Prevailing Prayer : Kairos – 1

some time ago that you can't build a prevailing church if it is a church that

does not contend or engage in battle through prayer. We said that if you want

to build a prevailing church and it's the only kind of church that Jesus was

interested in building, then you have to have a church that engages or contends

in battle and the way we battle is through prayer and so that's why we

started looking at prevailing prayer. Today I want to talk about this idea of

prevailing prayer that requires us to know what God is hatching in his realm.

I mean there are these two words that are often used in the Bible for time.

One is kairos, one is kronos. Kronos is the time that we live in, the seasons we

live in, our calendar, our deadlines and then there is this idea of kairos where

in the fullness of time God hatches things that he conceived before the

foundations of the earth and he releases into the earth and if you want to be a

church that prevails as in that contends and overcomes, that contends and wins,

that contends and moves forward, then we have to be able in prayer to figure out

what God is doing at present not what's happening on earth at present. So it's

prayers that take on an urgency and breaks forth because you know oh shucks

father so that's what you want to release tomorrow in Vancouver. Alright so

let's get ready and this is how we're going to pray because this is when like

Elijah when there is absolutely no cloud in the sky you are so sure that

tomorrow it's going to rain to the point that you make ridiculous statements like

I hear the sound of rain. It is seeing something that is absolutely invisible

hearing something that is inaudible yet you are so sure because somehow you've

caught a glimpse of ah so that's what you're up to Jesus. So alright I am going

to now pray a certain way here on earth because it's almost like you want this

baby to be born here on earth and nobody else knows about this. We haven't

really prayed these kind of prayers and so don't worry if we don't understand

all of it we'll get what we can right now and then get what we need to later

but at least let it go down as being taught so that we can look at it and

keep examining examining it. So if you want to define Kairos, Kairos is

basically you hear this words word often said in the Bible in the fullness of

time in the fullness of time as in even though we live in 2018 before there was

time God had decided that at certain junctures in history he would break in

or interrupt or intervene and cause something very different very strange

very not with the times to happen and so in the fullness of time God keeps

releasing things these are things that God has designed in heaven before the

beginning and it finds its fluid movement onto the earth and it usually

happens because of immediate obedience on the part of someone here on earth so

you've got this 16 or 17 year old girl called Mary who says how can this be and

she just obeys a simple statement that the angel makes saying the Holy Spirit

will come upon you that was enough for her or a Noah who starts building an ark

even though he hasn't seen rain in the fullness of time God has designed things

in heaven that he allows to move fluidly onto the earth and it's almost always

released because of the immediate obedience of some of his children here

on earth which then means that prevailing prayer through a church is

the church does not understand the concept of immediate obedience without

counting the cost or counting the cost and obeying immediately there's

absolutely no hesitation I mean you see Elijah he's been hidden for three years

and Obadiah one of the servants of Ahab the king is going around looking for

water and Elijah decides hmm God just said he's gonna cause the rain to come

so what does Elijah do he makes a sudden appearance before Obadiah and says

here I am take me to your king he knows that Ahab is looking for him he knows

that Ahab wants his head he knows that Ahab calls him the troubler of Israel he

knows that Ahab has put to death 70 others and yet because he knows that

there is no other choice but to immediately obey he turns up and says

and within a day within a day the rains come so for Kairos for prayer that God

wants to use through this church to make things happen in this city in this

nation in other cities and other nations in situations and encounters in lives and

people's there must be this immediate obedience response from the people

otherwise it will happen through an individual what's the point of it

happening through an individual when God wants it to happen through a people

otherwise we need Elijah's we need Elisha's we need Joshua's we need

Moses's what about the one new man called the church

so God operates out of this realm continuously in second Corinthians 6 2

again he uses the word Kairos when he says in the favorable Kairos I heard you

meaning there are times when he hears prayers and he says now is the time now

is the time of favor and I'm gonna release this it doesn't matter what the

economy says it doesn't matter what Trump says or Trudeau says here is what

I had planned long before Jacob acts 29 are you willing to obey and I want

immediate obedience and if you are willing to immediately obey and unleash

it through you so that you get to partake in this adventure you think there

weren't others that could have gone on Mount Carmel and done what Elijah did

but Elijah obeyed immediately

immediately

at divinely determined moments his realm intersects measurable time and as soon

as it intersects measurable time it releases things on earth in Titus

Titus 1:3

chapter 1 verse 3 Titus puts it this way at the appointed season at the

appointed season at the appointed season sometimes I'm fascinated at how certain

things happen during worship or even during a teaching at acts 29 where I

know God is suddenly introducing something into the church that I won't

even have in my notes but I know it's a Holy Spirit moment and inside me I

recognize it and I'm craving that you recognize it too because if you do it is

this moment where God intersects even a simple teaching like at acts 29 keep

your ears and your spirit alert because you can miss it and if you get it that

it ain't enough to get it you have to respond to it with immediate obedience

which doesn't mean that you get up and leave right now but you get up and leave

after an hour and a half

that's one reason I don't like coming late to church or leaving early because

you might miss out on stuff if that was meant for you wear it in Kronos we try

controlling time in Kairos time breaks upon us in Kronos as in in regular life

we try controlling time I've got to get to the church in time ah shucks that

light had to turn red smile at it smile at it it might turn green and so you try

to make it in time that's Kronos but Kairos time breaks upon you where God

says now is the time and he breaks upon you and if you obey immediately and are

at the right place at the right time strange things begin to happen guys I'll

tell you something most things that are designed by God have to be obeyed in

perfect time if you wanted the design to hold it's like it's like holding a

snowflake only God can create a snowflake and if you can hold it in

perfect time it stays the way it is it does not melt it stays the way it is but

the one thing required for God to do things is Jacob will you obey

immediately and will you obey in the right time this is critically and so

many times what happens with us is we postpone it either because all the

conditions are not right or we postpone it because it might cost too much

all the sudden leaves in the Bible are born out of the work of God and Kairos

where everything is going on well and suddenly there'll be a token sized a

fifth-sized cloud in the sky suddenly suddenly is our his favorite way of

turning up in time intervening breaking through and so like I'm saying timing

is perhaps the hardest thing to get right and timing is learned through one

hearing with clarity it's you learn the timing of God by one hearing with

clarity to you cannot help it you have to get more experienced at it so that

you become so used to it that experience now helps you just do things without

thinking sometimes or just out of obedience not without thinking without

understanding for third you have to have immediate obedience and for you have to

trust step-by-step navigation what I mean by that is guys if you want things

from God's perspective to break into your life or if you want things from

God's perspective to break through your life you have to hear with clarity it

takes experience but experience begins when you start somewhere and tomorrow

you'll be more experienced it requires immediate obedience and lastly you won't

get all the steps so you'll have to keep obeying it's step-by-step navigation

turn right turn left stop here sit here for two days now go to Bethany all right

now speak to Martha and Mary just say I am the resurrection and the life about

time you went to the stinking graveyard all right there's a stone there roll it

away now begin to speak and just say Lazarus come out and out comes Lazarus

timing is critical any questions before we go on

yeah which is why hearing with clarity is critical hearing with clarity and

then immediate obedience

like the sons of Issachar you have to know the times and seasons applies to

everything guys we don't realize how many things got I involved in are you

moving house try to see what the perfect time is are you changing jobs try to see

the perfect time of God are you going to a nation try to figure out the perfect

time of God are you going to meet someone and speak to them try to find

the perfect time are you supposed to stand at main and 49th and expect an

encounter with somebody because God has arranged it try to see how this turn up

at the right time have you planned your plans and now you feel God asking you to

change it change it will it cost you to cancel absolutely but what will happen

in the process you will be where God wants you to be exactly at the right

time exactly at the right time God is so into timing thing it's ridiculous I mean

you have to have a king waking up in the middle of the night because he can't

sleep now you have to have him call his librarian and now you have to have the

librarian open a book and now you have to have that book open to a page that

talks about a conspiracy that was foiled and now you got to figure out if the man

who filed a conspiracy which is more the guy is still alive and then you have to

find out aha he is and then he's sitting at the gate you also have to have

Haman walk in at that time and look at Mordecai and despise him and he walks

into the chambers and the king says to him what would you do for the guy who

filed a conspiracy and Haman thinks it's him and he says I would put him on your

royal horse I would dress him in royal robes I would have the most important

person in the kingdom lead the horse saying long live the king and long live

Mordecai and the king says great hey man go do that to Mordecai I mean think

of the things that have to line up for this to happen guys the thing with these

kind of prayers is that you achieve in two days what would take someone seven

years

astrologers and astronomers talk about the stars aligning this is a different

kind of alignment man but the Sun aligns everything as an SON just in case you

were going cultish God designs hold their shape when the timing of obedience

is perfect God designs as in things that God design it stays intact it holds its

shape it is perfect if I obey and if my obedience is immediate questions comments

disagreements

you never know till you know by doing what you need to do and then the next

time these things I remember as I pour out my soul how I used to praise the Lord

amongst the happy crowd why are you so sad my soul some 42 what David is trying

to say is hey now that I'm in the situation I look back and I think to

myself aha this is how it used to be so though this is critical but how do we

gain I mean it's like the typical thing immigrants to Canada face do you have

Canadian qualification no well then you can't have a job but if you don't give

me a job how will I have Canadian qualification I don't know it's cash 22

but once you start getting this things begin to change and life becomes so easy

because you're in the time of God and the other thing is guys it applies to

small things and big things small things and big things do not discard anything

as small the things that are smaller so important to God because you are

important to God the smallest of things is important to God because you are

important to God when your child take your child as an example your child has

some whims and fancies that are so ridiculous that I think to myself why

aren't you getting irritated and telling the locking the child up in no we don't

do stuff like that but the point is this you are interested in your child

because in the small things your child does because you're interested in your

child same thing with God and therefore even in the small things get the time

right and that then allows this to happen where everything begins a quest

becomes a question of hearing and if you made plans change them change them I

would rather change my plans and lose some money and some friends then miss

out on what God wants to do

absolutely

when you make a mistake sometimes it costs you a little sometimes it doesn't

but there's just no way to learn this without making mistakes just no way I

would suggest to you and hold this loosely don't hold it too tightly because

I could be wrong I would suggest to you that as Jesus was growing up Jesus had

to learn from his parents he required his parents help to learn things it was

not mistake free walking mistake free anything he didn't one day just start

speaking perfect Aramaic he had to learn God's ways they didn't come

automatically just imagine that he had to learn it Hebrew chapter 5 talks about

it that he learned obedience so I don't think you can do this without mistakes

which is why then if you have people around you who can help you avoid

mistakes so be it isolation is perfect for deep deep mistakes but you keep

digging the hole deeper

okay any other questions thoughts comments

so I would suggest to you that some of the things that you're doing that you're

unsure of go examine them go examine them father am I out of time here as in

not have I run out of time am I out of your sense of timing what am I supposed

to change what should I shift we are creatures of habit we do the same thing

again and again and again because it worked last time I mean remember one

thing guys we live by the proceeding word not by the preceding word Moses

touched struck the rock only because he's thought I've done this before the

water gushed out yes he said speak but I'm irritated enough let's just strike

it and he lost the ability to enter the promised land that's too high a cost to

living by what is a formula examine am I supposed to go away for three months

every year on an RV trip am I supposed to go to Myanmar just because the pastor

says come in September am I supposed to do the same leadership thing in Mongolia

just because Joshua says come and do it ask

otherwise what happens is we strive and strive and strive and then we can't

understand why the tomatoes are so small when my neighbor's tomatoes look like

pumpkins hey when to when to pigeons begin to fly because the eggs that were

I mean two weeks ago there were eggs in my flower pot that my mom left and the

flowers are gone now there were eggs in the flower pot I looked at this it this

afternoon after coming back from the trip and there are two little birds but

they don't look like they can do anything no that wasn't my reaction my

reaction was you're dirtying up my balcony maybe I should take you and

throw you off the balcony and then you learn up no no no I've heard birds can

fly when you throw them in the air no okay I won't do that just checking I

just needed your advice I mean

Oh timing now you get it it is it is just a test

all righty they can do what they want mark do you have one of these things

that can what do you call those things okay all right the next thing guys is

if you when we begin to engage in prevailing prayer it gives us a

distinct advantage over the enemy over the devil such an advantage when it

comes to this kind of prayer which sees what God wants to do and God is waiting

for it to break through into the earth through you if you're obedient then it

gives you a distinct advantage over the enemy because I mean take Elijah's story

again he sends word that 450 prophets of Bal and 400 prophets of Asherah who

eat at Jezebel's table come and gather at Mount Carmel why because Satan is bound

in measurable time and he's confounded when God's time intersects the things

he's doing he cannot do anything to stop it so he

So for example in the fullness of time Jesus came there was nothing the devil

could do about it there had been 400 years of silence up comes a man called

John the Baptist who's beginning to talk about a Messiah the enemy cannot

understand this and then in the fullness of time into history intervenes the

birth of this child in Bethlehem and there's nothing the enemy can do about

it because he's confounded when times he's finite he's confounded when God's

time breaks into things the only thing he can do after that is rage and he

begins to rage weeping was heard in Rama as Herod sent soldiers to slaughter

children it was the same with Moses there was a need for a deliverer and

suddenly a boy is born who was drawn out of the water he's put in a basket and

the Nile there was nothing the enemy could do and then suddenly there's a

slaughter of babies the thing with praying this way is you suddenly know

when you go into a country when you go into a situation when you go into a

nation that aha this is what God wants to do thousands and thousands of years

of history is going to be turned around it's going to be turned around just

because one or two people decided that there will be immediate obedience to

what God is going to say and do and they'll stand and declare it without any

shame at the cost of being mocked they'll still do it you see it in the

book of revelations where there are these two witnesses who do exactly that

things are going really bad and then these two witnesses rise up and they

begin to speak they're like Elijah and Moses of yesteryears and they begin to

do what they need to do and suddenly all the destruction that is happening is

arrested they supposedly die and they come back to life I plead with you try

imagining this the reason I say I plead with you is not because you're not

listening but because sometimes these things seem so it's for somebody else

some other church some other past and not for me that we won't examine this

further and yet it can change life we're all Joshua's guys waiting to see

Moses come down from the mountain standing at the opening of the tent

looking and saying when will my turn come that should be your cry when will

my turn come when will my turn come that should be your cry when will Hebrews

11 33 to 35 happen through me that should be your cry if it isn't your

cry if it isn't my cry then I must question why is it that my spirit is so

dull

God has his ability to hide things that he's hatching for a time such as this

hide he hides it he knows how to hide things and then at the right I mean one

of the coolest stories coolest some of the coolest battle verses that I've read

are so simple here's what it says in Exodus chapter 14 verse 18 to 25 ish

Exodus 14:18–25

here's what it says it says and so the angel of the Lord went from ahead of

Israel to behind Israel and he camped himself between the Egyptians that were

chasing Israel and Israel was now at the Red Sea and so the angel of the Lord

goes and stands behind Israel between Egypt and Israel and he became light to

the Israelites and darkness and confusion and dullness to the Egyptians

and the angel of the Lord just stood there while all of Israel crossed the

Red Sea meanwhile the Egyptians are on this side of the angel of the Lord who

appears in a pillar of fire and they can't do nothing he's fire but that fire

is light to the Israelites and darkness and dullness and confusion to the

Egyptians and once the Israelites cross then the pillar of fire moves but now

the Egyptians decide they're gonna chase them into the Red Sea and then there is

this really beautiful line it says God decided that he would dismantle the

wheels of the chariots so he just goes I don't know what he did but suddenly all

these wheels of every Egyptian chariot starts going wonky the Israelites crossed

on dry land and now their wheels are off and then the waters come and cover the

Egyptians God hides things so brilliantly but here is a beautiful

scripture I don't know where it is perhaps in Proverbs it says it is the

glory of Kings to hide a thing it is the glory of it is the glory of God to

hide things it is the glory of Kings to discover it God concealed so that we can

discover God concealed so that we can discover sometimes our time should not

be spent in praying but in discovering discovery is part of what makes prayer

effective otherwise how much can you pray for one thing oh Lord do this oh

Lord do do this I mean you can only do so much in prayer but what if you began

to discover the ins and outs the breadth and the length and the height and the

depth of things from God's perspective because we want to see outcomes before

we take really costly steps we sacrifice immediacy at the altar of careful

unbelief because we want to see outcomes before we take really costly steps we

sacrifice immediacy at the altar of careful unbelief what I'm trying to say

is this when you have heard God say things sometimes through a prophetic

word which in your heart you know has resonance but in real physical life it

will cost you too much it may cost you a brand new job it may cost you your

education it may cost you money and so we sacrifice immediacy at the altar of

careful unbelief as in I need to think about this I need to pray about it man

some things aren't meant to be prayed about

they just have to be done

questions disagreements I'm really provoking you saying disagreements

multiple times

yeah

yeah it's very clear but it's usually when things come with great great

clarity there's usually a cost attached to it too

and the glory of thank you Proverbs 25 2 so when you start praying like this

figuring out what God wants to do in your situation in a city in a nation one

of the things that happens is you will then begin to enter into a confrontation

with enemy enemy powers princes and principalities it'll be the Pharaoh's

magicians or herit soldiers or the priests of Artemis in Ephesus or the

800 prophets of Asherah and Baal the powers of darkness suddenly begin to

when when when the devil finds out that oh shucks acts 29 did something that God

showed them for Vancouver or for Myanmar or for Indonesia then he begins to rally

his troops saying now we need to confront them because he raises at the

fact that he was confounded and now he wants to confront which then requires

acts 29 to become a church that knows how to deal with principalities princess

chiefs powers spirit spiritual rulers of depravity and guess what we don't know

how to do that

so when I was preparing this I was thinking to myself what's the point of

preaching it because we've got to start somewhere say that again explain we

don't know how to when as a church have we confronted powers principalities

chiefs rulers of the world when when have we done that as a church I think

we haven't even started I think as individuals we probably do when we are

put in an encounter but I don't think we've even started as a church I don't

think so I think what God is calling us to do is something to do as a people I

mean to begin with it's hard to turn up for prayer man prayer itself is such a

hard thing to turn up for this is true I don't know but because it's one of the

most effective tools of battle to come for prayer is a very difficult thing

once you're here you can get caught up in it but to get here is a pain and then

to learn how to pray to learn how to pray it's so difficult it's not easy to

learn how to pray we've I mean come on guys the time for truth-telling when we

meet for prayer how effective do you think it is in terms of swordsmanship we

got to learn how to use the word

because it's the only thing that cuts both ways and then there is this other

thing guys here's the thing and I'm skipping ahead it says that lift up the

ancient door so that the king of glory may come in and we love that verse I

love that verse lift up the ancient doors open up your gates but see if you

want to engage in war the first thing you have to engage in is holiness

because the first part of Psalm 24 says who shall ascend the hill of the Lord he

who has clean hands and a clean heart if there is darkness in me it doesn't matter

how often I stand before an ancient door and say lift up lift up it might lift up

and fall right on me it's like one of those cartoons where what's that fellow

that runs around and gets knocked always? Roadrunner yeah I mean the ancient

gates fall on you

yeah agreed but a call to holiness precedes a call to war and so before I

can deal with things that are dark I have to make sure that I can at least

stand in the shadow of that scripture Jesus quoted when he said the prince of

darkness has come and he has nothing in me this is critical even sin I can

understand because there's nobody who hasn't sinned today I think but but but

when it's a habit that I cultivate where there are pockets of rot or pockets of

darkness in my life that I hide that I keep then it becomes difficult to handle

these things that we are talking about becomes difficult which then means that

we need to be circumcised which then means that we need to apply the flint

knife of the word to our hearts which then means that you would have to open

your heart because you can't circumcise yourself someone has to help circumcise

aha did you know that you can't circumcise yourself if you think that you

can circumcise yourself you are wrong someone else has to help circumcise you

sure you have to be a participant in it but someone else circumcises you you

have to allow the flint knife used by someone else at Gilgal to roll away your

approach and that is where today's Christianity fails us miserably because

my sin is my business and it ain't yours wrong your sin is my business

it means saying hey Jacob yeah causing reproach and shame to be left undone not

by anybody else but the Holy Spirit but through me opening myself to you helping

me do it

if you understood Diana then that's tremendous but

yeah I'm saying that Diana may have fought things that she needs to fight

within her own life who may have fought it I may have fought it but as a church

we don't we don't and therefore it's not the body that is dealing with things

it's individuals dealing with their own individual stuff not as a church and so

this kind of prayer is impossible to do as individuals it just doesn't work

because God is not looking for Elijah's anymore he's not looking for Elijah's

he's looking for Elijah types an entire church that behaves like Elijah John the

Baptist types an entire church that looks like John the Baptist preparing

the way of the Lord

yeah

plus the other thing is guys let's ask another question don't respond to it

it's rhetorical question how many of us really have dealt with spirits and demons

not many of us partly because either we don't we haven't had an encounter yet

and sometimes it's because God has kept us safe sometimes it's because we

haven't gone looking for it there are times when you go looking for it I'm not

saying go looking for it let me remove that phrase we haven't been invited into

an encounter or when the encounter was there we did not take the action

required I've done both I've seen things that I knew I had to deal with

but decided the same the right time and I'm not ready for it and I walked away

but really when you ask it ask the question that's another question we need

to ask how many of us have really dealt with demons and spirits and if we

haven't dealt with demons and spirits how are we going to deal with princess

principalities chiefs rulers and spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly

places sorry yeah you're not supposed to answer yeah because some of us have

some of us have and some of us haven't and you can't fight Goliath till you

fight the bear and the lion I don't even know how to make this happen guys

because because you can't force it but you can prepare a people so that God

knows that a people are prepared so now I can send them to do what I'm supposed

to send them to do why did God take Israel through a roundabout route to

the promised land I'm not talking with the 40 years I'm talking before that he

says I won't take you to face these mighty kings and nations because you're

a slave people you will not be able to battle them as soldiers so I'll take you

through a circuitous route that will bring you to the promised land it's the

same thing that God has to do with us for a while sometimes because we aren't

ready and may I suggest that one of the reasons we are not ready is because the

pastor does not know how to help you get ready and that's the minor reason

because the pastor is really good in other things and then the other reason

is we are

self-obsessed me myself and Irene thank God there is no Irene in this church

it is very inconvenient frightening costly not fun but once it happens you

will begin to rejoice just like the 70 saying Jesus Jesus guess what happened

I went and got out this demon and the demon came out and Jesus will say I'm

really happy that you're happy but also remember that you've got to be happier

because I saved you

no not again

good then

yes

no it's a good question once I deal with things on an individual basis

I kind of have an idea of what it might look like when I join with others to

deal with it on a corporate basis what I deal with today might be given I can

take even smaller guy than me but what if I had to meet Mike in a dark alley so

but having taken even now I know that at least I can deal with Mike but had I not

taken even I would not know how to deal with Mike so I do believe that dealing

with things on an individual level helps me prepare for things on a corporate

level guys here's the thing most churches would be happy if you have five

people who can do this thing called deliverance ministry which itself is a

misnomer but what if an entire church knew how to deal with this it'll be

amazing I sometimes I'm embarrassed and sometimes not that we seem to affect

nations across the water but nothing here and sometimes it's because God

doesn't call you to things here calls you to things there but there is another

principle Jerusalem Judea Samaria and the ends of the earth and in Jerusalem

nothing much is happening and when it does happen in Samaria and the ends of

the earth is usually happening through one person this person obeys immediately

at at ridiculous costs but it's still through one person

so we got to learn to do this as a church otherwise I'm failing as a pastor

and we're failing as a church not really not really because not all of us can go

not all of us can go I mean how does blessy leave her four kids with Dano and

go I mean he wouldn't know where the dog is and where the kids are so sometimes

it's not possible but it is possible to get up and say father these are the

things you wanted us as disciples to do now God prepare me for this train my

hands for war pour me out for the sake of others bring me into encounters

where I have to deal with these things use my life set it ablaze but let it

burn oh god let it burn let it happen here father and once it happens here let

it progress guys I'm telling you something hear me very very clearly and

I guarantee you this if you have a desire to serve God this way and pour

out your life God will bring people into your life and create opportunities for

it the reason it is not happening is two things in my life whenever it hasn't

happened it's for two reasons three reasons one an unwillingness two an

unwillingness to submit three an unwillingness to obey and four let me

throw in a fourth one for a lack of purity these are the four reasons that

have always stopped things from happening in my life let me repeat them

again an unwillingness of desire meaning that the desire is there but it ain't it

ain't the primary desire it ain't the primary desire it is not the all

consuming thing hey when you see Jesus he will be so all-consuming and when

Jesus becomes all-consuming on earth everything aligns trust me on this you

have problems you have problems with your children you've got problems with

situations everything aligns when the all-consuming person of Christ becomes

central everything aligns imagine the planets and the stars and the systems

that are held together by one thing his word Hebrews chapter 1 says he is the

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

brilliant radiance the visible radiance of God and he sustains everything by his

word you think that if you have him at the center he cannot bring things into

order thank you you think he can't man you put him at the center and hold him

at the center the hardest thing for us humans to do is hold Jesus at the center

because it seems like there's this gravitational pull that always diverts

into the site bring him back to the center it isn't it isn't he running away

it's you moving away sometimes the hardest thing to do is oh god I gotta

bring you back I gotta bring you back at the center I gotta bring you back at the

center because I'm attracted by this I'm attracted by this I'm gonna bring you

back to the center and when you begin to do that everything else aligns desire

first one second one is the willingness to learn from others the willingness to

learn from others how my god it's a humbling process the willingness to

learn from others it is a humbling process

I'll sit in the back of cars I'd go to pick up people why do I give examples

from my life because it's the only life I know well that's why and if it begins

to look sometimes like I'm blowing my own trumpet I'm not just want to make

that clear I would sit in the back of cars to go pick up people from the

airport men and women at God I'd sit in the back of cars just to hear their

conversation I'd ask the pastor can I come can I come I want to come and pick

them up and I would sit in the back of the car just to listen to them converse

and I think to myself my god how do these guys talk like this how do they

know God so well how do they know stuff like this would be fascinating they

wouldn't even I mean I was fat then too but I'd be like a fly on the wall nobody

even notice me this is when you say no you're not fat thank you now that he

finished lying I'd be this little dot man in the car nobody would even notice

me send you back to your sound room sorry go ahead Matt

welcome back Matt no probation at all guys why this long drawn story of sitting

in the back of the car it's simply this there's no way to learn other than to be

humble to the point where you are insignificant and yet you're learning

second thing third thing you have desire and you have the humility to learn the

third thing is and please when you learn learn from people who can teach and who

have run this path before and who are at least two miles ahead of you don't learn

from someone who's two steps ahead of you because you'll catch up learn from

someone who's two miles ahead of you so that they can turn and rebuke you

admonish you encourage you lift you up build you up back their finger at you

you think Mary didn't wag a finger at Jesus saying Jesus no don't touch that

amazing how ordinary he was third thing now that you have desire and humility

would you now be able to say oh god this at any cost at any cost I got a business

at any cost I got children at any cost I got a work to do any cost at any cost to

God I want to be what you want me to be and that is to be like your son Christ

at any cost everything else will begin to become secondary everything else

become secondary at any cost I love what Peter and John and James do they're

blooming mending their nets they've just finished fishing they're supposed to be

helping the dad and it's the right thing to do and along comes this carpenter

walking around the beach and he says follow me and what do they do no cost

benefit analysis no thinking they drop their nets and they follow this man who

they do not know well they've heard about him but they don't know him but

they know inside that there is something in the strength of what he's saying when

he says follow me he doesn't even say follow me and I'll make you something he

just says follow me and then the fourth one is purity where it is impossible to

deal with darkness if there is darkness in me I'm not saying that you will be

sinless positionally yes you're as perfect as Christ but you and I make

mistakes but it is when I allowed darkness in me to continue to stay to

hatch like those two pigeons in my balcony

you get these four things right and you now enter a different realm

and a question we need to ask is why aren't we there

each one of us has to ask that day why aren't we there

if it is experience then you're in a good place then all it means is tomorrow

you'll get more experience day after you'll get more experience

but if it is any of these other four reasons correct them

I gotta end I haven't even begun

yeah

Balaam was very smart he knew Israel had the ability to knock Belak out of the

ground he knew Israel had the ability to bring to not everything that Belak was trying

and so he couldn't curse Israel but look at what he does say he introduces sin

and so he sends Midianite women to seduce the Israelites so that they sin with these women and

begin to worship their gods and the very curse that was absolutely ineffective now becomes

absolutely effective because no longer could Israel deal with Belak even though the shout

of the king was in the midst they could not deal with Belak because Satan has the ability to take

pockets of darkness and pockets of rot and mix it with light so that light is no longer as effective

as it can be and therefore Jesus turns to the church at Pergamum in revelations 2 verses 12 to 16

Revelation 2:12–16

and he says beware of the guys who practice the same thing as Balaam did because the very sword

that you are supposed to use against the enemy will now be used against you to cleanse you

that's the other thing guys if we start down this pathway then holiness is required and when

holiness isn't ascribed to him who is the commander of the armies of Israel then he uses that very

sword to cleanse us from the things that need to be cleansed so I'm not going into this in any kind

of hurry what a scary thing it is what a scary responsibility it is

for you to come up to me and say hey Jacob don't you think these areas need to be connected corrected

and for me to take it from you even though I'm the pastor for me to come to you and say hey

what about this area when are you going to change in this area you've been this way for the last

five years aren't you going to change this is called using the flint knife of circumcision

it's going to be difficult man

now everybody wants to go on an rv trip

three months of an rv trip how big is your thingy

all right so at least five people you can take dawn anytime you want

I gotta stop it's 4 20 thanks for listening guys there's so much more we got it

it's all Karen's fault she took too long

so

father