Pentecost-Gilgal

So that's good.

So over the next four weeks, we'll be talking about,

I think we'll be talking about, there's no guarantee,

but I think we'll be talking about Pentecost

and for the next four weeks, starting today.

And we'll take it through four stages.

So I want us to go to Second Kings.

Second Kings.

Hey Mia, you want to come up now?

What?

Every time I call you, you say no, come.

Mia, come, you and I will sing a song.

Second Kings 2.

And let me first go to verse 9 and then we'll trace our way back.

And so in verse 9 it says,

When they have crossed, Elijah said to Elisha,

Tell me what I can do for you before I'm taken from you.

Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit, Elisha replied.

You have asked a difficult thing, Elijah said.

Yet if you see me when I'm taken from you,

it will be yours, otherwise not.

And so when we talk about Pentecost,

one of the things we desire is more of the Spirit of God.

Let's just call it double portion for now.

But the question is, how do we get to this place

where we have more of the Spirit of God?

When we already have said that we have all of the Spirit of God.

How do we get to this place where we have more of the Spirit of God?

When we have already established from the scriptures

that we have all of the Spirit of God?

I want to say to you that double portion,

Hey, okay.

Okay, that was not what I was planning to do.

Okay, while I'm talking about that,

if someone could fix this and bring this a little lower.

Jeevan, you look highly capable, come.

So I'd like to say that when you talk about double portion,

double portion is not about an increase in the quantity of the Spirit.

It is an increase in your capacity to contain the Holy Spirit.

Down.

That's good.

Double portion is not about an increase in quantity of Spirit.

Double portion is an increase in your capacity to receive Him.

A double portion of the Spirit is not an increase in the quantity of the Spirit

because the Holy Spirit is a person.

You can't quantify Him.

But a double portion, pursuing a double portion

is an increase in your capacity to contain Him or your capacity to receive Him.

And so the hope is over the next four weeks, we can talk about

how do I increase my capacity to receive the fullness of the Spirit?

Because Jesus seemed to have accomplished it, so why not me?

So double portion is not,

is not an increase

in the quantity of the Spirit because He is a person.

But it is an increase

in your capacity

to receive Him.

It is an increase in your capacity to receive Him.

Hey, are there any more pens because this one's kind of beginning to die?

So to look at how we can increase in capacity,

let's go from chapter two, verse one to nine.

And I know you're familiar with this.

So second Kings chapter two, verse one to nine.

Yes, I know, Elijah replied, but do not speak of it.

The company of prophets with Jericho went up to Elijah and asked him,

do you know what the Lord is going to, that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?

Yes, I know, he replied, but do not speak of it.

Then Elijah said to him, stay here.

The Lord has sent me to Jordan.

And he replied, as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.

So the two of them walked on.

Fifty men of the company of prophets went and stood at a distance,

facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan.

Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, struck the water with it.

The water divided to the right and to the left,

and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha,

tell me what can I do for you before I'm taken away from you?

Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit, Elisha replied.

You have asked a difficult thing, Elijah said.

Yet if you see me when I'm taken from you, it will be yours otherwise not.

So I'd like to suggest to you, and over the next four weeks,

explore this pattern that one of the ways we can increase in our capacity

to receive a double portion of the spirit is to go through Gilgal to Jericho to,

or is it Bethel?

Or is it Bethel?

Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho to the Jordan.

And so today we'll only talk about what this could mean for us.

So like in the story of Elijah, always remember guys,

sorry, it's Gilgal Bethel Jericho.

Gilgal, yeah, Bethel Jericho Jordan.

So that's the process.

So over the next four weeks, we'll talk about Pentecost,

Gilgal Pentecost, Bethel Pentecost, Jericho, and finally Pentecost Jordan.

And the intent is, how can I increase in my capacity to receive or contain or walk in

the double portion of the spirit?

When we already know that his fullness is present in us, how do we do this?

So one of the first principles we need to establish is, like in the story of Elisha,

allegiance is the starting point of relationship with the spirit.

Allegiance is the starting point of relationship with the spirit, allegiance

is the starting point of relationship with the spirit.

It's a word that's rarely used nowadays.

Allegiance is the starting point of relationship with the Spirit, like in the story of Elisha.

The reason Elisha received a double portion of what was upon Elijah was because of his

allegiance to Elijah.

There were others who were raised under Elijah, but they did not have the allegiance that

Elisha had with Elijah.

Like in the story, allegiance is the starting point of relationship with the Spirit of Christ.

Allegiance confronts, once I say I have an allegiance, it also means that I confront

every other competing allegiance.

This is why the word allegiance is not used very often now, because we live in a society

that compromises, that is pluralistic, that requires so much accommodation and tolerance

that allegiance is never singular nowadays.

And so allegiance confronts other allegiances, and only after it confronts other allegiances,

every competing allegiance, only then can you enter into communion with the one you

have allegiance to.

So Gilgal is where we will start today, but remember that all of this begins with this

idea of allegiance to the Spirit, and in allegiance with the Spirit, I begin to come to this place

where I begin to confront every other competing allegiance.

Once you do this, love for God or love for the Holy Spirit, love will fuel allegiance.

Once you decide this, love will fuel allegiance.

Once love begins to fuel allegiance, it will prioritize things.

So when Don gets married or when Manoj gets married, the first thing that is required

is the words they speak when they say I do.

It is not as if they can back that up with anything but words, and they're saying I pledge

allegiance to you, I betroth myself to you.

So that is a pledge.

That pledge is then fueled by love.

Once it's fueled by love, what happens is priorities change.

Everything is prioritized differently once allegiance happens.

But first comes the words that pledge allegiance.

Then comes the love that fuels that allegiance, and then comes priorities that prove that

allegiance.

Words that pledge allegiance, and words must be honest to the extent you can from your

heart and you pledge allegiance.

Love then begins to fuel that allegiance.

And then priorities that you have thereafter proves that allegiance.

It's the same with Elijah and Elisha.

He uses these words in 2 Kings 2, 4, and the words are as long as the Lord lives and as

you live, I will not leave you.

Words, pledge.

Then love fuels it.

As in I won't, it doesn't matter, I'm not going to, I'm going to cross the Jordan, I'm

going to come to Jericho, I'm going to come to Jordan, Bethel.

I am not.

Love fuels it and then prioritizes it.

All the others had the same thing going for them, but they did not go down this route.

Fifty-one of them waited on one side.

Fifty of them waited on one side.

This is what increases capacity, guys.

So it doesn't matter whether you want to receive from the Lord or receive from a person, or

receive from an institution, or receive from a corporation.

It doesn't matter.

This is how it works.

If I want to receive from you, if I want to receive from the church, if I want to receive

from a corporation, if I want to receive from Elon Musk, if I want to receive from Jesus

Christ, if I want to receive from the Holy Spirit, the principle is the same.

No other method is able to cut through hard granite rock and create a channel that allows

this to happen.

I was reading a summary of a book written by a guy who saw how they built the Panama

Canal and the amount of work that is involved in building a canal that cuts through and

and builds these docks that raises water, lowers it.

And you read it and you think to yourself, my God, this was a lot of work, but someone

had the audacity to even attempt it.

This cuts through so much granite that you get to the heart of God much faster.

Any questions?

We never hesitate to offer words as long as you can put some honesty or sincerity behind

it.

We hesitate to offer words because we think we will not be able to sustain it.

You will not be able to sustain it.

You are absolutely right.

But the best you can offer is what you think every time you say or you have said, I do,

you thought you were going to sustain it.

Foolish are you if you thought when you stood there and says to all those things the pastor

reads out in a hurry and you say I do, if you thought you were going to be able to fulfill

that I would warn her in advance that this guy is incapable of doing this.

But words are the best we offer because it comes from a heart of sincerity.

Words are what I want to do now in this one minute and then in the next minute I will

offer it again and then the third minute I offer it again.

Allegiance is always pledged with words.

It is fueled by love.

It is proven by priorities.

Any questions?

This increases capacity.

It is never a question of God grudging to give what he wants to give.

It is a question of can I receive what he wants to give.

Yeah, every day, every day our capacity keeps increasing.

Yeah, every day.

A woman cannot imagine what she will be nine months down the line.

It's impossible to imagine that when she is pregnant.

Every day she increases.

But when you look at a Phoebe or a Mia and think to yourself my God this was in someone's

body, think to yourself impossible and yet every day and it happens a million times every

day in different parts of the world.

It is the increase in capacity that allows you to partake of double portions.

It is not an increase in the quantity of the spirit.

So focus on increasing capacity.

Any questions guys?

Allegiance is pledged with words.

Allegiance is fueled by love.

Allegiance is proven by priorities or actions.

So I can pledge my allegiance to you because I'm sincere.

But it is love for you that will fuel it as in I can keep it up tomorrow, the day after.

But it is there's a stage after that where my priorities have to show that yeah my allegiance

to you matters.

So the first place that Elijah and Elisha went to was Gilgal.

And Gilgal you find it in Joshua 4 verse 19 and 20.

Joshua 4:19

Joshua 4, 19 and 20.

Joshua 4.

See you don't have the problem of turning pages.

Joshua 4, 19 and 20.

On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal

on the eastern border of Jericho and Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones that they

had taken out of the Jordan.

He said to the Israelites, in the future when your descendants ask their father what do

these stones mean tell them Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground for the Lord your

God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over.

The Lord your God did to Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before

us until we had crossed over.

He did this so that all the people of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord

is powerful and that you might always fear the Lord your God.

So the first thing we know about Gilgal is that it was a reminder, it was a generational

reminder, it was a generational reminder of the power of God.

It was a generational reminder of the power of God and this stood for two thousand three

thousand years till something else replaced the Red Sea crossing and the Jordan crossing

and what replaced it was the Spirit of God raising up Christ.

Till Christ rose the one thing that Yahweh was known for was the Red Sea crossing.

Deliverance of a people by a sea opening and people crossing through.

That was the ultimate, like if you think of some guy's accomplishment you always take

the biggest accomplishment.

Oh by the way the smallest building in Toronto is the Toronto Hall of Fame.

But if you think of someone, sorry, stop it, yeah.

So when you think of someone and you think of their accomplishment you take the height

of their accomplishment and that's what they are always known for.

So if you take Edmund Hillary it is climbing Mount Everest.

If you take the Oilers it is winning the cup for years on end.

If you take the number of runs in cricket it's a guy called Don Bradman.

So there are these specific things that you connect with the greatest achievements and

when it comes to the Bible Yahweh was always known for one thing and that was the Red Sea

crossing and then it was reenacted again when Jordan was opened the same way.

Only in the case of Jordan there was no enemy army chasing.

So this was the ultimate achievement and then in the New, that is in the Old Testament and

that stayed till one day in the New Testament a dead man rose and that was Christ.

And so now the one thing that God is known for is the Spirit of God raising up Christ.

To see how impossible it is you should pick up a dead fly which will soon come into your

house in summer. You put a dead fly on the ground and try raising it up from the dead.

You should shout at it. I would suggest mouth to mouth doesn't work because it will go

into your mouth. So you can try everything with that fly.

Try raising up that fly. It blooming will not live.

I've tried this. I've tried raising a fly. Not because I wanted to raise a fly but because

it shows you the absolute deadness of a small insect. You can do nothing to it.

There's nothing you can do. Dead is so dead.

I remember trying to raise my father. He was so dead that doesn't matter how many times

you tell him to rise nothing would happen. But Christ rose from the dead.

And then you have people rising from the dead. Like our friend there.

That is a miracle. But Christ was the first man who rose from

the dead after being in the grave for three days.

Christ rose from the dead not to die again. That is the beauty of this.

Lazarus will die again. Marcus will die again. Jesus does not.

It's a new standard. And so Gilgal is a place where God sets up a generational reminder

of the power of God. And so when it comes to the Holy Spirit,

the new standard for power is the Holy Spirit. He was the one who raised Jesus from the dead.

It says so in Romans 8. If the Spirit of Christ that raised Jesus

from the dead now dwells in you, then in the same way that he raised Jesus from the dead,

he will raise you also. So Gilgal is a place where there's a generational

reminder of the power of God. One of the things this church talks a lot

about but does not match in its walk is the power of God on constant display.

But the day will come and it will happen. And the day is not far away.

The day is not far away. I won't be limited to a couple of guys going

to Perth or Sydney or London or Dublin. I'm talking about a common thing.

One of the common things in this church is hearing. Everybody seems to be able to hear.

One of the common things in this church is the ability to worship without much problems.

You don't need drums. You don't need nothing. You can worship.

One of the common things in this church is understanding how the body works.

In the same way, one of the common things that will surely happen in this church is

the power of God on display very naturally through its people.

The day is coming. It hasn't come yet. We are more talk than walk.

But it is very, very close. It's like a balloon that's waiting to burst.

Another few drops and it'll burst. That's how close we are.

It's a very thin filament that separates us from that place.

The youth met at my house, my apartment on Friday and I don't know why, but they left

about 60 balloons all over the place. My neighbors thought there was a machine gun

firing in the morning. I was on my knees.

But we are very close to this very natural display of power.

It won't be a conference. It won't be a big thing. It'll become a natural part of us.

I assure you of this. I assure you of this just based on the way God is going to do stuff.

It's going to be a very natural part of our lives. That's what I love about this church.

Most of the things that people write books about happens here quite naturally.

So Gilgal was a generational reminder of the power of God.

The reason I talked about this church breaking into it is because this church has to now

perpetually through generations produce a group of people that will know that the power

of God is a very natural thing. We cannot be named Acts 29 and not step

into it. The second thing Gilgal was, if you go to

Joshua 5 verse 20, Joshua 5.20, or not 5.20, Joshua 5 verse 1 to 8, 1 to 8, 1 to 8, 1 to

Joshua 5:1–8

8. Let's start at verse 2. At that time the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives and

circumcise the Israelites again. So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites

at Gibeath Haraloth. Now this is why he did so. All those who came out of Egypt, all the

men of military age had died in the desert on the way after leaving Egypt. All the people

that came out had been circumcised. But the people born in the desert during the journey

from Egypt had not. The Israelites had moved about in the desert for 40 years until all

the men of military age when they had left Egypt had died since they had not obeyed the

Lord. Verse 7, so he raised up sons in their places and these were the ones that Joshua

circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the

way. Verse 9, and then the Lord said to Joshua, today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt

from you, so the place has been called Gilgal to this day. On the evening of the 14th day

of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated

Passover. The day after Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land,

unleavened bread and roasted grain. The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from

the land. There was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of

the produce of the land. The second thing Gilgal does is it is a place where a sign

of ownership is entered into. And it is a place where shame, reproach, old conditions

and mindsets are rolled away by God.

Gilgal is a place, first we said, which is a generational reminder of the power of God.

Gilgal is also a place where a sign of divine ownership is established. Why, where else

do we see this? We see this in Genesis 17, where God says to Abraham, hey Abraham, I

want you to circumcise every male, be it a servant, be it a son, every male in your

group has to be circumcised as a sign of a covenant that I now am your Lord. And in the

same way in Joshua 5, we see sign of ownership being established, where it is literally saying

you are mine now Israel. Your fathers and mothers died, they did not obey. As you start

afresh, I want to establish a sign of ownership. I want to stamp you with a sign of ownership.

And secondly, in stamping you with a sign of ownership, I want to take away your shame,

your reproach, your psyche, your old condition and your mindsets. I want to roll it away.

And so he actually names the place Gilgal, because Gilgal means to roll away.

Once we understand that a sign of ownership is necessary, we'll have to start competing

with other ownerships in our life. We'll have to start competing or dismantling or breaking

away or cutting off other ownership in our life. And we'll just talk about five signs

of ownership. And why are we talking about this? Because if we can navigate through Gilgal,

we increase our capacity to receive a double portion. The great thing about double portion

is next year I can receive a double of the double that I have. I just keep increasing.

Any questions before we go on? If anything is unclear, please ask.

The Bible has always had signs of ownership. There was one point where a slave, if he was

set free, would take his ear and nail it to the doorpost. Other signs of ownership was

when a priest would be consecrated, they would take the blood of the bull or goat and put

it on the ear, on the toe and on the hands, on the thumb. In Jewish belief, circumcision

was a sign of ownership. So signs of ownership have always existed. Once you were branded

thus, it meant that nobody else owned you. And if allegiance is a matter of being faithful

in service to an owner, and if allegiance is what causes double portion, then great,

let me step into it. I would need more of the Holy Spirit. For where we are going, we

all need it. It changes us. The power of the Holy Spirit is not just for people to

get healed. The power of the Holy Spirit is so that I change. Boy, do I need change.

So here are some things that you have to be aware of so you can break out or cut away

the ownership or the mastery of these usurpers in your life so that you legitimately are

owned by only one. So one of the things that I must break away from is things of my former

life. Things of my former life. All of us still struggle with sins, habits from our

former life, as in our life before we got born again. In Ephesians 422, it says that

putting away my old self and being renewed in the likeness and the image of God. I may

be wrong, but I don't think there's anybody in this room who does not struggle with sins

and habits from a former life. And by struggle I mean, for some of us the struggle is so

intense that we succumb to it. For some of us the struggle still exists, so we have to

walk circumspectly. For some of us in some areas, we don't even have to struggle because

we escape the gravitational pull of sins and habits from our former life. But that is one

of the things we have to get rid of. Ephesians 422 talks about it. Ephesians 422. In doing

this I suddenly increase in capacity because when I'm emptied of the things of my former

life there is more space. One of the ways you can measure your purity and your intimacy

with God is your desire for holiness. A desire for holiness, a desire, and the operative word

here is desire. A desire for holiness is a measure of your intimacy and purity. A desire

for holiness. How, how, it's such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such a, such

a litmus, eh? Because it's one thing to be holy because you're a Christian, it's one

thing to be holy because you're active in ministry, but a desire for holiness, a yearning

that it is important for me to be holy, to be set apart. Holiness matters to me, it is

critical to my life. I'm not a complete person if the desire for holiness is missing. A desire

for holiness is a measure of my intimacy and my purity. When the desire is absent, immediately

begin questioning life, eh? When the desire is absent, purity and intimacy will begin

to unravel. Just keep that in mind. So the first one is your former life. Things that

you struggled with in your former life. The next one, I didn't know what to call it. I

wanted, I didn't know whether to call it my human life or my soul life, so I'll call it

both. These are usurpers who try to exert mastery over my life and it lessens my capacity

to receive the Holy Spirit. When I say human or soul, I mean my intellect, my emotions,

my politics, my environment, not my environment, my intellect, my emotions, my life, my life,

emotions, my politics, my culture. These begin to, these begin to just diminish my capacity

to receive the Holy Spirit. And these are often hijacked, these are often hijacked to

delay, divert, or deceive me and brings me to a place of diminishing. It diminishes my

ability to receive the Holy Spirit. It diminishes my ability to receive more of the Spirit of

God who already lives within me. I was checking on some scriptures on Nicodemus. Nicodemus

was a guy who, please remember, as much as I love the movie Chosen and the series, Chosen

is a narrative that is built out of scripture. It is not scripture. So when we see Nicodemus

in the Chosen thing, it's very easy to think of Nicodemus as such a wonderful guy. And

he may have been that. But Nicodemus struggled with this. In John chapter 3, you find him

John 3 · chapter mention

approaching Jesus at night. Why? Because Nicodemus was one of the Pharisees and it was not possible

for him to come out in the open because he was scared of what his people would say if

he was found associating with Jesus. So in John chapter 3, you hear him coming at night

John 3 · chapter mention

and having that conversation with Jesus. And then again, in John chapter 19, verse 39,

John 19:39

he's coming again at night. This time he's coming with 100 pounds of spices. Why? Because

he wants to put those spices on Jesus' body and bury him. And he still does not want to

be out in the open. Our intellect, our emotions, our culture, our alliances, our political

thinking, you have no idea how powerful political thinking is, especially in the United States.

It is crippling the work of the Holy Spirit. The thing behind politics, guys, is not ideology,

it is money. And yet politics is super important to Christ because Christ is about a king and

a nation. And politics is also about power and cities and nations. It is important to

him. Well, that's not for today. Nicodemus was a guy who struggled with this. Mary and

her sons, Mary, his mother, and her sons, when you read Mark chapter 3, verse 20, you

Mark 3:20

see Mary and her sons discussing that Jesus is out of his mind or that he's crazy. We

need to do something about it. Emotions took over. And then after discussing that in verse

31, Mary and her sons actually go and stand outside the place Jesus is preaching and says,

ask him to come and meet us. And that is when Jesus has to take the kind of unnatural step

as a son of saying, who is my mother and who is my brother? But they that follow my will.

Why are we talking about that? Because we don't realize how much our emotional and intellectual

makeup affects the work of the Spirit in our lives. We don't realize this. We think it

is natural. It is not natural. Some things are natural. Some things need to be changed.

We can't change it all at a time. So I go and ask the Holy Spirit, so in this area

I seem to be struggling when it comes to emotions. I can be on an up or a down or I can be lashing

out or holding back or I can be afraid or I can be too abrasive. So in this area could

you help me? Because there's a certain reaction that keeps coming out. Culture. You think

your culture doesn't affect you? You think being Indian doesn't come with a baggage?

There is an attempt nowadays to redeem things from culture. It is important that you redeem

things from culture. But first get rid of the garbage. If you can't get rid of the garbage

you won't be able to see the treasure. Try to find a gold ring in one of those big thingies.

Oh it is so funny. When I used to stay in the old building I was tossing garbage and

my keys went down the chute also. It's the only keys I have. And so now I'm not going

to find them. Five minutes later I'm in that huge thing. It was so hard to find my key

and you know my biggest fear? Someone else sending garbage down. So my prayer was not

father let me find the key. My prayer was father while I'm finding the key let no one

throw garbage down because God knows what's coming down that chute. And I searched and

searched and searched and couldn't find it. Nobody threw garbage down. What had happened

was I threw the garbage down with such force that the key missed the whole bin and went

out. That is the first time I had to have a shower because I handled my keys. So it's

very hard to first get rid of some of this garbage that collects in my life because of

my intellectual, emotional, political and cultural beliefs and systems before you go

looking for the treasure. Jesus can find treasure in trash. You're not like that.

You can be like that one day. Athens, if you read Acts 17 you see what culture did to Athens.

When you read Acts chapter 17 verse 10 to 16 you see that their favorite thing was to

Acts 17:10–16

have discussions about resurrection, about new life, about this, about that. But they

would not believe anything to the point that Paul had to say in 1 Corinthians 1 that the

Jews look for a sign and the Greeks look for knowledge. Cultures come with baggage.

Your culture comes with baggage. It prevents the Spirit of God from doing the work of God.

We must attempt to get rid of it by asking the Spirit of God to show things in my culture

that prevent me from behaving a certain way. Why are we doing this? So that we can increase

in our capacity. Okay, moving on. The third thing we have to deal with is our personality.

Our personality. This is a huge one. Jesus, I don't know whether he knew it or not, but

one of the things Jesus does in Mark chapter 3 verse 17 is he calls John and James the

Mark 3:17

sons of Boanarges. I don't know how to pronounce it. Basically it means sons of thunder. He

names them that because he knew what they could be in terms of their personality. And

then you find in Mark chapter Luke 9 verse 54 John and James are so upset that the Samaritans

Luke 9:54

are not receiving Jesus that their response is, hey Jesus, if you want we can do you a

favor. We can just call down some fire and frizzle all these guys out. That is a reaction.

Remember one guy saying to me, Jacob, if you want to call down fire from heaven, make sure

you're wearing an asbestos suit. Meaning if you call down fire, you'll get burnt too,

so be careful. And Jesus turns to them and he says, you are not of the same spirit. Your

emotions and my, sorry, your personality and my personality is a certain type. I mean,

if I stood next to Matt, you would know our personalities are different, right? Matt is

a gentle soul. I'm a gentle soul. See, you laugh at it as if it's a joke. It's that bad.

The point is our personalities are not all God. I want to say this in all humility and

with much respect and gratitude. In most churches, a lot of things that I do would not have been

tolerated by the church, but you have. You have. And so I, for a moment, I'm not under a delusion

that my personality is Christ's personality. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not.

It can rub you wrong. It can sometimes be a barb that pokes you. But thank God that

there are some good parts that prevents you from leaving. But our personalities need to

change. As my personality changes, then I become more, I increase in capacity to receive

more of the Spirit of God. At the end of the day, Jesus, it is the same Jesus who was gentle

with the tax collector and the prostitute who did take a whip off and started chasing

the moneylenders out. So it's not a personality type. It is that my personality does get in

the way and yours does too. I pray God that you admit it. Some of our personalities are

shaped by our background and our environment. But then we have the Holy Spirit, right? These

are ways to increase. Personality is distorted by experience and background. One of the classic

examples is Gideon. Gideon is threshing wheat in a wine press. He's afraid. He's speaking

what has happened to him. Can God be trusted? He has not been around. We have been messed

around with, beaten up so many times that I do not even trust when you call me mighty

warrior. I'm the least of the tribe of Benjamin. My family is not of much value. This is what

he's saying to an angel of God. To begin with, when an angel appears, you straighten up.

But this guy cannot straighten up because his personality is so deeply affected by his

environment and background. But then there is the Spirit of God. That changes Gideon.

And God allows time for you to change. Gideon did not go pull down the Baal statues or idols

in the daytime. He did it during night. When he was told to go do it openly, he did it

quietly. God is okay with that because as the personality is changing, you are improving.

But my God, if I don't make an attempt to change it, then you will have to live with

Christ plus something. It affects our responses. It installs triggers in our life. It affects

our life. I must change in this man. The next one, theology. All of these things we come

with and if it doesn't change, it becomes a problem. Theology. Acts chapter 10, verse

Acts 10:9–17

9 to 17. Here is a man who is arguing with God saying, I will not eat these creepy crawlies

that you are lowering in a sheet because I am a good Jew and I want you to know Yahweh

that there is no way I am going into a Gentiles house. Cornelius has sent people, they are

waiting outside to take Peter. It is going to be the moment when the earth is changed

where finally the Gentiles are participating with the Jews in the grace of God poured out

through Christ. And three times God had to lower that sheet with creepy crawlies in it.

He didn't do it three times to confirm what he was trying to say to Peter. He had to lower

it three times because Peter was not willing to change his theology. He is arguing with

Yahweh, the one who gave the laws in Leviticus about what is kosher and what is not kosher.

We have our own theologies too. If Acts 29 doesn't change, if I don't change, if you

don't change, we will have the same problem. Third time finally he comes to his senses.

God had to do it three times because he did not listen the first time. Had he listened

the first time it would have been done with. What is your theology on things? Does it match

up with the nature of God? So important. Adorn the doctrine of God by adorning the nature

of God. Adorn the doctrine of God by adorning the nature of God. You don't adorn the doctrine

of God by adorning the Greek and the Hebrew. I was saying to Tuni a few days ago, you don't

have to be educated to be a good dad. We think education means something. It doesn't. You

can have illiterate dads that are splendid fathers and you can have highly literate dads

with doctrine and a few letters after the name that are crappy fathers. Adorn the doctrine

of God based on the, adorn the doctrine of God by adorning the nature of God. Meaning

my theology should change based on my increasing knowledge of the nature of God. My theology

must change based on the increasing nature of the knowledge of God. Increasing knowledge

of the nature of God. If it doesn't then you're holding on to something from the past then

you will not be able to participate in the greatest move amongst the Gentiles that happened

in Acts chapter 10. You will be Peter the Great who did not make it. Change your theology.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

All of us have pet theologies. One of the questions I often ask when things, you know

when theology gets really difficult, when what we believe in is not working. When what

we believe is working it's great, it's easy to believe. But when we, what we believe is

not working that is when we come up with stuff. Because we want to, we want to somehow fit.

Be careful of that. That is not how this works. By name, if I don't get healed or I don't

get delivered or I don't get what I need or I don't understand this or I don't understand

that, I can't now take it and shape it so that I can fit in it. That's creating Michelangelo's.

That's painting God as a human with a beard and slightly old. Sistine Chapel. God looks

like man, slightly older. We can't do that. When theology doesn't work then I have to

go and find out God, what is your nature? I don't understand why things are not happening

but I've got to look at your nature. How do I look at his nature? I look at his nature

by looking at the visible image of the one who represented his nature. And there I begin

to start the process of I do not understand it, it is not working. But I see it working

in this man's life. Who is your son? The brilliant, radiant and visible image of you, the invisible

God. He I will trust, me I will not, for let God be true and every man a liar. Start there.

That is your fundamental place of starting. Let God be true and every man a liar. There

would be fewer books in the world if we could stick with this. That's where we start from.

Then we build from there. Don't know what your previous background is. Hindu, Muslim,

Buddhist, Pentecostal Protestant, Catholic. Pack it away. Come out of the tomb. Let them

go and find it neatly wrapped and kept away. You didn't even take it with you. Let them

build a shrine around it and call it the Shroud of Turin but you leave it. Come out of the

tomb. Did you come from an orthodox church, a Pentecostal church? They both have enough

rituals there that can drown you. Put them away. Fold them. You move on. One of the things

that Romans chapter 7 says, and this is critical. Romans chapter 7 says that as long as a man

Romans 7 · chapter mention Romans 7 · chapter mention

is married to a woman, he cannot marry another because if he, he talks about the woman, as

long as a woman is married to a man, Romans chapter 7 verse 1 onwards, as long as a woman

Romans 7:1

is married to a man, she cannot marry another because if she marries another she is an adulteress.

But if the man dies, then she is free to marry another. You would think he's talking

about marriage. He's not talking about marriage. He's saying if you belong to Christ and if

you want to marry Christ, you will have to have what you were married to before dead

so that you can join yourself to Christ, your bridegroom. You cannot be in one system and

marry another system. That is adultery.

Last one. Spiritual caliber. As in, when we do well, we've got to be careful that that

doesn't become something that limits the capacity that I have to handle the spirit. Spiritual

caliber. Sometimes it is possible to be doing so well at Acts 29 or in your own individual

lives or use our church as a model for others to copy and all that stuff that the spirit

of God is not able to do anything more because we are so full of what the spirit of God has

been doing. One of the cool things that happens at Gilgal is that they gather around the only

calibration that we follow and that is the Passover lamb. They gather around to eat the

Passover meal again. They had eaten it long ago in Jerusalem. This is a new breed, a new

bunch of guys who don't know their fathers and mothers who disobeyed and they gather

together to eat the Passover lamb. What they don't know is that as soon as they finish

eating the Passover lamb, manna is going to stop. These kids had only grown up on manna

and the moment they eat it, the next morning they go out and they're squat. There's nothing

lying on the ground. Must have been like crazy. It's like kids who were born during

COVID. They can't understand why people don't have that white thing over their faces anymore.

Mama, alien. Masks are off. Most kids think that's how you're born. And so there are these

40 year olds. They'll make a movie about this. You just watch. There are these 40 year olds

who have known nothing else but manna burgers, manna dosas, masala manas. That's all they've

known. Quail wrapped up with masala in manna. Manna burgers. Beyond manna burgers. That's

the worst. Put vegetables in it and give it to you and call it beyond manna. And so this

is what they were accustomed to and then they have Passover meal and suddenly it's all over

and so the only constant with the Holy Spirit is change. The only constant with the Holy

Spirit is change. And that is something God has done brilliantly in this church where

change is not something you're averse to or if you're averse to it you are not showing

it anymore. But change is the only constant. It's authored by, fueled by and sustained

by the Holy Spirit. And so the only constant with the Holy Spirit is change. And that is

the only constant that it's authored by, fueled by and sustained by the Holy Spirit. And

it's the only constant. And just remember that sometimes our spiritual caliber can limit

the capacity of the Spirit. Next time we'll do Bethel. I would suggest that you go home

and look at this. The great advantage of teaching is I look at it before I come and

then look at it after we are done. You have to try and look at it after you hear it. What

is it in your former life that you can ask the Holy Spirit to break away or cut out and

let him help you? If it happens instantly, blessed are you. Some of us have had to struggle

with it. What about your intellectual, emotional, cultural baggage that is delaying, diverting

or deceiving you? If it could happen to Nicodemus, Jesus' mother and brother, Peter, then it

can happen to you. What about your personality, which has been distorted by experience and

background, where you speak like Gideon, where there's an instant trigger or a response that

affects everything you do, so much so that Jesus has to turn around and say, Jacob, you're

not of my spirit. What about your theology? What are you holding on to? What have you

shaped to match your circumstances? And finally, are you so full of what the Holy Spirit was

doing two months ago that you do not allow the Holy Spirit any room to continue doing

what he really wants to do? This is what the act of yielding looks like, guys. And so I

end with a sign of divine ownership that we can practice. And I left this out for the

end. The sign of divine ownership that we can practice is communion. That is the sign

of divine ownership. So let's just partake in communion and then we can go. Wow, not

bad. 101 with all those reports. I'll be here as far as I know, God willing, for the next

four Sundays. My trips will be in between the week to places like New York or Los Angeles

or Vernon. So if you need to get in touch with me, feel free. Guys, pray about what we need

to do. Not pray about. Begin to try and talk, have conversations with God about what we

need to do with this building because our lease expires in a month. And don't know what

to do next, whether to continue here, whether there's some other place waiting for us, whether

I should approach the owners or not, I don't know. So we'll just keep it for a second and

then I'll give it to you. Yeah. So just begin asking, having conversations with God about it,

let's see what happens. Because I don't think the owner has realized that there are no checks

in July. So, then if you want to buy this place, feel free. Hey, don't. So after your marriage, you'll

have a reception in Vancouver also? Yes. Okay. Derek, you escaped. You had a super small

marriage. Yeah, I think that would be better. I think you should both do it together. Yeah.

Because he escaped doing a big wedding in Kerala. He used COVID as an excuse, invited 20 people

out of which 18 was family. And then he didn't have a reception when he came back here either.

Derek, you escaped. You had a super small marriage. Yeah, I think that would be better. I think

you should both do it together. Yeah. Because he escaped doing a big wedding in Kerala. He used

COVID as an excuse. Yeah. I have a feeling these guys will go cheaper on us and just

combine. In the end, there'll be four people having one reception.

Come, guys. What are you?

Oh, you're bringing the same... Oh, sorry. I thought it was the cup. No, no, you can wait.

Yeah, I just wanted the cup. Yeah. So, guys, I just want us to remember that today when we are

partaking of this, we are saying this is a sign of divine ownership. And so one of the things

that I know you've heard before is this idea of the bride listening in as the bridegroom would

come and offer the father the terms of betrothal. And it would be that he would provide for us,

that he would bring us back to the house of the bridegroom. And so I think that would be

a good idea. And I think that would be a good idea.

And so I think that would be a good idea.

And so I think that would be a good idea.

And so I think that would be a good idea.

And so I think that would be a good idea.

And so I think that would be a good idea.

And so I'll go with what I've heard. The bride would listen to it and there would be two cups

kept there. And if the bride agreed to the

price and to everything that was suggested during betrothal, she would take the cup,

she would drink it, and she'd turn it upside down, saying that

I commit to this betrothal. And the betrothal was, I only have eyes for you,

I am yours now and nobody else's. It was a sign of divine ownership.

So at the risk of even dirtying some of the chairs that we sit on,

or maybe your palm,

let's do that. Let's eat of this bread and drink of this cup and pledge our allegiance with

words, in your own words to the Lord, saying this is my small sign

of ownership that I want to enter into. Own me. You already own me, I'm just acknowledging it.

It's not even own me. It is you have paid the price. I am yours. 1 Corinthians 6, so beautiful.

Do you not know that you are not your own? You were bought with a price. Therefore now

you are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Yeah? Let me just read the

scripture. 1 Corinthians

6, towards the end.

Yeah. Let me start from verse 17.

But he who

is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual

immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body.

But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

Don't worry about understanding that right now. Understand 6, 17. But he who is

joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. And now go to verse 19 and 20.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body.

So we are already owned, but there's just a sign saying, I love my ownership.

Thank you. Yeah? So guys, if you want to come and distribute.

Father, can I just skip on the day that you were

betrayed and go this route today? Okay. Let's take it.

And the cup too. And then once we do, just do that symbolic act and

we'll be done.