Taking Control

Pardon?

Yeah, sorry, it's not try not to, please don't.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay guys, it's strange, we've already reached almost

the midpoint of the year.

Can you imagine that?

I mean, we just had New Year's just a little while ago

and we were already in June.

And soon, it'll be June 21st,

which is the longest day of the year, sorry.

No, soon it'll be June.

Yeah, soon it'll be June 21st, then it'll be July 17th,

then it'll be September 4th, then it'll be December 25th,

and it just comes rushing, eh?

I think it was Azza's birthday on May 3rd, right?

Yeah.

So I just thought we need to visit this whole idea

of taking control of life.

And so some of it you've heard before,

but it's just trying to visit something midpoint

to take back life again, to take control.

So that's what I thought we'd do.

And some of the stuff is new,

some of the stuff you've heard before,

but I'm always surprised at how much we cover in a year

and we hardly have time to practice it.

We go from one new topic to the other to the other.

This will allow us to go back and look at something

so that we can take control of life.

So to begin with guys, control is to have power over.

Control is to have power over.

That's what control means.

I have power over something.

That's what control is.

And as far as we humans are concerned,

control is an illusion.

Control is an illusion.

You have no power over nothing.

Control is an illusion.

You have no power over nothing.

There's nothing you have control over.

It's an illusion.

Yep, go ahead.

Say that again.

And your statement is that it is true or it's not true?

It is a necessity.

So I'm not saying control is not a necessity.

I'm just saying control is an illusion.

Even when we try to have control over people

that may do us harm,

we find that even that sometimes doesn't work.

There's a law and the law can't sometimes

prevent things from happening.

If we did have control over everyone who did us harm,

this world would be less.

Yeah, I mean, either there'd be half the number of people

that exist because we would take care of them

or the wars would decrease.

But at present, control is an illusion of sorts.

I mean, never works out, eh?

The only one who has control is God.

Go ahead.

Control over ourselves is perhaps the only thing

that people who have God in their life can exert

because willpower doesn't work.

I tried it, eh?

And the world has tried it.

Willpower doesn't work.

Sin would disappear if man had control over his will

and he doesn't.

As believers, we have some degree of control over our will

because we have the Spirit of God helping us.

And the strange thing is,

even though people have a tendency,

Christians have a tendency to say God is in control,

God is in charge.

He does not control everything.

God is in charge.

He does not control everything.

If he controlled everything,

he could save the world in an instant.

But the moment he takes control of our will,

suddenly what happens is we become robots

and our moral will is removed.

So going back to the point, I forgot your name, man.

Conrad.

Conrad.

Going back to what Conrad is saying,

I'd love to exert control over people who do me no good.

I'd love to exert control over people who do me harm,

but I find that even there, there's no guarantee.

There's no guarantee.

I can control what I do

and that only with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Because otherwise we'd be sinless by now

if we knew how to control every impulse in our lives.

I mean, when that lie comes bubbling up

and it's on the tip of your tongue,

you have the ability to control it,

but it's not like we do.

And so God is in charge.

Heretic, heretical, but God is sovereign, yes.

He's absolutely in charge, yes,

but he does not control everything though he could.

He does not control everything though he could.

He could easily do it by taking away free will.

Because it is his desire that everyone be saved

and none perish.

So if he wanted to exert his will, he could.

So he is in charge,

but he does choose not to control everything

even though he can.

So make sure that you don't tether

the will of God to your experience.

Make sure that you don't tether

the will of God to your experience,

but to the word of God.

For instance, people say,

oh, if someone doesn't get healed,

the immediate response is,

oh, it's not God's will that we get healed.

If a hurricane comes,

oh, it's God's will to send a hurricane on those people

because they deserve to be punished.

We just take our understanding and our experience

and tether it to God and say that this is his will

because this is how he chooses to control

and not to control.

No, that's not the way it works.

It really messes up theology.

When we take our experiences and then tether God to it

and say, this is who God is,

when the word says otherwise.

So when the tsunami came,

I mean, it was God wanted to punish anyone

who was not a Christian.

Hey, judgment begins in the house of God first.

He's really merciful.

If he wasn't merciful,

you and I wouldn't be sitting in church.

We'd be swallowed up in tsunamis about 40 years ago.

He's super merciful.

He's in charge, but he does not control everything.

Because a common question asked by people

who either don't like God or don't understand him is,

if God was so good, why can't he prevent evil?

And books have been written about it.

But he's willing to be in charge and in control

of your life if you allow him to.

That's how this works.

Because he does not take away free will.

The day he takes away free will,

I know this will be a problem for Calvinists,

but the day he takes away free will,

you might as well stop existing.

You're lower than an animal then.

Because even animals have a degree of free will.

You're lower than a dog then.

Free will is taken away.

Any questions before we go on?

Go ahead, Carmen.

Will he accept the way the world is?

Will he just accept the way it is?

If we?

Will he just accept the way it is?

Do we accept the world the way it is?

That would be one way, but perhaps there's a more excellent

way, which would be to go with what Jesus teaches us

in Matthew six or Matthew 11, where he says,

your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So one of the ways we can go is to accept the fallenness

of the world as is and try to do the best we can

in this world and be salt and light.

The other, I think more excellent way would be to see,

so what is this will in heaven that I can now begin to?

I'd be a distributor off on earth.

And that requires something which most Christians

won't aspire for.

It'll require that I figure out the will of God.

And that is a hard party.

That's something Christians avoid.

We don't want to figure out how God wants to do things.

So case-a-rass-a-ra.

Whatever will be, will be.

But it's great when we look at the fallenness of the world,

recognize what's happening, but then decide

that there is a more excellent way

where now I figure out the will of God

and I don't impose it, I don't enforce it,

except on the enemy, but I begin

to become a distributor office.

Goodness.

So how do we go about then taking control?

Guys, if you want to take control of your life

midway through the year, then one of the things

that we've talked about often is put first things first.

Put first things first.

Put first things first.

Start here.

Put first things first.

Your life is determined by your priorities, eh?

Your life is determined by your priorities.

Your affection is what draws your attention,

is what sets your direction.

We've talked about this before,

but midway through the year, you've got to look again

at where did you want to be at this time in your year?

What were the things you were hoping

you could have accomplished?

What were the things that God had asked you to be about?

And if you aren't there, then go back

to putting first things first.

You'll be surprised that half the church,

and you don't know which half I'm in,

and I'm not willing to confess,

but half the church still hasn't,

half this church I'm talking about,

still hasn't developed a simple practice

of reading the word on a regular,

consistent basis every day.

And some of us have been Christians for 30 or 40 years,

and we don't, eh?

We don't.

It's not a consistent practice.

And yet, God starts off with David saying,

hey, want to walk well?

Want to have my word as a lamp and a light to your feet?

Want to make sure you don't sin?

Cherish my word in your heart?

Want to meditate?

He says to Joshua, it's again and again the same theme, eh?

And most of us haven't gotten that right.

Or half of us, let's say, putting first things first.

Because where your affection is,

there your attention will be,

and that will set your direction, eh?

I mean, I was looking at stuff in my life

where I need to put first things first again,

and there are so many things that have fallen

by the wayside over the last five months, man.

I'm basically first, especially in terms of time,

treasure, talent, time, treasure, talent,

strength, relationships.

Regardless of the clamor of demands,

in these five areas, put first things first.

And what do I mean by putting first things first?

Put God principles first, or put your time into stuff.

If you want your marriage to be better,

put first things first, as in,

Kamal, spend more time with Anne.

Stop looking up her nose, but spend more time with Anne.

Spend more time with Anne.

Guys, anything that requires first requires time,

requires time.

Time, talent, treasure, relationships, strength.

As in, where do I put, how do I use my strength?

My intellectual, physical, emotional strength.

How do I, where am I investing it?

Put first things first.

Time, how much time is spent by us?

I mean, these are basics, eh?

But it's fascinating how it's the little things

that are gnawing away, or hollowing out the tree of our life.

How much time do I spend in front of television?

How much time do I spend by myself,

and not with people or with God?

How much time do I, I mean, you measure your time,

and you will see where your attention and your affection is.

How much time do I sleep?

Don't answer that.

You look at how you invest time,

and you will know what the most important thing

in your life is.

At the end of the day, it's, when you come,

and when I come here to worship on a Sunday,

guys, worship can only be given to that which you enjoy.

And whatever you enjoy, you will idolize,

you will elevate, you will pour your time into.

And so the question is, in the 20 or 30 minutes

of worship here, are you continuing what you've been doing

throughout the week, where the center of your attention

was this relationship you have with the Father and the Son?

If that is so, then your worship here is a continuation

of what you've been throughout the week.

Otherwise, there's something seriously wrong.

Why do we struggle with worship when we come to church?

One of the reasons we struggle with worship

is throughout the week, we've idolized a golden calf or two.

And then we come here, and for 40 minutes,

we've got to focus on this Father

who was missing during the week.

That's why worship becomes difficult.

You idolize, elevate, look up to, enjoy,

and are satisfied with whatever grabs your attention.

And if it ain't God during the week,

it's gonna be very hard for God to turn up

for 40 minutes on a Sunday.

So put first things first.

Put first things first.

Go back to, Father, where do I need to invest my time?

And you gotta think of two things

when you're putting first things first.

What am I heading towards, and what am I missing now?

Two things.

What am I missing now?

Why is my life the way it is right now?

What do I need to adjust in putting first things first?

So let me pick on Jeevan.

Let's assume Jeevan's life is super busy.

It's not, or maybe it is.

Maybe I'm telling the truth and I know something,

or maybe I don't, but let's move on.

Now that I have Jeevan completely confused.

Let's assume Jeevan's life is really busy.

So Jeevan has to figure out,

am I going from meeting to meeting to meeting,

preaching here, preaching there,

preaching wherever people call me,

or do I have to streamline my life

so that I put first things first

and know what God is calling me for

in terms of the future

and in terms of how I manage time right now?

And the moment he does that,

everything else falls into place,

because the moment he put first things first,

everything else gets governed by it.

So Jeevan decides that I will only go places

where this is what I'm being called for,

and suddenly he finds that he's got oodles of time

to spend with Don and Derek and Jacob.

And he only goes for these certain assignments.

This is how Jesus worked, eh?

For 30 years of his ministry,

he put first things first.

And what was first?

His family.

Crazy!

This is the son of God who's supposed to save the world,

and he's a carpenter sitting in a little shed

taking care of his mother and six brothers and two sisters.

That was his priority.

And at 12, it suddenly changes.

Well, there's little, not at 12,

at 30, it suddenly changes,

and he becomes a completely different person.

Because whatever you put your affections to

will draw your attention and will set your direction.

We'll talk about it in a moment.

And the thing is, the moment you put first things first,

guys, you'll notice that it gives God control

over your life.

When you put first things first,

you'll suddenly notice that it gives God control

over your life.

You wanna take control?

This is one of the first things you do.

Any questions before we go on?

Guys, go check this.

You don't know how basic this is,

but it revolutionizes the way you function.

Okay, second point.

Learn is hard.

Learn is hard.

Midway through the year,

there might be things that you didn't expect

have happened now.

January 1st looked so bright and suddenly

there are new problems,

new situations that make your heart go turbulent.

So are you afraid, are you confused,

are you worried by turbulence in your life?

One of the easiest ways to take control.

Guys, here's what we usually do.

We start worrying.

If you try to worry your way out of a problem,

you destroy Jesus' effectiveness.

When you try to worry your way out of a problem,

you destroy Jesus' effectiveness.

When you try to worry your way out of a problem,

you destroy Jesus' effectiveness.

As in, it's literally like tying his hands

and saying, not right now, let me finish worrying

and trying to solve this myself,

and then when I get really helpless, you can come in.

That's our usual method.

The first place you go to in trouble

must be the heart of God.

The first place you go to in trouble

must be the heart of God.

The first place you go to in trouble

doesn't matter what kind of trouble,

trouble that's caused by your own mistakes,

sin and its consequences, problems,

assaults from outside,

people who are trying to overpower you, sickness.

Doesn't matter what kind of an assault,

the first place I must go in trouble

should be the heart of God.

The heart of God.

Because there, I'll find what I need.

Otherwise, my default as humans is to worry,

and the moment I start worrying,

I destroy his effectiveness in my life.

And it might happen 15 times a day,

but tomorrow may it happen only 10,

and day after may it happen only five,

till you completely eradicate the problem.

I am his child, I will not be afraid.

And I will not be afraid of being forsaken or abandoned.

Doesn't matter whether it's small or big things.

I had a flight on Thursday

from Seattle to Vancouver at 2.20.

And the flight from Dubai landed at 1.45.

At 1.45 you land, you gotta now collect your baggage,

you gotta go through security again.

Then you gotta go from one satellite terminal to another,

and then of all the gates they could pick,

A1 is the closest to where you get off.

They chose A14, there's nothing after A14.

And so I think I knocked one old woman in two chairs,

trying to get to the flight.

But by now, it's impossible,

because the flight leaves at 2.20.

And for hours on the 14 hour flight,

because they had WiFi,

all I'm doing is trying to check and see

what other flights I can book,

because I'm sure that I won't catch this flight.

Because it's impossible to make it across in 35 minutes.

It's impossible.

So I'm spending time worrying,

I'm figuring out should I pay this, should I not?

Because everything is in US dollars.

And then at some point I remembered,

man, you are behaving exactly like you preach,

people should not behave.

And so I remember switching off the WiFi and saying,

father, I don't know how you're gonna do this,

but I'm not gonna make any attempt to fix nothing

till I get to the gate and find that the plane has left.

And that might sound silly,

Jacob, you should use your logic.

Yeah, but it wasn't working at 40,000 feet anyways.

So I get off the plane and I make this mad dash

and I get there after the flight time.

So it's 2.20, I get there on 2.23 or 2.24 or 2.25.

And the flight's been delayed.

And I'm the last one on board,

everyone else is boarded, and then it's me.

And I get on the plane and I come home.

I'm sitting on the plane and writing to God on my phone

saying, father, I wish I'd learned these lessons faster.

Where I run to your heart instead of running to my mind

and trying to figure out and worry and fix things.

I wish I could run to your heart first.

So difficult to do, eh, after all these years?

I hate it when stuff like that happens.

Feelings, that's another thing that we need to deal with

if you're taking control.

If you wanna take control of your life, feelings,

I mean, we experience feelings,

but we can't afford to inhabit or pitch tent

either in the valley or on the mountain.

We experience feelings, but we can't afford to pitch tent

or inhabit the valley or the mountain.

Can't.

God had this smart idea for Israel.

When people would die or some famous leader would die,

he'd give them a specific time of mourning.

Cause unlike the Canaanites and the nations around

who would go into cutting themselves,

who would hire mourners, who'd go into hysterical crying

and funeral rites, God prescribed to them

the way one was supposed to be buried

and the time of mourning.

And after that, God wanted them to move on.

I remember Pastor Mike saying this to me,

Jacob, every time you do really well,

pat yourself on the back for one day,

savor the feeling, and then move on.

Just one day, enjoy it for one day, and then move on.

Doesn't matter whether it be the valley or the mountain,

do not pitch your tent or inhabit that place, eh?

Because if you do, then feelings begin to take control

instead of you allowing God to direct your paths,

your feelings begin to direct it.

I love the scene in John chapter six

where Jesus is doing really well,

revival's going really well.

He's the main speaker, crowds have gathered,

and they come to crown him king.

And Jesus does something very simple,

he just disappears up the mountain

cause he refuses to be crowned king.

Doesn't matter how good a thing is going.

When things go well, it is not evidence

that God wants you to continue.

All it means is things are going well.

And he has the audacity to leave and go to other towns

and saying, don't want this.

I love this line which I've repeated quite a few times here.

Guys, I have a choice, magnify the Lord

or magnify the situation that I'm currently embedded in.

I have a choice, magnify the Lord

or magnify the situation that I'm currently embedded in.

I have a choice, magnify the Lord

or magnify the situation that I'm currently embedded in.

And we have this choice every time, eh?

Every time.

I'm me, you and I, and I said this

at the beginning of the service,

may this church be known as a church

that trusts God so implicitly for every little thing,

from a boil in the nose to major things.

I'm sorry, I might be referring to that nose very often now

and for the next couple of Sundays.

Because somehow Kamal and that,

it's stuck in my head, Kamal, sorry.

And go from what you're feeling to what is true.

Go from what you're feeling to what is true.

This is what you feel,

and this is so important for so many of us here.

This is what you feel, this is what the truth is.

Go from feeling to truth and use words to get there.

This is a common biblical practice,

which you will see repeated again and again.

Where I feel this way, I perceive things this way,

but this is the truth.

But how do I go from what I feel and what I perceive

to what is the truth?

I use words to get there.

And throughout the Bible, every prophet,

at some point or the other, uses this method.

One of the most obvious scriptures

is in Habakkuk chapter three, verse 17 to 19,

where it says, though the fig tree has not blossomed,

though there be no cattle in the stall,

though the olive tree has shed its fruit,

though there be no herds,

yet I will do cartwheels of joy,

I will rejoice in the Lord,

who gives me the feet of a deer.

And he goes from what he's feeling to what is the truth,

and he uses words.

It actually says, Habakkuk three, 17 to 19, is a song.

It is set to a tune.

It's supposed to be set to a tune and you sing it.

You must use words to get from feelings to the truth.

Use words.

And those words can't be spoken in your mind.

You must speak them loud so that you hear it

and the enemy hears it.

God is the only one who can read minds, guys.

Use words.

Use words.

Questions?

Comments?

Okay.

Next one.

On the last verse, we get ready, set, go.

Yep.

Yep.

Next one.

Guys, first the natural, then the spiritual.

This might seem like, really, Jacob, this works.

You'll be surprised.

First the natural, then the spiritual.

What do I mean by that?

In 1 Corinthians 15, 46, it says,

the spiritual did not come first, but the natural.

And after that, the spiritual came.

But the natural.

And after that, the spiritual.

The spiritual did not come first, but the natural.

And after that, the spiritual.

And there's,

I understand the context that Paul is using it in,

but I'm drawing a principle out of the simple scripture.

Guys, your natural physical environment

affects how you deal with things spiritually.

Let me put it this way.

Change your physical environment

change,

change your, and I'll explain it,

change your physical environment.

This is one of the ways we take control.

Change your physical environment intentionally,

systematically,

intentionally,

systematically, symbolically.

And it will order, and it will order,

and catalyze,

it will order and catalyze

your spiritual life.

Your spiritual life.

And that's the way we take control.

Life.

I'll explain that.

Change your physical or natural environment intentionally,

sometimes systematically, sometimes symbolically,

and it will order, as in bring into order,

or catalyze, as in propel your spiritual life.

Guys,

often your natural environment

reflects the condition of your life

and your spiritual makeup.

If I come to your house and look into your bedroom,

look into your drawers,

look into the rooms that you don't allow me in,

it'll often be, not always,

it'll often be a reflection of your spiritual life.

And every now and then,

it's a great idea to intentionally,

or systematically, or symbolically,

change your natural environment.

And you will find that it gives you a sudden

thrust forward in terms of how you live spiritually.

For some of us, this doesn't compute.

You should try it.

You should try it.

God does this through seasons, eh?

Trees will have leaves, and then the leaves will shed,

and the rain will come and wash away the leaves.

Symbolically, it was common for God

to change natural environments.

He would ask people to do things symbolically

so that it would give them a new start.

Jacob had to do it.

Moses had to do it.

Abraham had to do it.

The very places that you wouldn't allow me

to enter in your house are the very places

that you need to start with.

You'll find that every time you intentionally clean up

your natural environment, there will be a cleaning up

that will follow in your spiritual environment.

It's like a ramp being cleared so that you can take off.

If you don't believe me, try it.

In the world, people call it spring cleaning.

God just calls it something else.

I'll give you examples.

Every time you clean up your house,

every time, when I find, I'm not speaking out of,

I'm not trying to use anecdotes in my life

as reason for you to do it.

I'm just saying there is this pattern where

when I decide that, okay, I will systematically live a life

that is both clean spiritually and clean physically,

I find that there is a consistency to my life

that begins to develop.

That's the first thing they teach you in the military.

They teach you how to do your bed, how to make your sheets,

how to fold things, and it stays with people

throughout their lives.

It goes to an extreme with them, but it gives them a pattern.

And it's something that's completely lost

on this generation.

And by this generation, I mean anyone my age and below.

Completely lost.

But you will find a consistency entering your life.

Second, symbolically begin to do things.

Symbolically be, I remember the first time

when I told you about that story in Borneo

when I came back from Borneo and God said,

ascend and enter because I'm taking you to the next level.

And the first thing I did after coming back

is I went to the landlady in the building

and I said to her, I want to move.

I want to move to an apartment that is better.

I've stayed here for nine years.

God is asking me to move into a new place in him.

And I know that is a spiritual thing,

but I want to match what is going to happen in the spiritual

through a physical act.

And it was going to cost me $200 more.

Couldn't care because I knew it was something

that had to happen.

And I did.

Everything changed.

Everything changed.

You'll be surprised at the stuff that is

hoarded in your houses that you need to get rid of.

And it's often a reflection of how your

spiritual life is too.

Have you noticed how things begin to stagnate?

And the older you get, the worse it gets.

And if that is not your situation, blessed are you.

Any questions before we go on?

Symbolically, systematically, intentionally change things.

Questions?

Disagreements?

Disagreements?

Yeah, symbolically, I would need the Holy Spirit

to tell me what to change.

So whenever God wants me to set up something symbolic

on Earth, it always has to be led by the Spirit of God.

So every time, I mean, why did Jacob cut those spots

on the trees that he planted when the animals came to?

Feed, it was symbolic.

Why did Moses ask Aaron and her to hold up the rod

while Joshua went and fought?

It was symbolic.

Why did Ezekiel go through the 101 different things

that he did when he was praying for Jerusalem?

That was symbolic.

So when it's symbolic, God has to ask you to do it.

And most symbolic actions are prophetic in nature,

and it announces to, not to God, but to the world

and to the enemy that something is afoot.

So stuff that is symbolic, you might have to get God's lead on.

But systematically and intentionally taking care

of your physical environment will affect your spiritual life.

Okay, next one, wrestling control.

Wrestling control.

As in W-R-E-S-T-L-I-N-G. Wrestling control.

If you want to take control of your life,

watch against incitement from the enemy and repetitive snares.

Watch against incitement from the enemy and repetitive snares.

As in, have you noticed how there are some snares

that are always set for you after certain incidents

or times or seasons in your life?

There'll be the snare or trap that you always step into,

that you keep sinning in, that you keep falling into.

Sometimes it's triggered by visiting a certain place,

certain group of friends, having a certain victory,

having some success, having a failure,

having someone speak to you nastily,

and it sets off this cycle that you haven't been able to escape.

Nobody knows about it, only you know about it.

It could be an addiction, and it always has a trigger.

Wrestle control.

Be aware of these repetitive snares,

and be aware of the incitement of the devil.

What do you mean, incitement of the devil?

The devil, very often in mature Christian's lives,

doesn't come out with a frontal attack,

but provokes you to do something that will eventually lead to sin,

as he did with David.

David was a man after God's own heart, doing really well.

Battle after battle he wins.

And then it says that Satan provoked David,

or incited David to take a census.

That's all he did, to take a census.

So he goes about counting the number of people in his army.

And one of the generals comes and tells him,

really, do you need to do this?

Don't you know that God is the one who gives you victory?

Whether by a few or whether by many,

it's God who gives you victory.

So why go about counting?

Nope, David insisted. Why?

Because he wanted to be exactly what Israel had said ages ago to Saul.

We want a king like all the other nations.

And all the other nations had kings who would count their army to proclaim that.

Might.

And David falls into the same trap.

It actually says, and Satan incited or provoked David to take a census.

And after that follows a plague that does great harm.

Guys, the strange thing is we are aware of this, eh?

Every time I know an incitement is coming, I'm aware of it.

I can sit in a church sometimes and know,

ah, I'm being provoked to react a certain way.

Or I'm being provoked to despise the one who's speaking.

Or I'm being provoked to think, ah, this guy's not intellectual enough.

Or this guy's too charismatic.

And the moment I do that, I know what is happening, eh?

And we fall into the same trap again and again and again and again.

You want to take control?

One of the ways to take control over the snares of the enemy and incitement

is to be able to go to somebody and say, I got this problem,

but man, some of us are so proud that we won't do it.

Two simple things.

We can never fight the devil on the same plane, guys.

I told you that story, which I really like,

about this pilot who was flying a test piloting this prototype.

This was during the Second World War.

His test flying this prototype that had just been built.

And he's flying and suddenly finds a rat in the cockpit.

And he doesn't know what to do,

because the rat's beginning to chew at the cables in the cockpit.

And he calls the control tower,

but they don't have a manual on what to do when rats start eating your cables.

So they're telling him to do this and do that and all.

And he does something so, in my mind, amazing.

True story.

He just flies it to about 35,000 or 40,000 feet,

where the rat dies of lack of oxygen.

He puts on his mask, and he flies it to an altitude

where there isn't enough oxygen.

And now his only challenge is to get the rat to go to the cockpit.

And now his only challenge is,

I've got to bring the plane down before the rat comes back to life.

Because he can't get to it, he can't unstrap himself,

so he takes it to an altitude where the rat dies because it cannot breathe.

And now he has to hurry back to land it before it starts breathing again.

I read that story and I thought to myself,

you never try to undo traps and snares at the same level that you fly.

You stand at a much higher place, man,

because most battles are won in God when you stand in him.

Which is why 1 Peter 4.7 says, I think it's 1 Peter 4.7 or James 4.7, I'm not sure,

where it says, submit to God, James 4.7, submit to God, resist the devil.

There is this platform called Submit to God that I need to stand on.

Resisting the devil cannot be done, cannot be done on the same level as the enemy.

Submit to God first.

And now you stand on a different platform.

And from there you begin to resist the devil.

And then what does it say? He will flee from you.

It's one of the simplest ways of spiritual warfare.

Everything starts and ends there, guys.

Any other kind of spiritual warfare is just a whole lot of drama

without the key ingredient, submit to God, resist the devil,

and he will flee from you. Very simple.

And the other one is what Prashant was talking about when he said Ephesians 6, 10 to 20.

Which one day we'll start looking at again.

The whole idea of this armor that we wear.

It's fighting from a different place, eh?

When we need to fight.

I'll probably start on that sometime next month.

Another thing that I just wanted to throw in, guys.

If there is anything that you need to pay attention to in the armor of God,

it's the belt of truth.

And by that I mean a transparent honesty.

That is so acute

that it's very easy for people who are transparently honest

to win every battle here on earth.

Our problem is we're not transparently honest.

At least I can't claim to be transparently honest.

I can say I'm honest.

I can say I don't like lying.

But could I call my life transparent? Not yet.

Let me go a step further.

Not not yet.

Not yet by a long shot.

When people are transparently honest,

it's like the light of God blazes through you, man.

And darkness cannot stand.

May you be like that, eh?

Because the odd thing in the armor of God is the belt of truth.

Look at the stuff that is attached to it.

The breastplate of righteousness.

The sword of the spirit.

So many things are attached to it.

Girds your waist.

That one item is what holds so many things together

that if you and I were to focus on any item

that you wouldn't want to lose,

it would be the belt of truth.

It's critical.

Blessed are the transparently truthful,

for light always overcomes Satan.

And the transparently truthful,

one of the things you will notice about them

is they are super simple, man.

They're not complicated.

I look around this church

and I know some of you are transparently truthful.

That's one of your finest qualities.

But unfortunately, I don't know if you're humble,

so I won't call your name out.

Transparently truthful.

It's a beautiful place to be.

I kind of know what it tastes like.

I would love to be there. I'm not there.

And it bothers me because I want to be there

because I can taste it and it feels so pure.

And there are a couple of young guys here

who are transparently truthful.

And young could mean anything over 50.

So any questions, guys, before we move on?

It's an admirable quality you have, Matt.

It's an admirable quality you have.

Hold on to it, eh?

It's precious. Hold on to it.

Hold on to it.

You'll find yourself winning battles

when you build up some more muscle.

You'll find yourself winning battles with relative ease

because of this one quality that you hold on to.

Precious it is, man. I envy you.

There are others too, but I just thought

Matt needed to hear that.

Guys, the next thing, if you want to take control,

abandon anger. Abandon anger.

Most of us Christians know how to disguise anger by now.

If you've been a Christian for 10 years,

you've learned the art of disguising anger

and forgiving about two months later.

But abandon anger, eh?

Because Proverbs 25, verse 28 puts it this way.

Proverbs 25:28

Anger is like dripping acid.

It erodes control.

Because you become like a city with no doors and no windows

which anyone can ravage.

You lose absolute control.

And because we've learned not to spew anger,

it festers, eh?

And because it festers, it becomes like acid drip

and begins to erode.

It begins to create secret tunnels into your body and soul.

And that's a sad thing.

The world has the option of spewing anger

or taking a baseball bat and beating up a pillow.

I don't think it helps.

But we don't even have that, eh?

So it festers.

And it erodes.

Anger is a door opener to other sins.

Anger is a door opener to other sins.

I was reading the story about Da Vinci

when he was painting the Lord Supper thingy.

And while he was painting it,

he had this quarrel with another painter.

And they had this really bad spat.

And it was during that time that he was painting the Lord Supper.

And he begins to paint Judas.

And he realizes as he's painting Judas

that when he finishes, Judas looks like this guy

who he has a quarrel with.

And so he moves on.

And now he's come to this place where he's painting Jesus.

But as hard as he's trying to paint Jesus

the way he thinks Jesus looks,

he's not able to capture Jesus' face.

There's no kindness in Jesus' face.

And he struggles with it.

And finally realizes he needs to do something.

And he blots out the face of Judas.

Goes back to the man that he had a quarrel with.

And asks for forgiveness.

Sets things right.

And then comes back

and begins to paint the face of Jesus.

I don't know whether this is legend

or whether this is true.

But the story serves a purpose, man.

That anger has the ability

to bore tunnels into my soul and my body.

In my body, it begins to cause disease.

In my soul, it is like acid drip eroding things.

And it causes me to lose control, eh?

Only I've been a Christian for 30 years,

so I know how to disguise it.

And strangely enough, it affects my imagination.

And if you're married, or if you're not married,

it affects your sexual behavior, too.

You'll be surprised at how angry men and women

are so different in their bed

than when they are talking to you.

Anger affects your sexual behavior,

and it affects your imagination, both.

I'm not talking about sexual imagination.

I'm just talking about normal imagination

and sexual behavior.

Both are affected by anger.

So how do we go about fixing it?

The advantage that you and I have

is we have the Spirit of God,

and therefore we have things like kindness

that are easily accessible.

There's a well of salvation inside me

that I can draw water out of, as Isaiah 12 says.

But is this choice, eh, magnify the fruit of the Spirit

or magnify the situation?

You know, something strange happened.

I don't know why I say these things to you.

I was angry with someone,

and I was speaking to them in measured tones,

but I was angry inside.

But because I'm a pastor and a Christian,

you can't show them exactly how you feel.

So I'm speaking to them in measured tones,

and then after I finished,

I went into a room that was adjoining,

and as I went into the room,

I just became myself as in normal,

and there was a mirror in the room,

and I caught a sight of my face.

I was so surprised at how angry my face looked.

You could literally see anger on my face.

I remember going to God immediately after saying,

Father, if that is the face that happens on me

when I harbor anger,

then you've got to help me get rid of this.

Because it wasn't a good face, man.

It didn't have any reflection of what Christ is like.

The person who I spoke to wouldn't know it,

but as soon as I left the person,

everything that I was holding began to show on my face.

I remember telling God, I'm so sorry.

I can't afford to have a face like that.

I can't afford to have a face like that that has anger on it.

That's not the kind of face that Jesus had.

I'm not trying to touch your emotions or anything.

I'm saying that anger has the ability to cripple you inside,

and it shows outside when no one's watching.

May you never go red with anger.

May that be a color that is not yours.

Stay white or brown,

or whatever color you were born with.

Kindness is the antidote to anger,

and it allows the uninhibited flow of the Spirit.

It allows the uninhibited flow of the Spirit.

Two more points, and then we are done.

And each point has six subsections.

So the next one, he should have given me more chocolates.

Numbering your days.

We've talked about this in the past.

Psalm 90 verse 12.

Psalms 90:12

If you want to take control,

you've got to number your days.

Guys, some of us are over 50.

You're entering the second half of your life.

You do not have all the time you had when you were 25.

People die.

You're going to die.

What's the good news?

The good news is that you've got a limited number of years

to accomplish everything that's left, man.

We've got to number our days.

Psalm 90 verse 12 puts it this way.

Psalms 90:12

Teach me to number my days,

that I may get a heart of wisdom.

Teach me to number my days,

that I may get a heart of wisdom.

Teach me to number my days,

that I may get a heart of wisdom.

If you're over 50, please, it applies to everybody,

but if you're over 50,

let these two things drive the rest of your life.

Let the love of God and love for others

be the driving force behind a disciplined,

intentionally planned life.

Let the driving force behind the disciplined,

intentionally planned life be this,

that I will spend the rest of my life doing two things,

learning how to be a much loved child,

loving the father with reckless abandon,

and two, loving others.

Because I've spent the last 50 years paying attention to me.

It is time to shift now,

because I have limited time.

Nothing else can take precedence.

I was placed on this earth to function this way,

and I don't have enough time left.

Think like this, guys.

And if you're under 50, start thinking like this,

and you won't have to think like this at 50.

I almost want to beg, but I won't.

I say to you,

just because you've followed a certain pattern

of doing things for the last 10 years,

and because it's working well,

does not mean that it is supposed to continue this year.

Please go and examine what you're doing,

and do not continue in it,

assuming that it's gone well for the last 10 years,

so this is what I'm supposed to do in the future.

Don't, because numbering your days requires

that you figure out God's new game plan.

What is God's new game plan?

What is my present call, and what is tomorrow's invitation?

Where is God leading me into deeper waters?

If what you're doing is not leading you into deeper waters

for the last five years,

check, because it's not God.

Why is this in the way?

Kisle, I told you.

If you're not moving into,

if you haven't moved into deeper waters in the last five years,

then check, because God ain't involved.

But Jacob, how can you say that?

How can you make a judgment like that?

Because everything in God takes you deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper.

And even in the last five years,

if you haven't been stepping into deeper waters,

then know that you're living a Christian life.

I'll put a full stop after that.

Show me a story in the Bible.

Show me one story in the life of any of them.

Take any of them.

Joseph, Gideon, Joshua, Moses, David, Peter, Paul, Jesus.

Show me one life that didn't keep entering into deeper water.

Because the only way I can fathom God and begin to trust him more

and see the size of who God is,

is only if I step into deeper water.

Otherwise, it's not going to happen, guys.

Yeah.

Deeper water would be,

today if you need May's help to do something,

tomorrow may you not need May's help to do something,

because you have attained a certain boldness on your own.

Today, if you think of God a certain way,

tomorrow may your understanding of God expand,

where you see God differently.

Today, if you love God this much,

in a year's time if you only love God that much,

then there's something seriously wrong with your relationship.

Today, if I need five days to overcome a problem,

tomorrow I should need three days to overcome a problem.

Today, if I need eight minutes to come to a place of peace,

tomorrow I should need only three minutes to come to a place of peace.

Today, if God can trust me to take care of five people,

next year he must trust me to take care of two cities.

This is what is meant by entering into deeper waters.

It's not just a question of faith,

it's a question of faith and faithfulness.

Faith and faithfulness.

It's never faith alone,

because one can step into places of faith

and you'll have this meteoric rise

and you'll see an amazing feat and that's about it.

But faithfulness is when you see feet plodding, persevering, stepping,

long obedience in the same direction.

Faith and faithfulness, ah!

John Piper, no, someone else.

I don't know who said this.

Every night, if you went and asked God,

did I live well today, would he say,

yep, well done good and faithful servant.

Last point.

We're talking about taking control

and we're talking about different things that can be done

to take control of our life midway through 2017.

One of the ways we take control is by losing control.

One of the ways we take control is by losing control.

God is always inviting you to lose control.

God is always inviting you to lose control,

because losing control allows God to help himself to more of your life.

Losing control allows God to help himself to more of your life.

Losing control allows God to help himself to more of your life.

So one way to take control of my life is to lose it.

It's an old scripture that Jesus quoted.

You want your life? Lose it.

You want to keep your life? You will lose it.

Sorry?

I want you guys to be a certain way,

so I begin to control you, dominate you,

force you to behave a certain way.

And every time I do that,

one of you will keep defying me.

Chris will do something, and when Chris doesn't do it, Don will do it.

Don doesn't do it, Elmer will do it.

And so I want everything to align and follow and be under me.

But the moment the devil finds out that Jacob wants to control and dominate

and set all his bottles straight,

all the devil will do is he'll keep coming and touching one or the other.

Because he knows that this is the easiest way to get Jacob irritated.

Just touch something.

And he'll be consumed with anger, he'll be consumed with prayer,

he'll be consumed with fasting,

because he wants to make all the bottles line up.

I know people who've been doing it for 40 years,

and all they do is pray, and nothing changes.

Because you want everything to line up.

Which Jacob are you talking about now?

Which Jacob?

Oh, this Jacob. Right on.

Yeah. Yeah.

But the moment Jacob tries to dominate or control things,

there is an active enemy that will come and keep touching the very thing he wants to control.

And all he has to do is just every now and then.

One of the things they would force us to do,

when I was in my first year at college,

they were the Hayes junior students,

they would take us on these trains,

and your job was, you know those things that you hold on to?

The hand, whatever you call them, hand handles.

And so there's this long compartment, and they have this thing.

And my job, throughout the entire one hour journey,

was to make sure that all of them are aligned in a train that's moving.

So I'd spend an entire hour making it,

and if one of them was not aligned, you got wrapped.

And so you would run up and down trying to make all of them line up.

It was such a futile thing. I knew it then.

But strangely enough, when it comes to normal life, we don't think so.

The train is moving, and you're trying to straighten out everything.

It ain't going to work, and it will be touched.

Any time you try to control anybody,

you are just preparing yourself for a life of a lot of pain and disappointment.

Even if it's your spouse.

Losing control is yielding your right to keep things under you.

Yielding your right to make things serve you.

Yielding, as in, I surrender my right to keep this under control.

Mothers must learn it with their children.

Husbands must learn it with their wives.

My wives must learn it with their husbands.

Pastors must learn it with their congregation.

Classroom.

God doesn't do it.

God doesn't control. He's in charge, but He doesn't control.

He does everything to help us make right choices.

He then helps us with the bad choices we make.

He pushes us forward as we make right choices.

But He does not control everything we do.

Otherwise, we would not need a savior.

If God was controlling everything, we would not need Jesus Christ.

There's no need of a savior if everything is being controlled by God.

Sin would not happen.

So yielding control, and the strange thing is this, guys.

Yielding control is evidence of a growing relationship.

Yielding control is evidence of a growing relationship.

You only give control over to somebody when you have a relationship with them.

I mean, if Ann allows Kamal to look up her nose,

it's because there's evidence of a growing relationship.

I mean, have you noticed you don't come to me and say, look up my nose?

And if you do, I wouldn't either.

Just in case you thought this was pastoral, it's not.

I mean, I now trust Derek with my keys, even though he's lost it twice.

Yielding control is evidence of growing relationship, of growing intimacy, of growing trust, and it has high rewards.

Abraham had to yield control, and as he yielded control,

he moved from one altar to the other, calling on the name of Yahweh,

showing us revelation after revelation of who he was as Jaira, as Rohi, as Rafa.

He kept moving, and as he did, he became the father of many nations.

I'm telling you something, guys.

We have, at Acts 29, by the sheer grace of God,

the privilege of being ones who can actually, for the lack of a better word,

rock certain things in the world, rock certain things in the world,

as in change them from inside out so that they last past Matt and Rachel's grandchildren.

I pray, God, that you will realize the privilege you have of belonging to each other this way and to God.

And the nation, city, people changes that you are.

You've never heard me say stuff like that.

I'm not one of the guys who says, and, oh, we are world changers.

I've never used that word before, but I'm telling you, you have such a rich privilege.

So much is deposited in us by God.

And if you notice, I'm not even saying by Jacob, because really it's not.

But we belong to each other, and we have this amazing privilege in this little group.

And it doesn't matter whether you're here for the first time or the last time or whatever.

You have a rich privilege. Do not squander it.

Do not squander it, because you will be asked.

You will be asked. You will be asked saying, hey, you got all that.

What did you do with that?

And may you be asked, because there's not a single person who's brought here

who does not have the potential to actually drastically, radically, from the root, change things.

Not one has come to Acts 29, because if they did, they were not able to survive.

And it's got nothing to do with me.

Why? I don't know why.

God chooses people of no pedigree, of no substance, of no heritage, of no spiritual lineage.

And He decides that I'm going to pick a Kamal and a Wain and a Ryan, and I'm going to put them together.

I'm going to use them to affect the root of things in this earth.

If you're young, look forward to your life on the earth, not in Vancouver, on the earth.

And if you're old, use wisdom. Use wisdom now.

I'm so convinced of this.

That if I told you what I was telling God the day before yesterday,

you'll think to yourself, Jacob is so full of himself, which you already do, but when you hear this, you'll really think that...

Well, let's just stop there, guys.

Yielding control, let me end with this. Yielding control is active surrender, followed by active seeking.

Yielding control to God is active surrender, followed by active seeking.

Because sometimes what happens is we yield control and resign ourselves to whatever needs to happen.

No, no. Yielding control is active surrender, followed by active seeking.

I surrender. Now that I have surrendered, what do you want me to do?

Because I will do what you ask me to do.

Because I need to surrender before I can even ask you the question, what do you want me to do?

What do you want me to do?

Any person who asks the question, what do you want me to do, without active surrender, is asking a question he will not be able to obey.

Active surrender. If you come to me and say, Jacob, I want to do anything you want me to do in this church, and you walk away,

you leave just as you came.

But if you come to me and say, I'll do anything you want in this church, and then you wait, and you wait, and you wait,

and I turn to you and say, why are you waiting?

And you'll say, I just surrendered myself to do anything in this church, I'm waiting for you to tell me what I should now do.

Because I'm not just surrendering and walking away, I'm surrendering and I want to know what to do.

That is active surrender, followed by active seeking.

Otherwise we will sing, I surrender all and walk away.

How many times have you done that?

That's great bread.