City - A Type of the Spirit

Questioner 1 – Father, during worship you prompted me with the word new and we sang along

those lines, Father. Father, I pray for newness in this church, not in a way that's been said

before, not in a way that we've experienced before, not in a cliché sort of manner, Father,

but in a truly, in a way that we've never experienced before, Father. So I pray for

new miracles, new stories, new testimonies and new relationships in this church to be

formed, Father. I pray that people that we wouldn't have thought of will come forth,

will come front and do things that you ask them to do, Father. I pray for new connections

in this city. And I pray, Father, that you will start things new within us first and

in this church, Father. And I pray that people will walk into this church and see those things

and experience you in a completely different way, Father. So we pray for that in this church,

Father. In your precious name we ask and pray. Amen.

New ways of knowing God and then showing God.

It's Sarah's birthday also. It's tomorrow, so happy birthday, Sarah. Sarah is Chris's

wife, there she is. Chris said you're turning 35 too, so happy 35th.

Okay guys, so last week Derek was talking about a type of person that we should become.

And so I picked on the same title. We were talking about how there's always a city within

a city. That God sees his people as a city within a city. And that the people that he

is raising have to be a certain type. And what's the best way to describe that type?

It should be a type of his spirit. If you want to see typology, why not look at the

spirit of God and recognize that how the spirit of God is, so the people of the spirit should

be. How the spirit of God is, so the people of the spirit should be. How the spirit of

God is, is how the people of God should be. And so we look at how he, as in the spirit,

is. So to begin with, you can't even enter in if, because life in the spirit, life in

the Holy Spirit, life in the Holy Spirit is letting go, is letting go of a dead life that

no longer works. Paul spent chapters writing on this. Paul thinks that the life that we

used to live is actually a dead life. Paul thinks that the life we used to live is actually

a dead life, as in it's got nothing of value to it. It's off the flesh. And he says everything

of the flesh decays. Anything that you attempt from your reasoning, your logic, your ability,

your prowess or power decays. It's not worth much. And so one of the ways you can enter

into the life of the spirit is by letting go of everything that you and I have gotten

so accustomed to doing by sheer brain power, physical strength, a few extraordinary or

ordinary skills. That's the first thing we have to do. And that is the most difficult

part because we are so accustomed to working things out our way. Because if you want to

experience the life of the spirit, what do you mean by experience the life of the spirit?

How do we experience the life of the spirit? You've got to begin to intuitively think like

him. You have to expect things of him. You have to begin to behave like him. And you

have to do the works or expect to do the works he does. And so the question is, is this how

you think? Crazy, eh? So in your workplace, at home, in church, is this how you think?

Do you intuitively think like the spirit of God? And so growth and maturity in one sense

is measured in terms of how you think. Do you think like God? Crazy. What a high bar,

eh? Do you think like God? But what an attainable bar do you think like God? Second, do you

expect things of him? Is there this unquenchable expectation of God because he is good and

he is a father? Third, do you behave like the Holy Spirit? I mean the very fact that

he is Holy Spirit requires clean hands and pure heart, but do you behave like him? Do you behave like

him? How do you behave like him? All you have to do is think about the fruit of the spirit. Patience.

Joy. Love. Peace. Are they increasing? And the last one is, do you do the works of the spirit?

And Paul spent pages and pages trying to explain this. Almost every letter he wrote was, hey, can you

leave this way of functioning and can you enter into this way of functioning? So the first thing that

has to happen if we have to become increasingly a people of the spirit or people that are a type of

the spirit, first thing is to let go of a dead life that no longer works. The reason we hold on to the

life we have is because we think it works. Because we think it works. Because we think that how we

think is making things work out well. It's making things work out like anybody else. There's nothing

distinctive about us when we begin to work things out the way everybody does. There's nothing

distinctive. What was so special about Jesus? He did not think like normal people, yet he was very

normal when he walked here on earth. I mean all these things fit Jesus to a T. He intuitively began

to think like God. He would expect things of God. He would behave like God and he would do the works

that God does. So much so that people would say, this must be the Messiah because he does what the

Old Testament said the Messiah would come and do. And to increase in this. That's what makes us

different and that's what will attract people. People do not want the same. People want different.

When they're different is God. That different is like no other different. That's transcendent different.

And to settle for anything less is so reasonable and normal. And always remember reason and normality

can talk us out of spirit encounters.

I wrote reasonable here so if you erase the reasonable then reason and normality can talk us out of spirit

encounters. And that happens too. There were so many people in the New Testament and the Old Testament

who God wanted to do things with but their reason kicked in and what was normal kicked in and so they would not

be able to engage in an encounter with God because God does operate beyond reason and normality.

With Christians what happens is we start looking for God through provisions that come through people

instead of looking straight to God. And reason and normality kick in. So if this is your life then it's not very attractive.

That's the thing. If this is your life then it's not very attractive. Why would I want your life when I have the same life?

But if Christ is in me then surely there must be something that's distinct about us.

Any questions?

Okay so you're all in agreement. Well then let's start conspiring with God. To conspire is to make plans with God.

To make plans with God where everything now stems from having conversations with him that influence our decision.

What do we fight? We fight what is normal. We fight what is reason or rational. We fight what is logical.

So Jacob should we not give credence to this? Not first. Always. Second or third.

Any questions on that? So here's what I'm saying. I'm saying it is impossible to show God if one chooses to function in any area of your life

with what is normal, with what is reason, with what is rational, with what is logical. There is a place for it but it's a far second or third.

There's a scripture about King Asa in First Chronicles and here's what it says. Asa, God was upset with Asa not because he went to the physicians

because God crafted doctors, crafted physicians, has the medical system so that we can take advantage of it.

But the scriptures say God was upset with Asa not because he went to the physicians but because he did not turn to God first.

There is this first resort that must be God and that is when reason, rational, logic kicks in.

That can't be. And it doesn't matter which area it is. Every area must have normality, reason and logic as far secondary or far tertiary

to the primary resource called God. Any questions on that?

How about familiar?

Familiar. Another great point to add. We are so used to what is familiar that to break out of that into unfamiliarity is so difficult.

There's almost no progress in our lives if our lives don't touch what is unfamiliar. It's the principle of a seed.

A seed, as long as you hold it in your hand or leave it on a shelf, will remain a seed.

But it has to come into contact with something unfamiliar like the soil and as soon as it comes in contact with the soil, the seed begins to spring.

Unfamiliarity is what strips the sheet off you so that what is inside begins to germinate. Until we do that, it's impossible.

And God is a God who will continuously bring us into unfamiliar places.

I sent a small excerpt from My Atmos for His Highest to Jonathan and in it it says,

If you insist on being mowed or tied to the dock and refuse to let yourself go on the wide ocean of God's love and adventure,

God will send a storm so that you are unhooked from the dock and set afloat on His wide ocean so that you can experience Him afresh.

So every time God pushes you into the unfamiliar, take it. Because if you don't, because He really cares for you, He will.

You would do that with your kid, right? How do you teach your kid to swim? Don't throw him in. That's a bad dad.

Take him slowly into the water. Take him deeper in. But each step takes him deeper in, right?

Yeah. And if you do throw your kid into the deep end, make sure you know how to swim.

But don't. It's not a good idea.

So the easiest pathway, the easiest pathway into the adventures of God, into the adventure of God, into the adventure of the Spirit,

is obedience. And with obedience, He lets you rest or abide. It's His favorite thing to do, eh?

The easiest pathway into adventures of the Spirit is obedience. What does that mean?

When He says something to say, I don't have the faith to trust you. I don't have the scriptures to quote.

I don't have too many friends to help me. But because you said it, I will do it. And you obey.

Not too concerned about the outcome. But when obedience kicks in, rest happens.

And when rest happens, as in rest where you dwell, where you abide, where you rest, where you're not striving, where you're not trying to manipulate,

where there are no machinations, where there is no sweat, where there's no self-effort or striving, you come into this place of rest and God goes to work.

When we were in St. Martin's and things were not happening, I would start thinking, what should I do next? Maybe I should call this guy.

And Jeremy's dad would say to me, Jacob, you teach on rest. Just chill.

And then things begin to happen. Any questions on that? The easiest pathway into the adventure of the Spirit is obedience.

Let's make a second. What I meant is that everything else should be second or third, a far second or third.

Like there should be no contest. Yeah. Any other questions?

OK, so let's look at the Holy Spirit then. He's not a what, he's a who.

And so here are some things that we need to know about him. One, he's got many responsibilities.

But one of his greatest pleasures is teaching us how to rest or abide.

He's the Holy Spirit is 101 other responsibilities here on earth. He's God working here on earth.

He's got a hundred other things to do. But one of his favorite things to do is to bring us into what's happening here, Brandon.

Is to bring us into this. Can someone fix that, please? Is to bring us into a place of rest.

John 15, worth four and five. John 15, worth four and five.

John 15, worth four and five.

Here's what it says. Remain in me as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself.

It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I'm the vine, you're the branches.

If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing.

If you do not remain in me, you're like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Why does he keep using this word? Remain in me, remain in me.

Another word is to dwell in me, to dwell in me. Another word is to abide in me, to abide in me. Another word is to rest in me, to rest in me.

What's the point? The point is this, that one of the things that the Holy Spirit most enjoys across this room is,

hey, can I teach you to just come and rest? You obey, I'll take care of it.

And what do we obey? We obey two things. We obey the Logos, which is the word, and we obey Rehman, which is something that God specifically says to you.

Either through the word or through someone else, specifically tells you this is what you're supposed to do.

And once you do that, you're not supposed to do anything else, but just for the, I mean, if Jesus was talking to one of these younger kids, he said, no, he wouldn't say that.

He would say that to me. What's the word, Gen Z word for chill? It's still chill? Okay.

So Jesus would just say, man, suddenly I feel like I'm young. We used to use the word chill too.

So it's this idea of just chill, obey and chill. It's the hardest thing to do, guys. It's the church's biggest struggle.

So Christianity's biggest struggle is chill.

And expect God to make things work. Why? Because that's exactly what children are like.

Children know that if their parents say something, they don't need to worry about it.

He loves disciplining us. God, the Holy Spirit loves disciplining us, not as in disciplining, as in beating us up, disciplining us as in instructing, training, training us to stay, dwell, rest, abide, remain.

Chill.

Relax. Yeah, I take relax too.

He loves doing this.

I've been working with this sentence for the last little while and it's tough.

It's tough if I knew how much God, if I knew how much God wants to touch me, speak to me, want to be with me.

I would never doubt him again.

I would never doubt him again.

I mean, if I knew the intensity of his heart, if I knew the intensity of his heart for me, the way I live would be changed.

I've been mulling over this sentence, going over it again and again in my head.

If I knew how much God wants to touch me, as in here we are in a church singing and we hope he'll turn up, he'll touch our hearts, touch our minds, do some internal work.

If I knew how much God wants to do that, if I knew how much God wants to speak to me, if I knew how much God wants to be with me, I would never doubt this again.

I had to play with that continuously, that this is his desire, it is not my struggle.

None of your children as they're growing up struggle in this area.

It is you who want to touch them.

It is you who want to speak to them.

It's you who wants to be with them.

They don't struggle.

And I'm literally turning it in my head, driving, walking, flying, turning it in my head saying, Oh God, really, you want to be with me?

And there's an intensity in your heart towards that.

You want to speak to me?

It's not like I got to fast and pray to listen to you.

You want to touch my heart and really have me know your presence?

The only reason we are sometimes not aware is one, because we don't know this, two, because we are so busy that we need to take breaks to recognize it.

But the intensity of his heart towards me, it's so powerful that if I actually saw it, my life would change.

Any questions on that?

These are simple truths, but they are revolutionary.

Right now, as we are talking, he wants to be with us.

One of the things that happens sometimes because of pastors like Tuni and me is we keep saying, surrender, surrender, the Lord wants to be with us.

And so we think it is us that needs to do this.

Yes, the intent is to encourage that we surrender ourselves.

So I'm not saying Tuni and I should back off from that.

But the point is not that.

The point is that he wants to.

He wants to be.

He wants to speak.

Here's the crazy thing.

We worry about, oh, I don't know how God talks, right?

Start with, he wants to.

Get past that.

That itself is such a big mental block, it can be sometimes demonic.

What's a demonic mental block?

A demonic mental block is a thought process that has built a fortress in your head that refuses to believe what God says about you or what God says he wants to do.

How do you break blocks like that?

Imagine a room full of cardboard boxes.

There's a little creepy crawly snake in there.

How do you catch the snake?

Remove the boxes.

Those boxes have been put there over a period of time.

Snakes found its way in.

You can't get the snake till you remove the boxes.

And just as you brought them into the room, now begin to take them out.

Strongholds are broken a brick at a time because they were built a brick at a time and God really helps you.

God will push you into places that you're not equipped for.

God will push you into places you're not equipped for.

These are things that are going to happen to us.

We will make mistakes.

Don't be afraid of mistakes.

God will push you into places where you're not equipped to be.

If you want to survive and then if you want to flourish, you have but one choice.

One choice, which is again, seek God in a place or from a place of rest.

This church, the one thing this church needs most, starting with me down to the smallest, the one thing this church needs most is to carve out time.

For what lies ahead of us, if we do not find time to do this, we will have to fake it.

Faking it isn't fun because at some point you realize, man, this sucks.

There's no other way to meet the future than for each person here to begin to carve out time.

And anybody who seeks to carve out time in the middle of them getting married, in the middle of a thesis, in the middle of them going into new ventures, it doesn't matter.

In the middle of his credits that he has to take at Regent, it doesn't matter.

The moment you desire to carve out time, God will create it.

If this church doesn't do it, we'll have to fake it because it'll be too difficult.

Any questions on that?

Because we're going to get pushed into places that we are not equipped for.

And to survive or flourish there, the choice is only one thing, seek God from a place of rest.

Any questions?

If I'm going somewhere on a, he asked if I can give examples from my life, if I'm going somewhere on a mission like Indonesia or St. Martin's or India, if I'm going for a Sunday service like today,

the only thing I'm concerned about is not my teaching or preaching.

I can do this quite well.

I've been doing it for 35 years.

This is the easy part.

The hard part is knowing who God is, what he wants and what he wants for each of us here today, individually and corporately.

And for that, there's only one way around it.

Find time, sit, talk, converse, sometimes do nothing.

I don't know why we have such a struggle doing nothing.

Most husbands and wives do nothing.

And they sit together in a room.

It's okay doing nothing because doing nothing will lead to doing something.

But to have the ability to do nothing but sit with an invisible person who creates the entire universe and who is there, all I have to be aware is that he is there.

What did I start this morning off?

The first thing I said to myself this morning was simply the sentence, God saying to me, I'm right here.

I haven't gone anywhere.

That starts my day off.

And if that means doing nothing but aware that he is here, that he is closer than a brother, then so be it.

If that leads to anything, so be it.

Two days ago, it was an old Jimmy Swaggart song from 1984 before most of you were born.

I couldn't even remember the words, so I had to Google it and sing it to him.

Sweet, sweet anointing.

Everything then comes out of it.

Why?

Because John 15, verse 4 and 5 says it very clearly.

John 15:4

I am the wine, you're the branches.

Apart from me, you can do nothing.

Remain in me and you will be fruitful.

Separate from me, you will not be fruitful.

Period.

Duh.

God hasn't called us to do the reasonable.

He hasn't called us to do the possible.

He hasn't called us to do the attainable.

Please understand that he has only called us to do the outrageously impossible.

Please understand this.

My God, who doesn't want to serve a God like this?

A few other things about the Holy Spirit.

He is amazingly exuberant, enthusiastic, humorous.

And he has a pining or a deep desire for relational joy.

As usual, we won't get through this teaching.

He is amazingly exuberant.

Remember who this is.

This is the Spirit of God.

He is the one present here on earth, which means God is like this too.

But you need to see him as amazingly exuberant.

Have you seen children who drink water and then start giggling and jumping?

No?

Okay.

I'm sure you've seen it.

I can't imagine Judah not doing that.

Exuberance is something where it goes glug, glug, glug here and glug, glug, glug here.

And they're laughing and they're giggling.

That's what exuberance is.

It's something that goes glug, glug, glug here and glug, glug, glug here.

They're laughing and they're giggling.

That's what exuberance looks like.

Now you might think, Jacob, you can't take that and impose it on God.

I'm not imposing it on God.

But you need and I need to realize.

And if this breaks your bubble, so be it because bubbles must be broken.

Our God is the most joyful being in the universe.

And so to be a type of him as a people requires that we be amazingly...

I'm not saying you've got to go around with a plastic smile on your face,

but he is exuberant, he's enthusiastic, he's humorous.

Any good joke you have, if you thought that came from you, he is very humorous.

He made Jonathan, he made Tooney.

Can't get worse than that.

So the point being, and he pines for relational joy.

There's a pining, there's a yearning for relational joy.

What does that mean?

You know, there are some lovers or some husbands and wives who would love to come home

because they look forward to their spouse and they look forward to laughing with their spouse.

When Kamala and Ann were young, that's what would happen.

Ann would look forward to coming home because Kamala would have another bad joke

and she then burst out laughing.

But there's a pining for relational joy.

I'm trying to put a human face on it, but in the process I might lose some of the godness that God has.

But you need to understand, he loves relational joy.

And relational joy can only come through conversations, audible and inaudible.

If this is not where you are, it's completely okay because that's where we should go.

If you don't think of God like this, then it's okay because that's where you can go.

What do you think it was like in the Garden of Eden?

God coming and saying, let's open to chapter 3 of Genesis.

No, it was conversations in the cool of the day.

The word chill was invented then, in the cool of the day.

Any questions on this?

It's important to get this because we don't think like this.

We can only think like this if our relationship with God exists outside prayer.

If your relationship with God is confined to times of prayer, this is impossible.

You can only have this if you have a relationship with God outside of times of prayer.

When do you relate most to your kids?

When you take them on a trip, when you go for a hockey game, when you're driving aimlessly,

when you go for KFC and then realize Popeyes is better or whatever.

That's when you connect with God.

That's when you connect with your kids.

Any questions?

This is so important guys because this is what makes us different.

Living relationship with the living God who is the Father.

Any questions?

Please ask if you have any questions because this is super important.

If this is new for someone, how would they start?

If this is new for someone, how would they start?

The hardest part of this would be to get beyond, oh if I talk like this, God won't be God.

God never desires to be just God.

God desires to be God and then God desires to be Father.

You remove Father from God, you're doing a disservice to God.

He will be God but he also wants to be Father.

It is inseparable.

And so the first part is to get to this place knowing I've got to start conversations like this.

They don't sound Christian, they don't sound very prayerish.

They seem to make God like a friend and that's okay.

I have to get past that and once I get past that,

then all the reverence, all the awe will come back whenever it needs to come back.

God is not a single faceted person.

He is a multi-faceted person.

He can be the all-sufficient one, he can be the self-existent one,

he can be the Father, he can be someone who longs for relational joy like a Father does,

yet he can exist without any of us and be happy with a walnut.

So he can be all these things at the same time.

But these conversations must be entered into.

Cool.

Yep.

Sorry.

See all these funny steps.

Sorry.

And he's having conversations with God in a very chilled out way.

And some of what he tells me makes me wonder what about reverence.

Yeah.

So when you begin to decide that you want God on your own terms,

it's a slightly imbalanced relationship.

You're the creature, he's a creator,

and he has ways that he wants to teach you about himself.

So when one decides not to operate with the words that he's given

or not to operate with his people,

they will end up having a skewed version of God,

which in the end will fail them.

So even when it comes to worship,

worship that is not based on truth is actually distorted worship.

Because we can only worship what we know to be true.

Where do we get the truth from?

From the word, from each other, and from the body.

So whenever a church begins to emphasize only worship,

add the expense of truth, that church becomes poorer, not richer.

So with this person, he'll develop a relationship with an imaginary friend

which I used to have when I was six.

And so you create your own God.

And man loves doing that.

Why do we create idols?

Why is the Sistine Chapel painted with God and man,

but God looks like man?

Because we always like reducing God to a proportion that is handleable.

So be it in the Sistine Chapel, good old Michelangelo,

or be it an idol, the intent is,

can we reduce God to manageable proportions?

So it doesn't work.

I'll go to another 10 or 15 minutes.

The Holy Spirit has emotions.

What are His emotions?

There's love, there's compassion, there's peace, there's goodness,

there's patience, there's mercy.

These are emotions.

You cannot be merciful without emotions.

You cannot show love without emotions.

You cannot be compassionate without emotions.

You cannot be good without emotions.

When emotions are removed from it, you might as well bring out a robot.

The Holy Spirit has emotions.

Therefore, it's impossible to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit

without actually experiencing emotions and feeling the Spirit of God.

Christianity always is reacting to some distortion in the past.

So because people started feeling too many things,

we react and we say, we go by faith, we don't feel anything,

don't give much credibility to feeling.

Not true. It's both. It's always both.

And so during a time of worship or during your conversations with God,

it should be natural to feel Him.

To know raw emotion because the Holy Spirit has emotions.

Romans 5 says that He pours His love into our hearts that come from God.

How are we even supposed to experience it?

What was happening in Acts chapter 2?

Acts 2 · chapter mention

That could have been a very sterile operation

where the Holy Spirit just comes to fill people.

No, there was speaking, there was laughing, there was crying,

there was fire, there was sound, there was the sound of a mighty rushing wind.

Even though there was not wind, it was audio visual.

God is audio visual.

Don't sanitize them.

Any questions on that?

You see what Christianity has done.

Domesticated the line of Judah.

Made him a little cat that you can just purr every so often on a Sunday morning.

It's terrible and then we settle for that.

And we say, this is who God is.

It's terrible. It's like having a dad that you'll never know throughout your life.

Never know his touch, never know his words, never know his words.

Never know his touch, never know his words, never know his embrace.

Oh my God, that's a terrible way to live, man.

You get better service in an orphanage.

At least they come and pick you up and kiss you occasionally.

You know what bugs me?

That there are hundreds and hundreds of churches like this

and hundreds and hundreds of pastors that promote this.

And hundreds and hundreds of people that perpetuated

generation after generation to their children and their children's children.

Is it fair to bring up Eliakim like that?

People react to emotions differently, but we cannot judge people by their reaction.

So Lindsay may cry out when she's worshipping.

Sadi may start shouting when you're worshipping.

You may not.

I don't judge whether you're participating or not by how loud you are in your emotional response.

But emotions are a part of connecting with God because he pines for relational joy.

One of the things he loves doing is he loves giving me the secure intimacy of sonship or daughtership.

He loves giving me the secure intimacy of sonship.

He just makes sure that Jacob and Yahweh, or God, are ridiculously in love with each other.

This is his intent. Can I continuously do this? Why?

Who lived like this?

There was one who lived like this.

And his intent is, can I do the same with Jane?

Can I do the same with Josh?

Can I do the same with James?

And can I do the same with Jacob?

If you notice, he picks people with the name starting with J.

It's not my fault.

Right, Jamie?

He's going to change his name.

He's going to change his name.

Sometimes you know that humor is not from God.

Secure intimacy of sonship.

The intent of the Holy Spirit is, can Jacob and God be ridiculously in love with each other because Jesus was?

And so even now as I speak, I must be continuously aware of how much he dotes over me and how much I love him back.

Right now. Right now as I'm looking at them, looking at you, talking, teaching, trying to think of the next point,

I must also be continuously marinated in this thing called the love of the Father for his son Jacob.

Everything that now then comes out of me, the next sentence that comes out of me will come out of my mind

but it is still soaked there in the awareness of the fact that I speak from the matrix of my Father's love.

That's when you suddenly are not coming face to face with words.

You're coming face to face with God.

The secure intimacy.

The secure intimacy.

You know, these are the things that we need to carve time out for.

You think anybody who carves time out for this will not be able to handle the day.

You'll handle the day easily. It doesn't matter how rough it gets.

Boyfriend left, you can still handle the day.

Boyfriend was never your boyfriend, you can still handle the day.

Once we begin to do this, then what happens is the Spirit of God intensifies.

Don't you long for this?

The Spirit of God intensifies Jesus' presence.

And then the spirit of God intensifies.

And then the spirit of God intensifies.

The Spirit of God intensifies.

Don't you long for this?

The Spirit of God intensifies Jesus' presence

through your words.

You listen.

People begin to listen and they encounter the one who is present.

People begin to listen to your words.

Listen to your words.

And they encounter the one who is present.

This, in a real sense, is what the prophetic is about.

So awesome! Just think of it.

Just think of having a conversation with you.

And as you are speaking to me, because you are so aware of your Father,

because this has become second nature to you.

As you speak to me, yes, you are speaking to me, but I become aware of the one who is present.

That changes people.

That's the essence of the prophetic.

Come on, man. I know you desire this.

And it must happen.

Why is it that when guys like Jeremy and Evan and Nick, who we don't think much of,

went to Indonesia and they stood before these young people,

their response was, they have never had a male role model in their lives.

What did they see?

Why do they want them back?

Because somehow as these young people, they have never had a male role model in their lives.

Because somehow as these kids gathered around Nick, around Evan, around Jeremy,

and I watched it, I took photographs, they were just hungry,

and they didn't even know what they were hungry for.

That's what we are going to do.

This is where we are heading, guys.

It's going to be our portion, yeah?

It's not something in the far distance.

What is Luke 421?

We won't go there right now.

The Holy Spirit has a voice.

The Holy Spirit has a voice.

The Spirit has a voice.

You see that in the Book of Revelation continuously, but let him who has ears hear.

You see that in Acts Chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

They were praying and the Holy Spirit said, the Holy Spirit has a voice.

He who has a ear, let him hear what the Spirit says.

He has a voice.

Pay attention to his voice.

Once you hear it, check, double check.

Just because you hear him, doesn't mean you jump to it immediately.

Ask him, Spirit of God, is this really you?

Can you remind me of a scripture that shows me that this is from the way God has chosen me?

The way God thinks, yeah, shall I go ahead and just speak it?

Shall I go ahead and do what you're asking me to do?

I'm scared, but I'll go ahead and do it.

The Spirit of God has a voice.

He continuously promises.

He's God's agent on earth.

This is what he does.

He takes the people of God.

He takes an individual.

He takes a group of people and he says, let me direct you.

He has a voice.

Set aside for me Paul and Barnabas.

Look out for Jezebel.

Be careful.

There's tremendous persecution coming, but I'll keep you through it.

Ten days and it'll be over.

You'll be fine.

I placed an open door before you.

I know you've got little strength, but don't worry.

This open door, I've opened and no one can shut.

This is God speaking.

The distance between heaven and earth is collapsed because of the Spirit.

He collapses the distance.

It's like a belt.

You can hold a belt this way and there's a distance or you can fold it and the distance is bridged.

He's here right now.

And some of us, as I'm teaching, can hear his voice.

Not what I am teaching, but what he's taking out of what I'm teaching and saying, here, Nix Dad, you take this.

Here, Aaron, you take this.

Here, Priyanka, you take this.

And it applies to your situation.

One of the things I really enjoy doing is sitting here and seeing which song Tuni will start with.

What someone will say in between.

What will Kez say?

I called Kez out deliberately today because the Lord said, listen, ask her to pray.

And when she prays, you listen.

And so it doesn't matter whether you're the pastor or not the pastor, the Spirit of God speaks.

And often he speaks either directly to you or through people.

So even now in a teaching like this, yes, we are talking about the Holy Spirit, but my God, the Spirit of God is taking different words, using it in different lives, at different times, bringing out different outcomes.

He has a voice.

Our God loves talking and he wants to talk.

He wants to talk.

He wants to talk.

He wants to talk.

He wants to talk.

He wants to talk.

He wants to talk.

He wants to talk.

He wants to speak.

He wants to touch you continuously because he knows your capacity.

He knows how often prosperous heart can be affected in two hours.

What does this require?

An opening of our hearts, man.

What comes against the opening of our hearts?

Busyness.

Self-consciousness.

Laziness.

Familiarity.

These four things.

Busyness.

What was the second one?

Self-consciousness.

Self-consciousness.

Busyness.

Self-consciousness.

Laziness.

Familiarity.

These things will always prevent me from opening my heart.

Always prevent me from opening my heart.

Another word for familiarity is sufficiency.

Let me change the word familiarity to sufficiency.

Sufficiency.

You know what sufficiency is?

What I have right now is enough.

It's a curse.

Sufficiency.

I'm happy where I am.

I'm doing well.

Four things that if we can destroy, you'll find that your heart just keeps opening.

I love what David said in Psalm 119.

In Psalm 119, oh God, enlarge my heart so that I may run after you.

Enlarge my heart as in I need greater capacity.

Okay.

Let me in.

One of the Spirit's favorite words is instead.

He loves this word.

Take advantage of it.

Take advantage of it.

When he said instead, what he means is, hey Jacob, you got a deficiency?

I've got default.

And what's my default?

My default is wisdom, wholeness, abundance.

You've got a deficiency?

This is my default.

Can we exchange?

Isaiah 61.

Continuous exchange.

Beauty instead of ashes.

Joy instead of mourning.

Praise instead of heaviness.

Open to him.

See, this is where expectancy matters.

This is where expectancy matters.

Guys, expectancy is difficult.

Hope is easy.

Hope is like throwing a coin into a well or into a fountain in Singapore and expecting that if it happens, kayser-as-sara.

Expectancy is difficult.

You know who, you know why we cannot expect?

Because we're not expecting anything.

We cannot expect because we do not have the stamina to stay.

Expectancy requires stamina.

And most of us don't have the stamina.

And you know why we don't have the stamina?

Back to the same four reasons.

Busyness, self-consciousness, laziness, and sufficiency.

Those four things are like, you know, there's a fly in Africa called the Titi fish.

It's a Titi fly.

If a Titi fly bites you, you just begin to sleep.

You go into stupor.

There are spiritual Titi flies and these are the four ones.

We call this the Titi Titi fly, four of them.

Yeah.

When they bite, it just cripples you, man.

These four things will always cripple you.

Expectancy is killed by these four things.

Because expectancy requires stamina.

Do you have the stamina to expect instead?

Is this God true or is he not?

Is he alive or is he not?

Is he real, is he not?

Is he here right now, is he not?

Does he say instead and then not deliver?

Is he man that he should lie?

Instead.

It's a critical word.

He loves exchange.

Let's end there.

Let me just pray.

Spirit of God, you're a real person.

I don't want to treat you as...

I don't know.

Sometimes we treat you like a what?

We don't treat you like a who?

Part of the reason is we refer to you as the Holy Spirit.

Usually when you put the before something, it becomes a what?

But you're a who?

I want this.

Oh God, we want this.

We know you want it for us.

We go back to this word that I was saying earlier.

That you...

You yearn.

James chapter four talks about it.

You yearn for relational joy.

You yearn over us.

You want to touch my life.

You would want to touch me like a parent would touch their child over and over again during a day.

Where you want to make me aware of yourself.

Of the things you're planning.

Of the things you want me to engage in.

You yearn to speak to me.

Gosh, we made you some kind of a person who speaks once in a blue moon after we fast and pray and do all kinds of religious stuff.

You yearn to speak to me.

You're the spirit of the Father which means the Father is like that.

You're the spirit of Jesus which means Jesus is like that.

We're going to treat you differently.

We as a church are going to treat you differently.

We're going to declare that you're someone who sticks closer than a brother.

They were talking about you one day.

You are the one who sticks closer than a brother.

So we embrace you right now.

Didn't know you were exuberant and humorous.

Gosh, our picture of God is so rotten.

We are made in your image.

So we say goodbye to our lives that is steeped in rationale and logic and reason.

We say goodbye to it.

You said in Romans chapter 8 that those that are led by the Spirit are the sons of God.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

So I'm going to put up Genesis 28 again on the board and just ask people to pray along that scripture.

Genesis 28, 10 to 16 of the thereabouts of Brandon.

I'm going to put up Genesis 28 again on the board and just ask people to pray along that scripture.

Genesis 28, 10 to 16 of the thereabouts of Brandon.

If you can put that on the board.

I want some of us to just pray this.

I want some of us to just pray this.

Pray based on what I've talked about and then the scripture.

See if you can connect it together.

Listen to the Spirit of God.

Pray not for us, pray to Him.

Pray for us that we connect with Him.

Pray different.

I don't want to use the word pray, talk different.

Do I need to switch off here, Brandon?

Are you okay?

Okay.

If you need prayer after this, there will be people to pray with you.

So feel free to come up.

Spirit of the Living God.

Yeah.

So feel free, guys, we'll end with a few people praying.

So what are we trying to do?

We're trying to take what we learned about the Spirit of God.

We're trying to look at the scripture, see if there's any connection.

And then pray to the Spirit or pray that we connect with Him in a way that's amazing.

Yeah.

So come to the mic and pray.

And we'll end with that.

If I suddenly come up and end it, don't feel bad because we have other stuff to do too.

There we go.

Keep going.

I want to get to the next spot, Brandon.

Keep going.

Yeah.

16 to 18 maybe.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Father, we thank you for the stone that you've given us to erect.

Father, today we've...

You've invited us into this place of resting with you.

Holy Spirit, you've invited us to lay our head.

And now you're saying, can you take the stone that you've laid your head on and can you erect it as a sacrifice?

This isn't a physical thing, but it's this conviction.

It's this emotion that wells up within us.

Saying, can we take what you've given us and now set it as a sacrifice saying, Father, this is an area where we're not going to go back.

You said you're giving us a new fire.

You said that there's a laying down of the old.

And so, Father, we come to this place of rest, this place of awe and wonder that you are here in your inner midst.

It's not based on what we do, but it's coming to this place of rest.

And so now we take this stone, we erect it.

Everything is provided by you.

And then we take oil and we pour it on it saying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come.

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come.

We thank you, Father, that you are here.

You are present.

It's your invitation.

It's our delight to discover what this relationship is to rest and operate first out of consulting everything through you, Holy Spirit.

Yeah. Thank you.

Spirit of God, you want to remind us to stop operating in our own measure.

You're telling us to be the gateway of heaven, meaning your spirit dwells in us.

And you're saying church begin to operate in the in my full measure, not your measure, but my full measure.

Thank you.

No wonder Jesus, you said this.

When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.

He will not speak on his own, but will tell you what he has heard.

He will tell you about the future.

He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.

Yeah. So Spirit of God, we are ready to receive.

Thank you.

Spirit of God, you collapse the gap between heaven and earth.

So destroy this mindset in our minds that heaven is far up there.

Yeah.

Because heaven is here.

As our song says, you didn't want heaven without us.

So Jesus, you brought heaven down.

And Spirit of God, you are doing heaven's work here on earth.

Shift our mindset about.

Yeah.

Shift our mindset because we are the ones through whom you are bringing heaven here on earth.

And so about we thank you.

And also, Father, we pray the gateway of heaven, which Jacob saw in his dream.

So angels ascending and descending about.

I pray that these be the new normal for us.

Not only when we pray.

Not only when we come here on Sunday for two, three hours of worship about.

But let this be the new normal for us.

From the youngest to the old.

Not just pastors.

Not just leaders.

But everyone from the youngest to the oldest about.

I pray that we, even in the middle of cutting vegetables, in the middle of taking transit,

may we be able to hear the voice of heaven.

May we see angels ascending and descending.

So that, like Jacob said, when they hear us, when they hear our words,

they begin to hear the voice of God.

Because we have access to this gateway of heaven.

And this new voice of heaven, the realities of heaven, the benefits of heaven,

becomes the new normal for us so that others can benefit through us, O God, in Jesus' name.

Yeah.

A couple more.

Father, I thank you for renaming us today.

I go a little further from the story, and I thank you that you are renaming us to Israel,

where you will use us to bless generations after generations to come.

Hallelujah.

So we bless you in Jesus' name.

Hallelujah.

Yeah, you can both come.

So, Father, you've changed us from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh.

And so with this heart of flesh, may we experience all the emotions that your Spirit is teaching us to experience.

That is heaven.

That is the touch of hair.

And to experience all the emotions your Spirit is teaching us to experience.

So, Father, may we, unlike Jacob, not say, I didn't know you were here,

but with your heart of flesh, know that you were here.

Hallelujah.

And be fully in awe of your presence all the time.

Amen.

It was you, Holy Spirit, wasn't it, that descended like a dove over Jesus.

And you said, This is my son, in whom I am very well pleased.

I pray that this be a reality, that there be such a knowing of this for each of us.

This is my son.

This is my daughter, in whom I'm well pleased.

Hallelujah.

Listen to him.

Listen to her.

I pray that this be known, and not just in our heads, but in our bodies and our spirits,

emotionally, that we feel it, that we know it, that we experience it.

I pray this for each of us.

I pray that we go beyond that and that somehow you'll, Holy Spirit, help us to know that we are your favorite person.

Yeah.

I pray.

I can't imagine what it would be like to walk around like that.

To know that I'm your favorite person and that you are my favorite person.

Yeah.

Wow.

Favorite.

I pray that so deeply for each of us.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Can you try and remember this?

One, the Holy Spirit has steadfast, inflexible love for you.

Steadfast, inflexible love.

He's not able to change it.

Steadfast, inflexible love.

Second, he has covenant loyalty towards you.

He's loyal, but it's a covenant loyalty that he cannot break because he is God.

Third, he has tremendous mercy and grace for you.

He did not come to condemn.

He came to convict of sin and righteousness.

And four, he has tremendous affection for you.

Not love, affection.

Love, yes, but affection.

Do you know what it is when someone who loves you shows affection?

It's crazy.

Tremendous affection for you.

And that affection always translates into action.

Okay?

So remember that.

He is steadfast and inflexible in his love for me.

He has covenant loyalty towards me.

He's loyal to me.

This is odd.

He's God.

He doesn't need to be.

Three, he's tremendously merciful and gracious to me, which is why he does not leave me even when I mess up and forget him.

Four, because he loves, he's affectionate.

He has affection for me.

And his affection always translates into action.

Now that you have that from him, this week try and give it back to him.

Give back to him steadfast, inflexible love.

Give back to him what it would look like to be loyal to God.

Give to others mercy and grace that he gives you.

And then the fourth, show him affection.

What would affection look like between you and God?

To be affectionate.

To say things to him.

To whisper sweet nothings.

To try and caress the invisible face of God.

To do something just for him.

To remember him in the midst of a busy day.

To take breaks saying, oh God, God busy.

Just want to spend some time with you.

Break into a silly song.

Craft a really silly joke that he'll find funny.

And that's affection.

So Holy Spirit, we bless you right now.

We thank you that you choose to be with us always, forever.

You're the one who Jesus said would be left behind for us.

We aren't orphans.

I'm not an orphan.

You connect me to the Father.

And so across this room right now, to the degree we can,

we want to show affection back to you.

I don't know what that will look like for each of us.

We might whisper it to you.

We might do something.

But right now, we want to try it.

And we'll end with that.

I will praise this Holy Name.

All that I am, praise the Lord.

I never forget the good things he does for me.

He forgives all my sins and heals all my troubles.

He redeems me from death and crowns me with the love and tender mercy.

He fills my life with good things.

My youth is renewed like a candle.

I love you back with hugs.

So many hugs, Lord.

I love you back.

Thank you.

Amen.

Father, I just pray for this.

I just pray for Alicia right now.

Can I just place my hands on you?

I just pray for her.

I pray that you just give her her desire to travel with her daughter.

And you would bless her with plenty.

That South America will become one of her favorite destinations.

That the tenderness she sees in her daughter will be the tenderness that she has too.

She'll be so sure that you will protect her.

So sure that you'll be like a wall of protection around her.

I pray, Father, that the hunger that has begun in her heart that you would satisfy.

Sometimes she doesn't even know what she's looking for or searching for.

But she knows there's something happening.

And you say, but I knew you when you were a baby.

I knew you before you were formed.

Always had my eye out for you.

Father, I just pray that a day comes when she will teach others to laugh and sing and dance.

She's good at it.

She'll teach others.

I pray, Father, for one last thing before we end.

That you would help her to start a business of her liking.

And when she starts it, that you would send people who will look at her and say,

I'm willing to invest in this and that.

She would start a business of her liking and you'll prosper it.

Thank you that the years ahead are years of plenty.

People will say, where's she?

Well, she's gone on another holiday.

So I bless her.

I thank you for bringing her here today.

In Jesus' name.

Thank you.

All righty, guys.

We'll see you when you see you.

Thanks for hanging out and taking time to do what you do and saying things on the mic and stuff like that.

You don't realize that you're ministering to all of us, yeah?

That's how it's supposed to be.

So bless you guys.

Some of us won't be here next week, but we'll see you the week after.

Yeah, cool.

Thank you.