Unseen Realm

So here's what happens at the table.

There is a tower being built by a man called Nimrod.

The nations think they can converge around this,

God scatters them.

When he scatters them, we fight from Deuteronomy 32-8,

I got this thing happening.

Sorry, guys.

Can I go to this?

Sure.

Check.

Check, check, check, check.

Yeah.

So when the nations were scattered in different corners,

we find in Deuteronomy 32-8 that divine guardians,

and by divine guardians, we don't mean godly angels.

We just mean celestial beings,

angelic forces that are not necessarily godly,

began to be appointed over them.

All people sought them.

And so these are the gods we are talking about.

Different gods were established in different cultures,

in different nations.

This is what happened at Baaba.

And then God goes and he finds one man,

and that one man's name was Abraham.

And out of that one man, Abraham, he creates a nation.

Only this nation is Yahweh's nation.

And then God goes and begins to dismantle

the gods of other nations.

Who does he do it to?

He does it through Israel.

Why was he dismantling the gods of other nations?

For different reasons.

One of the reasons being Satan has always wanted

to steal, kill, and destroy.

He's still doing it then, he's still doing it now.

That is one of the reasons.

Second reason was there was a group of people

who rove the earth now.

They're dead, called the Amaks, and they're Nephilim.

You will find them in the Bible,

and they needed to be exterminated.

We'll talk about why another time.

But God uses Israel as a nation, as Yahweh's nation,

because one man, Abraham, chose to serve him.

He takes Israel as a nation to undo the gods

that existed then.

And those gods were not holy gods,

but those gods were evil gods.

And those gods were not holy gods,

but those gods were evil gods.

This is what God was doing in the Old Testament.

In the process, he began to establish himself

as the Lord of heaven and earth.

The whole idea of taking Israel through the wilderness,

into the promised land, was to establish in the hearing

of all the other nations of the earth

that there is one God and his name is Yahweh,

and nobody else is set against him.

You come to Psalm 68, and there is a king

called Old, the king of Bashan.

Bashan was supposed to be one of the most powerful kings.

God takes his mountain down.

Egypt was the ultimate power.

God takes down Pharaoh, but before he takes down Pharaoh,

he takes down the gods of Egypt.

We talked about that.

Jihad has been going on forever, man.

Only it isn't a new term.

A holy war has been on since the beginning of time,

the moment Satan was able to deceive Adam.

The book of Revelation is the story of a holy war.

Goliath and David is the story of a holy war,

one champion facing another champion.

There is no other God but the God of Israel.

His name is Jesus Christ.

There is no other God.

Every other God starts with a small G.

They may be divine guardians, they may be celestial beings,

they may be angelic, but they ain't God.

There is no commonality to the God of Hinduism, Buddhism,

Islam, and Christianity, no commonality.

All roads don't lead to Rome.

All religions don't lead to God.

They lead to powerful beings,

but there is only one being who is all powerful

and is fully God, who is creator.

Everything else is created, and his name is Jesus Christ.

There is no other God but the God of Israel.

There is no other God but the God of Israel.

There is no other God but the God of Israel.

Make no mistake.

I know you know this, but it needs to be said,

because these are the things that,

as we progress even in this country,

these are the things that will be hard to say.

These are the things we have to be diplomatic about.

And if you can be diplomatic about the creator of the universe,

then anything can be compromised.

So, in the Old Testament,

Yahweh was at war with the gods of the nations,

and he established his name through Israel,

which he pulled out as a nation that would represent him.

And this then is what changes at the Upper Room in Acts, Chapter 2,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

where the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost

was the defeat of the forces of darkness.

So, let me go a step further.

Every other God that starts with a small G,

you want to call them Astarte, which was,

you want to call it Zeus,

you want to call it Artemis,

you want to call it Baal, Zebul,

you want to call it Molech,

you want to call it Ra.

What do you call them?

You want to call it Ra.

What do you want to call it?

There are tons of names associated with gods in the Bible.

All these gods with a small G came to steal, kill, destroy.

Because Jesus Christ said this, and I believe in Jesus Christ,

and so do you, and he said,

I have come to give you life and life more, abundant.

But Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

And it doesn't matter what these gods take their name as now.

There's nothing new under the heavens or the earth.

It's a thing.

Any questions before we go on?

So, take a break, get into this view from,

from the one book that I trust, and that is the Bible.

Any questions?

Yeah?

They sometimes compete with each other, sometimes they work together.

While Satan's kingdom is not divided,

it's not as if there is a lack of competition within these gods.

As long as competition can result in stealing, killing, and destroying,

competition is helpful for them.

I mean, if a baby is lying on the floor and there are two dogs fighting,

and the intent is to devour the baby,

then it doesn't matter whether they are biting each other as long as

the intent is to kill the baby.

I know that's a gross, grotesque picture, but that is exactly how it is.

There is absolutely no respect for innocence or ignorance in the kingdom.

This is why Christ is calling us suddenly in the church to train your hands for war.

I'll show you some pictures that will blow your mind.

This is as real as it can get.

So the coming of the spirit at Petticoat was the declaration that the defeat of the forces of darkness

and these other gods are, let me equate it, that's where I was going,

these are the forces, these are the gods that come to steal, kill, and destroy,

are the forces of darkness.

So there can't be anything else but one God who is holy,

who is brilliant, who is creator, who is blazing in his purity.

Everything else is created.

And so when the Holy Spirit comes, listen to what Jesus said before the Holy Spirit came.

Actually listen to what God said in Isaiah 61 before the Holy Spirit came.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to do what?

To bring good news to those that are spiritually bankrupt,

to open the eyes of the blind, to set captives free, to open prison doors.

This was the setting free of those that were taking captives.

The coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Petticoat was the declaration

that the defeat of the darkness has been accomplished, but now I want to do a new thing.

Look at what Jesus said in Matthew 12, 28.

If I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then know that the kingdom has already come.

Which means this then, guys, that the kingdom of God, the rule and the reign of Jesus Christ,

is effected solely through the agency of the person of the Holy Spirit.

He doesn't.

And if he's here, then you know he's here because the kingdom has come and darkness has been defeated.

Acts chapter 2 was actually, when the Holy Spirit comes on Petticoat Sunday in Acts chapter 2,

Acts 2 · chapter mention Acts 2 · chapter mention

it was actually Yahweh's plan, or God's plan, to reclaim the nation.

God's plan to reclaim the nation. God's plan to reclaim the nation.

It was God's plan to reclaim the nation. How do you know it?

Acts chapter 1, verse 8,

Acts 1:8

And the Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and you shall be what?

You shall have power. For what? To be my witnesses.

To where? To Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the end of the earth.

The coming of the Holy Spirit was the beginning of the reclaiming of the nation.

Which nations? The nations that were scattered.

Where? At Babel.

What happened at Babel? Confusion.

What happened? Nations broke off.

What happened? Nations chose their own God.

What is happening at Acts chapter 2?

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Once again, people are beginning to speak a language that everybody understands.

Once again, people who are Parthians, who are Elemites, who are Romans,

begin to come together to hear one God.

Once again, they begin to hear Him being spoken of in a language that everybody understands.

Once again, what was the divergence of Babel now becomes a convergence in a smaller Peru.

It's a reversal of Babel.

But it's a reclamation of the nations saying, enough!

Let my people go!

And that day an exodus began.

Where in different nations, the Spirit of God began to send people

from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria to the end of the earth, saying, go now, get my people back.

Acts chapter 2 is so about reclaiming the nations.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 2 is not about speaking in tongues.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 2 is not about prophesying.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 2 is not about falling backwards.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 2 is not about a Pentecostal experience.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 2 is all those experiences yet, but the focus is,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

I have come to reclaim what is mine, I've come to take back the people

who were thrown out in the different nations of Babel, now I've come to take them back.

This is what it's about.

So, if you say you are participating in the life of the Holy Spirit,

you are naturally enlisted to be sent out.

The New Testament Church knew this.

The nations disinherited at Babel would be brought back, how?

By the Spirit of God, how?

Commissioning you and I with what?

With authority and power to do what?

To fulfill the Great Commission and to bring back Genesis 1.28.

Go forth, multiply, replenish, forgive.

This is what the Spirit of God came back, came for.

So simple, guys, and so beautiful.

Why did the Spirit of God come?

Because He wanted to reclaim the nations.

How? Through commissioning and sending out people.

Who are those people? You, you, you and you.

With what will He commission you with? With Himself.

What does that do for you? Authority and power.

And then what are we supposed to do? Go wherever He tells you to.

To do what? To bring back the nations and the peoples to Himself.

To fulfill what? The Great Commission.

Matthew 28, 18-20. Go there for it.

Go there for it.

And make disciples.

And what else? Genesis 1, 27 and 28.

Go forth, multiply, replenish, forgive.

This is what the Holy Spirit came to accomplish.

Planning is still at work and we are part of it.

How can you, how can a church not take part?

Not how can missionaries not take part?

Not how can pastors not take part?

How can a church, a people not take part?

How can we, how can we prophesy and speak in tongues

and not take part in the real reason?

How is it even possible to live like that?

It's such a contradiction, it's perverse.

I'm not saying go to Vietnam.

I'm saying go to Surrey. Sometimes it's tougher.

Sorry.

Which words can you hear on the bed at 10 o'clock in the morning?

No, I said they heard it, they heard one message.

Even though it was spoken in different languages,

everyone heard similarly the same thing.

This is a crazy thing.

The same message of God that could not be heard

because now they've spoken different languages.

They're hearing it all together.

How did it even happen?

Any questions?

Isaiah 66, 18 and 19.

Isaiah 66, 18 and 19.

Isaiah 66, 18 and 19.

It says that, Colossus Martyrs talked about this ages ago.

It was not like he was springing something new on them.

Isaiah 56, 18 and 19.

And I, because of their actions and 18 and 19,

yeah, he says, and I, because of their actions and imaginations

and about to come, gather all the nations in tongues

and they will come and see my glory.

I will set a sign among them and I will send some of them

who survived to the nations, to Tashish, to the Libyans,

to Tubal, to Greece, to the distant islands that they have not,

that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory.

They will proclaim my glory among the nations

and they will bring all your brothers and from all nations

to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord.

Brilliant.

Here is God saying in Isaiah that a day is coming

and I'm going to gather all the nations.

I'm going to gather all these guys.

Paul, after he's finished in Rome, why didn't he go to Spain?

He says in 2 Corinthians 10 that I have done all the work

I have to do here.

My work in Rome is complete.

I'm setting my eyes on Spain.

Part of the reason people suggest that he decided he would go to Spain

because Tashish was in Spain.

Paul knew the Isaiah 66 prophecy that God will send people out

to the farthest corners of the earth.

Rome was taken care of.

The Roman Empire was a known empire at the end of the year.

But now Paul says I'm setting my eyes on Tashish, on Spain.

He wanted to fulfill prophecy, man.

Do you want to fulfill prophecy?

Do you want to fulfill the prophecy in your own life?

Do you want to fulfill the prophecy on this church?

Do you want to fulfill the prophecy on this?

Do you want to fulfill what God is saying to you from the future?

And if it is so, then once you finish things, we don't say great.

We finish in wonderful, part of us are put on our backs.

We care to say, oh God, give me that hill where the giant is dwelling.

We've got to continuously move.

Move.

Respond with a yes or something.

Yes.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Regardless of age.

Yes, regardless of age.

Guys, every life an inch of land has to be contested and reclaimed.

Every life an inch of land has to be contested and reclaimed.

But Jacob, that's not me and I experience.

We just pray and things happen.

Praise God for the grace of God.

Let us not be children, but let us move into more grown-up things.

It's like a child saying, but I was always provided for.

Mother and dad always gave me food, so I expected it to happen.

Look, you've grown up.

You're 22.

You left home.

Now you've got to figure it out.

And so this whole idea of contesting for life and land, life and land, land needs to be taken because people live on land.

Nations have to be targeted.

This is not just political conquest.

It is the reclaiming of lives.

It's not Republican or Democrat.

It is life.

It is life.

That in eternity, we'll either see the face of God, eight billion different ways that he loves us, every child a precious one.

You reclaim land, you will reclaim life.

Contest and reclaim life and every inch of land in the face of hostile opposition, in the face of hostile opposition from a defeated enemy.

In the face of hostile opposition from a defeated enemy.

I said this last time.

At the cross, Satan's power did not lessen.

At the cross, Satan's power did not lessen.

What lessened was his authority.

His authority was stripped.

His authority was stripped.

He no longer has adequate authority.

Luke 1090, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy and no harm or hurt by any means shall come to you.

Jesus said that.

Jesus said that.

The head of the church crushed the serpent's foot under his heel and because that is done, there is never going to be a day that the satanic realm will be able to prevail against the church.

Never going to happen.

Better still, according to Romans 1620, Jesus said that a day is coming when I will crush Satan under your feet.

But how can he crush something under my feet if my feet are planted firm here, hands up, worshipping the Lord but never stepping forward?

There is a beautiful song I was relating to somebody.

I was relating to somebody who said that if I don't come down from the mountain, the people in the valley will not know that they can go to the mountain of the Lord.

It is the mission of the church.

It is the mission of the church to go and enter Satan's house.

What do I mean by Satan's house?

How does the devil take people's catholic habits, addictions, other gods, religious beliefs, isms, money, diseases, sicknesses, bondage, demonization, mental situations, circumstances, lies, strongholds?

These are the things that you think we can come out of that.

You think some of us are still not struggling with it?

Where you can tell the truth to a person again and again and again and you will still stay in the light.

How? How? How can light stare at you straight and you still believe in darkness?

I've been there.

The point is that it is the mission of the church, meaning our mission, to go and enter Satan's house, overpower him, strip him of his armor, and plunder him, carrying off his possessions.

What are these possessions? Money? Nah, people.

Someone came into my life when I was caught up in heroin and marijuana and mushrooms, when I was close to trying to take my life every three months, not because I wanted to die.

Someone came and through speaking to me about Jesus Christ, broke open the doors that held me captive, and I walked out of it and I am what I am today.

Look at Marcus's life. Same story. Caught in drugs, set free.

It can be something as lousy as drugs or it can be something as lousy as religion.

Where you are so caught up in religion, Christianity you are talking about, that you cannot escape. Leave alone other religions.

And God has the ability to come and break down this door because he sent someone to do it. Very rarely, very rarely does it happen through some kind of a bolt of lightning from outside.

It is always through people.

In the face of these truths, guys, if you and I choose to be neutral, then you will suffocate with darkness, with deception and death.

It will suffocate you.

I am telling you something, you are so unfortunate in listening to this because after this, and as we go down this road over the next few weeks, if you do not decide somewhere in your heart that I will change, then three things will happen to me and to you.

One, deep darkness.

I have been not able to understand the Word of God. Guys, here is the thing, when God says something and you resist it, darkness begins to develop.

You become dull because God is speaking lies and you are saying, nah, not this way. Eventually you become dull to the Word.

Once darkness happens, the second thing that follows immediately after when you keep resisting the truth and it is in first person, it says, darkness will be followed by deception.

Now because you resisted truth, deception will come galloping saying, this fellow is foolish enough to keep resisting the truth, let me try deception, he will fall for it.

Once darkness and deception happen, then the next thing is just slow decay.

You are unfortunate in that you are listening to this and coming back every week.

You guys should have stayed away but you are stuck now. It is all Shaleem and Joshua's fault.

So this is what will happen guys. There is no place for neutrality in this. This is the season where this is happening.

It is like, I am so grateful man. I am so grateful for a God who challenges. I am so grateful for a God who challenges.

Let me show you a scripture that many of you haven't read or many of you have forgotten.

So this is Judges 3. This is smarter than that. Definitely did that for me.

Judges 3. Let us settle the argument as to where we are and where God is taking us.

Judges 3. I am reading from verse 1.

Check that out. What's God saying? Hey, I am going to leave some guys behind for you to battle.

Because you have not learned what it is to indulge in what is called the art of warfare.

I don't want cities following me. I am the commander of the armies of Israel.

I want guys who are tough enough to follow me at this point in your life.

So are you ready to deal with this? Because if you don't, they will become thorns in your side.

And when he does this and you call out for help, he will say, I will help you fight him.

He will not say, I will help you escape.

God left nations there using them to test and train the descendants of Israel who had no battle experience in the art of war.

Just think about it. He left them there so that the guys who did not know how to fight would learn to fight.

Carry good.

Unfortunately, again, I am inviting God to do this not just for me but for the church.

So unless you come and write a note saying, opt me out of this in your prayer, I will pray for you also.

It is the only way we are going to learn there.

The grace of God will give you victory.

This kind of God will give you nations, concepts, life and land.

Put your game face on.

I am not exactly converted to things like game face because it is not every day that I go and play sports.

Game face is when you do two things.

You come ready to play and you come ready to win. It is both.

You come ready to play and you come ready to win.

You are not playing for the fun of it all.

No, like the ultimate extreme frisbee team, they go there to play and win.

That is when you put stuff right under your eyes and do your own version of New Zealand rugby team.

But your own version, not that. That has got its own potency that we do not want to talk about.

Not today.

See, it is a trifecta, guys.

God is trying to achieve three things in this church.

One, he wants to give us battle experience.

Two, he will check out battle experience through how obedient we are to what he says.

And three, he will see if we can walk, while we walk through this path, whether we can walk it without being contaminated,

without being polluted, without losing our purity, without compromising its values.

Those are the three things he said to them.

He said to them, listen, they were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the law of command

which he had given to their forefathers from Mosul.

The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, the whites and the Jebusites.

They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons and sons by God.

See what happens when obedience went out of the door, when compromise was made.

Then it does not matter that you are a battle scarred veteran.

It means nothing.

With God, there are three things that have to happen in this church.

Battle experience, the ability to stay uncontaminated, separate unto him, as in without compromising his values.

And the third thing is obedience to whatever he says.

Hey, think of you've got $20,000 in Acts 29's account.

Open the account, give it to the next church that you see down the road.

Well then, we'll have to do it. But Father, then who pays me?

Doesn't matter. You just do what I tell you to do.

This is what obedience will look like.

I don't want to say bring it on because when George Bush said that he brought on a lot of trouble,

I'm just saying, Oh God, may he be done to your servant as you will.

I'm not like, charging into battle because I don't even know what this looks like.

But I'm glad you're behind me and when I look back, you'd better be there.

Ecclesiastes 6.12 puts it this way.

This is no afternoon athletic contest that you're taking part in.

But you are in a fight to the finish.

That's how it puts it in the message, Ecclesiastes 6.12, that our battle is not against flesh and blood.

And nor is this an afternoon athletic contest that you indulge in for about two hours and go home.

No, this is a fight to the finish where you need to gain ground.

Every time you gain ground, what are we looking at for?

We're not looking for treasures, man. We're looking for treasures.

But those treasures in God's eyes, God would have exchanged everything and he did.

He exchanged the ultimate treasure, his power, for mankind.

Brilliant, right?

So when he says, I'll give you the treasures of darkness, he's not saying,

there's some hidden wealth that I'm going to give to you, but you know,

he's saying, there are treasures in darkness, Satan has plundered the most precious thing I've made, humankind.

I hate using that word after, you know, who used it.

Mankind and soul.

2 Timothy 2.3, 2 Timothy 2.3, Paul says this,

No one who engages in warfare entangles himself in civilian affairs.

No one engaged in warfare entangles himself in civilian affairs.

What is God calling us to?

He's saying, hey, I know you've got jobs to go to, families to take care of,

parents to look after, children to raise, and I will help you with all that.

But set your priorities.

You set your priorities and all the things you're running after, I will take care of.

But set your priorities.

And this will be repeated again and again and again for the next six to seven weeks, guarantee.

And perhaps after that too.

This is going to be so interesting.

And he's not going to give us victory dollars once, so go to Exodus 23.

Exodus 23.

It will be written by this, as you show your strength, God will give you stuff to handle.

Exodus 23.

Guys, sometimes when you look at these scriptures you get your answer for,

I've been praying for long that this goes away, or this comes, and why hasn't it happened?

In some of these scriptures you will find your answer.

Don't apply to every situation you like.

To some of your situations you'll find the answer.

Exodus 23, verse 27 to 30.

Exodus 23:27–30

There's what it says, I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter.

I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run.

I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hewites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.

But look at this, but I will not drive them out in a single year,

because the land will become desolate and wild animals too numerous for you.

Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

So increase. As Jacob increases, more will be released, because now he can handle it.

One of the things that happens at conferences is you will turn up for a conference,

there will be tremendous, we will take the city, we will take the nation, we will cast this demon out, cast that demon out,

and then everybody goes home and they don't know what to do.

Conferences are the easiest thing to do. It is how to work them out after that is difficult.

Because that requires training and testing.

The conference is just the announcement.

Any questions before we go on?

Okay.

Life and God start from the unseen, guys.

We are talking about the unseen well.

Life and God start from the unseen.

Life and God start from the unseen.

Hey, did you know that when you were born again according to Colossians 1.13,

you got transferred from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of the sun?

There was an invisible transfer that happened.

You belonged to a dominion called darkness.

And when you were born again, you were transferred into the kingdom of the sun.

There was an actual ransom pay.

There was an actual transfer in terms of who you belonged to and who you belong to now.

It happened.

These are invisible realities.

Do you know that something inside you transpired where your old person died?

The old spirit that you had died.

And that you received a brand new spirit.

You didn't see it, but it actually transpired.

No longer were you born a mortal sperm, but an immortal seed according to 1 Peter 1.23.

You were born again.

These invisible things now have to be given visible reality.

And God has provided for us ways in the Bible to show the world what is happening inside.

One of the things that is supposed to happen every time someone gets transferred from one kingdom to the other

is this whole idea of baptism.

Baptism is spiritual warfare.

Baptism is a loyalty oath that is being taken to pledge allegiance openly in a cosmic battle.

Hear me again.

Baptism is a loyalty oath taken by someone who is pledging allegiance in a cosmic battle that is happening

saying that I'm no longer but I.

I'm no longer.

In the church that I come from, a few of us were baptizing as children.

Which is a ridiculous idea, being baptized as kids.

Because no kid can control his bladder, leave alone his thoughts.

I've seen kids peeing on the pastor's beard while being baptized for the cold water touch thing.

So don't give me this thing that that is legit. It is not.

Today I cannot tolerate falsehoods, guys. So it's going to come out strong.

And if you think it's aiming at you, it is just at the falsehood of kids.

So when I was baptized, here's what would happen.

And listen, these baptism rituals that are practiced on kids are very rich in their content.

But it is the wrong context.

But it is very rich in content.

And so when I was baptized as a child, here's what my dad and my mom had to do.

They would lift my left hand and they would say that I reject Satan.

And then they would lift my right hand and they would say I choose Christ.

This would be done with every child that was baptized.

And it is very biblical.

Because rarely do we realize that baptism is spiritual warfare, just like typing is spiritual warfare.

Every time you type or give, you are rebuking the devourer.

Every time you get baptized, you are letting your loyalty or oath in a cosmic battle say, I choose and I reject.

Just like a little child would have his parents lift their hand.

Now the child has grown up and can make a choice to choose or not to choose.

I spoke to Brandon yesterday.

There was an amazing word that was given by God to Brandon.

I looked at that word and I thought to myself, no way, it ain't going to happen to Brandon.

But thank God, God ain't me.

Because the way God saw him and the things God started saying about him was so obvious that only God can do it and he's going to do it.

Now I asked Brandon, hey Brandon, you've got to establish a symbol here on earth to let God know that he trusts him and believes him.

And one of the things that Brandon hasn't tested yet is baptism and he's getting baptized today.

And he's not getting baptized today because he got born again yesterday.

He's getting baptized today because he's declaring based on what God is calling him to, he has to set his feet firm and say,

oh God, here is my loyalty oath, my pledge in this cosmic battle for what you're calling me into.

I've got to be all ready with an open heaven above me because what he's being called into is impossible without the work of God.

I have no idea that it was very constantly.

But I'm glad that he's choosing to be immersed, not just in water but in the spirit of God today, setting a marker that will be a milestone for years to come.

So if there's anybody else, and it doesn't matter that you haven't brought a change of clothes, if you want to let yourself take a loyalty oath declaring your allegiance in this cosmic battle,

you are free to join us in the baptism pool today. Just come up and we'll baptize you. As simple as that.

Train your hands for war, guys. Train your hands for war. Contest, life and land.

Train your hands for war. Contest, life and land.

So here's the last bit I wanted to talk about.

I've got to begin to open your eyes, Ray, to the unseen. I've got to begin to open your eyes to the unseen.

There's two ways it can happen, and we'll end with that.

I've got to open your eyes to the unseen. We are people who live in the visible, natural realm, but everything that happens is first initiated or provoked in the supernatural, invisible realm.

Hey, why do people give sacrifices to God in other religions? Why do they do that?

Why did Elijah meet with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel? Why were they offering sacrifices? Why are there still sacrifices being offered across the world?

Blood sacrifices are still being offered across the world. I've seen it in Mongolia, I've seen it in India. I've seen it in different parts of the world. I hear about it in different parts of Canada.

So why? Because anything that is done in the physical, whether it's the shedding of blood, whether it's the exchange of life, whether it's the surrender of life, always provokes a spiritual response.

Always provokes a spiritual response.

It started long ago. Israel had surrounded, I think it was Jericho, I'm not sure. No, it wasn't Jericho. Israel had surrounded the city, and they were about to take the city.

You know what the king of the city did? He took his son, slaughtered him and threw him over the wall. Why? Because he thought that blood sacrifice will end things.

Sacrifices and surrender of life has been going on for years. What does it do? Why do people still engage in it? It is very simple. It promotes spiritual responses.

Elijah wanted to show them on Mount Carmel that you can cut yourself, you can put as many sacrifices as you want on this altar, but I'm telling you something, you will get nothing because there is only one God and His name is Yahweh. Choose who you will serve today.

So, learn from those who can open spiritual eyes, but the opening of spiritual eyes is critical in this thing, and there are two ways we can look at this.

One is, and I'm not talking about some kind of spiritual thing, I'm talking about something very real. So there are two options guys. One is active supernatural. This is one kind of active supernatural.

So we are talking about opening spiritual eyes. So there are two ways we can look at it. One is active supernatural, the second is accepted spiritual.

You can use any words you want. I found these words helpful for me, but you can use any word you want.

One is active supernatural opening of eyes. The other one is called accepted spiritual and I'll explain both. The active supernatural opening of eyes is what you see in 2 Kings 17.

So Elijah comes and says open his eyes Lord that he may see, and then the Lord opens the servant's eyes and he looked and he saw the hills full of boxes and chariots of fire all around Elijah.

There is an actual opening of eyes where you see things in the spiritual that are unseen.

Don't go craving for it, but tell God that Father as we enter this phase in our lives, will you show me what I need to see so that I know how to take care of it?

Will you show me what I need to see so that I may take care of what I need to take care of?

I don't go asking God to show me angels or demons or stuff like that. That's silly, it's absurd, it's not a biblical prayer.

But I do ask God if I go into different nations or take care of different things, that oh God will you open my eyes so that I see the spiritual realities behind that which is visible.

That's what happens with Elijah's servant. The servant looks around and says we are surrounded by chariots and Elijah says oh God will you open his eyes so that he might see.

And when you ask for that prayer, what happens? He begins to see. And he sees that the hills are full of chariots of God and horsemen and the servant now becomes so free.

It is such an advantage guys, when God begins to trust you, we'll talk about that. Such an advantage when you begin to see the spiritual reality behind that which is visible because now the solution becomes very simple.

I've had sicknesses go away in seconds, I've had obstacles disappear, I've known what to do in a nation because God just passed the curse for a second and you see what you need to see and you know how to deal with it.

Guys there's two ways this can be taught. Either it can be taught here saying hey let's start here or we can set the bar this side and say let's keep aspiring for it.

I'm setting the bar high so that we know what we are reaching for.

So we spent 14 years learning all the basics, now it's time to start swimming from the ropes.

Which means ages since I went for a circus. I always wanted to be Tarzan, did I ever tell you that?

You're laughing way too much today Karen, at all the wrong times.

Okay, Luke 24, 31 is another scripture where the guys were the road chair maids were sitting with Jesus talking with him, walking down the road and suddenly their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he disappeared from their sight.

Suddenly their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus and then they disappeared from their sight.

So the point being this guys, begin to ask for this, but do not ask for this for the thrill of it.

You'll have to ask God saying Father as we step into this phase in our life will you begin to show me what I need to see about spiritual reality behind what is obviously visible so that I may be able to deal with situations that you placed in my path.

That's what I'm asking. I'm not asking for an experience. Please don't go experiencing. It's really stupid and dangerous.

I rarely use the word stupid unless it's really stupid.

Then there is this idea of the perceptive spiritual. The perceptive spiritual is discerning the times and the ways of an invisible God through lives that have been offered by the Spirit.

Discerning the times and the ways of an invisible God through the lives of people whose lives are offered by the Spirit.

That is the Spirit of God has taught them enough and now you have the ability to discern the times and the ways of an invisible God through their lives.

You take it and then you begin to run with it. I'll give you examples from the Bible. Take Enoch for example. Enoch walked with God and then was not.

He walked with God and then was not. He's the only guy who was and then was not. At least with Elijah we know that he was taken up in a chariot. Enoch nobody knows. He was and then he was not.

So how in the world did that happen? How did Enoch get to where he was? Take Enoch who walked with God and was not. Genesis 5.21-24. How did it happen?

Guys here's the thing. When Enoch was born, do you know how old Adam was? 622. Do you know how many more years he lived? 308.

Enoch probably learned everything about God from Adam. 308 years of walking with Adam. Learning what God was like. He was a man who yearned to walk with God like Adam did before the fall.

Would have spent hours with his great grandfather telling him, teach me, tell me how this happened in Eden. And then this boy who was one year old when Adam was 622 begins to do the same thing that Adam used to do to the point that he succeeded where Adam failed.

Where he walked with God and was not. Man, I wouldn't have minded being Enoch because Adam felt so. I don't want to be the...

I don't want to be Enoch. It would have cost a lot of money and I would have to fill the soil and sweat on my brow. This is not my favorite thing to do. So Enoch was a much better choice.

His walk with Adam probably birthed that intimacy with Enoch. 380 years of talking to a guy.

Apprentice with those who are intimate with God and adept at countering invisible realities. Apprentice with those that you know have an intimacy with God and are adept at countering invisible realms. Apprentice with them.

This is the whole idea of having your eyes open through discerning ways and times through the lives of people that the Holy Spirit is offering. Learn from them. Apprentice with them.

Don't learn from them if all they have is anecdotal experiences. If anecdotal experiences are not based on truth, on the Bible and on Biblical precedent, then you should not take advice from people who only have anecdotal experiences.

Because there are plenty of them in Pentecostal and Charismatic circles. Avoid them like the plague if their experiences are not based on Biblical precedent, word and spirit. Do not take their advice.

Because experiential teaching will inevitably lead to deception and demonic doctrine. Experiential teaching will inevitably lead to deception and demonic doctrine.

When someone teaches you only out of experience and cannot back it up with the word, with the words of the Spirit and with Biblical precedent as it is shown in the Bible where this happened. If they cannot show you, then know that it is only a matter of time before their experiential teaching will end up in demonic doctrine and deception.

Any questions?

I have practiced with those who are intimate with God and have dealt with countering invisible realms. We gave heaven a choice. We called him Hope and we despised him.

We told him this is what could happen, this is what we are dealing with. So you go home and decide that you really want to go on this trip. So he went home and his prayer was, Oh God if you want to stop me, please stop me.

So he came back the next day and he said, I was very sincere in my prayer that God stopped me but since he didn't say anything one way or the other I have no good reason to back out. So pray for his sake for Chauvin.

So the point is that this is the best way to learn. Abraham, though he was the son of idolaters, his forefathers used to worship idols. You read about that in Joshua 24. You read that Abraham's dad and forefathers used to worship idols.

And yet Abraham, though he was the son of idolaters, who do you think he received his knowledge of God from? When he was born Noah was 890 years old and then Noah lived for another 60 years.

And so this boy had Noah for a tutor. He probably learned, because families used to roam together, he probably learned who God was from Noah. What was it like to be shut in a boat for 40 days? What was it like to build a boat?

And by the way, how did Noah know there was a flood coming? Because Enos had a son and he named his son Methuselah. What does Methuselah mean? That when he dies the emission will come.

In that name was enough evidence that there was a breaking of the underground fountain and a flood that was about to come. When did Methuselah die? When Noah was 600. And on that day that Methuselah died, the flood took place.

This is the whole idea of learning from ones who have walked before, from the generation before. Noah wasn't surprised. Yes, he needed faith, but he wasn't standing in blind faith. He knew what his grandfather's name was.

He knew that when that man died, the flood would come. But he didn't know when that man would die. So he started building the ark. It takes him 120 years. From when Methuselah was 480 to when he died, it was 600. Noah was building an ark and then when he finishes the day that Methuselah dies, the flood comes, but Noah is ready.

And here is Abraham who had a son in 99 who realized he was not going to have an heir at 75. But 15 years before that was when he buried probably Noah. And Noah told him how this God restarted the universe. How everything was wiped out.

How the raven went and did not come back. How they set up an altar. How God put this beautiful thing called a rainbow in the sky. How God met him. How God talked to him. How God restarted creation.

And here is Abraham probably. Probably, and I'm saying probably because there's no beautiful evidence for it. Probably learning from Noah.

So, pray be.

Guys, look to learn, dare to teach. Look to learn, dare to teach. Look to learn. As in, look forward to these two ways of looking into the invisible.

One, by asking God saying, Oh God, would you open my eyes so that I might see invisible realities behind that which is invisible so that I can deal with things that you want me to deal with.

Second, learn by apprenticing with others who have both an intimacy with God and are adept at countering the unseen realm.

And the more God can trust you to go through things and not write a book or share it in his testimony indiscriminately, the more he will be able to show you things.

That's the last thing I want to say. The more God will find out that you have this ability to see things that he's showing and not talk about it, not write a book about it, not share it in a message, not preach it, not immediately blabber about it, the more likely it is.

The more likely it is that God will begin to show you these experiences because you know that you're not in it for the, you know what, I haven't experienced.

On that happy note, we shall end.

Any questions?

Any questions?

Any questions?

How much it glorified him. He glorified in the results.

Elijah knew what was happening. He did it for the sake of his servant and so we hear about it.

But none, I mean just in the respect for a second, imagine the experiences Paul probably had.

He shook off a snake off his arm, brought down an archimist in Ephesus, had an attack happen to him, took care of it, once was dead, died, gets up and walks back.

If Luke was not keeping account, you would not hear about it because Paul didn't tell anybody about anything in the letter.

Thank God for Luke.

Had Luke not written a second account to his dear Theopolis saying this is what happened after Jesus Christ left, we would not know anything that happened because Paul did talk about it in his letter.

I'm not sure if we are discussing this back and forth between the story and the reasons for all the things that you have to do.

Those are his constitutions. The only place since Diana has not yet convinced, take the actual story that I was hoping she wasn't going for, is the second question which was very serious.

I want to talk about an experience I had. I do not know whether it was in the body or where they took out of it.

That is the only time we have referred to a story that happened to him where he heard things said in paradise that he cannot even repeat.

Other than that, that guy for all the experiences we have had, where God had to give him a thorn because of the exceeding revelation he had, he kept those revelations pretty quiet.

Any last words?

Not bad, eh?

I'm going on a journey.

Anna?

Yes?

Diana, I hope you have convinced her.

Anybody else?

Jacob, me.

Come on.

Come on.

Great stuff.

Anyone else?

Okay.

Oh, this isn't supposed to go with the type. Neither of them stop.

Welcome. Nice to meet you.

Anyone else?

Okay.

Thank you.