in the year ahead. And so, Zechariah 8 is a passage that we'll be exploring, mining, drilling, ploughing,
to find the nuggets that God has for us, because He's giving it to us to become.
It's given to the church first, and then to the individual. As in, if the church receives it,
then every individual receives it. That's how God works. God always gives something to a people.
Once a people receive it, then each one gets a plot of land. That's how it happened with Israel.
That's how God has always done it. These are things we spoke about when we introduced this topic.
We started with Zechariah 8 verse 2. Today we deal with Zechariah 8 3, and we only deal with one small
portion of it, because this is going to take time. Zechariah 8 3 says this. This is what the Lord says,
One more time. Zechariah 8 3, this is what the Lord says.
And so, what we're going to talk about is how God wants to rename some of the things we are.
So, you're Acts 29. There are wells of healing here. You're a prophetic church and all that.
But here's some of the other things I want you to become, says God. And so, God, what is it that you want to become?
Three things he mentions in Zechariah 8 3. One, I want you to become a faithful city.
Two, I want you to become the mountain of God. And three, I want you to become a holy mountain.
So these are the three things we look at. And today we are only going to talk about faithful city.
Nothing else. And we might not get through that either.
So, guys, whenever there's a name change or a renaming, what it means is that God wants to try and distill how we should perceive ourselves through his eyes and what we need to become.
God wants to try and distill how we perceive ourselves through his eyes.
So if he thinks that Acts 29 needs to become faithful, we've got to figure out, so, oh, God, what does looking faithful appear like?
What does it look like? When you say be faithful, what do you mean?
If you say that you want us to become the mountain of God, what does that mean?
If you say we need to be a holy mountain, what does that mean?
And what does that mean? Because renaming always requires a shift.
You see that with Saul, who became Paul. You see that with Abraham, who became Abraham.
You see that with two other characters who are very famous.
Jacob, who became Israel. And you see that with Simon, who became Peter.
There was a shift. And so I don't take this lightly. Every time I look at Zechariah 8 and I think, ah, shucks, so this is what you want to do?
I think to myself, man, we'll have to change.
How we change as a people and when we change together, then the individual changes.
Always remember that. That's the way this works. It never starts ground, what's it called?
Grassroots up. It never starts grassroots up. This is a kingdom.
It doesn't work from, it's not a democracy. It works top down.
And everybody begins to behave a certain way and then each individual begins to perform a certain way because they are infected with the same virus.
That's how this works. Yeah?
So, to understand faithful city, one of the easiest ways to understand faithful city is to look at what an unfaithful city looks like.
If you want to turn to Isaiah 1, Isaiah 1, Isaiah 1, 21 to 24.
Hey, do you know something? Of course you do.
Hey, do you know something? When it comes to God and when it comes to Israel, you'll find that the way Israel would go into the future is by looking at the past.
Think of this for a second. We are looking to go into 2020. I'm assuming you do.
You might have started a new endeavor, a new business. You may have a new prophetic word that takes you into the future.
You may have nothing and you are still looking into 2020 and want life to be better.
Throughout the Bible, you will see that the way God dealt with Israel was by saying, hey, face the past and step back into the future.
Very odd. It's not the way any other kingdom, any other king asks people to work.
But God would always say, face the past and step into the future. Step back into the future.
What do you mean by that? God would say, hey, Israel, your parents did this, this and this when I took them through this, this and this.
And he would show them the past and show them the things he planned to do with them, the things they failed at.
And then he would say, but now today is the day of salvation. Do not be like your ancestors were at the waters of Meribah and Marah.
And then he would take them into the future.
One of the things I suggest you do as you approach 2020 is not look with great eagerness to the future without looking at the past.
Face the past and step back into the future. That's how Israel and God would do things.
All the prophetic words that you see Isaiah giving, Jeremiah giving, would talk about what God once did with his people and what God then wants to do with you.
There was a need to acknowledge that this is what was meant for you. I've always been a good God. This is what is reserved for you.
But do look at your past so that as you step into the future, you don't make the same mistakes again and again that you have continuously and your forefathers have made in the past.
Christianity has a tendency to quickly sweep the past under the blood of Christ and move on to the future.
Bad idea. The blood of Christ was not meant to become a carpet under which we sweep things.
The blood of Christ was meant to be something that we have washed our sins away after we look the sin square in the face.
You had to look at the serpent, the bronze serpent that was put up on a pole before you could recover from the bite of the serpent.
Anyone who did not look up at it but just thought it's there, it's good enough, wouldn't be able to make it.
You would die. You have to look at it. I plead with you as you approach 2020, do not look at it as full of promise till you look at the past.
And it's not a bad thing to look at the past. Father, as I look, I see what I did, what my forefathers did, the things that have kept on repeating.
And I look at the past and I step into the future. Back to the future takes new meaning suddenly.
Back to the future. A small pun, slight joke. It was okay. Not a haha, it was a British thing.
Okay, so to understand faithful city, look at unfaithful city. So if you want to go to Isaiah 1, 21-24, look at what it says there.
See how the faithful city has become a harlot. She once was full of justice, righteousness, used to dwell in her, but now murderers.
Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water. Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves.
They all love bribes and they chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless. The widow's case does not come before them.
Therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty, the mighty one of Israel declares, I'll get relief from my foes and avenge myself from my enemies.
I'll turn my hand against you, I'll thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities. I will restore your judges as in the days of old.
Your counsellors at the beginning. Afterwards you will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.
So one of the things that we have to become if we want to be faithful is we got to make sure.
Guys, the thing is, unfaithfulness in the Bible was always equated with prostitution.
Unfaithfulness in the Bible was always equated with prostitution.
And a prostitute is to give away, the prostitute is to divert or give away one's gifts and abilities.
The prostitute is to divert one's gifts and abilities to someone else.
To someone else, other than the one you are pledged to, or to a cause that is profane or base.
So unfaithfulness is always equated to prostitution in the Bible, always.
And a prostitute is to divert one's gifts and abilities to someone else.
Than to the one to whom you have pledged your allegiance.
Or to divert your gifts and abilities to some other cause that is less important or that is better.
Or to divert your gifts and abilities to some other cause that is less important or that is base or that is mundane or profane.
That is the idea of prostitution.
And the problem with this was that adultery would always lead to adulteration.
And that is mentioned in these verses where it says, your pure gold has become rotten, it's become like dross, your wine has become diluted.
Whenever we are unfaithful, always remember that adulteration creeps in.
Hey Ryan, you'll have to put up those two pictures that we haven't done yet.
So to be a faithful city requires that Acts 29 make sure that we as a church and as individuals, we do not divert our gifts and abilities to someone else.
Or to a cause that may be important in the eyes of the world, may even be required for life and livelihood.
But it will not go there because it first belongs to Christ in the body.
It reminds me of this thing that we've talked about many times and I wanted to bring it up again.
That if you and your family are at the center of your life, then I would suggest that we are already going the route of the unfaithful.
If my family and I are at the center of my life, and if I choose to serve Christ and his church, because I believe that seek first the kingdom and he will bless.
That he will bless my work so that I will make more money.
That when I make more money I'll have more possessions.
I'll give a portion of my possessions to the church, but me and my family is what I need to take care of.
I have to take care of my livelihood.
This is being unfaithful.
I love the extreme that God takes us to.
By any standard, this is a good Christian life.
But by God's standards, this is not right.
To divert one's gifts and abilities to someone else or to a cause that is profane or base.
Guys, at the end of the day, someone else said it while...
Yeah, Sue said it.
That keep your eyes on the prize.
It belongs to someone else who bought you.
Never let this be misplaced.
Time, treasure, talent, strength must never be given to anybody else.
And the second picture is what we go with.
Go ahead, Ryan.
This is how it actually works.
My family exists for one reason, to serve Christ and the church.
My work exists for one reason, to serve Christ and the church.
My money exists for one reason, to serve Christ and the church.
My possessions exist for one reason, to serve Christ and the church.
This is being faithful.
It's this whole idea of leaving and cleaving.
This is what real Christianity looks like.
How we must endeavor to make this even more real than we've ever experienced it in the year ahead.
I'll do everything I can to try and model it for you and then urge you to live this way.
Because it's required of us.
If I am right that this is the passage given to us to become in 2020,
then it would be terrible if we looked at it, taught about it, and put it aside as taken care of.
Nope, this must be primary because it's a name change.
Faithful city looks like this.
Go back to the original picture, Ryan.
This is not who we will be.
In the second picture.
This is who we'll become more than we've ever become.
And when relationship with family gets in the way of relationship with Christ and the body,
when relationship with work gets in the way of relationship with Christ and the body.
When relationship with money gets in the way of relationship with Christ and the body,
when my possessions get in the way,
then it will not be a struggle to choose
because ages ago you and I have decided
that should it come to a choice,
it will not be a struggle.
It will be a preference or a default.
It will not be a struggle.
This is the extreme that Jesus takes us to
in Luke chapter nine.
Luke chapter 14.
This is being faithful.
Any questions before we go on?
Just one more point,
which has six subsections, of course,
and then we are done.
Any questions?
Any questions, guys?
Any disagreements?
You want scriptures for this?
Go look at Luke chapter nine,
52 to 59,
and then look at Luke chapter 14.
Where Jesus talks about this.
Saying, hey, if you love wife,
family,
nation, people, whatever, more than you love me,
as in, it's a relative comparison.
You must, he actually said if,
I'm softening Jesus' words
because I want him to come out nice,
but this is what he actually said.
If you don't hate.
I was just being, making him nicer.
But that's a choice.
Will you model it?
Will you guys who are married model it?
It's easy for a single guy to do this.
What about you guys who are married?
Will you guys with kids model this?
It's easy for a single guy
who pastors a church to do this.
What about you when you have people to take care of,
when you have kids to take care of,
when you have work to do,
will you model it?
Because there are fewer pastors
and thousands like you that must see it.
Okay, next point.
Second, the faithless city is built on,
a faithless city is built on greed
and the oppression of the weak.
A faithless city is built on greed
and the oppression of the weak.
Ryan, you can switch this one off.
A faithless city is built on greed
and the oppression of the weak.
While a faithful city is built on justice.
Hey, this passage that we read,
I wanna show you something in verse 24.
Isaiah one, verse 24.
You know, there's nowhere else in Isaiah
that God really ratchets up his titles to deliver a line.
Here he says, I mean, if you read the original,
it would read like this.
Therefore the Adonai, Yahweh, Sabaoth
and the mighty one of Israel declares.
Never in Isaiah does God take four of his titles
and put it together.
It's almost like saying, you better listen to me
cause I'm Adonai, Yahweh, Sabaoth and the mighty one.
And in putting all those four titles together,
he now wants to deliver a line that is powerful.
And one of the things that really bothers God
and very few of us know anything about it,
at least I don't claim to know much about it,
is that he really gets upset
when his people are not interested in justice.
He's a God who, you know,
the kingdom is built around one word, Sedeq.
Sedeq means righteousness and justice.
Comes from the same word, T-S-E-D-E-K.
That's why he calls himself Yahweh Sidkenu,
God my righteousness.
The word Sedeq stands for both righteousness and justice.
And it is super important to God.
And I think we don't know anything about it.
And I'm so glad that God is introducing something
I'm not familiar with,
cause now you have to work on it.
Some of you may have engaged in this,
but I'm looking forward to it.
It's like a muscle that has not been flexed in this church.
How does injustice happen?
Injustice happens when people like us
refuse to harness our influence, our treasure, our strength
for the purpose of the helpless and the crushed.
Injustice happens when people like us
won't harness
our strength,
our treasure
to help
the oppressed
and the weak.
When we won't consistently harness
our strength and treasure and talent and ability
to influence or help
the purpose of the helpless and the weak.
Guys, please understand.
I have not been able to wrap my head around this,
but one of the things that really bothers God
is the condition of the weak and the oppressed on the earth
and the fact that his children who have him in their midst,
I need some water, have him in their midst.
Please run through enemy territory
and get me some water from the wells of Jerusalem quickly.
And I will not pour it out cause I'm thirsty.
Guys, God gets really upset in his heart,
not upset with us, but upset in his heart
when his people do not have
a soft corner in their hearts for the weak and the oppressed.
And how the church deals with it
is by taking up a cause to which we donate money.
And so it's taken care of.
I pray God that at the end of 2020,
this will become a significant part of our lives.
Where inside your heart you will develop the same corner
that God has for the weak and the oppressed.
That injustice will begin to bother you.
Injustice not just in a particular area,
injustice in general.
Any questions before we go on?
I'm just asking that cause I want to stop coughing.
Any questions?
Okay, here's the other question then.
Does it really bother you?
Sometimes.
Yeah, but what if people began to think differently?
This is something God wants, eh?
You want to say something?
Go ahead.
Thank you.
Yeah.
I didn't know it bothered him so much.
Injustice is the result of supplying my needs first
and securing my self-sufficiency and not surrendering it.
Injustice,
for us as a church, injustice,
injustice is the result of supplying my own needs first
and securing my self-sufficiency first and not surrendering it.
Very bothersome statement, eh?
I love self, being self-sufficient.
How good if we are self-sufficient?
You think it would be a fine quality.
Part of the prosperity gospel equation is
you need to be self-sufficient before you can help the world.
It's wrong.
It's taught as godly, but it isn't.
It's a falsehood to believe that you have to first come to a place of self-sufficiency
before you can help.
And what does self-sufficiency look like for you?
In India, it would be different.
In Canada, it would be different.
In Brunei, it would be different.
In Dubai, it would be different.
So what would self-sufficiency look like?
Injustice is the result of supplying my needs first
and securing my self-sufficiency and not surrendering it.
And the third point,
injustice is not trusting a fair and loving god
to take care of my situation.
Instead, putting my rights and my deservedness first.
Injustice is not being able to entrust myself to a fair and loving god.
And instead, putting my rights and my deservedness before others.
Injustice is the result of not being able to entrust myself to a fair and loving god
and instead having to stand up for my rights and my deservedness.
And God is saying to Jerusalem that used to be a faithful city.
That's the irony of it.
Oh, faithful city, how you've turned into a prostitute.
A part of the prostitution involved not rendering justice anymore,
not being aware of the widow and the orphan,
not taking up the case of those that were weak and oppressed,
but instead taking bribes, becoming corrupt,
doing as one pleases, oppressing the weak and not taking care of the helpless.
That, God is saying, makes you, Jerusalem, the faithful city, a prostitute now.
Boy, just think of this, man.
If this is really God who's saying that, hey, Acts 29, you've got to become faithful.
And we thought faithful madness meant something else,
but when you look at what faithless means, you see faithful as something else.
It's great that he's giving us this challenge.
In other words, guys, there's a direct connection between the idolatry of self and injustice.
There's a direct connection between the idolatry of self and injustice.
And in the end, we have a direct connection between the idolatry of self and injustice.
The greater the idolatry of self in my life,
the greater the injustice I will tolerate, not look at, walk by.
Isn't that true?
The greater the idolatry of self,
the greater self-sufficiency and security is important to me.
The less likely I am to look at that which is unjust and do anything about it,
the more likely I am to tolerate it, to walk by it, to pray for it,
and do what James said, that you will go and say to the man who does not have clothes,
be warm, be happy, God bless you, and walk away.
And then in response to all that God says,
like I said, he ratchets up his divine titles in 124,
and then he says, I am Adonai Yahweh, sabba, almighty one,
so listen up Acts 29, I'll purify you so that you become faithful city.
So whether you like it or not, we suggest, I suggest,
see the great thing with God is why wrestle and have your hip dislocated?
Why not just get a name change done?
Why go the hard way?
Why wrestle with him till dawn?
Just say, you want to change my name, oh God, just tell me what to do, I'll change my name,
I don't want to wrestle with you because it doesn't end well,
I live for the rest of my life.
I'm looking forward to what God will do with this.
Any questions? Because I'm going to wrap it up and we'll talk about the rest later.
Yeah.
Yeah, sometimes when God wants to change your name,
it will require a shift in character.
If it requires a shift in character, we are usually resistant.
When we are resistant because God cares too much for me and what he wants to do through me,
he won't let me get away, which means then that I'll have to grapple with him.
At some point in the grappling, I'll realize this is pointless, might as well agree.
But in the process, I may have a mark left on me for my grappling when I could have easily just agreed
and gotten things done straight away.
Pharaoh was wrestling only in his case, he ended up really badly.
Jacob wrestled and in his case, the name did change,
but he walked with a limp for the rest of his life.
You don't have to have a dislocation to become someone else, you just have to agree.
Abraham changed his name and then began to wrestle with the concept of the change
and ended up having Hegar and then Ishmael.
Why not have a name change as in a shift of character without the wrestling?
Because you know that this is what God wants, so let's just take it on.
I don't know how this is going to work out because I'm not very into justice at all.
It's not a big deal for me.
All this time I've said this, oh well, there are some churches that are meant for social justice issues
and more power to them.
That's the easiest way to get rid of it, as in you look like you're good at it, so you run with it.
But here is God saying, yeah, some tribes have their traits, but all my people have my character.
One of the characteristics that God has is he really feels upset when he sees injustice
and he feels upset enough to say stuff like, when I was naked you clothed me,
when I was hungry you fed me, when I was in prison you came to visit me.
And they said, when?
As much as you did to the least of them, so you did unto me.
He is so for the weak and the oppressed that I'm being bothered as I read.
Because it's not been, for us, guys, please don't take my experience as yours.
I'm just talking for myself.
You might be in a far better place than me where it really is something that bothers you a lot.
I'm just talking about me as in this has not been on my radar for very long and I'm grateful that it's coming my way.
And I would say that as a church, we're not good at this.
As individuals perhaps, but as a church maybe we can pull up ourselves in this.
This is not sending money to Andhra or to Kenya.
That's different.
This is more than that. Or to Syria.
This is when we all become conscious of a certain way.
It'll be marvelous.
Isaiah 58.
This is the kind of fast that I'm after says God to break the chains of injustice,
to get rid of exploitation in the workplace.
Free the oppressed.
Cancel debts.
What I'm interested in is seeing you do this.
Sharing your food with the hungry.
Inviting the homeless poor into your homes.
Putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad.
Being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on.
Your healing shall spring forth speedily.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Beautiful, eh?
Isaiah 58.
James, chapter one.
And what is true and pure religion?
He who takes care of the alien and the immigrant.
He who takes care of the fatherless.
He who takes care of the widow.
That is pure religion.
It's just again and again and again and again.
And we cannot divest ourselves of this character of God by giving money toward the cause.
We must become so highly aware of it and still continue giving money.
Any questions?
I'll stop there, guys.
Isaiah 124.
It's important that we realize that, eh?
Because nowhere else in Isaiah does he do that.
It's almost like saying, I am...
It's like a prime minister or a president saying,
I by the seal of the president of the...
And instead of God doing the...
He just says, hey listen.
Listen to who's speaking.
I am he who is Adonai, as in Lord.
I am he who is Yahweh, the self-existent one.
I am that I am.
I am he that is Lord Sabaoth, the mighty warrior.
I am he that is mighty God.
And here is my intent and here is what I want to say to you.
That I will purge you and make you faithful.
As in, this is something I desperately want for my people Jerusalem.
Faithful city.
One of the ways God expresses faithful city is through good works.
But we talked about that ages ago.
I won't go there yet.
But first we need, before we do good works,
what if we got a heart that beats the same way?
Then good works are natural.
Otherwise good works are an add-on.
Good works should not be an add-on.
Thus far at Acts 29, good works has been an add-on.
I pray now that as odd compassion by the power of the Holy Spirit
will begin to wash over this congregation
where it is something that comes out of a desperate cry
for those that are oppressed, trodden over,
weak, fatherless, orphaned,
widowed, ill-clad, in prison, naked, unclothed, unfed.
That something will begin to happen within our hearts.
So I'll end with that.
Let's just pray first.
Yeah, many have brought and talked to me about it.
And if you wanted to.
So let's end.
So Diana will come up and pray that God, by His Spirit,
will cause something to wash over this church in this area.
Yeah?
Then after Diana I'll ask,
I'll actually ask Diana and Emily to pray
and then we can end with that.
Then I'm going to ask Joan and Sue and Mark.