1 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:08,440 It's really an amazing privilege for me to be at today and just 2 00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:13,840 to share a few thoughts with you around prayer. 3 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:18,760 And I thought of of hooking on and and my to call my talk the 4 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:22,880 effects of prayer because we pray, but what effects can we 5 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:29,880 accept or can we Yeah. Can we not accept respect. 6 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:32,720 OK, expect. Thank you, Stephen. 7 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:38,480 Expect Dennis. So I want to start off by saying 8 00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:42,880 that this book has all the answers. 9 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:49,360 It has all the answers for all your problems. 10 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:53,360 And I'm going to use a couple of examples throughout the sermon. 11 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:59,600 And what's so wonderful about this is that when God gives you 12 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,920 a promise from this word, of course you have to study it 13 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:06,760 before you get the promises. There's no expiry date. 14 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:12,920 It's there forever. And we mustn't forget one people 15 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:18,600 125 says the word of the Lord endures forever, forever. 16 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:24,840 And it's a lamp to my feet. It's a light to my path and and 17 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:26,800 this is what I want to share with you today. 18 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:30,360 So I'm standing here in all humbleness because I also know 19 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:32,920 my own art and I know I have feet of clay. 20 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:40,720 I want to build my my talk this morning on on three specific 21 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:44,200 verses, which I hope that you will remember throughout the 22 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,040 talk. The first one would be from 23 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:54,880 Isaiah 29, verse 13, Isaiah 2913 that says you afflicted people, 24 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:57,480 you people going through difficult times. 25 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:04,240 You come to me with your mouths and your lips, but your hearts 26 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:12,320 are far from me. One book further, Jeremiah 2913, 27 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:15,600 we all love verse 11. I know the plans I have for you, 28 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:17,280 plans to give you hope in the future. 29 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:22,200 We love that. But the key is verse 13. 30 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:30,560 Seek me and you will find me if you seek me that that is the 31 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:35,240 basis if you seek me with all your heart. 32 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:38,240 So the one says your mouth, your lips. 33 00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:40,960 The other verse not without your heart. 34 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:44,240 The other one says, seek me with all your heart. 35 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:48,880 And then the third verse that I'd like to build on is James 36 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:54,000 1/5 that if you need wisdom, we're now seeking the Lord. 37 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:58,200 We are now with our whole heart. And if you need wisdom, come to 38 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:03,080 me and I will gladly give it to you without reproach. 39 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:07,840 But the word says when you come and when you ask, you have to 40 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:12,000 come in faith. If you don't come in faith, you 41 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:21,920 like will be like a Hulfe wave first blown this way by the 42 00:03:21,920 --> 00:03:24,880 wind, this way and that way, and the one translation said, and 43 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:29,000 such a man will be unstable in all his ways. 44 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:34,720 And I just realized, wow, this is not a game. 45 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:40,000 This is serious. This is the God of the universe 46 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:46,160 that wants to guide us through his word and we have to make 47 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:48,200 time. We have to be serious, we have 48 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:53,600 to study it. Let me start with one very good 49 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:56,680 example, which I I love and I'm hope you guys are going to help 50 00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:00,400 me in this. One is from two Chronicles 20 51 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:05,680 and I call this the 11 PS, the 11 PS. 52 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,120 So I'm sure you're going to help me remember 1234. 53 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:12,480 OK, so let me give the the a little bit of the background. 54 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,600 The background is where Jehoshaphat was king of Judah 55 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:21,959 and near they stayed in Jerusalem and they were a small 56 00:04:21,959 --> 00:04:27,560 number of people and a vast number of armies drew up against 57 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:34,640 Jehoshaphat and and Judah and the messenger came along and 58 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:41,760 said we have a problem first be and what did Joseph had do? 59 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:44,320 And the messenger said these vast armies, they're going to 60 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:46,600 wipe us out. Major problem. 61 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:50,000 What did Joseph had do, which all of us do. 62 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:53,680 If we have a major problem, we panic. 63 00:04:54,000 --> 00:05:00,200 Secondly, and Joseph fact was the word says deeply distressed 64 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:03,200 because he didn't see any way out. 65 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:07,960 And what did he do? He got the nation together and 66 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:13,640 he said, guys, we have to fast and we have to pray third be 67 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:19,080 they prayed together. And then very interesting, one 68 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:21,680 of the the people that were there stood up and he said to 69 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:23,880 King Jehoshaphat, this is what the Lord says. 70 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:32,960 The Lord says that this war, this battle is not yours, but 71 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:40,800 it's his. That was the plan 4th 1, he said 72 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:43,200 prepare. Lord says you have to prepare 73 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:46,640 and your fifth one prepare and you have to go down to the 74 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:48,880 battle and he will give you the victory. 75 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:57,440 They then praised the Lord, important, they praised him 76 00:05:57,440 --> 00:05:58,960 before they even had the victory. 77 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:02,760 And then the 6th one, what they did was critically important. 78 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:05,920 They prepared guys, if we prepare for battle, people 79 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:09,640 prepare for battle. They don't put on their suits, 80 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:13,600 they put on their armor. If we as Christians prepare for 81 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:16,000 battle, we have to put on the armor of God. 82 00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:20,560 We put on a harness, we put on a helmet, the helmet of salvation 83 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:23,160 we put on, we've got a shield of faith. 84 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:25,320 We have a spear of of this of the Spirit. 85 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:27,880 So we have all of this available to us. 86 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:34,480 We have to prepare for battle. Then they went down. 87 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:37,200 Now Can you imagine? They went down this little hill. 88 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:41,800 There is a small band of people coming down the hill and before 89 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:46,480 they, when they started walking, Joseph did what every good 90 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:50,000 leader would do. He stopped them and he pointed 91 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:56,320 their eyes towards the Lord. And he said, remember, you have 92 00:06:56,320 --> 00:07:01,400 to have faith as a leader. We need to encourage our people. 93 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:06,920 Remember, this is not me, This is God going to give our 94 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:10,280 victory. You have to have faith. 95 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:13,880 And then they went down and they praised the Lord again. 96 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:16,640 That's now a number. Whatever you have to mocount it. 97 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:21,240 They praise the Lord now. Now all these armies are down. 98 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:22,960 Yeah, yeah. There's a bunch of people coming 99 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:26,160 down and they are singing and dancing in front of the Lord. 100 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,800 What happens? They start arguing amongst 101 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:34,600 themselves the the armies, and they start fighting and killing. 102 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:39,360 The word says every one of them. Interesting. 103 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:44,240 And the battle was not King Jehoshaphat, it was the Lords. 104 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:50,800 And he did a miracle and they went and they collected the 105 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:55,080 loot, the clothes, the armament. 3 days it took them to collect 106 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:59,480 everything from these armies. They profited greatly. 107 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:05,880 Beautiful and then they went and they praised the Lord once again 108 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:12,520 and what did the Lord give them? He gave them peace and this is a 109 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:17,760 wonderful example of when we go through difficult periods, we 110 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:24,560 have to really, really just just press into the Lord and I'm 111 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:29,960 going to give a few examples the effect of prayer. 112 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:35,760 We have to see if we ask God to guide us and we pray, then we 113 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:38,640 have to expect an answer. But where do you get to answer 114 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:40,960 your own thoughts the the circumstances? 115 00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:44,080 There's only one place to get it. 116 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:48,160 And this isn't the word because this is the truth. 117 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:51,200 Not what I feel, not what I experienced, not what I'm going 118 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:52,640 through. This is the word. 119 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:56,680 Let me give you an example where to buy buy our we. 120 00:08:56,680 --> 00:09:00,000 Our pharmacy was too small for our hearing aid business and we 121 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:01,880 decided to buy a small office block. 122 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:06,520 And I remember and, and one of my friends, Rob noon and he's 123 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:08,040 sitting in the audience this morning. 124 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:13,160 We were standing in front of this building and said, well, go 125 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:15,800 from a pharmacy now all of a sudden to three floors and that 126 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:18,760 this is very big. And, and I remember saying to 127 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:21,080 the to the agent, I'm going to pray about it. 128 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:26,280 And I walked away and I thought, what the heck, I'm early, but 129 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:30,800 I'm not that early. We're in the word does it stand? 130 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:33,520 You can buy an office block. No way. 131 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:37,720 Anyway, so I went and I went home and the, the Wednesday 132 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:43,240 morning I had my quiet time at 4:00 and said, Lord, I'm now 133 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:49,080 sorry to put you under pressure, but you know that we, we going 134 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:52,320 on Friday to Botswana with a family for camping. 135 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:57,480 And I no need to know today whether we can buy this or not 136 00:09:57,480 --> 00:09:59,320 because we have to have the paperwork ready. 137 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:02,440 And, and I'm, I'm, I'm really sorry for the pressure. 138 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:08,240 My reading that morning was from the one year Bible and I worked 139 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:11,400 through the one year Bible at that stage was from to King 6 140 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:15,240 and the seminary students went to Elijah and said, Sir, our 141 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:18,600 dormitory is too small. Can we build a bigger one down 142 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:21,760 by the Jordan River where there are plenty of logs? 143 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:24,840 And he said, yes, you can go, so will you come with us? 144 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:30,640 He said, yes, I will. And immediately doubt set in. 145 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:35,880 But we've just read James 1/5 that says if you ask, you have 146 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:41,000 to come in faith, and if the Lord answers you, you have to be 147 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:44,720 obedient. But I had this tremendous doubt 148 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:46,960 in my heart and I thought this is too easy. 149 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:50,520 We had breakfast that morning and Anita and the children were 150 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:53,960 sitting around the table and I sat there, Mr. Big Guy and oh by 151 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:56,600 the way, I prayed about this building and look what the Lord 152 00:10:56,600 --> 00:11:00,440 has given the verse has given me, not sharing with them the 153 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,320 doubt in my heart. And as I looked up and saying 154 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:07,360 saw my daughter Louise with tears running down her cheeks 155 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:11,600 and she said, Dad, isn't God wonderful? 156 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:19,840 And that my friends, we have to understand we have an amazing 157 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:26,600 God. I want to also share a little 158 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:32,920 bit about the future because soon after that, in 1993, we had 159 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:37,560 just a year before the election, we said, well, we're in this 160 00:11:37,560 --> 00:11:39,760 building now and where we're going to get work. 161 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:42,800 And, and everybody said the last thing you have to do is expand 162 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:46,040 and, and it's going to be bad news and you'll have to look and 163 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:51,640 see. And I went to the Lord and I 164 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:54,560 said, Lord, please, what about the future? 165 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:58,560 Please guide me, keeping in mind that when he gives you a 166 00:11:58,560 --> 00:12:02,840 promise, it's forever. It has no expiry date. 167 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:07,840 And the only spirit took me to Isaiah 54 verse two to four and 168 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:11,000 says, enlarge the place of your tent. 169 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:15,320 Spread out your tent pens, lengthen the strengthen the 170 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:20,720 stakes. Do not hold back, do not fear. 171 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:24,120 You will not stand ashamed, because soon you are going to 172 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:29,160 burst by the seams. And I realized that God always 173 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:31,560 leads his children against the stream. 174 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:35,000 Folks, it's only dead fish that swim with the stream. 175 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:39,960 If we say we are Christians, we have to take an opposite stance. 176 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:47,520 We have to go against the tide. He confirmed that verse many 177 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:51,600 years later. A few years after the Marikana 178 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:54,600 massacre. I was invited to go and speak in 179 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:58,640 Rustermock, and I said, Lord Rustermock, yeah, it's so 180 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:01,600 depressing. After the Marikana shooting, it 181 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:04,640 was thousands of miners next to the road. 182 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:08,040 It was depressing to go through. What must I go and tell them? 183 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:16,480 Give them a message of hope. I say, excuse me, a message of 184 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:17,880 hope. I don't want to give them false 185 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:19,760 hope because that's worse than no hope. 186 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:25,880 Give them a message of hope. Go and tell them to forget the 187 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:29,560 former things. Tell them that I am doing 188 00:13:29,560 --> 00:13:31,640 something new. Don't you see it? 189 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:35,480 It's already begun. I'm going to make a river in the 190 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:38,040 wilderness. Pathway in the wilderness and 191 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:45,440 rivers in the desert as I have 5043 verse 18 and 19 and I went 192 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:48,720 to share it with them and a year later ago and I said by the way 193 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:53,960 guys, fear is withholding you is blinding you from the 194 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:56,440 opportunities that God sends over your path. 195 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:02,080 Ask the Lord to open your eyes for the opportunities that you 196 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:05,280 can grasp. A year later a guy arrived out 197 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:09,080 of Rustenburg in a Bucky. He sat the whole front part seat 198 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:12,720 full of the Bucky. He walked down the aisle and I 199 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:15,920 thought, or the, OR the passage towards my office and this admin 200 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:18,360 staff thought that I'm going to, I'm going to get it today. 201 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:22,640 I'm going to be socked. And he sat in in the chair and 202 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:26,800 he said, I just want to say, a year ago you came to Rustenburg 203 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:28,840 and said, we have to ask the Lord to open our eyes. 204 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:33,000 And I asked him and I got a 14,000,000 Rand contract to 205 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:37,440 close a mine. And after a year and after I 206 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:40,560 closed the mine, I got another 14,000,000 Rand contract to open 207 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:42,960 the mine. He said, I just wanted to say 208 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:45,440 thank you very much. And you walk down the passage 209 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:47,480 and I want to still say, oh, they're not the small 210 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:56,640 Commission. So why do we fear the future 211 00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:00,440 when it holds so much in it for us? 212 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:05,400 When God has said do not fear you will not stand ashamed. 213 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:10,000 Give that input. Ask the Lord to open your eyes 214 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:12,880 so that you can make a difference. 215 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:16,880 And it's interesting that just want to touch on the vision that 216 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:21,200 he gave me. We have to expect the unexpected 217 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:24,000 when God asks, when you ask him for a vision. 218 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:28,320 And many years ago, in 1992, we sponsored the first get together 219 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:30,160 of principles or schools for the deaf. 220 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:34,120 And when I left there, the, the, the principal said, you know, 221 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:38,640 signing children come back after they're metric, they're metric. 222 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:42,560 And then they, they can't speak because if you can't hear, you 223 00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:44,200 can't speak. If you can't speak, you can 224 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:48,440 hardly read and they can't get any jobs. 90% are unemployed. 225 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:53,080 And it was depressing when I went away there and a few weeks 226 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:55,520 later I'm sat in my quiet time and said, Lord, we know I had 227 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:58,120 this conference. What, what do you want me to do? 228 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:02,960 And I clearly heard the Holy Spirit say to me, and I have my 229 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:16,640 quiet time in English. Well, so I clearly heard him say 230 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:19,400 to me, I want you to make a difference in their education. 231 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:23,960 Now folks, I'm a businessman, first of all. 232 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:29,000 And secondly, I hated school and I hated university. 233 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:32,320 So for me, education was a profitable moment. 234 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:37,200 Little did I know it took six years for God to change my 235 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:39,200 thinking. That when I give you a vision, 236 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,920 it's always to benefit other people, never yourself. 237 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:49,840 That's point #1 secondly, if I give you a vision, do not make 238 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,520 the vision that I've given you somebody else's burden. 239 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:59,440 And I realized over the years that I am not going to ask for 240 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:02,560 money. I'm going to share the vision 241 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:08,960 and trust God to work in the hearts of kings to open their 242 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,400 hands, their purses and their hearts. 243 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:14,640 But we have to expect the unexpected. 244 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:18,760 Because He knew I knew nothing about education. 245 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:23,319 And who does he send me? A 70 year old lady from England, 246 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:28,520 retired principal for a school for the deaf where they spoke 247 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:32,080 that oral language. They spoke like Mr. Bean. 248 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:32,800 Hello. Hello. 249 00:17:33,360 --> 00:17:36,880 How are you? They didn't they didn't have the 250 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:41,720 technology guys. So and we I realized, OK, yeah, 251 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:43,600 this lady comes, she says, you know what? 252 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:49,040 I just want to say to you that we have that was today every 253 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:55,800 deaf child born deaf today, every 99.8% of every child born 254 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:59,480 death today. If you identify them early 255 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:02,440 enough and you fit them with the right hearing aids or cochlear 256 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:06,360 implants and with and you expose them to nothing but normal 257 00:18:06,360 --> 00:18:08,800 natural language, they will develop normally. 258 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:12,600 I said I understand that but they speak funny because they 259 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:15,840 can't hear, said no, no, no, they speak funny because they 260 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:19,440 are being taught language and language is caught not taught. 261 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:22,560 That's why you need to put them in a normal school environment 262 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:27,960 and the the need for own trends. He said you have to start with a 263 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:32,720 professional people. I said OK, when we start 264 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:37,840 February 1998, we had our first course and I said well this is 265 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:40,920 now quite clear in my mind. Six years I've walked with this 266 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:42,960 vision. Yeah, I'm beginning to 267 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:45,640 understand this from the 75 year old lady. 268 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:48,280 We're having a conference for professional people. 269 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:52,160 I have to rent the City Hall and that we're going to pack it out. 270 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:57,400 Five people arrived that morning. 271 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:01,600 I sat in my quiet time and I said, Lord, I'm sorry, five 272 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:05,600 people, really. May I remind you this is not my 273 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:12,040 vision, this is your vision, but 5 people and the Holy Spirit 274 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:14,800 reminded me of Zechariah 4 verse 10. 275 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:20,760 Do not despise this small beginning, for the eyes of the 276 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:24,080 Lord rejoice to see the work begin. 277 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:28,640 And then my eyes fell on verse 6. 278 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:34,000 You will succeed, but not through might nor through power, 279 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:38,280 but through my spirit because the Lord knows I like to get 280 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:43,920 things done and I must not try and part the Red Sea in my own 281 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:45,800 strength. He will do it. 282 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:49,600 He worked in the hearts of kings. 283 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:53,280 I shared this with friends in in Switzerland. 284 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:57,200 We said what we now have to do is we with together with Mike, 285 00:19:57,200 --> 00:20:00,800 we have to have a training centre, an edge duplex training 286 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:03,880 institute that we could train the professionals. 287 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:06,160 But you can't train professionals if you don't have 288 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:09,440 a model. You need a model school to train 289 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:12,200 the professionals in. We said right, we're going to 290 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:14,120 have start the school for inclusion. 291 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,360 Where we include two or three deaf children in every class. 292 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:22,480 So today we have 840 children in the school, 70 are deaf and 40 293 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:25,400 of those deaf children are the poorest of the poor. 294 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:30,520 They're dependent on bursaries. And when Mr. Quite quite 295 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:34,000 interesting in 1998 that when when we started with the 296 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:38,120 training, the Lord knew we had to put food on the table. 297 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:43,080 So on the one side, he said morack, and on the other side, 298 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:47,440 he gave us the vision to develop ear institutes. 299 00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:54,240 And the two run hand in hand. Spurgeon says if you do God's 300 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:58,440 work God's way, God will look after your work. 301 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:01,440 And that's exactly what happened. 302 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:03,720 And the two grew, grew hand in hand. 303 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,640 And when Mr. Mandela opened the school in 2002, he said what 304 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:11,280 you're doing here is changing tragedy into triumph. 305 00:21:12,120 --> 00:21:15,040 And that's exactly what we did. And then then something 306 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:18,160 interesting happened. We had this high in 2002 of the 307 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:23,120 school and the opening, but our business was going down the 308 00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:26,720 drain because you'll remember the ram devalued, every shipment 309 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:29,760 was more expensive, spare parts were more expensive and there 310 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:31,640 was no business. And if there's no turnover, 311 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:35,040 there's no money. And the 6th of September, which 312 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:39,960 would be in five days time, 2002, I was on my knees in front 313 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:43,320 of the Lord and said, Lord, we're going bankrupt. 314 00:21:46,120 --> 00:21:49,960 I have two choices. The Lord loves it when we when 315 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:53,800 we say we only have two choices. I have two choices. 316 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,960 The one is to go and borrow more money in Switzerland or borrow 317 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,760 money in Switzerland. And every time I need to remind 318 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:04,080 you, every time that I pray about it, you say do not go to 319 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:06,760 Egypt for you will be bitterly disappointed. 320 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:11,040 But I say the second choice that I have is we have to go 321 00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:13,880 bankrupt. And I ask that you would help 322 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:17,040 me, that people will not get heard in the process. 323 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:23,760 My reading that morning was from Spurgeon's Checkbook of Faith, 324 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:26,960 and he started with Psalm 27, verse 1314. 325 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:31,000 Wait on the Lord, be of good courage. 326 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:36,960 Wait on the Lord that I expect that no, and Spurgeon said. 327 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:39,840 Let your waiting be on the Lord is worth waiting for. 328 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:45,680 But when you wait, keep up your spirit and expect a mighty 329 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:48,760 miracle and be ready to praise God for it. 330 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:54,920 The Rand strengthened went from 10 Rand the Swiss franc to 5 331 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:56,840 Rand the Swiss franc within months. 332 00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:02,360 Shipments became cheaper, turnovers went up, and six 333 00:23:02,360 --> 00:23:05,040 months later we did not owe the bank a cent. 334 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:20,260 That is the God that I pray to, but the Lord want to take me to 335 00:23:20,260 --> 00:23:22,260 the next level of faith. Because you see when we built 336 00:23:22,260 --> 00:23:25,180 the preschool, we had the money. There's no faith needed when you 337 00:23:25,180 --> 00:23:28,820 have the money. And then the same people guys 338 00:23:28,820 --> 00:23:31,420 said, well, the primary school the following year we're to 339 00:23:31,420 --> 00:23:33,900 build and they gave money for the 1st 10 classes. 340 00:23:33,900 --> 00:23:37,820 And a few years later, in 2006, they said, now we will give 341 00:23:37,820 --> 00:23:39,740 money to complete the primary school. 342 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:46,040 But if God wants to take you to the next level of faith, what is 343 00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:48,640 the easiest way for him to do it? 344 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:54,800 He stops the money because if the money stops, you hit your 345 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:58,080 knees. And I was standing there one 346 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:00,800 Tuesday afternoon watching them pump the concrete into the 347 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:02,800 foundations. And I got a phone call and my 348 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:05,800 friend said, I believe a church is using our facilities. 349 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,640 I said yes, nothing to hide. He said it must stop. 350 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:13,240 In Switzerland we don't have churches using schools and we 351 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:24,160 want, yeah, no churches and schools and we want, we will pay 352 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:25,840 for everything that the church has to go. 353 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:30,200 We stop the money. At that stage the school was a 354 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:32,760 16,000,000 Rand project. We were building the EAR 355 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:38,360 Institute for 17 million in Queenswood and we really in a in 356 00:24:38,360 --> 00:24:42,120 a difficult situation and I remember saying to him, you know 357 00:24:42,120 --> 00:24:44,640 what, it's your money, you do with it what you like. 358 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:47,960 It's my school and I'm not going to ask the church to go. 359 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:51,240 They stopped the money from 1 moment to the next. 360 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:56,920 Little did I know God was wanting to take me to the next 361 00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:01,160 level of faith. Two months later we borrowed 362 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:03,680 money. The Lord blessed our company and 363 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:06,320 by the way, we cannot expect from him to go. 364 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:09,000 He's not a cookie cutter. Oh, I'll send you people to give 365 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:10,760 money, but no, it doesn't work that way. 366 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:12,680 Sometimes He used different methods. 367 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:18,000 He blessed our company that we could borrow 15,000,000 and two. 368 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:22,000 But two months later I woke up one morning and I was very 369 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:26,120 depressed. That evening before I went, I 370 00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:31,160 checked my emails and there was an e-mail from this doctor, 371 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:33,040 Moore Clark Holiday. She was a Scottish lady 372 00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:36,240 holidaying in Scotland. And she says, well I feel this 373 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:40,040 is unacceptable, but you should read Revelation 3 verse 8. 374 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:44,800 The next morning I I go into the office, I open my mail, says my 375 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:48,240 dear friend Kharad Vorfart, which is now with the Lord, but 376 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:51,960 he holidayed in Mexico and he says this is unacceptable. 377 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,960 But really, you should read Revelation 3, verse 8. 378 00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:59,840 My first reaction was, who the hell reads Revelation when 379 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,920 you're on holiday? Anyway? 380 00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:08,960 Sorry that that slipped out. So, so. 381 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:13,640 And Revelation 3 verse 8 says, I know you well, you are not 382 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:16,720 strong. Yeah, folks, when I read that, I 383 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:21,080 just burst, burst out in tears and realized God knows this so 384 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:22,600 well. I don't have to pretend 385 00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:25,520 anything. He knows I have feet of clay. 386 00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:28,800 He knows I'm afraid. He knows I'm under stress. 387 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:32,240 I know you well. You are not strong, but you have 388 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:35,560 tried to obey. Folks, none of us can obey. 389 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:40,120 Only Jesus could obey. But we try, and God sees it. 390 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:42,960 Then he says, I know you well. You're not strong, but you've 391 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:47,800 tried to obey and the key and not denied by name. 392 00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:52,760 Therefore, I've put before you an open law that no man can 393 00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:57,160 shut. I grabbed that verse for myself 394 00:26:57,160 --> 00:27:00,160 and after a few days realized it's for the for our children in 395 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:02,520 the school, it's for our staff, it's for our parents, it's for 396 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:04,760 the community. It's for each one of us that God 397 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:06,760 puts an open door in front of each one of us. 398 00:27:07,120 --> 00:27:11,080 It's up to us to walk through it in faith or to turn away in 399 00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:14,120 fear. And what was this? 400 00:27:14,120 --> 00:27:17,240 The next level that the Lord took me to was next level of 401 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:24,240 faith that in 19, in 2920, fifth of November, he said I wanted to 402 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:29,880 develop a second campus. We had exactly 27,000 Rand in 403 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:34,600 the bank, a second campus. Lord what must be, oh, you have 404 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:37,120 to build a high school, you have to build an audiology centre, 405 00:27:37,120 --> 00:27:38,840 you have to develop the sports fields. 406 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:44,680 This is not possible. And when I sat a few months 407 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:49,560 later in the 5th of April 2010, I sat in Germany praying about 408 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:53,920 this whole second campus and I said, Lord, the money, the money 409 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:57,960 is like a mountain in front of me and and I don't know where 410 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:01,640 we're going to get this. And I read that was, but it took 411 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:05,880 me to Isaiah 45 verse first 3 verses. 412 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:12,760 It says I will open the door. Amazing how the Lord sometimes 413 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:16,520 reminds us of his promises because we didn't forget it. 414 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:21,440 I will open the door, I will flatten the mountain, quoting 415 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:25,840 from Zechariah for the Seven. I will flatten the mountain, 416 00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:29,120 this mountain of money that you see in what you don't know where 417 00:28:29,120 --> 00:28:33,480 you're going to flatten it. And I will give you, I will 418 00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:39,280 break down the city gates. And when I read that, I knew 419 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:45,080 this was the 9.4 hectares sports fields that we needed to ask the 420 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:50,280 City Council for that everybody said the ANC City Council will 421 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:54,360 never donate. That said, well, the Lord said 422 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:56,080 he's going to break down the city gates. 423 00:28:56,840 --> 00:29:00,520 And we, I'm not, unfortunately we don't have time for me to go 424 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:02,560 into the detail. But I just want to say the mayor 425 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:05,840 visited us, who's now the, the Minister of Electricity, 426 00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:11,400 Sputlara Mohopa, he visited us. An amazing story of how people 427 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:15,520 influenced him and his life to eventually bless us and the 428 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:20,720 whole City Council with the story. 9.4 hectares. 429 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:30,840 The Lord can do the impossible. And I want to say that I've seen 430 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:36,320 in my life Proverbs 21 one come true that says that the heart of 431 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:40,080 the Lord, the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord and 432 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:43,120 he directs their thoughts like water in a furrow. 433 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:46,320 If you're going through a difficult time, keep your eyes 434 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:51,440 on the Lord, ask Him. Seek Him with all your heart. 435 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:55,800 You will be amazed, amazed at what is in store for you. 436 00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:03,040 And I want to end by saying how? How do I have my quiet time? 437 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:04,880 Just want to share it. Maybe it can help you. 438 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:12,200 Mark 125 says that Jesus sought the Lord his Father early in the 439 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:14,680 morning. In fact, it was so early that 440 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:18,040 when the disciples woke up there to look for him because he was, 441 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:21,160 he really disappeared. So my suggestion would be that 442 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:25,600 you have a separate room or area where you can seek the Lord 443 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:29,960 every day. I know some people say no, no, 444 00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:31,280 no. We always pray together. 445 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:33,840 Our men's group get together every day and we pray no, no, 446 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:35,160 no. The Lord wants you alone my 447 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:38,280 friend. He wants to you to spend time 448 00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:41,400 with him. I cannot say I love Anita and I 449 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:45,840 do not spend time with her. I cannot say I love Jesus and I 450 00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:51,480 don't spend time in his word because what did Jeremiah 2913 451 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:54,800 say? You will find me if you seek me 452 00:30:55,160 --> 00:31:00,520 with all your heart. And then the 13 thing is, we 453 00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:04,760 have done all of this, but we now need to be obedient. 454 00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:10,040 Let's go back to to James one, verse 22. 455 00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:16,640 Do not merely listen to the word and so deceives yourselves. 456 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:20,840 Do what it says, do what it says. 457 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:24,960 If you have to do what it says, Does it take guts? 458 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:27,800 Takes a lot of guts. Is it easy? 459 00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:32,000 No. You get so much resistance. 460 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:35,040 If you want to do the Lord's work, you get so much criticism, 461 00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:39,600 but you have to stay focused and you have to keep your eyes on 462 00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:42,720 the Lord. And it's my prayer that the Lord 463 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:47,120 will bless you as you seek Him with all your heart in the days 464 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:50,000 to come. And Lord willing, tonight we're 465 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,400 going to have a little bit of a different angle, but may you be 466 00:31:53,400 --> 00:32:07,530 blessed as you seek Him. I'm sitting there thinking I 467 00:32:07,530 --> 00:32:11,880 have to ask you how you have your quiet time because I know 468 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:14,200 we've got some tents who got baptized this morning. 469 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:16,960 You've only walked this walk for for five months. 470 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:21,360 And we've got some who've had their morning devotions for 50 471 00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:24,520 years, but I do have 44. How many? 472 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:29,760 4444. So there's a couple questions 473 00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:31,800 that if you wouldn't mind answering. 474 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:35,040 Explain to me. You wake up in the morning, you 475 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:37,160 have a cup of coffee. No. 476 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:38,000 No coffee. Tea. 477 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:38,920 No. Nothing. 478 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:41,640 Oh yeah, I know. I feel you're groan. 479 00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:49,240 OK and you still hear the Lord. I'm just the voices in your head 480 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:51,240 now. OK, so you sit down. 481 00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:57,080 So the one Thessalonians one says be imitators of me and the 482 00:32:57,080 --> 00:32:58,480 Lord. And that's what the 483 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,160 Thessalonians did. And they became a model to the 484 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:05,240 whole of IKEA and Macedonia because they imitated the faith 485 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:07,760 of what they'd seen in in Paul, Timothy and Sylvanus. 486 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:11,760 So this is not a formula. This Is Us saying, as a senior 487 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:15,520 man who's walked this walk, just explain to me the the process. 488 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:18,480 Start with time. How much time do you spend? 489 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:22,360 I, I used to get up at 4, but now, you know, after 70, I 490 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:25,240 thought, let me give you a bit of space and I get up at 4:30 491 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:28,440 and that's. What I was thinking, yeah. 492 00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:34,040 Then I have a a glass, a litre of water just to hydrate myself 493 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:36,120 instead of a coffee that I've liked at the office. 494 00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:43,800 But then I go and I and I pray and you see, I mean, I go with 495 00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:47,880 and sometimes I don't know. I just praise the Lord and thank 496 00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:51,480 him for the day and, but but please guide me also for the day 497 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:53,280 ahead because I don't know what it holds. 498 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:57,960 But some days I have specific questions and that's when I say, 499 00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:02,600 Lord, I really need guidance on this like James 15 said. 500 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:09,000 And then then I sometimes bounce this off Anita or off my 501 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:13,600 children or other believers and say, do I hear this correctly? 502 00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:16,440 I mean, this is, am I perhaps off the wall? 503 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:19,960 And if they confirm it, then, then I have to push forward. 504 00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:25,520 I've also realized that sometimes Satan uses the people 505 00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:29,719 closest to you to, to discourage you and and that you have to, 506 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:34,159 you need discernment to say, I'm not going to lend my years to 507 00:34:34,159 --> 00:34:35,760 this one. I'm going to, I'm going to carry 508 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:39,360 on. That's like one of our top board 509 00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:42,199 members came and said, you know, you, you, you deceiving the 510 00:34:42,199 --> 00:34:44,639 people that say you're going to build a high school said, but I 511 00:34:44,639 --> 00:34:47,199 have all these verses that the Lord said, no, you can't do 512 00:34:47,199 --> 00:34:48,320 that. You, you're deceiving the 513 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:50,600 people. It was such a discouragement 514 00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:53,120 when I said I have to carry on, keep my eyes on the road. 515 00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:58,680 Then after that at 5:50, then I start on the treadmill. 516 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,920 My trainer comes at 6:15 six days a week. 517 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:05,760 And you went off to the. Office, I know when you spoke at 518 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:09,200 the call conference you referred to a daily devotional. 519 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:12,480 Do you read through something like that every morning? 520 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:17,360 Is it scripture as well? I have 45 daily devotionals 521 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:21,160 because as people give them to me, I, I can't put the old ones 522 00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:23,400 down. And Spurs and Shepherd of Faith 523 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:26,000 is my oldest one and I've worked through it now for nearly 30 524 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:27,800 years. It's the old books falling apart 525 00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:30,280 and every day of the year read the same piece. 526 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:33,080 And it's very interesting that sometimes if you pray about 527 00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:36,320 something, the Lord will open a part that you've never seen 528 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:38,840 before and you've read through this for 25 years. 529 00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:43,200 So the Holy Spirit works in our hearts and he works in 530 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:46,520 mysterious ways. And we just have to be open. 531 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:50,840 And there was mornings that I that I thought had I missed this 532 00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:54,680 morning and sleeping a bit, I would have missed such a 533 00:35:54,680 --> 00:35:57,560 blessing. But it takes discipline, takes 534 00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:00,800 discipline to put the TV off at night, to close my book, to go 535 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:03,080 to bed early and to get up early. 536 00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:05,840 Some people say, you know, I'm not the morning person. 537 00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:09,320 Now you have to then change your routine because if you only pray 538 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:11,680 at night, you're going to sleep clean, but you'll live dirty. 539 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:21,160 OK, the the the $1,000,000 question Nico, how do you know 540 00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:23,840 that God is speaking to you from that verse? 541 00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:28,680 If I'm reading 2 chapters in the morning, how do you know when 542 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:33,400 there's that is my answer. That's an interesting 11 543 00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:35,400 morning. I had quiet time and I was I was 544 00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:39,680 reading and working through Matthew and all the time my eyes 545 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:43,080 went back to a verse that says be be kind to the strangers in 546 00:36:43,080 --> 00:36:46,320 your house. I said, there's no strangers in 547 00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:47,960 my house. We have servants and we have 548 00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:51,320 Anita and she's not a stranger and carry on. 549 00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:53,200 But every time I went back to this. 550 00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:57,360 Then I walked into the room and Anita said, you know, I mean, I 551 00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:01,280 know you don't want additional people in the house and but our 552 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:04,840 our servant, she wants to bring her sister and trainer and and I 553 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:07,440 know you don't like it and we won't have more pup and we won't 554 00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:08,480 have more of that. We won't. 555 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:13,880 And I said, relax, God said I have to be kind to the strangers 556 00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:15,160 in the house. Bring them in. 557 00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:16,840 Let's accept them with open arms. 558 00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:22,520 You know, you know if you see. I'll end it there. 559 00:37:22,680 --> 00:37:28,320 You know, Heavenly Father, we just want to bring this word to 560 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:30,160 you. Your word tells us that Your 561 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:32,760 word is like seed and its own and hearts. 562 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:34,280 And I trust that our hearts are ready. 563 00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:38,680 I pray, Lord God, that the seed will be not only planted, but 564 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:41,400 that it would take root, that you'd protect it, that you would 565 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:43,680 water it, and we'd see much fruit coming from this. 566 00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:45,480 In Jesus name, Amen.