WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Prevailing Church (part 2) Publishing Date: 2018-03-04T05:00:44-08:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/prevailing-church-part-2/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000 All right, yeah. Do your thing, man. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:32.000 Do. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:50.000 Do. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:54.000 Do. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:56.000 Do. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:06.000 The title is prevailing church living today. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:10.000 Prevailing church living today. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:16.000 No other name. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:20.000 Other name of Jesus. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:23.000 No other name. 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:26.000 Other name of the Lord. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:31.000 You know the guy who wrote No Other Name, the name of Jesus, he wrote it in 1988. 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:35.000 That's a 30 year old song. Some of you were not born then. 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:37.000 And No Other Name. 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:40.000 And it was written by a guy called Robert Gay. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:46.000 I remember coming here to Vancouver in 1993 and meeting him in Surrey. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:49.000 I didn't know he had written the song. So when I was looking at the song today, 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:57.000 I thought, my God, Don and Jeevan and Derek and half the crowd here wasn't even born when he wrote it. 00:01:57.000 --> 00:01:59.000 Nazi. 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:03.000 Beautiful song. 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:07.000 Name is exalted, far above the earth. 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:09.000 Wayne, are we good to go? 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:14.000 Okay. Guys, last week we were talking about Matthew 16, 18, 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:20.000 where we said that a prevailing church is what we'll be focusing on. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:26.000 Because Matthew 16, 18 says that I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:31.000 And then we talked about some of the characteristics of a prevailing church. 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:36.000 And we said a prevailing church, these were the six or seven points we gave, 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:41.000 a prevailing church contends for the gospel. 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:46.000 We said a prevailing church wars against the satanic. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:53.000 We said a prevailing church battles through traditions and internal mindsets. 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:58.000 We said a prevailing church violently establishes the kingdom. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:03.000 We said a prevailing church stewards or administrates ancient doors. 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:06.000 And finally, we said a prevailing church wrestles with God. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:09.000 And today we'll take the first point in the whole thing, 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:14.000 which is how does a prevailing church contend for the gospel 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:18.000 by pouring out their lives to proclaim the gospel and make disciples? 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:19.000 How do we go about that? 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:23.000 How can we work towards becoming a church that is a prevailing church, 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:27.000 as in a church that contends but does not collapse, 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:30.000 a church that contends and stands strong, 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:36.000 a church that contends and pours out its life, empties itself for two main things, 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:41.000 for Christ and the good news that Christ brings and for making disciples. 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:44.000 How do we become a church like that? 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:50.000 And then one of the verses that really caught us was Revelation 12, verse 11, 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:57.000 where it says that they overcame the devil with the blood of the lamb 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:01.000 and the word of their, the bold word of their testimony. 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:04.000 But it was the second part that I said was amazing. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:07.000 It says, they defeated him through the blood of the lamb and the bold word of their witness. 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:13.000 And then it says, they weren't in love with themselves, they were willing to die for Christ. 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:17.000 They were not in love with themselves, they were willing to die for Christ. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:22.000 They were not in love with themselves, they were willing to die for Christ. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:24.000 So that's what we want to look at today. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:33.000 How do I live a life, how do I live a life that is at once bold and joyful 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:35.000 and is being emptied out? 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:43.000 This is the kind of life that Jesus Christ lived. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:45.000 This is the kind of life Paul lived. 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.000 This is the kind of life that if the head lived, the body must live. 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:52.000 If Christ lived this, then the body must live like this. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:58.000 It is not sufficient to empty yourself out if you're not joyful and not bold. 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:01.000 It has to be all three. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:10.000 Therein lies this amazing Jesus-like balance where your life is bold, your life is vibrant, 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:15.000 your life is joyful, your life is happy, not based on circumstances, 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:21.000 and your life is emptied out or being poured out because you are not in love with yourself. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.000 That is the question. How do we go about living a life like that? 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:32.000 And so the answer, if you want to look at three words that you can remember easily, 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:35.000 is to live, love, die. 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:40.000 That's why I've titled the thing, Living to Die, Prevailing Church, Living to Die. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:41.000 Live, Love, Die. 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:44.000 We look at what it is to live, we look at what it is to love, 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:49.000 and we look at what it is to die for a Christian from a Jesus perspective. 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:51.000 What does it look like? 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:53.000 So first let's look at live. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:59.000 Guys, everybody wants to be happy. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:03.000 Please don't think that God had any other plans either. 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:06.000 God had plans for man to be happy. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:09.000 We have made that different. 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:15.000 We've made that, we've changed that because of our present earthly plight. 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:18.000 But the truth is, we have changed that. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:21.000 Because of our present earthly plight. 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:25.000 But God, from the very beginning, had a desire for man to be happy. 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:31.000 So the first thing is, if you live, live life with the core conviction, 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:35.000 live life with the core conviction, 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:43.000 live life with the core conviction of being hilariously happy, 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:48.000 of being hilariously happy. 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:55.000 Live life with the core conviction of being hilariously happy 00:06:55.000 --> 00:07:02.000 and increasingly satisfied with God, and increasingly satisfied with God. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:07.000 See, the very concept is alien to us, even in this church. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:11.000 Because this church is relatively a happy church. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:21.000 Or at least I want to think that, if I don't look at your faces when I say nice things like this, 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:31.000 live life with the core conviction of being hilariously happy and increasingly satisfied with God. 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:33.000 I'm not talking about a little bit of happiness. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:37.000 I'm talking about hahahaha kind of happiness. 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:40.000 Hilariously happy. 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:43.000 God intended this, eh? 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:45.000 Happiness was given to us in Eden. 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:48.000 You know what the word Eden means? Delight. 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:50.000 Delight. 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:54.000 He named the place where they would live, Delight. 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:00.000 It must become a core conviction of our hearts. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.000 A core conviction is something that you will go to jail for. 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:08.000 Beliefs are things that may change, like opinions. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:13.000 But a conviction is something that is so deep that you will go to prison for it. 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:21.000 There must be a core conviction in my heart that I was born to be hilariously happy in God, 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:27.000 satisfied with Him through the different ebbs and tides of life, unfortunately. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:36.000 And if I'm hilariously happy and desire to be satisfied in God, glorifying Him will be the easiest thing. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:40.000 Costosa said and then C.S. Lewis said and now Jacob says 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:46.000 that when you are most satisfied with God, you will most glorify Him. 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:52.000 Why are we mourning about the Canucks? 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:57.000 We are highly dissatisfied with them. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:03.000 Why don't we think highly of fried zucchini? 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:07.000 Because it doesn't matter what you do to zucchini, zucchini is still zucchini. 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:11.000 Moving on, bad example. 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:16.000 What is our problem with cats? Why don't we write poems about them? 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:19.000 Moving on, bad example. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:21.000 The point is this, guys. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:25.000 We wrote, you wrote a book about it, my God. 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:28.000 My Lord, six more to go and then we'll be done, hopefully. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:38.000 So the thing is this, guys, that we easily glorify or boast about the things that we are satisfied with. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:40.000 And I must have a core conviction. 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:46.000 And this is a hard thing to go for, but it must be gone for if you're a true blue salt of the earth believer. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:49.000 Because your Savior was like this. 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:51.000 He was a man of salt. 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:57.000 He was a man of saurus in terms of bearing sorrows, but he was a man who portrayed the joy of God. 00:09:57.000 --> 00:10:05.000 For it is clearly said in the Psalms that I have crowned you with joy that is more than your brothers. 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:14.000 So when we think of Jesus as a man of sorrows, we're not thinking of Him going around glumly. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:24.000 It says in the book, in Psalms that you have been crowned with or poured on such gladness that goes beyond all your brothers and sisters. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:33.000 Happiness was a gift given to us in the Garden of Eden and it will one day be fully restored. 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:38.000 It says so in Revelation 21, 4, that there will no longer be any pain. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:41.000 Imagine a child who is born in the Garden of Eden. 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:54.000 Imagine a time where there is no pain, where there is no crying, where there is no sorrow, where every tear will be wiped away, where there is no fear. 00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:02.000 For some of us who are going through difficult situations this week, imagine a time like that. 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:18.000 Yeah. Yeah. Psalm 16, 11 puts it this way. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:21.000 You should read Psalm 16 whenever you get time. 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:35.000 Psalm 16, 11 says that in your presence is fullness of joy and pleasures at your right hand forevermore. 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:37.000 Listen, listen to what God is saying. 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:43.000 Hey Jacob, in my presence, and the word presence there is panim. Panim means face. 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:57.000 In my presence, when you look at me face to face, you have gladness, happiness, delight, and you've got pleasures at your right hand. 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:05.000 This is God saying this. This is not some kind of non-tangible stuff. 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:12.000 Happiness must be, being hilariously happy and increasingly satisfied with God must be a core conviction. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:18.000 A core conviction. When you have a conviction, you will work towards it. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:27.000 But Jacob, you don't know how difficult my life is. Absolutely. 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:32.000 And my life in certain areas may not be as difficult or may be more difficult than yours. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:39.000 But so what? So what? 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:45.000 If you have a core conviction, we start marching towards that end. 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:52.000 We always have divided happiness and joy and we've said happiness is dependent on circumstances. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:57.000 Joy is internally brought by the Holy Spirit. Jesus never said so. 00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:02.000 Jesus never said so. That's our way of dividing it because we've confused both the words. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:06.000 Jesus is as happy about happiness as he is about joy. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:12.000 Be enthusiastic about happiness. It's great to be happy. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:17.000 One of the strong points in my life is happiness. I'm happy. 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:22.000 The more alone I am, the happier I get. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:32.000 But then you have to live with people also. 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.000 And with those circumstances, I'll still have to press through. 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:44.000 I mean surround me with cats and zucchini and I will still survive and be happy. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:47.000 You should have seen Derek's face. He went to White Spot. 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:52.000 And Derek's been on this sometimes on, sometimes off diet. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:55.000 Where occasionally he'll feel like he's got to be on a diet. 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.000 So I was meeting with Heidi at White Spot and Derek was there. 00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:03.000 And we ordered decent White Spot meals like burgers and stuff like that. 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:06.000 And Derek says, no, I'm on a diet. So I said, eat something. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:08.000 He says, okay, I'll eat zucchini. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:17.000 It was as bad as when Jeevan bakes vegetables. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:20.000 So moving on. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:29.000 Now that we've had enough insults thrown towards inhabitants of 725 West 70th. 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:32.000 Secondly, guys, live a life. 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:37.000 Every afternoon when I'm preparing for the message, I think to myself and I say to myself, 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:41.000 Father, help me not to take pot shots at people today. 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:45.000 And it just is somehow it's a prayer that's not answered yet. 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:51.000 I did that today to as a father, help me not to go off on wild goose chases down rabbit trails 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:55.000 and say things that aren't funny and just help me to stick to the script. 00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:57.000 So that's what we're going to do. 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:05.000 Live a life that allows history. 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:19.000 Live a life that allows history to interrupt and break into lives through your story. 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:21.000 What are we aiming at here, guys? 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:27.000 We are saying that if you learn to live a certain way, love a certain way and die a certain way, 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:29.000 you will be able to live a certain life. 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:30.000 What are we aiming at here, guys? 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:36.000 We are saying that if you learn to live a certain way, love a certain way and die a certain way, 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:40.000 you will be able to contend for the gospel, 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:48.000 that you will be able to lay or pour down or empty your life for the sake of Christ 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:50.000 and for the sake of making disciples. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:51.000 But there is a way to go about it. 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:52.000 There's a pathway. 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:54.000 Follow this pathway. 00:15:55.000 --> 00:16:00.000 So here's the second thing that I want us to remember. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:05.000 One is live a life where the core conviction is that of being hilariously happy and satisfied with God 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:08.000 because we will glorify him easily then. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:15.000 Second, live a life that allows history to interrupt the lives of others through your story. 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:17.000 You know, someone is saying this to me. 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:19.000 I don't know if you watched Billy Graham's funeral. 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:20.000 It was phenomenal. 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:23.000 It was like four or five messages put into one. 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:25.000 I think that was a... 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:27.000 It was like his last crusade. 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:28.000 It was awesome. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:30.000 If you haven't watched it, watch it. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:31.000 But here's what someone said to me. 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:38.000 He said, Billy Graham's preached to 220 million people, many of them in the U.S. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:43.000 And yet, when you look at the U.S. today, how come it is where it is? 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:46.000 He brought up another example. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:47.000 He brought up another example. 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:52.000 He said, Nigeria, 53% of Nigeria is Christian. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:56.000 Why is it then the corruptest country in the world? 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:05.000 How can a country that claims to be 53% born again... 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:07.000 I'm not talking about nominal Christianity. 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:09.000 I'm talking about believing Christians. 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:18.000 How does a country that has 53% of it saved still come up as one of the most corrupt nations in the world? 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:20.000 You can't blame the 47 for that. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:47.000 So, guys, in the same way, 53% of good apples should bless the whole box too. 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:49.000 Because we reverse these things. 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:51.000 Salt must be used on rotting meat. 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:52.000 We'll go there later. 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:54.000 But here's the thing, guys. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:04.000 It is insufficient to profess and proclaim the Gospel if you cannot model it and show it. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:11.000 And you can only model it and show it by engaging in the lives of others through occupations, 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:14.000 through good works, through meeting their pressing needs. 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:21.000 It is absolutely incumbent on Acts 29 to actually be involved in lives out there. 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:24.000 We have to. 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:29.000 I'm not talking even of households or church meetings. 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:33.000 I'm talking about actually getting into the nitty-gritty of the lives of people. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:39.000 You must. 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:41.000 Some of you will retire in a few more years. 00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:47.000 Percolate yourself throughout the working place that you're at. 00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:51.000 Because once you retire, you lose that radius of influence forever. 00:18:53.000 --> 00:18:56.000 Live a life that engages in good works, in good occupations. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:02.000 Let your story, let his story in your life, interrupt the life of others. 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:06.000 When people get to know you, they experience Christ. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:07.000 I'm not saying they must. 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:10.000 I'm saying to Acts 29, your lives have reached a point 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.000 where when people get Täto know you, they experience Christ. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:18.000 When people get염 him, they experience Christ. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:19.000 I'm not saying they must. 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:20.000 Experienced. I'm not saying they will experience. 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.000 I'm saying you've already got to that point where when people get��ùعán, 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:34.800 people get to know you, they experience Christ. You're already there. Therefore go 00:19:34.800 --> 00:19:39.920 out of your way, out of your way to allow yourself, your life to interrupt and 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:43.680 break into other people's lives because his story is being written brilliantly 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:52.360 in your lives. Meet pressing needs, meet pressing needs. When you see a need in a 00:19:52.360 --> 00:19:57.920 unbeliever, do not shirk away, do not run away, meet pressing needs, meet the needs 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:03.720 of believers, of unbelievers, needs like parenting, needs like employment, needs 00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:12.120 like counsel, needs like finances, needs like bereavement, so that people get to 00:20:12.120 --> 00:20:18.440 know you and in that context Jesus Christ becomes real. I see this happening 00:20:18.440 --> 00:20:22.800 through you. I'm just encouraging you to really put your foot down on the pedal. I 00:20:22.800 --> 00:20:28.080 see this happening through you. I marvel sometimes when I go down to the tenth 00:20:28.080 --> 00:20:31.440 floor and there'll be Sheldon and there'll be Prashant and there'll be 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:35.200 Derek and there'll be Jeevan and there'll be Dawn and there'll be a half of 00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:40.640 action here and it's there. And then it's only a one-bedroom apartment, it's 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:45.160 already too full. Like there are so many shoes in the corridor that I usually 00:20:45.160 --> 00:20:49.880 stumble and then from different parts of the building more young people come. 00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:53.760 These are not ones who know the Lord and they're not coming there because there's 00:20:53.760 --> 00:20:57.280 a church meeting there. They're coming there because Derek may help them, help 00:20:57.280 --> 00:21:01.600 them with a resume, Jeevan may help them with some kind of programming, Sheldon 00:21:01.600 --> 00:21:06.400 may help them to learn a bit of music. Different things happening. Engage with 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:11.720 lives, engage with lives, especially because there are pressing needs in 00:21:11.760 --> 00:21:17.400 people's lives and they don't have your elder brother Jesus. 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:30.400 This is the kind of life that God would like to pour out. If these aren't 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:34.680 active, he isn't very interested in pouring things out. It'll only fill in 00:21:34.680 --> 00:21:39.360 terms of quantity not in terms of quality. 00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:53.960 Yes, live lives that engage in good works, good occupations, meet pressing 00:21:53.960 --> 00:21:59.240 needs. My God, meet pressing needs. I marvel at how you do it. I marvel at how 00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:05.560 you do it. You example it. I learn. I learn because I'm humbled by it or I'm 00:22:05.560 --> 00:22:11.600 ashamed of how much you do and how much I don't. It's marvelous. Keep going down 00:22:11.600 --> 00:22:15.840 that road. Nobody will know about it but that is the life that will be poured out. 00:22:15.840 --> 00:22:19.880 You want to become a prevailing church? Put your foot down on the accelerator. 00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:22.960 Keep going down that road because those are the lives that are going to be 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:31.760 poured out by God. When you read Titus 2 verse 7 and 8, it's a beautiful verse. 00:22:31.760 --> 00:22:37.560 Titus 2 verse 7 and 8. Here's what it says. It says, in all things show 00:22:37.560 --> 00:22:42.040 yourself. It doesn't say in all things tell. It doesn't say in all things 00:22:42.040 --> 00:22:47.360 preach. That's part of it but in all things show yourselves. Show yourselves 00:22:47.360 --> 00:22:53.120 what? Show yourselves to be a pattern of good works. My God, a pattern of good 00:22:53.120 --> 00:22:59.000 works. Not an occasional good work, not giving soup downtown during Christmas 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:05.600 but a pattern of good works. Show yourselves to be a pattern of good works. 00:23:05.760 --> 00:23:12.640 In what? In teaching, in integrity, in reverence, in incorruptibility, in sound 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:17.960 speech that cannot be condemned so that one who is an opponent may be ashamed 00:23:17.960 --> 00:23:23.880 having nothing evil to say. Hallelujah! This is where we are going. Please get 00:23:23.880 --> 00:23:27.400 excited a little. That's a great verse. 00:23:29.160 --> 00:23:34.440 I've written in brackets Shabbak as in Jacob at this moment shout and hope the 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:38.600 church will shout with you. Maybe I should take the brackets off. 00:23:43.600 --> 00:23:47.680 In all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works in doctrine or 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:52.640 teaching, showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:56.760 be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed having nothing evil to say 00:23:57.360 --> 00:24:01.840 Hey, Nick was here. Has Nick disappeared? Yeah. 00:24:01.840 --> 00:24:10.840 Any questions before we move on? This is how we live. We'll talk about love next. 00:24:10.840 --> 00:24:14.400 This is how we live. Very simple. These are two very, very simple things. 00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:21.840 Hilariously happy, a core conviction. And second, live a life that allows his story 00:24:21.840 --> 00:24:24.920 in your life to interrupt the life of others and you can only do that by 00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:29.920 engaging in good works and good occupations, taking care of the pressing 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:37.920 needs of people around you. I just threw a few of them. Any questions? Any comments? 00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:51.920 Any thoughts? Yeah. Yeah. Not at all. Oh, I mean, when did Jesus make a demand that 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:56.920 was relatively easy? Why is it difficult? Because it goes against the grain of my 00:24:56.920 --> 00:25:01.200 individuality, my wanting to be alone, my this and that and the other. That's why 00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:08.920 it's difficult. But these are the lives that are worth pouring out, guys. 00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:27.920 Yeah, this is kenosis, Philippians 2, where Jesus says he emptied himself. This is the emptying of oneself by staying alive. 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:37.920 That is real death while you're alive. Emptying of yourself while you're alive. Dying sometimes is slightly easier. 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:50.920 Because you can't threaten a Christian with heaven. So living and emptying yourself is harder than dying sometimes. 00:25:50.920 --> 00:26:07.920 Yeah. Yeah. It's harder when you do it alone. Okay, let's talk about love. 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:25.920 Matthew 22, verse 39. Matthew 22, verse 39. And Jesus said, And the second is like it. 00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:34.920 You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 00:26:34.920 --> 00:26:43.920 And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. See, we think Jesus is saying, Love your neighbor instead of loving yourself. 00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:50.920 That is not what he's saying. Christians get so frightened when it comes to loving your neighbor, because the moment you say love your neighbor as yourself, 00:26:50.920 --> 00:26:59.920 we hear it as Jesus is saying, Love your neighbor instead of yourself. No, Jesus is saying, Love your neighbor as you love yourself. 00:26:59.920 --> 00:27:07.920 He's not saying instead of yourself. This is why we avoid the words. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, strength and the thing that we know is not possible. 00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:14.920 So we say yes to that. But the second one is possible. So we run from that. But he's saying, Love your neighbor as yourself. 00:27:14.920 --> 00:27:26.920 Jesus is not saying, Seek for your neighbor the same things you seek for yourself. Jesus is saying, Seek for your neighbor in the same way, with the same zeal, 00:27:26.920 --> 00:27:34.920 with the same passion, with the same creativity, with the same perseverance that you seek for yourself. Now seek for your neighbor. 00:27:34.920 --> 00:27:43.920 He's not saying if you seek a car, seek for your neighbor a car. He's not saying that. 00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:54.920 This scripture has so much guilt loaded on it. There are so many layers of guilt on the scripture. Have we avoided? 00:27:54.920 --> 00:28:04.920 See, the opposite of love is not hate. In Christianity, the opposite of love is indifference. Our problem is not that we hate our neighbors. 00:28:04.920 --> 00:28:14.920 Our problem is that we're indifferent to our neighbors. And so if Jesus wants a life that needs to be poured out, 00:28:14.920 --> 00:28:23.920 he wants a life where a person understands that Jesus is saying to me, Jacob, just as you would seek something for yourself, you now have to seek it for your neighbor. 00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:33.920 And by neighbor, who can your neighbor be? I'm not including any of you because I like you. I'm including people that I don't yet know. 00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:45.920 Therefore, this is what it would look like. Just as I long for food when I'm hungry, I must long to feed my neighbor when he is hungry. 00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:55.920 Just as I long for food when I'm hungry, I must long to feed my neighbor when he's hungry. 00:28:55.920 --> 00:29:05.920 As I yearn for a nice home to live, I will desire and do what is possible to help my neighbor live in a nice home. 00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:15.920 As I seek to be secure from disaster and violence, I will seek security for my neighbor. 00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:27.920 The Levite, the priest, and the whoever who walked past the Samaritan, who walked past the man beaten up by the bandits in Luke chapter 10, verse 29 to 37, 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:35.920 did not seek for that man lying on the road, that which they sought for themselves. 00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:43.920 They knew it was a bandit infested territory. They knew that they had to rush through that territory to get to a place of safety. 00:29:43.920 --> 00:29:51.920 So they left the man where he is and went on. And then comes along a Samaritan who does not have the same pedigree as the guys who walked past, 00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:57.920 and he gives this man what he would have wanted for himself. 00:29:57.920 --> 00:30:05.920 Just as I yearn to be secure from disaster and violence, so I must yearn for the ones in Syria which seem so distant. 00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:09.920 That's what I mean by indifference. 00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:17.920 Indifference is the opposite of love, it's not hate. 00:30:17.920 --> 00:30:27.920 So I should now seek security for my neighbor. 00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:31.920 I love the next one. When I wrote this down, I thought to myself, wow! 00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:43.920 As I delight in seeing God's goodness, even when I have no need, I must long to extend that goodness to others by favoring them even when they have no need. 00:30:44.920 --> 00:30:50.920 Let me read that again. As I delight in seeing God's goodness, even when I have no need, 00:30:50.920 --> 00:30:58.920 I'm surprised at how I won't have a need but God will still be good to me and give me stuff. 00:30:58.920 --> 00:31:10.920 Even as I delight in seeing God's goodness when I don't have a need, I must long to extend that goodness to others by favoring them even when they don't have a need. 00:31:10.920 --> 00:31:21.920 We only help if someone is in need. Thank God, God is not like that. 00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:24.920 Either people have to deserve it or people have to be in need. 00:31:24.920 --> 00:31:35.920 If they don't qualify for one of those, then they are not worthy of our help. 00:31:40.920 --> 00:31:56.920 Good, Gisela. You've always been like that. 00:31:56.920 --> 00:32:04.920 Praise God, you've always done that. Bless you for doing that. 00:32:04.920 --> 00:32:12.920 As I seek that my life be significant, I desire the same significance for my neighbor. 00:32:12.920 --> 00:32:20.920 When I sometimes see what these boys do for boys in the building, they have reached places where they have jobs, they're engineers and stuff like that. 00:32:20.920 --> 00:32:25.920 And along come these students who've come from India who don't know how to do things. 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:37.920 As you seek significance for your life, you begin to long to seek the significance of your neighbor who you didn't know before but now lives next door. 00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:43.920 And you stay awake a few more hours so that you can work on their resume. 00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:46.920 These are the kind of lives that God is waiting to pour out. 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:55.920 It breaks us out of our highly individualistic, self-absorbed lives. 00:32:55.920 --> 00:33:01.920 And you are doing this already, which is why I'm saying to you, when they meet you, they experience Jesus. 00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:07.920 And I'm deliberately leaving out will or must. They experience Jesus. 00:33:07.920 --> 00:33:14.920 I'm just saying, come on, man, contend. We must become this kind of a church. You must always think like this. 00:33:14.920 --> 00:33:21.920 It's a 24-7 lifestyle. It's not a Christian thing to do. We don't do Christian things. 00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:27.920 Christ lives in us. He does things through us. This is what he wants to do here in the world. 00:33:27.920 --> 00:33:35.920 As I seek that my children do better in life, I will seek to help my neighbor's family. 00:33:35.920 --> 00:33:42.920 As I like being welcomed into strange company, so I'll welcome neighbors among strangers. 00:33:42.920 --> 00:33:45.920 As I like being welcomed into strange company. 00:33:45.920 --> 00:33:52.920 I mean, I've seen Wayne do this, where you put him in a strange place with people he doesn't know, 00:33:52.920 --> 00:34:00.920 and he'll go around making people who are new comfortable. 00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:05.920 While I will try to find the one or two friends I know and sit with them and not move. 00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:24.920 Seeking must translate into sacrificial action. Seeking must translate. Seeking must translate into sacrificial action. 00:34:30.920 --> 00:34:34.920 Oh, but what if we get taken advantage of? Let me assure you, if you start living like this, 00:34:34.920 --> 00:34:40.920 you will be taken advantage of a few times before you learn some tricks of the trade and you'll get smarter. 00:34:40.920 --> 00:34:47.920 But if you expect to navigate through loving people around you without getting taken advantage of, 00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:53.920 you'll have to wait to get to heaven because it'll happen. 00:34:54.920 --> 00:34:59.920 Oh well, but you don't know how many times I've been taken advantage of. 00:34:59.920 --> 00:35:04.920 Well, I hope your wounds turn to scars and that you continue. 00:35:04.920 --> 00:35:08.920 Otherwise, you'll be bleeding yourself to death. 00:35:13.920 --> 00:35:21.920 I'm sorry I'm being harsh, but my God, we need to build a church that Jesus can pour out. 00:35:21.920 --> 00:35:26.920 It's like a kettle he wants with a little spout that he can pour things out of. 00:35:26.920 --> 00:35:32.920 And like Wayne said, one person can't do this, man, but when enough people are like this, 00:35:32.920 --> 00:35:36.920 he's got a kettle or teapot or whatever the Brits call it. 00:35:41.920 --> 00:35:43.920 I meant that in the nicest way. 00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:49.920 My self-seeking must become the measure of my self-giving. 00:35:49.920 --> 00:35:54.920 That's how Luke 631 translates in the message. It's so well put. 00:35:54.920 --> 00:35:58.920 My self-seeking must become the measure of my self-giving. 00:35:58.920 --> 00:36:02.920 Oh God, I pray that you would help me become like this. 00:36:02.920 --> 00:36:05.920 Oh God, I pray that you would make Acts 29 like this, 00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:11.920 that the measure of our self-seeking will become the measure of our self-giving. 00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:13.920 Luke 6, verse 31. 00:36:14.920 --> 00:36:19.920 The measure of our self-seeking becomes the measure of our self-giving. 00:36:29.920 --> 00:36:33.920 So don't feel guilty when you buy something and your neighbor doesn't have it. 00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:39.920 But once you know that your neighbor has a need, pursue helping him achieve it 00:36:39.920 --> 00:36:48.920 with the same zeal and passion and perseverance that you poured into getting what you needed for his sake too. 00:36:49.920 --> 00:36:52.920 Otherwise, every time you buy something, you'll feel guilty. 00:36:55.920 --> 00:37:00.920 That was not what Jesus planned to induce with Matthew 22, verse 39. 00:37:00.920 --> 00:37:05.920 There's always this fear. If I devote myself to pursuing someone else's happiness, 00:37:05.920 --> 00:37:08.920 then my own desire for happiness will be threatened. 00:37:08.920 --> 00:37:13.920 There's always that fear. If I start looking out for others' interests, then my interests will be threatened. 00:37:13.920 --> 00:37:18.920 Or my happiness will be threatened. And therein lies the root of all sin. 00:37:18.920 --> 00:37:22.920 And therein lies the root of all sin. 00:37:22.920 --> 00:37:25.920 And therein lies the root of all sin. 00:37:26.920 --> 00:37:29.920 And therein lies the root of all sin. 00:37:29.920 --> 00:37:32.920 The root of all sin is simple. 00:37:32.920 --> 00:37:38.920 It's my desire for happiness, 00:37:43.920 --> 00:37:45.920 A, outside of God, 00:37:48.920 --> 00:37:52.920 B, at the expense of others. 00:37:52.920 --> 00:37:56.920 All sin falls into these two categories. 00:37:58.920 --> 00:38:03.920 There's always this fear that if I pursue the happiness of somebody else, 00:38:03.920 --> 00:38:07.920 if I love someone to a point where I'm devoted to helping someone else, 00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:14.920 then my happiness or my desires will be threatened. 00:38:14.920 --> 00:38:17.920 And therein lies the root of all sin. 00:38:17.920 --> 00:38:22.920 Because the root of all sin is the desire for my happiness apart from God, 00:38:22.920 --> 00:38:26.920 or outside of God. Apart is a better word. Apart from God. 00:38:26.920 --> 00:38:30.920 The root of all sin is my happiness apart from God. 00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:37.920 And secondly, my happiness apart from the happiness of others in God. 00:38:38.920 --> 00:38:42.920 This is why Jesus says that, 00:38:42.920 --> 00:38:47.920 he says in Romans chapter 13 verse 8 and 10, 00:38:47.920 --> 00:38:50.920 the law and the prophets are summed up in this one command, 00:38:50.920 --> 00:38:52.920 love your neighbor as yourself. 00:38:52.920 --> 00:38:55.920 Go to Romans 13, 8 to 10, and you'll see why this, 00:38:55.920 --> 00:38:59.920 this that has been written on the board holds true. 00:38:59.920 --> 00:39:02.920 Romans 13 verse 8 and 10. 00:39:03.920 --> 00:39:11.920 Guys, you don't realize how, how tremendous these truths are. 00:39:11.920 --> 00:39:22.920 If only I can now begin to somehow make it part of my life on a regular, regular, regular basis. 00:39:22.920 --> 00:39:27.920 Romans 13 verse 8 to 10, and I have a desire too, and you do too, 00:39:27.920 --> 00:39:30.920 because we want to become a teapot. 00:39:30.920 --> 00:39:33.920 Huh, teapot doesn't sound right. 00:39:35.920 --> 00:39:38.920 I'll come up with some other word. 00:39:39.920 --> 00:39:44.920 And now all these words go together, teapot, cat, zucchini, they all come in the same category. 00:39:44.920 --> 00:39:47.920 Look at Romans 13 verse 8 to 10. 00:39:47.920 --> 00:39:55.920 Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another, 00:39:55.920 --> 00:39:59.920 for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. 00:39:59.920 --> 00:40:03.920 The commandments, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet, 00:40:03.920 --> 00:40:07.920 and whatever other commandment there may be are summed up in this one rule, 00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:09.920 love your neighbor as yourself. 00:40:09.920 --> 00:40:14.920 Why? Because love does no harm to its neighbor, therefore love is a fulfillment of the law. 00:40:17.920 --> 00:40:19.920 Very simple. 00:40:19.920 --> 00:40:23.920 You live like this and you will fulfill the commandments, cause. 00:40:23.920 --> 00:40:27.920 All sin lies within these two categories. 00:40:27.920 --> 00:40:32.920 Happiness apart from God, happiness apart from or at the expense of your neighbor. 00:40:34.920 --> 00:40:37.920 All the Ten Commandments are listed out of these two. 00:40:41.920 --> 00:40:43.920 Any questions? 00:40:45.920 --> 00:40:46.920 Yeah. 00:40:47.920 --> 00:40:49.920 Any questions guys? 00:40:51.920 --> 00:40:52.920 This is doable guys. 00:40:52.920 --> 00:40:56.920 See, we got saved instantly, but we are continuously being changed. 00:40:56.920 --> 00:40:58.920 Continuously being changed. 00:40:58.920 --> 00:41:01.920 So let's change in this. 00:41:01.920 --> 00:41:05.920 I'm looking forward to tomorrow, I can be a little more like this. 00:41:05.920 --> 00:41:10.920 You have no idea how often I'll go over my notes again and again in my head. 00:41:10.920 --> 00:41:14.920 I have the advantage of having the real notes, I don't have to listen to some guys speak. 00:41:14.920 --> 00:41:16.920 And I go over and over it again. 00:41:16.920 --> 00:41:19.920 Because maybe by next year this time? 00:41:24.920 --> 00:41:25.920 Any questions? 00:41:27.920 --> 00:41:29.920 Any comments or thoughts? 00:41:35.920 --> 00:41:37.920 Okay, last one. Die. 00:41:40.920 --> 00:41:41.920 Thank you. 00:41:46.920 --> 00:41:51.920 You just avoided probation. 00:41:56.920 --> 00:41:59.920 Dawn was almost writing a memo out to you. 00:41:59.920 --> 00:42:00.920 It's top shot. 00:42:03.920 --> 00:42:05.920 Guys, live, love, die. 00:42:06.920 --> 00:42:07.920 Die. 00:42:08.920 --> 00:42:12.920 You know, in Luke 14, verse 28, Jesus says, 00:42:12.920 --> 00:42:17.920 Jesus begins to speak in parables and he says, 00:42:17.920 --> 00:42:20.920 there was a king who had 10,000 people, 00:42:20.920 --> 00:42:24.920 and he found that there was an enemy king coming against him who had 20,000. 00:42:24.920 --> 00:42:26.920 And now he has to count the cost. 00:42:26.920 --> 00:42:28.920 He said there is a man who wants to build a house, 00:42:28.920 --> 00:42:30.920 but he has to sit down and count the cost first. 00:42:30.920 --> 00:42:35.920 See, when Jesus in Luke 14, verse 28 says, count the cost, 00:42:35.920 --> 00:42:37.920 his intent wasn't to say to us, 00:42:37.920 --> 00:42:39.920 No, his intent wasn't to say to us, 00:42:39.920 --> 00:42:43.920 guys, before you follow me, count the cost and then follow me. 00:42:43.920 --> 00:42:45.920 No, his intent was, through those parables, 00:42:45.920 --> 00:42:49.920 to say that it doesn't matter how much you count the cost 00:42:49.920 --> 00:42:52.920 and how many resources you may have and whatever you want to lay down, 00:42:52.920 --> 00:42:55.920 I just want you to know that your assets are insufficient 00:42:55.920 --> 00:42:58.920 to attain the status of discipleship. 00:42:58.920 --> 00:42:59.920 That's what he's saying. 00:42:59.920 --> 00:43:01.920 He's not saying count the cost and follow me. 00:43:01.920 --> 00:43:04.920 He's saying count the cost and you'll find that you just don't have 00:43:04.920 --> 00:43:06.920 what it takes to become my disciple. 00:43:08.920 --> 00:43:10.920 That's what he's saying. 00:43:11.920 --> 00:43:13.920 So laying down, this is why Paul at one point says, 00:43:13.920 --> 00:43:16.920 I can bring all my stuff and lay down. 00:43:16.920 --> 00:43:20.920 And yet if I don't have love, I'm nothing but one of those instruments 00:43:20.920 --> 00:43:23.920 that Jeevan was playing today. 00:43:23.920 --> 00:43:24.920 Symbols, yeah. 00:43:24.920 --> 00:43:28.920 So the point is this, guys, that you can count the cost 00:43:28.920 --> 00:43:31.920 and lay down all your resources only to find out 00:43:31.920 --> 00:43:34.920 that you do not qualify to be a disciple. 00:43:34.920 --> 00:43:38.920 Because to be Jesus' disciple is to lay down your life. 00:43:38.920 --> 00:43:40.920 You can lay down all your money, you can lay down all your cars, 00:43:40.920 --> 00:43:42.920 you can lay down all your degrees. 00:43:42.920 --> 00:43:46.920 You can, like Paul, say that all this is garbage and rubbish. 00:43:46.920 --> 00:43:49.920 And yet it ain't enough to become his disciple 00:43:49.920 --> 00:43:53.920 because the one thing Jesus laid down that is required of every disciple to lay down 00:43:53.920 --> 00:43:55.920 is their lives. 00:43:55.920 --> 00:43:57.920 And here's the bad news. 00:43:57.920 --> 00:44:00.920 Even your life ain't your own to lay down. 00:44:04.920 --> 00:44:08.920 This is why the word living sacrifice is such a paradox, 00:44:08.920 --> 00:44:11.920 such a contradiction. 00:44:11.920 --> 00:44:14.920 A living sacrifice? 00:44:14.920 --> 00:44:16.920 A sacrifice is supposed to be dead. 00:44:16.920 --> 00:44:19.920 But it is a living sacrifice. 00:44:22.920 --> 00:44:24.920 What a cool contradiction. 00:44:24.920 --> 00:44:27.920 A living sacrifice. 00:44:27.920 --> 00:44:30.920 A living sacrifice. 00:44:30.920 --> 00:44:32.920 Count the cost. 00:44:32.920 --> 00:44:36.920 And Jesus was intending to convey that no matter the resources you lay down, Jacob, 00:44:36.920 --> 00:44:40.920 those assets are insufficient to secure your status as a disciple. 00:44:40.920 --> 00:44:43.920 Therefore, alternative action is required. 00:44:43.920 --> 00:44:45.920 And what is the alternative action? 00:44:45.920 --> 00:44:49.920 Consider unworthy or of less value the things of life 00:44:49.920 --> 00:44:54.920 so you can abandon yourself to me and I'm a good master 00:44:54.920 --> 00:44:56.920 and then you can be counted as a disciple. 00:44:57.920 --> 00:44:59.920 So here's what Jesus is saying. 00:44:59.920 --> 00:45:03.920 There's nothing you can do to become my disciple by giving up stuff. 00:45:03.920 --> 00:45:05.920 So don't even bother. 00:45:05.920 --> 00:45:08.920 But here's what you can do. 00:45:08.920 --> 00:45:15.920 Begin to hold in less worth or less value 00:45:15.920 --> 00:45:19.920 the things that the rest of the world chases after 00:45:19.920 --> 00:45:23.920 so that you can abandon yourself to following me. 00:45:23.920 --> 00:45:26.920 I'm a good master and then you can be a good disciple. 00:45:26.920 --> 00:45:28.920 That is dying. 00:45:28.920 --> 00:45:33.920 Where you begin to hold unworthy or in less value 00:45:33.920 --> 00:45:37.920 the very things that the world chases after. 00:45:37.920 --> 00:45:40.920 That is dying. 00:45:40.920 --> 00:45:42.920 Pardon? 00:45:42.920 --> 00:45:47.920 Have a loose grip to the point where you don't even know it's being taken away. 00:45:47.920 --> 00:45:50.920 Live as though others are taking it away. 00:45:50.920 --> 00:45:52.920 Know it's being taken away. 00:45:52.920 --> 00:45:56.920 Live as though, I wrote this line and I've been trying to figure it out in my head. 00:45:56.920 --> 00:45:59.920 I've been trying to imagine, I've been reading up stuff 00:45:59.920 --> 00:46:01.920 but I still haven't gotten to the heart of it. 00:46:01.920 --> 00:46:04.920 But live as though condemned to death. 00:46:04.920 --> 00:46:07.920 Live as though condemned to death. 00:46:07.920 --> 00:46:09.920 Live as though condemned to death. 00:46:09.920 --> 00:46:14.920 As in live as though you are a man or a woman on death row. 00:46:14.920 --> 00:46:20.920 I found out that there were 3,426 people on death row in the United States. 00:46:20.920 --> 00:46:25.920 They live oblivious or completely dead to the pursuit of status, 00:46:25.920 --> 00:46:28.920 to the pursuit of success, to the securing of their future, 00:46:28.920 --> 00:46:30.920 to stockpiling possessions. 00:46:30.920 --> 00:46:32.920 They don't live like that anymore because any day, 00:46:32.920 --> 00:46:35.920 unless the governor calls for a last minute pardon, 00:46:35.920 --> 00:46:39.920 they know which day they will die, they know how they will die, 00:46:39.920 --> 00:46:42.920 they know where they're going to die. 00:46:42.920 --> 00:46:45.920 They live as once condemned to death. 00:46:46.920 --> 00:46:50.920 Paul said this, he said, I live knowing that every city I go to, 00:46:50.920 --> 00:46:54.920 the Holy Spirit has said to me that you will suffer and you will one day die. 00:46:54.920 --> 00:46:58.920 Jesus lived under the condemnation of death for our sake. 00:46:58.920 --> 00:47:00.920 So what happens in the process? 00:47:00.920 --> 00:47:04.920 When I begin to understand what it is to live as if condemned to death, 00:47:04.920 --> 00:47:08.920 I begin to become oblivious to the status, the success, the pursuits, 00:47:08.920 --> 00:47:10.920 the securing of the future and the stockpiling of possessions 00:47:10.920 --> 00:47:13.920 because they don't matter as much anymore. 00:47:15.920 --> 00:47:19.920 Now you have a church that can be poured out by Christ 00:47:19.920 --> 00:47:22.920 as if he were pouring things out of a teapot. 00:47:28.920 --> 00:47:32.920 Live as though condemned to death, unaffected by the things that the living craved for. 00:47:32.920 --> 00:47:38.920 Live as though condemned to death so that you may be unaffected 00:47:38.920 --> 00:47:41.920 by the things that the living crave for. 00:47:41.920 --> 00:47:46.920 There's an old Hebrew story where a young student comes to his rabbi and says, 00:47:46.920 --> 00:47:49.920 can you show me what it is to live for God? 00:47:49.920 --> 00:47:53.920 And the rabbi says, go to the cemetery and pick up some stones 00:47:53.920 --> 00:47:56.920 and start cursing the dead and throwing the stones. 00:47:56.920 --> 00:47:58.920 So he goes to the cemetery and he picks up stones 00:47:58.920 --> 00:48:01.920 and he starts cursing the dead and throwing stones at them. 00:48:01.920 --> 00:48:03.920 And he comes back and the rabbi said, what happened? 00:48:03.920 --> 00:48:05.920 He said, nothing happened, none of them responded. 00:48:05.920 --> 00:48:09.920 And so he said, okay, tomorrow go and stand in the same cemetery 00:48:09.920 --> 00:48:10.920 and start praising them. 00:48:10.920 --> 00:48:13.920 And so he stands there and goes grave to grave 00:48:13.920 --> 00:48:15.920 calling out their names and praising them 00:48:15.920 --> 00:48:16.920 and saying amazing things about them. 00:48:16.920 --> 00:48:18.920 And he comes back and the rabbi says, what happened? 00:48:18.920 --> 00:48:20.920 And he says, nothing, they didn't respond. 00:48:20.920 --> 00:48:22.920 And he says, go and live like that. 00:48:23.920 --> 00:48:26.920 The point is, live as though condemned to death 00:48:26.920 --> 00:48:31.920 so that Jacob, you are not affected by the things that the living crave for. 00:48:32.920 --> 00:48:34.920 These are the lives. 00:48:34.920 --> 00:48:36.920 This is the kind of church that God wants 00:48:36.920 --> 00:48:38.920 where he can pour them out of a teapot 00:48:38.920 --> 00:48:40.920 because they weren't in love with themselves. 00:48:44.920 --> 00:48:45.920 And for whose sake guys? 00:48:45.920 --> 00:48:49.920 For the sake of him, the Christ, the King who we stand for today, 00:48:49.920 --> 00:48:52.920 who is worthy of our lives guys, worthy of our lives. 00:48:52.920 --> 00:48:55.920 Oh, I would want to give it to him with great joy, 00:48:55.920 --> 00:48:57.920 not even as a sacrifice. 00:48:57.920 --> 00:49:02.920 It would be, if only I could do more and more to please him. 00:49:02.920 --> 00:49:05.920 Oh my God, you and I would be only thrilled to do that. 00:49:06.920 --> 00:49:09.920 And as you pour out your life, a strange thing begins to happen. 00:49:09.920 --> 00:49:11.920 You enter into hilarious happiness. 00:49:20.920 --> 00:49:23.920 Practice putting aside competing securities 00:49:23.920 --> 00:49:26.920 so that you might refashion life radically. 00:49:27.920 --> 00:49:30.920 Practice putting aside competing securities. 00:49:32.920 --> 00:49:36.920 So that you may refashion life radically. 00:49:36.920 --> 00:49:40.920 That's a modern way of saying what Jesus said in Luke 14 26. 00:49:40.920 --> 00:49:46.920 Anyone who comes to me but does not hate his father, his mother, 00:49:46.920 --> 00:49:49.920 his spouse, his children, his brothers and sisters, 00:49:49.920 --> 00:49:55.920 yes even one's own self, cannot be my disciple. 00:49:55.920 --> 00:49:56.920 Let me say this again. 00:49:56.920 --> 00:49:58.920 This is not a cult teaching. 00:49:58.920 --> 00:50:00.920 This is Jesus who said this. 00:50:00.920 --> 00:50:02.920 You can't put this on me. 00:50:02.920 --> 00:50:04.920 Here's what he said. 00:50:04.920 --> 00:50:09.920 Anyone who comes to me but does not hate his father, his mother, 00:50:09.920 --> 00:50:16.920 spouse, children, brothers, sisters, yes even one's own self, 00:50:16.920 --> 00:50:19.920 can't be my disciple. 00:50:20.920 --> 00:50:23.920 Now do you see why building a prevailing church is hard? 00:50:25.920 --> 00:50:28.920 And guys, to hate is not a feeling. 00:50:28.920 --> 00:50:31.920 To hate is to renounce primary allegiance 00:50:31.920 --> 00:50:34.920 and to rearrange your valued loyalties. 00:50:34.920 --> 00:50:36.920 To hate is not a feeling. 00:50:36.920 --> 00:50:40.920 To hate is to renounce your primary allegiances 00:50:41.920 --> 00:50:43.920 because you are into a new family now. 00:50:45.920 --> 00:50:47.920 To hate is not a feeling. 00:50:47.920 --> 00:50:51.920 To hate is to renounce primary allegiance 00:50:51.920 --> 00:50:55.920 or to disavow primary allegiances that you had 00:50:55.920 --> 00:51:00.920 and to rearrange your valued loyalties. 00:51:02.920 --> 00:51:05.920 And again, to hate self is not self-hate. 00:51:07.920 --> 00:51:10.920 Self-hate is something God doesn't promote. 00:51:10.920 --> 00:51:14.920 To hate self is to say I value myself less. 00:51:14.920 --> 00:51:15.920 That's what it means. 00:51:15.920 --> 00:51:18.920 I value myself less. 00:51:18.920 --> 00:51:20.920 That's what hate self means. 00:51:20.920 --> 00:51:23.920 Please understand, if you have an issue with these words, 00:51:23.920 --> 00:51:25.920 if you have an issue with these words, 00:51:25.920 --> 00:51:27.920 you have someone you can take it up with 00:51:27.920 --> 00:51:28.920 and it ain't me. 00:51:35.920 --> 00:51:38.920 I want us to live like this, guys. 00:51:38.920 --> 00:51:40.920 It doesn't undo our relationships, 00:51:40.920 --> 00:51:43.920 but it refashions how we live. 00:51:46.920 --> 00:51:48.920 So here's the question I'm asking myself. 00:51:48.920 --> 00:51:50.920 Can I rearrange my heart and my head 00:51:51.920 --> 00:51:55.920 so that the high value that I place on family, 00:51:56.920 --> 00:51:58.920 that I place on culture, 00:51:59.920 --> 00:52:02.920 whatever culture it be, Canadian or East Indian or German 00:52:02.920 --> 00:52:03.920 or whatever it be, 00:52:03.920 --> 00:52:06.920 can I rearrange my heart and head 00:52:06.920 --> 00:52:09.920 so that the high value that I place on family, 00:52:10.920 --> 00:52:12.920 that I place on culture, 00:52:12.920 --> 00:52:14.920 that I place on status, 00:52:15.920 --> 00:52:17.920 that I place on job, 00:52:17.920 --> 00:52:19.920 that I place on security, 00:52:20.920 --> 00:52:22.920 that I place on possessions, 00:52:22.920 --> 00:52:26.920 that I place on the pride of life or my id or ego 00:52:26.920 --> 00:52:27.920 or whatever you want to call it, 00:52:27.920 --> 00:52:28.920 can I rearrange this? 00:52:28.920 --> 00:52:32.920 Because if I don't, they will dictate and influence my choices. 00:52:38.920 --> 00:52:41.920 I want to rearrange this so that at the drop of a hat, 00:52:42.920 --> 00:52:46.920 I'll say like many say before the presidents of the United States, 00:52:46.920 --> 00:52:48.920 I serve at the pleasure. 00:52:48.920 --> 00:52:51.920 I serve at the pleasure, not of the president. 00:52:51.920 --> 00:52:54.920 I serve at the pleasure of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords 00:52:55.920 --> 00:52:58.920 who laid down his life, poured out his life, emptied his life 00:52:58.920 --> 00:53:00.920 for a wretch like me, 00:53:01.920 --> 00:53:03.920 for a wretch like me, 00:53:03.920 --> 00:53:05.920 for a wretch like me. 00:53:05.920 --> 00:53:09.920 He, the precious, priceless, one of unsurpassing word, 00:53:09.920 --> 00:53:12.920 the King of the universe, the Son of the living God, 00:53:12.920 --> 00:53:16.920 holy, holy, holy, he laid down, poured out his life, 00:53:16.920 --> 00:53:18.920 emptied his life for a wretch like me. 00:53:18.920 --> 00:53:23.920 Why will I not at least try to rearrange my heart and my head? 00:53:28.920 --> 00:53:30.920 Why will I not? 00:53:32.920 --> 00:53:35.920 And daily we shall walk towards his end. 00:53:35.920 --> 00:53:37.920 Daily we shall walk towards his end. 00:53:41.920 --> 00:53:42.920 The transaction was ridiculous. 00:53:42.920 --> 00:53:44.920 It just doesn't make any sense. 00:53:44.920 --> 00:53:46.920 He for me doesn't make sense. 00:53:46.920 --> 00:53:53.920 I know how base and corrupt and sinful I can be and have been. 00:53:53.920 --> 00:53:55.920 I know. 00:53:56.920 --> 00:53:58.920 I'm under no illusion. 00:54:02.920 --> 00:54:05.920 But for me, if he has done that, 00:54:08.920 --> 00:54:10.920 then there is that him that talks about 00:54:10.920 --> 00:54:12.920 I will give away all my crowns. 00:54:12.920 --> 00:54:15.920 I will give away everything that I, that people, 00:54:15.920 --> 00:54:18.920 what's that him that has that verse which says, 00:54:18.920 --> 00:54:21.920 demands my life, my something, my all. 00:54:21.920 --> 00:54:22.920 What is it? 00:54:22.920 --> 00:54:23.920 What him is that? 00:54:23.920 --> 00:54:25.920 I was trying to remember. 00:54:25.920 --> 00:54:28.920 When I survey the wondrous cross, and what's the last verse? 00:54:28.920 --> 00:54:30.920 It says something like, 00:54:30.920 --> 00:54:34.920 no, can someone pull it out of the him and let me end with that. 00:54:34.920 --> 00:54:36.920 That is how we need to live, guys. 00:54:37.920 --> 00:54:39.920 Can you rearrange your heart and head? 00:54:39.920 --> 00:54:40.920 Yeah. 00:54:43.920 --> 00:54:45.920 When you find it, Chris, just give it to me. 00:54:46.920 --> 00:54:48.920 Guys, rearrange your heart and head 00:54:48.920 --> 00:54:53.920 and the high value you place on family, culture, status, job, security, possessions and the pride of life. 00:54:53.920 --> 00:54:56.920 If not, they will if they have already not 00:54:56.920 --> 00:54:59.920 started, start dictating and influencing your choices. 00:54:59.920 --> 00:55:01.920 Here's the other newsflash. 00:55:01.920 --> 00:55:03.920 I heard this from a guy last week. 00:55:03.920 --> 00:55:05.920 I thought this line was something else. 00:55:05.920 --> 00:55:06.920 He said it and I thought, 00:55:06.920 --> 00:55:12.920 He said that you as Christians are not called to serve the lowest and the least. 00:55:12.920 --> 00:55:17.920 He said you as Christians are not called to serve the lowest and the least. 00:55:17.920 --> 00:55:21.920 He said you as Christians are to become the lowest and the least. 00:55:24.920 --> 00:55:26.920 And therein lies the struggle with the pride of life. 00:55:26.920 --> 00:55:27.920 Don't worry about that, guys. 00:55:27.920 --> 00:55:29.920 Listen to this line because it will influence you. 00:55:31.920 --> 00:55:33.920 You are not called to serve the lowest and the least. 00:55:33.920 --> 00:55:37.920 You are called to become the lowest and the least. 00:55:37.920 --> 00:55:40.920 Christ was not called to serve the lowest and the least. 00:55:40.920 --> 00:55:44.920 Christ became the lowest and the least. 00:55:44.920 --> 00:55:47.920 We have changed it a little. 00:55:47.920 --> 00:55:50.920 And that is why I need to rearrange my thinking 00:55:50.920 --> 00:55:53.920 so that the pride of life does not dictate how I live. 00:55:56.920 --> 00:55:58.920 This king that we spoke about, 00:55:58.920 --> 00:56:00.920 the one who was the king of the world, 00:56:01.920 --> 00:56:05.920 this king that we spoke about became the lowest and the least. 00:56:05.920 --> 00:56:07.920 He didn't come to serve the lowest and the least. 00:56:07.920 --> 00:56:09.920 He came to became the lowest and the least. 00:56:09.920 --> 00:56:10.920 Once you become the lowest and the least, 00:56:10.920 --> 00:56:13.920 you will have no choice but to serve everybody else. 00:56:15.920 --> 00:56:18.920 These are giant truths that we'll have to 00:56:20.920 --> 00:56:25.920 grind and think and squeeze and do things that we do with kale. 00:56:25.920 --> 00:56:26.920 And so, 00:56:27.920 --> 00:56:28.920 yeah, 00:56:28.920 --> 00:56:30.920 that's another thing to add to that list. 00:56:34.920 --> 00:56:36.920 But we need to do this, guys. 00:56:38.920 --> 00:56:39.920 This is the definition. 00:56:39.920 --> 00:56:41.920 What I've just given you right now over the last few minutes 00:56:41.920 --> 00:56:43.920 since we started talking about dying, 00:56:43.920 --> 00:56:46.920 is the definition of bearing your cross and following after Jesus. 00:56:48.920 --> 00:56:51.920 This is bearing your cross and following after Jesus. 00:56:51.920 --> 00:56:53.920 This is what it looks like on a daily basis. 00:56:55.920 --> 00:56:57.920 And that then qualifies you to be a disciple. 00:56:58.920 --> 00:57:00.920 I just can't understand how Jesus says stuff like, 00:57:00.920 --> 00:57:02.920 you can't be my disciple 00:57:03.920 --> 00:57:05.920 if you're not like this. 00:57:05.920 --> 00:57:06.920 Then what are we? 00:57:08.920 --> 00:57:11.920 Quasi-disciples, followers, believers, what are we? 00:57:13.920 --> 00:57:16.920 A prevailing church is a church that has this kind of people. 00:57:17.920 --> 00:57:20.920 What's the song, Ryan? Can you just put it up? 00:57:23.920 --> 00:57:26.920 Were the whole realm of nature mine 00:57:26.920 --> 00:57:28.920 that were oppressive, far too small? 00:57:28.920 --> 00:57:30.920 Love so amazing, so divine. 00:57:30.920 --> 00:57:32.920 Demands my soul, my life, my all. 00:57:35.920 --> 00:57:38.920 My richest gain, I count, but loss. 00:57:39.920 --> 00:57:41.920 And poor contempt on all my pride. 00:57:42.920 --> 00:57:44.920 Man, some of these songs from yesteryears 00:57:45.920 --> 00:57:47.920 that we set aside because it ain't got the 00:57:48.920 --> 00:57:49.920 Hillsong jive 00:57:49.920 --> 00:57:52.920 have words that sometimes a super rich man 00:57:52.920 --> 00:57:54.920 and we are revisiting them. 00:57:54.920 --> 00:57:57.920 Even, I mean Hillsong comes up with super songs. 00:57:57.920 --> 00:57:59.920 There wasn't a stab at them. 00:57:59.920 --> 00:58:01.920 But perhaps we'll end with singing this. 00:58:02.920 --> 00:58:03.920 Yeah? 00:58:03.920 --> 00:58:05.920 John 15, verse 11 to 13. 00:58:05.920 --> 00:58:07.920 John 15, verse 11 to 13. 00:58:07.920 --> 00:58:10.920 Kind of sums up, live, love, die. 00:58:11.920 --> 00:58:13.920 John 15, verse 11 to 13. 00:58:13.920 --> 00:58:17.920 Kind of sums up, live, love, die. 00:58:20.920 --> 00:58:23.920 Here's what it says in John 15, verse 11 to 13. 00:58:23.920 --> 00:58:26.920 These things I have spoken to you 00:58:26.920 --> 00:58:28.920 that my joy may remain in you 00:58:28.920 --> 00:58:30.920 and that your joy may be full. 00:58:30.920 --> 00:58:32.920 That is the live part of it. 00:58:32.920 --> 00:58:36.920 Living with the core conviction that I was 00:58:36.920 --> 00:58:40.920 put here on earth to live 00:58:40.920 --> 00:58:43.920 in hilarious happiness. 00:58:44.920 --> 00:58:47.920 Satisfied with God so that I might glorify him 00:58:47.920 --> 00:58:50.920 and that my life may engage with others 00:58:50.920 --> 00:58:53.920 so that his story may intersect 00:58:53.920 --> 00:58:55.920 the lives of others through me. 00:58:58.920 --> 00:59:01.920 The second, the next verse says 00:59:01.920 --> 00:59:04.920 this is my commandment that you love one another 00:59:04.920 --> 00:59:06.920 as I have loved you. 00:59:06.920 --> 00:59:08.920 And that is the love part. 00:59:08.920 --> 00:59:10.920 This is my commandment that you love one another 00:59:10.920 --> 00:59:11.920 as I have loved you. 00:59:11.920 --> 00:59:13.920 And then the die part is where he says 00:59:13.920 --> 00:59:17.920 and this is true love or this is 00:59:17.920 --> 00:59:20.920 is greater love has no one than this 00:59:20.920 --> 00:59:24.920 than to lay down his life for his friends 00:59:24.920 --> 00:59:26.920 and takes care of the die part. 00:59:26.920 --> 00:59:29.920 Three simple verses in which Jesus encapsulates 00:59:29.920 --> 00:59:33.920 how he would like us to contend for Christ, 00:59:33.920 --> 00:59:36.920 for the gospel, and for making disciples. 00:59:36.920 --> 00:59:40.920 And all I'm saying is when we begin to practice these 00:59:40.920 --> 00:59:44.920 it is critical to contending and it becomes a pathway 00:59:44.920 --> 00:59:49.920 so that we can then stand and live Revelation 12, 11. 00:59:50.920 --> 00:59:52.920 What does Revelation 12, 11 say? 00:59:52.920 --> 00:59:56.920 They defeated him through the blood of the Lamb 00:59:56.920 --> 00:59:59.920 and the bold word of their witness. 00:59:59.920 --> 01:00:03.920 And Jacob wasn't in love with himself. 01:00:03.920 --> 01:00:06.920 And Jacob was willing to die for Christ. 01:00:06.920 --> 01:00:09.920 Acts 29 wasn't in love with themselves. 01:00:09.920 --> 01:00:12.920 They were willing to die for Christ. 01:00:13.920 --> 01:00:15.920 Living sacrifices, eh? 01:00:16.920 --> 01:00:17.920 Can we sing this? 01:00:17.920 --> 01:00:20.920 Sing it in response to the teaching. 01:00:20.920 --> 01:00:22.920 Sing it in response to the teaching 01:00:22.920 --> 01:00:26.920 and then at the end of it we'll stop. 01:00:26.920 --> 01:00:29.920 And after that I'm going to ask 01:00:31.920 --> 01:00:36.920 Jillian and Sue and Jeevan and Joan to come up 01:00:36.920 --> 01:00:40.920 and if you need prayer, people will pray with you. 01:00:42.920 --> 01:00:44.920 Thank you.