Fortress Church - Shepherd-Rulers

We've been talking about the fortress church, so we continue down that track maybe next week,

too. Today we talk about shepherd rulers. Shepherd rulers are a critical component of building

a fortress church. It's a deliberate word. It's not shepherds, it's not pastors, it's

not any of those words. It's not fathers, it's not guardians, it's not mentors, it's

shepherd rulers. If you go to Jeremiah 3.15, read from the message version, or Matthew

2.6, read from the message version, you'll find that it actually uses the word shepherd

rulers because God is both a shepherd and He is a king. At the moment we separate that,

we get either a diluted version of Him or a very strong version of Him. But when you

combine shepherd and ruler together, then you have the ideal king, shepherd ruler. So

if you go to Jeremiah 3.15 from the message, it says, I'll read from 3.14, come back wandering

children, God's decree. I, yes I am your true husband, I'll pick you out one by one, this

one from the city, these two from the country, and bring you into Zion. Then it says in verse

3.15, I'll give you good shepherd rulers who rule my way, who rule you with intelligence

and wisdom. Go to Matthew 2.6, Matthew 2.6, again reading from the message, Matthew 2.6,

and it says there, it's you, Bethlehem, in Judah's land, no longer bringing up the rear,

from you will come the leader who will shepherd rule my people, my Israel. If you want to

read it from the NIV, it says, but you of Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no

means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd

my people Israel. So shepherd ruler is not some message term, that's the actual word

used in any version you take. But the idea of shepherd rulers is so critical to building

a church that looks like a fortress. Not to keep things in, but to keep things out and

to draw people in. It becomes a place of refuge. So that's what we'll be looking at today.

And we'll just use the word SR for shepherd ruler so I don't have to write it every time.

Shepherd rulers are critical to raising people into sons and daughters of God. In fact, Jesus

knew that, and so in a verse that we often misread, if you go to Matthew 9.35, Matthew

9.35, Matthew 9.35, he's actually praying for shepherd rulers, Matthew 9.35, Matthew

Matthew 9:35

9, verse 35. So here's what it says, Matthew 9.35 reading from the NIV. Jesus went through

all the towns and villages, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the good news of the

kingdom, healing every disease and sickness. He still does the same, eh? When he saw the

crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless. So he sees

the crowd, he has compassion, he knows they are harassed and helpless, and then he goes

on to say, they were like sheep without a shepherd. And after saying that, he turns

to his disciples and he says, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers, a few, asked

the Lord of the harvest therefore to send out workers into the harvest field. What was

he praying for there? He was praying for more shepherds to take care of the sheep that are

harassed and helpless. That's what he's asking for. He wasn't asking for missionaries or

evangelists. He was asking for people that can shepherd the helpless and the harassed.

All around us we find it, eh? And shepherds are not some special class. We'll talk about

that.

It's a strange day that you never go to school for becoming a shepherd. You go train with

other shepherds to become a shepherd. There's no school called shepherding school. Sheep

don't understand English. You've got to go... I've heard shepherds do this, eh? Sometimes

doves come instead of sheep, but regardless, they make all kinds of strange noises that

you don't learn in school. Shepherds are critical to sons and daughters being added to God.

And when you see Psalm 23, when you see John 10, it's Jesus comparing himself to a shepherd.

That's what Psalm 23 and John 10 are about, where he says this is what real shepherds

look like. One of the things that stands out in each of these is that the shepherds are

the ones who are the most important. And what stands out in each of these is that God cares,

protects, corrects his sheep. That's a standout everywhere, eh? He cares for them, as in he

takes care of everything. And it's the same attitude he has towards us. And the strange

attitude he has towards us. One of the songs I hope we can do before we leave today is

So Will I. We haven't done that song for ages. I want to introduce a tall, handsome-looking

guy who I forgot to introduce. Do you want to stand up tall, handsome-looking guy? See,

he knows he's tall and handsome. My God! Thanks Isaiah. That's Kamala and Hans Grandson.

And my God, he used to be up till here. Now I'm up till there. And then there's another

guy who looks like an Indian bridegroom. Vibi, you want to stand? Please. You're getting

married or something, right? Sorry, Pawan, what did you say? Yeah, he's single.

Now, here's the truth. Let me tell you why Vibi is wearing that. He put all his clothes

in the laundry yesterday. I forgot to take it out. So the clothes are all wet. So the

only thing he had was this. But see, mistakes like this can get you married, Vibi. How

did I meet my wife? Well, I left my clothes in the laundry.

So shepherd rulers, this becomes an important part of who they are because this is who Christ

is. Hey, so what qualifies you to be a shepherd ruler? One of the simplest qualifications

that Paul gives, and I need to say this here though, I've written it later in the notes.

Paul put down four criteria for shepherds. And here are the four criteria from all his

letters. One, a pure life. Two, a life that's passionate about king as a shepherd. And the

other criteria, as in King Jesus and kingdom, as in the fact that he is drawing people to

himself. A life that's passionate about it or zealous about it. Three, a life that a

person that manages his home well, a person that manages his home well. You'll see it

in all of Paul's letters. As in do you take care of your home well? You might be a single

person. How do you take care of your affairs? How do you steward your life? If you're a

married person, how do you treat your family? If all you have is a cat, how do you treat

your cat? And the fourth one, conveying the message of the Lord.

What is taught accurately. These were the four qualifications that Paul had. When you

read all his letters, you'll find that these are four common qualifications for anyone

who wants to be a shepherd. Now here's the question. Is there anybody here who cannot

attain this? There's no one here who cannot aspire to walk like this. So when we talk

about shepherd rulers or when we talk about shepherds, do not count yourself out and think

of someone else. Because the hope is that a day will come when there will be enough

shepherds so that we don't even have to pray to the Lord of the harvest because there's

so many shepherds around that all the sheep that are harassed and helpless are being taken

care of. Let that sink in. Here's another one. But I'm not a leader. That's another

often brought up thing. I'm not a leader. I did a leadership survey and I found that

I was not a leader. Okay? So let's see what Christ says. Are you made in the image of

God? If you are made in the image of God, then you are not made leader follower. You

are made, you are made son servant. Nobody, nobody on the face of the earth is made leader

follower. If you're made in the image of God, Christ is not leader follower. That's not

his persona. He's made as a son and a servant. So we need to destroy this construct that

some are made leaders and some are made followers. It's not true. It might be part of Christian

doctrine. It might be part of Christian leadership training, but it is actually not true. Christ

was a leader follower. No, Christ was a son and a servant. When necessary, he followed

his father. When necessary, he led people to his father, but he was a son and a servant.

Any pushback on that? Any questions on that? Yeah. Obey your leaders as in to obey your

tomorrow. You might be the leader. I have to obey you. Today, I'm the leader. Tomorrow,

day after tomorrow, Phoebe may be a leader because we carry that in us. Just like, let's

say one of your sons is a world class athlete. You know it, you have seen it, but is he an

athlete yet? No. But can you train him to be one because you happen to be an Olympian?

And so one day your son steps up and he begins to run and he runs like the wind, but you

saw it when he was four. What I'm saying is all of us are shepherd rulers in the making.

This can turn the church upside down. So when Chava goes to Ethiopia, can he find someone

who has an ability to grow in this teaching that he has collected here? And can he connect

us to us? And then can we send Dilna over to Ethiopia? Son servant and ruling? Yeah.

So Elisha, one of the sons of Elijah, but a servant who used to wash his hands. What

happens one day? He steps up. Paul and Timothy. Timothy, my beloved son. What happens? He

is a shepherd. He is a shepherd. He is a shepherd. He is a shepherd. He is a shepherd. He is

a shepherd. One day Timothy is sent off to Ephesus and to Crete and other places to do

the work he's supposed to. Father and Jesus. Son, and yet what does he say? I'm the greatest

of servants. He came as a born servant. I did not see his equality with God as something

to be grasped. Samuel and David. Eli and Samuel. The list is endless. The list is endless.

And it's always, I know I've said this before, but it's worth saying, you're first a son

before you're a servant. You turn that around and it lights out at some point. Because if

you don't know your place as a son to the father, you as a servant will feel exploited.

But once you know you're a son, you will not mind washing the dishes because it's your

own house. Just keep that in the back of your mind. Why did I just talk about this right

up front? Because we must understand that this teaching is not for some special group

of people. Is it possible that Dilna's son, who's a future Olympian and an athlete, does

not train, does not step up, does not practice? Is it possible? Yeah. So then does he run

in the Olympics? No. But it's not because of the lack of ability.

Shepard rulers must have not just the word, but spirit and power. This you cannot teach

in a Bible school. It's impossible. You can teach the word in a Bible school. You can

teach them how to exude it correctly. But you cannot teach spirit and power in most

Bible schools. Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 2.3. I did not come to you with

great preaching or stuff like that. In fact, I came to you in weakness and trembling. But

this I did. I demonstrated the power of the spirit through what I spoke. Acts chapter

Acts 6:3

6, verse 3. And so they appointed seven. And these seven were meant to be people who were

serving at tables. This is the other crazy thing. These seven were chosen to serve dinner

at the table. That's what they were chosen for. Today, if you choose people to serve

at the table when their intent is to become a pastor, a prophet, an apostle, an evangelist,

a missionary, they will not serve at the table. But they chose people full of the Holy Spirit.

Acts chapter 6, verse 3. To serve at the table. They started serving at the table and a time

Acts 6:3

comes when guys like Stephen, guys like Barnabas step up. But where did they start serving

at the table? The one thing that promotes you with God is faithfulness. You be faithful,

gosh. He just begins to extend your territory. And so they need to be full of spirit and

power. And so as we talk about this, measure ourselves against these criteria. And if you're

not matching up to some, don't beat yourself up because we'll do that for you. But at least

aspire to say, okay, in these areas, I'm really not cutting it. I need to pull my socks up.

Shepard rulers are gentle like a nurse or a mother and yet are also charging and, what's

the right word, urging and encouraging like a father. It's both. Always remember, in Christianity,

most things are held in tension. It's not one or the other. Almost nothing in Christianity

is one or the other except heaven and hell. And so we need to be faithful. And so we're

not just saying, okay, in these areas, I'm really not going to be able to do this. We're

saying, okay, in Christianity, it's one or the other except heaven and hell. Everything

else is held in tension. So a shepherd has to be one. And this is in 1 Thessalonians.

If you can go to 1 Thessalonians, just so you know, 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 7. Paul's

1 Thessalonians 2:7

talking about himself, how he was. And he says, as apostles of Christ, we could have

been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you like a mother caring for her children.

We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God,

but our lives as well, because you had become dear to us. Verse 12, starting at verse 11.

For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging,

comforting, urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and

glory. So you see both. A shepherd ruler can't be one of these nursing kind, oh, my little

baby, come to me. That's okay. But then there's the other flip side too, right? Where you

have to urge, where you have to challenge, where you have to encourage. It's both. It

can't be just one. Ask the question, do I match up to these criteria, Father? Shepherd

rulers, according to Ezekiel 34, 16, which is a passage about what shepherds should be

like in the Old Testament, shepherd rulers should bind the injured, bind the wounded.

Shepherd rulers should, it doesn't say pray for the wounded, bind the wounded. Shepherd

rulers should carry the young. They should search for strays, for strays, and they should

lay their life down. I want to say to you, can I ask the people that I named last week

to stand up again? I want to say to you that these guys are the best in the world. They

guys are so willing to bind up your wounds, so willing to carry the young, so willing

to search for strays, so willing to lay their lives down. Binding up the wounded is a pain,

huh? I would rather pray for them. But it takes time. And it takes a lot of time in

their lives. I might ask you to stand a few times, but you can sit down for now. You've

got a good bunch here, guys. You've got a good bunch here. Some of what I say may begin

to chaff, and the moment it begins to chaff, you have to ask the question, why is it chaffing?

And try to answer that. Sometimes it chaffs because of the style of delivery. Why is he

in my face? So that might chaff. That you've got to let go because unfortunately he doesn't

seem to be changing. He gets older and older. So that one put aside. But otherwise, if it

chaffs, ask the question, why? And try to answer the question, why? Because our reasons may

be different.

Shepard rulers invite you into their lives so you can figure out if their doctrine is

being lived out. Over a period of time, you will always know whether doctrine or the teaching

that a person teaches is actually life lived or whether it's just doctrine. And it's impossible

to do that unless shepherd rulers invite you into their lives. And then you can decide,

is this worth imitating or is it not? And to the extent that they imitate Christ, you

must imitate them. And so our lives, shepherd rulers have to live open lives. You cannot

live shepherd ruler lives privately. As in when you play football and someone just kicks

you in your shins, what's the first word that comes out of your mouth? If it's not ouch

my shin, come and talk to me. Yeah? Here's another one. Shepherd rulers engage sheep forcefully.

Engage sheep forcefully and teach them how to keep in step with God. This is the first

thing. God's looking for this man. Wouldn't you do that for your child? Engage them forcefully?

No, I don't want. No, you will. Get up off your backside and let's get on with it. Engage

them forcefully so that they can keep in step with God. A day will come when because you

and I have learned this well, we can do it for someone else. And if we haven't learned

it well, how do we do it for someone else? Everything in Christianity is conveyed downstream

through modeling. And the great thing if you have 10 leaders is you will find some facet

of Christ in one of them that you can imitate. Because no one person can do it all because

if he was, he's just Christ in disguise. And I am absolutely not. I guarantee that. It's

supposed to be slightly funny but it's okay. Shepherd leaders, shepherd leaders engage

shepherd rulers, dismantle, and I'll explain this. Absalom's fan club, Aaron's calf, Aaron

is looking at his calf. It's not you, Aaron. And Ahaz's altar. Shepherd rulers do this,

especially when this begins to distort the vision God has of the shepherd. Aaron's calf,

Aaron's calf, Aaron's calf, Aaron's calf, Aaron's calf, Aaron's calf, Aaron's calf,

God has given.

So what's Absalom's fan club? Absalom was a guy who even though David was king, he would

begin to gather people unto him and begin to create counterculture that was contrary

to the culture that David was trying to build. And so that has to be dismantled because you

can't have a culture that the king of kings is bringing into a place through a man and

And then another counterculture that's beginning to form its own subculture.

Can't do that.

And shepherd rulers will dismantle that.

Aaron's Calf.

Aaron's Calf is when pressure is put on by the congregation upon someone to begin to

change things that God did not ordain.

And so whenever pressure is put on me or you as one taking care of two people or 200 people,

whenever pressure is put on you, you feel that, man, if I don't do this, I won't be

popular.

If I don't do this, people may go away.

If I don't do this, I might lose out on people's goodwill.

That's how you create golden calves.

And the third one was Ahaz's altar.

Ahaz was a king who goes to Syria.

He meets a guy called Tilgit Bilsner.

That should have been a dead giveaway thing.

Don't copy anything from a name like that.

But he didn't realize that.

So he goes, meets this guy called Tilgit in Syria, and he sees an altar in the temple

of the Syrian god.

Guess what he does?

He comes back and tells the priest in the temple in Jerusalem, dismantle the altar before

God.

Let's build the Syrian altar because it's so much more better.

That's when you begin to take in things from the world because it seems to really work,

and you import it into the church and try to use that.

Avoid it.

These are things that must be avoided.

And shepherd rulers must have the guts to do this.

This does not increase your popularity.

If anything, it decreases it a little.

Any questions?

Okay.

Here's another not fun one for the shepherd ruler.

Shepherd rulers admonish the idle and the disruptive.

They encourage the fainthearted.

And they strengthen the weak.

That's again from Paul's writing.

He says to Timothy, hey, Timothy, make sure that he admonish or correct or rebuke or help

the idle and the disruptive.

Tell them to stop it.

Remember, I'll keep reminding you of this thing.

This is what you and I are supposed to become.

This is not limited to the ones I asked to stand.

So admonish the idle and the disruptive, encourage the fainthearted, and strengthen the weak.

That's a crazy thing.

Every time I'm speaking this and looking at you, I'm thinking to myself, there's nobody

here who's outside these parameters.

Nobody.

And imagine, what, about 100 of us here?

Let me have my 100, okay?

If you're less than that, don't tell me.

100 of us here?

Well then, what if there were 100 shepherds instead of 1 or 12 or 14 or 16?

Yes.

There's a need to become something, but we have what it takes.

Shepherd rulers, when they admonish, do so.

Another word for admonish is rebuke, correct, and has to be done with a gentle heart.

The voice can be strong, but the heart must be gentle, which is possible.

Shepherd rulers admonish with tears and anguish.

With tears and anguish.

To some, admonition can be life-giving.

To others, it can be controlling.

To some, it can be life-giving.

To others, it can be controlling.

There's nothing we can do about that.

You have to make sure your heart is clear.

Your heart must desire that Raphael, that Aaron, that Fuyo, that Echo.

Your only desire with tears is, I want to make sure that they get to become the best

that you know they can be in terms of what God has shown you.

And it should be with tears and anguish and frustration that doesn't translate into words.

When it translates into words, when frustration translates into words, go and apologize, saying,

my frustration translated into words and those words hurt you, and I was wrong.

I should not do that to you.

Go apologize.

Imagine building a church like this, eh?

And you get to be a part of it.

The other rulers must not covet, must not fleece, must not fleece, must not covet, must

not be harsh, must not be harsh to the ones they are appointed to.

And if you are, then two options.

Repent, apologize, and try not to fail again.

Paul puts it this way in Acts 20, verse 26 and 27 and 35.

Acts 20:26

He says, I've done my best for you, given you my all.

I've held nothing back of God's will for you.

I've done my best for you.

I've given you my all.

I've held back nothing from God's best for you.

I want to say this to you, and maybe I've said this last year.

There has not been a day when I meet with you that I do not give you my best, that I

hold nothing back.

Everything that is in me that is from God, that is for your good, is always poured out,

and I always leave empty.

In that, yeah, imitate me.

I might fail in what I have, but you will always get the best.

Because I have only one desire, to see you do phenomenally well in God.

And you must outdo me.

Shabbat rulers must appoint others who can take on, one, what God wants, what the Holy

Spirit wants to pour out, and two, what God wants to accomplish.

Turn to Numbers 11.

Numbers 11 verse 16 onwards.

Numbers 11:16

Numbers 11 verse 16 onwards.

Numbers 11:16

Numbers 11 verse 16 onwards.

Numbers 11:16

Numbers 11 verse 16.

Numbers 11:16

The Lord said to Moses, bring me 70 of Israel's elders who are known to you as leaders and

officials among the people.

Have them come to the tent of meeting that they may stand there with you.

I will come down and speak with you there.

I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them.

They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it

alone.

You know, when I ask these guys to stand up, it's so easy to think, oh, they are one category

and the rest of us are one category.

Dismantle that thought.

I'm saying let them be able to call 70 others and let what is on them now be on you so that

you can do better than them.

One of the things we've got to stop in Christianity is equality.

We are not trying to be people who aspire for equality.

It's a terrible thing when people start wanting equality.

When people start wanting recognition, destroy that from our minds.

Learn how to not have a seat at the table and yet have influence in the room.

Listen to me.

Learn how to not have a seat at the table and yet have influence in the room.

Can you learn that?

I'm sorry I'm shouting.

I'm so excited about this.

Why do you want a seat at the table?

You think that's how power comes?

That's how power comes in the world.

Because the moment we, the moment I desire recognition, the moment I want to be included,

there's an enemy that starts to work.

It is why he was thrown out of heaven.

He wanted to be equal with God.

It is why Adam and Eve got thrown out of heaven, thrown out of Eden.

They wanted to be equal with God.

It is why Ananias and Sapphira got thrown out of the new church because they wanted

to be equal amongst the leaders.

It is why Saul got so jealous that he was possessed by an evil spirit because he couldn't

bear the thought that David was being praised for 10,000 vials.

He was only being praised for 1,000.

Stop it.

It's like honey to a bee or sweet water to a fly or whatever.

The right, or cheese to a mouse or whatever.

All I'm trying to say is learn how to not want recognition.

Our Savior was like that.

Knowing that he was equal with God, Philippians 2 verses 6 to 9, he did not think that it

Philippians 2:6–9

was something to be held onto.

And so I say to you, the ones who stood, and I say to you, the rest of us who will one

day stand, that you will choose to say, I do not need a seat at a table because the

presence of God in me and in me and on me is enough to have influence in the room.

This is super important.

To have men and women like that who can walk into a room and they are probably the waiter

who brings the drinks in.

Oh my God, they got presence.

Not personality, but a hand of God upon them.

What do you do with people like that, man?

You'll give them the blooming table, not even the chair.

Do not aspire for this.

And please, the other thing is do not encourage or fan people who want it.

That's the other thing.

Oh, you deserve it.

Oh, be like your master.

Be like your master.

Maybe set a few that here is a man or here is a woman.

You give them any hat to wear, they'll wear it.

Give them a crown, they'll be king.

Give them a chef's hat, they'll cook.

Give them a janitor's cap, they'll sweep.

You'll be worth your weight in gold, man.

Be that person, eh?

God is looking for people like this, guys.

Why am I preaching this right now?

Because we're trying to build a fortress here, a church that will be strong enough.

But a church is only strong according to the people that it has.

It's not according to the leaders that it has, it's according to the people that it has.

The leaders play a part in molding people, but a church is not measured by the leaders it has.

Yes, mature leaders do end up raising mature people.

But a fortress church is a church that has strong people.

And why do we raise up strong people?

So that they can pull themselves out empty.

We don't want a strong church that stays.

We want a strong church that empties itself.

Because that's what Christ did.

God raised a strong son so he could empty him out.

Why raise a strong church?

So that it can be pulled out.

So what will it take for you to be gathered in the 70 so that God can take the spirit

that he's pouring upon some servants who are serving as a church?

Son servants who are serving as leaders.

This is exactly how it should be phrased.

So that God can take the Holy Spirit that he has poured upon son servants who are serving as leaders.

What does it take to be counted among the 70 if God were going to call you up Grouse Mountain?

Saying, bring 70 with you Jacob up Grouse Mountain and I shall pour.

He doesn't talk like this.

So here are some of the graces that a son servant who serves as a leader

can exhibit over a number of years because it has to be trained.

You know, when Jillian had her birthday a year and a half or two years ago,

Mae gave her a lemon tree.

Hi, Brielle.

And unfortunately that tree is still in my house.

It drives me nuts.

After cats is the next thing I don't like, lemon trees.

To get one lemon from it takes like more than 11 or 12 months.

Meanwhile, buds come out, leaves fall, the lemon goes from green to greener.

Takes forever before it goes to yellow.

Things take time.

Want to drive a single guy crazy?

Give him a cat or a lemon tree.

So things take time.

Here are the things, here are the graces as in God given ability that is available to all of us.

The first one is assembling.

Most of us will find out that if we have a message that we have realized is given to us by God,

we have the ability to stand and when we speak people will assemble around us.

Sometimes you will see this in people immediately.

I mean, I can give Pawan anything to talk about.

Guess what will happen?

He'll gather people around him.

It can be soap or it can be Jesus.

People will gather around him if he opens his mouth.

So some have this, for some of us it develops, some of it doesn't develop.

It sometimes depends on the background, sometimes it depends on your personality.

But one of the graces that all of us possess is to assemble.

The next one is enabling.

Enabling is when you take the people that you have assembled and you begin to enable them.

You find out that Ruben has this ability.

The three kids have assembled around me and now Ruben has this ability, let me enable him.

Eliana has this ability, let me enable her.

Shiloh has this ability, he's an amazing actor, let me enable that.

And so you begin to enable people.

The third one is revelatory grace as in you have the ability to see things in the world.

The fourth one is commissioning ability where you have the ability now to send or commission

or launch people into the things they need to do.

And the final one is governmental ability.

This is when you begin to step into the things that you need to do.

And the last one is the ability to send people into the things that you need to do.

Enabling.

This is when you begin to step into your full role as a shepherd ruler.

Where this is all this, this is this.

These are five graces that you see in Joseph's life.

You see right from the beginning.

Even when he was with his brothers, he had this ability.

The strange thing is everybody here has this because Jesus has this.

It comes out in different forms, it won't look the same.

For me it might look like shouting, for you it might look like gentle words.

These two don't need maturity, don't need spiritual maturity.

This requires a knowledge of the word.

This requires the heart of a prophet parent.

And most people, most good guys don't stay long enough to develop this.

They leave before time.

It's very sad, but I've seen this happen.

They leave before they get to a place where they live.

Don't.

Go through the process so that you can then give the entire thing to someone else.

Any questions?

Is that, oh my God, this is so unclear.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Is that, oh my God, this is so unclear.

Pardon?

Yeah.

Revelatory grace requires the knowledge of the word.

God reveals things to you.

God begins to show you things.

But it requires the knowledge of the word.

One of the beautiful things that the church must develop is prophet theologians.

One who have the ability to see things and the ones who have the ability to study and then teach things.

Prophet theologians.

It's a beautiful word.

Often churches produce prophets, Bible schools produce theologians,

and both are as far removed as the east is from the west.

Any questions on any of these?

Stay the course and you end up like Joseph, Prime Minister of Egypt.

Chava.

Assembling and enabling don't need much maturity.

You can assemble people.

You can enable them based on their skills.

You don't need spiritual maturity for it.

I'm not saying you should be immature.

I'm just saying there are more levels.

Most of us don't have the ability to do that.

Any other questions?

Yeah.

Once you get to the ability to commission people to send them out,

you think that the work in you is done.

There's one more thing to learn.

It's not distributing silos of grain.

It is getting to a point where you can't do it.

You can't do it.

You can't do it.

You can't do it.

You can't do it.

You can't do it.

Once you have all the silos of grain,

it is getting to a place where Pharaoh says to Joseph,

I am Pharaoh, but without you,

not a hand or a foot will move in all of Egypt.

He begins to govern a land.

This is critical.

Why?

Because we again go back to who Jesus is.

Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,

and what shall be upon his shoulder?

Commissioning?

Revelatory knowledge?

enabling? No. And the government shall be upon his shoulders. And off his

government there shall be no end. That's why the theme for the conference is

Shepherd King. What does it mean to have sector and stuff? And again let me remind

you all of us this is for all of us.

Surprisingly you're better than Moses, better than Joseph. They didn't have half

the advantages that you have.

Some questions? Okay I'll have to end because it's 6.14. Shoot there's so much

more to say. Okay let me just finish. Let me just finish from here to here and

then I won't go from here to here. Yeah? Unless you want me to. Don't encourage

him.

Okay. Do you want to be a leader? Or? You know for some strange reason I think

that if I can bring it in a page in this much that it's short. I don't realize

that in between I say a lot of things. This seemed short this morning. Okay do

you want to be a leader or are you? Serious question eh? Are you an eager

leader? But inadequate burden bearer with pierced ear, bloody altar because

you've sacrificed a lot on it and an overwhelmed heart. What do you want to be?

It's a serious question. What do you want to be? Do you want to be a leader or do

you want to be an eager and eager but inadequate burden bearer with pierced

ears? With pierced ears as in the servants used to even when they were

given their freedom they would go pierce the ears to the door and say you have

given me of my freedom but I don't want it. I want to stay a servant. Which one

are you? Bloody altar because you've sacrificed. Not in your own personal

private life with someone that no in a corporate setting. Everything has to be

measured in a corporate setting because that's a real measure. Because you should

be absolutely scared of going up when someone comes to you with a problem. Be

physical, spiritual, psychological, mental, emotional. You should be so scared

because you should realize how terribly inadequate you are and that most days

you don't even know how to get it from God to give it to them. And after being

totally overwhelmed and scared then you should somehow be able to reach out and

say I am so not able to do this but please help me so that I can break

through. This is how dads feel when they give you your child the first day and

you hold it and you realize oh my god whatever I've gone and done. Some dads are smiling. Listen to what Moses said and that is besides the people who think that you're doing it wrong and that your life doesn't mean squat and all that stuff. So let's go to numbers 10. Numbers 11.

This is a very difficult job and I pray that all of us apply for it. Yeah really

difficult job but please apply for it. Numbers 11 verse 10. Moses heard the

Numbers 11:10

people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became

exceedingly angry and Moses was troubled. He asked the Lord why have you brought

this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms as the nurse carries an infant to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me. Give us meat to eat. I cannot carry all these people by myself. The burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you're going to treat me please go ahead and kill me. If I have found favor in your eyes do not let me face my own ruin. Wow.

That's Moses.

Another thing that must die. Death of personal vision. Death of personal vision.

My vision must die. My vision must die if I want to join Elijah, Joshua or David or Paul and once it dies

God will resurrect it and double it. But it has to die. If you have a personal dream or a vision or an ambition and that's what you want. Death to your personal vision so that you can join the corporate vision given to a people.

Then you will find once you do it God will raise up your Isaac and give it back to you and it will be twice as powerful than had you chanced it alone.

It's happened again and again and again in the Bible. But when one tries to maintain both then you neither get the first nor the second.

Last point. Hey you want to do So Will I?

Don't do the entire song. It's got like 18 verses. Do the first and the last.

Let's stop here. We'll do the rest next time. Any questions guys before Tuni comes up and does So Will I? Go ahead.

Yeah pierce your ears against the door.

Let me give you, let me take Derek and what Derek did years ago. There was a time when he had not had a job for six months and he gets a job in Toronto in Ontario.

Now he's been, it's not even like his older brother was here. He was alone here. There were days when he did not have enough money.

When we had Kamal and Anne's, when Kamal got baptized and we met in a hotel downtown he didn't have money for a bus so he walked.

I don't know why he didn't ask me for a ride but he walked all the way. That's how nuts he was.

But now he gets a job after seven or eight months of not having a job. He finds a job in Ontario.

And he comes and his words are I know what God has for me here and even though I have a job in Ontario and I can go and take it,

I'm not going to take it because I know that one this is the place I'm supposed to be. This is the place where I'm supposed to serve.

And even if it means waiting I'll stay here. I'm just giving you an example.

Gillian was beginning to grow here and then Edmonton. She had a job waiting for her in Edmonton. Refused to go.

May had a good job but it didn't give her enough time to do the other things she was doing. So what did she do? Throw that job away.

Jacob, oh don't even talk about him. Don't get him started on me. You know how long he can take.

So we won't talk about that today. I want to make one last statement before Tuni does so will I.

I'll just write it down so that you remember it for next time. As we go down this list you must remember this.

It is intentionality that leads to relationality. Relationship.

It is relationship that leads to intimacy. It is intimacy that leads to association,

to imitation,

to formation.

You change this order.

Let's assume that I want to learn ballet. Don't laugh. Let's assume that Janice is a ballet teacher.

Janice is a ballet teacher. I can't say that once I come into relationship with Janice then I will decide whether I should learn ballet from her or not.

Because what if I just sit on my back side and expect relationship to develop. No. It's intentionality first. Intentionality comes first.

Maybe I don't like her glasses. Maybe I don't like the fact that she's not Indian. Maybe I don't like the way she smiles. All that may be true.

But there's only one thing I want from her and that is I want to learn ballet. So what do I have to do? I have to be intentional in my relationship with her.

Intentionality in relationship will lead to association or intimacy. Association leads to imitation.

Imitation leads to me suddenly standing on a toe and doing this thing. That's how this works.

What we do is we've gotten so highly individualistic and all our relationships are so peer to peer that I first look to see if I can relate to Don.

But then if that is what is going to help me grow then the only people I will learn from is people like myself.

Chad said this to me some years ago. Jacob you only work with people like you. I disliked what he said. You know why? Because I knew it was true.

And so I decided that it will be something I crucify that I will begin to work with people who are not like me.

Because if I work with people like me I'll only produce more Jacobs and do you need more of them?

No. The resounding answer is no.

So please understand if you're waiting to first relate before you learn then you will only learn from your reflection in the mirror.

Because that is the most pleasing person in the world.

Intentionality leads to relationship. Relationship leads to association or intimacy.

Association leads to imitation. Imitation leads to formation and you finally become a famous ballet dancer.

Jacob Nuriev. Go ahead. He was a famous Russian ballet dancer.