Threshold - Faith - Do you love me more than these

Okay, so we've been talking about threshold.

It was Uma's birthday yesterday.

So happy birthday to you too, Uma.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, so we've been talking about threshold

and how to cross thresholds.

And so for the last three weeks we've been dealing with that.

Hey, can you take the echo off a little?

Or there's like a boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Okay.

Alrighty.

Now it's kind of too low, I'll have to shout.

So you'll have to take it up a little.

Same problems, Jeevan.

Check, check, check.

All good, thanks, James.

Okay, so yeah, yeah, let's just.

Make them all feel better.

Yeah, so we've been talking about thresholds

and crossing thresholds.

And so today the topic is,

if you want to title it as threshold,

do you love me more than these?

Do you love me more than these?

Do you love me more than these?

That's what we are talking about.

So if, and I think this is the final part

of the threshold series.

So if you want to get to a place

where you cross the threshold

and step into the things of God,

the word that we really have to pay attention to is surrender.

And it's the voluntary incremental yielding.

Incremental yielding.

Incremental yielding of my will to someone else.

To some one else, in this case God,

so that he can reshape it,

so that he can reshape it

to whatever he wants it to be.

So thanks.

Okay, cool.

Hey guys, the echo is kind of back.

Yeah.

Check, check, check, check, check.

Okay, yeah, keep working on it and we'll get it right.

So if I want to cross the threshold that I met

and that God is asking me to step over

so that he can take me into a much larger room

where he has new things to do,

then surrender is the last thing we want to deal with

because it is the voluntary, as in willfully done,

incremental as in continuously increasing,

yielding of my will to someone else on a human level.

But in terms of us and God,

it is yielding my will to someone else

so that he can reshape it to whatever he wants me to be.

And so one of the things about surrender

is you have to let go before you can grasp something else.

You have to let go of something

before you can grasp something else.

It's not an exchange.

It is I will let go of whatever I'm holding onto

so that I can step over the threshold.

I'll let go before I can grasp something else.

It's never concerned about what the future holds for you.

Surrender never wants to know the future.

Surrender never wants to know the future.

Surrender is never concerned.

I mean, today if I surrender, what I'm saying is

I will never be concerned again about the future.

That's what surrender looks like.

Which is so different from our concept of surrender.

Our concept of surrender is give me a good idea

of what you're calling me into

and I'll let go of this and step into the next.

Actual surrender is hey, sons of Zebedee, follow me.

They got zero idea, no risk analysis,

no risk assessment, just stepping in.

So surrender is willing to let go

before you can grasp something else.

And it is never concerned with the future,

never concerned with what the future may hold.

This is what reckless living is

and reckless living is only possible

if you're actually convinced about reckless love.

That's an important connection, eh?

You cannot live recklessly unless you are loved recklessly.

This is why kids are reckless.

And as they grow older, they get less reckless.

They get cautious.

Why?

Because when they are young, they are so reckless

because they know they are recklessly loved.

That dad will catch me two seconds before I hit my head.

The other thing about surrender is once you surrender,

you do not afford yourself the luxury

of asking any questions.

This doesn't mean that Diana shouldn't ask questions,

so it could mean that too.

But once you surrender,

once you surrender, you refuse the luxury,

you refuse the luxury of asking questions.

You refuse the luxury of asking any questions.

You refuse the luxury of asking any questions.

This is the difference between Zachariah and Mary.

This is the difference between Zachariah and Mary

in the Christmas story.

How can this be?

Both of them ask the question, how can this be?

And then one just lets go.

One holds on.

One begins to speak, one struck dumb.

Any questions on that one?

That's a pretty big step, eh?

Refusing the luxury of asking questions, saying,

explain this, tell me what's gonna happen next.

Why did you ask me to do this?

You give up the luxury of that.

You are no longer asking it for the sake of knowing.

You're asking it in conversation and relationship.

It is no longer for your sake.

It is out of relationship.

There's a difference there.

There's asking questions because you need to know,

and then there is asking questions

because you have a relationship

and you want to know the person's mind,

not your pathway.

There's a difference.

There's a difference.

One comes out of a relationship,

one comes out of a deep thirst for knowing.

Surrender is to the will of Christ.

Surrender is to the will of Christ.

Surrender is,

surrender is to the will of Christ.

And to the will and direction,

and to the will and direction

of Christ through the body.

Of Christ through the body.

It's not one or the other, it's both.

So often Christ will lead you to his will.

As you surrender to his will, he'll lead you.

But there's also this part where Christ will,

sometimes, please, people have said that

when I say it this way that I'm teaching heresy,

I'm not.

Christ leads us personally,

but Christ refuses to lead us without using people.

I am not saying for a second

that the Holy Spirit does not lead us.

I am saying that the Holy Spirit will use people to lead us

so that we are dependent upon people.

That's not a wrong teaching.

So Christ leads us.

As we surrender, Christ leads us to his will,

directly, personally.

And then Christ leads us to his will

and gives us direction through the body when we surrender.

Case in point, Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

They're sitting together, they're worshiping, they're fasting.

And then Christ, through the body,

calls out Paul and Silas,

Paul and Barnabas, because here were a bunch of guys

that were open to whatever God wanted to do.

And God now uses the body to speak to them,

to lead them to where they need to go.

There are many instances in the book of Acts,

Acts 15, it happens again,

where Christ expresses his will and direction through the body.

So when one begins to take one's instruction

only from the Holy Spirit,

one does not surrender oneself to Christ fully

because you cannot separate Christ and the body.

Any questions on that?

So you mean like physically moving out?

Yeah, or, yeah, or no, like,

let's assume Christ wants to speak to me.

He will speak to me personally,

but very often he'll use you to speak to me,

so that I never operate as a solo maverick operator,

so that I'm always dependent on you.

So a lot of what God wants to speak into your life

will come through the body,

through the people around you, yeah,

through the body of Christ, sorry.

And this is difficult because it's easy to surrender to Christ,

it's not easy to surrender to the body of Christ.

It's easy to surrender to Christ.

He's perfect, he's invisible,

but it is not easy to surrender to the body of Christ,

which is visible and very messy.

Pardon?

I can't hear you.

Flawed and covered with warts.

Flawed and covered with warts, yeah.

I know that there's a lot of verses talking about

the submission to the spiritual,

but I can't think of any that's going to be submitted to the body of Christ.

Yeah, so I would go with the word submit, yeah, not surrender.

When it comes to surrender and submission,

you surrender your will to Christ,

and you surrender your will to Christ

if he speaks through the body of Christ,

but you submit to each other, yeah.

Chava?

I wanted to ask how do we then discern

what people are saying is actually of Christ?

Yeah, how do we discern if what is being said

through the body of Christ is from the Holy Spirit?

One, through relationship,

two, through track record,

three, through the word,

four, through the way we seek him,

and five, to verify it.

Let me go over that again.

How do I know that what is being said to me through the body

is actually of the Holy Spirit for me?

One, through the word, I don't know the order,

two, through the way of seeking him.

Are we actually seeking him together

and trying to discern his voice for us?

Three, by verifying it, going and checking and seeing,

is this of God, is this not?

Everything must be weighed.

Four, through the track record of the ones that are speaking.

And what is the fifth one?

Relationship.

Have you built a relationship with the body

where you realize that, huh,

this is a place where God does speak.

I have seen it,

and so I'm willing to receive it and walk in it.

And then the sixth one,

it's usually not going to be something within your ability to do,

which will then make you dependent on the very people

who have just spoken into your life.

Sixth one is, it'll be like James,

I want you to go to Timbuktu and meet another James in Timbuktu

on a street called Strait,

and he's blind and go touch his eyes and say to him,

see, and James now has to go and do this really impossible, difficult thing.

Timbuktu is a real place, by the way,

so this is how it works.

So I'm praying that we get to a place where we can operate like this,

where we are sent off on ridiculous errands,

and every time the body sends you off on a ridiculous errand,

the body has to absolutely back you

because they heard from the Holy Spirit and sent you.

So this is what happens in Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

Let's go to Acts chapter 13, just so we know this is scriptural.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

In the church at Antioch, there were prophets and teachers,

Barnabas, Simeon, Colonyger, Lucius of Cyrene,

Manaean, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul.

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,

Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them

and they sent them off.

And then for the rest of their lives, the church in Antioch supported Paul and Barnabas,

Paul and Silas.

The church supported them.

It wasn't as in, now that you're gone, great, let's get someone else.

No, it was, as long as you live, we will back you up.

Paul and whoever he partnered would come back to Antioch

and they would report the things that had happened.

Is that what you mean by becoming dependent on the body?

Yeah.

Because they're back to work.

Yeah.

The intent is to be God-reliant and body-dependent.

God-reliant and body-dependent.

Or body-reliant, God-dependent.

You can use those words however you want.

I need to be God-reliant or God-dependent and body-reliant, or however, whichever works.

It is both. It's not one or the other.

I'm sitting here while worship is happening and weeping

because this morning I had another worship.

I was leading worship in New York via Zoom.

And I was saying to myself, there were three people

and it was the same way we started Acts 29.

And I'm not even singing.

I'm listening to the voices in this church.

And I'm thinking of 16 years ago with Chris and Heidi

and I'm thinking how do you do this?

How do you bring it thus far?

I'm thinking to myself, I could leave today and not come back to Vancouver

and this church would flourish because, oh God, you have raised people

and you have put them in place.

And this church is yours.

You've done this.

And I marvel at this.

But the only reason it has become what it has become

is because one has to be dependent on people.

Everything that's happening around the world,

be it in India, be it in New York, be it in Dubai,

be it in Bahrain, be it in Lithuania, be it in the UK,

be it in Australia, everywhere it is because this body took over.

It's crazy how powerful it is when Christ dwells amongst the people and leads them.

Any questions, guys?

Whenever I say body, I mean body of Christ.

God never forces a person's will into surrender.

God never forces a person's will into surrender.

He never forces it.

He never begs.

But He waits patiently.

The only problem is as He waits patiently and you don't yield,

time goes on.

And as time goes on, you have less time to do things.

So let's say I'm supposed to yield today and I yield three years down the line.

And let's say I've got ten years to live.

Then I've got seven years now to do what I'm supposed to do when I could have had ten.

God won't force His will.

God won't beg.

Not because He cannot beg.

He just doesn't want to cajole me, to coax me into anything.

He just lays it before me and gives me an amazing opportunity to step past thresholds

into the things He wants.

And then He waits patiently.

And most of us delay because we are afraid or because we walk by sight and not by faith.

We have different reasons.

But He has the ability to give back the years the locusts have eaten.

But when the delay gets longer and longer and longer, then you run out of time.

But He waits patiently.

And He does with you the best He can in the time that you have.

Still.

We talked about this before, but the first surrender, the first surrender is the surrender to rest.

The first surrender is the surrender to rest.

As in, whenever we talk about surrender, the first surrender should be to rest.

The first surrender is to rest.

As in, I surrender my life to resting in you, O God, so that nothing I do will come out of self-effort.

Nothing I do will come out of self-effort.

Nothing I do will come out of trying to self-sustain.

Nothing I do will come out of striving.

Nothing I do will come out of exertion.

These are things that I won't live out of.

Nothing will come out of being driven.

Nothing will even come out of ambition.

All these, I don't live by.

So what do I live by?

I live by the proceeding word that comes from your mouth, whatever you say that I'll do, not one bit more, not one bit less.

I live by the covenants you have already established, be it healing, be it provision, be it life.

I live by your principles.

And I let these things go to work for me so that I rest, I obey.

I hear, I rest. Sorry, I hear, that's first.

I obey, is second. I rest, is third.

And you do the work.

This is the way of living.

What a cool way to live, eh?

No self-effort, no self-sustaining works, no striving, no exertion, no drivenness, no ambition.

What a way to live.

I believe you live like this. I believe that you have to put it on display.

I believe it will be annoying to some. I believe it will be life-changing to many.

I believe that in the next couple of years it will transform churches.

I believe that nation after nation will get this.

I believe it will become a normal way of living in 20 years.

I believe people like Aaron and Phoebe and Mia and Yaya will be at the forefront of it because they haven't learned any other way.

Any questions?

So it becomes very simple. Every day you get up, you hear, you obey, you rest.

You only do what you're asked to.

You're not even concerned about the outcome.

You're only concerned about, I don't want to share this, but I'll share it.

I really don't want to share it because I want to hold onto it and say it's mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, but it's not, so I have to share it.

So, this is something that I've been using for the last little while.

Really helpful.

I call it slot. I keep reminding myself, hey listen, keep serving humbly.

Whatever situation you're put in, however people respond, however people react, you keep serving them humbly.

You keep serving with humility.

Walk low to the ground.

Even when amazing, Mount Carmel things are happening, as soon as they're over, savor them, walk humbly.

Live truthfully. Not live truthfully.

If you live truthfully, you will live truthfully.

Live truthfully to the extent that you can, the truths that you know.

Don't hide them, don't compromise them, don't hybridize them, don't dilute them.

Live truthfully. Live it openly. Truth must be lived openly. This is what God Jesus crucified.

He could have lived those truths quietly and could have lasted another 33 years.

Live truthfully. To live it fully, you have to live it openly.

Again, these are the things that bring opposition.

Obey immediately. This is critical.

Rest, the seed for rest is obedience.

The seed for rest, if you want to walk in rest, you have to seed obedience.

That's when you get rest.

Where you obey immediately.

You don't want to figure it out. You don't want to wait for the questions to be answered.

And then the last one is, now that you obeyed immediately, trust the direction and the work of the Spirit.

Trust the correction of the Spirit.

Sometimes when you obey immediately, you can get it wrong. Trust the correction of the Spirit.

Trust Him.

Slut.

Any questions?

On the previous one, it says you don't do self-sustaining.

I'm just wondering in front of a lot of the spotlight, is there an example of what...

Self-sustenance is basically a means of controlling outcomes, controlling situations.

That's how self-sustenance works.

So God says to Israel, listen, I don't want you to bake bread. Why?

Because baking bread in those days was a means of self-generated sustenance.

It is you control the day. You control what is made during the day. You control how the day goes.

God is saying, leave it to me.

Give up trying to provide for yourself. Give up trying to secure your life.

All these things that we need to sustain, secure, provide, let go of it.

It's not the absence of a work ethic. It is that, let me take care of it.

You do what I ask you to do and it will work out.

It's a surrender. Surrender at the end of the day is surrender of control.

It's a scary thing.

Only children do it. Which is why the kingdom is made of them.

It's a very cool way to live.

If we get there, and you get there by practice.

The second surrender, the second surrender is your right to yourself.

The second surrender is your right to yourself.

Is your right to yourself.

What are we talking about here? We are saying, if we live like this, we cross thresholds at the speed of light.

The second surrender is your right to yourself.

Matthew 16, 24. If you want to be my disciple, you must give up your right to yourself.

If you want to be my disciple, you must give up your right to yourself.

Matthew 16, 24.

If you want to be my disciple, you must give up your right to yourself.

And who do you give up your right to yourself? You give up your right to yourself to me.

Not Jacob, God. Although I wouldn't mind it either.

Matthew 16, 24. If you want to be my disciple, give up your right to yourself to me, says God.

This is the essence of divine ownership.

If being a disciple is divine ownership and divine sonship, then this is the essence of divine ownership.

How best to describe a disciple? A disciple is one who is divinely owned and divinely fathered.

You are a divine son and a divine servant.

So this is the essence of divine ownership, where you give up your right to yourself to somebody else.

Go think about it, eh?

Because what happens is when you surrender your rights, when you surrender your rights, you become a servant.

He can use wherever he wants.

When you surrender your rights, you become a servant. He can use wherever he wants.

And this is what Jesus does in Philippians 2, 9.

As in, even though he was a son and was equal with God, he did not grasp onto that equality as if it was something to be prized or possessed, but he gave it up and became a servant.

So giving up my right to myself to God so that I can be a servant, he can use wherever he wants, is a critical part of divine ownership.

And if I am able to continuously work towards it, practice it, then God can now make me his errand boy and his errands are really fun.

Because the errand can be across the street or across oceans, but it can be really fun.

Servanthood is the gateway to adventure.

Servanthood is the gateway to adventure.

But servanthood requires giving up your right to yourself.

People think sonship is the gateway to adventure.

Sonship is the gateway to knowing the love of the Father, knowing sometimes the mind of the Father.

But servanthood is the gateway to adventure because adventures are limitless when the command that is given, follow me, is obeyed and you just leap out.

Because at the end of the day, what God is looking for when he wants a servant is he's looking for a body that he can be glorified in.

He's looking for a physical body that he can be glorified in. That's the essence of servanthood.

Mary said it when she was going to carry Jesus.

And Jesus said it to his Father when he was setting out to the earth.

He said, sacrifices you haven't asked for. What you've asked for is a body. Here I am. Let me do your will.

Which is then why it is required of us that this body be blazingly pure for the use of a holy God.

A holy God expects holy servants because otherwise servants don't represent their master.

I'm supposed to be a shalia or an exact copy of my master.

This is where it gets difficult because we know sometimes we are called to cross a threshold, we've heard the call, but there are legitimate interests, there are family needs that come in the way.

And surprisingly the response...

Hey, I'm getting a call from the landlord. Should I answer it or should I not?

Hey Deepa. Good man, I'm in the middle of a teaching. Can I call you back?

Are you outside?

No, no, no. I was just wondering if you'd be there till 2 o'clock.

Yeah, I should be here till 1.30, 1.45. Thanks man. Bye.

Sorry guys.

Landlord of this.

Pardon?

Well...

Probation for me.

I'm so glad you know these lines. This is called self-probation now. People don't even get thrown into probation. They just say, alright, probation for me.

So sometimes legitimate interests and family needs get in the way.

Where it's like Jesus says, I need you to do this, I need you to do that. You've heard the call, but family and other legitimate interests also need you.

And strangely enough, you would think there's some sympathy there, but Jesus says, well then you cannot be my disciple.

I wanted to put that face, that emoji with the teeth showing like this after this sentence. It's like, really Jesus, you gave me a family. I've got family things to attend to.

I've got interests and things that I need to take care of. I've got farms to take care of. And I come and tell you that and expect some sympathy and all you say is you cannot be my disciple.

That's the best you can do, Jesus.

That's how hard discipleship is.

But not for you. You guys are like champion disciples. You've got no problems with this. Right?

You know, Colossians 3 talks about hidden in Christ or hidden with Christ.

That we are hidden with Christ. Hidden with Christ or hidden in Christ is a condition of surrender.

Is a condition of surrender. Is a condition of surrender.

To the point where you no longer pay attention to what folks think is important in life.

To the point where you no longer pay attention to what folks think is important.

To what folks think is important.

Where you're so hidden in Christ that his interests have become your interests. You're not interested in the things he's not interested in.

And he's super interested in a lot of things. So don't think that this will make your life boring.

There is nobody as interested in things as Jesus. Look at the variety, man.

Look at how easily he could have finished creation in a day by making everything black and white and putting permanent trees.

That don't change colors. Just stay there forever.

We'd have no problems with old earth and new earth issues because there would be no rings. There would just be a tree.

No seeds. No need of flowers. No pollination. No nothing. Just black and white.

It would be so perfect. But instead he goes into seven days of creating and makes things and butterflies and...

Surrey and White Rock and...

Hidden with Christ is a conditional surrender. I was really thinking of this.

Father, can I get to a place where I'm so hidden in you because your interests have become my interests?

And you are highly interested in a lot of things.

Could you teach her some things, Mike?

Self-probation would be a good idea for Sue also.

Yeah, hidden with Christ. Hidden with Christ to the point where you are so interested in what he is interested in.

The third surrender, it gets worse by the minute and better by the minute.

The third surrender is a surrender of the right of determination.

Right of self-determination. Right of self-determination.

Where you no longer decide things.

It is when you begin to want what your will does not want because you love someone else more than life itself.

It is when you begin to want what your will does not want because you love someone more than life itself.

Like if I had a wife who I dearly loved and she had a cat, that's how I would describe it.

So what happens then is you begin to want what your will does not want because you love someone else more than life itself.

So what happens then is you begin to want what your will does not want because you love someone else more than life itself.

This is why Jesus said in Luke 14, 26, he says, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14, 26, Sheldon.

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Where I begin to want what my will does not want because I love someone else more than life itself.

This is what Jesus did when he said, not my will but yours be done.

And the moment you get to this place, God begins to give you real life.

I give you life. Jacob, you have given up your right to even determine what you want.

Well then let me give you life.

It is the kind of life that some of us have occasionally tasted where despite everything that was screaming inside you, screaming outside you, screaming around you and people around you saying no,

you decided that you will say yes to what you knew God was saying and such a rush of life comes into your life.

If you haven't experienced it, time to try it.

You do that and God will absolutely without any limitations give you heaven.

He will give you heaven because there is nothing else left now.

You have given everything.

It's an exchange. Heaven for earth. You've given up everything. You're on earth.

You've given up your striving self sustenance. You've given up your right to yourself in terms of being willing to be a servant sent by him anywhere you want.

Now you're giving up your right to even self determine. It is the most precious thing to a human.

Self determination. What we don't realize is salvation is the end of the beginning of salvation is the end of self determination.

The beginning of salvation is the end of self determination. I no longer live nor do I belong to myself.

This is not taught when we get people saved. I no longer live and I do not belong to myself.

I'm not sure I understand fully the difference between the second surrender and the third surrender.

Okay. The second surrender is giving to God all that I am in terms of my physical being, my desire to be in a certain place, my work, my this, my that and the other.

It's saying, okay God I offer this to you. The third one is to give my will to God.

It's yielding of my will saying I don't even there are certain things that I will that I desire that I want.

I'm giving you even that. I no longer I'm going to say this is what I want. You can take my will too.

There's nothing left. That is what is happening with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane where he says if this cup can pass.

And then he takes that back and says but not my will but yours be done.

Where now it's a surrender of there's nothing left. After that there's nothing left.

You can do with my life as you want. You want it right now I'll lay down right now.

You want it to hang on a cross for a while I'll let it hang on a cross.

These are not things that I will. These are not things that I desire.

I know they'll be unpleasant. I know it's not my cup of tea.

But if this is what you want this is what I give.

After that there's nothing left which is why then heaven is the exchange you get.

Everything of heaven flows through you becomes yours.

It is limitless. Life enters. Life enters the kind of life that used to be prevalent in Eden suddenly becomes yours here on earth in a fallen world.

Sometimes sometimes when you do these things you get tasted.

I've tasted of this kind of life where suddenly you go back to this place called Eden and all the essentials that Adam had in Eden become yours.

Because you're absolutely free and nothing is held back. There is nothing held back. It is completely gods.

There are moments during worship when you can get there.

But the problem with getting there during worship is real life hits immediately after worship and then the question is can you?

Any questions?

Okay let me end with John 21 verse 15 to 17.

John 21:15–17

When he had finished eating Simon, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of John do you truly love me more than these?

Yes Lord he said, you know that I love you. Jesus said feed my lambs.

Again Jesus said Simon son of John do you truly love me? He answered yes Lord you know that I love you.

Jesus said take care of my sheep. The third time he said Simon son of John do you love me?

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time do you love me?

He said Lord you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus said feed my sheep.

I tell you the truth and this is the surrender of self determination.

I tell you the truth when you were younger you dressed yourself. You went where you wanted to.

But when you're old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.

Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.

After letting Peter know that listen even your self determination you will give to me.

After that Jesus says to him follow me.

And so I want to end with these questions.

These are questions one.

If the world could be defined, if your world could be defined as dignity, fame, wealth, finances, independence, freedom,

self determination, where you live, what you do, what you wear, where you go, when you go.

If that was how we could define the world for ourselves then my question to you is,

Do you want to look at that for a little longer?

Okay.

If the world is your ability to deliberate where you live, where you go, when you go, how you go, what you do,

if that is what can be defined as the world for a believer, then here's the question.

Do you want to gain the whole world?

Do you want to hold on to that world?

I'm not talking about anything evil.

I'm talking about the world as I just defined it.

Do you want to hold on to that world and lose your purpose?

Or do you want to lose that world and gain God and his purpose for you?

That's the exchange we're looking at.

Hey Jacob, are you willing to give up all that and gain God and his purpose for you or do you want to hold on to that?

That's a question you must ask yourself because that's where this church is being led.

Where everybody in this church is expected to be like this.

If you look at the world again, if the world is my dignity, my fame, or just being known, not fame, none of us are famous.

My dignity, my being known, my wealth, as in property and stuff like that, finances, independence, as in the freedom to do what I do, want to do,

self-determination, where I go, when I go, how I go, what I do, when I do.

Am I willing to take all that and say to God, Father, this is the world that I want to surrender so that I can gain you and your purpose for me in this world, for this reason I was created?

It's difficult for the young and the old, for the young because life is before you, for the old because as you get older you think you've gotten used to a certain way.

This is one of the questions.

Second question.

God is asking, how do you make this pen write?

Will you be my friend? Will you be my friend so I can share my burdens with you?

Will you be my friend so I can share my burden with you?

For people, cities, nations, situations.

Can I look at you as I used to look at Abraham and can I say of you that shall I hide from Jacob what I'm about to do?

Can you be that kind of a friend?

God is asking.

Can you be my friend so I can share my burden with you for people, cities, nations?

That's where God is taking this church.

These are the thresholds that God is asking us to cross.

And these teachings are supposed to change our minds so that once our minds are changed our hearts which are willing can now give our feet the ability to move.

The heart is willing and when the mind changes the feet move.

I do not doubt the willingness of your heart but I question the strength of my mind to give my feet the ability to move.

I want to be God's friend so he can share his burden with me saying, hey I've got a burden for this person.

Can I tell you about him?

I'm willing to tell you about him because this is important and precious and the person or the city or the nation is precious to me.

I want to share it with you because I've found in you a willingness to just surrender to me and let me be all that I want to be through you.

Can I do that through your church?

Can I do that through my church that I placed you over?

Third question.

See to be like Abraham where God shares things with you and doesn't hide things from you, there is a demand.

Worship won't bring you here.

There is a demand.

Third question.

Do you love me more than these Jacob?

Do you love me more than these?

What do you mean by these?

Your car, your red car, your beautiful apartment.

Pardon?

Your money, your ministry, your job, your dignity, your friends, your style of travel.

Hey!

Your culture, your traditions, your family, your children, your timing of things, your work, your wife.

Your spouse.

Are you Jacob?

Do you love me more than these?

Be careful eh?

One of the things that is very problematic with teachings is if you actually receive a teaching, God tests you to see whether you actually walk by the teaching.

He calls Abraham the father, he calls Abraham a man of faith and then after calling him Abraham he tests him.

And he says Genesis 22.1 starts with and then God tested Abraham.

God has a right to test me on the things that he is teaching me.

So then, the question is Jacob do you love me more than these?

Do you love me more than these?

It's a frightening thought to think that things can become so important to me that I may love him less than these.

A car you love, you love him less than the car, you love him less than your apartment, you love him less than these things.

That would be absurd.

But this is where we are at.

How do we know the things we love when we struggle over it?

My thing is, will I struggle?

God is not interested in taking things away from me.

He is the one who first supplied it.

Here is the crazy part.

He supplied it.

So this is not something I got by doing side deals, selling stuff.

These are things that I received from God.

Now having received this, his question is, are you going to struggle over any of these Jacob?

Because if there is a struggle, it means that there is strength in these things over you.

I wrote a song ages ago and one of the lines of the chorus goes,

Count your blessings, renounce them one by one.

Not count your blessings one by one.

Count your blessings and then renounce them one by one.

And follow the Lord your God.

This is why I am confronting these questions in my life.

Do you have your own list?

From ages ago, eh?

You laid all the stuff out in front of God and he knows exactly which one to pick.

Oh, why did you have to pick the trans-am?

Nobody knows what that is.

It's a sports car.

Can you give it all up for Christ?

Give me your life.

And the last question is, who will go for me?

Will you go for me?

Who will go for me?

Will you go for me?

These are the questions that I want to end with.

This is where God is taking us.

I want us all to be in this place.

I want any of us not to be able to do this.

This kind of surrender is the only thing God is looking for.

Once we get to this place, if anyone gets to this place,

your talents and your gifts do not matter.

Because all of God turns up.

His entire life shows up.

It doesn't matter.

If you can get here, it is, let me put it this way.

The guys that are actually used by God powerfully without being

known at all will be guys like this.

And they will be first.

And many of our first will be last.

This is how it works.

If we can get here, and I pray to God that every one of us gets

here, like George Bush said, no child left behind.

We can all get here.

If we get here, then your gifts, your talents don't matter.

In fact, they are a liability.

God just shows up and he just takes over.

Any questions, guys?

Diana, any questions?

No, I think you can answer in three minutes.

Okay.

Anyone else?

Any questions?

Anything you want to add?

Yes.

I really believe in God.

I don't think so.

I give up my right to self-determination.

The next question here is the servant who is prior to myself versus

self-determination, the then saying I will be a servant and I will do

what you ask me to do.

Self-determination is being in a place where as a servant you are asked

to do things that you don't want to do, you will still do them.

His question was, if the second surrender is to be a servant, what does

self-determination look like?

I'm saying it is getting to a point where as a servant I'm saying that

you can ask me to do things that I did not sign up for initially and that

I don't want to do, but I will still go ahead and do it because you are

asking me to.

Where you've now abandoned your God-given capacity to decide, which

is a scary thing.

This is why if you don't enter rest first, you can't be exploited.

You have to first surrender to rest.

If you don't surrender to rest, you will feel exploited, you will feel

exhausted because now servitude becomes really difficult because you

didn't surrender to rest.

First surrender to rest, that oh God, I'll live by a proceeding word.

I will not strive.

I will not try to use self-generated means of sustenance.

I will not sweat it.

I'll just operate by what you tell me.

Slot.

I'll use slot as my way of functioning.

If you surrender to rest first, you will never be exhausted.

You will never burn out.

The reason pastors and Christians burn out is simply because of one simple

thing.

They don't live out of rest.

You live out of rest.

It doesn't matter what you do.

It doesn't matter that you're a cop, you're a nurse, whatever you are, you'll

be physically exhausted and you'll go to sleep in the boat, but you will

never burn out.

Jesus never burnt out.

He was physically exhausted, but he never burns out.

You operate out of rest.

It is impossible to miss out.

I love operating out of rest.

Love it.

You become like the EverReady battery.

Energizer Bunny.

Sorry, that wasn't a good imitation.

Do you want to do it?

Okay.

Do you want to try it?

This is, no, I'm kidding.

If it's a question about EverReady, Energizer Bunny, I'll ask Sheldon to answer it.

I wonder, is this a process then?

You didn't have to start a process.

You didn't have to do whatever you wanted.

Yeah, I think it's not a process.

I think it can all happen together, but I have to keep rest as the first step.

It's like building a house.

It's not that you build only one part first.

After the foundations are laid, you keep building different things at the same

time so the house comes together.

It's literally like that.

But you send in the rest expert first because he is able to bring you into a place where

now the rest of the house is built really well because that part is taken care of.

Live by rest.

And for rest, hearing and obedience is super important, which is why we've been

emphasizing right from the beginning, hear and obey, hear and obey.

Learn how to hear, learn how to hear, learn how to hear.

And there's never going to be an end to this.

It'll be brilliant.

Imagine what your life is going to be 20 years from now.

It'll be crazy, man.

Like you'll be hearing, obeying, resting, hearing, obeying, resting.

It'll be such a cool life 20 years from now.

If I am this good now, imagine how brilliant it'll be 20 years from now.

Oops, I forgot.

Serve humbly.

Yeah, sorry.

Maybe your humility will increase by then.

By then?

Maybe your humility will increase by then.

Could you send the ushers in?

Someone needs to be ushered out.

Listen, if your wife is here, don't come.

If you're not here, don't come.

I notice you're like, you're going off without Karen.

And that is you're sitting in the front row.

Go and sit in the peanut gallery.

Yeah, so this is what God is calling this church to, a threshold.

I know that some of you have been really affected by these teachings

because I know you're taking steps to change things, and it really blesses my heart.

And I've been living differently too, so more power to us from the Holy Spirit.

So I just want to share what happened last week.

So do you want to just put up some pictures?

Pardon?

Yeah, we'll do the trip first.

Go back.

Go back to the first of the three.

Yeah, so it just so happened that we have a uniform in the church in New York.

So everyone was wearing the same shirt.

And nobody, we didn't plan it.

I know guys don't plan what they wear like this.

So all three of us turned up wearing the same thing.

And so we rented a place in New York so that the church can start meeting.

And this morning, like I said, after I finished worship,

they continued with the teaching and things like that.

And so Josh, who's in the middle, is the one who's in charge of the church.

And he's really stepped up.

Pray for him. His name is Josh.

You've seen him. Some of you have seen him.

He grew up in New York.

And just begin to pray for him.

He needs prayer.

He really wants to do well, really wants to do well.

Has a heart that thirsts at present after God.

Wants to see the day of power.

Does not want to see a powerless Christianity.

Wants to see a powerful God.

It would be great if this week you prayed for him.

He needs a break in terms of some of the things that are coming up against him

because he's not vaccinated and stuff like that.

So pray for him. Pray a great victory for him.

Pray a great deliverance for him from opposing forces that are trying to try

and stymie his education and stuff like that.

Pray for him. Ask the Holy Spirit.

Give me words to pray for that man.

Instill in him so much fuel that it will help him run for the next 40 days without stopping.

I'm repeating myself because I don't want you to forget to pray for Josh.

This boy is 25.

What we are putting on his shoulders is humongous.

So this is for Josh. So just for your family and just to encourage him.

He's got to meet with a board of guys on the 14th.

And so that God just brings a marvelous victory because it will encourage him a lot.

And that he sees the day of power.

He does not want a powerless Christianity.

We went to a church. These two were there. They were phenomenal.

And the boss lady too, Phoebe.

So we went to a church and I didn't know that the church didn't believe in healing

and deliverance and all that stuff because the guy who took me there asked him,

so what should I speak on?

He said just talk to them about salvation and then pray for healing and then cast out some demons.

I didn't know that the church doesn't do all that.

So we went in there and Jane and Shailen were supposed to lead worship

but they realized quickly that that was not going to be how it was going to be.

And I didn't know better so I went and preached and talked about healing and salvation

and deliverance and stuff like that.

And I remember one lady and this really made me feel so bad.

An older lady, she got up and she said, so you're telling us about healings and miracles in other countries.

Tell me, does this thing happen in North America?

I thought to myself, they really don't believe that it happens in North America.

And I told her a story and then I wanted, I wish I had called Josh up because he had prayed for a lady who had a tumor.

Like the MRI showed a tumor, he prayed and then two days later the tumor disappeared.

I wish I had remembered all the stories.

But you suddenly realize that hundreds of people there who go to churches and they don't believe that God is alive, God does anything.

And each of you could have gone up there and spoken about a healing in your life

because there's not a person sitting here right now who hasn't had a healing in your life.

It's just crazy.

And to go through years of church without any healing, any deliverance, any salvation, anything miraculous, crazy.

So we prayed for Josh and put him in place and then Phoebe wanted to know what was happening.

I don't know why Phoebe can say Evan, she can say Josh, but she cannot say Jacob, she still says KK.

I think your parents are not helping her at all.

If you can say Evan and Josh, you can say Jacob.

But then we rented a place so these guys were meeting there today and that was the place.

So they got a place to meet and those were the three pictures from New York, anything else.

Ah, this is such a cool story.

I love this. I need to share it with you because you guys are involved in this.

So when I go to these places I walk because I have no choice.

So I was walking in Central Park and I felt a lot saying,

listen, I want you to go down this particular road and there are thousands of benches in Central Park.

I said I want you to go and I'll tell you which bench to sit on.

So I walked and thank God the bench wasn't far.

So this time God was merciful, not like Mongolia.

So I went and found a bench and sat on it and waiting to see what God had to say.

Then he said, I want you to look at the inscription on the bench.

I was like bawling like a kid. Here's what he said, here's what's written on the bench.

Thank you for being you and the joy you and your children give us.

Thank you for being you and the joy that you and your children give us.

What are the odds of finding something like that on the thing?

This is what I meant, working things together as a body.

Thank you for being you. That was from me.

Thank you for being you.

Got it? Okay. Thank you for being you.

And then the second part, and the joy you and your children give us.

What a pat on the back, man.

Yeah. So just do that to yourself.

Oh yeah, pat each other's back.

One slightly sad news is Derrick, Iris, Iris is Derrick's wife, in case you forgot.

So Derrick, Iris, Dawn, and Derrick and Dawn's dad and mom tested positive for COVID.

So the symptoms are super mild, but just pray that they become like incidences.

That they become like insignificant, where none of them have body aches and fever.

Yeah, so just pray for that.

Dawn will tell you more stories about how Derrick reacted when he found out, but I won't.

Because they might be watching this. So that is one thing.

Derrick sadly started spending a lot of time praying instead of being with her or something like that.

Anyways. And then Dawn, I mean, what is it with Jeevan and Dawn?

They go to India and they make their own posters and put it up.

I mean, I told Dawn, Dawn, why is it that Jeevan and you do this?

So Dawn's response was, Jeevan makes his own posters. This was made by someone else.

So this was yesterday, youth revival, the Lord is in our midst as a blazing fire, catching fire, word from Dawn John of Canada.

So the boys are doing well.

And I'm sure I'm going to hear about it from Dawn.

Other than that, I'm going off to Dubai on Tuesday and then Bahrain.

Two days in Dubai, five days in Bahrain. I'll be back on the 21st.

While I'm away, like we said last week, Mae and Jane will be in charge.

And just remember to pray for Jillian. She leaves for Lithuania in two days.

And then the UK and then back. Cool?

Oh yeah, these guys got their visa.

Yeah, so Miguel and Danny and the three kids got their visa.

So they'll be arriving this week or next.

And we've got a house set up for them and it'll be huge.

So suddenly we'll have five more people added to the church.

Yeah, very cool.

And I want Jay, what's her name?

Emily to come up and she'll read a psalm that Beata, who might be watching,

who's part of her house church from Slovakia wrote.

It's a psalm she wrote. So just wanted to share that. It's quite powerful.

And then I'll ask Jane to end with, I surrender.

Try to remember the things you want to surrender. Then we can go.

Check, check, okay.

Oh how much I love you, Lord. I talk to you all day long.

I give you thanks. I praise your name.

For you are worthy. You are my strength.

I am in distress. My heart is troubled. My body is weak.

Feeling lonely and sick. I'm so dismayed. Searching for your face.

How I wish I could be your friend.

I am so dismayed. Searching for your face.

How long, oh Lord, how long will I have to wait?

But you are my God. The only God who forgives our sins and heals our diseases.

Jehovah Rapha, everlasting and almighty.

Show us your mercy. Deliver us from evil.

I trust in your name. That your hand is with me.

I hide under your wings. My gracious God in my shield.

By your wounds we are healed.

You have died for us so we can live.

You purchased us with your precious blood.

Thank you Lord Jesus. My saviour, my God.

Thank you for your love. For waiting for me.

Being so patient. So kind and forgiving.

I will never forget what you've done for me.

You are in my heart forever with me.

I love you Lord. I bless you Lord.

I am filled with so much joy, love, awe and hope.

Can you read it one more time and we'll just listen to it one more time.

Oh how much I love you Lord. I talk to you all day long.

I give you thanks. I praise your name.

For you are worthy. You are my strength.

I am in distress. My heart is troubled.

My body is weak. Feeling lonely and sick.

I am so dismayed. Searching for your face.

How long, oh Lord, how long will I have to wait?

You are my God. The only God who forgives our sins and heals our diseases.

Jehovah Rafa. Everlasting and almighty.

Show us your mercy. Deliver us from evil.

I trust in your name. That your hand is with me.

I hide under your wings. My gracious God and my shield.

By your wounds we are healed. You died for us so we can live.

You purchased us with your precious blood. Thank you Lord Jesus.

My savior, my God. Thank you for your love.

For waiting for me. Being so patient. So kind and forgiving.

I will never forget what you've done for me.

You are in my heart forever with me.

I love you Lord. I bless you Lord.

I am filled with much joy, love, awe and hope.

Cool.

Hey guys, before the song goes up, can you just think of what surrender will look like for you before we sing this song?

Just take a minute or so.

Think of going up Mount Moriah with your Isaac.

You are turning to your servants, you are turning to your family, you are turning to the rest of the world.

Saying, I am going up this mountain with Isaac.

God is not a taker, God is a giver.

So you are going to be a giver too as you go up the mountain.

What Isaac are you laying on the altar?

Isaac is a struggle. Isaac is something you have gotten after a lot of toiling.

Isaac is precious.

Some of the ways of examining things is the reluctance we have, the fear we have, the struggle we have in certain areas.

Reluctance, fear, struggle, desire.

And then lay it as a gift, lay it humbly. Don't throw it.

It's a sacrifice. You are not getting rid of evil things, you are getting rid of good things.

Lay it humbly on the altar.

Strange how you can lay something on the altar fully aware that it will be returned to you many times over.

And yet you will have no desire for the thing or for the many times over.

It's not important anymore.

Father, I thank you that you are calling this entire church, entire church to this and those that are listening and will listen in the future.

I thank you that you are calling all of us to this.

Beautiful, Abba.

You must have yourself a people that have given themselves over to rest, to servanthood and the surrender of the right to self-determine.

Do you love me more than these?

Ask us, Abba, that piercing question as we sing now.

I don't even know if we should sing.

They'll sing, Abba, and we'll listen or sing or do.

I don't want this to become a song. I want this to become Psalm 130.

I don't remember where it says,

Test my heart and see.

If there be any wicked way in me, cleanse me from every sin and set me free.

Okay, Lord, I'm done.

You.

Lord, as you.

Yes.

Yes.

Oh, I want to know.

I want to know.

Because I want to know.

I want to know.

As mercy and.

I hunger.

I know you.

Speak to me.

Speak to me.

For I want to know.

I want to know.

Like.

She's.

Like.

She's.

She's.

Lord, have your way.

Yeah.

Like a.

Stir.

So.

Lord, have your way.

Lord, have your way.

Lord, have your way.

Lord, have your way.

So I yield to you and to your careful hand.

Because when I trust you, I don't need to ask.

I don't need to ask.

I don't need to ask.

I don't need to ask.

Because when I trust you, I don't need to understand.

So we yield to you and to your careful hand.

Because when we trust you, we don't need to understand.

So make me a vessel.

Make me an offering.

Oh, make me whatever you want me to be.

God, I came here with nothing.

But all you have given me.

So Jesus, bring me to you.

So Jesus, bring you wine out of me.

Make Jesus bring you wine out of me.

We came here with nothing.

But all you have given us.

Jesus, bring you wine out of me.

Wine out of me.

In the name of the Lord, I come to praise his name.

For ever and ever and this is, we will sing your praise.

Oh Lord, oh Lord.

In the name of the Lord, I come to praise his name.

For ever and ever and this is, we will sing your praise.

Oh Lord, oh Lord.

Oh Lord, oh Lord.

Go and pray.

I thank you Lord for these body of believers Lord.

The fact that you grant us sonship and you made us servants Lord.

That we may be able to surrender our lives to you Lord.

Let us surrender those things that we don't want to surrender.

Lord, we just help us to draw closer to you.

And Lord, experience your love in a way that we've never experienced before.

So let us go with thanksgiving in our heart.

Remembering your grace and your love for us.

We pray this in your son Jesus name.

Amen.

Oops, I just remembered.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Thank God you used the word thanks.

Let's do something jivey as people go.

I made them after the thing.

I think that's all there was.

Yeah, I think that's all there was.

Oh, let's put Mr. Probation on the thing and do all things are possible.

This is what happens when we end early.

Got to fill up time.

Oh, sorry.

It's not early but you can get up and move.

He just will play.

This is like the get up part of your seat.

Thank you.

There's no prison, wall you can't break through.

Mountain you can't move, all things are possible.

There's no broken body you can raise.

No soul you can save, all things are possible.

The darkest night you can light it up.

You can light it up.

God revives.

Let hope arise.

Death is overcome.

You've already won.

God revives.

You rose in victory and now you're seated.

Forever on the throne.

So why should my heart fear what you defeated?

I will trust in you all.

Cause there's no prison, wall you can't break through.