Sermon

Will God Do What He Said

Acts 29 Vancouver

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  1. Okay, guys, the topic for today is,

  2. will God do what he said?

  3. Will God do what he said?

  4. Will God do what he said?

  5. Given the distress that the world is under,

  6. given the condition of the church worldwide,

  7. given the revival that is here and is coming,

  8. given God's command to us as a church,

  9. given his delight over the people of this Nineveh

  10. or this Vancouver, it's time to pray like Elijah.

  11. On Friday night when the meetings were going on,

  12. and man, I loved what these young guys did

  13. and how the meetings went.

  14. And I was half thinking of early retirement.

  15. Given all these things that I've mentioned,

  16. the distress the world is under,

  17. the condition of the church,

  18. the revival that is here and is coming,

  19. God's command to us, his delight over the city,

  20. felt God saying on Friday that it's time to

  21. switch to active prayer, and active prayer,

  22. not the prayer that you knew how to in the past,

  23. the way you have heard prayers and revivals,

  24. the way you have looked at prayer meetings in the past.

  25. No, he said, I'll teach you how to actively pray

  26. and to pray like Elijah,

  27. to pray like Elijah.

  28. And so the topic is, will God do what he said?

  29. And it's perhaps one of a whole set of series about prayer.

  30. And so when you look at Elijah,

  31. you find that the ravens brought him food,

  32. a widow provides bread for him from unending flour,

  33. he raises a widow's son from the dead,

  34. he wins a power encounter at Carmel,

  35. he calls down fire from heaven,

  36. he strikes down 450 false prophets,

  37. he outruns horses for 25 kilometers,

  38. he appears with Moses at the Mount of Transfiguration,

  39. he's called the type of John the Baptist,

  40. he's someone who's sent ahead to prepare the way,

  41. and he's so not like us.

  42. Given the resume I've just read out,

  43. there's nobody here that has even one-tenth of the resume.

  44. He's so not like us, and yet in James 5, verse 16 and 17,

    James 5:16

  45. James makes an extraordinary claim

  46. when he says Elijah was a man like us.

  47. Let me go through that list again.

  48. Ravens bring him food, a widow provides bread

  49. from unending flour that he prays over and multiplies,

  50. he raises the widow's son from the dead,

  51. he wins a power encounter at Carmel,

  52. he calls down fire from heaven,

  53. he strikes down 450 false prophets,

  54. he outruns horses for 25 kilometers,

  55. he appears with Moses at the Mount of Transfiguration

  56. to talk to Jesus, he's a type of John the Baptist,

  57. he prepares the way, and yet James has the audacity

  58. to say he was a man just like us.

  59. And so if Elijah is like us,

  60. if Elijah is like us,

  61. then I wanna be like him.

  62. I wanna be like him.

  63. Yes, it's true that we should aim to be like Jesus,

  64. but let's kinda start with Elijah.

  65. So be it prayer for a dead boy,

  66. or be it the power encounter atop Mount Carmel,

  67. Elijah would do a few things when it came to prayer

  68. that perhaps we can begin to do too,

  69. and see the results that he saw

  70. because he was a man just like us.

  71. He was a man just like me.

  72. He was a man just like me.

  73. That's nuts, eh?

  74. I got more advantage than him because of Jesus in my life,

  75. but he was a man just like me.

  76. So be it prayer for a dead boy,

  77. or be it the power encounter atop Carmel,

  78. some of the simple things he would do in prayer was one,

  79. he would see, he would pray,

  80. he would see, he would pray, he would proclaim,

  81. he would persevere.

  82. And we'll break these down differently

  83. from how you've heard it in the past.

  84. He would see what he needed to see as God was showing it,

  85. he would then begin to pray before the event,

  86. he would then proclaim what was gonna happen,

  87. and then he would persevere to make sure

  88. that what he proclaimed because of how he had prayed

  89. and seen would actually form and happen.

  90. Elijah was a man just like me.

  91. Elijah was a man just like me.

  92. In 1 Kings 17, one, 1 Kings 17, one.

  93. Elijah was a man just like me.

  94. 1 Kings 17, one,

  95. Now Elijah the Tishbite from Tishbe in Gilead said to Ahab,

  96. as the Lord the God of Israel lives, whom I serve,

  97. there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years,

  98. except at my word.

  99. So that's the proclamation,

  100. that there will be no rain.

  101. So where's the seeing and the praying?

  102. If you go to James chapter five,

  103. you realize that the guy must have prayed before.

  104. Hebrews, James chapter five,

  105. verse 16,

  106. no, verse 17.

  107. Elijah was a man just like us.

  108. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain,

  109. and it did not rain on the land for three years,

  110. three and a half years.

  111. Again he prayed and the heavens gave rain,

  112. and the earth produced its crops.

  113. So this we see in 1 Kings 17, one,

  114. but then the secret is revealed in James 5, 17,

  115. that he did pray.

  116. And God did show him what he needed to see.

  117. When it comes to seeing,

  118. you see things in four different ways, guys.

  119. You see things in the word that the Spirit is showing.

  120. You see things in the word.

  121. So that's one way you see, you see things in the word.

  122. All of us have that access to the word.

  123. You see things in the word,

  124. and the Holy Spirit shows you what you need to see

  125. so that you can now begin to pray.

  126. Second way you see is you see things

  127. that the Spirit is doing.

  128. You see things that the Spirit is doing,

  129. because the Spirit says, hey, look what I'm about to do.

  130. See things the Spirit is doing.

  131. And one of the things I was noticing

  132. when I was listening to the guys speak

  133. on Friday and Saturday was most of them kept saying,

  134. and then God said to me, oh, I heard God.

  135. And it seems to be quite natural in this church

  136. to speak like that because it's becoming a reality for us.

  137. So the second point isn't a stretch,

  138. to see things that the Spirit is doing.

  139. The third is to see things happening in other realms

  140. because of where you're seated,

  141. because of where you're seated.

  142. And this is when God shows you what the enemy is going to do,

  143. or what is going to happen in the world.

  144. He either exposes or discloses,

  145. he either exposes what the enemy is going to do

  146. or he discloses what he is going to do.

  147. And there's a prophetic,

  148. or at least a discerning element to it.

  149. So you see things in other realms

  150. because you're seated in heavenly places.

  151. And the last one is what perhaps

  152. we are going through right now.

  153. You see things in other realms,

  154. you see things in appointed seasons,

  155. as in God says, hey, now this is the time in Brandon's life

  156. where I'm going to do something.

  157. And so you know there's an appointed season

  158. and so you begin to see things more clearly.

  159. Like you see blossoms

  160. because there is an appointed season for blossoms,

  161. which is spring.

  162. And so you expect it, you expect things to turn pink.

  163. You expect, you expect it

  164. because you know this is the season for it.

  165. You expect pink petals to gather underneath blossom trees.

  166. So these are the four ways we see things.

  167. They are not very complicated, not hard to access,

  168. not for a few special people, not a stretch.

  169. And Elijah probably saw like this too.

  170. He knew that whenever, that the Torah had said

  171. that when a people turn away from their God,

  172. that the land will become like hard ground,

  173. famine will break out and the skies will turn to bronze.

  174. Elijah knew that from the Torah.

  175. Leave alone God telling him that.

  176. Many of the things that we need to understand

  177. are already in the word.

  178. Then there is the voice of the spirit.

  179. Then there is because you have learned

  180. how to watch with God, God shows you things

  181. that are happening either by exposing the realms

  182. that are evil or disclosing things from heaven.

  183. And the last one is, but this is the season

  184. so you should expect it.

  185. The seeing is not very complicated.

  186. Elijah saw and then Elijah began to pray

  187. as we saw in James 5.17.

  188. And then he would make an announcement

  189. as we saw in 1 Kings 17.1.

  190. And then in 1 Kings 18,

  191. you'll see how he begins to persevere.

  192. The only thing that seeing requires is time.

  193. Time and by time, sometimes I mean time

  194. in terms of duration.

  195. Sometimes I mean time in terms of intensity.

  196. Not intensity, intent.

  197. Intent.

  198. You don't have to be intense, you just have to have intent.

  199. So, Karen said could we have more volume?

  200. You saw that right?

  201. Yeah.

  202. Yeah, so,

  203. seeing requires time as in sometimes it's duration.

  204. You may have to spend some time to read,

  205. you may have to spend some time to listen,

  206. you may have to spend some time to figure things out.

  207. And the second one is intent.

  208. Sometimes it's not even amount of time, it's the intent.

  209. God, I got a passionate, deliberate, serious intent

  210. to figure this out.

  211. Not even for my sake, but for the sake of

  212. what you've called me to,

  213. for the sake of someone else who's in need.

  214. When we go about things like this, guys,

  215. we can reach the end of our lives

  216. or different points in our life.

  217. And we can say like Solomon said in 1 Kings 8.56,

  218. not one word has failed of all his good promises,

  219. which he spoke by Moses.

  220. What a statement Solomon's making, eh?

  221. Not one word has failed from all the promises

  222. that God has made.

  223. Not one word has failed.

  224. Wanna say stuff like that at the end of my life

  225. or at the end of different chapters.

  226. So, let's look at the see, pray, proclaim, persevere.

  227. Pattern.

  228. And it's important for us because we're dealing with

  229. huge things across the earth and as a church,

  230. we are called to do something about it.

  231. So, prayer must precede proclamation.

  232. Prayer must precede.

  233. So we've already established what seeing looks like.

  234. So now we're going on to prayer.

  235. Prayer must precede proclamation.

  236. Prayer must precede proclamation.

  237. Prayer must precede proclamation.

  238. Guys, the only way to get things right

  239. is to abandon any self-interest in the process.

  240. In John 5, verse 30, Jesus says,

    John 5:30

  241. the reason my judgments are just,

  242. the reason my judgments are trustworthy,

  243. the reason what I say is trustworthy, is fair, is just,

  244. is because I am not out to get my own way.

  245. I'm here to just do what my father tells me.

  246. I'm not here to get my own way.

  247. I've got no desire to see my desires fulfilled.

  248. That's the hard part, eh?

  249. Because when we pray, we sometimes have our own

  250. theological slants, our own reactive slants,

  251. our own cultural slants,

  252. and they begin to affect our judgments.

  253. They begin to affect the answers we want

  254. or the answers we are craving.

  255. But what if every day you went and told the Lord,

  256. Father, today in the decisions I make,

  257. in the judgments I make,

  258. in the, I just want to let you know

  259. that I really don't want my desire to be the trump card.

  260. I don't want things that come from my self-interest

  261. to be the kingpin.

  262. I just want my judgments and my decisions to be just,

  263. to be fair, to be trustworthy,

  264. because I have no other desire

  265. but to do what you're ordering me to do.

  266. Your will is my command,

  267. so can you help me with my decisions

  268. so that they are just?

  269. John 530, let me read it.

  270. John 530.

  271. John 530.

  272. It's a secret to getting your decisions right.

  273. John 530.

  274. I myself can do nothing.

  275. I judge only as I hear,

  276. and my judgment is just,

  277. for I seek not to please myself,

  278. but him who sent me.

  279. Prayer must precede proclamation,

  280. as in begin to see,

  281. and then once you see, begin to pray that,

  282. oh God, this is what I'm seeing.

  283. Let me start praying.

  284. Guys, the thing is,

  285. what you see is fleshed out in prayer.

  286. What you see is fleshed out in prayer.

  287. You see something,

  288. and then as you pray,

  289. the Holy Spirit begins to put the pieces together.

  290. He connects the dots.

  291. He adds sinew here.

  292. He adds muscle there.

  293. Things begin to take form as you pray.

  294. The problem with declarations,

  295. and I think declarations are wonderful things

  296. and I so am into making declarations,

  297. but the problem with declarations is there is,

  298. just the need to speak what God has said,

  299. and there is no need to,

  300. there's no need to work with it.

  301. It is just, I declare,

  302. and that's great.

  303. Declarations are important,

  304. but after you declare,

  305. there's no,

  306. there's no,

  307. there's no tilling the soil.

  308. There's no watering the plant.

  309. There is no clearing the weeds.

  310. That is the,

  311. that is what happens in prayer,

  312. where what God wants to birth is,

  313. is to be born again.

  314. What God wants to birth is now fleshed out in prayer.

  315. You've seen the seed.

  316. You've planted the seed.

  317. You've declared upon the seed that you shall grow,

  318. but now comes the whole process of weeding,

  319. watering,

  320. fencing.

  321. If you don't do that,

  322. the fruit you get will be less than what it could be.

  323. So with regard to this revival,

  324. with regard to COVID,

  325. I want us to pray today.

  326. You see that in the stories with the Hebrides revival,

  327. and I've deliberately titled it,

  328. Will God Do What He Said?

  329. I'll share,

  330. against my good judgment,

  331. an anecdotal story with regard to the revival of

  332. how I had to

  333. wrestle with God because I was struggling with,

  334. will God do this?

  335. It's, we're talking about a global revival.

  336. I'll talk about that.

  337. The reason I say against my good judgment is because

  338. I know this is being recorded and can be seen

  339. by people other than the ones who know me at Acts 29.

  340. So prayer must precede proclamation.

  341. The next one is,

  342. prayer is propelled.

  343. Prayer is propelled.

  344. Prayer is propelled from

  345. a place

  346. of disadvantage.

  347. Prayer is propelled from a place

  348. of disadvantage.

  349. As in, disadvantage is the sling

  350. that really shoots prayer out at a velocity

  351. that is nuts.

  352. Prayer is propelled from a place of disadvantage

  353. because your God loves to be at a disadvantage

  354. before he wins.

  355. Your God loves to be at a disadvantage

  356. just before he wins.

  357. Your God loves to be at a disadvantage

  358. just before he wins.

  359. On Carmel with Elijah,

  360. the odds were 450 to 1.

  361. One prophet of God,

  362. 450 prophets of Baal.

  363. So the odds were 450 to 1.

  364. Those guys had dry wood,

  365. but just so

  366. it was a fair fight, God said,

  367. make sure you soak the wood.

  368. Those guys had a dry bull.

  369. Elijah

  370. had to soak the bull that was going to be consumed.

  371. So dry wood versus soaked wood,

  372. dry bull versus soaked bull.

  373. And then just so it gets a little tougher,

  374. the other guys had a trench

  375. that was dug around the sacrifice.

  376. Elijah had to put water in the trench.

  377. So your God loves being at a disadvantage

  378. before he wins.

  379. You see the same with others.

  380. Joseph,

  381. imprisoned before he becomes the Prime Minister of Egypt.

  382. Gideon with 300 before he routs Midian.

  383. Daniel in the lion's den.

  384. Jesus on the cross.

  385. 60 people at Acts 29 in a city of 2.6 million.

  386. At the end of the day,

  387. prayer is propelled from a place of disadvantage.

  388. It's a helpless people that really need to be

  389. shot out from the sling of disadvantage through prayer.

  390. And your God loves to be at a disadvantage before he wins.

  391. It's like the Hulk Hogan thing,

  392. which none of you will understand.

  393. But

  394. that's the second point.

  395. Pray from a place of disadvantage.

  396. It's a great place to pray from.

  397. We'll try and put this into practice.

  398. The third one is

  399. perseverance in prayer.

  400. Perseverance in prayer.

  401. Perseverance in prayer.

  402. Perseverance in prayer.

  403. Must proceed.

  404. Must proceed.

  405. After proclamation.

  406. Make sure that after you have made your proclamation

  407. or your declaration that you begin to persevere in prayer.

  408. That's something that we're not very good at.

  409. We know how to hear God.

  410. We know how to speak what he's saying,

  411. but we don't necessarily know how to or have applied ourselves

  412. to persevering in prayer after the declaration of the

  413. proclamation is made.

  414. We don't necessarily

  415. know how to do that.

  416. Thing is God will make rain from the little cloud that you

  417. form in prayer.

  418. God will make rain from the little cloud that you form in

  419. prayer.

  420. God will make rain from the little cloud that you form in

  421. prayer.

  422. That's what he does.

  423. Elijah begins to persevere after making the proclamation.

  424. And as he begins to persevere,

  425. and as he begins to persevere, God makes rain out of a small cloud that is the size of a fist rising up out of the sea.

  426. And so understand the invitation of God in the parable of the persistent widow.

  427. You know the thing about the widow is she knows that the only one who can give her justice,

  428. the only one who has the authority to, the only one who has the power to, the only one who is appointed to,

  429. the only one who has the right to give her justice is the judge.

  430. So it doesn't matter. She can be persistent as much as she needs to because she knows that here lies everything that I want.

  431. I mean it's the same with you guys when you don't get a service that you have paid for

  432. and you know that this is the office that I need to go to or this is the person I need to approach.

  433. So what do you do? Keep calling, keep sending emails, keep trying to meet. Why?

  434. Because you know that this person has the authority, has the office, has been appointed to, has the power,

  435. has the resources to grant you your request. So what do you do? You keep at it.

  436. Why do you keep at it? Because you know this is the person who can give it to you.

  437. It's the same principle with the persistent widow. Why do we now persist with God?

  438. He's not an unjust judge. He's using an unjust judge as a way to say,

  439. if an unjust judge who has the authority, the position, the appointment, the resources and the ability

  440. to have his heart melted by the continuous persistence of a woman who knows that this is the place that I can get justice from,

  441. then how much more? When you realize that I have the power, the authority, the appointment, the resources, the goodness and the justice to give it to you,

  442. why would you not keep coming back to get what you need to?

  443. Sometimes for your sake and mostly for the sake of others. Keep at it.

  444. I'm inviting you, I'm using this parable to invite you to begin to form a cloud that I can then use to send rain.

  445. Why? Not because I can't do it without your help, because I do a hundred things without your help every day without your prayer,

  446. but so that you can engage with me as I go about doing it. Let you and I work from a place of disadvantage.

  447. Do not look at your disadvantage as anything that holds you back. Look at your disadvantage as something that allows me to win.

  448. So when you look at a global revival which seems impossible, great, you're in perfect place.

  449. Did you see it? Did you hear it right? Oh you did. Did you pray into it? Oh you did.

  450. And then you made an announcement? Great. Now pack that chapter up, put it in the past and begin to move towards the future

  451. because the future requires that what you proclaim now you have to persevere in prayer so that your disadvantage becomes a sling that shoots you out only like God can.

  452. What we did over the last two days, Friday and Saturday, is to try and make an announcement or a declaration.

  453. Now begins the real work guys. That's why on Friday, so clearly I'm hearing God saying, alright, time to form that cloud.

  454. You've done the announcement, time to form that cloud. Doesn't matter how many times you have to go up Mount Sinai,

  455. go up Mount Carmel to check whether there's anything rising out of the sea. Time to form that cloud.

  456. You form that cloud and I'll have you hear the sound of rain. But you form that cloud by going on your knees.

  457. You know the sun doesn't get weary of shining. A fountain doesn't get weary of flowing. God doesn't get weary of doing these things.

  458. We think, ah, if I persist, God will get tired. No, you are getting tired so you're thinking that.

  459. One of the things I hear the most is people will say, we didn't get weary of doing these things.

  460. One of the things I hear the most is people will say, we didn't want to bother you.

  461. We didn't want to ask you because we thought you've got so much to do you'll be bothered.

  462. Hey, if your intent is genuine, I have time. And if that is corrupt me, think of God.

  463. What are we talking about in terms of praying? We are talking about praying for the decline of nations,

  464. for the fall of kingdoms, for the raising up of kings over a period of time.

  465. We are not talking about things like name it and claim it kind of stuff that enriches us.

  466. We are not talking about that. This church and churches connected to us are meant to affect the rise and fall of kingdoms and kings nations.

  467. And the advancement of the kingdom. I'm not kidding you. This is not rara. This is factual.

  468. It's been like this for the last 16 years. We didn't do anything to get here.

  469. It is just a God given desire and a God given right. Not even a right, a God given appointment.

  470. We've got nothing to do with it. We didn't do anything to qualify for it.

  471. But when I'm talking about prayer, I'm talking about praying for the decline of nations, for the fall of kingdoms,

  472. for the rise and fall of kingdoms, for the rise and fall of kingdoms, for the rising up of kings, for like it says in Jeremiah,

  473. I have appointed you to root out, to pull down, to build and to plant.

  474. I remember 14 years ago when we predicted in a corporate prayer meeting,

  475. when there were hardly five or six people that a time is coming where seven years from now

  476. a man will rise who is both political and religious and will govern India.

  477. And just like the fat cows and the lean cows, the church was given time to prepare,

  478. to strengthen herself for there would be a time of leanness. And then after seven years,

  479. things would change again. And this is the seventh year. But it is one thing to make a declaration.

  480. It's another thing to persevere so that the declaration you have made now begins to take

  481. the form of a cloud that will result in the sound of rain.

  482. So on one hand, there are these things that happen over a long duration.

  483. On the other hand, we're also talking about everyday miracles, everyday miracles.

  484. First Kings 17, 15 talks about this woman who makes him a cookie using the only flour and oil she has.

  485. And then it says in 17, verse 15, that for the rest of the famine, she had enough flour.

  486. Every time, I mean, imagine this, you go to the bin and you open it because you

  487. are looking to make some more food and there's flour there. You scoop it out and you use it.

  488. The second day you go, you're scared because you don't have what it takes to trust what this man

  489. said. But you go and you find it again. By the eighth or ninth day, you're laughing because you

  490. know what to expect. By the 20th day, you're not even concerned because you know there's flour.

  491. By the 25th day, you're distributing it to people who are also suffering from the famine.

  492. And at this point, I want to say Elijah was a man just like me,

  493. who had a God just like mine, but he did not have a God who lived in him.

  494. Elijah was a man just like me. If Elijah was a man just like me, I want to be like him.

  495. He was able to do things sheerly by the power of the Spirit.

  496. So we're not talking about things that are just long duration. We're also talking about everyday

  497. miracles, immediate fulfillment of God's words, immediate fulfillment. 2 Kings 19, verse 32 to 37,

    2 Kings 19:32–37

  498. and a Syrian king has laid siege to Jerusalem. And a word comes from God. This is what I said,

  499. enormous odds, nations involved. A word comes from God saying, I know they've laid siege,

  500. but I want you to know that not a single shot will be fired. As he has come, he will go. The next day,

  501. the Syrian king goes back to his city and he's killed there and Jerusalem is free. Immediate fulfillment.

  502. And Elijah was just like me. He was a man who had the same nature as me.

  503. He was a man who had the same nature as me.

  504. If Elijah was just like me, I want to be able to walk like him.

  505. I can do that because now I have the same Spirit, not living upon me, not visiting me occasionally,

  506. but living in me. I will follow these paths then, right? See, pray, declare, and then persevere.

  507. This seemed to be a pattern in Elijah's life.

  508. 2 Kings 6, 33 and 7, 1. You see another story. This is a fabulous story where people are eating

  509. dung and dove's heads. They're beginning to consume their own children because there's a famine in the land.

  510. And then along comes Elijah and he makes a simple declaration. This is after years of famine

  511. and a siege. Enemy armies around, famine in the land, eating dung, eating dove's heads,

  512. beginning to consume their children. And in the midst of that, Elijah comes and he makes a statement

  513. that needs such boldness and courage. And here's the statement he makes at this time tomorrow.

  514. At this time tomorrow, you will be eating loads of grain. You will be feasting that the famine will end.

  515. You can imagine what the people are thinking. Really? You can stand here and say that in a day,

  516. this time tomorrow, exactly what happens. One man who does not believe, Elijah says to him,

  517. you will see it but you will not eat it.

  518. There's a price to unbelief. I like what Mae said. She said she found it hard to grasp and understand this

  519. whole idea of the revival. So what did she do? She decided to go and listen to it all over again and as she did,

  520. she began to have God speak to her directly. It takes time, guys. There's an effort involved.

  521. One of the things that's bothering me like crazy is

  522. This weekend, one of my viewers got a shock.

  523. In the meantime prices are rising.

  524. door tells me there areick deals and that's shocking.

  525. He does an interview with a local

  526. AF Tinke Manager. He arrives and when he Listening, he says,

  527. Well, Muкоach, cut the campfire.

  528. is

  529. The kovid rates in India. I've been talking to people in India. My mom's in India right now

  530. We're talking to her I've been talking to Chad as I talked to them man. What you read on the news is

  531. Perhaps 50% less than what is actually happening

  532. The number of deaths the number of deaths just at new life assemblies of God with Chad pastors

  533. I

  534. Here's my problem because go it's been going on for a while, but here's my problem

  535. It's a nation that does not know Jesus Christ is Lord

  536. And it's almost like a sickle is being used to

  537. To end people's lives

  538. Cremations have long lineups now

  539. Pires are being lit as people are being burnt after death

  540. All going to an eternity that is dark and without God and you think this is God

  541. Thousands and thousands and thousands who probably went in

  542. Who probably went in

  543. Participated in that pilgrimage that is supposed to wash away their sins

  544. Thousands and thousands dying

  545. Numbers that we do not know of gasping for breath run over out of oxygen and you think it is God

  546. He's a God who loves he's a God who has tremendous mercy. He is a God who has tremendous power

  547. It is strange how this disease has struck certain nations that are

  548. predominantly non-christian and opposed Christianity beat Iran be it

  549. India be it

  550. Places where there are forms of Christianity that do not talk about being born again like Italy like Brazil

  551. Thousands perishing man. It's like a sickle from hell a

  552. Sickle from heaven harvest souls a sickle from heaven hell just brings death

  553. It's not enough to make declarations saying or in the name of Jesus Christ let India live now after I say

  554. India live I have to go up Mount Carmel going up is always painful

  555. It requires ascending and then persevere saying oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Will you not do what I say?

  556. Will you not do what you have said? I'm just talking about cool it on one hand then there's a revival on the other hand

  557. Church we've been trained long enough for this remember that series called prevailing church

  558. I was looking through it and we've we've talked about this before

  559. I'll be called to task if I do not persevere and try to form a cloud that rises up out of the ocean

  560. God is a God of mercy God is a God of love God is a God of power before he is a God of the prophetic

  561. One of the things that can happen to a church like ours is that we can get so hung up with prophetic and with

  562. declarations that we forget that at the end of the day if prophecy were to cease tomorrow and

  563. Declarations were no longer valid we have to learn that we have a God who is merciful a God who is super gracious a God

  564. Who is good and a God who is merciful?

  565. We have to learn that we have a God who is merciful a God who is super gracious a God who is good and a God

  566. Who has power and that is what makes things work even if we had no prophets and nothing prophetic happening in this church from this moment on

  567. I

  568. Was reminded of that a couple of days ago when God said listen

  569. I'm glad that you prophesy I'm glad that you make declarations

  570. But don't forget that I'm a God who is super merciful super gracious super loving and super powerful

  571. And that is why I do think so if you stop prophesying I would still be on task

  572. So don't think it's a prophetic or your declarations that do this

  573. Learn how to approach me in prayer knowing that I'm gracious and merciful. I'm loving and I'm powerful

  574. And then don't worry about whether you have asked over you declared whether you prophesied you've already learned that well now learn the other things

  575. Well, too

  576. The problem with any church or any strong Christian is that we become stronger in the area that we already strong in

  577. and

  578. The cool thing about the

  579. Gaddites

  580. Was that they could know the cool thing about the bentham inides

  581. Was they could sling and use a sword with both left hand and right hand they had strengthened both left and right hands

  582. think second Chronicles I

  583. Don't know second Chronicles I

  584. Don't know second Chronicles

  585. Twelve maybe

  586. Yeah, second Chronicles 12

  587. These were the men who came to David at Ziklag while he was banished from the presence of Saul son of Kish

  588. They were among the warriors who helped him in battle

  589. They were armed with bows and were able to shoot arrows or a sling stones right handed or left-handed

  590. They were kinsmen of Saul from the tribe of Benjamin

  591. That's what we must learn a aggression prophetic edge

  592. Then on the other hand mercy grace love both

  593. God halves of ones

  594. he

  595. Charred cards to himself with mercy. God turns halves to himself with mercy

  596. God keeps halves to himself with grace

  597. God turns halves to himself with tylko goes keeps halves to himself with grace

  598. It's not your skill. It's not your skill. God turns halves to himself with mercy

  599. God keeps halves to himself with grace. It's not your skill. It's not your words

  600. cry out as an Elijah people for things eh? Elijah knew this in first Kings 1837

  601. first Kings 1837 look at what he says first Kings 1837 he says answer me oh

  602. Lord answer me so these people will know that you oh Lord are a God are God and

  603. that you are turning their hearts back again turning their hearts back again

  604. Elijah though he was one of the most amazing prophets that ever existed knows

  605. that it is God who turns hearts this is why I really liked May's letter yesterday

  606. it is such a cool letter where's my phone let me just get my phone there's

  607. such a cool letter I was going over it earlier today and it says these points

  608. were something else God saying this I haven't forgotten you Vancouver far from

  609. it you're on my mind full-time God of mercy God of grace God of power I see

  610. the hurt of the lonely loneliness beneath the surface I know the yearning

  611. and the longing that constantly tugs at you I'm not hurt by your forgetfulness

  612. and distractedness I know you're hurting even though you mask it well I adore you

  613. Vancouver I was caught off guard by that word I adore your creativity in

  614. making the city and the world better I adore your heart to care for others I

  615. adore the uniqueness each of you brings to the city I know because I adore you

  616. and because I adore you I want you to experience more than you presently

  617. experience you have no idea what's in my storehouse for you Charles Spurgeon

  618. wrote this eh? I'll read it twice and I'll read it slow just remind me to pray

  619. for Kamal I just got a text from Ann and it says please pray for Kamal he can't

  620. walk because of very bad pain on his knees and he's on crutches and his jaw

  621. is paining too so just remind me to pray for him before we finish guys this is by

  622. I loved what he wrote he says our heavenly banker delights to cash his own

  623. notes never let the promise that he has given you rust draw the word of promise

  624. out of its sheath and use it with holy violence think not that God will be

  625. troubled by your persistent reminding him of his promises it is his delight to

  626. bestow favors therefore go at once to the throne with do as you have said oh

  627. God one more time our heavenly banker delights to cash his own promissory notes

  628. never let the promise of God to you rust draw the word of promise out of its

  629. sheath and use it with holy violence think not that God will be troubled by

  630. your persistent reminding him of his promises it is his delight to bestow

  631. favors therefore go at once to his throne with do as you have said oh God

  632. and reminds me of all those situations in Hebrides I remember reading these

  633. two stories out in 1949 the spirit of grace and supplication fell upon the

  634. congregation in the village of Arnold on the Isle of Lewis in the Scottish

  635. Hebrides they had prayed they had been praying for revival from Psalm 85 verse

    Psalms 85:6–7

  636. 6 to 7 will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you show us

  637. your mercy your Lord and grant us your salvation one night they crowded into

  638. the home of the blacksmith the spiritual atmosphere was very dry a sense of

  639. deadness prevailed as one after another tried to break through in prayer Duncan

  640. Campbell the visiting evangelist called on mr. Smith the blacksmith to pray the

  641. short and sharp Oh God you made a promise to pour water upon him that you made a

  642. promise to pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground

  643. and Lord it's not happening he paused and then continued in a rising voice

  644. Lord I do not know how mr. Campbell or these other men stand with you but if I

  645. know my own heart I know that I am thirsty for some strange reason church

  646. God is asking us to approach him with a challenge he's not asking us to approach

  647. him as Oh God I know you are faithful for some strange reason both with regard

  648. to the sickle of Kovac that is cutting young and old lives in India short and

  649. with regard to this global revival two things that I want us to focus on he's

  650. saying come to me saying do it again will you not do what you have said he's

  651. saying test me come challenge me provoke me not out of a place of you are not

  652. faithful but from a place of since you are faithful please hear me we've been

  653. invited by the spirit of God to do this God is saying I sit like this and I

  654. listen to your prayer church and not necessarily talking to accident but

  655. church and then I listen to your prayer church and my arms don't feel like

  656. unfolding pray a little harder and see what I can do as I roll up my sleeves

  657. what a prayer to pray man this guy called Smith who happens to be a black

  658. man not a very imaginative name but my god his prayer is look at what he says

  659. and guys if you and I am NOT where this guy is at then ask God Oh God I am NOT

  660. where this guy is and I said that to God Oh God I can't pray like this I'm not

  661. here yet change my heart before I can launch into these kind of prayers Duncan

  662. Campbell the visiting evangelist called on mr. Smith the blacksmith to pray the

  663. prayer was short and sharp Oh God you made a promise to pour water upon him

  664. that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground and Lord it's not happening he

  665. paused and then continued in a rising voice Lord I do not know how Jacob or

  666. these other leaders stand with you but I know my own heart and I know that I am

  667. thirsty come on man cry like this you have promised to pour water on him who

  668. is thirsty if you don't do it how can I ever believe you again your honor is at

  669. stake you're a covenant-keeping God fulfill your covenant engagement at that

  670. instant the granite house shook like a leaf and a power was unleashed that

  671. swept the entire parish form a cloud that can bring the sound of rain church

  672. here's another excerpt just as I was walking down the aisle along with this

  673. young deacon who read the psalm in the barn again from the Hebrides he

  674. suddenly stood in the aisle and looking up to heaven he said God you can't fail

  675. us God you can't fail us you promised to pour they go back to the promise man

  676. every one of them goes back to the promise see see what's in the word see

  677. what the Holy Spirit is showing see the appointed season and see from a vantage

  678. point of sitting in the heaven is and seeing what other realms are doing he

  679. suddenly stood in the aisle and looking up to heaven he said God you can't fail

  680. us God you can't fail us you promised to pour water on thirsty on the thirsty and

  681. floods upon dry ground you can't fail us soon he is on his knees in the aisle and

  682. he is still praying and then he falls into a trance again just then the door

  683. opens it is now 11 o'clock the door of the church opens at the local black

  684. Smith comes back into the church saying mr. Campbell something wonderful has

  685. happened we were praying that God will pour water on the thirsty and floods

  686. upon the dry ground and listen he's done it he's done it when I went to the door

  687. of the church I saw a congregation of approximately 600 people 600 people

  688. where did they come from what had happened I believe that very night God

  689. swept in Pentecostal power the power of the Holy Ghost and what happened in the

  690. early days of the Apostles was happening now in the parish of Barwas what is

  691. inviting us saying can you challenge me can you provoke me can you have me

  692. unfold my arms and roll up my sleeves on your behalf because I am seeing how you

  693. just keep coming up this mountain keep fleshing out the announcement I asked

  694. you to make keep reminding me of my promises keep saying that your honor Oh

  695. God is at stake

  696. sometimes it's just repeating one simple line let God arise let the enemies be

  697. scattered remember the words that was given to us for the revival for I will

  698. pour water on thirsty lands from the Hebrides revival for I will pour water

  699. on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground I will pour out my spirit on

  700. your offspring and my blessings on your descendants I will bring your children

  701. from the east and I will gather them from the west I will send orders north

  702. and south I will say to the north give them up to the south do not hold them

  703. back you will raise up young men and young women bishop strong apostolic

  704. ministry strong teachers going out from your company they will reproduce this

  705. anointing and this next line has already come to pass over Friday and Saturday

  706. your young people as in Acts 29 your young people will freely join you at the

  707. break of dawn with all the vigor of youth resplendent in holy armor on the

  708. day of your conquest and I believe that has already come to pass so how about

  709. the rest remind God of his promises saying you cannot fail us oh God you

  710. cannot fail us I don't know about Jacob I don't know about this person I don't

  711. know about that person but if I know my heart I know that I am thirsty oh God

  712. you made a promise to pour water you made a promise to bring in the young well

  713. then your honor is at stake if you don't know it how can people believe you

  714. what I'm going to read to you next is what I said I wasn't sure I should do

  715. so this happened shortly after the Shekinah seven meetings now seven day

  716. meetings we had and so it is around January 22nd or thereabouts and I was

  717. still struggling with his idea for global revival because in my mind it was

  718. if you could revive acts 29 that should be quite an accomplishment global

  719. revival there are too many signs that had me go down that route check I now one

  720. to seven but I still struggling with it so I'll read it out shortly after the

  721. Shekinah seven meetings I was struggling on the 22nd morning I said to

  722. God if what you have said about me is true then show me otherwise I can't go

  723. forward into what you have said if I am to announce the start of a global

  724. revival show me your plans give me certainty let my words not fall to the

  725. ground answer my prayers renew my faith give me plans and keys and

  726. understanding and phrases for this revival give me access let me know your

  727. presence because if you aren't going to do that I can't step into or do what

  728. you're asking even though I will attempt to I can't do this anymore if you don't

  729. go with me and he answered he answered by asking me to go look at a billboard

  730. on Heather and Southwest Marine and so I did the billboard has a simple word on

  731. it global and then he took me to Isaiah 49 6 from the message and here's what it

  732. says he says but that's not a big enough job for my servant just to recover the

  733. tribes of Jacob merely to round up the strays of Israel I'm setting you up as

  734. a light for the nations so that my salvation becomes global I went to my

  735. room I turned off the light and thought about it in bed for a while going over

  736. the whole thing and I asked God if he would do a Genesis 15 flaming torch like

  737. thing that passed between the sacrifice when Abraham laid it before him I asked

  738. him if he would do that at some point I knew God was in the room I got off the

  739. bed and knelt with my head in my hands to the ground at some point I realized

  740. it couldn't move my whole body was without strength I tried how I tried

  741. three times five times but not a muscle would move though my thought willed any

  742. part of my body to move I realized I was completely at his mercy and I heard what

  743. I had heard in 1995 from Demoshek Aryan's book will you ever doubt my power

  744. and my promise again and then suddenly I could move I pulled out the excerpt from

  745. Demoshek Aryan's book he had been told that he would one day start an

  746. organization for businessmen the full gospel business and fellowship that

  747. would span the globe and today there isn't a nation that hasn't been touched

  748. by the full gospel business and fellowship after that I was deeply

  749. desiring prayer I called up Derek and prayed with Derek for long I told God I

  750. had found him faithful I found him merciful I had found him kind and found

  751. him accommodating and found him gracious I said he had kept his sight of the

  752. bargain now he could have my money my time my strength my will and do as he

  753. pleases and I would obey I cannot hold back I have no reason to hold back from

  754. him you must have all of me all the time sovereign God I think it's necessary

  755. for me to read this so that I burned this bridge and I cannot go back again

  756. my prayer is that we will take these things that we have spoken about I pray

  757. for two things with the kind of perseverance that forms a cloud that

  758. will bring the sound of rain both for a breaking of the sickle of COVID that is

  759. devouring lives into an eternal dark place forever in India and then for this

  760. revival that is global that will bring in a harvest of souls a harvest of souls

  761. one is a sickle that brings death now there is a sickle that harvests souls

  762. into heaven do both church I'm charging you with this I'm charging you with this

  763. because God is charging us with it God is charging me with it

  764. what's the difference between active and passive prayer difference between active

  765. and passive prayer passive prayer is how I've learned to pray thus far active

  766. prayer is constantly engaging with God to see okay you've taught me enough and

  767. I stand on that and but teach me more I don't want I don't want to pray like I

  768. prayed yesterday teach me how to pray today it's it's always dynamic it is

  769. never only what I learned yesterday it is what are you showing me today what

  770. are you teaching me today how do you want me to go about this today like

  771. simple thing active prayer for us as a church would be the ability to learn how

  772. to persevere so that the cloud that is formed by a perseverance turns into the

  773. sound of rain active prayer would be to learn that habit because we've learned

  774. seeing well we've learned praying with what we see kind of we've learned how

  775. to make proclamations and declarations and now we got to learn how to persevere

  776. active prayer is doing exactly what I read out just now our God you're asking

  777. us to come and challenge you you're inviting us well you are faithful you're

  778. gonna say we're not gonna come and say oh you're not being faithful you're

  779. gonna say since you're faithful but we'll come and challenge you you're

  780. inviting us into that that's what active prayer looks like can I have a pick can

  781. I have a pick

  782. and after the song we'll pray for come on

  783. you

  784. hallowe

  785. your name

  786. your lead

  787. Your will be done

  788. On earth

  789. Our Father

  790. Who art in heaven

  791. Hallowed be

  792. Your name

  793. And Your kingdom

  794. Your kingdom has come

  795. Your will be done

  796. On earth

  797. So we'll go where we are sent

  798. Jesus Christ we represent

  799. In our life for all to see

  800. For the glory of the Lord now dwells in me

  801. Our Father

  802. Who art in heaven

  803. Hallowed be

  804. Your name

  805. And Your kingdom

  806. Your kingdom has come

  807. Your will be done

  808. On earth

  809. So He sets us to by new

  810. Take no bag or bread with You

  811. Let the lamb of praise today

  812. For the glory of the Lord now lives with You

  813. Our Father

  814. Who art in heaven

  815. Hallowed be

  816. Your name

  817. Your kingdom

  818. Your kingdom has come

  819. Your will be done

  820. On earth

  821. Set to show the works of God

  822. Set to show the Father's love

  823. The sick are healed that demons flee

  824. For the glory of the Lord now lives in me

  825. Our Father

  826. Who art in heaven

  827. Hallowed be

  828. Your name

  829. And Your kingdom

  830. Your kingdom has come

  831. Your will be done

  832. On earth

  833. And Your kingdom

  834. Your kingdom has come

  835. Your will be done

  836. On earth

  837. And Your kingdom

  838. And Your kingdom

  839. Your kingdom has come

  840. Your will be done

  841. On earth

  842. We pray Your will to be done upon Kamal's knee and jaw

  843. And so the question then is, what is Your will in heaven for Kamal's knee and Kamal's jaw?

  844. We know that it is the will of God in heaven

  845. By looking at what Jesus accomplished on earth

  846. Jesus was striped for our healing for Kamal's knee and for his jaw

  847. Jesus' back was bruised and battered open

  848. That is the will of heaven for Kamal's knee and for his jaw

  849. Therefore we say, let Your will, O God, be done here on earth upon Kamal's knee and Kamal's jaw

  850. Let it be made evident by the freedom from pain

  851. We also remember Matthew 8, 14-16

  852. Where it says, You carried our grief, our sorrow, our disfigurement, our infirmity, our weakness

  853. Our disease, our pain, our affliction, our sickness

  854. You took it, then You carried it

  855. So that we may no longer bear it

  856. So in the name of Jesus Christ, because Jesus took it

  857. I say to the knee and the jaw, be free from pain Jesus has taken it

  858. So that Kamal may walk free of it

  859. So we as a church now say, be free of this pain and this sickness and disease

  860. And we say to whatever needs to be restored that is broken, damaged, bruised, sick

  861. Be healed in the name of Jesus Christ

  862. Father, this church this week will find time to learn and practice

  863. Persevering after proclamation

  864. Persevering after proclamation

  865. A declaration allows us to say and announce Your intent

  866. Perseverance allows us to form a cloud that carries the sound of rain

  867. So I pray that with regard to India, with regard to the revival

  868. With regard to the people that we prayed for who would require healing

  869. That this church will this week practice the principle of perseverance

  870. The pattern of perseverance

  871. Teachers of God, this is the next stage, don't want to shy away from it

  872. We shut the chapter on the announcement

  873. We begin the chapter on the perseverance now

  874. Knowing, O God, that You are a God who just loves working from a place of disadvantage

  875. Because You just turn things around dramatically

  876. So we bless You now as we go, in Jesus' name, Amen

  877. Can we also keep Lance and Rob in prayers?

  878. So Father, You know the need that Lance has and Rob has

  879. I pray favor

  880. I pray favor, I pray justice

  881. I pray, not justice, I pray Father that You who are a just God

  882. Will grace us with Your grace

  883. I pray Father that You who are a just God

  884. Will grant to Lance and to Rob favor and justice

  885. I pray that Your vindication be upon them

  886. That no courtroom lie, no weapon forged against them prosper

  887. I pray Your mercy, Your kindness upon Rob and Lance, in Jesus' name, Amen

  888. Alrighty guys, see you when I see you

  889. Power has no end

  890. The things you've done before

  891. In greater measure

  892. You will do again

  893. Because there's no prison

  894. While you can't break through the bounds

  895. And you can't move

  896. All things are possible

  897. There's no broken body

  898. You can't raise no soul

  899. You can't save all

  900. Tears are possible

  901. The darkest night

  902. You can light it up

  903. You can light it up

  904. God revives

  905. Let hope arise

  906. Death is overcome

  907. You've already won

  908. God revives

  909. You rose in victory

  910. And now you're seated

  911. Forever on the throne

  912. So watch in my heart fear