WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Waters Made Bitter Publishing Date: 2020-02-23T05:00:44-08:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/waters-made-bitter/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.880 Guys, last week we talked about water being made sweet. The title of last week's teaching 00:00:09.880 --> 00:00:15.520 was water is made sweet and the title of this week's teaching is water is made bitter. Water 00:00:15.520 --> 00:00:25.440 is made bitter. And so last week we said, or we asked this question and we answered 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:34.280 is it possible to trust God if you actually believe that he permits or allows or is behind 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:42.160 bad things that happen to us? How is it possible to trust a father who allows, permits, or stands 00:00:42.160 --> 00:00:48.080 behind the bad things that happen to us? How can you trust someone like that? And if you weren't 00:00:48.080 --> 00:00:52.920 here last week then you would have to go listen to it so that it would help us understand that 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:59.120 you as a dad or mom by nature aren't like that. Why do you expect God from whom you got your nature 00:00:59.120 --> 00:01:05.520 as a parent, at least the good parts? Why do you think this God who you were created by and who 00:01:05.520 --> 00:01:11.280 gave you the ability to parent, why do you think that that God would be different? If anything, 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:18.440 he would be a million times better, not worse. That's just logic. But logic aside, we were looking 00:01:18.440 --> 00:01:23.680 at scriptures that show that every good and perfect gift comes from this father who is the 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:29.320 father of light and the father of life. So you can go listen to the message from last week to 00:01:29.320 --> 00:01:35.240 know that we do not serve a God who permits, allows, and these are semantics, but my God, 00:01:35.240 --> 00:01:42.680 we get so stuck up with those words and how can I trust you if I can't be sure whether you will be 00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:49.400 good to me or not? And by good to me I don't mean a lack of discipline or pampering or giving me 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:55.000 what I want, but good to me as in in your essence I can expect nothing else but goodness from you. 00:01:55.000 --> 00:02:01.560 So that is waters made sweet and today we talked about waters made bitter. There's a word in 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:10.960 Revelation chapter 8 verse 11 for waters made bitter and it's a word wormwood. It was a star 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:18.160 that falls out of the sky and poisons or makes bitter the waters of the earth. And so Revelation 00:02:18.160 --> 00:02:26.920 8 verse 11 in a sense is the opposite of Exodus 15 verse 25. In Exodus 15 verse 25 we said that 00:02:26.920 --> 00:02:32.400 Moses took a branch of a tree and threw it into the waters of Marah, which means bitterness, 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:37.320 and when he threw in the piece of wood into the waters of Marah that the waters turned sweet. 00:02:37.320 --> 00:02:44.160 Here it's this thing called wormwood which people have different interpretations for because after 00:02:44.160 --> 00:02:50.160 all it's the book of Revelation, but when it falls into the waters the waters turn bitter. And so I 00:02:50.160 --> 00:02:54.880 want to talk about okay if God is the one who makes the water sweet then what are we dealing 00:02:54.880 --> 00:03:04.200 with when we talk about waters being made bitter? And so that's what the rest of this day will be 00:03:04.200 --> 00:03:12.640 about. God wants to say something to you. He wants to say that He is going to come to you. You don't 00:03:12.640 --> 00:03:20.280 have to go after Him. Sometimes parents are like that. In some cases children have to go running to 00:03:20.280 --> 00:03:25.520 the parents. Other times parents go running after children. You do that with your children too. And 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:32.640 God is saying to you within the next one week I will come running to you and when I come running 00:03:32.880 --> 00:03:39.080 because I made you I know exactly how you think exactly what you feel and I'll show you what is 00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:44.240 to happen over the next little while and it'll clear your mind. You won't be afraid. You'll make 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:50.040 clear decisions. You don't have to do anything that God will come running to you. This is marvelous. 00:03:50.040 --> 00:03:55.760 It's like the dad coming running to the son and there's the son running to the dad. So expect it. 00:03:55.760 --> 00:04:02.360 And not over the next two years. Over the next one week God will make things so evident that 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:06.160 He's around you that you'll come running to echo and say you know something happened something 00:04:06.160 --> 00:04:20.080 happened. It'll blow your mind. So I'm happy for you and I'll explain more of it later. So guys so 00:04:20.080 --> 00:04:25.240 who brings about this bitterness? I don't want to talk about the origin of Satan and stuff like that. 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:31.440 You can go read about it but I want to make you aware of where all this comes from and how vicious 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:41.000 it is. To begin with we are up against we are up against real forces of evil. You must understand 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:55.200 where bitten how the waters are being made bitter. We are up against evil forces encountered on a 00:04:55.200 --> 00:05:09.040 daily basis actually on an hourly basis. But here's the problem they are unseen and they occupy 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:22.520 the invisible realm which then makes it difficult for people who are rational like us to even think 00:05:22.520 --> 00:05:30.240 of associating the waters being made bitter with the arch enemy that we have. And I just want to 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:39.720 expose him like crazy today. He's hostile to our well-being. He is hostile to our well-being. 00:05:39.720 --> 00:06:01.320 To your well-being and he is hostile to the gospel. Hostile as in sworn enemy who will do 00:06:01.320 --> 00:06:14.880 anything to destroy. I want this church I want us to become so aware today of who we are fighting 00:06:14.880 --> 00:06:24.200 against that you will not go and make God the scapegoat first. God's shoulders can handle 00:06:24.200 --> 00:06:34.240 scapegoating. But we got to at least grapple with the fact that right now there is someone called 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:39.920 the Prince of the power of the air that holds sway over the sons of disobedience that at present is 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:45.920 listening to what I'm saying. That knows the patterns of your past and the patterns of your 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:53.480 father and your grandfather and your great-grandfather. That is hostile in intent against you against your 00:06:53.480 --> 00:06:58.040 family, against your children, against your marriage, against your body, against your mind, 00:06:58.040 --> 00:07:06.760 against the feelings that you have, against your walking with God. That this enemy has a demonic 00:07:06.760 --> 00:07:14.960 hold that is into millions and their only job is can I bring harm and be hostile to the well-being 00:07:14.960 --> 00:07:24.640 of Jacob, of Rachel, of Rachel's twins, of Matt, of Annette, of Danny, of Karen, of Ouk. This is all he does. 00:07:24.640 --> 00:07:31.000 You got to be aware of this. We don't talk about this. It's strange how the church starts being 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:41.080 apologetic about the supernatural because after all it's in the unseen realm right? So when we 00:07:41.080 --> 00:07:47.320 talk about it it sounds weird. You know eagles never, I mean I saw this on Facebook a million 00:07:47.320 --> 00:07:51.480 times, you probably did too. Eagles never fight snakes in the ground. They fight them in the air. 00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:58.120 Eagles never swoop on a snake and then try to mangle its head while it's on the ground. It knows 00:07:58.120 --> 00:08:04.560 better. Eagles swoop down, pick up snakes and then mangle them in the air where a snake has no traction. 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:12.960 Flailing widely in the air it has absolutely no ability to do anything but just hang there as the 00:08:12.960 --> 00:08:19.080 talons rip into it. While on the ground you try fighting that serpent and it has the ability to 00:08:19.080 --> 00:08:24.680 wriggle away. It has the ability to turn to thrash to get the eagle but not in the air. 00:08:24.680 --> 00:08:39.080 These are forces that are attempting to subdue or reclaim the people of Christ back into his 00:08:39.080 --> 00:08:47.040 dominion. These are forces that are trying to subdue or reclaim every believer back into the 00:08:47.040 --> 00:08:50.760 dominion that they were delivered out of. You think it's not possible? Let's take a look at 00:08:50.760 --> 00:08:55.200 Ananias and Sapphira. Let's take a look at Judas. Let's take a look at Peter. We can at least say 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:59.600 of Peter and Judas that these were men who walked with Jesus Christ but were not filled with the 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:04.480 Holy Spirit because Christ hadn't ascended yet. So we can leave them out but take Ananias, take 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:11.440 Sapphira, take Alexander the Coppersmith, take Demas, take Janus and no they were from the Old 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:18.320 Testament. What I'm trying to say is this that this is a valid legitimate continuous attempt 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:28.120 and you think it's not being directed against you and there's not once in a bloom and it's a 24-7 00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:38.880 weekly daily thing and yet the good news we'll get to later. These forces take captive by deceptive 00:09:38.920 --> 00:09:45.760 philosophies and traditions of men. Colossians 2.8, these forces take you and me captive by 00:09:45.760 --> 00:09:51.000 deceptive philosophies and the traditions of men. Please don't think you don't have it. You have 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:58.560 them. Deceptive philosophy. How do I know? I've spoken to you and you might say well Jacob you 00:09:58.560 --> 00:10:03.560 have it too. Absolutely. But my God I've spoken to you. I know the deceptive philosophies that 00:10:03.560 --> 00:10:07.760 you are under, the traditions of men that you suffer under and you will not budge from it. 00:10:07.760 --> 00:10:14.080 Till the Holy Spirit himself has to turn up and convict you. How do you think that happens? 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:21.760 Please when I say you and you think but Jacob you too. Don't even bother. I know that about 00:10:21.760 --> 00:10:33.640 myself. I'm pointing my finger at you man. You can point it at me later. I want us to, 00:10:33.640 --> 00:10:39.640 what's the aim? I was talking to God about this message and I was saying Father please make us 00:10:39.640 --> 00:10:44.680 aware of an enemy that is real because we don't pay him enough attention because we've been told 00:10:44.680 --> 00:10:57.840 too many times. Just focus on God not the enemy. Deceptive philosophies and traditions take us 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:03.400 captive. Colossians 2.8. This is the same Satan. This is Satan who leads us astray with trickery 00:11:03.560 --> 00:11:08.800 that is more subtle than the greatest craftiness of men. You take the most crafty man on earth 00:11:08.800 --> 00:11:15.160 and he's nowhere near the trickery that comes from the subtlety of this serpent. He's been 00:11:15.160 --> 00:11:20.960 using it since the beginning. When everything was pure, when everything was pristine he was able to 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:33.080 deceive. What then when you are already in a fallen environment? Therefore I have to be even 00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:42.560 more careful not to be taken by philosophies and deceptions and subtleties and craftiness. That is 00:11:42.560 --> 00:11:48.120 all around me and that my God I've been indoctrinated with either through my own stubbornness or through 00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:57.600 what has been passed down to me. One of the things he likes best is if there is no resistance or 00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:11.680 fight put up. This is the adversary. Satan, the very word means adversary. This is the adversary 00:12:11.680 --> 00:12:19.000 who Jesus called a thief and then Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God, the Prince of Peace, 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:25.080 the King of the universe, these are his words. Take them at face value. He said he is a thief 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:35.680 and he has been stealing and killing and destroying ever since he existed. He is a thief. This is your 00:12:35.680 --> 00:12:41.200 adversary. This is your opponent. He steals, kills and destroys. He steals, kills and destroys your 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:45.000 family. He steals, kills and destroys your marriage. He steals, kills and destroys your 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:50.080 children. He steals, kills and destroys within and without the church. This is he's a thief. He was 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:59.760 called a thief. You see where waters are being made bitter, my heart rages against him because 00:12:59.760 --> 00:13:05.920 of what he is getting away with and because of the fact that he's getting away with. We come up 00:13:05.920 --> 00:13:15.400 with theologies that are so absurd that distort the nature of God when God isn't like that which 00:13:15.400 --> 00:13:24.520 is again deceptive philosophies and the traditions of men. They say God was created for man when he 00:13:24.520 --> 00:13:29.720 could not understand something. He created God as a crutch so that God he could be there. I would 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:34.720 like to say when when man does not understand the supernatural or the demonic or the satanic, 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:40.120 they then create theologies, Christians I'm talking about, create theologies to somehow explain what 00:13:40.120 --> 00:13:49.800 is happening. One has to absolutely be sure of what is the nature of God. All I have to do is look 00:13:49.800 --> 00:13:56.960 at the worst father here and I don't know who the worst father is. Look at the, worst father is the 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:09.800 wrong word. I just need to look at any father here and I will find that their children's opinion of 00:14:09.800 --> 00:14:16.200 their dad, regardless of how the dad has been here on earth, is usually far more assured than 00:14:16.200 --> 00:14:26.320 Christians understanding of God. My dad was a decent dad but he was like so many miles away 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:34.120 from perfection. It's crazy but I as I was growing up was more sure of him than I was sure of God 00:14:34.120 --> 00:14:38.840 because with God it was never know this thing called sovereignty, ugly word, don't know what 00:14:38.840 --> 00:14:46.520 he's gonna do. What a distortion, how can you trust someone like that? One of the things this evil 00:14:46.520 --> 00:14:53.960 enemy does is he brings experiences into our lives that makes it so difficult for us to trust God, 00:14:53.960 --> 00:15:00.560 to expect anything of God. It riddles us with doubt and fear. He uses experiences especially 00:15:00.560 --> 00:15:07.160 experiences when we are children that are so imprinted in our minds that it becomes so hard 00:15:07.160 --> 00:15:14.480 to trust a God who can do this kind of evil or as we say allow this kind of evil. Allowing, 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:20.080 permitting, doing is all the same man, it's just the same word used differently to make us feel 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:29.960 better. Either he does this or he doesn't. I've said this before guys but you've got to examine 00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:36.120 the nature of God, you got to read the word through the nature of God, not read the nature 00:15:36.120 --> 00:15:44.640 of God through the word. You got to read the word through the nature of God, not read the nature of 00:15:44.640 --> 00:15:49.440 God through the word. How do you read the word through the nature of God? By looking at the only 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:57.080 one who is a visible image of the invisible God, the Christ. Look at him in the Gospels and see the 00:15:57.080 --> 00:16:03.880 kind of Christ he is and it will show you who God really is. Now having understood the nature of God 00:16:03.880 --> 00:16:10.040 through the only visible manifestation of the invisible glorious good God, now begin to read 00:16:10.040 --> 00:16:15.160 the word and the word will be dissected correctly. Any other way of dissecting the word through Greek, 00:16:15.160 --> 00:16:21.320 Hebrew, theology, Jacob's doctrine or any other doctrine will be faulty because it will still 00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:25.920 defy the nature of God because you will put your own lens on it. But look through Jesus Christ, 00:16:25.920 --> 00:16:47.160 very different and then hold on to it regardless of your experience. This adversary for men's strife, 00:16:47.160 --> 00:16:54.720 he's a thief who steals, kills, destroys. John chapter 10 verse 10. This adversary or this enemy 00:16:54.720 --> 00:17:02.880 is a deceiver, the father of lies, Jesus said. He's the father of lies. He's the father of lies 00:17:02.880 --> 00:17:12.000 who disguises himself as an angel of light. He is a deceiver who seduces, who deceives, who ensnares, 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:18.560 who seduces, deceives, ensnares. Whatever your stance be at present, whatever your way of thinking 00:17:18.560 --> 00:17:25.040 be, always go and examine, oh God, this stance that I hold right now, do I need to re-examine it? 00:17:25.040 --> 00:17:29.880 Do I need to go bounce it off somebody? Because I realize the enemy is a deceiver and I do not 00:17:29.880 --> 00:17:36.440 want to be held captive by a philosophy or a tradition of man or a deception. I can't afford 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:42.160 it because every stronghold is always built on a lie. Every stronghold that exists in the mind of 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:49.320 man is built on a lie. You think you don't have strongholds? You think I don't have strongholds? 00:17:49.320 --> 00:18:06.440 Every stronghold is built on a lie. Remember that story about strongholds of the cardboard boxes and 00:18:06.440 --> 00:18:18.960 a snake? No? Strongholds are built, imagine your mind being a vacant room and then repeated patterns 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:22.360 happen where a thought is brought in, another thought is brought in. Every time the thought is brought in, 00:18:22.360 --> 00:18:26.520 imagine a big cardboard box being brought and put in the room. Soon the room is full of cardboard 00:18:26.520 --> 00:18:31.320 boxes. When the room is empty, it's very hard for Satan to take advantage. But once the room is full 00:18:31.320 --> 00:18:35.480 of cardboard boxes brought in, every time you repeat a thought pattern, now a serpent can hide. 00:18:35.480 --> 00:18:41.640 Strongholds become places where demons hide. That is why it sometimes becomes impossible. It does not 00:18:41.640 --> 00:18:48.360 matter what you do, people do not change. Why? Because you've got to clear the boxes. Deliverance 00:18:48.360 --> 00:18:54.080 is great, the serpent will go out but he'll come back because the boxes haven't been cleared. I was 00:18:54.080 --> 00:18:59.400 trying to Val and Steve a couple of days ago. Guys, it is one thing to be set free and it is another 00:18:59.400 --> 00:19:05.760 thing to rework our thinking and come back to a place of wholeness. And so you can come to me and 00:19:05.760 --> 00:19:12.480 I can command in the name of Jesus Christ for you to be set free and demons will flee. But when the 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:18.600 serpent comes back, he has to find the room empty of cardboard boxes and furnished. For that you 00:19:18.600 --> 00:19:28.280 need sometimes prolonged speaking, hearing, counseling. And if you need that in this church, 00:19:28.360 --> 00:19:33.760 because of things that have happened to you in the past, then one of the persons you can use as a 00:19:33.760 --> 00:19:39.880 resource is Val. If you don't know who she is, she'll just lift up her hand gently. That was very 00:19:39.880 --> 00:19:51.160 gentle Val. Thanks Steve. And she does that on a regular basis and she won't come and tell me what 00:19:51.160 --> 00:20:00.160 you're telling her, even under torture. So you're safe. But sometimes things need to be reworked in 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:07.200 our heads. Setting free is one thing, getting a new habit is another thing. And going to people 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:12.320 like her can be slightly expensive and the church will help. When Heidi is not here, you can pledge 00:20:12.320 --> 00:20:18.160 away any amount of money from this church. And she's not here right now, right? Yeah, so if you need 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:28.360 help, just let me know. This is a God who blinds the minds of unbelievers and I would suggest to 00:20:28.360 --> 00:20:34.560 you, dulls the mind of believers. This is a God who blinds the mind of unbelievers. 2 Corinthians 00:20:34.560 --> 00:20:41.280 4, 4. The God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers to himself and to the light of God 00:20:41.280 --> 00:20:47.000 and the light of the gospel. And I would suggest to you that the same emmo works in and amongst 00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:55.640 believers where there's a blindness or a dullness that comes in. It's a prayer of mine, eh, as I grow 00:20:55.640 --> 00:21:01.760 older, oh God, I have seen people who are as old as me. They get pretty set in their ways and stop 00:21:01.760 --> 00:21:10.320 growing. Oh God, please destroy the dullness of my mind. And please help me apologize when I really 00:21:10.320 --> 00:21:25.000 do things wrong to people. This is the enemy. This is the same devil. Listen, listen to this. This is 00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:34.000 the same devil who tried to destroy Moses and Jesus. Destroy as in take out, as in kill, as in 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:42.240 end their physical lives. You think that he won't try that with you. The good news about all this is 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:47.200 what we need to do so that we are protected. And thank God Jesus has furnished that. But you've got 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:55.360 to be highly aware of a realm around you that is really demonic, really satanic, really evil, really 00:21:55.360 --> 00:22:08.360 out to do harm. I go so far as to say that behind everything that happens in my life, there are 00:22:08.360 --> 00:22:18.720 spiritual realities. Be it good or be it bad, be it my own fault or be it not, be it the goodness of God or the 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:27.480 badness of Jacob. Spiritual realities exist behind everything I do. They either prompt one side or 00:22:27.480 --> 00:22:33.320 prompt the other side. My words do, my actions do. That's just my doing. But that aside, there are 00:22:33.320 --> 00:22:42.600 spiritual realities around my life at all times. Did you see the shift if you were here when we began 00:22:42.600 --> 00:22:50.880 the songs? That was a spiritual reality. Singing about the Holy Spirit, this place was deader than 00:22:50.880 --> 00:23:01.440 a doorknob. And then at some point things begin to change. Who does it? Not Jane. It's the work of God. 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:15.080 I'll give you time to ask questions in two seconds. Not two seconds. This is the same enemy who tried 00:23:15.080 --> 00:23:23.400 to destroy Moses and Jesus. Hand you. Hand will try to do it in the past, will try to do it in the future. 00:23:23.400 --> 00:23:30.600 This is the devil who Jesus said was a murderer. He was there when Cain took a boulder and smashed 00:23:30.760 --> 00:23:38.680 his brother's head in. He was there when there was weeping in Rama. When Pharaoh sent out, sorry, 00:23:38.680 --> 00:23:46.160 when Herod sent out soldiers to kill every child below the age of two. He was there when Moses would 00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:53.960 send midwives to choke babies to death. He was there when Nero began to light Rome up with Christian 00:23:54.160 --> 00:24:01.960 tortures, Christian bodies on flames. He was there. He's been a murderer. This is an evil being, 00:24:01.960 --> 00:24:11.640 more powerful than humans, who once used to dwell in the presence of God, was cast out, is brutal and 00:24:11.640 --> 00:24:27.840 evil. He was there at all these places. He's a murderer. He inspires rage, provokes, not inspires, 00:24:27.840 --> 00:24:41.880 rage should never be inspired. Wrong two words. Any questions? I'm not done, but I just thought I'll 00:24:41.880 --> 00:24:57.120 ask. Any questions? You must understand who makes the waters bitter, guys. There is one who makes the 00:24:57.120 --> 00:25:03.800 waters sweet, and then there is one who's diametrically opposed to him, and they share no 00:25:03.800 --> 00:25:13.400 commonality. We never associate the devil with godliness, but we sure associate God with 00:25:13.400 --> 00:25:21.800 devilishness. Only we word it differently, but we attribute to him things that are not common to his 00:25:21.800 --> 00:25:33.160 nature. Just because I complimented you when I met you that your questions are helpful doesn't 00:25:33.160 --> 00:25:39.400 mean you have to ask questions every time, but go ahead now that you've lifted your hand. Okay. 00:25:51.800 --> 00:26:07.320 Yes, it was that he's making an attempt to do it. Yeah. Anyone else? Oh, that was easy. Go ahead, Poon. 00:26:07.320 --> 00:26:30.520 In about 14 minutes, 23 seconds. Okay. 14 minutes, 84 seconds, which is 15 minutes, 24 seconds. This 00:26:30.520 --> 00:26:36.480 is the same devil who uses the penalty of sin, of fear and of death as weapons. He uses the penalty 00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:43.840 of sin. Hey, you've experienced it. How many times have we felt guilt? Condemnation. Isn't it 00:26:43.840 --> 00:26:51.520 sometimes for some of us on a daily basis, unable to approach this God. He uses the penalty of sin. 00:26:51.520 --> 00:26:58.800 He's been using it forever. He used it first, and a man and his wife ran and hid behind bushes. The 00:26:58.800 --> 00:27:07.680 penalty of sin he uses, the penalty of fear, then he uses fear and he uses death as a means of 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:13.720 frightening people. This is why Paul had to dedicate an entire chapter saying, oh death, 00:27:13.720 --> 00:27:21.240 where is your sting? Christians, come on. Don't be afraid of dying. It is the last enemy that will 00:27:21.240 --> 00:27:26.360 be conquered, but even that wicked enemy will be put under the foot of Christ or already has. It's 00:27:26.360 --> 00:27:37.080 only a matter of time. Don't look forward to dying, but we of all people must be least afraid of death. 00:27:45.080 --> 00:27:51.480 This is the same devil, the Satan who ravages with sickness, with affliction, with torment, 00:27:51.480 --> 00:27:57.360 with addictions, with bondage, with pain, sickness, affliction, torment, sickness, affliction, 00:27:57.360 --> 00:28:05.760 torment. He brings it. Bondage, addictions, he brings it. Sickness, affliction, torment. God has 00:28:05.760 --> 00:28:13.240 no part in it. Matthew 8, 14 to 16, Isaiah 53 verse 5. He took on our pains, our afflictions, 00:28:13.240 --> 00:28:19.760 our torments, our maladies, our diseases. He took it on how by having his back stripped open, 00:28:19.760 --> 00:28:27.840 there is no commonality between God, afflictions, torment. No, no, no, don't read it through the 00:28:27.840 --> 00:28:35.080 nature of Christ. This was an advantage that the Old Testament did not have. We have it. No Moses, 00:28:35.080 --> 00:28:44.080 no David could ever read God through the eyes of Christ. This is why the Old Testament is 00:28:44.080 --> 00:28:49.360 considered a shadow. There are principles that can be pulled out from them and Paul does a masterful 00:28:49.360 --> 00:28:53.080 job in 2nd Corinthians 10 where he says this happened to Israel, this happened to Israel, 00:28:53.080 --> 00:28:58.120 this happened to Israel and these things that happened to Israel were supposed to be a moral 00:28:58.120 --> 00:29:12.880 or a parable or a story that tells us this is not how we should behave. This is the same enemy who 00:29:12.880 --> 00:29:18.120 I like I said a little while ago uses evil experiences that happened to us when we are growing 00:29:18.280 --> 00:29:23.960 up especially when we are children to create doubt and fear and an inability to trust and expect 00:29:23.960 --> 00:29:31.040 anything good from God. I hate it when when evil happens to children. I hate it because I know now 00:29:31.040 --> 00:29:37.960 that for the rest of their lives people will have to work to take away the doubt and the inability 00:29:37.960 --> 00:29:55.680 to expect anything good from the goodness person in the universe. I hate it. This is why it's 00:29:55.680 --> 00:30:01.840 critical that we as parents be brilliant parents. What is a brilliant parent? A parent that strives 00:30:01.840 --> 00:30:08.880 to somehow reflect as father and mother the nature of the father. That is a brilliant parent. A 00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:13.680 brilliant parent is not one who takes you to private school who gives you toys all that is 00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:19.200 good may your parents be brilliant enough to do that too but my God after all that if the father's 00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:27.680 nature is not portrayed, if your toy is taken away every time you misbehave, if love is withdrawn 00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:36.680 then the child loses out on. Aren't we the product of not being able to trust God freely 00:30:36.680 --> 00:30:42.240 because of not having any relationships in our lives when we were growing up that actually 00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:52.840 portrayed the fullness of who God is as a father. Aren't we the product of pastors who I've done it 00:30:52.840 --> 00:30:57.600 to people so that's why I'm saying it with great confidence who brought shame and condemnation and 00:30:58.080 --> 00:31:06.440 all kinds of things on us and never showed us how beautiful the father is. There's always time to 00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:15.040 fix this eh, that's the beauty of it. These are the forces that took physical form and came down 00:31:15.040 --> 00:31:22.800 amongst the daughters of men and bred giants and Nephilim in Genesis chapter 6. These are the same 00:31:22.920 --> 00:31:30.240 forces these evil forces that later on turned humans into brute beasts in Sodom and Gomorrah. 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:37.840 This is why Paul refers to them as spiritual hosts of depravity and wickedness and the world 00:31:37.840 --> 00:31:42.760 isn't there yet we are heading there but we aren't there yet. Please understand that they are as active 00:31:42.760 --> 00:31:50.040 as they were in Sodom and Gomorrah as they are today as active turning humans into turning humans 00:31:50.040 --> 00:31:57.640 into people that are worse than beasts. Animals sometimes have greater morality. How do you take 00:31:57.640 --> 00:32:10.400 a Shiloh or a Phoebe and turn them into beings that are less than animals? How do you do that? 00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:21.280 This is who we are up against. Genesis 6 they were locked up because they left their boundaries 00:32:21.280 --> 00:32:29.000 and came down and took daughters of men. We won't go into that today but the point is this you're 00:32:29.000 --> 00:32:37.640 dealing with a wicked, you're dealing with something really wicked and it's on a daily 00:32:37.760 --> 00:32:45.360 basis. Guys we're gonna turn and become so familiar with the ways of God if we are not 00:32:45.360 --> 00:32:53.600 to set ourselves at a place of great freedom but to set others also into a place of great freedom. 00:32:53.600 --> 00:33:08.320 These are satanic, this is the satanic order of principalities of powers of world rulers of the 00:33:08.320 --> 00:33:15.280 dark domain of spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies Ephesians 6 10. It's like an arrangement, 00:33:15.280 --> 00:33:22.960 it's like a hierarchy, it's like an order of world rulers, rulers of darkness, spiritual hosts of 00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:30.840 depravity and wickedness, powers, principalities, princes. They actually exist, they hold nations 00:33:30.840 --> 00:33:40.560 under their sway, they hold people who haven't found Christ under their sway, Ephesians 2. They 00:33:40.560 --> 00:33:53.880 demand worship. These are forces behind idolatry, behind divination, behind witchcraft, behind 00:33:53.880 --> 00:33:59.440 sorcery, behind child sacrifice, behind cultic prostitution from Asherah to Baal to Molech to 00:33:59.440 --> 00:34:07.680 Artemis to Jezebel. The only difference is it takes on sophisticated forms now. These things 00:34:07.680 --> 00:34:12.680 existed then, they still exist now. Now you call it palmistry, you call it new ageism, you call it 00:34:12.680 --> 00:34:20.520 seances, you call it all kinds of other names that sound very sophisticated and as long as a couple of 00:34:20.520 --> 00:34:26.600 people from Hollywood can espouse it, my god it becomes normal. And yet it's the same thing, 00:34:26.600 --> 00:34:34.920 idolatry, divination, sorcery, occult, child sacrifices, takes on a new form now, cultic 00:34:34.920 --> 00:34:39.640 prostitution. Everything is basically the same. There is nothing creative that the devil can do. 00:34:39.640 --> 00:34:52.760 He can only dress it up in yoga pants and lululemon. That's all it can do. This is Satan, a wicked 00:34:52.760 --> 00:34:57.760 religious spirit using sin and the law to accuse, shame and condemn. This is a religious spirit. 00:34:57.760 --> 00:35:07.000 If nothing else works, this enemy of ours has the ability to make us religious. You know what 00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:17.400 religion is? Religion banishes love. It banishes love. It takes away love as a reason for doing 00:35:17.400 --> 00:35:39.760 things with God. It banishes love. You take away that and you got religion. This is he who perverts 00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:47.520 order and then exploits the fracture of order or rebellion and then he begins to devour the arrogant, 00:35:47.520 --> 00:35:55.280 the ignorant and the innocent. This is the same enemy who first perverts order. He provokes you 00:35:55.280 --> 00:36:01.360 to rebel and once you rebel, now that there is rebellion, he does exactly what happened to him. 00:36:01.360 --> 00:36:09.000 He drives you out of safe places like he was driven out of safe places. He first perverts order and 00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:16.200 after perverting order takes advantage of the rebellion that one indulges in and he devours the 00:36:16.200 --> 00:36:26.400 arrogant, the innocent and the ignorant with equal pleasure. Any questions? If this is getting 00:36:26.400 --> 00:36:40.720 overwhelming, good because we are not aware of this ever. I want to be, you know that song says, 00:36:40.720 --> 00:36:48.840 let us be more aware of his presence. It is absolutely true but there is another world 00:36:48.840 --> 00:37:03.320 that we have to be aware of that we are constantly battling against. Every decision I make has to be 00:37:03.320 --> 00:37:08.880 therefore a decision that is soaked in the nature of God and is directed by God and if I don't know 00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:12.440 how to make it today, I have to learn so that I know it's a little better tomorrow. 00:37:12.440 --> 00:37:28.880 This is the same Satan who knows that his time is short and he goes after the bride with great 00:37:28.880 --> 00:37:37.080 rage. Revelation chapter 12-17, when the serpent, when the dragon saw that the woman was taken away 00:37:37.080 --> 00:37:43.560 to a place of safety, he was enraged and he began to go after the children of the woman. He knows 00:37:43.560 --> 00:37:50.920 his time is short. We are fortunate in Canada not to have those things happen to us. Go to other 00:37:50.920 --> 00:38:04.920 places man and you will see how he is ravaging the bride with a rage that is insatiable. This 00:38:04.920 --> 00:38:10.680 is the serpent, the same serpent who possesses and provokes men and women to hate, to murder, 00:38:10.680 --> 00:38:15.600 to maim, to ravage, to mutilate the dignity of others that are made in the image of God. 00:38:15.600 --> 00:38:23.560 Same serpent who both possesses and provokes people. While Christians cannot be possessed, 00:38:23.560 --> 00:38:29.840 they can only be oppressed or some parts of their personality can be brought under subjection. There 00:38:30.560 --> 00:38:35.000 are millions and millions and millions of people that can be possessed, that can be controlled, 00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:41.240 that can be used to maim, mutilate, strip away, ravage the dignity of others that look like them, 00:38:41.240 --> 00:38:46.320 are made like them in the image of God. This has been going on for centuries. It will stop man, 00:38:46.320 --> 00:38:52.480 it will stop. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. There will be a day of reckoning, 00:38:52.480 --> 00:38:58.320 there will be punishment. You can see why hell had to be created. It was not created for humans. 00:38:58.360 --> 00:39:08.520 It was created for this arch enemy of God. It was reserved for his torment. It was not meant for 00:39:08.640 --> 00:39:28.200 man. It was not meant for man. This is the same Satan who shoots fiery arrows every day, 00:39:28.200 --> 00:39:42.320 that sometimes pierces instead of flame, body, mind and soul. Ephesians 6. And this is the nature 00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:47.080 of the enemy after he was disarmed by Christ on the cross, which is strange. We are talking about 00:39:47.080 --> 00:39:56.000 an enemy who is so active after being disarmed on the cross by Christ, Colossians 2.15. So if he is 00:39:56.000 --> 00:40:00.520 disarmed then I have to learn ways to make sure that this does not continue in my life or in your 00:40:00.520 --> 00:40:07.040 life or in the lives that are placed in my charge. This is a disarmed, defeated enemy who's being 00:40:07.040 --> 00:40:16.000 paraded as a prisoner of Christ in his triumphant procession, Colossians 2. So after having said 00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:20.240 all this, the fact still remains that he's defeated and disarmed. So there is a way for us, 00:40:20.400 --> 00:40:28.320 normal human beings in Christ to overcome him. Any questions? Any difference of opinion? 00:40:28.320 --> 00:40:40.480 The Bible calls these evil days and it called this time evil days. 2000 years ago Paul said, 00:40:40.480 --> 00:40:47.600 and in the evil days stand, and the idea of evil day is when evil is experienced with exceptional 00:40:47.600 --> 00:40:54.400 power and the temptation to yield is strong and the climate of opinions around you is hostile to 00:40:54.400 --> 00:41:01.280 the ways of Christ, you know you are in evil days. And Paul is standing in Rome, not in Rome, 00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:06.760 Paul is standing at a time when Caesar was Lord and he's saying, listen you need to understand 00:41:06.760 --> 00:41:13.280 that in the evil day you need to stand. And what does he mean by evil day? Days of exceptional 00:41:13.280 --> 00:41:18.800 evil power, days of temptation that is very strong and you usually have a tendency to yield 00:41:18.800 --> 00:41:23.280 and days when the opinions of people around you are hostile to the ways of Christ. 00:41:24.640 --> 00:41:28.800 And if that is the case 2000 years ago, I'd suggest that it's not any better now. 00:41:34.880 --> 00:41:39.840 And so here's the thing guys, it's not a worldly war. So you cannot resist these forces with your 00:41:39.840 --> 00:41:49.920 natural strength nor can you resist it with resolve or through some great social work that 00:41:49.920 --> 00:41:55.040 will set the oppressed free. Because my god you can only do that physically man but how do you 00:41:55.040 --> 00:42:03.760 battle an enemy that is spiritual and invisible? So one must employ weapons that are otherworldly 00:42:03.760 --> 00:42:11.680 or not from this world and that is where we Christians begin to end up doing these few things. 00:42:11.680 --> 00:42:19.920 One, we begin to apologize for our understanding of Satan. We begin to apologize for our understanding 00:42:19.920 --> 00:42:25.120 of Satan. You know Satan is real but we should not blame everything on the devil. You know we are 00:42:25.120 --> 00:42:29.920 mostly responsible and Christ is anyway victor. He's like the line of Judah and this is the line 00:42:29.920 --> 00:42:32.480 whose teeth has been pulled out. So we don't need to worry. Really? 00:42:37.200 --> 00:42:43.760 He walks around like a roaring lion, see who he may devour. We apologize for our otherworldly weapons. 00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:50.640 We don't pray strong prayers in church because we think we'll sound too super spiritual. We will not 00:42:50.640 --> 00:42:55.920 attack the spiritual realities behind things because we don't want to sound like there is an 00:42:55.920 --> 00:43:07.840 active war happening with Satan. We hesitate. We do not allocate or attribute spiritual reasons 00:43:07.840 --> 00:43:16.880 for things. We try to fight them with our factual knowledgeable mind. Sure there is a virus called 00:43:16.880 --> 00:43:27.200 coronavirus but how do you handle Psalm 91? Psalm 91 is words, words spoken by God. Psalm 91 3 to 7 00:43:27.200 --> 00:43:34.560 is words spoken by God. How do you speak words from a book and they become real for you? How ridiculous 00:43:34.560 --> 00:43:45.120 is that? How do you say that no arrow that flies by the day and no pestilence that flies by the 00:43:45.120 --> 00:43:51.360 night will touch you? No plague will come near you. How do you say that and actually believe it and walk 00:43:52.480 --> 00:43:59.680 like you're walking in a park? How do you do that? It's a spiritual reality 00:44:02.240 --> 00:44:07.360 but because we do not have the ability to step into that because of different reasons and we're 00:44:07.360 --> 00:44:13.680 not going to the reasons now we just make everything. You know yeah that's true. Psalm 91 is true but 00:44:13.680 --> 00:44:16.320 you know we have to be reasonable and wise too. 00:44:21.120 --> 00:44:26.240 Be reasonable and wise but may it always be secondary to the word of God. 00:44:29.440 --> 00:44:37.200 God doesn't frown at common sense but I mean one of the coolest passages which reveals so much 00:44:37.200 --> 00:44:41.760 about God is he says to Azza, I got no problems with you going to a physician. I just have a 00:44:41.840 --> 00:44:43.680 problem that you went to him first before you came to me. 00:44:47.360 --> 00:44:55.600 What a cool revelation that I've put things here on earth like common sense, like doctors. I've put 00:44:55.600 --> 00:45:00.000 things here on earth so you can use them but my God I got no problems with you going there because 00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.640 I was the one who made these things happen but before you go there can you please come to me so 00:45:04.720 --> 00:45:06.560 that I know that I'm your first resort? 00:45:12.160 --> 00:45:18.160 Someone once asked Jeevan and me when we were sitting at Himalaya restaurant. This pastor 00:45:18.160 --> 00:45:26.000 asked Jeevan and I. Jeevan and I is right right? Yeah. Jeevan and me? Gosh I got it right the first 00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:36.080 time. This pastor asked a couple of us. He asked a couple of us why is it that you see more miracles 00:45:36.080 --> 00:45:42.560 in India than you see in Canada and I came up with a very sound theological explanation 00:45:43.200 --> 00:45:48.720 that and then Jeevan said because when someone is sick in a village in India or when someone 00:45:48.720 --> 00:45:52.880 doesn't have money in India and is a believer they can't go to a doctor nor can they go to a 00:45:52.880 --> 00:45:59.600 loan shark or a bank so they go to God and I thought what a brilliant answer I mean it just 00:45:59.600 --> 00:46:05.440 made small of my answer but what a brilliant answer you see more of God turn up when there 00:46:05.440 --> 00:46:14.080 is nobody else to go to but God and yet God has placed things in our path so that we can still 00:46:14.080 --> 00:46:22.240 use them. His thing is who's your first resort? The first thing is apologize the second thing we do 00:46:22.320 --> 00:46:33.360 is we go middle of the ground middle of the road where we choose this happy middle because we've 00:46:33.360 --> 00:46:38.560 been taught from right from when we were kids everything should be held in balance not true 00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:46.320 what about Christ is balancing man everything is so ridiculously radical 00:46:46.720 --> 00:46:52.720 what is not extreme about him where is the balance in laying down your life 00:46:56.400 --> 00:47:00.800 where is the balance in you becoming the temple of the Holy Spirit where is the balance in your 00:47:00.800 --> 00:47:04.640 sins all being forgiven because someone died where is the balance in pouring out your life 00:47:05.200 --> 00:47:08.160 where is the balance in raising your children so that they can pour out their lives 00:47:08.160 --> 00:47:10.960 where is the balance in raising your children so that they can pour out their lives 00:47:13.040 --> 00:47:19.520 there is no balance here this is a radical master who wants radical people that follow him 00:47:20.640 --> 00:47:25.040 we can't do this middle of the ground thing where yes Jesus has said this but there's we middle 00:47:25.040 --> 00:47:31.920 things man and the enemy just enjoys it saying as long as they don't go the other way if they are 00:47:31.920 --> 00:47:37.840 middle they are fine because they do not know revelations two verse 22 or 23 which says 00:47:38.480 --> 00:47:43.520 be the hot or be cold they don't know it lukewarmness 00:47:47.440 --> 00:47:50.960 third we are dismissive 00:47:55.120 --> 00:48:00.720 we are dismissive of how real the satanic realm is we are dismissive of it 00:48:01.920 --> 00:48:06.240 we are dismissive of it why perhaps because we haven't experienced it why because we don't want 00:48:06.240 --> 00:48:11.280 to think about it why because it might need dealing with why because it might require actual 00:48:12.960 --> 00:48:18.080 change or why because we don't want we're not interested in it we're going to heaven 00:48:18.080 --> 00:48:21.040 anyways who wants a better deal than going to heaven i do 00:48:25.840 --> 00:48:28.800 and these are not things i want for myself i want it for others man 00:48:31.920 --> 00:48:35.200 and so we can't be dismissive this has 00:48:37.600 --> 00:48:45.520 we'll get there we can't be dismissive this is real i so desire this every one sitting here to come 00:48:45.520 --> 00:48:51.840 awake to this reality and then we begin to gallop towards this end together there is not a single 00:48:51.840 --> 00:48:57.360 thing that is happening in your life that is broken that is messed up that does not have a 00:48:57.360 --> 00:49:02.720 spiritual reality behind it it doesn't matter whether you were the one who caused it or you 00:49:02.720 --> 00:49:06.640 were not the one who caused it the fact is there is still a spiritual reality behind it 00:49:15.840 --> 00:49:20.000 when you look for someone to blame the buck always stops at the other end with the devil 00:49:20.880 --> 00:49:26.240 even though you may have caused whatever to happen or someone else caused it someone else 00:49:26.240 --> 00:49:30.880 you trusted caused it maybe i caused it but at the end of the day there is a spiritual reality 00:49:30.880 --> 00:49:33.120 that must be fixed before the physical can be fixed 00:49:36.800 --> 00:49:46.160 the fourth thing we do is we are unschooled we are unschooled as in we do not go to school about 00:49:46.480 --> 00:49:49.280 these things we do not go to school about these things we do not 00:49:50.480 --> 00:49:57.360 one of the coolest not one of the coolest a really cool verse in the bible that i really love is oh 00:49:57.360 --> 00:50:09.840 god train my fingers for battle and my hands for war it was normal for people to fight judges chapter 00:50:10.080 --> 00:50:14.800 to fight judges chapter three verse 10 00:50:17.040 --> 00:50:23.360 no not verse 10 judges chapter three verse i know i've read this to you before but it was a year 00:50:23.360 --> 00:50:28.320 ago just go there you will see the kind of god you serve he ain't no namby pamby god 00:50:31.040 --> 00:50:32.320 i love this about him man 00:50:33.120 --> 00:50:39.680 judges chapter three verse one these are the nations the lord left to test all those israelites 00:50:39.680 --> 00:50:44.720 who had not experienced any of the wars in canaan he did this only to teach warfare to the 00:50:44.720 --> 00:50:51.120 descendants of the israelites who had had not had any previous battle experience they were left to 00:50:51.120 --> 00:50:54.560 test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the lord's command which he had given to 00:50:54.560 --> 00:51:00.880 their forefathers what's he saying hey jacob it's great that you you know that you know that the 00:51:01.600 --> 00:51:08.480 that you're following me but i definitely want you to learn how to fight and if you don't fight 00:51:08.480 --> 00:51:12.560 you only have two choices someone else will have to do the fighting for you and carry you and they 00:51:12.560 --> 00:51:18.240 can carry you for a long while but at some point every dad says to his child son you're 14 now 00:51:18.240 --> 00:51:28.560 you're too heavy to carry you think sheldon will be doing that when phoebe turns eight 00:51:30.880 --> 00:51:34.560 she says yes 00:51:39.760 --> 00:51:43.920 and the last one is we become theorists theorists 00:51:46.240 --> 00:51:53.040 theorists are one who know everything about everything but have absolutely no um uh have 00:51:53.040 --> 00:51:59.840 never been tested in real battle yeah theorists are ones who have never had the practice 00:52:00.400 --> 00:52:03.600 the everything is in here but never had the practice you know 00:52:06.080 --> 00:52:11.360 over the last little while when i've gone on trips to certain places with certain people either from 00:52:11.360 --> 00:52:17.600 here or from elsewhere almost always there has been a backlash against some of the ones i've 00:52:17.680 --> 00:52:23.360 taken i was trying to chat about it some days ago and he said jacob unfortunately there is no other 00:52:23.360 --> 00:52:29.440 way to train people except to actually take them into battle my dad used to say this he didn't 00:52:29.440 --> 00:52:33.920 have much of an education he was an engineer but there were other engineers who were brilliant who 00:52:33.920 --> 00:52:39.680 were half his age who had gotten amazing degrees and my dad didn't have much of a degree and my 00:52:39.680 --> 00:52:44.720 dad would come home and say man the guy knows how to talk but he doesn't know how to put things 00:52:44.720 --> 00:52:53.040 together it's a whole different ball game when you have to actually do stuff and the only way 00:52:53.040 --> 00:52:56.960 to do it is to throw people not into the deep end but the less deep end 00:53:02.160 --> 00:53:03.440 any questions before we go on 00:53:07.600 --> 00:53:08.880 any questions before we go on 00:53:09.520 --> 00:53:16.400 I want you to be so aware of this so aware of this not so that you walk afraid but so that you 00:53:16.400 --> 00:53:20.320 realize that our shucks man are going to change the way i see the world 00:53:28.240 --> 00:53:34.960 even the prophetic when it is spoken is actually checking out the spirit realm behind a person so 00:53:34.960 --> 00:53:40.240 that you give the person what is required for walking 00:53:48.160 --> 00:53:53.680 the prophetic is to see the plot the the attempts of the enemy before they even happen and reveal 00:53:53.680 --> 00:54:00.800 them the prophetic is to be able to say to a person this is who god has made you why so that 00:54:00.880 --> 00:54:07.040 should there be an attempt to dismantle you you already know what god has said about you 00:54:08.240 --> 00:54:12.640 you don't know why i now you understand why i go over what has been spoken over me 00:54:12.640 --> 00:54:17.680 again and again and again every week because there is going to be an attempt to change the way i 00:54:17.680 --> 00:54:23.360 think based on my circumstances based on my past based on my present experiences there'll be this 00:54:24.080 --> 00:54:28.240 loud noise saying you ain't that you ain't that you ain't that you ain't that and then there is 00:54:28.240 --> 00:54:33.680 this whisper that says but jacob this is what i said about you and it begins to just shift me 00:54:43.200 --> 00:54:48.240 we won't i'll i'll read out how we can resist him and there are brilliant ways 00:54:48.240 --> 00:54:52.000 we won't talk about it today because it's impossible so we'll have to take each of them 00:54:52.000 --> 00:55:00.000 next week and see how far we go with it but before i list those things down 00:55:01.120 --> 00:55:08.320 here is a question that often comes up sure jacob i'll i'm willing to agree with you that god is not 00:55:10.240 --> 00:55:16.800 someone who permits evil god is not someone who allows evil but that may be so but here is a 00:55:16.800 --> 00:55:25.840 question i have then if god has the power why does he not stop the evil as a good father would 00:55:27.680 --> 00:55:31.360 that's the other question that comes up sure god does not do evil he does not permit it he does not 00:55:31.360 --> 00:55:38.560 allow it but since he has the power why does he not stop it it's a question i hear frequently 00:55:38.800 --> 00:55:47.360 among other things and so we'll just put down a few points on that and then how we resist 00:55:48.240 --> 00:55:56.160 this horrible enemy that we have we'll deal with next week water's made bitter god is a god that 00:55:56.160 --> 00:56:05.680 makes water sweet when we deal with why is it that god has if god has a power why does he not stop 00:56:06.160 --> 00:56:12.880 if god has a power why does he not stop evil as a good father when we deal with that the passage 00:56:12.880 --> 00:56:20.000 that we look at is james chapter one one to thirteen you know people think james is like 00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:26.000 solomon he just strung a few proverbs together put them in five chapters and he sounds so disjointed 00:56:26.000 --> 00:56:32.800 but the guy is actually pretty smart man it is not a disjointed book and so when you read james 00:56:32.800 --> 00:56:38.080 chapter one to thirteen you see him examining so many different things that answers the simple 00:56:38.080 --> 00:56:42.960 question that we have asked we won't be doing it today but i'm just giving you a taste of what 00:56:42.960 --> 00:56:51.760 might happen in the future future so when we look at um yeah just a private joke inside my head 00:56:52.720 --> 00:56:56.880 sorry i didn't realize that you guys were watching so 00:56:57.680 --> 00:57:03.280 so we will look at james chapter one verse one to thirteen and grapple with some of these things 00:57:03.280 --> 00:57:08.800 to answer the question if god since god has the power why does not he not stop evil being a good 00:57:08.800 --> 00:57:15.440 father so the first one is like danny was saying it is um the the 00:57:15.600 --> 00:57:16.400 the 00:57:18.400 --> 00:57:27.280 not the mankind's free will mankind's mankind's free will so we'll have to look at that the second 00:57:27.280 --> 00:57:31.680 thing we look at from james chapter one verse one to thirteen there are many other places you can 00:57:31.680 --> 00:57:35.280 look at but i've never seen it come together in one place like this the second time is 00:57:37.760 --> 00:57:38.880 life and death 00:57:38.880 --> 00:57:41.680 uh life and death 00:57:44.160 --> 00:57:50.960 seed time and harvest seed time and harvest laws 00:57:54.240 --> 00:57:59.200 as in there are certain laws that have been established in the universe that go to work 00:58:00.400 --> 00:58:06.160 whether you're christian muslim buddhist doesn't matter it doesn't matter if a christian muslim 00:58:06.160 --> 00:58:10.160 or buddhist throws up this thing it always comes on it's not because i'm a christian that the pen 00:58:10.160 --> 00:58:16.320 came down gravity works all over there are certain rules and laws that god has established that are 00:58:16.320 --> 00:58:23.600 universal so that is another thing that factors in when we talk about um because i've heard 00:58:24.880 --> 00:58:31.680 i remember a woman coming and saying why didn't god prevent me from getting pregnant when i slept 00:58:31.680 --> 00:58:42.560 with my boyfriend and my thing was it's an egg and a sperm thing it isn't god isn't actively 00:58:42.560 --> 00:58:52.720 trying to prevent or make there are some biological rules that are that exist you can't you can't go 00:58:52.720 --> 00:58:59.040 sleep with a boyfriend you're not married to and never were planning to marry to and now blame god 00:58:59.040 --> 00:59:09.280 for having a child because there are certain laws that he's set in place that do go into effect 00:59:10.800 --> 00:59:15.280 these are universal laws that applies right across so we'll deal with that another 00:59:15.280 --> 00:59:20.480 not another time when we deal with it the third one the 00:59:20.480 --> 00:59:28.240 the testing of external trials 00:59:32.080 --> 00:59:37.920 and internal temptations in a fallen world and internal temptations 00:59:42.000 --> 00:59:43.040 in a fallen world 00:59:43.520 --> 00:59:51.600 as in these exist because of the fallenness of the world there are external trials there 00:59:51.600 --> 00:59:59.600 are internal temptations and so how does that factor in for 00:59:59.920 --> 01:00:07.360 the practice of joyful 01:00:08.720 --> 01:00:15.920 perseverance all of this is in james chapter 1 verse 1 to 13 the practice of joyful perseverance 01:00:15.920 --> 01:00:25.360 that produces godly character which is god's chief end by the way god's chief end is not so that 01:00:25.600 --> 01:00:30.480 character which is god's chief end by the way god's chief end is not so that not that you come 01:00:30.480 --> 01:00:33.920 to church on a sunday and have a spiritual experience and listen to spiritual teaching 01:00:33.920 --> 01:00:40.080 and go home happy he's so not interested in that his ultimate intent is to produce christ-like 01:00:40.080 --> 01:00:44.560 character and in the processes of life there is this thing called the practice of joyful 01:00:44.560 --> 01:00:49.520 perseverance please understand perseverance is not endurance perseverance is endurance that has an 01:00:49.520 --> 01:00:55.680 assured outcome because you trust that your champion goes to work for you endurance is when 01:00:55.680 --> 01:01:00.880 you endure something perseverance is endurance with an assured outcome with an outcome where you 01:01:00.880 --> 01:01:06.400 have it is endurance where you have a certainty that your champion is going to bat for you 01:01:07.840 --> 01:01:12.720 that's the difference between endurance and perseverance must not mix both one is separate 01:01:12.720 --> 01:01:13.280 from the other 01:01:18.000 --> 01:01:18.960 james talks about this 01:01:21.440 --> 01:01:28.560 and then the last one for now there might be more is this whole idea of the wisdom of god 01:01:30.480 --> 01:01:33.440 the wisdom of god 01:01:36.960 --> 01:01:38.480 the wisdom of god who is a giver 01:01:38.480 --> 01:01:40.320 of every good and perfect gift 01:01:48.560 --> 01:01:53.120 you know if you look at it for a second as a father or a mother you will realize that you do this for 01:01:53.120 --> 01:01:58.000 your children and if your children turned around and said how could you do this you would say 01:01:58.000 --> 01:02:05.360 but this is exactly what we need to do so that you may become an adult you know that there is a time 01:02:06.160 --> 01:02:10.960 know that there is a time when your child has free will and there is nothing you can do about it 01:02:10.960 --> 01:02:15.760 you can train up a child in the way he or she should go and there's absolutely nothing you 01:02:15.760 --> 01:02:20.080 can do about it when they exert free will blessed are you if your child is still under 12 01:02:24.480 --> 01:02:28.000 then there are certain laws that are universal 01:02:29.840 --> 01:02:34.480 there are certain laws that are universal there is nothing a parent can do to change that 01:02:35.360 --> 01:02:37.280 there's nothing a parent can do to change that 01:02:39.440 --> 01:02:46.800 we don't we we don't have a problem with those rules i mean someone was telling me recently 01:02:46.800 --> 01:02:53.360 that but the boy is growing up and like these are problems i never had the boy is growing up the 01:02:53.360 --> 01:02:58.800 bones are growing longer i don't know when my bones grew they took forever and so the boy is 01:02:58.800 --> 01:03:02.880 falling when he's playing football and getting hurt but the parents aren't saying okay you got 01:03:02.880 --> 01:03:08.720 to quit football or you got to stop growing because both are universal laws when you play 01:03:08.720 --> 01:03:12.960 soccer and when you're growing you may be a little disjointed for a while 01:03:16.720 --> 01:03:20.400 parents don't have a problem with that the third one the testing of external trials and 01:03:20.400 --> 01:03:24.960 internal temptations in a fallen world my god you can protect your child but you think your child 01:03:24.960 --> 01:03:31.840 can live its life without being hurt in a fallen world you're there to comfort but can you ever 01:03:31.840 --> 01:03:40.960 prevent it you have the power to there's an easy way keep them at home don't send them to school 01:03:43.120 --> 01:03:43.920 bubble wrap them 01:03:51.440 --> 01:03:57.680 yeah four the practice of joyful perseverance to produce godly character 01:03:57.680 --> 01:04:02.720 i begged my dad saying please don't send me to this particular school they got this thing called 01:04:02.720 --> 01:04:08.400 hazing those for the first three months the seniors are going to beat up on me please let me stay in 01:04:08.400 --> 01:04:12.640 this fancy hotel and i'll just go quickly and come out quickly and he said nope 01:04:14.480 --> 01:04:19.600 then i begged my dad please i'm 27 keep supplying me money to like get a decent job 01:04:19.600 --> 01:04:22.640 and he did and then at 28 he cut me off 01:04:22.640 --> 01:04:24.160 i couldn't believe it 01:04:31.200 --> 01:04:33.200 i know i learned later 01:04:35.200 --> 01:04:41.200 and then there is the wisdom of god where even though i mess up i can always go back and ask 01:04:41.200 --> 01:04:46.160 for wisdom and the wisdom is there that's the strange thing with parents hey you do everything 01:04:46.160 --> 01:04:51.760 that you can do to protect your child and your child's life and your child's life and your child's 01:04:51.840 --> 01:04:55.760 everything they tell you not to do and then after that you go back to them and you ask for them 01:04:55.760 --> 01:05:01.600 them for help and they're suckers for it and they'll help you where did you think you got this nature 01:05:01.600 --> 01:05:09.120 from we'll examine this in the light of james chapter 1 1 to 13 be highly aware of the enemy 01:05:09.120 --> 01:05:17.040 that you're up against i'm going to just read out how we'll combat it i'm not going to go over it 01:05:17.040 --> 01:05:23.440 one know that when the enemy is active there is the intervening goodness of god that mitigates 01:05:23.440 --> 01:05:28.720 that scatters that stops the enemy in his tracks even when you are stubborn and rebellious two 01:05:29.440 --> 01:05:35.920 wear this amazing thing called the armor of god it is crazy i was driving here i was thinking okay 01:05:35.920 --> 01:05:40.640 father helmet of salvation breastplate of righteousness belt of truth shoes that are 01:05:40.800 --> 01:05:47.120 shot with the gospel of peace the sword of the spirit shield of faith divine weapons of defense 01:05:47.120 --> 01:05:52.720 and attack with divine power to demolish strongholds and destroy words i'm just reading through it next 01:05:52.720 --> 01:05:57.600 invisible spiritual resources released through words and actions 01:06:00.720 --> 01:06:06.560 four five or six or whatever number forewarned of the devil's schemes so that i'm forearmed 01:06:07.040 --> 01:06:15.120 forewarned of the devil's schemes so that i'm forearmed five weaponized through the processing 01:06:15.120 --> 01:06:21.040 and the wielding of the word weaponized through the processing and wielding of the word psalm 91 01:06:21.600 --> 01:06:27.760 you know what you can live happily ever after just sitting in psalm 91 if your entire bible 01:06:27.760 --> 01:06:34.000 got raptured except psalm 91 that would be enough like all the other books disappeared 01:06:34.560 --> 01:06:40.720 except psalm 91 you'd still manage well he who dwells in the 01:06:42.640 --> 01:06:49.200 it's a brilliant psalm learn it by heart next one these forces constitute no threat when i'm united 01:06:49.200 --> 01:06:57.280 to christ and is finished works by the exertion of faith do not underestimate the power of this 01:06:57.280 --> 01:07:04.480 thing called faith it quenches fiery arrows quenches fiery arrows next the unrestrained 01:07:04.480 --> 01:07:10.640 flow of holy wisdom the unrestrained flow of holy wisdom that god gives without grudging 01:07:11.440 --> 01:07:19.200 and then the last one being completely and increasingly dependent and obedient to the 01:07:19.200 --> 01:07:25.440 holy spirit and his directions this is how paul lived this is how jesus lived this is how some of 01:07:25.440 --> 01:07:35.680 the heroes that you appreciate live this is how i want to live any questions we'll talk about that 01:07:35.680 --> 01:07:45.920 next week any questions all righty so we're going to sing god is fighting for us that 01:07:48.800 --> 01:07:49.760 ryan can you pull that out 01:07:50.240 --> 01:07:55.440 then you want to come or you're happy with your baby you're happy with your baby okay 01:07:56.160 --> 01:08:02.640 all righty so we'll ask jacob to sing it sheldon thank you 01:08:06.720 --> 01:08:10.800 and then i'm going to ask samar to come she's got a short five minute story to share which 01:08:10.800 --> 01:08:13.440 i thought she must share so i'll call her up 01:08:13.440 --> 01:08:17.840 yes why you want less 01:08:21.840 --> 01:08:25.840 okay yes