Our church values - Kingdomly Minded

Let me pray for David and for us, and then I'll hand over to David, who's going to take us through our talk tonight.

Heavenly Father, we thank you now for the opportunity that we have to look at your word together, to consider what it is that you're calling us to as a church.

We pray that you'd help David help all of us as we listen. In Jesus name. Amen.

David, over to you.

Thanks, Dave.

Cool. So we're continuing to go through the church values, and this is the final one.

It's in some ways a continuation of where we were last week.

So as is our habit, let's go through our church values and see if we can name them all.

Go.

Kingdomly minded.

Kingdom minded. Okay, very good. Kingdomly minded. That's today.

So let's do the other ones.

Locally rooted. We're going in reverse order. I like this. Can we keep going?

Locally rooted.

Servantly led.

Gospely centered.

Two left.

Prayerfully dependent.

Servantly led. Servant leadership.

Was that that?

Just one more.

Lovingly diverse.

Yes, very good.

Well done.

Good stuff.

So we are going to talk about kingdom mindedness today, which in a sense, I've framed as sort of part two of last week, which is the locally rooted.

Right. So looking at ourselves as a local church in a specific area at a specific time.

Serving this this part of the world.

Right. So but then there's this idea of kingdom mindedness.

And so what what does it mean to be kingdom minded?

Broad question.

But it's an interesting one in the sense that there's probably a lot of things that go under that that you might say, oh, well, it means this or that.

Right. But one thing.

And we prayed it in our group and many others probably played it in your groups and probably otherwise.

But we pray for revival in our city, in our area.

Right. We recognize that the majority of our neighbors and colleagues and friends and people that live in the city don't follow and worship Jesus.

And so we pray that they would and that our church would have an impact and be able to connect with those who live near us or that we might come into contact with.

We we do that. That's normal.

And so one way to think about kingdom mindedness is to play that forward and say, OK, Lord, if if you answer that prayer, if you do send revival to northwest London.

But he does it primarily through another church.

And that church grows and has a major impact.

And our church feels like it stays the same.

How do we how do we feel about that?

Right.

Do we want thy kingdom to come or do we want our kingdom to come?

Right. And so kingdom mindedness is really it's.

Taking a zoomed out kingdom level view of what God is doing and allowing us to have a bigger picture than simply what Wes Kilburn is doing or what we are involved in or things that get attached to to all of us.

Right. And so.

It's it's looking beyond with with kind of God level imagination at what he might be doing in the world and in our area.

That doesn't necessarily.

In Acts one.

In Acts one.

We'll turn to Acts in a minute.

You don't necessarily need to go to one.

Go to 13.

We'll start there.

But in Acts one, when Jesus ascends and the believers, the people who are following Jesus gather in a room.

It says that there was 120 of them at the time.

Right.

A couple of weeks ago, I think I did the count and there's about 120 people in this room.

Right.

On a Sunday morning, not on a Sunday evening yet.

But the idea is that within two generations of that moment.

The church was cross continents was like on an ascendancy at a level that was would have been unbelievable to those 120 people.

Right.

And so it's not that small is incapable of doing anything.

Obviously, God is in control and he's moving those things.

And so I just just framing it.

That is a pretty interesting spot to say there was 120 at one point and it made a worldwide difference.

And so there's no reason that kingdom impact doesn't come from a small group of people in a small in a specific place.

They were in a room in Jerusalem.

So turn to Acts 13 and we'll start there.

It'll be a continuation of what we talked about last week, looking at the church in Antioch.

So last week we talked about how there was this one church that after Stephen's stoning, the church was persecuted, obviously, and spread out of fear.

And so they ended up in different places.

One of those places was in Antioch.

And in Antioch, the people there, the believers there started preaching and teaching non-Jews.

And that was a new thing.

And it was the first place where people who followed Jesus were called Christians, little Christs.

And so there was this really interesting thing.

And then they sent the church in Jerusalem, sent some people to see, Barnabas, to see if what they were doing there was on the up and up and made sense.

And he comes back with a great report.

And so what we see in Acts 13 is the continuation of that.

And it says, we can read it there.

We'll actually start, why not, at the end of 12.

The way they cut it off on this one is funky, but you can see 12.25.

It says,

When Barnabas and Paul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.

Now, in the church at Antioch, there were prophets and teachers.

Barnabas, Simeon, called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manan, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul.

And while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,

Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

And so after they fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

And so we see the church in Antioch, right?

There's kind of these five men who are named as sort of their prophets and teachers.

So the leaders that are there, there's five of them.

They're all from various different backgrounds.

That's a whole other sermon or talk.

But what we want to look at is what they do when it says that God called them to set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work that I have, right?

God called them to send Paul and Barnabas.

And Paul and Barnabas, obviously, we know who Paul is and we know what he would go on to do.

Earlier in Acts, it talks about Barnabas and tells us a little bit about him.

And he's framed with some really high praise.

He sells a farm in Cyprus to give to the church.

And what did it say?

Barnabas.

What did I do?

I can't find the...

Indephor, yeah.

Yes.

Which means son of encouragement.

And he sold the field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet, right?

Barnabas, right?

Son of encouragement, right?

What an amazing thing to be called.

If that...

Not only, you know, they go, he's an encouraging guy.

They actually give you a nickname to be son of encouragement.

It's pretty good, right?

And so the point that I'm trying to make here is that Paul and Barnabas are two of the best leaders at this church.

Two of the ones that they look at and they say, these guys are the best, right?

Jerusalem, they are sending Barnabas around to go check, right?

So they trust him.

And so when God calls Paul and Barnabas, there would have been a understood reaction that the church says, not those guys.

They're some of our favorites.

They're some of our best guys.

And so what we see them do, though, is that they start by fasting and praying to consider God's call and not what their own wishes would be, right?

They look at it and they say, you know what?

We love Paul.

We love Barnabas.

We wish they would stay with us.

But God, if you're calling them to something else, it's your decision, not ours.

And so they fast and they pray and they say, God, is this what you're doing?

And when God confirms it, it moves them to the next thing, which is they lay their hands on them, commissioning them and send them out and say, go and do what God is calling you to do.

Right?

So we see these two things and it shows us that being kingdom minded necessarily means sending our best out.

There's no way around it.

The Great Commission we talked about last week says, go and make disciples.

Well, what do we know about discipleship?

What is discipleship?

Well, it arguably is leadership development.

Right?

You're growing someone to know and love Jesus such that they can then become a disciple maker themselves, leading others to know and love Jesus.

Right?

And so the necessary end of that, if you play that forward, is there's not enough leadership seats at any one church for all of the people to be involved in.

Right?

So they've got to go somewhere else.

There's no way to keep them all in one place.

And God, that in his intention, this is his design, is that the church grows new disciples.

They grow them up into leaders and then they get sent out into the world to do it again.

Right?

This is how the church grew from that 120 number to being all over the known world.

And so there's three things that I would say that we have to do in order for this to become true.

So that one, we have to look at our members and look at each other.

And I would say, you know, this group, the group that gathers on Sunday night.

Right?

A lot of us are the ones who are effectively leading here.

And so we have to look at those around us.

We have to challenge our fellow members to grow into leaders.

Right?

To look and understand the scripture better.

To live it out more fully.

To lean in and become leaders in the church.

And then we have to empower those members to have access to leadership capacity.

Right?

So we have to give people things to do and little ministries to help guide.

And small groups to lead and those things.

And so they can flex those muscles and figure out how it goes.

And then we have to then be courageous enough to send them out.

Right?

Once they've become key members of this body, we have to then be able to say,

Okay, God, do what you will and send them.

Right?

And so this is the core part of how the church is built.

And so if we're going to be the church that God has called us to be,

we have to understand that this is our task and this is the necessary consequence of that task.

Is that some of the people that we love and that we have grown to enjoy are not going to be with us anymore.

Because God is going to use them in an even greater way to do that again in some other place.

And so success in church looks like disciples growing up and leaving.

Right?

Like if we wrap our heads around that, that success in church means that most of us are going to be somewhere else at some point in time.

Because God is using us in doing that.

Right?

If we're all still sitting here 10, 20, 30 years from now, we've done something a little bit wrong.

Right?

That's the truth.

And it's like we've got someone, this has to look different.

Because we've got to have gone and done something else.

So that's point one.

Right?

We've got to look at kingdom-minded means sending our best.

So before we move on to point two, I want you to discuss quickly,

what are some implications for us as a church in light of this truth?

Right?

If success looks like disciples going out, if we are called to make disciples and to give them opportunities to lead,

if it means sending our best, what does that mean for us as a church?

A couple of minutes to talk about that amongst yourselves.

All right.

What are some of those implications?

What are some of the things you talked about?

What does it mean for West Kilburn if this is true?

You've got to be like Jesus.

In what way?

If you want to go out, you've got to be able to hear the difference between what the flesh is saying,

the enemy might throw at you

even more than any people might throw at you

and then what the Holy Spirit's telling you to do in this situation

so Jesus said I do as I hear my father

do as I hear my father

so you have to be connected

with Jesus

with God and the same way Jesus is

yeah so

it leads into the discipleship

to growing in knowledge and faith

and trust in Jesus

and if we are doing that

and we're encouraging others to do that

then we'll have

a good working knowledge of what he's up to

what else

it might have a commitment

to praying and fasting

and leaning on the Lord

but it's not just

it's not just a mathematical

process

we've got five years at 17

it's a

a fruitful engagement

with the Lord

yeah it's not

it's not just

you know

spray

send people out

kind of

indiscriminately

but there is a

prayerful

and a

thoughtful

intentionale

way of doing that

anything else

no

one thing

we thought

do you have one

Lola

that's right

yeah

absolutely

one thing I thought of

no absolutely

that it's not just global

that it's

could be local

could be

anything in between

right

could be down the street

and anything all the way to

Kazakhstan

one thing I was thinking about

if

if

if we

believe our

servantly led

kind of every member

ministry

value

and we lean into

that

that means

all of us

are prepared

and God could call

any one of us

to do something

and move us

to another place

and so

while

we see

Paul and Barnabas

were ones called out

at this moment

we know

from history

that many others

from the church

in Antioch

were called

to go different places

at different times

and so

these things

work together

right

we're

growing

the church

not just for our own good

but for the kingdom good

great

so let's look back again

at

this church

in Acts

so

after they had fasted

and prayed

they placed their hands on them

and they sent them off

and then the two of them

sent on their way

by the Holy Spirit

they went

to Cyprus

and then after they had been

in Cyprus for a while

they

left there

and went

from Paphos

up to

Perga

and Pamphylia

and then ended up

in a place called

Antioch also

but in a different area

of the world

called Pisidia

which is

kind of like

more western side

of Turkey

more central Turkey

whereas Antioch

is very eastern

side of Turkey

anyway

and so then

they went from

Pisidian Antioch

to Iconium

and in Lystra

and Derbe

so I'm moving

really quickly

this is

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14

and then they end up

back in

the city of Antioch

later on

Acts 14

23

let me read that one

so if you can find that

that's at the bottom

corner of 1109

it said

Paul and Barnabas

appointed elders

for them

in each church

and with prayer

and fasting

committed them

to the Lord

in whom

they had put

their trust

so Paul and Barnabas

go around

not just

preaching the gospel

not just

you know

standing in

synagogues

or what were

synagogues

and preaching the gospel

not just standing

on the

you know

the Hyde Park

corners of the world

preaching the gospel

but they're forming

little churches

and not only are they

forming churches

they're putting

leaders in charge

of these churches

so that they can

carry on

once they leave

and so

the second thing

in addition to this

I said

kingdom minded

means

praying for

supporting

and actively

revitalizing

or planting churches

the great commission

as we talked about

earlier

it continues

it says

go and make disciples

baptizing them

and discipling them

but

where

in Judea

and Samaria

and to the ends

of the earth

right

so

the idea is that

as you said

Lola

like locally

we have a call

to the kingdom

nationally

we have a call

to the kingdom

and internationally

we have a call

to the kingdom

there's

the church

is a thing

that's much bigger

than

our little piece

of the world

it's

no less than

our little piece

of the world

but it is

not just this

it's wide

and

in God's

way of doing

he connects

these things

in ways

that we could

never imagine

or predict

we were just

talking about

what's her name

in Serbia

Allison

right

so

church member

from here

living in

eastern Europe

doing the work

of the ministry

right

there's

countless

moments like that

and it's like

well what's the

connection

to that place

or this place

well God

is the connection

right

the gospel

is the connection

and so he moves

us in that way

and particularly

when we look at

local

kingdom mindedness

in some ways

globally

it's easier

to think

about how

we can think

like kingdomly

about

the church

across the world

but when you think

about the church

across the street

it's very easy

to become

like an us

versus them

to think

that their growth

necessarily means

our diminishing

or that

you know

our growth

might mean

their struggle

right

and so you get

this kind of

zero-sum

mentality

that can

come from

that

and so

it's not

right

it's not

an us versus

them

it's not

a zero-sum

game

if you

indulge me

to Corinthians

Paul

is talking

to the church

in Corinth

and he's

encouraging

them

to

support

one another

in the

verse 1

of chapter 8

this is on 1163

he says

and now

brothers and

sisters

I want you

to know

about the

grace

that God

has given

the Macedonian

churches

this

I think

Philippi

is one of

these

that he's

speaking of

in the midst

of their

severe trial

their

overflowing

joy

even in

their extreme

poverty

welled up

in rich

generosity

right

they gave

as much

as they

were able

and even

beyond

their ability

entirely

on their

own

right

so you

see this

dynamic

of churches

supporting

one another

in different

areas

but just

in general

that you've

got

churches

looking to

one another

saying

you know

what

like

your growth

your benefit

is ours

because we're

part of the

same kingdom

we're part

of the

same thing

and

so you've

got that

supporting one

another

if you flip

to chapter

nine

verses

six

to

fifteen

let me

read that

briefly

Paul again

he's saying

remember this

whoever sows

sparingly

will also

reap

sparingly

and whoever

sows

generously

will also

reap

generously

each of you

should give

what you

have decided

in your

heart to

give

not reluctantly

or under

compulsion

for God

loves a

cheerful

giver

and God

is able

to bless

you

abundantly

so that

in all

things

at all

times

having all

that you

need

you will

abound

in every

good work

as it is

written

they have

freely

scattered

their

gifts

to the

poor

their

righteousness

endures

forever

and now

he who

supplies

seed

to the

sower

and bread

for food

will also

supply

and increase

your store

of seed

and will

enlarge

the harvest

of your

righteousness

you will

be enriched

in every

way

so that

you can

be

generous

on every

occasion

and through

us

your generosity

will result

in the

thanksgiving

of God

I'll keep

going

this service

that you

perform

is not only

supplying the

needs of the

Lord's people

but it's also

overflowing in

many expressions

of thanks to

God

because of the

service by which

you have proved

yourselves

others will

praise God

for the

obedience

that accompanies

your confession

of the gospel

of Christ

and for your

generosity

in sharing

with them

and with

everyone else

and in their

prayers for you

their hearts

will go out

to you

because of the

surpassing grace

God has given

you

thanks be to

God for his

indescribable

gift

right we've

read that a

thousand times

I'm sure

and we think

about it in

terms of our

personal generosity

particularly with

our financial

resources

but if we think

about it in

the sense that

Paul is talking

about churches

supporting one

another

and if you

think about it

in all the

ways of being

generous

in sending

of our

all of our

resources

our money

our time

our people

right that

kingdom mindedness

means we are

cheerfully giving

to the kingdom

in a variety

of ways

and we are

what this

promises is

that we will

be blessed

when we do

give generously

and that

it's not

us who supply

the seed

but it's he

who supplies

the seed

and he will

increase the

store of seed

right so if you

think about that

as an individual

who you're like

oh man it would

hurt to get rid

of to leave

to have that

one go

that God

supplies the

seed and he

will fill the

storehouse

and so we

we trust him

to continue

to fill the

storehouse

of people

of resource

right if we

are giving to

the kingdom

if we are

putting ourselves

out there

and risking

for his

glory

he will

reward that

and we

will not be

in need

so gospel

ministry

kingdom

mindedness

it's praying

for supporting

and actively

revitalizing

and planting

churches

both here

and afield

and this is

what we've

said we look

at and we

say God

you've called

us to look

and be

kingdom minded

in this way

so before we

end like we

did the first

time what are

some implications

for us as a

church to

being generous

and praying

and thinking

and supporting

and even

potentially

participating in

the revitalization

or planting

of churches

locally

nationally

and internationally

a couple of

minutes to talk

about that

nice one

what are some

of the things

that it means

for us

if we're

going to be

this sort

of kingdom

minded

church

sacrificial

in what way

just in

general

yeah

yeah

no it's good

yeah being

sacrificial

just kind of

thinking about

that whether

that's resources

or people

and understanding

that trusting

that God

will sustain

in any case

what else

does it mean

for us

to live

this way

to be this

way as a

church

yeah

yeah

particularly

yeah the

global

mindedness

is to

think

how do I

wrap

wrap my

head around

it

but it's

yeah

having a

few

or hopefully

a lot

of partners

and people

that we

know and

know us

in some

way

and there's

a relationship

formed

such that

you know

you see

you know

where Paul

is sending

a letter

and receiving

letters from

these churches

right it's

that sort

of relationship

obviously we

don't have

to do

letters anymore

but you

know that

we could

keep up

with and

know what's

going on

with partners

across the

world wherever

we have

partners such

that we

hear from

them and we

understand what's

going on we

have concrete

things to pray

for we know

what their needs

are such that

then we can

we can go

right and we

can send

people like

Clifford to

go preach

in other

places right

so that's

really good and

we talked about

open doors as

well knowing

and having

some a few

things like we

know there's

people across

the world that

are persecuted

for their

faith but

having a few

stories and a

few reminders

every so

often helps

us keep

those things

front of mind

enough to

pray and to

consider what

God might want

us to do

in that

you know

he might want

us to just

pray he

definitely wants

us to pray

but he might

want us to

do more than

that and if

we're not

praying and

we're not

reminded we'll

not lean into

that so yes

making it

concrete what

else anything

else

doesn't

because God is building the church

to make sure we're not tearing it down

in a sense

because if you have a huge influence

of people for example

that's money and all of that

we can sometimes write them that way

it feels like everything's so good

we have a history of these people

when things are good we mess it up

how do you protect yourself

I think it's by being connected

so you are always

facing transgressions

in a sense

because if someone else they connected to

is going through that

love will tell you that you are also suffering

and then might practically

create you opportunities

that contribute and support

like Nick was saying

for example if we have

so that would be

something that could help

money or leaders

yeah that's good

being aware of those things

even if it's not our struggle

because we're connected

we feel those struggles

and can maintain

a groundedness

you know

obviously

there won't be a moment

where we don't have our own struggles

but

it helps to be aware of them as well

anything else

before I pray

we close

I think it's

I probably didn't bring anything

that you didn't know

and that's not really the point

but to remind us of

of what God is doing

we're a small part of it

and we're thankful for it

but if we

we make it about us

and not about

the kingdom

God's kingdom

then we're

we're going to miss out

and

so we need to

to keep this in mind

so

the kingdom

kingdom minded means

sending our best

and kingdom minded means

thinking

praying

supporting

and planting churches

around the area

across the country

wherever they're needed

right

around the world

supporting those

who are doing it

so

shall we pray

let's do it

father we

come to you

and

we thank you for

being

the king

the king of

your world

and that

regardless of what we

might see

with the blinders

and the

the things that

keep us from seeing

what you're doing

God you are at work

in the world

bringing people

to yourself

Lord we

we trust

in your promise

that

that your church

will thrive

and even the gates

of hell

will not prevail

against it

Lord

it's your church

and it's

much bigger

than us

and

we want to

keep that

mindset

to understand

that it's yours

and that

it's not us

it's not ours

and that

like

the Corinthians

and the Philippians

who are

supporting one

another

Lord

would we be

supportive

would we send

our best

would we

look at your

kingdom

and

participate

in it

and to trust

you with it

and not

hold things

you know

grasp them

for our own

purposes

even if

they're people

we love

dearly

Lord

would we

send them

for your

glory

and so we

pray

make us

these people

help us

to build

leaders

that we

can send

help us

to join

with you

and what

you're doing

in our

city

and in our

world

we pray

in Jesus

name

amen

amen