WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: The Heart of Hearing Publishing Date: 2026-01-04T02:04:44-08:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/the-heart-of-hearing/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:23.640 What does he do? The words used are snatches or clucks out. What? The word that was sewn. 00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:38.640 So this happens every Sunday at different times, different people, including me, if I am sitting there. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:45.640 And so the intent is, how can we prevent this? And so what is Jesus doing here? He already explained the parable. 00:00:45.640 --> 00:00:53.640 He said that a sower went out to sow and he scattered seed and some fell on a path. 00:00:53.640 --> 00:00:58.640 And he is now talking about the seed that fell on the path. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:09.640 And he is saying that the message of the kingdom, as in what I am preaching right now, whenever anyone hears it— 00:01:09.640 --> 00:01:17.640 so let's assume it is Tooni hearing it—whenever Tooni hears it, if he does not understand it, 00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:27.640 then the evil one or Satan turns up to pluck out of Tooni's heart what he heard. 00:01:27.640 --> 00:01:36.640 And so it begs the question, why does not Tooni understand it if he is hearing it, like all of us are hearing right now? 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:42.640 And this happens every Sunday, every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, every time we hear the word of God. 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:50.640 And it is common to us, but it does not have to be like that. 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:56.640 And so we will answer the why. Why does he not understand it even though he heard the word? 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:03.640 Why does Tooni not understand it even though he heard the word? We will talk about that later. Let's keep going. 00:02:03.640 --> 00:02:11.640 This is a seed sown along the path. Where is 20? The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places. 00:02:11.640 --> 00:02:22.640 So then there is the seed that fell on rocky places. By the way, what is his name? Kamal. 00:02:22.640 --> 00:02:30.640 They checked him out. They put him on IV. They said all the other tests were fine. 00:02:30.640 --> 00:02:35.640 And then he began to crack jokes and they said we are sending you home. So he will be home shortly. 00:02:35.640 --> 00:02:41.640 So praise God, yeah? Not for his jokes, but for his quick recovery. 00:02:41.640 --> 00:02:51.640 So rocky places. So these are the people who hear the word. 00:02:51.640 --> 00:02:59.640 Hear the word. And then it says they receive it with joy. 00:02:59.640 --> 00:03:09.640 They receive it with joy. So there is immediate response. 00:03:09.640 --> 00:03:14.640 And there is the promise. There is this initial promise that something is going to happen. 00:03:14.640 --> 00:03:24.640 There is promising initial growth. There is promising initial growth. 00:03:24.640 --> 00:03:29.640 And we have been here, right? And as leaders we have seen this and as hearers we have been here. 00:03:29.640 --> 00:03:43.640 I have been here where you say something and I get so enthusiastic about it, but the initial response is not what we go by. 00:03:43.640 --> 00:03:48.640 So they hear the word. They receive it with joy. So let's pick on Anilay. 00:03:48.640 --> 00:03:54.640 So Anilay hears the word. She receives it with joy. And there is an immediate response. 00:03:54.640 --> 00:04:02.640 She starts praising like crazy. She grabs a flag, stands dancing. There seems to be promising initial growth. 00:04:02.640 --> 00:04:15.640 But then it says troubles come. Persecution comes. Pressure comes. 00:04:15.640 --> 00:04:23.640 And where does this come from? It comes because she believed the word. 00:04:23.640 --> 00:04:31.640 She believed the word. But when troubles come because she believed. When persecution comes because she believed. 00:04:31.640 --> 00:04:39.640 When pressure comes because of the word that she received. She cannot endure it. 00:04:39.640 --> 00:04:53.640 She cannot endure it. And it says she cannot endure it. She regresses and gives in. 00:04:53.640 --> 00:04:55.640 Let's read that, verse 20. 00:04:55.640 --> 00:05:03.640 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is a man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 00:05:03.640 --> 00:05:11.640 But since he has no root, and it gives you the reason why. The reason is in verse 21. 00:05:11.640 --> 00:05:20.640 But since he has no root, he only lasts a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 00:05:20.640 --> 00:05:33.640 So why is it that they have such joy and there's promising initial growth, but the moment pressure, trouble, trials come because of standing in the word that they received. 00:05:33.640 --> 00:05:51.640 Why is it that they cannot endure? Because the soil has no depth and the roots are shallow. 00:05:51.640 --> 00:06:02.640 It happens every Sunday. It happens every Sunday. Where the word is being preached, you're hearing it, I'm hearing it. 00:06:02.640 --> 00:06:09.640 And there's this initial response that is so amazing where you love what you hear and you want to walk in it. 00:06:09.640 --> 00:06:16.640 But you don't get past about two days. Two days from now when the same situations come your way. 00:06:16.640 --> 00:06:23.640 When the same things begin to happen, it's like this doesn't work. 00:06:23.640 --> 00:06:31.640 And the moment this doesn't work, you go back to your old default and therefore the word does not change you. 00:06:31.640 --> 00:06:40.640 Why? Because the soil has no depth. As in, there wasn't any, and we'll talk about how to give soil depth, but the roots are shallow. 00:06:40.640 --> 00:06:46.640 The roots are shallow. 00:06:46.640 --> 00:06:49.640 Any questions before we go on? 00:06:49.640 --> 00:06:53.640 This has happened to me guys. I receive a promise from God. I receive a word from God. 00:06:53.640 --> 00:06:57.640 Sometimes on a flight, sometimes when I'm sitting on my own at home. 00:06:57.640 --> 00:07:03.640 And it just thrills me. I'm so full of, oh gosh, I'm going to stand on this. 00:07:03.640 --> 00:07:08.640 Two days later, the same circumstances, the same pressures, the same trials. 00:07:08.640 --> 00:07:14.640 And now the question is, Jacob, can you still walk in it? Or do you regress or do you fold up? 00:07:14.640 --> 00:07:18.640 Or do you still have the same joy and enthusiasm? 00:07:18.640 --> 00:07:26.640 The loss of joy is an indication. 00:07:26.640 --> 00:07:31.640 It's because the roots are shallow. 00:07:31.640 --> 00:07:40.640 Any questions? 00:07:40.640 --> 00:07:44.640 When are the roots shallow? Why is this happening? 00:07:44.640 --> 00:07:49.640 It's usually because the word received, 00:07:49.640 --> 00:08:06.640 the word was received, but was, the word received was not mixed with faith immediately. 00:08:06.640 --> 00:08:14.640 It was not mixed with faith, action or experience. 00:08:14.640 --> 00:08:19.640 If you look at Jeremiah 17, verse 7 and 8, 00:08:19.640 --> 00:08:28.640 Fruits grow by faith. 00:08:28.640 --> 00:08:34.640 Jeremiah 17, verse 7 and 8. 00:08:34.640 --> 00:08:41.640 Jeremiah 17, verse 7 and 8. 00:08:41.640 --> 00:08:45.640 Blessed is a man who trusts in the Lord, who's trust is the Lord. 00:08:45.640 --> 00:08:50.640 He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out roots by the stream, 00:08:50.640 --> 00:08:53.640 does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, 00:08:53.640 --> 00:08:58.640 is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. 00:08:58.640 --> 00:09:02.640 Roots grow by faith. 00:09:02.640 --> 00:09:07.640 And so there's this thing that we need to develop for the year ahead, guys, 00:09:07.640 --> 00:09:11.640 where when you are listening to the word of the kingdom, 00:09:11.640 --> 00:09:16.640 and you absolutely know it's preached here, regardless of who's preaching here, 00:09:16.640 --> 00:09:23.640 then know that if as you're listening, it's not immediately heard with faith, 00:09:23.640 --> 00:09:29.640 and received with faith, then it's unlikely that over the next two, three, four days, 00:09:29.640 --> 00:09:36.640 that you're going to go and cultivate the depth required for the roots to take ground. 00:09:36.640 --> 00:09:39.640 Galatians 3, verse 2 to 5 puts it this way. 00:09:39.640 --> 00:09:44.640 When you first came to the Lord, did things happen by the law, 00:09:44.640 --> 00:09:51.640 or did things happen by the hearing with faith, or the hearing of faith? 00:09:51.640 --> 00:09:55.640 You'll notice sometimes when people come and read things here, 00:09:55.640 --> 00:09:59.640 be it a prophetic word, be it a scripture, you'll often hear me saying, 00:09:59.640 --> 00:10:01.640 can you read it again? 00:10:01.640 --> 00:10:06.640 Partly I'm doing it for myself, partly I'm doing it for you, 00:10:06.640 --> 00:10:11.640 because most of us are not listening to what's being read. 00:10:11.640 --> 00:10:16.640 Most of us are not listening to what's being read. 00:10:16.640 --> 00:10:23.640 And so I ask that it be read again, hoping that in the second reading, 00:10:23.640 --> 00:10:27.640 I'll catch little things, and then I catch it with ears of faith. 00:10:27.640 --> 00:10:31.640 There's physical hearing, and then there's hearing with faith. 00:10:31.640 --> 00:10:33.640 What does hearing with faith look like? 00:10:33.640 --> 00:10:36.640 What examples can you think of? 00:10:36.640 --> 00:10:39.640 You know, sometimes you're sitting in a room and somebody says something, 00:10:39.640 --> 00:10:44.640 and you were dull to everything else, but that one thing suddenly clicks. 00:10:44.640 --> 00:10:46.640 You don't even know why it clicks. 00:10:46.640 --> 00:10:51.640 But it's just like the penny dropped and something happens. 00:10:51.640 --> 00:10:55.640 That's an isolated incident. 00:10:55.640 --> 00:10:58.640 But I'm saying to you that the word of the kingdom is such 00:10:58.640 --> 00:11:00.640 that you can continuously hear with faith. 00:11:00.640 --> 00:11:06.640 It is a practice, it's a habit, it's developed. 00:11:06.640 --> 00:11:11.640 I went and read again what I read to you long ago to encourage myself. 00:11:11.640 --> 00:11:13.640 These are the ways I encourage myself. 00:11:13.640 --> 00:11:21.640 Let me read it to you. 00:11:21.640 --> 00:11:24.640 Take a deep really have to pause to read this. 00:11:24.640 --> 00:11:29.640 If I find it. 00:11:29.640 --> 00:11:30.640 Yes. 00:11:30.640 --> 00:11:33.640 I read this today and it felt very encouraging. 00:11:33.640 --> 00:11:36.640 Silence is not disengagement. 00:11:36.640 --> 00:11:43.640 Often that blank look is processing, not apathy. 00:11:43.640 --> 00:11:46.640 You go ahead and present the plan, Jacob. 00:11:46.640 --> 00:11:48.640 They hold the gaze. 00:11:48.640 --> 00:11:50.640 There are no nods. 00:11:50.640 --> 00:11:52.640 Your brain yells, bored. 00:11:52.640 --> 00:11:54.640 It's not boredom. 00:11:54.640 --> 00:11:56.640 It's cognitive buffering. 00:11:56.640 --> 00:11:58.640 Give it a beat. 00:11:58.640 --> 00:12:00.640 Here's why this is huge. 00:12:00.640 --> 00:12:07.640 Congregations where people keep quiet like this boosts learning and retention by 25%. 00:12:07.640 --> 00:12:10.640 Speed isn't the only signal. 00:12:10.640 --> 00:12:14.640 I read this today and it encouraged me. 00:12:14.640 --> 00:12:16.640 So I don't care what you look like. 00:12:16.640 --> 00:12:20.640 I'll go by this. 00:12:20.640 --> 00:12:29.640 So as long as you're still hearing with faith, I'm okay. 00:12:29.640 --> 00:12:33.640 But it has to be a practice. 00:12:33.640 --> 00:12:46.640 You know, fivefold teaching and by fivefold teaching I'm saying when one's called to the office of apostle, prophet, teacher, evangelist, pastor, when the grace for that is there, 00:12:46.640 --> 00:12:53.640 that teaching, it's hard to keep notes, but it is easy for your spirit to pick up. 00:12:53.640 --> 00:13:07.640 It's like it's a difference between a guy who's teaching you how to play a game because he learned it on AI or on a computer and a guy who actually played the game. 00:13:07.640 --> 00:13:12.640 When they speak, there's something to it. 00:13:12.640 --> 00:13:14.640 And it applies to most of the people who teach here. 00:13:14.640 --> 00:13:23.640 As they teach, yes, it's good to keep notes, but be aware, listen with your ears, not with your pen. 00:13:23.640 --> 00:13:31.640 And as you listen, things will drop. 00:13:31.640 --> 00:13:42.640 You know, I wonder how the disciples kept track of Jesus' teaching because unlike the prophets, he never told them to bring in a writer and to start writing. 00:13:42.640 --> 00:13:46.640 They had to recall and they're recalled by the spirit. 00:13:46.640 --> 00:13:55.640 And they came up with four gospels, which covers all, which doesn't cover all his teachings, but covers enough to have us run. 00:13:55.640 --> 00:13:56.640 Just be aware of it. 00:13:56.640 --> 00:13:57.640 I'm not saying don't take notes. 00:13:57.640 --> 00:14:01.640 Please take notes. 00:14:01.640 --> 00:14:05.640 But I'm saying listen with your ears and listen with ears of faith and you'll catch stuff. 00:14:05.640 --> 00:14:16.640 Most of the things that brought me into the next phase of my life was sitting on the teachers and as they taught, I got what they were saying. 00:14:16.640 --> 00:14:21.640 I remember thinking of faith, healing, the apostolic, the prophetic. 00:14:21.640 --> 00:14:22.640 It all happened just listening. 00:14:22.640 --> 00:14:26.640 Christ life. 00:14:26.640 --> 00:14:28.640 I'm a regent, man. 00:14:28.640 --> 00:14:30.640 It's a great place to go. 00:14:30.640 --> 00:14:38.640 But Christ life was something that happened while I was sitting in a church in Surrey listening to a guy called Dan White, who I've never met before. 00:14:38.640 --> 00:14:45.640 And he revealed that Christ actually lives in me and that my spirit and his spirit have become one. 00:14:45.640 --> 00:14:48.640 And it blew my mind. 00:14:48.640 --> 00:14:53.640 It is the same thing Paul has been saying in the gospels, but one day it clicked. 00:14:53.640 --> 00:14:57.640 Hearing with faith. 00:14:57.640 --> 00:15:02.640 It's a habit that needs to be formed too, yeah? 00:15:02.640 --> 00:15:08.640 So, usually the soil is shallow. 00:15:08.640 --> 00:15:16.640 Sorry, the soil has no depth and the roots are shallow because the word is not received or mixed with experience, action or faith. 00:15:16.640 --> 00:15:18.640 And those three words go together. 00:15:18.640 --> 00:15:23.640 When you receive a word, those three words cannot be separated. 00:15:23.640 --> 00:15:26.640 Faith means action and experience. 00:15:26.640 --> 00:15:31.640 Faith that does not have action and experience, according to James, is not faith. 00:15:31.640 --> 00:15:36.640 Faith without words, as in action and experiences? 00:15:36.640 --> 00:15:41.640 Dead. 00:15:41.640 --> 00:15:42.640 Why is this important? 00:15:42.640 --> 00:15:46.640 I mean, I thought I'd be talking about training our hands to war. 00:15:46.640 --> 00:15:47.640 We're on series six. 00:15:47.640 --> 00:15:49.640 We've got quite a few more to go. 00:15:49.640 --> 00:15:50.640 Why this? 00:15:50.640 --> 00:16:09.640 Because it's almost like take a break and help us as a church learn how to listen this year so that our harvest is much greater. 00:16:09.640 --> 00:16:17.640 Enthusiasm is short-lived if faith in God's word is brittle. 00:16:17.640 --> 00:16:22.640 Enthusiasm is short-lived if faith in God's word is brittle. 00:16:22.640 --> 00:16:24.640 I see this in my life so often. 00:16:24.640 --> 00:16:30.640 So enthusiastic and then unable to walk in it because I get so scared because my faith is brittle. 00:16:30.640 --> 00:16:33.640 We'll talk about how to develop it. 00:16:33.640 --> 00:16:34.640 Next one. 00:16:34.640 --> 00:16:38.640 The next soil was the thorny soil. 00:16:38.640 --> 00:16:39.640 Thorny soil. 00:16:39.640 --> 00:16:42.640 In this case, the word is heard. 00:16:42.640 --> 00:16:47.640 The person hears the word. 00:16:47.640 --> 00:16:51.640 And the soil depth is adequate. 00:16:51.640 --> 00:16:52.640 Nothing with that. 00:16:52.640 --> 00:16:54.640 No problem with that. 00:16:54.640 --> 00:16:57.640 Soil depth is adequate. 00:16:57.640 --> 00:16:59.640 But here's the thing. 00:16:59.640 --> 00:17:00.640 Let's read it. 00:17:00.640 --> 00:17:01.640 Verse 22. 00:17:01.640 --> 00:17:06.640 The one who received the seed that fell among thorns is a man who hears the word. 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:13.640 But the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 00:17:13.640 --> 00:17:15.640 So the soil depth is adequate. 00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:17.640 He hears the word. 00:17:17.640 --> 00:17:29.640 But the heart that receives the word is divided, occupied. 00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:43.640 And won't yield space or room to the seed of the word that is planted. 00:17:43.640 --> 00:17:46.640 And what is it occupied with? 00:17:46.640 --> 00:18:09.640 The ambition for wealth, the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of mammon or riches. 00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:17.640 So these begin to compete for space. 00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:24.640 And now we understand why God said in Luke 16, 13, you cannot serve. 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:26.640 He said God and mammon. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:33.640 You cannot serve mammon and God because you will be devoted to one and you'll despise the other. 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:35.640 These are relative terms. 00:18:35.640 --> 00:18:36.640 You will hate one and love the other. 00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:37.640 It doesn't mean you hate God. 00:18:37.640 --> 00:18:39.640 So this is happening every week. 00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:43.640 Every week we are receiving words that are being taught. 00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:51.640 But every week we are sowing seeds into a plot that has thorns and weeds. 00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:55.640 And it's impossible for these seeds to come up. 00:18:55.640 --> 00:18:59.640 Because the heart is already occupied. 00:18:59.640 --> 00:19:01.640 The heart is already divided. 00:19:01.640 --> 00:19:04.640 The heart is already competing for space. 00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:07.640 But there's something that pre-exists. 00:19:07.640 --> 00:19:13.640 Because we are all sinners and we came out of a background where the world system rules everything we do. 00:19:13.640 --> 00:19:15.640 What do you mean by the world system? 00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:17.640 1 John 2, 16. 00:19:17.640 --> 00:19:22.640 1 John 2, 16 says that there are three things that occupy man. 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:28.640 The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. 00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:32.640 The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:34.640 These are the three things that occupy man. 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:41.640 This is why it doesn't matter how many times you tell me if I am thorny ground. 00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:43.640 That Jesus wants you to do this. 00:19:43.640 --> 00:19:45.640 Jesus wants you to deny yourself. 00:19:45.640 --> 00:19:47.640 Jesus wants you to take up your cross. 00:19:47.640 --> 00:19:54.640 It doesn't settle because that space in my heart is already taken. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:58.640 I hear it but I can't commit to it. 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:03.640 Jeremiah 4 put it this way. 00:20:03.640 --> 00:20:09.640 Break up your fallow ground and do not sow amongst thorns. 00:20:09.640 --> 00:20:13.640 God is speaking to Israel and God says to Israel, break up your fallow ground. 00:20:13.640 --> 00:20:14.640 I mean plough it. 00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:16.640 That's the only way to remove weeds. 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:18.640 And do not sow in thorny ground. 00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:24.640 Which means that when you come here or when you come anywhere to sit under the word, 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:32.640 you'll have to decide the condition of your heart before you get here so that transplanting takes place. 00:20:41.640 --> 00:20:44.640 And what are the things that compete with the word? 00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:49.640 It all comes under one thing called mammon. 00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:52.640 The ambition for wealth. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:55.640 The ambition for wealth. 00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:57.640 But Jacob should we not be ambitious? 00:20:57.640 --> 00:20:58.640 No. 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:00.640 It's not a kingdom quality. 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:08.640 God has the ability to promote you. 00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:11.640 God has the ability to raise you up. 00:21:11.640 --> 00:21:14.640 God has the ability to give you amazing dreams. 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:20.640 But ambition feeds into the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:26.640 Whose words are these? Mine? 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:27.640 No. 00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:30.640 These are the words of your Lord and Savior. 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:39.640 What happens to the seed that is planted in this kind of ground that is already occupied? 00:21:39.640 --> 00:21:43.640 Which is the condition of all our hearts, by the way. 00:21:43.640 --> 00:21:45.640 All our hearts are this way. 00:21:45.640 --> 00:21:50.640 What is the condition of someone who is already occupied? 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:53.640 Which is the condition of all our hearts, by the way? 00:21:53.640 --> 00:21:55.640 All our hearts are this way. 00:21:55.640 --> 00:22:01.640 What is the condition of someone who, when the word is planted in this ground, it suffocates the word. 00:22:01.640 --> 00:22:04.640 As in, it robs it of oxygen. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:10.640 So the word is gasping for breath in your life. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:13.640 Or it strangles the word. 00:22:13.640 --> 00:22:16.640 It doesn't kill the word, but it strangles it. 00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:20.640 What is the intent? 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:23.640 Let the word stay with the weed. 00:22:23.640 --> 00:22:32.640 Let the word stay with the weeds, but it should not produce fruit. 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:37.640 And so the intent is to make the word important. 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:44.640 Do you realize it's happening to us right now? 00:22:49.640 --> 00:22:50.640 Right now. 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:52.640 Happening to me, happening to you. 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:58.640 He is the word made flesh. 00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:03.640 When he, when, what's he giving to you, himself? 00:23:03.640 --> 00:23:09.640 This is why perhaps it was important to start with your alpha and omega. 00:23:09.640 --> 00:23:11.640 And everything in between. 00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:30.640 Let me just deviate a little to just again briefly touch on this thing called mammon. 00:23:37.640 --> 00:23:44.640 It is unrighteous money. 00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:51.640 For some reason, I used to teach that money is amoral. 00:23:51.640 --> 00:23:52.640 It's neither good nor evil. 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:56.640 But the system that money has created is unrighteous. 00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:57.640 It's unrighteous money. 00:23:57.640 --> 00:23:59.640 Luke 16 talks about it. 00:23:59.640 --> 00:24:02.640 It's a devouring spirit. 00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:04.640 Mammon is a devouring spirit. 00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:14.640 It's a power that runs the systems of the world. 00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:16.640 It's a power that runs the systems of the world. 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:22.640 It's a power that runs the systems of the world. 00:24:25.640 --> 00:24:34.640 It spawns greed, lack, insecurity. 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:50.640 It encourages you to be noncompliant with the ways of the kingdom. 00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:02.640 See how heinous it is, how wicked it is. 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:06.640 Till you begin to see it this way, there's no need to hate it. 00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:12.640 It is unrighteous. 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:13.640 There's nothing right to it. 00:25:13.640 --> 00:25:14.640 Go ahead. 00:25:19.640 --> 00:25:20.640 No, not illegal money. 00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:23.640 There's a certain wickedness about it. 00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:26.640 It literally invites you to wickedness. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:29.640 Not that it's illegal money. 00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:30.640 No. 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:35.640 Jesus put it this way, make friends with unrighteous Mammon. 00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:40.640 So you have to recognize that it's not amoral. 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:45.640 It has been the ruin of some of the best people on earth. 00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:47.640 Be it Judas, who walked with Jesus. 00:25:47.640 --> 00:25:50.640 Be it Adonais and Sapphira at the start of the church. 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:52.640 Be it Achan at Ai. 00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:55.640 Be it Gehazi with Elisha. 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:02.640 It unseeds the best. 00:26:05.640 --> 00:26:06.640 Yeah. 00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:09.640 Would you say is it money or is it heart? 00:26:09.640 --> 00:26:11.640 Jesus calls it unrighteous Mammon. 00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:15.640 He's calling the very substance unrighteous. 00:26:15.640 --> 00:26:20.640 The thing with money is it always reveals the heart. 00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:26.640 It's like something that you rub against the heart and it reveals it. 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:29.640 It reveals it every day, guys. 00:26:31.640 --> 00:26:33.640 Reveals it every day. 00:26:33.640 --> 00:26:37.640 Because it's a system that Babylon is built on. 00:26:37.640 --> 00:26:42.640 When you go to Revelation chapter 17, you see a woman riding a beast. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:44.640 And she's called Babylon the harlot. 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:49.640 And the captains of trade and the kings and the nations have traded with her. 00:26:49.640 --> 00:26:52.640 But how she's fallen, Babylon has fallen. 00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:53.640 A day will come. 00:26:53.640 --> 00:26:56.640 But till then, it is the system that runs the world. 00:26:56.640 --> 00:26:58.640 And it touches all our lives. 00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:02.640 Can it touch our lives without making us unholy is the question. 00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:07.640 And that can only happen because of the condition of the heart. 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:10.640 It's a devouring spirit. 00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:15.640 Malachi calls it that in Malachi chapter 3. 00:27:17.640 --> 00:27:20.640 It is the power that runs the systems of the world. 00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:23.640 And all the systems of the world are run on just two things. 00:27:23.640 --> 00:27:25.640 Greed, lack. 00:27:25.640 --> 00:27:26.640 Greed, lack. 00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:27.640 Greed, lack. 00:27:27.640 --> 00:27:28.640 That's it. 00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:30.640 All the systems of the world. 00:27:31.640 --> 00:27:33.640 I was telling someone yesterday, 00:27:33.640 --> 00:27:37.640 there are a couple of people that send me offerings in crypto. 00:27:39.640 --> 00:27:43.640 It's strange when you receive offerings in crypto. 00:27:43.640 --> 00:27:46.640 Because you look at it and you realize crypto is going up. 00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:48.640 And you don't want to cash out. 00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:49.640 And then it goes up. 00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:52.640 And you begin to think, God is blessing me. 00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:54.640 But the next day it crashes. 00:27:55.640 --> 00:28:00.640 And now, instead of placing the offering before God or distributing it, 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:02.640 you're looking at your phone, whether crypto is rising or not. 00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:09.640 It's crazy how caught up we are in greed or lack. 00:28:11.640 --> 00:28:16.640 And if you don't beat this, the year is governed by it. 00:28:19.640 --> 00:28:20.640 It spawns greed. 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:21.640 It spawns lack. 00:28:21.640 --> 00:28:23.640 It spawns insecurity. 00:28:23.640 --> 00:28:29.640 It encourages you to be non-compliant with the ways of the kingdom. 00:28:29.640 --> 00:28:31.640 The kingdom will say one thing. 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:37.640 Mammon, money, lack, greed will say something else. 00:28:39.640 --> 00:28:42.640 This is a condition of every heart in this room. 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:45.640 And the weeds must be cleared every day. 00:28:45.640 --> 00:28:51.640 When the weeds are cleared, the word falls on good ground. 00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:58.640 You know, please don't raise your hands. 00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:02.640 And if you feel guilty or condemned, get over it quickly. 00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:04.640 Because the intent is not that. 00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:06.640 The intent is to illustrate something. 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:14.640 We talked about tithing first roots and stuff like that a week or 10 days ago. 00:29:15.640 --> 00:29:19.640 Do you realize that some of us have, some of us have not? 00:29:20.640 --> 00:29:22.640 And we have ways to justify it. 00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:27.640 We have ways to skirt around it, avoid it, obey it. 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:31.640 But do you realize how non-compliant we are, 00:29:31.640 --> 00:29:36.640 even though the word was spoken very plainly from scriptures, 00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:39.640 do you realize how our hearts react to it? 00:29:41.640 --> 00:29:42.640 It's crazy. 00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:51.640 Is it 10% before taxes, after taxes, before expenses, after expenses? 00:29:51.640 --> 00:29:53.640 It belongs to God. 00:29:54.640 --> 00:29:56.640 Everything belongs to God. 00:29:56.640 --> 00:29:58.640 These are legitimate questions, please. 00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:00.640 I'm not frowning at the questions. 00:30:01.640 --> 00:30:07.640 What I'm saying, money always reveals the condition of my heart, guys. 00:30:10.640 --> 00:30:13.640 And I cannot serve God and Mammon. 00:30:13.640 --> 00:30:17.640 One or the other, I will despise one I'll be devoted to. 00:30:19.640 --> 00:30:21.640 One I'll hate, one I'll love. 00:30:21.640 --> 00:30:24.640 Jacob, surely you love God and you hate Mammon. 00:30:24.640 --> 00:30:26.640 Why would you say you love Mammon? 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:31.640 It's not love, hate, despise, devote, as we talk about hatred. 00:30:31.640 --> 00:30:33.640 It's relative. 00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:40.640 And somehow we learn how to avoid it, justify it. 00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:44.640 That's why I say it encourages you to be non-compliant with the ways of the kingdom. 00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:54.640 Trust me, man, if you ask Heidi, this church is doing well financially. 00:30:55.640 --> 00:31:01.640 And so this is not a call for you to tithe so that the coffers are enriched. 00:31:01.640 --> 00:31:06.640 If they are enriched, as long as Heidi is involved in money, 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:08.640 this church will rarely have money at the end of the year. 00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:10.640 She'll give it all away. 00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:18.640 Any questions before we go on? 00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:21.640 I just want us to, I want to expose the condition of our heart. 00:31:25.640 --> 00:31:27.640 And know that the word cannot take root here. 00:31:27.640 --> 00:31:29.640 If my heart is this way, it cannot. 00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:34.640 Any questions? 00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:43.640 You know, I was lying down on the floor in my house three days ago, 00:31:43.640 --> 00:31:55.640 repenting for the months this year that I didn't joyfully, deliberately, prayerfully give tithes. 00:31:55.640 --> 00:31:57.640 I gave, I didn't keep account. 00:31:57.640 --> 00:31:59.640 Some months maybe I gave more, some months I didn't. 00:31:59.640 --> 00:32:03.640 And I realized, my God, man, you're the pastor of this church 00:32:03.640 --> 00:32:06.640 and you didn't do it the way God asks you to do? 00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:10.640 You know how they would give firstfruits? 00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:13.640 They would bring it and they would lie down before God and say, 00:32:13.640 --> 00:32:16.640 Oh God, my deliverer, how wonderful you've been. 00:32:22.640 --> 00:32:29.640 There's this cavalier attitude towards, not towards the bank, not towards the salary, 00:32:29.640 --> 00:32:31.640 but towards God and money. 00:32:39.640 --> 00:32:46.640 This will enrich us because the year ahead you will need what you need to do what you need to. 00:32:49.640 --> 00:32:51.640 It will bless you. 00:32:53.640 --> 00:32:55.640 It will make you fearless. 00:32:55.640 --> 00:33:00.640 Another thing Mammon does, fear, man, the amount of fear that comes with money. 00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:02.640 My God, it's terrible. 00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:05.640 It will make you fearless. 00:33:05.640 --> 00:33:07.640 These teachings will make you fearless. 00:33:07.640 --> 00:33:10.640 Not because you suddenly have much or don't have much. 00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:12.640 It will make you fearless. 00:33:13.640 --> 00:33:15.640 Because it's a power, guys. 00:33:15.640 --> 00:33:17.640 Recognize it as a spirit. 00:33:20.640 --> 00:33:22.640 Cripples people, eh? 00:33:31.640 --> 00:33:33.640 This is just on the side. 00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:36.640 Maybe for someone here. 00:33:36.640 --> 00:33:38.640 Someone else said it, I wrote it down. 00:33:51.640 --> 00:33:53.640 Let me read that again. 00:34:03.640 --> 00:34:05.640 It's cause you aren't all there yet. 00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:08.640 Just keep that in mind. 00:34:15.640 --> 00:34:19.640 So why did the first guy, why did he not understand it? 00:34:19.640 --> 00:34:28.640 Why did the guy, let's call him Pat, with an H, 00:34:28.640 --> 00:34:37.640 why did the guy not understand the word even though he heard it? 00:34:45.640 --> 00:34:56.640 One week after week of cavalier hearing. 00:34:59.640 --> 00:35:02.640 It's like, eh. 00:35:04.640 --> 00:35:10.640 This becomes a habit and it dulls receptivities. 00:35:13.640 --> 00:35:15.640 That's the first one. 00:35:16.640 --> 00:35:22.640 Week after week of just callous hearing, dulls receptivity, it hardens the heart. 00:35:23.640 --> 00:35:25.640 It's a habit that needs to be broken, eh? 00:35:26.640 --> 00:35:28.640 It's a habit that needs to be broken. 00:35:32.640 --> 00:35:40.640 Cavalier is when it's this callous, not concerned, I'm a free bird, 00:35:40.640 --> 00:35:43.640 I might doze off in between but sure I'll listen. 00:35:43.640 --> 00:35:45.640 I know the word, I know where that scripture is. 00:35:45.640 --> 00:35:47.640 That point isn't all that interesting. 00:35:48.640 --> 00:35:53.640 It's this attitude where there's no seriousness. 00:35:53.640 --> 00:35:56.640 There's no seriousness. It's kamsi kamsa. 00:36:01.640 --> 00:36:05.640 Indifference. But you swing in and out of it. 00:36:05.640 --> 00:36:08.640 It's not a complete negation. 00:36:13.640 --> 00:36:15.640 So that's the first one. 00:36:15.640 --> 00:36:16.640 It's become a habit. 00:36:16.640 --> 00:36:18.640 Like when we used to meet at Ross Street, 00:36:18.640 --> 00:36:24.640 there was a gentleman who would always doze off at 12 minutes into my sermon. 00:36:25.640 --> 00:36:28.640 I would know that I was 12 minutes into my sermon because I could hear him snoring. 00:36:29.640 --> 00:36:31.640 Then after a while his wife would start nudging him. 00:36:32.640 --> 00:36:34.640 It was like on the 12 minute dot. 00:36:35.640 --> 00:36:37.640 Thank God Jeremy stopped doing that. 00:36:40.640 --> 00:36:43.640 But Jeremy used to be 47 minutes into the teaching. 00:36:43.640 --> 00:36:45.640 I don't blame you for that. 00:36:45.640 --> 00:36:47.640 But 12 minutes is way too early. 00:36:50.640 --> 00:36:52.640 That's where we started shouting euticus. 00:37:00.640 --> 00:37:04.640 It's casual and indifferent, both mixed together. 00:37:10.640 --> 00:37:14.640 It's like Ronaldo. He doesn't really play and then he'll do that thing and shoot a goal. 00:37:14.640 --> 00:37:16.640 But most of the time he's casual and indifferent. 00:37:25.640 --> 00:37:27.640 No offense taken says Don. 00:37:29.640 --> 00:37:34.640 Second, it's how the knucks are for 22 years, 40 years. 00:37:36.640 --> 00:37:39.640 Next one is James 1, 22-25. 00:37:40.640 --> 00:37:42.640 James 1, 22-25. 00:37:43.640 --> 00:37:47.640 When you read it you'll find that there are three aspects to hearing that are important. 00:37:49.640 --> 00:37:53.640 The reason we don't understand is hearing but not attentive. 00:37:58.640 --> 00:38:00.640 Second one, hearing without nurturing. 00:38:00.640 --> 00:38:02.640 Third one, hearing but not doing. 00:38:08.640 --> 00:38:10.640 Fourth one, hearing without faith. 00:38:14.640 --> 00:38:16.640 Which the Bible says is self-deception. 00:38:18.640 --> 00:38:20.640 The Bible says this is self-deception. 00:38:23.640 --> 00:38:26.640 So these are the three aspects to hearing without nurturing. 00:38:26.640 --> 00:38:28.640 And then there's self-deception. 00:38:30.640 --> 00:38:32.640 So these are important. 00:38:36.640 --> 00:38:42.640 And guys, strangely enough, at the end of this parable Jesus says, let him who has ears hear. 00:38:44.640 --> 00:38:46.640 And so he's not talking about the quality of preaching. 00:38:47.640 --> 00:38:49.640 It is the quality of hearing. 00:38:50.640 --> 00:38:54.640 Which is important because I sometimes go to other churches and I can sit there 00:38:54.640 --> 00:38:56.640 and James 1, 22-25 goes into effect. 00:38:57.640 --> 00:39:05.640 James 1, 22-25 says, hey, when you are listening to the word, first, cleanse your heart from all filthiness. 00:39:07.640 --> 00:39:13.640 Then it says, take on a posture of meekness so that the word can be grafted to you. 00:39:14.640 --> 00:39:20.640 I was recently at another church and I was sitting there and I was with that attitude of man, this guy, my God, 00:39:21.640 --> 00:39:22.640 with a big church like this he could do so much better. 00:39:22.640 --> 00:39:23.640 And all those thoughts are coming up. 00:39:24.640 --> 00:39:29.640 And then I remember James 1, 21 saying, great, Jacob, you just sit there and sit there with your pride, 00:39:30.640 --> 00:39:34.640 judge his doctrine, judge whether he's preaching well or not, judge all that, 00:39:35.640 --> 00:39:40.640 and you can walk out of here and you won't hear a word I want to deliver by my spirit through him 00:39:41.640 --> 00:39:44.640 because you're too much of a donkey to listen. 00:39:44.640 --> 00:39:48.640 The word will never get grafted into you if you don't come with meekness. 00:39:52.640 --> 00:39:57.640 And I was sitting there and I immediately stopped looking at my phone because it was like, 00:39:58.640 --> 00:40:00.640 oh, this is a great time to prepare my next message. 00:40:01.640 --> 00:40:03.640 So while he's preaching, I'm preparing for our next message. 00:40:04.640 --> 00:40:08.640 What an attitude, eh, when the word is being preached but you're preaching it to me. 00:40:08.640 --> 00:40:09.640 And I'm preparing for our next message. 00:40:10.640 --> 00:40:14.640 What an attitude, eh, when the word is being preached but you're preparing your own message. 00:40:15.640 --> 00:40:17.640 Why? Because you don't think the guy has anything good to say. 00:40:18.640 --> 00:40:21.640 But thank God the Holy Spirit is there, eh, because he'll use people like that 00:40:22.640 --> 00:40:24.640 to send you a message that you will not hear because of your pride. 00:40:25.640 --> 00:40:28.640 And so I quickly put it down and I started listening. 00:40:29.640 --> 00:40:32.640 And I started picking out each good point he made. 00:40:32.640 --> 00:40:34.640 This happens here every Sunday. 00:40:51.640 --> 00:40:56.640 Yeah, hearing without nurturing is when it's like a little sapling, 00:40:57.640 --> 00:40:59.640 a little seed has suddenly sprung in your heart. 00:40:59.640 --> 00:41:00.640 You know there's something about it. 00:41:01.640 --> 00:41:04.640 But instead of holding that precious thing, I'll go home and think about it. 00:41:05.640 --> 00:41:07.640 Ah shucks, that certainly applies to my life. 00:41:08.640 --> 00:41:11.640 Instead of nurturing it, it just gets crushed. 00:41:13.640 --> 00:41:17.640 Doing is different. Doing is now that I know I will go and do. 00:41:18.640 --> 00:41:19.640 That's different. 00:41:20.640 --> 00:41:23.640 Sometimes when something clicks, nurture it, man. 00:41:23.640 --> 00:41:25.640 Last week Sede came to me on the 31st and said, 00:41:26.640 --> 00:41:28.640 Jacob, I saw something while we were worshipping. 00:41:29.640 --> 00:41:30.640 And so I asked him and he told me. 00:41:31.640 --> 00:41:32.640 Then I say, send it to me. Text it to me. 00:41:33.640 --> 00:41:34.640 Why? Why do I ask you? 00:41:35.640 --> 00:41:36.640 So that I can go home and read it. 00:41:37.640 --> 00:41:38.640 What if it has to be nurtured? 00:41:42.640 --> 00:41:47.640 What if the nurturing of that word from a small-time guy like Sede, 00:41:48.640 --> 00:41:50.640 who has a big time, you know, a little bit of a problem, 00:41:50.640 --> 00:41:53.640 from a small-time guy like Sede, who has a big time job, 00:41:54.640 --> 00:41:57.640 what if that nurturing will affect the church in the future? 00:41:59.640 --> 00:42:01.640 Or should I only listen to someone who leads a house church? 00:42:16.640 --> 00:42:18.640 If you don't actively wrestle with the word, 00:42:18.640 --> 00:42:21.640 and if it doesn't change or bear fruit in your life, 00:42:22.640 --> 00:42:23.640 then the heart just begins to harden, eh? 00:42:24.640 --> 00:42:25.640 The mind begins to dull. 00:42:26.640 --> 00:42:30.640 There's this lousy word in 2 Thessalonians 2.11. 00:42:31.640 --> 00:42:32.640 2 Thessalonians 2.11. 00:42:33.640 --> 00:42:35.640 It says that whenever the truth is rejected, 00:42:36.640 --> 00:42:40.640 delusion is waiting to come in. 00:42:41.640 --> 00:42:42.640 Whenever the truth is rejected, 00:42:43.640 --> 00:42:47.640 delusion is waiting to make an entrance on your stage. 00:42:48.640 --> 00:42:49.640 Whenever the truth is rejected, 00:42:50.640 --> 00:42:54.640 delusion is waiting to make an entrance on the stage. 00:42:55.640 --> 00:43:01.640 This is why if I find that someone is not either hearing the word, 00:43:02.640 --> 00:43:03.640 practicing the word, or reading the word, 00:43:04.640 --> 00:43:06.640 but is prophesying at Acts 29, 00:43:07.640 --> 00:43:08.640 I will willingly go and say, 00:43:09.640 --> 00:43:16.640 stop, you have not earned the right to speak on God's behalf on a regular basis. 00:43:16.640 --> 00:43:17.640 Occasionally God would still use you, 00:43:18.640 --> 00:43:19.640 but no, you cannot, 00:43:20.640 --> 00:43:21.640 because you neither practice the word, 00:43:22.640 --> 00:43:23.640 nor read the word, 00:43:24.640 --> 00:43:25.640 nor sit under the word. 00:43:26.640 --> 00:43:27.640 You do not have the right to, 00:43:28.640 --> 00:43:29.640 because you will only lead people astray. 00:43:31.640 --> 00:43:33.640 Is that a fair statement? 00:43:34.640 --> 00:43:35.640 It is. 00:43:46.640 --> 00:43:56.640 So when I begin to not allow God to wrestle with me through the word, 00:43:57.640 --> 00:43:59.640 then like I said, the heart begins to harden. 00:44:00.640 --> 00:44:01.640 And usually if the heart happens, 00:44:02.640 --> 00:44:04.640 that's when it leads to complacency, 00:44:05.640 --> 00:44:09.640 to dullness, 00:44:10.640 --> 00:44:12.640 to rebellion, 00:44:12.640 --> 00:44:13.640 it's a progression. 00:44:15.640 --> 00:44:16.640 But thank God for God. 00:44:17.640 --> 00:44:18.640 What he does is, 00:44:19.640 --> 00:44:21.640 he sends either discipline, 00:44:22.640 --> 00:44:26.640 or he sends his mercy and does surgery on our hearts. 00:44:27.640 --> 00:44:28.640 Ezekiel talks about it, 00:44:29.640 --> 00:44:33.640 I will replace your heart of stone with a heart of flesh. 00:44:36.640 --> 00:44:38.640 And sometimes God does not want to do that. 00:44:38.640 --> 00:44:40.640 He sends his mercy and does surgery on our hearts. 00:44:41.640 --> 00:44:43.640 He sends his mercy and does surgery on our hearts. 00:44:44.640 --> 00:44:46.640 And sometimes the devourer gets into, 00:44:47.640 --> 00:44:49.640 the devourer gets into, 00:44:50.640 --> 00:44:52.640 come on man, this year, 00:44:53.640 --> 00:44:55.640 you just rebuke the devourer with your giving, 00:44:56.640 --> 00:44:57.640 you just make sure. 00:44:58.640 --> 00:45:01.640 It doesn't matter that you know what you have, 00:45:02.640 --> 00:45:03.640 will not let you survive till the end of the month, 00:45:04.640 --> 00:45:06.640 you just decide that this belongs to God, 00:45:06.640 --> 00:45:08.640 and I will do it and I will see the result. 00:45:09.640 --> 00:45:10.640 Rebuke the devourer. 00:45:11.640 --> 00:45:12.640 Test him. 00:45:13.640 --> 00:45:14.640 He says please test me. 00:45:15.640 --> 00:45:16.640 Prove it guys. 00:45:17.640 --> 00:45:19.640 Yeah, prove it at the beginning of the year, 00:45:20.640 --> 00:45:21.640 beginning of the month, not at the end of the month, 00:45:22.640 --> 00:45:23.640 meaning when you get what you get, 00:45:24.640 --> 00:45:25.640 prove it then. 00:45:27.640 --> 00:45:28.640 You know the thing with the devourer, 00:45:29.640 --> 00:45:30.640 is he first will eat the money, 00:45:31.640 --> 00:45:32.640 then he will eat the car, 00:45:33.640 --> 00:45:34.640 then he will eat the stove, 00:45:34.640 --> 00:45:38.640 then he will eat some pipe that delivers water, 00:45:39.640 --> 00:45:40.640 then he will eat the tire, 00:45:41.640 --> 00:45:43.640 then he will eat your investment, 00:45:44.640 --> 00:45:46.640 then he will eat some flight cancellation. 00:45:47.640 --> 00:45:50.640 It's a locust, it keeps eating. 00:45:51.640 --> 00:45:52.640 And in the end you get to a place 00:45:53.640 --> 00:45:56.640 where all your good intentions aren't working. 00:45:57.640 --> 00:45:58.640 Why? 00:45:59.640 --> 00:46:01.640 Because you do not have the power to rebuke the devourer. 00:46:04.640 --> 00:46:05.640 It's not worth it guys. 00:46:10.640 --> 00:46:11.640 Any questions? 00:46:16.640 --> 00:46:19.640 You know Joan can tell you stories about this. 00:46:20.640 --> 00:46:24.640 Her dad, he was so faithful all his life, 00:46:25.640 --> 00:46:28.640 right from when he was a young kid in the Second World War. 00:46:29.640 --> 00:46:31.640 He would, doesn't matter what happens, 00:46:32.640 --> 00:46:33.640 he would keep giving to God, keep giving to God, 00:46:34.640 --> 00:46:36.640 and because of that he and his family 00:46:37.640 --> 00:46:38.640 were taken care of by God, 00:46:39.640 --> 00:46:41.640 through war, through disease, through thick, through thin. 00:46:47.640 --> 00:46:48.640 We don't give to get guys, 00:46:49.640 --> 00:46:50.640 that's a prosperity message. 00:46:51.640 --> 00:46:53.640 We don't give to get, we give to get free 00:46:54.640 --> 00:46:55.640 of the bondages that we are in, 00:46:56.640 --> 00:46:57.640 including the bondage of money. 00:46:58.640 --> 00:47:00.640 We are not giving to get. 00:47:01.640 --> 00:47:02.640 There's something wrong. 00:47:02.640 --> 00:47:04.640 When a child gives his father money 00:47:05.640 --> 00:47:07.640 so he can get back more money from his dad, 00:47:08.640 --> 00:47:10.640 there is something fundamentally wrong in that relationship. 00:47:14.640 --> 00:47:16.640 We give so that we can get free 00:47:17.640 --> 00:47:20.640 of the very things that have held us from loving, 00:47:21.640 --> 00:47:22.640 from obeying, from following. 00:47:32.640 --> 00:47:35.640 The first person did not start, the guy on the path. 00:47:36.640 --> 00:47:37.640 First person did not start. 00:47:38.640 --> 00:47:40.640 The second started well, but did not survive. 00:47:41.640 --> 00:47:43.640 The third survived, but produced nothing. 00:47:44.640 --> 00:47:46.640 None were useful to the master. 00:47:47.640 --> 00:47:48.640 Then we have the good soil. 00:47:51.640 --> 00:47:52.640 Then we have the good soil. 00:47:53.640 --> 00:47:54.640 Hey, Brielle. 00:47:55.640 --> 00:47:56.640 Hey, Brielle. 00:47:57.640 --> 00:47:58.640 Hey, Brielle. 00:47:59.640 --> 00:48:00.640 Hey, Brielle. 00:48:00.640 --> 00:48:02.640 Good soil is someone who hears the word 00:48:04.640 --> 00:48:05.640 and understands it. 00:48:07.640 --> 00:48:09.640 And it produces 00:48:12.640 --> 00:48:14.640 30, 60, 100 fold. 00:48:18.640 --> 00:48:20.640 Here's a crazy thing, eh, to those 00:48:21.640 --> 00:48:22.640 who hear 00:48:23.640 --> 00:48:24.640 and understand 00:48:25.640 --> 00:48:27.640 that good soil is something 00:48:27.640 --> 00:48:28.640 that is given to them. 00:48:29.640 --> 00:48:30.640 And they hear 00:48:31.640 --> 00:48:32.640 and understand 00:48:36.640 --> 00:48:38.640 increasing understanding is given. 00:48:42.640 --> 00:48:44.640 Increasing understanding is given. 00:48:48.640 --> 00:48:49.640 Sometimes in that area 00:48:54.640 --> 00:48:55.640 and they have 00:48:58.640 --> 00:48:59.640 of what? 00:49:00.640 --> 00:49:01.640 Of knowledge. 00:49:02.640 --> 00:49:03.640 Of what? 00:49:03.640 --> 00:49:04.640 Of the truth. 00:49:05.640 --> 00:49:06.640 That does what? 00:49:06.640 --> 00:49:07.640 That sets 00:49:08.640 --> 00:49:09.640 them and others 00:49:10.640 --> 00:49:11.640 free. 00:49:12.640 --> 00:49:15.640 You'll find people, eh, you'll find certain people who seem to 00:49:16.640 --> 00:49:18.640 hear and understand in certain areas so well. 00:49:20.640 --> 00:49:22.640 They seem to just thrive in that area. 00:49:22.640 --> 00:49:23.640 You don't even know how. 00:49:24.640 --> 00:49:25.640 They seem to excel in that. 00:49:25.640 --> 00:49:26.640 Because 00:49:27.640 --> 00:49:31.640 in the area of your understanding, more understanding is provided. 00:49:31.640 --> 00:49:32.640 Why? 00:49:32.640 --> 00:49:33.640 So that you may have an abundance. 00:49:34.640 --> 00:49:35.640 Why? Abundance of what? 00:49:35.640 --> 00:49:36.640 Of the knowledge. 00:49:36.640 --> 00:49:37.640 Of what? 00:49:37.640 --> 00:49:38.640 Of the truth in that 00:49:38.640 --> 00:49:39.640 word with regard to that. 00:49:40.640 --> 00:49:41.640 So what happens? 00:49:41.640 --> 00:49:43.640 So you set yourself free and you set others free. 00:49:48.640 --> 00:49:51.640 Different areas, you'll find people having different understandings. 00:49:52.640 --> 00:49:54.640 But what if that was a general attitude to things? 00:49:55.640 --> 00:49:57.640 How liberating it would be. 00:49:59.640 --> 00:50:02.640 And yet, to the others, what they had was taken away. 00:50:03.640 --> 00:50:05.640 All three had the seed, right? 00:50:05.640 --> 00:50:07.640 The path, the rocky soil, the tawny soil. 00:50:07.640 --> 00:50:09.640 All had the seed of the word. 00:50:09.640 --> 00:50:11.640 But from all of their lives it was taken away. 00:50:13.640 --> 00:50:15.640 This happens every Sunday. 00:50:16.640 --> 00:50:18.640 It can happen today too. 00:50:22.640 --> 00:50:23.640 Let me conclude. 00:50:24.640 --> 00:50:25.640 Yep. 00:50:26.640 --> 00:50:28.640 The last three words are 00:50:31.640 --> 00:50:33.640 they have an abundance of the knowledge of the truth 00:50:35.640 --> 00:50:38.640 that sets them and others free. 00:50:38.640 --> 00:50:40.640 I don't know why you can't understand that. 00:50:48.640 --> 00:50:50.640 So here are these three things you can do 00:50:50.640 --> 00:50:52.640 to be good soil. 00:50:52.640 --> 00:50:53.640 Ask God. 00:50:55.640 --> 00:50:57.640 Ask God to 00:51:01.640 --> 00:51:03.640 we can ready our heart. 00:51:04.640 --> 00:51:06.640 We can ready our heart every day to receive. 00:51:06.640 --> 00:51:11.640 Ask God to open your ears. 00:51:14.640 --> 00:51:17.640 Psalm 40, verse 6. 00:51:18.640 --> 00:51:19.640 Psalm 40, verse 6. 00:51:20.640 --> 00:51:22.640 Psalm 40, verse 6. 00:51:33.640 --> 00:51:35.640 In sacrifice and offering, 00:51:36.640 --> 00:51:37.640 you have not delighted, 00:51:38.640 --> 00:51:40.640 but you have given me an open ear. 00:51:41.640 --> 00:51:42.640 Ask God. 00:51:43.640 --> 00:51:46.640 Little prayers that you can include in 2026. 00:51:46.640 --> 00:51:48.640 Father, as I start this day, 00:51:48.640 --> 00:51:51.640 open my ears so that when I receive a word, 00:51:54.640 --> 00:51:57.640 I can hear it with faith, nurture it. 00:51:58.640 --> 00:51:59.640 Second, 00:52:02.640 --> 00:52:03.640 prepare the soil. 00:52:05.640 --> 00:52:07.640 Prepare the soil. 00:52:08.640 --> 00:52:10.640 Hey guys, it's not possible 00:52:11.640 --> 00:52:13.640 to spend six days 00:52:13.640 --> 00:52:15.640 watching crap and shit 00:52:16.640 --> 00:52:17.640 on social media 00:52:18.640 --> 00:52:19.640 and then come 00:52:20.640 --> 00:52:22.640 with a heart ready for the word. 00:52:23.640 --> 00:52:25.640 The difference between the filth 00:52:25.640 --> 00:52:27.640 and the purity is so enormous 00:52:28.640 --> 00:52:30.640 that there is no traction. 00:52:32.640 --> 00:52:33.640 Yeah. 00:52:34.640 --> 00:52:36.640 James 1.21 says, 00:52:36.640 --> 00:52:39.640 Therefore, rid yourself of the filth 00:52:39.640 --> 00:52:40.640 and the wickedness 00:52:41.640 --> 00:52:43.640 and present your hearts 00:52:43.640 --> 00:52:45.640 in such a way that as you hear, 00:52:45.640 --> 00:52:47.640 the word of God will be grafted. 00:52:47.640 --> 00:52:49.640 I cannot do 00:52:50.640 --> 00:52:51.640 the six day. 00:52:52.640 --> 00:52:54.640 This is not some kind of Daniel fast 00:52:54.640 --> 00:52:56.640 where for one day I'll hear the word, 00:52:56.640 --> 00:52:57.640 six days I'll eat crap. 00:52:57.640 --> 00:52:59.640 It doesn't work like that. 00:53:04.640 --> 00:53:06.640 It's reality. 00:53:07.640 --> 00:53:08.640 Again, 00:53:08.640 --> 00:53:10.640 if you feel guilty and condemned, 00:53:10.640 --> 00:53:12.640 try getting over it a little fast. 00:53:12.640 --> 00:53:14.640 If the last six days were spent 00:53:14.640 --> 00:53:16.640 watching stuff on social media 00:53:16.640 --> 00:53:17.640 and you know as you come through it, 00:53:17.640 --> 00:53:19.640 all kinds of images come 00:53:19.640 --> 00:53:20.640 and you pause on some 00:53:20.640 --> 00:53:22.640 and you move on on the others. 00:53:22.640 --> 00:53:23.640 After six days of that 00:53:23.640 --> 00:53:25.640 and a Saturday like that, 00:53:25.640 --> 00:53:26.640 to come on Sunday and think 00:53:26.640 --> 00:53:27.640 the word is going to have traction 00:53:27.640 --> 00:53:28.640 in your life, 00:53:28.640 --> 00:53:29.640 ain't true. 00:53:30.640 --> 00:53:31.640 I'm not saying it. 00:53:31.640 --> 00:53:33.640 The scriptures say it. 00:53:37.640 --> 00:53:38.640 It's like putting new wine 00:53:38.640 --> 00:53:39.640 into old wine skins. 00:53:39.640 --> 00:53:40.640 It won't work. 00:53:40.640 --> 00:53:41.640 What do we do then? 00:53:41.640 --> 00:53:42.640 Depend on the mercy of God. 00:53:42.640 --> 00:53:43.640 Saying, oh God, 00:53:43.640 --> 00:53:44.640 sorry, go ahead. 00:53:47.640 --> 00:53:48.640 Yeah. 00:53:49.640 --> 00:53:51.640 I'm dependent on the mercy of God. 00:53:51.640 --> 00:53:52.640 I've got to cry out to God saying, 00:53:52.640 --> 00:53:53.640 oh God, 00:53:53.640 --> 00:53:55.640 do spiritual surgery in my life. 00:53:56.640 --> 00:53:57.640 And God will do it 00:53:57.640 --> 00:53:58.640 because he's so interested in you. 00:54:00.640 --> 00:54:01.640 One of the ways to overcome 00:54:01.640 --> 00:54:03.640 condemnation is immediately run to God 00:54:03.640 --> 00:54:05.640 so you don't feel too condemned. 00:54:05.640 --> 00:54:06.640 I'm not saying that 00:54:06.640 --> 00:54:07.640 you should do it. 00:54:07.640 --> 00:54:08.640 I'm saying that 00:54:08.640 --> 00:54:09.640 so you don't feel too condemned. 00:54:11.640 --> 00:54:12.640 I will. He won't. 00:54:16.640 --> 00:54:17.640 Third one. 00:54:19.640 --> 00:54:20.640 Desire the truth of God's word. 00:54:20.640 --> 00:54:21.640 Desire it. 00:54:21.640 --> 00:54:22.640 Desire it. 00:54:23.640 --> 00:54:25.640 Desire the truth 00:54:25.640 --> 00:54:27.640 of God's word. 00:54:30.640 --> 00:54:32.640 Desire the truth of God's word. 00:54:33.640 --> 00:54:34.640 You know what excites me most 00:54:34.640 --> 00:54:36.640 about Sundays is that 00:54:36.640 --> 00:54:38.640 every week I have this 00:54:38.640 --> 00:54:40.640 marvelous privilege of going through 00:54:40.640 --> 00:54:42.640 the word and preparing something 00:54:42.640 --> 00:54:43.640 that God wants for us. 00:54:48.640 --> 00:54:49.640 And there are people here 00:54:49.640 --> 00:54:50.640 I know that come hungry. 00:54:53.640 --> 00:54:54.640 You've gotten used to 00:54:54.640 --> 00:54:55.640 one hour sermons. 00:54:55.640 --> 00:54:56.640 That's your fault. 00:54:58.640 --> 00:54:59.640 But you come hungry. 00:55:04.640 --> 00:55:05.640 I try to shorten these sermons 00:55:05.640 --> 00:55:06.640 I shave off words from sentences 00:55:06.640 --> 00:55:08.640 so that it stays within a page. 00:55:13.640 --> 00:55:15.640 I'll put and with that sign 00:55:17.640 --> 00:55:18.640 because I don't want it to spill 00:55:18.640 --> 00:55:19.640 over to the next page. 00:55:19.640 --> 00:55:20.640 See, there's only one page. 00:55:27.640 --> 00:55:29.640 Read Proverbs chapter 2 verses 1 to 5. 00:55:29.640 --> 00:55:31.640 Proverbs 2, 1 to 5. 00:55:35.640 --> 00:55:36.640 Proverbs 2, 1 to 5. 00:55:40.640 --> 00:55:41.640 Guys, these things are normal 00:55:41.640 --> 00:55:42.640 for us as believers. 00:55:43.640 --> 00:55:44.640 It's just that it gets covered 00:55:44.640 --> 00:55:46.640 with so many layers of dirt 00:55:46.640 --> 00:55:47.640 that it doesn't come up. 00:55:47.640 --> 00:55:49.640 It just needs sweeping. 00:55:49.640 --> 00:55:52.640 My son, if you accept my words 00:55:52.640 --> 00:55:54.640 and store up my commands within you, 00:55:55.640 --> 00:55:57.640 turning your ear to wisdom 00:55:57.640 --> 00:55:58.640 and applying your heart 00:55:58.640 --> 00:55:59.640 to understanding. 00:55:59.640 --> 00:56:01.640 If you call out for insight 00:56:01.640 --> 00:56:02.640 and cry aloud for understanding, 00:56:02.640 --> 00:56:04.640 I will give you my blessing. 00:56:05.640 --> 00:56:07.640 If you look for it as for silver 00:56:07.640 --> 00:56:09.640 and search for it as for hidden treasure, 00:56:09.640 --> 00:56:11.640 then you will understand the fear of the Lord 00:56:11.640 --> 00:56:13.640 and find the knowledge of God. 00:56:13.640 --> 00:56:15.640 Hunger, desire it. 00:56:18.640 --> 00:56:19.640 Desire it. 00:56:20.640 --> 00:56:22.640 Welcome to those strangers. 00:56:22.640 --> 00:56:24.640 The church usually starts at 3.30. 00:56:29.640 --> 00:56:31.640 Allow God to landscape you with the Word. 00:56:32.640 --> 00:56:34.640 Allow God to landscape you with the Word. 00:56:36.640 --> 00:56:39.640 Enter any teaching space with meekness of heart. 00:56:40.640 --> 00:56:43.640 Enter any teaching space with meekness of heart. 00:56:44.640 --> 00:56:46.640 Not with prejudice, not with doctrine, 00:56:46.640 --> 00:56:48.640 not with culture, not with pride. 00:56:50.640 --> 00:56:51.640 Last one. 00:56:52.640 --> 00:56:54.640 2 Timothy 2, 7. 00:57:00.640 --> 00:57:02.640 Think over what has been said. 00:57:05.640 --> 00:57:07.640 I, she won't believe this, 00:57:07.640 --> 00:57:10.640 I actually go home and at some point during the week 00:57:10.640 --> 00:57:12.640 I'll go over what I've taught 00:57:12.640 --> 00:57:15.640 and I'll look at one or two points that stand out 00:57:15.640 --> 00:57:18.640 that I know I must practice 00:57:18.640 --> 00:57:20.640 or I must go over again. 00:57:21.640 --> 00:57:24.640 There's nothing as grating as listening to your own voice. 00:57:27.640 --> 00:57:29.640 But I'll still do it because 00:57:30.640 --> 00:57:32.640 it is required. 00:57:32.640 --> 00:57:34.640 2 Timothy 2, 7 says, 00:57:34.640 --> 00:57:36.640 go and think about what I have said. 00:57:36.640 --> 00:57:38.640 That's how you nurture it. 00:57:40.640 --> 00:57:43.640 This will revolutionize your life this year 00:57:43.640 --> 00:57:45.640 if you practice it. 00:57:45.640 --> 00:57:47.640 Because everything that God does, 00:57:47.640 --> 00:57:49.640 he does through the 00:57:49.640 --> 00:57:51.640 Word. 00:57:53.640 --> 00:57:55.640 Any questions? 00:57:55.640 --> 00:57:57.640 So I don't know what your takeaway will be. 00:57:58.640 --> 00:58:00.640 But my hope is 00:58:00.640 --> 00:58:03.640 that you'll either focus on what we said about Mammon 00:58:03.640 --> 00:58:06.640 or you'll focus on how to sit under the Word. 00:58:08.640 --> 00:58:10.640 Another thing that Mammon does guys, 00:58:10.640 --> 00:58:12.640 it alienates you from the Father. 00:58:13.640 --> 00:58:15.640 Mammon alienates you from the Father. 00:58:15.640 --> 00:58:18.640 It makes you the architect of your future. 00:58:18.640 --> 00:58:20.640 You decide, I have to go to school, 00:58:20.640 --> 00:58:22.640 I have to go to college, 00:58:22.640 --> 00:58:24.640 I have to go to college, 00:58:24.640 --> 00:58:27.640 you decide, and it makes you a manipulator of your finances. 00:58:28.640 --> 00:58:30.640 It alienates you from the Father. 00:58:31.640 --> 00:58:34.640 It makes you a manipulator of your finances. 00:58:35.640 --> 00:58:38.640 And it makes you the architect of your future. 00:58:39.640 --> 00:58:41.640 Fight it, eh? 00:58:41.640 --> 00:58:43.640 I've written down 00:58:43.640 --> 00:58:46.640 on the side notes I've written, 00:58:46.640 --> 00:58:49.640 this is the year that the strangled hold of Mammon 00:58:49.640 --> 00:58:52.640 will be broken from the life of this Church. 00:58:52.640 --> 00:58:55.640 I don't know why at the end of last year 00:58:55.640 --> 00:58:57.640 this thing began to come 00:58:57.640 --> 00:59:02.640 that Acts 29 is being ravaged by Mammon. 00:59:04.640 --> 00:59:09.640 Even though the Church itself is doing well financially, 00:59:11.640 --> 00:59:14.640 we might be doing well financially, 00:59:14.640 --> 00:59:16.640 but we are wrestling with this power. 00:59:17.640 --> 00:59:20.640 And for whatever breakthrough has to happen in the future, 00:59:21.640 --> 00:59:26.640 this pastor definitely has to completely break out of it. 00:59:27.640 --> 00:59:29.640 And if he doesn't, we are screwed. 00:59:31.640 --> 00:59:34.640 And this Church, I know words like crap and screwed 00:59:34.640 --> 00:59:35.640 are not to be used in Church. 00:59:35.640 --> 00:59:37.640 Yeah, I apologize for that, 00:59:37.640 --> 00:59:40.640 but it just seemed to be... 00:59:40.640 --> 00:59:42.640 Okay, I will not use it in future. 00:59:45.640 --> 00:59:48.640 But the point is that 00:59:48.640 --> 00:59:50.640 if I don't break out of it, 00:59:50.640 --> 00:59:52.640 and if this Church does not break out of it, 00:59:52.640 --> 00:59:54.640 all those things remain nascent, 00:59:54.640 --> 00:59:57.640 remain just an occasional flash. 00:59:58.640 --> 01:00:02.640 And so, I've written here, 01:00:03.640 --> 01:00:08.640 this is the year that the strangled hold of Mammon 01:00:08.640 --> 01:00:12.640 will be broken from the life of this Church. 01:00:18.640 --> 01:00:20.640 I really believe that. 01:00:20.640 --> 01:00:22.640 And so I speak it. 01:00:23.640 --> 01:00:24.640 Yeah? 01:00:25.640 --> 01:00:27.640 So go beyond the natural, guys. 01:00:27.640 --> 01:00:28.640 Go beyond the natural, eh? 01:00:28.640 --> 01:00:31.640 The natural life will resist the demands of the Word. 01:00:31.640 --> 01:00:34.640 The natural life will always resist the demands of the Word. 01:00:34.640 --> 01:00:36.640 The natural life... 01:00:37.640 --> 01:00:39.640 The natural life... 01:00:44.640 --> 01:00:46.640 Your natural life will resist, 01:00:46.640 --> 01:00:48.640 because the flesh is that way, 01:00:48.640 --> 01:00:50.640 will resist the demands of the Word. 01:00:52.640 --> 01:00:54.640 Jesus said, 01:00:54.640 --> 01:00:58.640 the flesh is willing, the spirit is willing by the flesh's. 01:00:59.640 --> 01:01:01.640 Flesh is what? Weak. 01:01:01.640 --> 01:01:03.640 The message put it as, 01:01:03.640 --> 01:01:04.640 your spirit is willing, 01:01:04.640 --> 01:01:07.640 but your flesh is like a lazy dog by a fire. 01:01:09.640 --> 01:01:11.640 Just don't want to get up. 01:01:11.640 --> 01:01:15.640 And so, the natural will resist the demands of the Word. 01:01:16.640 --> 01:01:18.640 And God is limited. 01:01:18.640 --> 01:01:20.640 God is limited 01:01:22.640 --> 01:01:26.640 when I pamper my natural life. 01:01:30.640 --> 01:01:33.640 God is limited when I pamper my natural life. 01:01:35.640 --> 01:01:37.640 So what should I do? 01:01:37.640 --> 01:01:39.640 Do what Abraham did. 01:01:39.640 --> 01:01:42.640 Send Ishmael into the desert. 01:01:42.640 --> 01:01:44.640 Do what Abraham did. 01:01:44.640 --> 01:01:47.640 Send Ishmael into the desert. 01:01:47.640 --> 01:01:51.640 Isaac will not prosper till Ishmael is sent into the desert. 01:01:51.640 --> 01:01:53.640 What do you mean by that? 01:01:53.640 --> 01:01:54.640 Romans 12.1. 01:01:54.640 --> 01:01:56.640 Romans 12.1 says, 01:01:56.640 --> 01:02:00.640 give your bodies as a living sacrifice, 01:02:00.640 --> 01:02:03.640 and then it will become your spiritual worship. 01:02:03.640 --> 01:02:09.640 As in, the natural can only be made spiritual through obedience. 01:02:10.640 --> 01:02:12.640 Here's what's happening. 01:02:12.640 --> 01:02:14.640 There's Isaac and there's Ishmael. 01:02:14.640 --> 01:02:17.640 Both come from Abraham's loins. 01:02:17.640 --> 01:02:19.640 Sarah doesn't want Ishmael. 01:02:19.640 --> 01:02:22.640 Abraham is hesitant to let Ishmael go. 01:02:22.640 --> 01:02:24.640 God comes and says to him, 01:02:24.640 --> 01:02:26.640 Isaac is the son of promise. 01:02:26.640 --> 01:02:28.640 Let him go. I'll take care of him. 01:02:29.640 --> 01:02:31.640 Abraham doesn't want to, 01:02:31.640 --> 01:02:33.640 but he decides, okay, 01:02:33.640 --> 01:02:36.640 what is spiritual, what is a promise, 01:02:36.640 --> 01:02:39.640 will survive only if I send Ishmael off. 01:02:39.640 --> 01:02:40.640 He sends Ishmael off. 01:02:40.640 --> 01:02:41.640 It's the same thing. 01:02:41.640 --> 01:02:43.640 Abraham had to obey. 01:02:43.640 --> 01:02:44.640 And when Abraham obeyed, 01:02:44.640 --> 01:02:46.640 Isaac began to prosper, 01:02:46.640 --> 01:02:48.640 and Ishmael became a nation. 01:02:49.640 --> 01:02:51.640 The strange thing, 01:02:51.640 --> 01:02:55.640 when you begin to stop pampering your natural life and obey, 01:02:55.640 --> 01:02:59.640 is that not only do you become more spiritual and more usable, 01:02:59.640 --> 01:03:01.640 God also feeds your natural life. 01:03:01.640 --> 01:03:03.640 What happens to Ishmael? 01:03:03.640 --> 01:03:04.640 He goes into the desert. 01:03:04.640 --> 01:03:05.640 He's dying. 01:03:05.640 --> 01:03:08.640 Out of nowhere comes a well full of water. 01:03:08.640 --> 01:03:10.640 Out of nowhere comes God 01:03:10.640 --> 01:03:12.640 and begins to prophesy on that boy saying, 01:03:12.640 --> 01:03:14.640 you will become a nation too. 01:03:18.640 --> 01:03:21.640 The only way to transfer the natural into the spiritual 01:03:21.640 --> 01:03:22.640 is through obedience. 01:03:22.640 --> 01:03:24.640 Whenever your flesh begins to resist 01:03:24.640 --> 01:03:26.640 what the word is demanding, 01:03:26.640 --> 01:03:27.640 just obey. 01:03:29.640 --> 01:03:31.640 Do not pamper the flesh that obey. 01:03:31.640 --> 01:03:32.640 And as you obey, 01:03:32.640 --> 01:03:34.640 something will happen inside you spiritually. 01:03:34.640 --> 01:03:37.640 And the natural that you were so scared of losing 01:03:37.640 --> 01:03:39.640 will also be taken care of. 01:03:41.640 --> 01:03:43.640 Therefore, brethren, 01:03:43.640 --> 01:03:47.640 offer yourselves as a living sacrifice. 01:03:48.640 --> 01:03:50.640 Tie yourself, put yourself on the altar. 01:03:50.640 --> 01:03:54.640 And when you do what your natural self resists, 01:03:54.640 --> 01:03:58.640 then this is your spiritual act of worship. 01:03:58.640 --> 01:04:00.640 Always through obedience, guys. 01:04:00.640 --> 01:04:01.640 Go ahead. 01:04:02.640 --> 01:04:06.640 What is an example of Ishmael that you would send off? 01:04:06.640 --> 01:04:10.640 What is an example of Ishmael that I would send off? 01:04:10.640 --> 01:04:13.640 I'm going on at least three international trips 01:04:13.640 --> 01:04:15.640 in the next six weeks. 01:04:15.640 --> 01:04:19.640 It does not make sense to give money away. 01:04:22.640 --> 01:04:24.640 The natural says, 01:04:24.640 --> 01:04:26.640 you don't own airplanes yet. 01:04:26.640 --> 01:04:29.640 The church is not rich enough to get you a private jet. 01:04:29.640 --> 01:04:31.640 Use this money. 01:04:31.640 --> 01:04:32.640 Do not give it away. 01:04:32.640 --> 01:04:34.640 But everything in me, 01:04:34.640 --> 01:04:36.640 because I want to break the spirit of mammon, 01:04:36.640 --> 01:04:40.640 is so enthusiastic to give money away 01:04:40.640 --> 01:04:42.640 so that I'm forever broken. 01:04:45.640 --> 01:04:46.640 And as I obey, 01:04:46.640 --> 01:04:48.640 in tithes, in offerings, in first fruits, 01:04:48.640 --> 01:04:50.640 it does not matter. 01:04:50.640 --> 01:04:53.640 You will find that not only does something spiritually rise up within me, 01:04:53.640 --> 01:04:56.640 but in the natural I will be taken care of. 01:04:56.640 --> 01:04:58.640 And nothing that God has ordained for me 01:04:58.640 --> 01:05:00.640 in terms of where I need to go, 01:05:00.640 --> 01:05:01.640 when I need to go, 01:05:01.640 --> 01:05:02.640 how I need to go, 01:05:02.640 --> 01:05:03.640 how long I need to go, 01:05:03.640 --> 01:05:05.640 will not be taken care of.