To all the guys in Bahrain who are watching and I'm sure Anne is awake, welcome.
If you want to put a title for this message, it's called Who Touched Me?
And it'll sound a little disjointed, but once you listen to the whole thing, all the pieces
will come together to form a picture.
And so the title is Who Touched Me?
And guys, what I have to say, while it does apply to Acts 29 as a local church, much
of what I have to say is an unfolding of God's counsel and it will at some point affect the
globe.
It's such a presumptuous thing to say, especially when you're being live streamed, that what
are now going to say, what I'm going to say now has global implications and that we may
not elaborate on everything we're going to talk about, but people will pick this up.
I'm talking to different leaders in different parts of the world.
People will pick this up.
And so what I have to say is not some kind of message that is going to make you feel
comfortable during coronavirus or stuff like that.
It goes further than that.
And so it is an unfolding of God's counsel for a time such as this.
And it has the potential to affect the globe in terms of some of the things that we'll
talk about.
But over the next few weeks, we'll probably stay on something like this to see how we
can unfold it.
The first thing I wanted to say, and like I said, it might sound a little disjointed,
but don't worry about it.
It'll come together in the end.
The first thing I want to say is how do we deal with faith and with the regulations that
are in place?
And I would suggest to you that wrestle with the issues of faith and with regulations.
I'm looking forward every day to wrestle with the new regulations that governments will
put in place and how to yet walk in faith without breaking the law.
Wrestle with it.
It's times like this that begin to help you become sound in a doctrinal or doctrinal way.
It helps you become sound because you have to take on one hand what God is saying and
on the other hand what rules and law is saying and you've got to put them together and you've
got to wrestle through it so that your stance is absolutely godly.
So on one hand, you have to walk in faith.
So I mean, I was reading Ezra 822 and in Ezra 822, here's what Ezra says.
The king says to him, hey, you're going to travel through bandit country.
I'm going to offer you soldiers to go with you.
And Ezra says, I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers because I had already told the
king that God will take care of us.
If I had already said that to the king, how could I then go and ask him for soldiers?
So on one hand, he has the stance of faith which says, I have declared that God is good,
God is protective, God can take care.
After saying that, how do I go and then begin to ask the king for his protection?
So here was a man who was willing to walk in faith through bandit country and yet in
Romans chapter 13, verse 1 to 4, you find that there is a place where you have to now
listen to what authorities have to say.
I put this in the email I sent out yesterday.
If you started verse 3 or verse 4, let's start at verse 4 and then read backwards.
And so we're talking about authorities.
For all authority is God's servant to do you good.
But if you do wrong, be afraid for he does not bear the sword for nothing.
He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment of the wrongdoer.
For rulers hold no terror for those who do right but for those who do wrong.
Do you want to be free from the fear of one in authority?
Then do what is right and he will commend you.
And so wrestle through this idea of faith and regulations through this time.
On one hand, I don't intend to mollycoddle your fear.
When I was a young Christian, I remember these two instances with which God reminded me of
a couple of days ago.
One was when I went to the pastor in Bahrain and I said to him, there's a boy who's died.
He's in the hospital.
He just died.
His parents are Muslims.
They are willing to do anything to revive him.
And I go up to the pastor and I say to him, we got to go raise this boy from the dead.
And any pastor in his sound mind would have said he's already dead.
He's a Muslim boy.
This is a Muslim country.
It may not be such a good idea.
He could have come up with all kinds of reasonable explanations.
This is Chantel's dad who was the pastor then.
Instead, he said, okay, let's go.
And he drove me in the car to the hospital to pray for an 11 year old boy who was dead.
And this was two years into my Christianity.
And I remember thinking to myself, I don't know if I'd have done that for someone else.
But because that man chose to encourage my faith and I didn't know better, I never for
a second doubted from 1990 till today that the debt can be raised.
You've got to encourage people's faith.
Through these times of rules and regulations, we have to encourage people's faith.
We cannot let little sparkles of faith, we cannot douse them.
We cannot kill them.
You may have to walk with them.
You may have to carry them.
You may have to pick them up when they fail in faith.
But you must encourage people's faith.
On the other hand, do not mollycoddle people's fear because we have a tendency to do that
too.
I remember shortly after I was at a place where I had to leave Bahrain because my visa
was running out and it was easy at that time to get visas through ways that were not proper.
And I remember going to this pastor's wife and she had very straight words for me.
She said, you may be afraid of leaving this country and going back to India.
You may find ways to get visas that are not right.
But if God is really behind this and you've got to trust him and you've got to leave and
come back.
It was very straightforward.
There was no comfort.
There was no mollycoddling.
There was no flout to regulations.
It was very straightforward.
And we've got to adopt this attitude that through this time we will not mollycoddle fear
and we will encourage faith.
And that's the first step.
And that's the second step.
And that's the third step.
And that's the fourth step.
And that's the fifth step.
And that's the sixth step.
And that's the seventh step.
And that's the eighth step.
Hey, if you're afraid, face the fear.
After facing the fear, go into the word.
After going into the word, use words to move from fear to the truth.
Fear is a feeling.
Fear is a thought pattern.
The only way I can move from fear to the truth is with words.
I've said this before.
It's so critical that I face my fears.
I can't disguise my fears under rules and regulations.
We're doing that.
And I've seen it.
Whereas you keep listening to news.
And just imagine this.
This is why we were singing as we were singing.
There is such an enormity of news that is continuously bombarding you.
That it is almost impossible not to inhabit fear.
What you think you inhabit.
How do you think thoughts?
You hear them or you see them.
That is all you see and hear around us.
Now there requires that people rise up to speak another name.
To speak a different language.
To speak what we hear from heaven.
This is why we first sang that song in the beginning.
Let heaven come.
Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
As in, we will begin to declare it as loudly as others are declaring the fear that's gripping
the world.
We need to do this, guys.
Because you inhabit what you think and what we think is being massively shaped by the
things around us.
And so it's critical that we face fears, then go into the word, find what is required, and
then use words to go from this place of fear that we have thought or we feel to the truth.
Don't use regulations as a disguise for your fear.
Follow the regulations but don't use them to disguise or cost you more hide your fear.
And then the other thing is, guys, hear his voice and obey today and then hear his voice
again tomorrow to decide what to do tomorrow.
I mean over this last week, I was so bent on having church meet here today.
I was so sure of what God was saying, that church will meet here today and I wasn't going
to budge.
I did so much work, sent so many emails.
But every morning I would get up and I would ask the Lord, Father, this is what you said
yesterday, what are you saying today?
Because manna must be found every day.
You know the odd thing about hearing God is that hearing God is not so much about the
outcome.
Hearing God is much about the obedience.
The outcome is a byproduct.
Please listen to this.
Hearing God is not so much about the outcome.
Hearing God is not so much about I've got to find the will of God.
Hearing God is I've got to obey the will of God.
And so it is required of me that today I ask God and find out, Father, what are you saying
today?
And once you hear him and hear what he is saying today, you take that.
Tomorrow when you wake up, you got to ask him tomorrow, Father, what are you saying
tomorrow?
Because it changes, man.
It changes.
Israel didn't know how to do this.
So they kept living by the preceding word instead of the proceeding word.
Let me remind you of Deuteronomy 8.3.
You shall live not by bread.
Bread was something you could bake yesterday and put in your freezer, pull out today, toast
it and eat it again.
And he says you shall not live by bread alone, self-generated means of sustenance or something
baked yesterday.
He's saying you shall live by every word that proceeds as in continuously comes out of my
mouth.
And therefore yesterday afternoon I had to again listen and see what God had to say.
And sometimes God will speak through people, other times he'll speak directly.
But then after that I knew that it was out of question to continue meeting here and so
we meet like this.
Bless God, man, for his wisdom.
Yeah?
There's a question, Jeevan.
Question from Diana.
Why am I not surprised?
Can you ask Jacob to repeat?
Repeat the steps to counter fear again.
World, this is Diana.
Even when we are live streaming she has questions.
Okay, so the steps that I wanted to repeat are, guys, do not use regulations and rules
to hide your fear.
If you're afraid, don't say, no, no, the rules say so, that's why I'm doing this.
No, the rules may say so, follow them.
But face your fears and after you face your fear, go into the word.
In front of fears, move into the word.
And once you move into the word and begin to let it change your thinking, use words
to move from your feeling and your thinking to the truth.
How?
Through repeating it again and again and again.
I'm so sure of certain things, but every time that shakes me, I go back into the word and
I look, what did God say?
Ah, shucks, that's what you say.
And then I'll go over it five or six times before I get up and then I'll go over it again
and again till my thinking changes, my feelings change and now I've moved from fear to a place
of walking absolutely unaware of what I was afraid of.
That's how you do it.
You got to move from a place of being afraid to not being aware of what you were afraid
of.
Because many people say, fear is a natural thing, not for Jesus.
This is how we move from one place to the other.
We're not claiming promises out of the Bible to combat fear.
We are looking at the nature of God towards us to combat fear.
Critical difference, eh?
People go into the Bible to look for promises to combat fear.
We are not looking for promises to combat fear.
We're looking at the nature of God.
He's ways towards us to remove fear.
That's what children do.
Children are not looking for reassuring words from their parents.
That's part of the equation.
What they're looking at is the parent itself.
This is why children cannot trust someone who fails them.
It doesn't matter what words you offer them, children will shy away.
But a child will trust a parent whose word is true even if the words are two.
This is what we're looking for in the word.
Anything done?
Okay.
And the other thing is guys, God has dealt with lockdowns like this in the past.
This is not the first lockdown he has dealt with.
He's done this in the past.
He locked down the world for a year.
If you go from Genesis chapter 7, 10 or so to Genesis 8, 13, you'll find that he locked
And he locked up Noah and eight other people.
And sometimes God uses lockdowns like this that have been brought about by plagues or
evil.
He uses it as a Sabbath to renew land and life.
Unfortunately, it's up to people how they respond to it.
But God can use situations like this to our benefit.
He isn't behind this, but he can use this lockdown to our benefit.
To give the land and to give lives a Sabbath so that it may be renewed.
And what do we mean by Sabbath?
A time of rest so that things may be recovered.
And out of this may come Shem and Japheth or out of this may come Ham.
Out of this may come Noah who starts again.
Out of this may come Noah who raises a vineyard and gets drunk.
It depends on how I respond to this rest.
One of the things I wanted to say later, but I'll say it right now.
Do not use this time to mindlessly watch media and TV.
It will cripple you.
Some who were on the border of watching things that were not kosher will go into porn.
Some who had high standards of what they watch will go into things that are not kosher.
And I'm saying to you, avoid mindless TV watching and social media because you'll suddenly find
that you have lots of time and you have an instrument attached to your hand that you'll
begin to go over mindlessly.
These are the things we must be cautious about.
These are the things that will destroy the Sabbath renewal that God has purposed for
our lives.
Back away from it.
Be careful.
Develop habits that you have longed to develop and haven't had the time to.
You'll begin to love those habits and once you love those habits, when everything goes
back to normal, those habits will not go back to normal.
They will stay.
One of the habits I want to develop is for long I've wanted to send out letters and
emails and blogs and short messages to different parts of the world saying, this is what God
is saying.
I've never had the ability to do so.
And suddenly this is like a breakthrough for me.
Even this simple thing like live streaming is a huge thing for me.
You can ask Dan how I've spoken to him about this three, four years ago.
The best we got done was those seven minute sermons.
But suddenly it is like I can create a new habit now.
Any questions?
I don't know who I'm saying this to.
No questions yet?
Derek, you're checking your phone, right?
Oh, I thought it was a two second delay.
Okay.
Oh, shucks, so for people here, there's a gap between what they're seeing and what
they're hearing, right?
Cool.
So can we like if I say something that's wrong, can we just shut it off like those?
No?
No.
Okay.
The other thing is guys, wanted to talk about economy.
Wanted to talk about economy.
You know, in December last year, I had a word for Acts 29 from God.
It was from Zechariah 8 verse 10 to 12.
And I want you to take this to heart.
And if you're listening to this somewhere else in the world, this is for you too.
Zechariah 8 verses 10 to 12.
I remember suddenly stopping in the middle of the sermon and saying, guys, this is a
word for people in this church.
And I began to read it out.
And this was given to us on September 27, 2019.
And it was a word that was given for the future, 2020.
And here's what it said.
And I want you to hold on to this.
Zechariah 8 verses 10 to 12.
Before that time, there were no wages for man or beast.
No one could go about his business safely because of his enemy.
For I had turned every man against his neighbor.
But now, I will not deal with the remnant of this people as I did in the past, declares
the Lord Almighty.
The seed will grow well.
The vine will yield its fruit.
The ground will produce its crops.
And the heavens will drop their dew.
I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of the people.
As you have been an object of cursing among the nations of Judah and Israel, so will I
save you now.
And you will be a blessing.
Do not be afraid.
Let your hands be strong.
Your economy is not going to be disturbed by what is happening.
This was a reymah word given to this church ages ago.
You've got to hold on to it.
Go about your business like you normally would.
If you're sowing, prepare to reap.
If you're plowing, prepare to seed.
Do not change what you're doing.
Because there is a God we believe in whose name is Jesus Christ, who is the Lord and
the sovereign King of the universe, who is very different from things that run our economy
here.
And so, even if you looked at Jeremiah 32, Jeremiah 32, Jeremiah 32, Jeremiah 32, verse
24 to 27, Jeremiah 32, verse 24 to 27.
That must be my phone, I think, somewhere.
Jeremiah 32, verse 24 to 27.
Look at what it says.
See how the siege ramps are built up to take the city.
Because of the sword, famine and plague, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians
who are attacking it.
What you said has happened as you now see.
And though the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, you, O sovereign Lord, say
to me, buy the field with silver and have the transaction witnessed.
And so, here is Jeremiah completely confused.
There's a time of war, there's a time of famine, Babylon has set up siege ramps and God is
saying to him, you go ahead and buy the field.
Don't hold back on what I purpose you to do.
And then it goes on to say in verse 26 and 27, then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah,
I am the Lord, the God of all mankind.
Is anything too hard for me?
So in terms of buying and selling an economy like anything else, get up and ask God in
the morning, but do not now begin to respond in fear saying, is this the time or not?
If this was the time that you were told before, then this is the time unless He tells you
otherwise.
Genesis 26, 12, same thing.
God sends Isaac to a place where there was a famine so that he could plant and harvest
100 fold.
Genesis 26, 17.
Hey, are you able to put up those verses here?
If you can't, it's no big deal.
And guys, become God's distribution system here on earth, eh?
During this time, become God's distribution system.
By doing two things, one, seek God and two, seek people.
Seek God as in Father, and I'm planning to do this every day.
Father, today as I go out, is there any particular place you want me to go to, any person you
want me to go to so that you can use me as your system of distribution to give to that
person whatever the person requires?
I mean, Derek did this just three days ago where he was driving and he felt that he should
go to a particular mall where there was a shop and he goes there and then he asks God,
what am I supposed to do?
And there's a man sitting outside the shop and God says go and speak to him.
And so Derek goes and speaks to him.
It is very specific.
What if a people began to do this every day?
Hey, this is how the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the seas.
Glory is nothing else but the goodness of God.
The weight, the magnificence, the goodness, the splendor of God distributed through a
people.
I'm looking forward to how we, how I can impact the world right now like I have never
looked forward to.
Yesterday, May texted me about using wisdom and the power of God and I wrote back to her
saying there's a fire in my stomach saying Father, now is the time like no other time.
My God, man, if this is the time we keep threshing wheat in the wine press, that would be terrible.
For a time such as this we were born where you can keep regulations, walk in faith and
do what is required.
And by the way, Acts 29 will be giving out to people in the church gift cards and cash
so that you can use it for yourself or you can give it away.
Really.
You know, some of you remember this.
There were times at Acts 29 where we would put up a white box on a table and during or
after the service people could come and throw money into the white box and people could
come and take money out of the white box.
So anyone could come and just put money in the box.
It was not meant for the needs of the running of Acts 29.
It was just a box into which money was thrown.
And then anybody who needed the money could put their hand in and take it out.
And so one of the things we've decided to do is to interact, Heidi, any money that you
want distributed through the people of the church.
So you can just, and in the memo when you interact her, put down white box and you can
send her, this money will not be receded.
So you can just send her the money, interact her the money and then through the house churches
or through some other means, this money will be given back to you to either use because
some of us may have jobs that have disappeared.
Some of us may be laid off next week.
So you can either use it for yourself or you can give it to somebody else.
Gift cards will be given out, money will be given out.
And given that flights are not taking off from Vancouver, this money, if it goes to
Heidi, will remain with Heidi because she can't go to Brazil or Hawaii because all the
flights are shut down.
So the money is safe.
So feel free to interact her the money and just put white box on it in the whatever.
I think she's got auto deposit so it will go in without a password.
So send, we've already had people sending her money.
So this is how we now begin to distribute.
And then you can add to it whatever you want.
But this is something we want to do.
Any questions?
Any thoughts?
Any brighter ideas?
If you have better ideas, let me know.
This is just begun, man.
And I just pray that we become so sharp like an arrow that God can put into his bow and
shoot wherever he wants.
And come back with stories of the goodness of God through you, where you become God's
distribution system.
Distributing not just money or gift cards, distributing healing, distributing hope, destroying
fear, releasing the name of Christ.
Man, I'm telling you, we have no idea how powerful our words will be during a time like
this because remember, what is creating what has been created is words too.
And it is so heavy, it's like a building on your back.
That is the heaviness of the words that are being spoken around us.
Be Hercules.
Just that blooming building off your shoulder.
The next thing I wanted to talk about is one of the things that we have to be careful of.
These are the points that I hope the world will notice and that different parts of the
world, when they hear this message or see this message or when it spreads around, that
there'll be an active stance against it.
Guys, there is this thing that the enemy is trying to bring into the worldwide church,
which is virtual reality, as in this will become commonplace and it will be hard to
go back to being a connected limb to limb body.
There is an insidious attempt that is being launched by the enemy to make the church a
place that will become more and more virtual because during this span, live streaming and
virtual church will become so well streamlined and so polished that people will begin to
use this as a substitute.
The technology is there.
And so you will find more and more that it will begin to take root in the body of Christ.
You'll have a smorgasbord of choices.
Suddenly you'll eat at multiple tables.
You'll have multiple pastors.
You can pick and choose who you want to listen to on a Sunday morning.
You can flip from service to service.
So without actually subscribing to a virtual reality website, you now have such a wide
variety that you can go from Australia to Asia and pick what you want in a three hour
window.
And I've had such a violent stance against this for years now.
And when I began to sense that yesterday and I was telling Jeevan about it, I realized
that we've got to take a hard stance against this because what will otherwise happen is
itching ears will be scratched and lazy feet will remain at home after this is done because
this thing will be so highly tuned that people will now have an alternative.
And so I pray God that as this word goes out, the great thing is it's not like I'm the only
one who's saying this.
I don't know who else is saying this, but there are others I'm sure that God has made
aware of.
And let it be a net that spreads across the earth.
The pastors will know how to drop this like one of those white pigs saying, all right,
this is done.
We're not going any further.
This was for a time and we completely renounce it.
We turn our backs on it because this is not the way church has done.
Because if we don't take a stance against this, then we will soon find that the church
is like a people without a king.
We'll be like a bunch of locusts that can follow any witch draft into any harvest field
and eat it dry without even visiting the field.
If you go to Judges chapter 17, verse 6 and 10, Judges 17, Joshua Judges Ruth, Judges 17,
verses 6, yeah, verse 6, starting at verse 1 and then I'll go to verse 6.
In those days Israel had no king, verse 6, no, verse 3.
When they were near Micah's house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite.
So they turned in there and asked him, who brought you here?
What are you doing in this place?
Why are you here?
He told them what Micah had done for him and he said, he has hired me as I am his priest.
Then they said to him, please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful.
The priest answered, go in peace.
Your journey has the Lord's approval.
Wait, I've got the wrong verse.
Shoot.
Oh, I'm reading the wrong chapter.
Judges chapter 17, verse 6, yeah, listen to this.
In those days Israel had no king.
Everyone did as he saw fit.
A young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who had been living with a clan of Judah, left
that town in search of some other place to stay.
On the way he came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim.
Micah asked him, where are you from?
I'm a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, he said, and I'm looking for a place to stay.
Then Micah said to him, live with me.
Be my father and priest and I'll give you 10 shekels of silver a year and your clothes
and your food.
So the Levite agreed to live with him and the young man was to him like one of his sons.
Then Micah installed the Levite and the young man became his priest and lived in his house.
And Micah said, now I know that the Lord will be good to me since this Levite has become
my priest.
This is how it will be, man, if you don't take a stance against this virtual reality
thing, where people will find their priests online, where there will be churches on hire,
priests on hire, messages on hire.
Something that hadn't happened yet will now become such a library that you can go to.
It'll be like the Christian version of Apple Music or Spotify.
I'll elaborate on this more later.
But remember, the church cannot go back to becoming prosthetic limbs that are attached
on a Sunday.
And we cannot go back to having fathers on hire and messages on hire.
We cannot tickle itching ears.
We cannot have eating at multiple tables.
I'm not saying don't listen to others, but my God, what we are setting ourselves up for
if we are not careful is the insidious move of the enemy to dismantle the church and make
it a collection of limbs.
Any questions, any comments you want to add?
Pardon?
Yeah.
And that's a strange thing.
It's almost like an angel of light where you are polishing up your livestream, you're
doing everything so that people can access, but it now becomes the very, it becomes a
beast that will attack you later.
The next thing I want to talk about is not something I'll elaborate.
I'm deliberately putting this out in this message so that God will cause people to take
it and run.
Guys, so we got this thing called the coronavirus, and we know the fear it has cast on the world
and the gloom it has brought globally.
But there is a spiritual reality behind this, something so massive that can shut down the
modern world and lock it down the way it has cannot happen just because of a virus.
The virus is the outer agent that is causing it, but what is the internal or invisible
spiritual move behind it?
I'd like you to go to Job 41.
Job 41.
Because in Canaanite mythology, there is this, in Canaanite mythology, chaos is personified
in the person of the Leviathan.
It is a spirit, and I won't go into details because I don't think this is the right forum,
but it is a spirit that is actually a ruler or a power.
I'm just going to read out Job 41 verse 1 to 9 and then 25 to 34, and we'll touch on
it briefly and then move on.
I'm only supposed to put this out there and then in later blogs or whatever those things
are called, we'll talk about it more.
Job 41.
This is the reality behind what is happening, and we'll elaborate on it more.
It seems unfair not to talk about it more, but unfair is fine.
Can you pull in the Leviathan with a fish hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?
Will he keep begging you for mercy?
Will he speak to you with gentle words?
Will he make an agreement with you for you to take him as your slave for life?
Can you make a pet of him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls?
Will traders barter for him?
Will they divide him up among the merchants?
Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle and never do it again.
Any hope of subduing him is false.
The mere sight of him is overpowering.
Now go to verse 24 onwards.
25 onwards.
When he rises up, the mighty are terrified.
They retreat before his thrashing.
The sword that reaches him has no effect, not as a spear or the dart or the javelin.
For iron he treats like straw and bronze like rotten woods.
Arrows do not make him flee.
Sling stones are like chaff to him.
A club seems to him but a piece of straw.
He laughs at the rattling of the lance.
His undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
He makes a depth churn like a boiling cauldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
Behind him he leaves a glistening wake.
One would think the deep had white hair.
Nothing on earth is as equal.
A creature without fear.
He looks down on all that are haughty.
He is the king over all that are proud.
I want to say to you that Leviathan is a ruler or an evil power that every now and then emerges around
a few hundred years or a few score years, makes an appearance, has the ability to take on the world,
has done it in the past, we'll talk about it another time, and then has the ability to disappear from memory
and return to the dark.
And the only way to deal with this power that is actually at work behind what we are seeing is in Isaiah 27, verse 1.
Isaiah 27, verse 1.
And these are scriptures we'll be using to pray in the future.
Isaiah 27, verse 1.
In that day the Lord will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword,
Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent, he will slay the monster of that sea.
In that day the Lord will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent,
Leviathan the coiling serpent, he will slay the monster of the sea.
I want to end this bit about Leviathan with just two words.
One, to deal with this particular spirit that has the ability to literally cripple the world.
Like it says in Job 41, who in the world can tame this?
Who in the world can come against this?
Who in the world can make an agreement with it?
Can you put a hook in its nose and take it captive?
The mighty retreat in its presence.
So how do you deal with a power like this?
And I'm not calling it a spirit, I'm actually calling it a power.
How do you deal with a power like this?
You deal with a power like this, one, by being a people who walk in ridiculous humility.
I've got to learn that.
If I want to deal with this, I'll have to learn such humility.
And part of that humility may include fasting and weeping.
People that walk in ridiculous humility. Why?
Because this power is king over the sons of pride.
But it finds ground very slippery when a group of people humble themselves.
When a group of people walk in humility, this spirit finds it very hard to even slither around
because the ground gets very slippery.
We only operate where there is pride.
And then the second thing is we use the mighty sword of Yahweh, which is the word of God.
We begin to use it to slay this monster.
Who are we doing this for?
Guys, the strange thing is at the end of the day, we are in Goshen.
We are under the shadow of the Almighty, in the secret place of the Most High.
But if that is where we want to stay, then that is so sad.
He didn't want heaven without us, so He brought heaven down.
It's our turn. Let heaven come.
We'll talk more about this later.
I was trying to jeevan about it yesterday.
I know this is just anecdotal, so it doesn't really matter.
But I just thought I need to convey this.
I was trying to jeevan about this yesterday.
I wanted to throw up when talking about this because you don't know how wicked this is.
Do you really think that the world can be locked down without there being an invisible demonic power behind it?
This is not God punishing people.
Don't entertain that for a second.
Judgment will first start in the house of the Lord before it goes out into the world.
God is kind. He is kind to people.
This isn't something that He is using as a plague to destroy people. No.
Moving on.
Like I said, these are disjointed but highly important pieces that, when put together, will form the picture that needs to form.
Go ahead. Who is it from?
As read by Jacob, everyone did what was right in his eyes.
This is one thing many Christians struggle with even after becoming believers.
Church leaders also end up having very strong opinion of managing the church and filling God's purpose for them.
Any advice for such division to discern God's will for the common good?
Ask the question again. Just a question. Any advice?
Any advice for such division to discern God's will for the common good?
I don't think there is a problem having opinions that are different.
Once opinions are different, I should be able to handle your opinion and you should be able to handle my answers to your opinion.
As long as I can prove from the word that this is what the nature of God dictates.
So let there be divided opinions in the church.
My God, if there were no divided opinions, we would all be bricks.
If there were no divided opinions, then no one would challenge me.
Everything I said would be scriptural truth.
The reason we have questions and challenges is so that what if I'm making an error?
What if your question is one that is wrong?
So have divided opinions, but once you bring it forth, then we have to look at the word and say, what does God have to say?
And at that time, that is where I find Acts 29 really helpful in my life.
I find that every time you have asked a question, you have asked it never to pull me down, but because the question is genuine.
You don't know what a rarity that is.
And that must be cultivated. That matrix must be cultivated.
Because I've been to other places where people will ask questions, but the question is either to preen your feathers to show how intelligent you are,
or to bring down the guy who is supposed to give the answers.
But the strange thing about Acts 29, and I'm taking a detour here to highly commend this,
is that the questions that are asked have almost never been to either show your caliber or to pull me down.
And when that honor is established, and that takes time to establish in a family, in a home, in a school,
once that is established, guys, God can begin to work because he will bring the truth out through discussions.
This is what you think was happening when Jesus was 12 and he was in the temple.
He was standing there with scribes and Pharisees, and they were having a discussion.
You think they were agreeing with everything that Jesus was saying?
If they were, then there would not have been the need to talk the way they were talking.
It went on for hours, so much so that Jesus lost track of time and lost track of his parents.
So that's my answer. I think, I'm quoting scripture.
Paul said, let there be disagreements. It will show who's right, who's wrong.
Once there are disagreements, let's talk and see what is right.
But my God, in a culture of honor where the intent is to find the truth, and that is so difficult to cultivate,
so difficult to cultivate.
And we keep getting better at it, eh?
Don't think that my pride isn't hurt when you sometimes ask me questions,
and I have to learn how to not swallow my pride, but how to make my pride disappear so that I can handle your questions.
Here's the other point that again is important to make.
Guys, with Elijah in 2 Kings 2 and with Elisha in 2 Kings 6,
in both instances, when they were dying, you would see the chariots of fire and the horses of fire appear.
Elisha saw it, and Joash, the king who was by Elisha's side when Elisha was dying, saw it.
And we always think, oh, chariots of fire, they just take us to heaven.
Not really. Chariots of fire and horses of fire are God's invisible army.
They were God's invisible army, so much so that the powerful Syrian army that had chariots by dozens
could not stand up against God's chariots of fire and horses of fire.
But the ones who bring it forth into a place are an Elijah and Elisha type.
This is not heavy. It's very simple. Let's go to 2 Kings 6.
2 Kings 6, 2 Kings 6, verse 15 onwards.
2 Kings 6, verse 15 onwards.
And it says there, When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning,
an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city.
Oh, my Lord, what shall we do the servant does? Don't be afraid, the prophet answered.
Those who are with us are more than those who are against us.
That's the scripture we often quote. And then look at what he's actually talking about.
Elisha prayed, Oh, Lord, open the eyes that he may see.
Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Chariots and horses of fire stood for Yahweh's invisible forces,
which Elijah afforded to the kingdom of Israel by his spiritual clout and position.
Do you know sometimes, guys, that when I pray for you and this,
sometimes this is when I think the livestream is such a bad idea,
because what I'm going to say will sound so presumptuous if people don't know me.
Guys, you don't realize it, but there are times when I pray for you,
where I take this position of, Father, I have the spiritual authority and the clout required in the spirit realm
to be now protection to this person or that person,
to be now the kind of Elijah who can bring to this person's need either invisible divine forces
or the same kind of protection that Boaz offered Ruth when he spread his skirt over her.
You have no idea how many times I've afforded you that protection.
I'm not saying this to you so that you can owe me something.
I'm saying this to you because it is true.
A church affords its people protection.
A pastor or a person, forget a pastor, a person who knows the spiritual authority can offer protection,
can spread his skirt over, can call invisible forces to the aid of a people
because of the place that he occupies in the spirit realm.
Paul would go to the extent of saying, excommunicate this person, release him from the church,
and once you do, here's what's going to happen to him.
Here's what's going to happen to him.
He will no longer have the protection afforded to him by the body of Christ.
There are places I've gone to where I've taken people with me
and the only reason they were safe was because of the protection they had under my covering.
Be Dano in Bhutan. Be Josh in Christ's church.
Be Legend in Kandy.
Why am I saying this?
I'm saying to you that Acts 29, I believe, has the clout, at least for this city,
to afford this city the help of God's invisible forces and power.
This is such a huge claim to make, but we must back it up now with actual action and prayer.
And the intent is to do that over the next couple of weeks.
I mean, if Trump can say he's a war president,
if presidents can say that we are on a war footing,
then why is it that only the church is not saying anything?
Derek, you have something?
As a church, as house churches, as leaders, Jacob, as the one who leads the church,
will become to the enemy the chariots of Anhoi,
and the enemy the chariots of the city.
And if we can't do that, then why is it that only the church is saying anything?
Why is it that only the church is saying anything?
Jacob, as the one who leads the church, will become to the enemy the chariots and the horses of fire,
and will become to Israel the protection of God.
That's a cool thing. There are so many times I've prayed this prayer,
and it's been highly effective, where I'll say,
God, as I go into this situation with this person, or as I go into this nation,
or as I go into this particular church, or for Acts 29,
today I stand here, Father, as one who to the enemy is the chariots of fire and the horses of fire,
and will oppose the enemy from touching what is happening here.
And to this people, or to this person, or to this land, I shall become protection.
How dare I say that? Because I know my spiritual authority in certain realms today.
And so Acts 29 is not going to be presumptuous in this.
We will only take what God allows us to handle.
But in the small portion that God allows us to handle over the next couple of weeks,
I would say, guys, like we were singing prophetically at the beginning of the service,
arise, O church, arise, so that the north wind may blow across the garden,
so that the fragrance of Christ may bring life in a place where the aroma of death is spreading.
Arise, my love, arise. Song of song suddenly becomes a song of war.
This is what we are called for, guys.
Do you suddenly realize the times you're living in?
Like Mordecai, we should begin to say, Esther, get up!
I didn't know this. I was talking to Chantal's mom, and she was telling me that
Mordecai was probably visiting the palace once a day for a year, man.
Wanting to find out about Esther, wanting to find out about Esther, wanting to find out about Esther.
What kind of consistency is that?
And then one day, finally, he gets word that people are going to be destroyed.
May we be consistent through this time, man. May it not be from Sunday to Sunday.
My God, the fire that is in my belly now better be there tonight and tomorrow morning and tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow night.
This is like playoffs.
Playoffs. It's like hockey playoffs.
Yeah. Well, not everything connects.
Three more subheadings, and then we'll go somewhere else.
Guys, restoration.
Some of the things, you remember when I started preaching on Zechariah 8, and then I stopped?
I got stuck at a worst because I did not know what to do with it.
I even prepared the teaching. I even prepared the teaching.
I even prepared the teaching.
I didn't know what to do with it.
I even prepared the teaching, and then I just felt God saying, don't teach it, don't teach it yet.
You don't have the full picture.
Zechariah 8 was given to us on September 27th, where God said, this is a chapter that Acts 29 will walk in in 2020.
I remember the first time I read it out was at Josh and Charlene's house just after they got the house.
And I started reading Zechariah 8 and explaining it.
Some of you were there that night.
And in Zechariah 8, there's a strange verse that I'm going to claim for the city,
for different parts of the world, as God's plan of restoration.
So if you go to Zechariah 8, and this is the verse I got stuck at, and I couldn't go further,
because I'm thinking to myself, how do I talk about this?
What exactly does it mean?
And it says in Zechariah 8, verse 4 to 7, and first read 4 to 7, this is what the Lord Almighty says once again.
And this was for 2020.
This is what the Lord Almighty says.
Once again, men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with cane in hand because of his age.
The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.
This is what the Lord Almighty says.
It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to me?
declares the Lord Almighty.
This is what the Lord Almighty says.
I will save my people from the countries of the East and the West.
I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem.
They will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.
You should read it, man.
Put Vancouver in that.
Put Bahrain in that.
Put different places in that.
But if that was given to us in September 2019 for 2020, then I'm beginning to claim this as what should happen.
And when should this happen?
Go to verse 19.
I would say let's start praying.
Again, the word of the Lord Almighty came to me.
This is what the Lord Almighty says.
The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah.
Therefore, love, truth, and peace.
And I pray that things begin to happen even in the month of April.
That the fourth month be the beginning of a turnaround because of a promise that was given to us last year for 2020,
saying a time of restoration is coming where the young and the old, once again men and women of ripe old age,
will sit in the streets of Vancouver, each with cane in hand because of his age.
The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.
Man, if a reymar was given one year, I mean six months ahead of time,
this is when a people will either get excited and sing worship songs about it or will pray and practice it.
Go to 2 Kings 17, 2 Kings 17, 24-29, 2 Kings 17, 24-29.
There's a way that we will have to behave.
We will have to think.
We will have to act.
We will have to speak during this crisis.
You must take this to heart.
It is impossible to behave, think, speak and act unless we lose our fear.
Dwell in Psalm 91.
Receive promises from God either from the word of let there be reymar given to you,
words of life that you can hold on to, that you can take a stand with.
I remember before I went on my last trip, I remember receiving this word from God
that I have stood on for the last four weeks and I am not afraid.
I am not afraid.
I am so not afraid.
Not afraid of giving you anything, not afraid of receiving anything,
but that which is good from your life and that which is good to give you from my life.
I will follow the rules because I seek the welfare of the city
and I am someone who understands and follows order.
We have to be a certain kind.
The story not too many of us have read, a fascinating story.
2 Kings 17, verse 24 onwards.
Don, I need some hot water, man.
2 Kings 17, 24-29.
The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon,
Qutah, Avah, Hamath and Sefarvain,
and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites.
They took over Samaria and lived in its towns.
When they first lived there, they did not worship the Lord,
so he sent lions among them and they killed some of the people.
It was reported to the king of Assyria.
The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria
do not know what the God of that country requires.
He has sent lions among them which are killing them off
because the people do not know what he requires.
Then the king of Assyria gave this order.
Have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria
go back to live there and teach the people what the God of the land requires.
So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria
came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the Lord.
I want the kings of Assyria.
I want the Assyrians to come and ask Jacob,
Jacob, how shall we live?
How shall we live?
I remember a Muslim gentleman from 25 years ago
once asking me this question when I was going through
an amazing, adventurous, difficult time.
His question was, Jacob, tell me something.
How does your God talk because mine does not?
I want that same thing to happen for us, to us.
Show us the ways of your God in this land
because there's a lion roaming around
devouring whomever steps out into the streets.
Tell me how you live.
Find opportunities, guys.
Present yourself to God every morning.
Open those doors and windows and declare the name of Christ to begin with
like Daniel did.
Present yourself to God every morning.
Stand before the Holy Spirit and say,
Holy Spirit, this morning I receive you.
Why? That I may bear witness to Christ.
This is important. I do.
I've started doing this on a regular basis.
I stand before you. Come down.
Guys, Dawn is bringing a cup of water.
This is Dawn.
This is Dawn again.
Okay.
And at the end of the day, if you look at Malachi 2, verse 7,
I love what it says in Malachi 2, 7 about priests.
It says, one must find knowledge on the lips of the priest.
Malachi 2, 7. Malachi 2, 7.
God is so brilliant, man.
You think he is caught by surprise by any of this?
Malachi 2, verse 7.
For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge,
and from his mouth men should seek instruction,
because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty.
For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge,
and from his mouth should men seek instruction,
because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty.
I say to you, may you not find your information
solely from Fox or CNN or Global or CTV or Facebook.
May it inform you, but may you and I spend time
shaping and forming our thoughts,
so that when questions come at us,
the answers we give are sound bites that carry in it.
Precious gold.
Let it be like hand sanitizer. Precious.
You put one drop, but it cleanses a person's hand.
Guys, all we'll get is sound bites.
I remember Chad telling me this.
Jacob, it is so hard to speak to the media,
because you get only 20 seconds.
If you start with, oh, I'm a follower of Jesus,
that's all they'll get.
You have to learn how to prepare what you're going to say
ahead of time, so that in 20 seconds,
they get interested and give you two minutes.
I get 20 seconds in an elevator from P4 to Flo 21.
In those 20 seconds when someone says something about coronavirus,
my usual response is, yeah, terrible.
Oh, man, what to do? We are all stuck in our houses.
Really? That's what you were supposed to say?
And I step out of the elevator thinking,
you're just like everybody else.
Words of life, man.
Poke me and out comes words of life.
Shape what you say.
Knowledge should be found on the lips of priests,
because men seek instruction,
because you are the messenger of the Lord.
Fast from F.B. Fox and CNN.
Find the ways of God every few days
so that you can shape your understanding,
so that when someone says it's a Chinese conspiracy,
when someone makes a remark that it is the punishment of God,
when someone says, oh, I heard about Leviathan,
know how to avoid certain things and say certain things.
I'm not going around talking about Leviathan
every time I meet somebody.
That was just for our consumption,
and to put it out there in the world,
because I know what the Lord said yesterday.
Put it out in the world,
because I'm asking others to do the same,
and people will catch on.
And I have people in every nation
who will rise and begin to pray a certain way.
That is all sometimes we are, eh?
We're just a trumpet that's announcing something.
Last point, which is the title of this teaching.
Who touched me? Who touched me?
Luke 8.45. You know the story.
Jesus was in a crowd.
There was a woman with the issue of blood.
Reaches out, touches him, and he says, who touched me?
And at the end of the day, guys,
I was taken back to this simple thing
that God said to us at the beginning of the year.
He said, Acts 29, remember what this year is.
This is the year of the Holy Spirit.
When we didn't know about coronavirus,
when we didn't know about any of this,
we knew one thing, that this was the year of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 10, verse 38.
And Jesus Christ went about,
and Jesus Christ was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power.
And he went about healing those that were harassed by the devil.
Bill Johnson put it this way,
the Holy Spirit is in me for my sake,
but the Holy Spirit is upon me for your sake.
The Holy Spirit is in me for my sake.
The Holy Spirit is upon me for your sake.
Jesus Christ was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power,
as in he was upon him the Holy Spirit,
dwelt for the sake of others.
Man, the Holy Spirit is upon me for the sake of those around me.
So, yes, I understand.
If people want to stay at a distance,
I'll let them stay six feet away.
But as they stay six feet away, my words still carry life.
I must learn over this time to create opportunities.
Based on people's faith and your faith,
based on people's willingness and your willingness,
lay hands and pray.
Pray over the phone.
Pray at six feet distance.
But I must not forget that long before any of this happened,
the Spirit of God said to us,
listen, this year, Acts 29, is my year.
It's the year of the Holy Spirit.
And if it is the year of the Holy Spirit,
I want to see God blaze through this church,
blaze through the ones who are listening,
blaze through the ones who will listen to this
three weeks from now, four weeks from now.
But Spirit of God,
they must say, who touched me because something...
I mean, go to Luke 8.45.
I don't want to preach, man. I want to teach.
But sometimes I'm...
How can you not preach when you see scriptures like this?
Luke 8, verse 45.
As Jesus was on his way,
the crowds almost crushed him.
And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years,
but no one could heal her.
She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak,
and immediately her bleeding stopped.
Who touched me, Jesus asked.
When they all denied it, Peter said,
Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.
But Jesus said, someone touched me.
I know that power has gone out from me.
Someone touched me. I know that power has gone out from me.
I pray, God, that Father, you make it possible
for this church, in its going out and coming,
every day, to be able to affect people's lives,
because we pray up in the morning,
saying, Spirit of God, I receive you.
Let me be a witness to Christ.
Let people be affected about.
Let handkerchiefs and let aprons that touch us
become to others a source of comfort,
a source of healing, a source of deliverance.
Oh, God, in this time of darkness,
let Isaiah 60, verse 1 and 2,
begin to blaze.
Blaze, Spirit of God, we cannot do this.
It is impossible for flesh and blood to accomplish this.
But I believe that the words that have been spoken today
are words of Spirit and life.
The flesh profits nothing.
I say, oh God, let Isaiah 60, verse 1 and 2,
go into effect.
Arise and shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of God has risen upon you.
The earth was covered with great darkness,
but in the midst of that great darkness,
there has arisen a light,
and that light is Christ,
comes through our people,
and he shall cover the earth with his glory
as the waters cover the seas.
Let it be so, oh God.
Let it be so through your people.
Oh, God, let this fire not be doused by me.
Let it begin to rage, oh God,
for the sake of those made in your image,
so that I see myself as one who is
continuously distributing the very life of God
through my words and through my presence.
I pray, Father, that we become aware
of your presence in us,
so that we become aware that our presence
affects those around us.
Father, change me where I need to change,
in my attitude, in my facial expressions,
in my humility.
Change me. Do whatever you want,
but let me become an aroma,
not of death, but a fragrance of life.
Let me not join in conversations
that continue to perpetuate, oh God,
the gloom that has been brought by Leviathan,
but let me begin to now spread, Father,
the fragrance of life through my words,
through my smile, through my expressions,
through where I go, through receiving you
and then distributing you.
God, I don't even know how to pray this further.
I'm going to sing that song, Father.
Hear these praises.
I'm going to sing that right now.
So I'm going to ask the worship team to come up.
Hey, Church, if you're still watching, great.
I don't know how long the service has gone,
but we'll break bread in a short while,
and then we'll end.
And then all the meetings for this week
are going to be in the next week.
Thank you.