WEBVTT 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:07.440 Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Hole. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:11.759 I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior. 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:15.839 Today, embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit. 00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:19.120 Welcome to the Born for War podcast. 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:35.119 I want to start, before I start into this next message on the cosmic war, I want to go for a second on a kind of a sociological, cultural, missiological bent. 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:37.679 Okay, so one of my degrees is in missiology. 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:52.479 And when we look at Jesus coming 2,000 years ago into a, well, we now call it the Middle East, the geopolitical area called the Middle East, but it was Israel at the time, he came doing four things. 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:56.320 Jesus did basically four things all the time. 00:00:56.640 --> 00:00:59.280 He preached the kingdom of God everywhere he went. 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:06.799 He healed the sick everywhere he went, and he cast out demons wherever he went. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:15.040 Now, when you look at the response of the religious community, especially the Pharisees and the Sadducees, as Jesus came into a village, that's what he did. 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:17.840 He preached the kingdom, he'd healed the sick, he cast out their demons. 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:28.560 There is no place anywhere in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John where there was a, where there was an apologetic back to Jesus against the fact that demons exist. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:30.879 They all believed that demons exist. 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:38.959 They all believed that there was an interaction between the demonic cosmic world and the three-dimensional world. 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:43.840 So whether you call it the fourth, fifth, or sixth dimension, doesn't matter to me, but there is this cosmic world. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:46.079 And that's what we've been talking about for the last six weeks. 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:55.280 This idea that there's divine beings, there's a divine counsel of God that was broken up partly with the Tower of Babel. 00:01:55.519 --> 00:02:02.480 So with the Tower of Babel, divine counsel, spirits were given nations that they rule over. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:19.840 And then two weeks ago, we look at Daniel chapter 10, and we see that as Daniel fasted and prayed for 21 days, not even knowing what he'd entered into, he just wanted revelation about a vision and a dream that he had had, he encounters this divine being. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:21.120 We might call it an angel. 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:32.400 So this angel comes to him, this spirit being, and says, Look, I've been trying to reach you since the day that you began to pray, but the prince of Persia hindered me. 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:43.439 There's these demonic spirits that are over nations of the world, and men and women, when you pray, you are, you have no idea. 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:49.360 We have no idea the impact we're having in prayer. 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:53.120 Even Daniel didn't know the impact. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:03:04.240 I mean, he would he would have no idea what was happening up in the fifth or sixth dimension of a heavenly cosmic rim if this angelic spirit hadn't told him and given him that permission. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:09.840 Well, even when he leaves, he said, I've now got to go and contend with the Prince of Greece, right? 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:12.639 So, why do I say that? 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:18.879 I say that because there's a biblical worldview that the West is largely missing. 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:32.240 So, especially since the Enlightenment, there has been a scientific worldview which has been built on this idea, and if you jot this down if you're a note taker, a Western excluded middle. 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:35.599 I call it the Western excluded middle. 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:36.639 Here's what I mean. 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:44.879 So there's a cosmic world out here of Satan, demons, God, and we as believers believe in that. 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:48.639 Virtually two-thirds of the world believes in that. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:04:02.000 But the difference is the two-thirds world, you go to anywhere in Korea, you go to anywhere in South America, you go to anywhere in Southeast Asia, they believe that that world interacts with the three-dimensional world. 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:10.080 In other words, if someone's sick, the first place many of those people go to is a demon's causing that. 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:13.599 Or it's a curse, or it's an omen, or something like that. 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:24.800 And so if you can imagine a box right here is our three-dimensional world, and here's a box up here that's the fourth-dimensional or fifth-dimensional world, and you just overlap them, that's where the world, that's where most people live. 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:26.399 Except in the West. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:42.480 In the West, Western Europe, as well as the United States of America, have an enlightened scientific worldview based on facts, based on, you know, I'll believe it if you can show it to me, kind of a show-me mentality, which is good. 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:43.519 I'm not saying that's bad. 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:45.199 Don't hear me say that's bad. 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:55.360 Because we have we have the pharmaceuticals that we have that are good, we have the antibiotics that we have that are good, because someone in a scientific lab thought that way. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:59.600 But let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:09.519 Because that world of the cosmic rim and our world of the three-dimensional realm, there's a they don't overlap. 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:14.800 That's the exclude, that's the Western excluded middle. 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:23.199 So some of you, for example, have addictions and you have issues in your life that you're seeing a therapist about, and that's great. 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:24.560 Maybe you need a therapist. 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:25.279 That's super great. 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:26.639 I love therapy. 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:27.279 Come on. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:28.480 Therapy's good. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.399 I need therapy from time to time. 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:32.879 Okay? 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:34.959 Ask my wife, you know. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:42.800 But so that so counseling, therapy, methadone treatments, all that's nothing wrong with that, per se. 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:45.839 As far as it will take you. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:54.399 But we have this excluded middle in our thinking, men and women, sometimes, where it's actually demons, it's actually darkness. 00:05:54.560 --> 00:06:01.920 There's actually a curse on your life that goes back three or four generations, you know nothing about because you don't think that way. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:06.639 You don't think, well, I got saved, you know, and I'm saved, and so I'm set free from all that. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:09.199 Well, technically that's true. 00:06:09.519 --> 00:06:11.759 Experientially, it may not be. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:18.079 Because you have to retroactively every day put on the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:19.600 I read that somewhere. 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:23.600 You know, you we have to retroactively put on the armor. 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:40.879 If you're not putting on the armor, if you're not retroactively and proactively and intentionally putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are subject to the God of this age who is working all around you and it's happening. 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:47.920 And some of you that are more spiritually inclined, you know what I'm talking about because you've walked in some houses, you've walked in some rooms, you know there's demons there. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:52.879 You can feel the darkness because you're accustomed to the light. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:07:04.560 But some of you are so accustomed to the darkness, it's so familiar to you that you don't even know that you could be set free tomorrow if you trusted God in a new way. 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:10.399 So, what I want to talk about today is I'm still on the nations, this aspect of God possessing the nations. 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:13.759 And then next week I want to talk about Christus Victor. 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:19.680 I want to talk about the victory we have in Christ and what exactly happened at the cross. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:21.759 What happened at the resurrection? 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:25.519 Literally, what happened in the darkness, what happened in the demonic world. 00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:28.720 But today, would you turn to Psalm 2 with me? 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:32.160 And I'm calling this possessing God's possession. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:36.639 A Psalm 2 counsel requires a Joel to church. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:41.839 A Psalm 2 counsel requires a Joel to church. 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:59.279 Now it's very interesting that the devil took Jesus up to the temple, we believe it's a temple, and looked out, and here's what Jesus, this is what, this is what Jesus was spoken to by Satan. 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:04.800 He said this I will give you all the power and the glory of these kingdoms. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:10.560 All of it has been given to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:14.480 Now, what's interesting is that Jesus doesn't refute what he says. 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:20.959 Jesus, in his response, is assuming that what Satan said is true. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:23.279 That he rules over the nations. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:34.399 Since the Tower of Babel, Genesis 11, when the dispersion of the nations occurred, 70 nations, the table of nations, which is in Genesis 10. 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:38.799 Divine counsel, demonic spirits were given those nations. 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:41.440 Well, guess what? 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:47.600 God then begins a maneuver to take back what's his. 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:57.440 And he's in this move of an historical precedent that was set on a whole new level at Calvary. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:08:58.879 We'll talk about next week. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:00.720 I'm not going to get into it this week a lot. 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:07.120 But there was a new work begun that you're a part of of God beginning to possess his possession of the nations and take back. 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:12.399 That's why Jesus said, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:16.799 Because there's a new revolution occurring, new thing happening. 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:28.399 Well, in this interaction with Satan, Satan, ruling over the rebelled divine counsel of demons, has been given the nations at Babel. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:35.039 This is why I believe so strongly in the Lord's Prayer. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:37.840 That's why we did the Lord's Prayer today. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:42.960 It's because the Lord's prayer is a spiritual warfare prayer. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:53.679 In other words, everything in the Lord's prayer is exactly the opposite of what Satan and demons want to do in our lives. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:10:11.759 And so as the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy, as the enemy comes for you to have unforgiveness towards your neighbor, as the enemy comes for you to become just kind of a selfish believer that just lives your life in your own little world and cares about nobody else, you start to pray the Lord's prayer. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:12.639 And you mean it. 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:16.320 Just say, well, Lord, I don't believe what Steve said, but he said I should pray the Lord's Prayer. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:17.759 It's a stupid prayer. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:19.360 You don't want to pray his prayer. 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:21.039 I did that when I was an episcopal. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:22.240 I did that when I was a Catholic. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:25.440 I'm not gonna say prayer, religiously prayer. 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:31.600 But he says, if I ask you to believe it, you can change my heart. 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:36.240 You start believing what you pray in the Lord's Prayer. 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:38.559 It's the opposite of what Satan is up to. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:44.960 So now, let's go to Psalm 2, because in Psalm 2, God is advising leaders. 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:52.080 Whoever's an ex-president of the United States, if I was to ask, you can have one minute with the president, I'd say, Mr. 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:55.360 President, I'm gonna read to you Psalm 2. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:59.679 It's God's counsel to you as President of the United States. 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:07.039 He says, Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:26.000 The kings of the earth they set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:38.080 You see, that's the natural inclination of all of us in relation to Christ, is to say, don't tell me what to do, don't put any boundaries on my life. 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:39.200 I'm free. 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:41.600 This is the land of the free. 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:42.559 I'm free. 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:49.519 Don't tell me that there's rules, don't tell me that there's any kind of laws that I should follow. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:53.919 When Hitler came into power, he had an agenda. 00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:57.360 And the first agenda is we've got to get the Bible. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:00.799 We gotta get this archaic book out. 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:03.519 And so he began to gradually push that out. 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:11.440 He began to use Romans 13 to subjugate the pastors to do whatever he said, because you're supposed to submit to government. 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:12.799 And so he used that. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:15.039 He said, Luther, and he quoted Martin Luther. 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:17.600 Luther said, You're supposed to submit to government. 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:20.960 Because Martin Luther was definitely a German. 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:28.080 I mean, he was he was about order, and if you know anything about the peasant war, that's where he was quoting from, what was happening with the peasant war. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:31.840 So then what he began to do is subjugate the Jews. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:46.080 So the the the most recent research from the Washington Museum of the Holocaust is that 70% of all Jews in Europe were exterminated by the Nazis. 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:47.360 70%. 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:53.039 So the the old statistics were around 8 million, it's now like 20 million. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:54.159 Unreal. 00:12:54.320 --> 00:13:00.480 42,142 death camps all across Europe have been found. 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:02.240 Now that's an extreme. 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:05.840 But church, that's that's what governments do. 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:11.679 Under the guise of the enemy, they rage against God. 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:13.679 They rage against God. 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:22.240 And so, Aaron, you know this to be true in District 20, as one of our representatives there on the school board. 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:26.879 Satanic temple shows up, you know, get everybody all riled up. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:30.159 And the Satanic Temple, they love me, by the way. 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:32.000 I'm one of their favorite people. 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:41.120 Um and so they rage because we have standards of morality. 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:42.960 We have standards that we believe in. 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:44.399 So this is nothing new. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:46.240 This is this rage that comes forth. 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:48.960 But aren't you excited about verse 1b? 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:51.840 Vain thing. 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:55.279 They plot a vain thing. 00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:57.759 God's on the move. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:03.440 And the vanity of vanities is that it will not work. 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:12.799 It might have its time in the sun for a brief time, but the truth seekers and the kingdom of God and the church, we win. 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:14.799 We keep pushing forward. 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:16.320 We we get hit back. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:18.639 It's always two steps forward and one step back. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:24.320 And some of you in this room, including myself, from time to time, focus too much on the one step back. 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:26.799 But then there's two steps forward. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:28.000 And then God moves. 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:29.200 God is on the move. 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:30.559 And look what he says next. 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:31.440 Verse 4. 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:34.240 He who sits in the heavens laughs. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:36.080 God laughing. 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:38.159 Big belly laugh. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:39.919 Like, are you kidding me? 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:43.039 You guys, I'm gonna win this thing. 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:49.519 The Lord shall hold them in derision, then he shall speak to them in his wrath and distress them in his deep displeasure. 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:52.000 Yet I have set my king. 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:56.720 I've set my king on my holy hill of Zion. 00:14:57.039 --> 00:14:58.240 The Messiah's coming. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:06.080 He's prophesying that there's a day coming when Jesus is gonna come, that the Messiah is gonna come, that there's gonna be a Calvary. 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:08.879 And three days later there's gonna be a resurrection. 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:12.240 I'm setting up my kingdom. 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:14.559 And we're on the other side of that. 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:17.279 We're seeing his kingdom move forward. 00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:21.120 So keep your finger in Psalm 2 and then go to Psalm 110. 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:24.799 Psalm 110 is a companion to Psalm 2. 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:27.360 Look at Psalm 10, verse 1. 00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:28.960 Psalm 10, verse 1. 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:32.240 The Lord said to my Lord, by the way, let me before I read it. 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:34.559 This is the most quoted Psalm. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:38.639 This is the most quoted Old Testament verse in all of the New Testament. 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:44.960 So this was this is quoted seven or eight times in the New Testament. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:48.639 The Lord said to my Lord, and this is, and Peter uses this at Pentecost. 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:51.200 So when the Holy Spirit fell, Peter quotes from this. 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:58.480 He says, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:00.000 What? 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:01.679 What? 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:02.559 Are you kidding me? 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:04.240 He's saying, Sit at my right hand. 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:17.840 So God, so Jesus comes, he's sitting at the right hand with the Father after he's raised from the dead, till, until I make your enemies your footstool. 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:20.559 Okay, everybody look at me. 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:25.519 Jesus is working through the church. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:27.039 You're the church. 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:28.639 Big sea church. 00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:29.840 Small sea church. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:32.080 Big sea church is the church worldwide. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:34.960 Small sea church is you and me in the road. 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:41.039 We are making the enemies of God his footstool. 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:43.679 You are making progress. 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:52.080 We are pushing back darkness, and in so doing, Jesus is not going to leave the throne. 00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:57.919 He's not going to come back until he has made his enemies his footstool. 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:04.640 And so I tell you, this is the most exciting time in history to be alive. 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:07.039 God is really on the move. 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:10.559 And God is doing stuff that we have no idea. 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:12.559 We have no idea what he's doing. 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:20.640 But he is setting forth his king on his holy hill of Zion. 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:22.480 That's what he says here. 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:36.319 And so when you get discouraged, and we do, and you look at things and it looks really hopeless, or you feel really negative, you've been just really into some really good negative news and stuff, you know, open the Bible. 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:42.079 Just open it to Psalm 2, open it to Psalm 110, and renew your mind. 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:47.839 God is actually making the enemies of God his footstool. 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:58.720 So I got a footstool with my favorite chair in my office at home, and I put my dirty, grimy feet on that footstool sometimes. 00:17:58.880 --> 00:18:05.359 I come in from the fire pit, I try to wipe them off, but sometimes I don't get it all off, and I just stick it on the footstool. 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:07.039 That's what the Lord's doing. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:12.400 He's making the enemies of God his footstool through us. 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:14.160 It's through you. 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:15.519 Alright. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:19.519 Back to Psalm 2. 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:22.480 He continues, verse 7. 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:24.640 I will declare the decree. 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:28.559 The Lord has said to me, You are my son, today I've begotten you. 00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:39.519 Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession, possessing the possession of God. 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:45.039 You shall break them with a rod of iron, you shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:46.720 Now go right back, okay? 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:48.799 Go right back to Psalm 110. 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:50.880 Look what Psalm 110 says. 00:18:51.200 --> 00:19:02.160 Psalm 110 says, verse 2, the Lord shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion to rule in the midst of your enemies. 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:03.119 Hello? 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:04.480 Hear what he's saying? 00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:10.079 He's saying, look, you guys, ask of me, what is it you want me to do? 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:14.240 I now am taking back the nations. 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:18.000 I'm reversing the Tower of Babel. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:21.920 Pentecost is Tower of Babel reversed. 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:24.079 We'll look at that next week. 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:32.960 So the dispossession of the nations going out with the divine counsel, then Holy Spirit falls in Acts chapter 2. 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:34.079 And what does he do? 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:44.240 Instead of it being dispossessed and there being separation, he takes the separated nations and he brings them together through the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:47.440 God's uniting the nations. 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:50.480 God's uniting you and me. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:52.400 And you say, well, what about my family? 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:54.319 My family's really a mess. 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:56.559 And you know, you had Thanksgiving. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:02.880 I always ask people, how was Thanksgiving? 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:04.799 You know? 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:08.240 Because everybody's, you know, got all your stuff going on, right? 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:09.599 And the family and all that. 00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:14.160 But God wants to bring things together if you'll ask of him. 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:20.559 He's actually challenging us to ask him to possess what he already possesses. 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:23.440 He already possesses the kingdoms of the world. 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:26.160 He already possesses those around us. 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:28.720 Will you believe that he will possess it? 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:32.160 He said, Well, if you just knew how messed up my life is. 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:35.440 Everybody's messed up in this room. 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:37.920 We're all messed up in some way. 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:49.839 And yet, at what point do we decide our messed upness isn't so messy that I can't start believing God in a new way for miracles to happen in my life? 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.960 And if you can't do that, then you're missing out because He said he's inviting us for miracles. 00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:58.880 Well, I tried that three years ago, or I tried that 33 years ago, or whatever. 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:00.640 I'm telling you, try again. 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:05.039 That you got to fight, you got to battle. 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:09.519 Does everybody know the Christian life is not summiting a peak? 00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:12.799 There's 58 14ers in Colorado. 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:16.160 Some of you in this room, that's one of your goals, is to summit those. 00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:18.720 And I just think that's fantastic and cool. 00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:25.359 But the Christian life has largely been kind of assumed to be like getting to a peak or a mountaintop experience. 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:27.359 It's not going to happen. 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:29.200 It doesn't work that way. 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:30.640 You know what the Christian life is like? 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:33.519 The Christian life is more like a boxing match. 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:37.039 And you go in and you get pummeled. 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:41.519 And you get knocked down and you get back up again. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:49.440 And you go back to your corner with some blood stained allies and you work on all the cuts and all your messed up things in your life. 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:56.880 And you go back in that ring against the devil, and you begin to become the hunter instead of the hunted. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:02.160 God wants you wholehearted. 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:09.759 So, Psalm 2 doesn't work without Joel 2. 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:12.079 You gotta superimpose Joel 2 on it. 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:17.119 So turn in your Bibles to Joel 2, and that's that's one of the minor prophets. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:20.079 That's near the end of the Old Testament. 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:21.200 Joel, book of Joel. 00:22:21.279 --> 00:22:22.880 I'll give you a second to find that. 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:25.920 Joel, you guys that have your phones, you just put in Joel. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:26.960 Boom, you got it. 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:28.000 Okay, right? 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:29.440 That's not fair. 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:31.279 It's not right. 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:38.240 So it's a Psalm 2 counsel to become a Joel II church. 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:48.640 And there in Joel 2, this is where, guys, you realize that Joel 2 is where Peter quote, this is where he quotes from at Pentecost. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:52.720 So if you turned over to verse 28. 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:59.279 So in verse 28, Peter, led by the Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost, that's where he quotes. 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:02.799 He quotes, Shall come to pass afterward that I'll pour out my spirit on flesh. 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:07.839 Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, you young men shall see visions. 00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:08.400 Okay. 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:13.039 What I want to look at, though, is I want to look at Joel 2, verse 12. 00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:14.559 Joel 2, verse 12. 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:24.640 So before that, here's the challenge for each one of us in this room, the counsel of God as we go into the new year. 00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:30.240 So I'm jumping ahead a little bit to the new year because I'm fired up about the new year. 00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:32.559 And here's what he says. 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:43.759 He says, Now therefore, says the Lord, verse 12, turn to me with all of your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:47.519 So rend your heart and not your garments. 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:54.000 Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:56.480 And he relents from doing harm. 00:23:56.799 --> 00:23:57.759 Who knows? 00:23:58.000 --> 00:23:58.720 I love that. 00:23:58.880 --> 00:23:59.359 Who knows? 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:00.480 Only God knows. 00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:07.839 If he will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him. 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:11.519 A grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God. 00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:15.759 Folks, here's the here's the here's the Joel to church. 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:19.279 And again, I'm going to say this on two fronts. 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:21.119 One is the church. 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:23.519 Okay, in this case, it's the road. 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:24.079 Okay? 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:26.880 But in another sense, you're the church. 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:27.680 We're the church. 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:35.519 So there's a capital C church, the road church, the universal church, the worldwide church, but then there's also you. 00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:36.559 You're the church. 00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:38.000 So this is for us. 00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:41.119 And he's saying, be wholehearted. 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:46.720 He's saying, look, come after me with not half-hearted devotion. 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:49.920 Come after me with all of your heart. 00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:52.960 Go after him with everything you've got. 00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:56.960 And everyone of this room loves those movies. 00:24:57.359 --> 00:24:58.319 We love those movies. 00:24:58.480 --> 00:24:59.599 Excuse me, we go to the theater. 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:03.759 We go to the movie theater because we want to see somebody who's wholehearted. 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:05.119 How many movies have you gone to, man? 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:09.359 I love that movie because the act, I mean, that character is so half-hearted. 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:14.079 Man, I love that guy because he's just such a wimp. 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:20.400 Man, I really dig that person because right when the things were all about to happen, they ran away. 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:23.200 No, we long for that. 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:26.640 Every one of you in this room want to be whole-hearted. 00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:31.519 You are born to be wholehearted disciples of Christ. 00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:34.240 You're the happiest when you're whole-hearted. 00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:35.440 And guess what? 00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:37.920 You're the weakest when you're half-hearted. 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:43.119 And the reason is, is you got one foot in Jesus and you got one foot in the world. 00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:47.759 You got one foot in loving your neighbors yourself, you got another one and just loving you. 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:48.720 Right? 00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:50.400 Everybody's done it. 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:52.400 We all have those days. 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:59.359 The challenge of Joel is to turn to God with all of your heart. 00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:01.039 What about that? 00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:04.079 What about turning to God with all of your heart? 00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:06.720 With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:08.799 In other words, this is serious stuff. 00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:20.720 It's so serious to Joel, it's so serious to God that turning to God also includes tremendous sacrifice. 00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:23.119 And in this case, he's talking about fasting. 00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:29.440 So Jesus comes back with his disciples who've been trying to cast out this demon out of this young boy. 00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:34.720 We talked about this a little tiny bit two weeks ago, and he cast out the demon. 00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:36.400 They said, Well, why couldn't we do it? 00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:38.720 Every demon we've had up to this point we could cast out. 00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:39.759 Why couldn't we cast this one? 00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:44.480 Some of these kind don't come out except through fasting and prayer. 00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:51.599 In other words, many women, there are some stuff in your life right now you've never seen a breakthrough. 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:59.119 You've wanted a breakthrough, you've longed for a breakthrough, you thought it'd be really cool to have a breakthrough, but you've never seen a breakthrough. 00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:04.480 And yet, if I were to sit here and interview you right now and say, do you think God's big enough to give you a breakthrough? 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:05.759 You'd say yes. 00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:08.880 I mean, you don't come to the road and say no, okay? 00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:11.039 So you say yes, alright? 00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:13.920 But but then the question is, what do I do? 00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:15.119 What's the next step? 00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:25.680 I think sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes, God's calling us to fast and pray over a period of time for a particular issue, and I don't get it. 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:36.480 I'll just, you know, I just gave you that summation, really quick look at Daniel chapter 10, where for 21 days he's crying out to God for revelation. 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:39.440 And if you weren't with us a couple weeks ago, it's Daniel chapter 10. 00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:40.000 You can look it up. 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:45.759 But in Daniel chapter 10, Daniel's crying out to God, and then the angel comes on the 21st day. 00:27:46.319 --> 00:27:48.720 And he brings him the revelation that he wants. 00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:50.240 But he had to fast and pray. 00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:51.599 He had to seek God that way. 00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:58.640 And sometimes there's things in our life that we think, and again, I'm telling you, it's the it is the Western excluded middle. 00:27:58.799 --> 00:27:59.839 That's the problem. 00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:00.720 Okay? 00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:02.240 What I love about Koreans. 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:04.799 Do we have any people from Korean extraction in here? 00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:05.359 There we are. 00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:06.240 Okay. 00:28:06.400 --> 00:28:08.319 Yeah, Koreans pray. 00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:09.839 Right? 00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:12.880 They pray because they don't think about it. 00:28:13.599 --> 00:28:16.079 They just pray because it's in the Bible. 00:28:16.640 --> 00:28:18.240 That's most of the world. 00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:28.480 You go into Nepal, India, South America, parts of the world, they pray because, well, it's Pastor Steve, it's in the Bible. 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:30.400 That's why we do it. 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:36.000 But you get with Westerners, and we're like, well, it doesn't, I don't really understand prayer. 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:41.759 It's it's and that's why we have all the devotional books on prayer come from the West. 00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:49.039 It's a devotional time. 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:52.079 Oh, God, I love you. 00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:58.079 And yet Jesus makes prayer out to be actually asking and receiving. 00:28:58.720 --> 00:29:03.279 Jesus says, ask, plead, cry out, and I will answer you from heaven. 00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:07.200 I will show you things, mighty things that you cannot see unless you pray. 00:29:08.720 --> 00:29:12.960 If you want to read books on prayer, read them from Koreans and Chinese. 00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:15.200 Those folks know how to pray. 00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:16.720 And they see answers. 00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:20.559 I remember one time I was at the prayer mountain of Dr. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:23.039 Cho Yungi in Seoul, Korea. 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:24.799 This would be 1983. 00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:26.640 I was out there and I went to their prayer mountain. 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:27.519 I'm at their prayer mountain. 00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:28.640