Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to the Kerma Chaj podcast.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: Well, we are talking about, in the first session, we were talking about this morning, we were talking about the gift of discerning of spirits. And we were talking about that we're in a war, that we were actually born in a battlefield, and that the Lord, he called us more than conquerors, that we're actually built for battle and we're the light of the world. Jesus said, I'm the light of the world. And he said, you're the light of the world. And then. And so, you know, I was taught I got saved in the Jesus movement. That was a long time ago. And I love the Jesus people and they taught me how to love Jesus and they taught me about love and mercy and kindness. And they had really terrible theology.
They didn't really know the Bible very well, but they knew Jesus. And I'm so thankful for them. So I don't want to say anything bad about my roots because I really, I do love my roots. But when I got saved, I was given the book, the Late Great Planet Earth. Is there anybody old enough in here would remember that book? It was a very, very, very popular book. Like if you. And in the era that I got saved in, if you went to a prophetic conference, it wasn't about prophetic ministry. Like they would put up a big chart, like bigger than that.
And you identified as one of three types of Christians. You were a pre trib, you were a mid trib or post trib. How many of you have no idea what I'm talking about? Raise your hand. Okay, you wouldn't because you were born into a different era. So we identified we.
The we, not me. I wasn't included in the we cause I was a young believer. But my, my spiritual fathers would identify over. When did you think the tribulation was gonna happen? Post trib, like after the tribulation, the great tribulation, seven year tribulation, then the thousand year reign of Christ. Did you think that Jesus is gonna rapture you after the tribulation or in the middle of the tribulation, the three and a half years or before the tribulation. And so we would have these conversations and the people I was with, they were pre trib people, meaning that we believed that we were gonna get raptured before the great tribulation. And I was giving a. This is true. What I'm gonna tell you is I'm not being funny. So I was given a set of a cassette tape, Cassette series. You know what cassette tapes are? They used to have tape in them.
I was given a cassette tape series that was. I forget what the title of the whole cassette tape series was, but it was about. I remember one of the cassettes was how to make sure your children do not take the mark of the beast.
So I got saved at 18. So I never went to college because I was told I was with people who believed in a pre tribulation rapture. So we were gonna go any minute. So we didn't have any foresight because we were looking up.
And so I was taught that the world was gonna get darker and darker and the church was gonna get brighter and brighter. And so I was brought up in a culture that thought the rapture was gonna happen any time now. And then I read. I was to read the book the Late Great Planet Earth. And the Late Great Planet Earth was reprinted several times, but it was revised three times to have three different dates of when Jesus was returning.
Sounds funny now, but it was very serious, you know, and if you went home and your parents were gone and they were Christians, you're like, oh, my gosh, I missed the Rapture. You know, and there was actually. So there was. There was no. There was no talk about leaving a legacy because we were all thinking about going up, not staying here. And it was beautiful in the sense that, you know, it gave you this deep sense that Jesus could return anytime. And by the way, let me just tell you what I think. You're gonna hear it anyway.
I think that we should prepare, like, Jesus isn't gonna come back for 1,000 years, and we should live like he could come back tonight. And by the way, for all of you in the room, he will return way before a thousand years. Like most of you. He'll return in the next hundred years for you, for you. Maybe not for your children's children, but for you.
And so when you went to a prophetic conference, they would have a chart, and depending on what tribulation they believed. No, what rapture they believed in, they would. A prophetic conference would have four to six sessions on different people coming up and giving their viewers on when we're leaving. That was the whole conference. And so you spent your life living for seven years. This is a true story. And so I met Bill Johnson the fourth when I was four years old in the Lord, and I in this little town. He came to our little church, 40 people in a little town, an hour from society in the mountains. And when I met Bill, I probably. I think it was probably, I don't know, the first week or two or three. I asked Bill one day, I went in his office, I said, are we pre Trib or are we mid Trib or we post Trib? And he goes, well, I don't know.
I just want to know how much of the kingdom I can have right now.
And I said to him, well, is that pre trib, is that mid trib, or is that post Trib? He just looked at me and said, oh, I believe in pan trib. I said, pan trib. Wow. People I'm with never taught me that one. What does that mean? He said, oh, it all pan out in the end.
And I had never met anybody in the circles I was in that didn't make that a big issue. And I'm like. And I sat with bill for like 10 years and wondered, when is he gonna teach on the book of Revelation? You know, like, who is the beast? Cause we believed, we used to believe the Pope was the. The Antichrist.
And then what happened? I was taught the Pope was the Antichrist. I'm not kidding you, by the way. I met with the Pope seven years ago. I asked him if he was, and he said he wasn't, so he must not be.
I actually did meet with the Pope for about five hours, but.
And then, you know, we were taught the Jesus people were taught like, the Pope is the Antichrist. And then the Holy Spirit two years later fell on the Catholic Church and they started speaking in tongues and coming to our meetings.
And I'm like, whoa, okay, I guess the Antichrist is in our meetings now, you know, so it was really confusing.
So as I said, you know, I had never met any Christian leader who wasn't talking about the book of Revelation and is, you know, when's Jesus, you know, what Rapture point is Jesus returning. And then I was taught, I started to tell you, I was taught that the world is gonna get darker and darker before Jesus returns. And then I started having these. This is going somewhere. By the way, I have a point.
I'm speaking like a woman right now, where the point's at the end.
I have a feeling I'm not gonna get invited back here.
Hey, I've been married 50 years. I know that. The point is a reward for listening to the details. You don't know where they're going.
When I was young and my wife would talk, I'd go like this. That means like, can we get to the point?
I want to tell you guys, that's a good way to have a non sexual life.
Too much information. Sorry about that.
All the Single people. Sorry about that.
So I do have a point to this message.
And I started reading the Bible, and Jesus said, I'm the light of the world. Then he said, you are the light of the world. And then he said, a city on a hill.
He said, no one takes the light and puts it under a basket, but puts it on a lampstand so all can see. And then he said, you are a city on a hill that can't be hidden. And he said, do your good works. This is the same message, Sermon on the Mount. Do your good works in such a way that people see your good works and glorify your Father who's in heaven.
And one day I'm reading that, and I'm like. I'm thinking, like, I was taught that in the last days, the church is gonna get brighter and brighter and the world's gonna get darker and darker. And I'm like, isn't it funny? Cause Jesus said, you're the light of the world, not the light of the church.
And I'm like, isn't it interesting? And then Jesus said that no one takes the light and puts it under a basket, but puts it on a lampstand. And I'm thinking about, okay, wait a second. So if we're the light. If we're. If the church is gonna get brighter and brighter and the world's gonna get darker and darker, it sounds like we have a situation in which we've put a basket over the light. Because the goal is for the light to be in the world, for us to be a city on a hill that can't be hidden. I don't know if you know where I'm going. I'm just pointing out that if the world is supposed to get darker and darker while the church gets brighter and brighter, then I'm not sure we're the light of the world. I'm sure we're the light of the church.
And I think that we have taken paradigms that have kept us from making disciples of nations. Cause Jesus said, make disciples of all nations. Teach them everything I taught you. And I'm like, oh, wait a second. I think the goal was to actually have disciples, not just in nations, but of nations. And I think I told you in the first, in one of the sessions that Abraham. The promise to Abraham is that you will be a father to many nations. And to Sarah, you'll be a father to many nations. And then Hebrews. I'm sorry, Romans, chapter four, says, speaking of Abraham, in hope against hope, in hope against hope. He believed and so he became the father of. Of many nations. The rest of the verse goes, and so shall his descendants be what? Fathers of many nations. I'd like to point out that Jesus said, make disciples of nations. And the promise over the father of faith, Abraham, was that you would be a father of many nations, and Sarah, the mother of faith, that you would be a mother of many nations, not in nations of nations. Now, I know lots of people that have ministries in nations, but I know very few people who are making disciples of nations. And right now we have five nations discipled by Muslims, and we have zero nations discipled by Christians. And I'd like to propose to you that our eschatology is killing us.
Let me say that one more time.
Our eschatology is killing us.
Think about it like this. If I had a classic car, like In America, a 55 Chevy would be a classic car. And I took it to your restoration shop and I said to you, I don't care what it costs. Money's no object. I want this car to be, like, brand new, like, spare, no cost.
And you take my car, you take it down to the frame, and you're, like, making it, like, brand new.
And I say, I want it to be like the way it rolled off the showroom floor. I don't care. Vintage 55 Chevy. And then halfway through the process, maybe you're working on it for six months. And I come in and I say to the team, man, that looks really nice. You know, when this gets done, I'm gonna put it in the destruction derby.
How many know what you believe about the end has everything to do with how you behave in the middle?
Do you know that? Have you ever thought about this?
Do you know why, in the opening of the Information Age, that there are no Christian forefathers in the opening of the Information Age? But in every other age, at least since the 15th century, Christians have been at the head of every opening of every era until we get to the Information Age. Did you know that? Did you know that I was born in 1955 and that Steve Jobs was born in 1955? Michael Dell of Dell Computers was born in 1954.
Bill Joy, who was the inventor of the Internet, was born in 1954. I could take you through all the forefathers of the Information Age who were all born between 53 and 56.
And you know what's interesting about them? None of them are Christians.
You know why? Because that was the Jesus movement years when we were looking up and the enemy was looking out.
We didn't prepare for the future because we were taught there wasn't going to be one.
And therefore we were looking up. And while we were looking up, the information age opened. And what happened when there was no Christians or very few Christians in the information Age? Definitely no mothers and fathers in the information Age. You know what happened the information age opened up with when the Internet was invented. Do you know that over 70% of all of the websites in the beginning of the Internet were porn sites? You know why? Think about who the father of the Internet was and who was leading that movement.
Think about what's happening in AI right now. You have believers rushing in and going, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, wait. We have to take charge of what's happening here because we're going to end up destroying ourselves if we don't have core values that value humans in the core value of AI. And you already see people, I'm saying we've changed eras and people are stepping in. And even people like Elon Musk. And by the way, Elon Musk is not a believer at this point. He's an agnostic. I know some people who know him. I see God working in him. Obviously his moral values wouldn't be my moral values. But isn't it interesting that he is already being led by, hey, free speech matters. Hey, I'll buy this. I don't care if I lose money. And I'm pointing out that something powerful is happening. Guys, that did not happen in the era I was born in.
We weren't looking out cause we didn't think we'd be there.
Am I making any sense to you? So I wanna point out that we are called to be the light of the world.
It's interesting. I wrote a book many years ago called Heavy Rain. And it was a book about transforming cities, transforming culture. And let's see, I wanna make sure my time, I steward my time well. But.
But here's the one thing I want to tell you about that book. So that book was about apostolic movement that transforms culture. I'll tell you what I mean by that in just a minute. But we did. My team did some research on the statistics in the United States of our cities. And this is what we learned.
The cities that had the greatest Christian church going population had the worst social statistics in our nation.
Now, just so you know what you maybe don't think I said, the more people that go to a Christian church in even any given city, the worst off the social statistics are in that city. Divorce climbs as churches grow Poverty climbs as churches grow.
There's 10 indicators that America uses for healthy cities. And in those 10 indicators, as Christian church grows, culture gets worse.
What's that tell you? That mega churches don't transform culture.
I'd propose that churches become baskets and we gather together. And the more we gather, the more there isn't light in other places, because we gather the light and we cover it in baskets. And we teach people that we're supposed to get brighter while they get darker. And because we teach them, we teach our people that the world needs to get darker for Jesus to return. We actually have a theology that, that makes the world darker and we don't even know it.
Now, there was about five or six cities that were exceptions in America. Now, I don't know what it would be here, but I bet you the trend is very common that the greater the Christian movement grows, the worst off culture becomes.
And I think that, first of all, I think that. Okay, so now wasn't that cheerful.
I want to talk to you for a few minutes about apostolic. What does it mean to be an apostle? So let me just give you a little history. Maybe you know this, maybe you don't. First of all, the word apostle means sent one, right? It means sent one, but it actually means to be sent from a place to another place to reproduce in the place you're sent to. Apostle, what you're sent from till the place you're sent to looks like the place you're sent from. We would call that cultural transformation. And the Greeks, they actually, the Greeks invented the idea. They actually invented the word apostle. And Jesus lived under Roman rule, as you well know. So he. He lived when the Roman Empire was, was growing at its peak of the Roman Empire. And the Romans were very aggressive. They were like Hitler, like they wanted to take world over. And you know, when you're in Rome, you do as the Romans do. You know, that adage is known all over the world, even in, in the, in the villages of Africa. You can say when you're in Rome and they'll say, you do as the Romans do.
And so the Romans were very aggressive. They were conquering cities that. Conquering, excuse me, other nations. And let's say they conquer three cities. This is a little bit metaphoric. And they come back to or three countries, three cities. And they come back to the first city they conquered. And the people were back to their old ways, but they were being ruled by the Romans. And the Romans said, why are we conquering? But we're not culturizing. So the Romans picked up this Greek idea of apostles, and they named some of their generals apostles. And they changed the way they conquered. They would send the armies out, the military out, to conquer, as they did before with their apostle. But with the apostle would go philosophers and teachers and politicians, and you get the idea. So they would conquer and culturize. Conquer and culturize. Are you with me?
So that when you're in Rome, you actually do as the Romans do. So think about it. When. When Jesus took his learners, disciples means learner, and he promoted them to leaders.
Isn't it interesting what he called them? Because he could have called them priests, right? You had the whole Levitical priesthood. He could have called them patriarchs. There was 12 patriarchs and there's 12 of them. He could have called them prophets because there was a whole prophetic network that was started by Eli. And what's most famous with Eli, Elijah and Elisha. So we know there was the sons of the prophets. But instead he takes the secular word. Like this word would be as secular as saying, you're the CEO. He took this secular word and he said, you are my apostles, which is not meaningful to us because we think it's a religious word.
But he said, you are my apostles. You see those guys that are conquering and culturizing, you're my apostles. And then he gives them an apostolic prayer. What's the prayer? Our Father, who's in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done. Where?
As it is in heaven. Where are you seated?
Heavenly places. What's your job? Make earth like heaven. How many know that?
How many know that we spend all of our time trying to get people to heaven.
But Jesus wasn't trying to get people just to heaven. He's trying to get people in the kingdom.
See, Jesus was trying to get the kingdom in you. Because if the kingdom's in you, you'll get to heaven.
And we spend all of our time trying to get people to heaven, but we don't get heaven to earth.
Are you with me?
So I'd like to propose that God isn't just trying to save people. Of course he's trying to save people. That God is trying to transform the world. That God's goal is to transform the world till the kingdoms of this world become the kings of our God. Are you with me? And I'd like to point out that God is not in heaven.
I knew that would wake you.
Well, let me say it differently. How many know that before there was heaven, there was God?
Because Jesus said that the heavens and earth will pass away. But my word will not pass away. So we know that heaven and earth are not eternal, but God's eternal. So if God was there before heaven, where was heaven?
Where did God live if God was there before the heavens? I'm pointing out that God doesn't live in heaven. Heaven lives in God.
God has to be bigger than heaven because he was there. God lived before there was heaven.
Okay, you're going to go to heaven, you're going to see God. So, okay, we're all good with that.
But not because God's in heaven, but because heaven's in God.
Are you with me?
Some of you are like so upset with me. You're like, don't take away my heaven, please.
But did you know that Revelation 22, that the new Jerusalem is coming down?
The kingdom of God is among men. I will wipe away every tear. Did you notice that? Wiping away tears. There will no longer be any tears. There'll no longer be any sickness. Did you know that was spoken about the city that came down, not the people who went up?
You can read the Bible. You can go read it. Some like these people are. Are they a cult or.
I'm pointing out. I'm not saying there's no heavenly place to live. I just taught you about third heaven. I'm only pointing out that you're already there.
So like, do you believe in rapture? Well, maybe. For sure, probably there is. But let me say this. You've been raptured once because rapture means to be caught up. And you're already seated in heavenly places with Christ.
I'm sure your body will catch up with you. But my point is.
Well, I'm just trying to teach you the reality of the Bible. The reality of the Bible is you already seated in authority, but you don't act like it because you don't know it. And Isaiah wrote that my people perish for lack of knowledge. And I'd like to point out that low self esteem is killing the body of Christ. It is taking away our future. We create eschatology to forgive ourselves from the fact that we have no influence. Instead of changing our eschatology to meet the Bible's eschatology. Are you with me? I'm saying we say things about ourselves like, well, I'm just no good. You know, I'm just. I'm not anybody. I'm not. I'm psych. No, actually you're a royal priesthood. Like actually your daddy is God.
Actually, you've been endowed with power. You've actually been given authority. You actually have been given wisdom from another age. You've actually been given the mind of Christ.
You know the difference between renewing your mind and having the mind of Christ? I'm spitting on you. Huh? I'm so sorry. Here. Here's some oil. Put that on you. Right there.
The difference between renewing your mind and having the mind of Christ. You should have both. Renewing your mind means I'm actually thinking like God, right? That's good. You should be thinking like God. I should be thinking like God. But renewing your mind is not the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ is in First Corinthians, chapter 2. It says that we have the mind of Christ, therefore we know the thoughts of God. Having the mind of Christ is not renewing myself. So I think like God, having the mind of Christ. First of all. No, let me say that again. Renewing my mind means I think like God. Having the mind of Christ means I have God thoughts.
It means I actually have access to what God is thinking. I can google God.
The world has AI. We have sq. We have spiritual intelligence. And spiritual intelligence means that I have access to what God states.
Paul said something powerful. You should read it. He said, eye hasn't seen, ear hasn't heard. It hasn't entered the heart of man. All that God wants to do for those he loves, but that is in capital letters because he's quoting Isaiah in the Old Testament. But then the next verse says, but they've been revealed to us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things. Who knows the thoughts of a man except for the spirit of the man that's in him? By the way, have you ever asked yourself, does the devil know your thoughts? That verse says he doesn't unless he gave them to you.
Next verse says, we know the thoughts of God because we have the spirit of God, who has the mind of Christ. So having the mind of Christ means I actually think God thoughts. Not like God God thoughts. For example, if my neighbor's throwing crap over my fence and he hates me and he's. He's doing evil stuff for me. If I renew my mind, I think, well, what would Jesus do? Wwjd what would Jesus do? Well, he would love the person who hates him. And thinking like God, I bake him cookies. I cut his lawn for free. When he's evil to me, I'm kind to him. I'm thinking like Jesus. But that's not the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ is like, Lord, why does Henry throw junk over my fence. Why is he mean to me? And all sudden I hear the Lord say his father was a pastor. He lived like hell at home and taught heaven on Sunday. When he. When. When Henry sees you, he's not looking at you, he's looking at his father. How many know that's not thinking like God, that's thinking the thoughts of God. I just googled God and got a whole bunch of information on how to deal with Henry.
I'm pointing out that you don't just you. You don't just have a renewed mind. You actually have the mind of Christ. You actually can tap in to whatever God thinks.
Am I making sense?
Where am I going?
We are called to make disciples of nations. You are commissioned to make disciples of nations. You are gifted to make disciples of nations. You are the only one who doesn't know it.
Did you notice? Okay, so what else am I going to say to you? I have a whole bunch of stuff to say, but I want to show you something. Let's do this.
Chapter Acts 19.
Oh, good, we're going to use the Bible.
Yeah, I've given up on the Quran.
That was a joke. I don't.
We're not streaming, are we?
Sorry.
You can clean this up later.
Acts 19, verse 11. God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs and aprons were carried from his body to the sick and diseases left and evil spirits went out. But there were some Jewish exorcists who went from place to place attempting to name over those who had evil spirits in the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches. The seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered, said, I recognize Jesus and I know about Paul, but who are you?
And the man in whom had this evil spirit leaped on them and subdued them and overpowered them so that they fled from the house naked and wounded.
This is a very interesting story because did you notice that an apostle with a handkerchief was more powerful than the name of Jesus? Was someone who didn't know him?
Have you ever thought about this? That people took a handkerchief?
This one's got a lot of boogers on it.
You want to see what I did?
Probably don't.
They would take a handkerchief and take it to another city and lay it on a person who was sick and they'd get well. Now, I don't know why, but I don't have a hard time picturing that. Like you take a handkerchief from a body of someone, anointed and you put it on someone. I have a Hank. I have a hard time thinking about someone's demon possessed. And you take your hanky and you lay it on them. They go, oh, hanky of Paul. And they leave.
But I'd like to point out that's what happened.
And I'd like to point out that the devil recognizes authority and we don't even think about authority. As a matter of fact, we will listen to a person who's called our boss at work, who doesn't know God.
We will get to work at the time he or she says we should be at work. Take breaks when they say we should take a break. Finish work when they say we should be done. Wear the uniform they say we should wear, and do what they say that we should do all day long. And we'll do that for money, but we won't do it for love.
What?
Isn't it weird that you'll do for money what you wouldn't do for love? In the world? That's called prostitution.
We recognize earthly authority, but we don't recognize heavenly authority.
And here's the problem. Okay? Discerning of spirits. Remember I said discerning of spirits is not called discerning of evil spirits.
The second reason why we need discerning of spirit is to see the favor that's on someone else.
Because the only way I can live by inheritance. See, the lowest level life is curses. A curse means that I can do the right thing, but the wrong thing will still happen. And by the way, the truth is, before you knew Jesus, you were all under a curse. So was I. But how many know that Jesus broke a curse on the cross? Because written Galatians 3, Blessed, cursed is he who hangs on a cross. So when Jesus died on the cross, he broke the curse. Right. So the next level of life after curses is called sowing and reaping. What's that mean? Whatever a man sows, so shall he reap. So if you plant corn, you get corn. If you plant peas, you get peas, right? I mean, whatever you plant, you'll get. And that's pretty good. But the highest level of life is not sowing and reaping. The highest level of life is called inheritance.
That means you get what someone else worked for. By the way, the Bible says in Matthew 6, Jesus said, the birds of the air, they don't sow, nor do they reap, but the Father takes care of them. How do I get something I didn't work for? I have to honor someone who did.
And on Honor. See, if you honor your mother and father, you'll have long life. How many know honor? Honor is the highway of inheritance.
If you honor people who are more, have more favor than you have with God, you get what you didn't work for.
Are you with me? See, the anointing starts at the top of Aaron's head, Psalms 133, and it flows all the way to his feet, right? So you might be the. The head. Well, actually, Jesus's head, you might be the shoulders or you might be the little toe. But how many know? If you stay in line, if you stay in the line, the same anointing that's on the head is on the toe. But if you get out of line, you create dripping points where the anointing doesn't go to the next generation because you don't honor those who went before you.
Are you following me? And I'm pointing out that we don't recognize. We recognize earthly authority, but heavenly authority. We criticize. Well, he didn't preach what I thought he should preach. Well, he's not good at this. You'd never tell your boss that and keep your job.
So we go to work for money, but our leader goes, hey, can you work in children's church next week? Oh, what do you think I'm supposed to do?
I don't know. I think it's called serve.
And everybody wants authority, but you don't have authority till you submit to authority because you only have as much authority as you submit to. My pastor said I can't prophesy in church. Okay, what are you doing? Well, I don't know why he thinks that. Well, I don't know. But you know a way to gain authority in the church? You know the way to gain authority in with God? How? Submit to authority.
I understand there's abuse of authority. I understand there's leaders that. I understand there's leaders that. That abuse their authority. But those leaders, there's way more of those in the world than we still do it for money.
Funny what we'll do for money that we won't do for love. And so much of it is because we don't discern the favor that's on someone's life. Because the gift of discerning of spirits doesn't just discern evil spirits, it discerns human spirits.
So when I see somebody and I say, oh, the favor of Lord's on them, I'll tell you this quick story. So, you know, Bill and I are obviously aging. We want to see the next generation just Outgrow us. This is the goal. They would stand on our shoulders. They would do better than us. I think Haley was here. I think you see the fruit of it already.
And we have. So three years ago, the Lord, I had a dream, and then I had an encounter. I can't tell you all that story. I'll just tell you this part. The Lord said, I have you, Chris. I'm giving you a five year plan to move a team into taking your place. I want you to be the patriarch as Bill is. I want you to preach, but I want the responsibility of this place. I want you to take the mantle that's on you. I want you to put it on others. I said, okay, well, who? And he said, I'm gonna show you who my favor's on. And all I want you to do is acknowledge them and gather them. And I was like, that's so subjective. We have 850 leaders.
Like, how am I gonna. Who am I gonna choose? He said. I said I'd show you. I'm like, okay, Lord, you ever do this with the Lord? Like, how?
How?
So the next morning, I had that encounter. I wrote it all down in my journal. The next morning, I'm literally rushing to class. Cause I'm a few minutes late. And Leslie Crandall. I don't think you guys know Leslie. Leslie Crandall walks past me. And as she does, all of a sudden, out of the blue, like, I'm actually thinking about my preaching in school. As she passes me, the Lord said, leslie is protecting something I care about. You'll need to watch her.
Oh. The favor of the Lord's on Leslie.
That happened 22 times over the next four months. The Lord, someone would pass me. And the Lord's like, my favor's on him. Can you see it? And all of a sudden, I had, like, infrared eyes. I could see things that other people couldn't see. And I'd be like, oh. And the Lord's like, the favor of the Lord's on Leslie. The favor of the Lord's on Haley. The favor of the Lord's on Gabe. The favor of the Lord's on Richard and Libby. The favor of the Lord. And he showed me 22 people. And the Lord's like, now gather them and guide them. What I'm pointing at, what I'm pointing out as is this. If you don't have a discerning of spirit, you can't actually. You misjudge the body.
You will judge them after the flesh instead of after the Spirit. In 2 Corinthians. 5:17. This is the most popular, one of the most popular verses in the Bible, right? If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. But you know what the previous verse says? The previous verse for me, for the last three years, has been the most important verse, single Most important verse, 5:16 says, we know each other no longer after the flesh. Although we knew Christ this way once before, we know him this way no longer. Next verse. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. What's the point? That we need to start learning how to know each other after the Spirit, not after the flesh.
Part of the challenge is we are living past present, and the Lord wants us to live future present.
Did you hear what I just said? I'm prophesying to you right now. Like one of the things that we need to do is learn if we're living past present, like we live past present in our own life. And Jesus said, forgetting what lies behind and pressing forward to the upward call of God. That was actually Paul in Philippians, right? Jesus said, no, but nobody who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is worthy of the kingdom. In other words, when we live past present, we always limit ourselves to our worst failure instead of our great calling.
Are you with me? I'll tell you a story.
I'm okay. So. Okay, I'll tell you a story. Do you guys know who Danny Silk is?
Well, I worked with Danny Silk when he was 16 years old, and I'm eight years older, so I think I was around 24. And I encouraged him in the Lord every day. And he was a drug addict and a drug pusher living with his girlfriend.
And I'd be like, you need Jesus. You need Jesus. And I encouraged him every day, and he didn't like it.
And then about several years later, four years later, I'm working in. I own a repair shop now. I worked with Danny in a tire store. I didn't tell you that part. We worked together in a tire store. He was 16, I was 24. I was managing the shop. And he was our tire buster kid. So about four years later, he comes to my shop and he goes, hey, I want to do that thing that you were talking about. And I'm like, what thing? You know, that thing you always are telling me about. I thought he was talking about his car.
No, I don't know what thing you're talking about. He said that thing where you pray a prayer and you're a Christian.
I said, you want to get saved? Yeah. That thing.
I said, why don't you come to church with me on Sunday and if you're serious, then there'll be an altar call and you can receive Christ. He said, fine. I thought, well, if he gets all the way to Sunday, he's serious.
And so I get there and his car's already there and he comes to church. Well, Bill preaches that morning and at the end gives an altar call. And Danny comes forward and receives Christ. He still says Bill led him to the Lord. That is such.
Bill led me to the Lord. Bill did not leave you to the Lord. I led you to the Lord.
Bill's my spiritual father. That is crap.
He wants to take my collar. That is just wrong.
So Danny gets saved. Now, at the time, our church is by now about 150 people and nobody knows Danny. Danny's hanging out with the drug guys, he's hanging out with the gangsters, and he gets saved in our church. About three weeks later, a prophet named Dick Choice comes to our church and he calls Danny out. Brand new believer. And I don't remember the first word Danny got, but it went something like this.
Stand up, young man. He stands up, you're the next James Dobson. God's gonna use you to restore families. You're gonna build families, you're gonna travel the world. And he gives him this word about restoring families.
Danny grew up fatherless.
Interesting thing, our congregation did not know Danny after the because he ran in other crowds.
They only knew him after the spirit.
And what happens when you listen to other people's prophetic words is that you hear those words and you invite them into the divine destiny. Guess what? Eight years later, he became our next pastor of the very church he got saved in. You know why? Because people only knew him after the Spirit. They didn't know him after the flesh. How important is it for. For us to have a prophetic eagle's nest where we actually know each other after the Spirit and not after the flesh, so that we can actually call people in their divine calling and we can invite them into their divine destiny to actually disciple nations.
Okay, I want to give you one more. I'm going to take a few more minutes. Okay, Acts? Are you guys bored?
Okay, turn to Acts chapter five and show you one more things.
What are we talking about right now? We're talking about apostolic authority. Are you with me? Okay, Acts 5. I'm sorry, did I say 5? Acts chapter 8, verse 5. Now, Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. And the crowds with one accord, were giving attention to what was said by Philip as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. In the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out shouting with a loud voice. And many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed so much, and there was so much rejoicing in that city. Down to 14.
It goes on to say, sorry, I didn't have the full scripture here, but the next verse says that Simon the sorcerer actually hears and sees the signs that he's doing, and he actually receives Christ. And then it says in verse 14. Now, when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Let me tell you the rest of that story. The rest of that story is that an angel of the Lord comes to Philip and says, go to the desert road. And he goes out to the desert road and he sees the Ethiopian eunuch. Do you remember the story?
And he. Basically, the short story is he leads the Ethiopian eunuch to the Lord, baptizes him, right? He baptizes him. And when he baptizes the Ethiopian eunuch, the Lord catches Philip up and translates him to another city 120 miles away. Okay, let me just share just a few things because this relates to spiritual authority. Are you with me?
So I'd like to point out that Philip is the only named evangelist in the whole New Testament.
And he goes to Samaria, and the power of God is displacing the powers of darkness. And literally, it's a gentile city. And literally they are piling up all of their. All their witchcraft paraphernalia, and they're burning it. And Simon the sorcerer, who used to be called the great power of God, who's actually a sorcerer, receives Christ. And what happens when Simon the sorcerer receives Christ? This is my opinion. I believe that the principality must have lived in Simon. And when Simon gets delivered the power we talked about in the Lewiston story, the power of the enemy is broken over that city. When the disciples, when the apostles in Jerusalem hear that Samaria, Samaria, like this is a gentile city, has received the word of God, what do they do? They send him Peter and John, and then Philip is sent out. Follow me for a minute. I'm going somewhere.
Why? Because the power of God displaces the powers of darkness. But the government of God replaces the powers of darkness. And I'd like to point out that Napoleon said the object of war is victory. But the object of victory is occupation. I'd like to point out the object of occupation is transformation. But the church is used to victories with no occupation.
We have evangelists, but we don't have fivefold ministry. So we have. We drive out the enemy and then the enemy comes back seven times worse because we don't replace what was driven out with government.
We don't understand authority because we don't have discerning of spirits. We think everyone's the same. I'd like to point out that God loves you all the same, but he doesn't favor you the same.
And yes, you can grow in favor with God and with man through Jesus Christ. Are you with me? You can grow in favor, but you don't start out with 10 favor. You start out with let's say 2 favor and with the call of God on your life and with perseverance and with faithfulness. I mean, favor grows in your life. And as favor grows in your life, as favor grows in your life, so does authority.
So how many know that the enemy can see the anointing on your life? I recognize Jesus. I know about Paul. But who are you? I'd like to point out that favor of the Lord gives you authority in the spirit realm so that the demons know who you are and the angels know who you are.
In 1 Corinthians, chapter 11, it says that when a woman is praying or prophesying, this is in Corinthians. If you wanna know more about this, you can look at read my book called Fashion to Rain. It'll tell you the whole story about that.
But in the city of Corinth, when a woman shaved her head, she was a prostitute. And when she was actually. When she was under right covering, she had her head covered. Remember, this is the Greek cities and long story, but Paul said when women are praying and prophesying, this is in Corinth, doesn't have to happen here. They need a symbol of authority on their head because of the angels.
This is the only part I want you to hear. They had to have a symbol of authority on their head because of the angels. Why? Psalms 103:20 says, the angels hearken to his word and hearken to his voice and carry out his word. How many you know, when you pray and prophesy, it's the angels that fulfill your prophecies and answer your prayers.
Where am I going? I'm pointing out that an apostolic calling and a handkerchief are more powerful than the name of Jesus.
When the demons don't recognize you and that the Apostles understood the spirit realm so that when Philip drove the enemy out of the city, they said, we need to establish government so the enemy can't come back.
Recognizing that Philip had a certain anointing and he was called to do a certain thing. And the apostles had a certain anointing to do a different thing. And by the way, you may not know this part, but he, Philip leads the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ. And one of the things that most people don't know is that Ethiopia actually had the greatest revival and reformation greater than the Book of Acts happen from the Ethiopian eunuch. But obviously the book of Acts doesn't cover Ethiopia. But I'd point out that God knows what he's doing. If you were in front of a crowd and thousands of people were coming to the Lord and the Lord goes, go to the desert and lead one person to Christ. How many know God knows what he's doing?
So I just want to finish with this last thought.
That God is doing something very special in England.
And next year's gonna be a huge tipping point for England.
And that you're a part of that tipping point. Like it's not gonna tip by accident. It's gonna tip because you take your authority. God's doing something very special here. I bet he's doing it in several places. God's creating an apostolic church here.
It's not just titles. We don't care about tidal waves. We do care about offices because offices carry authority.
And I want to, I want to propose that this place is going to become an abstock prophetic center where people come from all over. They may come for a month, they may come for four or five months. But the way that a prophets, they, they, they commissioned kings. You remember the prophet Samuel commissioned David as king. He commissioned Samuel as king. I wanna point out that God is joining the prophets, the priests and the kings, that God is reestablishing authority. Did you hear what I said? He's teaching us how authority works. He's given us the discerning of spirits so we can see the favor and anointing on people so that we can actually yield to it. So we actually have eyes to see it. We can see a general in the spirit. We know when to listen to that person. We know when that person has more authority than we have. We can actually, we can submit to greater favor and we can inherit something that, but through impartation, that we don't have to work for ourselves. Okay, I'm kind of boring. You know, why don't you stand up, let Me pray for you.
I want to just say for English people. You're pretty responsive.
I'm gonna pray for you. Okay.
I'm gonna pray again for the discerning of spirits in the context I just taught you. Cause I believe that we're gonna move into a place where we're gonna see that there's God's raising up heroes. God's raising up anointed women and anointed men who can come and lead us. We can actually have authority, and in heaven, we can have actually authority in hell. We want to be people that when we walk in the room, they go, chris Fellowson's in here. Let's get out of here.
We want the devil to know we're in the room. We want the devil to be afraid of us, not afraid of him.
And I love this so. Lord, I pray for a new anointing, for a new day. Lord, I pray for a new anointing, for a new day. Lord, I pray for discernment and that we would have eyes to see and ears to hear. Lord, I pray that you would give us infrared glasses so we can see what other people can't see. We can know what other people don't know. Lord, I pray for the mind of Christ, that we can Google God. We can tap into what God is thinking, not just how he thinks, but what he's thinking. Lord, I pray for some of the most brilliant people who were ever born to lead the opening of this new era. Lord, that this new era would actually birth in the kingdom. It wouldn't be the kingdom's influence in it. It'd actually be birthed out of the kingdom. That, Lord, we would be the womb of the dawn. That, Lord, the church would be the womb of the dawn. You'd be the head, and we'd be the birthing canal. And, Lord, may the sperm of God find the womb and give birth to a new thing. I just bless what you're doing in here, and I pray God that wonders and signs and miracles would happen, but they would lead to deeper depths of the kingdom. I pray that England would come under the influence of the kingdom. Lord, I pray that you would bring her back to her roots. Lord, I pray. I thank you that you have forgiven this nation for its atrocities as you have forgiven United States for its atrocities. But, Lord, let us come back to the confidence we once had where we knew that God was calling us to make disciples of all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. And everybody said, I received that for myself.
Thank you for listening. So long. God Bless.
[00:53:29] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to the Chroma Charge Podcast. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday day at Cromer Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship and how to donate, visit our website at Cromer Church.
