Matt King - Sunday

Welcome to His Story, Our Story, a fresh podcast series

of interviews, testimonies, messages, and anecdotes where a range of

people from all walks of life share their journey as

they've traveled with Jesus. Here at Southland Church and Pasaden Adelaide,

our heart and mission is to pursue the Presence of

God through a Christ centered, Bible based, spirit filled church.

We disciple and equip people to make a positive difference

for the Kingdom of God and impact every area where

God places them. So sit back, grab a cup of

tea or coffee, unless, of course, you're driving where both

hands are needed on the wheel, and enjoy this episode.

We pray that you are blessed and encouraged as you

listen to His Story Our Story.

Folks, it's my absolute honor and privilege to introduce Pastor

Matt King to us. We'll be speaking today. Last night,

we had an amazing meeting here. The Presence of God

was here last night and.

We saw that.

He was so obvious in the way Matt spoke. You

could see and since the presence, we saw the Lord

working with some healings and not just physical. You could

see people were connecting.

With the Lord.

Matt loves the Lord. I've only just got to know him,

but he loves the Lord. You can see that. He

and his wife, Elizabeth and the three kids are now

in Sydney. They're about to start Bethel Sydney as a church,

and they have sacrificed much. I think some people think

when look at leadership and people like Matt, and you think, oh,

must be great on a pedestal, and life must be

great and whatever. No, I don't know if you remember

the words Jesus said, pick up your cross and follow.

That's not the most glamorous thing. And Matt's been doing

full time work while he's been getting ready in establishing

the church. He's been funding himself and yes he's got

the pre support. Elizabeth and the kids have come from Norway,

and Elizabeth Norwegian. She's given up her family and that

close contact because God has called them as a couple

to Australia. That there's pain in the offering. You've heard

me so that if you're going to walk with Christ,

there will be pain in the offering.

These guys love Jesus, they love these presents.

So I'm not going to say much more other than

that I know we are for an amazing blessing, and

so I'd just like to welcome past to man. Bless

your mate.

I got a good morning, good morning morning. It's lovely

to be in Adelaide.

I haven't been here in like fifteen years or something,

and it's.

So good to be back.

And I said to Gary and Sarah that I'm not

going to let it be fifteen years until I come

back again. It's been such a rich weekend and I

just am loving getting to know some the Southland church

people and volunteers and leaders.

I got to.

Spend some time with some of the younger leaders yesterday.

I know it's not all of them, but I got

to spend some time with some of the younger leaders

over breakfast yesterday, and honestly, I was just so moved

by the hunger and the intent for Jesus and for

his kingdom that was within those leaders the way from

the outset. There was no small talk, it was just

straight into it. You know, how do we see revival

in Adelaide and in Australia, And how do we establish

kingdom culture in a church, and how do we raise

up people and how do we see big people emerge?

Because We're not trying to build a big church, We're

trying to build big people. And so it was just

really cool just to see the hunger and the intent

and the zeal for Jesus in some of those young leaders.

And so I really honor those guys, and I also

just want to honor Gary and Sarah.

I am so encouraged and.

Filled with genuine significant hope for the future of Southland

Church because what I can see is going on inside

of them. They are just on a mission and it's

on earth as it is in heaven.

His Kingdom Come, His will be done.

It's revival and Adelaide, revival in Australia and revival through

His manifest presence.

And so when you.

Have leaders like that, you just know that you're on

the right course and going the right direction, and the

Lord will light the fire on that altar that exists

in their heart. So I just want to say I,

having been here with you as a church family and

spend some time with some of the leaders in particular,

I'm super encouraged for you guys as a church. I

really expect you to go into really significant places in

the Lord and I expect to be coming here to

an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the months and

years ahead.

So if that happens here, I'll be coming to.

Visit and just sitting back there, probably you know, with

my kids at some point in the years to come.

But I would love to love to genuinely love to

come back. And as I said to you earlier, Gary

and Sarah, I'd love to continue our relationship. I feel

like you guys are new friends, and I'm genuinely grateful

to God and genuinely encouraged and full of hope for

the future of this church I just was earlier. Oh

by the way, before I just jump into it, I'm

kind of a doer. I'm not a talker. I'm a doer.

So but it's nice for those of you that don't

know me, I should say hello and introduce myself. As

Gary mentioned, my name's born and raised in Canberra of

all places.

Don't hold that against me. And my wife is from Norway.

We've been married coming up on twelve years, and she's

a Norwegian Viking princess and she's a beautiful woman that

I met in Bethel's Supernatural School of Ministry in California.

So people say, how does an Australian and a Norwegian meet. Well,

we kind of met halfway in California. That's about the

only way it can happen. And next month I will

fly to Norway and there's a family wedding and it

will literally be about twenty six hours or something to

get there. So's we're about as far away from each

other each other's countries as you can get. But I

don't care. A woman of her virtue and beauty in

an is worth it all, and I honor her for

ye paying a price. As Gary said to be here.

She heard God speak and she said yes to being

in this nation for however long we're here.

So we live in Sydney. Three kids.

We have twins, which is awesome, double for our trouble.

So they keep me young and energetic. I always every day,

it's no problem for me to do ten thousand steps.

I don't even need to look at my watch. Have

I done ten thousand steps? No problem? I know I've

done ten thousand steps every day. The other day it

was like fifteen thousand steps, and I think all I

did was walk to the oval. So I think we're

wearing out our floorboards in our house because it's just

I just I'm moving all the time. I just don't

stop moving. And then I've got a three year old

just to add more fun to that. So we're too

blessed to be stressed. We're too anointed to be disappointed.

We're just full of joy and fatigue all at once.

And thank you Jesus. Not every blessing from God gives

you energy, but we are truly blessed.

And so.

We're just so thankful. And yeah, they send greetings. Hopefully

you'll get to meet them at some point in the future.

We're going to be planting Bethel Sydney, which is really exciting.

It's the first it's really kind of the first church

plant of Bethel outside of America, so that's really cool.

It was not just Elizabeth and I felt like we

heard the Lord. It was also a couple of people

on the senior leadership team of Bethel Church that felt

like the Lord spoke and said the next Bethel is

supposed to be in Australia.

And so yeah, we're not.

You know, we are under no illusions that we have

an answer and we're what Australia has.

Been looking for. It's none of that.

It is just simply we felt like the Lord said something,

gave us an assignment, and that was to plant in Sydney, Australia.

And so we're excited. The word of the Lord for

us is a dwelling place for the Lord. It's to

be a house of His presence. We are not looking

to be another big church or another megachurch or another denomination.

Our assignment is to establish a house of His presence,

a dwelling place for the Lord. I've been working with

this phrase a lot lately, which is what would it

look like if the church first existed to attract God

instead of people? Say it again, what would the church

look like if it first existed to attract God instead

of people? You see, sometimes I think we've focused so

much on the atmosphere, the lighting, the smoke machine, the coffee,

the I don't know, the fragrance of the building, and

we're so focused on is everyone having a great experience,

and we've neglected is the presence of Almighty God here?

Because that's what matters most.

And I will.

I tell you I'm going to be a leader that

I'm telling my team already. I'm warning them listen, guys,

I don't care who comes to church. All I care

about is did Jesus come to church? So that's all

I care about. I'm going to be I don't want

to know how many people we have. I'm not going

to count them. All I want to know is did

Jesus come to church today? And so if you can

have a I think I believe if we can have

a house like that, then it doesn't matter whether people.

Like my church or not.

The fact of the matter is is they'll come because

they hopefully they're coming to meet God.

And if they come and they.

Meet God, they'll probably want to stay, and they'll probably

want to be disciples, they probably want to be equipped,

they'll probably want to grow in evangelism. But it starts

with them coming I mean to face with God in

the room. So that's that's our target as a church.

So I already started preaching. I shouldn't do that.

I was just it was just meant to be an introduction,

and I just I just get into it just.

To warn you.

I can't see the clock up the back there, so

that's not my problem. Hey that I did not do that.

The clock is not there, so who knows. We could

just be here for four or five hours, so and

just don't blame me, okay, promise all right. I actually

before I warning, before I even get to my message,

I have a scripture which I just want to actually

prophesy from. So if you do have a Bible, just

go to Psalm eighty four. Psalm eighty four. And I

just I felt earlier just the Lord spoke to me,

just some words for Southland Church with one of the

greatest names of a church I know, p. Eighty four,

And just why you're turning there, Let's just pray, Holy Spirit.

We welcome you.

We just want to invite you to calm and inhabit

this meeting. Holy Spirit, we just say, there's there's nothing

there's no there's no other target, there's no other there's

no other goal here. There's there's no other mission other

than just to be here with you now. And so

we we just come like Mary of Bethany, and we

just sit at your feet and we want to we

want to receive from you. So Holy Spirit, would you

just come and inhabit this place. Would you just come

and take center in this place, take the center of

the meeting, take the focus of this meeting.

You are why we're here.

You're why we've come, And so Father, I ask for

your presence and your power. And Lord, as we look

at your word and talk about the things of the kingdom,

I pray that people would be transformed in this place.

I just declare that depressions lifting off this morning. I

declare that anxiety is lifting off this morning. I declare

that a sense of dryness is just lifting off this morning.

And Lord, I thank you that we can come and

feast here with you. Lord, I pray that you would

just lay a table.

Of blessings of the things of your kingdom. Would you

just come and lay a table of blessings and the

things of your kingdom, and give us grace to just

feast on you and your kingdom this morning.

I pray that in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen, how many of you would agree that we could

afford to laugh a little bit more in church?

Well, how's a good response. Amen.

I've discovered that I like to be in churches where

there's laughing. I've just figured that out. That was like

an epiphany I had some years ago. It's just a

lot more fun to be in a joy filled church

than a hyper serious church. So don't be afraid to

just laugh a little bit today. Let's I like a

joy filled church, Psalm eighty four, verse five. Let's just

read a couple of verses. Blessed is the man whose

strength is in you, whose heart is set on pilgrimage.

As they pass through the valley of bacha verse seven,

they make it a spring. The rain also covers it

with pools. They go from strength to strength. Each one

appears before God in Zion. Let's just stop there. Come

back to verse six. As they pass through the valley

of Backer. Backer can be literally translated weeping, so it

says it's basically saying, as they pass through the valley

of Weeping, they make it a spring.

The rain also covers it with pools.

Now, I want to say before I just speak what

I felt like the Lord showed me. I have no

idea what the recent history of Southland Church is, so

I just want to say, I don't know what kind

of season you guys have had lately in the last years.

I don't really know, to be quite honest with you,

but my sense was is that that as a church,

you are passing through and you are coming out of

the valley of Backer. Now the Backer is a type

of balsam plant that can survive in dry conditions. And

then it talks about how so the idea is there's

a passing through the valley of Backer. Now noted says

passing through, not staying, not remaining, not camping. As they

pass through the valley of Baka, they make it a spring.

My sense is that where there's perhaps been for some

of you, at least some of you, maybe not all

of you, but for maybe some of you, there's been

a sense of dryness in a recent season, there's been

a sense of dryness.

As I said a.

Moment ago, the backa is a type of balsam plant

that can survive in dry conditions. Maybe you can identify

with that idea of sort of surviving in dry conditions.

Perhaps you might identify with that.

And so the idea is that this person is passing

through survival in dry conditions, or even passing through a

season of weeping as well. And so the idea here

is that there's passing through. But there's also an idea

of as the psalmist has been in that season because

of their seeking of the Lord, they're coming before the Lord,

their diligence before to come before the Lord. They've made

it a spring. And so you've, even though it's maybe

been dry, you've found the Lord in the midst of it,

and you've forged there a spring.

And that is a wonderful thing.

Sometimes the greatest blessings and our greatest experiences of his

love and his intimacy and his presence is actually in

a difficult season. And so my sense is that many

of you you've made it a spring in the midst

of a sense of dryness or maybe a sense of weeping.

But then what I saw, as I was sitting in

my chair earlier, is that I saw, I actually just

saw the auditorium become this enormous swimming pool.

And it was even like a I just had a

quick vision.

I even saw like little yellow rubber duckies just floating

in the swimming pool. Hallelujah. I like rubber duckies, and

they've got to be yellow. They must be yellow. So

the rain also covers it with pools. And so while

there's been I sent my senses for some of you

that while there's been a survival in the dry conditions,

maybe even a weeping, you've made it a spring.

But then because of your seeking of the Lord.

You're remaining at his feet, remaining with your head on

his chest. That he's covering it. The rain's falling. The

rain's falling. I want to declare that the rain is falling.

And this is what it says here, according to my Bible.

Here it says the rain also covers it with pools

in verse six, and that word pools can also be

translated blessings. The rain also covers it with blessings. And

so I just saw again, I saw the church becoming

a pool. And my sense is that the Lord is

raining blessing. That you're actually passing through this valley of backer.

You're passing through this valley, and actually you're coming out

of that valley, is my sense.

You're actually coming.

Out of that valley, and the Lord is raining blessings

on this church. The Lord is making it rain. You

now need to prepare for the rain of his presence,

for his blessings, for abundance, not lack for a joy,

and not persever you know, perseverance in the midst of trial.

You need to prepare for increase rather than just we

make do with the manner that's on the ground. It's

literally coming into raining of blessings in Southland Church. And

along with that, I feel like for you Gary and Sarah,

I saw you actually it was almost like you were

becoming amphibious, as if you can follow me in this

illustration where you're not just now leaders and pastors of

people on the dry land, but you're preparing now to

lead and to pasta in the water in the in

the water. If you follow me, and this idea of

you're gonna actually the Lord's going to pivot you, guys,

and pivot your leadership to where you're not just pastoring

a people on the land, but you're now pastoring for

in the water, in the pool, in the blessing. And

so yeah, praise God. And so you're actually going to

have to pivots as leaders and this is exact I

hope you feel excitement about it. I do. And so

you actually now are going to be shifting to sort

of we're moving forward and we're passing through a season

to actually how do we steward blessing and how do

we steward increase and how do we steward more than

we could have hoped for? And how do we steward

the rain has turned this place into a big swimming pool,

is the sense. And so I just want to encourage

you to get ready to prepare for that new assignment.

It's almost a change of scenery, almost a change of habitat.

So I just feel like saying over you, guys, get

ready to become amphibious.

Amen.

And so let's just just just turn our at tension

to the Lord.

Lord.

Thank you for what you're doing in this church, and

thank you for what you're doing in Gary and Sarah.

And if you agree with me, just say amen. If

you agree with that word, Lord, we thank you for

passing through the valley of backer Lord and moving into

a swimming pool. Season Ah, thank you for the rubber duckies, Jesus,

and we just thank you that.

We're moving into a swimming pool.

Now. These pools this blessing. And so I just say, yes, Lord,

would you just reign blessing on Southland Church. Would you

just rain down blessing on the men, women, children, families

in this church?

Rain it down, I pray, and I just.

Declare that that valley is over, and I declare its blessing,

and I declare it's a swimming pool here. And I

just declare that this is a time to get ready

for more than enough. More than enough. I just declare

a time of more than enough blessing in every way

in Jesus name. And if you agree with that word,

say amen.

Amen.

And just finally, if you're like in the church and

you're between the ages of like twenty to thirty five,

would you just stand up for a second. If you're

in this church and you're between the age of twenty

to thirty five, it's really sad for me now because

that's like a common bracket in church, and now I

don't get to be included in that bracket anymore. And

I'm just having to deal with that a little bit internally.

That's a little bit tough for me now. So no

longer young, that's a bit sad, but still young at heart.

So twenty to thirty five.

Yet what I heard was there is a conquering spirit

that exists over you young adults in this church. There

is a call to conquer and to pioneer and to

move forward with speed. You guys, as young adults, I

want to declare that you are not called to maintain.

You are not called to just maintain. I cannot stress

that enough. You are not called to just keep the machine,

the factory, the operation ticking over. You are called to conquer.

And I'm reminded of Joshua who was called to be

strong and courageous and go into a new territory. And

so it's just a simple word that you guys are conquerors.

You are not called to just replicate. Amen, you are

not called to just replicate. You are not called to

just go copy paste. You are not called to just

go We need to just do it how it has

always been done, or how I've seen it done on

church of videos and on YouTube. No, you are not

called to do it how it's always been. You are

called to take new territory and to conquer new territory.

And I believe that the word of the Lord is

going to come to many of you with how that

is supposed to look. How do we know what territory

to take? Well, we know what territory to take because

we don't live by bread alone, but by every word

that proceeds from the mouth of God. That's not past tense,

that's present tense. Every word that proceeds from the mouth

of God, that's how we live. And so you guys

are going to be hearing the word of the Lord.

You're going to be hearing the word of the Lord,

and that is going to indicate to you this is

where we're supposed to go. This is the territory that

we're supposed to conquer. This is how the kingdom is

supposed to advance in this area of Adelaide in Adelaide,

and in this area of society in Australia and schools

and universities and hospitals and businesses and homes. This is

how the Kingdom's supposed to look and advance, and this

is how we're supposed to go forward. So I just

say it again. You are not called to replicate, but

you are called to conquer. And the young adults to

this church, you guys are more than conquerors. So let's

just stretch our hands to these guys. Lord, we thank

you for these conquerors. In Jesus's name, I declare over you,

guys that you are more than conquerors. Declare over you

that you are young Joshuas in Jesus's name. And Lord,

I just say, let ceilings just be lifted off of

these men and women in Jesus' name, any ceiling be

lifted off of them. Nothing is impossible with God. And

I just declare just ears to hear, and eyes to

see what you're saying and doing over them years to hear,

and us to see what you're saying and doing. Bless

you guys so much in Jesus' name.

Ah Man.

One of the pastors in reading, he always says, now,

that's a good word right there.

That's a good word right there.

All right, if you have a Bible, go to one

Peter chapter two, One Peter, Chapter two. I want to

talk to you today about a kingdom of honor, a

kingdom of honor. This is a kingdom of honor. One Peter,

Chapter two, Verse seventeen. I'm just going to read one verse,

honor or. My translator out we've got on our screen

the new King. James says, honor all people. Someone say all, honor,

all people, love the brotherhood, fear God.

Honor the King. Let's read it again.

Honor all people, love the brotherhood, Fear God, Honor the king,

even if his name is Donald Trump.

So ha haha?

Or did I just trigger anyone? Maybe? Honor all.

I'm not going to preach you about Trump. I promise,

I do promise that honor all people. This is a

kingdom of honor. I don't care what country you're from.

I don't care what country we live in right now.

I don't care about the city. I don't care about

you know. Da da da da dada. Well, this is

our nation's history, and this is how we were founded,

and this is how we became independent. D D D

D D blah blah blah blah blah blah. We are

in the Kingdom of God. I am a citizen of

another world. I am a citizen of Heaven, and I

am living under a different king and a different kingdom.

And while I submit to the spoken here, while I

submit to the authorities and rulers of my nation, I

am I belong to a certain kingdom and his king,

and the king of my kingdom his name is Jesus.

And in this kingdom I am called to honor. As

a part of this kingdom, I am literally called to honor.

And a dimension of this kingdom is this idea of honor,

that I honor all people, that I honor the king

or rulers and leaders. I also Scripture speaks elsewhere off

honor for leaders. It speaks about leaders are worthy of

double honor. And so there's this clear idea in scripture

that is carried from Old to New Testament that that

we belong to a kingdom of honor. And what we're

going to see today as I speak, and we're going

to hopefully be reinforced, is that Jesus has set up

in his kingdom a system where life and what we

need and what we want flows through our honor. Life,

what we need and what we want will actually flow

through the degree to which we honor. Honor recognizes that

every person is valuable and significant. Not just that I

love them, I recognize that every single person, every one

of them, is valuable and significant. We are made in

God's image, and Jesus died to restore us to him.

Therefore we are significant. We were worth dying for. Every

single person was worth dying for. Every single person is significant.

They are significant if they are one month old or

they are one hundred years old, whether they've been a

believer for one week or for fifty years, every person

is significant. Honor recognizes and celebrates the best in people

in spite of our differences. Honor says, I celebrate the

best in this person, despite my differences with them. I

choose to focus my attention and celebrate what is so

good in this person, the mark of the divine in

this person. I celebrate who this person is, even though

there are clear differences between us. Bill Johnson says, honor

celebrates a person without stumbling over who they are not.

You know, we are so trained in so society to

look for, you know, what is not right or what

is a problem, or to be in universities.

You are naturally taught a skepticism.

Now, I think people that are far smarter than me

tell me it's like a product of the French Revolution

and you know, modern thinking that this idea now of

we're trained in skepticism.

I'm fine with that. If it's like if I'm digging up.

Bones of a dinosaur from a million years ago, I'm

fine in that context. But when it comes to me

and a brother, I'm not okay with that. When it

comes to me and a sister, I'm not okay with that.

I don't want to be.

Trained in skepticism. I want to be trained and grace

enabling me to look for the best, to look for

the gold, to look for Christ in this person. Honor

celebrates who a person is without stumbling over who they're not.

And so what that means is is that we respond

to people based on their God given identity and the

honor and the honor is in our hearts, and we

honor them in our hearts, and it's not it's not

connected even necessarily to their behavior or their definition of themselves.

So that means that I honor someone even in their weakness.

I honor someone even when they currently have a wrong

view of themselves and maybe is flowing into erroneous behavior

or behavior that is not according to their New Testament identity.

Now does that.

Mean I just overlook sin and just prepare that I

don't see sin. No, that's not what that means, and

I'll address that in a little bit. But Honor says,

I look for the gold and the best in this person,

even though they're in process, even though they're like me,

they're being sanctified every day. I look for what is

good in this person, and I actively seek to celebrate

what is good and what is of the Lord, and

what is beautiful and significant about this person. This person

before me is significant regardless of some of their weakness,

regardless of their behavior and regardless of maybe their wrong

view of themselves. I look for what I can celebrate

in this person. And I remind you here that Peters saying,

it's not just for the believer. It's not just for

the elder or the deacon in the church, or it's

it's not just for that, you know, that great pastor

of that church. You know, it's not just for joel Ostein,

Or it's not just you know, for that great pastor

or leader. No, it's for all people. It's for all people.

Mother Theresa said this about the poor. Isn't this crazy?

Each and every one of them is a disguise of Jesus.

Each and every one of them is a disguise of Jesus.

Mother Teresa was able to see past the confronting depravity

in these people and see past that and see inside

of them and see Jesus. Man looks at the outward appearance,

but God looks at the heart. And Mother Teresa was

able to see into this person and say, I can

see Jesus behind this person. I've been to Mother Teresa's

Home of the Dying in Calcutta, India.

I've been there.

I've spent hours there and it is confronting, and to

the idea of that she could see pass these horrendous

diseases that literally deform people in the most horrific ways.

To be able to see pass that and to see

Jesus inside of this person, I see Jesus inside this person.

Another way you might see it is I see the

spark of the divine. I see the gold inside of

this person. You see in society, we have to deserve honor.

But the Kingdom of God, everybody is worth honor even

when it's not deserved. Society says. Society says you must

deserve honor, you must earn honor. But the Kingdom says

everybody's worth honor even when it's not deserved. So when

I am relating to someone, I'm not subjecting them to

a process of earning my honor. I start with honor

with this person. I start with honor. I begin with honor.

I begin with this person is made in the image

of God. Christ gave his own life for this person.

Jesus said this person was worthy of me dying, and

so I begin with honor. I don't begin with skepticism.

I am not looking for what is dodgy about this person.

I don't begin with looking for weakness in this person.

I am looking for I see Jesus in this person?

Where is Jesus in this person? Where can I see

the fingerprints of God in this person even in the

midst of their weakness, even in the midst of where

they have a wrong view of themselves and maybe their

behavior is not lining up with who they are in

Christ right now. And this, this I think can even

be really challenging even in the context of brothers and

sisters in Christ, because I think, you know, I've grown

up in church, so I feel like I can speak

with a bit of experience here that it can be

really easy for us to say, you're a believer, you

should be reading your Bible, you should know better.

You know you're you're a you're with Jesus, you should

know better. I remember this moment as a young pastor

at Bethel Church. It marked me greatly.

Where we just give you a bit of backstory, Me

and some brothers were and still are. We were in

this season where there was a great zeal inside of

us about winning souls for Christ. Me and some brothers

we have some that we were all on staff, and

we basically were sort of very Some of us were evangelists,

some of us just had a really strong evangelistic thrust,

and we were very much together, you know, aligned with

the idea of, you know, we've got to be winning

the lost. Everything needs to be directed to winning the lost.

You know, when you're an evangelist, excuse me, or you

have an evangelistic thrust, you just see through the lens

of like it's just all about people not going to

hell and people going to Heaven. And what are we

even doing here sitting on these chairs in church. We

should be out there winning the loss for Jesus, you know.

So you know, we me and a couple of brothers

were pretty young, and we're just thinking like that. And

and there was the associate pastor at Bethel Church. His

name is Chris Vallentin, and Chris was basically the leader

of the School of ministry at that time. And Chris

would come in and speak regularly in the school.

And Chris would speak regularly in the school.

And Chris is not inclined like us, you know, he's

very much like equip the body, raise up the body,

go into society and transform the society. And sometimes we

would feel like we're trying to charge up the students

to be bold and winning the lost, and Chris would

almost be trying to calm them down and be you know,

leaven into society, and we kind of didn't like that language.

You don't sound so soft and meek and mild and

leaven into society. And we were just like getting a

bit honestly, we're getting a bit like we feel nervous, Chris.

We're trying to get the zeal up here to win

souls for Jesus and get them bold, and we want

them standing up on a chair and McDonald's and crying

out with the gospel doing that, and Chris didn't want

them doing that. And Chris was saying, I don't want

any more students yelling out in McDonald's in Redding. You know,

we're getting people ringing the church complaining, and we're like,

I want them standing up in McDonald's crying out with

the gospel.

You know, people need to be saved. They're going to hell.

And so anyway, we basically ended up having this meeting

with Chris, and so me and a couple of the

evangelists got the courage up by me through one of

the other pastors, we got the courage up to say

yes to this meeting with Chris, and so Dan, one

of the other pastors, had arranged this meeting with Chris,

and Chris sat there and was very warm and just

super open and was like a father to us, and

he just listened, and one by one, me and the

brothers Ben and Chris and Angelo, we just kind of

let rip and we just in a young, zealous way,

but sort of a bit brash way, we just kind

of let rip on Chris a little bit.

And we were just like Chris.

We're trying to get them fired up to win the loss,

like we want him standing up in McDonald's and yelling

out the gospel because people are going to hell. And

when you say to them, you know, I don't want

you standing up in cafes preaching the gospel. You know,

we just feel like you're softening them and people are

going to hell, and why are you calming them down?

And and we just kind of, as young men with

a whole lot of zeal lacking a bit of maturity,

we just kind of let him have it a little bit,

and one by one just it was it was like

Ben No. Dan said, Matt, you go first, and I

just let him have it. And then and then a

band went, and then Chris went, and then Angela, not

Chris v but another Chris went, and Ben went and

we just let him have it. And you know what,

Chris just sat there and he just listened for like

twenty minutes as we just let him have it and

just teed off on him. He was on his own,

He had no reinforcements. It was just him, and we

just let him have it. And he just sat there

and he just listened like a father. He just sat

there and he just listened. And after we got it

all off his chest, off his chest, he presented what

he was thinking and the why behind what he was

saying things. And you know what, the next Sunday he

to he was I think he was either preaching or

he was like leading the service. And he stood up

not in front of the School of ministry, in front

of the church and he said, this week, I had

a meeting with some of our young evangelistic leaders in

the church, and I felt like God was saying something.

And he basically went on to say, we need to

be bold with the Gospel. And he just stood up

in front of the church and he said, we need

to be bold with the gospel. We need to not

be ashamed of the gospel. Paul said, I am not

ashamed of the gospel. Is the power of God to salvation.

And he encouraged the whole church to be bold in evangelism.

And I sat there and I was like, I was

honestly dumbfounded. I was like, I feel like we just

let him have it, like we fired missiles at him,

like we weren't, like we weren't terrible that we weren't

you know, cussing or anything like that, Like we were

not rude or anything. But we let him have it.

And he just listened, and he just listened with intent.

And then he literally gets up, not in school, we

were just talking about school of ministry, but he gets

up in church and says, we actually, I think we

as a church, we need to hear what God is

doing and saying, and we need to be more zealous

with the gospel. And I just sat there and I

was dumbfounded the honor that he showed for us, even

in our raw maturity. Young leaders, a bit raw, a

bit immature, probably could have done it better. Probably could

have done a better job with it, could have been

a little bit more respectful in it. He just adjusted,

and it was like he just honored who God is

in us without stumbling over the immaturity that we had,

without stumbling over the weakness that we as young, growing

daily being sanctified leaders had, And he just literally stood

in front of the whole church and said, I feel

like I need to change, and I feel like we

as a church, you know, can can need to change, basically,

And I've never forgotten that moment, the honor that this

great leader showed for us young you know, punks, basically,

you know, all right, you're still alive. All right, I'm

going to wrap up soon. While avoids controlling others, it

lovingly confronts, limits and disciplines when necessary. Honor does not

ignore sin. Honor does not ignore sin. Honor says, I

honor who this person is. I see Jesus who I

see Jesus in this person. I celebrate who they are

without stumbling over who they're not. But as a loving

mother or father in the faith, I am confronting in

love and gentleness and respect for this person. So I

don't ignore the sin. But it says, as a mother

or father, and I don't care how old you are

a mother or father and the spirit. I confront sin

in love, in gentleness and respect for this person. I

do not run a bulldozer over this person. What I

do is I in love, but with strength and gentleness

and in meekness. I confront what is appearing in their appearing,

in their behavior that is not congruent with their identity.

I confront what is appearing in their behavior that is

not congruent with their identity. Their identity is they are

a child of God. Their identity is they are a saint,

which means they are holy ones. Saints Paul says to

the saints that are at ephesis, that could also be

said to the holy ones that are at ephicis so

when they are not behaving like a holy one, I

lovingly confront in gentleness with an intent to restore.

I maybe even need to.

Limit, as this is more relevant for leaders, you know,

I maybe even limit for a season. But I am

always working towards the restoration of this person. And maybe

I even need to bring a word of discipline to

this person. But it is always in love and gentleness

and with an intent to restore to offer in the church.

When someone falls, we want to stick them on a

cross and hang them in front of everyone, and we

want to crucify them again when Jesus was already crucified.

And so I never punish. Punishment is of another kingdom.

Confrontation and discipline and correction is of the kingdom of Jesus.

And so come on.

So a culture of honor does require feedback for it

to be successful. And a culture of honor is not

a true culture of honor or a kingdom of honor.

The godly expression of honor has no fear attached to it.

The godly expression of honor has no infiltration of fear.

Now why do I say that, Because what tends to

happen is is that culturally we are shaped, particularly in Australia.

It's not some a problem in America, but.

In Commonwealth countries, culturally we're shaped to think, if I

honor this person too much, I am afraid they'll become

proud and arrogant.

Now, what's wrong with that?

Fear has infected a godly virtue. Fear is infecting a

kingdom virtue called honor. And so what happens is this,

the fear tends to trumpet, and so we remove the

honor because we're afraid that they'll become proud and arrogant,

and we think that we're doing them a favor, and

we're neglecting what Paul says, encourage them, build them up,

build them up. What is our job as brothers and

sisters in the body is to build one another up,

not to tear them down, not to say, don't get

too big for your boots, bud.

You know.

Our job is to build them up, is to honor them.

I celebrate what's inside of you, and I am actually

gonna water that. I'm gonna feed that. I'm actually gonna

speak to that and try and draw that out of you.

I see what even though you don't see what's inside

of you, I see what's inside of you.

You don't see who you are. I see who you are.

I'm gonna call that out and I'm not just gonna,

you know, pray about it. Would you just bless that

teaching gift that Susie has inside of her? Lord, would

you just bless that teaching gift. No, I'm actually gonna

tell Susie, Susie, there is an amazing gift inside of you.

You have this gift to teach.

When you opened your mouth at that life group on

Wednesday and you started to talk about that verse out

of Psalm, it was like the whole room just fell still,

and it was it was like the room just stopped

as you spoke about that Psalm. And I just want

to tell you, I feel like you have this teaching gift.

I just want to encourage you in that you are

gifted to teach. Like let's call it out, like, let's

say it. When you say it, you're encouraging them, You're

building them up, You're honoring what God has placed inside

of that person. And then you get that, we get

that opportunity to partner with the Holy Spirit, which is

who is encouraging, which is building up. And I refuse

to allow, and let's refuse to allow fear to infect

what I would call a Kingdom virtue, and that is honor,

honor that. I honor who this person is. I honor

the teacher. I honor the entrepreneurial gift that is on

their life. I honor the entrepreneurial gifting that God has

placed on this man or this woman. I honor the

gift to prophesy. I honor the gift to encourage. I

honor the gift to be hospitable and just create a

safe and welcoming environment for people of all backgrounds and cultures.

I honor this about this person, and I celebrate it,

and I'm not afraid to talk about it, and I'm

not afraid about building them, and I'm not certainly not

afraid about them coming proud and our Again, it's God's

job to sanctify them, not mine, Sailor.

That wasn't in my notes.

I felt, all right, we're almost done, last last verse,

and then I promise I'm landing the plane, all right,

Matthew ten. Let's just go there just for a few minutes,

and then we'll land the plane, Matthew. Chapter ten. So

I mentioned earlier this idea of life flowing through honor.

You see, sometimes what God is going to do is

he's going to place what we want or need in

another person. In other words, maybe even what we've prayed for,

but what we've asked for or what we want, what

we need, He's actually going to place that in another person. Now,

it's going to come from God, but it's going to

come from God through another person. And this is this

is how it works in being part of a body.

You know, is that this is why we are positioned

in a body of the body of Christ life, and

what we need and what we want is oftentimes going

to come through another person. If you read with me

now just one verse Matthew ten, verse forty one, this

is the words of Jesus. Jesus says, he who receives

a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive

a prophet's reward, and he who receives a righteous man

in the name of a righteous man shall receive a

righteous man's reward. The level of honor that I have

for a person directly affects my ability to receive from them.

The degree to which I see an honor the mark

of God in and on this person directly affects my

ability to receive from them. Now, why does that matter?

Because in our midst are prophetic people. In our midst

are evangelistic people. In our midst, people with great leadership,

gifting and mantles. In our midst, people with great teaching,

gifts and mantles. In our midst, people with unusual business acumen,

unusual business wisdom, unusual innovation and wisdom in the marketplace,

unusual ability to educate people. I have the opportunity to

receive from them, and I have the opportunity to receive

from them or God has placed in them. But I

might miss it if I fail to honor. And you see,

the thing is we look for it maybe with the

person in the microphone, or the person that maybe wrote

a book, or maybe that person that's got you know,

one thousand followers on Instagram, young people. You know, I

might look for it with them. But do I see

it with the person that's sitting on the third row

from the back. Do I see it with the person

that's in the children's ministry? Do I see it with

the person that's in the cafe? Do I see it

with the person that's on the door welcoming people to church?

Do I see what God has placed in them?

And maybe what I'm praying for or asking God for,

or even what I don't know that.

I need but I do need.

Maybe it's in that person on the welcome door, Maybe

that I want to be a I'm a young father.

I really want to learn to be a great father.

I have a lot of learning to do.

Maybe what I need to learn as a young father

to be a better father to my children is in

the person that's making coffee in the church cafe. And

so Honor says, I'm looking for what the Lord is

placed in this person. And they maybe don't even have

a microphone, or they don't have a major following, or

they're maybe not the principle of a school or the

leader of a multinational corporation. But I see it in

the person on the welcome door, welcoming people at the door.

I see it in the person that's sitting on the

back row of church. I see it in them, and

I honor it and I receive from a last story.

You know, many of you were probably touched by the

Toronto blessing that happened in nineteen ninety four. In nineteen

ninety four, the spirit of God was poured out in

this church in Toronto, Canada, and it was extraordinary. Within

weeks and months, a word was spreading around Canada and

North America and soon the world that God was doing

this remarkable move of the Holy Spirit in Toronto and

in Canada. And what was happening is believers, leaders, missionaries,

people marketplace that were feeling dry and maybe a bit burnout,

were coming to Toronto, and they were just being filled

with the Holy Spirit, being filled with joy. They were

coming and being used to this mode of striving. But

then they were coming and the Lord was doing outpouring

through rest and just abiding in his presence. And I've

been chatting with Gary and Sarah about it in the

last few days. How this movement that happened in Toronto

literally spread to the corners of the world as far

as here in Australia, and there were so many churches

here in Australia that were marked by this move of

the Holy Spirit. Well, maybe you're not super familiar with

the backstory of how that started. How that started was.

With this.

Really unremarkable individual named Randy Clark. And Randy Clark and

that's that unremarkable not the greatest preacher, not the most

eloquent orator, smart had a part. He was pastor of

a church of like one hundred and fifty people, not

a megachurch. He was a pastor of a Baptist church

at one hundred and fifty people. And Randy got in

a meeting with Rodney Howard Brown, and Randy gets in

this meeting with Rodney Howard Brown, and Randy is so

hungry and for more of God and recognizes the anoying

of the Spirit on Rodney Howard Brown, and so he

runs to Rodney Howard Brown at the end of the

meeting and says, Rodney, I need you to pray for me.

And Rodney prays for him, and Randy's filled with the

power of the spirit, and something more awesome takes place

inside of Randy. But what ends up happening is this Randy,

I think somehow ends up at the airport when Rodney's there,

and Randy bounces up to Rodney at the airport and says, Rodney,

I am just so hungry. I need you to pray

for me. And as I understand it, I think over

the course of like it was a period of time,

I think he had Rodney ended up somehow getting Rodney

to pray for him like five times. And what was

going on there is Randy is just saying I am

so hungry to see more of God in my life

and in my church and in my ministry than what

I'm seeing, and Rodney seeing it, and I just and

I see the mark of the Spirit on him, and

what God is doing on him. So I just want

him to pray for me that God would do it

through me as he's doing it through him. And he

just had Rodney pray for him like five times. Well,

then Randy basically ministers to these vineyard pastors. It was

like a vineyard leaders meeting. I think it was only

like twenty people in the room, like really small gathering.

And he ministers to these vineyard pastors.

Some weeks later and the presence of the Lord just

invades the meeting and all these vineyard pastors are filled

with a holy spirit like they've never been filled before.

And all these vineyard pastors are just under the presence

and power of God for a period of time, and

it was just this remarkable sort of leaders meeting. Well, guy,

a couple named John and Carol Arna in Toronto, Canada.

They hear about this pastor's meeting with Randy, and so

they hear about this pastor's meeting, and so they basically

get on the phone and they say to Randy Clark, Hey, Randy,

I know we don't really know each other that well,

but I heard about the pastor's meeting. I'm wondering could

we please fly you to Toronto, and can you just

come and do whatever you did there, but do it

in our church. Whatever you did over there in that

meeting we heard about it sounded awesome you did there.

Could you just do that in our church? And Randy's

like shocked because Randy's never been invited to another church

outside of his own Baptist church before. So Randy's like

nervous about it and says, yes, well, whatever it was.

Weeks months later, Randy flies there, ministers, the Holy Spirit's

poured out, and the rest is history. And literally a

movement goes around not just North America, but goes around.

And touches the world.

It even touched my home church massively in Canberra. I

grew up with people experiencing the presence and power of

the Holy Spirit, majorly growing up in Canberra. And so

what happened where Randy Clark honored what God was doing

in and upon another man, in this instance, Rodney Howld Brown,

Randy honored it and life flowed through that honor. And

then when ministered, John and Carol honored who God was

using and marking and working through, honored that who cares

if he's got a church of one hundred and forty people,

which in North America, that's kind of small in North America.

Who cares if his church is one hundred and forty people?

Come and minister at our conference. Honored Randy. Randy goes.

The spirit of God's poured out and a movement touches

the whole world for years. Life flows through honor, and

honor recognizes God in and through and upon people. Why

don't you stand as we close?

Thank you for joining us today for his story, our story.

We hope you've enjoyed this episode and have been encouraged

and uplifted. If you would like to learn more about

Walking with God or south Land Church in Pasadena, Adelaide,

please visit our website at www dot Southland Church dot

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