Beyond

All righty, guys. If you want a title for today, it's Beyond. Beyond. And we'll talk

about Beyond what? Partly Beyond 2022. What does it look like? Am I on? What's your name,

Brandon? Okay. Yeah. So what does the Beyond look like? So that's what we want to talk

about. So guys, before you call to something, you call to someone. In 2023, in 2023, before

you call to something, before you call to something, you call to someone. You call to

someone who has a purpose and a plan, who has a purpose and he has a plan that he wants

to accomplish through you in 2023. Okay? So before you call to something, you call to

someone who has a purpose and it was ordained before the foundations of the earth and who

has a plan specifically tailored for you before the foundations of the earth and it

all falls within the parameters of M3, which is make the Father known, make disciples,

multiply churches. It falls within this. This is a mandate for every Christian on the face

of the earth. Make the Father known, make disciples, multiply churches. So none of us

are purposeless. We already have purpose. But within this purpose, God still has a plan that

is for you to accomplish, is for this church to accomplish in 2023. But before we are called to

something, we are called to someone. What happens with most of us is we know how to write down things

to do. We know how to write down goals. But sometimes we struggle with writing down God's

vision for us. And the simplest way to describe God's vision for us is his dream for your life

in 2023 that becomes like an overarching canopy and has portions you are to discover.

Once you discover it, you can then possess it. And once you possess it, you can build on it. And

you have to try that in appointed timeframes. Think like that. Think of a Father who has a

dream. His as in the Father's dream. Think like that. It makes it much more fun. Doesn't make it

something that the director of the universe has a role for me to play. No, every Father has a dream

for his child. What is the Father's dream for me in 2023? Discover it, possess it, build it,

and try doing it in appointed timeframes. I like the way you jumped over the pew. I could try it,

but I might fall. Any questions on those two simple things? Accept it and receive it with faith.

Because the dream will be much bigger than you and what you can do. So you have to receive it

with faith. Only then can you possess it. He doesn't dream like you and I. His dreams are way

too stretchy. So possess it as in receive it, embrace it with absolute faith early on. Because

if you can do that early on, then it's easier to dispel fear. And when you can't do that early on,

it becomes hard to dispel fear because fear is going to come in. Doubt is going to come in.

Pressure is going to come in. Mistakes are going to happen. But if I can embrace it early, then it

becomes a little easier to handle all that. And he'll give you portions of it. He won't give it all

in a shot. He'll give portions of it. And then it begins to develop. Build on it in appointed

timeframes. That's important too. And one of the things that's really helpful is remember,

he's not reluctant to reveal. He's not reluctant to reveal. He's not reluctant to reveal his dream

for you. He's not reluctant to reveal his dream for you. He's not reluctant. He's not reluctant

to reveal his dream for you. Like any father. But, and it's not a bad but, he expects you to wrestle

and extract it. He expects you to wrestle for it and extract it. Because he's God. What he has to

give is precious. It's treasure. Do you want the treasure? Well then, come wrestle me a little and

extract it from me. Jesus used to do this with his disciples. Who do they say I am? Why take them

through it? Why can't he just tell them who he is? No. Who do you say I am? And then you get these

different responses. Why? Because he's trying to extract one thing that he knows his father is

going to give someone. I don't know whether he knows who it's going to come through. But he knows

it's going to come. He's asking them and some say you're Elijah the prophet. Some say you're John

the Baptist. Some say this and that. And then one man just says you are Jesus Christ, the Son of the

Living God. And then he says but this revelation did not come to you by any other means but through

the Father. So he wants you to wrestle so that you can extract it. So we can write down things to do.

We can write down goals. But that is the something. Before being called to something in 2023,

we are called to someone. And part of the being called to someone will require us to go beyond

a few things. Go beyond one, our individuality. And all of us will have to deal with this. It

is no one exempt from it. Starting with me. Meaning go beyond the natural. Go beyond my

personality. And go beyond my desire to secure the future. Before being, and this is particularly

applicable to us as a church. Not because we are special but because he's been at this for a while

so he'll demand more. Like sometimes you treat your older child unfairly because the older child has

gotten more attention over the last many years. And so you can demand a little extra. That's kind

of how it is. So God wants to go beyond. He wants us to go beyond. If he says you're coming to me

and you want to change and you want the dream I have for you, then I want you to go beyond. He

wants us to go beyond our individuality. Go beyond our natural. Go beyond that which is natural. Go

beyond our personality. And go beyond our desire to secure the future. And these four things are

critically important to man. They're super important to us. We so don't want to go beyond

this because none of this is really bad but after the fall things get distorted. God is the one who

created us with our individuality, with our personality, giving us natural things, giving

us things for life. So when he says go beyond it's because many of these things get distorted. So

let's take on this and then we can come back. So go beyond individuality. Since the fall,

individuality, I'll just call it I, individuality has become self-assertive and independent. So the

more I assert my individuality, the more I assert my individuality, the more I hinder growth.

And sometimes what happens is individuality can pretend to be spiritual. Spirituality can pretend

to be spirituality. And this is one religion where it does not work. Christianity cannot be

lived individually and independent. Cannot. So individuality can pretend to be spirituality

because personal growth is happening. Jesus and me. And yet Jesus did not start off the prayer

saying my father. Jesus started with a prayer saying our father. Jesus did not say I was a

little Christ. He said you are a little part of the body of Christ. There is nothing in Christianity

that does not match up with, that does match up with individuality. It got distorted at the fall.

Tension. Yeah. Yeah. So you'll have to hold it in tension because we can't, I mean it's still

prevalent in many tribal, when I say tribal nations what I mean is nations who are being part of a clan

or a tribe is important. Where if the head of a tribe accepts Christ everybody just automatically

accepts Christ. That's not how it works. Each of us makes an individual decision to enter into the

kingdom. But the moment we enter a kingdom something changes. The moment we enter a kingdom it is not

that individuality should be despised. It is that my personality, we'll get to personality later,

my individuality secondary now to the body. Yeah. But you can't enter it without individual decision

making. It is when it's a question that your dad used to phrase it this way. Eddie used to say that

someone approached Eddie's dad and said I'm very spiritual and Eddie's dad responded saying who are

you spiritual with? Because it's very easy to be very spiritual. Most of the rishis and gurus in

India are very spiritual. They sit alone on top of a mountain freezing their backsides off. But

who are you spiritual with? Every gift guys just think of this. You cannot practice any of the fruit

of the spirit on your own. Hey Ruth. Hi Korean. Walk right in. Now that I've announced it this is

going to be embarrassing as you walk in. Okay. Guys this is Korean and that's his wife Ruth.

Ruth is my mother's brother's daughter so she and I are first cousins. So now that I've exposed them

you can be at peace. Now it's all okay from here on. Yeah. Okay so back to the what is the question?

Yeah how does it pretend to be spirituality? Guys there's not a single fruit in the none of

the fruit of the Holy Spirit can be practiced in isolation. None. Just imagine that. The only

gift in the of the Holy Spirit that can be practiced in isolation is the gift of tongues.

None of the gifts can be practiced in isolation. That's why it's sometimes the gift of tongues is

the lesser of the gifts. And Paul says desire the gifts that are better. And what does it mean by

better? All he means is can you go after the gifts that benefit others? Because the Corinthians

were stuck with this idea of the gift of the tongues gift of tongues being the most thing.

But that is the lesser of gifts because it doesn't do anyone else any good except you.

So it is easy for individuality to pretend to be spirituality. Me and my God. And it starts when

you're a kid. Me and my toy. That is my toy. And that just continues. So if I want to go beyond

and if I want to begin to discover, possess, build within timeframes the dream that God has for me in

2023. These are some of the changes that will have to happen. So individuality can pretend to be

spirituality. So here are some of the things the Spirit of God keeps doing continuously. The Spirit

is grafting me always into imperfect branches of a perfect tree so he can flow. Individuality

resists this. The Spirit is always at work grafting me into an imperfect branch. So let's assume I

become part of this body. I'm being grafted into an imperfect branch meaning you. Off a perfect tree.

Meaning Christ. Why? So that by doing this he can flow. That's the other thing with the Spirit of

God. That I mean when you read I think it's in Colossians it says and we have one Father we drink

of one Spirit. And he's not saying I drink of one Spirit. He says we drink of one Spirit. It is this

idea of drinking from one common source. Go back to the Old Testament it says the same thing. And

then there was a rock out of which water flowed in the desert. And that rock it talks about this

in 2 Corinthians. And that rock was Christ. There is this need for people to drink out of a common

source. It's not you and God. It is this idea of us and God. Very hard to get through our heads even

after all these years because we live such highly individualized Christian lives right.

A shift to say because otherwise.

Nope. Yeah. I'm not saying no we don't have a person. Jesus had a personal relationship with God.

But I relate to him personally as part of a body. It's like the different parts of my body relating

to the head. They relate. I mean my finger feels pain. But it cannot be separate because then it

does not feel any pain. Yeah. Yeah. So we begin this way. I

when I receive Christ as first my savior because I need saving from sin and then my Lord because

you can't accept him as Lord till you accept him as Savior. I then enter according to 1 Corinthians

12 13 a body called the body of Christ which is universal. But that's like saying that I'm

part of mankind. You don't survive by being part of mankind. You survive by being part of a family.

And that family happens to be the local body that you are part of.

So are there many different vacuum companies. Yes. But can you be a vacuum that belongs to the

universal company of vacuums. No. You'll have to be Hoover or you'll have to be dirt devil or you'll

have to be this or you'll have to be that. And that's where then you get customer service. That's

where they decide whether you pass the test whether your parts qualify whether there are spare parts

whether you need to be fixed whether you need to be emptied unless you're a Roomba which just goes

and empties itself. Well let's not go there. I already talked about that last week and got into

a lot of trouble with Bahrain. Yeah. So one of the things the Holy Spirit is continuously doing is

hey can I keep working on you so I can graft you into an imperfect branch of a perfect tree.

A day will come and even the branches will be just amazing but till then you and I are stuck.

So that's one of the things he's trying to and so individuality then begins to resist it. So you

don't abandon your individuality but you but it is secondary. Hey we do this continuously.

We do this continuously. Aaron no let me pick on Derek and no even that's useless.

Okay here's what happens. We enter sorry I didn't mean useless in that sense.

Sorry I take that back. Derek is very useful.

What I mean is it's surprising how we do not have a problem when it comes to leaving our father's

house and cleaving to our spouse and suddenly you don't even sometimes carry the name of the

home you used to belong to. You become one with somebody else and then you change your names

sometimes so that you're starting a new family. Now many of the traditions you used to have from

your old family are washed away because you hated them anyways but didn't have the guts or the

audacity to say it and now you come into a new place and you start your own traditions.

Derek used to meet me every Tuesday with dinner. Jacob I'd love to have dinner with you. It's been

many Tuesdays since that happened. There are new traditions now that he's married. I go hungry on

Tuesdays nowadays. So how I long for those days.

Now it explains why you said what you said.

That he's useless. So it's fascinating how the very things that we hold on to preciously as

individuals begins to change when new mergers are formed. You must understand that you're being

merged into someone called Christ and you're merged into him by the spirit and in being merged

into Christ you're merged into the body of Christ. It's not possible to exist as a Christian without

this. And into an imperfect branch. So there should be complaints in a church. If there are no

complaints in the church pinch yourself you might be in heaven.

Tell me about it. And then he sends some people who become pruners themselves just by being in the

church and just continuously asking questions or interrupting things.

Sorry go ahead Sophie.

No it cannot hinder because the gifts that we have and of will benefit you

and the fruit that we have can only be practised in relationship with you. So if you

obviously need to be independent of what you've recently had in the past but in allreach

in relationship with you. So if you, it is impossible to be kind to isolate it. I mean

how kind can I be to myself? Like comb my hair. Yeah, that's not kindness, it's very

unkind. So kindness, long suffering, love, joy, these things cannot be practiced in isolation.

I just like my joke. Okay. Yeah, so Jesus, so Paul writes, as much as possible live

in peace with those that pursue Christ. So Jesus, he says, he says, he says, he says,

I guess something is not right. I'm not

for you, because you are for me, but if you are,

with you. Everything doesn't have to be together. So guys, I know it's getting a

little absurd when we take examples like this, but we must understand that it is

possible to live peaceably. But there are certain things that are specifically

ours to do and sometimes there may not be much give and take in the mandate

that has been given to you. Because can two walk together except they be agreed?

The question then has to be what can we agree on with those that pursue Christ?

Go ahead if you have a second question.

Yeah, so the thing is belonging must be provided by a family not by the

individual. The individual can choose to belong or not, but I must provide a place

to belong. So this whole idea of membership requires that you belong. But

what if you remove that requirement and kept it as you and I will try and make

this place a place where someone belongs, not belong so that they have a family,

but belong so that they become like Christ. Critical, just think of that for

a second. Our intent is not to belong so that people have a happy fellowship.

That you can get at the Lions Club. The intent is can I provide a place for

people to belong so that they become like Christ? And that is required upon

us. When a person wants to they can either choose or not to, but they should

not be robbed of the option to. And they should be told that the reason you will

be the reason we provide a place for belonging is so that you get to know

Christ and become like him. Not so that you become a member. Not so that you

feel like you belong. Because anyone who feels like they belong today can also

begin to not feel like they belong tomorrow. We're not trying to provide a

happy place. We're trying to provide a place where people grow.

Another thing the Spirit of God will keep pushing you when it comes to

individuality is he'll keep pushing you. Spirit of God pushes you to a point

where you'll have to surrender. Where you'll have to make a choice. Where you'll

have to make a choice or surrender individuality for someone else's benefit.

Or surrender individuality for someone else. For the benefit of someone else.

He's always pushing you for that. Why? Because this is the definition of

love. There is no love unless there is a surrender for the benefit of somebody

else. I mean you newly married guys know it. How quickly you got to adjust.

How quickly you have to adjust. And if you don't things begin to fall apart early.

So one of the things the Spirit of God will push you in the church is hey I'm

going to try and use people sometimes use leaders sometimes use people to push

you where you begin to surrender your individuality or your choice which would

serve yourself for the sake of another. I mean some of the demands that

Jesus makes in Matthew chapter 5 he says hey if Aaron has a problem with you and

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Aaron is at fault Jacob you still need to make sure that you lay down your gift at

the altar and go fix things with him. But my question is why should I go fix

things with Aaron when he's at fault? If he's at fault he should come and fix it

with me because he's the one who harmed me. And yet Jesus is demand this in

Matthew 5 23 24 if Aaron is has a problem with you and even though he's

the one who's caused the problem you Jacob must leave your gift at the altar

and you should go and fix things with him. That is what I mean by surrendering

my individuality. Another thing Jesus says in Matthew 16 24 is listen Jacob if

you can't give up your right to yourself you cannot follow me. Crazy huh? If you

cannot give up your right to yourself what is it attacking? My individuality.

And yet like Jill said it is through my individuality that I actually come to

Christ and yet after I come to Christ I must surrender it for your sake.

We become like this and 2023 becomes a year where it's easy to flow with the

wind. Any questions?

I'll come and sort things out later.

You go and ask them hey really feel like things are broken down just want to fix

things can we talk? Yeah then you might have to work at a relationship first or

get over the harm. Yeah.

And do you know why he asks us to go fix it? Because if he does me harm and

continues to stand in that wrong place God will begin to have to judge him so

to prevent him from being judged I must go fix it so that God can show him

mercy. This is nuts. When he does me harm he's done wrong. Now he stands in a place

where he can be judged therefore to prevent him being judged Jacob go fix it

so that I may lavish on him mercy and kindness. This is the kind of God we

serve man it's a crazy thing. This is why individuality then has to be. I still

remember Pawan writing to his dad or calling his dad and speaking to his dad

about things that had happened. Remember you sharing it up front here?

Doesn't matter whether it was his dad who wronged him it was important for him to

call and fix it. Individuality mustaker must take precedence for the benefit of

others. Let's go on to the next one. Go beyond the naturally for us to begin to

partake in God's dream and when I say God's dream I mean 2023 should be should

be a year where I get to participate in the father's dream for me that he had

planned before the foundations of the earth before I was born he liked the

father that he is like any good father has a dream for his son or daughter and

he's saying hey I want you to walk in this dream and I want you to be able to

possess it I want you to be able to discover it I want you to be able to

then build with it I want you to do it in a point at time frames but if you

make these changes it becomes much easier because every dream that I had

for half for you is so beyond you so beyond you but that's because I'm God

and you are you so the next thing that we have to go beyond is we got to go

beyond the natural go beyond the natural one of the things we don't realize is

things that are right that are natural that are valid and that are good how the

very things that keep us back from God's best crazy it's things that are good

that are natural things that are valid things that are right that actually keep

us from God's best and so the only way to work with this because all this is

valid these are not bad things they they got given things to despise this and

set it aside to live is to live a monastic life and a monastic life does

not match with Christianity monastic life again takes us back to

individuality always remember that a monastic life takes you right back into

individuality because it is a life between you and God if there was anyone

who should have lived a monastic life it should have been Jesus after all he's a

son of God he should have example does it for us but to go into a monastery for

six months and remain silent and not talk to anybody and commune with God is

a really bad idea

get a get up a little early spend an hour like that if you want quietly and

then meet people for the rest of the day man this is what Jesus would do we'd go

up a mountain spend two three hours Peter would look for him couldn't find

him he'd return and then from morning to evening he'd be with people because

there's nobody that God is interested more than the apex of his creation which

is man so when it comes to going beyond the natural these are valid things we

are not asked to give up on it but for the natural hey where's Joan okay for

the natural Joan I asked about you for the natural to be turned into the

spiritual it can be done only through obedience or through sacrifice let's

let's look at that a so you got two two boys one school is male one is called

Isaac is male is the son through natural birth Isaac is the son of promise for

Isaac to prosper ishmael must be sent away and for Isaac to really prosper

Isaac must be sacrificed so that sounds too abstract so let's look at it this

way everything natural in my life if I don't place it in the on the altar will

rob me of walking in God's best everything natural in my life meet my

house beat my family beat my spouse wow that sounds poetic yeah rhymed beat

money beat my house beat my family beat my spouse I need a third line before the

rap is done Derek can you rap oh one day we were driving in the car even dawn

Derek me and Derek starts rapping it was amazing hey I still not gotten over it

Iris is getting pieces of information she never heard before yeah so offering

up spiritual sacrifices without offering up the natural is like giving Isaac up

without giving Ishmael up you cannot offer spiritual sacrifices without

offering up the natural Romans 12 verse 1 2 hey this is our spiritual worship

Romans 12:1

that we lay down ourselves on the altar let's spend some time on this otherwise

it'll sound too abstract I cannot offer anything spiritual to God unless I

first lay down the good natural things I have like my time like my treasure like

my talent like my strength if I don't lay that down on the altar willingly I

will not be able to be spiritually effective for God we want to be

spiritually effective for God without laying down things that are naturally

good and it is not possible so the Bible is full of examples Hannah bring Samuel

a son is a valid thing she's been crying for this boy and yet what does she do

she goes brings him to Samuel and says brings him to Eli and says here's my boy

and then suddenly that with his natural becomes spiritual Ishmael has to be

sent away to the desert and here's the thing guys every time you give something

natural away God provides an oasis in the desert to feed you just think of

that for a second every time you give anything natural away you place it on

the altar God will provide an oasis for you to drink from you send Ishmael off

into the desert out of nowhere in the middle of burning sand there is enough

water to take care of the boy it's a win-win thing you never lose on this man

but it is so hard to think that we will win so therefore we hold on to it like

crazy and because we hold on to it like crazy our spiritual adventures are so

limited break it in 2023 so that you can step into it what is it that is so

precious to you that every time you think of laying down this good natural

thing it freaks you out it frightens you what are the two or three things perhaps

that are like that in your life it doesn't matter how many promises God

sends how many times he confirms it you are scared to let it go because it's a

valid good thing is it your visa is it your work is it your money is it your

home is it your time is it your talent is your treasure is it your strength

what is it the moment you laid on the altar two things will happen one it'll

come back to life or two you will be provided an oasis where there will be

enough water both for Hagar and for Ishmael to drink but as long as you

hold on to it saying I will not let go I guarantee you spiritual adventures will

be limited you will have Groundhog Day again with 2022 repeating itself in

2023 and that sucks and nobody here doesn't apply to a any questions

it's natural to have time treasure talent strength it's natural to have

and desire being loved and having someone to love it is natural to have a

family and it is natural to have good things in life it's natural to have

desires and dreams it is natural to live a good life and God is saying hey

this is something that I provided Adam it is my desire for man to have this

they are all valid they're not supposed to be despised they're not supposed to

be shoved aside this isn't a God who is a taskmaster who says everything good

that I have given you give it back to me or I'll take it away because that's

another way of thinking it there are mothers who and husbands who won't let

go who are scared that if they love their child or husband too much the God

will take it away what kind of cruel God is that I don't want to love my child

too much because God may take my God and this is why I dislike that song that one

line in the song the rest of the song is over he gives and takes away that is

Job's understanding of God it ain't the God that Jesus presented he gives and

makes away he's not a taker there's one who steals skills and destroys and it

ain't God and yet to now willingly that is the crazy thing about Christian

sacrifice Christian sacrifice is exactly what parents do for their children or

children do for their parents when parents are getting older it is a

willing happy voluntary sacrifice you somehow manage to tie both your hands

and legs and crawl up on the altar and decide not to leave though you have the

power to leave what fascinates me about Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah is

simply this Abraham is 99 or close to that Isaac is a young kid who can outrun

his father and they both go up and Isaac is allowing Abraham to tie him up he

knows what's gonna happen and he doesn't run this wasn't some dumb kid who was

saying oh is this my new bed no he knew an altar that he was going to be

sacrificed on and he waits as he's tied up that's why Romans 12 makes so much

sense present your bodies as a living sacrifice and then it ends with such a

simple line that is so powerful it says this is your reasonable act of worship

lay down the natural guys because if you don't if you don't the natural will

resist the demands of God's spiritual adventures the natural will resist the

demands that God makes and it robs us of spiritual adventures they and now I

can't I can't give this up if you ever want to see a man leaving an adventure

sadly always think of the rich man and Jesus says to him a sell all your goods

and follow me I just picture it for a second here is a man who knows he's

beholding someone who is in his mind he calls him good teacher but he knows he's

more than a good teacher he's asking him profound questions about eternal life

and then when he hears that line it's a natural thing that he has to give up and

I assure you had he given up he'd have said the same thing that Peter said Lord

we've laid down everything and Jesus says back to him in this life you will

get back this and this and this and this and this and this and this and

persecution and eternal life but this man walks away and you can imagine the

sadness in his heart caught between two tussles you think it ain't happening to

us every time you struggle with something praise God that there is a

struggle man you're alive and you're trying to make a choice if there is no

struggle use those paddles on yourself if you can't get those paddles ask Heidi

if there is a struggle it's a good thing never be afraid of struggling in terms

of making choices it is a good thing something is alive in you and he who is

alive in uses spirit of God and he's causing this struggling you're supposed

to struggle with these things it shows your human and moving towards becoming a

matter of woman of God

I hate the struggle but I love the struggle I hate the fact that I'm

struggling but I love the fact that I'm struggling I'm not talking about sin I'm

talking about these kind of struggles therefore the natural must be set aside

if you want to fully grasp the spiritual you've got to set it aside if

you've got a fully grasp the spiritual if not after a while dullness will creep

in it after a while dullness will creep in you'll get so used to having held on

to something that it loses its value and your heart gets dull it becomes harder

to chase after the things of God and as long as I pamper my natural self God is

limited in his ability to engage with me as long as I pamper it because he gave

it to me it's not something evil but when I pamper my natural life he's

limited in his engagement with me okay

there's a two more in the end go beyond personality go beyond personality go

beyond personality hey we got different personalities they and you have all

those bricks and distinct test in that test and some of us are very into some

of us are very natural some of us are very sensitive some of us are very

active some of us are traditionalists some of us are caregivers some of us

are intellectuals some of us are contemplatives some of us are ascetics

forget all that I just put that down just to show you that I know a little so

so go beyond personality and what I mean by that is a personality is again

uniquely given to you by God so remember that it is according to our

personalities that sometimes we connect with God some of us during and this is

why it's important that when you worship you be genuine and yet go beyond your

personality so start with your personality some of us are romantics it

will be very easy to get really keyed on with a song that talks about loving God

some of us are contemplative you'll need a song where most of the others in

church don't know what it means but they're still singing it but you're

thinking it so depending on the kind of personality you have yes that's where we

start our connect with God and it was uniquely given to you everybody cannot

be like me everybody cannot be like Jill different personalities but my God the

way I connect with God it's so unique and her way of connecting is so unique

and both are brilliant but when I don't see her jumping it does not necessarily

mean that oops she's cold nor when you see me jumping ah he's hot no it doesn't

work that way it doesn't work that way so the point is this guys that at the

end of the day your personality is how you uniquely connect with God but one

must go beyond it because one of the things that's happened is because we are

so highly individualized one of the things that happens to us is we decide

that this is how God made us therefore this is the personality I'll stay with

him and that then becomes an obstacle I am doing nothing should I turn this off

and use the other mic I'll take the other one wax on wax off

you

hey the question the question is not what personality type makes the best

Christian the question is not what personality type makes the best question

Christian the question is how do I with my personality grow in godly character

how do I with my personality grow in godly character how do I not be abrasive

how do I not be loud I'm just talking about myself how do I not be a

bracer how do I not be persuasive how do I not be pushy how do I not be loud

how do I not be reckless with someone who has a different personality how do

I grow in godly character what is godly character very simple the fruit of the

spirit when my personality gets in the way of godly character I need to change

my personality when my personality gets in the way can I have a little more

volume guys when my personality gets in the way of godly character and remember

godly character is so that I can be a benefit to others when my personality

gets in the way of being a benefit to others then personality must take a back

seat it doesn't matter whether it's in a marriage doesn't matter whether it's in

your relationships outside of marriage in terms of friends and family doesn't

matter whether it's in a church it must change because if it persists I am no

longer a benefit to you because my personality has become far more

important far more important and in a church for the first six or seven years

the church should be built around the personality of the person leading it but

after the first six or seven years that person must begin to step back because

otherwise the church will become a one personality church so that's why I'm

for the first six or seven years yes this church should have the stamp of

Jacob even though it's built on Christ it should carry the stamp of Jacob it's

natural every family is built that way but at some point you've got to step

back so that the diverse splendor of people in the church begins to come up

so that we're not singing all the old songs that I love from the 70s and the

80s like we did today I mean Tony got one in

Heidi cut his pay in half it wasn't that funny and remember one of the ways we

change personality one of the ways we grow in godly character is not by

self-improvement hey unfortunately Christians are stuck in this place

where you think you can I must love more Jesus I'm really sorry I didn't love I

must love more I must love more self-improvement is not the way it's

first by faith man that this already exists I know that I can love more I

believe it or God because you have supplied me what I need and now that I

know it by faith I will begin to step into it and then you begin to practice

it it's not self-improvement Christianity is not self-improvement

because we got the improver living within us right otherwise self-improvement

was valid last one hey remember because of the fall our personalities have one

chief aim control because of the fall our personalities have one chief aim

control because of the fall before that we had amazing person God given all of

us have God given personalities but it is flawed and flawed and distorted so

one of the things that happens to our personalities we want to control that

becomes a chief aim can I make my spouse like me can I make the church like me

can I make my workplace like me can I make my environment like me can I make

my dog like me cats don't count and so it's this it's this whole thing that

happens because cats cats have personalities that do not change so so

that's how it works with the chief aim of distorted personalities can I control

can I can I have you do things that will please my personality and the chief aim

of God's personalities can I serve with love can I serve with love not can I

just love can I serve with love we always think God is love God is a loving

servant is it's almost blasphemous to put those words together but God is a

loving servant that's his nature Jesus repeated that over and over and over

again God is a loving servant it's part of his personality men last one go beyond

securing the future go beyond securing the future if you want to step into

God's dreams and adventures for 2023 you have to go beyond securing the future

you have to go beyond securing 2023 and that's how you break into what God wants

when you secure the future when you secure the future I hate this you step

into predictable outcomes and you opt out of you opt out of permission

when you secure the future when you are planning to secure 2023 stabilize 2023

get everything lined up for 2023 work everything's out for 2023 and you're

doing with your own skill and you become the architect of your future you begin

to operate in a place of predictable outcomes manageable outcomes

predictable outcomes because you're trying it a that's one thing that itself

is so dull the second part is you opt out of permission as in there are things

God wants to ask you to do he wants to give you permission for it but because

securing the future is more important you opt out of permission into adventures

that God has for you any questions on that one

not according to Matthew chapter 6 let me only quote Jesus's words to you look

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

at the birds of the air look at the leaves of the field your father knows

before you even ask if I can trust God's goodness to take care of my life I can

my life doing the things that God wants let's assume Sheldon was my dad I'm far

too good looking to be your son but let's just assume that for a second so

good one okay so let's assume Sheldon was my dad if I can begin to trust that

Sheldon's goodness is sufficient to take care of me which is what all kids do

then kids can run and be kids children behave the way they do because they know

that they can trust the goodness of their dad or mom that is why they that

is why they behave the way they do if I can trust the goodness of God to take

care of securing my future then the other part takes care of which is why

God said hey listen why don't you just seek after me in my ways and I'll take care of the rest what's he trying to say my goodness is sufficient my father knows your needs before you even know them the birds know how to do this the lilies of the fields like I said like I always say it's highly irresponsible advice but this is Jesus so what can you do and so he gives his advice and he says now come into it and our minds are screaming saying this is irrational of course it is

but we talk about this every week so what question can you ask you'll get the same

answer so what is permission permission is God calling you permission is God

calling you or God inviting you into greater measure into greater measure

because of how he sees you not because of who you presently are or think you love

it what is permission what what does permission look like for 2023

permission is God inviting you into greater measure as in hey I know you've done enough this year but I want to invite you into something much greater that you and I can do together and when you look at yourself you might think can't do that or you just can't imagine you stepping into things like this but he's not inviting you because of how you think of yourself he's inviting you because of how he sees you and it's impossible to step into this if I'm consumed by

securing or stabilizing my future because it'll clash Prashant I'll read it out permission Prashant is squinting he can't see it permission is calling or inviting you into greater measure because of how he sees you and not because of who you oh my god this is really bad of who you presently are or think you are it's not Prashant's fault

yeah last two lines permission comes with promise guys permission comes with promise permission comes with promise permission comes with presence permission comes with provision because of what's the provision it's a consequence of promise believed is the consequence

of promise believed. Just think of that for a second guys, it's brilliant.

Permission comes with promise. Every time God says I give you permission for

something, He'll give you a promise with it. Hey Abraham, look at the promises

given Abraham, look at the promises given Moses, look at the promises given David.

With every, every time God gives permission, He gives you a promise from

the word or from His nature. And then after He gives you the promise, He then

says okay I'll give you my presence. Moses was so smart eh. Okay God you gave

me a promise but if you ain't going I ain't going because if your presence

does not go I will not go. How that man thought that? You know what the problem

is with the faith movement or with sometimes charismatic Christianity is

they are happy with the promise and the provision and they do without the

presence. You take any one of these things away and it's like trying to

balance on a two-legged stool. Every time God gives you permission for something

He's saying let me first give you a promise out of my nature, out of the word

that you can stand on. Now that you've stood on it, hey let me give you my

presence and give you a taste of what it'll be like for the rest of 2023. Aha!

So you got a taste, great this will keep increasing. And then the third thing is

because you have believed the promise as a consequence of believing the promise

let me give you what it looks like to provide for you. Guys follow this order

and once you get here don't go here, go for this. You get a taste of this you're set.

I'm done any questions?

Yeah one like you said it is God's desire, it's God's desire to give us our

desires because we delight in Him and are beginning to have the same thoughts,

likes, dislikes. Psalm 37 verse somewhere between verse one and four. Two can

always go and verify it with God and man. Three started this place called what

does my last year, last year's life scape look like? What did God mark my

life with last year? If I look at the past, if I look at the past it'll

give me an idea of what God setting me up for, what God is setting me up for. And

on the other hand is what are the promises that kept being repeated

throughout 2022 which gives me an idea of God's forward-moving direction. And

then the last one is who have I been associated with in the last 12 months or

influenced by? 12 months. It'll give me an idea of whether I need to change

relationships or not. Non-Christians as well. It'll give you an idea. Sometimes

God sets you up with influencers, investors that are not Christian but you

realize our shucks spend 12 months with guys who are brilliant in investing. Why?

And while I spend time with them I also notice my bank account is growing. Why?

And sometimes you realize oh my god I spent time with some really not so good

characters and here is the past and here is a promise I better let them go.

Cool. I think Sunday school teachers have returned. This is kind of not good.

All good?

Heidi will pass on communion. I think it was Evan's fault. He took so much time.

Let's pray.

Father, a couple of things to pray for. One, could you just watch over Jillian and

Aerie and Mae and Jane as they return over the next two days. Long flights home from

Bangladesh and from the UK as they finish their mission there, Father.

Father, let tiredness not hit them. Let exhaustion not hit them. Let them go with

John chapter 4 verse 31ish where it says my food is to do the will of the Father.

John 4 · chapter mention

Let them know what that means physically and spiritually so that they don't come

back exhausted. Physical draining is okay but not spiritually drained of us so

that's one thing. Father, the second thing is that you'd give us time to go over

these four things. What does it look to go beyond my individuality, my

personality, all the natural things that I hold on to and my desire to secure the

future. Father, the third thing is I go to on this next trip to the places I mentioned

earlier. I just put Derek in charge so I called Derek up. This is important, Father.

I never get over it. Father, so I just lay hands on him and I pray that this is

your flock. You paid a price for it. It's your principle that when someone goes

that you place someone who can look after the flock. So what we ask is that

Derek will have a heart like yours. That the church he'll carry like you would

carry. That he'd become aware. That you Holy Spirit would show him things that

are happening before they happen so that he can head them off. That you would give

him the wisdom. Have you, Father, recognize him right now as the one in

charge. Father, make my trip fruitful. I go not in my name but in the name of

Jesus Christ sent by this body to different places. Have you already

planted churches or are going to plant churches? Spirit of God, anoint. So we ask all this in Jesus' name.

And guys, if anyone needs prayer, there'll be people up front to pray for you.

So feel free to come up. Otherwise, I'll see you on the 25th. I won't be here next

Sunday. Cool.

You will do again.

Cause there's no prison.

While you can't break through the mountains, you can't move.

All things are possible.

There's no broken body. You can't raise no...