WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Prevailing Church :Following Jesus Publishing Date: 2018-07-29T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/prevailing-church-following-jesus/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.880 All righty guys, so today we want to talk about what does it look like to 00:00:06.880 --> 00:00:13.920 follow Jesus in terms of Lordship, His Lordship in our lives and what does it 00:00:13.920 --> 00:00:18.040 look like to help somebody who wants to follow Jesus who doesn't know much about 00:00:18.040 --> 00:00:24.840 Him, probably doesn't know Him as Savior or Lord and I think it's important that 00:00:24.840 --> 00:00:36.240 the church have a divine format to work through and by divine format all I mean 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:42.240 is a path that has been prescribed by God in the New Testament, things that 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:47.000 Jesus said, Paul said, so we have an idea okay so this is how we go about the 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:50.360 Lordship of Christ in our lives and this is how we can introduce the Lordship of 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:56.600 other people's lives and that's what we want to talk about and it's part of this 00:00:56.600 --> 00:01:00.520 whole idea of becoming a prevailing church because the intent is can we 00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:08.440 engage, contend with and then be able to press through to the end with the world 00:01:08.440 --> 00:01:12.640 and the people in the world because God, I know you know this but God laid down 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:18.320 the life of His Son Jesus Christ or Jesus Christ laid down His life for the 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:21.840 sake of the world not for Christians, for the sake of the world not for 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:29.160 Christians. So here are some things we need to know about the Lordship of 00:01:29.160 --> 00:01:32.840 Christ and our witness in the world and how God wants to work through it all. 00:01:32.840 --> 00:01:39.680 There is a divine format and the divine format is found in Matthew 28 19 and 20 00:01:39.720 --> 00:01:55.760 where it says go make disciples, fall nations, baptizing them in the name of 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:05.280 the Father Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that 00:02:05.320 --> 00:02:12.920 I have taught you. So there is a format to this it's not random. Paul followed it 00:02:12.920 --> 00:02:23.240 Jesus taught it and these steps are not necessarily, oh yeah let's go there a 00:02:23.240 --> 00:02:27.720 little later. Guys so here are the things we need to understand that when it comes 00:02:27.720 --> 00:02:35.120 to this church in the world we have to first get this right, personal Lordship 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:48.440 after which we have to get right standing right. Once we accept Him as Lord 00:02:48.440 --> 00:02:54.760 and understand Him as Lord we need right standing with God as in be in right 00:02:54.760 --> 00:02:59.600 relationship with Him after His Lordship. Then we have to get into this place 00:02:59.600 --> 00:03:12.000 called right living and after we finish right living I don't want to say after 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:16.040 we finish right living why it's because it's not sequential it can be 00:03:16.040 --> 00:03:23.920 continuous then we move into public Lordship. These are four steps that we 00:03:24.440 --> 00:03:30.400 the church must practice. We begin here we begin here we begin with a personal 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:34.040 Lordship of Christ established in our life the personal Lordship of Christ 00:03:34.040 --> 00:03:38.440 established in our life. Now that He is Lord of our lives we now have to learn 00:03:38.440 --> 00:03:44.760 how to be in right relationship with the Lord of our life, right relationship or 00:03:44.760 --> 00:03:49.880 right standing. We have to learn how to be in right relationship or right 00:03:49.880 --> 00:03:53.480 standing with the Lord of our lives because very often that's not the case 00:03:53.480 --> 00:03:58.440 we acknowledge Him as Lord but churches are full of Christians who can declare 00:03:58.440 --> 00:04:04.560 Christ as Lord but are not able to move into a vibrant right relationship with 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:12.960 God just like Jesus had with the Father. After that we come to right living. Now 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:16.680 that we are in right relationship and He is the Lord of our life there it should 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:26.640 show in right living. This is why Paul was so emphatic on the ethical living 00:04:26.640 --> 00:04:32.920 of a Christian. He said that you are holy therefore show yourselves holy. The 00:04:32.920 --> 00:04:38.680 essence of all of Paul's letters was to emphasize ethical living. Well what does 00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:44.200 what does Christian living look like? And once we get that then we can begin to 00:04:44.200 --> 00:04:51.160 now publicly make obvious this culture that Christ has created in us 00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:55.040 individually and as a people. Now people begin to see us so that's what a 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:58.640 Christian looks like not the other version. This is what Christ looks like. 00:04:58.640 --> 00:05:04.120 What happens very often is you can go from personal lordship to public 00:05:04.120 --> 00:05:08.200 lordship and when that happens you miss out on right relationship and right 00:05:08.200 --> 00:05:12.640 living and this you will often find in churches where the emphasis is 00:05:12.640 --> 00:05:17.840 tremendously on grace grace grace grace grace. When the grace message is preached 00:05:17.840 --> 00:05:22.920 like crazy it is possible for people to immediately accept Him as Lord and then 00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:28.200 begin to live out their Christian life in the public without going through 00:05:28.200 --> 00:05:32.280 right standing and right living because everything is covered by grace. You have 00:05:32.280 --> 00:05:36.240 accepted Jesus Christ now Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life grace grace 00:05:37.240 --> 00:05:46.440 This is the hyper grace pit that you can fall into when when there is no need to 00:05:46.440 --> 00:05:50.320 develop right relationship when there is no need to develop right living because 00:05:50.320 --> 00:05:56.160 everything is covered by grace. That's one danger. The other danger is when you 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:01.840 go from personal lordship to right living without right relationship. So 00:06:01.840 --> 00:06:13.320 this is the result of hyper grace and this can be the result of legalism. So 00:06:13.320 --> 00:06:17.640 one is the result of hyper grace where you can go straight from lordship into 00:06:17.640 --> 00:06:22.160 now that I'm saved now that all my sins are forgiven now that God is my father 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:27.120 now that he's full of forgiveness every time things go wrong I can run to him 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:33.720 and just say grace grace grace. The other aspect is when you go from personal 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:40.480 lordship into right living without right relationship. That's when it's legalism 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:45.680 when now you've accepted Christ as Lord and now the emphasis is live right live 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:48.480 right live right don't do this do this don't do this do this don't do this do 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:53.320 this and everything is coming not out of a place of relationship but out of a 00:06:53.480 --> 00:07:01.600 duty or an obligation of fear. That is when legalism kicks in. We have to go 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:07.360 through these stages not sequentially but keep it in mind so that we are 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:17.760 continuously moving in that area. Any questions before we go on? Any questions? 00:07:23.520 --> 00:07:45.240 Any questions guys? Okay so let's start with personal lordship then. Personal lordship. 00:07:45.640 --> 00:07:57.640 Personal lordship. Personal lordship would require that I be aware of him as 00:07:57.640 --> 00:08:11.240 Savior and Master. I be aware of him. I be aware of him as Savior and Master. This 00:08:11.240 --> 00:08:15.800 is very simple everybody knows this but the reason I'm repeating it is so that 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:20.440 as we go out into the world we have certain things settled in our minds 00:08:20.440 --> 00:08:24.120 about what things look like. We can develop on it. I'm not saying this is the 00:08:24.120 --> 00:08:29.160 end all of how to go about things but if we have these things set in my mind when 00:08:29.160 --> 00:08:33.720 I talk to somebody I know that these are things that God requires of me to 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:39.440 convey or to demonstrate or to teach or to example. So the first thing when it 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:42.320 comes to personal lordship in my life or through my life to somebody else 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:48.440 who's not a believer is they have to become aware that Jesus Christ must be 00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:52.600 received or acknowledged as Savior and as Master. Sometimes the word Lord 00:08:52.600 --> 00:09:02.880 doesn't make sense therefore we have to go for words like Master. Two, we like 00:09:02.880 --> 00:09:07.040 saying that Christianity is not a religion it's a personal relationship. As 00:09:07.520 --> 00:09:11.840 true as that is it is also not true Christianity is a religion it has a 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:20.480 belief system. The moment anything has a belief system it is a religion and in 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:25.200 that sense yes Christianity comes out of a personal relationship but it's not 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:31.920 just a personal relationship there is a belief system. So we can't avoid that it 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:37.040 is a religion based on a personal relationship and if it's a religion then 00:09:37.040 --> 00:09:45.840 it is essential that I help I learn the belief systems the belief system I am 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:51.600 part of. If I don't learn it I can't teach it I must learn it I must teach it 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:59.160 I must learn it then I can teach it. 00:10:01.960 --> 00:10:11.720 I must learn it then I can teach it. 1st Timothy 4 16. 1st Timothy 4 16. A belief 00:10:11.720 --> 00:10:18.320 system is made up of doctrine ugly ugly words that churches like ours avoids. 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:22.680 Doctrine seems to put everything in a box but there are certain things that 00:10:22.680 --> 00:10:29.920 are in a box that's continuously expanding. 1st Timothy 4 16. You don't 00:10:29.960 --> 00:10:33.040 have to think out of the box when it comes to God because God's box keeps 00:10:33.040 --> 00:10:42.680 expanding. 1st Timothy 4 16. 1st Timothy 4 16. Watch your life and doctrine 00:10:42.680 --> 00:10:48.200 closely persevere in them because if you do you will save both yourself and your 00:10:48.200 --> 00:10:54.240 hearers. What a beautiful verse. Watch your life and doctrine closely persevere in 00:10:54.240 --> 00:11:01.040 them because if you do you will save both yourself and your hearers and these 00:11:01.040 --> 00:11:05.200 are some essentials of doctrine that I would suggest to you we don't know and 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:11.840 that we should know and I got this from someone else and he broke it into these 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:17.000 words. What are these things called? 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:28.840 Acronyms. Educated people I'm preaching to. So belief system and this is where 00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:34.560 sometimes we as Christians fail because we think this belongs to churches that 00:11:34.560 --> 00:11:44.640 are not charismatic or not vibrant so that's for them. We just we just depend 00:11:44.680 --> 00:11:50.840 on the Holy Spirit. It's for the rest of them but it's so important to know deity 00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:57.800 the deity of Christ. Is he fully man? Is he fully God? Is he both? Is he half man? 00:11:57.800 --> 00:12:03.120 Is he half God? What is he? Why does he call himself the son of God, son of man? 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:10.200 Fascinating how most of us won't know. Probably most of us will know but it's 00:12:10.200 --> 00:12:16.760 fascinating how many don't know. Second, 00:12:21.280 --> 00:12:29.000 original sin, original sin. How did sin enter? What did sin do? What did I lose 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:41.840 because of sin? What did Jesus do to fix it? Third, the canon of scripture. As in 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:45.920 how did the Bible come along? Why did they choose these books? Why were some 00:12:45.920 --> 00:12:54.940 books left out? What's the reasoning behind it? Fourth, Trinity. Do we believe 00:12:54.980 --> 00:13:01.100 in three gods or do we believe in one God? Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Hard to 00:13:01.100 --> 00:13:10.100 explain so we leave it alone. Why not explore it? Fourth one, resurrection. Did 00:13:10.100 --> 00:13:13.980 it actually happen? Was it a figment of imagination? What actually happened? Why 00:13:13.980 --> 00:13:18.460 is Christianity based solely on the resurrection of Christ? If he didn't rise 00:13:18.460 --> 00:13:29.820 then 1st Corinthians 15 says we are pathetic people. Next one, incarnation. 00:13:29.820 --> 00:13:39.980 When God took on flesh and became man and will forever be a high priest before 00:13:39.980 --> 00:13:46.140 God. How does it work? What does it now mean for us to be incarnational? 00:13:46.180 --> 00:13:49.660 I don't even want to ask these questions because it sounds profound and I don't 00:13:49.660 --> 00:13:57.940 know all the answers. New creation. What does it mean to be born again? To be made 00:13:57.940 --> 00:14:08.780 new? What does it mean? What became new? Yep and the work of the Holy Spirit in 00:14:08.780 --> 00:14:14.620 making you new. And the last one, big word that I had to go to college for Bible 00:14:14.620 --> 00:14:19.980 school for eschatology which is how does this all work out in the end? What's 00:14:19.980 --> 00:14:26.020 God's future for us look like? How does this conclude? How does this world 00:14:26.020 --> 00:14:32.900 continue? What does it look like? These are the essentials of doctrine and may I 00:14:32.900 --> 00:14:38.100 suggest to you that we wouldn't be able to necessarily come up with reasonable 00:14:38.100 --> 00:14:46.340 sound answers if someone with a seeking mind actually questioned us on it. We'll 00:14:46.340 --> 00:14:53.540 have vague answers but not concrete answers to a true seeker. To a true seeker. 00:14:53.540 --> 00:14:56.980 I'm not talking about people who want to argue because you can argue till the 00:14:56.980 --> 00:15:06.740 cows come home. Do cows come home? They do. Okay so, pardon? Hamburgers do come 00:15:06.740 --> 00:15:17.700 home but cows I was never sure. Anyways so yeah so guys when I realized that I 00:15:17.700 --> 00:15:23.140 didn't know this I went and bought resources so that I could learn it 00:15:24.420 --> 00:15:32.660 because I didn't have clear a clear way of speaking these things. Not a 00:15:32.660 --> 00:15:36.660 complicated way. A clear way to a normal seeker because most of us don't work 00:15:37.300 --> 00:15:41.780 in academic circles. Some of us do but most of us need to give simple answers for all these. 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:48.260 So when it talks about the personal lordship of Christ we want to avoid this completely because 00:15:48.260 --> 00:15:55.060 we just want to say Jesus is Lord. But it ain't enough. Not in today's world. Not in today's 00:15:55.060 --> 00:16:03.940 world. Not in today's world. This isn't a Judeo-Christian culture. It requires answers. 00:16:07.540 --> 00:16:16.260 And the last one. So the first one was an awareness of being a Jesus being a savior 00:16:16.260 --> 00:16:22.180 and master. Two was a belief system. And the third one is a willingness to confess him publicly. 00:16:22.180 --> 00:16:28.660 A willingness to confess Jesus publicly. 00:16:28.660 --> 00:16:39.300 A willingness to confess Jesus publicly. So if this is A this is B and this is C. 00:16:40.820 --> 00:16:46.900 When these three things are going together and you are functioning in increasingly growing in this 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:53.700 you know that you're coming to this coming to that place where you can say yeah I understand 00:16:53.700 --> 00:17:00.740 the personal lordship of Christ. I'm aware of him as a savior and master. I understand what he has 00:17:00.740 --> 00:17:07.700 taught. What he is about. I know the doctrine that I follow. And then I am not just someone who has 00:17:07.700 --> 00:17:13.140 accepted him personally and keeps it quiet. I'm willing to confess him openly. And one of the 00:17:13.140 --> 00:17:20.820 first signs of an open confession is baptism. It was very natural for Christians to be baptized. 00:17:20.820 --> 00:17:26.180 Guys some of us may be thinking right now but this is stuff that I know. Yes but we're setting 00:17:26.180 --> 00:17:31.700 it down in a format that Jesus had set it down so that when we talk to others we can go down this 00:17:31.700 --> 00:17:36.980 path eventually. This may take a person nine months so be it. But we go down this path. 00:17:38.500 --> 00:17:43.700 Baptism is the first sign of an open confession of Jesus Christ as Lord. And for those who come 00:17:43.700 --> 00:17:48.980 from Christian backgrounds, Hindu backgrounds, Muslim backgrounds, Buddhist backgrounds, baptism 00:17:48.980 --> 00:17:56.660 is that place where you are publicly declaring that I belong to someone. I remember when I 00:17:56.660 --> 00:18:02.260 decided to get baptized because my dad came from a church that believed in infant baptism and did 00:18:02.260 --> 00:18:07.380 not believe in believers being baptized. I remember going and telling him finally I got baptized 00:18:07.380 --> 00:18:14.260 without telling him because I knew it would cause havoc. Finally when I did go and tell him I was 00:18:14.260 --> 00:18:20.980 a grown-up guy by now, not a kid, he slapped me straight across my face and I thought to myself 00:18:20.980 --> 00:18:31.060 you just slapped me. And I had just gotten baptized but the reaction inside me wasn't 00:18:31.060 --> 00:18:37.860 very baptism. I mean I had a storm out of the house because I was scared of how I would respond. 00:18:38.260 --> 00:18:45.060 So there will be opposition. It doesn't matter which background you come from because there is 00:18:45.060 --> 00:18:51.460 something about baptism that is so stark in terms of the dividing line that it's not easy. 00:18:52.340 --> 00:19:02.900 But as the first open sign of confessing him before men and it says in Luke 9 26 it says that 00:19:03.540 --> 00:19:09.540 if you will if you're not ashamed of me before men I will not be ashamed of you before the father. 00:19:12.260 --> 00:19:16.420 And so it also goes on to say but if you're ashamed of me before men 00:19:16.980 --> 00:19:18.820 I will be ashamed of you before the father. 00:19:48.980 --> 00:19:54.420 See you said so many nice things about me. I just think you and I should preach together today. 00:19:59.940 --> 00:20:02.740 Guys any questions on the personal Lordship of Christ 00:20:04.100 --> 00:20:06.340 on what we just talked about? Any questions? 00:20:06.340 --> 00:20:17.300 No. Okay well meaning it would I could say more but it would take very long. 00:20:18.260 --> 00:20:24.980 I was thinking of eschatology as in God's I like Isaiah 46 which says he knows the end from the 00:20:25.700 --> 00:20:32.260 beginning and that for me kind of summarizes it. When he started this he knew how he wanted it to 00:20:32.260 --> 00:20:41.940 go and at the end of the day that is what I define it as. God seeing his people right from the 00:20:41.940 --> 00:20:45.700 he's seeing the end from the beginning knowing this is what I wanted my people to be. 00:20:46.740 --> 00:20:51.860 And when he said people he wasn't meaning Christians he was meaning people as in his people. 00:20:51.860 --> 00:20:56.660 This is what he wanted for them. So it is not something I'm waiting for in the future and yet 00:20:56.660 --> 00:21:01.220 it is something I'm waiting for in the future but it is what his people ought to be right now. 00:21:01.220 --> 00:21:06.660 So for me Isaiah 46 10 kind of sums it up but it's such a poor definition. But if I had to go 00:21:06.660 --> 00:21:16.820 into long definition I could. Yeah yeah go ahead Maurice. Okay any other questions or anything you 00:21:16.820 --> 00:21:23.780 want to add to the eschatology poor eschatology definition that I just gave? Because it's not 00:21:23.780 --> 00:21:28.660 about the temple in Jerusalem it's not about the new heavens and the earth and yet it's about 00:21:28.660 --> 00:21:32.900 all that except the temple which is already torn down and rebuilt. So please don't send money to 00:21:32.900 --> 00:21:43.780 Israel for temples. Yeah Isaiah 46 10. If I'm wrong you can correct me later. Any questions guys? 00:21:45.700 --> 00:21:57.540 Okay guys see for the Holy Spirit to sculpt truths into our lives. He sculpts truths into our lives 00:21:57.540 --> 00:22:12.580 through one anothering, through house church or church whatever you want to call it, 00:22:14.180 --> 00:22:20.980 and gatherings wherever whenever teaching or instruction happens. This is 00:22:20.980 --> 00:22:29.700 this is the Holy Spirit's way of teaching us. I've said this before and I need to say this again 00:22:29.700 --> 00:22:38.180 because these are truths that are not learned in isolation. He just doesn't work that way. He just 00:22:38.180 --> 00:22:42.820 doesn't work that way. It's so important to emphasize this at this stage because we mustn't 00:22:42.820 --> 00:22:48.660 forget these things. The Holy Spirit instructs. Can he teach you directly? Yes. What's his preferred 00:22:48.660 --> 00:22:52.740 method of teaching? His preferred method of teaching is Jacob can I teach you through others 00:22:53.380 --> 00:22:59.540 through one anothering because I don't want you to be someone who is not dependent on others. Two, 00:22:59.540 --> 00:23:05.780 I'll teach you through the church. Why? Because the church is called a pillar of truth and there the 00:23:05.780 --> 00:23:11.060 bridegroom reveals himself fully. I've also appointed in the church apostles prophets teachers 00:23:11.060 --> 00:23:16.900 pastors and evangelists for the equipping of the saints. So I'm going to use that method because I 00:23:16.900 --> 00:23:22.340 authored the word and I've said it there. And third wherever there is gathering wherever there 00:23:22.340 --> 00:23:27.540 is teaching wherever there is instruction I'll use those times to teach you. Will you hear from me 00:23:27.540 --> 00:23:36.020 personally? Yes. But where will most of the teaching of truth happen in the context of others? 00:23:37.380 --> 00:23:42.340 This is a hard thing to accept but this is the this is reality. The Bible talks about it again 00:23:42.340 --> 00:23:50.820 and again and again. We pick on verses like the Holy Spirit will bring you into all truth. True, 00:23:51.540 --> 00:23:57.940 absolutely true but true people. I don't think there's anything I have taught over the last 00:23:57.940 --> 00:24:04.420 12-13 years here that didn't start through somebody else and then the Holy Spirit added things to it. 00:24:04.420 --> 00:24:10.580 There's nothing that I have taught that isn't copyrighted by the Spirit of God who brought it 00:24:10.580 --> 00:24:17.140 in through somebody else. Very little original teaching in this church. 00:24:19.540 --> 00:24:22.820 Things have been added on things have been presented a certain way. 00:24:29.380 --> 00:24:35.700 See the reason this goes into effect is because truths are on one hand cultural principles 00:24:35.700 --> 00:24:41.140 and the reason I call them cultural principles is because we are developing a culture through 00:24:41.140 --> 00:24:46.740 these truths. These truths when practiced give visibility to the kingdom culture. Truths are 00:24:46.740 --> 00:24:51.940 principles cultural principles are principles and therefore they must be practiced together. 00:24:52.500 --> 00:25:03.780 They must be practiced together. They must be practiced together. Two truths are 00:25:03.780 --> 00:25:15.220 truths are proceeding as in truths don't stand stagnant. They proceed. I'll explain that. Guys 00:25:15.220 --> 00:25:19.940 I've said this before and I'm saying it again and this is in topic. Don't think I'm going off on a 00:25:19.940 --> 00:25:28.820 detour. Every truth of God is absolute but all truths of God keep unfolding. Keep unfolding. The 00:25:28.820 --> 00:25:35.140 word of God keeps proceeding. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out 00:25:35.140 --> 00:25:42.420 of the mouth of God. God's truths keep unfolding. Therefore it is necessary for me to be able to 00:25:42.420 --> 00:25:47.860 learn from others through whom the Holy Spirit will bring to light a new dimension of the truth 00:25:47.860 --> 00:25:56.660 that I did not know before. It is often brought to me through people. Occasionally the Holy Spirit 00:25:56.660 --> 00:26:01.540 will shine his light and immediately I'll take it and go verify it with others because I've got to 00:26:01.540 --> 00:26:07.940 make sure that I'm not running in vain. Paul did this. Paul said and I had Christ come and tell me 00:26:07.940 --> 00:26:14.340 this and not that I wanted to confer with flesh and blood but I did go to the apostles in Jerusalem 00:26:14.340 --> 00:26:19.780 and I spoke with them and said am I running the right path because I don't want to run in vain. 00:26:20.180 --> 00:26:28.180 So because truth is proceeding once again I must discuss it with you. 00:26:30.660 --> 00:26:32.180 Dissect it with you. 00:26:37.060 --> 00:26:42.260 This is so important. So important when you think you have found the truth in the Bible 00:26:42.260 --> 00:26:47.460 go discuss it with someone. Dissect it with someone who will parry your anger. 00:26:47.460 --> 00:26:55.460 Dissect it with someone who will parry your every thrust and will begin to be like iron that sharpens iron. 00:26:55.460 --> 00:27:02.580 Otherwise when we don't go down this route truths become errors that you continue down 00:27:03.700 --> 00:27:05.860 into two, three, four generations. 00:27:05.860 --> 00:27:11.140 And lastly truth is a principle, truth is proceeding and truth is a person. 00:27:12.020 --> 00:27:19.780 And because truth is a person it is important that it display his nature 00:27:22.020 --> 00:27:27.220 it display his nature and it be relational. 00:27:27.380 --> 00:27:32.260 Just think of that. When it comes to Christianity no other religion is this true 00:27:32.260 --> 00:27:37.540 but when it comes to Christianity Jesus didn't say I'm going to tell you the truth he did say that too 00:27:38.100 --> 00:27:44.180 but he said I am the truth. Jesus said I am the truth. In Christianity truth is a person 00:27:44.180 --> 00:27:47.700 and therefore any truth must be true. 00:27:48.340 --> 00:27:50.420 So I'm going to tell you the truth. 00:27:50.500 --> 00:27:58.260 Jesus said I am the truth. In Christianity truth is a person and therefore any truth must be relational. 00:27:59.460 --> 00:28:04.900 This is why we never have to go sit on Grouse Mountain for 20 days doing penance. 00:28:05.460 --> 00:28:09.220 Christianity is not practiced in isolation it's always relational. 00:28:10.340 --> 00:28:14.420 I know you've heard this before but for new guys who've come in the last couple of years I mean 00:28:15.300 --> 00:28:19.460 we have an amazing friend called Eddie in this church who hasn't visited for a while. 00:28:20.580 --> 00:28:25.780 Someone came up to his dad and said to his dad oh you know I'm intensely spiritual and his dad 00:28:25.780 --> 00:28:30.260 asked a simple question to this intensely spiritual guy. He asked the guy who are you spiritual with? 00:28:32.500 --> 00:28:36.180 Because it is not possible to be spiritual if you're not spiritual in 00:28:38.180 --> 00:28:44.980 relationship. That is where spirituality is exposed. All the fruit of the Holy Spirit cannot exist 00:28:44.980 --> 00:28:53.060 except in relationship. Love, peace, joy all of them exist only in relationship. Therefore 00:28:53.060 --> 00:28:58.180 because truth is a person it must display his nature and it must be relational. 00:29:00.020 --> 00:29:06.900 Why am I suddenly going here? Because guys where we are going as a church it is necessary that we 00:29:06.900 --> 00:29:10.980 become heavily reliant on each other when it comes to truths. 00:29:11.620 --> 00:29:16.020 When it comes to the practice of principles we must practice them together. It's when you practice 00:29:16.020 --> 00:29:22.020 truths together that the net doesn't tear when the fish are hauled in. There are two stories in Luke. 00:29:22.020 --> 00:29:27.700 In Luke chapter 5 there was a lot of fish that were caught by the disciples when Jesus said 00:29:27.700 --> 00:29:32.020 cast the net on the other side and as they began to haul the net in guess what happened? 00:29:32.020 --> 00:29:40.900 The net began to tear and then at the end of John there is a story of 150 fish that were caught 00:29:40.900 --> 00:29:49.140 and there it says even though the number of fish was huge the nets did not break. 00:29:50.660 --> 00:29:57.460 Nets don't tear when people decide that they will practice truths together because this becomes a 00:29:57.460 --> 00:30:02.740 cultural principle. It becomes a culture that we observe. A whole group of people practice it. 00:30:02.820 --> 00:30:08.900 Not one or two or three. No everybody practices it. Everybody practices it. 00:30:11.060 --> 00:30:17.380 Secondly truth is proceeding. Therefore if I hear something it is good to come and discuss it with 00:30:17.380 --> 00:30:23.140 you. Dissect it with you. Bounce it off you because in doing that you may add something that I have 00:30:23.140 --> 00:30:30.340 not seen and now I think to myself oh shucks I hadn't seen that. I mean most of the time I 00:30:30.340 --> 00:30:34.180 won't admit when you guys come up with a nugget of truth because I'm the pastor I can't admit I 00:30:34.180 --> 00:30:39.220 didn't know that but you'll be surprised at how many times when I've been involved in discussions 00:30:39.220 --> 00:30:46.580 with you and you ask a question or you say something and inside me tube lights are going 00:30:46.580 --> 00:30:52.020 off but outside me I pretend like of course I knew this. That's vanity. We'll deal with that 00:30:52.020 --> 00:30:58.820 another day but the point is this so many times in your questions and your comments I think to 00:30:58.820 --> 00:31:09.540 myself oh shucks I never saw that but keep it quiet. And lastly the truth is a person therefore 00:31:09.540 --> 00:31:14.500 you must display his nature. If you're practicing a truth it must display his nature. One of the 00:31:14.500 --> 00:31:19.140 greatest problems with Christians is that we display truth without displaying his nature 00:31:19.140 --> 00:31:25.220 and you cannot separate Jesus from the truths he speaks because he is it. Therefore when I practice 00:31:25.220 --> 00:31:29.540 a truth without his nature being conveyed it ain't the truth. 00:31:35.540 --> 00:31:41.700 It just ain't the truth. It must display his nature and it must be relational. It must be relational 00:31:41.700 --> 00:31:46.660 and this is very important because if we are saying that we are a people who are going to proclaim 00:31:46.660 --> 00:31:54.660 the gospel, penetrate places with the gospel, cause it to progress then if the gospel is true, 00:31:54.660 --> 00:32:00.740 if Jesus is true then in everything we do it must be relational. It can't be from the good old days. 00:32:01.860 --> 00:32:06.020 The good old days were never good by the way just so you know. It's a myth. 00:32:07.940 --> 00:32:13.620 The older I get the better it's getting. The good old days they had black and white photographs, 00:32:13.620 --> 00:32:14.740 no microwaves. 00:32:21.140 --> 00:32:25.540 Oh okay sorry I got carried away. I was just thinking of how difficult it was to heat food. 00:32:25.540 --> 00:32:33.220 Now it's so easy. Sorry we don't need to go there. Where were we? The good old days. 00:32:37.940 --> 00:32:42.980 These are the good old days. Guys where were we? We were at some very critical truth. 00:32:44.580 --> 00:32:50.180 Yeah see so here's the thing. There was a time when you could go stand in front of a people and 00:32:50.180 --> 00:32:56.420 announce the gospel in a big crusade and thousands would come to the front. With the death of Billy Graham that era is over. 00:33:00.020 --> 00:33:09.060 It used to work in this part of the world. In other parts of the world it worked but not necessarily well. 00:33:09.380 --> 00:33:18.180 One of the things that happened in Asian and South Asian countries is Christianity was a mile wide and two centimeters thick. 00:33:18.180 --> 00:33:24.100 People who got saved again and again and again but didn't know better. 00:33:26.980 --> 00:33:32.500 Make disciples of all nations yes. For one life at a time through relationship. 00:33:33.060 --> 00:33:40.100 You take Jesus and you will see it again and again and again. You will see the way Jesus went about it. 00:33:42.500 --> 00:33:51.060 Crusades aren't the way to go guys. One man conducting a crusade. No now the church is the evangelist. 00:33:51.060 --> 00:34:00.340 The church is the teacher. The church begins to take on a governing apostolic role. The church begins to speak the will of God and becomes prophet. 00:34:00.340 --> 00:34:07.700 The church becomes the one that shepherds the sheep binds up the wound feeds them. Oh people not one individual. 00:34:12.420 --> 00:34:19.700 If there was it I need to say this so that we are clear about this not because I want to put a black mark on that man. 00:34:19.700 --> 00:34:27.460 But if there was one thing that Billy Graham changed to the detriment of the church. It was when he pulled himself out of the church. 00:34:27.460 --> 00:34:31.140 And started an organization called the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. 00:34:31.140 --> 00:34:37.620 And that began the departure of every gifted evangelist from the church to an organization. 00:34:38.180 --> 00:34:40.340 When the church was supposed to be the one that did it. 00:34:40.340 --> 00:34:56.420 Let the work of Christ live among your riches. 00:34:56.580 --> 00:34:58.500 Yeah. Yeah. 00:35:08.580 --> 00:35:14.500 God has formats that he gives us. Let me use a different one. God has frameworks he gives us that we are supposed to work within. 00:35:14.500 --> 00:35:20.100 But he wants us to understand that Jacob you may have a formula right now. And it's worked brilliantly many times. 00:35:20.100 --> 00:35:26.020 But can you be open to my truth because it's proceeding and it'll unfold a little more. Discuss it with people. Learn new ways. 00:35:26.100 --> 00:35:33.940 God has a framework. We may have principles that we understand and practice together. There'll be new principles added to it. 00:35:33.940 --> 00:35:39.780 God has a framework. Truth is a person. Jacob when you relate to people when you tell them about me. 00:35:39.780 --> 00:35:44.100 Can you make sure that you don't come out with your standard lines and that you first relate to them. 00:35:44.100 --> 00:35:50.900 Approach evangelism in a very different way. Approach the proclamation of the gospel differently like my son used to do. 00:35:50.900 --> 00:35:53.300 So what does that look like? We'll talk about that right now. 00:35:53.860 --> 00:35:58.900 Bearing witness to Jesus as Savior. What does it look like? What should it look like? 00:35:58.900 --> 00:36:05.540 One guys first thing I must be relational. Guys we live in Vancouver. 00:36:06.260 --> 00:36:12.980 This city thrives on either a lack of relationality or intense relationality. 00:36:12.980 --> 00:36:17.460 You go out on August 1st when the pride parade takes place in downtown. 00:36:18.100 --> 00:36:25.860 And you will see relationality between the spectators and the ones who are parading. 00:36:26.820 --> 00:36:33.140 I'm not lifting it up. I'm saying it's a perverse situation at least based on what the Bible says 00:36:33.860 --> 00:36:38.100 and what we believe but relationality this city thrives on. 00:36:39.140 --> 00:36:44.180 Why do we assume that Christianity can progress in this place without relationality by standing 00:36:44.180 --> 00:36:47.780 and preaching it or inviting people into the church doesn't work that way. 00:36:48.580 --> 00:36:57.860 Jesus knew this ages ago. He was like this. I must be relational and see the person 00:37:00.580 --> 00:37:09.620 in the image of God. I must be relational and see the person as one made in the image of God. 00:37:10.580 --> 00:37:14.980 Distorted at present needing restoration. 00:37:20.500 --> 00:37:25.620 Distorted at present needing restoration. Why is this important? Because as soon as you begin to 00:37:25.620 --> 00:37:36.740 see the person like this, this brings joy, compassion, desire for that person to know the Lord. 00:37:37.700 --> 00:37:43.060 It is critical that we get this first. When you see a person you're talking to, 00:37:43.460 --> 00:37:47.940 that you're encountering in an elevator, that you're meeting on the road, 00:37:48.500 --> 00:37:52.020 remember this. This is one of the first steps. I must be relational. 00:37:55.060 --> 00:38:01.060 You're not a notch on my six gun. You're not a scalp I want to collect. It doesn't matter which 00:38:01.060 --> 00:38:11.780 line I use. Both are racist. At the end of the day, I must be relational to I must see you 00:38:11.780 --> 00:38:18.660 as made in the image of God. When I see you made in the image of God, then compassion comes up in 00:38:18.660 --> 00:38:23.300 my heart because I know that the only difference between you and me is that you are made in the 00:38:23.300 --> 00:38:28.580 image of God and your image is completely distorted as mine used to be. But all it needs is 00:38:28.580 --> 00:38:32.820 restoration and Jesus Christ is the only one who can restore it. Now there is compassion. 00:38:32.820 --> 00:38:38.180 Now that compassion does something. Compassion makes me even more relational. Compassion makes 00:38:38.180 --> 00:38:43.860 me relational. Now there is joy. With joy will come the hope and the expectancy that into this 00:38:43.860 --> 00:38:50.180 person's life can come Christ as he did in mine when thousands, not thousands, when a few, 00:38:51.220 --> 00:38:54.260 no not even a few hundreds, when about 30 people gave up on me. 00:38:54.260 --> 00:39:02.580 And it brings desire. Do you realize how critical this is guys? And do you realize how rarely we go 00:39:02.580 --> 00:39:08.980 down this route? It is not the first thought that comes into your mind. It was usually the first 00:39:08.980 --> 00:39:16.100 thought that came into Jesus's mind made in the image of God, made in the image of God, 00:39:16.820 --> 00:39:27.860 made in the image of God. Once you know that, it fuels desire in you, the kind of desire that wants 00:39:27.860 --> 00:39:32.740 you to go an extra mile. It causes you to have compassion saying you are made in the image of 00:39:32.740 --> 00:39:37.540 God. It is distorted right now, but it shall be restored because mine was and I am restored. 00:39:37.700 --> 00:39:47.540 And there is suddenly joy in this whole idea of witnessing to who God is. Second, 00:39:51.140 --> 00:39:58.660 I must gauge where the person is at. I must gauge where the person is at. 00:40:00.740 --> 00:40:05.300 This is another thing we don't do. I must gauge where the person is at. 00:40:05.300 --> 00:40:13.300 Father, where is this person at? Gauge means I must fathom. I must try to understand. I must 00:40:13.300 --> 00:40:18.180 try to understand. I must try to, give me another word guys, I must try to understand. 00:40:20.500 --> 00:40:28.580 I must perceive. Discern is a good word. You win. You will get an honorarium 00:40:28.660 --> 00:40:36.660 that is twice as much as what Derek and Jeevan get. I must discern. I must discern where a person is 00:40:36.660 --> 00:40:44.100 at. Jesus did this. You can see it. When he is with Nicodemus, he discerns where Nicodemus is at. 00:40:44.100 --> 00:40:46.660 To begin with, he knows if a guy comes to visit me in the middle of the night, 00:40:47.540 --> 00:40:51.540 doesn't need much discernment there. The guy is scared. And then he begins this conversation 00:40:51.540 --> 00:40:57.300 with him. He discerns where the rich man is at. And he also discerns where the rich man is at. 00:40:57.940 --> 00:41:03.060 And he also discerns that there's no point pursuing this rich man or hammering anything 00:41:03.060 --> 00:41:08.020 further because he's going to walk away because his riches are way too blinding right now. 00:41:08.020 --> 00:41:14.660 He discerns where Zacchaeus is at. And he knows that for this man who's been an outcast thrown 00:41:14.660 --> 00:41:21.940 aside by most people, the thing that will break his life open is very simple. Visit him in his house. 00:41:22.420 --> 00:41:28.340 He discerns where Levi is at. It is such an important part of witnessing that we have 00:41:28.340 --> 00:41:34.580 completely lost out. Why? Because we quickly want to give the message of Jesus and get it done with. 00:41:35.060 --> 00:41:40.900 Oh my God, if I can wait till one recognizes the image of God that she has made and distorted as it 00:41:40.900 --> 00:41:45.860 may be, but will need restoration, can be done. And then if I can gauge where she's at, 00:41:46.180 --> 00:41:51.860 this is where she's at life. And now I have the ability to deal with her as I would, Nicodemus, 00:41:51.860 --> 00:41:59.060 or Levi, or Zacchaeus, or whoever. And you will find that the words you speak go through 00:41:59.060 --> 00:42:06.420 the person like a knife through butter, but I've never found that to be true. 00:42:07.780 --> 00:42:12.260 Every time I've taken a knife to butter, it's a blooming solid block. 00:42:12.260 --> 00:42:17.860 And by the time I put it on my piece of bread, it just destroys the slice of bread. 00:42:20.100 --> 00:42:28.260 But then that would mean waiting. Anyways, cows coming home, knife, fire. 00:42:30.580 --> 00:42:35.140 Microwave it. Yeah, I told you these are the good old days. Anyways, 00:42:35.300 --> 00:42:38.500 some of these phrases just don't work. Knife through butter ain't true. Cows come home, 00:42:38.500 --> 00:42:51.540 haven't seen it yet. So this is so important, guys. Third one. I must make use of every chance. 00:42:52.260 --> 00:42:59.300 I must make use, that's how the message puts it, in Ephesians 5.14 to 7.15. 00:42:59.700 --> 00:43:08.740 I must make use of every chance to further God's intent. I must make use of every chance 00:43:08.740 --> 00:43:18.500 to further God's intent. Further God's intent. Which then begs the question, manner, meaning 00:43:18.500 --> 00:43:25.700 what is it? And then I have the ability to deal with the person like a knife through butter, 00:43:25.700 --> 00:43:32.900 which then begs the question, manner, meaning what is it? Sorry, getting too cute here. 00:43:34.740 --> 00:43:38.580 Basically, you have to ask, what is it, oh God, what's your intent in this chance encounter? 00:43:38.580 --> 00:43:48.180 What is your intent in this chance encounter? Because what if it is healing that is required 00:43:48.180 --> 00:43:53.140 first? What if it is money that is required first? What if it is food that is required first? 00:43:53.940 --> 00:43:58.660 What if it is just kindness that is required first that will open this person up? 00:44:00.420 --> 00:44:04.980 What is it that is required? Oh God, what is your intent? This is part of the gaging, but 00:44:05.540 --> 00:44:12.180 I must make use of every chance, every encounter. I was going up the elevator a few days ago, 00:44:12.180 --> 00:44:19.620 and I saw an older man carrying a large plank of wood. It looked like he could carry it, but 00:44:19.620 --> 00:44:26.740 I just said, hey, do you want help? Because that's what I sensed God prompting me to say. 00:44:26.740 --> 00:44:30.580 And I knew what he would say. He would say, no, thank you. But do you know how many times I've 00:44:30.580 --> 00:44:40.180 met that man in the last five days? Four. And every time he and I meet now, and it's very unusual to 00:44:40.180 --> 00:44:45.860 meet this man four times in a building without that many people. Four times I've met him. Today, 00:44:45.860 --> 00:44:51.220 when I was driving out to church, he was driving in, saw him again. I even know the floor he lives 00:44:51.220 --> 00:44:58.260 on. But I'm thinking about, oh, shucks, father of all the people, him. So what's the intent? What's 00:44:58.260 --> 00:45:04.340 the intent? This is like an adventure that you're on and God knows the end from the beginning. 00:45:06.180 --> 00:45:12.500 So ask the intent. I must make use of every chance I get to further God's intent 00:45:13.060 --> 00:45:17.700 and to present Jesus and to present Jesus, 00:45:20.260 --> 00:45:27.140 present Jesus' story in my life. Jesus' story in my life. Must make use of every chance. 00:45:31.060 --> 00:45:36.180 Because if you can turn a person to see the story of Jesus in your life, you will take the veil away. 00:45:36.180 --> 00:45:43.540 Second Corinthians 3, 3, 16. When someone turns to Jesus, the veil is lifted up and the person is 00:45:43.540 --> 00:45:50.180 no longer blind. Enjoy it, guys. I mean, you heard the stories of Jesus in your life today, 00:45:50.180 --> 00:45:55.140 and those are just the big ones. What about the small ones? We could keep God here till the evening. 00:46:01.620 --> 00:46:05.220 When you tell the story of Jesus in your life, you're presenting Jesus. And every time 00:46:05.220 --> 00:46:12.260 Jesus Christ is presented, the veil is lifted. People begin to see the blindness is removed. 00:46:12.260 --> 00:46:19.540 Second Corinthians 3, 18 talks about it. 3, 16 talks about it. Make use of every opportunity, 00:46:19.540 --> 00:46:25.300 every chance you get. Make use of it. Do you realize that there won't be a single person you 00:46:25.300 --> 00:46:29.220 will come across tomorrow who wasn't a chance encounter, that everything 00:46:29.220 --> 00:46:36.180 God can arrange so that they bump into you who carry Jesus, who carries you. 00:46:37.140 --> 00:46:41.300 It just blows my mind that tomorrow there'll be so many people that I come across, some 00:46:41.300 --> 00:46:45.780 that I recognize, some that I know, some that I don't know. But none of them will be people that 00:46:45.780 --> 00:46:52.180 happen to happen. There will be people that haven't been programmed, but God knows beforehand. 00:46:52.900 --> 00:46:56.100 God knows beforehand. If only Jacob could be a little more aware. 00:46:59.400 --> 00:47:03.940 Good! 00:47:07.700 --> 00:47:11.460 Next one! I must have clarity in what I say and do. 00:47:26.020 --> 00:47:27.780 I must have clarity in what I say and do. 00:47:27.780 --> 00:47:37.540 1st Peter 3.15, 1st Peter 3.15 it says in every situation have a defense for the 00:47:37.540 --> 00:47:43.500 reasonable hope that you have in Jesus meaning be able to speak about it why is 00:47:43.500 --> 00:47:52.300 it that you believe in Jesus and let it be a reasonable defense why do I believe 00:47:52.300 --> 00:47:55.820 it why do you believe in Jesus Jacob because I'm a sinner and he saved me 00:47:55.820 --> 00:48:01.580 really but I am not so I guess I don't need him no you got us there's got to be 00:48:01.580 --> 00:48:06.740 more than that this is why relationality helps tremendously one-liners don't help 00:48:06.740 --> 00:48:13.660 much I was choosing songs today and there's one song called the king of love 00:48:13.660 --> 00:48:17.860 and there's a line in that verse which says my lover's breath is sweetest wine 00:48:17.860 --> 00:48:22.380 I'm thinking to myself if some person who does not know Christ walks in and 00:48:22.380 --> 00:48:28.740 hears us singing that line he'll wonder what we are up to my lover's breath is 00:48:28.740 --> 00:48:41.260 sweetest wine therefore it is important to be relational any questions on these 00:48:41.260 --> 00:48:45.020 four before we go to the last three and then we're done for now we won't even go 00:48:45.020 --> 00:48:50.260 into right standing because that's a long one too any questions on these 00:48:50.260 --> 00:48:58.460 anything you want to add to these am I missing out stuff order this in your 00:48:58.460 --> 00:49:04.700 head guys Mark was telling me how he goes home and then he takes these notes 00:49:04.700 --> 00:49:10.460 and then he goes over them and kind of sets it in his head why because he will 00:49:10.460 --> 00:49:13.940 be working throughout the week and during the week he works with people 00:49:13.940 --> 00:49:18.660 from different trades many of them who do not know Jesus Christ and once he 00:49:18.660 --> 00:49:23.340 reads these notes and goes over them he has them set so that during the week if 00:49:23.340 --> 00:49:28.380 anything comes he pulls out of the storehouse old and new as it says in 00:49:28.380 --> 00:49:33.980 Matthew 13 so how does this help me it gives me a framework doesn't mean that 00:49:33.980 --> 00:49:45.300 this is how we follow but I know this is where I can go okay last three 00:49:49.180 --> 00:49:58.340 next one is I won't forget that only the good news of Jesus Christ rescues people 00:49:58.340 --> 00:50:16.220 I won't forget that only the good news of Jesus has the power to rescue people 00:50:16.220 --> 00:50:45.660 from sin penalty of sin death sickness danger Satan false doctrine I won't 00:50:45.660 --> 00:50:52.100 forget that because the kind of Christianity we practice is the kind of 00:50:52.100 --> 00:50:57.420 Christianity that either costumes the cross or completely avoids the cross and 00:50:57.420 --> 00:51:01.780 that kind of Christianity is not worth anything is a joy lost in brand of 00:51:01.780 --> 00:51:11.100 Christianity and I deliberately took his name there are other wonderful things 00:51:11.140 --> 00:51:20.860 he says which you must follow but not not when it comes to this area I must 00:51:20.860 --> 00:51:25.020 not forget that it is always the good news of Jesus Christ who came down to 00:51:25.020 --> 00:51:32.140 the earth God coming down to the earth as man and then dying on a cross for my 00:51:32.140 --> 00:51:39.180 sins the ability to explain that to have clarity in my explanation to think it 00:51:39.180 --> 00:51:43.260 through father I'm going to meet this person today who's not a believer where 00:51:43.260 --> 00:51:48.140 is he located at would you show me Holy Spirit what is it that your intentions 00:51:48.140 --> 00:51:55.260 are can you help me explain this clearly Paul was astute at this how come when he 00:51:55.260 --> 00:51:59.020 goes to Athens and stands on Mars Hill that he is a completely different 00:51:59.020 --> 00:52:02.340 approach how come when he stands in front of the Jews he has a completely 00:52:02.340 --> 00:52:06.940 different approach then go to Acts 26 and 27 and see how he speaks before 00:52:06.940 --> 00:52:12.100 Felix and a gripper and it's a completely different approach why is it 00:52:12.100 --> 00:52:17.220 that Paul could do that because besides being led by the Spirit and trusting 00:52:17.220 --> 00:52:20.540 that the Holy Spirit will supply the words when you stand before people there 00:52:20.540 --> 00:52:25.100 was thought put into things guys we are working at something we are working at 00:52:25.100 --> 00:52:29.460 the expansion of a kingdom no emissary no ambassador goes into a meeting 00:52:29.460 --> 00:52:36.780 unprepared unless of course you're meeting put in one-on-one with an 00:52:36.780 --> 00:52:45.780 interpreter that's different but otherwise people go in prepared we are 00:52:45.780 --> 00:52:54.180 expanding you this work ain't for unprepared nabby pabby babies this is 00:52:54.180 --> 00:53:03.900 hard work for a king who commands great respect I haven't had TV for three or 00:53:03.900 --> 00:53:09.860 four days it has been some of the most constructive times in my life the amount 00:53:09.860 --> 00:53:13.820 of time I spent before the TV I realized is ridiculous now that the TV isn't 00:53:13.820 --> 00:53:19.260 there don't worry it will be coming back but the point is that it's fascinating 00:53:19.260 --> 00:53:24.940 how much time you can save and work on other things I just on the side the 00:53:24.940 --> 00:53:31.580 point being this guys please this is not this is not a walk in the park a 00:53:31.580 --> 00:53:38.580 vacation this is work that is done out of rest but there is no laziness in this 00:53:38.580 --> 00:53:43.700 there is a work ethic to this but it's done out of rest because you can't do 00:53:43.700 --> 00:53:54.180 anything to save anybody but there is no laziness in this a part of the reason 00:53:54.180 --> 00:53:57.060 the church is lazy is because there are evangelists who go out on behalf of the 00:53:57.060 --> 00:54:10.540 church but guess what acts 29 has no evangelists next point I must pray for 00:54:10.700 --> 00:54:16.660 the one I encountered I must pray for the one I encountered I must pray for 00:54:16.660 --> 00:54:23.660 the one I encountered so I've begun to pray for that man I must pray for the 00:54:23.660 --> 00:54:26.460 one I encountered 00:54:30.940 --> 00:54:36.180 sometimes I pray oh God can you take it a little deeper can you give me time 00:54:36.180 --> 00:54:39.700 with him other times it is father I don't know if I'll meet him again but 00:54:39.860 --> 00:54:44.820 can I just bring him to you and pray that what I have started could you 00:54:44.820 --> 00:54:50.180 finish and I will trust the work of the Holy Spirit I must pray for the people I 00:54:50.180 --> 00:54:54.780 encounter and I must trust the work of the Holy Spirit I must trust the work of 00:54:54.780 --> 00:55:06.900 the Holy Spirit I was thinking of printing some cards just with our website 00:55:07.100 --> 00:55:12.060 on it and you carry just two of them in your wallet because there are some times 00:55:12.060 --> 00:55:17.060 where you will meet a person only once or twice or maybe once and if they show 00:55:17.060 --> 00:55:20.900 even remote interest say hey you can read more on the more about this on this 00:55:20.900 --> 00:55:26.020 website and give them the card all it will say is acts 29 dot see it and lead 00:55:26.020 --> 00:55:30.620 them to a page where it just gives you the basics about a good God about a good 00:55:30.620 --> 00:55:37.940 father about one who takes away guilt and sin it'll be very very simple won't 00:55:37.940 --> 00:55:44.660 be seeker friendly but will be very friendly or whatever it'll be good carry 00:55:44.660 --> 00:55:48.740 two of them in your wallet just in case you meet someone you're never going to 00:55:48.740 --> 00:55:52.260 meet again who showed some interest 00:55:52.260 --> 00:56:01.260 evangelism can be approached two ways full of grace or full of legalism and 00:56:01.260 --> 00:56:11.220 both are not all that effective it has to be all these together in Philippians 00:56:11.220 --> 00:56:18.020 Paul says that some preach out of envy some preach on a strife some preach out 00:56:18.020 --> 00:56:23.620 of different reasons regardless of what be the motive that a person preaches the 00:56:23.620 --> 00:56:28.860 gospel from he says I'm glad that the word of God is going forth while that is 00:56:28.860 --> 00:56:34.380 true why not aim for the more excellent way and the more excellent ways 00:56:34.380 --> 00:56:42.380 incorporates all these people who emphasize grace will usually choose the 00:56:42.380 --> 00:56:47.780 last three points sorry people who emphasize grace will choose the first 00:56:47.780 --> 00:56:52.300 three points being relational trying to gauge where people are that's what 00:56:52.300 --> 00:56:56.660 people who are full of grace will do people who have a bent towards being a 00:56:56.660 --> 00:56:59.620 little more legalistic we'll go for the last three I got to give the message 00:56:59.620 --> 00:57:05.100 with clarity I've got to tell them about Jesus I've got to do this both will help 00:57:05.100 --> 00:57:14.860 the spread of the gospel but what if we combined all six to both can be one or 00:57:14.860 --> 00:57:19.340 the other I usually end up in the top three I want to be gracious I want to 00:57:19.340 --> 00:57:23.660 tell them about what Jesus intended for them and in the process what happens is 00:57:23.660 --> 00:57:30.940 I miss out on the core of the matter but then Gisela might be someone who goes 00:57:30.940 --> 00:57:34.820 straight for the core of the matter where she'll say you need Christ 00:57:34.820 --> 00:57:40.660 otherwise you're going to hell both of us can get people saved she's gotten 00:57:40.660 --> 00:57:44.820 people saved by saying that I've gotten people saved by using the other method 00:57:44.820 --> 00:57:50.420 but what if Gisela and I combined our methods where I have the audacity and 00:57:50.420 --> 00:57:54.700 the courage to go and say to somebody hey listen you need Jesus right now let 00:57:54.700 --> 00:57:59.700 me tell you what Jesus can do for you and Gisela takes on my strong points 00:57:59.700 --> 00:58:04.420 which is let me gauge where this person is that maybe I can say this instead of 00:58:04.420 --> 00:58:12.580 this what if we combine this would be potent where I have her courage and she 00:58:12.580 --> 00:58:21.860 has my whatever yeah whatever you want to call it what if we combine both 00:58:30.700 --> 00:58:38.940 yeah combine both do both and then you'll have what is called the most 00:58:38.940 --> 00:58:48.540 excellent way and the most excellent way is always Christ's way any questions 00:58:48.540 --> 00:58:54.420 guys anything you want to add to this anything you want to add to this that 00:58:54.420 --> 00:59:02.140 will make this more effective any questions on this yeah I've mentioned 00:59:02.140 --> 00:59:14.740 that anything I want to add to this any questions on it okay we'll stop here 00:59:14.740 --> 00:59:20.820 we'll do right standing next time and then we'll do right living and public 00:59:20.820 --> 00:59:24.500 Lordship so you can take people through these stages if you were marooned on an 00:59:24.500 --> 00:59:31.820 island with another person and had about six months to work through this and when 00:59:31.820 --> 00:59:37.140 you're hungry you will say it is I have meat and bread that you know not off 00:59:37.140 --> 00:59:46.540 till the other person gets so hungry that you begin to swim that story was 00:59:46.580 --> 00:59:58.620 going way way off so I thought I better end it yep so I want to call markup 01:00:03.180 --> 01:00:07.180 there should be another mic somewhere 01:00:10.540 --> 01:00:12.540 Oh 01:00:16.580 --> 01:00:31.140 okay so my first question to you mark is why do you go read notes at home okay 01:00:31.140 --> 01:00:37.460 and so you go read the things at home and what do you do with it then so 01:00:46.540 --> 01:00:51.500 you read the notes and say okay this is how I simplify everything I just boil 01:00:51.500 --> 01:00:58.540 things down from what we get on Sunday or from what I know it's on Sunday and 01:00:58.540 --> 01:01:05.940 then I remember things not so much I don't remember so much from the notes 01:01:05.940 --> 01:01:12.460 but I remember what he says because of the notes that make sense that you make 01:01:12.460 --> 01:01:16.720 a note saying he just these are the these are the points and you read the 01:01:16.720 --> 01:01:19.940 notes and say oh yeah that's what he was talking about he's talking about this 01:01:19.940 --> 01:01:26.780 and so on so you have this friend called Jeff who yeah my co-workers name is 01:01:26.780 --> 01:01:32.380 Gavin we call him Jeff sometimes okay I was trying to hide his name man okay so 01:01:32.380 --> 01:01:40.380 now that the cat is out of the bag okay so I can hold all sorts of stuff so what 01:01:40.420 --> 01:01:46.500 was the first encounter with him because how did it all begin when he started how 01:01:46.500 --> 01:01:53.900 did you begin this talk about you and God and him how does start well he's 01:01:53.900 --> 01:02:00.060 been working for us for two years it started pretty much a first day that so 01:02:00.060 --> 01:02:07.380 on our sites we keep swearing down or we don't swear because my boss are 01:02:07.380 --> 01:02:12.900 Christian my co-workers are Christian except for him we'll call him Jeff so 01:02:12.900 --> 01:02:24.060 he's uh so nobody knows him and and when he arrived on site then every second 01:02:24.060 --> 01:02:31.700 word was a swear word and whatnot all and it was and that his first day was a 01:02:31.700 --> 01:02:36.900 Friday and so on Fridays and quite often we'll go out for a burger together 01:02:36.900 --> 01:02:45.140 and so we went for a burger and and that my boss had stopped at coal and stopped 01:02:45.140 --> 01:02:51.180 to pick up gas and that we were sitting in we were chatting and we we have we 01:02:51.180 --> 01:02:56.460 pray before we eat and we were talking about different trades and different 01:02:56.460 --> 01:03:00.740 things going on nobody swore nobody bought a beer nobody did any of these 01:03:00.740 --> 01:03:06.140 things and he was floored just like I cannot believe that you guys are in the 01:03:06.140 --> 01:03:14.060 construction industry and you guys don't do this stuff and then my boss phoned 01:03:14.060 --> 01:03:19.260 co-op back because he had paid for $45 worth of gas and he had gotten 60 and 01:03:19.260 --> 01:03:24.300 that he had been that his receipt said 63 because he he drew he phoned them up 01:03:24.300 --> 01:03:32.020 and said I'll come back in if need be and my my co-worker Jeff was just 01:03:32.020 --> 01:03:36.420 astonished that somebody would do this like a gas station you get ripped off 01:03:36.420 --> 01:03:41.780 there anyways you got 15 extra bucks worth of gas and here is this these guys 01:03:41.780 --> 01:03:46.020 that are talk like nobody else in the construction industry I've ever known 01:03:46.020 --> 01:03:54.260 and that this is that they're completely honest and they're completely yes 01:03:54.260 --> 01:03:59.100 they're cultural principles guys where truths that are practiced when a group 01:03:59.100 --> 01:04:04.220 of people practice it it becomes the culture that becomes visible cultures 01:04:04.220 --> 01:04:13.020 are always visible go to Saudi Arabia you will see it go to Indonesia you will 01:04:13.020 --> 01:04:20.340 see it go to India you will see a whole culture behaves a certain way and it 01:04:20.380 --> 01:04:27.020 becomes very visible so what happened with him and his swearing and his stuff 01:04:27.020 --> 01:04:33.660 because you were telling me about how he now goes and talks to yeah so he's he 01:04:33.660 --> 01:04:41.540 comes from an extremely rough background and like an extremely rough background I 01:04:41.540 --> 01:04:46.980 don't know how else to say it but without getting into a lot of the details 01:04:46.980 --> 01:04:52.580 but and his friends the people he hangs out with he hangs out with them on a 01:04:52.580 --> 01:05:02.540 regular basis and that they're very very rough that if you needed if you needed 01:05:02.540 --> 01:05:10.180 something done outside the law he knows who to talk to and these people would be 01:05:10.180 --> 01:05:16.900 extremely willing to help and but one day one of his friends showed up at his 01:05:16.900 --> 01:05:20.980 at his house and that they're gonna do something and he was wearing a shirt 01:05:20.980 --> 01:05:30.180 that said that said something extremely terrible about Jesus and and that 01:05:30.180 --> 01:05:36.660 because in the last two years Gavin or Jeff has been with us for this time and 01:05:36.660 --> 01:05:43.340 that we've had multiple talks almost on a daily basis of who God is who Jesus is 01:05:43.340 --> 01:05:50.700 if there's any question about religion he'll ask because the he hides nothing 01:05:50.700 --> 01:05:58.540 playing poker with him and be just great because you know he's not ever I don't 01:05:58.540 --> 01:06:05.820 know maybe maybe not anyways but yeah if you have it if I would ask him what what 01:06:05.860 --> 01:06:10.580 drugs have you tried he'll list off everything and every side effect which 01:06:10.580 --> 01:06:18.540 was good which was bad which one you ask him whatever you know and he's very 01:06:18.540 --> 01:06:22.460 willing to give you whatever whatever answer so what did he do when he saw 01:06:22.460 --> 01:06:27.340 this t-shirt so yeah his friend is wearing this t-shirt that said something 01:06:27.340 --> 01:06:33.900 very terrible about Jesus and he said you know what I know this is sounds this 01:06:33.940 --> 01:06:37.940 sounds pretty messed up but I need you to flip that shirt inside out I can't 01:06:37.940 --> 01:06:42.140 read that that can't be in my house and his friend started making fun of him and 01:06:42.140 --> 01:06:49.020 said are you of all people like you know that you go to your way to offend people 01:06:49.020 --> 01:06:54.980 you know that this shirt is just it's offensive but it's just it's enjoyable 01:06:54.980 --> 01:07:00.540 for us and he's no but the guys I work with that this is important to them and 01:07:00.620 --> 01:07:10.100 that I see it in their lives so I see it on a daily basis that this is something 01:07:10.100 --> 01:07:14.180 that is special to them this is something that changes their life this 01:07:14.180 --> 01:07:19.380 is something that is value to them and because it's value to them that I look 01:07:19.380 --> 01:07:22.780 at their lives and I recognize that there's something going on in there and 01:07:22.780 --> 01:07:28.180 it's like I need you to flip that shirt around because yeah it's offensive but 01:07:28.220 --> 01:07:32.980 it's offensive because it's offensive and and it offends me because my friends 01:07:32.980 --> 01:07:39.300 would be offended by it so he's standing up for my beliefs even though he doesn't 01:07:39.300 --> 01:07:45.540 necessarily believe it's kind of a strange thing so is he a religious guy 01:07:45.540 --> 01:08:03.980 um yeah yes ish no ish um he's I don't know how to answer that he'd be a 01:08:03.980 --> 01:08:10.980 faithful agnostic he'd the weird thing is this that he prays before like when 01:08:10.980 --> 01:08:18.180 we sit down on Friday and we ate on Friday that he bows his head and he 01:08:18.180 --> 01:08:25.740 he'll pray he talks about praying though he's not sure or certain who he's 01:08:25.740 --> 01:08:31.060 praying to or what he's praying to that he'll say I was learning about stuff 01:08:31.060 --> 01:08:36.020 that you know about like oh well what's that well about different religions and 01:08:36.100 --> 01:08:41.860 and telling me about various religions and how there's all these different 01:08:41.860 --> 01:08:49.580 types of Christian or how I don't know like I think he was on Wikipedia or 01:08:49.580 --> 01:08:53.140 something like that and learning about Christianity or just about religion in 01:08:53.140 --> 01:08:59.700 general has he visited your home no he lives in mission so he's always away so 01:08:59.700 --> 01:09:04.900 does he have other Christian friends other than you guys no well I think he's 01:09:04.900 --> 01:09:10.300 going to Sunday school like he is the understanding that Jesus is in some way 01:09:10.300 --> 01:09:18.620 really special in the Christian religion but how far have you gone and have you 01:09:18.620 --> 01:09:25.060 guys gone not just you in presenting who Jesus is to him okay so that doctrine 01:09:25.060 --> 01:09:30.780 thing and pretty much all of that you have already done yeah so the deity of 01:09:30.780 --> 01:09:36.140 Christ because he was because if he's asking he wants an answer and so I'll 01:09:36.140 --> 01:09:40.460 give him an answer then always a difficult thing is these things take a 01:09:40.460 --> 01:09:45.660 while to explain and that every time it's like okay we've got a really 01:09:45.660 --> 01:09:50.460 important deadline to meet and you have your job to do and I have my job to do 01:09:50.460 --> 01:09:55.700 and your job is over there and my job is over here and this will take a long time 01:09:56.260 --> 01:09:58.740 How long have you been talking to him about it? 01:09:58.740 --> 01:10:05.780 Oh for like from the from the day that we... 01:10:05.780 --> 01:10:07.780 How long? Months? 01:10:07.780 --> 01:10:10.340 I don't know 24 now? 01:10:10.340 --> 01:10:11.300 24 months 01:10:11.300 --> 01:10:13.300 From the first day he started that he was asking questions 01:10:13.300 --> 01:10:17.300 Do you think he's received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? 01:10:17.300 --> 01:10:19.300 As Savior and Lord? 01:10:19.300 --> 01:10:25.380 I don't think so he knows better who Jesus is 01:10:25.700 --> 01:10:31.140 and he holds him in high regard because of us because he sees it in our lives 01:10:31.140 --> 01:10:35.540 and he sees he recognizes also that like because he's met all my kids he's met 01:10:35.540 --> 01:10:40.420 Rhonda and he's met all of our other co-workers families because everybody's 01:10:40.420 --> 01:10:46.980 kind of around and he sees in our families he sees how our kids behave 01:10:46.980 --> 01:10:51.620 how our kids talk and he recognized like this is something that is a like it's a 01:10:51.620 --> 01:10:56.500 completely different culture than what I'm in and that your kids behave this way 01:10:58.180 --> 01:11:03.460 if my kids would behave this way this would be awesome but my kids don't behave this way 01:11:03.460 --> 01:11:12.260 they behave this way because this is what I permit for them does that make sense? 01:11:12.260 --> 01:11:18.020 Like he sees what's going on but he also acknowledges that there's a different that 01:11:18.020 --> 01:11:19.460 there's a difference in his life 01:11:20.180 --> 01:11:25.460 Okay so here's a question guys if I called any of you up you could share stories like this 01:11:25.460 --> 01:11:30.340 from your warehouse from your workplace from your telus office from wherever you work you 01:11:30.340 --> 01:11:36.580 could have stories like this my question is this two years this person has been exposed to 01:11:36.580 --> 01:11:43.380 Christianity the way of Christian living so my question is this more than one question one 01:11:44.100 --> 01:11:53.140 is there something called leading a person to make a decision or is that something that we invented? 01:11:55.540 --> 01:11:56.500 That's the first question 01:11:59.140 --> 01:12:04.580 Is there something called leading a person to make a decision for Jesus Christ 01:12:04.580 --> 01:12:06.580 or is that something we invented? 01:12:13.940 --> 01:12:24.660 Invented yeah so is there something so guys take turns and speak loudly if you are do do do we 01:12:24.660 --> 01:12:30.340 need to lead a person to make a decision saying you need to make a decision now or is that something 01:12:30.340 --> 01:12:37.380 that it's a western concept that we came up with leave it to the holy spirit 01:12:37.380 --> 01:12:41.380 Okay 01:12:45.620 --> 01:12:53.860 Okay anyone else there's a time and place for both 01:12:54.340 --> 01:12:55.460 I think I think 01:13:00.820 --> 01:13:11.300 Yeah but go ahead keep on praying keep on sewing someone will water because my thing often was to 01:13:11.300 --> 01:13:18.260 make a person come to you need to make a decision now but over the last little while I'm not sure 01:13:18.340 --> 01:13:29.460 that that is the best way to go yeah and I know that Peter did speak to in Acts chapter three he 01:13:29.460 --> 01:13:36.180 gets up and says repent and be baptized and thousands of people come so there is something 01:13:36.180 --> 01:13:40.260 called an invitation but I don't know whether there is if you want to decide for Christ now 01:13:40.260 --> 01:13:46.740 lift up your hands I don't know if that is the way to go I'm not convinced that it is not see this 01:13:46.740 --> 01:13:51.700 is what I mean but dissecting something okay because I'm not convinced that that is not the 01:13:51.700 --> 01:13:57.380 way to go because I've seen its effectiveness but does something being effective mean it is right 01:13:58.900 --> 01:14:02.660 I think maybe where you offer the wording should be in a different sense 01:14:10.340 --> 01:14:15.220 Yeah and then the question is is coming forward is that the way to do it how does this work how 01:14:15.220 --> 01:14:18.980 does it tie it time with if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth 01:14:19.540 --> 01:14:26.260 how does that time when if you don't ask them to ask someone to make a decision and say publicly 01:14:26.260 --> 01:14:31.060 that I want to receive Christ where is the open confession or is there the need for an open 01:14:31.060 --> 01:14:36.420 confession any answers on that going forward would be also an open what you call accepting 01:14:36.420 --> 01:14:42.660 acknowledging God openly so it's not very clear-cut guys and I'm still not sure about it 01:14:45.220 --> 01:14:48.580 point number two that I must be where the person is at 01:14:52.180 --> 01:15:00.500 okay where am I supposed to be now in this relationship because sometimes the Lord will 01:15:00.500 --> 01:15:06.020 disconnue okay now ask this and I would suggest that when you can't discern go for a formula 01:15:06.020 --> 01:15:11.540 but try to discern because sometimes I'm trying to figure it out and I don't know what to do 01:15:11.540 --> 01:15:15.700 you everything Diana go ahead 01:15:29.460 --> 01:15:29.940 good 01:15:34.740 --> 01:15:40.260 okay okay so to to leave people with a question 01:15:41.540 --> 01:15:45.540 or some kind of an invitation that brings them to having to choose anyone else 01:15:54.740 --> 01:15:57.460 can you think about this and think about it seriously guys 01:15:58.740 --> 01:16:03.060 because I don't want to come up with a formula but we have to think about this 01:16:12.420 --> 01:16:19.660 yes 01:16:19.660 --> 01:16:49.620 I understand the prayer part, Gisela, and I agree with you that the Word of God does 01:16:49.620 --> 01:16:55.020 not come back void, but when it comes to making a choosing, when it comes to 01:16:55.020 --> 01:17:00.500 acknowledging sin, God will never force you to. And so yes, I think it's important 01:17:00.500 --> 01:17:04.460 to present the truth, but my question is, after presenting the truth, at 01:17:04.460 --> 01:17:12.220 what point, like Diana was saying, do you help the person with, do you present the 01:17:12.220 --> 01:17:16.300 person with a choice? There's something about presenting a person with the 01:17:16.300 --> 01:17:22.700 choice that we have to learn how to do from a very godly perspective, and I 01:17:22.700 --> 01:17:28.180 would suggest to you that you really think about it, because, and think about 01:17:28.180 --> 01:17:32.500 it not to make it a doctrine, think about it so that you think about it. That father, 01:17:32.500 --> 01:17:36.180 when I look at scriptures, when I look at how Jesus operated, when I look at how 01:17:36.180 --> 01:17:43.540 Paul operated, can you give me a basic idea of how you think, so that I begin 01:17:43.540 --> 01:17:50.220 to think like you think? Because I was at a service not too long ago where a man 01:17:50.220 --> 01:17:55.700 gave an altar call, and I find this altar call idea almost archaic now, almost out 01:17:55.700 --> 01:18:04.060 of place, where the lights are dimmed and I see that hand now, I see that hand now, 01:18:04.060 --> 01:18:10.700 and it makes me... And yet, when you see three hands go up and people get saved, 01:18:10.740 --> 01:18:16.700 you think to yourself, oh shucks, but it did happen. So I don't know when to say, 01:18:16.700 --> 01:18:21.180 throw out this entire thing or to keep some of it, so please think about it, 01:18:21.180 --> 01:18:26.220 because this is something this church will enter into. You want to say something, 01:18:26.220 --> 01:18:29.420 you look like itching to say something. 01:18:40.700 --> 01:18:55.820 Good point. Can you say that again on the mic? Is it still being taped? Okay. 01:18:55.820 --> 01:19:07.540 I said I was wondering if this is similar to what you had said about Billy Graham and 01:19:07.580 --> 01:19:12.820 evangelists and how this church has no evangelists because the expectation is 01:19:12.820 --> 01:19:16.180 that the whole body will be doing that work and not a single person, and altar 01:19:16.180 --> 01:19:20.500 calls may be used as a replacement for the whole body stepping up and acting in 01:19:20.500 --> 01:19:25.540 relationship with people and offering that choice or offering that prerogative 01:19:25.540 --> 01:19:30.540 based on where they're at instead of having to be done in a service on a Sunday. 01:19:30.540 --> 01:19:36.300 Where it becomes us the evangelists going out building relationships and 01:19:36.300 --> 01:19:41.180 thereby not having to give an altar call because we are building a true relationship. 01:19:41.180 --> 01:19:45.540 And in the process we present a choice and that choice allows the person to 01:19:45.540 --> 01:19:49.180 come to a place of decision whenever the person has to make that decision. 01:19:49.180 --> 01:19:57.620 Because this is one thing that Jesus never forced. Following him and surrendering 01:19:57.660 --> 01:20:03.820 to him as Savior and Lord was something he never forced. Never forced. It had to be 01:20:03.820 --> 01:20:07.780 a free will choice because you take away free will from it and ruins the entire 01:20:07.780 --> 01:20:13.820 thing. And the reason we need to really talk about stuff like this and next week 01:20:13.820 --> 01:20:18.260 maybe I'll call somebody else because all I mean isn't it great that we have 01:20:18.260 --> 01:20:21.820 this guy called Mark the evangelist and Jillian the evangelist and Aaron the 01:20:21.820 --> 01:20:26.780 evangelist and Sheldon the evangelist and you can't pinpoint anyone who is not 01:20:26.780 --> 01:20:31.940 because this is our call. This is where we must go guys and this is where God's 01:20:31.940 --> 01:20:35.460 calling us huh. We must go here. 01:20:35.460 --> 01:20:44.460 Yeah and keep learning. 01:20:56.980 --> 01:21:08.380 So anyways okay we're talking about kingdom culture and that we have the 01:21:08.380 --> 01:21:11.660 world's culture and we have a kingdom culture and the kingdom culture can be 01:21:11.660 --> 01:21:17.140 evidenced needs to be evidenced in our lives. But we have to have our kingdom 01:21:17.140 --> 01:21:25.220 culture. So my co-worker is able to discern kingdom culture from church 01:21:25.260 --> 01:21:33.660 culture. What somebody put on 106.5 yes the other day on Friday and that the the 01:21:33.660 --> 01:21:40.620 moment the announcers came on that there was a lot of yelling because it's just 01:21:40.620 --> 01:21:46.140 he who was able to discern falsehood immediately that there's a certain 01:21:46.140 --> 01:21:51.940 kingdom there's a certain culture to the church that he doesn't like. There's a 01:21:52.420 --> 01:21:59.500 culture within I mean within Canada within our church community within Acts 01:21:59.500 --> 01:22:05.420 29 that there's a church culture a kingdom culture that is true that is 01:22:05.420 --> 01:22:10.460 right that people look at and say this is what I want. But then at the same time 01:22:10.460 --> 01:22:14.460 there's there the world's culture and that the culture that they're into that 01:22:14.460 --> 01:22:20.940 they say well you know but I really like doing drugs and I really like not having 01:22:20.940 --> 01:22:25.780 to go to church. I think the point Mark is trying to make is that this guy sees a way a 01:22:25.780 --> 01:22:31.900 certain people are living and he is beginning to embrace that. I pray God 01:22:31.900 --> 01:22:37.420 that when it comes to us as a body and may this body keep growing so that more 01:22:37.420 --> 01:22:44.180 and more are embraced in it. I pray that there be no difference between what we 01:22:44.180 --> 01:22:50.540 do out there and in here. There can't be a difference. There should not be a 01:22:50.540 --> 01:22:55.660 difference. This is just one of the activities of a people called the people 01:22:55.660 --> 01:23:01.340 of God. May there be no difference so that there's no two cultures called 01:23:01.340 --> 01:23:05.820 kingdom and church that it be one and that people be embraced into this that 01:23:05.820 --> 01:23:10.620 it keeps growing keeps growing. Guys keep me in line and I'll keep you in line. 01:23:10.620 --> 01:23:18.460 You have what awaits us is glorious. I know I've said that at different points 01:23:18.540 --> 01:23:24.220 in our lives but I'm saying that again to you. What awaits us is glorious. A 01:23:24.220 --> 01:23:30.540 normal God is going to function through very ordinary people. Look at him. Can 01:23:30.540 --> 01:23:41.020 they come more ordinary? I got a haircut. That was his distinguishing thing this 01:23:41.020 --> 01:23:46.700 week. He got a haircut. You see how ordinary he is but he is evangelist Mark 01:23:46.700 --> 01:23:53.900 and Jeff is going to be affected by it. So let's just sing the King of Love and 01:23:53.900 --> 01:23:57.740 then we'll go home. When you come to my lover's breath is sweetest wine know 01:23:57.740 --> 01:24:02.140 that it is in the song of songs. I didn't come up with it.