How are you? I was on vacation, I really was. And I was thinking that I gotta make a note to myself that when I'm on vacation I should always make sure that the Sunday back from my vacation, I'm not preaching.
So write that down, somebody, because this is. The sermon is fresh off the airplane. I figured I had a five hour flight coming home, so I opened up my computer and just started filling stuff up. So here you go. I don't know, I'm telling you, but it's a bunch of stuff.
I woke up this morning, took a look at it again and went, lord Jesus. How's that for an introduction?
Amen. How many? Still feeling just the sloppy, gooey glory of God. How many? How many?
Oh, that's good. That's good. Just stay there then. That's good. Stay there.
So we're in this series, it's now called Drench. We'll probably change it again to something else. But I am going to move on and start talking about the Incarnation in December because you gotta understand the Incarnation. The slide's telling me that I only have 10 minutes. That's amazing.
So I have 10 minutes. Praise Jesus. Well, let's, let's see what we can do. But we started. We're talking about heaven and earth.
We're talking about heaven and earth. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and it was beautiful, it was wonderful. Then chaos came and void came. And we've been talking about how we are that vehicle. Jesus is building his church.
And the church is the eternal purpose of God, to bring union back and restoration back between heaven and earth. So there's no difference. I don't, you know, I'm sad when somebody says, you know, it's, it's better in heaven than earth because that's not what God desired. God desired that on earth as it is in heaven. Is that true?
Is that true? Then anywhere where we see that the earth is not reflecting, manifesting the essence of heaven, isn't there. We have a responsibility to command heaven to come into manifestation in that circumstance, for God's will to be done, he has submitted Himself to us and he has to do it through us. If he doesn't do it through us, everything implodes. Because this word is no good.
God has limited himself by his own will and his own word. And he holds his word above his name that if something's going to happen here on earth, if earth is going to be restored to the heavenly realm, expression and manifestation, it's going to be you, you, you you, you, you, you, and especially me, that God's going to do it? Do you know who you are? Do you know what you've been called to do? Do you know the power that God has invested?
Last time we were in Acts, chapter six, it said, then the word of the Lord spread. They. They selected a group of people to help. They ran into a problem, and the big miracle is that they solved the problem. And everybody thought it was great.
I mean, you got a problem and everybody thought it was great. Can you imagine the whole multitude, thousands and thousands of people, were all pleased by what was done. That's a miracle. Generally, even if you make a decision, there's something I didn't like what they decided, I did it. But everybody left going, wow, that was wisdom.
It was so powerful that even a great group of priests ended up becoming obedient to the faith. So excellent service advances the Gospel. Excellent service removes restrictions, distractions, problems, makes room for growth. Excellent service is a culture, and it's a culture's highest expressed spiritual value. Amen.
That takes us right to the next verse, the next verse, because we're doing a series in the book of Acts. So in the book of Acts, the next verse is verse nine. And Stephen say Stephen. And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs. Here was a deacon.
He was full of the Spirit, had great value amongst the people, and he was full of wisdom. And this guy went out and. And he was serving and doing what he was asked to do. But miracles, signs, wonders were being manifest through Stephen among the people. There arose some people from the Synagogue of Freedom, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from CIA and from Asia.
And they disputed with Stephen, and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. Then they secretly induced men to say, we've heard him blaspheme, and blasphemous words against Moses and God. And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and they seized him and they brought him to the council. They also set up false witnesses who said, this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law, which actually is true. It wasn't that it was blasphemous, though.
But he did say, Jesus said, this place is going to be destroyed. This place is going to be destroyed. Jesus prophesied over us and said, this temple is going to go down. Not a stone will be left in place. Everything will be overturned.
That's true. It wasn't Blasphemous. It was true. He's going to destroy this temple that was made with hands. He's not going to live in it.
I don't live in things made by man's hands. Blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. And he did. He said, the law is done. He said, the law is done.
The words of Moses are done. All of that pointed to Jesus, and he's come. So this is true. These are the things that he was saying. He was saying this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, and he'll change the customs which Moses delivered.
Which is true. Is true. He did say those things. And that will happen. Can I get an amen?
The temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed, never to be put back up again. And the. The law is going to be tossed out and replaced with a new covenant and a new law with new commandments. And that's what Stephen said. And this man who brought this into manifestation, you killed him.
And he took their own book. And he showed them through their own book that Jesus was the fulfillment of every word. And he showed them in their own book. And they got livid. They got all freaked out.
And all who sat in the council looking steadfastly at him, saw his face. Face. Say face. This is on an airplane. They saw his face.
They saw his face. And I was struck with that. They saw his face as the face of an angel. Here he is brought in, arrested. They bring him in.
They. They accuse him. They're. They're there. They want to kill him.
But when they saw his face, they saw the face of an angel. Say angel. All right, your face. Listen, your face. Your face is your public brain.
That's what neurologists say. They say your face is your public brain. So when I look at your face, I can see what's going on in your brain. I can see how you're wired, what is influencing you. And your face literally manifests your brain.
True story. Your face also speaks to creation. For better, for worse. For better, for worse, your face speaks to creation. And for better, for worse, your face speaks to people that you're in contact with every day.
Your face is an incredible statement. It's either a force for hell or it's bringing heaven into manifestation. Pay attention to your face. Sometimes we need to fix it. Your face could have called this.
Fix your face.
Your face affirms reality. Your face, when you look at somebody with assurance and with affirmation, and when you look at somebody and when you share things confidently as I'VE had people come to me and say, it looks like you actually believe what you're saying.
Of course I do. But, you know, your face affirms reality. Your face, your face can accept and your face can heal. Isn't that great? I got a healing face.
I was just looking at people, and I feel better. Don't you like to be with people, that you just look at them and you feel better? Ah, I miss your face. I say that in emails when I haven't seen people at church for a bit. I go, I miss your face.
I miss your face. Your face is contagious again, for better, for worse.
Turn to your neighbor, say, fix your face.
Oh, what's this all about? Maybe the most important sermon I've ever preached. Fix your face. Fix your face. Your face empowers dominion.
Your face empowers dominion. And your face. See Stephen's face. They were all looking. They could not believe what they saw on his face.
You'll see the whole sermon he preached in the next chapter. At the end of the chapter, he's looking. He says, look, heaven is open. Look at. And there's Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father, giving me a standing ovation.
Jesus, you're awesome. And they just freaking out, got stones, and they were stoning him to death. And while they're stoning him, it says, his face shone. And he said, father, don't hold this against them. And he fell asleep.
Your face. But there's somebody there who saw his face. There's somebody there who that face impacted. There was a guy named Saul who consented to his murder. But later on, Saul was on the road to Damascus, and he saw another face, saw the face of Jesus.
He said, I've shown you my face before. Why do you kick against the goads? I've touched you before. I've shown my presence to you before, but why have you resisted me? Your face empowers dominion.
And what we're talking about is heaven and earth becoming aligned. And a part of that, if that's going to be aligned, your face face has a big deal to do with that. Say my face. My face takes dominion. My face takes dominion over things in this earth that are out of the way.
Now I want you to really pay attention. I want you to look at the screen, and I want you to look at this face. All right?
As I scound, scound. As I scoundrel. As I scanned the thousands of people in the room, it's amazing how some of you. It's hard for you when you look at that face. It's hard for you.
Not because there's something called mirror neurons. And it's hard when you're with somebody who looks miserable. It's hard not to be mirrors. Sometimes you want to feel empathy because maybe this person really is having a bad, bad day. But, you know, this face is saying something.
This face is saying that something else has dominion over me. Right now. I'm being dominated by something. And this face is sharing. It's hard.
And when you look at a face like that, there's mirror neurons that take place. You go, what's that? So look. Close your eyes. All right, just delete that.
Let's look at this face. Look at this face.
How's that? Is that all right? That was me sitting in the airport yesterday. And you got a pencil. You should have a pencil because you're taking notes, right?
Or you say, no, the notes are online, Pastor. I don't have to do that. So if you take a pen and you put it between your teeth, go.
Actually, personally, I didn't plan to do that, but as soon as I put it there and bit down, I actually. I giggled a little bit.
I've actually given one of these to all of our staff, and when they see me come in the office, they all have to put one on. So, as I said, I refuse to be affected by whatever's going on in your miserable world right now. You'll stand at attention when I come in.
Hello, Hasher. How are you today? It's going to be a great day. Yeah. All right.
You might think that's silly, but you know what? Your brain, when your brain is made. When your face is made this smile, your brain is affected by that. I just affected my brain. I could do this all day.
And I'm literally changing my brain. I'm doing brain surgery just like that. Anybody happy? A smile. Real or induced?
The facial muscles. It's the zygomaticus major. It literally, because you do that. And I'm not a really good smiler. I don't know how to smile really good.
I have a hard time when I smile, throwing my. Showing my teeth. It just feels kind of awkward. Some people, like, George has a great smile. I mean, I would kill for his smile, but, you know, I wouldn't kill him for that.
But your brain interprets the feedback in emotional circuits. And here's what happens. You get dopamine, which is reward. You get endorphins, which is pleasure. You get serotonin, which is mood.
You get opioids, which is Bonding, you get cortisol, which is stress, and you get mood boosting and social bonding. Things. Benefits take place in that. Great. Hello.
All right. Edward Tronick. He did an experiment in 1975. Harvard University did an experiment, the still face experiment. And what they did was they brought in a whole bunch of moms with infants, and they told the moms that you cannot show any emotion one way or another.
We want you to be still faced with your child all day. And so they were still faced. They weren't angry and they weren't happy. They were just still faced.
And they did this whole study on still face. Here's what they found. When a parent's face goes expressionless, infants rapidly become distressed, even if it's only for a few seconds. The child's nervous system depends on facial attunement for emotional stability.
Keep smiling, Bob.
Interesting. That's where, for me, some people have a religious God who sits up there all stoic, has no mood, no anything. He's, see, my God, the true God. He's one happy dude. He's one happy dude.
And it's always ridiculously good to be in his presence and experience him. I don't know about you, but every time I turn and look at his face, he's smiling at me. I wake up in the morning, it's right there, like, oh, hey. Says, I couldn't wait for you to get up.
He's so awesome. He's so full of love and deep affection for me. And I'm saddened that so many people have the stoic God. I know at our church in Toronto, they used to have this sign right above the sanctuary door, and it said, silence, please. And it always drove me nuts.
And I always said, dad, please, can we take that sign down? I don't get it. I mean, for me, I mean, if I were a visitor, I would look at that and go, what's going on in there? Like, silence, please. I was like.
I was like, man, I got a lot of scriptures. They praise the Lord, rejoice. I mean, shout, scream, dance. But you got silence, please. Like, what's going on in there?
I mean, when we're preaching, there's a whole bunch of sleeping saints or something, and we gotta. I don't know, but I don't. Don't like when religion presents God like he's. He's untouched and unmoved, and there's never any emotion given to him, and that's a horrible thing. Dr. Alan Shore said, the gaze of a responsive parent literally organizes the infant's brain.
When a father's face lights up with delight, the child's brain releases dopamine and oxytocin, encoding the message, I am good, I am seen and I bring joy. Amen. That's a good message for parents. Amen. Any parents here today?
It's a good message for parents. Very important stuff. Dr. Daniel Siegel. He said facial communication is the emotional language of the brain. The father's face teaches the child how to read others and how to love.
His book, the Developing Mind. Let's move on to Second Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 6. For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. And in the face, in the face. Say face in the face of Jesus Christ.
See if you're going to experience fullness and come to the full realization of your identity and all that you really are, you have to have a face to face relationship with God. Amen. Real intimate. He is a person. He is a person who has amazing feeling, emotion and passion.
He is a person. God is a person. He's three persons in one. Father, Son and Holy Ghost. But he is a person.
And he's a good, good person. He's a good, good God. And he's madly nuts about you. And he loves you. And you should always know if he designed things and if all of these scientists and psychologists figure these things out about creation, who created it, how to function.
He did. And if he wants to close himself as fun Father, He's a good, good Father. And it's his face. It's being in his face. It's being in his face that is one of the primary ways that you can cause heaven to come to earth.
It's one of the primary ways through your face that you can change circumstance and change things that are going on. If you need your circumstances to change before your face will change, you are worshiping something other than God. Let me say that again. If you need your circumstances to change so that your face will change, you're not worshiping God. You're worshiping trauma.
You're worshiping fear. You're worshiping past hurts and bitterness. You're worshiping unforgiveness. You're worshiping disappointment, because that's what's manifested. Because you become what what you behold.
And we are commanded to behold him. And the transformation takes place when you are looking at the face of Jesus. The person at the back moved ahead and found the slide for me. So look, I Just want to find one more slide. All right.
And let's take a look at that, if I can find it.
And then. Because I got about 35 slides.
Thank you for sitting so quietly.
Psalm 16:11. Psalm 16:11, one of my favorite psalms. It says, you make known to me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy, and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Now, the word presence is the same word as face.
Everywhere. Where face is used in the Old Testament, that same word is the word that's used as presence. In your presence. In your face is fullness of joy, and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. So let me ask you something.
When you're there in his presence, his presence there is fullness of joy. So fullness of joy is not an emotion, but it is a destination or it is a geographical place. It's a. It's where you are. Fullness of joy is the presence of God.
There's fullness of joy there. So with God, his presence is fullness of joy. And you are always there. You are never there. You are never removed from his eye.
You were never removed. You will never leave you or forsake you, but God is always there. And. And fullness of joy isn't something that you get to do. Fullness of joy is a place.
It's a location. And you are there. And fullness of joy wraps you and surrounds you every moment of your life. It's not something that comes and go. It's not a special little emotion in a meeting.
It's something. It's a location that you have been planted in because you are in the presence of God. You are in the face of God. In the face of God, there's fullness of joy at his right hand. Now tell me, as a believer, where are you?
Where are you seated? You're seated with him in heavenly place. You're seated at the right hand in heavenly realm. So you're seated there. So what does that mean?
What does that define you as? You know what defines you as. When he looks over here, you know what he has? Pleasure. You are his pleasure because you know what's at his right hand?
Pleasure. Who's at his right hand? You are. And his face is upon you. His joy is baptizing you every moment of your life.
And. And you are his joy, and you are his delight. This last slide. And I'm going to pray for you. How's that?
Why? Because I heard there's pie.
The presence, the face is a place of intimacy and a posit position of authority in that divine location. You see his face, your joy is restored. You stand at his right hand. Partnership and purpose is restored. You manifest his likeness.
Creation begins to respond again to divine image bearers. I was going to talk about image and likeness and all of these things. Because your face is an instrument. Your face is an organ that was created by God for you to rule over creation.
Fix your face don't try to fix your circumstances Fix your face and you'd be amazed how your circumstances will fall in line. Fix your face Fix your face. I'm only happy when I have something. See, happiness is not a good word because happiness is tied to the root of happening. So I'm happy when the right things are happening.
So that's happiness. But joy is a location. Joy is a place in the Lord. Joy, and the joy of the Lord is your strength. So don't say circumstances change so I can be happy or joyful.
Fix your face in every situation. Because you were created in his image and you're created in his likeness to reign and rule over every circumstance in this world. And Stephen understood that, and Stephen knew that. And through Stephen's face, he governed. And he, the worst terrorist in the world in Stephen's day, was transformed because of Stephen's face And your face.
Some of the worst situations in the world can be transformed by our face, our collective face, manifesting the very culture of heaven on earth. Amen.
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