Fortress Church - Culture

We will continue with the Fortress Church.

Today we will be talking about culture.

So guys, culture forms when people gather.

Anytime people gather, culture forms.

Usually people gather because they have a purpose. They connect because there is a purpose to their connecting.

There is an aim to why they gather. So it doesn't matter whether it's the gathering downtown today or whether it's just gathering.

Culture forms when people gather. There is always a purpose or an aim for their gathering.

And if there is no purpose or aim for gathering, the gathering doesn't last.

And so because they have aims and because they have purpose for gathering, there are beliefs and values that begin to determine their action.

There are beliefs and values that begin to determine their actions.

You see that as early as Genesis 11, verse 4, where God had specifically told Adam and his descendants,

Genesis 11:4

that listen, go forth, multiply, replenish the earth. It was a distribution.

And yet in Genesis 11, verse 4, you see that Nimrod begins to tell people,

Genesis 11:4

Hey, let's not disperse. Let's begin to gather in the plains of Shinar and let's begin to purpose things together

so we build a tower that can reach into the skies and literally challenge God.

And so you're talking about thousands of people gathering in the plains of Shinar and building a tower that is meant to defy God.

And that's when God comes down and the nations begin to happen.

But Nimrod had the ability to shape a people, to change their values

and the knowledge that was passed down to them orally through their ancestors, to change it.

And culture was formed. And then God had to come and literally break up that culture.

So culture forms whenever people gather with a purpose or a name.

And beliefs and values then begin to determine their actions.

And these values that initially are individual become corporate or become that which belongs to a group of people.

And so if you were to think of it in terms of a plant, an individual plant,

an individual plant, be it a tree, a flower or a vegetable plant, regardless of what it is,

an individual plant is a value, has a value, is a value.

But imagine that a collection of plants together.

Imagine now a collection of plants together.

And now you have what's called culture.

And this collection of plants is called a garden.

A garden could be an orchard because gardens have purpose.

A garden could be an orchard. It could be a vegetable plot.

It could be a vineyard.

It could be just a flower garden.

Suddenly, these collection of plants together form culture.

Initially, it was just an individual plant, a tree, a flower, a vegetable plant.

It has value.

But the moment it begins to come into a collection of plants together, now you begin to form culture.

It's almost inevitable.

And depending on the aim, this collection of plants is now called a garden.

And so we could use the word a church garden.

But what is it? Is it an orchard? Is it a vegetable plot? Is it a vineyard? Is it a flower garden?

It depends on who. It depends on the gardener.

And who in this case is the gardener? God.

He has wine dressers to help him, but he determines purpose.

And once that purpose is determined, then you begin to grow a culture that's conducive to the aim or the purpose.

So if it's a vineyard, it's to produce wine.

If it's a vegetable patch, it's to produce bok choy.

If it is flowers, it's for viewing pleasure.

If it's an orchard, it's for fruit.

Who determines what kind of garden it should be? God.

So the purpose of the garden church or the garden is determined by the vision of the gardener, God,

and he passes it on to his vine dressers.

Which means then that the individual values I may have

in the garden must align with the vision of the gardener

so that he can have what he wants from the culture he's creating.

And so there are some things that are fundamental to all cultures when it comes to kingdom,

but then there are other things that are specific to tribes.

Just like Jacob's sons, 12 of them, they all had commonalities.

They were born from Jacob and Billa and Zilpa and Rachel and Leah.

So there were things that were common to the tribes,

but then there were specifics that were very determined by what God wanted each tribe to end up being.

The question though that we have to continuously ask is, the litmus test is,

is the culture real or is it just words? Is the culture kingdom?

Does the culture reflect the king?

And if it does, then it is kingdom culture. Is it countercultural?

That's one of the ways to identify if a culture is actually working,

because everything about this kingdom and this culture that we are supposed to both create and live in

is supposed to be countercultural.

If it's not countercultural, then there's something deficient in it.

Is it countercultural?

Then lastly, is it impacting or benefiting others?

Because remember that famous saying,

Christianity is the only club that operates for the behalf of its non-members.

Our religion is the only religion that exists solely for the benefit of its non-members, not for the members.

So these are the questions one must ask with regard to culture.

So church culture then, and every church has a culture.

Church culture is the sum of our actual priorities,

values, actions, attitudes, preferences and biases.

And guess who knows this best?

You know, when in most churches you have these cards that guests and visitors are supposed to fill out,

I wish we didn't have those kind of cards.

What if we asked them at the end of the service when they go home,

what if we asked them, hey, what did you notice about this church that you came to that stood out for you?

That should be the question, not how do we get in touch with you?

What's your number? Do you need a tithing and envelope?

No, what if they filled out a form saying, this is what stood out?

Because visitors see it quite quickly.

We don't realize over a period of time it's cultivated.

So any questions on that before we move on?

Countries of cultures, cities of cultures, churches, every church has a culture.

How about edification? You're saying it's the benefit of others.

How about edification? Yeah. Edification of ourselves, right? For the sake of others.

At the end of the day, me being encouraged, me being strengthened is again for the benefit of somebody else.

So it all comes out to being poured out for the benefit of others.

Yeah. So all the things that happen in a service like this is meant for the benefit of the people for the sake of others.

In the temple, there would be no noise of chisel or hammer.

All the actual work was being done in the quarry. The quarry is Monday to Saturday.

Any questions?

Okay.

Now here's the thing. Culture impacts every area.

Culture impacts every area for good and bad.

It's not just the good.

And so leaders by the spirit, meaning under the control of the spirit, must be proactive in shaping good culture or things that God wants to create in us.

Because if that doesn't happen, you have this word which is very common in the business world where all these words are used.

You have something called culture drift.

Culture drift is where you end up having something that doesn't serve original vision, doesn't serve original vision.

And therefore, if you don't take stock, it's easy to drift.

It's easy to drift.

The Holy Spirit can be pretty determined when it comes to these things.

One of the stories that really bothers, I'm sure all of us, is Acts chapter five, verses one to eleven.

In the new church in Jerusalem, there were two people called Ananias and Sapphira.

And here's what they wanted to do.

They wanted to be important in the church, well recognized in the church, perhaps even used in the church as leaders by the money they gave.

They began to use money as a tool to promote themselves.

And strangely enough, at that stage in the life of the church, if that wasn't dealt with, if that wasn't shaped, a fledgling church would have gone sideways.

Peter even gives them an opportunity saying, hey, did you sell everything?

Because they went around saying that, you know what, we've laid everything down.

We sold everything we had.

We laid it down at the apostles' feet.

It was for self elevation.

And Peter goes and says, listen, nobody asked you to give.

And when you give, you could have given how much ever you wanted.

Why have you gone around doing this?

And the guy denies it and he falls dead.

His wife comes, same question.

She falls dead too.

You think, man, that is so severe.

If that happened now, then perhaps Vibi and Timothy is standing.

But Vibi, because God would have mercy on him, Timothy because he's innocent.

Where's Vibi?

Oh, OK.

OK, so but both Peter and the Holy Spirit dealt with something

because otherwise the culture would have gone sideways.

That's how important this is to God.

For us, it's not because it's not such a big deal.

Go ahead.

And there's something they were doing with the lying about what they did.

Yeah, they were lying to the people, lying to the Holy Spirit,

lying just when something was beginning to emerge.

That's why when you start something, make sure that it's contamination free.

And if you don't arrest it, culture propagates.

It just keeps going.

Seems like a severe story, but it put an end to any such action in that

people were now careful, reverent and afraid, it says, after that.

So it is important to take stock of where we are in terms of the culture

God wants us to build.

And if it's going sideways, we have to be proactive in shaping it,

and the Spirit of God will help us.

Culture is defined by how we live, not what we say.

How we live is affected by how we think.

Proverbs 23, verse 7, as a man thinks, so is he.

Proverbs 23:7

Culture is defined by how we live, not what we say.

In fact, when there's a difference between how we live and how we say,

there's another fancy word called culture gap, where there's a gap.

And into that gap, a whole lot of people can fall.

It's like a crevasse.

When there's a gap between what we say and how we live,

it creates problems for others.

How we live is determined by how we think.

How we think is affected by what we learn or what we are taught

and what is demonstrated or example or modeled.

If you read Mark 3, 14, you will see that the reason Jesus called the 12 to himself

was so that they could learn and be like him.

And I love the words in Acts 4, 13.

In Acts 4, 13 it says that when they heard the disciples speak,

it just says it this way, they realized that these men had been with Jesus.

Jesus had died. He had gone on. He had risen, he's gone.

But they are listening to these disciples speak and they say they knew that these men had been with Jesus.

What a statement, eh?

How we live is determined by how we think.

How we think is affected by what we are taught and what is example and demonstrated.

When there is a gap between how we live and how we talk, that's called a culture gap,

where people talk a culture but they do not live that culture.

There's a gap. And into that gap, new people will definitely fall because they are caught confused.

You're saying this, but you're living this and they fall into this crevasse,

especially ones that come in new.

And so we've got to be careful that the crevasse becomes a crevice and then becomes a fracture and then becomes non-existent.

Another thing we need to realize is leaders are culture shapers.

Leaders are culture shapers.

Leaders are culture shapers.

Sometimes you have people who aren't leaders but have influence.

And that's great too.

Because as long as the influence is helping shape the vision and the garden, that's good.

Not everybody has to be on a board or a table of leaders before it is effective.

There are people that aren't anything and yet have the lives that reflect what it is that God is trying to build.

And so that's good. But leaders are culture shapers.

Sometimes the ones that aren't leaders who influence can do so by their age, by their experience, through their lives.

Sometimes through forceful personality and sometimes through popularity.

These are good. These are usually not helpful.

Question is always, does the influence of a leader at the table or not, does it shape or distort God's design?

That's the question.

And if leaders are culture shapers, then the blame for culture gap, for culture drift, rests on the leader.

So if there is a gap that is there at Acts 29, or if there's a shift from what God has for us,

then I don't even want to use the word the onus is on the leaders.

I'm saying the blame is on the leaders. And the blame is on the first leader, which is the pastor, and then the rest of the leaders, whenever there's a gap.

And so they then have to pull up their socks and say, OK, so we need to re-examine where we are supposed to go,

and whether there's a gap or a drift, and then we bring it back.

When we bring it back, a drift becomes a shift. Culture drift becomes culture shift.

How do we bring things back? By reinforcing those things that are important, by recognizing them, by endorsing it, by rewarding it, by complimenting it, by elevating it.

How do we make known those things that are not for us from God? By condemning it, by not rewarding it, by exposing it.

That's one of the easiest ways to reinforce culture. Easiest ways.

Doesn't matter whether it's a dictatorship, a theocracy, a church, an organization.

That's one of the first and perhaps the most prominent ways that culture has shifted.

Any questions?

Any questions?

Because hearing what is criticized or hearing what is championed has an effect that really begins to decide which way to go.

So if you go to 1 Samuel 2, verse 22 to 24, you see it there. You see what happens.

1 Samuel 2:22–24

Guys, entire churches are lost when culture is corrupted.

1 Samuel 2, 22. Eli had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas.

But because of his love for his sons and because he was getting old, he would not stop them.

And in the sacrifice and the worship of Jerusalem, worship of Israel, a new culture began to come in, which was the priest taking the best portions for themselves.

The priest sleeping with women, just like the priests of the Canaanites used to sleep with women.

And all that Eli would say to his sons is, this is not good. It's not a good thing that you're doing.

Till God had to come in and God had to say, listen, you have honored your sons and what they're doing above me.

And this is what's going to happen to you. There will not be a man to sit in your seat from this day forth.

And that's when Icabod happens. Icabod, the departing of the glory of God, happened because a new culture

that was so perverse was introduced into the flow of things.

From that comes Samuel and that comes David. So we don't realize how important this is.

Any questions?

Okay. When two cultures develop within a church, when two cultures develop within a church,

we have another fancy word which is called culture clash.

Where two cultures are developed within a church,

we have another fancy word which is called culture clash.

Where there's a conflict in values.

And whenever that happens, it leads to complaining, misunderstandings,

because now it's not that anybody wants to destroy the church or do harm to the church.

Anyone's coming in with evil intent. But when two cultures develop,

it always ends up in a conflict of values and there's complaining and misunderstanding,

and it becomes a burden for the leaders in particular.

Where do we see this? We see this in Numbers 11, verse 1 to 4. Numbers 11, verses 1 to 4.

Numbers 11:1–4 Numbers 11:1–4

Numbers 11, verses 1 to 4, the people start complaining.

Numbers 11:1–4

Because the Bible says that there were people that were besides the Israelites that joined them.

Israel would form a crucifix-like arrangement for their camp.

Four tribes this way, four tribes this way, and this way.

And then along the borders would be others, riffraff.

The message calls them riffraff. That's why I'm using the word.

Riffraff and others that had joined Israel in their journey through the desert,

and they began to form on the outskirts.

And they started provoking Israel to complain.

We don't have meat, we don't have water, we don't have this.

It became too much to a point where Moses began to say to God, kill me, take me.

I don't want this anymore. I don't want to go further.

When two values begin to clash, when two cultures begin to clash in one congregation or church,

it is almost inevitable that murmurings and complainings will start.

How did God address it? Thank God he doesn't address it that way nowadays,

or at least not publicly. He sent fire.

Where does he send fire? On the outskirts.

And you think to yourself, why on the outskirts of God?

I thought you were an equal opportunity God.

Like fall everywhere.

No, it's on the outskirts. He calls it taberah, or burning,

where the people besides the Israelites would camp and create this murmur,

was this portion that was undone.

This is important to God, and therefore must be important to us.

And we must do whatever it takes to bring it into alignment with his vision and his garden.

Any questions?

You know culture shifts, how Nehemiah and Ezra used to do it?

Let's just read how Ezra and Nehemiah went about fixing things that were not working out well.

If you go to the book of the Bible,

what you have to do is expose that which is distorted,

and expel that which is misshapen.

And so let's look at Ezra in 10,

and then we'll go to Ezra in 10,

and then we'll go to Ezra in 10,

and then we'll go to Ezra in 10,

and then we'll go to Ezra in 10,

and so let's look at Ezra in 10.

We're not talking about people, we're talking about values first.

People are a last resort in terms of God dealing with them.

He wants to deal with the values so that people can still be a part of what he's doing.

Ezra 10 verses 9 to 11.

Ezra 10:9–11

Ezra 10, 9 to 11.

Betty, remind me again at the end.

Ezra 10, 9 to 11.

And so he had a problem.

One of the problems that Ezra was facing, and Nehemiah faced too, is the same problem.

The Israelites were beginning to marry foreign women,

and in the process of marrying foreign women, Israel's culture was being corrupted.

And here's what it says.

Ezra 10, 9 to 11.

Within three days all the people of Judah and Benjamin had gathered in Jerusalem.

This took place on December 19th.

That's what the New Living Translation says.

And all the people were sitting in the square before the temple of God.

They were trembling both because of the seriousness of the matter and because it was raining.

Then Ezra the priest stood and said to them,

You have committed a terrible sin by marrying pagan women.

You have increased Israel's guilt.

So now confess your sin to the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and do what he demands.

Separate yourselves from the people of the land and from these pagan women.

Then the whole assembly raised their voice and answered,

Yes, you are right. We must do as you say.

Some of these women, they probably liked, loved, knew for a while.

Let's go to Nehemiah.

Nehemiah 13, 23 to 27.

Same problem.

This one gets a little more dramatic.

About the same time I realized that some of the men of Judah had married women from Ashdod, from Ammon, and from Moab.

Furthermore, half their children spoke the language of Ashdod or of some other people and could not speak the language of Judah at all.

So I confronted them and called down curses on them.

I beat some of them and pulled out their hair.

Ain't happening here, I think.

I made them swear in the name of God that they would not let their children intermarry with the pagan people of the land.

Wasn't this exactly what led King Solomon of Israel into sin? I demanded.

There was no king from any nation who could compare to him, and God loved him and made him king over all Israel.

But even he was led into sin by his foreign wives.

How could you even think of committing the sinful deed and acting unfaithfully towards God by marrying foreign women?

That's dealing with culture.

If there was anyone who was wise and whose reign was called the Golden Age of Israel, it was Solomon.

And yet that culture, in the end, produced more shrines, more temples, more high places, and more descendants that were corrupt than anybody else.

So what are some of the, if we were to ask, what are some of the important things in Acts 29 culture?

Let's have a look at that.

Acts 29 culture.

We can broadly put them under family, fathers and sons,

presence,

and being apostolic in nature.

Broadly we can put it on that. So let's look at it.

First, M4.

Make disciples.

Multiply churches.

Make the Father known.

Manifest presence.

I'm praying that this will be something that you will look at and that here on, moving forward, that the things we do and the things we don't do,

the things we embrace and the things we expel will be based on some of these things that is supposed to be our culture.

We'll look at the positive and the negative today, and then we'll continue next week.

Next one.

I am not my own.

I belong to Christ.

I belong to you.

So Jacob, what if some of these things are not true?

Then we'll have to work harder at it.

But is it part of who we are? Yeah.

And any event, anything that's not conducive to this, must be re-examined.

And if you're sleeping right now, and I can see two of you sleeping, wake up, because this is important.

Most likely you won't go home and look at this.

Eudicus!

If that doesn't wake up, I'll have to come and...

Okay, maybe you did have a late night.

You still haven't woken up.

Next one.

The body of Christ.

Next one.

The body of Christ as my primary family.

The body of Christ as my primary family that we serve, are served by, and are defined by.

The body of Christ as in this local body, is my primary family that I serve, that I'm served by, and that I'm defined by.

Next one.

The saints do the work of ministry.

The saints do the work.

Not the pastors.

The saints do the work.

And they serve at cost, inconvenience, and sacrificial generosity.

This is so different from most churches, eh?

Next one.

We try to move people from orphans to sons by recognizing the fatherhood of God.

As we go through this, if this does not apply to your life, ask the question, why?

As we go through this, if this does not apply to your life, ask the question, why?

If you still struggle with orphanhood and have not come into a place where you have the freedom to be a son and a servant, ask the question, why?

Before you turn your finger and point at anybody else, ask this way first. Why?

Next one.

Fathers, as in leaders, it doesn't matter whether you're male or female, the terms are genderless.

Fathers raising sons, so they in turn can be good fathers raising others.

Orphan to son to servant, there, I forgot to put that in.

Fathers raising sons, so they can be good fathers that raise sons, raise others who empty themselves.

These are some of the critical values and culture of this church.

If it is not active in my life, then I must ask why.

If it is not a common thing and it's still limited to pockets, I must ask why.

Because if this is the garden God wants to plant, then what are the vine dressers doing that isn't working?

Where do you need to change things? What instruments do you need to use?

Here's another one. Your walk, who you are in Christ, is our business and responsibility.

And you can't say, M-Y-O-B.

Your walk with Christ, with each other, and your, who you are in Christ, is our business and our responsibility.

So saying mind your own business won't work here, shouldn't work here.

Next one. Honor and order in relationships.

So that lives are lived openly and can be imitated and Christ formed.

You know, I had this strange conversation with Vibi about a month and a half ago.

When Caleb was here six months ago, Vibi and Caleb used to come over to my place,

and I spent a lot of time with Caleb and Vibi just because he would visit frequently.

And then after that I would meet with Vibi every so often.

And one of the things I realized is that, you know,

one of the things I realized is that because he had met me enough times,

there was in our relationship a casualness that was developing, which was good,

but a back-slapping casualness that was developing that was not conducive to Vibi.

Where he was like my buddy Jacob and so sometimes when I would say things,

the familiarity would prevent him from receiving it.

There is something to honor and order.

And I remember having this conversation with Vibi saying,

Hey Vibi, I'd love to give you more, but the dynamics of the relationship have to change if you want to receive.

There is something to honor and order.

And if you don't get that right, you will not be able to imitate.

And if you don't imitate, Christ will not be formed in the areas of imitation.

And he understood it.

Sometimes live examples like this have to be given not to expose a relationship, but to help others.

This is part of our culture.

Next one.

We are unafraid or should be unafraid.

Unafraid.

And maybe always be this way, unafraid to confront, content, challenge, correct.

Even if it means that an offended brother may walk away.

Even if it means that an offended brother may walk away.

The next few are about presence.

We try to found ourselves in the word, founded in the word.

Led by the spirit.

In decision making.

You can go to people like Heidi and others who were here from the beginning.

And very rarely has this church ever made a decision that was based on anything else.

But the spirit of God saying, Hey, do this or do that.

Very rarely.

I mean, I'm saying very rarely because it perhaps has happened.

But almost every decision is made based on the ability to know what the Holy Spirit wants and whether it matches in terms of its integrity with the word.

The other thing this church insists in terms of culture is sustained by the presence of God.

And hearing and the prophetic.

So sustained awareness of presence.

You see during worship, you see it in the way Tuni does things.

You see it in the way Priyanka will add something extra to her testimony.

You see it in the way sometimes kids talk.

You see it in everything.

There's a desire to be aware of the presence of God.

How does all this come about?

You need to recognize that.

How have we gotten to where we have gotten?

The reason we've gotten to where we have gotten is because it's been taught, retaught, modeled, insisted upon.

That's how culture catches.

Culture doesn't catch because the Spirit of God sends a fluffy cloud and everybody now begins to do things.

It's laborious.

It's laborious.

Honor your leaders for what they've done in your midst.

Honor them.

It's through repetition, repetition, repetition.

Flaws are easy to find.

Honor is hard to give.

Don't wait till they turn 60 because that's still quite far away for a lot of them, though I enjoyed my 60th.

Strong reliance on hearing and the prophetic.

I love something else that we have, spontaneity in worship.

And less emphasis on excellence and a non-emphasis on performance.

Spontaneity in worship.

Less emphasis on excellence.

Non-emphasis on performance.

Very little in this church is actually performance.

Very little.

Now we turn to the apostolic and that's the last one.

A church that is sent to build, plant, tear down in nations.

Always been this way right from the inception.

Of late, there's a fresh desire to proclaim the word and long like we've never longed before for signs and wonders.

It's always been there but there's this please, oh God.

Tear down, tear down.

We go places and we dismantle stuff too.

Another thing that this church does is God crafted sometimes global, sometimes local ventures.

God crafted global ventures which we do not have resources for.

We have to go back to the past, either in manpower or in money, but we won't back down and we've seen the impossible.

This church is unafraid.

We have to change.

Open and flexible.

At the drop of a hat.

People who can't do that will leave.

Will leave.

I've seen so many good people come here who cannot handle change that happens at the drop of a hat and eventually they leave.

Not because of any other reason but because this is part of this culture.

Last one.

A commitment to model these things or systems or ways for others, future generations, other churches.

One of my favorite things to do is say come and see.

Come and see.

And when they come and see, they don't come and see me, they come and see us, they come and see you.

This is our culture.

These are the positives.

And if there is anything that is not now beginning to go down this route, then we have to examine if there is a culture gap.

Things that need to be removed, things that need to be reinforced.

We're talking about the fortress church for the last five, six weeks.

This is part of the process.

Any questions on these before we move to the five or six negatives?

Okay.

Okay.

His question is has there been a time when God said go one way and then he said no, change directions?

Yes.

One of the things that was prophesied long ago, the churches, do not worry about the things that are incomplete.

I know each building block and I will use it when it's time.

So it's like a man who's cutting.

Have you seen those artists who begin to draw and you don't know what they're drawing?

It's a line here and a line there.

And you think to yourself, what's wrong?

Sometimes God is like that.

When you have these building blocks and you think to yourself, build a blooming building and it's not being built, but eventually every block is used.

So that's one thing.

Second, yeah, there have been radical changes in directions.

But sometimes puts people off because it's almost like you don't know what you're doing, which is what they said of Jesus when he was supposed to go and raise Lazarus from the dead.

Sometimes it's good to know what you're doing so that you have the complete picture and you can keep pointing people towards it.

What if you don't know?

Then what do you do?

God either shows you the horizon and tells you that's what you will see, like he did with Abraham or other times he doesn't tell you and he says, just trust me, take a step at a time.

Negatives.

Sluggishness.

We are a culture that is sluggish and we don't run or rush to be first.

We are sluggish culture.

Till you're in charge of something here, you don't realize how sluggish we are as a people.

We'll get there eventually.

But never ahead of time.

One of the things that is also common in this culture is that we start everything late.

We laugh at it.

We compensate for it.

We keep saying it's okay.

People are more important than time.

But the fact is this church has a wicked culture of turning up late.

I use the word wicked deliberately.

Because God is not laissez faire or do whatever you want, guys.

He's not like that.

But for us, starting late has become part of our habit.

In India, we say it's Indian stretchable time.

In Indonesia, it is IET, Indonesian eternal time.

Like there's no guarantee that anybody will show up.

Here, we've got a problem.

All of us have a problem.

May I just, because I was preaching this at 4.45 today, I actually did a count.

There were 23 people here, out of which nine were music and sound.

Recognize that it is part of our culture now.

We sometimes have good reasons.

But most of the time, it has become culture.

We'll talk about how we'll change these things.

Sometimes you have reasons.

If you walked in late today because you had to take care of four kids or one kid or two kids or two dogs or some one to pick up,

please, I'm not pointing a finger at you, but please understand that this has become a habit for us.

It's a habit.

Next one.

As the church gets younger, and if it's a culture, then remember, the one to blame the most is who?

The one at the top.

Obviously not God, me.

Because once you begin to tolerate something, it becomes normal.

I tolerate it.

Second one.

As we get younger as a church, as the church gets younger,

as the church gets younger,

intensity in reading the Bible

and prayer

may not be where it should be.

So the scripture for the first one is Proverbs 12.27.

Proverbs 12.27.

Proverbs 12.27.

Lazy people don't even cook the game they catch,

but the diligent make use of everything they find,

depending on which version you read.

A lazy life is an empty life, but early to rise gets the job done.

We are lazy and sluggish when it comes to the thing called time.

Second one is, as the church gets younger, the intensity in reading of the Bible and prayer may not be where it should be.

Proverbs, sorry, Psalms 119, verse 9.

Psalms 119:9

How can a young man keep his way pure?

How can a young man keep his way pure by cherishing your word?

For whatever reason, again, I think the blame should lie first on the ones that are older than you,

because it was not emphasized.

But when I was 30 or 27, it was important that the ones that were older insisted that I read the Word.

They tested me on the Word.

So it was very natural to know the Word.

And that isn't something that we cultivate as a church.

In the long run, it will affect us terribly.

You know, one of the things I liked about Tarun when I met with him some weeks ago

is once he became a believer, he sat and in six or seven months he read the whole Bible from cover to cover.

I thought to myself, oh, shucks, that's been a while since I did it.

It enriches us, right?

Never back off from that, eh?

These are negatives that this church has.

Next one.

Too loosey goosey.

That's a Greek word for...

Blah.

Too loosey goosey with the sacred.

Too loosey goosey with the sacred.

And what that means is there are things that are important to God.

Sometimes in this church, because of our casualness,

and most of the casualness starts here,

it gets so...

It becomes less weighty.

It becomes too casual.

And so what happens when things get too casual is it begins to blur reverence.

And worse, culture does not permeate.

Things that are important don't go down to the next generation.

It becomes too casual.

The hard part is to change, eh?

Because it's become a habit, right?

Next year we'll be 20 years old.

When for 20 years you have a casual attitude

towards things that are sometimes weighty and important,

then what happens? It's so hard to change.

I find it so hard to change.

Yeah.

I've been in situations where we did communion

in a way that was so casual that the elements were taken and used wrongly.

The elements were given by mistake into situations

that it should not have been given to.

Things were said about the elements being distributed

that should not have been said.

And if I had been a pastor in any other church,

it would have bothered me like crazy.

I went home and I literally cried saying,

I'm so sorry for what I've done to your church.

I'm just talking about something as sacred as communion.

Yes, it's a joyful occasion.

Yes, children and grown-ups should enjoy it.

It's not a mournful funeral.

It's a celebration of the life of the risen one.

But in the process, things are lost.

I'm just giving you one example that troubled me like crazy.

I'm not even going into the full details of it

because when the people did it, they did it without knowing.

But if I had done better, they would not have done that.

Just giving you one example.

Where the lines get blurred, where the sacred becomes quite common.

And guess what?

Culture isn't passed down.

Guys, this is the scripture that troubles me most.

Guys, this is the scripture that troubles me most about culture.

Judges chapter 2, verse 10.

Judges 2:10

Can someone read it out really loudly?

Judges chapter 2, verse 10.

Judges 2:10

Judges chapter 2, verse 10.

Judges 2:10

Just someone read it really loudly.

Without a mic, it should be louder than me.

Judges chapter 2, verse 10.

Judges 2:10

How is that possible?

Joshua is a champion who leads Israel into the promised land.

How is it possible that his children do not know Yahweh?

It is so scary.

It takes less than a generation for culture to shift.

Less than a generation.

And you and I should say, not on my watch.

And if it's not on your watch,

then the next generation will take up the flag

and they'll make sure it's not on their watch either.

2 Samuel 6, they lost reverence.

They knew that the ark was not to be touched.

They knew the ark was to be carried on the shoulders of Levi Priests.

What does David do?

David is responsible for the death of two men.

What does he do?

He says, put the ark on a cart because that's how the Philistines brought it.

Sounds like a great idea.

They put it on a cart, the oxen stumble,

Uzzah and Hiawt touch it, they die on the spot.

The ark is then left for months in Obaididum's home

because it cannot be brought.

2 Samuel 16 or thereabouts, David now comes to his senses.

Reverence is blurred and culture is not passed down

when we become loosey-goosey about things that are sacred.

And it usually begins with a certain casualness towards God

and the things of God.

Here's another one.

We settle for doing things poorly

because we are anti-performance.

But in the process, we don't improve what we can.

Of late, it's begun to change.

I mean, you should have come here some years ago

when we would make do with whatever.

Now it's beginning to change.

But because we are so anti-performance,

which is on one hand a good thing,

on the other hand it ends up with doing things poorly

and settling for it.

When there is enough skill to do it better

or there is enough knowledge to do it better.

With kids, with everything.

These are cultural traits.

Unfortunately, each negative trait is like a...

is like someone hitting a tambourine on my head.

Here's another one.

Ready for new adventures.

Ready for new adventures.

This is more so ready for new adventures,

but resistant to responsibility, discipline, and order.

This is more a young problem than an old problem, eh?

Where as someone young, you want adventure.

You want to step into things of God.

And so you're ready for adventure,

but resistant to responsibility, to discipline, and order.

Let's say I'm talking about Ali.

So she's ready. I want to do this. I want to do that.

Great, Ali. Now here's what I want you to do.

This is your responsibility.

Turn up at 8 o'clock, finish by 5.

These are the things.

No, I don't want to do this.

This is not exactly what I want to do.

I'm a free spirit. I want to do what...

This has to be changed.

This is becoming part of our culture,

and I'll oppose it vehemently.

Ali is... I picked on Ali because she's not the problem.

Meaning we haven't put her under this,

so we won't know until we put it under.

Then we can use her as an example.

Right now she hasn't.

Here's another one.

Multiple voices and itching ears.

That's from 2 Timothy 4.3.

Read it from the NLT, and you'll get the hang of it.

Where I'll go... I've got a problem.

I'll go to Derek. Hey, Derek, this is my problem.

What do you think?

Derek tells me something. Eh.

Not exactly what I wanted to hear.

Let's try Tuni. Tuni, go to him.

And it almost looks like Tuni spoke to Derek,

and they're both saying the same thing.

No, this doesn't seem like the Holy Spirit.

Then I go to Dilna.

Then I go to Don.

Don finally tells me what I want to hear.

This is itching ears.

Going looking for something that'll please what I want.

These are things that are becoming culture in this church.

These are negatives. And who is to blame?

Wah.

Last one.

Yep.

How do you balance... Yeah, great question.

How do you balance it when God is putting something in your heart?

Find out in this garden where you fit and begin to grow there.

And the very things that God has put in your heart will begin to flower.

And if it doesn't, then if you're sure it's God and this garden isn't helpful for you to grow and blossom,

wait till you find another garden.

And then still don't uproot yourself.

Go check out that garden because every garden looks greener on the other side.

Go check it out.

Find out whether it's good.

If it's good, please tell before you leave.

Or otherwise, just come back quietly and nobody will know.

Honestly, this might sound silly, but it's the best way to do it.

Do you ever quit your job unless the Lord specifically tells you?

I know people here looking for jobs.

They're not saying, I want another job.

So listen, boss, I'm quitting right now.

You don't do that. You go check it out.

So God may have put things into your heart that need to flower, need to blossom.

And it's not happening.

Try this first.

Try being responsible. Try being disciplined.

Try working under order for a while.

See if it begins to flower.

If it begins to flower, great.

If it doesn't and you've tried hard and it's not working,

go check some other garden where you will really grow well.

And we'll buy the pot and transplant you.

But don't approve yourself until you're sure.

Because then coming back, you can still welcome, but it'll look a little shameful.

Like it's like going to another company and they fired you and you came back.

That isn't as much fun.

Last one.

Increasingly, there's a fellowship of peers now.

And it's not helpful.

Whenever you have a fellowship of peers, you create echo chambers

where you all hear the same thing being repeated back to you

in different languages of the same words.

And you stunt your growth.

Fellowship of peers, as in it becomes an exclusive,

I'm 60 so I'll hang out with the 60s.

I'm 20 so I'll hang out with the 20s.

I'm 40 but I'll hang out with the 25s.

It creates an echo chamber and it stunts maturity.

One of the things we need to realize, what is the aim of fellowship?

What is the aim of fellowship?

Is there an aim to fellowship?

Is there an aim to getting together?

Spur each other on.

The aim for fellowship should again be connected to the singular purpose

that we are being called to.

What's the purpose of a vineyard?

The purpose of a vineyard is to produce a cluster of grapes.

What's the purpose of a cluster of grapes?

It's very simple.

Isaiah 65, 8.

The juice is in the cluster.

You get wine out of the cluster of grapes.

If that is not the end game, if it is just fellowship for the sake of fellowship,

collapse it.

It is actually going to turn on us.

It will stunt maturity and it will become an echo chamber.

Don't encourage it.

Don't create it.

Don't make it easy.

Fellowship must have reason.

Those are some of our negatives.

You can add more to it.

One of the other things that we struggle with is we have a dislike for structure.

We have a dislike for structure.

We have a dislike for structure.

But the thing is as you grow, you need barns.

When the dirks at one child, it is okay.

When you have four children, they went and bought a van.

You need structure.

These are some of our negatives.

I'm sure if I asked around, you could add more.

These are definitely some negatives.

Next time we'll deal with how do we handle the negatives and what do we do about the positives.

How do we reinforce the positives and how do we make sure that the negatives are exposed

and expelled.

That's the only way you elevate, reward, recognize, commend that which is positive.

And you do not do that to the negatives.

That's how culture is reinforced always.

Doesn't matter whether it's a business or a country.

That's how it's done.

And then the Bible teaches us how to challenge this.

We won't talk about it today.

We'll deal with it tomorrow.

Next Sunday.

How to challenge it.