Fathering Cities

This here, so we can take our own sweet time. So, I taught and prepared notes on Blessed

are the Pure in Heart continuing from last week, but then felt God saying as you leave,

talk about fathering the city you are going to.

Brandon?

Should I continue Brandon or?

What happened?

Okay, so the topic is fathering the city. God functions as a father always. Always God functions as a father.

Remember that in everything God does, He functions as a father. There is nothing He does where He is not functioning like a father.

So God functions as a father in His nature. God functions as a father in His intentions. God functions as a father in every act.

And that's how He deals with—can I have the pen back too? Oh yeah. That's how He deals with individuals.

That's how He deals with cities. That's how He deals with nations. Just pause on that for a second because if we don't grasp this,

then we might think this is a heavy or profound or revelatory teaching and that's all it will amount to. But the simplicity is so obvious.

Because why not talk about blessed as pure in heart because that was the next in the series. Why are we going down the road of fathering the city?

We've never talked about stuff like this. But remember next year we'll be around for 20 years. The church started in February 2006.

So things change as we go forward and this is one of those changes. And we begin at this simple point which is God is a father

and therefore in all His intent, all His approaches in His nature and how He functions, He will always behave like a father.

And that's how He deals with individuals like us earlier today. That's how He deals with cities. That's how He deals with nations and we'll see it.

He deals with cities, individuals and nations with a fathering spirit.

So when you talk about Jesus' commission to disciple nations, when you talk about Jesus' commission to disciple nations,

again it has to be fathering in nature. Because that's who He is. That's how He behaves.

So what does that look like for us as we go into another city? So fathering takes God's heart, intent, nature, that of a father.

God's heart. It takes God's heart and then it takes your personal attributes or our personal attributes as a church.

And then it takes our passion or your passion for people. This is a mix.

And then He takes your role in the body and He combines all this. Now He gets to translate it physically and spiritually in a city.

This is how it works. These are the ingredients that go into how He uses you as an individual or we as a church in this very natural approach He has to everything which is that of a father.

Any questions on that? Because this is actually simple. If you don't understand this then everything else becomes just a lot of awe.

So many fathers, even in terms of raising your child, He takes your heart as a father, takes your personal attributes, your passion for your child and your role in the family.

And He begins to translate it physically and spiritually into the life of a child. The same applies to a church. He takes His heart, adds it to my personal attributes and my passion for people and my role in the body.

And that's how a church is formed. And that's why a church initially takes on the nature of the one who starts it.

And then it's supposed to change over a period of time. But if you were here the first seven years, you would not sing a single song that I didn't like.

So any questions on that? This is why we're talking about fathering a city. We've never talked about this before, but it's great that we get to.

Certain portions of this will apply to the leaders in the church, others will apply to all of us.

God's fathering has always been available. God's fathering over cities and nations has always been available.

It's always been available.

This is why you hear verses like 1 Samuel 8-19 where Samuel is sad because he knows God wants to father Israel and be their king.

But what does Israel demand? We want a king like all the other nations.

And so God says to them, listen, they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting me. That's okay. Give them a king.

And it is the beginning of the downfall of the down, the up and down cycle of Israel starts with that.

Another one is in Matthew 23, where Jesus is standing and looking at Jerusalem and he's beginning to say to Jerusalem,

Oh Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem, how I've longed to gather you like a hen gathers its chicks.

It's like a dad or a mom wanting to protect them. But now I leave your house to yourself.

The heart of God for cities, for nations has always been this way, but cultures, peoples, churches and nations rejected.

But that doesn't change how he behaves with them. Another fascinating verse.

It's so odd. The first two verses I spoke about were spoken by Israel, God's chosen son.

And now you go to Nineveh. Nineveh was a pagan nation. Jonah chapter 4 verse 11.

Jonah 4:11

Again, you see the father's heart. He says to Jonah saying,

You are worried that a plant that grew up in the shade, to cover you from the shade, dried up.

Should I not be concerned about 120,000 people in the city who do not know their right hand from their left?

And these are an evil, wicked people that deserve punishment.

But here is the father again behaving like he has always done with the heart of a father towards people.

And that was a city and the city is spared.

So there are nations that rejected, nations that sometimes in small ways accepted.

And so cultures, nations, churches have rebelled against it. But God wants to father cities.

You know the strange thing is we don't build cities, we inherit them.

This is super important. We don't build cities, we inherit them.

The only time people of God have built cities are when they are under bondage to Pharaoh.

That's the only time you build a city.

Otherwise cities have never been built by believers.

Every time any famous leader like William Branham and others who went to Kansas and bought land

and decided to build a city for God and called it Zion, it ends in disaster.

We are a people who don't build cities, we inherit cities.

And the reason we inherit cities is because there is one who is building an invisible city for us.

We may have started in a garden, we end in a city.

Cities are important to God.

There is one that Moses said in Hebrews 11, he saw, Abraham saw a city that was not built with hands,

that is being prepared and that will one day come down.

That is what we want to build in the midst of brick and mortar.

So we inherit a city.

And a city cannot be inherited unless the Father gives it to you as part of a promise as an inheritance.

And that then begs the second question.

Are you convinced in your heart?

This is important.

And there is nothing we can do about it right now except throw this out and then ask God.

Are you sure that Richmond is being given to us as an inheritance?

And if you are not, how will you build?

And if you are not, you have two choices.

Either you can sit in the void or you can engage and see.

Tell me how it is true.

Because if you were given a piece of land, you can build a city.

Because if you were given a piece of land and someone told you there was oil in it,

you would move heaven and earth to get a drill and you would find that oil in it

because that land is of no use to you unless the oil is drawn out.

That's what people do with inheritances.

The question though is Jacob, do you really believe that this city was given to you as part of your inheritance?

Is it a promise that has been given to you?

And if that cannot be answered, then work must be done.

One on one.

And every leader has to ask this of themselves too.

Every leader of every church has to ask this question.

Because otherwise, regardless of whether you are in Northland or in Surrey or in Newton,

that's not true.

The way the world is today, incarnational living has become a little easier

because you don't have to live in Richmond to be active in Richmond.

Any questions?

Any questions?

Yep.

It's an inheritance that is given corporately.

The strange thing is this guys, unless you're able to handle and work

at the inheritance given to the house, the land allotted to you doesn't prosper as much as it should.

This was what was happening with the tribes of Dan and Gad.

They went and said, you know, we're going to have to do something about this.

This was what was happening with the tribes of Dan and Gad.

They went and said to Moses, you know what, Moses, I know God has promised the land across the Jordan,

but we're going to take this portion here and settle here.

Because they had enough livestock, they were agricultural people, they would stay there.

And Moses rebukes them saying, haven't you learned?

So sometimes in the process of pursuing personal inheritance,

I can miss out on both the personal inheritance and that which is given to a family as a whole.

That's why, you know, in most families where there are more than two brothers,

you usually hire a lawyer, at least in India.

Any questions?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's the same thing he does in Matthew 23, where God is saying,

oh, Jerusalem, oh, Jerusalem, how I've longed to take you into my hands.

I can gather the chicks, but you would not have it.

So I leave your house to yourself.

I leave the house to you.

What he's saying there is, listen, this is my house.

But you, because you have continually resisted the prophets, the scribes, and finally the son of man,

he then changes it.

It's a saddest sentence, where Jesus is saying now, it's no longer my house.

It is your house.

And so every time land vomited out Israel, it was because of heinous crimes committed by Israel,

especially with regard to idolatry, Canaanite gods, sexual immorality, and sacrificing their kids to Molech.

It would reach a point where the only way to then cleanse the land or bring the land to a place of Sabbath

would be like an intervention that would put you in the Mayo Clinic,

hoping you would clean up so you could come back and live again.

But the strange thing is, he never takes away the inheritance.

And that's why he instituted Jubilee.

The Jubilee was an attempt to give back to people what is theirs, even though they may have messed up.

Some of the things that have been given to you.

I've had gods say things like this.

I've written down, Jacob, this is your gained place.

You can have it if you want to.

It will not go to anyone else till you die.

As in, I've given this to you.

You can do it.

But if you don't do it, I'll not take it away from you.

But when you die, I'll give it to somebody else.

But till you die, till the very last day, if you want to do this, you can.

So, examples of...

Here's a beautiful thing.

God wants to raise individuals and churches that can father cities.

God wants to raise...

That's the beauty of it.

God wants to raise individuals and churches that can father, as in approach the city as he would, father cities.

Examples of fathering in the Old Testament and the New Testament.

You should read Job chapter 29.

Job 29 · chapter mention

It is such a beautiful chapter.

Job 29.

He was a man...

Here are the things we sometimes don't realize about Job.

He...

He was amazing in terms of how the city looked up to him.

If you go to Job 29, he begins to talk about it.

Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, with God's intimate friendship, when the Almighty was still with me,

When I went to the gate of the city and took my seat in the public square,

the young men saw me and stepped aside.

The old men rose to their feet.

The chief men refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands.

The voices of the nobles were hushed.

Their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouth.

Whoever heard me spoke well of me.

Those who saw me commended me.

I rescued the poor who cried for help, the fatherless who had none to assist him.

The man who was dying blessed me.

I made the widow's heart sing.

I put on righteousness as my clothing.

Justice was my robe and my turban.

I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.

Was a father to the needy.

I took up the case of the stranger.

I broke the fangs of the wicked and snapped the victims from their teeth.

Beautifully.

Job 29.

Now you know what it looks like.

When a church begins to take just those verses that I read,

And somehow, day after day, somehow keeps pressing in to make it happen.

Affecting maybe two widows, three orphans, four people who were oppressed.

That's all.

After a year, that's all you have to show.

The crazy thing about anything that we should do is simply this.

You should plant a seed so deep that now it cannot but bear fruit.

And it cannot be plucked out.

When Paul says stuff like, I have no more work to do in this region,

my work here is done,

he didn't mean that everyone in that region was converted.

Not a chance.

What he meant was, I've planted things here deep enough,

I can move on, because this won't change.

That's what it means.

Then there's Elisha in Jericho.

2 Kings 2.19.

Elijah has just disappeared.

Elisha comes along.

And already the people of Jericho are coming to him.

With what?

With problems that will bless the city.

We have a city, Elisha, where the water is bad,

and it either kills people or makes people barren.

Can you do something about it?

You see Elisha intervening.

Quite often you find it in 2 Kings 2.19,

you find it again in 5.8,

you find it again in 6.23.

In 6.23 he spares the Aramean army from slaughter

by having them come into the city.

He gives them a dinner and sends them home.

And the Arameans never attacked Israel again.

Then you've got Paul.

You've got Paul in Ephesus.

Paul in Ephesus.

Where Paul and the church began to affect the economy

and religions of Turkey.

Present day Turkey.

You have him again, that's in Acts 19.

You have him again affecting all of Malta in Acts 28.

Where the entire island literally turns up

because Paul begins to work on behalf of God,

healing that island.

Then there are churches.

And sometimes how churches affect cities are strange.

The way the church affected Jerusalem

was when an Ananias and Sapphira died.

When they died, it says, let me read, Acts 5.10.

Acts 5.10.

Acts 5.10.

Starting at verse 10.

At that moment she fell down at his feet and died.

Then the young man came and finding her dead,

carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

Great fear seized the whole church

and all who heard about these events.

The apostles performed many miraculous signs

and wonders among the people.

All the believers used to meet together in Solomon's Colonnade.

No one else dared join them

even though they were highly regarded by the people.

Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord

and were added to their number.

There's another situation like that in Acts 19, verse 17.

Acts 19:17

Acts 19, 17.

This follows the seven sons of Skiven,

what happens to them.

Acts 19, 17.

When this became known to the Jews and the Greeks living in Ephesus,

they were all seized with fear

and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.

Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds.

A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together

and burned them publicly.

In this way, the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

So there are examples of God using people, individuals, and churches

to father nations that are recorded in the scriptures so that we know them.

By the way, if you take the last 30 to 50 years,

you'll find that at different times,

countries like the United States, countries like South Korea,

countries like Argentina, countries like South Africa

were at the front of movements that affected the entire world.

There was a time when South Korea brought about a revolution

of prayer across the earth because of one man called Paul Yong Lee Cho.

Argentina, revivals, charismatic revivals, and Pentecostal revivals

only started breaking out across the earth

through Louis Palau, through Anaconda, and a few others

who began to affect the entire world.

The U.S. sent missionaries all across the earth,

not as colonialists or imperialists, but as missionaries.

South Africa suddenly had this amazing revelation

of what it is to be apostolic and prophetic,

and it began to restore the apostolic and prophetic across the earth.

You must remember though that all these movements did start with one man.

That is what we forget.

We look at the end of a wave,

not realizing that the shift of the plates happened long ago.

It's like when the Jordan stops flowing.

It says in the Bible that when the priests set their feet in the waters,

it's crazy, 80 kilometers away at a place called Adama,

the water started piling up.

You can imagine how the priests felt when they stood in the water with the ark

because it was right up till here.

Short priests were really scared.

Because nothing's changing.

Because 80 kilometers away at a place called Adama, the water started piling up.

We see the end and we think, wow, if only God would do something like this in our times.

What we don't realize is the number of people who spent five years, 10 years, 15 years,

waiting for it to happen, and then 15 years later you see

the water dry up or you see the tsunami come in.

Blessed are they that persist.

Satan functions the same way too.

He raises up sons of disobedience.

Please understand, both are fathering.

One is fathering the sons of disobedience.

They are fathered by the father of life and they're doing well.

And then there's the fathering by God.

Both father.

Cities are being ravaged on that side too.

That gets the news.

What God is doing is like a mustard seed.

It is happening and he, like we sing a hundred times, he is the victor.

Because he already wears the victor's crown.

Satan knows his days are numbered.

So God has been furnishing us for this move.

And how has he been furnishing us?

With understanding.

We've been talking about this for so long.

Not just Richmond but Hebrides 2.02, which is why young will be affected.

With understanding, with growth, both numerical and spiritual.

It's wonderful to see spiritual growth when you see young people maturing

and taking on things that I wouldn't have when I was their age.

He's given us resources.

I mean, guys, I have no idea what people give in this church.

Partly because Heidi is one of the most trustable, generous people in the world.

Any church wants to keep money, do not employ Heidi.

Yeah.

I remember a year, she came to me at the end of the year and she said,

Jacob, there's too much money in the church.

Let's give some away.

And I'm thinking to myself, how does a pastor respond to this?

My inside voice was, no, no, no, no, we can use it.

But how do you say that to someone you're supposed to shepherd?

And so we gave a whole lot of money away because there was too much money, I believe,

at the end of the year.

The point being this, resources are enough.

So when we encourage giving here, it's not because suddenly the church is in need.

It is so that you are not hit with endemic poverty because of a lack of giving.

And we'll talk about that later.

With understanding, with growth, with resources, with reach.

People have been going further and further, reaching out to places that I'd have never thought,

Vibi, for all you know, will go to Abbotsford with vision, with warring prayer, with worship.

Our worship has changed.

I was looking at photographs yesterday and had a little bit of gratefulness to Don for,

and Kezia for starting the, what did you call them?

Worship nights.

It was June last year, and there's been, this church worships differently, like it or not.

So warring prayer, worship, proclamation.

My God, the way you guys go and talk to people, I don't like going with you

because it puts the pressure on me.

And persistence.

These are things that God has been furnishing us with.

That aside, there's something called a representative principle, guys.

And that is, if we can go into the city

and see it as a city with young people given to us,

then perhaps it'll stir up other churches.

And it'll correct or judge some that refuse.

It takes one person to have the, I always watch,

once we start singing, I'll wait quite often to see which of the kids

will make a beeline for the flags first.

And everyone's waiting for one of them.

As soon as one does, the others follow.

The point being, there's something called a representative principle

where once a church decides that this is what we are called to do in this place

and do everything in their power to move to a city, though there's no need to,

and begin to function in that city the way God wants them to,

it becomes a first fruits, as in, this is what I want.

It becomes a plumb line that is used to either measure and judge

or stir up and encourage.

That's something else God does.

So, yep, it'll correct those that refuse.

And this goes back to Acts 15, verse 15 to 17.

Acts 15:15–17

Acts 15, 15 to 17, it's actually borrowed from Amos,

and it says, I'll rebuild David's ruined house.

I'll put the pieces together again.

I'll make it look like new.

So outsiders who seek will find.

So they'll have a place to come to.

All the pagan people included in what I'm doing.

God said it. Now he's doing it.

That's from the message, Acts 15, 15 to 17.

Some of us met a person who is involved with Trinity Western in Richmond.

And this is just to give you an idea of reach.

The person works with Senn, then met Tooney,

and then Tooney introduced me to the person, and we met with the person.

And here's what the person said.

There are about 1,300 students at T.W.U.

Out of the 1,300 students, 90% are not believers.

And he says, we are looking for a church

that we can send these young people to.

But we want to find a church where worship is alive and God's presence is known.

And the person came to meet with us to interact, to engage.

And so what if out of the 1,200 that are non-believers,

100 show up, can we handle it?

I'm not sure.

What if out of the 1,200, just 100 show up over a piece of paper?

I can't handle you.

So don't count on me.

What are we going to do?

Just 100.

That's one-tenth, just 10% that turn up.

Which is why we need to look at, so what does it look like to build in that city what God wants?

The invisible thing that God is building, what does it look like?

What are the demands?

I'm so happy that I'm here.

What are the demands?

I'm so happy I don't have to rush today.

And it looks like you're not in a rush either.

Because tomorrow is a working day, but Tuesday is a holiday.

So here are the demands.

One, foundations.

This one's particularly for the leaders in the church.

Foundations must be continually examined,

Foundations must be continually examined.

Foundations must be continually examined because foundations change with revelation.

As in, not change, foundations get stronger with revelation.

So the question that needs to ask is, what am I doing wrong?

Starting from here.

What am I doing that's old?

Where have I lost the mandate?

What is the mandate?

Have I turned away from apostolic and prophetic foundations?

Which begs the next question, what does that even mean?

And so the leaders here, Tuni Anle,

I'm just speaking on the ones that lead the house here.

Tuni Anle, Don Kezia, Derek Iris, Chillion, Sheldon Jane.

Who am I missing?

May.

May.

These guys, Derek Iris, yeah.

These guys have to ask these questions.

I have to ask them these questions.

And when I hear their answers, I'll know where they are at with this.

And if it's faulty, then even if it means changing things and it chaps,

you will have to because Jacob, as the one who leads this house,

has the resources and the material and the insight and the authority to take care of this.

First Chronicles 22, 1 and verse 6 talk about it.

David, when he had to give Solomon to build,

had to have Solomon come to him, take the charge, take the materials and build.

So this is specifically for the leaders of the house churches

and any other thing we are doing here.

These questions must be answered.

What am I doing that's old?

Old as in God spoke it, we've been doing it,

but it's time to change because it doesn't match up with what we are supposed to do.

Where have I lost the mandate?

Which begs the question, what is the mandate?

I asked this of the leaders recently.

If I ask leaders here to stand up and tell me the promise that God gave us for Hebrides 2.0,

would you be able to say it?

And so if I don't have it in my heart and my mind, how do I produce it?

Next one.

Have I turned from the apostolic and prophetic foundations of this church?

Which then begs the question, what is the apostolic and prophetic foundation?

And then that leads to another question.

How come you haven't spoken about that, Jacob?

I don't know it because you haven't talked about it.

I love moving into new places because it just unearths so much.

Every time you have to pull up stakes, you realize there are things faulty in the substructure.

So I'm kind of looking forward to this.

Second, discern the change.

This is for all of us.

Discern the change.

As in, do you know how or what you and I are being called to in Richmond?

If I discern the change, the Spirit stirs me up.

You know, here's the advantage that we have.

Each one of the leaders I mentioned is heavily invested in your personal lives,

in tearing down the idols in your life, in building maturity into your life.

You may not think of it that way because I know them.

I can guarantee that.

They're seriously interested in spending time, resources, money.

It doesn't matter what happens to them, they keep doing that.

There might be friction.

That doesn't determine whether a person is doing their job or not.

But in being heavily invested into your personal lives, the disadvantages,

sometimes they can lose the focus of the corporate direction we are heading to.

Because you're smelling the roses every day so often that you don't get to the top of the mountain.

And that has to change.

If that means that dawn takes less care of you or May takes less care of you or Gillian takes less care of you,

so be it.

It's a good thing.

Because I would rather get to the top of the mountain and build a fresh garden there

than keep smelling roses on the way up.

There's an edge to what I'm saying and it's deliberate.

Don't read between the lines.

If you have any questions about what I'm trying to say between the lines, come and ask me.

And I'll tell you because don't read between the lines.

You'll come to weird conclusions.

So what is the man-made of everything?

I want to reach out to the question, but because you and I are the same age, I won't.

God sent a purifying fire that has already begun burning up the entire world.

And God sent a purifying fire that has already started burning up the entire world.

God has already begun burning up all religious and all historical junk in our midst.

It's going.

People that come from outside see it.

We are so used to it, we think this is normal.

This is not normal.

And then he has entered as the divine warrior.

When I went and saw you guys in public places waving flags foolishly, unafraid,

people watching, proclaiming songs, proclaiming the gospel, going up talking to people,

the entire church, not a group going out for outreach to Wally.

I'm thinking to myself, how do people even become like this?

When an entire church begins to behave like that.

And then he entered as the divine warrior.

And now what is he doing?

He is inviting young men and women into freedom.

Into freedom.

What kind of freedom?

Where they get pulled out of nations, pulled out of Asian, South Asian, Caucasian, African.

They get pulled into the kingdom where culture is secondary.

Something else called the king and his ways becomes primary in everything.

It doesn't matter whether it's a form of healing or it doesn't matter whether it's a form of dance.

Something else now holds first place.

And so he draws them from kingdoms into the nations.

And then what's the next one?

Pardon?

Yeah, he invites them as sons and daughters.

He doesn't want them to be followers.

He doesn't want them to be devotees.

These young people, the one thing they need to discover.

I was talking to Jeremy.

Jeremy said when he was a kid, he's still a kid, but when he was a smaller kid in Toronto, he said,

Jacob, one of the things I would do in Toronto was he was in uni.

So and he's a decent student.

So like it was not like he was shirking work.

He said every day he would be conducting a Bible study for young people in Toronto because he said young people are hungry.

Once they get it, they'll bite and they'll hold on so strong that the older ones like Jacob and Abhishek and Ashish and George can't because they're almost wearing dentures now.

But the point is this.

Show them later, Abhishek.

The point is this, that young people, once they know the father, they're finished.

They are finished.

And if he could do it in uni every day of the week, too bad.

Any excuse you have suddenly begins to fall apart.

I'm not saying you have to do it every week.

God knows what he was doing every week.

But the point is this.

Once you're bitten, you're finished.

So father, sons and daughters, and then it goes on to say, he will invite them into a circle of dancing, of abundance, of joy.

Of dancing, abundance and joy.

Nothing like a good moonwalking party, man.

Invite them into dancing, abundance and joy.

And I will raise for myself, says the Lord, a torch bearing generation that will go out and will not come back void.

Oh, but he has them dancing in a circle of abundance, dancing and joy before the lion and the lamb.

Both the king and the slain one.

And he'll raise them up to be a generation that goes out and will not return back void.

Beautiful.

Let me give you real life examples.

I talked about this 100 from TWA, right?

They're here for one and a half years or 18 months.

What happens after 18 months?

They go back to nations that might be conducive or might not be conducive for the practice of Christianity.

There's another 72 in a northeastern province in India.

72 of them willing to commit one and a half years to two years of learning the word and being sent out four times a year.

God only knows what will happen, man.

What if one of them produces another Tooney, another Jeremy, another Janelle, another May, another Sheldon?

What if you need just one of them, man?

That's all.

So my question then is, is this a mandate that begins to burn in your belly?

Because if it does, then the Spirit of God can stir it up.

What then happens is you get to cultivate your patch of land well while...

You know what God's problem was in Haggai?

Here's a statement in Haggai chapter 1, verse 10.

Haggai 1:10

He says, Jacob, you are so interested in building your own paneled houses while my temple lies in ruins.

I want to take that and say something to us as we move to Richmond.

Our interest in Richmond is not Acts 29.

If we focus on increasing the numbers of Acts 29, if we focus on increasing the reputation or the fame of Acts 29,

then we will be building a paneled house while his temple lies in ruins.

Thus far, it was fine to build up Acts 29. We needed it.

Children need to be strengthened in homes that are secure.

But now a time has come where the interest must be, we will do this for you so that you can go back to wherever you want to

and build a temple because we're not interested in building our paneled houses.

Because if we focus on revival, on quest, on pursuit on Acts 29, then blight and mildew will strike what we are doing.

That's a shift, eh?

The 72 that are in Northeast India, they're not signing any charter with Acts 29.

The groups that are coming up in New York every month, they're not becoming part of the church in New York.

We've got something precious, guys. You know what it is? Seed. Good seed.

That has been cultivated in your lives and it shows. It shows.

It shows in your life, now we have the right to go seed others.

We must realize where God has brought us.

There's an average in this church which is higher than when we came here.

That is beautiful.

There was a time in this church where there would be a few brilliant people.

That's not the case anymore.

There's an average that is higher. Sure, every so often we have a collapse, but in general,

it's much nicer than it used to be.

We won't finish this. I'd have to keep you here till tomorrow morning.

If you do not have the burden, you will cause problems in the building of the temple.

To those who are not here, please listen online.

If you do not have a burden for this, the Spirit of God is unable to stir the absence of seed or substance.

It will have to be sowed first.

If you do not carry this burden as a leader or as a person or as the pastor here,

it is impossible to stir it up. It has to be first sown, and then it will cause problems in the future.

God has this thing about stirring up. You see it in Ezra.

Ezra chapter 1, verse 1. What does he do? Stirs up Cyrus.

Ezra 1:1

Then what does he do? He goes and stirs up Ezra.

Then what does he do? He goes and stirs up the nobles of Israel.

Why? Because something has to be built.

Let's assume that... Let me just pick on Dilna.

I really don't believe this of Dilna. I'm just picking on him.

Let's assume that Dilna does not have this burden, does not have an understanding of this mandate.

He's just not interested.

Well then, one month down the line, when I want him to do something in Richmond,

he might do it like he did it in Wall-E, which is fine,

but not with something that cries out for what we want to do in Richmond.

And so, he'll have to sit and he'll have to be sown that this is what we're doing here.

And then the Spirit of God can come and stir it up.

It has to be sown first.

And therefore, if you find yourself devoid of this understanding,

take the effort and the time to come and say,

I've dug up my soil, can you plant the seed?

You don't have to come to me, you can come to others. I'll tell you who to go to.

Everything we do will have to be, we haven't talked about this for a while,

but will have to be based on the father-son model.

That's how this church was first founded.

This is a dynamic that always culminates.

That ends in the building of the temple.

It doesn't matter who you take.

You take David Solomon, you take the Father Jesus, you take Paul Timothy.

It's in this relationship that God furnishes building blocks

that are used in the construction of the temple.

And so, as leaders, we have to be very careful.

And so, as leaders, this is critical to you that you treat

and begin to do everything in your power to raise those under you

as fathers and mothers would raise their sons and daughters.

And whenever you find it difficult, go back to it, go back to it, go back to it.

Because it's the one dynamic that God insists we take into Richmond.

Because like it or not, both discipling and disciplining

have the DNA of fathering in it.

Hear me again. Discipline and disciplining both have fathering written into its very DNA.

Any father that disciplines his child without being a father will harm the child.

And any disciple that you raise, there are two things to disciples, guys.

We've talked about this before. Divine ownership, divine sonship.

These are the two things that make up discipleship.

How do you define discipleship?

How do you define discipleship? Divine sonship and divine sonship.

Sonship and divine ownership.

That is what discipleship must aim for.

If you have a program that does that, let's do it.

But if you don't have a program that does that,

then the only basic construct for doing this is what I just said.

There's nothing else.

And discipline?

Anytime I try discipline on you without having the heart of a father, I will hurt you.

Because it's now coming out of a place of irritation, frustration, anger.

Recently someone wrote to me just three weeks ago,

and they said, Jacob, every time I talk to you, I felt like you're frustrated with where I'm at.

And I looked at what he said, and then I'd write back to him saying,

I'm sorry that my frustration showed.

My initial reaction was, no, no, no, I'm not frustrated with you.

You're wonderful. You're doing...

Then I realized, no, I was frustrated, but my frustration showed.

And in frustration showing, it did not encourage him.

It began to destroy him.

And so what's the choice then?

All you can do is apologize and tell him that next time I'm frustrated, it will not show.

Because I cannot guarantee that I will not be frustrated

because all parents get frustrated.

Jesus was frustrated many times.

Please don't write me an email saying, me too, me too, me too,

because it could well be possible that there are others, and I'm sorry.

I will just have a standard, I apologize, I apologize, I apologize email you.

Could you set that up for me, Matt, so that anything that comes like that has a...

God always builds the individual.

God builds the individual before the individual builds anything for him.

And how long does that take?

One and a half generations.

Some of you will be here that long, you've already been here 20 years.

One and a half generations.

How long did it take for David to train Solomon?

How long did it take for David to collect all the resources for Solomon?

How long did it take for Solomon to now collect the resources,

find the blueprint that David saw on the mountain from God and discharge it?

Takes time.

If you want ministry, this is the wrong place.

One of the things that's happened in this church is in our desire to hear God

say a few prophetic words and do ministry, we're losing out on the bigger picture.

Like Bob Newhart used to say, stop it.

That didn't...

Yeah, don't worry about it.

Does anyone know who Bob Newhart is?

Praise the Lord.

Okay.

God builds the individual and then the individual builds things

and it takes one and a half generations.

Next.

We'll go till 6.30.

I'm being generous.

Requires a people...

I like the feeling of you guys sitting in the top.

It's like, if you can hear me in the overflow room.

Yeah.

It requires a people of generosity and then prosperity.

It requires a people of generosity and then prosperity to build enrichment.

And I want to say to you that you are so generous and God is continually prospering you.

I'm just always blown away by stories I hear.

I have though one...

Not suggestion.

An opinion.

I believe that YA 2.0 should learn to give out of the little things that we have.

You have consistently not at dinners but to Acts 29 even if it is $5 in October and $6 in November.

I believe that YA 2.0, particularly if you're picking up a group of people, you're being discriminatory.

Absolutely.

So YA 2.0, I realize that you don't have much.

I realize that sometimes jobs are not there.

I realize how difficult it is after paying rent and paying things to put aside money for offering.

But I'm saying to you, for your own good, learn how to do this even if it's $2.

It is not a money grab but it is so essential.

You asked the ones sitting here today that went through what you went through.

Derek went through it.

Don went through it.

Sade went through it.

Remy went through it.

He went through it.

Sheldon and Jane went through it.

I've been through it.

There's nobody here who hasn't been through what you've been through.

But here's the truth.

Didn't matter how much we got, we put $2, $3, $5.

My monthly income was $550 when I started.

My rent was more than that.

But somehow I'd find the ability in the beginning of the month to put $2, $3, $4.

And then the next month my intent was only this.

Lord, I'd like to give $5.

It's not a rebuke.

It's a strong opinion for your good.

Cool?

We already spoke about this.

It requires the people of peace.

Richmond requires a people of peace.

What do you mean by people of peace?

People that aren't building their house,

but the temple as in other people's houses.

It will deliver us from making our local church our idol.

It will deliver us from making our local church our idol.

I'll have to use the word saying Act 29 will not be the idol that everyone has to bow to.

People of peace seek the welfare of Nineveh.

People of peace seek the welfare of Nineveh, a pagan city.

It has to have a heart different from Jonah's.

People of peace seek the welfare of Nineveh.

Jonah did not seek the welfare of Nineveh.

People of peace seek the welfare of Nineveh.

Seek the welfare of its kings, its leaders.

Next one.

It requires a people of obedience and courage.

Obedience and courage.

I'm going to quote two guys.

One guy I admire, one guy I don't admire.

One guy I admire.

The first quote is by Charles Spurgeon.

I love this quote.

Obedience is the highest practical courage.

You know, hanging out with Tooni, I'm beginning to quote people.

I've noticed a change.

Yeah.

So obedience is the highest practical courage.

At the end of the day, courage and obedience are linked so closely linked that obedience is the highest practical courage.

Obedience requires me doing something.

And the other quote is quite good.

Here's the other quote.

Great moves of God.

Great moves of God are preceded by simple acts of obedience.

Great moves of God are preceded by simple acts of obedience.

Joshua chapter one, verse seven.

Be obedient and be courageous.

So many of us want to be obedient.

We say we'll be obedient.

We desire to be obedient.

That's one part.

Courage and obedience are always together.

They cannot be separated.

Obedience is the highest practical courage.

Great moves of God are preceded by simple acts of obedience.

You know, one of the things that I've realized is every time any momentum shift has had to happen in my life or through my life, I've always had to let go not of who I am but everything I have.

You'll notice these patterns in your life.

When Acts 29 had to be started, I had a decent job with a decent pay and decent benefits.

Like I'd never had benefits in my life, decent benefits and all that.

But I knew that if Acts 29 had to be started, then there needed to be a letting go of not who I am.

God makes you who you are till this body get a point so you can step into the next.

But everything you have has to be shed before you can move on into the next one.

And that is where this comes.

Do I have the obedience to step into that?

Stay tuned.

Not today.

Any questions before we conclude?

Okay.

The other statements that I would have made would be requires worshipers.

And I bless you for changing this church into a church that enjoys worship, steps into worship without effort, doesn't need someone to drive you into worship.

It's contagious.

People will come in and they'll know God is here.

Worship does that.

It requires worshipers who seek him in spirit and truth.

The only thing I'd encourage us to do is to get more and more biblically literate, biblically literate.

The more we know the word, the greater our true view of God is.

And all worship hinges on the true view of God.

When John 4 says worship him in spirit and truth, what he means is get to know him better.

The better you know him, the greater your worship.

And so we can't be biblically illiterate.

And so this church can always grow in biblical literacy.

I'm talking about all of us, see?

All of us.

This is not some YA 1.0, 2.0, under 50s, everybody.

It changes our view of who he is and makes it easier to worship.

The other one requires manifest presence.

And that we've been striving.

In our gathering, in our going, it's the one thing that we keep expecting, keep expecting.

And it's only a matter of time before it will trigger extraordinary signs, healings, and miracles like your T-shirt says.

This is something we strive to demonstrate in our gatherings and in our going out.

And that was another thing that I hope will break Fort Richmond.

I just want to announce some good news.

One of the promises God gave us was that it would be a summer of baptisms.

And guess who's getting baptized?

One of the first people to get baptized in this new church.

Mia.

I mean, I am so thrilled.

My heart is so blessed.

When I said 20s and 30s, I didn't expect 10s and 20s.

Is she even 10?

Seven.

There was a word on her at one of the Quest meetings.

God said, this woman will preach with fire.

And she wants to get baptized.

So I don't know whether it will be next Sunday or the Sunday after, but hey, looking forward to it.

Vivek and Vizica must have done something right here.

Vivek, you can take a bow.

So some of the things I want, I'm looking forward to next Sunday is one, Mia's baptism.

Another one is Kesan, Don's story of Eliakim.

He asked for eight minutes.

I'm going to give him 15.

And so he can take 15 minutes to talk about it.

And it's a fascinating story of healing and power.

That's how we in the church are going to get baptized.

And I'm going to give you a little bit of a story.

It's a fascinating story of healing and power.

That's how we start our tenure there.

That this is the God we serve.

Let it be announced.

Yeah.

Looking forward to it.

What time do we start in Richmond?

Next one was requires being slaves of God, being slaves of God.

I use deliberately use the word slaves.

I didn't want to use the word servants because servants is never the word used in the Bible.

It's always slave.

Servants is our kosher word.

We won't talk about it today, but we'll touch on it some other time.

I just want to talk about one last thing and we're done.

And that is requires the people of wisdom and skill.

Wisdom and skill.

I hope that guys like Subin, guys like Siddhi, guys like John can do stuff for Richmond that touches on things that have to do with tech and coding and stuff like that.

And they can pull in Matt and Remy and a whole lot of other people.

What does it look like for wisdom and skill to be part of what we do in Richmond?

Maybe at the end of two years, two people will be affected.

What if Vibi does something in Abbotsford and starts a coffee importing business in Abbotsford?

Where's Vibi?

Thank God he's not listening to this.

So here's a definition of divine wisdom.

Divine wisdom.

That's not dashalty.

It's just divine wisdom.

Divine wisdom is factual knowledge.

It's factual knowledge plus divine situational insight plus God backed resolve.

If any of this is missing, it's not divine wisdom.

And the intent is to achieve righteous ends.

Beautiful, eh?

It's factual knowledge.

You're confronted with a situation where what you face is factual.

And then into that, you ask the one who gives without grudging, who says, listen, you can trust me on this.

You ask him for wisdom, which is divine situational insight.

As in pertaining to that situation, he injects insight, sometimes through the word, sometimes just in your spirit, sometimes through someone.

That's followed by God backed resolve.

It is not enough to know that wisdom now needs to be applied.

Show me how you applied.

Wisdom that is not applied is not wisdom.

And finally, it must achieve righteous ends.

This is why in Genesis 41, Pharaoh looks at Joseph and he says, is there any doubt in our minds that this is the man to whom wisdom has been given?

Shouldn't he be placed in charge of taking the wisdom that he has now spoken and bringing to pass all that is necessary so that Egypt will be fed?

All four things immediately into it.

Same as said of Joshua.

And then wisdom and skill.

You go to Exodus.

I don't remember where I'll check.

Exodus, it talks about a guy called Bezalel.

That guy had skill and wisdom combined together.

Ask for this.

Because this is how cities are fathered.

You know, sometimes when I write these notes down or I preach these notes and I learn it with you, I think to myself, why, oh God?

Why can't you just go ordinary stuff?

Why are you placing stuff on us that we have to wrap our hearts and minds and spirits around?

Why?

But he looks at us like maybe Don will look at Eliakim, see him wiggling his toes and start imagining him playing for real Madrid.

Cas, Cas, he's wiggling his toes.

He'll be a skilled dribbler.

And then Eliakim dribbles a little.

And Cas says, yeah, yeah, I can see him dribble.

He says, no, no, no, that's not what I meant.

Like actual nutmegging.

That's how the father thinks.

He doesn't want you to just, he doesn't want us kicking balls around.

He wants us to play for Barcelona.

On that sweet note, we shall end.

Try not to dilute this as you take it forward.

Some of those questions that you need to ask, you'll have to ask if you want this to be known.

Otherwise, you will come into a location without your grasp of the inheritance.

And if you stay quiet, you will not trouble things.

But if you don't stay quiet, you'll even trouble things.

Yeah.

Let's pray.

Jesus, we love obeying.

We love obeying.

It's one of our favorite things to do and obedience has to come with courage.

We love obeying.

When we obey, you take care of everything else.

Isn't that true, Church?

Isn't that your experience?

James, don't you love obeying?

Isn't it thrilling to obey Christ?

Hannah, isn't it awesome to obey God?

There's nothing as precious as obeying Him.

Subin, is there any other desire you have?

Is there any other desire your wife has?

This room is full of people who want to obey.

And God, having seen that, is saying, let me give you something challenging to obey

so that I can show you that I am the doer.

Deuteronomy 9, verse 1 to 3.

Deuteronomy 9:1–3

I'm sending you into a land which has walls that are really high.

They have chariots with iron spokes.

They are built like giants.

They are much greater than you.

You have heard of them.

It was said of them that they are powerful.

No one can vanquish them.

To them I'm sending you.

But do not be afraid, for I will send hornets before you.

I will drive them away.

That's the kind of God this Church serves.

That is the kind of God we are inviting young men and women to serve,

because they need it.

They need someone who can be followed.

And Christ is that someone.

Ours is not an idly-pidly tamed domesticated cat.

We're talking about the Lion of Judah.

And I didn't mean that at all in a negative way about cats.

I'm just saying that we serve the Lion of Judah.

That's who we serve.

I want you to sing an old song with me.

If you don't know it, fake it.

I'm not going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.

I'm going to sing it.