Okay, so we've been talking about the Ark and the contents of the Ark and how Aaron's
staff came to represent the order of leaders and followers, but a better way of looking
at it is as mentioned in Numbers 17, fathers and sons. So we've been going down that route.
So we'll do one more perhaps and then change next week. So we are talking about the generational
order of fathers and sons. So I won't recap what we did last week. I'll just continue
from here. If you want to find out, you can go and listen to last week's teaching.
So guys, Abraham's are usually—Abraham's are the ones God can trust to command His sons in the ways of God.
Where do we get that from? That's from last week. If we go to Genesis 18, 19. Go to Genesis 18, 19.
And you'll see it mentioned there. Genesis 18, 19. In Genesis 18, 19, starting at verse 17,
then the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do? Then He makes a statement,
Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation and all nations on earth will be blessed
through Him. Now look at why He chose Abraham. For I've chosen Him as an Abraham so that
He will direct His children and His household after Him to keep the way of the Lord by doing
what is right and just. Why? So that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what He has promised Him.
We talked about this last week saying how God may give a promise, but then He requires
multiple generations to receive, believe, work out, manifest as in live out and establish that promise.
And so God is so sure of Abraham that He says, hey, guess what? Abraham is the kind of guy who can do this.
He can teach His children and His children's children how to walk in the ways of God so that I can bring to pass
the promise that I gave Him. And so what we then realize is Abraham's need Isaacs.
Doesn't matter what the promise is, a promise, and we're not talking about personal promises of,
oh, I'll give you a job or I'll take you somewhere and stuff like that. I'm talking about promises that
will affect the earth. Those promises cannot come to pass unless generations learn how to walk in it.
So Abraham's need Isaacs. Otherwise, the promise dies with Abraham. Abraham needs Isaac.
Why? Because Isaacs conveyed things. Isaacs conveyed things to Jacob.
So God gives Abraham a promise saying, hey, listen, your descendants will have this entire land.
Four hundred years they'll be locked away, but a time will come and they'll come out of their captivity.
And everything that you see, I'll give to you. You're at present important, but I want to say to you
that I'm changing your name and I'm calling you Abraham, Father, before you even have a child.
I'm going to give you a son. It won't be through your servant, Eliezer. I'm going to give you a son,
a promise called Isaac. But you have to, and I'm choosing you because I trust you, to convey to Isaac
what I will show you of myself. Teach Isaac your ways so that Isaac can teach Jacob his, my ways,
so that the promise I gave you can come to pass. And here's the promise. All the nations of the earth
will be blessed through you. So these kind of promises that fill the earth are impossible to happen
when there is no transmission generationally. And we don't realize this, but in this church,
in terms of socio-cultural divides, you have seven generations here. So, I mean, look at this.
That's how they divide generations nowadays. So you have generation beta, which is Eliakim.
Eliakim was born last year. So he belongs to the beta generation. Then there's the alpha generation.
Some of our younger guys like, what's her name, Yaya and Isaiah belong to this group.
Then there's a generation Z, which is basically Z and Jonathan and others.
Yeah. And then there's the generation Y, which is anyone from, I don't know who's 29. Let's pick on Tuni.
29 and forward. Yeah. 29 to 44. Those are the millennials. And then there's generation X, and I'm generation X.
Just born on the cusp. And then there are baby boomers. Both Dilna and Micah missing, but we put them in that.
And then there's, I don't know why they call them the silent generation, but Ruth would be in that. Yeah.
But she ain't silent. You should take a car ride with her. So in this church, there's seven different generations.
But we're not talking about these kind of socio-cultural generations. We're talking about generations as in waves of believers that come into the church.
And therefore, in that sense, what would be ideal if a church has four generations that learn the ways of God?
And if they do, what God releases on earth will fill the earth and it won't die. But you need four generations to get it.
And if they don't, it usually dies. We'll talk about that. Any questions? Other than on Tuni's age, any other questions?
Okay.
So the strange thing is when Abraham died, I love this, when Abraham died, he was 175.
He was 175 years old. And Isaac was 75. And guess what? Jacob was 15.
You can take that off the thingy, Brandon. It's on mine. I don't know how to remove it.
Okay, Brandon, can you remove it? Okay. So it's, I mean, go to Hebrews 11, verse 9, and you find a strange scripture there.
Hebrews 11, verse 9. And if you read it from the ESV, it almost says it exactly as if it's a physical existence, not a spiritual thing,
where it says in Hebrews 11, 9, that Abraham kept living in tents. And he lived there with Jacob and Isaac.
So all three lived together. You can't even imagine how rich it is when you have a promise from God passed down to you,
or things that God did explain to you by the originator, the progenitor of the promise.
Imagine Jacob, eh? Listening to Abraham's story. Abraham would tell him about how he met God. Thanks, man.
He met God and two angels, that Yahweh turned up with two angels at the Oaks of Mamre.
And so Jacob is now at Luz, which was later called Bethel, and he can understand what it is to see God.
Abraham actually conveyed stories directly. One of the things we need to do, especially those that were here in the beginning,
you have to have the ability to convey to people the divine traditions that have been handed to us and the promises given to us so that we can convey it forward.
Second thing, if you look at 2 Timothy 2, 2, you'll find this there. 2 Timothy 2, 2, Paul says, hey, Timothy, can you do me a favor?
What I have taught you, so Paul is the first generation, what I have taught you, Timothy is the second generation,
could you go and deposit in faithful men, the third generation, so that they can teach others, four generations?
There's a pattern of this. 2 Timothy 2, 2, Paul is saying to Timothy, Paul is the first generation, Timothy is the second,
he's saying to Timothy, Timothy, can you deposit what I'm teaching you in faithful men so that they can teach others?
If you are able to do this, then you'll find that anything that God promises comes to pass because now you've reached critical mass or threshold where things begin to happen.
You look at 2 Kings 15, 12, 2 Kings 15, 12, 2 Kings 15, 12, 2 Kings 15, 12.
2 Kings 15, 12, 2 Kings 15, 12.
And it says there, God is talking to Jehu and he says, so the word of the Lord spoken to Jehu was fulfilled,
your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.
There is something that is conveyed and there are four generations present that have the ability to walk in the inheritance that God gave to the originator or the progenitor.
The original mandate fills the earth and there are four generations that begin to walk in it.
And so again you have Abraham, you have Isaac, and then you have Jacob, and then you have the tribes of Israel.
Everything that God wanted had to happen through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then his 12 sons.
That's how God replenishes or brings to pass a promise or an inheritance appointed to a people.
And here's the crazy thing, whether we like it or not, God has promises for all people groups.
It's just that we get stuck with getting healed, getting a job, getting money, getting a home, and dying peacefully.
And that is so not what Christianity is about.
Christianity is about rallying your family, your wealth, your work, your possessions,
and laying them at the feet of Christ and the church so that he can use it however he wants for his glory.
And so that goes against the grain of today's Christianity.
But to every people God has a promise, because there's tons to do, guys.
Eight billion people is a lot. You will never get to a point where you can say there are enough churches in this city.
Never.
There's always room for one more.
But whatever God wants to do fills the earth. And the same applies to you, your family.
You'll find that any God-given tradition in your family will die if it doesn't get past Isaac.
So you have the 12 sons of Jacob, and God is now able to fill the earth.
And this is why Satan will always attack the first four.
He knew that if he can destroy Jacob's family before they get to a place where they can populate the earth,
he knew that the seed of the woman would not be born.
And so what's the intent? Let's go and try to bring a famine. Let's destroy...
I've said this before, all the battles against Israel were for a simple reason in the Old Testament.
If we destroy Israel, we will destroy the seed of the woman that will trample the head of the serpent.
So it doesn't matter whether it's Moses or whether it's Jesus.
It doesn't matter whether it's the destruction of Jacob's family or contaminating the line with Kinnonites and other countries that were not supposed to be part of that equation.
The intent is always can be hybridized, contaminate or destroy the seed that will trample over the head of the serpent.
That's the intent.
Any questions? Any questions, guys?
So even if you're building a business, building a church, building family traditions, building something on earth, this is critical.
And so to get an Isaac and try to hybridize, mutate, destroy him is just so natural for the enemy.
Because if you can get that next generation, traditions do not pass on.
So with regard to Fuyo and Echo, let's assume God gives them a promise that is supposed to bless both Canada and Japan.
That through this family, I'll do this, this and this in Japan and Canada.
If they are not able to transmit it to him, and if he does not learn how to walk in it, the promise comes to them.
They pray, they sing, they die, and they find out that because he didn't get it, it doesn't pass on.
But if he gets it, then his children get it.
And at a time, a church, most churches at a time have four generations.
That is why it is important to pass this on.
That is why one of the teachings that's happening in the churches right now during the week is, what is our culture?
What is the vision of the mantle?
If you don't get that, we'll talk about that later.
Isaac bears a great responsibility.
Isaac's as in the second generation that grows up in a business or a church.
I mean, you'll find this in business too.
Why is it that after 200 years, there's still someone who holds majority shares in Ford Motor Company that belongs to the Ford family?
How come there are other households that squander their wealth?
How come Rockefellers have the ability to maintain it?
Generations later, they still have a huge stake in their company.
While there are other houses that have collapsed because they're infighting or mutating.
It applies right across the board. It's not a Christian thing.
So Isaacs who make up the second generation have great responsibilities.
They have to learn to receive from their fathers.
They have to trust their fathers with their lives, as Isaac did.
They have to teach the third and fourth generation what they learned.
They have to recover things lost in transition.
You see Isaac doing that. Where do we see him doing that?
In Genesis 26, you find him re-digging the wells that Abraham had named.
And each of those wells was significant.
Isaacs have to add to their inheritance.
You don't sit on an inheritance.
You have to add to the inheritance that he received from Abraham.
And so he goes digs two new wells. One is called Rehoboth, one is called Beech-Sheba.
And each one marks a significant point in his journey.
And then you have to resist picking up bad habits of Abraham.
And in this Isaac failed.
So you have Abraham who goes and tells Abimelech that, oh by the way, he wanted to save his skin.
So he goes and says to Abimelech, that ain't my wife, that's my sister.
And so along comes Isaac. He does the same thing.
That ain't my wife, she's my sister.
Jacob takes it up a notch. Yeah, yeah, I'm my brother.
He goes gets his brother's blessing.
So he's taken deception to a new notch.
And so it just continues.
So you have to learn how to resist the sins that Abraham began to practice in his life that begins to come down the line.
Any questions?
If you don't have context for this, you'll have to listen to the first two teachings where we talk about the church operating as fathers and sons,
sons stepping into the place of their fathers in two lines that were critical from last week.
What is the job of a father? The job of a father is to raise fathers.
What is the job of a son? The job of a son is to step into maturity so he can be a father.
And the Bible is replete with this.
Beat Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, beat Elijah, Elisha, beat Paul, Timothy, beat Jesus and his disciples.
Any questions?
Go ahead.
Yeah, within the family.
Yeah.
So the question is, if this is something that can happen in the church in terms of multi-generational order of fathers and sons
so that whatever God wants us to do begins to spread across the earth, how does it apply to businesses where it becomes almost nepotism
or it becomes money that's contained within the family?
The only reason God has this order in the church is so that someone else benefits.
It's never for personal increase. It is always for the benefit of others.
Any promise that God gives is always for the benefit of others.
So if this becomes something where you begin to build an empire where your church becomes the strongest church,
like I've always said and I really believe it, a church that is made strong exists only for one reason, to empty itself out.
Many of you should not be here three, four years from now.
There should be new people coming in that have been taught well and you should be scattered so that you are somewhere else starting what you learned here.
Just as God raised a strong son, Jesus, so that he could pour Jesus out and empty him,
so the only reason for a strong church to exist is so that the church can be poured out, emptied, so we can start afresh.
So it's never about consolidating wealth. It is about increasing wealth and then stewarding it so that it's distributed till you hit empty.
It's only empty vessels that get filled. These are not cliches. These have been repeated again and again in the Bible.
Yes, so that's where the parallel just fails when it comes to businesses because they're not run that way.
It's more a consolidation of wealth. I mean, who did they send from the church in Antioch in Acts chapter 13?
They didn't send their sound guy. Our sound guys are like top of the notch, like you heard them pray today.
They didn't send their sound guys from Antioch in Acts chapter 13. They sent their best. They sent Paul and Barnabas.
Who does that? Who picks the best you have and sends them?
You want to lock Tooney and Sheldon up, not send them out.
Send them out.
I saw Tooney run his hand through his hair.
Any questions? Any other questions?
Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah. So if a father trains his son to imitate him but does not train him in the word, it's a problem.
You end up not imitating, you end up mimicking someone. There's a difference between imitation and mimicking.
Mimicking is done without understanding. Imitation is done holding up the mirror of the word.
And so when training is done without the parameters of the word and without helping people learn to depend on the Holy Spirit,
yeah, you can pick up habits and just continue them, not even knowing that it's got nothing to do with the nature of God.
So it's essential that when this is ordered, that it be ordered with the word.
With the word. Everything. One of the ways we order things with the word is guys continuously bring up scriptures,
examples that illustrate the nature of God and the way God works.
I should leave you no option, not because of my persuasiveness, but because I'm giving you evidence that it is actually a biblical structure.
And you, till you find a more excellent way, this is the way. I should leave you no choice.
I should leave Remy no choice. Either Remy has to say, yes, Jacob, this is it and step into it.
I should leave Hamari no choice, where she can't say, no, no, no, I'm a little scared of this or I don't like this Remy and I want to stay away.
Can't. I should leave no choice to Nishan and Shireen. Leave them no choice.
They have to look at the mirror of the word and then decide, do I obey or do I not obey? Not because of persuasiveness.
When it comes to persuasiveness, that's when you catch bad habits.
Cool. Why waste, for the lack of a better word, so much time on this?
Because if this can be established here, if five of us, ten of us get this, we're fine.
Just five or ten, I have to get this. In a church this size, five or ten, get it.
It'll be fine. Five or ten, we'll get it. You got a question?
Why was, in Isaac and Jacob's case, why was the deception okay?
Because Isaac clearly spent a lot of time with himself as a father teaching him the ways and...
And he had a mum who was willing to go with it because she loved him and Isaac loved Esau.
And Isaac tried his best to stop it. Isaac was a smart guy.
He's saying, come a little closer, not because he wants to give his son a hug, but because he wants to smell his son.
So his eyes were bad, but his nose was sharp.
Come here, son, let me give you a hug.
That's what basically Isaac was doing.
He made a mistake as a father, but the mistake was made because of the deception of the son and because of the rivalry between the parents.
He wanted to choose Esau. Not he wanted to choose Esau. He knew it was Esau's birthright.
I mean, it's just natural that the oldest gets the thing. It was not even a question of choice.
It was a question of this is how it works.
And here comes a man who steals it till he comes to Peniel and then it changes.
Man, the number of people who've told me to change my name.
Hey Jacob, for those who are parents or make-up parents, can you balance if I'm not using the biological part of the term, but Moses and...
Joshua. Yeah.
It would be wonderful if biological parents could do this for their sons and they can to an extent.
But sometimes familiarity does not help.
Sometimes familiarity does not help.
Jesus himself said a prophet is not accepted in his hometown.
So parents must play this role and children must benefit from it till it comes to a certain place where you need someone from the outside.
And it becomes very easy when you have a biological Abraham, Isaac or Jacob in your life who teaches you well.
You meet children who have a rich Christian heritage.
I look at Paul from South Africa. His dad, Eddie, taught him well.
Eddie's dad was someone who started the movement in South Africa.
He's got four generations behind him that have enriched his life.
It becomes much easier for him, far more difficult for us.
But what if we had a combination of both?
What if Vedisha and Vivek bring up... where's that girl?
Mia.
Just imagine the quality that someone else will be dealing with when they deal with Mia, having parents that have given her such a rich heritage.
That's how this works.
It's a huge advantage.
Next thing we need to understand is all can be sons or all are or can be sons in a house.
And again, we talked about this in length last week.
So we're going to talk about this in detail.
All are or can be sons in a house.
And again, we talked about this in length last week.
So I can't recap it.
You'll have to go listen to it.
But not all have the maturity to walk as fathers.
Not all have the maturity to walk as fathers.
So if you have premature sons, trying to be fathers is dangerous.
And it can happen in a church like this.
It can happen at Acts 29.
So we've got to be careful that that doesn't happen.
I just want to spend a little bit of time talking about that.
So everybody here, in the eyes of God and in the context of the order that a household is built in,
remember, God calls a church a household, a family.
Not like a family, a family.
And so everybody has the right to be a son, can be a son, but not everybody walks in maturity.
And so not all can say, ah, this father-son thing is really good, so I'm going to try and see who I can raise.
No, not until you get to a place of maturity.
An infant who is feeding on milk cannot raise children.
An adolescent who's walking in carnality cannot father a child.
That's why we don't send our 14-year-olds to get married.
Oh, you're 14 now. You should be active.
You can produce a child. Off you go, son, and get married.
We don't do that because it needs to get to a place of maturity.
But it is ones that have, over a period of time, learned how to walk in the ways of God that can now raise others.
Adolescents who are immature or carnal must not raise children.
What's carnality?
Carnality is when believers have gotten accustomed to living in the world and in the kingdom,
where unlike Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you eat what is laid on the table.
That's in Daniel 1.8.
Paul talks about this in Romans.
Here's the basic bottom line.
There is no participation in divine assignments without holiness.
One of the best scriptures that illustrates this is 2 Timothy 2, 20 to 22.
I'll read it from the message.
2 Timothy 2, 20 to 22.
In a well-furnished kitchen, there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets.
Some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage.
Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.
Run away from infantile indulgence.
Run after mature righteousness, faith, love, peace, joining those who are honest and serious.
Joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God.
It doesn't say that you have to be a crystal goblet or that you have to be a compost bucket.
You have to be clean though so that he can use you any which way he wants.
So it's not about being some high class vessel compared to a low class vessel.
It's that, hey, can you be clean so that if he wants you to be useful recycling, that's who you are.
If he wants you to be a crystal goblet, that's what you drink out of.
But it's not possible without this bit, and we've talked about that quite a lot.
Any questions before I...here's the thing guys, maturity is best determined by fathers.
Maturity is best determined by fathers.
Maturity.
And when I say father, it's not a gender term, it's a genderless term.
Yeah, we talked about that.
Maturity is best determined by fathers in the wisdom of the Spirit.
In the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
And when fathers vacate this responsibility, when fathers vacate this responsibility,
you end up...how do you vacate the responsibility?
You choose coddling or you choose favoritism instead of training.
When you do that, when you vacate the responsibility of determining the maturity of your sons,
then you end up having immature heads of families.
Galatians 4.1 talks about it.
If you go to Galatians 4.1, it outlines it so brilliantly.
Galatians 4.1.
This is what I mean.
One must provide scripture to understand that there is a pattern.
If you don't provide scripture, you'll have to then force it with persuasive words.
Galatians 4, verse 1.
I'll start at verse 20 because it touches on...no, I'll start at chapter 3, verse 26.
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.
I absolutely believe that.
For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Then it goes on to say, if you belong to Christ, and this goes back to the promise given to Abraham,
if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
Crazy, eh? 4,000 years ago.
And then, chapter 4, verse 1.
What I'm saying is this, that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave,
although he owns the whole estate.
He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by the father.
They intend there being...listen, fathers know the maturity of a child.
And they must, with the help of the Holy Spirit, encourage open doors, correct train,
but not coddle and not avoid confrontation of show favoritism.
It's not an easy job. Ask anybody who's a parent.
Especially with a parent with two kids. Two kids that are close in age.
Any questions?
Cool.
So, what we are saying is everyone is treated the same,
because we saw in scriptures that everyone is a son.
Everyone is treated the same.
But responsibility, and aspire for this, guys. This is what we were born for.
We are supposed to be Psalm 48 people.
What does it say in Psalm 48?
That the sons will stand in the place of their fathers.
That a time came when Joseph had to be carried by his sons to be buried in Egypt.
Sorry, in the promised land. He had to be taken from Egypt.
There was a time that came when Abraham had to be buried. Isaac had to be buried.
It's the sons that do that and they continue what was given to them.
So, aspire for it.
There should be nobody here who is not able to do it.
If we don't, it's because we make a choice.
And a choice...my sister says this about me.
Jacob, you're the most self-centered person I've met.
Why does she say that?
Because she's surprised at how content and happy I am and how much I like myself.
You don't want to be that.
To die a Christian that lived a good life and had everything for himself
and went to heaven isn't much of Christianity.
Everyone is treated the same, but responsibility...
But responsibility...
is given as a result of testing.
So here are some tests that you should expect to be subjected to.
First, the test of maturity.
The test of maturity.
And here are the questions one must ask when you check someone's maturity.
Is the person walking in a way that is spiritually sound or is it carnal?
Does the person find it easy to submit to the principles and the arrangements of God?
Is the person committed or is it a fair-weather Christian?
Is the person principled?
Is the person passionate in their understanding and knowledge of how God works?
Test of maturity.
Next, test of time.
Let me pick names and put them in.
And trust me, every name I pick, I'll pick only if I'm sure that it doesn't apply to them, yeah?
So I'm not trying to make you feel guilty.
Test of time.
Relationships take time.
It's proven over years.
Not by gifting, not by an event.
When Thuny came to this church, I knew he came as a pastor who was more educated than all of us.
I also knew he was a worship leader and that he was a pastor at another church.
But one of the things I made sure when he came here was neither his gift nor his ability will find any room in this church.
And if he and Anilay still want to be here after six months of not leading worship, then perhaps we'll try them out.
Relationships are built over time.
And so for six months, they would finish the service there, come here, famous worship leader who writes songs.
You know how famous he is, right?
And he used to wear a, yeah, like a worship leader outfit and all.
And he would come and he would just sit there for six months.
Because the intent was the test of time is can relationship be built and can you not prove people just because they have a gifting or because there's a singular event that distinguishes them?
Any questions?
No?
Okay.
Test of vision.
If you can't fully relate to the vision the church or the leader has,
you will not perpetuate or increase it or increase what you inherit.
You cannot.
The test of vision is important.
So does Sheldon know the vision both of this house, the vision that God gave me for this church when it was first founded, the vision that has progressed over the years, the vision that has been given to the leaders of the church?
Does he know it?
And if he doesn't know it, then he might be a great leader, great pianist.
He might disciple people well.
But the inheritance that this church has received will never be perpetuated through him because he has no desire for it.
And so the first thing you have to articulate is does Sheldon even know what it is?
And if we went around this church, you'd get different parts and we can put the elephant together.
But wouldn't it be great if each one of us could have an individual elephant so we have a herd?
One of my uncles had an elephant.
Those things eat a lot.
And when you, part of the test of the vision is do you have the ability to endure with faith and have a breakthrough spirit?
Because no vision comes to pass over two years, three years, four years.
Most people amend their vision, amend what God has given them, because we are measured by success.
A vision takes time.
It's crazy, eh?
I hate the fact that Christianity is instant Christianity.
It's not supposed to be that way.
It has the same outworkings of a baby.
You might look at your child and say, hmm, doctor, he's going to take a lot of money and a lot of time.
Mad comics had this, eh?
They would show what a parent saw the child as and then what the child would become.
Hmm, baseball pitcher.
And then they show him in Wrigley Field throwing peanuts at people because he's a vendor.
So there's this whole series in Mad Comics about this.
Mad Comics was before your time.
Mad Comics would be boomer generation, yeah?
So the point being, vision takes time to pass.
It takes time for it to manifest.
It takes years and the only way you can deal with it is through endurance, joyful faith, and breakthrough spirit.
Endurance, joyful faith, breakthrough spirit.
Imagine being Joseph.
That would have been a bummer.
You see things when you're 15 and 16, and then for the next 16 years, you see the inside of prisons.
But it says, the word of the Lord tested him.
Psalm 105, verse 17.
The word of the Lord tested him.
Stick with it, man.
Subin's putting a bike together.
I mean, he's not putting a bike together.
He's hiring bonded labor and making them put the bike together.
But the point is, you should see that bike when it came and now where it is and how the engine is being stripped down.
A day will come when he will look at it with such pride and he'll find Ashi's lying down on one side and Jonathan, both of them have given up the ghost tent.
But he will look at his bike with great pride and Shikha will look at it and say, shrug her shoulders and walk away.
But vision takes time to come to pass, eh?
I think, is Ashish here today?
I saw you sitting in a jacket, just sitting there holding the engine while poor Jonathan was in his t-shirt working away.
Could you explain that, Ashish?
Oh, okay.
You and Derek should get together.
You guys do great supervision.
The next one is the test of family.
Test of family.
These are tests that if you don't pass, you cannot come into a place of maturity.
These are tests that I had to go through.
These are tests that the leaders of your churches had to go through.
These are tests that Derek had to go through, Don had to go through, Sheldon and Jane had to go through, Gillian had to go through, May had to go through, Iris and Kez are going through.
And whoever else I left out, Tulian and I had to go through.
These are tests they've gone through.
The test of the family is simple.
We are not devoted to a person.
We are devoted to the strength of the family.
When people get devoted to a person at the expense of relating to the rest of the family, then it becomes exactly what 1 Corinthians 3 talks about.
Who is Paul?
Who is a prophet?
1 Corinthians 3 talks about who is Paul?
Who is Apollos?
Who is Seifus?
Aren't we all gardeners in the same vineyard?
Why have you divided Christ when he's not divided?
And so that becomes what happens when suddenly the strength of the family is not important.
It is I'm devoted to this person.
That's not maturity.
This is big time immaturity.
Because these are the men and women who are supposed to birth families.
Isaacs that give birth to Jacobs that give birth to tribes.
Who are we talking to?
We're talking to us so that we model this.
Here's the thing, guys.
Anything that we read and know as the truth, if modeled, will in this present time become visible.
But two, three years from now, it'll be established truth.
It'll be it'll be inviolable.
I don't know how many of you were alive when iPhone 3 came out.
Not many.
But it was like a generational revolution.
And iPhone 17 still carries some of the same stuff.
Only they keep adding more cameras and increase the memory.
That's all.
But the base platform was established.
Now it's established.
And once the truth is established, it begins to spread.
Where is Blackberry?
Who else has Samsung other than Don?
Other than Don and Subin?
Other than Don and Subin and George?
Okay, let's stop this.
Test of family.
Test of family, it is not devotion to a person, but a distinctive family.
A person may lead you, but it is the family of fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters that strengthens you.
A person may lead you, but the family strengthens you.
Efficience 416 clearly says that.
It says in Efficience 416 that from him the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work.
When I get attached to one person and I do not consider what you have to say, that ain't maturity.
Test of identity.
Initially, sons, when I say sons again it's a genderless term, sons look, sound, act like the ones or the fathers they imitate.
Eventually, as in a few years, eventually the call, purpose, and operation becomes distinct.
But the heart, vision, desire remain.
Don't be ashamed of this is a silly thing that's come out.
Oh, we don't follow man, we follow God.
Stop it.
It's an absurd statement.
Your children follow you.
You follow your boss at work.
You follow the mechanic who teaches you.
You follow the driving instructor.
You follow the weatherman.
You follow Anderson on CNN and Hannity on Fox.
And then to pontificate that we don't follow man, we follow God is nonsense.
The way God has ordained thing is that there will be equipers to equip you and their job is to equip you to depend on God.
But if you don't want to depend on man, you ain't going to get to God because the Holy Spirit isn't visible yet.
Like a little child said when she was scared of the dark and the parent came and prayed for the child and says, don't worry, Jesus is here.
And the child said, mama, but I want someone with flesh on them.
Because otherwise it doesn't help to have Jesus there if you don't have flesh.
Would be great if parents can just go and tell the child, stop crying, Jesus is here.
Doesn't work.
In the beginning, we imitate people that we think have an interest in us and that's how we grow.
And they must be responsible enough to shift us to God.
I had to just to you that the ones that our fathers, our elders here are not interested in their own kingdoms.
If they were, they would have made it by now.
Some sons are deceptive. They have the smell and the feel, but not the voice.
You read that story in Genesis 27, the one I was talking to Mira about where some sons are deceptive.
They know how to talk the talk. They even know how to do certain things, but they really don't have the ability.
When Paul was here, Paul from South Africa was here.
He visited a church where there was someone who had been connected to this church for a while.
And Paul came back and he said this to me, Jacob, tell me something.
Does that guy have any connection with you guys?
Because there's nothing about him when you're not around that even remotely looks like Acts 29.
I was surprised because you can have a deceptive voice, sorry, a deceptive smell.
And you may know the words just like he saw, just like Jacob tricked.
He saw this is important, guys.
If I came and scooped water out of you and you and you and you, the glass can look different,
but the taste and the content of the water should be the same.
And it should be drawn from the word.
The style will be different. The personalities will be different.
The purpose and the call will be different. But the water must taste the same.
Do Maya and Isaiah look like Nishan and Shireen? Look at them.
Everyone's looking at you.
I don't know whether to be, whether to shrink and feel kind of ashamed or beat my chest and do a Tarzan
when someone comes and tells me, hey, Don came or Jillian came or Heidi came and they spoke and it reminded me a few.
I don't know whether to, Kriiga Bandola, that's what Tarzan says.
But I don't know whether to do that.
That's not exactly what he says, but when you spell it out, it sounds like Kriiga Bandola.
I had a friend when I was young, he would take whatever the words were in the comic and he would use them.
So he would go instead of going, he would go, because it was U R R G H, but it's not important.
So he would just take it exactly as it's written in the comic and he would say it.
But the point being this, that I don't know whether to shrink back and feel, oh, no, no, no, don't say stuff like that.
We don't follow man. Or whether I feel proud when I hear that.
How do you feel if they came and told you Subin that Danny is an amazing dancer like you?
Right? It's pick on Subin day.
Next one. Test of the proceeding word. Test of the proceeding word.
We won't finish this today. I never finish things.
Test of the proceeding, Janelle took very long. Test of the proceeding word.
Test of the proceeding word.
Does the father, does the father have a proceeding word?
I'll explain it after I write it.
Does the father have a proceeding word in the present?
Does the father have a proceeding word that positions the son for future destiny?
Does the father have a proceeding word anchored in his heritage, supplied by his inheritance?
Beautiful. I love the way this line brings out everything that needs to be brought up.
Just look at it. Test of the proceeding word. What is the proceeding word?
A proceeding word is the word that comes from the mouth of God at present for you.
It carries in it the grace you require for today and tomorrow.
It's not something you received when you got baptized.
It's not a dream you saw 14 years ago that you're still hoping will come to pass.
No problem with hoping that.
But a proceeding word is what Deuteronomy 8 talks about.
It says, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
As in what is the present word that God is speaking over your life that gives you the grace required for what he might be doing tomorrow in August?
Gives you the grace required for the present situation you're in?
That is the proceeding word.
It is what is relevant now, current now, for you now.
It sets you up for tomorrow because God knows your tomorrow.
What is the proceeding word?
And one of the responsibilities of spiritual fathers or ministry fathers or whatever term you want to use is to be able to hover over Mark Butler and say,
this is the proceeding word of God for you.
And what does it carry?
On one hand, it carries where you are at the present.
It then helps you propel into the future.
But it anchors you to the heritage that you belong to.
And the inheritance you receive supplies you to give you the seed to start with.
If any of these guys leave, let's say Derek, who at present is running Bethkabo, let's say next Sunday we decide, Derek, it's time for you to take Bethkabo and start afresh.
Not as part of Acts 29 but as a separate body.
So Derek goes off.
But there'll be a word over it, Derek.
This is what Bethkabo is supposed to do.
It will anchor him to this heritage.
You asked that boy, I heard him in Shillong, how he said everything he's learned, he's learned here.
There's so much of what was in my life is now his.
He's anchored in his heritage.
But he also has the inheritance that we will give him, saying, as you go forth here, I bless you with this, I bless you with that.
I send this guy with you.
I give you this.
Take and go.
That's how people are sent off when they are sent off.
Some of the South Asian, Asian and African cultures that send people off when they get married with blessings is rich.
You start off not by having a, what do you call that, bridal register?
No such registry.
You have camels and buffaloes loaded with stuff that you take to your new home.
That's how it's supposed to happen.
But do you know the proceeding word over you?
And if you pay close attention and go ask Prosper or go ask Sheldon or go ask Tooney or go ask many other people here,
you will find that there were words that revealed what has to happen now and has to happen tomorrow.
The question is, do I now have the faith and the ability to walk in the word that was spoken over me or am I always hungering for the next?
You know, I was looking at Facebook, I think, three weeks or four weeks ago, and remember Aerie, Mark and Rhonda's daughter?
She was a word over her when we were in Pilgrim that a day will come when she will be involved in some, at some governmental level in Ottawa.
Guess where she's studying now?
In Ottawa.
Those are deliberate choices people make.
I'm not in touch with the Bergman's at present, but I was so thrilled to know.
Those are parents that once they recognize what God's given them, they know how to hold it.
Test of the proceeding word.
I'll wrap up in three more tests, and we'll do the rest later.
Any questions on that, guys? Any questions?
No?
This must be something that should be bubbling in.
Guys, we don't prophesy because you need a prophetic word.
We prophesy because there's something in me or in you that so desires things for the ones you're raising that it is natural.
Parents don't prophesy over their children.
Parents express divine desire over their children.
They don't do it because they suddenly had a spiritual moment.
They do it because they love their kids.
That's why they do it.
It just comes out naturally.
It doesn't even sound like that says a lot.
It sounds like, get your backside off the table.
Go sit and study.
But by the way, I wanted to tell you that.
That's how it sounds like.
It comes because we, because you care.
That's why it comes.
Test of authentication.
Does the father's voice authenticate the son?
It happens in Luke 9.35.
This is my beloved son.
Listen to him.
This is my beloved son.
I'm well pleased.
Does the father's voice authenticate the son?
It is important.
If Jillian comes and tells me about Priyanka or Deshati or Jonathan or let's leave Sen and Joy out,
they're still a work in progress.
Or if May comes and tells me about Vivek or Vidisha or Sade, it thrills my heart, man.
When Tuni comes and tells me about Hip or Nick, it authenticates you.
There's nothing like the authenticating voice of the father.
If you're a dad and it is not your habit to authenticate your son, get with it because you will be held accountable for it.
Many times we don't do it because it was never done for us.
Start a new cycle.
We said this last week.
Orphans can create a barrier so that you keep a healthy distance so that nothing of this happens.
There's nothing you can do then.
You can just keep trying.
Forget sons when wives authenticate their husbands.
I was sitting with Lenny and Pawan and the way Lenny was talking about Pawan, you would think, who did you marry?
The authenticating voice of the father is important.
I'm saying this to both us as sons who will one day mature into fathers and as fathers who are raising other fathers, do this as often as you can.
Here's the other thing.
Can I validate how May is raising her sons?
That matters too.
Can I validate how May is raising her sons?
Can I authenticate her?
Test of the spirit.
Does the spirit confirm spiritual growth?
Is it visible publicly?
I was scared to say what I said today earlier when these men were standing here and I said four or five months from now, near August, these men who stood here, you will see that their lives will be different.
What will be the work of the spirit?
Can the spirit authenticate?
Sorry, does the spirit confirm spiritual growth?
Is it visible publicly?
All growth is visible publicly.
When Yaya came back from India, she was taller.
Growth is visible publicly.
Part of the growth is, this one may sting a little, but that's okay.
Does the son suffer correction?
As in can he handle correction?
Because there is no growth without correction.
Does the son suffer correction?
Does she withdraw?
Does it become a scab that keeps bleeding?
Does the person lash out?
Does the person remember and be careful?
Who are you? And regardless of who you are, change waits for me an hour from now. I can
be different. Who are you? Any questions?
Test of hiddenness. Test of hiddenness. These are the things that lead to maturity. How
do you handle a time of insignificance? How do you handle a time of insignificance as
you serve in someone's shadow? Who may not be as talented as you? May not be as gifted
as you. Joseph went through it. Moses went through it. Elisha went through it. And while
you're doing that, there are satanic attacks. There are satanic attacks. There are seductions
like happened with Joseph. And you make good choices. You walk with integrity, but nobody
notices. Nobody gives you a platform. This is the time of the day. This is the time of
the day. This is one of the hardest things to handle. The other option people have is
they decide, I'll start my own ministry. I'll do my own thing. That's just a substitution.
Do you have the ability to stay hidden in someone else's shadow? It's a very hard thing
to do. I remember when I started working with Teen Challenge, there was a guy called
Doug Benson. And I went to Teen Challenge because I came out of a drug background and
I thought, great, I can preach to the addicts that come every evening to the coffee house.
And so I went there ready to preach. And the guy gives me a broom and a toilet bowl cleaner
and sends me out to clean the toilets. I thought, oh, this is just because the guy who does
it today isn't here. But he wasn't there for the next six months. So every week I'd go
clean the toilets and wipe the floor and then serve soup and something called pumpernickel
bread. I'd just come from Bahrain. There was no pumpernickel bread in Bahrain. And this
is what I did for six months. At the end of six months, I no longer had a desire to
preach. Not that I think I was a preacher. And then after six months, he comes and asks
me, hey, do you want to preach today? It was like a gift. Before it was entitlement. Six
months later, it was a gift. It was like, oh, shucks. And then he sent me back again
to my other job. So can you handle hiddenness? Not everybody can. Most cannot. And the last
one, tested with opposition. Tested with opposition. How do you handle human opposition and satanic
adversaries? How do you handle it? When you are mocked, thwarted, intimidated, attacked,
offended, isolated. When isolation is nice or severe. If you are helpful or helpful,
As they are 54 17 rises in you.
As they are 54 17 rises in you. No courtroom like that spoken against you will stand.
Every weapon that is forged against you, God will destroy.
This will be your vindication.
There is a time for the scripture.
What if God doesn't vindicate you and the courtroom life succeeds?
Then what do you do?
Then you go to Hebrews 13.
What does Hebrews 13 say?
Be like your master.
When he was reviled and he was mocked, he did not utter a word.
But like a sheep being led to the slaughter, he was led to the slaughter.
What good is it if you suffer for something wrong that you've done?
There's nothing special about it. Even the world reacts that way.
But it is something else when you behave like your master.
And at being treated unfairly, you do not react.
That's crazy, man.
And then it says, and then you shall be known as the children of God.
Any questions? We'll stop for now.
Any questions?
Guys, if we don't build these four generations in this church,
what will happen is each generation will have to start all over again.
Each generation will have to start all over again.
And it is so painful.
And coaches, mentors, spiritual guides cannot do this.
It's a wonderful movement in the church to have coaches, mentors, and spiritual guides.
But they will not go past the institutional boundaries set because they cannot.
They're not allowed to.
Coaches, mentors, and spiritual guides have to operate within a parameter.
You do not go beyond that.
That's not what we are talking about.
You cannot pass on a legacy.
Paul puts it so in 1 Corinthians 4, 14 and 15.
I know you've got tons of spiritual guides and guardians,
but I want you to know that they can never do what fathers can do.
And I was your father because of the message I preached to you.
Just read it quickly.
1 Corinthians 4?
Who released?
1 Corinthians 4, 14, message.
I'm not writing all this as a neighborhood scold just to make you feel rotten.
I'm writing as a father to you, my children.
I love you and want you to grow up well, not spoiled.
There are a lot of people around who can't wait to tell you what you've done wrong,
but there aren't many fathers willing to take the time and the effort to help you grow up.
It was as Jesus helped me proclaim God's message to you that I became your father.
I'm not asking you to do anything.
I'm not already doing myself.
That is why I sent Timothy.
Beautifully said.
The strange thing is in the Old Testament, you won't find...
Help me with this.
Find any relationship in the Old Testament that went past three generations.
It's almost a rarity.
None of the kings, none of the prophets, none of the judges could take it past the second generation or the third.
You never have a four-generation span.
The one...
I mean, guys like David Solomon and Rehoboam, it was an abomination in the end.
The closest you come is Elijah, Elisha.
How do you recognize that things are working well?
Somebody is getting double what they used to have.
Singular portions are evidence of transfers that weren't right.
Crazy, eh?
Let's pray.
Oy, Emmanuel, I'm preaching.
Hi.
Okay, so here's what I want us to do.
Can we have...
Just imagine this.
Take all the 2009ers, as in the ones that almost sounds like Shriners or something.
2009ers, as in the ones who were here from 2006 to 2009.
Just imagine that group and me.
And there were promises received, a mandate given.
And we then transfer it to Derek and his generation.
As in the ones that are presently leading it.
And Derek has this difficult job.
But in a way, the second generation always knows the cost that the fathers paid.
So they hold it with respect.
And so now he transfers it to the Jeremy generation.
Or whatever.
I'm just picking on names.
So these are not age-related.
The Jeremy generation.
Jeremy's generation does not know the cost that has been paid.
And it's usually in the third generation where things can either go weak, diluted, or it can get stronger.
And then the Jeremy generation passes it on to the Jonathan generation.
And suddenly you have four generations sharing and multiplying and stewarding the inheritance given to them.
It just bursts forth, man.
That's how this is supposed to work.
And it's not age-dependent.
It's wave upon wave of people that are coming.
Please try and embrace it instead of resisting it.
Because here's the thing.
If you resist it, all that happens is you miss out on it.
So I'm going to ask one from each to come up and we'll pray.
So let's have Sue come out from the 2009ers.
And Derek come out from the ones after.
Come, Derek.
And since I said Jeremy, and Jeremy come out from that, Jen and Evan too, maybe.
They all came out of that.
And Jonathan Deshulty from the next one.
And let's throw in a girl also.
Let's throw in Anna.
And can you stand in order, not of height?
Sue, if you can go to that end.
I'll just ask Sue to pray.
Because if you have all of them pray, you won't be out here until seven.
So I'll ask Sue to pray and then we'll stop.
So this is how it transfers.
And I'm very sure that this is one of the responsibilities I have.
And I have every intent of fulfilling it.
To not let it go to waste.
And I'm very sure that this is one of the responsibilities I have.
And I have every intent of fulfilling it.
To not fulfill it would be to be held accountable.
And I don't plan to.
Yeah.
So I'm just going to ask Sue to pray.
So Father, we just praise you because you're a faithful father.
Thank you for Pastor Jacob.
Thank you for the tireless hours that he spent on his knees.
And he sowed whatever you said, asked him to.
And then we, with your grace, Lord, we were able to pass on to the next generation.
We just thank you and praise you.
And may it continue, Lord, for your glory.
Father, you're the author and finisher of our faith.
So what you start, you already well know how stories are written.
And they're ended by you, in you, for you.
So Father, while we stand here, even though I missed most of the teaching today,
we look at those who aren't here yet.
And we look at those who are in the church, who are in the church,
who are in the church, who are in the church,
So Father, while we stand here, even though I missed most of the teaching today,
we look at those who aren't here yet.
So Father, on one hand, you've given us things to steward,
and we are rich beneficiaries of what you've given us
through your framework of fathers and sons that we say yes to as a church.
And so Father, while that is from you, we hold that and we steward it well.
And we look at those coming after us, every generation present here,
which has nothing to do with age, but is everything to do with your heart.
So Father, we come with hearts that are willing to pour out
like how those before us poured out their lives for us.
Father, make us useful for you.
We want to be vessels that you find useful for your purposes on earth.
So for one second, Father, we look at those lives that we haven't met yet,
we haven't seen yet, we haven't shaken their hands yet,
we haven't had our arms around their shoulders yet,
but we see those lives that are coming,
those lives that you will bring into this church, into this body.
And we recognize that our lives are beyond ourselves,
that our lives are for your purposes, for your people.
So we welcome them in Jesus' name. Amen.
Father, you've called us to build generationally,
so each generation after the next can get stronger and stronger.
We have built well from the beginning, but you're saying it's not,
that's not all I have, so I have so much more.
So as eight or so of us stand here, as Derek said, there's others we haven't met.
And I have so much to pour into them, so much more,
things to do across the earth that you guys won't do,
things you guys have started that they will finish,
promises for them that you guys haven't heard yet,
so that they can raise the generation after them and that will just continue.
How about we're grateful for the Fathers that we have in our lives.
They're such blessings to us, Father.
Thank you that they pour out into our lives, Father.
Help us to learn the things, the ways, the order that they teach us,
and help us to be clean vessels that can be used by you, Father.
May we be useful vessels
that will actually take your presence into this city, Father.
Help us to be good sons, Father.
I pray this in the name of Jesus.
Bless you. See you when I see you.
If you need prayer, there'll be people here to pray for you.
Wells of healing are open.