Take Your Rightful Place 2 – By Faith

Take your rightful place starting last week and we'll be on it for a while I think.

Oh no, that is negative psychology, that is the wrong posture.

Keep your eyes open.

That is not to encourage you, that is to discourage you.

That is what happened when I tried preaching to him.

All righty, Brandon, I don't know why you put such pictures up, man, take it down.

Okay, yeah, so we've been doing this series called Take Your Rightful Place and so today

we do the second part of it and we'll be here for a while I think.

So today we talk about Gideon from Judges Chapter 6, verse 1 to 24.

Judges 6:1–24

And so if you want to turn to Judges 6, I'll read it.

Hey, these little boxes here are not tissue boxes, you don't take things out of them.

These are offering boxes, you put things into them, eh?

So, you know, pardon?

Yeah, don't go blow your nose on a $50 bill, yeah?

That's the offering box.

Okay, Chapter 6, starting at verse 1.

Again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and for seven years he gave them

into the hands of the Midianites.

Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves

in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.

Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern

peoples invaded the country.

They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living

thing for Israel, neither sheep, nor cattle, nor donkeys.

They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts.

It was impossible to count the men and their camels.

They invaded the land to ravage it.

Midian so impoverished, ravaged it.

Midian was so impoverished that the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.

When the Israelites cried to the Lord because of Midian, he sent them a prophet who said,

this is what the Lord God of Israel says, I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the

land of slavery.

I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors.

I drove them before you and gave you their land.

I said to you, I am the Lord your God.

Do not worship the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live, but you have not listened

to me.

The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Oprah that belonged to Joash the

Abbezerite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press to keep it from the

Midianites.

When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, the Lord is with you, mighty warrior.

But sir, Gideon replied, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?

Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, did not the

Lord bring us out of Egypt, but now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand

of Midian?

The Lord turned to him and said, go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's

hand.

Am I not sending you?

But Lord, Gideon asked, how can I save Israel?

My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family.

The Lord answered, I will be with you and you will strike down all the Midianites together.

Gideon replied, if now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really

you talking to me.

Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.

And the Lord said, I will wait until you return.

Midian went in and prepared a young goat and from an effa of flour he made bread without

yeast.

Putting the meat in a basket and his broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them

to him under the oak.

The angel of the Lord said to him, take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them

on the rock and pour out the broth.

And Gideon did.

With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the Lord touched the meat

and the unleavened bread.

Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread.

And the angel of the Lord disappeared.

When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, ah Sovereign Lord,

I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.

But the Lord said to him, peace or shalom, do not be afraid, you are not going to die.

So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and he called it Yahweh's shalom or the Lord's

peace.

To this day it stands in opera of the Abizarites.

So when you look at the background and the life of Gideon, life was being plundered.

They were impoverished.

He was in dire poverty.

They were living in caves.

The enemy was swarming them like locusts from a field.

They were in their situation because of sin and because of idolatry.

They were weary of any sign of hope because every time there was a sign of hope, it would

be cruelly crushed when these enemy armies would come in.

And they would, I mean there's nothing as bleak as hope destroying as when something

is going to bud and someone comes and takes it.

Always be aware of that, eh?

One of the tricks Satan uses very effectively in the lives of believers is come and destroy

something just when you think there's a glimmer of hope.

That's when he tries to, if he can destroy hope then there is no question of exerting

faith, there is no question of joy.

And if faith and joy are banished from your life then there's only a going down the spiral.

There's not a coming up.

That's the intent.

He cannot stop things from bearing fruit when the seed is God but he does try to destroy

the early bud so that you don't have the strength to wait for the fruit.

Hear me again.

He knows that he cannot destroy God's seed.

He's strided with Moses, he's strided with Jesus.

Did not happen.

But he has the, he has this ploy because the Bible says be aware of the devices of the

devil because they are the same.

He has this ploy to go after the early bud so that as it begins to blossom if he can

chop it off it makes you feel like there is no hope.

And once hope goes and once joy goes a man cannot get out of the pit he is in.

Because once expectation is removed and once joy is removed a Christian does not have strength

anymore because faith is built on expectation and joy is the reason you're strong.

Joy of the Lord as in my expectation of God brings me joy and if that is removed there's

nothing left and that's what has been happening here.

This is exactly what happened to Job too guys.

One after the other.

It wasn't one blow.

It wasn't a second blow.

It was a blow after blow after blow till this man realizes that it doesn't matter how much

I pray, how many sacrifices I offer.

There was no expectation.

That is when he sinks into his lowest.

And that's what's happening here.

Swarms like locusts coming and invading the land and just when the harvest is ready they

come and take away the harvest.

And so Gideon now finds himself threshing wheat in a well where usually they used to

tread upon grapes to get wine out of it.

He's threshing wheat there.

And he's unaware that the one who is speaking to him is actually Yahweh.

It's not that Gideon is unaware of the history of Israel because he goes and quotes what

the forefathers have said.

So this man is not unaware of the history of Israel but in his dire circumstances he's

not able to recognize Yahweh.

One of the best things to do when circumstances get really dire is to somehow find a place

where peace, hope and joy begin to glimmer again.

If that doesn't glimmer there is no traction for what God does.

There's no traction even in terms of recognizing that He is present.

As soon as hope goes what is it that replaces hope?

Resentment.

When hope goes, resentment replaces it.

It's not hopelessness that replaces hope.

Hope is always replaced by resentment.

And so before resentment can bear its fruit one has to learn.

You have to learn, I have to learn.

Because we're all in the same boat in this, eh?

It happens to all of us.

It's just that we have varying degrees of dealing with it now.

That's all.

Some of us have coping mechanisms, defense mechanisms.

Some of us have spiritual mechanisms to deal with it.

So what happens then is...

Yeah.

So Gideon is thrashing a wheat in a well, unaware that the one who appears to him is

Yahweh.

Why isn't he recognizing that God has appeared?

He knows that the angel of the Lord is always the one who is in our understanding now the

pre-incarnate Christ.

But he knows that this is God.

He knows how Jacob fought the angel of the Lord.

But instead, because of his lament, because of his resentment, he does not recognize that

God is in the place.

He laments and he resents.

And what's he lamenting and resenting about?

His lack, his insignificance, the hollowness and the delay of God's promises.

That is so like us, eh?

When we see our lack, when we see the insignificance that we operate in, and then worse, when we

think that God's promises are hollow or God's promises are delayed, it's the same lament

and resentment that comes up, eh?

And once it begins to come up, it's so hard to see God.

And yet here is God saying, take your rightful place.

And he wants to use the story of Gideon to show us how to take our rightful place.

And by the way, you're in great company, like great lousy company.

Moses, same thing.

Guy was in the backside of the Sinai lamenting that he was just a shepherd, he had run away

from Egypt and so on.

You take Saul, King Saul.

When it came to be chosen as king, he was hiding in the cargo hold, not wanting to come

out.

Take Gideon, take Jonah.

That guy was a poster boy for resentment.

Take Mefiboshe, Saul's son.

God was saying to all these characters I've mentioned, come take your rightful place,

Mefiboshe.

David had him seated at his table.

Moses, he says, hey, you're a deliverer for Israel.

Jonah, he says, you can go and prophesy and save a city.

Saul, he says, you're going to be the first king of Israel.

And all these men were not able to take their rightful place, either because of a lack of

confidence or because of weakness or because of a past experience.

Here are some of the reasons we don't take our rightful place.

Lack of confidence, where I would suggest to you that Saul knew that they were picking

tribes, clans, families, and then the individual by lot to make the king of Israel.

So he knew as soon as they said the family of Kish, he knew that it could likely be him.

What does he do?

The first thing he does when he knows that he might be picked and when he thinks of the

weight of responsibility, he runs and hides in the cargo hold.

He runs and hides himself in the baggage.

There are different reasons why we don't take our rightful place.

Here are some of them.

Lack of confidence, weakness as in, I'm not even talking about sin, I'm talking about

weakness as in some kind of a complex that we all have.

All of us in some area of our life feel inferior.

Like when I stand here, I bet you feel bad about your looks.

So each of us has these struggles, eh?

That didn't fly at all.

All righty, moving on.

Okay.

So weakness, past experience, past experience, fear, resentment, lack of acceptance.

And the guilt of sin.

Any of these, guilt of unresolved sin.

Any of these can cause you to hesitate from taking your rightful place.

And then let's throw in another one.

Habits, these are not sinful habits, these are just human habits that are so not conducive

to stepping into your rightful place.

Yep.

No, lack of being accepted by people.

Yeah.

Because sometimes there can be a sense of, people don't like me, and sometimes it's real,

sometimes it's imagined.

It can be both.

Sometimes it's a mixture of both.

Yeah.

So these are the reasons we fail to take our rightful place.

Saul hid in the luggage hold.

Moses hid behind his speech impediment.

Remember?

He begins to say, but oh God, I can't speak.

And so they had to send Aaron.

We always hide behind something when it comes to taking our rightful place.

So Saul hides in the luggage hold.

Moses hides behind his speech impediment.

Gideon hid in the winepress in fear.

Jonah hid behind his resentment.

Matthew Bush had hid because he was scared that David would kill him because Saul was his enemy.

We have different reasons for hiding.

It prevents us from taking our rightful place.

Any questions?

Any questions?

Okay.

So how do we go about then, with all these things that plague our lives,

how do we still go about getting to that rightful place that God wants us to be at?

So the process is three-faced.

The process is three-faced.

First one is, know your rightful place.

Know your rightful place.

As in, have you seen what God is calling you to?

Have you seen what God is calling you to?

Know your rightful place.

I'll really explain each one after I put them down.

Two, train for your rightful place.

Train for your rightful place.

And three,

take your rightful place.

And all three require faith.

All three require faith.

And it's not easy, it's very difficult because everything in the world will prevent you from taking your rightful place.

Because if you took your rightful place, it would benefit, or it would deliver, or it would build,

or it would tear down a whole lot of things on earth.

Because most extraordinary things on earth are done by very, very ordinary people.

At least in the Kingdom, that's how it works.

Know your rightful place.

As in, do you have an idea of what God is beckoning you towards?

You may not have a clear idea, but do you have a murky idea, a blurred idea?

Begin there.

And each of these requires faith.

And if you were to talk about the anatomy of faith,

faith requires that I see, then faith requires that I believe,

then faith requires that I speak or confess what I believe,

and then speak requires that I do, because faith is an action.

That's the anatomy of faith.

Whatever I see, as in, whatever God is saying, can I see it?

Can I see what God is saying? Can I see what God is trying to show?

That becomes the horizon that I begin to walk towards.

Can I see it? After I see it, can I begin to believe it?

Is it a deep conviction that cannot be shaken?

Where it doesn't matter that my 32,000 men have now been brought down to 300

against an army that is innumerable to count.

Can I still carry that deep conviction of what I have seen?

Can I then begin to speak it?

Because in Proverbs and in other places, in Mark 11, Proverbs 18,

it talks about the mouth speaks what the heart carries.

The mouth speaks what the heart carries.

Can what I believe now be put into words?

And then finally, faith does something about what it believes.

Faith does something about what it believes.

That is the anatomy of faith.

And so in all these three things, know your rightful place,

train for your rightful place, take your rightful place,

faith is required.

David and Paul knew. David knew what he was being called to.

The moment Samuel poured a flask of oil on him,

he knew what he was being called to.

Paul was the same.

Once he falls off the horse and the blinding light hits him

and Ananias comes and begins to speak over his life,

he knows what he is called to.

And as soon as he knows, because of what both David and Paul see,

and I'm taking two guys from the New Testament and the Old Testament,

as soon as they know, they begin to actually believe it.

There's a deep conviction in their hearts that this is what I'm called to.

Till that deep conviction comes,

you cannot train for the rightful place.

Because the training will be difficult

and the training is not some kind of a course or some kind of a Bible study.

The training is real life.

How do you maintain a straight track when life comes against you?

This is why wild horses will never make it in the kingdom.

Wild horses are people that love the Lord,

they love serving the Lord.

Think they are not wild horses, but are absolutely wild.

They are fun to ride till you get thrown off.

But we'll talk about wild horses another day.

Yeah.

So till the deep conviction comes,

I can't even train for my rightful place.

Do you think David would have survived running around in the wilderness

like a refugee, chased by Saul, acting mad at times,

having people that he was fighting with stone him?

Do you think he would have survived that had he not come?

He would have survived that had he not come

to this deep conviction inside him

that I am supposed to be king.

And yet knowing that, he refuses to kill Saul

when he has him at his mercy.

Because he knows that the way this happens

will have to be a God thing.

I cannot take this into my own hands.

And he waits.

To take my rightful place,

for the church to take his rightful place,

for you to take your rightful place,

for me to take the rightful place,

one of the hardest things is to actually believe what you see.

Very difficult.

Because what God is showing you about yourself

is so different from how you think about yourself.

It is so different.

If you went and told somebody,

they would laugh thinking,

Hold on to those things that you are so sure God has spoken.

You may only be able to tell one or two people in the world,

but one day the world will see.

Remember, David did this.

He goes and tries to tell his brothers

that I am the one who can take out Goliath.

The brothers get quite angry.

They say, go back and take care of sheep.

You need faith to accept, see and think what God is saying.

David and Paul knew this.

The recognition, as soon as they knew it,

as soon as the conviction came, training began,

where both of them were trained on the job,

on the job.

They were trained on the job.

They are trained on the job.

David and Paul knew this.

They were trained on the job.

They were trained on the job.

They were trained on the job.

They were trained on the job in the wilderness.

Paul spends time in Saudi Arabia for 14 years.

David spends time in the wilderness of Tekoa

and other places in Israel learning the ropes.

But the day is coming when a man called Paul

revolutions the world and a man called David is called the...

His name is used to describe Jesus, Jesus son of David.

How nuts is that?

Any questions?

Any questions, guys?

Do you think coffee is good for plants?

No? Okay.

How do we develop a deep conviction?

A conviction only develops when you are fully persuaded

about something as being the truth.

This is why you even have people who believe falsehoods

to be true and can stand on it.

That the earth is flat, that White Rock is surry.

Stuff like that.

So in the US courts, a conviction is something

that is not true.

It's something that is not true.

In the US courts, a conviction is something

you are willing to go to jail for.

They differentiate belief from conviction.

Belief is something that may change.

I believe this today, I can believe something else tomorrow.

A conviction is something that you stand on so firmly

that you are willing to go to prison for it.

And that is the nature of the word conviction.

Until I am fully persuaded that it is the truth,

I will not stand on it.

So Hebrews 11 is full of people who were fully persuaded

that what they heard was the truth.

Some of them got what they were standing for in their lifetime,

others didn't, but they were fully persuaded

and they are mentioned in that list.

You and I are fully convinced or persuaded

that Christ is Lord, that He is Savior.

Even though the thought of you being persecuted

may frighten you, I would say almost everybody in this room

would be able to say, I will not turn my back on Christ.

Have you seen Him? No.

Have you spoken to Him face to face? No.

Have you had a different experience,

like an angel showing up or a dragon in the south of the world?

You know, some sort of like, a little bit of a moment, right?

Did we actually need that kind of moment

or like, some other way of realizing it?

Yeah, we'll be talking exactly about that.

One of the things you need when it comes to training

to take your rightful place,

you need the faith to molt out of the old skin.

How do you molt out of it?

How do you molt out of the lack of confidence?

How do you molt out of fear?

How do you molt out of inadequacy?

How do you molt out of weakness,

past experience, rejection, resentment,

wild-horses, horcidness?

That's not a word, but I'm using it.

How do you molt out of it?

How do you say, oh God, I know what you've called me for,

but this means that I will have to begin to

have bitten bridle put in my mouth?

I don't like it.

I want to run wild.

I want to save people for the Lord,

but don't tell me to straighten out and discipline my life.

No.

There's a proverb in, I think it's Proverbs 19.1,

I'm not too sure.

It says that zeal without knowledge is dangerous.

I'm always afraid of people that have great passion,

great zeal, but limited knowledge.

Because they are so passionate about God,

but they are scary.

Because zeal without knowledge is actually dangerous.

It's like a missile without a guidance system.

So how do you molt out of old,

I mean you need faith to train and molt out of old skin.

Old skin like the lack of confidence, weakness,

past experience, rejection, fear, resentment.

So you need faith for that.

What do you mean?

How can you get rid of that by faith?

Hey, let's assume that the first time I spoke in a church

my accent was so heavy and so bad

that people started laughing.

Let's assume that didn't happen,

but let's assume it happened.

And then I'm scared every time I speak to an audience

that is not Indian, I get scared.

That's not East Indian, let's assume I get scared.

What do I do now?

I have to have the ability to be inadequate

and depend on a God who can take words

that I don't pronounce well

and use it powerfully by the spirit to affect hearts.

That requires faith.

Faith can be used to overcome these things.

In training you need faith.

When David was surrounded by his enemies

there's this beautiful line.

It says, David went down to his stronghold

and encouraged himself.

How in the world do you do that?

How do you go down to your stronghold

as in whatever place was safe for him

you would go down to his stronghold

and he'd begin to encourage himself in the Lord.

That's how these psalms are used.

How these psalms come.

Oh Lord, I'm feeling really lousy.

I'm feeling like when the Canucks didn't make the play-offs

it really sucks, oh God.

And then you keep writing

and then you begin to say

but Quinn Hughes is playing well

and Miller is scoring

and Besser is on top of the game

and then it begins to build up again.

Encourage yourself.

Poor Golden Knights,

they're about six points behind the Canucks now.

The next thing is you need faith.

You need faith to fill,

you need faith to fill the place

that you have been appointed to.

Fill the place you've been appointed to.

Do you think Don needs faith?

And May needs faith

and Gillian needs faith

to fill the places they are appointed to.

Do you think so?

I assure you they do.

They'll have to trust God that

gosh, I hope we are able to pull this off.

Because at present

who knows what their preaching is really like.

Maybe it really sucks.

I hope this is encouraging guys.

So you need faith to fill the place

you've been appointed to.

And why do you need faith to fill the place

you're appointed to?

Because there will be

satanic opposition,

satanic opposition.

There will be human resistance

to God.

There will be delay

in the things you're expecting.

There will be the thing called time

which you can't control.

There will be lack of fruit.

There will be

a lack of applause,

recognition

and there will be failure.

Pure and simple failure.

There will be.

In the face of this

you need faith.

What when you've done something

and it failed miserably?

And it's your fault.

You messed up.

What when people resist you

and resist what you're doing?

What if they assign to you motives

that are false

but it sticks?

What if they say you don't care

when you've done everything

in your power to care?

What about satanic opposition?

You think anything built in the kingdom

is not opposed by the devil himself?

This is why it's impossible

to take your rightful place

unless you have

this magnificent element called faith.

Any questions?

So one of the things

that I think would be wise

for you to do

especially because it's still January

is to go home

and just start with the first one.

Take your rightful place.

So God,

can you at least

can I at least begin to explore with you

the rightful place

I must occupy

by the end of this year?

That's all.

So,

I'm going to end this talk

with a few words

that I want to say

to you.

Just an invitation.

What is a rightful place?

God's saying,

hey, when you were born,

before you were born,

Jill,

before you were born,

Davand,

before you were born, Mike,

any of the Mikes,

before you were born,

this is where I expected you to be

at the end of 2024.

I'm inviting you into it.

It doesn't matter that

you may have squandered time

in the past.

I can make up the years

that you have lost.

That's not a big deal for me.

But this is what I'm inviting

in you to do.

Can you begin to see it?

Can you begin to see it?

And if you can see it,

can I invite you

to take your rightful place?

I'll help you.

And I'll help you.

And I'll help you.

Helping is my favorite thing to do.

In fact, I even named my spirit

the helper.

I'll help you.

But can you see it?

Because if you can't see it,

deep conviction will not arise.

And if deep conviction

does not arise,

the storms of life

will direct your course.

So,

I'm inviting you

to take your rightful place.

Why is it important to speak it?

Because our tongue is a rudder.

Tiny little thing

that directs the ship.

Our tongue is a rudder.

I mean,

you think I'm going to quit

talking about Hebrides 2.0

and that there's a revival

that will come across the earth

amongst the young people

and that it will happen

through this shirt.

You think I'm ever going to

stop speaking about it.

I'm so convicted about it

that I know I will see it.

Any questions?

Any questions?

Any questions?

Any questions?

Any questions?

Faith.

How do you store

men's history

and see the faith

upon gifts?

And how do you flex

your faith muscle

as you journey through the process?

And like you're saying,

you're in a conflict of decisions.

How do you exercise faith?

Okay, that's three questions.

You're only allowed one.

Okay, so here are the questions.

One, how do you

store the gift of faith?

Two,

how do you practice faith?

Because

when we're in a time of conflict

we cannot just switch on

and face it.

Okay, and the third question.

I'll speak to you about it.

Okay.

Okay, so

when we think of the gift of faith

the gift of faith

is a supernatural ability

given by the Holy Spirit

to a person

for the benefit of the body

so that this person now

has from the Spirit of God

this ability

to exert

faith for

absolutely impossible things

with relative ease

and then rest knowing

that they don't have to pray,

they don't have to do anything.

It still has to be exerted

but there's an ease

with which they do it.

It's the same difference

between someone laying hands

and praying

anointing with oil

and praying and the person gets healed

and a person who has

a gift of healing

where it's a supernatural ability

given by the Holy Spirit

which still has to be exerted

where a person lays hands

on someone

and certain diseases

seem to always get healed

by the person.

With faith it's the same way.

I mean, it's supernatural faith

that causes a man to step out

and walk on substance

that he has no business walking on

like Peter did on water.

It is supernatural faith

for a man to have

a venomous snake wrapped around his arm

everybody is expecting

him to fall dead

and he shakes it off

like you're shaking a water

and continues preaching

as if nothing happened.

That's extraordinary faith

but it's done with such ease

that you cannot take credit for it.

It is an ability given by the Spirit

and it's usually for the benefit

of the body.

Once that happens

and they expect him to fall down

dead and he doesn't

and throws the snake into the fire

the entire island of Malta

gets saved

because they see

this guy who's just done

something incredible.

And when conflict comes

how do we turn on faith?

You cannot turn on faith in conflict.

Any faith that you exert

is faith that was already learned.

You cannot turn on something

in a crisis.

You cannot turn it on.

It's not some kind of

cookie that you grab

and say quickly eat the faith

cookie before

the enemy comes.

It's either in your stomach

you can't get it from the shelf.

What charismatics often do

and I'm calling ourselves

charismatics too

is that we grab the cookie

and start eating

in the name of Jesus Christ

by the blood of Jesus Christ

I believe in you a lot

or I believe in you a lot

that doesn't work.

It's just a whole lot of scriptures

written on your mirror

it doesn't help.

What really helps is what's

inside.

That is what comes out

under pressure.

That is why some of you

are amazing

when it comes to finances.

You have strange faith

when it comes to finances.

You trust God.

It doesn't matter

that the market is going up

or your wife lost

fifty thousand dollars.

It doesn't matter

you seem to be as calm

as a cucumber.

I don't know why they think

cucumbers are calm.

And then

some of you have tremendous faith

when it comes to healing.

It doesn't matter what happens

you walk through it like

I'll get healed.

It's in different areas

that you've already developed

the ability.

So

examine where you are

in these three phases.

So let's go back to Gideon.

He is resentful,

he is hopeless.

He even uses words like

I feel abandoned.

In chapter 6 verse 13

he's telling God

he's yet to recognize him as God

but he knows he's a divine visitor

and he says

you've abandoned us.

Gideon is almost talking like us.

We use the same words

and look at how God reacts.

God simply ignores

what Gideon is saying

and he continues where he left off.

God ignores

God ignores

what Gideon is saying.

And this continues on.

Hint, hint

you can lament and complain

all you want

and think you'll get a response

he'll ignore it.

Because he's got bigger fish

to fry and you're the fish.

He'll ignore it.

Look at chapter 6 verse 12

it says that

so

he says to Gideon

the Lord is with you

mighty God

and he will not leave you

and he says to Gideon

the Lord is with you

mighty warrior

but sir

Gideon replied

and then in verse 14

the Lord turned to him

and said

go in the strength you have

it's almost like

he didn't pay any attention

to all

that Gideon said

you have abandoned us

you've let us down

look at how impoverished I am

I'm the least of the clan

and God says

go in the strength

what strength?

But the point is

that God can ignore

all my laments

because he knows

how he created me

why he created me

what's in me

he just knows

and because he knows

he's not going to waste his time

on your lament

because he knows

you think he doesn't know?

it's like you with your children

got a tiny little owie

somewhere here

that doesn't hurt

crocodile tears are coming up

you think you pay any attention?

he knows man

God simply ignores

what he's saying

every time God talks to you

it will be in the context

of how he sees you

every time God talks to me

every time God talks to me

or you

every time God talks

to you

it will be

in the context

of how he sees you

and that's why

he's saying

it will be in the context

of how he sees you

try remembering that

because if you keep

repeating

I'm this I'm that

he'll

you'll actually hear

a streak of annoyance

in his voice

where he'll say

alright Moses

I've told you I made your mouth

but if you don't believe me

great I'll get to Aaron

and he gets Aaron

Aaron then later goes

and he gets Aaron

and he gets Aaron

and he gets Aaron

and he

builds a golden calf

a whole lot of things

ensue because

one man decided

that he would keep complaining

even though God is giving him

proof after proof

after proof

that you're the guy

you're the guy

you're the guy

hey in some things

you are the guy

you are the guy

not me

not anybody superior

not someone who's got

more education

not someone who's greatly

skilled or greatly gifted

you're the guy

and it doesn't matter

how much you lament

how much you complain

whatever you say

you're the guy

and he'll completely

ignore your lament

and say

I'm going after you

because I'm the one

who made you

I positioned you

where you were placed

I've appointed you

to boundaries and nations

like it says in Act 17

for a time such as this

you think he cared about

Esther

saying I'm scared

to go up to the king

Mordecai speaks for God

and says

you were raised

for a time such as this

if you don't want to

God will raise someone else

you can only say no to him

and he'll stop

but complaints

I remember one Westerd

guy who makes

all the announcements

saying if you have

any complaints

just write it on

a hundred dollar bill

and give it to us

if you've got any

complaints about God

write it on a hundred

dollar bill

and put it in one of

those boxes

or about the pastor

either

write it on

two hundred dollar bills

because there'll be more

every time God talks to you

it'll be in the context

of how he sees you

not how you see yourself

and so the sooner

my thinking

aligns

with

what God is

declaring

the sooner

I can initiate

these three phases

in my life

the sooner I do it

the sooner I can initiate it

any questions

the sooner I can align

my thoughts

in my life

the sooner I can align

my thinking

and my feeling

with what God

has declared

shown

spoken

the sooner

I can initiate

these three phases

of

see your rightful place

train for your rightful place

take your rightful place

it's an invitation

it's permission

rightful place is permission

that's what it is

it's permission

what do you know

Gideon like you

and me

and like Jeremiah

and like Moses

what does Gideon do

he begins

to plead his inadequacy

for the task

he begins to say

but I'm the least of my clan

Moses did that

but I can hardly speak

Jeremiah did that

but I'm just a youth

you read all those three stories

God responds the same way

come on man

we got to recognize

how he responds

there are patterns to God

there are patterns to God

Jeremiah

but I'm only a young man

don't say you're young

Moses

but I

can hardly speak

who made your mouth

sometimes God can sound

a little rude

if someone came to you

and said

but I can hardly speak

you would

rarely respond

saying who made your mouth

I said Gideon

same thing

you and me

we have a tendency

to plead our inadequacy

for the task

but the quicker you realize

guys this is important

the quicker you realize

the quicker you realize

the seriousness of God

the seriousness of God

the quicker you realize

the seriousness of God

and the seriousness of God

The quicker you realize the seriousness of God, the sooner you find favor and faith to run.

The sooner you find favor and faith to run.

God is serious about His invitations. God is serious about it.

He doesn't do things with plan B.

He's not a God who says, this is plan A, but I better develop a plan B.

The reason He doesn't develop a plan B is because He knows everything.

When you don't know things, that's when you have plan Bs.

So He's dead serious about the rightful place that He's calling you to this year, because He thinks it can be done.

He also gives you the free will not to do it. But He's really serious about it.

Why not see it, guys? Why not hunger for it and see it?

It's those that seek that find, those that ask that get what they are looking for, those that knock that get answered.

There must be a drive towards it.

And every time the drive dies, go to your favorite friend who is smarter than you and ask them to revive you.

Or go to the word which is rich and ask it to revive you.

Or cry out to the Spirit saying, I'm cold, I'm lukewarm, help me.

Any questions?

Remember this. Sorry, a question?

How do you fight against being passive as he's known in the past regarding the late days?

Yeah. His job is the timing of it. Your job is suppressing every day.

It applies to all of us. I'm not holding it in you.

Mark, the truth is there's nobody in this room who hasn't gone through the pain of delay,

through the pain of things postponed, through the pain of where is this promise, oh God?

To the pain of Jeremiah's words, oh God, you're like a deceptive brook.

And even though that kind of angst and resentment and complaint and hopelessness rises,

his job is to make sure things happen on time.

Your job is to make sure that you're pressing every day.

God's response to Jeremiah when he says you're a deceptive brook is to say to Jeremiah,

listen Jeremiah, if you do not separate the vile from that which is clean,

if you don't stop suspecting my nature, I will stop using you as my mouth.

I'm going to send you to them. You will be like a fortified wall of bronze.

They will not be able to overcome you. You will overcome them.

So now go. Be my mouthpiece.

Until Jeremiah gets up again and he starts again.

Have two or three days max of valowing and self-pity.

After three days, the smell should make you throw up and then get back to,

I've got to go and get things started again.

There's no, we don't know. I don't even want to guess why God delays things.

I don't want to take the blame on myself.

Oh, it's because of my sin. Oh, it's because I didn't pray.

Oh, it's because what if it's not?

What if it is just kindness to someone?

You kind of sense that, what God's calling you,

but you know there's other people that have to come into it as well.

Yeah.

So when do you know that, when should you start acting on that,

trying to grow other?

Good question. Two ways.

When you know that other people have to come alongside you

for something to happen and they are not,

sometimes have the audacity to go and say to them,

please come alongside me, otherwise I won't be able to do this.

And then other times it will be, even though there is nobody that walks with me right now,

I'm going to take a step at a time and see what happens.

It's one or the other.

Sometimes it is, Mark, if you don't come, I can't do this.

I'm asking you.

Or Mark, you're in charge of this, please use me.

It's coming and asking. It's humbling sometimes.

So that's one way.

The other way is, all right, nobody's helping me, but I'm going to take a step.

It might be a tiny step, but I am blooming going to take a step.

And maybe you take a step and then you have to wait for three days

before you have the courage to take the next step.

But my God, man, you're noted in heaven.

Listen to this, say, my strength lies.

Please, if we can sometimes get this, it might change our approach.

My strength, my strength lies.

My strength lies in what?

My strength lies in what?

I am being chosen for by God.

My strength lies in what I'm being chosen for by God.

If God chooses a man to carry the gates of Hebron up a hill,

then his strength lies in stepping into what God has chosen.

This is why it's so important to sometimes find it.

This is why it's so important for a church to sometimes say,

this is where our strength lies.

And then step into it and it changes from year to year.

Man, if you're retired, please don't count yourself out.

That's a terrible thing to do.

To put life on pause when you turn sixty-five?

Don't do that.

And your job is not, please hear this again,

and I might get into trouble for this,

your job is not taking care of your grandchildren.

It is part of what you do.

It is not all of what you do.

There's been this move in the church from family-oriented ministries that say,

once you cross sixty-five, your job is to be a wonderful grandmother

and grandfather to your grandchildren.

They are terrors. Let their parents deal with them.

You know, the first part didn't get me into trouble.

It's this part that got me into trouble.

So, there's so much more to your life that was meant to last for another twenty or twenty-five years

that you're supposed to do.

My strength lies in what I'm being chosen for by God,

and that is when you will have great, you will assign great importance to,

I will be with you, the promise that God gives people in the Bible,

I will be with you.

I will be with you sounds like a big deal.

That's like saying good morning.

Obviously, God will be with you.

No, the weight of I will be with you takes on a strange strength

when he sends you out to do something that you know you are chosen for.

If you check the Bible, he usually says,

I will be with you after giving them an assignment.

So, he says to the twelve, and now go,

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

teach them to observe everything I've done, and know I will be with you.

Every time he says, I will be with you, it carries in it.

Listen, I know the task I've given you.

Dawn, I will be with you.

I'm not, this is not Jacob saying it.

Don't expect me to be with you.

God saying Dawn, I will be with you.

Kezia, I will be with you.

Saying to Jillian, I will be with you.

Saying to May, I will be with you.

God saying it, because I know the assignment I've given you.

It ain't no easy thing.

Even though Gideon knows it's God, and here's where we come to Anne's kind of question.

Even though Gideon knows it's God, he needs a sign.

This is a habitual issue with Gideon.

It's a habitual issue with Gideon.

At some point during the conversation, he recognizes it's God,

and God's given him a promise, but he needs a sign.

Gideon needs a sign, like us.

He needs a sign.

You see that in 617, then you see it in 637, then you see it in 639, then you see it in 710.

The man, he needs a sign.

Give me a sign if it's really you.

Give me a sign if it's really you.

He keeps repeating this quite often.

And God obliges, strangely, he brings this disproportionate sacrifice before God.

He brings a whole goat, and an ephah could feed multiple families,

and he brings it places before God.

And what does God do? He waits while he prepares it.

God actually rests on the tree in Oprah, waiting for this guy to bring the sacrifice.

He brings the sacrifice, he has a staff in his hand,

and the angel of the Lord touches the staff and it's consumed by fire.

But look at what really affects Gideon.

What Gideon doesn't know is he's always looking for a sign,

but it's always the words of God that affect him.

Hey, you know what God says to him?

Listen, I want to say to you that I'm Yahweh Shalom, and you will not die.

Two things that affect Gideon for the rest of his life.

One, that God is peace and he will give me peace.

And two, I have seen him and my life is preserved and it will be preserved forward.

That is what gives this ordinary guy the guts to do what he does.

And look at what he does.

His dad has an altar to Baal.

His dad is Joash.

Joash is a pagan cult leader basically.

He has an altar to Baal and a few Asherah poles.

Asherahs were the feminine side of Baal.

And now Gideon has to go build another altar.

It's in the same yard.

It's in his father's complex.

And he builds two altars.

And now in Oprah there are two altars.

One to Yahweh and one to Baal.

And then God makes it even more difficult.

Listen, tear down the altar of Baal.

He has to go tear down his father's God's altar.

Once you take your rightful place, know that there will be some things that come your way.

That will be challenging.

That will sometimes cause a breach in relationship.

But he knows you're capable.

So don't shy away from it.

It'll cause a breach in relationship.

It's okay.

Because this man, because of the action he takes, he saves his entire family.

His father, who's a pagan cult leader, now begins to behave like Elijah.

Where the next morning when he sees the altar torn and people from the town come and say,

Hey, we need to kill your son.

His words are, Hey, can't Baal contend for himself?

Why do you need to kill my son?

And they name his son Jerubal.

Let Baal contend.

This guy who was supposed to be the priest of Baal now turns out to be someone who speaks for Yahweh.

All because a young boy decided that in his father's complex, there will not exist two altars.

There'll be one altar.

If that means he get killed, if that means he be disinherited, so be it.

Because when you take your rightful place, people benefit.

You don't take your rightful place to fulfill your destiny.

We got to understand that destiny is a real thing, but that destiny is not what we are after.

Destiny is a real thing, but it is not what we are after.

It is individualism that begins to hunger for destiny.

I need to walk in my destiny.

Oh, I'm a man destined.

You're a man destined to benefit others and to pour out your life for others.

That's your destiny.

What shape it takes depends on the invitation that is being given to you.

Any questions?

There's not a person in this church right now it doesn't apply to.

This applies to everybody here.

It doesn't matter how old you are, how young you are, how little you know, how much you know.

If you have Christ in you, then this is yours for the taking.

If you do not have Christ in you, it's still yours, but you will need Christ before you can take this.

Any questions?

Sorry, can you say that again, Jill?

Yeah, I'm just going down that route.

Really, let me get there quickly.

The clincher is, guys, before, here's how we need to do it.

We need to be able to do it.

We need to be able to do it.

We need to be able to do it.

We need to be able to do it.

The clincher is, guys, before, here's how we need to understand it, and then I'll answer those questions.

Learn to receive, learn to receive, sift, distill the words, the voice, and the words of God.

The voice and the words of God.

You have to learn it, meaning it takes time and practice.

But learn to receive, sift, and distill the voice and words of God for the reassurance that your spirit,

that your spirit seeks is in the words.

So that's the first thing.

Second, the sign, the sign or the confirming act calms the soul.

Third, the altar or monument becomes a symbol or a reminder that revives your memory of who God is.

So that's the way we need to look at it.

And the emphasis should be on the first one.

So your spirit doesn't really need, my spirit doesn't need a sign.

It's our soul that craves for it.

And because we at present are always struggling between spirit and soul in this body,

God may supply it, but his preference is, hey, can I give you my voice and my words,

both voice in terms of Rama and voice in terms of Logos, can I give you my voice and my words?

Because that is what reassures your spirit.

And then sometimes I'm willing to give you signs because you're so troubled in your soul

that without a sign you won't be able to step out.

And then after I've done both, build a monument, build a memorial, build an altar.

The Old Testament was full of it.

We should practice the same thing.

Why?

So that when you see this monument or this symbol, you will remember that God did this then and he will do it again.

One addresses the spirit, the second addresses the soul, the third actually addresses the mind, reviving your memory.

But the emphasis should be on the word and spirit because that's who we are essentially, word spirit beings.

But because we are so human in our approach to God and to the kingdom of God,

we tend to want a sign to give us that soulish comfort.

But the problem with the soul is it's constantly craving.

So confirmation today does not mean that tomorrow's storm will be navigated with yesterday's sign.

So we need another sign tomorrow.

All of us go through this, guys.

So the idea of fleas that Gideon puts out, and he puts it out twice,

first let it be dry, let it be wet, is actually used as a model for confirmation when it actually was quite sucky.

It was him saying, I know you're God, I know you've given me a promise, I know you consumed the sacrifice that was on the rock,

I know all that, but please can I have a sign?

And now that you've given me a sign, please don't get angry, but can I have another sign?

And so even though it's used as a model of seeking confirmation, it's actually not what God was trying to teach through that.

And then you see in chapter 7, verse 10, God knows where Gideon is at.

The battle is imminent. It's going to happen now.

And look at the words in 7, 10 to 15.

It says, God says to Gideon, Hey Gideon, I know the battle is imminent if you are afraid.

That's God's way of saying, I know you're afraid.

He says, if you're afraid, take your servant Pura and go down to the camp of the enemy.

And when you go down to the camp of the enemy, you'll hear people discussing a dream, and that will give you courage.

But the beautiful thing is between 637 and 710, Gideon has started changing.

In lesser circumstances, he wanted a sign.

Now that the battle is imminent, and look what God has done to him.

He's taken a guy who had 32,000 people and reduced it to 300.

And then he shows him the enemy armies, and it says they were like locusts, meaning they couldn't be counted.

And then in the midst of that, if I were Gideon and I could keep up my old habit, it would be like,

put a rainbow in the sky if you want me to battle this one.

And instead, Gideon is saying nothing.

And that is when it is brilliant when you and I can get to a place where God sends confirming signs because he wants to calm your soul.

It's like a parent that wants to wean the child.

Ah, that is brilliant, where he knows the condition of your soul.

And he says, let me send you a sign because I know you're scared.

Guys, if you want to be someone who functions well in the kingdom, fearlessness is not the first prerequisite.

Obedience is the first prerequisite.

Obey first.

Don't wait for faith to kick in.

Obey first.

Once you obey, I assure you, God begins to give you the faith required to destroy fear.

For any kingdom person, obedience is the first requisite, not fearlessness.

So to kind of answer both Jill and Anna's question, Anne's question,

when it comes to confirmation, Gideon had this habit.

It's an always remember, guys, unresolved old habits will always come up when momentum gathers and events begin to unfold.

Please hear me.

Unresolved old habits always emerge.

The emphasis there is on unresolved.

All of us have old habits.

Unresolved old habits reemerge at the height of momentum and events unfolding.

That's when old habits reemerge.

And they always throw a spanner in the works.

Ask someone you trust, what are the old habits that keep coming up every time I'm doing well?

And they'll tell you gently or strongly, take it and try to resolve it because it will come up again and again.

Gideon begins to hesitate.

Just when things are beginning to go, he begins to hesitate again.

But God obliges, he doesn't.

Here's the thing.

It goes back to what I said in the beginning.

God had decided before Gideon was born that you, my boy, will be a mighty warrior.

And you will deliver Israel from the Midianites.

And he'll relent and show him signs and he'll show him this and that.

But the one thing he isn't backing off from is you will be a mighty warrior.

The difference then is God could come to you, to me, and say this is what I want you to do.

And you can choose not to respond.

All that means is you have less time to do what he wants.

If you decide you'll be a mighty warrior at 70 and you're going to die at 72, you've got two years to do it.

If you do it at 35, you've got 37 years to do it.

But he doesn't decide, he doesn't go saying, eh, not working out.

This is what he wanted from the beginning.

Sometimes he gets what he wants.

Sometimes we are so stubborn that he doesn't get what he wants.

But he doesn't back off.

God obliges, he doesn't relent from turning Gideon into a mighty warrior.

Later, it's beautiful, eh, the same Gideon who hesitates, who always is looking for confirming signs.

Read Hebrews 11.32 and here's what Paul is saying.

I don't have enough time to tell you about others like Gideon, like Barak, like Samson.

Guys, giants of faith in the roll call of faith, guess who's mentioned?

You know what David isn't mentioned?

Like David's exploits are not mentioned?

Or you would think David and Goliath would be mentioned,

but David just gets a passing remark with Gideon and Barak.

When God gives a sign, it's so much better.

I remember this was in 2018, March 1st.

I was supposed to go to Bahrain on March 14th.

And on March 1st, the Lord wakes me up and says, I want you to go to the UK.

And I said, great, I'll stop by on my way to Bahrain.

And God says, nope, I want you to go to UK now.

And so I said, but that's a waste of money, I can do it later.

He says, nope, you have to go now.

I said, okay, so when?

And God said, within the week, go.

And so I said yes.

After I said yes, I'm sitting in Surrey having samosas at a Punjabi restaurant there.

I'm sitting in Surrey and eating.

And still I'm willing to obey and go to the UK, pay more, don't even know why I'm going for UK.

Don't have any meetings there.

And this car pulls up right next to my car.

And it has the strangest number plate, UK 06.

In my mind it was, duh, book your tickets on the 6th and go.

And that's exactly what I did.

And I'm thinking to myself, sometimes if you obey, he will send the sign you need instead of asking for a sign.

Because when you ask for a sign, every number plate becomes a sign.

Have you noticed that?

There'll be a car going by and it'll say approved.

Then another one going, saying poisonous.

Now what do you do?

So when you look for signs, the danger is the soul craves it.

I mean the soul craves it.

Sometimes you may get what is from God, but it turns to sawdust in your mouth.

And I remember after this I went to the UK and it was so cool.

I spent three and a half days there.

Didn't know what to do.

First day was walking along the streets of London.

Someone calls me and says, next time you're in London, please give me a call.

I said I'm in London and I meet him and his life is affected.

The next day there was a meeting.

Nobody turned up.

The preacher didn't turn up so they asked me to preach.

The third day it was nothing so I kept sleeping.

Then in the afternoon we got to go to this church called Mount Moriah in Lugo in Wales

where the Welsh Revival started and write a letter and leave it for a guy.

When they left a note for the guy and don't know what it did to his life.

And the fourth day it was on your way back to Heathrow.

Stop at this church and preach there.

So I stopped at the church and I had one word written for a girl called Chiara

that I was supposed to give Chiara.

But there are so many Chiaras in the UK.

And so I go into the church and the worship leader's name is Chiara.

I had written the word before I went.

It was such a beautiful word.

She's like weeping because my question at the end of this, at the end of it,

and I know some of you have heard this before,

is aren't there enough Christians in the UK that God can use to accomplish all this?

Why in the world does he have to send someone from Vancouver to UK,

pay that expense, send you to do stuff when there are people there in UK that can do this?

Why? Because he is not this economical God.

This isn't a kingdom run on this is a budget for this year.

We better accomplish everything heaven wants in this budget.

No, he's a God who wants to take his children on adventures.

It's the adventure of it.

When Chiara received the word, there was adventure in it.

This is a stranger who's come from 3000, 4000 miles away to give me a word and the word is accurate.

A man calling you and saying,

if when you're in London next, can you please give me a call?

And I'm walking three streets away from him.

You know what that does to people?

God likes taking his children on adventures, both you and the one who's receiving.

Take your rightful place fight because everything is going to fight against you guys.

I mean, think of this.

Do you realize how hard it is to take your rightful place?

Do you know how much we struggle?

It is so hard.

Everything in life screams that you say, you're not the guy, you're not the guy, you're not the guy.

But before the foundations of the earth, someone said, you're the guy.

And he refuses to back off from it.

It just so happens that he's God.

Guess who wins?

You're the guy.

I'm the guy in certain things guys.

I want to see it.

Doesn't matter what happens, what people say, what obstacles come.

Whether I have money, don't have money.

Whether people like it, don't like it.

I'm the guy in certain things that I have to press forward.

And the same applies to you.

And so every morning get up, wear your work clothes again, put on those blooming army boots.

And get to work.

Please guys, we've got to do this.

Take your rightful place.

It's only January.

Mold that old skin.

Mold that old skin.

Get rid of it.

It is not conducive to the rightful place.

Mold it, please.

Yeah?

Alrighty.

Yeah, go ahead.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Once he says something, so let me repeat Jill's question.

So let's say God says something to you and how do you engage him?

Let's say he comes to you and says, mighty warrior, how do you engage him with it?

Why does that clock say minus 1357?

Is it that I've gone over time?

And since when have you started doing this?

Alrighty.

Okay.

I'll have to start preaching like this now.

Yeah.

So how do you answer that question?

Guys, once God says something, expect him to say it again.

And then you can engage him.

And then you can engage him.

And then you can engage him.

And then you can engage him.

And then you can engage him.

Expect him to say it again because he says in Psalm 60, once God has spoken, twice have I heard it.

So God does have a tendency to come and say something and elaborate on it.

And as he begins to elaborate on it, don't be in a hurry to come to a conclusion

because God builds things line by line, precept by precept, brick by brick.

But he builds it slowly.

And as he builds it, things begin to develop.

A stronghold develops.

Only this is a divine stronghold.

It begins to develop.

Simple example.

Today, I've been reading about certain things about the Lion of Judah and stuff like that.

And without going into details of what I sense God saying to me, I've been waiting on God for that.

And then at some point, and this might sound like such an odd, silly example,

but silly examples are only in the sight of somebody else.

When that example happens to you, it's precious.

And so Yahya comes running up and she says, I've got a drawing.

I can't give it to you.

It's not for you, but I want to show you the drawing.

I said, sure.

And she shows me the drawing and you can't see it.

But it's this face of literally Aslan-like lion with a smile on his face.

And I ask her, can I take a photograph of it?

Now, I'm not going to go and examine this and the lines and stuff like that.

I just took a photograph because given what I'm reading,

this for a little child to come and show me this, she may not think it's much,

you may not think it's much, but for me, this is a simple hint from God saying,

hey, keep going down this line.

There's more to discover.

So I take a photograph of it.

So that's how you begin to engage it.

And once you reach a certain place in your engagement,

he'll then bring in another twist to it and you keep exploring it.

It's an adventure for him, guys.

This is not a teacher student.

It's a father, son, or father, daughter.

He wants to grow us into something that he is.

Always remember, he's growing us into something that he is.

He's not growing us into doing something.

He's growing us into something that he is.

Mighty warrior, it's something that he is.

He's growing us into something that he is.

That takes time.

And so, go ahead, Jill, do you have a follow-up?

Psalm 60 verse 11.

Psalms 60:11

And if it's not there, then look at the Psalms,

two Psalms before that and two Psalms after that.

Is it Psalm 60 verse 11?

Psalms 60:11

Okay, Anna, quickly ask your question.

You know, you start doing this when you want to ask a question,

but go ahead.

Don't even lift your hands from now.

Just start doing this.

Yeah, go ahead.

Yeah.

So, do we look for divine recitation?

Because most of them had it.

It must have been easier for them.

So, we think.

And this is because we live human lives in the kingdom.

And what we don't realize is the divine one now lives in me.

And so, it is much easier for me to hear, touch, feel, taste, smell

than for them where visitation would happen once in a while.

And it would happen to a few.

And they would be so scared that they would think they would die.

Gideon's first words, when he finds out that this ain't an angel,

this is the angel of God, his immediate reaction is,

oh, my God, I'm as good as dead.

And so, it was few and far between that it would happen.

Now, we have the divine one living fully in us.

It's just because I don't live like that,

that I do not have a vibrant living relationship with him.

But some of the people who live like that,

their lives are both transformed and transforming.

And to live like that would be so brilliant, eh?

Let's pray.

Okay, it's Psalm 62, verse 11.

Psalms 62:11

I was right, it was two chapters this way or two that way.

Mike, did you see the nod on her face when she said that?

You're lucky, you know.

Yes, I'm sure you do.

All righty, let's pray.

Father, there's not a single person in this building

that you're not personally inviting into this discovery.

It's not so that I become great or they become great or we become great.

It's not so that we become Destiny Walkers, nothing like that.

It's, hey, before I made you, this was my plan for you.

You're the man, you're the woman, you're the guy.

I have half of my day titled this teaching, You're the Guy.

And you are not going to back off.

And I am grateful.

People in this room right now, we want to say to you,

we are grateful that you will not back off.

Pastors may back off, mentors may back off, spiritual fathers may back off,

prophets may back off, apostles may back off, teachers may back off,

but there is one who will not back off.

And I am grateful, Jesus, because if it were not for that,

we would have given up long ago.

But you keep coming back, you keep coming back, you keep coming back.

Because you know, you made me, you made each person here.

You know, you styled us a certain way, formed us a certain way,

put certain gifts, certain abilities, appointed us to certain places at certain times,

sent us onto the earth at a certain year,

everything so precisely orchestrated so that we could be that guy.

Jesus, by the Spirit of God, who I know is here, Spirit of God, I know you're here.

We begin to work in our hearts, in our spirits, something so deep that there will be a desire,

that I want to, I want to.

That's part of the reason we've been spending time getting up in the morning,

spending time with your word, listening to you.

That's part of the reason we've been doing this.

Praise Jesus for your own namesake, for the benefit of the earth.

Not to us, but to your name, we lift up all praise.

Not to us, but to your name, we lift up all praise.

We lift you up, we lift you up, we lift you up with our praises.

You are lifted up, you are lifted up, you are lifted up on our praises.

Last time, not to us.

Not to us, but to your name, we give up all praise.

Not to us, but to your name, we lift up all praise.

For your namesake, Jesus, do it in our midst. Amen.

Guys, there'll be people praying here.

If you need prayer, feel free to come up and receive prayer.

Otherwise, tomorrow is quest, day after is... tomorrow is... tomorrow is dawn, day after is May.

It'll get me a little while to get used to this name.

Tomorrow is dawn, day after is May.

And so, if the Wally guys could come and just meet me before you leave,

I'll just say a quick hello to you.

And that's it. See you guys when we see you next.