Present God Part – 2

present God. All good? Yeah. Guys, when we say present God, one of the questions we have

to ask is, so in what form, something better, in what form or what nature is, and throw

out all these that are not working, eh? Is he going to present himself? In what form,

yeah, or what nature is he going to present himself? We are talking about present God and

present God, as in he is a present God, he is present in our midst, and we are going also to

learn how to present him to people. So today we are going to talk about, okay, so present God,

but when he is present, what is the form he takes? What is the nature that he approaches you with?

What is the person that he is coming to you as? Or who is he coming to you as? Is he coming to you?

Is Jesus coming to you as mighty king who rides a white horse in Revelation 19,1? Or is he coming

to you as a meek king riding a donkey in Matthew 21,5? Which one is he coming as? Because it's

important to discern, it is important to discern who God is presenting himself as. Because once

you know who God is coming as, you will know where he'll be heading, what he'll be doing.

If Jesus is going to come into Jerusalem on a war horse, white war horse, as a mighty king,

then I'd say something to you, Jerusalem would have been in tremendous fear because this is a

returning warrior king. Instead he comes on a donkey and Matthew 21,5 says, behold your king

who comes riding on a donkey, gentle and meek. The Prince of Peace is what he came into Jerusalem

as, not as a mighty warrior king. And sometimes we don't realize that it's so helpful to know

how God is presenting himself to you because it gives you an idea of what he's up to. So discern

who God is present as and discern how God wants to present himself. Discern who God is present as

and discern who God wants to be presented as. Guys, worship leaders who don't learn this will

always be worship leaders. Worship leaders who learn this will be revealers of God.

Worship leaders who don't learn this will always be worship leaders. Worship leaders who learn this

will be revealers of God. They'll know, oh shucks, God's turned up like this. We do it with our bosses,

we go to work and we look at the boss to see what is he or she like today. And so much at work

depends on what you figure out. Children do that every day with parents. Who is more approachable?

Who can I milk today? And so here are some ways we can begin to discern who God is present as.

One of the things that he'll always be present in and present as is in John 13.35 where he says,

hey, one of the ways people will recognize me through you, my disciples, is when you begin

to love one another. And so it might sound like a very cliched Christian perspective,

but one of the ways he'll always be present as is whenever there is love and truth,

there he will always be present. And whenever he presents himself, these two will be critical

to his appearance. They'll always be, even in discipline, even in judgment,

God will always present himself in a way that is constantly, consistently loving

and constantly, consistently true. In 1 John, chapter 1, sorry, 1 John 3, 16 to 18,

1 John 1 · chapter mention

1 John 3, 16 to 18, 1 John 3, 16 to 18, 1 John 3, 16 to 18.

And it says here, this is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us,

and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions

and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth. Verse 23

and 24, and this is his command, to believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and to love one

another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him and he in them. And this is

how we know that he lives in us. We know it by the spirit he gives us. The spirit of God becomes very

evident when Jacob speaks the truth and Jacob is loving. He will always present himself to Jacob

and through Jacob to anybody that Jacob comes into contact with when Jacob makes truth and love

a primary quality of his love, of his life, because it is absolutely God in every situation

to turn up because love and truth are two foundations that he builds his throne on.

John 13, 35 puts it this way, that they will recognize you as my disciples when they see how

you love one another. And so one of the easiest ways for God to turn up in every encounter you

have is when you actually begin to determine that one thing I will do in all my relationships

and in all the encounters I have during a day is I'll try to practice this double whammy called

truth and love because God will show up. But the hard thing about practicing truth and love

is that it requires selflessness because truth and love don't exist well with self-centeredness.

Big difference between self-centeredness and selflessness. One does not want to pay

the cost one does. One is for those you think deserve it. One is non-discriminating.

That is why love and truth find it very hard to coexist with self-centeredness.

So one of the first ways then that I can make sure that God can present himself any which way

he wants through me, in me, is when I begin to love in deed and truth because he brings truth

because he begins to abide in me and abide through me because he's always present in love,

always present in love, always present in love. Guys at the end of the day ask yourself this

question. I'm so willing to take it slow on this point because these are points we just avoid

because we hear so much about love in the church it's become like almost like a pop song. But

here's the thing that what else do you desire in your life than God to present himself through

you to others? What else could be greater? You already have access to him. You get to enter

into his throne room. You get to talk to him. You get to hear him. You've got it made. What else do

you live for other than, oh God through me can you present yourself to the rest of the world?

What else was Jesus living for? Father, sacrifices and offerings you didn't require. What you require

is a body. I'm willing to go and through me let the world have a visible encounter with an invisible

God. What is greater? What is greater? What greater purpose? Now do you realize Christ in

your hope of glory? For you it's already done. What about the others? The second point.

How do you discern who God is present as? Go to 1 Kings 19 10 to 13. 1 Kings 19 10 to 13.

1 Kings 19 10 to 13.

1 Kings 19 10 to 13. I just find this guy amazing. He's having a really bad day

but my God he hasn't lost his ability to figure God out. 1 Kings 19 10 to 13. This was perhaps

one of the really bad days in his life. 1 Kings 19 10 to 13. And the word of the Lord came to

Elijah. What are you doing here Elijah? He replied, I've been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.

The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, put your prophets to death with

the sword. I'm the only one left and now they're trying to kill me too. The Lord said go out and

stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by. Go out and stand

in the front of the mountain before the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by.

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord.

Just imagine this. It is the kind of wind that is taking Grouse Mountain apart. It is just ripping

stones off Grouse Mountain, shaking rocks and he's been just told by God, listen come out and stand

in front of the mountain because I'm going to pass by and you need to talk with me and that's when

this wind hits. And by the way the wind was always a sign of the spirit of God in the Old Testament.

Then a great powerful wind tore the mountains apart shattered the rocks before the Lord but

the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake but the Lord was not in

the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire. Elijah was used to fire man just two weeks ago he

had brought down fire on Mount Carmel. He knew this was a God sign and so and then there was a fire

but God was not in the fire and after the fire came a gentle whisper and Elijah heard it. He

pulled his cloak over his face, went out, stood at the mouth of the cave. The thing is guys

no preceding word, no past experience, no pattern from the past as powerful a signature as it may

have been in your life from the past can be used to discern God in the next two minutes. You cannot.

God presents himself so creatively, so differently that I can only use the past as a means to remember

that God is powerful. Experience should enhance trust but it shouldn't stereotype God. Experience

should enhance trust but it shouldn't stereotype God. Experience must enhance trust but it shouldn't

stereotype God. Here was this guy who was having a really bad day. Some people say he was depressed,

some people say he was scared and yet he's in this cave and he sees all the things that are in his

cave and he sees all the things that God has used in his life before. He's used wind, he's used

earthquake, he's used fire and this man still has the ability to stay inside the cave even though

all these are happening and who do you think is sending the wind, the earthquake and the fire?

It ain't the devil. It wasn't even weather patterns. It was God. God is sending these three things.

Why? Because even then his intent is I know you're going to resign and you want to leave the earth

but till you remain on the earth I'll be teaching you till the very last day. Some of you who are

older than 70, 75, you think you're out to pasture that might be your idea. It ain't God's idea.

That's not a harsh word. That's a word of encouragement because till the day you die

he's teaching you. The same God sends earthquake, fire, wind. It was a God thing and yet he wanted

Elijah to figure out whether it was God or whether it was a God thing. There's a difference between

God thing and God. You know why manifestations really do well? Because manifestations follow

pattern. You do it once and you know ah when I prayed this this happened so I'm going to pray

the same thing and it'll happen again. It might be a God thing but it ain't got God in it.

And when we get used to a pattern of manifestations guess who joins the game? The devil.

Because he knows now that Jacob is chasing after what he saw and heard and experienced

and he's forgotten that he should be chasing God.

Worship leaders who try to reach a certain place in worship, pastors who try to create a certain

mood, sound guys who try to create a certain echo, intercessors who try to create a crescendo during

praying. Now forget church, businessmen who try to create a certain way of doing business,

workers who create a certain pattern because God did bless them last time but I assure you one of

the things God wants to do is change your frequency and do things so differently so that you don't get

the same results using the same patterns. This is important guys because we all fall into this trap.

This is important guys because we all fall into this trap.

I was sitting with someone and he was telling me, hey Jacob I know what you did in New York,

I know what you did in India but I just want to warn you that as you go to Puri this time

make sure that you don't think that how you did things in New York and how you did things in India

is the way you should do it in Puri because you get confidence when experience enriches you.

Idolatry is when anything replaces the pursuit of God.

When the object of faith replaces the one who you love and trust, it's idolatry.

When the object of faith that you're trusting for becomes your pursuit instead of the one that you

love and trust then it is idolatry. I remember being in Taiwan, maybe I told you this,

and praying for some people and I'd gone with another pastor who was very charismatic and

believed in a lot of things that happen in some of these churches that are weird and so I'd gone

I met him there and he was the one who was conducting this meeting and so I start praying

for people and I go and pray for this guy and as I pray for this guy I'm just amazed man he

comes and before I can lay hands on him he's standing and he gets flung about six feet and

goes and falls down near the wall and I'm thinking to myself man I've never seen so much power

unleashed through me and the next guy comes up I pray for that guy again and he goes sliding across

the floor and hits the wall and I'm thinking to myself oh shucks this is not you oh god

because you're not a violent god these people are coming with problems these people are coming for

things to be made right and I'm looking around and all the pastors were praying they have

tremendous power and I was thinking to myself well I got it too and then I realized it is power but

it ain't god because there's a gentleness to god god doesn't take his children and hurl them six

feet across the floor to hit the thing for a display of power he does things gently

and then I started deciding that I won't lay hands on anyone so when people would come to me

I'd fold my hands and pray for them and they would stand and receive whatever they needed

to receive and they would leave because whatever was happening in that place he was an attempt to

try and have me buy into the same manifestation so that it would happen through me not all god

things have god in them discern how god comes it is so helpful it is like balm to people who come

to you hey one of the strange things that happens and some of you who know me well can testify to

this I might dislike Jeevan for the last four days he may have done things that really irk me

I may even go and tell praful man you have no idea how that fellow's irritating me but then he'll

come for prayer and I'm thinking to myself I'm going to give him a piece of my mind but when I

actually speak to him somehow god comes through after I'm done I'll still be upset with him but

during that time somehow man god comes through why am I telling you this because once you know

how god wants to come through for a person it doesn't matter what your mental makeup is how

you feel they are not worth it or how you feel they are worth it when you speak to them god will

present himself as balm to them or as judge to them or as warrior to them then it doesn't matter

what your situation is learn this and once you learn it you will know how to let god come through

for you and through you to others it's a brilliant way to function and the more you learn this the

more god will trust you because he'll say aha when I speak through Rosalind she presents me correctly

any questions any thoughts

okay next point

John 5 verse 30 John 5 verse 30 one of the cool ways of making sure that god gets

John 5:30 John 5:30

room in your life to present himself any which way he wants is to go with John 5 30 that oh god

when I say things and do things I'm not seeking my will or my outcome I'm seeking yours so my

judgments will be accurate John 5 30 create room for god to turn up as he wants to create room for

god to turn up as he wants to oh god I do not desire my will in this I do not desire an outcome

in this I am willing to create room for you to do as you will and once I do that it is almost

impossible to get it wrong for others it might be when you pray when you desire this for others

it's a little easier but when you desire it for yourself it's a little harder because whenever

we pray we have certain outcomes that we expect what if you could practice the simple principle

of father I've presented what I needed to you I know you will do better than I can ask think or

imagine I create room for you now by not desiring my will but yours I have prayed as best as I can

according to your will but I do not desire an outcome that I have in my mind I create room for

you to do what you want to do I wish this was true in every area of my life but it ain't but in

when it comes to when it comes to church stuff my god I create room for god he gets to do a

whole lot of stuff because I don't have an outcome that I have in mind so he can end up doing

far greater but in other areas of my life I wish I could abandon outcome this is what I want this

is what I put in this is what I expect what if I could abandon that create room for him to do what

he wants guys when you do that no he comes as he wants to he comes as he wills he comes

whenever he feels like he turns up as he knows is best for your situation

when it comes to healing is it the same I would put it this way when I am sick who is he coming to

me as yes his intent is to heal but who is he coming to me as is he coming to me as hey I want

you to get up and start serving me even while you have a fever so get up now or hey I want to be a

helper because you're helpless let me carry you or hey I just want to be a helper because you're

helpless let me carry you or hey I just want to be Yavir Rafa and spread my wings over you so that

healing may arise like I say in Malachi 4 2 or hey I need you to stop sinning in this area oh yes

sometimes sin can be attached to sickness over a prolonged period of time which is not the case

with anybody or everybody but if God points it out I'll stop immediately so oh God as you come to

me I want to see who you're coming as

and once I know that you parents do the same with your children

sometimes you'll have a kid who is so sick that you'll do anything in your power to be

helper other times you have a kid who is reacting every day to sleeping late by half an hour

you'll say get up you can come back home and sleep later you're not going to miss school I

have a friend whose son would fall sick 10 minutes before the bus comes

Karun, Christie's son

and 10 years before I started checking his shoes because I believe if you put blotting paper in

your shoes you can get a temperature so I even went and checked his shoes because he would fall

sick 10 minutes before there was no blotting paper in his shoes the Sunday school kids are not here

okay but even us parents deal in us dealing with sickness we deal with it differently

so in everything hey I'm telling you if we can begin to practice this God can begin you can know

the ways of God and what he plans to do before he even arrives it's like ah so that's where you're going

to be

there was no blotting paper

no he had this placebo thing going he had practiced it so that 10 minutes before the bus things

would happen he's doing very well now

guys here's the other point I want to make which is a side point God works best with nothing

God works best with nothing this is very important because when we have nothing we think

ah God has let us down my god this is his favorite material nothing

when you don't have anything to do with it you don't have to do anything with it

when you don't have anything when you have nothing now there is tremendous hope because he works with nothing

like the entire universe was created without substance you were created without substance

you were every he worked so well with nothing

he worked so well with nothing

have great hope if you're empty have great hope if you're empty

this is why I said if you can let him be who he wants to be if I can create room in him a room

in me saying oh God got nothing but because I got nothing I got tons of room so you be who you want

to be you'll be surprised at who he can turn up as when you give him substance and say this is

what I want you to multiply now he's stuck with fish and bread

be the drummer boy not the boy who came with two fish and five loaves the drummer boy what did he

come with no even that doesn't work forget that analogy erase erase it was going well till that

analogy he had a drum he had too bad next one job 37 12 great words great words you want God to

turn up as he wants to then take this verse and stick it on your forehead job 37 verse 12

Job 37:12

job 37 verse 12 don't know which version you're reading it from but he loads the clouds with

Job 37:12

moisture scatters his lightning through them at his direction they swirl around over the face of

the whole world to do whatever he commands them he brings the clouds to punishment to water the

earth to show his love if you read it from the message 37 11 and 12 job 37 11 and 12 job 37

11 and 12 it is God who fills clouds with rain water and hurls lightning from them every which

way he puts them through their paces first this way then that commands them to do what he says

all over the world whether for discipline or grace or extravagant love he makes sure they make

their mark job are you listening have you noticed all this stop in your tracks taking God's miracle

wonders guys flex be flexible to turn this way or that way be detours through samaria or be the

sleepover in Jericho do whatever God tells you to and he will end up not being healer but the

razor of the dead so Jesus is called to some Bethany by Mary and Martha saying our brother

is sick please come where is he he's on the other side of the Jordan what does he do he says he's

going to stay there for two more days he sleeps over at Jordan for two more days what happens in

the bargain the God who can heal Lazarus who is sick becomes the God who can raise Lazarus from

the dead big difference guys but be like a cloud that can be moved by God flexible go here

and the other thing is please don't try to understand understanding is highly overrated

you don't need to understand you just need to obey

do it without understanding samaria same thing he's heading towards Jerusalem

but he is told to go through samaria which as you may already know is a roundabout way of getting

anywhere he goes through samaria hostile terrain for a jew who's heading to Jerusalem and yet there

at the well of saikar where Jacob's sons murdered hundreds of shechemites Jesus gives life to an

entire village because he meets a woman who is sleeping with five men

and so instead of being one who is going to preach at this temple in Jerusalem now God becomes the

one who saves an entire village through a woman of ill repute who wouldn't even come to the well at

the right time to avoid the other women this is what I mean by God can turn up as he will

and when you give him that room he becomes something that you cannot otherwise

control otherwise we manage God I hate that word managing God and God being your father will not

hijack your will will not force you into a situation and so even though he controls everything

and can change anything he wants because he values my free will I begin to manage him

in an odd way when he's one of the scriptures in psalms is Jacob only if you could listen to me

and if you would obey me if you would just open your mouth I would fill it with grain wine and oil

we we can't domesticate him huh this is a lion not a cat I saw a terrible thing on TV yesterday

they're bringing out this thing called where's the pen this is just so not important

they're bringing out things now called

it's about cats

I changed my channel quickly

movies movies

no no don't google it don't google it Sue oh okay just checking

no I thought you were cat you're a cat person that's why okay guys psalm 123 verse 2 is so cool

Psalms 123:2

it says just like a servant looks at his master and a maiden at his at her mistress so I shall be

alert to the move of God and so develop that day and do not try to understand things just obey

understanding it come later understanding and come later psalm 123 to encourage you to alertness

and obedience so that you can be like that cloud in job jope 37 next one guys discern the body

discern the body that God comes in discern the body that God comes in as in God may present

himself through people that you don't fancy who through people who don't impress you but discern

the body God comes in because if you despise it you will miss a visitation discern the body God

comes in because if you despise it you will miss a visitation in Matthew 1350 ish 1355 you can hear

the guys in Nazareth saying who does he think he is isn't Joseph his dad the carpenter is Mary not

his mother aunt Mary and Judas and others not his brothers and sisters who is this man from Galilee

who thinks he can exert this kind of authority so there is this inability that we have to sometimes

receive God when he presents himself through certain people and sometimes those people come

with flaws and some of those flaws can be highly irritating if you can tolerate it for five minutes

you might actually receive from a person that which God is trying to bring to you

I find this very difficult at times there are some people that I watch and I can't stand them on a

just walk away or turn the tv off or stuff like that but sometimes you'll be surprised at how God

will deliberately humble you by having you depend on him even through flawed vessels

in second Corinthians 5 16 Paul puts it this way that we don't evaluate people by what they have

or how they look we used to look at the Messiah that way once but we got it all wrong and we don't

do it anymore now the guy who missed out on an amazing opportunity to bless a woman and perhaps

bless her child was Eli Eli was a Christian and he was a Christian and he was a Christian and he

was a Christian and his child was Eli Eli looks at Hannah Hannah is mumbling and praying and what

does he think she is up to that she's drunk and so he goes and rebukes her saying what's wrong with

you why are you drunk so early in the morning discern the body that God comes in because God

has this really bad habit of turning up through people who you don't think much of

and when he does that you you despise that and you miss out on a visitation

you miss out on a visitation

here's the thing guys where are all the pens disappearing are you putting them away

i don't know

guys here's the thing between humility

between humility and pride these are two extremes we usually don't live at either extreme

so we don't live here not that we live here but between humility and pride is this monster that

lurks in the shadows and that monster is called the devil and he's a monster and he's a monster

is this monster that lurks in the shadows and that monster is called presumption

and presumption according to first samuel 15 presumption is akin to idolatry

some bibles use the word stubbornness other bibles use the word presumption

presumption is when i have already reached a conclusion about something or someone not

based on a god idea but based on my own wisdom i'm not humble enough to recognize it i'm not

proud enough to despise it and so i live here presumption is what i do with people

presumption is what i do with situations and once you begin to presume things it becomes

harder for god to turn up as he wants to because you have already arrived at some kind of a conclusion

so

just two or three more and i'm done

you will see the wind every time not hear the wind not feel the wind you will see the wind every

time if you operate from this place of oh god i am

going to give value to everybody who you send and listen to them four or five six minutes before i

shut them off because i got to discern the body that you come in i just think of guys like eddie

i think of guys like chad i think of guys like mike scantleberry these guys when they came to

axe 29 man there was nothing about them that i found i wanted to cultivate a relationship with

eddie i avoided for two years chad the moment i heard he had a church of 25 000 i thought to myself

these mega pastors stay away from them mike scantleberry was pretty aggressive

and i was saying to myself don't want them i avoided eddie for two years why because sometimes

you don't like the package that god comes in

but sometimes god will not come any other way but through a package that you'll have to get used to

okay next one joshua 5 13 to 15 joshua 5 13 to 15 joshua 5 13 to 15

you know the story joshua's out because walking around the mountains before the day of battle

because he's so not sure of what's going to happen it's his first major battle after moses has left

and so he's walking around and he sees the commander of the armies of israel and he sees

this man with his sword drawn out and he says who are whose side are you on he says neither

i'm on nobody's side i'm the commander of the armies of israel and then he says take off your

shoes for you where you stand is holy guys at the end of the day all that you need to know is how

god is appearing to you once you know how god is appearing to you you just have to look at who he

is coming as and you will know everything you need to know here is what joshua realizes here is a man

with a sword drawn out and the sword that is drawn out is pointed towards jericho first thing

second this man is the commander of the armies of israel and joshua is leading israel out of

captivity third take your shoes off for this ground is holy this is god himself now what do you want

what else do you need once you have these three things as a man who is leading an army into battle

if you see that you have god who's just said take your shoes off your feet because this ground is

holy if he says i come as a commander of the armies of israel and that means angelic forces

and he has a sword unsheathed and is pointing it to jericho what confirmation do you need

all joshua does is he bows down on the ground and worships god

i love seeing god as who he is in a situation because i get to know the direction he'll be

traveling in and so i got to run behind and what he's going to do and i know the victory already

or i know the outcome already

and god does not speak in riddles he's not some nebulous

wafer vapor he when he wants to make himself present can make himself very evident

let me know two ways about it i remember someone who was really not well and had suffered for a

while calling me and um because they were in dire situation recently and so i'm in an emergency

i'm in another country and i'm walking in someone's garden it's pitch dark i'm saying god

need help what needs to happen what do i have to do and i remember walking in that garden and

suddenly i see what looks like christ out of revelations 113 towering into the sky so high

that i can't even see his face all i hear god saying is tell them to lift up their hands and

push back and i'll take care of it so i call the person and i say hey lift up your hands this way

and push back and see what happens man two three minutes the entire situation just

swirled around it was such an amazing victory i'm thinking to myself how in the world does stuff

like this happen man because i wasn't confident of what i was saying because it sounded so

unconnected unrelated but sometimes guys all i have to do is figure out who you are appearing

as if you're appearing as revelations 113 feet burning brass eyes blazing fire a sword coming

out from your mouth towering who can stand against you he can make himself evident and

he does it with different people different ways

the

next one luke 719 just make sure that scripturally your understanding is not parochial by parochial i

mean localized your denomination or to your father or your grandfather or a certain

pentecostal or baptist way of thinking or whatever because this is what happens to john the baptist

in luke 719 john the baptist sends two of his friends to ask jesus are you the real deal or

should we be expecting another messiah why because in luke 317 when john had prophesied he had said

that jesus will come with a winnowing fork he'll separate the grain from the husk and he'll burn

up the husk and instead of burning up the husk jesus is healing syrophoenician women he's healing

the centurions servant he's going around doing good to the gentiles and in john's head it doesn't

compute this very man that i prophesied on that will separate the husk from the grain and burn up

the husk is actually going to the husk and he's helping them why because john didn't have an idea

that in genesis 12 3 god had already said through this nation i will bless the other nations

sometimes if my understanding my scriptural understanding is either incomplete or faulty

or if it's parochial as in localized to some denominational way of thinking or some father

grandfather way of thinking then god cannot turn up except in the way that you will receive him

and should he turn up any other way you will not recognize him that's a sad thing that god can turn

up in my life and do something and i will not give him the glory that is due him because i did not

see him because he didn't turn up the way he was supposed to this is what happened in jerusalem

christ the king the creator of the universe was walking amongst them he came to his own and his

own did not recognize him why scriptural understanding

therefore be instructed in doctrine and my god don't go being instructed in doctrine from four

five places

yep

can you repeat the last part a little louder

so

no i'm saying that if i am scripturally not solid on who christ can be let's assume my

thinking is christ comes to punish now it'll be very hard for me to receive christ when i have

done something really wrong and instead of turning up to he turns up and gets really becomes really

kind to me i will not be able to handle that jesus christ because i've been living in my house

praying and fasting for the last four days hoping he'll spare me his rod and instead he's coming

with gifts and you think to yourself how do you receive this price you don't even recognize them

when the kindness of god is not recognized then it is hard to repent because it is the kindness of

god that causes people to repent so if i can convince you that god is not a kind god but is

a harsh god who will exact his pound of flesh repentance will be very difficult you will

repent out of fear not out of kindness so our scriptural understanding of god thoroughly

affects how he presents himself

i want to end with this last one man ah this is so cool i just love the truths that god has in his

scripture and that every week you can come and we can discover new truths i mean in exodus 3 14

what does he say he is he says i am that i am and i uh i will do that i whatever i want to do or

whatever i want to do or actually the we just leave it i am that i am but what he really says

when he talks about him as yavez i am that i am i will be that i will be i am that i am i am that

i am i will be that i will be if you want to put who you can but this is the actual sense of it i am

that i am i will be that i will be as in i am so blooming sovereign that there is no beginning no

end no restriction no constraint no you can't do this or you can do this i am that i am i will be

that i will be now this is the god that we try to capture and make him a certain way what if he

wants in a situation that you are in to turn up as kinsman redeemer what if he wants to be judge

what if he wants to be warrior what if he wants to be shepherd what if he wants to be father

what if we were willing to be ready to accept him the way he wants to be and be able to recognize

it read the letters this is the part that really got me when you read the letters that christ writes

to the book of revelation it is fascinating how he changes and appears to different churches man

so in ethesus he turns up

in ethesus

he in ethesus he is dealing with their first love and he wants to examine their first love

so in ethesus he turns up as the one who is walking among the lampstands

as in walking among his churches seeing where they are at because ethesus' problem is first love

and he needs to examine them and so he turns up as you i come as one who is walking among the lampstands

and i'm examining you in smirna where they are going to have 10 days of testing and affliction

so in affliction he turns up as the first and the last who was dead and now lives because he knows

what they are going to go through who died and came back to life again the first and the last

because he knows smirna is going to be tested for 10 days he tells them guys there's such affliction

some of you will die but know this that i am the first and the last i am the one who died and rose

again in pergamum which he says is the throne of satan he comes as the one with the double-edged

sword why because he knows what they need

so in pergamum which is satan's throne he says these are the words of him who has a double-edged

sharp sword in his mouth and and pergamum is already thinking of the letters that paul used

to write to the ephesians and pergamum was part of the ephesian churches where he said hey remember

to take the sword of the spirit with which you can do harm to the enemy in thaiatura

in thaiatura where jezebel and her idolatry and sexual immorality was defiling the church

he comes as the one with blazing eyes of fire and burning feet of bronze as one who can come to

purify and tread down that which is rotten and you begin to see this thing developing where

within his churches he's turning up a certain way what if what if ephesians wants him to come

some other way it doesn't help remember god is not trying to do a costume thingy and turn up in

fancy dress to you he is doing this because he wants to help you help me help the church

this is why it's critical that every year acts 29 know so oh god who do you want us to be

who do you want to be to us in 2020 so that we can be what you want us to be to you in 2020

so this

so this he turns up as one who has a seven-fold spirit

all-knowing one who has the seven eyes of the spirit all-knowing why because inside is the

problem was you guys give the uh give the appearance that everything is fine with you

you have a reputation for being fine but really you're a wretched naked poor and you are dead

in philadelphia he turns up with the key of david why because he says hey you guys have very little

strength but my god you've been faithful i am coming as the one who holds the key of david

because the door that i open nobody can shut and the door that i shut nobody can open so come i'll

show you what you can do with your faithfulness and your little strength

see what happens when we recognize him for who he is and how he appears to us

changes everything guys it applies to your home applies to your marriage applies to your body

applies to your future marriage applies to your business applies to your work applies to your

church there is no area where christ the all-sufficient one i am that i am i will do

what i want to do if he turns up the way he wants to and if i create room for it my god

something else and then the i think is there anything after philadelphia yeah laudacia laudacia

and in laudacia look at how he turns up and it's different every time something goes wrong he

doesn't turn up as judge in laudacia which is luqom and complacent look at how he turns up

as a faithful and true witness exactly opposite of what the church is i often think of laudacia

i often think of laudacia and i think oh god they were luqom they were luqom and they were

complacent you should have come as a judge and said out with you no instead to the luqom and

the complacent he comes as listen i'm the one who is ridiculously faithful and i'm the true witness

different strokes for different folks man

this is what he talks about in isaiah 28 caraway has to be threshed a certain way cumin has to be

threshed a certain way you don't run a wheel over every seed some things have to be threshed

some things have to be sifted so next week the sermon will be shorter because i'm not here

and so ask this question guys if you can't do it now you can do it later oh god who do you want

who do you primarily want to be to me this week who do you primarily want to be to me this week

i sometimes ask it every day guys

who do you primarily want to be to me this week how do you want to turn up in my life this week

it doesn't mean that the week is only about that the word here is primarily what do you want to do

that's what i asked before worship times hey who do you want to primarily be this

week this worship time what do you want to emphasize so when we do breaking a bread what

do you want of your life to come out and so today the whole thing has been hey present me as one

who is victor over the devil and his demonic armies read scriptures keep going even if people

look like they're not listening can you leave that with me and trust the holy spirit do what i'm

telling you to this is not guesswork or hearsay guys it's not like oh god who do you want to

primarily be with me and then you're trying to guess no no no this is revelation from god that

will come to you matthew 16 16 to 19 jesus asked the disciples who do you say i am or some say

you're the prophet some say you're like elijah some say and then jesus said really but who do

you think i am then one man gets a revelation hey trust god for revelation when you seek how he

wants to appear to you what will happen once you begin to recognize this it'll change your worship

it changes your worship how can you sing songs of love to a warrior king

what if he turns up as bridegroom how can you sing songs of let's go marching when he's turned

up as bridegroom now it'll be songs of love who he turns up as begins to reorganize your worship

and prayer so if he turns up as warrior king my prayers will turn into decrees

it changes your worship your walk your talk your expectations it changes your expectations

what were you expecting that you're going to get this by sitting on your backside you could have

had that if he had turned up as bridegroom because the bridegroom likes giving gifts to his bride

but what do you know he turned up as a warrior what does that mean get off your backside and go

marching with him and kick some um um whatever needs to be kicked

because it changes your expectations it changes your ways it changes your walk

it changes your talk it changes your worship it gives you keys as to how to deal with the

situation for that day and then it gives you keys for others too this is why i'm marvel that i can

meet with you this week and i tell you something and when i meet with you next week i'm telling

you something totally different and you look at me as you are so inconsistent are you really

hearing from god and i'm telling you sometimes the messages may be mixed but they are god man

ab thick of 2 1 climb the lookout tower scan the horizon wait to see what god says climb the

lookout tower climb the lookout tower

climb the lookout tower scan the horizon wait to see what god says one last time climb the look

tower, scan the horizon, wait to see what God says. Father, I think you're amazing.

I think there are so many things that you can be to us individually and as a

church. I think you are very wise. We think that actually. We think you're

brilliant. But now we want to create room for your brilliance so that it will be

all you. All you. So that we may not manage you. Oh my God, we are sorry for

managing you by giving you very little room or by going to past experiences and

replicating them. We are sorry for managing you.

In Jesus name.

Hey, could Jeevan and Heidi come up?