I want to share some thoughts about an aspect of my own relationship with God that has meant so much to me in the 43 years that I've been walking with him I've there's a way that we are together there is a way that he is with me and is a way that he allows me to be with him that has been absolutely astonishing to me and it it revolves around a constant relentless consistent dialog that starts with questions I love the questions that he asked me and I love the questions that he loves me to ask him and so I want to share just a couple of scriptures to to give it a backdrop one is in Matthew 16 there are revelation questions you know God asks us questions to give us revelation to open us up to truth in a huge way to you know blow the doors off our mind and our thinking scrub out the cobwebs open our eyes make our heart beat with a sense of wonder and the Matthew 16 verse 13 let me read the passage to you when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi he was asking his disciples industry wants I think he was asking them individually and so on he was asking his disciples who do people say that the son of man is and they said well some say John the Baptist which is a little freaky because he just been murdered a few months ago so that's kind of weird Christians others said you're Elijah but still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets it's interesting you know that those are four distorted images of Jesus four distorted images Jesus isn't asking the question because he's fishing for a compliment he's not asking the question because he has an identity problem he's asking the question to see if you really know who he is for you Jesus asks his question so in your chats with people who do they say that I am for distorted images you know I've been around the globe I don't know how many times I don't know how many churches I've been to how many meetings I've sat in how many hundreds of thousands of Christians have spoken to and the one thing I regularly see is that same attitude of distorted image that we don't know who Jesus really is for us beyond the generalization of Savior and Lord whatever that means to you any given point in time and he's not interested in those general titles and things he wants to know specifically Who am I to you at this point in time because all relationships at some point are specific and if they're not they're not really going to be worth anything they don't really have a value they don't have a longevity and they don't have a capacity to stay the course in any any level of depth who do people say that I am and I think maybe Jesus wasn't all that interested in the broad answer because his next question was what he was homing in on who do you say that I am and you can imagine for a minute all the guys going you know it's a trick question what's he getting out here what's the kind of answer that Jesus really wants you're my friend you're my healer your great teacher I want to steal I like looking out the corner I eyes at each other and and Peter suddenly has a moment of inspiration which may have been fairly unusual for him at that point do you know how this is how I think God chose the apostle to go to the Gentiles it's like okay we got all these good Jewish boys and we're gonna have to send one of them to the Gentiles who's it gonna be and the Lord said I'll tell you what we'll do we'll get Jesus we'll get all the boys out in a boat we'll get Jesus to walk on water and we'll get him to give an invitation to come and the first idiot who puts his foot over the side we're sending him who knows but Peter is known for his impetuosity but suddenly he has this Crystal point of clarity he goes OMG you're the Christ the Son of the Living God and all the guys going and Jesus looks at him and he says right back at him and you blessed are you simon barjona because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you nor did any of your mates in the team but my father who is in heaven and I also say to you and I think fascinating when you know who Jesus is for you he's gonna so tell you and this is who you are for me because it's a two-way street this relational thing that you're right that your truest identity about yourself comes out of you knowing who he is for you because that's your place have saved it you Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not overpower it I'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven and all the other disciples are going note to self when Jesus asked a question be the first dummy revelation question Who am I to you and the answer to that question opens you up to start to understand who you are for him Acts chapter two two questions were asked on the day of Pentecost and these are process questions they're learning questions and in acts 2 verse 12 you have Pentecost happening pandemonium wind coming in all kinds of stuff happening people on the floor people speaking in tongues tongues of fire all kinds of stuff happening it's everyone's going what's that what's that what are they saying what are the all these different languages what's going on and then people ask the question what does this mean what does this mean you know when anything happens in your life you have the permission from God to come to him and say father what does this mean don't ask the why question but why question never gets answered on earth don't ask why because why is a victim question and he won't answer it because he won't accept that you're a victim why me why now why this victim question never gets answered on earth but ask the Lord what does this mean and particularly in the context what does this situation mean for my relationship with you in your relationship with me how does this affect our relationship how does this upgrade our relationship what does this mean in the context of you and me and me and you what does it mean and when you know with the answer to that question your next question which is also asked on the day of Pentecost is what must I do when you know what God wants to be for you what opens up for you is what you need to be in the context of him how do I partner with that when God says this is what I want to be for you okay how do I partner with you in that so that we have this interactive relationship going on questions are a good way to start a dialogue they're a great way to get to know someone ask questions questions are there a place to explore and discover the next part of your story in your journey we all have those two things in common we all have a story and we all have a journey that we're on so when we're getting to know each other you know you ask questions in the context of story and journey who are you what's going on where are you going what's happening next ya questions come to us in times of Plenty in times of high faith and they also come to us in times of suffering and difficulty and crisis there is no situation where you don't have the permission to ask the Lord a question and there's no situation in your life where he doesn't have permission that or the desire to ask you a question to open you up to start to talk to you to create a dialogue that actually causes you to rise up in faith questions engages in the process so that so that we can see where our story is changing and we can understand where our journey is going to Reese and I talk about these things all the time we have a story together we have a journey together we're fascinated about what's opening up for us we're fascinated about what is closing down what is opening up how many of you right now are in situations where you've just lost the grace for something don't put your hands in here you just lost the grace for something and you say you used to have a passion for it but now you don't have a grace for it because you have a passion for something else who's that yeah see the questions right there you should be asking right questions you should be asking the Lord because when you lose the grace for something it's because something else is opening up what's opening up what's becoming available to me where is my passion changing and what do I need to do to make sure that these things that I no longer have a passion for still get catered for maybe by somebody else questions they open it up to things in terms of our story and our journey questions allow us to explore areas that we'd never thought about before several years ago the Lord began to put on my heart this whole idea about TV I'm thinking I don't know anything about TV I may know how to I know how to turn it on and I know how to use the remote when I'm allowed right and that's about as much as I knew the Lord said you know I want you to think about television and I said in what way about you being on it I'm thinking ain't nobody out there gonna put me on their program what I wasn't really thinking about that you weren't so what are you thinking about and we start this conversation do I have the means to do that no but you know God likes to start the conversations early yeah because he gets you ready for something how many of you are thinking about things right now that you have no idea how it's gonna happen yeah see what's that and see God is in all of that right there are some questions there that you need you got to understand that God is in that and God's initiating that and he wants to have a chat and so there are some questions there so you think up some good questions to ask him and he already has some questions that he wants to ask you and so on and our of a clear blue sky some strange I have a list of questions that had to be next how's this gonna work out I love all of those questions you like to do about it and he said that's what I like about you so willing to put everything back on me hums Allah or I'm reading the Bible one day in the Senate stick or something you look at your feet and you look up ahead a landmark you look at the landmark you look at your feet you look you're constantly doing that you're constantly looking where you are and you're constantly looking ahead just to make sure you don't beam bumping I was thinking about and you know and couple of events that were coming up and and the father said to me great I have a question okay full of ignorance is supremely huge and so by learning you know really comes out of my relationship with him and what I'm hearing and what I'm trusting and so on and this is what he felt it said Graham I don't want to meet your needs anymore I want to give you your inheritance and I don't just want to keep giving you money I want to give you the means to make money you know and I think that's what I think some of that is going on a lot in the body of Christ right now people who there are so many ministries who have a real shortfall cause money's tight across the country so giving it decreases and and they have a real short for in in their income and in my experience I've always said to people you know if if God isn't giving you money he wants to give you an idea to make it you know and then God turned that spotlight on me was just kind of fun question but that has opened up a whole new area of my life that didn't even exist before right what's the profit doing there not for profit ministry here's another question that came out of some kind of weird emotional outburst I had and there was a particular guy around my life who just irritated me he's one of those people who get right up your nose and I mean he's stuck up there and it's irritating and you have tried everything you know how to win this guy loved this guy and you're about one step away from killing him and FedEx him to Jesus you're at that point you know you wanna you wanna buy a handgun and say to him hey can you meet me down the FedEx place so you can shoot him and parcel him up straight away right there point of desperation and he does something and I come into my meditation room and I stamp my foot like some weird petulant child and say what is wrong with this guy and I hear this still small voice what if nothing is wrong with him try bind you in Jesus name then I hear the same voice with a little chuckle of dry chuckle how's that working out there what do you mean there's nothing wrong with him it's like Graham do you think when Jesus died for your sin he did a good job yeah you know that he was manifested to take away the sins of the world yeah so what idea it brought them back what if Jesus took away the sins of the world who brought them back either he didn't do a very good job of taking them away or someone has illegally brought them back into our conscious mind and said that is still your lifestyle and still your mindset what do you think I think my head hurts Brian do you think Jesus did a good job yes Father I do so everything that was against this guy was all written down and nailed to a tree so do you think I took all that away from him yes I do so what if nothing is wrong with him because everything that was wrong was taken away so what if nothing is wrong with him Graham what if there's something missing from his relationship with me okay all right I'm in what's missing and the Lord told me and he said I want you to give him that missing piece are you sure you wouldn't rather lose use somebody else Graham I don't use anyone I'm not a user oh yeah we've already had that conversation sorry none I think you're the guy I want you to call him up so called him up and and I said tell me let's go get a coffee so we get a coffee he's fairly antagonistic just annoying to be around but maybe not as annoying as me there's got to be a possibility right so sit him down and I say I want to upgrade our friendship yeah we've got a friendship I said what we do now I want to upgrade our friendship so I want to give you a promise that I will be consistently your friend no matter what happens he leant back in his chair and he went really I said yeah I want to be consistent in your friend I want to offer you my faithfulness to be a faithful friend because what the Lord said to me was he's never had a good friend he doesn't know how to be one what's missing is he's never had a living breathing example of a friend who would never leave him that's why he's always like on the edge of something because he's always waiting for something to happen and you know leave and then he's on his own turns out you know he got all that from his dad who was the same and so he grew up feeling he was worthless so wanting to put that worthlessness on to somebody else you're worthless you're not worth being a friend so I'm not going to make any efforts whatsoever that's always got this hard edge up I look at it and think what the heck is wrong with this guy there's nothing wrong with him something's missing and did he test me you betcha I just stuck around and I decided that I would see him at this level and I would talk to him on that level I would appreciate him on that level so I didn't call him out on this level I called him up to this one and I lived on that level for him and it took seven or eight months and he started to thaw out we're good friends but I learned something here's me in this worldly paradigm what is wrong with this guy here's the father in a kingdom paradigm saying ain't nothing wrong with him everything that was wrong about him we took away but there is something missing and fellowship is where we supply what's missing it's fascinating that out of that moment out of that situation I ended up two years afterwards doing a conference called the missing piece question it's in a situation and money is getting tight pressures getting tight timing is really tight and and I get overwhelmed by everything that's not happening I get overwhelmed I'm losing my peace and all I can think about is Lord how can we resolve this problem you know and everything was this problem this problem this problem in the end became bigger than me it became bigger than my faith it became almost bigger than Jesus in my eyes I was dominated by this problem and I'm going on I'm banging on with God about his problem this problem is problem and one day he said to me Graham what if your circumstances are not the problem what if your perception of your circumstances is the problem huh which is my way of saying shut up ah what every time I get kind of terrorized by my own stress my my voice goes up several hunters it's like aunt Graham only dolphins can hear you now sorry my voice is so high-pitched like dolphins out at sea are going is that a brother lost somewhere what say that again Graham what if your circumstances are not the problem what if your perception of your circumstances of the problem okay it's a revelation question so now I have to think about it this is what meditation is for okay okay interesting interesting more information Graham are you in Christ absolutely so if you're in Christ everything in your life is in Christ technically it just laughs it's a Graham if you're in Christ so are all your circumstances if you can't be separated from the love of God then your circumstances can't be separated from the power of God so Wow so I can bring all these issues onto the ground of my relationship because if I'm in Christ all these circumstances are in Christ - yeah of course you know all that stress fell away and now I'm intrigued which I think sometimes is the whole point of questions with God is that we get intrigued you know it's like a whole new Thor opens up a whole new space and it's like opens up a whole new faith dynamic oMG my circumstances are in Jesus suddenly the circumstances go from this big down to this big and suddenly there's Jesus grinning question what if your circumstances are not the problem what if your perception of your circumstances is the real problem is anything too hard for the Lord there's about fourteen and a half people thinking well yeah maybe not what that verse really says is there any situation in your life where God could not be magnificent that's what it really means what we're learning about right is majesty we're learning about lordship you know we're pretty blithe about Jesus is Lord but it has to translate down to the base level where our lives are being interrupted by something and and we have to understand lordship in that context in that moment so we ask the question what if your circumstances are not the real problem your perception of them is the real issue here because you need to see those things the way that I see them and out of that something started to open up in me that I wanted to have a way of seeing and so out of that moment that my perception is the problem I need to work on how I see things all right so right Lord we're working on how I see things and I took a broad sweep off for you through my life cuz you know this is who I am with him sigh okay you've introduced something here I'm taking it across all the landscape of Who I am how do i how should I see this and how should I see that and how do I need to see that and how do you look at that when you see that Lord what do you see I want to say I was fascinated I want to know I want to see the way you see because now you've opened it up to me because we got yourself to blame now you've opened all this up I need to see this how do you see this how do you see that how do you see him how do you see her look how do you see this situation how do you see it fascinated and out of that again several years later I'd start doing this series of talks about renewing your spiritual lens I think God ohms when's crafters I'm serious as a heart attack I think he's actually wants to give all of us you know a new way of seeing a new lens not just to view life in your own circumstances but a new lens to view him a new lens to view the church a new lens to view the world a new way of seeing Peter is a good Jewish boy he has this vision in act 10 a vision of a sheet Lord from heaven all these creepy-crawlies on it and a voice saying a rise Peter kill Annie and he's going not so Lord I'm a good Jewish boy this is not kosher you wrote the book remember we don't do this laughing Jewish and Lord said what I call clean don't you call unclean and he's having a Homer Simpson moment it's like what dude what though I don't get it and so he has the same sheet lowered the same thing happen again I rise killing me didn't we just have this conversation Oh what we're still Jewish we don't do this stuff remember it's not kosher stop it the same through third time same thing still doesn't get it which should give us a lot of hope a that apostles sometimes are just as dumb as we are and then these Gentiles are coming and the Lord says there's a bunch of Gentiles going to come and ring your doorbell arise and go without misgiving which is a really polite way of saying Peter shut your mouth don't give me any of your lip just do as you're told and so he has to go with these guys and he finds himself horror of Horrors outside a Gentile house and he's never been in a Gentile house it is forbidden we don't do it with Jews we don't do that stuff and he can imagine him outside the house of Cornelius going I don't know I don't know well I want to bind you right now I don't know I'm not really sure he's having a water about Bob moment you ever seen that movie when he's trying to get out of his apartment the opening three minutes he's like walking around and he can't bring himself to touch the doorknob and open that door he's got all these phobias that's Peter outside the house of Cornelius he's walking around going I bind you Jesus I bind you I hope this is the enemy so I can do some warfare don't know what I'm doing how do I explain this to the boys back in Jerusalem I hate my life I want to be a plumber never had that thought I've had that thought so many I hate my life I want to be a plumber I want to fix people's toilets it's better than this and eventually he crosses the threshold and it's not until he crosses the threshold that he has this aha moment and he says ah now I perceive that God is no respecter of persons and so on when he says then he tells a fib that's Peter fibbing and he tells a fib and he tells him he tells him the sole instance and that's why I came without any misgivings oh really Bieber so I his whole lens changed Paul absolutely believes that he's in the will of God to be killing Christians and dragging them out of their homes and throwing them in prison 100% believes it until one day he gets knocked off his horse and the light is so blind he's so incredible it blinds him and he loses his lens and he sat there in the dark for several days and he's going he can't believe what's happening to him and he's absolutely appalled poor soul thought why are you persecuting me who are you lord I am Jesus of Nazareth oh great in Texas that would qualify as an oh shoot moment and he's in the dark for three days what's happening is I think God is giving him a corneal transplant and when he gets his eyes back he has a whole new vision God renewed his lens the way you see is important sometimes God's gonna ask you a question the question that God asked Saul was salt why are you persecuting me and souls question who are you I am Jesus and suddenly from falling off his horse a whole new landscape opens up questions they mess with us yeah here's some questions I think that God might be asking us it's one of my favorite question somebody's my favorite most of these he's asked me at one time or another do you believe what I believe about you that's a good question right now right where you are the Lord is asking do you believe what I believe about you it's a kind of question that makes you ask a question instead of give an answer so in what area are we talking about but that's good cuz now we're having a conversation here's another one when will you prove me he had that same situation now six times in the last three years when will you prove me no condemnation no blame no shame just a question do you have any plans to get victory in this area I get so on top of it that it never has to occur again when will you prove me here's another question for situations where we might feel a little overwhelmed can you can you see yourself powerful in Jesus sometimes I think people grow up with this ability this incredible ability to practice learned helplessness victim mindset it's always somebody else's fault but if you've been where I've been you'd be like this too my answer always is well if you're going where I'm going that will never happen again can you see yourself powerful in Jesus if the answer is no you have to have a conversation about it if the answer is with some help you have to have a conversation about it if the answer is yes I can would you like the question will be you like to be more powerful than that he's one of my favorite ones Graham I love impossible situations why don't you let me into yours anybody feeling things are impossible right now I've got one of those going on right now come on somebody stand in fellowship with me whose field come on show me Yeah right there you go thank you it's not it's not bad to have something impossible it just means that God's actually gonna give you incredible possibilities but sometimes we're looking at the wrong thing we're looking at something as a problem not as a possibility I love impossible situations why don't you let me into yours here's another one when will you learn peace how many people here find it easy to default to anxiety the first thought about something is worried the answer is not in your circumstance the answer is in you when will you learn peace here's the thing until you learn peace you'll always have those situations occurring because they're designed to teach you peace when will you learn peace he is the Prince of Peace I practice my peace every single day just some sometimes it's just simply pushing away anxiety here's another one I'm making war on all your negativity whose side are you on I'm making war on all your negativity whose side do you want to be on do you want to be on my side or the other guy's side good question huh whose side do you want to be in if I'm gonna be on his side I'm gonna have to do something I want to have to work with him on my negativity I do believe that God is making war on all of our negativity he's using love grace mercy patience joy using all those things but he's making war on our negativity because your negativity keeps you earthbound connected to the world and the lack of negativity empowers you to soar and connect with the kingdom so he's got a vested interest I put you into Christ so that I could treat you like him what would that look like for you what would it look like for you to have me treat you like I treat Jesus that's why you're in Christ right so you can learn to be christ-like so you can learn the favor that's present because you have access to the same favor that Jesus does that's why he's in you all of heaven is attracted to Jesus in you we have to learn that as a lifestyle that's why he asks the question if I put you I'd put you into Christ so I could treat you like Jesus like I treat Jesus what would that look like for you what he's doing there is he's kick-starting your creative thinking which the world calls imagination do you know that my plan is to make you as amazing as me there are some people in this congregation who could stand to become a tad bit more amazing you know who you are my plan is to make you as amazing as me why because I'm making you in my image as you renew your mind in the spirit what can you see that you could not see before the Lord is always going to upgrade your vision it's part of your relationship with him he wants you to see more than you ever seen and a lot of that comes from being transformed by the renewing of your mind so you learn how to put things in the world in perspective so that you can tackle the things that are in heaven and sometimes we can't you know we can't receive things from heaven because we're too busy concentrating on the things around us we don't have a good level of thinking of things around us so we can't actually think of the things that above us Colossians 3 says set your mind on things above not on things on the earth so we have to learn a good perspective here so that we can get a good perspective of what's up here because I want to tell you there are unclaimed upgrades all over this room in people's lives and those upgrades they need to come down in your life heaven is not a storage facility all those things need to be on earth with you in you it's important is your mindset hostile towards me or are you really open to learn see if you're closed off from learning then you have a hostile mind you have a hostile way of thinking nope nope nope nope it closed off is your mindset hostile towards me or are you really open to learn something my favorite one of my absolute favorite questions Graham what do you want me to be for you now I can't tell you how many times that question has saved me open me up change something in me what do you want me to be for you now in final question Graham are you as ready to receive what I am delighted to give I think there are surprises available to people in this congregation and sometimes those surprises come because your toilet explodes and sometimes those surprises come because a couple of people in your company leave and suddenly things everything happens are you as ready to receive what I am delighted to give if you need a miracle is because ones available don't me say that again in English if you need a miracle it is precisely because one has just become available and it's got your name on it we are destined to live as far away from doubt and fear and unbelief as it's possible to get in a human landscape and the questions that God asks us that open us up to revelation to process to learning something to exploring something to thinking differently seeing differently and praying differently and having a different level of expectation he's opening us up from being just human beings to actually becoming citizens of heaven living here on earth he's taking the questions take the world out of us and put the kingdom into us so I pray father that today here in this place I ask you to take the lid off this church remove any sealing any false ceiling in our life I bind it I curse it I break it in the name of Jesus and I declare that the ceiling has been taken off the roof of this house has been taken off the ceiling of limitation has been taken off your life and I declare that the father says to you I'm gonna ask you questions and I give you permission to ask me you have not because you ask not ask me questions because those questions bring me right into that space that you're bothered about ask me questions I take the roof off says the Lord I take the roof off I remove the false ceiling over your life and I declare that you are in Christ so that you may live unlimited I don't want you to see beyond I don't want you to see outside the box I don't want you to see beyond the box I declare to you in Jesus name you're in the kingdom there is no box there is no box in the kingdom if you're trying to see outside the box it proves that you're in the box if you're trying to see beyond the box it's because you're just like the rest of the world you're in a box there is no box in the kingdom there's just unlimited life unfettered life life in all its fullness I'm bringing you into my fullness I'm not filling your box with my formless because that's not full not according to me I'm bringing you into my fullness no box just unfettered unlimited life I'm removing your false ceiling I'm opening up your mind and your heart to the fullness of the kingdom to the bigness of heaven to the majesty and the sovereignty of God and I'll teach you how to see things and you will become a church that has a vision that very few others have you'll be a company of people that know how to see in the spirit you'll be a company of people who know how to think know how to process know how to live with their mind renewed you'll be a transformation wherever you go and you'll be a people group to have a language that few others have because I'm taking the ceiling away removing the box you're not in a box you'll never be in a box don't ask me to be in that box with you I'll just bring the stick of dynamite and blow that thing up ask me questions I have questions for you you can work your way through these and when you have then we'll get some more and we'll enter into a conversation together that will cause you're praying to be different that will cause your teaching to be different that will cause your whole language all language and conversation to be utterly remarkable so you use the language of faith and trust and expectation that you'll be full no matter what is occurring around you you'll be at a different level welcome to my world and my name is not Wayne so you're not so father I pray for this house I asked that this house will become unlimited there'll be no ceiling on us just a huge expanse of promise a huge expanse of prophetic permission that in our hearts every one of us will experience the Lord constantly saying yes and our men yes or men that all things in Christ will be yes and our men to us that will know how to ask for things we'll know how to see things so we can ask for the right things that everything will be yes in our men and they ask that we would explode into the landscape of the kingdom as a people group together and that Jesus would be hugely glorified and that this place indeed and the next building we get and the one after that will be filled with people who know how to live unlimited because Jesus deserves that and I ask it in his name oh man thanks so much for listening to me earlier [Applause]