WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: The cost of Prevailing Prayer (part 1) Publishing Date: 2018-04-08T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/the-cost-of-prevailing-prayer-part-1/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.360 So you can't build a prevailing church. 00:00:16.360 --> 00:00:23.620 ... that I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 00:00:23.620 --> 00:00:32.300 We define prevailing as the ability to engage, to endure, and to overcome into victory. 00:00:32.300 --> 00:00:40.240 The ability to engage, endure, engage in battle, or engage in taking something back or releasing 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:47.940 something, to engage, to endure, to overcome into victory. 00:00:47.940 --> 00:00:51.900 Other words for prevailing that are used in different translations in the Bible, in different 00:00:51.900 --> 00:00:58.780 verses, are words like overcome, words like conquer. 00:00:58.780 --> 00:01:08.840 All these words come from the same root, N-I-K-A-H-O, which means to endure and prevail till victory. 00:01:08.840 --> 00:01:14.580 So words like prevail, overcome, conquer, are words that come from the same roots in 00:01:14.580 --> 00:01:18.040 the Bible, and you'll find them in different verses, like we did last week when we looked 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:23.380 at all the words in the book of Revelation where it talks about overcoming. 00:01:23.380 --> 00:01:28.480 So you cannot build a prevailing church, which is the only kind of church that Jesus is interested 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:29.580 in building. 00:01:29.580 --> 00:01:34.500 You cannot build a prevailing church unless you raise a church that contends in battle 00:01:34.500 --> 00:01:35.680 through prayer. 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:36.680 Why? 00:01:36.680 --> 00:01:42.980 Because none of our enemies are really flesh and blood. 00:01:42.980 --> 00:01:52.480 Our enemies are spiritual, and therefore it's only prayer that can bring effective change. 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:53.480 That's the first point. 00:01:53.480 --> 00:01:56.820 The second point is it is the mission of the church to go. 00:01:56.820 --> 00:01:58.160 It is the mission of the church. 00:01:58.160 --> 00:01:59.160 The church has no... 00:01:59.160 --> 00:02:01.000 This is the church's primary mission. 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:07.520 It is the mission of the church to go and then to enter into Satan's strong house or 00:02:07.520 --> 00:02:12.600 Satan's house, plunder his possessions, carry them off, and make disciples. 00:02:12.620 --> 00:02:15.280 That is the nature of the church. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:18.100 This is what Jesus came to do in Matthew 12, verse 29 and onwards. 00:02:18.100 --> 00:02:24.260 It says that you cannot enter the strong man's house unless you first bind him. 00:02:24.260 --> 00:02:29.060 We go on to see in Colossians 2.15 that Jesus Christ actually bound the devil, where it 00:02:29.060 --> 00:02:35.100 says that Jesus Christ, by his death on the cross, made a mockery or a public spectacle 00:02:35.100 --> 00:02:40.980 of Satan, causing him to now dismount from the chariot he used to ride and instead be 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:47.560 paraded as a prisoner in Christ's triumphant procession, meaning now that Christ returns 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:55.040 as conquering king, the devil is someone who is part of his procession as a prisoner. 00:02:55.040 --> 00:02:56.760 And so it is the church's mission. 00:02:56.760 --> 00:02:58.760 It is Acts 29's mission. 00:02:58.760 --> 00:03:05.120 It is your mission as a people to first go, because you can't do this without going, to 00:03:06.020 --> 00:03:13.380 and then to plunder the strong house, as in plunder where the devil keeps his captives. 00:03:13.380 --> 00:03:14.620 What does he keep captives? 00:03:14.620 --> 00:03:15.620 Lives. 00:03:15.620 --> 00:03:16.620 How do we know that? 00:03:16.620 --> 00:03:24.500 It says in Galatians that the God of this world has blinded the eyes of people. 00:03:24.500 --> 00:03:30.380 It says in Ephesians chapter 2 that the present world is under the sway of the prince of the 00:03:30.380 --> 00:03:33.020 power of the air or the prince of darkness. 00:03:33.020 --> 00:03:38.600 So we know that he gathers his captives and keeps them. 00:03:38.600 --> 00:03:43.480 So it is the mission of the church to go, to enter his house because he is bound and 00:03:43.480 --> 00:03:53.920 plunder, as in take people out of false ideologies, false religions, false ways of thinking, bondages, 00:03:53.920 --> 00:04:00.040 to deliver them, to bring them out, individual by individual, people by people, tribe by 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:07.200 tribe, nation by nation, setting situations, peoples and nations into the freedom of Christ. 00:04:07.200 --> 00:04:11.560 This is the nature of Christ, the head of the church, and therefore it is the nature 00:04:11.560 --> 00:04:17.080 of the church. 00:04:17.080 --> 00:04:24.400 Isn't it such a privilege for us to both study this and to enter into this? 00:04:24.400 --> 00:04:30.020 How defunct is Christianity if it is only about enlarging, enlarging, enlarging our 00:04:30.020 --> 00:04:31.600 own prosperity? 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:35.560 Just getting prosperous, just getting healed, just getting a little bit of more money, just 00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:39.320 having a job when you lose a job, just having a slightly better house. 00:04:39.320 --> 00:04:41.640 To live like that for the rest of your life? 00:04:41.640 --> 00:04:44.560 That is so purposeless. 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:46.880 That's what rich people's kids do. 00:04:46.880 --> 00:04:53.540 I've got nothing against rich people or their kids, but I'm saying there's more to life 00:04:53.620 --> 00:04:56.140 than just sitting and prospering. 00:04:56.140 --> 00:05:01.740 There must be greater purpose, and what greater purpose than this? 00:05:01.740 --> 00:05:06.460 See, in the Bible in Ephesians 6 it talks about wearing armor. 00:05:06.460 --> 00:05:13.420 You don't need to wear armor if you're watching TV. 00:05:13.420 --> 00:05:18.100 It's crazy if you have a suit of armor at home and every time you come and want to watch 00:05:18.100 --> 00:05:23.980 hockey or downtown something. 00:05:23.980 --> 00:05:26.500 My God, the number of people who watched it. 00:05:26.500 --> 00:05:29.580 And it's a great show by the way. 00:05:29.580 --> 00:05:31.060 I haven't yet. 00:05:31.060 --> 00:05:36.300 But imagine all of us going home to watch either hockey or downtown Abbey and getting 00:05:36.300 --> 00:05:39.040 into the suit of armor that you have by your door. 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:44.820 And you wear it and now you clink clank your way onto your reclining chair and then you 00:05:44.820 --> 00:05:48.100 watch the whole thing and then you realize you can't get out of the chair now. 00:05:48.100 --> 00:05:50.180 So your cat helps you. 00:05:50.180 --> 00:05:51.420 And then you finally come out of it. 00:05:51.420 --> 00:05:57.820 The point being armor is only meant for people who that you'll have to train your cat to 00:05:57.820 --> 00:06:00.100 help you because he'll have to press the button that brings the chair back. 00:06:00.100 --> 00:06:01.900 But we're going into the mechanics of that. 00:06:01.900 --> 00:06:03.620 Let's go back to what we're talking about. 00:06:03.620 --> 00:06:09.780 The point is this guys, that at the end of the day, there is no point wearing armor that 00:06:09.780 --> 00:06:15.300 the Bible prescribes if there is no war to engage in. 00:06:15.300 --> 00:06:17.620 No point. 00:06:17.620 --> 00:06:20.420 It just becomes heavy clanking machinery. 00:06:20.420 --> 00:06:25.660 Because if there's no battle, there is no need to wear armor. 00:06:25.660 --> 00:06:35.220 And you can't have a battle at home unless you can't have a battle at home. 00:06:35.220 --> 00:06:41.660 And therefore to raise a prevailing church that contends in battle through prayer, there 00:06:41.660 --> 00:06:42.780 is a cost. 00:06:42.780 --> 00:06:46.840 And if you don't pay the cost, three things happen to people who don't pay the cost of 00:06:46.840 --> 00:06:48.220 prevailing prayer. 00:06:48.220 --> 00:07:00.860 If churches and believers don't pay the cost of prevailing prayer, then three things can 00:07:00.860 --> 00:07:03.620 happen to such churches and believers. 00:07:04.620 --> 00:07:06.620 One, they get ravaged. 00:07:06.620 --> 00:07:08.620 Two, they get sterilized. 00:07:11.620 --> 00:07:18.020 Three, they get deceived. 00:07:18.020 --> 00:07:21.980 This is one of three things that happens to churches and believers. 00:07:21.980 --> 00:07:27.140 If they don't first realize the cost that has to be paid, if you are to become, if we 00:07:27.140 --> 00:07:32.700 are to become a church that prevails in prayer, as in begins to say, Oh God, our requests 00:07:32.780 --> 00:07:36.540 are not going to be just about healing and jobs. 00:07:36.540 --> 00:07:45.780 We want our prayers to be about setting peoples, individuals, and nations absolutely free into 00:07:45.780 --> 00:07:48.420 your arms from the devil's clutches. 00:07:48.420 --> 00:07:52.100 And that kind of prayer takes a toll. 00:07:52.100 --> 00:07:54.000 There's a cost to pay. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:58.260 And if you don't want to pay the cost and engage in that kind of prayer, then what happens 00:07:58.820 --> 00:08:06.380 You either get ravaged because the enemy hits back or you get sterilized as in he just renders 00:08:06.380 --> 00:08:08.680 you important when nothing works. 00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:13.060 So you might as well just have these prayer meetings, which are meaningless. 00:08:13.060 --> 00:08:16.660 And most churches engage in prayer meetings that are meaningless. 00:08:16.660 --> 00:08:20.860 Or you get deceived where you go into error and start doing things that really are not 00:08:20.860 --> 00:08:23.880 biblical but sound spiritual. 00:08:23.880 --> 00:08:27.260 Any questions on that before we go on? 00:08:27.260 --> 00:08:29.660 There's a cost to pay for prayer. 00:08:29.660 --> 00:08:31.260 There's a cost to pay. 00:08:31.260 --> 00:08:32.260 Yep. 00:08:32.260 --> 00:08:42.780 Yeah, let's say someone told me this long ago, if you're calling down fire, make sure you're 00:08:42.780 --> 00:08:48.140 wearing an asbestos suit or else when you're calling down fire, you get burned too. 00:08:48.140 --> 00:08:52.980 Or like the story I was telling you about my mom earlier on, where there was a battle 00:08:52.980 --> 00:08:53.980 that was fought. 00:08:54.260 --> 00:08:59.400 If I didn't know better, had I not known better, my mom would have been in hospital by now. 00:08:59.400 --> 00:09:02.660 So there was a way to combat it. 00:09:02.660 --> 00:09:07.700 So once we know the cost we have to pay and we know how to pay it, then this becomes easy. 00:09:07.700 --> 00:09:14.340 Otherwise, the enemy ravages you where you touch something of his and because you have 00:09:14.340 --> 00:09:19.660 not learned to pay the cost, he has the ability to come and attack you back because he's ferocious. 00:09:19.660 --> 00:09:20.660 He's fiery. 00:09:20.660 --> 00:09:21.780 He's furious. 00:09:21.780 --> 00:09:22.780 He's evil. 00:09:22.860 --> 00:09:23.860 He's super powerful. 00:09:23.860 --> 00:09:29.140 Thank God we have Jesus Christ who is far more powerful. 00:09:29.140 --> 00:09:33.140 You cannot take on the devil on your own. 00:09:33.140 --> 00:09:36.140 There is no, it's not a fair fight. 00:09:36.140 --> 00:09:41.180 He beat us hollow, but thank God there is Christ and now it's not a fair fight because 00:09:41.180 --> 00:09:43.300 Christ beats him hollow. 00:09:43.300 --> 00:09:50.900 Here's the thing. 00:09:50.900 --> 00:09:56.860 Especially in the West, we get sucked into this neutral zone, like that area between 00:09:56.860 --> 00:10:01.860 peace arch and the Canadian border. 00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:03.620 There's a no man's land. 00:10:03.620 --> 00:10:09.500 We, because of the lack of pressure on us, get sucked into that neutral zone, no man's 00:10:09.540 --> 00:10:17.740 land where we think that we are okay in Canada because everything is all right when there 00:10:17.740 --> 00:10:22.700 is no such zone in the spirit realm. 00:10:22.700 --> 00:10:28.980 We lose our edge as a church and our axes become blunt because we don't use them to 00:10:28.980 --> 00:10:31.460 plunder. 00:10:31.460 --> 00:10:32.460 It's a mission of the church. 00:10:32.460 --> 00:10:37.380 There is no other mission. 00:10:37.380 --> 00:10:40.060 We weren't put on earth to sing worship songs. 00:10:40.060 --> 00:10:45.700 That's something we do on the side. 00:10:45.700 --> 00:10:48.500 He put us on the earth so that what he began we could finish. 00:10:48.500 --> 00:10:51.460 He is Christ the head, we are his body. 00:10:51.460 --> 00:10:55.900 Their body finishes what the head orders. 00:10:55.900 --> 00:10:58.060 Does that answer your question Nick? 00:10:58.060 --> 00:10:59.060 Any other questions guys? 00:10:59.820 --> 00:11:06.380 I don't know which is worse, being sterilized or deceived. 00:11:06.380 --> 00:11:11.500 Because either way you end up in great error. 00:11:11.500 --> 00:11:13.860 At least when you get ravaged you might hit back. 00:11:13.860 --> 00:11:14.860 Yeah. 00:11:14.860 --> 00:11:15.860 Yeah. 00:11:15.860 --> 00:11:16.860 Yeah. 00:11:16.860 --> 00:11:17.860 Yeah. 00:11:17.860 --> 00:11:18.860 Yeah. 00:11:18.860 --> 00:11:19.860 Yeah. 00:11:19.860 --> 00:11:20.860 Yeah. 00:11:20.860 --> 00:11:21.860 Yeah. 00:11:21.860 --> 00:11:22.860 Yeah. 00:11:22.860 --> 00:11:23.860 Yeah. 00:11:23.860 --> 00:11:24.860 Yeah. 00:11:24.860 --> 00:11:25.860 Yeah. 00:11:25.860 --> 00:11:26.860 Yeah. 00:11:26.860 --> 00:11:30.780 Deception happens on many different levels guys. 00:11:30.780 --> 00:11:35.580 So sometimes we get deceived by saying that things that are evil are okay because they 00:11:35.580 --> 00:11:37.620 are packaged well. 00:11:37.620 --> 00:11:40.560 So that's one deception. 00:11:40.560 --> 00:11:47.460 And then the other deception is, oh Satan is nobody. 00:11:47.460 --> 00:11:49.860 I can handle him. 00:11:49.860 --> 00:11:53.700 Both are deceptions. 00:11:53.700 --> 00:11:54.700 I can handle him. 00:11:54.700 --> 00:11:57.580 Both are deceptions. 00:11:57.580 --> 00:12:05.100 The first one is that we have a tendency to package evil well. 00:12:05.100 --> 00:12:08.460 And once you package evil well it is palatable. 00:12:08.460 --> 00:12:11.660 So we receive it. 00:12:11.700 --> 00:12:17.900 There are many different forms of evil that have come into Western Christianity packaged 00:12:17.900 --> 00:12:18.900 well. 00:12:18.900 --> 00:12:23.900 Just put a yoga mat under you and wear something that's slightly skin tight and you're ready 00:12:23.900 --> 00:12:26.740 to change the world. 00:12:26.740 --> 00:12:28.740 Doesn't work that way. 00:12:28.740 --> 00:12:32.180 Lululemon doesn't help dismiss devils. 00:12:32.180 --> 00:12:36.740 It just makes you look a little thinner when you're really fat. 00:12:36.740 --> 00:12:37.740 That's all it does. 00:12:37.740 --> 00:12:41.660 And I've got nothing against lululemon. 00:12:41.660 --> 00:12:44.580 I mean I'll be so full of disclaimers on this topic. 00:12:44.580 --> 00:12:45.740 The point is this guys. 00:12:45.740 --> 00:12:48.900 Let me give you instances. 00:12:48.900 --> 00:12:51.660 Churches open their arms to acupuncture. 00:12:51.660 --> 00:12:54.300 Churches open their arms to Tai Chi. 00:12:54.300 --> 00:12:56.700 Churches open their arms to yoga. 00:12:56.700 --> 00:13:00.740 Churches open their arms to holistic methods of healing. 00:13:00.740 --> 00:13:01.980 Not all of them are wrong. 00:13:01.980 --> 00:13:06.780 But there are some where you cannot with a snap of your finger separate the spiritual 00:13:06.820 --> 00:13:10.900 roots of certain practices just because you think so. 00:13:10.900 --> 00:13:11.900 Doesn't work like that. 00:13:11.900 --> 00:13:15.580 Thank God I come from the East. 00:13:15.580 --> 00:13:16.580 We've seen it. 00:13:16.580 --> 00:13:19.900 We've seen the demonic reality behind these things. 00:13:19.900 --> 00:13:24.660 I remember a pastor once telling me the reason you're messed up in your mind is because you're 00:13:24.660 --> 00:13:30.820 syncretistic meaning you mix the Eastern ways of religion and Western Christianity and he 00:13:30.820 --> 00:13:35.340 was too old for me to fight so I didn't fight him. 00:13:35.340 --> 00:13:40.300 But the point is that it's not syncretism when you say this thing cannot be received 00:13:40.300 --> 00:13:46.020 into Christianity because the spiritual roots of something are so deeply entrenched that 00:13:46.020 --> 00:13:49.340 you cannot remove them. 00:13:58.340 --> 00:13:59.340 Yep. 00:14:00.340 --> 00:14:06.700 So here are the critical costs of prevailing prayer. 00:14:06.700 --> 00:14:11.060 The first one is know the size and the nature of the opposition. 00:14:11.060 --> 00:14:13.440 Know the size and the nature of opposition. 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:16.180 Know the size and the nature of opposition. 00:14:16.180 --> 00:14:19.340 Know the size and the nature of opposition. 00:14:19.340 --> 00:14:23.780 This is a cost we have to pay. 00:14:23.780 --> 00:14:29.220 We have to take the trouble of finding out the size and nature of our opposition and 00:14:29.220 --> 00:14:36.780 to not think that somehow being a Christian makes you impervious to the devil's attacks. 00:14:36.780 --> 00:14:37.780 Just remember one thing. 00:14:37.780 --> 00:14:45.540 Paul himself used to say stuff like I longed to come to you but Satan hindered me or prevented 00:14:45.540 --> 00:14:46.540 me. 00:14:46.540 --> 00:14:51.900 He was a man who was well versed in the ways of Christianity and yet there were times when 00:14:51.900 --> 00:14:57.060 he would have to struggle. 00:14:57.060 --> 00:14:59.260 This doesn't mean that we can't go further than Paul. 00:14:59.260 --> 00:15:03.100 All it means is let's not assume things about the enemy. 00:15:03.100 --> 00:15:04.300 This is a process of learning. 00:15:04.300 --> 00:15:11.180 I mean if you were a wrestler or a fighter or a kickboxer you don't become a star overnight. 00:15:11.180 --> 00:15:15.120 You learn and in the process you learn new ways of dealing with stuff. 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:21.820 And so the first scripture we look at is Ephesians 6, 12 where it talks about these different 00:15:21.820 --> 00:15:26.580 characteristics of the enemy. 00:15:26.580 --> 00:15:30.340 One it talks about we wrestle not against flesh and blood. 00:15:30.340 --> 00:15:34.940 Immediately come to this conclusion that everything that is happening in your life, be it accusation, 00:15:34.940 --> 00:15:42.220 be it sickness, be it death, be it decay, be it sadness, be it fear, be it pain, be 00:15:42.220 --> 00:15:48.620 it disaster, be it the breaking down of relationship, be it different diseases and pains in your 00:15:48.620 --> 00:15:53.500 body, be it your inability to escape from a certain way of thinking though you've been 00:15:53.500 --> 00:16:03.600 trying for the last 20 or 30 years, be it an inability to stop being stubborn, stop 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:09.180 being pride, be it lying, be it cheating, be it covetousness, be it lust. 00:16:09.180 --> 00:16:14.740 Take all these things together and know that your struggle did not begin in the realm of 00:16:15.740 --> 00:16:23.580 That it has its roots, that it has its source in a place called the spiritual realm and 00:16:23.580 --> 00:16:30.220 that because I have allowed it to master me, I am now enslaved to it because it says in 00:16:30.220 --> 00:16:34.980 the Bible that whatever masters you, you become a slave of. 00:16:34.980 --> 00:16:38.540 But everything has its beginning in the spiritual realm. 00:16:38.540 --> 00:16:43.580 Unfortunately, all our wars are usually in the realm of flesh and blood when it's not 00:16:43.580 --> 00:16:44.580 true. 00:16:44.580 --> 00:16:47.260 It is not true. 00:16:47.260 --> 00:16:51.420 Flesh and blood will soon tire. 00:16:51.420 --> 00:16:54.400 You can only exert yourself so much in breaking down things. 00:16:54.400 --> 00:16:59.220 After a while, your body, your mind and your emotions will tire. 00:16:59.220 --> 00:17:03.140 But there is a place from which you fight, which is your spirit man. 00:17:03.140 --> 00:17:05.500 The spirit man has Christ living there. 00:17:05.500 --> 00:17:07.260 It is a realm of the Holy Spirit. 00:17:07.260 --> 00:17:10.220 It has an inexhaustible supply of God. 00:17:10.220 --> 00:17:12.100 It is rooted in God. 00:17:12.100 --> 00:17:16.660 It is where God lives and it sources its strength from God. 00:17:16.660 --> 00:17:22.100 Things happen easily there because God gives you keys from there when you fight. 00:17:22.100 --> 00:17:27.260 Be you a doctor, a psychologist, a teacher, a soldier, when you begin to understand things 00:17:27.260 --> 00:17:31.100 from that place, you will find that your victories are greater. 00:17:31.100 --> 00:17:39.820 The time taken is shorter and the strength to endure is much more. 00:17:39.820 --> 00:17:41.340 Everything issues from there. 00:17:41.580 --> 00:17:43.220 Paul made this marvelous statement. 00:17:43.220 --> 00:17:49.100 I mean, God inspired him to do it because every word that is in the Bible is God breathed. 00:17:49.100 --> 00:17:55.140 And here's what God is saying to Paul, that your battle, Jacob, your struggle, your battle 00:17:55.140 --> 00:17:58.500 is really not against flesh and blood. 00:17:58.500 --> 00:18:01.780 Your battle in your family, your battle with your children, your battle with your spouses, 00:18:01.780 --> 00:18:05.460 your battle with your relatives is not with flesh and blood. 00:18:05.460 --> 00:18:06.940 That is not where it began. 00:18:06.940 --> 00:18:08.500 That is not where it's coming from. 00:18:08.500 --> 00:18:10.980 That's not where it's deriving its strength from. 00:18:11.140 --> 00:18:13.580 Therefore, why are you trying to solve it there? 00:18:13.580 --> 00:18:18.500 First, it has to be solved in another place before its physical effects can be solved 00:18:18.500 --> 00:18:24.900 through maybe conversations, through maybe peacemaking, through maybe a good attitude, 00:18:24.900 --> 00:18:28.420 through maybe this marvelous thing called love, through maybe mercy. 00:18:28.420 --> 00:18:32.700 These are the characteristics of Christ, which by the way, also has been brought to you from 00:18:32.700 --> 00:18:37.100 the spiritual realm into your life by someone who is invisible called the Holy Spirit. 00:18:37.100 --> 00:18:49.620 Yeah, and therefore the spirit man where the Holy Spirit dwells is where everything emanates from. 00:18:49.620 --> 00:18:53.100 It begins there and then our minds change. 00:18:53.100 --> 00:18:54.860 Then our emotions begin to match up. 00:18:54.860 --> 00:18:57.900 Our emotions will not change till our minds change. 00:18:57.900 --> 00:19:06.220 Guys, emotions are like a wild dog that some days is castrated and can be normal and sit. 00:19:06.380 --> 00:19:12.060 And other days is running wild, biting everything in sight. 00:19:12.060 --> 00:19:15.820 You cannot let emotions decide things for you. 00:19:15.820 --> 00:19:17.500 The mind has to be changed first. 00:19:17.500 --> 00:19:21.180 And the mind can only come into alignment when the spirit man is the one who rules. 00:19:22.220 --> 00:19:23.980 And therefore you think the devil doesn't know it. 00:19:25.580 --> 00:19:31.580 If the devil can get the church in the west or the east to focus on thinking first. 00:19:31.580 --> 00:19:35.500 And not the spirit man, not to understand that everything emanates from the realm of the spirit. 00:19:35.500 --> 00:19:39.500 Then the victory is already won because with our thinking, we cannot defeat the enemy. 00:19:40.700 --> 00:19:43.500 Because he is far greater in strength. 00:19:43.500 --> 00:19:47.580 He was one of the chief angels in heaven when he was cast out. 00:19:47.580 --> 00:19:50.300 One third of the angel army was cast out. 00:19:50.300 --> 00:19:53.980 These are demonic beings who once used to be in the presence of God. 00:19:57.980 --> 00:19:59.020 Corrupted. Yes. 00:19:59.020 --> 00:20:04.940 But powerful, powerful beings, people who want experiences or encounters with angels, 00:20:04.940 --> 00:20:10.060 don't realize that if an angel turned up, you would lie down flat on the floor and shiver. 00:20:11.420 --> 00:20:14.380 Because it would be hard to even meet one of these angels. 00:20:14.380 --> 00:20:18.220 Because everybody who met an angel in the Bible was not able to handle it. 00:20:18.220 --> 00:20:21.740 Except in the New Testament, when angels would come in the form of 00:20:23.740 --> 00:20:25.900 some being that would set Peter free. 00:20:25.900 --> 00:20:31.100 Some being that would set Peter free from prison and stuff like that. 00:20:34.380 --> 00:20:39.420 So here are the different things we need to know about our opposition. 00:20:40.060 --> 00:20:45.500 Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but it is against principalities. 00:20:47.260 --> 00:20:49.740 The word for principalities is RK. 00:20:51.900 --> 00:20:53.420 RK means chiefs. 00:20:56.540 --> 00:20:58.140 Against powers. 00:20:59.180 --> 00:21:08.460 The word for powers is exousia, which means forces that have jurisdiction. 00:21:13.260 --> 00:21:16.860 Against rulers. 00:21:19.100 --> 00:21:22.060 Comes from a word called cosmocratos, 00:21:22.060 --> 00:21:26.060 which means world rulers. 00:21:26.060 --> 00:21:35.180 As in these are powers that have the ability and the right because of the fallen man to rule the world. 00:21:35.980 --> 00:21:44.460 And then spiritual forces, which comes from a word pneumaticos, 00:21:45.100 --> 00:21:55.420 which means non-bodied supernatural beings. 00:22:00.540 --> 00:22:02.940 And what are these spiritual forces? 00:22:02.940 --> 00:22:05.260 They are spiritual forces of wickedness. 00:22:05.900 --> 00:22:07.740 And what is another word for wickedness? 00:22:08.380 --> 00:22:09.180 Depravity. 00:22:11.180 --> 00:22:13.500 This is the nature of your opposition. 00:22:14.460 --> 00:22:19.820 And unless we grab the fact or grasp the fact that this is the nature of our opposition, 00:22:20.380 --> 00:22:25.420 we won't even prepare for this because most of us don't confront this on a daily basis. 00:22:27.340 --> 00:22:32.380 And therefore the church dulls itself into a place where it thinks we're in a neutral space 00:22:32.380 --> 00:22:33.820 where everything is okay. 00:22:33.820 --> 00:22:36.300 No man's land, neither American nor Canadian. 00:22:36.300 --> 00:22:41.100 Sorry? 00:22:45.660 --> 00:22:51.180 Sorry say that again. 00:23:06.300 --> 00:23:07.300 Huh. 00:23:07.300 --> 00:23:10.300 So, you're well-being is a question of thought. 00:23:10.300 --> 00:23:12.300 Yeah, absolutely. Good example. 00:23:14.300 --> 00:23:16.300 This is your opposition, guys. 00:23:17.300 --> 00:23:20.300 Not a word has been added. I'm not exaggerated. 00:23:20.300 --> 00:23:22.300 I haven't come up with my own explanation. 00:23:22.300 --> 00:23:25.300 But this is your daily living. 00:23:28.300 --> 00:23:30.300 We won't get through today's notes either. 00:23:32.300 --> 00:23:33.300 But this. 00:23:34.300 --> 00:23:36.300 This is your daily living. 00:23:38.300 --> 00:23:44.300 You suddenly realize how out of sync we are 00:23:44.300 --> 00:23:51.300 with the reality of being a Christian soldier. 00:23:56.300 --> 00:23:57.300 Any questions on this? 00:23:57.300 --> 00:24:00.300 And this is all in Ephesians 6.12. Just one verse. 00:24:04.300 --> 00:24:07.300 Cosmocratos. Yeah, that's fine. 00:24:07.300 --> 00:24:10.300 Maybe an E is in there. It's just S. 00:24:11.300 --> 00:24:13.300 So this is what you're fighting. 00:24:13.300 --> 00:24:17.300 These are the forces that are summoned against you. 00:24:17.300 --> 00:24:19.300 It doesn't matter whether you believe this or not. 00:24:19.300 --> 00:24:21.300 Guys, I always use this example. 00:24:21.300 --> 00:24:26.300 Jump off a building and see if your unbelief in gravity will help. 00:24:28.300 --> 00:24:30.300 Take a leap of the highest building you can, 00:24:30.300 --> 00:24:32.300 saying, I do not believe gravity exists. 00:24:32.300 --> 00:24:35.300 See what happens. It's the same way with this. 00:24:35.300 --> 00:24:39.300 This is reality. Whether you believe it or not, 00:24:39.300 --> 00:24:40.300 just makes one difference. 00:24:40.300 --> 00:24:43.300 You don't know what hit you. Otherwise, you know what hits you. 00:24:51.300 --> 00:24:53.300 I was reading this. Yeah, we won't go there today. 00:24:55.300 --> 00:24:59.300 This is what is opposing you every day. 00:24:59.300 --> 00:25:03.300 This is what is opposing your marriage, opposing your body, 00:25:03.300 --> 00:25:07.300 opposing the church, opposing your pastor, 00:25:07.300 --> 00:25:09.300 opposing when you go on a mission trip, 00:25:09.300 --> 00:25:13.300 opposing you at work, opposing you to become silent in the face 00:25:13.300 --> 00:25:17.300 of how the world does not even want to hear about Christ. 00:25:17.300 --> 00:25:19.300 Why doesn't the world want to hear about Christ? 00:25:19.300 --> 00:25:23.300 Because there is a blanket or a canopy that is being woven, 00:25:23.300 --> 00:25:26.300 a tapestry that's being woven by these powers 00:25:26.300 --> 00:25:30.300 so that the mention of Christ is silenced because it is the only name 00:25:30.300 --> 00:25:34.300 and the only person who can completely dismantle this. 00:25:34.300 --> 00:25:37.300 And therefore, if that name is not spoken, 00:25:40.300 --> 00:25:42.300 you think the devil is not intelligent? 00:25:42.300 --> 00:25:46.300 Across the Middle East, across many different parts of the world, 00:25:46.300 --> 00:25:52.300 every day, five times prayers and chants from temples and mosques 00:25:52.300 --> 00:25:57.300 and other places are broadcasted to invoke the names of other deities. 00:25:57.300 --> 00:26:01.300 But the only people who have the ability to lay down their lives 00:26:01.300 --> 00:26:04.300 to declare the name of Christ choose to be silent 00:26:04.300 --> 00:26:06.300 because they want to be accepted. 00:26:07.300 --> 00:26:10.300 This church has to rise and break out of the ceiling 00:26:10.300 --> 00:26:14.300 of not being able to mention the name of Christ out there. 00:26:15.300 --> 00:26:18.300 It's easy to sing about him here, man. 00:26:18.300 --> 00:26:20.300 It is the only name that can deliver people. 00:26:20.300 --> 00:26:25.300 It is the only name that can break down these humongous strongholds. 00:26:35.300 --> 00:26:39.300 Yeah, culture is the collective thinking of a people. 00:26:39.300 --> 00:26:44.300 The collective thinking of a people is heavily influenced by these powers 00:26:44.300 --> 00:26:48.300 Read Ephesians 2 verses 1 and 2. Ephesians 2 verses 1 and 2. 00:26:48.300 --> 00:26:50.300 And here's what it says in Ephesians 2. 00:26:50.300 --> 00:26:53.300 When you used to, he's talking about us, 00:26:53.300 --> 00:26:57.300 who did not know Christ long ago and now know Christ. 00:26:57.300 --> 00:27:00.300 And so Paul is saying in Ephesians 2, verse 2 and 3, 00:27:00.300 --> 00:27:02.300 when you followed the ways of this world 00:27:02.300 --> 00:27:06.300 and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, or some version say, 00:27:06.300 --> 00:27:08.300 the prince of the power of the air, 00:27:08.300 --> 00:27:11.300 the spirit who is now the king of the air, 00:27:11.300 --> 00:27:13.300 the prince of the power of the air, 00:27:13.300 --> 00:27:18.300 the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 00:27:18.300 --> 00:27:21.300 All of us lived among them at one time, 00:27:21.300 --> 00:27:25.300 gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following his desires and thoughts. 00:27:25.300 --> 00:27:29.300 Over all this is someone called the devil, 00:27:29.300 --> 00:27:33.300 or the ancient serpent, 00:27:33.300 --> 00:27:37.300 or Satan, 00:27:37.300 --> 00:27:41.300 or accuser. 00:27:41.300 --> 00:27:45.300 Any of those names you can pick for him. 00:27:45.300 --> 00:27:49.300 I prefer devil or Satan because when I say the word enemy, 00:27:49.300 --> 00:27:53.300 it makes it kind of bland, just like using the name God, 00:27:53.300 --> 00:27:56.300 because God can be anybody and enemy can be anybody. 00:27:56.300 --> 00:28:03.300 Satan and the devil, it's become, it's crazy how we cannot even name the enemy now, 00:28:03.300 --> 00:28:09.300 because you say the word Satan makes you appear spooky and spiritual. 00:28:09.300 --> 00:28:17.300 So we will use words like the enemy, sounds a little more palatable. 00:28:17.300 --> 00:28:19.300 You call the Boston Bruins the enemy too, 00:28:19.300 --> 00:28:23.300 so it doesn't make much of a difference suddenly. 00:28:23.300 --> 00:28:28.300 It has to be more than that. 00:28:28.300 --> 00:28:32.300 So this is not a hierarchy by the way. 00:28:32.300 --> 00:28:36.300 I'm not saying this is how it's hierarchically built. 00:28:36.300 --> 00:28:40.300 The Bible doesn't say what the hierarchical order is. 00:28:40.300 --> 00:28:44.300 I'm just giving you the explanations, but I know the devil rules over them. 00:28:44.300 --> 00:28:49.300 Any questions before we move on? 00:28:49.300 --> 00:28:52.300 So this is the prince of the power of the air. 00:28:52.300 --> 00:28:54.300 Why is he called the prince of the power of the air? 00:28:54.300 --> 00:28:57.300 Because the intent is that there is a heavenly zone, 00:28:57.300 --> 00:29:04.300 there are heavens over us, and the air in a sense is the realm of these spirits. 00:29:04.300 --> 00:29:07.300 So we're not talking about the dust, we're talking about the prayer, 00:29:07.300 --> 00:29:09.300 ourselves, the world, the church, in the name of Christ? 00:29:09.300 --> 00:29:13.300 Yeah, that's the whole idea of prevailing church, prevailing prayer. 00:29:13.300 --> 00:29:18.300 A church that is able to pray certain things is able to behave a certain way, 00:29:18.300 --> 00:29:25.300 and therefore that church is able to endure, is able to engage in battle, endure and overcome. 00:29:25.300 --> 00:29:32.300 Because if we understand that, there should be a certain fear of the church being founded. 00:29:32.300 --> 00:29:37.300 Yeah, a healthy fear that education can easily solve. 00:29:37.300 --> 00:29:41.300 Yeah. 00:29:41.300 --> 00:29:46.300 So Ephesians 2.2 says that, guys, please understand that these powers and principalities 00:29:46.300 --> 00:29:49.300 are at work on a regular basis in the world. 00:29:49.300 --> 00:29:53.300 This is why it becomes so hard for people who hear the name of Christ again and again 00:29:53.300 --> 00:29:59.300 to not be able to receive Christ, because the God of this world has blinded the minds of those 00:29:59.300 --> 00:30:03.300 that hear about Christ, blinded the minds. 00:30:03.300 --> 00:30:09.300 Meaning, and this is why Acts 26, verse 18, just read it, such a marvelous commission to Paul. 00:30:09.300 --> 00:30:16.300 Acts 26, I think it's 18, Acts 26, 18, I love this commission given to Paul. 00:30:23.300 --> 00:30:32.300 Acts 26, verse 17. 00:30:32.300 --> 00:30:37.300 God says to Paul, I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. 00:30:37.300 --> 00:30:39.300 And then look at what he says next. 00:30:39.300 --> 00:30:44.300 I'm sending you to them to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, 00:30:44.300 --> 00:30:48.300 from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins 00:30:48.300 --> 00:30:51.300 and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. 00:30:51.300 --> 00:30:53.300 This is your commission, guys. 00:30:53.300 --> 00:30:57.300 If you want to be a prevailing church, if I want to be a pastor of a prevailing church, 00:30:57.300 --> 00:30:59.300 then this is my commission. 00:30:59.300 --> 00:31:03.300 I am sending you, Jacob, and I'm sending you Acts 29 to them. 00:31:03.300 --> 00:31:06.300 To do what? To open their eyes. 00:31:06.300 --> 00:31:12.300 So what will happen? To turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, 00:31:12.300 --> 00:31:16.300 so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified. 00:31:16.300 --> 00:31:19.300 We have absolutely no interest in making people Christians. 00:31:19.300 --> 00:31:26.300 We have absolutely total interest in rescuing people out of sin and darkness and from Satan. 00:31:26.300 --> 00:31:28.300 This is our chief interest. 00:31:28.300 --> 00:31:33.300 We are not interested in making Christians or in adding numbers to this church. 00:31:33.300 --> 00:31:35.300 Not at all interested. 00:31:43.300 --> 00:31:46.300 Colossians 1.13. 00:31:46.300 --> 00:31:48.300 Colossians 1.13 says it so clearly. 00:31:48.300 --> 00:31:54.300 I mean, the last bit here says, spiritual forces of wickedness or rulers of darkness, 00:31:54.300 --> 00:31:57.300 spiritual forces of wickedness, rulers of darkness. 00:31:57.300 --> 00:32:00.300 I mean, never forget what you were delivered out of. 00:32:00.300 --> 00:32:06.300 Colossians 1.13 says, he delivered us from the power or the domain of darkness. 00:32:06.300 --> 00:32:13.300 Oi, how can you and I be delivered from the domain of darkness and then not do anything about it? 00:32:13.300 --> 00:32:16.300 It's untenable. We can't behave like that. 00:32:19.300 --> 00:32:25.300 You and I have been set free from the domain of darkness and been transferred into the kingdom of the sun. 00:32:26.300 --> 00:32:32.300 Now we have the marvelous privilege of working alongside the sun to do the same. 00:32:32.300 --> 00:32:36.300 Set apart by Christ to assist him in setting others apart. 00:32:36.300 --> 00:32:37.300 Never forget that, guys. 00:32:37.300 --> 00:32:42.300 We have been set apart by Jesus Christ to assist him in setting others apart. 00:32:44.300 --> 00:32:46.300 That's our story. 00:32:46.300 --> 00:32:51.300 We have been set aside by Christ to assist him in setting others apart. 00:32:51.300 --> 00:32:56.300 What fun when you deliver people from this, when you deliver nations from this, when you deliver tribes from this, 00:32:56.300 --> 00:33:00.300 when you deliver people groups from this, when you deliver situations from this. 00:33:00.300 --> 00:33:02.300 Any questions before we move on? 00:33:12.300 --> 00:33:14.300 Any questions before we move on? 00:33:23.300 --> 00:33:25.300 No questions, no thoughts you want to add? 00:33:31.300 --> 00:33:36.300 God wants to say to you, Eva, endure for a little longer. 00:33:36.300 --> 00:33:41.300 Just hold on for a little longer because your dawn is coming. 00:33:41.300 --> 00:33:43.300 Things will break in your life. 00:33:43.300 --> 00:33:49.300 For a while now you've been thinking it ain't happening, it ain't happening, it ain't happening, it's going on and nothing is changing. 00:33:49.300 --> 00:33:54.300 God is saying it's like Paul being let down over the Damascus walls. 00:33:54.300 --> 00:33:59.300 He was put in a basket in the middle of the night and they started lowering him in a basket. 00:33:59.300 --> 00:34:02.300 And you can imagine Paul in that basket being lowered. 00:34:02.300 --> 00:34:08.300 His enemies are hunting after him and he does not know where the ground is because he can't see the ground. 00:34:08.300 --> 00:34:11.300 They lower him 10 feet, 20 feet, 30 feet and he's saying where is the ground? 00:34:11.300 --> 00:34:12.300 He can't see it. 00:34:12.300 --> 00:34:17.300 But God is saying to you Eva that the ground is just a few feet away. 00:34:17.300 --> 00:34:20.300 Do not cast away your confidence. 00:34:20.300 --> 00:34:24.300 Make Hebrews 10, 34 something that is precious to you. 00:34:24.300 --> 00:34:26.300 Do not cast away your confidence. 00:34:26.300 --> 00:34:31.300 For with patience and with faith you will inherit the promise. 00:34:31.300 --> 00:34:34.300 It's only a matter of a little while more. 00:34:34.300 --> 00:34:43.300 After all that you endured now to chicken out, to give up, to quit, to lose any strength or relationship with God would be a shame. 00:34:43.300 --> 00:34:49.300 That is exactly what the enemy wanted and that is exactly what you're not going to give him. 00:34:49.300 --> 00:34:51.300 Just a little longer. 00:34:51.300 --> 00:35:01.300 And while you're doing that, take the help of friends to hold up your arms like Aaron and her did for Moses. 00:35:01.300 --> 00:35:07.300 And it will require that you open up your life to be a little more transparent, which may be hard for you. 00:35:07.300 --> 00:35:10.300 But who cares? 00:35:10.300 --> 00:35:12.300 Have Aaron and her hold up your arms for a little more. 00:35:12.300 --> 00:35:20.300 And when breakthrough comes and it will come in a very short while, God will start an entirely new chapter in your spiritual walk. 00:35:20.300 --> 00:35:24.300 Your spiritual walk will not look anything like it was before. 00:35:24.300 --> 00:35:27.300 All these years have been adolescent years. 00:35:27.300 --> 00:35:29.300 Now you enter into adulthood. 00:35:29.300 --> 00:35:35.300 Hold on for a little while longer. 00:35:35.300 --> 00:35:41.300 Guys, so you've got 13 minutes more. 00:35:41.300 --> 00:35:45.300 Guys, these powers rule over nations. 00:35:45.300 --> 00:35:46.300 They rule over nations. 00:35:46.300 --> 00:35:49.300 It says in Deuteronomy 32, go quickly there. 00:35:49.300 --> 00:35:51.300 Deuteronomy 32, strange words there. 00:35:51.300 --> 00:36:03.300 Deuteronomy 32. 00:36:03.300 --> 00:36:07.300 Verse 8. 00:36:07.300 --> 00:36:10.300 What I'm going to say, hold not too tightly. 00:36:10.300 --> 00:36:14.300 Just consider that what I'm saying could be the truth, but don't make a doctrine out of it. 00:36:14.300 --> 00:36:19.300 Hold it loosely. 00:36:19.300 --> 00:36:20.300 Verse 7. 00:36:20.300 --> 00:36:21.300 Deuteronomy 32, verse 7. 00:36:21.300 --> 00:36:23.300 Remember the days of old. 00:36:23.300 --> 00:36:25.300 Consider the generations long past. 00:36:25.300 --> 00:36:27.300 Ask your father and he will tell you. 00:36:27.300 --> 00:36:29.300 Your elders and they will explain it to you. 00:36:29.300 --> 00:36:40.300 When the Most High gave nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the numbers of the sons of Israel. 00:36:40.300 --> 00:36:44.300 For the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob is allotted inheritance. 00:36:44.300 --> 00:36:49.300 Guys, the sons of Israel there is some versions don't say sons of Israel. 00:36:49.300 --> 00:36:52.300 Some versions say sons of God. 00:36:52.300 --> 00:37:02.300 I would suggest to you that God's intent was that every nation, every people that he placed on the earth would have his angelic protection. 00:37:02.300 --> 00:37:05.300 That was his intent. 00:37:05.300 --> 00:37:17.300 Unfortunately, because man has chosen to worship other deities, they still have divine guardians, but these guardians are not necessarily from God. 00:37:17.300 --> 00:37:23.300 So there are nations where you can go and nations have demonic deities presiding over them. 00:37:23.300 --> 00:37:32.300 In the Book of Daniel, you find that God says to Daniel, listen, there is a guardian angel over Israel. 00:37:32.300 --> 00:37:39.300 But he named them, he calls them Michael, but he says before I came to help you, I had to fight the Prince of Persia. 00:37:39.300 --> 00:37:41.300 And he was not talking about a video game. 00:37:41.300 --> 00:37:44.300 And I had to fight the Prince of Greece. 00:37:44.300 --> 00:37:51.300 There are divine guardians over nations and peoples. 00:37:51.300 --> 00:38:01.300 Demonic deities that preside over these nations because these nations have chosen to either subscribe to or surrender to or devote themselves to a certain ideology, 00:38:01.300 --> 00:38:05.300 a certain religion or a certain sin. 00:38:05.300 --> 00:38:08.300 It ravages the entire nation. 00:38:08.300 --> 00:38:25.300 And therefore, to even begin to stand up and prevail as a church will require first to break, to be able to understand and then pray for these nations. 00:38:25.300 --> 00:38:27.300 We'll just look at one thing and then stop. 00:38:27.300 --> 00:38:29.300 At six points, we have done one. 00:38:29.300 --> 00:38:44.300 We'll finish one more and then keep going at this. 00:38:44.300 --> 00:38:47.300 Our nations are not bound by boundaries anymore. 00:38:47.300 --> 00:39:08.300 Why is it that you can be Mongolian or East Indian or Chinese or British and leave Mongolia, Britain, India and China and come to Canada and still have a culture and live out a culture with its faults, its defects and its positives in a brand new country? 00:39:08.300 --> 00:39:10.300 It's not the boundary that changes things. 00:39:10.300 --> 00:39:18.300 It's a culture that we cultivate over a period of time and we come into a new nation and nothing changes. 00:39:18.300 --> 00:39:29.300 And the only way that will change is when an overarching culture called the kingdom culture, the culture or the way of thinking that Jesus Christ prescribes begins to take over an entire people. 00:39:29.300 --> 00:39:36.300 Therefore, it is impossible at Acts 29 to be British or Indian or Chinese or Mongolian and survive. 00:39:36.300 --> 00:39:41.300 You cannot. 00:39:41.300 --> 00:39:45.300 It is not that either of these cultures are bad. 00:39:45.300 --> 00:39:46.300 It is that they are secondary. 00:39:46.300 --> 00:39:55.300 They are no longer primary because there's another culture that takes over. 00:39:55.300 --> 00:40:08.300 It's amazing how nations have a certain way of thinking, certain ways of treating men, certain ways of treating women, certain ways of treating children, a certain religious affiliation, certain sin aspects. 00:40:08.300 --> 00:40:18.300 It's amazing how each nation is different. 00:40:18.300 --> 00:40:21.300 Let's just talk about Jesus Christ and then. 00:40:21.300 --> 00:40:29.300 So the cost of prevailing prayer, we said, is to know the size and opposition, size and category of the opposition. 00:40:29.300 --> 00:40:41.300 Now, the next thing is to know the ascended and risen, the risen and ascended Christ, risen and ascended Christ, to know him. 00:40:41.300 --> 00:40:49.300 That is a second part of the cost of prevailing prayer, to know the risen and ascended Christ. 00:40:49.300 --> 00:40:54.300 If Christ just rose, it wouldn't have been enough. 00:40:54.300 --> 00:40:57.300 Christ died. That wouldn't be enough. 00:40:57.300 --> 00:41:05.300 If Christ didn't rise, his death would have been useless because that just meant that Christ died for my sins, but he had sins of his own and he did not rise from the dead. 00:41:05.300 --> 00:41:07.300 So that would not have been enough. 00:41:07.300 --> 00:41:13.300 Had Christ risen and stayed somewhere here on earth or somewhere between the heavens on the earth, that wouldn't be enough. 00:41:13.300 --> 00:41:23.300 Because, yes, my sins would have been forgiven, but I still would not be able to connect with his father, nor would I be free from the devil's oppression. 00:41:23.300 --> 00:41:26.300 Christ rose and then he did this amazing thing. 00:41:26.300 --> 00:41:33.300 Forty days later, he ascends, he ascends and is now seated in the highest place in the universe. 00:41:33.300 --> 00:41:40.300 By highest, I don't mean the number of kilometers up there, highest as in there is no other superior place. 00:41:40.300 --> 00:41:46.300 Now that he's seated there, I have the authority that he delegates. 00:41:46.300 --> 00:41:53.300 Otherwise, the devil could still have a lot of fun with blood washed Christians. 00:41:53.300 --> 00:42:05.300 And there would be no setting free of others from bondage because we would be ones who receive Christ, but we would never be able to cast out a demon from someone because the demon still occupied a place higher than us. 00:42:05.300 --> 00:42:15.300 But because Christ has ascended and is seated in a place that is above every other place and because he says I have lifted you up and seated you with me now. 00:42:18.300 --> 00:42:26.300 The Cosmocratos and the Exusia and the Numaticos and the Arche have to obey. 00:42:27.300 --> 00:42:32.300 The ascension of Christ is so critical to our mission as a church. 00:42:32.300 --> 00:42:42.300 Without ascension, we'd be a bunch of martyrs with no power except when our blood is spilled. 00:42:44.300 --> 00:42:50.300 And so how do we know the risen and ascended Christ? How do we get to know him? 00:42:50.300 --> 00:42:57.300 Guys, begin to pray this prayer. These are prayers that you must write down and once a week or twice a week pray it. 00:42:58.300 --> 00:43:08.300 It's in Ephesians 1.18. It says in Ephesians 1.18 and then verse 20. I'll skip verse 19 just to get the point across. 00:43:08.300 --> 00:43:15.300 Ephesians 1.18, Paul says, Hey guys, I pray and now don't let Paul pray for you. You pray for yourself. 00:43:15.300 --> 00:43:26.300 Ephesians 1.18, that the eyes of your understanding be enlightened. Why? So that you may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards those of us who believe. 00:43:26.300 --> 00:43:34.300 According to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in heavenly places. 00:43:35.300 --> 00:43:41.300 Plead with God, Oh God, we are going to become a prevailing church. Oh God, I don't want to be left out of this experience. 00:43:41.300 --> 00:43:48.300 Oh God, would you enlighten my eyes? Would you open my understanding so that I might see the greatness of your power? 00:43:49.300 --> 00:43:58.300 Greatness of your power so that I can understand that my God, you lay dead on a stone and then suddenly life entered you. 00:43:58.300 --> 00:44:08.300 You rose again and then you ascended. Oh God, could you open my mind and my spirit to begin to grasp the fullness of this power that you have? 00:44:08.300 --> 00:44:11.300 Because if I don't understand it, I cannot handle the opposition. 00:44:12.300 --> 00:44:17.300 And when you ask God this, the Holy Spirit begins to show you things, man. 00:44:17.300 --> 00:44:21.300 He begins to show you things and your mind begins to expand. 00:44:21.300 --> 00:44:26.300 He'll show me things that I can teach you. He'll then help us train together. 00:44:29.300 --> 00:44:34.300 That is the whole intent. And one day different people will go to different parts of the world from this church. 00:44:35.300 --> 00:44:39.300 Which has already begun, but that it becomes something that saturates the church. 00:44:41.300 --> 00:44:56.300 Just one more scripture. Ephesians 1, 20 and 21. Ephesians 1, 20 and 21. 00:44:56.300 --> 00:45:07.300 It says Christ when he rose was seated at the right hand of the Father. Christ when he rose was seated at the right hand of the Father in heavenly places. 00:45:07.300 --> 00:45:14.300 I love the next two words. In any Bible it's the same. And the next two words are far above. Far above. 00:45:14.300 --> 00:45:19.300 Guys, it's one thing for Satan to be called the Prince of the power of the air. 00:45:19.300 --> 00:45:28.300 The heavens are above us and he occupies the realm of the air. But Jesus Christ is seated far above. 00:45:29.300 --> 00:45:36.300 Like Paul didn't even waste time explaining how far above because far above was sufficient because it's that far above. 00:45:38.300 --> 00:45:49.300 Far above. And then look at the rest of the words. It says far above what? Far above principalities. 00:45:50.300 --> 00:45:55.300 Which was what we were talking about the enemy. RK. Far above. What's the next word? 00:45:56.300 --> 00:46:05.300 I'm assuming you're looking at the scripture. Far above authority. Authority comes from the word dunamis. 00:46:05.300 --> 00:46:11.300 He's added a few more things, Paul, so you can expand your list of the opposition and know that Jesus Christ trumps all of it. 00:46:11.300 --> 00:46:21.300 RK, dunamis, far above authority. What else? Powers, exusia and dominion. 00:46:23.300 --> 00:46:30.300 And every name that is named. The word for name is a Greek word, onema, which means influence and authority. 00:46:30.300 --> 00:46:35.300 Dominion comes from, I forgot the word. Dominion comes from this beautiful word. 00:46:35.300 --> 00:46:41.300 You know, do you know the word for Lord in Greek? Obviously not. 00:46:42.300 --> 00:46:53.300 I said that almost like a scholar. The word for Lord in Greek is kurios or k-u-r-i-o-s. It means Lord. 00:46:54.300 --> 00:47:04.300 And so dominion comes from this word. This is not important guys, but it tickles me that the word dominion comes from a word kuriotis, 00:47:04.300 --> 00:47:12.300 while Jesus Christ is absolute kurios or kurios, which means Lord. 00:47:14.300 --> 00:47:16.300 Oops, ran out of space. 00:47:16.300 --> 00:47:21.300 There's no dominion before him. He's the only one. He's the only king. 00:47:25.300 --> 00:47:32.300 I carry these things on my phone and read it again and again, especially if I'm going to a nation where I know there are things involved. 00:47:32.300 --> 00:47:35.300 I don't want to know the size of the opposition because that can frighten you. 00:47:35.300 --> 00:47:41.300 I want to know the size and the magnitude of Jesus Christ and I can't wrap my head around it. 00:47:41.300 --> 00:47:52.300 Because there is no comparison. And so you can add these four to the other guys from your opposition and still come up absolutely prevailing. 00:47:53.300 --> 00:47:54.300 Go ahead. 00:48:00.300 --> 00:48:04.300 No, it has to be held in tension. On one hand, we need to know the size of our opposition. 00:48:04.300 --> 00:48:09.300 Yet the moment we get overwhelmed by the size of opposition, breakthrough does not happen. 00:48:09.300 --> 00:48:15.300 I must know the size of the opposition just so I know how big the door should be so I can push them out. 00:48:15.300 --> 00:48:18.300 Because it will be harder to push them through a narrow door. 00:48:22.300 --> 00:48:29.300 So that is why. So it both has to be held in tension. You know the size of your enemy just so you can push them out. 00:48:29.300 --> 00:48:39.300 So that is why. So it both has to be held in tension. You know the size of your enemy just so you know how much strength you need to use to shove them out. 00:48:40.300 --> 00:48:46.300 I mean throwing Jeevan over the balcony is much easier than throwing Don over the balcony. 00:48:51.300 --> 00:48:53.300 That was the wrong example, right? 00:48:54.300 --> 00:48:59.300 Gravity would affect both of them. Gravity would affect both of them. 00:49:02.300 --> 00:49:08.300 Okay, cancel. We won't be throwing any of you over. Not till after the fine dining experience. 00:49:09.300 --> 00:49:14.300 Because you guys are making the fish. Chicken. Any questions guys? I'll stop here. 00:49:19.300 --> 00:49:20.300 Any questions? 00:49:20.300 --> 00:49:21.300 Any questions? 00:49:22.300 --> 00:49:23.300 Yep. 00:49:24.300 --> 00:49:27.300 First let me verify if you are David or Donald. 00:49:28.300 --> 00:49:34.300 Okay, then you must be David. This is like when I used to play with the Sedin Twins. I never knew which one was which. But go ahead. 00:49:44.300 --> 00:49:45.300 Who is this? 00:49:46.300 --> 00:49:47.300 Okay. 00:49:50.300 --> 00:49:51.300 My name is... 00:50:20.300 --> 00:50:23.300 I'm not sure if you can confirm your name. 00:50:26.300 --> 00:50:31.300 Yeah. Wayne you can stop the recording. I'll answer the questions.