Running with Horses - Part 2

We sent this off in an email so it'll be 28 from 6 to 9 p.m. and it'll be at Emmanuel

Church on 40th and Main and then on the 29th it'll be from 9.30 to 4.30 and we'll have

a barbecue at lunchtime and so I hope you can make it and the topic for the two days

is Day of the Sun's Nations Foreign Inheritance. Day of the Sun's Nations Foreign Inheritance.

You got this email but I just thought I'll bring it to mind again, yeah? I think that's

the only other announcement I had. Cool, let's go. So we were talking about running with

horses. We started that last week and this is part two. We said last week, Tony, just

want to commend you on your passion, man. Running with horses, Jeremiah 12.5. It talks

about how if you have veered yourself out running with men, how will you run with the

horses? And so we said last week that when we talk about running with horses, it's not

natural. Running with horses is not natural. Running with horses is not natural. Running

with horses is not natural. Now we said everything about it is supernatural. Everything about

it is supernatural. That's what he said last week. We talked about it from 1 Kings 18.46

where you see Elijah doing that when Ahab goes down once the rain begins. And we said

what is unnatural, what is unnatural is not to have an appetite for the impossible. Why?

Because your God is supernatural. These were statements made last week that what is unnatural

is not natural. What is unnatural is not natural. What is supernatural is not natural. What is

not natural is not to have an appetite for the impossible. And we asked this question,

do you and I, does this church have an appetite for the impossible? And the answer was not

really. We asked the question, when was the last time we individually attempted something

impossible that God had prompted or that we went asking God for? Can you give me something

to do that is so beyond me that I won't be able to do it? And we said we're not there.

It's not our expectation. We don't expect the impossible. And so it kind of begins to

neuter a church. It's like beginning to dumb it down because as long as you lower your

expectations, faith is easy. It's the refuge of cowards. When Christians begin to lose

their expectations, it's because one, it's the easiest way to then exert faith because

if you lower your expectations, you don't need much faith. And we lower our expectations

simply because we can't trust this God because we don't know him the way we need to and so

we can't trust him. So why not lower our expectations? It's safer. And yet this God throughout the

pages in the Bible is supernatural, so why aren't we beginning to taste him that way?

Why is it that we settle for a mid-sized God? We have a mid-sized God. Any questions on

that before we move on?

Yeah. How do you distinguish between expecting the impossible and a closed door? And so where

do we go to get our impossible assignments? We go to him and ask for it or we follow him

because we can kind of trace the steps and know where he's heading and then we don't

back off. So it is important to get the impossible from him. So he's the one who then says to

the 72, go and cast out demons, heal the sick. He's the one who sends them out. He says,

I've given you authority. Look, chapter 10. He's the one who says to Peter, come, and

the guy begins to walk on water, which he has no business doing. He's the one who says

to Gideon, I need you to thin down 30,000 men to 300 men to go up against 200,000 men.

So he's the one who appoints the assignment. But there must be an appetite for the impossible

from a God who's supernatural. And then if the door is closed, you have the ability to

persevere. Otherwise, you never know whether a door is really God or not. So once we have

a desire for the impossible, it's like players, hockey players, soccer players who go up to

their coach and say, coach, send me out. I know it's the last minute. I know this is

the seventh game, which the Oilers won't see, but even though they won 8-1 yesterday.

But it's like saying, put me out in the last minute. I know this is a critical game. Put

me out there. It's asking for the impossible. There are guys who did that in the Bible.

But it doesn't even come to the surface if I don't have a hunger for the supernatural

and a desire for the impossible. Only then will you go and ask for it. I mean, just go

to Hebrews 11, 32 or thereabouts. You'll see what the impossible looks like. I said this

somewhere. We use faith for visas, money, visa, healing and job. That's what we use

faith for. Now go to Hebrews chapter 11. And you'll see it's a very different set of things

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

that they asked for. And this is perhaps what we mean by can we run with horses. Hebrews

Hebrews 11:32

11, verse 32. What more shall I say? I do not have time to tell you about Gideon, Barak,

Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets. And now listen to the list. Who through faith

conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised, who shut the mouths

of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, escaped the edge of the sword, whose weakness

was turned into strength, who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women

received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released

so that they may gain a better resurrection. Some faced years and flogging while others

were chained and put in prison. There was stone. There was sword in two. They were put

to death by the sword. But why did they step up to that? Because they knew that they were

asking for the impossible. And what they would finish, even if they didn't get the outcome,

would be completed by someone else. And so that's what this looks like, to go and ask

for the impossible. And my hope is that as we talk about running with the horses, that

you will begin to venture into asking for the impossible. Not once in a blue moon, but

this is a ready attitude. Gideon's men were alert. The way they drank water showed an

alertness to what is to come. So in every circumstance, in every circumstance, in every

circumstance when you put what God has either taught you or when you put what you've seen

in the Word, in every circumstance when you practice truth, God has revealed. When you

practice truth, God has revealed a few things happening in every circumstance. Like all

of us are going through some circumstance or the other right now. Nobody here is without

a circumstance. Strange, eh? There's not a person in the church who is not at some point

during every week dealing with a circumstance that can be overwhelming, can be overpowering,

can affect you emotionally, physically, mentally, financially. Nobody. Everyone's going through

it in this room. Such a common denominator. And so in every circumstance, when you practice

the truth that God has already revealed to you, when you put it into practice, here are

the things that happen. One, the impossible will begin to look logical. The impossible

will begin to look crazy, eh? The impossible will begin to look logical. You think someone

laying hands on you, laying their pudgy, dirty hands on you, not even cleaned with sanitizer

anymore, and you come up and they put their pudgy hands on you and you are dumb enough

to think that if they put their hands on you and pray you're going to get healed. How dumb

is that? And yet, as we begin to put into practice the Word that God has revealed to

us, the impossible becomes logical. The impossible becomes logical. It's very logical for believers

to expect that when you lay hands, one will be healed. I've expected it for 32 years

now, and I've never been disappointed. And the same experience for many of you. 32 years,

man. Every time I've been sick, I've asked someone to lay hands and they've prayed for

me and I've been healed. And I've never had to ever go to the doctor or take medicines.

Not because I'm against medicine. My sister and brother-in-law are doctors. They recommend

medicine. I drive people to the hospital. But somehow, in this one area, the truth has

gone deep enough. And it's different for different people. For you, it might be in

the area of finances where you seem to have such a confidence in God because you're put

to practice the Word of Truth. It's become logical for you to expect the impossible.

For different people, it's different things. So, in every circumstance, when you practice

the truth God has revealed, the impossible begins to become logical. Two, your area of

faith expands. Your area of faith expands. As in, in the area that you now are so familiar

with the truth of God where you're beginning to think it's logical even though it's impossible,

your faith begins to expand. You are willing to take bigger risks. You're not easily phased

by circumstances. And thirdly, in those circumstances, you begin to respond like Jesus. You begin

to respond. Your first response. Your first response. That usually tells you where someone's

at. Your first response is like Jesus. And you begin to do the works. You begin to do

the works. You begin to do the works of the kingdom. You begin to do the works of the

king in any circumstance. These things happen when you put some truths that you've learned

into practice. Some people can be super restful. You throw them into a situation and they just

refuse to panic. How come? Any questions on this? This kind of Christianity is not easy.

You can only do two things with this kind of Christianity. You can mock it and say,

eh, doesn't work. That's the easiest way out because then you don't even have to try it.

Or you'll have to take this up and train yourself, which is so difficult. One is more honest

than the other. Any questions? Go ahead, Jill.

Yeah, so Jill's question is when people come and pray for you and you get healed, what

is it that makes it happen for you? What do you think is that one thing? Maybe you don't

know. My thing is at some point when I first began Christianity, I was exposed to a whole

lot of people who thought it was real and I didn't know better. And so I just began

to like God as a healer and think he is one. And so in that area of my life, I seem quite

sure about him. I may not have the same surety when it comes to provision. I may not have

the same surety when it comes to guidance. But in that area, I seem to think, yeah, that's

who he is. You become sure of a certain area of someone's life. And all of us have those

areas that you know God a certain way in that area, better than most people. And part of

it is because he revealed himself that way to you. It's not that you discovered it. He

said, sure, you can know me, but let me show you one facet of mine that others don't know.

Children have this. If you're a parent with three or more kids, there'll be kids who know

a certain part of you better than others. They know that you wake up at two in the night

to go steal cake from the fridge and they're there. They know certain things about you.

And the father deliberately reveals it to you. What was John's speciality? He was intimate

with Jesus. You see it through all his writings. What is Peter's speciality? He knew how to

walk in faith and blurt out faith before he walked in it, even if he failed. What was

Paul's speciality? He loved the mind of Christ. He loved the mind of Christ. He loved the

mind of Christ. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes it's not even important, but because the Bible

says, is anyone sick among you? Go ask for the elders and let them pray for you and a

prayer of faith will heal. And so sometimes you don't have that option. You can ask for

prayer for yourself, but when that option is available, it makes me dependent upon you.

And sometimes God will have me dependent upon you so that when you pray, I'll get healed.

He loves me being dependent on you. And because the Bible says, go and ask. And so then I

come and ask. Like it was last week, Heidi and Jeremy were praying here and my shoulders

were hurting like crazy. And so I went and asked them to pray. It's not that I can't

pray for myself, but I may be dependent upon them because sometimes that's what I need

to do because the Bible prescribes it. No, it's me saying, hey, Heidi, Jeremy, I have

the humility to come and ask you for prayer. I know God heals, but I want you to, because

the Bible says, call for the elders and they lay hands on you and the prayer of faith will

heal you. So that's what I felt prompted to go and ask. And it requires humility, at least

on my part it did, because I'm the pastor, I have faith for healing, so why do I need

you? That can send me down another path. And then Heidi texted me the next day saying,

how's your shoulder? And I texted her back saying, can't believe how much it has improved.

If you don't move into the experience, if you don't practice, if you don't practice

the truth revealed, if you don't practice the truth revealed, it rusts. It rusts, as

in you never unlock its power. Because when it comes to the Bible, hearing ain't enough.

The truth. Sorry, it's got an extra E. Oh my God, you're being too finicky. There's

another E there. If you don't practice the truth that is revealed to you, I thought you

know how to fill the gaps. If you don't practice the truth that is revealed to you, it rusts.

You never unlock its power, because hearing ain't enough, and I know I've spelt enough

wrong, so don't pick on that, Karen. Hearing ain't enough, you must do. And if you don't

and it's just locked in your head, then you even begin to pretend like you know the truth.

You don't know the truth until it's put into practice. You do not know the truth until

it's put into practice. The knowledge of the truth without actual practice of the truth

is not real. And when we put the truth into practice, sometimes you don't get 100% results

and that's okay. If you notice, when I said, Heidi texted me the next day, what was my

response? I told Heidi, man, you have no idea how much it has improved, which means what?

Which means it's not all gone. But that should never stop you from thinking this thing doesn't

work, because I have and you have and we have heard enough testimonies where things went

instantly. But if you don't try it, we'll never get to the next level of maturity. You

mature by trying out the truth, by practicing the truth, and you begin to see results. Questions?

This one's perfect. This one's still, yeah, it's still aching. Alrighty, shall we move

on and put the attention somewhere else? It's all Heidi and Jeremy's fault, really. When

you experiment with the word, you may not get 100% right, but you will grow into a greater

maturity, which you wouldn't otherwise have. So here was a question we ended with last

week. What do you do with disappointment? What do you do, what do you do with disappointment

at how things didn't work out even though you prayed, with seeming failure, with resentment

because God didn't fix things? Sometimes we get gun shy where you tried it once, it didn't

work, and so you want to quit. What do you do with all that? It's real, eh? It's real.

There's nobody in this room who hasn't been through it. You prayed and prayed that things

would stay together and they broke apart. You prayed and prayed that someone would live

and they died. You prayed and prayed that someone would change, but they didn't. You

prayed and prayed. And then the other question we asked, which is such a mind-numbing question

because there's no answer to that, is why couldn't God prevent it? That just eats your

head sometimes. Well, he has all the power, why couldn't he have just stopped it? So these

questions are natural. I don't know if they are legitimate, but they are natural. And

so we have to figure a way around it. So here are some underlying principles. And I'm not

going to give you answers like, oh, there's nothing we can do if people make up their

minds at all. You know all that stuff. And it is true. If I'm praying for you to walk

through that door, because I know behind that door is this amazing guy waiting there and

he's going to marry you, and instead you insist on walking through this door, there's nothing

I can do about it. I can pray, Father, let them choose the door on my left for that guy

who's waiting there ready for her, and you just walk through that door, and you just

insist on walking through this door, there's nothing I can do about it. Those are choices

you make. God does not force your mind. He doesn't make you choose stuff. So those answers

we'll deal with another time. And if you're leaving through this door, I just want to

tell you there's nobody behind that door. It was just an example. My God, half the Trinity

Western University students were about to get up. So those are not what we are talking

about. We are talking about other principles that we can use. Let's go to Matthew 14, 10

to 13. Matthew 14, 10 to 13. This is perhaps where we need to start. Matthew 14, 10 to

13. Here's what it says. It says, The king was distressed, starting at nine. The king

was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request

be granted, and had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter, and

given to the girl who carried it to her mother. John's disciples came and took his body and

buried it. Then they went and told Jesus. When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew

by boat privately to a solitary place. When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew

by boat privately to a solitary place. Guys, one of the things that must happen when something

dies and does not live, or something that you so expected is breaking down, something

is not working, is the first thing that you need to do that will protect you for years

on end throughout your life, is the ability to go up the mountain and have an honest discussion

with God. An honest discussion with God. Not a five minute prayer. A soul bearing, soul

rending discussion with God. What does Jesus do the moment he hears that John the Baptist

is dead? John the Baptist was his cousin. They probably played together before John

disappeared into the desert. John was precious to Jesus. He spoke of him as the ultimate

man on the face of the earth. He said there is no greater man than John, and now he hears

of his death. What does he do? He's with his disciples, but he withdraws and he goes up

the mountain. It is critical that I do it. When I go up the mountain, it's not to go

down on my knees and pray for rain or pray a beautiful prayer. It is to be gut-wrenching

in your prayer. Oh God, you let me down, but this I know that you do not fail. How we do

this is to put adoration on one side, confession of who he is on the other side, and in this

gap, you have honest heart conversations. We have to learn this. If you don't learn

this, we will end up being religious Christians who, within our hearts, resent God, but with

our mouth, give him lip service. This requires time though. To go up and say, Oh God, I bless

your name because you are worthy to be blessed, but why did you let me down? Why weren't you

there? Why could you not stop it? I feel like you ripped my heart out. I feel like you failed

me. I feel disappointed. These are my feelings, but this I know that you, oh God, are true.

You, oh God, are faithful. How do I know this? Because I've read long enough, I've lived

long enough, I've experienced it differently. This I know. You are caught between these

two tensions. The one adoring him saying, I come to you, that you allow me to talk to

you like this is a big deal. I can't talk like this to my dad, to my teacher, to my

principal, to the prime minister. I can't talk to the pastor like this. I can't even

talk to my dog like this. It will bite me, but I get to talk to you like this. It's caught

between adoration and the confession of who he is, and in between, you start rending your

heart, and you begin to speak like David, as David spoke to the Lord. Every psalm you

read is the result of David's cry to the Lord, and those cries are real. A man who does

not know, or a woman who does not know how to cry that, and wants to withdraw and sit

and say, oh God is terrible, don't fool yourself. I want to tell you that it's very disingenuous.

This God can handle your complaints. Start there. That's what Jesus went and did. That's

what David would do. That's what Moses would do. That's what Jeremiah would do. He got

the privilege of writing a whole lot of chapters like that, man. Any questions before we go

on? This is real. It's biblical. Any questions before we go on? I must meet the one who can

heal my brokenness. I must take time to climb the mountain, and it's not a five minute prayer.

Ours is a five minute prayer. Oh God, I wanted this. You let me down, and I praise your name.

It should be so heartfelt. Yeah, complaining becomes sin when I forget who you are. I can

come and complain, Jill you did this, Jill you did that, Jill you did this, but the moment

I go from Jill you did this to Jill, you're just so short that I can't talk to you kind

of a thing. Now I'm going into a place where it's not true anymore. Complaining goes into

lies. Complaining goes into an evil place when you begin to lose focus of who he actually

is. That's when complaining goes out of the window. Till then, it's kosher. And he loves

it. In Isaiah 42 he says, hey, come and reason with me. Come and contend with me. Tell me

what your argument is. Who does that, man? That's where we start. Take time, eh? When

you have a problem like this, you need to take time. Do not go praying. Praying is very

Christian. And if you do this, then on the mountain you will recognize his presence invariably

and his voice. He'll speak to you somehow. You don't need to figure out how. And once

that happens, you are ready to run with horses. Any questions on that? You've got to try this.

Take your present circumstance. And don't try to solve it in one shot. Psalm 42 continues

into Psalm 43. Find someone else to climb the mountain with you. Take someone along.

Sometimes all I need is someone's help to get going just to begin the hearing. Take someone

with you. Someone who can climb. Any questions? If it... Yeah. You can model it because can

we model doing this for other people? Yeah. Man, how did Moses, how did Joshua learn?

He saw Moses modeling it. How did Isaac learn? He saw Abraham modeling it. How did the disciples

learn? They would wake up in the morning and Jesus would have disappeared. Why? Because

he's gone up some mountain to pray. How did Timothy learn it? Paul says he learned it

through imitating me. I've said this to you before in Bahrain when I first would go to

this little U.S. chapel. There'd be a guy called Sid Spain. You get there early and

Sid Spain would be talking to somebody and then you get in there and you realize there's

no one in the room. And he's been talking to God but it sounds so intimate and so real.

You think, oh shucks, he must be talking to a real person. That's when I first thought

him as a... Gosh, this is a strange relationship to have with an invisible God. One of the

things we should do publicly is model your relationship with God. It's critical that

we model our relationship with God because nobody knows God as Father. There are people

sitting here who haven't approached him as Father. But to be able to model him as the

Father and talk to him as one would talk to the Father, that's different. Do things publicly.

In the areas that you're good at, where you suck, don't do anything yet.

Megan, is that a question or is that your hair?

Second, here are some verses that tell you God's intent. Here are some verses that tell

you God's 24-7 intent when it comes to the impossible. These verses govern what he does.

The first one is Revelation 21 verse 5. It simply says, behold, I'm making all things

Revelation 21:5

new. Every miracle, every sign, every wonder, every impossible thing that you attempt, especially

when it's for the sake of someone else or when it is something you want to do for the

sake of someone else, every one of them should be towards one simple end. It's the same end

as Christ. I want to make things new. Is someone's body broken? I want to make things new. Does

someone have a problem with different areas of your life? I want to make something new.

Remember this thing forever. God never ceases from wanting to make things new. Never. He's

always trying to make things new. He won't force our will, but he will do everything

to bring you to that point where you can choose. He wants to make things new, with you and

through you. You can't let go of this, see? This is where the earth begins to shape our

thinking, where we compromise and settle for decay is okay, middle of the road is okay.

He's always wanting to make things new. It will never be consummated till the end when

he arrives and then everything in a second is made new, but he's always in the process.

Why does he save people so that he can make them new? Why does he heal people so that

he can make their bodies new? Why does he provide for people? All those names we sang,

Jehovah-Nissi, Jaira, Shalom, Rapha. Why? In the area where things need to be made new,

have the guts to try it. Some things we don't even need to ask God, because Mark 16, 16-18

says this, Luke 7-22 says it. Isaiah 61 says it. We don't need to ask in those cases. And

as long as you're not the centerpiece, it's okay being foolish. So first one is Revelation

Revelation 21:5

21 verse 5. The next one is Hebrews 13 verse 8. Hebrews 13 verse 8, which is what? Jesus

Hebrews 13:8 Hebrews 13:8

Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. I have to believe that Christ is still the

same. That he's not locked up within the Bible. That he's not locked up in the Bible. First

time I saw someone getting healed, I realized a shucks that Jesus isn't locked up in the

Bible. He still does the same thing. Time to show. Show and tell, guys. And so that's

the second verse. He has not changed. And so keep attempting things where he's already

given us permission for. John 14-12. Because we've got to think like this. It's very hard

to think like this because we are scared. At least I'm scared. Do you think that when

a person comes to you with a sickness that you have to ask God whether it's God's desire

to make the person better? Are there clauses and catches to Yahweh Rapha? Why isn't it

happening? Ask that question after you pray. But not before. Because there are enough ways

to discourage us anyways. Why bring our own list to the game? But certain things are given

to us. We must try. What, 80 of us here? Let 80 of us try it and only 20 succeed. You know

what that'll do to us? It'll blow our minds and our socks. So scared to try it. Why are

we scared? Because we think it'll reflect badly on ourselves. And because we don't think

God can pull it off. Because we haven't seen it. All legitimate reasons. One has to overcome

it bit by bit by bit by bit. And you only overcome things by trying them again and again

and again and again. That went down like a tuna sandwich. And then let me add two other

scriptures to it. Isaiah 61. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Spirit of the Lord is

upon me. To do what? Open the eyes of the blind. Preach the good news to the poor. Heal

the broken hearted. Set the prisoner free. Bring people into liberty. To turn mourning

into dancing. Heaviness into praise. Ashes into beauty. The Spirit of the Lord is upon

me. Either he is or he is not. Either he is or he is not. Is he? Occasionally say a yes

or a no. I won't be put off by that. Is he? Is he? Is he? Or was Isaiah 61 1-5 only meant

for Jesus and nobody else? How do we step into the impossible? By losing my fear of

failing and making God look weak, promise breaker, pathetic, unreliable, and bad.

Think of this for a second. Luke chapter 10. He called 72 to him and he sent them out

Luke 10 · chapter mention

two by two saying, I give you authority to go and do the things like casting out demons,

healing the sick. You think they didn't have this problem? You think they weren't afraid?

He wasn't going with them. They didn't understand the power of the Spirit because they didn't

have the Holy Spirit living in them. They didn't have the Holy Spirit living in them.

But he sends them out two by two and then they go and try it. You think they were successful

everywhere? Perhaps. I don't know. But go out two by two. Don't try this even alone. Go

two by two. It somehow does something very helpful when there are two of you that go

and do this because one covers the other's deficiencies. One sees what the other is not

seeing. Find a partner in this big church who is better than you. Isn't it great when

two people look for ones better than them and they find each other? And don't tell

them that I think you're better than me. And go with them. The tension is how much should

one train before going? And the other is how much should we not send out people to

go and do these things when they have got zero clue of what they're doing? You can't

drive darkness out of someone when you have darkness in you. Doesn't work. Whose words

are these? Jesus' words, not mine. So yes, those are the places where sometimes you have

to be cautious. But otherwise, two by two. Try it. Yeah, I can't. The great thing about

this is I don't have to defend God or defend what I can't understand. Refuse to

apologize when things don't work. You know, I think it's because of this. You don't

know. If you know, tell us. But if you don't know, don't hazard a guess. If you are sick

and you're praying for people and they're recovering, thank God they're recovering.

Go find someone who can pray for you. If your dad is dying and you go pray for other dads

and they're recovering, praise God. Some people have their dads alive while yours died. I'm

not being dismissive. That happened to me. It sucks, but I also know what happens on

the other side. These guys, when they went out two by two, they did not have the Holy

Spirit residing in them. They did not know the scriptures well. Why? Because they were

blooming fishermen who didn't go to school. Their rabbi didn't even go with them. And

then they go out and they come back rejoicing saying, this happened, this happened, this

happened. We will hear that if we do. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Brilliant. You still need

to be sent. You still need to be sent. He sent the 72 out saying, I give you authority.

And now he wants the body to send you out saying, hey, go in the authority that Christ

has and go do this. But where? Where do you go? That's another thing. Find a place that

you want to go and come and talk about it. There's no more learning that we can do that

will make us better. We are up to here in terms of teaching. But yes, some of us in

some areas. All of us in some areas. Not some of us in some areas. All of us in some areas.

Here's another thing that we need to understand. If you go to 2 Chronicles 16.9, he is at

present looking for, looking to show himself mighty. He's at present looking to show himself

mighty. He's also looking for someone to do that through, what's his qualification? Is

your heart loyal or steadfast towards me? So what he's trying to say there is, listen,

I'm the all powerful one. I'm the all sufficient one. I'm the one who overflows. I'm looking

for somebody to work for. I'm looking for somebody to work for. Not work with me. He's

saying, I want to work for you. If you go, I'll work for you. It's literally that's

what he's saying. If you go, I'll work for you. If you go, I'll work for you. I am looking

for someone. My eyes are roaming to and fro across this room looking for someone whose

heart is steadfast and loyal towards me so that I can be all sufficient, all powerful

and overflowing. I want to work for you as you go and do things. Not work with you. Work

for you. I'm the one looking. I'm the one doing all the work. I'll do the work for

you. I'll do the work for you. For Christ to work through me, I must make sure that I'm

bankrupt in terms of my name and my ability. The bankruptcy of one's own name and one's

own ability is critical. My name can do nothing. My ability, my experience can do nothing because

John 519 says, apart from him, I can do nothing. In my bankruptcy, he says, now can you give

me a steadfast start because if you do, I'll work for you. Go ahead, Chawa. How does the

sensing work? So Chawa comes and says, hey, Jacob, I'm that brilliant scholar from Sodor

in UBC and I have some really intelligent guys who seem to have a problem in this area.

Could you guys have me and James go to UBC and could you as a church just send us out

because over a period of the next six months, we want to present Christ and the Father and

Christ is all powerful, all sufficient and overflowing. Can you help us? Can you teach

us? Can you send us? Suddenly, sending has two other elements to it. Help, teach or train

and send. Because nobody from this place can get into Sodor except you. That's what it

looks like. Guys, your character matters. The spiritual environment that you can be

sent into, the spiritual environment around you can either have you invited into things

or prevented from things because of your character. Some areas, if I don't change, I'll never

be invited into certain areas that God wants me in. Sometimes you wonder why demons don't

go when you cast them out. Sometimes you try to cast out a demon from me and if I'm one

who is rebellious, you may have all the authority in Christ and you cast a demon out from me.

It won't leave. Why? Because my very attitude is one of rebellion. Every time it goes out,

it has the ability to hook into my belt buckle and stay. What do you need to do then? Repent.

Of what? Of rebellion. What does that look like? Humbling oneself and saying, I will not

continue this way. Then see the results. So many times the things that are blocked in

my life and that I'm not invited to is because of not character flaws but pet character

pythons that you, blooming, keep stroking. It's like a hibernating bear you keep at home

and you will refuse to let it go because to let it go, you wouldn't know what to do. You've

cultivated it for so long that that character has become you. All of us have it, man. The

only ones that don't see it is the one who has it.

Every time you are sent in the name of Jesus Christ into a place by the body of Christ,

there is a degree of authority, there is a degree of immunity, there is a degree of recognition

that comes to you from heaven that is not available any other way. It's like a vacuum

salesman who turns up at your door, and I know you've heard this before, and says, I've got a

vacuum to sell you, and you ask who, and you say the Universal Vacuum Association, which

doesn't exist. But you say Hoover or Dyson, and they let you in. It's the same method.

Who is to know when we send you that you're doing things the right way? Who is to know

when we send you that they can call and find out whether Diana is kosher or not? Who is

to know whether when we send you that you haven't found a new theory or a new theology

that you begin to introduce into your ways of functioning with people?

That's why sending is important. We do not receive into any of our lives those that don't come with

some kind of validation from somewhere else. And the reason we struggle with it is

validation requires some degree of training. You won't let me operate on you.

I have operated on frogs, sharks, and cockroaches.

I did zoology for my undergrad. But for some strange reason, that's not enough to

let you trust me.

Why are you laughing?

So, it's a catch.

Because God wants all of us to go. It is guaranteed.

He wants all of us to go. And so why not do this?

And where someone needs to be sent, come and say, this is the area I want to.

Help me, teach me, send me. And then when the help and the teach comes,

be willing to receive and rise up in it so that you may be sent.

What does Christ do? He does Isaiah 61.

And if you fail, so what? Come back and say, I failed.

Mark came some days ago and he asked,

can I be sent to a certain thing to do certain things? And so he said yes. He went out.

Not much came out of it. So the guy had the guts to go out and

do what he did. And he will go again.

And he will end up getting one Billy Graham there

or just an ordinary Graham somewhere else.

Go ahead, Jun.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So there are two ways. One, Mark 16,

16 to 18, which is

what every believer

should expect.

Yeah.

The question was, what if I'm on a bus and the church hasn't sent me, what do I do?

The strange thing is the actual answer to the question is when you're on a bus,

whether the church sends you or doesn't send you, you don't do anything anyways.

That's the truth. Let's face up to that. When was the last time you asked a question,

so that's the first thing. We do not have the guts to do these things

because we haven't seen much success. I see lame people on the road and sometimes

I want to stop my car and my immediate thing is the car behind me may hit me, so just keep going.

I come up with all kinds of reasons to avoid the impossible. I'm not saying you should do that with every

person that's limping. I'm just saying that why not start with Kamal?

Our bone is grinding against bone. He needs a surgery. They asked him.

They said the surgery will be in nine months. What do you do about Kamal?

We are scared to try it with Kamal.

Why? Because he may turn up next Sunday and he might still be limping. Then where does all this teaching go?

Today Kamal ain't going home. There'll be 20 people on him.

So one, Mark 16, 16-18 applies to every believer.

Two, Luke 10 where Jesus says I give you authority

now and I'm sending you to these

specific towns which I will visit later but you go ahead of me.

He sends them out two by two. Here it might be just you

and an opportunity presents itself and you practice the truth in that opportunity.

In Luke 10 it is going to specific places sent two by two.

So both are different. Both are active 24-7. Here

you do the best you can. Here you train

to be like Jesus because he taught them before

he sent them. He taught them before he sent them. Both are to our benefit.

Both are to our benefit.

So try both, not one or the other.

May you come back with stories. When you went and wrote that letter to that

lady who was under house arrest, I forgot her name.

Yeah, that lady, you did that on your own.

Only you could have done that.

Each of us are working in places that nobody else in the church can access.

Whose fool are you?

Goes back to the fear thing.

Whose fool are you?

This is a very old story so most of the guys who have been here

five years or more or three years or more know this story but there's a guy in the UK who walks around

with an A-board, wearing an A-board on him. So when you're approaching him,

he's got the words on the front of the A-board saying, I'm a fool for Jesus.

And people laugh at him, eh? What a fool. And then when you look at the back of the board,

there's another writing that says, whose fool are you? Here's somebody's fool, man.

Here's somebody's fool.

Whose fool for Jesus? Whose fool are you?

Here's somebody's fool.

Why I state that right now?

Because

fear

contaminates

or prevents me

from doing half things

God prompts.

Fear prevents me from doing half the things that God prompts.

I think we'll end there and ask for that fear to be removed.

And then whatever else we'll have to do, we'll do later.

Before

we pray for that,

just remember this too, guys.

Anything

that competes, we'll talk about it next week but I want you to take this home and think about it

perhaps. Anything that competes for your attention

will compete for your

affection.

When you go up the mountain,

as we must do, you will find things competing for your attention.

It will compete for your attention. It will compete for your affection.

And the intent is divert attention

and you dilute affection.

Just remember that.

Many of us will go home and try to be, some of us don't even know how to be honest with God.

But every time you try to do these things,

things will compete for your attention.

Anything that competes for your attention,

will compete for your affection.

It's why your wife gets highly irritated when your attention is diverted.

When your attention is diverted, affection is diluted.

That's why she can't understand. You think you're listening to her but you're not.

Let's go back to the fear thing.

We pray for the fear thing to go away.

Because it's my fear that prevents me from attempting half the things God wants me to do.

Three or four months after I became a believer,

I was at an airport and I had a New Testament in my pocket

and I felt I should go give it to this guy who was flying to London.

I was waiting for someone to arrive and so I didn't have the guts to go up and give it to him.

It's a Muslim country. I was a little scared and then I saw his baggage tag

and I saw his name. So I took his name and I wrote it down on the first page of the Bible.

I said, this book will change your life. Please read it on your flight.

I told him what to read. I wrote it on the first page and I'm holding it. I still don't have the guts to go up to him.

But I know God is saying, listen, all you have to do is just go give it to him and you'll be okay.

That's all I'm asking you to do. I remember going up to him and giving him the Bible and he said, nope, I don't want it.

Now I'm thinking, what happens next? All the guts are gathered together to go up to him and give it to him

and he says, I don't want it. And then once you start the process, God can supply you the words you need

at different times. And my words were, but it's got your name on it.

And so he says, what do you mean? And I said, look inside the first page and he checks,

opens the first page and he sees his name on it. I said, okay, and he takes it.

I don't know what will happen. For me, it was like, oh, shucks.

I mean, and so

I wish those childlike days would return.

Let the fear go away

and go up the mountain and have really strong conversations.

The next morning I got a call from my sister and found out that

my mom had a stroke in the morning and so she's

her left side, right side began to droop, her right hand was not

lifting and it was this situation where

what do you do? How are you supposed to react to it? And then you realize, go up the mountain.

Have an honest conversation with God. Go tell him how you

really feel. And so you go up the mountain and you begin to talk to him.

You tell him about what you want, how you're feeling scared,

that yes, she's 84 and I'm almost 60, but it still matters.

I don't know how to pray. Feel like going to decrees and healings and no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

But can I just calm myself down and not go into hyperpenicostalism yet?

Can I be honest before I go into that? Because that's how I instantly react.

Why not just be father and son first?

And the father and son thing happens when you go up the mountain. The problem though going up the mountain

is you can come back looking terribly peaceful and annoy others.

But that's okay. And so

once you go up the mountain and you come to a place of peace where you know what you find on the mountain.

You're not looking for answers. You're looking for two things. The goodness of God

and His presence with you. Those are the two blooming things you're looking for. The goodness of God

and His presence. What do you mean by His presence? Some kind of aura around you? No, by presence I mean

His nature. Man, what's the use of having the presence of God if you don't

know His nature? What's the use of entering a building where you feel the presence of God

but you don't know that He's kind and compassionate? The two things that you want

to always walk in, to be constantly aware of is one, the goodness of God and two,

the presence of His nature which then allows you

to step into any circumstance so that He can be Jaira, Rafa, Nisi,

Shalom, whatever He wants to be because His nature exudes from His presence.

That is what you find up in the mountain. And you come down with that, now you can

deal with the demoniac who His father brought saying, here is my son, nobody

else could do something for him. But you've come down from the mountain and now you

begin to deal with it. The valley becomes a place where you become a benefit

because you spend time actually having discussions that are honest.

Lord, I feel really bad that Amma is alone.

She's in a hospital all by herself and she must be scared and she must be

thinking, what are these tubes in my mouth? Father, I know that one day she'll die but can you not

have all this stuff happening? I'd really like her to, when she dies, die in peace, not a tube

stuck up her nose. Can you do something about it? I'd love to decree but first I want to see how you

see. I want your nature to take over. I want to have an understanding of the goodness and the

nature of God and from there I can walk. Then you're not being

Baptist or Pentecostal, you're being a son of the living God because people will die.

Then you can handle the questions that someone else asks,

that your relatives ask.

That's how we work this, guys.

Go up the mountain when your heart is being ripped. Go up the mountain, Mark,

with the things that you have waited patiently for years.

Go up the mountain, Dilna, with whatever you carry.

I'm just picking guys who are close to 50.

Sorry, Mark.

Okay, let's pray for that fear thing.

Oh, so I might be gone this week. I'll try. I don't know if I'll be back on Sunday.

I'm leaving tomorrow. I might be back on Sunday or a few days after Sunday.

I'll keep you informed. Father,

we want to talk about fear.

So we're actually going to take time quietly between you and

each of us just to talk about something honest about our fear.

And then I'll pray aloud, Father.

So many times fear prevents me

from doing what you're prompting me to do. I want to talk about that before

praying.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Sometimes it's just because I do not expect anything good to happen.

Do not expect you to do anything.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.