Open Eyes - 2

I just want to say hi to people here for the first time. Hi. What's your name? Aditya.

Welcome, man. Who did you come with? Prashanth. Okay, welcome. That's Aditya. That's Danielle.

She is what's-his-name's friend and his friend. And Janelle? Chloe. Chloe, welcome.

Anyone else? No. Okay, let's pray for Danielle. Andrea was telling me that she has a—can I talk about it and ask the church to pray?

She has a benign tumor that causes her to not be able to sleep at night and causes pain because it presses down.

And before we go into the 20th year next month, let's just pray for another miracle that surprisingly it will shrink and disappear and that benign is good enough, let it not be there,

and that she finds that she begins to sleep really well and there is no pain and it doesn't affect her hearing. Yeah? So let's ask for that miracle. Yeah?

Jesus, we just sang that song about you. Yahweh Rafa heals my body. And we are confident that you are here right now.

You can look around this room, Jesus. There are many hearts here that actually believe you are here in our midst.

Here are the things we are confident of. We are confident that Danielle is your daughter and that your heart towards her is the heart of a father who has all power.

We are confident that you love healing. You enjoy it, that you were brutally striped, your back was open for her healing.

We are confident that if you were here in flesh, actually it's better having you here in spirit because you can be everywhere,

but if you were here in flesh and this was one of the gospels, she'd be healed instantly. I'm also confident that you haven't changed.

Your nature and your heart is always, I will.

You said if you come agreeing concerning anything, and so we come agreeing concerning your nature and we come agreeing concerning this benign tumour.

Mark 11 comes to mind where you walked past a tree that wasn't bearing fruit. You cursed it and it dried up from its roots.

That's what I think you're suggesting. Are we doing right now, Holy Spirit? So in the name of Jesus Christ, I curse this tumour,

regardless of its size, regardless of how long it's been there. In the name of Jesus Christ, I curse this tumour,

commanded it to shrink and disappear, and let the evidence of its disappearance be seen in her sleeping, in her hearing, and her absence of pain.

This is what we agree on. I mean, thank you, Jesus, that you are who you say you are.

We have washed our faces in the word and the word says you are Jehovah Rapha, our healer,

and we thank you for your presence here to do what we have just been prompted to do by the Spirit in Jesus' name.

So we thank you and bless you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Okay, we have been talking about open eyes. Are May and Heidi back?

That's good. They have been distracted by certain things, but I'm glad they are back.

The password has been changed on my iPad. Would Brandon or Jillian come and please put in the password?

It's my iPad, but...

Thank you.

Pardon?

Okay, Brandon, can you do it while I start? If it's not the password or something else.

Guys, we were talking about open eyes and we started with 2 Kings 6, 17-20, and we talked about how Elijah opened first

the physical eyes of the Syrian army that had marched into Samaria, and then he opens his servant's spiritual eyes,

and that's when the servant sees the chariots of fire and the horsemen, chariots of Israel and the horsemen,

and the horses on fire, the chariots of fire and the horsemen of Israel. He sees that.

And so we said last time, and I'm just summing it up in 2 sentences, that God wants to give me spiritual sight and open spiritual eyes.

God wants to give me. God wants to give us. God wants to give us.

God wants to give us spiritual sight, and he does that by opening spiritual eyes, and when our spiritual eyes are open, these are the 3 things that happen.

Guys, today I was talking to the Lord about teachings like this, and his intent is that we all become like this, not just a few.

He's not elitist, he's not survival of the fittest, he's not exclusive. His words in the Bible in John are,

hey, if you want to learn, I'll go over things that are important line by line, precept by precept.

And he wasn't excluding anybody. He wants everyone to learn it.

So this is not for someone who's highly educated or highly spiritual. It's for all of us. And it changes us, eh?

So the reason God wants to give us spiritual sight, the reason God wants to open our spiritual eyes is for these 3 things.

1. To see who he really is. 2. To see who he wants you to become. 3. To see what he is doing.

Okay, first one. See me as I really am. I want to show you more of who I really am.

2. I want you to see who I want you to become. 3. I want you to see what I really am planning to do.

These are the 3 reasons why he opened spiritual eyes. We talked about this last time.

We took examples, about 8 or 9 examples from the Bible that proved that, so you'll have to go listen to it.

And we also said that it is a perpetual, meaning it's not hearing for an answer or trying to discover direction for your life.

It's a perpetual vantage position, meaning it's a position that you can occupy because it's become a practice or a habit in your life

to walk with eyes that are open to what God wants to show you.

So it's a perpetual vantage position from where you can see a kaleidoscope.

You can see a kaleidoscope of God's thoughts and intents.

You can see, he begins to show you why he's doing things, what he's about to do.

And he begins to show you the workings of heaven. The workings of heaven behind the scene.

Behind the scene realm. The workings of heaven behind the scene and behind the scene realm.

That's his intent. That's what happens to the servant that Elisha says, hey, I want to, oh God, can you open his eyes?

And what happens when he opens Elisha's servant's eyes? Elisha's servant now beholds chariots of fire and the horsemen of Israel.

He begins to see them and he realizes that though he's surrounded by an army full of chariots and horses, that they are no match,

which is why then Elisha makes the comment that those who are with us are greater than those that are with them.

And then the servant calms down.

This is just a servant that was serving Elisha. He wasn't a prophet. He wasn't a to-be prophet.

He's just an ordinary servant.

Just like you and I.

But these are the eyes he wants us to have so that he can show us things that he wants to do.

He can show who you are going to become and he can show who he really is, which we haven't even scratched.

We'll spend an eternity and we'll still not figure out all of who God is because he's infinite.

There's no end to him.

The discovery of God should just both grab you and frighten you that there's never going to be a time when you will sit before God and say,

I finally got here.

Never.

Infinite in nature.

Never going to get to the depths of him.

So that's why God gives open eyes.

When I say a kaleidoscope of God's thoughts and intents, sometimes we're not able to make out how they fit together,

but it'll burst on your eyesight and say, ah shucks, this.

Now I understand that and it just builds itself together.

Any questions on that before we go on to today's?

Any questions?

Okay. Remember, this is for all of us.

Don't sit this out.

Don't think, I'm not this, so this doesn't apply to me or I'm not doing too well.

This doesn't apply to me.

Sometimes all you need to do well is catch a glimpse of God.

When you're stuck in tradition, when you're stuck in legalism, when you're stuck straddling two boats and you don't want to really leave either,

that's when a glimpse of God can change you.

Sometimes he opens your eyes just to change you, but to begin to develop this habit, wow, life changes.

So let's go to 1 Kings 22, 17.

1 Kings 22, 17.

1 Kings 22, 17.

That's where we start today.

1 Kings 22, 17.

There was this guy called Micaiah.

Not too many people know him as a well-known prophet, but he was quite well-known to both Jehoshaphat and Ahab.

And so Micaiah the prophet was asked to prophesy by Ahab.

And let's start at verse 17.

16.

As you read the rest of the passage, then the question will obviously come, does God send lying spirits?

The answer is no, but we're not going to talk about that today.

I'm just trying to show you that here is a prophet that sees the workings around the throne.

He's not just prophesying from his mind.

Micaiah actually sees heaven open and he begins to see what happens around the throne.

You might think this is not an experience for New Testament believers.

You go to John chapter 1, verse 10, and you see it again.

John 1:10

I, John, was on the island of Patmos and suddenly I heard a trumpet.

And as I heard the trumpet, I looked and behold, it was one who looked like the Son of Man.

And Jesus begins to speak and John begins to hear.

Revelation 4.10.

And he says in Revelation 4.1, he starts with the verse.

And then I heard the same voice I heard when the trumpet was blown.

And I heard a voice saying to me, come up higher.

Let me show you what is to take place.

And I looked and heaven was open.

It happens to John.

What I'm trying to say is this.

God wants us, if we are faithful, to show us, he wants to show us the workings behind what he is doing.

He wants to show us why he thinks a certain way.

He wants to show us what he wants to do so that you can participate in it while it's happening.

It's in the unfolding that it is fun.

He wants this for all of us.

I'll keep saying for all of us because that's a point God wants to emphasize.

Listen, none of you are left out.

You can be part of this.

Are there certain conditions?

They are easy to meet when something this exciting is happening.

And so, 1 Kings and Revelation 4.1 and Revelation 1.10 begin to point towards the fact that the workings around the throne are something that God wants to do.

Look at Acts 10.

Verse 11.

Acts 10.

Verse 11.

This is Peter.

We talked about it briefly last time.

Reading from verse 9.

About noon the following day, as they went on their journey approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.

He became hungry and wanted something to eat.

And while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.

A trance is not some kind of Eastern mysticism thing where you go, and then you suddenly go into some kind of realm.

We're not talking about a trance like that.

Trance is simply setting into a place where suddenly you begin to see things of God.

It is not some chanting of mantras or some liturgy from an old Christian ancient book that will sink you into stuff like this.

There's no similarity between a trance in some other Eastern religion and what Acts 10 is talking about here.

And then it goes on to say, he saw heaven open in something like a large sheet being let down to the earth by its four corners.

And then begins this whole passage about what Peter sees.

He's not seeing a dream.

He's actually seeing a vision where, again, heaven is open.

And so, open eyes.

This sentence may be a little hard to understand, but I think we can do it.

Open eyes.

Open eyes see heaven open

so that obedient feet can activate an open heaven.

Let's think of that for a second.

Open eyes meaning if God opens my eyes and I'm able to see what God is planning, wanting to do, showing from the heavens.

Open eyes see heaven open so that obedient feet can begin to do what God is asking you to do.

And as obedient feet begin to do what God is asking you to do, you activate an open heaven over wherever the place you are.

So, let's take Jesus for example.

Jesus, guys, there's a lot of talk about open heavens nowadays.

They talk about portals. They talk about angels. They talk about special places where God appears.

There's no biblical evidence for that.

Open heavens are only opened by obedience.

And what does an open heaven mean?

All it means is in that particular place, because somebody obeyed, God decided he was going to burst things open

and just come upon that place in this huge heavenly deluge.

That's what it means.

Look at Jesus. Look at every open heaven in the Bible and you'll see one common thing, obedience.

So, Jacob obeys at Luz. What happens?

The heavens open and he sees the ladders set up to heaven.

Jesus obeys at the waters of baptism. What happens?

The heavens open. And what happens? A dove alights from heaven.

Elijah obeys at Carmel. What happens?

The heavens open and fire comes down.

You take any place in the Bible where the heavens are open,

and it is always because somebody saw what God was showing and decided to obey,

so that in that place they are in, God would begin to just break things open.

That's how it works.

So, whenever people talk about open heaven over any place, it's because some people obeyed.

You will find that if we continue obeying, there will be an open heaven over Richmond.

What does open heaven mean over Richmond?

The favor of God, the jubilee of God, the healing of God, the salvation of God,

the freedom of God, the kindness of God, the presence of God, the supply of God,

the provision of God, the things being made new. That's what it is.

What is an open heaven over a place? Jesus turning up in his glory and his splendor.

What happens? Everything is changed when the glory of God comes.

Every time there is a revival, what do you think is really happening?

What is revival? It is the closeness and the greatness of a God shown in closeness to a people.

That's what a revival is. The greatness of God suddenly appearing amongst a people.

How does it happen? Because he sovereignly decides it and because of obedience.

And so if you look at this line again, open eyes, see heaven open.

Once you see what God is doing, if you have obedient feet that can activate it,

you create an open heaven. You can do that for your family, you can do that for your church.

Hey, there are times here when because I obey on a particular song or because Tuney obeys on a particular song

or because I call Crystal up to sing a song or because I have Mia come and share something,

it opens up hearts in this place man. You may not know it, but because she talks about courage as a seven year old,

someone else's heart is touched here. This happens on a regular basis in this church just because of obedience.

And the freedom for obedience is present in this church. It's not that people don't want to obey,

but it is not possible to obey if you put structures and God wants to change it.

So if God wants us to start with wash your face in the water of the word and the spirit so that your eyes are clear

and he gives a vision to Remy beforehand, there must be room created for it.

That's what this looks like. So it's available to everybody and you don't need to come on a Sunday to receive it.

It happens 24 seven. I'll tell you stories. I'll tell you stories from last week.

Leave alone stories from the scriptures, which are much richer because anecdotal evidence is not really evidence.

It is obedience that creates an open heaven personally and corporately, be it Jesus at Jordan or Jesus at Calvary,

be it Abraham at the, Abraham. Do you know how we benefit because of one man's obedience?

Can we even imagine what that one man did for the nations of the earth?

Just think of that for a second, guys. Imagine a mark. Imagine a dinner. Imagine a Rachel. Imagine a mat.

Imagine ordinary people with ordinary lives and four or five children and a dog.

And now imagine them having the guts to do what Abraham did. And in the process, nations, nations benefit.

How in the world does that happen? Why should nations benefit through one Dilna?

But all it takes is for one Dilna to be obedient to God.

And sometimes the demand is huge saying, give me Sam, your child, sacrifice him.

And he goes ahead with a knife and he's stopped before he stabs his son Sam.

And because of that, even today, we are called sons of Abraham by faith.

What we don't realize is how ordinary it was. It says of Abraham that he was the son of a pagan who worshipped idols.

We just have elevated into such a place and he rightly deserves that, but we forget his background.

And so James has to remind us that Elijah was a man just like you, Jacob, with the same frail teeth.

That's why we must understand it's for all of us.

Obedience is characterized. Oh, sorry, I keep getting stuck. Peter and Joppa, the story we were just reading.

Obedience is characterized by hearts that don't have to understand or wait for conditions.

When we say obedient feet, what does obedient feet look like? Obedience is characterized by hearts that don't need to understand.

Hearts that don't need to understand or wait for conditions to be optimal.

That's what obedience looks like.

All the guys who met Jesus in Luke chapter 9 verse 54 onwards, where they say, I've got to go bury my dad.

Luke 9:54

Can I just settle this? All of them were willing to be obedient guys.

Please don't think that they were trying to get excuses of being disobedient. Jesus didn't say, man, you're lying.

You're making excuses. You really don't want to. He didn't say that at all.

All of them had valid reasons. But sometimes obedience is characterized by being able to step into something with all your heart

and a heart that does not need to understand nor needs conditions to be optimal.

And that's a hard thing. If that's the kind of mind you have, it'll become difficult.

You'll have to basically chop your head off and stick a cabbage there.

Any questions?

Okay.

When you go to Acts chapter 10 verse 17, it says Peter was perplexed, as in confused, as in what in the world is he asking me to do?

Acts 10:17

I'm a practicing Jew. I don't eat stuff that was just lowered on the sheet. And he's asking me to eat it.

I'm not going to eat it. Three times God had to tell him, kill and eat. He was unwilling to.

Because at the end of the day, it's okay to be perplexed. It's okay to be unsure. But it shouldn't prevent obedience.

It shouldn't prevent obedience. And obedience must persevere through the night.

It must persevere through the night, meaning fear and the illogicality of things always stop us.

Fear and the illogicality of things always stops us.

Obedience must persevere through the night of fear and through the night of illogicality.

I say this at least once every three weeks, but it's so necessary to repeat it.

You cannot follow Jesus if you want logic. You cannot.

You cannot follow him anywhere if you want him to be logical. You cannot.

It's not possible.

He's not reasonable. He's not logical in the demands he places on you or the things he asks you to do.

And so must, it is important that we persevere. Perseverance is, go to Hebrews 11, 27, read it from the message or read it from the New English translation.

You'll see what perseverance looks like. Hebrews 11, 27.

These are scriptures we sometimes miss when we read chapters like Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11, verse 27, read it from the message or from the New English translation.

Hebrews 11:27

NET. Hebrews 11, verse 27.

Hebrews 11:27

By an act of faith, he turned his heel on Egypt, indifferent to the king's blind rage.

He had his eye on the one no eye can see and kept right on going.

He had his eye on the one no eye can see and he kept right on going.

When I read it from the NET, it says, by faith he left Egypt without fearing the king's anger, for he persevered as though he could see the one who is invisible.

He persevered as though he could see the one who is invisible.

Crazy. The only way you can persevere with anything that God asks you that is impossible or illogical or unreasonable is to see the one who is invisible.

That itself doesn't make sense. How do you see the one who is invisible?

The very idea of invisible, he ain't visible.

But this is open eyes.

So desire this, guys.

Go to Ephesians 1, 18 and 19. It says, I pray that your eyes may be open so that your hearts may be enlightened.

Or go to Psalm 119, verse 118.

Psalms 119:118

Open my eyes that I may see your miracle wonders according to the message.

We must ask for this. It changes you.

And it is available to everybody.

Any questions before we go on?

Okay, let's read Acts chapter 10, verse 9 to 28, Acts 10, 9 to 28.

Acts 10:9–28

Again, about noon the following day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.

He became hungry and wanted something to eat.

While the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.

He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.

It contained all kinds of four footed animals as well as reptiles and birds.

Then a voice told him, get up, Peter, kill and eat.

Surely not, Lord. So he's having this conversation now.

Surely not, Lord, Peter replied. I've never eaten anything impure or unclean.

The voice spoke to him a second time. Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.

This happened three times and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

While Peter was still wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate.

They called out asking if Simon, who was known as Peter, was staying there.

While Peter was still thinking about their vision, the spirit said to him, Simon, three men are looking for you.

So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I've sent them.

Peter went down and said to the men, I'm the one you're looking for. Why have you come?

The men replied, we have come from Cornelius, the centurion.

He's a righteous and God fearing man who is respected by all the Jewish people.

A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.

Do you see the orchestration of divine supernatural things happening?

There's a guy called Cornelius who's not a believer who sees an angel.

There's a man who was hungry who falls into a trance.

There's a Holy Spirit saying to him, there are three men waiting downstairs.

This is in the New Testament.

I'm saying that it is for all of us, not for a few elite, because we need a whole group of people functioning like this.

Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

The next day Peter started out with them and some of the believers from Joppa went along.

The following day he arrived in Caesarea.

Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence.

But Peter made him get up. Stand up, he said. I'm only a man myself.

While talking to him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people.

He said to them, you are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile,

but God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.

So when I was sent, I came without raising any objection.

May I ask why?

And then he goes on to preach and then in the last verse you see, verse 44,

while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.

The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit

had been poured out over the Gentiles.

What fascinates me about this whole thing is God could have easily sent someone who was friendly with the Gentiles.

Who does he choose? He chooses a Jew who does not associate with Gentiles.

And then what does he do? He opens heavens.

And before he opens heavens, he opens Peter's eyes.

Peter's eyes are opened. He sees an open heaven. He sees a sheet being lowered.

He knows God is saying, kill and eat.

He should not associate with Gentiles. He decides that there needs to be a heart change.

But for that heart change to happen, there needs to be a conversation.

I will not. You will. I will not. You will.

But the law says, I should not. Who wrote the law? You.

Okay, well then go ahead and do it.

This conversation is happening.

And then after the conversation, he decides, okay, now what do I do?

I know what God wants me to do, but do I have obedient feet?

And he hears the Holy Spirit saying, the guys are waiting downstairs.

He goes, meets them. Great. Brings them in.

But now he has to go. He has to go from Joppa to Caesarea.

So he begins to walk. Obedient feet.

And as he begins to walk, what happens? Heavens open.

Heavens open over who? Heavens open over the Gentiles.

For the first time, for the first time in the history of man,

the God of Israel becomes the God of mankind.

No longer is it Jerusalem. No longer is it Judea.

No longer is it Samaria. All that is over.

Now you come to Samaria and the ends of the earth.

And who opens that door? Just like he stood in Acts chapter 2

Acts 2 · chapter mention

and opened the door to the Jewish believers.

Now he stands in a Gentile's home.

And he opens the doors of heaven.

An open heaven over the rest of the earth.

And the Gentiles become the one new man with the Jew and the Gentile.

This is what happens when open eyes see an open heaven,

active obedient feet begin to walk.

You have an open heaven over people. It's people who benefit.

We've got to become like this. Not just one or two.

Not for a job, not for a visa, not for monthly rent,

but for more important things.

We've got to stop spending the currency of faith on job, visa and provision.

Those things God provides.

And he blessed us today with a blessing.

By the time we spend faith on those things,

we are so exhausted that we don't have time for anything else.

Capish?

Guys, when God wants you to...

Remember this, eh?

When God wants to draw you...

My handwriting is kind of nice today.

I think once Tooney became a doctor, my handwriting improved.

When God wants to draw you into a new, unfamiliar place,

when God wants to draw you into a new, unfamiliar place,

he doesn't use logic or reason.

He doesn't use logic or reason.

You know, the only time God says, come reason with me,

is in Isaiah when your sins are red as scarlet,

but I will make them white as snow,

but if you have an argument, come reason with me.

Otherwise, he doesn't use it too often.

God wants to know...

When God wants to draw you into a new, unfamiliar place,

he doesn't use logic or reason.

What he usually uses is imagination.

Imagination forged by the Spirit.

Imagination forged by the Spirit, rooted in the Word.

Rooted in the Word and in His nature.

He uses imagination.

You know, there's nothing that has been created in the world

that is revolutionary,

that wasn't the result of someone's imagination.

Be it Steve Jobs, be it Elon Musk, or be it any of those guys,

they had the ability to imagine.

Christians are the ones that seem to suspend imagination

once you become a believer.

Till then, it was great imagining,

but once you become a believer, you stop imagining.

Imagination is a tool that God uses

to fertilize your mind with impossible things.

Before I became a believer,

I would imagine living in this house overlooking the beach

in California somewhere, and I was the Times Editor.

And all my friends said,

yeah, how big is the house?

I said, five bedrooms. There's enough room for all of us.

We'd be like a commune.

Hippies growing our hair,

but when we go to work, we'll tie it up properly.

And that was imagination. It was fun.

Once you become a believer, your imagination is,

no, no, no, no, no, we don't imagine like that.

We have to...

Come on, man.

This is what children thrive in.

And God uses imagination, eh?

He uses imagination.

If you have children, enjoy their imagination.

This is an important point.

That's why I'm making a pause.

I'm stopping and explaining it.

So let me tell you a story that happened last week.

We started talking about open eyes, right?

And so during the break,

Joey, Aaron and Rennie's son, comes running up to me,

and he stands in front of me and says...

And so I thought, okay, he's showing me his shirt.

And I said the patronizing things that grownups say to kids,

ah, it's a wonderful shirt.

How are you, Joey?

Give him a fist pump, and he went away.

And then just before the break ended,

he comes running up to me again and goes like this.

Like this.

And again, I did the same thing.

Great shirt, yeah, good shirt.

Didn't even look at it.

After the teaching, he comes a third time.

And he comes to me, and he shows me his shirt again.

He comes and stands in front of me this way.

The crazy thing is I'm teaching on open eyes,

and my eyes are shut.

And so he stands there and he shows me his shirt.

And what he doesn't know is that the day previous to that,

my conversation with God was,

Father, I've got one flight credit with Air Canada

that I have to use by January 24th.

I don't need to use it.

It's a free thing.

I can let it be, or I can use it.

And it can be anywhere between Vancouver and India.

I can go anywhere, one way.

And I'm asking the Lord.

And this kid is coming up each time to me

and showing me his shirt, and I have no idea why,

until you look closely at the shirt.

And it says London, and it says Paddington.

And the third time he did it, I took notice.

So I asked Aaron to take pictures and send me.

So Aaron took pictures and sent me.

So now I'm thinking to myself, all right,

so if you are saying, oh, God,

because I've been asking you for the last two days,

and this kid has tried desperately to let me know.

But after preaching on open eyes, my eyes are closed.

But the third time, it says London and Paddington,

so I decide, okay, Father, if this is you,

I'm willing to go, I don't even know why.

And so on Wednesday, I booked my ticket,

and on Thursday, I flew to London

and decided I'll go and stay in Paddington.

And so I went near Paddington Station,

and I took up a hotel there, and I stayed in Paddington.

What do you do there?

So I decided I'll go to Paddington Station,

so I went to Paddington Station and sat there.

Even the beggars got used to me.

One of the beggars came and said,

oh, I've already taken money from you.

So...

And as I sat there, things began to happen,

where to cut a long story short,

at the end of the day, there's going to be a song

that is very soon going to be found on podcasts in London,

which will, in my opinion, be super popular or go viral,

because the singer is going to take the song about London,

just like the Paddington Bear song called The Rhythm of London,

and he's going to create a song that will have elements

of really good music with Bhangra rap, with Arabic lilt,

and it's focused entirely on immigrants.

After that, there'll be a podcast called The Paddington Podcast.

After that, there'll be a Paddington Planters session,

where at Paddington Station, we found a place

where church planters can be trained at Paddington Station twice a week.

And after that, there'll be a worship night at Paddington,

once a month, where people will be invited

to participate in a worship night.

And while all this is happening, the church in Windsor got...

And I'm writing down everything, because in First Chronicles,

it says that David received blueprints as to what God needed to do.

You should read that.

First Chronicles 20, verse 18 or thereabouts says,

David says, listen, the temple that I want you to build, Solomon,

I received these blueprints directly from God.

He gave it to me. He wrote it for me.

How in the world does God write blueprints for an elaborate temple,

give it to David so he can hand it over to Solomon?

I don't even know the process, but you can begin to write down things.

As you begin to write down things, God says,

listen, don't worry about Windsor.

And then he reminded me, in 2023, people from this church,

Evan, Jillian and others, went to London to deal with the powers of London.

In 2024, went to London, stayed at Canary Wharf,

and there God said, listen, can you start four churches in London

at four corners of the M25 and start in Windsor?

And now God is saying Windsor is established,

start doing other things in London.

And when all this was over, and I'm thinking to myself,

how in the world is this going to happen?

How in the world is God going to keep his promises?

How am I going to commit to these promises?

Along comes a man. His name is James Spendle.

I found out later. James Spendle comes up to me and says,

hi, would you like a free poem?

So I said, sorry. He said, I do free poetry.

If you want a poem, I'll recite a poem right now.

And so I said, okay.

He starts reciting a poem by Robert Frost,

stopping by the woods on a snowy evening.

And guess what the last two lines are?

And I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.

And I'm literally wanting to cry because I've just been talking

to the Lord about how in the world are you going to keep your promises?

How long is this going to take?

And out of the blue comes a poet who stands and begins to relate lines

from Robert Frost's poems that speaks to the questions you ask.

How does this work, guys?

First, you need open eyes to see what God wants you to see.

And what does he want you to do?

Go all the way to London.

Can't he do it with someone in Britain?

Yes, he can. Why take you along?

Exactly what Mia was saying,

because he likes taking his children on an adventure if they have courage.

Fun adventure.

And so you hop on a plane and you go to London and you go to Paddington Station.

I've got my niece in London. I've got my sister.

They had to come to me.

Guess where they met me? At the station.

Spend the entire day at the station.

I know more about the Paddington Bear than anybody here right now.

But once the song gets this thing, it'll change what we do there.

On the way back, I stopped in Calgary, said hi to Jason.

Remember Jason Duhek, song of you do.

And met a man from Ethiopia who's just on his he plants churches all over Africa.

He came to let's bridge.

I don't know why everyone goes to let's bridge.

He came to let's bridge.

And I really liked him because he said, take a I can't understand something.

People preach here for half an hour.

Why can't they go for two hours?

And I thought this man, this man is a man after my heart.

And so he'll be here next week.

Be nice to him and treat him well.

I should tell you something else on the side.

I met a sort of Aaron and Daniel yesterday.

And so I asked Aaron a question.

Aaron, when you first came to this church, didn't it bother you that the services were so long?

And Daniel immediately nodded, saying, yeah, yeah, it bothered me.

It bothered me.

And Aaron's answer was the best.

It's the first time I've been to church.

I didn't know better.

So Daniel's the problem.

And so this was Joey.

And then Anne and Jaren were there.

I went and took a picture with the Paddington Bear.

Yeah.

And she also had a Paddington bag that she had gotten.

So it was Paddington all the way, yeah.

Any stories you need about Paddington, come to me.

Any questions before we go on?

This is just an example that was live.

Went there on Thursday, came back yesterday.

Does it cost you?

Yes, because the flight credit was only one way.

But so what?

It's the funnest adventure you can be on.

And to think that Joey was responsible, the boy doesn't know what he's doing.

We must see these little things, guys, that God has the power to orchestrate a three-year-old.

Is he three yet?

Less than three-year-old to come and stand before you and do this.

Not once, not twice, because he's thinking, when will this grown-up open his eyes?

Three times.

This is what I mean by open eyes, to see heavens open so that you can activate an open heaven with obedient feet.

And it happens every week.

And it is for all of us.

It's not a special thing, but others benefit.

Heidi and May, if you need to go and prepare stuff in the back, feel free, yeah?

Go.

Okay.

I had a Pittsburgh Penguins game today.

It started at 3 p.m.

So guys, God hides things in plain sight.

God hides things in plain sight.

And so anyone who seeks him sincerely can find.

Matthew 7, 7.

Ask and you shall be given.

Knock and you shall have the door open.

Seek and you shall find.

Asking is important.

And he hides things.

He hides things deliberately.

God conceals his splendor, his wisdom, and he's willing to reveal it to those who seek his face.

Please understand.

He's willing to reveal it to those who seek his face.

Psalm 27, verse 8.

Psalms 27:8

David is having a conversation with God and he says to God,

Oh God, you said to me, seek your face.

So here I come to seek your face.

When you go about doing this, there must be childlike wonder.

Childlike wonder.

Childlike awe.

If you go to Romans 11, 33.

Romans 11, 33.

Romans 11, 33.

Oh, the depth of the riches of wisdom and knowledge of God.

How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out.

Reading from the message.

Have you ever come on anything quite like this?

How unsearchable the wisdom, the savagant generosity of God.

This deep, deep wisdom.

It's way over our heads.

We'll never figure it out.

And then you have to go to 1 Corinthians 2, 16.

1 Corinthians 2, 16.

On one hand, Paul, the writer of Romans, is saying,

the inscrutable, unsearchable wisdom and the depth of God.

How in the world are we going to figure it out?

And then you go to 1 Corinthians 2, 16.

answer there. And in 1 Corinthians 2.16, he says, who has known the mind of the Lord so

as to instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. That's how you figure it out. You

connect both and you realize that our shucks, this can be figured out. Can be figured out.

I was confident when I sat at that station that I will get everything that God wants

me to get. That there'll be nothing left out. Everything will be gotten. Relationship and

wonder, you have to have that. You have to have childlike wonder and awe. And the unsearchable

riches of his wisdom. If we lose that, then it's going to be different and difficult.

I want you to look at two other scriptures. Deuteronomy 29.29. Deuteronomy 29.29. Deuteronomy

29.29. The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to

us and to our children forever. That we may follow all the words of this law. Look at

the whole thing man. The secret thing belong to God. So there are two categories. There

are secret things that belong to God. And then there are things revealed that belong

to us. So there are two things that are always present for all believers at all times. Secret

things that belong to God. Things that are really revealed that belong to us. And then

it goes on to say, the things revealed belong not just to you, but to your children also.

Why? So that we may follow him. Follow his instructions. So that's Deuteronomy 29.29.

Things revealed. Things revealed where? Things revealed in the word. Things revealed in Christ.

In Christ you see the brilliance of the living God. The visible image of the invisible God.

You see things revealed by the Spirit. This is why in John 16 verse 12 to 15, what does

John 16:12–15

Jesus say? Jesus says, listen guys, I'm giving you the Holy Spirit. He's going to be your

guide. He's going to teach you. He's going to tell you about me. He's going to take from

me and share it with you. He's going to bring you into the truth so that everything that

I have gotten from the Father can be yours. So things revealed. John chapter 16 verse

John 16:12–15

12 to 15. So things revealed belong to us. So we've got to understand that there are

things revealed in the word. Then we need to understand that there are things revealed

in nature. Psalm 19. The heavens declare the handiwork of the living God. Day after day,

night after night, nature speaks. And this is a speech that goes forth over all the earth.

I'm quoting Psalm 19. These are not my own words. This is a speech that goes over all

the earth and people listen to it. There are secrets that have been revealed through nature.

And then there are secrets revealed through, to people. You read it in first chronicles

about the tribe of Issachar. It's revealed to people through times and seasons. It was

said of the tribe of Issachar, the tribe of Issachar knew times and seasons and had an

understanding of times and seasons. You should know your times and seasons. You should look

at what is happening in a country. You should look at what is happening in the world and

have an idea. Jesus put it this way to the Pharisees. He said, you look at the sky and

you say it's going to rain. You look at the sun and you say it's going to be cloudy. If

you can look at the things of the earth and determine what's going to happen, how come

you can't determine the times of the kingdom? So there are certain things that are revealed

that we already know. And then there are things that are hidden. Go to Proverbs 25. Proverbs

Proverbs 25:2

25, verse 2. Proverbs 25. So before we read that, guys, the way to find things that are

concealed is to find the things that are revealed first. Anybody who wants to find mysteries

of God without first obeying the simple revealed things of God will not find the mysteries

of God. You start with what is already revealed. When people want to go here without doing

here, you don't get here. How do we find out things that are concealed? We find out things

that are concealed by first doing the things that are revealed. When I was a kid, my parents

would do the treasure hunt for Christmas and it would always start with one clue. That

clue would be revealed. It would be there. When we wake up in the morning, there would

be this paper on the ground, one for my sister, one for me, and on it would be the first clue.

That would then lead to the thing that was concealed. Proverbs 25, verse 2. Proverbs

Proverbs 25:2 Proverbs 25:2

25, verse 2. It says there, it is the glory of God to conceal the things that are concealed.

To conceal a matter. To search out a matter is the glory of kings. Beautiful. God is

saying, listen, I do conceal things. That's my privilege. That's my splendor. That's my

way of doing things. But I want you to know that everything that I'm concealing, I also

want you to know that I want you to come and find out the things that are concealed. I

want you to seek them out. I'm a God who's a father. I want to teach you everything I've

had. When I created Adam and placed him in the garden, my intent was not to just let

him grow mangoes and apples or name giraffes and zebras and elephants. There was more to

that. I wanted to teach Adam everything. Everything about creation. I wanted Adam to explore the

universe. I wanted Adam to name the stars. I wanted Adam to learn everything there was

about science, about every blooming subject that exists today. I wanted Adam to find out.

The intent was one day I would even get him to participate in eating of the tree of life.

I would give him the knowledge of good and evil at a stage when he was mature enough

to handle it. There is no mystery that I wouldn't have shared with Adam. Why? Because he was

my vice regent on earth. He was supposed to rule on my behalf. Why wouldn't I share things

with him? But a day is coming when you sitting in this church will be doing that. Where you

will judge angels. Where you will rule over things. Where you will have authority given

to you. You can't even imagine that right now because your idea of heaven is so skewed.

But this was what he wanted to do with Adam. And his plea to you and I is, listen, can

you begin to search out some of the things that I'm concealing? I sometimes show it to

you. But I feel disappointed when Jacob after I show it to you, you nod your head and go

back to Instagram. You showed this much interest. You'll be surprised at how quickly God comes

floating in. You have children, right? You have animals. Your animal shows a little interest

in a tennis ball that does not look like a ball anymore and you go buy him a ball. Your

cat turns its body like this and you go buy a big tower to turn its body around. Your

children, a little bit of interest. When I find a kid who's even remotely interested

in planes, I take them to the McDonald's next to the south terminal. Then quickly realize

it was a passing phase. But the point is, show a little bit of interest and you'll be surprised

at how passionate God is about sharing. What is he sharing? Is he sharing mysteries? Is

he sharing secrets? No, he's sharing his mind. About everything. He wants to share

things about money with you. Why? Not so that you do well, so that you can tell others how

to do it. He wants to share about healing with you. Why? Not so that you live in healing.

He's okay with that. He's always doing it so that someone will take what is... This

is why Paul said it this way. Find trustable men that you can take and deposit the teachings

into so that they can do what? So that they can teach others. Where did Paul find all

the things he wrote? 14 years in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and then sitting and finding

out, searching the mind of God. Come on, man. Okay, time to conclude. I can see people

wriggling in their seats, which doesn't do anything to me. Cultivate the ability to search

out the things of God. It's your privilege. It adds to your purpose. It reveals his glory.

The whole Hebrides 2.0, Richmond, Paddington, bride in army boots. These are things that

have not been created because suddenly I want to topic it is because of the time I spent

seeking the mind of God, not for myself because it doesn't benefit me. I seek it out so that

we benefit as a people, guys. And then when more of us start doing it, you will find that

more can be added to this group and more can be done.

Some of the things you have to be careful of. Know when you're out of relationship. Like

I said, these are small things that you have to be mindful of so that you don't miss out

on this glorious invitation that God is giving us. Remember, the room that we are entering

into next month is called Open Eyes Day. If you don't know what I'm referencing, you'll

have to go listen to the teachings from the past because Karen said it's been an hour

now. So things you have to be careful of. Know when you're out of relationship with

God because relationship and wonder are critical for God showing you things. When you're out

of relationship, get back. Find out what's sapping your strength. Fix it. And strength

sappers can be many things. It can be sin, it can be distractions, it can be priorities,

it can be busyness, it can be tiredness. Fix it.

Second, know what to share and reveal when God shows things. Know what to share and reveal

when God shows things. When God shows you something, sometimes it's meant only for you.

Jesus got transfigured on the mountain in Matthew 17. He specifically tells them, listen, I

don't want you to share it with anybody. I want you to share it only after I'm gone.

So be careful what you share when God shows. I don't know whether Jesus knew that once

you come down the mountain of transfiguration, there was a demoniac waiting down to be healed.

I don't know whether he knew that or not. But he told them not to. And yet in 1 Peter,

Peter writes about it and shares it openly. So be careful and know when and who and what

to share.

Third, if this is something that isn't your experience, then pray that the rust and the

mildew and the dullness of the spirit and the mind are removed. Ask God, Father, I'm

so sometimes unaware, so dull, so blind, so deaf to the things you do. Can you remove

my blindness? Ask. Ask God to remove it.

Four, be aware that if God shows you something and you don't have obedient feet, then over

a period of time the heart gets hardened and you stop looking.

Deuteronomy 21, verse 4, it says, you have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes,

Deuteronomy 21:4

but to this day the Lord has not given you a mind to understand or eyes to see or ears

to hear.

Or they, you have seen it but you don't understand. One of the dangers of attending a church like

this is let's just assume for a second that most Sundays what is spoken is a God thing.

Let's just assume that because there are some Sundays that it's Derek and Tooney. I'm kidding,

I'm kidding, I'm so sorry, Doctor. I don't even know why I went there. Gosh, yeah, humility

I have to cultivate. It's what I'm working on.

So let's assume most Sundays that what is taught here is from God, yeah? Then the more

I refuse it and the more I resist it and the more I spurn it or scorn it, the harder the

heart gets. Just be aware of that, eh? It's just the way it works.

Two more and we're done. Next one is stay with it even when you struggle. When God shows

you something and you begin the process and you find obstacles, you find hindrances,

you find things not working out, you feel the pressure, stay with it, stay with it.

I love what Job says in Job 19. He says, even if my flesh decays, this I know that my Redeemer

lives and I will see him.

Beautifully, even though my skin is decaying, I know that my Redeemer lives and that even

if my flesh wears away, I will see him. I will see him in my flesh, struggling through

it.

And then the last one, make sure you don't, especially as you get older, make sure you

don't lose out on your zest for life. Barzilai's syndrome. Barzilai was 80. David says, come,

come with me. I'll take you to my palace. I'll give you a great life. He says, oh, but

why should I come along? These teeth can't taste food anymore. Even if people sing, I

can't make out whether it's men singing or women singing. And I just don't have any pleasure

in life. And so he remains. He sends his son.

The point being, zest for life is a critical part of the awe and wonder of discovering

God. Don't lose that. Every time you begin to lose a zest for life, go to someone who

can help you. Go to someone who can help you. Any questions? When zest languishes, it's

very hard. Any questions?

Yeah. So if God shows something, first, one of the things that I think is important is

that we are so excited about sharing this with people. And sometimes when you share

it, what if the picture is not complete? Two, what if the person pooh-poohs what you're

saying because they think you're nuts? What if what you say is for a time, maybe a year

from now? And so when you begin to share things as soon as they happen, it's sometimes like

sometimes like throwing pearl before swine. And so keep it. I gave you a

synopsis of what happened at Paddington. I didn't give you all the ins and outs. I

have to find out what should I present and what should I not. God begins to

trust you as He realizes that there are things that He will keep within and

there are things you won't. When He healed a guy and He told him don't tell

anybody, what did the guy do? He went and told everybody and the next verse says

Jesus could not enter that town again. Hundreds lost out because a man refused

to listen to what Jesus had commanded him to. And so when you begin to see like

this guys, you begin to frame your world not based on the circumstances around

you. You begin to frame your world based around what God has shown you. It is

huge. Let's assume God shows you something that needs to be done. Promises

to keep, miles to go before you sleep. Now you can frame your world based on

what God has said. Not frame your world based on the circumstances around you.

You see this playing out in 1 Kings 18. There's not a single cloud in the sky

and Elijah keeps telling his servant, listen I want you to go and check the

sky for clouds. That poor fellow has to go up the mountain. I mean I would have quit

after the full time. I don't want this job Elijah because you're going up the

mountain checking for clouds coming down. No cloud. Go up again. While he's

just praying while the servant goes up and down. By the sixth time I'd have

jumped off the cliff but he goes back a seventh time. He goes back a seventh time

and every time he comes and says there's no cloud. But how does Elijah frame his

world? Elijah frames his world simply by what he saw. And what did he see? He saw

clouds of rain so thick that Ahab would have to run into his chariot and get

home before the rains come. That's what happens when you see. That's what

happens when you see about your personal life, about your church life, about your

corporate life. Sometimes he shows you 10 years, 20 years down the road. That is

just nuts waiting for 20 years for something to happen because you've seen

it. Come on man don't you want this kind of living hope? Otherwise you'll have to

stagger from day to day. Most things in the Bible happened over a period of time

but someone inspired, as in God inspired heart saying this will happen and they

would stay with it so much so that Joseph even knew he was going to die but

he would see the promised land because his bones would be buried in the

promised land. A people without vision perish. What's your vision? Is it dictated

by your boss, by your work? Or is it much greater and grander and more impossible?

In the context of that now you can put your marriage, put your work, put your

money. Why? Because there's a grand vision and everything begins to serve that

vision. Paul put it this way to King Agrippa, I could not be disobedient to

the heavenly vision I received on the road to Damascus. How can I be

disobedient to that? Because if I don't have a vision someone will hijack my

life and have me follow their vision.

When I live with open eyes I'm not moved by what I see. I'm not moved by what I see

with my physical eyes but I frame the world around me by what I see with my

spiritual eyes in the word and by the spirit. I frame the world by what I see

and hear from his spirit from the word. Then you can say with Job, I love this

line from Job 42 verse 5, every Paddington experience enriches you guys.

Job 42:5

You'll have your own Paddington experiences. Every Paddington experience

enriches you. Job put it this way in verse 5, but now I say, he's talking to

God and he says, but now I say, I had heard about you before but now I have

seen you. I had heard about you before but now I have seen you. If you need

prayer there'll be someone to pray with you. Remember church starts at 3.30am

are we going to turn up at 3.20am. Dress well.