1 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:05,160 Senator Romans 8, it's nice to see you. 2 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:07,520 Welcome. It's great to have you. 3 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:11,240 We're doing a series through Romans 8 and I really want to do 4 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:15,480 a thing tonight about growing up and there are a lot of people 5 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:17,040 who stand in queues here waiting for me. 6 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:19,520 I've been to church a long time. They're just standing queues and 7 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:21,520 and they've got long term problems and they want short 8 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:24,040 term solutions. It's like my marriage is in 9 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:25,320 trouble. Please will you pray for me? 10 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:28,320 Well, your marriage is in trouble because of 6 or 7 years 11 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:33,160 of bad choices, bad habits, bad patterns, and, and you think 12 00:00:33,160 --> 00:00:35,320 like my prayer is going to change your marriage. 13 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:38,360 It doesn't do that. It can change your marriage to 14 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:40,440 me. But reality is we God has given 15 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:42,440 us the Holy Spirit. If you're a golfer, maybe you 16 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:43,880 are not. If you've ever driven a golf 17 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:46,760 cart, it's one of the most frustrating things in the world 18 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:48,760 because the golf cart's got a governor on it. 19 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:51,720 And so it doesn't matter how much you race in a golf cart, 20 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,200 you can't pass the other guy because they govern to the same 21 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:56,480 speed. And so you try and race as fast 22 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:59,800 as you can, but, and it's so frustrating because you want to 23 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:01,960 go fast, but it governs. And every time I sit there, I 24 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:04,080 think this is what the Holy Spirit does to my life. 25 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:07,520 He governs me. And so I can't go too fast. 26 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:10,520 So I cause an accident going downhill because he governs me. 27 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,120 And when you're governed by God, you actually start making good 28 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:16,840 choices, become good routines, which become good relational 29 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:18,760 habits. And we actually start living in 30 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:21,720 freedom and fullness and, and we need to actually be there. 31 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:24,400 Otherwise we live really ill disciplined lives. 32 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:26,840 Come to church and look for a quick fix solution. 33 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:29,840 Amen. Instead of becoming disciples, I 34 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:32,560 think I said this recently, the difference between mentors, 35 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,280 everybody wants a mentor. I want a mentor, I want a 36 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:37,360 mentor. A mentor makes you the best 37 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:39,600 version of yourself. A disciple makes you the best 38 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:42,200 version of Christ. And we're not trying to make you 39 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:44,240 the best version of yourself, really the best version of 40 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:47,000 Christ when we actually, one actually builds you up. 41 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,320 So you become a superstar, the one, the other one kills you so 42 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:51,040 that you become obedient to Christ. 43 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:54,440 And the no way that we can all live together, young and old and 44 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:56,920 rich and poor and English and Afrikaans, we've all got 45 00:01:56,920 --> 00:01:59,120 cultural differences and upbringing differences, 46 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:02,400 financial differences, different preferences for us to all live 47 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:04,040 together. We've got to understand Christ. 48 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:07,160 And that way we humble with each other, we forgive each other, we 49 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:09,720 learn how to grow together. We learn how to sacrifice, we 50 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:12,920 learn how to serve and sitting behind the coffee station or 51 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:16,080 some very qualified people, some of the best musicians in the 52 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,520 city, playing on stage, just volunteering, serving. 53 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:20,640 And as they serve us, we get blessed. 54 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:23,040 And as we get blessed, we serve others and we start to become a 55 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:25,040 community that represents Christ. 56 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:27,040 Is that cool? And so I want to talk about 57 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:29,760 growing up and about representing God. 58 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,760 And I wanted to particularly talk about your position or 59 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:37,280 status as a son or daughter of God tonight and what that 60 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:41,600 actually means and how you can stand without that being taken 61 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:43,120 away from you. How you can stand. 62 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:45,120 So Romans chapter 8, if you can turn there, please. 63 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:49,520 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are 64 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:53,320 God's children, say the Spirit that and, and if you weren't 65 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:56,400 here for those students, we used the pneumatic drill, a tool that 66 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,200 has got absolutely no power. We try to nail nails into a 67 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,120 piece of wood just to bring you up to speed and the nails all 68 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:04,120 bent. And then I plugged air into a 69 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:06,760 gun. We shot 20 nails through a plank 70 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:08,000 of wood. Then it just went it's called 71 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,040 the pneumatic drills, exactly the same word. 72 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:12,760 So whenever you see the word spirit in the New Testament, the 73 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:15,600 word is pneuma, where we get the word pneumatic from. 74 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:17,960 So it's like we are absolutely useless. 75 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:21,280 We get plugged into God and we become highly effective tools. 76 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:24,480 You saw the lady on the stage today with the flute. 77 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:27,600 Her name is Bobby. You've got this beautiful flute 78 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:30,120 with this incredible. It's made absolutely 79 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:32,600 beautifully. We can look at it, you can, but 80 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,360 unless somebody blows wind into it, it's actually just a useless 81 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:38,440 piece of metal. And then Bobby, who's got these 82 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:41,480 unbelievable lungs of which she spent thousands of hours 83 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,200 training because of the flute, you don't put your lips on them. 84 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:46,880 And somebody actually blowing into the instrument, as she 85 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:49,240 blows, this flute comes alive. Amen. 86 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:52,840 It's like a pneumatic tool, and you are this beautiful 87 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,080 instrument made by God in an unbelievably stunning way. 88 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,800 And when the lungs of heaven link into your life, you become 89 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:01,880 a tune that the world can't refuse. 90 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:04,960 You become a song that people have to listen to. 91 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,320 Wherever you go. You're like Bobby, and then you 92 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:11,520 take the guy on the cello and all these beautiful instruments 93 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:15,560 that's just like you. As the breath of God touches 94 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,760 you, you start to make a song. And now all of a sudden you put 95 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:20,240 English and Afrikaans guys together. 96 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:23,600 The breath of God touches us and we start to make it the, the 97 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:26,440 word in in the scriptures is homo Thummadan. 98 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:30,920 And when we all start to sing together, we start to make this 99 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:33,840 most unbelievable tune. And the angels look down and 100 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:37,320 think, flip the Indian guys there and the black guys there 101 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:40,040 and the white guys there and there's a white guy preaching 102 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:42,520 and a black girl leading the meeting and they're sort of like 103 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:45,680 homo Thummadan. They're in one, they're in 104 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:48,000 unity, they love each other, they serve one another. 105 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:51,680 We start to build the church, Amen. 106 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:54,520 So we don't have rich churches or young churches or old 107 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:57,640 churches or black churches. We just have all kinds of people 108 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:01,920 in the church, Amen, Amen. So say the Spirit, the Spirit 109 00:05:02,280 --> 00:05:08,080 capital S speaks to the little S that I'm a child of God. 110 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:12,800 Point yourself here, because this is where you get betrayed 111 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:16,360 here. When the little S starts telling 112 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:20,560 you that you're not worth it, the big S has to override it and 113 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:24,280 start blowing a tune into you so that the big S starts to dictate 114 00:05:24,280 --> 00:05:27,200 to yourself. And most people that come up in 115 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:30,200 the queue here for prayer is because the little S is speaking 116 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:32,920 to the big S instead of the big S speaking to the little S. 117 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:37,600 We have to be designed to handle difficult times, frames. 118 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:40,520 Every time you have difficulty, you can't run for prayer. 119 00:05:41,280 --> 00:05:43,320 You've got to run for your status first. 120 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:47,760 Who are you in God? Don't lose your conviction in 121 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:49,520 God. Don't lose your intimacy in God. 122 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:52,920 Don't lose your assurance in God when you're going through a 123 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:54,320 towel. God can't put me through this. 124 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:58,160 God can do whatever He likes, whatever He likes. 125 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:01,040 And many times you are giving up on a God that we don't even 126 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:04,200 understand. We don't know Him because we are 127 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:07,760 emotionally somehow attached to Him and we decide what God looks 128 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:09,560 like in our mind instead of the Word. 129 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:14,000 We give up on Him too easily. Are you with me? 130 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:19,720 OK, so that's the big S Say big S speaks to the little S and 131 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:23,000 says I'm a child of God. OK, so let's have a look at it 132 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,760 in Matthew chapter 3. I'll take you through it. 133 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:32,240 Matthew 3, verse 16. As soon as Jesus was baptized, 134 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:35,480 he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened 135 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:42,120 and he saw that in Greek, the pneuma, the breath, he saw the 136 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:46,200 spirit of God descending like a dove, say descending like a dove 137 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:49,400 and lighting on him, John 14 says. 138 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:53,080 John 4 says it stayed on him, it remained on him and the voice 139 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:54,400 from heaven say voice from heaven. 140 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:59,560 Friends, sorry if I repeated this, but most people listen to 141 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,000 voices from earth. Your whole life is dictated to 142 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:06,800 by voices from earth, your parents, your failures, your 143 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:10,160 upbringing, your shortcomings, your disqualifications, your 144 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:12,640 failures at school, your mistakes that you've made in 145 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:14,520 relationships. And those voices just start 146 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:17,560 shouting at you, shouting. And you present this incredible 147 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:19,800 picture of you all together, but you lie in bed at night. 148 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:22,160 The voice just shouts. And you're stupid. 149 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:24,040 Your ears are big. You're not good at school. 150 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:25,880 You failed 79. It just start. 151 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:28,000 You've got divorce. It just shouts and shouts and 152 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:32,040 shouts, and it completely and utterly identifies us. 153 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:36,680 But the Bible says the voice from heaven, and that voice from 154 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:39,560 heaven is going to do something deep inside of me, and it's 155 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:41,560 going to convince me that I'm God's son. 156 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:44,520 And I don't care what you think about me. 157 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:48,720 Like if I preach well or preach badly, you like me or don't like 158 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:51,000 me. I'm God's son and it's not 159 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,280 affected by earth. And unless you can understand 160 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:57,000 that, you're going to spend the rest of your lives like yo yos 161 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:00,320 going by what your Facebook profile says or what your 162 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:03,280 Instagram likes or dislikes say. Because when they don't like you 163 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:05,760 on Instagram, it makes no difference to what God thinks 164 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:08,400 about you. And you've got to believe that, 165 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:10,080 friends. But because we live our world in 166 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:13,400 the in the public eye, we don't take the spiritual truth and let 167 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:17,200 it settle inside of our hearts. So we become secure, born again 168 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:20,280 believers, filled with the Spirit of God that makes us 169 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:25,960 stand under crisis. Say voice from heaven, voice 170 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:27,680 from heaven, say it again, voice from heaven. 171 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:31,400 There are so many voices. Afrikaans voices, English 172 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:35,400 voices, rugby coaches voices, teachers voices, parents voices, 173 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:38,360 peers voices, authorities voices. 174 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:45,960 This is my son, This is my son identity, whom I love affection. 175 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:50,440 With him I am well pleased. Affirmation This is my son 176 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:54,000 identity, whom I love affection with him. 177 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:56,480 I'm well, please just keep it up there. close your eyes. 178 00:08:57,040 --> 00:08:59,800 This is my son, This is my daughter identity. 179 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:06,600 The Spirit of God blowing into the flute is singing a song over 180 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:15,840 your life that says, this is my son, this is my daughter, whom I 181 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:24,640 love deeply, passionately, sacrificially enough to send my 182 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:30,480 one and only son to die for whom I love with him, with her, with 183 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:33,680 you. I'm well pleased, he said. 184 00:09:33,680 --> 00:09:37,040 But God, I've disappointed, he said, with you, with you. 185 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:42,360 I'm well pleased that that is the foundation for secure 186 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:46,560 Christianity. You with me. 187 00:09:51,560 --> 00:09:53,240 Let's go to Genesis chapter one, please. 188 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:56,320 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 189 00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:01,080 Now the earth was formless, say formless and empty, say empty 190 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:04,920 and dark. It's called chaos. 191 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:10,680 It's called chaos. The earth was formless, empty 192 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:15,480 and dark. It was over the surface of the 193 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:21,760 deep and there what I had a Zulu friend who said the spirit was 194 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:27,440 hovering over this waiting to suck up somebody say hovering, 195 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:33,960 but the if the message Bible can go, please first. 196 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:35,640 This God created the heavens and the earth. 197 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:39,360 All you see, all you don't see, earth was a soup of nothingness, 198 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:43,560 A bottomless emptiness and inky blackness. 199 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:47,040 And God's Spirit, ruach brooded like her. 200 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:51,160 Where do we hear that? Where did we see that in the New 201 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:54,080 Testament? And Jesus was standing when he 202 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:56,040 got baptized. The Holy Spirit came down like 203 00:10:56,040 --> 00:11:00,920 her, brooded like a bird came upon him. 204 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:04,920 And from that time on, Jesus went into every situation that 205 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:11,200 was formless, empty and dark. And he bought form, fullness and 206 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:15,240 light. So when the Holy Spirit comes 207 00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:17,440 upon us, he comes upon us for what? 208 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:22,280 To bring form, to fill up and to bring light. 209 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:33,480 He said don't act weird, pasta or how do doves fly? 210 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:38,040 What do doves do? I want, Holy Spirit, I want you 211 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:40,840 to hover over my life. Holy Spirit, I want you to dwell 212 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:42,560 over my life. Holy Spirit, I want you to fly 213 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:44,720 over my life. Holy Spirit, I want you to come 214 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:48,640 and take everything. Lord, that is chaotic and I want 215 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:53,080 you to bring it into order most of your lives, friends, if 216 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:54,640 you're a doctor, I saw a doctor today. 217 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:57,240 If your knee is a knee doctor, if your knee is broken, you go 218 00:11:57,240 --> 00:12:00,320 to a knee doctor and he takes the chaos of your ACL and your 219 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:02,680 meniscus. He takes the chaos and he and he 220 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:04,440 puts it all back together and he brings order. 221 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:06,520 And then you have physio and then you start walking again. 222 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:09,960 If there's a court case, you have files like this and 223 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:12,720 advocates go through all the chaos and they eventually put it 224 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:14,520 back into order and they present it to a judge. 225 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:17,640 Most of our lives are bringing order to chaos. 226 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,400 God's job is to bring order into chaos. 227 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:28,720 Some of you are living in chaos, formless, empty and dark because 228 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:31,120 you don't actually understand what the Spirit of God does for 229 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:34,800 you as a child of God. And so your sonship and your 230 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:38,160 daughtership is not formed because it when you grew up, it 231 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:41,160 was so deformed by the experiences that you had. 232 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:43,760 So that you live with the deformity instead of deformity. 233 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:49,600 Makes sense. Let's go back to Matthew 4. 234 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:56,960 Jesus is led by the Spirit, say Spirit led by the Spirit into 235 00:12:56,960 --> 00:12:59,080 the desert to be tempted by the devil. 236 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:00,640 Let's keep the Scriptures up there. 237 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:07,400 So Adam faced temptation in the garden with fruit and he failed. 238 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:11,000 Jesus faced temptation in the desert without any food, and he 239 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:17,200 and he passed. And we are disciples of Jesus, 240 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:20,720 so we should be able to handle desert conditions because our 241 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:24,520 boss passed the test in the desert as an example for us. 242 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:27,880 He's now not. He's walking as a man filled 243 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,760 with the Spirit of God. He's giving us an example, not 244 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:34,200 walking as God, walking as a man filled with the Spirit of God. 245 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:38,720 After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. 246 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:45,000 You know when you sin, you sin four times in your life. 247 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:51,760 When you're hungry, when you're stressed, when you're tired and 248 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:58,880 when you're alone. When you're hungry, when you're 249 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:03,800 stressed, when you're tired, and when you're alone, that's when 250 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:08,000 you sin. And so God took Jesus after 40 251 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:11,640 days to the absolute point of human brokenness. 252 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:16,240 He had absolutely no strength. He was in the wild, amongst wild 253 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:17,760 animals. The Bible says he was in a 254 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:20,520 dangerous place. He was completely alone. 255 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:24,120 He, his resources would have been stretched to the absolute 256 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:26,680 uttermost that he was filled with the Spirit. 257 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:33,000 And the Spirit testifies with my spirit that I am son of God. 258 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:37,040 And the Bible has just said this is my son whom I love with him. 259 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:39,600 I'm well pleased. And now he's at the absolute 260 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:44,520 extreme end of his body's abilities and the devil comes 261 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:48,280 and says, surely God wouldn't do this to you. 262 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:58,370 The tempter came and said to him, if you are the Son of God, 263 00:14:58,930 --> 00:15:02,050 the first thing that gets tempted in our whole lives is 264 00:15:02,050 --> 00:15:04,890 our identity. If you are the Son of God, tell 265 00:15:04,890 --> 00:15:08,810 these stones to become bread. You see, friends, he's hungry. 266 00:15:08,810 --> 00:15:10,930 All he had to do was he had the miracle power. 267 00:15:11,290 --> 00:15:13,050 He full of the Holy Spirit. He just says, say actually 268 00:15:13,050 --> 00:15:15,840 become bread and then I can actually get out of my 269 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:18,200 circumstances. You see the problem, friends 270 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:21,880 with young people particularly, is you let the sensual live, 271 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:24,720 lead your lives instead of the word of God. 272 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:28,960 So we are, we are led by sensuality, our touch, our 273 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:31,480 taste, our feeling, our smell. We're touched by that. 274 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:37,040 Especially when you're hungry, tired, stressed and alone or 275 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:40,280 lonely. Those are very dangerous places 276 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:47,640 to be because in that place we learn how to turn stones into 277 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:50,520 bread. We make a plan to make sure that 278 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:57,840 our appetite can be met, Sexual, relational, financial, we do all 279 00:15:57,840 --> 00:15:59,680 sorts of things instead of believe. 280 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:03,360 Now I am a son of God. I am in a difficult place, but 281 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:05,480 I'm going to let the big S speak to the little S. 282 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:08,240 I'm not going to do anything stupid that's going to disobey 283 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:10,320 God's word. Now I'm going to learn how to 284 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:17,360 stand with Christ, you with me. Tell me to Deuteronomy. 285 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:19,600 We'll come back to this. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 8. 286 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:24,160 Please be careful to follow every command I'm giving you 287 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:26,040 today so that you may live an increase. 288 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:28,640 And may Ensign possess the land that the Lord promised on oath 289 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:31,120 to your forefathers. Remember how the Lord your God 290 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:33,720 LED you all the way into the desert for 40 years, say 40 291 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:36,000 years. Jesus was following. 292 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:38,040 So Adam was tested in the garden. 293 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:39,400 He failed. Jesus was tested in the 294 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:41,800 wilderness and he passed. These guys were tested in the 295 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:44,600 wilderness and they failed To humble you and to test you in 296 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:47,080 order to know that was in your heart whether or not you would 297 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:50,840 keep His commands. He humbled you, causing you to 298 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:54,000 hunger and then feeding you with manner which neither you nor 299 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:55,760 your forefathers have known to teach you. 300 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:58,800 That man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that 301 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:01,640 comes from the mouth of God. And 10 times in the book of 302 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:05,440 Deuteronomy it says that the Israelites moaned and groaned, 303 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:08,720 say, moaned and groaned. Your moaning and groaning will 304 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:10,520 stop you living in the inheritance of God. 305 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:13,720 And the greatest problem I've ever seen in the church is 306 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:16,040 critical moaning, groaning people. 307 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:19,400 If you understand the sonship of God, you will stop moaning about 308 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:22,160 your circumstances and you'll stop moaning about people in 309 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:25,800 your lives. Go back to Luke chapter 4 310 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:28,280 please. He said if you are the son of 311 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:30,320 God, tell these stones to become bread. 312 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:34,040 Jesus answered, it is written man does not live on bread 313 00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:39,200 alone. He passed the essential test and 314 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,480 you and I are friends by the Spirit of God, have to pass the 315 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:47,080 essential test because if we fail it, we just stay in the 316 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:48,480 desert. We don't live. 317 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:51,640 We're still saved, still go to heaven, but you're going to find 318 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:54,560 yourself way short of the fullness of what the Holy Spirit 319 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:58,200 has designed us for. Get yourselves out of hungry, 320 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:03,040 stressed, tired, lonely places and get yourself under the big S 321 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:06,560 of God so you start winning. Amen. 322 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:13,000 Let's keep going. Next verse, the devil led him up 323 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:16,160 to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms 324 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:18,680 of the world. And he said to him, I will give 325 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:22,080 all their authority and splendor, for it has been given 326 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:24,280 to me and I can give it to anyone I want to. 327 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:27,480 So if you worship me, it'll all be yours. 328 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,560 Jesus answered, it is written, worship the Lord your God and 329 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:35,440 serve him only friends, He takes someone to this very high place 330 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:39,800 and he says, I'll give all of this to you. 331 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:46,480 The whole lot I'll give to you and Jesus says, but worship the 332 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:48,960 Lord you're God. Only turn with me to Matthew 12 333 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:50,920 if you can put the Matthew 12 on please. 334 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:55,000 Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love. 335 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:58,400 Where did we hear that? Matthew 3. 336 00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:01,600 This is taken from Isaiah 42 in whom I delight. 337 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:05,680 I will put my say it. I'll put my spirit on him. 338 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:06,920 Who's going to put his spirit on? 339 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:09,640 Who's going to put his spirit on? 340 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:12,160 Not the Son who's going to put his spirit on there. 341 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:15,080 This how the Bible works, friends. 342 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:19,600 He's a son and he's called to rule and he's going to become a 343 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:23,200 king. You and our sons and we call to 344 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:24,800 rule, we're going to become kings. 345 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:27,200 But the devil wants to say, let's go the shortcut. 346 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:29,760 I'll take you straight from sonship to kingship. 347 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:32,560 But Jesus says no, no, no. It is written worship the Lord 348 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:33,920 your God. Only the only way I can get it, 349 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:36,240 I have to go from sonship to servanthood. 350 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:37,840 I've got to go through the cross and die. 351 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:40,840 And when I go through the cross and die, I will become the king. 352 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:46,360 The devil's offering a shortcut. Understand that. 353 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:52,880 Don't take the shortcut. Not to any form of authority, 354 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:55,560 because all of us have been called to authority. 355 00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:59,680 Doctors, lawyers, businessmen, some of you financial authority, 356 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:01,960 some of you educational authority, some of you spiritual 357 00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:04,160 authority. I cannot operate in this 358 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:06,280 authority. Unless I've gone through the 359 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:09,960 cross and continue to go through the cross and continue to die to 360 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:13,880 my own passions and my own desires and my own personality 361 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:16,920 and my own DNA and my own preference, unless it's prepared 362 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:18,480 to go to the cross, I will never. 363 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:21,280 You can't bypass the servant heart of God. 364 00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:27,840 I'm talking to your friends. You have to listen tonight 365 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,920 because there's too much immaturity in the church. 366 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:35,600 People saying, oh, I want to turn stone to breed and God has. 367 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:41,760 God will provide for Yori's son. Don't take the shortcut. 368 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:47,960 Let's keep reading. Back in Isaiah, back in Matthew, 369 00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:51,280 the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the 370 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:54,440 highest point of the temple. If you are the Son of God, say 371 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,280 that again. If you are the Son of God, what 372 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:01,120 does the Bible say? The Spirit speaks to my spirit 373 00:21:01,120 --> 00:21:05,400 and says I am there. So when that if comes in your 374 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:11,320 life, you've got to say it is written every if that we see in 375 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:14,400 the Bible Jesus says it is written. 376 00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:17,920 If you are, it is written. If you are, it is written. 377 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:20,840 Don't get tricked by your feelings. 378 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,920 Your feelings are a very bad compass in a storm. 379 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:27,680 It's got to have the word of God inside of you. 380 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:34,360 If you are the Son of God, he said throw yourself down for it 381 00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:37,520 is written He will command his angels concerning you and they 382 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:39,800 will lift you up in their hands so that you'll not strike your 383 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:43,600 foot against the stone that's taken from Psalm 91. 384 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:45,960 Jesus answered, it's auto written. 385 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:47,800 Do not put the Lord your God to the test. 386 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:54,520 So if you stand up on the hill and he just jumped down, he 387 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:56,280 quotes the scripture. He says he'll catch you. 388 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:02,480 I've got a friend of mine from school who's never acknowledged 389 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,560 God, doesn't go to church, doesn't believe in God, gets 390 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:07,600 smashed out of his mind four times a week. 391 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:10,480 His wife does the same and they've got a member of their 392 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:13,720 family who's sick. And now he's really, really, 393 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:20,880 really mad cross pissed off with my God that he's never served in 394 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,720 his life. And I said, but you don't 395 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:25,520 believe in God. How can you be crossed with a 396 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:27,680 God because a member of your family is sick? 397 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:30,000 He says, yeah, but the Bible says God heals. 398 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:31,960 I said, no, hang on, that's just one part of the Bible. 399 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:36,520 There's a whole Bible. You can't just take a verse. 400 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:39,240 He's like Psalm 91. If you'd actually take Psalm 91 401 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:41,800 and go and read it, it says if you make the Most High your 402 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:46,960 dwelling, then you will not pick your foot against the stone and 403 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:49,360 you'll command these angels concerning you to guard you in 404 00:22:49,360 --> 00:22:53,200 all your ways. As I meant to say to my my 405 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:56,440 children when they go out there, it says if you make my God, if 406 00:22:56,440 --> 00:22:58,480 you make my God your dwelling place. 407 00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:02,400 While you were still children and I was your father, I made 408 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:05,560 God your dwelling place. Now you adults, you go out and 409 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:08,120 you own, you drive your own cars, you play rugby matches at 410 00:23:08,120 --> 00:23:10,640 Ellis Park. You got to make my God your God 411 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:14,000 if you want my God's protection to come into your life because 412 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,880 my God can't protect you with my scriptures at the devil's 413 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:20,920 quoting. You understand that, friends. 414 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:24,240 And so we take Philippians chapter 4, verse 13, and we put 415 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:26,240 it on rugby jersey. I can do all things through 416 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:28,640 Christ who gives me strength. No, you can't. 417 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:32,240 You can't do that. It's a misquoted scripture. 418 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:35,200 You don't serve God, you don't love God. 419 00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:37,280 You're getting smashed out of your mind at the end of the 420 00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:38,760 rugby. That scripture doesn't have 421 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:43,440 power. It's got no power taken out of 422 00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:46,080 context. It's got no, it's got no context 423 00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:48,320 to anything. Friends, we are building a 424 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,080 church that you can actually handle suffering and health. 425 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:54,520 We do believe in healing. We do pray for the sick, but we 426 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:57,640 can also see people suffer without throwing our toys out 427 00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:00,880 the cart and letting the little S dictate to the big S. 428 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:04,240 We can actually stop and say, you know what? 429 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:09,080 I am a child of God and if the scriptures, I don't fully 430 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:12,080 understand the scriptures and the scriptures don't seem to be, 431 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:14,600 I'm just going to keep believing the scriptures anyway. 432 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:18,640 I will worship the Lord my God only I will not turn stones into 433 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:21,200 bread because I don't need to learn how to survive. 434 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:27,000 And my friend Clint always laughs at me because when I saw 435 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:29,480 that scripture preached in England and I know some of you 436 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:31,640 know the story, but I want to tell you what your behavior is 437 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:33,240 like. I remember a whole lot of people 438 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:36,240 in the preaching Matthew chapter 4 if turning stones into bed. 439 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:38,920 I saw all these people go to the front for ministry about the 440 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:42,200 father heart of God and I felt God say people have got highly 441 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:45,960 skilled defence mechanisms. Rabbits run, tortoises hide, 442 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:50,760 snakes fight taught turkeys make a big noise and we've got all 443 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:53,080 these defence mechanism. When we come under pressure, 444 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:59,560 when the devil comes as if you are the Son of God, Gone, Run 445 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:02,000 away, disappear. Every time you have 446 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:06,960 confrontation, you duck well, like a tortoise. 447 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:08,800 You just go into your shell like this. 448 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:10,080 Big hard shell. How are you? 449 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:11,120 Fine. What's wrong with you? 450 00:25:11,120 --> 00:25:12,280 Nothing. You want to talk about it? 451 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:15,440 No. I've seen you Afrikaners. 452 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:18,400 That's what you do. I've been dead serious. 453 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:23,240 You're so prideful of showing any form of weakness that you 454 00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:26,040 just put this massive hard shell around yourself. 455 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:30,040 They got everything's cool. No, The Spirit speaks to my 456 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:32,400 spirit and says I am the Son of God. 457 00:25:33,120 --> 00:25:36,120 I remember going to a Home group once a man had a urinary tract 458 00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:39,480 infection that was so serious as going for an operation and they 459 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:41,680 went around the Home group and says anybody got anything wrong 460 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:43,280 with him? And he said no, nothing wrong 461 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:44,760 with me. I think yes, you have. 462 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,720 You've got a urinary tract infection and you're about to go 463 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:50,960 to hospital for an operation and I'm full to the Spirit of God 464 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:55,200 and I can pray for you. But this massive shell of 465 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,960 hardness around him because he doesn't want to show any form of 466 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:02,560 weakness got this unbelievable survivorship. 467 00:26:04,120 --> 00:26:07,120 Snakes fighting, turkeys make a big noise, blah blah blah blah 468 00:26:07,120 --> 00:26:08,040 blah. Quote scripture. 469 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:10,400 I'm a top and not the tail. I'm above and not believe. 470 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:12,880 Young people listen to me. I'm old now. 471 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:16,360 Learn the Bible, Learn the Bible. 472 00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:18,440 You'd have to learn books at a time. 473 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:23,000 Just learn the Bible enough so that when you're tired, lonely, 474 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:30,240 hungry, or stressed, you can stand on some scripture and 475 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:33,920 stand on some scripture. I'll tell you why I'm preaching 476 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:35,920 today. I'm preaching today because I 477 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:38,720 had a nervous breakdown. I spent three months in bed and 478 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,360 the first scripture that I ever preached on my life was Habakkuk 479 00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:43,320 chapter 3. Though the fig tree doesn't 480 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:46,440 blossom and the fruit produces no vine yet, I will worship you, 481 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:49,760 my God and my King. So first scripture I ever 482 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:54,480 preached on 34 years ago. I preached that scripture as if 483 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:57,440 I believed it with all of my heart because I stayed with 484 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,120 people in Worcester who had a tomato in their fridge and they 485 00:27:00,120 --> 00:27:02,880 fed me for a whole week and I saw the provision of God. 486 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:04,800 And I believe Habakkuk chapter 3. 487 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:07,040 It is one of the deep scriptures of my heart. 488 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:09,640 Though the fig tree doesn't blossom and the fruit produce no 489 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:11,840 vine yet. Will I serve you, my God and my 490 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:12,320 King? Amen. 491 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:17,320 Then after three months of lying in bed sick, I cried out to God 492 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:19,440 and I said, God, will I ever preach again? 493 00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:21,240 Will I ever stand up with your word? 494 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:23,360 Will I ever stand up in the pulpit of three CR? 495 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:26,000 And the man who always sits about there on a Sunday morning 496 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:28,120 sits about there. His name is Francois. 497 00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:32,640 He SMS me, said hey posture at Bedfordia. 498 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:41,400 And he added for Michael Pratt on Habakkak 3, though the fig 499 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,200 tree doesn't blossom and the fruit produces no vine yet I 500 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:45,920 will worship you, my God and my king. 501 00:27:46,120 --> 00:27:48,520 I stand here because of that verse of Scripture. 502 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:52,880 You'd have to know the whole Bible, but you need some 503 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:58,280 scripture that can hold you when you're hungry, tired, stressed, 504 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:02,360 and lonely. So that the biggest say, the 505 00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:07,600 biggest speaks to the little S Say that speaks to the little S 506 00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:13,600 and says I am the son or daughter of God. 507 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:16,720 Say that I am. He'd better say it loudly 508 00:28:17,360 --> 00:28:19,080 because I'm not going to pray for you afterwards. 509 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,680 I'm being dead serious. Say I am. 510 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:28,480 Say I am the son and daughter of God. 511 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:36,600 The big S speaks to the little S and gives me a position that can 512 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:42,720 handle desert, it can handle temptation, it can handle 513 00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:45,760 shortcuts in Jesus name.