I have a topic that we have been working on for the last two weeks. Train my hands for
war. Train my hands for war. So guys, this is just a summary of what we have been saying
every week. The moment you say kingdom, it implies warfare. The moment you say the word
kingdom, it implies warfare. The kingdom of Christ cannot advance—cannot is a strong
word because God can do anything He wants, but I am still deliberately using the word
cannot—the kingdom of Christ cannot advance in Richmond except through spiritual conflict.
We read Acts 26, 17 and 18 where this is what God says to Paul and this is what is written.
Acts 26, 17 to 18, and we read this last week. I will rescue you from your own people and
from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness
to light and from the power of Satan to God so that they may receive forgiveness of sins
and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me. And then we added to that
Acts 10, 38 and a few other scriptures. The next thing I wanted to remind us was that
Jesus' birth was marked by a violent escalation of warfare between the seed of the woman and
the seed of the serpent, Genesis 3. The moment He was born, Herod did what Pharaoh did and
Herod's and Pharaoh's still do the same thing. And so to set someone free from the
power of darkness to the power of light, Colossians 1.13, from the kingdom of darkness into the
dominion of the sun, spiritual warfare is part of what we need to train our hands and
fingers for. And that's from Psalm 144 verse 1. So today we look at an essential characteristic
of warriors, maybe one or two. We'll start with Psalm 46.10. Much as this is so that
we learn how to war and remember our battle is not against flesh and blood, much as we
are going to talk about that, know that the things we talk about today are really helpful
for life, really helpful for life. So Psalm 46 verse 10. And here's what it says, be
still and know that I am God. And when you read the context of Psalm 46 verse 10, it's
in the chaos of war and upheaval. Just go to Psalm 46 and you realize the context.
Because we only know that one verse, but when you read the beginning, God is our refuge
and strength and ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth
give away and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea. The waters roar and foam
and mountains quake with their surging. And then it goes on to say in verse 9, He makes
war cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow. He shatters the spear. He burns the
shields with fire. And it's in that context that he says, be still and know that I am
God. I will be exalted among the nations. I'll be exalted in the earth. That's the context.
And one of the most amazing characteristics of any spiritual warrior is this ability to
cultivate stillness in the midst of battle. It's one of the hardest things to do, but
it's so powerful if you learn how to do it. So I know I've shared this before, but I've
heard that when they used to select horses that pull the queen and now the king's chariot
through the streets of London, they would go and look for some of the finest horses
in the UK. And then they would select eight or ten of these fine horses and then bring
it to a place where they would put these horses through the noise of cannons going off, the
noise of car exhausts backfiring, the noise of crowds suddenly beginning to shout. They
would put these horses through fire. They'd put it through all kinds of situations where
the horse would have to stay still. And they'd only pick horses to pull the king's chariot
that had the ability to stay still till they hear the whisper of their master. And so it
didn't matter that you were a thoroughbred that could run the fields and could look great,
remain flying in the air, muscles just rippling. It didn't matter. You could go back to the
fields and do your muscle thing and your main thing. But the horses that would be selected
to pull the king's chariot would be horses that had the ability to be still till you
hear the voice of their master. And that is critical in war. War horses are that way too.
War horses have the ability to stay still while things are breaking down around them
because it would cost your master their life. This idea of stillness is critical. In fact,
Queen Elizabeth once had a horse go up on its two legs and then drop by back immediately.
You can find pictures of this if you Google it, but don't Google it right now. And the
reason the horse didn't throw her off is because it was trained well and it reacted
to the backfiring of an exhaust of a car. It goes up on its hind legs just a few feet
and immediately comes back and stands still and the queen is fine. So when it comes to
being spiritual warriors or just a believer, this thing is critical to how we function.
So stillness is actually, stillness is the ability to enter into the secret place of
the Most High. Psalm 91 talks about it, right? He that dwells in the secret place of the
Most High. This is the ability because the strange thing is it says in John 14 20 that
father, I am in you, you are in me and they are in us. This ability to immediately in
less than a minute in the midst of things breaking down, in the midst of loss, in the
midst of death, in the midst of chaos and confusion and war, do you and I have the ability
to come to a place of peace where you suddenly find yourself just completely wrapped up in
Christ aware of him. Most of us don't have the ability to do this which is why we begin
to cry out in prayer. Nothing wrong with it. You are supposed to be childlike and reaching
out for your father or mother when you are in trouble. But the place that we must aim
for as we grow into maturities, can I come into a place where I am no longer crying out
in prayer first? I have the ability to come to this place of peace and stillness. Not
easy. Any questions on that before we go on? Any questions on that? Stillness is the ability
to enter into that secret place of the Most High. And this is why David could say in Psalm
23 verse 4 that even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
not be afraid. How do you not be afraid? It's like this turtle that has the ability to withdraw
its neck into the safe place and stay there. And that place then gives you the ability
to know what God wants next. The question is can you get there in a minute or two? That
should be your aim. Get into this place of stillness in less than two minutes. Without
stillness we cannot see in the Spirit. Without stillness we cannot see in the Spirit. Please
remember that eh? We want to see what the Spirit of God is doing so we can follow Him.
We want to see the wind in the trees so we know which way He's heading. Without stillness,
you cannot see what the Spirit is. Or you cannot see in the Spirit. You cannot see in
the Spirit. And so practice it, practice it, practice it. Every opportunity you get where
there's chaos, where there's confusion, where things are breaking down, where circumstances
are adverse, practice it. Those are the opportunities we get. Because you cannot manifest things
that you haven't practiced or learned. So every situation that comes my way in 2026,
I have to learn immediately to go into this place. And trust me, in that secret place,
you will hear Him. Learn it. Those are the people that come into places of breakthrough
as spiritual warriors. And you see David had this amazing ability in the middle of things
going wrong to go into this place. In 2 Samuel 517 it says that David, when he found that
the Philistines had gathered around him, it says David went down into his stronghold.
And once he went down into his stronghold, he begins to ask questions. What were the
questions? Oh God, what do you want me to do? These guys have gathered together in Rephiam.
What do you want me to do? You know David rarely cried out for help when you read his
history. He always would turn to this place. He's the guy who wrote Psalm 23. He had this
ability to get into this place with God where he knew what to expect next. And so what is
the stronghold? One of the ways to define the stronghold is this idea of rest, which
we have spoken about a few times. Spiritual warriors break through because of their ability.
Do you have the ability to break through? Do you have the ability to break through?
To enter into rest when everything is breaking down around you. This is what Jesus is doing
in the boat. This is what Jesus is doing in the boat. What is rest? It's an active state
of untroubled calm. It's an active, it's not a passive state. It's an active state of untroubled
calm despite adverse circumstances where you are in a state of calm. It's an active state
where you refuse to exert your strength, thinking, self-effort, sweat, but rely wholly
on the nature and the promise of the Lord. It's an active state where you refuse to
exert your strength, thinking, self-effort, sweat, but rely wholly on the nature and the
promise of the Lord. It's an active state of calm. It's an active state of calm. It's
an active state of calm. It's an active state of calm. It's an active state where the future
unfolds so gloriously. An active state of calm is when you're veramente choosing to
undertake change and э Dan milliards as religious proclamations.
One of the things about the Old Testament is the patterns of war in the Old Testament.
You go look at it and all of them relied on God for the next command so that they did
exactly what he did without exerting self-effort.
Any questions before we go on?
No?
Okay.
So rest is a result.
Hey, these three things we have to work out.
There's faith, there's courage, and I think we spoke about this once, and there's confidence.
These three things are connected.
I must have confidence in how
God sees me and what he says about me.
And what he says about me.
You must have this for 2026.
Next week we'll talk about how do we plan for 2026 personally and corporately.
I must have confidence in how God sees me and what he says about me.
For now and 2026.
That confidence then allows me to have the faith
to believe the impossible
demands
that he places on us.
How do we know something is God?
It's usually not within our ability.
Impossible demands he places on us.
And that then gives me the courage
or the boldness
or another word is foolishness
to step out
and practice Hebrews 118.
Which is Abraham not knowing where he was going still went out.
This is an important equation.
I'll come back to rest.
But I must have the confidence in how God sees me.
Both from the word and from what he's saying to you.
You must have the confidence of how God sees you
and what he says about you.
Both for now and for 2026.
Once I have that, I now have the ability
or the faith to believe the impossible demands he places on me.
And now that I have that, I have the courage
or the boldness or the foolishness
to step out into the things he's asking me to.
As a question that needs to be asked is
what's your 2026 looking like?
Groundhog Day or something so new
so impossible that you're looking forward to it
and you're a little scared.
As a church and as individuals.
Any questions?
And you still have 20 days to work on it, not 20.
You have 15, 16 days to work on it.
May your 2026, when you wish people, wish them like this,
may your 2026 be impossible
and may you see adventures in God.
Hey, Merry Christmas and may your 2026 be impossible.
Let's see what that gets you.
Yeah, and then they could give them a
Burdys chocolate or something with it.
Any questions?
Okay.
Leavened eight, Hebrews 11, eight.
What's critical for spiritual warriors is
the need to rest creates space,
rest creates space and time
to respond to the Holy Spirit
instead of
reacting to events.
Rest creates time and space to wait on God.
One of the things the enemy likes doing is seeking
to pull us out of rest by getting us to react to situations.
Instead, rest creates space and time
to respond to the Holy Spirit instead of reacting to events.
Isaiah 26, 3.
My mind is stayed on God and that's why I'm able
to get to the place of peace.
Guys, practice this.
Try practicing it through every circumstance for the next two weeks.
Every time things go wrong.
It can be with your wife, it can be with your kids,
it can be with another person, it can be a situation,
it can be something that hurts you, offends you, bothers you.
Maybe you got it wrong, maybe somebody else got it wrong.
Learn how to practice rest.
When you come to this place where,
Father, I've come into this place of stillness.
And now that I'm here,
correct me, challenge me, tell me, change me,
but this is where I live and operate from.
My desire is that I'm able to get into this place within 30 seconds.
Unfortunately, that's not the situation right now.
I hee haw, I am miserable, I moan and groan,
I complain a little, occasionally get resentful,
and then it occurs to me, oh shucks, there's a place called rest.
By that time, almost four hours have been spent just being a guinea pig.
This looks like it's only my problem, right?
Well, I'm glad this church is sanctified while the pastor struggles.
So, rest is a weapon.
The enemy cannot penetrate the armor of a person at rest.
Rest is a weapon.
It is impossible.
The enemy cannot penetrate, cannot penetrate
someone who wears the armor of rest.
Cannot penetrate.
It also immunizes you from resentment.
It immunizes you from negative complaints,
and it immunizes you from a denial of the promises God has given.
Guys, rest is used most when things are taking time to happen.
This is critical.
One of the problems we all face is God has given us a promise in the Word,
or God has given us a promise directly or spoken to us,
shown us something, we know it is God, and then it takes a while to materialize.
And that is when you and I have to go into this place called rest, eh?
Because rest immunizes you from resentment.
It immunizes you from resentment.
It immunizes you from a denial of the promises of God,
and it immunizes you from negative complaining,
because that is the other thing that happens.
A lot of negative complaining.
Only the ones close to you hear it, but a lot of negative complaining.
It immunizes you.
It is a weapon.
It is almost impossible to penetrate the armor of rest once you wear it.
How do you trouble a guy like that?
It becomes unflappable.
I would love to see some of us walk like that.
Any questions?
Wow. This is going well.
Go ahead.
Yeah. What's the difference between alert active rest and resigned passive rest?
Resigned passive rest is a kind of a mental health condition.
Resigned passive rest takes on a case-a-race-a-ra.
Whatever will be, will be.
God is in charge.
It's very nebulous.
On one hand, it trusts God.
On the other hand, it has no desire to know the will of God.
Trusting without knowing the will of God is kind of distorted.
The intent of God is, trust me, but I want you to know my mind.
And so passive rest is when it's a resigned whatever will be, will be.
It's lazy.
Your marriage won't survive if that was how you behaved with your spouse.
The intent is, can I find out?
Sure. Your wife may say whatever will be, will be.
Don't trust that for a moment. It's not true.
She wants you to know what she really wants.
Right, Mike?
There you go.
Thank you.
Yeah.
So, so that's the difference.
So never get into this place of rest where, you know, rest that is passive is veeriness.
Where you've done a lot and now you just want to, whatever will be, I'll just trust God.
That's not rest.
It doesn't immunize you against resentment.
Hey, these are hard places to go to, eh?
Which is why in Hebrews chapter 4, Paul talks about it.
He says, I know you've heard this before, but he says, labor to enter into it.
Labor, as in strive to enter into rest.
It's not an easy place to get into.
It's a habit. It's a practice.
And the people that learn it, learn it over years.
You know, you've got some hockey players that are brilliant and are very skilled, but they have short tempers.
They usually don't last long in the league.
They get shunted from team to team to team.
Because it takes very little to provoke them.
And you know what happens when you provoke a player, right?
You get a penalty and your team loses.
Where's Eli Quinn? Is he here?
No. Oh, he's wearing a Canuck shirt.
I've decided to name him Eli Quinn.
He's the new captain.
So how long will it take you to get into the safe room of rest and peace?
And remember, getting into a place of rest is not counting backwards.
It's not disengagement.
It's not saving you from the danger of being caught.
It's not the time to be in a place of rest.
It's not disengagement.
It's not suppressing an emotion.
It's a position I begin to enjoy getting into.
I've met people like this man.
You provoke them and they are able to not back off, not suppress what they want to say, not disengage, but stand there and listen.
While you're talking, you can see them getting into this secret place where they begin to hear God clearer and they know how to respond.
Their response is usually so well-worded then because it's not coming from the flesh.
And remember, in every situation, in every circumstance, all circumstances have a sound day.
Difficult situations will always clamor for your attention.
Difficult situations will clamor for your attention.
You know that.
You woke up this morning and you could hear the loudness and the clamor of that which is trying to get your attention.
Very often, the first thing you think of in the morning when you wake up gives you a good idea of where your heart and mind are locked.
And if I were to use the principle of 2 Corinthians 3.18, whatever you behold, you become.
And so what do you behold when you get up in the morning?
Is it shame? Is it confusion? Is it fear? Is it anger?
What is it that you and I woke up today to face? Is it futility? Is it bleakness?
And whatever you behold and whatever you start with really affects the rest of the day, man, because it clamors for your attention.
Every circumstance has a sound and it'll try to draw your attention saying, hey, pay attention to this.
And it says when we behold him, we go from glory to glory, strength to strength.
When we behold other things, we go from shame to shame, chaos to chaos, confusion to confusion.
Whatever you behold, that you become.
And so every circumstance will clamor for your attention when things are not working.
And then I have to have the ability to literally go into a room, present my struggle to God, shut the door on that room, step into another room and then begin to rejoice and worship.
Hear me again. You literally have to have two spaces.
You take your situation before God, you place it before him honestly, starkly saying, this is how I feel.
This is what I'm going through. This is the situation that I've been in for very long.
I want to pour out my heart before you. Write a psalm. Let him know like David would let God know.
And then shut the door on that room.
You've told God what you want to come into a room and you've been in that room for a long time.
You've told God what you want to come into another room and in that room, begin to explore who God is through worship, through intimacy, through rejoicing, begin to talk to him.
And as you do, you will find a strange thing happening.
You will find God turning up as who you need him to be in that situation.
It's always the case, guys.
Well, what we do is we take our problems before God and then we stay in that room and we continuously regurgitate it.
If you notice any psalm that David wrote, the psalm would begin with a lament or a complaint or a mourning or even vengeance.
He wanted everybody destroyed. And then by the time he gets to the middle of the psalm, he's beginning to see God as majestic.
By the time he gets to the end of the psalm, I will go to the altar of God, my joy and my delight, and I will praise him with the harp.
Oh, Lord, you are my God. Why are you so sad? My soul? Why so distressed within me? Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him.
My God and my King have these two separate spaces. These are practices, guys.
I'm not Ignatius, but it's still a good practice.
Any questions? These are practices. They will serve us well.
You've got to shut the door on that complaint.
God is okay with complaint. Habakkuk starts like that.
I will now go and stand on the watchtower and I will bring my complaint to God and see what he says.
Then you come out. I mean, I'm not saying you need to have two rooms in a house.
I'm just saying leave one space and enter into another space.
Any questions?
So every circumstance has a sound, but with every circumstance that clamors for your attention, clamors saying it's urgent, you have to do something.
There's always another sound at work and it's the sound of God speaking in our spirit.
Psalm 27. How do you enter into this place in God? Guys, Psalm 27, verse 13.
One of the things that you should recognize whenever you're in deep trouble is try and locate the kindness of God.
Connect with the kindness of God. Connect with the kindness of God. He's super kind.
If you go looking for his kindness, he'll be there.
When you read Psalm 27, it's a brilliant Psalm. We should read it.
Psalm 27. I'll read it from the message.
Psalm 27 from the message. It's one of my favorite Psalms. It starts so amazingly.
David's Psalm. Light, space, zest. That's God. So with him on my side, I'm fearless, afraid of no one and nothing.
Then he talks about what's coming against him. When vandal hoards right down, ready to eat me alive, those bullies and tufts fall flat on their face.
When besieged, this is that whole stillness. I am calm as a baby. When all hell breaks loose, I'm collected and cool.
Then he goes into this other room. I'm asking God for one thing and only one thing to live with him in his house my whole lifelong.
I'll contemplate his beauty. I'll study at his feet. Come on, guys. This is so beautiful.
I'll study at his feet. That's the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world. It's almost as if he's copying my notes.
The perfect getaway, far from the buzz of traffic. God holds me head and shoulders above all who try to pull me down.
I'm headed for this place to offer anthems that will raise the roof. Already I'm singing God songs. I'm making music to God.
And then, listen God, I'm calling at the top of my lungs. Be good to me. Answer me. When my heart whispered, seek God, my whole being replied, I'm seeking him.
Once you begin to practice this, it'll be something you look forward to. Sometimes you may get to a point, and my God, if you get to that point, please come and tell me.
You'll get to the point where every adverse circumstance is something you have a slight thrill about.
Won't that be crazy? What's in line? Don't hide from me now. You've always been there right for me. You've always been right there for me.
Don't turn your back on me now. Don't throw me out. Don't abandon me. You've always kept the door open.
My father and mother walked out and left me, but God took me in. Point me down your highway, God. Direct me along a well-lighted street.
Point me down your highway, God. Direct me along a well-lighted street. Show my enemies whose side you're on.
Don't throw me to the dogs. Those liars are out to get me, filling the air with their threats.
I am sure now I'll see God's goodness in the exuberant earth. Stay with God. Take heart. Don't quit. I'll say it again. Stay with God.
Verse 13 says, I remain confident of this reading from the NIV. I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Guys, one of the easiest entrances into God's presence from an adverse circumstance into a time of intimacy and worship is to quickly recognize the goodness of God.
It is impossible for a believer not to be affected by the goodness of God.
Let me say this again. There are some things that are impossible for believers.
One of the things impossible for a believer is to not be able to be touched by the goodness of God.
All you have to do is open the blinds so that they can see his goodness again and it will melt you.
The goodness and the kindness of God, it has a strange effect on believers.
It's like a child. You can take a toy away. You can give the child time out.
You can cancel an event that you were going to take the child to.
And after all that, when the child wants to be home alone and is disowning you, you just have to remind them of how kind and good you are.
And the child turns to putty.
One of the coolest ways to experience the goodness and kindness of God is through worship.
It doesn't even have to be a song, words, but try this.
Guys, these are practices, eh?
And the enemy will do anything to rob you of this.
Because these become powerful people.
These are some of the things I must make part of my life.
Any questions?
Once you shut out a problem having laid it before him, you have the ability to pay full attention to his nature and who he wants to be for you.
You try it. You'll come back every week with testimonies.
Because what I see and hear of him, when I am in awe of his majesty or his presence,
what I hear and see of him is what I think and who I become.
Let me say that again.
What I see and hear of him when I am in awe or when I am in worship or when I get into this place of intimacy or when I'm bowled over by his kindness and his goodness,
the longer you live, the longer the list is.
Every time I do that, whatever I hear from him or whatever I see him saying of me,
is how I begin to think and what I become.
He becomes the mirror that you look into.
Another thing that warriors prize, warriors prize confidence.
They protect the confidence that God gives them.
Spiritual warriors prize their confidence.
They protect it.
They protect it in all things.
Spiritual warriors prize their confidence.
They protect it.
They protect it in all circumstances.
Hebrews 10, 35, 36 says, Do not throw away your confidence.
Let endurance and faith or let patience and faith work its way through.
Do not throw away your confidence.
When is confidence tested?
Confidence is always tested when things take time.
Confidence is tested when things take time.
What does the word of God say about you?
What has God spoken to you in your devotion and times of intimacy with him?
What is the prophetic that has been spoken over you?
What is the composite you have created for yourself where you know this is who God has called me to be?
This is the identity that he has repeatedly spoken over my life since I became a believer.
What is it?
And is it possible to hold on to it when the fig tree does not blossom
and when there is no cattle in the stall?
When the olive tree has cast its fruit, then am I able to hold on to the confidence of what I heard?
It's critical and it's what will always be attacked, guys.
It was not Jesus' faith that was attacked.
It was Jesus' confidence as the son of God.
If you are the son of God.
It's an undermining of your identity that Christ wants to shower you with.
Every child that is showered with an identity is a child that begins to prosper as he grows older.
That's why I find November and December critical to how we face 2026, see?
Because we have to have an idea.
What are the new things of God that you're saying over me?
If we throw away our confidence, there is no breakthrough.
The enemy knows this better than anyone else, which is why he constantly tries to undermine the confidence of Christians.
Here's a question I have for you and for me.
What is the negative that has attached itself to your psyche that always undermines your confidence?
What is the negative?
I have this in my life.
It doesn't matter how many people have come and told me who I can be and what I must do.
There are these negatives that have attached itself to the psyche, to the soulish part of my life,
where every time things take long or I don't see the outcome or the fruit of my efforts,
I begin to question whether what God said was real and whether the promise is true.
What is the negative that has gotten so attached to your psyche that you're not able to escape it?
It just keeps sapping your strength, sapping your confidence.
It can be something that might sound minor in the eyes of others, but it's big for you, eh?
Think about it.
All of us have certain negatives attached to us that prevents us from breaking into what we know God has prepared for us.
In fact, we are the ones who are supposed to inspire confidence.
We are the ones who are supposed to inspire confidence.
Here's a question I want to ask you.
Do you give people a radiant idea of God when they meet with you?
When people meet with you, do they feel like, ah, shucks, this guy's God is radiant.
This guy's God actually delights.
This guy's God is extravagant in his affection.
This guy's God is powerful.
That should be something that should come out of your life, eh?
A four minute conversation with you and they go away scratching their head thinking, man, this guy's God is radiant.
Hebrews 1.3 talked about Jesus like that, that he was a radiant, visible image of the invisible God.
He was a radiant, visible image of the invisible God.
Hebrews 1.3 talked about Jesus like that, that he was a radiant, visible image of the invisible God.
I know you're not Christ, but come on, man.
If I spend five minutes with Prosper, do I go away thinking, ah, shucks, this guy's life displays a radiant God who seems to be delighted with people,
who is extravagant in his affection and who seems to be far more adventurous than I ever thought following God could be.
Does that happen to you?
That's something special that we want to give the world.
Heaven doesn't sell.
God does.
Show an attractive God and they will want the place that he resides.
Show them the place that he resides and a grumpy God.
There are better options.
This kind of God wants to partner with you.
It's strange how God deliberately wants to partner with you.
I pray God that he partners with so many impossible things for us in 2026.
I just want us to be inundated with impossible things so that we get to practice stillness.
We get to practice rest.
We get to practice how to overcome adverse circumstances.
We get to practice holding each other's hands up.
We get to practice seeing the things that that song talks about.
Oh, God, renew them in our day, in our life, make them known.
Oh, Lord, I've heard of your fame.
I stand in awe of your deeds.
You know, it's strange how Moses had to have his hands lifted up.
Do you think God was present then? Yes.
Do you think God was depending on his hands being lifted up that he couldn't vanquish the Amalekites if Moses' hands were down?
No, but it was a deliberate act.
Moses, I want to partner with you.
It wasn't as if God disappeared every time Moses put his hands down.
But it was this idea of I want to partner.
These are some of the these are some of the predictable characteristics of our God.
He loves partnering.
Hello, hear me.
He loves partnering with people.
He doesn't he doesn't need you.
He wants you.
He doesn't need you to do stuff, but he wants you there to do stuff with him.
He loves partnering with people.
The Bible would not be written if God was not partnering with people.
So much so that he partnered in human flesh.
This God loves partnering with his children.
But tell me which father does not.
Which father raises his sons and daughters and does not partner with them?
Your first baseball mitt, your first hockey stick.
You guys get PS4s, but this was in the good old days.
And then they would take you out.
They would they would play with you.
What was the idea?
I didn't make it, but I hope my son becomes Babe Ruth one day.
It doesn't happen, but that's a dream.
He loves partnering with you.
I pray God that he finds a church that is so flexible, so alive to the impossible.
And he'll say, OK, let's put the ritz on.
You partner with me.
Let me do the heavy lifting.
You can take the credit.
Get ready for next Sunday.
I'm kind of excited about where we're going.
This is going to be such an impossible year.
Your excitement is overwhelming as usual.
Hey, by the way, Tony took me out for dinner last week.
He said it was his fault that the service went long.
And so he said, Jacob, your sermon wasn't long.
You kept it short.
Today, you know whose fault it is, right?
Just don't say it loudly.
Pastor Winston's fault.
Five more minutes.
Another thing about spiritual warriors, guys, is spiritual warriors are not aggressive and angry.
It's become the new thing.
When we talk about spiritual warfare, aggressive and angry.
No, they're assertive with the enemy, but they're not aggressive, angry people.
Because here's the thing with anger and aggressiveness.
Anger and aggressiveness will always bring you to a place where you're battling flesh and blood and not any spiritual powers.
You begin to battle flesh and blood.
You begin to dislike people.
You begin to want them removed.
You begin to become John and James, sons of thunder, who want to call down fire and lightning on everything that moves.
You don't want to go there.
Spiritual warfare requires you to be assertive, but not aggressive and angry.
Diana, you had a question?
You have it written on your forehead.
Yes, but we have to be careful that it doesn't get spiteful and affect people because aggression and anger in warfare reduces us to battling flesh and blood.
And it can turn against us as it did with Moses.
Moses suddenly lost his cool and killed an Egyptian.
And you know how many years he had to spend being a shepherd.
That's one way to become a pastor.
So remember, God is slow to anger.
He is slow to anger.
And so ask this question.
And I asked this of myself and the answer wasn't very good.
Check if you're easily angered inside.
Not on the outside.
We Christians have become experts at patience on the outside, kindness on the outside, praise the Lord on the right side.
I'm talking about, are you angry inside?
Are you angry when you're late?
Are you angry when you're driving?
Are you angry at the reticence of people?
Are you angry that things aren't going well?
Are you angry inside?
When frustration lashes out at people, yeah, it is anger.
Are you angry inside?
Because Proverbs 28, sorry, Proverbs 29, Proverbs 30 keep saying the same thing.
A man who is angry will invariably cause strife.
It's almost inevitable.
I don't want to be angry.
I find myself being angered.
But because I'm a pastor, I know how to hide it really well.
You wouldn't know.
I don't want to be angry.
How about?
How about Jesus flipping the table?
If you want to flip tables once in your life, just go right ahead.
But otherwise.
One display of anger is Jesus' concession to everybody.
But try not to do it at Peace Medonite because we may get booted out of here.
Be angry but do not sin. Yes.
But see guys, our problem is not a lack of anger.
Our problem is we are more often angry than not.
So I'm saying let's work on that.
There are places where Jesus was angry, Jesus was frustrated,
Jesus expressed his frustration and his anger.
But since he was not an angry person but a man of sorrows and a man of peace and a man of joy,
let's go that route.
I don't think that's a problem with for us.
So he who rules his spirit is more powerful than he who takes a city.
Proverbs 16, verse 32.
He who rules his spirit.
I want to rule my spirit.
I don't want to be angry.
I don't want to be angered.
I can be angry but I don't want to be angered.
You know the opposite of ruling your spirit or self-control?
The opposite of that is self-gratification, instant gratification.
The opposite of self-control is instant gratification.
And it guarantees mediocrity.
It guarantees poverty.
It guarantees being ravaged by the enemy.
Proverbs 25, 28.
A man who does not have self-control.
A man who does not have control over his spirit.
A man who is angry.
It's like a city without walls.
And so it's critical to our development as believers, as warriors,
and it is critical in the development of every young child that we learn the discipline
of having spirits or having attitudes that aren't always met with instant gratification.
Be it your children or be it a believer here.
This church should work at teaching both children and grown-ups
that you will not be instantly gratified because it ain't a kingdom principle.
I want. No.
I'm talking about believers now.
That's not how it works, guys.
And if I don't learn it as a young believer, I will not learn it as an older believer.
Okay.
I think we should end.
Yeah, I think we'll end.
I wanted to talk about the incarnate, crucified, risen, and ascended Christ,
but then I won't get dinner with Tuni.
I'm selling my birthright for some porridge, Tuni.
Let's break bread.
Next week I'll be talking about, so how do we prepare for 2026, both personally and as a church?
What does God have for Acts 29 and 2026?
How should we position ourselves?
What's our posture?
We'll talk about that.
I'm away in the UK from Tuesday to Saturday,
so I'll be seeing Caleb and Judah from Belfast and the little church they have there.
And then I'll be going to Bristol and then to London where Anne and Jerren have their church.
I'll be back on Saturday.
Yeah.
Where does confidence morph into stubbornness?
Confidence morphs into stubbornness when I refuse to take the counsel of people appointed to me by God,
where I become so confident in what God has said now that I don't care about things that he may want to bring into my life through you,
or may bring through the word, or may bring through correction.
And now I have no space for that because God has said it.
Now that's what I'm going to do.
And what if I heard wrong?
What if I, it doesn't match the nature of God.
And so when confidence becomes something that refuses to take counsel,
confidence shouldn't make me unteachable.
When your confidence makes me unteachable, you know that it is suspect.
Yeah.
Unteachability is pride, where it's me and my God.
Here's the thing, guys.
God will do nothing individually with you.
He will always use people.
No Samuel without Eli.
No Saul without Samuel.
No David without Samuel.
No Timothy without Paul.
No Paul without Barnabas.
No Christ without Mary and Joseph.
No Christ being supplied with things except through the ladies in Luke chapter 8.
It just is endless.
He'll always use people.
Thanks.
Father, everyone's got bread?
Okay.
So Father, I believe that there's faith in the room right now to embrace 2026 as a year when we walk in the impossible with Yahweh, with God.
So today when we break bread and eat, we want to partake with the statement that you made in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.
Is anything too difficult for me?
Is anything impossible for me?
John 18 verse 37.
You say I'm a king, and yes I am.
For this reason I was born to give witness to the truth.
Jesus, we want to witness to a God who does impossible things, who makes things new.
When you died, you spared us the violence of all death, physical death, spiritual death.
You spared us the violence of all death.
You spared us separation from you.
You spared us shame and humiliation and suffering.
How did you spare us by taking it upon yourself?
You did it, Jesus.
Nobody else has ever done it for man.
When you rose again, you launched us as new creation, God inhabiting man.
You began to live in us.
People here who have acknowledged your death and your resurrection, you are living in us right now.
Not besides us, you live in us.
Romans 6, my spirit and God's spirit have become one.
When you ascended, you said come, sit with me, let me show you my kindness, Ephesians 2, 6.
And so we remember, we remember.
And we burst out in praise, oh God.
We burst out in praise as we put together words more than a hallelujah, more than a praise the Lord.
We remember these statements that are made and what you've done for us.
And we remember, we remember with words spoken and whispered right now, Father.
So we take time to do that right now.