WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.480 Hi guys, good afternoon. 2 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:11.320 It's lunchtime here in Tairoa in New Zealand. 3 00:00:11.320 --> 00:00:15.980 I know there will be people tuning in from many different spots around the world. 4 00:00:15.980 --> 00:00:20.160 Some of you are watching the replay and others of you will be here live. 5 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:24.000 And I just want to say hi, welcome, thanks for tuning in, thanks for being a part of 6 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:26.460 the School of the Spirit. 7 00:00:26.460 --> 00:00:30.540 We are about to get into Session 5, School of the Spirit. 8 00:00:30.540 --> 00:00:36.820 Now what I've done is I've actually made a last minute decision. 9 00:00:36.820 --> 00:00:50.620 And my last minute decision has been to swap out Session 5 and Session 6. 10 00:00:50.620 --> 00:00:56.420 So I've actually swapped them over and I'm going to do Session 6 for Session 5 and Session 11 00:00:56.420 --> 00:00:57.420 5 for Session 6. 12 00:00:57.420 --> 00:01:00.620 So hopefully that makes sense. 13 00:01:00.620 --> 00:01:08.340 Also just to note that the three week activation, which will be a part time, it's not going 14 00:01:08.340 --> 00:01:12.260 to take up all your time and it's not going to take up all my time, but it will be a three 15 00:01:12.260 --> 00:01:18.700 week long activation hosted through the online School of Sonship that will happen after this 16 00:01:18.700 --> 00:01:20.460 course. 17 00:01:20.460 --> 00:01:23.500 If you're interested in that and want to be a part of that, the link is actually in the 18 00:01:23.500 --> 00:01:27.420 description of this live video now. 19 00:01:27.420 --> 00:01:31.300 As opposed to in the other ones, it's been in the comments. 20 00:01:31.300 --> 00:01:34.940 So yeah, awesome. 21 00:01:34.940 --> 00:01:37.020 Hope you guys are all doing great. 22 00:01:37.020 --> 00:01:38.020 I hope you've been having a good time. 23 00:01:38.020 --> 00:01:39.580 I'm just going to take this jacket off. 24 00:01:39.580 --> 00:01:43.020 It's actually reasonably warm in my house. 25 00:01:43.020 --> 00:01:46.900 It's kind of a cold day, but it's warm inside. 26 00:01:46.900 --> 00:01:52.180 So thank you, Jesus. 27 00:01:52.180 --> 00:01:57.100 Feel free to drop a comment where you're tuned in from. 28 00:01:57.100 --> 00:02:01.460 And some of you, I can recognize your names from the previous sessions, and so good to 29 00:02:01.460 --> 00:02:02.460 see you again. 30 00:02:02.460 --> 00:02:06.060 We'll just wait for a couple more people to jump online. 31 00:02:06.060 --> 00:02:14.940 And while we do, I'll have a sip of my tea. 32 00:02:14.940 --> 00:02:17.820 Thank you, Jesus. 33 00:02:17.820 --> 00:02:20.900 Thank you, Jesus. 34 00:02:20.900 --> 00:02:21.900 Thank you, Jesus. 35 00:02:21.900 --> 00:02:22.900 Yes, Lord. 36 00:02:22.900 --> 00:02:27.660 Yeah, I'm just going to pour another tea. 37 00:02:27.660 --> 00:02:28.660 So good. 38 00:02:28.660 --> 00:02:29.660 All right. 39 00:02:29.660 --> 00:02:35.740 Well, it's been some cool just looking at some of the comments and things from the last 40 00:02:35.740 --> 00:02:38.400 few sessions. 41 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:45.480 Really appreciate all of the comments, whether it's a hallelujah, whether it's a high five, 42 00:02:45.480 --> 00:02:50.680 or whether it is someone stepping out and having a prophetic word or a word of encouragement 43 00:02:50.680 --> 00:02:55.040 for someone or a testimony or just sharing what God's doing in your life. 44 00:02:55.040 --> 00:02:59.040 It is just so cool to read some of the comments and to see some of the feedback from the last 45 00:02:59.040 --> 00:03:00.040 sessions. 46 00:03:00.040 --> 00:03:04.760 It seems like many of you are having a really good time and getting stuff out of the sessions. 47 00:03:04.760 --> 00:03:06.280 So I really hope that's the case. 48 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:08.480 I mean, it obviously is the case for many of you. 49 00:03:08.480 --> 00:03:15.400 So that is cool. 50 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:20.480 In a moment, we're actually going to pray for, I'm just going to get, I apologize, I 51 00:03:20.480 --> 00:03:25.320 forgot the name, Michael Wellington, who is feeling a bit unwell. 52 00:03:25.320 --> 00:03:31.680 I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but he's needing a miracle. 53 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:32.960 And so we're all going to pray for him. 54 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:39.400 He's been engaged in the school for the last few sessions, and he just asked for prayer. 55 00:03:39.400 --> 00:03:45.160 So we're going to pray for him together, and I'll lead us in that in a moment. 56 00:03:45.160 --> 00:03:52.880 And then we are going to get into session five, passing through the eye of the needle, 57 00:03:52.880 --> 00:03:57.640 what to do with disappointment, how to handle, how to navigate disappointing scenarios. 58 00:03:57.640 --> 00:04:01.280 I'm going to share some pretty personal stories in this session. 59 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:05.520 And I have found in the past that this has been a really empowering and encouraging session 60 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:08.320 for people. 61 00:04:08.320 --> 00:04:14.000 This really is probably one of the main reasons why most people and many people give up on 62 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:19.160 supernatural ministry and on the ministry of the Spirit is because they get tripped 63 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:20.720 up with disappointment. 64 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:23.880 Disappointment is just what happens when there is distance between you and where you've been 65 00:04:23.880 --> 00:04:26.720 appointed to be, disappointment. 66 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:31.160 And God is really wanting to reappoint people all over the world back into their appointment, 67 00:04:31.160 --> 00:04:34.080 in His presence, in His power, and in His purpose. 68 00:04:34.080 --> 00:04:39.320 And so this is going to be a great session. 69 00:04:39.320 --> 00:04:41.940 And we're going to get into it in just a moment. 70 00:04:41.940 --> 00:04:45.280 Just buying a little bit of time while a few more people jump online. 71 00:04:45.280 --> 00:04:49.840 Then straight after that, we are going to do session six. 72 00:04:49.840 --> 00:04:53.400 Session six, I forgot actually what I've entitled session six. 73 00:04:53.400 --> 00:04:58.360 It is stewarding the seed or something along those lines. 74 00:04:58.360 --> 00:04:59.360 Someone remind me. 75 00:04:59.360 --> 00:04:59.360 76 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:06.560 We've got the little outline there. I've put it in the outline, but it's about stewardship anyway. 77 00:05:08.960 --> 00:05:12.720 Love for someone just to remind me what the title of that is. I'm very sorry I've forgotten the title. 78 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:17.760 Sometimes I've got like 10 different titles that I'm weighing up what to call something, 79 00:05:17.760 --> 00:05:26.000 and I just, in the end, have to take a stab and pick a title. But yeah, so that's going to be coming up. 80 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:30.800 Then we're going to finish with the still small voice, and I'm going to share about an angelic 81 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:40.880 encounter that I had, and some of the things I've learned about being led by the Spirit. 82 00:05:40.880 --> 00:05:46.000 Some of the dynamics of that. Remember, this whole school is called the School of the Spirit, 83 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:54.560 and the purpose of the school is to take you into a deeper experience of walking with the Holy Spirit, 84 00:05:54.560 --> 00:06:00.240 walking in the Holy Spirit, which would include engaging in the gifts of the Spirit. 85 00:06:02.640 --> 00:06:07.040 I know we're not covering specific gifts per se, but everything I'm sharing in this course 86 00:06:07.760 --> 00:06:13.520 applies to, and can be applied to, every single one of the gifts of the Spirit. I know some of 87 00:06:13.520 --> 00:06:18.560 you are hungry for prophecy, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, tongues, interpretation of tongues, 88 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:22.640 all those things. There's so much to be said about each one of those things, 89 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:28.320 and what I'm sharing over this course is really going to help you in all of the gifts of the 90 00:06:28.320 --> 00:06:34.000 Spirit, because they're going to connect you in a deeper way to the Holy Spirit from whom all the 91 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:42.480 gifts flow. Feel free as well, as we're going through this session, to post and comment any 92 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:46.880 questions you've had from any of the previous sessions. I'm going to be reading through 93 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:53.520 the comments, and I love seeing questions. If you drop a question, I'll really try hard to answer 94 00:06:53.520 --> 00:07:01.280 that question, so please feel free to ask any questions, and share what the Lord is doing in 95 00:07:01.280 --> 00:07:04.560 your heart. Please share what the Lord is doing in your heart. Share what He's doing in your life. 96 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:10.160 Share what He's doing in you. Share what you're getting from the school so far. It's just so good 97 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:15.440 to get feedback. Remember, I'm not in the room with you. I can't see your faces, so any comment 98 00:07:15.440 --> 00:07:21.680 just helps me stay engaged with the fact that there are actually people who are receiving from 99 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:32.320 this teaching. This teaching, by the way, has taken me as far as preparation. I've been preparing 100 00:07:32.320 --> 00:07:42.080 this school for you specifically, just to let you know how much time has gone into this. 101 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:51.600 I've been preparing this school since 2001, October. So what's that? 20 years I've been 102 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:57.680 preparing this school for you, and I'm sharing some of the richest lessons I've learned over 103 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:03.200 the last 20 years, and how many know that God doesn't teach you a lesson so that it can just 104 00:08:03.200 --> 00:08:08.480 stay with you. Whatever He gives you, whatever He teaches you, is so it can be passed on to 105 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:15.680 the people around you, and to the generations to come. So cool. Awesome. 106 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:25.600 So please engage with the comments. Drop us a high five. Drop us a hallelujah, a what's up, or 107 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:29.680 whatever you can think of saying. We just love to see the comments. Also, I love to see who's tuned 108 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:35.120 in. Right, before we start in session five, what we're going to do is we're going to pray for 109 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:40.880 Michael Wellington, who, if you weren't on just when I mentioned last, a few seconds ago, 110 00:08:41.760 --> 00:08:47.600 Michael is needing a miracle. I don't exactly know what for, but he's needing a miracle. So 111 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:54.000 we're going to pray for him, and right now, we just stop, and just do this with me. We stop, 112 00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:01.680 and we drop into the Spirit. We take a big deep breath. Our Father who is in the air, 113 00:09:01.680 --> 00:09:06.240 we breathe. We stop and make space for you right now. We honor you. We honor your presence. 114 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:14.880 Holy Spirit, you are good. You are good. Right now, over Michael, we reach our faith out in the 115 00:09:14.880 --> 00:09:20.480 Spirit right now, over Michael, and in the name of Jesus, we take authority over every sickness, 116 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:26.000 and every disease, and every ailment, and every pain right now, and we break the power of sickness, 117 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:31.520 and we break pain, and we break the plan of the enemy over Michael's life right now, and I declare 118 00:09:31.520 --> 00:09:38.240 the healing power of Jesus over you right now, Michael. I declare the healing power of God 119 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:47.680 flowing through your body right now, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Awesome, and if anyone else needs 120 00:09:47.680 --> 00:09:53.040 a miracle right now, just breathe that in. The atmosphere is rich for miracles right now. I 121 00:09:53.040 --> 00:09:59.600 just declare the healing power of God by the Holy Spirit flowing over every person that's tuned in 122 00:09:59.600 --> 00:09:59.920 who needs it. 123 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.840 miracle right now. I declare it right now. I just declare the power of God being 124 00:10:04.840 --> 00:10:12.040 released. The power of God, not the power of emotional hype. The power of Jesus 125 00:10:12.040 --> 00:10:17.440 Christ by the Holy Spirit being released onto people who need miracles right now 126 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:24.440 in Jesus name. And it's true that God is not restricted by a screen. God is not 127 00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:29.880 restricted by physical distance. God is not restricted by space or time. God is 128 00:10:29.880 --> 00:10:33.680 unlimited in his capacity to heal you and where faith is released and no 129 00:10:33.680 --> 00:10:38.520 matter what way it's released, God is released in that situation. So we just 130 00:10:38.520 --> 00:10:44.320 this will be an agreement with that for those who are needing a miracle. Yes God. 131 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:50.440 And Lord we just pray right now and we ask for a spirit of wisdom revelation. 132 00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:56.440 I ask you to open people's hearts to receive in this session Lord what you're 133 00:10:56.440 --> 00:11:01.720 doing. Amen. So guys we're gonna get into session, for those of you who weren't 134 00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:05.440 tuned in at the time, we're gonna get into session 5. But I swapped session 5 135 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:11.520 and session 6 around. So we're actually going to get into what is what I've 136 00:11:11.520 --> 00:11:17.240 titled passing through the eye of the needle. Passing through the eye of the needle is 137 00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:21.160 what we're gonna really get into in this session is how to deal with 138 00:11:21.160 --> 00:11:25.520 disappointment. How to handle disappointment. How to navigate 139 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:30.800 disappointing situations. How to handle it when and what to do when it doesn't 140 00:11:30.800 --> 00:11:34.400 work out the way you were expecting it to or the way you are hoping for it to 141 00:11:34.400 --> 00:11:38.960 work out. When you're left feeling high and dry. When you're left feeling like 142 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:44.120 God where were you or where are you? And we all experience those moments. We all 143 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:49.160 experience that feeling from time to time. And this is one of the primary 144 00:11:49.160 --> 00:11:52.720 reasons why people bail out of supernatural ministry and out of the 145 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:56.640 ministry of the Spirit is because of disappointment. And disappointment is 146 00:11:56.640 --> 00:12:02.480 really just when there is distance between you and where you have been 147 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:06.640 appointed to be. You have been appointed to be in the manifest presence of God 148 00:12:06.640 --> 00:12:12.960 flowing in the power of God engaged in your purpose that is from God. And 149 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:19.280 sometimes when things don't happen and our hope is dashed we can we can embrace 150 00:12:19.280 --> 00:12:24.800 a distance that is really an illusion but we can embrace a distance or a sense 151 00:12:24.800 --> 00:12:30.080 of distance between us and our appointment in God. And I believe and I 152 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:33.440 hope and I pray what God is going to do through this session is he's going to 153 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:38.040 reappoint people into their purpose into his presence and reconnect them with his 154 00:12:38.040 --> 00:12:47.640 power. So passing through the eye of the needle we're gonna turn to Matthew 19 so 155 00:12:47.640 --> 00:12:57.080 you can do that turn to Matthew 19 again love the scripture Matthew 19 let 156 00:12:57.080 --> 00:13:11.720 me just double-check that Matthew 19 and verse 24 by the way feel free to please 157 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:16.160 again just drop any encouraging high fives or thumbs up or comments it's very 158 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:20.880 cool for me to get some feedback on the comments I know I'm saying the same 159 00:13:20.880 --> 00:13:25.840 thing again and again but would really love to see the comments and can you 160 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:32.440 guys hear me is everything cool let me know if you if my mouth is moving and 161 00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:36.320 you can't hear me or there's major glitches in the screen and we'll try and 162 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:46.640 sort that out but cool okay Matthew 19 24 and again I say to you oh let's 163 00:13:46.640 --> 00:13:56.320 actually start in verse 21 Jesus said to him oh no no no no no okay context is 164 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:01.080 he's talking to a rich young man and verse 21 Jesus said to him if you want 165 00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:04.760 to be perfect go and sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have 166 00:14:04.760 --> 00:14:09.920 treasure in heaven come and follow me but when the young man heard that saying 167 00:14:09.920 --> 00:14:14.080 he went away sorrowful for he had great positions in other words he was rich and 168 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:17.800 when Jesus said to his disciples sorry and then Jesus said to his disciples 169 00:14:17.800 --> 00:14:21.160 assuredly I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of 170 00:14:21.160 --> 00:14:25.240 heaven and again I say to you it is easier for a camel to go through the eye 171 00:14:25.240 --> 00:14:30.440 of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God and there's a lot 172 00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:33.120 more to be said about that and there's a lot more that Jesus has to say about 173 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:37.440 that in that very chapter of Scripture right there but the one thing I want to 174 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:42.880 say is that sometimes we need to learn to let go of things that we're holding 175 00:14:42.880 --> 00:14:47.480 on to in order to follow God through the gap that he's leading us through and 176 00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:51.280 this is a principle that's true in almost every area of life that you can 177 00:14:51.280 --> 00:14:54.240 think of and it's most definitely true of supernatural ministry and the 178 00:14:54.240 --> 00:15:00.800 ministry of the Spirit is that there are rites of passage that we 179 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:05.900 that God leads us to and intends to lead us through, and many people get to but 180 00:15:05.900 --> 00:15:12.780 many people don't get through. And a lot of that is because there is an 181 00:15:12.780 --> 00:15:15.960 unwillingness to let go of some of the things that we need to let go of in 182 00:15:15.960 --> 00:15:25.260 order to get through the spaces that God is leading us through. In this 183 00:15:25.260 --> 00:15:30.020 ministry of the Spirit, there's this invitation to pass through the pain of 184 00:15:30.020 --> 00:15:36.460 the gap, I call it. That's the space between our position and our promise. 185 00:15:36.460 --> 00:15:45.180 That's the space between who Jesus says you are and who you feel like right now. 186 00:15:45.180 --> 00:15:52.140 That's the gap between you have all authority, and last time you 187 00:15:52.140 --> 00:15:55.100 prayed for someone that didn't get healed, and you're trying to weigh up 188 00:15:55.100 --> 00:16:00.980 that, ah, something is, I'm in the gap. I need to somehow bridge this gap between 189 00:16:00.980 --> 00:16:06.300 I've got this promise of all authority, that's a truth, that's a reality, that's a 190 00:16:06.300 --> 00:16:11.460 fact, but I've got this experience and it doesn't seem to be working out. What is 191 00:16:11.460 --> 00:16:15.460 going to be the thing that forms me and frames me and determines who I am? Is it 192 00:16:15.460 --> 00:16:18.900 going to be the promise of God and the fact of God and the voice of God, or is 193 00:16:18.900 --> 00:16:23.180 it going to be my experience? There's often a gap in between, and if we can 194 00:16:23.180 --> 00:16:29.220 internally bridge that gap, we will eventually externally bridge that gap. 195 00:16:29.220 --> 00:16:32.580 What I just said there is actually a really powerful thing. If you can 196 00:16:32.580 --> 00:16:38.700 internally bridge the gap of distance, well, I would call that the eye of the 197 00:16:38.700 --> 00:16:44.980 needle in this particular scenario. If you can bridge that gap internally, you 198 00:16:44.980 --> 00:16:52.100 will in time bridge it externally. In other words, what you build internally in 199 00:16:52.100 --> 00:16:57.220 your life will eventually determine where you head externally in your life. 200 00:16:57.220 --> 00:17:02.140 And to bridge that gap for this kind of ministry that we're talking about, the 201 00:17:02.140 --> 00:17:07.099 ministry of the Spirit, one thing is really, really required, and that is 202 00:17:07.099 --> 00:17:12.380 surrender, and surrender of a number of things. I just want to share with you, 203 00:17:12.420 --> 00:17:16.099 just to give some examples of passing through the eye of the needle and passing 204 00:17:16.099 --> 00:17:20.540 through this rite of passage of bridging the gap, I want to share some personal 205 00:17:20.540 --> 00:17:24.300 examples that I have both seen and that I have experienced personally in my life 206 00:17:24.300 --> 00:17:30.420 of moments that where Jesus has led me to the doorway of the eye of the needle, 207 00:17:30.420 --> 00:17:36.460 where I have wrestled with, I do not know if I can fit through that eye, and I have 208 00:17:36.460 --> 00:17:43.100 chosen to, or people that I know have chosen to say, you know what, Jesus, I 209 00:17:43.100 --> 00:17:47.260 trust you, letting go, surrendering, and passing through the eye of the needle and 210 00:17:47.260 --> 00:17:50.820 the glory that's on the other side of that. I want to share a couple of stories 211 00:17:50.820 --> 00:17:58.740 and then we're going to go into how to be needle fit, how to be eye of needle fit, 212 00:17:58.740 --> 00:18:03.860 how to be trim enough and slim enough to fit through on any occasion, and to do 213 00:18:03.860 --> 00:18:08.220 that we're going to go to Asaph's advice, and that'll all make sense in a 214 00:18:08.220 --> 00:18:11.700 moment. Please feel free to drop some comments. I feel like you guys are really 215 00:18:11.700 --> 00:18:19.900 quiet today. Can you hear me? Are you there? I'm gonna have a sip of tea and 216 00:18:19.900 --> 00:18:24.260 wait for some comments just to come up. 217 00:18:24.820 --> 00:18:30.460 Even just a high-five or a wave, just wave at me. Is anyone there? Just give me a 218 00:18:30.460 --> 00:18:32.620 wave. 219 00:18:40.540 --> 00:18:46.140 Let me see, let me see. Okay, I'm just gonna see if there's something wrong on my end 220 00:18:46.140 --> 00:18:50.220 here. No? 221 00:18:53.180 --> 00:18:58.300 Maybe I can't see my comments. Are you guys commenting? 222 00:19:01.260 --> 00:19:04.780 No? Okay. 223 00:19:06.460 --> 00:19:09.740 Are my comments off? 224 00:19:13.220 --> 00:19:21.420 No one's commenting. This is crazy. Okay, let's see, let's see. All right, I can see. 225 00:19:21.420 --> 00:19:26.620 All right, cool, cool. All right. 226 00:19:30.500 --> 00:19:37.420 Okay, all right, cool. Apparently you guys are commenting, but I can't. Oh, guys, I'm 227 00:19:37.420 --> 00:19:44.180 so sorry. For some reason I can't see the comments. This is tragic. Oh, you don't 228 00:19:44.180 --> 00:19:48.420 know how much encourage. There are heaps of comments. Oh my gosh, I can't 229 00:19:48.420 --> 00:19:54.300 even see the comments. I'm so sorry, guys. Please keep commenting, though. I'm 230 00:19:54.300 --> 00:20:01.500 gonna look back and be retrospectively encouraged. Okay, awesome. 231 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.720 Oh my gosh, I'm starting to feel a bit discouraged, like, man, is anyone listening to me? 232 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:05.720 But this is cool. 233 00:20:05.720 --> 00:20:09.960 Apparently, you guys are listening, but apparently, for some reason, I cannot see this. 234 00:20:09.960 --> 00:20:10.960 All right, cool. 235 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:16.440 Anyway, I'll carry on then, and I'll just by faith believe that you are engaged in this. 236 00:20:16.440 --> 00:20:17.800 So I want to just share a couple of stories. 237 00:20:17.800 --> 00:20:24.240 One is, the first one I want to share is, really, it's not really my story. 238 00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:28.760 I'm going to leave the person's name out of it, but there's a young man that is a very 239 00:20:28.760 --> 00:20:35.040 important young person to me, who I haven't been in touch with for a little while, and 240 00:20:35.040 --> 00:20:39.440 really think this guy is a absolute champion. 241 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:42.840 Some of you will know this person, you know who I'm talking about, and some of you who 242 00:20:42.840 --> 00:20:46.720 are on this were actually probably there at the time when this took place, this story. 243 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:57.040 But I remember taking a team to the Philippines, and there were probably 10 of us or so, and 244 00:20:57.080 --> 00:21:03.040 I prepared my team for just, you know, everything that might happen in the Philippines, and 245 00:21:03.040 --> 00:21:07.000 they were all geared up and ready to roll, and ready for the supernatural, ready for 246 00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:10.960 the miraculous, and to see the Holy Spirit move, and God touch people's lives, and everyone 247 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:11.960 was pretty excited. 248 00:21:11.960 --> 00:21:20.520 And at the time, we'd just started our church, and I had this young man with me, and his 249 00:21:20.520 --> 00:21:29.040 family were part of our church, and his mom was actually struggling with cancer. 250 00:21:29.040 --> 00:21:36.280 And the story actually goes that she was actually healed of the cancer, which was amazing. 251 00:21:36.280 --> 00:21:41.800 She had brain tumors, and she actually felt them drip out, fall, slide down the back of 252 00:21:41.800 --> 00:21:46.720 her throat, like they came out of her brain, it was just quite a, I don't even know how 253 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:47.720 that works. 254 00:21:48.320 --> 00:21:54.280 But anyway, they opened her up, and they checked, and they didn't, apparently, this is what 255 00:21:54.280 --> 00:22:02.640 I've been told at least by the husband, they didn't find any of the tumors, which is amazing. 256 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:07.480 And so we're on the flight on the way to the Philippines, we arrive at the Manila Airport, 257 00:22:07.480 --> 00:22:14.000 and this young man, well I actually get an email on my phone saying, get the young guy, 258 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:17.680 it's from his sister, get him to call home immediately, as soon as you get this. 259 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:24.640 So he calls, and he burst into tears on the phone, super tragic, and it was a shock to 260 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:26.140 everyone. 261 00:22:26.140 --> 00:22:34.400 His mom had passed away while he was en route from Auckland to Manila, apparently from an 262 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:41.080 infection due to the surgery to see if the tumors were there, which, if that doesn't 263 00:22:41.080 --> 00:22:46.520 produce questions of like, what, what, you were healed of the tumors, and then you died 264 00:22:46.520 --> 00:22:50.440 of an infection because of the operation, what? 265 00:22:50.440 --> 00:22:57.480 Just, we were all befaffled, and it was really upsetting, obviously, and we were all gutted. 266 00:22:57.480 --> 00:23:01.920 So we got around this young guy, and we just started to comfort him, and we prayed, and 267 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:08.880 obviously we were believing for a resurrection, and that's a whole other story in and of itself. 268 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:14.480 His mom didn't come back to life, and I said to this young guy, I said, we'll put you on 269 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:18.720 a plane straight back home, you can be with your family, and he said, he took some time, 270 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:23.560 thought about it, we're in the airport for hours, and he just said to me, Matt, I don't 271 00:23:23.560 --> 00:23:26.880 want to go home, I want to stay on this trip. 272 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:31.200 I want to stay on this trip, I'm not going to let the enemy have the last say here. 273 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:35.080 And I said, well what do you want to focus on on the trip? 274 00:23:35.080 --> 00:23:43.200 He said to me, I want to kill tumors, I want to go after tumors, and I realized I'm sitting 275 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:47.840 down with a David who's confronting his Goliath right now, he's not backing down, he's not 276 00:23:47.840 --> 00:23:52.400 jumping off the field, he's not afraid, he's manning up to the giant that has just taken 277 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:58.960 out his mom, and all the emotion of that, and just a real powerful time, and in one 278 00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:02.760 of the meetings, we had a leaders meeting over there a day or a couple of days later 279 00:24:02.760 --> 00:24:09.680 after that, and we were all lined up, and we were all kind of giving words of knowledge, 280 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:11.960 and I don't even know if it was a word of knowledge for him, but he just said, is there 281 00:24:11.960 --> 00:24:16.640 anyone with a tumor, and this lady actually stood up, she had a, there were actually a 282 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:20.320 couple of people with tumors, but one of them had a tumor that was almost like the size 283 00:24:20.320 --> 00:24:26.440 of a basketball in his stomach, and you know, like, sorry, my phone's ringing, just saying 284 00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:30.360 no to that. 285 00:24:30.360 --> 00:24:39.880 And it was crazy, I said to this young guy, I said, okay, you pray, and the weight of 286 00:24:39.880 --> 00:24:45.120 the presence of God was just like, whoa, because you could just feel, he just stepped up, and 287 00:24:45.120 --> 00:24:48.480 when he stepped up, the rest of the people in the room didn't know what he was stepping 288 00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:51.840 through to step up, but he was passing through the eye of the needle at this point. 289 00:24:51.840 --> 00:24:57.120 He was saying, Jesus, I don't have the answers to what happened to my mom. 290 00:24:57.120 --> 00:24:59.960 I can't reconcile what happened. 291 00:24:59.960 --> 00:25:00.960 I can't reconcile what happened to my mom. 292 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.400 I'm believing that you're good, but I've got question marks, honest question marks, 293 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:00.960 294 00:25:05.120 --> 00:25:11.040 because why did that happen? But I'm surrendering the need to know the answer to the questions, 295 00:25:11.040 --> 00:25:15.360 and I'm going to choose to believe that you're good anyway, and in the midst of my darkness, 296 00:25:15.360 --> 00:25:20.560 in the midst of my pain, I'm going to choose that you're still good. And he passed through the eye 297 00:25:20.560 --> 00:25:24.800 of the needle, and he prayed a simple prayer, and the tumor just went and just disappeared. 298 00:25:25.360 --> 00:25:30.640 She starts bending over, her pants get all loose, because the belt was around the tumor, 299 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:36.320 and that's all gone. She can bend over again for the first time in a long time. I'm freaking out, 300 00:25:36.320 --> 00:25:42.080 she's completely healed. And we're all cheering, and most of the team is crying, not because the 301 00:25:42.080 --> 00:25:46.480 person got healed, that was amazing, but because we just watched a young David pass through the 302 00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:51.280 eye of the needle and confront his Goliath. And that's sometimes what it looks like in 303 00:25:51.280 --> 00:25:54.640 supernatural ministry, in the ministry of the Spirit, is that you have to confront those 304 00:25:54.640 --> 00:25:58.560 questions around God. I can't reconcile what happened in my experience back there, 305 00:25:58.560 --> 00:26:05.200 but I'm going to continue to choose to believe that you are who you say you are, and you are 306 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:13.440 still Jesus. The word, you know, Jesus is still what God has to say about himself. I'm going to 307 00:26:13.440 --> 00:26:18.880 continue to believe that, despite my experience of lack in the past. 308 00:26:20.800 --> 00:26:26.640 Another moment, I know that kind of probably begs a little bit of time to just spend some 309 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:31.200 time talking about that and processing that, but we're going to move on to the next story, 310 00:26:32.080 --> 00:26:40.000 and I've got a lot of stories like this, and you'll have a lot of stories like this too, 311 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:45.440 if you continue forward in this direction. It comes with the territory. You've got to pass 312 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:52.240 through the eye of the needle if you're going to carry on. I remember, I mean, to give you context, 313 00:26:55.040 --> 00:26:59.680 there have been many years and seasons of my life where not a day would go by, 314 00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:05.600 for years and years on end, without seeing a real life, physical, proper miracle. 315 00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:10.560 And I've had the privilege of seeing a lot of miracles, 316 00:27:11.360 --> 00:27:16.560 the power of God flow in many different circumstances and occasions. And 317 00:27:18.800 --> 00:27:26.640 I remember being in Rotorua, which is a town in New Zealand, and a person in the crowd actually 318 00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:32.960 responded to some question that I said. They said that they had an incurable heart problem, 319 00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:37.440 and I think by memory it was a hole in the heart that there was an issue. And they actually were a 320 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:48.000 doctor and worked in the hospital there in Rotorua. And they asked me to pray, and I 321 00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:52.480 found myself at the entrance to the eye of the needle at that exact moment. 322 00:27:53.360 --> 00:27:59.920 I felt a wrestle happen within me. I felt myself torn between the promise and the truth 323 00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:07.040 of all that God is to me and to this person who needs a miracle and my past experience. My past 324 00:28:07.040 --> 00:28:14.560 experience is that a few years back now and a few years before this moment in Rotorua, 325 00:28:15.440 --> 00:28:23.600 my 25-year-old younger brother passed away in Sydney, Australia of a freak heart attack. 326 00:28:24.320 --> 00:28:29.680 His aorta valve actually ripped off his heart in his sleep. He was otherwise perfectly healthy. 327 00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:35.760 He had no known heart condition. It was completely random, but he was fit, he was healthy, 328 00:28:35.760 --> 00:28:41.040 he was happy, he was newly married, he just landed his dream job. He was in the prime of his life, 329 00:28:41.040 --> 00:28:45.840 25 years old, Sydney, Australia. And in the early hours of the morning, 330 00:28:46.480 --> 00:28:56.720 his life was stolen from him and from us by the devil, is what we would hold on to and what we 331 00:28:56.720 --> 00:29:03.680 believe. And physically, his aorta valve actually fell off his heart in the middle of his sleep. 332 00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:10.560 And so, obviously, there's a lot to say about that, and there's really not too much that needs 333 00:29:10.560 --> 00:29:14.800 to be said about that, other than that was one of the worst and hardest times of my life. 334 00:29:16.800 --> 00:29:23.920 And to lose a brother, to lose a family member, and I know many people tuning in have probably 335 00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:32.640 experienced similar things. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter the circumstance. It's not easy, 336 00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:38.880 and it's not good, and it sucks. We went to Sydney. I tried to raise him from the dead. 337 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:41.840 I spent an hour in the morgue with my brother trying to raise him from the dead. He didn't 338 00:29:41.840 --> 00:29:49.040 come back to life. And I was left with a whole bunch of questions about the goodness of God, 339 00:29:49.040 --> 00:29:55.120 and I had to make my decision. I had to pass through that eye. And I now actually really 340 00:29:55.120 --> 00:29:59.680 love praying for people with heart conditions because I have made a decision. I've made war 341 00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:02.480 against the devil. I've made war against the devil. I've made war against the devil. 342 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:05.120 the Goliath that attacked my family that day. And I believe I have authority and I 343 00:30:05.120 --> 00:30:12.200 have a sword to confront that particular giant in an authority that 344 00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:16.640 actually, you know, Jesus paid a price for and actually I've also paid a 345 00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:20.480 little bit of a price for that too. And that's, sorry if that comment messes with 346 00:30:20.480 --> 00:30:26.800 you, but that's just, I've had to pass through something for that one. And the 347 00:30:26.800 --> 00:30:29.980 Holy Spirit has led me through something for that one. So we prayed for the sky 348 00:30:29.980 --> 00:30:34.540 and I said, you know what, I'm not listening to the disappointment, I'm not 349 00:30:34.540 --> 00:30:38.100 listening to that past experience and of course those memories come flashing back. 350 00:30:38.100 --> 00:30:42.180 But I'm gonna choose to believe your goodness, prayed for him. He said he felt 351 00:30:42.180 --> 00:30:48.060 like an electric shock just go boom in his heart and went to work the next day, 352 00:30:48.060 --> 00:30:55.540 put himself through all the different tests you could put yourself through and 353 00:30:55.620 --> 00:31:05.260 he was completely, utterly healed. It was a total creative miracle and now that 354 00:31:05.260 --> 00:31:08.620 wouldn't have happened if I had not passed through that eye. Now was that 355 00:31:08.620 --> 00:31:15.500 easy? No, no, that actually wasn't easy and the feeling actually wasn't good. And 356 00:31:15.500 --> 00:31:19.740 when the feeling isn't good, sometimes it's hard in that moment to actually 357 00:31:19.740 --> 00:31:30.740 hear God's voice and to be clear. But that's where trust comes in and that's 358 00:31:30.740 --> 00:31:34.500 where surrender comes in. And there's this moment we just have to, we just have 359 00:31:34.500 --> 00:31:40.740 to say, I surrender, I give up, I'm letting go of the questions, I'm letting go of 360 00:31:40.740 --> 00:31:46.220 everything. I think you owe me God and I realize I'm actually not entitled to 361 00:31:46.220 --> 00:31:50.900 anything, not even the air I breathe. Now I'm gonna follow you. I am gonna follow 362 00:31:50.900 --> 00:31:57.780 you no matter the cost God, I'm gonna follow you. And I realize that there, I've 363 00:31:57.780 --> 00:32:02.860 just shared two examples there, I could, there are just so many examples that I 364 00:32:02.860 --> 00:32:05.740 could share with you. And for those of you that know me, you know I've got lots 365 00:32:05.740 --> 00:32:15.420 of, lots of examples of that. But yeah, that was a, I can see your comments now 366 00:32:15.420 --> 00:32:20.340 by the way, so thanks for commenting. Yeah, that was a job, a job moment. Yep, 367 00:32:20.340 --> 00:32:26.460 that's true. Yeah, surely, yeah, you remember that. Yep, a lot of the people 368 00:32:26.460 --> 00:32:31.140 that were in our church at the time remember that. There's lots to be said 369 00:32:31.140 --> 00:32:37.500 about that. But we all go through hard times and if you choose to believe God 370 00:32:37.500 --> 00:32:41.780 and you choose to believe He is who He says He is, and you choose to believe the 371 00:32:41.780 --> 00:32:45.300 Scripture, you choose to believe the life of Jesus and what that teaches you about 372 00:32:45.340 --> 00:32:52.580 who God is, not just out there but with you, then you will be confronted with 373 00:32:52.580 --> 00:33:00.220 confliction, you will be confronted with situations that challenge your 374 00:33:00.220 --> 00:33:10.340 beliefs and that challenge you. And to actually accept and embrace what you've 375 00:33:10.340 --> 00:33:14.420 always believed, you'll have to surrender some of those questions and learn that 376 00:33:14.420 --> 00:33:24.100 it's okay sometimes to live in the mystery. Here's a principle that I 377 00:33:24.100 --> 00:33:29.860 wanted to share with you. I want to teach you something now that has 378 00:33:29.860 --> 00:33:40.500 prepared me and that I believe can prepare you to and strengthen you to not 379 00:33:40.500 --> 00:33:47.980 be caught off guard by disappointment. My experience of life is not what 380 00:33:47.980 --> 00:33:52.780 defines me, God is who defines me. And if you let your experience of life define 381 00:33:52.780 --> 00:33:56.620 you, you will limit your life considerably. But if you determine in 382 00:33:56.620 --> 00:34:01.300 your heart, God, you are my soul definer, you are the one who defines who I am, 383 00:34:01.300 --> 00:34:05.140 then your experiences don't have the power to define you anymore and your 384 00:34:05.140 --> 00:34:10.219 experiences will come into alignment with who you believe that you are in the 385 00:34:10.780 --> 00:34:17.340 side of God. And we're going to turn to Psalm 78 in a second and then we're 386 00:34:17.340 --> 00:34:21.739 going to turn to Psalm 77 straight after that. But before we do, I want to share a 387 00:34:21.739 --> 00:34:26.820 principle that's really going to undergird both this session and the next 388 00:34:26.820 --> 00:34:34.980 session and it's this. What you focus on, you agree with. What you agree with, you 389 00:34:34.980 --> 00:34:39.260 empower and what you empower manifests in your life. The world that you steward 390 00:34:39.260 --> 00:34:44.580 internally today is the world that you will experience externally tomorrow. Your 391 00:34:44.580 --> 00:34:49.420 internal world will by default shape your external experience of life. I'll 392 00:34:49.420 --> 00:34:55.100 say that again, what you focus on, what you put your attention on, is what you 393 00:34:55.100 --> 00:34:58.340 what you are in effect coming into agreement with. What you put your 394 00:34:58.340 --> 00:35:01.820 agreement towards 395 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:06.560 is what you empower and what you empower by your own powerful empowerment is what will manifest 396 00:35:06.560 --> 00:35:12.880 and concretize itself into your experience of life. That's worth writing down and that's a 397 00:35:12.880 --> 00:35:24.800 principle that I will repeat again. Chris, good to see you buddy. And we're gonna just with that 398 00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:29.360 principle in mind, we're going to turn to Psalm 78. Okay, so turn to Psalm 78. 399 00:35:31.760 --> 00:35:35.840 I feel like I'm just having a chat with you guys in my living room and that's pretty much because 400 00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:42.880 I am literally having a chat with you in my living room. Let's have a look here. Psalm 78 401 00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:50.560 and verse 40. And the whole of Psalm 78 is actually worth reading to be honest. But here we go. Verse 402 00:35:51.280 --> 00:35:54.880 40. Talking about the children of Israel as they walked through the wilderness. How many know they 403 00:35:54.880 --> 00:36:00.080 were in Egypt? They were called into a promised land but they had to go through a middle gap. 404 00:36:00.080 --> 00:36:03.840 They had to embrace the gap. They had to bridge the gap and the gap was called the wilderness. 405 00:36:05.040 --> 00:36:09.200 Says this verse 40. How often they provoked him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert. 406 00:36:09.200 --> 00:36:16.320 Yes, again and again they tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel. Limited God. They actually 407 00:36:16.880 --> 00:36:22.720 limited, dialed down the power of God and the influence of God in and through their lives. Now 408 00:36:22.720 --> 00:36:29.760 God is God and you are you and I am I and Israel is Israel. How can a mere human limit God? 409 00:36:31.120 --> 00:36:40.880 And did it just say that? It did just say that. We have been given by God authority and a level of 410 00:36:41.840 --> 00:36:50.800 influence in the earth whereby we actually by our own choices can either empower or disempower God 411 00:36:50.800 --> 00:36:58.880 and into our lives. And God has made it that way. Israel literally limited the Holy One of Israel. 412 00:36:59.840 --> 00:37:05.440 It's a pretty sobering thought to think and realize that you have the power and authority 413 00:37:05.440 --> 00:37:12.320 to actually limit God by your actions and whether those are intentional actions or actions out of 414 00:37:12.320 --> 00:37:19.440 ignorance. I didn't know I was doing that but you have the power to actually limit God in your life. 415 00:37:19.440 --> 00:37:25.440 That's a pretty sobering thing. They limited the Holy One of Israel. How? Because they did 416 00:37:25.440 --> 00:37:32.400 not remember His power the day when He redeemed them from the enemy. There's something about 417 00:37:33.120 --> 00:37:38.000 not remembering. There's something about being a person that forgets. There's something about not 418 00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:42.640 being a person that doesn't intentionally because it has to be intentional. It doesn't intentionally 419 00:37:42.640 --> 00:37:46.640 remember the goodness of God that doesn't keep a track, keep a record of the goodness of God in 420 00:37:46.640 --> 00:37:54.960 their lives. One thing I have on my phone is I have a file of photos and I haven't managed to 421 00:37:54.960 --> 00:38:00.640 take even most of the photos of these different moments but some moments I've been able to take 422 00:38:00.640 --> 00:38:06.400 photos of people's faces after they've been healed or different memory stones I call them, 423 00:38:06.400 --> 00:38:11.440 marker moments in my life that have been moments with God that I felt it's important to remember 424 00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:19.200 this moment. I've got a file on my phone of all those photos and often I will just look through 425 00:38:19.200 --> 00:38:24.960 those photos and I will just remember that moment, remember that moment, remember that moment, 426 00:38:24.960 --> 00:38:30.640 remember that moment, remember that moment, and remember the testimony because in the remembrance, 427 00:38:31.280 --> 00:38:35.520 my remembrance of what God did in the past sets me up for what God will do in the future. 428 00:38:36.320 --> 00:38:47.680 It's amazing to me that when we choose a way of life whereby we're not 429 00:38:47.680 --> 00:38:51.920 intentionally remembering the goodness of God and the power of God and the way God has been 430 00:38:51.920 --> 00:38:59.440 with us in the past, it actually causes us to enter into our present and our future in a way 431 00:38:59.440 --> 00:39:07.680 where God is limited in our lives and we are unprepared for the Goliaths that we will inevitably 432 00:39:07.680 --> 00:39:13.040 face and we are unprepared to pass through the eye of the needle when God actually leads us to 433 00:39:13.040 --> 00:39:17.760 that place and expects us to come with him through that eye. We actually have to let go and sometimes 434 00:39:17.760 --> 00:39:30.480 letting go is only possible in the environment of remembrance. Let's just go to Psalm 77 435 00:39:32.560 --> 00:39:36.800 and we're going to read the Psalms of Asaph. This is Asaph's advice. 436 00:39:38.080 --> 00:39:46.000 Go to chapter 77. You know, you don't get to choose what happens to you externally often. 437 00:39:46.960 --> 00:39:50.080 You don't have full control over what's going on around you. 438 00:39:51.520 --> 00:39:56.560 Bad things happen to good people. That's just true. There's sessions that we could take on 439 00:39:56.560 --> 00:39:59.840 there. We could talk about the sovereignty of God and all that sort of stuff and there's some 440 00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.800 theology that probably would be helpful to talk about, but the truth is bad things happen 441 00:40:04.800 --> 00:40:05.800 to good people. 442 00:40:05.800 --> 00:40:08.600 And it's not God's fault, and it's not necessarily your fault either. 443 00:40:08.600 --> 00:40:11.100 Some of it's just because we're in a world. 444 00:40:11.100 --> 00:40:18.140 And that world is a world where war is happening, spiritual war, and bad things do happen to 445 00:40:18.140 --> 00:40:19.140 good people. 446 00:40:19.140 --> 00:40:20.300 Just look at Afghanistan right now. 447 00:40:20.300 --> 00:40:23.180 I mean, just look at these, I mean, look at my life, look at your life. 448 00:40:23.180 --> 00:40:25.700 There are bad things happening to good people, and it's probably true. 449 00:40:25.700 --> 00:40:29.680 In every person's life we're all confronting challenges that we didn't necessarily sow 450 00:40:29.680 --> 00:40:33.580 the seeds for. 451 00:40:33.580 --> 00:40:38.400 You don't get to choose what happens externally often, but you do get to choose what kind 452 00:40:38.400 --> 00:40:42.000 of world you build internally. 453 00:40:42.000 --> 00:40:48.680 And the world that you build internally will determine, or I should say your external experience 454 00:40:48.680 --> 00:40:56.080 of life will come into alignment with the world that you intentionally steward internally. 455 00:40:56.080 --> 00:40:58.600 And that is true. 456 00:40:58.600 --> 00:41:01.720 You can read that, and that's a theme right throughout Scripture. 457 00:41:01.720 --> 00:41:10.400 But Psalm 77, you know what's happening right now for me? 458 00:41:10.400 --> 00:41:13.300 Just a little quick interlude to let you into my world. 459 00:41:13.300 --> 00:41:19.080 My next-door neighbor is doing the weed whacking, the trimming of his lawn, and his little engine 460 00:41:19.080 --> 00:41:20.860 is so loud. 461 00:41:20.860 --> 00:41:26.480 It's the sound to me, if I was going to put a sound to, if I was thinking of striving, 462 00:41:26.480 --> 00:41:30.000 and I wanted to put a sound to it, that would be the sound I'd put to striving. 463 00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.360 It is the most striving a sound. 464 00:41:34.360 --> 00:41:37.600 So glad he doesn't do it at three in the morning. 465 00:41:37.600 --> 00:41:40.200 But I also wish he wasn't doing it right now. 466 00:41:40.200 --> 00:41:43.200 Bless my neighbor, Lord. 467 00:41:43.200 --> 00:41:47.120 It'd be so cool if you blessed him so much he just fell out under the power of God right 468 00:41:47.120 --> 00:41:49.920 now and let go of the trigger on that weed whacker. 469 00:41:49.920 --> 00:41:55.680 All right, so let's read Psalm 77 from Asaph. 470 00:41:55.680 --> 00:42:03.560 I cried out to God with my voice, and He gave ear to me. 471 00:42:03.560 --> 00:42:05.760 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. 472 00:42:05.760 --> 00:42:10.720 My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing, my soul refused to be comforted. 473 00:42:10.720 --> 00:42:14.640 I remembered God and was troubled. 474 00:42:14.640 --> 00:42:21.380 I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. 475 00:42:21.380 --> 00:42:24.480 You hold my eyelids open, I am so troubled that I cannot speak. 476 00:42:24.480 --> 00:42:27.680 I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. 477 00:42:27.680 --> 00:42:30.840 I call to remembrance my song in the night. 478 00:42:30.840 --> 00:42:33.680 Sometimes you've just got to call to remembrance your song in the night. 479 00:42:33.680 --> 00:42:38.120 I meditate within my heart and my spirit makes diligent search. 480 00:42:38.120 --> 00:42:40.060 And sometimes it's not a quick fix. 481 00:42:40.060 --> 00:42:43.320 Sometimes you're going through a thing where you just can't sleep at night, where you're 482 00:42:43.320 --> 00:42:46.540 worried, you're concerned, you're anxious, and sometimes you're searching. 483 00:42:46.540 --> 00:42:52.440 But like a little surface search, a man look as my wife calls it, isn't going to find what 484 00:42:52.440 --> 00:42:53.440 you're looking for. 485 00:42:53.440 --> 00:42:54.640 Sometimes you've got to dig deep. 486 00:42:54.640 --> 00:42:57.640 Sometimes you've got to go into the files that you've actually forgotten about, and 487 00:42:57.640 --> 00:43:02.040 you've got to go deep into your history with God, deep into your moments with God, and 488 00:43:02.040 --> 00:43:04.120 you've got to stay in them. 489 00:43:04.120 --> 00:43:05.560 And sometimes there's a fight for this. 490 00:43:05.560 --> 00:43:08.880 Sometimes passing through the eye of the needle is actually not easy. 491 00:43:08.880 --> 00:43:17.520 And sometimes it's not the quick fix we all hoped it would be. 492 00:43:17.520 --> 00:43:19.120 And then in verse 7 he says this, 493 00:43:19.120 --> 00:43:23.560 Will the Lord cast off forever, and will He be favourable no more? 494 00:43:23.560 --> 00:43:25.480 Has His mercy ceased forever? 495 00:43:25.480 --> 00:43:27.720 Has His promise failed forevermore? 496 00:43:27.720 --> 00:43:30.800 Has God forgotten to be gracious? 497 00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:35.840 Has His anger shut up His tender mercies? 498 00:43:35.840 --> 00:43:39.080 And I said, this is my anguish. 499 00:43:39.080 --> 00:43:45.880 Now you know, what I've just read there from Asaph, each one of those sentences, probably 500 00:43:45.880 --> 00:43:51.640 many people that are tuned in right now, could relate moments of their lives and could 501 00:43:51.640 --> 00:43:57.080 relate to those sentences and those comments, those statements that Asaph is making. 502 00:43:57.080 --> 00:43:58.080 Has your mercy ceased? 503 00:43:58.080 --> 00:43:59.080 God, where are you? 504 00:43:59.080 --> 00:44:00.800 Are you even with me anymore? 505 00:44:00.800 --> 00:44:01.920 Has your kindness just stopped? 506 00:44:01.920 --> 00:44:04.200 It seemed like you were healing people then, but you're not now. 507 00:44:04.200 --> 00:44:08.000 It seemed like I've seen so many things happen out there, and now my own family has gone 508 00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:09.760 through such a hard time. 509 00:44:09.760 --> 00:44:15.920 These statements are things that us humans can relate to, and these are the statements 510 00:44:15.920 --> 00:44:18.440 of people who are going through the gap. 511 00:44:18.440 --> 00:44:19.600 And Jesus went through a gap. 512 00:44:19.600 --> 00:44:23.440 Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane sweating blood. 513 00:44:23.440 --> 00:44:29.160 He was in a moment, I mean, He could read this psalm and relate to this psalm. 514 00:44:29.160 --> 00:44:33.240 Even though He knew the big picture, even though He knew what the Father was doing, 515 00:44:33.240 --> 00:44:39.440 He still had to wrestle with something to come through the eye of the needle. 516 00:44:39.440 --> 00:44:46.760 And I said, this is my anguish, but, boom, I love it when the Bible puts a but in there. 517 00:44:46.760 --> 00:44:55.760 But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. 518 00:44:55.760 --> 00:44:57.640 You should put that on your wall. 519 00:44:57.640 --> 00:45:00.080 But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. 520 00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:05.240 I enter the most high. I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will 521 00:45:05.240 --> 00:45:10.240 remember your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all of your work and talk. 522 00:45:10.240 --> 00:45:13.920 Now I'm not just gonna think about it. I'm not just gonna keep it in here to 523 00:45:13.920 --> 00:45:18.480 myself. I'm gonna talk about it. I'm gonna verbalize it. I'm gonna externalize it. 524 00:45:18.480 --> 00:45:22.600 I'm gonna take it from the invisible realm of the inside of my heart and I'm 525 00:45:22.600 --> 00:45:25.800 gonna get it into the physical atmosphere around me. I'm gonna let it be 526 00:45:25.800 --> 00:45:30.240 on my lips. I'm gonna speak words because my words create worlds. My words 527 00:45:30.240 --> 00:45:36.040 are creative by very nature. My words are substance. They're not just information 528 00:45:36.040 --> 00:45:39.440 and whatever I talk about will happen more and more. I'm not just gonna meditate 529 00:45:39.440 --> 00:45:45.440 internally. I'm gonna meditate externally. I will also meditate on all your work 530 00:45:45.440 --> 00:45:50.760 and talk of your deeds. The way O God. Your way O God is in your sanctuary. Who 531 00:45:50.760 --> 00:45:55.080 is so great? A God is our God. You are the God who does wonders. You have 532 00:45:55.080 --> 00:45:59.280 declared your strength among the peoples. You have with your arm redeemed 533 00:45:59.280 --> 00:46:03.760 your people the sons of Jacob. And then he goes through and he just starts 534 00:46:03.760 --> 00:46:11.720 giving more and more examples of moments where God has moved. And I'll tell you 535 00:46:11.720 --> 00:46:16.720 what, as the sons and daughters of God and as a church in the world, as God's 536 00:46:16.720 --> 00:46:24.800 people, as ones led by the Spirit, we need to become resilient in this way 537 00:46:24.800 --> 00:46:29.440 and we need to learn resilience in this way. And I believe that there is a real 538 00:46:29.440 --> 00:46:34.960 need for us to learn the ways of strengthening ourselves in the Lord and 539 00:46:34.960 --> 00:46:39.520 not waiting for some external strength to come from somewhere else, but 540 00:46:39.520 --> 00:46:45.000 learning to actually dig a well. Learning to actually put some practices in our 541 00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.960 lives that prepare us for moments where we have to pass through the needle. That 542 00:46:50.640 --> 00:46:56.360 when we reach those moments, when we get to the door of the eye, we're not too fat 543 00:46:56.360 --> 00:47:00.160 to fit through, but we're slim and trim and ready to pass through because of the 544 00:47:00.160 --> 00:47:06.040 practices we put in our lives. And so my challenge to you in this session is to do 545 00:47:06.040 --> 00:47:10.120 something about that. For me, I made a file on my phone. I've got the photo file 546 00:47:10.120 --> 00:47:15.560 of all the miracles that I've, not all of them, but just various miracles that I've 547 00:47:15.560 --> 00:47:20.480 seen. And I've also got my prophetic words that I've managed to record in 548 00:47:20.480 --> 00:47:25.960 another file and I've got other moments that I've got there. And that's 549 00:47:25.960 --> 00:47:30.920 a practice that I've been practicing for years and years now and it's done me 550 00:47:30.920 --> 00:47:35.720 very, very well. It's kept me on track and I've chosen to be a person that will 551 00:47:35.720 --> 00:47:41.000 not forget the goodness of God. Sometimes you see something, I tell this to all of 552 00:47:41.000 --> 00:47:44.640 my mission teams, as soon as you see a miracle, write it down straight away 553 00:47:44.640 --> 00:47:48.640 because you'll probably forget by the end of the day. And people like, I won't 554 00:47:48.640 --> 00:47:56.360 forget, there's no way I'll forget. I'll tell you what, people that don't 555 00:47:56.360 --> 00:47:59.040 write it down and forget, just about every single person that writes it down, 556 00:47:59.040 --> 00:48:03.360 and it could be like a blind eye opening up, but they forget. And you think, how 557 00:48:03.360 --> 00:48:06.200 would you forget something like that? Well, I don't know, maybe it's human 558 00:48:06.200 --> 00:48:10.960 nature, you just do. Sometimes you just forget. And so it's important to 559 00:48:10.960 --> 00:48:19.840 intentionally remember. And to remember to meditate, to cogitate, to verbalize, 560 00:48:19.840 --> 00:48:31.640 and in light of that, to meditate with a thankfulness. Thankfulness is one of the 561 00:48:31.640 --> 00:48:37.280 great keys to the kingdom. Thankfulness is one of the great keys to stewarding 562 00:48:37.280 --> 00:48:42.360 your life in the Spirit, stewarding the gifts of the Spirit, stewarding the 563 00:48:42.360 --> 00:48:46.080 miraculous in your life, stewarding all these things that God is doing. Whatever 564 00:48:46.080 --> 00:48:50.800 you water, whatever you spend the most time thinking about, will grow the most 565 00:48:50.800 --> 00:48:54.160 in your life. Whatever you spend the most time meditating on, will be the thing 566 00:48:54.160 --> 00:49:05.880 that will be the largest in your life. Whatever you, let me think about, if there's 567 00:49:05.880 --> 00:49:17.480 a different way I want to say this. Yeah, you become what you behold. 568 00:49:17.480 --> 00:49:24.640 Thank you, Melody. You become what you behold. That's exactly right. 569 00:49:24.640 --> 00:49:30.520 Whatever the central axis of thought is in your life, will be the 570 00:49:30.520 --> 00:49:35.200 axis that forms what your life looks like. There's lots of ways to say the 571 00:49:35.200 --> 00:49:45.440 same thing, but thankfulness is such a massive, massive key. David said, 572 00:49:45.440 --> 00:49:50.600 I will magnify the Lord with thanksgiving. In other words, I will make God, 573 00:49:50.600 --> 00:49:55.520 the children of Israel made God smaller by their forgetfulness. David said, 574 00:49:55.520 --> 00:49:59.840 I will make you bigger through my thankfulness. And thankfulness is such a... 575 00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:01.760 The key, when it comes to meditation, 576 00:50:01.760 --> 00:50:02.920 when it comes to remembrance, 577 00:50:02.920 --> 00:50:04.280 is to take what you've remembered, 578 00:50:04.280 --> 00:50:05.520 to take your remembrance, 579 00:50:05.520 --> 00:50:07.240 to take your memory stones 580 00:50:07.240 --> 00:50:09.480 and water them with thankfulness. 581 00:50:09.480 --> 00:50:11.160 Whatever you give thanks to, 582 00:50:11.160 --> 00:50:14.120 whatever you celebrate in the kingdom will increase. 583 00:50:14.120 --> 00:50:17.640 Celebration is like fertilizer to the goodness of God. 584 00:50:17.640 --> 00:50:20.840 Celebration is like petrol to a fire. 585 00:50:20.840 --> 00:50:24.760 Celebration is one of the great, great, great keys 586 00:50:24.760 --> 00:50:27.360 to walking with God and walking in the Spirit 587 00:50:27.360 --> 00:50:29.200 and to being immune to disappointment 588 00:50:29.200 --> 00:50:31.680 and immune to discouragement 589 00:50:31.680 --> 00:50:34.960 is learn to be someone that is absolutely thankful. 590 00:50:34.960 --> 00:50:36.120 Even when you're talking, 591 00:50:36.120 --> 00:50:38.200 and now, here's what I'm not saying. 592 00:50:38.200 --> 00:50:40.160 I'm not saying take your disappointment 593 00:50:40.160 --> 00:50:41.640 and sweep it under a rug. 594 00:50:41.640 --> 00:50:43.160 Asaph didn't do that either. 595 00:50:43.160 --> 00:50:44.960 He was honest about his disappointment. 596 00:50:44.960 --> 00:50:46.120 He came to the Lord and said, 597 00:50:46.120 --> 00:50:48.160 God, I'm gutted. 598 00:50:48.160 --> 00:50:49.440 Where are you? 599 00:50:51.000 --> 00:50:52.400 But in light of that, 600 00:50:52.400 --> 00:50:54.440 and in the honesty of that, 601 00:50:54.440 --> 00:50:58.760 he said, I'm feeling horrible right now, God. 602 00:50:58.760 --> 00:51:02.120 But I'm not gonna forget the goodness of old. 603 00:51:02.120 --> 00:51:03.640 I'm not gonna forget the moments, 604 00:51:03.640 --> 00:51:05.720 and I'm feeling like this, 605 00:51:05.720 --> 00:51:08.640 but I'm going to remember this. 606 00:51:08.640 --> 00:51:12.440 It's important that you don't shut down the feelings of, 607 00:51:15.800 --> 00:51:19.480 I'm wrestling and I'm going through a hard time, 608 00:51:19.480 --> 00:51:24.040 but it's important that you don't pitch your tent there. 609 00:51:26.680 --> 00:51:27.920 Oh, sorry. 610 00:51:27.920 --> 00:51:29.280 I'm back on. 611 00:51:29.280 --> 00:51:32.880 Dorothy, thanks for letting me know. 612 00:51:34.880 --> 00:51:39.000 Is there, hopefully you didn't miss too much of that. 613 00:51:39.000 --> 00:51:42.080 People have been, would you believe it? 614 00:51:42.080 --> 00:51:45.080 People have been trying to call me on my phone 615 00:51:45.080 --> 00:51:46.520 and interrupting the session. 616 00:51:52.320 --> 00:51:53.160 Oh, cool. 617 00:51:53.160 --> 00:51:54.120 That's good to know, Melody. 618 00:51:54.120 --> 00:51:54.960 Awesome. 619 00:51:54.960 --> 00:51:55.800 Okay, cool. 620 00:51:55.800 --> 00:51:56.640 Thank you. 621 00:51:56.640 --> 00:51:57.480 Thanks for your comments, guys. 622 00:51:57.880 --> 00:51:58.720 I can see your comments again. 623 00:51:58.720 --> 00:52:01.200 It's kind of weird that I couldn't see your comments before. 624 00:52:01.200 --> 00:52:02.040 Anyway. 625 00:52:06.840 --> 00:52:09.800 So guys, just to recap, 626 00:52:09.800 --> 00:52:11.520 passing through the eye of the needle, 627 00:52:11.520 --> 00:52:13.680 grappling with, building a bridge 628 00:52:13.680 --> 00:52:15.400 over the gap of disappointment. 629 00:52:17.480 --> 00:52:19.240 We're all gonna face it at times, 630 00:52:19.240 --> 00:52:22.440 and for us to pass through that, 631 00:52:22.440 --> 00:52:25.040 we need to be intentional to remember 632 00:52:25.040 --> 00:52:27.320 and intentional to give thanks. 633 00:52:28.160 --> 00:52:33.160 And not just when we need it, but as a way of life. 634 00:52:33.560 --> 00:52:35.320 And so my challenge to you right now, 635 00:52:35.320 --> 00:52:37.000 we're gonna pray in a second. 636 00:52:37.000 --> 00:52:39.080 My challenge to you right now is, 637 00:52:39.080 --> 00:52:41.640 and I'm gonna give you a specific challenge. 638 00:52:41.640 --> 00:52:46.640 I'd like you in the next 15 minutes to write 33, 639 00:52:47.600 --> 00:52:49.240 and I just like the number 33, 640 00:52:49.240 --> 00:52:52.200 33 different specific, not general, 641 00:52:52.200 --> 00:52:55.440 but specific things that you are thankful for. 642 00:52:55.920 --> 00:53:00.160 To just present those things to God in prayer, 643 00:53:00.160 --> 00:53:02.360 and just literally just allow your heart 644 00:53:02.360 --> 00:53:05.920 and take some time to actually say thank you, God, 645 00:53:05.920 --> 00:53:06.760 for those things. 646 00:53:06.760 --> 00:53:07.960 I know that sounds overly simple, 647 00:53:07.960 --> 00:53:10.760 and much of the kingdom is overly simple. 648 00:53:10.760 --> 00:53:14.080 And this is a very simple practice to put into play, 649 00:53:14.080 --> 00:53:16.840 but it will literally change your life. 650 00:53:20.400 --> 00:53:22.240 Some of you might even wanna start 651 00:53:22.240 --> 00:53:24.560 like a living document on Google Docs or something, 652 00:53:24.560 --> 00:53:27.800 where you just keep adding to the list 653 00:53:27.800 --> 00:53:29.320 of things you're thankful for. 654 00:53:30.200 --> 00:53:31.920 It's a very healthy thing to do, 655 00:53:31.920 --> 00:53:33.720 and it will get you through that eye 656 00:53:33.720 --> 00:53:35.320 when you need to get through it. 657 00:53:37.360 --> 00:53:40.720 Awesome, I think thankfulness is actually something 658 00:53:40.720 --> 00:53:43.080 that the spirit of God sticks to. 659 00:53:43.080 --> 00:53:46.160 It's like, I was four-wheel driving the other day, 660 00:53:46.160 --> 00:53:48.320 and I saw there was a little anchor point 661 00:53:48.320 --> 00:53:49.400 on the front of the bumper 662 00:53:49.400 --> 00:53:51.320 of one of the other four-wheel drives. 663 00:53:51.320 --> 00:53:53.800 And that little anchor point was something 664 00:53:53.800 --> 00:53:55.960 that you could tie a rope around and put a hook on 665 00:53:55.960 --> 00:53:59.120 and pull the car out of a sticky situation. 666 00:53:59.120 --> 00:54:00.760 And it's helpful to have those anchor points 667 00:54:00.760 --> 00:54:01.720 when you're four-wheel driving. 668 00:54:01.720 --> 00:54:03.960 And sometimes life is like four-wheel driving. 669 00:54:03.960 --> 00:54:05.920 Sometimes two-wheel drive just doesn't cut the mustard. 670 00:54:05.920 --> 00:54:07.440 You need to find a four-wheel drive, 671 00:54:07.440 --> 00:54:09.560 and sometimes a four-wheel drive doesn't cut the mustard, 672 00:54:09.560 --> 00:54:11.720 and you need an anchor point. 673 00:54:11.720 --> 00:54:14.040 Well, I'll tell you what, thankfulness, 674 00:54:15.040 --> 00:54:16.400 when you engage in thankfulness, 675 00:54:16.400 --> 00:54:20.160 thankfulness is the part of the vehicle of your life 676 00:54:20.160 --> 00:54:22.120 where God can attach anchor points to. 677 00:54:24.360 --> 00:54:26.280 Where He can pull you from. 678 00:54:26.280 --> 00:54:28.640 And so I wanna encourage you to do that. 679 00:54:28.640 --> 00:54:31.160 And I'm gonna pray right now 680 00:54:31.160 --> 00:54:32.560 while you're getting your bit of paper 681 00:54:32.560 --> 00:54:34.160 or making your file or whatever 682 00:54:34.160 --> 00:54:36.680 and starting to do your 33 points there. 683 00:54:36.680 --> 00:54:37.840 I'm gonna pray. 684 00:54:37.840 --> 00:54:39.120 And Lord Jesus, right now, 685 00:54:39.120 --> 00:54:41.520 I thank you that you are our appointment. 686 00:54:41.520 --> 00:54:43.520 And I break the power of disappointment right now 687 00:54:43.520 --> 00:54:44.760 and discouragement. 688 00:54:44.760 --> 00:54:46.400 Where the enemy has tried to discourage right now, 689 00:54:46.400 --> 00:54:49.720 I just break the actual power of that off 690 00:54:49.720 --> 00:54:52.320 and I release the grace to be encouraged 691 00:54:52.360 --> 00:54:56.360 and to be reappointed in Jesus' name. 692 00:54:56.360 --> 00:54:58.120 Thank you, God. 693 00:54:58.120 --> 00:55:00.120 Oh, Father, I pray that. 694 00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:06.000 That every person, as they're writing down their list, and as they're engaging in meditation and thankfulness, 695 00:55:06.000 --> 00:55:13.600 God, I pray that you would surround them with grace to feel, see, and sense your presence, God. 696 00:55:13.600 --> 00:55:18.800 That they would be made glad with you, God. 697 00:55:18.800 --> 00:55:24.100 God, that you, Holy Spirit, are the one that brings moments like this to remembrance. 698 00:55:24.100 --> 00:55:30.900 And, Lord, I pray that in people's hearts and minds you would bring to remembrance different things that have happened. 699 00:55:30.900 --> 00:55:33.700 Moments that you've been with them, God. 700 00:55:33.700 --> 00:55:40.400 That they can latch onto, meditate on, verbalize, and thank you for, God. 701 00:55:40.400 --> 00:55:47.000 I declare, God, that there'll be such a sense of union as they're doing this, God, and such a sense of joy. 702 00:55:47.000 --> 00:55:52.600 Thank you, God, that the enemy has been dismantled right now, in Jesus' name. 703 00:55:52.600 --> 00:55:54.100 Amen. 704 00:55:54.100 --> 00:55:58.100 All righty, guys. That is just amazing. That's awesome. 705 00:55:58.100 --> 00:56:06.200 It's 1 o'clock now. We're going to meet back in 10 minutes at 10 past 1 with session 6. 706 00:56:06.200 --> 00:56:14.400 And we're going to try and fit session 7 in too, but we might end up going to more like 2.30. 707 00:56:14.400 --> 00:56:20.200 But session 6 in 15 minutes—sorry, did I say 15 minutes? 708 00:56:20.200 --> 00:56:26.300 No, 10 minutes. 10 past 1. 10 minutes. We'll see you soon, and God bless you.