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NOTE
Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver
Episode: Inconvenience
Publishing Date: 2022-04-03T06:00:44-07:00
Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca
Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/inconvenience/

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Today's topic, the title of today's topic is inconvenience.

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So if you want to leave, leave now.

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It's only going to get worse from here on.

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So the topic is inconvenience.

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And one of the things that happens to any church

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is endurance is how a church gets to where it's at at present, like this one.

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But endurance allows us to run well.

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But after some time, inconvenience begins to whittle away.

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Whittle away. Sorry?

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Can't see?

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Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

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Inconvenience. So we start with endurance.

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We run the race well. That's how you run any race well.

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Endurance is required to run a race well.

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But every church, every organization, at some point,

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begins to find certain things inconvenient.

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Because we put in so much energy when we first started

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that at some point it becomes a little overwhelming and things become inconvenient.

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And once inconvenience comes in, or we feel inconvenient about things,

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it whittles away at endurance.

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And then after a while, complacency moves in like a fog.

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This happens to most things that start well.

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And once complacency moves in like a fog, things become institutional, traditional,

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and everything becomes management, not pioneering.

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And so we are getting to that point where we've got to be careful.

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So I want to talk about inconvenience.

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Because it's very inconvenient being in this church.

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It's a highly inconvenient church.

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And that's part of the reason why it is where it is.

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And endurance allows us to run well.

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Just persisting with things, regardless of whether it's two people or five people,

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whether it's a restaurant that we're meeting at or a church like this or homes,

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endurance is what allows us to run well.

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And at this stage in our lives, this is when inconvenience begins to come in.

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And inconvenience is something that begins to affect people.

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Remember, guys, whenever people begin to experience this idea of inconvenience,

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it is a spirit, eh?

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So are you saying there's a spirit of inconvenience?

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No.

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I'm saying that the enemy likes bringing a way of living into a group of people

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so that they can all be affected by it and they can be chipped away.

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So inconvenience whittles away.

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Complacency moves in like a fog.

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And that is when things become institutional, traditional,

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or it becomes management.

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And the problem with complacency is it's rarely viewed as a sin.

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Complacency is rarely viewed as a sin.

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People call it a sin.

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Complacency is rarely viewed as a sin.

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People call it, oh, it's my pace or it's the phase of life I'm in or just too busy.

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Complacency is rarely seen as a sin.

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One of the penalties of the sin of complacency is that you get used to it.

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The complacent never know they are complacent.

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I've always said it is only in hanging out with the passionate that your complacency will be exposed.

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Complacency will not be exposed unless you hang out with the passionate.

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I used to drive a Kia.

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It was a great car.

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Still I started going up to Northwind and I'd see other cars going by and I'd think to myself,

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am I really moving or am I not?

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Because it had a 1.2-liter engine.

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This was the prehistoric Kia.

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They're much better cars now.

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The point being, till you are racing with someone really fast, you don't know how slow you are.

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And so complacency has this ability to make you think that you're doing well and you get used to it.

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And one of the things that happens then is the hardening of the heart.

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Hardening of the heart to the things of God.

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And neutrality.

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You become neutral about things.

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You become neutral about things.

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Neutrality.

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Everything is kamsi-kamsa.

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You become neutral about things.

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Neutral about God, neutral about the body of Christ, neutral about what we've been doing so far.

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This is important, eh?

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Because it's beginning to slowly creep into Acts 29 where things are now becoming inconvenient.

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And we need the, I don't know what to call ones that weren't here 16 years ago,

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but we need the ones that keep coming into the church to catch how inconvenient it is to live for Christ immediately off the bat.

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Like when a Sede comes in or when a Remy and Hamari come in or when a Sean comes in,

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they must immediately find out that this church is highly inconvenient to be a part of.

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Everything about this kingdom goes against the grain of human flesh.

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And that there is an inconvenience and a cost that I have to pay.

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So I'm just picking on Sean and Remy and Hamari and Sede because let's say they came in a couple of, three months ago.

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So the point is they must find this highly inconvenient, highly grating.

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This church should be like a pebble in their shoe.

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And then they have to decide whether they still want to wear these shoes or not.

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And we must pass that on and then they must pass it on to the next bunch of guys.

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What happens when inconvenience becomes something we don't want is that it whittles away at that edge.

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I thought you had an amazing point to make. You were coming out with great passion.

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And complacency is always violent, guys.

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Even though complacency seems to be average, mediocre, and not at all.

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But it's always a matter of being a little bit more positive.

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And I think that's the point.

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So I'm just going to pass it on to the next bunch of guys.

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And complacency is always violent, guys.

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Even though complacency seems to be average, mediocrity, it is violent.

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Why is it violent?

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Because it always brings a spirit of poverty.

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Complacency is violent.

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It always brings a spirit of poverty.

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It always brings a spirit of poverty.

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As in it impoverishes you.

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It replaces the presence of God with a dullness towards God.

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Any questions before I talk about the different inconveniences that this church must think of going forward?

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Yep.

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So I was just seeing the two of you.

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One is kind of like chasing after the next best.

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And the other is called complacency.

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And then in the middle is contentedness.

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So how do you kind of differentiate between complacency and contentedness?

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Yeah.

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So contentedness can sometimes disguise...

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Sorry.

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Neutrality can disguise itself as contentedness.

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Mediocrity can disguise itself as contentedness.

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So that's the hard part.

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Because sometimes I can be average and mediocre and think I'm content.

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I can be neutral about things and think I'm just content.

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And it's this fine line that divides contentedness, a godly contentedness, from mediocrity.

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Very fine line.

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And we can cross that easily.

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I would say one of the ways we have to figure out mediocrity or contentedness is

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am I crossing thresholds continuously because God is always moving?

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We've got to look at the nature of God to figure out where I must position myself.

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I have to look at the nature of God to see where I position myself.

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It's the nature of God, one, that continuously is opening doors and moving forward.

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We have to look at fathers and sons.

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I'm talking about God as father and you and us as sons and daughters.

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Aren't fathers always opening doors for their sons to keep stepping up?

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They teach you to walk.

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They teach you to crawl.

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Then they teach you to walk.

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Then they potty train you.

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Or it happens before or after.

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I'm not too sure.

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It was too long ago.

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Then after that they give you a bike, a bicycle, and they run after you holding the bicycle.

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And then one day they let it go.

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And then they still follow you.

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And then one day they let you ride on your own.

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They let you press the thingy that makes the white man appear on the thing so you can cross the road.

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Then one day you do it without pressing the thingy and you just jaywalk.

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So it's just...

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We should not be doing such things.

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So the thing is fathers continuously open doors for their children.

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There's this continuous movement.

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So the question is if I'm content to the point where there are no thresholds being crossed,

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then I must see it not as contentment but as mediocrity, dullness, sluggishness, and neutrality.

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The other extreme like Jill is mentioning is where I'm always looking for the next new trendy thing.

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Trendy things are created by man.

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Trendy things are easy.

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Trendy things are fads.

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Trendy things can be imitated.

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Sorry, mimicked.

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Trendy things can be gotten.

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But my God, any door that God opens, you need more faith, it's going to cost you more,

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it's highly inconvenient, it is painful, you have to pay a cost.

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That is how you know whether it's a trend or whether it's a threshold that you're crossing.

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Everything that God gives you, there is a price to pay.

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The thing is you don't know it, but he already knows you have what it takes to pay that price.

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Trendy things are easy to get.

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Just have to wear a pair of white shoes and they think you're trendy.

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So here are some inconveniences we can talk about.

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There's the inconvenience of growth.

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At this stage in our life, because many of us, and sometimes when I speak like this,

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it might sound like I'm really exalting this church a little too much, and that might be true.

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So if I do that, just take it down a notch or two.

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So one of the things that happens sometimes in a church like this is growth is no longer important

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because we already know a lot and every week we get new things added on.

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And we seem to have a decent understanding of how the kingdom works, who Christ is, what this Christianity is about.

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So one of the inconveniences is the inconvenience of growth.

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As in, are you inconveniencing yourself at this present time to keep growing?

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To keep growing.

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Ezra chapter 7, verse 10, it says,

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Ezra set his mind to study the word, and after he set his mind to study the word,

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he decided that he would actually practice it and do it so others can be taught.

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Beautiful words. Ezra chapter 7, verse 10.

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Is that a passion in your heart?

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Second Timothy 2, 15.

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Study to be approved so that you can be a workman who's not ashamed of how he divides the word.

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Is that something you're still pursuing?

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Especially to the leaders in this church, I ask that question.

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Is that something you're passionately pursuing?

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But Jacob, I don't have the time. That's the inconvenience.

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Because at the end of the day, inconvenience of growth is that

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growth always is measured in terms of the change in character.

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Growth is measured in terms of the change of my character,

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and character can only be changed through testing.

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Character is changed through testing.

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The Bible talks about it.

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In James, it talks about how your character becomes mature through testing and through patience.

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Hebrews 6, 12 talks about it too.

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I won't go into it too much because it's such a lengthy topic,

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but if you read 2 Timothy 2, verse 3, 4, 5, 6,

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you will find that Paul is saying, hey, learn.

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If you want to grow, live a disciplined life.

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Disciplined life.

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Live a disentangled life.

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Live a detached life.

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Disciplined, disentangled, detached, and discerning life.

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He uses the farmer, the soldier, as an example.

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We won't talk about that today.

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And so, at times like this, the reason I'm teaching this is that

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at times like this, the reason I'm teaching this is that

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at times like this, if we can pull up our socks,

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then again the speed bump is destroyed.

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The speed bump is flattened.

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So that's the intent.

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It's like this massive speed bump that's being put in our path to slow our progress down.

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Remember, progress is attempted to be...

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The enemy attempts to slow down progress when people are doing well.

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When a church is doing well, there's always an attempt to slow down progress.

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Always remember this, guys.

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I mean, I find this so liberating.

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Before discipline, must come delight.

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Otherwise, discipline is painful.

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Delight must precede discipline.

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Anything you delight in, you will have the discipline for.

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Anything you delight in, you will have the discipline for.

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Have you guys been following me on Instagram?

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Yes.

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I mean, I have no desire to take on a keto diet.

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You must see what I did.

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But that's another story.

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Anyways, Chad has lost 20 kilos.

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That's 40 pounds because he's into keto.

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But he delights in what he eats.

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I tasted it and it was terrible.

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But he delights in what he eats, so he has the discipline to continue it.

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Like I tasted it and then I had to add sugar to it.

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And then that just destroys everything about keto.

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But anyways, the point is, anything you want to discipline yourself in,

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if you delight in it first, you will find discipline easy.

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So if you don't delight in it, ask God saying,

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Father, I really don't like reading the word.

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It's one of the most boring things in Christianity.

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So could you give me a delight so that I begin to discipline myself to read it?

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Any questions before we go on to the next one?

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What's happening downstairs?

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There's a meeting tomorrow.

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Really?

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It's not like you're in a meeting.

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This is like a competition, man.

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Okay, we'll shout louder.

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Okay, the next one is the inconvenience of people.

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The inconvenience of people.

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The inconvenience of people.

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Hey guys, your master and therefore by default you,

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are in the business of people.

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Your inheritance is people.

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Your work is people.

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What you handle is people.

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This is what your master does.

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Any church activity that does not take people and place them at the center,

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is just church activity.

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It's got nothing to do with God.

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The inconvenience of people.

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People are highly inconvenient.

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You are.

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Right?

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So, yet we cannot escape it.

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Matthew 14, verse 13 to 16, Jesus would highlight it.

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And so the disciples are finding the people that have gathered around highly inconvenient.

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And so they're saying to Jesus, it's kind of late in the day.

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Tell them to go and fetch their own meals and figure out how to feed themselves.

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And Jesus is saying, no, they look very tired and they followed me throughout the day.

00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:12.000
So let them stay. No, no, no, no. Let them go.

00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:15.000
No, we got to feed them. We don't have money to feed them.

00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:17.000
And then Jesus does what's even worse.

00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:22.000
He turns to Nick and says, Nick, you feed them.

00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:24.000
People are highly inconvenient.

00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:29.000
But this is something that this church must always keep at center.

00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:34.000
We, like our master, are in the business of taking care of people.

00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:42.000
And therefore, the inconvenience of people must be embraced, most of all.

00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:55.000
I must inconvenience myself in terms of time, treasure, talent and strength for people.

00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:58.000
And slowly, we've done it for years and it can slowly begin to...

00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:05.000
My God, I've done it for years. I can't handle another visit from Derek.

00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.000
Because nowadays he turns up without food.

00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:13.000
In the past, he used to bring food with him.

00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:15.000
I can't handle it anymore.

00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.000
So there's that inconvenience of people.

00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:22.000
Any questions?

00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:25.000
I pray, God, that if anything strikes home that you decide that,

00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:32.000
no, I'll change in this inconvenience of people.

00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:36.000
And some of you do so brilliantly at it.

00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:41.000
Some of us suck at it and some of us aren't there yet.

00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:44.000
The inconvenience of people.

00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:51.000
As I go through this, there's not a single one that I can say I've faced, struggling through some of them.

00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:59.000
Is there a way we can switch our hearts from struggling to be with people and to delighting?

00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:04.000
Yeah. So the way you move from struggling with people to delighting in it

00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:11.000
is to go back to the main reason why you're doing what you're doing.

00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:17.000
Why is it that... Just think of this. I landed here on Thursday.

00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:20.000
Why is it that I must go to New York tomorrow?

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.000
Because there's a group of people in New York that must be taken care of.

00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:28.000
I must go there because I gave my word that I will invest in New York.

00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:32.000
And when I say invest in New York, the city isn't what you invest in. It's the people you invest in.

00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:36.000
So you must go. Even if it's for a day and a half, you must go.

00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:39.000
You must spend time there.

00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:42.000
You must exhaust yourself and you must come back.

00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:45.000
But what is it that motivates? The motivation is not New York.

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:47.000
The motivation is not even the people in New York.

00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:51.000
The motivation is there is someone who has called us for this one thing.

00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:55.000
And there is nothing like partnering with him in the one thing he's been doing since the beginning of time.

00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:57.000
Taking care of people.

00:19:57.000 --> 00:20:01.000
Be it in the garden before the fall or after the fall.

00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:09.000
Be it when he used to walk around Jerusalem, moved by compassion, moved by sheep without shepherds.

00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:15.000
Hey, when I go to different places and I see what we have and I see the hunger that people have

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.000
and I see what is not being provided, I want to send all of us out.

00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:25.000
Thank God we are not fat cats.

00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:28.000
Meaning sitting on our backsides not doing anything.

00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:32.000
But I'm saying there's too much hunger and too little food.

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:42.000
People are crying out for more, eh?

00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:44.000
Especially young people.

00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:50.000
And you don't get them now, they'll end up getting the tickets booked to heaven.

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:52.000
But not knowing God till they get to heaven.

00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:55.000
That's the saddest thing.

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.000
When a 22 year old knows if he dies when he's 90 he'll go to heaven.

00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:02.000
And for the next, 90 minus 22 is?

00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:11.000
68. For the next 68 years they'll live a mediocre Christian life.

00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:14.000
Ah! It's... Ah!

00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:17.000
I did that deliberately, I know the camera's there.

00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:20.000
It's horrible to live that kind of a Christian life.

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.000
We can't work it out but he's given us enough clues as to where to start.

00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:40.000
And the place I start when I don't like you, Karen, is my godfather, you placed her here.

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.000
And even though she's highly annoying.

00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:46.000
Yeah.

00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:48.000
That father...

00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:54.000
It's amazing, I've seen this happen many times where I dislike someone.

00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:58.000
And I'm even telling the person next to me, man I've got to go meet this person.

00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:02.000
And then when you're sitting in front of them something else happens, man.

00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:08.000
Where the heart begins to flow with such Jesus-like desire, compassion, passion.

00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:11.000
That you think to yourself, this Jesus is real.

00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:13.000
Because I know me.

00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:18.000
Let that be the motivation, eh?

00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:22.000
And you'll never be exhausted, you'll always be ready.

00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:24.000
Always be ready.

00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:29.000
Just when you think you have no more strength left, up you'll get on your feet and you'll go that extra mile.

00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:32.000
Extra mile should never be a sacrifice.

00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:35.000
Extra mile should be exhausting but never a sacrifice.

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:37.000
The inconvenience of people.

00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:39.000
The next inconvenience is the inconvenience of the demonic.

00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:41.000
The inconvenience of the demonic.

00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:43.000
What do you mean by that?

00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:45.000
I'm glad you asked.

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:47.000
The inconvenience of the demonic.

00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:49.000
Emily has a question.

00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:51.000
Yeah, go ahead Emily.

00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:53.000
Okay, sir.

00:22:53.000 --> 00:23:04.000
How do you set out a dog to be really human and then like rest and you can start a new relationship and...

00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:05.000
Yeah, yeah.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.000
So physical exhaustion is natural because we only have so much energy.

00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:19.000
But I can, instead of standing and speaking, sit down and speak and what comes out of me will have the same quality as it did in hour one as in hour twenty-four.

00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:23.000
So when you're physically exhausted, sit or lie down.

00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:26.000
Or go to sleep in the boat.

00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:29.000
When necessary you will be woken up to calm the seas.

00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:30.000
Physical exhaustion is real.

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:32.000
Jesus felt physical exhaustion.

00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:37.000
There are times when God even overtakes physical exhaustion by the power of the Spirit of God like he did in Ezekiel.

00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:39.000
Like he did with Elijah.

00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:42.000
But physical exhaustion is real because the Son of God himself went through it.

00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:50.000
But there is this thing called unlimited spiritual substance in us because Christ is unlimited.

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:52.000
That you can keep pouring out.

00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:54.000
All you have to do is change your posture.

00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:57.000
If walking hurts, sit.

00:23:57.000 --> 00:23:59.000
If sitting hurts, lie down.

00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:01.000
If lying hurts, sleep.

00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:04.000
I'm not being facetious.

00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:07.000
I'm being very sincere in this.

00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:15.000
When you are put in a place where people need the bread that you have, there's enough bread in you to supply.

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:17.000
And you can sustain yourself.

00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:21.000
And let's assume that you're so exhausted that you have to take the next three days off.

00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:23.000
Take the next three days off.

00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:28.000
I mean have you noticed how the Marines don't complain?

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:40.000
How the Marines don't complain.

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.000
They are put through grueling exercises, eh?

00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:47.000
But they know that lives depend on them.

00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:48.000
And that's the other thing.

00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:50.000
If I knew, just think of this guys.

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:58.000
If you knew that my life depended on you walking another 20 steps, you'd think you won't.

00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:01.000
Hey, you'll carry me given how light I am.

00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:05.000
Yeah, after that keto diet, yeah.

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:07.000
You'll carry me.

00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:09.000
You'll carry me.

00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:11.000
You'll carry me.

00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:13.000
You'll carry me.

00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:15.000
Yeah, keto diet, yeah.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:17.000
You'll carry me.

00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:33.000
Yeah, all of us should have a rough idea of what we are mainly called to.

00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:35.000
And we should stick in those lanes.

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:38.000
And whenever we have to stray, can stray and come back.

00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:41.000
So I will not do Sunday school.

00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:45.000
Just watching Phoebe exhausts me.

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:50.000
So I will not do Sunday school.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.000
But if I had to, I'd do it.

00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:56.000
But I know my track.

00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:00.000
All of us know our tracks or should know our tracks.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.000
Or should know our future tracks too.

00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:06.000
Boundaries are established by what?

00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:07.000
We'll talk about that.

00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:09.000
The inconvenience of, we'll talk about that.

00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:11.000
Inconvenience of the demonic.

00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:13.000
The inconvenience of the demonic.

00:26:13.000 --> 00:26:17.000
The inconvenience of the demonic is when, like in Numbers 33, 55,

00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:22.000
God is telling Israel, hey, if you don't chase out, drive out,

00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:25.000
these inhabitants from the lands that I'm giving you,

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:31.000
they will turn into thorns and they will turn into pebbles in your shoes

00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:32.000
for the rest of your life.

00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:33.000
Drive them out.

00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:38.000
There are things in our lives that we begin to tolerate because it's okay.

00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:40.000
It only happens occasionally.

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:42.000
You know these are sinful habits.

00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:44.000
You know these have sometimes spirits behind them

00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:47.000
because you seem to be attacked when you're doing well.

00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:51.000
When you're doing well, these powers return and they unseat you.

00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:54.000
Just when you're beginning to fly high, you take a nosedive.

00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:56.000
Then you're going to start all over again.

00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:00.000
We tolerate these demonic entities in our life.

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:03.000
This church has to be careful not to tolerate it.

00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:06.000
In Revelation chapter 2, Jesus says to the church,

00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:08.000
I don't remember the church, maybe Thyatira,

00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:10.000
why is it that you tolerate Jezebel?

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:13.000
This church has to be particularly careful of Jezebel.

00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:16.000
Jezebel is a spirit that slowly begins to come in

00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:20.000
and take away the keys that the church has.

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:22.000
It's a rebellious spirit.

00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:27.000
It's a spirit that soars discord among brothers and sisters.

00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:29.000
Now you might be thinking, oh, is he talking about me?

00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:31.000
I'm talking about a spirit.

00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:34.000
I've got to be careful of the spirit because I can do the same.

00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:38.000
I can be an Isaac and pit Jacob against Esau

00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:45.000
by showing favoritism in one place and treating someone else badly.

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.000
That's all it takes to sometimes destroy a home, eh?

00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:56.000
What I'm saying is very real.

00:27:56.000 --> 00:27:58.000
We've got to be careful of two things in this church.

00:27:58.000 --> 00:27:59.000
One, discord.

00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:01.000
Two, the spirit of Jezebel.

00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:04.000
And it's looking for victims.

00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:10.000
We talked about Jezebel some days ago, some weeks ago.

00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:13.000
It's a power.

00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:17.000
It comes against any church that is prophetic and beginning to move.

00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:19.000
It will try.

00:28:19.000 --> 00:28:22.000
It's a historic pattern.

00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:25.000
But praise God that for every historic pattern,

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:27.000
there is a biblical solution.

00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:30.000
It completely annihilates Jezebel,

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.000
tramples upon the spirit's head and destroys it.

00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:43.000
But inconvenience of the demonic is when I may hurt Mike

00:28:43.000 --> 00:28:45.000
by confronting the power that is operating through him.

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:48.000
So I'll leave Mike alone because I don't want to hurt Mike.

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:53.000
And in the process, I destroy an entire church.

00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:56.000
Why? Because I just don't want to hurt Mike.

00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:00.000
Any questions?

00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:05.000
Please ask, guys, because these are real things that are happening.

00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:08.000
Discord.

00:29:09.000 --> 00:29:10.000
That's another thing.

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:13.000
In this church, discord won't happen because of strife.

00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:16.000
Discord will happen sometimes because of rivalry

00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:18.000
or sometimes because of jealousy.

00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:21.000
At the end of the day, it's a very strong thing.

00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:22.000
Jealousy.

00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:25.000
At this particular stage, guard your heart against it.

00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:29.000
On the worship team, guard your heart like crazy about it.

00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:32.000
Because one of those places where jealousy and strife comes in first,

00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:35.000
like it came in the backyard of heaven, is on the worship team.

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:38.000
And then amongst the leaders, guard your heart.

00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:40.000
You do not need to be included in everything.

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:42.000
You don't have to be on the inside.

00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:44.000
You don't have to be within the news loop.

00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:46.000
You can be left out of stuff.

00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:48.000
Learn how to be happily left out of stuff.

00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:50.000
You don't need to know everything.

00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:52.000
Any questions?

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:06.000
Any comments?

00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:18.000
Saul has slain his thousands.

00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:20.000
David has slain his ten thousands.

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:22.000
As soon as that happened, Saul got jealous.

00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:25.000
Soon as Saul got jealous, there was a spirit that appeared.

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:28.000
And it caused him to take a javelin or a spear

00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:31.000
and hurl it against the one he loved.

00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:33.000
Not once, twice.

00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:36.000
And then the third time he did it, David decided,

00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:38.000
this is...

00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:41.000
I'm developing a ducking ministry. I better leave.

00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:44.000
That's when he leaves.

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:52.000
Fourth, the inconvenience of purity.

00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:54.000
The inconvenience of purity.

00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:56.000
The inconvenience of purity.

00:30:57.000 --> 00:30:59.000
The inconvenience of purity.

00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:04.000
It's inconvenient to be pure.

00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:05.000
We have a degree of purity.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:07.000
We talked about how we are not condemned,

00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:09.000
how God sees us as perfect as Christ.

00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:12.000
But then there is this desire to live purely.

00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:14.000
A blazing purity.

00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:16.000
I keep talking about this idea of blazing purity.

00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:18.000
It's inconvenient.

00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:21.000
But my God, it can be delightful.

00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:27.000
When you choose not to swim with the Christian tide,

00:31:27.000 --> 00:31:29.000
you break against the Christian tide.

00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:31.000
I'm not even talking about the tide of the world.

00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:33.000
In Christianity, there's a degree of purity expected.

00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:35.000
And you are upping the game saying,

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:38.000
nah, I'm going to be so pure even in my motives.

00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:41.000
Deception and manipulation will not be named in Jacob's life,

00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:44.000
even though the Jacob of the Bible was well known for it.

00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:46.000
And this Jacob also is pretty good at it.

00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:49.000
But he's going to decide that there will be no manipulation.

00:31:49.000 --> 00:31:51.000
There will be no deception in my life

00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:53.000
because there must be a purity of motives.

00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:55.000
Leave alone sexual purity.

00:31:57.000 --> 00:31:59.000
The inconvenience of purity.

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:03.000
Proverbs 22, verse 11, verse 10 talks about it.

00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:10.000
Any questions on that one?

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:12.000
Proverbs 22, verse 11 and verse 10.

00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:23.000
You know, God should smile at you because of what Christ has done for you.

00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:26.000
God should laugh because of what you are doing for him.

00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:32.000
I should hear the smile of God because of what Christ has done for me.

00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:35.000
I should hear and see the smile of God.

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:37.000
I should hear and see the smile of God.

00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:42.000
I should hear and see the smile of God because of what Christ has done for me.

00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:44.000
As in, his countenance is upon me.

00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:46.000
His countenance is towards me.

00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:47.000
His smiling.

00:32:47.000 --> 00:32:49.000
But I should hear the laughter of God because he thinks,

00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:52.000
man, not only is he walking in what Christ has done for him,

00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:55.000
but boy, the way he walks, he makes me laugh.

00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:00.000
Now it's not that Phoebe is my child so I'll laugh, I'll smile at her.

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.000
But she is so delightful in what she's doing for me that I'll begin to laugh at her.

00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:08.000
Okay, next one.

00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:10.000
The inconvenience of correction.

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:12.000
The inconvenience of correction.

00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:14.000
The inconvenience of correction.

00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:20.000
Someone asked me this once.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:22.000
Do you love correction?

00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:25.000
Do you love correction?

00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:31.000
And my answer, because I was passionate about growing, was yes, I do.

00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:36.000
And my answer, because I was passionate about growing, was yes, I do.

00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:45.000
You can only love correction if you want to get better, really better.

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.000
It's such a deep desire that you want to be corrected.

00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:53.000
What a cool thing, eh?

00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:56.000
When this person asked me, do you really love correction?

00:33:56.000 --> 00:34:00.000
I was so desperate to grow spiritually that I said I love correction.

00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:07.000
Correction will not be metered out to you the way you think you need to be corrected.

00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:12.000
It will be given to you the way the person who you're connected with feels is right.

00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:19.000
We don't go to the surgeon who's about to do an operation and tell him,

00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:22.000
I'd like you to go for my spleen first and then bypass the liver and go for my pancreas.

00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:24.000
We don't tell him that.

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:28.000
I think those three things are somewhere near to each other, like they're neighbors.

00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:35.000
But we don't say that.

00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:38.000
Do you love correction?

00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:41.000
The inconvenience of correction, Psalm 32, verses 8 and 9.

00:34:41.000 --> 00:34:45.000
God says it this way, hey listen, I'd like to instruct you.

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:48.000
Correction is instruction. Correction is instruction.

00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:51.000
I'd like to instruct you. I have my eye upon you.

00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:54.000
I'd like to instruct you and show you the way you must go.

00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:59.000
Do not, then he adds this bit about being inconvenienced by it.

00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:05.000
He says, do not be like the horse or the mule that need bit and bridle to have them go the way they want to.

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:10.000
I pray, God, that you go and ask God to give you delight in correction.

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:18.000
Proverbs 19, 27.

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.000
Hey, it's Hannah's birthday today, my niece's birthday.

00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:25.000
Hey Hannah, happy birthday.

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:28.000
I feel like I'm a famous CNN TV star or something.

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:32.000
What's it?

00:35:33.000 --> 00:35:35.000
Proverbs 19, 27.

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:37.000
Proverbs 19, 27.

00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:48.000
Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.

00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:53.000
Stop listening to instructions, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.

00:35:59.000 --> 00:36:07.000
One of the reasons I used to be afraid of correction was because I did not want to disappoint the ones who were mentoring me.

00:36:07.000 --> 00:36:16.000
Second reason I was afraid of correction was because I did not want anything in my life that was wrong to be spotted and picked on.

00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:20.000
The third reason I didn't like correction was I didn't like the way that I would be corrected.

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.000
Sometimes it would be harsh. It would hurt.

00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:29.000
And the fourth reason I didn't like correction is I would prefer God tell me what's wrong with me and not people.

00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:37.000
The fifth reason I didn't like correction was I would keep making the same mistakes again and again.

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:45.000
I would suggest to you that because we are both human, these are some of your reasons too.

00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:51.000
I would suggest to you that because we are both human, these are some of your reasons too.

00:36:59.000 --> 00:37:03.000
If you ask me to repeat those reasons, I don't remember them. You'll have to listen to them.

00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:05.000
I'll read them to you.

00:37:11.000 --> 00:37:12.000
Next one.

00:37:12.000 --> 00:37:14.000
The inconvenience of being wronged.

00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:17.000
The inconvenience of being wronged.

00:37:17.000 --> 00:37:20.000
The inconvenience of being wronged.

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:29.000
Hey, you must become someone who does not take offense, or if you take offense, get over the offense quickly.

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:32.000
The inconvenience of being wronged.

00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:43.000
Maybe you never get to a point in this church where when you're wronged, you need time, too much time to correct it.

00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:46.000
Now, the inconvenience of being wronged.

00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:49.000
Please, church, this is a characteristic of Jesus.

00:37:49.000 --> 00:37:52.000
First Peter 2, verse 20 and 21.

00:37:52.000 --> 00:37:55.000
What good is it if you only do good to those that do good to you?

00:37:55.000 --> 00:38:01.000
It is when you suffer wrong and then do good that you are worthy of being called a disciple of Christ.

00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:03.000
Look at him who was an example for you.

00:38:03.000 --> 00:38:12.000
Who, even though he was treated, mistreated, reviled, insulted, did not speak a word, but went along like a sheep that is being led to the slaughter.

00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:15.000
First Peter 2, verse 21 and 22.

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:17.000
Be like him.

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:30.000
Guys, remember this always.

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:37.000
Lesser the offense taken, greater your influence.

00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:44.000
In this kingdom, this is how it works.

00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:47.000
Lesser the offense, greater the influence.

00:38:47.000 --> 00:38:50.000
Lesser the offense, greater the influence.

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:52.000
As in, not lesser the offense you do to somebody.

00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:54.000
Lesser the offense you take, greater the influence.

00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:57.000
Lesser the offense you take, greater it will be your influence.

00:38:57.000 --> 00:39:00.000
It is an upside down kingdom.

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:03.000
David would not take offense.

00:39:03.000 --> 00:39:06.000
I mean, here is a guy who's tried to kill him three times.

00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:08.000
Would not take offense.

00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:11.000
Lesser the offense, greater the influence.

00:39:11.000 --> 00:39:15.000
In this kingdom, ones who do not take offense are the ones that will have greater influence.

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:16.000
Why?

00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:18.000
Because this kingdom is built around one person.

00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:20.000
And that one person is Christ.

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.000
And he is the unoffended one.

00:39:28.000 --> 00:39:30.000
Any questions?

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:36.000
Okay.

00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:37.000
Next one.

00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:41.000
The inconvenience of destroying any religiosity in your life.

00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:48.000
The inconvenience of destroying any religiosity or tradition in your life.

00:39:48.000 --> 00:39:51.000
I have them.

00:39:51.000 --> 00:39:52.000
You have them.

00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:53.000
I want to be free from them.

00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:55.000
Where the Spirit or the Lord is, there is freedom.

00:39:55.000 --> 00:40:03.000
That scripture from 2 Corinthians chapter 3 actually is talking about freedom from the law and the traditions of men.

00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:08.000
That's the kind of freedom we are talking about.

00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:12.000
Most of our religiosity and tradition is about freedom.

00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:16.000
That's the kind of freedom we are talking about.

00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:31.000
Most of our religiosity and tradition comes from our culture, our national background, our family, our previous denomination.

00:40:31.000 --> 00:40:33.000
And many of them are manmade.

00:40:33.000 --> 00:40:35.000
And they must be destroyed.

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:42.000
If you are from an East Indian culture or a Chinese culture or a German culture, you come with this.

00:40:42.000 --> 00:40:43.000
I'm just picking three.

00:40:43.000 --> 00:40:44.000
I can pick more.

00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:47.000
You can break down the East Indian culture into subcultures.

00:40:47.000 --> 00:40:49.000
And each one is different.

00:40:49.000 --> 00:40:51.000
Religiosity must be destroyed.

00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:52.000
Why?

00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:59.000
Because it is thumbing its nose in God's face.

00:40:59.000 --> 00:41:02.000
Chilong has a religious culture.

00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:04.000
Kerala has a religious culture.

00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:06.000
Germany has a religious culture.

00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:13.000
One must take a sledgehammer and not tolerate it at all because it was religion that sent Jesus to the cross.

00:41:13.000 --> 00:41:18.000
The traditions of men and the religion of man were the two things that sent Jesus to the cross.

00:41:18.000 --> 00:41:22.000
And it will do it again and again in your life unless it's completely destroyed.

00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:26.000
You guys are getting married?

00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:31.000
Some of you are.

00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:34.000
Make sure that when you start your married life that you destroy it.

00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:38.000
You just got away.

00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:41.000
I mean, otherwise this would have applied to you also.

00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:46.000
Make sure that you destroy religiosity.

00:41:46.000 --> 00:41:48.000
Religiosity can express itself in many different ways.

00:41:48.000 --> 00:41:51.000
There was a time in my life where I used to lead worship in a church in Bahrain.

00:41:51.000 --> 00:41:54.000
And worship would only be powerful if I cried.

00:41:54.000 --> 00:41:58.000
If I didn't cry, it means the Holy Spirit wasn't there.

00:41:58.000 --> 00:42:03.000
What's your version of religiosity when you lead worship here?

00:42:03.000 --> 00:42:05.000
Does your face suddenly get very holy?

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:08.000
Does your voice go two steps lower?

00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:12.000
Do you say stuff that you heard Hillsong say?

00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:18.000
Do you say meaningless stuff that you read in a book the day before yesterday?

00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:22.000
Does theology suddenly come popping out of you because you studied at Regent?

00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:29.000
You might think I'm talking about Tuni. I'm not.

00:42:29.000 --> 00:42:36.000
Guys, have a hatred for religion and the traditions of men because they are present.

00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:44.000
My own Pentecostal background comes with its traditions and man-made religiosity.

00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:46.000
I must continuously destroy it.

00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:51.000
I remember once I was praying to somebody and my habit was before I pray for anyone's healing, I'll speak in tongues.

00:42:51.000 --> 00:42:54.000
And then I one day hear the distinct voice of Holy Spirit saying,

00:42:54.000 --> 00:42:57.000
Hey, I can do this even if you don't pray in tongues.

00:42:57.000 --> 00:43:01.000
It was like, eat a bakhara, show a body, carry a bear and only then the healing would work.

00:43:01.000 --> 00:43:04.000
But the Holy Spirit saying, why? Why do you need to speak in tongues?

00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:10.000
You thought that's what's going to heal this guy?

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:13.000
The other one is, it doesn't happen here, but it happens in India a lot.

00:43:13.000 --> 00:43:18.000
The moment you pick up the phone, praise the Lord, brother, and I don't know what to say after that.

00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:42.000
I usually respond with a yo, but then they may say it two or three times.

00:43:42.000 --> 00:43:49.000
When they say it two or three times, then it's almost like it gets squeezed out of me. Praise God.

00:43:49.000 --> 00:43:58.000
It's like I'm overwhelmed.

00:43:58.000 --> 00:44:03.000
Guys, the only reason I'm harping on this is because it is evil.

00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:08.000
Your religious ways are evil.

00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:13.000
Your man-made traditions stand in the path of what God can do.

00:44:13.000 --> 00:44:20.000
It comes from your culture, your nation, your family, your denomination.

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:28.000
Destroy it.

00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:31.000
Hebrews 12.27 talks about it.

00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:34.000
I love the way it says it in the message.

00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:37.000
So now, there's going to be one last shaking,

00:44:37.000 --> 00:44:43.000
and all the historical and religious junk in your life, God is going to get rid of.

00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:48.000
James 1.26 talks about it. Read it from the message.

00:44:48.000 --> 00:44:56.000
Matthew 5.34 talks about it.

00:44:56.000 --> 00:45:06.000
Hebrews 12.27, James 1.26, Matthew 5.34.

00:45:06.000 --> 00:45:12.000
When I stand here, be it teaching or be it worship,

00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:18.000
there must be nothing insincere that comes through my life to you.

00:45:18.000 --> 00:45:23.000
That is how you maintain freedom from all religiosity or tradition.

00:45:23.000 --> 00:45:29.000
There must be nothing insincere, nothing that is put on you that you are observing.

00:45:29.000 --> 00:45:37.000
One of the things I love doing in this church is destroying every churchy way of doing things,

00:45:37.000 --> 00:45:39.000
because we are in our Father's house.

00:45:39.000 --> 00:45:44.000
We should know when to suddenly pivot from being Father and Son to awe and majesty.

00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:47.000
We should know it. We should know it by the Spirit.

00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:52.000
So that there is no movement in this church where you're doing things because this is the way we do it.

00:45:52.000 --> 00:45:59.000
No! You don't know what it was when Jesus is confronted with the fact that,

00:45:59.000 --> 00:46:02.000
hey, your disciples have taken grain and they're rubbing it in their hands.

00:46:02.000 --> 00:46:08.000
It was haram. Haram.

00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:15.000
I don't want you to think I mispronounced haram. Haram means like,

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:18.000
blasphemous. Yeah. Yeah.

00:46:18.000 --> 00:46:25.000
So you take grain and you... and they're saying, why are your disciples doing this?

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:30.000
On the Sabbath, Jesus would go touch dead bodies and then touch people.

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:36.000
Jesus would touch lepers and then touch people.

00:46:36.000 --> 00:46:41.000
The only traditions he maintained were the traditions that were handed down by God to him

00:46:41.000 --> 00:46:48.000
through which he wanted to show a new system that was coming.

00:46:48.000 --> 00:46:51.000
Okay. Next one.

00:46:51.000 --> 00:46:56.000
Ah, we got three minutes.

00:46:56.000 --> 00:46:59.000
The inconvenience of spending and giving money away.

00:46:59.000 --> 00:47:02.000
The inconvenience of spending money and the inconvenience of giving money away.

00:47:02.000 --> 00:47:04.000
Both are different.

00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:06.000
Giving money away is to others.

00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:11.000
Others spending money is for your own sake and for the sake of the kingdom

00:47:11.000 --> 00:47:14.000
where you need to spend money.

00:47:14.000 --> 00:47:17.000
As a church enters this stage, we have given so much away

00:47:17.000 --> 00:47:22.000
that we can get to a place where our giving becomes plateaued.

00:47:22.000 --> 00:47:25.000
Hear me again. It's not that this church doesn't give.

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:27.000
I have never seen a generous church like this.

00:47:27.000 --> 00:47:31.000
I'm a beneficiary of your generosity.

00:47:31.000 --> 00:47:35.000
But a time comes when a church, because it has given splendidly,

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.000
can begin to plateau because we are giving at a high rate.

00:47:39.000 --> 00:47:42.000
But our giving must never plateau.

00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:44.000
Our spending should not plateau.

00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:48.000
Our spending for the sake of the gospel should not plateau.

00:47:48.000 --> 00:47:53.000
So Jacob, but what will I live on if I keep living like this?

00:47:53.000 --> 00:47:55.000
Yeah, that's a conversation we can have.

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:58.000
But it should happen with the intent of, I do not intend to plateau.

00:47:58.000 --> 00:48:00.000
Now show me how to do this.

00:48:12.000 --> 00:48:18.000
Betty and Heidi were supposed to go to Bangladesh.

00:48:18.000 --> 00:48:24.000
Heidi has just retired and she bought a ticket to Bangladesh during spring break,

00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:26.000
which is super expensive. Both of them did.

00:48:26.000 --> 00:48:31.000
I paid $3,500 or $3,600 and I'm thinking to myself, what's wrong with you?

00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:35.000
But they were willing.

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.000
Then I found them a better ticket because I was feeling guilty.

00:48:39.000 --> 00:48:43.000
And it didn't work out in the end, but the point is

00:48:43.000 --> 00:48:49.000
there should be a desire to keep spending for the kingdom.

00:48:49.000 --> 00:48:51.000
And what do you mean spending for the kingdom?

00:48:51.000 --> 00:48:56.000
Spending for the causes of the king through a body or through your own personal life.

00:49:02.000 --> 00:49:04.000
Any questions on that one?

00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:08.000
And giving. Please give splendidly and let it keep increasing too.

00:49:08.000 --> 00:49:10.000
Let it not decrease.

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:15.000
And then the other thing is guys, if you say you're going to give, then please give.

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:17.000
Do not delay giving.

00:49:17.000 --> 00:49:21.000
One of the things I find so frustrating is when people say they will give

00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:25.000
and then they wait for the rain or they wait for summer

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.000
and you think to yourself, but you said you're going to give if you committed to it.

00:49:29.000 --> 00:49:33.000
Paul talks about this. I'm only bringing up stuff that is already written.

00:49:33.000 --> 00:49:39.000
Paul says, hey, your intent was good and God receives you at face value for what you've said.

00:49:39.000 --> 00:49:41.000
According to your willingness, God receives you.

00:49:41.000 --> 00:49:44.000
And then he goes on to say, but now let me tell you this.

00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:47.000
Complete what you said you would do.

00:49:47.000 --> 00:49:51.000
If you said you will do it, now finish the work.

00:49:51.000 --> 00:49:55.000
Don't say that I will do it and then not do it.

00:49:59.000 --> 00:50:03.000
This church does not believe in tithing, but this church does believe in giving

00:50:03.000 --> 00:50:08.000
and giving hilariously, joyfully, smiling, laughing.

00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:11.000
And please don't limit it to 10%

00:50:11.000 --> 00:50:15.000
because 10% is like taking a pizza and dividing it among 20 people.

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.000
I'd rather that you not buy pizza than...

00:50:21.000 --> 00:50:25.000
You see how inconvenient this is.

00:50:27.000 --> 00:50:31.000
The next question is, but I'm retired. So? Your God isn't.

00:50:33.000 --> 00:50:35.000
I'm sorry, this sounds like...

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:41.000
This sounds like unpractical, unrealistic, really bad financial advice, but it is from the Bible.

00:50:43.000 --> 00:50:45.000
Any questions?

00:50:47.000 --> 00:50:51.000
You can see why the customs guys were having a problem with the oven.

00:50:53.000 --> 00:50:55.000
Any questions?

00:50:58.000 --> 00:51:01.000
If you think it's impractical, you must come and meet me

00:51:01.000 --> 00:51:05.000
because I'll show you how practical it is and I'll show you a way to do this.

00:51:09.000 --> 00:51:11.000
I dare you.

00:51:19.000 --> 00:51:21.000
Inconvenience of time.

00:51:21.000 --> 00:51:23.000
Inconvenience of time.

00:51:23.000 --> 00:51:27.000
If you want to form Christ in anybody, it will take time.

00:51:27.000 --> 00:51:29.000
You must have time.

00:51:29.000 --> 00:51:31.000
Inconvenience of time.

00:51:31.000 --> 00:51:33.000
Galatians 4.19, Paul says,

00:51:33.000 --> 00:51:39.000
I'm going back to that place where I'm once again suffering the birth pangs that a mother has as she gives birth

00:51:39.000 --> 00:51:43.000
because I want Christ to be formed in you.

00:51:47.000 --> 00:51:49.000
And so there is the inconvenience of time.

00:51:49.000 --> 00:51:56.000
If you are someone who's a leader in this church or a potential leader or someone who wants to actively involve yourself

00:51:56.000 --> 00:52:00.000
in the things of either this church or the king and the kingdom,

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.000
you will have a demand on your time and you will have less for yourself.

00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:08.000
It is a fact.

00:52:08.000 --> 00:52:10.000
You'll have less time for yourself.

00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:25.000
We are at that stage in the life of this church where this can all begin to flatten out, eh?

00:52:26.000 --> 00:52:28.000
And I'm just making us look this way.

00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:30.000
That's all.

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:32.000
Some of us, there's no more time left.

00:52:32.000 --> 00:52:34.000
You need 28-hour days.

00:52:34.000 --> 00:52:36.000
You are exempt.

00:52:36.000 --> 00:52:40.000
But there are many of us that haven't given that kind of time.

00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:42.000
Therefore, others need to have 28-hour days.

00:52:42.000 --> 00:52:44.000
So if you're feeling convicted, great.

00:52:52.000 --> 00:52:54.000
But Jacob, you never ask us,

00:52:54.000 --> 00:52:56.000
hey, come and ask me.

00:52:56.000 --> 00:52:58.000
And you will regret it.

00:53:02.000 --> 00:53:04.000
Because the moment you ask,

00:53:04.000 --> 00:53:06.000
I'm not looking for your time.

00:53:06.000 --> 00:53:10.000
I'm looking for what you can do well that will require time.

00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:12.000
So if Dilna comes and says to me,

00:53:12.000 --> 00:53:16.000
hey Jacob, I really want to do more and I just want to give you my time as an accountant,

00:53:16.000 --> 00:53:20.000
my response will be, we don't need you as an accountant.

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:23.000
We don't need your advice as an accountant.

00:53:23.000 --> 00:53:27.000
But I can take your time and I can put you to work in areas that you're not familiar with

00:53:27.000 --> 00:53:29.000
and it'll really test you.

00:53:29.000 --> 00:53:31.000
And now Dilna is scratching his head saying,

00:53:31.000 --> 00:53:33.000
I wanted to meet him on Wednesday.

00:53:33.000 --> 00:53:35.000
Maybe I'll postpone it for a month.

00:53:39.000 --> 00:53:41.000
Pardon?

00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:47.000
Inconvenience of perspective.

00:53:47.000 --> 00:53:49.000
Inconvenience of perspective.

00:53:49.000 --> 00:53:51.000
We're only four minutes over.

00:53:51.000 --> 00:53:55.000
Hey, I heard that when Derek preaches, it goes on forever.

00:53:59.000 --> 00:54:02.000
And that he calls you up to give responses.

00:54:02.000 --> 00:54:05.000
And then the responses go on forever.

00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:07.000
And from what I see and hear,

00:54:07.000 --> 00:54:10.000
some of the responses had nothing to do with what he was asking.

00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:16.000
So if he can go long, I can go long.

00:54:18.000 --> 00:54:19.000
Okay.

00:54:22.000 --> 00:54:24.000
Inconvenience of perspective.

00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:30.000
Guys, when a church grows big,

00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.000
you have to make sure you don't miss the forest for the tree.

00:54:34.000 --> 00:54:36.000
As a church grows big,

00:54:36.000 --> 00:54:41.000
you have to make sure that you don't miss the forest for the tree.

00:54:41.000 --> 00:54:46.000
As in, there might be a situation that is grabbing your attention

00:54:46.000 --> 00:54:48.000
and that you are focusing on.

00:54:48.000 --> 00:54:52.000
But there is this thing called the inconvenience of discerning

00:54:52.000 --> 00:54:56.000
or zooming out and seeing things from God's perspective

00:54:56.000 --> 00:55:00.000
so that you know all the parts that fit.

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:02.000
Paul describes it this way in 1 Corinthians 12.

00:55:02.000 --> 00:55:06.000
He says, I've got to see things in terms of the entirety of the body.

00:55:06.000 --> 00:55:08.000
If I only look at my part,

00:55:08.000 --> 00:55:12.000
then I will miss out on what God is actually doing.

00:55:12.000 --> 00:55:14.000
12.

00:55:14.000 --> 00:55:17.000
1 Corinthians 12, verse 25 and 26.

00:55:17.000 --> 00:55:19.000
From the message or from any version,

00:55:19.000 --> 00:55:23.000
it talks about this idea of zooming out and seeing the whole,

00:55:23.000 --> 00:55:25.000
not just a part.

00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:28.000
I could never understand this when I was younger.

00:55:28.000 --> 00:55:30.000
It was like, this is what God is saying to me,

00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:32.000
so this is what we should do.

00:55:32.000 --> 00:55:35.000
And wiser people would say, that's great that God is saying this to you,

00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:38.000
but there are so many other parts in this that have to go to work.

00:55:38.000 --> 00:55:40.000
You've got to zoom out.

00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:46.000
Wally may be going great guns for Pawan and Derek and what's his name?

00:55:46.000 --> 00:55:47.000
Mark.

00:55:47.000 --> 00:55:49.000
And that's great,

00:55:49.000 --> 00:55:52.000
but Wally is not the only thing that's happening on the earth.

00:56:02.000 --> 00:56:05.000
New York is not the only thing that's happening on the earth.

00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:07.000
Got to zoom out.

00:56:07.000 --> 00:56:09.000
Got to zoom out.

00:56:09.000 --> 00:56:12.000
It's called the inconvenience of discerning with a God perspective.

00:56:12.000 --> 00:56:15.000
The inconvenience of discerning with a God perspective.

00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:17.000
Father, how do you see these parts working?

00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:19.000
You should ask Rachel about this.

00:56:19.000 --> 00:56:21.000
She's got three kids, right?

00:56:21.000 --> 00:56:22.000
She can't focus on one,

00:56:22.000 --> 00:56:25.000
because if she focuses on one, two will be left at home alone.

00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:27.000
There'll be a new movie.

00:56:27.000 --> 00:56:37.000
So you got to zoom out to get the right perspective.

00:56:37.000 --> 00:56:39.000
This is important.

00:56:39.000 --> 00:56:42.000
These are things that we need at this present time,

00:56:42.000 --> 00:56:44.000
and they are inconvenient.

00:56:44.000 --> 00:56:49.000
Three more and we are done.

00:56:49.000 --> 00:56:52.000
The inconvenience of letting go or losing control.

00:56:52.000 --> 00:56:55.000
The inconvenience of letting go or losing control.

00:56:55.000 --> 00:56:59.000
Most things in this church that you were in charge of can be let go,

00:56:59.000 --> 00:57:05.000
because there are new people under you that can begin to function in it.

00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:07.000
Most things that you're doing,

00:57:07.000 --> 00:57:10.000
you must raise someone up and let it go.

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:12.000
They will not do it like you do it.

00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:14.000
They are not as good as you.

00:57:14.000 --> 00:57:16.000
They are not as good as you.

00:57:16.000 --> 00:57:18.000
They are not as good as you.

00:57:18.000 --> 00:57:20.000
They are not as good as you.

00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:22.000
They are not as good as you.

00:57:22.000 --> 00:57:24.000
They will not do it like you do it.

00:57:24.000 --> 00:57:26.000
They are not as good as you.

00:57:26.000 --> 00:57:31.000
But they will end up doing a better job than you.

00:57:31.000 --> 00:57:36.000
I used to try and make Eric do things a certain way in Vernon.

00:57:36.000 --> 00:57:39.000
Every time he'd do something, I'd go and tell him,

00:57:39.000 --> 00:57:41.000
but do it this way, and I'd keep correcting him.

00:57:41.000 --> 00:57:46.000
He was such a humble guy that he would keep correcting it, keep correcting it.

00:57:46.000 --> 00:57:48.000
One day I called up Eddie, and I said to Eddie,

00:57:48.000 --> 00:57:50.000
Eddie, it's frustrating.

00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:53.000
I keep telling Eric to do it this way, and he doesn't get it right.

00:57:53.000 --> 00:57:56.000
And Eddie listened to my long lament for about six minutes,

00:57:56.000 --> 00:57:58.000
and then he said just one thing.

00:57:58.000 --> 00:58:03.000
Yeah, it must be difficult trying to create another Jacob.

00:58:03.000 --> 00:58:06.000
It was like, pa-dak!

00:58:06.000 --> 00:58:08.000
But he said it so gently.

00:58:08.000 --> 00:58:12.000
That's the thing with Eddie, he can take out your spleen before you know it.

00:58:12.000 --> 00:58:17.000
So he said, yeah, it must be really difficult creating another Jacob.

00:58:17.000 --> 00:58:24.000
And then he put the phone down, and I'm thinking to myself, my God, that was harsh.

00:58:24.000 --> 00:58:30.000
And the next day I flew to Vernon,

00:58:30.000 --> 00:58:38.000
and I spent that evening with Eric, and I apologized to him for trying to make him me.

00:58:38.000 --> 00:58:43.000
Control desires to create things in your own image.

00:58:43.000 --> 00:58:49.000
Losing control is when things are shaped in the image of your Creator.

00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:03.000
I'm glad to be away.

00:59:03.000 --> 00:59:07.000
I'm glad to be in the image of my Creator.

00:59:08.000 --> 00:59:12.000
I'm glad to be away.

00:59:12.000 --> 00:59:16.000
Sometimes I see the things that are done here when I'm away, and I shudder.

00:59:16.000 --> 00:59:23.000
Like when someone took their shoes and put it on top of this pulpit.

00:59:23.000 --> 00:59:31.000
Or when someone came up a couple of weeks ago and said, stop the rain!

00:59:31.000 --> 00:59:35.000
But it is what it is.

00:59:35.000 --> 00:59:39.000
The rain did stop for two days. When I came back, there was no rain.

00:59:39.000 --> 00:59:43.000
I know.

00:59:47.000 --> 00:59:51.000
So things may not work out like you think.

00:59:51.000 --> 00:59:55.000
Derek may not be as brilliant as I am in some areas,

00:59:55.000 --> 01:00:01.000
but there'll be other areas that he'll do so much better.

01:00:02.000 --> 01:00:06.000
So, lose control.

01:00:06.000 --> 01:00:08.000
Yield control.

01:00:08.000 --> 01:00:11.000
Otherwise you shape people in your image, and that shouldn't happen.

01:00:11.000 --> 01:00:16.000
Your kids should look like you early in life, but not later in life, because you get uglier.

01:00:16.000 --> 01:00:27.000
It's yielding control that allows sons to stand in the place of their fathers.

01:00:27.000 --> 01:00:38.000
It's yielding control that allows sons to stand in the place of their fathers.

01:00:38.000 --> 01:00:46.000
Like God the Father, one must step back and become invisible, so that the son becomes the visible image.

01:00:47.000 --> 01:00:51.000
Two more.

01:00:51.000 --> 01:00:55.000
The inconvenience of being misunderstood.

01:00:55.000 --> 01:00:58.000
The inconvenience of being misunderstood.

01:00:58.000 --> 01:01:01.000
It's important, eh? It's okay to be misunderstood in this church.

01:01:01.000 --> 01:01:03.000
Not misinterpreted.

01:01:03.000 --> 01:01:07.000
One mustn't misinterpret my words, but to misunderstand is okay.

01:01:07.000 --> 01:01:11.000
The narrow...

01:01:12.000 --> 01:01:14.000
I'll write this down.

01:01:19.000 --> 01:01:23.000
We get so hung up about being misunderstood.

01:01:23.000 --> 01:01:36.000
The narrower the discrepancy between who God says I am

01:01:41.000 --> 01:01:43.000
who I think I am

01:01:47.000 --> 01:01:52.000
and how I live in the world

01:01:57.000 --> 01:02:08.000
the less I am bothered about being misunderstood.

01:02:11.000 --> 01:02:23.000
The narrower the discrepancy between who God says I am

01:02:23.000 --> 01:02:25.000
and who I really am becoming

01:02:25.000 --> 01:02:27.000
and how I live in the world

01:02:27.000 --> 01:02:29.000
the narrower the gap

01:02:29.000 --> 01:02:32.000
the less I am worried about you misunderstanding me.

01:02:32.000 --> 01:02:34.000
Jesus was like to say

01:02:34.000 --> 01:02:38.000
he didn't care about being misunderstood.

01:02:38.000 --> 01:02:41.000
Because he knew what the Father said about him.

01:02:41.000 --> 01:02:42.000
He knew who he was.

01:02:42.000 --> 01:02:45.000
And there was a certain way he began to live in the world.

01:02:45.000 --> 01:02:49.000
And then you don't have to jump off the steeple to prove your love to anybody

01:02:49.000 --> 01:02:53.000
because you really care for them.

01:02:53.000 --> 01:02:56.000
Some of these words that I'm speaking I used with some of you this week.

01:02:56.000 --> 01:02:59.000
So I'm really not thinking of you as I'm talking about this.

01:02:59.000 --> 01:03:01.000
Though you might be thinking I am. I'm not.

01:03:01.000 --> 01:03:03.000
I give you my word.

01:03:03.000 --> 01:03:08.000
John 13, 1-3

01:03:08.000 --> 01:03:11.000
Knowing where he came from and knowing where he was going

01:03:11.000 --> 01:03:13.000
he took a bucket of water, wrapped a towel around him

01:03:13.000 --> 01:03:15.000
and began to wash the feet of his disciples.

01:03:15.000 --> 01:03:20.000
This is the same Jesus who knew that it was a highly sexual act

01:03:20.000 --> 01:03:25.000
when a woman who was a prostitute came into the house of a very noble man

01:03:25.000 --> 01:03:27.000
and began to wipe his feet with her hair.

01:03:27.000 --> 01:03:29.000
There was nothing kosher about it.

01:03:30.000 --> 01:03:35.000
Oh my God, did he have a weight and a dignity about himself that he allowed that?

01:03:35.000 --> 01:03:39.000
You can't imagine it if you actually put yourself in that place

01:03:39.000 --> 01:03:44.000
of a very sophisticated setting where a woman from the streets comes and does that.

01:03:44.000 --> 01:03:46.000
Hey, it'll ruin your reputation.

01:03:52.000 --> 01:03:55.000
What a God we have, man.

01:03:55.000 --> 01:03:58.000
The inconvenience of being misunderstood.

01:03:58.000 --> 01:04:02.000
If you are too concerned about being misunderstood

01:04:02.000 --> 01:04:05.000
you will always have to please people.

01:04:15.000 --> 01:04:19.000
These are things this church must develop at this present stage

01:04:22.000 --> 01:04:25.000
so that we are not like this we are like this.

01:04:25.000 --> 01:04:27.000
It's like a take-off ramp.

01:04:27.000 --> 01:04:28.000
Last point.

01:04:28.000 --> 01:04:31.000
The inconvenience of enduring routine.

01:04:31.000 --> 01:04:35.000
The inconvenience of enduring routine.

01:04:35.000 --> 01:04:38.000
Enduring routine.

01:04:38.000 --> 01:04:42.000
I actually said enduring Saskatchewan then I changed it to routine.

01:04:42.000 --> 01:04:47.000
It's like the best way I can describe it is driving in Saskatchewan.

01:04:47.000 --> 01:04:53.000
Evan was telling me that his house in Saskatchewan he could see 10 miles away.

01:04:53.000 --> 01:04:57.000
He could see the house 10 miles away because it was that flat.

01:04:59.000 --> 01:05:01.000
So enduring Saskatchewan.

01:05:01.000 --> 01:05:03.000
That has a nice ring to it.

01:05:03.000 --> 01:05:05.000
That could be the title of this message.

01:05:07.000 --> 01:05:13.000
Guys, endurance doesn't mean enduring through something for a grand finale.

01:05:13.000 --> 01:05:21.000
Endurance means persevering or staying the course through very boring long times.

01:05:24.000 --> 01:05:27.000
It's a very hard thing to do.

01:05:27.000 --> 01:05:30.000
Enduring is staying the course.

01:05:31.000 --> 01:05:35.000
Long obedience in the same direction. Eugene Peterson.

01:05:35.000 --> 01:05:37.000
Long obedience in the same direction.

01:05:37.000 --> 01:05:41.000
That's what the inconvenience of enduring the routine is.

01:05:43.000 --> 01:05:45.000
I'm telling you something.

01:05:45.000 --> 01:05:46.000
You get the hang of this.

01:05:46.000 --> 01:05:50.000
Any seed you plant is planted deep and it cannot be pulled out.

01:05:51.000 --> 01:05:55.000
You get the hang of the inconvenience of enduring.

01:05:55.000 --> 01:06:00.000
Of doing the same thing with very little external result.

01:06:00.000 --> 01:06:02.000
Very little external result.

01:06:03.000 --> 01:06:04.000
People will laugh at you.

01:06:04.000 --> 01:06:07.000
They will think, man, this guy is wasting time and money.

01:06:07.000 --> 01:06:13.000
But you plant that seed so deep that the devil can't get there.

01:06:15.000 --> 01:06:18.000
You plant a seed that deep you think it won't produce.

01:06:21.000 --> 01:06:25.000
Wall-E. Do you know how long ago we talked about Wall-E?

01:06:25.000 --> 01:06:29.000
2020. It's been two years, man.

01:06:31.000 --> 01:06:34.000
But you should hear the stories that come out of Wall-E now.

01:06:34.000 --> 01:06:37.000
Three or four people began it.

01:06:37.000 --> 01:06:41.000
So look forward to May 29th when we go there.

01:06:41.000 --> 01:06:43.000
What else is going to happen there?

01:06:43.000 --> 01:06:47.000
It takes time. It is boring. It is routine.

01:06:47.000 --> 01:06:49.000
It is repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.

01:06:49.000 --> 01:06:53.000
My God, truth is always established only through repetition.

01:06:56.000 --> 01:06:58.000
How once it is established, nobody can pull it out.

01:07:03.000 --> 01:07:06.000
Let me define routine for you and we'll end with that.

01:07:08.000 --> 01:07:14.000
Routine is unseen choices we make to follow Jesus that really matter.

01:07:15.000 --> 01:07:18.000
Routine is unseen choices.

01:07:20.000 --> 01:07:26.000
That we make to follow Jesus that really matter.

01:07:28.000 --> 01:07:30.000
Nobody knows it. Nobody sees it.

01:07:30.000 --> 01:07:35.000
That really matter because they all add up to something called faithfulness.

01:07:35.000 --> 01:07:37.000
Because they all, I'll repeat it again.

01:07:38.000 --> 01:07:46.000
Routine is unseen choices we make to follow Jesus or to in following Jesus.

01:07:46.000 --> 01:07:48.000
Unseen choices we make in following Jesus.

01:07:49.000 --> 01:07:52.000
And they really matter. Why?

01:07:53.000 --> 01:07:57.000
Because they all add up to something called faithfulness.

01:07:57.000 --> 01:07:59.000
And faithfulness opens doors everywhere.

01:07:59.000 --> 01:08:02.000
They all add up to something called faithfulness.

01:08:02.000 --> 01:08:08.000
There are things you will find in the life of any person that you think is doing well.

01:08:10.000 --> 01:08:12.000
You'll find two things.

01:08:12.000 --> 01:08:15.000
And may this be something that you can project through your life.

01:08:15.000 --> 01:08:18.000
Two things you'll find in the life of every successful Christian.

01:08:19.000 --> 01:08:21.000
Or any Christian that you think is doing well.

01:08:21.000 --> 01:08:25.000
Two things. One, consistency.

01:08:28.000 --> 01:08:32.000
Two, they are much loved children.

01:08:35.000 --> 01:08:38.000
It is the key to brilliant Christian living.

01:08:38.000 --> 01:08:39.000
Just two things.

01:08:40.000 --> 01:08:43.000
They live as much loved children.

01:08:44.000 --> 01:08:46.000
They always live as much loved children.

01:08:46.000 --> 01:08:49.000
They never veer off from that definition of who they are.

01:08:49.000 --> 01:08:51.000
They're not apostle, prophet, teacher, evangelist, nothing.

01:08:51.000 --> 01:08:53.000
They're not gifted, they're nothing.

01:08:53.000 --> 01:08:56.000
But the one thing that they constantly keep right at the center.

01:08:56.000 --> 01:08:58.000
I'm a much loved child of God.

01:08:58.000 --> 01:09:00.000
And they keep that. That is the definition.

01:09:00.000 --> 01:09:03.000
That's the name. That's the approach to God.

01:09:03.000 --> 01:09:06.000
Continuously. It doesn't matter how bad or good things get.

01:09:06.000 --> 01:09:08.000
Much loved children. That's the first thing.

01:09:08.000 --> 01:09:10.000
And the second thing is consistency.

01:09:10.000 --> 01:09:12.000
They have learned what it is to be consistent.

01:09:12.000 --> 01:09:15.000
Not brilliant, not meteoric, not down in the dumps.

01:09:15.000 --> 01:09:18.000
Not down in the dumps one day. Now, consistent.

01:09:18.000 --> 01:09:20.000
They're like a blooming clock.

01:09:24.000 --> 01:09:26.000
Get these two things right.

01:09:26.000 --> 01:09:28.000
The world is your playground.

01:09:30.000 --> 01:09:34.000
Get these two things right and the world becomes your playground.

01:09:34.000 --> 01:09:37.000
Because the earth and everything thereof belongs to God.

01:09:38.000 --> 01:09:41.000
These are the two hardest things to get right by the way.

01:09:42.000 --> 01:09:44.000
Well, we shall talk about that next week.

01:09:44.000 --> 01:09:54.000
Jesus, this church is at a stage where if you don't address these things, we will plateau.

01:09:58.000 --> 01:10:00.000
You don't plateau.

01:10:02.000 --> 01:10:08.000
If you don't do these things, this church will begin to stagnate at a very good place.

01:10:09.000 --> 01:10:15.000
And a very good place is always the enemy of that which is best.

01:10:17.000 --> 01:10:21.000
We want to say today that some of these things are active in our lives.

01:10:23.000 --> 01:10:28.000
Spirit of God, I've said what I think you wanted us to say.

01:10:28.000 --> 01:10:33.000
Now, could you help me be inconvenienced?

01:10:33.000 --> 01:10:35.000
Could you help me be inconvenienced?

01:10:37.000 --> 01:10:39.000
Could you help me be inconvenienced?

01:10:43.000 --> 01:10:46.000
There are areas in my life where I need to be inconvenienced.

01:10:54.000 --> 01:10:59.000
I look at some lives in this church and I marvel at how willingly they give their time.

01:10:59.000 --> 01:11:02.000
How willingly they give their strength.

01:11:02.000 --> 01:11:05.000
I don't do it like they do it, Father.

01:11:05.000 --> 01:11:08.000
Inconvenience me in terms of my time and my strength.

01:11:15.000 --> 01:11:20.000
I don't think there's any song written about inconveniencing, so we won't have to end with a song.

01:11:22.000 --> 01:11:27.000
So we'll just conclude for now, Father, by just repeating these words together.

01:11:27.000 --> 01:11:31.000
I'll just say them and then the church can either choose to or not choose to repeat it.

01:11:39.000 --> 01:11:45.000
First line, guys, if you want to say it, please remember God unfortunately takes you at face value.

01:11:45.000 --> 01:11:47.000
Whatever you say, He actually thinks you're saying.

01:11:47.000 --> 01:11:49.000
You really want it, so be careful.

01:11:50.000 --> 01:11:55.000
So first statement, I'd like to make as Father, please inconvenience my life.

01:11:58.000 --> 01:12:02.000
So just whisper it so if you're not saying it, people won't know you're not saying it.

01:12:04.000 --> 01:12:11.000
So let's say together, Father, please inconvenience my life for your sake, for your purpose.

01:12:13.000 --> 01:12:15.000
Please inconvenience my life.

01:12:15.000 --> 01:12:18.000
You inconvenienced your life, Jesus.

01:12:18.000 --> 01:12:20.000
It was highly inconvenient for you.

01:12:23.000 --> 01:12:25.000
My God, what you did.

01:12:25.000 --> 01:12:28.000
Please inconvenience my life, Jesus.

01:12:31.000 --> 01:12:34.000
Second bit is a little more difficult.

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Father, if I am going to stay tied to the shore, please send a wave that will inconvenience me.

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Be careful with that one.

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Father, if I choose to stay tied to the shore, then please send waves to inconvenience me.

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And the third one, Father, please convict me of some of these inconveniences so I can ask for help.

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Father, please convince me of some of these inconveniences so I can ask for help.

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In Jesus' name, Amen.

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Thank you for letting me preach these things to you.

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Most churches you would not be able to.

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And you let me because of your ability to be receptive to what God is doing.

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So thank you.

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I don't take that as a granted thing.

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A very special church. Thank you.