> 00:16:59.460
Follow me kind of.

00:16:59.460 --> 00:17:01.460
So you don't balance it.

00:17:01.460 --> 00:17:04.460
You hold it in tension and you know which one to choose.

00:17:04.460 --> 00:17:07.460
So in Matthew 13 there's this beautiful scripture which says,

00:17:07.460 --> 00:17:14.460
Dhillonah can you be like a scribe who goes to his store room and pulls out of his store room new treasures and old treasures.

00:17:14.460 --> 00:17:20.460
It's the idea of you've got a store now full of different aspects of how God deals with things.

00:17:20.460 --> 00:17:26.460
And what we don't understand guys is if we deal with it correctly, a lot of people benefit.

00:17:26.460 --> 00:17:32.460
So there are times when the person who oppresses you needs to be not touched.

00:17:32.460 --> 00:17:39.460
You just have to be quiet even though he's oppressing you because your kindness and mercy may lead him to repentance.

00:17:39.460 --> 00:17:46.460
And there are other times where you must speak up because if you don't speak up, that guy may go and beat up Tooney.

00:17:46.460 --> 00:17:49.460
And if you speak up, Tooney may be spared.

00:17:49.460 --> 00:17:53.460
So there's the orchestration of God is critical here.

00:17:53.460 --> 00:17:58.460
And when he doesn't find that because I choose a certain way as my way.

00:17:58.460 --> 00:18:03.460
So let's assume Matt's way is I will not say anything and Jacob's way is I'll slap you around.

00:18:03.460 --> 00:18:09.460
Both ways are disastrous because God doesn't get to do what he wants.

00:18:09.460 --> 00:18:13.460
And both Matt and I can justify it saying but the Lord says.

00:18:13.460 --> 00:18:22.460
The reason we choose differently is so that God can do a greater drama through you and with you amongst a larger group of people.

00:18:22.460 --> 00:18:26.460
That's the beauty of this. That's where we get to know the mind of God.

00:18:26.460 --> 00:18:32.460
That's when he says, a friend of mine.

00:18:35.460 --> 00:18:38.460
We'll come to that scripture that you mentioned.

00:18:38.460 --> 00:18:43.460
So sometimes he won't do anything because he wants you to toughen up for the next.

00:18:43.460 --> 00:18:50.460
Hi guys. Sometimes he doesn't do anything because he wants you to toughen up for the next battle.

00:18:51.460 --> 00:18:57.460
So he'll say, if this is wearing you out, Jacob, come on, I have trained you for far more.

00:18:57.460 --> 00:19:00.460
If this is wearing out, how can I expect you to run with horses?

00:19:00.460 --> 00:19:05.460
If this opposition is going to bowl you over.

00:19:05.460 --> 00:19:09.460
Then don't come to me asking for greater adventures.

00:19:09.460 --> 00:19:13.460
Because you can't handle this one.

00:19:21.460 --> 00:19:24.460
Reface the question.

00:19:34.460 --> 00:19:36.460
Yeah, what is our response to it?

00:19:36.460 --> 00:19:40.460
And it's little opposition in the eyes of God. For me, it's still painful.

00:19:40.460 --> 00:19:44.460
God saying, but Jacob, bear up under it because I want to take you further.

00:19:44.460 --> 00:19:48.460
There's bigger things coming. If this is going to make you cry, how are you going to deal with that?

00:19:48.460 --> 00:19:53.460
It's like stop doing the owie thing. It's just an owie.

00:19:53.460 --> 00:19:57.460
But an owie is painful when the owie is owie.

00:19:57.460 --> 00:20:01.460
Next one, opposition from legalists.

00:20:01.460 --> 00:20:04.460
Opposition from legalists.

00:20:04.460 --> 00:20:12.460
In the Bible, there has always been opposition from legalists.

00:20:12.460 --> 00:20:17.460
I don't, yeah. 2 Corinthians 3, 6 says,

00:20:17.460 --> 00:20:22.460
The letter kills.

00:20:22.460 --> 00:20:28.460
The spirit gives life.

00:20:28.460 --> 00:20:31.460
Please understand, we can all be legalists.

00:20:31.460 --> 00:20:35.460
The reason I'm saying legalists is so that we can avoid the word Pharisee for two reasons.

00:20:35.460 --> 00:20:37.460
One, because not all the Pharisees were bad.

00:20:37.460 --> 00:20:41.460
And somehow when we think of Pharisees, we always think of them as bad.

00:20:41.460 --> 00:20:44.460
When we think of Pharisees, we always think of someone else.

00:20:44.460 --> 00:20:49.460
So the word legalist may fit you better because it carries a certain legalist.

00:20:49.460 --> 00:20:55.460
So opposition from legalists because the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.

00:20:55.460 --> 00:20:58.460
So how would you identify a legalist?

00:20:58.460 --> 00:21:14.460
Legalists quench the spirit or they try to minus the things of the spirit.

00:21:14.460 --> 00:21:15.460
They box the spirit.

00:21:15.460 --> 00:21:22.460
They tell us what the spirit can do now and cannot do now after the first hundred years.

00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:31.460
Legalists turn hearts of flesh into stone.

00:21:31.460 --> 00:21:36.460
As you listen to them, from being highly receptive to God,

00:21:36.460 --> 00:21:44.460
you begin to have a heart that begins to get more and more resistant to God.

00:21:44.460 --> 00:21:54.460
Legalists impose externals.

00:21:54.460 --> 00:22:04.460
Legalists regress and cause regression in love, joy and faith.

00:22:04.460 --> 00:22:10.460
You'll see that in their lives, where they are, love and joy and faith don't usually blossom.

00:22:10.460 --> 00:22:14.460
What blossoms is fear, not love, joy and faith.

00:22:14.460 --> 00:22:17.460
Legalists lose out on the Father.

00:22:17.460 --> 00:22:30.460
They know God as Master, they know God as Lord, but they lose out on Him as a Father.

00:22:30.460 --> 00:22:37.460
Legalists persecute Isaacs.

00:22:37.460 --> 00:22:48.460
As in, anything that is born unusually, anything that doesn't fit the pattern of the flesh, begins to get persecuted.

00:22:48.460 --> 00:22:56.460
Because it says that Ishmael began to persecute Isaac.

00:22:56.460 --> 00:22:58.460
Isaac was the son of promise.

00:22:58.460 --> 00:23:01.460
Ishmael was the son of flesh.

00:23:01.460 --> 00:23:03.460
And so what happens is any new move of God,

00:23:03.460 --> 00:23:09.460
anything that is not birthed out of the usual church means will start getting resisted.

00:23:09.460 --> 00:23:16.460
And so legalists bring up every church will face this at some point or the other, guaranteed.

00:23:16.460 --> 00:23:19.460
Why? Because the Master faced this.

00:23:19.460 --> 00:23:23.460
Christ was actually put on the cross by the Romans,

00:23:23.460 --> 00:23:27.460
but the ones who fueled it were the traditionalists and legalists,

00:23:27.460 --> 00:23:32.460
who could not see beyond what they thought was the right understanding of the word.

00:23:32.460 --> 00:23:36.460
Which is why they put him on the cross.

00:23:36.460 --> 00:23:44.460
We don't realize how wicked and how powerful a weapon legalism is.

00:23:44.460 --> 00:23:52.460
A whole nation was not able to accept the one that went to them from heaven because of legalism.

00:23:52.460 --> 00:23:56.460
It was also legalism that put him on a cross.

00:23:56.460 --> 00:24:02.460
This is why Jesus said, do not even tolerate the leaven of the Pharisees.

00:24:02.460 --> 00:24:04.460
What is the leaven of the Pharisees?

00:24:04.460 --> 00:24:08.460
Anything that reeks of these things mentioned here.

00:24:08.460 --> 00:24:12.460
Stay away from it. Resist it.

00:24:12.460 --> 00:24:15.460
Paul puts it this way in Galatians chapter 3, verse 3.

00:24:15.460 --> 00:24:20.460
Tell me you foolish Galatians, why is it that when you started in the spirit,

00:24:20.460 --> 00:24:23.460
have you ended up working in the flesh?

00:24:26.460 --> 00:24:30.460
And this must be examined because there's nobody here, starting with me,

00:24:30.460 --> 00:24:35.460
that is free from, that should think they are free from this.

00:24:35.460 --> 00:24:38.460
All of us have our pet legalistic ways, guys.

00:24:38.460 --> 00:24:41.460
We just don't see it because someone else has to see it.

00:24:41.460 --> 00:24:43.460
It's like a blind spot.

00:24:43.460 --> 00:24:45.460
And it's affected by our denomination.

00:24:45.460 --> 00:24:48.460
It's affected by our previous understanding.

00:24:48.460 --> 00:24:50.460
It's affected by different things.

00:24:50.460 --> 00:24:53.460
Any questions on that one?

00:24:56.460 --> 00:24:58.460
What's the solution?

00:24:58.460 --> 00:25:00.460
Philippians chapter 3, verse 2 to 7.

00:25:00.460 --> 00:25:04.460
Philippians chapter 3, verse 2 to 7, I'll read from the message.

00:25:04.460 --> 00:25:14.460
You could, on one hand, the message or the passion translation is not a version.

00:25:14.460 --> 00:25:18.460
It is a paraphrased writing of the scriptures.

00:25:18.460 --> 00:25:20.460
But it does explain it well.

00:25:20.460 --> 00:25:25.460
So you can be legalistic in saying, I will only stick to the KJV or the NIV,

00:25:25.460 --> 00:25:27.460
which, by the way, has its own problems.

00:25:27.460 --> 00:25:30.460
Or you can say, sorry?

00:25:30.460 --> 00:25:32.460
ESV.

00:25:32.460 --> 00:25:39.460
Or you can say that the passion translation and the message should never be read.

00:25:39.460 --> 00:25:42.460
Both are ways that are coming in.

00:25:42.460 --> 00:25:46.460
Or you can say, remove the word from reckless love because God is not reckless.

00:25:46.460 --> 00:25:52.460
Or you can say, we will never sing, so will I, because it has the word evolving.

00:25:52.460 --> 00:25:55.460
These are minor...

00:25:55.460 --> 00:25:58.460
Even Phoebe can understand this.

00:26:03.460 --> 00:26:06.460
These are not where you...

00:26:06.460 --> 00:26:09.460
This is not a mountain to die on.

00:26:17.460 --> 00:26:18.460
Yeah.

00:26:18.460 --> 00:26:20.460
How do you not go to liberalism?

00:26:20.460 --> 00:26:25.460
By looking at the passion translation or the message or the KJV.

00:26:25.460 --> 00:26:28.460
Here's a simple truth about the KJV, guys.

00:26:28.460 --> 00:26:37.460
The NIV and the ESV were taken from scriptures that were found much earlier than what the KJV was taken out of.

00:26:37.460 --> 00:26:41.460
I know people who won't read anything else but Di Dao.

00:26:41.460 --> 00:26:43.460
There's nothing wrong with Di Dao.

00:26:43.460 --> 00:26:47.460
Di Dao has its own power if you're over 50.

00:26:47.460 --> 00:26:54.460
But the point is, how do I read scriptures with the Father's way of thinking?

00:26:54.460 --> 00:26:57.460
It doesn't matter how much Hebrew you know, how much Greek you know.

00:26:57.460 --> 00:27:02.460
When you look at scriptures, you will be able to see whether the scriptures are actually reflecting the heart of God

00:27:02.460 --> 00:27:06.460
or whether it's sweetening Jesus more than he should be sweetened.

00:27:06.460 --> 00:27:11.460
I sometimes read the message and I see scriptures and apostles, prophets, teachers, the fivefold,

00:27:11.460 --> 00:27:14.460
and I read it and I think to myself, oh my God, I'll never read the message again.

00:27:14.460 --> 00:27:17.460
Because it makes it so dilute that it lacks any meaning.

00:27:17.460 --> 00:27:22.460
And yet you read other scriptures and it hits you so hard in the face, you want to wash your face.

00:27:22.460 --> 00:27:28.460
Like Philippians 3 that I'm going to read now, if Dilna does not ask another question.

00:27:28.460 --> 00:27:32.460
Philippians 3.

00:27:32.460 --> 00:27:35.460
Dilna, I had left you alone for three weeks but you're back.

00:27:35.460 --> 00:27:39.460
Philippians 3, 2-7.

00:27:39.460 --> 00:27:43.460
I'm reading from the message.

00:27:43.460 --> 00:27:49.460
Steer clear of the barking dogs, those religious busybodies, all bark and no bite.

00:27:49.460 --> 00:27:54.460
All they are interested in is appearances, knife-happy circumcisers, I call them.

00:27:54.460 --> 00:28:00.460
The real believers are the ones that the Spirit of God leads to work away at this ministry,

00:28:00.460 --> 00:28:02.460
filling the air with Christ's praise as we do it.

00:28:02.460 --> 00:28:05.460
We couldn't carry this off by our own efforts and we know it.

00:28:05.460 --> 00:28:09.460
Even though we can list what many might think are impressive credentials,

00:28:09.460 --> 00:28:13.460
you know my pedigree, a legitimate birth circumcised on the eighth day,

00:28:13.460 --> 00:28:17.460
an astral light from the elite tribe of Benjamin, a strict and devout adherent to God's law,

00:28:17.460 --> 00:28:21.460
a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting Christians,

00:28:21.460 --> 00:28:24.460
a meticulous observer of everything set down in God's law book.

00:28:24.460 --> 00:28:28.460
The very credentials these people are waving around as something special,

00:28:28.460 --> 00:28:33.460
I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash along with everything else I used to take credit for.

00:28:33.460 --> 00:28:36.460
And why? Because of Christ. Wow!

00:28:38.460 --> 00:28:41.460
You go read the NIV and you will see the same thing being said there,

00:28:41.460 --> 00:28:43.460
but this sometimes carries power in terms of words.

00:28:45.460 --> 00:28:48.460
This is not about NIV message or this thing.

00:28:48.460 --> 00:28:54.460
I'm just saying, how do we come against opposition by legalists?

00:28:54.460 --> 00:28:59.460
Guys, take a strong stance against legalism in your life, in the life of the church,

00:28:59.460 --> 00:29:01.460
and in the life of your family.

00:29:01.460 --> 00:29:10.460
Because we do not know the insidious power of legalism to always corrupt that which is pure.

00:29:13.460 --> 00:29:16.460
The fear of going into liberalism exists,

00:29:16.460 --> 00:29:20.460
but the fear of something should not prevent me from tasting that which is true.

00:29:25.460 --> 00:29:27.460
The difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament is this,

00:29:27.460 --> 00:29:33.460
the Old Testament would set up guardrails so that you don't fall.

00:29:33.460 --> 00:29:36.460
The New Testament says, I have my spirit in you.

00:29:36.460 --> 00:29:38.460
I will tell you if you grow with me.

00:29:38.460 --> 00:29:41.460
I'm going to take off the guardrails so that you can run.

00:29:43.460 --> 00:29:45.460
Churches today, including this one,

00:29:45.460 --> 00:29:49.460
has a tendency to impose the guardrails back to prevent you from sinning.

00:29:49.460 --> 00:29:56.460
In the process, you rob a person the freedom to follow the spirit because they're following guardrails.

00:29:57.460 --> 00:29:59.460
And when someone goes astray,

00:29:59.460 --> 00:30:04.460
then begins the painful process of helping them to get back and helping them to run proper.

00:30:04.460 --> 00:30:07.460
It's more painful. Put guardrails and your job is easy.

00:30:08.460 --> 00:30:11.460
No drinks and no edibles in the room.

00:30:11.460 --> 00:30:12.460
Finished. Policy.

00:30:13.460 --> 00:30:18.460
But what if Matt is like dying here because he needs a cookie?

00:30:22.460 --> 00:30:25.460
You're sitting in the first row, man. What did you expect?

00:30:27.460 --> 00:30:43.460
Another scripture, Colossians 2, Colossians 2, 22-23, Colossians 2, 22-23.

00:30:49.460 --> 00:30:50.460
Here's what it says.

00:30:51.460 --> 00:30:56.460
So then, if with Christ you put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you,

00:30:56.460 --> 00:30:58.460
why do you let yourself be bullied by it?

00:30:58.460 --> 00:31:01.460
Don't touch this. Don't taste that. Don't go near this.

00:31:01.460 --> 00:31:07.460
Do you think things that are here today and gone tomorrow are worth that kind of attention?

00:31:07.460 --> 00:31:11.460
Such things sound impressive if they're said in a deep enough voice.

00:31:11.460 --> 00:31:15.460
They even give the illusion of being pious and humble and ascetic,

00:31:15.460 --> 00:31:19.460
but they are just another way of showing off, making yourself look more important.

00:31:19.460 --> 00:31:24.460
If you read the ESV as Dilna suggested, the last verse says,

00:31:24.460 --> 00:31:26.460
verse 23, Colossians 2, 23,

00:31:26.460 --> 00:31:35.460
These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body,

00:31:35.460 --> 00:31:39.460
but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

00:31:42.460 --> 00:31:44.460
So that's how we deal with legalism. Any questions?

00:31:44.460 --> 00:31:50.460
The entire book of Galatians and some of Colossians is dedicated to one thing only.

00:31:50.460 --> 00:31:55.460
Do not allow those circumcisers, those guys who impose external things,

00:31:55.460 --> 00:31:59.460
to come in and take away the freedom that Christ brought you into.

00:31:59.460 --> 00:32:01.460
Increase in freedom.

00:32:05.460 --> 00:32:06.460
Any questions?

00:32:06.460 --> 00:32:09.460
No? Okay. Next one.

00:32:12.460 --> 00:32:18.460
Go to Acts Chapter 13, Acts 13, 6 onwards.

00:32:18.460 --> 00:32:27.460
Now we see a different aspect of how to deal with operational issues.

00:32:27.460 --> 00:32:32.460
Acts 16, verse 3. Now we're talking about a guy called Elimas, who was a magician,

00:32:32.460 --> 00:32:38.460
and they are alive and present today, not in Asia and Africa, in Canada.

00:32:38.460 --> 00:32:42.460
Yeah, Acts 13, verse 6 onwards.

00:32:42.460 --> 00:32:47.460
They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos.

00:32:47.460 --> 00:32:52.460
There they traveled to the land of the gods, the land of the gods,

00:32:53.460 --> 00:32:56.460
They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos.

00:32:56.460 --> 00:33:01.460
There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus,

00:33:01.460 --> 00:33:06.460
who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus.

00:33:06.460 --> 00:33:11.460
The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God.

00:33:11.460 --> 00:33:15.460
But Elimas, the sorcerer, for that is what his name means,

00:33:15.460 --> 00:33:19.460
opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.

00:33:19.460 --> 00:33:23.460
Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit,

00:33:23.460 --> 00:33:26.460
looked straight at Elimas and said,

00:33:26.460 --> 00:33:30.460
You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right.

00:33:30.460 --> 00:33:33.460
You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery.

00:33:33.460 --> 00:33:36.460
Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?

00:33:36.460 --> 00:33:38.460
Now the hand of the Lord is against you.

00:33:38.460 --> 00:33:43.460
You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun.

00:33:43.460 --> 00:33:46.460
Immediately mist and darkness came over him,

00:33:46.460 --> 00:33:49.460
and he groped about seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

00:33:49.460 --> 00:33:52.460
When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed,

00:33:52.460 --> 00:33:55.460
for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

00:33:55.460 --> 00:33:57.460
Now it shifts, eh?

00:33:57.460 --> 00:34:01.460
Suddenly it's not being quiet and not doing anything.

00:34:01.460 --> 00:34:07.460
So here was a situation where the gospel was being opposed,

00:34:07.460 --> 00:34:12.460
and truth was being subverted.

00:34:13.460 --> 00:34:17.460
Truth was being subverted or distorted.

00:34:17.460 --> 00:34:20.460
The gospel was being opposed and truth was being subverted.

00:34:20.460 --> 00:34:23.460
Why? So that influence could be maintained,

00:34:23.460 --> 00:34:27.460
so that the guy could maintain his influence.

00:34:27.460 --> 00:34:31.460
And so in a situation like this, look what Paul does.

00:34:31.460 --> 00:34:41.460
Paul pronounces divine judgment.

00:34:41.460 --> 00:34:47.460
Paul pronounces divine judgment of what? Of temporary blindness.

00:34:47.460 --> 00:34:50.460
It's strange that he pronounces that as a divine judgment,

00:34:50.460 --> 00:34:54.460
because he had been struck of a horse, and he had gone blind, remember?

00:34:54.460 --> 00:34:56.460
And he knows what that blindness did to him.

00:34:56.460 --> 00:35:00.460
That blindness brought him to the light.

00:35:00.460 --> 00:35:07.460
And so Paul pronounces divine judgment of temporary blindness,

00:35:07.460 --> 00:35:10.460
something that Paul himself had experienced.

00:35:10.460 --> 00:35:15.460
And one of the things he calls him is noteworthy.

00:35:15.460 --> 00:35:17.460
That he says, you're a child of the devil.

00:35:17.460 --> 00:35:19.460
And why does he call him a child of the devil?

00:35:19.460 --> 00:35:23.460
For these reasons, that you do not follow the right ways of God.

00:35:23.460 --> 00:35:25.460
You subvert the truth and you oppose the gospel.

00:35:25.460 --> 00:35:29.460
Someone like that is called the child of the devil.

00:35:29.460 --> 00:35:32.460
And so he calls him that, and then he pronounces divine judgment.

00:35:32.460 --> 00:35:34.460
So the problem is, are we allowed to do this?

00:35:34.460 --> 00:35:36.460
From a biblical precedent, yes.

00:35:36.460 --> 00:35:39.460
But are we supposed to curse people?

00:35:39.460 --> 00:35:40.460
No.

00:35:40.460 --> 00:35:45.460
So these are situations which we have to approach super carefully.

00:35:45.460 --> 00:35:49.460
You literally have to know that it is God who is saying this,

00:35:49.460 --> 00:35:51.460
because otherwise, like someone told me,

00:35:51.460 --> 00:35:53.460
if you want to call fire down on yourself,

00:35:53.460 --> 00:35:57.460
make sure you're wearing a asbestos suit, otherwise you get burned too.

00:35:57.460 --> 00:36:01.460
So this is not something you want to jump into.

00:36:01.460 --> 00:36:03.460
But does this happen? Yes.

00:36:03.460 --> 00:36:07.460
Does this happen today? Yes.

00:36:07.460 --> 00:36:09.460
So how best to go about it?

00:36:09.460 --> 00:36:13.460
Perhaps as a church, when someone begins to,

00:36:13.460 --> 00:36:17.460
someone who is in this case obviously not a believer,

00:36:17.460 --> 00:36:21.460
begins to come and begins to strike against the gospel, subvert the truth,

00:36:21.460 --> 00:36:26.460
it is, we'll come to that later, there's this fine point guys,

00:36:26.460 --> 00:36:29.460
where if my battle is not against flesh and blood,

00:36:29.460 --> 00:36:33.460
can I always have the person that I'm dealing with at the center of my heart

00:36:33.460 --> 00:36:38.460
as one that needs to be rescued, but one that needs to be stopped?

00:36:41.460 --> 00:36:45.460
It's a hard place to reach, but not in Christ.

00:36:48.460 --> 00:36:53.460
As a human, our soul may scream out against the ones that do us harm.

00:36:53.460 --> 00:36:57.460
I was talking about Graham Staines recently.

00:36:57.460 --> 00:37:00.460
His son and he were burnt alive in a van,

00:37:00.460 --> 00:37:04.460
but his wife had the ability to forgive immediately the next day.

00:37:04.460 --> 00:37:10.460
But everybody, not everybody, six or seven of the guys involved

00:37:10.460 --> 00:37:19.460
in burning him and doing harm to him got swept away in a flood in a couple of months.

00:37:19.460 --> 00:37:23.460
So when it comes to these things, it's better to do it as a church,

00:37:23.460 --> 00:37:27.460
where the church sits down and says, this needs to be stopped.

00:37:27.460 --> 00:37:29.460
Oh God, what do we do?

00:37:29.460 --> 00:37:32.460
This is what they did when in Acts chapter 4,

00:37:32.460 --> 00:37:34.460
the disciples were thrown into prison.

00:37:34.460 --> 00:37:35.460
And what did they do?

00:37:35.460 --> 00:37:37.460
They come out back to the church and they say,

00:37:37.460 --> 00:37:41.460
Oh God, look at the threats that they are bringing against us.

00:37:41.460 --> 00:37:43.460
Would you now stretch out your hand and say,

00:37:43.460 --> 00:37:45.460
Oh God, what do we do?

00:37:45.460 --> 00:37:48.460
Look at the threats that they are bringing against us.

00:37:48.460 --> 00:37:50.460
Would you now stretch out your hand?

00:37:50.460 --> 00:37:53.460
Would you stretch out the hand of your holy servant Jesus

00:37:53.460 --> 00:37:55.460
and begin to do signs, miracles, wonders and healings

00:37:55.460 --> 00:37:57.460
so that you may be known?

00:37:57.460 --> 00:37:58.460
And the place began to shake.

00:37:58.460 --> 00:37:59.460
What did they do?

00:37:59.460 --> 00:38:02.460
They didn't go around cursing after being beaten badly.

00:38:02.460 --> 00:38:05.460
They came back to the church and they began to talk about it.

00:38:05.460 --> 00:38:10.460
And in the process rose a principle that they began to use.

00:38:10.460 --> 00:38:14.460
Because otherwise we'll have,

00:38:14.460 --> 00:38:17.460
we'll end up being a community that goes off individually,

00:38:17.460 --> 00:38:19.460
cursing people instead of blessing.

00:38:19.460 --> 00:38:22.460
Every opposition will be seen as this.

00:38:22.460 --> 00:38:25.460
We can go really trigger happy on this one.

00:38:25.460 --> 00:38:28.460
Which is why it is best to come in,

00:38:28.460 --> 00:38:30.460
look at it a different way.

00:38:30.460 --> 00:38:34.460
But this actually happened in the New Testament.

00:38:34.460 --> 00:38:37.460
And so he gets, look at the other thing,

00:38:37.460 --> 00:38:41.460
he gets temporarily blinded,

00:38:41.460 --> 00:38:44.460
hoping that repentance will come.

00:38:44.460 --> 00:38:47.460
And Paul knows what happened to him.

00:38:47.460 --> 00:38:51.460
At least Paul wasn't, at least this guy wasn't killing people.

00:38:51.460 --> 00:39:00.460
Paul was killing people, struck off a horse, blind, and he changed his.

00:39:00.460 --> 00:39:05.460
When people begin to subvert the truth because they want influence,

00:39:05.460 --> 00:39:08.460
then that's another time when you have to become aware of,

00:39:08.460 --> 00:39:10.460
hey, we've got to take a stance against this.

00:39:10.460 --> 00:39:14.460
There's a guy called Diotrofus in 1 John 3, 9.

00:39:14.460 --> 00:39:15.460
He was like that.

00:39:15.460 --> 00:39:19.460
He would flaunt himself against authority and say no.

00:39:19.460 --> 00:39:25.460
And Paul says, I'm coming and I'll show Diotrofus what will happen.

00:39:25.460 --> 00:39:28.460
So this isn't something that happened in the book of Acts.

00:39:28.460 --> 00:39:30.460
It happens later in the Bible too.

00:39:30.460 --> 00:39:34.460
Remember those stories where a man was sleeping with his stepmom?

00:39:34.460 --> 00:39:36.460
What does Paul do?

00:39:36.460 --> 00:39:38.460
Throw him out of the church.

00:39:38.460 --> 00:39:39.460
Where?

00:39:39.460 --> 00:39:41.460
Into the hands of the devil.

00:39:41.460 --> 00:39:42.460
Why?

00:39:42.460 --> 00:39:48.460
So that his body may go through whatever discipline is required

00:39:48.460 --> 00:39:50.460
so that he may turn and come back to Christ.

00:39:50.460 --> 00:39:52.460
And then what does he do in 2 Corinthians?

00:39:52.460 --> 00:39:55.460
I think it's time to bring him back.

00:39:55.460 --> 00:39:57.460
Because the ultimate intent in all this,

00:39:57.460 --> 00:40:00.460
should we have to ever go down this route,

00:40:00.460 --> 00:40:03.460
either as a church or because you are absolutely sure

00:40:03.460 --> 00:40:06.460
that God is saying a divine judgment should be pronounced.

00:40:06.460 --> 00:40:09.460
What is important is to make sure that in my heart

00:40:09.460 --> 00:40:18.460
I have to rescue the person because my battle is not against flesh and blood.

00:40:33.460 --> 00:40:46.460
So every time we war for God,

00:40:46.460 --> 00:40:50.460
I have to make sure that he is the one who is asking me to war for him.

00:40:50.460 --> 00:40:57.460
There is a story in the Bible where the king of Judah won a couple of battles.

00:40:57.460 --> 00:41:01.460
So he decides, let me go and fight Israel.

00:41:01.460 --> 00:41:04.460
So he sends word to the king of Israel saying,

00:41:04.460 --> 00:41:06.460
I want to fight.

00:41:06.460 --> 00:41:09.460
And the king of Israel writes back to him saying,

00:41:09.460 --> 00:41:14.460
there was a little Tissel who one day grew up a little.

00:41:14.460 --> 00:41:18.460
Because he had won a few battles, he thought he could take on everybody.

00:41:18.460 --> 00:41:21.460
I am saying to you, back off.

00:41:21.460 --> 00:41:23.460
Do not take on this battle.

00:41:23.460 --> 00:41:24.460
It is not from God.

00:41:24.460 --> 00:41:26.460
But the king of Judah says, nope, I want to fight.

00:41:26.460 --> 00:41:29.460
He goes to fight, gets beaten like crazy.

00:41:29.460 --> 00:41:33.460
And Israel takes over all of Judah.

00:41:33.460 --> 00:41:34.460
Why?

00:41:34.460 --> 00:41:37.460
At the end of the day, the notation in that scripture is,

00:41:37.460 --> 00:41:41.460
here is a man who picked a battle he was not supposed to fight.

00:41:41.460 --> 00:41:44.460
So whenever it comes to warring,

00:41:44.460 --> 00:41:47.460
which is an essential part of churchdom,

00:41:47.460 --> 00:41:50.460
because kingdom implies warfare.

00:41:50.460 --> 00:41:55.460
It is not something supernatural or super-Christian.

00:41:55.460 --> 00:42:01.460
It is a duty of every believer.

00:42:01.460 --> 00:42:04.460
And one day, maybe we will rise up to that.

00:42:04.460 --> 00:42:07.460
So to answer your question, when I see someone oppressed,

00:42:07.460 --> 00:42:10.460
I have to find out, father, what is my situation in this?

00:42:10.460 --> 00:42:12.460
Should I go comfort the person?

00:42:12.460 --> 00:42:14.460
Should I go speak up for the person?

00:42:14.460 --> 00:42:17.460
Should I go fight the enemy this person is being oppressed by?

00:42:17.460 --> 00:42:19.460
Should I leave it alone because you are sending somebody else?

00:42:19.460 --> 00:42:21.460
Should I go ask for help?

00:42:21.460 --> 00:42:26.460
What do I need to do?

00:42:26.460 --> 00:42:31.460
But doesn't sometimes the situation may be immediate?

00:42:31.460 --> 00:42:38.460
Then address it immediately and then run into your stronghold and ask God, now what?

00:42:38.460 --> 00:42:40.460
Yeah, I am talking about prolonged battles.

00:42:40.460 --> 00:42:46.460
Say if you see someone on the side of the road being beaten,

00:42:46.460 --> 00:42:48.460
the Good Samaritan story comes to mind.

00:42:48.460 --> 00:42:52.460
You can't walk past.

00:42:52.460 --> 00:42:54.460
That's when you are not fighting.

00:42:54.460 --> 00:43:01.460
You are putting your life at risk to help somebody.

00:43:01.460 --> 00:43:03.460
Any questions?

00:43:03.460 --> 00:43:08.460
This may sound a little heavy for the church, but it's not.

00:43:08.460 --> 00:43:10.460
This was normal for the church.

00:43:10.460 --> 00:43:14.460
All these are from scriptures in the church.

00:43:14.460 --> 00:43:20.460
Any questions?

00:43:20.460 --> 00:43:26.460
No? Okay.

00:43:26.460 --> 00:43:29.460
In 2 Timothy 3, 8, so that we have another story,

00:43:29.460 --> 00:43:35.460
2 Timothy 3, 8, Paul talks about two guys that we hardly hear about.

00:43:35.460 --> 00:43:39.460
Their names were Janus and Jambrus.

00:43:39.460 --> 00:43:49.460
These guys were actually magicians in Pharaoh's court that went up against Moses.

00:43:49.460 --> 00:43:53.460
Paul is talking about people who troubled the church.

00:43:53.460 --> 00:43:58.460
He says the same fate will fall them that fell Janus and Jambrus in 2 Timothy 3, 8.

00:43:58.460 --> 00:44:01.460
What was the fate? You find it in Exodus 9, 11.

00:44:01.460 --> 00:44:04.460
When the boils broke, till the boil plague,

00:44:04.460 --> 00:44:09.460
the magicians seemed to be able to counter whatever Moses did.

00:44:09.460 --> 00:44:15.460
But once the boils fell, the magicians were covered with boils too.

00:44:15.460 --> 00:44:18.460
And so Paul uses them as an example to say,

00:44:18.460 --> 00:44:31.460
listen, when there is opposition, there are times where divine judgment will be handed out.

00:44:31.460 --> 00:44:36.460
The divine judgment that is not sponsored by God can take on the form of a curse.

00:44:36.460 --> 00:44:41.460
And I'm not supposed to curse, but bless.

00:44:41.460 --> 00:44:47.460
Because if it's not sponsored by God, the heart that utters it is not a heart that is from God,

00:44:47.460 --> 00:44:59.460
but a heart that wants a pound of flesh.

00:44:59.460 --> 00:45:03.460
Here's my question, guys. How come we don't talk about these things in the church?

00:45:03.460 --> 00:45:05.460
I'm not talking about Acts 29.

00:45:05.460 --> 00:45:09.460
How come we don't talk about all this?

00:45:09.460 --> 00:45:12.460
Because Paul's writing this to fledgling churches, right?

00:45:12.460 --> 00:45:16.460
He's not writing it to some old church.

00:45:16.460 --> 00:45:23.460
He's writing it to churches that he just planted.

00:45:23.460 --> 00:45:28.460
So as you sit and listen, don't think that this is not for me,

00:45:28.460 --> 00:45:34.460
this is unnecessary in terms of like in a church.

00:45:34.460 --> 00:45:48.460
It's not. This was written to small startup churches, not 17-year-old churches.

00:45:48.460 --> 00:45:52.460
Next one.

00:45:52.460 --> 00:46:06.460
Sometimes opposition must be aggressively combated

00:46:06.460 --> 00:46:33.460
if the spirit or the power behind the opposition has the capacity to deform, wreck,

00:46:33.460 --> 00:46:44.460
destroy what Christ has built.

00:46:44.460 --> 00:46:48.460
So when the Bible says the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church,

00:46:48.460 --> 00:46:55.460
part of the church's responsibility is to take the weapons that he has given to prevent it from happening.

00:46:55.460 --> 00:47:00.460
So sometimes opposition must be aggressively combated

00:47:00.460 --> 00:47:08.460
if the spirit or the power behind the opposition has the capacity to deform, wreck, destroy what Christ has built.

00:47:08.460 --> 00:47:22.460
So certain spirits like Jezebel, these are some common spirits mentioned, Leviathan, Antichrist, sexual immorality.

00:47:22.460 --> 00:47:30.460
These, when they begin to attack or spread in this church, strife and discord.

00:47:30.460 --> 00:47:35.460
When these begin to, let's throw in one more, any idolatry of any sort,

00:47:35.460 --> 00:47:41.460
of people of a particular way of functioning, if any of these happen,

00:47:41.460 --> 00:47:49.460
it must be aggressively opposed by the church.

00:47:49.460 --> 00:47:53.460
So how do we know? You'll know.

00:47:53.460 --> 00:47:58.460
I mean, if you're the father of your house, won't you know the things that are coming against your house?

00:47:58.460 --> 00:48:01.460
If you're the principal of a school, won't you know what's coming against the school?

00:48:01.460 --> 00:48:04.460
If you're the governor of a state, wouldn't you know?

00:48:04.460 --> 00:48:10.460
You know. You know sometimes because you have been put in this place because you learned,

00:48:10.460 --> 00:48:12.460
or you know because you have enough information.

00:48:12.460 --> 00:48:14.460
But there's always a way to know.

00:48:14.460 --> 00:48:20.460
A guy who's rafting knows a wave, not a wave, whatever that thing is that comes against rafts,

00:48:20.460 --> 00:48:24.460
knows it and he knows how to steer the boat, right?

00:48:24.460 --> 00:48:30.460
Yeah. Turbulence, pilots know.

00:48:30.460 --> 00:48:34.460
So once you know, these few have to be aggressively combated.

00:48:34.460 --> 00:48:39.460
Show me from the Bible, let's turn to Christ himself writing letters to the church.

00:48:39.460 --> 00:48:43.460
These are the letters written to the church. And see what he has to say.

00:48:52.460 --> 00:48:54.460
So go to Revelation chapter 2.

00:48:54.460 --> 00:48:57.460
We're starting at verse 18.

00:48:57.460 --> 00:48:59.460
Revelation 2, 18.

00:48:59.460 --> 00:49:03.460
And to the angel of the church in Tyatira write this,

00:49:03.460 --> 00:49:10.460
The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze,

00:49:10.460 --> 00:49:14.460
I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance,

00:49:14.460 --> 00:49:16.460
and that your latter works exceed the first.

00:49:16.460 --> 00:49:21.460
But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel.

00:49:21.460 --> 00:49:25.460
And you're not talking about a woman, woman, you're talking about the spirit behind the person,

00:49:25.460 --> 00:49:31.460
who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality

00:49:31.460 --> 00:49:33.460
and eat food sacrificed to idols.

00:49:33.460 --> 00:49:37.460
I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.

00:49:37.460 --> 00:49:41.460
Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her,

00:49:41.460 --> 00:49:44.460
I'll throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works.

00:49:44.460 --> 00:49:47.460
He doesn't stop there. I will strike her children dead,

00:49:47.460 --> 00:49:51.460
and all the churches will know that I am he who searches minds and hearts,

00:49:51.460 --> 00:49:53.460
and I will give to each one according to your works.

00:49:53.460 --> 00:49:58.460
There is a violence that comes against some of these things,

00:49:58.460 --> 00:50:03.460
because they are meant to destroy the very thing that Christ died to build,

00:50:03.460 --> 00:50:05.460
and the Holy Spirit has put together.

00:50:05.460 --> 00:50:13.460
And if this happens on your watch, it is required of you to take the stance and not shy back.

00:50:13.460 --> 00:50:21.460
Unfortunately, when stances like this are taken, the people involved in this are not unscathed.

00:50:21.460 --> 00:50:23.460
They get affected too.

00:50:23.460 --> 00:50:29.460
But you must try and know that the battle is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces.

00:50:29.460 --> 00:50:34.460
Yes, the person may be affected, but do everything in your power to keep the person safe,

00:50:34.460 --> 00:50:40.460
to not strip the person of dignity, and every time you do that, fix it somehow.

00:50:40.460 --> 00:50:48.460
Because it's the power behind that must be subdued, that must be crushed under our feet, not the person.

00:50:49.460 --> 00:50:53.460
And only the Spirit of God can help us do it,

00:50:53.460 --> 00:50:57.460
because it is so easy in the process of crushing a spirit,

00:50:57.460 --> 00:51:01.460
that you crush this person through whom the spirit is working.

00:51:07.460 --> 00:51:09.460
This should be a cry after this,

00:51:09.460 --> 00:51:12.460
that Father, if you teach me how to war,

00:51:12.460 --> 00:51:16.460
help me to make sure that it is always against spiritual forces,

00:51:16.460 --> 00:51:19.460
and not against flesh and blood, because the heart is so deceptive,

00:51:19.460 --> 00:51:27.460
that can easily extract a pound of flesh, or take vengeance, or want vindication from flesh.

00:51:33.460 --> 00:51:37.460
These are realities. This has happened in this church multiple times.

00:51:37.460 --> 00:51:44.460
And if we haven't necessarily made a big scene of it, then perhaps it means that we treated people well.

00:51:58.460 --> 00:52:01.460
People operating under these powers won't go unscathed.

00:52:01.460 --> 00:52:06.460
But we must do everything to protect them, because that is the heart of Christ, and that is when war is holy.

00:52:06.460 --> 00:52:08.460
Sorry, go ahead.

00:52:22.460 --> 00:52:26.460
Yeah, so one of the things that Leviathan is particularly known for at the end of Job 42,

00:52:26.460 --> 00:52:28.460
is that he's the king over sons of Christ.

00:52:28.460 --> 00:52:33.460
And that it is almost impossible to tame him, except by God.

00:52:33.460 --> 00:52:36.460
That's the beauty of Job 41 and 42.

00:52:36.460 --> 00:52:40.460
At the end of the day, Job is saying, none of you in this church can handle Leviathan,

00:52:40.460 --> 00:52:43.460
but there is one who can handle him.

00:52:43.460 --> 00:52:46.460
That was in the Old Testament, in the oldest book in the Old Testament.

00:52:46.460 --> 00:52:48.460
And now comes the Christ who lives in the church,

00:52:48.460 --> 00:52:51.460
and therefore it is something that begins to stir up trouble.

00:52:51.460 --> 00:52:54.480
It's like, it's like a kind of a

00:52:54.480 --> 00:52:57.480
crocodile's tail just waving in the water.

00:52:57.480 --> 00:52:59.480
It says it stirs up the water.

00:52:59.480 --> 00:53:02.480
It is king over the sons of pride.

00:53:02.480 --> 00:53:07.480
It talks about it as a serpent or a dragon that occupies water.

00:53:07.480 --> 00:53:12.480
Isaiah 27, 1, it's so specific.

00:53:12.480 --> 00:53:16.480
Sometimes when you think of different things that are worshiped,

00:53:16.480 --> 00:53:19.480
Isaiah 27, 1 will hit you.

00:53:19.480 --> 00:53:22.480
Isaiah 27, 1.

00:53:24.480 --> 00:53:27.480
I'll leave it at that. I won't go further with that right now.

00:53:27.480 --> 00:53:30.480
Selah.

00:53:37.480 --> 00:53:40.480
So, it's like, it's the same thing.

00:53:40.480 --> 00:53:43.480
It's the same thing.

00:53:43.480 --> 00:53:46.480
It's the same thing.

00:53:46.480 --> 00:53:51.480
So, any of these things, when it comes against the church,

00:53:51.480 --> 00:53:54.480
it creates stirrup trouble. It needs to be dealt with.

00:53:54.480 --> 00:53:58.480
One of the things with the Jezebel spirit that we need to just mention in passing,

00:53:58.480 --> 00:54:02.480
I don't know why it's important, is that the Jezebel spirit tries to silence

00:54:02.480 --> 00:54:05.480
and sterilize the church from the prophetic voice.

00:54:05.480 --> 00:54:07.480
One of the things the Jezebel spirit does,

00:54:07.480 --> 00:54:10.480
and we can take it right back to Jezebel and Ahab in the Old Testament,

00:54:10.480 --> 00:54:14.480
is it tries to sterilize and silence the prophetic voice.

00:54:14.480 --> 00:54:17.480
And so it will raise up people to silence the voice of the prophetic

00:54:17.480 --> 00:54:20.480
or to sterilize the church from the voice of the prophetic.

00:54:20.480 --> 00:54:24.480
It's a bullying, intimidating, fear-inducing spirit.

00:54:24.480 --> 00:54:28.480
It is a bullying, fear-inducing, intimidating spirit.

00:54:28.480 --> 00:54:32.480
But the great thing with bullies is you stand up against them,

00:54:32.480 --> 00:54:35.480
and it changes things.

00:54:37.480 --> 00:54:41.480
And you will find them bullying, inducing fear, intimidating,

00:54:41.480 --> 00:54:44.480
at home, at work, everywhere.

00:54:56.480 --> 00:55:00.480
One of the guys who was brilliant at stopping this was Jehu.

00:55:00.480 --> 00:55:06.480
Why? Because he had an aggression that very few had.

00:55:06.480 --> 00:55:08.480
Next one.

00:55:08.480 --> 00:55:15.480
Opposition from human reasoning.

00:55:17.480 --> 00:55:20.480
Opposition from human reasoning.

00:55:20.480 --> 00:55:23.480
2 Corinthians 10, verse 4 and 5.

00:55:23.480 --> 00:55:28.480
Human reasoning, human ways of, human imaginations,

00:55:28.480 --> 00:55:31.480
and the Jehu spirit.

00:55:31.480 --> 00:55:36.480
Human reasoning, human ways of, human imaginations,

00:55:36.480 --> 00:55:39.480
human ways of thinking.

00:55:41.480 --> 00:55:43.480
This will affect us every day.

00:55:43.480 --> 00:55:47.480
Every day when we begin to take a stance that is divine or that is supernatural,

00:55:47.480 --> 00:55:52.480
there will be the appeal to reason that this is not how you should think.

00:55:52.480 --> 00:55:54.480
This is how you should go.

00:55:54.480 --> 00:55:56.480
God may be saying, but what if things don't work out?

00:55:56.480 --> 00:56:03.480
And so Paul at one point begins to refer to things more stronger than that.

00:56:03.480 --> 00:56:05.480
In 2 Corinthians 10, verse 4 and 5, he says,

00:56:05.480 --> 00:56:08.480
our weapons are not human.

00:56:08.480 --> 00:56:11.480
Our weapons are mighty and they are divine for the pulling down of strongholds,

00:56:11.480 --> 00:56:13.480
for the tearing down of strongholds,

00:56:13.480 --> 00:56:17.480
so that we are able to tear down every lofty thing, every imagination,

00:56:17.480 --> 00:56:21.480
every philosophy that raises itself up against the knowledge of God.

00:56:21.480 --> 00:56:23.480
We tear it down. How does he do it?

00:56:23.480 --> 00:56:25.480
He uses scriptures.

00:56:25.480 --> 00:56:29.480
This is why it's great when we have the ability to wield scriptures easily.

00:56:29.480 --> 00:56:31.480
2 Corinthians 10, verse 4 and 5.

00:56:31.480 --> 00:56:35.480
So in Acts chapter 3, Acts chapter 2, what does Peter do?

00:56:35.480 --> 00:56:39.480
Guys are speaking in tongues and there are people gathering around.

00:56:39.480 --> 00:56:42.480
How is he going to explain this?

00:56:42.480 --> 00:56:45.480
He doesn't explain it with human words.

00:56:45.480 --> 00:56:47.480
He doesn't try to reason with them.

00:56:47.480 --> 00:56:51.480
He knows that it's Passover, or Pentecost, sorry.

00:56:51.480 --> 00:56:53.480
He knows it's Pentecost. He knows there are tons of people there.

00:56:53.480 --> 00:56:55.480
He knows most of them are from a Jewish background.

00:56:55.480 --> 00:56:58.480
What does he do? Take them immediately back to the Torah

00:56:58.480 --> 00:57:00.480
and take them to the Book of Joel.

00:57:00.480 --> 00:57:02.480
And out of the Book of Joel, using scripture,

00:57:02.480 --> 00:57:04.480
he begins to explain what is happening.

00:57:04.480 --> 00:57:07.480
And as he does, the resistance, the laughing begins to change

00:57:07.480 --> 00:57:11.480
and 3,000 come to the Lord.

00:57:11.480 --> 00:57:14.480
We use scriptures to tear down strongholds.

00:57:14.480 --> 00:57:16.480
Those are our mighty weapons.

00:57:16.480 --> 00:57:19.480
It's not in the name of Jesus Christ or the blood of Jesus Christ

00:57:19.480 --> 00:57:24.480
that is the mighty weapon that he's talking about.

00:57:24.480 --> 00:57:27.480
You see him in Acts chapter 19, Paul.

00:57:27.480 --> 00:57:32.480
He's at a certain place and the people are beginning to argue with him, refute him.

00:57:32.480 --> 00:57:35.480
So what does he do? He argues brilliantly from the scriptures.

00:57:35.480 --> 00:57:39.480
He talks about how I'm Paul. I'm a guy who studied under Gamaliel.

00:57:39.480 --> 00:57:41.480
I'm a scholar. Let me explain this to you.

00:57:41.480 --> 00:57:43.480
And then when they don't listen, he takes 12 of them out

00:57:43.480 --> 00:57:46.480
and begins to spend days with them at a school called the School of Tyrannus

00:57:46.480 --> 00:57:48.480
where he teaches the 12th.

00:57:48.480 --> 00:57:52.480
And in less than two years, all of Asia Minor gets converted,

00:57:52.480 --> 00:57:58.480
pulling down of strongholds.

00:57:58.480 --> 00:57:59.480
We use scriptures.

00:57:59.480 --> 00:58:05.480
The other method Paul would use is he would use church discipline.

00:58:05.480 --> 00:58:11.480
In 2 Corinthians 12, I think, he...

00:58:11.480 --> 00:58:18.480
In 2 Corinthians 10, verse 1, Paul would use disciplinary measures to confront situations.

00:58:18.480 --> 00:58:21.480
Using scripture, he would discipline people

00:58:21.480 --> 00:58:24.480
and his detractors would look at him and say, oh, he's too arrogant.

00:58:24.480 --> 00:58:28.480
And yet in 2 Corinthians 12, he would weep.

00:58:28.480 --> 00:58:33.480
With mourning, he would pray and then his detractors would say, oh, he's too feeble.

00:58:33.480 --> 00:58:36.480
When it comes to these kind of things, guys, there's no winning, eh?

00:58:36.480 --> 00:58:40.480
There's someone who will always not like what you do.

00:58:40.480 --> 00:58:49.480
Questioner asks question.

00:58:49.480 --> 00:58:54.480
Yeah, so discipline cannot be meted out except by people sitting together and saying,

00:58:54.480 --> 00:58:56.480
what is being done?

00:58:56.480 --> 00:59:00.480
You never discipline except for things that are contagious.

00:59:00.480 --> 00:59:02.480
If we were to discipline for everything,

00:59:02.480 --> 00:59:06.480
you would have to start disciplining me immediately.

00:59:06.480 --> 00:59:14.480
But if what I'm doing is contagious, when it begins to spread,

00:59:14.480 --> 00:59:17.480
then one should follow the Matthew 18 pattern.

00:59:17.480 --> 00:59:19.480
Hey, don't do it.

00:59:19.480 --> 00:59:22.480
Hey, the two of us want to come and tell you don't do it.

00:59:22.480 --> 00:59:26.480
Hey, we as leaders met and said, please don't do it.

00:59:27.480 --> 00:59:40.480
Hey, we now are going to treat you like someone who does not belong to this community.

00:59:40.480 --> 00:59:42.480
Is your hand up, Bibby?

00:59:42.480 --> 00:59:43.480
Okay.

00:59:43.480 --> 00:59:45.480
No, you can put your hand up on your hat.

00:59:45.480 --> 00:59:51.480
I just wasn't sure.

00:59:51.480 --> 00:59:55.480
You also find Paul arguing in Acts 17, 3, 4.

00:59:55.480 --> 00:59:57.480
Let me give you the scriptures where he uses,

00:59:57.480 --> 01:00:02.480
tests of strongholds using words, Acts 2, 40 is Peter.

01:00:02.480 --> 01:00:07.480
Acts 17, 3 and 4 is Paul before he goes to Athens.

01:00:07.480 --> 01:00:12.480
Acts 19, verse 8 to 10 is at the school of Tyrannus, I think in Ephesus.

01:00:12.480 --> 01:00:15.480
And then 2 Timothy, that's a beautiful word.

01:00:15.480 --> 01:00:17.480
2 Timothy 2, 25 and 26.

01:00:17.480 --> 01:00:20.480
Let's just read that before we move on.

01:00:20.480 --> 01:00:22.480
2 Timothy 2, 25 to 26.

01:00:22.480 --> 01:00:27.480
He says, guys, can you gently begin to persuade people using the word

01:00:27.480 --> 01:00:32.480
or using scriptures so that they can escape the snare of the devil.

01:00:32.480 --> 01:00:36.480
2 Timothy 2, 25 and 26.

01:00:52.480 --> 01:00:55.480
The trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will.

01:00:55.480 --> 01:00:58.480
Written to the church.

01:00:58.480 --> 01:01:03.480
2 Timothy 2, 25 and 26.

01:01:03.480 --> 01:01:16.480
Beautiful, eh?

01:01:16.480 --> 01:01:20.480
Next one is opposition because of our sin.

01:01:20.480 --> 01:01:22.480
Opposition because of our sin.

01:01:22.480 --> 01:01:26.480
Opposition because of sin.

01:01:26.480 --> 01:01:31.480
We won't go into it because we've talked about this before.

01:01:31.480 --> 01:01:36.480
In Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews 12, 1 to 3,

01:01:36.480 --> 01:01:47.480
Hebrews 12, 1 to 3, you see how sin can entangle.

01:01:47.480 --> 01:01:51.480
How sin can ensnare.

01:01:51.480 --> 01:02:07.480
And so once sin entangles and ensnares, life begins to oppose how we,

01:02:07.480 --> 01:02:16.480
life begins to oppose us because sin has consequences.

01:02:16.480 --> 01:02:20.480
We won't talk about it today, but when you read Hebrews 12, 2, it says,

01:02:20.480 --> 01:02:24.480
listen, if you're caught up in sin and you're entangled in ensnare and sin,

01:02:24.480 --> 01:02:26.480
remember, heaven is cheering for you.

01:02:26.480 --> 01:02:28.480
Throw off the entanglements.

01:02:28.480 --> 01:02:30.480
Identify the race marked for you.

01:02:30.480 --> 01:02:33.480
Run with others who are cheering for you.

01:02:33.480 --> 01:02:35.480
Fix your eyes on Jesus.

01:02:35.480 --> 01:02:38.480
Fix your eyes on he who lifts you up and perfect things concerning you.

01:02:38.480 --> 01:02:39.480
Endure.

01:02:39.480 --> 01:02:43.480
Remember the joy of Christ and the cause that lies ahead of you.

01:02:43.480 --> 01:02:45.480
Let go of these entanglements.

01:02:45.480 --> 01:02:46.480
You can read it yourself.

01:02:46.480 --> 01:02:51.480
I won't go into it because it's a teaching by itself.

01:02:51.480 --> 01:02:54.480
Sometimes, guys, I love what it says there.

01:02:54.480 --> 01:02:55.480
Just that bit I'll pick up.

01:02:55.480 --> 01:03:00.480
It says, and run the race that is marked out for you.

01:03:00.480 --> 01:03:06.480
The question is, do you know the race that is marked out for you?

01:03:06.480 --> 01:03:11.480
Again, it goes back to, it can't be whatever the Lord has for me.

01:03:11.480 --> 01:03:12.480
That is too nebulous.

01:03:12.480 --> 01:03:13.480
God is not nebulous.

01:03:13.480 --> 01:03:15.480
He says, I do not speak in riddles.

01:03:15.480 --> 01:03:17.480
I'm not nebulous.

01:03:17.480 --> 01:03:22.480
Before the foundations of the earth, I prepared works and paths and seasons for you.

01:03:22.480 --> 01:03:33.480
If you identify the race you can run, you will find that purpose gives you focus that prevents you from going into detours,

01:03:33.480 --> 01:03:38.480
both of the world and of the sin and of the flesh and of the devil and of pride.

01:03:38.480 --> 01:03:43.480
There came a time in Matt's life where he had to submit his paper.

01:03:43.480 --> 01:03:50.480
No wife, no kids, no toothache, no COVID could stop him.

01:03:50.480 --> 01:03:55.480
Because now it was do or die.

01:03:55.480 --> 01:04:03.480
It's good to find that.

01:04:04.480 --> 01:04:05.480
It's good to find that.

01:04:05.480 --> 01:04:08.480
Again, it's good to labor to find that.

01:04:08.480 --> 01:04:15.480
I think one of the things that I might genuinely be learning as I get older is it's okay to wrestle with something.

01:04:15.480 --> 01:04:20.480
You don't need an answer by tomorrow.

01:04:20.480 --> 01:04:24.480
It's okay for the process of wrestling to take place where you're shaped in the process,

01:04:24.480 --> 01:04:31.480
where you give up in the process, you get up, and that a time will come when you will get there.

01:04:31.480 --> 01:04:32.480
So wrestle through it.

01:04:32.480 --> 01:04:37.480
You don't want it by tomorrow.

01:04:37.480 --> 01:04:40.480
If it comes tomorrow, great.

01:04:40.480 --> 01:04:44.480
There's value in wrestling.

01:04:44.480 --> 01:04:45.480
Next one is God.

01:04:45.480 --> 01:04:49.480
God opposes.

01:04:49.480 --> 01:04:51.480
So here are the things God opposes.

01:04:51.480 --> 01:04:57.480
He opposes the proud.

01:04:57.480 --> 01:04:58.480
He opposes the proud.

01:04:58.480 --> 01:05:01.480
James 4, 6.

01:05:01.480 --> 01:05:06.480
He opposes the proud.

01:05:06.480 --> 01:05:11.480
How would you define proud?

01:05:11.480 --> 01:05:12.480
Someone who's proud.

01:05:12.480 --> 01:05:18.480
If I'm proud, then here's what it will look like.

01:05:19.480 --> 01:05:28.480
A person who has an exaggerated opinion about himself,

01:05:28.480 --> 01:05:37.480
combined with a disdain for others,

01:05:37.480 --> 01:05:46.480
combined with scornful,

01:05:46.480 --> 01:05:56.480
scornful speech is usually a person who's proud.

01:05:56.480 --> 01:05:59.480
A person who has an exaggerated opinion of himself,

01:05:59.480 --> 01:06:03.480
combined with a disdain for others,

01:06:03.480 --> 01:06:06.480
combined with scornful speech.

01:06:06.480 --> 01:06:09.480
When you see this consistently,

01:06:09.480 --> 01:06:14.480
perhaps know that you have a problem or I have a problem with pride,

01:06:14.480 --> 01:06:17.480
and if you have this problem, then know that God opposes you.

01:06:17.480 --> 01:06:19.480
He'll resist you.

01:06:19.480 --> 01:06:21.480
You won't understand why it's hard going.

01:06:21.480 --> 01:06:25.480
It's not the devil.

01:06:25.480 --> 01:06:27.480
Another thing God opposes.

01:06:27.480 --> 01:06:29.480
God opposes me.

01:06:29.480 --> 01:06:32.480
God opposes me when I try to tear down others.

01:06:32.480 --> 01:06:43.480
God opposes me if I go out to tear down others, humble others,

01:06:43.480 --> 01:06:48.480
strip others of their dignity, curse others.

01:06:48.480 --> 01:06:51.480
Where do we see this?

01:06:51.480 --> 01:06:55.480
Balaam, Numbers 23.

01:06:55.480 --> 01:06:57.480
He opposes.

01:06:57.480 --> 01:06:59.480
He'll come and stand in the way saying,

01:06:59.480 --> 01:07:01.480
I will not let you go.

01:07:01.480 --> 01:07:07.480
Your donkey will save you because I will not let you go.

01:07:07.480 --> 01:07:09.480
And the third one, there might be more,

01:07:09.480 --> 01:07:17.480
and the third one is God opposes me when I create.

01:07:17.480 --> 01:07:26.480
When I say when I create, it means a habitual way that has gone on for a while.

01:07:26.480 --> 01:07:36.480
When I create or cause division or strife in the body, he opposes.

01:07:36.480 --> 01:07:38.480
Where do we find this?

01:07:38.480 --> 01:07:40.480
1 Corinthians 11.30.

01:07:40.480 --> 01:07:46.480
He opposes with discipline, and it's the kind of discipline that ends.

01:07:46.480 --> 01:07:48.480
Because you're saved.

01:07:48.480 --> 01:07:50.480
He says that because you have been causing this,

01:07:50.480 --> 01:07:56.480
some of you have fallen sick and some of you have died.

01:07:56.480 --> 01:07:58.480
Crazy, eh?

01:07:58.480 --> 01:08:02.480
Sometimes you don't expect these scriptures to pop up.

01:08:02.480 --> 01:08:04.480
Pop up.

01:08:04.480 --> 01:08:06.480
1 Corinthians 11.30.

01:08:15.480 --> 01:08:17.480
Any questions?

01:08:20.480 --> 01:08:22.480
Okay.

01:08:22.480 --> 01:08:24.480
Last two.

01:08:26.480 --> 01:08:29.480
Opposition from culture.

01:08:29.480 --> 01:08:35.480
Opposition from culture or tradition.

01:08:35.480 --> 01:08:39.480
Guys, this is a rite of passage in the kingdom.

01:08:39.480 --> 01:08:43.480
Rite of passage in the kingdom, meaning there's hardly anyone in the Bible

01:08:43.480 --> 01:08:47.480
who did not have to take a stance against their culture or their family.

01:08:47.480 --> 01:08:51.480
Gideon had to, Jesus had to, Moses had to, Paul had to.

01:08:51.480 --> 01:08:54.480
There's almost David had to, Joseph had to.

01:08:54.480 --> 01:08:57.480
There's almost nobody in the Bible who makes it into Hebrews 11

01:08:57.480 --> 01:09:01.480
who did not have to take a stance at some point against family

01:09:01.480 --> 01:09:05.480
that desired things for them out of their well-wishing

01:09:05.480 --> 01:09:07.480
but against the principles of God.

01:09:11.480 --> 01:09:13.480
Psalm 45.10.

01:09:13.480 --> 01:09:15.480
Sorry, did you have a question, Jill?

01:09:15.480 --> 01:09:17.480
Okay.

01:09:17.480 --> 01:09:19.480
Go ahead.

01:09:19.480 --> 01:09:21.480
Go ahead.

01:09:25.480 --> 01:09:27.480
Sorry?

01:09:27.480 --> 01:09:29.480
11.30?

01:09:29.480 --> 01:09:33.480
No, it's not with regard to taking communion.

01:09:33.480 --> 01:09:36.480
1 Corinthians 11, we think it's about communion,

01:09:36.480 --> 01:09:39.480
but it's about strife and discord in the church.

01:09:39.480 --> 01:09:43.480
And communion was a symbol that shows the unity of the church.

01:09:43.480 --> 01:09:46.480
And so Paul is using that to say, you guys meet together

01:09:46.480 --> 01:09:48.480
because they used to meet for meals.

01:09:48.480 --> 01:09:52.480
And he's saying, why is it that this group of people are eating chicken

01:09:52.480 --> 01:09:55.480
and these group of people are eating crackers?

01:09:55.480 --> 01:09:57.480
Couldn't you have eaten at home and come?

01:09:57.480 --> 01:09:59.480
Why do you discriminate this way?

01:09:59.480 --> 01:10:03.480
And if you continue not to recognize the others as the same as you,

01:10:03.480 --> 01:10:05.480
then know that you're creating strife and discord.

01:10:05.480 --> 01:10:08.480
And if you create strife in the body, then know that over a period of time,

01:10:08.480 --> 01:10:11.480
some of you will fall sick and some of you will die.

01:10:11.480 --> 01:10:13.480
Crazy, eh?

01:10:13.480 --> 01:10:15.480
Psalm 45.10.

01:10:15.480 --> 01:10:17.480
Beautiful verse.

01:10:17.480 --> 01:10:19.480
Psalm 45.10.

01:10:19.480 --> 01:10:21.480
Psalm 45.10.

01:10:21.480 --> 01:10:23.480
Learn this verse, eh?

01:10:23.480 --> 01:10:25.480
Psalm 45.10.

01:10:29.480 --> 01:10:32.480
It applies to men too, so don't confine it to women.

01:10:32.480 --> 01:10:34.480
Psalm 45.10.

01:10:34.480 --> 01:10:36.480
Look at what it says.

01:10:36.480 --> 01:10:39.480
Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear.

01:10:39.480 --> 01:10:41.480
Forget your people and your father's house.

01:10:41.480 --> 01:10:43.480
The king is enthralled by your beauty.

01:10:43.480 --> 01:10:46.480
Honor him, for he is your Lord.

01:10:46.480 --> 01:10:47.480
What's it saying?

01:10:47.480 --> 01:10:52.480
Listen, I know you were born in your family, in your father's house.

01:10:52.480 --> 01:10:55.480
I know he may have been a good man and a good family,

01:10:55.480 --> 01:10:59.480
but you must know that now you belong to somebody else.

01:10:59.480 --> 01:11:01.480
You belong to somebody else.

01:11:01.480 --> 01:11:03.480
You belong to somebody else.

01:11:03.480 --> 01:11:06.480
You must know that now you belong to somebody else.

01:11:06.480 --> 01:11:11.480
Therefore, forget, as in make secondary,

01:11:11.480 --> 01:11:15.480
that which you were and the traditions and the background you came for,

01:11:15.480 --> 01:11:17.480
because you belong to somebody else.

01:11:22.480 --> 01:11:24.480
So important, guys.

01:11:27.480 --> 01:11:32.480
Because this is what I mean by a jealous God.

01:11:32.480 --> 01:11:38.480
God is love, but it's an intolerant love that does not share you with anybody else,

01:11:38.480 --> 01:11:40.480
because you belong to him first.

01:11:44.480 --> 01:11:48.480
And so every other allegiance has to become secondary.

01:11:50.480 --> 01:11:54.480
So if you're a Pentecostal, that is secondary.

01:11:54.480 --> 01:11:57.480
If you're Indian, that is secondary.

01:11:57.480 --> 01:12:01.480
If you're white, you're black or brown, it is secondary.

01:12:02.480 --> 01:12:05.480
You have zero allegiance to that before Christ.

01:12:05.480 --> 01:12:07.480
After Christ, those things are important.

01:12:07.480 --> 01:12:13.480
It is not that it becomes insignificant.

01:12:13.480 --> 01:12:17.480
It becomes less significant to the primary allegiance.

01:12:17.480 --> 01:12:20.480
You're no longer a Republican or a Democrat.

01:12:20.480 --> 01:12:22.480
You don't swear by Trump or Biden,

01:12:22.480 --> 01:12:25.480
both 80-year-old men who are forgetting their lives.

01:12:25.480 --> 01:12:26.480
Forget.

01:12:26.480 --> 01:12:29.480
This is why every time I read it,

01:12:29.480 --> 01:12:36.480
it actually still hurts me to think that David marries Michail or Michael,

01:12:36.480 --> 01:12:38.480
and she is referred to.

01:12:39.480 --> 01:12:43.480
I mean, Jesus took David's name and said,

01:12:43.480 --> 01:12:47.480
Son of David, and yet through the blood of David,

01:12:47.480 --> 01:12:49.480
he was a son of David.

01:12:49.480 --> 01:12:54.480
Jesus took David's name and said, Son of David,

01:12:54.480 --> 01:12:57.480
and yet throughout almost everywhere in the scriptures,

01:12:57.480 --> 01:12:59.480
it talks about Michail as the daughter of Saul,

01:12:59.480 --> 01:13:01.480
not as the wife of David.

01:13:01.480 --> 01:13:06.480
How many of us are daughters of Saul and not the wife of David?

01:13:07.480 --> 01:13:13.480
When you say goodbye, as in this is not as important as this.

01:13:13.480 --> 01:13:16.480
A new king, a new kingdom, a new Lord,

01:13:16.480 --> 01:13:22.480
I will forget the house of my father because it's no longer as important.

01:13:29.480 --> 01:13:31.480
It's almost a rite of passage.

01:13:31.480 --> 01:13:38.480
Identify where your culture is contradicting the spirit and the kingdom,

01:13:38.480 --> 01:13:45.480
be it New Year or marriage or memorials

01:13:45.480 --> 01:13:48.480
when people die or some holistic method of healing

01:13:48.480 --> 01:13:52.480
or denominationalism where you learn something and now you can't let it go,

01:13:52.480 --> 01:13:55.480
or nationalism where you belong to a particular nation

01:13:55.480 --> 01:13:58.480
and it comes with a certain spirit.

01:14:01.480 --> 01:14:04.480
In Genesis 11, Nimrod tries to do this.

01:14:04.480 --> 01:14:05.480
This is very old.

01:14:05.480 --> 01:14:09.480
Nimrod tries to build a culture, and here's the slogan of the culture.

01:14:09.480 --> 01:14:14.480
We will stay together, be united in purpose, and defy God.

01:14:14.480 --> 01:14:19.480
And then along comes God, and he breaks them into many different languages.

01:14:19.480 --> 01:14:20.480
And then what does he do?

01:14:20.480 --> 01:14:24.480
He says, out of this group, I'll call out one man,

01:14:24.480 --> 01:14:29.480
and he will leave clan, country, family, father's house,

01:14:29.480 --> 01:14:34.480
and I will take him and with him form what you see today under this building.

01:14:34.480 --> 01:14:38.480
We are the result of one man saying, I will leave.

01:14:45.480 --> 01:14:47.480
Sons of Abraham, right?

01:14:47.480 --> 01:14:49.480
True sons of Abraham.

01:14:52.480 --> 01:14:54.480
Last one.

01:14:54.480 --> 01:14:56.480
Kingdom implies warfare.

01:14:56.480 --> 01:14:59.480
Opposition will come from the other realm.

01:15:00.480 --> 01:15:02.480
Kingdom implies warfare.

01:15:11.480 --> 01:15:13.480
Satanic realm.

01:15:14.480 --> 01:15:24.480
Will oppose the church, which is you and me.

01:15:26.480 --> 01:15:32.480
It will oppose me, as in Jacob,

01:15:32.480 --> 01:15:36.480
because if we can strike the shepherd,

01:15:38.480 --> 01:15:42.480
the sheep will scatter.

01:15:44.480 --> 01:15:50.480
And so this has been happening forever.

01:15:50.480 --> 01:15:54.480
From Pharaoh to Herod, through time,

01:15:54.480 --> 01:15:57.480
three things that always oppose the kingdom.

01:15:57.480 --> 01:16:04.480
The lust of the flesh, the devil, pride,

01:16:04.480 --> 01:16:08.480
have always opposed and will continue to oppose.

01:16:08.480 --> 01:16:11.480
As long as we say we belong to a kingdom,

01:16:11.480 --> 01:16:13.480
it absolutely implies warfare.

01:16:13.480 --> 01:16:16.480
The differences, and I know I've said this before,

01:16:16.480 --> 01:16:19.480
but it's good for our refreshing.

01:16:19.480 --> 01:16:23.480
The differences in the Old Testament, war was simply about,

01:16:23.480 --> 01:16:28.480
can we prevent the seed of the woman from being born?

01:16:28.480 --> 01:16:33.480
So every attempt was about, can Israel be destroyed?

01:16:33.480 --> 01:16:36.480
Because from Israel will come the seed of the woman,

01:16:36.480 --> 01:16:38.480
and if the seed of the woman is born,

01:16:38.480 --> 01:16:39.480
the serpent's head is crushed.

01:16:39.480 --> 01:16:41.480
So can we destroy the seed of the woman?

01:16:41.480 --> 01:16:43.480
Herod's and Pharaoh's have been trying that.

01:16:43.480 --> 01:16:45.480
Haman tried that with Esther.

01:16:45.480 --> 01:16:47.480
It's been going on.

01:16:47.480 --> 01:16:50.480
Once the New Testament comes, the battle changes.

01:16:50.480 --> 01:16:52.480
Can we prevent the seed of the woman,

01:16:52.480 --> 01:16:54.480
who has now risen into the church,

01:16:54.480 --> 01:16:56.480
from proclaiming the Messiah?

01:16:56.480 --> 01:17:00.480
And everything will go into stopping that,

01:17:00.480 --> 01:17:03.480
because every time the Messiah is proclaimed,

01:17:03.480 --> 01:17:06.480
either through healing or through the healing of the woman,

01:17:06.480 --> 01:17:09.480
or through opening blind eyes or setting prisoners free,

01:17:09.480 --> 01:17:10.480
every time it is done,

01:17:10.480 --> 01:17:13.480
someone is transferred from the power of darkness

01:17:13.480 --> 01:17:15.480
into the kingdom of the sun.

01:17:15.480 --> 01:17:17.480
And it will be a post.

01:17:17.480 --> 01:17:20.480
And if you do not think this is a reality,

01:17:20.480 --> 01:17:23.480
you will still make it to heaven.

01:17:23.480 --> 01:17:28.480
But you will miss out on joining the commander of the armies of heaven

01:17:28.480 --> 01:17:30.480
in what is waiting here on earth.

01:17:30.480 --> 01:17:34.480
And that is how cities are taken, one by one.

01:17:34.480 --> 01:17:36.480
Ephesus was like that.

01:17:36.480 --> 01:17:39.480
I mean, you can go back to the Old Testament.

01:17:39.480 --> 01:17:42.480
Jericho.

01:17:42.480 --> 01:17:44.480
You know how that story went.

01:17:44.480 --> 01:17:46.480
Jabez.

01:17:46.480 --> 01:17:47.480
What's Jabez?

01:17:47.480 --> 01:17:48.480
Jabez was Jerusalem.

01:17:48.480 --> 01:17:52.480
David took it by entering through the shaft, water shaft.

01:17:52.480 --> 01:17:54.480
Ephesus.

01:17:54.480 --> 01:17:59.480
Paul goes up against Artemis the Great.

01:17:59.480 --> 01:18:04.480
One by one, through a few people, places are taken.

01:18:04.480 --> 01:18:07.480
You go to Jesus' letters in the book of Revelation.

01:18:07.480 --> 01:18:09.480
I know where you dwell.

01:18:09.480 --> 01:18:14.480
You dwell where Satan's throne is.

01:18:14.480 --> 01:18:17.480
Reality.

01:18:17.480 --> 01:18:24.480
This might set the platform for future teachings on things that are not yet known.

01:18:24.480 --> 01:18:29.480
I want us to realize that this is for all of us.

01:18:29.480 --> 01:18:31.480
It's not for a few of us.

01:18:31.480 --> 01:18:34.480
The church.

01:18:34.480 --> 01:18:39.480
But for us to go there, we just have to learn the things he wants us to teach.

01:18:39.480 --> 01:18:43.480
We'll stop there.

01:18:43.480 --> 01:18:47.480
We're going to have a dedication now.

01:18:47.480 --> 01:18:52.480
So I'm going to ask Nei and Yemi and David to come forward.

01:18:52.480 --> 01:19:02.480
Nei and Yemi and Jean, if she wants to come up with Adunai.

01:19:02.480 --> 01:19:05.480
Can you put the picture up?

01:19:22.480 --> 01:19:47.480
Come, guys, come up.

01:19:47.480 --> 01:19:49.480
Sure.

01:19:49.480 --> 01:19:51.480
Can you stand here with us?

01:19:51.480 --> 01:19:55.480
Come up.

01:19:55.480 --> 01:19:57.480
Sorry, guys.

01:19:57.480 --> 01:20:03.480
So that's Adunai anna adevuji.

01:20:03.480 --> 01:20:05.480
Am I saying it right?

01:20:05.480 --> 01:20:07.480
Do you want to say it different?

01:20:07.480 --> 01:20:15.480
And Adunai means pleasant to hygiene.

01:20:15.480 --> 01:20:18.480
I asked Nei what Adunai means.

01:20:18.480 --> 01:20:23.480
And he said Adunai means pleasant to have.

01:20:23.480 --> 01:20:28.480
And so her name is Adunai anna.

01:20:28.480 --> 01:20:31.480
I'll leave the last name out.

01:20:31.480 --> 01:20:32.480
And so it's our day.

01:20:32.480 --> 01:20:38.480
Today is the 39th day since she was born because she was born on Jan 2nd.

01:20:38.480 --> 01:20:39.480
Okay.

01:20:39.480 --> 01:20:42.480
Sheldon, can you just move that thingy?

01:20:42.480 --> 01:20:43.480
Oh, you guys can come here.

01:20:43.480 --> 01:20:44.480
Sheldon, it's okay.

01:20:44.480 --> 01:20:46.480
It's much easier this way.

01:20:46.480 --> 01:20:51.480
Oh, no, still move it because they can't see it.

01:20:51.480 --> 01:20:53.480
Okay, we could all move here.

01:20:53.480 --> 01:21:03.480
But Sheldon, you can still move it.

01:21:03.480 --> 01:21:06.480
So thanks, Sheldon.

01:21:06.480 --> 01:21:10.480
So today is the 39th day since she was born.

01:21:10.480 --> 01:21:12.480
She was born on Jan 2nd, right?

01:21:12.480 --> 01:21:13.480
Yeah.

01:21:13.480 --> 01:21:18.480
Usually even by Old Testament standards, it was on the 40th day that this kind of a dedication would happen.

01:21:18.480 --> 01:21:21.480
The first seven days would be a purifying rite.

01:21:21.480 --> 01:21:32.480
And then three weeks later or thereabouts, yeah, 30 days later, 32 days later, they would have a dedication like this.

01:21:32.480 --> 01:21:39.480
And so there are reasons why we are dedicating Aduni.

01:21:39.480 --> 01:21:42.480
Is it Aduni or Adunai?

01:21:42.480 --> 01:21:43.480
Adunai.

01:21:43.480 --> 01:21:44.480
Okay.

01:21:44.480 --> 01:21:47.480
So why are we dedicating her and why are we not baptizing her?

01:21:47.480 --> 01:21:57.480
Because we believe that baptism should take place once Adunai makes a decision to follow Christ and is old enough to repent of sin and confess Jesus publicly.

01:21:57.480 --> 01:21:58.480
So why dedicate her?

01:21:58.480 --> 01:22:02.480
Just a few of these reasons, you guys, and it's so worth remembering them.

01:22:02.480 --> 01:22:03.480
It's a refresher.

01:22:03.480 --> 01:22:07.480
We dedicate her because it's an acknowledgement of where she came from.

01:22:07.480 --> 01:22:12.480
She, in this entire church, she was the last one who saw him.

01:22:12.480 --> 01:22:19.480
She may not remember, but dedication is an acknowledgement of the source, where she came from.

01:22:19.480 --> 01:22:27.480
Two, it's a declaration of our intent and their intent to steward her, to take care of her on his behalf.

01:22:27.480 --> 01:22:29.480
On his behalf, he created her.

01:22:29.480 --> 01:22:32.480
Nobody loves her like him.

01:22:32.480 --> 01:22:41.480
Third, it's an open acknowledgement of our dependence on the Holy Spirit and on the church.

01:22:41.480 --> 01:22:45.480
It's an acknowledgement that, okay, we'll depend on God, but we also need the people of God to depend on.

01:22:45.480 --> 01:22:49.480
Look at these guys.

01:22:49.480 --> 01:22:55.480
Four, it's an occasion for God's voice to descend and speak over her.

01:22:55.480 --> 01:22:58.480
For God's voice to speak over her.

01:22:58.480 --> 01:23:04.480
Five, it's agreeing every time we dedicate anything to God, leave alone a person,

01:23:04.480 --> 01:23:11.480
it's agreeing that the first belongs to God, that she belongs to God first.

01:23:11.480 --> 01:23:18.480
And if she belongs to God first and we dedicate her to Him, then He will rebuke the devourer,

01:23:18.480 --> 01:23:21.480
He will bless her roots, and He will produce good fruit.

01:23:21.480 --> 01:23:25.480
Because whatever is dedicated to Him, He knows how to take care of.

01:23:25.480 --> 01:23:26.480
That's why we do this.

01:23:26.480 --> 01:23:31.480
So it's a pretty significant occasion in the life of this child.

01:23:31.480 --> 01:23:35.480
And we all get to be part of it. That's the cool thing.

01:23:35.480 --> 01:23:42.480
And so normally what would happen if she was a guy and she's not, is that there would be circumcision,

01:23:42.480 --> 01:23:47.480
then there would be naming, then there would be purification, then there would be consecration.

01:23:47.480 --> 01:23:50.480
But that was in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, we just dedicate.

01:23:50.480 --> 01:23:58.480
So I'm going to first ask Nii and Yemi to say anything they want about this baby,

01:23:58.480 --> 01:24:00.480
and then after that we'll dedicate her.

01:24:00.480 --> 01:24:03.480
So, Nii, you go first.

01:24:03.480 --> 01:24:07.480
Anything you want to say about this little girl you have?

01:24:07.480 --> 01:24:09.480
Praise God.

01:24:09.480 --> 01:24:11.480
Is the mic on?

01:24:11.480 --> 01:24:12.480
Yes.

01:24:12.480 --> 01:24:13.480
Okay.

01:24:14.480 --> 01:24:16.480
I don't know.

01:24:16.480 --> 01:24:24.480
I think we want to say thank you to God for everything, from conception until she came.

01:24:27.480 --> 01:24:32.480
Being away from home, back home we get all the help that we need.

01:24:32.480 --> 01:24:36.480
I think the whole process made us stronger.

01:24:37.480 --> 01:24:40.480
And setting times, she did a whole lot.

01:24:40.480 --> 01:24:44.480
While we were expecting, she wrote all the exams, she needed to write,

01:24:44.480 --> 01:24:47.480
and we moved a couple of times in between.

01:24:47.480 --> 01:24:50.480
But God has been good to us.

01:24:50.480 --> 01:24:52.480
What's that?

01:24:52.480 --> 01:24:54.480
Okay, yeah.

01:24:54.480 --> 01:24:56.480
And when she was, it was almost time for her to come.

01:24:56.480 --> 01:25:03.480
We had a due date, she was over, and she for whatever reason just wanted her to come out,

01:25:03.480 --> 01:25:05.480
but it wasn't exactly happening that way.

01:25:05.480 --> 01:25:10.480
So we had our concerns, but in all, God saw us through.

01:25:10.480 --> 01:25:12.480
And thank you guys.

01:25:12.480 --> 01:25:15.480
We had amazing people calling to check up on us.

01:25:15.480 --> 01:25:16.480
Awesome.

01:25:16.480 --> 01:25:18.480
And we really appreciate that.

01:25:18.480 --> 01:25:24.480
We had a family, people checking, calling, and even while we're not around in church.

01:25:24.480 --> 01:25:31.480
We want to say thank you to the body and to everyone who was a part of the whole process,

01:25:31.480 --> 01:25:36.480
because we couldn't have done this in between cries here and there.

01:25:36.480 --> 01:25:40.480
Sometimes when you thought you had everything all figured out,

01:25:40.480 --> 01:25:42.480
but God has been good.

01:25:42.480 --> 01:25:48.480
And she came, even when the baby was delivered, some kind of terminologies.

01:25:48.480 --> 01:25:55.480
There was this epidural thing like to help with delivery, how to check what the implications were.

01:25:55.480 --> 01:26:01.480
Some people tell me days after you're still not getting yourself, prayed over everything,

01:26:01.480 --> 01:26:04.480
and the delivery was smooth.

01:26:04.480 --> 01:26:06.480
Thank you.

01:26:06.480 --> 01:26:08.480
Awesome. Go ahead, Yemi.

01:26:08.480 --> 01:26:10.480
You want to share anything?

01:26:10.480 --> 01:26:12.480
I just want to say thank you to everybody.

01:26:12.480 --> 01:26:15.480
Thank you for the support, for the encouragement.

01:26:15.480 --> 01:26:17.480
It really did make a difference.

01:26:17.480 --> 01:26:22.480
And initially there was a time when we had his care,

01:26:23.480 --> 01:26:28.480
and there was a possibility that she would make it at the initial stages.

01:26:28.480 --> 01:26:33.480
And we prayed about it, and we just believed that the best was going to happen.

01:26:33.480 --> 01:26:35.480
And surprisingly, she pulled through.

01:26:35.480 --> 01:26:37.480
Awesome.

01:26:37.480 --> 01:26:41.480
That was the first big sign that this was all good.

01:26:41.480 --> 01:26:43.480
Let's just sing.

01:26:43.480 --> 01:26:49.480
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

01:26:49.480 --> 01:26:56.480
Praise Him, all creatures here below.

01:26:56.480 --> 01:27:04.480
Praise Him, above the heavenly host.

01:27:04.480 --> 01:27:13.480
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

01:27:13.480 --> 01:27:19.480
Amen.

01:27:19.480 --> 01:27:25.480
So let's ask these questions of them before we dedicate Aduni.

01:27:25.480 --> 01:27:33.480
Do you, Ni, and Yemi pledge with God's help and in partnership with the Church

01:27:33.480 --> 01:27:38.480
to provide Aduni a Christ-led home of love and peace?

01:27:38.480 --> 01:27:40.480
Yes, we do.

01:27:40.480 --> 01:27:47.480
Do you pledge to raise Aduni in God's truth, in God's fatherhood, and in God's discipline?

01:27:47.480 --> 01:27:49.480
Yes, we do.

01:27:49.480 --> 01:27:57.480
Do you pledge to encourage Aduni to trust Jesus Christ as her Savior and Lord and walk in her destiny?

01:27:57.480 --> 01:27:58.480
Yes, we do.

01:27:58.480 --> 01:28:01.480
Okay, Church, your turn.

01:28:01.480 --> 01:28:11.480
Church, do we pledge with God's help to be faithful in our calling as members of the Body of Christ

01:28:11.480 --> 01:28:15.480
to keep Ni and Yemi faithful to God?

01:28:15.480 --> 01:28:16.480
Yeah?

01:28:16.480 --> 01:28:22.480
So it's our responsibility to make them stay faithful to God because that affects how they raise a child.

01:28:22.480 --> 01:28:28.480
And then the next one is will we help teach and train Aduni in the ways of the Lord

01:28:28.480 --> 01:28:32.480
so that she might one day trust him as Savior and Lord and walk in her destiny?

01:28:32.480 --> 01:28:33.480
Amen.

01:28:33.480 --> 01:28:35.480
So let's dedicate this baby.

01:28:35.480 --> 01:28:41.480
I'm going to try and hold her, but I might quickly give her back to you.

01:28:41.480 --> 01:28:47.480
So, Father, we bring Aduni to you right now.

01:28:47.480 --> 01:28:51.480
Thank you, Abba, for sending her.

01:28:51.480 --> 01:28:56.480
We stand with her parents and we receive her.

01:28:56.480 --> 01:28:59.480
You have beautiful plans for this child, Abba.

01:28:59.480 --> 01:29:02.480
Amazing plans for this child.

01:29:02.480 --> 01:29:05.480
Father, right at the back, one of the things you want to say about her

01:29:05.480 --> 01:29:09.480
is that out of her belly shall flow rivers of living water.

01:29:09.480 --> 01:29:13.480
Out of her belly shall flow rivers of living water, oh God.

01:29:13.480 --> 01:29:18.480
Very early, Father, very early, Father.

01:29:18.480 --> 01:29:20.480
Very early she will know the Holy Spirit.

01:29:20.480 --> 01:29:23.480
Very early she will begin to speak in tongues, Father.

01:29:23.480 --> 01:29:28.480
I'm just saying that out right now, not because it's some, it's the most prized gift,

01:29:28.480 --> 01:29:30.480
but because people will see that they'll know,

01:29:30.480 --> 01:29:35.480
it'll be a sign that the Spirit of God is on her.

01:29:35.480 --> 01:29:42.480
Father, I thank you that this child will know what the Feast of Tabernacle means,

01:29:42.480 --> 01:29:46.480
to be able to enter into rest at an early age.

01:29:46.480 --> 01:29:52.480
Father, we bless Jeanne right now, and yet this girl will be so different from Jeanne.

01:29:52.480 --> 01:29:57.480
While Jeanne is running around and getting things done, she will rest and get things done.

01:29:57.480 --> 01:30:01.480
She will do in two days what it takes other children ten days to do.

01:30:01.480 --> 01:30:04.480
Such restfulness, Father.

01:30:04.480 --> 01:30:08.480
Father, I thank you that she will build an ark for people to enter into,

01:30:08.480 --> 01:30:11.480
that she will be a lifesaver.

01:30:11.480 --> 01:30:14.480
This afternoon when we started, you said, I'm a life giver.

01:30:14.480 --> 01:30:17.480
You're saying over her, she's a lifesaver.

01:30:17.480 --> 01:30:18.480
She's a lifesaver.

01:30:18.480 --> 01:30:23.480
Father, this is amazing that you begin to say things about children when they are 39 years old,

01:30:23.480 --> 01:30:25.480
39 days old.

01:30:25.480 --> 01:30:28.480
You begin to talk about what they will be when they are 39 years old.

01:30:28.480 --> 01:30:31.480
You're saying this child shall be a lifesaver.

01:30:31.480 --> 01:30:34.480
Father, if she was a boy, you would have given her the name Noah,

01:30:34.480 --> 01:30:37.480
because he would bring people into rest.

01:30:37.480 --> 01:30:39.480
So I thank you, Father, for this girl.

01:30:39.480 --> 01:30:42.480
We as a church lot lift her up to you.

01:30:42.480 --> 01:30:44.480
We remember why we dedicate her to you.

01:30:44.480 --> 01:30:46.480
Father, she came from you.

01:30:46.480 --> 01:30:48.480
We dedicate her back to you.

01:30:48.480 --> 01:30:50.480
We say she belongs to you.

01:30:50.480 --> 01:30:53.480
The first belongs to the Lord, and you will bless her root.

01:30:53.480 --> 01:30:55.480
You will make her fruitful.

01:30:55.480 --> 01:30:59.480
You will rebuke the devourer from touching her.

01:30:59.480 --> 01:31:05.480
And with her parents, Father, who love her immensely,

01:31:05.480 --> 01:31:14.480
we as a church want to, desire to, will, oh God, do our part in helping Nehemiah and helping this girl.

01:31:14.480 --> 01:31:18.480
Know this Christ and know the Spirit of Christ early,

01:31:18.480 --> 01:31:24.480
embedded in our hearts that this girl will know the Spirit of Christ early.

01:31:24.480 --> 01:31:30.480
So Holy Spirit, even though she's not born again and doesn't know what that means,

01:31:30.480 --> 01:31:36.480
but has grace upon her, I ask that even as I hold her now in front of the church,

01:31:36.480 --> 01:31:40.480
we as a church ask that would you just come upon her,

01:31:40.480 --> 01:31:43.480
as you did on John the Baptist,

01:31:43.480 --> 01:31:47.480
as you did on certain other children, would you just come upon her?

01:31:47.480 --> 01:31:51.480
You may not dwell inside her, but would you come upon her now?

01:31:51.480 --> 01:31:53.480
Thank you for this champion, Abba.

01:31:53.480 --> 01:31:55.480
Thank you for this champion.

01:31:55.480 --> 01:31:58.480
Thank you for this champion.

01:31:58.480 --> 01:32:00.480
Look at her, Ro.

01:32:00.480 --> 01:32:06.480
Look at her. I don't usually get moved, but look at her.

01:32:06.480 --> 01:32:11.480
This is the first time a baby has been through an entire dedication

01:32:11.480 --> 01:32:13.480
in my arms without crying.

01:32:13.480 --> 01:32:15.480
Trust me.

01:32:15.480 --> 01:32:24.480
John, could you please come up?

01:32:24.480 --> 01:32:27.480
Joan and Ruth and Karen, could you please come up?

01:32:27.480 --> 01:32:35.480
And Mohini, could you please come up too?

01:32:35.480 --> 01:32:39.480
And Anne, could you please come up?

01:32:39.480 --> 01:32:43.480
And we've got a small gift that I'm going to ask these mothers.

01:32:43.480 --> 01:32:46.480
Lorian, please come up.

01:32:46.480 --> 01:32:50.480
Lorian, come.

01:32:50.480 --> 01:32:53.480
I'm just going to ask these mothers to come up on stage

01:32:53.480 --> 01:32:57.480
and just bless this baby and give her this small gift.

01:32:57.480 --> 01:33:02.480
Come, guys.

01:33:09.480 --> 01:33:13.480
Sue, please come up.

01:33:13.480 --> 01:33:15.480
Heidi, please come up.

01:33:15.480 --> 01:33:25.480
Diana, please come up. Quickly.

01:33:25.480 --> 01:33:29.480
And Anne, can I just ask you to pray?

01:33:29.480 --> 01:33:35.480
Could someone give her a mic?

01:33:35.480 --> 01:33:50.480
Heavenly Father, we just come here today to give you thanks for this baby.

01:33:50.480 --> 01:33:55.480
Father, you're a life giver, and you have given this parents this beautiful baby.

01:33:55.480 --> 01:33:59.480
We ask that you bless her, Father, that you keep her.

01:33:59.480 --> 01:34:04.480
Father, we bless you.

01:34:04.480 --> 01:34:06.480
We bless this little baby.

01:34:06.480 --> 01:34:08.480
We say the Lord bless you.

01:34:08.480 --> 01:34:10.480
The Lord keep you.

01:34:10.480 --> 01:34:14.480
The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

01:34:14.480 --> 01:34:18.480
The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

01:34:18.480 --> 01:34:20.480
Thank you, Father.

01:34:20.480 --> 01:34:22.480
Thank you for this beautiful child.

01:34:22.480 --> 01:34:24.480
Amen.

01:34:24.480 --> 01:34:34.480
Thank you.

01:34:34.480 --> 01:34:36.480
I know there are more mothers here.

01:34:36.480 --> 01:34:41.480
I forgot to call Don and Derek's mom up.

01:34:41.480 --> 01:34:46.480
And I wanted the moms who are over forty to come up.

01:34:46.480 --> 01:34:52.480
So if you didn't come up, know that you are young.

01:34:52.480 --> 01:34:59.480
And if you need prayer, there will be people here to pray for you.

01:34:59.480 --> 01:35:10.480
And if there's a relatively long line, we'll have two teams praying so that you don't have to wait forever.

01:35:10.480 --> 01:35:14.480
And yeah, bless you guys.