Presence – Perfecting Holiness

Okay, we've been talking about characteristics of the presence of God in a people.

So what happens to people when they actually begin to not just mentally agree that God lives in the midst,

but they actually begin to practice or begin to manifest the presence of God who is in their midst.

What happens to people like that?

Remember where we started, Exodus 34 or 33, where Moses says to God,

Father, he doesn't call him father, he says, Oh God, what else will distinguish us as a people than your presence with us?

What makes us distinct except for your presence?

That's what he said to God, that you can't leave us, your presence has to go with us,

because the only thing that distinguishes us from the rest of the earth, from all the other nations of the earth,

the only thing that makes us distinct is your presence in our midst.

And so what distinguishes Christians from the rest of the world?

Not our churches, not our worship, not our music, not even sometimes healings and stuff like that, that's important.

But what distinguishes us from the rest of the world is we are a people who carry the presence of God in us,

and it has to manifest, it has to show, it has to become obvious.

And so we've been looking at characteristics of a people in whom the presence of God is evident.

And so we covered reconciliation, we covered prosperity, we covered the fear of God last week.

And so today we talk about perfecting holiness, perfecting holiness.

A people in whom the presence of God dwells, a people in whom the presence of God is made evident,

are a people who you will find are always attempting to make the temple that they are fit for him.

See, we don't become holy by trying to become holier, we know that already.

Paul never says to the Christians, hey, I want you to become holy.

He says, listen, you are holy, so live it out.

Who makes us holy? Jesus Christ makes us holy.

So we never have to attempt to become holy.

It's he who has already made us holy, and now he says, be holy because your father in heaven is holy.

Never does the Bible tell us, you've got to get holier, you cannot get holier.

Because Christ lives in you, you are holy.

So now what he's saying is, hey Jacob, since Christ the holy one lives in you and you are holy, live it out.

And so this whole idea of perfecting holiness is basically the idea of fitting or getting this temple that I am

ready to be everything it needs to be for God to be absolutely at ease in.

2 Corinthians 7, one puts it this way, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

And we talked about the fear of God last week. What is the fear of God?

The fear of God is the dread you have of the father that you love.

The dread of not being everything you can be for the father that you love.

It's not a dread that is afraid and frightened because there's nothing in my relationship with God

that should come out of a place of frightened fear because the Bible says in 1 John

that perfect love casts out fear and that whenever there is fear in my relationship with God,

it brings torment and torment is not from God.

So we defined the fear of God last week and we said the fear of God is the dread you have

of not being everything you want to be for the father that you love.

It's like a husband who is not afraid of his wife but hates doing anything that would hurt her.

Where you just don't want to do anything that will hurt her.

You change your habits so that your wife won't be hurt by certain habits that are normal for you.

You change what you eat and drink because there may be smells that she doesn't like during her pregnancy

so you swear off non-veg food for nine months so that she doesn't throw up.

Obviously it hasn't happened to you but it's happened to some people I know.

Second Corinthians 7.1.

My sister when she was pregnant with her third baby would throw up if she went past a KFC.

So we'd have to take circuit roads back home because you have to avoid all KFCs on the way.

To take longer to get home because they live in an area where there are quite a few KFCs down the road.

The dread of not pleasing a father that you love.

That is the fear of God.

And so Second Corinthians 7.1 says, so Jacob now, begin to perfect holiness in the fear of God.

As in begin to get yourself fit to be a holy temple that God can live in.

And as the people begin to do this guys, the presence of God becomes more evident to the world around

because your desire is I have or we have to become a temple that is holy and fit for God.

And so that's where we are starting off.

And understand this that Satan is opposed to fit and holy temples both on a personal level and a corporate level.

Satan is opposed to the fact that he is a person of faith.

Satan is opposed to any concept of a fit and holy temple both on a personal level and on a corporate level.

So what does he do?

He tries everything in his power to bring in situations that will dismantle the ability that a church has to become a fit and holy temple.

So I need to be vigilant to both spot and thwart any attack or any deception that tries to come into the church.

Or tries to come into my life.

Because remember, Satan always comes in as the angel of light into a church.

He rarely comes in with a frontal assault.

In a church like this, which is sufficiently mature, it is highly unlikely that Satan can come in with evil agendas and we not spot it.

But he does come in as an angel of light.

And therefore it's important that I begin to spot and then thwart any attack or any deception.

And how do I do that?

By becoming vigilant, discerning, wise.

I've been saying this to a few people over the last one week that the one gift that we sometimes ignore is the gift of discernment.

The ability to discern what is from God and what is from the devil and what is from sheer faith.

What is from God and what is from the devil and what is from sheer flesh.

It's one of the gifts we don't practice enough.

And I encourage this church to begin to practice it.

Because these things that I'm going to say to you are ways that are being hatched to undo our ability to function as a fit and holy temple.

How do you practice that? Why everything you think of in the scripture?

No, you practice it by first realizing that it's a gift given by the Holy Spirit.

Two, you begin to ask the Holy Spirit to help you discern.

Three, you go to people who discern at a level that is higher than you.

Four, you then go and ask them, this is what I sense. What do you think?

Do you discern this is of God or this is not of God?

Five, I begin to get open to both correction and counsel.

Because sometimes I'm not at a place to discern certain things.

Baking is not my specialty.

So I don't have the ability to discern how much soda to put in a...

Do you put soda in flour?

Yeah, because I've tasted cakes that taste like soda.

Obviously discernment was missing.

But in that area of baking, it won't be good if I discern.

I have to go to someone who discerns and ask them for help.

I've got to be open to correction and open to counsel.

Part of me is speaking as a set man in this house, as the one who leads.

Part of me is speaking as Jacob who needs this personally.

Part of me is speaking on behalf of this church.

So that's three parts of me.

So one of the things that we have to guard against in your personal life and in this church...

is this whole aspect of...

Dullness.

Dullness.

I'm going to use Leviticus 21, 17-23 every now and then to illustrate the point.

Guys, dullness is a prevalent spirit in many churches.

And it can and sometimes does afflict this church too.

And it's got nothing to do with your IQ, okay?

Most of you are geniuses.

But...

But dullness...

Let me explain how dullness is a prevalent spirit that affects us.

And it's on many different levels.

On one level, guys, here's a question you need to ask.

Here's a statement I want to make.

Dullness is often displayed when I don't have vision or purpose.

Proverbs 29, verse 18 says that...

Proverbs 29:18

That's what Proverbs 29, 18...

That's what Proverbs 29, 18 says.

So if you look at Leviticus 21, verses 17-23, there's a scripture which says that...

Leviticus 21:17–23

ministers who minister before God cannot afford to be blind.

And blindness is this inability to have vision, this inability to have any idea of where you're going, any purpose.

And so all you can do is sing Ksirasara.

Those of you who don't know the song...

No, I won't break into it right now.

Which basically says whatever will be, will be.

And Leviticus says that no one can come to an altar by fire if they are evil.

Yeah, and one of the first defects there is blindness.

Blindness is an inability to see with clarity.

There is no vision.

So here's a question you need to ask yourself.

Do you have an ability to write down what God has for you over the next little while?

Where do I take that from? Habakkuk 2, verses 1 and 2.

Habakkuk 2:1

God says to Habakkuk...

What a name to have, eh?

Habakkuk.

Yeah, so God says to Habakkuk...

Listen Habakkuk, I want you to write down the vision.

When you write it down, I want you to write it down with clarity.

After you write it down with clarity, I want you to be able to communicate it.

So write it on a billboard.

And after you write it with sufficient clarity and are able to communicate it, then begin to act on it.

If you say you have a degree of purpose or a vision, then first, here's a litmus to find out whether you do.

Write it down, see if it makes sense to you and sense to another, be able to communicate it in words, and then finally put it into action.

And then you know, aha, I have these four components of what constitutes a vision that has sufficient clarity now.

And I can begin to walk not as one who is blind, not as one who has cast off his restraints, but one that begins to figure out, here are the paths that I should walk in.

So, if you're retiring in a little while, do you have a vision or a purpose for what lies ahead?

If you're entering 2014, which I'm assuming all of us will, do you have vision and purpose?

If you're starting something new, do you have vision and purpose?

So does God always do this?

Usually, he gives you an understanding of, okay Jacob, here are the steps you need to now walk.

Begin to walk in this.

This is not about things that you need to do, Jacob.

These are things that you need to become.

Because as I've always said, what you become is what you will do.

God rarely gives us a list of things to do.

He always gives us a list of things we can become by his power.

And once I've become it, it's natural for me to do it.

Because the people without vision or purpose are a people who cast off restraint.

As in, there is no fence that now keeps them within the pathways that they should walk in.

They go in and out, stepping into and beyond boundaries that they should be in,

not knowing what they should walk in.

And you find them all over the place and they are half-baked and don't know what they're doing.

Questions, comments, disagreements, challenges?

Questions, comments, disagreements, challenges?

Half the time when I sit with you on the occasions that I've sat with you one-on-one,

most of the time I'm giving you things to do that have nothing to do with,

here's a list of things you need to accomplish.

It's usually, here are the things you need to become.

And I'll keep supplying you things to read, points to ponder on, ways that your mind needs to shift.

Why? Because you need to become that.

Another thing that happens with regard to dullness, guys,

is sometimes we've lost clarity or track of who we are in Leviticus 21, 17 to 23.

Here's what it says.

It says, one of the defects that a priest had that would cut him off from ministering before God

was a deformed face or a disfigured face or a face with a flat nose.

I mean, that's the actual word, flat-nosed.

So a disfigured face would prevent you from actually partaking in ministering before God.

This was in the Old Testament. Thank God it doesn't apply anymore.

So here's what a disfigurement is, guys.

A disfigurement is when you are dulled to what God thinks of you

because you live by what others say you need to become.

A disfigured face is a face where you've forgotten what you look like

because you've stopped catching what you look like.

You've stopped being a person.

You've stopped being a person.

You've stopped being a person.

Where you've forgotten what you look like

because you've stopped catching glimpses of yourself in the written word and the counsel of God.

You live to please others and it's almost impossible to please others.

You live by what others say.

You live to become what others say.

That's a face that is marred.

It brings in dullness, guys.

No longer are you living out of the written word or the counsel of God.

You've forgotten what you look like.

It's like when you look...

I know I'm good looking, but I really don't know what I look like right now because I can't see my face.

Why are you smiling, Rachel?

The point being, I don't remember my face.

It's literally like that.

We do not have an idea of what we look like simply because...

When I face confusion, guilt, shame, accusation, sometimes rightly and sometimes wrongly,

the first place I run to is,

Father, I've got to catch a glimpse of what you actually think of me

because if I don't, I'll be ruined by what I've just heard

or I'll be ruined by what I've just done.

I've got to run back to the world and open it and hear the last thing God said about Jacob.

He's not all mushy and touchy-feely always, but often he is.

And he begins to tell you who you are and it restores your image.

And now I can handle the accusation that Kamal has brought,

which may be right or may be wrong, but at least now I'm in a place to handle it.

Otherwise, what Kamal says to me may ruin me if I do not have an idea of what God thinks of me.

Brings in such dullness because you're always laboring under the expectations of others.

Some of your sons and daughters say things about you that are nasty.

They're your own flesh and blood and they say it.

Hard for a mother to stand up or a father to stand up when that's happening.

Unless you have a glimpse of who you are from the father.

Some of your husbands and wives have said things to each other that rip you apart.

Impossible to stand unless you have a glimpse of who you are.

Some of the things you have done are so shameful, so wrong, so sinful that you would trash yourself.

Unless you catch a glimpse of who you are.

Some of the people you trusted, did you harm and it'll ruin you unless you have a repeated ability to go and catch a glimpse of who you are.

I'm saying to us, how much longer do we stay in this cesspool, guys?

How much longer? Aren't you afraid of missing out on life?

Some of you are 23, think, I've just begun living, true.

But some of us are 50 and 60 and 70.

Aren't you afraid of missing out on a large chunk of your life because you refuse to catch a glimpse of yourself as God has shown you?

And you come out smelling of that cesspool that someone dripped you in 20 years ago.

When, when, when? How much longer?

I'm not angry. I am so full, filled with urgency for you guys.

I'm so filled with urgency for you.

Because it's brought years and years of grave cloth like dullness into our lives.

How much longer? Aren't you afraid of missing out?

You got an opportunity today to say, I'm getting out of this today.

20 years is too long.

I won't be angry at all today. My voice will go up a couple of times again, I promise you that.

But it's not anger, it's urgency.

Then there's lameness guys, lameness.

That's in Leviticus 21, 7.

Lameness is when you, when you, when you have the ability to see what God wants you to do.

But you don't have the ability to walk in it.

Isn't that frustrating? It happens to me so often man.

I know the purpose of God. I know the vision God has for me.

But I blooming can't walk in it.

I just don't seem able to be able to walk in it.

I know it all. I can, I can communicate it with clarity.

But I don't know how to walk in it.

That's called lameness.

That brings in its own set of dullnesses.

Because the Bible says do not be one who keeps hearing but not doing.

Because you're like a guy who looks in a mirror and walks away not remembering what he looks like.

That brings in dullness.

Where I can talk the talk just brilliantly.

But I don't know how to walk it.

I don't know how to grasp it and transfer it into action.

Guys, sometimes that's because of stunted growth.

And stunted growth can be through many different means.

Stunted growth can be a result of just continuously feeding on infant food.

By infant food I mean you have a basic understanding of Christianity and you'll stay there.

Don't want to go further.

Or it can be because you have and I have our self set spiritual stature that we want to attain.

That has nothing to do with the stature of Christ.

I'm talking about things in our house.

I'm not talking about things outside in someone else's church.

Some of us insist and I'm not thinking of you right now.

Because I didn't go over a list of people here to say who's got which problem.

Some of us don't mind feeding on infant food.

Same thing over and over again.

These newfangled revelations that comes up every now and then in action.

That's for someone else, not for me.

Right now this is what I understand, this is what I live it.

Bad idea. It brings dullness.

Sometimes it's self set stature that you want to attain.

Instead of attaining the stature of Christ.

Brings a dullness guys.

Hey, this is a prevalent spirit that is at work to unseat things in this church.

How do you work this out then?

This kind of dullness where you have sight but you can't walk in it?

Guys, I would suggest to you that one of the strongest ways to do it is recognize grace carriers.

Particularly the grace carrier of an apostle and begin to connect to them.

Let me put it this way.

If you want...

Okay, let me give you an example.

Yesterday, because Ryan wasn't here, whenever we turn on the projector it wasn't working.

So, initially I called Derek.

Now Derek is not a computer wiz.

He is an environmental wiz.

He can tell you how to save energy.

But he is not a guy who can tell you how to fix your computer.

So, I just said, hey Derek, can you take care of the computer?

Ryan is not here, can you put the picture on the screen?

And because he hasn't done it before, he was trying to figure it out.

And I watched him figure it out for a while.

I watched Ann trying to figure it out for a while.

I watched Kamal offering suggestions that weren't working.

And then, at some point, I realized that if I wanted breakthrough,

that I needed now to call someone who has the ability to know exactly what to do and bring it to pass.

So, I called on Matt.

Because he knows computers more than most other people in this room.

And so he comes and he does a few things and it works.

Why didn't I call someone else?

Because I could have called all of you one by one by one.

And we'd have left here at about 11 p.m. last night.

Instead, why not connect to the one who has the ability or the grace to do it and have it done?

The way you destroy dullness in your life in terms of the inability to walk in what you know is your purpose

is to connect to apostolic grace, to connect to grace carriers who are apostles.

Because they have an ability to break things that are holding you back.

Look at Ephesians 2 verses 3 to 5.

Ephesians 2:3–5

Ephesians 2, 3 to 5.

Ephesians 2, 3 to 5.

Hey, Nikki and Natasha, just so you know,

the preacher just goes on forever so it might take an hour before I'm done.

Oh, you want them already?

Okay.

I don't know whether that's a compliment or whether that's a diss that you want them already.

Ephesians 2.

And if you have to leave, guys, at any point, feel free to get up and leave.

All that will happen is I'll say you're leaving the building and it'll be a little embarrassing.

But feel free to leave.

Some of us have to go.

We can't stay forever.

But I'll finish by 12 as usual.

Ephesians 2 verses 3 to 5.

Ephesians 2:3–5

Is it Ephesians 2?

Ephesians 3, 2 to 5.

Ephesians 3, 2 to 5.

Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and start with the first one.

Okay, listen to what Paul is saying about himself.

Not about him as a man, but as one who is called to the office of an apostle.

For this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner for Jesus Christ on behalf of the Gentiles,

assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you.

Look at that.

The stewardship as in the ability to steward over something that the Master gives.

Of whose grace? God's grace.

And what does grace do?

Grace flows into every depression in your life and levels it off.

That was given.

Not appropriated, not seized, but given to me.

For whom? For you.

Who? The church in Ephesus.

And how the mystery was made known to me?

By revelation.

So how did this come to Paul?

Through revelation, as I have written briefly.

And if you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ,

which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations,

but has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

People don't want to preach about this because it looks like you're pumping your own muscle.

No, man. It's the truth.

Equipers are given to the body so that breakthrough can happen.

It's sheerly by the grace of God.

Given for your benefit.

Connect with this grace, this apostolic grace, covenant with it.

If you don't, guys, I'm saying to you, based on what I know of what Paul explains in the word,

if you don't connect with it, if you don't connect with this resident grace of apostates,

of apostates, even in this church, for the rest of your life,

you can roam around like a Christian vagabond.

Go ahead, Dana.

Let's start with this house first, man.

How does that work, Mark?

Draining, no. Connecting, yes.

Good.

Yeah, but not that. So what happens?

When you identify a grace carrier, build an upper room.

Build an upper room for him in the sense, position the grace carrier above you.

Begin to draw from him.

Come to a place where you begin to draw from the person.

How do you draw from a person? If I want to draw from you, I have to come under.

I have to say, okay, here I am. I want to learn.

Whenever you meet a grace carrier and if you know that here is someone who has the grace of an apostle prophet,

teacher, evangelist, a pastor, build an upper room for the person.

Not as in a real room.

Build an upper room as in place the person in a position where you can draw from them.

And drawing always comes through honor, through patience,

and through the ability to say, okay, I'm willing to come under and learn over a sustained period of time.

This sounds so self-exalting and yet it's not. It's for your benefit.

At present in terms of apostolic grace? Not yet.

Not yet.

Probably nascent, but it has to be recognized by the body.

After that you'll have to receive and imitate the doctrine of the grace carrier.

Because man shall not live by friendship with the grace carrier,

but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God through the grace carrier.

Man shall not live by friendship with the grace carrier,

but out of every word that comes out of the mouth of God through the grace carrier.

Guys, ask me questions because I'm not awkward about this.

Challenge me. I'm still not awkward about it.

Can you open it up and read it again?

Okay.

So, again, let's go back to the computer thing.

So, again, let's go back to the computer thing.

So, again, let's go back to the computer thing.

So, again, let's go back to the computer thing.

So, again, let's go back to the computer thing.

So, let's assume he's a grace carrier and his grace,

by grace I mean here an ability for now.

His ability, he's a carrier of an ability to solve all audio-visual, technical, computer-related problems.

That's his ability.

So, if I want this church to be outfitted with audio-visual, technical stuff,

then here's what I'll have to do.

I will have to build an upper room for him,

as in I will have to position him in a place where I don't go and say,

Hey, Matt, you want to help me? No, no, no.

Hey, Matt, will you please help me? I need help.

The hardest thing to do to receive grace is to humble yourself.

It is very hard.

We don't like, like I've always said, we love peer-to-peer relationships.

We never want to come down lower.

If I want anything from his life or your life, and I'm talking about anything,

let's assume you have an ability to be super kind and generous,

and I don't have that ability.

If I want to learn that from you, I'll have to come under.

I'll have to acknowledge that here you are with an ability that I don't have.

I want to learn from you, so let me come under you.

I'll tell you what prevents us.

An independent streak, pride, and a great desire for peer-to-peer relationships.

All our relationships are like that. We've talked about that before.

So I come and position him above me and say, I need your help.

Hey, I needed his help four weeks ago.

And so when I called him to come, knowing that he has work,

my words to Jason was this,

Jason, I would like you to come not so that you can learn anything from me.

I would like you to come because I need your help today,

and I would so appreciate it if you came.

I wasn't hard to say.

So now that I have placed him that way, he is now willing to help.

And when he is helping, now I will do anything he asks me to do.

Because I've asked him to help.

Now I won't tell him, but that's not the way I do it.

Doesn't matter, Jacob, you don't know a thing about computers.

I'll listen to him as he tells me how to do it.

I connect to this grace, and now he brings breakthrough into what I'm building,

just because he has that ability.

Otherwise, I'll tell you what I'll be.

I'll be a technical vagabond for the next six months.

And what does a technical vagabond do?

Hey, let's try this. See, there's a button there.

Try pressing that button. Didn't work?

Hey, do you have a safety pin? Let's poke that in and see.

Didn't work? Oh, well, then let's just say hands and pray for it.

Didn't work? Sometimes it might.

And so we keep doing things, and we are like technical vagabonds,

roaming around, trying everything.

And a vagabond is someone who has dullness,

because he doesn't know what to do, so he tries everything.

Grace carriers? Mentoring and grace carrier is different,

because a carrier of grace equips you as if that's the only interest in his life.

Mentoring is a role you play.

An equiper is someone who is there for the long haul,

whose only intent is, I've got to bring you to a place

where you have the same stature as Christ,

and I will invest everything I have to make that happen in your life.

While a mentor may be for a time.

A mentor usually has to be invited.

An equiper comes into your life, and you'll have to kick him out.

Any other questions?

Dullness is a prevalent spirit in this church.

It affects me, and it affects you.

I was sitting with a leader a few days ago, and the person said,

you know, I need to struggle with this too.

I know I have this problem every now and then.

It washes over me.

I hate it.

Dullness is also because of a religious spirit, guys.

The Bible talks about legalism, and a religious spirit,

or a deaf and dumb spirit, brings in dullness.

A religious spirit is a spirit that deafens you, so you cannot hear,

and dumbs you down so that you can't understand.

A religious spirit is a spirit that prevents you from being able to receive.

Haven't you noticed how sometimes you can hear, and yet you're not understanding?

And it's not because the guy who's preaching isn't preaching properly.

It's just this dullness that settles over you.

Fight it, guys. Fight it.

By recognizing it as dullness.

What we do with dullness is when it comes over, we say, ah, I can get the CD.

When I'm sitting somewhere and dullness takes over, I refuse to switch off.

Instead, I quickly write down a point and say, I did not understand this, oh God,

you've got to explain it to me, because I don't want to get stuck there.

I've got to keep going with whatever the person's teaching.

So I'll keep going with the person while, oh God, here is something that I can't afford to lose out on.

I don't settle for, I can listen to the CD later.

Is it natural for us when the word of God is being broken to us that we go dull?

Hey, listen, listen to me again. Let me say that again.

Is it natural that when the word of God is being broken to us that we go into dullness?

And by dullness, I mean this inability to comprehend, this shutting down.

Is that natural? Other than if you haven't slept a whole night last night.

Is it natural? If it is not natural, then what is it? It's abnormal.

It is spiritual. And if it is spiritual, fight it.

If it is cultivated for a while, it becomes a bondage.

Churches are some of the best places to come and sleep.

I've seen it for the last 25 years.

Been in four or five different churches. And it's the nicest place to sleep.

I don't know why, but churches are some of the most comfortable places to sleep.

And the larger the church, the easier it is to sleep without being noticed.

The smaller the church, the more difficult it gets.

Hasn't come in.

In a sense, it's a double whammy.

Because on one hand they're saying we'll solve it.

On the other hand, they're saying come in, you can sleep.

When we started Acts 29, there used to be a couple of people who used to come.

And about seven minutes into the sermon, that person would knock off.

And I wouldn't have to check my watch because I'd knock at seven minutes.

Hebrews 5.11 actually says that...

Let me read it. Hebrews 5.11.

Hebrews 5.11.

About this we have much to say, and it's hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the Oracles of God.

You need milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child.

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have the powers of discernment,

trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Doesn't that sum up everything we are saying?

A dullness. A dullness of hearing.

One of the things that I used to do, and I still sometimes have to avoid it,

I'll be sitting in some other church and someone else is preaching,

and halfway through while he's giving a scripture I read the scripture and then I start reading all the other scriptures nearby

and completely miss out on what the guy is saying, because after all I'm a pastor, what can you teach me?

I'm saying to you that it happens at Acts 29 too. It's just that I keep quiet about it.

But who misses out? You. Because what is coming out of Jacob is a benefit to you.

Not just because it's a word, but because it's the great resident in me.

Questions guys before we move on? How's it going in there, Tavis? Good?

Your mom doing a good job?

I won't ask again.

No, no. Grace goes into places of depression when it's poured out, and grace always flows from top to bottom.

Remember what I said? Man shall not live by friendship with grace carriers.

Man shall live by every word that comes from the mouth of God through grace carriers.

Me being friendly with Eddie does me no good. All I get is him on my Facebook, big deal.

He doesn't even do that.

So guys, here's what I want to do before we move on.

I want to talk about the grace of God.

So guys, here's what I want to do before we move on.

I want to rebuke the deaf and dumb spirit, the spirit of religion, the spirit of dullness

that has an outward form of piety in your life and my life.

There is nothing that I'm speaking about that hasn't happened to me in this church.

I want to rebuke that. And then I want to ask God to strengthen us by His Spirit in our inner being

so that Christ can begin to dwell and we can grasp His knowledge and begin to live out of it.

So I'm going to do that right now.

So in Jesus Christ's name right now, I rebuke out of our lives as a corporate body

this prevalent spirit of dullness.

In exposing the spirit we are saying you cannot have us,

that you cannot keep coming over us and dulling us to the things of God.

So we say to this deaf and dumb spirit of religion,

leave because you have no room amongst the people.

And I say to ones who are under the bondage of the spirit of dullness,

I break that bondage off you and off my life so that we can walk free of it.

And I ask Holy Spirit that He would strengthen us in our inner being,

enlighten and open our eyes to the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ

so that we may know the extravagant dimensions in Him.

So that we may begin to understand that we are filled with the fullness of you are alpha and omega.

And I speak this over us personally and over us corporately.

And I thank you, O God, that you are possible, you are able to bring this to pass.

And I thank you, O God, that you are possible, you are able to bring this to pass.

I declare that now in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's move on to the next one.

Guys, another thing that's happening at Acts 29 that just so bothers you and I is

many of us are going through situations where we're being denuded,

denuded, and I'll explain that word, stripped, ravaged, kept in prison,

be it of sickness or sadness or just downtrodden.

It's almost like someone who seems to always want to destroy that which we have.

Many of us have been in bondage for so long in different areas.

Sometimes it's in finances. Sometimes it's in sickness.

Sometimes it's in an inability to come out of the doldrums that we've been in for ages.

And it's just robbing, stealing, plundering.

It's almost like these Goliaths that keep coming up in our life and impossible to destroy them.

Instead, we are being destroyed.

Or here's the other thing that's happening.

We are settling for a life that is less than what God is willing to give.

Because it's literally hunting our backs.

Because the pressure of what we've been going through has caused a curvature of our spine.

And we walk around like this thinking this is the natural way of walking.

So we can spend the next 20 years walking like this because we've gotten so used to this posture to even walk straight.

It's like, why would I want that? I'm so comfortable with this.

I want to bring an end to that, guys, in our lives.

Where the trials and demands of life have forced your spiritual muscles into submission.

I want some of us who are going through situations like this to understand that sight and sound are used by the spirit realm

to create fear and to build strongholds in our lives.

Sight and sound are used by the spirit realm, by the satanic realm, to create fear, to create intimidation,

and to create strongholds in our hearts and minds and force us into guys who have spiritual hunchbacks.

Here's how it works, guys.

Most of our reactions to any situation are based on what we see and what we hear.

It jaundices the way we react to things.

And if you are in an environment where you're continuously seeing and hearing things,

and you've been in that environment for 10 or 15 years,

don't be surprised if this is how you're walking because the hunchback has become normal for you and I.

Time to get out of it, guys. How do you get out of it?

By first denying sight and sound to determine your response.

We get so jaundiced by our environment, so jaundiced by what others have said they went through when they went through the same situation,

so jaundiced by our lack of understanding of the word.

One of the reasons I appreciate Chris who is not here is even though her ear has been riddled with tinnitus for over the last 7 or 8 years,

she refuses to accept that as normal.

Why is it that we accept things that are not normal as normal when God has something better?

Till the day I die, I don't want to accept anything as normal when that is not God's prescribed best for me.

So Jacob, isn't it possible that you could still go to your grave and not have things solved?

If that be the case, so be it, but I'll still not accept it as normal. I died with an abnormal problem.

Do not hide behind the sovereignty of God as, oh, this may be what God wills.

That is such a lame excuse.

Let's break out of this, guys.

This thing that's destroying our lives through disease, through sickness, through thorns in our flesh that sometimes come from our own families,

through bondages that we've been suffering for for ages, let's break out of this.

Because this isn't what you were created for.

And a people who have the presence of God in them needs to show the rest of the world that this is not normal.

Because the world thinks it's normal. Who will show them?

We come up with theologies to support the abnormal.

Let this small group of people begin to realize that they are not normal.

Let this small group of people begin to rise up against these things.

You know, in Hebrews 10, 39 to 35, I know that's the other way around.

In Hebrews 10, 39 to 35, it actually says that the destroyer has power because of our shrinking back.

The destroyer has power because of our shrinking back.

It actually says, we are not those who shrink back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and preserve their souls.

We are not those that are destroyed because we shrink back, but we are those that have faith and we preserve our souls.

We are not those that are destroyed because they shrink back.

They shrink back. Shrink back into what? Shrink back into experiences that others may have had or you may have had.

Shrink back into a word that was spoken to you for last year.

Hey, do you have a situation in your home that you're dealing with that God said deal with it like this?

And he said that to you in 2010. Well, it's 2014 guys. Get a new way of doing things with it.

Find out, father, you told me this in 2010. This is how I'm to deal with my parents or with my children or with my spouse.

Okay, father, now it's 2014. Could you tell me what do I need to do now?

Father, I got an ear problem or an eye problem now for the last five years. I'm coming into a new place.

What do you want me to do, father? Send me a proceeding word, a word that proceeds from the mouth of God for now,

not a preceding word that was spoken to me five years ago that I'll hold on to, but I'll add to it.

Imagine if we were functioning as Acts 29 with words that were spoken to us in 2006.

We would still be in the coffee shop.

We cannot shrink back into things that allow us to be destroyed.

We cannot shrink back into human examples where someone else had the problem. This is how they did it.

We cannot shrink back into inaccurate teaching. We cannot shrink back into feelings.

We cannot shrink back into facts. We cannot shrink back into this.

We cannot shrink back into the theologies we come up with because something happened to us.

When preachers have a problem with sickness, they come up with a theology that God sent the sickness.

Till then they were fine. Till then God was a healer.

But the moment it happened to them, they come up with a theology of, oh, God sent it.

Refuse this, guys. We've got to break out of these bondages.

We've got to show how the Father is to the world outside.

Hebrews 10 verse 35 says, But my righteous one shall live by faith.

Hebrews 10:35

And God then says, If he shrinks back, I have no pleasure in him.

As in, I do not approve even though I'm accepting of you, Jacob, even when you shrink back.

I have no pleasure in you when you shrink back.

I have no pleasure in you when you shrink back.

I have no pleasure in you when you shrink back.

I do not approve even though I'm accepting of you, Jacob, even when you shrink back.

I have no pleasure in you when you shrink back.

What did we say the fear of God is?

The fear of God is the dread of offending or hurting or taking away pleasure from the Father that you love.

My righteous one shall live by faith.

Guys, there's three things. Unbelief, lack of faith, and faith.

Unbelief is this place, and I would suggest to you that in our lives all three exist in different areas.

Unbelief is when you have a healthy suspicion or have a very skeptical attitude about the character of God in an area.

That's unbelief.

Unbelief is when you have a healthy suspicion of the character, sorry, an unhealthy suspicion of the character of God.

And the skepticism as in you may say this is who you are, this is not who I think you are.

That's unbelief.

Lack of faith is this inability to trust Jesus fully in an area because you are riddled with doubt and hesitation.

And then there is faith.

And faith is something that is when I'm confident of what I hope for even though I can't see it.

What a difference, what a difference.

Unbelief is, you know God, yeah, yeah, yeah, you said all that, but I really don't think so.

I highly suspect your ability to come through.

I'm not persuaded that you are that kind of guy.

That's unbelief.

Lack of faith, you know, I really trust you.

Please help my unbelief.

I'm riddled with doubt.

I want to trust you.

I know you are this way, but look at the doubt.

And Jesus says, okay, come to me and say you have unbelief.

I'll help my unbelief and I'll help you.

That's the lack of faith, a little faith.

And then there's this place of faith where you are confident of the hope that has been brought to you by the Holy Spirit.

And that has been born out of the Word of God.

You're confident in that hope even though you don't see it.

What a difference, what a difference.

And don't you want to be located, progressing forward in every area of your life?

We will not allow the destroyer to eat up our fruit and our seeds, guys.

Remember in Malachi it says, I will rebuke the devourer for you.

In February of this year, remember the word God gave this church, that despite lavish revelation,

you are a people that are plundered and in prison and are being kept captive.

And it said, won't you come to me and say restore so that I can change your dead ground into Eden?

That was the word given to us.

Embrace it for your own personal lives and for us as a corporate body.

I'm pleading with God, oh, Father, Father, bring me back to my life.

I'm pleading with God, oh, Father, Father, bring us into a place where we are free.

Proverbs 19.8 says, he who is slack at work is brother to the destroyer.

He who is slack at his work is brother to his destroyer.

Guys, sometimes faith needs work.

Sometimes faith needs work.

What does faith needs work mean? Faith needs to see correctly, perceive correctly.

The battle is always in the perceiving.

The battle of faith is always in your perceiving.

The battle of faith is always in your perceiving of things.

And when I think to myself, ah, forget it, this is too much effort.

Oh, well, I'll live it with, live it that the grace of God is sufficient for me.

I would suggest to you that suddenly you're slacking off in terms of living in a place of faith.

And when you slack off, you become brother to the destroyer and devouring happens.

When we change this equation around, God neutralizes, rebukes and reverses what the devourer and the destroyer have done.

I've worn this in my life. Sometimes I find that two, three days I'll allow this.

And then there's this holy rage that just comes up with me and says, no, won't take this.

Can't take this. This is not normal.

Guys, I want us to become like this, guys.

Questions, comments before we move on.

Additions to what I'm saying.

So let's pray this, guys. Let's pray that you and I and we as a body will not waver through unbelief regarding God's promises.

That in the areas and you know the areas in your life where the destroyer is having a field day.

Is it your marriage? Is it your body? Is it your finances? Is it your relationship with your spouse?

Is it your children? You know those areas.

In those areas where I'm being robbed, where I'm being forced to settle for less,

I want to renew my mind and destroy the strongholds that are so strong that that's the only way I think now.

I want to repent of spiritual laziness.

I want to repent of resisting the Holy Spirit and refusing to practice the word.

And I want to cry out saying, restore, O God, renew my mind so that I may be fully persuaded that you have the power to do what you have promised.

As he said to Abraham. So shall we do that?

So Father, I say this very slowly so that we understand it and it's not some kind of a prayer we are repeating like parrots.

Father, I will not, I choose not to waver regarding your promises, O God.

I choose not to waver in unbelief or doubt regarding your promises, O God, in my marriage, in my diseases and sicknesses,

with regard to my children, with regard to the bondages I am in, with regard to the financial situations that I am in,

with regard to my fears, all those phobias we wrote down on the board, I refuse to keep wavering because of unbelief.

And in the areas where I am being robbed, where I am being forced to settle for less, and I speak this for not me, not just for me, but for all of us here.

And for those that are not necessarily able to grasp what I am saying or participating, I speak on behalf of them too.

O God, in the areas where I am being robbed and where I am forced to settle for less, please renew my mind, O God, through the Word.

Please give me an appetite. I don't even have a hunger for the Word. Please renew my appetite for the Word so that these struggles can be raised and destroyed.

I have been trapped in them for so long, I only think a certain way. I want to stop it, Father. I want to stop it.

I can't have the destroyer devouring my children, my wife, my husband, my life. How long, O God?

I can't let this happen, Father. And so I repent of my spiritual laziness. My refusal to listen to counsel, I repent of.

Say it in your hearts, guys. Some of us need to repent of the refusal to listen to counsel. Repent of spiritual laziness, about.

And I want to practice your Word. So we say to you, O God, what you told us in Feb of this year. We say, please restore, O God, please restore our dead ground into Eden again.

Please renew our minds so that we may be fully persuaded that you are able to do what you say you can.

Could you now combine the destruction of dullness with the rebuking of the destroyer in our lives, O God?

Start it today. Only you can do this. Only you can do this, Holy Spirit. And I plead for this in Jesus' name. Amen.

The last part, guys.

Pride. Pride.

That's another thing that we are fighting with this in the Church, both corporately and personally. Destroyer, dullness, pride.

You know, in Job 41.34, there is a scripture which says that Leviathan is king over the children of pride.

Leviathan is king over the children of pride. Job 41.34. Leviathan is king over the children of pride.

And I suggest to you that because of pride that sometimes this Church has corporately, and I am greatly responsible for that.

I have been telling the Lord, I'm sorry, and I say it publicly to you, I'm sorry.

One of the things that I've cultivated in this Church, sometimes unknowingly, sometimes at a sheer bravado, is this sense that we are sometimes better than other churches.

That there's an elitism that has crept in. Sometimes in my teaching, I criticize other churches or I compare.

There may be occasions where comparison is necessary, but in doing so, I've cultivated within us this prideful attitude.

And I'm going to try not to do that. I started last Tuesday actually, stopping it.

I'm hoping that I can continue with it.

But it is pride that gives this spirit, Leviathan, access into your life and influence through your life.

This spirit, and it is a real spirit. It is a real spirit.

Leviathan is one of the hardest spirits the Bible talks about.

Leviathan is king over the children of pride.

And so pride allows the spirit to access people's lives and influence through our lives.

And it's hidden usually in a church. It lurks in a church, ready to strike when given the opportunity.

And I'm saying, no, it can't happen. Cannot go on. Will not happen.

And when it's exposed, it loses its power and it loses its hold over people if they repent.

I've written a line here saying, forgive me, O God, forgive us, O God, particularly Jacob, for elitism, comparison, criticism.

And I've ceased from it and I pray that we cease from it.

Some of us are inadvertently under the influence of the spirit. Others serve the spirit.

In this church I'm talking about, because of their continued pride, continued independence, self-taught standards, and a refusal to repent.

Let me say it again. Some of us serve the spirit inadvertently.

As in, it happens. But some of us serve the spirit because either I refuse to repent of my pride or refuse to give up my independence or refuse to just repent or choose to operate by self-taught standards.

And let me say this to you. Anyone who is operating under the spirit of Leviathan, you cannot enter into covenant with them.

It's almost impossible because of their pride. It's not because you don't want to. It's impossible to enter into covenant with them because of their pride.

Where does that come from? Read Job. It says, you cannot enter into covenant with Leviathan.

He's too hard-scaled. His pride disallows you to even play with him. You cannot enter into covenant or partnership with him.

When this is my attitude, you can try all you want but you will not be able to form a covenant with me because of my pride.

This spirit, and if I am under the influence of the spirit, this spirit twists the truth.

Actually, the word Leviathan in a sense is twister. This spirit twists the truth.

And so those under the influence of the spirit, when they hear the truth, it will still come out twisted.

The spirit twists the truth. Those under its influence hear things in a twisted way.

And so it becomes a difficult spirit to deal with because even when you say something, it's heard in a twisted way.

And therefore when it is spoken, it comes out twisted and creates confusion.

Another thing that happens when this spirit is active is I become someone whose words become negative, whose words become destructive, and I have the effect of pulling down people.

There's this mocking that comes up in my way and so I attack people with mockery.

That's another thing that caught my attention that Jacob was a very good person.

That's another thing that caught my attention that Jacob, when you talk, it's one thing to have a smart retort but refuse to mock people, which I have done.

Which I have done. That's another thing I want to cease from, refusing mockery as a means of pulling people down.

Where are you getting all this from, Jacob? Let's turn to Job 41.

Here, I didn't even see them leave.

All of Job 41 talks about it.

Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook?

The first part talks about how it's hard to tame it.

Verse 4, will he make a covenant with you? Will you play with him as a bird?

The whole thing is about Leviathan.

Verse 24, his heart is as hard as stone.

Verse 34, he sees everything that is high. He's the king over all the sons of pride.

What that means, guys, he sees everything that is high, is this spirit looks for people who have a lofty, elevated, exaggerated sense about themselves.

He sees all those that are high.

As in, this is a spirit that looks for those that walk proudly.

And pride will always go hand in hand with independence, inability to be corrected, refusal to submit.

It's a twister. It twists the truth and it creates confusion.

It uses mockery and it uses destructive, that's from Isaiah 27, destructive ways to convey things.

Resists submission to spiritual authority.

And tries to undermine fathers like Absalom did.

Here's what Absalom did.

David would be waiting and giving justice and giving things to people.

Absalom would wait and see as people came out and then Absalom would ask them,

So, what did David do for you?

And then Ryan would say, Oh, David gave me two sacks of rice and three burgers.

And so Absalom would say, Well, if you had come to me, Alec, when you have four sacks of rice and six burgers, that's okay.

It's breaking away from the doctrine and the covering of the father and offering things on the side that you have not gained the right to offer.

It is a drawing away of people.

What ends up happening is we end up being people with damaged testicles.

I'm glad the guests left.

That's in Leviticus 21.

That a priest who has damaged testicles cannot serve.

And what do I mean when I say someone with damaged testicles?

And it applies to women too.

What it means is that we can be loyal husbands, but we cannot be ones who have the ability to produce life in others.

So you will have a church full of people who are loyal in serving each other, but have no ability to produce life in the other,

because only one who is potent can produce children.

One who is important cannot.

This is a strong spirit.

And I'm saying to you that these three spirits are at work in Acts 29.

And the reason I have been teaching this today is to expose it.

And as I have repented of some things, some of us need to repent depending on which is active in our lives so that we don't continue in it.

So here's what I want us to think of doing.

And here's what I've written for myself and for us as a corporate body.

I've written, Lord, I ask you, and I'll read it again.

I ask you to remove from my life any influence of the spirit of Leviathan who looks for people who are proud.

And who is king over them.

Some of us inadvertently, some of us serve it on a regular basis because we choose not to change our ways.

And then I'm saying I reject this spirit completely and wholeheartedly, O God.

Then I'm saying forgive me of any ways that I have served the spirit, either intentionally or inadvertently.

Then I'm saying forgive me for ways in which I've twisted the truth, Abba,

where I've listened to the distortion of the truth and I've distorted the truth.

Then I'm saying, Father, I want to work towards bringing unity, not division, not confusion into the church.

And that I'll honor other members that you have placed in authority and under authority.

And then I'll quote from Isaiah 27 where it says, O God, unsheathe your sword,

your merciless, massive, mighty sword, your word, and lop off the head of the Leviathan and serve him up as a stew for animals.

That's what it says.

So that's what we pray.

So Father, again on my behalf, on behalf of people here and as a corporate body,

we come and say, O God, I ask you to remove from my life the influence from the spirit of Leviathan.

I reject the spirit and the pride that I may and have operated in.

I reject it wholeheartedly and completely, O God.

Forgive me, Father, for the ways that I have served the spirit intentionally and inadvertently.

Forgive me for the ways that I may have, that not I may have, that I have at times twisted the truth.

Forgive me for the ways that I have distorted what I have heard.

Forgive me for confusion that I have sown in my pride and in my attitude.

I devote myself today by your sheer power to, Father, bring unity into this body and not division and confusion.

And I choose to honor members of this body, be they over me in authority or under me in authority, in spiritual authority.

And so I ask, O God, God, please listen to this one, Father, and the other one too.

But, O God, unsheathe. Unsheathe your sword, your merciless, massive, mighty sword. Unsheathe it.

Even as we speak your word, which is the sword of God, unsheathe it, O God, and lop off the head of Leviathan from this church.

Lop it off, Abba, and serve it as a stew for animals.

Do that, Abba. Do that, Father, so that we as a people can walk free.

This is what we ask for, Father, in Jesus' name.

Questions, comments, challenges, additions, subtractions?