Hello everyone. We'll get started again.
Alright, so towards the end of the teaching we'll have communion as well.
So for those of you guys who are at home, prepare the bread and the juice now if you can and be ready for that because we'll have communion at the very end.
Alright, so we'll continue with the topic that we were looking at last week which is priests in the city.
This idea that Jesus Christ when he walked on earth, he was a priest, he was a prophet, he was a king.
And that if we had to pattern our lives after Jesus, it means that as we walk on earth, we walk as priests, as prophets, as kings.
Appointed by God for the purposes that God has here on earth.
So that's what we're going to be looking at today. This is priests in the city as Jacob titled it last week.
But this is part two. We're going to take it further and we're going to look at how does this apply in our lives.
How does it apply to the cities we live in? How does it apply to the nations of the world?
So we're going to look at four different scriptures to begin with which will lay foundation for us to look at.
And then from there on we'll build pillars so to speak to see how this can be deposited in our hearts.
So that the Spirit of God can take it and the Spirit of God can take it out into the world.
One of the things we've been talking about the last few weeks is this idea that we are not meant to be inside these four walls.
We are meant to go out. We've been called to go out. We've been asked to go out, commanded to go out.
And that there is a world that is waiting. A world that is ready. It's mature. It's there.
They're waiting. They're groaning. They're yearning for the sons of God, for the daughters of God to go out.
So that's what we'll be looking at today. I loved what Emily said earlier on that God wants to put on our feet new shoes.
New shoes. It's from Ephesians 6 I think. New shoes. The shoes of the Gospel.
So that we can be redeemed because God has given us everything now. He has given us everything we need.
We are washed clean. We are as righteous as we can be because the righteousness that is in us is the righteousness of Jesus.
There is nothing limiting us. There is nothing stopping us.
And one of the things that's true for Acts 29 is we know ourselves very well as sons and daughters.
We know that. God has been kind to us. He has been faithful to us to show us what it is to live like sons of God.
What it is to live like daughters of God. He has shown us that.
But now there is a new thing awaiting for us. And in this new thing that God is preparing,
He is saying the new invitation that I have for you is to walk like priests.
Not just as sons. Not just as daughters. To walk like priests.
To walk in your cities. To walk in your neighborhoods like priests.
And that I'm giving my knowledge too much work. I'm walking left and right.
Is that good? You got to work some days bro.
Alright. So that's what we are going to look at.
Man I'm so excited. I'm very excited because of what God is doing.
I'm very excited because there is something God is birthing in our hearts.
I know that you know it. I know it. We know it.
It is this season that God has prepared us for.
And there is a world, a watching world waiting outside.
So from just being sons and daughters, God is adding a new thing.
It is be priests. I see you as priests.
When you call out to me, I don't just see you as sons and daughters. I see you as priests.
That is the robe you are wearing. That is who you are. Your very identity is based on that.
So let's look at those four scriptures. The first one is Genesis chapter 14, 18-20.
It's a story where Abram, Abram was still Abram. He wasn't Abraham just yet.
Abram was called out from the land of his fathers.
He was asked by God to set apart and to just separate himself from everything.
He did that. He just went to fight with 318 of his armed men to save Lot and a few of his possessions.
And he has come back. And out of that, he is going to be a priest.
And he has come back. And out of nowhere, out of nowhere, Melchizedek enters the scene.
There is no reference to Melchizedek. Bible doesn't talk about Melchizedek before.
All of a sudden, just as he is returning, Melchizedek enters the scene.
We know that story. But what's important is why is Melchizedek at this very point in Abram's life entering the scene?
There is one reason and one reason only.
The reason is this is a very pivotal point in Abram's life.
This is the point where he will have to make a decision. You know what?
In the very next line, in the very next verse, the king of Sodom approaches Abram.
And Abram needs to be redeemed because what is in Abram and what has to happen through Abram, it has to be pure.
It cannot be contaminated. It has to follow God's pattern.
And Melchizedek enters the scene. What does he do? He brings bread and wine.
He goes to Abram. He finds Abram. Abram doesn't find him. Melchizedek finds Abram.
He goes to Abram and he says this,
The possessor of heaven and earth blesses you.
It's a prayer. It's a two-line prayer. But in the two-line prayer, he is telling Abram,
Just so that you know you belong to the possessor of heaven and earth.
Just so that you know this fighting that just happened and you coming back victoriously,
these enemies were given to you by your God.
That is what Melchizedek does there. He sets the baseline. He tells Abram what just happened.
And the next verse, the king of Sodom comes to Abram and he says,
You know what? You take some of the goods. I'll take some of the people.
Now that we have come back victoriously. Abram's response is exactly what Melchizedek said.
Abram says, I have lifted my hands to the heaven. I have lifted my hands to the mighty possessor of heaven and earth.
And therefore I don't want what you're giving me.
Because what is going to happen in my life and everything that God said will happen,
I don't need your goods. I don't need what you're giving me.
Because I know for a fact that when I lifted my hands to the mighty possessor of heaven and earth,
He will provide for me. He will provide for everything that's going to happen.
Right at the very time when Abram needed, Melchizedek entered the scene.
Let's look at the second verse. This is from Hebrews chapter 7, 15 to 17.
Hebrews chapter 7, 15 to 17.
I'll read it out loud.
This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek,
who has become a priest not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent,
but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of him.
You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Now, the second verse we just read is about Jesus.
We sang the song today, forever. He is the forever priest.
He is the Alpha and he is the Omega. He doesn't change. He is who he was then.
He is who he is today. He will be who he is tomorrow.
He is everything. He is forever. There is no one who can say forever.
See here in this verse, it says that Jesus is after the order of Melchizedek. Why?
Because between Melchizedek and Jesus, there was the levitical priesthood.
There was the Aaronic priest and all of them had one thing in common. What is that?
They all lived. They all died. They couldn't be in the office forever.
But Jesus then enters the scene and with this entry, everything has changed forever. Why?
Because Jesus is forever the priest. He is after the order of Melchizedek and he is forever our priest.
We forever now have Jesus, who is a priest on our behalf unto God.
To speak on our behalf unto God. To say that this man, this woman, he was washed clean, she was washed clean by my blood.
And therefore, Father, he is clean. He is righteous. It has been established.
It has been established. And therefore, when God calls us out, as Emily said, to go out into the world, we have been washed clean.
God has cleaned us. We don't need to wait for anything new to happen.
We have been given everything that God has for us. We are empowered. We have the Spirit of God living inside us.
We have the Spirit of God controlling us, helping us navigate the ways, telling us which way to go, left or right.
So we are ready, Church. We are ready. We can't wait for more. We don't need to wait for more.
The third verse we look at is Exodus 19, verse 6.
Exodus 19, verse 6.
I haven't, I've read this verse before, but never read it like this. It never occurred to me.
But if you can read this, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. I'll read the first part of that verse.
These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites. This is God telling Moses after Israelites came out of Egypt.
One of the first things he is telling to Moses about Israel. These are the words you, Moses, are to speak to the Israelites.
Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
God is saying, Israel, you're not just supposed to be known for the lineage of Abraham.
You're not just the sons of Jacob, the sons of Joseph. Your story is not just about the fact that you were brought out of Egypt.
Here is what I have for you. On the earth, you are supposed to be a kingdom of priests.
Israel was supposed to be a kingdom of priests. And that's not just the Levitical priests.
They were as a whole supposed to be a kingdom of priests.
And then let's look at the next verse. Not there. Let's look at another passage.
1 Peter 2, 5. I'll read this one.
You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Now on this side of the cross, we are priests. We are the royal priesthood.
We've been given everything we need by our Father so that on earth we can be his priests.
Settled. We can be his priests here on earth.
So we are not just sons. We are not just daughters. We are priests here on earth.
In Vancouver, we are priests. In Surrey, in Wally, in different parts of the world, wherever we are tuning in from, we are priests for that part of the world.
Not just for that part of the world, for the nations.
So if this is all true, and it is, how do we then apply what God has told us through his word practically so that we can become and walk in it as God wants us to?
Because his heart, just like he wants us to catch him as a father, his heart longs for us to catch him as his priest.
Relate to him that way. He longs for that.
So we look at a few things in terms of how can we apply this truth?
How do we operate as priests in our homes, in our apartments, in our neighborhoods, in our streets, in the places we work at, at the grocery store, places where we go to?
How do we operate as priests? Not just as sons, not just as daughters, but as priests.
So the first thing we look at, there are three or four things I want to touch on today.
First thing is incarnate.
So what does God expect of us as priests?
First thing is incarnate. What do we mean by that?
Simply that we are living in the midst of a people to display our beliefs and our actions.
We are living in the midst of a people to display our beliefs and our actions so that we can convey God to others.
Jesus dwelled amongst men.
We are a people who dwells in the middle, in the midst of a people.
For what? To display our beliefs, to display our convictions, to display our actions,
so that we can convey to the world who God is.
And here are a few things that we need to look at.
First thing is John chapter 1. We don't need to read it, but this is that passage in John.
There is that passage in John chapter 1 where Jesus is passing by and John the Baptist identifies Jesus.
And he knows this is Jesus the Messiah.
And he tells this to his disciples.
And the two disciples there, they cry out and they say, Rabbi, Rabbi to Jesus.
And eventually Jesus says, come and see.
That's what Jesus said. He didn't stop there to teach to them.
He didn't stop there to tell them anything. He just said, come and see.
Come and see. So that day they went to Jesus' house.
Can you imagine what may have happened?
They just know what this man, John the Baptist, that they admire said about Jesus.
But when they walked into that house, you've got to imagine that they probably saw things set up a certain way.
Of course, it would have been evident that he's a carpenter.
But there would have been certain things that portrayed how Jesus is, what Jesus' beliefs are,
what he believes about the Father, what he believes about the Kingdom.
It would have been very plain for them to see.
Jesus doesn't say, come and see me specifically in my house if there wasn't any reason.
Similarly for us, we open our lives. We open our hearts.
We open our homes so that people can come and see.
Who are we? Why are we doing things the way we do things?
What is the reason behind our beliefs? What are our beliefs?
Come and see. And the good thing, one thing I like about that passage is a few verses down,
either Philip or Andrew, I think Philip tells this to Nathaniel, come and see.
Just a few verses down, whatever was spoken to Philip, Philip responds the same thing or the same way to Nathaniel.
Come and see. Come and see what's happening.
Guys, let's be this people who is always inviting, who is always saying, we live in the midst of a people.
But through our actions, through our beliefs, through our convictions, through the way we carry ourselves,
the world around us will know who Jesus is.
And when I was thinking about this, one of the things I realized is, I don't know if this applies to you, maybe it does.
Christians are known for having good, well put together lives.
Just looks clean. But I wonder if we can be as articulative as how God helps us through the days we struggle.
I wonder if we can be more articulate about how God is with us even through the difficult times.
Because any time, most of the times Christians speak, everything is so good that a watching world thinks,
Oh my goodness, man, I can't even relate to this guy because he is so good.
Because nothing seems to be broken. Nothing seems to be, everything is so intact.
Jesus wept. I know that's taking an extreme position, but he was like others.
He was not interested in having a well kept life.
Most of the things that we learn, we learn through the good times and the difficult times.
And we have to open our hearts, our lives to others so that they can see how the God who carries us,
carries us not just through the good times, he carries us through the difficult times as well.
Why? Because there is a world who is going through a difficult time and they need to see that.
And convey God, and while we live in the midst of the people, convey God in a manner that impresses them.
Because the other thing about the church, and I'm talking about the church overall,
is the world knows the church more for what we stand against than what we stand for.
That's a problem. The world knows the church of Jesus Christ more for what we stand against.
And less for what we stand for. That has to change.
My goodness man, our father's heart is beating so that he can tell the watching world that guess what,
there is a people that I have redeemed, there is a people that I have restored, there is a people that I have kept apart,
and I'm going to send these people out into the world and you're going to watch them.
And when you watch them, you will see that what I stand for is what they stand for.
What I stand against, yes they stand against, but the world needs to know what we stand for.
May we be the first ones in a room, practically, when there is injustice happening, we have to be the first ones to stand up.
We have to be the first ones to speak up when you know that something is not right.
When a person is treated in a manner that is not dignified, when someone is put down,
a Christian in the room has to stand up because our God is like that.
He is for certain things. We have to be for justice. We have to be for what our father's heart beats for.
We cannot just be known for what we are against. We have to be known for what we are for.
I pray that the city that we live in, because this has to apply to the places where we live in,
that our neighbors, our neighborhood, our friends, our families will know the things that we stand for.
Why? Because we believe certain things, because of our convictions,
and that these people will know why we do what we do, because we stand for what our father's heart stands for.
We don't just stand against things. We stand for things. We know how his heart beats.
And for those things, we stand with him, for him.
So we don't need to impress people, but it is the truth that the church is portrayed a certain way in the world.
God doesn't need any impression, but we've got to help people see who God really is.
That is required. That is needed.
When I was in India,
one of the days, just before the wedding, I tried to meet Iris as many days as I possibly could.
So we went on a one-day trip to this place to meet a pastor.
And just before I left the house, my dad said,
I want you to grab, I need you to buy some duck, because he was feeling like duck curry later that day or the next day.
So I said, yeah, I'll pick it up.
So I remember going to this place with Iris.
We met the pastor and on the way back, I said, Iris, you've got to remind me we need to buy this, buy the duck,
because there is about five kilometers of a state highway on either side.
There are lots of duck stores, meat, fish, whatever you want.
It's available, just fresh.
And it's very known that area is known for that, because my dad knew that this is where we're heading.
So he wanted us to buy it.
But as we're driving back, God tells us, you can't just buy duck from any store now.
I want you to stop at a specific place, because there is a specific person waiting there.
And here is what I want you to do.
So we said, OK, Father, we'll do that.
So as we're driving back, we start seeing the stretch of the road where this is happening.
We can start seeing the stores on our left and on our right.
And Iris and I are looking.
And at one point, we heard God say, that's the store.
And so we, it was just too quick, so we couldn't stop.
So we went a little far ahead, pulled over, and we walked back to the store.
And we ordered, placed the order for the duck.
While we are standing there, we are asking God, Abba, you asked us to come here.
And you said there is a person to show us.
And there is this lady standing right next to us.
We started conversing with this lady.
We don't know her.
It's another side of the city.
And as we conversed with her, we know that what God had said is for her.
And so we talked to her.
We do exactly what God asked us to do.
And we tell her in the process that we were never supposed to stop here.
That we were supposed to go somewhere else and pick up meat from anywhere here.
And that God specifically asked us to stop at this store to meet her.
My goodness, man, she couldn't believe it.
Because the very reason she was at the store was not to purchase duck.
It was for something else.
And we were sent there to meet that exact need.
And she is sitting there thinking, how can it be that two strangers, they don't even know me.
But two strangers have been sent by their God to come and meet my need.
Her heart opens up. She wouldn't even leave us.
She said, can you come and visit us in our home? We couldn't.
But I know for a fact that she wasn't impressed by us.
There is nothing to be impressed by us.
But she was impressed by my God.
Because my God said, go there.
My God said, I love this woman.
My God said, you do this.
And that was exactly what she needed at that point.
My goodness, we've got so many people waiting around us.
God knows exactly what they need.
And God impresses upon our hearts to do that.
And we can then go out to the watching world and do.
Live amongst them and do what he is asking us to do.
Communicate our beliefs.
Communicate by our actions what God has impressed in our hearts.
Who we are is who we are.
We are priests.
And to do this, one of the things that must happen is we have to live God-confident lives.
Not a man-confidence that will wear away as soon as something tricky happens.
But a God-confidence deep inside us.
Where we know for a fact who we are.
Where we know that the calling of God is upon us.
Where we know that there is a world watching.
And so when we render into places we don't go with, I'm confident, I'm confident.
We go with, deep down inside us there is a confidence.
My God is with me.
My God has called me.
That is what happened to Paul in Acts chapter 27.
The ship is facing a storm.
There are people inside it.
There is a verse in Acts chapter 27 that says this.
When all the hope was lost, there was nothing else remaining.
They tried whatever they could for days to at last find out that we are going to die.
These are experienced men.
When they know they are going to die, they know that they are going to die.
And out of nowhere, Paul stands up and Paul says,
You know what? You are not going to die tonight.
Why? Because my God told me that you are going to survive.
And guess what? I'm going to break some bread and we are going to eat together.
Why? Because we are going to survive the night.
We are going to survive the day.
We are going to land up somewhere else. Yes?
And there is a purpose there too.
It is a God-confidence.
How is it that Paul knows that he will survive?
It's just a God-confidence that it's not just for him.
But it's also for the people because God appeared to him in a dream,
in a vision and showed him what was to happen.
So this happens by living a God-confident life.
One more or two more verses here and we will move on to the next one.
Ezekiel chapter 20, 41 to 42.
The last part of it, I'll just read it out.
It says, God says, I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations.
God's heart again.
I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations.
That was Ezekiel chapter 20, 41 to 42.
Ezekiel chapter 20, 41 to 42.
And then another scripture for you to read later on.
It's 2 Kings chapter 17, 24 to 28.
2 Kings 17, 24 to 28.
That's the passage where the king of Assyria,
he goes in and removes Israelites from Samaria.
And he has people from Babylon and other regions of the world go into Samaria.
And soon what happens is there is a lion attack.
It's just spread over amongst that place.
People are being killed by lion.
And the king of Assyria says, go find one of those priests,
one of them, send them back into this land so that they can stay there,
live with the people and teach them who God is so that this will stop.
Priests are people who go into the places they are called to.
They go from where God has placed them into the world.
What has Jesus done with us? Jesus has done this with us.
He has called us out from the world and then he has transformed us.
He has put in us his spirit. He has equipped us.
He has made us ready. And then he says not to stay here.
Go out. Go out. Everything you need is with you.
Just like what was done with the priests here.
Go out, live there with them so that they can see who I am.
Next one is invite.
Invite.
Before we can invite, the first thing that has to happen is we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We can only invite people into this kingdom if we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And this gospel of Jesus Christ is about the cross as well.
And the foolishness of the cross as well.
Because it's a very foolish thing.
Bible says and the word of God says and God knows that it's very foolish for people
to think that they can just be saved by believing in Jesus' death.
That they don't need to work for it.
That it's conferred upon them. Righteousness is given to them
just by believing in Christ and repenting their sins.
It's pretty foolish.
But the foolishness of the world doesn't stop the gospel.
One of the songs, I think it's King of Kings, that says the gospel story will go on.
Something like that. It will not kneel down.
This is the gospel.
And it's the power of God unto salvation.
We don't have to change it. We don't have to add to it.
We just present the gospel as is.
And that in itself is the power of God unto salvation.
We don't need to add extra power to it.
We don't need to add extra words to it.
We don't need to say it a specific way.
It can be a one-liner in an elevator or a three-hour conversation with a friend.
It doesn't matter.
The one-liner in the elevator which has God's power in it
and the three-hour conversation with a friend will do the same thing.
The gospel proclaimed.
Which includes the foolishness that the world perceives it to be.
The foolishness of the cross.
And when we say it, once we say it, this is the part where I say invite.
We have to invite people.
If you think this is right, respond to it.
They don't have to respond to us.
They have to respond to the message.
Jesus did this all the time.
He asked people to respond to, is it a yeah or a nay?
We've got to have people pick and choose what they want.
That's the way to do it.
We not just proclaim, we invite them.
Hey, do you want to see this?
Hey, do you want to live like this?
Hey, do you want to enjoy this relationship?
Let them choose.
And that's the way Jesus operated.
Because our thing is we are just quick to leave perhaps.
And Jesus stays there and he gives them an opportunity to respond to them.
He gives them an opportunity.
What if we are not giving people the opportunity?
We are just saying what we need to say and moving on.
We can't.
We've got to stay there and give them the opportunity to respond to the message.
To respond to the gospel.
I remember the first few times when I would share the gospel with people,
I would always start with this line,
Do you know Jesus?
And I soon realized that this is the, for the lack of a better word, stupidest thing you can say.
Because all the time they would say yes.
And everything that I had in me prepared to say and speak to them is gone.
Do you know Jesus?
Yeah.
I thought you didn't so I could present Jesus to you.
It happened few times and then I realized then,
Oh my goodness, this is such a foolish question to ask.
Because everyone knows Jesus.
They just don't know the Jesus.
Asking people, do you know Jesus is just a very poor way of communicating the gospel.
Years ago, I heard this message.
This pastor was speaking.
And in that message he talked about a pastor in Vietnam.
His name is Pastor Ha.
And this pastor was imprisoned for life I think.
He was supposed to be in the prison for a long long time.
And obviously he was preaching the gospel before that and he had no other ways now.
He's in the prison cell. He starts praying to God.
And one day God just creatively allowed this pastor to see an air duct.
And he said, talk into the air duct.
And this pastor eventually came out only to realize that this air duct that he was speaking into
was servicing air to each and every cell in the whole building.
And by speaking and by laying flat on the floor and just speaking, speaking, speaking into that one air duct.
The entire prison cell and every single person in the prison, they heard the gospel of Christ.
My goodness man, God has a thousand different ways for me to present the gospel than do you know Jesus.
He is very creative.
And he will give us the creativity that we need.
Not that the gospel requires creativity.
But we have to meet people where they are.
And God knows where they are and he'll give us the words that we need to speak that.
Hi.
I want us to pray into this because while I was writing this, I felt that we are in a season
where I truly believe that Acts 29 is going to be going and sharing this word of God, this gospel of God,
like never before.
I believe truly deep in my heart that through very simple people like us,
the gospel is going to be preached in the city, in our neighborhoods like never before.
I believe it.
And here is what will happen when we do that.
When all we need to do is not focus on ourselves, but the message that has been given to us.
And having God's confidence that the person we are talking about, Jesus Christ,
he lives and he will act and do whatever he needs to do to make things happen.
And when we do that, here is what will happen.
Here is what I believe will happen.
And this is not to add people to Acts 29, but in John chapter 4, Jesus went and met the Samaritan woman.
Just one person.
What happens if you verses down?
The whole village is receiving Jesus.
What happens in Acts chapter 17, I think, where Paul is, he had a rough time in Thessalonica,
he had a rough time in Berea, and finally he lands in Athens.
And when he is in Athens, he doesn't have anything to do.
So what does he do?
His friends are no longer there. He was the only one there at that point.
And so he goes to this marketplace.
He just starts talking about Christ.
What happens when he talked about Christ?
All of a sudden one person standing there said,
this message is good. This is different.
I want you now to come to Areopagus so that you can speak there.
What happens?
Paul then speaks to a whole lot of people because one person said,
this message is interesting.
There is spontaneous expansion that follows the proclamation of the gospel.
And so I want us to pray into this.
Because I believe that God has prepared us for a time like this to be this to the world around us.
So one of you guys, if you can come up and pray into this,
Father, there is the gospel.
We are being sent out to preach the gospel and to invite people into the kingdom.
That we will do that.
And when we do that, we are not results-based or process-based.
We are just gospel preachers.
And it doesn't have to be done a certain way.
It is done whichever way you want it to be done.
And we will faithfully do that.
And we'll leave it there for you to take the work and you to make it whatever you please with it.
Someone please come up and pray into this.
Because I really do believe that this is the time for this.
That there is an impression upon our hearts by God.
I know we don't know you Jose, man.
But you're here because there is something that connected Paavne and Mark and others with you when you were there.
I really do. You're seeing it right now.
There is something happening in our midst.
Where God is saying this is the time.
So let's one of you guys, if you can come up and pray.
We'll continue from there.
That's my brother.
Today we will be leading the whole service.
Father, I just want to thank you for what you are saying to us through Derek.
And what you have been talking to us over the last little while, Father.
Father, a lot of things in my mind helped me to articulate it well.
Father, you have called us for a purpose.
You changed our names.
You changed our identity.
And it cannot stay here, Father.
It cannot stay with me.
It has to be taken out into the world because this is too precious to be kept for myself.
It has to be delivered to others.
Because this is the only thing, Father, that if I keep to myself, does not do good.
This has to be shared.
This has to be poured out, Father.
So Father, because you're calling us into this, Father.
And it has always been your calling that your sons and daughters, your priests will go to the temple.
It has always been your calling that your sons and daughters, your priests will go out into the cities.
That we'll talk about you.
So that what happens, just like Father Paul says in 2 Timothy, there is only one gospel that I can tell you.
It's about Jesus, the person who came, who died on the cross.
This is my gospel.
Who died on the cross, who rose again, so that you and I can live forever more.
This is the gospel.
Father, this is as simple as that.
We go out and we have pioneers here, Father.
Derek has done this before with Mark, Pawen, Jose.
They've all done this before, Father.
It's just seeing them do this and just being a part of this journey, Father, which is so exciting.
So we say yes to what you're calling us, Father, not three or four members of this church, the whole body.
We declare this, Father.
We say yes to your calling of priesthood.
Priests are supposed to go out.
Priests are supposed to go into situations they are called into.
Priests are supposed to respond to your calling.
Priests are supposed to be unafraid of what's happening around,
because there is a bigger calling and bigger purpose on us, Father.
So we respond saying yes to whatever you're calling us into.
In your precious name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.
So Father, we say we become incapable of doing anything by ourselves, Abba.
We're completely incapable, Abba.
We've lived so many years as Christians, and sometimes we have tried,
and it hasn't worked.
There is sufficient history to look back and say, is that how it works?
But we refuse, Father.
We refuse to be anything but you ask us to be.
And so as a church, we respond.
And we look at the calling that you've placed upon us.
And we respond to this and say, your gospel transformed us,
made us sons, made us different, Abba.
It changed us, transformed our thinking, our ways, cleansed us.
And we live today as your people in this city.
We want to give to you what you have given to others, what you have given to us.
And we will go out, Abba, with no qualification, with no experience,
because we know nothing, but you know everything.
And if we listen to you, you will give us the words, one-liners or three-hour conversations,
and you can make it happen.
So, Father, we collectively with our hearts, we respond to what you're asking us to,
and we say yes.
Abba, we're going to remember this.
We're going to remember that there is this thing that you're inviting us to,
to proclaim the gospel and then to invite people into it.
So we will do that, Father, in Jesus' name.
Next, we look at intercede.
So the third thing that God expects of us is to intercede.
And interceding is always on behalf of another.
The only person we need to look to for this is Jesus.
He intercedes on our behalf.
Every minute, every second of every hour, every minute of every hour, every day He intercedes for us.
And so what are we doing?
We first identify God's will for cities, for nations, for peoples,
and then we intercede to God on behalf of cities and people and nations.
So first of all, we identify what it is that God wants for a place,
what it is that God wants for a people, for a person,
and then we intercede to God on behalf of them.
In Psalm 2, it says,
ask of me nations and I'll give you nations.
Ask of me and I'll give it to you.
Beginning of this year, I remember God specifically saying,
pray for UAE.
And we were praying for UAE.
And when we were praying, God said,
He said, pray that there is going to be a physical wind across UAE, United Arab Emirates,
and that this wind, physical wind that will happen,
will cause certain things to happen so that people will turn to me.
When you hear it, you go, okay, physical wind,
and that is something you will use for what you want to do in UAE,
specifically among the Emiratis.
And so God said that when we prayed.
A day or so later, I felt like I should look up this on my phone,
and I look up and it turns out that the beginning of this year,
UAE received one and a half years worth of rainfall in three days.
And it was accompanied by severe wind.
I don't know what God did, but God did something.
It happened in UAE, and God said it would happen.
So I do believe that we can be wherever we are,
and God can tell us, here is my will for a place, for a people, for nations,
and if you just do what I ask you to do,
find out my will and then pray and do that, then do what I ask you to do.
Several miles away, things will happen,
because our God is not just the God of Vancouver,
our God is the God of nations,
and He has a plan for every nation on earth.
He has a plan for every tribe, every tongue, every single life,
and we as His people are supposed to get a hold of what He wants to do,
and then proclaim it and then pray for it.
Intercessors pray for others. Jesus prays for us.
He intercedes on our behalf to the Father.
And when you do that, God begins to share His secrets with you
about places, about people, about what's happening.
And all of a sudden, that which is invisible to the natural eye
is visible in the spiritual,
so that we can then pray and do exactly what God is doing,
exactly what God is saying,
because we don't have to work for 50 hours,
there is only one minute or five minutes of what we need to do,
because God has opened up what needs to happen.
I want to read out a couple of things,
and this I heard several years ago,
but it has stayed with me all this time,
and it's one of my favorite quotes.
Someone very smart said this,
prayer is God's way of conferring upon human beings the dignity of causality.
Big difference.
You guys are not sleeping.
That I know now.
Prayer is God's way of conferring upon man the dignity of causality.
That when we pray, God is conferring upon us, upon simple people
the dignity of causality to partner with Him in creative things that He is doing.
So God confers upon us as we partner with Him the dignity of causality,
meaning things that He wants to cause on earth, to start on earth, to create on earth,
because we all of a sudden begin to partner with Him in that.
Prayer is God's way of conferring upon human beings the dignity of causality.
And here is what Jesus said.
Jesus said in John chapter 17 verse 19,
He said, I am consecrating myself for their sakes,
so that they will be truth consecrated in their mission.
I set apart myself, Father, so that others can be set apart for you.
So when I set apart myself and say, Father, I am going to set myself apart.
I am going to intercede on others' behalf.
I am going to see what you are doing.
And then I am going to pray into it.
And then I am going to do what you ask me to do.
God, make sure that He does the rest.
Jesus said this, I consecrate myself for their sake,
so that they will be truth consecrated in their missions.
And the thing with priests, whenever we intercede,
this is from Hebrews chapter 5 verse 1 and 2.
Priests shared commonality and empathized with those they represent.
Priests shared commonality and they empathized with those they represent.
So I want us to see it this way.
And I hope I can convey this.
When we pray for something, a nation,
or whatever God wants us to pray for, it's like an open field.
There is nothing there.
Maybe what you see there are things that are from the devil, from Satan,
things that are wrong, and that's what's there.
But we look at that and we say, God is sovereign.
God is someone who is controlling the entire world.
And anything that He wants to happen will happen.
And no one can stop it.
A door that He wants to open, He will open it.
A door that He wants to shut, He will shut it.
So all of a sudden, the canvas is free.
And once the canvas is free, then you look at this canvas and you say,
Father, what are you asking of me?
What are you saying is true for this?
There are a variant of things that could happen.
There are a hundred different things that could happen.
But I am going to latch on to just one.
And that one thing that you are telling me that I should latch on to,
I will latch on to that and that becomes the center of what will happen here.
So indecisors look at the possibilities that there are.
And they latch on to that one thing that God is asking of them.
And they say, if this is what you're saying will happen in this city,
I latch on to that. How? By faith.
And I know that this will then happen.
I don't have to think about anything, worry about anything.
I will just believe that this open canvas, which is open,
and I disregard everything else that was there before,
because I know that you are sovereign.
I therefore look at the open canvas.
I therefore then latch on to just one way of things to occur,
by faith, because you are asking me to.
And I believe that it will happen.
Just because you are you, Father.
Just because you are you.
Just because you control everything.
And you're good. And you have a plan.
You haven't stopped working.
You're just starting.
And you're continuing through us.
Great. So the last part.
Fourth point is to intervene.
Intervene. Priests are people who intervene on God's behalf.
In the verse that I want us to read together.
So take the time to read this on your, with your Bible app or the Bible set here.
Having in your hand, read this with me.
Isaiah chapter 58, 6 and 7.
Isaiah chapter 58, verses 6 and 7.
Go there please and we'll read it together.
Is not this the fast that I choose?
God says.
To lose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke.
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
to bring the poor to their knees,
to let the poor go hungry,
to let 65,000 people go hungry?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
to let 65,000 people go hungry,
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house,
when you see the naked to cover him,
and to not hide yourself from your own flesh?
I'll read it again.
Priests are those who intervene.
They see a situation and as God asks them to, they intervene.
They step in out of nowhere.
No one is expecting them to,
but because they are listening to God, they step in and intervene.
And when they intervene, this is what happens.
They lose the bonds of wickedness,
undo the straps of the yoke.
I'm reading out of ESV.
They let the oppressed go free,
to break every yoke.
They share their bread with the hungry.
They bring the homeless poor into their house.
When they see the naked, they cover him.
They do not hide themselves from their own flesh.
And if you want to write it down,
here are a few things that these verses translated.
You intervene by practicing.
You break bondage.
You feed the hungry,
house the homeless,
clothe the naked,
not just with clothes,
but with dignity.
Being sympathetic,
where you are aware and available.
By not being dismissive.
And by pouring out yourselves and your resources.
Breaking bondage,
feeding the hungry,
housing the homeless,
clothing the naked with not just clothes,
but dignity.
Becoming sympathetic,
by not being dismissive,
or having disdain.
Pouring out resources and yourselves.
It can be in a relationship or finding something
where relief is required and stepping in and doing that.
And the second thing is,
it's not just intervening in these situations.
Priests are ones who intervene to prevent sin among fellow believers.
That's from 1 John 5, 16, 17.
That as we live as a community,
if I am one of the people in the community,
and Marcus operating as a priest,
we'll be able to say,
Derek, I see this in you,
and that's not right.
That is operating as a priest as well.
That is why the Bible talks about encouraging.
Bible talks about exhorting each other.
Bible talks about all of the things that believers are to each other.
You're an instrument for God to intervene.
So we see ourselves as an instrument for God to intervene.
We see ourselves as there is a situation
and God uses us to intervene in that situation.
And when you intervene for God,
God intervenes for you.
When you intervene for God,
God intervenes for you.
When you wake up and you're like,
this day, Father, I know that you're asking me to intervene into this situation,
and you do it, do it.
And everything else for you that need to be taken care of,
God will do it.
That day when I talked about the duck story,
one thing that happened that very day is I did a blunder.
And the blunder was that I picked up Iris.
She's in the car, and I know that I had to fuel up the car,
but I completely forgot it.
And I drive from one end of the city to a completely different place
through the state highway.
There are no gas stations in between.
And some miles into the drive, I realized that I haven't gassed up.
And it has been blinking for an hour and a half now.
And it has to stop.
There is no way this car is running anymore.
It's good that I didn't see it before because I didn't have to worry about it.
But now that I've seen it, how is this running?
And I remember talking to God and saying,
Father, somehow make this happen.
And this is going to sound strange, but it's okay.
We go into the city, and we reach there,
and it still takes another three, four kilometers of driving
to get to this gas station.
We finally get to the gas station, and we pump up fuel in full relief.
But I'm noticing that the car has a set capacity,
but the fuel that has gone in is more than the capacity.
I looked up the thing.
I looked at the manual.
The fuel that went in and the capacity of the car are two different.
I know that there is always plus minus.
This is not that.
This was way more than the car could take.
How? I don't know, and I actually don't care.
What I do know is that God provided that day
because the very day we were supposed to do something,
we were supposed to be at a place at a time,
and God will not, if you're available, God will not stop it.
He will cover for your mistakes.
So as we go out, we are not needing to be perfect.
We will make mistakes, and that is okay.
In our mistakes, God will cover for us.
God will intervene as we intervene for others.
It's up to Him to come and rescue us, and He's great at it.
Okay, I said last one. Here is the last one.
Instruct.
And with this one, there are just two verses that I want to read.
Malachi chapter 2, verse 7.
Priests are messengers of God,
and in their lips they should guard knowledge and teach the truth.
So there is a guarding element of the truth
and a teaching element of the truth.
Priests are not just people who teach.
Priests are people who guard the truth.
They consider the truth precious,
and when the truth is touched, they are bothered.
When the truth is touched, they will stand up,
because they are not just people who preach or talk or teach the truth.
They guard the truth.
That is what Paul asked Timothy to do.
Timothy, guard this truth.
Timothy, guard it with everything you've got,
because what you've been given is precious.
There are going to be things that try to come in and hybridize it or mutate it.
Do not let that happen.
You guard it. You cover it. You protect it.
And then teach it.
That's 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 15.
The other reference was Malachi chapter 2, verse 7.
So I want to close this way.
This is our central identity.
Being priests is not something that's just in the Bible.
As much as being sons is a central identity in our lives,
being priests is a central identity.
And one of my favorite verses recently is,
As he was and as he is, so will we be.
It's something along those lines.
I think it's unreaded.
1 John 4, 17.
Because as he is, so we are in this world.
Oh man, that's so good.
Because as he is, so we are in this world.
Because as he... 1 John 4, 17.
1 John 4, 17 in NKJV, it says,
Because as he is, we are in this world.
So let's wrap up. Let's close out.
We are priests.
We are people who live in the midst of a people.
And we display through our actions and our deeds and our words who God is.
That's what Jacob said last week.
We telescope God to others.
We do not just proclaim the Gospel.
We invite people into it.
We invite people to choose.
And we, God, confidently proclaim it.
And we expect God to come through.
We leave the result to Him.
We don't take it upon ourselves.
We intercede on behalf of people, nations, cities,
whatever God shows us.
Remember the thing where whatever is on the table,
whatever is on the chart, you just blow it all away.
And you look at it and go, this is plain now.
When I intercede, I'm going to latch on to one outcome by faith.
And I will stand on it as God shows me.
And that will happen because God says, operate like that.
That's all you need to do.
Everything else is His thing to take care of.
We don't worry about that.
We just hatch on to one as God shows us.
Intervene.
Isaiah 58.
And as you intervene, God intervenes for you.
Instruct.
Instructing is not just teaching, but protecting
by guarding the truth that has been deposited.
I want to go back to the verse that we read.
First, Melchizedek, when he approached Abram,
Melchizedek brought with him bread and wine.
And Melchizedek blessed Abram.
The first priest referred to in the Bible,
Jesus is after the order of Melchizedek.
As priests, now we're going to take part in communion.
I'm going to invite May and Dawn to come up
and then lead us in communion.
But keep this in mind.
This is who we are.
This is how God expects us to walk.
And let's take part in communion in response to what we heard.
Maybe one of them can talk about how that relates,
how that verse can be related to practically doing this.
So, over to you guys.
Oh yeah, you want to sing a song?
Please.
Yeah, yeah, that's great.
So, Emily will come up, lead us in a song.
We haven't sung this song at Acts 29 before.