The Retreat 2021 - Honoring Our Spiritual Fathers - Rod Mills

This series of teachings is recorded live from The Retreat by AeroNova 2021. To find out more about how to attend the annual Retreat visit theretreat.aeronova.org. 
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​Out of his exstensive life experience walking with God, Dick Dungan reflects on his spiritual journey and relationship with God, exploring how to experience great spiritual growth.

Full transcript generated by ai (please excuse errors):




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​What I'm going to share tonight, I believe will be the most significant message that I share, and to the year 2021. Probably won't be the best that I share in our you know, I'm not saying it's going to blow your socks off or anything like that. But what I am saying is, I think what the Holy Spirit assigned me to share is the most probably the most important message that I'm called to share this year unless I get some big assignment I'm not expecting before the end of the year. So I'm going to try to condense it because you know me, I could never do a teaching in one setting. And at these retreats, I only do one. Let's pray. Lord, we just thank you so much for meeting us here tonight. Give us that. Sixth Sense that spiritual sense to hear you to see you. This you said that Blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God. We pray for that purity of heart, so that our eyes can see, so that our ears can hear you said so many times Jesus that we need ears to hear and eyes to see. And that's what we desire tonight. So we pray condition our hearts that we may see. And that we may hear in Jesus name, Amen. You know, the, the spirit of this age, is doing everything it can to destroy fatherhood. I mean, it is they quit hiding it. And this world is made it a, quote, positive value to destroy fatherhood. And it's a spirit of antichrist, because God is a Father. And it is in the nature of God to relate as a father, and to make his people to relate as fathers and mothers is the order of God, we're getting, have you noticed how the world now has begun to attack the fundamentals of God's order in society. And that's the spirit of antichrist. That's what the spirit of Antichrist has always done. We know who that comes from. And we know that he opposes anything. If you ever wonder if you're often thinking about people who are ideologically opposed to you, and you start going well, why, how is it that they don't agree with them, and they don't agree with them, but they'll do anything to oppose God, even if they you know, and there's an old saying that the, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And that's the way the kingdom of darkness works, also. And so there's this effort to denigrate, destroyed, dilute, to downgrade to distance to displace, to defile, and to divest Society of fathers and the biblical father worldview. And so this great hatred is demonic. It does not it's otherworldly. Don't try to make sense of it because it won't rationally make sense when you when you do the, when you do the logic when you play it out, it will always be illogical because it is otherworldly, it is not natural. And so tonight, I'd like to spend some time and talk about what I believe is an is a message that God is beginning to speak to the church that I believe is for our generation, the next generation and these generations that are preparing for the coming of the Lord. So when I was a young man, I was often astounded at the number of times that my peers who passed up opportunities to be mentored you guys have heard me talk much about this many of you have or to receive guidance or to cultivate spiritual mentors who became spiritual fathers or, or spiritual mothers. And usually, whenever they would turn down those opportunities, it was usually because they would find something wrong with them. So I could tell you stories, we won't go into them. But I could tell you stories of this mentor and this spiritual father, and I would say to my friends who are seeking God, hey, you know, so and so is, is gathering young men at his house, or just are a couple. They're gathering men and women at their house and, and they're mentoring them in the kingdom. And they're talking to him about these things of God. And they go, oh, yeah, I don't know, because he's blah, blah, blah, or Shiva, and they find some thing wrong with them. Well, you know, you could find something wrong with anybody. And I always felt like, man, somebody's trying to give you a million dollars, and you're turning them down, because you don't like the color of their car, you know, that kind of thing. To me, it felt like so this was a certain group of people then there was a second group of people. And this group is characterized by those who they saw the need for mentors and spiritual fathers and mothers in their life. And so they embraced and they received from these developing relationships of sons and daughters, we did that. And I and I tell you in the early years, we were hungry. We're like, man, we were like little birds with our moat. I get Come on, I want some, some Gimme that what you got, you know, and we're seeking we, we would drive Keith, I don't know if you remember this, but we take off, go to St. Louis, because Lester Summerall, or somebody would be there. And I actually got prayed over by him and, and read and studied all many of his books and listened to him teach for years and, and received a impartation. And we would go down to Arkansas, I'm from Southern Missouri. So we you know, we drive three or four miles just to just to get some more, you know, there was no internet in those days. I know, some of you can't imagine that. But there was no internet. And you either had to go buy a whole bunch of cassette tapes, or you had to watch them on TV or listen to every morning on the radio, I had certain teachers I would listen to when I was getting ready for high school. And we were out seeking. That's a second group of people. But in that second group, as they grew older, they outgrew the need for mentors. And spiritual fathers I'm using out grew in quotation marks, they outgrew because they became proficient, like, I mean, you should become proficient in the faith and walking with God and, but they, they felt like we outgrew it. So many of my friends today that I did those things with, that's not their disposition anymore. You know, they're trying to figure out, you know, how they can make their retirement account big now and other things seriously, I'm serious. Then there's this third group, who also characterized by those who saw the need for mentors, spiritual fathers and mothers. And they really embrace this and receive just like the others did in group two. And they develop relationships of spiritual sons and daughters. But as they grew older, they did not cease to honor those fathers, those mothers, and they still remained teachable. Now, I'm sorry to say that the number of those people is small, but I can think of some, but they're still there. And they're still hungry, and they're still seeking. And most of my spiritual fathers are gone there with the Lord. And probably, this might be a special occasion for them tonight, to be a part of and to listen from the heavens. I have two spiritual fathers that have been pastors leaders to me for decades. Dick, you're one of them. You're you're one of my spiritual fathers, because most of them are gone. Just so happens that you're at the age of my father, within 12 months, so it's pretty close. Today is the men met, Dick started to talk about his spiritual father who's still alive, can you believe that? And he's in his 90s 91. And you're modeling what I admire and long for that I would remain like this. And I've said this before. There are very few leaders in the kingdom that I have known over the years, who are in their late 70s who still have the passion. A lot of them were like, Oh, I'm gonna go retire and we're gonna take it easy and Baba, and I'm not faulting them for that. But what I am saying is I look over here and I see you and Mary, and you're still carrying the same passion. As the day I met you in St. Petersburg, Russia, in there in the revival fires that God was doing in those days. That was a few years. years ago, 1993. And you still have that same passion. And it just so happens my other spiritual father, who's been a spiritual father to me for 38 years, do you know that every time I speak, and he's in the room, he has his notebook out, and he is writing, he's still learning, he's still receiving, he still, that's what I longed for that passion, that desire, I don't want to get to, you know, 70 years old or 75, and go, Oh, you know, man, I can't take it anymore. I just gotta go. Whatever, you know, I don't want to do that, right? I want to be like the shooting star that burns out in flight, you know, all the way. I want to be a part of this third group. So our teaching today we'll spend some time focusing on the call of God to be in this third group. And this is a, what I believe God is calling for is a culture change in the body of Christ. Now, people who are on the front end of a culture change, almost never know it. Only the prophetic adopters that what they call the early adopters, usually they know it. They know they're on the front end of a culture change. And I believe there's a radical culture change coming to the church. I'm going to be focusing on our relationship, specifically with spiritual fathers. Now we, there's another whole teaching on spiritual mothers tonight, my assignment is spiritual fathers. Because I believe that God is saying this needs to be taught on right away. This needs to be addressed. How many of the things we'll talk about are applicable to both spiritual fathers and mothers? I'd like you to turn with me to Second Timothy one. We'll read a couple of scriptures in Second Timothy. Second Timothy is a very fascinating book. Because some of you may know this. Paul wrote four letters to the Corinthians. And we have First and Second Corinthians from it. But we know that for sure, he wrote two letters to Timothy. And this second book of Timothy is the last book at the end of his life. So it tells us a lot now, Paul, that's writing Second Timothy is a little bit different Paul than the Paul who wrote First Corinthians, you see what I mean? Because now we're at the end of his life. And I want to read verse 15, chapter one, verse 15, this you know, that all those in Asia, turned away from me should be a while, right? They're really among whom are Fae, jealous and homogenized the Lord grant mercy to the household of Vanessa Ferris for he often refresh me he was not ashamed of my chain. But when we arrived in Rome, he sought me out zealously and found me. The Lord grant to him, that he might may find mercy from the Lord, in that day. In the English Bible, in a lot of versions day is capitalized for a reason. And you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus. Paul was, first of all pulses everyone for Sikkim, in Asia. That's a that's a incredible statement. But he was deeply concerned about one spiritual son, who nessa for us in his household in the day of judgment, because of his abandonment of Paul. He didn't leave the faith. There's no indication from the scripture or from extra biblical books that any of these men left the faith. They left Paul. We don't talk a lot about this today. But Paul was praying mercy for this man, his son, in the judgment. Okay. Paul was worried about his judgment, not about going to hell. That's not what he's saying. Paul was so worried about it that he vocalizes it in a letter and says, This is what I'm praying mercy for him, because they had forsaken him. As a mentor and spiritual father. Paul had a biblical worldview of spiritual fatherhood. That it's a lifetime commitment. You guys have heard me say that when we make a commitment to you, we make it for a lifetime, not for how long you live down the street from us because that is the biblical way. That's the way of God. That's how God is. That's fatherhood. That's the difference. The code just committed to you for the season. You know, the mentor is committed to you, as long as you need, quote, development. But a spiritual father is committed for a lifetime, because that's what fathers do. And that's in the way of God. So all of Paul's leaders and spiritual sons in Asia, not all of his leaders, but all the ones in Asia, which was most of them had turned away from him, and had had really betrayed their call to honor him as a spiritual father and apostle. It doesn't mean they left the faith. In the later years of of his life, Paul was largely abandoned. In fact, in scholars in their description of Second Timothy chapter four, in some Bibles, it will say something like the abandon apostle. It will describe him that way. Now, Paul is not you can a lot of people look at Paul like he's a mega church, Pastor of the 21st century or something. Paul went about starting these little house churches all over Asia and all over the Mediterranean. And scholars believe the largest one was Corinth, which was around 70 or 75 people. So he's just out there training guys and investing his life. And he says, though, you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, you have not many fathers. And he's like, I'm a father to you and he's fathering them. I'd like to read a brief passage in Second Timothy four, starting in verse nine. He says, Be diligent to come to me quickly for Dimas has forsaken me, having love this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica crescents for Glacia. Titus for Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me, get mark, and bring him with you. For he is useful to me for ministry and Tychicus I've sent to emphasis, bring the cloak I left with carpus at tross. When you come in the books, especially the parchments, Alexander the Coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him, according to his works, you also must be aware of him for he has greatly resisted our words. At my first defense, no one stood with me. But all for sit me. Does that remind you of anybody in the scriptures. That's what happened to Jesus. He says, May it not be charged against them. It's not uncommon to find that when people grow up spiritually, they grow out of their love and honor and reverence for. And I'm against saying grow in quotation marks. They grow out of their love, honor and reverence for their spiritual fathers, their mothers, spiritual mentors. And I do not believe this is pleasing to the Lord. I don't believe this is the way of God, I don't believe this is the way of the Father's heart. And we see an apostle with a broken heart, because and worried about one of his spiritual sons in the judgment, because they failed to understand this core concept of the Father, heart of God. You many of my spiritual fathers have passed on. But the ones who remain are rarely honored by a lot of my peers. There are probably many reasons for this. And in many cases, I think a lot of folks feel like they've grown up, and therefore they don't have the same need for them in their lives. But you guys know that this honor is not based on our perceived need the Scripture, you know, one of the preparatory commands to understand spiritual fatherhood and spiritual motherhood, and, and as sons and daughters is actually to understand fatherhood, and motherhood as spiritual, I mean, as sons and daughters, and what is the scripture say, Honor your father and mother as long as they have benefit to you? No, because that's not the way of God does the Scripture men say love your wife, as long as she's a benefit to you, or as long as you you're getting a good return on your investment? No, but somehow that mentality has creeped into the church when it comes to spiritual fathers and spiritual mothers. And so people feel like, well, I'm not sure that they're that helpful to me anymore. So I'll be friends with them, but I'm gonna go on about my life. And we see that Paul's heart was broken because of this, because he understood this higher principle of the nature of God. And God, I believe is coming around to bring back a culture in the church that we see in the Apostolic Church in the first several 100 years and even 1000 years of the church where there were spiritual fathers and they related to the body spiritual fathers and people related to them as spiritual fathers. And I want to tell you something, this message has broken my heart. I as I have prepared this many times, I could not see the computer screen because of the tears running down my eyes, which is good because if I cry enough times I can actually deliver it without crying. And I want to say I've set it in my heart to honor them. Brother dick, you're one of those people. And I set it in my heart to honor you, every day of your life on this earth. It's the way of the father. It's the way he taught us. I set it in my heart to love you. As a Spiritual Father, I thank you a lot of people don't know the story, Billy Skinner was a spiritual father to me. In the morning, Billy died, had just moved to Colorado. And his granddaughter called me. And she said, Mr. Mill's grandpa died this morning. And you're on the list. That's it good. I had been asking the Lord to take him. He had been suffering. And I said, Lord, it's time can you take him it'd be so much better. And the Lord took him that morning. And I asked the Lord a question that morning. I said, Lord, who's gonna be my spiritual father now, and I have others. But somehow I just felt like I should ask that question. Two hours later, you called me and talk to you a long, long time, years. And two hours later, you called me? You said, Rod, this is Dick Duncan. And immediately, the Holy Spirit just goes, Yeah, I've just felt like this salute from the Lord. It's like, there you go, son. We were talking about hearing God today. So many times, we have to hear God in all kinds of ways. But man, if you can't hear it when the megaphones on, get to earplugs out of your ears. And I saw God that day. I set it in my heart to respect you. I set it in my heart to make room for you in my life. This ministry, these people, our leadership, our friends, the nations that we serve, we are Your servants. And I mean that in the biblical sense. We serve people when we go overseas. That's one of the first things that we say is, we are here as Your servants. And I tell all of our leaders, you don't have to do this, literally. But do it spiritually, put a towel on your arm and say, I'm here to serve you. And that's our position. And another one of our postures is everybody's treated first class. There's no coach. We don't serve people coach. I mean, there's a meal with it. I believe the Holy Spirit's calling us back to the power and anointing and graces of the Apostolic Church, the same Apostolic Church as in the early centuries and propagated for for time. One of the key ways he's doing this in his his calling to live as spiritual families, which means we must have fathers and mothers in the house of God. We must have spiritual sons and daughters. I am a father. But you can't be a good father. Unless you're a good son. Shawn, you've you've taught me this a lot praying to be a good son. Sean taught me that the Holy Spirit has used you. And I've prayed that prayer many times, you probably don't even know it because of you. Because when you said that the Holy Spirit said, You need to pray that prayer. And I say, Lord, I want to be a good son. And the Lord says, It's good that you want to be a good son, because good sons are good fathers. And I want to say to you, brother, Dick, I want to be a good son. I want to be a good son. You want to say some come on up, but you got to get in the microphone because we're recording. Come on, just just brief. But one of the things first things I learned from TD Hall was a you'll never be a good father, to my spiritual father and he told me, you'll never be a good father, until you've learned how to be a good son. One of the first things he ever taught me, amen. Amen. Thank you It's a good confirmation. This is less about organization, you guys know that it's organic. It's the organic model of the church. That's how God has expressed himself most powerfully in the church for 2000 years is organically in spiritual families. And this was the way of the Apostolic Church and is today the way of the Apostolic Church. And when I say apostolic, I mean churches that function like the Apostolic Church in early times in church history, we do not read and learn from church executives, how many of those books have you read? How many of you have a series on writings of the church executives? I don't have any. How about this one writings of the church officers? I don't have one book on that. Or this one, writings of the church presidents, writings of the parachurch presidents, you get my drift. These men and women, by the way, but we're focusing on the men were, these men were spiritual fathers. And they were called that because they lived and related as fathers to the people of God. And that's different. A church executive says, Hey, as long as you're part of the program, here, building our program, we're with you. But you know, if you move down the street, have a good life, we'll see you in heaven. Or when you move out of state or whatever, you know, that's not the way the church fathers operated. It is not uncommon in the Old Testament. Let me say it this way, it's uncommon in the Old Testament, to find prophets, who were recognized as spiritual fathers. I searched this out, I got that really cool program that you guys do logos, and I just put a plug. It's a great program, studying and searching the scriptures. I was looking for prophets who were called spiritual fathers. How many do you think I could find some of you already know the answer? So you need to get 100% on this because I've told you, how many tu tu, tu prophets, Second Kings, chapter two, verse 12. And Elijah saw it. And he cried out, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and its horsemen. And he saw him no more. That's Elijah, he saw them more. And he took hold of his own clothes, tore them into two pieces. He took up the mantle. I liked that part, too. He took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him. And he went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. And you know what happened next, we see this same mantle, as a spiritual father, as more than a prophet, as a spiritual father, continue upon who Jeremiah know, Alicia, so that the same relationship occurred between him and other leaders, like King Joash. almost the exact same words were expressed by King Joash, who recognized a Lysa as the same thing as spiritual father, at the end of his life. Second Kings 1314, Elijah had become sick with the illness in which he would die. And then Joash, the king of Israel came down to him, and he wept over his face, and he says, Oh, my father, my father, the chariots of Israel, and their horsemen. So we see that both of these men did not just carry a prophet's anointing. They carried the mantle of a spiritual father, it's no wonder that the last two verses in the Old Testament is a prophecy of the mantle of Elijah, who would return at the end of the age and would turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the children to their fathers. Because generational transfer cannot be achieved without spiritual fathers. You can have the best program the most awesome worship the finest church in town, you can have the most powerful parachurch ministry, you can have the best mailing lists, you can have the best workers, you can do all those things, and you will not achieve longevity of generational transfer. Without spiritual fathers and mothers. It's impossible because of the way God set it up the order of the kingdom of God. Do we see this anointing passed on from Elijah to Elijah? And then we find out that it's on John the Baptist. When we see the words of Jesus, we're not studying that tonight. But then we see that It's on the John the Baptist. And then Jesus says, Oh, by the way, if you can accept it, he's coming again. Did Jesus believe in reincarnation? Nobody better say yes. I believe this is a mantle. I believe this is a mantle. It's a mantle. It's an anointing. That's why Elijah could carry it, Elijah, but it's so powerful. And it operates along the kingdom lines, that it will descend upon these generations to prepare for the coming of the Lord. And you don't have to be some great gifted administrator that can cause the world to know your name. It doesn't matter. If you're a spiritual father, spiritual mother, you can step right into this, you don't need special qualifications, except you need the anointing presence of the Holy Spirit. And the Lord is going to cause these people to cover the earth. And it doesn't matter if anybody on the earth knows your name, because Heaven will they do tonight. And this is the way of the kingdom, Elisha. Now he contended for the double portion. It's kind of like Mark, Luke, Timothy and Tychicus. They were still with Paul. Their reward is different than the other guys. Tonight, their reward what they live in this day is different than the others, because they carried the nature of God in their ways, and in their obedience. And they honored a spiritual father and stayed with him. Elijah was not primarily focused on the double, a double portion anointing. He was primarily focused on his honor. And his commitment to Elijah. The implication in Second Kings to is that Elijah was operating in this same revelation, as Elijah was now watch what watch this now you're probably thinking, What in the world are you talking about? Watch what happens. Second Kings to to Elijah said to Elijah, stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel. But Elijah says, As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. He hasn't been promised anything. He hasn't been promised a double anointed double portion, anointing nothing. He's just saying, I will not leave you. Two verses later than Elijah said to him, Elijah, stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. But he said as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they came to Jericho, just in case two times is not enough. Two verses later, verse six, then Elijah said to him, stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord lives and as your sole lifts, I will not leave you. So the two of them went on. Brother, I say to you, before these witnesses, I will not leave you. I mean that I will not live as the Lord lives as my soul lives. This is the way of the king. It's the way of God. It's his ways. It is becoming like he is He is faithful is at the core of the nature of God. Faithfulness is a core of his nature. Second, kings to nine. And so it was when they crossed over a lie just said to Alicia, I liked this part. Ask. I liked that. It was just ASCII. It's an explanation point in mind, I know it's not like that in the Hebrew, but I'm reading it like it is in the English. What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you. And Elijah said, please let a double portion of your Spirit be upon me. And he said, You have asked a hard thing he says to a guy who's been with him since the day he was in the cave and got the call and went down to his house. He saying to a guy who's been with him all this time. That's a hard one. He says, Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you. But if not, it shall not be so. Why is this so important? It is a principle of the kingdom. He was faithful. He was talking about faithfulness to the very last second. That's the kind of faithfulness God has toward you and me. All the way to the end. Now the good news is we don't have an end. But there is an end to some chapters. In our lives, right? And God says, I'm with you to the last period on the last chapter. And then guess what? I got another period, another chapter for you. We're going to move to the next chapter. But this is the kind of faithfulness God has. And you know the story. He stayed with him to the very last. And this is the principle of Elijah and the mantle of Elijah, is this faithfulness that goes, but God wants us to see through those three interchanges before the promise, he didn't do it. Because of that his main motivation was not the double portion anointing. His main motivation was, he had become like God in this way in his faithfulness. And I believe honoring our spiritual fathers and continuing to journey with them, to the very end is about much more than a double portion. It's also about asking and receiving, it's about impartation. All the way to the end. There's an impartation all the way the end, by the way, we'll talk about that in a minute. It's about living and relating in the way God does it. In the way God lives in the way God relates. It's about being like the father. Most of us became parents at the most unqualified season of our adult lives. Now, at first glance, it seems like God, what it looks like you don't know what you're doing here. Like, this was not good. You know? That's what it feels like when you first get into this. Well, first you think you can handle it? And then you start changing diapers. And you stay up all night? Where's Marina, you know, you know what I'm talking about? I remember there was a point I don't know if it was kid one or kid two. And this realization came upon Nicole. And she goes, she sends out on the family text to everybody in the family. She's like, Guys, this is really something like this is more intense than I was expected. She goes, I just realized mom and dad has changed over 25,000 diapers. She figured it up. I don't know what it is. But I'll tell you what. I know one thing it didn't take long to figure out. I'm in over my head. Now we started having kids when we were really young. We were kids, right? Shawn knows. We were kids. We started having kids. And I felt like Man Oh, we're we're in over our heads. And I started saying, Lord, I was like, Whose idea was this like, seemed like there should have been a training program besides being raised by my parents. And as we grew older, we discovered this was the most brilliant plan. Because what we need is to know that we need and once you start realizing you need humility comes upon you. It's almost like magic. You know, all of a sudden, humility comes upon you. You're like, oh, Lord, please, Mom, what do I do, dad? How do you handle this, and that humility comes. And then we realize, God, his splendor, his design was profound. Because what he was doing is building generational bonds and ties, where we need one another. And he sets into order spiritual fathers and mothers. You see, when your children pass the age of 18, you don't stop being their father and mother, that's an American law. You can't find it in the Bible. You're still there, Mom, you're still there, dad, at least you should be. I'm not saying be a helicopter parent. But don't be absent. Now. The problem is a lot of parents are absent and they're not even 18 yet. But we need to be present. And we need to be engaged. We need to be a presence in their lives. We need to be a presence in the next generations, kids lives. Also, that presence is so powerful. So we see that God's design was really magnificent. And when we were young, we still had some semblance of the heart of a child and that we were always looking to learn and grow and listen and receive and I pray that I still have that. But some of it came very natural in those days. And now it becomes a discipline, it becomes something you must be intentional. We were hungry for righteousness. We were hungry for the Word. We're hungry for encounters with God, we're looking for him. We're hungry for mentors. We were hungry for spiritual fathers. And we held deep respect and reverence for these men and women. We talked about this here while back, Shawn, we were talking about how when we were young, the reverence we had for some of our spiritual fathers and mothers and I want to recover that I want that Winder to be upon me to appreciate them. Because if anything, I should have more reverence. It shouldn't be like that you guys, when you dawned on you how many diapers we changed as parents, we should have that same reverence spiritually, for our spiritual fathers and mothers as we grow. And then as we grew older, many waned in their hunger, and in their respect for their spiritual fathers. Many of my peers no longer relate to them this way. And the sense is, well, I'm mature. Now. I'm a father, I no longer need a spiritual font, nobody says this, but maybe they do. But most, but you read between the lines, it's in the behavior. Some of this kind of thinking is important and good in that you need to be independent, you don't want to be needy. But at the same time, we need to grow into this biblical sense that we need spiritual fathers and mothers in our lives. And I think your example brother is profound. I don't know anyone else who is your age who has spiritual fathers in their lives. That's, it's profound. And at some point, we know you run out. I mean, it just, that's just the natural course of life. We should not become less teachable. As we grow older, we should become more teachable. We should become more humble, not less humble. Now, you guys have heard me say this. The older I get, what I find is to be able to learn and to be teachable. I have to unlearn things, because there are things you learned, you think you got it. And then you realize that there were nuances with that, that were wrong. And that's the hard part. I promise you if you don't, if you haven't hit this by age 50. You don't see it, that you you have to enter into a phase in life, which I believe will be the rest of my life on Earth, where I can unlearn the things that I learned that were not right that I thought were right, because they were connected to things that were right. Right, I call it the constituted constellation of learning. The attitudes and actions of many of my peers over the years, and sometimes me, I'm guilty of this, too, is that we're now mature. Lord, we're mature now. I mean, I mean, I'll tell you, I remember when we were poor. And we were poor for too many years. And my grandmother told me one time Robin mammy told told me this, she said, I tell you what rod, I pray for you guys so much and your finances. I think the Lord saying he's like that unrighteous judge and Luke 18. And he said that poor a woman, she's down there praying she is she's wearing me out, I gotta give those grandkids some money. Because she prayed for so long. But I will tell you that in that time, we knew we had need but what happens is, we start, we're being blessed. We talk about generations of blessings, we're blessed here, and we're blessed there and we got this, we got that. We're blessed, we're blessed. And pretty soon we start thinking, Well, you know, I'm taking care of now I don't have need, or, or even better, I'm wealthy, or I have, you know, I've got what I need. And I'm excited about that. And, and I'm successful. And I really don't have need of anything. Ever heard that before. That reminds you of some words written in red. Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, have need of nothing. And do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. What a pastoral admonition right there. This is written in red you guys. He says I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich, white garments that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, anoint your eyes with I'd save that you may see there are many ways to buy that golden revelation three. But one thing God has been showing me as one of the ways to get the gold is to honor your spiritual fathers. Honor them, make room for them, stick with them, walk with them. Do it the way I have called you the way I am. And you will see nothing but blessing. I'm not saying there won't be trials and opposition tribulation, but you will see blessing. There are many applications and ways to obey that passage. But this is one the world in many of our cultures throws the elders and the most wise among us to the wayside, but the way of the King Dumb is just the opposite. The wiser we become, the more reverent we become. For those who've traveled this road ahead of us, and walked in victory. The wiser we become, the more reverent we become. For those who have fathered and loved us in the faith, and the spiritual fathers and mothers, they still have many wells to draw from, that would greatly increase our wealth and wisdom in the kingdom of God. One of the most important truths and understanding spiritual Wells is understanding the difference between teaching and impartation. So impartation can happen during teaching. But impartation is not the same thing as teaching. Are you tracking with me? There are many things of the kingdom that are invisible, you can't see them. And they're invisible because they're eternal, and they're not manifest in the natural realm the same way right now, which we believe they will be. But many of these things are eternal, and they are imparted. So there are times when if you read the passage, I think it was Paul to Timothy, he said, neglect, not the gift that was given to you by prophecy, with the laying on of hands. So he's saying, tangibly, a gift was released from the laying on of hands of the of the leaders, a gift was tangibly released into your life, not symbolically. But it was tangibly released into you through prophecy. And through the laying on of hands did you know when the Lord is saying, we pray in the Lord's Prayer all night tonight, all different kinds of ways. And when we speak what God is speaking, we're reaching to bring heavens, tangibles into the earthly into the natural realm, and impart them. And now we're seeing, one of the main ways that God does this is through the wells of our spiritual fathers. In my life, over the years, the most profound contribution that my fathers and mothers, my spiritual fathers and mothers have given me is not what they taught me, even though that was really key. It was access to the spiritual wells they brought me into. They begin by teaching and mentoring me. But the teaching and the mentoring was only a conduit to something that was far more powerful. It became an impartation of their mantle's, what Elijah talks about there, what he's asking for, but it was also access to the unique regions of their relationship with God. As we look around the room, people who've have deep history in God, not just number of gears, Christian, but people who have deep history, God, they have been in regions of God that I have not. And I found this that when I would, would walk and pray with some of my spiritual fathers. After hours, I started to realize I was in places I'd never been before. And I heard things I never heard before. And they weren't unbiblical. They were just foreign to me. And they introduce me to how they relate to God. And they related to God in ways that I had never related to him before. And they taught me things about him in that. And Dick, brother, Billy was very good at that he brought us into this. And man, my eyes were opened in profound ways, as we walked in as we pray together, so it was access to the wells. It's hard to understand this unless you've experienced it. And then once you've experienced it, it's hard to put it into words. So the key is to get people into the experience. In Second Kings two, nine, Alicia described it as a double portion of Elijah's spirit. We understand that Elijah spirit ascended into the heavens. Elijah was talking about the spiritual content of God's anointing on Elijah on the Holy Spirit's relationship with Elijah God's relationship with Elijah had its own fingerprint. What does that mean? If if Beth and I came up here, and we described to you what our marriage is like, and we just told you, this is what we do. And this is our habits. And these are our norms and this is our culture. This is how we love one another and these are the things we don't do. And then we stepped aside and dug a Jennifer comes up, I promise you, it'll be very different. Now, does that mean one of those ways is wrong? No. It means that each Mary Each has its own fingerprint, and no other marriage. No other couple. Yes, there are baseline benchmarks of how we relate to one another that is biblical. That's the ways of God. And we can obey all of those, and you can obey all of those, Doug and Jennifer can obey all of those. And yet, when we put the finger fingerprints of each marriage up, both are very, very different. And the same is true in your relationship with God and mine. So your relationship with God has its own fingerprint, it has its own uniqueness. And I believe scripturally I believe this will last forever, like your relationship, there will never be anyone like you even close to like you. In eternity, your relationship will be very unique. There will be times and places when God will relate to you here and in the age to come. And he'll say, I need some help Baba, you know, not because God needs help, but because He loves you. And only you can do this. Only you can relate to me this way. Because you are unique. It's like, you know, some people laugh at me for doing this, but it's kind of like X Men. Anybody watch X Men? Why do people like X Men so much? That's a good question. I believe the reason why people like X Men so much, is because every one of them has a unique ability that no other creature person has in the entire universe. And they love that uniqueness. Don't get me started on tattoos because I think it's the same thing. There is an identity issue at stake, where people love uniqueness, where no one else is like them. They're different than everybody else. God made us that way. And we know that by matching fingerprints across the universe, and across time, no one will ever have your fingerprint. You can go back however many years you want go forward, however many years no one will ever have your fingerprint, same with our relationship with God. So this uniqueness of relationship with God, how do I receive from that uniqueness? My spiritual fathers take me into regions of their relationship with God. And it's unique and it's different. It doesn't mean that it's that it's more biblical or less biblical, it may not be, but they bring us into ways in God which we were not. Jesus, this is interesting, the difference between just giving water and giving a well, so did you notice that the miracles Elijah did? I think for the most part, I haven't looked at every single one of them. They were different miracles than Elijah did. Right. He like in other words, when God passed that mantle on, from Elijah to Elijah, it was not the ability from the Holy Spirit, to just do the miracles that Elijah did right, called down fire on Mount Carmel. And, you know, I don't think Elijah ever did the axe head, did he? Where's our biblical expert? I think just Elijah, right. Are you tracking with me? In other words, here's the point. It wasn't that he just gave water and goes, Okay, here's your water. And anything you could do with this water, that's what I give you. He gave him a well, he gave him access. So the miracles that happen in life, his ministry were different. Now, I don't know if it's true. But I heard a teacher say one time that in the Bible, the recorded miracles of Elijah was twice as many as Elijah. I don't know if that's true. But if you, you might want to go count him and see. Jesus tells us the same thing. In John 14, John 1412, he says, Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these he will do because I go to my father. So what what I hear Jesus saying in this metaphor, is he says, I give you the water from the well that I've been drawing from the works that I do, you will do, and then he goes, but that's not all. But wait, you know, like the commercials. But wait, there's more. He goes, I'm giving you the whole well, you can access and greater works than the show you do. He just gave us access to the well, there's a difference between the two. Genesis 2617 then Isaac departed from there. He pitched his tent in the valley of giroir. And he dwelt there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham, his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham, and he called them by the names, which his father had called them. Now these wells were Were from the previous generation. And they had been covered up by the Philistines. Listen the enemy, if he, if he can plug up those wells and cut off your generation from your spiritual fathers and mothers generation, he'll sure do it. He'll do it. He'll do it through bitterness and anger. And I don't like my dad or mom, because they did this. And pretty soon it gets you riled up and get you mad, so that you'll cut off that generational transfer. That means you got to start all over again, or go find people and start with them. And I'm like, No, I want to build on the shoulders of everybody God's placed in my life, I want to, I want to start on God's launching pad for my generation, not God's launching pad for the previous generation, because I got mad at my mom, right or mad at my whoever, my spiritual father, mother, whatever, you see, what I'm saying is the enemy will try to plug up these wells. And see if he can just get you to plug up the Wells from one from one person and get you bitter enough, and get that root of bitterness going, then that root grows around like an aspen tree root and plugs up all the other wells. And pretty soon you're sunk. You feel all alone and abandon an orphaned because you just orphaned yourself. Right. That's what the enemy wants. Some people call these wells, orphan wells, because they've been abandoned. However, I want to say this, when I've encountered what I would call spiritual orphan wells, it was not the Well, that was orphaned. I mean, yes. But ultimately, and in essence, it was the spiritual descendants of those wells, who were in spiritual reality who were actually orphaned. Because they cut off the previous generation, they orphaned themselves. And it wasn't, I mean, yes, the wells were orphaned. And that's what they're called orphan wells in that, yeah, that no one's caring for them. But the reality of God's Kingdom is, is that the orphan is the person not the well, because they just cut off the generation that God has, that when he gave listen, I would like to ask you a show of hands. How many of you were giving were given by God, a perfect Father, I'm not talking about God the Father, I'm talking about your natural father, how many of you, your dad, your natural dad was the perfect father, he didn't do one thing wrong? How many of you could say that about your mother? You want to say that about your mother, but you can't right? Now, let's talk about spiritual fathers. How many of you have a spiritual father and he's perfect? No, we can't raise our hands on any of this. So we got to get past orphaning ourselves by orphaning. The wells that come from the generation God gave us when God gave me my father and mother, he knew what he was doing. And my brother and I could tell you some stories. Nobody had a perfect upbringing, guys. But we honor our parents. We honor a father mother, which is the preparatory command you military guys know what I'm talking about. That's the preparatory command for honoring spiritual fathers and spiritual mothers. Some people are drawing from the impartation and spiritual wells, of our spiritual fathers and mothers, but they're unaware of it. That's okay. But they're drawing from it. Isaac didn't do this. He recognize the names of those wells. He named every one of them. He named those wells. Why? When I inventory my life, I can tell you in some measure, who imparted to me, like, I have faith wills in my life. I've got a good number of faith wills in my life. Guys, I did not wake up one day, and just have faith to overcome cancer. Like I didn't do that. Just like I didn't, it wasn't like, I just got up one day. And like, I think it was Nicole said by osmosis. When I've got 100 men trying to kill me, and a suicide bomber and a guy trying to run me over and people shooting me. I didn't just like wake up like, Whoa, I got faith today. You know, it didn't work that way. It was given to me by Wells and by people and by investment. And then that faith took hold. And that faith said, you know, it was like David before Goliath, you know, the faith did not me the faith rose up. And it was water that came right out of those wells and said, and I said this out loud. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? That's what David said that he would defy the armies of the living God and I wasn't talking about natural armies. I was talking about his effort to stop the kingdom of God by taking out God's people. Who is that guy? Who is who does he think he is in the water from those faith wills and in the then all of a sudden the water from the warrior will started coming. And I talked about brother Lester praying over me and studying his books and reading men. I'll tell you spiritual warrior hood was passed on to me. Even though I couldn't get close to him. God got me close enough and studying and receiving. And people have even told me said, Man, I don't know why. But when I listened to him, I feel like I'm listening to you sometimes. Well, why? Because there's water coming out of those wells, those spiritual wells have generational wells. And I want as many of these wells as I can get and be faithful with. Who can you feel this man I can. Oh, Lord, there's wells of wisdom. I could tell you, Pastor John, he brought us a wealth of wisdom, like I'd never had in my life, never had exposure. And you know what happened to me, I took 30, some notebooks of notes from him, over a period of six years, 36 notebooks, and took notes. And then years later, we organized them into subjects and all that. But here's what happened. Those wells were the beginnings of many things of wisdom God has given me since that time. So what they did was they were the initial seeds that laid the foundations to get me some wisdom going. And then God began to go, now you see this and see this. Now I can teach you that. You know, it's kind of like, you can't take calculus for till you've had one, two and three. Where's Dan? So like, okay, the Lord takes you through, he gets you through calculus. One is like this guy. Now he could teach you calculus. And then you know, then you get to, and then you get three. And then once you get it, God begins to build on it and bring things because he's drawing from the wells have that wisdom, that spiritual wisdom. And I'm convinced that this entire capital of Divine Wisdom in my life would be much different. But again, if I would have looked and said, Well, yeah, but he's got this problem. And people are mad at him about that. And Baba, will pretty soon, you have no father's. Pretty soon, you're the orphan. Right? So we've got to live as God called us to live. Intimacy with God, man, I'll tell you a spiritual authority. These are just, I'm just naming different wells that have been given. So Abraham named his wills, these importations can only happen. Obviously, this, this kind of, you can get importations from people, even in passive manner, but these deep importations come from spending years with people. And this is why this this relationship of Father, Son, spiritual father, spiritual son, this is why Malikai says, Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest I come strike the earth with a curse, there is a turning power, there is a turning power on the mantle's that God gives upon the water and the wells, of this relationship of spiritual fathers and sons, spiritual fathers, and I say sons, I mean, women and men, son, we're all sons of God, we're all the Bride of Christ, right? sonship is a term for men and women, bride of Christ is a term for men and women, we're talking about the impartation of the spiritual fathers into our lives and spiritual mothers into our lives. And the impartation. This impartation is the synergy of the ages. It's the delivery of the powers of the age to come to emerging and future generations. And it will work this way. This is the reason why, in the final days, in the final generations, they will be the most powerful generations in God on the earth, not because they're better, but because they have been given the greatest inheritance of all generations, but that inheritance cannot be given unless every generation is faithful with that with that impartation and only spiritual fathers and mothers are truly going to achieve any kind of great success in this because this is the order of God. It's the ways of God. It's the way the impartation has come. And so I say, Lord, I want to be part of that faithful generation. The Lord. I don't know that the Lord will come in my generation. Some people kind of get nervous about it. Oh, yes, always, always be ready. Yeah, I'm ready. As much as I know, I'm ready. You know, I'm the best you can. But I see myself coming on the other side, right, like Enoch saw him. You know, the Scripture Enoch saw the Lord come in with 10 1000s of his saints, but I want to have these generations ready and I want to be able to say we were faithful in our generation. We were like Moses, we were faithful in all of God's house. It's not too late to be faithful in all God's house, quit listening to the enemy telling you what you did wrong last week, last month, last year, last season last this last that and get on with God because you can be a good spiritual son, right, a good spiritual daughter, and we can receive and honor our spiritual fathers. Well, I've got a lot here. I'll tell you, this is burning in my heart, spiritual and we won't go much longer. I'm just about finished spiritual fathers. They're not always older than us. But most of the time they are. However, spiritual fathers are those whom God has placed a certain spiritual authority and relationship in their lives where they can relate as spiritual fathers, loving us, imparting to us, correcting and calibrating us, teaching us, admonishing us and walking in humility before us. Now, folks, this gets honest, a lot of Christians don't want spiritual fathers. Go read what Paul says fathers to do what he teaches fathers to do. A lot of people want a pastor and just a pastor. Don't get me a prophet. Don't give me an apostle. Don't give me a teacher. Don't give me anybody will tell me anything. I'm doing wrong, because it doesn't make me feel good. Give me a pastor Just love me and care. I love pastors. I love them. But God wants to give us the whole package. But if we go Lord, you know, I just want to go to a church where the pastor will love me and tell me things that are encouraging from the word, you know, and then we read scriptures, like Jesus said, Revelation three, we don't want any pastors like that. Right? I mean, I'm just saying that's what the flesh wants, but spiritual fathers calibrate us. spiritual fathers are like, No, we're not going to stay here. We're gonna move to the next level. Fathers love kids they love true fathers, genuine spiritual fathers and physical fathers. They love they want, they want to see you succeed, they want to see you grow, they want to see you calibrate, and that means you're going to be admonished once in a while. If you have spiritual fathers, or pastors or spiritual leaders in your life, and they've not brought any admonishment to you, or correction in the past year to check yourself and see where you are, you might be that person we prophesied to today that needs to change churches. Are you Are you hearing what I'm saying? Father, I'm talking about love fathers who love from the heart, and mothers to the same thing spiritual mothers, where they love from the heart. But man, I'll tell you, they want to see you excel in God, they want to see you grow, and be in the fullness of what God's called you to be. They invest in our lives. Like father's not like CEOs are not like someone who just wants to make their church bigger, right? I've watched people robbed themselves of huge portions of God's blessings, by not continuing in devotion, faithfulness to their spiritual fathers, like Mark, Luke, Timothy and Tychicus did. And we're talking about intentionality and continued faithfulness, to honor them, and to honor the relationship. And there are several ways that people wander into that disobedience. One is just not knowing them by the Spirit. What's that old saying? familiarity breeds contempt. So if you start knowing someone after the flesh, that going back to a lot of my mentors and spiritual fathers, the reason why people turn them down in the opportunities was because they were looking at them through the lens of the flesh, instead of the lens of the spirit, like Paul says, Set Corinthians 516, that we should know one another after the Spirit, right? Not according to the flesh, not perceiving the extraordinary power and anointing that's available to us through our relationship. A lot of people don't see what's available to them. There's a lot in that not no longer honoring spiritual fathers or even worse, dishonouring them. That's worse. That's actually much worse. On this point, I'll tell you, I've observed friends and colleagues flush extraordinary opportunities for importations and growth in their later years. And yet, they were totally unaware of what they were rejecting. Very similar to somebody we know in the Bible early in his life. He saw the Spirit of Esau. I don't want the spirit of Esau on me early in my life. And I don't want the spirit of Esau on me later in my life. Metal Jacob, I like Jacob. I don't like his deception. But man, that dude wanted the blessing of God. He understood I can't do this on my own. That was his faith. He's like, I can't do this on my own. If I'm gonna be blessed, I need the blessing. And he wanted the blessing of his father, he went about the wrong way. But he wanted it and God's still blessing. He got rebuked for it cost him a few years. It was rough being married to those two wives. I mean, there's a whole sermon in there, guys. Oh, this core quality of the nature of God, I can preach on it all night, the faithfulness of God. It's in the core nature of who he is. Don't you know, he loves faithfulness. He loves it. He loves faithfulness, because it's who he is. Faithfulness is not a created thing. It's in the nature of God. It's an eternal thing. It's always been in it will always be so showing faithfulness. Wow. I love it. The problem is when we view these relationships in the eyes of the natural world, stick with me, we're almost done. But I I, I feel compelled by the Lord to say this. asking myself what do they have left that they can teach me that I don't already know. wrong approach? I'm not saying it's a wrong question. wrong approach. Because it completely neglects the mysteries of the nature of God and His anointing on the relationship. The reason why I'm faithful to him is because they're my father. The reason why I'm faithful to that woman back there, she's my wife. Like you said, Nancy is God has called me to set my life apart to her, not measure every day, what's my return on my investment? Doesn't matter. I don't care. I don't care because God does. God's like, I love you. I don't care what my return is, I love you. And I just want to bring you set apart like you taught us today, I want to bring you set apart to me. And I promise you, you're getting the best end of the deal. Not my wife, but God saying that. Oh, without realizing it, they take that what's left in it for me approach, which is a lot more carnal than they realize God has the hidden blessings from those who calculate value in there. Let me say it this way, God hid the blessings from those that are calculating. He hid it. It's right before him and they can't see it. Because they're calculating in human wisdom. What's in it for me, instead of going, oh, I want to be like God, I want to be faithful. Now, they will be able to see that's what this whole weekend is about, is being able to see the observatory of God, the more our hearts are transformed to be like his, the more we can absorb God's nature, as Jesus teaches us. And then he says, For whoever has to him, more will be given to him who has not even what he has shall be taken away. Now, let's just do a quick excursus for a moment. Have you ever had a time in your life when you start noticing some some quality or thing God's put in your life you have? And it starts diminishing? I have. Okay, that's, that's a warning sign. Right? That goes, that's when you go who? Matthew 1312. Okay, Lord, I'm getting in there. I'm getting back in there. Because I don't want to lose it. Jesus set it up this way, so that we don't lose it. He says to him who has more will be given. I'm like, Okay, Lord, I'm pressing back in again, in the kingdom of God. We don't stay married because of what we can acquire from our spouse. We stay married, because we're walking in the nature of God, faithfulness. We find the call of God to honor our earthly parents that preparatory command and I'll say this. In the natural, this is what it looks like. And I've seen this, it looks like we are mostly getting the most of what God gives us, from our spiritual parents in the early years of our relationship with them. That's what it looks like, right? I mean, because then pretty soon you're like, oh, okay, he's already told me that. Sometimes we get upset with our, with our elders, because they tell us something that they told us 100 times. You know what I'm talking about right? A lot of times, they're doing it for our benefit. A lot of times we go I got it. And those wiser than us are going, No, you don't got it. You got some of it. But the reason why I keep saying it to you is because there's more to be gotten. Right. And Alicia shows us that the greatest exponential deposit is coming at the end. Even though in the natural, it looks like it's at the beginning, right? And this is hidden in the fabric of reality, it's all through the scriptures. We just looked at a few places. I'm gonna ask your worship team to come up. I apologize when went long tonight. But I tell you this message, I really believe this is the most important significant word that God's given me for 2021. And I want to be faithful to you. I want to be faithful to the Lord. I'm going to ask Brother Dick if you come up. And God is calling us to recognize the spiritual fathers in our lives and honor them. And I just want to make a commitment if you would rather just come on over here. close by, I want to respond to my own altar call tonight. I commit to honor you. I commit to be reverent to you. I hope I have been. But I will commit to honor you and to be reverent to you to learn from me for the rest of my life. Y'all can play. I want you to know how much we appreciate your fatherhood. It means the world to us. And my prayer is if we don't see it, that we would, it means the world to us. My commitment is, I will not abandon you. And we will not I speak for my own spiritual family. We will not abandon you. We commit to you to Grady, to your family, your spiritual family, to love you. And to do what Paul said and follow you as you follow Christ because the Kingdom of God is followership. And we commit to follow us as you follow Christ. We commit to recognize and I pray, name those wells that you've given us, a lot of them are right back on that table. I know their books, but those books, every one of them, you've read them, and they've changed your life. And they represent a well, that you have been drinking from and continued to drink from. And so this is our commitment. And I know we're going late, but this is important. So we honor you tonight in Jesus name. I want to ask you, if you would say a prayer for me in private, not in public. And we're just going to open the altar. You can go to bed, you can leave. But we're going to open the altar, because you the Lord may be talking to you and what brother did to pray for you or someone else and so we want to open that up to you in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for joining us today. Aaron ova is raising up spiritual leaders in many nations through our spiritual enrichment events, syndicated NetCast international prayer Council network and numerous international seminary scholarships. Together, we are lighting the fires of revival, fueling prayer movements and raising up friends of Jesus in the nations. We invite you to partner with us in this extraordinary movement. You can sign up as a prayer and financial partner today by going to evernote.org and clicking give. Please include your email address so that we can send you updates. That's era nova.org. Click give and become a monthly partner today. Invest in some of the most fertile spiritual soils on the planet. 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