WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Things Unseen Publishing Date: 2019-05-05T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/things-unseen/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.280 I'm starting a new series. 00:00:02.280 --> 00:00:04.320 You can call it either Things Unseen, 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:09.320 or you can call it The Invisible World. 00:00:09.320 --> 00:00:12.640 And it'll probably last a few weeks. 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:17.000 So today we start with this whole idea of Things Unseen. 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:21.680 Because we as humans struggle with the unseen, 00:00:21.680 --> 00:00:23.520 the whole idea of the unseen. 00:00:23.520 --> 00:00:27.920 Because we have a tendency to want everything 00:00:27.960 --> 00:00:31.000 to be tangible and physically real 00:00:32.680 --> 00:00:37.080 that can be experienced or explained to our senses. 00:00:38.760 --> 00:00:40.920 We as humans struggle with the unseen. 00:00:40.920 --> 00:00:44.280 We want something tangible that can be experienced 00:00:45.480 --> 00:00:46.760 with our senses. 00:00:46.760 --> 00:00:51.760 And so we forget that there is an unseen world 00:00:54.160 --> 00:00:55.920 where most things happen. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:58.000 We go with what we see physically, 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:00.960 and it isn't the way to live. 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:03.040 And so over the next few weeks we'll be looking at it. 00:01:03.040 --> 00:01:04.840 I mean, if you look at the Old Testament, 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:09.840 Moses was the go-between between God and Israel. 00:01:10.800 --> 00:01:13.840 And as long as Moses was pressing, Israel was fine. 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:16.080 But one day Moses goes up Mount Sinai, 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:21.240 and he begins to have conversations 00:01:21.240 --> 00:01:24.880 with this invisible God up on Mount Sinai, 00:01:25.080 --> 00:01:27.360 and a cloud covers him and he disappears. 00:01:27.360 --> 00:01:28.960 And as soon as Moses disappears, 00:01:28.960 --> 00:01:30.960 what happens to the rest of Israel? 00:01:30.960 --> 00:01:34.000 They begin to make for themselves 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:39.000 a beautiful but lifeless golden calf to worship. 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:42.800 Because there is this tendency in our humanness 00:01:42.800 --> 00:01:45.000 to always want something tangible 00:01:46.240 --> 00:01:47.680 to worship, to connect with. 00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:53.040 And yet, like it or not, God is at present 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:55.400 eternal, invisible, immortal. 00:01:58.840 --> 00:02:03.720 Which is why idolatry serves man in a sense, 00:02:03.720 --> 00:02:06.880 because idols give some kind of form 00:02:06.880 --> 00:02:09.320 to that which man cannot handle 00:02:09.320 --> 00:02:11.880 because he likes things that are tangible and real. 00:02:13.760 --> 00:02:14.800 I mean, this was Israel. 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:17.920 They watched as God parted the Red Sea. 00:02:17.920 --> 00:02:22.920 And the entire, the waters parting on both sides 00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:25.480 of people walking on dry ground, 00:02:25.480 --> 00:02:28.200 this is the same God who was able to deliver them 00:02:28.200 --> 00:02:31.080 from the tyranny of Egypt, 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:35.000 beat the gods of Egypt and the kings of Egypt. 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:38.760 And yet, the moment Moses disappears for 40 days 00:02:38.760 --> 00:02:42.160 up the mountain, they go back to customs 00:02:42.160 --> 00:02:44.800 that they weren't even familiar with, 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:47.840 creating a beautiful but lifeless golden calf 00:02:48.760 --> 00:02:49.600 to worship. 00:02:51.160 --> 00:02:56.160 And unless you and I understand that almost everything 00:02:56.200 --> 00:03:00.400 that we talk about exists in an invisible, unseen realm, 00:03:03.480 --> 00:03:05.360 it won't work out the way it's supposed to work out, hey? 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:06.920 Because we always want to see and touch. 00:03:06.920 --> 00:03:08.080 So look at these things. 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:10.080 Most things of God are still invisible. 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:12.600 Most things of God are still invisible. 00:03:12.600 --> 00:03:16.760 You take Ephesians 2.2, it says that 00:03:16.760 --> 00:03:21.760 we battle against an invisible foe called the devil. 00:03:26.040 --> 00:03:28.880 In the Bible, he's sometimes called a prince 00:03:28.880 --> 00:03:33.320 of the power of the air. 00:03:33.320 --> 00:03:37.320 That's what his name is in Ephesians 2.2, invisible. 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:42.120 Are you saying Ephesians 2.6? 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:45.480 It says that with Christ, 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:51.480 we are seated in heavenly places. 00:03:51.480 --> 00:03:53.840 What in the world or where in the world is that? 00:03:58.280 --> 00:04:00.120 Again, invisible. 00:04:01.760 --> 00:04:06.760 Look at Romans 1.20, Romans 1.20, Romans 1.20. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:17.120 There's a reason why we need to go down this road 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:18.320 for the next few weeks. 00:04:20.320 --> 00:04:22.880 So it's not like out of a vacuum. 00:04:22.880 --> 00:04:27.680 Romans 1.20, it says, for since the creation of the world, 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:31.840 God's invisible qualities, his eternal power, 00:04:31.840 --> 00:04:35.160 his divine nature have been clearly seen 00:04:35.160 --> 00:04:37.520 being understood from what has been made 00:04:37.520 --> 00:04:39.120 so that men are without excuse. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:41.640 The point being, again, we're talking about 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:46.480 an invisible, eternal, immortal God who we can't see. 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:49.160 And if we are not able to connect with our spirits, 00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:51.320 with God's spirit, then there's no question 00:04:51.320 --> 00:04:53.160 of advancing in Christianity. 00:04:53.160 --> 00:04:55.640 You'll have to go back to watching movies, 00:04:55.640 --> 00:04:58.640 putting up a cross as a thing that you worship, 00:04:58.640 --> 00:05:00.600 having tangible things happen, 00:05:00.600 --> 00:05:02.480 and God is saying, but I am spirit. 00:05:05.520 --> 00:05:07.400 And if you and I at present have been sitting here 00:05:07.400 --> 00:05:08.640 and listening to me teaching this, 00:05:08.640 --> 00:05:11.040 struggle with connecting with an invisible God, 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:12.360 hey, there's good news. 00:05:12.360 --> 00:05:15.800 This God is able to connect with the deepest part of you, 00:05:15.800 --> 00:05:17.240 which is your spirit. 00:05:17.240 --> 00:05:20.440 But I have to get over this thing of saying, 00:05:20.440 --> 00:05:22.640 no, I need to feel and touch things. 00:05:22.640 --> 00:05:25.040 I must open my heart to him and he will connect. 00:05:28.200 --> 00:05:30.000 There was a woman, the Samaritan woman, 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.360 who meets him at the well, and he says to her, 00:05:32.360 --> 00:05:35.240 people will worship God in spirit, dammit. 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:38.560 True, for God is spirit, invisible. 00:05:41.880 --> 00:05:46.880 Here's another one, Colossians 1.16, Colossians 1.16. 00:05:48.440 --> 00:05:52.440 It talks about how around us are beings 00:05:52.440 --> 00:05:57.440 that we cannot see, that exist, whether we like it or not. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:05:59.320 I mean, can you see gravity? 00:05:59.320 --> 00:06:01.440 You can't, till you jump off a building. 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:05.120 And yet you believe it, 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:07.240 which is why you don't jump off a building. 00:06:08.280 --> 00:06:09.640 But you can't see it. 00:06:09.640 --> 00:06:11.520 But you can't see it. 00:06:11.520 --> 00:06:13.240 Just because you can't see something 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:15.320 doesn't mean it does not exist. 00:06:15.320 --> 00:06:18.720 I'm saying to you that there is an unseen realm 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:21.080 where most things of God come from, 00:06:21.080 --> 00:06:23.600 and if we don't get used to, 00:06:25.960 --> 00:06:30.680 if we don't begin to slay this idea 00:06:30.680 --> 00:06:32.680 that everything seen is real 00:06:32.680 --> 00:06:35.120 and everything unseen may or may not exist, 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:36.880 we will not make progress with God. 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:44.120 Colossians 1.16, here's what it says. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:51.080 For by him all things were created, 00:06:51.080 --> 00:06:55.320 things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, 00:06:55.320 --> 00:06:59.360 whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:02.720 all things were created by Christ and for Christ. 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:04.680 Again, the intent being, hey guys, 00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:09.680 you are surrounded by thousands upon thousands 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:16.360 of unseen beings that are both angelic and demonic. 00:07:16.760 --> 00:07:17.840 And this is reality. 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:25.600 Thousands upon thousands, 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:30.040 some versions call them bodiless spirits. 00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:32.560 Call them what you want, but at the end of the day, 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:34.520 we are surrounded by thousands upon thousandstalks 00:07:35.520 --> 00:07:40.160 of beings in the invisible realm that are either angelic, 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:43.520 as in serving God, or demonic, serving the devil, 00:07:43.520 --> 00:07:46.560 and they are both real and I've seen them both. 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:48.280 And many of you have too. 00:07:53.320 --> 00:07:55.960 Let's look at another one, 2 Corinthians 4.18. 00:07:57.000 --> 00:07:59.840 Most things, the scripture really grabbed me, 00:07:59.840 --> 00:08:01.760 because at the end of the day, guys, 00:08:01.760 --> 00:08:04.080 most things eternal are invisible 00:08:04.080 --> 00:08:07.040 and most things temporal are visible. 00:08:07.960 --> 00:08:11.320 2 Corinthians 4.18, 2 Corinthians 4.18, 00:08:12.280 --> 00:08:14.000 2 Corinthians 4.18. 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:19.160 Here's what it says. 00:08:20.960 --> 00:08:24.480 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:26.440 but on what is unseen. 00:08:26.440 --> 00:08:30.160 For what is seen is temporal or temporary, 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:32.200 what is unseen is eternal. 00:08:32.200 --> 00:08:35.840 I'll suggest to you that almost everything unseen, 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:39.960 I'll suggest to you that almost everything eternal is unseen. 00:08:39.960 --> 00:08:40.960 Can you see heaven? 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:41.800 Nope. 00:08:41.800 --> 00:08:42.720 Can you see Christ? 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:44.160 Nope. 00:08:44.160 --> 00:08:48.760 Can you see the riches of God? 00:08:48.760 --> 00:08:49.600 Nope. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:51.520 Can you see healing that is yours 00:08:51.520 --> 00:08:52.920 by the stripes of Christ's word? 00:08:52.920 --> 00:08:54.040 Nope. 00:08:54.040 --> 00:08:56.800 Can you see what's gonna happen at the end of the world? 00:08:56.800 --> 00:08:58.120 Nope. 00:08:58.120 --> 00:09:00.600 Can you see some of the ones you love 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:03.120 that believed in Christ and have left the earth? 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:03.960 Nope. 00:09:05.160 --> 00:09:07.480 Can you see what God has prepared for you in eternity? 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:08.560 Nope. 00:09:08.560 --> 00:09:12.280 Can you even imagine what the brilliance of God 00:09:12.280 --> 00:09:14.600 would look like when you actually see him face to face? 00:09:14.600 --> 00:09:16.160 Nope. 00:09:16.160 --> 00:09:18.880 Almost everything eternal is invisible. 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:26.360 And what you see is temporal. 00:09:31.400 --> 00:09:35.280 Which is why we shouldn't sell Christ to people saying, 00:09:35.280 --> 00:09:38.120 hey, if you receive Christ into your life, 00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:39.680 this will happen to you, that'll happen to you. 00:09:39.680 --> 00:09:42.800 We're trying to sell an eternal, invisible God 00:09:42.800 --> 00:09:44.600 by telling people you'll get a few baubles 00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:47.520 and a few gems here and a few, sorry, 00:09:47.520 --> 00:09:49.600 you need an umbrella if you sit this close. 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:50.680 Sorry, I'm addicted. 00:09:50.680 --> 00:09:51.520 Oh, okay. 00:09:55.520 --> 00:09:56.800 Can you interrupt me? 00:09:56.800 --> 00:09:57.640 No. 00:09:57.640 --> 00:09:58.480 Okay. 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:02.280 You interrupted me with a temporal thought 00:10:02.280 --> 00:10:03.760 while I was talking about, 00:10:03.760 --> 00:10:06.560 you should have pretended it was eternal and invisible. 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:11.960 Okay, I'll stay far away. 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:15.560 I'll shut them, why don't you exchange places with them? 00:10:18.880 --> 00:10:19.720 Okay, here goes. 00:10:19.720 --> 00:10:20.920 Guys, at the end of the day, 00:10:20.920 --> 00:10:22.840 almost everything eternal is unseen. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:27.280 And so when you present Christ to people, 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:30.000 don't sell him with cheap jewelry, cheap baubles, 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:32.640 saying, hey, you receive Christ, life will become better, 00:10:32.640 --> 00:10:35.080 here on earth for about 60 or 70 years. 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:37.800 Sure, God is good and he blesses, 00:10:37.800 --> 00:10:40.080 but that isn't how we present 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:43.080 an eternal, invisible, immortal God. 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:45.960 The apostles never did that, eh? 00:10:46.880 --> 00:10:48.840 They would say to people, hey, 00:10:48.840 --> 00:10:51.080 I realize that your afflictions are temporary, 00:10:51.080 --> 00:10:54.360 but remember, there's a weight of glory that awaits you. 00:10:54.360 --> 00:10:55.920 That's how they presented him. 00:10:58.280 --> 00:11:00.560 And at the end of the day, 00:11:00.560 --> 00:11:01.960 most eternal things are invisible, 00:11:01.960 --> 00:11:05.400 which means then that if you want to even begin 00:11:05.400 --> 00:11:08.040 to understand God, begin to ask God 00:11:08.040 --> 00:11:10.680 what he said we should ask in Ephesians 1, 18. 00:11:10.680 --> 00:11:13.920 Oh God, would you enlighten the eyes of my heart 00:11:13.920 --> 00:11:16.640 that I might see who you really are? 00:11:18.160 --> 00:11:19.960 It's a prayer that we need to pray. 00:11:21.480 --> 00:11:22.840 Because with these eyes, 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:26.480 it's impossible to understand an invisible God. 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:29.200 Here's another scripture, Hebrews 11, 3. 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:30.400 Hebrews 11, 3. 00:11:31.680 --> 00:11:33.040 Hebrews 11, 3. 00:11:36.400 --> 00:11:37.400 Here's what it says. 00:11:40.920 --> 00:11:45.920 It says, what is seen was made out of what. 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:50.040 Sorry, so that what is seen was not made 00:11:50.040 --> 00:11:51.560 out of what was visible. 00:11:51.560 --> 00:11:54.280 As in, things that are seen were made out of that 00:11:54.280 --> 00:11:55.440 which is not visible. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:56.760 When God created things, 00:11:56.760 --> 00:11:59.360 he didn't use visible material to create things. 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:02.920 He didn't create you out of visible material. 00:12:02.920 --> 00:12:04.960 He spoke things into being, man. 00:12:06.400 --> 00:12:09.040 Let there be light, spoken words, 00:12:09.040 --> 00:12:11.120 nothing visible to create. 00:12:12.360 --> 00:12:14.000 This is the power of God we are talking about. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:15.640 Hebrews 1, verse 3. 00:12:15.640 --> 00:12:18.600 It says that Jesus Christ is the visible image 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:21.240 of the invisible God and is the brilliance 00:12:21.240 --> 00:12:22.720 of the invisible God. 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:25.840 And he sustains things that he has created 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:28.040 by the power of his words. 00:12:28.040 --> 00:12:31.640 Everything that exists, including you, exists 00:12:31.640 --> 00:12:35.680 because God took that which was not 00:12:35.680 --> 00:12:38.080 and spoke you into existence literally. 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:41.760 I mean, there are two women pregnant here. 00:12:41.760 --> 00:12:45.920 Sure, egg and sperm caused the physical body to happen, 00:12:45.920 --> 00:12:50.360 but the person inside their womb was spoken into existence 00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:54.200 and was created out of nothing but created with love. 00:12:58.560 --> 00:13:00.600 As we go down this road, you'll realize 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:03.240 that if you and I don't begin to ask God 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:07.160 to give us an idea of how to fathom 00:13:07.160 --> 00:13:10.360 the layers that lie behind that which is seen, 00:13:11.280 --> 00:13:14.520 we'll never get to the real situation. 00:13:14.520 --> 00:13:18.040 It's like if this is what you see, 00:13:18.040 --> 00:13:22.280 then beneath this are layers that have to be either shaped 00:13:23.480 --> 00:13:28.480 or removed before what you see can be changed. 00:13:30.360 --> 00:13:33.200 That's what we basically will get to at the end of the day. 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:38.000 Ephesians 1, 18. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:40.640 Paul says, God, this is my prayer for these people. 00:13:40.640 --> 00:13:42.680 My prayer is that you would enlighten their eyes 00:13:42.680 --> 00:13:44.920 so that they begin to see the depth, the width, 00:13:44.920 --> 00:13:46.640 the height, the breadth of your love, 00:13:46.640 --> 00:13:49.800 that they begin to see the ridiculous power that you have, 00:13:49.800 --> 00:13:53.000 that they begin to see that Christ is risen 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:56.680 and that he sits above every power that can be made. 00:13:56.680 --> 00:13:58.520 Oh God, would you open their eyes, 00:13:58.520 --> 00:14:00.280 would you open up their hearts 00:14:00.280 --> 00:14:03.240 so that they can begin to grasp that which is invisible? 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:08.280 Go ahead, Tom. 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:14.360 So when you say invisible, it's in the present, right? 00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:15.360 In the present, yeah. 00:14:15.400 --> 00:14:17.600 A day will come where we will know everything. 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:20.000 A day will come when we see him face to face. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:23.080 A day will come when everything eternal will be before us. 00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:23.920 But till then, 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:29.360 we can't live our lives looking at things as they are. 00:14:31.800 --> 00:14:34.080 Matthew 13, verse 33. 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:36.560 Here's another thing we talk about that is invisible, 00:14:36.560 --> 00:14:39.120 and yet Matthew 13, verse 33 says 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:42.960 that the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:45.560 is like leaven, not visible to most. 00:14:45.560 --> 00:14:48.480 It's like a woman who takes some yeast or leaven 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:51.320 and puts it in the door, and it's hidden. 00:14:51.320 --> 00:14:55.840 It's not visible till it becomes fully leaven. 00:14:55.840 --> 00:14:57.400 So even the kingdom of God has it. 00:14:57.400 --> 00:15:00.200 The rule of God in your life, in my life, upon the earth, 00:15:00.200 --> 00:15:01.440 the rule of God is invisible, 00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:03.920 which is why people don't really believe that God exists 00:15:03.920 --> 00:15:05.320 because they can't see his rule. 00:15:05.320 --> 00:15:08.440 But when they begin to see the rule in your life, 00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:10.440 when you begin to get healed of your diseases 00:15:10.440 --> 00:15:13.120 because you see what God can do, 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:15.800 when you begin to live a certain way with your wife 00:15:15.800 --> 00:15:18.160 and your marriage begins to look like it should, 00:15:18.160 --> 00:15:19.840 now people begin to recognize that, 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:22.360 oh, shut, there is an invisible God working 00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:24.720 in this person's life which makes it visible. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:29.840 Let's take another scripture. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:31.040 Hebrews 11, one. 00:15:33.240 --> 00:15:35.600 Now, I'll stop with that, but the point is this, guys. 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:38.040 When you look at the number of things 00:15:38.040 --> 00:15:40.200 that are required for Christianity, 00:15:40.200 --> 00:15:45.200 almost all of it exists in the invisible or in the unseen. 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:48.840 Hebrews 11, one says that faith is the evidence 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:50.920 of things that are not seen. 00:15:50.920 --> 00:15:55.920 It's impossible to exert faith with any degree of certainty 00:15:55.920 --> 00:15:59.440 if I do not see that which is in the invisible, 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:01.800 if I do not see what God is doing, 00:16:01.800 --> 00:16:04.280 if I do not see what God intends, 00:16:04.280 --> 00:16:07.320 if I do not see what God has already said, 00:16:09.040 --> 00:16:11.160 then I'm not going to believe it. 00:16:11.160 --> 00:16:12.400 I'm not going to believe it. 00:16:12.400 --> 00:16:14.160 So look at the things we've listed. 00:16:15.400 --> 00:16:19.920 God's attributes, where you're seated within, 00:16:21.160 --> 00:16:26.160 invisible evil powers, eternal things, 00:16:29.800 --> 00:16:33.000 creation and how things are constructed by God, 00:16:34.040 --> 00:16:36.480 the kingdom of God or the rule of God in your life, 00:16:36.520 --> 00:16:40.760 faith, none of this really works well 00:16:40.760 --> 00:16:44.600 if I don't begin to ask God to open my eyes 00:16:44.600 --> 00:16:46.600 so I can see things in the unseen realm. 00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:49.800 One of the best ways to look at it is, sorry, go ahead, Josh. 00:16:49.800 --> 00:16:53.400 So say when you see with eyes of faith 00:16:53.400 --> 00:16:55.600 and you see in the unseen, 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:58.400 is it like seeing with imagination or? 00:16:58.400 --> 00:17:00.400 We talk about that, we talk about that. 00:17:00.400 --> 00:17:03.880 But here's two examples, there's two ways of doing this. 00:17:03.880 --> 00:17:07.880 Either you can test things out, 00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:12.880 test, you can test gravity out by jumping. 00:17:16.080 --> 00:17:18.400 So that's one way of testing things unseen. 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:20.600 Step into it and see if it works. 00:17:20.600 --> 00:17:22.880 I'm not kidding now, I'm being real. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:25.440 You cannot see gravity unless you throw up, 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:27.120 if you're smart, you'll throw an apple up. 00:17:27.120 --> 00:17:28.960 If you're not smart, you'll jump off a building. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:31.240 Either way, you will figure out that gravity exists 00:17:31.240 --> 00:17:32.760 even though it's invisible. 00:17:32.760 --> 00:17:33.720 So that's one way to do it. 00:17:34.560 --> 00:17:35.400 And it's the same with God. 00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:36.240 Things that are invisible in God 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:39.240 can only be tested if you test them out. 00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:41.200 God says it, let's try it out. 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:43.520 It is invisible, I've got no evidence for it, 00:17:43.520 --> 00:17:45.960 no proof for it, but it is written in the word, 00:17:45.960 --> 00:17:47.360 I'm gonna test it out. 00:17:47.360 --> 00:17:49.160 You jump off a building and you get to see it, 00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:50.400 you don't see things pretty clear. 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:51.240 Yeah. 00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:54.240 So that's one way of doing it. 00:17:59.800 --> 00:18:01.040 So I'd say there's a smarter way 00:18:01.040 --> 00:18:03.560 is to throw up an apple and you figure it out. 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:06.200 And so the second way of doing it is, 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:11.400 I mean, we don't know what these babies 00:18:11.400 --> 00:18:13.320 in the womb look like. 00:18:13.320 --> 00:18:14.600 How do we know what is happening? 00:18:14.600 --> 00:18:17.960 We take a scan and we see, 00:18:21.080 --> 00:18:22.720 actually nobody understands the scan, 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:24.200 it's just the parents that get excited 00:18:24.200 --> 00:18:26.200 and then you have to get excited too. 00:18:26.200 --> 00:18:30.800 And then you stick it on the fridge 00:18:30.800 --> 00:18:32.200 and you put it on Facebook. 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:35.240 Yeah. 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:39.560 But the point is, you take a scan 00:18:39.560 --> 00:18:40.520 and you know what is inside. 00:18:40.520 --> 00:18:41.680 That's the other way of doing it. 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:43.560 You begin to look at other people's lives 00:18:43.560 --> 00:18:45.600 and you see what are they showing 00:18:45.600 --> 00:18:47.160 based on what they have. 00:18:47.160 --> 00:18:48.000 Try it. 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:51.080 These are the two ways to figure out the unseen. 00:18:51.080 --> 00:18:52.320 The third way is to begin to ask God, 00:18:52.320 --> 00:18:54.480 oh God, open my eyes, please open my eyes 00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:56.280 so that I'm ready to fathom you. 00:18:59.120 --> 00:19:02.760 The second one is, just as one scans a baby in a womb 00:19:02.760 --> 00:19:04.280 and now knows what is, 00:19:04.280 --> 00:19:07.000 you begin to look at other people's lives 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:10.760 and you see what they have already tested. 00:19:10.760 --> 00:19:12.880 You see that they've walked this 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:14.640 and this is what you see now. 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:16.560 And therefore I'm gonna try the same. 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:20.240 These are the two ways to do it. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:21.800 Either test it out yourself, 00:19:21.800 --> 00:19:24.480 as in throw an apple up and see if it comes down, 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:27.920 or look at somebody else's life 00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:29.480 who's been throwing apples all their lives 00:19:29.480 --> 00:19:31.240 and all the apples have come down. 00:19:31.400 --> 00:19:33.760 And so you know, aha, this works. 00:19:33.760 --> 00:19:34.760 Try one or the other. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:40.840 Because everything with God is actually based in 00:19:40.840 --> 00:19:43.680 and operating out of the invisible world. 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:46.560 So much so that he realized that you and I 00:19:46.560 --> 00:19:48.920 were so not able to comprehend it 00:19:48.920 --> 00:19:51.000 that he sensed out Jesus Christ, 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:53.520 who came from the invisible into the visible, 00:19:53.520 --> 00:19:56.720 who came from being spirit to taking on flesh. 00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:00.120 In the beginning was the word and the word was with God 00:20:00.120 --> 00:20:02.800 and the word became flesh. 00:20:02.800 --> 00:20:04.000 Why did he do that? 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:06.960 He did that so that he could make us understand 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:08.360 who he was like. 00:20:13.520 --> 00:20:14.960 The devil knows us too. 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:18.280 When we talk about eyes to see, 00:20:18.280 --> 00:20:21.560 we are talking about not these eyes, 00:20:21.560 --> 00:20:24.400 it's the way we think. 00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:26.680 Because the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4.3 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:31.440 that the devil has blinded the minds of men 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:35.960 so that they may not see the light of Christ. 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:39.160 He's not talking about physical blindness. 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:42.640 He's talking about the blinding of the mind. 00:20:44.360 --> 00:20:47.040 We see with our minds, not with our eyes. 00:20:47.040 --> 00:20:48.280 Satan knows this. 00:20:48.280 --> 00:20:50.760 The God of this world has blinded the minds 00:20:50.760 --> 00:20:52.640 of those who don't believe. 00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:56.000 It's a mind that is blinded. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:58.240 When we ask God that he enlighten our eyes, 00:20:58.240 --> 00:20:59.080 what are we saying? 00:20:59.080 --> 00:21:01.440 Oh God, there's a certain way I think 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:04.640 because I live in a real, tangible physical world 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:07.600 which is very subjective and getting more subjective 00:21:07.600 --> 00:21:09.360 where everything has to be experienced 00:21:09.360 --> 00:21:11.480 before it is pronounced as real. 00:21:11.480 --> 00:21:13.360 In this milieu that I live in, 00:21:13.360 --> 00:21:16.960 now oh God, would you cause me to have a mind 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:19.440 that begins to see how you really work 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:21.840 because you are located and you operate 00:21:21.840 --> 00:21:24.880 from a realm that is unseen and invisible 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:26.680 because all these things we have mentioned 00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:30.120 come from that realm and it's impossible to walk this earth 00:21:30.120 --> 00:21:33.280 as a follower of Christ if you don't begin to think like this. 00:21:39.560 --> 00:21:41.720 How do you think invisible evil powers 00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:45.120 control and govern man through ideas and images, man? 00:21:49.120 --> 00:21:51.200 Through ideas and images. 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:53.200 Famous guy called Jonathan Edwards said this. 00:21:53.240 --> 00:21:56.000 Invisible powers constantly govern our minds 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:58.280 with ideas and images. 00:21:58.280 --> 00:22:00.480 Therefore, guard the pathways of your mind, 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:02.240 guard the pathways of your heart. 00:22:05.360 --> 00:22:08.760 For out of it spring the issues of life, Proverbs 4.28. 00:22:08.760 --> 00:22:12.560 Guard your heart for out of your heart spring 00:22:12.560 --> 00:22:15.160 the issues of life as in the affections that you have, 00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:18.160 the feelings that you have, the thoughts that you have 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:21.440 really come from how one sees here. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:23.520 And Jesus put it this way in Matthew 6.33. 00:22:23.520 --> 00:22:26.320 He said, if the light inside you, Jacob, is dark, 00:22:26.320 --> 00:22:27.880 how great is that darkness? 00:22:27.880 --> 00:22:29.920 If the light inside you is dark, 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:31.600 how great is that darkness? 00:22:33.760 --> 00:22:37.240 Who's that guy and how did he say invisible power? 00:22:37.240 --> 00:22:38.240 Jonathan Edwards. 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:39.080 Edwards? 00:22:39.080 --> 00:22:39.920 Yeah. 00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:43.200 Invisible powers constantly govern our minds 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:45.320 with ideas and images. 00:22:48.800 --> 00:22:50.280 Any questions before we go on? 00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:54.880 Hey, when people in the Bible wrote the, 00:22:54.880 --> 00:22:57.880 when people in the ancient times wrote the Bible, 00:22:57.880 --> 00:23:00.200 they knew the concept they were in. 00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:04.600 But we read the Bible from a very postmodern, 00:23:04.600 --> 00:23:05.960 rational way of thinking. 00:23:05.960 --> 00:23:10.160 And so we failed to see that there is a realm 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:12.360 behind what is visible. 00:23:12.360 --> 00:23:15.160 You have no idea what's happening inside a tree. 00:23:15.160 --> 00:23:18.000 I was watching a documentary where they take a statistic 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:20.040 of a tree and they take a picture of it 00:23:20.440 --> 00:23:23.720 when they take a stethoscope and put it on a tree. 00:23:23.720 --> 00:23:26.840 And you can hear sounds that are so loud. 00:23:26.840 --> 00:23:30.120 It's like a blooming engine in there, man. 00:23:30.120 --> 00:23:31.840 Because there are things that are pulsating, 00:23:31.840 --> 00:23:35.560 drawing water from 20 feet below through roots 00:23:35.560 --> 00:23:37.760 that begins to pulsate up the stem. 00:23:37.760 --> 00:23:42.760 And when you hear it, it's like the blooming thing is alive. 00:23:48.360 --> 00:23:49.640 And we don't see it. 00:23:51.040 --> 00:23:56.040 If you could hear it, you wouldn't cut a tree down. 00:23:57.240 --> 00:23:58.880 But thank God we don't hear it. 00:24:04.320 --> 00:24:08.960 The point being that there's so much behind it, 00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:11.240 behind there, and the quicker you learn it, 00:24:11.240 --> 00:24:14.240 the smarter you get in how to handle life here on earth. 00:24:15.840 --> 00:24:17.040 Both are good and bad. 00:24:18.600 --> 00:24:19.440 Both are good and bad. 00:24:19.600 --> 00:24:20.760 Any questions, Brutal? 00:24:23.880 --> 00:24:25.080 Any disagreements? 00:24:29.960 --> 00:24:31.360 Okay. 00:24:31.360 --> 00:24:33.200 So invest in things unseen. 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:35.400 Invest in things unseen. 00:24:35.400 --> 00:24:37.520 Invest in things unseen. 00:24:37.520 --> 00:24:40.720 If you look at 2 Corinthians 4.18, it says, 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:47.000 so don't spend all your time looking at what you can see. 00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:50.680 Instead, look at what you can't see. 00:24:50.680 --> 00:24:53.280 And God has given you his spirit 00:24:53.280 --> 00:24:54.560 to know these spiritual things. 00:24:54.560 --> 00:24:56.160 That's in 1 Corinthians 2.13. 00:24:56.160 --> 00:24:58.560 2 Corinthians 4.18 says this, let me read it again. 00:24:58.560 --> 00:25:02.240 Don't spend all your time looking at what you can see. 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:05.000 Instead, look at what you can't see. 00:25:06.200 --> 00:25:08.960 And then in 1 Corinthians 2.13, it says, 00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:10.800 God has given us his spirit 00:25:10.800 --> 00:25:13.920 so that we may know spiritual things. 00:25:14.920 --> 00:25:16.520 God has given us his spirit 00:25:16.520 --> 00:25:19.120 so that we may know spiritual things. 00:25:19.120 --> 00:25:21.920 I love that verse when I've used it all my life. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:23.520 Who knows you best? 00:25:23.520 --> 00:25:26.320 Not your wife, not your dad, not your mom. 00:25:26.320 --> 00:25:27.520 Who knows you best? 00:25:27.520 --> 00:25:29.720 Your spirit knows you best. 00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:31.520 Who knows God best? 00:25:31.520 --> 00:25:33.720 God's spirit knows God best. 00:25:33.720 --> 00:25:36.120 And God now allows his spirit to dwell in you 00:25:36.120 --> 00:25:41.120 so that you may know spiritual things in the invisible 00:25:41.120 --> 00:25:42.720 that he alone can do. 00:25:42.920 --> 00:25:45.920 So if people have not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, 00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:47.920 then I want to discern. 00:25:47.920 --> 00:25:50.720 Yeah, 1 Corinthians 2.14 puts it very plainly. 00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:53.120 Spiritual things are meant for spiritual people. 00:25:53.120 --> 00:25:55.920 And therefore, a non-spiritual person 00:25:55.920 --> 00:25:58.120 cannot understand spiritual things. 00:25:58.120 --> 00:26:00.320 So how do you become a spiritual person? 00:26:00.320 --> 00:26:03.320 Not by buying lululemon pants and doing yoga. 00:26:03.320 --> 00:26:06.920 You become a spiritual person 00:26:06.920 --> 00:26:09.320 by receiving the spirit of God. 00:26:09.520 --> 00:26:11.520 I mean, if those pants fit, wear them. 00:26:11.520 --> 00:26:13.520 I'm not saying no, I've got no problems with that. 00:26:13.520 --> 00:26:17.120 I'm just saying there is this idea that if you 00:26:17.120 --> 00:26:19.920 are able to wrap your legs around each other, 00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:20.920 you become spiritual. 00:26:20.920 --> 00:26:21.920 No. 00:26:24.920 --> 00:26:26.520 It's much more than that. 00:26:29.320 --> 00:26:31.920 A spiritual person is a person who has a spirit 00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:33.920 and a spirit that is spiritual. 00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:35.920 And that's the spirit of God. 00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:39.520 A spiritual person is a person who has received 00:26:39.520 --> 00:26:40.720 the spirit of God. 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:43.120 And one cannot receive the spirit of God 00:26:43.120 --> 00:26:45.520 except through receiving Christ as son. 00:26:45.520 --> 00:26:47.520 Period. 00:26:47.520 --> 00:26:48.520 Very simple. 00:26:50.520 --> 00:26:52.520 And God very clearly says, 00:26:52.520 --> 00:26:54.520 I can only explain spiritual things to you 00:26:54.520 --> 00:26:55.720 if you're a spiritual person. 00:26:55.720 --> 00:26:58.120 An unspiritual person cannot receive things 00:26:58.120 --> 00:26:59.120 that are spiritual. 00:26:59.120 --> 00:27:00.520 How can you, man? 00:27:00.520 --> 00:27:02.920 It exists in the realm of the invisible, 00:27:02.920 --> 00:27:04.920 the eternal, and the immortal. 00:27:04.920 --> 00:27:07.920 Meaning it's not even the kind of physical life 00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:09.920 that we have, it's a life that's beyond that. 00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:12.320 That everybody here can enter into. 00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:17.520 So invest in things unseen. 00:27:17.520 --> 00:27:19.120 Pray Ephesians 1.18. 00:27:19.120 --> 00:27:21.720 Go to Ephesians 1.18 so that you actually see 00:27:21.720 --> 00:27:23.520 what it says in Ephesians 1.18. 00:27:27.720 --> 00:27:28.720 It says, 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:33.520 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened 00:27:33.520 --> 00:27:36.320 in order that you may know the hope to which 00:27:36.320 --> 00:27:37.920 God has called you. 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:40.320 I pray that the eyes of your heart be enlightened. 00:27:40.320 --> 00:27:42.720 As in, oh God, would you open my heart? 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:44.520 Would you open my mind to begin to see things 00:27:44.520 --> 00:27:45.920 the way they really are? 00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:49.120 Pray this prayer, mate. 00:27:49.120 --> 00:27:50.120 It's in the Bible. 00:27:50.120 --> 00:27:51.720 Paul prayed it for the church. 00:27:51.720 --> 00:27:54.120 I've been praying it for you for the last two weeks. 00:27:54.120 --> 00:27:56.320 And oh God, would you open our eyes so that we 00:27:56.320 --> 00:28:00.520 understand the things and don't go with what we just see physically. 00:28:00.520 --> 00:28:02.720 John chapter 3, verse 8. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:03.720 John 3, verse 8. 00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:05.720 These are Jesus' words. 00:28:05.720 --> 00:28:08.120 We rarely hear this read. 00:28:08.120 --> 00:28:09.920 John chapter 3, verse 8. 00:28:14.320 --> 00:28:16.920 Jesus is talking to a very educated man 00:28:16.920 --> 00:28:18.520 and he tells him this. 00:28:18.520 --> 00:28:20.720 John chapter 3, verse 8. 00:28:20.720 --> 00:28:23.320 The wind blows wherever it pleases. 00:28:23.320 --> 00:28:26.120 You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from 00:28:26.120 --> 00:28:27.120 or where it goes. 00:28:27.120 --> 00:28:29.320 So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. 00:28:29.320 --> 00:28:30.720 Beautifully. 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:34.320 Again, the Spirit of God is invisible. 00:28:36.320 --> 00:28:37.720 You can't see Him. 00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:39.120 You can see His effect. 00:28:39.120 --> 00:28:41.920 After the wind has blown, you know that the trees shook, 00:28:41.920 --> 00:28:43.520 but you cannot see Him. 00:28:43.520 --> 00:28:45.720 And yet He is more real than you 00:28:45.720 --> 00:28:47.720 because He was there before you were 00:28:47.720 --> 00:28:49.920 and He was involved in your creation. 00:28:49.920 --> 00:28:51.720 Who knows you better? 00:28:53.120 --> 00:28:55.120 He was there right at the beginning, man. 00:28:57.520 --> 00:28:59.520 When you were being shaped in your mother's womb, 00:28:59.520 --> 00:29:00.520 He was there. 00:29:01.320 --> 00:29:01.920 Hi. 00:29:02.920 --> 00:29:03.720 Walk right in. 00:29:06.120 --> 00:29:09.520 He was there before you were formed. 00:29:09.520 --> 00:29:12.920 I mean, when you think of the children that exist now 00:29:12.920 --> 00:29:14.920 in the wombs here, 00:29:14.920 --> 00:29:20.320 just imagine He was there before they were formed, 00:29:20.320 --> 00:29:23.720 which means there are some here who will get pregnant 00:29:23.720 --> 00:29:26.120 and God has already formed them by His Spirit. 00:29:26.120 --> 00:29:28.520 It's not as if it happens at the moment of conception. 00:29:28.520 --> 00:29:29.720 It happens before, man. 00:29:31.520 --> 00:29:33.920 I knew you before you were even formed. 00:29:37.520 --> 00:29:41.320 And not to be able to connect with the invisible realm 00:29:41.320 --> 00:29:44.720 of the Spirit of God leaves you, what? 00:29:45.520 --> 00:29:46.920 Having to listen to me? 00:29:48.520 --> 00:29:50.320 That's the poor substitution. 00:29:53.320 --> 00:29:54.320 Any questions? 00:29:55.320 --> 00:29:56.320 Any questions? 00:29:58.320 --> 00:29:59.320 Any questions? 00:30:01.320 --> 00:30:03.320 Here's another one in Romans 14, 17. 00:30:03.320 --> 00:30:05.720 All these scriptures I'm throwing out is just to convince you 00:30:05.720 --> 00:30:08.320 how real this unseen realm is 00:30:08.320 --> 00:30:11.920 and how important it is if you say that you believe in Jesus Christ, 00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:13.120 it is to connect with this. 00:30:13.120 --> 00:30:15.120 Romans 14, 17 puts it this way. 00:30:15.120 --> 00:30:17.720 The kingdom of God, as in the rule of God, 00:30:17.720 --> 00:30:19.320 is not about eating or drinking, 00:30:19.320 --> 00:30:21.120 but it is about righteousness, 00:30:21.120 --> 00:30:27.520 joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. 00:30:27.520 --> 00:30:31.920 Again, it takes you back to this idea of the Spirit of God who is invisible. 00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:38.320 So at the end of the day, it is God's invisible rule, 00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:49.320 God's invisible rule by the invisible Spirit 00:30:51.120 --> 00:30:56.320 in the invisible inner man. 00:31:00.320 --> 00:31:01.320 Hey, just think of this. 00:31:02.320 --> 00:31:06.120 This, this bedding you see is only external. 00:31:06.920 --> 00:31:08.320 There is a real bedding. 00:31:11.120 --> 00:31:13.520 The inner bedding, the inner man bed. 00:31:13.520 --> 00:31:15.920 This is just the inner man bed. 00:31:15.920 --> 00:31:17.520 This is the inner man bed. 00:31:17.520 --> 00:31:19.120 This is the inner man bed. 00:31:20.120 --> 00:31:21.520 This is just external. 00:31:21.520 --> 00:31:22.920 Now what do we do? 00:31:22.920 --> 00:31:25.320 We go by what we see only, external. 00:31:25.320 --> 00:31:27.520 Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians 5. 00:31:27.520 --> 00:31:31.720 He said, we no longer judge people merely by flesh, 00:31:31.720 --> 00:31:33.920 but we know them by the Spirit. 00:31:33.920 --> 00:31:35.520 What was he saying? 00:31:35.520 --> 00:31:37.920 That I can't look at it and come to my conclusions 00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:40.120 based on what I may see today for two hours. 00:31:40.120 --> 00:31:43.120 That there is someone who is much richer, much deeper, 00:31:43.120 --> 00:31:47.120 much more meaningful before God and man. 00:31:48.120 --> 00:31:51.120 That if I don't see beyond this, I'll never get to it. 00:31:54.920 --> 00:31:56.720 That's what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4. 00:31:56.720 --> 00:32:00.120 So Jacob, don't be quick to come to conclusions about others. 00:32:00.120 --> 00:32:01.720 Don't judge them quickly. 00:32:01.720 --> 00:32:04.120 Wait, because everything will be revealed one day. 00:32:09.520 --> 00:32:12.120 And that's why this is, this makes so much sense. 00:32:13.320 --> 00:32:15.320 What are we talking about when we talk about the Kingdom of God? 00:32:15.320 --> 00:32:16.520 It is God's rule. 00:32:17.320 --> 00:32:19.920 God's invisible rule by the invisible Spirit 00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:22.320 in the invisible inner man. 00:32:22.320 --> 00:32:24.520 How can we ignore this realm? 00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:29.120 Any questions, friends? 00:32:30.320 --> 00:32:31.720 Or any thoughts you want to add? 00:32:34.920 --> 00:32:37.920 The crazy thing is when you seek the invisible rule of God, 00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:39.520 natural things are added to you. 00:32:42.120 --> 00:32:45.920 The world is chasing after natural physical things 00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:46.920 because we need it. 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:49.120 We need clothes, we need shelter, we need food, we need riches, 00:32:49.120 --> 00:32:49.920 we need this. 00:32:49.920 --> 00:32:51.920 We are running after that which is natural 00:32:51.920 --> 00:32:53.120 while all the time God is saying, 00:32:53.120 --> 00:32:58.320 hey, chase after this and all the natural things you want. 00:32:58.320 --> 00:33:01.520 We'll be adding to you anyways so that your pursuit is accurate. 00:33:04.120 --> 00:33:06.920 Run after my invisible rule by the invisible Spirit 00:33:06.920 --> 00:33:09.120 in your invisible inner man. 00:33:09.120 --> 00:33:13.720 And all the things you need for your visible external persona 00:33:13.720 --> 00:33:15.720 will be provided for. 00:33:15.720 --> 00:33:20.720 Which goes from healing to provision to protection to security 00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:22.520 to food to shelter. 00:33:25.520 --> 00:33:28.920 But it is so hard to chase after something that is invisible, 00:33:28.920 --> 00:33:31.320 which is why we need our eyes open 00:33:31.320 --> 00:33:33.920 so that we may begin to see how things work. 00:33:37.120 --> 00:33:37.720 Ginger. 00:33:37.720 --> 00:33:38.320 Yeah. 00:33:39.520 --> 00:33:45.120 It occurred to me that God is created in the physical, 00:33:45.120 --> 00:33:47.720 and I think we can get close about this too because if you think of science, 00:33:47.720 --> 00:33:51.320 if you look at a drop of an ocean, you see nothing but the ocean. 00:33:51.320 --> 00:33:54.320 You look at a drop of water under a microscope, it's phenomenal. 00:33:54.320 --> 00:33:58.120 And everything that we see physically, 00:33:58.120 --> 00:34:01.720 there's an invisibility to it too, so he's showing us. 00:34:01.720 --> 00:34:03.120 Yeah, absolutely. 00:34:03.120 --> 00:34:08.320 John 12.23 is another full exclamation mark on the point. 00:34:09.720 --> 00:34:14.920 I mean, every seed is screaming, every fruit is screaming out saying, 00:34:14.920 --> 00:34:17.720 I've got about 200 trees in me, 200 trees in me. 00:34:18.720 --> 00:34:19.920 But you don't hear it. 00:34:20.720 --> 00:34:24.120 And then the fruit drops and the seeds come on and suddenly you have a forest. 00:34:24.120 --> 00:34:25.720 And Jesus put it this way, 00:34:25.720 --> 00:34:27.920 unless something dies, it will not come back to life. 00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:30.720 What happens when something dies? It gets buried, disappears. 00:34:31.520 --> 00:34:38.520 But even the invisible is the potent light that then produces a forest. 00:34:40.720 --> 00:34:42.120 It's the way of life, guys. 00:34:43.120 --> 00:34:45.320 If science can explain it, we believe it. 00:34:45.320 --> 00:34:48.320 If science can't explain it, we don't consider it. 00:34:49.320 --> 00:34:50.320 And that is the problem. 00:34:51.320 --> 00:34:54.320 And science ain't ever going to capture God. 00:34:57.320 --> 00:34:59.320 Because science needs evidence. 00:35:00.320 --> 00:35:02.320 And we are the only evidence God will provide. 00:35:02.320 --> 00:35:08.320 He provided evidence 2000 years ago in the person of a flesh and blood son called Jesus Christ. 00:35:08.320 --> 00:35:11.320 And since then, the only evidence he provides is us. 00:35:12.320 --> 00:35:18.320 And what we do on his behalf, in his name, to show people that God really exists. 00:35:21.320 --> 00:35:24.320 And if that ain't enough, God says, as we read in Romans 1.19, 00:35:24.320 --> 00:35:26.320 that I'll show you through nature anyways. 00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:32.320 That man has left with no excuse to say, I don't believe there is a God. 00:35:32.320 --> 00:35:36.320 When he looks at the rainbow, when he looks at an ocean, when he looks at mountains, 00:35:36.320 --> 00:35:41.320 to think that it all came out of one blooming spell, you have to have faith for that man. 00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:44.320 I'm going to read it to you. 00:35:51.320 --> 00:35:54.320 Slay the idol of the sin. Slay. 00:35:54.320 --> 00:36:00.320 Slay the idol. Slay the idol of the sin. 00:36:01.320 --> 00:36:03.320 Slay the idol of the sin. 00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:09.320 Slay it. Kill it. 00:36:09.320 --> 00:36:11.320 Because that's how we live. 00:36:12.320 --> 00:36:16.320 And yet, let me remind you of what we said in the beginning. 00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:26.320 Faith, spirit, kingdom, God's attributes, the demonic world, the angelic world, 00:36:26.320 --> 00:36:31.320 things that are created all belong in a realm called the unseen. 00:36:31.320 --> 00:36:37.320 And if we live only by the seen, it'll be hard to walk here on Earth, eh? 00:36:38.320 --> 00:36:40.320 Slay the idol of the sin. 00:36:42.320 --> 00:36:52.320 Slay. This is going to really, I think it'll be okay with you, but with some people it may not sit well in this next sentence. 00:36:52.320 --> 00:37:02.320 Slay the idol of reason that hobbles the spiritual. 00:37:02.320 --> 00:37:07.320 I'm not saying that all reason should be abandoned. That would be foolish. 00:37:07.520 --> 00:37:11.520 But slay the idol of reason that hobbles the spiritual. 00:37:11.520 --> 00:37:17.520 If I'm not able to slay the idol of reason, a rationale that this doesn't fit, 00:37:17.520 --> 00:37:19.520 well then here's news, guys. 00:37:19.520 --> 00:37:23.520 Most of these things we are speaking about exists in the invisible. 00:37:23.520 --> 00:37:31.520 So if I do not slay the idol of reason when I'm confronted with the invisible, eternal, immortal God, 00:37:31.520 --> 00:37:33.520 it'll be hard to make progress. 00:37:33.720 --> 00:37:35.720 He gave us reason. 00:37:35.720 --> 00:37:39.720 There's nobody as logical as God. 00:37:39.720 --> 00:37:45.720 There is nobody, I mean in Isaiah 43 he says, come reason with me. 00:37:45.720 --> 00:37:47.720 He invites you to reason with him. 00:37:47.720 --> 00:37:55.720 But my God, if you think he's confined or confounded by two kilos of grey matter for some brilliant people like me, 00:37:55.720 --> 00:37:58.720 one kilo for you, that's not how it works. 00:37:58.720 --> 00:38:01.720 That's true, it's not like it works. 00:38:01.920 --> 00:38:03.920 Yeah. 00:38:06.920 --> 00:38:24.920 Slay the idol of focusing on what can be seen, touched, loathe, laudle. 00:38:24.920 --> 00:38:28.920 Slay the idol of that which can only be seen and touched. 00:38:29.120 --> 00:38:37.120 I mean, I find it sometimes very difficult to like Thomas in the Bible. 00:38:40.120 --> 00:38:42.120 Apostle Thomas. 00:38:42.120 --> 00:38:45.120 I find it very hard to like him because he says, 00:38:45.120 --> 00:38:52.120 I won't believe that he is risen from the dead unless I take my fingers and poke it into the holes of his hands where the nails were. 00:38:52.120 --> 00:38:54.120 Come on, man. 00:38:54.120 --> 00:38:57.120 And then when he turns up and Thomas is not there, he again says, 00:38:57.320 --> 00:38:59.320 I won't believe it until I see it. 00:38:59.320 --> 00:39:02.320 And Jesus had to say this after he goes up to Thomas and says, 00:39:02.320 --> 00:39:04.320 hey, you want to check it out? 00:39:04.320 --> 00:39:05.320 Put your finger in here. 00:39:05.320 --> 00:39:07.320 And Thomas does it. 00:39:07.320 --> 00:39:10.320 Then he says, you are blessed because you see and believe, 00:39:10.320 --> 00:39:14.320 but blessed are those that do not see and yet believe. 00:39:14.320 --> 00:39:18.320 And stop focusing. 00:39:18.320 --> 00:39:24.320 Slay the idol of focusing on that which can be seen, touched, loathe or laudle. 00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:26.320 Because that's how we live. 00:39:27.320 --> 00:39:35.320 Because the world we live in becomes so visible and so sensory 00:39:35.320 --> 00:39:42.320 that it's difficult to connect with an invisible God and the invisible systems that he has functioning on earth. 00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:44.320 It becomes very difficult, eh? 00:39:44.320 --> 00:39:49.320 Last year, this time, Sheldon and I were in New York. 00:39:49.320 --> 00:39:56.320 And man, walking up and down Times Square, I could have done it the entire night because it was like daylight. 00:39:56.520 --> 00:40:01.520 So visual, so bright, so sensory. 00:40:01.520 --> 00:40:05.520 And in that kind of a world that we live in, to connect with the invisible becomes very difficult. 00:40:05.520 --> 00:40:12.520 May I suggest to you that one of the reasons we find it so hard to pray for more than five or ten minutes seriously 00:40:12.520 --> 00:40:15.520 is because we do not know how to connect to an invisible God 00:40:15.520 --> 00:40:20.520 who doesn't make noise or doesn't flash screens before your eyes. 00:40:26.520 --> 00:40:39.520 White noise, if it's absent, becomes a problem connecting with God 00:40:39.520 --> 00:40:43.520 because we don't know how to pray because ten minutes of silence is like deafening. 00:40:47.520 --> 00:40:53.520 Kind of get back to this idea of connecting with that which is invisible, eternal and immortal. 00:40:53.720 --> 00:40:55.720 He who is invisible, eternal and immortal. 00:40:55.720 --> 00:41:00.720 When you do that, God will be going to show what really happens behind the scenes. 00:41:02.720 --> 00:41:05.720 Jesus put it this way in Galatians 6.14, for me. 00:41:05.720 --> 00:41:07.720 Paul is speaking and Paul says, 00:41:07.720 --> 00:41:11.720 Hey, at the cross, in Jesus, I became dead to the world. 00:41:11.720 --> 00:41:15.720 As in, at the cross, I lost my interest. 00:41:15.720 --> 00:41:17.720 I became indifferent. 00:41:17.920 --> 00:41:23.920 I became dead to the visible world and its power to seduce me or destroy me. 00:41:23.920 --> 00:41:27.920 On one hand, God gives us everything for us to enjoy. 00:41:27.920 --> 00:41:29.920 First, Timothy 6.14 says, 00:41:29.920 --> 00:41:31.920 God has given us things to enjoy. 00:41:31.920 --> 00:41:37.920 So it's not like God isn't a God who loves giving stuff so that we enjoy it. 00:41:37.920 --> 00:41:39.920 So he gives us things to enjoy. 00:41:39.920 --> 00:41:42.920 But having received the things that I have enjoyed because he's given it, 00:41:42.920 --> 00:41:46.920 I must also learn how not to derive my value, 00:41:47.120 --> 00:41:52.120 how not to find my significance in these things of the world presence. 00:41:52.120 --> 00:41:55.120 Because the more I'm captivated by that which I see, 00:41:55.120 --> 00:41:59.120 the less likely it is that I will be able to connect with an unseen God. 00:41:59.120 --> 00:42:03.120 You know, monastic orders in the Middle Ages were formed 00:42:03.120 --> 00:42:07.120 so that these monks could go into a monastery and disappear for a while, 00:42:07.120 --> 00:42:11.120 drawn away from that which was visually and audibly appealing 00:42:11.120 --> 00:42:13.120 so that they could spend time with God. 00:42:13.120 --> 00:42:16.120 But that turned into a beast in itself 00:42:16.120 --> 00:42:20.120 where they began to dissociate themselves from human experience. 00:42:21.120 --> 00:42:25.120 But the idea was, can I withdraw from the noise of the world 00:42:25.120 --> 00:42:27.120 so that I can spend some time with God? And that became an order. 00:42:27.120 --> 00:42:30.120 It was never supposed to be an order, it was supposed to be a time apart. 00:42:30.120 --> 00:42:34.120 You can do that sitting in the noisiest place in the world 00:42:34.120 --> 00:42:37.120 if you learn how to connect with the unseen. 00:42:37.120 --> 00:42:39.120 You can sit in the middle of a storm 00:42:39.120 --> 00:42:43.120 and find the eye of the storm where things are silent. 00:42:47.120 --> 00:42:52.120 Hey, the Bible says, deep calls to deep, a spirit calls to spirit. 00:42:52.120 --> 00:42:56.120 Just imagine that, hey? Just imagine that. 00:42:58.120 --> 00:43:02.120 Where something in you begins to click with this invisible God who is spirit, 00:43:02.120 --> 00:43:05.120 your spirit connecting with him. Deep calling out to deep, connecting. 00:43:05.120 --> 00:43:07.120 It doesn't matter where you are. 00:43:07.120 --> 00:43:09.120 And you become aware. You become aware of the pitfalls, 00:43:09.120 --> 00:43:12.120 you become aware of the benefits, you become aware of where to go, 00:43:12.120 --> 00:43:15.120 what to go, how to go, you become aware of his whisper, 00:43:15.120 --> 00:43:18.120 you become aware of his rainbow, you become aware of his loud noise, 00:43:18.120 --> 00:43:21.120 you become aware of his quiet voice. 00:43:24.120 --> 00:43:26.120 But you have to train yourself for this. 00:43:28.120 --> 00:43:33.120 So it's kind of like more intuitive than knowing, deeper knowing? 00:43:33.120 --> 00:43:38.120 No. I understand what you're saying, but the reason I'm saying no 00:43:38.120 --> 00:43:43.120 is because there is a tendency among people in general 00:43:43.120 --> 00:43:46.120 to begin to take what is very simple in God 00:43:46.120 --> 00:43:49.120 and make it something that is intuitive and deep. 00:43:49.120 --> 00:43:51.120 And we don't want to go there. 00:43:51.120 --> 00:43:53.120 So I know that's not what you're trying to say. 00:43:53.120 --> 00:43:55.120 I really know that's not what you're trying to say. 00:43:55.120 --> 00:43:58.120 But I want to not even use the words that we need to go deeper 00:43:58.120 --> 00:44:00.120 or we need to get more intuitive. 00:44:00.120 --> 00:44:03.120 We just have to do one simple thing. 00:44:03.120 --> 00:44:07.120 Begin to understand that there is a world that is invisible and unseen 00:44:07.120 --> 00:44:09.120 where both things of God exist. 00:44:09.120 --> 00:44:13.120 And open my eyes of God that I might now partake of it. 00:44:13.120 --> 00:44:14.120 It is as simple as that. 00:44:14.120 --> 00:44:16.120 Most things in God are very, very simple. 00:44:16.120 --> 00:44:20.120 Whenever someone suggests to you, and this is not what doctors are suggesting, 00:44:20.120 --> 00:44:23.120 whenever someone suggests to you that there is a deeper knowledge 00:44:23.120 --> 00:44:26.120 that you need to get into before you can get where you need to get, 00:44:26.120 --> 00:44:28.120 you know it ain't God because God is simple. 00:44:33.120 --> 00:44:37.120 It is just a question of saying no to this and yes to something. 00:44:37.120 --> 00:44:41.120 Hey, in Christianity, in the Bible, in the things of God, 00:44:41.120 --> 00:44:45.120 it is always a question of making a choice of saying yes or no. 00:44:45.120 --> 00:44:47.120 Christ has presented to you, 00:44:47.120 --> 00:44:51.120 and Christ will say, I stand at the door and knock. 00:44:51.120 --> 00:44:54.120 And your response is, no thank you. 00:44:54.120 --> 00:44:57.120 All your responses, I open the door. 00:44:57.120 --> 00:45:01.120 And based on that simple choice and your simple response, 00:45:01.120 --> 00:45:05.120 either life is turned upside down and you step into eternity before you die 00:45:05.120 --> 00:45:09.120 or you wait for eternity unsure of what's going to happen, 00:45:09.120 --> 00:45:12.120 hoping on a wing of a prayer that something will work out. 00:45:12.120 --> 00:45:14.120 And it usually doesn't. 00:45:27.120 --> 00:45:29.120 Any questions, Ted? 00:45:36.120 --> 00:45:38.120 I'll end in silence. 00:45:48.120 --> 00:45:51.120 You know, we wouldn't have to think about the prophetic. 00:45:51.120 --> 00:45:57.120 We wouldn't have to think about what the devil is up to, what God is up to. 00:45:57.120 --> 00:45:59.120 We wouldn't make such a big deal about it, 00:45:59.120 --> 00:46:04.120 make it sound like this is the realm of very mature people and stuff like that. 00:46:04.120 --> 00:46:06.120 Only a few select can enter into it. 00:46:06.120 --> 00:46:11.120 All that would go away if people learned that there is an unseen realm, 00:46:11.120 --> 00:46:17.120 that God exists and that we need to now begin to learn to relate to connect 00:46:17.120 --> 00:46:19.120 because he's a person. 00:46:19.120 --> 00:46:21.120 He's spirit, but he's a person. 00:46:21.120 --> 00:46:24.120 Then you will be able to look at Betty and say, 00:46:24.120 --> 00:46:29.120 this may be who she is on the outside, but this is what, who she is on the inside. 00:46:29.120 --> 00:46:30.120 You begin to relate better. 00:46:30.120 --> 00:46:32.120 You begin to have better discernment. 00:46:32.120 --> 00:46:35.120 You're able to tell people what God is thinking of them. 00:46:35.120 --> 00:46:38.120 You're able to tell people the things that are happening in their lives. 00:46:38.120 --> 00:46:42.120 You're able to solve situations because you see behind the layer. 00:46:42.120 --> 00:46:45.120 Why do doctors put you on a scan? 00:46:45.120 --> 00:46:49.120 Because when they look at you on the outside, you look healthy. 00:46:49.120 --> 00:46:53.120 But they put you on a scan because a scan reveals things that are inside. 00:46:53.120 --> 00:46:55.120 What are we talking about? 00:46:55.120 --> 00:46:59.120 We're talking about God enabling us by his spirit to see things 00:46:59.120 --> 00:47:04.120 that cannot be seen with the visible eyes so that you know the reason why things are happening 00:47:04.120 --> 00:47:07.120 and so that you have keys to fix things. 00:47:10.120 --> 00:47:14.120 What a privilege it is if you can begin to do this for others. 00:47:14.120 --> 00:47:17.120 First for yourself and then for others. 00:47:17.120 --> 00:47:24.120 And if you learn to live like this, you're talking about a life that on one hand becomes an adventure, 00:47:24.120 --> 00:47:27.120 on the other hand begins to connect with the one who created you, 00:47:27.120 --> 00:47:30.120 and then you become a benefit to people around you. 00:47:30.120 --> 00:47:32.120 Because you're not going by what you see. 00:47:32.120 --> 00:47:36.120 You're going by what he shows you because you're bringing the connector. 00:47:37.120 --> 00:47:41.120 John 6, 63. Jesus says, 00:47:41.120 --> 00:47:45.120 The words I speak to you are spirit and life. 00:47:45.120 --> 00:47:48.120 The words I speak to you are spirit and life. 00:47:48.120 --> 00:47:53.120 Again, he said, hey, when I speak, 00:47:53.120 --> 00:47:57.120 I'm not going to be able to see the things that are inside. 00:47:57.120 --> 00:48:01.120 I'm not going to be able to see the things that are outside. 00:48:01.120 --> 00:48:05.120 Again, he said, hey, when I speak, 00:48:05.120 --> 00:48:09.120 what's he saying? 00:48:09.120 --> 00:48:12.120 He said, listen, if you would listen to my words, 00:48:12.120 --> 00:48:15.120 they are spirit and they are life. 00:48:15.120 --> 00:48:20.120 They both exist in a realm that may not congeal something immediately before you. 00:48:20.120 --> 00:48:24.120 This is no magic trick, but it gives life and it is spirit. 00:48:24.120 --> 00:48:28.120 It is invisible, but remember, I created the world with words. 00:48:28.120 --> 00:48:31.120 I created the world with words. 00:48:31.120 --> 00:48:33.120 I spoke things into existence. 00:48:33.120 --> 00:48:36.120 This is the power that God has. 00:48:36.120 --> 00:48:38.120 I mean, here is a question you need to ask yourself. 00:48:38.120 --> 00:48:40.120 Is he omnipotent? 00:48:40.120 --> 00:48:44.120 As in, is God all powerful? 00:48:44.120 --> 00:48:49.120 The answer, if you don't know, is yes. 00:48:49.120 --> 00:48:51.120 Is God omniscient? 00:48:51.120 --> 00:48:54.120 As in, is he all knowing? 00:48:54.120 --> 00:48:57.120 The answer is yes. 00:48:57.120 --> 00:49:02.120 If he is all powerful and all knowing, can you trust his words? 00:49:02.120 --> 00:49:10.120 Yes. 00:49:10.120 --> 00:49:14.120 And his words are spirit and life they create. 00:49:14.120 --> 00:49:22.120 So, to finish off. 00:49:22.120 --> 00:49:25.120 And just keep this in mind, guys. 00:49:25.120 --> 00:49:30.120 I don't know which is the most important point, but this is certainly one of the most important points. 00:49:30.120 --> 00:49:34.120 Entering. 00:49:34.120 --> 00:49:39.120 Understanding. 00:49:39.120 --> 00:49:42.120 Dwelling. 00:49:42.120 --> 00:49:46.120 Shaping. 00:49:46.120 --> 00:49:50.120 Subduing. 00:49:50.120 --> 00:50:06.120 And exiting the invisible is so dependent. 00:50:06.120 --> 00:50:30.120 Is so dependent on the faith you have and the words you speak. 00:50:30.120 --> 00:50:42.120 Entering, understanding, dwelling, shaping, subduing, and exiting the invisible is so dependent on the faith you have in what? 00:50:42.120 --> 00:50:45.120 The faith you have in his word or his voice. 00:50:45.120 --> 00:51:07.120 Faith you have in his word or his voice and the words that you speak. 00:51:07.120 --> 00:51:13.120 If you want to enter the invisible realm that God lives in, if you want to understand it, if you want to dwell in it, if you want to shape it, 00:51:13.120 --> 00:51:31.120 if you want to subdue things that are evil in the unseen realm, or if you want to exit it, it all depends on the faith you have in the words that God speaks or the voice that he speaks or on his voice and the words that you speak. 00:51:31.120 --> 00:51:58.120 A.W. Tozer, a very famous Christian guy, said, wherever faith is present, we touch and handle things unseen. 00:51:58.120 --> 00:52:07.120 Hebrews 11 verse 1, faith is the evidence of things not seen. 00:52:07.120 --> 00:52:20.120 Faith does not give us evidence that is seen, but because we trust in what he says, we begin to see what God is saying he will do for us even though it is not evident. 00:52:20.120 --> 00:52:28.120 We are completely confident of it. 00:52:28.120 --> 00:52:38.120 And when we don't live like those guys, we begin to become like that blind man in Mark chapter 8 verse 24 whose eyes are half open and he says, I see men walking like trees. 00:52:38.120 --> 00:52:46.120 You don't see clearly. 00:52:46.120 --> 00:52:55.120 Any questions? I'll conclude with a story that might wrap it up. Any questions? 00:52:55.120 --> 00:53:00.120 Any questions? 00:53:00.120 --> 00:53:29.120 Any questions? 00:53:29.120 --> 00:53:34.120 These are two simple stories. 00:53:34.120 --> 00:53:39.120 Everyone. Faith is always anchored in the invisible. 00:53:39.120 --> 00:53:43.120 Faith is always anchored in the invisible. 00:53:43.120 --> 00:53:50.120 Doubt and unbelief are always nailed to the visible. 00:53:50.120 --> 00:53:57.120 Doubt and unbelief are caused by and are nailed to the visible. Faith is always anchored in the invisible. 00:53:57.120 --> 00:54:15.120 And the only way we can enter into understand, dwell in, shape, subdue or exit, that invisible realm of God, that invisible realm of the rule of God, that invisible realm of the benefits that God has for us, that invisible realm of God's attributes, that invisible realm of the angelic and the demonic. 00:54:15.120 --> 00:54:24.120 It's impossible to deal with the demonic unless you see what the devil is doing. Paul put it this way. Hey, smarten up to the devices of the devil. 00:54:24.120 --> 00:54:39.120 These guys knew what was about to happen. 00:54:39.120 --> 00:54:48.120 To be able to hear his voice. Here are some quick incidents. First time, I think I shared it with either the leaders or the young adults. I'm not sure which. 00:54:48.120 --> 00:54:59.120 The first time I had a decent sermon it was when I was at a church called Richmond Ben Carson Church. And there was a man called Alan Jones who was dealing with people who had sicknesses and people who had been demonized. 00:54:59.120 --> 00:55:10.120 There was such a long line that he called me suddenly and finished leading worship. I sat down. He called me and said, deal with this woman. And this was a woman who had just tried jumping off Alex Fraser. And someone had saved her. 00:55:10.120 --> 00:55:24.120 And so I don't know how to deal with these things, but I had begun to learn how to relate to that realm which is unseen, both in terms of how to connect with God and see what the devil and the demons and spirits, false spirits are up to. 00:55:24.120 --> 00:55:35.120 And I go up to her and all I have is the name of Jesus Christ and I command the name of Jesus Christ and whatever is causing her to begin to even attempt to take her life, be undone and leave her. 00:55:35.120 --> 00:55:43.120 And as I do, she falls to the ground and she starts writing like a snake. She's just writing like a snake on the carpet. And I don't know what to do. 00:55:43.120 --> 00:55:52.120 So once again I say, in the name of Jesus Christ, I command this foul or unclean spirit to come out. And suddenly she stops and she goes back to normal. 00:55:53.120 --> 00:56:01.120 And she goes back to normal and I think to myself, wow, I've never seen such power at work because that was my first experience with the power of God at that level. 00:56:01.120 --> 00:56:07.120 And so as I'm walking away, I'm still thinking, Father, what next? What else do you want to do? 00:56:07.120 --> 00:56:17.120 And God says in not an audible voice, but you know it inside your heart, God says, she just stopped not because she's free, but because she wanted you to walk away. 00:56:17.120 --> 00:56:24.120 And I go back to her and I say, you demons have not left. You will not stay there like I command you to leave now. 00:56:24.120 --> 00:56:31.120 And once again she started the writing and then there was a lady called, Myra? 00:56:31.120 --> 00:56:32.120 Oh, Eunice. 00:56:32.120 --> 00:56:38.120 Eunice. There was a lady called Eunice. She came, stood with me and that demon left. 00:56:38.120 --> 00:56:44.120 And I thought to myself, so this is how the invisible ran away. I had heard about it. I'd heard stories. 00:56:44.120 --> 00:56:50.120 But that was the first time. I'm telling you first time stories of how this works. That was in 1993. 00:56:54.120 --> 00:56:59.120 Why am I telling you this? Because there's a realm that exists that can set people free. 00:56:59.120 --> 00:57:04.120 But if you do not connect with that realm, if you go by what is seen, it doesn't work. 00:57:04.120 --> 00:57:13.120 In 1991, I remember waking up one morning and I know some of you have heard this story, but it's more for those that will listen to these states later on. 00:57:13.120 --> 00:57:16.120 I wake up in the morning and I'm covered with scabs and rashes. 00:57:18.120 --> 00:57:23.120 And someone tells me it's a mix of measles and chickenpox. 00:57:26.120 --> 00:57:30.120 And I'm thinking to myself, okay, I've never been through it before, so what happens next? 00:57:30.120 --> 00:57:34.120 I was too simple to believe what I was seeing. I'd just become a Christian. 00:57:35.120 --> 00:57:41.120 I didn't know better. I thought God tells the truth and that he always does what he says. 00:57:42.120 --> 00:57:45.120 He still does. But I didn't know any better then. 00:57:46.120 --> 00:57:51.120 So I'm going standing in front of the mirror and looking at all these marks on my body and my face. 00:57:51.120 --> 00:57:56.120 And I'm thinking to myself, okay, you said you can heal, so why don't you take this all away? 00:57:56.120 --> 00:58:01.120 And I prayed the best I could. This was about a year and a half after becoming a Christian. 00:58:01.120 --> 00:58:07.120 And I remember going to the church and instead of keeping me away from the church because I could have been contagious, 00:58:08.120 --> 00:58:13.120 the pastor let me lead worship. So I'm standing in front leading worship with my eyes closed. 00:58:13.120 --> 00:58:17.120 And every now and then I open my eyes because I expect the scabs to be lying around me 00:58:17.120 --> 00:58:23.120 because I thought, hey, God said he would heal and I'm worshipping him anyway, so these things must be around the ground. 00:58:23.120 --> 00:58:26.120 And so I would open it and see the ground had nothing on it, so I'd keep worshipping. 00:58:28.120 --> 00:58:34.120 And then people told me not to shave because if you shave when you have these stuff, 00:58:34.120 --> 00:58:39.120 you leave pop marks on your face like you have craters on your face. 00:58:39.120 --> 00:58:45.120 And so I thought to myself, but if you're going to heal me, it shouldn't matter. So I'd shave every day. 00:58:47.120 --> 00:58:50.120 And then I decided the weekend was over, I'd rather go to work. 00:58:50.120 --> 00:58:59.120 So I went to work and my boss, who was a Muslim, turned to me and said, you can't come and work because you could be contagious. 00:58:59.120 --> 00:59:05.120 But I said, it was so simple, naive and dumb. I said, but God's healing me. 00:59:05.120 --> 00:59:08.120 I'm sure nothing will happen to any of you. It's not contagious. 00:59:08.120 --> 00:59:12.120 He said, your God may be doing that, but you want to come back to work. 00:59:12.120 --> 00:59:15.120 You better get a certificate from the doctor saying you're healed. 00:59:15.120 --> 00:59:21.120 So I decided I'll go to the doctor. And so I go to a hospital called the American Mission Hospital. 00:59:21.120 --> 00:59:28.120 And Blessy's mom was a nurse there. So I called her and she says, hey, Jacob, can I give you a word of advice? 00:59:28.120 --> 00:59:34.120 You look really bad. And so the doctor won't even see you. 00:59:34.120 --> 00:59:40.120 He'll see you after two weeks because this thing has to die now. And so he ain't going to see you. 00:59:40.120 --> 00:59:48.120 But again, in my being naive, I kept saying, but God's healing, so there shouldn't be a problem. 00:59:48.120 --> 00:59:53.120 Can you just go and ask him? She said, not a good idea. I said, I'll wait here until you ask him. 00:59:54.120 --> 00:59:58.120 So finally Blessy's mom goes in, asks the doctor. He was a Hindu doctor. 00:59:58.120 --> 01:00:06.120 And he said, OK, I'll see him. And so I go in. And this is now six days into this stuff, or five or six days. 01:00:06.120 --> 01:00:09.120 And because I can't go back to work, I'm sitting at home. 01:00:09.120 --> 01:00:15.120 So I go there and he checks me out. And then he pulls out a letter pad and he writes a letter to my employer. 01:00:15.120 --> 01:00:20.120 And he says, symptoms of chicken pox, it's called measles or something. 01:00:20.120 --> 01:00:25.120 And he writes symptoms. Non-contagious, can't go back to work immediately. 01:00:25.120 --> 01:00:29.120 I take that letter, go back to my employer, give it to him. The next day everything disappears. 01:00:29.120 --> 01:00:35.120 You know, the only mark left on my face, just so you would be convinced, is this little thing here. 01:00:35.120 --> 01:00:39.120 And that is the only spot I didn't shave because if not in there, I would have shaved quite already. 01:00:43.120 --> 01:00:49.120 But the point is, there is an unseen realm where God does things. 01:00:49.120 --> 01:00:53.120 There is an unseen realm from which the benefits of God come. 01:00:53.120 --> 01:00:56.120 There is an unseen realm where he has declared his attributes. 01:00:56.120 --> 01:01:00.120 There is an unseen realm where there are evil, demonic spirits. 01:01:00.120 --> 01:01:04.120 There is an unseen realm where there is the Spirit of God. 01:01:04.120 --> 01:01:12.120 I'm just giving you stories from 25 or 30 years ago, just to, why pick stories from 25 or 30 years ago? 01:01:12.120 --> 01:01:16.120 Because they're simple stories that anybody can start. 01:01:16.120 --> 01:01:24.120 We don't need faith for this. We just need simple, stupid trust. 01:01:28.120 --> 01:01:32.120 As in, not stupid, as in simple, what's the right word? 01:01:34.120 --> 01:01:37.120 Foolish trust. Foolish trust. 01:01:39.120 --> 01:01:43.120 Desperate. No, no, no, that's not creative. 01:01:43.120 --> 01:01:45.120 Oh, shut. 01:01:46.120 --> 01:01:48.120 I didn't realize what the time was. 01:01:49.120 --> 01:01:55.120 Guys, you have to begin to understand for the next few weeks, this is what we'll be doing. 01:01:55.120 --> 01:02:01.120 I said this to the leaders some nights ago, that there is a spirit of prayer that is going to come upon this church. 01:02:01.120 --> 01:02:04.120 And come upon this church really strong. 01:02:04.120 --> 01:02:06.120 And what do I mean by a spirit of prayer? 01:02:06.120 --> 01:02:10.120 People in this church will begin to pray and they'll see results. 01:02:11.120 --> 01:02:21.120 But after the spirit of prayer begins to slow down, we have to begin to have one hand on this realm of the unseen, 01:02:21.120 --> 01:02:27.120 where all the systems of God and all the things of God and the Spirit of God are one hand on it. 01:02:27.120 --> 01:02:29.120 Touching heaven, changing earth. 01:02:29.120 --> 01:02:31.120 Touching heaven, changing earth. 01:02:31.120 --> 01:02:34.120 One is visible, one is invisible. 01:02:34.120 --> 01:02:36.120 This is how I live my life. 01:02:36.120 --> 01:02:39.120 This is how we should live our lives. 01:02:40.120 --> 01:02:41.120 Yeah, that's it. 01:02:41.120 --> 01:02:45.120 Father, heavy topic but not really. 01:02:45.120 --> 01:02:47.120 It's heavy because we can't see it. 01:02:47.120 --> 01:02:50.120 That's why it sounds heavy, but it ain't. 01:02:51.120 --> 01:02:57.120 So I just thank you for what you've started us off on and helped us to explore this further. 01:02:58.120 --> 01:03:01.120 I thank you that even though you're invisible right now, we can't see you. 01:03:01.120 --> 01:03:05.120 You are so present, so present, so present. 01:03:10.120 --> 01:03:18.120 I thank you that even though we can't see you, you, you, God, actually live by your spirit inside us if we have received Jesus Christ as Lord. 01:03:19.120 --> 01:03:23.120 Right now, you, oh God, dwell within me. 01:03:23.120 --> 01:03:24.120 Dwell within us. 01:03:24.120 --> 01:03:26.120 God in us. 01:03:26.120 --> 01:03:28.120 Emmanuel, God with us. 01:03:32.120 --> 01:03:34.120 Christ in us. 01:03:35.120 --> 01:03:41.120 I thank you that there is nothing tomorrow that will happen to me that is already not ready in you, in the invisible. 01:03:41.120 --> 01:03:44.120 Everything I need for tomorrow is already prepared. 01:03:46.120 --> 01:03:52.120 I thank you that there is healing for sick bodies, provision for those that do not have. 01:03:52.120 --> 01:04:04.120 We will explore this further, but we gotta stop now. 01:04:04.120 --> 01:04:07.120 Because we have this thing called this watch, Father. 01:04:07.120 --> 01:04:10.120 It's very invisible, and it keeps ticking. 01:04:10.120 --> 01:04:13.120 So we stop now in Jesus' name. Amen.