Consecration

Working day test units, thank you.

Everyone

Sadiq, can you let Brandon know I want to start?

I think we should give for when we go for a break, we should give people a tag and then

it buzzes, yeah. And it doesn't stop buzzing till you come in.

All right, you remember you change places only because you need to be aware that it

is easy in a church as it grows bigger to have groups that settle and don't connect

at any level other than a very superficial level, eh? So, you might try a few things

every week till we get the hang of it, yeah? Okay, so today we switch from what the series

we were doing called Take Your Rightful Place to Consecration. Derek, you want to come up?

I just asked Derek to pray for me because this might be a message that might change

some of our lives and I don't have the ability to do it.

Guys, as a church can we stretch our hands towards Jacob and pray together? Before we

pray we want to thank you for Jacob's life, for the rich teaching that we receive week

in and week after. Our lives show the word that has become flesh in us and we are so

much better in you because of that. So we thank you and we recognize that first.

But now we pray that even as Jacob begins to teach today that as Paul said that there

will be a demonstration of your power through his words. And often times when we read that

words we are expecting things to happen right in front of our eyes. But sometimes there

are things, even big strongholds that get broken inside of our lives. And I pray that

as Jacob teaches tonight, as this church agrees, as we are yielded to hear from you and to

learn from you through your word about, as we agree and as we stand in unity in that,

may these words that Jacob speaks about that come out of his mouth, may those words change

our hearts, change our being so that we are united in purpose for what you have for us.

We bless him in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thanks man. So in 1873 there was this guy called D.L. Moody and some of you have heard

this phrase before. And he said, he was talking to a guy called Varley, V-A-R-L-Y. And he

had spoken to the guy in 1872. The guy had said something to him. He goes back to him

in 1873 and then he says these words, eh? And he says, the world, the world has yet

to see, the world has yet to see what God can do. And he says, the world has yet to

see what God will do, not can do, will do, what God will do with a man fully consecrated

to him. Crazy, eh? So this man had spoken to D.L. Moody and he said, he was talking

to D.L. Moody in 1872. Moody goes on a trip to Chicago and a few other, to the UK and

back and forth from Chicago and he comes back and he speaks to Varley and he says, you said

these words to me and they really troubled me over the last year, really troubled me.

That the world is yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to him. And

then he goes on to say to Varley that I aim to be that man. That's what he said. I aim

to be that man. And from there on begins his journey. The D.L. Moody goes on and he begins

to, he begins to do things across the US and Europe that shakes it to its very core, eh?

But this quote is something else and it applies to every man and woman here. And this is why

I asked Derek to pray because I won't be able to do this for you but the Spirit of God can

do something in our hearts, man. There's nobody here that cannot be just turned upside down

by this word. It's not the richness of teaching, it's not the gifts of the Spirit, it's not

anything. At the end of the day it boils down to this simple fact. The world has yet

to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to him. And then he goes and says, I aim to

be that man. By God's help, by God's help, he puts that in, I'm sorry I left that out.

By God's help I aim to be that man. And so if you take the word consecrate, you can take

it. Without going into Greek or Hebrew or anything of that sort, it simply means to

separate, to separate yourself holy to the Lord. To separate yourself holy to the Lord,

that's what it means. To separate yourself holy to the Lord. That's, at the end of the

day, that's the essence of what consecrate means. To separate yourself holy to the Lord.

There were a group of guys in the Old Testament that were known for this. You find it in Numbers

6. Strangely enough, the only thing we remember out of Numbers 6 is, the Lord bless you and

keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you. The Lord give you his peace, cause

his face to, countenance to be lifted upon you. That's what we remember. But if you read

the preceding verses from Numbers 6.1 to 21, you find that there is a group of guys

that would go into this place of consecration. And they were called the Nazarites. Now, Samson

was a Nazarite and there were very few full time Nazarites. It wasn't a clan, it wasn't

a tribe. But people would go in and out of a Nazarite oath or a vow because it was prescribed

in the Old Testament. And so if you go to Numbers 6, verse 1 to 8 for instance, Numbers

Numbers 6:1–8 Numbers 6:1–8

6 verse 1 to 8, it says, and the Lord spoke to Moses, speak to the people of Israel and

say to them, and I love this, it's not very often that you find man or woman in the Old

Testament. But here it says in verse 2, speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when

either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazarite to separate himself

to the Lord, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar

made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes fresh

or dried. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the

grape wine, not even the seeds of the skins, seeds of the, or the skins. All the days of

his vow of separation no razor shall touch his head until the time is completed for which

he separates himself to the Lord. So it was for a time that they would do it. And they

would decide the time ahead of time so that they would say, during this time I will live

as a Nazarite and I will subscribe to the Nazarite vow. And so verse 5, all the days

of his vow of separation no razor shall touch his head until the time is completed for which

he separates himself to the Lord. He shall be holy. He shall let the locks of the hair

of his head grow long. All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not

go near a dead body. Not even for his father or for his mother or brother or sister if

they die shall he make himself unclean because his separation to God is on his head. All

the days of separation he is holy to the Lord. And then if you go to verse 13, and it says,

and this is the law for the Nazarite when the time of his separation has been completed.

He shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting. And then he had to offer

offerings but look at what the offerings were. He shall bring his gift to the Lord. One main

lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering. One yew lamb a year old without

blemish as a sin offering. One ram without blemish as a peace offering. A basket of unleavened

bread. Loaves of fine flour mixed with oil. Unleavened wafers smeared with oil and the

grain offerings and the drink offerings. And the priest shall bring them before the Lord.

The final thing that he would do is in verse 18, 6, 18, and it says there, and the Nazarite

shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take the

hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of

the peace offering. It seems such an odd passage to go to talk about consecration but this

was a normal part of Old Testament life where people would decide that they were going to

separate themselves wholly to the Lord. So what was the point of taking a note that you

wouldn't drink wine, that you would grow your hair, that you wouldn't touch dead bodies

and that you would give in offerings? Because guys remember wine was like bubbly or coke.

People would drink it every day. To say that for the next three years or the next eight

months I was not going to touch anything that was alcoholic or that had wine in it or that

had grape in it was to say that in separating myself it will have lifestyle or social implications.

You know what this would mean, right? That you would go to a wedding and when you go

to the wedding you would not be able to participate even if Jesus turned it into wine. It didn't

matter who turned the water into wine, you wouldn't drink it. You go for a regular meal,

you couldn't drink wine. You go for a Passover meal, you couldn't drink wine. It would be

out of question. There were social or lifestyle implications to separating yourself. We need

to hear that because we are not called to be Nazrites right now though this premise

did exist in the New Testament too. But the point is if I decide that I am going to consecrate

myself know that there will be social and lifestyle implications. The next one. The

next one was that you had to grow your hair and you could not cut your hair. What was

the intent? That there would be physical implications that would make visible what

you were doing. It was physical implication. I remember speaking to someone from the Sikh

faith, a Punjabi, a very religious Punjabi and he said your Jesus was like us. So I

said why do you say that? He said because he would grow his hair and he would wear an

outfit that would make it obvious that he was holy and so he would not be able to enter

a place of disrepute without people noticing. And then he said that's why we wear this orange

turban and we dress like this because once we put this on we can't go around into places

of ill repute because the moment we do people will recognize that here is a hypocrite who

is going into a place he shouldn't go to. This is from a guy from the Punjabi faith.

The point being the moment I consecrate myself this is a difficult thing that God is inviting

us into. This cannot be legislated. But there is nobody here who God is not inviting into

something like this. But there has to be something that is physically visible that makes evident

to the world around you that you have separated yourself to something or someone. That this

is one of those things where it's not like Jesus saying if you fast don't let people

know that you're fasting. This is if you are setting yourself apart let people know. The

third thing was dead bodies. Do not touch dead bodies. Today doesn't seem like a big

deal because none of us would have a problem with touching dead bodies but in those days

a person could die of a cold next to you. Death was very normal. There would be plagues.

People would die of different things. It could be a father, mother, brother, sister. They

would have multiple sisters and brothers. And so the intent of the Nazarite vow in this

case was to let us know that if we went down this route there were relational, physical

implications where our relationships would be affected by it. We would not be able to

take part in relational things that are culturally sometimes a way of showing respect that we

would have to withdraw from. And then finally look at the offerings that had to be presented.

There was no other situation where one man had to present a lamb, a ewe lamb and a ram,

a basket of flour, leavened bread, wafers smeared with oil. No other sacrifice ever demanded

so much of a person because it was impossible for an ordinary man to then fulfill this vow

because you could not. I mean even by today's standards one whole lamb is going to cost

you a lot. In those days when people were poor to get a lamb, to get a ewe lamb and

to get a ram and then to get a basket of flour and then to get wafers that are smeared with

oil and bring that all as an offering before God would be so expensive that it was prohibitive

which would then mean that the only way that you could do it is if some of us gathered

around you because we knew what you were doing and helped you get there. So consecration

could not even be completed in isolation because you would not be able to complete this offering.

You would need others to help you with it. So there were four different types of offerings

that were financial implications. And so what are we trying to say? We are trying to say

that if you want to go down this route of D.L. Moody where he says the world has to

see what God will do. The world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated

to him. You know what encourages me about that is that it is so open to anybody. There

is no one here who this is not open to. But this is where 1st Chronicles 16.9 just comes

into being. The eyes of the Lord roam to and fro across the earth looking for someone on

whose behalf he can show himself strong because they show themselves loyal. But consecration

is not a day thing. You cannot grow your hair in a day. Right Tony? It takes longer than

that. So it takes a while. So it would not be something that you commit to for a day.

It required time. And that is where in our busy world it becomes so impossible to consecrate

ourselves. The best we can do is bring our talents and our gifts, our two loaves and

our five fish and say, Oh God multiply it. And he still does. Both for our sake and for

the sake of others. But it is not what he is looking for. He is looking for the people

who are not like him. And so throughout history there have been Nazrites like this. And they

usually come out when there is an overwhelming stench of the world around you. That is when

these men pop up. So you see Samson popping up. Samuel was another one. In 1 Samuel 1.11.

In his case he was perhaps the only other Nazrite that was perhaps a full time Nazrite.

And his mother brings him to Eli and she says, Here is my son. I dedicate him to the Lord

and all the days of his life a razor shall not touch his head. And so you have Samuel.

David was not a Nazrite but there were times when he would go into long periods of not

touching a certain item of food or not doing this. There were times when he would do things

like that. Paul was another one. Paul probably did it once or twice in the New Testament.

That is a strange thing. This is not an Old Testament premise. You see this in the New

Testament too. In Acts chapter 19 before Ephesus is completely turned around as a city that

Acts 19 · chapter mention

belonged to Artemis now belonging to the living God, you will find in Acts 18.18 Paul fulfilling

a vow that he took where he goes into the temple and he shaves his head. Shaving the head

was never a Christian or a Mosaic or a Judaic prescription because the pagan nations used to

shave their heads when people would die so that it would look like they were mourning and they

would be mourning to their gods. And so God had forbade people from shaving their heads. So

every time you read that someone went and shaved their head in the Old Testament or the New

Testament it is because they were fulfilling a vow. Paul does it in Acts 18.18. He fulfills a

vow. Don't know how long he maintained it. And every time you get to a place where the world has

this overwhelming stench you will see Samson's and Samuel's and David's and Elijah's and the

other one was John the Baptist. He was a man who would not touch the dainties from the king's table

who lived a certain way. What is this then? It's a prophetic sign guys. It's a prophetic sign. It's a

It's a prophetic sign or a symbol. It's a prophetic sign or a symbol of God's covenant faithfulness

as in I will not let the earth go without raising someone or the other who can do what I want to on the

earth so that more may know me. It's a prophetic sign of God's covenant faithfulness and holiness

to awaken first the church and then through the church the world. What is a prophetic sign? Ones who

consecrate themselves. What's a model in the Bible? The Nazarites. Please understand they were not a

clan. They were not a tribe. There was no drafting into Nazarite kind of a ritual. Nobody was compelled.

You didn't have to do it. It wasn't a rite of passage. It was voluntary. This is what he's inviting

Jordan to, Aaron into, Prashanth into, Mark into, James into. Please give me one man. Give me one man.

The world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to him. In every generation God is looking

for men like this across the continent and it really shifts everything. No amount of gifts, no large church,

no Holy Spirit revival. Nothing else does this as powerfully as a man set up. G. K. Chesterton said these words,

Each generation, each generation, each generation is converted by the saint, each generation is converted by the saint

who contradicts it the most. Combine these two guys and I pray God that the Holy Spirit begins to create a hunger in some

of our hearts. Man or woman, that it begins to create a hunger in your heart. This must become your cry. Oh God,

I have heard of your deeds. I stand in awe of your deeds. Renew them. I want to renew them Jacob, but I'm looking for a man

or a woman whose life is consecrated to me because the world has not yet seen what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him.

Each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts it. Everything in this world is instant, instant, instant. Everything in this

world is get, set your, create a platform. Doesn't matter whether it's a church or the world, create a platform. Do this, do that.

You need more influence. You can do this. Let your gifts be known. Put it on media. Put it on this, put it on that.

And Jesus never did this, but he was consecrated to the Father.

Any questions?

Exactly this. Separate to God, holy for him. The meaning of consecration.

To separate yourself holy to the Lord. That's the meaning of the word consecrate. It is to separate yourself as it says in number six.

I am right now a part of this large group and then I'm saying I'm separating myself and standing alone even if I contradict, even if it has relational

implications, even if it has lifestyle implications, even if it means physical implications will make me look awkward and odd, even if it means that I'll have

financial implications which may cause me financial loss. Yet all this is as nothing for the sake of him to whom I set myself apart.

And it's an invitation to everybody. Go ahead, Marco.

Any other questions?

Yeah, consecration is something that doesn't need permission. Consecration is to say I'm separating myself to be holy unto God.

How you go about it differs and we'll talk about that, different ways of doing it. Because it changes for different people, eh?

Each of us has a different way of doing it. So it's not like you're going to be a Christian, you're going to be a Christian, you're going to be a Christian.

Because it changes for different people, eh? Each of us has different things we are struggling with. I'll ask you a set of questions that will make it a little more obvious.

It's not a proving of our love, eh? We don't set ourselves apart because we want to prove our love. It's not a proving of our love but a separating cause we love.

Cause we love, not because we want to prove him, prove to him that we love him. It's a separating cause we love him.

In the New Testament you'll find it in Acts chapter 21, Acts chapter 21,

Acts 21 · chapter mention Acts 21:24

verse 24, Acts 21, 24.

And so this was them talking to Paul and saying to him in verse 23,

Go to Acts 18, 18.

Acts 18, 18 it says,

After this Paul stayed many days longer and took leave with the brothers and set sail for Syria.

And with him Priscilla and Aquila at Sankria he had cut his hair for he was under a vow.

These were voluntary things people would do. And what was the intent?

Can I do something that will help me set myself apart for holy use?

Can I do something physical? Sometimes you need to do something like this to break out of the rut that we are in.

So now to answer, try and answer Marcos' question and Anna's question.

What does this imply? It implies giving up. It is giving up.

It is giving up smaller desires that have a hold on me or in my life,

hold in my life for the sake of a greater desire. That's one.

Let me write down a few more and then we can talk about it.

Two. These things aren't sin.

These things aren't sin but are hindering me.

It's going to get uncomfortable now, eh? But are hindering me from the person I need to be.

Are hindering me from the person I need to be.

It could be anything from Facebook to social media to a little bit of wine or alcohol that you may or may not be using in moderation.

The way you dress, the events you attend, the TV you watch, the way you spend, the way you spend time,

the way you use your phone. None of these are sinful.

These things aren't sin but are hindering me from the person I need to be.

So if you were honest, if you were honest, where do the lines blur and you begin to compromise?

And I begin to compromise.

If you were honest, what distracts you or hinders you, what distracts you or hinders you from being the person that you know you should be?

You know you should be. You know God's spoken to you, He's shown you, He's told you, there's no dirt of prophetic words.

You know the entire scene. You can write a book about your future. I can. I can write a book about my future.

So many have come right from 35 years ago, 33 years ago and they've told me, Jacob, Jacob, Jacob.

But why is it that the book isn't completed? Why haven't I gotten to the last page?

And so when I say what hinders you, don't think of something big.

An example I heard was, so you may say, oh I need to spend quality time with my wife and so the hindrance is I should create time to spend with my wife.

That's a big thing. The small thing is people spend an hour with their wife with their phones next to them and do not pay attention to their spouse.

That is a small thing that needs to be taken care of.

Our Christian life is being ruined by the small things that are adding up, not by the big things.

We have the ability to take the big things and deal with them. But it is the small things.

The constant looking at the phone while you're sitting with the one you love, not being present.

It's the small things. It's not the big things.

It's the small things that ruin us guys. It's the little foxes that are spoiling the wine.

And each of us has this in our lives and for each of us it's different.

For some of you, perhaps Facebook is not a big deal. For some of us, it's consuming.

The third question is what good thing, what good thing is bringing spiritual decay into your life?

What good thing is giving up your life?

And can I give it up? And can I sacrifice it?

Okay, let's talk about it now. It's giving up the smaller desires that have a hold on my life.

I pray God that as I say this, that it just pops up to your mind, smaller desires that have a hold in your life.

If I asked you to give it up for a day or two, you would. If I asked you to give it up for a month or two, you would come up with reasons why it's not a good idea.

You would come up with reasons saying this is legalism.

You would come up with reasons saying God knows my heart. Of course he does.

So if I ask someone here who consumes Facebook to give up Facebook for the next seven months, the thought itself grips your heart and squeezes it.

If I ask you to give up the wine you have or the alcohol you have for the next eight months, you can't even think of doing without it.

If I ask yourself not to sit in front of the TV mindlessly flipping channels, it might be difficult because it's the way we fall off to sleep.

These are the small things, but day by day by day they are eating away at time and a moral fiber and at our focus.

The second thing was things that aren't sin but are hindering me from the person I need to be.

Things that aren't sin. These are not sinful things.

The strange thing about consecration is that we are not talking about sinful things.

We are talking about good things that are hindering.

As I'm preparing this, I'm thinking to myself, my God, the amount of time I waste, you've been robbed by me.

One of the reasons I want to preach this is so that I can say, for your sake, O God, for his sake and for your sake, is there a chance, Jacob, that you would consecrate yourself?

Mothers do that when they get pregnant, don't they? Mothers who drink wine, mothers who smoke, mothers who have been smoking for a while and mothers who drink wine stop.

What are they doing for?

Mothers who have been smoking for a while and mothers who drink wine stop. What are they doing for?

They consecrate themselves for the sake of the one they're giving birth to.

Can May do this? Can Dawn do this? Can Jillian do this? Can Derek do this? Can Sue do this? Can Jane and Sheldon do this?

Can Hannah and George do this? Can Diana do this? Can Emily do this? Can Tooney do this? For your sake and for his sake?

The third thing was, what good thing is bringing spiritual decay? What good thing is bringing spiritual decay? What good thing is bringing spiritual decay?

In Acts chapter 6, verse 2, it was all day, the disciples, the apostles say, choose for us seven men full of the Holy Spirit so that we can ask them to take care of the needy widows, which is a super good thing,

Acts 6:2

because those that take care of widows and orphans are actually practicing perfect religion according to Jesus.

And even though it was a good thing, the apostles say, we need to devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.

Therefore, choose for us seven men full of the Holy Spirit so that they can take care of it. Why?

Because if the apostles continue doing it, what would happen as a result would be spiritual decay of the church.

And so they appoint seven and they devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word,

consecrate themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word, because if prayer and the ministry of the word begins to decline,

or is there a certain stagnant level in the church, especially in terms of the pastor and the leadership,

then know this for certain that faith will decline, holiness will decline, fruitfulness will decline, and the ministry of the word will decline.

Sometimes what is happening to you is the responsibility of the ones who lead you,

because they are not putting in the time to prevent certain things from happening to you,

just as you would say that about your children.

But some things happen to your children because you did not put in place what was required,

the work that was required to keep them safe.

And like Paul says, I'm the chief among those sinners.

I'm not quoting Paul, I'm talking about myself.

Because this hasn't happened in my life for a very, very, very, very, very long time.

What if it happens for all of us?

Any questions before we go on?

Any questions, guys?

Any questions before we go on?

Any questions, guys?

Yeah.

I think when it comes to finances, start with single simple principles.

And the first principle that perhaps all of us can start with is, am I afraid of money?

Start with that.

If I have the fear of money, then it will control, it will drive, it will lead, it will affect everything I do.

Just start with that simple principle.

Am I afraid of money? When I have less, am I afraid?

When I have less, lack, scare me, am I afraid?

The fear of money is where we start.

If you can deal with the fear of money and get less and less afraid of money,

money is a great servant and a tyrannical master.

So it's a great servant, it will serve you well.

It's amoral.

It will serve you well, but it's a tyrannical master.

The first thing I ask myself every two or three months is, hey, has the fear returned?

Start there.

And you can build from there.

Any other questions with regard to what I was talking about?

Okay.

Consecration always leads to the visitation of God.

Consecration always leads to the visitation of God.

You go from merely being proximal to Him.

You go from proximity to, you go from mere proximity to sheer presence.

Mere proximity to sheer presence.

Whenever someone consecrates themselves to God, God shows up.

Every time an individual or a few people consecrate themselves to God, God visits.

Doesn't matter whether we were talking, we were talking about the Hebrides 2.0 revival.

I mean, that was the story of Stornoway.

Two old ladies and a priest called Campel, and a guy called Campel.

They consecrated themselves and an entire island was set on fire with the tangible presence of God.

You see, every time consecration happens,

I mean, sometimes when people consecrate themselves,

God doesn't even allow them to finish the consecration because He turns up with His presence and completely disrupts it.

Case in point, 1 Kings 8, where they're consecrating Solomon's temple.

And they're in the process of slaughtering lambs and sheep to offer to God.

And in the middle of that, just when the priests are going to play the final crescendo notes to the consecration,

before it's complete, God turns up.

And it says, and 1 Kings 8, 18 or thereabouts, it says, 11, 18, it says,

the priests could not even stand because the glory of God entered the temple.

He disrupts it. He loves it. He loves it. He loves someone.

You know why He loves it? Because He is holy.

Kadoosh, the very word Kadoosh, which stands, is a Hebrew word for holy, simply means set apart.

That's the meaning of the word.

We say Kadoosh, holy. The actual sense of Kadoosh is set apart.

And so when anybody begins to consecrate themselves to the Lord, set apart to the Lord,

there's so much, it's like strings playing the same note.

Consecration always ends up with the visitation of God.

Every revival we have heard of in the past is usually because a small group of people,

it doesn't matter whether it's the Moravians who changed the world many years ago,

or whether it's a Campbell here or a Wesley there,

at some point they decided, by God's help, I want to be that man.

Or I want to be that woman.

Sometimes the best way to break out of a rut,

a moral rut, a spiritual rut in your life, is to fast from the things that always set you off.

Fasting is a dying art in churches like this.

Because we are freelancers who know the Father.

And sometimes it's good to go back to those simple practices.

Not fasting from food. I'm not talking about that right now.

I'm talking about fasting from the things that are trapping you.

Where you make a decision saying, from this day on, for the next so many months, I will not.

And you struggle through it for the first few days, and then it becomes normal.

And you find that the triggers are breaking.

You find that the patterns are absent.

You find that the snare is not springing.

And as you begin to walk in that new freedom,

you begin to know the holiness of God at a level that you haven't yet experienced it.

And it begins to affect you so much that to live without it becomes intolerable.

And as it becomes intolerable, the presence of the living God begins to settle on the one who has consecrated himself to God.

And he says, now I have found a man who contradicts the age.

And so with this man, this woman, I can change things.

By God's help, I want to be that man. For his sake and for your sake.

And I know that's a cry of your heart.

But come tomorrow morning, will I be able to do this?

Come tomorrow morning. If I'm not able to do this, will there be people to help me?

Come on, Jacob. So what? You messed up. Get up again. Start.

When our children need to excel in something, what do we do?

We gather around. We create room for them. We make sure there are no disturbances.

We do everything in our power to help our children get that A+, or conquer that mountain, or run that race.

We do everything. Why? Because it's our desire to help them do that. We make everything conducive.

So let me ramp it up a little more, and then we'll end.

What if a place that some of us need to start with, some of us, or at least the ones that are leading others,

we should at least start there. But really, it should start with all of us.

I don't want to make that demarcation, but I certainly hope that you'll pray that, at least since he's the pastor of the church.

I hope it happens to him.

Ramp it up. How? Amos chapter 2, verse 11 says,

Amos 2:11

Hey, can you, oh God, can you once again let the prophets and the Nazarites rise up and speak?

Or something to that effect. Amos chapter 2, verse 11.

Amos 2:11

And so, can we get to a place where, like it says in Acts 6, 4, all of us, or at least the ones who lead,

can we decide that we will choose to have devoted, consecrated, extended, all three words are important, times of prayer.

For ourselves, we don't even know how to do this.

If that doesn't happen, then at some point in this church, faith, holiness, the ministry of the word, and fruitfulness will wither.

It's a set-apart activity. This kind of prayer is a set-apart activity.

It's not a, as I wash my dishes, let me pray activity.

I'm not saying you can't do that, but it's a set-apart activity that can't be set aside for good things or needs.

Now, I was just thinking of the dirks when, and I mentioned this last week too, when Matt had to finish his doctorate,

I'm sure Rachel stepped up with three kids to help him when Anilay had to finish her doctorate, I'm sure.

Tony stepped up and the food was terrible, but he still did it.

So the point being that someone else may have to step up so that you can do it.

And you see this in the Bible, if you turn to Mark chapter 135, it's such a cool scripture, Mark 135.

If he needed it, why can't I understand I needed to?

Mark 135, and rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

Luke 516, Luke 516.

But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray, but he would withdraw.

Jesus often withdrew from the place where he was born, and he would withdraw from the place where he was born.

He would go to desolate places and pray, but he would withdraw.

Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

There is a thing to going to lonely desolate places to pray, because there's nothing else that can disturb you, and you don't take your phone with you.

You're not as lonely as long as you have Apple.

That should be the new slogan, man.

Don't take your phone with you.

Luke 612.

One of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and he spent the night praying to God.

Why? Because the next day he had to make a momentous decision that would require that 12 people be chosen, out of which one would betray him anew, but 11 would change the world.

So he spends an entire night praying.

That's not how we work. We just sense the Lord.

You may sense the Lord, but you may never know who Judas is and who John is in the end.

So this requires something that is consecrated, devoted, dedicated.

And then to that, when you add the sensing of the Lord, now you have the ability to go get a fish that has a coin in its mouth.

You also have the ability to pick 11 people who can change the world.

The last scripture is Luke 918.

No, it's not 918. I wrote it down wrong.

This is when he goes up to pray, and he goes off to pray.

He sends him off and he goes off to pray. I can't find it.

But to devote myself to prayer, I must do these three things.

Preserve time.

I must persist.

I must remain with what I'm doing.

So preserve time as in there is a set time.

Preserve it. Do not let it be disturbed.

I must persist with what I'm doing, and I must remain or abide.

This requires effort. This requires rest. This requires diligence.

You know, other faiths practice this.

There's a certain leader who runs a relatively large country with a lot of responsibilities.

And recently he had to inaugurate a certain religious institution in a certain nation.

And so guess what he does?

Three months before it, he starts preparing himself spiritually.

And then 11 days before the actual event, he starts fasting.

He goes through rites, goes through rituals. Why?

Because this is a leader of a nation, like a president or a prime minister, and he prepares himself.

Why? Because he believes that in this institution that he's going to inaugurate,

the powers will come and begin to live there.

And I'm thinking to myself, so some of us spent two hours praying that this does not happen, while he started in October.

And you think to yourself, he starts in October and he then goes through 11-day fasts

so that the powers of his gods can be invited into this physical structure.

That kind of discipline, that kind of commitment, other faiths have it.

We mock them, we laugh at what they do, but they do.

And then you begin to wonder why power doesn't flow even though power is present.

It's not the lack of the spirit, it's the flow of the spirit.

The world has yet to see what God can do with a man who consecrates himself or a woman who consecrates himself to him.

By God's help, may you be that man or woman.

Only then will I triumph over the powers of darkness that resist.

Only then do I have spiritual strength to witness to the works of God and to lay my life down for the works of God.

Only then do I transmit the power that I've already received from the spirit.

Only then will I see Hebrides 2.0 sweep the earth, starting from here to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth, as we've been saying in the past.

And so you and I are being invited.

So today, how do we end? We'll have communion.

But you and I are being, some of us are being invited, some of us are being stirred,

some of us are persuaded to consecrate ourselves relationally, physically, in terms of a lifestyle, to Him.

I want us to go back to those three questions.

And after we answer that, we can break bread.

What good thing is bringing decay, spiritual decay into your life?

Sometimes it can even be a way of thinking or a desire that is so overwhelming that it now no longer is under your control.

It controls you.

Every time you go down a certain road, that desire or the absence of something that you've been hungering for so long is now front and center

and prevents you from thinking any other way.

And it's a good desire. It's not an evil desire.

It's a good desire.

That's the first question.

Spiritual decay, another way to say it is spiritual death.

What is causing death in your life spiritually?

How do you define spiritual death?

In other words, you use the stagnancy.

Nothing has changed.

Nothing has changed.

Nothing has changed.

Nothing has changed to the extent where now you're breaking out and have entered a new orbit.

It's the same orbit with a few variations, like from jazz to R&B to pop.

That's all. The words are still the same.

The second question was, what distracts or hinders you?

What distracts or hinders you from the person?

You want to be. You want to be and know you should be.

Third, what small things, small desires,

small desires have a hold in your life?

And often they lead you to compromise.

What may begin as one small glass of wine ends up on some nights becoming three glasses of wine

or three glasses of brandy or whiskey.

Suddenly it goes from, I'm a moderate drinker to I have lost my moderation.

And yet, please understand, God is not attacking sin here.

That's for another teaching.

Right now he's talking about things in our lives that are good.

Please don't now say that Jacob is endorsing drinking. I'm not.

I'm just saying these are the things that we need to look at.

So I'll read these three things and just for a second ponder on what you can do about it.

And then I'll read out John 17 and we'll break bread.

Yeah? What is it?

And if you think that you have arrived at answers to any of these questions

and you want to stand up and say,

I decide that from this day on for the next, whatever period of time,

the kind of time that's required for hair to grow,

for whatever period of time, I will not go down this route.

For God's to be holy, to be set apart is so much more important to me.

If you want to stand up and say that,

and say by God's grace, by God's help, this is what I want to attempt,

feel free to do that too.

Okay?

You won't be on live stream if you stand up and speak

and you likely won't be heard, so feel free.

Yeah. Marco, you'll have to, I'm just helping each of us, it's not correcting you.

You'll have to find a concrete way of doing it.

Because otherwise tomorrow you won't know where to begin.

So you'll have to find a concrete way of doing it.

Okay, so think about that one.

If you can't speak it out, that's fine, just write it down, eh?

Anyone?

Sorry, can you say that again, Brandon?

Doing nothing, yeah.

Aaron, just give us a couple of minutes till people finish and then you can speak, okay?

Thanks.

Anyone else?

Unless it's an actual phone call, I will not pick up my phone between 7.30 and 9.30 in the morning

to look at my mail or WhatsApp till 9.30.

I also will not, or I go completely off Facebook, Twitter, and what's that other thing?

Instagram for the next seven months.

For the next seven months I will not pick up my phone between 7.30 and 9.30

unless it's a phone call.

And I will not any longer check on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram for the next seven months

and I will not watch news after 11pm.

Will not.

I do that for two simple reasons.

One, because I'm going to consecrate myself in these areas to the Lord

by doing something practical in smaller things, smaller desires.

Not harmful, but time consuming.

Refuse to go down that road, both for his sake and for your sake.

Anyone else?

Beautiful.

Anyone else?

Amen.

Simple, small things.

Father, I used to fast.

It's been ages since I've taken up a deliberate fast because I just eat one meal a day anyways.

And so I've used that as an excuse.

So I return to fasting one day a week.

Looking forward to it, Father.

Return to fasting one day a week.

Nobody will know which day.

Because that's how you want fast.

Doordash is going to lose money, Father.

Anyone else?

Yeah.

The amount of time we waste, eh?

Yeah.

Father, we want to replace the time we redeem with you.

And with what you direct us to do.

This is not to get more brownie points.

It doesn't make us more righteous.

But it sets us apart for you.

Doesn't make you love us more, doesn't make us more righteous.

Anyone else? Let's just wait for two more minutes.

Just two more minutes.

Good, Betty.

Good, Betty.

Thanks, Anna.

Thanks, Father.

I'll use my hand right here.

So they commit to a time, eh?

Set yourself a time, guys. I'm not saying repeat your prayers.

Set yourself a time. Time breaks habits. Time creates habits.

Just one more minute. 6.35 we stop.

You're not saying it doesn't mean your heart doesn't desire it, eh?

You're saying it just perhaps emboldens others. That's all.

You're saying it just perhaps emboldens others. That's all.

I'm not knowing this. I had already started these things.

I'm not the person that gave you.

There's no condemnation in this message. There's no legalism in this message, guys.

There's an invitation that's stirring up.

Any takers? Last two?

Last two?

As we break bread,

let me read a passage from John 17.

From the message.

It says there, and Jesus is saying these words,

I gave them your word. The godless world hates them

because of it. Because they don't join the world's ways

just as I didn't join the world's ways.

I'm not asking that you take them out of the world, but that you

guard them from the evil one. They are no more defined by the

world than I am defined by the world. Make them holy,

consecrated with the truth. Your word is consecrating truth.

In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission

in the world. I'm consecrating myself for their sake

so that they'll be truth-consecrated in their mission.

I gave them your word. The godless world hates them

because of it. Because they didn't join the world's ways

just as I didn't join the world's ways. I'm not asking that you take them out of

the world, but that you guard them from the evil one.

The godless world hates them because of it. Because they don't join the world's ways

just as I didn't join the world's ways. I gave them your word.

I gave them your word. I gave them your word.

I gave them your word. I gave them your word.

I gave them your word. I gave them your word.

I gave them your word. I gave them your word.

I gave them your word. I gave them your word.

I gave them your word. I gave them your word. I gave them your word.

I gave them your word. I gave them your word.

I gave them your word. I gave them your word.

I gave them your word. I gave them your word.

I gave them your word. I gave them your word.

I gave them your word. I gave them your word.

I gave them your word. I gave them your word.

I recognize this is the family that you have put us in and we belong here

despite the family being highly defective.

But you still have put us here.

We approach this table with faith, O God. With faith we approach it.

Church, as we drink this, we are not remembering. We are remembering

with faith. Yeah? We don't commemorate

something to just remember. This is not nostalgia.

This is with faith.

So once you get the elements,

we'll eat and drink together.

Yaya, can I have one?

Mia? Okay, thanks. Thank you.

You are

here

Standing in our

midst

You are here

Standing in our midst

You are here

Standing in our midst

We worship you

We worship you

You are here

Turning lives around

We worship you

We worship you

We worship you

Moving in our midst

We worship you

We worship you

You are here

Turning lives around

We worship you

Thanks, man.

On the night that he was betrayed,

everyone got bread and juice?

Okay.

Nick, you got yours? Okay.

What's that song that goes,

consecrated Lord to thee

Take my...

Oh my God, such a hymn-illiterate church this is.

Okay. On the night

he was betrayed, Jesus took bread, he broke it,

he gave thanks, then he broke it, and he said,

I have set myself apart

for you

even unto death.

Eat this bread,

eat my flesh and drink my blood, he said in John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

I have set myself apart for just

one task, to die for you, to live in you.

And through you to continue

do, through you continue do what I always

want to finish doing. I've set myself apart for this. I consecrated

myself apart.

He took bread, he gave thanks, and he said, this is my body which

is broken for you.

So that you may accrue to yourselves the benefits of

my death, that you may know my father, that you may know your sins

are always forgiven, you may know you will never be left alone.

We remember that with faith as we eat this now, in Jesus'

name, amen.

In the same manner after

supper, he took the cup, he gave thanks, and he said,

this is my blood with which I write a new agreement with you.

This is my blood with which, um, um,

what's your name? Iris, keep her in, let her cry,

we're okay.

So, he took the cup, he gave thanks, and he said,

keep her in, let her cry, we're okay.

I want you to be part of this.

He gave thanks and he said, this is my

blood with which I write a new agreement with you.

So we raise our glasses to you Jesus.

We thank you for this new agreement that has made our lives completely different

and rich. We honor you, we declare you magnificent,

marvelous, splendid majesty. How we come to

freshly give you our lives that have been

purchased with your blood, in Jesus' name, amen.

There will be an AGM, which I

forgot to announce earlier, on 17th of March.

Can Evan and Betty come up?

These guys are heading off to Belfast on Wednesday

or Tuesday? Wednesday. So,

Caleb from Belfast,

will be hosting them and they're meeting with four or five others and

my hope is that one day we'll be able to

plant something fresh in Belfast. But this is our first foray into Belfast

where we're sending out people two by two to see what can be done there.

And so we got four or five uni students that

they'll be meeting with and kind of

try and fathom what needs to be done in Belfast next. So, they're leaving Wednesday,

they'll be back Monday or Tuesday. Yeah? So let's just pray for them.

So Father, in Jesus' name we thank you for this

simple precedent that you established where before you went somewhere you would send out

your disciples two by two to go prepare.

To go prepare the way of the Lord. To go prepare the way of the Lord.

So we send them, not in the name of Betty and Evan,

we send them in the name of Jesus Christ, the sender.

And in doing so we ask Father that your authority,

your immunity, your protection be upon them

as they go. That you will give them wise, gentle words.

That'll be like rain and spring as they

draw out what they need to draw out

in Belfast. That they'll plough the ground so that

when the seeding will happen a few months from now, once again

crops will come up. That, just like you did with us sixteen, seventeen years ago,

you will do in Belfast again with us Father. So we bless them as they go.

It's a big deal about we going first time into this

particular nation. We've been to Dublin before but this particular city.

So we bless them as they go. We send them forth in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

What's the song?

Blessed is sure in Jesus'

name, blessed is mine.

Oh what a

foretaste of glory

divine. I'm an heir of salvation

and purchase of

God. Born of his

spirit, washed in his

spirit. One more time.

Blessed assurance

Jesus is mine.

Oh what a foretaste

of glory divine.

Heir of salvation, I'm a

purchase of God.

Born of his spirit, washed in his

blood. This is my

story, this is my

song. Praising my

Savior all the day long.

This is my

story, this is my song.

Praising my Savior

all the day long.

There will be people here to pray for you. So feel free to come up

if you need prayer and then we can end with

I have decided to follow

Jesus. I have decided

to follow Jesus.

I have decided

to follow Jesus.

No turning back, no turning

back. Though none go with

me, still I will follow.

Though none go with me,

still I will follow.

No turning back,

no turning back. The cross, the cross

before me, the world behind

me, the cross before me,

the world behind me,

the cross before me,

the world behind me,

the world behind me,

no turning back, no turning

back. I have decided

to follow Jesus.

I have decided

to follow Jesus. I have

decided to follow Jesus.

No turning back,

no turning back.

No turning back,

no turning back.

No turning.

Make sure you say hi and bye

to Mary, Steve

and Jeff. They're all sitting in the wrong places now.

And if you need prayer

feel free to come up and someone will pray with you.

Bless you guys.