WEBVTT

NOTE
Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver
Episode: The Blazing Ministry of The Spirit
Publishing Date: 2018-05-20T06:00:44-07:00
Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca
Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/the-blazing-ministry-of-the-spirit/

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.500
Go to Genesis 1. Father, we really want to find out something, not new, but we just want to know your Holy Spirit better.

00:00:07.500 --> 00:00:16.000
All of us, old, young, new, old. Just teach us now. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:23.000
If you go to Genesis chapter 1, Genesis chapter 1 starts off there.

00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:38.000
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void.

00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:44.000
And darkness was over the surface of the deep. And there we hear his first mention.

00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:51.000
He's been so faithful. He's been so tolerant, so gentle. He likes humanity.

00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:59.000
He likes the universe. He likes the world. He put it together. He just so enjoys being in the universe.

00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:09.000
He's not someone removed. If there is any person of the Godhead who just enjoys dwelling with people, it's the Holy Spirit.

00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:16.000
Jesus was with us for 33 years and then he died and rose again and ascended and is at the right hand of the Father.

00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:23.000
But the Holy Spirit has forever been present on earth right from the beginning. He was present before the earth was present.

00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:31.000
This is why Jesus said, you can say stuff about the Father, it's okay. You can say stuff about Jesus, the Son, it's okay.

00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:34.000
But don't blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Don't say things about the Holy Spirit.

00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:42.000
He is deeply in love with the universe and with humanity. He has a strange desire for man, woman, child.

00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:51.000
And so you have the scene where everything is formless. It is void. It's empty. It's dark. And then there is this light of hope.

00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:59.000
And I love Genesis 1, 1 and 2 because every time things are chaotic, things are dark, things are confusing, things are empty.

00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:05.000
There is always this hope, not because I'm hoping, but because there is the Spirit of God always in the background.

00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:11.000
And this will never change. For the rest of my life here on earth and in eternity, the Holy Spirit,

00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:20.000
the Spirit of God will always be in the background. In Hebrew, it's called Ruach. In Arabic also you talk about Ruh, the Spirit of God.

00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:33.000
Always there. Always there because he won't leave till the entire universe collapses. He'll always be there.

00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:40.000
The moment he leaves, everything will implode because he's the one who put it in place to begin with.

00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:49.000
And so then it says, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. The Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:54.000
And there is a sense, guys, that when you are stagnant and static, the Spirit is still active.

00:02:54.000 --> 00:03:00.000
When you are stagnant and static, when I am into a place of dullness, when things are not working out,

00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:06.000
when all the deals you thought would come through aren't coming through, when the people that were supposed to help you aren't helping,

00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:13.000
when family and friends abandon, then there is the Spirit of God actively hovering over turbulent waters saying,

00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:20.000
please, please let me in, please, please let me in. Not that he needs permission, but he doesn't like to manipulate, control, break, destroy your will.

00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:30.000
And so he waits. He is so trustable, man. He will present himself as a person that you can really like and get to know this afternoon.

00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:35.000
Like you've never heard of him before and like you've never seen him before.

00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:47.000
This is who he is. And then God said, let there be light and there was light. God saw that light and that was good and God separated the light from the darkness.

00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:54.000
And when God said, let there be light and there was light, it was again the work of the Holy Spirit. Again the work of the Holy Spirit.

00:03:55.000 --> 00:04:01.000
And then you go to Joel chapter 2, verse 28, Joel chapter 2, Joel chapter 2, verse 28.

00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:06.000
The book of Joel is after, if someone can help me.

00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:19.000
And the shirt is so full of smart people.

00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:29.000
Joel chapter 2, I know where it is, I'm not helping you guys anymore.

00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:32.000
Joel chapter 2, verse 28 onwards.

00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:34.000
And here's what it says.

00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:48.000
It will come after this, that I will pour out my spirit on all mankind and your sons and daughters will prophesy.

00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:53.000
Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions.

00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.000
Even on the male and female servants, I'll pour out my spirit in those days.

00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:00.000
It will come after this, that I will pour out my spirit on all mankind.

00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:05.000
That's the great thing about the Holy Spirit. He isn't favored towards Christians.

00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:10.000
He isn't favored towards a particular denomination. He loves mankind.

00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:15.000
He's willing to fall on chains, the life of every Hindu, Muslim, Christian Jew.

00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:20.000
Today I was in a church in Vernon and they didn't know it but there was a new guy sitting in the church.

00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:27.000
Went and prophesied on him and we just got a text message saying he's a Jewish man who had just come to the church.

00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:31.000
And here the words that God was saying now make sense.

00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:36.000
And so he just happened to come into church because he wants to discover the Messiah.

00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:38.000
And so he's sitting in church there.

00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:43.000
And the beautiful thing is the Holy Spirit couldn't care less if you're a Hindu, Muslim, Jew or Christian.

00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:46.000
Because he is interested in you because he was there when you were formed.

00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:51.000
He was there when you were formed. When you were being made, he was there.

00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:53.000
When you were in your mother's womb, he was there.

00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:56.000
When your parts were being knit together, who was knitting it?

00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:57.000
The Spirit of God.

00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:01.000
He's the knitter. He was the knitter when the world began.

00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:05.000
When the earth was first formed, who do you think was knitting the trees?

00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:09.000
Knitting the core of the universe, knitting magma, lava and everything else.

00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:11.000
Who was doing it? It was him.

00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:16.000
If he can do it with inanimate objects like the earth, who do you think was knitting you when you were in your mother's womb?

00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:18.000
Knitting you together.

00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:26.000
This is the work of the Holy Spirit. He knits things together.

00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:28.000
He takes what is broken and brings it together.

00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:32.000
Why am I emphasizing this? Because we have to understand his speciality.

00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:35.000
Because he's always active over us.

00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:39.000
He gets particularly active over turbulent waters.

00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:44.000
Because that's his favorite thing to do.

00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:46.000
It's just that we resort to every other thing.

00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:55.000
We resort to everything from taking pills to calm ourselves down to stress tests, to sticking things up our nose and doing all kinds of things.

00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:58.000
When there is a Holy Spirit just hovering over us saying,

00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:01.000
Please let me into your stress because this is my speciality.

00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:09.000
And so in Joel 2.28 it says that he will pour himself out on all mankind.

00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:12.000
Guys, all mankind. We must understand all mankind.

00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:16.000
The Spirit of God can do strange things with anybody.

00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:22.000
It is we who have formulated how he should work and he couldn't care too much for that.

00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:27.000
While we are waiting that a person must do it this way, that Jesus must be pronounced this way,

00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:32.000
don't say Jesus, say Yeshua. It just gets more and more cranky by the minute.

00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:38.000
And all the Holy Spirit is saying is, I said I would pour myself on all mankind.

00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:40.000
All mankind.

00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:45.000
Then he goes on to say,

00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:52.000
Hey, by the way, the Holy Spirit does not come to a person when he receives Christ.

00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:57.000
The Holy Spirit is the one who began the process of even finding Christ.

00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:03.000
We have somehow monopolized the pathway of the Holy Spirit saying,

00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:06.000
Once you receive Jesus Christ then the Holy Spirit will come.

00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:09.000
No, the Holy Spirit had started the work ages ago.

00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:13.000
When he moved you into someone's room and you became his roommate,

00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:19.000
when you happened to get admission into a particular department in UBC and there was a Christian there,

00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:22.000
when you happened to come across a guy who was sitting next to you on the plane,

00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:24.000
he first began to tell you about Jesus.

00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:30.000
When you happened to go to a church because someone took you there and you had absolutely no reason to go there

00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:33.000
and you hear about the Holy Spirit, that's when the Holy Spirit began the work.

00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:36.000
He indwells you as in comes and settles in you,

00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:41.000
finds you as his favorite resting place after you receive Jesus Christ and we'll explain why.

00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:46.000
But please understand that the Holy Spirit has been at work before you even knew the name of Jesus.

00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:49.000
Why? Because he was there when you were knit together in his womb.

00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:51.000
Why wouldn't you be there for the rest of your life?

00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:55.000
Wooing you back, wooing you back to the one who you belong to.

00:08:57.000 --> 00:08:59.000
This is how intense and personal he is.

00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:01.000
And who, by the way, is the Holy Spirit?

00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:03.000
But the personal presence of God himself.

00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:08.000
Beautifully knitting you together.

00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:11.000
And so he pulls himself on all mankind.

00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:16.000
And your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams.

00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:21.000
Again, we've separated prophecy and dreams into a special category that Christians engage in.

00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:25.000
And yet what he's trying to say is, I will show you God's will and I will reveal it to you.

00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:29.000
I'll show it to you in dreams, I'll show it to you in dreams.

00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:30.000
I'll show it to you in dreams.

00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:33.000
I'll show it to your sons and daughters who aren't as mature as you.

00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:35.000
I'll show it to those that haven't learnt much.

00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:37.000
But I will show it to you.

00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:40.000
At the end of the day, what is prophecy?

00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:42.000
At the end of the day, prophecy is not giving someone direction.

00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:44.000
Prophecy is not what you may hear in this church.

00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:48.000
At the end of the day, the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.

00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:54.000
Meaning, prophecy always reveals Jesus Christ and the nature of who Jesus is.

00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:57.000
That is what prophecy really does.

00:09:57.000 --> 00:10:02.000
And the Holy Spirit is continuously, every day, trying to be prophetic in your life.

00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:04.000
By showing you, hey, this is the nature of Jesus.

00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:07.000
Look at Jesus and your other problems will become less.

00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:13.000
Yesterday, May sent me a text and she said that when her uncle who is in hospital was feeling unwell,

00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:15.000
she began to sing a song and she said,

00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:17.000
Jacob, I wish there were people who could sing better than me.

00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:23.000
But she said, I decided to sing and the song that she sang that brought calm into her uncle's life was,

00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:24.000
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.

00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:31.000
At the end of the day, the Holy Spirit is continuously singing the song in my situations, in my trouble, in my distress,

00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:34.000
in the things that are going wrong and in the things that are going well.

00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:40.000
The one thing he wants to show you in the midst of all your confusion, all your dullness, all your distress is,

00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:42.000
Can I prophesy?

00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:45.000
As in, can I bring to you, young men and women will prophesy.

00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:48.000
As in, can I show you who Jesus is?

00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:51.000
Because if I showed you who Jesus can be for you in this situation,

00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:55.000
you will be surprised at how things will change.

00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:57.000
I'm not saying there's nothing called a prophetic.

00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:01.000
I'm saying please understand the work of the Holy Spirit from a different angle.

00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:06.000
Otherwise, we make him a Christian Holy Spirit and he ain't a Christian Holy Spirit.

00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:09.000
Because God ain't a Christian God.

00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:15.000
Why is it important to see it this way?

00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:22.000
Because if you see it this way, then you will see the activity of the Holy Spirit even in non-Christian situations.

00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:25.000
And you will jump into it and change it for Christ.

00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:30.000
But if we make the Holy Spirit our domestic pet, then we will take him along,

00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.000
expecting him to enter into a situation after you have entered into it,

00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:37.000
not seeing that he has gone far ahead of you, set the whole thing up.

00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:43.000
And then you jump in and put the dot on the eye and suddenly the word spells right.

00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:52.000
Let's go from Joel 2, 28 to Luke 4.

00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.000
Luke chapter 4.

00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:58.000
Different times the Spirit of God came, showed up and he began to do things.

00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:00.000
Luke chapter 4.

00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:20.000
Luke chapter 4.

00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:28.000
Where is the baptism scene?

00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:31.000
Okay, let's go to Matthew 4.

00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:48.000
Matthew 3, chapter 3, verse 13.

00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:50.000
Matthew 3, 13.

00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:55.000
Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him.

00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:59.000
But John tried to prevent him saying, I have need to be baptized by you.

00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:03.000
Guys, if there's anybody here who needs to be baptized because you believe in Jesus Christ

00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:09.000
and want to publicly declare that you actually belong to him and don't belong to anybody else,

00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:13.000
let us know because we would love to do what Jesus did.

00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:15.000
But more on that later.

00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:41.000
Let me read that verse again.

00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:43.000
Verse 16.

00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:03.000
Guys, one of the things that the Holy Spirit would love to do in my life is

00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:08.000
open the heavens whenever I'm obedient in the face of whatever is happening.

00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:10.000
The Spirit of God loves obedience.

00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.000
He is the Spirit of truth. He loves it when someone is obedient.

00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:17.000
One of the names for him is the Spirit of truth.

00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:19.000
The Spirit of truth.

00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:26.000
The thing with truth is when it is presented to me, if I resist it, try to argue with truth,

00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:32.000
then first Thessalonians says that when you resist the truth, a delusion is waiting in the wings to follow.

00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:39.000
Whenever I resist the truth, there is a delusion or a deception waiting in the wings to rush in.

00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:43.000
One of the names for the Holy Spirit is he is the Spirit of truth.

00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:45.000
The Spirit of truth.

00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.000
And so every time truth is received or truth is obeyed,

00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:53.000
especially when you don't understand why and you still obey it,

00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:56.000
then know that God literally parts the heaven open.

00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:57.000
What is open heaven?

00:14:57.000 --> 00:15:03.000
An open heaven is a ridiculous favor of God who swoops in, like it says in Psalm 18,

00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:07.000
to rescue you or to help you in your present situation.

00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:10.000
If you want an open heaven, an open heaven is not created by worship.

00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:13.000
An open heaven is created by simply obeying the truth.

00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:21.000
Therefore, it is required of you that in all your situations, business, work, parenting, church, worship,

00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:28.000
simple decisions in the face of opposition, be it from your parents, be it from war, be it from the demons,

00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:32.000
one thing I have to find out, only one thing, and that one thing is,

00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:38.000
oh God, what is the truth that you want to speak into my life that I need to align myself with?

00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:41.000
Because the moment I do that, the heavens will open,

00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:47.000
as in God will part the heavens so that he can come either to my rescue or to my favor.

00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:49.000
Because he's called the Spirit of truth.

00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:54.000
The more you resist the truth, here's the thing guys, when truth stares you in the face,

00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:58.000
and you know it is the truth, and you resist it, it is only because of the traditions of men,

00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:05.000
or because of convenience, or because of a love for that which you are presently doing which you don't want challenged.

00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:11.000
And when truth is something that comes to you and faces you, if you resist it,

00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:17.000
let me assure you, this is what God is saying, there is a delusion or a deception waiting in the wings

00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:21.000
that will come rushing at you because I was foolish to resist the truth,

00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:25.000
now here, deception can have you.

00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.000
Never resist the truth when it's facing you.

00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:35.000
Never resist the truth, because there's another guy waiting in the wings.

00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:38.000
The Spirit loves bringing truth to us, he opens the heavens,

00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:44.000
hey man, I was just talking about your singing yesterday.

00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:48.000
Just in case someone comes after the service and says, hey sing for us.

00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:50.000
I spoke well of you though.

00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:52.000
Yeah.

00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:59.000
Guys, here's the thing, I mentioned this in December last year,

00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:03.000
if you want to enter into what the Spirit of God is doing,

00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:08.000
then it is required of you that you hear with faith, that you hear with faith.

00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:11.000
Here's a strange thing, we have three ways of hearing.

00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:14.000
The first way of hearing is to hear with reason.

00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:18.000
So the first way of hearing that we do is we hear with reason.

00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:27.000
Hearing with reason is to use your mind to immediately process what you hear.

00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:28.000
That's hearing with reason.

00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:32.000
So you say something and the person immediately tries to figure out how does this work,

00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:38.000
how does this fit, how does this apply given my situation, my circumstances, my past and my education,

00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:39.000
or my experience.

00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:45.000
Then there is hearing that comes with natural ears, natural ears.

00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:49.000
As in you just hear and that's what happens a lot in churches.

00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:54.000
As the preacher is preaching or teaching, you are hearing with your natural ears.

00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:57.000
And when you hear with your natural ears,

00:17:57.000 --> 00:18:03.000
what you hear becomes information that may or may not be used in the future.

00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:08.000
Information or knowledge that may or may not be used in the future.

00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:14.000
And then finally, the Bible talks about hearing with faith.

00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:22.000
Hearing with faith is the ability to, as you hear, recognize within you that this is the truth.

00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:26.000
I don't know where the scripture is, I don't know why I know it is the truth,

00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:27.000
but it is the truth.

00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:31.000
It is not the way I live, I don't want this, but I still know it is the truth.

00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:36.000
And the moment you hear with faith, the Bible says the Holy Spirit begins to find the truth.

00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:41.000
The Bible says the Holy Spirit begins to flow lavishly and begins to accomplish in your life

00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:44.000
things that otherwise could not be accomplished.

00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:47.000
Galatians chapter 3 verse 2 says,

00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:53.000
Did you come into the place you are in right now by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?

00:18:53.000 --> 00:18:56.000
In Galatians chapter 3 verse 5 it says,

00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:03.000
Did he who supplied you lavishly his Holy Spirit do it through works or through hearing by faith?

00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:11.000
So there is this thing called hearing with faith or by faith that immediately brings you into the realm of the Spirit.

00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:18.000
This is when what could happen in many days happens in an hour.

00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:22.000
This is when God can ask the question, can a nation be born in a day?

00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:26.000
And the answer is no, and yet he births a nation in a day.

00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:32.000
This is when a person who has been hearing about Jesus every so often for the last 20 years,

00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:38.000
one day hears with faith and the day the person hears with faith, the person gets born again.

00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:42.000
Why is it that most of us heard about Jesus many times?

00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:48.000
And then one day a guy who wasn't much of an orator, a guy who didn't know too much about Jesus came

00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:51.000
and said something about Jesus which you've heard 10 times before.

00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:58.000
But that day for some strange reason you heard it with faith and something happened where the old man died,

00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:00.000
the new man was born again.

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:07.000
Hearing with faith is what brought you out of darkness into light, out of the devil's claws into Jesus.

00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:12.000
This is so critical but what happens is we hear with faith very rarely

00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:17.000
because most of our hearing is hearing with reason and hearing with natural ears.

00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:26.000
Yeah, hearing with reason, because we live in the times we live in,

00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:32.000
hearing with reason is to try to process with our minds what God is saying

00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:37.000
and it leaves you unconvinced about what God can do.

00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:42.000
Therefore if Joshua heard with his natural ears he would have said,

00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:48.000
hmm, I will go and examine this strategy at home, roaming around the walls and watching them fall.

00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:54.000
I'll go think about it, I'll go check the history books, I'll see whether this matches up with what God has done.

00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:01.000
That is hearing with your natural ears, it's just information and knowledge that can be checked out later.

00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:08.000
Tons of people do that because we always afford ourselves the luxury of delaying decision making that is inconvenient.

00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:14.000
Then there is hearing with reason, hearing with reason says walls, 8 feet thick,

00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:18.000
whispers, can't bring it down, 7 days of whispering, won't do anything,

00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:22.000
shouting, 120 decibels, can't crack glass, can't crack stone.

00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:28.000
This idea is not a good idea, wasn't God and if it is God it ain't going to work.

00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:34.000
This is how the church has sterilized and sanitized Christianity from miracles, healings, wonders,

00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:40.000
signs and come up with theories that actually rationalize the non-existence of them or the seizing of God.

00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:49.000
No, one was hearing with ears saying, I'm going to examine this later.

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:55.000
No, the reason one is trying to process things in your mind and not being able to process it.

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:57.000
They are close together but they are not the same.

00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:00.000
They are close together but they are not the same.

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:08.000
Hearing, in churches like this one at Acts 29, a lot of hearing happens not with reason but with ears.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:16.000
I mean what if and I've asked this before in December, what if you actually believe the songs you sang?

00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:21.000
What if you actually heard those words with faith and sang them?

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:32.000
What if Maurice, who is involved in a land deal at Presson that has taken time to work out,

00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:37.000
what if Maurice heard and sang those songs with ears of faith, he would be at great peace?

00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:46.000
What if I, who is going on a trip eight days from now, actually sang those songs with ears of faith?

00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:49.000
I would be at great peace and I would know my direction.

00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:55.000
What if Nick, who is going through some of the most grueling exams he's been through,

00:22:55.000 --> 00:23:02.000
actually sang those songs with ears of faith, he would find the rhythm of God, enter the grueling exam rigor?

00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:09.000
We do not sing and hear with faith, we hear with ears of reason or ears that are natural.

00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:17.000
And therefore, what can be achieved by the Holy Spirit in a day or two takes days and days, months and months, years and years.

00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:28.000
Unfortunately, nothing God does is in the natural, all of it is supernatural.

00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:34.000
Therefore, if I do not hear with ears of faith, I will not be able to participate in the things of the Spirit

00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:37.000
and the Spirit of God will not be able to participate in my life.

00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:43.000
I cannot enter into the things of the Spirit and the Spirit of God can't enter into things that he wants me to do

00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:45.000
because I do not hear with ears of faith.

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.000
Because everything that you receive in faith must be heard with faith first.

00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:56.000
Hebrews 4 verse 2 says this, that Israel did not benefit from the promises of God

00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:59.000
because they did not receive it with faith.

00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:03.000
But you cannot receive it with faith till you hear with faith.

00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:09.000
One of the Holy Spirit's desires, listen to this really carefully and wonderfully

00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:15.000
because it's a strange, wonderful desire that the Holy Spirit has every day, every morning.

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:20.000
The Holy Spirit's desire is, Jacob, can I prove God trustworthy to you this morning?

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:21.000
I delight in doing that.

00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:26.000
Jacob, can I prove God trustworthy to you this morning?

00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:28.000
Because I delight in doing that.

00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:31.000
Can I prove God trustworthy?

00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:35.000
He loves doing that. He loves coming into situations and saying,

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:38.000
hey, can I prove God's nature trustworthy to you?

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.000
But then it requires that I hear with faith what he asks me to.

00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:49.000
Otherwise, I'll be, guys, many of our lives are caught in whirlpools.

00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:55.000
Like sometimes when I see little insects in the sink,

00:24:55.000 --> 00:25:00.000
and I've seen cockroaches in sinks and in pots,

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.000
ten cockroaches in a pot, and you flush it and it's,

00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:09.000
I'm sorry if it's, what's the word, grossing you out.

00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:10.000
Yeah.

00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:16.000
And I watched, and there's this, you flush it and, trust me,

00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:18.000
in Australia and in Canada it flushes just one way.

00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:19.000
I tried it out.

00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:25.000
And so as it's going down, I thought I'd heard down under it flushes the other way,

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:26.000
but it's not true.

00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:27.000
Yeah.

00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:31.000
So that, yeah, it isn't the other way.

00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:34.000
I went and tried it.

00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:36.000
Oh well, okay.

00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:39.000
Okay.

00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:44.000
I mean, I don't want to get into an argument with you on the flushing of toilets in Australia.

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:46.000
Okay.

00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:47.000
Well, maybe he's right.

00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:48.000
He's got science to back it up.

00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:49.000
I just have faith.

00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:50.000
So.

00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:53.000
Yeah, it's not very much faith.

00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:54.000
Okay.

00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:55.000
I might be wrong.

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:58.000
Anyways, guys, at the end of the day, as these roaches would go down,

00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:02.000
they would cling to dear life and try to claw themselves up.

00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:06.000
I had to flush that toilet eight or nine times before I dared sit on it.

00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:10.000
The point being this, guys, that some of us,

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:13.000
and it is just pointless to go to the cockroach story,

00:26:13.000 --> 00:26:14.000
but anyways, too late.

00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:15.000
The point is this.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.000
Many of us spend our entire lives holding on in faith,

00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:23.000
and that is so not a God way of living.

00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:28.000
Holding on in faith has nothing to do with Jesus Christ.

00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:30.000
Nothing to do with it.

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:32.000
We don't hold on to it.

00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:33.000
We don't hold on to it.

00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:35.000
Nothing to do with it.

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:37.000
We don't hold on in faith.

00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:44.000
Holding on in faith is clinging for dear life to something that you hope won't break.

00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:45.000
That's not holding on to faith.

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:46.000
That is terrible.

00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:48.000
That's a horrible way to live.

00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:52.000
This is different.

00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:55.000
This is hearing and saying, oh, God, I have heard you.

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:57.000
I will now walk in peace because you supply the peace.

00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:00.000
You, Holy Spirit, have been doing it since the beginning of time.

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:02.000
I just receive it and I will obey.

00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:05.000
And as I obey, Heaven is open to rescue me or to give me favor.

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:11.000
And I'll keep walking because I'm absolutely sure that no sword, no pestilence, no persecution,

00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:18.000
nothing will separate me from a God who is faithful because, oh, no, he's no promise breaker.

00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:19.000
He keeps his promises.

00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:20.000
So I keep walking.

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:21.000
I keep walking.

00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:22.000
I keep walking.

00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:26.000
And my words will express his goodness, not as a positive confession.

00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:30.000
My words will express his goodness because in here I know

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:36.000
that this God is good and no circumstance colors that.

00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:41.000
This church cannot exist coloring the face of God because of your circumstances.

00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:44.000
If I hear it, I choose not to tolerate it.

00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:46.000
I shall show you no sympathy.

00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:50.000
There are others in this church who will show you sympathy.

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:52.000
Go and get sympathy from them.

00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:55.000
And it's a good thing.

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:58.000
Some should show sympathy, but I won't.

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:02.000
Not when it colors the face of God.

00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:11.000
Because every time we complain about God as bad, not faithful, unreliable,

00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:18.000
anyone who encourages that is encouraging something that should not be encouraged.

00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:25.000
You wouldn't encourage your son if he insisted that the earth was flat

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.000
and that once you cross Surrey, you would fall off the face of the earth.

00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:31.000
You wouldn't encourage your child to say that.

00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:36.000
Why would we encourage anything said about God that is not true?

00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:40.000
I don't know.

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:46.000
A violence rises in me when I hear about God being seen through your circumstances

00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:50.000
and then him being painted as not good.

00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:54.000
Because the Holy Spirit is only good.

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:57.000
He is really good, really good.

00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:01.000
Imagine how he's been tolerating mankind happily.

00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:03.000
I can't even use the word tolerate.

00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:05.000
He was there when Sodom and Gomorrah happened.

00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:08.000
He was there when the flood happened.

00:29:09.000 --> 00:29:14.000
He was there through all the wickedness and the evil that has happened.

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.000
If you think these times are wicked, Sodom and Gomorrah is far, far more than this.

00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:23.000
And we are heading that way because it shall be as in the times of Noah.

00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:25.000
We haven't reached anywhere there.

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.000
People don't grab you off the streets and abuse you.

00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:32.000
That was what was happening in Sodom and Gomorrah at one time.

00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:34.000
And the Holy Spirit was there.

00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:39.000
And in Sodom and Gomorrah, the Holy Spirit is going street after street to find one righteous man,

00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:41.000
one righteous man that I can get out of here.

00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:47.000
He's taken so much, so much.

00:29:56.000 --> 00:30:00.000
It's not where I wanted to go, but it's where I went.

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:03.000
John chapter 20, Jesus has risen from the dead.

00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:08.000
And after rising from the dead, he goes to his disciples and he says,

00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:11.000
receive the Holy Spirit and he breathes on them.

00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:13.000
That's John chapter 20.

00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:16.000
Towards the end of John chapter 20, that happens.

00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:19.000
He says, receive the Holy Spirit and he breathes on them.

00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:24.000
And as he breathes on them, you don't know what may have happened.

00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:27.000
But shortly after in Acts chapter 2, which brings us to this day,

00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:29.000
let's go to Acts chapter 2.

00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:33.000
Acts chapter 2.

00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:46.000
Guys, I need to correct myself.

00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:51.000
Sometimes we need sympathy and lifting up, and it is deserved.

00:30:51.000 --> 00:30:52.000
It is deserved.

00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:56.000
But when I begin to badmouth God through my circumstances,

00:30:56.000 --> 00:30:59.000
just because there is a bittersweet pleasure in it,

00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:02.000
then it must not be encouraged.

00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:05.000
It must not be encouraged.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:08.000
Because the tendency of people is, they'll go and tell Betty,

00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:11.000
hey Betty, you know, I've been trusting God, but God hasn't come through.

00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:14.000
And Betty will say, stay on, God will come through.

00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:18.000
Hey Karen, you know what, it's been 20 days, God hasn't come through.

00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:20.000
I don't know, maybe God doesn't care for you.

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:22.000
She says, no, but God will never leave you nor forsake you.

00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:23.000
So you're not getting what you want.

00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:26.000
So you go to Chris and say, hey, you know what, it's been really difficult.

00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:28.000
I've prayed and prayed, but God isn't coming through.

00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:30.000
I don't know. I'm not sure of this faith thing.

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:33.000
Now all you want is sympathy.

00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:36.000
It is a form, self-pity, and it's a form of control.

00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:39.000
And you badmouth God for self-pity and control?

00:31:39.000 --> 00:31:40.000
That should not be allowed.

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:41.000
That's what I'm saying.

00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:44.000
But there are times when you'll feel terrible and you need help.

00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:48.000
At times like that, sympathy, empathy, pity must be given.

00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:49.000
Compassion must be shown.

00:31:49.000 --> 00:31:50.000
Compassion must be shown.

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:51.000
But not when it is deliberate.

00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:53.000
That's what I meant to say.

00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:56.000
I dislike it when that happens.

00:31:56.000 --> 00:31:58.000
Does that bring good reception?

00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:00.000
Do you consider it a public fact?

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.000
Yeah, but what scares me more is that we may start sympathizing

00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:06.000
and then we become part of that delusion.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:11.000
Acts chapter 2.

00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:15.000
When the feast of Pentecost came,

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:18.000
they were all together in one place without warning.

00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:21.000
Without warning. I love that.

00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:22.000
I'm reading from the message.

00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:23.000
Without warning.

00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:25.000
In other versions it says suddenly.

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:28.000
Without warning, there was a sound like a strong wind.

00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:30.000
Gale force wind.

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:32.000
No one could tell where it came from.

00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:35.000
And it goes back suddenly to what Jesus used to say in John chapter 3.

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:37.000
In John chapter 3, Jesus says,

00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:39.000
What is born of the flesh is flesh.

00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:40.000
What is born of the spirit is spirit.

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:42.000
And the way of spirit? Who knows?

00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:46.000
Because you can only recognize the spirit by the wind that is on the top of the trees.

00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:48.000
And you'll say, oh shucks, there is a Holy Spirit.

00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:50.000
Oh shucks, there is a Holy Spirit.

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.000
This is the way of the spirit, which is why hearing with faith is critical every morning.

00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:56.000
Every morning hearing with faith.

00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:00.000
Because you have, I assure you, to everybody sitting here,

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:05.000
you have no idea how many times the Holy Spirit in a day tries to attract your attention

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.000
to things that he would like to show you or like you to do.

00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:11.000
Every day.

00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:14.000
Every day.

00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:16.000
Different from what you normally do.

00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:22.000
I'm telling you a truth under the light of God.

00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:24.000
I'm not exaggerating or lying.

00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:28.000
If I took the last one year, I cannot remember one day

00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:31.000
that I was not either shown or I did not hear

00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:36.000
something that the Holy Spirit showed or spoke that I needed to do.

00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:38.000
Not one day.

00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:40.000
And I'm missing lots.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:42.000
Not one day.

00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:47.000
Is there a day in your life that you do not interact with your children?

00:33:47.000 --> 00:33:49.000
If you're at home.

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:52.000
You'll always interact with them.

00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:54.000
Fathers interact with their children.

00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:57.000
What makes us think that the spirit of God does not?

00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:00.000
Every day.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:05.000
But his desire is, listen, I'm very strategic, says the Holy Spirit,

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:08.000
but I will launch everything spontaneously.

00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:10.000
Listen to this, guys.

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:12.000
God is super strategic.

00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:16.000
He has amazing intelligence to do things strategically,

00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:18.000
plan things through blueprints.

00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:21.000
But God will always start things spontaneously

00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:24.000
because spontaneous starts require faith.

00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:26.000
And without faith, there is no hearing.

00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:28.000
Without faith, there is no receiving.

00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:31.000
And without faith, there is no stepping into the things of God.

00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:34.000
And therefore, everything will start spontaneously.

00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:36.000
And by spontaneously, I mean suddenly.

00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:39.000
But it is appearing spontaneously to us.

00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:41.000
It is appearing spontaneously to us.

00:34:41.000 --> 00:34:46.000
But when we want strategic things first and spontaneity later,

00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:48.000
it won't happen.

00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:51.000
You have to step into it when he commands.

00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:54.000
But you have to step into it when he commands.

00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:57.000
You have to step into it when he commands.

00:34:57.000 --> 00:35:00.000
You have to step into it when he commands.

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:03.000
You have to step into it when he commands.

00:35:03.000 --> 00:35:07.000
Because after that will come, now that you've stepped into it,

00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:09.000
let me show you what you need to do.

00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:12.000
Classic example, Acts chapter 16, verse 1 to 6.

00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:15.000
Paul knows that he has been sent to the nations, to the Gentiles.

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:17.000
So he begins his journey.

00:35:17.000 --> 00:35:19.000
He begins his journey and comes to Mycea,

00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:21.000
and the Spirit of God says, you ain't going through.

00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:24.000
So he goes to Bithynia, and the Bible says the Spirit of God forbade him.

00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:26.000
And so he goes to sleep.

00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:28.000
And when he sleeps, he gets a dream.

00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:31.000
And in the dream there is a man from Macedonia saying, come to Macedonia.

00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:38.000
And the next verse says, Paul got up and concluded that God is calling them to Macedonia.

00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:39.000
Duh.

00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:43.000
And then he wakes up in the morning, packs his bags, and heads off to Macedonia.

00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:47.000
And in Macedonia now starts the Church of Philippi.

00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:53.000
Beautiful.

00:35:53.000 --> 00:35:55.000
And the Church of Philippi was built strategically.

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:58.000
First through Lydia, through the woman who was saved from divination,

00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:00.000
through the jailer, a house was built.

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:06.000
People were brought up strategically, but it was started spontaneously.

00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:09.000
I plead with you, get used to this.

00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:13.000
If you want the rest of your lives, I speak to the ones who are over 50 here.

00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:18.000
If you want to go out blazing, go this route.

00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:22.000
Go this route.

00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:25.000
Practice hearing the Spirit.

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:27.000
Practice hearing the Spirit directly.

00:36:27.000 --> 00:36:31.000
Practice hearing the Spirit through the Word.

00:36:31.000 --> 00:36:35.000
There are three things that bring together this whole aspect.

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:36.000
And they're very simple.

00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:37.000
We've talked about it before.

00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:43.000
There must be a passion to live this way and to cultivate hearing with faith.

00:36:43.000 --> 00:36:46.000
There must be the practice of hearing with faith.

00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:50.000
And then there must be persistence to hear with faith.

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:53.000
Passion is brought by God when you desire.

00:36:53.000 --> 00:36:56.000
And this one thing I don't doubt about the people sitting here.

00:36:56.000 --> 00:36:59.000
You have such a desire to live like this.

00:36:59.000 --> 00:37:02.000
Well, then the passion has been supplied by God,

00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:05.000
because he's both the passion supplier and the passion satisfier.

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:11.000
And then it comes to practicing this, because it is available every day, every day.

00:37:11.000 --> 00:37:13.000
Every day it's available.

00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:14.000
It's like manna.

00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:17.000
Some things that God does, he still keeps doing.

00:37:17.000 --> 00:37:22.000
Manna strewn across the desert of your life every day to go pick up.

00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:24.000
Quail flying to cat.

00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:26.000
This has been standard.

00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:30.000
This is the work of the Holy Spirit, who was in the desert during the wilderness times,

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.000
because it says in Isaiah, you were there, O Holy Spirit, undoing the demonic,

00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:36.000
causing water to come out of a rock.

00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:38.000
The Spirit of God was there in the wilderness.

00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:42.000
He is there in the wilderness today.

00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:44.000
This is who he is.

00:37:44.000 --> 00:37:48.000
Everything he does has such a supernatural flair to it.

00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:50.000
Such a supernatural flair to it.

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:55.000
Church, I'm encouraging us that our lives must have a supernatural flair.

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.000
It must have a supernatural flair in terms of how you hear, how you receive,

00:37:59.000 --> 00:38:01.000
how you step out, what you do.

00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:03.000
A supernatural flair to your life.

00:38:03.000 --> 00:38:08.000
And my God, dare you not grow old without it.

00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:13.000
I dislike it when people who did well when they are young

00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:19.000
ride into the sunset when they are old without a supernatural trail behind them.

00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:26.000
Bothers me, the older I get, the more frightened I get of older people.

00:38:31.000 --> 00:38:36.000
Elmer, Wayne, you guys better blaze into the sunset.

00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:39.000
If you die quietly, we'll come and dig you up.

00:38:49.000 --> 00:38:51.000
Supernatural flair, guys.

00:38:58.000 --> 00:39:01.000
Without warning, there was a sound like a strong wind gale force.

00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:04.000
No one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building.

00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:07.000
Hey Marcus, thanks for first being told that there was no worship,

00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:11.000
then being told there was worship, and for playing in the end, I forgot.

00:39:11.000 --> 00:39:13.000
Did you get my email?

00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:14.000
Okay.

00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:18.000
Then like a wildfire, I love it, then like a wildfire,

00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:22.000
the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks and they started speaking

00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:25.000
in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them to.

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:26.000
Guys, please understand something.

00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:30.000
The Spirit does not like working with one or two individuals.

00:39:31.000 --> 00:39:34.000
He's always been, can I get a whole people?

00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:40.000
The working with individual thing was in the Old Testament.

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:48.000
A Samson, a David, a Isaiah, a Jeremiah, but he's so not into individual people.

00:39:49.000 --> 00:39:51.000
He likes this wildfire thing.

00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:59.000
He likes setting things on fire and having it just rush across a whole forest as quickly as possible.

00:40:01.000 --> 00:40:04.000
His favorite resting place is the people.

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:07.000
It just so happens that people are made up of individuals,

00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:10.000
but his favorite resting place is the people.

00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:20.000
He spread like a wildfire.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:27.000
If you have a family and you're the man of the house or the husband or the guy who leads the house,

00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:30.000
beginner ask God, oh father, I don't want this just for myself.

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.000
I want my one year old, two year old, 20 year old and 14 year old,

00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:38.000
and my wife and my dog to be caught up in the blaze of the Spirit.

00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:41.000
That is the way we think.

00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:46.000
There are some exceptions to it.

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.000
So, I didn't know there were people who were offended, who would get offended in Vernon.

00:40:54.000 --> 00:40:57.000
I said something about cats and one lady actually came and said to me,

00:40:57.000 --> 00:40:59.000
may you have a sleepless night?

00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:05.000
So, I had to pray, father, I don't repent of what I'm saying,

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:07.000
but please give me a sleep-filled night.

00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:10.000
She literally came and...

00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:16.000
Cat people are strange, huh?

00:41:19.000 --> 00:41:21.000
Oh, sorry, I shouldn't be asking you.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:31.000
So, guys, God is interested in having the entire family.

00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:38.000
One of my prayers that I haven't prayed enough is, father, you've got to set everybody ablaze.

00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:41.000
You can't not set everybody at Acts 29 ablaze.

00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:43.000
Everybody ablaze.

00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:46.000
And what does ablaze look like?

00:41:46.000 --> 00:41:50.000
Because everything in Christianity is either named fire or river.

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:53.000
So, we've got to explain that a little more.

00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:56.000
So, when we say on fire, what do we really mean?

00:41:56.000 --> 00:42:00.000
When you say on fire, it is, one, a passion for God's purity,

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:02.000
and two, a passion for obedience.

00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:04.000
That is basically fire.

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:07.000
Those are the two things that constitute fire.

00:42:07.000 --> 00:42:12.000
It is not anything else but a passion for purity and a passion for obedience.

00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:16.000
Between those two ends, you've got everything.

00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:22.000
Because to be on fire without purity is a false fire.

00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:25.000
It's a fire that is not prescribed by God,

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.000
and therefore it will bring out of that fire things that are ugly.

00:42:29.000 --> 00:42:36.000
And a fire that does not have obedience will be a fire that will set things on fire that should not be set on fire.

00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:39.000
Because it will be indiscriminate.

00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:43.000
But when you have purity and obedience, now God can light fires.

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:47.000
Both are required.

00:42:48.000 --> 00:42:50.000
That's what being on fire for God is.

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:53.000
If anyone says I'm on fire for God, ask them two questions.

00:42:53.000 --> 00:42:55.000
How are you doing with purity?

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:57.000
How are you doing with obedience?

00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:08.000
Let's go to 1 Corinthians 16.

00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:11.000
1 Corinthians 16.

00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:16.000
Oh, sorry, 1 Corinthians 6.

00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:18.000
1 Corinthians 6.

00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:25.000
I'm going to read from the...

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:27.000
1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20.

00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:29.000
I'm going to read from the message.

00:43:29.000 --> 00:43:32.000
Just listen to this and then you can read from your version.

00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:37.000
Didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit?

00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:41.000
Don't you see that you can't live however you please,

00:43:41.000 --> 00:43:44.000
squandering what God has paid such a high price for?

00:43:44.000 --> 00:43:49.000
The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you.

00:43:49.000 --> 00:43:54.000
God owns the whole works, so let people see God in and through your body.

00:43:54.000 --> 00:43:58.000
Didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit?

00:43:58.000 --> 00:44:04.000
And so, I've said this before and I love saying it to myself over and over again.

00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:07.000
When I wake up in the morning, the Holy Spirit says,

00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:12.000
finally, because this is my body, how long were you planning to sleep?

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:18.000
This body, he actually thinks, is his.

00:44:19.000 --> 00:44:24.000
When you receive Jesus Christ, how does Jesus Christ come and live in you?

00:44:24.000 --> 00:44:27.000
By his Spirit.

00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:32.000
And his Holy Spirit actually begins to think that this body is his.

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.000
One of the things that will happen as we begin to think that this body is his,

00:44:39.000 --> 00:44:44.000
is that your body is quickened here on earth and in the ages to come.

00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:46.000
Understand that.

00:44:46.000 --> 00:44:51.000
One of the things I'm so confident about and discovering, and I can't talk about it yet,

00:44:51.000 --> 00:44:56.000
but one of the things that I'm discovering is that when you realize that this is the sacred space

00:44:56.000 --> 00:45:02.000
that the Holy Spirit occupies, that this physical body is his property and that he occupies it.

00:45:02.000 --> 00:45:06.000
When you actually begin to think that every day, a strange thing begins to happen.

00:45:06.000 --> 00:45:09.000
Your mortal body is quickened.

00:45:09.000 --> 00:45:13.000
As in, your mortal body is given life.

00:45:13.000 --> 00:45:16.000
You age well.

00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:20.000
It doesn't mean you won't have gray hair, but you age well.

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:26.000
It is hard to age badly when you know that this is the residence of the Spirit of God.

00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:28.000
He quickens your mortal body.

00:45:28.000 --> 00:45:33.000
Most people postpone quickening of the mortal body to when you die, he will give you a new body,

00:45:33.000 --> 00:45:35.000
which is absolutely true.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:42.000
I'm just saying, examine the possibility of understanding that this body is sacred to him,

00:45:42.000 --> 00:45:45.000
that he loves this occupying Jacob.

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:48.000
He thinks this is his own body and he takes great care of it.

00:45:53.000 --> 00:45:56.000
So your question must be, but shouldn't we take care of our body?

00:45:56.000 --> 00:46:03.000
Yes, you should, but please remember, I've met far too many people who ate homemade cheese and yogurt

00:46:03.000 --> 00:46:08.000
and greens and cucumbers and carrots and died terrible deaths.

00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:14.000
So all I'm trying to say is it is good to live well and healthy,

00:46:14.000 --> 00:46:19.000
but please don't think that living good and healthy will give you long life.

00:46:19.000 --> 00:46:24.000
It is the Holy Spirit that is able to do things with your body that nobody else can do.

00:46:24.000 --> 00:46:32.000
So live healthy, but please don't begin to think that running and eating vegetables

00:46:32.000 --> 00:46:37.000
is going to solve your problem, because at the end of the day, run, eat vegetables,

00:46:37.000 --> 00:46:40.000
but be highly dependent on the Holy Spirit.

00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:43.000
Be highly dependent on the Holy Spirit.

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:52.000
Be highly dependent on him, because he's able to do things with your body that no amount of running or vegetables can.

00:46:52.000 --> 00:46:55.000
One of the things that Dano says every time you give him vegetables is,

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:57.000
this is the food my food eats.

00:47:02.000 --> 00:47:05.000
Guys, I'm not dissing eating vegetables. I am, but I'm not.

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:12.000
But all I'm saying is, if you are into health diets, and I know this has nothing to do with Pentecost,

00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:21.000
but for that matter, if you're into eating healthy foods and running and maintaining your body,

00:47:21.000 --> 00:47:26.000
good on you, because the Bible says that that is part of what you're supposed to do.

00:47:26.000 --> 00:47:32.000
But the tendency I've seen in people again and again and again who begin to live a healthy lifestyle

00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:37.000
is that their healthy lifestyle becomes the kingpin in their mortality.

00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:43.000
And that is always a recipe for health disasters.

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:47.000
God put it this way to King Asa.

00:47:47.000 --> 00:47:51.000
My problem was that you decided, God is saying to King Asa,

00:47:51.000 --> 00:47:54.000
my problem is not that you went to the physician.

00:47:54.000 --> 00:47:57.000
My problem is that your first resort was the physician.

00:47:57.000 --> 00:47:59.000
Therein lay God's problem.

00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:04.000
It was not that God had a problem that King Asa went to the physician when he had a need.

00:48:04.000 --> 00:48:09.000
The problem was you did not trust me. You chose the physician first.

00:48:09.000 --> 00:48:13.000
Obviously, I'm not the guy to advise you on health and how your body should look,

00:48:13.000 --> 00:48:15.000
because there's no way you could attain this perfection.

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:18.000
But be encouraged. There are others in the church you can follow.

00:48:21.000 --> 00:48:26.000
1 Corinthians 2.

00:48:26.000 --> 00:48:27.000
Beautiful, huh?

00:48:27.000 --> 00:48:31.000
1 Corinthians 2.10.

00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:32.000
I'm sorry.

00:48:32.000 --> 00:48:33.000
I'm sorry.

00:48:33.000 --> 00:48:34.000
I'm sorry.

00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:35.000
I'm sorry.

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:49.820
I

00:48:49.820 --> 00:48:54.820
Beautiful, huh?

00:48:54.820 --> 00:49:00.820
1 Corinthians 2.10.

00:49:00.820 --> 00:49:06.820
But God has revealed them to us.

00:49:06.820 --> 00:49:07.820
What to us?

00:49:07.820 --> 00:49:08.820
Look at verse 9.

00:49:08.820 --> 00:49:15.820
But as it is written, I has not seen, nor ear heard,

00:49:15.820 --> 00:49:20.820
nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.

00:49:20.820 --> 00:49:24.820
Meaning there are things that you and I haven't seen yet that God wants to show us.

00:49:24.820 --> 00:49:27.820
But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit.

00:49:27.820 --> 00:49:32.820
For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

00:49:32.820 --> 00:49:37.820
For which man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?

00:49:37.820 --> 00:49:42.820
Even so, no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God.

00:49:42.820 --> 00:49:50.820
Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from God that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

00:49:50.820 --> 00:49:52.820
Let's read it again.

00:49:52.820 --> 00:50:01.820
As it is written, I has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.

00:50:01.820 --> 00:50:05.820
But God reveals to us these things through his Spirit.

00:50:05.820 --> 00:50:10.820
For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

00:50:10.820 --> 00:50:14.820
For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of a man?

00:50:14.820 --> 00:50:19.820
Even so, no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God.

00:50:19.820 --> 00:50:27.820
Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from God that we might know the things that have been freely given us by God.

00:50:27.820 --> 00:50:29.820
Here's the thing guys.

00:50:29.820 --> 00:50:34.820
So it's like if you go to Mark's house with a car that has a problem and you say,

00:50:35.820 --> 00:50:37.820
I got a problem with my spark plug.

00:50:37.820 --> 00:50:46.820
He'll go into his garage and there'll be two or three big boxes and he'll start rummaging through them and he'll pull out what you need and he'll come and give it to you.

00:50:46.820 --> 00:50:50.820
And then you'll say, my seat, the upholstery is beginning to tear.

00:50:50.820 --> 00:50:59.820
He'll go pull out another something from his box because he's got everything for anything in life in his garage and he'll fix it.

00:50:59.820 --> 00:51:05.820
Lawnmower, vacuum cleaner, your dog, whatever you need, go to Mark, it's in his garage.

00:51:05.820 --> 00:51:09.820
And he pulls it out, gives it to you and your problem is fixed.

00:51:09.820 --> 00:51:11.820
This is exactly how the Holy Spirit is.

00:51:11.820 --> 00:51:16.820
Whenever there is a situation, the Holy Spirit searches the minds of God, mind of God.

00:51:16.820 --> 00:51:21.820
He goes, starts rummaging through the father's mind saying, father, what shall I give Jacob?

00:51:21.820 --> 00:51:24.820
What does he need for the situation? Because he belongs to you.

00:51:24.820 --> 00:51:26.820
Jesus lives in him. What can I give him?

00:51:26.820 --> 00:51:29.820
And the father says, give him the spark plug. So he comes, gives me the spark plug.

00:51:29.820 --> 00:51:35.820
And now I've got a new problem. He goes rummaging through the father's mind saying, father, what do you want?

00:51:35.820 --> 00:51:39.820
This is the wisdom of God. This is why in James, James puts it this way.

00:51:39.820 --> 00:51:45.820
Do you have a problem? Ask for wisdom because God will give it without grudging.

00:51:45.820 --> 00:51:54.820
And there is wisdom for every day. All we have to do is learn this simple principle of hearing with faith.

00:51:54.820 --> 00:51:58.820
I know it's a simple principle, but it has a complicated, not a complicated practice.

00:51:58.820 --> 00:52:00.820
It has to be persistently practiced.

00:52:00.820 --> 00:52:05.820
But imagine a life that is supplied with the wisdom of God, that is supplied with the solutions of God,

00:52:05.820 --> 00:52:12.820
that is supplied with the answers of God, that is constantly supplied because God said this in Isaiah.

00:52:12.820 --> 00:52:19.820
He said that I am not like other gods who whispers nebulous riddles that you don't understand.

00:52:19.820 --> 00:52:26.820
You seek me, you will find me, you ask me something, I will give you an answer.

00:52:26.820 --> 00:52:30.820
We have turned him into a crystal ball that might be moody.

00:52:30.820 --> 00:52:43.820
So you never know whether he'll come up with an answer or not.

00:52:43.820 --> 00:52:50.820
This happened in church in Bahrain, I think the Friday before last.

00:52:50.820 --> 00:52:56.820
So the pastor, the legend was talking about faith and enacting in faith.

00:52:56.820 --> 00:53:01.820
And there's this person called Dushan, who is from Sri Lanka,

00:53:01.820 --> 00:53:08.820
but he is kind of the person that if you think Christ can do anything with him,

00:53:08.820 --> 00:53:12.820
think Christ can do anything with anybody else, you know, because he's that kind of a guy.

00:53:12.820 --> 00:53:20.820
He's a gentle guy, but he's big, burly, and he's been on both sides of the river, as you can see.

00:53:20.820 --> 00:53:29.820
So he's been coming to church regularly of late, and he's having a tough time with his work.

00:53:29.820 --> 00:53:33.820
A few years back, six or seven years back, he had done a course in flight dispatching,

00:53:33.820 --> 00:53:37.820
and he had just let it go because he felt that in Bahrain, a small country,

00:53:37.820 --> 00:53:41.820
where the aviation industry wasn't doing so well, there was no future for him.

00:53:41.820 --> 00:53:45.820
So he just let that go, and he was working with a mobile operator.

00:53:45.820 --> 00:53:50.820
So he's sitting there listening to this thing, and suddenly he feels, gets this thought,

00:53:50.820 --> 00:53:58.820
I should go back to mobile, sorry, I should go back to flight dispatching, I should go back to my aviation industry.

00:53:58.820 --> 00:54:03.820
And he has not been thinking about it for the past few years, and suddenly this thought is coming to him.

00:54:03.820 --> 00:54:07.820
And he's freaking out because this is something that he thought he had buried and settled.

00:54:07.820 --> 00:54:12.820
And all through the service, the rest of the conversation about faith is going on,

00:54:12.820 --> 00:54:15.820
but this is the only thing that he's sitting on, you know.

00:54:15.820 --> 00:54:19.820
And he can't keep it to himself. He goes to his car, and he tells it to his wife, saying,

00:54:19.820 --> 00:54:24.820
this is what I'm feeling. And his wife gets excited because she's got a little more of a spiritual bone in her.

00:54:24.820 --> 00:54:27.820
And she said, you should speak to somebody.

00:54:27.820 --> 00:54:31.820
And then the night I get a message from Dushan, saying, Dano, I need you speaking out.

00:54:31.820 --> 00:54:33.820
Something is happening to me. I'm freaking out.

00:54:33.820 --> 00:54:37.820
And what he's freaking out over is the fact that for the first time in his life,

00:54:37.820 --> 00:54:43.820
he's assigning a thought that he has got as a thought from God, and he doesn't know what to do with it.

00:54:43.820 --> 00:54:49.820
And he knows enough that this is, I can't just rubbish this because there could be something else in it.

00:54:49.820 --> 00:54:53.820
So he chose to receive that with something more than just, well, that was just a thought.

00:54:53.820 --> 00:54:56.820
So that was a spontaneity of which he said that there could be something more.

00:54:56.820 --> 00:55:00.820
And then he did the other thing. He messaged all the other leaders there, you know.

00:55:00.820 --> 00:55:04.820
It's just that because my timing was right, I happened to pick up on the message first.

00:55:04.820 --> 00:55:07.820
And then as I'm hearing it, I'm encouraging him that this is the voice of God,

00:55:07.820 --> 00:55:09.820
because you couldn't have thought of this. And I'm encouraging him to go.

00:55:09.820 --> 00:55:15.820
So now based on that one little thought that he had when he was hearing about faith,

00:55:15.820 --> 00:55:18.820
he chose to hear it as the voice of God, and he's acting on it.

00:55:18.820 --> 00:55:22.820
So that was a spontaneity aspect of it, you know. And I was going along that line.

00:55:22.820 --> 00:55:28.820
So he had that option to minimize it into just, oh, that was just me, you know,

00:55:28.820 --> 00:55:32.820
maybe struggling with work or thinking about a new career job, and you know,

00:55:32.820 --> 00:55:36.820
my mind just working up. Or, hey, I'm listening about faith, and I'm hearing something.

00:55:36.820 --> 00:55:39.820
And I had to tell him about hearing from God and the mind of God and all of those things.

00:55:39.820 --> 00:55:42.820
And it all worked together for him. And so he just acted on that.

00:55:42.820 --> 00:55:46.820
So spontaneously, a new pathway has been developed for him.

00:55:46.820 --> 00:55:53.820
Guys, I cannot imagine us living any other life but this,

00:55:53.820 --> 00:55:57.820
because every other form of life would be substandard.

00:55:57.820 --> 00:56:02.820
Anything else would be substandard. Anybody can live the other life.

00:56:02.820 --> 00:56:06.820
This is the only life we were meant to live.

00:56:06.820 --> 00:56:13.820
And make your ground fertile through two things, purity, obedience.

00:56:13.820 --> 00:56:17.820
Purity and obedience then allows God to drop multiple seeds into the ground,

00:56:17.820 --> 00:56:21.820
because he knows that, aha, the blazing ministry of the Holy Spirit

00:56:21.820 --> 00:56:26.820
can be effectively executed through this person, because he's got two things going for him.

00:56:26.820 --> 00:56:31.820
Purity, obedience to the truth. That's why he's called the Holy Spirit.

00:56:31.820 --> 00:56:34.820
Purity, obedience to the truth.

00:56:34.820 --> 00:56:40.820
And then ground becomes fertile. The more fertile the ground is, the more productive it is.

00:56:40.820 --> 00:56:47.820
And then the blazing ministry of the Holy Spirit, I call it the blazing ministry of the Holy Spirit,

00:56:47.820 --> 00:56:52.820
because it always will carry in it something that is tremendously supernatural,

00:56:52.820 --> 00:56:58.820
that is very little effort on your part and ridiculous results.

00:57:04.820 --> 00:57:11.820
Then you can embrace this marvelous scripture, be anxious about nothing.

00:57:11.820 --> 00:57:15.820
There are two kinds of people when it comes to that verse.

00:57:15.820 --> 00:57:19.820
One is the kind that say, I won't be anxious about nothing,

00:57:19.820 --> 00:57:24.820
because God loves me and he's in charge and he's in control and everything he'll take care of.

00:57:24.820 --> 00:57:29.820
There is nothing wrong with that. That is a godly viewpoint.

00:57:29.820 --> 00:57:32.820
But that is not the most excellent way.

00:57:32.820 --> 00:57:35.820
There is a more excellent way which goes like this.

00:57:35.820 --> 00:57:40.820
I will be anxious about nothing, yes, because God is in charge, God is in control,

00:57:40.820 --> 00:57:43.820
he is good and he will take care of my life as he always has.

00:57:43.820 --> 00:57:49.820
But besides that, I will without hesitance go and ask him for wisdom in this situation

00:57:49.820 --> 00:57:54.820
and he gives without grudging and I will show the world that I just don't trust a God who takes care of me.

00:57:54.820 --> 00:58:00.820
I know that God's mind.

00:58:00.820 --> 00:58:05.820
And when you know the way God thinks, people see God.

00:58:05.820 --> 00:58:11.820
Because now you begin to do things in your situation, not just dependent on his goodness,

00:58:11.820 --> 00:58:14.820
which is basic, fundamental and must be done.

00:58:14.820 --> 00:58:19.820
But now, besides his goodness, you're also saying, I also want to show you how he thinks.

00:58:19.820 --> 00:58:23.820
Because in this situation, I've asked for his wisdom. This is what he's saying.

00:58:23.820 --> 00:58:35.820
I'm going to just do this simple thing, obey and walk out.

00:58:35.820 --> 00:58:41.820
Both have to come together, guys.

00:58:41.820 --> 00:58:43.820
Both have to come together.

00:58:43.820 --> 00:58:48.820
And you are the only person in your street, in your segment of society, in your state of life

00:58:48.820 --> 00:58:51.820
and in your sphere of influence that can show this.

00:58:51.820 --> 00:58:56.820
Nobody else can. I can't, Elmer can't, Marcus can't, May can't,

00:58:56.820 --> 00:59:01.820
because where you live, where you work, in your state of life, in your section of society

00:59:01.820 --> 00:59:09.820
and in your sphere of influence, nobody can show others how God thinks and what he is like, except you.

00:59:09.820 --> 00:59:18.820
And it must be shown when there is a storm.

00:59:18.820 --> 00:59:25.820
You must always be the pillow on which Christ can lay his head.

00:59:25.820 --> 00:59:30.820
Not because you just trust his goodness, but you also trust what he's going to do next.

00:59:30.820 --> 00:59:34.820
Because disciples could have had two reactions, three reactions they had.

00:59:34.820 --> 00:59:37.820
One, they could have all pulled out pillows and gone to sleep saying,

00:59:37.820 --> 00:59:41.820
if we sink, we sink, our lives are in the hand of the Lord.

00:59:41.820 --> 00:59:44.820
And they all sink and Jesus escapes because he's gone.

00:59:44.820 --> 00:59:46.820
That's one option.

00:59:46.820 --> 00:59:51.820
The second option is, let's start scooping out water and let's scoop it out as fast as we can,

00:59:51.820 --> 00:59:53.820
because our master seems to be fast asleep.

00:59:53.820 --> 00:59:56.820
And so they're scooping out water and at some point they get frustrated and say,

00:59:56.820 --> 00:59:58.820
Jesus, don't you care? Why don't you wake up?

00:59:58.820 --> 01:00:04.820
Or three, imagine what Jesus would have said.

01:00:04.820 --> 01:00:07.820
Because thus far he's only said, oh, you of little faith.

01:00:07.820 --> 01:00:11.820
Three, Peter or John or Bartholomew or any of the others would have stood up

01:00:11.820 --> 01:00:16.820
and turned to the waves and the wind and they would have said, be still.

01:00:16.820 --> 01:00:17.820
And the entire thing calms down.

01:00:17.820 --> 01:00:22.820
They get to the other side. Jesus wakes up and said, did I miss something?

01:00:22.820 --> 01:00:26.820
What a cool thing, eh? If the story went that way, did I miss something?

01:00:32.820 --> 01:00:36.820
The Holy Spirit wants to prove to you the character of God as trustworthy.

01:00:36.820 --> 01:00:42.820
He wants to show you the mind of God, first Corinthians 2, so that you may know how he thinks.

01:00:42.820 --> 01:00:45.820
Desire this, hunger after this, thirst after this, crave after this,

01:00:45.820 --> 01:00:49.820
because blessed is he who hungers or thirsts after righteousness.

01:00:49.820 --> 01:00:50.820
What is righteousness?

01:00:50.820 --> 01:00:53.820
Righteousness is right relationship with God.

01:00:53.820 --> 01:00:58.820
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after right relationship with God,

01:00:58.820 --> 01:01:03.820
for they shall be satisfied.

01:01:07.820 --> 01:01:08.820
Trust the Spirit.

01:01:08.820 --> 01:01:13.820
Then, then guys, the glorious blazing ministry of the Spirit will begin to happen through you,

01:01:13.820 --> 01:01:17.820
through the unadorned clay pot of your ordinary faithful life,

01:01:17.820 --> 01:01:22.820
through the unadorned clay pot of your ordinary faithful life.

01:01:22.820 --> 01:01:25.820
It will begin to happen.

01:01:30.820 --> 01:01:34.820
And if you're in a difficult situation, this is when you can really try it out.

01:01:34.820 --> 01:01:39.820
So, in your grueling exam situation, let's see what it looks like, Nick,

01:01:39.820 --> 01:01:42.820
for you to go to sleep at the helm of the boat.

01:01:43.820 --> 01:01:47.820
In your situation where you're struggling with this land thing with your family, Maurice,

01:01:47.820 --> 01:01:52.820
let's see what it looks like when you speak of God in glowing terms

01:01:52.820 --> 01:01:57.820
and care two hoots about it, walking knowing that a word was given years ago and it'll come to pass.

01:01:59.820 --> 01:02:03.820
In May's situation where she goes and sits with her uncle in hospital,

01:02:03.820 --> 01:02:08.820
she begins to hear God and knows how to respond to everything that's happening to her uncle,

01:02:08.820 --> 01:02:13.820
because she's not responding as a nurse, not responding as a niece,

01:02:13.820 --> 01:02:17.820
she's responding as, this is what the Holy Spirit is saying.

01:02:17.820 --> 01:02:22.820
I'll start on my notes now. All that stuff wasn't in my notes.

01:02:22.820 --> 01:02:25.820
So now the real thing starts.

01:02:26.820 --> 01:02:28.820
That was the introduction.

01:02:28.820 --> 01:02:31.820
Guys, here are some things you can ask every day from now on.

01:02:31.820 --> 01:02:34.820
I'm going to start with a question.

01:02:34.820 --> 01:02:36.820
I'm going to ask a question.

01:02:36.820 --> 01:02:38.820
I'm going to ask a question.

01:02:38.820 --> 01:02:40.820
I'm going to ask a question.

01:02:40.820 --> 01:02:42.820
I'm going to ask a question.

01:02:42.820 --> 01:02:44.820
I'm going to ask a question.

01:02:44.820 --> 01:02:47.820
Guys, here are some things you can ask every day from now on.

01:02:47.820 --> 01:02:52.820
Just go and read these scriptures at home, perhaps it'll be easier.

01:02:52.820 --> 01:02:57.820
Every day ask him to open doors for you to engage those that he paid a price to rescue.

01:02:57.820 --> 01:03:06.820
Or every day ask him to open doors for you so that you can be engaged in the blazing ministry of the Holy Spirit here on earth.

01:03:06.820 --> 01:03:09.820
Every day ask him to open doors for you.

01:03:09.820 --> 01:03:12.820
Make this, like we have prayers that we say every day, right?

01:03:12.820 --> 01:03:17.820
I have certain prayers that I've been saying every day and I mean it every day.

01:03:17.820 --> 01:03:20.820
I know them by heart but I mean it every day when I pray them.

01:03:20.820 --> 01:03:21.820
Try to include this.

01:03:21.820 --> 01:03:26.820
Ask him every day that, Holy Spirit, I would like to be engaged in your blazing ministry today.

01:03:26.820 --> 01:03:33.820
Because it says in Colossians chapter 4, verse 3 to 5, here's Paul saying it to the church in Colossus.

01:03:33.820 --> 01:03:41.820
He says, pray also for us that God may open us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I'm in prison.

01:03:41.820 --> 01:03:45.820
That I may make it clear which is how I ought to speak.

01:03:45.820 --> 01:03:49.820
Walk in wisdom towards outsiders, making the best of every opportunity and the use of type.

01:03:49.820 --> 01:03:53.820
Paul's sentences are as usual difficult.

01:03:53.820 --> 01:03:55.820
But here's what we're saying.

01:03:55.820 --> 01:04:02.820
Oh God, tomorrow morning it's a holiday but I would like to be engaged in your blazing ministry, Holy Spirit.

01:04:02.820 --> 01:04:07.820
Colossians 4, verse 3 to 5.

01:04:07.820 --> 01:04:10.820
Next thing.

01:04:10.820 --> 01:04:13.820
Ask for clarity in your words.

01:04:13.820 --> 01:04:14.820
Ask for clarity in your words.

01:04:14.820 --> 01:04:22.820
Father, when I speak this unadorned, ordinary clay pot that I am, with limited knowledge,

01:04:22.820 --> 01:04:27.820
Father, when I speak, would you please begin to give me clarity in words?

01:04:27.820 --> 01:04:30.820
Would you please begin to give me clarity in words?

01:04:30.820 --> 01:04:42.820
Because it says in Ephesians 6, verse 19, Paul says, ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God's mysterious plan.

01:04:42.820 --> 01:04:44.820
Third thing.

01:04:44.820 --> 01:04:48.820
Ask for deep conviction in your hearers.

01:04:48.820 --> 01:04:53.820
Ask for deep conviction in your hearers.

01:04:53.820 --> 01:05:00.820
Father, when I encounter people, could you bring deep conviction with the words and with my actions and with the things I'm doing?

01:05:00.820 --> 01:05:03.820
Deep conviction.

01:05:03.820 --> 01:05:06.820
First Thessalonians 1, 5.

01:05:06.820 --> 01:05:08.820
The message puts it this way.

01:05:08.820 --> 01:05:11.820
When the message we preached came to you, it wasn't just words.

01:05:11.820 --> 01:05:13.820
Something happened in you.

01:05:13.820 --> 01:05:19.820
The Holy Spirit put steel in your convictions.

01:05:19.820 --> 01:05:20.820
Here's another thing to ask for.

01:05:20.820 --> 01:05:26.820
Ask that what you say will be accompanied by miraculous supernatural works.

01:05:26.820 --> 01:05:34.820
Ask that what you say will be accompanied by miraculous supernatural works.

01:05:34.820 --> 01:05:38.820
Romans 15, verse 18 and 19.

01:05:38.820 --> 01:05:45.820
Ask that what you say and do will be accompanied by supernatural miraculous works.

01:05:50.820 --> 01:05:54.820
And then finally, ask for boldness.

01:05:54.820 --> 01:05:56.820
As in finally, as in these five points.

01:05:56.820 --> 01:06:00.820
Not finally, as in I'm closing.

01:06:00.820 --> 01:06:02.820
Ask for boldness.

01:06:02.820 --> 01:06:04.820
Ask for boldness.

01:06:04.820 --> 01:06:14.820
Because in Ephesians 6, verse 20, Paul prays that, pray that I'll keep on speaking boldly for him even though I'm in chains as God's ambassador.

01:06:14.820 --> 01:06:16.820
Pray that I'll speak on boldly.

01:06:16.820 --> 01:06:18.820
Ask for boldness.

01:06:18.820 --> 01:06:21.820
One of the things that the Holy Spirit provides is boldness.

01:06:21.820 --> 01:06:28.820
Every time the church needed boldness and boldness was a mark of the early church in a very hostile environment.

01:06:28.820 --> 01:06:30.820
They would keep asking the Holy Spirit for boldness.

01:06:30.820 --> 01:06:32.820
If there is one thing I lack, it is boldness.

01:06:32.820 --> 01:06:35.820
I've got to ask for boldness.

01:06:35.820 --> 01:06:36.820
But here's the thing guys.

01:06:36.820 --> 01:06:40.820
Boldness is always subdued when proclamation is subdued.

01:06:40.820 --> 01:06:44.820
Whenever you stop declaring who Jesus is, boldness will disappear.

01:06:44.820 --> 01:06:47.820
Boldness disappears when proclamation is subdued.

01:06:47.820 --> 01:06:54.820
Boldness loses momentum and disappears when proclamation is subdued.

01:06:54.820 --> 01:06:59.820
Everything happens in the name of Jesus Christ.

01:06:59.820 --> 01:07:02.820
And the Spirit of Jesus dwells in me.

01:07:02.820 --> 01:07:08.820
He wants to wake this entire church up every day and say, hey guys, I live in you.

01:07:08.820 --> 01:07:09.820
Your body is mine.

01:07:09.820 --> 01:07:11.820
Jesus paid a price for it.

01:07:11.820 --> 01:07:12.820
Let's go.

01:07:12.820 --> 01:07:13.820
I want to use your hands.

01:07:13.820 --> 01:07:14.820
I want to use your mouth.

01:07:14.820 --> 01:07:15.820
I want to use your money.

01:07:15.820 --> 01:07:16.820
Because I provided all of that.

01:07:16.820 --> 01:07:18.820
It all belongs to me.

01:07:18.820 --> 01:07:20.820
You're a steward on my behalf, Jacob.

01:07:20.820 --> 01:07:21.820
Let's go.

01:07:21.820 --> 01:07:22.820
Let's go.

01:07:22.820 --> 01:07:23.820
Be foolish, Jacob.

01:07:23.820 --> 01:07:24.820
Just listen to me.

01:07:24.820 --> 01:07:25.820
Hear with faith.

01:07:25.820 --> 01:07:27.820
Every morning I'm providing you manna.

01:07:27.820 --> 01:07:28.820
Hear with faith.

01:07:28.820 --> 01:07:29.820
Pick it up.

01:07:29.820 --> 01:07:32.820
Let's go.

01:07:32.820 --> 01:07:34.820
When we begin to live this life, dullness flees.

01:07:34.820 --> 01:07:35.820
Dullness flees.

01:07:35.820 --> 01:07:36.820
Dullness flees.

01:07:36.820 --> 01:07:39.820
Dullness happens when water is stagnant.

01:07:39.820 --> 01:07:44.820
And he is called a river of living water, not a stagnant pool of water.

01:07:44.820 --> 01:07:58.820
I do not count preaching on Sundays as a great activity of the Holy Spirit.

01:07:58.820 --> 01:07:59.820
I do give it much honor.

01:07:59.820 --> 01:08:00.820
I love doing it.

01:08:00.820 --> 01:08:06.820
But this is not what I am satisfied with.

01:08:06.820 --> 01:08:07.820
This is not what I'm satisfied with.

01:08:07.820 --> 01:08:12.820
If preaching was what satisfied with me, then that would be too easy.

01:08:12.820 --> 01:08:18.820
It is leaving church this afternoon and while you're driving, being aware of hearing with faith.

01:08:18.820 --> 01:08:21.820
What in the world can happen?

01:08:21.820 --> 01:08:26.820
You know, one year ago in July, and I'm sharing this because of a deliberate reason,

01:08:26.820 --> 01:08:31.820
one year ago in July, I'm flying from Seattle to Dubai.

01:08:31.820 --> 01:08:40.820
And suddenly on the screen, the TV screen, comes the words, go to Mandalay.

01:08:40.820 --> 01:08:41.820
Go to Mandalay.

01:08:41.820 --> 01:08:45.820
And I didn't know where Mandalay was.

01:08:45.820 --> 01:08:47.820
I thought it was a casino in Las Vegas.

01:08:47.820 --> 01:08:48.820
It is.

01:08:48.820 --> 01:08:53.820
But there is a real place called Mandalay in Burma or Myanmar.

01:08:53.820 --> 01:08:54.820
And go to Mandalay.

01:08:54.820 --> 01:08:57.820
So I wrote it down on my phone.

01:08:57.820 --> 01:09:01.820
And then I went looking for it again because I wanted to see what this was about.

01:09:01.820 --> 01:09:07.820
And I'm going through every channel to locate this statement and I can't find it.

01:09:07.820 --> 01:09:11.820
I spent about half an hour trying to locate this channel.

01:09:11.820 --> 01:09:14.820
And it's a static number of channels.

01:09:14.820 --> 01:09:16.820
It's not like you're on regular TV.

01:09:16.820 --> 01:09:17.820
It's recorded TV.

01:09:17.820 --> 01:09:20.820
And I can't find the thing.

01:09:20.820 --> 01:09:22.820
And I'm thinking to myself, did I imagine it?

01:09:22.820 --> 01:09:23.820
But I don't think I imagined it.

01:09:23.820 --> 01:09:24.820
I wrote it down.

01:09:24.820 --> 01:09:29.820
I went to India and I showed a guy this simple statement, go to Mandalay.

01:09:29.820 --> 01:09:31.820
And there were some other words after it.

01:09:31.820 --> 01:09:32.820
I don't remember.

01:09:32.820 --> 01:09:33.820
That's why I'm not flipping.

01:09:33.820 --> 01:09:35.820
So go to Mandalay.

01:09:35.820 --> 01:09:36.820
And so I showed him the thing.

01:09:36.820 --> 01:09:41.820
He said, when you want to go to Mandalay, let me know because I know a guy there called Andrew.

01:09:41.820 --> 01:09:44.820
That was in July of last year.

01:09:44.820 --> 01:09:51.820
And then ten days ago, I'm looking at my phone and I find it again.

01:09:51.820 --> 01:09:57.820
I don't know why, but I felt that go check this particular writing on your phone.

01:09:57.820 --> 01:10:00.820
Again, it's this whole thing of hearing with faith.

01:10:00.820 --> 01:10:04.820
And so I go check what I've written and it says go to Mandalay.

01:10:04.820 --> 01:10:07.820
And I think to myself, boy, it's almost a year.

01:10:07.820 --> 01:10:09.820
So I write to this pastor again.

01:10:09.820 --> 01:10:11.820
Hey, remember you said you knew somebody in Mandalay.

01:10:11.820 --> 01:10:13.820
Can you put me in touch with him?

01:10:13.820 --> 01:10:14.820
So he gives me the email.

01:10:14.820 --> 01:10:16.820
Here's the crazy thing now.

01:10:16.820 --> 01:10:23.820
While I'm writing to this pastor, the guy in Mandalay and his wife, his wife's name is Marilyn and his name is Andrew.

01:10:23.820 --> 01:10:26.820
Andrew and Marilyn are sitting there and here's their prayer.

01:10:26.820 --> 01:10:33.820
Oh, God, we don't know why, but could you give us a connection in Canada?

01:10:33.820 --> 01:10:35.820
They're praying this. I'm talking about four days ago.

01:10:35.820 --> 01:10:38.820
They're praying this. Could you give us a connection in Canada?

01:10:38.820 --> 01:10:41.820
And here I'm asking, could you give me a connection in Mandalay?

01:10:41.820 --> 01:10:43.820
And so I write to this guy.

01:10:43.820 --> 01:10:45.820
This guy says, you won't believe this.

01:10:45.820 --> 01:10:50.820
My wife and I were sitting together and praying this three days ago saying, oh, God, could you give us a connection from Canada?

01:10:50.820 --> 01:10:52.820
They've been in ministry for 18 years.

01:10:52.820 --> 01:10:55.820
It's not some guy who wants to come to Canada or something.

01:10:55.820 --> 01:11:01.820
And so I write to them and I'm thinking to myself, Father, how do you work all these things out?

01:11:01.820 --> 01:11:09.820
What hearing with faith does is it places you in the center of time at the right place, center of God's will at the right place.

01:11:09.820 --> 01:11:12.820
And so if you hear late, it gets later.

01:11:12.820 --> 01:11:16.820
So that's the other thing that you need to know about hearing with faith.

01:11:16.820 --> 01:11:22.820
If you hear with faith on a regular basis, you will be on time in the framework of God.

01:11:22.820 --> 01:11:27.820
If you don't, then what happens is things may happen later or before,

01:11:27.820 --> 01:11:32.820
but the baby will either be premature or whatever the other word is.

01:11:32.820 --> 01:11:36.820
But when you hear with faith, things happen in perfect time.

01:11:36.820 --> 01:11:40.820
Time is critical, guys.

01:11:40.820 --> 01:11:47.820
And God can arrange it where you come exactly on time.

01:11:47.820 --> 01:11:51.820
And so I apply for a visa to Mandalay and I get the visa in 24 hours.

01:11:51.820 --> 01:11:54.820
And so now my question is, Father, when do you want me to go?

01:11:54.820 --> 01:12:02.820
Do I go when I go to Jakarta and Mongolia in eight days time or do I go another time?

01:12:02.820 --> 01:12:03.820
Because the visa is for 90 days.

01:12:03.820 --> 01:12:07.820
So just because I get the visa doesn't mean it's still okay to go.

01:12:07.820 --> 01:12:13.820
The question now is, Father, when?

01:12:13.820 --> 01:12:22.820
Because if you land there at the right time, he's been orchestrating things for the last 6,000 years, and you land there right on the button.

01:12:22.820 --> 01:12:28.820
In two hours, you will accomplish what would take others two years to accomplish.

01:12:28.820 --> 01:12:30.820
This is the blazing ministry of the Holy Spirit.

01:12:30.820 --> 01:12:35.820
And listen to this, if Jacob isn't responsive, he'll go and ask Dano.

01:12:35.820 --> 01:12:36.820
He'll go ask Diana.

01:12:36.820 --> 01:12:40.820
He'll go ask anybody with the name starting with D.

01:12:40.820 --> 01:12:46.820
Then he'll go on to E and F. I'm kidding.

01:12:46.820 --> 01:12:51.820
The point is, because Chris is thinking, darn, there goes my chance.

01:12:51.820 --> 01:12:53.820
If he starts at D, it'll take a long time to come back to C.

01:12:53.820 --> 01:13:03.820
But the point is this, guys, if you have no idea how many times God has come to Jacob, to Nick, to Ruth, to Joan, to Marcus, to Laurie, and said,

01:13:03.820 --> 01:13:05.820
hey, you heard right.

01:13:05.820 --> 01:13:07.820
You want to take a chance.

01:13:07.820 --> 01:13:18.820
And because we either thought it was not God or we thought this was in the right time or because it was inconvenient, it goes now to these five.

01:13:18.820 --> 01:13:24.820
And whoever picks up runs with it and experiences the blazing ministry of the Spirit.

01:13:24.820 --> 01:13:29.820
Very rarely are the guys in this room the first ones that God has called.

01:13:29.820 --> 01:13:34.820
Usually.

01:13:34.820 --> 01:13:42.820
We are sometimes, you won't believe this, Dano and Blessy who are now here, they were my fourth choice to lead the church in Bahrain.

01:13:42.820 --> 01:13:45.820
I had three better choices.

01:13:46.820 --> 01:13:47.820
Three better choices.

01:13:47.820 --> 01:13:50.820
Far more experienced, able people.

01:13:50.820 --> 01:13:53.820
And all three decided not to.

01:13:53.820 --> 01:13:59.820
And then finally someone introduced me to Dano and my first words were, with a name like that, what good can come out of him?

01:13:59.820 --> 01:14:03.820
So that was my first reaction.

01:14:03.820 --> 01:14:05.820
But then that's sometimes how God does things.

01:14:05.820 --> 01:14:08.820
Three others I approached and all three didn't work out.

01:14:08.820 --> 01:14:12.820
The blazing ministry of the Spirit.

01:14:12.820 --> 01:14:15.820
Yeah.

01:14:15.820 --> 01:14:18.820
And yet Laurie and I sometimes have this question.

01:14:18.820 --> 01:14:20.820
What about the first three?

01:14:20.820 --> 01:14:24.820
They had an opportunity and they let it go.

01:14:24.820 --> 01:14:28.820
Sometimes I think God knows.

01:14:28.820 --> 01:14:29.820
God knows.

01:14:29.820 --> 01:14:31.820
In His knowing He plans it.

01:14:31.820 --> 01:14:35.820
Because I don't think Aaron was ever supposed to join Moses.

01:14:35.820 --> 01:14:39.820
Aaron was like supplied because Moses was hesitant.

01:14:39.820 --> 01:14:43.820
God says to Moses, who made your mouth?

01:14:43.820 --> 01:14:45.820
Why are you provoking me like this?

01:14:45.820 --> 01:14:46.820
I can handle it.

01:14:46.820 --> 01:14:49.820
But because you are so stubborn, go get your brother-in-law.

01:14:49.820 --> 01:14:50.820
Or brother.

01:14:50.820 --> 01:14:51.820
Brother-in-law or brother?

01:14:51.820 --> 01:14:52.820
Brother.

01:14:52.820 --> 01:14:53.820
Go get your brother.

01:14:53.820 --> 01:14:57.820
And so Aaron, and Aaron ends up doing something heinous.

01:14:57.820 --> 01:15:01.820
He builds a golden calf while Moses was in Mount.

01:15:01.820 --> 01:15:08.820
So I think God in His knowledge plans things and therefore those plans cannot be broken.

01:15:08.820 --> 01:15:09.820
It's too complicated.

01:15:09.820 --> 01:15:10.820
I could be wrong.

01:15:10.820 --> 01:15:14.820
Yeah.

01:15:14.820 --> 01:15:15.820
Ask for boldness.

01:15:15.820 --> 01:15:16.820
Ask for boldness.

01:15:16.820 --> 01:15:21.820
Guys, we'll talk about boldness next time because I've got enough to say about it.

01:15:21.820 --> 01:15:22.820
So we won't go there.

01:15:22.820 --> 01:15:24.820
We'll end with what we've been talking about.

01:15:24.820 --> 01:15:27.820
We'll talk about the second part of the story.

01:15:27.820 --> 01:15:29.820
Just remember this line.

01:15:29.820 --> 01:15:33.820
Self-preservation is the greatest enemy of boldness and believers.

01:15:33.820 --> 01:15:37.820
Self-preservation is the greatest enemy of boldness and believers.

01:15:37.820 --> 01:15:41.820
Self-preservation is the greatest enemy of boldness and believers.

01:15:41.820 --> 01:15:46.820
Many times you and I will hear the Holy Spirit with ears of faith,

01:15:46.820 --> 01:15:50.820
but we'll not be able to step into it boldly only for one reason.

01:15:50.820 --> 01:15:54.820
We want to indulge in this thing called self-preservation.

01:15:54.820 --> 01:15:58.820
We want to indulge in this thing called self-preservation.

01:15:58.820 --> 01:16:03.820
And self-preservation is the greatest enemy of boldness and following the Holy Spirit and believers.

01:16:03.820 --> 01:16:06.820
Because self-preservation does two things, three things.

01:16:06.820 --> 01:16:07.820
It spawns indifference.

01:16:07.820 --> 01:16:08.820
It compromises you.

01:16:08.820 --> 01:16:12.820
It avoids the situation.

01:16:12.820 --> 01:16:18.820
And by self-preservation, I mean preserving your money, preserving your time, preserving resources,

01:16:18.820 --> 01:16:22.820
preserving things for a later day.

01:16:22.820 --> 01:16:23.820
Everything gets preserved.

01:16:23.820 --> 01:16:28.820
Self-preservation is the greatest enemy of bold following of the Holy Spirit.

01:16:28.820 --> 01:16:29.820
Because it spawns indifference.

01:16:29.820 --> 01:16:31.820
It compromises you.

01:16:31.820 --> 01:16:34.820
It helps you avoid things that need to be stepped into.

01:16:34.820 --> 01:16:49.820
Sorry?

01:16:49.820 --> 01:16:54.820
It prevents you, yeah, you avoid stepping into things because self-preservation kicks in.

01:16:54.820 --> 01:17:04.820
You avoid stepping into things.

01:17:04.820 --> 01:17:06.820
Guys, let's do this.

01:17:06.820 --> 01:17:12.820
Let's learn how to hear with faith.

01:17:12.820 --> 01:17:14.820
Let's learn how to hear with faith.

01:17:14.820 --> 01:17:17.820
Every situation you're in, as uncomplicated...

01:17:17.820 --> 01:17:23.820
On my phone I've got this, in notes, I've got this page called 333.

01:17:23.820 --> 01:17:25.820
And that's basically Jeremiah 333.

01:17:25.820 --> 01:17:28.820
Ask of me and I will show you great and mighty things.

01:17:28.820 --> 01:17:32.820
And on this page all I write is situations that need solutions.

01:17:32.820 --> 01:17:35.820
So if you look at it right now, it'll say...

01:17:35.820 --> 01:17:37.820
I'll give you a simple example, guys.

01:17:37.820 --> 01:17:38.820
Simple example.

01:17:38.820 --> 01:17:40.820
My mom went to the doctor some time ago.

01:17:40.820 --> 01:17:50.820
And they told her that she might have a heart attack because there's some thing they saw in her heart that wasn't right.

01:17:50.820 --> 01:17:52.820
And so she may have a heart attack.

01:17:52.820 --> 01:17:56.820
So my sister writes to me and my mom writes to me saying, what am I supposed to do?

01:17:56.820 --> 01:18:00.820
They say that, should I fly to UK? Should I not? What's going to happen?

01:18:00.820 --> 01:18:06.820
And so I put it down here and I'm saying, father, how do you answer this?

01:18:06.820 --> 01:18:12.820
And that's when reason can kick in, natural ears can kick in, or hearing with faith can kick in.

01:18:12.820 --> 01:18:14.820
And so I'm saying, how do you answer it?

01:18:14.820 --> 01:18:17.820
And I'm listening to the recordings on my phone.

01:18:18.820 --> 01:18:26.820
And in the recordings on my phone are words spoken over my mom by Anne and Joan and Sue and Diana and a few others.

01:18:26.820 --> 01:18:27.820
And here's what it says.

01:18:27.820 --> 01:18:30.820
And it will be in that day I will answer says...

01:18:30.820 --> 01:18:31.820
Here's what it says.

01:18:31.820 --> 01:18:33.820
Your strength is going to be restored to you.

01:18:33.820 --> 01:18:36.820
He will give you strength this year to rise up like an eagle in Jesus' name.

01:18:36.820 --> 01:18:39.820
It will be a year of plenty. More wheat in the storehouse.

01:18:39.820 --> 01:18:41.820
The Lord will open doors that you think are closed.

01:18:41.820 --> 01:18:43.820
They're actually open and he wants you to step through them.

01:18:43.820 --> 01:18:45.820
There is work to be done, life to speak into.

01:18:45.820 --> 01:18:48.820
So don't keep saying I'm getting older. It's getting harder.

01:18:50.820 --> 01:18:53.820
And I'm reading this and I'm thinking to myself, I'll book your ticket.

01:18:53.820 --> 01:18:55.820
You fly to the UK.

01:18:55.820 --> 01:18:59.820
Because there's nothing going to happen to you when that word has been released over you.

01:18:59.820 --> 01:19:03.820
This is what I mean by faith, hearing with the ears of faith.

01:19:03.820 --> 01:19:05.820
In everything, it doesn't matter what it is.

01:19:05.820 --> 01:19:06.820
Everything.

01:19:06.820 --> 01:19:10.820
Your parents may be saying one thing, your grandparents may be saying one thing.

01:19:10.820 --> 01:19:11.820
Doesn't matter.

01:19:11.820 --> 01:19:12.820
It doesn't matter.

01:19:12.820 --> 01:19:15.820
You need to hear with faith and say, Father, what are you saying?

01:19:15.820 --> 01:19:17.820
And that is what I live by.

01:19:17.820 --> 01:19:19.820
Because I have only two things to live by.

01:19:19.820 --> 01:19:21.820
Purity on one side, obedience on the other side.

01:19:21.820 --> 01:19:24.820
You drop the seeds, it will become productive.

01:19:24.820 --> 01:19:26.820
I offer you just two things of God.

01:19:26.820 --> 01:19:30.820
A life that I will try to live as pure as possible.

01:19:31.820 --> 01:19:35.820
And a willingness to obey when I hear you.

01:19:35.820 --> 01:19:37.820
That is the only thing I'll offer you.

01:19:38.820 --> 01:19:46.820
And if you offer him these two things, you begin to enjoy the life that is actually yours.

01:19:46.820 --> 01:19:50.820
Which is the blazing supernatural life of the Spirit of God.

01:19:50.820 --> 01:19:53.820
Who came down on a day like this 2000 years ago.

01:19:53.820 --> 01:19:59.820
And he came with gale force wind kind of rushing upon the people settled there.

01:19:59.820 --> 01:20:04.820
And he came like that not because he wanted to live like a whisper.

01:20:05.820 --> 01:20:09.820
He came like that because he wanted to show the world that things are changing from here on.

01:20:17.820 --> 01:20:19.820
I've got this button on my table now.

01:20:19.820 --> 01:20:20.820
It's a blue button.

01:20:20.820 --> 01:20:24.820
You press it and it says, go big.

01:20:24.820 --> 01:20:27.820
It's from famous players, the theater.

01:20:27.820 --> 01:20:28.820
So every time you press it.

01:20:28.820 --> 01:20:31.820
So every time I walk in my living room, I'll go press it.

01:20:31.820 --> 01:20:33.820
And I'll say, go big.

01:20:33.820 --> 01:20:35.820
And why am I saying this?

01:20:35.820 --> 01:20:42.820
Because at the end of the day guys, do not live life small when you have the Holy Spirit in you.

01:20:42.820 --> 01:20:44.820
Do not live life small.

01:20:44.820 --> 01:20:46.820
Do not live life small.

01:20:46.820 --> 01:20:48.820
Our lives are small.

01:20:48.820 --> 01:20:50.820
Our lives are small.

01:20:53.820 --> 01:20:56.820
Nick, do not live life small.

01:20:57.820 --> 01:20:59.820
Ruth, do not live life small.

01:20:59.820 --> 01:21:02.820
Chris, do not live life small.

01:21:02.820 --> 01:21:04.820
Joan, do not live life small.

01:21:04.820 --> 01:21:07.820
Marcus, Laurie, and do not live life small.

01:21:07.820 --> 01:21:10.820
There you go, man.

01:21:10.820 --> 01:21:12.820
Absolutely.

01:21:12.820 --> 01:21:13.820
Absolutely.

01:21:13.820 --> 01:21:15.820
Danno, do not live life small.

01:21:15.820 --> 01:21:19.820
Derek, do not live life small.

01:21:21.820 --> 01:21:23.820
Maurice, do not live life small.

01:21:24.820 --> 01:21:25.820
Go big.

01:21:28.820 --> 01:21:30.820
Ask yourself this question.

01:21:30.820 --> 01:21:32.820
Ask yourself this question.

01:21:32.820 --> 01:21:35.820
And I ask myself this and I hate it when I live life small.

01:21:35.820 --> 01:21:37.820
Ask yourself this question.

01:21:38.820 --> 01:21:44.820
Is your life reflective right now of the blazing supernatural spirit of God?

01:21:53.820 --> 01:21:54.820
Where are the Pauls?

01:21:54.820 --> 01:21:55.820
Where are the Joshuas?

01:21:55.820 --> 01:21:56.820
Where are the Noahs?

01:21:56.820 --> 01:21:58.820
Where are the Abrahams?

01:21:58.820 --> 01:21:59.820
Where are the Josephs?

01:21:59.820 --> 01:22:00.820
Where are the Davids?

01:22:00.820 --> 01:22:01.820
Where are the Jonathans?

01:22:01.820 --> 01:22:03.820
Where are the Peters?

01:22:03.820 --> 01:22:05.820
Where are the Johns?

01:22:06.820 --> 01:22:08.820
Where are they?

01:22:11.820 --> 01:22:14.820
They lived such large lives.

01:22:14.820 --> 01:22:16.820
Small people living large lives.

01:22:16.820 --> 01:22:20.820
Two small men with big hearts.

01:22:22.820 --> 01:22:25.820
Sound like I'm promoting companies today.

01:22:25.820 --> 01:22:26.820
Come on, guys.

01:22:28.820 --> 01:22:29.820
Come on.

01:22:36.820 --> 01:22:38.820
I want to take risks in my life.

01:22:38.820 --> 01:22:43.820
I want to be free of being held back by anything.

01:22:43.820 --> 01:22:52.820
I want to take risks in my life and follow him with a reckless obedience like that song song.

01:22:52.820 --> 01:23:00.820
With a reckless obedience like that song says because he's reckless in his love and wants to send people out that way.

01:23:00.820 --> 01:23:01.820
Forget the song.

01:23:01.820 --> 01:23:03.820
There's a controversy around it.

01:23:03.820 --> 01:23:04.820
But here's the thing.

01:23:04.820 --> 01:23:09.820
At the end of the day, please, how risky is your life?

01:23:22.820 --> 01:23:39.820
It never starts without a first step.

01:23:39.820 --> 01:23:41.820
And you're not honed in on that step.

01:23:41.820 --> 01:23:47.820
Guys, I'm not going to let you go till four, so please tolerate me for another five minutes because I've got to take every minute.

01:23:47.820 --> 01:23:49.820
And then I'll be away for two weeks after next week.

01:23:49.820 --> 01:23:50.820
So I'm back next week.

01:23:50.820 --> 01:23:51.820
Don't feel too happy.

01:23:51.820 --> 01:23:53.820
But after that, there'll be two weeks that I'm away.

01:23:53.820 --> 01:23:56.820
So here's the thing, guys.

01:23:56.820 --> 01:24:00.820
Once a step is given, one must hear and go and do something with it.

01:24:00.820 --> 01:24:02.820
And then it opens up the next step.

01:24:02.820 --> 01:24:03.820
It is always like that.

01:24:03.820 --> 01:24:04.820
I plead with you.

01:24:04.820 --> 01:24:11.820
Do not get caught up in work, in resources, in saving them, in preserving them.

01:24:11.820 --> 01:24:14.820
What good will it do to preserve it?

01:24:14.820 --> 01:24:15.820
Who are you going to give it to?

01:24:15.820 --> 01:24:17.820
Your children are already very rich.

01:24:17.820 --> 01:24:19.820
Or settle down.

01:24:19.820 --> 01:24:20.820
Don't do these things.

01:24:20.820 --> 01:24:21.820
Do well.

01:24:21.820 --> 01:24:22.820
Do well.

01:24:22.820 --> 01:24:23.820
Live big.

01:24:23.820 --> 01:24:24.820
This church was accomplished.

01:24:24.820 --> 01:24:25.820
The ridiculous.

01:24:25.820 --> 01:24:26.820
Let me read out Hebrews 11 to you.

01:24:26.820 --> 01:24:29.820
It bothers me every time I read Hebrews 11.

01:24:29.820 --> 01:24:31.820
Turn to Hebrews 11, verse 35.

01:24:31.820 --> 01:24:43.820
Church, please, you must do this.

01:24:43.820 --> 01:24:50.820
I wish I had a syringe full of this serum that I inject into you and me and we become like this.

01:24:50.820 --> 01:24:52.820
But that isn't the way it works.

01:24:52.820 --> 01:25:01.820
Hebrews chapter 11, verse 32.

01:25:01.820 --> 01:25:04.820
Hebrews chapter 11, verse 32.

01:25:04.820 --> 01:25:06.820
And what more shall I say?

01:25:06.820 --> 01:25:07.820
For time will fail me.

01:25:07.820 --> 01:25:10.820
Hey, Paul had problems like me.

01:25:10.820 --> 01:25:11.820
And what more shall I say?

01:25:11.820 --> 01:25:23.820
For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets,

01:25:23.820 --> 01:25:34.820
who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of justice, obtained promises,

01:25:34.820 --> 01:25:41.820
shut the mouth of lions, quench the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword.

01:25:41.820 --> 01:25:47.820
From weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to fight.

01:25:47.820 --> 01:25:50.820
Women received back their debt by resurrection, and others were tortured,

01:25:50.820 --> 01:25:55.820
not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection.

01:25:55.820 --> 01:25:59.820
And others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.

01:25:59.820 --> 01:26:03.820
They were stoned, they were sawn into, they were tempted, they were put to death with a sword.

01:26:03.820 --> 01:26:08.820
They went about in sheepskin and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated,

01:26:08.820 --> 01:26:15.820
men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

01:26:15.820 --> 01:26:20.820
And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised

01:26:20.820 --> 01:26:26.820
because God had provided something better for us so that apart from us, they would not be made perfect.

01:26:26.820 --> 01:26:32.820
I love the verse 38, men of whom the world was not worthy.

01:26:32.820 --> 01:26:39.820
Can we just pray into this?

01:26:39.820 --> 01:26:47.820
Father, I pray that you will help us to pray into this. Please help us to pray into this.