Testing

We continue with the unseen realm.

This one's called testing.

If you turn to Judges 3, Judges 3, 1 to 5.

Judges 3, 1 to 5.

We read this briefly last time.

So we'll start there.

Judges 3, 1 to 5.

I'm gonna read verse one and verse three first.

And so if we wanna be able to have any

influence or caliber in the unseen realm,

then there is a process of testing

that we will be subjected to.

So I wanted us to be familiar with that.

So Judges chapter three, verse one and three.

So here's what it says.

Basically it says that the Lord left some nations in the land.

He left them there in order to put the people of Israel

to the test.

Who did he leave?

Verse three talks about it.

He left the five rulers of the Philistines.

He left the people of Canaan and the people of Sidon

and he left the whites who were living

in the Lebanon mountains.

So he left quite a few people in the land,

five kings of the Philistines and five kings of the Aegean.

So he left the five kings of the Aegean.

He left the five kings of the Philistines,

the people of Canaan, the people of Sidon or Sidon

and he left the whites who were living

in the land of Lebanon.

And he deliberately did this

because he wanted to test Israel.

The thing is it's testing that prepares you

to compete with the horses.

It's testing, it's testing that prepares you

to compete with the horses or run against the horses.

Not run with the horses, run against the horses.

Compete with the horses.

And if this testing doesn't happen,

then you will tire running with men.

And that's in Jeremiah 12.5.

So God will, if he wants to raise up a people

who have any influence or any caliber

to handle the unseen realm, which is what I believe

he wants us to begin to grow up into.

And it's a rarity, let me tell you it's a rarity.

We're not even calling it spiritual warfare

because that term has been so messed up

that anything goes.

We're talking about having the ability to dispossess,

to occupy, we'll talk about those things later.

But the point is this, that for God to raise up a people

like that who know how to fight,

he will leave things in the land of your life

so that you can be toughened up.

Because running with the horses

or competing against the horses,

running faster than the horses is impossible

if we are not put to the test.

Because otherwise we will just run with men.

And then in Judges 3, verse two, look at what it says.

He did it for all those who hadn't lived

through any of the wars in Canaan.

He did it to train the descendants of Israel

in the art of war.

He wanted them to learn how to fight.

I'm taking it from different versions

and putting it together, which is why it might not read

exactly that way in your Bible.

Judges chapter three, verse two,

he did it for all those who have not fought

and those who hadn't lived

through any of the wars in Canaan.

He did it to train the descendants of Israel

in the art of war.

He wanted them to learn how to fight.

What kind of God is this?

He does not want people who don't know how to fight.

And yet the church really doesn't, eh?

May I suggest that we don't?

Not may I suggest, let me just say it plainly, we don't.

May I suggest sounded too polite.

We don't.

We don't know how to fight.

Like I said before, if things are working well for us,

it's because we are learning how to live righteously

and that has its own advantage

because righteousness delivers a nation.

But fighting is when you deliver the unrighteous too.

That's the beauty of it.

Righteousness will deliver you

but who will deliver the unrighteous?

Unless someone fights for them.

And so he took those that had not learned the art of war,

which means he takes all of us.

And unfortunately, because I'm your pastor,

I'm saying yes, God, I'm subjecting you to it too.

Where I'm saying, okay, oh God, train our hands for,

battle and our fingers for, war, Psalm 144 verse one.

Let me read Judges 3-2 again.

He did it for all those who hadn't lived

through any of the wars in Canaan.

There were people before us who have paid a price,

who have fought and there are people here

who have learned that too.

I'm not saying no, but I'm saying,

I'm not saying no, but I'm saying,

I'm not saying no, but I'm saying,

there are people who have learned that too.

I'm not saying no, but I'm saying as a church,

we're still newbies at this.

He did it to train the descendants of Israel

in the art of war.

He wanted them to learn how to fight.

So training or testing, testing trains you,

testing trains you

to withstand

where

wield

war.

And this plays right into Ephesians 6, 10 to 12.

Testing, and this is God kind of testing,

it's not temptation.

Satan tempts, God tests.

Satan tempts, God tests.

Satan wants you to fail.

God is testing your caliber to prove you

as someone who can get through to the next level.

And so testing trains you to withstand.

Ephesians 6 puts it this way,

after you've done everything, stand.

Testing trains you to withstand.

Guys, we quit too easily.

We quit too easily.

In a culture that wants everything instant,

the one person who will never be instant is God.

Because see, the problem with the timeless being

is time means nothing to him.

It's a problem for us, yeah.

It's a problem for us, yeah.

Testing trains us to withstand,

it trains us to wear what we need to wear.

David knew this, he did not like what Saul gave him to wear.

He knew how to wear a slingshot,

how to wear a pouch with five stones in it.

Paul knew how to wear a helmet and a shield

and a breastplate and shoes and a belt.

Because you can't go in a top hat

or a tuxedo for these kinds of things.

Which is why Hebrews 12 puts it this way,

putting away everything that encumbers us,

that entangles our feet.

Or Paul says this way to Timothy,

an athlete has to compete by the rules,

a soldier does not get involved in civilian affairs.

Teachers us what to wear.

And every situation we are facing

is not necessarily a test from God,

some of it is straight out evil.

But the great thing is, when you prepare this way,

you can handle both ends of it.

You can show God that you have the caliber

to step into the next level,

and you can show the enemy that because I now

have more muscle I can handle you.

We'll talk about that.

Any ways you win.

And so you learn what to wear,

and then you learn what to wield,

because the only weapon we have,

and I love saying this, weaponize your words.

Weaponize your words, draw your stones out of the book,

use them in your slingshot, weaponize your words,

because it's the only weapon you really have.

And it's the only weapon the enemy will try to take away

through sometimes cultural baggage,

because we are quiet when we, because we are Canadians.

Or we are way too brashful because we are Americans.

Weaponize your words, it's the only weapon you have.

And so you withstand, you wear, you wield.

Why wield?

Because the sword of the spirit must be wielded,

and the sword of the spirit is the word of God.

We must grow up in this regularly on a daily basis,

learning how to wield this weapon called the word of God.

It's the only thing, I mean, you have no idea

how fun it was to sit before that one little place

that literally rules Hanoi,

and declare about 400 names of a God

who is king over all the universe.

And as the words were being declared,

Jehovah, this, Jehovah, that,

and the meaning that each of those names carried,

and it was being spoken out.

Every other religion seems to practice it

with relative ease.

Islam practices it five times a day.

Mantras are spoken in Hinduism on a daily basis.

I just remember getting up, I did a,

when I was in India, I attended this thing

called Transcendental Meditation.

Every morning you had to wake up in the morning

and cross your legs and hope they would uncross,

and then begin to chant this mantra every morning.

And it was the name of Hindu gods,

and I, like a fool, would chant them every day.

The point being this, that once you wield the word of God,

that is when you learn how to war.

When these three things come into place,

war becomes easier, and that is basically

what Ephesians 6, 10 to 12 talks about also.

One more bit, and then if you have questions,

we can go to the questions.

Judges three, verse four.

Judges chapter three, verse four, and here's what it says.

He wanted to see whether they would obey his command,

and he did.

And he said, he wanted to see

whether they would obey his commands.

He had given those commands through Moses

to their people long ago.

He wanted to see whether they would obey his commands.

He had given those commands through Moses

to their people long ago.

Testing is on principles,

testing is on principles

that were taught

and established

in the past.

Meaning God tests us on things that he's already taught us.

He's given us enough time to learn it,

and now he'll test us.

Testing is on principles that were taught in the past,

things that were established in the past.

You will be tested on them.

This is the nature of God.

It's impossible to escape this

because God is really not interested in anything else,

but you being conformed to the image of Christ.

And so when I don't respond well to the test,

he'll say, all right, Jacob, we can start again tomorrow.

And so it's Groundhog Day again.

I love this part of God, man.

He's so loving and unrelenting.

What a strange combination.

Really loving and really unrelenting.

Any questions?

Go ahead.

You have to be careful about the things that you say.

Yeah, if testing doesn't happen,

then you can't compete with the horses

and you will tire out running with men.

Meaning running with men alone will tire you out.

So forget competing with the horses.

And God is saying, I want you to compete with the horses.

I want you to be so different

because anybody can run with men.

Because anybody can run with men.

The world can do that.

You don't need God for that.

But to run and compete with the horses.

And then he goes on to say in Jeremiah 12.5,

if you cannot run on plain ground,

how will you run through the thickets of the Jordan?

Any other question?

Yep.

Yeah, what do I have to wear to war?

I mean, does my worship change?

Does my recognition of who God has changed?

Does my thinking change?

Does my level of faith change?

Does my willingness to use the gospel,

which is the power of God unto rescue become new?

Does my belt of truth become something

that doesn't give away every time I'm challenged with fear?

Does the sword of the spirit become something

that comes out of my mouth,

just like it came out of Jesus' mouth?

These are the things we wear.

And so in all of these, we begin to increase.

Saying, father, if you want me to go next to Sri Lanka

to deal with something there,

then God give me the faith that I need as a shield.

Give me the breastplate of righteousness

so that just blazing purity will intimidate the enemy.

Give me words, father, so that without wasting words,

whatever needs to be decimated can be decimated.

Give me the shoes of the gospel of peace

so that I'm not a hypocrite who knows how to demonstrate stuff

but is scared to speak stuff.

It's sobering, but it's challenging and exciting.

And don't worry, I'll be excited for you.

Just live vicariously through my excitement.

Any other questions?

Testing is always on principles already taught.

So he'll test me on things that he's already been

teaching me for a while.

It doesn't matter, it's just not about

dealing with the unseen realm.

In the seen realm, dealing with patients,

dealing with kindness, dealing with other things

that he's teaching me, he will test me on it.

Because you don't go to the next level

till you pass the first test.

Guys, the problem with the message of cheap grace

is that cheap grace that is being preached

does not touch testing.

It's all God is syrupy and he will ooze all over you.

There is truth to that.

But there is another side to it.

He's extremely loving but extremely unrelenting

in training up a son as one should be trained.

It's not one or the other.

And some of us need to take pause and say,

why is it that life looks the same?

Perhaps because I'm not responding to training

in some areas, not some of us.

I need to look into some areas of my life

where there isn't much progress and I'm doing the same,

what's that animal that goes round and round?

Hamster.

Yeah, why is it that in some areas of my life?

Genesis 22, one.

Genesis 22, one.

It says sometime later, God tested Abraham.

Sometime later, God tested Abraham.

And then in verse 12, it says, I love this from the message,

Genesis 22, 12 says,

now I know how fearlessly you fear God.

I love that.

Now I know how fearlessly you fear God.

You didn't hesitate to place your son,

your dear son on the altar for me.

Remember in the New Testament,

the fear of God is the dread of offending the one you love.

In the New Testament, the fear of God may be defined

as the dread of offending the one you love.

You like him so much that the thought of grieving him

is dreadful.

That's what the fear of God is in the New Testament.

It's not being afraid of the Holy one of Israel

being so holy that you cannot come anywhere near him

because you don't know what he may do.

It's completely different in the New Testament.

But I love what God says to Abraham.

I'm surprised at how fearlessly you fear me.

And so one of the things testing does

is testing measures your allegiance,

testing measures your primary allegiance.

Testing measures your primary allegiance.

Testing measures your primary allegiance

to God and his ways, to God and his ways

and to God and his ways.

And whatever you treasure, whatever you treasure,

whether it's tradition or culture, whatever it is,

there is always gonna be a testing of your primary allegiance.

And our primary allegiance keeps changing.

Like what's at the center?

What's at the center?

What's at the center?

He must be at the center.

What's at the center?

And God doesn't test us to destroy us.

God tests us so that we may become more like him.

Any questions on that?

Okay.

Is there an eraser anywhere?

Pardon?

Oh, thanks.

May I?

Okay.

Usually when you're tested in terms of your obedience,

it's usually in these areas, pride,

dependence on Christ and the body.

Provision.

Control.

Lust of the flesh or the eyes.

Let's just leave it at flesh now because it covers more.

Lust of the flesh, fear of God,

fear of man.

These are usually the areas

where your obedience is tested.

And this will happen again and again and again

because you may overcome pride today.

Three years from now, you're some famous person

and there's pride entering again.

These are the areas that you're tested for.

These are the areas that God will work on.

Let me test you, Jacob, and see whether you've grown

any prouder since you preach to a crowd of a thousand

or 10,000 or 20,000.

Let me see, Jacob, if you're still dependent on Christ

and the body or whether you've gotten so used to doing

things well that you run on your gifts.

Let me see, Jacob, if you still can depend on me for provision,

what if I dried up the brook chariot?

What are you gonna do?

Panic?

Or will you go to the widow who has just a little bit of flour

and trust that I can even provide through a widow

even though the crows have started disappearing

and the brook has dried up?

Let me see, Jacob, if power has gone to your head

where you begin to control people.

Let me see, Jacob, if you have begun to fall in the area

of the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes

where anything appealing grabs your eyes.

Let me see, Jacob, if you still have that dread

of grieving me because you love me.

Let me see, Jacob, if you will speak up

or are you afraid of man because you've gotten dependent

on a few people?

Who did this happen to?

Jesus Christ, Luke chapter four,

and the devil tested him in the desert.

In what areas?

In the area of dependence where he said,

you got stones you can turn into bread,

you got the power.

Where it was appealing, he was hungry.

You can do it now.

You have the power.

Are you gonna take control or are you not?

All these things happened to Adam and he failed,

happened to Israel and they failed in the desert,

which is why in Deuteronomy 8.3,

it actually says, I gave you manna to test you,

to humble you, to see whether you would live

by the simple principle that man shall live

not by bread, but by every word that goes out

from the mouth of God.

Israel failed, Adam failed, Jesus then beats

the enemy at his game.

Testing is incremental in the sense that it doesn't go

from zero to hundred and, I saw this amazing ad

for Volkswagen.

This is a really old ad when they used to have

those little Herbie's, what do you call them?

Beatles, yeah.

And it had a BMW and it said zero to hundred

in 6.3 seconds and then there was the Volkswagen

and it said zero to hundred in enough time.

So, it's a really old ad.

And it said zero to hundred in 6.3 seconds

and then there was the Volkswagen and it said

zero to hundred in enough time.

And that was how they would sell it.

I mean, that little car was one of the most popular cars

in enough time.

I mean, who wants to do a hundred in 6.3 seconds?

What difference does it make to life in enough time?

God doesn't take you from zero to a hundred

in 6.3 seconds.

It's degrees that he begins to take you through in testing.

So, I mean, if you look at Abraham's life,

it was first his country.

Leave your country.

Leave your clan.

Leave your family.

Let Hagar go.

Let Ishmael go.

And then let Isaac go.

It wasn't, give me Isaac.

Nope.

It was step by step by step.

And what was he doing?

Proving Abraham to the point where he finally says,

you fearlessly fear me.

You're my friend forever.

I'll speak of you as my friend and you'll be the father of faith.

My God, man, who doesn't want to hear that?

It's testing that brought Abraham to receive those titles.

It's testing that brought Jesus to a place where he has a name

above every other name because he was obedient unto death.

Desire testing.

I know it doesn't sound right, but desire it.

It makes you like him, which is the only aim of the church and of God.

Tests allow what is otherwise prevented by God.

Tests allow what is otherwise prevented by God.

Tests allow what is otherwise prevented by God,

as in the devices of the world and the devil

working through human and spiritual adversaries and circumstances.

Tests allow what is otherwise prevented by God.

You can see.

Yeah, I love the line in Luke 4.1.

And then the Spirit of God led him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Tests allow what...

Guys, the amount of protection we have,

the amount of accidents that do not happen,

the amount of attacks that are thwarted,

the amount of deceptions that we don't fall under,

the amount of evil that is being planned against you

by bodiless forces that occupy the air,

the amount of stuff that we don't see we avoid,

is simply because God is stepping in continuously.

It's just incredible if we could, for once,

if God would open our eyes to just show us

the different things we don't step into.

It's like a baby, right?

The baby runs wherever it wants, doesn't realize that if you weren't there,

it would have shot itself, skewed itself, been run over,

and a whole lot of other things, just in one hour.

And yet there are times when tests will allow what is otherwise prevented by God,

and it takes the shape of human and spiritual adversaries,

and it is only allowed because God knows you have the ability to deal with it.

Because God knows you have the ability to deal with it.

Don't worry, this will get clearer as we go.

And we have enough time to go.

It'll get...

It's just awesome that He only allows in my life

that which He already knows I can deal with, but I don't know it.

Hear me again. He allows things into my life which He otherwise prevents.

Because remember, all satanic enterprise is by permission.

All satanic enterprise is by permission, either your permission or God's permission.

There is this funny term that can only be used for the devil, accountable rebellion.

It's contrary, but it's true.

And so God will only allow those things into my life

to test me that He already knows I'm absolutely able to do.

The only thing He forgot to tell me was that He knows it and I don't.

If I knew it, then it ain't a test.

Now that I don't know it, it proves God right or wrong,

depending on whether I walk up to it or don't walk up to it.

And if I don't walk up to it, He'll say,

all right, I'll get you out of this one, let's try again tomorrow.

Do you know how many driving tests I went for in Bahrain?

Come back next Sunday, we'll share it when I talk about Jeevan's other story.

Yeah. I went for a whole lot of driving tests, man.

At one point, I remember the instructor had to push the car with me

because my car was so bad that it broke down halfway through.

And how do you pass a test when the instructor has to push a vehicle off the road?

And the next time I took the car, it was a new car, someone else's car.

I didn't know the indicator was like the thing that makes water splash on the windscreen.

So I went for quite a few tests before I passed,

but the intent always in God tests is, hey, Jacob, you have the ability to do this.

Do you want to? You don't know it, but you're going to show me right.

You got to step up to it.

When I came to Canada, I passed in one shot.

The only comment the instructor made was, you can breathe now.

So I started breathing. I was so scared of failing.

Tests allow what is otherwise prevented by God,

the devices of the devil and the devil working through human and spiritual adversaries.

God allows us to be able to do what we want to do.

So I went to Canada, I passed in one shot.

The device of the devil working through human and spiritual adversaries.

God allows that sometimes just because he knows you can handle it.

Tests appraise, tests appraise.

If you know the nature of God, whether you know the nature of his work,

whether you know the quality of rest, tests appraise that.

Hey, Jacob, when you're panicking, will you walk into rest?

I'm not being allowed into a certain country

because I didn't have a yellow fever certificate

and I didn't know that if you come from Africa to this country

that you need to provide a yellow fever certificate.

I'm standing there and they're saying, what about a yellow fever certificate?

I said, I don't have it.

And then they said, do you have it at home?

I thought that's my way out.

And here is this chance to lie.

And I started lying. I said, yeah, I have it at home.

And I realized, man, you're being put under pressure.

You've got meetings to attend.

You've traveled all the way.

And so now when you're being challenged on the truth,

you're lying to get into this country.

God will appraise you on, hey, when you're put under pressure, how do you react?

Do you still walk out of rest?

Do you still step into the nature of God

or do you take things into your own hands?

I remember sheepishly telling the guy and he knew I was lying.

Sheepishly telling him, actually, I don't have one.

I even thought of, yeah, let's not go into the sins I was going to commit.

Tests will prove your character.

Tests will prove your character.

God will give you chances, eh?

Tests will appraise if you know the nature of God.

Tests will appraise if you know the quality of rest.

To fight from rest, you have to be strong.

To fight from rest, ah.

To fight from rest.

Then you don't flail.

Any questions before we go on?

Any questions?

Yeah.

That's not a personal test.

Yeah, so we taught this long ago and I just want to go over it very quickly.

Whenever things happen, you have to divide them into the fallenness of the world,

persecution,

attack of the enemy,

discipline,

consequence.

These are the five big ones.

Fallenness of the world,

persecution,

attack of the enemy,

discipline,

consequence.

Let's just throw in one more.

Breaking

boundaries or sin.

Ah, let's just call it breaking boundaries.

Where when you break the hedge, the serpent bites.

So these are usually the things that

I question when things happen to me that are unusual or not God-ish.

These would be my questions.

Father, where's this coming from?

Because if I know the source, I know how to respond to it.

If I know the source, I know how to respond to it.

If it's discipline from God, there's no point rebuking the devil.

If it is the devil,

there's no point asking God to teach you what you need to learn through that situation.

If it's the fallenness of the world

and a cut on your hand is bleeding, it isn't the devil nor is it God.

If someone gets pregnant because they slept with someone else,

then it is not the devil nor is it God.

It's sperm and egg.

Some are consequences.

Any other question?

Go ahead.

My God, that's a...

Josh, do you want to move?

Just checking.

Yeah, go ahead.

Yeah, it's not as clinical as a real thing.

It's not as bad as a real thing.

It's not as bad as a real thing.

It's not as bad as a real thing.

It's not as bad as a real thing.

Yeah, it's not as clinical as I've written it.

But, oh yeah, forgot to include that.

The great thing about the testing of God is it's always to prove

either my understanding of his nature or to bring me into a new level,

which I'll talk about shortly from here on.

Like, I'll just refer to it now.

Yeah.

Apart from this.

Yeah.

Guys, it's the only way to learn.

He will train us.

I mean, Judges 3, 1 to 5 is so blooming clear.

It kind of makes sense now why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, 13,

that listen,

the great thing about the testing of God is it's always to prove

that listen,

God won't test you beyond your ability to bear

and with it will give you a way to escape.

And we thought it meant that he let temptation come our way

and then will give us an exit so that we can run from temptation.

Not really.

He was saying, hey, I've shown you how to handle this.

It's not you hiding a tail between your legs and running away.

It is you knowing how to handle these situations well.

Where someone is mocking you and you know how to show the kindness of God.

Where you're scared inside your heart,

but you know how to trust a God who teaches you how to trust him enough not to be afraid.

You're being attacked by something spiritual that you know is huge,

but you have learned how to overcome it.

We'll talk about that shortly.

Guys, this may sound complicated in the beginning,

but really it's very simple if you took a natural example in the world.

We go through this training every time.

If you joined the RCMP,

you would have to drive a car through all kinds of hoops

so that you can qualify.

You have to run a certain amount.

You have to learn how to run a certain amount.

You have to learn how to handle a fight.

They don't...

They put you at the airport if you don't know how to do these things.

God tests and trains.

Praise God for it.

Like one whisper of an amen would help.

Okay.

1 Samuel 17.

1 Samuel 17, 34-37.

1 Samuel 17, 34-37.

1 Samuel 17, 34-37.

Here's what David says.

Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep.

One of the best ways to learn how to be trained by God

is to do the father's business,

regardless of what you do for a living.

Engage in the father's business as in begin to pursue him,

do things his way,

and not only will you learn to know him better,

you'll end up being trained well.

And so this is David's conversation with Saul.

And he says to him,

Your servant has been keeping the father's sheep.

And then he goes on to give an idea of the first test that happens in his life.

And the first test is,

when I used to be singing songs in the wilderness by myself,

when a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep.

And so he begins to talk about the first test.

And by the way, he talks about different types of enemies.

Not the same.

Different enemy types carrying different strength.

When they would come to carry a sheep away,

steal, kill or destroy,

what would I do?

I would go after it.

I went after it, struck it,

and rescued the sheep from its mouth.

This was David's test when he used to walk the wilderness.

He would go after it.

He wouldn't say,

Ah, let me write a song about the sheep that got eaten.

No.

He, that wasn't the thing.

You'll never find a psalm like that.

I was sitting by the meadow and then the,

no, it's always, it's different.

And then he writes about after it struck.

Maybe you can do a rap thing on that, Derek.

Yeah.

Derek's an amazing rapper.

You throw some words at him, he can start rapping.

The lion ate my sheep.

Go.

Okay.

So, yeah, next week when we talk about Jeevan,

you can do the rap.

I'll have to, yeah.

Just remind me to tell you about Jeevan's story next week.

Yeah.

So, yeah, next week,

I'll have to, yeah.

Just remind me to tell you about Jeevan's story next week.

So, he goes after it.

I love the fact that he went after it.

What are you talking about?

You're talking about going after a lion or a bear.

Who in his right mind does that?

It's only a sheep.

Only one.

But he goes after it because David learned.

He was tested when he used to sing.

And he learned.

He goes after it.

He strikes it.

He rescues the sheep.

And then listen to the next thing that happens.

Test two.

When it turned on me,

as in when he had pulled the sheep out of its mouth,

it would turn on him,

as in it would come to attack him.

When it would turn on him,

and this is a new level of combat now,

when it would turn on him,

I would seize it by its mane or hair,

or sheep don't have mane,

so it would grab the sheep by its hair,

and he would strike it and kill it.

He would destroy the work of the enemy.

This is what David did in the fields.

He's only an 18-year-old kid, man.

And then he goes on to say,

your servant has killed both lion and bear.

Your servant has killed both lion and bear.

As in this level is done.

I know how to handle it here.

I've done this before.

This is the great thing about being tested.

It's not that those tests will stop,

but I've done this before.

I know how to do this.

I love it when I go into certain nations

and have to deal with certain things,

and it's not,

it doesn't come out of a bravado,

but I know that,

I know how to deal with this level already,

because I've dealt with it two or three times.

Your servant has killed both lion and bear.

This uncircumcised philistine

would be like one of them.

And so David somehow thinks that,

because he's beaten these at this level,

he's ready for the next level,

that he can handle it.

He can handle an uncircumcised philistine.

He doesn't know it yet,

but one of the things that he's done

is he's done it.

He's done it.

He's done it.

He's done it.

But one of the things testing does,

it shows you how powerful God is.

You will not know, not know,

I will not know

how powerful God is till we are tested.

It is impossible to know the power of God

till you are tested,

because He'll have to come through.

If we are not tested, it's a shame.

I'm not afraid of it for us as a church,

because God will only give us that

which we already have the caliber to handle,

only we don't know it.

And then he goes on to make this marvelous statement.

The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion

and the paw of the lion who rescued me

from the hand of the philistines.

This is confidence in God for the next level.

Confidence in God for the next level.

Confidence in God for the next level.

Saying, I've dealt with this level,

I'm done with that.

This uncircumcised philistine

who's about four feet taller than me,

haven't dealt with this.

But since I've dealt with that,

I'm sure God can help me deal with this.

And now he goes on to the next thing.

Okay.

Any questions, feel free to ask.

I'll give you some practical examples, guys,

where I would go to certain places

and after having dealt with something,

I'd come back and there'd be problems with money,

with physical body, with relationships, with life.

Because I did not know how to handle the afterburn

or the after effects or did not know.

But with each successive time,

you learn the ways of God.

You learn the power of God.

You learn what to do and what not to do.

It's like the first time you try to hang a picture

on the wall and you lose your thumb,

and next time you know how not to lose the other thumb.

I haven't done much framing, as you can see.

So, once a level of testing is passed,

once a test is passed, in that area,

in that area, the power of the spirit

is proven and established in your life.

You are so sure, you're so confident of God in that area.

You're absolutely sure.

It becomes like a fortress.

It becomes like a stronghold.

In this area, I know God.

In this area, I know what God can do.

David had this amazing habit of remembering the things

that God had already done.

In Psalm 42, he says,

These things I remember as I pour out my soul,

how I used to praise the Lord amongst a happy crowd.

He would keep going back and saying,

You did this, this, this, and that.

Therefore, I now remember, and in those areas,

I'm sure that this is who you are.

That's one of the things tests do.

If you're not tested, we do not know God

and how he will be in certain areas.

What do you think happened to Joshua

when he met the commander of the armies of Israel,

who said that I am the commander of the armies of Israel,

to Joshua's question, who are you for or who are you against?

And then he watches Jericho fall.

What does that do to a commander?

Does he ever doubt the strategy of God?

How can he doubt the strategy of God?

I love what Peter says in 1 Peter or 2 Peter.

He says, We beheld his glory.

He's talking about the Mount of Transfiguration,

where Jesus unzipped his earthly suit,

and they saw him in his brilliance.

We beheld his glory.

It's a shame when you meet people

who went through a test 20 years ago

and are still talking about it.

We must be going from strength to strength,

faith to faith, glory to glory.

Yeah, what I meant is if they don't have any more stories

except that one testing, then it's a sad thing.

Because I don't want to battle Goliath

that was 9 feet tall and not go to the next Goliath

that is 12 feet tall.

Once a test is passed in that area,

the power of the spirit is proven

and established in your life.

There's no doubt there.

The other cool thing is that once a test is passed,

once a test is passed,

once a test is passed, then in that area,

the opposition, though present,

the opposition, though present,

the opposition, though present,

is aware of the loss inflicted,

is aware of the loss inflicted,

is aware of the loss inflicted.

The lion and the bear may have come again against David,

but the lion and the bear knew that David had already beaten them.

Though opposition may be present,

they are aware of the loss that has been inflicted.

They are aware of the loss that has been inflicted.

I love it when the demons turn and ask the sons of Skiwa,

Jesus I know, Paul I know, but who are you?

They were aware of the losses that had been inflicted by this man called Paul.

Word gets around.

Word gets around in the unseen realm.

How do you think they went around asking,

hey, have you seen that man Job, righteous man?

Conversations happen not just in the angelic realm,

but also in the satanic realm.

I'll wrap up in five.

Once a test is passed in that area,

the devil knows you're battle ready.

Once a test is passed in that area,

the devil knows

you are battle ready

you are battle ready

you are battle ready

and will be deployed against the next Goliath

and will be

deployed against

the next Goliath.

In Hanoi, on the last day when some of the leaders and pastors,

though they came as students, they are all in some capacity serving God,

when they began to hear God and they began to speak,

they began to speak words that began to give me an idea of where I have to go next

and what has to be dealt with next.

I thought to myself, gosh, Father, once the enemy knows that you are battle ready,

he also knows that you are battle ready.

He also knows that it's only a matter of time before God will deploy you to deal with the next Goliath.

And as a church, when we get battle ready,

this is not some video game.

What is at stake is lives and land that is set free

because the people wield the word as a weapon.

Lives and land set free,

where the dominance or the dullness or the blindness that is brought into lives by the God of the world is shattered

so that people now have the freedom to either breathe in God or to see God or to hear God,

which was otherwise impossible because of the dense darkness

that had descended over the land of the Gentiles.

But arise and shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee.

For behold, I open blind eyes.

I cause deaf ears to open.

I cause mute mouths to speak.

I cause the lame to leap because behold your Messiah.

Hear a voice crying out in the wilderness.

Prepare either way of the Lord.

This is what we are doing.

The salvation, the battling, everything is done.

Everything is done by him.

We join in the adventure of causing light that can never be overpowered by darkness

to now begin to enter lives in a land that was otherwise covered and there was a dominance there.

We want to live a God life without training or maturing.

It ain't going to happen.

We quit. We quit far too easily.

We quit too far too easily.

We quit when Barnabas leaves.

We quit when Timothy delays.

We quit when Doze goes.

We quit when Corinth rejects us.

We quit when the sun sets us.

We quit when Demas deserts us.

We quit too easily.

And when you look at Paul, he's a god.

When you look at Jesus, he could have quit in the Garden of Gethsemane.

He could have quit when he came back and looked for his disciples and all of them were fishing.

God could have quit when he restarted with Noah and found that Noah was lying naked, drunk.

He could have quit when Israel built a golden calf.

He could have quit when he found that Noah was lying naked, drunk.

Israel built a golden calf.

He could have quit and said, Moses, let's start afresh.

He said that and had no intentions of seeing it through.

We quit too easily.

Hey, quit today but get up tomorrow and start again.

Childishness dislikes being put to the test.

And demands signs and rewards to continue.

Childishness dislikes being put to the test.

And demands signs and rewards to continue.

God will not let you circumvent his end game.

And his end game is, I want you to mature into the image of my son.

It'll happen by the spirit.

And it'll happen by the spirit working through others.

It ain't gonna happen only through the spirit.

It ain't gonna.

God in his wisdom has decided that, Jacob, you will be nothing unless you are dependent on others through whom my spirit will work into your life.

Yes, my spirit will teach you things directly.

But you're not gonna make it.

If you think you and the spirit can do this together, you'll have to be dependent on others.

And if you're not dependent on others, you ain't making it into a place called maturity.

You're not.

Like I said before, for a timeless being, to a timeless being, time means nothing but timing is everything.

Time means nothing but timing is everything.

Please, let us rise to this call of Psalm 144, 1 that is being released over this church.

Come, let me train your hands for battle and your fingers for war.

Because if growth, the God way, isn't our priority, then we'll just end up watching reruns of Groundhog Day here on Earth.

Where every morning you get up and you're wondering, why is it the same as yesterday?

Yeah? Any questions? Before we pray that Vancouver will be spared the yoga thingy.

Any questions?

Cool.

Hey, so,