Advancing the Kingdom, Pt. 2 (01/22/2023)

But since then, I have really gotten mad at him so He is one of my good friends and I appreciate him and I I he's what

I want to be when I grow up and Honestly, he's he does

Devo both mornings on tradeway and Pam will come out of her office in them in the back and she'll go you should have heard this morning

She just and all of a sudden we're we're you know, we're talking about David and what he said, so I Don't see that happening when anybody else with Pam not even me.

She'll look at me and go So ladies and gentlemen David Huber, all right, so let's see if we can make miss

Pam cry today That's what we're gonna try to do Just kidding

You should see how often miss Pam makes my wife cry She's the sweetest

I just love working with her It's true all right, so Last week.

I didn't really get to finish the message, but we kind of expected that and so this week

We're gonna try and pick up where we left off I'm gonna do a quick recap to kind of remind you exactly where we were and Then we're gonna get into What we are supposed to become in order to advance the kingdom remember that's what the

Message is about is how to advance the kingdom. We started off looking at Genesis and saw that When the

Lord created man He told him to be something He told him to be fruitful and then he told him to multiply

Replenish the earth subdue it and have dominion over it if you go two verses back before he's talking about The instructions you see the plan

That God had for man He says let us make man in our own image

And he shall have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl the air and over every living thing that creepeth upon the planet and so what that shows us is that One God carried out his plan right because he told man what to do, but to the way we have

Our identity rooted in God that's how where it starts, right? We're supposed to be in his image the very first thing

God tells us about his image when he's creating man is that we will have dominion and That dominion isn't necessarily our dominion

But it's the king's dominion right because we also belong to the king So while he puts us in charge like the servant in the parable of the talents his master says

You have been faithful over few I'll make you ruler over many he he puts his servant in charge and in a sense that servant has dominion

But he's still the servant of the master. So that dominion still belongs to the master

And so we see God planning out man And the first thing he says about man is that he's gonna have dominion then when he creates man

He gives him the blueprint for how to have dominion and we see that when he says be fruitful and the word fruitful means to produce

Right, and then he says multiply which means to increase. What do you increase your production?

and then he says to replenish the earth, which means your production should add value to the world around you and then

He says subdue it which means don't let anything get in your way of adding value to the earth around you

Right trample down anything that tries to get in your way and then ultimately he says have

Dominion, so we saw that and we likened it unto the idea of Advancing a kingdom as if we were soldiers in God's army

And the first step is to become a soldier, right? And that's where God tells us be right.

So we are going to be soldiers. That's like the joining of the army That's our preparation our training, but someone who is productive will usually produce right and so that Production is the activation of the soldier.

He's got his marching orders It's time for him to start marching into battle Then we saw that we were supposed to increase that production and in a sense if we're if we're going with this analogy of an army

Taking dominion or advancing a kingdom the increase is us beginning to pick up our pace and beginning to charge into battle and Then we get to the part where it says to replenish the earth right which means to enrich it

This is the point of impact in battle when lives are changed and people are affected so that point of impact is the clashing in battle and then

To subdue is where we overcome the enemy. It's trying to slow us down That's when we we meet with opposition and the enemy is trying to stop us and we overcome ultimately, we then gain a piece of Land or dominion, right?

Maybe it's physical land Maybe it's spiritual land. I think all of its spiritual to some degree right but dominion looks like many things dominion in and The marketplace looks like market share

Dominion in your finances looks like profit dominion in a relationship looks like winning the hearts and minds of others dominion in Your faith your walk of faith looks like overcoming sin

Say and you begin to gain ground, but what happens is once that army has defeated the other opposing army

They must then keep that land So that the the kingdom can then advance their gates and advance their borders so once you have dominion, you've got to keep the dominion and So we went through all of that and then we began to look at The the first element of what we are supposed to become

Right. What does it look like? How does it flesh out to become a person of production?

And so the first thing that we looked at was we needed to become a congruent Christian Because we have these two spirits

Living within us. We have our spirit and we have God's spirit and if our spirit is striving against God's spirit

We are unbalanced Right, we are we are unstable in all our ways a double -minded man is state unstable in all his ways and We we want to be a soldier who is well -balanced

I talked about my background in martial arts and how we we focus on balance almost more than anything all the reasons why you go through all of the

Exercises and stuff is to increase your strength to be able to keep your balance in battle

Because when you've toppled you've lost the battle and we we looked at the importance of being holy and being perfect and being loving those were some of the attributes of God that we looked at in his spirit and we we looked at it as if there were

There was a scale right? We've got God's spirit with these weighty characteristics of holiness and loving kindness and perfection meaning in a sense meaning without What was the word

I used Trying to remember what the word I used it was it was without Being impartial.

So in other words while God like Ben talked about last week in in church

Sunday school he said that God has The ability to see the hearts of man, right?

And so God can hate evil, but he can also hate the evildoer because he knows

Whose are his and whose are not he knows who are ultimately going to come to him and We don't have that ability because we're not omniscient like God is so we have the responsibility of showing love impartially to the world around us because for all we know we're talking to a

Saul who looks like someone who's completely lost and can't be saved

But the Lord may have him as a vessel of honor Planned for him so so we don't get to hate in the way that God hates, right?

We know that we're supposed to fear the Lord which Proverbs tells us the fear of the Lord is to hate evil

So we're supposed to hate evil, but we've got to love the people We've got to show them.

We got to exhort them in love And so we've got this scale of God's spirit and our spirit and when we are not

Mimicking the attributes of God the scales are imbalanced and I tried to end

Last week on a verse that I thought was really cool for that and I was unable to find it The good news is

I did find it The bad news is I lost it again No, but here it is it's actually

Proverbs 16 verse 2 This is interesting all the ways of man are clean in his own eyes, but the

Lord Weigheth the spirits and that interesting So if you think of this this idea that there are these two spirits within us and God's is this weighty spirit, right?

He's weighing the spirits against his own spirit, right? Like does it does it meet my standard?

That's what he's weighing it against and so we talked about the importance of being a congruent

Christian one who is in Complete accordance with God's spirit someone who is matching or trying to bring their spirit in into a place of being like God's spirit and So that's the first thing

But I didn't actually get to finish my thoughts on congruency because remember

We're looking at this template of gaining dominion through the lens of be do have right and so when you become something you'll do something and you'll have something and Life is a series of inputs and outputs and I was sharing this with my old alma mater this last week get to go and Talk at Laterno University to a whole bunch of college kids, which it's kind of a surreal experience

Katie and I were in some of the same Classrooms that we'd been in when we met And it was it was really a fun experience

But I asked the students and I'll ask you guys if I I just had a banana milkshake or a banana smoothie from one of our favorite places in Longview and I said if I take a banana and I put it in a blender

What will I get? What would you guys think I'd get? Banana smoothie basically, right if I take two bananas and I put it in a blender, what will

I get? I'll get more banana smoothie. How many bananas can

I put in a blender before I get a strawberry smoothie? It doesn't work, right?

So regardless of how much input I put in I Have to change the input if I want a different output.

I can't just do more of the same, right? and So one of the things that we have to realize is if we want to gain dominion

We're gonna have to change our inputs to be more like God's inputs That's where we'll begin to gain dominion because if we try to keep doing it our way

We're just gonna get the banana smoothie all day long, right? We're not gonna get God's creamy strawberry smoothie.

We want we want that strawberry smoothie. So we've got to change the inputs and Here is the reason because when we become congruent and we look more like God Right.

We we have become someone more like God We will actually produce something

Any guesses as to what we will produce in the world around us We get clues in the book of Matthew we were talked about as being the salt of the earth the light right

See what happens is when we look more like God. What do we look less like? We look less like the world so when we become congruent

Christians we produce contrast Now anyone who's ever been in a battle of any kind Whether it be a real battle or one in a video game, or maybe you're just out playing paintball or something

If you if you are in a battle of any kind and there's no contrast between your team and the other team

You shoot the wrong players You don't want that and so when we become congruent

Christians we create a Contrast that makes it easier to see right from wrong good from evil

And we can begin to see where Dominion needs to be taken Because when

Christians look like the rest of the world it's hard to know where where do we really have Dominion We actually don't is the answer if we look like the rest of the world

It's the rest of the world who has Dominion over us and so becoming a congruent

Christian produces Contrast which means we will have something because it's a be do have

We will have Clarity in the battles that we fight So become a

Congruent Christian become more holy more perfect more loving

Make your spirit more like God's Spirit and you will begin to contrast with the world and You will have clarity about the battles that God has called you to fight because you'll be able to see oh well there that doesn't

Look like God that doesn't look like God Let's go over there and take Dominion in this area or in that area so we as a church have a responsibility to make sure that we are wearing the

What do they call them Ben The coat of arms is that it the coat of arms?

We should be wearing our coat of arms when we're in battle, which means we should look like God's army

This isn't this isn't covert operations like what we see so many

Countries adhere to now is like you try to look as much like the enemy as you can and then surprise them Even if they try to look like the enemy, you know what happens?

They all know a way to see each other right There is some defining characteristic that if the enemy picks up on it, they'll know

But guess what God hasn't called us to be covert quick Christians. He's called us to be overt

Because that's what brings the rest of the army into play Like if we went into battle and we said, all right, we're gonna be covert

Christians and no one's really gonna know We're Christians, but we're gonna know Like I know because you know

We love each other and we love each other and they're not gonna know because we're gonna look just like the world The the problem with that is that we have other people on our team that are out in the world and They don't know who we are

Because we look like everyone else So we can't play covert Christian warfare.

We've got to be overt So become congruent Do produce clarity or produce contrast and you will have clarity in the battles

Okay, so We're going to move on. That's the first Component where I've got three components and I'm gonna be sharing with you guys.

First one is congruency The next one I want you to turn to Acts chapter 10

For me, please Would just turn in your

Bibles to Acts chapter 10. We're gonna see another component. That's very important. See if I can get my

Computer to cooperate here and I really really like Acts chapter 10

For a couple of reasons but the main reason is because I've always loved the name Cornelius Cornelius is

It's one of the nerdiest names I think but I love it and in fact,

I tell stories to my kids that I make up sometimes about Calling the

Hornswoggle twins because I thought Hornswoggle that sounds good and nerdy too. So the hero of our stories is

Cornelius Hornswoggle It's a mouthful kids love the stories and and I just add to it's one long story that I add to every now and then

We've been a couple of years now. We've been telling it. I think we only have like four episodes But someday maybe we'll actually write these things.

So that'd be kind of fun. Anyway, that's neither here nor there That's a bunny trail that meant nothing other than it was fun to talk about The the man we're gonna talk about here is found in Acts chapter 10

It says in verse 1. There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius a centurion of the band

Called the Italian band that just sounds cool, too, doesn't it? But here's what it says about Cornelius and I think this is important because I think the second thing that we need to be as Christians is constant

Got to be the constant Christians. I almost put consistent but I like the word constant better Because consistent means you do things with with great frequency and maybe they're doing the same every time but For Christians, it's not that easy to do this to be the same right?

It's very hard It's a struggle and sometimes we fail so we're not very consistent like we should be but we should always be

Constant in that we get back up and try again So that's why I've chosen that word. But also it was interesting to me as as That word came to my mind.

There's some scripture actually to back it up what you'll see here in a second But this the thing we learn about Cornelius besides that he is a centurion in the band of an

Italian the Italian band It says he's a devout man and One that feared

God with all his house Which gave much alms to the people and here's the coolest part and prayed to God always

There's some constancy there right he's always praying it's always serving the

Lord and When he looked on him he was afraid Whoops I missed

I skipped a verse It says he saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming into him and saying unto him

Cornelius And when he looked on him, he was afraid and said what is it Lord?

And he said unto him thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God That's really cool to me, can you imagine your prayers and your alms

Ascending into heaven as a memorial to God That's awesome

Now I wonder is there actually like a physical memorial in heaven that we're going to see when we get up there and it'll be like in memory of Cornelius's I doubt it but It does

Serve as a remembrance for God not that he'd forgotten but almost like My servant keeps calling my name.

I know he's down there. I'm gonna turn my attention to him for a little while It's a memorial for God.

I think it's really really pretty interesting If you would Turn to John 15 for we're gonna see how do we become constant?

like Cornelius was I've got another verse

I'd skipped over on accident in relation to contrast. I want you to just think of Job for a moment

When Job who was a congruent Christian Was serving the

Lord The Lord said to Satan have you considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth

You see the contrast that's pretty cool. But back to constant So, how do we become constant go to John 15 for you're going to see a

Very familiar verse abide in me and I and you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine

No more. Can ye except you abide in me? What does it mean to abide? means to live right and what else

What did you say to remain right? So it's You abide in your household right which means you live there and you probably spend a lot of time there, right

People who don't spend much time at their house might say they live on the road You say so they it's not really their

Place of abiding if they don't spend time there. That's really what is required to say. I abide somewhere

My abiding place is where I remain. It's where I Continue it's where I spend time

We have here a man who prays continually

Cornelius. Oh, I just accidentally skipped my notes there.

Don't want that to happen because I'll lose my verses again So in order to be constant

You must abide you must abide in The Lord and we see

Cornelius do this and what we will see is that when he abides When he is constant

There is something about him that the world around him starts to have

Respect for him So let's go ahead and read about Cornelius flip back on over to Acts chapter 10 again

Read a little bit about him and then we're gonna move on to a couple of other stories But he saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day

An angel of God coming in to him and saying unto him Cornelius and when he looked on him

He was afraid and said what is it lord? And he said unto him thy prayers and that alms are come up before him For a memorial before god and now send men to joppa and call for one simon whose surname is peter now

Is simon a man of great authority? Simon peter Especially at this time.

We're we're 10 chapters into acts simon has preached a couple of sermons and thousands have come

From this thousands have come to know the lord from this So simon is already a little bit of a celebrity himself, right?

And now this man who we are just introduced to for the first time Is being tasked with calling on a celebrity

That's a big deal And now send men to joppa and call for one simon whose surname is peter

He lodgeth with one simon a tanner. So simon's staying with simon Uh whose house is by the seaside

He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. Okay, so you're going to call on simon peter He's hanging out at a beach house with the other simon the tanner

All right, and he's going to tell you what to do And when the angel which spake unto cornelius was departed He called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually

So he's got people who continually wait on him And when he had declared all these things unto them he sent them to joppa

On the morrow as they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the city Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour

And and when he became very hungry he would have eaten but while they made ready he fell into a trance now

I want to pause here for a second because we're going to come back to simon peter when we talk about the third

Uh characteristic that we need to have And it's gonna it's gonna be right there. So just dwell on the fact for a moment that a man has the authority

And the reputation to be able to call on a man like simon peter So when you become constant in your walk with christ

It will produce an abiding In christ, in other words, it will produce you spending more time with god

And you will have something as a result. What do you think you'll have? well, if you

You'll definitely have blessings. What else? We actually can see what we would have if we'll go to romans chapter 5 verse 3 through 5

This is another very familiar verse we're going to find out what constants produces

But we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh patience

Okay, y 'all recognize this verse Okay, tribulation worketh patience when you go through hard times

Patience patience is supposed to be the result. You're supposed to become patience and patience

Experience now if you look up the word patience guess what that word patience means

Constancy Isn't that interesting? So when? Things get tough

You don't run you abide Or stay constant in your walk

So if you are constantly in prayer like cornelius constantly doing things for the lord

Even when times are tough It will produce experience guess what the word experience means

Tried character Now if you have character Do people become do they get to a point where they know you for your character?

Sure, right like if you do things Enough people will know you as those things.

Some of them are good. Some of them are bad, right? I'm typically known as a nice guy.

That's one of my good ones Also known as forgetful That's one of my bad ones so long as I don't forget i'm supposed to be a nice guy

I think i'll be okay But when you do something long enough you become synonymous with that thing

Simon the tanner right So it literally becomes part of the name

In fact, most of our last names came as a result of some occupation that our ancestors were synonymous with So if you do something long enough, you'll be known for it

Cornelius did something long enough where he had a character Or a reputation

Large enough to be able to call on someone like simon peter Now, of course, it would still only work if the spirit

Leads simon peter to where he should go But being constant

Should produce More time with jesus. So you've got to become someone who desires to be constant

You will produce in your own walk with jesus more time with him Maybe that's reading his word and and meditating on his word like in psalm chapter one

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the lord and he meditate on it day and night

Right. So maybe that's what constancy looks like for you. Maybe It it's the lord calls you to just communicate with him and pray with him all the time

I think of charlotte she's constantly praying Constantly praying way more than I I mean i'm convicted over it a lot of times when she tells me

Well, I was praying for this this morning and i'm like, well, I should have been praying more, you know, so like Maybe it's in your prayer life.

Maybe it's in your reading. Maybe it's in your serving of others, right? But constant we see with cornelius he has two

In particular one is that he is praying always And two is that he's giving alms to others

Which is I find interesting because the two greatest commandments are to love the lord your god All your heart mind soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself

Right, so he's doing both there and he's constant in both and he has this reputation That precedes him

Okay, so Be constant abide in christ and have character

Build a reputation of being someone who creates contrast in the world around you

So that there's clarity in the battles that you fight and people start looking to you When they need to fight

That's the second thing you should be constant the third thing And I might actually get done on time today this is looking good

Knock on wood, right? Oh goodness, i'm not a superstitious person so I don't even think that really does anything but get a laugh so um

The third thing we should be compliant We should be compliant but there's a certain meaning to this that I want us to focus on I want us to to jump back over to simon peter.

What is simon peter doing? He he falls into a trance in verse 10

And he saw heaven opened in a certain vessel descending unto him as it had been a great sheet knit

At the four corners and let down to the earth wherein Were all manner of four -footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air

And there came a voice to him rise peter kill and eat But peter said not so lord for I have never eaten anything

That is common or unclean I imagine that's how he said it I have never done that I wouldn't do that lord

But then god's response is it says in the voice spake unto him again the second time what god hath cleansed

That that call not thou coming In other words, you're wrong peter.

I cleansed it. It's okay This was done thrice

And the vessel was received up again into heaven now Look what it says in the next verse verse 17

Now while peter doubted in himself that this vision which he had seen should mean

Behold the men which were sent from cornelius had made inquiry for simon's house and stood before the gate

And called and asked whether simon which was surnamed peter was lodged there While peter thought on the vision the spirit said unto him behold three men seek thee

All right. So let's let's stop for a second and let's talk about what's going on peter Is about to be called on by cornelius

He's about to receive word And actually the holy spirit's gonna warn him first that cornelius's men are looking for him

But he's just had this dream that goes against All the things he has believed in the past i'm not supposed to eat that stuff and the lord says actually

I've cleansed it. It's okay now so peter Has to be compliant with the spirit

And go even though he's doubting at this point says in verse 17 now while peter doubted in himself what this vision

Which he had seen should mean While he's sitting there doubting it the lord goes

I got people here for you What I said is clean is clean

Now here come some people to talk to you So what must be going on in peter's mind like he's struggling on the inside with His own internal beliefs like wait a minute

This is new This is different I had this preconceived notion about how god works and he just blew that out of the water and said

What is clean i've cleaned it so it's clean So that's what's going on in his mind watch how it plays out in the battle for dominion here

Um Arise therefore and get thee down and go with them doubting nothing

So the lord is telling him don't doubt what you have seen It's very important that you remain compliant peter in what you're about to witness

For I have sent them Then peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from cornelius and said behold

I am he whom ye seek What is the cause wherefore ye are come?

What is peter right now? If you wanted to describe peter How would you describe him right now?

Maybe a little bit skeptical, right? But what what? He is being compliant he's doing what he's told what else

Right so from peter's viewpoint, what would you say peter is right now? He's He's being obedient Watch what he says

Behold, I am he I am he whom ye seek What is the cause where of wherefore ye are come?

Could it be that peter's a little curious He's definitely curious would it be something that when

Let me ask you this has anything ever challenged your beliefs in god Have have you ever had to correct wrong beliefs about god?

I know that's happened to me a lot um And it happened to me

Quite a bit when I met david mitchell Quite a bit. I mean there were a lot of Preconceived notions

I had because I grew up in church and just heard things that I thought were true And they weren't also with brother otis

I remember one time I tried to ask him a question. I'd been thinking about this question for so long

To this day. I can't remember what the question is because what happened? But the question started out like this brother otis.

Do you think god allows and he grabbed my arm and went no And I wait but I haven't asked yet god doesn't allow

He wills You sure? Yes Okay How can

I rephrase the question, you know, but I mean he challenged a just a common belief that there are things god allows

What in the world he wills he wills that things should happen and things shouldn't happen That was very challenging for me

But I had to change the way I thought And you know when I when

I became compliant In Towards my mentors in that sense

And started looking in scripture because I was like i'm pretty sure he allows I I was doubting like peter.

I was pretty sure i'm gonna go find in scripture So I can go show brother otis. He just forgot this one

I was curious same thing with with debt I had had a

A problem with debt. I used to be in a lot of debt And it was something that I just felt like god hates debt

David mitchell challenged me on that And he said well there is good debt and i'm like no there's not it's all bad it's all bad

I'm gonna show him in scripture turns out

He's right. There's proper debt I'm like good grief but being curious caused me to To get to know god better All right, because all of a sudden i'm like, okay i'm gonna be compliant to what god's word says

All right, i'll i'll stay open -minded If someone tells me something that I disagree with I might in my mind

You know think you're totally wrong, but i'll smile and say yes, sir And then i'll go back and prove you wrong later once the word tells me

But what am I trying to do? I'm trying to be compliant with one source and that is God in his word, right?

being compliant to the lord If we try to be compliant to the world We're going to be tossed to and fro

Because none of the doctrines line up with the world so I try to be

Compliant with the with the word so we see uh peter here. He's curious And watch what happens then called he them in and lodged them

Uh, this is verse 23 And on the morrow peter went away with them and sent and certain brethren from joppa accompanied him

And the morrow after they entered into caesarea and cornelius waited for them He called together his kinsmen and near friends and as peter was coming in cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him

Cornelius made a mistake here Peter corrects him for it. He says but peter took him up saying stand up.

I myself also am a man So he had quite the reputation didn't he? He's like nope.

I'm just a guy just guy you're not worshiping me And as he talked with him he went in and found many that were come together and he said unto them

You know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a jew to keep company or come unto one of another nation

But god hath showed me That I should not call any man common or unclean

Isn't that interesting Interesting Peter Is being compliant to the word the word

Being compliant to the spirit and that is providing an opportunity here for peter

His curio his curiosity has led him to this situation Where it says therefore came

I unto you without gain saying as soon as I was sent for I asked therefore For what intent you have sent me he's reminding them of his curiosity

And cornelius said four days ago I was fasting until this hour and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house and behold a man stood before me in bright

Clothing and said cornelius thy prayer is heard and thine alms are Thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of god

Send therefore job To joppa and call hither simon whose surname is peter.

He is lodged in the house of one simon a tanner by the seaside Who when he cometh shall speak unto thee so he's just recounting the whole story immediately

Therefore I sent to thee and thou hast well done that thou art come now Therefore are we all here present before god to hear all things that are commanded thee of god

Then peter opened his mouth and said of a truth. I perceive that god is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he hath

He that feareth him and worketh righteousness Is accepted with him you see that right there?

There's the congruency He that fear him and worketh righteousness congruency right there is accepted by god

The word which god sent unto the children of israel preaching peace by jesus christ

He is lord of all the word I say, you know Which was published throughout all judah and began from galilee after the baptism, which john preached

How god anointed jesus of nazareth with the holy ghost and with power. What's peter doing here?

He's beginning to preach the gospel right Who went about doing good doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for god was with him

And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the jews and in jerusalem

Whom they slew and hanged on a tree Him god raised up the third day and showed him openly

There's the full gospel right there god raised him up not to all the people but unto witnesses chosen

Before of god, there's your election by the way Even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead and he commanded us to preach unto the people

And to testify that it is he which was ordained of god to be judge of quick and dead

So you've got some movie references in there the quick and the dead To him give all the prophets witness

That through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins while peter yet spake these words

The holy ghost fell on all of them which heard the word And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished

As many as came with peter because that on the gentiles Also was poured out the gift of the holy ghost peter was compliant

He was curious And it created an opportunity for dominion to be had in a place that was thought could not be had

Isn't it cool? For they heard Them speak with tongues and magnify god then answered peter

Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized which have received the holy ghost as well as we?

And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the lord then prayed they him to tarry certain days so we have this idea of be do have

Right. We are supposed to be the people who will do the things to have dominion And as god's army the being is congruency, it's constancy it's

Compliancy if that's even a word if it's not I made it up homeschoolers do that from now and then so from time to time

Um, but when we do these things when we become these things we will do

Things like provide contrast Right We will do things like abiding in christ

We will do things like get curious And go where the lord tells us to go and that will result in new opportunities for us to have clarity in battle right

Right and to overcome the enemy gain ground and have dominion um

How do we know if we're doing it right Last thing i'll share with you and then we'll we'll be done for the day

If you go to acts chapter 8 Philip is in samaria

Is it acts chapter 8? um

Yes eight. Thank you Therefore they that Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word then philip went down to the city of samaria and preached christ unto them

And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which philip spake hearing and seeing the miracles which he did

For unclean spirits crying with loud voice came out of many that were possessed with them and many taken with palsies

And that were lame were healed. Do we see a lot of power here? We see a lot of power and then we're introduced to a certain

Person it says and there was great joy in that city But there was a certain man called simon which before time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of samaria

Giving out that he himself was some great one To whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest saying this man is the great power of god so we see simon the sorcerer who is

He's the man Right and everybody thinks he's the power of god until philip comes into town

And simon sees that there's something going on here and he wants to be a part of it And it says and to him they had regard because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorcery

So the people kind of fear simon or simon the sorcerer And they're like man, this this guy is the great power of god and i'm gonna paraphrase for sake of time here

But i'd encourage you to read all of acts chapter 8 simon decides This guy has some power and I can't just refute that because People are being changed

So i'm going to listen to it He listens to it and it even says that he believes and is baptized and continues with philip

Which if you ask someone like john macarthur or three main points that you look for in a true christian

Do they believe? Are they obedient? And do they continue? And simon seems to do that But then the apostles are called in To see what's going on and the apostles lay hands on these people and impart the holy ghost because back then

That's how the holy spirit was still being imparted through the disciples through the apostles. They'd lay on the hands and People would receive the holy ghost and that's when simon goes.

That's the power I want right there And he tries to buy it for money and simon says simon peter says

Your money perish with thee Because you thought that you could purchase the power of god and see what we find in this

Scenario is that simon only cares about the power That's all he wants

And then when the apostles say you need to repent he doesn't do it. He says you pray for me

So he only cares about the power fast forward later in that Uh in that chapter we see philip

Who must have been thinking wow, I thought this guy was saved You know because he continued with me and everything but man he was really just out to buy the power of god

That was wild all of a sudden the holy spirit takes philip out of cesarea

Takes him out into the desert Now here he is he's doing great things there's awesome

Uh ministry work going on tons of people getting saved and god says i'm going to send you to the desert

Do you think philip had to be compliant? He had to be compliant in that moment and say i'm gonna go to the desert.

Okay Last I checked there weren't too many people out there But we're going and when he gets out there, he sees the ethiopian

The ethiopian eunuch who was a man of great power unlike Simon who wanted great power this man was a man of authority

He was over the queen's treasures He was like the treasury for the queen

So this man had a lot of authority But he's sitting there in the desert struggling with the word of god and philip says

Hey Do you understand what you're reading? He literally is running up to this guy You understand what you're reading and and here's what?

Uh, the ethiopian eunuch says how can I accept I have a guide a man to guide me?

And he asks Who is this person? He wants to know who is this about that i'm reading about Notice that the eunuch doesn't care about the power of god so much as he cares about the person of god

Sure enough philip starts right back in the same point that the ethiopian eunuch is reading and he says

Let's read it again But let's insert jesus And it says that he preached to him jesus starting in the same scripture

So we see the ethiopian Get saved and he he wants to be baptized, but there is a huge difference between the ethiopian

And simon simon only cares about the power and the popularity And the things that people are getting together there.

It's fun It's cool. And the only way I can keep a hold on everybody is if I join the movement I'm gonna see if I can purchase this trick that these guys have too or they impart the holy ghost

You see that he doesn't really understand the person of christ But then you get the ethiopian eunuch.

He's all about abiding Continuing being compliant being constant being congruent

There's something going on that's much deeper than outward appearances With the ethiopian eunuch and ultimately he becomes saved and he goes back and starts ministries where he's from huge ministries occur because of that ethiopian eunuch

So the kingdom is advanced. Sometimes it gets advanced a whole bunch of people at once Sometimes god leaves the 99 to go out and get the one out in the desert

And when he does that it could be that that one Gets a whole nother plot of dominion for the lord like the ethiopian did

So we as christians are supposed to be do have And the way we do it is we focus entirely on the b

Because when we focus entirely on the b it will result in us automatically doing that will just that will come

Because we are who we are. Have you ever seen an unproductive productive person? It doesn't work.

That's it. No, they're either productive or they're not So when you become a productive person, you will produce the lord will show you how

So long as you stay compliant Let him challenge what you think you know about him get to know him better And he will get he'll help you know yourself better and know

Where he's going to send you more You'll begin to get clarity in the battle so that's

How we advance the kingdom We focus entirely on being the people god called us to be we should be righteous

Should be holy and perfect and loving We should be constantly abiding in him

And we should be compliant to his word and let the word tell us What to do and where to go and who we are and who he is and not just cling to tradition or old

Knowledge that we grew up with because if we will get to where we look more like him He will use that to advance his kingdom

Let's stand and have prayer Heavenly father.

We just thank you so much for your word. We thank you that it's truth. We thank you that it is something that uh is just so practical

And your word tells us that we should seek first the kingdom of god and all his righteousness

And then all these things will be added unto us. I believe those things would be the things that we do and the things that we have so help us to practice becoming what you've called us to be help us to Create contrast in the world.

We don't want to lose our saver. That's how cancel culture comes into play because Your word says if we've lost our saver, we're good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men

Now to me that just that screams cancel culture So father

We have been victims of cancel culture because we've not been contrasting enough. Please help us to be contrasting in our own lives

And help us to Give people a clear path So that we can help others and we can find out who else is supposed to be in your army

Help us to take dominion help us to hold ground Help us to advance the borders