Inbreaking-Hosting-God

of God is in our midst. So the kingdom and I love going over this again and

again, the kingdom of God is God-kinging amongst, God-kinging in the world. What

does a king do? Think of what a king does, that's what God is doing. The

kingdom of God is basically God-kinging in the world. He can do it with us, he can

do it without us, but because we are co-heirs, he prefers doing it with us.

Then we said, oh before that, the kingdom has always been as in it was, it is and

it will be. If you read Psalm 145, you will find that the kingdom has been from

everlasting to everlasting. If you read Daniel 7, 14, you will find that it's

been from everlasting to everlasting. It is today because Jesus said the kingdom

of God is in our midst. How can the kingdom of God be in our midst? It's in

our midst because when the king is present, the kingdom is present. Let's

wrap our heads around it, because it's very hard sometimes to do this. If the

king is in a place, suddenly that place becomes where his rule or reign is. Just

think of it that way. It's amazing how embassies are actually the territory of

the nation they belong to. That's why as soon as someone runs into an embassy, you

can't touch them. Doesn't matter whether you're in China, Russia, doesn't matter. As

soon as you run and you're inside the embassy, that region is no longer the

territory of the nation that the embassy is in. That's how the earth operates and

the earth copies this from models that were first created in heaven and then

counterfeits them or distorts them. That's why kings don't need visas when

they fly. Even when the Iranian president flies to the US, he doesn't need to apply

for a visa. You can't touch him when he comes there. You can criticize him on TV,

you can try to take him out, you can do everything else in the quiet, but when he

comes to speak at the United Nations, there's nothing you can do to him

because where he goes, his entire nation goes with him. If this is how the earth

operates, then we must understand that God is kinging continuously since Jesus

came. When Jesus came, he inaugurated the kingdom. As in, I have now come. I have

always had a kingdom. I've always been king, but I want you to know now the

earth has this reality too. God is kinging. Wherever he is, the kingdom is.

Wherever he is, he is kinging. What does kinging look like? Kinging looks like

everything Jesus did in the Gospels and the work is continued by the Holy Spirit.

What is kinging's main aim? Never forget this. We'll have to

repeat this again and again guys just because we don't think like this. What

is kinging's main aim? I will make all things new. I will set all things

right. I will make all that is sad come untrue. This is what kinging plans to do.

Never forget this. We forget this, we lose out on what Jesus is trying to do.

Therefore, salvation is no longer, will you invite Jesus into your heart?

Salvation is Jesus inviting us into the kingdom. That's what he came to do.

Repent and enter the kingdom. I know we've said this over the last two weeks.

This is how we learn. Truth is learned through repetition. What if we change the

salvation message too? It's not if you invite Jesus into your heart, you will go

to heaven. It is repent and enter the kingdom that he's inviting you

into. You can only enter the kingdom through receiving the King. To

receive the King is to agree to be loyal to him and to obey his commandments.

Now would you like to do that? Once you do that you can start kinging with him.

He can do this sovereignly but he chooses to do it with his people, with his citizens.

This is what his aim is. When he put Adam and Eve on the earth,

he said, I want you to be my vice regents. The moment he said in Genesis 1 26, what

does he say in Genesis 1 26? It's brilliant. Listen to what he says in

Genesis 1 26. Let us make them in our image and the next sentence after let us

make them in our images and let us give them dominion. As in let them now extend

our kingdom. It is natural for man who is made in his image to be part of the

kingdom. Those sentences are together. Let us make man in our image and

let us give them dominion. But dominion he didn't mean power, he didn't mean rule,

he didn't mean let's annihilate a few people and let's preserve a few people.

What he meant was let us now begin to steward with love as we have stewarded with love.

And what is the earth trying to do? What is the world trying to do? Let us make man in our image

and let us give them dominion. And so it's two kingdoms at work. That's what the world is doing.

Let us make man in our image. Let us educate Ruben and Eliana in our ways. Let us change their

names. Let us do what Nebuchadnezzar tried to do to 20,000 young Israelites. Let's indoctrinate

them in the systems of Babylon. Let's make them forget their history. That's what is being attempted

with all these kids. Through an industry that has education and entertainment and has the ability

to brainwash. And then there is another kingdom which is doing exactly opposite. Let's culture

them in the ways of the king. This is a constant tussle, but this is what God came to do. We must

not forget this. He could do this sovereignly, but he right from Genesis wants to tend the garden

with Adam. He wants to tend the garden with Adam. He could do it himself, but he wants to tend the

garden with Adam because he sees us as vice regents or co-laborers. For those of us who may

think this dominion stuff is dangerous stuff and there are a lot of doctrines and dominions that go

crazy. This is not a good idea. Well then forget this word. Go for co-laborers. If that makes you

feel a little humbler and better, so be it. Choose whichever word you want so that you're not stuck

with dominion. Because I've had people who said this dominion thing is dangerous and perhaps it

is. But that's not the point. The point is not dominion. The point is dominion. Look at the king

we serve, man. How did he exert dominion? So one of the ways we can really begin to work with him

and bring this end to pass is by moving from this idea of, or the Holy Spirit lives in us, to this

idea of hosting the person of the Holy Spirit or hosting the person and the presence of the Spirit

of Jesus. He is called the Spirit of Jesus in Philippians 1 19 and Acts 6, 7, Acts 16, 7. So

it's not some term that I'm coming up with. What if we began to think along the lines of hosting

the presence and the person of the Spirit of Jesus? What if we move to thinking hosting?

What do we do? What do we do with whom we have? What do we do with whom, as in the Holy Spirit,

we have? What does Jillian do with Maria? She's not a bed and breakfast place. She's not a paying

guest. What does she do when you have to host someone? What do you do? Bill Johnson talks about

what if we actually thought of the Holy Spirit as a dove? What if the dove was on your shoulder

and it's your most treasured possession? Every step you take, you would be careful to make sure

that everything with a dove is fine. You would do everything in your power to make sure that

the dove stays on your shoulder. Every step you take, every breath you take would be,

I've got to make sure that this precious treasure on my shoulder, this dove, is not undone in any

way. Every step becomes important. That's what hosting looks like. What do we do with whom we

have? How do we do this? We must learn how to host the presence, how to host the presence of God.

And that means it's on one hand a privilege, on the other hand it's a responsibility,

and on the third hand it's a challenge. Can you think like that though? Can you think it's a

privilege? Can you think that hosting his presence is a privilege? Is it a privilege? This is why

reverence is important because what happens with a lack of reverence is that we get accustomed to

the Holy Spirit. He won't leave us. He's in us. We can feed him like we feed pigeons every few days

and he'll be happy. He'll come fluttering, turn up for our services. There's something about

reverence that changes that. It's a privilege. The older you are as a Christian, sometimes you've

got a God against the blood of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God becoming someone, something that

you can take for granted. Do you know that we sometimes sin knowing that tomorrow we can go

back and ask for forgiveness? It's crazy. We can sometimes sin knowing that tomorrow we can go and

ask for forgiveness. So why not just go through it? Yeah, it'll take an extra hour of praying but we

can get this done. It's crazy how sometimes our minds work. So it's a privilege and then it's a

responsibility which means there are things that I need to do and then it's a challenge which means

I will fail. Please get used to this. The difference between perfection and any pursuit of God and

desire is very simple. Perfection sets a standard that you need to meet and you will try to meet it

even without God. Desire is something that comes because you delight in what you want to pursue.

Christians that aim for perfection will condemn themselves to a life of continuous failure.

Anything you want perfection in, you will fail in because you are right back in the Old Testament.

You want to make sure you never lose your temper and that every time you lose your temper you think,

shucks I blew it again and then it ruins your whole day. I'll tell you why it ruins your whole day.

It's not because of regret remorse about sin. It is because you blew it. When you blow it that way

it's usually because you did not meet that standard that you had set for yourself. Perfection is trying

to do things for God without God and he never calls us to that. How do we know that? He said

throughout the Old Testament these are the standards I set for you and they were perfect

standards and they could not meet it and so what did he do? He said let me make you perfect and

the perfect one came and lived in me so that I would never pursue perfection again. In any area

that you pursue perfection. Sometimes I think the word screwed is so perfect for occasions like this

but I won't use that word because it's not the right word to use. Anyone who pursues perfection will mess up.

Big time. Get used to failing and get used to getting up. Get used to having desire. That comes

out of delight and if you don't have the delight go and ask the only one who can give you hunger.

It's strange how babies never have to be taught that you have to be hungry. They are born hungry.

And if you don't have hunger go and ask him. Any questions on that? It's a really bad idea

to be perfectionist. Christians cannot be perfectionist. You didn't take everything I

said in the beginning to heart right about you asking questions. Oh my lord. Okay go ahead.

Oh my lord I set myself up for this.

Yeah failing without aiming for perfection allows you to get up as enthusiastically. Failing when

you aim for perfection destroys you. Destroys you because it is self-effort that has just caused you

to fail and you can only exert self-effort so many times. But my god the Holy Spirit will pick

you up again and again because it says in the scriptures a righteous man will fall seven times

and every time he falls the Lord will pick him up. Seven was not a finite number. May this be the

death knell of perfection in your life. Every time when you try for perfection may you have the

words of Jacob haunt you. Perfectionists cannot be Christians. Christians. Christians. Christians.

It is sin because we are living in the wrong covenant. Yeah we've been we've been if the

covenant of death is where you want to live when we've been given a covenant of life. It is a

covenant but it's the wrong covenant to live in because its intent throughout the Old Testament

was let me show you what perfection looks like because I'm perfect and now that you've tried

and realized that it doesn't work for you let me help you. It's a privilege it's a responsibility

it's a challenge so how do we go about it. One be like Abraham. Be like Abraham where he sees these

guys in Genesis 18 three of them he insists on welcoming them he persist saying please please

come and have some food then he goes and runs and prepares food he prepares food and then he

stands there and looks after them he doesn't eat with them he's like a waiter a servant waiting

while they eat he waits upon them till they finish he waits upon them too because he knows

there's more more that they'll say and he refreshes God that's what the word says that he refreshed

those three he refreshes God. This is one way of learning how to host the presence of God and the

do we do this? Insisting persisting one of the things that I find is now become a negative is

the little books that people write to get you the five minutes of prayer that you need that is good

for beginners but it should be banned for anyone who's over one year old in Christ those little

things daily bread or versions of the daily bread I would call it more than pursuing it's like it's

like creating cleaning up your house and saying please come and visit my house please please let

me prepare some food for you it's more than that it's wanting him to stay it's wanting him to stay

and you find a different thing when Jesus visits Simon the Pharisee Simon the Pharisee invites him

and Jesus says of him at the end when I came in you did not wash my feet when I came in you did

not give me the courtesy that you normally give Jesus invited me because you know I'm a rabbi and

you wanted me here but look at this woman she's been weeping since the moment she came in she's

wept and washed my feet with her tears she's taken her hair and wiped my feet with her hair but you

you didn't even wash my feet you didn't give me any honor rarely does Jesus talk like that I may

answer just to you that sometimes we are caught between these two there are times when we are

like this but there are times when Jesus has become a regular guest what does it take to make sure

that the dove is not disturbed I'm not saying the Holy Spirit is like a dove that he flies away at

the least disturbance he's furious he's fiery he's strong he's not a pushover he's not some

sensitive touch-me-not but what if we thought for a second of him as a dove that's on your shoulder

that must not be disturbed how do we host him what will it take for me it'll take practice man it's

learned it's learned hosts are who we are meant to be guys hosts are who we were meant to be and

you will not come into the fullness of who you are till you both host him and manifest his presence

hosts are who we were meant to be right from the bat when Adam was here on earth hosts are who we

were meant to be when the Spirit of God came hosts are who we were meant to be in the temple

in the wilderness hosts are who we meant to be the Ark of the Covenant hosts are who we were meant

to be Israel hosts are who they were meant to be the church hosts are who we are meant to be until

we decide till Jacob decides that I want to host the presence of God and both host him and manifest

him not on a two-hour basis then you come into the fullness of who you are as ready ready Iris

hosting someone right now hosting 24-7 you want to talk about the dove let's move from dove to the

baby in their womb everything is measured what do I eat what do I drink what can I lift what I can I

not lift when should I sleep how should I sleep will my husband buy me that pillow that I'm

supposed to use or will Derek not sorry Derek that just came up here and all the husband said

not a good idea but the point is this that everything is so measured what do I need to do

to make sure I'm a host that will not allow this baby to be harmed in any which way that is a kind

of I mean can you imagine if that is the kind of care that went into hosting the Holy Spirit

can you imagine what that will do to your life it bothers me that it is not that important I'm

talking only about myself bothers me he has entrusted you with the Holy Spirit we need

to become aware of the person you wonder how Mary and Joseph felt when they had to deal with

Jesus a freak them out man create place through practice guys and the strange thing is as presence

becomes your lifestyle holiness becomes your nature as presence becomes your lifestyle holiness

becomes your nature if presence is not lifestyle then holiness has to be something we sometimes

strive for I have to keep in mind but when presence becomes your lifestyle holiness becomes

your nature that's my let's for a second think that Iris and Rene were like they used to consume

a bottle of wine every night okay and now it's gone the nature is completely removed why because

they have to take care of someone that they are hosting when presence becomes your lifestyle

holiness becomes your nature so automatic any questions guys

yeah yeah and kids realize it very quickly here kids are smart enough to know this holiness thing

doesn't work so then they have to fake it or hide it then we wonder why we lose them at 18

presence is very hard to escape once you taste it's very hard to escape if you can introduce kids

to presence oh my god you have them hooked for life looks what happened to Brandon and

Jeremy can send them to the coldest place on earth if you want to yeah presence is also filled

with joy guys presence is filled with joy and delight in your presence is fullness of joy

Psalm 16 verse 11 so would that be a litmus test for where we are at are you a person that when

Psalms 16:11

people spend time with they find out that one of your characteristics is joy and delight is

that what they would say of you presence carries peace presence carries peace in fact presence

carries so much peace that it threatens the storm it threatens the storm you can see where

Jesus was how he was man why is he sleeping in the middle of a storm because he's got presence

he's got his father's presence he knows his father's presence and presence threatens the

storm can you imagine that kind of a piece can you imagine walking into a room with that kind

of peace and presence do you know what it'll do to a room that is chaotic we can be this none of

these teachings are coming at the wrong time they're coming at the right time guys they're

coming at the right time because God has a timing for things and then he supplies it and why is he

supplying it it's not a wagging a finger Jacob can wag a finger but he's not wagging a finger at us

his thing is this is the right time so that you can all step into this he's over the years that

he spent working with us molded us into this place where these things can now happen receive

it with anticipation not with oh how difficult will this be it'll be easier in our minds we

think it's difficult it's easy for us you've been on the potter's wheel for years the clay is

malleable now and every time you think something is difficult some addiction is difficult to get

out of some habit is difficult to get out of immediately switch to the Holy Spirit because

he has a power he has a power just flip to him when in trouble when in doubt when in this place

where you're under pressure run to the Spirit of God run to the Spirit of God because when you run

to him he'll start engaging you in conversations with God and find time pull off the side of the

road find time engage in conversations with God because engaging in conversations with God always

brings awe and wonder always draws you to become a much-loved child if you don't know how to

converse stick with it stick with it stick with it conversations will start if you wait you've

sat before besides awkward people in the airplane and they'll stick with it they'll keep talking

they'll keep talking you wanted to shut up they won't they'll keep talking and eventually what

happens you begin to talk to them and then you have a conversation you know all this I'm just

repeating what you already know presence requires feeling presence requires feeling don't shy away

from it presence requires feelings presence requires feelings I'm sure I told you this that I stayed

at a hotel called feeling hotel in Taiwan no said at a hotel called feeling hotel in Taiwan there

was a big notice in the parking lot saying this parking lot for feeling guests only non feeling

guests will be prosecuted so still remember that presence requires feelings a presence

requires feelings so God is God is so desires to see Paul cry under the Christmas tree he Jesus

used to cry quite regularly have feelings man let worship open your feelings sometimes let time

spent with God open your feelings feelings must be felt if you don't have feelings ask God to

restore feelings ask God to restore feelings Derek ask God to restore feelings yeah Don you

don't need to ask at all that's not anything you need to do so okay which one of you was adopted

man feelings that yeah presence requires words presence requires words make visible the voice

of the Spirit make visible the voice of the Spirit majesty requires proclamation majesty

requires proclamation you cannot be in the presence of majesty without going whoa if that

is the only sound that comes out keep saying whoa but not woe woa h like whoa however it sounds when

you say it but make sure that presence has words please like Paul was saying we got to get rid of

the stiff upper lip a you can't have it presence requires words and so it doesn't matter I don't

care which country you come from I don't care what your demeanor is and how you're soft-spoken

get over it it doesn't help the kingdom it isn't help us doesn't have the body it doesn't have the

church so why you're still sticking onto it simple get rid of it guys we've been around we've been

with each other too long now to tolerate some of your idiosyncrasies if you knew this applies

to you also just in case I wasn't you thought I wasn't talking about you and break

let me end with this wherever you go the Spirit of God who you host

is looking for people he can encounter

love that wherever you go these are the things where can you be conscious of this

can you be conscious of it wherever you go the Spirit of God is looking for people you

can encounter he can and looking for people he can encounter sorry not t are you not you

he can encounter through you wherever you go with the Spirit of God who you host is

is looking for people he can encounter.

Wherever you go, the Spirit of God,

who you host is looking for people he can encounter.

One last time, wherever you go, the Spirit of God,

who you host is looking for people he can encounter.

Be aware of it.

Be aware of it.

Here's another line, eh?

Can you turn his affections,

can you turn his affections towards them?

Can you turn his affections towards them?

Put it together.

Wherever you go, the Spirit of God,

who you host is looking for people he can encounter.

Can you turn his affections towards them?

It'll look different.

This is how God kings.

This is how God kings.

Beautifully, wherever you go, the Spirit of God,

who you host is looking for people he can encounter.

Can you turn his affections towards them?

This is why God needs people with skin on them.

I mean, you can't tell a child who's afraid at night

saying, God will take care of you.

Doesn't help the child much.

The child wants someone with flesh on them.

That's why he provided parents so that,

otherwise he could send a child to the hospital,

otherwise he could send a loud voice saying, I am here.

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Doesn't help the child at all.

You want someone with flesh on them.

Man, to go and say, oh, it's okay,

oh, it's okay little Mikey.

Sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

You know how long I spent doing my hair this morning?

Sorry, Mike.

Sorry, my bad.

I just didn't think it would go that.

Yeah.

It's not going that way.

Okay, sorry.

Yeah.

So, little Mikey needs someone who can be there.

And that's what God is trying to do here.

Wherever you go.

Only my mother would try to help me.

Yeah.

Okay, moving on from Mike,

we'll move on to someone else.

Yeah.

Wherever you,

sorry.

Can you put the word direct?

Can you turn his affection,

can you direct?

Can you turn his affection?

Sure.

Can you direct his affection towards,

no, can you turn thumbs better?

Can you turn his affection towards him?

Yeah.

So, wherever you go,

the spirit of God,

who you host is looking for people he can encounter.

And once he encounters them,

can you turn his affection towards them?

His affection.

And he's going to turn his affection towards you.

His affection.

And his affection then will have to be heard.

What do you want me to do for Mike?

What is it that he requires?

Maybe it's his knee.

Maybe it's some money.

Maybe, I'm not going to try it again.

Maybe it's just to...

No.

No.

No.

No.

But at the end of the day,

we are going to have to turn our affection.

Mike, come on.

Come on.

Come on.

Come on.

Come on.

Come on.

Come on.

Come on.

Oh, my Lord.

Mike, don't leave.

Yeah.

But we need to turn our affection.

The one day Karen doesn't come,

this happens to you, eh?

We need to turn our affection, guys.

This is so critical, eh?

this. Yeah. This is so critical guys. Any questions, any thoughts on this? Can you turn

his affection towards him? I know direct fits, but can you turn, it's almost like God saying,

hey Jacob, just, it's not even, it's not even look forward. It's like, Jacob, can you see

what I see? It's almost like drawing you towards someone. Can you turn your affection towards

them? No, it's a sense of God saying, hey Jacob, I want you to see as I see. Did you

see what I saw just now? Can you do what I'm thinking? It's this engagement process. Hey,

it's a conversation. It's not just a command. Everything about God is so relational that

the fun of it is in the relationship, not in the command. The Old Testament is full

of commands. Jesus came to establish a relationship through which the nature of God can be expressed.

Then it becomes, yes, so in the end it becomes a command, but it is so much more fun when

he's trying to say, and you then ask, what do you mean? What are you seeing? And then

you don't see it and then you realize it's a process. It's in the conversation that you

get to know God better. Yeah. Yeah, and he had to totally just do it. And when they couldn't

it. But we don't realize this, guys, how badly God enjoys conversation. This is part of the

reason why he's so not interested in giving you answers. He is not interested in giving

you answers. He's interested in engaging you in a conversation to arrive at the answer.

That's the nature of God. What do you think was happening in the cool of the evening?

Why can't God just turn up at the oaks of Mamre and say to Abraham, Abraham, I just

want to tell you I'm going to destroy Sodom. Just came to tell you that and see you later.

No, it's this long process, man, where now the guy has to go get a fatted calf. You've

got to cook it. I believe it takes time to cook a whole calf and then you've got to get

cookies and biscuits and all that stuff. And they're waiting there. And then that's not

done yet. And then there's a promise given to him in Genesis 18. It goes on for so long.

But in the process, what do we get to know? What do we get to know? We are the readers

now. Abraham doesn't know what is happening. But now we get to know the nature of God,

how he behaves. Shall I hide from Abraham? It's so rich, man. This thing that God has

given us called a relationship. It is so rich. You know why it is so rich? Because there's

no end to it. All riches on earth have an end. You can put only so many zeros behind

a figure. This thing is endless, man. And it'll continue into eternity. If you think

what you taste now is good, what does that even look like? And your kids have such an

advantage because they miss out all those miserable years we had. I mean, today I was

watching as one kid after the other came up with those whatever you call them thingies

and doing their own thing, finding their own location and position. The worship team was

not important at all. And I looked at it in a marvel saying, Father, what a privilege these

kids have. Can you see him moving on others? Can you see him moving on others? Can you

see the Holy Spirit moving on others? Can you spot the woman with the issue of blood

in a crowd? Can you see the lame man at the beautiful gate having faith to be healed?

Can you in a room like this suddenly go up to someone and know that the Spirit of God

has Brecht's heart and that this is the right time to speak a prophetic word into his heart?

And the Father wants to say to you that as you grow older, you will have the characteristics

of Aslan. You're a cub now. At times you recognize your strength. At times you realize your strength.

But times between recognizing your strength and then going back into the natural Brecht

are long. So you get a taste of him occasionally and then you go back into Brecht. What I made

you for was to behave like Aslan, to be fierce, to know how to handle weapons with both hands.

So Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, I pray two things for this man. That when he gets up,

when he gets up Father, that he would shake his head like a lion that shakes its mane.

That when you rouse him up and the time is coming, even this week Father, when you rouse him up and

he gets up, Brecht will suddenly find himself looking in the mirror and he'll see the lion.

I pray Father, a fierce passion for Aslan. A fierce passion for Aslan. Let it rise up Father.

Let it rise up Father. This is what I ask for him, Aba, and I know you'll complete the picture over

the next two days. I thank you for it in Jesus name. Amen. So Father, I just lay hands on him

right now. I lay hands on him right now. I pray this into his heart Aba. I stir his heart up Aba.

I stir his heart up. Brave heart. Commander of men. Fierce battles. They call your name.

They call your name. Give him the roar of the lion Father within him. Let everything else fall.

Nothing left but that. So I thank you for this man Aba. We bless him. We bless him in Jesus name.

Can you see him moving on others guys? Because if you can see God moving on someone, you can

immediately hone in and direct the affections of the Holy Spirit on the person. Can you see him

moving on others? These are the things that all of us are called to do. To watch for it. Doesn't matter

whether it's in a church setting like this or in Wally or in an aircraft and sometimes it'll be

awkward. Sometimes it'll be risky. Sometimes it'll be inconvenient. But isn't that why we were born?

To serve, to exist for his service. When presence becomes your greatest treasure and you learn to

protect it, right? So it's not just that. See I'm almost done guys. Give me about five minutes.

Presence gives you presence. If presence becomes your greatest treasure, becomes your greatest

treasure, you will protect it. So the question is, is presence my greatest treasure? Yesterday we were

coming back from LA and Maria had come to LA and I had given her the cars, the keys to my car and

the token to get out of the parking lot. And I'm thinking to myself, she's not a Canadian citizen.

What if they don't allow her in? I was not concerned about her. I was concerned about getting the keys

to my car because that was my greatest treasure, not her. And I found myself praying saying,

Father please let immigration let her through. Time for confession since you're going tomorrow,

my dad will tell you now. So presence becomes, if presence becomes your greatest treasure,

you begin to protect it. May I suggest to you that perhaps it's not. Otherwise it protected,

it guarded. Like these women guard their babies in the womb or like you would guard something that

was sitting on your shoulder in terms of the dove. If presence becomes your greatest treasure,

you will protect it. And if it becomes your greatest treasure, Eden will be restored in your life.

I want to say to you that the best thing in Eden was the presence of God. I want to say to you that

the worst thing that happened in Eden was the loss of presence. Eden will be restored in your

life. That is all that was, everything else, the trees, the elephants that could speak and all that

stuff. I don't know whether elephants could speak, but he named all the animals. Yeah,

that wasn't the big thing. It was not that there were no cats and roses didn't have thorns. It was

not that. All that came after the fall. But Eden will be restored when presence becomes super

important to me and I protect it. Eden will be restored. Jesus had this ability to walk through

the earth and see two things. And you will begin to see those two things. Guys, this is not pie in

the sky. You will begin to see two things. And they will have two different reactions. One, you

will see the brokenness of the world and everything in you will scream for it to be restored. And two,

you will see what awaits a person at a time and the world and everything in you will exalt. What a

place to be. Caught between these two brilliant tensions. Broken because of all the things that

you see. That is so broken because you know how it used to be and you know what he has done in your

life. And then you see what awaits. And you see some of it will happen here now. And some of it

will happen only at the end. And you're caught between these two and you live there. The thing

that was lost in the garden was presence. We still find the world so beautiful to look at. The thing

that was lost in the garden was presence. The thing that was given back to us and that we should now

carry with great protection, great pride, great challenge, great privilege, great responsibility is

presence. And when we do that, not only is Eden restored for you, now other people start getting

restored through you. Because you're caught between these two things and there's a groaning inside

you that occasionally bursts into laughter because you see things happening where things are being

fixed. Setting things right. New things being beginning to happen. I will put all things back.

I will make things new. Ah, sadness in some places is coming untrue. This is where we live and it's a

great place to live in church. This is not later. This is what we're being invited to now. It is a

good time to live. People will experience the power of miracles of restoration. Yeah, let's close.

Praise God. Father, we just thank you for what you're inviting us into. I just take great joy,

Father, in being able to announce it. That's all I'm doing. I'm just announcing your intent. That's

all I'm doing, Father. I'm like a herald who's opened a scroll and is reading out the announcement

of God to our people that are listening. That's all. So we accept this challenge. We want to

carefully receive this privilege and we want to take the responsibility of protecting it. Please,

oh God, I know you'll do it. I don't need to plead to you. You're the one who's inviting us.

You're the one who's inviting us. We just want to say yes.

Let's end with no instrument. Just sing it without. The sun comes up. It's a new day dawning. Yeah,

we won't do communion today. The sun comes up. It's a new day dawning. We haven't done communion

for a while here, but you guys do communion in the house churches and hubs. I apologize for not

doing it together as a group, but we always seem to run out of time. I can keep you here until two

and do it, but somehow I feel that would be unfair. The sun comes up. It's a new day dawning. It's

time to sing your song again. Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me. Let me be singing as

the evening comes. We thank you for what you're doing, oh God, and we bless you. Bless the Lord,

oh my soul. Oh my soul. Worship his holy name. We sing like never before. Oh my soul, I will worship

your holy name. I will worship your holy name. See you when I see you next.