1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:05,160 Because it's pre positioning you for an encounter with God that 2 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:08,560 is going to affect the church, It's going to affect the city 3 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:10,640 Ankeny. It's going to affect the greater 4 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:13,000 Des Moines area. It's going to affect the the 5 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:15,960 state of Iowa, and it's going to affect the heartlands of the 6 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:17,760 United States. And it's going to affect the 7 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:22,000 United States as a whole, and it's going to affect missions in 8 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:26,200 foreign countries. Holy Spirit, I thank you for 9 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:28,680 this time today. I thank you for the anointing 10 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:30,560 that's in the atmosphere in this room. 11 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:35,480 I asked for that fresh anointing upon these lips to speak and let 12 00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:38,400 that same anointing be upon our hearts to hear. 13 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:44,760 And let your word be a medicine to us this morning. 14 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:49,440 And let in that word. Let there be released healing, 15 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:56,160 healing in the name of Jesus. Amen. 16 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:03,480 If you're struggling with some physical things, I just feel to 17 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:07,640 encourage you open your heart to the word. 18 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:14,360 We're told in Proverbs chapter 4, verses 20 through about 22, 19 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:19,400 if I remember correctly, that His word is a medicine. 20 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:26,960 It brings health to our flesh, our physical bodies, and so many 21 00:01:26,960 --> 00:01:29,840 have been the time that we have Faye and I've sat had the 22 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:32,480 privilege of sitting under the word to wonderful, wonderful 23 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:35,560 teachers. I think we may have been 24 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:40,760 privileged to have the best teachers and growing up in the 25 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:45,480 Lord and many has been the time that the word just as the word 26 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,240 went forth, there was healing in it. 27 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:51,600 And so as this word goes forth this morning. 28 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:56,880 Don't be surprised if God doesn't touch you and and so 29 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:02,800 it's it's vitally important that we get that in in the book of 30 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:09,520 Jeremiah chapter 6. Jeremiah is speaking to in those 31 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:13,360 days, the nation of Israel was divided into two nations, Israel 32 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:16,880 and Judah. And Israel as a nation had gone 33 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:23,480 off deeply into idolatry and all kinds of vile expressions of of 34 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:29,320 rebellion and, and, and at this stage, Judah, who was the last 35 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:34,000 bastion of the people of his presence, they had begun to go 36 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:37,440 off. And so God sent a prophet with 37 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:43,520 with words of medicine, words to correct their their decline and 38 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:46,120 to and to turn things around and to bring them back into 39 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:50,240 alignment with his with his heart and with his with his 40 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:54,280 life. And he he says, Jeremiah release 41 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:59,200 this word in verse 16 and it says stand in the ways and see 42 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:06,000 and ask for the old paths for the good way is and walk in it. 43 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:08,560 And then you will find rest for your souls. 44 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,080 But they said we will not walk in it, we will not do this. 45 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:19,200 So they had, they had diminished in such a way that their hearts 46 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:23,160 were already hardened when the Lord brought his message to 47 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:25,640 them. And it's vitally important that 48 00:03:25,640 --> 00:03:29,960 we not allow that to happen in our lives in any measure, in any 49 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:33,600 level, at any way, is that we keep our hearts open. 50 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:36,840 Because if you got your, if you got your heart closed, you can't 51 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:39,440 receive anything. You're, you're, you're kind of 52 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:44,640 like this and you're going to fight anything. 53 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:46,480 If your, if your heart's hardened, if your heart's 54 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:50,200 closed, you're going to be in a fight mode. 55 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,760 And, and I just want to give a testimony that I've never won a 56 00:03:54,760 --> 00:04:02,850 battle with the Lord. Take that as a word of wisdom. 57 00:04:04,010 --> 00:04:11,400 Don't fight him, but when your heart is open, you're ready to 58 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:14,840 receive anything. You're going to give everything 59 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:17,480 to him this way, and you're going to receive everything this 60 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:19,480 way. And it comes with an open heart. 61 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:23,520 This is vital, very simple principles, but vital. 62 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:28,760 And so the the instruction was to stand in the ways of God. 63 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:34,520 And one of the ways of God is, is faithfulness. 64 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:39,880 This is his character. He is the God of faithfulness. 65 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:42,760 He is the personification of faithfulness. 66 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:46,800 And and so there's these scriptures. 67 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:52,800 I want to just go right to this. This is the testimony of the 68 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:54,800 Lord. This is this is how he lives. 69 00:04:55,120 --> 00:05:01,800 This is how he lives his life. He lives his life faithfully. 70 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,680 Listen to these scriptures. Psalms 119 verse 90, speaking to 71 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,520 the Lord. Your faithfulness endures to all 72 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:12,280 generations. You establish the earth and it 73 00:05:12,280 --> 00:05:14,800 abides. Psalms 36 verse 5. 74 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:16,960 Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens. 75 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:20,200 Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. 76 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:24,600 Psalms 89 verse one and two. I will sing of the mercies of 77 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:27,800 the Lord forever with my mouth. I will make known Your 78 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:32,480 faithfulness to all generations, for I have said mercy shall be 79 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:35,400 built up forever. Your faithfulness you shall 80 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:40,080 establish in the very heavens. And 1st Corinthians chapter one, 81 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:46,520 verse 9, God is faithful by whom you were called unto the 82 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:48,840 fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 83 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:53,400 And so his character, his nature is faithful. 84 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:58,240 He is never not faithful. There's a double negative for 85 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:01,240 you. He's never not faithful. 86 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:06,480 He's always faithful. I, I, I'm amazed and I'm so 87 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:08,400 thankful. I was just, we were worshiping 88 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:14,080 and, and the Lord reminded me of I was on the way to Papa Jack 89 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:19,560 Taylor's memorial service and I, I decided that the best way to 90 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:23,280 go would be on my motorcycle. And so I rode from Texas. 91 00:06:23,280 --> 00:06:27,800 We did a a service in, in East Texas and, and then I got on my 92 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:34,800 bike and, and, and headed toward actually Tennessee and up above 93 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:37,880 Blountville, TN to visit a friend of mine. 94 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:41,400 And then we were going to drive over to Columbia, SC. 95 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:44,920 And that's, that's where Dave and I spent some time together 96 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:47,760 and, and Christopher and it was wonderful time. 97 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:53,080 And but my wife called me mid trip to tell me to inform me 98 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:56,760 that she had come down with COVID at the time and that I 99 00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:00,720 should get tested. Well, against, against my 100 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:04,320 desire, I got tested. And lo and behold, there it was. 101 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:09,480 And so we stepped, I was supposed to speak in Jack's 102 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,480 memorial service. And so I I told him I don't 103 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:15,160 think that it would be wise for me to be there. 104 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:16,760 I don't want to. I don't want to infect anybody 105 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:21,360 else just in case. And so we made the agreement 106 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:25,320 and, and he covered for me. I, I don't know who did what or, 107 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:30,160 or when or how, but I went back to Tennessee and by the time we 108 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:33,080 got back to Tennessee, it, it went really bad. 109 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:35,240 It, it just would really went sideways. 110 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:39,480 The whole thing went sideways and, and man, oh man, my, my 111 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:42,120 oxygen level went down in the low 80s. 112 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:47,200 And it got so bad that I remember a night that I 113 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:52,040 Facetimed Faye and I'm 900 miles away from home on a motorcycle. 114 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:56,080 And I Facetimed my wife and I, I said, honey, I, I don't know if 115 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:57,920 I'm going to, I don't know if I'm going to be here in the 116 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:03,760 morning. And so we said our, we said our 117 00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:11,480 goodbyes not knowing. And that's a, that's a, 118 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:14,360 something just wrong about that, right? 119 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:21,320 And, and I woke up the next morning and opened my eyes 120 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:24,280 thinking that I was going to get to heaven, that that I'm going 121 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:27,160 to step in and see Jack unexpectedly. 122 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:30,560 And lo and behold, here I was still here. 123 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:36,840 And the Lord raised me up and gave me strength. 124 00:08:37,919 --> 00:08:40,679 And I've said to my wife on numerous occasions, and she said 125 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:43,640 it to me on numerous occasions. Well, you're just not finished 126 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:48,400 yet. It's the faithfulness of God. 127 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:58,280 When everything else fails, He never, He never, ever fails in 128 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:00,400 our hearts and our lives. I can't tell you the amount of 129 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:06,040 times that we we have have come to the end of resources and had 130 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:09,680 a huge requirements that were standing in front of us and huge 131 00:09:09,680 --> 00:09:12,040 responsibilities that were standing in front of us and the 132 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:15,600 resources were not there to be able to do what was given to us 133 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:19,800 to do only to find out that at the last moment and God loves 134 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:22,000 last moments. I don't like last moments, but 135 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:27,480 he loves them and he would come through with with amazing. 136 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:32,280 We could, we should probably, my wife is saying yes, write a book 137 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:35,960 on just the provisions that God has given to us and his 138 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:40,640 faithfulness down through the years and decades actually of of 139 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:46,840 all of these challenges that come in life, God is faithful. 140 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:54,040 He is faithful and how many want to have encounters with this 141 00:09:54,040 --> 00:10:05,080 faithful God? Our lives have been encounters 142 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:07,480 with God, faith from 2 years old up. 143 00:10:08,560 --> 00:10:15,280 I came in later, much later, and then between us as we were 144 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:18,640 coming up in the fast lane on 48 years of marriage this year. 145 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:26,200 And yeah, and so. But we have seen His 146 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:31,640 faithfulness time and time and time and time and time again, 147 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:36,400 and He has proved to us His character. 148 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:44,840 He is faithful. He is, He is, and the devil can 149 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:52,000 choke on it. And so as I was reading and, 150 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:57,920 and, and preparing my heart, the Lord began to speak to me about 151 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:01,080 the importance of us being faithful with Him. 152 00:11:03,680 --> 00:11:06,160 And if we're going to have encounters with him, we're going 153 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:10,560 to, we're going to need to step into the place of faithfulness 154 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:13,200 because that's where the faithful God resides. 155 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:17,920 And when we step into the same ambient that he resides in 156 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:21,720 there, there there is going to be an encounter with him. 157 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:26,960 Yes or yes or yes or yes, sooner or later there's going to be a 158 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:30,400 divine appointment, a divine encounter waiting on you, 159 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:35,520 waiting on me, waiting on us as a collective body with the 160 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:39,640 faithful God. And when we do that, His, when 161 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:45,760 we're in an encounter with him, his faithfulness increases in US 162 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:51,200 and threw us into the world around us and we literally 163 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:55,520 become the doorway of the Holy Spirit to reach the World around 164 00:11:55,520 --> 00:12:00,800 us by the faithfulness of God. I, I remember we had a, we had a 165 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:04,360 pastor many years ago when he was a young man. 166 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:08,440 He worked in a sawmill. He worked in a, a, a lumber mill 167 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:11,400 up in the north northwest, up in Oregon. 168 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:17,880 And, and he had, he had become a Christian and, and he was 169 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:23,000 working in this sawmill and his job was his job is going to 170 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:25,480 sound a little funny, but some guys will probably pick up on 171 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:27,720 this. But his job was to feed the hog. 172 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:32,240 You know what that means? The hog in the sawmill was a 173 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:36,760 wood chipper. And he would take these limbs as 174 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:41,520 they came down the, the, the conveyor belt and, and he would, 175 00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:44,400 and he would make sure that they went into the hog and he fed the 176 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:52,040 hog and, and one day his, he, he was, he was feeding the hog and 177 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:54,400 there was a limb that got stuck on the conveyor belt. 178 00:12:54,560 --> 00:12:58,400 And so against his better judgement, he, he got up on the 179 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:02,280 edge and he started kicking the log and his shoelaces, his boot 180 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:07,840 laces got hung up in the, in the conveyor belt and it jerked him 181 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:10,040 up on the conveyor belt. And he's headed for the hog. 182 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:14,920 And he can't, because there's, there's only so much room he 183 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:17,880 can't lean up to, to reach down there to get his shoe done. 184 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:23,920 And so he's laying there and, and he, he, he began wondering 185 00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:27,280 what it's going to be like for the thing to start chewing him 186 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:30,280 up at his feet and come up his body because he's going to be, 187 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:34,160 he's going to be conscious of this for a long time before no 188 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:38,880 more consciousness. And so just before he gets to 189 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:45,360 the teeth of the hog, the whole meal shuts down right before he 190 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:50,720 gets there. The reason that the mill shut 191 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:55,920 down was he had a friend in another section of the of the 192 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:59,160 sawmill. And his friend knew that he was 193 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:03,120 faithful and his work started backing up. 194 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:09,120 And when he saw that his work was backing up, he hit the 195 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:10,880 button to shut the whole meal down. 196 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:20,120 Faithfulness is seriously important. 197 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:28,560 Being faithful will save your life countless times. 198 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:32,640 I think when we get to heaven, there's going to be a lot of 199 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:35,640 video that God's going to show us about the times where He was 200 00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:37,800 faithful in our life that we didn't even know that He was 201 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:39,880 being faithful. He kept us from things that we 202 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:43,960 didn't even know about. And oh, how we're going to sing 203 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:46,120 and dance and praise and love Him and adore Him. 204 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:50,400 Even greater still, it's important. 205 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:55,640 God wants us to move into the place where we are faithful with 206 00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:58,920 what He gives us to do. We are faithful in our 207 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,320 relationships. That goes to me. 208 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:03,520 That goes without saying. In our marriage relationships, 209 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:06,760 faithfulness is of the utmost importance, isn't it? 210 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:11,960 And so we need to be faithful. We're faithful in the ministry 211 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,080 that God gives to us. We're faithful in the jobs that 212 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:17,360 he gives to us, whether it's in the church or in, in what we 213 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:21,200 consider the secular world, which I, I no longer consider it 214 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:23,440 the secular world. I consider it all the Kingdom of 215 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:25,720 God. And it's all of our territory 216 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:27,800 and, and all of it belongs to us. 217 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:30,400 And and that and all of it is our pulpits. 218 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:34,320 And you've got pulpits that I don't have and I've got pulpits 219 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:36,880 that you don't have. But but when we're being 220 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:39,600 faithful and we work together and we walk together and we're 221 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:44,520 faithful and we stay in our lane that God gives to us and quit 222 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:46,960 wandering about wondering so well, what's going to be in that 223 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:49,240 field over there? No, no, no, no, stay in the lane 224 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:54,440 that God's given you because that's going to pre position you 225 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:59,360 for an encounter with him. I want to say that again, 226 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:03,960 staying in your faithfulness with what God's given you to do 227 00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:08,920 is going to pre position you for encounters with Him, and those 228 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:11,080 encounters with Him is going to change history. 229 00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:16,640 Even if you think that your life and your job or your occupation 230 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:22,680 or what you do every day is seemingly unimportant, it's not 231 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:23,600 true. That's a lie. 232 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:29,000 What God has given you to do, honestly, He's put you there as 233 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:31,480 a door for the Holy Spirit to bring the Kingdom into that 234 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:35,880 place. And so our faithfulness matters, 235 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:39,360 and it matters to the people around us, and it will matter to 236 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:43,600 our own physical well-being. It's very, very, very important. 237 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:46,600 I don't know how many stories I've gotten, and I'm not going 238 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:49,200 to go into it, but, well, here's one. 239 00:16:53,160 --> 00:17:00,320 I was in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and the pastor put us in a in in a 240 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:09,680 in a hotel. And the hotel was a former 241 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:18,079 Russian army barracks and, and it had the original beds with 242 00:17:18,079 --> 00:17:22,480 the original mattresses, which were about an inch and a half 243 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:26,160 thick by this time in life. And you could, you had to be 244 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:28,960 careful the way you shifted in your bed because rough sawn 245 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:30,840 lumber was underneath it. And those things would come 246 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:33,240 right through the mattress. So you had to be careful. 247 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:38,560 And, and I remember that breakfast came with this, with 248 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:46,880 this wonderful room and, and I can recognize most things that 249 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:53,960 I'm eating, but there was part of the meal the next morning 250 00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:59,680 that I did not recognize, nor did it taste edible. 251 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:04,560 My, my suspicion is, is that the cooks got word that there was an 252 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:09,800 Americansky in the hotel and that they had something special 253 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:13,320 for me. And I don't know what that thing 254 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:15,640 was. It was a black, I don't know 255 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:19,160 what it was. And it tasted as bad as it 256 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:22,560 looked. And so after breakfast, I said 257 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:26,120 to this, I had a young intern, Korean intern with me that they 258 00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:28,680 wanted to send so that he could get some experience and 259 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:34,520 missions. And boy did he I, I looked at 260 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:37,320 him and I said, young, boom, let's, let's, let's go for a 261 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:40,560 walk. This, this, this meal was so 262 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:42,320 bad. Let's go for a walk. 263 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:44,960 And it was A and there's a morning much more snow. 264 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:48,240 There was about two feet of snow on the ground and the wind was 265 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:50,200 blowing. And, and so we decided that we 266 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:53,240 would just go outside the door and and walk around the building 267 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:54,960 and come back. And so we did. 268 00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:57,920 We walked outside and it was cold, cold, cold like this 269 00:18:57,920 --> 00:18:59,560 morning. And, and we walked around the 270 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:01,440 building and we can't. By the time we got back to the 271 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:05,440 front of the building, here was a Russian captain with two 272 00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:09,040 privates waiting on us. And he's screaming at the top of 273 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:12,280 his lungs. You arrogant American who gave 274 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:18,680 you the right to take a walk. And so the Holy Spirit reminded 275 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:20,640 me agree with your adversary quickly. 276 00:19:23,120 --> 00:19:26,840 And I said to him, and, and I mean, I know guns and those guns 277 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:31,720 were, I was hoping that they were not well oiled because 278 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:34,920 their, their safety was off and their, the, the private fingers 279 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:37,880 were, were, were shaking on the trigger. 280 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:41,680 And they had that they had a gun on my nose and a gun on young 281 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:46,400 Boom's nose. And and so I agreed with my 282 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:50,760 adversary quickly and I said, yes, yes, you're right. 283 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:54,560 I am an and I'm, I am an arrogant American. 284 00:19:55,360 --> 00:19:57,960 Nobody gave me permission to take a walk. 285 00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:01,120 Please forgive me. I didn't know that I needed 286 00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:04,960 permission, but now I know. And he calmed down the next the, 287 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:10,040 the, the veins in his neck went down and he redness left his 288 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:14,200 face and calm down. And he let us go and. 289 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:19,920 And it was the faithfulness of God to remind me a simple, a 290 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,800 very simple scripture. Agree with your adversary 291 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:26,960 quickly. And when I did that, it disarmed 292 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:32,680 the entire situation. God's faithfulness will be with 293 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,600 you when you need it, as you need it. 294 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:39,160 And he will quicken your your thinking. 295 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:43,320 He'll quicken your mind. Now go with me in your mind. 296 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:46,400 Anyway, we don't have time to read it all, but but in Genesis 297 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:51,280 chapter 24, you've got the story of Abraham wanting a wife for 298 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:54,800 his son Isaac. And he says to his faithful 299 00:20:54,800 --> 00:21:01,040 servant, go to my country, go to my people, go to my DNA, go to 300 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:05,800 my culture that I came from and find a wife for my son. 301 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:11,280 And so he gave, this is amazing because Abraham is was arguably 302 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:13,240 the richest man on the face of the earth at that time. 303 00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:18,400 And Abraham gave all of his wealth, all of his riches to 304 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:22,680 this servant, put them on, they loaded everything on 10 camels. 305 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:25,920 And he takes a journey. It's a long journey, quite a, 306 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:30,360 quite a ways, months long journey to get to this, this 307 00:21:30,360 --> 00:21:35,160 region where Abraham came from. And, and so as the servant 308 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:39,400 approached this region, he came to a well and he didn't know 309 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,800 what to do. So he prayed, Lord, if if a 310 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:46,680 woman comes to the well and, and she, and I asked of her a, a 311 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:48,760 drink of water, she'll give me a drink of water. 312 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:52,360 And then she will say to me, I will not only give you water, 313 00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:55,000 I'm going to, I'm going to draw water for all your camels. 314 00:21:56,240 --> 00:22:00,600 Well, he had 10 camels. A camel can drink 40 gallons at 315 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:04,240 one drink. They will drink 40 gallons of 316 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:06,760 water. And he had 10. 317 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:14,960 That's 400 gallons of water at 8.345, I think if I remember 318 00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:23,320 correctly, pounds per gallon. And, and she says to him, you 319 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:25,400 drink and I'm going to give your camels to drink. 320 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:30,520 And she did it with such a joy, such a, such a, a heart of, of, 321 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:35,520 of of service, such a heart of faithfulness. 322 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:40,680 And he stood there and he watched her give drink to 10 323 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:42,760 camels. He never lifted a finger. 324 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,920 In fact, he just stood there and he watched her to see if she was 325 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:49,400 going to be faithful to her word. 326 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:57,560 And when, when she was, he said to her, Whose daughter are you? 327 00:22:59,120 --> 00:23:03,320 And lo and behold, she was the daughter of a, of a relative of 328 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:05,440 Abraham. And when he heard that, he 329 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:07,080 rejoiced. And he said, God has been 330 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:09,920 faithful. God has led me, God has brought 331 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:13,000 me to the right DNA. He's brought me to the right 332 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,040 family. He's brought me to the right 333 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:18,480 one. And, and, and he put gold 334 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:21,720 bracelets on her and a gold ring in her nose. 335 00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:28,440 Now she had no idea what was going to happen that day she 336 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:32,520 came the the tradition is that they would come morning and 337 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:36,960 evening, two times a day. A a job that is is full of 338 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:39,320 drudgery. A job that is, that is not 339 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:42,760 glamorous in any way, a job that nobody else wants. 340 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:47,720 And yet here is Rebecca. She comes, She's learned from 341 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:50,160 her father faithfulness. She's learned from her mother 342 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:51,560 faithfulness. She's learned from the 343 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:55,720 matriarchs in her, in her, in her village, faithfulness. 344 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:57,840 It's been, it's been modeled in front of her. 345 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:02,040 And she's gotten this wonderful, wonderful principle down in her 346 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:07,280 heart and down in her life, so much so that she was full of joy 347 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:10,600 and willing to go above and beyond anything that anybody 348 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:15,640 would ever ask. This is the joy of the Lord. 349 00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:20,840 And, and she says to the servant, I'm going to, I'm going 350 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:23,840 to draw all water for your, your camels as well. 351 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:27,680 And then he says to her, now, now that was three. 352 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:35,760 I got it on, on my notes. It's 3338 lbs of water that this 353 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:41,120 girl drew and poured out, drew and poured out, drew and poured 354 00:24:41,120 --> 00:24:42,960 out until they were finished drinking. 355 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:47,600 Well, let me tell you something. That's a that's a day's work, 356 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:50,080 isn't it? Hello. 357 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:55,120 You all awake? I mean, pulling out the back of 358 00:24:55,120 --> 00:24:57,400 your arms is going to be screaming. 359 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:05,360 But this woman was practiced at what she had done and and she 360 00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:10,160 did it with joy. She did it with joy. 361 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:13,880 This is this is speaking a word to us. 362 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:18,800 If you've got ears to hear, hear it because what God is giving to 363 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:23,320 you to do for God has placed you the position that he has placed 364 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:26,760 you in. He wants you and he wants me and 365 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:31,680 he wants us as a collective body to be faithful in such a way 366 00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:34,000 that we're doing it out of the joy of the Lord. 367 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:40,200 She moved beyond the the idea of drudgery and just work, hard 368 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:43,160 labor. She moved beyond that to be able 369 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:48,000 to do that with a heart of joy and a heart of servitude that 370 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:51,080 reflected the faithfulness of her father, the faithfulness of 371 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:53,080 her mother, and the faithfulness of her God. 372 00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:59,720 To hear this, what God has given each one of us to do is vitally, 373 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:04,240 vitally important. And as we are faithful in what 374 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:11,160 He has given us to do, until drudgery is turned to joy, then 375 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:15,600 something is is is is lined up properly, then you're ready for 376 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:21,680 encounters with the living God. In this story of Genesis 24, the 377 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:25,120 servant is is representative of the Holy Spirit. 378 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:29,320 And the Holy Spirit was going after a bride for the Son. 379 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:36,280 And the bride for the Son would have never, ever, ever been 380 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:39,240 there on that day had it not been established in her to be 381 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:43,680 faithful. Imagine if that morning she had 382 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:48,000 gotten up and said, I don't, I don't want to do this today. 383 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:53,080 I mean, I remember my wife tells a story that her older brother 384 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:57,360 would pay her a quarter to haul the firewood in just so that he 385 00:26:57,360 --> 00:27:00,560 wouldn't have to do it because it was a, it was a work of 386 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:02,400 drudgery. And she would gladly take his 387 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:03,880 quarter and she would gladly do it. 388 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:09,920 And somewhere along the line in her heart, it's just, there's a 389 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:12,800 faithfulness in faith. It's just there, period. 390 00:27:14,360 --> 00:27:15,960 She's going to be doing those kind of things. 391 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:24,000 She, Rebecca didn't do that. Rebecca was faithful with what 392 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:27,720 was given to her to do, not knowing that it was pre 393 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:30,840 positioning her for an encounter with the living God and it was 394 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:33,640 going to change her life, her family's life, and it was going 395 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:39,840 to literally change the entire history of planet earth hinged 396 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:45,440 on this faithful girl. She was faithful with what was 397 00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:51,920 given to her to do. Lord, give us your faithfulness. 398 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:58,920 Birth it in US develop it now the development of the of the 399 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:03,640 wonderful fruit of the character of God called faithfulness is 400 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:08,200 not necessarily going to be pleasant. 401 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:13,760 You're going to have to get up in the morning when you don't 402 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:16,040 want to get up in the morning. You're going to have to engage 403 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:19,040 when you don't want to engage. You're going to have to do 404 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:21,000 things that you don't want to do. 405 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:26,760 I can't tell you and I'm I'm well, no, Pastor Dave, I'm sure 406 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:29,240 he has never said this, but I have. 407 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:34,240 I've said to the Lord on numerous occasions facing 408 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:37,120 challenges in the ministry. Really. 409 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:47,520 I did not sign up for this. To which he quickly reminds me, 410 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:52,760 Oh yes, you did. And he would take me back to 411 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:55,480 this experience that I had with the Lord one time where in a 412 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:59,200 vision, open vision, he took me and he put a, he took me to a 413 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:01,920 desk and there was a piece of paper, a blank piece of paper 414 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:06,120 there and an ink pen there. And, and he said to me, sign it. 415 00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:12,520 What am I signing? He says, no, don't worry about 416 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:18,840 it, I'll fill it in later. Sign it. 417 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:26,960 When we sign up to walk with God, we're signing up for 418 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:31,600 faithfulness regardless of circumstances, regardless of 419 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:35,080 situations. And so I want to say to every 420 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:38,720 individual in the room, staff members that are here, 421 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:44,560 volunteers that are here, just just those of you that are that 422 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:48,520 are coming on on Sundays and Wednesdays and and prayer times 423 00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:53,720 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays. Be faithful with what God has 424 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:59,240 given you to do because it's pre positioning you for an encounter 425 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:01,880 with God. That is going to affect the 426 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:03,760 church. It's going to affect the city 427 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:05,840 Ankeny. It's going to affect the greater 428 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:08,200 Des Moines area. It's going to affect the the 429 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,160 state of Iowa, and it's going to affect the heartlands of the 430 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:13,880 United States, and it's going to affect the United States as a 431 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:18,040 whole, and it's going to affect missions in foreign countries. 432 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:25,600 And as we are faithful, the faithful God is going to step 433 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:27,640 into our hand. He's going to put his hands 434 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:29,760 inside of our hands. He's going to put his feet 435 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:32,240 inside of our feet. He's going to put his eyes, his 436 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:35,480 vision inside of our vision, and he's going to put his words in 437 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:39,560 our mouth. And the faithful God will be 438 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:44,880 faithful to the people who need this, but we also have to be 439 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,280 faithful with what he's given us to do, otherwise we're going to 440 00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:51,120 miss it and otherwise other people are going to hurt. 441 00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:54,080 For that. It's vitally important. 442 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:58,000 My pastor, when he was a young man, thank God he had a friend 443 00:30:58,000 --> 00:30:59,680 that recognized his faithfulness. 444 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:01,880 Otherwise he would have never been our pastor. 445 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:04,200 He'd have been chewed up, period. 446 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:09,000 And so God's calling each and every one of us to his 447 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,400 faithfulness. He's calling each and every one 448 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:15,560 of us to His wonderful, wonderful anointing to to change 449 00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:18,440 the earth. Rebecca's faithfulness prepared 450 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:22,120 her heart to joyfully give herself above and beyond what 451 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:26,120 others would be willing to do. Rebecca's faithfulness 452 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,040 positioned her to receive an opportunity from God Himself 453 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:33,000 that blessed her in untold riches both naturally and 454 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:36,360 spiritually. Rebecca was faithful in the 455 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:40,240 least responsibility and that positioned her to be in the 456 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:48,920 lineage of Messiah by getting up, going and getting the water, 457 00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:54,440 carrying it back to her family morning and evening, morning and 458 00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:57,360 evening, morning and evening. We don't know how old she was. 459 00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:02,560 We don't know how many times she had done this in her life, but 460 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:06,240 the girl was faithful. She was faithful with what was 461 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:09,760 given her to do. And God is saying to Heartland 462 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:13,200 Church, he's saying to me, saying to faith, He's saying to 463 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:18,320 all of us as individuals and as a collective body of Christ, be 464 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:22,280 faithful in the least. And I'm going to make you ruler 465 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:25,840 over much. Be faithful in what seems to be 466 00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:29,360 a drudgery today because there's going to come joy in your heart 467 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:31,200 as you're doing this sooner or later. 468 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:36,920 If, if, if you yield your heart for the disciplines and the 469 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:39,720 maturing process that the Holy Spirit brings into our lives. 470 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:44,960 This is vitally important. Don't be casting your vision out 471 00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:47,080 somewhere else. Just stay in your lane. 472 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:52,080 Do what God's given you to do and you're you're destined for 473 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:56,600 an encounter with the living God that will open up untold riches 474 00:32:57,680 --> 00:33:02,560 naturally and spiritually. Hey, thanks for watching. 475 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:05,880 At Heartland Church, we love to worship the Lord and we love His 476 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:08,160 Word. In fact, if you could jump on 477 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:11,480 and subscribe to our YouTube channel, you could make sure 478 00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:13,120 that you don't miss any of the services. 479 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:16,360 We'd love to have you join us live or in person every week. 480 00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:17,720 See you next time.