1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,560 Hi, this is Dave Olson. I'm the senior leader of 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:04,600 Heartland Church located in Ankeny, IA. 3 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:08,039 I hope the following message challenges, encourages and 4 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:12,200 ultimately changes you. Thanks for joining us, man. 5 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:15,440 The, the men's conference, the men's summit was so good. 6 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:20,080 I, I'm still chewing on things. Just such good teaching. 7 00:00:20,080 --> 00:00:23,200 And matter of fact, I'm going to speak at the men's breakfast 8 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:24,840 next Saturday. We're going to follow up with 9 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:27,520 some of this stuff and keep keep going after it. 10 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:32,439 But I so appreciate appreciated Dean making the the trip over 11 00:00:32,439 --> 00:00:36,560 from Kansas City. When Roger had called me and he 12 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:39,640 was, he was wondering who we could get and I said, well, 13 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:41,240 let's ask Dean. He said that's who I thought, 14 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:42,560 but I didn't think we could get him. 15 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:47,000 So I called him and Dean came and we just so appreciated all 16 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:49,680 that he brought. Dean's been with us on on a 17 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:51,800 Sunday service, I think three other times. 18 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:54,960 And if you've never heard him, you're in for a treat. 19 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,280 I want to want to highlight Dean's website is Dean Briggs, 20 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:04,519 briggs.com, deanbriggs.com. He's got a tremendous amount of 21 00:01:04,519 --> 00:01:07,640 resources on there you wouldn't want to avail yourself to and 22 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:12,520 just some good stuff. I've, I've bought a subscription 23 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:15,360 to one of his classes and have gone through a good share of it. 24 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:20,480 And it is meat you're, you're going to work your jaws to to 25 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:22,080 get through. It's it's good stuff. 26 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:27,880 So anyway, without further ado, let's give Dean Briggs a good 27 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:30,360 hand. I love this man, appreciate him, 28 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:35,040 appreciate his friendship. Dean, give him heaven. 29 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:40,360 Thank you. Be seated. 30 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:44,760 I really love coming to Heartland. 31 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:51,480 I've felt the Lord uniquely here and have enjoyed my friendship 32 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:56,440 with Dave over the years and that kind of extends through 33 00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:59,720 many of you. I, I feel very welcome and I 34 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:02,560 feel like a little bit of home away from home. 35 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,280 And so stepping in, I just feel comfortable talking to you from 36 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:12,400 my heart and and trusting that the Lord's going to give some 37 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:17,720 things that will help you at a personal level, but also speak 38 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:19,520 to the body at a corporate level. 39 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:31,080 And so I want to talk this morning about how a body is 40 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:36,040 meant to see. You know, the human body is a 41 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:42,640 revelation of the body of Christ, right? 42 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:51,480 We are made in the image of God, and so I can look at my wife and 43 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:57,000 see certain parts of who God is that I can't see looking at 44 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:01,880 anyone else because a woman reveals God in certain ways. 45 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:06,880 And I can look at a brother and see God in certain ways because 46 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:11,200 a man reveals God in certain ways. 47 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:17,480 There's the divine math of Genesis 1 is not 1 + 1 = 2, but 48 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:24,120 1 + 1 = 1. And so God has revealed himself 49 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:32,120 in male and female in such a way that we really see him clearer 50 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:45,080 when those genders are distinct. And that's not, you know, that's 51 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,360 not to say there's, there's guys that like Broadway and there's 52 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:51,080 girls that like to climb trees. It's not about that, right? 53 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:56,840 It's not about stereotypes. But I believe part of what the 54 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:01,160 enemy is attempting to do with such painful confusion and 55 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:08,280 demonic ideologies and politics is essentially erase the image 56 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:13,760 of God by making there be no distinction. 57 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:18,519 Everything's blurry. I don't know who God is if I 58 00:04:18,519 --> 00:04:25,240 can't understand his image. Well, part of his image is we're 59 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:30,040 constructed in certain ways. Hands, feet are internal organs 60 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:36,520 and and we take for granted some some of our faculties that are 61 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:42,120 fundamental to daily life. There are some people that 62 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:48,240 suffer from a lack of vision and they have to learn to live 63 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:54,840 without that and it's a part of their life that is defined by 64 00:04:54,840 --> 00:05:02,080 the absence of what is otherwise considered normal to the human 65 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:08,400 experience. Vision is a part of what it 66 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:14,480 means in the body of Christ. Vision is normal, not abnormal. 67 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:20,560 We need vision. We need better vision. 68 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:24,280 We need more vision. We need clear vision. 69 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:30,440 The human body is built to see, and the body of Christ is built 70 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:34,880 to see. That prophetic function is 71 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:37,360 typified in the body by the eyes. 72 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,360 The prophets are eyes to the body of Christ. 73 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:46,120 The prophetic function has multiple expressions, words of 74 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:50,600 wisdom, words of knowledge, discerning of spirits. 75 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:56,560 These are the gift of prophecy itself, tongues and 76 00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:59,000 interpretation of tongues which is like prophecy. 77 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:01,360 These are all prophetic expressions. 78 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:07,800 You have people that function with those gifts in a certain 79 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:15,360 way, and we need those gifts to function with more and more 80 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:18,720 strength, not less and less strength. 81 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:25,000 We all know that the famous passage in Proverbs 29. 82 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:26,720 Without vision, the people perish. 83 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:37,520 Blindness can be an existential threat and the clarity with 84 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:42,880 which I see today may not be sufficient for the challenge of 85 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:44,880 the fog and darkness of tomorrow. 86 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:54,480 Our eyes achieve various contributions to our well-being. 87 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:56,960 They can warn us of danger and obstacles. 88 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:02,280 Our vision gathers information for comprehension, 89 00:07:02,280 --> 00:07:04,520 communication, context, and clarity. 90 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:08,360 It can supply Intel for strategy and tactics. 91 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:12,800 With vision, we realize possibility and opportunities. 92 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:20,920 Vision permits either breadth of attention or narrowness of 93 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:23,360 focus. I can either see this whole room 94 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:26,920 with vision, or I can focus on one person with vision. 95 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:35,520 Vision can. A properly articulated vision 96 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:40,520 can reveal and release callings destinies. 97 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:49,800 Other faculties may thrive in darkness, but vision 98 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:58,840 fundamentally depends on light. You cannot have vision in 99 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:03,120 darkness. It's a contradiction of terms. 100 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:08,000 However, light does not guarantee vision. 101 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:14,440 Even in the presence of light, a blind eye still won't see. 102 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:19,480 I'm just going over some kind of obvious statements, but they're 103 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:25,640 helpful to get a sense. Natural vision is highly limited 104 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:30,880 to a certain spectrum of light, but total vision actually 105 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:33,559 encompasses other invisible dimensions. 106 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:39,760 You know, when you put a bag of popcorn in your microwave and 107 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:44,640 turn it on, there's actually a spectrum of light called a 108 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:47,400 microwave. That's why it's called a 109 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:54,640 microwave that you can't see but your popcorn bag still heats up 110 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:58,400 because it's real, you just can't see it. 111 00:08:59,560 --> 00:09:04,840 An X-ray, a gamma ray, ultraviolet light, these are all 112 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:11,800 actual wavelengths of light that formed the totality of the 113 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:14,640 revelation. That's possible in the natural, 114 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:18,400 but our eyes aren't tuned to see those. 115 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:22,560 I kind of wonder what did Adam and Eve see before the fall? 116 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:29,520 What was the range of possible vision that was limited by the 117 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:31,680 fall? Hearing is similar. 118 00:09:31,680 --> 00:09:35,840 There's sounds on a spectrum that go beyond our ability now. 119 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:38,280 But I actually think part of what the Lord is restoring. 120 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:41,880 And in the resurrection, I think we will see all of that. 121 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:47,600 We will comprehend the vastness and wonder of creation with a 122 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:53,160 full set of senses that goes beyond our experience now. 123 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:56,960 But the important thing to recognize is just because you 124 00:09:56,960 --> 00:09:59,560 don't see that realm now, it's there. 125 00:10:01,680 --> 00:10:07,520 And so spiritual vision and the gifts of the prophetic are meant 126 00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:11,880 to help compensate for some of what we don't see as we should, 127 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:19,560 even within our normal capacity. Vision is rarely absolute or 128 00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:24,200 uncontested. You go to the eye doctor and 129 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:29,680 2020 is the standard, meaning what you should be able to see 130 00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:31,880 at 20 feet, you can see it 20 feet. 131 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:40,360 But if your vision is 2050, it means you have to be at 20 feet 132 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:44,440 to see what someone else can read with 2020 vision at 50 133 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:50,800 feet, right? So our vision is is variable. 134 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:56,120 You can have color blindness where you look at the same thing 135 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:58,240 as someone without color blindness, but you don't see 136 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:03,240 what's really there in certain tones or colors. 137 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:09,120 Blurriness versus clarity, color versus Gray, all of these 138 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:11,520 represent degrees of clarity of sight. 139 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:16,200 And while some is better than none, blurry vision poses 140 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:20,800 challenges. When you go to get your driver's 141 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:25,600 license, they want to know how well you can see because you're 142 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:28,640 about to get behind a vehicle that could cause harm to others. 143 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:32,000 And so they mark, you know, needs corrective vision, 144 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,560 whatever they mark on your license. 145 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:40,760 Is vision a part of a problem for you? 146 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:45,440 Because if it's a problem for you, it's a problem for those 147 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:50,640 around you. In other words, all of our 148 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:56,160 varying capacities of sight has an interconnected reality. 149 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:04,440 What I do or don't see clearly does not only affect me, it 150 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:07,720 affects you too. And what you do or don't see 151 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:14,720 clearly affects me. I mean, make just a couple more 152 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:21,400 observations. Personal vision may stir and 153 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:29,480 produce personal faith, but personal vision must be declared 154 00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:34,800 and spoken to produce corporate faith, because faith doesn't 155 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:36,800 come by vision, it comes by hearing. 156 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:41,800 Hearing comes by the Word. So I can have a vision from the 157 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:48,480 Lord, and it can move my faith personally, but I can't expect 158 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:51,640 you to be moved unless I declare that vision. 159 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:54,920 And the declaration produces faith. 160 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:05,240 Corporate faith comes by hearing, not by seeing. 161 00:13:10,680 --> 00:13:13,440 Eyes not only see light, they depend on it. 162 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:18,280 And in that sense, prolonged darkness can produce further 163 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:20,600 impairment. I remember one time many years 164 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:23,560 ago, I went to, I think it was Merrimack Caverns in Missouri. 165 00:13:24,680 --> 00:13:27,800 And you get deep, deep, deep down in there, and you're on 166 00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:32,400 lighted trails. And then the guide says, 167 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:35,160 everyone you know, stay where you are, don't move. 168 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:40,680 And then he turns off the light. And when you're deep in the 169 00:13:40,680 --> 00:13:46,200 earth in a cave and they turn off the light, you discover what 170 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:49,200 total darkness really is. Have you ever done that? 171 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:50,560 Have you ever been in a cave and done that? 172 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:56,040 Most of us, night time is not total darkness. 173 00:13:57,320 --> 00:13:59,880 You walk into the bathroom here and turn off the light. 174 00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:04,840 It's not total darkness. There is always, in most of our 175 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:08,480 experience, trace amounts of light and your eye will adjust. 176 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:12,360 You know, your eye dilates or whatever and and you might be 177 00:14:12,680 --> 00:14:15,440 temporarily kind of blinded by the darkness. 178 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:18,920 But then your eye is trained to adjust to the faint amounts of 179 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:21,760 light that are leaking under the door or coming in through the 180 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:24,760 crack in the window. And it kind of normalizes where 181 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:28,480 you can make out at least a little bit in total darkness. 182 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:34,520 You don't see anything. You don't see this, you don't 183 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:37,000 see anything. And our guide said in the 184 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:41,160 darkness, I haven't been able to verify this, but our guide said 185 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:47,120 in that total darkness, he said within 60 days without light, 186 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:54,200 you will go color blind and within six months of total 187 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:56,960 darkness you will become totally blind. 188 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:09,080 There is something in your eye that requires light to see. 189 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:13,320 It's not just that your eye is built to see with light. 190 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:17,040 It is built in such a way that light helps you keep seeing. 191 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:22,280 And, and, and Jesus touched on this. 192 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:29,520 He talked about the problem of a person whose eye is darkened and 193 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:32,360 he said if a person's eye becomes darkened then their 194 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:34,400 whole body can fill with darkness. 195 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:40,480 He talked about to the pure, all things are pure, but to the 196 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:42,200 crooked, everything starts to look crooked. 197 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:50,680 The lens that you look at life with the vision of your life, 198 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:58,480 the way you perceive begins to shape the way you perceive. 199 00:15:59,920 --> 00:16:04,600 It's a reinforcing cycle. We're meant to live in 200 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:06,680 revelation. We're meant to live in truth. 201 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:08,640 We're meant to live in the light. 202 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:11,840 God is light, and in him there is no darkness. 203 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:15,480 Christ is shown in our heart to give the light of the knowledge 204 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:17,560 of God. In the face of Christ, we're 205 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:20,280 called out of darkness and to his marvelous light. 206 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:25,880 Paul prayed that the eyes of our heart would be enlightened. 207 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:31,000 The word is fotizo. It's where we get our word 208 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:37,360 photo, photograph, photons. Your heart, the perceptive 209 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:43,000 faculties of your inner man, have a corollary to how you see 210 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:47,600 with your natural vision. You are meant to live in a state 211 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:51,360 of revelation that is dependent on the light of the face of 212 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:55,480 Christ. You're meant to live out of 213 00:16:55,480 --> 00:17:01,240 darkness in his marvelous light, and when you do that, your eye 214 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:06,240 stays healthy and presumably gets healthier and healthier 215 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:09,680 because you're looking on the source of life itself. 216 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:17,240 We know the word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our 217 00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:21,720 path. The Word is the clearest, most 218 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:24,160 inarguable source of light in your life. 219 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:31,320 The fact that our Bibles collect dust on our night stand is a 220 00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:38,120 tragedy beyond the measure. It is light. 221 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:46,200 It illuminates your immediate environment and gives you a path 222 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:51,720 to put your feet on. Why is the world so dark? 223 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:59,200 Well, I think one of the reasons is because we have allowed the 224 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:03,760 sources of light that God has given us, and the people of God 225 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:07,520 have become a thermometer rather than a thermostat. 226 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:11,760 We don't set the temperature, we've become the temperature, 227 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:17,920 and that is a process of yielding to the darkness rather 228 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:22,000 than walking with clarity. Spiritual vision, revelation, 229 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:26,080 illumination, and the eyes of the body as the prophetic are 230 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:32,040 meant to create corporate opportunity in the declaration 231 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:35,760 of vision in the word of the Lord for faith to rise. 232 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:37,920 And everyone starts to see a little clearer. 233 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:42,040 Everyone starts to walk with a little more confidence. 234 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:52,760 Corporate promises among you are not going to be realized by 235 00:18:52,760 --> 00:19:01,400 individual faith. They're going to be realized by 236 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:08,320 corporate vision being declared and declared and declared until 237 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:14,280 the hearing of the word produces corporate faith. 238 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:19,160 And together you move into things that have been hanging 239 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:23,120 over, I believe this body, your families, your marriages, 240 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:27,320 There's the, the micro application, there's the macro 241 00:19:27,320 --> 00:19:32,440 application. This heartland is a place that 242 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:37,080 is rich with promise. And you all have tasted and seen 243 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:38,640 much of the goodness of the Lord. 244 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:44,400 And yet we all live in the in our own lives. 245 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:48,440 That prophet that came by 7 years ago, 15 years ago, when he 246 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:54,280 spoke that word over you and there was a moment of revelation 247 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:58,640 for you. The eyes of the body gave you as 248 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:01,840 part of the body, revelation and light. 249 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:07,320 It produced faith in you. But do you know that faith can 250 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:11,640 be ignorant? Faith can be real. 251 00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:15,320 And it can be ignorant of the process of what it takes for 252 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:19,720 faith to be realized. So you may have had a moment of 253 00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:21,960 faith where you were like, yes, I've received that. 254 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:24,280 I lay hold of that. You truly believe. 255 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:28,680 It was a true revelation. Light hit your soul. 256 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:33,640 The eyes were doing their job. They spoke and you believed. 257 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:40,320 But then with some bad theology or bad application, what we 258 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:46,360 essentially do is believe that God through that prophecy has 259 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:52,840 guaranteed an outcome rather than invited you to a journey. 260 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:59,480 And so we look and we say, I remember, you know, we kind of, 261 00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:02,560 we pull out in our journal. I remember that word. 262 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:04,760 A message like this might stir you. 263 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:07,640 Hey, go look. Find those words hanging over 264 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:11,280 your life, your marriage, your family, your children. 265 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:16,640 Find those words hanging over this corporate body. 266 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,840 I'm here to challenge you. Dig those things up. 267 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:26,560 They were moments of illumination and revelation that 268 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:30,080 were real and that matter. But the problem is we look at 269 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:34,040 that promise, and between the giving of the promise and the 270 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:37,240 realization of the promise, there's this giant window of 271 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:43,160 time called delay, and it's a gap. 272 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:49,640 And almost any time scripture talks about gaps, it also is 273 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:53,320 asking where is the person who will stand in that gap. 274 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:04,320 You may not have known the promise without the eyes who 275 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:08,360 spoke a prophetic word to you, but once that word is released, 276 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:12,840 the gap between you and the promise is a space you have to 277 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:20,720 fill with a contending faith, not a passive faith. 278 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:38,120 The gap is an invitation for you to insert yourself and it is an 279 00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:45,760 error that sounds noble and high minded to assume that the 280 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:51,600 sovereignty of God in declaring a promise is going to has 281 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:56,480 basically scheduled a day for the fulfillment of the promise 282 00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:59,560 and all you have to do is pass enough time to get to that day 283 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:05,920 on the calendar. Rather than realizing that the 284 00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:11,160 frustration and the delay that you feel is meant to fuel 285 00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:16,120 something in you that matures you to be the person who can 286 00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:22,320 inherit the promise. It is meant to make you zealous 287 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:28,560 for the thing to desire. Daniel 7 talks about the Saints 288 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:34,120 will one day receive and possess the Kingdom. 289 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:41,000 Those moments of prophetic revelation are a day you receive 290 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,360 something. But then there is the gap in the 291 00:23:44,360 --> 00:23:47,880 waiting and the delay in the frustration of the possession. 292 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:54,560 And what God is doing in those seasons of delay is not so much 293 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:59,840 about fulfilling time so that you finally get to the point he 294 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:03,040 already knew you would get to. And then it kind of pops open 295 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:07,160 like a magic door and and you just simply waited long enough 296 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:11,120 for him to finally give it as if you're waiting on God. 297 00:24:11,120 --> 00:24:14,320 God is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent Omni. 298 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:16,800 He's everything. He is complete. 299 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:22,200 He is absolutely complete. You aren't waiting on him. 300 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:32,360 If there is a deficiency, it is something He is waiting on us to 301 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:37,040 become, the thing that longs for it enough and fights for it 302 00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:41,880 enough where it's not a matter of time being fulfilled, but Him 303 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:51,720 fulfilling something in you. You know, the worst thing is to 304 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:57,760 get an amazing gift that you aren't prepared to manage and 305 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:02,160 you break it and you feel the loss of that thing and the shame 306 00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:07,400 and the embarrassment. I've been to Africa a couple of 307 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:13,800 times and you will have, you know, a car or a motorcycle is a 308 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:16,320 very rare and, and precious thing there. 309 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:18,960 But part of the problem is they just don't have the 310 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:23,480 infrastructure to to they, they haven't been trained to change 311 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:25,520 the oil to take care of the thing. 312 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:28,680 There's not an O'reilly's or an AutoZone. 313 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:34,080 There's not parts stores. And so they will spend the save 314 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:39,160 up for years, spend the money to get something that is now a huge 315 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:42,400 asset, but they don't have the ability to take care of it or 316 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:45,080 manage it, and they'll drive it into the ground. 317 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:52,360 The Lord actually wants you to thrive in your calling and your 318 00:25:52,360 --> 00:25:58,600 destiny. And so He uses the eyes to give 319 00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:00,360 you a glimpse of what that could be. 320 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:05,480 It's good you want it. He wants you to want it. 321 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:12,240 And then in the mystery of God, He allows delay to make you 322 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:20,520 agonize with the desire for that thing that shapes you into the 323 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:26,640 person that can possess it. The agony is a gift. 324 00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:34,360 The agony is part of the promotion. 325 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:42,480 Whenever you feel tested, you have to go back to school. 326 00:26:43,120 --> 00:26:49,400 When you took finals in the 11th grade, it was the final 327 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:56,400 promotion to your senior year. The test is not about holding 328 00:26:56,400 --> 00:27:00,880 you back, it's about measuring your readiness to move forward. 329 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:04,360 We've got to shift our perspective. 330 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:09,480 This too is part of vision. We have to shift our perspective 331 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:14,160 with the right kind of light to see what God is really doing. 332 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:19,600 Otherwise, we will blame Him and hold against Him the things that 333 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:23,800 aren't developing in our lives, as if He is the great resistor 334 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:33,560 of our destiny rather than He is the one who prepared works 335 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:36,640 before the foundation of the world for you to walk in. 336 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:42,280 He knows the hairs of your head, He counts your tears in a 337 00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:46,960 bottle, He knows the number of your days, and he's he releases 338 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:51,440 gifts in prophetic moments so that you can see what he sees. 339 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:56,840 You can glimpse your life through his divine vision. 340 00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:58,960 Your whole body gets a moment of light. 341 00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:00,840 And you're like, I want that thing. 342 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:05,120 Yes. And then the testing comes and 343 00:28:05,120 --> 00:28:08,120 we're like, oh God, you must not like me very much. 344 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:18,560 It's like, no, you have no idea how much I love you because I 345 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:20,080 don't want you to just receive it. 346 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:36,800 I want you to possess it. Well, this becomes a challenge 347 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:43,200 because you can get beat down in life in such a way that personal 348 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:48,040 vision almost or prophetic activity can almost leave a bad 349 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:52,520 taste in your mouth. It creates messes. 350 00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:57,520 It creates. The problem with prophecy is it 351 00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:02,160 comes from a timeless dimension in the eternal heart of God. 352 00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:10,520 But when it lands, spoken corporately or individually, how 353 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:14,680 does eternity compress itself into the construct of time? 354 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:20,440 It does so with an urgency and an immediacy where we always 355 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:26,520 misjudge the timing. The hardest thing for a prophet 356 00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:29,440 to get right is how long this is going to take. 357 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:35,680 They deliver the word with an urgency that makes everyone 358 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:42,480 believe this is coming tomorrow. The power of the word strikes 359 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:44,720 you. I'm ready to receive. 360 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:51,240 Yes, we start dancing. 700 Tomorrow's later. 361 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:59,480 We're still waiting. Do you know almost every St. in 362 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:08,720 the Bible could be defined as a person who waited one of their 363 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:14,000 chief characteristics, and in fact, Hebrews 11 defines all of 364 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:21,640 them as still waiting. All of the Hebrews 11 Hall of 365 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:27,120 Heroes of the Faith waited longer than they expected in 366 00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:31,400 their lifetime, and they are still waiting. 367 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:34,800 And you know what they're waiting on? 368 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:42,960 Says they're waiting on us. They can't actually enter their 369 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:50,560 inheritance until we enter ours. So now how you see, what you 370 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:55,960 see, how you wait, how you persevere in waiting, how you 371 00:30:55,960 --> 00:31:01,320 hold on to faith. Everyone wants a testimony. 372 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:05,840 First you get the test and then you get the monies. 373 00:31:11,010 --> 00:31:16,810 We don't consider the test to be the very vehicle of promotion. 374 00:31:17,130 --> 00:31:21,090 We consider it to be a demonic assignment or the opposition of 375 00:31:21,090 --> 00:31:25,730 God. So we're either casting out God, 376 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:31,040 I bind the spirit of delay on this thing, God's like you 377 00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:36,400 aren't going to bind to me. Or we're giving the enemy 378 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:42,520 tremendous latitude in our lives and become focused more on what 379 00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:46,080 the enemy is doing to stop us than what we are meant to do to 380 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:58,560 possess. So we get discouraged. 381 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:05,520 Paul had to say, hey, guys, don't despise prophetic 382 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:09,240 utterance. Why did he have to say that? 383 00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:14,040 Because the prophetic comes in and messes things up and people 384 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:16,000 are like, I don't ever want to hear a prophetic word again. 385 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,640 I don't want to hear that. Don't talk to me about that. 386 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:22,920 Just get, you know, I'm just going to do my daily thing. 387 00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:26,920 What you're actually doing is saying I prefer less light in my 388 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:33,760 life and I would rather see a smaller picture than a bigger 389 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:37,520 picture. And I would rather be mad than 390 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:45,480 glad at what God is doing. You receive a prophet as a 391 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:47,400 prophet you receive a prophet's reward. 392 00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:51,360 It's just that easy. You don't receive it in the 393 00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:55,680 spirit that it is given and you won't receive the reward. 394 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:01,640 But if you do, you will in how you execute. 395 00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:10,520 Think it's First Chronicles 2020 Second Chronicles 2020. 396 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,640 Believe in the prophets and you shall prosper. 397 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:20,760 And it interesting this 2020, how clear is your vision? 398 00:33:32,530 --> 00:33:38,650 Well, let me end with the last couple of observations. 399 00:33:38,650 --> 00:33:46,370 At a corporate level, how you move forward together is often 400 00:33:46,370 --> 00:33:53,440 not the result of how well you see the Word over your life, or 401 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:59,880 how much you receive it as a word from the Lord, but how you 402 00:33:59,880 --> 00:34:06,560 regard the Word over a brother's life and your cumulative 403 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:10,159 investment in each other's outcome. 404 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:19,159 And we end up with darkened vision. 405 00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:26,719 Not because we have not received the prophet as a prophet and 406 00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:29,920 receiving the prophet's reward for our own life. 407 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:33,760 Not because the Lord has spoken something and we're contending 408 00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:39,880 in faith. But because we get distracted in 409 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:45,679 our offense against each other and our eye begins to darken 410 00:34:46,639 --> 00:34:51,280 corporately because we're no longer on the same journey 411 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:54,960 together. I shared this in the first 412 00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:56,600 service. I'll share this and start to 413 00:34:56,600 --> 00:34:59,520 wrap up. They did a study years ago. 414 00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:05,480 They did a study years ago where they put people in a room and 415 00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:09,200 they had one group walk from one end of the room to the other. 416 00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:12,160 But in the in the way they had laid out the room, I don't know 417 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:15,400 exactly how they did it. It wasn't immediately apparent, 418 00:35:15,720 --> 00:35:18,400 but people would end up stumbling over something. 419 00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:22,400 And so they, you know, send 100 people through and 2/3 of them 420 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:26,880 end up kind of stumbling. But there's also an observation 421 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:33,160 room behind AA1 way mirror and there's a group of people 422 00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:40,200 watching the people walk. OK, this group walks and most of 423 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:47,440 them stumble and at the end they ask them what happened and the 424 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:53,600 people who walked and stumbled inevitably blamed their 425 00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:57,000 circumstance. Something in the floor was 426 00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,680 uneven, I don't know what happened, my shoes were too big. 427 00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:02,640 They blame something in the circumstance. 428 00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:05,240 The people that watched the people stumble. 429 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:11,680 We're also asked what happened and they inevitably would blame 430 00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:15,280 the person. Well, they just aren't paying 431 00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:18,480 attention. They were sloppy. 432 00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:20,320 They should have been more focused. 433 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:22,760 They would blame their character, their attentiveness, 434 00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:25,440 the person. In other words, when I'm 435 00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:30,880 walking, I feel the stumble and I blame. 436 00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:33,240 I don't tend to take responsibility for it myself. 437 00:36:33,240 --> 00:36:36,560 I tend to blame what caused me to stumble. 438 00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:45,160 When I watch you stumble, I blame you, and when you watch me 439 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:51,280 stumble, you blame me. And now we're all looking at 440 00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:59,850 each other's delay. We're all looking at each 441 00:36:59,850 --> 00:37:02,730 other's delay. And when it's my delay, I'm 442 00:37:02,730 --> 00:37:04,650 like, oh man, things have just been hard. 443 00:37:04,650 --> 00:37:07,050 There's been so many challenges. I haven't really been whatever, 444 00:37:07,050 --> 00:37:08,970 whatever. I look at your delay and I'm 445 00:37:08,970 --> 00:37:14,330 like, well, if they just would press in more, they just grab a 446 00:37:14,330 --> 00:37:17,450 hold of a word of God and get the promise in their life. 447 00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:24,400 They just would trust. And so now the very thing that 448 00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:27,760 is meant to bring common revelation and common faith, 449 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:35,360 because of our own tendency to operate in a slandering spirit, 450 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:45,240 an accusing spirit, a judging spirit, our common promise 451 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:48,880 becomes a cause of division and conflict. 452 00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:59,040 And rather than Some hills must be taken together. 453 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:03,560 There are very few critical, critical battlefields that are 454 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:08,760 determined by one man. There are hills to take that a 455 00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:12,040 company of people must take. I encourage you to listen to the 456 00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:15,520 first message because I talked more out of Psalm 15 and Psalm 457 00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:20,640 24 as part of this ascending the hill of the Lord, I believe 458 00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:24,280 heartland in my own small prophetic way. 459 00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:29,080 I'm here to tell you, you're meant to take hills in the 460 00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:32,320 Spirit. You're meant to ascend to the 461 00:38:32,320 --> 00:38:37,160 hill of the Lord, and I want you to get a revelation of that in a 462 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:40,040 new way. You've been steeped in this. 463 00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:43,840 You know the promises. Your leadership has been 464 00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:46,760 faithful to talk about this. You're here because you, you 465 00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:50,800 bought you, you bought in. But there is a time to dig it up 466 00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:57,560 again, open your eyes again, dare to believe again, and then 467 00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:05,760 fight together for that thing. Press in together for that 468 00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:15,880 thing. I would rather be with a bunch 469 00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:21,680 of misfits who aren't the special ones in the Kingdom of 470 00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:30,720 God, but who love each other and fight for each other's destiny, 471 00:39:32,680 --> 00:39:37,760 than to be with the most exalted of Saints who in behind closed 472 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:39,480 doors are just tearing each other down. 473 00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:45,240 I would rather be with the lowest of the low who walk in a 474 00:39:45,240 --> 00:39:48,920 common grace and anointing, than humility together. 475 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:57,200 There is something precious in the heart of God, where love 476 00:39:57,200 --> 00:40:01,160 covers a multitude of sins, and it's the cleanest, clearest 477 00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:06,680 light you can live under. Thanks for listening to our 478 00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:08,400 podcast. If you'd like to help more 479 00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:11,000 people hear this message, you can get the word out by 480 00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:13,320 subscribing and sharing it on social media. 481 00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:16,160 If you'd like to support the ministries of Heartland Church, 482 00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:19,920 you can do so at Heartland Church online.com/give.