City within the City: Occupy

In Amos 9, verse 11,

Amos 9:11

Cool. We go back to that series we were doing on the city in the city,

as in the church is a city in the city.

Today we talk about this idea of how do you occupy the city that you are in.

In Amos 9, verse 11, which is then repeated in Acts 15,

Amos 9:11

around verse 15, there's this thing that God says where He says,

I will raise up the tent of David.

I was trying to find the scripture in the Bible, and I was trying to Google it,

and I was wondering why I wasn't getting it because I kept writing,

I'll raise up the rent of David.

I brought back all kinds of...

So every time I wrote tent, I was writing rent, and so I'll raise up the rent of David,

and that didn't work too well.

So I will raise up the tent of David that has fallen,

and I'll repair its breaches,

repair its breaches,

raise up its ruins,

and rebuild it like the days of old,

rebuild it like the days of old.

This was in Amos 9, verse 11, and the intent of God in doing this was

Amos 9:11

so that Edom, which is another way of saying ends of the earth,

or Gentiles, or unbelievers,

is just another way of saying that,

so that Edom, or the ends of the earth, or the Gentiles, or the non-believers,

can seek and call on My name.

And so this was said in Amos 9, verse 11,

Amos 9:11

and later on Peter repeats it in Acts 15, verse 15,

Acts 15:15

when they are having an argument at the Jerusalem Council

once Paul comes back with the new mission approach,

which says you can go and preach to the Gentiles.

And so what was God talking about when He said, I'll rebuild it like before?

What was so special about David's tent?

And without going into details, we can say that some of the things David did,

what David did was pretty amazing.

The tent used, the ark used to be in the temple,

and he has the audacity to go take the ark,

which is the most sacred thing in the Israelite universe.

He took the ark and he put it on a hill under a tent.

David's tent was really that. It was a tent.

He took the ark, which was the most sacred object in Israel,

and put it under the tent.

And so what was the idea when God is saying, I'll rebuild the tent?

What's He saying?

So here are some of the things David did.

He reconstituted worship.

He just changed how worship was done.

He appointed 288 prophetic worshipers

and maybe around 2,000 others to sing.

It was crazy.

So that is one of the things he did.

Next thing he did was make God's presence the main thing.

People began to realize that it wasn't just the ark, it was the presence of God.

Three, he opened access to God, or to presence.

People could come who had never seen the ark,

because only the priests would go and see the ark.

He opened access for everybody to come and see the ark.

And this is a guy who lived in the Old Covenant.

He should have been scared of doing it.

The only reason he wasn't scared of doing it was because he knew what God wanted.

He opened access to presence to everybody.

He realized that this was transitional.

After all, it was in a tent.

He would then help his son build a temple,

which was built based on patterns that God had given.

And then he would do things only according to blueprints.

He would get blueprints from God, and he taught people that,

listen, you can't just do things based on rules and laws.

You have to receive blueprints from God.

Look at 1 Chronicles 28 in the message.

First Chronicles 28.

Verse 11, 12, and then 19.

Verse 11, 12, and 19.

So this is when David is now getting blueprints from God and saying,

hey, Solomon, I want you to build a temple based on the patterns and blueprints that God has given.

First Chronicles 28, verse 11, reading from the message.

1 Chronicles 28:11

Then David presented his son Solomon with the plans for the temple,

for the temple complex, port, storerooms, meeting rooms, and the place for atoning sacrifice.

You would think, what's the big deal in making a room?

Just make a room.

Verse 12, he turned over the plans for everything that God's Spirit had brought to his mind,

the design of the courtyards, the arrangement of rooms, and closets for storing all the holy things.

And then go to verse 19.

Here's what he says to his son.

Here are the blueprints for the whole project as God gave me to understand it, David said.

How crazy is it that everything he did, he did based on blueprints that he would receive from God?

How do you get an architectural plan from God?

What kind of guy was he that in the old covenant, he knew how to get these things?

How much easier it should be for us?

And so these are the things that he did when he built the tabernacle.

And so God is saying in Amos chapter 9, way after David, and later Peter says in Acts 15,

Amos 9 · chapter mention

but listen, God wants to rebuild.

And I would suggest to you that Acts 29, as in this church, has been practicing this.

We have been rebuilding David's tent in our presence.

We have reconstituted worship.

For us, presence is more important than anything else.

We hunger after it.

We talk about it.

We recognize him right now in this room.

We talked about this last week.

In the radiance and the essence of his nature, he is here.

He's glad we're talking about him.

We've opened access to his presence.

It's not a clergy, lay people thing.

It's not meant for some.

It is open access.

And again, now that it's summer, we'll go public with it.

And when we go public with it now, it'll be better than it was last time.

Because we know more.

Remember how we increase in awareness or how we increase in awareness with nature?

What was it?

Love, practice, knowledge.

We talked about that last week.

And then transitional.

One of the reasons this church may never own a building is because a building will never tell us where to be.

If next week the Lord tells us to move to Kelowna, we'll all have to travel four hours to get there for the service.

Joey will have to sleep much earlier.

And then blueprints.

Most of the things we do have to come through the Spirit of God giving us blueprints.

If we don't have blueprints, we don't do.

Any questions on that?

I just want us to be located.

I want you to see where this church is at.

This is not a boast.

It's just an estimation of where we are at.

Anyone wants to ask any questions or push back on that?

Because this is an important step towards what God wants us to do in this city.

Any questions?

This is worth celebrating, eh?

We did this together.

Don't clap or anything, but recognize it.

This enthusiasm is overwhelming, so keep it down.

But please understand that we've, by the grace of God and by the Spirit of God,

and by our willing participation and passion, have arrived at a place where God wants us to.

It's easy to launch from here.

Any questions?

Okay.

If that's the case, then once the church kind of begins to arrive near God,

let's us have the inheritance appointed to us in the city that we are.

Inheritance is given, though, and it must be possessed.

Inheritance is given, but it must be possessed.

Go to Deuteronomy chapter 1, verse 20 and 21.

Deuteronomy 1:20

Deuteronomy 1, 20 and 21.

Deuteronomy 1, 20 and 21.

Reading from the NIV.

Then I said to you, you have reached the hill country of the Amorites,

which the Lord our God is giving you, giving us.

See the Lord your God has given you the land.

Go up and take possession of it, as the Lord has given you the land.

Take possession of it, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors told you to.

Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged.

The word possess comes from a Hebrew word which means yarish,

and it means to possess by dispossessing.

As in, if you want to possess something,

you have to first dispossess those that occupy that area.

It's the story of Israel.

When they would be given an inheritance,

they would have to go to that place and then dispossess before they could possess.

Today our battle is not against flesh and blood,

but the principle still stands where inheritance needs to be possessed.

This is often the problem with a prophetic word.

A prophetic word is revealing what God has for you.

It's an inheritance given to you,

but now begins the actual work of possessing it.

That's when my laziness, my inconsistency, my entanglements are exposed.

So as long as it's just a prophetic word, it's an inheritance.

It's like giving you land in which there is oil,

and then begins the actual process of drilling for it.

Otherwise you can sit on that land and nothing happens.

And the reason God says, fear not, neither be discouraged,

is because in the process of possessing an inheritance,

you will face opposition.

You will face opposition.

So he says, fear not, neither be discouraged.

Even Psalm 2, verse 8, Jesus had to pay a price.

Psalms 2:8

What does it say in that? Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your heritage,

the ends of the earth as your possession.

And was he opposed? Yeah.

So if the city of Richmond is the inheritance that God is giving to this church,

he may be giving it to others too, but that's between him and them.

But if he's giving the city of Richmond to us as an inheritance,

then a couple of things have to be realized.

There is dispossession involved and there is opposition involved.

Any questions on that? Can you push back on that?

This is, I'll prove it to you from the Bible,

that this isn't some newfangled theory.

It's been in the scriptures forever.

Any? Yeah.

Yeah. So if you go to Acts chapter 19, for instance,

Acts 19 · chapter mention

you have Paul enter the city of Ephesus.

And once he begins to enter the city of Ephesus,

he knows that unless Artemis, who is the ultimate deity in Asia Minor,

where Demetrius the silversmith says they all worship Artemis,

he knows that unless Artemis is dealt with, the darkness or bondage does not lift.

And he begins to go about it.

Some of the evidence that then comes to pass because of his dealing with it is twofold.

One, 50,000 drachmas worth of papyri and magic books and things like that are burnt

and people turn from divination and witchcraft to God.

And that's a conversion that draws people into the kingdom.

And then on the other side, there's Demetrius who's now raising a group of people to riot in Ephesus.

And his words are that, listen, Diana of Artemis, who is well known throughout Asia,

is beginning to lose her reputation because of this troublemaker called Paul.

And so this is a New Testament story.

Leave alone the dispossession and the possession of Israel, which was land related.

We do not wrestle with flesh and blood anymore, like Israel used to.

So it's different when it comes to us.

But Artemis is one example.

Any other questions, guys?

And therefore, because I believe that the only reason we moved to Richmond is because the Lord told us to.

Because when we were in Burnaby, hey, that place was large enough to hold us.

And the rent we paid there and here was the same.

It wasn't for the sake of money that we moved to Richmond.

There's a very specific command saying move to Richmond, and that's why we came here.

Any other questions?

OK.

In which case, whether it be in Corinth or whether it be Athens in Acts 17 or whether it be Ephesus in Acts 19,

ideologies and systems need to be undone.

Ideologies and spiritual systems need to be undone for people to come out of darkness.

To come out of darkness.

And as early as Exodus, we see this happening.

As early as Exodus, we see this.

Where we see the power of Yahweh in collision with the power of Egypt.

We see it that early.

So we need to realize that time and time again throughout scriptures, the Holy Spirit intervenes on two levels.

First is the spiritual invisible.

Second is the spiritual invisible.

And the second is the visible.

Throughout the Bible, there's this pattern of the Holy Spirit.

It's a two dimensional battle that results in liberation.

In the liberty of captives, which is from Isaiah 61.

And we'll talk about that now.

So it always happens on two levels.

There's the invisible spiritual and there is the visible.

And the Holy Spirit is always, all his intervention unfolds on these two levels almost consistently through the spiritual.

And so it's a two dimensional battle which results in the liberty of captives.

Isaiah 61.

And so if we were to look at Egypt, and I know I mentioned this before, but given what we are studying, it's worth remembering again.

Because behind the visible tyranny of Egypt.

Behind the visible tyranny of Egypt.

Behind the visible tyranny of Egypt.

Behind the visible tyranny of Egypt.

Behind the visible tyranny of Egypt were spiritual powers that needed to be subjugated.

To be subdued.

So in Exodus 7.10, you see the snake of the magicians.

Of the magicians being devoured.

And the snake of the magicians in Egypt basically symbolized occult powers that Egypt was famous for.

There were two things that, there were three things in Egypt that were absolute top-run deity divine kind of things.

One, Pharaoh. Two, Ra. Three, the serpent.

They were symbolic of Egypt.

And so when the magicians cast down their rods, and sorry, when Moses casts down his rod and it turns into a serpent,

and the magicians cast down their rods and it turns into serpents in Exodus 7.10, it's actually a battle between powers.

It's a conflict.

And the serpent that Moses creates when he, that Moses' rod becomes a serpent, that devours the others.

It's actually a battle that is happening there.

The plagues were a way of saying, your gods, the plagues were a way of saying, your gods are judged and defeated.

That's what is happening through all ten plagues.

You read about this in Exodus 12, verse 12, that Egypt's gods were being judged and defeated.

Exodus 12:12

We're talking about 4,000 years ago.

So the Nile was believed to be the sacred abode of a Nile god called Hapi.

The Nile was believed to be the sacred abode of the Nile god Hapi.

In the first plague, the Nile god died, turned bloody red.

In the second plague, frogs were supposed to be the symbol of the god of fertility called Hecet.

And suddenly, the goddess of fertility multiplied beyond control.

In the fifth plague, livestock began to die.

I'm just skipping some. In the fifth plague, livestock began to die.

The bull was sacred to the god called Apis.

The cow was sacred to the god called Isis.

The ram was sacred to the god called Amon.

Even today in most religions, animals represent deities or vehicles that the gods use to transport themselves.

Which is why the building of a sacred calf, of the golden calf in the desert, was inviting people back to the gods of Egypt.

It wasn't just something that happened by chance.

It was a very deliberate act where there was Yahweh, and then there is a sacred, sorry, a golden calf that they built, which was reminding people, let's go back to Egypt.

This place sucks.

This place sucks.

Let's go back to not just the lentil and the soup of Egypt, but let's go back to the gods of Egypt.

And so, when livestock began to die, it was the death of multiple gods that was happening there.

In the ninth plague, and this is when it gets seriously interesting.

In the ninth plague, Ra, which was one of the highest deities in Egypt, was blotted out of the sky.

That must have been like terribly frightening.

Every morning in different religions all across the earth, people wake up in the morning to do all kinds of worship of the sun god.

It is common to almost every religion in the world.

There is some element of the worship of sun god.

Ra was supposed to be the sun god of Egypt and was one of the highest deities in the Egyptian pantheon of gods.

Just imagine, you get up to go and worship the sun god that you have and your ancestors have worshipped for years, and suddenly it gets blotted out of the sky.

Total darkness.

Such deep darkness that it begins to frighten people.

That is the ninth plague.

The tenth plague, Pharaoh and his sons got their authority to rule because they were supposed to be a divine line of kings.

That was their, it was a divine right to rule.

I met people like this.

I remember going, meeting a man in Indonesia who comes from a divine line of kings and every so often, so please don't think this is something of the past.

This man who later became a believer would go up into a tower and spend time with a demonic deity called Rato Kiddo.

I'm talking about a few years ago.

Till he met Christ and gave his life to Jesus.

So this is as real now as it was then.

And so the death of Pharaoh's son is profound because what you're saying is that the son of their god, Pharaoh, died.

It was literally like the son of God dying.

And that was the ultimate blow.

Once that happened, you know, Egypt knew there was no escape.

This conflict of powers is still happening.

So it was in Ephesus.

So it was with Artemis.

So it was in Thyatira with Jezebel.

So it was with, there are a few more examples that I can give you.

So having defeated, having defeated the powers of Egypt, having defeated the powers of Egypt in the heavenly realm,

the Lord broke the bondage in the physical realm, drowning Pharaoh's chariots.

And Hossman.

Crazy.

It goes back to what we were saying earlier, two dimensional, first in the invisible spiritual, then in the visible.

Any questions?

See, the problem is when believers who become aware of this are sitting here, for instance, some of us may actually begin to think,

no, no, no, this isn't true for now.

It was in the past.

That's one way of approaching it.

The second thing is, oh, but Christ died in the first place.

He is risen.

He broke the power of the enemy.

So it's all good now.

We don't have to worry about praying like this.

That's the second approach.

And the third approach is just ostrich like, which is to disappear under a stone and pretend nothing like this is happening.

Christ did break all powers.

He subjugated them.

We have to be careful about that.

He made a public spectacle of Satan on the cross and rode triumphantly with demonic hordes of prisoners behind his chariot.

This is true.

But if that is true, then here's my question.

Why aren't people just turning to Christ immediately as soon as you tell them about Jesus?

Because, you know, the people who are in the cross are the ones who are in the cross.

Why aren't people just turning to Christ immediately as soon as you tell them about Jesus?

Because, 2 Corinthians 4, 4 puts it this way.

We are still in a time and a place where people are blinded by the enemy.

Ephesians puts it this way.

That the children of disobedience are still under the sway of the prince of the power of the air.

Inheritance is not land.

Inheritance is people.

In Isaiah 45, when it says, I'll give you the treasures of darkness,

Charismatics may think, oh, treasures of darkness means more money.

No, treasures of darkness, the most precious treasure that is hidden in darkness is actually the souls of men.

Do you realize that you at one point were a treasure that was hidden in darkness?

That someone had to come and by the power of the Spirit of God, redeem you and set you free so that you're no longer treasures of darkness.

You've been transferred into the kingdom of the sun.

Any questions before we go on?

Please feel free to ask and push and challenge.

Because if you don't really, if you're not able to believe this, then we won't be able to actively do anything about it.

Are you suggesting that you should be in the church?

Actually, none of it is just physical.

Yeah, but to answer her question, her question is valid.

I'm saying that everything is first dealt with by God on a spiritual invisible and then on a physical visible.

Very clearly, Ephesians 6, well, which I've been repeating a few times says our battle is not against flesh and blood.

But the spiritual invisible still is as real and prevalent as it was four thousand years ago.

Any other question?

Yeah.

What's the parallel to the drowning of Pharaoh, hysterics and horsemen now?

I would take you to Acts 8, Acts 13, where there were powers involved that was dealt with.

But then Simon the sorcerer had to be dealt with.

Simon the sorcerer was someone who was preventing the governor from seeing Christ.

And he had to be removed from the way, not in a way that destroys him, because God is continuously into redemption because he died for redemption.

But sometimes God has the ability to deal with people who keep people in bondage.

So that is not something that we deal with.

That is what God does.

Ours is not to do anything but deal with the invisible while God begins to deal with visible bondages.

How he deals with it, let you and I not be the judges.

How he does it is up to him.

But he does it.

He says, I'm the one who removes kings.

I'm the one who removes the kings of the world.

I'm the one who removes the kings of the world.

And he does it.

He says, I'm the one who removes kings and installs them.

I'm the one who can one day Herod was seated on his throne.

I'm just taking pictures from the book of Acts.

One day Herod is seated on his throne and he's saying, I'm the great one.

The next day he is dead because his insides have been eaten up by maggots.

And the reason given is the guy began to think of himself greater than God.

Did Peter say that it happened?

No.

Did God do it?

Yes.

When did sometimes judgment come from the mouth of man?

Paul did that.

Paul did that to the sorcerer saying, for a time now you will be struck with blindness.

It is almost a form of discipline.

But that is when a very specific word of judgment is given.

Otherwise, it's not yours and mine to judge.

Ours is to do what we are called to do.

And there are two things.

One, in the invisible deal with the powers that keep people captive.

And if you think it's not powers that keep people captive, then hello, you're reading the wrong Bible.

Really.

And then the second thing we have to do is bless our enemies if someone is an enemy.

Or embrace everybody because our intent is to draw people to Christ with love.

Anything else is not Christian?

Any other question?

Yes.

Pardon?

I didn't understand the question.

Yes.

Pardon?

Who does have the greatest effect on spiritual invisible attacks?

I didn't understand the question.

Who has the greatest effect when we are talking about spiritual invisible attacks?

Is it more like, because Daniel talks about, Daniel was talking to God regarding to answer from the God.

And the question is?

Okay.

That's the rest of the sermon.

What is the way to deal with this?

What is the way to deal with this?

I can't hear you.

Is it a way to deal with this?

I mean, guys, opposition, some of the simple opposition things that we have to deal with is just plain dullness.

Spiritual dullness.

There are times when you and I have come here, unfortunately not me because I'm not sitting where you're sitting.

But there are times when I can go to a church and someone else is preaching and I can sit there completely dulled out or completely in unbelief.

It's fascinating how we can sit under the word that is true and be completely dulled out and in complete unbelief or complete blindness, which is fascinating.

I mean, who would come and sit for a three hour service in the middle of a hot summer afternoon and want dullness, unbelief and blindness in a place of life?

Where do you think that's coming from?

Just that level of opposition itself is hard to overcome.

Leave alone the sins that entangle us, the resentment that rises, the dislike and the hatred that might come your way.

These are all like 101 level.

Once we overcome that, then we can begin to deal with things that need to be dealt with.

One day we might move to a church that has AC, but for now we shall endure.

Standing here, it's very odd. I see people.

At first I was wondering why this church looks different today.

There are a lot of people doing this.

Feel free to do it. It's quite hot.

In every city, in every city, there are systems.

And when I say systems, I mean two things.

One, I mean ideologies and two, I mean evil, demonic systems.

There are systems in every city that need to be dismantled.

And if we say we are the city within a city, then who else but us?

And we do it through... how do we dismantle it?

We dismantle it by word, worship, war, walk.

By the spirit.

This is how we dismantle it.

We dismantle it by word, as in using the word.

We dismantle it by worship.

We dismantle it by war, like we'll talk about it, using words.

Because the only thing that Jesus wars with is the sword of the spirit that emerges from his mouth,

which is a symbolic way of saying that's what we war with.

And then our walk.

Because morality or purity is proof of our intimacy and it intimidates the enemy.

Morality or purity is what gives us traction to stand.

Jesus put it this way.

And I think John, he said, the prince of darkness is coming, but he has nothing in me.

That gives someone the ability to have traction to stand.

So now we look at Psalm 149.

We started the service with Psalm 149 verse 1 to 4.

Psalms 149:1–4

We started with that.

And then we shift to verse 5 to 7.

Because there's a jarring shift in Psalm 149, where suddenly into the psalm,

this psalm is the last of the hallelujah psalms that people used to read when they were going to the temple.

And if you go to it, you'll find that the first four verses are like most other psalms.

Rejoice before God, shout, dance, play the timbrel, play the harp.

And it goes on that way and it invites the saints to rejoice and sing on their beds.

And suddenly from verse 5 onwards, it changes.

If you go to Psalm 149, verse 5 onwards,

Psalms 149:5

Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.

May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands to inflict vengeance on the nations,

punishment on the peoples, bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron,

to carry out the sentence written against them.

This is the splendor of the glory of all the saints. Praise the Lord.

There's a sudden shift in Psalm 149.

It's like a jarring shift where this was supposed to be a celebratory hymn that was sung by a congregation with shouts of hallelujah.

And then suddenly it shifts to a two-edged sword in their hands.

In the hands of the very ones who were praising and dancing.

A two-edged sword in their hands to do what?

To execute vengeance, which is such an odd word to bring in the middle of a celebratory psalm,

for chastisement or punishment of people, for the subduing of nations,

for executing sentence upon kings or powers, and for the shackling of kings.

Suddenly the tone of the psalm changes.

It's crazy.

Earlier on I said that Acts 29 has learned how to really reconstitute worship

and really begin to enjoy the favor of God, of Psalm 149, 1-4.

We practice that. It's become so natural for us.

It doesn't need any stirring up. It doesn't need any coaxing by Tuni.

It just happens.

But this part is now what God wants us to shift to so that the city can be affected.

Verses 5 to 7.

What does it look like for a people of praise to suddenly possess a two-edged sword in their hands to execute vengeance?

Again, we are not fighting against flesh and blood.

And we'll try that out today.

So what does vengeance mean? Vengeance means the act of writing wrongs.

The act of writing wrongs.

The act of writing wrongs.

The act of enforcing God's justice when order is violated.

And God is saying, listen to Acts 29, this is your splendor, your privilege, your responsibility.

Your responsibility that I give.

Crazy, eh?

Can you manage a muted hallelujah?

He's saying this is your splendor, as in this is your glory.

I'm giving it to you. It's part of your splendor.

It's part of your glory, Church.

This is your privilege.

This is your responsibility.

It says that in the last verse.

So on one hand, it is the act of writing wrongs, of enforcing God's justice.

On the other hand, it is our responsibility, our splendor, our privilege.

Vengeance is the Lord's. And I know you know that scripture. Vengeance is the Lord's.

But the saints are the means by which God carries out justice that is written.

That's what Psalm 149 is saying.

Not for a moment are we saying we are out to harm people.

But Ephesians 6-12, let's just read it so that nobody questions or doubts where we are going with this.

Ephesians 6-12.

Ephesians 6-12.

Starting from verse 10, just so we are clear.

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, not mine, not yours, our. For our struggle, so no one is exempt.

For our struggle, so it is a struggle. It is a jockeying for position.

For our struggle, you're not exempt.

You may have a mindset that thinks this doesn't exist, but that doesn't make the earth flat just because you think it is.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, so it's got nothing to do with human opponents,

but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world,

and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Let me read some other versions so that we get as helpful a picture as is possible.

Ephesians 6-12.

For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies,

but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world,

against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in heavenly places.

For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against persons without bodies.

The evil rulers of the unseen world, those mighty satanic beings and great evil princes of darkness

who rule this world, and against huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world.

Your hand-to-hand combat is not with human beings,

but with the highest principalities and authorities operating in rebellion under the heavenly realms.

For they are a powerful class of demon gods and evil spirits that hold this dark world in bondage.

This will be a plane about what we're dealing with.

So don't for a moment think this is against human adversaries,

because that is not what Christ called us to.

He died for every man, woman, and child, and has no intent of harming them, but setting them free.

So, Vendence is the Lord's, but the saints are the means by which God carries out that justice.

Guys, always remember, the battle is not between God and the devil.

The battle was always between man and the devil.

There was no contest between God and Satan.

The battle has always been between man and Satan.

Genesis 3 is a description of the seed of the woman being the one that tramples the seed of the serpent.

And so, Jesus Christ came down in the flesh for what?

1 John 4, to destroy the works of the devil.

He took on flesh, and then he leaves his body behind.

Romans 16, 19 says, soon Satan will be crushed under whose feet?

Your feet.

Any questions?

Try not to sleep through this.

Try not to sleep through this.

It's very hard to capture what is happening here by listening to the audio.

With some perspectives, I like, oh, the devil is out to get me this.

It's all constant.

How do we balance this with the extreme of there's a demon behind every bush and stuff like that?

Yeah, it can go wonky if we don't have questions like this, if we don't keep examining the steps we are taking.

I may have shared this here ages ago, but in one of Paul Anaconda's crusades in Argentina,

he was praying for people and people who had demons were being affected,

and they would take them into a tent and they would pray for them.

And then they found a guy walking around like this saying, keys, keys, keys.

So they caught him, took him into the prayer tent, and started casting out the demon of keys.

The guy had lost his keys, and he was just walking around looking for his keys, but he was muttering keys, keys, keys.

So they thought he had a devil in him, they put him, and they started casting out the demon of keys.

So these terrible things can happen, and we Charismatics are particularly good at it.

But it's really, I'm not trying to encourage Dilna at all,

but really questions like this will help us be keen on staying on track, because it's so easy to skewer this.

So easy.

Yeah, but again, just because of an extreme doesn't mean we abandon the original,

because it's the only things that are authentic that will be counterfeited.

Guys, there is no restoration without vengeance.

There is no restoration without the element of vengeance.

As in the enemy must be avenged for what has been done.

One of the places where Jesus leaves the sentence out, but in Isaiah 61, if you read Isaiah 61, verse 2,

Isaiah 61:2

the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he is upon me so that I may proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the vendence of our God.

Isaiah 61, verse 2.

Isaiah 61:2

And you see this right from the beginning, Genesis 3.15.

Genesis 3.15.

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers, and he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

He will crush your head.

As early as Genesis 3.15, it had already begun.

Isaiah 58, verse 6.

Isaiah 58:6

Isaiah 58, verse 6.

Isaiah 58:6

Isaiah 58, verse 6.

Isaiah 58:6

Is this not the kind of fasting I've chosen to lose the chains of injustice, untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, break every yoke?

The idea of undoing what has brought us into bondage.

Revelation 20.10.

Revelation 20.10.

I'm just showing you beginning, middle and end.

Revelation 20.10.

And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown.

There will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

It's not an end of the devil.

It is the torment of the devil.

There's a price to pay.

There's a price to pay.

If this bothers you some, then know that someone paid this price for you, which is why you and I are sitting here.

Someone paid the price for it.

So let's talk about two-edited worship.

Two-edited worship.

Two-edited worship.

What do you mean by that?

Two-edited worship, we are talking about the sword of the spirit.

Sword of the spirit.

As in using his powerful word.

Using his powerful word.

And why do we call his word powerful?

Because according to Hebrews 1 verse 3,

Hebrews 1:3

it forms, it sustains, it upholds.

According to Psalm 29, it splits, it breaks, it destroys, it creates.

Psalm 29 is a powerful psalm with regard to the word of God.

So two-edited worship is worship that begins to use the words of God in worship.

I'm not talking about music.

I'm just saying two-edited worship.

Worship is not with music.

Perhaps you know this, but the first time the word worship is used is when Abraham takes Isaac up to offer him as a sacrifice.

And it says he worshiped God.

And there was no Sheldon, no Tune there.

It was just musicless worship.

So the idea of worship is different.

It doesn't have to be connected with music.

But two-edited worship is when we use the sword of the spirit.

When we use the words of God, which are powerful.

Hebrews 1, 3 talks about how it upholds, sustains, and forms things.

Psalm 29 talks about how it breaks, splits open, destroys, and creates things.

To use that in worship.

There's nothing wrong with using songs that express feelings, emotions.

I'm yours, you're mine.

But there is something to using this kind of worship, which we have to learn.

Because this is an essential part of Psalm 149, 5 to 7, working out in a city.

Two-edited worship is high praise.

If you notice in Psalm 149, it says, and the saints shall have full-throated high praise as they lie in their beds.

As in day or night, it doesn't matter.

It's full-throated high praise.

So the question is, so then what is high praise?

We have examples that we can look at, and that might help us define it better than giving it a definition.

Two-edited worship is high praise.

Look at Ezra 3.

Ezra 3.

Ezra 3.

Ezra 3.

Verse 10 onwards.

Ezra 3, verse 10.

Ezra 3:10

Ezra 3, 10.

Okay, let me read it.

It's beautiful.

When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets,

and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, who was a prophet worshiper,

and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord as prescribed by David the king of Israel.

With praise and thanksgiving they thanked the Lord,

He is good, His love towards Israel endures forever.

And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads who had seen the former temple wept aloud

when they saw the foundation of the temple being laid while many others shouted for joy.

No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping

because the people made so much noise and the sound was heard far away.

Just think of that.

The sound was heard far away.

I know there were a greater number than us, but the sound was heard far away.

High praise is when all the limits are taken off.

It's unrestrained.

That's one example.

Let's look at some more.

Second Chronicles 7, 1-3.

And you'll find a common element in most of them.

Second Chronicles 7, 1-3.

Second Chronicles 7, 1-3.

Guys, with my whole being, this has to be done.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, you should have seen New York yesterday.

You should have seen the church in New York yesterday, the one that we are connected with.

I've never seen them so happy.

Second Chronicles 7, 1-3.

Gosh.

When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven

and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices.

And the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it.

When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple,

they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground,

and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying,

You know, in the Hebrides revival, this is what happened.

There was no fire falling, but people in the village of Arnole,

they are walking around.

There are people in the dance halls.

There are others walking around.

And suddenly they know that the presence of God is in the place.

There was no fire, no cloud, no nothing.

But they knew that there's this heavy sense of God.

This is about the presence of God in the place.

There's this heavy sense of God.

This is about 70 years ago, so I'm not talking about ancient history.

And so they knew there was the presence of God.

The dance hall began emptying.

People began to leave.

They don't even know why.

The music is still playing, but the people are leaving.

Finally the DJ got it, and he left too.

But the point is, they've all left.

And now there are men and women walking in the streets,

and they're going down on their knees, and they're beginning to cry.

There are guys that have lived sinful lives who don't know what is happening,

and they begin to weep.

They didn't know what was happening.

It wasn't even repentance.

It was a word called penitence, where they know something is wrong.

Guys, this is 70 years ago.

We are supposed to be the carriers of something called Hebrides 2.0.

And God will be faithful, and you have been faithful.

God will be faithful.

There's no question to that, but you have been faithful.

I am so glad that I'm used to you not responding.

Any other preacher would give up.

But praise the Lord, I see beyond your faces, into your hearts.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I totally get it.

Yeah, I get it.

You know, what you find with 2 Chronicles 7, Ezra, is what you find in Psalm 136.

And this is part of what high praise and two-edged worship looks like.

It's called antiphonal singing,

where if you go to Psalm 136, it's called antiphonal singing.

Where if you go to Psalm 136,

give thanks to the Lord for He is good.

His steadfast love endures forever.

He who created the sun and the moon, his steadfast love endures forever.

He that restored the fortunes of Jacob, his steadfast love endures forever.

It's called antiphonal singing. It happens in heaven too,

where you'll have a set of angels go, holy, holy, holy,

and then another set go, and the whole earth is filled with your glory.

It is words being spoken back and forth between heaven and us.

It's first heavens, us here in the church, saying things, and heavens responding.

That's part of high praise. That's part of what we call two-edged worship.

Where you take Ezra 3, you take Psalm 136, you take 2 Chronicles 7,

and you keep hearing this thing, where they remember what God has said, and they respond.

It's no longer responding to Tunis. It's not responding to a Bessel song,

or a planet shaker song, or a Revelation church song.

It is responding to the very scripture and the heart of God that comes to scripture.

And when a church begins to get this, the city begins to shake,

as it did in Ephesus, as it did in Tyatira.

We will go there. We will go there.

Because my God, your hearts are on fire, so your faces don't show it.

This place could burn down, and I wouldn't know it.

So, when it comes to the sword of the Spirit or the Word of God,

remember, according to Hebrew, the sword of the Spirit is the sword of the Spirit.

Remember, according to Hebrews 4.16, what is it like? It is penetrating.

It is sharp. It exposes what is wrong, and it reveals what is from God.

It cuts through everything.

That's the very nature of it. When you look at the sword of the Spirit in the book of Revelation,

you see it in Revelation 1.16, where the sword of the Spirit that comes out of the mouth of God

is meant to position the church.

These are the things that happen when we engage in this kind of worship.

It positions the church.

How does it position the church?

It positions the church by God revealing to the church through two-edged worship and word,

that, listen, this is how you need to posture yourself.

Hey, Jacob, this is how you need to lead the church.

Angelic help is released in Revelation 1.16.

Revelation 2.16. In Revelation 2.16, it changes.

Now it is the sword of the Spirit that comes out of the mouth of God.

And what is it for? It is for correction. It is for correction.

He's speaking to one of the churches, and he says,

the sword of the Spirit that comes from my mouth in Revelation 2.16 will correct you.

It will deal with rebellion.

It will deal with oppression and the enemy in your midst.

And then there's Revelation 19, where it talks about, let me write it down so you have the scriptures.

Revelation 2.16. It deals with rebellion or opposing powers.

And then there's Revelation 19, verse 15 and 21, where it deals with the unholy trinity of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet.

Revelation 19:15

These are the things that will begin to happen in our midst as we begin to indulge in this kind of worship, and we're going to try it today.

Everything has a beginning.

We will learn this just like we've learned a hundred other things.

Any questions before we conclude?

Any questions?

Sorry, can you not?

Yeah. So remember we talked about Psalm 149, verse 5 to 7 saying,

Psalms 149:5–7

listen, let the saints lie on their bed and with full throats begin to engage in high praise,

and let them carry two-edged swords in their hands to execute upon the enemy vengeance, to execute upon kings' sentences,

to bind powers and put their kings in shackles.

This is the privilege or the splendor or the responsibility of the saints of God.

The two-edged sword is what we are talking about.

And in the context of the two-edged sword, we find the two-edged sword again and again and again in the book of Revelation,

and it tells us what the two-edged sword that comes from the mouth of God does.

And it is the same thing that happens when we employ that in worship.

If this, just imagine, Miriam takes a tambourine, she takes Moses' song and she starts playing,

and as she plays she begins to say, the horse and the rider are cast into the sea.

We take that now and we take a tambourine and a Sue or a Phoebe or a Jane or someone who doesn't know how to play the tambourine,

God forbid, comes and they start playing too.

And we begin to sing the same song, the song of Moses from the beginning of the book of Revelation.

The song of Moses from Exodus 15.

You think that the enemy is not afraid of that?

Do you know how long a memory Satan has?

He knows what happened in Exodus 15, 4,000 years ago.

It's not much for the invisible realm.

They know what happened then.

And to visit the same sentence upon them, to the tap of tambourines,

only it's not one Miriam, it's 20 Miriams, 100 Miriams.

Do you know what that does? Do you know that he is finite?

Do you know what it is to be attacked from 120 different sides or 2,000 different sides,

each with faith, each with faith that releases words that are in the scripture?

Do you know what that does?

The enemy knits painstakingly, quilts that shroud and blanket humankind.

And then along comes some people who are nobodies who carry with them the sword of the spirit.

And they begin to, with a two-edged sword, shred that painstakingly quilted shroud or blanket till there's nothing left.

And people for the first time in their lives begin to take in lungfuls of oxygen

and begin to see light and they can't understand why.

And then the fishermen go out.

They go down the river to Ngedi and they begin to spread their nets.

And they can't understand why so many fish are being caught.

Because a group of people in a little church in a corner of Richmond began to get the hang of two-edged worship.

That's what begins to happen.

That's what begins to happen. That's what we learn. That's what we'll apply.

And it's not about making the church bigger.

It's simply about other Jacobs, other Hippes, other Marks, other James coming to love this one who is in our midst and who is absolutely brilliant.

That is the privilege everyone deserves.

Someone did it for us, guys.

Someone did it for us.

Two things that Richmond needs.

One is this kind of worship.

And two is healing.

This is a very diseased city.

You see it in 2 Chronicles 20.

Remember, warfare worship is not from earth to heaven.

You have to think of it like this, guys.

Richmond.

Heavens.

Where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father.

And then there is this network or web or shroud or blanket over people.

Which is the result of hundreds of years of idolatry, of divination, of witchcraft.

In this city, there's not a thing.

The health, the travel, the wealth, the family, the love, the relationships, the building, the government.

Everything is planned and built on the sole basis of divination in Richmond.

Because we are a pluralist society, things come in.

And so when we engage in warfare worship, we are not worshipping from down there to there.

This is one of those times when we understand that Ephesians 2, verse 6 says that we have to be in the same place.

Ephesians 2:6

We have to be in the same place.

This is one of those times when we understand that Ephesians 2, verse 6 says that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places.

Ephesians 2:6

And we also know how Christ got there, Ephesians 1, 22 and 23.

That he has been given a name above every other name and he is now seated far above all authorities, all powers, all rulers.

It is from that place that we worship.

It is being in the midst of holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

Heaven and earth are full of his glory.

It is being there.

Oh, I don't know how to do that.

How do you end up thinking of Hawaii?

How do you end up thinking of California?

How do you end up thinking of other places sitting in this hot place here?

You'll already, like Kramer says, I'm already there.

If you can imagine that, then trust me, holy imagination is good enough.

It is good enough to begin this place.

And it is from there that we worship.

Seated with Christ in heavenly places, Ephesians 2, 6.

In 2 Chronicles 20, Jehoshaphat and Judah are in dire circumstances.

2 Chronicles 20.

They are going to be annihilated.

They've got this huge army of Maeyunites and Arameans.

I don't remember the other two tribes coming against them, a horde of them.

They know that they're going to be destroyed.

In verse 3, they're going to cry out to God, saying, Oh God, please help us.

And once they're being to cry out to God, God comes through.

And he says to them in verse 15 and 17, 15 to 17, listen, Jehoshaphat, how does he speak to them?

There's a prophet called Jehaziil.

And God says to Jehaziil, say to Jehoshaphat and say to Judah that you will not have to fight this battle.

I will fight for you.

Go up the ascent of this.

And when you get to the top, they will be waiting there.

And when you get there, send the singers ahead and begin to sing.

What song? An antiphonal song.

Of what kind? Praise the Lord for he is good.

His steadfast love endures forever.

And Israel begins to do this.

This is what we are talking about in the Old Testament.

Where once you begin to occupy that place and begin to speak words of God from there,

you begin to see, think, plan, prepare, strategize based on the brilliance of the Spirit of God,

who is a genius at warfare and has never been defeated.

For a people of God to become like this is a great thing.

It's a great thing because there is no model of it.

There are preachers here and a teacher there and a course there.

But a people...

And we get to become that.

Like it says in the message, from the least of them to the strongest of them,

from the strongest to the runt, that's what it says in the message.

They could chase a thousand.

It is a group of people.

And so they begin to hear what God has said, that you will not have to fight.

And do you know what they do?

In verse 18, they fall down on their faces in worship.

And they worship with voices loud and high.

And they praise the beauty of his holiness with David's songs.

And the enemy then begins to... a strange thing begins to happen.

They go up their center slits and they're singing this and the enemy begins to ambush itself.

They begin to take their swords and begin to kill each other.

That happens in that second place.

Suddenly, things that have stood for centuries shredded.

Shrouds, blankets, webs that have been around for ages.

It will require a few new songs because warfare worship or two-edged worship

recalls promises, recalls the prophetic, recalls victory.

It's so cool.

Just have a quick glance at Exodus 15.

Exodus 15.

Then Moses and the Israelites sang the song to the Lord.

I will sing to the Lord for he is highly exalted.

Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.

The Lord is my strength and my defense.

He has become my salvation.

He is my God.

I will praise him.

My father is God.

I will exalt him.

The Lord is a warrior.

He is my God.

I will exalt him.

The Lord is a warrior.

The Lord is his name.

Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea.

The best of Pharaoh's officers are drowned in the Red Sea.

The deep waters have covered them.

They sank to the depths like a stone.

Your right hand, Lord, was majestic in power.

Your right hand, Lord, shattered the enemy.

The greatness of your majesty, you threw down those who opposed you.

You unleashed your burning anger.

It consumed them like stubble.

And it goes on and on.

The enemy boasted, I will pursue.

I will overtake.

I will divide the spoils.

I will gorge myself on them.

I will draw my sword.

I will destroy them.

But you blew with your breath and the sea covered them.

They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

And it ends with Miriam.

Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron's sister, took a timbrel in her hand.

And all the women followed her with timbrels and dancing.

Miriam sang, sing to the Lord for he is highly exalted.

The horse and the driver he has hurled into the sea.

Psalm 83, same thing.

Psalm 83, 2 to 18.

Oh God, I remember what you did in Midian.

I remember what you did to Jabin.

I remember what you did to Cicero.

I remember what you did to Zalmunna.

I remember what you did to Oreb.

I remember what you did to Zeve.

I remember what you did to Baal.

I remember, oh God.

And do you know who else is being reminded of what we are remembering?

We have an active enemy who has a long memory.

And who knows his time is short.

And who knows what awaits him?

Once you work up a sweat, it doesn't matter.

You might as well continue.

So we shall deal with Artemis.

We shall deal with Pythos of Delphi.

Remember that woman with the spirit of divination?

That came into Acts 16.

We will deal with Jezebel and Thyatira.

But we will not deal with people.

We'll deal with powers.

How does it look if we as Acts 29 begin to engage these webs of power and ideologies

in a city that is steeped in divination, which I can't speak about over the mic.

But I will talk to you when we are not being recorded.

Steeped in divination with regard to health, wealth, government, fame, travel, family, relations, property.

When property is not built without the advice of what may be packaged as something,

but is really the advice of powers.

So here's how we go about this.

And I'm going to ask Tuni and the rest of the guys to come up.

Here's how we go about it, guys.

First, position yourself based on what we've heard.

And don't worry, we might get it wrong.

We might be clumsy the first time.

We might not have enough gas to go.

Great.

We got to where we got over years and we'll get there again.

Position yourself as in, Father, how do I learn how to operate from here as a church?

How?

Next, understand the powers you're dealing with.

Don't need names or anything, but know that this is a city.

You know the strange thing about powers, guys?

Whenever powers do a city a favor, the powers will afflict them with diseases.

And if it's a city that is multicultural, you'll see the diseases by being treated by all kinds of remedies.

All kinds of remedies, most of which don't have their basis in Christ,

but have their basis in either idolatry or in systems that have to do with impersonal energy forces.

This is a diseased city.

We desperately need to be a church through whom healing flows.

Desperately need it.

My cries, oh God, how can the city be remedied if it is not through us healing?

Not believers.

We can get healing easily.

Just go to each other and get prayed for.

But what about the ones that have to go to people that'll give them something

and in return afflict them with something worse because the pain disappears?

No, have a rough idea.

If the Lord reveals more, we'll deal with it.

But otherwise, have a rough idea of the powers that we're dealing with.

Then remember the promise God has given us.

What is the promise God has given us for the city?

Very simple steps.

I'm not telling you anything new.

I'm just outlining it.

Then is there anything prophetic that must be spoken that will give us greater blueprints for what awaits?

Then let us begin to think about the Lord.

Then is there anything prophetic that must be spoken that will give us greater blueprints for what awaits?

Then let us begin to engage in high praise and two-edged worship.

And finally, remember to plunder because you must plunder.

You know what Jehoshaphat did?

One day he was scared of being annihilated and become captive.

Seven days later, he's still praising.

And for three days, they collected spoils.

And that valley, he renamed the valley.

He called the valley Baraka, the valley of praise.

That's what he called it.

These is how we go about it.

Any questions? I'm actually done.

Pardon?

Plunder is receiving the treasures of darkness.

Plunder is exchange.

Ah, art thou diseased?

Let me heal thee and thou shall be whole.

I don't know why I'm going into King James, but plunder is two things.

One, exchange and two, the treasures of darkness, the souls of men.

Okay.

So let's try this, yeah?

Yeah?

It's okay to say, yeah.