Inbreaking – Power Source

Do do do do do do do.

Okay guys, let's go.

Happy New Year and all that.

Yeah, that was heartfelt.

Oh my lord, what do I do with that kind of enthusiasm?

Okay, guys, so last week we had been talking about

in breaking and we said that we've reduced the gospel,

we've reduced the gospel to personal salvation.

We've reduced the gospel to personal salvation.

Just recapping a few things from last time.

We've reduced the gospel to personal salvation.

And so it went from, Jesus' words were different

from the words we use.

It went from repent and enter the kingdom.

That's what Jesus used to say,

repent and enter the kingdom.

That's what he used to say.

And it went from that to invite Jesus into your life.

That became the centerpiece.

And it is not how God wanted it to be.

Jacob, do you know at what point that started?

Probably some 200 or 300 years ago

is when it really began to happen.

At least, maybe it happened before,

but over the last 100 or 200 years,

evangelists started breaking away from the church

because the church didn't have a place for evangelists

but only pastors.

And so when the evangelists started going out,

their message was invite Jesus into your heart.

So it's not that inviting Jesus into your heart is bad.

It's a tremendously good thing.

But the goalposts shifted.

The goalposts was always repent

and enter the kingdom of heaven.

And to enter the kingdom of heaven,

you have to receive the king.

We completely bypassed Jesus' message.

And we went from repent and enter the kingdom

and to invite Jesus into your heart.

So that's one of the things that happened.

And then it went from God's intent

right from Genesis onward,

where he would say, I'm making all things new.

That was a statement right from the beginning.

As soon as Genesis three happens,

he is already on this quest.

I'm making all things new.

The seed of the woman will crush the seed of the serpent.

So it went from I'm making all things new

to I am taking you to heaven.

And this then diluted everything, man.

It's like a gross distortion that is godly.

It's a godly gross distortion.

Because it's not supposed to be this.

He came to say, I'm making everything new.

And we have changed it to I'm taking you to heaven.

And it went from repent and enter the kingdom

to invite Jesus into your heart.

And the strange thing is we at this church

think like this too.

We think I'm taking you to heaven.

We think invite Jesus into your heart.

And we don't think repent and enter the kingdom

and we don't think I'm making all things new.

At least it's not part of our DNA.

It might be there, but it's not part of our DNA.

So I might repeat this very often

because we got to get this right

because we can't shift God's goalposts.

Because then we're not playing his game.

And then we talked about this line from

Lord of the Rings that Sue had sent me.

We talked about this last week.

And there's this line where Sam, the hobbit,

turns to Gandalf and he asks this question,

is everything sad going to come untrue?

Because everything is dark.

He's just been injured in a fight.

He's lying in bed.

He thinks he's dead.

And he gets up and says, I thought I was dead.

And then he says to Gandalf,

is everything sad going to come untrue?

And Gandalf says a deep darkness has lifted.

And that's the question we need to ask

because that ties in with the kingdom message.

The kingdom or the in breaking of the kingdom.

The moment Jesus came, what was he coming to do?

Luke chapter four, Isaiah 61.

I am coming to undo everything sad.

I'm going to make everything sad untrue.

And that is our quest.

If we can wrap our heads around it Sunday after Sunday,

week after week, day after day,

it'll be a different way of thinking.

And our thinking affects how we behave.

So our quest then is go make everything sad untrue.

Our quest is go make everything sad untrue by the spirit.

Untrue by the spirit.

How far?

As far as the curse is found.

So Merry Christmas.

That's our intent.

So that's what we talked about last week.

Any questions?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So as soon as the fall happened,

everything was cursed except man.

Man was never cursed, it's strange.

There's no curse that was placed upon man.

Man would suffer the consequences of the curse.

But everything was cursed.

And so there is nothing that was exempt.

Creation started groaning.

The cosmos was beginning to now corrupt.

And it includes man, it includes trees,

it includes birds, it includes music,

it includes art, it includes every aspect of life.

And that is as far as the curse has gone.

There's nothing that was exempt from being redeemed.

And now God is saying, okay, a kingdom has come.

A king has arrived, a kingdom has come.

And this kingdom and this king

will make everything sad and true.

How far?

As far as everything was broken,

to that extent everything will be redeemed.

So that we will have something brand new,

something like Eden.

Eden will be restored.

Plan A is still Plan A, there is no Plan B.

Yeah.

Will you believe in the rapture or?

Oh, I'm taking you to heaven, no.

So both statements here are true.

One, that we need to invite Jesus into our hearts.

Because if you don't invite Jesus into our hearts,

we cannot enter the kingdom.

But what we have done is invite Jesus into your heart

so you can go to heaven.

And Jesus' words are,

enter the kingdom by receiving me.

And heaven is where his throne is.

And it could be in our midst during worship

and it could be another place.

So it's not that heaven is not real

or inviting Jesus into our hearts is not real.

It's just that we've changed the way this game is played.

So what do you do after receiving Jesus?

That's what has happened to churches, right?

Sorry, what did you say?

You go to church.

You go to church.

So what do you do after receiving Jesus?

Between now and going to heaven, what do you do?

But if we teach the kingdom first

and then receiving Jesus to enter the kingdom,

then it's different.

This was his call.

I'm asking you to come into the kingdom.

And we are saying, I'm asking you to come into me.

Very different.

Come and enter the kingdom.

Come and enter me.

Even now, even as I'm talking this to you,

it's not become normal for me.

It's not natural for me to think like I'm talking.

It's an effort and it's a great effort,

meaning I enjoy the effort, but it's an effort.

This is not some newfound theory, guys.

It's been there for very, very long.

You had a follow-up?

Yeah, I'm just thinking, so how do we,

and maybe you're getting this, but how do we

get to that place of, you know,

it's not just inviting Jesus to enter,

but it's like a repenting entity,

and how do we convey that to others

when we're sharing the gospel?

Yeah, like you said, I'll be getting there

over the next four or five weeks.

So the other thing we said was that the kingdom of God

is about something happening.

It's not a place.

The kingdom of God is about something happening.

It's not a place.

Because there's a tendency in the good old

Pentecost days that it was always a place

in the sweet buy and buy, and yet the kingdom of God

is something that is happening, and what is happening?

God is acting as king.

God is acting as king.

In the heavens already and on earth now.

In the heavens and on earth, God is acting as king.

Or in other words, God is kinging.

God is kinging.

God is kinging.

And what does kinging look like?

We said, we asked the question, what does it look like?

Does it look like salvation?

Does it look like healing?

Does it look like casting out demons?

Does it look like prophecy?

Does it look like mercy?

Does it look like race issues?

Does it look like environmental issues?

Or good stewardship?

Does it gush forth like a waterfall?

Or does it flow like a river?

Or is it a gentle stream?

What is it?

And the answer is, when God is kinging,

it could be all these, all one of these.

That is a catch, eh?

Because different denominations have different takes

on what it should look like.

And in that, we set ourselves up for a fall.

Because if God decides to come like a rushing wind,

and we are expecting a rushing wind,

and then come like a babbling brook

so that sheep can settle by and be led to pasture,

now we are finished,

because he didn't come like a rushing wind.

What is he?

But regardless of how he chooses to king,

it requires a demonstration.

It requires a demonstration of spirit and of power.

It requires a demonstration of spirit and of power.

Regardless of how he wants to do,

what he wants to do,

it requires a demonstration of spirit and of power.

And this is where Acts 29 has little of it.

We don't have oodles of this. We're not overflowing with this.

We know the theory. We expect it. We have faith for it.

We want it. The desire is there. Occasionally we see bursts of it.

But we don't have it as something that's continuously overflowing.

As a pastor, it's a terrible thing to admit. But it is true.

We don't have it the way we thirst for it. We don't have it the way the New Testament says the Book of Acts had it.

We don't have it overflowing. We don't have it present as a people.

We don't have it in individual bursts of brilliance. But we don't have it as a people.

And so regardless of how he wants to flow.

And so don't go into defensive mode because if there's anyone who should go into defensive mode, it's me. I'm the pastor.

So don't go into defensive mode like, no, but we do this. We do that. It's true. But it's not overflowing.

Yeah.

Pardon?

That's what I was talking to Jill about. We will find out over the next four or five years.

Thanks, Siddique.

From now on, if any such question comes, I'll say talk to Jill.

No, I'm kidding, Siddique. Feel free to ask.

So we don't have two things. We don't have overflowing.

We don't have power. And may I say we don't have expectation like the confident expectation.

We don't have the power. We don't have the confidence expectation when we face brokenness, bondage, pain, need.

On one hand, we don't have the power. On the other hand, we don't have confident expectation that we have what it takes to meet what is before us.

It's like a Hail Mary with a lot of faith. Perhaps those two things don't go together.

So let me rephrase that. It's this desperate desire and thirst to see it happen.

But there is always present a lack of confident expectation that it will happen.

I'm not saying this is our case all the time for all of us.

Some of us may have the gift of faith at times. Some of us may have what it takes at moments.

But it is not. I cannot say of Acts 29 or of myself that this is our overflowing natural way of living.

That is not there.

Maybe some of you have it at some time. Sorry, Joan, what are you looking for?

As far as I know, it could be need. But it could be feed. Yeah, it could be need.

I'd say there's a 90% chance it is need.

So the questions we need to ask is, are we?

I just want to pause on the word we because am I is not how we approach this. We approach this as are we?

Am I experiencing the overflow of the Spirit of God?

It could be possible that there are phases in your life where you actually experience it.

We are so keyed on to God and you're so on point.

I find that when I'm outside of Vancouver, I find this more easy than when I'm in Vancouver.

So I can't say am I. Are we is the question we have to ask.

Because every so often at Acts 29, we still haven't gotten the hang of the fact that this has to be what the church or the body looks like.

Isaiah 61 is great to claim it for yourself. But can Isaiah 61 be claimed by the church?

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. So you can say that the Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

I've been sent to set captives free. I've been sent to open blind eyes.

How many are you going to reach? You're one person who spent 16 hours at work and at home, four hours sleeping.

At least in Derek's case, it's four hours at work, 16 hours of sleeping.

So one person isn't enough. Are we? That's the question.

Now you multiply four by 20 people and you've got 80 hours.

So are we is important. Are we experiencing the Holy Spirit's overflow and power?

And my understanding based on what I see and hear of us as the churches. No.

If you ask me, do we thirst for it? Yes. Do we cry for it? Yes. Do we pray for it? Yes.

Do we want it badly? Yes. Do we want it for our own sake? No. Do we want it for his sake? Yes.

But are we? No. Please think of we, because if it's only you, it won't cut it. Jesus himself said so.

I gotta go. If I don't go, the Holy Spirit won't come. If the Holy Spirit doesn't come, you won't be able to do greater things than I do.

I can only be one place at one time.

Is the out breaking, we are talking about in breaking of the Spirit and of the kingdom into the world, is the out breaking happening through us?

Is the out breaking of gods of the kingdom happening through us?

Third question, and then we can examine it. Are we consistently undoing everything sad?

Are we consistently undoing everything sad?

Everything sad. And are we bringing righteousness, peace, joy and power by the Holy Spirit?

Because that's what the kingdom is, right? The kingdom is not eating and drinking, but is righteousness, peace, joy and power by the Holy Spirit?

And I'd say in all these things we have a great desire. So desire is not lacking. Great desire we have.

Each person, I mean I can go over this church one by one and whether you're here for the first time or whether you've been here since when we began, the desire is absolutely present.

God kept saying as I prepared this teaching that make sure you come at this telling the church what I really think of them, not beating them over the head about what they are not.

So he wants us to know that the desire is there. There is a disconnect though. That's what I'm hoping can be spanned, the gap can be spanned.

I mean do we desire his personal activity amongst the midst? Yes. Do we have a desire for his presence? Yes.

Then why is it that we don't see overflowing power?

Any questions? And so what does it look like when we look at the church?

Any questions? And so what does it look like? Here's the question. Is the out breaking of the kingdom? What is the out breaking of the kingdom?

Is it salvation? Is it healing? Is it casting out demons? Is it prophecy? Is it mercy? Is it race relations? Is it environmental stewardship?

Does it come like a waterfall, a river or a gentle stream? What is it? Is it Isaiah 58 or is it Isaiah 61? What is it?

Is it taking care of your neighbors? Is it feeding the hungry? Is it breaking bread with the poor?

Is it undoing bonds of wickedness? Or is it setting captives free, opening blind eyes, preaching the gospel to the poor?

What is it? It is all. But regardless of which aspect or which yarn of the sweater you hold, it all requires power.

Overflowing power. Overflowing power. And that we don't have.

And if we don't have power, and if we don't have power, the diagnosis is pretty easy, man.

If you don't have power, it's because there's some misalignment.

And I don't know, we'll figure out as we go. There's some misalignment with the Holy Spirit.

Because throughout the New Testament and the Old Testament, the source of power is very simple. The Holy Spirit.

Which is very odd, because if you ask the question of Acts 29, or of us seated here, like I said, whether you're here for the first time or the last, or been here, sorry, that came out wrong.

Whether you're here for the first time or you've been here forever.

We hear him. I mean, if there is a church that I know, and I've seen quite a few churches by now, if there is a church that hears God and does what he says, it is this church.

We operate by hearing. We follow him. Whatever he says, however ridiculous it is, we follow him.

Some of the most, what are those guys who can twist their bodies into any shape? That's what they're called?

You're some of the most contorted Christians I've met.

We can pack you up in a suitcase and send you, or we can put you in a giant ocean liner. It doesn't matter.

But we hear him, we follow him.

Oh, the sound. I was going to call you ventriloquist, but that's not right. Contortionist.

We hear him, we follow him.

But how come we are not overflowing with power?

There's a disconnect.

And it should begin to bug us. It should begin to bug us.

How come our people hear God? How come they follow him? How come they don't have power?

This question is because we've heard the Holy Spirit and it's in...

Talk to Jill.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I've got a few. And one of them is along these lines that you're saying.

There is a disconnect, guys. I hope it bothers you. As a pastor, it should bother me.

That... How come?

I hope it begins to bug you.

Ruth, can I help you with... That word is discount. Yeah.

Okay, it's not discount, it's disconnect.

The Holy Spirit and power have always been synonymous.

In the context of the kingdom and in the context of the gospel, they are synonymous.

They go hand in hand. Let's look at some scriptures.

1 Corinthians 2, 4.

1 Corinthians 2, 4.

I'll just read everything from the NIV.

1 Corinthians 2, 4. Let's start at 2, 2.

And in these scriptures, as we read them, and we're just going through the scriptures right now to point out

that the Holy Spirit and power are synonymous.

But in the future, if we took these scriptures and studied them, we would know where we are misaligned.

But we won't do that today. Today is just to show the connection.

1 Corinthians 2, 4. Starting at verse 2.

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.

And my message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words,

but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom,

but on God's power. 1 Corinthians 2, 4.

There's a direct connection between the power of God, the gospel, and the Holy Spirit.

Let's look at another one. 1 Corinthians 4, 20.

1 Corinthians 4, 20.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but a power.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but power.

More and more, churches are making it a matter of talk, because they don't know how to channel power.

We can't channel power because we are misaligned with the Holy Spirit, and we've got to find out where.

1 Corinthians 2, 4.

Demonstration of power by Spirit, not words.

Next. 1 Thessalonians 1, 5.

1 Thessalonians 1, 5.

1 Thessalonians 1, 5.

Starting at verse 4.

For we know, brothers and sisters, loved by God, that he has chosen you,

because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit, and deep conviction.

You know how we lived among you for your sake.

So now we see that it's again the Spirit of God, power, conviction.

Each of these sentences could give us clues as to why we may be where we are.

Romans 15, 18-ish.

Romans 15.

Yeah, 18 onwards.

I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I've said and done.

By the power of signs and wonders, power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit.

Crazy, eh? Again, it's the same thing.

By the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit.

Guys, as we go over these scriptures, most of us have the sense that,

Ah, but I know all these scriptures. Great. But look at them again.

So don't tune off, eh?

Isaiah 61.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

Two said captives, two preach the gospel, two do all those things, all the two do all those things.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

So how come the Spirit of the Lord is upon me and I can't do any of these things?

This is terrible, man.

Isaiah 61. The Spirit of the Lord is on me to do all these things.

How come I'm not doing all these things?

The part of me is excited because if we get to the bottom of this, then at least if we get the answer,

it's up to us whether we practice it or not.

Acts chapter one, verse eight.

And you shall receive the Holy Spirit and power to witness.

Where? Everywhere.

You shall receive the Holy Spirit and power to witness.

What are we supposed to thirst for? Is it mighty rushing wind? What is it?

How many times have we called out for the Spirit of God?

How come not much is happening? It's been at least two, three years.

Where are we missing?

Our services are great. I love our worship times. They're brilliant.

How come we're not overflowing?

Oi!

So if you think first we, then the I will sort itself out.

So if we can be all that, then you will be something.

But if you are trying to grasp, I'm not talking about you now.

If you are trying to grasp as I want this, without thinking of the we need to be like this,

then you might get the I, but it's quite idly-pidly, teeny-weeny.

So instead, if we can... Sorry, my mind went to that song from a long time ago, so I apologize.

Yeah, I stopped. It was too late, even though I was trying to withdraw fast.

But one day everything sad will come untrue.

So guys, if we think we first, that this is what we desire,

then all the little things come together to form the big thing.

And then we may have certain things we specialize in, but they're not important,

because we're working as a people.

It's something we have to think as. We have to think like that.

We have to think like that.

Here's the cool thing, guys. Anyone in this church can do anything at any time because of the Holy Spirit.

It's crazy. Anyone in this church can do anything.

You can do anything better than anybody else in the church by the Holy Spirit.

This is a common priesthood of believers.

Even when you aren't qualified, you can do it.

Do you have any qualifications for that?

Don't. Meaning qualified as in you haven't had the experience, you haven't been upfront,

you haven't been a regular teacher, you haven't been a regular worship leader. Who cares?

Sometimes when the Spirit of God picks you, Saul becomes king, David becomes king,

Joseph becomes prime minister, Moses the stammerer who fled becomes leader.

Changes. Yes, training may be necessary after, but the Spirit of God can take anybody at any moment

and do whatever he wants at any given time and do it better than the one who was paid or who was selected for it.

One of the things we'll have to explore is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Because the main purpose of being baptized in the Holy Spirit is to receive the power to witness.

We'll have to begin to explore that.

Explore is just a kind word. We'll have to begin to get the hang of it.

Let me make it worse. We'll have to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Here's another one. Luke chapter 1, I forgot the words.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

The Holy Spirit will come on you. This is with Mary. The Spirit of God will come upon you.

And the power of the Most High shall overshadow you.

Again, Spirit and power.

Acts 10.38, this should be like the full stop statement.

Acts 10.38, Jesus of Nazareth, anointed with Spirit and power,

went about doing good and setting free those that were harassed by the devil.

By whom? Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter's son, was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power.

So the question should be again, but aren't we anointed with the Holy Spirit?

Well then, where is the power?

Either God is not being faithful or we are not being faithful. That's an easy one.

Jill, talk to him.

It's a hard one, man.

We'll have to look at Acts chapter 20, John chapter 21, Acts chapter 2, Acts chapter 4, Acts chapter 10,

Acts 20 · chapter mention John 21 · chapter mention Acts 2 · chapter mention Acts 4 · chapter mention Acts 10 · chapter mention

and see what God is doing in the narrative to see, okay, so what are we looking at?

Because denominations are so caught up in the baptism of the Spirit.

So do you receive the Spirit fully or don't you?

And then what do you mean by the baptism of the Spirit?

So rather than, thank God I didn't go to, like I went to school and didn't go to school,

because at least it sets you free from strong doctrines.

You may have a problem, Dr. Tooney.

No, I'm kidding. Poor Tooney. He had such a bright future.

Oh, did you know that there are lots of doctors present in our midst?

Dr. Prashanth? Dr. Tooney? Dr. Anilay? Dr. Iris, right?

Dr. Manoj is not here.

Dr. Manoj is not here.

This is like a highly educated church.

It doesn't show, but it is highly educated.

Ephesians 1, 16 to 18.

And Paul actually, I don't know whether Ephesus had a problem like us,

but Ephesians 1, 16 to 18, Paul is praying for the Ephesian church and he says,

I pray that you know the length and breadth of the power of the Spirit of God that is present.

That was present when Jesus was raised from the dead.

Let's just look at that. Ephesians 1, 16 to 18. Ephesians 1, 16 to 18.

I keep asking that God our Lord, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be opened

in order that you may know the hope to which you have called

and his incomparably great power for us to believe.

The power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead.

How did he raise Christ from the dead? By the Holy Spirit?

He's praying for the Ephesian church, saying, I hope you know it.

Maybe some of us need to pray this for Acts 29 every so often.

So here's a small homework, okay?

Every so often, whenever you can, begin to pray Ephesians 1, 16 to 18 for this church.

If all of us begin to think of doing that, just take the scriptures and pray scriptures.

Just put Acts 29 in there and pray for the church.

If all of us do it, maybe we'll get at least one person doing it a day.

I would like to say, oh, maybe we should pray like that and wear God out.

But the thing is, Jesus said in Luke that if a father gives his son

fish instead of a serpent, scorpion, egg instead of scorpion and so on,

why would I not give you the Holy Spirit?

So there's no holding back on his side, too.

I'd freely give you the Holy Spirit.

So if there's no holding back from him, why is it that there's a lack of power in Paul's life?

Let's just pick on him. He'll be leaving soon.

John 6, 63. Is anything possible without this?

The Spirit gives life.

Ezekiel 37. Breathe on these bones and they will live.

The Spirit gives life. Genesis 2, 7.

And then God breathed into his nostril and man became a living soul.

The Spirit gives life. What chance do we have if we don't have this?

What chance does Jane have if she doesn't have this as a counselor?

What chance do I have as a pastor if I don't have this?

It isn't overflowing. It isn't overflowing.

When you don't overflow, you go to petways of doing things based on previous successes.

Psalm 62, verse 11.

Psalms 62:11

All power, including that which the devil has, all power belongs to God.

All power belongs to God.

Strangely enough, I was talking to Chad. That's not the strange part.

I was talking to Chad and I was saying, hey Chad, this year one of the things that I want to expose and confront and then increase in is power of the Spirit of God.

And then he said that the Assemblies of God, I don't know whether it's global or whether it's South Asian,

the Assemblies of God have chosen a theme for this year.

And the theme is Job chapter 5, verse 9.

Job 5:9

Job 5, verse 9 says, Job 5, where's Job? Job 5, verse 9.

Job 5:9 Job 5:9

And the theme is, oh God, where is the power?

That's the kind of theme that the Assemblies of God has.

These are Pentecostal churches that were born out of this experience of Pentecost that began to catch since Azusa, but where is the power now?

And Job chapter 5, verse 8 and 9 says, but if I were you, I would appeal to God. I would lay my cause before him beautifully.

Job 5:8

That's kind of what we're doing. If I were you, I would appeal to God. I would lay my cause before him.

He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.

Where is that God?

What we need to engage in is what Habakkuk does in chapter 2. Go to Habakkuk 2.

This is the kind of engagement that is just impossible for God to refuse.

Impossible for him to refuse. Habakkuk chapter 2.

Habakkuk 2 · chapter mention

I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts. I will look to see what he will say to me.

What answer I am to give to this complaint? If you read it from the NIRV.

I will go up to the lookout tower. I will station myself on the city wall.

I'll wait to see how the Lord will reply to me. Then I'll try to figure out how to answer him.

That's what we're doing. Okay, so here I am. We got a problem.

We know you are faithful, but how come we don't have power?

Okay, so here we are having a conversation with you. I'll wait to see what your reply is.

And after I get your reply, I'll answer you.

Or Isaiah 43. Come, contend with me. Argue with me. Bring your arguments.

And so we are bringing an argument. In this teaching, we as a church are bringing an argument to God saying,

we thirst, we desire, we delight, we want, we experience, but we do not have overflowing power. Why?

Any questions before we conclude?

Okay, so here we are having a conversation with you.

Any questions before we conclude?

Don? Derek wants what? Derek wants to leave early. Why does he want to leave early?

Don lives vicariously through Derek.

So let's look at some correctives that we can pursue.

I just want to place them before you and you can go ahead and ask questions.

Okay, so here we are having a conversation with you.

Okay, so here we are having a conversation with you.

Okay, so here we are having a conversation with you.

Okay, so here we are having a conversation with you.

I just want to place them before you and you can think about it and next week come back about it.

So one of the things that we may need to correct is, what is this baptism of the Spirit?

Baptism in the Spirit. What is the basis? What are the grounds?

Is there something to first being born again by the Spirit?

Because you can't be born again except by the Spirit and by the Word.

And then is there something called being filled by the Spirit?

And is it again and again and why?

Maybe that's something that we'll need to go and figure out.

And you'll have to stop being Baptist, you'll have to stop being charismatic, you'll have to stop being Pentecostal,

you'll have to stop being a tongue speaker or a non-tongue speaker.

You'll just have to be a Christian who knows that there's a lack of overflowing power, whatever it takes.

Because we owe the world an encounter with God and the personal activity in the presence of God will show itself in power,

has always shown itself in power and the Book of Acts is a perfect place to look at.

And if anything, we should be increasing in it, not decreasing in it.

The Book of Acts is a reference point, not a place to dwell in.

It's not we need to be like the church 2000 years ago. That's terrible.

I mean, who here desires an iPhone 3?

Alrighty, one, two, three, four, five on probation right now.

Second, without the overflowing power of the Spirit, the Christ in you potential for every believer gets lost.

What do you mean by that? Guys, do you realize that almost all of Christianity flocks to a few people for power, miracle, science?

So when there's a lack of overflowing power in a people, it is but natural that the Christ in your potential of every believer gets lost.

You'll again go to a few people. Even in a small church like this, you'll begin to go to a few people.

Because there's no overflowing power in the church. You can't go to Annie. You can't go to Betty.

You can't go to Tooney. You can't go to George. You can only go to Jacob.

It's so counter Christy. We don't realize how many things we are building a counter Christ.

This is not what he came to build.

Counter Christ means opposite of what Christ wants. Christ wants all of us to become like him.

The entire church to behave like him, not one Jacob or one Annie or one Betty to behave like him.

Because then everyone will have to come to us.

Third, what Paul was saying, are we offending him?

Is he offendable?

How does he react if you offend?

I want to change the word offend because that's a Paul word. Are we quenching him? Is he quenchable?

How does he react if you quench? That's a legitimate question.

In our passion for him, is it still possible to quench the Holy Spirit?

You guys who have spouses have realized that quickly.

That you can come dancing into your house after work really full of energy.

You're on top of the world and yet you end up quenching your spouse.

Derek is smiling.

George is smiling too.

Anne is smiling. Kamal is not.

So it is possible for a church like us still to quench the Holy Spirit.

I went ahead of time. I wanted to save it for next week but I blurted it out.

The Bible says, do not quench the Holy Spirit.

If it says, do not quench, it means he can be quenched.

In other words, the Bible uses, do not vex the Holy Spirit.

You can vex the Spirit.

Maybe there are things that we are doing as a church that quench and vex him.

Even in scripture, you talk about a person from Paul being taken to the slum.

It must have been something happening then, but they felt that they had to get Paul out of the state.

I'm hoping that Paul did a good job and then had other people bring handkerchiefs to church.

It starts that way but it shouldn't stay that way.

Otherwise your children stay home until they are 35.

Like I did.

Are we quenching the Holy Spirit?

Four.

One of the things Jesus did was have his apprentices shadow him.

After they shadow him, they learn how to operate.

Therefore, he can say Mark 16, 17-20 to them,

Hey, if you believe in me, you will cast out demons, you will drink poison, you will lay hands on the sick.

When he said that, they actually believed him because they had shadowed him.

Now our problem is, who do we shadow?

You won't get much shadowing me in this area because I have a lack of overflowing power.

We need people to increase in overflowing power so that we can shadow them.

So if you are a leader at Acts 29, can we shadow you to see overflowing power?

May I suggest to you that that's not where we are at.

You can shadow me for other things and you might learn some things brilliantly,

but when it comes to overflowing power, no, there's a dirt in my life.

This is all good news, guys. It's not a dismal message.

It is a message full of, oh shucks, now we know what we have to do.

Here's another one. Christ-like character is essential for Christ-like ministry.

You know, it doesn't say seek first the kingdom and all other things shall be added to you.

It says seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and all things shall be added to you.

So transformed lives is required for Spirit-powered ministry.

Transform lives is required for Spirit-powered ministry.

We know that, but is there a lack there? Is there a lack in my life?

Is there a lack in Christ-like character outside of when I'm doing churchy stuff or godly stuff or ministry stuff?

And that does affect power. There are too many scriptures that talk about that.

These are just course correction options that we will pursue.

Six. Is there compassion? Is there compassion?

Is your heart compassionate towards the world?

I read this somewhere, and so it's not a true statement, but it is a way...

It said this is how many Americans think of Christians. Not Canadians, Americans. Think of Christians.

It said many of them think that Christians are a bunch of homophobic people that love the fact that they are going to heaven and the rest are going to hell.

And whether it's true or not is not the question here. It's the perception.

And maybe the perception is a result of a lack of compassion.

And the Spirit of God does need compassion to operate. Everything since the fall or even before the fall has been a work of compassion.

So is there compassion?

And let me answer this question for myself.

Occasionally. Occasionally is on the other side of...

If on a scale of five, occasionally is always four and a half. It's not five and a half.

Occasionally I'll be moved by compassion. My heart will break. But is Isaiah 58 where I live? Nope.

Isaiah 58 is not where I live.

Two more and we're done. Seven.

The kingdom is always connected to pouring out life.

Where do we see this? They overcame the devil by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives even unto death.

And what is it related to that scripture? It's talking about how the kingdoms of the world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and Christ.

And then it goes on to say they overcame the devil by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives even unto death.

When I read the scripture, I thought to myself, Jacob, some of your problems lie here. You love your life a lot.

I can almost guarantee that in this church as you begin to love your life less, you will find the power of God flowing more.

This is very bothersome for me because I'm supposed to lead in this. I'm not able to.

Another scripture that we all know but we perhaps don't think of like this.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Where his name is not hallowed, power will not flow.

We disconnect. We have our own ways of breaking up all prayers. Our Father in heaven is one prayer.

Hallowed be your name is another prayer. And then we start, your kingdom come, your will be done.

God's intent is to be redemptive everywhere as in to buy back, to buy back, to restore, to restore.

But where his name is not hallowed, he cannot flow the way he wants to.

Where your kingdom come, his kingdom comes when people hallow his name.

And the only ones who can hallow his name are us. They don't even know it.

Do you hallow his name? Do I hallow his name in conversations? Do I hallow his name?

Yeah, not going into it today.

The coming of the kingdom or the extent of God's rule is always where his name is hallowed.

That's where his will is done.

So can you think of these three things? Purity, compassion, power, they are connected.

Purity, compassion, power. Purity, compassion, power, they are connected.

Any questions guys? I'm done.

Eight is hallowed. Where he is hallowed, where he is hallowed, there his will is done.

I was very affected by a line that Paul, this Paul, just spoke to me yesterday.

We were talking about Heidi Baker who has these orphanages in, I don't know if it was Paul or Kiero who said this,

has orphanages in Mozambique and other places.

And sometimes you have to go take care of ten kids who have such intense challenges.

Wipe the poo of kids, go to prisons, take care of orphans, or in really bad state.

There's this continuous difficulty helping these kids.

And then I believe Heidi Baker said to the volunteers who come, every time you have to wipe the poo off a kid.

Why don't you say it? The words were just right.

So we had an opportunity to go to Heidi Baker a few years ago.

The mission houses that they have, she looks after 5,000 orphans across Mozambique.

And we went to one camp where there were 500 orphans and we stayed there for a week as missionaries and we helped.

And there were local missionaries that are given their lives to look after these orphans from all across the world.

And so they were there for months or for years looking after kids and helping these kids grow up with no parents.

And so some of the people on our team asked these missionaries, how do you do this?

How do you lay down your life in Europe or America to come and serve these children that have got no future and that cannot give you anything back?

Some of them were disformed and they can't ever say thank you to you.

And it's horrible circumstances. I mean this is some of the worst of the worst that we experienced.

And these missionaries that had been there said it was quite easy once they understood the why.

Because Heidi Baker taught them that every time you clean a child, every time you put them to bed, wipe their bums,

every time you're a mom that's helping out, every time you go to prison and you serve these people to hospital, your life is screaming, holy, holy, holy.

And if that was just the remembrance of why am I wiping this kid's bum, my life is screaming, holy, holy, holy.

That was motivation for me to carry on doing it with no other reward.

Sometimes when you undo sadness, your life is screaming, holy, holy, holy.

But there's just no way to undo sadness without stepping into sadness.

You can't do it from this church. You can't do it from our ivory towers. You cannot.

Is that perhaps why the power of God is missing sometimes?

Any questions?

I'll be doing you a disservice if we don't get to the bottom of this.

If I don't lead in helping us get to this place of overflowing power, I shouldn't lead this church.

It's a call of the hour. We need this.

That's how necessary this is for our next step.

It's one of the few things lacking. I'm sure once we get this, then he'll show us a few other things.

But right now, it is something we so desire and thirst for and don't have.

We must get to it.

Why do we sing? How do we end?

So Father, we just ponder on all the things that have been said just for a second take time.

Jesus, I've heard that you put burdens on people.

I've seen in the Old Testament how you would put a burden on Jeremiah, a burden on Isaiah.

I've seen how you put a burden on Jesus, on Moses, on Paul,

where they would lie on the ground and they would say,

take my life but don't destroy this nation.

I would rather lose my place in heaven so that my brothers would have a place in heaven.

I don't understand that.

But I'm asking Jesus, for your own namesake, for your glory, could you lay a burden upon us?

A burden for overflowing power for the strangest of reasons and the wonderfulest of reasons.

Overflowing power so that we can make everything sad come untrue.

Yes, things won't change till the end of the earth, but it is also a present reality.

And then as we go into sad situations to undo them,

there'll be this worship that rises up from every fiber of our body and it'll hit the throne as we scream,

Holy, Holy, Holy.

We need this. Only you can give it.

Spirit of God, you and power are the same.

You know how badly we want you, but we don't have the overflowing power. We don't.

So could you begin to hear our heart cry right now, Lord, even if not spoken?

Can you hear it across the room?

I begin to respond to it, please.

Come, Church, just pray from where you are, not for yourself, for us, please.

I pray that we are not in a state of self-confidence.

We cannot do so, but our property is not for our ministry, but for this and his sake.

You cannot walk by it, as she is saying.

Don't pass this by on this one.

Who will you walk with in this situation?

Please don't take the whole year to do this, or leave me a sweet morning.

Where is the disconnect?

Stop with me.

Where is the disconnect?

What is the wrong thing?

We have cried out for it. We have pressed it for it.

Father, where is the break of promise?

We need a breakthrough.

We need a breakthrough because it's Jesus.

You can become whatever you want, because we've changed.

We've changed. I'll change.

Father, as a body we cry out to you right now.

We continue with you. We wait for you.

If we as a body do not get this, Father, what use are we?

We are not doing what you want us to do.

So we cry out to you. We desire this, O God, to be a help to this world.

It desperately needs a help.

O Father, we wait for you. We cry out to you.

Help us understand. Help us to walk.

If there is something that we are doing wrong, point it out to us, O God.

Point it out to us for our desires to make a difference in this world that you did.

You said that as you are in the world, we will be in the world and we want this.

We all desire this. We just cry out to you right now.

We desire this. We make it known.

This is something that we have to make as a body.

A hundred percent of us, Lord, that we would walk in this.

As Jacob said, we hear your voice. We try desperately to walk in your ways.

And we desire to see your power flow through us, O God,

out from us to those who desperately need it.

So can we as a body raise our voice right now and say,

Father, show us, help us that we might walk in this.

Father, we are all willing to change, O God. We are all willing to change.

You have placed personal demands on us, but we want it as a body.

When you want love, put your pick on it and press.

You come here and you want love. We need one and a half of us.

For your sake, not for our actions and our name.

Father, I start by saying I'm sorry that I didn't speak after this,

that I have suffered for myself, that I...

that it wasn't for us as a body.

But that's why I want to say that I hope others will be able to see it.

I hope others join us. I'm sorry that you go about it individually.

I'm sorry that that's not in your heart, not how you want to go about it.

What do you want to do with it?

I want to put up together that the glory I'm going to reach

in us and through us, that your spirit has unlimited range.

I want to expand this body and do this body.

That is what I want. I want to inspire for us as a body together

so people will know that they will see your spirit reign,

that Jesus is king of the universe.

Father, we acknowledge that we cannot do this without you.

Father, I thank you for every bone and joint and cell in this body.

Everything that keeps us together.

You are sticking with us and you are doing this because you love us.

I want to throw away my individuality.

Father, I want to say I'm sorry too.

Father, I want to say to the little boy who gave up his lunch

for the $5,000 that I take whatever pieces that I have and use them

and that there might be 12 bags left over for the pieces

after the $5,000 that I've spent.

Overflow.

Father, we are not satisfied with those little prophets that we chase after.

We desire a mystery in our spirits.

We will cry and ask that your church will awaken to a cry

that will desire even greater things.

That will desire that you manifest the beauty of who you are.

That you will be able to see the beauty of your spirit.

That you will be able to see the beauty of your spirit.

That you will desire that you manifest the beauty of who you are

in the spirit and to the lost.

I just thank you Father for the cry, Lord.

A cry, a witness of a cry that will touch your heart, Father.

Stir it up in us. Stir it up.

Stir it up. Awaken your people.

Awaken your church.

That will display your glory.

We will see it with our eyes.

We will see it manifest.

You will see the Father manifest.

I'm not satisfied, we're not satisfied, we're not satisfied, we're not satisfied, we're not.

We're desperate for more, we're desperate for more, we're desperate, we cry for more.

More and more of your kingdom, more of your glory.

Father, let no one be satisfied with this journey where we are at.

Father, don't let us escape this very cold war, Father.

This has to be, oh God, let us be patient and it cannot be quieted, Father.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Father, as your word says so, Father, we pray like Elisha, give us a double portion of this spirit, a double portion for everyone in this house of life. Everyone.

Father, as one of the existing things in my life, I am becoming an obstacle, Father. Point them out to people, point them out directly, because it should not stand in the way, Father.

Give me a chance to turn around and do whatever it is that I said.

To what does it state, Father, we are willing to change?

Father, I just want to apologize for wanting to be a friend to this world. To, in that I like what the world did. I like the values of this world. I like how the world speaks to me.

Father, sometimes it, many times it, is louder than what you say to me. And that makes me love my life. Father, I just want to like set that down across, but I don't love my life anymore. But I want the life that you've given me, the life that you've died to give us.

So I just want to like renounce all the things of this world that hinder me, hinder my life with you, and that distort my Father's face. I want to renounce, I want to kick those things away.

Open up our eyes in wonder and show us who you are and fill us with your heart and lead us in your love to those around us. Holy, there is no one like you, there is none beside you.

Open up our eyes in wonder and show us who you are and fill us with your heart and lead us in your love to those around us.

Father, we repent at the Church of any sophistication and any altruism. We want to be simple. You are simple, Jesus. If your yoke is not fitting around that neck, because like Becky said, we sometimes like being sophisticated and worldwide, now I want to repent at that.

I want to be a cool Christian.

Father, show us where the bones are out of alignment so that we can open up the

areas for you to realign it. Because once the bone is realized, then it will start gaining strength. Then the power has the ability to flow through those points and those joints that were once dislocated. So highlight for us as your body and in our lives, Father, where we have things that are dislocated that need to come into an alignment so that your power and your spirit can flow freely through us.

Father, we don't want to do the forensic on it. Why don't you just show us where the bones are out of alignment. Here, fix this bone. Here, fix that bone. You're a doctor.

I want to do this quickly, Jesus, so that we have enough time to heal and strengthen.

Keep at it during the week. Don't escape it. If you need prayer, feel free to come up there.