GO - God the Sender?

Hey, can you just check if my phone is there and if it is there can I grab it?

You can't follow if you don't go.

Somehow Christianity has been able to separate go from following and we can't do that.

And there are different ways we've separated follow and go, one by letting professionals

go while we just stay.

If you look at the New Testament church and we showed how in the book of Acts you can

literally divide the book of Acts into five panels and each panel is going forward.

And yes, not everybody goes to some other place geographically or culturally, but the

mindset is that I cannot follow Christ if I don't go where he's asking me to go.

And that's what we talked about last time, so you can check that out.

That was a statement from last time.

The statement this time around is you can't go if you aren't aware of God as a sender.

Or you won't go if you are not aware of God as a sender.

So the first statement was you can't follow if you don't go.

You can't follow Christ if you don't go.

The second statement is, hey how come it's not showing?

Brandon?

Oh, okay.

Because I wrote a line and it's not showing.

The second statement is you won't go if you aren't aware of God as a sender.

You won't go if you aren't aware of God.

This is like the book of Daniel.

You better take this message seriously.

Okay, so you won't go if you aren't aware of God as a sender.

What are we saying here?

That if the church doesn't begin to think that God is a sender, the church won't think

that going is important.

If you join Apple, you know Apple is an innovative company.

If you don't think innovation, you cannot function well at Apple.

If you join SpaceX, you know that impossible is a word that they love playing with.

That if you don't think in terms of impossibilities and solutions to impossibilities, you probably

won't survive at SpaceX.

If you join Amazon, you have to understand that logistically they can deliver anywhere

in the world in one day.

How they do it, we don't know.

There's a way we have to think when we join a company.

This company, which is a non-profit run by a godfather, for profit, this company thinks

like this, that God is a sender and if you're not aware that God is a sender, you won't

go.

Any questions on that one?

Are you aware that your master is a sender?

And if your master is a sender, as a servant, do you realize that sending is a natural part

of what he does with his servants?

The first place we see this is in Exodus chapter 3 verse 14.

Exodus 3:14

Exodus 3 verse 14.

Exodus 3:14

What's the statement made there?

The statement made there is, God is saying to Moses, Moses asks God, who shall I say

has sent me?

Right from the get-go in Exodus, before we even had a church, while the Commonwealth

of Israel existed, the question was, listen, I am sending you.

Moses asks the question, who shall I say is sending me?

And God responds and says, tell them that I am is sending you.

And then he says, I am who I am, which then just makes you even more nervous because

I am who I am, meaning he can at any moment decide to send you where he wants and if you

are a servant to the master, then do you have a choice?

Yes, we do have a choice, but do you really have a choice?

This is not how we think.

And because we do not think like this, we can divide go from follow from send and decide

that only professionals go or we only go when convenient.

And I'm not talking about geographical location, relocation.

I'm not talking about going to some different culture.

I'm talking about wherever he tells you to.

What if it is to sit at McDonald's near your house for the entire day after you take a

day off from your work?

What if it is that?

And what if it is sitting at McDonald's for an entire day hoping to meet that one guy

you're supposed to meet and at the end of the day, meet him and he's not even responsive?

This is who your God is.

Take Philip who meets the eunuch coming back from going to Ethiopia.

Take Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well.

Take David finding a soldier lying by the side who helps him recover his wife and kids

and everybody else from Ziklag.

Take Gehazi who's telling a story to the king and invokes the woman who he's talking about.

This God is so masterful at coincidences, but coincidences only happen when coincidences

mix with obedience.

When obedience and coincidence collide, you have a divine appointment.

When obedience and coincidence collide, you have a divine appointment.

Therefore, it is important that I obey the sender whenever he says go,

even when it doesn't make sense because obedience and coincidence create divine appointments.

Any questions?

Next week I'll bring some sweatshirts with this word on the back.

Cool.

I'll figure out how to go, what's required for going, but any questions on this?

We talked about the hindrances to going.

One of the hindrances we brought up was convenience and stuff like that.

You can listen to what we spoke about last time.

So the first scripture that we see God beginning this process of who shall I send is in Exodus 3, verse 14.

Exodus 3:14

And it says in Exodus 3, 14, who shall I say sent me to the people of Israel?

God says, tell them I am sent you.

I am who I am.

I don't need to know the details, guys.

Why? Because he is I am.

Second, John 17, verse 18.

John 17:18

John 17, verse 18.

John 17:18

As you sent me, so I have sent them into the world.

This is Jesus' prayer to the Father.

He and the Father are having a conversation and he's talking about you.

One of the things that the church has done quite skillfully is to limit sending to the apostles,

that he was only talking to the apostles.

Yes, that address was to the apostles, but it doesn't mean that none of us are therefore included in that.

In fact, he says this is to you and to the ones that come after you.

And so here's John 17, 18, where he's having a conversation with his father and he's saying to the Father,

Father, as you sent me, so I'm sending them.

He always thinks like this, guys.

I must have this attitude every morning that I am one that is meant to be sent,

and it could happen today, and I don't know where.

He's not a nilly-dilly God who just decides something at whimsically.

He plans things.

He never sends you if he doesn't think you're ready.

In fact, every time you or I go without being ready, it doesn't work out well.

But he knows what Dilna is ready for.

He knows what Anne is ready for.

He even knows the clothes you'll be wearing.

He knows the kind of colors that will attract the person that's walking down the street.

He knows your accent.

He knows your thinking.

He knows your circumstances from yesterday.

Everything is orchestrated to perfection.

It's just that he still allows me to exert my will.

If he could take away my will, he could get people saved in a day.

Take away the will of man, and people get saved in a day.

John 17, 18 is his prayer to the Father.

In John 20, he changes it.

He says to his...

In John 20, he breathes the Holy Spirit upon them.

And what does he say to them?

He says now to the people.

He's not talking to his Father.

Now he's talking to Sen.

Sen.

And he says to Sen that as I have been sent, so now I send you.

He pushes you out.

Settling goes against the very grain of a church.

Any questions?

Guys, don't jump ahead and start thinking of, if I commit to this, then I might end up losing this,

or I might end up spending money, or I might have to take leave, or I'll lose my job.

You're dealing with a God who cares about all of that.

So you don't have to be afraid of that.

Every time a message like this is spoken, people start regressing or withdrawing,

because they think of, oh shucks, this means this, this, and this.

No, it doesn't.

Like I said last time, you must be decisive about the decision.

But the progression of the decision is completely gone.

Now that you've decided, he begins to work with you.

But till you decide, he cannot work with you.

Be decisive about the decision.

I will.

Once you say, I will, then God will.

But he will prepare you.

Never be afraid of agreeing with the sender.

Put your heart, your hands, your mind, and your mouth on the line and say, I will.

And then if you fail, you can get up again.

But if you don't decide, you cannot fail, nor can you succeed.

One must decide to fail or succeed.

You cannot if you don't decide or.

Any questions?

Can you repeat the question?

Other than the great commission, what is the goal of being sent?

The goal of being sent is to accurately represent him.

The goal of being sent is to multiply, is to make disciples.

The goal of being sent is to make disciples.

The goal of being sent is to make disciples

as a group of people who are not just members of the church,

but also members of the people who are in the church.

The goal of being sent is to teach them to observe everything that I have taught you.

The goal of being sent is to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy

Spirit.

The goal of being sent is because He has all authority, as in He created everything, everything

belongs to Him, they need to know about Him, you know about Him, tell them.

The goal of being sent is how will they hear if someone does not go?

The goal of being sent is so that all the nation's tribes' languages can be gathered

back to Him.

The goal of being sent is exactly the same goal as Jesus.

The goal of being sent is, Dilna, can you go and show them what the Father looks like?

Because there's no other way they'll know the Father except through seeing you.

If you have seen Dilna, you have seen the Father.

What an amazing, brilliant claim!

Yes, Dilna may be a failure.

Yes, Dilna may fail his kids as a father.

Yet, this is a God who thinks that Dilna can be trusted to show someone who He is.

It is nuts!

Why?

Because the Word has become flesh.

How?

You received Christ, He chose you, and He now thinks that you can increasingly represent Him.

How does a God of the universe choose a man like this, full of flaws and failures, and

sets him up before someone and says, show them who the Father is?

Because I trust you.

Why do I trust you?

Because I know who He is in you.

This was His intent with Adam.

Adam, I made you like me.

You are made in my image.

Now you can go reproduce because everything you reproduce will be in my image.

And that's the same thing now.

To everybody here who is a believer, that's his expectation and that expectation is always

at the horizon and he keeps training you towards it.

And as you train, he is able to send you.

It's beautiful.

Another reason he sends us is so that as far as the curse is found, he comes to make

us blessings known as far as the curse is found.

I love that line in Joy to the World.

Why?

Another reason he sends.

What a brilliant reason, guys.

Just think of this.

During this next three weeks, think of it.

You are sent to make everything new.

Why?

Because you've been made new.

How?

By the Holy Spirit.

And so now you're being sent to make everything new.

Go make things new.

Go meet the guy at McDonald's.

Go speak to someone.

Go give $5 a year.

Go across the waters.

Go make things new.

Pray for somebody.

Make things new.

Who makes things new?

You can't even make the itch on your nose new.

He does.

What a brilliant mandate we got, man.

And it's not difficult.

It's easier than we think.

It's just a decision that is so blooming difficult.

John 20, 21.

As the Father has sent me, so I send you.

Here's a crazy thing.

We were in the world.

He calls us out of the world and then says,

you're not of the world.

And once he says that, he sends us right back into the world.

That's the crazy thing.

He sends us right back into the world.

Okay, Aaron, the budget is going up, man.

This is how he works, see?

We were in the world.

He calls us out, says, you're not of the world,

says you're not of the world,

and then he sends us right back into the world.

But when he sends us out, he wants to make sure that we can

represent the one born in Bethlehem and crucified at Calvary.

This is important, eh?

Let's assume Sheldon and Jane were the ambassadors of Russia to Canada.

Okay, they're both Russian.

Sheldon Bobrovsky and, yeah, so Sheldon Bobrovsky and,

what's your name?

Mrs. Bobrovsky, yeah.

Mr. and Mrs. Bobrovsky are the Russian ambassadors to Canada.

And they have this amazing daughter, Olga Phoebe Bobrovsky.

Yeah, but here's the thing.

They will not send Phoebe to meet with the Prime Minister of Canada.

They won't send Phoebe to meet with dignitaries.

Why?

Even though she's Russian, even though she belongs to the family

of the ambassador of Russia,

she will not have the opportunity to go speak to Trudeau

because you have to come to a place where you are mature

enough to represent the nation well.

And it's the same thing with us.

One of the things God loves doing is can I keep training you

so that every time I send you out,

you keep representing me more and more accurately.

And it never stops, eh?

Remember the one intent God has.

I want you to be like Christ.

That's the intent.

So Galatians 4 talks about this,

that till someone comes to maturity,

one is not able to walk like a sun in the house.

One can only be under guardians.

But this doesn't mean there's some kind of an exam that has to be passed.

Every day you and I are supposed to mature.

And as we do, he keeps sending us out.

And the more we mature, the more he can send us into difficult situations,

sometimes into a city, sometimes into a nation,

sometimes into the life of a demoniac,

sometimes into the life of someone who's paralyzed.

Different places he sends us into. Why?

Because you're getting to a place where you think differently

and function differently.

Any questions on that one?

What would we do if we had to face up to someone who's paralyzed?

What would we do if there was a demoniac that turned up before us?

What would we do if we were sent to a city or a nation

where we had to go and wait at the door to speak to someone?

What would we do if Haman came along and you're Mordecai?

What would you do if an Esther has to be picked and made queen?

What would you do?

And this is what comes with being tested.

God tests us so that we can be what we need to be. Questions?

Can we fake it till we make it? Yes.

But in faking it till we make it, someone else doesn't get the goods.

We can fake it till we make it.

Hey, you have a demon and just fast and pray for 21 days

and on the 21st day around 2 o'clock the demon will go.

Your national mind says, oh, this is crazy.

I'm not going to play.

If it is a demon and you just decide to cast it out,

but you've never done that before.

Yeah. Yeah.

So can you...what's his name is asking,

what if you had to confront someone who was a demoniac?

How do you deal with it?

Yes, it would be wonderful to pray for the person,

which is I think what anyone in this church would do.

But the question is, when I do, will he be free?

Am I walking submitted to authority so that I have authority?

There is nobody in this room that will not pray for someone who is being oppressed.

Everybody here, I think, would pray for the person.

You would be afraid. You would probably pray from a distance,

but you would still pray.

But the question is, when I pray,

do I now have the ability to exert the same authority that...

Forget Jesus for a while.

...that Paul or Peter or John had?

Am I able to do that?

Many times I find that I'm not able to do that.

What do I have to do to keep increasing

so that in everything I represent Christ accurately?

Part of the going is to represent him accurately.

Words matter, but so do actions.

I love what Jesus says to John, John's followers.

John the Baptist comes and sends his followers and says this to Jesus.

Jesus, are you the real deal?

And Jesus' response is this.

Go tell John that the Gospel is being preached to the poor,

the sick are being healed, the dead are being raised,

lepers are being cleansed, and demons are fleeing.

Go tell John that.

What is Jesus doing here? He's doing two things.

One, he's saying, I am vindicated by the works I do,

not just the words I speak.

And therein lies the biggest gap for us as a church.

The words that we speak are rich,

but we are not able to match the words with works.

And Christ be true and every man a liar,

which means there's something missing.

There's a missing link.

And that is what I'm hoping we can make the gap closer.

When you read that chapter in Luke chapter 9 or John chapter 9,

Luke 9 · chapter mention John 9 · chapter mention

where the disciples tried to cast out a demon and they couldn't,

here's what happens.

The father comes to Jesus and says,

Jesus, your guys couldn't cast it out.

And what he's doing is doubting the efficiency of the master

because the disciples of the master could not do

what the master said they could do.

That's the frightening part in this, about accurate representation,

that if I say Jesus is this, then Jacob, are you this?

That's what the father comes and says,

Jesus, your disciples couldn't cast him out

because every rabbi was supposed to have students

that would behave like and do what the rabbi could do.

And Jesus as a rabbi had disciples that failed.

That's when Jesus says, bring the boy to me,

and he looks at his disciples and says,

fatuous generation, how long should I be with you?

He's quite frustrated.

I find that fascinating.

You're asking them to do the impossible

and you're quite frustrated with them because they haven't.

And later on he explains to them,

this kind comes out by prayer.

These are the different areas that we...

The other thing I know, guys, about all of us sitting here

is you desire this so much.

You desire this.

You desire this not even so that you can show off.

You desire this because every day you see people who need help.

Every day you see people who need help.

You desire this because you hear the cry.

I remember a man who tells a story of his friend

who's a very rich businessman.

He lives in a gated community,

goes to work every day taking the car a certain direction.

And then one day the Lord tells him,

you need to drive the way I'm telling you to.

And the man is not a guy who hears God and stuff like that.

So he doesn't even believe what God is saying.

But God keeps insisting in somewhere inside him.

He keeps hearing, go down this road, go through this community.

And as he does, he begins to hear the shrieks and the screams

and the cries and the pain of certain communities

as he's driving through it.

And that is what begins to change him.

Nobody else can hear these shrieks, screams, cries and pain.

But sometimes you've heard it.

You've heard it in Wally.

You've heard it when you travel abroad.

You've heard it in the sound of your neighbors.

And you desperately wish you could do something

more than a prayer or a prophetic word.

And this is what Christ is for.

Acts 10.38.

He came down and was anointed by the Holy Spirit

to free the oppressed.

He went about doing good.

I know you desire this.

I desire it so badly that the words and the words may come together.

We are enough people now to make a difference.

Don't let that desire be something that you pet before you go to bed

or pet when you wake up like those cats you have.

They just come and rub past you and then walk away.

You know how dogs stay there.

They want to be petted.

Cats, meow, and then they go off.

Oh my God, that was a total cat emitting.

So we are not supposed to be like that.

This requires work.

But I think we are getting hungry, desperate enough to work.

So let's look at some of the things that God will test us with

so that our maturity may increase.

One of the ways God increases our maturity is through testing.

It's through testing.

And one of the things that God does is He tests us.

Through testing.

I think our job as a church is twofold.

Yes, to go out with the gospel and second,

may this church go out with the gospel to places where it's not easily accessed

and go and break the kingdom into places where people would not go.

May that always be something we remember.

I was in Bahrain last week.

But through a strange set of circumstances, I ended up in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

I had no intentions of applying for a visa or anything,

but the officials got me a visa, a multiple one-year visa to Riyadh.

And I'm sitting there in Riyadh thinking, why? I didn't even ask for this.

But it is a place that may be a little more difficult to access

and where the kingdom may not have broken in the way it may have broken into other places in the Middle East.

Why am I saying it here?

Because sometimes these coincidences work to your advantage.

Any questions before we go on to tests that God brings our way so that we mature?

Take it to places where access is limited.

I have a question.

Here in the world, why do you get sent to places where there are Christians?

Yeah. Can I have a little more volume?

There are Christians all around the world.

Why is it that we get sent to places where there are Christians?

Let me give you a quick, really shortened story.

I'm going to India three weeks from now,

and one day I'm sitting in a samosa shop in Surrey

and enjoying my papdi chaat, which is a really good thing that you can eat,

when suddenly I feel the Lord saying, you need to go to the UK this week.

And I'm saying, I'm going three weeks from now. Why go now?

But you sometimes know the insistence.

So I asked him, when shall I go to the UK?

And as I'm asking this question, a guy in a Mustang pulls alongside my car

and parks next to my car, and his number plate is UK06.

So now it becomes a little obvious that I'm supposed to go on the 6th,

but I still don't know why.

And so the Lord says, one, you'll meet a girl called Kiara.

Find her.

I'm thinking to myself, how do you find a girl called Kiara in the UK?

Second, you're supposed to go and walk around a place called Grosvenor Square.

Just go walk around there in London.

And my immediate response to God was, but you know I don't like walking.

So that was the second one.

So I take a plane, go to the UK.

I get off. His dad was there. I told his dad, can you walk with me?

And his dad came to London, and we walked around Grosvenor Square.

And while I'm walking around Grosvenor Square, a guy calls me and says,

I got your number from a friend in Indonesia.

Next time you're in London, can I meet you?

And I said, I'm in London. He said, where?

I told him the place. He's three blocks away.

And we sit, we talk. He's been fasting for three days,

and the Lord gives him the answers he needs.

The next day there was nothing to do. I slept.

The third day, I'm returning back,

because I'm trying to get back here for Sunday service in the afternoon.

And the next day, I stopped by a church in Wembley,

just because a guy said, if your flight is late enough, can you come and preach?

I stopped by the church in Wembley. I still haven't found Kiara.

And I'm in the church. Worship is going on.

And I instantly know who Kiara is.

I go ask the pastor what the name of the worship leader is,

and the worship leader's name is Kiara.

And I go give her the word that I've written down before I left Vancouver.

And she's bawling her eyes out.

Now here's a question that I ask God and that Betty is asking.

Aren't there at least three million believers in the UK?

They've got 60 million people. Let's just take three million believers.

Aren't there three million believers in the UK?

Why does this God have to get a guy who lives 4,320 miles away

to fly all the way to another country to find a Kiara

who he could have easily found through someone next door?

Why? I'll tell you why.

Go tell them that I am who I am and I am has sent you.

He doesn't need you, but he wants you there.

He doesn't need you to do this.

It is expensive to fly. What about the cost?

But when obedience clashes with coincidence, you get divine appointments

that only I am knows is important to do the way he is doing

because it will have the results he wants.

This woman will find it very difficult to stray from the word that was given to her.

Because why would God send a stranger from 4,000 miles away

to give me a word that I've been waiting for?

Because she's bawling her head away, bawling her eyes away

because she's so overwhelmed by what God has done.

Who shall I say has sent me? Tell them that I am has sent me.

Paul, shouldn't he have been sent to the Jews?

Wasn't he a scholar, a Hebrew scholar?

Wasn't he a guy who studied under Gamaliel?

Wouldn't he have been brilliant for the Jews?

Where does he get sent? To the Gentiles.

Why?

Stranger is ways, eh? But brilliant are his ways.

And when we obey, one of the cool things about this idea of go

is you get to participate in the adventures of God.

Somehow if we can separate results.

Okay.

How does God bring us to a place?

So every person is supposed to be like this, eh?

How does God bring us to a place where we can qualify

to be ones that represent him accurately every day?

Next year better, the year after that better.

How do we do that?

There are some things he uses to test us.

Here are those things.

One, he tests you with purpose.

He tests you with purpose.

Question is, are you staying, are you staying the course?

Are you staying the course?

Or have you amended or deviated from what God said to you last?

Have you endured?

Have you endured with joyful faith?

Have you endured with joyful faith?

He tests us with purpose.

One of the ways he matures you is he gives you an impossible

or near impossible purpose and says,

hey, this is what I've asked you to do.

I told you this three, four years ago.

I told you this through a dream.

I told you this through a word.

I told you this through the word.

I told you this through circumstances.

I told you this repeatedly.

I sent many different people to say this to you.

My question then is, Jacob, are you staying the course

or have you amended it?

Have you deviated from it?

Have circumstances caused you to shift?

There's a question that pre-sees this.

Do you know the purpose?

Yes, our purpose is to make disciples, to multiply churches,

to make the Father known, to manifest presence.

Yes, but in that, what is my little role?

Have I amended it?

If I don't know it, can I find it?

What is Chava's purpose?

He's finished Saurdhara, right?

And so what's next?

Find a job?

What is Shireen's purpose?

Why is she here?

What's next?

What's Priyanka's purpose?

Why hasn't he gone back to Calgary?

Or is he supposed to go back to Calgary?

What's his purpose here?

What's Sheldon's with his music?

What's mine?

What's Caleb's?

Why is he here for 19 days?

I didn't know I was inviting him for 19 days.

I invite nobody for 19 days.

I don't know how he slipped that one in.

But what is supposed to happen while he's here?

Vivek, what is yours?

Other than being a brilliant father to two amazing children,

which is what your wife says about you.

So it's important to know that and to flesh it out.

And to flesh it out for our children.

And then we ask this question.

Are you staying the course or are you deviating?

Have you amended it?

All of us have come from...

There are very few that are born in Vancouver,

or born in Canada for that matter.

As I look around, most of us came here many, many years ago.

30, 40, 50 years ago.

Except for Wayne and Bernice.

I don't think anybody else was born here.

Except for Wayne and Bernice and Mike and Joan and Diana and Rachel and Karen.

Nobody else was born here.

That's still only six people, man.

Put your hands down.

Oh my God.

The point being that we all came here.

We all came here.

God brought us from different places here.

Why?

For a good life?

No, man.

There's so much to this.

And then to stick with it.

Hey, stay with it.

We are tested with purpose.

It matures us.

Because now there's a set goal, right?

Do you know that goal?

And if you don't know that goal, isn't it...

He wants to tell you.

It's not that he doesn't want to tell you.

Take time to find it, guys.

Take time to find it for your newborn.

Take time to find it for yourself.

And then stick to it.

Let no goods, let no girl, let no guy, let nothing deviate you from it.

Forehead set like Flint, eyes locked on the prize.

Next one.

We won't get through it.

We'll just go for another nine minutes.

You won't, you won't, you won't, you won't.

Okay.

Tested with the past.

Tested with the past.

Have you shaken...

your past...

failure, shame, wounds?

Have you...

tested with the past?

Have you shaken it off?

Feel your shame.

Wounds.

Shaken your past.

Failure, shame, wounds.

Have you shaken them off?

David had to shake it off, man.

He had to shake off the fact that he slept with another man's wife and had a baby with her.

And the baby dies.

You can't imagine the enormous weight of the shame and the guilt and the wound of a man after God's heart who fails.

You can't imagine it.

You've been through it sometimes.

Where you thought you were following God, that you were passionate after God.

And you fail.

And it breaks you.

Imagine David.

This is a man after God's own heart.

This is a king.

And he sleeps with another man's wife, sends him to be killed, sleeps with her, has a baby with her, the baby dies.

Do you know how hard it is to get out of that?

Psalm 51 must have come from the depths of his soul, but he then has the ability to rise.

How does Joseph do it?

See the dream, but years and years and years as a slave.

If you don't shake off your past, your wounds, your failures, your dad and mom, and how they are.

Let me put it plainly.

Some of us are ditto copies of our parents.

And they have good things in them.

But my God, there are some things you're not supposed to inherit.

Or from your culture.

Shake them off.

Because there's a God who desperately wants to use you to represent him with people.

I'm telling you man, as you go further with God, one of the things that will always be thrown at you,

is guilt and shame.

You'll feel guilty about something or shame about something.

And there'll be people sent to remind you.

You have to learn how to get rid of it quickly.

Otherwise, it's like being wrapped in that and put in a grave every fourth day.

Three good days, fourth day in the grave.

Fifth day, Emily will sing a song and you'll come out.

And two days you'll survive.

Eight days back in the grave.

Not worth it man.

So my question to you is tested with the past.

Have you shaken off your past failure, past shame, past wounds?

I have to do this on a regular basis.

What is going to be challenged most in your life?

It is very simple.

It is whatever God says you are.

Whoever God says you are is the one thing that Satan will challenge.

He did that with Jesus.

If you are, if you are, if you are, you think he'll spare you.

And he'll take whatever is the sickest, saddest episode in your life

and show it every time you look in the mirror you'll see that.

Break that mirror man, get a new one.

Tested impurity.

Tested impurity.

Reminds you of Daniel.

Have you refused to eat at the king's table?

Have you stuck to your kosher diet?

Daniel 1.8.

Jeremiah 35.5.

I love this story.

A bunch of guys called the recobites who were told by their dad

that you are not to touch any drink or wine.

Jeremiah tests them.

He takes a cup of wine, he puts it in front of the recobites and says,

drink, and he is the prophet.

And they say to him, our father told us and swore us to an oath

that we are not to imbibe of any wine.

And yes, you are a prophet, but we will not touch it.

You will be tested with purity.

See the difference between the citizens of the world

and the citizens of the kingdom is this.

The citizens of the world can live the way they want and still be successful.

But the citizens of the kingdom cannot live successfully

unless purity is a part of their lives.

Are you living by the standards set by the Bible, set by the church

that follows the Bible?

Or are you living by your own standards?

And if you are living by your own standards and choose to represent Christ,

then you should not be sent because you are creating your own rules.

You can volunteer.

I want to go to Peru, I want to go to Nepal, I want to go to Papua New Guinea,

I want to go to Saudi Arabia.

Well then, can you give us as a church this guarantee

that you are being tested with purity and you are coming out brilliantly

or are you living by your own standards and saying,

don't worry, I'll take care of it, I'll take care of it.

Won't work.

There is no participation in divine assignments without holiness.

There is no participation in divine assignments without holiness.

1 Peter 2, 9.

You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation.

Psalm 24, verse 3 and 4.

Psalms 24:3

Who can ascend the hill of the Lord?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart.

Tested with allegiances.

Tested with allegiances.

If my primary allegiance

is affected,

if my primary allegiance to God is affected by Mary,

Peter,

Saul,

Laban,

clan,

country,

tribe,

then

I will compromise

action.

Guys, the strange thing is these tests will come from God.

The devil may be used, but these tests will come from God.

God will test us on this.

Where the question will be, hey, so Mary's come, she's standing at the door,

and she wants to take you home because you're beginning to say stuff.

That's a little too like out there extreme.

And what does Jesus reply?

Who is my mother?

And who are my brothers?

And then he turns to the crowd and says,

anyone who does the will of God are my mother, my father, my brother.

He doesn't say father, my mother, and my brother.

What's he saying?

Mary at present is my earthly mother, but she is not following the will of God.

She's standing there to take me home, and she at this present moment is not walking in the will of God.

Who is my mother? Who is my brother?

He's outright saying they are not.

They may be blood relatives, but they're not.

What a harsh statement for a son to make, eh?

Peter,

he pulls Jesus aside and says, stop talking about the cross.

Trusted guy, guy who Peter, guy who Jesus depends on,

guy who Jesus knows will one day lead the kingdom forward.

And what does he say to Peter?

These words are strong, eh?

Thank God we don't have to use these words with each other.

Satan, get thee behind me.

Saul.

Jonathan was supposed to be someone who walked with David.

He was David's bosom pal.

He was the guy that would have been David's strongman.

Same with Michael or Michael, David's wife.

But David's wife is always known as Saul's daughter, and Jonathan dies with his father.

When he knows that the Spirit of God has left his dad,

he still decides not to walk with the anointed king of Israel.

Allegiances matter.

If your allegiance is to family, clan, country.

You know, when I had to bury my mother, I found out that if you don't belong to the church that you were part of,

that they don't allow you to bury her there.

So my dad's buried in a certain plot, and there's a family vault.

But you can't bury my mother there because she decided to get born again.

So once you get born again, you no longer can be buried in the family vault or in that church.

Here's the strange thing though, that people decide not to live a born-again life in a church that is vibrant

because they're concerned about where they will marry and where they will be buried.

And so they choose not to leave.

Which is just nuts.

You're dead. Someone else will take care of it anyways.

So we decided that we'll go to a particular area, buy a vault, and we have Acts 29 written on it now.

So anybody here who wants to die in India, you got to pay.

Yeah, you don't have to worry about it.

And you don't even have to pay for it because it's all paid for.

But it is crazy what we'll do to safeguard dignity of allegiance.

Which was given to them from God. So their allegiance was to God.

Yeah. If it was something that was tribal, it was different.

Yeah.

Yeah. John the Dab was their father. He was given that command.

Allegiance, break it, eh? Because Jesus put it this way.

Let it be very clear today, as I say this.

If your primary allegiance is to anything, if your primary allegiance competes with family, with clan,

with country, with denomination, with culture, if your primary allegiance competes with that,

know this, that you are not worthy of following Jesus Christ.

Jesus' words, Luke 9, 52-59. You are not worthy.

Last one for now.

Tested with offense.

There will be people who will be angry with you, accuse you, who will betray you, offend you,

who will lie about you, judge you wrongly.

How do you and I react short term, long term?

Do you wilt?

Withdraw?

Lash out?

Sulk?

Remember?

Or just get a scab that can be notified again.

You will be tested by offense. It's a marvelous privilege as believers to be tested by offense.

These are things our Master went through and you will go through it.

It's a privilege. How is it a privilege?

It is one thing that really shows who you and I are at the end of the day

because this is something that when people get angry with you, when people accuse you,

some accusations are true, some accusations are false, but regardless of true or false, it's not fun.

So, so, so, okay, yeah, so when people are angry with you, when people accuse you, when people betray you,

when people offend you, when people lie, when people judge you wrongly,

how do you and I react short term and long term?

Do you wilt? Do you withdraw? Do you lash out?

I mean, I feel like lashing out, but I won't.

Do you lash out? Do you sulk? Do you remember?

Do you develop a scab that's waiting to be scratched again?

We will be tested with offense.

I've said this before. Many years ago on Christmas, they had an interview with Michael W. Smith,

the guy who wrote the song we sang today, and they asked him,

what's one desire you have for the New Year?

I was very surprised by his answer. His answer was,

I hope that I will learn not to be offended for the entire year.

I don't think anyone would ever want something like that, and why don't we want it?

I hope that I will never be offended for the entire year.

What a resolution. What a desire. Never to be offended.

And what was Joseph's reaction? Crazy.

I mean, Joseph is one guy who had reason to be offended, man.

He had reason to be offended. It's marvelous, eh?

God uses these tests. Satan uses tests and trials to fail us.

God uses them to mature us. He's going to use these tests.

Look forward to it. We'll stop here. But just look at the tests that God is going to try us through.

Try us through so that we come out as gold.

Test you with purpose. Please find it. It really helps, eh?

It really helps. Test you with purpose.

Not some great funda purpose, but I'm using all kinds of words today.

Notify means to scratch. Funda means big.

So, not some great purpose. Oh God, what are the little things that I can become and do in the year ahead?

What are the little things that I can become and do in the year ahead?

Become and do. Never just do. Become and do.

Because whatever you become will be connected to what God is asking you to do.

If he says kind and distribute money, he knows that both are connected.

You have to be kind to be generous.

Otherwise it's a soulless act.

When generosity doesn't come from kindness, it's a soulless act.

It's just a distribution of money because you have excess.

Think about it. What is it that I need to become and what do I need to do?

Test it with purpose. Next one. Test it with the past.

Test it with the past. We talked about it at length. Test it with the past.

Do you think Peter wasn't częśćed that he'd betrayed Jesus?

He had been restored. Jesus hugged him at the beat.

You think it didn't come up again?

You think David was restored?

You think he was restored?

You think he was restored?

You think David wasn't reminded?

And the guilt that will come later?

Test it with purity. Test it in purity.

All of us will be tested in purity.

All of us will be tested in purity.

What does God want?

Jacob, can you give me clean hands and pure hearts so that I can have you ascend the Holy Mountain,

spend time with me, go down into the valley and open the gates that are barred?

Very simple. Beautiful.

Jacob, can you come up the Holy Mountain so that you can worship?

Witness comes out of worship.

You announce what you adore.

You announce what you adore.

Witness comes out of worship.

Worship nights, the intent is, can we adore him so that out of that, whatever God wants to do, let it happen and let us go forth.

You announce what you adore. You witness what you worship.

And so, God's intent is, can you come up the mountain? Can you worship?

Can you then go down into the valley with clean hands and a pure heart and absolute adoration of my awesomeness?

Can you go down to the valley and in the valley, will you open up the ancient gates and doors that have been barred

so that the ancient of days can enter in?

Who's he asking?

Who's he asking?

Ordinary Acts 29 people.

Tested with allegiances, we went over that.

Please, that's an important one, eh?

Tested with orphans, we'll stop there. Let's pray.

Jesus, everybody sitting here wants to become like you.

As you look at us, I'm not speaking rubbish.

I'm speaking the thoughts of every person here.

Every person sitting here, whether they are new, whether they're old, whether they've been Christians for one year or 40 years,

the desire is, Jesus, I want to really be like you.

Give me two minutes of a day, two hours in a day, 20 hours in a day.

I want to be like you.

Oh God, therefore we say, refine us, test us.

We want to pass. You won't ever put any burden on us, any test on us that you don't think we can pass.

You always test us to show that we have the calibre.

Test us, oh God. Test us, Church.

Help us to shed our allegiances, our easy offence taking.

Help us, oh God. We want to be like you. A Church that looks like Christ? Nuts.

So that's one side.

The second side, Father, is test us, mature us, send us.

Sender God.

Oh God, we talked about Yahweh. You're the God who sends.

I am who I am. Tell them, I am who sent you.

As I have been sent, so I now send you out.

Holy Spirit, you're the fuel, you're the power, you're the one who makes things happen when people go out.

Jesus, we are trusting that this is what you want to do with us next year.

We are just absolutely incapable, but we desperately want this.

We want to go and say what Jesus said.

Go tell them that the good news is being preached to the poor, that the sick are being healed, demons are being cast out,

the dead are being raised, the lepers are being cleansed, and blessed is he who is not offended by all this.

Make this a going Church, make this a sending Church, make this a Church where the words and the works come together.

We want to be able to say to a much greater extent in December 2025

that if you don't believe the words I speak, believe the works I do.

Oh, gosh, Lord, what a statement that will be.

Two statements that we deeply desire in this Church.

One, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father.

Second, if you don't believe the words I say, believe the works I do.

I'm going to say that twice more so that it settles like a canopy, like a cap, like a skull cap on our heads, Father.

First statement that we want to grow into in 2025 December by that time.

If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.

Second statement, if you don't believe the words I say, believe the works I do.

This is what we ask for in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thank you, guys. If you need prayer, there'll be someone here to pray with you.

Besides that, next Sunday, the sermon will be super short because the kids' kit will be super long.