Taking Back the Gates

From the beautiful sunshine coast of Australia, this is the Awake Nations Ministries podcast equipping the church for revival, Reformation and kingdom Impact. Learn more about us by visiting awakeaus.com so Jesus is about going for the 1, right? Leaving the 99 and going for the 1. Would you agree? Right.

But he doesn't just go for the 1 and ignore the 99, right? Or he doesn't go for the 1 at the expense of seeing a city. 1. You think about Jonah. He was one who went to Nineveh.

Jesus went to the woman at the well. Where was she from? Samaria. And where did she go back and tell everyone about Jesus? Samaria.

There's a reality. Jesus will go for the One, but he also equally wants to go for a whole city. And I want to talk about what does it look like to see a city completely transformed? And we're going to touch base on this in Acts 19 in the city of Ephesus.

Before we do that, I just want to lay a bit of a foundation. Is that okay? Awesome. So it says in John 21:25, this is concerning Jesus. And there are also many things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

Right? So Jesus did stuff, but he didn't do it in a place of striving. He didn't do it from a place of. Of haste. And there's a lie that I've found that has begin to creep in into the Western church.

And there's truth to it. But you need to understand the truth, because if you hear this quote, which I'll say in a moment, it's easy to use it as an excuse to pull back. So if I say this quote, I want to ask you if you've heard it, have you heard the quote, it's all about rest. Just give us a wave if you heard people say that, Right?

So I've heard people even in our community say, hey, it's all about rest. It's all about rest. And what people do is they take that quote and they do nothing. They completely pull back. But if you look at the life of Jesus as our example, he lived in a posture of rest.

But it says if we would record everything he did, all the books in the world could not contain them. So rest is not inactivity. Rest is a dimension, and that's the shift. Rest is not doing nothing. Rest is a dimension in God where we can do much more in him than we could do in our own ability.

I Believe it's called like a Kairos moment. A Kairos moment is like when the window of heaven is open and you can access something in that moment that you could not do for 10 years in your own strength. What we need to begin to do is discern the Kairos moments for us individually, for our family and for our community. And what will happen is you'll find those Kairos moments even begin to happen in your meeting, like in worship. That song you sing about the glory and the rain coming down, I felt we were teetering on a Kairos moment where God wants to do something in those moments.

The slide we have here is ecclesia, or the Ecclesia, depending on your pronunciation. Some people are use a K instead of a C. I think K looks cooler. That's why I've chosen K. There's no other reason. But the ecclesia is the church, an assembly of called out ones. A governing body to execute authority and rule over the land in which they inhabit.

That's you and I. We're not just called to sit, play church, do church, drink nice coffee, which we do back home, Philadelphia. Check out our website, buy some coin, no joking.

We're to be mobilized. And in the prayer meeting, as Glenn was sharing in the prayer, See, we are family on mission. It's not either or. You're not just family. If you're just family, you become introverted.

If you're just on mission, you wear yourself out. But when you understand we are family on mission, my goodness, things begin to shift.

So in Acts 17, 5, 6, I want to read this to you. This is Paul and Silas in Thessalonica. And he's been preaching, or they've been preaching in the synagogue. Acts 17, verse 5 and 6 says this. But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men who from the marketplace and gathering a mob, which is pretty common back in those days.

And we'll look at that further, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason. Not prophetic, just want to say that. And sought to bring them out to the people. Verse 6. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brethren to the rulers of the city.

And they were crying out, check this out. These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.

These who have turned the world upside down have now arrived in Thessalonica. And what they thought was an accusation. Paul and Silas are like, that's the most awesome compliment.

Right?

They're accusing them the City's in an uproar, on the edge of a riot. They've turned the world upside down into here. Awesome. You can't actually say anything better about me than that. Yes, we've turned the world upside down for Jesus, and we're about to do it in this city also.

So we're going to look at the city of Ephesus very shortly. A city that was turned upside down. And I'm going to give you some history and facts regarding the city of Ephesus, because if it can happen in Ephesus, I believe it can happen anywhere.

So there was a unique pattern that you find in Scripture. I'm going to ask the next slide to pop up. And I believe this pattern, you'll see it happening all the time.

Obviously it started with Jesus. He's the example. He was the exception of going to the cross, but he's the example of what it looks like to live in right relationship with the Father. So Jesus set the example, but then the disciples followed it. And this is a reoccurring pattern you will see all through the Scriptures.

And this is like, if you want to. I'm hesitant to do this, but if you want a prescription or a recipe for turning the world upside down or a city upside down, at least these three things, they became a living flame of love.

They understood that they were sons and daughters of a good father.

They were the oracle or the oracles of manifest truth. You know, there's three realms to the word of God. There's the Logos, which is what the written, the rhema, the now speaking, and Jesus, the living word.

They were oracles of the Logos, the rhema and the living. The gospel of the kingdom, or the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his kingdom. And they demonstrated power. They demonstrated the kingdom with power wherever they went. Sons of a good father, the Gospel of Jesus.

And they walked in the fullness of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You want to see a city turned upside down? Start with these three things. And we've said to our community whenever we meet, whether it's in a home, in a cafe, in a corporate gathering, if we're expectant that each of those three things are evident, it's an explosive recipe. Truth, power and presence, or truth, power and love.

Amen.

So Luke, chapter 19. I'm just going to paraphrase just for the sake of time here, but Jesus shares a parable. Now, a parable has two purposes. Anyone want to guess what they are? The two main purposes of a parable, the words actually rhyme, conceal and reveal.

Or conceal or reveal. So when a parable is shared by Jesus, it has two purposes, either to conceal truth for a later time, or to reveal truth to those who have the Spirit. And In Luke, chapter 19, verse 11 to 27, Jesus shares the parable of the 10 miners. And it's essentially a nobleman. It's about a nobleman who went to a far country to receive a kingdom, but then he was coming back.

But in verse 13, this is what he says to his servants who are there looking after his estate affairs. In the parable, why, this man goes. And in verse 13, I want you to catch this. These are the words that Jesus says in the parable, Occupy till I come, Occupy until I return. And if you understand that word, occupy, it means this.

To engage, to invest and to conduct business. He did not say to his servants, just sit back, hold the fort. It's all about rest, right? He did not say that. He said, engage, invest and conduct business whilst I'm away.

In other words, when I come back, there should be a greater return on what was left before I left and when I returned.

This is a word to the church. Occupy until he returns. Occupy, engagement, invest, conduct business until he returns. You read Acts, chapter 2, verse 2. It says this and they were in one place.

And it says this, and they were in one accord.

Jesus said to 500, wait for the Holy Spirit. How many were found on the day of Pentecost in the upper room? One hundred and twenty. He said the 500 wait, only one hundred and twenty were found. But the one hundred and twenty became how many in that one day?

3,000. In other words, God will use a smaller group in unity in one accord than a bunch of people who have all different ideas and have no unity and agreement. I believe when the body of Christ comes in a place of one accord and unity, oh my goodness. It says they're in one place and in one accord. And the Spirit came like a rushing, mighty wind.

Give me five people in unity, over 500 who just want to do their own thing.

Let me drive this home. Imagine I'm not a very good runner. I like to ride bikes and hunt. Shoot guns. I like to do shoot guns.

Imagine a runner. They're at the starting blocks, right? But the night before, they've broken their big toe. Before the race, the day of the race, are they going to run at their optimal ability? Why?

Because their toes broken, right? So just imagine now they're in perfect health and there's opposition or other people in the race on each side, on the right and the left. And they. Kurt, you're hopeless. You're not gonna run.

You're useless. I'm gonna, you know, just. It's that banter. It's, you know, I'm gonna beat you physically. That has no effect on their body unless they choose to receive what's being said.

But otherwise their body can run it at the optimal. Right. Because it's external.

I've been in a meeting where we've had at least three witches come into a meeting. This is in Castlemaine. Were you there? Did you hear about it? I was preaching.

Castlemaine, small town in Bendigo. Three witches came in, started to drop F bombs in the meeting, throw chairs. Problem is, that stuff excites me, so the meeting just goes to another level.

In other words, I would rather 20 witches in a meeting than someone in the body of Christ in disunity. Because someone in the body of Christ is like the big toe. Why? Because they're part of the body. So the body can't go where it needs to go if the body is not in unity.

But when the body comes into agreement and in unity, oh, my goodness, anything's possible. You can have an external 20 witches surrounding the building externally trying to curse you. The body's in unity. I'd say, watch out for them.

So he says, conduct business. Occupy until I return. You know, there's essentially two positions you have during wartime. Defensive or offensive.

Or three positions. Sorry, there's three positions. Defensive, offensive, or neutral. What country was neutral during World War II? Everyone know that?

Switzerland. Right. They chose neutrality. You do some history on World War II and Switzerland, and you'll find this that the Germans actually took advantage of Switzerland's neutrality. 197 times at least.

The airspace of Switzerland was. Was invaded by the Nazis. Why? Because they chose neutrality. They didn't pick a side.

160 times, 160Americans were imprisoned or captured by the Nazis escaping through Switzerland. The Americans thought, hey, this is a neutral country. Let's use it as an escape route. No, no. The Nazis took advantage of that.

There's no neutrality in the kingdom. When he says, occupy until I return, you're defensive, you're neutral, or you're taking ground. You choose as a church, and you choose as a community, and you choose as a family. Which one will it be? I grew up in a movement that was defensive.

Get saved, batten down and wait for Jesus to return. Problem is, he hasn't come back yet. And I grew up, I was birthed in that movement.

Defensive neutrality. Yeah, he's coming back. I'll just chill out. Rest. It's all about rest.

Inactivity. No, no. Rest is a dimension. Let's go. Praise the Lord.

So when we occupy, it's not just the territory we're occupying, we also occupy the gates of that territory. Gates. I could do a whole study, a whole teaching on gates. The power of gates. Gates represent two things.

Transition and transaction.

So in Bendigo, once a fortnight, we have what's called the war room. We have about seven churches involved where the pastors and the elders meet once a week on a Tuesday morning. So once a fortnight on a Tuesday morning to pray for our city. And it's as if we are standing in the gates of our city and we say, this is allowed in and this isn't.

When Jesus was ministering to the 5,000 and they got hungry, what did he ask for? He asked for food. And what was he given? Is it three fish and two loaves or the other way around? I can never remember.

That's one of those ones. I can never remember. Like, it's either three loaves and two fish or three fish and two loaves. It doesn't matter. There was five altogether.

All right, so this is what was the first thing he did when he took the loaves and fish, held them up. And he what? Gave thanks. And when he gave thanks, he stepped through a gate of multiplication.

You enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise. You want breakthrough in your life? Just begin to give thanks. You want to see financial provision into your life, Begin to give thanks. When you give thanks, you position yourself at a gate or of transition and transaction.

So we occupy the Sunshine Coast. We engage, we conduct business, but we also occupy the gates. This is allowed in. This is not allowed in. I'm allowed in.

Thank you, Glenn and Lynn. But you know what?

When we gather as an eldership of the city and we see that there's a certain band coming to Bendigo to play at the showgrounds, we will go and stand in the gate and say, that band is not coming into our city. Sometimes it still happens, but we've had times where it's been rained out. Open the floodgates.

Let me just drive the point home.

Genesis 19. Lot was in the gate when the angels arrived, serving as a judge. Judgment happens at the gate. You get to decide what takes place. Deuteronomy.

I love this 1. Deuteronomy 21, 18, 21. Rebellious children were taken to the gate where the elders would pass. Discipline. Discipline happened at the gate.

Obviously, we're not going to go gather our kids up and take them to the gate and, you know, pull out the spoon. But spiritually, discipline happens at the gate. Esther, chapter 2, verse 21 and 22. Mordecai became aware of the plot to assassinate the king at the gate. Mysteries, secrets, revelation is revealed at the gate.

Now look at this. 2 Samuel, chapter 15, verse 1 to 6. I'm going to read verse 6 for the sake of time. Absalom. Who was Absalom?

Whose son was Absalom? David. Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice. And so he stole the hearts of the people of Israel. And where was Absalom?

Seated at the gate. In other words, whenever there's a void left by a believer, it'll be occupied by something or someone else. Where was David supposed to be at this point? At the gate. The gate was left empty.

His son came in, usurped his authority, won the people to himself at the gate. But check this out. So that's 2 Samuel 15, 2 Samuel 19. Now verse 8. So the king went out and took his seat at the town gate.

And as the news spread throughout the town that he was there, everyone went to him. After Absalom's death, David came off his throne and actually positioned himself at the gate where he was actually supposed to be the whole time. And you read on. It says then he would actually command his armies from the place of the gate.

So we engage, we conduct business. We occupy our region, our territory, and we position ourselves spiritually at the gates, where orders are given, where discipline happens, where there's judgment. And it says here where everyone then came to him. Is this making sense? Genesis 28:16 7.

Jacob awoke from his sleep. He thought, surely the Lord is in this place. And I was not aware of it. He was afraid and said, how awesome is this place. This is none other than the house of God.

This is the gate of heaven.

There's not just gates territorially, territory wise, regional, wise. There's gates in the realm of the Spirit that can open up over your house, your family. Think about this. The house of Obed Edom. What was placed there for three months?

The Ark of the Covenant. Word came back to David. He was asking where it is. And they said, oh, it's at the house of Obed Edom. And everything in his house is blessed.

Finances, health, children, marriage, cattle, business.

His house became a gateway for the presence of God. And there was extraordinary blessing. So then David's like, you know what? Go Bring it back to Jerusalem.

So let's look at Acts 19. Glenn, what time do you want me to finish? Because I want to honor the time. Well, you all right to keep going a little bit? Okay, awesome.

All right, open up your bibles to Acts 19. We won't read the whole chapter.

Let's just paraphrase really quickly. So Paul is arriving to the city of Ephesus. Let me just give you some facts concerning Ephesus. So there was a temple in Ephesus. Does anyone know what the temple was called?

The Temple of Diana or Artemis. Artemis to the Greeks, Diana to the Romans. Same temple, just different names. So there was a temple in Ephesus, the Temple of Diana or the Temple of Artemis.

Now, Artemis was known to be the daughter of Zeus, mythologically, spiritually, depending how you want to interpret that, the temple was one of the. Is now one of the seven wonders of the world, or it's in ruins now, built with marble. And Diana or Artemis was known as the Greek God of chastity, hunting and the moon. So that was the three things that this temple represented. The temple functioned as a bank and was full of art and up to 400 statues.

It brought great wealth to Ephesus. There was merchants and kings who would come to Ephesus, a port city to conduct business. There were thousands of slaves and temple prostitutes in the city of Ephesus at the temple. The city was approximately 250,000 people, in population, quarter of a million. But Ephesus was the epicenter of magic, dark magic, the occult, the new age, demonic activity, satanic worship, child sacrifice, you, name was the epitome and the epicenter of darkness.

They had a temple there called the Temple of Diana or Temple of Artemis. It was a principal port on the coast of Asia Minor. And obviously Ephesus is included in the seven letters to the churches in Revelation. So Acts 19, I would encourage you as homework, to read that whole chapter. It is a blueprint for city transformation.

So in verse, I'm going to Paraphrase here, Acts 19:1:7, Paul comes across some believers near the city who have only received John's baptism, Baptism in water for repentance, but not the baptism of the Spirit. He lays hands on them, they receive the spirit, and they began to speak in tongues. That's 1 to 7, verse 8 to 10, Paul moves from the synagogue to the school of Tyrannus. So he's in the synagogue for three months, and then he was kicked out by the Jews. And so he goes to the school of Tyrannus.

Now Tyrannus from research, was a philosopher and a teacher of the day who happened to own a lecture hall or theater that was called the School of Tyrannus. So it doesn't say whether Tyrannus was a believer or not, but he allowed Paul for two years to use his lecture hall or his theater to preach the gospel of the kingdom with signs, wonders and miracles. Doesn't say whether it was for free or whether Paul paid to use it. But all we know is that's why it was called the School of Tyrannus. It was someone who allowed Paul to use their facility.

Verse 11 to 20. There's now record stories of miracles, signs, wonders, deliverances taking place. And then we see this. The seven sons of Sceva rise up to monetize deliverance.

History repeats itself. We're seeing that a little bit today.

So seven sons, they're like, well, hey, let's become professional exorcists. Paul's having great, great.

What's the word? Success. Great success. He's got the rungs on the board. People are coming.

Hey, I reckon the seven sons get together. You know what, let's monetize this. Let's create our own exorcist team and let's see if we can replicate what Paul's doing. They come up to someone who's demonized. The demons begin to speak to the seven sons.

Jesus, I know, Paul, I know. But who are you? And it says, the man jumps on all seven, rips their clothes off, beats them up and they run away bloodied and beaten.

But you know what happens next? Says, then the fear of the Lord fell upon the whole city. And it says, the word of the Lord grew and prevailed.

Do you think this just tells me the enemy doesn't know the future? Because if the devil had have known the future, that if I attack these seven guys and the byproduct of that is a move of the Holy Spirit and the Lord in Ephesus, do you think he would have done it? No. In other words, God allowed the seven sons to be persecuted. That obviously operating outside their identity and with the wrong heart and motivation, the devil attacked them.

And the byproduct was the fear of the Lord fell upon a whole city. And the word of the Lord grew and prevailed. The devil fell right into God's hands and was used as a puppet to see God move.

Verse 21 to 41. We see again a riot now stirred in the city.

The silversmiths that are carving their little idols to Diana or to Artemis are worried about their business. And they're worried about Diana getting a bad name. And they're like, we got to do something, because this city is turning towards Jesus. The kingdom is advancing. People are getting healed and restored, delivered and set free.

They're even gathering all their occultish material practices, trinkets, idols. They had a bonfire. We're going to lose business if this continues. Let's start a riot.

And in verse 35, and in verse 37, check out this.

As the mayor was able to quiet them. This is the mayor of Ephesus. Quiet them down enough to speak. I'm reading from the new living translation. Citizens of Ephesus, he said, everyone knows that Ephesus is the official guardian of the temple of the great Artemis, whose image fell down from heaven.

I want to propose to you that Artemis or Diana was a principality over the whole region of Asia.

It says there, whose image fell down from us, from heaven. Now there's dogma, doctrine, personal opinion. I'm not saying this is dogma. This floats between doctrine and personal opinion. But I would propose to you this, that just possibly Artemis was a fallen angel who became a principality over that region.

I'll let that land. Verse 36, since this is an undeniable fact. What's the undeniable fact that Artemis fell down to us from heaven? This wasn't just a temple without spiritual authority or power in that region. This was a principality that had held influence over people's lives for a long time and was getting demolished, uprooted and pulled down.

You should stay calm and not do anything rash. Check out this next verse 37. You have brought these men here, but they have stolen nothing from the temple and have not spoken against our Goddess.

You see, spiritual warfare. Sometimes we think this is spiritual warfare. I'm going to go up to the high place and I'm going to rebuke and cast out principalities.

Do you know, nowhere does it say in the Bible that you can cast out a principality.

I don't mind going to the high places and doing business in the spirit. But it says here, in the two years that Paul was preaching the kingdom of the Gospel or the Gospel of the kingdom with demonstration, he did not once speak a bad word against Diana.

But what happened? Her influence was diminished. People turned to follow Jesus and there was riot of people worried about what's taking place. I want to propose to you that spiritual warfare is not about stepping outside your jurisdiction and going and picking fights with the demonic realm. Spiritual warfare is keeping your focus on Jesus and his kingdom.

And when that takes place, the Other stuff's taken care of.

A principality is like a municipality, and a principality is governed by a Prince Daniel. 10 Daniel's praying 21 days, and what happens? There's no breakthrough. Right? Then it says Michael, the chief prince, comes through and brings breakthrough over the Prince of Persia.

The Prince of Persia was a principality over that region that Daniel was coming up against, or that was actually coming against his prayers. And it needed a chief Prince Michael to come through and bring the breakthrough. There's a high. I'm not going to go into it right now, but there is a hierarchy and an order in the unseen realm. And when you think you can go and begin to pick fights with principalities, you begin to step outside your jurisdiction.

Keep your focus on the Lord. It's like this. Imagine a game of soccer. This is the soccer ball, right? Just.

Who plays soccer here, David? World Cup's on, brother.

How'd they go? They're playing today. Oh, they lost one all. Okay.

I believe this is a picture of what spiritual warfare can look like. Just imagine two soccer teams and there's no soccer ball. What's the purpose of the game then? There is no purpose. You just have two teams.

They're just going to attack each other. When it says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities and darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places or in the unseen realms. The word wrestle is the word contender. Put the soccer ball in a soccer match, what are they now contending over? Not each other, but what the ball.

We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but we do contend over something. And when we understand what we're contending over, it shifts how we do spiritual warfare, right? So all of a sudden, now the point of the soccer match is, is to get the ball, which what we're contending over, into the other goal, the other side.

Jesus said, on earth as it is in heaven, the heavens are the Lord, but the earth is given to man. It says in Psalms. What we're contending over is humanity. That's the focus. It's not focused on what the enemy's doing.

We're not unaware of that there's an opposition, but the enemy's contending for the same thing. We are souls. When we understand that our contending is over people and our heart is to fulfill Jesus prayer, bring heaven to earth. Oh, my goodness. The enemy's still going to do what they do, but I'm actually going to be more focused on what God's doing over humanity than what the enemy's up to in Other words, I'm not attacking the enemy and ignoring the ball or the opposition.

When I focus on the ball or humanity, the enemy gets out of the way. And we kick goals, we take ground. And I believe that's what was happening in the city of Ephesus. Paul's focus was Jesus Christ and his kingdom. And the contention was over that city.

But Paul did not bring an assault directly against Artemis or Diana. But the byproduct was what you read it. In two years, all of Asia heard the Gospel. All of Asia that was under the influence of a principality. The principality's influence was broken through the advancement of the kingdom.

Does that make sense? Amen. All right, we're going to land this plane. Jared, do you mind jumping up?

And I would encourage you to read also acts the Acts 20, the preceding chapter. And I just want to read two verse or three verses from the. From Acts 20. And this is. You begin to understand that the power that Paul had as an apostle and how he was received in the city of Ephesus.

And this. This pulls up my heart. Acts 20, verse 36 to 38. When Paul had finished speaking, he says he's now. He's now leaving Ephesus, farewelling the elders.

He knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced and kissed Paul. What grieved them the most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship and he was off to Rome to stand before Caesar.

For two years he labored in a city, saw transformation, and then when it was time to leave, he knelt down with the elders in an embrace. The love that the body had for Paul, that they would not see him again.

If we can throw up the last slide and we'll finish with this.

You've probably heard of metrons and spheres before, I would imagine.

But Paul writes this in 2 Corinthians to the letter to the church in Corinth. And you know that the saying, Peter picked a pick of pickled peppers or Sally. Yeah. Peter Piper picked a what? Picked a pack.

Pickled peppers or Sally. Shells, Seashells by the seashore. This is the original tongue twister. And you'll find out why in a moment. 2 Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 12 16.

Paul writes this. For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. You'll catch what I'm saying. But they other people measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. We, however, will not boast beyond measure.

Paul speaking of himself, but within the limits or the word there. Measure. Or in the Greek metron of the sphere which God has appointed us, a sphere which especially includes you. That's the church in Corinth. For we are not extending ourselves as though our authority did not extend to you.

For it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ, not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, in other men's labors, but having hope that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's sphere of accomplishment. What Paul's saying there is. There's other ministries getting round, and they're outside their measure. They've gone beyond the grace that God's given them. And Paul's saying this, you know what?

I'm going to be wise, and I'm going to stay within the measure that God's given me, which was the city of Corinth. The word measure in Greek is the word metron, and it means grace and authority. So Paul says this. The metron that's been given to me, the grace and the authority that's been given to me. Paul as an apostle is recognized in the sphere that God opens up.

So your sphere is your assigned territory, region, or boundary of activity. Your sphere is where your metron is received and recognized.

So Paul's like, you know what? There's people that are going beyond their measure into spheres. They're not received or recognized. They're actually thinking more of themselves than what they are, and they're not wise. Paul's like, you know what?

I know the assignment that's being given to me. I know my territory. I know my region. I know the sphere where the grace and the authority that I carry will be received and recognized. That was Ephesus.

That was Corinth. That was Philippi, that was Thessalonica. Can we stand to our feet?

I want to say this. There's a measure in a metron that's been given to awake nations. And your sphere certainly includes the Sunshine Coast.

So your measure and your metron is recognized and received in this territory and in this region. Not just received and recognized by people, but also the unseen realm. Yes, there are powers and principalities over this region, but they also are aware that your measure, your metron of the kingdom is here.

But they don't want you to believe that, because if you don't believe, it doesn't affect them. But when you know, I'm called And I'm chosen to be here. This is my sphere. I'm taking back a city.

One of the biggest dangers in the body of Christ is the spirit of comparison. When we begin to measure ourselves against other people.

You know, God measures success very different than how we do. We're a church of about 80 to 100 people, been going 10 years. But I know God doesn't just measure the success of a ministry by how many bums are on a seat.

You can fill a church and have no impact in a city, But you can begin to take businesses back, share the gospel on the streets, take over the airwaves, create houses of obed edom, houses and neighborhoods of power and presence of the Lord. That's success in God's eyes, I believe. A transformed life. Disciples who make disciples. Replication.

Because in Matthew 25 it talks about the parable again to conceive or reveal truth. The parable of the talents. One was given five. One, two and one. One.

And you look that and you go, well, that seems really unfair. Why did one get five, one got two, and one got one. But if you understand the next part of the verse, it says this, and they were given according to their ability. In other words, if the one had been given five, it would have destroyed them. But if the one who was given the one, or the one that was given the two puts it to work and God goes, you know what?

You were faithful with the little. I can now entrust you with more. I believe this is a word for this community. As you are faithful with what he put in your hand, as you choose not to bury it, as you begin to understand who and whose you are as a son and daughter, that you have a metron and a sphere in the sunshine coast, you will begin to take back a region. You will begin to take back a city.

2 Corinthians 5, 20. We are Christ's ambassadors. As if though he was making his appeal through us, which is come back to him.

An ambassador from the U.S. for example, to the nation of Australia, works in an embassy. Understand this, that ambassador from the US if they relocate their whole family to Australia, every need is paid for from the nation. They're from their housing, their cars, their business, their utilities, their children's education.

And then, you know what? If I was to go to the US Embassy and fill up a Molotov cocktail, which I would never do, this has been recorded. I would not do that. And I would light the Molotov cocktail and throw it over the wall of the embassy, there would actually be A declaration of war against the U.S. not just the embassy, because the embassy is on U.S. soil. Even though it's in the nation of Australia.

Who was Paul before he was Paul? Saul? He's on the road to Damascus. He gets thrown to the ground by a great light. And it says this.

Jesus speaks and says, why are you persecuting me? Who was Paul persecuting? The church. Who responded on behalf of the Church? Jesus is an attack against us.

Is an attack against him.

When we begin to understand that we are Christ's ambassadors, every need is taken care of, every provision is looked after. Health, our children, our marriage. Keep surrendering it to him. And know I'm an ambassador of Christ. And when an attack comes, it's not against you, it's against Him.

And he will respond accordingly. It instills confidence in the body.

Just put your hands out in front of you for a moment.

We are a spirit with a soul in a body. We're a triune being. Every part of our very being affects the other. Our spirit affects our soul. Our soul affects our body.

The Bible says a merry heart works like a medicine in the kingdom. Joy actually has medicinal properties. You can be healed by just walking in joy. That's the truth. But it says a broken spirit dries the bones.

So right now, every part of us, spirit, soul and body, just before the Lord. Thank you, Father. I was reading Acts 10 this morning. It says, when Peter went to the house of Cornelius, it says, act as he spoke, the spirit fell. The spirit will always complement the word of God.

When a blacksmith takes a lump of metal, they don't just put it in the fire. They don't just hammer it. It's the fire and the hammering together. And they can take a lump of metal and produce a sword. It's not the word alone.

It's not the Spirit alone. It's the word and the spirit. It's the hammering and the fire. And something formidable can be forged in and through your life.

I would love to just invite you to partner with what's been released today. If there's been a stirring in your spirit concerning the word of God, to begin to dig your heels in, to go. You know what? I've been sitting in a place of neutrality. I choose today to occupy, to engage, to conduct business, to advance, to bring a return back to the Lord of what he's invested into me as a gift back to him.

If you're standing for your family, for your marriage, for your children, for this community, for your neighborhood, for your school, for your workplace, because you have a metron and a measure where you now have a revelation that you are now received and recognized not just by people, but by the spirit realm in those places. I would love to pray for you. I would love to stand with you. I would love to just see an impartation and just the Spirit of God begin to complement and come and partner with the Word that's been released and deposited in your soul. It says in James that the implanted word has the ability to sozo you, save, heal and deliver you.

The Word never returns void. It goes like a seed looking for good soil. And when it lands in good soil, the Spirit waters it. And Jesus said that you would produce fruit and fruit that would last. I believe that seeds have gone out this morning into the soil of your heart.

I would love to plant out to partner with you for the rain of the Spirit just to come and just begin to refresh and come upon that seed and allow a germination to take place in your life for what's ahead for you as a family and for this community.

So if you'd like to come, please come now.