Take Your Rightful Place Part 5

We continue with the series, Take Your Rightful Place.

Before we go into that, March 17th is the AGM for the church.

We have to have an AGM every year.

So March 17th is the AGM.

And Heidi, what else?

March 17th is the AGM.

And you'll get a note on it soon.

But it's supposed to be announced a few times.

So I've announced it four times now.

Oh, it doesn't work that way.

You have to announce it four different times.

OK.

OK, this is your first announcement.

OK, Take Your Rightful Place.

And this time, we're talking about taking your rightful place

in the favor of God.

Some of the places that we have to occupy

are so difficult to stay in.

They're easy to break into.

They're difficult to stay in.

And sometimes staying in is harder than breaking in.

It's often the case, right?

We know how to get into something of God,

but we don't know how to stay there 24-7.

And staying in a place that you occupy

requires follow-through and practice.

I don't know if anyone golfs here.

It looks so easy till you golf.

And then the ball doesn't go where you and your nose is pointing.

It goes somewhere else.

Because if your elbows bend, then the ball goes there

instead of going there.

And then people who are able to shoot it

are people that have follow-through and practice.

The elbows are straight throughout.

Chad tried that for a while.

He's still pretty bad.

So staying is very hard.

So our premise today is, can you occupy this place of favor

that is yours when you get born again?

What does it look like?

Can you occupy this place of favor

that I am pleased with you

and you are special to me place

in the furious love of God,

in the furious love of Jesus?

Can you occupy the place of favor?

Can you occupy this place of I am special to you?

Or you are special to me.

God saying, you are special to me.

God saying, I am pleased with you.

Can you occupy that place and stay there?

Take your rightful place as wanting, you take it.

But occupying is staying.

How do we get to that place where you can spend almost a day

not stepping out of here?

So why does favor equate to I am pleased with you

or you are special to me?

Because that's what God says to people in the Bible.

To Moses he says that.

To Jesus he said that multiple times.

That I am pleased with you.

He says that multiple times to Jesus.

And anything he says to Jesus, we now,

because we are embedded in him,

should be a place that we occupy.

But it's so hard.

You can take the place, but you,

I find it so hard to stay there.

Because things around me begin to draw me out of it.

So can you stay there?

And can you stay in that place in the furious love of Jesus?

There's never a passive moment in the love of Jesus.

Never a passive moment in the love of Jesus for me.

Never a passive moment.

There's never a resigned moment.

It's always furious love.

It raiders.

When I was young, my dad used to work at a steel mill.

And so they would have these huge furnaces

where they would throw in raw iron.

And it would melt it.

And then they would pour it out.

And when you pour it out, it would come out

raiding, raiding hot molten lava.

Flowing like liquid.

And in seconds it cools.

That's the furious love of God.

Only it doesn't cool.

It comes out of a smelter and it's continuously furious.

And is it possible?

Why am I holding in on the furious love of God?

If I hold in on the furious love of God,

perhaps I'll begin to believe that he is pleased with me continuously.

In isolation, it's very hard to believe someone can think of you like that.

Even parents can't think of their children like that always.

So some of the words that we can think of when we think of favor,

and if we could play a word association game,

we don't even know if we could immediately connect these words to God.

Like every time I say this word,

your immediate reaction would be,

God, God.

But surprisingly that might not be the case.

So when you think of the word approval,

you immediately think, God.

And there was dead silence in the room.

But perhaps you're just one of those silent types.

High esteem.

You immediately think of God.

Delight.

Do you associate that word with God?

Love that makes you laugh or cry.

Love that makes you laugh or cry.

Do you associate that with God?

Targeted kindness.

Do you associate that word with God?

Access to the throne.

Do you associate that word with Jesus?

Intentional bias.

Intentional bias towards you.

Intentional bias towards you.

Do you associate that word with God?

Extra benefits.

Do you associate that word with God?

Settling your debts.

Or settling anything outstanding.

Be it sin or sin,

or being a sinner.

Be it sin or money or love or deficit.

Settling debts you associate it with God.

Tailored goodness.

Tailored goodness.

As in goodness that fits you.

You associate that with God.

And so in asking the question that way,

the intent is to on one hand

define what favor looks like

or different words for favor.

And also perhaps expose

the condition of my heart

in that these are not words

that I immediately associate with God.

Approval, high esteem.

Delight, yeah.

Love that makes you laugh and cry, yeah.

Targeted kindness sometimes.

Access to the throne, yeah.

Intentional bias, not so sure.

Extra benefits, kind of.

Tailored goodness, kind of.

There's so many words that are missing.

And for different people in this room,

the response will be different.

In the case of Jesus or in the case of someone

who really knows how to walk in favor

and stay in favor, all these words should

immediately associate with Christ.

And that's part of what the word is supposed to do, right?

It's supposed to expose our heart.

Any questions before we go on?

We suddenly realize that there's a lot more

to go in our Christianity, at least for me.

Nick, was that a question?

Yeah.

Favor is the kind of love that just melts your heart.

You know it is because someone loves you so much

and knows you so well that they did something

for you that just melts your heart.

And sometimes makes you cry.

It's the kind of crying that comes out of joy.

Any questions?

Or let's go in one last one.

You're my favorite.

When those words are spoken, do you think, God?

Or do you think that God is just a friend?

But our hope is that we can get here.

Take your rightful place.

And after you take it, occupy it.

Occupying is staying there.

Beautiful, eh, if we can get here?

Can you imagine how life will be?

I would say if I don't work on this,

it may be impossible.

If I get here, it will be impossible to escape favor.

As in, you'll recognize it every day, every second, every hour.

You'll anticipate it.

It will be impossible to escape it.

You'll see it.

You'll anticipate it.

Because now your thinking is different.

And when I don't think like this,

I'm usually a product of my past, present, or future.

Or I'm a product of your words.

What you say is what will either grant me favor

or will grant me disapproval.

So when I don't think like this,

this is why we often get ravaged by our past, our present, our future,

and by the words that people say to our restoration or ruin,

is because this is not necessarily the way I think.

Therefore, my past, present, and future

do have a critical role on a daily basis in my life.

Therefore, there will be a deliberate attempt

by the world and by this enemy

to use circumstances to try and persuade me that this is false.

Every circumstance that is not engineered by God

and sometimes even engineered by God

will be used by the enemy

and by people sent from the enemy

to disprove this.

And it will never be an outright disproving.

It will be, did God really say he has an intentional bias towards you?

It's always, did God really say?

It's the same Eden trick.

It's always, did God really say that?

But look at what's happening to you.

And yet, when you look at this,

you have to look at it through Christ.

And so the question is,

did he both believe this, live this, show it?

Is this how he lived?

Did he know he was highly approved?

Did he know he was highly esteemed?

Did he know his father's delight?

Did God's love make him laugh?

Was he targeted by God with kindness?

Did he have access to the throne?

Was there an intentional bias towards him?

Did he have extra benefits?

Did God take care of everything in his life

so that there were no deficits?

Was God's goodness tailored towards him?

Was he God's favorite?

And then I have to find myself in him

and then begin to work my mind around it.

And circumstances will always come against us

as they did come against Jesus.

They did come against Jesus too.

Worse than us.

Any questions?

So one of the things that happens with favor

is you access the ultimate power.

Is you access the ultimate place of relationship.

Ultimate place of relationship.

Why do you say that?

Because if you have all this,

what kind of relationship is this?

If I had Derek's approval,

if he esteemed me highly,

if he delighted in me,

if he loves me in a way that makes me laugh,

if he targets me with kindness,

if I have access to him 24-7,

if he has an intentional bias in this room towards me

more than towards anybody else here,

if anything he gets, I get the extra benefit,

if he settles my debts,

if he tailors goodness towards me,

and if I am his favorite,

is there any possibility that the relationship

will be anything but rich?

It's the ultimate place of relationship.

One who displayed it, John 13.23, you see it.

You see a young boy called John

resting against Diesel's chest.

That's how he spent his days.

Why?

Because he knew how to walk in the favor of his master.

And favor will always lead to intimacy.

Favor and intimacy are connected.

Favor and intimacy are always connected.

Yep.

Yeah.

So how do you navigate through God

has no favorites, he has no bias?

Because the intentional bias he has towards me

is unfortunately the intentional bias he has for you too.

Only don't tell me about it,

because I want to be the favorite.

So, on one hand,

but here's the difference, Joanna.

Are you Anna or are you Anna?

You're Anna with an E or an A?

Okay, you're Anna.

Okay.

I mean, it's kind of late in the day

to ask you this question, but...

Yeah.

And your husband's name is George, right?

Yeah.

Okay, so...

So, here's the thing.

There is an intentional bias towards you from God,

as he has towards Jill or Wayne,

or Derek.

But how do you play it?

How you play it is how you begin to experience it.

All of us have the same favoritism,

the same bias.

But some of us will be able to capture it

and relate to him in such a way

that now you have the intimacy to richly experience it.

That's where you sometimes think,

oh, God favors him.

It's not God favoring him.

It is that God favors everybody in the second row,

but he happens to know

how to get into it

and now connect

and experience, taste, enjoy

the favor that he has.

While the rest of the second row thinks,

hmm, he looks highly favored.

It's not that he looks highly favored,

he suddenly realizes it.

That's why some people look like they're more favored.

They just anticipate it.

They expect it.

We don't.

Not we don't. I don't.

Yes, but at some point Christ must make a difference.

Yes, it is true

that our background and our growing up

really affected,

but I was treated well.

They fed me like crazy.

My sister and I

had to get a tin of condensed milk

just so we can glug it down whenever we want.

That was how well I was treated.

And my sister is going to get me for this.

But see, and yet why is it that I'm struggling with?

A favor.

Because our lives

are exposed to approval and disapproval continuously.

Even the best homes with the best parents

will still struggle through approval and disapproval.

It's an orphanage that, the earth is an orphanage.

The earth is an orphanage. Our parents will mess up.

We will mess up. Our sisters and brothers will mess up.

Pastors will mess up.

Friends will mess up.

We're continuously in this,

what do you call that dish that you cultivate?

Petri dish or petri dish.

We're cultured in that.

And at some point,

I must break out.

And breaking out is easy.

Staying is difficult.

That's where, yesterday,

Conor McDavid won the skills competition.

He already earned 13 million.

He would win another million for winning it.

And so,

he won the skills competition.

He won eight.

Guys, feel free to come in and leave anytime you want.

Oh, Sunday school, okay.

Sorry.

Sorry. Guys, you're doing a great job.

Yesterday, Conor McDavid won the all skills competition.

He won it because night out,

night in, night out, day in, day out,

he practices, he practices, he practices, he practices.

What he does in the contest is a reflection of all this.

Practice. Nobody wins

on the day of the contest.

Nobody wins on the day of the contest.

Everybody wins

before the practice that we put in.

To go back to Wayne's point,

we should make allowance

for newcomers into the kingdom

and afford them

the fact that they may have come out of background

where disapproval was normal.

But after four or five years in Christ,

that should not any longer be an excuse.

We should be increasingly creating distance

from our environment

because of the new kingdom alignment

that we are supposed to be stepping into.

You're going for Sunday school too.

This is the ultimate place of relationship.

If I could be like Jon

because favor is an open door to intimacy.

Favor

is an open door to intimacy.

Favor is an open door to intimacy.

If you are favored, you know you can be intimate.

IfPh you are favored,

you know you can be intimate.

If you are favored, you know you can be intimate.

And so to know I'm freeward allows me easy, I can traipse into his presence with hardly

a thought because I know I'm freeward.

Otherwise we have to do the song and dance with please forgive me and all that stuff.

Such a pain, asking for forgiveness every day.

It's so much easier to jump into his lap and then tell him you're sorry, then do the

sorry before you jump into his lap.

Conversely, lack of time or intimacy dulls you to favor.

I'm so glad when I ask around the church or when Mark Butler calls me or I call someone

and ask you how are you doing in terms of spending time with God.

Most of us have increased the time we spent with God.

Most of us in the church have increased and that's awesome because time and intimacy prevent

dulling you to the favor of God.

It's a virtuous cycle.

Favor allows me to know that the one who favors me, I can run into his arms without a thought

of what I may have done, what I feel guilty about, I can run into his arms.

But once I run into his arms, in his arms, out of that intimacy, I begin to recognize

even more the favor that he has towards me.

And so the more the time and the intimacy we have, it's got the greater the realization

of favor.

And I'm sorry, I keep going back to this, but when you look at this, you realize how

this can change your life.

Living like this will absolutely change your life.

Favor is being condemned to his generosity.

Favor is being condemned.

It's one of the few places you can use the word condemned well.

Favor is being condemned to generosity.

Favor is being condemned to generosity.

Condemned to generosity where it is preferential, it is undeserved, and it stirs your heart.

You want to see favor?

You go to the book of 1 Samuel and you see David inviting Mephi-Boshehr, who was laid

in his bed, to his table, even though Saul tried to kill him.

He invites Mephi-Boshehr.

Mephi-Boshehr is now sitting at the king's table.

That's favor.

Condemned to generosity.

That family wanted Saul's family wanted David dead.

David decides that I knew Saul and Jonathan.

You will sit at my table.

Later, even when Mephi-Boshehr doesn't turn up after David returns from his exile, after

Absalom is dead, David still treats Mephi-Boshehr well.

He brings him to his table and hides his lameness under the table and treats him well.

Favor is being condemned to generosity.

The question, though, church, is do you feel condemned to generosity?

The resounding answer usually is no.

It's preferential.

Do you see yourself as preferred?

It's undeserved.

That I find very easy to figure out because undeservedness is an easy thing for most humans

to handle.

The two things humans handle very well, undeservedness and entitlement.

Both are very, you can taste it.

And then it stirs your heart.

So God often uses favor and generosity to restart you.

When your heart is cold, when it's passionless, when you feel distant from God.

One of the tricks God uses is to do something that's tailored to you, that suddenly stirs your

heart again.

And usually by doing something so favorable, so generous that you think you're something,

why now, when I so don't like you, are you beginning to like me so much?

It wrecks you.

It's an old God trick.

Favor overflows.

It's important to write this in caps because we think it's an occasional thing when God's in a good mood.

Favor overflows.

Favor overflows.

It's not, nothing in heaven is rationed.

Nothing in heaven is rationed.

Nothing in heaven is this is what I have today.

Favor overflows.

So if you read Isaiah 61, verse 3, and Jesus actually changes that word when he reads it in Luke,

Isaiah 61:3

verse 4, Jesus says, I've come to proclaim to you, or I'm asking you to go out and proclaim,

or the Spirit of God is upon me, and I proclaim the year of favor.

Now the word for favor was your bell or jubilee.

The whole idea of jubilee was favor.

Crazy, eh?

We talk about jubilee as the year of jubilee.

The year of jubilee was basically the year of tremendous favor.

And so when you read Isaiah 61, 3, you find that when he talks about favor overflowing,

can you imagine these things actually, if we could believe this, that favor means provision is supplied.

Security is bestowed.

Read Isaiah 61, 3 to 61, 5.

You'll find these things there.

Double honor bestowed.

Enemies avenged.

And debt or bondage reversed.

Work fruitful.

And as Kevin Bacon says in A Few Good Men, these are the facts and they are undisputed.

Isaiah 61, 3 to 7 or 8 talks about this.

Any questions?

Why is this not a reality in our lives?

How about we pose this question to you?

I would like to change the question and say, is this your expectation?

Is this your clear understanding of God?

Is this the faith you have?

And is this the place you occupy?

My answer is usually no.

Have you noticed how, till you buy the car you just bought, you didn't know there were so many of them in Vancouver?

The moment you buy a Kia, you see Kias everywhere.

The moment you buy a Volkswagen, you thought that was a special car and there are Volkswagens all over the place.

You buy a yellow and green Acura and everybody has a yellow and green Acura.

You have to see this way to be able to recognize it.

It's the way heaven works and there is no way to change it.

Heaven works like this.

Heaven wants you to recognize an attribute of God.

And the moment you recognize the attribute of God, you will see the attribute all around you.

All around you.

It's a divine principle.

Let's say you see the attribute of God being compassionate and somehow it grabs you inside.

It just changes you inside.

What happens then?

Everywhere you go, you will see situations and people who need God's compassion.

And then it changes.

In other situations, you may see people who need something else.

But you see the nature of God and it begins to change you.

And people who serve in certain ministries serve in certain ministries because that path has touched their hearts.

I remember I used to work downtown and a group of businessmen called me to talk to them about what was happening downtown in terms of helping the homeless and things like that.

And I really made them feel so guilty that they never turned up for another meeting.

Because in my mind it was, hey, you guys should be downtown, not running your businesses.

Take all the money from your business and put it downtown.

And stuff like that. They never came back again.

Because that was not their call.

Sometimes what really ruins you is because you have caught a glimpse of the nature of God in a certain area.

And it moves you and it may not move others to the same extent.

That's okay.

Some of you are passionate about justice.

Some of you are passionate about telling people what God has for them.

Some of you are passionate about compassion and goodwill.

Some of you are passionate about going out and gathering people who do not know Jesus and telling them.

Everybody should do every one of these things.

But something about it grips your heart and then you can't escape it.

It's the same way with favor.

Once your heart begins to be gripped that this is how God is with his children.

Everyone sitting here who has received Christ into their lives, this is yours.

And once you begin to see like this, you'll see favor everywhere and you'll begin to anticipate it.

I mean you don't get it.

The trick is not to feel entitled but to expect.

We won't talk about that today.

Any questions, guys?

No.

So, condemn to generosity as in, I mean Nick brings me food but I'm condemned to bok choy every time he brings food.

Doesn't matter what he brings me.

He can bring me sausages, he can bring me steak, he can bring me omelets, he can bring pizza that's loaded with crap.

But with that will come two bok choy.

I'm condemned to bok choy.

It's like you cannot escape it.

Pardon?

What choy?

I'm condemned to you, choy.

It's like inescapable.

Go ahead.

Yeah.

So, sometimes when you get used to being treated a certain way and you don't get treated that way,

you might say, I'm a king's kid, it's my right and all that stuff.

And that is entitlement where now because you didn't get what you think,

you behave like a churlish kid who has been denied what they think is rightfully theirs.

It is rightfully yours in Christ but there will be times where you and I will go through privations that are not fun because God has some other purpose.

At that time, I can't begin to scream murder.

Exodus 33, 11 to 15.

Exodus 33, 11 to 15.

We've looked at the scripture so many times.

Never ceases to fascinate me.

Exodus 33, 11 to 15.

I'll read from the New Living Translation.

Exodus 33, 11 to 15.

Inside the tent of meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face as one speaks to a friend.

Afterwards, Moses would return to the camp, but the young man who assisted him, Joshua, son of Nun, would remain behind in the tent of meeting.

Verse 12.

One day Moses said to the Lord, You've been telling me, take these people up to the promised land, but you haven't told me whom you will send with me.

You have told me, I know you by name and I look favorably on you.

If it is true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor.

And remember that this nation is your own very people.

The Lord replied, I will personally go with you, Moses.

I'll give you rest.

Everything will be fine for you.

Moses said, If you don't personally go with us, don't make us leave this place.

How will anyone know that you look favorably on me, on me and on your people if you don't go with us?

For your presence amongst us sets your people and me apart from all the people of the earth.

And so how do we now break into and occupy favor?

Favor demands engagement.

It demands inquiry.

It demands that you know what God has said.

Favor demands engagement.

The trick, the thing is, guys, anyone who wants to occupy a place of favor does not settle, does not settle for specialness.

Instead, they push into pursuing not favor, but the one who's favor.

Favor demands engagement.

So Moses engages God.

God has already told him, listen, I favor you, you're special.

But that's not enough.

He doesn't settle in a special way.

That's what instant Christianity does.

We have the favor of God.

We have the favor of God.

Great.

There is a specialness upon the people of God.

Yes, we have a relationship with God that no other religion and nobody without Christ has.

But it's not enough to settle in that specialness.

There's engagement.

There's an inquiry saying, okay, if you say I'm favored, I want to increase in favor.

So can you make sure that you begin to let me in on your plan?

I'll spend time with you.

I want to push into not favor.

Favor you will give me.

I want to push into you so that I know you.

If I know you, I'll know how you think.

If I know how you think, I'll know that your favor is with me.

It's pushing into the one who gives favor.

This requires time.

Thank God we are creating time for it.

It's good that we are creating time for it.

Any questions?

In today's instant gratification Christian culture, we neither have the time or the discipline or the strength to explore God's favor.

In today's instant gratification Christian culture, we sometimes don't have the time or the discipline or the strength to explore favor.

And so what happens?

Like kids, this is important, like kids, like kids, we either delight or despise it based on answered prayer.

Just embed that thought in your head that because we don't have the time or the discipline or the strength to explore favor,

we become like little kids who think that if their request is answered, then the parent likes them.

And if the request is not answered, then the parent doesn't like them.

It boils it down to answered prayer.

And that just completely implodes this idea of favor.

Because when the prayer is not answered, it's a sense of God doesn't like me, God doesn't favor me.

And if the prayer is answered, it is highly favored.

That's childish. It's not childlike, it's childish.

But all of us have fallen into that trap at some point or the other in the last one month.

It implodes favor, it just collapses.

Because my prayer is not being answered right now.

What am I going to do?

What if I had the ability of a prayer not being answered,

but being able to stand happily in all those things that God has said, in the favor of God?

What does it look like to delight, to laugh, to do your little jig in unanswered prayer?

It's called the unanswered prayer jig.

Won't that be amazing?

Any questions?

You do that two or three times, you break the back of this thing.

It takes very little to break the back of bad habits.

They have persisted for so long, but their back, their spine is actually very brittle.

You break a habit two or three times, it cannot rise again.

Next time a prayer is not answered, I mean, I really mean unanswered prayer jigs.

Next time a prayer is not answered and you feel like favor is not on you,

do one of those things.

Could be, but I would say let's do the jig.

And then in doing the jig what we are saying is,

Father, I still believe your favor regardless of what.

And now I'll go and find out whether this is the right time, not the right time, what I should do.

But the jig I will do and I'll refuse to go down the road of...

Yeah, agreed.

Let's go and find out why.

But can I do the jig so that the reason I'm saying the jig, however you want to phrase it,

is instead of letting the heart become sad,

let the heart go into a place of joy because of the favor of God.

Unfortunately I get...

I feel like a shucks.

I wish it had come to pass.

I want to do...

I mean, things you're standing for and it doesn't happen and your heart feels disappointed.

I want to know why and I'll go find out why, but my heart...

First do the jig.

Really.

I go and I start...

When something doesn't happen, the first thing I go and do is,

Father, I know you're good.

I know you're fair.

I know you're perfect.

I know you love me.

There's nothing that you do wrong.

I know how my heart is feeling right now, but I also not know what David has done.

I know what Gideon has done.

I know what others would do.

They would begin to open their mouths and they would declare the goodness of God.

And I come to declare the goodness of God.

Then a song comes to mind and I start doing the little hop.

And now my heart comes to a place of rest.

Rest can come either through a hop or rest can come without a hop.

You can choose your method of rest.

I'm just telling you one of the things you do.

And then when you come to a place of rest, now God has the ability to use his voice to speak

and you have the ability to use your ears to hear.

Because once you trust God, hearing is easy.

Until you go back to that place of restful trust that joyfully praises God.

Because remember, religion always tries to banish two things.

Love, joy.

Every time anything comes against you, the two things that are always attacked.

Love, joy.

Love, joy.

Constantly under attack.

Peace goes as a result.

But love and joy are attacked.

Can I bring in a wedge between God and you so that you don't think you are as loved and you can't love back?

Can I bring in something between God and you so that you don't have the joy, the gladness, the anointing of joy or gladness?

Can I bring that in?

And if those two things come in, then peace begins to unravel.

Which is why in most circumstances, if I have enough sense to quickly go into love and joy, I come into a place of rest.

Once I come into a place of rest, I start hearing again.

We don't have the time, the discipline or the strength.

Sometimes running after God or sticking with God on something requires stamina.

It's not easy. We flag easily.

I was listening to the story of a leader of a very large nation here on earth who had to inaugurate an institution.

And he fasted for 11 days and prepared himself to engage in that ritual.

And I'm thinking to myself, this man is the leader of a huge nation.

He has a political religious thing to do.

He fasts for 11 days to do that.

And why is it that, Jacob, you don't have the stamina to fast for two meals sometimes to see something in the spiritual come to pass?

It requires stamina. It's not easy.

But once you start with stamina, you'll find that whatever you're doing, you'll find a joy in.

Getting up to run is the worst thing ever.

Once you start running, I have heard, it is highly enjoyable.

So you do require stamina in Christianity.

You do require stamina in Christianity.

I was talking to someone yesterday and I said, you and I are lazy.

Because we don't use time well.

Ask this question of ourselves, do you make time, do you find time, or do you waste time?

Do you make time, do you find time, or do you waste time?

You can only make time for something that you're absolutely delighted.

You find time for things that you know are a necessity.

And you waste time when you are not passionate about something.

Anybody who says, I don't have time for this, usually means, I'm really not passionate about this.

Anyone who says, I don't have time for this, is usually someone who does not have a passion for it.

But you always make time for things that you're passionate about.

You find time for things that you know are necessary.

And you waste time when there is no passion for this.

So how can we stay in this?

Adapt to what God is focusing on.

Adapt to what God is focusing on.

Let's assume it's, can I help you walk in favor?

Adapt to it.

As in, make favor, centerpiece, and adapt life and the way you think, the way you behave, the way you respond, all into this.

Adapt to what God is focusing on.

And if you do, he gives you stamina to pursue it long term.

Why does God need to give you strength to pursue it long term?

Because a miracle is something God can do instantly.

But a habit is not cultivated through a miracle.

A habit is cultivated through practice.

And so he gives you the strength.

He gives you the stamina to pursue it long term.

And when you pursue something long term, it becomes...

Jesus had to go through the same thing.

That one verse is so non-descriptive sometimes, but it says in Luke 1.52 or Luke 2.52,

and Jesus grew in wisdom and favor and stature.

Look at it.

Jesus grew in... wasn't he full of favor?

But Jesus grew.

Crazy.

The one who is highly favored.

There's nobody that has favored as him.

It is because of the favor on him that you and I are favored.

But Jesus grew in it.

He had to learn it.

Jesus grew in wisdom, in favor, and in stature with God and with man.

That's why you need the strength to see through.

The other thing is, guys, sometimes I wonder why after I do two days of sticking with something,

why it doesn't work.

Because singular focus, the opposite of singular focus is double-mindedness.

Where when something doesn't work after the second day, you abandon it.

Hey, like a gymnast that attacks those uneven bars, you fall off, get back on.

Singular focus, because double-mindedness gets you very little.

James 1, verse 6 talks about it.

James 1:6

Go back. Go back.

If even one or two of these things became normal for us,

normal as in breathe in, breathe out.

Back's on, back's off.

And when you're not feeling like it, then go back to the thing we've repeated many times.

Use words to move.

You're also going for Sunday School Zia? It's the other way.

Use words to move from feelings, to feelings of not being favored,

to the truth of favor.

Use words.

Replace negatives. Practice replacing negatives.

With something more powerful in thought and in language.

Words matter, guys. Construct your own sentences.

Use words. It's so important.

God is a word god.

He uses words. From the beginning, he's used words.

Audible words.

So replace negatives with something more powerful.

So replace negatives, use words.

Phrase it into something.

So use the iPhone to your advantage.

Samsung may work too, but use it to your advantage.

Write down stuff and say, Jesus, this is how I always get triggered,

but these are the words I will use now.

Yeah, where you, as long as the words are used.

Yeah, yeah.

Sometimes quickly, repeatedly, speak back God's words of favor to him in agreement.

Why? Because can Amos 3-3, can two walk together except maybe?

Agreed. Speak words. Speak words back to him.

The very words that you have seen him speak, say it back to him.

You have said, and I believe it.

There's a Sunday school song. God said it. I believe it.

And that settles it for me. God said it. I believe it.

That settles it for me. And it goes on about six times.

But basically, God said it. I believe it. And it settles.

You're saying it back to him. You're not saying it back to him like a mantra.

You're saying it back to him in agreement. Father, I agree with this.

And then change it. Change it.

Pardon? You have to know the word.

You have to know the word. And then use JLT. It's a great version.

Yep. JLT is not a version. It's Jacob's Living Translation.

Just in case people were Googling JLT. Sorry.

Three.

Guys, the other thing is, this is a side topic, but it's important for everybody now.

Social media is not a strengthener. It's a pacifier.

Social media is not a strengthener. It's a pacifier.

Just like you put that little rubber thing in a kid's mouth,

that's how Facebook, Instagram, and the other thing is.

What's the other thing? YouTube. Aha. Found you.

So you seem to have a problem. None of us said YouTube.

So Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or X, and let's add YouTube.

Yeah? So, TikTok. Yeah.

So what happens is, we see these are pacifiers.

And they dull you, they dull your exhausted soul to the transfusion of the spirit

in the waking and the sleeping hours.

I want to word it correctly. Social media is not a strengthener.

It's not a thing that gives you anything.

It's actually a pacifier that dulls your exhausted soul.

Because most of us begin to look at it when we are weary and exhausted.

And as you lie down, you begin to flip through it.

It dulls your exhausted soul.

To the infusion and the transfusion of the life of the spirit, it dulls us.

Most of us only go and look at it because we work and our bosses wouldn't like you Facebooking during working hours.

We look at it when you go to bed.

I'm not saying we're looking at anything bad or sexually corrupt or anything of that sort.

It's mindless.

I mean, one day our thumbs will disappear.

One day my nose will nearly disappear because I dropped the phone on my nose.

That's what happened.

So, just be mindful of it.

Favour rockets when you stop piloting your life.

Favour rockets.

Favour rockets when you stop...

Favour rockets when you stop piloting your life.

Stop piloting your life.

And when you ditch control.

When you ditch control, favour rockets.

I remember Eric telling the story of how his son was building a...

With chairs and with a lot of cloth he was building this tent.

And Eric was looking at it and he was telling his son, listen, that'll collapse.

You need to do this.

But the son wanted to do it all himself.

And so he builds it and then he goes into it.

And when he goes into the whole thing, collapses.

He didn't want to let go.

And then Eric goes in, he fixes it and the whole thing stands.

Without ditching control, without giving up piloting, favour is very hard to recognise.

Because as long as I'm in control, there's only limited favour that I can experience.

How do you recognise when you take back control?

I think one of the ways you recognise when you're taking back control is you lose rest.

Yeah, you lose rest.

It's the sense of suddenly, suddenly everything is back to frantic.

I've got to make it happen.

I've got to do this.

Deadlines are approaching.

God, you have no sense of time here on earth.

Got to do it right now.

It's the sense of, you know, you're not going to get it.

Got to do it right now.

It's literally like taking back.

I know I'm back in control when I realise that rest is gone.

And it's back to juggling everything.

I hate it.

Again, I was talking to this person last night.

I'm telling the person that.

You go pick this option because you think it's gone.

And then you see an option out of the corner of your eye which seems better and cheaper.

So you go get that option.

By the time you click the button there, that's gone up.

And then you go back here and this has gone up too.

And then it's this mess, man, that happens in your heart.

Sometimes I don't like preaching because it looks like I'm the only one who has these problems.

But the thing is that's one of the ways you can recognise that you have taken control.

And the other way you can recognise that you've taken control is there's no need of faith.

There's no need of faith.

When I'm in control, I don't need much faith.

I don't need much faith.

I don't have to trust God for the outcome.

Because the idea of control is to determine the outcome.

That's the whole idea of control.

The idea of control is to determine the outcome.

Go ahead, Sade.

Rest in? Complacency.

Yeah. Rest is doing exactly what God tells you to.

Complacency is doing nothing, hoping that things will work out.

Complacency is God is in control.

God will do what he needs to do.

Keisar Asra, whatever it will be, will be.

Kamsi Kamsa.

He's good.

He knows what is right.

He knows what is wrong.

He's good.

He knows what is right and what is wrong.

That is complacency.

Rest always involves obedience.

If you read Hebrews chapter 4, very clearly it says there that they did not enter my rest

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

because they did not mix these two ingredients together, faith and obedience.

And you cannot obey unless you know what you're being told.

So Gideon complacent, no, Joshua complacent will be,

these walls look big, but, and he starts singing Don's favorite song.

These walls will fall, but he doesn't do anything about it.

So that's complacency.

Instead, what does Joshua do? Joshua goes, seeks God.

God says, go around the walls seven times.

He doesn't do anything else.

He does exactly what God tells.

Rest will always have faith and obedience, and obedience will require a command.

And you can't do anything more.

The moment you do anything more, you've gone from rest into once again taking control.

Well, complacency is not doing anything.

Just waiting for God's goodness to make it happen.

Nothing wrong with that, but that's like, let's assume you were married

and it's your wife's birthday and you have to buy a gift for her.

And you're saying, whatever will be, will be, and you go to Bay

and you pick up something like a vacuum cleaner and you can't understand.

You just can't understand why she's not excited.

So you have to know. As you know, you will hear.

Never make that mistake, I'm sorry.

Pardon?

Unless it's Dyson.

Yeah.

When?

When, Anna?

Sorry, I wanted to use your name. Sorry, when?

Other than taking control back, be a type of restlessness.

Even when things are with God, even if you want to give up,

you're still somewhere to experience the restlessness.

This is not where it's supposed to be.

Yeah, if there's a restlessness, go and engage again.

Father, this isn't, something doesn't seem right.

Please, can you help me?

Either give me peace about it or help me understand why I'm feeling the way I'm feeling.

Guys, always remember, this is a father-child conversation, everything.

Part of the reason he does not sometimes answer you immediately

is so that he can engage you in a conversation.

Crazy. Your parents do that with your children.

They ask you for something and you ask them questions like, why?

I go with a problem, math problem to my dad,

and he would want to know why I don't understand it.

I don't.

The why question is always so that you can engage the father in a conversation.

So when restlessness comes, again, it's a question of going.

Let me conclude because the water is getting cold.

His promises are dynamite sticks of goodness and favor.

His promises are dynamite sticks of goodness and favor.

Can you and I begin to, when we claim promises or look at promises in the Bible,

can you look at each promise in terms of it carries his heart towards you?

It announces his presence for you.

It guarantees his presence for you.

It guarantees his tailored outcome full of goodness.

Can we do that? Yeah?

Try that so that promises are not just things he has said,

but a promise, be it for healing, be it for provision, be it for love,

be it for marriage, be it for restoration of relationship,

be it for spiritual growth, that each promise carries his heart towards you.

Sometimes the way you can take a promise and figure out the heart of God

is to rewrite it as if he's saying it to you.

So by his stripes, you are healed.

Why not take it and write it as either you saying it or he's saying it?

Everything good, Zia?

So why not rewrite it as Jesus, your back was plowed open.

When it was plowed open, it was done so that I may not have to carry the sicknesses and diseases that I carry.

You even thought of that.

You don't want me as your child to have to carry it.

When you rewrite it that way, what you're doing is you're digging into a promise

and not taking it as a check to the bank.

You're taking it as this is what he did and why he did it.

Each promise carries the heart of God.

Each promise announces his presence.

A promise must usher his presence to you.

He should be there.

You don't want his word there, you want him there.

If he's there, then you are not contractually looking at the promise.

You are happily looking at him.

His promise should usher in his presence.

And finally, look at his promises guaranteeing you an outcome where his goodness will bathe you.

Where his goodness will bathe you.

I said this last time, CS Lewis's line,

if we don't slow down, our hearts cannot be formed.

It's essential guys, at this stage in our lives at this church,

if we don't slow down, our hearts cannot be formed.

We have to slow down.

So if this is what you think God is focusing on, embrace it.

I'm trying hard to get up and see myself through these eyes that Christ has

so that I can walk in it regardless of what circumstances or what ravages or what waves come.

This is where I lodge.

Yeah? Any questions?

May, Lenny, you want to go there?

Make sure you don't have your watch, your wallet, and stuff like that that doesn't react well to water.

Guys, I'm going to Ewonee to come up.

Ewonee, if you can do that song.

I'm going to see you, victory.

Brandon, it's okay to have the baptism on live stream. That's fine.

Is this, this works in water?

No. Okay.

See you, victory.

Thank you.

Oh, my God.

I'm gonna see a victory.

I'm gonna see a victory.

Oh,

the battle.

Oh,

the victory.

Oh,

the victory.

Oh,

the

victory.

This power in the mighty name of Jesus.

Every war he wages he will win.

I'm not backing down from any giant.

I know how the story ends.

This power.

This power in the mighty name of Jesus.

Every war he wages he will win.

I'm not backing down from any giant.

I know how the story ends.

I know the story ends.

I'm gonna see a victory.

I'm gonna see a victory.

Oh,

the battle.

Oh,

the victory.

I'm gonna see a victory.

I'm gonna see a victory.

Oh,

the battle.

Oh,

the victory.

Oh,

the victory.

Oh,

the battle.

You take what the enemy meant forever

and you turn it for good.

You turn it for good.

You take what the enemy meant forever

and you turn it for good.

You turn it for good.

You take what the enemy meant forever

and you turn it for good.

You turn it for good.

You take what the enemy meant forever

and you turn it for good.

You turn it for good.

I'm gonna see a victory.

I'm gonna see a victory.

Oh,

the battle belongs to you.

I'm gonna see a victory.

I'm gonna see a victory.

Oh,

the battle belongs to you.

It's getting a little cold here.

I should have asked you to do a shorter song.

Do a shorter song.

Thanks, Tony.

Okay, guys, wanna read two scriptures

and then what we'll do after that is

May will ask Lenny the question she wants to ask

and then baptize her.

And then we'll pray for her that

because she's emptied herself

may the Holy Spirit infuse her with new strength.

And then as the rest of us go to change

we'll end with that song which says

what's that song?

Yeah.

No, he reigns.

How does the first verse go?

Let the song of the redeemed, yeah?

We'll sing that.

I mean, when you look around you suddenly see

how many different tribes, nations, and ethnicities

we come from, eh?

It's been good, guys.

So here are the two scriptures.

One is from 1 Peter 3.20

and it says,

Those who disobeyed God long ago,

when God waited patiently

while Noah was building his boat,

only eight people were saved from drowning

in that terrible flood.

And that water is a picture of baptism

which now saves you.

Not by removing dirt from your body,

but as a response to God from a clean conscience.

That's what she's doing, eh?

A response to God from a clean conscience.

It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Now the verse is from 1 Corinthians 10.

1 Corinthians 10.

In 1 Corinthians 10 it says,

I don't want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters,

about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago.

All of them were guided by a cloud

that moved ahead of them.

All of them walked through the sea on dry ground.

In the cloud and in the sea,

all of them were baptized as followers of Moses.

Only in this case we are being baptized into Jesus.

Yeah?

And then one last scripture, John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

John chapter 1, verse 32.

John 1 · chapter mention

The reason I'm reading the baptism of Jesus

from this scripture is because we realize

that the dove was not something that just Jesus saw.

It was something John saw too.

The voice perhaps was heard by more than just Jesus.

And so it says here in John 1, 32,

Then John testified, I saw the Holy Spirit

descending like a dove from heaven

and resting upon him.

I didn't know he was the one,

but when God sent me to baptize with water,

he told me, the one on whom you see the Spirit

descend and rest is the one who will baptize

with the Holy Spirit.

I saw this happen to Jesus,

so I testify that he is the chosen one of God.

That's what we expect to happen today too, yeah?

That the Holy Spirit will descend upon Lenny

in her obedience and in her emptying herself.

That she'll be infused with strength from heaven.

I will be able to walk like she hasn't walked before

and she has desire to walk, yeah?

Okay.

Go ahead, Mei.

So Lenny, do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?

Yes, yes I believe.

Do you believe that Jesus died and rose again?

I do believe that.

And do you believe that Jesus is your Lord and Savior?

Yes, he is my Lord and Savior.

So Lenny, just personally, the transformation

I've seen in you in the last six months

is none other than the Holy Spirit working in you.

And I know now also by you taking this obedience,

when you came and asked me to get baptized,

I was first surprised, but also like,

I knew this was the Spirit moving in you.

And so as you take this step of obedience,

I just, you are blessed with his Holy Spirit.

There's no turning back, but much more to come

in your intimacy with him.

So in the name of the, you want to step forward a little bit?

So in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

you are baptized.

You okay?

Let me pray for you.

Next time we should have fire rescue here, just in case.

So Father, we just thank you for, come, may we lay your hands on her.

Father, we just thank you for Lenny,

and we go back to John chapter one, verse 32.

You changed her life.

We heard the story.

You do this again and again and again.

We think back to who we were.

Ah, you changed us.

Many of us wouldn't be here, we'd be dead.

Ransom from heaven, rescue of sinners,

ransom from heaven, thank you for each life here,

sitting here today, that you rescued, oh God.

One had to die for one to give life.

And then you did this for Lenny too.

Today she's publicly declaring it, oh God.

And just like it happened with Jesus, because she is in Christ,

and Christ is in her.

We as a church ask now,

Holy Spirit, would you begin to fill this woman like it has never happened before?

That Acts chapter two, that Acts chapter four begin to happen.

So as I lay hands on her, I ask Holy Spirit,

that just as she was immersed in water, could you immerse her in your life?

I ask that you descend upon her like you have descended upon disciples, upon Jesus, upon people in the book of Acts,

would you descend upon her right now?

Would you descend upon her and give her gifts that you have, Holy Spirit?

Some gifts that come to evidence, oh God.

When people were baptized in Acts chapter two, in Acts chapter ten, in Acts chapter four,

they began to shout praises and they began to speak in tongues,

and they began to prophesy.

Let those gifts be hers too, Lord.

Those gifts be hers too.

Holy Spirit, you haven't changed.

We call this church Acts 29, a continuation of the Acts of the Spirit of God,

as was in the New Testament, and it continues now.

So Father, we ask at the beginning of the year, even with the first baptism in this year,

and many more I trust will come this year,

that would you cause your Holy Spirit to fall upon her father,

changing her father, dedicated to you, a woman of God,

walking the earth, Abba, in places she never dreamt?

So we ask this, Father, we ask this for Lenny,

for a filling to overflowing now,

in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray.

Amen.

Bless you, Lenny.

So, can we do that song and then after that,

can you take my phone?

After that we'll conclude the song.

Thank you.

It's the song of the redeemed

Rising from the African plain

It's the song of the redeemed

Rising from the African plain

It's the song of the redeemed

The song of the redeemed

Riding on the

Glory, glory, hallelujah

He reigns, he reigns

It's all got children singing

Glory, glory, hallelujah

He reigns

Let it rise above the four winds

Caught up in the heavenly sound

Let praises echo from the towers of cathedrals

To the faithful gathered underground

Of all the songs sung

Songs were meant to persist

Of all the bells run from the thousands steeples

None rings truer than this

It's all got children singing

Glory, glory, hallelujah

He reigns, he reigns

It's all got children singing

Glory, glory, hallelujah

He reigns

It's all got children

It's all got children singing

Glory, glory, hallelujah

He reigns, he reigns

It's all got children singing

Glory, glory, hallelujah

He reigns

He reigns

He reigns

He reigns

Alright, see you next week!

laughter

So there will be guys praying on our left and our right

So if you need prayers, there will be people available

for prayer