Finding Hope in Turbulent Times

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Welcome to A Word in Season with Doug Stringer and friends.

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We share good news and godly wisdom to empower you to be salt and light in every season of

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life.

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God can change things in a moment.

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Even when things look hopeless, there is always hope with God.

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In a world full of challenges where evil is called good and good is called evil, it is

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important that we not grow weary and lose heart.

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Instead, it's time to press in like never before and watch God move on our behalf.

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After the episode, consider leaving a review and follow us on your favorite streaming service.

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If you've cleaned anything from this podcast, consider paying it forward with a gift at

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somebodycares.org.

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Now let's join our host, Doug Stringer.

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Well thank you everybody for being on and I would like to have Pastor Ann Sinclair open

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in prayer.

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Well Father, probably the most famous line of the book of Esther that's known to a lot

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of people is that phrase where Mordecai said, for such a time as this, who knows but what

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you've been raised to this position for such a time as this.

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And Lord that applies to Doug and the ministry that you've raised up through him for such

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a time as this.

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So Lord, the word that you want to bring to those who have ears to hear and who are tuned

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in, we would ask Lord that you'd give us ears to hear and that you'd give us minds and hearts

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both to comprehend what you're saying to us.

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So Lord, as you've authored a word for Doug this year, so now author understanding in

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our hearts and we pray it Father in Jesus' name with boldness because you've invited

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us to do so.

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We pray it in Jesus' name, Amen.

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Amen.

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I just really sense the importance of engaging people in prayer but also I think we're living

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in some very significant and for some very overwhelming and troubling times it can become

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very overwhelming.

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Jesus said in the scriptures that men's hearts are failing them and so there are many people

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overwhelmed and we see it in Luke 22 when Jesus was talking to his disciples and said,

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would you tarry for an hour?

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When he came back they were asleep but if you look at the translation of that, they

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were asleep from sorrow or they were overwhelmed.

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Their hearts were overwhelmed in grief and I know all of us respond to stress differently.

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I know for many they just rather just curl up and go to sleep and not deal with it and

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so all of us deal with stress differently but in that particular scripture Jesus said

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he found them asleep from sorrow and we can all be overwhelmed and we see a world in such

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turmoil.

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In fact, there's so many things happening today that can cause us in our own cities,

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in our nation, in the world today.

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There's so many things that are like a perfect storm and not in a good way.

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We see a lot of natural crises and disasters.

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The earth is groaning.

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We see everything that can be shaken is being shaken in the church world as well as in the

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secular world and in governments and we also see that their nations continue to rage and

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so it can be quite disheartening and it can be causing us to want to just shut down but

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I want to encourage us today as Jesus said this is not a time to sleep.

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It's a time to press in to pray and I believe it just like we look at the Book of Esther.

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In fact, this week already in Israel and places around the world and synagogues they're already

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reading the Book of Esther.

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We'll read all of that and then this weekend which is this Saturday night through Sunday

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evening that is what is called Purim.

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Although it's turned into a huge celebration for our Jewish brothers and sisters around

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the world, they're celebrating because of the deliverance of God and God intervening

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in what seemed to be a very impossible situation.

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When we think about even Esther and Mordecai and in fact, Lou Engel and many other women's

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ministries are feeling an urgency and have been calling a million women and Mordecai's

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to be praying and interceding in this season but also culminating on Yom Kippur this year

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in Washington DC.

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Not a time of protest but a time of Psalm assembly, a time of crying out to God in fastedness

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and prayer and worship and so I'm agreeing with Lou and so many other women's ministries

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that this is that time and I believe it's a critical time because there is a spirit

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of Haman just like nearly 2,500 years ago when the book of Esther took place that there

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was a decree by Haman to kill all Jews because an edict was put out by a pagan king.

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The edict was sent out.

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It seemed like a humanly impossible situation much like we see today and yet in a day, I

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mean think about this, God can do something in a moment in a day.

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We step into moments and we think about the hinge of history 2,500 years ago and we see

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other examples but in the context of Perham and the context of Esther and Mordecai and

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that spirit of Haman went forth but there was a hinge of history because there are moments

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and I wrote this down, there are moments in history when a door for massive change opens.

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I like what Paul says in Corinthians, a great and effective door has been opened unto me

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but the adversaries are many.

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There are always going to be obstacles and adversity and adversaries when God opens doors.

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I believe this is an open door moment in the midst of the difficulties around us.

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In fact, Jesus said in Luke 21 and verse 13 and you've heard me share this often because

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it's kind of an earmarked scripture for me because I think about all the things that

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could take place, earthquakes and wars and rumors of wars, ethnos against ethnos, kingdom

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against kingdom, typhoons, tsunamis, you name it, all these things can take place but in

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the midst of all of that Jesus says in his own words, but it shall be an occasion for

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your testimony and I think about regardless of our eschatology, regardless of what you

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think about the seasons we're in, regardless of what you think about end times, the reality

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is when crisis happens it is important for us to take moments of those opportunities

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and those windows of opportunity to let the world know that we'll be overcome by the blood

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of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.

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It shall be an occasion for our testimony.

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So regardless of why things happen we can take these moments to let his light shine

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in us.

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I think of lighthouses and I think how a lighthouse back in the day was the way when you were

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in the middle of a fog or in a storm you were going through a dark season, you needed a

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lighthouse to show you where you were and to give you guidance and direction and give

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you bearing.

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Today we need to be those lighthouses.

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Jesus said in Matthew 5 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your

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good works and bring glory to your Father in heaven.

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This is a lighthouse moment for us regardless again of our eschatology, about what we believe

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about end times, regardless of what we see is going on around our country and around

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the world.

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The enemy would try to divide and conquer, the enemy would try to discourage us to become

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asleep from sorrow when it's the time to press in to the Lord and keep our eyes fixed on

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him in the brightness of the SON because I do believe it's a new day dawning and I've

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been sharing that for quite a few months now out of Isaiah 58 also in Isaiah 43.

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God says he's going to do a new thing in the midst of all these crises I'm going to do

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a new thing.

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Isaiah 58 says and talk about a true fast and true worship being living worshipers that

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he said there would be a dawning of a new day or a new day dawning.

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I really sense in the midst of all that's happening as we take opportunity of these

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moments to let our light shine that there is a new day dawning.

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We can't look at circumstance, adversity, adversaries, we can't look at the giants

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in the way because our God is still bigger than the obstacles, bigger than the giants,

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bigger than the circumstances and greater than our adversaries and adversities.

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And so we are on the hinge of history again just like 2500 years ago that in a moment

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when Mordecai went to fasting and praying and encouraged and provoked and challenged

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Esther the queen to go and present this situation to approach the king as we saw she found favor

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and I really sense what the Lord is saying to us.

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In fact, I wrote an article a few years ago.

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I originally actually wrote it in 2021.

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It's called the king is summoning his bride.

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Now I know in this situation Esther went before the king and he received her but I believe

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our heavenly king is summoning his church, summoning the body of Christ right now not

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to draw back as into the tradition it says in Hebrews 12 but to press in our heavenly

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king is summoning the church because this is our moment to be a light, to stand up and

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to speak it from the rooftops, to take opportunity of the occasion right now to stand in a time

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when it seems that a modern day corporate spirit of death or Haman is trying to come

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against Israel and come against the church to put out the voice of truth and the prophetic

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voice that God has called the church to be that you and me the enemy would try to cause

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dividing and conquering and yet we see in Micah chapter 4 in the latter days all nations

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shall gather at the mountain of the Lord.

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Now we know that's literal but we also see that is a type and shadow for us as the church.

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It says all people will be welcome at the mountain of the Lord and they should put aside

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their weapons of warfare against each other and turn them into harvesting tools together.

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I believe when the world has been shaken it's an opportunity of harvest. I really believe

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it's a harvest season. I was sharing at the end of 2023 that what we're coming into in

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the midst of continued shakings it could be very overwhelming because there's circumstances

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that will continue to arise if we get our eyes taken off the Lord. We have to keep our

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eyes fixed on the Lord. We've seen good become evil, evil become good and we thought how

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could that ever be? And we've seen a lot of people thinking where's the logic? There's

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no logic in why they're even responding the way they are. There's no sensibility anymore.

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I really sense just like the days when Paul was Saul that his eyes were opened. I believe

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God's about to open a lot of eyes but we have to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus as he opens

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these eyes there's going to be a great harvest that will come and it's not about us doing

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anything cumbersome or having to go out and try to make people see. We just take our posture

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and humility before the Lord and working in our hearts before God and God's going to begin

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to open the eyes of many that have been blind and take the scales off and they'll be ready

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to respond to the gospel. So we are not just about the harvest. He'll do the harvest. We

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need to be ready to receive them and to help them go deeper in the Lord and higher in expectations

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in the Lord. So I wrote this article in 2021 called the King is Summoning His Bride. The

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bridegroom is returning and I believe that that message is far more important today in

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2024 than it was when I wrote it in 2021. I wrote down these words because Perum 2024

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ends at sunset on Saturday, March 23rd and ends at sundown, March 24th. Synagogues and

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homes around the world will have read the entire book of Esther for Perum to celebrate

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Mordecai and Esther and the reversal of Haman's Decree that came against a whole people group

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and I believe that we're in that same place today. That was probably around 479 BC and

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so it's just in the days of Esther, I believe there is a corporate spirit of Haman rising

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again today and we need modern day Esthers and Mordecai's to arise. A whole generation

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is at stake, I wrote on a previous post. That being said, when you think about and just

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in the practical sense because that came in Persia then is modern day Iran today. So nearly

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2500 years ago, 479 BC when Haman convinced the king to put out an edict to kill all the

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Jews that was coming out of modern day Iran, the place of Persia. Let me stop for a moment

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because I want to share something because when you think about the descendants of Abraham,

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it was Abraham and Sarai or Sarah and then Abraham and Hagar with Ishmael. So the son

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of promise came through Abraham and Sarah. He had a son, Isaac, but when you look at

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his son that he had through Hagar, they became known as many of what we would know today

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as Arab regions and Arab nations and many of them have now professed being Muslims or

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being Islamic. But there is another concubine or wife that some would say was Keterah and

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Keterah had more children with Abraham than Abraham had with Sarah or with Hagar. Keterah

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had children that became what we would say modern day Iran, which was Persia, Northern

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India and other parts of the world speaking Farsi today. So there is that whole area region

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that was established. When you look then at Persia and the days of Esther, that region

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was established by the descendants of Keterah and Abraham. The conflict is not about nation

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against nation. It's really about siblings and relatives and uncles and aunts and cousins.

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It's a generational conflict that comes between half brothers and uncles. And then you have

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the Edomites that were married into Ishmael's family and into Abraham's family. And then

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you have all these conflicts of relationships. So you bring that to the context of today

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and it's far more complex than people would realize. That being said, when you look at

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2500 years ago in the days of Esther 479 BC, the Edict by the king because of Haman's encouragement

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to kill all of a people group that it was seemingly impossible. But Mordecai encouraged

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and challenged Esther to approach the king. She did so and found favor with the king.

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And in a day, in a moment, what was meant for harm was turned around in a day. What

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seems to be humanly impossible today, God can do. And I believe there has been a release.

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Just like when you think about what's happening in the Middle East with Hezbollah and Hamas

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and other areas, many of these terrorist groups are funded by Iran, which is modern day Persia.

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So there's this corporate continued hatred against Israel, but ultimately the hatred

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that is combined with a lot that hate the church today would want to destroy the voice

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of the church as well as destroy the whole people group. I really sense that we're in

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a hinge of history again. And then you look back at the days of Daniel when Daniel prayed

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and he fasted for 21 days and we called the Daniel fast and the angel of the Lord appeared

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to Daniel on the 21st day and said, God heard you from the first day you began to pray.

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That's encouraging that God's hearing our prayers. We did not see the results immediately,

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but the archangel said this, but from the moment you prayed, I've had to contend or

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do battle with the spirit of Persia, the Prince of Persia. Now you think about what's happening

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again today. We are contending Ephesians talks about it being the spirit of the air. So the

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spirit of the air and the Prince of Persia, these are combined today to try to stop God's

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word from going forth and stop God's people from being encouraged to keep going forth

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and fixing our eyes on Jesus and responding as a lighthouse or the lights that should

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shine in a world of difficulty and darkness. I like quoting 2 Corinthians 2 14 and that's

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where Paul says God will always lead you to triumph or victory in Christ Jesus so that

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you can be a dispenser or a sprayer of the fragrance of heaven. So we are living in a

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stinky world. We need to be that for breeze. So we need to be those who are able to spray

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the presence of God by not just what our words say, because our words can be contentious

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at times and people argue with our words. We're not called to argue, but we are to be in the

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presence of the Lord. I believe in this situation as this corporate spirit of death has been

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decreed, as we're seeing riding in the streets of America, death threats from nations around

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the world. We're seeing the spirit of Haman again coming out of Iran, modern day Persia.

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We see all these things taking place. Could it be that we're on another hinge of history

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where it's not just one Esther, it's not just one Mordecai, but it's a corporate unity of

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agreement and prayer and proper posture and humility by the church to contend against

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the Prince of the air, the rulers of the air, as well as from the Prince of Persia that

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is trying to stop our prayers or to contend with God, even though God hears our prayers,

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that our fastedness, our focus, our intentionality is so critical right now because in a day

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on this hinge of history, God can turn things around again. We can allow ourselves to be

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overwhelmed or we can truly go to our knees in our knee posture, take a right posture

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in our hearts before the Lord. God said to Daniel in chapter 10 of Daniel verse 12 through

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14, said to me, do not be afraid, Daniel, from the first day that you set your heart

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understanding this and on humbling yourself, critical humility before your God, your words

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were heard and I have come in response to your words. Now, Daniel was in Babylon, he

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was captive in Babylon, yet it was a Prince of the air of Persia or the Prince of Persia

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contending with the angel of the Lord. And so we see that that whole region of the world

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is still contending in conflict in a spiritual context today. Now, let me just stop for a

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moment and give you a thought. Who would have thought 20 years ago, 25 years ago, even 15

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years ago, that with the advent of things like emails and texting and these smartphones

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that we have, that you would ever really be able to see the world out there in the context

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of the unseen world. But the unseen world is real. We may not see it, but I think even

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if you start understanding in radio frequency or you think about television frequencies

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over the years in a second, when you take a picture and you text it somewhere, it's

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across the world in a second. I was just in Australia and I was texting and in an instant

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people are getting pictures and text messages from me, emails from me from across the world.

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So that means we don't see pictures flying in the sky or through the air, but it's real,

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it's tangible. So just like the spirit of the unseen world is real, there is principalities,

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there are dominions, there is a whole dimensions that are real that we may not see in the natural

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eye, but I think we're seeing more and more that there's reality to the unseen. So that

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being said, when you look at the contention from Babylon with Daniel praying and the angel

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of the Lord coming and having to contend with the Prince of Persia, and then you see the

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modern day Persia, which is Iran today, we see that there is a corporate spiritual attack

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and a spirit of death and hatred against Israel and against the church. Why? Because the individuals

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in the church and the body of Christ truly get a revelation of who we are in Christ and

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our responsibility is not to compromise our convictions with the world because so many

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today don't even believe in the biblical commandments. Many today who will tell you in their

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sermons that they believe in the inerrancy of scripture that the Bible was inspired by

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the Holy Spirit, but a majority of even preachers today and Christians have believed a lie and

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they don't even believe that the word of God is inspired by the Holy Spirit anymore. If

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we can't believe that, what do we have? I know that this is my guidebook. The Bible

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is my personal guidebook or constitution. Reading it, as I heard Pastor Steve Brigger

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will say the other night that the word of God here is the logos word. The more you get

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it in you, the more it becomes the Rhema through you. The importance for us is to get the word

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of God in us. So the Holy Spirit of God will work on us and bring the life of God through

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us and we will get Rhema revelation from God in the days in which we live. We see all these

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unseen realms. I think that we're at a place where the Prince of the air is trying to stop

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the word of the Lord. I believe at the same time the Prince of the air Persia and also

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we have the spirit of Haman is being released today and we see this corporate death around

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the world and attacks around the world. This is our moment in time on another hinge of

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history to take right posture and humility and in the fear of the Lord. Let me just say

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this. I've been sharing this since back in December as I was sharing with a group of

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young people at a large gathering in Pasadena, Texas and it encourages me to see Jen edge

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and and the next generation hungry for truth and they asked me to come share and I shared

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on the importance of authentic communion and this is not to anybody outside the church.

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This is to us in first Corinthians 10. We see the five sins that kept a whole generation

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out of the promised land and those same five sins can also keep us out of God's destiny

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in our lives. Paul said it was lost and in fact everybody can be baptized in the same

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baptism cross the same Red Sea have the same communion but he says but God was not well

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pleased with most of them or many of them. What were the five sins of the desert? You

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can read this for yourself first Corinthians 10 one was lost. What is lost? Lust to the

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eye. Lust of the flesh. The pride of life. Look, we all have areas of having to filter

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through the char are because the gateway to char are to our heart is through our eyes.

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So our ears are listening our mind. We have to be careful for what comes in will take

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control of our heart. The char are the gateway to our heart. I go to the gym. I go to the

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store. You go to movies. You go wherever you go and you're confronted continuously with

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these things would try to cause lust to try to cause a lust of the eye. The lust of the

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flesh. The pride of life. It's not that you don't think those things or notice them. It's

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what you do with them. And that's where we need God's heart like there before we get

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back to our first love. The second thing is the idolatry. What is idolatry to those of

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us that profess to know the Lord? It's anything that masters our affections more than Jesus.

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I have to reevaluate my heart on a regular basis. God look, I know I'm saved by grace.

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I know I'm justified by faith. Those are all real. But Lord, I don't want to succumb to

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the failures of the flesh into this world. I need you Lord. So help me to go deeper in

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consecration. Higher in expectation in you. So I do not allow worship of celebrity. Don't

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believe all the press. Don't follow after people. I know the people and I respect people.

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I respect people that serve the Lord. I respect people that are successful, but I don't idolize

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them. I don't worship celebrity. Even worshipers and worship leaders and music. And we have

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to be so careful that we idolize people and things rather than keeping our eyes fixed

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on the one and only one is worthy of our worship. The third thing is sexual immorality. Now

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I want to challenge believers. Let's evaluate these things because sexual immorality isn't

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just fornication and adultery anymore. It's the things you allow into the shard or the

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things in your spirit that polluted you. So you're inhibited or limited from the power

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of the Godhead bodily in you. You're limited by allowing the enemy in the flesh to harp

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on you and to keep you from being what God's called you to be. And then the fourth thing

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is the area of tempting Christ. And just simply this. We can say we're Christians. And I was

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thinking about this today that how many people will say, oh yeah, I'm a Christian. But what

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do they mean by that? They have foul language. Their language is perverse. I'm not saying

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that God doesn't give us grace in our transitions, in our journey, in God's transformation of

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our lives. But there comes a time of growing in maturity, a place of accountability. And

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maturity is not based on age, but on the willingness to accept responsibility. I think we need

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to be responsible for the fact that we who profess to be Christians can't just say we're

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Christians. What does Christian mean? It means to be Christ followers. Are we really following

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after Christ? Are we wanting the benefits of Christendom, the benefits of what we get

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and feel? Even Saul was pacified in worship when David played the harp. Saul was pacified.

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But yet when he went out of the place of worship, he went back to his old self. We can be pacified

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by gatherings in church and worship and all the Christian stuff. But are we truly letting

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God do a work deeply in us and owning our homes, owning our hearts, owning our lives,

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having the right to our thoughts and our thinking in our lives? To say we're Christians and

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yet live for the world is to be like one foot in the world and one foot with the Lord. And

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that's impossible. How can he be labor if he's not our Lord? And so I think the tempting

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Christ is to profess that we are Christians, but we're not really living for the Lord.

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And then the fifth one is murmuring, backbiting, gossip. It's kind of like the spiritual immune

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deficiency disease. It's the cells of the body destroying cells of the body. We tear

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each other down so much, we need to be building each other in the faith more than ever before.

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When you think about those five sins, it really encompasses everything. And that's where I'm

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saying, God help me to keep my focus on my first love. Revelation 2 says, I found you

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that you have recognized and called out those who say they're apostles and really aren't.

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And there's a whole lot of people, they want a title, but they don't function. They want

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the business card to say I'm apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher, evangelist, or I'm something.

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They all want the title, but they're not functioning. I believe that we are to be people who function

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in God's calling because God anoints who he appoints, but we don't need to hide behind

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titles. We don't, we need to function as God has given us his heart to function and he'll

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make a way to give, you know, a title or what people can call us where they want to call

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us. But the reality is that we are to be those who function, not those who just looking for

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title or position because positions will come and go. Titles will come and go, but it's

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the Lord in us and through us that is lasting. So then I was sharing with this gathering

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of a few hundred young people and I said, so what authentic communion is this? Cause

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now let's look at what Paul says when he's talking about doing communion. He says, it's

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not good that you sacrifice at the table of the Lord and the table of demons because what

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you sacrifice at the table of the Lord and that table of demons is this. The table of

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demons is to sacrifice or give homage to the table of demons. I don't want to sacrifice

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to demons. I want to be a one who lives a life in such a way that offers myself a living

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sacrifice on the altar of God to the Lord himself because he's the greatest sacrifice.

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He's the one and the only one who's worthy of our worship. So how can I say that I love

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the Lord and call myself a follower of Jesus or a Christian? And how can I be empowered

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to speak with authority like Esther when we're summoned by the heavenly King or like Mordecai

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who can rally the troops to undergird and to fast and pray? How can we do that with

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any authority if we're compromised? So to have communion before the Lord is to say, God,

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help me to discern the body and to recognize there are areas of my life in my human frailty.

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I need you Lord to work on me. Give me your great grace, amazing and abounding grace in

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my life. We all need the grace of God. We're justified by faith, but we're not justified

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by our excuses. I don't want to excuse my flesh because the flesh always wars against

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the spirit. I want the spirit of God to have control of my life. And even when I fail,

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three sins that I learned from Dr. Randall Pannell, who used to teach at HBU. He was

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acting president at North Greenville Baptist University. He was a professor at the Regent

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University. But he taught me the three sins of the Old Testament. One is Hatha, one is

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Pesha and one is Avon. Hatha is basically missing the mark. I miss the mark all the

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time. Hatha, Hatha, Hatha. I miss the mark all the time. That is covered by the Lord

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himself. So I come before this Lord. I probably failed. I probably said things I shouldn't

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have said. And even when I minister in churches, when I'm done, my wife and I, we call it sealing

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the devil. We pray and say, God, if there's anything that I've said that is was not let

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of your Holy Spirit, would you let it be forgotten? Let it be blown away as chap, never to be

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remembered. I learned that from the late Dr. Edwin Lewis Cole. People not remember that

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part, but the things I spoke inspired by the Holy Spirit, let it resonate in the hearts

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of people bringing change, not just touching them, but changing them. Hatha, Hatha, Hatha.

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We all miss the mark. It's like the bow and arrow missing the mark. The second thing is

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called Avon. The spelling of Avon is a sin on the iniquities. So the sin of iniquities,

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Avon, A-V-O-N in the Old Testament. Avon just means that there are iniquities that sometimes

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people may not see. It's interesting pressure actually magnifies and exposes hidden iniquities

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of our lives. The things that we think, the prejudices we might have, the inward sins

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that maybe no one else sees, where we are great at compensatory facade. We can put on

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a great facade and compensate on the outside, but God sees and God knows the iniquities

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of our heart because when pressure comes and pressure magnifies, allow those inward iniquities

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come out in other ways and forms and sin, even words or actions or gestures. Hatha is

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to miss the mark. Avon is the areas of iniquities. Like even King David, you know, God give me

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a clean heart of God, renew right spirit within me. I pray every day in one of my two prayer

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times in the mornings, I say, God, bring me a clean heart of God, renew right spirit within

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me. Clean heart and a sharp, stable, sound mind. I want to have the mind of the Lord

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and to do that, I need to have it washed in God's word on a regular basis and realize

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it's not about getting into the word to give a message. It's about getting in his word

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to know the one who inspired the word of God so that when things happen in my life, I respond

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by the Rhema of God, by the Holy Spirit and not by the flesh. And then the third sin is

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one that we try to overlook, but here's the reality. The third sin is what's called Pesha.

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Let me give you a paraphrase of this to know to do right and not do it. It is sin. It's

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willful disobedience to God. It's the willful, habitual, intentional sin to sin against God

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and people when you know to do right. So you have these three kinds of sins that are covered

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that are spoken of the Old Testament. You have Hatha, miss the mark, Avon, iniquities

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of our lives. And the third is the willful disobedience to God. And we know the disobedience

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is the spirit of witchcraft. And so I don't want to operate in the spirit of witchcraft.

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So that's why when I come before communion and authentic worship and communities of God,

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it's not just taking the wafer and the wine or the bread. It's about this communion that

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I want with God. If you look at the five major sacrifices in Leviticus, one is the free will

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offering. It's one of the offerings that you don't have to, the peace offering. It's not

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you're not required to come like the other sacrifices, the burnt sacrifices and others.

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It is this willful, joyful desire just because, because, because we want to worship the Lord

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because he's worthy of our adoration of worship. I want to freely come before him, not because

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I have to, not because I'm expecting anything, just because, because, because of who he is

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and what he's already done for me. You know, when I think of Hebrews 12, I'm still in awe.

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43 years later, I'm still in awe of the goodness of God, the grace of God. It doesn't get old.

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You know, it would if I wasn't spending time with them and enjoying worship, not just in

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public but in private. I'm still completely in awe with him. That's why when I get up

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to people say, how do you become so comfortable when you speak before crowds? I go, I'm never

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comfortable. I always start out in humility and say, God, I'm way beyond my capacity.

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I just thank you for the privilege and the honor of being able to come and share with

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these people and those that you've gathered together. That would be sensitive to the Holy

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Spirit and the needs of your people. But to do that, it's who I am in private because

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it's what we do in private when nobody else can see that determines the power of God or

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lack of it in public because our private choices have public consequences. I think a lot of

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what we're seeing today in our nation and around the world is public demonstration of

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the consequences of the lack of personal consecration and the lack of the church really taking seriously

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this awesome privilege and responsibility to let his light shine in and through us to

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those around us. I believe in fact the fastest growing church in the world, I'm told by friends

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of mine and those who, Lisa and I, and some of you have been able to be on the border

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of Iran working with our Iranian brothers and sisters. And in fact, a few years ago,

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Lisa and I were 500 underground church leaders on the border of Iran and celebrating, dancing,

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worshiping, singing together, even praying for Israel together. It was a beautiful time.

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You have the fastest growing church in the world according to some is Iran. So here is

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00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:35,100
the place, modern day Persia, Iran, that has all this is propagating hatred and the spirit

403
00:34:35,100 --> 00:34:40,560
of Haman. And yet in the midst of all these things, you have a church that is crying out

404
00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:47,360
to God. Sadly, oftentimes it takes shakings and circumstances to bring us to our knees.

405
00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:51,840
And that happened in Indonesia in 1998, where at that time the largest Muslim country in

406
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:57,520
the world by population in their constitution, their laws, that it was a Muslim nation. And

407
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yet out of that desperation of churches being destroyed and Christians being persecuted

408
00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:10,840
in the midst of it all, the church rose up in persecution. The church came out of desperation.

409
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:15,720
I've been a part there and all these great moves of God and Lisa has been with me there.

410
00:35:15,720 --> 00:35:19,640
Maybe some of you have been there. We're in a stadium. We had a hundred thousand people

411
00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:24,320
in one stadium to worship God, televised to millions of people all over the nation and

412
00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:28,320
around the world. We had Yungi Cho. We had every great Christian leader you can think

413
00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:34,880
of, Ed Sobozo. We were all there worshiping God in that country. And even today we've

414
00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:40,520
had more and more Christians becoming mayors and becoming political leaders in that country,

415
00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:47,280
in a Muslim country, because out of desperation, out of difficulty, the church grows. Sadly,

416
00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:53,080
there's been about four things historically that the church has had to overcome. One is

417
00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:57,000
persecution. But yet if you look historically through persecution, the church continues

418
00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:03,360
to flourish and grow. Second is periods of poverty in the place of quality conditions.

419
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And yet in the midst of that, the church explodes and grows historically. The third and fourth

420
00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:14,680
thing that God has always wanted to give us as a church, as a stewardship, but we tend

421
00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:19,680
to become self-centered with it, is long periods of peace and prosperity. When we have long

422
00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:25,120
periods of peace and prosperity, rather than being stewards of being a blessing to the

423
00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:31,320
demons, we become to become self-centered, self-righteous, self-absorbed with those things,

424
00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:35,600
then the shaking comes again. Shaking's aren't always bad. Shaking's are good, especially

425
00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:40,360
when it's shaking us, because God wants to get back to that legitimate place of communion

426
00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:45,280
with Him, and that place of not putting afoot the world and sacrificing in the world the

427
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:49,880
table of demons, but sacrificing at the table of the Lord, so that we come into communion

428
00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:54,520
with Him and with one another. It's that just because, because He's worthy, we don't deserve

429
00:36:54,520 --> 00:37:00,880
His goodness to us, but He's given us His grace and His goodness. To have faith in God

430
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:06,880
is to be disarmed from the flesh and be armed by the Spirit, to be able to thank the Lord

431
00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:11,320
for who He is and what He's already done, because He's worthy of our adoration. I think

432
00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:16,440
that we are on another hinge of history, that we have an authority and a power to stand

433
00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:22,120
before this unleashing around the world, not in fear. We're not a people of fear. Like

434
00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:25,440
in Australia, I just came from Australia, they have an old song they sing back in the

435
00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:31,320
eighties when I first started going there. We are a people of power. We are a people

436
00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:36,920
of praise. We are a people of power. And I can't remember all the words, but I remember

437
00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:42,360
that we're not a people of fear. We're a people of power. We're a people of faith. We are

438
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:48,080
not called to respond to fear. Those are natural things we all have in the flesh, we're afraid.

439
00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:51,840
But if we keep our eyes fixed on the Lord, the author and finisher of our faith, we don't

440
00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:56,200
have to walk in fear because fear is believe in those things you cannot see will come to

441
00:37:56,200 --> 00:38:01,640
pass. It's what the late Dr. Edwin Lewis used to teach us. But he said, also fear may be

442
00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:05,640
believe in those things you cannot see will come to pass. Faith is believe in those things

443
00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:10,120
you cannot see will come to pass. The difference is, fear is of the devil, faith is of the

444
00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:15,160
kingdom of God. We are a people of God. We're a people of faith. We're people who keep our

445
00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:20,140
eyes fixed on the Lord, can rise above the storms because the world right now needs the

446
00:38:20,140 --> 00:38:26,000
fragrance of heaven. They need help out of the fog, out of the darkness and out of the

447
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:31,280
storms of life. That's what we're called for. We're on a hinge of history. We're in another

448
00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:37,680
great opportunity, not just like happened 2,500 years ago, or in the days of Daniel

449
00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:42,760
and Babylon or Esther and Mordecai in Persia, modern-day Iran, but we're in a whole new

450
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:49,720
season, a hinge of history. What would happen if we, the people of God, we, the church,

451
00:38:49,720 --> 00:38:54,960
would take a humble posh before God, allow the Lord to do a deeper work in us and renew

452
00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:59,360
that first love in us? Because it's a place where we need to get back to our first love.

453
00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:03,880
So when we do that, and like Keith Green used to say, be bananas for Jesus, or I should

454
00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:08,880
say goo goo gaga for Jesus like a baby, so innocent, reckless abandonment. That's what

455
00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:12,680
we used to call it on our t-shirts. Faith is to have reckless abandonment to God. It's

456
00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:16,400
one thing to have faith that removes a mountain. A mustard seed can move a mountain, Jesus

457
00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:23,280
said, but oftentimes it's not the faith, it's also our trust. Do we trust God in the faith

458
00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:27,520
that he's given us, and that mustard seed faith to be able to move mountains and be

459
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:31,520
a part of the hinge of history? I don't want to just sing about being a history maker.

460
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:35,960
I want to be a history maker. I want to be a part of what God is doing, regardless of

461
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:40,840
what we see going on around us. I know Jen and I were part of the Sentinel Group in documenting

462
00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:46,120
all the documentaries on transformation with the Sentinel Group. We've been to places that

463
00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:50,560
was experiencing transformation, Uganda and Fiji and other parts of the world. We saw

464
00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:57,640
it for our own eyes, and yet God did a movement like that when God's people postured themselves

465
00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:01,200
in humility and in the fear of the Lord. I'm not talking about being afraid of God in the

466
00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:05,640
sense, but the reverential fear of God that says, God, my life is not my own. I want to

467
00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:11,640
be consecrated to you, not an external piety, but inward consecration of the heart. What

468
00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:17,520
would happen even now with all this hatred and all this division and all this spirit

469
00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:22,440
of Haman and the spirit of death that is being unleashed around the world that we have God's

470
00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:27,400
people postured ourselves, putting aside weapons of warfare against each other and turning

471
00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:33,080
them and harvesting tools together? What could happen in a moment on this hinge of history?

472
00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:37,920
What would happen if the church across America, the church around the world joined together

473
00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:42,280
crossing our racial, denominational, generational lines at this hinge of history? Could God

474
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:46,600
do something as we move even into Yom Kippur and other things that are happening? You've

475
00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:51,960
heard all the prophetic words and warnings, and I hear all that. I'm not cognizant of

476
00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:56,200
those things. We hear about all those things. I'm not trying to take away from that. What

477
00:40:56,200 --> 00:41:02,120
I'm saying is, let's keep our focus because ultimately, just like in the book of John,

478
00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:05,440
when Jesus said to his disciples after he was speaking to the woman at the well, the

479
00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:09,720
Samaritan woman, who, by the way, went and impacted all of her home city, that every

480
00:41:09,720 --> 00:41:14,880
one of them came to the Lord, she said, come see a man who knew everything about me. What

481
00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:20,880
would happen if we had that kind of boldness to say, come see a man, look to Jesus, the

482
00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:25,460
author and finish of our faith, come see a man in the midst of all this going on. Could

483
00:41:25,460 --> 00:41:30,400
it be that in a moment, just like Jesus said to his disciples, I have food you do not know

484
00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:37,080
of. In other words, my full satisfaction is not about human satisfaction or food in the

485
00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:43,160
natural. It's about honoring and obeying my Father in heaven and bringing glory to Him.

486
00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:47,440
Then he says, behold, look up from where? For me, I've always seen it as a visual for

487
00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:52,840
me. When I'm going through my stuff, I look down at my feet and I think about that scripture.

488
00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:57,000
Behold, look up. Doug, look up from your own circumstance. Look up from your penny part.

489
00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:03,160
Look up from your circumstances and situation. Look up and see the fields are ripe and white

490
00:42:03,160 --> 00:42:08,360
under harvest. If I don't lose that focus, then my purpose in life is greater than what

491
00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:14,520
I see around me. It's greater. It's opportunity. It's that window of opportunity for our testimony

492
00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:18,120
because we've overcome by the blood of the lamb, the word of our testimony. But to be

493
00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:24,320
there and to have the authority of God is to take the right posture that we only sacrifice

494
00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:29,980
at the table, Lord, and we go, God, help me to walk in deeper consecration and higher

495
00:42:29,980 --> 00:42:35,520
in expectation in you. How many discern the body? Help me to love your church, to be led

496
00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:40,720
of your Holy Spirit, and help me, Lord, not to walk in lust and idolatry and sexual morality,

497
00:42:40,720 --> 00:42:46,020
tempting Christ and murmuring and backbiting. But Lord, help me. Help me to be a good steward

498
00:42:46,020 --> 00:42:52,480
of what you've entrusted to me and to us because there's a corporate attack, a yes on the church,

499
00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:57,040
a corporate attack and a spirit being unleashed against Israel and against the church, but

500
00:42:57,040 --> 00:43:02,840
there's also a powerful corporate response when we individually in private and corporately

501
00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:07,400
agree in prayer because agreements are a place of power that releases the virtue of God like

502
00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:11,960
the woman with the issue of blood. There was throngs of people and Jesus said, who touched

503
00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:16,520
me? And the disciples said, well, Jesus, everybody's touching you. What do you mean? Who touched

504
00:43:16,520 --> 00:43:22,600
you? Jesus knows the difference between who's just in the crowd to worship or to attend

505
00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:28,600
church or to come just see a miracle or to just hear a good word. Those are important,

506
00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:33,280
but he knew the difference by the one who was desperate and who just knew if I could

507
00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:40,000
just touch the tzitzis, the dangling tassels on the hems of his garment, the lowest place.

508
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:45,240
I'm not even have to look at him face to face. If I could just touch the tassels on the hems

509
00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:49,720
of his garment, I could just touch that. Didn't even know what to expect. We just knew I could

510
00:43:49,720 --> 00:43:54,680
get something. And that's who Jesus said, who touched me. And as she touched him, he

511
00:43:54,680 --> 00:44:00,320
knew that virtue had been released from him and the power of heaven was released to bring

512
00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:05,440
her healing. We need the power of heaven. We need the virtue of God's presence. And

513
00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:10,700
for that, we need to be a desperate people, an honest people, and a people recognize no

514
00:44:10,700 --> 00:44:14,960
more compromise with the world. I'm not trying to be legalistic, but you remember this, the

515
00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:19,920
letter of the law kills. I wrote a book years ago, Living Life Well, but it was about the

516
00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:24,600
spirit of the Ten Commandments. We can't keep the law just by reading it and trying to make

517
00:44:24,600 --> 00:44:30,040
it work or let the law fit into us or us fit into it because the letter of the law will

518
00:44:30,040 --> 00:44:35,320
produce one of two things. On one degree, we'll use God's word to become legalistic

519
00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:40,640
with God's law to force other people into subserviency or to judge people rather than

520
00:44:40,640 --> 00:44:45,880
love people and be an example. But the other extreme of the letter of the law is we take

521
00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:51,320
the laws of God or the laws of a nation and we try to justify them and amend them over

522
00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:56,080
and over and over again that we literally amend them so much, we try to justify them

523
00:44:56,080 --> 00:45:02,560
according to our personal fleshly desires. And so it goes from liberty to license to

524
00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:08,960
licentiousness. So either way, legalism or licentiousness, that's not what we need. What

525
00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:14,760
we need is the spirit of relationship with the living God who loves us so much that he

526
00:45:14,760 --> 00:45:19,760
gave himself for us. And then he gives us a greater purpose than ourselves, that we

527
00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:25,320
have an opportunity right now like never before to let his light shine in and through us,

528
00:45:25,320 --> 00:45:29,880
that the world that's in darkness and fog and in the storms of life and a world that's

529
00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:34,880
very stinky, that we can be a fragrance of heaven and we can be a lighthouse in the midst

530
00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:39,720
of it all. So I really sense we're in a very pivotal place. I haven't even gotten into

531
00:45:39,720 --> 00:45:46,640
some things with a new friend, Myron Stinson, and he's already taken five unspotted red

532
00:45:46,640 --> 00:45:52,640
heifers in Israel right now. So who knows, regardless of if the temple will be rebuilt

533
00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:56,160
or if it's going to be, you know, the current temple is going to be rebuilt. The point is

534
00:45:56,160 --> 00:46:02,320
we see an escalation of prophetic words coming to pass. The five red heifers that he brought

535
00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:08,640
over has been accepted by Orthodox rabbis as they prepare for whatever could be happening

536
00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:14,280
here and they're expecting something significant to happen by Passover. Now let me conclude

537
00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:18,800
with this. Purim and spring, there's that connection I believe that God is saying it's

538
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:24,200
time to spring into action. It's time for the church to not withdraw into the perdition

539
00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:30,960
but to press in. And this time of Purim that we celebrate what God did 2,500 years ago,

540
00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:35,520
so we need to also contend on this hinge of history against the corporate spirit of Haman

541
00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:40,320
that's been unleashed and be fasted and seeking the Lord so we can have a new day dawning

542
00:46:40,320 --> 00:46:45,680
over the church and our authority that comes from heaven to stand up for a time such as

543
00:46:45,680 --> 00:46:52,040
this like Esther and Mordecai. Easter as it's become may be pagan. Historically the Passover

544
00:46:52,040 --> 00:46:56,360
was real. The death, burial, resurrection was real. If you call it Monday, Thursday,

545
00:46:56,360 --> 00:47:01,840
if you call it Passover, if you call it resurrection Sunday, all that being said, Palm Sunday, the

546
00:47:01,840 --> 00:47:07,400
fact is the world is focusing right now in this season all the way through Easter and

547
00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:14,040
Passover. This is our moment to take opportunity of the moment to bring the reality of who

548
00:47:14,040 --> 00:47:20,760
Christ really is and for the church to take its rightful place in representing Christ

549
00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:26,440
and his kingdom in a way that brings the authority and the virtue of Christ to a world that's

550
00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:30,680
desperately in need. So regardless of your eschatology, regardless of what you think

551
00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:36,520
about certain days, fact is Jesus lived, he was crucified, he died, he was raised from

552
00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:41,640
the dead. We know that Passover, we know Purim and Passover, all these areas we represent

553
00:47:41,640 --> 00:47:48,040
as resurrection Sunday is a reality of history that represents the death, burial, resurrection

554
00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:54,000
of Christ, but could it be something of great significance God is getting us ready for at

555
00:47:54,000 --> 00:48:00,160
this season in 2024? I know a lot of signs in the heavens and we've seen all these words

556
00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:05,240
about the eclipses and all that. There's signs in the heavens, but I believe there's actual

557
00:48:05,240 --> 00:48:09,720
signs already in God's word already when he's speaking to each and every one of us. This

558
00:48:09,720 --> 00:48:14,340
is our moment, this is our time. Let's be who God's called us to be and let's go deeper

559
00:48:14,340 --> 00:48:19,600
in consecration, higher in expectation. Would you help us Lord to get back to our first

560
00:48:19,600 --> 00:48:24,680
love? Give us a renewed revelation of the work of the cross and the power of the resurrection.

561
00:48:24,680 --> 00:48:29,600
Help us to be those who bless Israel, stand with Israel during this time, celebrate with

562
00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:35,360
our Jewish brothers and sisters as they look back to even what Purim 2,500 years ago represents

563
00:48:35,360 --> 00:48:40,520
to them today. It's a time of great celebration, but Lord in the midst of it is great grief,

564
00:48:40,520 --> 00:48:44,560
there's great pain even as we were on a call yesterday with one of the family members,

565
00:48:44,560 --> 00:48:52,040
the son of one who's still a hostage by Hamas. God, I'm praying for all those who are suffering.

566
00:48:52,040 --> 00:48:57,120
I pray Lord that your Holy Spirit would move in a divine way, open the eyes of the blind,

567
00:48:57,120 --> 00:49:02,840
take the scales off. Even to those who have been anti-church, anti-Israel, would you open

568
00:49:02,840 --> 00:49:07,480
their eyes? Lord, let there be a massive move of your Holy Spirit because just like in the

569
00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:13,120
days of Esther, in a moment as you're summoning your bride right now to your presence, in

570
00:49:13,120 --> 00:49:18,680
a moment, in a day, you can change everything. God, would you do that in our day today in

571
00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:24,680
2024? God, give us a renewed heart for you and for people and to recognize that a new

572
00:49:24,680 --> 00:49:31,280
day is dawning and that we personally need to get back to our first love. In Jesus'

573
00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:52,680
name, Amen.