WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.399 Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:06.799 Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message. 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:11.279 Thank you. 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:15.919 Good evening. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:21.519 It's always a joy, a privilege to come to Gateway. 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:41.840 We are forever grateful for your pastor, wife, and family as they have been so close to us as well as this great church and how you have walked with us through some of the difficult hours, particularly over these last few years that we have had as a family. 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:55.359 And we appreciate that personally and ministerially as you have supported us, both locally and nationally, financially, as we have uh taken God's truth around the world. 00:00:55.520 --> 00:01:15.519 So uh I never want to come here and not express our personal and uh collective gratitude for you, the leadership here, and how much we appreciate all the gateway is to this community and the blessing it is to the Church of Jesus Christ International. 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:25.200 Uh my daughter Priscilla Shire was at the mall with my my grandson, her third son, named Jude. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:34.640 And they were at the escalator, and Jude was walking up an escalator that was going down. 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:40.159 The escalator was going down, but he was walking up. 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:43.519 I'm sure you've had some of your children do that. 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:45.519 Perhaps you've done that. 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:49.680 After a while, he stopped walking. 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:56.560 And we saw the escalator, she saw the escalator pull him down. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:04.640 All he had to do was stay still, and the direction of the escalator would determine where he wound up. 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:08.319 You and I are living in a culture that's going down. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:12.319 We're living in a culture that is headed south. 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:19.840 And uh all you've got to do is stay still, and it'll carry you with it. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:34.159 The trajectory that you and I are now facing in every segment of life and family, of morality, of education, it's going down. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:40.159 You pick the system, it's headed south at a cataclysmic speed. 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:45.439 You don't have to agree with it, all you have to do is stand still. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:52.080 And if you stand still because of where it's headed, it will carry you south. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:59.599 The second most difficult book in the New Testament to interpret is the book of Hebrews. 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:03.120 The first being Revelation, because of its symbolism. 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:10.240 The reason it makes the book of Hebrews so tough is because it is operating with an assumption. 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:20.000 Because it was written to Christian Jews, and these Jews were steeped in an Old Testament worldview, yet they had now come to faith. 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:29.520 And so some of the passages can be difficult because it operates on the assumption that you understand the operation of the Old Covenant. 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:37.919 But he tells these New Testament Christians who found themselves in an environment going south. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:54.800 They were being persecuted, they were being rejected, some were being put in prison, some were having properties confiscated, and they found themselves in an antagonistic environment going south. 00:03:55.360 --> 00:04:01.280 And the temptation that was plaguing them was: is it worth it? 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:03.199 Do we keep going? 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:05.919 This has become too hard. 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:08.800 Following Christ has become too tough. 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:14.319 Trying to represent Him has placed us as the visiting team. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:17.120 We've lost home field advantage. 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:31.839 And so the question that is repeated over and over and over again is is it worth keeping going when the escalator of society is headed south? 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:38.399 Throughout the book of Hebrews, there is this challenge mixed with a warning. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:50.000 Don't quit, don't throw in the towel, don't reverse your direction and don't stand still. 00:04:50.959 --> 00:05:18.959 For example, in chapter six of the book of Hebrews, he says, therefore, leaving the elementary principles about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction and washing and laying on of hands and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:22.879 And this we will do if God permits. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:15.519 Verse 3, God won't permit. 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:21.360 So if you want God to permit, verse 3, you better press. 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:25.600 Many people want to see God do something when they do nothing. 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:30.240 Many people want to see heaven do something when earth's not moving. 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:36.000 God wants to see not merely your lips move, but your life move. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:40.720 He doesn't only want to see your mouth move, but your feet move. 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:54.879 He wants to see the fact that you are pressing up the escalator of the culture in spite of the direction to which it's headed, because you're going in a different direction. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:07:00.480 He's challenging them, he says, to press on to maturity. 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:06.160 Now he begins chapter six, verse one, with the word therefore. 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:11.199 Now, whenever you see the word therefore in the Bible, you must ask what it's therefore. 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:17.680 Therefore, assumes that you have an understanding of what has preceded it. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:25.120 So to understand what he's calling them to do in chapter six, we've got to back up for a moment to chapter five. 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:32.560 He says in chapter five, verse 11, concerning him, we have much to say. 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:38.639 And it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:56.319 The Greek word dull of hearing means to be mule-headed, it means to be stubborn, that you're not paying attention, you're not tuned in to what God is saying, and you become mule-headed, and he's speaking to Christians. 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:12.560 In fact, some of these believers being written to in the book of Hebrews have been saved for 30 years, they've been redeemed for 30 years, but they're going south with the escalator because they've refused to press on. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:19.600 And as a result, the direction of the culture has become the direction of their lives. 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:22.639 And we see this all around us. 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:42.960 Where Christians have adapted to the society, where Christians have refused to take their stand, where Christians have decided, well, this is the way things are, and to press forward, they've thrown up their hands. 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:53.679 He says, concerning him, I have much to say, but I can't talk about it because you won't grab it if I do. 00:08:54.480 --> 00:09:00.000 Now the hymn he's talking about is a priest called Melchizedek. 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:04.639 He wants to tell them about the Melchizedekian priesthood. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:27.120 He says, because this this guy Melchizedek, who Jesus is after the order or in the line of Melchizedek, in order to appreciate Jesus, I would like to tell you about Melchizedek, but I can't tell you about Melchizedek, so you can more appreciate Jesus because you are too hard-headed to receive it. 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:39.360 Because if you weren't as hard-headed as you are, and I could tell you about Melchizedek, you would more appreciate Jesus in the Christian life you're now living to motivate you to press on. 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:42.320 So I'm gonna assume you're not dull-headed. 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:51.200 And therefore, I'm gonna say what he didn't say to the folks who were dull-headed, because there are no dull-headed saints at Gateway Church. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:57.519 So he says, Concerning him, I have much to say. 00:09:57.679 --> 00:10:02.080 Now, Melchizedek, we find in Genesis chapter 14. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:11.840 Abraham has been in a battle, and he's been in a battle to save his relative Lot's life and family and business. 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:21.120 Abraham has been in a war, and he has been beaten and bruised and tired because of the battle he's faced. 00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:30.399 On his way back from the battle, he runs into a priest who's also a king called Melchazedec. 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:35.360 Melchazedec gives Abraham bread and wine. 00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:38.720 You would call it today what we just did, communion. 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:46.080 He gives him bread and wine to refresh him for the battle he's just come from. 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:55.279 Melchazedek is a priest, so he is an emissary between, a mediator between earth and heaven, man and God. 00:10:55.759 --> 00:11:11.200 But he's also the king of Salem, peace, so that he is to bring calm in the midst of the chaos that Abraham has just come from, because Abraham has just come from a war. 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:18.480 But you have to understand, Abraham not only is coming from a war, he's headed to a war. 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:25.840 Because in the next few verses, Abraham is going to face the king of Sodom. 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:31.679 And the king of Sodom is going to try to bring destruction to Abraham. 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:33.200 So follow this. 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:36.000 Abraham is coming from a battle. 00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:39.039 Abraham is going to a battle. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:58.480 Between the battle he's coming from and the battle he's going to, he meets a person called Melchizedek who provides him the sustenance to recover from what he's come from and the strength to be revved up for what he's going to. 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:06.159 When you've come here this weekend, particularly having taken communion, some of you are coming from a battle. 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:09.600 You're coming from what's happened this past week. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:21.279 You're coming from the stresses and the struggles, whether they were at work or at home or in the community or within your own self, your own personal struggles. 00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:27.840 And you are going to face something new that you don't even know what it is in the battles you're yet to face. 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:31.600 Jesus is after the order of Melchizedek. 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:47.759 What Melchizedek did for Abraham in Genesis 14, Jesus does for believers today, because Jesus is the king and the priest for believers today, like Melchizedek was for Abraham. 00:12:49.440 --> 00:13:11.679 He says, if you really knew how to take advantage of Jesus, then you won't let last week mow you down, and you won't let what you don't even know is coming have victory over you because you're going to get some strength from your personal high priest who's going to enable you to recover from last week and have victory over an unknown week to come. 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:15.279 He says, but you won't be able to benefit from it. 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:22.320 You won't be able to experience it unless you press on to maturity. 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:25.840 He then goes on and explains what he means. 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:41.600 He says, For though by this time you ought to be teachers, it takes approximately five years for a Christian who's a baby to become a mature Christian who's mature. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:43.600 It takes about five years. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:45.120 How do I know that? 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:50.159 Because Paul went to Corinth in 50 A.D. 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:55.840 He wrote the Corinthians back in 55 A.D., five years. 00:13:56.080 --> 00:14:09.519 But when he wrote them back in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, he tells them that by this time you should no longer be babies, but you should have grown up to spiritual adulthood by this time. 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:12.000 And it was a five-year period of time. 00:14:12.559 --> 00:14:16.639 Why is it that some Christians can mature in five years? 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:22.000 And like in the book of Hebrews, some don't mature in 30 years. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:23.519 It's very simple. 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:27.679 Rate multiplied by time determines distance. 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:33.679 Our church in Oak Cliff is located about 11 miles from downtown Dallas. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:43.679 If you started walking, it's going to take you a few hours to walk that 11 miles from where we are to downtown Dallas. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:59.840 Now, if you happen to be riding a bicycle and you start at the same time somebody else starts who is walking, you're going to get there faster because your rate of speed is faster, even though you're headed toward the same place. 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:10.799 If you happen to be on a motorcycle, you're going to get there faster than the walker or the bicycle rider because your rate of speed is moving faster. 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:23.360 If you are in a jet, you're going to get there faster than the one walking or the one on the bike or the one on the motorcycle because your rate of speed is faster. 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:28.879 It is rate multiplied by time that determines the distance that you cover. 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:40.159 So if you don't press, or if you press a little bit, rather than skipping some steps to get to the top, will determine how quickly you move to maturity. 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:44.399 He says, by this time you ought to be mature. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:16:00.159 He goes on to say, but instead you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, verse 12 says, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:11.519 He makes the distinction that if you can't mature somebody else spiritually, you're not yet mature because by this time you ought to be a teacher. 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:26.480 So one of the ways you know whether you are maturing and have become mature is that you can turn around and bring your children or your mate or somebody in your circle of influence or other church members along the road to maturity. 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:32.320 He said, but not only are you not mature, you need to go back to elementary school. 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:34.960 He uses elementary in this passage. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:37.440 We saw he used it in chapter six. 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:41.600 Now, what is the benefit of elementary school? 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:44.799 See, elementary school is easy. 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:50.240 Nap time, snack time, no homework. 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:55.039 And you've laid, you're beginning to lay the foundation for life. 00:16:55.360 --> 00:16:59.840 A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P. 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:02.799 You're given the alphabet. 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:07.920 But the purpose of the alphabet is to be able to formulate words. 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:12.000 And the purpose of words is so you can now develop clauses. 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:15.599 And having developed clauses, you can now make sentences. 00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:19.200 And now that you can make sentences, you can construct paragraphs. 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:22.960 And now that you can construct paragraphs, you can now do pages. 00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:26.160 And once you do pages, you can write books. 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:35.680 In other words, the whole purpose of the alphabet is not the alphabet, the purpose of the alphabet is to prepare you to do so much more. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:44.799 He says, Because you have not doing so much more, it shows me you haven't even learned the spiritual alphabet yet. 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:51.839 You're still baby Christians and you have need for milk and not salad food. 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:53.200 What's the difference? 00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:54.880 We'll explain in a moment. 00:17:55.200 --> 00:18:06.640 He says, For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, verse 13, for he is an infant. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:26.160 He says, the difference between a pressing on meat Christian and a static or declining milk Christian is not the knowledge of the word that they have or don't have. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:31.119 It is the use or non-use of the word. 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:51.839 It is your use of the word and not merely your knowledge of the word that determines the rate of your maturity and your ability to handle what life throws your way in the escalator of culture that is headed down. 00:18:52.319 --> 00:19:00.000 If the word is not applied, you will discover that the word is not working for you. 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:06.400 Not because the word doesn't work, it's just not working for you because it's gone unused. 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:14.240 Now, in the African American community, growing up, we used to have a hairstyle, some still wear it today. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:16.480 It's called jerry curls. 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:21.440 And African Americans would get their hair jerry curled. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:24.640 Now, it's a lot of work to do a jerry curl. 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:28.559 I used to work, wear a jerry curl back in the day. 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:39.680 And you gotta go, you get these chemicals put in your hair, you gotta get rollers put in your hair, you gotta they dry your hair, and they build in this chemical curl in your hair. 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:41.759 And it's called jerry curl. 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:46.240 The problem with jerry curls is that they would dry out on you. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:49.519 So when it dry out, your hair wasn't looking too good. 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:56.880 So whenever you got a jerry curl, you had to go to the store and buy curl activator. 00:19:57.119 --> 00:20:09.759 So when you bought the curl activator, you sprayed the curl activator all over your head, you rubbed it in, and bam, the curl jumped back out, and you got your curl back. 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:17.599 Now, the chemical was already in there, but you needed the activator to bring it to life. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:27.839 You can know the word, memorize the word, quote the word, but it's only when you use it that it bam gets activated. 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:39.200 He says, I want to activate the word, and without its activation, you will still be a milk Christian. 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:42.720 You may be a milk Christian with a lot of information. 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:54.319 You may have gone to Bible study small group and all of that, but you will not be a transformed person, and you will not be able to handle the ups and downs of a declining society. 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:58.880 You won't be able to keep your family intact when other families are fraying. 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:03.039 You won't be able to keep your mind intact when other people are losing theirs. 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:17.839 You won't be able to keep your standards intact when other people are compromising with the increasingly decadent standards of the culture because you have not used the word enough to see it being activated in your experience. 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:26.880 It reminds me of the story of the mouse on the farm who went to the chicken, the pig, and the cow. 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:36.079 And the mouse told the chicken, the pig, and the cow, I just thought y'all want to know that Farmer Brown just brought a mouse trap. 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:41.680 I just thought y'all might want to know, Farmer Brown just brought a mouse trap. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:45.440 Well, the chicken, the pig, and the cow said, that's your problem. 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:46.799 You the mouse. 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:52.480 So we don't even need you to tell us that Farmer Brown just brought a mouse trap. 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:55.279 Mouse said, I just thought you might want to know. 00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:58.480 Farmer Brown just brought a mouse trap. 00:21:58.640 --> 00:21:59.599 You need to know that. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:02.319 They said, well, that has nothing to do with us. 00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:09.359 One day, there was a poisonous snake that went across the mouse trap and got caught in the mouse trap. 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:17.359 Farmer Brown's wife didn't see it and was walking by the mouse trap, and the snake bit Farmer Brown's wife. 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:23.039 Farmer Brown's wife now has poison going through her body, and she's not feeling well. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:24.720 She's laying down in bed. 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:28.880 Farmer Brown decides his wife needs chicken soup. 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:36.799 So he goes and gets the chicken so he can make some chicken soup for his wife, who's got poison going through his body. 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:39.519 But Farmer Brown's got to go to work every day. 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:41.119 He's got to do the farm. 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:43.119 He's got to take care of the crop. 00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:48.240 So Farmer Brown gets some people to come watch his wife while he's working. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:50.079 He's got to feed these people. 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:52.559 He decides to give them ham sandwiches. 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:59.200 So Farmer Brown goes and gets the pig so he can get the ham to feed the folks who are taking care of his wife. 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:02.720 But unfortunately, Farmer Brown's wife dies. 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:05.119 They have this big funeral. 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:07.599 He got to feed all the people at the funeral. 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:08.880 He needs some meat. 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:10.400 He goes to the cow. 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:16.880 He slices up the cow so that the cow can provide the meat for all the folks coming to the funeral. 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:21.440 The mouse said, I tried to tell him Farmer Brown had a mouse trap. 00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:31.519 See, when you don't pay attention to the word, it has repercussions down the line that you don't see when difficult days come. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:43.440 So he says, a milk Christian doesn't become a meat Christian until the word of God gets used. 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:57.440 If we were to put a magic wand over this congregation, and your spiritual age was manifested in your physical look, how many would still be wearing diapers? 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:17.359 What he says is it's not how long you've been a Christian, it is how much you have utilized the word that determines the scope, the level of maturity, and the engagement of your great high priest concerning him. 00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:25.599 I have much to say, and how Jesus interfaces with us as we go through the battles of life and culture. 00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:30.319 In every direction you're looking now, the culture is going down. 00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:32.559 One of two things is happening. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:44.240 We're on the precipice of the return of Jesus Christ, and if that's happening, we don't control that, and we, as believers in Christ, become the eternal beneficiaries. 00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:48.640 On the other hand, maybe it's not the return of Christ. 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:58.880 Maybe we're being set up by the decline for a revival, for a renewal, for a return of God into a decadent society. 00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:02.559 But either way, we need to be prepared. 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:07.039 And we can't join those who are going down the escalator. 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:11.519 Even if you're the only one climbing up the escalator, press on. 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:14.160 Tell your children, press on. 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:18.000 The Church of Jesus Christ has to press on. 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:28.400 He says, for everyone who only partakes of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for they're only an infant. 00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:40.799 But solid food is for the mature, who, because of practice, have their senses trained to discern good and evil. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:52.799 The difference between a milk Christian and a meat Christian is not merely their knowledge of scripture, but their spiritual discernment. 00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:59.519 He says they're able to pick up heaven signals for earth's activities. 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:08.160 In other words, they operate not merely on five senses, they operate on the sixth sense. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:12.079 Every believer has been given a sixth sense. 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:16.079 If you have direct TV, you have a receiver. 00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:22.240 That receiver is designed to pick up programming that's coming from a satellite. 00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:26.400 You don't see the satellite because that's up there in space. 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:28.160 You see the receiver. 00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:32.000 Every Christian has a receiver. 00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:39.519 The ability to pick up on earth what is coming from programming up in the sky. 00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:45.279 If your receiver is off, it doesn't mean you don't have capacity. 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:51.839 It means you're not set up to receive it, even though your capacity exists. 00:26:52.079 --> 00:27:11.920 Every believer has been given a sixth sense, an ability to perceive spiritual reality, to fill in directionally, the Bible calls it in 1 John, the anointing, to be able to pick up heaven's signals for earth decisions. 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:19.920 If you know the Bible, but you can't apply it to specific decisions, it's because the receiver is off. 00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:23.039 You're not picking up what heaven wants to say. 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:37.279 The job of the Holy Spirit, who is the anointing one, is to give you the application of biblical truths to specific situations of earth's realities. 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:51.359 It is that He is job is to answer the question what you should say, what you should do, how you should act, how you should react in light of what you're coming from, in light of what you're going to. 00:27:51.680 --> 00:28:06.160 He speaks into the specific situation to apply the word because the Bible, the Bible is like a rule book for an NFL team. 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:11.359 All 32 NFL teams have the same rule book. 00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:17.200 The league has a rule book for how the game of football is to be played. 00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:20.400 It is a non-negotiable rule book. 00:28:20.559 --> 00:28:22.799 It applies across the board. 00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:28.240 But all 32 teams have their individual playbooks. 00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:37.599 The playbooks are the personalized application for how they will operate within the rule book. 00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:46.240 And that's going to not only vary from team to team, it will even vary from play to play. 00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:55.119 Because Dak Prescott, when he comes up to the line, will often notice shifts in the defense. 00:28:55.359 --> 00:28:59.279 So he will call on the spot an audible. 00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:08.000 That audible means I'm changing it right now, even though the playbook, which is within the rule book, said I was going to do something else. 00:29:08.160 --> 00:29:13.519 The shift is carrying so quickly in front of me, I have to adjust at the moment. 00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:18.880 The Bible is God's rule book, it applies across the board to everyone. 00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:31.680 But maturity allows you to have a playbook that even the Holy Spirit can audibolize when decisions have to be made in life's realities in the escalator of a culture going down. 00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:37.680 The Bible is like national news, it tells you what's happening broadly. 00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:43.440 But what the anointing does is give you local news, it tells you what's happening in your vicinity. 00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:48.960 What God wants to do with maturity is increase our ability to discern. 00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:53.119 These Christians were facing a difficult time. 00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:55.839 The culture was against them. 00:29:56.160 --> 00:29:59.839 If you haven't noticed, the culture is against us. 00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:15.119 If you hold true to the word of God, if you hold true to an inerrant scripture, if you hold true to a biblical standard, if you don't buy in to the wokeness of the culture, then it's not going to accept you. 00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:29.119 They've had to add extra security to me because of my life being threatened by people who are who hate the fact that we've taken a public stand against many of the crisis in the culture. 00:30:29.839 --> 00:30:32.079 We've had to deal with other things. 00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:38.960 But what they don't understand is I have a great high priest. 00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:43.759 And he is a he is he is he is the one who I look to. 00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:48.000 I don't care which way the culture is going. 00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:51.279 I belong to the Christ, but I gotta press on. 00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:54.559 I can't stay still, and neither can you. 00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:30.000 So you rarely find a cellar or a basement in Texas. 00:31:30.799 --> 00:31:32.799 Not so in Oklahoma. 00:31:33.519 --> 00:31:42.720 In Oklahoma, they will build a lot of cellars or basements because they have a particular challenge with tornadoes. 00:31:43.119 --> 00:31:48.720 A particular challenge with twisters that come through that corridor in Oklahoma. 00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:52.240 We get it a little bit in Texas, but but not like Oklahoma. 00:31:52.319 --> 00:31:59.279 And so they build a place to hide when the twisters of life come. 00:32:00.400 --> 00:32:05.680 They have a place they can run to when life is swirling around them. 00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:10.799 Over the last few years, as many of you know, we've gone through twisters. 00:32:11.359 --> 00:32:19.680 Losing my wife and my father one month apart, having eight members of my family die within that year and a half. 00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:28.720 One month later, after my wife dies, Priscilla finds out she has cancer, and half of her left lung has to be removed. 00:32:29.039 --> 00:32:33.039 A couple of months later, her husband's mother dies. 00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:38.000 Six months later, her brother dies. 00:32:38.880 --> 00:32:41.119 On and on and on and on and on. 00:32:41.759 --> 00:32:44.400 We just funeralized last week. 00:32:44.720 --> 00:32:46.640 Two more of our family members. 00:32:47.119 --> 00:32:51.920 The tornadoes just keep on coming and coming and coming. 00:32:53.039 --> 00:33:01.440 If you don't press on, if I don't press on, then I won't let what's happening around me discourage me. 00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:06.240 Make me not want to keep going, not want to keep ministering, not want to go on. 00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:08.799 But we gathered our family around. 00:33:09.359 --> 00:33:11.839 And we said we have a high priest. 00:33:12.720 --> 00:33:16.880 Jesus is our high priest after the order of Melchizedek. 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:21.920 So that when the twisters come, we're not gonna quit. 00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:24.079 We're not gonna throw in the towel. 00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:27.839 He that is in us is greater than he that's in the world. 00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:29.359 So don't give up. 00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:30.559 Don't quit. 00:33:30.799 --> 00:33:32.400 Don't throw in the towel. 00:33:32.559 --> 00:33:35.599 Greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. 00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:41.039 Father, I thank you that when the twists of life come, we have a basement. 00:33:41.279 --> 00:33:46.160 We've got a cellar, we got a place to hide, we got a place to run to. 00:33:46.720 --> 00:33:53.200 We're gonna fight forward in spite of an escalator going down because we have a great God. 00:33:53.759 --> 00:33:58.799 Thank you, Lord, that we can trust you when the skies get dark. 00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:02.640 We can trust you when the thunderstorms rage. 00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:06.960 We can trust you because you are our great high priest. 00:34:07.279 --> 00:34:10.639 We thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. 00:34:11.519 --> 00:34:14.079 Thank you so much. 00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:38.000 Let me let me again say thank you because we have so many friends who supported our ministry. 00:34:38.159 --> 00:34:42.960 And if you want to find out all that we're doing across the nation, you can go on tonyevans.org. 00:34:43.039 --> 00:34:48.480 And God has opened up some doors with political leaders calling us, the racial crisis, all that. 00:34:48.559 --> 00:34:50.159 We're being hit with all of that. 00:34:50.320 --> 00:34:57.039 So for no other reason, if you go there, find out what we're doing, and pray for us as we try to take a stand for the kingdom of God. 00:34:57.199 --> 00:34:59.360 He is worthy for us to press on. 00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:00.639 God bless you. 00:35:03.920 --> 00:35:05.519 Thanks for joining us today. 00:35:05.679 --> 00:35:11.119 If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com. 00:35:11.280 --> 00:35:13.199 We hope you have a great week.