Train My Hands For War - Part 6 - Terrain

So that gave me an image as we head into 2026, and Brandon will play that in a bit. But can

you guys hear me? So he wants to remind us that he is a covenant God, and another way

of putting that is just as we were singing, he is a promise-keeping God. He has made a

contract with us, and he will keep it. In Genesis 12, when God promised Abraham that

He would make Abraham into a great nation and he would be blessed, He also said that

Abraham would be renown, like his name would be known, and he would be a blessing. Those

who blessed Abraham would be blessed, those who cursed Abraham would be cursed. God ended

by saying that all people on earth would be blessed through Abraham, right? And then as

we are reading through Genesis, four more times God reminded Abraham of His promise,

and one of those times Abraham actually got to walk the breadth and width of the land

was promised to eventually the Israelites. And then at 99, when Abraham was still childless,

God again reminded Abraham that through him a people would come, right? So that was the

third time. And then for the final time, after Abraham obediently was about to offer up Isaac,

God again reminded Abraham that because of your obedience, all nations on earth will be blessed

by you. So what does this mean for us? So what is God covenant in Tinguarath? What is He promising

us? That we will be a stronghold base in His kingdom, that this church will be a fortress

church, a place of refuge for people. The second thing I got was we get to promise God

that He will not let us down. We get to put on His garment of splendor. That is a part of our

weaponry. We get to clothe ourselves in His glory, and He cloaks us in that. Those who want to take

up positions in His kingdom will have the freedom to do that. This is from Isaiah 52-12. God is also

promising us that He is leading us, so there is no need to be hasty in what we do. Not only is

He going to protect us, but He is going to protect us in our guard so that no one will be left behind

or forgotten or fall behind as we move into 2026. And just as He did with Abraham, He will keep

reminding and reaffirming His promises with us. He hasn't hacking forgotten, and He's not late

He will keep reassuring and reaffirming us as much as we need. Especially as we walk in greater

obedience, the promises will be revealed in fuller and fuller measure for us. The image He gave me,

I tried to do it with AI, and it's kind of there, but this is the image He showed me.

So, He's a covenant-keeping God, so that's why I represented by the ribbon.

And for those who want to, with their hands up, He's going to come cloak His covenant over us.

Okay, cool. Okay, what May had sent has to be put up so we read it. First time someone hears it,

it's hard to comprehend it, but during the year you'll find little bits of it happening in your

life and you'll be thankful for it. So we'll have to put it up where everybody can access it.

Right now we go on to Train My Hands For War, and that's the series we've been doing.

It's the sixth in the series, the sixth one. So it's Train My Hands For War.

Hey, can you make this, Brandon, can you make the writing thinner? I don't know how to.

Or maybe I do. Train My Hands For War. Yeah, I do. Train My Hands For War. And today we're going to talk about terrain.

Because if you are going to war, you should know the terrain that you operate in.

And so, we are crossing our 20-year threshold, okay guys? Next year will be our 20th year.

20-year threshold, sometime in February. Now as we cross this 20-year threshold,

we in a sense are entering into another large room.

Okay, so we're entering into another large room. So the question is, how do we define this room?

What do we call this room? That's what I want to talk about today. So about two years ago we talked

about how we enter thresholds. Meaning, if this is where you used to live, at some point, because

you've been faithful, God brings you into a larger space. Once you enter this larger space,

you can't bring anything from there in here. What we usually do because we love familiarity,

is we start bringing things from the smaller room into the larger room. When there are tissue boxes

that the larger room will have, familiarity is something God wants us to completely bypass.

By the way, one of the things that happened when Phoebe was singing that song about the blood,

in a vision that I was seeing, I saw the same tree that you read about in the last chapter of

Revelation beginning to sprout about here. It said that the tree would have leaves that were for the

healing of the nations. I was asking the Lord, so what are we supposed to do with it? His response

was, start telling people that healing happens here and bring them in exclusively for healing.

Like guys who are sick, bring them in for healing. Tell them that, hey, if you come to this church,

you'll get healed. And then either we'll fall flat on our faces or we'll become pretty much

known for healing in this church. But let's just trust, yeah, guys, stuff like this, you've got to

give me more than one amen. Because what if this is true? Yeah, there are more groans when the

Canucks get scored on. You've got to give me more than one amen. Yeah, we've got to change that next year.

Yeah, oh my God. I'm scared of the other extreme too.

But let's assume that what I saw is actually God. And my question was, why, Father? And his thing was,

make me known. Make what I do known. But make me known through this church saying, you come here,

you will get healed. Dare to bring some people that are really in bad shape.

I remember when this church first started casting out demons, we didn't have a clue what we were

doing. But one of the first persons God brought to this church was a person who was struggling

with so many demons that we didn't have a choice but to learn on the run. And we learned fast.

And I remember the first few years, anybody in Vancouver, any of the churches in Vancouver

that had to deal with any demonic issue, they would send it to us.

But if this tree, which has leaves for healing every month of the year, is being planted somewhere

between Betty and Evan, then I mean, it doesn't mean that we have to make them all sit here.

I'm just saying, bring them in. So that's one thing on the side. Brandon, this thing's working?

Okay. I always think that we need to make sure that we're not going to be able to do that.

Okay. I always knew I'd be on TV.

These dad jokes are getting worse by the minute. Okay, so we're getting into our 20th threshold,

we're crossing it and we are entering into another large room. And so the question is now what?

One of the first places we need to start it is define the room. Define the room. If someone says

you got a promotion, your first question is okay. So what's the promotion? If someone says you got,

you moved locations or you moved house, the first question is, so what does it look like now?

And so just to say, oh, God is taking us to a large room is very nice, but it means nothing.

You have to define the room. So the intent today is to try and define the room and if we

get somewhere by 1020, so be it. And then we'll do the rest later. What is a room?

So we begin with this idea that there are 223,000 people in Richmond.

I hope you memorize this. Not the number, the whole room thing. 223,000 people in Richmond

and the promise was from Acts chapter three, verse 20, which said, I will send times of refreshing

on these 223,000 in Richmond who don't know their right hand from their left. That's what God said

about the occupants of the citizens of Nineveh when Jonah wanted them destroyed. And so it's

the same statement being made here. 223,000 in Richmond, I will send times of refreshing

from my presence amongst two, amongst all of them, but especially the 20s and the 30s.

What are we doing? We are defining the room. What else?

God is trying to raise and will get what he wants, an anointed bride in army boots

on assignment. Don't forget these things. You have to hold these things together.

You do it at work, you can do it with the church too.

Anointed bride in army boots on assignment.

So what's the role that this would entail? Guys, you have to literally think of yourself as the arc

in Richmond. And we will explore this and I'm so eager to explore this. What is the arc in Richmond?

Think of what the arc was in the Old Testament. It carried four things. It carried presence,

it carried government. It used to be carried on people's shoulders. It carried government as in

what happened, the jurisdiction that God had. Everything that would happen in that area would

be because of what God would say. Three, it represented power. You saw what happened in the

temple of Dagon when they put the arc next to the idol called Dagon. And later during times of David,

it ended up being a place of ridiculous worship that we still have today.

These are four distinctives. Who am I talking about? I'm talking about us.

Hey guys, here's the thing. We'll get there. Any questions thus far? Look at what we are saying.

We are defining the room. How are we defining the room? We are saying that the room is the

center of the temple. We are saying that we are trying to describe the terrain we are entering

in a few hours or we have already entered. We are entering our 20th year. That itself is a big deal.

We are entering into a larger room. What does this room look like? Define the room.

We are defining the room as saying we have entered a city where there are 223,000 people

who don't know their right hand from their left and God sent us to this city very specifically.

We did not need to move out of FCC. There was no need to move out of FCC.

The rent is about the same now. We hadn't outgrown that place. It was more central for some of you.

Some of you have started buying EV cars since we moved here. So we are not going to move out of

since we moved here. That is how bad this move was. Stop smiling, Subin.

223,000 people in Richmond. I will send times of refreshing in Richmond, especially on the 20s and 30s.

Anointed bride in army boots on assignment. We talked about it two Sundays ago.

We left out the bit of the bride because we didn't have time, but we talked about what it is to be

anointed, what it is to be in army boots and what it is to have assignments. We'll visit it again.

And then today I'm saying, so what do we have to do? These are the four things that this church

will have to establish in the next 12 months. Presence, government, power, worship. Right from

Mia onwards or Phoebe onwards. What did I come and say to Phoebe when she was here?

That Phoebe, you worship so well. Continue to worship. We'll teach our children whether they

have a flag or don't have a flag, whether they have a mic or don't have a mic. From Milan, from

Mia, from Phoebe, they'll all learn how to have one of these aspects so pat down that there'll

be no question about it. We don't even know what this means. We know what this means. We know what

this means. We know what this means. We have no idea what this means, but praise God, that's why

we have this thing called church where we learn. Do you know that the enemy has all this too?

Hey, kingdom implies warfare. I'm not shouting at you. I just want to catch our attention

to the reality of the ground that we stand in right now.

Do you know that the enemy has presence, that the enemy has government, that the enemy has power,

and the enemy has worship? What are we doing? Meeting in church for a service? Is that what

we are about? Definitely not and you know it. Trust me, I'm not shouting at you. I'm just angry

at the fact that we cannot stay here. We've got long ways to go. All of us.

This is what we are born for, man. Because in combating what the enemy brings,

I'm going to sing a victory. I know who wins. I know my God does not fail and in the process,

people are set free. You sit here because someone had the ability to deal with this to set you free.

When you sing the song of the blood, you know why I like that song? You suddenly realize that

all the things you've achieved are simply because of the blood. You think you can hear the Holy

Spirit? He lives in me because of the blood. I got nothing without the shed blood of Christ.

So those four things we have to really build up. I'm not saying we haven't done it already.

Government is something we do not understand, which we'll explore, but the other three,

we can take it to another level, man.

Then we talked about two Sundays ago, we talked about the Lord's Prayer.

God is in the process of creating an army in this church that can march in formation.

We very much believe that God is in the process of creating an army in this church that can march

in formation. We went to Isaiah 13, verse 2 to 4, and I read from the message, Isaiah 13, 2 to 4.

Isaiah 13:2–4

Isaiah 13, 2 to 4.

Love this. Isaiah 13, 2 to 4. Listen, church, listen. May your ears and my ears be open

to the word of God. It says, run up a flag on an open hill. Yell out. Get their attention.

Wave them into formation. Direct them to the nerve center of power. I've taken charge of my

special forces. I've called up my crack troops. They're bursting with pride and passion to carry

out my angry judgment. Thunder rolls off the mountains like a mob, huge and noisy. Thunder

of kingdoms in an uproar. Nations assembling for war. God of the angel army is calling his army

into battle formation. They come from far off countries. They're pouring across the horizon.

It is God on the move with the weapons of his wrath, ready to destroy the whole country. We're

talking about the fact that war is not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities

and rulers and authorities and spirits that keep people captive, that keep you and I captive.

Hey, do you realize how sometimes we are so dull to the word of God? How come we have doctors sitting here,

post-graduates sitting here, and we can still be dull to the word of God? How come?

How come you can go to UBC and still not do half what you do in UBC

out here on the mission field? Why is it that I can't do better than this? Because there is resistance, guys.

And so the breaking that we are talking about happens both inside and outside. Break it in me so that I can go and break it out there.

This is so real.

We talked about Isaiah 13, 2-4 and Micah 5, 4-6. Turn to Micah 5, 4-6. I want us to know these scriptures, man.

Like if you enter, you know, when you go into a new location, sometimes you drive to a new location,

you know, you're in a new location, you're in a new location, you're in a new location, you're in a new location.

Like if you enter, you know, when you go into a new location, sometimes you drive back from home,

drive back from work and you go to your old home and you realize, oh, shut, took the same road that I've been taking always,

ended up in the wrong part of town. I moved to Burnaby and I thought I was in Surrey.

It's the same thing. If we don't learn this, then we keep going back to Surrey.

Micah 5, verse 4 and 6. Micah 5, verse 4 to 6. I love this. I'm reading from, let's take, NIV.

Micah 5:4 Micah 5:4–6

Micah 5, verse 4 to 6. He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,

Micah 5:4–6

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they will live securely for then his greatness will reach the end of the world.

And he will be our peace when the Assyrians invade our land and march through our fortresses.

We will raise against them seven shepherds and eight commanders who will rule the land of Assyria with the sword,

the land of Nimrod with drawn sword. He will deliver us from the Assyrians when they invade our land and march across our borders.

Just keep that in mind. We won't touch it today, but keep that in mind.

And then the next thing we talked about, and this is the last part of the story,

is Isaiah 61, especially verse 1 and 2, where we set the captives free.

Guys, what are we doing in Richmond? We are, hear me, hear me very clearly, eh?

I'm asking for your attention. Yeah?

What are we doing in Richmond? Let the enormity of this settle down on you.

What we're doing in Richmond is we are setting captives free from regional and territorial powers.

This church has been set aside for this work. Are we qualified yet? No.

Will we qualify? Yes. Can we start this process? It has started.

Do we know how to finish on it? No.

We have a highway that weaves a net over people just like Artemis used to in Ephesus.

And if there was only one way to dethrone Artemis in Ephesus,

there is only one way to undo the powers that line up a highway and weave a net across the city,

across 223,000 people who do not know their right hand from the left hand.

Now either we can come and sing songs here and have a great time and be touched by the Lord,

or we can take that and touch others.

There are many meers out there who do not know Jesus Christ and who will not know Jesus Christ.

There are many Phoebe's out there that will never have the joy of singing the blood.

There are many Eliakims who will have problems with their heart and will not survive.

Why? Because we have an evil enemy and especially in this city they weave a net crowded in one highway.

It's almost like the pagan times.

So either step up to the plate or stand aside and don't get in the way.

What's your choice? Mind to step up to the plate.

I say again and again, I'm just so blooming angry with what happens to people in a city not at you.

But we can't sit on our jobs and our studies in neutral spaces at work thinking it's Derek's job or Jacob's job

or Mae's job or Gillian's job or Sheldon's job or Dilna's job. It's not.

Any questions? You want to challenge me on any of this?

You want to push back? You want to shout back? Not at me, but at anything that really irks you about this.

It's very difficult to get a Christmas message or a New Year's message in this church.

Why don't you take into the main territorial powers?

Yes. So I will lay out before this church the main territorial powers in this city when the cameras are off.

And I'm not asking you to switch the cameras off right now.

But given certain bills that are being passed in this land, we can be wise.

One of the things we want to do at some point in January in this church is to not do a camp for the young adults in some resort somewhere else

where all of us struggle to pay because it's blooming expensive.

But we can come here and eat pizza and chicken to your fill.

You can even bring your sleeping bags and sleep here.

And what we'll do is talk about these things because we're not here to now talk about let's have more boldness or let's have more spirit.

Now it is let's take our sleeping bags and come here and spend a day from nine to whatever they'll allow and then deal with these things.

Where we talk about what are the real powers that are here?

What is the false front and what is the real thing?

Go ask a lawyer if there are any lawyers here.

Thank God we have only one.

And so go ask a lawyer and they'll always tell you that this is the front but this is what's happening behind.

Go ask a doctor if they're safe.

This is what the symptom is but this is the actual diagnosis.

But this is not for Gangho, Genghis Khan.

This is for people who actually want to march in front of the church.

They want to march in formation because it's the command of Jesus Christ.

He's waving us into formation.

If you can't come into formation, this ain't for you.

Hire yourself out to some other organization that can use you as a mercenary.

What do we call this space?

What do we call this room?

We've defined it.

What do we call it?

What's a name we can give it?

I want you to know something that's going to happen in this church if you want it to happen to you.

2 Kings 6-17.

Let's look at some scriptures.

I'll tell you what you can expect over the next 12 to 24 months.

Some of you will be so changed and such a gift.

Such a gift to the world because of what God will do through you.

2 Kings 6-17.

You know, this is what we...

I mean, don't kids play cops and robbers?

When I was a kid, it was not cops and robbers.

The bandits were the good guys.

I'd have this gun on my back and a mask on my face and go around shooting people.

It was so much fun, man.

And why is it that we now stop?

They replaced everything with water pistols now.

That's another story.

2 Kings 6-17.

2 Kings 6-17.

2 Kings 6-17.

Listen to this, eh?

I'm going to read you some scriptures and you'll get an idea of what God is going to do in our midst.

2 Kings 6...

Let's start at verse 14.

Then he sent...

And this is a king...

He's sending people to capture Elisha.

Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there.

They went by night and surrounded the city.

When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning,

an army with horses and chariots surrounded the city.

Oh, no, my Lord, what shall we do?

the servant asked.

Don't be afraid, the prophet answered.

Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

And Elisha prayed.

Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.

Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he looked and he saw hills full of horses and chariots of fire.

All around Elisha.

Next one, Luke 24, 30.

Luke 24, 30.

Luke 24, 30.

Luke 24, verse 30.

Luke 24:30

Let's start at verse 28.

Luke 24, verse 28 onwards.

Luke 24:28

As they approached the village to which they were going,

Jesus continued on as if he were going farther.

But they urged him.

And you can see such these patterns you'll observe even today with you.

Where Jesus, you've just spoken to the Lord.

He talks with you.

He gives you an answer for the prayer you're asking.

And then he begins to move further.

And he wants you to stop him.

He's not satisfied with giving you an answer.

There's more to talk about.

Stop him.

He's deliberately moving further.

He's hoping they'll stop him.

He's deliberately moving further.

He's hoping they'll stop him.

But they urged him strongly.

Stay with us for it's nearly evening.

The day is almost over.

So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them,

he took bread, gave thanks, broke it,

and began to give it to them.

Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him.

And he disappeared from their sight.

Next scripture.

Genesis 21, 19.

Genesis 21, 19.

Genesis 21, 19.

Genesis 21, 19.

Genesis 21, 19.

Genesis 21, 19.

Let's go to

verse 15

and start reading from verse 15.

When the water in the skin was gone,

this is Hagar and Ishmael.

When the water in the skin was gone,

she put the boy under one of the bushes.

Then she went off and sat down about a bow shot away.

For she thought,

I cannot watch the boy die.

And as she sat there, she began to sob.

God heard the boy cry.

And the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven

and said to her,

What is the matter, Hagar?

Do not be afraid.

God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.

Lift the boy up and take him by the hand,

for I'll make him into a great nation.

Then God opened her eyes

and she saw a well of water.

So she went and filled the skin

and water and gave the boy a drink.

I just wanted to say to someone here

that one of the scriptures you should look at

is Genesis 16, 30.

Genesis 16, 13.

Genesis 16, 13.

It's a word for someone here.

Genesis 16, 13.

This is a story again of Hagar.

But this time, she calls him

Bir Lahai Roi.

Which means the God who is seeing.

You think

that God doesn't see anymore.

Every time things don't work out,

your heart gets so bitter against him,

you need to read Hagar's story

and understand that he wants to be

your Bir Lahai Roi.

He'll be that

brilliantly this year.

Sometimes promises have to be believed.

It says in the scriptures

that unless you believe,

you cannot see it come to pass.

What does believe look like?

Every morning getting up and saying

once again, oh God, I'm struggling

with it, but I've come to

say to you that I heard your

Bir Lahai Roi.

The one who sees.

Day by day by day you go.

And guess who's in

the way to prevent you?

To dull your heart and dull your mind?

There's one

who's actively resisting.

I want us to

become so aware

of this

other kingdom that is at work.

The next scripture, Ephesians 1

16-18.

It talks about how Paul is praying

a prayer and he says that

I want

your eyes to open.

I want your eyes to be

enlightened. I want your eyes to be open

so much so that you have

a spirit of wisdom and a spirit

of revelation so that you

not only know the breadth and the depth

of God's love, but you also know

the purpose and the reason

he has called you and you also

know the power that is at work in you

which is the same power that was at work

in Jesus Christ.

Again there is this idea of open

eyes.

You know

there's a restaurant in Vancouver, it's called

Dark Table. I don't know how many have gone there.

Dark Table is a restaurant

that is run by blind people.

As soon as you come to the

entrance, once you enter in

everything is dark.

Someone will come and they'll ask you to

put your hand on their shoulder

and they'll lead you to the table.

You want to experience pitch dark?

You need to go there.

It is totally dark.

All the waiters are blind.

And you sit at this table and you can't

see your food.

The idea is that you experience

what it is for a blind

person to live every day.

The waiters are blind,

the ones who pour water are blind, the ones

that take you in are blind. Some of the chefs

and I'm not kidding you, are blind.

And they even have a mystery dish

that they bring.

And you have to figure it out.

That's Dark Table.

But God is saying to us that

listen, I'm bringing you into

a dimension

called open eyes.

I'm bringing you

Acts 29, I'm bringing this church

into a dimension called open

eyes.

And if you are willing,

I'll teach you to see.

See what the enemy is doing,

see what a person's condition is,

see what I am doing.

I've longed for a

people like this. And I think

you can be trained into this.

I'm not saying that.

I'm saying God is saying that.

Therefore for me to see this tree

with leaves that are healing for the nation

every 12 months, did not

surprise me because I know what

he wants. But here are the

three reactions we can have.

We can either be ones that have

our eyes open and enlightened

so that we see what God is doing,

we see the condition of man, and we see what

the enemy is doing, and the Holy Spirit

is able to use it. Or

we can be like the guy

in Psalm 32

where David writes saying

Do not be like the horse or the mule

which need bitter

bridle. I have my eye upon you.

I will instruct you. Do not be like the horse

or the mule. That's when there is this resistance.

And that resistance

will lead to the next stage.

And that stage is when he says in

Isaiah 6, this is

very sad eh? Isaiah 6 he just

says, Who shall we send? Who will

go for it? Isaiah raises up his hand

and says send me. And the next verse says

I'm sending you. But I'm sending you

to a people who

hearing will not hear, and

seeing will not see.

Later on in Mark

Mark 4:13

chapter 4 verse 13, Jesus

quotes that, that the things of the

kingdom are meant for you, Acts 29.

It is to the others that the

parables are not clear. But to

you, I speak

things clearly. I've given you eyes to see.

So see with your eyes.

May the category,

the third category that I just mentioned

be so limited in this church.

The way to avoid the third

category is to avoid the second one.

Hear me again. You

will end up, I will end up

in the third category if I

fall into the second.

Dullness always slides this way.

When I become like the horse of the

Mew,

that needs bit and bridle to get it to

move anywhere.

There was a horse I rode, I still remember

the name of the horse, Silk. It was

not Silk at all.

We went on a race.

That thing would just go,

start eating grass by the wayside

while all the others were racing.

It didn't matter what you do, till both

me and the guy started pulling it.

But boy, it was a stubborn horse.

And he kept calling it Silk.

Silk. Doesn't matter.

It's an Indian thing.

But

the point being, do not be like that.

Any questions?

I mean,

I know I'm right, but let's

phrase it a different way.

What if I'm right? If I'm right,

what is God saying to us?

I'm inviting you into a dimension

where I am going to call

this space or

room, I'll call it open

eyes.

Here's what's going to happen guys.

The children might get there

faster than us if we are stubborn.

Mia will see

faster.

Let's pick her dad.

Mia will see faster than Vivek.

How will this happen by the sheer

power of the Holy Spirit?

You know the crazy thing about this?

It's once an invitation like this is given.

Now it's your choice.

And my choice.

Trust me man, when I say it's your choice,

it's my choice too and the onus on me

is greater than it is on you.

I've got no guarantee that I'll do this well.

Because one of the things you need for this

is consistent belief in the promise of God.

I want you to see things from the enemy's perspective for a second.

Yes, we know that Goliath would come out

twice a day for 40 days

and he would frighten

the armies of

Israel. They would go scurrying

into their foxholes.

Now change it around.

And yes, we know

that there are regions and nations

on the earth where prayers go up

five times a day.

Two spirits that

bring in such abysmal

darkness into those lands that

the things that happen there are brutal.

There is power in the decrees and declarations

that people make over

a place. Just like Goliath would

make it. And Goliath would come

out shortly after the morning sacrifice

and shortly after the evening sacrifice.

You can't imagine how

discouraging it is.

You've just worshipped Yahweh,

burnt an offering on the altar,

and out comes this giant and you go scurrying

into your foxholes.

You think that's a new trick?

That's an old trick that happens to us every

week where we think we've gained

something and then the Goliath called work

or the Goliath called money or the Goliath

called relationships comes up

and it gets you down again.

Same thing in these

nations and regions where prayers

go up five times loudly

over an entire

area and for thousands

of years. You think

invoking the names

and worship of

spirits will not

do anything to the residents

that live there?

Now turn it around, reverse it around.

Now go to Jericho. And in

Jericho something else is happening.

In Jericho what is happening is

there's a people inside a very strong

city that are so scared

that they've shut their gates. Why have they

shut their gates? Because

every day they're hearing

the same march

and then this awe

and shock of the

trumpets and the horns

just bursting together.

And they know something is going to happen.

But they don't know what.

And it happens day

after day after day

after day to the sixth day. And the

Bible says Jericho shut

itself up because they didn't know

what was going to happen. You have no

idea what happens to Satan

and the enemy armies

when people decide that their worship

is more than their worship to God.

That's

such an odd sentence to say because most

people would think that's what it is about, worship

to God. Worship is used by

God on multiple levels.

I've been talking to

Tuni about how if we go

into this, how do we take the very

songs we are singing right now and how

do we change them around?

What does it look like when an

army begins to sing

a song? Armies

are made up of the same husbands,

same wives, same young

men, same young women who can sing

love songs to each other, who can sing

funny songs to each other,

who can have a joyful time.

But then the moment they come into

formation, you give them any song,

the way they sing it changes.

It doesn't matter the words of the song.

It's the condition and the attitude

of the heart.

What does that look like in a church like this

that's being invited into what we are supposed

to step into? What does it look like for him

to play like that, for her to sing like that,

for Evan to drum like that?

What does it take?

What does it take for us to then worship like that?

What happens to the flags?

Because if

the prayers of people

in a region five times a day for a thousand

years is beginning to affect them,

then I want to say to you that Richmond

is alert at a group of people

who have gotten the hang of worship

in this church, who know how

to shout, who know how to dance,

who know how to abandon

themselves to God.

You think it has no effect?

You don't realize that on a Sunday

it happens, on a Monday it happens,

on a Tuesday it happens, in Newton,

on Wednesday it happens, on Thursday

it happens in Northland.

It just is relentless.

For the last six

months you think it doesn't have any effect?

If the enemy can use his

words, what happens when the

people of God use the word

that's called the sword of the spirit?

Become aware, let our eyes

open to the reality

of what we've been called to.

This isn't church anymore like it

used to be.

We've entered a different room, guys.

Joshua said,

Joshua chapter 6, verse 15

Joshua 6:15

or thereabouts, he says, hey,

when I tell you, shout, shout

saying, this city,

we shout saying the city

is for the Lord.

I would say to the churches

at Acts 29, every

so often when you gather Beed in Newton,

Northland or Richmond, start with

Joshua 6, 15.

Start with Joshua 6, 15.

Initially, it'll be difficult.

It'll feel false.

It says in Joshua 6, 16,

shout, shout,

Joshua 6, 16, shout,

the Lord has given us

the city.

Right now, if I do it,

you won't have the muster for it.

Let's just try it.

You'll see how it sounds.

Joshua 6, 16,

very simple words, shout,

the Lord has given us this city.

Try it on three.

One, two, three.

Shout, shout,

the Lord has given us the city.

Good, but imagine when this takes root.

Do you know what happens

when you're losing 4-1

and they come back and tie it 4-4

and then they score

a tiebreaker and it's

5-4 and the Canucks

get a victory? I mean it happened

many years ago, but it did happen.

I was there.

Boy, when it happened, you should have seen the

place roar.

It was the Canucks have taken

this city.

It'll happen in this church.

Crazier than a city, the first

city, guys just think of this, the first

city that fell

in Canaan, the first city

that fell to Israel

was a joint declaration by

divine intent. It was just a joint

declaration. It wasn't war, it wasn't

fighting, it was a joint declaration

by divine intent.

Let us declare this.

What did they declare? Shout for the

city is the Lord.

That statement

brought down

the first city. Israel got its

first city through a joint declaration

of divine intent.

Don't need too many, man.

It's a challenge to believe this,

eh? And to live in this new expectation.

It's a challenge, but

my God, if we get a few

sergeants that can shout like

I'm shouting, we can do this.

It's not ra-raing.

It's keeping us on point.

You know,

I've got a friend who rose

at these dragon boat things.

One of the most important people in the boat

is a guy whose only job is to go

boom, boom, boom, boom.

He gets it wrong,

the whole thing will go wonky.

We need a few of these guys,

whatever they call them.

The boom boom guys.

If we can get a few of them, we can stay on course.

Everybody rose together.

So, how do you get these boom boom guys?

You get these boom boom guys

by, by

by the way,

boom boom guys by

by teaching this and suddenly

your heart goes boom boom.

And you realize,

oh my God, I'm a boom boom guy.

Because something is happening inside.

And if it ain't happening inside,

then ask the guy next to you

to feel your pulse.

No, no, it's happening to Don.

What happened to Don?

In this new space,

in this new space, the Holy Spirit

will alter our atmosphere.

In this new space,

the Holy Spirit will alter our atmosphere.

Guys,

you will find the worship,

the music team changing,

you will find Tuni changing, you'll find me changing.

You'll find me changing in the last one and a half weeks.

Leave alone in the weeks ahead.

Because the Holy Spirit will begin to change the atmosphere.

And it's not because we sing the song,

the atmosphere is changing.

Now, it won't be because of that.

It'll be something internal that happens

that causes the external to change.

So that's what you're signing up for in 2026.

So,

I'm going to go ahead and

I'm going to go ahead and

I'm going to go ahead and

Let's go.

We'll begin to act,

think, speak a little different.

I'm looking forward to it.

So if you're craving the same apologies,

the same sensitivities,

the same understanding,

the same pampering from people that you've experienced in 2025,

then you

will not be able to run with the horses.

You know, one of the worst

jobs on a soccer team is a guy, I don't know, maybe it's changed now, but when I was young,

the guy who had to run around with glucose, his job was when a player would finish, he'd

be very tired, he'd carry this plastic bag full of a white powder.

I was, God only knows whether it was glucose, but the moment they would take the glucose,

they'd come back to normal.

But the point is, the glucose guy is not what you want to be, man.

You want to play.

You don't want to be the glucose guy.

And the thing is, if we don't decide how we want to take this on because of what God is

doing, if you're craving the same apologies, the same sensitivities, the same understanding

and the pampering from people, then you won't be able to run with horses.

This will be a place of greater sacrifice, greater sacrifice.

A few other points I'll make and close.

A new room means you have to delight in discovery.

You have to delight in discovery.

I remember, not I remember, I remember reading, I'm not that old, I remember reading how God

takes Abraham after the rift with Lot.

He takes Abraham and he shows Abraham the land in Genesis 13.

And Abraham, look, look left, look right, look north, look south.

Whatever you want, you can take.

And then begins this process of delight in discovery.

You want this, you'll have to delight in it.

If you don't delight in something, discipline is painful.

Any discipline that does not have delight in it is painful.

That's why people stop running by January 5th.

Because there's no delight in it.

It's just the discipline of running.

Jeremy Sheldon, when was the last time you went to the gym?

And before that?

Point proven.

On Monday and Monday, they've stuffed themselves with turkey, with chicken, with pizza, with

a whole lot of stuff.

Ay, ay, ay.

So a new room requires delight in discovery.

Guys, you know what will keep me going at this?

This idea of, oh gosh, we as a church have been given a strange, wonderful, not often

opportunity in a city to experience something that could become a pattern for other churches

in the future.

Gosh, man.

I mean, again, it goes back to just one thing, the blood.

Got nothing to boast of.

It means something, guys, that he thinks that he can give us this.

You must understand the word us in this.

It is not, and you know I'm not modest at all, it is not because of the pastor.

It is not because of the leaders.

It is because a group of people have begun to shape themselves in a way that God can

and make them anything he wants at any time for any short time or any long time.

It is becoming a place where when the cloud moves, the people move.

When the cloud stops, the people stop.

You must understand what you have become.

In understanding what you've become, you must realize then that God has been in to trust

us with little more, saying, can I try this on you?

Will this fit?

Can you wear it?

If you can wear it, I'll fill the suit up with you.

So pat yourself on your back.

Pat yourself on your back.

Really.

God has no problems acknowledging things, eh?

There is not an acknowledgement from me.

Any questions guys before I conclude?

Any questions?

Remember that any discovery or delight with anything new will, cannot be done without

breaking things, without learning and stumbling, without risk, without fear.

This thing cannot be done without breaking things, without stumbling, without making

mistakes.

Cannot be done.

So we will make mistakes in this process.

That's okay.

One of the things I wrote down is decide with God that you and God will have the pleasure

of working together.

Decide with God that you and God will have the pleasure of working together.

Beautiful, eh?

Because he doesn't separate his divine nature from your humanity.

He doesn't separate his divine nature from your humanity.

He actually thinks my spirit and his spirit are one.

So decide that you both will actually take on the pleasure of working with each other.

Dare your imagination, dare your hearing, dare your faith.

Dare it.

Alrighty.

So, some cautions at thresholds like this, where we are stepping into something new,

people you care about will come alongside with good intentions and introduce things

that will dilute your resolve and infect your thoughts and rob you of your inheritance.

Please hear me.

At times like this, whenever you're going to cross into a threshold, every time, you'll

see this in the Bible, any time God is bringing a people or a person into a place where they

now transition into something new.

What will happen is people that really care for you will come into your life and introduce

a stream that will dilute what you are supposed to do, that will rob you of your inheritance.

You see that with, in Matthew 12, you see that with Mary.

Mary and Jesus' other brothers weren't too happy with how Jesus was going about doing

things, so they're standing at the door and they want to take him home.

And they're saying, Jesus, can you come out?

We want to have a word with you.

And Jesus, it's at that point that Jesus says, who are my mothers, who is my mother and who

am I?

Brothers.

It's in Matthew 12.

And he doesn't go and meet them.

It seems offensive, but he knew why they were there.

Matthew 16, Peter has just declared that Jesus Christ, you are the son of the living God.

And then he pulls Jesus aside and says, Jesus, do not talk about the cross.

That should not happen to you.

God forbid that that should happen to you.

And what does Jesus say?

Get thee behind me.

Satan.

You go to 2 Samuel 6 and you see Michael or Michael, the wife of David.

He has just done something that we still talk about in terms of dancing before God, taking

off his kingly robes, dressed up in just a loincloth, dancing before God.

And he comes home.

And the first thing that Michael says with a lot of disgust is how could you make a fool

out of yourself?

Like those vulgar guys on the street.

What in the world were you doing there?

Usually when you cross a threshold, the ones that will prevent you are the ones that you

care about.

Be aware.

If you listen, you get robbed off your inheritance.

So that's in terms of people and relationships.

And my God, I'll come against it if I see it and I'll warn you about it.

Hey, things will shift, eh?

Things must shift.

It's like this.

If you're a nurse, you wear those white thingies and then you go to a triage and you're gently

trying to pull the person out of a wreck and you're bandaging their toe, making sure there

are no cuts and bruises and you have a certain order.

But what if you turn into a fireman tomorrow?

Then everything changes.

You ain't wearing white.

You're wearing the dirtiest clothes possible that are fire resistant.

If a guy is trapped in a car wreck, you don't care about breaking his toe.

You'll break his leg to get him out.

Everything changes.

The anointing changes.

The function changes.

The way you treat people changes.

Things change.

You know who has the toughest job now?

The leaders in this church.

They'll have the toughest job because they've been super caring.

How do you continue being caring and yet raise an army that isn't formation?

How do you do that?

It's not easy.

You still have to be a father.

You still have to care.

For me, it's easy.

You still have to get out on Sundays and go home.

They have to take care of you the rest of the week.

That's not true, but you know what I mean.

Another thing that happens at most transitions is that most transitions when a church is

going to break into something that might affect a city, that might affect the earth later

on, whenever that happens, there are spirits like evil powers that constrict your path and

try to constrict you mentally, emotionally, relationally, financially.

You see that with Paul.

Paul is at a place in Acts 16, 16 where the gospel is going to leapfrog from Asia to Europe.

It's just at the brink.

We are in Asia Minor, in the cities of Turkey.

The next move is Rome, Spain, and so on.

What do they meet in Macedonia or in Philippi?

They meet a woman who has a spirit of divination.

How ancient is that spirit?

As ancient as Jezebel.

And then you find the same spirit in Thyatira in the book of Revelation, constricting Paul's

path.

So much so that once he casts that spirit out, the entire city rises up in a riot.

And then you hear that famous speech in Acts 19 where Demetrius says, a silversmith, oh

dear Ephesians, you know that over the last many years, Artemis has brought us great wealth.

Guys, every false religion will always be connected to wealth and when Christianity

becomes about wealth, it also takes on the role of false religions in the world.

Satan has been a trader since the beginning.

You read Isaiah 14 and you'll see it there.

And so he says, we've been gaining a lot of wealth through our selling of these silver

idols, but look what they have done.

They've come and ruined our trade.

And so he gathers the whole city and this happens.

There are people here who know that it happens in different nations where you can gather

people and they'll shout together, oh great is Diana of Artemis, the ruler, the territorial

ruler of this entire region.

I've known city after city.

I've seen video after video of people being raised up like this and then they go beat

up Christians.

This is reality.

It is not new.

It is not political.

At the end of the day, it still goes back to what has been happening for hundreds of

years.

Guard each other, eh?

Leaders, guard your flock.

Go read Acts chapter 20, verse 28 onwards.

Acts 20:28

Paul is leaving.

He turns to the Ephesian elders and he says, listen, guard this flock that God has placed

you over.

Make sure you oversee them.

Make sure you care for them.

Make sure you're alert.

Every time leaders are like that, the enemy gets routed.

Every time leaders are asleep, leaders get struck and the sheep scatter.

Very simple, guys.

So what's your role then if you're not a leader or if you're a future leader?

What is your role?

Your role is to pray that the shepherd does not get struck because whenever the shepherd

is struck, the sheep are scattered.

What is your role, leaders?

Your role, leaders, is to make sure that you care, that you're alert, that you oversee,

that you guard.

Just like you would an Eliakim, you would have to guard the others.

And yet you're raising him up to be an army kid who may be good at poetry and violin and

painting sunrises, but he's still an army kid.

That's his primary definition.

Cool.

Any questions, guys?

Is there anything that you'd want to question?

Please feel free.

My enthusiasm should not be what persuades you.

Any questions?

Do you understand what we are about to take on?

I wanted to let you know this before the New Year.

Go over the notes that you wrote down on the room.

It's important to define the room.

Once you define the room, you then have to decide whether you want to enter this room or not.

Because if I know there are four people that will carry a weight, there's a certain distribution of it.

If I know there are eight people that will carry the weight, then the distribution changes.

You have to know.

I'm not going to come and question, but Maya has to know.

But Maya has to know, is this something she wants?

Sue has to know, is this something she wants?

Diana has to know, is this something she wants?

You have to decide in your heart.

Be honest before God when it comes to stuff like this.

This is why in 2 Timothy, it says so clearly that soldiers cannot get entangled in civilian affairs.

I don't even know how to end.

We don't have songs appropriate for this, you know?

Yeah, that's one.

That was more of a freedom emancipation song, sung for freedom from oppression.

I'm not saying we should sing a song.

I'm just saying the lack of songs shows that there is a gap.

Yeah, so I'm not saying we should sing a song.

I'm just saying the lack of songs shows that there is a gap.

Yeah, so I'm not saying we should sing a song.

So let's pray then.

Guys, I want to end this way.

If you really think you are beginning to grasp what God is saying to us,

then there's a mic here.

Come and pray the best you can.

Because remember, it's not how well-worded your prayer is or how many amens you get,

because I get none,

but it is how you're able to word by the wisdom of the Spirit

what the church may need to hear from someone other than the pastor.

Yeah, so that's how we'll end.

Then at some point I'll conclude.

Hey, Manny.

Father, we thank you for this new room.

Yeah.

Father, we thank you for this new room.

Yeah.

We don't take it lightly.

But at the same time,

may you help each one here

wrestle with you on this, Father,

so that we don't step into things that we don't want,

but that we come to a place of delighting in this, Father,

delighting in the invitation that you're giving us

to come and step in and discover

this new dimension called open eyes.

Father, earlier you were saying,

can you touch our hearts?

Father, can you touch our hearts

so that we begin to see and grasp

what these next 12 and 24 months are going to look like?

Just the beginning, Father.

We just have to begin to catch the beginning.

Because as soon as we begin to catch the beginning,

it requires, Father, that you open our eyes.

So, Father, I come saying,

Father, I want to be aware, I want to be alert.

May I never coast,

may I never just go with, oh, there's other people here.

But, Father, help me to always come,

always, in everything I do, be alert, be aware.

Be continually looking, saying, Father, I want to see.

I want to see.

I don't want to depend and say, oh, it's okay,

other people will see.

No, Father, this is an invitation that is for this church,

but it requires each one of us to be aware

and it requires each of us coming and saying,

I want to see.

Can you begin to open my eyes?

Can you begin to change how I think, how I function?

Everything about me begins to change, Father,

so that I can walk in this formation

and this army that you're calling us to become.

Hallelujah.

Thank you, Opa.

Thank you.

Jesus, you're the warrior king,

and you are indeed asking us to step into a new territory.

And this is a new chapter where we are taking the offensive.

So it's absolutely new for us.

Most of the time we have been on the defense

or protecting what we have, holding ground,

but now you're asking us to take territory.

This is a new territory, new lives, Father,

and something that most of us are very new at.

We haven't done this before.

This is the new room you asked,

that we take the offensive, Father.

And so, Father, I just pray that you help us

to step into this.

Open our eyes to the things that you already see, Father.

You already see them,

and you will open our eyes to see as you do, Father.

So I thank you for this new chapter we step into,

which is into the offensive, Father,

and that is to claim lives back into your winning team.

Yeah, thank you.

Father, change our worship.

Yeah.

Change our worship of God.

And I, as one of the worship leaders here, Father,

let it start with Jacob, let it start with me,

let it start with the leaders of God.

Yeah.

I refuse to settle with what we have known,

what we have learned over the years.

So, Father, may there be different dimensions

that you will add into our worship of God.

I pray that from the youngest to the oldest,

may we learn how to war in our worship of God.

Out of the mouths of babes, I have ordained strength

to silence the avenger.

Yes.

And so, Father, I pray may we learn

how to war in our worship of God.

May we learn how to decree.

May we learn when to bind the enemy,

when to rebuke, when to command.

I pray that healings, strongholds begins to break.

May miracles begin to flow in our worship of God.

I pray that no one will be silent about

when it comes to worship.

I pray may there be a shift in our worship of God.

And so, Father, I pray that we don't take time

to change this.

May it begin right here, right now.

And, Abba, I pray that starting with

for the coming days, whenever we gather,

I pray that our worship never remain the same,

I pray.

Father, show us what it means to worship

like Paul and Silas in prison.

Even after being beaten and whipped and in chains,

may we learn how to get up and rise up

even in the middle of the night

and continue to praise and let chains break loose.

Oh, God, I pray may we learn how to worship

with a different attitude where we will expect,

expect, Abba, whenever we worship,

may we expect strongholds to break.

May we expect miracles to break forward.

May we expect new grounds to break forward.

Every time we worship, Abba, I pray that now

may worship not just be about worshiping who you are,

but may we now begin to expect that miracles

will break forward in the lives of our friends,

of our neighbors, of people who have not experienced

you, oh, God, so that things now begin to change, oh, God.

And so that's one thing I pray for in Jesus' name.

Thank you, Father.

How about you?

You're equipping us with army boots.

And funny enough, I'm wearing army boots today.

Crazy.

But I just want to say that as a symbol

that army boots were created to tread things.

Army boots were created to tread things.

And something that you were showing me

as we were listening to the teaching

and what you're revealing in this room is that,

Jane, can you learn to put systems under your feet?

Can you take systems like school?

I'm starting school and I've so desperately asked you

to help me not be bound and restricted by this thing

called school because ultimately it's something

that you have called me to.

And I know there are things for each of us like that,

where there are systems in the world that you've asked us

to step into, but they are starting to constrict us.

They start to dictate things.

And I pray that you teach us to put them under our feet

by the authority of Jesus and by the wisdom

of the Holy Spirit.

So I just stand here as a symbolic gesture

that we, Abba, want to say, yes,

can you show us how to put these systems under our feet

so that we walk different this year,

coming into 2026, I ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Father, as Nick comes up, I pray a very simple prayer

for all of us as a church.

I pray the same prayer that Elisha prayed for his servant.

I pray for myself and I pray for the church.

Oh, God, would you open our eyes

so that we can see what you are doing

in the invisible land in the city.

Would you open our eyes, oh God,

those that are here and those that are not here.

Would you open our eyes, oh God,

so that we may see.

I ask this, like Elisha asked for his servants,

I ask for all of us.

And I pray, Lord, that as we begin to see,

that you would give us the discernment

and the wisdom to know that which is off you

and that which is not.

We will learn through mistakes,

but we will learn in discernment, in Jesus' name.

I thank you for hearing this prayer.

The reason I'm so confident you're hearing and answering

is because you started this.

Father, I just come as one amongst many,

one who does not have his own name.

I'm wearing the hoodie that you,

that have your intentions on them,

your announcement, and it's just,

I'm just coming up as one, an unnamed one

who does not have his own name

but has the name of Christ.

Hallelujah, hallelujah.

I thank you, Father, for setting aside this for us.

Hallelujah.

I thank you for the joy of,

of living for something beyond,

having a call from heaven, having a connection from heaven,

the joy of a fantastic master and a fantastic king

that we can bring into this world.

And Father, I just thank you for the taste

of what we're about to, the taste of victory.

Father, I thank you for the taste that will just change us.

I thank you for preparing us for this

and for giving it to us, for giving it to us.

This is our inheritance, and I just bless you for it.

And Father, I pray, I thank you that we get to do this together,

that we don't have names, we don't have anything to lose.

We don't have anything of our own to,

like, I love this family.

Every year, Father, that I stay here,

I think I love them, and then the next Christmas comes

and I'm like, oh, I love them more.

And Father, this is a privilege and a joy to do this

with each other, beside each other,

seeing how different parts of you appear

in the different aspects of us,

in our neighbor, in our brother, in our sister,

and it all comes together to show what you're really like.

So Father, I just thank you for unity.

I thank you for oneness in movement and fluidity.

And I just want to pray just that for unleashing

of inhibitions in worship, and I thank you for,

and those boom-boom guys.

Well, I just pray that, or it's not even guys,

it's just not one or two, Father, or three or four guys,

it's all of us at different times,

following the leading, your leading,

and it's just you.

So I just pray in Jesus' name.

Father, I just pray for unity amongst us, Father.

An army cannot win a territory if each individual

has their own thoughts and ways, Father.

So I just pray for your ways

and your thoughts amongst us, Father.

Even though each different part has different ways

of operating and different gifts, Father,

we are a single body that belongs to you.

So Father, I pray that we will be united

and uplift each other and build each other up, Father.

And make us so confident in approaching you, Father.

Make us so confident that you hear us

whenever we ask anything according to your will, Father.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We know you hear us, Father.

Hallelujah.

And we know that we already have

what we have asked for in your name.

Amen.

So make us united, Father.

Keep us united in the name of Jesus, I pray.

Thank you, Father.

Father, even as we are praying,

I just thank you that we will not forget

the 223,000 lives,

each of which you know, each of which you made,

each of whose names you know.

You are making us this for the sake of others.

An army that exists for its own is pointless.

We exist for the advancement of the kingdom

and the rescue of those that are being oppressed.

We will not forget that.

Remy sent this.

He's watching.

The Lord showed me a rolled scroll.

In it is written Acts 29 in the heading.

And then it's filled with names, new names

that will be written down in the Book of Life,

lives that we will impact in 2026.

There are names of nations written too.

Sweden and Bosnia specifically jumped out.

Sons of the house will walk in the miraculous.

They will speak with boldness.

They will prophesy with such accuracy

that those who hear will fear the Lord and turn to him.

Then Isaiah 43 is the other chapter he's quoting.

Thanks, Remy.

Derek, you wanted to come up?

And after that I might ask Sen.

Derek, you come, otherwise you'll end up waiting forever.

After Derek, Sen, and after that I might call me up

if there's nobody else.

I just want to read out a few verses

and remind us of a few things.

One of the things God said is this is the third day

and we have to look at Richmond and the story of Richmond

as a third day that God will bring about for the city.

What is the third day?

Devil thinks everything is dead.

Devil thinks it's decaying, but God shows up.

He shows up and it's not like before.

He shows up and what was thought to be dead is alive.

So when Jacob said these many people in this city,

the devil thinks they're dead.

The devil thinks they're gone.

Devil thinks there is nothing good that can happen,

but God comes through, God opens the door

and God says no, they will live.

So this is going to be a third day type of day

for Richmond.

Second, let us know, Acts 29.

Let us press on to know the Lord.

Let's press on like Anna said together as a people.

Press on because there is a purpose like Nick prayed,

a purpose that is greater than any of us

could ever have dreamt of.

Who are we that he is mindful of us?

That we get to participate in the purpose of God

who rules heaven and earth.

He rules everything and we get to participate with him.

So let us know, Acts 29.

Let us know that we are meant to stand together

and inherit the promises that God has for his people.

Number three, four and then that's it.

Number three, this is what God desires of us.

For I desire steadfast love.

See, when we talk about steadfast love,

we're talking about the promise of God.

When we talk about steadfast love,

we talk about his steadfast love to us.

But he desires steadfast love from us to him.

And our love to him also has to be love for people.

Our steadfast love for his people.

Can we then begin to see people without really

seeing even their faces, but be their faces too

and begin to love them.

Love people who we don't know yet.

Teenagers, 20 year olds, 30 year olds,

80 year olds, it doesn't matter, but love them.

Because God desires it.

What else does he desire?

The knowledge of God rather than burned offerings.

That his knowledge that has been shared with us

about the city, about the people of God.

This knowledge is important for him

because we aren't walking into a warfare

without understanding what he wants us to do.

We walk into warfare like Jacob said

and saying information, information.

Oh, this is what you want me to do?

Yes, I want to do that.

Obedience, so knowledge that translates into application.

And then the last thing.

I'm misquoting this verse because this verse

is meant for something else when you read this chapter.

But the principle is important.

God talks about a people and he says,

as robbers lie in wait for a man,

when priests band together,

they murder on the way to check him,

they commit villainy.

But think about it.

As robbers huddle together and scheme together,

priests get together and try to murder people

in that story.

But what is expected of us,

what is expected of you and I,

is that we band together

with the strategies of the spirit of God,

with the unity that Anna prayed for.

And we say, God, what's your plan

for this particular part of Richmond?

What is your plan as we now as two by two

and four by four go out,

what is your plan for these people

that we're going to be meeting?

This is real, real guys.

We have to touch it.

It's so tangible because God births these things.

It is only for us to walk into it.

Who are we?

There's nothing special about us,

but his spirit is in us that makes us special.

His spirit makes us special.

So let's band together.

And when we band together,

we operate in unity.

And what's the difference this time?

When God's people band together,

when God's people walk in unity,

we become people who give life.

We then look at situations and say,

in the name of Christ Jesus,

the real ruler of Richmond,

the real ruler of these people,

we give and pronounce life.

And life flows.

Amen.

Father, we're entering this new room

and we're entering this new year with a shout.

And what is this shout?

It's a shout that breaks the silence.

Sorry, say that again.

It's a shout that breaks the silence.

Yeah.

It's a shout that cuts through

the howling winds of desolation.

It's a shout that breaks the silence.

It's a shout that breaks the silence.

Hallelujah.

It's a shout that's announcing something.

And who is this announcing?

What is this announcing?

This shout is announcing our King.

We're entering this new year

with the shout of a King.

Hallelujah.

And this is a shout that screams of his victory.

That isn't coming, but it's already here.

This shout announces the victory

that our King has already won.

It is a shout that announces

that heaven is coming to earth.

Amen.

It is a shout that is bringing heaven to earth, Father.

So if this is what we're supposed to do, Father,

I just pray that you would make us a people

who is able to shout this way, Father.

Yeah.

Help us to be able to step out of the routine, Lord.

That we're not just coming here

on the days that are designated.

We're not just coming here on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays,

we're not just coming here

because someone said we need to come.

We're coming here because we know what we're called to do.

We know the importance and the weight

of what you've asked us to do, Father.

Help us to come with eagerness.

Help us to come with questions

asking what we can do next.

Help us to come with dissatisfaction, Lord.

Help us to come with the visions and dreams

that you give us, Father.

Help us to come with all of these things

and come and realize what it is to partner with you

and partner with the body, Father.

Amen.

So Father, I just pray that you would help us

stand in formation, Father,

and even show us how to shout, Father.

And finally, Father, I just pray that you would help us

to come around those that lead us as well, Father.

There's already a battle to be fought.

Let us not make it harder for them.

Father, I just pray that you would help us.

I, myself, Lord, I don't know how I can best support

or pray for my leaders, but can you teach me?

And Father, can you teach the rest of us as well, Lord,

that if we're supposed to do this together,

then we're supposed to come under the leaders

that are placed and trust the vision

that you have given them, Father,

and trust what you have for us through them as well.

So I pray all of this in your name, Father.

Amen.

Who's next?

Come.

You're going to grab a mic.

Praise the Lord, Church.

I was, I had a vision as I was praying,

when Pastor was talking about, preaching about,

teaching us about the new room,

and with the series sermon, sermon series going on

with training your hands to battle.

If you've got personal battles in your life,

say amen.

Amen.

Okay, amen.

Now listening to the sermon,

every time Pastor said, or rather,

Pastor was talking about training your hands to battle,

I've been there in that place,

trying to actually tell people to train your hands to battle,

and I'm in a stage in my life

where there are so many personal battles

that going through a day

and getting out at the end of it all,

alive seems like a win.

And then you come Sunday on Sunday,

sit here, listen to a message where

Pastor's teaching you to train your hands to battle,

completely different battles,

not your personal battles.

So when we spoke about,

when he started talking about entering a new room,

I'm like, I have not even made peace

with where I am right now.

And we're talking about taking up something

much more larger.

And I'm wondering to myself,

is it just me or is there more people like this

because it doesn't feel,

I'm not confident about it.

What do I do, Lord?

How am I going to take steps forward here

as part of this congregation

when I'm struggling with things myself?

And at that time, God showed me a movie.

Forgive me for dramatizing this,

but I have grown up watching a lot of animated stuff.

And The Prince of Egypt was a movie

which caught my attention a long time ago

for very specific reasons.

Forget the biblical aspect of it,

but just the way in which the art was done.

Let my people go.

Moses coming and talking to Pharaoh,

Pharaoh talking back to him as a friend

and eventually, right, brother, sorry,

eventually turning back.

And the third time around where his eyes now show

the scripture that is written where it says,

the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart.

And so continuing with that movie comes to the point

where the Israelites eventually walk out of Egypt

and they are now in front of the Red Sea

and Pharaoh's army is now chasing them

and they turn around, they look at it,

and Moses stretches his hands out and Red Sea parts.

I had to go back and read the Bible

to make sure that I actually was not missing something

which the Bible was talking about

and the movie had shown

and I did not know what the Bible spoke about

because the Bible says they walked on dry ground.

They walked in between the sea

where the sea turned into walls on their right and their left.

If you go and watch this movie,

it looks like as if they are actually going

from one room into another room

because there's a light which comes on,

the second the sea splits and then they start walking inside.

Just like how when you are entering inside a new room,

you are going to go turn on the light

because you are not entirely sure

what exactly is there inside that room.

Now add in your own personal battles.

Add in fear of the dark, add in a crutch,

add in past experiences of entering inside a room

and somebody going, boom!

Or worse, a lizard jumping on you.

We have no idea of what 223,000 people are ready to do

yet God is asking us to walk inside

and I'm sitting there and I'm like, Lord, how?

And he showed me this scene

and it's so beautiful that Derek came and spoke

and he said band together

because the entire lot in that movie,

all they did was band together

and say, you know what, we don't have much of a choice

but to walk in the way of the Lord

and we are going to walk in the way of the Lord

and the Lord is going to take us to the other side.

That's about it.

They were still fed, they were still protected,

they still all went to the other side.

All their personal battles remained,

all were taken care of by God

but the mission was completed

because when they reached the other side,

they did not see the Egyptians once again.

One of the things that we have to realize

is there was no one worse off than Gideon

and yet purpose is what gives Gideon his courage.

Yeah, there's nothing like purpose

that begins to make my problems smaller

than the problems when I face them myself.

Gideon is a classic example.

His response to the angel of God was

I'm the least of my clan,

where was God when we were being ravaged?

And then he's given purpose.

The moment purpose comes, Gideon changes.

Sometimes our personal struggles are so intense

because that is the only thing

we have going on in our lives.

God has the ability to take people

who in their personal struggles

including Joseph, Mary, Gideon, Moses,

Moses was running from a murder.

Please, none of you have been there.

And then when purpose comes,

you are fascinated at the strength

that comes into you

and God taking care of the other problem.

Come here.

Yeah, Father.

As you open our eyes, Father,

you're opening our eyes to

even on this day on the 31st,

that there are people who

are dancing to the beat of hell.

They are trapped, Father,

isolated, lost.

They don't know they're left

from their right hand.

So, Father, it's to a people

that you're calling us to, Father.

That's the inheritance.

So, Father, that's the prayer that we pray

that train us for war,

train our fingers for war, Father.

And our trust just comes in that

we have the Lord of the angel armies

who goes before us,

who goes before us.

That's where we can get the courage from, Father.

We don't look to ourselves.

We look to you, Father,

because you go ahead.

Why?

To rescue people.

Just like you and me, to rescue us.

Just like our kids, to rescue those people

who are lost, dying in filth,

but God is calling them out.

And he has chosen us to go

and rescue them.

So it is also a privilege, Father.

So, yeah, train us for war.

And we'll be humble to fall into formation.

Okay, before I give this to Mia,

I was just thinking of mothers, eh?

They've just given birth.

They're in pain.

Some of them go through C-sections.

Some of them go through other problems.

It's strange how

it doesn't matter what their personal problems are.

The one focus they have is

the child they have to take care of.

There is no greater purpose than someone else, guys.

You'll be surprised at how

my personal problems become...

They don't disappear,

but they are handleable

because of a greater purpose.

This is the way of Christ.

This is the way humans were built.

Embrace it,

and you live, and you see your problems solved.

Do not embrace it,

and you become the architect of your own future.

How's that been working?

Yeah?

So as Mia begins to sing,

I want us to remember

a verse out of Psalm 2.

And it says...

Psalm 8, verse 2.

Psalms 8:2

Psalm 8, verse 2.

Psalms 8:2

Out of the mouth of children

I have ordained strength

that will silence the accuser.

So it's a very deliberate

thing that I'm doing.

I'm not doing this to encourage Mia.

I'm not doing this because she's a kid.

I'm doing this because scriptures say

this is what should be done.

And so we begin this whole idea of worship

with that simple scripture.

And she's not going to have any instruments.

She's going to do it on her own.

And as she does, if you join her,

remember that, out of the mouth of babes,

and suddenly we become the babes too.

We become the children.

Out of the mouth of children,

he has ordained strength that silences the avenger.

Across the city tonight,

people are partying,

but people are also being set free.

It's crazy.

People are partying, but people are being set free.

They're being set up to be set free.

They're going to go home

and there will be such disillusionment

in some places.

Such hope in other places.

Yeah?

She's made a great choice for song.

Our God, He's an awesome God He reigns.

From heaven above with wisdom, power, and love.

Our God is an awesome God.

Our God is an awesome God He reigns.

From heaven above with wisdom, power, and love.

Our God is an awesome God.

Our God is an awesome God.

He reigns from heaven above with us.

Stump our love, our God is an awesome God.

Our God is an awesome God.

God, He reigns from heaven above with us.

Stump our love, our God is an awesome God.

Our God is an awesome God.

He reigns from heaven above with us.

Stump our love, our God is an awesome God.

Our God is an awesome God.

He reigns from heaven above with us.

Stump our love, our God is an awesome God.

I don't know what happens next, but I think you're supposed to go to the fireside room.

And eat and pretend you're having a party.