Naphtali

If you want a title for today's teaching, it's naftali.

Naftali.

Naftali, naftali, naftali, naftali.

Naftali.

Naftali means wrestling.

Naftali means wrestling.

Hey, can you grab me some hot water?

Naftali means wrestling.

Usually on New Year's Eve, we glibly use Philippians 3.14,

and we say stuff like, not looking backwards, but looking forward,

pressing on towards things that God has grasped us for.

That's a great passage, but the thing is, most of the things we wrestle with in 2021,

we will have to take into 2022.

We can't leave things and just walk away.

A restart doesn't mean that you don't carry into 2022 things that need to be dealt with.

A restart means God's giving us a fresh page saying,

let's scribble your problems on this page again,

let's scribble the things you're wrestling with,

and let's start all over again.

Times like this are a fresh opportunity to deal with unfresh things,

and a fresh opportunity to deal with fresh things.

It's not just glibly throwing things that have happened in the past,

because they really don't go away.

I want to look at some wrestlings that have happened in 2021 in your life,

and then see how we can wrestle them into 2022.

What am I wrestling into 2022?

The first one is wrestling with sisters and brothers,

wrestling with sisters and brothers, wrestling with sisters and brothers,

as in there have been problems in relationships,

and we may need to wrestle with that as we go into 2022.

In fact, Naftali was named Naftali because Leah and Rachel were wrestling.

Thanks, man.

Leah and Rachel were wrestling.

Rachel names her child through one of her maidservants, Naftali,

in Genesis 30, verse 8.

Genesis 30:8

She names the child Naftali because she says,

I have wrestled with God, and I now am one step higher than my sister kind of a thing.

Genesis 30, verse 8.

Genesis 30:8

So she named him Naftali.

That's why she names him Naftali.

There was a rivalry between sisters, and she had won.

And so one of the things you need to wrestle into 2022 is,

are there people that you have a rivalry with,

that you need to fix things with?

And we'll talk about how, but are there people that we need to do these things with?

Sometimes they're not close relatives, sometimes they are close relatives,

but it's worth considering.

In 2 Corinthians 13, verse 11, Paul says, strive for full restoration.

2 Corinthians 13:11

Strive for full restoration.

So when we deal with relationships,

here are some of the things we need to look at as we go into 2022.

First, review the relationship, but review, not review, review the relationship.

As in, have a fresh look at it.

And in reviewing the relationship, you will know where you are right in terms of where it's at

and where you are wrong in terms of where it's at.

After you review the relationship, you may have to reconfigure the relationship.

Reconfigure the relationship.

You may have to set new parameters, you may have to make new efforts,

you may have to settle for a relationship that has changed.

One of the things you have to expect in terms of relationships as you go into 2022

is that we often long for relationships to be restored to where they used to be.

But God is saying, hey, that was where it used to be.

I want you to take it to a new place where it's built on the parameters that I am setting for you.

I find it very difficult as I grow older that I have to change my relationship.

That there are people who want a certain relationship with me,

but because I have changed, I cannot be what I used to be, and they find it very difficult.

And sometimes we have to review our relationships and then reconfigure our relationships,

and only then do you move on to reconciling those relationships.

So, any questions on this?

Some of the things we need to wrestle and take into 2022.

Wrestling with relationships.

Genesis 30 verse 8.

Genesis 30:8

I have strived with my sister, and now I have won, and therefore I name my child Naftali, which means to wrestle.

Think of the relationships you are wrestling with.

Some are family, some are not, some are friends, some are not, some are within the body, some are not,

some are sisters and brothers, some are not.

You need to review them. I have to.

What is it about my present relationships that are so broken? What did I do to break them?

What did I not do to break them?

What am I laboring under? Where am I guilty?

Where am I struggling with guilt when it is not my fault?

Review it. Have a fresh perspective on relationships with your dads, your mums, your brothers, your sisters.

The only relationship you need to fix immediately is that with your spouse.

But other than that, all other relationships need to be reviewed and then reconfigured.

As you change, expect relationships to change.

Any questions?

Do you think we are going to keep those same relationships?

No, that is why you need the review.

Some of them will have to be let go of.

Jesus had to do this. Jesus had situations where he had to change his relationship with his mother,

change his relationship with his brothers and sisters.

Paul had to change his relationship with Barnabas.

Paul had to change his relationship with Mark.

Paul had to change his relationship with Demas.

Abraham had to change his relationship with Lot.

Abraham had to change his relationship with Hagar and Ishmael.

Any questions?

Miguel and his family will have to change relationships with people in Brazil.

They will have to reconfigure relationships.

It is not the same.

It should get richer, it doesn't get poorer, but the shape of it changes.

You need to be aware of it.

You will have to change your relationship with places that you used to connect to in the past in a certain way.

You will now have to change as you enter a new place.

Certain relationships that are important to you, you will have to put extra effort into.

Certain relationships you are suspicious of, you will have to work so that those suspicions are removed.

Certain relationships that you know you need to commit to if your life is to be richer, you will have to find the time to.

Otherwise another year will pass and you will still walk with Elijah without being Elijah,

though you have the potential to be an Elijah.

Elijah had a choice.

Drop the 12 yoke of oxen, burn the yoke, walk with Elijah, or continue and be part of the school of prophets, one of the 52, instead of being the firstborn.

These are choices we make.

We have to configure relationships.

Any questions before we move on?

You cannot eat at two tables.

Okay.

Yes?

Yeah, which is the reconfiguring part.

We have to build certain relationships and parameters that God gives us freshly.

And whenever God gives the parameters for a relationship, the beautiful thing is you now know that this will prosper the person and will prosper you.

You now know that if a person is put in your charge, it will cause the person to go further.

Parents do this all the time.

Parents that don't change their relationship with their children on almost a four or five year basis are parents that end up having children that do not mature.

Parents that don't change their relationship with their children every four or five years, because you can almost take a child's life and break it into five to six year segments.

Parents that do not do that end up raising children that fail to mature, not because of their fault, but because they're being treated the same way.

God does that with us too.

Go ahead, Nick.

Yeah, parameters means fresh boundaries.

Sometimes a boundary has to be broadened so there can be more of an embracing.

Sometimes the boundaries have to be set so that the person has to try harder.

Sometimes the boundary has to be reset because the person should have greater independence or greater dependence.

The cool thing about this kind of wrestling with relationships is that a conversation is necessary so that both parties know.

That's the cool thing about God.

That's the cool thing about God.

When God changes, I mean this is so strange.

I'm driving down Westminster Highway and I'm asking God for an answer and I'm sensing him saying,

No, I am going to give you this answer.

This one's by faith.

But I'm so glad he was having this conversation so that I stopped asking.

It was almost like him telling Moses, Listen, I know you want to go into the promised land, but I just want you to stop this conversation because you ain't going.

And Moses drops it.

He's missing out on one of the 649 lottery he's missing out on.

But that was the end of that conversation.

Till then he was saying, Please, oh God, please, oh God.

And I'm driving down and I'm saying, I need an answer.

If you can tell me, if you can show me some signs so that I know that I can go.

And his thing is, Sorry.

And then as if he needed to convince me, he has one of these buses go right in front of me and it's not in service.

And there's this sorry flashing like crazy.

And I'm saying, OK, I get it, Father, I get it.

So you're not going to give me an answer on this one.

And he says, Yep, I've told you, you know the promises and you know the word with regard to what you're asking.

Walk by faith because you ain't getting no sign.

I'm thinking to myself, What a brilliant parent.

And it wouldn't have mattered how often I went asking him.

The one arm that you can't twist is his right arm.

Boundaries.

The next wrestling.

The next wrestling is wrestling with God and the prophetic word that may have been spoken over you.

And you wrestle with him to change.

You wrestle with him to change.

Obviously, it's in Genesis 32, 24, where there's that scene where Jacob is wrestling with God.

And in the process, his name is changed from Jacob to Israel.

So the second wrestling that you have to take into 2022 is wrestling with the promises of God and wrestling with God himself because his word is him.

Wrestling with the promises of God.

And this is such a, such a, I find it very difficult to hold on to what God is saying about me.

I find it very difficult.

Because most of the things that he says about us are so not within our scope, so beyond us, that it is very difficult to think like that.

I struggle with it.

And in 1 Timothy 1, 18, it says, and this is Paul talking to Timothy, and Paul says to Timothy,

Hey Timothy, I want you to call to remembrance the prophetic words spoken over you.

Because you will be able to fight a good war with those prophetic words.

Hey, am I losing out on battery?

Or am I good?

Okay, can I have a little more volume, please?

Yeah, so he says, Timothy, I want you to remember or call to remembrance the prophetic words that I spoke over you.

And I want you to call to remembrance those words so that you can fight a good war, that you can fight this war well.

And so there is this thing that we need to recognize.

One, that when we look at the words spoken over us by God prophetically, directly through the written word, that you cannot fight well.

You cannot fight well till you...

Hey, now I'm too loud.

You might have to reduce it some.

You cannot fight well till you are changed by the word spoken.

You cannot fight well till you are changed by the word spoken.

And you cannot fight or walk in divine time, in divine timeframes, till you are changed by God and his word.

Both are important.

So this is one of my biggest struggles when I think of the things God says about me, about the church.

They are so ludicrous, in a sense, so impossible, so beyond me and beyond the ability of this church.

I think that to me, things said to me regarding Jacob, or things said to me regarding Acts 29, that you have to wrestle with it.

It is in wrestling that you are changed.

And you don't wrestle with it once every month.

You don't wrestle with it once every three months.

You don't wrestle with it once every year.

You wrestle with it on a regular basis.

Because it is in the wrestling that you are changed.

And if you don't wrestle, you will not be changed.

I'm not talking about a promise of provision or healing or stuff like that.

I'm not saying that that is important too.

But I'm talking about the person being changed or the body of Christ being changed, so much so that God can occupy the space he has created.

God must occupy.

For God to occupy, he must have capacity.

For that capacity to increase, he must wrestle you.

And for him to wrestle you, you must be a willing combatant.

And I think of some of the words spoken over some of you.

I look at you now and I think to myself, you ain't going to make it.

You ain't going to make it, Emily.

You ain't going to make it, Evan.

You ain't going to make it, Pawan, for sure.

You ain't going to make it, Nick.

Impossible.

And if you think this can happen in isolation, I want to say to you, it ain't going to happen in isolation.

Because God always uses people to shape you.

Iron sharpens iron.

I want to say this to you, Pawan, very straight.

If you do not find a way to be part of this body in a very organic flesh to flesh fashion,

regardless of your time schedule and your work schedule and your college schedule,

you're going to lose out and you're going to miss your window.

It'll come again.

It'll come again.

But it will not be there for you.

That's the first thing.

The second thing is, and it's very strange I'm saying this to you in a public setting,

you have to begin to believe that you can trust me and you do not need to be suspicious of me.

And when you get those two things right, in a matter of months, you will rock it.

I'm saying it directly to you so that it's very clearly heard.

Because now both you and I are responsible.

And it's a good thing because I've rarely met people with as much potential as you.

I'm saying that publicly too.

Yeah, wrestling with God is God usually wrestles with his by sending his word and say,

here, this is what I think of you.

This is how I want to change your mind.

This is what I want you to become.

Here is what I'm saying over you.

That begins the process.

You don't have to limp for the rest of your life if you accept the process early.

The reason Jacob limped is because he refused to change.

He had to be caught aside at J-Bach and God had to fight him.

He knew right from when he was born that he was second and yet he was first.

He knew he would be the inheritor.

But he had his own conniving ways and so there was this fight.

But what happens is when the word is sent forth, the best thing is to now have it shape you.

Have it wrestle you.

Have you wrestle with it.

Because what are we trying to change?

We are trying to change this.

And everything around us is screaming otherwise.

Everything around us is screaming otherwise.

I look at the word that God says and I look at myself and they don't match.

I look at what God says about Acts 29 and I look at Acts 29 and they don't match.

I look at what God says and I look at my bank account.

They don't match.

And God is rubbing his hands and saying exactly I have you where I want you.

That is the wrestling.

Okay so let me give you an example.

Let's say there was a direct word from God that you cannot doubt which very clearly says hey Diana,

you are going to go to most of the South Asian countries in the next three years.

And you are going to set up a school system for them.

That will not only educate them academically but that will make them spiritual giants.

And it's going to happen before the end of 2026.

And God says you can start in Feb.

Feb 1st is your launch date.

What are you going to do man?

Run the other direction.

Run the other direction exactly.

That is exactly what happens to us.

We begin to run the other direction.

Now you have to wrestle with the word.

Not just with the prophetic word.

Now that you have the prophetic word you have to take the rest of the written word too.

And you have to wrestle with it.

You have to look at all the other things that you are learning.

And you have to wrestle with it because Diana has less than three years to change the shape of schools

in many South Asian countries in three years.

How are you going to do it?

I am grateful that that is not a word for me.

If you get that same book from the prophetic word, how will you make it more specific?

I know that if I run I will be swallowed by a whale.

So I know that is not a good choice because I don't want to.

So now the question is, okay Father I don't believe this so help me.

And therefore I will start reading it every day.

Therefore I will rewrite it.

Therefore I will speak it and record it and play it in the car.

Therefore I will buy things and set myself up so that I see it wherever I go.

I cannot escape it.

Then I will go tell two or three people that won't laugh at me or will laugh at me and then won't laugh at me.

So that they begin to remind me.

And then I tell four or five other people that I know may want to laugh at me but will not because they respect me.

And so I begin to say the more I say the more I get comfortable with the fact that oh my God you actually believe this.

And then I get thoroughly discouraged because nothing is happening.

And then I go back to the whole process again.

Till one day you see small glimpses of it.

And now you have gotten to a point where you actually begin to believe it.

And then after two years of believing, God does in three months of 2026 what he wants in Diana's life.

In three months. Why?

Because I don't know which president said it but it takes 10 hours to sharpen the axe and one hour to chop down the tree.

The sharpening of the axe is the process of wrestling.

Bringing the tree down is super easy.

The sharpening of the axe is the wrestling.

It's important that I do that as quickly as I can so that I do it within divine time frames.

It's possible to miss divine time frames which then makes your work harder because within a certain time frame it's easier to do stuff.

Salting the place before the snow falls usually makes it easier.

As James would give, if James were to tell you, he would tell you that.

Or he wouldn't tell you that.

So divine time frames and then changed by the words spoken of.

Next one. The next wrestling is wrestling with spiritual forces of darkness.

Wrestling with spiritual forces of darkness.

Wrestling with spiritual forces of darkness.

These are things that we are taking into 2022.

These are things that we are taking into 2022.

What I've been doing for the last two days, I've been rewriting everything.

I cannot find it easy to believe right now.

I've been rewriting it. Going over it, listening to it again and again.

Wrestling with spiritual forces of darkness.

Have you identified the demons and the Goliaths that have been assigned to you?

Not by God. God can use them to your advantage and to his advantage.

But have you identified the demons and the Goliaths that have been assigned to bring you down?

Have you identified the Delilahs that have been sent to bring you down?

It's very easy to identify them because they have been having degrees of success in your life.

That's how you identify them.

What are the Goliaths in 2021 that sent you scurrying into your foxhole?

What are the Delilahs that you laid your head on her lap for a while while she shaved your locks off?

What are the demons that have been assigned to you that seem to have a degree of success

because they have this ability to come at a time when you're doing well or not doing well

and pull you down further or knock you off your horse?

What are these demons that have been assigned to block your progress in the kingdom?

What is it? Was it laziness? Was it fear? Was it mediocrity? Was it lust? Was it isolation?

Was it discouragement? Was it aloneness? Was it shame? Was it anger?

Was it being an authority unto yourself? Was it self-centeredness? What was it?

I think I've had all of these things happen to me at some point or the other.

But a Goliath does not leave till he's knocked down with a stone.

Goliath turns up every morning and evening as long as he's successful.

Now one day he gets a stone between his eyes and he never comes back again.

It's not hard to identify these Goliaths and these demonic forces that are assigned against you

because you identify them based on the success or the degree of success they've had.

Any questions on that one? These are the wrestlings we'll be taking into 2022.

But what if in the first few days of 2022 we deliver a death blow?

Same question there, Jacob. How do you deal with them?

How do you deal with them? One of the ways I deal with them is first saying,

okay, Father, why are they having so much success against me?

Sure, let's say it's a sinful thing. Yeah, but why are they having so much success against me?

Guys, remember this thing. Sin has strength because of habits that I have.

Sin loses its ability to spring a snare that traps me when I destroy the habits that lead me to places where these snares are set.

So my question to God then is, why is it that I'm not able to believe?

Why is it that I always fall in this area? Why? What is it?

And he begins to expose. Sometimes it's one simple thing, sometimes it's multiple things.

Most things that we do wrong can be avoided by a changing of habit, really.

When you read Proverbs 6, it tells you how to avoid the other woman or the prostitute.

Do not go wandering down that lane, Jacob, because she stands at the crossroads calling out to every simpleton who is willing to walk into her pathway.

And she has a table spread out. I'm not talking about just lust right now. I'm talking about any sin.

She has a table spread out and she says, come. And like a fool being led to the slaughter, the simpleton walks in and before he knows.

It's habits.

Where's my phone?

I'm trying to find this bit where one of the areas that God said to me, you need to change in this.

You've got to be more disciplined, Jacob. If you don't, he gave me first Corinthians 9, 24 to 27, where Paul talks about not shadow boxing, not beating the air simply, but being disciplined.

And then he began to point out areas in my life where I need to live a disciplined life in certain areas so that I'll have greater success.

And that the reason I am not having success in areas or I'm failing in areas is because in these areas, Jacob, you are not disciplined.

You may be gifted enough to pull it off, but you fail because you are not disciplined.

Pardon?

Up?

What if it's a fear? Hey, can you turn on the heat? I think it's gone off. I'm feeling cold even though I'm preaching.

These guys who go skiing, they're so blooming frozen that they don't realize.

It goes off?

It boils in the nursery.

Too bad, Phoebe.

Pardon?

Which went? Oh, the nursery went. Thought you had left some door open.

That answers Don's question. Moving on. Sorry, Don, what was your question?

So if it's not a habit, right? If it's a fear, then there's no habit. It's more like an intent.

Yeah, so if it's a fear, then I'll have to create habits that bring courage.

So it's not always a habit that may cause something to happen, but a habit can create what is required to beat that.

So for instance, if it's a fear, then I have to create a habit that will cause me to be courageous.

Whatever that habit be, is it to confront the fear? I remember this was such a crazy thing I used to do when I was your age, 18, right?

And so there was this corridor in the uni that I used to study in that was haunted by a supposed ghost that nobody would go there.

I wasn't a believer, but I thought, gotta go deal with this. Can't be afraid of it, because every time I used to go that way, I used to feel very scared.

So one night I decided I'll take my pillow. It's super dark, and I take my pillow and I go there and I decide I'll sleep there for one hour.

You don't know how scared I was. And I'm telling myself, this is not real. Don't be afraid. This is not real. Don't be afraid.

It was pointless because I was trying to beat something by trying to think a certain way.

But with God it's different because fear can be dealt with with a word that begins to change this, change this, and affects your spirit. It's not willpower.

But the thing is, I can create new habits to escape snares like fear, escape snares like loneliness, escape snares like idleness, escape snares like self-pity, escape snares like control.

I can build new habits to overcome these things.

One of the ways you build habits is by going telling Nick, Nick, in this area I'm struggling and I'm going to build new habits.

Building habits on your own without telling anybody about it, nobody will know when you stop building them. And nobody will examine what you're building.

We find it so hard to go tell somebody that we're building a new habit or trying to take down an old fortress. We find it so hard.

There is a reason why there is a scripture in the Bible that says, confess your sins to each other for your healing.

I'm not saying come and stand here and confess it. But it is important.

Sorry?

Most of us don't have experience being accountable to others for us building habits. So I know that you're accountable. How does that work? How do we get people on board to do that?

I'm finding him trustworthy. Now that I've told him the actual dimensions of my struggle, I'll see whether he says anything back.

Assuming that he's older and wiser or younger and wiser, he now begins to tell me things. I now begin to have conversations with him about it.

This is not some kind of accountability deal because those things really suck. This is completely relational.

Completely relational.

Where now we begin to talk to each other and I'm finding that in just talking to him, I'm finding someone I can trust who I can really begin to say things to.

Maybe I find one or two other people because there might be more wisdom than just with him.

And so now Nick and him know, but they have this desire to see me do better.

Now I begin to improve.

It begins there. It's a hard thing to do. For a pastor, it's even harder.

Healers are some of the most toxic people in the world because they only go to Jesus. I know that sounds like a terrible sentence.

Pastors and healers are some of the most toxic people in the world because they only go to Jesus. They don't have anybody here on earth to go to.

Sounds like a terrible thing to say because isn't Jesus supposed to heal? Yes, he heals. But certain things need to be spoken. Otherwise, Jesus wouldn't say confess your sins one to another so that you may be healed.

God could provide rain without clouds, but he chooses to provide clouds before he provides rain.

There are certain systems he's arranged. You can't go around them. There's nothing you can do about it.

Just the way he set it up. He's wise. Oh, sorry.

Okay, the next one is...

Sorry, what if you're walking in someone and maybe they go away somewhere?

Yeah, you just told that before they go, you change.

What do you do after?

Yeah, then you start looking again.

The idea is not to have this relationship go on forever. The idea is that you keep getting better.

You keep getting better.

Mothers find it very difficult when their daughters don't come and tell them their problems anymore.

Thank God. Because the problems are not there.

Manoj, I'm sure you're writing down notes and reading the word.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Next one.

Next one.

Sorry, Manoj. It was very obvious.

Next one.

Wrestling off any sin that holds tightly.

It's such a myth that on the 31st, if you pray enough, the sin won't follow you into 2022.

Sheldon, if this water was hot, thank you.

Don't breathe on it.

I was kind of suspicious when you brought the water so quickly.

Thanks anyways.

Wrestling off any sin that holds tightly.

We think that if you promise God enough, tomorrow everything will be taken care of.

Unfortunately, taken from a guy who's older than you, that it doesn't work that way.

Wrestling off any sin that holds tightly.

What I want to ask 29, as in you guys and I should do, is in 2022, in the areas of our sin, we should,

I know this sounds terrible, these two words really don't go together, we should invite discipline.

We should invite discipline. As in God, could you discipline me if I continue in these sins?

We should invite discipline.

How much longer do you want to continue this? Is it in time to stop? It's been years.

I mean I said this two, three weeks ago, I was surprised that there are ways that I have...

That's the kind of water that David would like to pour out, but I won't.

Thanks though.

So invite discipline. So what does invite discipline look like?

Initially it looked like instruction, then it looked like correction, then it looked like pruning.

Then it happens with the word. Then it goes to warning.

Then it goes to unpleasant consequences.

All with the intent of breaking you out of sin that is ruining you and your relationship with God

and ruining God's purpose through you.

Invite discipline.

And it all comes from a father, so it's never meant to destroy you.

I think Acts 29 can come to a place where having been taught, having been shown patience by God for years,

I should invite discipline saying, Father, I'm tired of... Someone came here and said, I think it was Nick or someone,

I'm tired of living any other kind of life. I just want to be all yours.

So if there are these things that come up, please, oh God, I invite your discipline because you're a good, good father.

And it always begins with instruction, then it goes to correction, then it goes to rebuke.

I forgot to put rebuke. Then it goes to pruning and pruning as in the trimming away a branch so it produces more fruit.

All done by the word. Then it goes to warning.

Then it goes to unpleasant consequences that stop us, like Balaam was stopped by an angel with a drawn sword.

What is pruning?

Pruning is... I mean, take it from an expert gardener.

Pruning is when you have to take away the old leaves and... What's pruning, guys? I've got no idea.

All I know is that you basically chop things away.

Yeah, branches and dead twigs or whatever and then it comes there and you shoot it.

That's exactly what I was saying.

And so what happens in the process of pruning is it produces more fruit.

So God begins to take away that which is dead, that which is decaying, that which is old and says, okay.

And sometimes pruning is a little painful because it requires cutting away things that are not necessary.

Sometimes it's cutting away green things.

Yeah, sometimes it's cutting away green things so that it can be greener.

The purpose is to so that the energy is focused towards the things that need to be cut.

Yeah. Everyone's an expert on gardening suddenly.

So I garden, so then I want more branches.

The plant is shooting up this way, growing this way, so I prune the top and stuff from the sides and then I prune again.

So from one it becomes two, two to four and then I get more yield, higher yield.

There you go.

What are the most important terms in real life that looks like this?

In real life it would be, hey Nick, you keep wasting your time in this area, so let's just cut that off.

No Jacob, but I don't want to. This is my favorite thing to do.

I've been doing it for 34 years. How old are you? I don't know.

But I've been doing this for 34 years and so now there's a cutting off and it's unpleasant. You don't want to do it.

Pruning is correction with a little more strength.

It's something that he does with his word and through his word, sometimes directly, sometimes through people.

I remember telling a great example of pruning and I'm sure Diana won't mind.

Not that I'm asking, but I'm sure she won't mind.

There was a time where for six months I told Diana, you cannot ask a single question.

For six months she didn't ask a question. For three months she didn't ask a question.

Maybe I wanted to say six, I ended up saying three.

For three months she didn't ask a question.

And it was a discipline. Not in a harsh way, but in a way that would change certain ways of thinking, change certain habits and she stuck with it.

Go ahead.

Can I add a thing?

Yes.

Jacob also gave me this challenge of having more questions. He did say I could ask him later if I still had the time.

Yes.

But what happened as a result though, is that others started asking questions and it was wonderful. I didn't have to ask anymore.

Yes. But after three months she returned.

No, you're much better. But thank God you're going to South Asia now for three years.

So here's just another question on the side. What is the one thing you need to sell?

What is the one thing you need to sell? Mark 10, 21. Jesus said to the ruler, one thing you lack, go sell it if you really want to follow me.

Go sell it if you really want to follow me. Mark 10, 21.

What is the one thing you need to sell that will help you follow him better?

Is it pride? Is it indiscipline? Is it lack of discipline? Is it your sense of privacy and self-preservation?

What is the one thing that if you sell will help you follow him better?

I pray God that you find time to go through these lists because the advantage I have is I go through these lists before I present it to you.

Next one.

Wrestling to enter rest. Wrestling to enter rest.

It's something that I hope you've been trying in 2021 and that you will try and continue to excel in in 2022.

The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 4 to 11 or thereabouts, that strive or wrestle to enter into rest.

Hebrews 11:4–11

Strive or wrestle to enter into rest.

Most of us have to wrestle against things that prevent you from entering rest.

God is at rest, as in, he's got everything under control.

There's nothing that I need to tinker with in terms of what he's doing in my life.

But circumstances around me can create resentment, create travail, create turbulence.

One of the areas that you find yourself constantly flailing, one of the areas in my life where despite years of being a believer,

despite all the promises of the word of God that I know, despite seeing his goodness every year,

one of the areas in my life where as soon as those things happen, it provokes a lot of flailing, a lot of what do I do now,

a lot of this is how I can handle it, a lot of my own strength, my own effort, my own human thinking.

What are those areas? In those areas, I must wrestle to enter into rest because it's those areas that will always be touched.

Why is it that in certain parts of my life, I cannot put my head on a pillow and go to sleep in the middle of a storm?

Why? Man, we are meant for this. We are meant to be storm sleepers.

This is how we are a distinct people. We sleep in a storm.

Remember that teaching from long ago, you begin by hiding yourself in the cleft of the rock.

That's how all Christians begin. When you're scared, run, hide in the cleft of the rock.

That's where you begin. But then you begin to sleep in a storm. That's the next stage.

Where you have this ability to sleep in a storm and the third one is you run towards Goliath.

It's not even trying to stay calm in a bad situation. It is, ah, a bad situation. I must run towards it.

So the question is, what are the storms in your life that seem to always get you?

What are the storms that cause you to bail out water?

Causes you to turn to Jesus and say, where are you?

In those areas, I must make an effort to enter into rest.

Wrestle to enter into rest. Trive to enter into rest.

Instead of the usual resentment, let there be transformation.

These are hard things, man. These are hard things. But my God, I want to take a hard thing and make it easy in 2022.

What are the areas?

Two more.

Just remember that because Satan knows patterns and operates by patterns, he always uses the same patterns again and again.

Satan knows patterns. He knows your father's patterns. He knows your grandfather's patterns.

He'll offer you the same bait every generation to see whether what your grandfather and father did can now be thrown at you and you might take the bait.

He knows patterns. He knows cultural patterns. He knows denominational patterns.

And so when he sees a pattern with Jacob, he is not able to walk in rest like he walks in other areas.

What is it? Is it finances? Is it fear? Is it sickness?

What is the area in your life where you immediately go into Jacob mode? Coping mechanisms.

Coping mechanisms are great when you're beginning as a Christian.

Coping mechanisms should disappear as you continue your walk.

Abraham had coping mechanisms. He transferred them to Isaac.

She is not my wife. She is my sister. She is not my wife. She is my sister.

A generation later.

Next one. Wrestling with the Spirit. I love this one.

Looking forward to this. Wrestling with the Spirit. Wrestling with the Spirit.

You must enter the New Year wrestling with the Spirit.

What do you mean wrestling with the Spirit?

In Ezekiel 47 verse 5, it says that if you continue walking with the Spirit.

Ezekiel 47:5

I mean I loved what Miguel was saying. Miguel, what he said really touched my heart, man.

What he was saying was, oh God, where the wind comes we do not know. Where the wind goes we do not know.

We thank you for the Spirit of God that you will carry us.

Wrestling with the Spirit. Ezekiel 47 verse 5.

Ezekiel 47:5

It says that the water got to a point where you could not walk anymore.

Could not walk anymore. You either drowned in it or you lost track of the ground.

Wrestling with the Spirit is when the Spirit of God takes away your control.

And now after he takes away your control, you begin to hold on to him for dear life and you surrender to him.

You do not try to accommodate him. You absolutely surrender to him and let him carry you.

And you abandon all, I mean you become undignified and you abandon and surrender and you get carried to wherever he wants to carry you.

John 21 verse 18. This is how it says it.

John 21:18

When you were a child you decided what you would wear and where you would go.

But as you have grown older now, Jesus is saying this to Peter, you will stretch out your hands and someone will tie them.

And you will wear what they tell you to wear and they will take you or carry you to places you do not want to go.

This is why it's best not to wrestle with the Spirit.

Because to wrestle with the Spirit is to lose your ability to walk on ground you can see.

This is why it's best to be Pentecostal because you can get away with enough of the Spirit.

I mean that not in a disrespectful way to Pentecostalism.

But I'm saying we have used Pentecostalism as a way to be immersed in the Spirit without being ones who have lost control.

And by losing control I don't mean falling backward or twitching.

Losing control means losing control of deliberately choosing to lose the ability to decide with your mind and with your heart and with your feelings and your finances what you will choose to do.

That's what wrestling with the Spirit will end up as.

This is why it's best not to wrestle with him.

Because he ain't interested in changing your name.

He's interested in taking you with him wherever he wants to go.

He's not interested in changing your name from Jacob to Israel.

He leaves that with someone else in the triune Godhead.

He's just interested in, alrighty let me take you to Calvary and beyond.

Because it was the Holy Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

In those 40 days all of Israel's history was reversed.

It's brilliant.

It was the Holy Spirit who then set Jesus' face like flint towards the cross.

Wrestle with the Holy Spirit and you lose all shred of self-determination.

Self-determination is lost when you start wrestling with the Holy Spirit.

So wrestle with the Spirit of God and lose your right to determine your life.

Crazy eh?

This is a religion and this is a God worth following.

After Jesus tells Peter that someone will bind your hands and take you where you don't want to go

guess what his next words are?

Follow me.

Not on Twitter, like real.

Paul learned this eh?

In Acts chapter 20 verse 22 to 24.

Acts 20:22–24

Paul says I know that I'm compelled to go to Jerusalem.

I'm compelled to go to Rome.

Agabus comes and tells him not a good idea, don't go.

Acts 21.

People listening to Agabus the prophet who says if you go to Jerusalem you're going to be bound.

People come and say don't go, Paul don't go.

Where Paul will listen?

Compelled.

Last one.

Last one.

Wrestling to Stuart.

Wrestling to Stuart.

And this we'll follow up on Sunday.

Wrestling to Stuart.

You know I was listening to the radio.

The radio is for you young adults, the radio is a thing that has been forever eh?

Check with your parents they'll tell you about it.

It was before TV and they still have it.

So I was listening to radio and it was this First Nations lady from Spokane

and she runs a school called the Spokane Salish School.

And here's what she found out that there were only four speakers of this particular Salish dialect left on the earth.

Four.

And these were elders of the tribe.

And these elders are like repositories of First Nations history and culture.

And if they die, that's the end of all oral history and culture that has been transferred down generations.

And so this lady decides with the help of someone else here in Vancouver to revive this language

and to steward this language so that it'll not die.

And so she's building schools, she's building a curriculum because there's no other way to teach it.

And slowly the language is coming alive.

I was listening to that and I was thinking to myself, Father what is it that you have given me to steward?

And what is it that you've given Acts 29 to steward?

So that it does not die, but that it comes to life and more and more and more and more people get fluid in the language of the kingdom

or a certain aspect of God.

What is it that Acts 29 is supposed to steward?

What is it that Jacob is supposed to steward?

Because once you find that out, it'll both cost you and it will be something that you'll have to be responsible for.

Stewardship is a great idea, but stewards are always called to account.

People love the idea of stewardship.

I want to be a good steward.

The problem with being a good steward is the moment you decide to be a steward, your master will hold you to account.

The moment you choose to be a steward, you will pay the cost.

A servant does not pay the cost, a steward pays the cost.

And you're called to account.

I'm listening to this story and I'm thinking to myself, boy these guys are raising funds.

They have a budget of 1.1 million.

The two ladies, sometimes they're struggling to raise $4,500.

How are they going to reach 1.1 million?

They're creating an entire curriculum.

I'm thinking to myself, father, what is it that this church is supposed to steward on earth so that this language does not die out?

What is it that I am supposed to steward as one who is...

What are you supposed to steward?

And you steward it till you die.

But when you die, you now have inheritors on earth that have taken what you have given to them as an inheritance that you have somehow fought to preserve.

Fought the demonic, fought people, fought culture to preserve.

And now you have it ready to pass on.

You cannot pass on anything that you have not stewarded because you do not have the right to pass it on.

You cannot pass on anything that you have not stewarded.

And stewardship always costs, and stewardship requires giving an account.

Therefore, it doesn't matter what you think of me.

Really, that is such a great relief.

It does not matter what you think of me in terms of how I steward this church.

As long as I'm not doing something immoral or ungodly, it does not matter what you think of me because I am not accountable to you.

I have someone that I'm accountable to who is far more accurate in his judgment than you.

I didn't say that in any degree of anger, but I said that with a degree of boldness because I will not be owned by anybody except the one that I'm accountable to.

That's why I said it the way I said it.

Not because you guys are difficult. You're some of the nicest people I've met with 20 or 30 exceptions.

I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

Let's just look at a couple of scriptures and we'll stop.

Second Corinthians 6.

Let's try this.

You should read this. Don't go to 2 Corinthians. Go to 1 Corinthians 3.

No, actually no.

Let's try 2 Corinthians 6.

No, it's some other scripture. I can't find it.

Let me just check.

This is really cool scripture.

Let's start with 2 Corinthians 6.

3 to 13.

This is what I mean by stewardship costs.

We don't know what Paul is going through. We don't understand it, but let me just read it.

We put no stumbling block in anyone's path so that our ministry will not be discredited.

Rather, as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way.

In great endurance, in troubles, hardships, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard work, sleepless nights, hunger, impurity, understanding, patience, kindness in the Holy Spirit,

in sincere love, in truthful speech, in the power of God, with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left, through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report,

genuine yet regarded as imposters, known yet regarded as unknown, dying yet we live on, beaten yet not killed, sorrowful yet always rejoicing, poor yet making many rich, having nothing yet possessing everything.

We have spoken freely to you Corinthians and opened wide our hearts to you.

We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us.

As a fair exchange, I speak as to my children, open wide your hearts also.

It costs to steward.

Go to 1 Corinthians 3.

1 Corinthians 3.

Verse 10 to 15. You have to give a count.

If you're steward, 1 Corinthians 3, 10 to 15.

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it.

But each one should be careful how he builds, for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light.

It will be revealed with the fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.

If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.

If it is burnt up, he will suffer loss.

He himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames, as in what you do with the inheritance God wants you to pass on,

will be taken into account. God will say, okay, let me see how you did with it.

I'll continue this on Sunday. Acts 29 must know what it's stewarding. I must know what I'm stewarding.

Because once you know what you're stewarding, a strange thing happens. It happens to parents.

Here is this guy who lived like a playboy, and here is this woman who didn't have a care in her life.

Suddenly they get married and they're still living the same way, and then they have a child and something changes.

Suddenly the woman who was drinking does not drink. The guy who was smoking doesn't smoke.

They don't even smoke within the vicinity of the child. Why?

Because you suddenly realize that you're stewarding something precious, and you will do anything now,

because you're completely dedicated to it. Stewardship brings on an odd thing.

It dedicates you. Hear me? It is not that you become dedicated to something.

It dedicates you, as in you become devoted.

In the Old Testament there was this idea of dedicating something, as in this belongs to you, or God, it doesn't even belong to me.

Stewardship dedicates you, where you are now so committed to this thing that you have been called to steward,

that you will not amend anything in your life for yourself, because everything is towards one purpose.

I have to steward this and raise it.

When that happens, God gets to do what he wants to do.

Until that happens, we get to do what we want to do with what God has asked us to do.

Cool? Any questions?

No?

Okay, so how do we end?

What time is it?

Whoa!

You guys are not sleepy, you guys look so awake, I could go on for another hour.

Just for a moment I saw...

Oh really? Pressure?

Oh really?

Prashant closed his eyes for about three or four seconds, but he opened it.

So it was four seconds, that's why I didn't shout euticus.

Let's close.

I insist we stop before ten.

How do we close, Father?

I'm sure your friends Jane and Linnie didn't warn you that this would go on for long, but...

So how do we end?

Father, is there something you want to do before we close?

You got six minutes, Aba?

A song would be the easiest way.

Is there anything else that you want to do?

Okay, so here's how we're going to end.

We're going to have Prashant... No!

Okay, we'll end this way, we'll have two.

Clear the decks.

So, we're going to have two people,

and we're going to have two people,

and we're going to have two people,

and we're going to have two people,

so first it'll be...

Let's see.

Yeah, it'll have to be Prashant and Pawan.

We'll arm wrestle,

and then whoever wins will arm wrestle James and...

And then we'll have James and Don arm wrestle.