Father, it's been a few weeks since Jacob has been in your guidance leading Acts 29 in
a very specific direction. Just last week we heard more about it. We heard about Trishman
Abba. We heard about what your plans are for the city. So Father, as we sit here right
now, we just want to give our lives to your leading and your guidance so that we can walk
into the fullness of what you have, Jesus. I want this for myself. I pray this for each
one of us that if your Spirit is leading us in a direction, then we want to be all in.
We want to go that way that you have set and you are setting before us. So we give to you
our minds, we give to you our bodies, we give to you all of ourselves. Jesus, do you not deserve
it? You absolutely do. We kept singing today, King Jesus. There is no one like you, Jesus.
There is no one person like you. And so here is a desire in our hearts from us to you so that we
can give more of us to you. We genuinely want this Abba. We don't know all the right answers.
We don't know everything. But we know this, that if we say yes to this journey and if we
give of ourselves to you, then you can do things that we cannot. And so every single person in
this room, regardless of age, regardless of anything else, we give all of us to you. In
Jesus name, amen. I kind of sound a little different. Is it me or? I don't know if that's
a good sound or a bad sound. It doesn't really matter because. Oh, I should stay here. Okay.
All right. I want to title the message today. My father's business.
My father's business. And Jelena has given me until six. So like it or not, until six we go.
We are partners in God's mission. So the triune God, the father, the son,
the Holy Spirit, the triune God has a mission and that mission has existed forever.
And he so chooses that we become partners in his mission.
So the father's mission is that the father will draw his sons, his daughters back to him.
That's his mission. He's a father and he says, my children, they may be lost. They may be
away, but I will make sure that they come back to me. That's his mission. That's his breath.
That's his heartbeat. And the son is in partnership with the father in that mission.
And the Holy Spirit is in partnership with the father and the son in that very same mission.
And we get to partner with God, the father, God, the son, God, the Holy Spirit in this exact same
mission. This mission to find, as Jacob was saying last week and for the few weeks before that,
to go find the lost, to seek out the lost, to find them and to then bring them to the father.
So I want to talk about a few things and we'll go as far as we can with until six o'clock.
But I want us to first read a couple of verses with me. Number one, Luke chapter 15.
Luke chapter 15, verses one onwards. I'll wait for you to get there because we'll start
with those first two passages.
Luke chapter 15. You know the story, but we'll just browse through those two stories. One,
a man who is a shepherd and if he loses one of the hundred sheep he has, Jesus asks,
and here is the question, what man of you having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them,
does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the one that is lost
until he finds it? I want you to underline the two words, what man. What man? And then you see,
a few verses down, here is another question Jesus is asking, or what woman having ten silver coins,
if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until
she finds it? What man? What woman? Doesn't go searching. And then Jesus begins telling the
story of the prodigal son. All of us know the story. But what Jesus is really trying to tell
in that story, if I were to summarize it in one sentence or question, is something like this.
What son, when he knows that his father has lost a son, will not go looking for the lost son?
What woman? What man? And then the third question, it's not written out like that,
but that's what Jesus is really asking. If you're my son, what son will not go out,
seek the lost, find them and bring them to me? And the thing is, it's such a privilege for us
to do this. Who are we? Who are we that we can even think about doing this? But this is how he
has set it up that we be partners with him in his mission. And one of the beautiful things
things about where we are at in terms of our journey at Acts 29 is that if you ask most people
here who have been around for more than two years and ask them, what is one strength of Acts 29,
there will be a resounding answer. One would be sonship. That we've been taught sonship.
That we've been taught that we are sons and daughters of this father. That we've been
taught to relate to him as children. And we do. And that being a strength that God has given Acts 29,
now when God says, I've got a place that I've set apart for you. I want you to partner with me
in the work in Richmond. Then the real question becomes, hey Derek, I just want you to know
what son Derek will not partner with his dad when another one of my sons is lost. Another bunch of
them is lost. And so sonship doesn't end with me appropriating everything God has for me.
Sonship does not end with me seeing God as my father. Sonship does not end with me believing
that his nature is that of a father. Sonship now moves. It takes on new legs and it moves to a new
place. Whereas I know my father. I know how much he loves his children. And because I love my father,
I love them too. And so everything we are going to talk about, think of it in the context of
Richmond. I think Dawn is praying later today. Will be leading us in prayer later today with
what we want to do in Richmond. So think of all of these things as I talk through this.
Richmond, God is inviting us. There is a purpose and the purpose has been made very clear. Matthew
28, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them
to obey everything I've commanded you. And so the question is, where do I go? The answer is very,
very clear. Go on to all nations. But Jesus, where do I start? Well, Acts 29, I've got a place for
you to start. Richmond, start in Richmond, then move on to BC. You then go to Canada, the ends of
Canada, and then you go to the end of the earth. But start for me in Richmond. Go therefore and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, teaching them. Okay, Jesus, I'll do that. When do
I do that? Now, right now. This is what the disciples heard. They heard that and they
immediately went on. As soon as Jesus ascended, they had to wait for a bit until the Holy Spirit
was released upon them, given to them as a gift, and then they went. And for us, we've already been
given the gift of the Spirit of God. You and I are filled with Him, full of Him. His presence is with
us. As Jane was singing earlier, presence is meant to go. Presence is meant to not have us just stay
in our little huddle. It is meant to lead us out into the places God has for us.
You're tracking with me? Yeah? Good. So there is no mission without going. There is no mission
without going. One other thing before we continue on. See, when you, in the context of Richmond,
too, this is true. Matthew chapter 28, the verse 19, is it? Or whatever verse that is that I read out,
the first part of it is evangelism. Going and sharing who Jesus is with people. The second
part of it is discipleship. Make disciples of all nations. And so even in the context of Richmond,
even though currently we are talking primarily about going and reaching, even though the last
few weeks have been about seeking out and finding, never for a second discount, that there is an
equally important part, which is discipleship. Anytime we find his sons, anytime we find his
daughters, our duty, our responsibility, our ownership, our partnership with the father does
not end with just the message. It proceeds to this next place, which is Abba. Now that we have found
them, where will they be disciple? So there are two parts to this, but we'll keep going on the
first part, which is just the going. But never discount the second part, which is equally important
because one does not benefit, one alone does not benefit the person. You've got to find them,
but you've also got to disciple them. Both need to exist at the same time.
So that's Matthew chapter 4, sorry, that was Matthew chapter 28. Go with me to Matthew chapter 4,
verse 19. Matthew chapter 4, verse 19.
And he said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
And he said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. This is Peter or Simon and this is
Andrew. Jesus has been watching them. They've been fishing. Jesus then finds them and he says,
hey, I want you to follow me because I'm going to make you. You've been fishing,
you've been catching fish, but I'm going to have you now catch men. You're going to be fishers of
men. So we all are fishers of men. And if we are fishers of men, there are certain characteristics
that are associated with a fisherman. And what are those things? Let's have a quick look at it.
Number one, a fisherman is used to different types of fishing.
So he may use the net, he may use the line and hook. There are different types of nets he may use.
He can use, I looked this up, I have no idea what a fisherman does, I'll tell you that.
So I had to learn this. Maybe some of you do. Evan does. Hey Evan, you want to come preach?
You may be better at this. So there is a drag net, that's the one they use between the boats and
they cast it and then they pull the fish into the shore. Or it could be a cast net, which is what we
see on TV or I've seen on TV mostly, which is usually cast it out on the water and it catches
the fish, you pull it. But the point being, if I am a skilled fisherman, I'm well versed with
different ways of fishing. I'm not just doing one, I'm not just an expert in this and I won't stop
there. God expects us to learn different ways to fish men. We'll touch on what those different ways
are. Because our God is a wise God, he also knows the type of fish. Because he knows the type of
fish and because you are the one he is sending to catch the fish, he then makes sure that you
use the right tools and you go through the right training to catch the fish that's meant for you
to catch. And so there is a process here whereby he gives you certain things. He equips you a certain
way, he gives you the right type of net in your hand and then he sends you to a particular place
and then he says you cast your net here or you use the line and hook here and I'll make sure the
fish is caught. Yeah. So before we get into that, a couple of things. So how did Jesus and the
apostles do this? How did Jesus and the apostles go about seeking, finding and transforming the
lives of people who they met? Number one, so important. Jesus's mission was fueled by his
love for people. Jesus's mission was fueled by his love for people and this thing alone,
if we truly get it, almost everything else become easy. Just this one thing.
If we can get this part right, everything else becomes way more easier.
Jesus's mission is fueled by his love for people. So in other words, the mission did not come first.
Love came first. Yeah. Mission did not come first. Love came first. In other words, he created me
in love. He created you in love. He created that guy who's driving that car away. He created
that guy who's driving that car away. He created him and them in love. Love came first and then
came mission. But we can be very Christian-ese and we can be all about mission. It's so easy to
share the gospel with someone without any love. How do I know I've done it? Very easy.
You can share the gospel with someone. Hey, hip, just want you to know God really loves you.
I can go through that. But am I doing it because I know the message and I can distribute that
message? Or am I doing it because I can because I love hip? This one thing, guys, if you understand
this, this will take us to deeper places in Richmond. Before love came, before mission came,
love came. Mission exists. But before mission existed, existed love. And so the question is,
Derek, can I have you love my people? And once you love them so much, then everything makes sense.
Then you share the gospel. Then you go and pray for the sick because you can be doing all of these
things for many different reasons. Many have gone through this path, guys. Many people have done
many things in the name of God, in the name of Christ. They've said the right words. They've
acted the best lines. But love was not there. And when you don't have love and you do these things,
you're building on flesh and it doesn't stand the test of fire. But when you do this out of love,
when you do this because you truly care, because you've understood that
my father loves his sons and his daughters, I may not feel like it right now. I may not feel like,
oh, I know exactly how much God loves Vedisha. But can I start from a place where I want to
understand that more? Where I want to, I want his heart to drive me to places. I want his heart to
lead me to places. And what I speak, it's not about the words I speak. It's actually about
the heart from which it's coming. Trust me, if he can have a donkey speak, he can get this work done
very easily. But if I can get my heart right, if I can understand why he's asking me to do
what he's asking me to, then now there is something. In other words, let me put it this way,
the message of Christ, the good news of Christ must be enveloped in a heart full of love.
The message of Christ, the good news of Jesus Christ, you have to envelop it. You have to
cover it with your heart, which has love. Now here's the truth, because let's go practical.
Hey Prosper, thanks for coming late. Here's the thing, right?
I can't expect to have the same love Jesus has for Aaron today. I wish I could tell you that's
the truth. It's simply not the truth. But can I start from a place where I want more? Can I start
from a place where I recognize that my love is not enough, but you say love Aaron more, and I want
to go on this journey and I want to do it? Start there. See, sincerity is something God values.
When you're truthful with him, you're really emptying yourself so that you can receive more.
And then he gives you more of his love. And then now you have something as you go talk with Aaron,
you have something to give him that's more than just words. Now some of you, you can think about
it because I've done this plenty of times. I know you can speak the good news, share the good news
with people without love. It's true. Because you're not doing it for the wrong reasons,
but you can be very artificial about it.
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. John chapter
15, verse 13. Jesus's standard is that, that he loves so much so that he dies. I was talking,
Iris and I were talking with Tuni and Anile. They're not here. You should ask why.
They're vacationing. They're at some other camp or whatever. I don't know. You go ask them.
But they're having fun apparently. Greater love has no one. There's no greater love than
if, than one dying for his friend. And Jesus loved with this love. The question that we were
asking each other then is, man, can we die for someone? The answer is for me very clear. It's
very difficult for me to die for someone else. But that's the standard that my Lord has set for me.
The question then becomes, can you get to that place? The answer is absolutely. Absolutely.
Every one of us. And there are men and women guys all around the world who get to this point.
There are. Now how do they get there? Number one. See, there's a verse that, don't read this
because we had, I'll run through this. John chapter 19, verses 16 and 17. John chapter 19,
verses 16 and 17. So they took Jesus and he went out bearing his own cross to the place called the
place of his call Golgotha, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. Right? So they took Jesus
and he went up with the cross on his shoulder. And what did you think about this? Did Jesus at
12 years old, would have, would he have been able to do that? The father had to have him go through
a process because it wasn't about just dying guys. It wasn't just about dying. It was also about
carrying the weight of sin. Not just my sins and your sins, everyone's sins. It wasn't even just
that. It was also that he had to forgive those who were abusing him, those who were beating him up.
So it wasn't just about dying. Yes, it included death and resurrection, but it included so much,
so much more. And so the father had to take Jesus through a process so that at this point in his,
in his time in God's divine, in the father's divine time and, and, and, and, and the way the
father led Christ, he was ready to go up that mountain, to die on that cross on that day.
He was ready. Well, let me put it this way. Before he put his life down, Jesus started putting other
things down. There was another day, years before he would walk up another mountain. And as he walked
up that mountain, he let his desires, flesh and its desires, he laid it down. Jesus was as much a man
as you and I are. He went up another mountain and he decided that, Hey, father, what you want,
I want. Take my things away. Give me more. Give me, give me your heart. He did that. He talked like
that because it wasn't automatic. While he was fully God, he had to learn the father had him
go through a process so that he would mature into true sonship.
So before Jesus died on that mountain, on that hill, he went up. In other words, all I'm saying
is every day was a process by which Jesus decided that I am going to die to myself.
You can't give your life up if you haven't died many other deaths.
It's not happening. If you have died many other deaths, meaning you've died to Netflix,
you've died to TV, you've died to Instagram, you've died to food, you've died to all these
other things, not bad things, but you've got to die to them. You've died to these different things
and they're different for different people. And as you die, now you're being ready to die more
for him. As Paul said, this is the best thing that can happen to us, us dying to ourselves
because we get more of him as we die to ourselves. And if a man does or a woman does not go through
that process, there is no way they can be on that cross. And if you die, you die.
And Jesus hung on that cross because he had died many deaths before he got there.
And you and I cannot love anyone to the point of death, which is Jesus's standard,
unless we die many other deaths. And so while I am honest about where I'm at,
I find it very difficult to die for me. She was just looking at me like that.
I find it difficult. I can get there. It is possible for me to do that. If I go through
the process my father has absolutely possible guys. Jesus was on the potter's wheel. Jesus
allowed the father to shape him, mold him. Can I and you be on that wheel every day so that,
you know, five years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years later, each of us can tell another generation,
I started in a very different place. I did not love people. I had no desire to do this,
but then he began to change me. He began to change me more and more. And I don't know what
happened. Somehow he changed my heart to a point where now all of a sudden I can die for someone.
It's possible, 100%. And these are things that we have to experience here on earth because this is
our rightful inheritance. If we don't, it's just wasted away. It's just wasted away. So let's learn
to die to ourselves, our flesh, our desires, our TV, our Netflix, our different stuff
so that we are able to live for him.
Number two, or what number that is, the good news of Jesus Christ is carried on the shoulders of
surrender. So I said the good news of Jesus is enveloped in a heart full of love.
Number two, the good news of Jesus Christ is carried on the shoulders of surrender.
See that verse that I read out? There is one thing that
I want to point out. John chapter 19 verses 16 and 17. So they took Jesus and he went out bearing
his own cross. You see that? It wasn't they took Jesus to Golgotha. They took Jesus and he went out.
That was Jesus going because he could have chosen not to go. And so even in the context of
Richmond and in the different places, let it be and Acts 29 went out. And Mark went out.
And Matt went out. And Janelle is not here, went out.
That's the thing, that we go because we are sent by him for the mission that he has. So on the
potter's wheel, it's not comfortable. It requires me dying to my plans for myself,
my desires and my ways. I am yielding to the ways of the potter.
First Corinthians chapter 15 verse 31. First Corinthians chapter 15 verse 31.
I protest, Paul said, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord,
I die every day. Here is another truth, guys.
You progress in the spiritual realm when you come to the end of yourself.
Or maybe I should put it differently. You progress with much acceleration
in the spirit realm when you come to the end of yourself. One of the best things that can happen
to each one of us is that we get to a point where we actually understand that, you know what,
the way I want to do it, the way my planning works, the way my words work out, it's empty,
it's useless. But when my words dry up and I just don't know what to say or I'm convinced that my
words are useless when it doesn't have the spirit in it, then I rely on my father to give me words.
And those words have much power. So coming to the end of yourself, meaning, because all of these
things, you can do it without him and maybe not do it without him, maybe do it with him. And to
get to that fullness, the thing is, can we empty ourselves so that when I see someone and I talk
to them or whatever we're doing, let's do it from a place of emptying ourselves so that God's full
plan, his full ways are established in it. Number three, the good news of Jesus Christ
is quickened with ready feet. The good news of Jesus Christ is quickened with ready feet.
Just want to say one thing because we don't have time. Ready feet, Trump, heavy head. Ready feet,
Trump, not that Trump, another Trump. Ready feet, Trump, heavy head.
Ready feet, Trump, heavy head. In other words, I can stand here, talk for the next five hours,
talk about the meaning of evangelism, five types of evangelism, talk through the whole thing,
explain the whole thing and I'll have a heavy head, you'll have a heavy head. But it's not,
who laughed first? It's useless if I don't have a ready feet. It's better to have a ready feet
than a heavy head. Now, one thing I would mention here is in the context of what God
is leading us with Richmond, do it with how the church is leading us. Do it with the
do it with how the Lord wants it to be done. Because now I can have a ready feet and just
go and do whatever I want to do because I am so zealous and I really want to do it. But there is
a right way of doing things and a wrong way of doing things. So it's not just about ready feet,
you also have to have wisdom. That's why Jesus says go two by two. There is something about going
two by two that you won't get when you're trying to do it by yourself. It doesn't mean that you
can't. I'm just saying that when you go two by two, you're fulfilling what has been asked
by Jesus of us. Yeah. So those are three things, the heart, shoulders, feet.
Let's talk about a couple of very practical things. So what are practical ways we can start
advancing in evangelism or witnessing? What are practical ways we can start advancing
in witnessing? Number one, I must, you must open your lives to people from all walks of life,
regardless of gender, age, social status, marital status, personality, preference.
The list goes on. I must, you must open our lives to people from all walks of life,
regardless of gender, age, social status, marital status, personality, preference, etc.
Because like it or not, we all have preferences. We all have things we like, certain types of people
we like, certain types of people we don't like as much. We can make it however beautiful we want to
make it, but that's the truth. And if you want to be an effective fisher of men, then you must open
your life up to all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds without saying, I like it
this way more than that way, or my preference is this as opposed to that. Walls of individuality,
personality types, likes and dislikes will fall down as you seek to share him with others.
These walls that we easily put around us, build around us, they need to be dismantled. They need
to be brought down and they will be brought down as I begin to open my life to those around me.
If Jesus, think of it this way, I wrote down three, four things. Just listen to this. If Jesus had
limited himself to men, what would have happened to Mary Magdalene, the woman caught in adultery
and the woman at the well? Think about it. If Jesus had limited himself to men,
what would have happened to these guys? If Jesus had limited himself to just the poor,
what would have happened to the tax collectors? If Jesus would have limited himself to just the rich,
what would have happened to the fishermen? If Jesus had limited himself to just the learned,
what would have happened to those who never read
or were uneducated? If Jesus had just spent time with the fishermen and the uneducated,
what would have happened to the likes of Nicodemus and others? So you see, in me and in you is a
mission that he has given us and this mission means that I have to open my life up to all
different types of people. It can't be, I'm this way. I'm so good at it. No, may you be really good
at it in one way, but learn, do more. And this is a learning process, right? We don't get really
great at it one day unless we are ready to learn. It's just the way it works. I used to, if I was
ever on a cab or an Uber, sometimes it's just easy to shut everything and just, you know,
do what you want to do because now no one is talking to you, no one is bothering you,
you have your 45 minutes. It's easy, but learn. You know what? I'm in the Uber or I'm in a cab.
I now have 45 minutes with this person. So I'm not trying, let me not limit myself. Let me not
put another wall around me right now because here is someone my father loves. Here is someone
who he wants to talk to. And then in the cab, you begin to ask, okay, father, what do you want me to
say? Do you want to say anything? Do you want to share anything? And then this happened when I was
in Chicago a few months ago. I'm driving or this lady is driving, I'm at the back and the father
says, start talking to her about how Jesus forgives and how she can let go of people by
forgiving them. And so I start talking about it. I said, hey, you know, I've got about 14 minutes.
So, hey, here we are. Let's, I just wanted to say this and I start talking and as I'm talking,
she says, she starts crying and it turns out that this woman, she was married before, got divorced
and her husband took the kids away from her. And this has been a problem for her. And she is,
she's a Catholic, but she just can't let go. And so it turns out that Jesus set up a date to tell
her, I want you to release them. I want you to forgive them. I want you to not be bitter, not be
offended so that you can receive my healing. And while she is driving, she's weeping and
she prays with me. And here you go. Another person. I could have easily because, oh man,
you know, three days done. I just need to get back home. I put a wall around me, which I have done.
But when you, when you go through life, you then learn, okay, let me not do that this time.
And even after saying this, you may have a day when you don't feel like it. It's just okay. But
you still keep learning. You still keep progressing. You still keep advancing.
This is not a great book. And I had enough of that back in primary school. This is not where
you get ranked every night. No, this is your father and this is you. He's not grading you
for your performance. He's working inside of you a heart that he wants to give you.
And then no one can take it away from you. Yeah.
Let's go back to what I said before. A fisherman must be trained in different fishing methods.
A fisherman must be trained in different fishing methods.
Do not limit yourself to just one way of witnessing. Neither look down on people who do things
differently from how you do it. Important. There used to be a time in my life when
I would believe and talk to people and tell them that giving tracks is not a good way to evangelize.
I would believe, I believed it at one point. It's not a good way to evangelize. And that,
you can do it differently.
But let me tell you, there is 8.2 something billion people on earth. Only 30% of them
are professing Christians. Now you don't know what number of them are actually believers.
Only 30% are professing Christians. So it's a subset of that who are really born again,
baptized sons and daughters of Christ.
Do you think if we start eliminating, hey, that's not good. This is not good.
All of those people can be reached. You know why I was the biggest hypocrite when it came to it?
Because my uncle, who was a certain way back in his young days, ended up being by the bedside of
my grandfather. And they were Christians, but not Christians. And my granddad was going through this
medical emergency and apparently blood was coming through urine. My uncle had nothing to do with God,
even though he was quote unquote Christian. But he sat there and he turned around and he saw a
tract. And he looked at the tract and he read through it and he thought, you know what, if this
Jesus is real, I'm just going to pray to him. And the man prayed, he prayed, Jesus, if you're real,
I'd like this blood in the urine to stop. If that happens, I'm going to believe right away.
He had been a prodigal, let's say, for 20 years of his life. Right there, the blood stops,
becomes a believer. And Derek, 15 years later, it's like tracts are not good enough.
You see that? Because we can begin to, because we get so worked up in our ways and we begin to,
we can begin to grade things. This is why Paul said, somehow, in any way, if I can reach all of them,
to a Jew, I would be a Jew. To a Greek, I'll be a Greek. It doesn't matter. Somehow, by all means
and by any means, may I reach them. And so when Betty and Anna, did you guys do that thing?
Oh, Betty and Anna, yes. So when they do something like that, it has the ability to change lives.
They created a little tract. It has the ability to change lives. And so maybe never discount it.
Maybe never discount things that people do to reach the lost. Now, you should always know there
may be better ways of doing it. There could be upgrades to it in that, hey, you know, I'm going
to reach the lost. You know, I'm going to reach the lost. I'm going to reach the lost. I'm going to
reach the lost. I'm going to reach the lost. And so there could be upgrades to it in that, hey,
you refine it this way because not all nets are going to stand the test of time. You have to
sometimes mend the nets. Right? Because right after Jesus met Peter and Andrew, he then met
John and James. And what were they doing? They were mending the nets. So your net may be a great
net or their net may be a great net, but over time, you've got to make adjustments. It's the
net. He knows the fish better than you. And some fish just will not, you know, if you have a net
that's big enough, the small fish will go right through it. It's not a great net. So you've got
to have a plan for a fish like that. That's why I have to be flexible to all ways that God may want
me trained in. Not just one way. While you can excel in certain things and while you want to
train others in those things, be open so that he can train you up in different things.
Be led by the Lord of the harvest. Be led by the Lord of the harvest. Where is that verse?
Matthew chapter nine, 37 and 38. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers of few ask the Lord
of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Be led by the Lord
of the harvest. The thing is, guys, when it comes to fish and you're his, sent by him to,
as a fisherman, he'll give you divine counsel. He'll give you guidance. He'll tell you, here is
what you need to do. This is why he told Peter, you've been trying and you caught nothing. Let me
tell you, I have a way in which I want you to catch this fish. Do it that way and you will catch
fish. Some of you, I think this was about five months ago or something like that,
May and some of May's quest members came to South Surrey. We had a meeting for Wally
and then the meeting, just before the meeting, had gone out for a drive.
And when I went for a drive, I felt God say, go this way and I traveled that way and I parked
my car and there was another car parked on the other side. And so I parked my car right behind
and I stopped there and I felt like there is something that God wanted to do there.
And so while being parked there, I asked the father, Abba, what do you want me to do? So I
felt him say, why don't you pull up to the other car, park in a side by side, roll your glass down
and then you tell this man, I'm going to birth nations out of you. I'm going to birth nations
out of you. And Isaiah chapter 60, I think, talks about nations being born in one day. How can it
happen? It's a verse like that. So it's a very different verse to go and tell someone. So I
pull up and I tell this man, I want you to know, I was just not planning on being here, but Jesus
asked me to drive this way. Jesus asked me to say this to you. So this is where you train yourself,
right? The Lord trains you to say things. Sometimes what he tells you is meaty. It's your job now to,
like I would feed Brielle, you got that slab of meat. You can't just feed Brielle with that.
You got to pick it apart and then you feed. Iris is looking at, sorry, not me, you. Say yes.
So you can't take credit when... Okay. So that's what you need to do. So I heard what the Lord had
said and I began to talk to this man. We talked for about five minutes and at the end of it,
I gave him my card and I said, and he was very appreciative of what I said and he drove,
well, I drove away. I came back and I remember some of you were at the clubhouse that day and
I shared the story with you. About two, three months ago, I get a text and in the text,
it says, hey, I'm Mark. We met, it's in August. We met in August. I just wanted to tell you
that while I was parked there, I was asking the universe if I should stay
in Canada or if I should go to the U.S. And then you came by just when I asked the universe this
question and you came and you said, Jesus loves you and this and that, the other things. And you
asked if you know Jesus, all of that. I just wanted you to know that I appreciate you having
stopped by then and this is my number and I've been meaning to contact you since. So this was
about five months ago or how many months ago. And since then we've talked twice. I talked with this
gentleman as recently as three weeks ago or two weeks ago. What's the point? When you are a fisher
of man, God gives you divine ways by which you are to fish. So there is something in that Isaiah 60
chapter that seems a little meaty for a first time talk to someone passage, but God uses that
because that's the exact same thing that this man needs to hear. And I can say many different things,
but it won't reach him. But when you speak that one thing that God says speak that has the potential
to reach the man. Here's the thing guys, we are surrounded by people, many, many of them who have
childhood traumas, who have things from their past that's so difficult it keeps bringing them down.
When you show up and with the counsel and guidance of the Holy Spirit, when you speak a word, it can
release them. It can absolutely change their destiny. Now can we imagine what will it look like if we
were to now begin to walk the streets of Richmond? What will it look like when we collectively say,
Lord train us? Now the training part is important because when I would meet people, I would tell
them what if the Lord asked me to say something, I would tell and leave. But later sometime I
realized that what if they wanted to reach out to me? So now I have a card. So you give the card,
right? So you learn over time and that's something because our God is the wisest being ever.
And if you and I are his sons and daughters, he gives us wisdom that helps us navigate this
with much effectiveness. The word is effectiveness because you can evangelize and you can evangelize
with effectiveness and the effectiveness of what you do comes from this. I have two minutes.
Is Dawn here or until Dawn comes?
So
what if God wants to give some of us very creative ways to reach the lost in Richmond? What if some of
us are to start writing love letters? You make sure that every day of the week and as I say this,
allow the Holy Spirit to either tell you this is for you or as I speak this, allow the Holy Spirit
to introduce other creative ideas into your minds and don't discount it please. What if some of us
were writing love letters? We make sure that we spend a good 10, 15, 20 minutes of time. We sit
down, we don't know who this letter is for but we ask, Abba, this letter is supposed to be in
someone else's hands. Can you speak to me? Let's practice what we are learning and you write down
and your pen may begin to move in a direction that you did not anticipate originally. Let the pen
flow in those ways. Let it move there. Let it go. Let it write. You now have a letter. You have
stacks of letters like this. You have it in your car and as you're driving, the Lord says, I want
you to give this letter to that person and you give it. What if some of us buy flowers every week?
We go to Costco, we buy flowers and I have to first give it to Iris. You need to first, Remy,
first Hamari and then we'll go give it to different people. Don, you want to come up?
No, I'm just kidding. So this is how you do it. We take things that God gives us, creative ways
of reaching people and we begin to practice it. Yeah, and a few other things but we'll maybe try
for another time. With what God wants us to do in Richmond, if we give our minds and our hearts
and our lives to him, he'll train us guys. He'll train us well and if we do this as part of the
body, which is what he wants to do, then know this. I had a slide which I won't bring up but
you know the Ephesus church, you don't know. There are so many other churches were affected
through Ephesus and so it may start with a Richmond but if you give in to God's ways,
then God can take you from Richmond and then God may say, I want you to go to Burnaby.
I want you to now travel to Macedonia. I want you to do this because now you have given of yourself
to him so that he can shape you to the person he wants you to be, fishers of men. Yeah, John.