WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: That you are my disciples Publishing Date: 2023-10-22T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/that-you-are-my-disciples/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.440 How do we arrive at this place where disciples can be defined like this? 00:00:04.440 --> 00:00:06.560 Because your master was like that. 00:00:06.560 --> 00:00:10.360 When your master walked the earth, when Jesus walked the earth, there were two things that 00:00:10.360 --> 00:00:12.500 were distinct to him. 00:00:12.500 --> 00:00:15.440 One was that he was a divine son. 00:00:15.440 --> 00:00:19.280 The other one was that he was a divine servant. 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:27.160 So when it comes to disciples that he has now raised and left with the Holy Spirit, 00:00:27.160 --> 00:00:29.660 then it's the same principle that holds. 00:00:29.660 --> 00:00:31.820 How do you define disciples? 00:00:31.820 --> 00:00:37.060 Disciples are ones that exhibit in their lives, or practice in their lives, or make evident 00:00:37.060 --> 00:00:41.420 in their lives two things with increasing intensity. 00:00:41.420 --> 00:00:43.700 First one is divine ownership. 00:00:43.700 --> 00:00:45.740 Sorry, divine sonship. 00:00:45.740 --> 00:00:47.860 It always comes first. 00:00:47.860 --> 00:00:48.860 Before ownership comes sonship. 00:00:48.860 --> 00:00:51.260 It can't be the other way around. 00:00:51.260 --> 00:00:54.020 So the first thing is divine sonship. 00:00:54.020 --> 00:00:55.660 The second thing is divine ownership. 00:00:56.420 --> 00:00:59.660 And the question is, can people see that in my life or your life? 00:00:59.660 --> 00:01:03.740 That's one of the ways disciples are recognized. 00:01:03.740 --> 00:01:07.940 Divine sonship we see right off the bat. 00:01:07.940 --> 00:01:13.140 God giving you that privilege in Romans 8.15 where it says, the spirit of adoption that 00:01:13.140 --> 00:01:17.860 has been given to you cries out, Abba, Father. 00:01:17.900 --> 00:01:25.820 So the moment you're born again, you have what it takes to exhibit divine sonship. 00:01:25.820 --> 00:01:31.140 When it comes to divine ownership, what you're basically immediately saying is that, or what 00:01:31.140 --> 00:01:44.020 God is saying or what you should be saying is, you are not your own. 00:01:44.020 --> 00:01:45.020 You are not your own. 00:01:48.860 --> 00:01:53.860 So that's what divine ownership looks like. 00:01:53.860 --> 00:02:00.660 And so to say that I'm a disciple requires that I also say that I'm not my own. 00:02:00.660 --> 00:02:02.900 That's the easy part. 00:02:02.900 --> 00:02:06.500 I'm not my own. 00:02:06.500 --> 00:02:11.620 I know we've talked about this progression before, but it's so worth remembering that 00:02:11.620 --> 00:02:13.180 it works like this. 00:02:13.180 --> 00:02:16.820 I am not my own. 00:02:16.820 --> 00:02:21.020 Because Romans 6 talks about it, that you were bought at a price, you're not your own. 00:02:21.020 --> 00:02:24.460 I'm not my own is the first statement. 00:02:24.460 --> 00:02:29.940 The second statement is, I belong to Christ. 00:02:29.940 --> 00:02:36.460 And the third statement, and hopefully in about two weeks we'll talk about the third 00:02:36.460 --> 00:02:45.860 statement, the third statement is, I belong to you. 00:02:45.900 --> 00:02:49.900 This is then we'll tie in with love. 00:02:49.900 --> 00:02:53.260 This is the greatest command I give you, love one another. 00:02:53.260 --> 00:02:58.940 But it is not possible to love one another with this kind of disciple-like approach if 00:02:58.940 --> 00:03:01.820 these three statements can't be worked on. 00:03:01.820 --> 00:03:04.140 And it's a lifelong progression. 00:03:04.140 --> 00:03:08.660 I wish I could say, any of us have arrived here, but it's not true. 00:03:08.660 --> 00:03:11.860 It goes on and it gets better and better. 00:03:11.860 --> 00:03:17.740 If I have a desire to exhibit in my life divine sonship and divine ownership. 00:03:17.740 --> 00:03:22.820 Any questions? 00:03:22.820 --> 00:03:28.340 No discipleship course can get you here. 00:03:28.340 --> 00:03:35.980 There is no discipleship course that is designed to bring you here. 00:03:35.980 --> 00:03:43.700 This is a matter of like everything else, practice. 00:03:43.700 --> 00:03:45.660 So let's just look at that again. 00:03:45.660 --> 00:03:54.140 A new way of defining disciples based on how the master was is divine sonship and divine 00:03:54.140 --> 00:03:58.860 ownership in that order because that's how Jesus was. 00:03:58.860 --> 00:04:03.460 Divine sonship we know immediately as soon as we are born again it says in Romans 8.15 00:04:03.540 --> 00:04:07.780 we have the spirit of adoption that cries out, Abba Father. 00:04:07.780 --> 00:04:13.420 Divine ownership says you are not your own because you are owned by somebody else. 00:04:13.420 --> 00:04:17.780 To get to that place of divine ownership there are a few things that I have to keep in mind. 00:04:17.780 --> 00:04:22.620 The first one is I am not my own and you can see that in 1 Corinthians 6. 00:04:22.620 --> 00:04:25.620 It talks about that. 00:04:25.660 --> 00:04:35.340 It says in 1 Corinthians 6 verse 19, 20 it says you are not your own, you were bought 00:04:35.340 --> 00:04:37.100 at a price. 00:04:37.100 --> 00:04:39.540 You are not your own, you were bought at a price. 00:04:39.540 --> 00:04:43.040 As in you were paid for, you belong to someone else. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:50.380 So the first thing I have to do before I can even get to whose are you is I am not my own. 00:04:50.380 --> 00:04:54.420 And the next statement is if I am not my own, who am I? 00:04:54.420 --> 00:04:55.420 I belong to Christ. 00:04:55.420 --> 00:04:57.860 And that part is also easy. 00:04:57.860 --> 00:05:02.940 The third part which is where Christianity differs from every other religion is I belong 00:05:02.940 --> 00:05:03.940 to you. 00:05:03.940 --> 00:05:11.940 And the first you is you and then the first you is whoever he would have me serve. 00:05:11.940 --> 00:05:14.700 Any questions? 00:05:14.700 --> 00:05:18.620 This is the demand of discipleship and one of the things you will notice throughout the 00:05:18.660 --> 00:05:25.660 scriptures especially in the gospels is Jesus never shied away, diluted, minced words about 00:05:25.660 --> 00:05:27.340 discipleship. 00:05:27.340 --> 00:05:33.260 This is one of those areas where there was very little grade, it was always clear cut. 00:05:33.260 --> 00:05:39.700 To the point that there are so many statements that end with either you cannot be my disciple 00:05:39.700 --> 00:05:44.780 or if you are my disciple. 00:05:44.780 --> 00:05:47.540 And so this is not an Acts 29 requirement. 00:05:47.540 --> 00:05:49.740 It is not a preaching requirement. 00:05:49.740 --> 00:05:51.140 It is not a message requirement. 00:05:51.140 --> 00:05:59.300 These are the requirements of the one who died for you and to whom you belong. 00:05:59.300 --> 00:06:04.300 Any questions? 00:06:04.300 --> 00:06:07.460 No? 00:06:07.460 --> 00:06:12.540 Okay. 00:06:12.540 --> 00:06:16.820 In which case, here is the next thing. 00:06:16.820 --> 00:06:33.420 Disciples are trained administrators, trained stewards and let's define stewards as servants 00:06:33.500 --> 00:06:50.500 who administrate, servants who administrate on behalf of a master or in this case the 00:06:50.500 --> 00:06:53.140 master. 00:06:53.140 --> 00:06:57.300 Disciples are trained stewards acting on his behalf. 00:06:57.300 --> 00:07:02.340 Disciples are trained stewards acting on his behalf. 00:07:02.340 --> 00:07:03.540 That's a steward. 00:07:03.540 --> 00:07:10.740 The steward is a servant who administrates things on behalf of the master. 00:07:10.740 --> 00:07:12.380 Disciples are trained stewards. 00:07:12.380 --> 00:07:17.500 So disciples are not let's have some disciples because we have a master. 00:07:17.500 --> 00:07:24.660 Disciples are raised by a master so that they can be trained to be stewards on his behalf 00:07:24.660 --> 00:07:29.540 to administrate or to discharge the things he wants to. 00:07:29.740 --> 00:07:38.180 So worship in itself for the sake of being a disciple is no end, no goal. 00:07:38.180 --> 00:07:47.180 So to say that Jesus wants disciples is to say that Jesus wants trained stewards. 00:07:47.180 --> 00:07:50.060 Stewards administrate things on his behalf. 00:07:50.060 --> 00:07:52.060 They are servants. 00:07:52.060 --> 00:07:58.780 But stewards are stewards that must be trained. 00:07:59.020 --> 00:08:04.580 Each word is measured and carries weight. 00:08:04.580 --> 00:08:06.580 Any questions? 00:08:06.580 --> 00:08:13.580 If you're not trained you can't act on a master's behalf in any situation. 00:08:13.580 --> 00:08:23.300 Doesn't matter whether you're secular or Christian. 00:08:23.820 --> 00:08:29.300 If I register to be a disciple I'm basically registering also to be a trained steward. 00:08:29.300 --> 00:08:42.300 And stewardship, some of the things we have to be aware when you're a steward is recognize 00:08:42.300 --> 00:09:08.300 that you do not have control over your property, relationships or yourself. 00:09:08.300 --> 00:09:10.300 Jesus said that again and again. 00:09:10.300 --> 00:09:15.300 What he basically was saying is it's a commitment. 00:09:15.300 --> 00:09:33.300 It's a commitment of one's self and possessions to the service of Christ. 00:09:40.300 --> 00:09:44.300 Any questions on that? Any arguments against that? 00:09:44.300 --> 00:09:50.300 I know it's hard things for us but we're not looking at whether it's hard or not. 00:09:50.300 --> 00:09:54.300 We're looking to see whether we have an argument against it or not. 00:09:54.300 --> 00:10:11.300 If you're a steward, be it anywhere in the world, what is placed in your charge is not yours to hold on to. 00:10:11.300 --> 00:10:13.300 It's not your property. 00:10:13.300 --> 00:10:20.300 Your relationships are assigned or dictated by the master. 00:10:20.300 --> 00:10:29.300 Your property is what you have been given by him to take care of, to increase, to trade in. 00:10:29.300 --> 00:10:41.300 You don't even have rights in a sense to yourself which Jesus brings up again and again and again in many different ways. 00:10:41.300 --> 00:10:45.300 This unfortunately makes us sad instead of making us happy. 00:10:45.300 --> 00:10:49.300 That's understandable. We can start there and work our way. 00:10:49.300 --> 00:10:55.300 Any questions on that? 00:10:55.300 --> 00:11:04.300 It's sad because our natural minds always think of, okay, what do I have to give up? 00:11:04.300 --> 00:11:07.300 What's going to be taken away from me? 00:11:07.300 --> 00:11:24.300 That's just our usual experience of how things work on earth and the negativity that we carry unfortunately. 00:11:24.300 --> 00:11:38.300 If you begin to think of disciples in terms of divine sonship and divine ownership, your sadness may be replaced by joy. 00:11:38.300 --> 00:11:42.300 Divine sonship, divine ownership. 00:11:42.300 --> 00:11:46.300 As a son, I lack nothing. 00:11:46.300 --> 00:11:49.300 As a servant, I own nothing. 00:11:49.300 --> 00:12:01.300 The day anybody hits that sweet spot is the day you become the happiest people on earth and the freest people on earth. 00:12:01.300 --> 00:12:14.300 And because there aren't enough people who practice this, there aren't enough models. 00:12:14.300 --> 00:12:24.300 What if Sue who is older than 55 and Sen who is lesser than 20 and Derek who is lesser than 32? 00:12:24.300 --> 00:12:28.300 What if each of these people started practicing this? 00:12:28.300 --> 00:12:39.300 What if someone who's single like Evan and someone who's married like Dawn and someone who is dedicated to singlehood like me? 00:12:39.300 --> 00:12:41.300 What if we all started practicing this? 00:12:41.300 --> 00:12:48.300 Now there are models that we have. 00:12:48.300 --> 00:12:55.300 But because we are scared of this, the immediate connotation is, oh my God, this is going to be more demands. 00:12:55.300 --> 00:12:58.300 These are not demands being placed by man. 00:12:58.300 --> 00:13:01.300 These are demands placed by the son of man on us. 00:13:01.300 --> 00:13:05.300 And he very clearly without any dilution calls you to this. 00:13:05.300 --> 00:13:09.300 And the strange thing is in John 15 when he talks about it, 00:13:09.300 --> 00:13:12.300 he ends it in verse 11 with this line. 00:13:12.300 --> 00:13:20.300 He says, I'm saying this all to you so that your joy may be full. 00:13:20.300 --> 00:13:29.300 At the end of this, if I were to actually buy into this, it ends with so that your joy may be complete. 00:13:29.300 --> 00:13:34.300 So every time you begin to think of, oh shucks, this is going to place a huge demand on me, 00:13:34.300 --> 00:13:45.300 think along the other lines of there is nothing that the sons of Adam were meant to be except divinely owned and divinely sonned. 00:13:45.300 --> 00:13:51.300 Divinely fathered and divinely owned is the reason man was created. 00:13:51.300 --> 00:14:01.300 It is going back to the very essence of us being human. 00:14:01.300 --> 00:14:05.300 I may not convince you, Jesus will. 00:14:05.300 --> 00:14:11.300 So stewardship is recognizing you do not have right of control over your property, your relationship or yourself. 00:14:11.300 --> 00:14:19.300 That's frightening, eh? And it's frightening because we live in a time where our rights are the most important thing in the world. 00:14:19.300 --> 00:14:24.300 Yet everything about Christianity is a laying down of one's rights for the benefit of someone else. 00:14:24.300 --> 00:14:31.300 At cost, at cost of being exploited, disadvantaged, being poorer. 00:14:31.300 --> 00:14:35.300 But do you want any other form of Christianity other than this? 00:14:35.300 --> 00:14:40.300 Yes, you can come up with arguments saying, but what about if I am exploited again and again? 00:14:40.300 --> 00:14:43.300 Those arguments are super old. 00:14:43.300 --> 00:14:52.300 Nobody in this room has gotten to a place where we're being exploited like the guys in the book of Acts or Corinthians or the Philippines or the Colossians. 00:14:52.300 --> 00:15:04.300 Our problems are pretty minor. 00:15:04.300 --> 00:15:16.300 That argument cannot knock this off. 00:15:16.300 --> 00:15:27.300 The other thing with discipleship and stewardship is that you have to give account. 00:15:27.300 --> 00:15:39.300 The moment someone is a disciple, the moment someone is a disciple or someone is a steward, you have to give account. 00:15:39.300 --> 00:15:45.300 The Bible has many parables where you have to give account. 00:15:45.300 --> 00:15:52.300 So discipleship or stewardship is not possible without giving account. 00:15:52.300 --> 00:15:54.300 You have to give account for a few things. 00:15:54.300 --> 00:15:57.300 Here are some of the things the Bible talks about. 00:15:57.300 --> 00:16:11.300 You have to give account of how you administer or use time, money or wealth, the inheritance given you, 00:16:11.300 --> 00:16:29.300 which includes things you've been called to, your abilities, the knowledge you have gained over the years through listening, learning, relationships 00:16:29.300 --> 00:16:38.300 that you presently have and that you will be invited into, responsibilities that you have been given. 00:16:38.300 --> 00:16:44.300 And authority that you are supposed to exert. 00:16:44.300 --> 00:16:53.300 These are usually the things that you have to give an account for. 00:16:53.300 --> 00:17:03.300 And if I'm not able to give an account for it, then my stewardship and my... it doesn't expand. 00:17:03.300 --> 00:17:05.300 It stays as is. 00:17:05.300 --> 00:17:10.300 That's okay here on earth when things stay as is. 00:17:10.300 --> 00:17:16.300 But there is also giving an account in 2 Corinthians 5 before him. 00:17:16.300 --> 00:17:20.300 Who can be terrifying on that day of account? 00:17:20.300 --> 00:17:22.300 Let me just show you. 00:17:22.300 --> 00:17:26.300 2 Corinthians 5. 00:17:26.300 --> 00:17:45.300 2 Corinthians 5. 00:17:45.300 --> 00:17:49.300 So we try our best to please him, verse 9. 00:17:49.300 --> 00:17:51.300 So we try our best to please him. 00:17:51.300 --> 00:17:54.300 We want to please him whether we are at home in our bodies or away from them. 00:17:54.300 --> 00:17:58.300 We must all stand in front of Christ to be judged. 00:17:58.300 --> 00:18:06.300 Each one of us will be judged for the good things and the bad things we do while we are in our bodies. 00:18:06.300 --> 00:18:11.300 And each of us will receive what we are supposed to receive. 00:18:11.300 --> 00:18:14.300 We know what it means to have respect for the Lord. 00:18:14.300 --> 00:18:17.300 So try to help other people understand it. 00:18:17.300 --> 00:18:18.300 What we are is plain to God. 00:18:18.300 --> 00:18:22.300 I hope it is plain to your way of living. 00:18:22.300 --> 00:18:24.300 That's from the NIRV. 00:18:24.300 --> 00:18:27.300 The NIRV is almost the same. 00:18:27.300 --> 00:18:35.300 Except it says, since then we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. 00:18:35.300 --> 00:18:37.300 So there is a giving of account. 00:18:37.300 --> 00:18:41.300 But here on earth, if you cannot give account for these things, then all that happens, 00:18:41.300 --> 00:18:44.300 and it's really not all that happens, it's a terrible thing to happen, 00:18:44.300 --> 00:18:49.300 is that stewardship that is not able to give account for what you have been given 00:18:49.300 --> 00:18:54.300 will cause you to remain in the circle that was initially drawn. 00:18:54.300 --> 00:18:58.300 It does not expand. 00:18:58.300 --> 00:19:02.300 Because stewards are rewarded on a simple thing, faithfulness. 00:19:02.300 --> 00:19:07.300 Not excellence, not the number of people that you are able to reach, 00:19:07.300 --> 00:19:10.300 not the number of souls you've saved, not the amount of preaching you've done, 00:19:10.300 --> 00:19:12.300 all the brilliance of your preaching. 00:19:12.300 --> 00:19:18.300 It's based on just one thing, faithfulness. 00:19:19.300 --> 00:19:20.300 Go ahead. 00:19:20.300 --> 00:19:22.300 What do you say should not be considered excellence? 00:19:22.300 --> 00:19:27.300 Like, isn't excellence something that we should just not desire? 00:19:27.300 --> 00:19:28.300 Yeah. 00:19:28.300 --> 00:19:30.300 I think excellence should be desired, 00:19:30.300 --> 00:19:35.300 but sometimes we measure excellence by comparing it to someone else, 00:19:35.300 --> 00:19:38.300 and therein it becomes faulty. 00:19:38.300 --> 00:19:43.300 So let's say I sing and Emily sings. 00:19:43.300 --> 00:19:44.300 Emily has a better voice. 00:19:44.300 --> 00:19:49.300 I assume Emily's singing is excellent and mine is really good. 00:19:49.300 --> 00:19:56.300 So now what happens is if you are going to measure me by the excellence of Emily's voice, 00:19:56.300 --> 00:19:59.300 then I'm falling short. 00:19:59.300 --> 00:20:03.300 But if you measure me by the faithfulness I have to the voice, 00:20:03.300 --> 00:20:07.300 to the desire to worship God, I might come out better than Emily. 00:20:07.300 --> 00:20:12.300 What if she's only depending on her voice to make it sound good and has zero anointing? 00:20:12.300 --> 00:20:14.300 I mean, she thought she was getting the good end of the stick. 00:20:14.300 --> 00:20:16.300 I just reversed it. 00:20:16.300 --> 00:20:21.300 So now what happens is excellence becomes a measure. 00:20:21.300 --> 00:20:24.300 And so we must aspire for excellence, 00:20:24.300 --> 00:20:28.300 but faithfulness is more important than excellence, 00:20:28.300 --> 00:20:35.300 which is why there will be times where people don't do half as good a job as you, 00:20:35.300 --> 00:20:42.300 and yet they are rewarded more because they are faithful to what God gave them. 00:20:42.300 --> 00:20:45.300 And sometimes it's frustrating. 00:20:45.300 --> 00:20:48.300 You look at them and you think, my God, this is the guy they put on stage, 00:20:48.300 --> 00:20:58.300 but the guy is faithful to what he's been given, even though you can be better. 00:20:58.300 --> 00:21:01.300 Shiloh is perhaps more faithful than Sheldon today. 00:21:01.300 --> 00:21:08.300 Who knows? 00:21:08.300 --> 00:21:15.300 It's all good because anyway it's Phoebe Benefits. 00:21:15.300 --> 00:21:20.300 The other thing about stewardship or discipleship is you are trained. 00:21:20.300 --> 00:21:22.300 We said they are trained stewards. 00:21:22.300 --> 00:21:34.300 You are trained in households led by the Spirit. 00:21:34.300 --> 00:21:44.300 You're trained in households led by the Spirit, and then you are assigned or sent to serve. 00:21:44.300 --> 00:21:47.300 So it doesn't matter whether it's Acts 13, 00:21:47.300 --> 00:21:52.300 where Barnabas and Paul are raised and trained in the household of Antioch, 00:21:52.300 --> 00:21:54.300 and then assigned and sent. 00:21:54.300 --> 00:22:00.300 It doesn't matter whether it's Jesus and his disciples, where he assigns and sends them. 00:22:00.300 --> 00:22:05.300 Training happens in the context of the households of the Spirit. 00:22:05.300 --> 00:22:07.300 Training does not happen in isolation, 00:22:07.300 --> 00:22:16.300 because one thing about this kind of training is it is stewardship that administrates things on behalf of the master 00:22:16.300 --> 00:22:23.300 who sends you to serve others, and it is in the context of a household that you learn. 00:22:23.300 --> 00:22:31.300 And if you don't, then you're not faithful. 00:22:31.300 --> 00:22:40.300 And you will have to give account. I will have to give account. 00:22:40.300 --> 00:22:52.300 It's inescapable. Any questions? 00:22:52.300 --> 00:22:57.300 Acts 8, 14, you see it again. Acts 9, 10, Acts 13, 2. 00:22:57.300 --> 00:23:04.300 They are trained in households of the Spirit and then assigned and sent to serve. 00:23:04.300 --> 00:23:06.300 Households of the Spirit, not Acts 29. 00:23:06.300 --> 00:23:19.300 Households of the Spirit, but it has to be in the context of a people. 00:23:19.300 --> 00:23:32.300 Acts 8, 14, Acts 9, 10, Acts 13, 2. 00:23:32.300 --> 00:23:37.300 Like I said, faithful stewards or faithful disciples are rewarded. 00:23:37.300 --> 00:23:46.300 What is the reward? The reward is increased dominion, as in greater area of influence, 00:23:46.300 --> 00:24:05.300 increased responsibility, and the cool thing is with either of this comes an increase in stewardship. 00:24:05.300 --> 00:24:13.300 Brandon, can you fix this? Increased dominion, increased responsibility, increased authority. 00:24:13.300 --> 00:24:19.300 So let's look at Jesus' criteria for disciples. Jesus' criteria for disciples. 00:24:19.300 --> 00:24:24.300 The first one is in John 8, 31. I'll just give you the four different things we'll be looking at in the future. 00:24:24.300 --> 00:24:35.300 The first one is Mark 8, 34. Mark 8, 34. Thanks. Mark 8, 34. 00:24:35.300 --> 00:24:43.300 And one that is very similar to that is Luke 14, 33. 00:24:43.300 --> 00:24:50.300 And so it says that whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. 00:24:50.300 --> 00:24:59.300 So that's one. Next one. John 8, 31 and 32, where it says, 00:24:59.300 --> 00:25:05.300 if you abide or if you hold on to my teaching, you're really my disciples. 00:25:05.300 --> 00:25:17.300 The first one is deny oneself. The second one is I hold on to my teaching, as in abide in it, as in keep it. 00:25:17.300 --> 00:25:22.300 Then you're my disciples. You really are my disciples. 00:25:22.300 --> 00:25:29.300 Next one is John 13, 35. John 13, 35. 00:25:29.300 --> 00:25:44.300 And that talks about this is how everyone will recognize that you're my disciples when they see the love you have for each other. 00:25:44.300 --> 00:25:56.300 And then the last one is John 15, 8. John 15, 8 says, when you bear a lot of fruit, they will, it shows you're my disciples. 00:25:56.300 --> 00:26:11.300 When you bear fruit, when you bear a lot of fruit, it'll show you as a disciple. 00:26:11.300 --> 00:26:20.300 These are Jesus' own sayings. These, in his opinion, was what would prove discipleship. 00:26:20.300 --> 00:26:27.300 First one is Mark 8, 34. If you deny yourself, and we'll briefly touch on that because we've talked about that in the past a lot. 00:26:27.300 --> 00:26:34.300 So the only thing we'll do today is John 15, 8, and then the rest we'll take another time. 00:26:34.300 --> 00:26:46.300 So Mark 8, 34, Luke 14, 33 says, Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples, and he said to them, 00:26:46.300 --> 00:26:53.300 Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 00:26:53.300 --> 00:27:02.300 So let's turn to Mark 8, 34 and Luke, Mark 8, 34. 00:27:02.300 --> 00:27:07.300 Mark 8, 34. 00:27:07.300 --> 00:27:12.300 Look at the context though, guys. Look at the preceding verse and why he says this. 00:27:12.300 --> 00:27:19.300 So in verse 33, when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. 00:27:19.300 --> 00:27:25.300 Get behind me Satan, he said. You do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men. 00:27:25.300 --> 00:27:32.300 So what happened in verse 32, it says, He spoke plainly about this and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 00:27:32.300 --> 00:27:35.300 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. 00:27:35.300 --> 00:27:40.300 Get behind me Satan, he said. You do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men. 00:27:40.300 --> 00:27:45.300 Then immediately after that he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and then he said to them, 00:27:45.300 --> 00:27:50.300 If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 00:27:50.300 --> 00:27:56.300 So what's the context? The context is he is just telling people that he needs to deny himself. 00:27:56.300 --> 00:28:03.300 That he needs to lay things down. That he has to now lay things down for the sake of others. 00:28:03.300 --> 00:28:06.300 What does Peter do? Peter immediately comes and says, Stop talking like that. 00:28:06.300 --> 00:28:11.300 That's sometimes what we do. When God places a demand on people, we go and tell them, 00:28:11.300 --> 00:28:17.300 No, no, that's an extreme. One has to look out for oneself. We come up with stuff like this. 00:28:17.300 --> 00:28:22.300 Jesus, in front of the disciples, he looks at his disciples and then he looks at Peter, 00:28:22.300 --> 00:28:26.300 you be Peter for now, and he rebukes him saying, Get behind me Satan. 00:28:26.300 --> 00:28:34.300 And then he doesn't stop at that. This is where you find Jesus so demanding when it comes to discipleship. 00:28:34.300 --> 00:28:39.300 He doesn't stop at that. After having done that, he calls the crowd to himself. 00:28:39.300 --> 00:28:44.300 He's not even calling just his disciples. He calls the crowd to himself and he calls his disciples. 00:28:44.300 --> 00:28:51.300 And now he says that if you want to be a disciple of mine, you will have to deny yourself and take up the cross and follow me. 00:28:51.300 --> 00:28:58.300 How can anyone, whoever is standing here right now, could be you, could be me. 00:28:58.300 --> 00:29:07.300 How can anyone dilute this, lessen this, or even entertain any other truth than this? 00:29:07.300 --> 00:29:24.300 Yeah, we are going to talk about that. 00:29:24.300 --> 00:29:29.300 To take up the cross, at least in his context, was to lay down life. 00:29:29.300 --> 00:29:33.300 So when we are not laying down our lives, what does it look like? 00:29:33.300 --> 00:29:38.300 Because we don't have to go and give up our lives for anybody, at least in Canada. 00:29:38.300 --> 00:29:41.300 What does it look like? What do we have to lay down? 00:29:41.300 --> 00:29:51.300 So here are some of the things that we have to lay down. Then we move on to John 15, 8. 00:29:51.300 --> 00:29:55.300 Some of the things I have to lay down. 00:29:55.300 --> 00:30:00.300 One, offense. To lay down offense. 00:30:00.300 --> 00:30:12.300 As in, when people come against you, when people say things about you, when people are being hurtful, harmful to you, to lay down offense. 00:30:12.300 --> 00:30:14.300 What is laying down offense really? 00:30:14.300 --> 00:30:24.300 Laying down offense is giving up the right you have to ask God to avenge you sometimes, 00:30:24.300 --> 00:30:31.300 or give back how you've been treated, or demand that your rights be given back to you, 00:30:31.300 --> 00:30:35.300 or speak out about the need to be vindicated. 00:30:35.300 --> 00:30:44.300 To lay down offense is actually as personal as it gets to laying down your rights. 00:30:44.300 --> 00:30:53.300 Because everything in you rises up saying, but I am right. 00:30:53.300 --> 00:30:56.300 How do you... 00:30:56.300 --> 00:30:58.300 I can't hear you. 00:30:58.300 --> 00:31:06.300 How do you balance out the David cry that you see things, cultures spreading along the board? 00:31:06.300 --> 00:31:11.300 Beautiful. Fight for everyone else's rights. 00:31:11.300 --> 00:31:16.300 Never cease to fight for someone else's right. 00:31:16.300 --> 00:31:22.300 And David's cry to avenge himself on people's wives and children? 00:31:22.300 --> 00:31:27.300 Let it be David's rights in the Old Testament, because someone paid the price for it. 00:31:27.300 --> 00:31:35.300 So we can't go, vindicate me, oh God, and may his children go hungry, and may his wife be taken captive. 00:31:35.300 --> 00:31:40.300 We can't go down that route. That was an Old Testament pattern. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. 00:31:40.300 --> 00:31:46.300 And so, Jesus' eye was taken and his tooth was taken kind of a thing. He paid that price. 00:31:46.300 --> 00:31:57.300 But when it comes to rights, yeah, stand up for the justice of others. 00:31:57.300 --> 00:32:08.300 But it says in Peter, when it comes to you, if people exploit you, be like-minded like him who was led like a sheep to the shearers. 00:32:08.300 --> 00:32:13.300 Is this now a blanket statement that applies to all situations? No. 00:32:13.300 --> 00:32:20.300 But it is a blanket statement that you first apply and then apply other statements. 00:32:20.300 --> 00:32:30.300 Every time someone slaps you on one cheek, do you turn the other cheek? No. You start with that principle and then decide what to do. 00:32:30.300 --> 00:32:38.300 So it's not that that's the only way to react. There are times when Paul would stand up and say, why did Paul do that? 00:32:38.300 --> 00:32:43.300 Why did Paul do that? When Paul was being flogged or was being, they were taking him to flog him, what did he do? 00:32:43.300 --> 00:32:50.300 He said, I'm a Roman citizen. How dare you flog me? 00:32:50.300 --> 00:32:57.300 So there were times when he stood up and he spoke. Other times, he apologized when he called one of the high priests a whitewashed tomb. 00:32:57.300 --> 00:33:01.300 He said, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were a high priest. I shouldn't be calling you that. 00:33:01.300 --> 00:33:07.300 Other times, he'd get beaten black and blue and they'd leave him for dead and he would get up and walk away. 00:33:07.300 --> 00:33:22.300 But the starting point for us that makes us different from every other person on the face of the earth because we belong to a different master is fight for the rights of others. 00:33:22.300 --> 00:33:31.300 So offense is really personal. We don't realize how much of laying down of one's life and rights is involved in not taking offense. 00:33:38.300 --> 00:33:49.300 Some other things you can lay down. Independence and self-assertion. 00:33:52.300 --> 00:34:13.300 Three. Self-preservation. Jesus would constantly speak against this. His statement was Jacob, every time you try to save your life, you will lose it. 00:34:13.300 --> 00:34:21.300 Self-preservation. 00:34:21.300 --> 00:34:37.300 Four. The timing of when you will do things. 00:34:37.300 --> 00:34:50.300 And obedience. There's another hard thing to lay down. Carry your cross is to not have the freedom to decide when you will. 00:34:50.300 --> 00:35:01.300 It is not obedience when you decide the time. It is disobedience. 00:35:01.300 --> 00:35:09.300 This is what Jesus is saying in Luke chapter 9 where he says, let me bury my father and then I'll come. 00:35:09.300 --> 00:35:19.300 He wanted to delay his following till the dad had died, the inheritance is settled, money has been distributed, land has been distributed, now I'll follow you. 00:35:19.300 --> 00:35:30.300 It is not up to you. Delayed timing is basically disobedience. 00:35:30.300 --> 00:35:47.300 Let me rephrase it. Not delayed timing. Choosing your time to follow Christ is disobedience. 00:35:47.300 --> 00:35:57.300 These are some of the things we will require to lay down. Next one is security, which he spoke about so often. 00:35:57.300 --> 00:36:07.300 Peter said, but we have laid down everything. Jesus said, yeah, I know. Security is what looks like wealth. 00:36:07.300 --> 00:36:12.300 Anything that gives you security here on earth. 00:36:12.300 --> 00:36:28.300 Societal obligations and the fear of man. Societal obligations and the fear of man. 00:36:28.300 --> 00:36:35.300 And then the last one, you may be able to add to this, relationships that compete. 00:36:35.300 --> 00:36:49.300 Relationships that compete, which include father, mother, sister, brother, son, daughter. 00:36:49.300 --> 00:36:56.300 And then Luke, wife, husband. 00:36:56.300 --> 00:37:15.300 This is the demand of discipleship. This is what you're asked to by Christ himself. Any questions? Any disagreements? 00:37:15.300 --> 00:37:38.300 Societal obligations and fear of man, where culture demands that I behave a certain way, where it is natural in certain cultures to not leave home until you're a certain age, or get married a certain way, or not get married a certain way. 00:37:38.300 --> 00:37:50.300 There's so many cultural, social norms that become so highly pressured that it's almost impossible to forego them because it means stigma. 00:37:50.300 --> 00:37:56.300 Yeah. 00:37:56.300 --> 00:38:04.300 Fear of man, relationships that compete, be it father, mother, sister, brother, son, daughter, wife or husband. 00:38:04.300 --> 00:38:15.300 Thank God all these words are spoken by Jesus, eh? 00:38:15.300 --> 00:38:39.300 Please remember the good news part of this, and the good news part of it is really divine sonship, divine ownership, and your joy will be complete. 00:38:39.300 --> 00:38:50.300 Yeah, yeah. So it says honor your father and mother. If you don't take care of your family and give your money for ministry, you're worse than an infidel, and so on. So there are many of those statements that are made. 00:38:50.300 --> 00:39:00.300 And so you don't throw out one and keep the other. You decide what it is to lay your life down, and that is a settled thing. 00:39:00.300 --> 00:39:13.300 One of the things God always says is hate one, otherwise you will not love the other. When he talks about hate and love, what he's saying is relative to everything, there should be no competition. 00:39:13.300 --> 00:39:23.300 There should be no struggle. When it comes to cultural obligations, no struggle. Fear of man, no struggle. Father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, wife, husband, no struggle. 00:39:23.300 --> 00:39:37.300 Once that is established, now you have the amazing freedom to do exactly what he's asked you to do. But it never competes again. If there was any man who took care of his parents and his siblings, it was Jesus. 00:39:37.300 --> 00:39:46.300 But yet there was absolutely no struggle when he was 12 and when he was 30. Very clearly he told them where they stand when it comes to his father. 00:39:46.300 --> 00:39:56.300 But was he any less loving or any less caring? If he was, he wouldn't rise up from the dead because he would have sinned. 00:39:56.300 --> 00:40:12.300 Always remember that. That anything that Jesus said or anything that Jesus did that did not actually correlate or align with what his father expected of him would have caused Jesus to remain dead. 00:40:12.300 --> 00:40:22.300 He would not have risen from the dead. Because one sin and the weight of the sin is death. 00:40:22.300 --> 00:40:32.300 What an amazing life, 100% human. 00:40:32.300 --> 00:40:58.300 We'll do John 15, 8 next time. But I just want to switch to Ezekiel 37, 1. 00:40:58.300 --> 00:41:14.300 Almost like, shut your notes down for this. And if you want to start a fresh page, start a fresh page. We'll do John 15, 8 next week and thereon. 00:41:14.300 --> 00:41:26.300 Guys, the reason I'm talking about Ezekiel 37, 1 is because I believe some here will experience this even tonight. 00:41:26.300 --> 00:41:36.300 And it says in Ezekiel 37, 1. Just go there. 00:41:36.300 --> 00:41:48.300 This has very, almost nothing to do with what we just talked about. So look at it as something that may be remer for some of us. 00:41:48.300 --> 00:41:54.300 It could be for all of us. It definitely will be for some of us. Ezekiel 37, 1. 00:41:54.300 --> 00:42:04.300 When something like this happens, God is not saying I want it for this person, this person, this person. He wants it for everybody. 00:42:04.300 --> 00:42:10.300 Because he's not partial when it comes to what he wants to unleash. 00:42:10.300 --> 00:42:20.300 But like he says, many are called but fewer chosen. And that doesn't have anything to do with his choosing. It has to do with my receptivity and response. 00:42:20.300 --> 00:42:30.300 So may this be something that I catch and you catch. I want to catch it as desperately as you. 00:42:30.300 --> 00:42:32.300 Ezekiel 37, 1. 00:43:00.300 --> 00:43:12.300 I will make breath enter you and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin. 00:43:12.300 --> 00:43:16.300 I will put breath in you and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 00:43:16.300 --> 00:43:24.300 So I prophesied and as I was commanded and as I was prophesying there was a noise, a rattling sound and the bones come together bone to bone. 00:43:24.300 --> 00:43:28.300 And tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them but there was no breath in them. 00:43:28.300 --> 00:43:40.300 Then he said to me, prophesy to the breath, prophesy son of man and say to it, this is what the sovereign Lord says, come from the four winds of breath and breathe into these slain that they may live. 00:43:40.300 --> 00:43:46.300 So I prophesied as he commanded me and breath entered them and they came to life and stood upon their feet, a vast army. 00:43:46.300 --> 00:43:56.300 The first thing guys is the hand of the Lord. It says the hand of Yahweh. The hand of Yahweh. Ezekiel 37, 1. 00:43:56.300 --> 00:44:04.300 The hand of Yahweh. The hand of Yahweh. 00:44:04.300 --> 00:44:26.300 Whenever it's spoken of like that it speaks of an overwhelming force with which you are seized by God. 00:44:26.300 --> 00:44:30.300 Expect it to happen to some of you eh? 00:44:30.300 --> 00:44:37.300 Just by the sheer presence of the power of God here, just by the sheer presence of God. 00:44:37.300 --> 00:44:46.300 Expect his hand to be heavy on your head and you don't even know why, you don't even know what you're being called towards. 00:44:46.300 --> 00:44:56.300 The hand of Yahweh will sit heavy on your head and it's an overwhelming force with which you are seized by God. 00:44:56.300 --> 00:45:00.300 That's one of the things that will begin to happen for some of us. 00:45:00.300 --> 00:45:16.300 The second thing is God always sees us lives that he can help himself to. 00:45:16.300 --> 00:45:26.300 God sees us lives that he can help himself to at will. 00:45:26.300 --> 00:45:33.300 God always sees us lives that he can help himself to at will. 00:45:33.300 --> 00:45:39.300 And so in your heart begin to say, Oh God, I serve at your pleasure. 00:45:39.300 --> 00:45:43.300 There is no other reason for my existence but to serve at your pleasure. 00:45:43.300 --> 00:45:48.300 You can have me at will. Seize what you want. 00:45:48.300 --> 00:45:53.300 I don't even know what this may mean, Oh God, but whatever. 00:45:53.300 --> 00:45:56.300 This is why I live. 00:45:56.300 --> 00:46:04.300 Let the hand of God be heavy upon you, an overwhelming force that wants to seize you at will and make him yours to do whatever he wants. 00:46:04.300 --> 00:46:17.300 What does it matter? 00:46:17.300 --> 00:46:22.300 The next thing he'll do is he'll lead you back and forth. He will lead you back and forth. 00:46:22.300 --> 00:46:28.300 He will lead you back and forth. 00:46:28.300 --> 00:46:34.300 He will lead you back and forth in a valley. 00:46:34.300 --> 00:46:39.300 You'll see a massive collection of things that haven't happened. 00:46:39.300 --> 00:46:44.300 Massive collection of bones. 00:46:44.300 --> 00:46:47.300 Of problems you have. 00:46:47.300 --> 00:46:50.300 Of shortcoming. 00:46:50.300 --> 00:46:53.300 Of sin. 00:46:53.300 --> 00:46:55.300 Of defects. 00:46:55.300 --> 00:46:58.300 Of habits. 00:46:58.300 --> 00:47:02.300 Of lack. 00:47:02.300 --> 00:47:07.300 Of unfinished promises. 00:47:07.300 --> 00:47:14.300 Of things that disqualify you. 00:47:14.300 --> 00:47:19.300 This is where he starts. He takes you up and down the valley. 00:47:19.300 --> 00:47:27.300 All you see is massive valley of valley full of massive glistening bones, but these bones are dry. 00:47:27.300 --> 00:47:36.300 And he'll show you and he'll say, You've got to have a look at this because if you don't look at this, you don't realize what I'm going to do. 00:47:36.300 --> 00:47:46.300 He's okay having you go to and fro in a valley. 00:47:46.300 --> 00:47:58.300 The fact that these bones were lying out in the open meant that whoever was in that valley and whenever this war had happened, they hadn't even buried these bodies. 00:47:58.300 --> 00:48:04.300 And it's unthinkable not to bury bodies in the Middle East. 00:48:04.300 --> 00:48:10.300 It's the worst thing that you can do. That's why even with Israel, all the bodies that have been collected in the kibbutz is why. 00:48:10.300 --> 00:48:18.300 So that they can all be given a decent burial. To be left was sacrilegious. It was like a curse. 00:48:18.300 --> 00:48:30.300 And he shows you your condition. And he's okay with you going to and fro looking at your condition. 00:48:30.300 --> 00:48:42.300 You hear dry bones. Dry bones, hopelessly dead. 00:48:42.300 --> 00:48:46.300 Hopelessly dead. 00:48:46.300 --> 00:49:07.300 And one of the things he wants to show you is he wants to show you, even now, the end from the beginning. 00:49:07.300 --> 00:49:17.300 Try and see it. Try and see the end from the beginning. 00:49:17.300 --> 00:49:26.300 Sometimes he does it just by injecting hope. 00:49:26.300 --> 00:49:34.300 Don't focus on just your defects or just your physical condition. This is bigger than that. 00:49:34.300 --> 00:49:44.300 Mostly for the sake of kingdom, others. Yes, but he'll take you through the valley so you can see your own defects. 00:49:44.300 --> 00:49:47.300 But see the end from the beginning. 00:49:47.300 --> 00:49:55.300 Think of all the glorious things that have been said about you by him through the word from others. 00:49:55.300 --> 00:50:02.300 Dry, hopeless, maybe. 00:50:02.300 --> 00:50:20.300 See the end from the beginning. See what this place will be. Remember what Iris wrote. See yourself. 00:50:20.300 --> 00:50:30.300 He'll start it today. Let it be born in your heart. 00:50:30.300 --> 00:50:52.300 Think that sometimes your parents said, even though they were not believers, they began to speak on behalf of God and said things about you. 00:50:52.300 --> 00:51:05.300 And it'll seem like a contradiction what you hear him saying and what you are today. 00:51:05.300 --> 00:51:14.300 Or where you are today. Maybe a contradiction, but that's where he loves beginning. 00:51:14.300 --> 00:51:20.300 Rattle through it, eh? Rattle through the contradiction. 00:51:20.300 --> 00:51:25.300 And if you pay attention, he'll ask you a question. 00:51:25.300 --> 00:51:34.300 Can you see this happening? 00:51:34.300 --> 00:51:46.300 He asks Ezekiel that. Ezekiel, can these bones live? Can you see this happening? 00:51:46.300 --> 00:51:55.300 And he won't settle for an answer like, oh God, you know. He won't settle for that. 00:51:55.300 --> 00:52:01.300 He'll keep asking, can you see this happening? 00:52:01.300 --> 00:52:10.300 Can you see it happening for your son, for your daughter, for your family, for the church? 00:52:10.300 --> 00:52:20.300 Can you see it happening for yourself? For your marriage? 00:52:20.300 --> 00:52:28.300 Can you see it happening? 00:52:28.300 --> 00:52:37.300 And any disingenuous reply like, only you know God, your will be done, will not cut a day. 00:52:37.300 --> 00:52:45.300 He'll keep asking you that. Why? Because that's how he begins to build hope in you. 00:52:45.300 --> 00:53:02.300 And then a strange thing begins to happen. He'll say, can you prophesy or speak on my behalf? 00:53:02.300 --> 00:53:07.300 Call the dry bones to attention on my behalf. 00:53:07.300 --> 00:53:20.300 Horrible words spoken into the invisible will eventually burst forth in sight and sound. 00:53:20.300 --> 00:53:46.300 Horrible words spoken into the invisible will burst into sight and sound. 00:53:46.300 --> 00:53:59.300 Can you, right now, wherever you're sitting, speak in English or speak in tongues or speak in any language? 00:53:59.300 --> 00:54:09.300 Can you let the heavy hand of God, to the extent that you're able to without faking it, without dramatizing it, 00:54:09.300 --> 00:54:17.300 can you begin to speak whatever God is going to show you, even if it's a slight glimmer, a small thing? 00:54:17.300 --> 00:54:24.300 Maybe all you want is just, oh God, give me hope again. Oh God, help me to be consistent. Oh God, let me rise up again. 00:54:24.300 --> 00:54:34.300 Oh God, unleash me. Oh God, help me get over the things I'm struggling with. Whatever it be. 00:54:34.300 --> 00:54:40.300 I'm going to turn off my mic. This is between him and you, eh? And speak what he commands you to. 00:54:40.300 --> 00:54:49.300 Speak audible words into the invisible. Begin to speak it. First for yourself. Yourself first. 00:55:04.300 --> 00:55:29.300 There are no words that grow from you. 00:56:59.300 --> 00:57:19.300 Father, a prayer that I pray for everybody here is let us not be able to escape the heavy hand of God on our lives this week. 00:57:19.300 --> 00:57:29.300 When I turn to the left, when I turn to the right, let me hear a voice that says, walk in these, the ancient paths. 00:57:29.300 --> 00:57:38.300 Let my heart be filled with hope. Let my heart be filled with impossibilities. 00:57:38.300 --> 00:57:57.300 Seize us, oh God, so that you may have at your will our lives. Seize us, oh God, for a time such as this, for a time such as this, 00:57:57.300 --> 00:58:08.300 with all, with the entire valley of bones that we bring to you. 00:58:08.300 --> 00:58:13.300 Can this happen in your life, Jacob? Yes, it can. 00:58:13.300 --> 00:58:24.300 Can it happen in your life, Acts 29? Yes, it can. 00:58:24.300 --> 00:58:30.300 Can it happen in every life seated here? Yes, it can. 00:58:30.300 --> 00:58:38.300 Can the power of the Spirit break upon a people? Yes, he can. 00:58:38.300 --> 00:58:46.300 Can the power of the Spirit flow through a people like in the days of the old? Yes. 00:58:46.300 --> 00:58:51.300 Can a people be ready? Yes. 00:58:51.300 --> 00:58:58.300 Can a people desire this? Yes. Are you the people? Yes. 00:58:58.300 --> 00:59:07.300 We are that people. I know the people here. These are the people, Father. 00:59:07.300 --> 00:59:13.300 Every one of them, without exception. 00:59:13.300 --> 00:59:16.300 Ready, willing. 00:59:16.300 --> 00:59:25.300 In the Spirit of God, let your hand be heavy upon this church. 00:59:25.300 --> 00:59:32.300 We desire divine ownership. We desire divine sonship. 00:59:46.300 --> 01:00:06.300 You are worthy, oh God, you are worthy. 01:00:06.300 --> 01:00:11.300 Let this be the day when the valley of bones became a vast army. 01:00:11.300 --> 01:00:20.300 Let this be the day when promises made to us personally and corporately begin to happen one by one, rapidly, rapidly, oh God. 01:00:20.300 --> 01:00:25.300 As Ezekiel began to speak, he was surprised at how rapidly bone came to bone. 01:00:25.300 --> 01:00:32.300 The rattling was heard. Let it begin. Oh God, let there be a rattle. Let there be a rattle. 01:00:32.300 --> 01:00:36.300 Let there be a rattling of bones. 01:01:02.300 --> 01:01:15.300 See your people, Father. Our faces are turned towards you. 01:01:15.300 --> 01:01:23.300 We seek you. We seek your faith. We seek your pleasure. We seek your desire. We seek your will. 01:01:23.300 --> 01:01:28.300 There's no other reason for us to be here. 01:01:28.300 --> 01:01:41.300 Hear our cry. 01:01:41.300 --> 01:01:59.300 Light up the night with our lives, oh God. Make us torches, blazing torches. 01:01:59.300 --> 01:02:06.300 Don't escape you, oh God. Let your hand be heavy upon your people. 01:02:06.300 --> 01:02:10.300 Let this week be inescapable. 01:02:10.300 --> 01:02:14.300 This will have to be a sovereign act of you, Holy Spirit. 01:02:14.300 --> 01:02:18.300 We can't manufacture this. We can only surrender to it. 01:02:18.300 --> 01:02:25.300 We surrender to it at this moment. Only you can sustain it. 01:03:48.300 --> 01:03:56.300 I'd like to stop for now, Father. Stop is the wrong word. 01:03:56.300 --> 01:04:11.300 This service will close about. But we have asked that your hands be heavy upon my life, upon our lives. 01:04:11.300 --> 01:04:15.300 This is something you want to do. 01:04:41.300 --> 01:04:50.300 Father, I'd like to, or not I'd like to, I think you would like to end with that song about dry bones rattling. 01:04:50.300 --> 01:05:01.300 So you want to end with that song. 01:05:01.300 --> 01:05:04.300 What song is that? 01:05:05.300 --> 01:05:12.300 No. Rattle. Can someone sing that? 01:05:12.300 --> 01:05:22.300 Guys, God will be faithful. I believe he is the one who initiated this. I pray that he completes it. 01:05:22.300 --> 01:05:28.300 There's nothing you and I can do by flesh or by our own means to sustain this. 01:05:28.300 --> 01:05:35.300 But at the end of this week, may you be in a place you've never been before. 01:05:35.300 --> 01:05:45.300 Then we'll see what else he wants to do next week with the rest of both disciples and Ezekiel. 01:05:45.300 --> 01:05:52.300 Who knows the song Rattle? You know the song? You can sing. 01:05:52.300 --> 01:05:56.300 Sheldon, can you play? 01:06:04.300 --> 01:06:06.300 Sorry. 01:06:08.300 --> 01:06:10.300 Okay. 01:06:22.300 --> 01:06:24.300 Okay. 01:06:52.300 --> 01:06:59.300 And so Father, we just want to like come before you. 01:06:59.300 --> 01:07:07.300 Father, may this be the song of our hearts that we sing to you, this new song that we sing to you for what you have invited us into in this season. 01:07:07.300 --> 01:07:09.300 This is a new season for a church father. 01:07:09.300 --> 01:07:12.300 And so Father, we just want to like come before you. 01:07:12.300 --> 01:07:20.300 Father, may this be the song of our hearts that we sing to you, this new song that we sing to you for what you have invited us into in this season. 01:07:20.300 --> 01:07:22.300 This is a new season for a church father. 01:07:22.300 --> 01:07:27.300 And you want us to come before you. You want us to like, you're inviting us father. 01:07:27.300 --> 01:07:37.300 You desire this for us, but more importantly, you're inviting each and every single person here to come before you as individuals, but corporately as a body to receive what you have for us, Father. 01:07:37.300 --> 01:07:39.300 What you have for us in this newness. 01:07:39.300 --> 01:07:42.300 And so Father, hear the choir of our hearts. 01:07:42.300 --> 01:07:45.300 Hear the words of our mouth. 01:07:48.300 --> 01:07:50.300 Saturday was silent. 01:07:50.300 --> 01:07:53.300 Surely it was through. 01:07:53.300 --> 01:07:58.300 Since when has impossible ever stopped you? 01:07:58.300 --> 01:08:05.300 Friday's disappointment is Sunday's empty too. 01:08:06.300 --> 01:08:11.300 Since when has impossible ever stopped you? 01:08:12.300 --> 01:08:16.300 This is the sound of dry bones rattling. 01:08:18.300 --> 01:08:22.300 This is the praise make a dead man walk again. 01:08:23.300 --> 01:08:26.300 Open the grave, I'm coming out. 01:08:26.300 --> 01:08:30.300 I'm gonna live, gonna live again. 01:08:30.300 --> 01:08:34.300 This is the sound of dry bones rattling. 01:08:36.300 --> 01:08:42.300 Pentecostal fire stirring something new. 01:08:43.300 --> 01:08:48.300 You're not gonna run out of miracles anytime soon. 01:08:49.300 --> 01:08:54.300 Resurrection power runs in my veins too. 01:08:55.300 --> 01:09:00.300 I believe there's another miracle here in this room. 01:09:01.300 --> 01:09:04.300 This is the sound of dry bones rattling. 01:09:07.300 --> 01:09:11.300 This is the praise make a dead man walk again. 01:09:12.300 --> 01:09:16.300 Open the grave, I'm coming out. 01:09:16.300 --> 01:09:19.300 I'm gonna live, gonna live again. 01:09:20.300 --> 01:09:23.300 This is the sound of dry bones rattling. 01:09:25.300 --> 01:09:31.300 My God is able to save and deliver and heal 01:09:31.300 --> 01:09:36.300 and restore anything that he wants to. 01:09:37.300 --> 01:09:43.300 Just ask the man who was thrown on the bones of Elisha 01:09:43.300 --> 01:09:48.300 if there's anything that he can't do. 01:09:49.300 --> 01:09:55.300 Just ask the stone that was rolled at the tomb in the garden 01:09:55.300 --> 01:10:00.300 what happens when God says to move. 01:10:00.300 --> 01:10:06.300 I feel him moving it now. I feel him doing it now. 01:10:06.300 --> 01:10:12.300 I feel him doing it now. Do it now. Do it now. 01:10:13.300 --> 01:10:17.300 This is the sound of dry bones rattling. 01:10:19.300 --> 01:10:23.300 This is the praise make a dead man walk again. 01:10:24.300 --> 01:10:27.300 Open the grave, I'm coming out. 01:10:27.300 --> 01:10:30.300 I'm gonna live, gonna live again. 01:10:30.300 --> 01:10:33.300 Open the grave, I'm coming out. 01:10:33.300 --> 01:10:36.300 I'm gonna live, gonna live again. 01:10:36.300 --> 01:10:39.300 Open the grave, we're coming out. 01:10:39.300 --> 01:10:42.300 We're gonna live, gonna live again. 01:10:43.300 --> 01:10:47.300 This is the sound of dry bones rattling. 01:10:52.300 --> 01:10:55.300 Thank you Abba. Only you can bring dead things back to life. 01:10:55.300 --> 01:10:58.300 Anything we place in your hand Abba comes back to life. 01:10:58.300 --> 01:11:01.300 So I bring this church. I bring each and every single one of us. 01:11:01.300 --> 01:11:05.300 We put ourselves in your hands and we will come back to life again. 01:11:05.300 --> 01:11:08.300 Jesus I speak your name over this church. 01:11:08.300 --> 01:11:10.300 This church belongs to you. We all belong to you. 01:11:10.300 --> 01:11:12.300 And we will all come back alive again. 01:11:12.300 --> 01:11:17.300 All the dead parts, all the parts that were buried, all the parts that people have spoken over us 01:11:17.300 --> 01:11:22.300 will never rise again. They will come up anew, come up afresh because Jesus you are here. 01:11:22.300 --> 01:11:25.300 This is your house. This is your house Father. 01:11:25.300 --> 01:11:27.300 And we are the people of your house. We are your children. 01:11:27.300 --> 01:11:30.300 And we will rise again because you rose again. 01:11:31.300 --> 01:11:34.300 Amen! 01:12:01.300 --> 01:12:03.300 Amen!