Accredited 2

So last week we talked about Acts 2 22 and how there are ways that on one hand God wants

to accredit us, on the other hand there's an attrition of faith that's also at work.

So Acts 2 22 says Jesus of Nazareth was a man.

I love the fact that it says Jesus of Nazareth, doesn't say Jesus the Christ.

Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited to you by God.

How did God approve him?

How did God endorse him?

How did God attest him?

Just like he would like to do now.

He attested Jesus of Nazareth who was a man with deeds of power, wonders and signs that

God did through him among you.

That's Luke's description as he talks about this Jesus.

Last week we said that this requires faith to walk in the manner that Jesus did because

he had to depend on and trust and be completely reliant on the Spirit because there was nothing

that Jesus did because of some intrinsic power.

Everything he did was sheerly by the power of the Spirit.

That's something that Christians struggle with.

They think he did what he did because he was God.

There's a madness about him that he refused to give up so that he could show us that there

is a way to live by being reliant on the Spirit.

So every act of power or every sign and wonder happened because of his reliance on the Spirit

and not because of his divinity.

It is in his humanity that he did those miracles, signs and wonders by being reliant on the

Spirit.

And so he had to trust the Father and the Spirit to do what he did.

And we are saying that yes, that requires faith, but we struggle with the attrition

of faith and the attrition of faith can affect the outcome.

And then we talked about, so what does failure look like?

What does the failure of faith look like?

We talked about that.

Why does it wreck you?

Because it wrecks us when things don't happen.

How do I respond?

Why does it happen?

And that's where we ended.

So today we'll talk about, okay, so how do we correct it when these things begin to happen?

Because it will be challenged.

Remember that the enemy, God counters the enemy by giving us something called the shield

of faith.

Why?

Because he shoots fiery arrows.

He shoots fiery arrows to bring about a destruction of faith.

And so we were given that part of our armor.

So the thing is real.

For anyone here to assume or to say that this doesn't happen is just positional and not

practical.

It's not practical.

Any questions thus far?

Okay.

So how do we course correct or how do we fix these things?

I don't know how far we'll get, but let's see.

First, if I want to prevent the attrition of faith, this is perhaps one of the hardest.

Let go of control and exchange it for rest.

This is perhaps the hardest one.

Let go of control and exchange it for rest.

What are we trying to control?

Usually the outcome.

Usually the outcome.

And so because we think we have the ability to be architects of the outcome, we are unable

sometimes to either let go and do exactly what we are being asked to and resting in

it, it becomes very difficult.

That's perhaps the greatest challenge when it comes to faith, to let go of control and

exchange it for rest.

A classic example of letting go of control is John chapter 11 when Jesus has to let go

John 11 · chapter mention

of control with regard to raising Lazarus.

That's a surrender of control.

Because he's human.

He's Jesus of Nazareth, a man, and his good friend Lazarus, who he loves, is dying.

And he is asked to go and heal.

And he knows that he has both the experience, the power from God and the relationship with

the Father to heal this man.

And as he's on his way to heal Lazarus, he is now told to let go of control.

Now the classic example of Jesus letting go of control is when he can turn stones into

bread.

It's been 40 days.

He's not eaten anything.

He can turn stones into bread.

But he doesn't.

He can call down a legion of angels.

But he doesn't.

This is the hardest part when it comes to faith.

Letting go of control.

Not determining the outcome.

Not trying to construct a plan B on the side in case plan A fails.

This is the hardest.

And if you let go of it, what do you exchange?

Because it's never one thing.

If you let go of something, something else has to be given to you.

And the something else that has to be given to us is entering into rest.

Where you labor to enter into rest and seize from your own machinations.

Seize from your own works.

Seize from self-striving.

Seize from sweating it out.

Seize from trying to craft something that will help you advance.

To seize from it.

That is the exchange.

Letting go of control is not enough.

I have to strive to enter into rest.

This week is supposed to be the Feast of Boots or Feast of Tabernacles.

The idea that you can walk through hostile terrain and be sustained sheerly by the presence

of God and rest in his provision, protection, supply, shade, life.

This is why we used to sing a song long ago called,

I lived the life of another.

For the life I used to live has now ceased to exist, terminated at the cross.

Take, I would have to give an example of seizing or striving to enter rest.

It is very natural for us as humans, right from when we were kids,

we are told that you need to do your best and then God will do the rest.

We are told that if you don't work, God will not.

There are so many of these things that have come up and they've been taught to us from when we were kids.

That you have to send out resumes.

That you have to do this.

That you have to do that.

And yet, God is saying all that is striving.

When it comes to finances, look at what he says in Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Look at the birds of the air.

That's not sound at all.

And so he seems to say that everything will come to you through me telling you what to do.

And you only do that and don't do nothing else.

That is the ultimate act of letting go control and exchanging it for rest.

To rest is to live the life of another.

To rest is to live by the promises of another.

To rest is what children do.

Children don't do anything else.

They just rest.

To rest is to go around Jericho seven days.

To rest is to trust that if you put a baby in a basket and float it down the river, that it'll be okay.

And she was bathing, I am assuming, by the Nile, which isn't some small river.

It ain't the Fraser.

This is what rest looks like.

It is hearing only what has to be done for that particular moment and doing nothing else.

It is letting God's principles, God's promises, God's covenants, God do the work.

He does the work.

I must not.

Rest is not the absence of a work ethic.

You are diligent in what He tells you to do, but you don't do one thing more.

This is why in Hebrews chapter four, He says a few things and such brilliant statements are made there.

One, I have entered rest. Will you not enter also?

First statement God is saying.

I have entered into rest. Will you not enter?

Because after six days He stopped.

It is finished has been repeated twice.

The first time it was said, we didn't hear it because it was said in the heavens.

On the sixth day He finished everything and He rested because everything was set in motion.

Seeds, bearing trees, bearing fruits, bearing seeds, bearing trees.

It was finished. Everything was finished.

He rested. He went into perpetual rest.

The seventh day was not a Sabbath, was not a Sunday.

The very idea of Shabbat means to desist from activity or exertion.

That's what Shabbat means, to desist from activity and exertion.

And it was not supposed to be a day. It was supposed to be the rest of my life.

And so that is the idea of God saying and God was training.

He was saying, can you give me one day out of seven? Can you give me one year out of fifty?

But in the New Testament because He lives in us, He says, can you give me your entire life and live only like this?

You cannot live any other way.

He was so serious about this that in the Old Testament if you broke the Sabbath, you got stoned to death.

And now He's asking for our entire life to be lived like this.

And so Hebrews 4, the first statement He makes is, I have entered into rest. Won't you enter also?

Then He realizes how difficult it is because of the way we grow.

So He says, can you labor to enter into rest? Can you labor?

You'll have to strive because you are so steeped in working, working, working.

You are so steeped in sweating, sweating, sweating.

You are so steeped in thinking that you make things happen.

You are so steeped in having plan B.

You are so steeped in if I don't do this, nothing will happen.

Deuteronomy 8.3, Luke chapter 4, what is He saying?

Luke 4 · chapter mention

I fed you manna. Why?

Why did He feed them manna?

Not because it is particularly tasty.

Anything that you eat for forty years is not very tasty in the end.

The reason He fed them manna, in Deuteronomy 8.3 it says, was to humble you.

Humble you how?

So that you would learn that I alone sustain you.

Every other nation in the world makes bread.

Bread is a self-generated means of sustenance where you do something with the dough.

You make it happen. You take yeast and put it.

But I didn't want you to make bread.

For forty years you did not eat bread.

But I humbled you. How did I humble you?

I made you reliant on me, dependent on me.

That's the idea of rest.

Rest brings you to a place of humility.

Because you cannot rely on your skills, your talents, your giftings, your strengths, your knowledge, your education, your status, your power, your connections, nothing.

Take all that away and you're left with one thing alone, the spirit of the living God.

Rest is when Zechariah 4.6 kicks in.

It is not by might, not by power, but by my spirit.

Rest is best worked out under hostile circumstances.

Because it's in hostile circumstances that we resort to things other than the spirit.

It's in hostile circumstances that you begin to craft things, plan things.

How do I get this? How do I get that?

It's under hostile circumstances that that happens.

Under normal circumstances, rest is easy.

Show me rest when you are under attack, through circumstances, from people, from the situations of the world.

And then I will know whether you're a man of rest or whether you only rest when things are normal.

Then he goes on to say in Hebrews chapter 4,

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

labor to enter into rest and then he says, rest can only be entered into if you obey, if you hear and if you obey.

Rest can only be entered into if you hear and if you obey.

Which then requires us to keep increasing in our hearing of the word and of the spirit.

Both, we talked about this last week, can't be one or the other.

It is of the word and of the spirit.

And if you don't have both, you'll miss out on a huge chunk of who got us.

So we keep increasing in it.

Because I'll never be at a place where I know the word so brilliantly that I don't need to read it anymore.

Now will I be at a place where I hear so brilliantly that I don't need to listen to the spirit anymore.

I just know.

No, this will keep increasing till the end of my life.

And then it goes on to say in Hebrews 4,

they did not enter my rest because they did not hear and obey and did not walk in faith.

They did not enter my rest.

And so let go of control.

Let go of control and enter into rest.

Whatever control looks like to you in your circumstance, it differs for all of us.

But all of us have it.

All of us have it.

And don't think that as you get older, it gets lesser.

As we get older, it gets more crusty.

When you bite it, it sounds like what Sheldon is chewing.

Do it again, Sheldon.

Okay, no, it didn't work.

It worked the first time.

They did not mix faith with the word that they heard.

So let go of control and exchange it for rest.

That's one big way.

The second is exchange self-improvement for faith.

Exchange self-improvement for faith.

Exchange self-improvement for faith.

We are not trying to improve.

We are trying to be radically faith-filled and faithful.

We are not trying to improve.

Improvement is the pursuit of those that walk at their own pace.

Improvement is the pursuit of those that walk at their own pace.

Improvement is the pursuit of those that walk at their own pace.

We're not talking about that.

We are exchanging self-improvement for faith.

Faith launches you into a place that you cannot improve into.

It's not gradual.

It is illogical.

It is at the risk of falling.

It is at the risk of losing everything.

That's what faith looks like.

It is not a kid learning how to walk.

Our faith will increase, but we don't increase it by doing it slowly.

We increase it by obeying immediately.

We don't increase in faith by doing it slowly.

We increase by obeying what is placed before us immediately.

That is how we increase in it.

And that's what I mean by this.

Self-improvement is, yeah, you know, at present I don't have faith for it, but maybe next year.

You never hear that in the Bible, eh?

In the Bible it was always, this is what God is saying now, therefore this is what I will do now.

There is a high possibility that if this is not God, it will end badly.

There is also a high possibility that this is God and it will still end badly.

But what choice do I have but to obey?

Even if it doesn't make sense.

Self-improvement, exchange self-improvement for faith.

A slow progression into obedience is actually disobedience.

A slow progression into obedience is actually disobedience.

That's when Hagueye kicks in, eh?

Consider your ways.

You have brought in 20 Seers of Barley and you have only 8.

There are holes in your pocket.

Why?

Because you haven't paid attention to what I asked you to.

Sometimes it is good as a church to consider our ways.

Any questions?

Yeah.

They should come to you and ask.

They should come and say, Diana, this is what I heard and Diana may be able to give them an answer

or Diana will have to say, let me go pray over it and let me find out.

And it's a scary thing when people come and ask you, eh?

A life without expectation, without faith is so much simpler to live in.

A life without expectation, without faith is so much simpler to live as a Christian.

Third, exchange your natural life.

Exchange your natural life for a spiritual life.

Exchange your natural life for a spiritual life.

The natural life, as in the life that we all live here on earth, cannot meet the demands of God.

Every time God places a demand on your natural life, it will resist it.

We were born in sin.

We are surrounded by pleasures of the earth.

It is but inevitable that when God places a demand on you, on your natural life, it will resist.

It will say, no.

It will say, let me go bury my father first or let me first make enough money or let me retire

or let me wait till I say goodbye to my friends and family.

There will always be a resistance from the natural life.

The natural life likes being pampered.

It likes being pampered.

The only way to go from natural life to spiritual life is through obedience and sacrifice.

The only way to go from natural life to spiritual life is through obedience and sacrifice.

This is why athletes become who they are.

I mean, one of my favorite things to do every night is to watch Messi's goals.

That guy can curve better than Beckham.

That guy can curve better than Beckham.

Bend it like Beckham. Beckham could not bend it at all.

He just makes the ball swing anyway.

But then I also saw a video where he practices.

Hours and hours and hours of practice.

It is not possible for our natural life to be changed into a spiritual life available for God

if there is no obedience or sacrifice.

Therefore now, what has to be done?

Your natural life has to be sent out.

As in, you cannot have such a say in the kingdom.

That's what Abraham does. What does he do?

He has a son of promise and a son by the slave woman.

What does he do? He dismisses the natural son.

But he cannot get to the son of promise unless he dismisses the natural son.

You have to send your natural life into the desert saying,

you will not have a say in how I live, kingdom.

If you do that, God will take care of your natural life.

He will create an oasis in the desert that you can drink out of.

But as long as you pamper your natural life,

it will not be able to follow the demands placed by God.

It will always resist it.

Only through obedience and sacrifice can you convert your natural life into a spiritual life.

Examples?

Inconvenience.

Does your natural life like it?

No.

Giving away what you have.

Does your natural life like it?

No.

Yeah. So my response to that is, who invented that?

And why would he not have you thrive in it, flourish in it?

But given that he is the one who said, honor your parents,

he is the one who was a responsible son, a responsible provider while he was on earth.

Why can't we trust that if we are obedient to him,

an oasis will be created so that both my parents and my children and my dog and I can do well.

There's a fear that rises in us when we think of being inconvenienced,

when we have to think of obedience, when we think of sacrifice.

There's a fear that rises in us. And the fear is, but what will happen?

But we are talking about one who knows how to do this.

Did any of the disciples suffer while he was with them?

Were their families starving?

I would strongly say to you, no.

And we know at least two instances where that was not the case.

Do you think anyone's mother-in-law was ever sick when Jesus was around?

Was there not food provided for them?

It's a very hard thing to wrap our heads around because our heads scream saying,

if I don't take care of that, this won't be taken care of.

He's not going to make demands of you that are going to ruin you.

But it will still require obedience and sacrifice.

Here's the other catch about obedience.

How do you know a child is obedient?

The child has to receive instructions and you watch how they respond.

That's how you know a child is obedient.

It is no different for us.

Obedience is tested out in the context of a home or a people or an order or a family.

Obedience does not exist in a vacuum.

I can't obey in secret by myself

because there is no one to measure or hold a plumb line against my obedience.

The way God has constructed things is that obedience and sacrifice is always relational.

Always relational.

And it is not just a vertical relationship.

It is both vertical and horizontal.

It is impossible to work around that, guys.

Exchange natural life for a spiritual life.

Next one.

Exchange experience.

Exchange experience as a teacher

for the Holy Spirit as a guide.

These are all things that can really attack our faith.

One of the things that happens is we begin to let our experience

and some of our experiences are positive, some are negative.

We let our experience begin to decide how we deal with life.

Your trauma or your great experience, your success or your trauma cannot be your guide.

You may have had a bad experience in church.

You may have had a terrible experience with healing and miracles and saw someone die.

You may have had a terrible experience being exploited by Christians or by non-Christians.

These are traumatic events that affect you.

You may have also had amazing experiences with healing,

with money, with people, with salvation, with the glory of God.

All that is good, but it is still not my teacher.

Why? Because you enter into rest.

I cannot go by experience.

Israel went by experience, guys.

We don't realize how much of our theology is constructed by our experience.

I beg you, some of you are listening to me and you know I'm talking to you.

Your experience cannot be the way your theology is written.

My experience cannot be the way my theology is written.

As in, my understanding of God cannot be written by my experiences.

These are things that sometimes can destroy faith.

I will not give because the last time I gave, I was so gypped by this person.

I'm going to be careful. Once bitten, twice shy, and all those other phrases.

I will not go on a mission trip again because the last mission trip I went on, this thing happened.

I'm not going to pray for healing because I haven't seen any healings yet.

I do not believe we have to come under order because the last time I came under order, I was abused spiritually.

101 reasons.

My life will be private because the last time I opened my life, I got exploited.

This is how we heal people.

You've got to stretch your hands out and if the fingers don't match, then we command the shoulders to grow.

Take some oil and make sure you touch here, here, here, here, and here.

And that will heal the person.

Any questions?

Last one in this set.

Go beyond your personality type.

Go beyond your personality type.

Go beyond your personality type.

We all have personalities given to us by God, made in His image, but because we live here on Earth, our personalities are flawed.

So, go beyond your personality type.

Yes, some of us are gregarious, some of us are quiet, some of us, I mean, I don't even want to use words like introverted or extroverted,

but some of us prefer not being up on stage.

Some of us build a stage everywhere we go.

Each of us is different and our personalities are different.

We flourish because that's the way God has made us.

I mean, Derek and Dawn itself are so different.

One will do things quietly, one will do things not quietly.

You can figure out who does what.

But the point is that our personality types, both the wives are laughing.

Your wife is laughing downstairs even though you can't see her, Dawn.

So, the thing with personality, my personality, I must go beyond my personality.

And if you don't, you slowly become pretty useless in the kingdom.

One of the guys who had an amazing personality was Paul.

Scholar of scholars, learned under Gamaliel, was highly educated, was a Jew of the Jews.

And so, what's his desire? What's his personality type?

You know what, God, let me go to the Jews.

I've got enough arguments to convince them.

What does God say to him?

No, you won't be going to the Jews, you'll be going to the Gentiles.

Peter, another stuck-up guy who decides that nobody's going to tell him what to eat and what not to eat,

even though God was the one who authored what should be eaten and what should not be eaten.

He had that problem again and again.

After having gone to Cornelius' house, later on in the book of Galatians,

you see him being a hypocrite again because when the Jews came, he stopped eating non-kosher food.

Our personality types get in the way.

Please, push each other in terms of getting over your personality types.

Push each other.

Say to Betty, get over this.

Say to Jacob, get over this.

Say to Jill, get over this.

Say to Pawan, get over this.

The only ones who don't see the flaws of their personality types are the ones who have that personality.

I'm not talking about the colorful shirt Pawan is wearing.

Any questions before we move on?

Go ahead, Jill.

Yeah?

What is that that you use?

I didn't see how that relates to your personality type.

Is that something that you are interested in?

If personality and individuality can be seen as one, and individuality,

then we have our preferences and we have our prejudices.

We have what we think we are good for and we have what we think is not our cup of tea.

One of the things God does is, Jacob, I know you're good at this,

but that is exactly why I'm going to send you somewhere else.

I'll use you in what you're good at because I put that good there.

I don't want you to think that that's how you're going to operate.

I'll take you and put you in the situations where you will be reliant on me,

and autonomy 8.3 will go into effect again.

Man shall not live by his strengths, by his unique individual capabilities,

by his gregarious personality,

but he shall live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

He deliberately does that so that I don't become reliant on the very giftings

and the talents and the strengths that guess who has given me?

He.

He shifts it knowingly.

Because one of the things he really wants to do is take away our ability to be reliant on ourselves.

Take away our ability to be reliant on ourselves.

Once he puts us through those courses, then he can say to you,

hey, Jill, now let me put you to do what you're really good at.

Now that you've learned to depend on me in the things that you really suck at,

now let me put you into what you're good at.

Our tendency is to think that God will use us in our area of strength.

There is no fear or trembling in your area of strength.

There is no stammering or reliance in your area of strength.

There is no inadequacy in your area of strength.

There is no inadequacy in your area of strength.

I'd say to anybody who's being educated here right now,

like paying thousands of dollars to get an education that us older people who are educated

will tell you does not count at all, I want to say to you that at the end...

What did you do?

Yeah, for your education.

Oh, you did music. Something worked out for you.

Yeah, I did zoology and political science. It's been helping quite a lot.

So here's the thing. For those of you who are right now in school and college,

be ready that at the end of the day, after having gotten all your degrees and everything else,

that may not have anything to do with what God is calling you to.

Nothing will be wasted. Nothing will be wasted.

But do not think that the amount of money spent on something to become something is what God is going to use.

What you do in the future may have absolutely nothing to do with what you studied for.

Look at Toonie.

Highly educated guy, got a doctorate, was working in a church. Look at him now.

Stop wavering between two minds. Stop wavering between two minds

on anything in the word or that God has said.

In the word or what God has said.

You might say, but Jacob, I can believe this, but this, how will I not waver?

One is believable, two is not. Not true. Not true. Not true.

On one hand, yes, we can trust the word.

On the other hand, if you have a relationship with the Spirit of God and the Spirit of the Father,

you know when he says something.

And he says it with such firmness that you know without a shadow of a doubt that you can stake your claim on that.

These are dichotomies that were created by us.

How do you think Paul is operating? How do you think Jesus is operating?

How do you think Peter is operating? Peter is going against the word, guys.

Do not eat these things.

What is he hearing? Eat these things.

What do you do then?

Do you let Cornelius find his own solution?

We must dismantle human dichotomies that have been created in our understanding

so that we think this is the only way, that is not the only way.

Our assurances must come from our relationship, and God will progressively increase our relationship.

But if we choose to say this is the only way, we're in trouble,

because if you were in Peter's place, Cornelius would die, and Italians to know.

Say it louder.

I would say whatever God says will not contradict his nature.

Whatever God says will not contradict his nature.

So let's take the Peter example.

How do we know that it is the nature of God to have Peter eat that which is non-kosher?

How do we know that?

Because the word in Leviticus, it very clearly says, Peter, you will not eat this.

So how come there's a contradictory word?

And why is Peter agreeing with it?

Very simple. Genesis 12. Abraham.

Listen, Abraham, I'm going to bless every nation through you.

Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

This promise is not just for the Jews, it is for the Gentiles also.

Already a pattern has been set in scriptures where God is saying,

listen, I chose you as a nation to show people who I am,

but please don't think that this is going to end here.

Look at the stars in the sky. Look at the sands on the shore.

And now don't you know that I'm going to bless every nation through you?

Acts chapter 15, 16.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

Amos chapter 9.

Amos 9 · chapter mention

A day is coming when the sons of Esau, the sons of Edom, the Gentiles, will be drawn in so that they become one.

That Jew and Gentile will become one new man.

That is why Peter is willing to do it.

But if he stuck to this contradictory word, Peter would never have made a move.

But because he knew the nature of God,

Peter was there when the Syrophoenician woman brought her demonized daughter.

Peter was there when Gentiles would turn up, the Greeks turned up, Philip talked to Jesus about it.

Peter was there when Jesus reached out to the Samaritans.

Peter was there. He knows this God.

We must use the word to know the nature of God so that we know the nature of God

and can hear and know whether it is him or not.

Just listen to that again.

We know the word, we read the word, we dig into the word, we study the word to know the nature of God

and how he administers the church in the world.

All the letters, the 13 letters written by Paul and the book of Acts is showing us just one thing.

This is the nature of God.

This is how he plans to administer the world through the church, which is his body.

And then you got the Old Testament and the Gospels.

Why? Can you know my nature?

Now that you know my nature, you will judge things by my nature.

And what is this prevalent, prominent nature?

Very simple.

That of a father.

And the better you know him as a father,

which is what the son came to do,

which is the cry that the Spirit of God is going to make him,

which is the cry that the Spirit gives us,

the better you know the father,

the more accurate is your interpretation of the word.

Such a beautiful tapestry.

Which, who's the child? Brielle.

Father, we just pray peace for Brielle.

And that whatever is causing her to cry will just suddenly disappear.

Stop wavering between two minds.

Another thing that is an attrition to faith is wavering.

Father, please, Lord, there she starts again.

Stop wavering between two minds.

Affirming belief.

How do we waver between two minds?

Whenever God speaks,

make sure that there is a very small gap between belief in God

and grasp of God's goodness.

These are different, eh?

And there's usually a gap between it.

We believe that God is powerful, God is able, God can do stuff.

We believe that.

But we don't fully believe that he is able and good.

Able and willing.

Able now.

That is hard towards me.

Even in deep sin is a heart that is good.

Even in deep sin.

Make that gap very little.

And so what you do is, whenever you want to believe God for something impossible,

whenever you want to believe God in hostile circumstances,

whenever you want to believe God when things are not changing,

then go here before you go here.

If you know his goodness, you will believe him.

Don't go to the belief first.

Go to the goodness first.

If you go to his goodness, if Jagan goes to his goodness,

if I go to his goodness, if Prashanth goes to his goodness,

that this is how you are, father, then belief becomes easier.

But if you go for belief before you go for goodness,

it becomes very difficult.

Very difficult.

Because you're struggling with holding on to something without knowing the person.

Saturate yourself with the goodness of God

and belief becomes easier.

Saturate yourself with the goodness of God and belief becomes almost unnecessary.

It's like, what's the big deal?

And don't do it that way and here's what it'll do.

Belief will result in you questioning his goodness because things are not happening.

Get his goodness right, you will get belief right.

Get belief right, you will question his goodness if it doesn't happen in the right time.

Expectation is another thing.

How large is your expectation and how vocal are you about it?

How large is your expectation and how vocal are you about it?

If your expectation is not large, you don't need much faith.

Second, if your expectation is large, do you dare to be vocal about it?

Second, if your expectation is large, do you dare to be vocal about it?

To people.

To people.

How do we know the Old Testament stories?

What is Moses doing?

Standing on a rock, at least in the movie Ben-Hur and Ten Commandments.

Sorry, in the movie Ten Commandments.

Standing on a rock, got a staff and he stretches it out and he says,

Behold, stand and see Charlton Heston.

The voice was much deeper.

Stand and see the salvation of God.

It was always out in the open.

Seven days we shall walk around the city.

And on the seventh day we shall walk around it seven times and the city will fall.

These are make or break things, eh?

If that doesn't work, Moses goes back to Egypt.

If that doesn't work, Joshua quits his job.

If that doesn't work, Noah will never spell the word rain again.

Expectations must be vocalized.

It makes us do a double take because now we will go and make sure our expectations are actually tailored by God.

That aside, our expectations must be large because our God is not mid-sized.

Not mid-sized.

Brilliant. That's exactly what you should do.

What did I miss?

And that's exactly what you would do at work.

Any programmer, anyone working would have an expectation that if I do this, this is what I should get.

And you don't get it.

And what do you do? You go back and start examining.

What did I miss?

This is exactly what I need to do.

Where did I miss it?

And then I find out and you fix it.

Sometimes you don't have to fix it because you get it right.

What a marvelous privilege to enter this.

An invisible God speaking in an inaudible voice, being heard by your invisible spirit and you're acting on it.

And when you look back at your life, you will find that there are more things, there are many, many more things you got right.

And very few things that you got wrong.

But a few things that you got wrong stick in your gut and cause you a whole lot of problem.

Go for surgery.

Remove it.

It's just so wrong that the two or three incidents that we got wrong and they may have cost you.

But when you put it against the 90 things you got right, it's fascinating that those 10 things are able to prevent me from looking forward.

Yes, you will miss it sometimes.

You will not get what you expected and sometimes you won't get it in the time that you wanted it in.

And it seems almost pointless getting it after.

So you have that happening every day at work and you go and say, where is the problem?

Where did I get it wrong?

Go and examine it.

If you don't, how will the ETW guys learn?

Pardon?

Yeah, and then persist.

Come and get a group of guys that you will open your life to and say, please help me with this.

You've got to break through this for me.

These are the difficult things in life.

These are the difficult things in life.

When I'm not able to get it, can I call four or five people and say, I need to break through this?

And they'll know everything.

They'll know what my financial situation is.

They'll know what my physical fears are.

They will know these problems I have.

But boy, will I break through or not?

These are the tough things that we, I'm not talking to Jill now.

These are the tough things that we want to avoid and yet get to an answer.

Ain't going to happen.

But if you can pay me $200 an hour, suddenly it becomes legit.

We go to counselors and do this, but we can't do it with each other.

All Jane got was a degree.

Is she here?

Okay.

Good, that just slipped.

Oh, she got it from TWU?

Okay, it's a Christian.

Guys, the problem with God, one of God's biggest problems, it's not a problem with God.

It is a problem with God.

One of the problems with God is he refuses to do anything without it being relational.

He refuses to do anything without it being relational in context.

He refuses it, refuses it.

The man who was paralyzed will not make it through the roof if he does not have four friends.

Peter will not pay his taxes unless he comes to Jesus and says, I've got a problem.

I've got to pay my taxes.

Very difficult.

And this is not a casual pray for me thing.

This is an opening of your life.

And you can't do it with everybody.

Yeah, non-believer, absolutely.

Come because you...

Because as soon as you're born again, you're baptized into a family and now everything is relational.

Absolutely.

As soon as you're baptized, you're baptized in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit

and you're baptized into the body of Christ.

We have to think of it as a part of your body existing.

It cannot exist like it used to before.

His body was broken so that we were put together.

He's creating what's called a household.

He's the Father.

Yeah.

Government and mercy exist together.

Compassion and order exist together.

It's always like that.

On one hand, he says to Adam, Adam, you will now have to leave the garden.

On the other hand, he says, I will cover you and I will provide for you.

He says to Cain, murderer, you killed your brother.

And then he says, I'll put a mark on you so that nobody touches you.

And that is what he then does to Jesus.

You're my son.

You will pay for sins.

Because it is always government and mercy.

Judgment and mercy.

There is no compassion, no mercy without judgment.

It does not exist.

Mercy and compassion do not exist without judgment.

They cannot exist in isolation.

You cannot show mercy till you judge something.

Everything exists together in God like this.

And they're not contrary.

He holds them together.

And so, yes, for an unbeliever, come.

That's why Billy Graham's crusade, it would be just as you are, come.

But after coming, change.

So if I fall to a land, God in your name will forgive me and make me right?

Do you think so?

Do you think so?

It's not what I'm saying.

It's God's nature that he will take me back.

So we're not talking about that.

Your question is whether someone in the body, someone who becomes a believer...

My question was that God is going to help you even if you are not in that relationship with God.

Because he will not refuse you.

No, but that's not your question.

Your question was an unbeliever can come and God does dust things.

That's what the comparison is.

If you are not a believer, God is accepting you.

Without any sort of doing himself or whatever.

But then we already accepted Christ and we are believers.

And why would God refuse us to help him?

Won't refuse, but he will require that, Jacob, now that you've accepted me,

you have to be part of what I have asked you.

But he will still help us if we falter.

I can give you so many examples from the Bible where God would send people to help and they would refuse.

Demas, deserted Paul, had to go.

Alexander, Hymenaeus.

You read through the book of Acts and the New Testament,

you will find many who were part of the believing body,

who still refused to live by the principles God had ordained.

Will they go to heaven? Yes.

Will mercy be shown to them? Yes.

Is eternal life secure? Yes.

But will there be consequences? Yes. Absolutely.

Ananias and Sapphira. My God, there's no... I mean, they were believers.

Thank God. I mean, we are still the New Testament church.

God only knows...

We don't hear about it because no one's writing about it.

Did they actually ask for forgiveness?

So now it comes back at you.

If you don't ask for forgiveness, does that mean that you're not forgiven and you won't go to heaven?

Or that you will be killed?

We can't make this cut and dry thing about...

If that was the case, Marcus, all of us would be dead.

Because if it is asking forgiveness that matters, all of us would be dead right now.

The point is this.

On one hand, God shows kindness and compassion.

On the other hand, God judges, and there are consequences.

So we have to ask for forgiveness.

We have to ask for forgiveness.

We have to ask for forgiveness.

We have to ask for forgiveness.

We have to ask for forgiveness.

On the other hand, God judges and there are consequences.

And as a believer, once you come into this thing called the body of Christ, which is what you are baptized into,

there are principles...

Paul puts it this way.

There are rules for the administration of the church.

And if you choose to flaunt it or push it away, then there are consequences.

Go ahead, Vivian.

Would it be possible to forfeit my calling?

Ananias and Sapphira forfeited the calling.

Judas forfeited his calling.

Moses forfeited entering into the promised land.

Gehazi forfeited his calling.

Jonah kind of partially forfeited his calling.

Saul forfeited his calling.

Demas forfeited his calling.

Mark forfeited his calling.

Ran away.

Had to be brought back.

Philemon forfeited his calling.

Yeah, but we think that the calling he's talking about is some kind of destiny that he's given us.

That's not what it is talking about.

It is his calling off us into eternal life that he's talking about.

There's a teaching we did long ago, good seed and bad seed.

Bad seed, God mitigates so that it doesn't really give you a harvest that will ruin you.

Good seed, he just pours water onto.

These things exist together.

Sorry, go ahead.

Yeah, totally.

And go with it when he tells you that.

Another classic example is David.

Here's the all thing with David.

He commits sin.

He asks for forgiveness, but does that spare him consequences?

The sword follows him till the day he dies.

This is a man that the New Testament quotes.

Not to be trifled with, guys.

Not to be trifled with.

David repented, but there were consequences.

Yeah.

This is why it says in Galatians 6, and that might put a full stop on this part of it, so I can do one more point.

Oh, shucks, it's 8.02.

So I can do half a point.

And here's a quote from Galatians 6.

God is not mocked.

Do not be deceived.

God is not mocked.

Whatsoever a man sows, he will reap.

If he sows to the flesh, as in, if it is contrary to what God has commanded, he will reap destruction.

This is being written to the church.

And if he sows to the spirit, he will reap life.

It applies to me.

It applies to you.

It just so happens that God in his mercy even mitigates the harvest that comes from the bad seed I sow.

Let me finish this.

We can, may or may not be here next week.

But stop wavering between two minds, eh?

So we talked about that part.

What I want to say is, when you waver between two minds, it's called being double-minded,

which is a word that comes from a Greek word called dystazo, which is the same word that's used for doubt.

And so this thing called doubt takes roots.

And the more you verbalize it, the more you own it.

And if you don't give it oxygen, it aborts.

You starve it of oxygen by replacing it with truth.

To replace it with truth, you have to battle.

You have to battle emotions.

We'll stop there.

So let me go over that one more time.

To be double-minded is basically the same word that's used for doubt, dystazo, which means doubt.

Doubt takes root when you are in a state of being,

and doubt multiplies doubt.

I mean, in the sense that doubt grows roots, and if you allow thoughts that contradict what God has said in His word,

it just gets even more active.

So here's how it works.

So I begin to doubt, and when I begin to doubt, it takes roots.

Once it takes root, I begin to offer arguments, reasonings, thoughts that contradict what God has said,

either to me directly or through the word.

Doubt is like a machine that begins to churn out thoughts, reasonings, arguments, imaginations.

And as it does, how do we give form to this?

We give form to this with our words.

Verbalize doubt, and it feeds on itself.

And that's when reasonings, thoughts, imaginations, lofty things rise up against the knowledge of God and what God has told you.

If I'm able to not speak doubt to myself, to you, to every expert that comes along,

through every book, through every TV, through Google, through Wikipedia,

if I'm not able to do that, a strange thing begins to happen.

Doubt begins to abort.

But to combat doubt, I have to combat feelings, because feelings and emotions feed doubt.

To combat doubt, I have to go, let me, if you don't give it oxygen, if you don't give it oxygen, it aborts.

You starve it of oxygen by replacing it with the truth.

You starve it of oxygen by replacing it with the truth.

But if you want to replace it with the truth, you'll have to battle emotions.

Because your feelings will come up against the truth.

Doubts come with feelings.

Truth doesn't necessarily come with feelings.

Doubt does.

Doubt comes with feelings.

Truth doesn't necessarily come with feelings.

And I've said this before, to move from doubt, or fear, or faithlessness, to the truth,

go to the Word, but battle your feelings.

Battle your emotions that say otherwise.

Doubt is, uncertainty is a result of my double-mindedness.

Uncertainty is a result of my double-mindedness.

So how do you differentiate between that and the uncertainty that you have been talking about?

Yeah, so there's an uncertainty that comes because I'm double-minded about what God has said.

And there's an uncertainty that you are talking about, which is to figure out what God is saying.

But let's say I've gone to Him and I've figured it out.

I'm still uncertain because now what is happening is I know what God has said, but I know reality.

And God and reality begin to clash.

And now I'm double-minded.

There are emotions that come with it.

The truth says this, but all my feelings scream and say this.

I often begin to verbalize my doubt.

Initially it is with God.

Then it is with myself.

Then it is with me.

Then it is with Derek.

Then it is with every expert who has an opinion on it.

And the more I express my doubt, my verbalize it, the more it begins to take a very strong route.

We can verbalize our doubt with God towards an end.

We don't verbalize our doubts with God except towards an end.

What is the end?

That, Father, this is how I'm feeling, but can you take me to the truth?

David would use the Psalms not to vent his doubt.

David would use the Psalms to go from doubt to truth.

So sometimes we vent with God because one, it's a venting, two, it's his fault anyways.

Most things are, meaning that's how we think.

And so use Psalms to go from doubt to the truth.

That is what we use God for.

Or use Sue or use Echo to speak to them about the doubt, to help.

You're pleading with them, take me from this doubt to the place of truth.

That is the intent.

Nicodemus was doing that that night, but he didn't do much with it after.

And we make that move.

And the feelings will come in.

Doubt comes with feeling.

Truth sometimes comes just as plain truth, no feelings to it.

This is what I'm saying to you, Dilna, get up and do it.

Any questions?

Sometimes we think we are great men of faith and then suddenly we're women of faith when I mean men.

And then sometimes you think to yourself, man, you've got such a long way to go.

October 1st, good day to start.

Any questions?

Cool, let's pray.

Father, Brielle's still crying, Abba.

Please help her to come to a place where she stops crying, Father.

It's hard listening to it.

It must be harder for her.

So I just ask for your peace, Jesus, to enter her life.

Peace to enter her body.

Peace to enter whatever is disturbing her.

Just you alone can do it.

So please ask for that.

Would you cry like this, Jesus?

A chorus, Father, here.

It's hard, Abba, but you must have cried too.

But I think this is a lot of crying.

So what do I know?

So Father, we now want to conclude with what we talked about.

Jesus, I must exchange control for rest.

I must exchange.

I must go beyond my personality.

I must not allow my experiences to dictate how I function.

Obedience and sacrifice is necessary.

Inconvenience is necessary.

So that my natural life turns into a spiritual life, so that Ishmael turns into Isaac.

Father, everything that I ask for myself, I ask for the church.

We don't want a comfortable existence.

We want your Word to change us.

We want your Word to change us.

As we go over these notes on faith, on doubt, on the attrition of faith, the growing in faith,

please ask, Father, that in my life, and as I ask for my life, I ask for everybody here,

I ask in my life that there be no resistance, Father, that I don't postpone it to the future.

So give me just one more minute, guys, and we'll end.

Jesus, I come against doubt in this room.

I come against disobedience in this room.

I come against the self-preservation and the nature of only doing things that are convenient in this room.

I come against deliberate, contradictory ways against the Word of God in this room.

I come against postponement in this room.

I come against any shirking back from the offense that the Word causes in this room.

And I come against these things first in my life.

Set me free, O God, so that I may walk as a man of faith.

Set us free, O God, that we may walk as men and women of faith,

because it is impossible to do the things you have asked us without this.

Self-improvement is an absolutely no-no in this church.

Jesus, we humble ourselves to operate by the proceeding Word.

And so today on the 1st of October, I lay down every past act of faith,

every past thing, so that you can start me again on something that is newer, greater, larger,

that will challenge, challenge.

I ask this for myself and I ask this for this church.

Granted, Jesus, granted. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Hey guys, one quick announcement that I forgot.

Toonie, and mainly Toonie, but Nick has been helping him.

They've been looking at an area in North Vancouver.

It's this huge area in North Vancouver, if you look at the map.

And in that area there's not a single church.

So Toonie has been going there. He's taken a few others with him.

Nick goes there with Toonie often.

And they've been scouring that area for the last month and a half

and have felt that what if they could start a church there, begin a service there.

And so they've been praying over it, going through the streets, meeting people, talking to them.

And finally, four days ago, Toonie walked into a church that he felt that he should walk into

and asked them if they will rent the space to him.

And they gave it to him for a song.

And so starting next week, this Friday, Toonie and Nick and a few people that he might invite

will start a service in Northland.

Yeah? So...

So next week I'll show pictures of the place he's meeting.

And the only odd thing about this whole thing is, for a month and a half or two months,

I've been asking Toonie if he can find us a place to meet.

And nothing has happened. Plus, the places that we've found, he went and he said,

it's not good for us. But strangely, in less than a week, he found a place for himself.

Okay. If you need prayer, there'll be someone here to pray with you.

I'll see you when the church meets again.