Sermon
28th Sept 2025: Walking In God's Intent
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Welcome to the podcast of the White Church in Adelaide, South
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Australia. Lord, you are great, You are
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wonderful. Lord, we thank you, God for this
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opportunity to be together. We thank you, Lord, that we are
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the church, we are your body, we are your sons and daughters.
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Lord, we are your family. And that fills us with
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excitement and joy this morning to know that we belong to you,
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Lord, a good, good Father. You're so amazing, Lord.
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Thank you for who you are. Thank you for all you're doing.
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Thank you for all that you'll continue to do this morning.
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In this moment. Lord, we just want to honor you.
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Praise you, bless your mighty name, Jesus name, Amen.
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Excellent. Well, I am, I'm excited to be
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here this morning and I know that some of you are as well.
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I'm looking at your faces. We're excited to be here, right?
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Today's a good day. I can see the I can see the joy
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in your Eliza. It's not because your shirt says
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joy. I can see it there.
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It's amazing. Now I just want to open up to
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you guys. We started in prayer this
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morning and we said that we come together and all of us has a
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word and has a song and has something to share.
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And I love that we're, we're growing in these things.
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We're going to continue to push into that and come ready and
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prepared. But I just want to ask you guys
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here, has anyone got anything they'd like to share with us as
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a church this morning? It's OK if we don't.
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There will be more opportunities.
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Amen. Like I, I, I want to, I want you
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guys to know that when, when I'm sharing the word of God and when
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we're, when we're preaching the word that we want to be a
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church, that, you know, Jesus was interrupted a lot.
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If you see that in Scripture, right?
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And I think that we got to be open as leaders and, and in the
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church to be interrupted as music leaders, whatever.
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We got to be open to be interrupted.
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If it's the Lord and something's burning on your heart and it's,
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it's in line with what we're sharing and you feel it's the
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Lord, come and share it. Just, I don't know, put your
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hand up, make us aware. We want to be open to what the
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Spirit of God is saying. It's more important that the
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Spirit of God would lead us and speak to us.
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Then I just stand here and share with you all the things that I
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feel God's saying because we are the church.
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Amen. Yeah.
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We're just leave that at that. But yeah, I just want to welcome
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you guys to do that. Excellent.
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Come, please. That'll give me time to work out
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what's going with this. Morning on Friday night, we went
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to Daniel and Bianca's home. And I get excited, Daniel and
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Chantal, sorry. And I get excited because I get
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to meet you. And it's not only that, it's
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because I'm learning how to speak to you because of who you
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are and I get to share with everyone else, but also to bring
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you in as well so that you're not left out.
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And so that excites me. And it's exciting for us to be
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able to enjoy each other because we're unique.
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And what God has put on my heart for these since Friday night is,
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do you know your authority in Christ?
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Do you know who you are in Christ?
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Really. Because our uniqueness makes us
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so powerful and so different that God will use it and He will
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use us and use that to be able to speak to the ones out there
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that need it more than we do in here.
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But to be able to come in and enjoy each other's company and
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be able to encourage each other. And then we go back out there,
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you know, and it's out there where the harvest is that God
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needs us the most. But when we come here, we need
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each other to encourage each other to be able to keep going
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out there because that's where we live now.
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The understanding of we are in this world, but we don't belong
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to it comes into play because we do come into this world, but
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that doesn't mean we belong to it.
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We belong to a heavenly realm and a heavenly place that God
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will give us the words, the encouragement, and the guidance
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to be able to live in this world.
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And so that's my encouragement to all of you is is know who you
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are in Christ. Know who you are and carry it.
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And he will always do something magnificent just because of
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what's so ugly out there. We can be a light in that
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ugliness, and so shine your light.
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Amazing. Thank you.
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Thank you. We're going to help each other
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to know who we are. Right.
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It's so good. That's very, very.
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Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, it's very much in line
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with what we're talking about this morning, which is great.
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So we've seen a lot of that this morning, which is good.
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So love that. All right.
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We, we had an amazing time last week with Justin brought a word
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to us talking about, you know, what if we caught what it was
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that God's wanting to do because we need to like, if we don't
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catch what God's wanting to do, then what are we doing, right?
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We're just doing our own thing, right?
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So we need to catch what God's wanting to do and we partner
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with God. And so that's really exciting.
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This is the season that we're in as a church to really push in
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and hear what it is that God's wanting to do, what he's wanting
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us to be and where he's wanting to lead us, you know, as
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individuals. What Lord, like, what do you
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want me to be? Who do you want me to be?
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How do you want me to be like you?
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How do you want me to represent you?
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And there's such an adventure in God.
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I thought we didn't talk about this a lot, but like what an
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adventure it is to be in, in Christ and to serve him like the
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greatest adventure that you could ever go on.
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It's such an exciting thing to to know the God of the universe
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and to like seek him and find him and be led by him.
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That is the greatest adventure we could ever go on.
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And we get to go on that adventure together.
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It's like people don't do well on their own, right?
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We do well when we're together. And this is, you know, funnily
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enough, this is the way that God structured things to be right,
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because he knows what he's doing.
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And so, you know, we're on this adventure, you know, the, the
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NCMY team. I just want to speak about this
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for just a moment. You know, when we're at the when
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we're at the, I think it was the eldest time last year, You know,
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Ty just spoke about what this team is and, and he simplified
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it in, in these terms. He said that we're, we're an, a
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trans local team of the fivefold gifts given to the church with
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an Apostolic and prophetic heart.
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She's laughing because she's laughing because Ty singled me
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out after he just said it and I couldn't say it again.
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And then I wrote it down. Then he singled me out again and
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I still couldn't say it. So so he gave me another
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opportunity. Then I finally got it out.
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So anyway, here we are. So that's so cool because you
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know what, someone came up to me afterwards and said you're never
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going to forget that, are you? And I'm like, probably not, but
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it's true and it's not. That's not just for the NCMI
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team guys. That's the heart of the church.
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You know, that's the heart for us as a church having an
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Apostolic prophetic heart to go, you know, so an apostle is, is
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simply, you know, there's a, there's a gift of an apostle,
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there's an office of the apostle.
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But apostle just means it's the sent one, the one that's sent.
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So we, we need to have a heart to be sent, a heart to go.
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And the other side is a prophetic heart, you know, in a
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very simple, in my very simple way of understanding what
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prophecy is, It's hearing what God's saying and then telling
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someone, right? You know, So yeah, that's my
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simple understanding. And that's the heart that we
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need to have. We need to have a heart that's
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willing to go to be sent with a prophetic heart, one that's can
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hear God and can share wherever we find ourselves what God is
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saying. And so this is the the vision
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for us as a church. You know, God wants to do
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amazing things with the way church.
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I'm so hopeful that of the things that we're going to see
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God do in and through us as a people here, we're going to be
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successful in God's economy. We're going to see God do what
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God wants to do in US and through us.
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We're going to see people reached with the gospel.
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We're going to see people saved. We're going to see people whose
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needs looked after. We're going to see a people in
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our midst, us included, that are going to grow.
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That are going to hear what God's saying.
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That we're going to even as mum said, that we're going to be
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refined. That God's going to burn the
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chaff off, you know, and that we're going to stand here in a
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year's time different to how we stand here today because God is
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working in US and through us. God's will is always for things
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to grow. I was, we were reminded of this
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a couple of weeks ago. It's all through his Word.
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God's will is always for things to grow.
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You, you could witness that with your own eyes.
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Just have a look outside, have a look in the garden.
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God's will is for things to always grow.
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Babies grow, people grow, they grow.
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God's intention is for growth. That applies to us the way
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church. God's intention is for us to
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grow not only in ourselves and in becoming like more Christ
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like and being able to represent him better, but that God would
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add to us. Growth is numerical in the
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Scriptures as well. We should be expectant, and
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we're hopeful and we are, that God will add to this church.
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He will. He is.
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And as leaders, you know, we're committed to these, these
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truths. We're committed to what the word
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says about growth. We're committed to what the word
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says about having a, a prophetic and Apostolic heart.
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We're committed to these things. But I want to ask you as, as
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Saints in this room, are we committed to those things?
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Are we committed to the word of God that says yes, when when
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things are healthy, there's growth?
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Are we committed to know that the Holy Spirit wants to do a
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work in and through us? Like if we ask each other what,
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what work is the Holy Spirit doing in and through you?
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We should have an answer for that at any given time.
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What's the Lord doing in your life?
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You know, think about that. That's a question that we should
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be asking God. That's a that's a question that
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we should be hearing the answer to.
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I want to know what it is that God's wanting to work on me.
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And I believe that we are committed to these things.
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I believe that we do want to grow, that we do want to become
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like Him. Amen.
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But you know, us as leaders, just getting back to the leaders
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side of this, that we're committed to hearing God and
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doing the will of God. Are you guys submitted to your
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leaders? I know that you are like, I'm
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not saying you guys need to submit.
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I'm just saying that as a body, as a church, we have to be
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submitted to our leaders. And I say that because, you
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know, we're going to, we're going to have conversations.
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Leaders are going to have conversations with science
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because they're leading them. And we're going to have to talk
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about some hard stuff. We're going to have to unearth
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some hard truths. And if you're not committed, you
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know, to us as, as your leaders, you're not going to want to hear
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that. This is why it's important that
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you have to be sorry, submitted to, to leadership, because you
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have to trust that leaders will come with the word of God and,
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and, and challenge you on things.
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And you have to be willing to hear.
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And you know, we have to be submitted to you guys.
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We have to lay down our lives to serve you guys to, to, to go and
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find out what God is saying to spend time in prayer for you
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guys. You guys should be doing that
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for us as well. But we need to as leaders, we
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spend time praying and asking God, what are the things that
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these people need? And so when we come and we, we
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have these conversations with you guys, it's not just
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flipping, it's not just like, oh, how you doing and then try
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and speak the word of God. It's prayerful.
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We're asking God, Lord, how can we serve these people?
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How can we help these people to grow?
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How can we help get to the deep roots and the things that are
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holding us, holding the people back so that we can speak the
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gospel into it, so that we can apply the gospel into our into
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our lives. It's the applying of the gospel
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that brings freedom. And so, you know, there's a
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there's the big visions for the church that, you know, the
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things that we're about and, and the bigness of being a body
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that's worldwide and all of these things.
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But the steps to be a part of the church and to be a part of
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the, the bigger vision. It's daily, it's a lifestyle for
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us. It's like consistent living in
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the Lord that leads us to the bigger picture.
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We're never going to get where God's leading us to go without
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consistent living, without daily walking, without the steps that
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lead to the to the place, to the destination.
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We need a godly rhythm for our lives.
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And So what do I mean about these little steps?
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It's like I thought about this, you know, the global equip,
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right? This is an example of this.
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This is grand vision for the for the global equip.
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It's like come from all of the corners of the earth and come
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and gather here and we'll be unified together and we will
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hear from from leaders the things that God's wanting to say
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to the to the church around the world.
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He got like we want to catch God's plan and purpose for the
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global church and it flows all the way through to the local
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church and to our lives. So that's the big vision.
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It's like, all right, guys, let's all come to South Africa
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and we go, OK, let's do it where we're in South Africa, you know,
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because if we all just go, all right, we're going to South
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Africa, we all jump on a plane, then what are we?
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Are we together yet? No, I'm over there.
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You're over there. We don't know where we are.
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So it's like we need a clearer vision now so that we end up in
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the same place, right? So we need further revelation.
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We need, we need, you know, we need the the we need to narrow
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it down a bit, right? Well, OK, What what city we're
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going to, we're all going to go to Johannesburg.
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OK, great. Let's all go to Johannesburg.
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We're not quite there yet, are we?
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What suburb? What street, what number do you
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see? Like it?
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It just gets more detailed. And it's the same with our
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lives. It's the same for us as a
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church. It's like we have a, we have a
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broad vision of what God's wanting to do in US and through
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us. And then it's like, then we get
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the more specific leadings and guiding the daily steps in our
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lives so that we can reach the destination.
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The destination doesn't change. It's we've got the vision, we've
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got what God wants to do. And now it's just like working
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out, OK, you know, because we're all coming from different
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places, right? Think about that.
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Like I, if I jump on a certain plane and go there, other people
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have to go on a different plane to get there.
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So it looks unique. Now, you know, my personal walk
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to get to God's destination is different from your personal
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walk to get to God's destination.
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But we have to just be hearing clearly and being obedient and
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saying, yes, Lord and taking the steps in obedience.
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And again, it's the same way for us as a local church, for the
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way church is the same, same for us.
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We can have a big understanding of what God's wanting to do.
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But now it's like, all right, let's break it down and talk
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about our lives. Let's talk about how we live.
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Let's talk about how we apply God's truths to our lives in a
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daily step by step manner. That's what we do from here.
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We bring things down, we simplify things, we try to help
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us to catch the truths for today and for tomorrow and and you
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know, for our lives. I enjoyed Justin's message last
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week and I love that, you know, we're talking about the coming
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weeks, hearing from God and, and catching what it is.
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These are catching the specifics for the season that God has us
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in. This is what we should be
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hopeful for. This is what we need to be
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praying about. This is why we're going.
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We want to catch the specifics for us, not only just for our
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lives, but for the local church, for the church in this city, how
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we connect to the the churches around the world, all of these
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things. We want to catch some specifics
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and put some things in place. I love Justin Eva's list of ES.
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I love how Justin preaches on a whole different way to how my
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brain works and it's so good because like, we need that,
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right? What Justin brings in the way
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that he teaches and the way that he shares is so different to me.
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This church needs it, right? It's wonderful.
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But you know, some of these, the Justin Eva's ease were
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excitement and encouragement expanded, emboldened, equipped,
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envisioned expedient. I love the expedient.
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The Expedient 1 is the one that stuck with me because I want to
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see things happen now. It's just like I shouldn't
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ignore the other ones, but you know, like I'm, I'm excited for
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for things to move, you know, and I and I hope I'm catching
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God in that, that that's something that he wants to do in
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US and through US. I would love to see that.
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And I believe it is. Yeah.
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And so let me just remind you of the scripture that Justin shared
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with with us from Ephesians 310 says his intent was that now and
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he highlighted the now because this wasn't just written to
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them. This is written to us.
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This is the now. His intent was that now through
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the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to
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the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.
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This is a big vision statement. And again, the vision is big,
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but the footsteps are small. Something that you know, the
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things that God wants to, you know, the manifold wisdom that
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God wants to be revealed in and through his church in us as
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individuals is just him. It's who he is.
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It's his wisdom, it's his goodness, the goodness of God.
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It's his power. You know, we spoke about the
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laws have shared. It's his authority that we stand
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in. This needs to be demonstrated
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through the church. It's God's heart for people.
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It's God's ways in and through the church.
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This is like what we need to be expressing and showing and
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revealing and manifesting that the world would know who God is.
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And it's interesting when you think about that, it's not, it's
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actually easier than you think when you just start having
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conversations with people and just bringing in the truth.
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Just bring the truth in, bring who God is when someone's
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struggling and and stuff like that.
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You say, mate. You know, you know that God's
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intent was never for you to be struggling.
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Just this is just as an example. It's just like, just bring God
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in, bring the gospel in, bring the truth in, reveal Christ,
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reveal God in, in everywhere you go, wherever you find yourself,
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Reveal the manifold wisdom of God everywhere you go.
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Just tell people the truth of the word.
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Tell people who he is. Tell people what he's done.
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Bear witness of his goodness. Share your testimony.
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Don't hold it to yourself. Tell someone, especially when
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someone asks. When someone asks, that is it.
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That's like the green light. That's that's just like, all
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right, here we go. If someone's asking me now,
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you're going to cop it. Do you know what I mean?
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I'm going to tell you now like you asked.
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And you can even say that I've said this to people.
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Well, you asked, right? That's a green light.
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Love, when people ask why do you go to church, take a seat, you
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know, I'm going to tell you. So this means something in and
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through all of us. None of us have excluded from
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this. All of us have a part to play in
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revealing who God is, the manifold wisdom of God.
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It's wonderful. This is ministry, Gods, this is
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ministry, but that is ministry going.
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This is like the, you know, we've heard this before.
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This is like half time. This is like when we come
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together and talk about what we're going to do when we leave
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here, right? This is half time.
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This is being equipped. This is the Saints being
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equipped for the for the ministry and the ministry.
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It happens in here, but it should be happening a whole lot
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more out there because we've just made it about this.
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That church is where ministry happens.
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Ministry happens wherever you are because the Holy Spirit
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lives in you and he wants for you to release him, his truth,
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his Spirit wherever you go. And so the church is like a
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training ground for us to, you know, trust to even share, like
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when we talk about us coming together as a priesthood of all
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believers and, and when we ask, hey, what's the Lord saying?
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What's the Lord saying? What's the Lord saying?
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This is like a training ground. If you could be bold to share
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what the Lord's saying here, you're being equipped to share
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what the Lord's saying out there.
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This is a training ground. It's like learning to walk.
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It's like babies need help to learn to walk.
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Young kids, they don't just do it on their own.
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They don't just get up and start walking.
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You know what you do? You hold their hands and you
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walk with them, you know, and then they get, then they get
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confident and you let them go for a bit and they're all you
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know. It's really cool to watch, but
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that's what we're doing here. We're taking each other by the
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hand and we're helping each other to become fruitful
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ministers in the church. And so once the kids learn to
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walk, it's like it's not over. You know, I think about your
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maturity in Christ. It never ends.
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Once you learn to walk, then what?
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Well, now you're going to want to run, right?
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And when kids start to run, they fall a lot.
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So they need to be picked up again, you know, Then they want
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to learn to jump. It's just like as we grow in the
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Lord, it's like you're always going to need the body around
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you to pick you up again, to dust you off, to send you back
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out. The Word of God is so powerful.
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He has knit His word in everything.
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You can see God's goodness in everything.
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So amazing. Once your eyes are open, you see
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it everywhere. You see God everywhere.
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This is why it's quite easy to share God because it's
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everywhere. And Jesus did this all the time.
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He shared things through physical things that were around
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him. Both physical things still
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existed at you, us. You could still use them to
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reveal Christ. Amen.
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So we're talking about, you know, the priest sort of
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believers. We're talking about carrying
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this thing together. We're talking about equipping
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each other to do this work together.
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And I just want to, we had such an amazing time on Friday night
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and I wanted to share around that.
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And Eliza already sort of touched on it a little, but it
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was such an amazing time. And so I just want to, I've
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asked, you know, just a couple of the guys that were here.
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I've asked Tony, do you want to come up or you want me to hand
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you the you want to stay there? OK, All right.
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So we're just going to share just something that we enjoyed
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on Friday night. So go for a bit.
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Eliza touched on it really because I enjoyed everyone's
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company, but I enjoyed getting to know this fella Brayden and
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you know, and his story and getting getting to know him
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because I used to be the real new person.
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And but that's what I found, you know, as much as you enjoy
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everyone's company and that it was just someone new and it was,
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you know, that's that's what I found uplifting other night.
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So. Good.
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Yeah. Thank you, man.
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Amen. We love you bro and thank you
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for being bold enough to share that I'm going to take it takes
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courage, man. Thank you man, I'll.
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Walk with you, come with me. So it's such a good night.
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And you know, one of the things that God really impressed upon
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me was the work he's done in Tony.
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You know, I think as as Christians have been around for
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a little while, we can we get tainted, we get tainted and you
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know what, what what the Lord's saying to me through seeing the
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freshness and the growth and the change and his just his spirit
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moving in you buddy. It's just it's just so
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encouraging and to meet you again.
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It's a little while since I've seen you, but it's great.
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Great to spend some time with you also, but what God quickened
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to me around seeing the freshness of the spirit of God
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on a man who's changing visibly because that's the question that
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we were discussing was when come that he comes up to you and Tony
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was saying this my friend saying to me what's going on what's
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happening? You know what you're changing
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and and I I was quick and that I had a time in my life where that
-
was really prominent as well where people could see the
-
change in me and I'm my my cry out to God is Lord that that you
-
would take me in you into a season where people would see
-
that change again, that I would be refreshed that we would all
-
be refreshed within the Lord and that change that that those
-
steps that we're taking towards him would continue to be
-
manifestly visible in the change that he's affecting enough.
-
Does that make sense? So God's doing great things and
-
my prayer is, Lord, let your Spirit be visible through us and
-
on us to the people who need to see you and to know you, thank
-
you, Lord, so. Good.
-
Thank you. Did you want to share?
-
I'll, I'll bring it to you. You look like you were a bit
-
handsful. Well, again, I think everyone
-
who was here for the pre prayer before we started caught this
-
anyway. But Dave just shared the
-
scripture out of Acts when they were waiting for the spirit to
-
come at Pentecost and how they were all together in one accord
-
and, and in the context of the of the evening.
-
I mean, as dad just said, there was a recurring theme of people
-
crying out for the freshness of God and, and that was why Dave
-
shared the scripture just of being in one place and of 1
-
accord. And I I guess my faith was
-
really just stirred for for seeing that actually out worked.
-
And then and then I guess it overflows into today when we
-
start talking about being woven together and just that real
-
being of 1 accord with each other and the faith to see the
-
fruit of what God can do in that space.
-
Yeah, and the power that comes when we're unified and together.
-
Amazing. So good.
-
And so, yeah, like I, I had such a great time, you know, it was
-
wonderful and it was cool because we made a plan to be
-
together. You know, it's a community
-
group. We're going to come together.
-
So that's like the first step. Let's be together, you know?
-
And then. But the cool thing was that
-
everyone that was there actively participated.
-
There was no one, you know? Hillary nodded off on the couch
-
for a bit, but she was tired. OK, so that's OK.
-
We'll we'll let that slide. Sorry, babe, but everyone was
-
actively participating and you felt it.
-
You're like, this is wonderful. You know, the Lord's here and
-
and we're his people. And it was just, it felt
-
wonderful. And we ate together.
-
We love eating together. You know, he's just eating
-
together is just one of the privileges we have.
-
You know, Dan LED well when he opened up the word, he's just,
-
it was as simple as just, hey, you know, I just felt this
-
scripture. I mean, he read it and then we
-
started talking and it just opened up this conversation with
-
us. We were, as Hillary said, we
-
were able just to share out of our own lives and their own
-
struggles and, and it was all entwined together.
-
It was just wonderful. Such a simple, simple thing, you
-
know, and we waited on him. Isn't that just such a simple
-
thing like that? We would come together and then
-
we would wait on him and just say, Lord, we're here because of
-
you. We know that you're here.
-
What do you want to do? You know, and when we share out
-
of that and it was just good, but that's that you.
-
I'm saying all this because, you know, that's what we should be
-
expecting every time that we're together.
-
You know, church has become a lot of things in a lot of places
-
and we've kind of lost the just to be together and to all
-
participate. It's become very much about a
-
stage mentality and that the only ones that would share with
-
those that have the stage and have the mic, you know, but we
-
can still, we can still actively participate even though, you
-
know, we have these things for a reason, right?
-
But we can still actively participate, no matter how big
-
we get when we come together in the morning.
-
And I would encourage us to come because we pray at 9:30 and the
-
purpose behind it is just to hear from the Lord and see what
-
it what it is that he was wanting to do today.
-
And so I'd encourage all of us to be here to do that.
-
But yeah, church can, church can look like that, where it's just
-
a family of believers coming together and playing their part
-
and contributing. You know, when I was, when I was
-
prepping for this message, you know, I said that.
-
I said that there was a there was a guy here.
-
This is what I wrote down in my notes.
-
I said there was a guy there and I could see that God was working
-
in him. Yeah, that's what I wrote down.
-
But then I had to change that because, you know, I, I don't
-
want to, I'm not going to single you out or anything.
-
You don't need to come up here. But we're dude, we are excited
-
that you're here. You've heard we were excited
-
that you were there. And the reason that I had to
-
change this is because Brayden gave his life to the Lord the
-
next day. That is a huge deal.
-
Thank you, Lord. Thank you Lord, you know, so so
-
it went from being there was a guy here that you could
-
literally see God working in to there was a there was a guy with
-
us that received Christ that was saved.
-
That is so exciting. We are so stoked, you know, and
-
I've got a scripture for you bro.
-
It says Luke 1517 says this. It says this is Jesus speaking.
-
He says, I say to you that likewise there will be more joy
-
in heaven over 1 Sinner who repents than over 99 that who do
-
not need repentance. Do you know what that means?
-
That means that when you said, Lord, I take you as my Lord and
-
Saviour, that heaven erupted and they praised for you.
-
And we do the same thing in this place, man.
-
We are so overjoyed that God has gripped your heart and that you
-
made it here because I know that it's difficult for you to be
-
here. But you're overcoming already,
-
man. And you're going to need to
-
because you know, we're going to have to overcome together.
-
But can we just lift our voice and just give it a big praise?
-
And we thank you, Lord, we thank you, Lord, thank you for Braden.
-
Lord, thank you for the work you're doing in him and through
-
him. Bless him, Lord, strengthen him.
-
Lord, we just pray your protection over him.
-
We pray that you would protect him.
-
We pray that you would reveal yourself to him.
-
We pray that you would be formed in him.
-
We pray that you would fill him with joy and with hope and with
-
peace and with strength, that you would make yourself known to
-
him and use him. Lord, I pray that you would use
-
him for your plans and your purpose in and through the
-
church. Lord, that the manifold wisdom
-
of God would be revealed in and through this Son in Jesus mighty
-
name, Amen. Amen.
-
What a wonderful thing, Thank you Lord, Thank you.
-
Lord. And so you know, I left that
-
meeting, you know, before I even knew about that.
-
I left that meeting just being excited.
-
I was pumped up. I was like, that was wonderful.
-
You know, we woke up the next day and Hillary and I are
-
talking. We're just going.
-
That was so nice, you know? And you know what?
-
We're feeling excited, encouraged, expanded,
-
emboldened, equipped, and envisioned expedient.
-
We saw God move in a in an instant.
-
Amen. So let's be expected that God's
-
going to continue to do in, in these things in and through
-
these coming weeks. This is a big week for us as a
-
church. There's a lot going on.
-
And so, you know, the other thing that I thought about last
-
on Friday night, I was just like, I would be excited to
-
invite someone to come along to that.
-
Like be excited. Like I'd, I'd be like, yeah,
-
you, you need to come to this, you know, not inviting out of
-
obligation, you know, not inviting because we should
-
invite people to church. We should invite people to
-
community because we should. That's what we're supposed to
-
do. Excited because God was there,
-
because we saw the Spirit of God move.
-
And that's what the world needs. That's what people need.
-
That's what your unfriend save, sorry, your unsaved neighbors
-
and friends and work colleagues, That's what they need.
-
We need to invite them along, you know.
-
And again, sometimes it's going to be easier for people to come
-
for a meal with with a small group of people than come into a
-
church context. And we've talked about this in
-
weeks gone by, this fruit. Now that means that God's on
-
this, right? Our our gathering together at
-
our men's group. There's fruit there, there's
-
people coming. We're sharing the word of God.
-
We're in a room and it's not just believers.
-
People are wanting to come and, and I'll leave those meetings.
-
Do you enjoy those meetings, Brandon?
-
Do you enjoy the men's groups? So good, so good.
-
You know, it's another one of those ones that you leave and I
-
know that you enjoy it too tiny. We leave and we were like, that
-
was one that was wonderful. God's with us.
-
You know, this is super encouraging for us guys.
-
So awesome. All right, so Jesus got people
-
gathered to Jesus through word of mouth, didn't they?
-
They just went and told people what it was that that Jesus was
-
doing. They they told him who he was
-
and they said you got to come and see this guy.
-
You got to come and see the things that Jesus does.
-
It's the same for us. When we get excited about what
-
God's doing. It's the same.
-
Come and see, Come and see what Jesus to come and see, you know,
-
there's an excitement. There's a word of mouth.
-
We grow through word of mouth predominantly.
-
That's how the church has grown. That's how the early church
-
grew. You got it.
-
Yeah, it's still growing that way now.
-
You know, we won't rely on other things now, but word of mouth is
-
where the power is. Do you know why?
-
Because like when I'm standing next to someone, you know what?
-
Someone's experience. Holy Spirit, It's true you.
-
When we're together, we experience God in a real way.
-
When we're on the phone, God can do amazing things.
-
Don't get me wrong, God can come and touch people through the
-
phone. But when we're together, the
-
Holy Spirit flows in US and through us.
-
It's like when you walk into a room.
-
Do you know who walks into the room?
-
God walks into the room. The Holy Spirit's here.
-
It's very cool. It's this is like the, this is
-
the adventure of being a son of God or a daughter of God.
-
This is the adventure knowing that when you show up God's
-
there and the authority of God, that Christ's authority has gone
-
with you. It's pretty cool.
-
And so this is the, the, you know, when we think about the
-
church like this, this is a healthy DNA for a church and
-
into the future. It's like if we can build
-
something that's healthy and strong, then when we plant out
-
of this place, you, you build upon out of the DNA that we have
-
here. Then, then, then you build, you
-
multiply somewhere else and you build a healthy church there.
-
That's what church planting is. That's what's happened here.
-
We've come out of another church.
-
We've been planted here. We've had to find our way for a
-
little while now. It's time to grow and with the
-
intent of planting into the future because we want to see
-
more churches where we can experience these amazing, fun
-
things that the presence of God in our midst.
-
We want for others to experience that over there where there's
-
not a church there or where there needs to be a a new
-
covenant church there. That's simply what church
-
planting is. And so in the coming weeks, I
-
loved Eliza's word last week. She said it's time.
-
It is time, it is time, time for what?
-
Time for us to get some clarity, time for us to to get the steps,
-
you know, where God's been showing us some cool stuff, but
-
we need some more clarity. We need to know, Lord, what is
-
it that you want us to do specifically in all of this?
-
That we could be successful that we could see your mighty hand
-
move. We want to hear the specifics
-
Lord give us ears to hear. Open our hearts up wide Lord.
-
So for those that are staying while we go.
-
I love this scripture. Obviously I shared this with
-
with you guys before it's one Samuel 3024.
-
This is David David and his men. He says for for who will healed
-
Sorry. Let me start again for who will
-
heal heed you in this matter. But as his part is, who goes
-
down to the battle? So shall his part be who stays
-
with the suppliers? They shall share alike.
-
That means that the men that grabbed their swords and their
-
weapons and went to fight share the inheritance with those that
-
had to stay. You know, when I was thinking
-
about this this week, do you think that there was work to be
-
done for those that stayed? They weren't just sitting there
-
just going, oh, we'll just wait till they get back and then
-
we'll just get on with it. They're looking after all of the
-
animals. They're looking after the kids.
-
And the, you know, there's they're, they're keeping the
-
house. There's work to be done.
-
And I say that to you guys because it's not like, you know,
-
we'll just send them away and wait till they get back.
-
There's work to be done here, you know, and, and Justin will
-
be here next week and I'm here this week.
-
So, you know, you're not left on your own completely.
-
But I say that because you guys are going to need each other
-
mostly out of looking after the the sheep, right?
-
You guys need to look after one another while we're gone.
-
You're going to need to make sure that you're OK.
-
Guys got to gather around this man.
-
Yeah. We've got to look after one
-
another. We've got to make sure that our
-
needs are met. You know, the early church took
-
care of the needs of each other. And that's going to be
-
prayerfully, but that's going to be more than prayerfully.
-
That's going to be picking up the phone and saying, how are
-
you doing? We spoke about Bianca last week.
-
Bianca's here with the family. And I know I love to hear the
-
stories that you guys are doing that.
-
But what about the rest of us? You know, because we need each
-
other. We need to just pick up the
-
phone. If you feel if you hear a name
-
or someone's on your heart, you just think about someone
-
throughout the next week or two, send them a text.
-
If you've got their number, flick them or give them a call.
-
Find out how they're doing. Just say, hey, I was just
-
thinking about you. Are you OK?
-
Is there anything you need? It's simple stuff.
-
Wonderful. So we need to be the church the
-
the, the the Bible church Acts 246.
-
So they continued daily with 1 accord in the temple and
-
breaking bread from house to house.
-
They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of
-
heart. They gathered together.
-
It's daily they were together. You know, I've heard push back
-
on this, you know, like when you start talking a little this way
-
and you just go, you know, the early church, they gathered
-
together daily. You've heard push back and
-
you're well, you know, that's the early church.
-
We don't need to be like the early church.
-
Are you sure? Because the early church
-
experienced the power of God. The early church saw 3000 people
-
saved in one day. I think we need to be like the
-
early church. I think that we need to take on
-
the example of the early church. So if they were gathering daily,
-
I think we need to make a way to be together as regularly as we
-
can. The other thing that the early
-
church did was they prayed together.
-
We pray together, We have a prayer meeting, we pray again,
-
we pray before the meeting. Very important.
-
Please come. Please come to the prayer
-
meeting if you can. I'd realize that some of us
-
can't make it. That's fine.
-
But what I do know is usually those that can't make it want to
-
be here and they're praying anyway.
-
Can I just say that Psalm 5 talks about prayer.
-
It says, I'm just going to read it to us here.
-
Psalm 5, verse one, it says, give ear to my words.
-
O Lord, consider my meditation. Give heed to my voice of my cry,
-
my King and my God, for to you I will pray.
-
My voice you shall hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning
-
I will direct it to you and I will look up.
-
We will pray. And then if you skip down to
-
verse 7, it says this. But As for me, I will come into
-
Your house in the multitude of Your mercy, in fear of You, I'll
-
worship towards Your holy temple.
-
Listen to this. Lead me, O Lord, in Your
-
righteousness. Because of my enemies, make Your
-
way straight before my face. This is prayer.
-
You know what this means? It means that when I pray to the
-
Lord, I lift up my voice and I speak to Him.
-
But you know what He does in return?
-
He leads me. He leads me in the paths of
-
righteousness. Prayer is not one sided.
-
Prayer is not just me spitting out all of my requests to God.
-
Prayer is me crying out to Him because I need Him and we need
-
Him. And God responds by hearing and
-
then leading us by His Holy Spirit.
-
Be expectant that when you do pray, Holy Spirit will lead you
-
and guide you. He does.
-
His word says that He does. We know He does.
-
Amen. All right, so we are and I just
-
getting back to the start, I'm just wrapping this up.
-
So we are an Apostolic prophetic people.
-
He shows the way that we go, the way the Church's name is is
-
significant for us. He shows us the way.
-
When he shows us the way, do you know what we do?
-
We go in obedience. Yeah, that's being sent.
-
That's Apostolic. That's going the way, Lord.
-
Show us the way, Lord, so that we can follow you, so that we
-
can go, so that we can do what you've called us to do.
-
He shows us the way to live. You know, this is the prophetic
-
side to this. He, he shows us not only where
-
to go, but he shows us how to go.
-
He shows us how to live. He again, prophetic is just like
-
hearing from God and then speaking, speaking it.
-
So we want to be a Apostolic prophetic hearted people,
-
priesthood of all believers. We read this this morning.
-
I'm going to read it for us again, a priesthood of all
-
believers. That just means that all of us
-
have a role to play in His church as a priest to the Lord.
-
The Old covenant had specific priests that would be in between
-
God and the people that they would come to the priest, and
-
the priest would. You know you're not in Christ.
-
A priesthood of all believers has direct access to God through
-
Christ. We are a priesthood.
-
That means that you don't need me to get to God, You don't need
-
me to go. Can you just pray for me that
-
God would, right? That means that you as a
-
believer, as a spirit filled believer, as a son of God, and
-
having received the cross, having received Jesus sacrifice,
-
forgiveness of sins, can walk boldly into the throne room of
-
God. That means that He is opening up
-
a way for you to come to him. It means that you can come and
-
ask, give him your, your requests and your needs.
-
That's a, that's a, that is a substantial truth of the gospel
-
that we could come to the Lord. So 1 Corinthians 1426, it says,
-
how is it then, brethren, whenever, whenever, today is a
-
whenever. Friday night was a whenever,
-
when I have friends around, you know, when, when Justin and
-
Bianca come for dinner, It's a whenever, whenever you're
-
together, whenever you come together, each of you has a
-
Psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an
-
interpretation. Let all things be done for
-
edification. All things whenever we're
-
together that we would be edified, strengthened, set on
-
the path that the Lord has for us.
-
Amen. So how are we going to respond
-
to that? Because any time that we share
-
the word of God, it's, it's if you, if you hear it and you go,
-
yeah, that's the Lord. He's speaking.
-
This is his word. Now we have to respond.
-
We have to respond to the Lord. And responding to the Lord is
-
very easy, again, because you've got access to the God, because
-
you can go into the holiest place where the Lord dwells, the
-
throne room of God. That means that responding
-
happens in here. We are the temple of God.
-
We are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
-
That means you don't have to look outwardly to respond to the
-
Lord. Respond comes in your heart.
-
It's as simple as saying, Lord, I hear you.
-
I want to respond to you. You can use your mouth, but you
-
can use your heart. So I'm just going to pray for us
-
and let's all respond. How about that?
-
Who wants to respond? We all need to respond.
-
Please, yeah, please. It's a verse that many of you
-
are familiar with because I've given it to some of you before,
-
but it's coming in to me this morning.
-
It's I grew up with as a young believer, and I spent a lot of
-
time in the Living Bible. And this is a verse from Psalm
-
32, verse 8. And in the Living Bible it says,
-
I would instruct you, says the Lord, and guide you along the
-
best pathway for your love. And then he says, and I would
-
advise you and watch your progress.
-
Be blessed. Add to that, we forget that He
-
loves our progress. He created us and when he sees
-
the faculties that he's put into us and the the gifting and the
-
other things, when we see us use that and move forward, he
-
rejoices. He sings over us, he dances over
-
us. Can he pray for us?
-
OK, Our great, wonderful, wonderful Father in heaven, our
-
Papa Father, the great God of the universe, the, the sovereign
-
God, the highest level of authority and and the deepest
-
well of resources that exist. We, we rejoice today that we
-
could come through the curtain that was torn.
-
They, the experts think it was 3 feet at least thick and it was
-
torn from top to bottom. So we come with boldness to you.
-
We thank you for the encouragement this morning from
-
your word. We thank you for the examples
-
that we have. Thank you for those 3 chapters
-
that that speak of. What do you do when you come
-
together? We thank you for what happened
-
on Friday night. I wasn't there, but I can
-
imagine. And so, Father, we pray that you
-
will help us to respond to the things we've heard, to respond
-
to what you are calling us to be, to respond not with fear,
-
but with confidence that if you made us and you sent us and
-
you've given us the incredible good news, then Lord, we pray
-
that you'll help us to be courageous enough and sensitive
-
enough not to go out of this door and justice think, Oh well,
-
I'm going to get on with life. No, but go out of this door
-
differently, expecting, aware of, of abiding in Jesus, of of
-
being in touch, synced, synced to you, Lord Jesus 100%.
-
So whatever you want to do, and you do it with us together, we
-
pray that in Jesus name for and we give you the glory and the
-
credit for what you're going to do in Jesus name, Amen.
-
Thank you guys. I just wanna thank you all for
-
contributing and this has been a wonderful time together, hasn't
-
it? Bless you guys.
-
Hey, have a wonderful. Day, Thank you for joining us
-
for today's message. For more information about The
-
Way Church, please visit [email protected] dot
-
AU. Have a blessed day.