Okay, so we've been doing this series on Hebrides 2.0.
So this is the next part.
For those that don't know what it is,
two line summary, 50, 60 years ago,
there was a revival in Hebrides
that really shook that part of the world.
And about a year and a half ago, the Lord said,
hey, can you guys bring to the earth Hebrides 2.0?
So we went early this year.
First trip this year was to Stoneaway
off the coast of Scotland, where that revival happened.
Places as dead as a doorknob or a cat.
And, sorry, I don't know, I've got to stop this.
I've got to stop this.
Yeah.
Yeah, so.
The thing with cats, though, is they die once
and then they live again eight more times.
That's why they're so hard to kill.
Oh, I guess I'm still going down the same route.
Gotta stop, gotta stop.
Stop talking about cats, yeah.
Yeah, so.
So.
Yeah, so dead as a doorknob, but.
While we were there, this was the promise that God gave.
So started exploring this.
And so His promise to this church was
that I'm sending a purifying fire from heaven
that will burn up religious and historical junk
as the divine warrior, that's what He's calling Himself,
marches, delivering young men and women
from nations into the kingdom,
calling sons and daughters into that circle
of dancing abundance and joy before the lion and the lamb.
And they will be a torch bearing generation
that goes forth and will not return empty.
That's a scene from Stone Away
where Hebrides 1.0 started in the 1950s.
Let me read that again.
I am sending, just imagine this for a second,
what if this is really God?
What if this isn't something that we made up?
What if this isn't something that I put together?
What if this is really God?
What happens then?
And how are we supposed to respond to it?
Because we've seen God speak before
and He's been faithful, He's brought it to pass.
Otherwise we wouldn't be here 17 years later.
So here's what He's saying.
I will send a purifying fire from heaven
that burns up religious and historical junk
as the divine warrior marches,
delivering young men and women
from nations into the kingdom,
calling sons and daughters into that circle
of dancing abundance and joy before the lion and the lamb.
And they will be a torch bearing generation
that goes forth and will not return empty.
So we've gone as far as nations into the kingdom.
So today we'll deal with calling sons and daughters.
That's all.
We're not even dealing with the rest of the sentence,
just calling sons and daughters.
Calling sons and daughters.
So if you go to Isaiah 43, verse five and six.
Chad's changing his flights to tomorrow,
so he'll just go a day later.
And he'll miss a meeting which he didn't want to go for.
Isaiah 43, verse five and six.
It says there, and this is a common theme, eh,
where God wants to call people back
and He calls them His sons and daughters.
Whether He's speaking to Israel
or whether He's speaking to the New Testament church,
when He created us, He made us after His kind,
and therefore He looks at us as sons and daughters.
We don't know Him as Father,
and one of the reasons He sends Jesus Christ to the earth
is so that our sonship and daughtership can be restored,
because Adam was called the Son of God.
And so this call that God has to the earth
is always in terms of sons and daughters, eh?
And so in Isaiah 43, verse five and six,
here's what He says.
He says, I will say to the north, give up,
and to the south, do not withhold.
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth.
One more time.
This is what God the Lord says.
He who created heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it,
who gives breath to its people
and life to those who walk on it.
I the Lord have called you, oops, Isaiah 43, wrong verse.
Here's what it says.
I will say to the north, give them up,
and to the south, do not hold them back.
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth.
Everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.
Go to 2 Corinthians 6, 18.
2 Corinthians 6, 18.
Here's what it says, starting from,
as God has said a little before, verse 16.
As God has said, I will live with them and walk among them.
I will be their God and they will be my people.
Therefore, come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you.
Then in verse 18, I will be a father to you
and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.
Go to Isaiah 60.
Isaiah 60.
Who's doing Sunday school today?
Isaiah 60, verse four.
Any word that God gives to a church or to a person
must be backed up by scripture.
So I'm just showing you these scriptures
to set a precedent in terms of how God's heart works.
It is natural for him to call sons and daughters back.
Isaiah 60, verse four.
Lift up your eyes and look about you.
All assemble and come to you.
Your sons come from afar.
Your daughters are carried on the arm.
Some version says,
carried on the arm.
Some version say,
lift up your eyes all around and see.
They all gather together.
They come to you.
Your sons shall come from afar
and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.
One more time.
Lift up your eyes all around and see.
They all gather together.
They come to you.
Your sons shall come from afar
and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.
And so one of the things God is aiming to do
in the next little while with us is
numerical growth.
Numerical growth.
Numerical growth will happen.
Hey, Brandon, can you make this thing work?
Numerical growth will happen.
So when you, if we,
assuming we this afternoon or tomorrow
get the new church that we're moving into,
it's a huge space.
Like we won't even fill the first four rows.
And so there's four rows that we will fill
and then there's another four rows to fill.
And then there's an upstairs.
And it'll be filled.
If you were here for the three days when Chad was here,
one of the things he was saying was
the church is ready now for numerical growth.
Things have been put in place for numerical growth.
And so one of the things that will happen is
that church will be filled before we leave.
Oh, isn't that a boast?
Should we be concerned with numbers?
Nope, we shouldn't be concerned with numbers.
And nope, it's not a boast
because God's interested in numbers.
If you look at
Acts 2.47,
it says there that the Lord added to their numbers.
The Lord added to their
numbers daily.
That's what it says in Acts 2.47.
So in this case, the Lord added.
Then you go to Acts 5.14,
Acts 5.14, and it says that people saw
what was happening and believed
and their numbers increased.
Acts 5.14.
So in this case, it was people saw and believed
what was happening in the church there in Jerusalem.
Then in Acts 11.24,
just one man called Barnabas seemed to cause increase
because they saw his faith,
they saw his faith,
and they saw how powerful the Spirit of God worked
or anointed him, the Spirit of God was on him.
They saw how powerfully the Spirit of God was on him.
And it says that because of that,
the church increased in numbers.
These are different reasons or ways
that the church increases in numbers.
Then in Acts 16, verse five,
you'll see that when instructions were followed
in the church, instructions were given and followed.
What began to happen was the church began
to increase in strength
and grew in number.
Hey, that's like,
do do do do do do do do do do.
What are they playing there, Christian songs?
It might be fun going down there.
So these are the different ways that the church grew
and numerical growth awaits us.
On the last day that Chad was here,
one of the things we were repenting of was father,
at least I was repenting of his father.
I've got this distaste for numbers in big churches
and mega churches, and I repented of that
because it's time for us to now move into this place
where numbers are added and why should we now welcome it?
Because I think things are in place.
If people came in, there are others
that can take care of them.
So we're in that place now.
Any questions before we go on?
Any questions, guys?
Cool.
So how does this happen?
Shoot.
How does this happen?
How do sons and daughters,
how do sons and daughters get called out?
What needs to happen?
If we go back to Isaiah 60, verse four,
look at it again, eh?
Look at Isaiah 60, verse four.
It says, lift up your eyes and look about you.
Lift up your eyes and look about you.
They all gather together, they come to you.
Your sons shall come from afar
and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.
So the question we need to ask is,
what are they drawn towards?
What are they drawn towards?
What are they drawn towards and why are they coming?
Why are they coming?
What's your answer, guys?
Pardon?
Yeah, if you read the preceding verses,
Isaiah 60, verse one to three, here's what it says.
It says, hey guys, hey Acts 29,
my glory is on you.
It's in you.
They will come, verse three,
they will come to
the glory of the Lord on you.
They'll come to your light, not my light.
They'll come to your light
and to the brightness
of your radiance.
This is how confident God is, see?
I may not be that confident of myself or of you,
but he is confident of it.
So what's he saying?
He's saying, but guys, you've been learning about this,
you've been talking about this,
you've been singing about this,
you keep saying that I'm in your midst,
you keep saying that my glory is disruptive,
you've understood glory, you know it is the weight,
the magnificence, the splendor, the power,
the laughter, the majesty, the goodness of God.
That's what you've been talking about for years on end.
You know I dwell in you.
I'm gonna bring these people to come not to me,
but to the light that you begin to display.
It is to your light that they are coming.
It is to your light that they're coming.
It's to your radiance that they will come.
In John 8-12, Jesus says, I am the light of the world.
And then he completely turns it around in Matthew 5-14
and says, you are the light of the world.
If you actually look at the way the sentence is constructed
in the original language, it's actually saying
you and you alone are the light of the world.
Just listen to how confident he is.
It's us that are not confident.
It's me who's not confident, but he is.
You and you alone are the light of the world.
If you are born again, if you're not born again,
you're not even in darkness, you are darkness.
It's as clear as that.
I'll show you from scriptures.
Ephesians 5 says that once you were,
it doesn't say in darkness.
It says once you were darkness.
It doesn't even give you the option of being in darkness.
If you are not born again, you are darkness.
And if you are born again, then you and you alone
are the light of the world.
Do you wanna argue with Jesus, feel free?
Because these are his words, man.
John 8, 12, I am the light of the world.
Matthew 5, 14, you and you alone are the light of the world.
It is to that light that people are going to come.
This is the kind of partnership he's entering into.
That he's drawing us into.
He's not saying, I'm not going to be a part of this.
He's not saying, they'll come to my glory.
They'll come when you do science, miracles, and wonders.
He says, but I'm already in you.
My weight, my splendor, my majesty, my magnificence,
my power, my laughter, my goodness is already in you.
And they will come to that light.
Kings will come to your radiance,
or kings will come to the breaking of your dawn,
and they will be drawn to your light.
Any questions on that?
Any pushback on that?
Any disagreements?
So why will sons and daughters come?
Why will your sons come from afar?
Why will daughters be carried on your hip?
Why is it that when we lift up our eyes in the year ahead
and look, you will see them gathered together?
What are they being drawn to?
Why do they come?
It is because I am saying to you,
as in not Jacob, but God,
I am saying to you that my glory,
as in my splendor, my magnificence,
and all those words I put together has risen,
it has appeared over you,
and the nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Sure, I said I am the light of the world,
but I also said you and you alone are the light of the world.
I mean, for us to even say this difficulty,
just try saying it.
I and I alone am the light of the world.
Try saying that.
You'll feel queasy all over.
You'll feel like, oh no, not me, oh Lord.
And then he'll take a call from the hearth
and he'll touch your lips and he'll say,
try that again.
Try saying that without my help.
Difficult, let's try it again until we all get it.
Oh, let's try it without the marbles in our mouths, okay?
So I and I alone am the light of the world.
That is just nuts.
That is so wrong, and that is so completely right.
So tomorrow, take your wife's lipstick,
write it on the mirror.
This will only work if you're married, so get married.
So, so, they have to tomorrow, Kezia and Iris will wonder,
wonder where my lipstick went.
I and I alone am the light of the world.
This is how we are supposed to walk into things.
This is how they're supposed to go to Sydney and Brisbane.
And the reason we are the light of the world
is because of our relationship with him.
And you can't say, but I'm not relating to him well,
and therefore I'm not the light of the world.
No, if he lives in you, then you're relating to him well.
Whether you display it or not is a different thing.
But do not blame the light for your inability to display.
The light is already there.
You must not question that.
This is not a question of,
I'm not doing too well with the light.
Too bad, but he's still in you.
Jacob, how can you say I and I alone?
You can make it a little bit harder.
Yeah, yeah, that's easier.
I just wanted to make it tougher.
Yeah, yeah.
It is actually us.
Yeah, completely.
I mean, you're totally right.
But saying that is easy,
because we think of all the others,
but we don't think of ourselves.
Saying I and I alone am the light of the world,
my God, that's difficult.
I just have to think about yesterday,
and I don't feel very lighty.
Yeah, yeah.
I don't feel light most days,
but lighty, yeah.
Yeah.
You didn't get the, I don't feel light every day,
but that's okay.
Some jokes are too heavy for you.
I got you.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Jacob and I are on the same vibe.
Yeah.
And it's because of our relationship with him, eh?
And he, see, what we don't understand is,
or we find it very hard to grab the fact
is that he does not
withdraw,
diminish,
withhold himself
in his relationship with us.
We think when things are not going well with you and God,
that it's both parties that withdraw.
He doesn't.
That's how the earth works.
People get hurt and we begin to separate
and it's uncomfortable and awkward.
Not with him.
He doesn't, and therefore the light is always present.
In relationship with him now, the light is always there.
This is why we need to go down this road of,
I and I alone am the light of the world.
Gift to mankind, man.
Who? You.
Your wife may not think so.
But Jesus does.
How does God go about this?
Just imagine this for a second.
It's pitch dark, pitch dark.
It's chaotic, it's dishonorably.
And then he says the words, let there be light.
His words make it happen.
Go to 2 Corinthians 4, 6.
You'll see him talking about this.
He says, Paul is saying, and then God spoke.
And he said, let there be light.
In the same manner now, he spoke into your life.
He said, let there be light.
And when he said it, light shone in his heart.
Light that was contained in Christ, who he received,
and it began to shine in his heart.
As easily as it happened in him and in me,
now it begins to happen in others.
What happens?
We speak words.
And the same thing that happened at creation,
the same thing that happened with you
when you got born again,
is the same thing that happens now.
This is what draws those that aren't yet sons and daughters
into the kingdom.
We're not trying to draw people from other churches
into another church.
That's fun, it's easy, and it's great.
But we're trying to draw those that are not sons and daughters
who were called before the foundations of the earth
because God in his omniscience knows things.
And if you resist being born again,
it is because it says that Satan has blinded you.
And you're making the choice to be blinded by the devil.
And you refuse this light.
We feel so rejected when someone we speak to
doesn't accept Christ.
You must understand that if Christ wanted,
he could just make robots out of everybody.
He gives us a free will.
And in that free will we choose.
And Satan uses culture, denominationalism, fear, pride
to prevent people from being born again.
And it very clearly says it.
Satan has blinded them because of the choice they make.
And they resist the light of the world.
It has happened hundreds and hundreds of times before
and it still happens.
Let's look at scriptures so we know
this is straight from the word.
Go to 2 Corinthians 4, 6.
2 Corinthians 4, 6.
Starting at verse five.
For we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ is Lord
and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.
For God who said, let light shine out of darkness
in Genesis 1, 3, made his light shine in our hearts
to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Christ.
Which simply means he is the one who then said to Jacob,
hey, let me shine that same light I shined
at the beginning of time into your heart through Jesus.
And the moment he did, I changed.
And now we gotta put into words the same thing for others.
That's how we call sons and daughters.
Calling sons and daughters is not just a prayer of saying,
I speak to the north, I speak to the south,
the east and the west, I call you forth.
That's nice, it's a great declaration.
But that is so blooming easy.
Real calling forth of sons and daughters is to say,
let light shine in the darkness.
That is more difficult.
It becomes a little easier when you realize that you
and you alone are the light of the world
because of your relationship with Christ.
Okay.
Go to Isaiah 43, verse 10.
Let's look at that other scripture.
I think it's, where is that thing which says
Satan is blinded?
Verse, sorry, it's 2 Corinthians 4, 4.
2 Corinthians 4, 4.
This is why, this is why people refuse to
or resist being born again.
They can come up with all kinds of excuses.
I go to this church, we don't believe in it.
I go to this, I come from this culture.
I mean, I come from a culture where we get baptized
as young kids and the whole idea of salvation is not there.
You don't need to get saved.
There are different reasons why.
But look at what it actually says in 2 Corinthians 4, 4.
It says, if our gospel is veiled,
it is veiled to those who are perishing.
The God of this age, as in Satan,
has blinded the minds of unbelievers
so that they cannot see the light of the gospels
of the glory of Christ, who is the image of our God.
It's crazy how we make our choices and get blinded.
Go to Isaiah 43, 10.
Isaiah 43, 10.
Here's what God says.
And this is the whole idea of,
the idea of witnessing is the ability to say,
I and I alone am the light of the world
and I am now going to speak light into darkness
so that just as I was born again,
just as the earth was created out of darkness,
so something will happen to you.
How do we say it, when we say it, how we show it,
when we show it, my take time might happen in an instant.
But we need to be able to see it.
And that's what God says.
My take time might happen in an instant.
But we need to embrace who we are
because sons and daughters come to the glory of God
simply because they see the light of your radiance.
It's God's chosen method of doing things.
Chad was talking about it recently.
Two to 4% of the world gets saved
because of television ministry.
Two to 4% of Christians get saved
because of television ministry.
80% of Christian money goes into television ministry.
It's just a rotten way to spend money.
Two to 4%.
Once you start a television ministry,
it's so hard to keep it going, man.
And the rest gets saved, 60 to 70% gets saved
because someone tells them.
I mean, if I went around this room,
we'd see that proven.
So if I ever ask you to support a television ministry
that I start, run.
Isaiah 43, 10.
You are my witnesses, declares the Lord,
and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no God was formed,
nor will there be one after me.
I, even I am the Lord,
and apart from me there is no savior.
And so this idea of, hey Jacob, now that you know me,
can you begin to go down the road of I and I alone?
I'm the light of the world.
The idea of witnessing can take all kinds of forms, eh?
So when Chad and I left for Toronto on Tuesday,
I was desperately trying to upgrade his seat
because I got upgraded and then,
if I get upgraded and he doesn't get upgraded,
he'll make me feel guilty for about four months.
He milks it for about four months.
So I was doing everything, I was calling people,
I went to the airport early, spoke to people,
they said it was a slam dunk,
and then the last minute some guy booked that extra seat.
Like it was open till one hour before,
and then some guy was desperate to go to Toronto,
God knows why.
And so now Chad's sitting in premium economy
and I'm upgraded and I'm not gonna exchange seats
because...
Yes.
But I'm older.
He wouldn't feel good about that.
And so I'm wrestling with the idea
I'm wrestling with guilt,
lying down while he's enjoying sitting up.
But here's what happens,
and this took away all my guilt.
There's this guy sitting next to him,
and so I go to visit with peanuts.
I'm doing my best to make him feel better.
I go to visit him with peanuts
and there's this guy called Tom sitting next to him.
And here's what Tom said to him.
Tom said, this God that I serve,
I've been praying to him for this entire day saying
that when I fly to Toronto today,
could you make sure that the person that sits next to me
is a person that you have ordained?
And Chad doesn't, he doesn't know Chad's a pastor,
so Chad is sitting and then he begins to say to Chad,
I just want you to know that God says
that your dad is a really good man.
He's a kind man, he's a godly man.
He doesn't know anything about Chad.
And then at that point Chad begins to tell him
about how he's a pastor.
And this man, the way he was witnessing
was simply calling people and telling them what God wants.
He calls the steward and he says to the steward,
for the last three or four months,
you've been really sad and God has noticed
and God wants to take your sadness away.
And there's a guy, he stops and he starts crying
because his mom died three months ago.
And he's in deep sorrow because of his mom's death.
I thought to myself, gosh, sometimes it is so easy.
We've got to find our niche, guys.
What are you good at?
It doesn't have to be like everyone else.
He doesn't make bricks, he makes stones.
Egyptians use bricks, God uses stones.
Different methods.
I remember when that lady who was the head of,
what was that?
Who was the head of, what was that outfit in China?
No, the one you wrote a letter to?
The lady.
Huawei, she was the director of Huawei
and lived close to Jill.
Jill wrote a letter to her.
She was surrounded by cops and stuff like that
because she was under arrest here
because they arrested her at the airport.
We've got different ways of doing things.
Sometimes it's letters, sometimes it's words,
sometimes it's kindness.
Find your niche, what you're good at
and begin to walk in that
because that is how light comes in.
For this man, Tom, it is very simple.
And then he started prophesying on Chad.
And the more he prophesied on Chad,
the less guilty I felt.
God works in mysterious ways.
Yeah.
And then why is it that sometimes light does not show?
Look at Ephesians 5.8, Ephesians 5.8.
The light is never missing, never missing, never missing.
It is so encouraging to know it is always there.
Ephesians 5.8.
It says there,
for you were once darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord.
Live as children of the light.
And then he tells you what the fruit of light is.
I love it.
Everything is so explained in the Bible.
For the fruit of light consists of goodness,
righteousness,
truth.
Practice these.
And you
and I
will be a city.
On a hill.
That's the fruit of light, eh?
So that's where it says you were darkness.
Not you were in darkness, you were darkness.
And now you are light.
Live and walk as if you are children of light.
You are, you and you alone are the light of this world.
That is nuts.
But here's what light looks like.
Light practices goodness.
Isn't it,
isn't it so obvious now why
God says to Moses after Moses says,
show me your glory, what does he say?
I'll show you my goodness.
The fruit of light is goodness.
Practice goodness.
Fruit of light is righteousness.
Practice righteousness.
What is righteousness?
I know we've talked about this,
but righteousness is right relationship
with God,
with yourself,
with others,
and the environment.
Right relationship.
When our heart breaks, mend it.
Who mends it?
He mends it.
But you have to let him.
Mend it quickly.
The longer you take to mend something, the more it tears.
And truth.
Integrity in heart, integrity in practice,
integrity in words,
somewhere inside.
This is when it's impossible to hide light
that is already in you.
What is it that causes light to travel unhindered?
What is it that causes the light in you
to travel unhindered?
This is more lipstick on your mirror.
Goodness, righteousness, truth.
Act justly.
Act humbly.
What's the last one?
Love and mercy.
It's impossible then, impossible to keep this light hidden.
It's already in you, you can't douse it.
And when you begin to live like this,
don't expect everyone to like you.
Light divides.
Don't expect everyone to like you.
Light divides.
In Genesis one, we see it the first time.
God decides that there will be light and there will be dark
and he calls the light day and he calls it dark night.
There's a division.
Whenever there is light, there is a divide.
Exodus 10, verse 23, again.
And then the entire sky turned black.
All across Egypt, there was just pitch blackness.
But in Goshen, there was light.
Light always divides.
John three, verse 19 and 20, Jesus says
that I'm the light of the world,
but there are people that don't like the light
and they choose the darkness.
There will, every time the church has behaved in a way
that is not like the world, the church does really well.
Whenever the church begins to behave like the world,
the church loses.
Light divides.
And that's part of the reason we hide the light.
Because we don't like resistance, opposition.
So we do those false lights, those candles
with those bulbs on top, little thingy on top.
We are the world.
Sorry, that's a song you guys don't know.
This was ages ago, 1986.
What are you doing?
Some of you do, yeah.
Oh, that is some concert, eh?
That is an amazing concert.
Okay.
The other thing that helps sons and daughters come home
is this thing, shepherds wanted.
Shepherds wanted.
That's this constant vacancy in the church.
Shepherds wanted.
Shepherds are critical to sons and daughters being added.
I'm not calling them pastors, I'm calling them shepherds.
Most churches advertise pastors wanted.
We don't want more pastors, we want more shepherds.
Shepherds are raised in-house.
Shepherds wanted.
Shepherds are critical to sons and daughters being added.
Look at what Jesus said, Matthew 9, 35 to 38.
Matthew 9, 35 to 38.
Look at this, look at this.
Matthew 9.
It's amazing, man.
Jesus went through all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
preaching the good news of the kingdom,
and healing every disease and sickness.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them.
Why?
Why did he have compassion on them?
Because they were harassed and helpless,
like sheep without a shepherd.
That's why he had compassion on them.
He sees them coming in droves, he's healing them.
But compassion comes from a word, Raham,
which is almost something that a mother feels in a womb,
and he begins to feel that kind of compassion.
Why?
Because they're sheep without a shepherd.
And then he goes on to say,
then he said to his disciples,
it's in that context that he says the next line.
Then he says to his disciples,
the harvest of the plentiful were the workers,
the harvest of the plentiful were the workers, a few.
Asked the Lord of the harvest,
therefore, to send out workers into his harvest tree.
What's he looking for?
Shepherds.
We just take that verse in isolation,
and so we think it's missionaries,
or it's going and evangelizing.
No, what prompted that statement,
what prompted that statement was,
sheep without shepherds.
Sons and daughters need parents,
so they're not raised in orphanages and foster homes.
Sons and daughters need parents,
so they're not raised in orphanages and foster homes.
Part of the reason sheep don't do well
is because there aren't enough shepherds.
But then we've been around for 17 years,
surely there are shepherds among us.
Surely we can help them,
but we can't help them.
There are shepherds among us.
Surely we can learn how to parent.
Surely there can be compassion that arises in our hearts
so that the ones that come under our care
can be taken care of.
Aren't there many of us here?
Don't think in terms of pastoral.
You think in terms of pastoral, this whole thing crumbles.
I think a shepherd can be a pastor.
A pastor does not necessarily have to be a shepherd.
As we look at the qualities of a shepherd,
you'll find that all it takes to be a pastor
is a Bible school.
While a pastor can be a shepherd,
a pastor does not have to be a shepherd.
A shepherd can be a pastor.
You're supposed to raise sheep.
It is a painful, painful job, so let's just look at that.
So let's just look at us.
We've been around for years now.
What is it that we need to have in our minds
so that we can function in this capacity?
So one, press towards maturity.
Press towards maturity.
It's one thing to desire to be a shepherd.
It is another thing to have the strength to be a shepherd.
I went out with two old men in this church.
I mean, when I say old men, they're really old.
One was Wayne and one was Elmer.
I called him secondhand lions.
So we went out with them and we went to fish out crab cages.
Like you put these cages in the water.
And these men are 20, 25 years older than me.
And we went out there and they asked me to haul out the cage.
It was 300 feet, man.
My hands were raw, my arms were paining,
and those crab weren't coming any closer.
And then these two men knew what to do.
They had done this a million times.
They were strong.
These two men who were 70 or 75 then started
hauling these crab cages up
and they would come up one after the other.
And I was surprised at how strong they were.
Being younger or being smarter does not mean squat.
At the end of the day, am I desire to be a shepherd?
But am I pressing into maturity to be a shepherd?
Because if I'm not, how can I raise the ones under me?
And so maturity, how do you measure maturity?
Fruitfulness.
How do you know a tree is maturing?
It produces fruit.
Fruitfulness.
John 15, nine, what did Jesus say?
I have appointed you to do what?
To bear fruit.
What kind of fruit?
Christ-like fruit.
What's fruitfulness?
Christ-likeness in nature.
Where you respond like Him under pressure.
You respond like Him under pressure.
So how do you measure my maturity?
You measure my maturity by looking at,
hey, is Jacob being more fruitful?
Not is Jacob going to more cities?
Is Jacob planting another church?
It is, is he being more fruitful?
Is he becoming more Christ-like?
And under pressure, is he responding like Christ?
Or is he still responding the same old way?
When it comes to cats, I'm still responding
the same old way.
But even that may change.
Rene is not laughing at all.
So here are some things that we need to know about shepherds
so that as you aspire to be what God wants you to be
so that He can add more sons and daughters,
you realize that this is the way you need to be.
And if you're not this way, then it's hard to,
hard to give you my baby to hold
because you could harm my baby.
It's not that we have to become perfect at this.
We've got to continuously move towards this, hey?
Growth is not perfection.
Growth is movement.
Growth is never perfection.
Growth is always movement.
Have you noticed how all the parents who come
to dedicate their child never let me hold the child?
Strange, eh?
One mother did.
And she grabbed the child out of my hands.
I didn't know that kids don't have strong neck muscles.
So I've got the child on one shoulder
and I'm dedicating the child
and the head is slipping off my shoulder.
So I fling it to this shoulder,
thinking that perhaps this shoulder was not strong enough.
The mother came grab the child
because she said you could break the neck.
So, yeah.
Shepherds, it's a difficult thing, eh?
A difficult process.
Please know what you're signing up for.
If you come and tell me you want to be a shepherd,
I just know that you just signed your life away.
Numbers chapter 11.
Numbers chapter 11, 10 to 15.
And these are God's ideas, so it's not manmade.
Numbers chapter 11, 10 to 15.
This is one of Israel's best shepherds.
God speaks of him well in Hebrews when he says,
man, no one like Moses,
but look at what Moses says in 10 to 15.
Moses heard the people of every family wailing,
each at the entrance to his tent.
The Lord became exceedingly angry and Moses was troubled.
He asked the Lord,
why have you brought 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 a nurse carries an infant
to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers?
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 gonna treat me,
put me to death right now.
If I have found favor in your eyes,
do not let my face.
How many volunteers?
How many shepherds here?
This is what you will secretly say to your wife
after Sunday services.
And then God comes up with solutions.
The Lord said to Moses,
bring me 70 of Israel's elders
who are known to you as leaders and officials
among the people.
Have them come to the tent of meeting
that they may stand there with you.
I will come down and speak with you there.
I will take of the spirit that is on you
and put the spirit on them.
They will help you carry the burden of the people
so that you will not have to carry it alone.
That is what must happen here.
For God, there's two things.
One,
he takes of the spirit,
as in the Holy Spirit, on me, as in Jacob.
As in not Jacob's spirit, but the Holy Spirit
that he gave me for this church and puts it on you.
And he also takes of the spirit, not Jacob's spirit,
but the Holy Spirit, of the Spirit on me
and gives it to you
so that you can
take what is
and add to it
in the future.
It's both, eh?
But this is more important than this.
But if you have both, the church is richer.
There is a DNA that this church has because of me.
And if you get it,
you'll be able to take it where it's supposed to go.
But if you don't want it, you still can
because the Spirit of God is enough.
Another requirement of shepherds.
This is not about starting a ministry.
This is painful work.
Ministry is the easiest thing to do.
Print some business cards, set up a website,
pray for two people, see one healed,
and you have a ministry.
The second one is, sorry?
You want me to read it?
Are you saying my writing is not good?
James.
He also takes of the Spirit on me, as in not Jacob,
and gives it so that you can take what has
already been built and add to it in the future.
I mean, she came and prayed for a grandchild today.
Some of the things that she raised Sheikah to be
is what Vanessa will get.
There's a reason God says,
he's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Generational transference of things that are rich
is important in the context of scripture.
And the way God works.
Elijah, Elisha, Paul, Timothy.
Father Jesus.
Oh, but we don't receive from man.
Yes, you receive from man.
Everything you have, you receive from man.
At work, at home, at the soccer field,
and on TV.
You receive every day from TV.
If you thought they were angels, they're not.
Prashanth, are you still trying to figure this out?
Okay.
I didn't know it was that bad, but.
Shepherds follow the example of the great shepherd.
Shepherds follow the example, follow the great shepherd.
Shepherds follow the example of the great shepherd.
Who watches over them, like in Psalm 23.
Shepherds follow the example of the great shepherd.
What is the toughest thing
when it comes to following the great shepherd for us?
What is the one thing that is so difficult to do
that the great shepherd does?
Give me that one thing.
Yeah, man.
A good shepherd, the great shepherd,
lays down his life for the sheep.
How many in this church would you lay your life down for?
Don't answer.
Could get really messy.
How many here would you lay your life down for?
As in you would exchange your life so that they escape.
You'd be surprised at how many of you would do it.
We sell ourselves short.
Some of you, the way you take care of people,
you would probably do it.
Wives, I wanna say this to you.
Doesn't matter how difficult your husband
can be on some days.
Almost every husband here would, without thinking,
lay down his or her life, his life,
lay down his life for you without thinking.
You need to know that.
Mike would lay down his life for Karen in a second.
Aaron would lay down his life for Renny in a second.
And yet, neither Mike and Aaron
may take out the garbage tonight.
I dropped one.
It's strange how this works.
These men love you.
Another thing shepherds do, shepherds bring,
this is in John 10, 16.
Shepherds bring sheep that are not part of the sheep fold.
Bring sheep, shepherds bring sheep that are not part,
that are not part of the sheep pen into the fold.
Exclusivity is not a shepherd thingy.
It is something that should be broken,
especially in our midst or in my life.
We must go and find sheep that are not part of this pen
and bring them into the fold.
It's something shepherds do.
Ezekiel 34 is a brilliant chapter on shepherds.
When you go home, read it.
It's something that shepherds do.
Ezekiel 34 is a brilliant chapter on shepherds.
When you go home, read it.
Ezekiel 34.
When you go to Ezekiel 34,
you'll find that God's really upset with shepherds
that are nasty, eh?
And he says, man, the way I'll deal with you
for what you've done to the sheep, I'll punish you.
But when it comes to what they should do,
he also tells them what he'll do.
Binds the injured, binds the injured.
Carries the young.
Searches for the strays.
Lays down his life.
When I see some of you house church leaders in this church,
this is how you live, man.
You're better than me.
You bind the injured, you carry the young,
you feed, feed the hungry.
You'll go miles to do it, eh?
Feed the hungry, search for strays, lay your life down.
Another thing that is so critical to shepherding,
which we must learn, because this is not easy,
and it's hard to practice, hard to even learn,
you must guard from,
you must guard the sheep from ferocious wolves.
Some within and some without.
Some within and some from the outside.
Otherwise, the flock is ravaged.
This is not a pleasant job,
because sometimes people think you're being too harsh.
But if it was your wife and your children, how would you be?
If it was your child, and someone was coming to do harm,
either through a teaching that was wrong,
or intent to harm, what would you do?
Doesn't matter how meek you are,
something inside will rise up.
It's amazing how we protect our children.
Even intent is enough.
This is how shepherds must guard their sheep.
And sometimes the zeal might come out wrong,
eh, it might be misplaced.
But my God, don't dilute it.
Doesn't matter how much we play around and dance with Phoebe,
there are some things that Sheldon and Jane
can really get nasty about.
Try having Phoebe eat something that has fallen on the ground
and has stayed there longer than three seconds.
You will see a Sheldon you have never seen.
When Sheldon was growing up,
it wasn't even a three second rule,
it was a one and a half second rule.
You were wondering where I was going with that.
I was going with the kindest person in the world.
Yes.
Until you have something picked up
from the floor to feed his child.
Hebrews 13, seven, just two more points when we're done.
Hebrews 13, seven, shepherds must display lives.
Shepherds must display lives.
Must display lives.
Others can consider.
Display lives.
Others must consider.
And imitate.
You must also be able to both perpetuate teaching
and defend what you teach.
And defend it.
Because doctrine is an important part of what shepherds do.
So Hebrews 13, seven, shepherds must display lives
that others must consider.
As in, it should be a life that kind of stands out
that is different from you.
People should notice,
there's something I need to learn from this person.
And then it should be lived out openly enough
and lived out systematically enough for someone to imitate.
And you have to be able to defend the way you teach.
You have to be able to defend the way you teach
or what you're teaching.
They'll know which word needs explanation.
Is my, I don't know why my writing
seems to be really bad today.
Everyone's got screwed up eyes like this.
Or people forgot their glasses at home.
It's one or the other.
Dilna, what is the truth?
Bad writing, eh?
Where does the sheepdog fit in?
Good question.
Can I share a blonde joke?
No?
Okay, all righty.
Not a good idea, yeah.
But the last line in the joke is.
Yeah.
No.
No, not in this case.
Yeah, anyways, we won't go down that road.
So, sheepdogs, sheepdogs can become shepherds.
Sheepdogs can become shepherds.
Sheepdogs in the kingdom are ones that assist the shepherd
in creating order that is conducive to the sheep prospering.
Let me put this, let me say that again.
Sheepdogs are those that help shepherds
create or maintain order
that is conducive to the sheep prospering.
So Jethro, Mordecai, Barnabas, Philip,
Joshua, Aaron, these were men that helped the shepherds.
The 12 apostles.
And then they come and then next.
So sheepdogs are really shepherds in training.
They assist.
Jethro did it so brilliantly.
He made it so easy for Moses.
He set things in order, 50s, 100s, seated.
The disciples probably did that
when they had to feed the 5,000.
Another example of sheepdogs, Acts chapter six.
And so because we wanted to spend our time
praying and preaching, what did we do?
We picked six men full of the Holy Spirit
and we appointed them.
And they took care of the problems
with the Hellenist and the Jewish widows.
And one of them later ends up being one of the teachers
in Antioch and so it continues.
So sheepdog is not a permanent position.
Oh, I so badly want to share that joke,
but I won't, stop it.
Let's look at one more scripture and then we're done.
Acts 20, verse 35.
What are we talking about?
What's all this about?
That if we do this right, it's like that famous line
from that Kevin Costner movie, you build it, they will come.
You get this right, sons and daughters will come.
Acts 20, what is the movie?
Field of Dreams.
Acts 20, verse 35.
In everything I did, I showed you that
by this kind of hard work, we must help the weak,
remembering the words that Jesus himself,
so let's start at verse 32.
Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace.
What's he doing?
What's the scene?
Paul is in Ephesus, he's never gonna see them again.
He's called all the shepherds or the leaders
that he appointed to take care of the sheep
and he's at the beach and he's giving them his last word,
saying, you'll never see my face again.
Then he tells them this.
Starting at verse 32.
Starting at verse 28.
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock
of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.
Be shepherds of the church of God,
which he bought with his own blood.
I know that after I leave,
savage wolves will come in among you
and will not spare the flock.
Even from your own number, men will arise
and distort the truth in order to draw away
disciples after them.
So be on your guard.
Remember that for three years,
I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace,
which can build you up and give you an inheritance
among all those who are sanctified.
I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing.
You yourselves know that these hands of mine
have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions.
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind
of hard work, we must help the weak.
Remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said,
it is more blessed to give than to receive.
When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them
and prayed, they all wept as they embraced and kissed him.
What grieved them most was the statement
that they would never see his face again.
Then they accompanied him to the ship.
So if you want to be a shepherd,
and I think it is a good desire for you to have,
cause sons and daughters will come,
and we need shepherds.
We go back to Matthew 9.35, where Jesus had compassion
and he said, pray that we have more shepherds.
I pray that we have more shepherds.
But shepherds are appointed.
Shepherds don't volunteer.
Try and meet, or try and work towards these ends
so that you can be appointed with great joy,
saying here is one that's worthy, let's go.
Age does not matter.
There is a maturity that comes with age,
but some mature without getting old.
There is a maturity that comes with experience,
but some get experiences while they're young.
Look at David, look at Elisha, look at Daniel, Joseph.
There is a maturity that comes with the exertion of gifts.
Well, start practicing it.
Desire it, it's a good thing to desire.
We need this where we're going next, guys.
But it's not volunteerism.
Crazy thing about Christianity is because it's a kingdom
and not a democracy, it's not I volunteer for this.
Called, appointed, anointed.
We are all called to this because we are
the common priesthood of believers.
We are supposed to turn into shepherds
so that others can be added.
Just remember that, let me pray.
There are people who will pray with you after we are done,
so feel free to come up and they'll be here.
This is how you need to judge me too, eh?
These are the criteria that you have to use
to weigh me and say, is he being the kind of shepherd
he's supposed to?
And if I'm not, come and tell me gently.
And I won't be defensive.
Why?
Why would I listen to you?
Because I want to be better at this.
Yeah?
Let's pray.
Father, I'm just fascinated that you allow us to partner
at such an intimate, deep level with you.
You could have stopped at saying,
I am the light of the world.
Why do you then go and say, you are the light of the world?
You could have stopped at saying, I am the good shepherd.
Why don't you go and appoint us to be shepherds?
Christ is the head, we are the body,
and the two cannot be separated.
We must become who the head is.
That is the ultimate end, isn't it?
We can't shift that goalpost.
What is the ultimate end?
The ultimate end is, can we all grow up
into the fullness of the stature of Christ?
That is the end.
And as we move from this place into a place
that is so much larger, that only a God act
will be able to fill it.
Look forward to it.
You've spent the last 16, 17 years raising men and women
in this church who have the ability to shepherd
and shepherd better than me.
Thank you, Abba, for what you've done
over the last 16 or 17 years.
We look forward to the next phase of our lives.
Every time you've moved us geographically,
it's been a huge spiritual shift.
This time, it's not one or two people.
It's a group of people that'll shift,
so that as others are added,
we learn how to shepherd them.
So we thank you, great shepherd.
You've done such a marvelous job with us.
So we sing the chorus of that song.
What's the first song you sang in the chorus?
Do do do.
No, what's the first line of that?
Can you pull that up, Brandon, the first song?
Banqueting Table?
Yeah, don't need instruments, we'll just sing it.
How does it go?
No, just the chorus part.
Yeah, Banqueting Table.
We can see the love of God in this place
We receive your mercy, receive your grace
We delight ourselves at your table, oh God
You do all things well, just look at our lives
One more time.
We can feel the love of God in this place
We believe your goodness, receive your grace
We delight ourselves at your table, oh God
You do all things well, just look at our lives
One last time.
We can feel the love of God in this place
We believe your goodness, receive your grace
We delight ourselves at your table, oh God
You do all things well, just look at our lives
Bless you guys.
Someone will be here to pray with you if you need prayer.
Otherwise, we'll see you at MISU.