F4F | Hillsong's New Pastors Phil & Lucinda Dooley

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Rosebro. I am your servant in Jesus Christ.

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This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God. So if you heard the news, well,

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Brian Houston of Hillsong, the Hillsong movement, the Hillsong denomination, that's kind of what they are, he's been, well, sat down.

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It sounds like he did it voluntarily, but there was a lot of pressure on him by the board of directors and legal counsel.

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He's in a bit of hot water legally. He's facing criminal charges for failing to report his father's pedophile activity.

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Yeah, we'll talk about that. But as a result of it, there has been a changing of faces, if you would.

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At Hillsong, that means that Brian and Bobby Houston are out for the moment, and the reality is they may not come back.

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And the new head pastors of Hillsong, well, the

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Dooleys, we'll talk about the Dooleys here in a minute, Lucinda and her husband, and this gives us an important opportunity.

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The best way I can put it is so much of evangelicalism is built on the concept of a cult of personality.

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And Brian Houston is somebody that I have been critiquing biblically for more than a decade.

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Go back into the archives of our podcast, and Brian Houston made regular appearances, frequent regular appearances, and we would review his sermons.

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And the guy was incapable of rightly handling a biblical text, showing that he's not qualified to be a pastor.

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In order to be a pastor, you have to be able to study, show yourself approved as a workman who need not blush with embarrassment, who rightly can divide the word of truth.

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Brian Houston cannot. In fact, my argument would be is that he doesn't care to rightly handle biblical text because he's been all about scratching ears.

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If you were to think of an analogy here, the worldliness of Hillsong as a movement, as a church, the only thing

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I can compare it to, and this is a valid comparison, is if you remember the story of Pinocchio.

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Yeah, Pinocchio, remember Pleasure Island? Yeah. And that's the place where all the bad kids went and thinking that, oh man, that this was the best place ever where they can just get away with being bad and, you know, but they ended up in the salt mines.

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Yeah. Turned into donkeys. See, that's what Hillsong is. Hillsong is the devil's version of Pleasure Island.

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You show up there and next thing you know, all the dollars are vacuumed out of your wallet because Hillsong's all about the money and you sit there and go, oh, this is the best thing ever.

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I mean, what kind of Christianity is this where I can be worldly?

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I don't have to hear about repentance or the forgiveness of sins or holiness or anything like that.

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And instead, every week it's a rock concert, the babes are hot, and oh man, it's a good place to get a date.

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Yeah. See, Hillsong has always been, from its beginning, it has always been

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Pleasure Island. And those who buy into what's being sold there, they are endangering their eternal souls.

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And so with the turning over of the guard, at least for right now, again, the

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Houstons may not be coming back. With the turning over of the guard, the changing of the face, this gives us a unique opportunity.

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And that is because the people who've taken over just don't have the decades long cult of personality, hip thing going for them that Brian and Bobby Houston had.

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And yeah, people are at this moment, they have an opportunity because they're going to be a little bit more reticent, a little bit more critical.

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And so you get the idea. So let's do this. Let's whirl up the desktop and I'm going to pull up my web browser.

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And so this is from just nine days ago. New faces of Hillsong, new faces of Hillsong.

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It's been Hillsong's shining star since day one. But after years of scandals,

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Brian Houston is stepping into the shadows. Brian Houston's stepping down.

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And so who's been anointed to steer the celebrity church?

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Phil and Lucinda Dooley, the Hooley -Dooleys, the husband and wife team who are the new faces of Hillsong.

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And so the couple served as youth pastors in Sydney, left for South Africa in 2008, where the senior global pastor curated a signature appearance.

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And so these are the people who are now the face of Hillsong, the flagship church there in Sydney, Phil and Lucinda Dooley.

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Okay, and I've said it and I'll keep saying it. There's a really good chance that Brian Houston ain't coming back.

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In fact, we'll put a link to this video down below. And the name of the video is

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Will Brian Houston from Hillsong Go to Jail? If he does, this might be why.

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And so if you're not sure why, why would Brian Houston be going to prison?

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This video explains it, because here's the thing, is that he was required by Australian law to report his father's pedophile activity to the police, and he didn't.

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He didn't. He failed to report it. And then he lied about it, at least it appears that he lied about it, when he was before the

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Royal Commission a few years back. And so this video does a pretty good job of documenting the inconsistencies and what may potentially be legally damning statements on his part, pretty much the effect of admitting that he didn't follow the law that he was required to follow.

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And so that's why he's on trial. So like I said, we'll put a link down to this video below.

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But that being the case, Phil and Lucinda Dooley are now the visible teaching pair who's going to be pastoring the

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Hillsong Flagship Church there in Sydney. And here's the thing, they can't, they don't know what the

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Bible's about. They are Bible twisters, and it shows really badly.

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So we'll do some sampling, if you would. Let's sample some of their preaching. So first up, a portion from a sermon delivered in May of 2020 titled

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The Faith Fight by Phil and Lucinda Dooley. Here we go. Hey, well, we're so excited to be bringing the word today together.

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But here's the thing, Scripture is very clear that women cannot be pastors. Woman is not to exercise authority over men.

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I'm just going to just bump this up in speed just a little bit, because I want to cover a little bit more ground than normal.

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But let's keep going. And we're going to be looking at Numbers 13. We're going to be considering the story of the 12 spies, the promised land, and how we got to fight for the promises that God has for our lives.

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And here's a big error. OK, so Numbers 13 isn't about us fighting for our quote unquote promised land as if somehow

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God has made promises to you, maybe to make your business successful or something like this.

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Scripture actually interprets Scripture. So one of the major rules we use for understanding what the

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Bible means is we use the three standard rules for biblical exegesis, which are context and then context and then context.

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But closely related to it is the concept that Scripture interprets Scripture. So before they get too far, let's take a look at Numbers 13.

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You're all familiar with this passage, 12 spies went to spy on Canaan, 10 were bad and two were good.

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What did they see when they spied on Canaan? Ten were bad and two were good. Some saw giants big and tall.

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Some saw grapes and clusters fall. Some saw God rule over all. Ten were bad and two were good.

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Well, here's what Numbers 13 says. Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which

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I am giving to the people of Israel from each tribe of their fathers. You shall send a man, every one chief among them.

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So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Peron, according to the command of Yahweh, all of, all of them men who were heads of their people of Israel.

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Oh no, patriarchy, ah, yep. And the tribe of Reuben, Shammuah, the son of Zachor, from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat, the son of Hori, from the tribe of Judah, Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Issachar, Egal, the son of Joseph, from the tribe of Ephraim, Hosea, the son of Nun, from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti, the son of Raphu, from the tribe of Zebulun, Gadiel, the son of Sodhi, from the tribe of Joseph, that is from the tribe of Manasseh, Gadi, the son of Susi, from the tribe of Dan, Amiel, the son of Gamali, from the tribe of Asher, Sethur, the son of Michael, from the tribe of Naphtali, Nachbi, the son of Vapshi, from the tribe of Gad, Guel, the son of Machi, from these were the names of the men who

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Moses sent to spy out the land, and Moses called Hosea the son of Nun, Joshua, Yeshua, uh -huh, yeah, same name as Jesus, Yahweh saves.

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So Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, go up into the

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Negev, go up into the hill country, and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or are weak, whether there are few or many, whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are in camps or in strongholds, and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not, be of good courage, and bring some of the fruit of the land.

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Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes. All right, so they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob near Lebo Hamath, and they went up into the

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Negev, and came to Hebron, Ahaman, Sheshai, Talmai, descendants of Anak were there,

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Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt, and they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, carried it on a pole between two of them.

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They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs, and that place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.

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At the end of 40 days, they returned from spying out the land, and they came to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh, and then they brought back word to them, and all the congregation showed them the fruit of the land, and they told him, we came to the land to which you sent us.

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It flows with milk and honey. This is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified very large, and besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.

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The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negev, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites dwell in the hill country, and the

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Canaanites dwell by the sea along the Jordan. But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, let us go at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.

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Then the men who had gone up with him said, we are not able to go up against the people. They are stronger than we are.

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So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying the land through which we have gone to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants.

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All the people that we saw it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who came from the

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Nephilim, and we seemed ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.

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And then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night.

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And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, oh, would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or would that we had died in this wilderness?

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Why is Yahweh bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey.

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Oh, would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt? And they said to one another, let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.

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And then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation and the people of Israel.

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And Joshua, the son of Nun, and Cable of the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, the land which we passed through to spy it out is an exceedingly good land.

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If Yahweh delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.

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And here's the distinction. Joshua and Caleb trust the

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Lord. They know full well. God is giving them the land, which means

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God is going to fight for them. And all the other people, you know what they're missing?

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Faith. They don't trust the Lord. They don't trust Yahweh. And as a result of this lack of trust, this lack of faith, they are casting aspersions on God, slandering him, accusing him of malicious, murderous intent, bringing him into the wilderness for the purpose of killing them and their children.

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They have no faith. And that's the difference. You either trust Christ and his promises, you trust the

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Lord and his promises, and the ones found in scripture, or you don't. And so, and that's the idea here.

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So only don't rebel against Yahweh. Do not fear the people of the land. They are bred for us.

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Their protection is removed from them. Yahweh's with us, don't fear them. Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones, but the glory of Yahweh appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

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And Yahweh said to Moses, how long will this people despise me? How long will they not believe in me?

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In spite of all the signs I've done among them, I'll strike them with pestilence and disinherit them.

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And I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they. But Moses said to Yahweh, then the

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Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, and they will tell the inhabitants of this land.

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Now, if you read the rest of the story, you can see what happens. All those who didn't believe, they don't get to go into the land at all.

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Children of Israel are going to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. And Joshua and Caleb, they get to go in because they believed, they trusted

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God. And that's the point. Now, here's what a scripture interprets scripture. What does it all mean?

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Well, we know from the New Testament that in the Old Testament, the stories are types and shadows, and they have a connection back to Christ, and they have a connection to promises that relate to us in the

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New Covenant. And this is where we will do wise to pay attention to something like Hebrews chapter 11.

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In Hebrews chapter 11, it explains very clearly what the promised land is, what it represents, how to understand it.

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And it doesn't represent some dream destiny or some promise that you're supposed to hear from God, and then by believing it'll happen in your life in the here and the now, you know, your purpose, your destiny, a successful business, divine health or wealth or weird things like that.

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No, it's not at all. Okay. So, know what it says here, starting at Hebrews 11 verse 8, by faith,

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Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.

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He went out not knowing where he was going, and by faith, he went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with them of the same promise.

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For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. Hmm. Abraham was looking for that?

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Well, I seem to remember something about that. Hang on a second here. Maybe like Revelation. Let's see here.

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Yeah, here we go. Revelation 21. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

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First heaven and the first earth had passed away, the sea was no more. I saw the holy city, the new

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Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

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I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their

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God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death shall be no more.

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Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore. The former things have passed away. Okay. So that being the case, he,

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Abraham was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. He's looking for the eternal inheritance, the real promised land.

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Do you think the promised land is a place here under this curse creation? It's not because every one of us dies.

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The land of promise that I have as a Christian, the one that you have, if you're a Christian is the new earth.

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That's what the type and shadow of the Old Testament promised land always points to, the new earth, the promises we have in Christ of eternal life in a world without end.

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All right. So by faith Sarah herself received power to conceive. And I'll keep reading here, power to conceive even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised therefore from one man and him as good as dead were born descendants, as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the enumerable grains of sand on the seashore.

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All these, these all died in faith, not having received the things promised.

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Say what? That's right. They didn't get them. They didn't receive them because the things promised were still coming.

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They still are still coming. But having seen them and greeted them from afar, having acknowledged that they were strangers and they were exiles on the earth.

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So are you and I. For people who speak thus make it clear, they're seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.

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But as it is, they desire a better country. That is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their

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God. He has prepared for them a city. Oh, so the promised land of the

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Old Testament is a type and shadow pointing to what? The new earth.

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Scripture interprets scripture. So all of that being said, the hoolidoolies here, yeah, we're off to a really bad start because they think the promised land has to do with some promise that God's going to give you regarding your purpose or your destiny or some dream thingy.

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They're well catechised in the false doctrines of Hillsong, but they don't know how to handle a biblical text correctly.

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Build faith into our hearts. I'm excited about it. Why don't we pray? Amen. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your word.

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And Lord, we pray tonight, Father, that this message, Lord, that you would use it to impact the hearts and the minds of every single listener tonight.

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Father, take this message, Father, and accomplish everything that you've intended. In Jesus name we pray. And everybody said together,

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Amen. Be blessed by the word. Yes. Well, I'm going to start. So high five. And then my wife is going to speak into the second part of this message.

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So here's the thing. In Numbers 13, we read about Moses, OK? Moses is the guy who's in charge of the people of Israel.

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And Moses is all about leading the people into the promised land. He has led them out of Egypt where they were under oppression, where life was tough and it was difficult.

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And he and Aaron had to keep going to Pharaoh. Finally, Pharaoh lets them go. And they end up going through, you know, you may know the story through the

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Red Sea. They go through this. And as they're going through it, God miraculously opens it up.

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The Egyptians with Pharaoh are fired up. They don't want them to leave. And so they go through the sea. Are you too busy to actually read the biblical text?

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That's always the thing with these guys. You think you're hearing what the Bible says, but you don't because they're not reading it.

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As they go through it, the waves close, the water closes in on them. And Moses and God's people escape.

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Now, you would think they go straight into the promise, but they don't. Notice that you would think they go straight into the promise.

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So what he thinks the Bible is, is a collection of little short stories, little vignettes of people who

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God gave a promise to or God gave a destiny or a purpose to and the struggles they had in faith to see that promise come about.

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And so you just need to follow their pattern so that you too can experience the promise that God has laid on your heart the way he's laid it on.

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This is a totally narcissistic and false way of reading the Bible. God takes them on a journey through the wilderness.

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And this is what happens in our lives as well. Often we come out of how we were living, out of the oppression, out of the, you know, the overwhelming power of sin.

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And we know God has this promise for our lives. We know that. What promise? I have the promise of the forgiveness of my sins and an inheritance in the new world, the new earth, when

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Jesus returns and I'm resurrected from the dead. What promises are you talking about,

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Phil? There is more he has for us, but there's this journey that he takes us through. God is all about dealing with us in the journey on the way to the promise.

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Often we. What promise? Live our lives where we just want to go to the destination, don't we? We put in our Google Maps or we use our phone and we're like,

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OK, here's where I want to go. Get me there the fastest. Get me there. So you're going to know you buy into this false teaching.

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You're going to think, OK, God's going to give me a promise. I've got to learn how to hear the voice of God. And God's going to say,

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I want you to be a dentist. And so now it's the journey of faith on your way to becoming a dentist.

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Scripture interprets scripture. We know what the promised land represents in the Old Testament. It represents the promise of the new earth, life eternal in the world to come.

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Without traffic. Get me there without whatever might come in my way. Show me where the speed cameras are.

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I just want to get there as quick as I can. But God is as interested in the journey of our lives as he is is where he is, as he is in where he is taking us to.

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Which biblical text is he preaching from again? He ain't preaching from Numbers 13.

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We read 13 and part of 14. He's making this up.

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This is a doctrine that is not found in scripture, but he's doing his best to make it appear like it's found in the

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Bible. He's the new head teaching pastor. He and his wife, Lucinda, the new head teaching pastors of Hillsong.

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Run. And we've got to learn this. And that requires patience. That requires courage. That requires us opening our hearts to God.

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I love this statement. Let the journey make you so the destination doesn't break you.

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Did you read that in a fortune cookie? Because that's not even one of the Proverbs and that's not what

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Numbers 13 is about. There are times in life where we want to get to the destination, but we've got to grow into the person who can handle the promise that God has for us.

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Well, let's fast forward. What promises God have for us again? Do you like that? No, it was annoying.

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Fast forward to the point now where Moses and God's people, the Israelites, are ready to head into the promised land.

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They are right there. It is before them. They have wandered through the wilderness for 40 years. But while they've been in the wilderness,

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God's looked after them. They've had a cloud to follow in the day. Then there was fire in the cloud at night and they'd follow that.

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And God would take them where he would. And they learned to be obedient to him. And God provided manna from heaven. Every day

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God gave them food. So they didn't have to look after themselves really at all. They just followed the cloud to go where they needed to go.

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And they got manna to eat and they were fine. Now it's time to move into the promise.

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Now is time to move into this next phase, this exciting adventure. Yeah, the conquest of Canaan is a type and shadow of the end of the world and Christians inheriting the new earth.

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Just read Hebrews. It's pretty simple, you know. That God has for them. And Moses says in Numbers 13, let's get 12 together representing the tribes of Israel.

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Let's go and check the promised land out. So they do that. Here's the issue. When they come back, we read about a whole lot of them being, in fact, 10 of them being freaked out, overwhelmed.

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Yes, they say it's wonderful. Right. God says they don't trust him. They don't believe in him.

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But they also say, man, these people are giants. There is no way we can defeat them. In fact, this is what it says about this promised land and about where God's taking them into it.

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He, we read these Israel, these spies saying, we went into the land which you sent out.

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And yes, it does flow with milk and honey. And it's here is its fruit. But, but you gotta be careful when there's a but.

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Why is the but there? What's the but all about? But the people who live there are powerful and the cities are fortified and very large.

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We saw the descendants of Anak there and they go on and on and on and talk about all the reasons why they can't enter the promised land.

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And scripture interprets scripture. And we know from the book of Hebrews chapter 11, what the promised land is really pointing us to.

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The promise that we all have. Old Testament believers and New Testament believers. A city whose builder and foundation is

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God, right? Yeah, that's just the talking about the, the, the earth to come.

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They would rather get the backpack, put it on. This is great.

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Turn around and go back into the wilderness. Go back where it's comfortable. I've got a nice lounge over there.

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Maybe I'll just sit there. Maybe I'll just enjoy the comfort of the lounge. Maybe I'll just stay in a place where I don't.

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Now, important to note that Phil and Lucinda Dooley are the products of Hillsong.

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Their understanding of the scripture was given to them by Brian and Bobby Houston, which shows they have no clue how to rightly handle a biblical text.

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It shows. You have to fight because this enemy looks big. This enemy looks difficult.

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This is a challenge. And as much as the, the promise looks great, the milk and the honey and, and all that's there looks amazing.

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There's giants. I don't, I don't want to deal with giants. I mean, how many times have we seen something that we go, man,

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God is stirring that in my heart. But, but, but it's, it's difficult. It's hard.

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There's, that's going to require a fight. I don't know if I have that kind of fight in me. In fact, so no, the, the giants are an allegory of difficulties in your life as you're heading to the fulfillment of some promise that God laid on your heart.

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There's four things I want us to consider as we look at this today. And then my wife's going to come.

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Lucinda's going to come. She's going to finish this message for us. Four things for us to consider that I've seen. Okay. Two of these, two of these spies are

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Joshua and Caleb. They enter into the promise. The other 10, we never hear of. Here's the first thought.

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Don't get so comfortable in the wilderness that you forget how to fight for the promise. What's the wilderness?

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When you put the pieces together biblically, the wilderness is this life. We're heading towards the promised land, new heavens, new earth.

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I've found that in life, we can get so comfortable where we are that we lose sight or we get so caught up in the complacency of where we are that we don't have the fight to pursue the promise.

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What's the promise again, Phil? Could you show me a biblical passage that explains what the promise is?

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Because I just did. What you're doing with the concept of the promised land here is doing violence to what the scripture says it is.

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Yeah, his wife isn't any better. So let's check in with Lucinda's portion of this sermon, shall we?

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Well, church, how amazing was that? I absolutely love those points. And I want to encourage you to take them into your week and let them really be a blessing to you.

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Okay, now I'm going to pick the story up in Numbers chapter 13 and verse 28. And it says this,

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But Caleb, everyone say, but Caleb. Everyone say, yeah, that's a manipulation.

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But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. Let's go at once and take the land, he said.

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We can certainly conquer it. I love this verse. And there's two things happening in this verse.

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Number one thing that's happening is Caleb had to silence the wrong voices. And the number two thing that's happening is

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Caleb had to make the right choices. So are you silencing the wrong voices so that you can achieve your promised land?

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And are you making the right choices so that you can experience your promised land? And what is that promised land?

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Well, it could be anything. And do you know, I think Caleb was onto something here.

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I think he realized if he doesn't silence the wrong voices, he won't be able to step into everything that God has for him.

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If he doesn't silence the wrong voices, he won't be able to step into everything that God has for him.

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This is an example of scratching itching ears, telling people what they want to hear. This is not what

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Numbers 13 is about at all. That's not what the promised land is pointing us to. And do you know what?

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Exactly the same for you and I. I believe if we can resolve to listen to the right voices, we will be able to step into all that God has got for us.

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Okay. All right. Biblical text worth reviewing in this regard. 2nd

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Timothy chapter four. Paul writing to young pastor Timothy, I charge in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing in his kingdom.

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Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching for the time is coming when people will not endure sound doctrine or sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers who will suit their own passions.

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They will turn away from listening to the truth and they will wander off into myths. And sadly,

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Lucinda here is teaching a myth that somehow Numbers 13 is all about learning how to silence the wrong voices and make the right choices so that you can step into all that God has for you.

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You know, a life of influence, of power, of purpose and destiny. Now, that's not what this text is about.

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I remember for me, the right voices started at a young age. I was 14 years of age and I gave my life to Jesus and I got totally fired up and passionate.

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Actually, Jesus gave his life for you. You got that backwards. About Jesus. And I thought,

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I'm going to go to school and I'm going to tell all my friends about Jesus. The only problem is when I went to school and I told them about Jesus, I soon discovered that they were not quite as passionate about Jesus as I was.

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And I used to wait. The story of your life has nothing to do with what's going on in this text. This is narcissistic eisegesis, otherwise known as narsegesis.

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That's what she's doing with this text, allegorizing it and ignoring what the scripture says this is actually about.

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That's the problem. Well, they do it in other sermons too. Let's look at another example of their sermon.

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You're going to notice that I'm just speeding it up just a little bit to see if we can cover a little bit more ground.

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So this one's called Dream Again from July of 2021. Well, Church, I do want to say what a huge privilege it is to be able to bring the word of God.

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Just before I get into my word, can I pray for us? So, Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you that your word is life -giving. I thank you,

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Father, that you want to speak to every heart and every mind today. Lord, you want to engage every heart and every mind. Father, you want to ignite something new and fresh on the inside of us.

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And Lord, I pray, even though we're across the screen today, you are not limited by that, Father. You can reach us wherever we are today.

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And I pray, reach every person, do something new and fresh in the name of Jesus. And everybody said,

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Amen. Amen. Well, Church, it really is an honor to be here. And we are starting our series, like we've said prior.

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And I do believe it's a very significant time to speak this word. And as we've been in a world pandemic and we're starting a series called

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Dream Again, I couldn't think of anything better. And, you know, it's been. I don't know, preaching the gospel.

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That's the most important thing I preach every week. And I think it's a season where many people have faced huge challenge.

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And many people have felt very isolated. Many people have felt fatigued. Many people have felt fear or anxiety or worry.

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Many people have gone through pain and loss and huge heartache and huge shaking times.

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It's been like a crazy time. And for many, it's almost been like hope has been deferred. And so as I think about the season that we're in,

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I actually believe, Church, with all of my heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can't do this by ourselves.

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But by the power of the Holy Spirit, I believe that we can start to dream again. I believe that the Holy Spirit wants to ignite something in us, that we start to dream these big, wild, crazy

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God dreams. Where in Scripture are we told that we are supposed to dream big, crazy

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God dreams? This is a false doctrine. This is not a biblical teaching at all. I think of the apostle

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Paul, you know, I mean, maybe his problem was, is that he forgot the importance of, you know, dreaming big, crazy

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God dreams. Because, you know, his life just doesn't sound like the product of dreaming big, crazy

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God dreams. So here's what he says in 2 Corinthians 11. You know, whatever anyone dares to boast of, he says,

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I'm speaking as a fool. He's making a point against the so -called super apostles who claim that they were more important than the apostle

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Paul and the other apostles. He says, well, I dare to boast of that. Are they, these super apostles, are they

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Hebrews? Well, so am I. So am I. So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the offspring of Abraham?

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Well, so am I. Are they the servants of Christ? Well, I'm a better one. Watch where he goes with this.

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He says, I'm talking, you know, I'm speaking as a fool. All right. I'm talking like a madman.

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With far greater labors, with far more imprisonments, countless beatings, often near death.

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Five times I received at the hands of the Jews, 40 lashes less one. Three times

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I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day

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I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers, danger from my own people.

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And danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger.

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You get the idea. Danger from false brothers and toil and hardship through many a sleepless night and hunger, thirst often without food and cold and exposure.

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And apart from the other things, there's the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

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Who's weak and I'm not weak. Who's made to fall and I'm not indignant. If I'm going to boast, I'll boast of the things that show my weakness.

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Apostle Paul, apparently just didn't understand that what he was supposed to do was to big, to dream big, crazy

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God sized dreams. These big, wild, crazy dreams for our futures and our lives and our city and our nation and where God is taking us.

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And so actually church, I believe today there's an invitation going out and the invitation is saying, church, people of God, will you decide, will you partner with me today and let me put new dreams in you?

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What? So she thinks that God, the Holy Spirit is speaking through her to send an invitation to everyone listening.

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God is inviting you. He's going to help you to dream again. There's no biblical text, a text like this at all.

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And why should I believe that this is God, the Holy Spirit inviting me to dream big

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God dreams? Will you make a decision? I am going to dream again with the power of the Holy Spirit.

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I am going to dream again. Let's take that invitation. Don't let the invitation pass you by. I'll pass.

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Sorry. Yeah, this isn't God, the Holy Spirit at all. I have no reason to respond to this at all.

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This isn't the Holy Spirit speaking through you. In fact, you preaching is in direct violation of what

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God, the Holy Spirit has said regarding the role of women in the church. So, yeah, we got a big.

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So, you'll note that Lucinda Dooley, she is the new Bobby Houston, you know, at Hillsong.

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You know, she's been slotted in. Her and her husband have taken over while Brian and Bobby Houston are facing a big criminal legal trial.

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Well, let's take a listen to her husband the following week. The Power of Dreaming Part One. Well, hi, everybody.

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It is so good to be with you. Hey, we're in, you know, pretty much the middle of winter, but we know that winter in July down in South Africa, there is a spring coming and there is a summer coming.

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And that is good news. And I just want to say, hey, in the midst of all that's been going on with the pandemic and, you know, the third wave, we're continuing to pray, believe that God is keeping everybody healthy and strong.

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And hey, if you need specific prayer, make sure you let us know, contact us, contact our church, our pastoral team really want to be there for you.

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So if you want to email us, if you want to call us, you're not alone in the midst of whatever you're dealing with in the lockdown that we're all experiencing at the moment.

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But hey, it is my honour to bring the Word of God to you today. We are in a series in the middle of July called

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Dream Again. And I know my wife began the series last week, encouraging us all to really step up in this dream that God has for all and every one of our lives.

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Are you stepping up in the big God -sized dream? And did you take up the offer of Lucinda Dooley claiming that the

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Holy Spirit inspired her to invite you for God, of course, to dream again?

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God has individual dreams, I believe, that he speaks into our hearts. And then I believe he has a collective dream for church and for churches and for our church.

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There's a collective dream of building a church to help build a nation. And I believe God even dreams of what can be for a nation, for a city, for a community.

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God dreams. What does this even mean? For me, when I dream, it's quite a passive experience.

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I don't ever engage in active dreaming. It's always something that occurs passively.

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And we want to be right in the centre of that. So it's my privilege today to speak on the power of dreaming.

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Power of dreaming. I wake up in the morning and I've had a dream and I sit there and go, that was weird.

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You know, it doesn't have any power at all except for to puzzle me. And you're telling me that the

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Bible teaches the power of dreaming. Who actively dreamed in Scripture?

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I mean, even Joseph passively received the dreams that he had.

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They were prophetic. About dreaming again. Some of you may have a strong dream in your heart of what God has called you to.

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For others of us right now, man, it's been tough. And maybe we feel a little bit like that dream has been crushed.

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But I believe for every one of us, no matter what your circumstance, no matter what you're facing, it is time for you to dream again.

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To believe for great things. You know, we have to believe for great things.

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You mean like the resurrection of the dead, the forgiveness of sins, an inheritance in the new earth after Jesus makes all things new.

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You know, things like that. Is that what you're talking about? Dogs. We have Spencer, who I think you're aware of.

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He's been around for a few years now. We adopted him and he's a wonderful. So he's now talking about his dogs.

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Which biblical texts is he preaching from? So far, none. A little companion.

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And then more recently, we adopted another little companion, and that is Stanley. And Stanley has the traits that every good puppy has.

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He believes the world revolves around him. He believes that anytime there is food anywhere, that it is his food.

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He believes that any lounge, any bed anywhere is his to sleep upon. He sees the whole world is his.

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And you know, we're trying to teach him and train him. He's getting better that there are places to leave deposits, if you know what

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I mean. Outside as opposed to inside. But here's what I've realised about watching

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Stanley compared to Spencer. Spencer now, he's been around for a while. He knows when his food's coming.

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He knows when it's not his meal. He doesn't even bother. He doesn't worry. He doesn't dream that something might be his because he knows it's not.

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He's just been around long enough to realise he gets what he gets. And that's the way it is. Whereas Stanley has this dream that every time we are cooking food, we are cooking it for him.

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He continues to dream big dreams. And although those dreams may not be God -given dreams,

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I love watching Stanley with this dream that is all for him and about him. And so I kind of want to encourage us today to have a little more of a

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Stanley approach than a Spencer approach. Where in Scripture are we taught that to be holy, to be like Christ, that to bear the fruit of the

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Spirit, it means to behave and to think like a narcissistically untrained dog who thinks the whole world revolves around him.

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You see, believing that the whole world revolves around you is not a virtue.

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It's a vice that makes you more like the devil than like Christ. This is nuts.

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So, you know, you get the idea. So Phil and Lucinda Dooley, they have taken over.

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They are now the new teaching pastors of Hillsong.

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And they do not know how to rightly handle a biblical text to save their lives.

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They are scratching itching ears, just like they had their ears scratched. They're part of that whole machine of Hillsong.

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And there's a legitimate possibility that Brian Houston's going to prison.

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And when that happens, one has to wonder, will Hillsong be able to maintain financial solvency?

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But the one thing I can say with absolute certainty, Phil and Lucinda Dooley, the

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Hoolidoolies, they don't know how to rightly handle a biblical text. They don't understand that the Bible's about Christ.

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They are ear scratchers extraordinaire. And they are part of the machine.

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Hillsong is one of the most worldly institutions on planet Earth, all with a thin veneer of Jesus.

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It's a Bible -flavored toxin. And the proof is always in the preaching.

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Phil and Lucinda Dooley do not preach Christ. They do not preach repentance and forgiveness of sins. They don't know that the

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Bible is about Jesus. They think it's about themselves. And they're teaching absolute abject nonsense, which is why they're so popular, because people don't endorse sound doctrine anymore.

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They're just having their ears scratched. And so the Hoolidoolies have been called upon to continue scratching the ears that Brian and Bobby Houston have been scratching for decades.

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Pray for Hillsong. Pray for their repentance. Pray that whole enterprise just collapses financially, because it is a cancer.

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It is Pleasure Island. It's not leading you to Christ. It's leading you to the salt mines of hell.

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So hopefully you found this helpful. If so, all the information on how you can share the video is down below in the description.

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And until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace of mercy won by Jesus Christ and his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.