309 ~ AT THE MOVIES - Part 3

We welcome you to the We Are Zion sermon podcast.

We are a church based out of Chennai, India.

We are thrilled that you tuned in today and hope that you will

be refreshed, revived, and energized by what you hear.

Our desire is that you will live life with a renewed sense of

purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus.

This summer we are going deeper into heart warming movies to

find gospel gems and Kingdom truths for our everyday life.

As you listen in, we hope that through these familiar

characters and sweet stories, you have a fresh revelation of

the victorious life we have in Christ.

Even as we continue with our at the movie series, we are looking

at this movie Zootopia Part 2. And as you know, we just looked

at how the snake with its poison corrupts us, causes bitterness,

causes so much of untold hell in our lives, and how with the

blood of Jesus, we can counter the toxin of the of the enemy.

We also looked at the enemy as a fox who steals the fruits in our

vineyard, who keeps us distracted.

And today we're going to be looking at a combination of all

of this in the story. If you watch the movie, you

probably know that the lead protagonist is this snake called

Gary the Snake. Basically his family has been

pushed out of Zootopia, supposed to live in a particular space.

But this bad guy, the lynx cat, he was actually instrumental in

stealing this guys his grandmothers patent for these

weather walls which enabled all animals to live together.

He stole it and then he falsely put a case on the grandmother

snake, got her imprisoned and then evicted all reptiles out of

Zootopia. So this guy comes back and says,

hey, I need to look at the blueprint, the original

blueprint. When I look at it, he's a heat

seeking wiper. So through this technique he

uses, he's able to actually see the original pattern, what his

grandmother actually drew up. And based on that, they were

actually able to go and locate that hidden town that now in the

present condition that Gary the Snake sees, it is completely

covered by snow. They don't even know where the

city is located. And so the story goes on.

They find it, and then they switch on all the lights in that

underground city and they bring it back to life.

Reptiles move back in. All's well that ends well, but

today what I want to focus on as we look at this is unveiling the

hidden. We are called to reclaim that

which was lost. But to get to that place of

reclamation, we need to 1st unveil that which has been

hidden. Some of these things in our

lives have been hidden for centuries, hidden for

generations on end. Some things that our

grandparents missed acquiring in terms of peace or strength or

health or endurance has passed on generations.

Nobody claimed it. It remained unclaimed.

I'm reminded of lost and found properties in school where if

you ever lose a bottle, they say go to the lost and found room.

And when you go there, there are things that are left there for

probably 40 years, bottles and bags and and T-shirts and half

of it looks so suspect you don't want to touch any of it.

And many of us have done that with the spiritual inheritance

that has been given to us. We have overtime lost it.

We decided you know what I can do without peace.

Let me strive, let me hustle. We have decided I can do without

joy because you know what is good?

To have grim determination. And so we have decided that the

hidden stuff can remain hidden. But the truth is this so much is

hidden and yet so much is being revealed, but it's being

revealed to him and her who seek first the Kingdom and his

righteousness. If you ask, seek and knock, you

will receive. That's, that's the simple

currency of the Kingdom. And so today I want to ask, Are

you ready to unveil the hidden? What is the hidden stuff that we

want to unveil? And you're probably asking

because when I started working on this, I was just thinking,

why should I unveil what is hidden?

Because I remember this, this one scripture is Deuteronomy 29,

Deuteronomy 29:29

verse 29, which says the secret things belong to the Lord our

God. But the things that are revealed

belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the

words of this law. So when I read this, I thought,

well, you know what? The hidden stuff belongs to God.

So let it stay hidden, let God figure it out, Let me do what I

know. But then it it actually goes

deeper, which I'll get into in a bit.

But the truth is this, the minute you and I accept Jesus,

the minute you and I start walking this journey of the

follower of Christ, like the apostle Paul says, we walk by

faith, not by sight. Most of our reality is in

another realm. A lot of times the things that

we don't see 'cause us to lose faith, but then we have to

remind ourselves, hey, without faith it's impossible to please

God. We haven't seen him yet.

We believe in God calls us blessed cause of that and.

Here's the ploy of the enemy. While he is a snake, while he

poisons us, while he's like a fox beguiling us, causing

distraction, He is the master of smokescreens.

He will cover up things in plain sight, by distraction, by chaos,

by complete overhaul of circumstances, creating you to

be so, causing you to be so confused that you missed the

plot. Master of smoke screens.

And today we're going to ask the Holy Spirit to blow those smoke

screens away so that we can see it for what it really is.

Many of you are going through a season where you're feeling

nothing is happening. The more I talk to people, the

first four months of this year has been hard in the sense of I

thought this year would look a certain way, but it isn't.

I had this health diagnosis. I had the set back.

I had the surgery, I had this, I had that.

The enemy wants to tell you he nothing is moving.

You're stagnant. He's saying basically, well, you

know what? Nothing changed from last year.

False. The Lord is on the move.

He is doing things. The enemy smokescreen is so

thick it makes us think that the seen realm is all that we have.

But I want to encourage you from 2 Corinthians 4 verse 18, which

2 Corinthians 4:18

says we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things

that are unseen. For the things that are seen are

transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal, Hebrews

Hebrews 11:3

11 verse 3 says. By faith we understand that the

universe was created by the Word of God so that what is seen was

not made out of things that are visible.

Everything you see was created from nothing.

There was nothing visible or tangible.

God spoke the words into being. That's what the word of God

says. Colossians chapter one verse 16

says. For by him all things were

created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, where the

Thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were

created through him and for him. You know, when we start studying

science as children, we're taught about atoms and molecules

and these, it's so weird to study about it because you can't

see these things. But matter is made-up of these

things. And yet, so we start choosing to

believe, OK, you know what? This is made-up of matter.

It's called atoms and molecules. They've been blended together.

And the whole of life, if you look at it, the very foundations

of our life, most of it is invisible.

And yet life has been built on that.

The Christian life is no different.

It's no different because the Kingdom of God is 1, which is

invisible but rapidly advancing. It is as real as the nose on

your face. The Kingdom of God is real.

The more you talk to people who are living in the power of God,

doing the things they were created for, you realise that

the Kingdom of God is amazing. You realise that God is laying

down the ground for the new heavens and the earth even now

through the Kingdom. People all around who are doing

the things that they must. And so we understand sometimes

we go go through this thing of well.

You know how How? Do I actually accept the fact

that all that I can't see is actually the reality?

It is difficult, it is difficult and yet we have to.

Understand that the Kingdom of God is hidden, yet it's a

present reality. We worship a God who is

invisible. But.

So real. And so we have to come to terms

with the invisible, with the hidden, with the mystery.

But the beautiful thing is that in Christ Jesus, you and I have

access. Unlimited access.

To the throne of grace. If you go to a concert, some

people get an all access pass. What does that look like?

They can go backstage, they can meet the celebrities, they can

talk, they can shake hands, they can take pictures.

There are some who only have a pass for the stadium seating.

They don't get to go behind and meet everybody with Jesus, with

Him accepting Him as my Lord and Savior.

I get an All Access pass into the throne room anytime, night

or day, minute by minute. I can walk in, sit with my

Father and petition Him, cry before Him, love Him, experience

His love for me. All access pass.

But The thing is that I have to remember that in the seeming

nothingness all around me, heaven is still invading the

earth. Many times we forget that.

And today I want to ask you, Are you ready?

Are you ready to unveil the hidden?

Why is this so important? That's what we're going to be

looking at. You might ask me, why do I need

to unveil the hidden? Why can't I just stay?

Hidden. I mean, God says, you know what?

There's hidden stuff that I'm looking after.

I'm handling it. But if you look.

In the Bible, periodically there are people who took the time and

trouble to pause at a burning Bush, to ask the hard questions,

to wait in a prison for a breakthrough because a promise

was given, because a dream was had.

There were guys who lived in foreign rule.

Who was? Seeking God for 21 days, saying

Lord, show me what's coming up. And God was revealing himself

through angelic visitations, through dreams.

Many people over the centuries in Christendom have had to

unveil the hidden so that the next generation sees more, so

that people their peers had greater experience, had a

greater understanding and so. Today I want to leave with you 2

reasons why we need to unveil the hidden.

The first thing is to discover and understand hidden

blueprints. Let me leave this with you

first, just to start right off the bat, a blueprint is

basically a draft, a document which is drafted with the

intention to give you details about a building, about a city,

about a maybe it's like a sewage system.

It has a detailed blueprint. You ask architects.

That's what they create. Now the blueprint is by which

you know, suppose you're looking for, you know, some kind of a

valve or something in your house.

You open the original blueprint, you look at it, you locate off

through the drawings, you find where that valve leads, how the

sewage system works, and you can rectify any mistake in it.

Now, our lives have blueprints too.

My blueprint is not the same as yours.

It's completely unique. My, my husband's blueprint and

mine are not the same. There will be overlaps, but

they're not the same. My parents blueprints and mine

are not the same. They could be common things that

contribute to my blueprint, things from my blueprint which

bless them, but they're not the same.

My children, each of them have individual blueprints, receiving

things from my husband and me which contribute to the

blueprint, but it's not the same.

Now the blueprint is very important.

Many times the enemy hides the blueprint.

He tells you when your life does not have purpose.

What are you saying? You, you're an ex drug addict?

You were promiscuous? What What future is there for

you? Your family has been soaked in

debt. What is where is hope for you?

You're. There's no scope of you coming

out of this pit. He will confuse you with a

smokescreen of defeat, of failure, of doubt.

He will harass you to the point of you thinking your life does

not have meaning. The blueprint of our life gives

our life meaning. It gives it direction.

It gives it purpose. Now go back to Deuteronomy 29

Deuteronomy 29:29

verse 29. He says the secret things belong

to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong

to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the

words of this law. So prior to this verse, Moses

had given them a series of instructions.

He had taught them a song. He was going to teach them a

song about, you know, how to remember the Lord in every

season. He was giving them the

blessings, the curses, telling them choose life, don't choose

death. And then he says there are some

things that are belonging to God, which talks about the

mystery of so much of our life. Why do good people suffer?

Why did this happen to that person?

Why did? This terrible tragedy hit this

nation. Those are mysteries that only

God knows, but there are the rest of it is open for us to,

you know, seek God, ask him, pray and say Lord, I want to

know more. And he says He will reveal it to

us, that we may do what? That we may do the works of the

words of the law. So the point is this.

Our blueprint is found in the word of God.

Too many of us are looking for the blueprint in the wrong

place. That one account I follow on IG,

she gets me. She speaks to my chaos, she

speaks to my anxiety, she speaks to my depression, and therefore

she is the Bible I read. My dear friends, I just pray

that today will be the day that shifts your blueprint from your

Maker is found in the Word of God.

He speaks to you from His word about what He has planned for

you. Romans 1133 says, O the depth of

the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how

unsearchable are his judgments and how unscrutable are his

ways, which means that on my own God's ways seem nuts.

I don't understand why, Lord, I don't understand how.

But the more I get into his word, the more I sit in his

presence with Him, the more I start to understand his heart,

the more I start to understand His ways, the more I seek, the

more I will find. He says, call unto me and I will

tell you great and unsearchable things.

And you might think that sounds like an oxymoron.

He says search. He says seek.

Well, He expects you to lean in. He expects you to dig deep.

And as I was preparing this, I just realized I opened my

journals from the last one. Year and I was.

Just looking through the scriptures God had given me that

I had been standing on and I realized not one of them will be

in vain. Maybe I haven't seen fulfillment

yet. Maybe I'm still confused why I'm

claiming something, but I believe when I put it together,

it's like this beautiful puzzle putting together the blueprint

of my life. The problem is many of us want a

immediate answer to the blueprint for 60 years.

I have aging parents and in laws and I just see how their

blueprints are still evolving in their 70s.

And it's marvellous because the God of who's so intentional in a

teenager's life, you know, in a 40 year old's life is

intentional in a 70 year old. He's still drawing up the

blueprint, adding unique bits to it.

And so none of us can check ourselves out saying, you know

what? The blueprint is done and

dusted. It isn't till you reach eternity

till you crossover. It's ongoing and I, I guess that

even in the new heavens, in the new earth, it's going to be

getting drawn up. So here's the thing.

I want to take you back to the time of Jeremiah, right in

Jeremiah 29, God is talking to the Exiles and this is what he

tells them. See, they're in exile.

You have to understand they were ripped out of their nation,

brought by this Pagan king and settled in Babylon forcefully.

So they were foreigners here. They don't know the language.

Their oppressors are cruel and they kept them in captivity.

But this is the interesting blueprint that what is giving

them right? Let's read it.

Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 4 onwards.

Jeremiah 29:4

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says to all

those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Build houses, settle down, plant gardens, eat what they produce.

Marian has sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and

give your daughters in marriage so that they too may have sons

and daughters. Increase in number there, do not

decrease. Also, seek the peace and

prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.

Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will

prosper. Yes, this is what the Lord

Almighty, the God of Israel, says.

Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you.

Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have.

They're prophesying lies to you in my name.

I have not sent them, declares the Lord.

This is what the Lord says. When 70 years are completed for

Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring

you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for

you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope and a future.

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will

listen to you. You will seek me and find me.

When you seek me with all your heart.

I will be found by found by you, declares the Lord, and will

bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the

nations and places where I banished you, declares the Lord,

and I will bring you back to the place from which I carried you

into exile. God has a detailed blueprint for

the Exiles. He's saying nothing will change

before 70 years, but he does not want them to languish and rot

for those 70 years. He says, hey, this is my

blueprint. I want you to live a flourishing

life. I want you to get married.

I want you to build houses. I want you to eat from your

vineyards. I want you to thrive even in the

land of your exile. Many of us say I don't have a

blueprint for my life, so I will sulk in a corner.

I will not do anything for anyone, for God or the Kingdom

of people until I receive clarity from my experience,

which is limited in its own way. I have found that the minute I

take the first step, he starts ordaining the next few steps.

It requires that I say, Lord, I surrender my plan.

Give me your plan. Blueprints are usually hidden,

not on purpose, but for me to draw closer to the the artist

who came up with the blueprint. If I don't draw closer, if I

don't begin to understand, I, the blueprint will not make

sense to me. If I don't know his heart, if I

don't learn to trust his character and his nature, I will

mistrust the blueprint. I'll say, you know what, this

blueprint is not for me. I don't recognize it.

It's not for me. So this past week, we went for

our voting in Tamil Nadu, right? So I, my family, we went as a

family, my, my mom and dad, my brother, me, my sister-in-law,

all of us, we went to vote together and we had a big

discussion on who we wanted to vote for.

And I knew I was very clear who I wanted.

So I knew the symbol of the party that I wanted to vote for.

So I go into the voting booth and I double checked with my

family, hey, is this a symbol that I need to vote for?

And they said yes. So I went into the voting booth.

There was something like 20 symbols on the voting machine.

And Can you believe the symbol that I had gone in there looking

for was missing. It was not there.

So I stood there for a good 3 minutes, like completely spaced

out. I had no idea what I was looking

at. I don't know Tamils.

I couldn't read the, the, you know, the names or there was no

party. There was just symbols.

And so I stood there and then finally I recognized one symbol.

I was not dying to vote for that particular party, but I chose to

do it because I felt, well, a known thing better than an

unknown thing, right? I finished, I came out and then

I was telling my family about it, got berated solidly by all

of them. But here's the interesting

thing. So my mom tells me, hey, you

know what, if you only would read the newspaper a little

more, you will understand that a lot of these politics that

there's so much of alliances happening.

So there are multiple symbols being used because there are

many parties in alliance. Now where was this?

So I came home immediately and I checked.

So in the newspaper there's let's picture this to be the

blueprint of your life. I'm not going to show you who I

who I wanted, but I'm just going to hide the symbol.

But Can you believe over here? These were the symbols that were

given and one of the symbols and multiple ones of these symbols

were on the board. I had not read the blueprint so

I missed knowing what I should actually have voted.

For. And I realized that many of us

are not reading the blueprint right.

We're not even spending time on the blueprint.

We spend more time on social media.

I spend more time on YouTube because I want a quick fix.

I want to hit me right now. I want a reel to tell me what

I'm feeling right now and where I need to be with God.

I don't want to take the trouble to open the Bible and let the

Bible read me that the Bible should convict me because I am

trying to read my situation into the Bible.

Convince God about what he should do for me instead of

surrendering my plans and saying Lord let your will be done not

mine. And it's coming to a place where

if I don't know the blueprint I will miss the work of God in my

life. There is a blueprint for your

life. Irrespective of what parents

have told you, irrespective of what siblings have told you,

they probably said you were good for nothing.

They probably said you know what?

You're worthless. Whatever they have said.

I want to tell you, if you are living and breathing on planet

Earth in this time, in this era, your life has worth.

It has a plan. There's a blueprint for it and

it's up to you. There are no shortcuts.

The blueprint can only be found by you.

I realise that having children, sometimes you want to draw their

blueprint for them. You want to say, you know what,

you should take this college, you should do this.

Our oldest is going to be heading off to college soon.

And so my husband and I have been having these disagreements

because my husband's of this thought we need to let him

explore all options. But for me, I, I feel I know my

son's heart, I know his abilities.

I know these intricate details. So I think this one route would

be good. And as I prepared this, I

realized, you know what, I don't want to give him my blueprint.

Gesham's method is better. He says let him discover who

he's created to be, let him try out anything.

And so I want to ask you, have you been avid about dusting off

those old blueprints and getting into it?

It's not enough just to know the blueprint.

It is required that you ask the Holy Spirit to uncover it.

Not what does this mean? What does it mean when you say

I'll be a rebuilder? What does it mean when you say

that Lord, I will harvest the seed I planted?

What does it mean? Because, you know, for years we

sometimes claim some promises without even understanding the

magnitude of it. And the more you ask the Lord,

the more he unfolds it. The manifold wisdom of God, many

folds. It's got so much power.

Let God and His word reveal the blueprint of your life.

Don't accept the lies of the enemy.

Don't allow the quick fix 5 minute method deter you from

actually sitting in the world and asking God, give me my

life's blueprint. When you start asking, you'll be

amazed at how God starts to lead you.

The second thing, the second thing that we need to do in

terms of unveiling hidden destiny is you need to uncover

and possess hidden territory. Did you know that each of us

were created to take up territory, not just a land or a

house or a city or a town? No, that's not what I'm talking

about. I'm not talking about ancestral

lands. That may be included in it, but

it's not the whole, you know, peace territory, spiritual

territory is so important. When you get into a relationship

with Jesus, you step into the Kingdom of God.

You're you're now a, a subject of the Kingdom of God and you

have this territory that is assigned to you where God is

saying, I know I've given you these giftings, I've put you in

this carrier. Now I want you to shine my light

there. I want you to be a blessing to

all those around you. So the minute you start getting

conditioned in that direction, you start understanding it.

You start looking at your influence differently.

It's not about a blue tick. It's not about 1010 thousand or

a million followers. It's more about when I walk into

this room, who can I introduce to Jesus?

Who can I encourage and lift them up?

Who can I speak life over. And the minute you do that,

you're taking territory up, you're marking.

You can step into the most difficult zone, but when you

walk in there with your joy, when you walk in there with your

peace, you can change and shift an environment.

You have taken territory. You can walk into ancestral

homes and you know the bondage that lies there.

But when you walk in, you're carrying freedom with you.

You're taking up territory. Many of us are giving up

territory because of the stuff we are embroiled in privately.

That one relationship, extramarital relationship, is

making you lose ground that your marriage needs to take.

And the beautiful thing is with the Christian, whether you're

single or married or you have a family or it's just you,

territory has been assigned to you, whether you hold it,

possess it, and begin to enlarge it is on you, is between you and

God. But it requires intentionality.

It requires endurance, it requires a fight.

Paul. Says that we're in a fight for

our faith I have fought the good fight he doesn't say I took the

walk a walk through the park it's a stroll it's not a stroll

it's a fight we're fighting for territory Matthew chapter 13

Matthew 13:24

verse 24 says the Kingdom of. Heaven is like treasure.

He didn't in a field which a man found and covered up.

Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys

that field, the Kingdom of him. The kingdom's dynamics is like

that. When you discover Jesus, in whom

are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, you want

more of him. You realize that you now have

power and authority given to you by Jesus himself.

You realize that you have resurrection power in your

veins. You realize that you have

healing, that His healing that is flowing through you.

You say Lord, ideally you say, Lord, I want to do more for you.

How can I do more? How can I take up more

territory? How can I, how can I expand the

Kingdom that you've assigned, the part of the Kingdom you've

assigned to me? And yet many times we assume

that territory is meant to be limited.

Many times we miss the fact that in Jesus, while there is the

treasures of wisdom and knowledge, it requires that I go

deeper. It requires that I.

Ask for the field and say, Lord, what is the field you've

assigned me to? If you remember the story of

Ruth and Boaz, Boaz had lots of fields.

Ruth was assigned to a field which was in his which was

cordoned off to him. And when she worked there, the

favor of God followed her. She was obedient to her

mother-in-law. God opened doors of favor.

It is so important to understand that there's a field assigned to

you, and it's up to you whether you uncover that field and take

possession of it. Too many times I have watched

this time and again, couples lose territory because of

deciding to walk away from the marriage.

Because you walked away, your children lose territory.

You don't understand how grave this is because generationally,

territory has to increase. Abraham was given a promise.

He went and occupied a bit. Isaac comes in, he sews X.

He yields 100 X. Jacob comes in, has twelve sons.

They occupy Canaan in larger quantity.

You have to understand it has to increase exponentially.

Many of us are losing ground because of the choices we are

making. What works for me is what I will

do. This is me.

I'm protecting myself. I'm being comfortable.

I lose territory when I live that way.

The Kingdom way is to live expansively.

It's to say, Lord, I'm here. Do with me as you will, the

minute you do that, the field is revealed.

He shows you here. This is the space that I'm

calling you into. David is a guy we're going to be

looking at today. David had this life defining

moment. You know that he was, he was

anointed when he was really, really young.

For 3 1/2 years he was, he was made king.

But it was only the tribe of Judah that rallied around him,

right? And he was ruling from Hebron.

But after the 3 1/2 years, all the tribes got united.

Benjamin, which was Saul's tribe, came and all the tribes

came and said we want you to be our king.

So it was now a United Kingdom, right?

12 tribes have come together. So he decides, he feels, he

senses that he needs to move his capital from Hebron to

Jerusalem. And this is where we are

situated. Second Samuel, chapter 5, verses

2 Samuel 5:6–10

6 to 10. And says the.

King and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the

Jebusites who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, you

will not get in here. Even the blind and the lame can

ward you off. They thought David cannot get in

here. Nevertheless, David captured the

fortress of Zion which is in the city of David.

On that day. David had said anyone who

conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach

those lame and blind who are David's enemies.

That is why they say the blind and lame will not enter the

palace. David then took up residence in

the fortress and called in, called it the City of David.

He built up the area around it from the terraces inward and he

became more and more powerful because the Lord God Almighty

was with him. Isn't that amazing?

So what is what? What shocks me every time is

that there was a nation that was already dwelling there.

It was not like he was taking. Up an empty fortress.

There was a nation that lived there, people that lived there.

And he says I'm taking it. And they say, well, you cannot

because even the weakest of us can push you out.

You have. To understand Jerusalem was

situated in such a beautiful location.

It was solid on its own. It had high mountains.

All around it, it was impenetrable by foot.

The only way to get in was this river channel, the water channel

which went under. Right.

So because there was a continual water supply, even if they put a

siege on this nation, on this city, people would survive for a

long time. So they felt they were

impenetrable. But David comes and says, you

know what? Nevertheless, I will take it.

And that's very pivotal because for many of us, the territory

that God is showing you will be very, very scary when he says, I

want you to be a rebuilder. I want you to be a restorer of

generations. He spoke that to me about 13

years back. I had no clue what he was

saying. I just said yes, it sounded fun.

I said yes, I'm, I'm all in God for over 11 years.

I see the struggle that comes with that.

I see that it's, it's, it's so much of work.

It's so much of heartache. It's so much of warfare.

And I wonder what I said yes to. But I realized that the

intimidation, while it is real, it requires me to say,

nevertheless, I stake my claim. I say yes to you, Lord, if you

are saying this territory is for us, this territory of enriching

others marriages because you're blessed.

As I say yes. If this territory is ministering

to children who are hurting, I say yes.

If this minister, if my call is to help young people to to

enrich young people, I say yes. If that is the territory you're

calling me into, I say yes. Many of us are so intimidated

because you know what happens the minute you say yes.

The warfare breaks out on you like never before, because the

enemy never. Lets you take territory without

push back. And take it from me, I'm someone

who is constantly sensing this. The minute we want to do

something new, the push back is real.

He hates forfeiting territory that is not in his nature.

He does not forfeit well and so it requires that you push back

and take your claim. What is the forward step God is

asking you to take? What is He saying?

Is He asking you to start that business?

Is He asking you to start a business which redeems those who

are hurting, which helps some part of society?

Is He asking you to get that college degree so that you can

do more for Him? Is He asking you to get that

health checkup so that you can clear your mind on what's been

troubling you? Is He asking you to move on from

your past? What is He asking you that step

which you say nevertheless? Yes, it looks intimidating.

Yes, it looks worrying. The question is, are you willing

to take a stand and take the land?

And you have to understand here the threat that the Jebusites

gave David as a very interesting threat.

So there was a archaeologist who actually did a study on this

chapter, on this particular verse to understand who are

these lame and blind people who are going to ward off David?

And turns out it was nothing but spells and magic and witchcraft

that the people of Canaan were practicing.

So he actually uncovered scrolls from the Hittites who said that

if they wanted to intimidate an oncoming army, an advancing

army, they would create a bunch of spells which would, and they

would name a couple of people and show them from the top of

the fortress. So these people saw it.

They first looked at those soldiers who were like, you

know, maimed and hanging off by their limbs, looking at them.

They would be so intimidated that they'd be like, you know

what? I don't want that to touch me.

The second the constituent of that is they would do

incantations. They would, do, you know, have

potions and magic and other things in order to actually cast

a curse on the incoming army so that they could attack, but they

would be hit by the curse. So this was the surrounding myth

and legend that was surrounding that place.

It probably was real because the demonic is real.

Witchcraft is real. Hexes and spells are real.

But The thing is, David knew that if he didn't battle this

and win it, his whole army would melt in fear.

So he actually issues it. In Chronicles.

He says he issues a thing and says who would like to go?

And Joab is the one who says I will go in first and take the

land. And because of that, David and

his army, David, David's a mighty warrior.

And the archaeologist says this interesting thing.

He said the people of Jebusoid were actually issuing an empty

threat. They knew their time was up,

they knew that overturning was happening, they knew that they

were losing footing completely. They knew a mighty warrior was

coming against them. And so this was a last ditch

effort to intimidate them and move them out.

And that's when David caught them off guard.

Now you need to understand something deeper here.

In the book of Joshua, centuries before Joshua chapter 15, verse

Joshua 15:63

63, says Josh, Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites who were

living in Jerusalem. To this day.

The Jebusites lived there with the people of Judah.

That's the history. What was not done hundreds of

years back, David came in nevertheless and took the

fortress. And David didn't just take the

fortress, he fortified it. He built up the terraces.

He established himself. He put down roots.

He grew his family there. Many of us have given in with

that health issue, with that, with that financial issue.

We've just thrown in the tower and we said, you know what, God,

it's OK. If I have to live in this

permanent situation with death, it's OK.

Have you thought that that's territory that needs to be won

back? You've given in on your health.

You're lying on your back. You've decided you can't do

anything. You quit that job.

But what if you push through, take the territory and become a

channel of healing to others, a channel of God's strength?

You become a testimony of what God did in your life.

Too many of us are walking in intimidation.

For generations, my grandmother struggled with anxiety.

Therefore, I am like this. My father was a man who was not

faithful. Therefore that's why I'm like

this in my marriage. The excuses are many.

Sometimes it's not just a generational bondage.

It is sometimes the yoking with the wrong person and unequal

yoking that happens. If you remember the story of

Balam, Balam was this a seer? He was a Pagan seer who gets

called by the Moabite king and says, you know what cursed this

land of people of Israel? So these people are in the

wilderness. He's watching from on top and

Four. Times he sent gives out these

oracles which only bless bless the people of Israel and so

they're told and Balaq who's called him is is just so angry.

He's like what are you doing? I'll call you to curse these

guys and you're blessing them. He says I cannot curse whom God

is not cursed. He has blessed them.

He has marked them out for generational blessing.

Who am I? But the sad turn of events is

that within the next chapter, Balaam.

Sends the Moabite women into the Israelite camp and causes them

to seduce the people of Israel. So the people of Israel were

protected by God, by the covenant relationship God had

with them. But Balaam also knew this, that

their God was a righteous God, and this God had caused them to

be set apart. So if they didn't, they didn't

behave set apart. God would rain down judgement.

He counted on it. So he sent these Moabite women

in who invited these men to a Pagan festival of, you know,

dancing before their deities, having sex, Complete outrageous

behaviour and God breaks out against them. 24,000 people died

that day. 24,000 people who lost their inheritance.

Can you just take a minute to picture that?

How many of us are going to lose our inheritance because of the

flesh based appetites of our life?

How many of us are going to lose out on our inheritance?

Because I'm still stuck in a generational pattern without and

refusing to break out of it. I can't break out of alcoholism.

My my, my great granddad did it. I did it.

I can't stop vaping or smoking. It's the way I cope with stress.

How long are you going to have excuses?

How long are you going to give in to your fleshly appetites?

My husband and I from the middle of last year started fasting

more and we realized only then how.

Strong. The appetite for food is in our

lives. The day you decide to fast is

when your hunger pangs are at its highest.

That's when Swiggy is sending out more deals and offers and we

have so many times almost slipped.

Once or twice I've also slipped and ordered and broke in the 1st

and that's when I realized the flesh is still fighting us and

many times we lose the backache. Food is 1.

What are the other battles with the flesh that you've been

losing? It is possible that it will

disinherit you from the territory you were called for.

You just take the simple example.

In India, we just watch the number of alcohol shops that are

open, the number of families that it has caused harm to,

women left as widows, children that have been beaten up,

abandoned homes that have been completely decimated by alcohol.

One choice, one giving into a fleshly appetite, You lose

territory. I want to ask you, are you going

to be like David who says you can intimidate me all you want,

enemy, I don't care, I'm surrendered to God.

If he asked me to take Jerusalem, I take it.

Nevertheless, you can threaten me all you want.

Some of you are scared. If I step out in faith and say,

you know what? I'm a Christian.

I get baptized. I I follow Jesus wholeheartedly.

You're scared your family will turn against you.

We understand. But God is asking, will you take

that territory in boldness and watch me protect you, Watch me

encompass you, watch me put a bloodline around you.

The choice is ours. The choice is ours.

You and I are protected by the blood of the Lamb.

And you're probably saying, why are you taking us on the strip

of hidden territory and and magic and witchcraft and

incantations? The truth is, some of us are so

bound by superstition. If I do business on this day,

it'll be good If I leave the house at this time.

Oh gosh, a black cat. We are marked by superstition.

With the new age coming in, there's so much that is coming

in labeled with Christian terms but isn't.

And if you are looking at the wrong blueprint, you will get

misled. If you are not clear about the

territory God is calling you, you will step into a territory

that you don't have the grace for, that you are not called to.

You need to get closer to the one who assigns the territory.

You need to get closer to the one who draws up the blueprint.

Even as I wrap up, this is what I want to leave with you.

I'm a bio student so when you study DNA.

The DNA link is like a chain, right?

And many of you are caught up and bound because of adna thing.

You're blaming it on the DNA. You see, this is what my

father's and great grandfathers did.

This is what my mother and my mother-in-law did.

That's why my kids are like that.

You're not taking responsibility for what you are contributing.

You're not taking responsibility for the things you need to end

in your lifetime. Similarly to that, when the

people sinned in Moab with the women, when the men went and had

sex with these women, these Pagan women, and started

offering offering sacrifices to these idols and then they ate of

that food which was being sacrificed.

There's this interesting verse which comes up.

It says Numbers chapter 25, verse 12.

Numbers 25:12

It says this is a very interesting thing where it talks

about how when the people went and slept to the women of Moab,

it says that they went and yoked themselves to the ball of pure.

So they, they had they had physical relationships with

women in a carnal way. But what did they do in in

bowing before Pagan idols and eating their food sacrifice.

They didn't just yoked themselves to the women in the

physical, They went and yoked themselves spiritually to that

false God there. And in one day 24,000 people

died. And you know who stopped the

plague? It was the hype.

It was the priest, one of the sons of Aaron, Phinehas.

There's zeal which came upon him.

That's the Holy Spirit's anointing.

When he saw a man walk in with the Moabite woman.

He, that man, was taking the woman.

Imagine the audacity of the guy. He brings the woman from that

camp, brings him into their camp, the Israelite camp, which

was supposed to be set apart, where the Tabernacle was.

The glory of the Lord dwelt there.

He brought this woman, brought her into his tent and as they

were engaging in a lewd act, Phineas goes in with a spear and

just drives it through both of them.

Now the Bible is all is is so sometimes raw and and gory, but

that's your application for today.

Too many of us are blaming our DNA.

Too many of us have yoked ourselves to something ungodly

because of the choices in our flesh and because of which

disinheritance is a real possibility.

But if you and I decide to spear that sinful thing right through

the heart and saying, you know what?

This infidelity stops with me. This drunkenness and carousing

stops with me. These are the need to be aroused

by pornography ends with me. It is a choice that you have to

make. Like Phineas with the zeal of

the Lord. Pinned it to the ground.

God is calling you to pin that to the ground.

Are you ready for that? That's what God is.

Calling for seemingly harmless pursuits, things that you're.

Doing as out of just habit. Check what is yoking you to

habits, attachments, relationships.

If a season has gone empty, God moved people out.

Still, being attached to that creates A yoke, and it's not a

good one. God is asking these kind of

yokes, these kind of soul ties will keep you stagnated.

It will not let you move forward.

It'll keep you beguiled. That's the word that was there

in verse 16 and 17. It says harass the Midianites

and strike them out. Some versions it says

Midianites, some it says Moabites, but it says strike,

harass the Midianites, strike them down.

Why? They harassed you with their

Wiles with which they beguiled you.

In the matter of pure, the enemy beguiles us through people.

Many times He utilizes some method by which you feel sorry

for someone. You let them back in, They cause

havoc. God is asking, will you spear

that desire right down? Will you close that door which

you have opened willfully? Will you end that thing that you

were supposed to end So that you can discover the blueprint that

I have for you, so that you can take the territory that is

marked for you? Too many of us are living

confined by our parents blueprints.

You know, our parents will subtly say, especially Indian

parents is the way we, you know, we just subtly gaslight our

kids. Oh, I wish you had done this.

You know, I mean, hey, your child was created for a purpose

which is very unique. Can you tear up your blueprint

for your child and let God reveal his blueprint for your

child? Can you live in the blueprint

God has for you? It's not what your parents had.

Your territory is going to be more.

How many of you have been shrinking in your capacity

saying, Lord, I love my job too much, I love my comfort too

much. I'm not going to do more, Lord.

I'm good with this I. Preserve what you've given me.

God is asking like that faithful servant for whom much was given,

much more will be granted and expected.

Will you live in that same place where you say Lord?

Here I am use me enlarge my territory stretch by the tent

pegs so that I can do more for the Kingdom, so that I can do

more for. You I want to just pray with you

and as we pray, I want to ask you this, are you yoked to

anything ungodly? Because the the yoking to that

ball of pure it, it's an intentional fast fastening that

forges an inescapable link. But in Christ Jesus you have all

the victory. You get freedom, but will you

appropriate it? Will you apply the blood of

Jesus on that yoke right now and break it in the name of Jesus?

Because the blood of Christ sets us free.

We will cast off every snare and everything that entangles and

stand firm and look at keep our eyes peeled for Jesus.

For your eyes that have been wandering, I ask that your eyes

will go back to Jesus. For those who have been looking

at the wrong blueprints, today is the day.

You might have to uninstall that app.

You have to get off social media, maybe open the Bible, sit

with it, ask God, what did you create me for?

What is the territory you're assigning to me?

It could be your children right now.

Your territory could be just bringing up your kids in the

ways of the Lord. It could be, you know, really

nurturing your marriage. It could be blessing the people

in your community. It could be looking after the

poor. Whatever it is, Lord, I'm

surrendered to knowing the territory.

You're mocked for me. I am.

Willing to take the land. Nevertheless, no matter what

intimidation, I will take the land.

Can you make that your prayer? We thank you, Lord, for hearing

our prayer. We pray that God, you will help

us to ask, seek, and knock consistently so that we receive

the things that you have marked for us.

Lord, I pray for anyone who's on the verge of losing an

inheritance, that today that will shift.

They will come back, they will stake their claim.

They will stand within the audience and fight.

I pray for those who have misread their blueprint, Lord,

who are using someone else's blueprint, who are comparing

their blueprint with someone else's and have gotten confused.

We pray for clarity. In the name of Jesus, direct

their paths, lead them, go before them, strengthen them.

Lord, we pray all of this in Jesus mighty name, Amen.

Amen. Amen.

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Most importantly, remember that whoever finds Jesus finds life.