WEBVTT 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:05.474 We want to read the scripture today, isaiah 55.1-6. 00:00:05.474 --> 00:00:12.090 You can say Isiah, isiah, isiah. 00:00:12.090 --> 00:00:16.905 The same book, isaiah 55.1-6. 00:00:16.905 --> 00:00:19.685 Very interesting scriptures. 00:00:21.559 --> 00:00:30.564 The Bible says come, tell your neighbor, come, come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters. 00:00:30.564 --> 00:00:40.154 And you who have no money, come, look at your neighbor and tell your neighbor that is a good one, amen. 00:00:40.154 --> 00:00:45.509 And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. 00:00:45.509 --> 00:00:51.210 Come, buy wine and milk, without money, without cost. 00:00:51.210 --> 00:00:58.747 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? 00:00:58.747 --> 00:01:07.009 Listen, listen to me and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fair. 00:01:07.009 --> 00:01:13.025 Give ear and come to me, listen that you may live. 00:01:13.025 --> 00:01:19.906 I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. 00:01:19.906 --> 00:01:27.064 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples. 00:01:27.064 --> 00:01:45.168 Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you Because of the Lord, your God, the holy one of Israel, for he has endured you with splendor. 00:01:45.168 --> 00:01:52.709 Seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near. 00:01:52.709 --> 00:01:56.540 This is God's word and God's people say Amen, amen. 00:01:56.540 --> 00:02:05.706 We may be seated in God's presence as we prepare to hear God speak to us. 00:02:05.706 --> 00:02:13.091 Let us pray, father, as we settle ourselves in your presence. 00:02:13.091 --> 00:02:21.026 We have had a wonderful time just worshiping you and celebrating you, and we thank you that you are in our midst. 00:02:21.026 --> 00:02:37.408 The Bible says that you inhabit the praises of your people, and so we thank you for those who are right here in person, those in the pavilion, those in the overflow, those watching us online, wherever they may be. 00:02:37.408 --> 00:02:45.950 Bring us and bring our spirit together, bring our minds at your feet and, father, speak to us. 00:02:45.950 --> 00:03:12.747 Pastor Ambrose will be speaking, but, lord, above his voice, may your voice be heard, may your word come through and, father, may you be glorified in this service as you minister to people coming from different directions, different issues, different challenges, but God, your word, locating them and setting them up for our testimony. 00:03:12.747 --> 00:03:24.586 So thank you, father, for hearing our prayer and my prayer, because I have prayed in Jesus name and God's people say amen, amen, amen. 00:03:26.219 --> 00:03:38.930 Now, those who are still coming to Parklands recently and you're still trying to figure out what we are talking about this month we are unveiling the theme vision for 2024. 00:03:38.930 --> 00:03:47.192 We have already said that this is the year the Lord's uplifted open door and it is a door. 00:03:47.192 --> 00:03:49.585 We already talked about this door. 00:03:49.585 --> 00:03:51.864 This door is a person. 00:03:51.864 --> 00:03:55.002 His name is who, jesus Christ. 00:03:55.002 --> 00:03:56.627 Because he said I am the door. 00:03:56.627 --> 00:03:58.151 So Jesus says it. 00:03:58.259 --> 00:04:06.330 So if you don't believe me, let me just read what he said in John, chapter 10, in verse seven. 00:04:06.330 --> 00:04:12.587 This is what Jesus said talking to the Pharisees who are trying to argue about who he is. 00:04:12.587 --> 00:04:19.901 Therefore, jesus said again very truly I tell you I am what I am, the gate. 00:04:19.901 --> 00:04:21.266 Niv says gate. 00:04:21.266 --> 00:04:23.826 Now let me say read it in the New King James Version. 00:04:23.826 --> 00:04:35.605 In the New King James Version it says then Jesus said to them again, most assuredly I said to you I am what I am the door of the ship. 00:04:35.605 --> 00:04:41.726 He goes on to say in the next verse all who ever came before me are thieves and robbers. 00:04:41.726 --> 00:04:43.250 But the ship did not hear them. 00:04:43.250 --> 00:04:47.891 Then, verse nine, he says again I am the door. 00:04:47.891 --> 00:04:54.550 If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 00:04:54.550 --> 00:04:57.408 So Jesus is the door. 00:04:58.701 --> 00:05:11.642 Now, of course, when John was seeing the vision in Revelation so let me go to Revelation, chapter four, verse one he has already had a voice speaking and then now he sees a door, revelation's four one. 00:05:11.642 --> 00:05:19.012 After these things, I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven. 00:05:19.012 --> 00:05:21.447 Now, this door you don't need to knock. 00:05:21.447 --> 00:05:24.526 I'm saying this door you don't need to knock. 00:05:24.526 --> 00:05:27.406 I'm saying you don't need to knock. 00:05:27.406 --> 00:05:30.882 The door is what it's open. 00:05:30.882 --> 00:05:41.848 So there's a door standing open in heaven and the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet, speaking with me, saying come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this. 00:05:41.848 --> 00:05:50.524 The Bible says in the next verse immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne set in heaven and one sat on the throne. 00:05:50.524 --> 00:05:54.187 Then he saw this lamb, he saw the lion of Judah, he saw Jesus. 00:05:54.187 --> 00:05:56.086 So we are saying that Jesus is the door. 00:05:56.086 --> 00:06:03.624 Now the Bible says immediately he found himself in the spirit and that's why we are saying that this year, acceleration will happen. 00:06:03.624 --> 00:06:08.149 I'm saying you're accelerating in Jesus name. 00:06:09.139 --> 00:06:13.548 This afternoon we are going to talk about the response to the open door. 00:06:13.548 --> 00:06:15.886 How do you respond to Jesus? 00:06:15.886 --> 00:06:17.410 Who is the open door? 00:06:17.410 --> 00:06:19.826 Because Jesus has given the invitation. 00:06:19.826 --> 00:06:20.747 He has said come. 00:06:20.747 --> 00:06:22.824 And he has said come up here. 00:06:22.824 --> 00:06:29.110 And the amazing thing, he's saying come up here because many of us are flying too low. 00:06:29.110 --> 00:06:35.704 Hello, we are flying too low and God is saying come up here. 00:06:35.704 --> 00:06:41.242 Down there you're going to hit trees, you're going to hit mountains, you're going to crash. 00:06:41.242 --> 00:06:42.826 Come up here. 00:06:42.826 --> 00:06:51.389 It's a new level, it's a new place, it's a new season, and earlier we said a new season with new possibilities. 00:06:52.180 --> 00:07:02.810 Buona Sifiwe, one thing I wrote down that I wanted to say to you is this this year, we are not walking into this year blindly. 00:07:02.810 --> 00:07:07.339 Let me say that again we are not walking into this year blindly. 00:07:07.339 --> 00:07:11.339 Number two we are not walking into this year with human insight. 00:07:11.339 --> 00:07:15.199 We are not trying to figure things out with our own brains. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:20.120 Number three we are not walking into this year with unbelief. 00:07:20.120 --> 00:07:26.560 Unbelief can be very dangerous because it paralyzes the power of God in your life. 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:36.589 When I say unbelief, I'm talking about the attitude the people in Nazareth had to Jesus. 00:07:36.589 --> 00:07:45.168 The Bible says when Jesus went to Nazareth, he could not do many miracles because of the people's unbelief. 00:07:45.168 --> 00:07:46.184 Why Nazareth? 00:07:46.184 --> 00:07:49.226 Nazareth was a place he had grown up in. 00:07:49.226 --> 00:07:53.764 He played football there, he went to school there. 00:07:53.764 --> 00:08:02.338 This place, in our language we say Alikua Mta, hello, alikua Kua Keja. 00:08:02.338 --> 00:08:03.365 He was Kua Mta. 00:08:03.365 --> 00:08:05.247 People knew and understood him. 00:08:05.247 --> 00:08:08.339 Then he says but I can perform miracles. 00:08:08.339 --> 00:08:13.610 They say apaanavachananaseesi, so unbelief broke. 00:08:13.610 --> 00:08:17.985 They are not receiving, they could not go through that door. 00:08:17.985 --> 00:08:22.851 But the next door was a city called Kapanau. 00:08:22.851 --> 00:08:33.211 Now, kapanau is a very interesting word because it is made of two Hebrew words kapa and naum. 00:08:33.211 --> 00:08:39.104 Kapa, naum, kapa, kapa. 00:08:39.144 --> 00:08:46.951 If you ever see Jews walking around, they have a small kakofi, apa. 00:08:46.951 --> 00:08:51.509 It is called a kapa, kapa is a kava. 00:08:51.509 --> 00:09:10.611 The word kapa in Hebrew just means to cover, and so when you hear the celebration of the Jews, yom kipur, Yom kipur that word yom in Hebrew means day Kipur, or kapa means a cover. 00:09:10.611 --> 00:09:14.650 Yom kipur means the day of atonement. 00:09:14.650 --> 00:09:35.990 That was the day when the Jews would come together in one year and they would bring their sins and everything they have done and on that day animals would be killed and the blood would cover their sins so that when God looked at them their sins were covered. 00:09:35.990 --> 00:09:41.145 It was the day called yom kipur From the word kapa, kapa. 00:09:41.145 --> 00:09:51.969 Hello, because that word, that small kapa, sometimes looks like somebody who does not have hair. 00:09:51.969 --> 00:09:56.190 So in Kisweli we say kipara, kapa. 00:09:56.190 --> 00:10:01.945 I'm not sure what it says here. 00:10:01.945 --> 00:10:07.527 Kapa, kipa, kapa or kipur, it's just the same thing to cover. 00:10:07.527 --> 00:10:14.471 So kapa naum, which is kapa, to cover now means comfort. 00:10:14.471 --> 00:10:28.131 So in that city was they were covered with comfort and in their being covered with comfort they were able to receive Jesus and enter the door. 00:10:28.131 --> 00:10:41.309 So in kapa naum many miracles happened In 2024, many miracles happened Because we are not walking and looking at Jesus with unbelief. 00:10:41.779 --> 00:10:44.086 So this year we are walking. 00:10:44.086 --> 00:10:46.423 We are not walking through this year without blindly. 00:10:46.423 --> 00:10:49.087 We are not walking into this year with human insight. 00:10:49.087 --> 00:10:51.006 We are not walking into this year with unbelief. 00:10:51.006 --> 00:10:56.190 Instead, we must walk into this year with revelation. 00:10:56.190 --> 00:10:59.724 Tell your neighbor revelation. 00:10:59.724 --> 00:11:11.767 Revelation is when you've been listening to something and you're trying to figure it out and you're trying to understand what are they saying, and then there's something we call ping. 00:11:11.767 --> 00:11:21.524 The light comes on because suddenly you have seen it from an angle you did not expect, and that is a revelation. 00:11:21.524 --> 00:11:26.349 May God give you that revelation in 2024. 00:11:27.580 --> 00:11:33.773 But we are talking about how do we respond to this open door when it comes to us? 00:11:33.773 --> 00:11:38.248 Three areas how do we respond to a divine call? 00:11:38.248 --> 00:11:48.370 Number two, how do we respond to a divine invitation and how do we receive or respond to a divine assignment? 00:11:48.370 --> 00:11:53.004 Those are the three things John experienced on that island of Patmos. 00:11:53.004 --> 00:11:58.945 There was a divine call, there was a divine invitation and there was a divine assignment. 00:11:58.945 --> 00:12:15.586 And let me say this, as we hear God's word this year that call will always be there and God is saying, like we read in Isaiah 55, come, you who have no money, come, come by, come eat, come drink, come. 00:12:15.586 --> 00:12:18.884 God is giving us a call, he's inviting us. 00:12:18.884 --> 00:12:27.144 But I want to say this as humans, we respond in different ways when something like that comes to us. 00:12:27.220 --> 00:12:31.586 I'm going to give you some examples of people who responded to this call. 00:12:31.586 --> 00:12:35.548 I want to start with Gideon. 00:12:35.548 --> 00:12:39.649 The Bible says this in Judges, chapter 6, verse 11. 00:12:39.649 --> 00:12:43.809 He had a call, an opportunity that God was giving to him. 00:12:43.809 --> 00:13:00.383 The Bible says in verse 11, the angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Offra that belonged to Joash the Beeserite, where his son, gideon, was threshing wheat in a wine press to keep it from the Midianites. 00:13:00.383 --> 00:13:05.206 Tell your neighbor Midianites Now, midianites were crazy people. 00:13:05.206 --> 00:13:13.629 These guys were warriors, they ravaged everything and they kept giving the Israel a very difficult time. 00:13:13.629 --> 00:13:26.123 There's one time God even commanded Moses kill all the Midianites, kill all the male, kill them, get them off this land, because they were fighting against the people of God. 00:13:26.123 --> 00:13:32.166 It is interesting for you to note that Midian came from a very interesting place. 00:13:32.166 --> 00:13:36.601 Now, if I could ask you a question, where do you think the Midianites came from? 00:13:36.601 --> 00:13:47.956 Egypt, so let me answer that for you, because you're going to give me a difficult time. 00:13:50.379 --> 00:13:54.168 Abraham had various ladies he engaged with. 00:13:54.168 --> 00:13:58.113 Tell your neighbor hallelujah. 00:13:58.113 --> 00:14:17.787 The first lady Abraham engaged with was Sarah, later to be called Sarah, later to be called Sarah, and because he spent quite some time waiting for a child and God said you're going to have many children, you're going to bless this world. 00:14:17.787 --> 00:14:25.789 This child knows was not coming for about 25 years, because Abraham was called by God when he was 75. 00:14:25.789 --> 00:14:34.813 By the time he's 90, there was nobody coming, and so Sarah had waited for a long time and Sarah gave him a suggestion. 00:14:34.813 --> 00:14:46.725 You know the Bible says that women are suitable helpers and so God you know, as Sarah says, hey, I need, I need, I need, I need to give you a suggestion. 00:14:46.725 --> 00:14:51.182 So in Genesis, chapter 16, and God had already told Abraham I'm going to bless you. 00:14:51.182 --> 00:14:52.086 It is you I'm going to bless. 00:14:52.086 --> 00:15:02.174 But the Bible says in Genesis, chapter 16, for those who just need to be reminded about this story Genesis 16, if I can get there, amen. 00:15:02.174 --> 00:15:07.870 Look at your neighbor and tell your neighbor it's coming all right now. 00:15:07.929 --> 00:15:17.269 Sarai, abraham's wife, had born him no children, but she had an Egyptian slave girl named Haggah. 00:15:17.269 --> 00:15:36.995 So she said to Abraham now, this was not during breakfast, this was not during dinner, this is that time that women like to talk to men, at midnight, across the pillow, hello, and hit him with an elbow cut time, cut time. 00:15:36.995 --> 00:15:41.549 Those are dangerous times for men because men do not know what is going to come next. 00:15:41.549 --> 00:15:46.644 And so, across that pillow, she said you know the Lord. 00:15:46.644 --> 00:15:51.136 She said to Abraham the Lord has kept me from having children. 00:15:51.136 --> 00:15:57.653 Go sleep with my slave girl, perhaps I can build a family through her. 00:15:57.653 --> 00:16:03.505 And Abraham, without blinking, agreed to what Sarai had said. 00:16:03.505 --> 00:16:04.807 Tell your neighbor. 00:16:04.927 --> 00:16:06.270 Abraham was a man of faith. 00:16:06.270 --> 00:16:18.274 You know, faith comes by hearing, but this time, hearing a woman speaking brought him into a big problem. 00:16:18.274 --> 00:16:19.698 Hello. 00:16:19.698 --> 00:16:22.947 So Abraham had been living in Canaan ten years. 00:16:22.947 --> 00:16:28.126 Sarai, his wife, took her Egyptian slave, haggah, and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 00:16:28.126 --> 00:16:30.297 He slept with her, haggah, and she conceived. 00:16:30.297 --> 00:16:33.268 When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 00:16:34.291 --> 00:16:35.775 These are dramas that happen. 00:16:35.775 --> 00:16:38.062 They happen to Abraham. 00:16:38.062 --> 00:16:45.080 They happen here also, hello now don't look at me strangely, because those dramas happen all the time. 00:16:45.080 --> 00:16:47.365 So this is the first source. 00:16:47.365 --> 00:16:52.553 So Haggah gives a battle, a child called who ishma. 00:16:52.553 --> 00:17:01.288 In chapter 17, god reminds Abraham I'll still give you a child. 00:17:01.288 --> 00:17:02.432 Through Sarah. 00:17:03.234 --> 00:17:09.128 In chapter 18, god comes and says this time next year, sarah will have a child. 00:17:09.128 --> 00:17:12.316 Sarah begins to laugh because by that time she was very old. 00:17:12.316 --> 00:17:14.086 By that time Abraham is very old. 00:17:14.086 --> 00:17:17.795 But let me tell you this it is never too late until God says it is. 00:17:17.795 --> 00:17:23.414 I'm talking to somebody here and I'm saying God is coming through for you in the name of Jesus Christ. 00:17:23.414 --> 00:17:24.925 He's coming through for you. 00:17:24.925 --> 00:17:31.101 And so Sarah, thank God, she gives back to a son called Isaac. 00:17:31.823 --> 00:17:38.701 Now, depending on where you come from, people go different ways, whether it was this, was this or that. 00:17:38.701 --> 00:17:42.349 So there's Ishmael, there is who Isaac. 00:17:42.349 --> 00:17:51.750 From Ishmael, you get down and down and you have the, the Arabs and all those people, isaac. 00:17:51.750 --> 00:17:53.212 You then have the Israelites. 00:17:53.212 --> 00:17:59.805 Many years later, sarah dies and Abraham takes another lady. 00:17:59.805 --> 00:18:05.252 In her name is Ketura hello. 00:18:05.252 --> 00:18:10.942 One of the children of Ketura is Midian hello. 00:18:12.423 --> 00:18:26.298 Midian, that's where the Midian I came from and you know that, that that tribe just developed through the years, because after Abraham, those Isaac, after Isaac, there was Esau, and who else? 00:18:26.298 --> 00:18:26.997 Jacob? 00:18:26.997 --> 00:18:29.367 Jacob had 12 sons. 00:18:29.367 --> 00:18:31.351 One of those children was Joseph. 00:18:31.351 --> 00:18:39.653 Joseph grows up, goes to Egypt, he invites his family to Egypt and they stay in Egypt for 430 years. 00:18:39.653 --> 00:18:49.109 During that time the tribe of Midian is growing and growing and they begin to become an enemy to Israel. 00:18:49.109 --> 00:19:00.474 Now these guys ravaged Israel and during this time of the judges because by that time Joshua had come, they had taken over the land. 00:19:00.474 --> 00:19:03.867 And after Joshua died, the time of the judges came in. 00:19:03.867 --> 00:19:10.913 During the time of the judges, the Midianites are fighting, you know the Israelites, and Midian was feared by the Israelites. 00:19:11.414 --> 00:19:19.555 And in chapter 6 of judges, gideon shows up and God wants to show them a new season, because they were now in places they should not be. 00:19:19.555 --> 00:19:29.529 And let me tell you this sometimes life can hit you so much that now you are in a place you should not be, but God is about to relocate you. 00:19:29.529 --> 00:19:42.336 I'm talking to somebody, I'm saying God is about to relocate you, god is about to shift you, and Gideon finds himself in that place, and so God wants to use Gideon, and Gideon doesn't know that the new here has just started. 00:19:42.336 --> 00:19:51.743 He's still struggling with the things of the last year and I want to say to somebody here forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. 00:19:51.743 --> 00:19:58.868 Yes, there were difficult times last year, they were challenging times last year, but this is a new year, this is a new season. 00:19:58.868 --> 00:20:01.634 God is saying I am doing a new thing. 00:20:01.634 --> 00:20:02.757 Do you not perceive it? 00:20:02.757 --> 00:20:05.632 I am making away where there seems to be no way. 00:20:06.032 --> 00:20:13.219 And so God comes to Gideon through the angel, and he says this when the angel judges now, do you understand where the Midianites came from? 00:20:13.219 --> 00:20:17.253 When those quizzes come, you better be ready to answer. 00:20:17.253 --> 00:20:21.429 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said the Lord is with you. 00:20:21.429 --> 00:20:30.612 Now, remember, this is an angel, this is a powerful warrior, and he's saying the Lord is with you, mighty warrior. 00:20:30.612 --> 00:20:33.717 And now this is the response of Gideon. 00:20:33.717 --> 00:20:36.448 This is how he responded to an open door. 00:20:36.448 --> 00:20:42.689 An open door to bring down the Midianites, an open door to be the solution that the world is looking for now. 00:20:42.689 --> 00:20:43.711 This is how he responded. 00:20:43.711 --> 00:20:46.421 He said pardon me, my Lord. 00:20:47.002 --> 00:20:55.207 Gideon replied but if the Lord is with us, if the Lord is with us, he's saying that the Lord is with you, mighty warrior, he says. 00:20:55.207 --> 00:20:59.339 But if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? 00:20:59.339 --> 00:21:06.083 Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt? 00:21:06.083 --> 00:21:08.528 But now the Lord has abandoned us. 00:21:08.528 --> 00:21:10.113 You know you're now blaming God. 00:21:10.113 --> 00:21:13.026 The Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of who? 00:21:13.026 --> 00:21:14.568 Of Midian. 00:21:15.731 --> 00:21:26.636 Then the Lord just ignored his statement and the Lord turned to him and said go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. 00:21:26.636 --> 00:21:29.307 Am I not sending you again? 00:21:29.307 --> 00:21:32.453 He says pardon me, my Lord? 00:21:32.453 --> 00:21:35.280 Gideon replied but how can I save Israel? 00:21:35.280 --> 00:21:41.095 My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family. 00:21:41.095 --> 00:21:49.836 The Lord answered I will be with you and you will strike down all the Midianites living, none alive. 00:21:49.836 --> 00:21:56.071 God is just giving him a positive message, but he has all these excuses and he says what about this? 00:21:56.071 --> 00:21:56.613 What about that? 00:21:56.613 --> 00:21:57.895 Now listen verse 17. 00:21:57.895 --> 00:22:07.579 Gideon replied okay, god, don't push me so much, but if now I have found favor in your eyes, give me what? 00:22:07.579 --> 00:22:11.792 Give me a sign that it is really you talking to me now. 00:22:11.792 --> 00:22:12.974 How many signs do you want. 00:22:14.237 --> 00:22:18.031 You know, sometimes you come to the service and you're saying, oh God, give me a sign. 00:22:18.031 --> 00:22:20.326 Pastambra is saying ABCD, but give me a sign. 00:22:20.326 --> 00:22:26.830 And yet Pastambra is releasing the voice of God through his mouth and he's telling you you hear testimony, is this, this and that? 00:22:26.830 --> 00:22:27.815 Oh God, give me a sign. 00:22:27.815 --> 00:22:28.396 I need a sign. 00:22:28.396 --> 00:22:31.146 And God was so kind, tell your neighbor. 00:22:31.146 --> 00:22:31.709 God is kind. 00:22:31.709 --> 00:22:42.819 And for some of you who look for signs, I'm telling you God will, god is kind, he, he, because God wants to bless you, god really wants to bless you. 00:22:42.819 --> 00:22:45.185 You know, I need a sign. 00:22:45.185 --> 00:22:55.392 Oh God, today, when I go to church, lord, I want to meet my husband and Jehovah, god, may he have a green shirt and a red tie, father God, and yellow shoes. 00:22:55.392 --> 00:22:56.232 I'm telling you. 00:22:56.232 --> 00:23:11.104 Then, amazingly, that person shows up green shirt, red tie, yellow shoes, and you know that gets from Kittu. 00:23:11.104 --> 00:23:12.567 And you say God, are you sure? 00:23:12.567 --> 00:23:16.614 Are you sure this is the person? 00:23:16.614 --> 00:23:21.702 And you really want a sign. 00:23:21.702 --> 00:23:25.194 So you're fighting God and God is saying what did you want in the first place? 00:23:25.194 --> 00:23:35.255 You want a husband or you want a shirt and shoes? 00:23:35.255 --> 00:23:36.076 God is kind. 00:23:36.076 --> 00:23:41.284 So, for all of you who look for signs, god will indulge you. 00:23:41.284 --> 00:23:48.244 And then he says please, verse 18 please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you. 00:23:48.244 --> 00:23:53.315 And the Lord said I will wait until you return. 00:23:54.577 --> 00:23:57.963 Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat. 00:23:57.963 --> 00:24:03.886 Now that takes time because you have to slaughter the goat first, and from an effort of flour he made bread without cheese. 00:24:03.886 --> 00:24:07.701 Putting the meat in a basket and it's brought in a pot took nearly an hour. 00:24:07.701 --> 00:24:10.671 He brought them out and offer them to him under the oak. 00:24:10.671 --> 00:24:16.131 The angel of God said to him take the meat and the unliving bread, place them on the rock and pour out the broth. 00:24:16.131 --> 00:24:17.875 And Gideon did so. 00:24:17.875 --> 00:24:24.644 Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unliving bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. 00:24:24.644 --> 00:24:30.825 Fire fled from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread, and the angel of the Lord disappeared. 00:24:30.825 --> 00:24:38.065 Now when the Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord any all this time you didn't know. 00:24:38.065 --> 00:24:46.511 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed alas, sovereign Lord, I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face in Asia. 00:24:46.511 --> 00:24:53.269 But the Lord said to him peace, do not be afraid, you're not going to die. 00:24:53.269 --> 00:24:58.384 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it the Lord of peace. 00:24:58.384 --> 00:25:03.615 That's why we get the word Jehovah shalom the Lord is peace. 00:25:03.615 --> 00:25:07.707 To this day it stands in opera of the Abbas rights. 00:25:08.288 --> 00:25:14.907 Now, ladies and gentlemen, why should it take you so long trying to understand what God is saying? 00:25:14.907 --> 00:25:15.911 That's what I'm saying. 00:25:15.911 --> 00:25:19.561 We respond differently when God speaks. 00:25:19.561 --> 00:25:25.273 And today we are saying when God calls you, respond. 00:25:25.273 --> 00:25:25.855 Why? 00:25:25.855 --> 00:25:34.291 Because God is calling you so that you can see things from a different angle, see things from a different way. 00:25:34.291 --> 00:25:35.394 You saw them last year. 00:25:35.394 --> 00:25:40.871 Gideon is saying I am the least, I am nothing. 00:25:40.871 --> 00:25:47.364 And God is saying you're a mighty warrior, you're a mighty man of Valor. 00:25:47.364 --> 00:25:51.675 God is saying that is breaking out and breaking through for you. 00:25:51.675 --> 00:25:56.208 All he wants you to do is this believe it and go through that door. 00:25:56.608 --> 00:26:07.444 Believe it and go to the next level, the another team that really also gave God a difficult time, where the 10 spies, the 10 spies have been sent to spy the land. 00:26:07.444 --> 00:26:10.071 They were 12, 12 spies. 00:26:10.071 --> 00:26:14.605 They go out leaders from every tribe and they go out and they are sent with. 00:26:14.605 --> 00:26:15.689 They come back with a report. 00:26:15.689 --> 00:26:27.546 This is what it says in Numbers, chapter 13, I'm reading from verse 27 the Bible says this they come back with a response and the Bible says they gave Moses this account. 00:26:27.546 --> 00:26:33.422 We went into the land to which you sent us and it does flow with milk and honey. 00:26:33.422 --> 00:26:35.266 Here is its fruit. 00:26:35.266 --> 00:26:38.295 And then it says but now that's their response. 00:26:38.295 --> 00:26:46.438 Says but the people who live there are powerful and the cities are fortified and very large. 00:26:46.778 --> 00:26:48.644 We even saw the descendants of Anak there. 00:26:48.644 --> 00:26:58.712 The Amalekites live in the Negev, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites live in the hill country and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan. 00:26:58.712 --> 00:27:06.917 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said we should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it. 00:27:06.917 --> 00:27:12.382 I'm talking to somebody, I'm saying this year, you will certainly do it, you are coming through in Jesus name. 00:27:12.382 --> 00:27:14.204 Now listen to verse 31. 00:27:14.204 --> 00:27:18.188 But the man who had gone up with him said we do, we, we what? 00:27:18.188 --> 00:27:24.156 We can't, we can't, we can't attack those people. 00:27:24.156 --> 00:27:27.758 Then he said they are stronger than we are. 00:27:27.758 --> 00:27:33.977 And they spread among the Israelites about report about the land they had explored. 00:27:33.977 --> 00:27:38.942 They said the land we explored devours those living now. 00:27:38.942 --> 00:27:42.820 This particular message was sent on Facebook. 00:27:42.820 --> 00:27:47.715 So the Bible says hello, explore, devours, those living in it. 00:27:47.715 --> 00:27:52.741 All the people we saw there are of great size. 00:27:52.741 --> 00:27:55.898 So we saw the Nephilim there. 00:27:55.898 --> 00:27:58.337 The descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim. 00:27:58.769 --> 00:28:00.555 We seemed now this is a statement. 00:28:00.555 --> 00:28:03.092 We seemed go back. 00:28:03.092 --> 00:28:03.453 Where is it? 00:28:03.453 --> 00:28:12.858 We seemed where In our own eyes, and we looked the same to them. 00:28:12.858 --> 00:28:14.674 They were saying we seemed like what? 00:28:14.674 --> 00:28:15.890 What? 00:28:15.890 --> 00:28:16.532 Grasshopers? 00:28:19.789 --> 00:28:23.740 Now there are three questions that God asked. 00:28:23.740 --> 00:28:32.344 The first three questions God asked humanity is simply this number one where are you? 00:28:32.344 --> 00:28:35.896 That's the first question God asked humanity. 00:28:35.896 --> 00:28:37.596 Where are you? 00:28:37.596 --> 00:28:42.038 The second question God asked is who told you? 00:28:42.038 --> 00:28:50.619 These guys are saying we seemed like grasshopers. 00:28:50.619 --> 00:28:51.893 Who told you? 00:28:51.893 --> 00:28:53.719 Who told you? 00:28:53.719 --> 00:29:00.017 That is why this year, we must read the word of God and find out what did God actually say? 00:29:00.017 --> 00:29:03.419 Because sometimes we do things that others told us. 00:29:03.419 --> 00:29:06.179 So God is asking Adam who told you that you're naked? 00:29:06.179 --> 00:29:07.073 Who told you? 00:29:07.073 --> 00:29:09.753 Who told you that you're poor? 00:29:09.753 --> 00:29:12.734 Who told you that you cannot do it? 00:29:12.734 --> 00:29:18.760 Who told you that you cannot live in such and such a place? 00:29:18.760 --> 00:29:21.376 Who told you cannot drive such and such a car? 00:29:21.376 --> 00:29:24.238 Who told you you cannot go into a certain hotel? 00:29:24.238 --> 00:29:25.491 Who told you? 00:29:25.491 --> 00:29:35.015 We seemed like grasshopers in their eyes and also in our own eyes, and it paralyzed them. 00:29:35.015 --> 00:30:09.961 Now I want to tell you this a very sad thing happened because they were so close to cross the border, so close to cross the border but because of their unbelief and because of how they saw themselves, god returned them back on this side and enabled them to walk around for 40 years until that whole group died, so that the people who were 20 years and below were now the ones who are allowed to see the promised land because they did not have the ideology of the past history. 00:30:10.210 --> 00:30:15.775 I'm looking at somebody and saying forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. 00:30:15.775 --> 00:30:22.099 God is saying see yourself in a new way, gideon, you are a mighty man of valor. 00:30:22.099 --> 00:30:28.652 See yourself like God sees you, hallelujah. 00:30:28.652 --> 00:30:30.694 See yourself in a different way. 00:30:30.694 --> 00:30:33.152 You are going through, you're going higher. 00:30:33.152 --> 00:30:34.998 A divine call. 00:30:35.990 --> 00:30:38.900 But I like another guy who saw himself very differently. 00:30:38.900 --> 00:30:40.676 He had a different response. 00:30:40.676 --> 00:30:43.394 He did not argue, he did not give excuses. 00:30:43.394 --> 00:30:45.817 You know he saw things in a different way. 00:30:45.817 --> 00:30:49.174 Look at your neighbor and tell your neighbor we have to see things in a different way. 00:30:49.174 --> 00:30:51.769 Why are you seeing things in a different way? 00:30:51.769 --> 00:30:55.078 This guy is Bartimaeus, bartimaeus, mark 10, 46. 00:30:55.078 --> 00:30:58.636 Let me say this very quickly because I believe God wants to say something to us. 00:30:58.636 --> 00:31:01.811 Bartimaeus, this was his attitude, the Bible says. 00:31:01.852 --> 00:31:06.655 Then they came to Jericho as Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city. 00:31:06.655 --> 00:31:10.960 A blind man, bartimaeus, which means son of Timayus. 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:19.842 By the way, the word Timayus means honorable, okay so, bar bar, timayus, bar team bar, bar. 00:31:19.842 --> 00:31:20.222 Bar. 00:31:20.222 --> 00:31:21.595 Bar does not mean a bar. 00:31:21.595 --> 00:31:38.036 Bar is an Aramaic word, means son, son of, like the Hebrew say Ben Ben Jamin, son of Bartimaeus he was a son of an honorable person was sitting by the roadside, begging in a very dishonorable position. 00:31:38.036 --> 00:31:41.112 Let me tell you this you may be in a very dishonorable position. 00:31:41.112 --> 00:31:45.558 God wants to take you back to your honorable position in the name of Jesus. 00:31:45.558 --> 00:31:47.375 Now he's begging, he's sitting there. 00:31:47.990 --> 00:31:51.413 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout. 00:31:51.413 --> 00:31:54.279 I'm telling you, he got ready. 00:31:54.279 --> 00:31:56.615 He said this thing is not passing me by. 00:31:56.615 --> 00:32:01.034 He began to shout Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. 00:32:01.034 --> 00:32:04.759 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet. 00:32:04.759 --> 00:32:11.676 Hey, and I'm telling you people, you'll hear voices, they will tell you you cannot do this, you cannot go there, you cannot do this, be quiet. 00:32:11.676 --> 00:32:17.435 But he shouted all the more son of David, have mercy on me. 00:32:17.435 --> 00:32:23.816 And I like the next statement Jesus stopped, may Jesus stop for you. 00:32:23.816 --> 00:32:26.655 I'm saying may Jesus stop for you. 00:32:27.609 --> 00:32:44.160 Your response will determine whether he stops or he continues going, because sometimes Jesus will pass you, not because he's ignoring you, he just wants to know how will you respond to his passing. 00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:47.939 And for some of us he passes us and we don't care. 00:32:47.939 --> 00:32:52.113 And I'm telling you, sometimes we hear the thin vision and we don't care. 00:32:52.113 --> 00:32:53.096 It is just passing us. 00:32:53.096 --> 00:32:55.016 We are just passing time in church. 00:32:55.016 --> 00:32:57.136 You know it is a thing we do on Sundays. 00:32:57.136 --> 00:33:00.358 But let me tell you this God has an amazing vision for you. 00:33:00.358 --> 00:33:02.273 God is opening doors. 00:33:02.273 --> 00:33:03.758 Opportunities are coming your way. 00:33:03.758 --> 00:33:05.134 It is an open door. 00:33:06.049 --> 00:33:10.121 But, thank God, jesus stopped and said call him. 00:33:10.121 --> 00:33:13.598 What an invitation, call him. 00:33:13.598 --> 00:33:18.054 So these guys who are saying keep quiet Now listen to what they say. 00:33:18.054 --> 00:33:22.792 So they call the blind man and they said cheer up on your feet. 00:33:22.792 --> 00:33:27.755 The same guys who are refusing you to open your mouth are saying cheer up. 00:33:27.755 --> 00:33:30.231 He's calling you Throwing. 00:33:30.231 --> 00:33:33.538 Look at that response Throwing his cloak aside. 00:33:33.538 --> 00:33:36.253 Remember he's blind, throwing his cloak aside. 00:33:36.575 --> 00:33:43.660 He jumped to his feet and came to Jesus and Jesus said what do you want me to do for you? 00:33:43.660 --> 00:33:47.055 Jesus asked by the way, did Jesus know he's blind? 00:33:47.055 --> 00:33:48.952 Did he know he's blind? 00:33:48.952 --> 00:33:55.155 Let me tell you this God may never do anything for you until you yourself verbalize it. 00:33:55.155 --> 00:33:59.298 He already knows, but he wants you to say it. 00:33:59.298 --> 00:34:01.957 So he said what do you want me to do for you? 00:34:01.957 --> 00:34:02.871 Jesus asked him. 00:34:03.092 --> 00:34:08.731 The blind man said rubber, I want to see the next statement. 00:34:08.731 --> 00:34:16.492 Go said Jesus, your faith has healed you immediately, immediately, immediately. 00:34:16.492 --> 00:34:17.972 I'm talking to somebody. 00:34:17.972 --> 00:34:19.056 Immediately. 00:34:19.056 --> 00:34:21.155 May you immediately show up. 00:34:21.155 --> 00:34:25.460 I'm saying may you immediately show up in Jesus' name. 00:34:25.460 --> 00:34:35.117 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road Out of one big crowd, one guy. 00:34:35.117 --> 00:34:36.900 God is miracle. 00:34:36.900 --> 00:34:39.914 I pray out of this big crowd. 00:34:39.914 --> 00:34:47.239 You will be the person who gets out of here with a miracle, received in Jesus' name. 00:34:48.230 --> 00:34:50.858 But I want you to know it depends on your response. 00:34:50.858 --> 00:34:52.375 How do you respond? 00:34:52.375 --> 00:34:57.436 We're going to talk more about how other people responded, but this one was particularly to the core. 00:34:57.436 --> 00:35:04.253 God is calling you to see yourself in a different light, in a new way, like Gideon. 00:35:04.253 --> 00:35:09.398 If you read the story of Gideon later, gideon brought a great victory to Israel. 00:35:09.398 --> 00:35:13.199 May that be your portion in 2024. 00:35:13.199 --> 00:35:15.956 God will still use you with all your oh. 00:35:15.956 --> 00:35:17.440 What about this, what about that? 00:35:17.440 --> 00:35:18.715 Oh, can you give me a sign? 00:35:18.715 --> 00:35:21.378 God will still use you. 00:35:22.230 --> 00:35:27.574 But the next thing is a divine not just only a divine call, but a divine invitation. 00:35:27.574 --> 00:35:28.612 Tell your neighbor invitation. 00:35:28.612 --> 00:35:32.737 This particular invitation is very interesting. 00:35:32.737 --> 00:35:35.739 Let me read again Isaiah 55, verse 1 to 2. 00:35:35.739 --> 00:35:46.277 God is inviting you in something special and he says this come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come buy and eat. 00:35:46.277 --> 00:35:49.396 In other words, god is saying I have paid the bill. 00:35:49.396 --> 00:35:52.755 I'm saying God is saying I've paid the bill. 00:35:52.755 --> 00:35:54.561 You want to be well. 00:35:54.561 --> 00:35:56.036 I've paid the bill for you to be well. 00:35:56.036 --> 00:35:58.858