WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: The Spirit of Age-2 Publishing Date: 2020-02-02T05:00:44-08:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/the-spirit-of-age-2/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.960 Last week we dealt with the spirit of this age and so we continue dealing with that, 00:00:15.960 --> 00:00:17.920 the spirit of this age. 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:22.480 So where do you get the idea of the spirit of this age? 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:29.920 In German, and you hear this very often at Regent, there's this German word called Zeitgeist, 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:32.800 which is basically the spirit of the times. 00:00:32.800 --> 00:00:37.000 And it's often used by theologians too. 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:44.720 But if you look at Ephesians 2, you'll find Ephesians 2 verse 2 and 3, that's where you 00:00:44.720 --> 00:00:48.400 find the idea of the spirit of the age. 00:00:48.400 --> 00:01:00.500 And different characteristics of the devil become evident in different eras. 00:01:00.500 --> 00:01:04.840 So in the 60s it was different, in the 80s it's different, in the 2020s it's different. 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:14.040 But if you look at Ephesians 2, verse 2 and 3, it says, in which you, let's start at verse 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:41.400 So going back to verse 2, 00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:46.400 In which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:51.080 the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work and those who are disobedient. 00:01:51.080 --> 00:01:56.340 So in every age, in every era, there is a spirit of the age and certain characteristics 00:01:56.340 --> 00:01:58.960 of that spirit become very prominent. 00:01:58.960 --> 00:02:02.880 And when Christians are not aware of it, they buy into it without knowing. 00:02:02.880 --> 00:02:07.040 During Daniel's time it was evident, during David's time it was evident, different eras 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:10.320 have different characteristics that used to manifest. 00:02:10.320 --> 00:02:12.360 And you need to be aware of it, so that's one thing. 00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:16.640 The second thing, and I don't know how to drive this point home, is that this is a spirit 00:02:16.640 --> 00:02:18.720 that's very pervasive. 00:02:18.720 --> 00:02:22.600 It loves operating through the world. 00:02:22.600 --> 00:02:24.080 And it's all around you. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:27.360 You're inundated by it, you're bombarded by it. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:33.040 So I would suggest that it's a good idea to kind of be aware that there is something 00:02:33.600 --> 00:02:38.640 in the air, literally in the air, that tries to influence our mindsets and our thought 00:02:38.640 --> 00:02:40.280 patterns. 00:02:40.280 --> 00:02:43.360 This is what Paul is talking about in Ephesians. 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:45.760 So why am I prefacing it this way? 00:02:45.760 --> 00:02:49.840 So that you take it seriously, because I do. 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:51.320 That's not the reason you should take it seriously. 00:02:51.320 --> 00:02:53.440 You should take it seriously because it's in the scriptures. 00:02:53.440 --> 00:02:58.880 The spirit of this age is a spirit that fits you into the mold of prevalent culture. 00:02:59.040 --> 00:03:04.720 Do not think that you are not subject or susceptible to it. 00:03:04.720 --> 00:03:06.320 Do not think you're not susceptible to it. 00:03:06.320 --> 00:03:08.600 It doesn't matter who you are and what you do. 00:03:08.600 --> 00:03:12.520 Doesn't matter how pastoral or bishop-y you are, you are still susceptible to it, which 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:14.440 is why Paul writes about it. 00:03:14.440 --> 00:03:18.680 So the spirit of the age is a spirit that fits you into the mold of prevalent culture. 00:03:18.680 --> 00:03:21.360 Fits you into the mold of prevalent culture. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:23.800 And it marinates you in the mindset of the world. 00:03:23.800 --> 00:03:26.160 It marinates you in the mindset of the world. 00:03:26.160 --> 00:03:31.640 Because you're continuously saturated in it. 00:03:31.640 --> 00:03:38.120 Your children are at its mercy if you as parents don't watch. 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:39.760 Your children are at its mercy. 00:03:39.760 --> 00:03:44.160 At least you have the advantage of having perhaps grown up in a time where it wasn't 00:03:44.160 --> 00:03:45.320 as bad. 00:03:45.320 --> 00:03:47.520 But your children are at its mercy. 00:03:57.040 --> 00:04:02.640 Worldliness, if you want to define it, or the ways of the world if you want to define 00:04:02.640 --> 00:04:08.680 it, worldliness is what any culture does. 00:04:08.680 --> 00:04:10.200 And church culture also has it. 00:04:10.200 --> 00:04:12.800 So church has a culture too. 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:16.880 Worldliness is what any culture does. 00:04:16.880 --> 00:04:18.680 And here's what every culture does. 00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:31.360 Every culture tries to make sin, self-centeredness, and the majority opinion normal. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:35.880 This is what every culture likes to do, tries to do, attempts to do, and is continuously 00:04:35.880 --> 00:04:39.280 at work at. 00:04:39.280 --> 00:04:48.000 I wish for an instance God could open our eyes to show us the spirit world around us. 00:04:48.040 --> 00:04:52.600 I wish for an instance God could open our eyes to show us the spirit world around us. 00:04:52.600 --> 00:04:56.120 And if you saw it, it would frighten us into obedience. 00:04:56.120 --> 00:05:02.760 But he won't do that because that's not the way he draws people to himself. 00:05:02.760 --> 00:05:10.120 But worldliness is when a culture tries to make sin, self-centeredness, and the majority 00:05:10.120 --> 00:05:13.400 opinion normal. 00:05:13.440 --> 00:05:23.680 And on the other hand, while it is doing that, worldliness also tries to make the right ways 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:40.840 of God academic, archaic, strange, and hostile. 00:05:40.840 --> 00:05:46.160 So on one hand, it tries to make sin, self-centeredness, and the majority opinion normal. 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:48.280 This is what is happening in North America really. 00:05:48.280 --> 00:05:52.080 All you have to do is watch CNN. 00:05:52.080 --> 00:05:57.120 So on one hand, it tries to make sin, self-centeredness, and the majority opinion normal. 00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:04.640 On the other hand, the right ways of God, the right works of God are being made academic. 00:06:04.640 --> 00:06:10.560 As in, my God, they begin to discuss the Greek and the Hebrew of it for hours on end. 00:06:10.600 --> 00:06:19.760 And people write books on it so that by the time you're done, your brain is a mushy mess. 00:06:19.760 --> 00:06:25.800 It either renders it academic or archaic where it's so old that it doesn't apply. 00:06:25.800 --> 00:06:30.040 Or it makes it strange as in your Christian ways are so strange. 00:06:30.040 --> 00:06:35.620 Or it makes it hostile where to take a stance for what God says is right now makes you the 00:06:35.620 --> 00:06:38.760 enemy of the rest of culture. 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:43.160 The reason I'm saying this to you is because you have children or you will have children 00:06:43.160 --> 00:06:46.520 or you will be in charge of people younger than you. 00:06:46.520 --> 00:06:53.920 And they are being molded every day in your absence into this. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:07:00.320 You must be careful for their sake because you are way too old now. 00:07:00.320 --> 00:07:03.360 And there are certain parts of you that cannot be molded. 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:04.960 Thank God for that. 00:07:04.960 --> 00:07:09.760 And your children, every day they're going through it and you are not present when this 00:07:09.760 --> 00:07:11.360 is happening to them. 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:16.680 And that is almost 16 hours of the day you are not there. 00:07:16.680 --> 00:07:21.160 The six hours that they sleep, you're not there, but at least they're sleeping. 00:07:26.640 --> 00:07:27.640 Any questions? 00:07:27.640 --> 00:07:29.640 Because I really mean that. 00:07:34.960 --> 00:07:46.760 Yeah, so when you go to school there's a very different way of education that highlights 00:07:46.760 --> 00:07:54.080 things that are completely not neutral but anti-biblical. 00:07:54.080 --> 00:08:00.920 When you watch TV everything takes from what culture wants to. 00:08:00.920 --> 00:08:05.920 That is almost all TV focus on, sin, self-centeredness, majority opinion. 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:08.040 That's the only way TV can be popular. 00:08:08.040 --> 00:08:12.440 You cannot have a popular program that will run more than a pilot or two shows if those 00:08:12.440 --> 00:08:14.320 three items are missing. 00:08:14.320 --> 00:08:15.320 It's not possible. 00:08:15.320 --> 00:08:22.040 There'll be no advertisers to sponsor it. 00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:26.880 Even Christian programs have to be made with sufficient dilution so that it appeals to 00:08:26.880 --> 00:08:29.480 a larger audience. 00:08:29.480 --> 00:08:36.880 You can't stick to the sheer truth because the sheer truth is so boring. 00:08:36.880 --> 00:08:41.080 You may have escaped it and thank God for it and you may have reinforced yourself and 00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:48.120 praised God for it, but what about your children and your children's children? 00:08:48.120 --> 00:08:54.720 Because grandparents sometimes play an even more critical role than the parents. 00:08:54.720 --> 00:09:02.120 Do not allow the right ways of God to be made academic by theologians or Bible schools. 00:09:02.120 --> 00:09:04.160 Anger rises up in me when I think of that. 00:09:04.160 --> 00:09:07.840 Unfortunately it's an issue with me that I haven't gotten over. 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:13.920 Archaic, where it's made old, strange but worse, hostile man where you cannot take a 00:09:13.920 --> 00:09:16.960 stance without being proven an enemy of the state. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:21.520 Literally, I'm not exaggerating when I say enemy of the state. 00:09:21.520 --> 00:09:27.320 Try saying a few things and see if you can get away with it. 00:09:27.320 --> 00:09:35.240 I would love to but you would lose your charitable receipt next year. 00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:37.120 It's a counterfeit spirit. 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:42.180 This spirit is a counterfeit spirit and the reason I say it's a counterfeit spirit is 00:09:42.180 --> 00:09:48.880 because it imposes not unity but uniformity. 00:09:48.880 --> 00:09:49.880 It's a counterfeit spirit. 00:09:49.880 --> 00:09:53.400 The spirit of this age is a counterfeit spirit. 00:09:53.400 --> 00:09:55.960 It imposes uniformity. 00:09:55.960 --> 00:09:57.480 It imposes uniformity. 00:09:57.480 --> 00:10:03.520 Guys, I'm repeating myself but perhaps it's important. 00:10:03.520 --> 00:10:06.400 You need to listen to this for the sake of your children and your children's children 00:10:06.400 --> 00:10:11.240 and for the young ones who will come into your care because every day they are being 00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:13.920 pushed into a place of uniformity. 00:10:13.920 --> 00:10:16.920 Doesn't matter whether they go to a Christian school or a non-Christian school. 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:24.560 A culture tries to mold you into this and it worms its way into places through people. 00:10:24.560 --> 00:10:30.080 So it's a counterfeit spirit because it tries to impose uniformity and tries to build things 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:32.840 out of bricks and not stones. 00:10:32.840 --> 00:10:38.920 This goes back all the way to Genesis 11 verse 3 and it's odd that God highlights it. 00:10:38.920 --> 00:10:42.780 In Genesis 11 verse 3 it says, and so they began to build a tower of Babel. 00:10:42.780 --> 00:10:46.640 They all came together, united in purpose. 00:10:47.560 --> 00:10:55.040 And they began to build Genesis 11 3 and they used brick instead of stone and asphalt instead 00:10:55.040 --> 00:10:57.040 of mortar. 00:10:57.040 --> 00:11:04.800 And yet throughout biblical history God has always built with stone and mortar, not with 00:11:04.800 --> 00:11:06.720 brick and asphalt. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:11.240 Bricks were baked in the kilns of Egypt, ordered by Pharaoh. 00:11:11.240 --> 00:11:17.140 God has always built with stones that have to somehow fit together. 00:11:17.140 --> 00:11:20.320 He never builds with bricks. 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:25.440 There is a strange diversity that God preserves even in oneness. 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:33.680 When a church becomes like, when you can't differentiate people, when everything in a 00:11:33.680 --> 00:11:40.520 church becomes the same, flee because something there is not right. 00:11:40.520 --> 00:11:47.960 God's always have everybody parroting, behaving, saying, acting the same way. 00:11:47.960 --> 00:11:52.360 It must not happen at Acts 29. 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:54.800 It should be different. 00:11:54.800 --> 00:11:57.920 God preserves this diversity so uniquely. 00:11:57.920 --> 00:12:05.160 He's got 8 billion and He's still creating and they all look different. 00:12:05.160 --> 00:12:14.200 There's an attempt to try to make your kids uniform and to be as creative as the other. 00:12:14.200 --> 00:12:20.840 You get it. 00:12:20.840 --> 00:12:27.280 I call it counterfeit because very often uniformity is mistaken for unity. 00:12:27.280 --> 00:12:29.960 It's not the same. 00:12:29.960 --> 00:12:38.320 Yeah, because there is a tendency to think, if you're all uniform, it'll be fine. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:46.440 No, it's not. 00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:50.600 It's a spirit that smothers belief and bridles godly passion. 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:53.680 It is a spirit that smothers belief. 00:12:53.680 --> 00:12:59.040 It is a spirit that smothers belief and bridles godly passion. 00:12:59.080 --> 00:13:03.840 As in, I'm talking about the spirit of this age. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:04.840 It smothers belief. 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:10.920 Whenever you start taking the risk of believing in something that is impossible, this spirit 00:13:10.920 --> 00:13:13.040 has the ability to smother belief. 00:13:13.040 --> 00:13:18.840 Smother is to not kill, but to suffocate sufficiently so that you come gasping up for air and abandon 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:23.440 the idea of doing anything else but surviving. 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:28.980 It smothers belief and it bridles passion. 00:13:28.980 --> 00:13:32.660 It bridles godly passion in words and in actions. 00:13:32.660 --> 00:13:44.220 That's something I spoke of last week, that Acts 29 has its godly passion bridled. 00:13:44.220 --> 00:13:48.020 You must be troubled by 1 Kings 18, 21. 00:13:48.020 --> 00:13:55.780 In 1 Kings 18, 21, Elijah has made this impassioned speech to Israel and says, choose this day 00:13:55.780 --> 00:13:57.620 who you will serve. 00:13:57.620 --> 00:13:59.900 Will you serve Jehovah or will you serve Baal? 00:13:59.900 --> 00:14:05.980 And 1 Kings 18, 21 says, and the people said nothing. 00:14:05.980 --> 00:14:11.780 There must be something that happens in you when someone makes a plea or makes a statement 00:14:11.780 --> 00:14:13.620 or a declaration about God. 00:14:13.620 --> 00:14:19.540 And when that rises to hold it down is to make it stillborn. 00:14:19.540 --> 00:14:21.020 It is not right. 00:14:21.020 --> 00:14:24.460 You must see that it is the spirit of the age. 00:14:25.300 --> 00:14:27.940 It is not that you are not one type or the other. 00:14:27.940 --> 00:14:32.700 I really don't want us to fake hallelujahs and praise the Lord's and make that kind of 00:14:32.700 --> 00:14:33.700 noise. 00:14:33.700 --> 00:14:34.700 It's hypocritical. 00:14:34.700 --> 00:14:36.620 It is drama. 00:14:36.620 --> 00:14:39.100 God hates it. 00:14:39.100 --> 00:14:43.820 But when that thing begins to rise in you because you hear something of God and your 00:14:43.820 --> 00:14:50.020 entire body is now trained to bridle the passion of God within you, then know that it is not 00:14:50.020 --> 00:14:51.020 the Holy Spirit. 00:14:51.580 --> 00:14:56.820 Because the spirit of God is rising in your womb and then the spirit of the age overpowers 00:14:56.820 --> 00:15:01.660 it not because it is more powerful but because the traditions of men can nullify the works 00:15:01.660 --> 00:15:02.660 of God. 00:15:02.660 --> 00:15:07.780 Jesus said that. 00:15:07.780 --> 00:15:09.780 Don't let it happen. 00:15:09.780 --> 00:15:10.780 Don't let it happen. 00:15:10.780 --> 00:15:11.780 It is evil. 00:15:11.780 --> 00:15:19.140 It comes from the spirit of this age that used to have sway over us, still has sway 00:15:19.260 --> 00:15:23.060 over the sons of disobedience but not over us. 00:15:23.060 --> 00:15:25.220 And for different people it will be different. 00:15:25.220 --> 00:15:29.300 You may not be as passionate about a sentence I speak or a sentence someone speaks but you 00:15:29.300 --> 00:15:34.220 might be passionate about something else and at that moment do not let it stay. 00:15:34.220 --> 00:15:38.820 Let a tiny little whisper come out first and then perhaps one year from now the whisper 00:15:38.820 --> 00:15:41.820 will be loud enough for your wife to hear. 00:15:41.820 --> 00:15:45.660 Good enough but you must start. 00:15:46.180 --> 00:15:50.220 These are declarations that are not spoken but are felt in the heart but are not spoken 00:15:50.220 --> 00:15:56.700 are stillborn and they die. 00:15:56.700 --> 00:16:02.300 There is nothing to the English way of living where I am laughing inside. 00:16:02.300 --> 00:16:12.380 There is no laughing inside in the Bible. 00:16:12.380 --> 00:16:17.660 This is the spirit that poisons you with the philosophies, the traditions of men and 00:16:17.660 --> 00:16:19.220 demonic principles. 00:16:19.220 --> 00:16:31.500 First Corinthians chapter, sorry Colossians 2.8 says do not be deceived or deprived by 00:16:31.500 --> 00:16:38.620 the philosophies of the world, by the traditions of men and by the elemental spirits of the 00:16:38.860 --> 00:16:44.100 world or in some Bibles it says by the elemental principles of the world. 00:16:44.100 --> 00:16:49.620 If you combine both the word used there is stoichia and it means the elemental demonic 00:16:49.620 --> 00:16:55.500 principles of the world are constantly active in this world and the spirit of this age has 00:16:55.500 --> 00:17:01.380 the ability to influence children right from when they begin to see and hear and speak 00:17:01.740 --> 00:17:13.420 with the traditions of men, with the philosophies of the world and with demonic principles. 00:17:13.420 --> 00:17:15.900 What are demonic principles that you see around you? 00:17:15.900 --> 00:17:17.860 Can you call out some? 00:17:17.860 --> 00:17:23.580 Demonic principles that you see around you? 00:17:23.580 --> 00:17:35.380 Being abusive to parents, me first, the more I have the happier I am. 00:17:35.380 --> 00:17:41.500 Sorry, anything is acceptable. 00:17:41.500 --> 00:17:52.580 Self made men and women, my truth, your truth, everything is relative. 00:17:52.580 --> 00:17:58.460 It may sound harmless when we utter it in a context like this but this is the fuel 00:17:58.460 --> 00:18:10.340 that runs the world and it's exponentially not growing, it's like a juggernaut and it 00:18:10.340 --> 00:18:16.340 just rolls over anyone in its way especially the young whose minds are impressive. 00:18:16.340 --> 00:18:27.420 You have to counter this and we'll talk about that, how to have a different spirit. 00:18:27.420 --> 00:18:31.180 It's a spirit that is double minded, it is a spirit that is double minded and it's double 00:18:31.180 --> 00:18:32.260 minded how? 00:18:32.260 --> 00:18:41.500 It values facts over truth, it values common sense over God's power. 00:18:41.580 --> 00:18:48.380 I'm proud of some of you guys who I have seen stand up against facts and experience 00:18:48.380 --> 00:18:52.460 that stare you in the face and you look at facts and the experience that you are going 00:18:52.460 --> 00:18:56.700 through and you say this may be a fact, this may be the experience, this may be what Google 00:18:56.700 --> 00:18:59.780 says but this is the truth and you stand on it. 00:18:59.780 --> 00:19:03.100 I'm so proud of some of you guys who've done that. 00:19:03.100 --> 00:19:09.240 Your children will learn differently, otherwise this spirit leaves you double minded. 00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:17.680 Double mindedness always results in confusion and getting nothing. 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:22.360 It's a spirit that causes you to be double minded, choosing facts over truth, choosing 00:19:22.360 --> 00:19:25.680 common sense over the power of God. 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:31.720 Common sense will always dictate that you do what is commonly done. 00:19:31.720 --> 00:19:36.200 Common sense does not require faith, common sense does not need God, common sense does 00:19:36.200 --> 00:19:38.480 not even require a bright person. 00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:40.560 You have enough common sense. 00:19:40.560 --> 00:19:46.920 If that is how you're going to live, you don't really need God. 00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:57.080 Here's the thing guys, the moment we step into a place where we don't believe what we 00:19:57.080 --> 00:20:02.560 are supposed to, the moment we step into a place where facts rule over truth, the problem 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:08.400 with unbelief is you will at some point, once you go down the road of unbelief, you will 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:14.720 at some point begin to circulate false rumors about God. 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:18.240 It's unfortunate but it's just the way it is. 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:22.920 Once you step into an area of unbelief, as in once you decide that this may be the truth 00:20:22.920 --> 00:20:28.000 but these are the facts and I cannot trust God in this, you will not be able to keep 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:29.000 it to yourself. 00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:33.520 You will circulate false rumors. 00:20:33.520 --> 00:20:35.200 Israel had to go through this. 00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:37.960 Israel is standing there and the land is plentiful. 00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:43.480 They're carrying on their shoulders grapes from the valley of Eshkol but they also have 00:20:43.480 --> 00:20:45.000 seen the giants. 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:48.120 They came back and they could not keep quiet. 00:20:48.120 --> 00:20:51.360 You will circulate false rumors about God. 00:20:51.360 --> 00:20:57.240 God said the land is good, yes, but please let the facts prevail that these giants are 00:20:57.440 --> 00:21:04.440 way too difficult to handle because unbelief cannot be kept quiet, just as faith cannot 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:07.400 be kept quiet. 00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:11.140 And unfortunately when you start spreading false rumors, you're not spreading false rumors 00:21:11.140 --> 00:21:16.920 about your neighbor, you're spreading false rumors about God. 00:21:16.920 --> 00:21:22.640 This is why when my experience dictates something, I have to more loudly, even if I don't believe 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:28.120 it, say what is true till I believe it. 00:21:28.120 --> 00:21:33.680 You may say that's hypocritical, it's a divine hypocrisy. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:40.680 Say what is true even though you don't believe it till you believe it. 00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:47.680 God directed self-talk, meditate. 00:21:55.760 --> 00:21:58.080 It's a spirit that binds you to security. 00:21:58.080 --> 00:22:00.640 It's a spirit that binds you to security. 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:05.040 It makes you an addict to security. 00:22:05.040 --> 00:22:10.760 You get bound to this idea of security and in being bound to security, it castrates kingdom 00:22:10.760 --> 00:22:17.200 potency, it castrates kingdom potency and it renders you undangerous. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:19.400 It renders you undangerous. 00:22:19.400 --> 00:22:22.460 It renders you undangerous. 00:22:22.460 --> 00:22:29.460 This spirit has the ability to make you addictive or addicted to security. 00:22:30.460 --> 00:22:34.660 Once it makes you addicted to security, it castrates kingdom potency in you because you 00:22:34.660 --> 00:22:39.060 cannot have security in the things of the world and step out for the kingdom. 00:22:39.060 --> 00:22:40.660 It does not work. 00:22:40.660 --> 00:22:43.060 Jesus said it long ago, count the cost. 00:22:43.060 --> 00:22:50.060 When you count the cost, Jacob, you will find that you do not have what you require to pay. 00:22:50.060 --> 00:22:56.060 Once you realize you don't have what you need, now step out having come to the full conclusion 00:22:56.060 --> 00:22:59.660 that I cannot meet this demand, I cannot pay this cost. 00:22:59.660 --> 00:23:05.660 Having counted it, I now step out absolutely afloat on the grace and the power of God. 00:23:05.660 --> 00:23:09.660 Count the cost, not so that you count the cost and say, oh, I can't do this, let me 00:23:09.660 --> 00:23:10.660 retire. 00:23:10.660 --> 00:23:15.660 Count the cost, face the fact that regardless of how much you have, it ain't enough. 00:23:15.660 --> 00:23:22.660 Now that you've stared, the absolute futility of what you have, step out. 00:23:22.660 --> 00:23:28.260 And the thing is, this spirit binds you to security, castrating kingdom potency and 00:23:28.260 --> 00:23:30.260 renders you undangerous. 00:23:30.260 --> 00:23:37.260 Churches must not be full of undangerous people. 00:23:41.260 --> 00:23:45.660 Don't think of yourself, think of your children and your children's children. 00:23:45.660 --> 00:23:49.660 And your sister's children and your brother's children, if you don't have any. 00:23:49.660 --> 00:23:56.660 And your young ones that come to your path, think about them and come against the spirit 00:23:56.660 --> 00:24:03.660 of this age because it is as thick as the air you breathe and the only one thicker than 00:24:03.660 --> 00:24:06.660 that is the Holy Spirit. 00:24:06.660 --> 00:24:12.660 But till your children learn how to be a good person, they will not be able to do anything 00:24:12.660 --> 00:24:13.660 against the Holy Spirit. 00:24:13.660 --> 00:24:20.660 But till your children learn how to breathe in the Holy Spirit, you must keep them. 00:24:20.660 --> 00:24:26.660 And you must keep them by being active, not waiting for something to happen so you can 00:24:26.660 --> 00:24:28.660 be reactive. 00:24:28.660 --> 00:24:32.660 You must guard them every day against the spirit that is all around them. 00:24:32.660 --> 00:24:39.660 When I say your children, till they leave your home, they're your kids, man. 00:24:39.660 --> 00:24:46.660 It's a spirit that blunts the different spirit or the excellent spirit that God gives us 00:24:46.660 --> 00:24:47.660 children. 00:24:47.660 --> 00:24:52.660 In the Bible there are two places, one in Numbers 14, 24, God says about Caleb, hey 00:24:52.660 --> 00:24:55.660 Caleb, I have given you a different spirit. 00:24:55.660 --> 00:25:00.660 In Daniel chapter 5 verse 12, he says about Daniel, hey Daniel, in you is an excellent 00:25:00.660 --> 00:25:04.660 spirit, a different spirit or an excellent spirit is given by God. 00:25:04.660 --> 00:25:09.660 And when people who have a different and excellent spirit are able to nurture and sustain 00:25:09.660 --> 00:25:15.660 it, because every child of God has a different and excellent spirit, it's just that in the 00:25:15.660 --> 00:25:23.660 face of the spirit of the age, it just lies dormant. 00:25:23.660 --> 00:25:29.660 And the spirit of the age has the ability to blunt this different spirit or excellent 00:25:29.660 --> 00:25:31.660 spirit that you possess and that your kids possess. 00:25:31.660 --> 00:25:36.660 It has the ability to blunt it. 00:25:36.660 --> 00:25:37.660 How does blunting happen? 00:25:37.660 --> 00:25:45.660 Blunting happens, again it starts when they are very young and it continues through the 00:25:45.660 --> 00:25:48.660 ages, it continues into our churches. 00:25:48.660 --> 00:25:52.660 It blunts by first recalibrating the measure of success. 00:25:52.660 --> 00:25:54.660 It recalibrates the measure of success. 00:25:54.660 --> 00:25:58.660 It decides what your children will think is successful. 00:25:58.660 --> 00:26:02.660 It decides what your value of success is. 00:26:02.660 --> 00:26:05.660 It recalibrates the measure of success. 00:26:05.660 --> 00:26:18.660 This is how the spirit of the age blunts the excellent spirit we possess. 00:26:18.660 --> 00:26:23.660 It tells you what your recalibrated measure of success is. 00:26:23.660 --> 00:26:27.660 It tells you how much to earn, which course to apply for, what to turn out at. 00:26:27.660 --> 00:26:30.660 Which job to pick. 00:26:30.660 --> 00:26:35.660 It does everything for you so that right from when you are a child, you are aspiring for 00:26:35.660 --> 00:26:41.660 a measure that God never set for you. 00:26:41.660 --> 00:26:42.660 It recalibrates the measure of success. 00:26:42.660 --> 00:26:44.660 I'll give you biblical evidence. 00:26:44.660 --> 00:26:46.660 It offers you a new identity. 00:26:46.660 --> 00:26:48.660 It offers you a new identity. 00:26:48.660 --> 00:26:52.660 It hangs the carrot of a new identity. 00:26:52.660 --> 00:27:06.660 And then it encourages you to dilute your morality to achieve the success and the identity. 00:27:06.660 --> 00:27:09.660 It dilutes your morality. 00:27:09.660 --> 00:27:15.660 It invites you to just lower your morality or your standards of purity so that these 00:27:15.660 --> 00:27:21.660 new measures of success, this new attractive identity that is being offered to you, 00:27:21.660 --> 00:27:27.660 can become yours just by compromising a little, not much, and it's being offered to your kids. 00:27:27.660 --> 00:27:33.660 And it's being offered to you, by the way. 00:27:33.660 --> 00:27:38.660 When you read Daniel chapter 1, verse 3 to 7, 00:27:38.660 --> 00:27:50.660 Daniel 1, 3 to 7, Daniel 1, 3 to 7. 00:27:50.660 --> 00:27:52.660 I'm reading from the NIV. 00:27:52.660 --> 00:27:53.660 Daniel 1, 3 to 7. 00:27:53.660 --> 00:27:59.660 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king's service 00:27:59.660 --> 00:28:02.660 some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility. 00:28:02.660 --> 00:28:07.660 Young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, 00:28:07.660 --> 00:28:12.660 well informed, quick to understand, qualified to serve in king's palace. 00:28:12.660 --> 00:28:15.660 He was to teach them the language and the literature of Babylonians. 00:28:15.660 --> 00:28:19.660 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. 00:28:19.660 --> 00:28:23.660 They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king's service. 00:28:23.660 --> 00:28:29.660 Among those who were chosen were some from Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Michelle, and Azariah. 00:28:29.660 --> 00:28:34.660 The chief official gave them new names to Daniel, the name Belteshazer, to Hananiah Shadrach, 00:28:34.660 --> 00:28:37.660 to Michelle Meshak, and to Azariah Abednego. 00:28:37.660 --> 00:28:41.660 Let me read it from the message. 00:28:41.660 --> 00:28:46.660 The king told Ashpenaz, head of the palace staff, to get some Israelites from royal family and nobility. 00:28:46.660 --> 00:28:49.660 Young men who were healthy and handsome, intelligent and well educated, 00:28:49.660 --> 00:28:53.660 good prospects for leadership positions in the government, perfect specimens, 00:28:53.660 --> 00:28:57.660 and indoctrinate them in the Babylonian language and the lore of magic and fortune telling. 00:28:57.660 --> 00:29:02.660 The king then ordered them to be served from the same menu as the royal table, 00:29:02.660 --> 00:29:04.660 the best foods, the finest wines. 00:29:04.660 --> 00:29:07.660 After three years of training they would be given positions in the king's court. 00:29:07.660 --> 00:29:12.660 Four young men from Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Michelle, and Azariah were among those selected. 00:29:12.660 --> 00:29:14.660 The head of the palace staff gave them Babylonian names. 00:29:14.660 --> 00:29:20.660 Daniel was Belteshazer, Hananiah was Shadrach, Michelle was Meshak, Azariah was Abednego. 00:29:20.660 --> 00:29:25.660 The point is, there were 15,000 young men who left Israel. 00:29:25.660 --> 00:29:32.660 15,000 young men Babylon brought from Jerusalem because these were young men of nobility. 00:29:32.660 --> 00:29:35.660 These were young men from royal lineage. 00:29:35.660 --> 00:29:38.660 15,000 men were brought. 15,000 young men. 00:29:38.660 --> 00:29:42.660 And they were trained. Some of the men are mentioned here in the book of Daniel. 00:29:42.660 --> 00:29:47.660 Out of the 15,000 brought, the only ones who resisted were these four. 00:29:47.660 --> 00:29:51.660 They would not eat pork, but the king would serve them pork. 00:29:51.660 --> 00:29:55.660 They would not drink certain kinds of wine. The king was serving them wine. 00:29:55.660 --> 00:29:59.660 What was being offered to them was a scholarship instead of slavery, 00:29:59.660 --> 00:30:03.660 was a banquet instead of bread and potatoes. 00:30:03.660 --> 00:30:09.660 You think you and I are not susceptible to it? 00:30:09.660 --> 00:30:12.660 May I suggest to you that some of you have already taken it? 00:30:12.660 --> 00:30:17.660 I've done this in my life where I've gone for the dainties of the king's table 00:30:17.660 --> 00:30:23.660 and for measures of success that the world said would be right for you, Jacob, and I went that way. 00:30:23.660 --> 00:30:26.660 Thank God I escaped the clutches of these things. 00:30:26.660 --> 00:30:32.660 Neither I nor Acts 29 would be where it is if I went the way that God said would, 00:30:32.660 --> 00:30:35.660 that the world said would make a successful church. 00:30:35.660 --> 00:30:41.660 It's odd. These qualities are highly prized. There's nothing wrong with it. 00:30:41.660 --> 00:30:44.660 The spirit of this age prizes personal appearance. 00:30:44.660 --> 00:30:46.660 Nothing wrong with personal appearance. 00:30:46.660 --> 00:30:51.660 It's good if you have a better dress sense than me. 00:30:51.660 --> 00:30:55.660 The spirit of this age prizes professional abilities. 00:30:55.660 --> 00:30:58.660 That's good. One should encourage that. 00:30:58.660 --> 00:31:00.660 It prizes skill and intelligence. 00:31:00.660 --> 00:31:03.660 It prizes potential for advancement. 00:31:03.660 --> 00:31:08.660 And it prizes these highly sought values. 00:31:08.660 --> 00:31:10.660 And there's nothing wrong with it. 00:31:10.660 --> 00:31:15.660 But the strange thing is Daniel did not occupy the positions he finally occupied 00:31:15.660 --> 00:31:17.660 because of any of these qualities. 00:31:17.660 --> 00:31:23.660 He occupied them simply because he had an excellent spirit. 00:31:23.660 --> 00:31:27.660 Do you know what was going to happen to Daniel along with others who had these prized values? 00:31:27.660 --> 00:31:33.660 They were going to chop off their heads. 00:31:33.660 --> 00:31:38.660 And then one man goes to the king and says, 00:31:38.660 --> 00:31:45.660 There is one amongst the Hebrews who has the spirit of the gods dwelling in him. 00:31:45.660 --> 00:31:48.660 He has the spirit of the gods dwelling in him. 00:31:48.660 --> 00:31:53.660 He actually helped your father when your father had dreams. 00:31:53.660 --> 00:31:55.660 So why don't you call him? 00:31:55.660 --> 00:31:59.660 And Daniel and his friends were waiting for their heads to be chopped off 00:31:59.660 --> 00:32:02.660 because the king saw a dream that he did not remember. 00:32:02.660 --> 00:32:07.660 And he's asking his magicians and astrologers to tell him the dream that he dreamt that he did not remember 00:32:07.660 --> 00:32:11.660 and then to interpret the dream that he dreamt that he did not remember. 00:32:11.660 --> 00:32:14.660 It's happened to me once. 00:32:14.660 --> 00:32:18.660 I was in Indonesia and an army general's daughter came. 00:32:18.660 --> 00:32:21.660 He sent her and she said, 00:32:21.660 --> 00:32:29.660 I've got something in my mind that I won't tell you that I want you to tell me and pray for it so that it happens. 00:32:29.660 --> 00:32:32.660 And I think to myself, this guy is an army general. 00:32:32.660 --> 00:32:34.660 What do I do? 00:32:34.660 --> 00:32:38.660 And so I turned to Himavan, the guy who brought her and I said, never again. 00:32:38.660 --> 00:32:41.660 And yet, I was still thinking about it. 00:32:41.660 --> 00:32:43.660 And I said, never again. 00:32:43.660 --> 00:32:51.660 And yet, her son had a tumor in his brain and God showed it. 00:32:51.660 --> 00:32:56.660 And so I said, it's to do with your son and it's something to do with his brain. 00:32:56.660 --> 00:33:01.660 And she couldn't believe it, man. 00:33:01.660 --> 00:33:07.660 But never again. 00:33:07.660 --> 00:33:09.660 The point being this. 00:33:09.660 --> 00:33:12.660 It wasn't even an unspoken prayer request. 00:33:12.660 --> 00:33:17.660 It was a prayer request that she wasn't going to give until God showed it. 00:33:17.660 --> 00:33:24.660 But the point here is, Daniel did not get to the positions he got to because of these great prized possessions 00:33:24.660 --> 00:33:26.660 that are highly valued in the world. 00:33:26.660 --> 00:33:28.660 He got there because of an excellent spirit. 00:33:28.660 --> 00:33:31.660 What I'm trying to say is, is it possible for you? 00:33:31.660 --> 00:33:33.660 Is it possible for me as a pastor? 00:33:33.660 --> 00:33:37.660 Is it possible for you as a parent or a business owner, as an employer, 00:33:37.660 --> 00:33:43.660 as an employee who is in charge of people, is it possible to help people cultivate an excellent and a different spirit 00:33:43.660 --> 00:33:47.660 in your students, in your employees, in the people who come to church, in your children? 00:33:47.660 --> 00:33:56.660 Is it possible to do that instead of choosing to go down the route that Babylon always goes? 00:33:56.660 --> 00:34:04.660 I don't know whether it's common to parents in North America, but in Asia, parents love this stuff. 00:34:04.660 --> 00:34:08.660 This is why every child has to go for piano lessons. 00:34:08.660 --> 00:34:15.660 Every child has to go for this and that and the other because your kid has to be creme de la creme. 00:34:15.660 --> 00:34:22.660 If you don't make UBC, you ain't worth it. 00:34:22.660 --> 00:34:26.660 And look after all the UBC stuff that Derek and Dawn did. 00:34:26.660 --> 00:34:32.660 Look, can't fix a light bulb. 00:34:38.660 --> 00:34:41.660 Okay, sorry, I'm talking about Derek now. 00:34:41.660 --> 00:34:46.660 Yeah, they can't move a piano and in the process jam Jeevan against the wall 00:34:46.660 --> 00:34:51.660 so that there's an impression of him on your wall. 00:34:54.660 --> 00:34:56.660 Yeah. 00:34:56.660 --> 00:35:00.660 Unfortunately, instead of cultivating an excellent spirit in our children and our churches, 00:35:00.660 --> 00:35:05.660 we have to be able to cultivate an excellent spirit in our children and our churches. 00:35:06.660 --> 00:35:10.660 Unfortunately, instead of cultivating an excellent spirit in our children and our churches, 00:35:10.660 --> 00:35:15.660 we place greater emphasis on the Babylonian model. 00:35:15.660 --> 00:35:20.660 And yet, 1 Corinthians 1, 25 to 29, you should read it in the message. 00:35:20.660 --> 00:35:24.660 1 Corinthians 1, 25 to 29. 00:35:24.660 --> 00:35:29.660 It doesn't mean that you guys who are in school should now say, well, dad, well, mom, that's it. 00:35:29.660 --> 00:35:32.660 I'm not studying anymore. I'm going to start a coffee shop. 00:35:32.660 --> 00:35:36.660 That is not the idea. Just in case you were thinking that, Liddy, I've already wandered. 00:35:36.660 --> 00:35:40.660 And so that's not the idea. 00:35:40.660 --> 00:35:46.660 The idea is these are not the things that we establish as marks of success. 00:35:46.660 --> 00:35:48.660 These are not. 00:35:48.660 --> 00:35:51.660 And you need to repent of it because all of us are subject to this. 00:35:51.660 --> 00:35:54.660 Please understand, all of us are subject to this. 00:35:54.660 --> 00:35:59.660 I'll give you time to repent as I do need it to. 00:35:59.660 --> 00:36:09.660 So, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 25, from the message. 00:36:09.660 --> 00:36:18.660 Human wisdom is so tinny, so important, next to the seeming absurdity of God. 00:36:18.660 --> 00:36:22.660 Human strength can't begin to compete with God's weakness. 00:36:22.660 --> 00:36:26.660 Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. 00:36:26.660 --> 00:36:30.660 I don't see many of the brightest and the best among you, not many influential, 00:36:30.660 --> 00:36:33.660 not many from high society, families. 00:36:33.660 --> 00:36:39.660 Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, 00:36:39.660 --> 00:36:43.660 chose these nobodies to expose the hollow pretensions of the somebodies? 00:36:43.660 --> 00:36:51.660 That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. 00:36:51.660 --> 00:36:54.660 Any questions before we go on? 00:36:54.660 --> 00:37:05.660 Can you just take a little time to repent of allowing the spirit of this age to touch you or your family or the way you live? 00:37:05.660 --> 00:37:12.660 Can you repent of what you may have seen as marks of success? 00:37:12.660 --> 00:37:15.660 As the identity that you want for yourself? 00:37:15.660 --> 00:37:17.660 You know what Michelle means? 00:37:17.660 --> 00:37:20.660 Michelle means he is who God is. 00:37:20.660 --> 00:37:22.660 You know what Meshak means? 00:37:22.660 --> 00:37:25.660 He is who the moon god Akku is. 00:37:25.660 --> 00:37:26.660 Slight change. 00:37:26.660 --> 00:37:28.660 Michelle means he is who God is. 00:37:28.660 --> 00:37:32.660 Meshak means he is who the moon god is. 00:37:32.660 --> 00:37:35.660 And the moon god is who the moon god is. 00:37:35.660 --> 00:37:36.660 Slight change. 00:37:36.660 --> 00:37:38.660 Michelle means he is who God is. 00:37:38.660 --> 00:37:42.660 Meshak means he is who the moon god is. 00:37:42.660 --> 00:37:45.660 Just a slight change. 00:37:45.660 --> 00:37:48.660 Can you just repent? 00:37:48.660 --> 00:38:03.660 What have I said as a standard of success as a pastor and success as a church? 00:38:03.660 --> 00:38:04.660 What have I said? 00:38:04.660 --> 00:38:07.660 Because what I have said will affect you. 00:38:07.660 --> 00:38:09.660 That's how I will measure you. 00:38:09.660 --> 00:38:12.660 How do I measure you? 00:38:12.660 --> 00:38:14.660 What if you don't meet my qualifications? 00:38:14.660 --> 00:38:16.660 Then what happens? 00:38:16.660 --> 00:38:18.660 Slight change. 00:38:18.660 --> 00:38:23.660 You have no idea how people will affect this. 00:38:23.660 --> 00:38:44.660 People will try to affect this. 00:38:44.660 --> 00:38:49.660 I'm sorry that I have walked in a different circle. 00:38:49.660 --> 00:38:59.660 Even though I knew it in the back of my head. 00:38:59.660 --> 00:39:04.660 I'm sorry that I haven't waged war against the spirit of the faith. 00:39:04.660 --> 00:39:21.660 I said waged war against the spirit of the faith. 00:39:21.660 --> 00:39:26.660 I'm sorry for desiring anything for Acts 29 and all for myself. 00:39:26.660 --> 00:39:39.660 It did not come from what you said as a standard. 00:39:39.660 --> 00:39:45.660 I'm sorry for the number of times I have lost security. 00:40:15.660 --> 00:40:30.660 I'm sorry for the number of times I have lost security. 00:40:30.660 --> 00:40:46.660 I'm sorry for the number of times I have lost security. 00:40:46.660 --> 00:40:49.660 Let's look at how we can define a different spirit. 00:40:49.660 --> 00:40:50.660 Caleb had a different spirit. 00:40:50.660 --> 00:40:52.660 Go to Numbers 14. 00:40:52.660 --> 00:40:53.660 Ah shucks. 00:40:53.660 --> 00:40:55.660 I won't be able to finish. 00:40:55.660 --> 00:40:58.660 Numbers 14, verse 24. 00:40:58.660 --> 00:41:01.660 Numbers 14, verse 24. 00:41:01.660 --> 00:41:16.660 Numbers 14, verse 24. 00:41:16.660 --> 00:41:18.660 Numbers 14, verse 24. 00:41:18.660 --> 00:41:21.660 And it says there, let's read from verse 20. 00:41:21.660 --> 00:41:23.660 The Lord replied, I have forgiven them as you ask. 00:41:23.660 --> 00:41:27.660 Nevertheless, as surely as I live, and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, 00:41:27.660 --> 00:41:31.660 not one of the men who saw my glory and miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert, 00:41:31.660 --> 00:41:34.660 but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times, 00:41:34.660 --> 00:41:38.660 not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. 00:41:38.660 --> 00:41:41.660 No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. 00:41:41.660 --> 00:41:48.660 But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, 00:41:48.660 --> 00:41:54.660 I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. 00:41:54.660 --> 00:41:56.660 So what defines a different spirit? 00:41:56.660 --> 00:42:01.660 First, surprisingly, it goes back to something we've been talking about, 00:42:01.660 --> 00:42:13.660 God declarations in the midst of negativity, in the midst of negativity. 00:42:13.660 --> 00:42:23.660 We are defining what a different spirit is like. 00:42:23.660 --> 00:42:28.660 Someone with a different spirit, and may I remind you that because you are born again, 00:42:28.660 --> 00:42:30.660 you have a different and excellent spirit. 00:42:30.660 --> 00:42:35.660 Someone with a different spirit is someone who has the ability to make God declarations 00:42:35.660 --> 00:42:37.660 in the midst of overwhelming negativity. 00:42:37.660 --> 00:42:43.660 Numbers 14, numbers 14 verse 6 to 10, overwhelming negativity around you, 00:42:43.660 --> 00:42:46.660 either because of people around you or because of your own circumstances. 00:42:46.660 --> 00:42:50.660 Numbers 14, 6 to 10, starting at 5. 00:42:51.660 --> 00:42:55.660 Then Moses and Aaron fell face down in front of the whole Israelite assembly, gathered together. 00:42:55.660 --> 00:42:59.660 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephaniah, who were among them, 00:42:59.660 --> 00:43:03.660 who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, 00:43:03.660 --> 00:43:06.660 The land we pass through and explore is exceedingly good. 00:43:06.660 --> 00:43:09.660 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into the land, 00:43:09.660 --> 00:43:12.660 a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 00:43:12.660 --> 00:43:14.660 Only do not rebel against the Lord. 00:43:14.660 --> 00:43:17.660 Do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. 00:43:17.660 --> 00:43:19.660 Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. 00:43:19.660 --> 00:43:23.660 Do not be afraid of them, but the whole assembly talked about stoning them. 00:43:23.660 --> 00:43:26.660 Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. 00:43:26.660 --> 00:43:32.660 To be able to continuously hold fast to the truth or to the declaration that God has made, 00:43:32.660 --> 00:43:35.660 even though he slay me, yet I will trust him, 00:43:35.660 --> 00:43:39.660 and under circumstances that are overwhelmingly negative, 00:43:39.660 --> 00:43:43.660 to keep on declaring the goodness of God. 00:43:43.660 --> 00:43:46.660 This is part of having a different spirit, guys. 00:43:50.660 --> 00:43:54.660 I remember when I was in severe pain in Indonesia, 00:43:54.660 --> 00:43:56.660 one strange thing began to happen. 00:43:56.660 --> 00:43:58.660 I began to say to God things like, 00:43:58.660 --> 00:44:00.660 Oh God, what have I done wrong? 00:44:00.660 --> 00:44:02.660 Why is this pain going on? 00:44:02.660 --> 00:44:04.660 Tell me what I need to do. I'll repent. 00:44:04.660 --> 00:44:06.660 I'll do whatever you want. Please take this pain away. 00:44:06.660 --> 00:44:10.660 And as I kept doing that, God was coming out really ugly. 00:44:11.660 --> 00:44:16.660 He was coming out like a guy who is looking for an opportunity to do me harm. 00:44:17.660 --> 00:44:22.660 I remember calling up Chantel's mum and asking them to pray. 00:44:22.660 --> 00:44:25.660 I was telling her about this and she stopped and said, 00:44:25.660 --> 00:44:28.660 This doesn't sound like your father. 00:44:28.660 --> 00:44:31.660 So why are you talking like this and praying like this? 00:44:33.660 --> 00:44:34.660 I had to repent of it. 00:44:34.660 --> 00:44:37.660 I remember going up after that and saying, Father, I'm really sorry. 00:44:37.660 --> 00:44:45.660 I'm really sorry for making you sound like an ogre who is looking for ways to do me harm. 00:44:46.660 --> 00:44:49.660 I'm really sorry. I'm saying stuff like, Oh God, please take this away. 00:44:49.660 --> 00:44:50.660 Tell me what to do. I'll repent. 00:44:50.660 --> 00:44:52.660 Whatever sin you want me to get rid of, I'll do. 00:44:52.660 --> 00:44:53.660 Please take this away. Oh God. 00:44:53.660 --> 00:44:57.660 It sounded like he was a tyrant who... 00:44:58.660 --> 00:45:00.660 It was horrible. 00:45:00.660 --> 00:45:02.660 I was so ashamed of what I was doing. 00:45:05.660 --> 00:45:10.660 Sometimes even our pleas to God that sound terribly Christian-ese 00:45:10.660 --> 00:45:14.660 are actually an affront to him because it makes him look nasty. 00:45:17.660 --> 00:45:20.660 Imagine one of Dano's kids coming, Dad, please take this pain away. 00:45:20.660 --> 00:45:21.660 What do you want me to do? 00:45:21.660 --> 00:45:23.660 Can I clean up the yard? 00:45:23.660 --> 00:45:24.660 Can I eat less? 00:45:24.660 --> 00:45:26.660 Can I polish your shoes? 00:45:26.660 --> 00:45:27.660 Tell me what to do. 00:45:28.660 --> 00:45:30.660 What do you think it'll do to the father? 00:45:38.660 --> 00:45:40.660 God declarations in the midst of overwhelming negativity. 00:45:40.660 --> 00:45:46.660 The second thing is, man, this Caleb was something else, man. 00:45:50.660 --> 00:45:53.660 He goes back 45 years to a promise that God gave him 00:45:53.660 --> 00:45:56.660 and he stays alive and wrestles through it 00:45:56.660 --> 00:45:59.660 because he knows that 45 years ago God gave me a promise. 00:45:59.660 --> 00:46:02.660 Go to Joshua, Joshua chapter 14. 00:46:02.660 --> 00:46:05.660 You know, we get so hung up with Joshua and others 00:46:05.660 --> 00:46:07.660 that we forget other heroes like Caleb. 00:46:07.660 --> 00:46:09.660 You know how many giants David killed? 00:46:09.660 --> 00:46:10.660 One. 00:46:10.660 --> 00:46:12.660 You know how many giants Caleb killed? 00:46:12.660 --> 00:46:13.660 A whole tribe. 00:46:15.660 --> 00:46:17.660 Who do we write songs about? 00:46:17.660 --> 00:46:19.660 David, because it sounds better in a song. 00:46:19.660 --> 00:46:21.660 Caleb doesn't fit in a song well. 00:46:21.660 --> 00:46:23.660 What do you rhyme with Caleb? 00:46:28.660 --> 00:46:29.660 Bravid. 00:46:33.660 --> 00:46:36.660 Go to Joshua 14, Joshua 14. 00:46:37.660 --> 00:46:41.660 I don't know, David somehow fits more in a song than... 00:46:42.660 --> 00:46:45.660 Caleb loved the Lord? Doesn't go well. 00:46:45.660 --> 00:46:47.660 David loved the Lord? Yes. 00:46:47.660 --> 00:46:48.660 Joshua chapter 14. 00:46:51.660 --> 00:46:53.660 Ah, look at this, man. 00:46:53.660 --> 00:46:55.660 Look at what he says, starting verse 6. 00:47:07.660 --> 00:47:11.660 The servant of the Lord sent me to Kadeshbarnia to explore the land. 00:47:11.660 --> 00:47:13.660 And I brought him back a report according to my convictions. 00:47:13.660 --> 00:47:14.660 Beautifully. 00:47:14.660 --> 00:47:18.660 I brought him back a report according to my convictions. 00:47:18.660 --> 00:47:19.660 You know what convictions are? 00:47:19.660 --> 00:47:23.660 In the US courts, a conviction is something you're willing to go to prison for. 00:47:24.660 --> 00:47:26.660 You can say, I believe and it's okay. 00:47:26.660 --> 00:47:27.660 You can change your beliefs. 00:47:27.660 --> 00:47:29.660 I have an opinion, that's okay. 00:47:29.660 --> 00:47:30.660 You can change your opinions. 00:47:30.660 --> 00:47:32.660 But the moment you say, I have a conviction, 00:47:32.660 --> 00:47:36.660 what you're saying is, this is so deep that I will go to prison for it. 00:47:37.660 --> 00:47:39.660 And he says there that... 00:47:41.660 --> 00:47:44.660 And I brought him back a report according to my convictions. 00:47:44.660 --> 00:47:47.660 But my brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear. 00:47:47.660 --> 00:47:50.660 That's what I meant by circulating rumors. 00:47:50.660 --> 00:47:53.660 I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. 00:47:53.660 --> 00:47:55.660 So on the day Moses swore to me, 00:47:55.660 --> 00:47:59.660 the land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, 00:47:59.660 --> 00:48:01.660 because you have followed the Lord your God wholeheartedly. 00:48:01.660 --> 00:48:04.660 Now then, just as the Lord promised, look at it. 00:48:04.660 --> 00:48:10.660 He has kept me alive for 45 years since the time he said this to Moses while Israel moved about in the desert. 00:48:10.660 --> 00:48:13.660 So here I am today, 85 years old. 00:48:13.660 --> 00:48:15.660 I'm still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out. 00:48:15.660 --> 00:48:18.660 I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. 00:48:18.660 --> 00:48:21.660 Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. 00:48:21.660 --> 00:48:26.660 You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and the cities were large and fortified. 00:48:26.660 --> 00:48:28.660 But the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said. 00:48:28.660 --> 00:48:32.660 And Joshua blessed Caleb the son of Jephaniah and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. 00:48:32.660 --> 00:48:35.660 So Hebron belonged to Caleb son of Jephaniah the Kenazite ever since, 00:48:35.660 --> 00:48:38.660 because he followed the Lord the God of Israel wholeheartedly. 00:48:38.660 --> 00:48:40.660 Hebron used to be called Kiryat Arba. 00:48:40.660 --> 00:48:42.660 You know what Kiryat Arba means? 00:48:42.660 --> 00:48:45.660 Kiryat Arba means the greatest of giants. 00:48:45.660 --> 00:48:48.660 It was named after one of the greatest of giants. 00:48:48.660 --> 00:48:53.660 Hebron used to be called Kiryat Arba after Arba, who was the greatest man among the Anakites. 00:48:53.660 --> 00:48:55.660 Then the land had rest from war. 00:48:58.660 --> 00:49:00.660 A different spirit wrestles to inherit the promise. 00:49:00.660 --> 00:49:02.660 A different spirit wrestles to inherit the promise. 00:49:02.660 --> 00:49:05.660 Guys, wrestling is always grappling for position. 00:49:05.660 --> 00:49:08.660 Wrestling is always jockeying for position. 00:49:08.660 --> 00:49:11.660 Wrestling is always jockeying for positions. 00:49:11.660 --> 00:49:13.660 Jockey for position. 00:49:13.660 --> 00:49:16.660 Whenever a promise is given to you, jockey for position. 00:49:16.660 --> 00:49:18.660 Because whenever a promise is released to you, 00:49:18.660 --> 00:49:22.660 know that there is an enemy who actively wants to stop the promise from happening. 00:49:22.660 --> 00:49:26.660 You don't need to rebuke and drive him out and all this stuff. 00:49:26.660 --> 00:49:30.660 Do whatever is necessary to jockey into position where you have the upper hand. 00:49:30.660 --> 00:49:33.660 This man, because of a promise that was given to him, 00:49:33.660 --> 00:49:38.660 stayed healthy, vigorous, absolutely not old, full of passion. 00:49:38.660 --> 00:49:40.660 Why? Because the promise sustained him. 00:49:44.660 --> 00:49:47.660 You know what sustains some of the guys in Israel? 00:49:47.660 --> 00:49:49.660 The bones of Joseph. 00:49:49.660 --> 00:49:51.660 How do the bones of Joseph, 00:49:51.660 --> 00:49:54.660 how do the bones of a devil sustain him? 00:49:54.660 --> 00:50:00.660 How do the bones of Joseph, how do the bones of a dead man cause people to be sustained? 00:50:00.660 --> 00:50:03.660 Because Joseph had said that one day, 00:50:03.660 --> 00:50:08.660 you will bury my bones in the promised land. 00:50:08.660 --> 00:50:13.660 And these slaves would come back, their backs opened by the whips of the Egyptians, 00:50:13.660 --> 00:50:17.660 and they would go past this tent where the bones of Joseph were kept, 00:50:17.660 --> 00:50:20.660 and they would remember, a day is coming, a day is coming, 00:50:20.660 --> 00:50:23.660 when we will carry these bones and bury them in the promised land. 00:50:23.660 --> 00:50:27.660 A promise is worth holding on to. 00:50:27.660 --> 00:50:29.660 And if you can hold on to it with faith, 00:50:29.660 --> 00:50:34.660 it has the power to invigorate, quicken your mortal bodies. 00:50:34.660 --> 00:50:36.660 Quicken your mortal bodies. 00:50:41.660 --> 00:50:43.660 Many different ways to live long, guys. 00:50:48.660 --> 00:50:51.660 We've got to be visibly and audibly different 00:50:51.660 --> 00:50:54.660 from the faithless religious generation that you find in churches. 00:50:54.660 --> 00:50:56.660 We've got to be visibly different. 00:50:56.660 --> 00:51:01.660 None of the promises can be promises if they're not spoken by God and repeated by men. 00:51:01.660 --> 00:51:05.660 Do not think that you can survive on a promise by being silent about it. 00:51:09.660 --> 00:51:15.660 Hear me again. You cannot have a promise live if you don't speak about it. 00:51:21.660 --> 00:51:28.660 And someone will have to come against the spirit of the age in this church that smothers expression. 00:51:28.660 --> 00:51:30.660 Someone will have to come against it. 00:51:30.660 --> 00:51:33.660 It cannot be me, because I'm doing it anyways. 00:51:33.660 --> 00:51:37.660 I'm talking about when someone speaks and if I'm sitting there, then it applies to me too. 00:51:37.660 --> 00:51:42.660 But someone has to come against it, because it is so difficult to break that in Acts 29. 00:51:42.660 --> 00:51:47.660 That someone has to begin the, begin the process of the promise. 00:51:47.660 --> 00:51:55.660 That someone has to begin the, begin the practice of daring to speak in a whisper. 00:51:55.660 --> 00:51:59.660 When God moves you, not when Jacob moves you, but when God moves you. 00:51:59.660 --> 00:52:03.660 And slowly as you begin to do that, this thing will break. 00:52:03.660 --> 00:52:08.660 We just need three or four different cracks in the wall and the water will gush. 00:52:08.660 --> 00:52:13.660 Don't do it for me. Don't do it for hallelujah. Do it when God touches you. 00:52:13.660 --> 00:52:20.660 Third point. Man, this guy had unflinching strength. Unflinching strength. 00:52:20.660 --> 00:52:23.660 I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me. 00:52:23.660 --> 00:52:27.660 Guys, a different spirit does not backslide with regard to passion. 00:52:27.660 --> 00:52:31.660 A different spirit does not backslide with regard to passion. 00:52:31.660 --> 00:52:34.660 A different spirit does not backslide with regard to passion. 00:52:34.660 --> 00:52:38.660 A different spirit does not backslide with regard to passion. 00:52:38.660 --> 00:52:41.660 Passion, in fact, fuels strength. 00:52:41.660 --> 00:52:45.660 Find things that, are you going to retire shortly? 00:52:45.660 --> 00:52:49.660 Find things that fuel your passion. Otherwise, all of you will retire. 00:52:49.660 --> 00:52:54.660 Are you changing jobs? Find things that fuel your passion. 00:52:54.660 --> 00:52:58.660 Are you changing the pathway that God has for you? 00:52:58.660 --> 00:53:01.660 Find things that fuel your passion. Are you a student? 00:53:01.660 --> 00:53:04.660 Find things that fuel your passion. 00:53:04.660 --> 00:53:07.660 Because passion fuels strength. 00:53:07.660 --> 00:53:11.660 People with different spirits, and all of us who are born again have different spirits. 00:53:11.660 --> 00:53:22.660 People with different spirits do not backslide with regard to passion. They do not. 00:53:22.660 --> 00:53:33.660 There are a number of old people who, after 65, do not do much in church. 00:53:33.660 --> 00:53:39.660 No, no, I didn't mean Acts 29. I meant in church. 00:53:39.660 --> 00:53:45.660 All they do is give decent offerings. 00:53:45.660 --> 00:53:50.660 May that not happen to us, eh? 00:53:50.660 --> 00:53:54.660 Next point. 00:53:56.660 --> 00:54:00.660 A different spirit asks for challenges. 00:54:00.660 --> 00:54:02.660 Give me this mountain. 00:54:02.660 --> 00:54:05.660 A different spirit asks for challenges. 00:54:05.660 --> 00:54:08.660 You must ask. 00:54:08.660 --> 00:54:11.660 You can't ask for normal stuff. 00:54:11.660 --> 00:54:14.660 You have to ask for challenges. 00:54:14.660 --> 00:54:19.660 A different spirit asks for challenges. Give me this mountain. 00:54:19.660 --> 00:54:27.660 I always, every year I ask this question, what is it in your life that you are presently doing that requires oodles of faith that you've never attempted before? 00:54:27.660 --> 00:54:33.660 What is it that you're presently doing that you've never gone into before and you need faith for it? 00:54:38.660 --> 00:54:43.660 Different spirit asks for challenges, give me this mountain. Caleb asked for terrain where the giants lived. 00:54:43.660 --> 00:54:47.660 You know, this is the same place that petrified the ten spies. 00:54:47.660 --> 00:54:55.660 What's the guy trying to do? He's trying to prove the report that he gave out of his convictions 45 years ago. 00:54:55.660 --> 00:55:03.660 45 years ago he said to the Israelites, hey listen, their protection is taken away. They are like bread before us, we can take them. 00:55:03.660 --> 00:55:07.660 45 years he held on to that conviction, that report that he gave. 00:55:07.660 --> 00:55:15.660 And what is he asking for? At 85 he's saying, can I please have the same place that I spoke about as saying they can be taken. 00:55:15.660 --> 00:55:25.660 Now that I'm 85, can I please have that place back? That was the very place where Israel fell and that is the very place I want because I want to prove that my report was right. 00:55:25.660 --> 00:55:29.660 Whose report shall we believe? Ron Canole. We shall believe the report of the Lord. 00:55:29.660 --> 00:55:39.660 And he goes back to the same place where the ten spies were petrified that he never got a chance to show that God is who God is. 00:55:39.660 --> 00:55:41.660 And he says, please give me those hills. 00:55:49.660 --> 00:55:56.660 He waited for 40 years to prove what he had said would happen and he proved it. David killed one giant, Caleb killed a tribe. 00:55:56.660 --> 00:56:03.660 Last two points, a different spirit submits to authority, a different spirit submits to authority even though it's entitled. 00:56:03.660 --> 00:56:08.660 Even though it's entitled, it submits to authority. Caleb and Joshua went together. 00:56:08.660 --> 00:56:17.660 Caleb seemed to have the greater role during the conquest. He says, remember Joshua, you came with me but remember what Moses said to me, I'm supposed to have this land. 00:56:17.660 --> 00:56:21.660 Caleb and Joshua were the sages of Israel. They were the oldest of the lot. 00:56:21.660 --> 00:56:29.660 Yet because he knew that Joshua was chosen as the successor to Moses, Caleb did not just go ahead and take what is entitled to him and that he rightly deserved. 00:56:29.660 --> 00:56:34.660 And from the mouth of God, instead he goes and asks Joshua. 00:56:34.660 --> 00:56:43.660 Sometimes, purpose is more precious than position or privilege. 00:56:43.660 --> 00:56:57.660 Be ready to give up your position, be ready to give up your privilege because in getting position and privilege, you may lose purpose, but purpose is more precious than position or privilege. 00:56:57.660 --> 00:57:02.780 Position or privilege? 00:57:02.780 --> 00:57:05.940 Guys I want to say this to you, just because you commit to something doesn't mean you have 00:57:05.940 --> 00:57:11.940 to see it through if you find out that it ain't God. 00:57:11.940 --> 00:57:15.900 Just because you commit to something, don't keep your word when you find out that oops 00:57:15.900 --> 00:57:17.900 this was not God and you gave your word. 00:57:17.900 --> 00:57:23.300 Break your word. 00:57:23.300 --> 00:57:28.280 Sometimes we have this noble idea that because I've given my word I have to see it through. 00:57:28.280 --> 00:57:35.260 If you find out that the word you gave was not a good idea, please break your word. 00:57:35.260 --> 00:57:37.920 Proverbs talks about it. 00:57:37.920 --> 00:57:43.300 If you give a guarantee for a guy, go quickly and do what is necessary to get out of it 00:57:43.300 --> 00:57:46.940 before you lose the shirt on your back. 00:57:46.940 --> 00:57:53.020 I'm not saying break your word indiscriminately, I'm saying break your word when you find out 00:57:53.220 --> 00:58:00.060 that you've broken covenant or agreement with God. 00:58:00.060 --> 00:58:02.580 Last point because we can't go further than that. 00:58:02.580 --> 00:58:06.340 A different spirit activates rest in time of trouble. 00:58:06.340 --> 00:58:16.780 Last verse in Joshua 14 verse 15 says that and then he took Kiryat Jerem and named it 00:58:16.940 --> 00:58:22.940 Hebron and once he got his inheritance they entered into a time of rest. 00:58:22.940 --> 00:58:25.900 A different spirit activates rest in times of trouble. 00:58:25.900 --> 00:58:26.900 Jesus would do this. 00:58:26.900 --> 00:58:31.060 He would be in the middle of a storm and he would wake up and in the middle of the storm 00:58:31.060 --> 00:58:32.820 there would be rest. 00:58:32.820 --> 00:58:36.440 A different spirit activates rest in the middle of the storm. 00:58:36.440 --> 00:58:40.640 You become the pillow that people can lay their heads on. 00:58:40.640 --> 00:58:44.460 You become the pillow that people can lay their heads on in the boat in the middle of 00:58:44.460 --> 00:58:52.460 a storm because somehow you have a different spirit that does not get frantic in the middle 00:58:52.460 --> 00:58:55.100 of a storm. 00:58:55.100 --> 00:58:59.300 We won't be able to do the rest now but what I was going to talk about was how do we sustain 00:58:59.300 --> 00:59:05.000 a different spirit and two points that I would have made today and then the rest later. 00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:06.000 First point is first love. 00:59:06.000 --> 00:59:08.940 I know you've heard about it before but we won't go there. 00:59:08.940 --> 00:59:15.900 I just want to read out this line which really bothered me. 00:59:15.900 --> 00:59:21.020 I can never understand when people say that remember when you first were a believer you 00:59:21.020 --> 00:59:25.700 were so much in love with God and you are not in love with God as much now. 00:59:25.700 --> 00:59:29.460 I can't fathom that because I find that I'm far more in love with him now than I was when 00:59:29.460 --> 00:59:31.880 I first met him because I know him more. 00:59:31.880 --> 00:59:33.500 But here's where I find a problem. 00:59:33.500 --> 00:59:39.940 I find that when I first met God I had more time that I would give to him than I give 00:59:39.940 --> 00:59:45.940 now and love is measured in time. 00:59:45.940 --> 00:59:46.940 There I fall short. 00:59:46.940 --> 00:59:53.340 I remember I would just sit and read and read and read, sit and think and talk and converse 00:59:53.340 --> 00:59:56.100 and write. 00:59:56.100 --> 00:59:59.780 First love sometimes is not the intensity that you love him with right now. 00:59:59.780 --> 01:00:04.060 The intensity may have increased actually because you know him better. 01:00:04.060 --> 01:00:07.540 The ease with which you connect with him may have increased because you know him better. 01:00:07.540 --> 01:00:14.820 But what I think we miss out on as we get older in God is that we do not give him the 01:00:14.820 --> 01:00:25.940 priority of time and love is always measured in time. 01:00:25.940 --> 01:00:31.780 Men and women cannot figure out why husbands cannot understand that love is measured in 01:00:31.780 --> 01:00:36.500 time. 01:00:36.500 --> 01:00:40.220 But it is and it's a God thing, it's not a husband thing. 01:00:40.220 --> 01:00:46.420 The priority of time and this line I read it before at Acts 29 but it's very very bothersome. 01:00:46.420 --> 01:00:50.820 Listen to it and I assure you I'm ending with these lines. 01:00:50.860 --> 01:00:58.080 Adult spirit is often the result of treating God like a pigeon in the park that is thrown 01:00:58.080 --> 01:01:03.040 left over crumbs after a long day of caring aboutiter things. 01:01:03.040 --> 01:01:09.680 Adult spirit is often the result of treating God like a pigeon in the park that is thrown 01:01:09.680 --> 01:01:14.120 left over crumbs after a long day of caring about other things. 01:01:14.120 --> 01:01:22.280 Like the guests who excuse themselves in Luke 14, 18, I use my busy schedule to justify not attending 01:01:22.280 --> 01:01:28.760 my master's banquet and then use his blood to exonerate the guilt of ignoring him and then use 01:01:28.760 --> 01:01:34.920 his blood to exonerate the guilt of ignoring him. And these lines have bothered me because I'm 01:01:34.920 --> 01:01:43.400 finding out that I love him more, I find it easy to enter his presence, I'm far more in love with 01:01:43.400 --> 01:01:50.360 him than I was when I first met him. But when it comes to time, my busy schedule prevents me from 01:01:50.360 --> 01:01:56.760 giving him the priority of time. And at the end of the day, love is measured in time. 01:02:02.360 --> 01:02:02.840 Let's pray. 01:02:05.480 --> 01:02:11.720 Father, this is pretty intense about it. It's a solid message into our hearts that you're sending. 01:02:13.400 --> 01:02:16.040 I thank you, Holy Spirit, because you're the teacher.