WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Fortress Church - Shepherd-Rulers Publishing Date: 2025-07-06T06:04:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/fortress-church-shepherd-rulers/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.360 We've been talking about the fortress church, so we continue down that track maybe next week, 00:00:16.360 --> 00:00:28.800 too. Today we talk about shepherd rulers. Shepherd rulers are a critical component of building 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:34.720 a fortress church. It's a deliberate word. It's not shepherds, it's not pastors, it's 00:00:34.720 --> 00:00:39.660 not any of those words. It's not fathers, it's not guardians, it's not mentors, it's 00:00:39.660 --> 00:00:47.680 shepherd rulers. If you go to Jeremiah 3.15, read from the message version, or Matthew 00:00:47.680 --> 00:00:53.820 2.6, read from the message version, you'll find that it actually uses the word shepherd 00:00:53.820 --> 00:01:00.440 rulers because God is both a shepherd and He is a king. At the moment we separate that, 00:01:00.440 --> 00:01:07.600 we get either a diluted version of Him or a very strong version of Him. But when you 00:01:07.600 --> 00:01:13.740 combine shepherd and ruler together, then you have the ideal king, shepherd ruler. So 00:01:13.740 --> 00:01:25.240 if you go to Jeremiah 3.15 from the message, it says, I'll read from 3.14, come back wandering 00:01:25.240 --> 00:01:31.420 children, God's decree. I, yes I am your true husband, I'll pick you out one by one, this 00:01:31.420 --> 00:01:36.700 one from the city, these two from the country, and bring you into Zion. Then it says in verse 00:01:37.700 --> 00:01:44.500 3.15, I'll give you good shepherd rulers who rule my way, who rule you with intelligence 00:01:44.500 --> 00:01:53.500 and wisdom. Go to Matthew 2.6, Matthew 2.6, again reading from the message, Matthew 2.6, 00:01:53.500 --> 00:02:04.940 and it says there, it's you, Bethlehem, in Judah's land, no longer bringing up the rear, 00:02:04.940 --> 00:02:12.140 from you will come the leader who will shepherd rule my people, my Israel. If you want to 00:02:12.140 --> 00:02:17.140 read it from the NIV, it says, but you of Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no 00:02:17.140 --> 00:02:22.580 means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd 00:02:22.580 --> 00:02:28.380 my people Israel. So shepherd ruler is not some message term, that's the actual word 00:02:28.380 --> 00:02:34.220 used in any version you take. But the idea of shepherd rulers is so critical to building 00:02:34.220 --> 00:02:39.900 a church that looks like a fortress. Not to keep things in, but to keep things out and 00:02:39.900 --> 00:02:45.900 to draw people in. It becomes a place of refuge. So that's what we'll be looking at today. 00:02:45.900 --> 00:02:54.900 And we'll just use the word SR for shepherd ruler so I don't have to write it every time. 00:02:55.140 --> 00:03:11.140 Shepherd rulers are critical to raising people into sons and daughters of God. In fact, Jesus 00:03:11.140 --> 00:03:22.140 knew that, and so in a verse that we often misread, if you go to Matthew 9.35, Matthew 00:03:22.620 --> 00:03:29.620 9.35, Matthew 9.35, he's actually praying for shepherd rulers, Matthew 9.35, Matthew 00:03:32.140 --> 00:03:39.140 9, verse 35. So here's what it says, Matthew 9.35 reading from the NIV. Jesus went through 00:03:40.460 --> 00:03:44.340 all the towns and villages, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the good news of the 00:03:44.340 --> 00:03:49.780 kingdom, healing every disease and sickness. He still does the same, eh? When he saw the 00:03:49.780 --> 00:03:54.300 crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless. So he sees 00:03:54.300 --> 00:04:00.060 the crowd, he has compassion, he knows they are harassed and helpless, and then he goes 00:04:00.060 --> 00:04:06.580 on to say, they were like sheep without a shepherd. And after saying that, he turns 00:04:06.580 --> 00:04:11.260 to his disciples and he says, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers, a few, asked 00:04:11.260 --> 00:04:15.740 the Lord of the harvest therefore to send out workers into the harvest field. What was 00:04:15.780 --> 00:04:19.860 he praying for there? He was praying for more shepherds to take care of the sheep that are 00:04:19.860 --> 00:04:26.860 harassed and helpless. That's what he's asking for. He wasn't asking for missionaries or 00:04:26.940 --> 00:04:31.940 evangelists. He was asking for people that can shepherd the helpless and the harassed. 00:04:31.940 --> 00:04:38.940 All around us we find it, eh? And shepherds are not some special class. We'll talk about 00:04:39.020 --> 00:04:41.020 that. 00:04:41.020 --> 00:04:48.020 It's a strange day that you never go to school for becoming a shepherd. You go train with 00:04:55.060 --> 00:05:02.060 other shepherds to become a shepherd. There's no school called shepherding school. Sheep 00:05:02.060 --> 00:05:09.060 don't understand English. You've got to go... I've heard shepherds do this, eh? Sometimes 00:05:13.980 --> 00:05:17.820 doves come instead of sheep, but regardless, they make all kinds of strange noises that 00:05:17.820 --> 00:05:24.820 you don't learn in school. Shepherds are critical to sons and daughters being added to God. 00:05:24.820 --> 00:05:31.820 And when you see Psalm 23, when you see John 10, it's Jesus comparing himself to a shepherd. 00:05:39.060 --> 00:05:46.060 That's what Psalm 23 and John 10 are about, where he says this is what real shepherds 00:05:48.180 --> 00:05:53.180 look like. One of the things that stands out in each of these is that the shepherds are 00:05:53.180 --> 00:06:00.180 the ones who are the most important. And what stands out in each of these is that God cares, 00:06:03.900 --> 00:06:10.900 protects, corrects his sheep. That's a standout everywhere, eh? He cares for them, as in he 00:06:16.140 --> 00:06:20.140 takes care of everything. And it's the same attitude he has towards us. And the strange 00:06:20.180 --> 00:06:24.180 attitude he has towards us. One of the songs I hope we can do before we leave today is 00:06:24.180 --> 00:06:31.180 So Will I. We haven't done that song for ages. I want to introduce a tall, handsome-looking 00:06:31.260 --> 00:06:38.260 guy who I forgot to introduce. Do you want to stand up tall, handsome-looking guy? See, 00:06:38.980 --> 00:06:45.980 he knows he's tall and handsome. My God! Thanks Isaiah. That's Kamala and Hans Grandson. 00:06:50.540 --> 00:06:56.340 And my God, he used to be up till here. Now I'm up till there. And then there's another 00:06:56.340 --> 00:07:03.340 guy who looks like an Indian bridegroom. Vibi, you want to stand? Please. You're getting 00:07:08.580 --> 00:07:15.580 married or something, right? Sorry, Pawan, what did you say? Yeah, he's single. 00:07:20.140 --> 00:07:27.140 Now, here's the truth. Let me tell you why Vibi is wearing that. He put all his clothes 00:07:31.580 --> 00:07:36.980 in the laundry yesterday. I forgot to take it out. So the clothes are all wet. So the 00:07:36.980 --> 00:07:43.980 only thing he had was this. But see, mistakes like this can get you married, Vibi. How 00:07:44.980 --> 00:07:51.980 did I meet my wife? Well, I left my clothes in the laundry. 00:07:54.580 --> 00:08:00.380 So shepherd rulers, this becomes an important part of who they are because this is who Christ 00:08:00.380 --> 00:08:07.380 is. Hey, so what qualifies you to be a shepherd ruler? One of the simplest qualifications 00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:12.620 that Paul gives, and I need to say this here though, I've written it later in the notes. 00:08:12.620 --> 00:08:19.620 Paul put down four criteria for shepherds. And here are the four criteria from all his 00:08:22.180 --> 00:08:29.180 letters. One, a pure life. Two, a life that's passionate about king as a shepherd. And the 00:08:42.620 --> 00:08:48.900 other criteria, as in King Jesus and kingdom, as in the fact that he is drawing people to 00:08:48.900 --> 00:08:55.900 himself. A life that's passionate about it or zealous about it. Three, a life that a 00:09:00.260 --> 00:09:07.260 person that manages his home well, a person that manages his home well. You'll see it 00:09:07.340 --> 00:09:14.340 in all of Paul's letters. As in do you take care of your home well? You might be a single 00:09:15.820 --> 00:09:19.660 person. How do you take care of your affairs? How do you steward your life? If you're a 00:09:19.660 --> 00:09:24.540 married person, how do you treat your family? If all you have is a cat, how do you treat 00:09:24.540 --> 00:09:31.540 your cat? And the fourth one, conveying the message of the Lord. 00:09:37.660 --> 00:09:44.660 What is taught accurately. These were the four qualifications that Paul had. When you 00:09:49.140 --> 00:09:55.140 read all his letters, you'll find that these are four common qualifications for anyone 00:09:55.140 --> 00:10:01.340 who wants to be a shepherd. Now here's the question. Is there anybody here who cannot 00:10:01.340 --> 00:10:08.340 attain this? There's no one here who cannot aspire to walk like this. So when we talk 00:10:16.500 --> 00:10:22.020 about shepherd rulers or when we talk about shepherds, do not count yourself out and think 00:10:22.020 --> 00:10:29.020 of someone else. Because the hope is that a day will come when there will be enough 00:10:29.340 --> 00:10:33.340 shepherds so that we don't even have to pray to the Lord of the harvest because there's 00:10:33.340 --> 00:10:37.780 so many shepherds around that all the sheep that are harassed and helpless are being taken 00:10:37.780 --> 00:10:44.780 care of. Let that sink in. Here's another one. But I'm not a leader. That's another 00:10:49.100 --> 00:10:54.860 often brought up thing. I'm not a leader. I did a leadership survey and I found that 00:10:54.860 --> 00:11:01.860 I was not a leader. Okay? So let's see what Christ says. Are you made in the image of 00:11:02.700 --> 00:11:09.700 God? If you are made in the image of God, then you are not made leader follower. You 00:11:25.180 --> 00:11:32.180 are made, you are made son servant. Nobody, nobody on the face of the earth is made leader 00:11:40.900 --> 00:11:47.900 follower. If you're made in the image of God, Christ is not leader follower. That's not 00:11:48.180 --> 00:11:55.180 his persona. He's made as a son and a servant. So we need to destroy this construct that 00:11:58.940 --> 00:12:05.340 some are made leaders and some are made followers. It's not true. It might be part of Christian 00:12:05.340 --> 00:12:12.340 doctrine. It might be part of Christian leadership training, but it is actually not true. Christ 00:12:13.060 --> 00:12:20.060 was a leader follower. No, Christ was a son and a servant. When necessary, he followed 00:12:22.220 --> 00:12:29.220 his father. When necessary, he led people to his father, but he was a son and a servant. 00:12:31.420 --> 00:12:38.420 Any pushback on that? Any questions on that? Yeah. Obey your leaders as in to obey your 00:12:42.340 --> 00:12:49.340 tomorrow. You might be the leader. I have to obey you. Today, I'm the leader. Tomorrow, 00:12:50.260 --> 00:12:57.060 day after tomorrow, Phoebe may be a leader because we carry that in us. Just like, let's 00:12:57.060 --> 00:13:03.060 say one of your sons is a world class athlete. You know it, you have seen it, but is he an 00:13:03.060 --> 00:13:09.540 athlete yet? No. But can you train him to be one because you happen to be an Olympian? 00:13:09.660 --> 00:13:15.340 And so one day your son steps up and he begins to run and he runs like the wind, but you 00:13:15.340 --> 00:13:22.340 saw it when he was four. What I'm saying is all of us are shepherd rulers in the making. 00:13:26.460 --> 00:13:33.460 This can turn the church upside down. So when Chava goes to Ethiopia, can he find someone 00:13:33.460 --> 00:13:40.460 who has an ability to grow in this teaching that he has collected here? And can he connect 00:13:40.860 --> 00:13:47.860 us to us? And then can we send Dilna over to Ethiopia? Son servant and ruling? Yeah. 00:13:47.860 --> 00:13:54.860 So Elisha, one of the sons of Elijah, but a servant who used to wash his hands. What 00:13:57.300 --> 00:14:04.300 happens one day? He steps up. Paul and Timothy. Timothy, my beloved son. What happens? He 00:14:08.220 --> 00:14:15.220 is a shepherd. He is a shepherd. He is a shepherd. He is a shepherd. He is a shepherd. He is 00:14:18.020 --> 00:14:22.580 a shepherd. One day Timothy is sent off to Ephesus and to Crete and other places to do 00:14:22.580 --> 00:14:29.580 the work he's supposed to. Father and Jesus. Son, and yet what does he say? I'm the greatest 00:14:29.580 --> 00:14:35.040 of servants. He came as a born servant. I did not see his equality with God as something 00:14:35.040 --> 00:14:42.040 to be grasped. Samuel and David. Eli and Samuel. The list is endless. The list is endless. 00:14:47.980 --> 00:14:53.740 And it's always, I know I've said this before, but it's worth saying, you're first a son 00:14:53.740 --> 00:15:00.740 before you're a servant. You turn that around and it lights out at some point. Because if 00:15:02.560 --> 00:15:09.560 you don't know your place as a son to the father, you as a servant will feel exploited. 00:15:10.360 --> 00:15:17.360 But once you know you're a son, you will not mind washing the dishes because it's your 00:15:17.800 --> 00:15:24.800 own house. Just keep that in the back of your mind. Why did I just talk about this right 00:15:27.480 --> 00:15:33.560 up front? Because we must understand that this teaching is not for some special group 00:15:33.560 --> 00:15:40.560 of people. Is it possible that Dilna's son, who's a future Olympian and an athlete, does 00:15:42.640 --> 00:15:49.640 not train, does not step up, does not practice? Is it possible? Yeah. So then does he run 00:15:51.520 --> 00:15:58.520 in the Olympics? No. But it's not because of the lack of ability. 00:16:03.560 --> 00:16:10.560 Shepard rulers must have not just the word, but spirit and power. This you cannot teach 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:28.200 in a Bible school. It's impossible. You can teach the word in a Bible school. You can 00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:34.000 teach them how to exude it correctly. But you cannot teach spirit and power in most 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:39.480 Bible schools. Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 2.3. I did not come to you with 00:16:39.480 --> 00:16:43.960 great preaching or stuff like that. In fact, I came to you in weakness and trembling. But 00:16:43.960 --> 00:16:50.960 this I did. I demonstrated the power of the spirit through what I spoke. Acts chapter 00:16:51.960 --> 00:16:58.720 6, verse 3. And so they appointed seven. And these seven were meant to be people who were 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:05.720 serving at tables. This is the other crazy thing. These seven were chosen to serve dinner 00:17:06.260 --> 00:17:10.840 at the table. That's what they were chosen for. Today, if you choose people to serve 00:17:10.840 --> 00:17:15.840 at the table when their intent is to become a pastor, a prophet, an apostle, an evangelist, 00:17:15.840 --> 00:17:20.680 a missionary, they will not serve at the table. But they chose people full of the Holy Spirit. 00:17:21.360 --> 00:17:25.800 Acts chapter 6, verse 3. To serve at the table. They started serving at the table and a time 00:17:25.800 --> 00:17:31.500 comes when guys like Stephen, guys like Barnabas step up. But where did they start serving 00:17:31.500 --> 00:17:38.500 at the table? The one thing that promotes you with God is faithfulness. You be faithful, 00:17:41.040 --> 00:17:48.040 gosh. He just begins to extend your territory. And so they need to be full of spirit and 00:17:49.040 --> 00:17:56.040 power. And so as we talk about this, measure ourselves against these criteria. And if you're 00:17:56.680 --> 00:18:03.680 not matching up to some, don't beat yourself up because we'll do that for you. But at least 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:11.400 aspire to say, okay, in these areas, I'm really not cutting it. I need to pull my socks up. 00:18:12.280 --> 00:18:19.280 Shepard rulers are gentle like a nurse or a mother and yet are also charging and, what's 00:18:19.280 --> 00:18:26.280 the right word, urging and encouraging like a father. It's both. Always remember, in Christianity, 00:18:26.280 --> 00:18:33.280 most things are held in tension. It's not one or the other. Almost nothing in Christianity 00:18:35.640 --> 00:18:42.640 is one or the other except heaven and hell. And so we need to be faithful. And so we're 00:18:45.280 --> 00:18:52.280 not just saying, okay, in these areas, I'm really not going to be able to do this. We're 00:18:52.280 --> 00:18:56.900 saying, okay, in Christianity, it's one or the other except heaven and hell. Everything 00:18:56.900 --> 00:19:02.080 else is held in tension. So a shepherd has to be one. And this is in 1 Thessalonians. 00:19:02.080 --> 00:19:09.080 If you can go to 1 Thessalonians, just so you know, 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 7. Paul's 00:19:09.080 --> 00:19:16.080 talking about himself, how he was. And he says, as apostles of Christ, we could have 00:19:27.880 --> 00:19:34.040 been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you like a mother caring for her children. 00:19:34.040 --> 00:19:38.520 We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, 00:19:38.520 --> 00:19:45.520 but our lives as well, because you had become dear to us. Verse 12, starting at verse 11. 00:19:45.520 --> 00:19:50.520 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, 00:19:50.520 --> 00:19:54.520 comforting, urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and 00:19:54.520 --> 00:20:01.520 glory. So you see both. A shepherd ruler can't be one of these nursing kind, oh, my little 00:20:01.520 --> 00:20:07.120 baby, come to me. That's okay. But then there's the other flip side too, right? Where you 00:20:07.120 --> 00:20:14.120 have to urge, where you have to challenge, where you have to encourage. It's both. It 00:20:14.120 --> 00:20:21.120 can't be just one. Ask the question, do I match up to these criteria, Father? Shepherd 00:20:26.680 --> 00:20:33.680 rulers, according to Ezekiel 34, 16, which is a passage about what shepherds should be 00:20:34.560 --> 00:20:41.560 like in the Old Testament, shepherd rulers should bind the injured, bind the wounded. 00:20:44.600 --> 00:20:48.560 Shepherd rulers should, it doesn't say pray for the wounded, bind the wounded. Shepherd 00:20:48.560 --> 00:20:55.560 rulers should carry the young. They should search for strays, for strays, and they should 00:20:55.560 --> 00:21:02.560 lay their life down. I want to say to you, can I ask the people that I named last week 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:20.680 to stand up again? I want to say to you that these guys are the best in the world. They 00:21:25.560 --> 00:21:32.560 guys are so willing to bind up your wounds, so willing to carry the young, so willing 00:21:37.280 --> 00:21:42.880 to search for strays, so willing to lay their lives down. Binding up the wounded is a pain, 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:49.880 huh? I would rather pray for them. But it takes time. And it takes a lot of time in 00:21:49.880 --> 00:21:56.880 their lives. I might ask you to stand a few times, but you can sit down for now. You've 00:21:58.560 --> 00:22:05.560 got a good bunch here, guys. You've got a good bunch here. Some of what I say may begin 00:22:10.040 --> 00:22:17.240 to chaff, and the moment it begins to chaff, you have to ask the question, why is it chaffing? 00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:21.960 And try to answer that. Sometimes it chaffs because of the style of delivery. Why is he 00:22:21.960 --> 00:22:28.320 in my face? So that might chaff. That you've got to let go because unfortunately he doesn't 00:22:28.320 --> 00:22:33.800 seem to be changing. He gets older and older. So that one put aside. But otherwise, if it 00:22:33.800 --> 00:22:40.800 chaffs, ask the question, why? And try to answer the question, why? Because our reasons may 00:22:41.800 --> 00:22:48.800 be different. 00:22:53.200 --> 00:23:00.200 Shepard rulers invite you into their lives so you can figure out if their doctrine is 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:17.880 being lived out. Over a period of time, you will always know whether doctrine or the teaching 00:23:24.440 --> 00:23:30.000 that a person teaches is actually life lived or whether it's just doctrine. And it's impossible 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.920 to do that unless shepherd rulers invite you into their lives. And then you can decide, 00:23:34.920 --> 00:23:41.920 is this worth imitating or is it not? And to the extent that they imitate Christ, you 00:23:42.840 --> 00:23:49.840 must imitate them. And so our lives, shepherd rulers have to live open lives. You cannot 00:23:49.840 --> 00:23:56.840 live shepherd ruler lives privately. As in when you play football and someone just kicks 00:23:57.840 --> 00:24:04.840 you in your shins, what's the first word that comes out of your mouth? If it's not ouch 00:24:04.840 --> 00:24:11.840 my shin, come and talk to me. Yeah? Here's another one. Shepherd rulers engage sheep forcefully. 00:24:11.840 --> 00:24:18.840 Engage sheep forcefully and teach them how to keep in step with God. This is the first 00:24:41.840 --> 00:24:48.840 thing. God's looking for this man. Wouldn't you do that for your child? Engage them forcefully? 00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:58.440 No, I don't want. No, you will. Get up off your backside and let's get on with it. Engage 00:24:59.480 --> 00:25:06.480 them forcefully so that they can keep in step with God. A day will come when because you 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:13.480 and I have learned this well, we can do it for someone else. And if we haven't learned 00:25:13.760 --> 00:25:20.760 it well, how do we do it for someone else? Everything in Christianity is conveyed downstream 00:25:23.120 --> 00:25:30.120 through modeling. And the great thing if you have 10 leaders is you will find some facet 00:25:30.600 --> 00:25:37.600 of Christ in one of them that you can imitate. Because no one person can do it all because 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:44.680 if he was, he's just Christ in disguise. And I am absolutely not. I guarantee that. It's 00:25:45.080 --> 00:25:52.080 supposed to be slightly funny but it's okay. Shepherd leaders, shepherd leaders engage 00:26:00.120 --> 00:26:07.120 shepherd rulers, dismantle, and I'll explain this. Absalom's fan club, Aaron's calf, Aaron 00:26:07.120 --> 00:26:14.120 is looking at his calf. It's not you, Aaron. And Ahaz's altar. Shepherd rulers do this, 00:26:14.120 --> 00:26:21.120 especially when this begins to distort the vision God has of the shepherd. Aaron's calf, 00:26:27.640 --> 00:26:34.640 Aaron's calf, Aaron's calf, Aaron's calf, Aaron's calf, Aaron's calf, Aaron's calf, 00:26:44.260 --> 00:26:47.720 God has given. 00:26:47.720 --> 00:26:54.080 So what's Absalom's fan club? Absalom was a guy who even though David was king, he would 00:26:54.080 --> 00:27:00.160 begin to gather people unto him and begin to create counterculture that was contrary 00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:06.580 to the culture that David was trying to build. And so that has to be dismantled because you 00:27:06.580 --> 00:27:11.280 can't have a culture that the king of kings is bringing into a place through a man and 00:27:11.280 --> 00:27:15.480 And then another counterculture that's beginning to form its own subculture. 00:27:15.480 --> 00:27:17.640 Can't do that. 00:27:17.640 --> 00:27:19.800 And shepherd rulers will dismantle that. 00:27:19.800 --> 00:27:20.800 Aaron's Calf. 00:27:20.800 --> 00:27:27.120 Aaron's Calf is when pressure is put on by the congregation upon someone to begin to 00:27:27.120 --> 00:27:30.560 change things that God did not ordain. 00:27:30.560 --> 00:27:37.960 And so whenever pressure is put on me or you as one taking care of two people or 200 people, 00:27:37.960 --> 00:27:42.400 whenever pressure is put on you, you feel that, man, if I don't do this, I won't be 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:43.400 popular. 00:27:43.400 --> 00:27:45.480 If I don't do this, people may go away. 00:27:45.480 --> 00:27:57.960 If I don't do this, I might lose out on people's goodwill. 00:27:57.960 --> 00:28:00.000 That's how you create golden calves. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:03.800 And the third one was Ahaz's altar. 00:28:03.800 --> 00:28:07.000 Ahaz was a king who goes to Syria. 00:28:07.040 --> 00:28:10.320 He meets a guy called Tilgit Bilsner. 00:28:10.320 --> 00:28:11.920 That should have been a dead giveaway thing. 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:13.440 Don't copy anything from a name like that. 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:14.680 But he didn't realize that. 00:28:14.680 --> 00:28:21.080 So he goes, meets this guy called Tilgit in Syria, and he sees an altar in the temple 00:28:21.080 --> 00:28:22.080 of the Syrian god. 00:28:22.080 --> 00:28:23.600 Guess what he does? 00:28:23.600 --> 00:28:29.360 He comes back and tells the priest in the temple in Jerusalem, dismantle the altar before 00:28:29.360 --> 00:28:30.360 God. 00:28:30.360 --> 00:28:35.640 Let's build the Syrian altar because it's so much more better. 00:28:35.640 --> 00:28:39.920 That's when you begin to take in things from the world because it seems to really work, 00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:43.520 and you import it into the church and try to use that. 00:28:43.520 --> 00:28:44.520 Avoid it. 00:28:44.520 --> 00:28:47.040 These are things that must be avoided. 00:28:47.040 --> 00:28:49.400 And shepherd rulers must have the guts to do this. 00:28:49.400 --> 00:28:51.960 This does not increase your popularity. 00:28:51.960 --> 00:28:57.640 If anything, it decreases it a little. 00:28:57.640 --> 00:29:00.640 Any questions? 00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:03.640 Okay. 00:29:03.640 --> 00:29:13.840 Here's another not fun one for the shepherd ruler. 00:29:13.840 --> 00:29:26.840 Shepherd rulers admonish the idle and the disruptive. 00:29:27.840 --> 00:29:36.560 They encourage the fainthearted. 00:29:36.560 --> 00:29:45.200 And they strengthen the weak. 00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:46.640 That's again from Paul's writing. 00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:54.040 He says to Timothy, hey, Timothy, make sure that he admonish or correct or rebuke or help 00:29:54.040 --> 00:29:57.280 the idle and the disruptive. 00:29:57.280 --> 00:30:00.280 Tell them to stop it. 00:30:00.280 --> 00:30:04.200 Remember, I'll keep reminding you of this thing. 00:30:04.200 --> 00:30:09.520 This is what you and I are supposed to become. 00:30:09.520 --> 00:30:17.280 This is not limited to the ones I asked to stand. 00:30:17.280 --> 00:30:30.120 So admonish the idle and the disruptive, encourage the fainthearted, and strengthen the weak. 00:30:30.120 --> 00:30:31.240 That's a crazy thing. 00:30:31.240 --> 00:30:34.440 Every time I'm speaking this and looking at you, I'm thinking to myself, there's nobody 00:30:34.440 --> 00:30:38.640 here who's outside these parameters. 00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:41.640 Nobody. 00:30:41.640 --> 00:30:50.440 And imagine, what, about 100 of us here? 00:30:50.440 --> 00:30:51.440 Let me have my 100, okay? 00:30:51.440 --> 00:30:52.440 If you're less than that, don't tell me. 00:30:52.440 --> 00:30:56.880 100 of us here? 00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:06.440 Well then, what if there were 100 shepherds instead of 1 or 12 or 14 or 16? 00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:09.920 Yes. 00:31:09.960 --> 00:31:14.760 There's a need to become something, but we have what it takes. 00:31:14.760 --> 00:31:22.440 Shepherd rulers, when they admonish, do so. 00:31:22.440 --> 00:31:35.600 Another word for admonish is rebuke, correct, and has to be done with a gentle heart. 00:31:35.600 --> 00:31:41.320 The voice can be strong, but the heart must be gentle, which is possible. 00:31:41.320 --> 00:31:49.680 Shepherd rulers admonish with tears and anguish. 00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:51.680 With tears and anguish. 00:31:51.680 --> 00:32:02.480 To some, admonition can be life-giving. 00:32:02.480 --> 00:32:10.320 To others, it can be controlling. 00:32:10.320 --> 00:32:11.320 To some, it can be life-giving. 00:32:11.320 --> 00:32:12.320 To others, it can be controlling. 00:32:12.320 --> 00:32:14.680 There's nothing we can do about that. 00:32:14.680 --> 00:32:18.400 You have to make sure your heart is clear. 00:32:18.400 --> 00:32:25.880 Your heart must desire that Raphael, that Aaron, that Fuyo, that Echo. 00:32:25.880 --> 00:32:31.080 Your only desire with tears is, I want to make sure that they get to become the best 00:32:31.080 --> 00:32:36.920 that you know they can be in terms of what God has shown you. 00:32:36.920 --> 00:32:43.160 And it should be with tears and anguish and frustration that doesn't translate into words. 00:32:43.160 --> 00:32:52.000 When it translates into words, when frustration translates into words, go and apologize, saying, 00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:57.480 my frustration translated into words and those words hurt you, and I was wrong. 00:32:57.480 --> 00:32:58.760 I should not do that to you. 00:32:58.760 --> 00:32:59.760 Go apologize. 00:32:59.760 --> 00:33:07.600 Imagine building a church like this, eh? 00:33:07.600 --> 00:33:23.120 And you get to be a part of it. 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:37.360 The other rulers must not covet, must not fleece, must not fleece, must not covet, must 00:33:37.360 --> 00:33:52.960 not be harsh, must not be harsh to the ones they are appointed to. 00:33:53.200 --> 00:33:58.000 And if you are, then two options. 00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:14.640 Repent, apologize, and try not to fail again. 00:34:14.640 --> 00:34:20.560 Paul puts it this way in Acts 20, verse 26 and 27 and 35. 00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:23.920 He says, I've done my best for you, given you my all. 00:34:23.920 --> 00:34:26.880 I've held nothing back of God's will for you. 00:34:26.880 --> 00:34:28.720 I've done my best for you. 00:34:28.720 --> 00:34:29.840 I've given you my all. 00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:33.360 I've held back nothing from God's best for you. 00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:37.280 I want to say this to you, and maybe I've said this last year. 00:34:37.280 --> 00:34:41.760 There has not been a day when I meet with you that I do not give you my best, that I 00:34:41.760 --> 00:34:43.920 hold nothing back. 00:34:43.920 --> 00:34:49.680 Everything that is in me that is from God, that is for your good, is always poured out, 00:34:49.680 --> 00:34:52.560 and I always leave empty. 00:34:52.560 --> 00:34:55.520 In that, yeah, imitate me. 00:34:55.520 --> 00:35:00.320 I might fail in what I have, but you will always get the best. 00:35:00.320 --> 00:35:05.840 Because I have only one desire, to see you do phenomenally well in God. 00:35:05.840 --> 00:35:09.520 And you must outdo me. 00:35:19.680 --> 00:35:38.320 Shabbat rulers must appoint others who can take on, one, what God wants, what the Holy 00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:50.960 Spirit wants to pour out, and two, what God wants to accomplish. 00:35:50.960 --> 00:35:57.920 Turn to Numbers 11. 00:35:57.920 --> 00:36:06.640 Numbers 11 verse 16 onwards. 00:36:06.640 --> 00:36:16.720 Numbers 11 verse 16 onwards. 00:36:16.720 --> 00:36:22.880 Numbers 11 verse 16 onwards. 00:36:22.880 --> 00:36:26.880 Numbers 11 verse 16. 00:36:26.880 --> 00:36:31.460 The Lord said to Moses, bring me 70 of Israel's elders who are known to you as leaders and 00:36:31.460 --> 00:36:34.320 officials among the people. 00:36:34.320 --> 00:36:37.680 Have them come to the tent of meeting that they may stand there with you. 00:36:37.680 --> 00:36:39.520 I will come down and speak with you there. 00:36:39.520 --> 00:36:42.960 I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. 00:36:42.960 --> 00:36:46.960 They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it 00:36:46.960 --> 00:36:47.960 alone. 00:36:47.960 --> 00:36:55.800 You know, when I ask these guys to stand up, it's so easy to think, oh, they are one category 00:36:55.800 --> 00:36:58.000 and the rest of us are one category. 00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:01.840 Dismantle that thought. 00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:08.400 I'm saying let them be able to call 70 others and let what is on them now be on you so that 00:37:08.400 --> 00:37:13.080 you can do better than them. 00:37:13.080 --> 00:37:17.960 One of the things we've got to stop in Christianity is equality. 00:37:17.960 --> 00:37:26.100 We are not trying to be people who aspire for equality. 00:37:26.100 --> 00:37:30.940 It's a terrible thing when people start wanting equality. 00:37:30.940 --> 00:37:36.140 When people start wanting recognition, destroy that from our minds. 00:37:36.140 --> 00:37:40.420 Learn how to not have a seat at the table and yet have influence in the room. 00:37:40.420 --> 00:37:42.260 Listen to me. 00:37:42.260 --> 00:37:47.580 Learn how to not have a seat at the table and yet have influence in the room. 00:37:47.580 --> 00:37:48.580 Can you learn that? 00:37:48.580 --> 00:37:49.940 I'm sorry I'm shouting. 00:37:49.940 --> 00:37:52.600 I'm so excited about this. 00:37:52.600 --> 00:37:54.780 Why do you want a seat at the table? 00:37:54.780 --> 00:37:56.620 You think that's how power comes? 00:37:56.640 --> 00:37:59.960 That's how power comes in the world. 00:38:03.600 --> 00:38:17.340 Because the moment we, the moment I desire recognition, the moment I want to be included, 00:38:17.340 --> 00:38:22.700 there's an enemy that starts to work. 00:38:22.700 --> 00:38:26.320 It is why he was thrown out of heaven. 00:38:26.340 --> 00:38:28.680 He wanted to be equal with God. 00:38:28.680 --> 00:38:33.240 It is why Adam and Eve got thrown out of heaven, thrown out of Eden. 00:38:33.240 --> 00:38:38.660 They wanted to be equal with God. 00:38:38.660 --> 00:38:43.380 It is why Ananias and Sapphira got thrown out of the new church because they wanted 00:38:43.380 --> 00:38:46.360 to be equal amongst the leaders. 00:38:46.360 --> 00:38:52.640 It is why Saul got so jealous that he was possessed by an evil spirit because he couldn't 00:38:52.840 --> 00:38:57.220 bear the thought that David was being praised for 10,000 vials. 00:38:57.220 --> 00:38:59.440 He was only being praised for 1,000. 00:39:03.440 --> 00:39:04.240 Stop it. 00:39:04.240 --> 00:39:12.680 It's like honey to a bee or sweet water to a fly or whatever. 00:39:12.680 --> 00:39:16.240 The right, or cheese to a mouse or whatever. 00:39:16.240 --> 00:39:22.000 All I'm trying to say is learn how to not want recognition. 00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:25.840 Our Savior was like that. 00:39:25.840 --> 00:39:31.680 Knowing that he was equal with God, Philippians 2 verses 6 to 9, he did not think that it 00:39:31.680 --> 00:39:35.600 was something to be held onto. 00:39:35.600 --> 00:39:39.940 And so I say to you, the ones who stood, and I say to you, the rest of us who will one 00:39:39.940 --> 00:39:48.280 day stand, that you will choose to say, I do not need a seat at a table because the 00:39:48.360 --> 00:39:55.360 presence of God in me and in me and on me is enough to have influence in the room. 00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:09.320 This is super important. 00:40:09.320 --> 00:40:16.780 To have men and women like that who can walk into a room and they are probably the waiter 00:40:16.980 --> 00:40:18.420 who brings the drinks in. 00:40:18.420 --> 00:40:22.300 Oh my God, they got presence. 00:40:22.300 --> 00:40:26.020 Not personality, but a hand of God upon them. 00:40:26.020 --> 00:40:31.020 What do you do with people like that, man? 00:40:31.020 --> 00:40:37.020 You'll give them the blooming table, not even the chair. 00:40:37.020 --> 00:40:38.340 Do not aspire for this. 00:40:38.340 --> 00:40:42.820 And please, the other thing is do not encourage or fan people who want it. 00:40:42.820 --> 00:40:43.820 That's the other thing. 00:40:43.820 --> 00:40:45.820 Oh, you deserve it. 00:40:45.860 --> 00:40:48.860 Oh, be like your master. 00:40:54.860 --> 00:40:55.860 Be like your master. 00:40:58.860 --> 00:41:02.860 Maybe set a few that here is a man or here is a woman. 00:41:02.860 --> 00:41:05.860 You give them any hat to wear, they'll wear it. 00:41:05.860 --> 00:41:08.860 Give them a crown, they'll be king. 00:41:08.860 --> 00:41:11.860 Give them a chef's hat, they'll cook. 00:41:11.860 --> 00:41:14.860 Give them a janitor's cap, they'll sweep. 00:41:15.860 --> 00:41:18.860 You'll be worth your weight in gold, man. 00:41:20.860 --> 00:41:22.860 Be that person, eh? 00:41:23.860 --> 00:41:25.860 God is looking for people like this, guys. 00:41:25.860 --> 00:41:27.860 Why am I preaching this right now? 00:41:27.860 --> 00:41:30.860 Because we're trying to build a fortress here, a church that will be strong enough. 00:41:30.860 --> 00:41:33.860 But a church is only strong according to the people that it has. 00:41:34.860 --> 00:41:38.860 It's not according to the leaders that it has, it's according to the people that it has. 00:41:38.900 --> 00:41:44.900 The leaders play a part in molding people, but a church is not measured by the leaders it has. 00:41:44.900 --> 00:41:50.900 Yes, mature leaders do end up raising mature people. 00:41:50.900 --> 00:41:54.900 But a fortress church is a church that has strong people. 00:41:55.900 --> 00:41:58.900 And why do we raise up strong people? 00:41:58.900 --> 00:42:01.900 So that they can pull themselves out empty. 00:42:01.900 --> 00:42:03.900 We don't want a strong church that stays. 00:42:03.900 --> 00:42:06.900 We want a strong church that empties itself. 00:42:06.940 --> 00:42:08.940 Because that's what Christ did. 00:42:08.940 --> 00:42:11.940 God raised a strong son so he could empty him out. 00:42:11.940 --> 00:42:12.940 Why raise a strong church? 00:42:12.940 --> 00:42:14.940 So that it can be pulled out. 00:42:22.940 --> 00:42:29.940 So what will it take for you to be gathered in the 70 so that God can take the spirit 00:42:29.940 --> 00:42:34.940 that he's pouring upon some servants who are serving as a church? 00:42:34.980 --> 00:42:37.980 Son servants who are serving as leaders. 00:42:37.980 --> 00:42:39.980 This is exactly how it should be phrased. 00:42:39.980 --> 00:42:47.980 So that God can take the Holy Spirit that he has poured upon son servants who are serving as leaders. 00:42:48.980 --> 00:42:54.980 What does it take to be counted among the 70 if God were going to call you up Grouse Mountain? 00:42:54.980 --> 00:42:59.980 Saying, bring 70 with you Jacob up Grouse Mountain and I shall pour. 00:42:59.980 --> 00:43:01.980 He doesn't talk like this. 00:43:04.980 --> 00:43:19.980 So here are some of the graces that a son servant who serves as a leader 00:43:20.020 --> 00:43:35.020 can exhibit over a number of years because it has to be trained. 00:43:35.020 --> 00:43:45.020 You know, when Jillian had her birthday a year and a half or two years ago, 00:43:45.060 --> 00:43:48.060 Mae gave her a lemon tree. 00:43:48.060 --> 00:43:50.060 Hi, Brielle. 00:43:52.060 --> 00:43:56.060 And unfortunately that tree is still in my house. 00:43:56.060 --> 00:43:58.060 It drives me nuts. 00:43:58.060 --> 00:44:02.060 After cats is the next thing I don't like, lemon trees. 00:44:02.060 --> 00:44:06.060 To get one lemon from it takes like more than 11 or 12 months. 00:44:06.060 --> 00:44:14.060 Meanwhile, buds come out, leaves fall, the lemon goes from green to greener. 00:44:14.100 --> 00:44:17.100 Takes forever before it goes to yellow. 00:44:17.100 --> 00:44:19.100 Things take time. 00:44:20.100 --> 00:44:22.100 Want to drive a single guy crazy? 00:44:22.100 --> 00:44:24.100 Give him a cat or a lemon tree. 00:44:30.100 --> 00:44:32.100 So things take time. 00:44:33.100 --> 00:44:41.100 Here are the things, here are the graces as in God given ability that is available to all of us. 00:44:41.140 --> 00:44:43.140 The first one is assembling. 00:44:46.140 --> 00:44:51.140 Most of us will find out that if we have a message that we have realized is given to us by God, 00:44:51.140 --> 00:44:55.140 we have the ability to stand and when we speak people will assemble around us. 00:44:55.140 --> 00:44:58.140 Sometimes you will see this in people immediately. 00:45:00.140 --> 00:45:04.140 I mean, I can give Pawan anything to talk about. 00:45:04.140 --> 00:45:05.140 Guess what will happen? 00:45:05.140 --> 00:45:07.140 He'll gather people around him. 00:45:07.140 --> 00:45:09.140 It can be soap or it can be Jesus. 00:45:09.180 --> 00:45:11.180 People will gather around him if he opens his mouth. 00:45:15.180 --> 00:45:20.180 So some have this, for some of us it develops, some of it doesn't develop. 00:45:20.180 --> 00:45:24.180 It sometimes depends on the background, sometimes it depends on your personality. 00:45:24.180 --> 00:45:27.180 But one of the graces that all of us possess is to assemble. 00:45:27.180 --> 00:45:29.180 The next one is enabling. 00:45:30.180 --> 00:45:34.180 Enabling is when you take the people that you have assembled and you begin to enable them. 00:45:34.220 --> 00:45:37.220 You find out that Ruben has this ability. 00:45:37.220 --> 00:45:41.220 The three kids have assembled around me and now Ruben has this ability, let me enable him. 00:45:42.220 --> 00:45:44.220 Eliana has this ability, let me enable her. 00:45:44.220 --> 00:45:48.220 Shiloh has this ability, he's an amazing actor, let me enable that. 00:45:48.220 --> 00:45:50.220 And so you begin to enable people. 00:45:50.220 --> 00:45:56.220 The third one is revelatory grace as in you have the ability to see things in the world. 00:45:56.260 --> 00:46:04.260 The fourth one is commissioning ability where you have the ability now to send or commission 00:46:04.260 --> 00:46:08.260 or launch people into the things they need to do. 00:46:08.260 --> 00:46:11.260 And the final one is governmental ability. 00:46:13.260 --> 00:46:17.260 This is when you begin to step into the things that you need to do. 00:46:17.260 --> 00:46:22.260 And the last one is the ability to send people into the things that you need to do. 00:46:22.300 --> 00:46:23.300 Enabling. 00:46:23.300 --> 00:46:29.300 This is when you begin to step into your full role as a shepherd ruler. 00:46:29.300 --> 00:46:35.300 Where this is all this, this is this. 00:46:37.300 --> 00:46:40.300 These are five graces that you see in Joseph's life. 00:46:40.300 --> 00:46:43.300 You see right from the beginning. 00:46:43.300 --> 00:46:47.300 Even when he was with his brothers, he had this ability. 00:46:47.340 --> 00:46:52.340 The strange thing is everybody here has this because Jesus has this. 00:46:52.340 --> 00:46:55.340 It comes out in different forms, it won't look the same. 00:46:55.340 --> 00:47:01.340 For me it might look like shouting, for you it might look like gentle words. 00:47:01.340 --> 00:47:08.340 These two don't need maturity, don't need spiritual maturity. 00:47:08.380 --> 00:47:17.380 This requires a knowledge of the word. 00:47:19.380 --> 00:47:28.380 This requires the heart of a prophet parent. 00:47:28.420 --> 00:47:37.420 And most people, most good guys don't stay long enough to develop this. 00:47:41.420 --> 00:47:44.420 They leave before time. 00:47:44.420 --> 00:47:47.420 It's very sad, but I've seen this happen. 00:47:47.420 --> 00:47:52.420 They leave before they get to a place where they live. 00:47:52.460 --> 00:47:53.460 Don't. 00:47:53.460 --> 00:48:00.460 Go through the process so that you can then give the entire thing to someone else. 00:48:02.460 --> 00:48:05.460 Any questions? 00:48:05.460 --> 00:48:10.460 Is that, oh my God, this is so unclear. 00:48:10.460 --> 00:48:13.460 I'm sorry. 00:48:13.460 --> 00:48:16.460 I'm sorry. 00:48:16.500 --> 00:48:21.500 Is that, oh my God, this is so unclear. 00:48:25.500 --> 00:48:28.500 Pardon? 00:48:28.500 --> 00:48:29.500 Yeah. 00:48:29.500 --> 00:48:33.500 Revelatory grace requires the knowledge of the word. 00:48:33.500 --> 00:48:35.500 God reveals things to you. 00:48:35.500 --> 00:48:37.500 God begins to show you things. 00:48:37.500 --> 00:48:39.500 But it requires the knowledge of the word. 00:48:39.500 --> 00:48:45.500 One of the beautiful things that the church must develop is prophet theologians. 00:48:45.540 --> 00:48:52.540 One who have the ability to see things and the ones who have the ability to study and then teach things. 00:48:52.540 --> 00:48:54.540 Prophet theologians. 00:48:54.540 --> 00:48:57.540 It's a beautiful word. 00:48:57.540 --> 00:49:01.540 Often churches produce prophets, Bible schools produce theologians, 00:49:01.540 --> 00:49:06.540 and both are as far removed as the east is from the west. 00:49:10.540 --> 00:49:13.540 Any questions on any of these? 00:49:13.580 --> 00:49:18.580 Stay the course and you end up like Joseph, Prime Minister of Egypt. 00:49:18.580 --> 00:49:21.580 Chava. 00:49:22.580 --> 00:49:25.580 Assembling and enabling don't need much maturity. 00:49:25.580 --> 00:49:26.580 You can assemble people. 00:49:26.580 --> 00:49:29.580 You can enable them based on their skills. 00:49:29.580 --> 00:49:32.580 You don't need spiritual maturity for it. 00:49:32.580 --> 00:49:33.580 I'm not saying you should be immature. 00:49:33.580 --> 00:49:36.580 I'm just saying there are more levels. 00:49:36.580 --> 00:49:39.580 Most of us don't have the ability to do that. 00:49:39.620 --> 00:49:42.620 Any other questions? 00:49:45.620 --> 00:49:46.620 Yeah. 00:49:46.620 --> 00:49:51.620 Once you get to the ability to commission people to send them out, 00:49:51.620 --> 00:49:54.620 you think that the work in you is done. 00:49:54.620 --> 00:49:56.620 There's one more thing to learn. 00:49:56.620 --> 00:49:59.620 It's not distributing silos of grain. 00:49:59.620 --> 00:50:02.620 It is getting to a point where you can't do it. 00:50:02.620 --> 00:50:03.620 You can't do it. 00:50:03.620 --> 00:50:04.620 You can't do it. 00:50:04.620 --> 00:50:05.620 You can't do it. 00:50:05.620 --> 00:50:06.620 You can't do it. 00:50:06.620 --> 00:50:07.620 You can't do it. 00:50:07.660 --> 00:50:09.620 Once you have all the silos of grain, 00:50:09.620 --> 00:50:12.620 it is getting to a place where Pharaoh says to Joseph, 00:50:12.620 --> 00:50:15.620 I am Pharaoh, but without you, 00:50:15.620 --> 00:50:19.620 not a hand or a foot will move in all of Egypt. 00:50:19.620 --> 00:50:22.620 He begins to govern a land. 00:50:24.620 --> 00:50:25.620 This is critical. 00:50:25.620 --> 00:50:26.620 Why? 00:50:26.620 --> 00:50:29.620 Because we again go back to who Jesus is. 00:50:29.620 --> 00:50:31.620 Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, 00:50:31.620 --> 00:50:33.620 and what shall be upon his shoulder? 00:50:33.620 --> 00:50:34.620 Commissioning? 00:50:34.620 --> 00:50:35.620 Revelatory knowledge? 00:50:35.620 --> 00:50:40.580 enabling? No. And the government shall be upon his shoulders. And off his 00:50:40.580 --> 00:50:48.540 government there shall be no end. That's why the theme for the conference is 00:50:48.540 --> 00:51:02.620 Shepherd King. What does it mean to have sector and stuff? And again let me remind 00:51:02.620 --> 00:51:08.460 you all of us this is for all of us. 00:51:10.620 --> 00:51:17.060 Surprisingly you're better than Moses, better than Joseph. They didn't have half 00:51:17.060 --> 00:51:21.260 the advantages that you have. 00:51:21.260 --> 00:51:38.180 Some questions? Okay I'll have to end because it's 6.14. Shoot there's so much 00:51:38.180 --> 00:51:46.940 more to say. Okay let me just finish. Let me just finish from here to here and 00:51:46.980 --> 00:52:02.580 then I won't go from here to here. Yeah? Unless you want me to. Don't encourage 00:52:02.580 --> 00:52:04.780 him. 00:52:04.780 --> 00:52:25.060 Okay. Do you want to be a leader? Or? You know for some strange reason I think 00:52:25.060 --> 00:52:31.380 that if I can bring it in a page in this much that it's short. I don't realize 00:52:31.420 --> 00:52:39.540 that in between I say a lot of things. This seemed short this morning. Okay do 00:52:39.540 --> 00:52:48.380 you want to be a leader or are you? Serious question eh? Are you an eager 00:52:48.380 --> 00:53:11.820 leader? But inadequate burden bearer with pierced ear, bloody altar because 00:53:11.860 --> 00:53:22.340 you've sacrificed a lot on it and an overwhelmed heart. What do you want to be? 00:53:22.340 --> 00:53:33.660 It's a serious question. What do you want to be? Do you want to be a leader or do 00:53:33.660 --> 00:53:42.580 you want to be an eager and eager but inadequate burden bearer with pierced 00:53:42.580 --> 00:53:50.460 ears? With pierced ears as in the servants used to even when they were 00:53:50.460 --> 00:53:57.140 given their freedom they would go pierce the ears to the door and say you have 00:53:57.140 --> 00:54:03.300 given me of my freedom but I don't want it. I want to stay a servant. Which one 00:54:03.340 --> 00:54:11.180 are you? Bloody altar because you've sacrificed. Not in your own personal 00:54:11.180 --> 00:54:17.940 private life with someone that no in a corporate setting. Everything has to be 00:54:17.940 --> 00:54:32.980 measured in a corporate setting because that's a real measure. Because you should 00:54:32.980 --> 00:54:39.540 be absolutely scared of going up when someone comes to you with a problem. Be 00:54:39.540 --> 00:54:47.100 physical, spiritual, psychological, mental, emotional. You should be so scared 00:54:47.100 --> 00:54:52.900 because you should realize how terribly inadequate you are and that most days 00:54:52.900 --> 00:54:58.300 you don't even know how to get it from God to give it to them. And after being 00:54:58.420 --> 00:55:06.020 totally overwhelmed and scared then you should somehow be able to reach out and 00:55:06.020 --> 00:55:12.780 say I am so not able to do this but please help me so that I can break 00:55:12.780 --> 00:55:19.900 through. This is how dads feel when they give you your child the first day and 00:55:20.100 --> 00:55:43.820 you hold it and you realize oh my god whatever I've gone and done. Some dads are smiling. Listen to what Moses said and that is besides the people who think that you're doing it wrong and that your life doesn't mean squat and all that stuff. So let's go to numbers 10. Numbers 11. 00:55:43.820 --> 00:55:58.420 This is a very difficult job and I pray that all of us apply for it. Yeah really 00:55:58.420 --> 00:56:04.140 difficult job but please apply for it. Numbers 11 verse 10. Moses heard the 00:56:04.140 --> 00:56:08.060 people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became 00:56:08.060 --> 00:56:12.260 exceedingly angry and Moses was troubled. He asked the Lord why have you brought 00:56:12.260 --> 00:56:41.940 this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms as the nurse carries an infant to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me. Give us meat to eat. I cannot carry all these people by myself. The burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you're going to treat me please go ahead and kill me. If I have found favor in your eyes do not let me face my own ruin. Wow. 00:56:42.580 --> 00:56:46.020 That's Moses. 00:56:46.020 --> 00:57:09.740 Another thing that must die. Death of personal vision. Death of personal vision. 00:57:09.740 --> 00:57:38.260 My vision must die. My vision must die if I want to join Elijah, Joshua or David or Paul and once it dies 00:57:39.740 --> 00:58:09.260 God will resurrect it and double it. But it has to die. If you have a personal dream or a vision or an ambition and that's what you want. Death to your personal vision so that you can join the corporate vision given to a people. 00:58:09.260 --> 00:58:20.780 Then you will find once you do it God will raise up your Isaac and give it back to you and it will be twice as powerful than had you chanced it alone. 00:58:20.780 --> 00:58:32.780 It's happened again and again and again in the Bible. But when one tries to maintain both then you neither get the first nor the second. 00:58:33.100 --> 00:58:36.300 Last point. Hey you want to do So Will I? 00:58:41.820 --> 00:58:46.940 Don't do the entire song. It's got like 18 verses. Do the first and the last. 00:58:52.140 --> 00:59:01.180 Let's stop here. We'll do the rest next time. Any questions guys before Tuni comes up and does So Will I? Go ahead. 00:59:03.180 --> 00:59:07.740 Yeah pierce your ears against the door. 00:59:11.740 --> 00:59:25.740 Let me give you, let me take Derek and what Derek did years ago. There was a time when he had not had a job for six months and he gets a job in Toronto in Ontario. 00:59:26.220 --> 00:59:33.180 Now he's been, it's not even like his older brother was here. He was alone here. There were days when he did not have enough money. 00:59:33.180 --> 00:59:44.700 When we had Kamal and Anne's, when Kamal got baptized and we met in a hotel downtown he didn't have money for a bus so he walked. 00:59:44.700 --> 00:59:49.180 I don't know why he didn't ask me for a ride but he walked all the way. That's how nuts he was. 00:59:49.180 --> 00:59:54.460 But now he gets a job after seven or eight months of not having a job. He finds a job in Ontario. 00:59:56.140 --> 01:00:05.340 And he comes and his words are I know what God has for me here and even though I have a job in Ontario and I can go and take it, 01:00:05.340 --> 01:00:11.580 I'm not going to take it because I know that one this is the place I'm supposed to be. This is the place where I'm supposed to serve. 01:00:11.580 --> 01:00:16.380 And even if it means waiting I'll stay here. I'm just giving you an example. 01:00:17.020 --> 01:00:23.420 Gillian was beginning to grow here and then Edmonton. She had a job waiting for her in Edmonton. Refused to go. 01:00:23.420 --> 01:00:30.060 May had a good job but it didn't give her enough time to do the other things she was doing. So what did she do? Throw that job away. 01:00:31.740 --> 01:00:36.700 Jacob, oh don't even talk about him. Don't get him started on me. You know how long he can take. 01:00:36.700 --> 01:00:41.900 So we won't talk about that today. I want to make one last statement before Tuni does so will I. 01:00:42.940 --> 01:00:50.380 I'll just write it down so that you remember it for next time. As we go down this list you must remember this. 01:00:50.700 --> 01:01:06.540 It is intentionality that leads to relationality. Relationship. 01:01:06.940 --> 01:01:23.020 It is relationship that leads to intimacy. It is intimacy that leads to association, 01:01:26.460 --> 01:01:27.820 to imitation, 01:01:30.700 --> 01:01:31.660 to formation. 01:01:32.380 --> 01:01:33.820 You change this order. 01:01:41.420 --> 01:01:55.020 Let's assume that I want to learn ballet. Don't laugh. Let's assume that Janice is a ballet teacher. 01:01:55.740 --> 01:02:08.380 Janice is a ballet teacher. I can't say that once I come into relationship with Janice then I will decide whether I should learn ballet from her or not. 01:02:08.380 --> 01:02:18.860 Because what if I just sit on my back side and expect relationship to develop. No. It's intentionality first. Intentionality comes first. 01:02:18.940 --> 01:02:28.940 Maybe I don't like her glasses. Maybe I don't like the fact that she's not Indian. Maybe I don't like the way she smiles. All that may be true. 01:02:28.940 --> 01:02:39.740 But there's only one thing I want from her and that is I want to learn ballet. So what do I have to do? I have to be intentional in my relationship with her. 01:02:39.740 --> 01:02:48.700 Intentionality in relationship will lead to association or intimacy. Association leads to imitation. 01:02:48.700 --> 01:02:56.620 Imitation leads to me suddenly standing on a toe and doing this thing. That's how this works. 01:02:56.620 --> 01:03:07.180 What we do is we've gotten so highly individualistic and all our relationships are so peer to peer that I first look to see if I can relate to Don. 01:03:08.700 --> 01:03:16.140 But then if that is what is going to help me grow then the only people I will learn from is people like myself. 01:03:16.220 --> 01:03:26.540 Chad said this to me some years ago. Jacob you only work with people like you. I disliked what he said. You know why? Because I knew it was true. 01:03:29.420 --> 01:03:36.860 And so I decided that it will be something I crucify that I will begin to work with people who are not like me. 01:03:36.860 --> 01:03:41.340 Because if I work with people like me I'll only produce more Jacobs and do you need more of them? 01:03:41.340 --> 01:03:45.500 No. The resounding answer is no. 01:03:48.700 --> 01:03:59.420 So please understand if you're waiting to first relate before you learn then you will only learn from your reflection in the mirror. 01:04:00.540 --> 01:04:02.540 Because that is the most pleasing person in the world. 01:04:03.340 --> 01:04:11.100 Intentionality leads to relationship. Relationship leads to association or intimacy. 01:04:12.380 --> 01:04:20.780 Association leads to imitation. Imitation leads to formation and you finally become a famous ballet dancer. 01:04:20.780 --> 01:04:29.420 Jacob Nuriev. Go ahead. He was a famous Russian ballet dancer.