1 00:00:00,700 --> 00:00:03,000 And I just do a disclaimer before we start. 2 00:00:03,900 --> 00:00:07,700 I might burst into tears. If that happens, it's totally 3 00:00:07,700 --> 00:00:10,000 normal and we just carry on like nothing's happening. 4 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:17,000 So this week we're speaking at this is the chapter on the 5 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:22,600 speaking voice of God. So when I say to you the word of 6 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:25,600 God, what do you think of? I think of this. 7 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,500 That would be the first place that I go the word of God. 8 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:33,400 But toes us main premise is that he makes a really clear 9 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:37,500 distinction, between this physical book and the spoken 10 00:00:37,500 --> 00:00:40,500 word of God. And he says this, he says the 11 00:00:40,500 --> 00:00:44,500 Bible is not a book and find by leather and paper and ink. 12 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:49,000 It is not a printed word at all, but the expression of the will 13 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:54,600 of God spoken into the structure of all things filling the world 14 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:58,900 with his speaking voice. This word of God is the Breath 15 00:00:58,900 --> 00:01:03,000 of God, filling the world with living potentiality. 16 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:08,100 The voice of God is the most powerful force in nature, 17 00:01:08,500 --> 00:01:11,300 indeed. The only force in nature, but 18 00:01:11,300 --> 00:01:16,100 all energy is here only because the power filled word is being 19 00:01:16,100 --> 00:01:21,500 spoken, John 6:63, the words that I speak unto you, they are 20 00:01:21,500 --> 00:01:25,700 spirit and they are life. So as toes are said, it's not 21 00:01:25,700 --> 00:01:28,400 God. Spoke his words are not confined 22 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:33,100 here, but God is speaking, he's continuously articulate. 23 00:01:33,300 --> 00:01:36,800 He's speaking to me and to you all the time. 24 00:01:37,300 --> 00:01:40,300 But before I go any further, I just feel that I need to say 25 00:01:40,300 --> 00:01:41,900 something. Because you might be thinking, 26 00:01:42,300 --> 00:01:45,100 God, doesn't speak to me. Maybe God doesn't love me. 27 00:01:46,100 --> 00:01:50,000 Other than walking in known thin or the fact you simply not 28 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:52,700 listening. The reason, I think that we 29 00:01:52,700 --> 00:01:56,400 struggle to hear the voice of God is because we are all 30 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:58,800 products of Greek thinking the Age of Reason. 31 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,800 So we're taught from infancy to process everything through our 32 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:05,200 intellect. If it's not coming to us through 33 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,000 fax sense and reason we just were taught to believe. 34 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:13,500 It's not real. I think sometimes we, you know, 35 00:02:13,500 --> 00:02:15,900 we kind of expect that God will come and stand before us and 36 00:02:15,900 --> 00:02:20,400 speak to those using human words that we hear with our ears. 37 00:02:20,900 --> 00:02:23,700 But I mean, there will be some people here who have heard the 38 00:02:23,700 --> 00:02:26,900 audible voice of God, but that's actually not usually how God 39 00:02:26,900 --> 00:02:30,200 speaks. There are a plethora of ways 40 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:33,300 that God speaks to us and I'm just going to highlight some of 41 00:02:33,300 --> 00:02:35,600 them. So through a lot, probably come 42 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:39,300 up on the screen. So a deep knowing, you know, 43 00:02:39,300 --> 00:02:41,600 when you just get that unction in your spirit that quickening 44 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:44,300 and Spirit and ladies. If you had a baby you feel that 45 00:02:44,300 --> 00:02:48,200 baby come alive. When they get to a certain age 46 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:50,800 in your womb it's called a quickening and it's the same 47 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:53,200 with the spirit. We know there's life there, he 48 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,700 speak to a speaks to us through pictures and visions and dreams 49 00:02:56,900 --> 00:03:00,600 through our five senses through circumstances of life, through 50 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:04,900 words of wisdom, from others, who worship and song Through the 51 00:03:04,900 --> 00:03:08,400 Wonder and beauty of creation. But most of all, he speaks to us 52 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:13,000 through his word. And at this juncture, I want to 53 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:17,400 unpack a couple of Greek words because I just think it's really 54 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:20,800 important and fundamental to help us understand the spoken 55 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:24,000 voice of God. So, the word for, I want to 56 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:29,400 unpack our logos and Rhema and both of these words mean word. 57 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:32,900 They're both Jesus. He is the word of God. 58 00:03:33,100 --> 00:03:36,700 John 1:1 in the beginning was the word and the Word was with 59 00:03:36,700 --> 00:03:38,500 God. And the Word was God. 60 00:03:39,700 --> 00:03:43,800 And it's been said that the logos is the written word and 61 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:47,900 the Rhema is the spoken word. That's not actually quite right. 62 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:52,400 So the logos part of a word incorporates, it's not just the 63 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,300 word, but the inward thought or the reason behind the word, it's 64 00:03:56,300 --> 00:03:59,000 the original concept behind the word. 65 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:02,900 It's the expression of the thought formulated in the mind. 66 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:08,800 Raymer emphasizes the articulation stage of the 67 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,000 process. So it refers to the instance, 68 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:15,100 Vokoun word that proceeds, or flows out of one's mouth, it's 69 00:04:15,100 --> 00:04:18,600 an utterance. So the Bible contains God's 70 00:04:19,399 --> 00:04:23,400 logos and his Rhema word. His concept and his utterances. 71 00:04:23,700 --> 00:04:27,500 All of the Bible is about Christ, The Living Word, all of 72 00:04:27,500 --> 00:04:31,900 it, but it will mean nothing to US, unless it can somehow be 73 00:04:31,900 --> 00:04:35,600 applied and I just And to tell you a story here quickly, I have 74 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:39,000 a friend called Crispin Fletcher, Louis, he is an 75 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,800 academic Theologian. And I guess you would have to be 76 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:44,300 with a night like that, because you couldn't really be a plumber 77 00:04:44,300 --> 00:04:51,600 or a Ricky, and he is a writer. And his first book was called 78 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:54,500 Jesus monotheism, and it took him years to write it. 79 00:04:54,900 --> 00:04:57,900 I love a good book. So we're meant to stay with 80 00:04:57,900 --> 00:05:01,200 Crispin and his wife, Mary and I said, Kristen can I read your 81 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:03,300 book? So he gave me his book to read. 82 00:05:03,300 --> 00:05:06,200 And I went, Better have my cocoa and had my book open. 83 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:09,800 Literally, I read half a page. I did not have a clue what was 84 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:12,300 going on. And I said, to his wife, Mary 85 00:05:12,300 --> 00:05:15,600 the next House of Mary, I just couldn't make head nor tail. 86 00:05:16,100 --> 00:05:19,000 And she said, she looked at me, she went Sally said, it's not 87 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:23,600 for the likes of you. And me, Blackberry has a degree 88 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:25,800 in Philosophy from Oxford University. 89 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:29,100 So I'm thinking, well, if it's not for you, who is it for? 90 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:32,700 But actually, Crispin is writing for Scholars and he's writing 91 00:05:32,700 --> 00:05:34,400 it. This really A high levels of 92 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:37,700 Academia and he has a mandate and I believe it's a prophetic 93 00:05:37,700 --> 00:05:41,200 mandate and his mandate and a costly mandate. 94 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:44,700 His mandate is to bring the Glorious truth of the Divinity 95 00:05:44,700 --> 00:05:49,300 of Christ into those very high levels of Academia, packaged in 96 00:05:49,300 --> 00:05:52,000 such a way that it will be understood and respected. 97 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,800 Why does he need to do that? Because these academics, who eat 98 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:00,200 biblical, Greek and Hebrew for breakfast, 15 letters after 99 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:02,400 their name. No longer believe in the 100 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:03,800 Divinity of Jesus. Yes. 101 00:06:05,100 --> 00:06:06,700 It's the logos without the Rhema. 102 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:11,600 But we just said that the word even though it is a live, even 103 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:15,800 though it's living in filled with potentiality, it profits, 104 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:19,200 there's nothing unless it can be applied to, how does it get 105 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:21,400 applied? It gets applied through the 106 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:25,300 spirit. John 6:63 tells us that the 107 00:06:25,300 --> 00:06:28,000 Rhema words that he speaks are spirit and life. 108 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:33,500 So, his Rhema word, impart. The spiritual essence of himself 109 00:06:34,100 --> 00:06:37,700 to our Inner Man, to our inner being through the faculty of of 110 00:06:37,700 --> 00:06:42,800 the Rhema, God spoken word. So that the logos God's Concepts 111 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:46,400 his thoughts and his reasonings, and come alive on the inside of 112 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:51,000 us, that the Rhema word has one purpose to reveal Christ. 113 00:06:51,700 --> 00:06:55,000 And we see the most powerful example of this with Peter in 114 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:58,400 Matthew, 16. I think it's verses 15 to 18 be 115 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:04,100 coming up on the slide. I'll just read it when Jesus 116 00:07:04,100 --> 00:07:06,200 came to the region of caesarea Philippi. 117 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:09,600 He asked his disciples. Who do people say the son of man 118 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:13,900 is they replied? Some say, John, the Baptist 119 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:17,400 others say Elijah and still others, Jeremiah or one of the 120 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:19,300 prophets. But what about you? 121 00:07:19,300 --> 00:07:20,900 He asked? Who do you say? 122 00:07:20,900 --> 00:07:24,800 I am Simon, Peter answered. You are the Messiah, the Son of 123 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,400 the Living. God, Jesus replied. 124 00:07:27,700 --> 00:07:31,200 Blessed are you Simon bar-jonah, but this was not revealed to you 125 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:34,800 by flesh and blood. By my Father in heaven, and I 126 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,700 tell you that you are Peter. And on this rock, I will build 127 00:07:38,700 --> 00:07:42,400 my church and the gates of Hades, will not overcome it. 128 00:07:43,100 --> 00:07:44,700 You know, I used to read that and I used to think. 129 00:07:44,700 --> 00:07:46,700 Yeah, get that. And I'd hang it in my little 130 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:50,200 mental coat, hanger bullet, my little mental wardrobe, things, 131 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:53,100 I know. And then it's Greek thinking, 132 00:07:53,100 --> 00:07:55,400 isn't it? And then, you know, the Holy 133 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:59,000 Spirit, brought me back. So that scripture and he totally 134 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:03,000 opened my eyes to see that. This is not simply Only a thing 135 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,200 to know, it's not to be appraised intellectually. 136 00:08:06,900 --> 00:08:11,700 This rock is the moment by moment eternally expanding 137 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:16,500 Universe filling revelation of Christ to my heart and to your 138 00:08:16,500 --> 00:08:21,500 heart. Christ wants to reveal more of 139 00:08:21,508 --> 00:08:25,000 himself to us in new and fresh ways all the time. 140 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,600 He is our very life. And he's continually speaking to 141 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:34,000 us words of Direction and wisdom and power. 142 00:08:35,500 --> 00:08:38,900 We can never drink so deeply that we get to the end of who 143 00:08:38,900 --> 00:08:43,400 Jesus is, all of eternity will not fully reveal his Mysteries 144 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:46,900 to us. And it is in this place of the 145 00:08:46,900 --> 00:08:50,300 ongoing revelation of Christ, Our Hearts or his embry's Rhema 146 00:08:50,300 --> 00:08:54,800 word, but he builds his church and it is this same place that 147 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:57,900 cannot be overcome by the gates of Hades. 148 00:09:01,900 --> 00:09:06,400 May I suggest but controversially, but that the 149 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:09,700 church for too long now has been building with the wrong 150 00:09:09,700 --> 00:09:14,200 materials. John 14:30 Jesus says, I will 151 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:18,300 not say much more to you for the prince of this world is coming. 152 00:09:18,300 --> 00:09:19,700 He has no. Hold over me. 153 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:23,800 The word for World there is Cosmos, it's come to mean kind 154 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:26,800 of a whole universe that it initially meant the ordered 155 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:29,900 systems of the world. The ordered systems of man and 156 00:09:29,900 --> 00:09:34,200 it's also where we get the word cosmetic from Satan is God of 157 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:35,800 the ordered systems of the world. 158 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:39,400 The banking system education entertainment, medical systems 159 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:43,300 are religious system, he it's in the throned over all of that, 160 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:48,200 but it's a cosmetic Kingdom because what you see is not 161 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:52,200 what's really there. What's really there is not 162 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:55,700 ordered at all, but it's much more Sinister and it's rooted in 163 00:09:55,700 --> 00:10:00,500 chaos and the church has been building from using these 164 00:10:00,500 --> 00:10:04,600 materials for years. Humanistic philosophies cultural 165 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:10,100 ideologies systems of man. She's look to the world and 166 00:10:10,100 --> 00:10:14,200 she's made herself, Seeker sensitive and inoffensive and 167 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:18,400 relevant. A church built in this way will 168 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:22,800 be a cosmetic church and organization with a painted on 169 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:27,200 face that distracts people from their true purpose and their 170 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:29,600 true identity and does not Point towards Jesus. 171 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:33,500 At all, I tell you what, it points to it points to self and 172 00:10:33,500 --> 00:10:37,200 the Mantra is, you can live your best life, that is not the 173 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:43,200 gospel. The gospel message is give up 174 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:47,900 your life so you can truly find it die to self and pick up your 175 00:10:47,900 --> 00:10:51,800 cross. 2. Corinthians 2:15-17 says there's 176 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:54,000 and I'm reading from the Amplified love a bit of the 177 00:10:54,008 --> 00:10:58,800 Amplified we for We Are The Sweet fragrance of Christ, which 178 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:03,200 exhales unto God, Among those, who are being saved and among 179 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:06,800 those who are perishing. But to the latter, it is an 180 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:11,200 aroma wafted from Death to. Death, a fatal odor. 181 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:15,300 A smell of Doom. In the former, it is an aroma 182 00:11:15,300 --> 00:11:18,300 from Life To Life. A vital fragrance, living in 183 00:11:18,300 --> 00:11:22,100 fresh, and who is qualified fit in sufficient for these things 184 00:11:22,500 --> 00:11:27,000 who is able for such a Ministry, we will, we are not like so many 185 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,500 like hucksters making a trade of peddling, God's word 186 00:11:30,700 --> 00:11:34,800 shortchanging and adulterating the Divine message, but like men 187 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:38,400 of sincerity and the purest motive as commissioned and sent 188 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:42,500 by God, we speak his message in Christ, the Messiah. 189 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:45,500 In the very sight and presence of God. 190 00:11:46,700 --> 00:11:50,200 The church is not called to be relevant, we called to be 191 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:54,300 revelatory. The Church of Jesus Christ is 192 00:11:54,300 --> 00:11:59,500 built on the ongoing revelation of who Christ is and the spoken 193 00:11:59,500 --> 00:12:03,300 word of Christ is everything. There's no other means by which 194 00:12:03,300 --> 00:12:08,000 Christ builds his church. Can I take this one step 195 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:12,600 further? So we read in Genesis that God 196 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:15,900 spoke the world into being and we all know that, you know, 197 00:12:15,900 --> 00:12:19,800 we've all read that, that story. We all understand it. 198 00:12:20,900 --> 00:12:23,300 But I find it really fascinating, right? 199 00:12:23,300 --> 00:12:26,700 At the end of the book, right? The end of the Bible Revelation 200 00:12:26,700 --> 00:12:30,600 22:17. We read this, the spirit, and 201 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:35,300 the bride say, come, So, in the beginning, we've got God spoke 202 00:12:35,900 --> 00:12:39,300 at the end of revelation, we have the speaking voice of the 203 00:12:39,300 --> 00:12:42,000 Bride joining in. With the speaking voice of the 204 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:45,700 spirit of God, they speak in agreement with each other. 205 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:50,700 They say the same thing, they extend the same invitation and 206 00:12:50,700 --> 00:12:53,100 in Ezekiel 43 2. We read this. 207 00:12:53,700 --> 00:12:57,900 The voice of God is the sound of many Waters. 208 00:12:58,900 --> 00:13:02,400 A couple of years ago, had been praying for understanding of 209 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:05,300 something that and there's no real time to go into that now. 210 00:13:05,300 --> 00:13:09,300 But suffice to say when I read that, it just blew me away 211 00:13:09,700 --> 00:13:12,700 because I immediately understood what the spirit of God was 212 00:13:12,700 --> 00:13:17,200 communicating to me that just as we are the body of Christ in the 213 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:19,100 earth just to spare his hands and feet. 214 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:22,200 We are also his voice in the Earth. 215 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:27,600 We each of us have a river of Living Water on the inside of 216 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:32,000 us. John, 7:38 to him who believes a 217 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:37,200 river of Living Water will flow out of their inmost being, just 218 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:43,100 imagine with me for a moment. Just imagine if each one of us, 219 00:13:43,100 --> 00:13:45,700 every one of us is living in that place where we have that 220 00:13:45,700 --> 00:13:51,400 River of Life flowing out of our inmost being and just imagine a 221 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:55,700 church living in complete unity and Harmony. 222 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,500 What would that look like? I tell you what, that would look 223 00:13:59,500 --> 00:14:02,300 like that. Would look like the voice of God 224 00:14:02,300 --> 00:14:04,900 in the earth. That would look like the river 225 00:14:04,900 --> 00:14:09,700 that flows out from underneath the temple in Ezekiel and gets 226 00:14:09,700 --> 00:14:14,200 wider and deeper, and wider and deeper, and it ends up flowing 227 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:16,000 into the dead. Seen, it makes a salt water 228 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:19,100 fresh and it brings life, whatever it goes. 229 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:24,700 That's what it would look like. The voice of God is the sound of 230 00:14:24,700 --> 00:14:28,000 many Waters. But right now in the church, 231 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:31,800 we've got issues for that River. As some of us, it's barely a 232 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:36,400 trickle. as some of us, what comes out of our mouths is more 233 00:14:36,700 --> 00:14:46,100 polluted than pure and for some of us, I'll Wells the place that 234 00:14:46,100 --> 00:14:50,400 the river flows out of, of become stocked up with the 235 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:55,900 traumas of Life disappointments, so that the river can't flow. 236 00:14:56,700 --> 00:14:59,700 I keep hearing the Lord saying over and over and over. 237 00:14:59,700 --> 00:15:04,700 I am unstopping the wells. It means he's coming to open up. 238 00:15:04,700 --> 00:15:08,600 The, well, the inside of me and on the inside of you, so that 239 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:12,200 the River of Life can flow, we know we're stepping into 240 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:14,500 Revival, don't? We can also Feel it. 241 00:15:14,700 --> 00:15:17,500 But can I just say, Revival is not something that gets done to 242 00:15:17,500 --> 00:15:19,800 you? Revival is something that comes 243 00:15:19,900 --> 00:15:21,900 comes to you and goes through you. 244 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:29,500 Did you know that the word voice is directly connected to the 245 00:15:29,500 --> 00:15:32,600 word vocation? Invocation is color. 246 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:36,800 Come to me and just a job but actually the initial meaning of 247 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:40,200 the word vocation is a consecrated calling and I'm 248 00:15:40,208 --> 00:15:42,500 going to read a quote from Christianity Today. 249 00:15:42,900 --> 00:15:46,800 A true calling can be sustained only by abiding in Christ and 250 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:50,800 totally dependent on him if Ministry, efforts can continue 251 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:54,400 without a leader Drawing Near to God through constant. 252 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:59,100 In prayer and the faithful study of his word, it is not a real 253 00:15:59,100 --> 00:16:02,000 Ministry at all. And it's most certainly not a 254 00:16:02,008 --> 00:16:07,400 calling, a Divine calling cannot be self contained by any human. 255 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:12,500 Being a true calling requires God to jumpstart the effort and 256 00:16:12,500 --> 00:16:18,300 God's presence to sustain it. Your voice is the expression of 257 00:16:18,300 --> 00:16:22,700 your vocation. Your consecrated calling And the 258 00:16:22,700 --> 00:16:25,600 Lord is, is bringing the church back to the place of 259 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:29,900 Consecration, and he's bringing each one of us into the fullness 260 00:16:30,100 --> 00:16:34,500 of our consecrated call so that we can take our place in his 261 00:16:34,500 --> 00:16:38,700 bride and your voice is the main way that the River of Life. 262 00:16:38,700 --> 00:16:41,900 On the inside of you gets released, it's the expression of 263 00:16:41,900 --> 00:16:46,200 your deepest most authentic self in Christ Jesus and you won't 264 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:50,000 find that self anywhere else except in surrender to him. 265 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:54,600 The Lord is unstopping the world so that the rivers can flow. 266 00:16:55,500 --> 00:16:58,600 I'm just going to share a little bit of my story at this point. 267 00:16:58,900 --> 00:17:03,200 So, when Mark Hall, be on Sunday morning, Monday morning and 268 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:08,599 asked me if I'd preach, I do, I just made my breakfast and my 269 00:17:08,599 --> 00:17:13,300 appetite for my breakfast, immediately disappeared and it's 270 00:17:13,300 --> 00:17:16,800 okay. And the effects of the cup of 271 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:18,700 coffee. I just consumed immediately 272 00:17:18,700 --> 00:17:23,700 quadrupled You know, that it was nerves and I have felt nervous 273 00:17:23,700 --> 00:17:25,700 on and off through the week because I wasn't done this 274 00:17:25,700 --> 00:17:30,600 before such a large crowd. But you know, there was a time, 275 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:35,300 not long ago. Just last year actually that I 276 00:17:35,300 --> 00:17:37,600 would not have been able to stand here and do this. 277 00:17:38,700 --> 00:17:42,100 I've known for quite some time in my spirit that I would be 278 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:47,800 standing here and doing this. But I have battled fear, and 279 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:52,000 shame and intimidation the just an enormous degree. 280 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:55,600 It's crippled me. And, you know, when it was at 281 00:17:55,600 --> 00:18:01,100 its absolute worst in church, every time I walk through the 282 00:18:01,100 --> 00:18:04,500 front doors after feel it building, as I was driving in, 283 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:09,700 It was torment, the voice of God on the inside of me was saying 284 00:18:11,300 --> 00:18:14,900 he walking he moving. I'm calling you to Ministry 285 00:18:15,300 --> 00:18:19,600 calling you to speak. But the thing is the direction 286 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:24,200 he was leading me in was towards the shame and fear when it's so 287 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:27,000 counterintuitive. I didn't want to go that way. 288 00:18:27,500 --> 00:18:30,000 I wanted to go the other way. I wanted to run and keep running 289 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:33,100 and never come back. And you know the closer I got to 290 00:18:33,100 --> 00:18:36,300 break through the more torment. There was it was just like this 291 00:18:36,700 --> 00:18:40,300 crushing pressure and the thing is, I didn't know that I was 292 00:18:40,300 --> 00:18:42,400 just about to get to the place of breakthrough. 293 00:18:42,500 --> 00:18:44,700 You don't know that until after the event. 294 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:47,900 You know what, quite honestly at times, I thought I was losing my 295 00:18:47,900 --> 00:18:51,200 mind. But the thing is the just will 296 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:54,200 live by faith. We don't live by sense of Reason 297 00:18:54,900 --> 00:18:57,400 sense. And reason said just run away, 298 00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:02,000 Faith said keep walking. And I didn't know that I was at 299 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:04,700 a threshold. I could see Destiny. 300 00:19:04,700 --> 00:19:09,700 And my spirit, I could see the promised land in my spirit, but 301 00:19:09,700 --> 00:19:12,100 I just did not have a clue how to get there. 302 00:19:12,500 --> 00:19:15,300 I didn't have a clue how to wait, through all that shame and 303 00:19:15,300 --> 00:19:18,800 fear and get to that place at it, just felt utterly 304 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:22,000 impossible. And I felt utterly stuck on that 305 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:26,300 threshold. And then last year, holy spirit 306 00:19:26,300 --> 00:19:31,900 showed me why I was stuck. You showed me that I've been 307 00:19:31,900 --> 00:19:36,000 holding myself and unforgiveness the 30 years. 308 00:19:38,700 --> 00:19:41,500 The long time, isn't it to hold yourself in unforgiveness. 309 00:19:42,700 --> 00:19:46,100 And I was living in the place of if well, what if I hadn't 310 00:19:46,100 --> 00:19:48,100 backslidden, what if I've blown it? 311 00:19:49,100 --> 00:19:50,700 What if you can't use me now guard? 312 00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:54,500 What if you don't love me, God. And God, what do I do? 313 00:19:54,500 --> 00:19:56,500 If I do what you're telling me to do and I'll make an 314 00:19:56,500 --> 00:19:59,200 absolutely G of myself and you all start throwing rotten fruit 315 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:07,100 at me. from the deepest places of Of my being. 316 00:20:08,300 --> 00:20:11,400 I forgave myself because the thing is the place of it is the 317 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:14,400 place of Doubt, isn't it? The place of double mindedness 318 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:17,100 and in James 17. It says, you're in that place. 319 00:20:17,100 --> 00:20:19,100 You wish that, you received nothing from God. 320 00:20:19,700 --> 00:20:23,000 If was not going to let me cross over the threshold into Destiny 321 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:26,400 and into the promises of God. So yeah, I forgave myself from 322 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:30,800 the deepest place of my being most sincerity I could muster 323 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:35,600 and I repented if And I came into agreement with his voice 324 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:39,200 and you know what God did he happen to her? 325 00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:45,400 Well, And you release my voice. There we go, and it would 326 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:52,500 happen. Got my tissue just in case, you 327 00:20:52,500 --> 00:20:54,700 know? And I realized that that place 328 00:20:54,700 --> 00:21:00,300 within me where there was so much torment and contention that 329 00:21:00,300 --> 00:21:05,200 was where the well was it was out of that exact same place 330 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:08,100 that the river of Living Water would flow. 331 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:12,300 Satan knows where the wells are, who knows where the well, is in 332 00:21:12,300 --> 00:21:16,000 your life, and he's working overtime to keep those. 333 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:20,700 Well, stopped up the church if we want to partner with God in 334 00:21:20,700 --> 00:21:26,300 this hour, If we want to release the rivers of Life promised in 335 00:21:26,300 --> 00:21:31,800 John 7:38, if we want to become the voice of God, in the earth 336 00:21:32,100 --> 00:21:35,700 than our voice must be in agreement with his voice. 337 00:21:36,300 --> 00:21:40,200 Mark 1819, have to agree on Earth, concerning anything. 338 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:43,400 They ask it will be done, you know, we tend to think of that 339 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:46,200 as me my prayer partner. Well, it is that. 340 00:21:46,700 --> 00:21:50,200 But the most basic fundamental and important place of agreement 341 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:54,700 is on the inside of you where are your voice, the things you 342 00:21:54,700 --> 00:21:57,700 declare and speak over yourself are in agreement and in 343 00:21:57,700 --> 00:22:01,800 alignment with God's voice and the words, he speaks and 344 00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:08,200 declares over you As where you have agreement, I think shall be 345 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:13,100 established, says the Lord. Not an easy thing to agree with 346 00:22:13,100 --> 00:22:16,200 God's voice. Firstly, because we're not 347 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:19,500 always listening so we can't hear him in the first place. 348 00:22:20,500 --> 00:22:23,100 If that's you, it's been me at times. 349 00:22:23,500 --> 00:22:25,500 If that's you you don't know what God is saying. 350 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:29,100 It's still before him. I'm away with him until you do 351 00:22:29,100 --> 00:22:31,700 hear his voice. Those are says this. 352 00:22:33,100 --> 00:22:36,900 Says, God is always speaking and our Eternal welfare depends on 353 00:22:36,900 --> 00:22:40,500 our hearing. And yet we've trained ourselves, 354 00:22:40,500 --> 00:22:43,600 not to hear. Whoever will listen, we'll hear 355 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:46,700 the speaking heaven and God's voice is a friendly voice. 356 00:22:47,300 --> 00:22:50,200 But listening today is not a part of popular religion. 357 00:22:50,500 --> 00:22:55,200 We have accepted the Monstrous heresy that noise sighs activity 358 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:59,400 and Bluster May Commander to God and he was right in that in the 359 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:01,400 1940s. There weren't even any smoke 360 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:03,800 machines or subwoofers. When he wrote that. 361 00:23:05,300 --> 00:23:09,500 Secondly, we struggle to agree with God's voice because we so 362 00:23:09,500 --> 00:23:13,200 often mix up our own voice and the voice of the enemy with 363 00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:16,600 God's voice. You know, I used to do that. 364 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:19,600 I mean that was the place I lived in for a long time and I 365 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:25,000 remember, once I was sitting on my bed at home, Having a quiet 366 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,600 time in the Lord began to speak to me about living water. 367 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,100 And I was reading through the word, all these places in the 368 00:23:31,300 --> 00:23:34,400 Holy Spirit was hooking it all up for me and joining this first 369 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:38,600 with this fast, but more than that, it was as if this window 370 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:44,100 of Heaven opened up above my head and Living Water poured out 371 00:23:44,300 --> 00:23:46,500 and it was the most glorious thing. 372 00:23:48,300 --> 00:23:52,600 It just undid me and did all of the fear and the shame. 373 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:55,400 It's like, they were singing earlier in your presence. 374 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:59,700 My shame is undone and that is what happened. and I remember 375 00:23:59,700 --> 00:24:05,200 sitting there thinking, This is what his voice sounds like. 376 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:11,500 It doesn't sound Nagy or condescending or picky or 377 00:24:11,500 --> 00:24:14,500 downright unkind that was my voice. 378 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:19,900 And that was the enemy's voice. His voice toward those who seek 379 00:24:19,900 --> 00:24:25,000 him with their whole heart is always kind and loving always 380 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:27,500 full of Hope and life, and glory. 381 00:24:28,300 --> 00:24:31,600 And I think the third reason that we struggle to agree with 382 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:35,100 God's voice is because it requires faith in my experience. 383 00:24:35,100 --> 00:24:38,900 God's voice doesn't appeal to send some reason he asks 384 00:24:38,900 --> 00:24:43,500 outlandish impossible things of us his word, terrify our flesh 385 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:48,400 and we incline our ears to the enemy who Whispers really say, 386 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:51,900 because we can't make sense of it and our natural mind and 387 00:24:51,900 --> 00:24:55,100 we're not meant to the just shall live by faith. 388 00:24:57,400 --> 00:24:59,100 Church. We have to know that we are 389 00:24:59,100 --> 00:25:04,000 stepping into a new era and this era is preparation for the bride 390 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:08,000 to be made ready and for the King of Kings to come again. 391 00:25:09,900 --> 00:25:12,100 And just as G as Jesus came, the first. 392 00:25:12,100 --> 00:25:14,500 And when he came the first time, we know we read in scripture, 393 00:25:14,500 --> 00:25:16,000 the spirit of Elijah was on John. 394 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:19,400 The Baptist. The way the spirit of Elijah is 395 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:22,700 in the Earth again. And, you know, John the Baptist, 396 00:25:22,700 --> 00:25:26,800 he came out of the Wilderness saying I must decrease and he 397 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:30,000 must increase. And as I was stepping into the 398 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:32,400 place of leadership and Gathering the profits, which is 399 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:35,800 something that the Lord asked me to do this debate between my 400 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:38,400 voice, and God's voice was ongoing and slow learner. 401 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:42,300 And I kept saying to God, I can't do it, I can't do. 402 00:25:42,300 --> 00:25:44,500 You've got the wrong person, I can't do. 403 00:25:44,500 --> 00:25:46,500 I'm not even very prophetic, I can't do it. 404 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:47,800 Pick that one. Pick that one. 405 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:50,400 Then, be much better than me, you know. 406 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:53,400 God, spoke to me. Me. you know, he disciplines 407 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:58,900 those, he loves And he said, to me, stepping into Destiny and 408 00:25:58,900 --> 00:26:03,800 taking your place, in this new era requires a radical 409 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:07,600 agreement, with my voice and a radical suppression of your 410 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:10,400 flesh. In other words, radical 411 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:12,900 subjection of my voice to his voice. 412 00:26:13,100 --> 00:26:16,200 And I immediately had a picture of me standing on the cardboard 413 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:20,200 recycling after Christmas. But you've got that much 414 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:26,900 cardboard and that much box to put it into Radical suppression 415 00:26:26,900 --> 00:26:39,800 of the Flash. worship team, if you'd like to The Lord is 416 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,000 unstopping Wells. All over this church. 417 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:48,400 He's releasing the River of Life so that it can flow and 418 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:52,100 Hindenburg. And, you know, it's a glorious 419 00:26:52,100 --> 00:26:57,400 thing. But from our perspective, it 420 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:04,200 doesn't always look glorious. 2 Corinthians 3:18 tells us that 421 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:09,500 we go from glory to glory, but I think we read that glory to 422 00:27:09,500 --> 00:27:14,800 glory and what we think is Comfort to comfort success to 423 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:21,300 success, benefit to benefit, That's not what it's like. 424 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,200 To go to a new level of Glory will cost you? 425 00:27:26,100 --> 00:27:29,100 It will cost you yourself. It will cost you what's 426 00:27:29,100 --> 00:27:31,200 comfortable? It will cost you. 427 00:27:31,208 --> 00:27:36,700 What's reasonable? So as the Lord and stops the 428 00:27:36,700 --> 00:27:40,400 wells in this church, what does it look like? 429 00:27:42,300 --> 00:27:43,700 I'll tell you what it looks like. 430 00:27:45,500 --> 00:27:51,100 It looks like deep Brokenness. It looks like repentance. 431 00:27:52,700 --> 00:27:57,500 It looks like surrender and the release of deep pain looks like 432 00:27:57,500 --> 00:28:02,500 forgiveness. Where we have to forgive others 433 00:28:02,500 --> 00:28:08,000 and ourselves. It looks messy and real and roll 434 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:14,000 at the breakout from meeting on Tuesday. 435 00:28:14,500 --> 00:28:17,200 Richard said something that really stuck with me and it 436 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:20,800 stayed with me all week. He said this move of God will 437 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:24,300 come through people's Brokenness and it will, 438 00:28:41,900 --> 00:28:44,600 So church. I believe that there are some 439 00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:46,800 here today. And what I've said is impacted 440 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:51,100 you Maybe, touch some of you deeply. 441 00:28:53,700 --> 00:28:56,500 You've heard God's words you've heard his prompt her to be 442 00:28:56,500 --> 00:29:00,300 leading you. But your own voice has been 443 00:29:00,300 --> 00:29:06,000 arguing with God. Disagreeing with, and if that's 444 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:08,400 you, I'd like you to stay.