Wisdom in War 1

The title today is Wisdom in War. We won't be finishing it. We will just go as far as we can and then stop.

Wisdom in War. When we talk about wisdom in war, we are thinking, what do you mean war? We are not engaged in any kind of war.

But that's not what Ephesians 6.12 says. In Ephesians 6.12, if you read it—and I know you know it—but just read it again.

Ephesians 6.12. This is the condition that we find ourselves in as long as we are here on the earth.

And so, starting at verse 10, finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Other versions say, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against powers of this dark world,

against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. It's almost like it's divided into four categories. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against powers of this dark world, against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms.

Therefore, put on the armor of God. So it's not that anyone is exempt from what is happening. This is your matrix.

The advantage we have is that we are wrestling with an enemy that has been disarmed. So if you go to Colossians 2.15—Colossians is after Philippians—Colossians 2.15.

It says there, and having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. So it's an enemy that has been triumphed over by Christ, has been disarmed, but we still are in an actual war with this disarmed foe.

Which is why he's suggesting that we even—not suggesting, he's commanding us to wear an armor so that we know how to deal with our present condition.

And you'll be surprised at how so much of our present condition is actually a result of this onslaught that is continuous. And that's what I just want to touch on today.

And in this teaching, it'll add to what Thuney taught last week, because what Thuney taught last week, if I don't add this to it, will be incomplete.

So what Thuney was teaching last week, and I listened to it, this part, if it's not added to Thuney, leaves Thuney's teaching incomplete. So this is like almost a second part to it.

Because when we talk about warfare, we have to figure out where things are coming from, and not everything can be piled under one category.

So we'll examine the different categories so we understand. So let there be no doubt about whether God thinks we are in this situation or not.

Turn to Judges 3, verse 1-4. Judges 3, 1-4. Let there be no doubt about stuff like that. It's silly to have doubts about these things, the scriptures speak about it very clearly.

Judges 3:1–4

Judges 3, verse 1-4. In fact, God wants to prepare us for this. And when we don't prepare for this, then it's like being beaten by a disarmed foe.

Judges 3:1–4

Judges 3, verse 1-4. And it says that, these are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan.

Judges 3:1–4

He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience.

The five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, the Hevites, living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath,

they were left there to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord's command which he had given their forefathers through Moses.

God wants people to be battle ready. It's not even a choice.

Second, Proverbs 21, verse 22. I'll read it from the Passion Translation.

Proverbs 21:22

If I read anything from the Passion Translation, it's because I've compared it to the other translations and it holds true, otherwise I will not read it.

So Proverbs 21, verse 22. Let me read the ESV first or the NIV first.

Proverbs 21:22

It says, A wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.

The Passion Translation says, A warrior filled with wisdom ascends into the high place and releases regional breakthrough, bringing down the strongholds of the mighty.

There is this need to understand that one of the things God wants us to do as a church, especially given all that has happened in the last one and a half hours,

that we use wisdom because one of the best ways to wage war is with wisdom.

Just so you know the character of God, Exodus 15, 9-11.

I'm putting to rest once and for all this notion that I hear often from, I mean I know one pastor who keeps saying,

we don't want to focus on the enemy. True, we don't want to focus on the enemy, but we are not.

We are talking about who God is and who he wants his people to be.

So Exodus 15, 9-11 and then verse 3. Exodus 15, 9-11.

This is what Satan does. He has been saying the same words from the ancient times.

Exodus 15, 9-11. The enemy boasted, I will pursue, I will overtake them, I will divide the spoils, I'll gorge myself on them, I will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them.

But you blew them with your breath and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

And just so you know who the you is who blew with his breath, goes to verse 3.

The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name. He even gives himself the name of being a warrior.

Next one. Ecclesiastes 9, 13-18. Ecclesiastes 9, 13-18. Again, it's how wisdom can help beat the enemy. Ecclesiastes 9, 13-18.

I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me.

There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it.

Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered the poor man.

So I said, wisdom is better than strength. But the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are no longer heeded.

The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war. Wisdom is better than weapons of war.

One of the ways we fight the enemy is through the wisdom of God.

And so when we talk about wisdom in war, it's the ability to know.

What do you mean by wisdom? How do you define wisdom? It's factual knowledge.

It's divine perspective. It's situational insight.

And it is God's way of thinking about a situation and how he plans to resolve it.

Hear me again. It is factual knowledge.

And this can be with everything from disease to finances to evangelism to enjoyment to everything that was taken away in the Garden of Eden can be restored.

Not fully. Already not yet. But we work towards it.

So here's what wisdom is. Wisdom is factual knowledge. So we are aware of facts.

It's situational insight. Where God provides the knowledge. Listen, I know what you're seeing, Jacob, but these are the facts.

God deals with facts also. God prefers, God trumps facts with truth, but God deals with facts also.

He has a way of overcoming every fact with the truth. That is the definition of a miracle, a sign or a wonder.

But God deals with facts. So he gives you factual knowledge. Then he gives you situational insight.

As in in this situation, you, Jacob, here's an example. A man comes to your shop.

Three men come to your shop. They all steal an apple. Fact. They all stole an apple.

Situational insight. Jacob, one needed it for his child. One needed it because he was hungry.

One needed it because he just wanted to steal and do you harm. Divine perspective.

Jacob, this is how I want you to deal with number, man A, man B, man C.

And the last one, the ability to resolve it in the way that God thinks.

Jacob, I want you to give that man two apples. Give this man four apples and tell him to bring his son

and tell that man that if he ever comes into your shop again, you're going to report him.

This is how the wisdom of God works. Four things that go into effect at once.

This kind of wisdom, you can fight any war. Any war.

This kind of wisdom, you can fight your diseases.

This kind of wisdom, you can repair your marriage.

This kind of wisdom, you can deal with your boss.

This kind of wisdom, you can deal with your visa problems.

This kind of wisdom will give you financial breakthrough quy

This kind of wisdom will help you deal with a demonic, whether it be during times of worship or during times of dryness.

during times of dryness.

This kind of wisdom will get you through.

And if you think for a second

that we are not waging a war,

then that's like a soldier with blinds on.

It's continuous in all around you,

but it is with a disarmed foe, so it becomes easier.

Proverbs 24, verse five and six.

Proverbs 24, verse five and six.

Proverbs 24, verse five and six.

Again, reading from the passion translation.

Wisdom can make anyone into a mighty warrior,

and revelation knowledge increases strength.

Wise strategy is necessary to wage war.

And with many astute advisors,

you will see the path to victory more clearly.

One last one, just so we know

that we are dealing with this reality,

even in the New Testament,

because what if you say these are all Old Testament scriptures?

Romans chapter 16, Romans 16, verse 19 and 20.

Romans 16 · chapter mention Romans 16:19

Romans 16, 19 and 20.

For your obedience is known to all,

so that I rejoice over you.

But I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent,

as to what is evil.

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

Will soon crush, hasn't happened yet.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Finally, one other scripture that shows us

that we are in a battle because we've been provided weapons

is 2 Corinthians 10,

verse three to six.

2 Corinthians 10, verse three to six.

For though we walk in the flesh,

we are not waging war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,

but have the divine power to destroy strongholds.

We destroy arguments in every lofty opinion,

raised against the knowledge of God,

and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

being ready to punish every disobedience

when your obedience is complete.

It's a complicated words, but the fact still remains

that God provides us weapons to wage this war.

So we have to move from just being prophetic

or just being seers to being sages.

The difference between a seer and a sage

is that the seer has to see before he knows what to do.

A sage gathers wisdom.

And there aren't too many sages left here on earth.

Everything is instant.

Becoming a sage takes time.

Some of you should plan for this.

Some of you should decide that I want to gather wisdom

so that when I leave the earth,

I can bequeath it to others who have the same hunger.

The prophetic is highly attractive.

I'm not despising it at all, I love it.

But the prophetic is highly attractive to this generation

because it is instant delivery

of something that God is seeing.

Well, the idea of raising sages

is this idea of gathering wisdom.

It is the main thing.

It has to be sought.

And you learn it from your own fathers

who sit you down and teach you how to.

Proverbs chapter four, verse three.

Solomon is talking about how he gained wisdom.

You should read it, it is so beautiful.

Proverbs chapter four, verse three.

Proverbs four, verse three.

When I was a boy at my father's knee,

the pride and joy of my mother,

he would sit me down and drill me,

take this to heart, do what I tell you,

live, sell everything and buy wisdom.

Forage for understanding.

Don't forget one word, don't deviate an inch.

Don't forget one word, don't deviate an inch.

Never walk away from wisdom.

She guards your life.

Love her, she keeps her eye on you.

Above all and before all, do this.

Get wisdom, write this at the top of your list.

Get understanding.

It's become a prayer of mine every morning.

Oh God, I need your wisdom today.

I need your wisdom to deal with each person.

I need your wisdom to deal with each situation.

Why?

Because he'll give me supernatural grasp of factual knowledge.

He'll give me situational insight into why.

He'll give me divine perspective and resolve as to how.

And anybody who asks, James chapter one, verse five,

says without any shadow of doubt,

I will not hold back if you ask me.

Do that before you get to your WhatsApps

and your Facebooks and all that stuff, eh?

You know what'll happen if you go first to wisdom?

You'll stop thumping through your phone

for every conspiracy theory on everything

that you so readily do, sometimes while I'm preaching.

In the words of Bob Newhart, stop it!

Okay, Mike knew who that was, nobody else did,

but that's okay.

Yeah, you want a reference on what I just said?

Ask Mike, yeah?

Wisdom is an ancient voice, guys.

It's a voice that creates, it's a voice that commands.

And you will hear it when you turn to your left or your right.

Isaiah 30, verse 21.

Isaiah 30:21

Isaiah 30, verse 21.

Isaiah 30:21

As you walk with me, says the Lord,

you turn left or you turn right,

you will hear a voice saying, walk here.

Wisdom is an ancient voice.

It's a commanding, creating voice.

Ask for it, we need it during these times, eh?

In what lies ahead of us.

So, when we look at these things that happen to us

on a daily basis, weekly basis, monthly basis,

here are some of the things that we need to understand.

So we know how to separate things

and not lump them together under one category.

So, we need to look at what is a trial.

We need to look at how do we deal with

things

hurled by the enemy.

We need to look at what is a temptation.

We need to look at when we are being incited

so that we don't get incited

like David was incited with the census.

We need to know when something is disciplined.

And we won't get through it,

but this will continue next week.

We need to know when something is a test from God.

Only God tests, the Satan doesn't test.

We need to know when something is a test from God.

We need to know what is a test from God.

We need to know when something is persecution.

And we need to know when something is pride.

These are the different levels at which things happen

to every one of us.

All of us go through this on almost a daily or weekly basis.

All of us, nobody is exempt.

This then allows us to know

what needs to be warred against,

what needs to be corrected,

what needs to be repented of.

Otherwise you put everything under repentance

or everything is correction or everything as Satan

or everything as war.

It's not.

We need to break it into these categories.

And so we might get through one.

And as we go through the first one, which is trials,

we might get through two categories.

The first one is trials, which is trials.

Please try not to fall into the pit of condemnation.

Trials.

And we'll try and look at the life of David

as we talk about this, because David was a man

who both was a warrior and he was a man after God's heart.

He's just the best example to choose,

because he was both.

And there was blood on his hands.

And yet he was also someone who was a man after God's heart.

And he was obviously a man of wisdom,

because Solomon says,

I sat on my dad's knee and I learned wisdom.

Solomon was taught by David.

David is the one who instructed him.

Sometimes you need to build a man.

Sometimes you need to build wisdom into a man

before the man can use wisdom to build a city.

Sometimes you need to build wisdom into a man.

That is very hard.

It's easy to find an architect.

It's hard to find an architect with wisdom.

It's easy to find a pastor.

It's hard to find a pastor who has wisdom built into him

because he sat and learned.

And then there's this guy,

this guy named Minton Marsalis.

He's a very famous jazz saxophonist.

And he was a guy who has lived on forever

and sings blues and jazz.

Anyways, in one of the songs he says,

if a preacher needs to go to school before he can preach,

then all he is is an educated fool.

The point being that it is easy to find people

without wisdom to do a job well,

but it takes forever to build someone with wisdom.

Takes two generations sometimes.

David had to build wisdom into Solomon

so that Solomon had the wisdom

to seek God to build a temple.

I don't know why I'm laboring that point,

but maybe it is so that when you raise people,

you raise them by making wisdom a chief thing

that you put in them.

I love how some of you pray.

I listen to some of you pray and I think to myself,

you're only 27 or 28.

Where are you getting this wisdom from?

Marvels.

It can't be your age.

You're too young to pray like that.

How come you're praying like that?

Because you've learned something about God.

Another way of defining wisdom is

a wise person is someone who lives in God's world,

in God's ways, with God's thinking amongst God's people.

A wise person is someone who lives in God's world,

in God's ways, with God's thinking, with God's people.

And he speaks, and he examples, and he influences others

because that's the way he thinks.

So when we talk about trials,

please try not to feel condemned

because as we talk about this,

please understand that I'll try my best

not to convey condemnation the way I teach and in my tone.

But if you begin to feel condemned,

just brush it away because it's just the father saying,

hey, listen, I know you're going through trials.

Could it be one of these?

Examine it.

We've become so namby-pamby with believers

that we think to talk about sin or to examine oneself

is a terrible thing.

No, Psalm 139 talks about it.

Search me, oh God, I know my heart today.

See if there is any wicked way in me.

We've completely shelved that.

It's cheap grace.

One of the first places that you should look

when trials are happening is yourself.

It's not condemnation.

It is not self abasement.

It is, if I can get that out of the way,

I can go and look at other things.

So please don't feel condemned as we go down this list.

First, trials happen because of bucking.

I'm just using the B word everywhere.

So bucking order.

Bucking order means throwing off order.

And where we see it is in 2 Samuel 6, verse three to eight,

and that's when David decides

to bring the ark into Jerusalem.

But he knows the protocol.

He knows how it actually works.

He has been taught right from when he was young

that the ark must be brought on the shoulders of Levites.

Instead, in his enthusiasm and his passion

and he being a man after God's heart,

he instead brings the ark like the Philistines did it.

The Philistines captured the ark

and they would put it on the back of a cart pulled by oxen.

And David began to do it the same way.

David brings it in and as he brings it in,

the oxen stumble, Uzzah and Ahiyyot touch the ark

and they die instantly.

And David is very upset, but he also knows why it happened.

Some trials come because we buck order

or we break order.

When you disrupt,

when you disrupt God ordained order

or God arranged order or process,

and you try and steady or shake,

steady or shake what you are not appointed to,

then you break the hedge

and the serpent can bite.

And that's in,

and that's in Ecclesiastes 10,8.

So when I break order,

when I disrupt God ordained order or process

and I try to steady or shake what I am not appointed to,

I break the hedge and the serpent can or may bite.

Why?

Because breaking order is one of the favorite things

Satan enjoys because that's what he did.

It's his favorite thing because that's what he did.

He did it in the backyard of heaven

and then he did it in the backyard of Eden.

So some trials are brought on by this.

Second, and after I'm done, we can ask questions.

Second, you can buy into sin.

You can buy into sin.

Why am I using the word buy into sin?

Because God will try to save you from it.

David's life again, you see it in 2 Samuel 11, 25 to 28,

and 2 Samuel 27,

sorry, 2 Samuel 12, verse 7 to 12.

2 Samuel 12:7–12

What are we talking about?

We're talking about Bathsheba.

David was given opportunities to exit the sin.

That'll always be the case.

You'll always, I'll always have an opportunity

to exit sin, but sometimes sin can lead

to costly, irreversible consequences

that God then intervenes and tries to soften

and mitigate, and some trials are because of sin.

And so that's another thing that we need to examine

when trials come our way.

Oh, Jacob, why are you beating me when I'm already down?

I'm not beating you when you're already down.

I'm helping you get out of it.

These are realities.

Why?

Because we have a holy God and we have a Holy Spirit

who convicts us of sin and brings to us the rightness of God.

He does everything, but this is reality.

I may have shared this with you before,

but I've been through this multiple times

where I realized it was something that I did,

and sometimes I had to go repent,

and sometimes repentance was not enough.

Sometimes I had to go to the person that I offended,

and say to the person that I did you harm,

this is what I did.

And once I said that to the person,

I would ask the person, could you pray for me

like Joe prayed for his friends,

because I went and did you harm?

And God would try and stop me,

but I was so caught up in my anger or whatever

that I went and did people harm.

And I remember this pastor called Stefan,

who I spoke against to multiple people,

and then I remember going and saying to him,

I'm sorry, these are the people I spoke to,

would you please pray for me?

And he forgave me and he prayed for me,

and in an instant, 20, 30 seconds,

what I was suffering physically disappeared.

I'm a man of faith, I can pray with faith

for things to disappear, but this was something else.

Sobering message, eh, but it's necessary.

Don't worry, it gets better.

I thought I'd put the bad news first.

Next one, bearing burdens.

Bearing burdens.

We'll just finish this section of trials

and then we'll stop.

Bearing burdens.

Bearing burdens, you'll find it in 2 Samuel 21,

verse one to six.

And then you'll also find it in,

and then the verse is nine to 12.

So here's what happens in this situation.

Bearing burdens is when some trials are burdens

you either take on willingly or inherit unwillingly.

Bearing burdens, it's when some trials

you have taken on willingly

or you inherit unwillingly.

Examples, remember the woman who comes to Elijah,

I think it was Elijah, and she says to him,

alas, alas, master, my husband has died

and he had debts and the debtors are coming

to collect the debt and they're going to take

my two sons as slaves.

And that's when Elijah asks, what do you have in your house?

The story of the oil that keeps running.

And she pays off her debts and he says,

now go and live on the rest.

That was not something she did.

It was something she inherited.

Sometimes you inherited willingly.

There are people in this room that have taken on

the burdens of others, financial burdens, physical burdens.

You've taken it on willingly, why?

Because you think it is your responsibility to discharge.

Once you take on a burden willingly,

there are only two choices,

bear under it graciously or disconnect.

What happens is when we can't bear it anymore

and we start lamenting and getting resentful,

then it becomes a terrible trial.

Some things are inherited unwillingly.

In this scripture, what happens is King Saul,

he killed the Gibeonites in his land.

The Gibeonites had a pact made during Joshua's time saying,

we will serve you, you cannot destroy us.

King Saul killed the Gibeonites.

The mother of the Gibeonites killed,

sat there with the bodies hanging on the tree saying,

I want justice.

David also found out that there was a famine in the land.

He begins to seek God.

There's a trial going on.

The entire land is stricken with famine.

David is praying nothing is happening.

He goes to the Lord and he asks him,

Lord, why is there a famine in the land?

And the Lord says, because there was a God pact

made with the Gibeonites by Joshua.

Your predecessor, King Saul, killed the Gibeonites

and the land is under a curse for what was done to them.

It was not David's problem.

It was an inherited trial.

And David had to then pay the price for it

so that it'd be lifted up.

But if you take on a burden like that,

then make sure that you're not going to be

in a situation where you're not going to be

in a situation where you're not going to be

in a situation where you're not going to be

at the place where you're going to be.

If you take on a burden like that,

then make sure that you either bear it graciously

or unharness it off you.

How do you unharness things?

You can go and say, I need to mark my boundaries.

I can't do this anymore.

Or you can dissociate like Abraham and Lot did.

like Jacob and Laban did, or you can dissociate like Abraham and Lot did, but deal with it.

Don't lament or get resentful.

All these things apply to all of us in this room.

We are all going through it at some level or the other.

These are trials in our lives.

Next one.

I mean, there are times when I've gone and taken on,

willingly taken on, huge responsibilities,

which if I had not taken on, I could live splendidly.

But there were deliberate, intentional taking ons, and it's okay.

But if my heart ever gets resentful, I go back to saying,

listen, you took this on willingly, now graciously bear under it.

The strange thing is when you graciously bear under it, the Lord begins to provide,

so that even though it is sacrificial, the Lord begins to provide.

It's beautiful.

The next one that causes trials is bad or good seed.

Bad or good seed.

We did this teaching long ago.

Maybe you've done it in your house churches.

Bad or good seed.

In Colossians 6, verse 7 and 8.

Here's what it says, do not be deceived.

God is not mocked.

What a man sows, he reaps.

If he sows to the flesh, he reaps destruction.

If he sows to life, he reaps life.

Some of our trials are just because of habitual sowing for long periods of time.

Good seed, sorry, bad seed.

But the good thing about God is whenever that happens, he comes in any ways and says,

I won't allow this crop to grow because if this crop really grew, you'd be devastated,

so let me save you.

And he comes and takes it out in the middle of the night.

He mitigates the situation completely.

But the fact remains that how do we sow these seeds?

We sow these seeds in two ways.

Our tongue and our action.

The tongue is a spade.

It digs holes and sows bad seed.

Most of the bad seed sown has the tongue to be used.

Slander, gossip, anger, negative opinions, negative thoughts, always expressed, or actions.

But then the same applies to good seed.

When good seed is sown, God says, you know, this can only produce this much of a crop.

He wants me to really pour some rainwater on it.

And he makes it grow like crazy.

And then the last one.

Fallenness of the world.

Fallenness, fallenness of the world.

Actually, there's no...

Fallenness of the world.

Fallenness of the world is when as a result of the fact that we live in a broken world,

in a decaying world, there is cause and effect.

There is death that awaits every person except the last generation before Christ comes.

The fallenness of the world brings us trials.

If you go to Ecclesiastes 12,

Ecclesiastes 12:3–6

verse 3 to 6, oh my God.

If you ever want to feel...

If you're feeling really high and you're on a high and really feeling charged about things

and you want a depressing scripture, go to Ecclesiastes 12, verse 3 to 6.

Ecclesiastes 12:3–6

Yeah?

Especially if you're older than 50, this can get even worse.

Ecclesiastes 12, verse 3 to 6.

Ecclesiastes 12:3–6

When the keepers of the house tremble and the strongmen stoop,

when the grinders seize because they are few.

I counted mine, there are supposed to be 32, but there are only 29.

And those looking through the windows grow dim and the windows are closed.

And those looking through the windows grow dim.

When the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades.

When men rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint.

When men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets.

When the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself along.

The desire no longer is stirred.

The man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets terribly.

It's what happens to you supposedly as you get older.

That's what Solomon, who I think had lost his wisdom by now,

begins to say in Ecclesiastes 12, 3 to 6.

So there's the fallenness of the world that begins to happen.

But I want to show you another scripture,

which kind of not contradicts this, but gives you another side of the story.

Deuteronomy 34, verse 7.

Deuteronomy 34:7

Deuteronomy 34, verse 7.

Deuteronomy 34:7

Solomon didn't live this long, but here is a man who lived long.

Look at how he went out.

Deuteronomy 34, verse 7.

Deuteronomy 34:7

Moses was 120 years old when he died,

yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength cost.

There's always a way around trials, guys.

Any questions? I'll end there.

We'll do dealing with the enemy, temptations, incitement, discipline,

test, persecution, pride.

We'll do all that next time.

Any questions on this?

Trials.

Trials.

Breaking order.

Buying into sin.

Bearing burdens.

Breaking order.

I'm trying to give an example from my life.

Where I broke order.

I didn't pay a price for it, but I was invited to church,

and I was asked to speak at that church on a certain topic.

And the people were very gracious.

I went there, and just before I began to preach,

I felt the Holy Spirit saying,

I want you to speak on this.

And I really trusted that it was the Holy Spirit.

And I decided to go down that road.

After I finished, the person who ran the group came up to me and said,

why did you change the topic when we told you what topic you should speak on?

So I said, but I just felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to preach this.

And the person said, if that was the case,

then why didn't you come and tell me that that was what the Holy Spirit was asking you to speak on?

Don't you know how to operate under order?

I thought to myself, nuts!

The person was absolutely right.

Even if the Spirit of God tells you,

you still go and speak to the person who is in charge.

You don't take things into your own hands.

Example from the Bible, David.

People around him are egging him on, saying,

David, you got Saul at your mercy.

Saul went into the cave to take a leak, and David is in the cave.

And he could have slain Saul then.

And he actually cuts off a piece of Saul's robe.

And then he begins to regret it because he knows that he shouldn't have done it.

And he goes out and he stands and Saul is on a cliff and he says,

Saul, I never meant to harm you, but I need you to know that.

I'm even sorry for what I did in cutting off a piece of your robe

because I know you are king and you were placed there by God.

And yet David also knows that Saul is going to end and he will be the next king.

Just because I know something, just because I might be better

still does not give me the right to break the arrangement that God has.

It applies to our homes, it applies to our marriages,

it applies to government, it applies to civil authority,

it applies to church, it applies to any arrangement that is of God.

And the amount of times we do this and bring unnecessary hassle into our life is stupid.

Many of the things that we deal with can be dealt with by dealing with this.

Feel free to ask questions because I won't teach anymore.

So, if the son shall not be an orphan, neither shall the father be an orphan.

Can I only pass that with sin that passed down from generation to generation?

Yeah, so I don't think sin can be passed down from generation to generation.

I think the same temptation is offered from generation to generation.

Yeah, so if my father was a drunkard and he was not,

then I will be offered the same option to drink.

And so then I might fall for it and so it continues.

All it takes is one generation to stand up and say, no.

Any other questions?

So, I would suggest to you that you go home and look at some of the trials you're going through

and without feeling condemned, first thing to do is go and stand before God and say,

I know that you don't condemn, that you are not evil, you do not condemn.

Fathers do not condemn their children, you do not condemn.

I know you said, there is no condemnation for me.

There is no passing of sentence and despising and setting me aside, it's not there.

Now that I know that, I want to come to you and say,

these trials I'm going through, do you want to put your finger and say,

perhaps you need to fix this Jacob?

And if you do, I'll do it willingly because I know that's your solution for it.

Go down that route.

Yeah?

Cool.

It's overwhelming if you stand here and you say, yeah,

and not a muscle moves on anyone's face.

It's powerful stuff, man.

And yet God sees us as having plateaued.

He doesn't know that your face has plateaued about 18 years ago.

But let's just pray.

If there is one thing that you want us to focus on, what would that be?

If there is one thing that I would like to focus on from this message or from today?

From the message.

From the message it would be, do not shy away from examining yourself

when trials come or trials are around you.

Do not shy away from examining yourself.

It is not condemnation.

It is scriptural.

It is a God trait.

Search me, O God.

Try me, O God.

Test me, O God.

This is later on carried into 1 Corinthians 11.

When you come to break bread, examine yourself.

So that you are not judged.

And because you do not examine yourself,

many of you end up sick or dying.

The table of grace suddenly becomes a table where people fall sick and die.

That's crazy.

And yet there is grace available to immediately raise you from both sin and death.

It is scriptural.

It is part of a holy God.

If our God was not holy, if he was a Krishna or a this or a that,

then no problem.

But he is not.

He is holy and just, therefore he is merciful and forgiving.

If he wasn't holy and just, no need of mercy, no need of forgiveness.

That's what I would focus on.

Okay, let's pray.

Jesus.

The reason I asked Diana from the message or from today is because what you've done today is pretty remarkable.

First, in the middle of worship, you said,

I'm getting you ready to move on.

That you will create a breach.

That we are entering another level.

If you want to enter this level, ask me.

I'll help you.

I'll help you.

Keep saying that again and again.

And then Michael Scantleberry comes up and he spent a sleepless night last night

and he texts me this morning saying,

I want to come to your church.

I need to say something to the worship team.

What he had to say coincides with what we were doing during worship, Abba.

And we received that word.

You said we've plateaued, not in a way of you've gone dull or you've just stagnated.

No, you're saying, where you're at, there's nothing more to do.

That's brilliant.

And you're saying, okay, now let me take you elsewhere

and you will break the breach and go through it.

So we receive that with great gratitude.

And then help us examine ourselves fearlessly before a loving father.

In Jesus' name.

Never forget that story, guys.

Four children spill paint in the father's storehouse, store room.

One child runs and dives under the blankets and says,

I'm terrible, I'm terrible.

No, the first child runs under the blanket and says,

as long as I'm under these blankets, everything will disappear.

I don't have to worry about it.

Second child, I'm lousy, I'm terrible.

I should not be a child.

I should be thrown out.

Third child, it wasn't my fault.

It was Dishaldi's fault.

He was the one who told us to go and play in the store room.

Fourth child goes up to the father and says to the father,

we spilled paint.

And the father says, do you know what your dad is known for?

And the child says, you're an inventor.

He says, you know dad's greatest invention?

The child says, no.

He says, dad invented the world's best paint remover.

And then the dad grabs the boy's hand,

goes, collects all the other children, one under the blanket,

one cursing himself, one girl blaming others

and they all go into the store room

and they take the world's best paint remover

and they spray the store room and it becomes clean.

Please, as you deal with this, be the fourth child.

Okay, cool.