0:00 Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you his kingdom. Luke 12, 32, right? Did I get it right? What does that verse mean to you? As you think about that, do you think, okay, you know, here, take my kingdom. 0:26 The father is up there in heaven, and you're begging and pleading with him, Lord, make me more Christ-like. Lord, make me more pure. Lord, make me more compassionate. Lord, make me more patient. And the father's like, oh, you want some patience? Okay, here. 0:44 Kind of as an afterthought. Is that how you picture your father kind of sitting there saying, okay, how long are you going to ask me for it before I give it to you? This verse blows all of that out of the water. If my leg was healthier, I'd be jumping out to demonstrate it. 1:00 Maybe get some of the kids to do it. Your kids, you could do a skit one day to demonstrate to us so we get this vivid picture of the father waiting for us to ask. I want some of your kingdom, father. I want to be a little bit more Christ-like. 1:16 You want it? It is your father's good pleasure. He gets pleasure in your asking him to be patient. He gets pleasure in your asking him to be pure in your thought life. He gets pleasure in your asking him to be freed from anger. 1:34 He gets pleasure when you just, we've heard that already. The brothers who shared, I think, all touched on this in some way. He's excited. I can't even describe what that's like. I get excited when my kids come and ask me for something that I can give them 1:49 or that I want to give them. It's like, you know, I'm not even going to try to think of an example lest I butcher it. But just get this picture of the father jumping out of his throne. It is your father's good pleasure. 2:05 He's excited to give you the kingdom. He's not miserly. When you ask him for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, maybe you feel like you've been asking him for years. Remember this. This is faith. We've heard it many times from this pulpit. 2:22 Your father is excited to give it to you. Come to him with that confidence. Come to him with that faith that, Father, you knew I was going to come and ask you for this. You knew I was going to come and ask you for grace to make it through this day. 2:36 And I've already made a mess of it. But here I am coming to you, Father. And he says, I'm so excited you came. I almost want to jump out of my throne to show you how excited I am. It is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 2:50 May that bring us comfort and strength in every circumstance in life. I also want to say thanks to you, church family, for how you serve the body of Christ and the kingdom of heaven during this last couple of weeks when we had the conference over the weekend a couple of weeks ago 3:09 and the special meetings last Sunday as well and how all of you poured your lives out for the kingdom of heaven. It might seem like a small thing. It's a miracle that what goes on here, I believe. And I just want to take a moment for me to express that gratitude to you. 3:30 Let's give a hand to all of those who did something for the conference, which is maybe you're appreciating it in yourself. That's good. And giving thanks to the Lord for his grace that we could do it. But the reason I'm taking a few moments now to express that 3:45 is because it's a miracle that goes on here. I mean, we don't have a very large building that can fit almost 300 people that we had here. And the fact that the lines were orderly, going through, getting lunch, not a single child got seriously hurt. 4:03 No accidents on this busy road. We don't have a registration fee. We offer everything for free. We don't even pass an offering bag compelling people to give. If people forget to give, we'll be all right. God will take care of it. 4:20 The way I look at it, we do all the principles of running a successful organization. We probably don't do any of them. We probably break all of those rules. If you want to run a successful organization, you know, if somebody come in here and analyze how we ran the conference, 4:37 you'd probably have lots to pick on what we do, on how we could do it better, and how we could turn this into a profitable enterprise if we wanted to. But that would defeat the purpose of it all. And that's the essence of the spirit of Babylon. 4:53 I want to talk a little bit about that today. Is the church copying the world? And God forbid, by God's grace, we'll never bring in an expert to tell us how we can do it more efficiently according to how the world does it. 5:05 But what will we do? We'll fall on our face before God and say, It's your mercy that we could even do this. It's your gift. You've given us the ability. You've given us this building. Ask some of these brothers who were here before even I was, 5:20 how the Lord miraculously gave this building right back into our lap and after He had us give it up. I think about that often when we are crammed into a tight space like this. And what a blessing it is that we even have this. 5:35 It's a gift of the Lord. Let's never take it for granted. Let's also be responsible with what we have. Take care of the building and the chairs and the facilities. But like I said, we probably break every worldly principle 5:48 of what it means to run a successful organization. But yet we succeed. From heaven's standpoint, I believe something miraculous happened here in the last couple of weeks from the standpoint of heaven. And we may not even see the fruit of it here on this earth, 6:04 but I believe by God's grace we will in eternity. That's why I want to say thank you to you as a church family. This isn't a one-man show. We're not here to exalt one person, but only the name of Jesus. And I believe that happened. 6:17 I hope in the midst of the busyness of hosting that you are able to sit back and soak it in and bask in the God of shining lights, God of brilliant lights shining down on us as he did with his word, but also with fellowship 6:34 and with being blessed by the hunger and thirst I sensed in many people who traveled far and abroad. Like I said, some from India, from Australia, various parts of the U.S. and Canada, drove hours, took time off, put money in to be here, 6:54 and spent more than we did, certainly, individually, to be here for this weekend. But that value for the kingdom of God and for fellowship and for rich teaching and that desire that I sensed in many of them to experience a body like we have, a church family like we have, 7:11 just came up in almost every conversation I had. And over and over again I heard, man, you guys are so fortunate, so blessed to have a church family like this. And I just felt the Lord allowing me to step back and never take it for granted 7:25 and never allow the little things, the little hurts and the little grievances we have to allow us to miss the glory of what's going on here. And the devil will try to steal that. The devil will try to bring in something that takes away from the glory 7:37 and the planting of the word. Turn with me to Matthew 14. I'd like to start there. I was thinking over the last, this past week, as I was reflecting on what the Lord spoke to me personally and spoke to us as a church during the meetings, 8:01 how recently we've studied in Matthew 13 about the parable of the sower. And the way I look at it, in that effort, if you look at the parable of the sower as an example of the experiences we had, let's say, at the conference 8:17 or even what we have Sunday after Sunday, the success rate from the 100% standpoint is one-sixth. There were, there was three different types of soil or four, really, including the good. And the good itself was also divided into three parts. 8:38 If your goal is the 100-fold, not the 60-fold, not the 30-fold, which Jesus doesn't speak down on the 30- or 60-fold, but I hope that's not your goal. Together, it says, well, Lord, you didn't, you were content with my only giving 30%. 8:52 Here it is. I don't know what heaven's going to be like for such a person, but my goal is not 30% or 60%. It's 100% of God, all of the kingdom of God, because it is my Father's good pleasure to give me all of the kingdom of God. 9:06 He wants me to have 100%. He doesn't want me to be satisfied with 99%. So my goal is 100%. And when I divide this parable of the sower in Matthew 13 into those six categories of the ones who had the birds taken away, the ones who had rocky soil, there was no depth. 9:24 They initially had joy. What a great sermon. But the next day, there wasn't that dying to self. There was shallowness in their life. They lived in their emotions or in the physical realm. They didn't press through into the spiritual realm. 9:39 And then there's that third category of people who had a little bit of depth and fruit started to come out. But then they had to go back to work and then they had to go back to the cares and worries of this life. Anxiety, fear, worry, jealousy, resentment, 9:53 love of money, all these things choked it out. Those three. And then there was three more on which there was good soil and nothing choked it out. But what do you think caused, prevented some from achieving that goal of 100%? 10:10 What was it that caused some to only have the same God, The same seed only bore 30% fruit in some. The Bible's not clear on that, but I have been meditating and seeing areas of indiscipline in my life, personally, that maybe I, 10:27 maybe I'm, the birds aren't stealing the seed away from me. Maybe I do have some depth. It's not rocky soil. God's been breaking me. Maybe I'm being aware of these thorns and thistles that choke out the Word. But what about areas of indiscipline? 10:43 I'm a little bit careless. I love the extra sleep, or I'm not disciplined in studying the Word. I'm not disciplined in praying, spending time with God. And so little by little, there's a blockage in my life that prevents me from getting to that 100 fold, 10:59 from God, the same God who plants the seed on my good, honest, good heart from being able to fulfill the 100% for which He sent that Word. And I've been asking the Lord to show me where I am on this. Ask the Lord to do that for you as well. 11:17 Lord, we've heard so much. I've heard so much. I don't want to assume. It's not going to happen automatically. But I want to take up my cross, and I want you to, I want to have an open, and an honest, and a good heart to listen, 11:30 to hear what it is that you have to say to me. See, it says in the, I think in the Luke expression of that parable, it says, what is the good soil? It says it's an honest and good heart. So good soil, that's only producing 30%, 11:45 even if it's good, or only producing 60%, it means, I think, I understand it this way, that there's only a 30% honesty and goodness of heart. There's only a 30% level of honesty in my life, where I allow the Lord to speak to me 12:03 up to the 30% mark. After that, I'm like, Lord, you've disciplined me enough. I don't want to hear any more from it. That's it. I'm honest. I'm allowing the Lord to peel back those onions that we heard about also, only up to 30% down. 12:19 And so the Lord says, okay, you only allowed me to peel back 30%. You were only honest with me up to that 30%. That's all you get. Somebody else goes 60% and gets 60%. And then others, I believe all of us by God's grace, 12:34 let it be so, say, Lord, take me down to the root. Lay the ax to the root of the issue. Why is it that already here we are in June and I see that I had set this out to be the best year of my life and I've fallen so far short. 12:49 Let's not be condemned about it, but let's say, Lord, lay the ax to the root of the problem, lay the ax to the root of the issue so that I can fulfill your calling over my life 100%. And it shall be so. May the Lord show you that. 13:04 One-sixth, 16%. You know the ratio in the book of Revelation when you read Revelation 2 and 3 is also about the same. Two out of seven. The Lord had no rebuke for only two out of those seven churches. With all the others, 13:18 He had some good to say at least with four of them. He had something good to say but He had some correction. Somewhere along that zero to 100%. And there was one church which was zero. I mean it was probably the bad soil 13:31 the church in Laodicea. He says, I'm about to spit you out of my mouth because you are miserable, wretched, poor, blind, and naked and you don't even know it. So that percentage is pretty small. And may the Lord allow us to take it to heart. 13:47 May we all be found among the few who are chosen. Many are called but few are chosen. In Matthew 14, we were looking, Phil was looking at us with us earlier about Herod and the situation with Herod and I want to pick it up 14:03 now in verse 12. Matthew 14, verse 12. His disciples came and took away the body. This is talking about John the Baptist. 14:24 Disciples came and took away the body and buried it and they went and reported to Jesus. They went and reported to Jesus. I think in this gospel, the way Matthew is describing it, the best we can understand it is that this was 14:41 the disciples of Jesus and came and took away the body after it was beheaded and buried it and they went and reported to Jesus. If you read the other gospels, I think it's both in Mark 6 and Luke 9 or something like that 14:56 where this situation with John being beheaded by Herod is recorded after Jesus sends the 12 disciples in pairs. Now, if you read the gospels carefully, it seems like he did this sending out twice. There was one time when he sent 15:14 the 70 out in pairs and they did miracles, they did mighty things, but in this situation, if you read it carefully, and let's look there actually in Mark chapter 6, he sent the 12 and the best I can understand it, it was another time, 15:28 either before or after, I can't remember, where he sent just the 12 now in pairs. So six groups of these 12 disciples going out because it says in Mark 6 verse 7 that he summoned the 12 and began to send them out in pairs 15:46 and look at the way in which they were sent out. He gave them authority over unclean spirits. Now, these were men who were not yet filled with the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit of God came upon them like it did in the people of old 16:02 and I think in an even more powerful way because they were out there sort of pushing the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of the new covenant into the frontiers. They were taking the message of Jesus and sending it out into the parts 16:16 of Israel or wherever they went. So it says he gave them authority over the unclean spirits. This is a pretty significant thing. And he instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey. Imagine if Jesus said, 16:29 I'm giving you authority and you're going to meet demon-possessed people out there, you two and both of you. And the reason he said two, I think we understand that from other places, is that because he was looking for both of them 16:39 to work together in unity. It wasn't just one person going out there in the authority of Jesus and casting out demons. It was two. It wasn't just Elijah out there doing something for God, Elisha, Jeremiah, Isaiah. Now it was two. 16:54 And you don't even know which two were paired up. But they were sent out in two, to see, in twos, to see that they would be one. And on the basis of that unity, God would do mighty works. So he instructed them that they should take 17:08 nothing for their journey except a staff. He sent them out to travel across the land wherever they were going and he'd only take a stick because your legs might hurt after a while so you'll need this stick. Or maybe you'll meet 17:21 a few animals along the way to chase them away. But that's it. No money, no bank account, no credit card in case you run out of money. No bread, no bag, no money in their belt. That means if you're getting late at night 17:38 and you haven't made it to the next town and you're not going to make it there, you're just going to sleep out in the open and God will take care of you. And they didn't have roadside motels like they do now. They were walking, 17:48 they were on foot. Sandals and a staff. Simplicity. Why do you think Jesus sent them out this way? To demonstrate that they were not to rely on their own strength but to rely on Jesus to take care of everything they would need 18:05 if they were doing his work. And you can remember that, dear brothers and sisters. I'm saying this in the context of how the Lord has used us and is using us as a church. That we don't have to rely on our resources. We don't have to look 18:16 at the bank account and look at how much we have. But we can know that if Jesus could, if God could take care of these two people with just a stick and their sandals and that's all they had, he can take care of us today 18:28 who have so much more than that. If we come to him with this mentality and we don't trust in our own resources, this is what Jesus was trying to teach these disciples. And he added, do not put on two tunics. Don't even take an extra shirt. 18:44 And he said to them, wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town. Any place that does not receive you or listen to you as you go out from there, shake the dust of the soles of your feet for a testimony against them. 18:57 They went out and preached that men should repent. Not a very popular message. So I'm sure they got kicked out of most cities. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing many with oil, many sick people and healing them. 19:12 Were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them. And then you read this story. It's almost like God is putting an end to the Old Covenant with allowing John the Baptist to end. I think it's happening simultaneously. 19:25 John the Baptist is being put to death for his faith and he was the greatest man until Jesus under the Old Covenant. But that time is coming to an end and now God is establishing a new covenant with all these things we know about 19:37 the New Covenant. Two instead of one. No resources. Not asking for money. Going out in faith. And then after that when you get to verse 30 after the story about John the Baptist being headed it says that the apostles it seems like 19:54 it's these 12 now who are coming back and reporting to Jesus. The apostles gathered together with Jesus and they reported to him all that they had done and taught. And I thought about what it must have been like with these apostles 20:08 these 12 coming back. It says that they did many things. I mean they probably had done miracles that they'd never done before. I mean these were simple poor fisher folk and here they were confronting a demon possessed person 20:22 and casting out that demon. Could you imagine what that did for them? I think that they came back strutting and they came back reporting to Jesus he's like oh Jesus it's not just you anymore it's us too. We cast out a demon 20:37 and Philip and Thomas probably said hey let me tell you guys about this one we faced this one and he was all bound with chains and we cast him out and the chains came off and this other person was about to die and we put oil on him 20:49 he just jumped up hail and hail hearty and they reported to Jesus. Now before we go before we get too hard on them let's remember this I believe there's something that we often miss in our service to God and to his kingdom 21:05 and a lot of Christendom misses when there's a move of the Holy Spirit when God uses us when God uses you in some way report back to Jesus come back to Jesus if God has used you in some way if God has blessed you if God has given you 21:18 victory in some area in your life if it's going well in your marriage if God has healed things in a relationship if it's going well with your children if God these are all parts of establishing the kingdom of heaven on this earth 21:30 and if it's going well with you in some way don't sit back and take credit for it report back to Jesus and say Lord Jesus you did it you sent me out he says he sent them out with that authority it says he gave them that authority 21:46 now whether they came back recognizing that he gave them that authority or not I hope that they did and I hope we will recognize that when God uses us when God establishes us in our marriages in our homes in our personal walk 22:00 and in this church and starts to use us and I pray that he will increasingly in the days to come allow the ministry through this place to spread let's always come back and report to Jesus let it be about him they reported back 22:13 to Jesus it said now perhaps they were expecting some commendation but at least they came back to Jesus and he could set them right and we'll see how he did as we continue reading now back in Matthew chapter 14 Matthew 14 22:30 after the disciples reported to him it says in verse 13 Matthew 14 verse 13 when Jesus heard about John heard about what happened to John he withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by himself and when the people 22:52 heard of this they followed him on foot from the cities and this is the second thing I want to point out as we think the title of my message is humility in serving God as we serve God the most dangerous thing that could happen 23:06 to us is that we start to get puffed up you've probably heard it here before you heard Zach say the easiest thing is for God to bless somebody the most difficult thing for God to do is to keep him humble after that for me to 23:21 let's say preach this message or for you to do something in the church in the body of Christ and be used in some way and for that not to puff me up in some way the easiest thing is for God to bless me or to use me as a blessing 23:35 to be a blessing to others and I find that the reason God delays often in allowing us to be a blessing to people in a particular way is because he wants to see us broken first I mean he could do mighty miracles through us 23:52 and in us and in our midst he could answer every single one of our prayers but I believe that often sometimes when God doesn't answer his prayers it's because of unbelief if God doesn't answer if God says no that's one thing 24:04 but if God doesn't even answer it's probably because of unbelief he says I can't even answer that prayer you don't believe I'm going to do it at other times I believe God says no I am not going to answer that prayer the way you're 24:15 asking me because it would be more dangerous for you if I did and I believe sometimes there's been I know there have been times in my life where I've pleaded with God please answer this prayer please and to this day the Lord 24:28 hasn't but as I look back on my life I see that the reason he didn't answer that prayer was for my good I look at how he broke me and crushed me in circumstances and allowed me to continue to pray he didn't say no if he had said no 24:44 I would have stopped asking if he had said no I'm not going to answer that prayer I would have stopped asking but while I was waiting for that answer I cried and I cried and I pled with him and I got angry with him and I was resentful 24:55 towards him and I was bitter towards him at times and I repented of that but I kept coming back to him and he kept saying no and sometimes he was just silent but I look at what that did for me and how the Lord broke me and how 25:10 I'm still here by his grace and still trusting him some of those prayers I'm still praying that he'll answer prayers for healing prayers for God to use us in a particular way even but when the Lord delays his answer it's because 25:26 he's more interested in us being broken because he knows that if he was to put that knife into my one year old hands I would hurt myself you know the example right if Daphne who's a little over a year old if I see her playing 25:42 with a knife I'm going to run there and grab it away from her and she often when she does that she looks at me and gets angry at me and does the little pouty face that you see she's doing lately and is angry at me her loving father 25:55 for taking away this shiny toy that seems like would be so fulfilling I could probably keep her quiet the whole meeting if I would just let her play with that sharp knife but I'm not going to let her now in ten years I hope 26:09 she will use a knife and be a help to us in the home but I'm not going to let her until she's old enough to use it and if the Lord is withholding an answer from you in some way don't give up on him he loves you it it it is 26:24 his good pleasure to give you his kingdom you should never doubt that and when you face circumstances of uncertainty where you think Lord I can't even see why this would be bad for me but you're not answering that prayer 26:36 and you're not letting me have it everything I can think of and I even lay it all on the altar I still don't see why you wouldn't answer that prayer the way I'm asking you Lord says trust me it is my good pleasure to give 26:48 you the kingdom so what we see Jesus doing here though is that he secluded himself often when God uses you or God is about to use you if we haven't learned this secret of secluding ourselves often 27:09 now in Jesus case it says he went up to the mountains and maybe you can't really get up to the mountains because you've got a family that's waiting at home but I know this dear brothers and sisters if you're willing to look 27:21 for it there are places of seclusion in your spirit and in your heart and in your mind that you must go with your children around you perhaps or while you're laying on your bed instead of just sitting in front of the TV 27:35 and falling asleep watching that or instead of just waking up alone with God and you're there alone if God doesn't see that there in your life there's no way he'll be able to use you because he sees that you care about the 27:55 busyness of life and the busyness of ministry even perhaps without finding that place of seclusion it says in verse 23 if you skip down it same Matthew 14 verse 23 it says that after he sent the crowds away he went up on 28:11 the mountain by himself to pray actually that wasn't the verse I was thinking of I forget where it is but it says he used to do this often he would often slip away to pray it says and I think in Mark in this similar passage 28:23 you know this is different from what I see in Christendom today sadly where famous preachers the church service will money bag and you'll have this song about giving and you know how God give and it will 28:43 give back to you pressed down shaken together they've got wonderful songs for passing the offering bag and and then right before the sermon starts the preacher comes up from backstage probably preaches a sermon gives you a little pep talk 28:55 and right after the sermon disappears into his back room where there's a security detail that protects him from your having access to him this is what's going on christened today most churches are copying the world like I said 29:07 because this is what they do at NBA games if you want to see Steph Curry or LeBron James good luck you're not because as soon as the game is over they rush off into the locker room and then there's a security detail guarding that room 29:19 and churches have said oh this is what the famous people do so we're going to do that as well see this isn't this isn't what Jesus was doing Jesus found times of seclusion at his inconvenience not to get away from people 29:36 there was times that he took a rest but he was accessible to the people around him you could touch him you could sit on his lap children that's how accessible Jesus was he wasn't afraid that you were going to do some harm to him 29:48 because his hand was his life was in the hands of his father and he knew that you couldn't touch his life even if you were a Roman centurion they tried to catch him and Jesus slipped away so Jesus found seclusion he found those 30:03 quiet times with God without letting it be a hindrance from him being accessible to people so be careful of this I even heard a couple of preachers once say that the reason they needed this billion dollar jet was because they had to 30:16 have this quiet time with God away from the people that were thronging to get to know them so they had to have this million dollar jet with a comfortable cushion and the drinks as much as you want and get there in a few minutes 30:28 instead of driving by car or walking like Jesus had to this is the deception that people are falling for in Christendom today Jesus found times of seclusion at his own inconvenience so how does that apply to us we're not flying around 30:42 in billion dollar jets but you may think fathers how am I going to get this alone time when I work a long day and then my children I just want to get a little bit of time with them before they go to bed and my wife and then I'm tired 30:55 and I'm beaten I just hit the pillow and I fall asleep but I know this and the Lord's been showing this into my own life as well dear brothers and sisters that if we're willing to make sacrifices all of us have things that we do 31:09 that please ourselves that we do for recreation and those good things I have plenty of those and I'll continue to do those but the Lord will I hope I believe He will because He loves you put His finger on five of those minutes 31:22 that you spend doing something that's for yourself and say will you give me just those five minutes yeah spend time with your family with your wife and your children but how about that start there start small and just give me 31:34 that time of seclusion maybe it's go to bed five minutes earlier or wake up five minutes earlier because your hunger and thirst is for this seclusion with God why do you think Jesus secluded himself often why do you think 31:54 Jesus would often slip away I want to look at that again in this next point it says in Hebrews chapter 5 if God is to use us we must recognize our constant need of the Father this is what I want 32:15 us to look at Hebrews chapter 5 verse 7 it says in the days of his flesh he offered up both prayers and supplications have you wondered why Jesus went away to the mountains why did he find that place of seclusion because he had to cry 32:32 loud and it was at night and if he was just in his comfortable bed at home he would wake up his brothers and sisters and his mom with his loud crying and tears he says I got to cry loud I got to go far enough away where I can cry 32:47 so loud that nobody will ever hear me in the days of his flesh he offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the one able to save him from death and he was heard because of his godly fear what was it 33:02 that sent Jesus off to this place of seclusion it was the fear of God not being afraid of his Father Jesus was never afraid of his Father he had existed with the Father from forever he had no reason to be afraid of the Father 33:16 but he feared God and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom it's the ABC it's no wonder that so many things in God's word are a mystery see it's because I'm trying to learn Russian now as I've been trying to learn a little bit 33:31 of Romanian in talking to this dear family you know if I was to look at a Russian Bible I'd be like I don't get it this is because I don't know the ABC of Russian I know the ABC of English and I can read this and read in the days 33:45 of his flesh he offered up both prayers and supplications but if the word of God seems like it's in a foreign language even if it's written in English if God isn't giving you revelation from his word or it's been a long time 33:58 since he has and you're reading it and reading it and falling asleep reading it and there's no revelation now if you fall asleep reading it it's okay I do that too sometimes but if you're reading it and there's no revelation 34:11 that's what I'm talking about and years go by and I've not got anything out of it there's no wonder that I don't want to spend time with God's word because there's no revelation and you know why there's no revelation I've seen it in my own life 34:23 often it's because I haven't learned the ABC I'm reading a Bible in a different language altogether the English words are there but in the spiritual realm it's a completely different language I haven't learned the ABC of the language 34:36 of heaven see there's the black and white words the English words that are written here and then for that to come alive it has to pass through I picture this I like word pictures I picture this second level of language that's there 34:51 which is the language of heaven this is just reading it you go to a seminary you can analyze this and get a concordance out and get the Greek and the Hebrew and the Vulgate and all the other books you can pile them around you 35:03 and you're just at that superficial level but for it to translate into revelation where it sinks in here there's this another language that it has to pass through which is the language of heaven and most Christians in this world 35:18 sadly haven't even learned the ABC of that language of heaven so I can read it in English but then when it comes to this other language I don't even know ABC it's like another language out there and it's like a veil talks about that 35:32 in 2 Corinthians 3 there's a veil over this and so God says you want to know you want to get revelation you want to get beyond just oh that's a great thought let me share that at the Wednesday meeting or get up next time 35:43 they ask me to share I have something to share no it's much more than that where it translates into becoming words of life that transform me there's power in this book and if you've been reading the Bible as I have sadly 35:57 for years my brothers and sisters for years I read the Bible and it did nothing for me except gave me head knowledge and then one day I said Lord I'm sick and tired of this I'm willing to throw it all away and I'll come 36:08 and be in submission I've said this before I'll say it again 100% the reason I came to Colorado was to be in submission wasn't just to have a nice church family or anything else because I like the mountains which I do but I wanted to be 36:22 under submission to spiritual authority I came here looking for elders who would care for my life and out of that submission that fear of the Lord saying Lord I fear you and I fear your word I came here looking for it and all of a sudden 36:39 the Bible started to open up it was like I had a new Bible a brand new Bible came alive where instead of just reading this and even being able to lead Bible studies on it it passed through this other layer I started to learn 36:52 the ABC from the beginning by fearing God it doesn't come easily I said oh Lord give me the fear of the Lord why don't I fear you Lord and the Lord showed me it's because you don't have this loud crying and tears I look back on my life 37:06 and says when was the last time I wept and mourned and cried out and said Lord I don't fear you enough because I read through the book of 1 Timothy and got nothing out of it and loud crying and tears Lord I don't fear you enough 37:20 that's why I don't have revelation from your word and he does it my dear brothers and sisters he does I know you all can testify to that where you've had circumstances in your life where the Lord has spoken to you and he's brought you to the point 37:34 where you fall on your knees and you cry out to him with desperation and you start to learn the ABC which is the fear of the Lord and he opens up his word he gives you revelation let me ask you this question how desperately would you cry 37:48 if you had never sinned in your life see this is what Jesus was crying I know about crying we know about crying when I've sinned I've cried when I've seen my wretchedness and my sin and I failed God and I did something unchrist-like 38:02 or I said something unchrist-like and I weep and mourn in repentance say Lord I'm so sorry I did that but this is a completely different loud crying and tears this is the loud crying and tears of a man who had never sinned 38:14 even once what if I had never sinned my entire life which you know that's not the case but what if that was the case would there still be this loud crying and tears from my life now perhaps God has brought us to a place 38:29 where we're walking in victory maybe you used to be defeated by lust every day maybe you used to be defeated by anger every day and you used to go to bed and your pillow would swim with tears like David writes in Psalm 6 38:41 because of how much you sinned and you're weeping and weeping and weeping but now God has brought you to a place of stability he's bringing you to a life of victory has the loud crying and tears stopped because the sin is seizing 38:55 that's the dangerous place I'm talking about where I think well okay things are good now I used to be defeated by lust I used to be defeated by anger I used to be defeated by the love of money but God has set me free from that 39:07 in fact now he's using me and I can get up and share something that's a blessing to others and I'm leading my family and things are going well in my life but the loud crying and tears in my life has ceased how desperately would you cry 39:25 if you had never sinned we must understand that to understand the fear of God we must understand the loud crying and tears that Jesus had that caused him to run away into seclusion not because he failed not because he lost his temper at Judas 39:40 who was stealing money not because he had a jealous thought towards Judas as he watched him pill for that money no none of that was there in Jesus he lived a perfect life and in this life of perfection he was crying out 39:54 with loud crying and tears what was he crying out with loud crying and tears I've been meditating on something the Lord spoke to us on Wednesday which is bringing this alive and I want to dig into it some more but here's how far the Lord 40:09 has shown this to me I'll share it with you what caused the highest archangel to become the lowest devil the closest thing to God in a moment became the devil we know it's pride but I believe as we saw on Wednesday that it was essentially this 40:28 that he got tired of being told what to do this is pride pride doesn't want to be told what to do I mean look at the women's liberation movement around us today in the last 50 years women have been tired of being told what to do 40:42 so I'm not going to submit I'm going to do that husband whether you like it or not this is being not being I don't want to be told what to do men it falls into us as well we don't like to submit either we don't like to be told what to do 40:55 I jokingly say you know that there's a spirit in this world that doesn't like to have a boss now many of you don't have bosses I'm not picking on you guys it's good God has given you a business that you can run your own 41:09 that's great but there is a spirit in this world that says nah I don't like to have a boss I don't like to report to anybody now that's okay if God gives you the grace for that in the world but be careful lest that become a spiritual stronghold 41:20 in your life where you're one of those persons that is an independent person doesn't like to be told what to do man or woman or child because this is the spirit that caused the devil who had to spend his whole life you know what it says about the angels 41:34 where it talks about you know don't be careful lest you cause one of these little ones to stumble it'd be better for you to hang a millstone around your neck and be drowned in the deepest ocean lest you cause one of the children to stumble 41:47 because their angels the angels of these children are constantly beholding who? or what? are they constantly looking at the children saying who's going to harm them so they're going to protect the children no it says they're 42:00 constantly beholding the face of the Lord that's how they protect the children they're constantly looking at the face of the Lord they're looking at God all of these angels what should I do Lord? okay go do this alright 42:10 what should I do Lord? go do that what should I do Lord? and after a while there was God placed this highest archangel we don't know what he was called we call him Lucifer now but placed him in charge of all the others so he could kind of tell the others 42:25 also hey do this now this kind of a second level of authority but what did this highest archangel still have to do? he had to come back to God and say what should I tell my other angels? what should I tell my other angels? 42:37 what should I tell my other angels? what should I tell my other angels? after a few years of this he got tired of it he says I'm tired of coming to you God and asking what to do Isaiah 14 verse 14 it says I will ascend above the heights of the clouds 42:54 I will make myself like the most high I will not submit this is the spirit of Satan it's the spirit of Lucifer it's the spirit of the devil and in a moment the beauty of heaven as it were was destroyed to some extent by that one third of the angels 43:11 that fell away and in that moment marriages are destroyed today homes are destroyed today churches are destroyed today personal lives are destroyed today with this spirit of I will I will not submit I will do what I want to do 43:27 and Jesus see this is the spirit of death it says in Hebrews 5 that he cried out with loud crying and tears to the one who was able to save him from death when we see that this spirit of unsubmission is death the devil died in that moment 43:42 and when we see that that is death and that if Jesus Jesus recognized that all it take all it would take was for him to buy into this spirit even for a second father I got this I don't need to ask you I'm the son of God after all 44:00 I've never sinned my whole life I think I can make a wise judgment in this situation in that moment he would have experienced death and it was that godly fear father I never once want to make even the smallest decision that's outside of this spirit of submission to you 44:20 not even a small decision he cried out with loud crying and tears this is the secret to being saved from death this is the secret to victory over sin it's not by gritting my teeth and making it is it coming to the father and saying 44:35 father I am going to give up my rights to choose what to do ever again I give it to you that's how the lowest human being was Jesus it says he humbled himself more than anybody else we read in Philippians chapter 2 Philippians chapter 2 44:52 verse 5 have this attitude which Jesus had that caused him to go when he saw people being helped and opportunities to do more mighty miracles it caused him to run into that place of seclusion have this attitude in yourselves 45:10 also dear brothers and sisters where you're going to run into that place of seclusion whether it's in your car he says I need to go for a drive honey because why? because I need to cry out with loud crying and tears I sense that I'm about to make a decision 45:23 that's on my own strength and in my own wisdom because I've lived a pretty good life up to this point for the last one week or last one month and instead you find this cry the fear of God may I never exalt myself to that place 45:39 where I've not submitted my life completely to my father in heaven and not do a single thing that's not in submission to him have this attitude verse 5 in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus who although he was already there 45:52 who existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself 46:08 by becoming obedient to the point of death and I think that's what death means it means he humbled himself more than anybody else has ever humbled himself or ever will humble themselves he went from the lowest he humbled himself 46:23 by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross and therefore for this reason God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow 46:35 of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father Jesus deserves that place the highest place I remember when James and John asked 46:48 Lord will you allow us to sit on your right and your left hand and Jesus said I don't know who that's for but I believe this is who it was for the one whom the Father looks down from heaven and sees that they humbled themselves the most 47:00 next to Jesus there's Jesus who humbled himself perfectly and in order to do that it says he learned obedience it goes on to say in Hebrews 5 he learned it and that's why in that learning he cried out with loud crying and tears 47:14 I want to be there I want to be as close to Jesus as God will as the Father will allow me to be as I am like him and in order to get there I want there that there must come out of me this loud crying and tears this fear of God 47:30 says Lord save me from ever making a decision on my own strength may I never stop recognizing my constant need of the Father and again I want to say that point again I find in my own life when things start to go well when I start to come to a life of victory 47:50 God starts to give me grace in different areas that's when I'm most in danger of this third thing I think hey I'm getting this because the world teaches us you know you want to train how to be a runner just start maybe the first day of running 48:04 you think I'm not a runner but after a week or two of running every day you've got this now you don't need to coach you've got it you can coach others and it's that spirit in Christendom it's that spirit in our lives that will 48:15 that will cause us to fall like the devil from being the highest archangel to the most wicked person on earth and by contrast you see Jesus who chose the lowest place in every circumstance he says I will never do anything 48:29 on my own initiative and was exalted to the highest place this is our example let us run this race looking unto Jesus humility in serving God as God uses us as God uses you men as fathers as husbands you young single men 48:44 wives mothers as a church as families in our marriages in whatever area God allows us to be an influence to those around us let's humble ourselves in serving him let's report back to Jesus every day say Lord I care for your approval alone 49:01 not what people said whether they liked what I said or didn't like what I said what do you have to say secluding myself often for this reason to recognize my constant need of the Father Amen
