Jordan

Then at that point, something changes.

From that point on, it's just Elisha that crosses the 50,

stand on this shore and watch the rest of the proceeding.

What outfits you to cross the Jordan?

It's an invitation to everybody,

but there is a posturing or positioning that I need to have

so that I'm now equipped to cross the Jordan.

And in the process, anticipate the mantle

that God wants to throw my way,

throw our way, throw your way.

And that's what we look at today,

and then we look at what actually happened next week.

So it doesn't matter whether it's Gilgal Bethel Jericho,

it doesn't matter whether it's Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,

and the ends of the earth.

As much as we love saying it, and as much as we believe it,

there is this process of us positioning ourselves

or getting into this outfit where we can have that happen.

And I want us to know, especially in a church like this,

it's important to know that a mission trip

is not what qualifies or disqualifies you,

because it's very easy at Act 29 to think

that I've made the cut if I go on a mission trip.

No, that's not how we qualify for stuff like this.

A mission trip is not what qualifies or disqualifies me

from being Elisha-like.

And at the end of the day, what is it to be like Elisha-like?

It is to be a profitable servant, a profitable servant.

That's what we're aiming at.

That's what we're aiming at.

He is a profitable servant

that ends up getting the rights of the firstborn.

You do not...

The problem with today's charismatic Christianity

is that we wanna be precious sons,

but not profitable servants.

We wanna be precious sons, but not profitable servants.

But what God wants is, can I have both a profitable servant

and a precious son?

And you see this happening in the life of Elisha,

where he's a profitable servant.

All he used to do for years on end

was to wash Elijah's hands, man, and wash his feet.

He'd do the bidding of Elijah.

So on one hand, he's a profitable servant,

which we again will look at in Luke 17 10,

where Jesus talks about a parable

where he talks about profitable servants.

But Elisha was a profitable servant,

and he ends up having more than any of the other sons

of the prophet.

And it's a combination of both

that allows you to wear the mantle.

It's one thing to receive a mantle,

it's another thing to wear it,

because receiving a mantle doesn't mean it'll fit.

I think I've said this here before,

Leonard Ravenhill, when he was dying,

had scores of students turn up at his door

on his deathbed and plead

that Leonard Ravenhill's mantle fall on them.

This was the ultimate preacher in the US at that time.

Nobody as fiery as him.

The next guy who was anything like him

was David Wilkerson.

And they would plead, they'd knock on the door,

wait saying, please, can I have your mantle?

And his son comes in one day,

his biological son walks into the room,

and Leonard Ravenhill says to his son,

they all want my mantle, but nobody wants my sackcloth.

And you cannot have the mantle fit

if I don't learn how to walk as a profitable servant.

A son cannot wear his father's mantle

unless he proves himself to be a profitable servant.

This is why you have tons and tons of preachers

who give over everything they've built

to their biological sons who squander it

or distort it within a matter of two years.

And so going on a trip doesn't make me a profitable servant.

Because in a church like this, it's easy to assume,

hey, if I go on a trip, then maybe I made the cut.

It ain't no cut, man.

A trip doesn't mean you're a profitable servant,

it means you're an able traveling servant.

And so, I'm not going to be a profitable servant.

I'm going to be a profitable servant.

You're an able traveling servant.

You're a traveling servant and you're able to travel.

Great. That's all it means.

Again, the same applies.

Moving from Vernon or moving from Brazil

or moving from Dayton or moving from South Africa

to Vancouver or to New York

doesn't mean you're a profitable servant.

It just means that you're a faith-filled servant.

You had enough faith to leave Brazil.

You had enough faith to leave South Africa.

You didn't have faith to leave Dayton and go to New York.

You didn't have faith to leave Vernon and come here.

You had faith for it, but it doesn't make you profitable.

What makes you profitable is what they will do

now that they've come from South Africa.

What the Brazilians will do once they have come here.

That's what makes you profitable.

Larissa going to New York doesn't make her profitable.

It just makes her full of faith.

Let's see what Larissa does in New York.

That's what makes us profitable.

And that is what allows you to step into the next mantle

that God wants to give you.

That's how this works, guys.

Because sometimes we

conflate going on a trip with being profitable and it ain't.

What qualifies me is not the objective,

but how I prosecute the journey.

What qualifies me is not the objective,

but how I prosecute

the journey.

I had two incidents early in my life

where I was as full of myself then as I am now.

And I remember going up to this guy, Willard Thiessen.

He's the one who started that Canadian TV channel.

It's a new day.

He was the one who started it and he came to Vancouver.

And so I go up to him and full of enthusiasm

and I tell him, I want you to pray for me.

I'm called to the nations.

I'm this and I'm that.

And I just need you to lay hands on me and pray.

And so he listens to it for a few minutes.

He puts his hand on me, big gnarled hands.

My head is big. His hand was bigger.

And he puts his hand on my head and he says,

Father, Jacob is so destination oriented.

Can you please make him journey oriented so he enjoys it?

And he walked away.

I'm thinking to myself, surely you need greater anointing prayed on me.

That's not what you're supposed to pray and go.

It was exactly what he prayed and he walked away

as if to say, you got to get your act together, man.

You think so highly of yourself that if you don't forget your destination

and think of your journey, you ain't going to make it.

And then three years later, I'm in Surrey

and there's this guy called Joshua Fowler,

Joshua Fowler, prophet, apostle type.

And so I go up to him after everybody's left and I go up to him and say,

Joshua, I need to speak to you.

You see, I'm called to the nations.

And I said, I want you to pray for me and tell me how I should go about it.

And he doesn't even pray for me, man.

He says, start in Jerusalem.

And once you have established something in Jerusalem, go to Judea,

then Samaria and the ends of the earth.

And he walks away.

And these two men kind of deflated my bubble.

But at the same time, what they said was so critical, man.

Start in Jerusalem.

Once you establish something in Jerusalem, then you couldn't go to Judea,

Samaria and the ends of the earth.

And at that time, there was squat in Jerusalem, at least in my Jerusalem.

And it's the same for us, eh?

So you can go on trips, you can be called to the nations,

you can be the most anointed, most gifted person in this church.

And yet, it means squat in terms of being a profitable servant.

And you never get to wear the mantle you're supposed to wear

because these two haven't combined.

Any questions before we go on?

You cannot go to the great prosecutor.

Prosecute, let me choose a...

How I outwork, how I outwork the journey.

How I execute the journey, yeah.

Any other questions?

Any premise there that you agree with, don't agree with?

No?

Yeah.

So for Elisha, what did be enchanting him from the other prophets?

Yeah.

I think one of the things about Elijah, Elisha was his readiness, his persistence.

And his knowing that there was something more.

That if he didn't persist, that he would not get it.

And there was a readiness. He would go anywhere.

And this is Elijah saying, listen, I want you to stay here.

And he's saying, you can kill me. That's the only way I'll stay here.

That kind of persistence?

Because when he says, as the Lord lives and as you live,

it is this refusal to settle for anything less.

Because inside him, he knows there is more.

He remembered the time Elijah, again, in a very brusque way,

threw his mantle over him and started walking away.

And he said, shall I say bye to my parents?

And he says, I don't care.

Elijah did everything in his power to make it difficult for Elisha.

We must do that for the ones we are raising.

In a good way.

Yesterday, Tuni had eight to nine songs prepared for worship today.

Eight to nine songs.

And so when I heard that, I thought to myself, great, spring a surprise on him this morning.

Give him three songs and tell him to work with three songs.

Give it to him fifteen minutes before the worship service.

And then tell him to start with free worship.

And that puts pressure on him.

But you do not get results until you place a demand on what already exists within the person.

You're not trying to bring out from the person something that it doesn't have.

You're bringing out of the person what the person already has.

That's the important criteria.

You cannot force someone to dance when they have two left feet.

But if they have two, not two right feet, if they have one left feet and one right foot, then well, get them to dance, man.

They have it in them.

Tuni has it in him.

That's how this works.

And when demand is placed, you only have two reactions.

Leave me alone or I can't go that far.

Just let me go till here.

Or do what you want with me.

That's how this works.

Fortunately, Tuni's attitude is, do what you want with me.

And we'll talk about why Elisha got to see what he got to see in detail next week.

But how do we position ourselves so that when we come to the job and we are still the ones that cross over?

Guys, one of the fears we must have, it's a healthy fear to have, is that there is going to be a day of reckoning.

Not for the world.

Not for the world.

And here is what it will look like based on 2 Corinthians 5.

It will be, this is what I gave you, Jacob.

This is what I had planned for you.

These were the days that I had numbered for you.

These were the paths that I prepared, the good works I prepared for you to do before the foundations of the earth.

It is a healthy fear to have.

And it's a healthy fear to have.

It's a healthy fear to have.

These are the good works I prepared for you to do before the foundations of the earth.

It was supposed to be for the sake of the kingdom.

It was supposed to happen in the context of the body.

These things are very final.

There is no shift or change in this.

Now Jacob, tell me, what did you do with it?

Oh, so you were a pastor.

Great.

Do you remember that parable in Luke 12 where I said,

When the master goes away and leaves the house in charge of a steward,

does he mistreat his servants?

Does he feed them?

Does he not feed them?

What did you do?

These are the questions and there is no escaping this.

I want us to be aware of this.

Because when she comes up and says,

there is momentum, wake up, wake up.

It is to wake up to these facts too.

That there is a reckoning.

And it is a healthy fear because we will give account.

We will give account.

It is not an account that has us lose our eternal salvation.

That is secure in Christ.

But there is something to pleasing the one that we will now see face to face.

There is something to being given things to rule over based on how I did here.

Not because I want to rule.

All those ruling things are here on earth.

There it will be just this amazing responsibility you want to discharge.

Just like a child discharges a responsibility that you give the child at home.

He loves doing it for his father.

And there is a deep regret of things not done.

I hate that.

A deep regret of paths not traversed.

That I hate.

I can't imagine what Moses went through

and met him face to face and realized he didn't lead them into the promised land.

Another guy that blows my mind.

I can't imagine what Ravi Zacharias said when he met Jesus face to face.

What do you stand there with?

Books?

Souls saved?

What do you stand there with?

These are the things that put the fear of the living God in me.

It's not necessarily scriptural because 2 Corinthians 5 says it.

When you stand before the Baima Judgment,

it is not about your eternal security.

But there is a giving of account.

So Paul says, I approach this with fear and trembling.

And I warn others.

So I'm not putting something on you.

I'm just giving you 2 Corinthians 5.

Moving on.

How do we then prepare ourselves to cross the Jordan?

The first, remember, our intent is to be profitable servants.

Because we are already precious sons.

We are already precious sons.

So the idea of being profitable servants.

What does a profitable servant look like?

Based on Luke 12, which we will shortly read,

you're dressed, you're ready, you're resourced, and you're alert.

You're dressed, you're ready, you're resourced, and you're alert.

What do you mean resourced?

Let's go to Luke 12.

Luke 12.

Verse 35.

Reading from the NIV.

Be dressed, ready for service, and keep your lamps burning,

like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet.

So that when he comes and knocks, they can immediately open the door for him.

As in, be ready with your lamps burning.

As in, I'm not preparing for a mission trip.

I'm not preparing for a Sunday service.

I'm not preparing for an event.

This is the condition that you and I always are in.

Resourced.

Enough for the Spirit of God.

Active in my life throughout.

So at a moment's call, when the master returns,

I am resourced, I'm ready, I'm dressed for the occasion.

And I love this next line, eh?

It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.

Truly, I tell you, he will dress himself to serve,

and we'll have them recline at the table and come and wait on him.

Just think of the reversal there.

You're waiting for the master, ready, resourced, dressed, and alert.

And once he sees you like that, the master begins to serve you.

Why? Because the moment I'm a profitable servant,

when God comes and he becomes my father and he serves the sons.

This is so easily interchangeably.

You have the attitude of a profitable servant.

You're there waiting, dressed, resourced, ready, alert.

And the moment he sees you like that and he comes in,

instead of saying, okay, now take off my shoes, give me a massage, take my socks off,

he says, guys, settle down.

I'm glad that you are profitable servants,

but can I just switch roles now where you take the place of sons,

I become the father, and I serve you.

And when he sees the sons, I become the father, and I serve you.

Shifts in a second, God begins to serve you.

Because in this kingdom, everybody is servant and son, and son and servant.

That's how this works.

So, second one.

Embrace the priesthood. Embrace.

Hey, can we turn the air conditioning on?

Embrace the priesthood.

Embrace the priesthood.

Embrace the priesthood. As in, go to 1 Peter 2, 5.

1 Peter 2, 5, and read it from the message.

I love the way it says it there.

1 Peter 2, 5.

1 Peter 2, 5.

Embrace the priesthood. As in, know what you are a part of.

Allow yourself to be placed.

1 Peter 2, 5, from the message.

Present yourselves, and it's talking to each of us.

Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary,

vibrant with life, in which you will serve as holy priests,

offering Christ-approved lives up to God.

Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary,

vibrant with life, in which you will serve as holy priests,

offering Christ-approved lives up to God.

And so the intent is, hey, embrace the priesthood.

As in, know that you are a living stone.

Know that this sanctuary cannot be built by you.

Know that if you are part of this and allow yourselves to be placed where God wants to place you,

then this sanctuary will be complete.

Know that God will begin to fill this place like he cannot otherwise.

But to be absolutely available for placement is critical to Cross the Jordan.

Elisha was ready for anything, man.

What would be the use if Elisha gave up 12 yoke of oxen and joined Elijah and didn't Cross the Jordan?

Can you imagine the loss?

Just think of that for a second.

He gives up the 12 yoke of oxen.

He's given up his business.

Maybe he had all 12 yoke of oxen or maybe he had one.

Don't know. But let's assume that he had all 12 yoke of oxen, that he was a rich guy.

He gives it all up, leaves his father and mother, leaves his land, comes to a new place with Elijah,

and then doesn't Cross the Jordan.

Can you imagine?

Embrace the priesthood. Allow yourselves to be placed.

If I hold back from being placed, two things happen.

I don't get to be living.

And two, I don't allow God to do what he can with a group of people.

I don't get to be living. Why do I say that? I don't get to be living.

Because guys, the strange thing with living stones, God doesn't build anything with bricks.

Every one of us is different.

He has to take very different people and put them together.

And in Hebrew understanding, if stones...

You can have a very polished stone, but if stones don't touch each other, they're not living. They're dead.

Stones that are not touching each other.

If stones are not connected, they are dead.

So a stone that sits by itself, as brilliant as it is, is dead.

Living stones are stones that are being put together to build something.

And so if I hold back, I'm losing out on real life.

I must allow myself to be placed.

Sometimes placed to wash someone's hands, feet.

Sometimes to do more.

I must allow myself to be placed.

I'll take one more and then if you have questions, feel free to ask.

Third, cleansed vessels.

Cleansed vessels.

2 Timothy 2, 19-21.

You know, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what you talk about.

Some of the points are just common to every teaching that you can teach.

Cleansed vessels. 2 Timothy 2, 19-21.

Let me go there.

It is so self-explanatory.

2 Timothy 2, 19-21.

Meanwhile, God's firm foundation is as firm as ever.

Let me read it from the NIV.

Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription.

The Lord knows those who are His, and everyone who confesses the name of the Lord

must turn away from wickedness.

In the large house there are articles, not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay.

Some for special purposes, some for common use.

Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes,

made holy, useful to the master, prepared to do any good work.

One more time.

Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription.

The Lord knows those who are His, and everyone who confesses the name of the Lord

must turn away from wickedness.

In the large house there are articles, not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay.

Some for special purposes, and some for common use.

Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes,

made holy, useful to the master, prepared to do any good work.

So clear, man.

So clear.

That's what allows you to cross the Jordan, eh?

We had another guy who was supposed to become the next Elisha.

His name was Gehazi.

But the problem with Gehazi was that when it came to being a clean vessel, he failed.

So a man who was supposed to be now perhaps the inheritor of another double portion,

from the man who inherited a double portion, ends up being a leper.

He still does good, but he ends up being a leper.

There is something to clean vessels that allows you to cross the Jordan.

How do you wear a mantle without that?

It don't fit, man. It'll begin to itch.

The problem with holy mantles on an unholy body is that the body begins to itch.

Any questions, guys, before we take the next three?

Guys, we don't become this in a day, but God notices the intent of my heart.

We don't become this in a day.

Don't think that, okay, so now I'm done because I ain't going to make this cut.

It's not making the cut.

You know why it's not making the cut?

Because we're not in the Old Testament anymore.

We don't have to reach a mark.

We have already been made holy.

We've got to live it.

It means to look at my heart and say, boy, this guy has a desire to run.

Sure, he's falling, but every time he falls, he comes back to me, gets up and starts running.

That's what he's looking for.

Because there are no marked levels in New Testament Christianity anymore.

Because the level was here and only one could reach it.

He reached it and he lives in me.

Now the question is, do I passionately desire that?

So I don't have to become this tomorrow because I already am it.

I have to live it out.

So sometimes when you hear this, you immediately start disqualifying yourself.

Instead of that, my heart should begin to leap saying, I was this way today.

Tomorrow I get a chance to be better than I am today.

And that the Spirit of God can do because that's what he does with expectation and hope.

One of the things that perhaps we should try to do when we listen to a teaching is say to the Holy Spirit,

Spirit of God, could you take what is being spoken and what is true

and begin to create expectation and hope in my heart so that my life begins to gallop?

And could you help me to stay awake for the next 20 minutes?

Okay, next one.

This is a...

We should be teachers by now.

If you've been in this church for two or two and a half years, you should be teachers by now.

Paul says this in Hebrews 5, sorry, Hebrews 5, 12 to 14.

He says, hey, I wish I could feed you meat but I still have to feed you milk.

You should be teachers by now. You should be able to discern between right and wrong.

You shouldn't be... And different parts of the epistle he then says that

I don't want you to return to the fundamentals. You already know the fundamentals.

Anybody who's been in this church for two and a half years should be able to teach and instruct.

I'm not saying you have to take the position of a teacher, but surely we should be able to teach and instruct.

And I believe most of us can.

Ezra 7, 10. I'm beginning to really like that verse.

Ezra 7, 10. He was called out by God to lead Israel and here's what it says in Ezra 7, 10.

Ezra decided that from now on he was going to study the word.

He was going to study the word so that he could do it.

He was going to study the word so that he could do it and then instruct others.

Brilliant, man! Isn't that the formula?

I will now study the word. I will study the word so I can do it.

I will study the word so I can do it and then teach others.

This is not an Ezra thing. This is a common thing for all New Testament believers.

Ezra 7, 10.

Next one.

Have an increasing idea of your giftedness.

Have an increasing idea of your giftedness.

What are you gifted at? Do you have an idea?

You must have an idea, have a grasp of your giftedness and calling.

Hey, is the AC on?

Is it cold? It's on, eh? Gosh, I must be preaching up a storm.

At least here in this area. It's a hot storm.

Have a grasp of your giftedness and calling.

All you guys are cold?

No, Sheldon, you could put him on the North Pole and he'd still take his thing off.

Yeah, guys, have an increasing grasp of your giftedness and calling.

Have an increasingly clear grasp of your giftedness and your calling.

What are you supposed to steward in this season of your life?

What are you supposed to steward in this season of your life?

What are you supposed to steward in this season of your life?

Why? Because without knowing it, you can't pour it out.

If you don't know it, you can't pour it.

I went to a restaurant here on Fraser once with some friends and there was some tea there.

I was going to drink the tea and so I asked the lady about the container that was on the table.

I said, is it sugar or salt?

And she's the lady who's in charge of serving there and she said, I don't know.

And so I'm thinking to myself, okay, so there's a container there.

It has some white substance in it.

I'm asking her whether it's sugar or salt because salt doesn't go well with masala tea.

And so I'm asking her, is it sugar or salt?

She says, I don't know. It wasn't even, let me try.

It was, I don't know.

And now I'm thinking to myself, okay, do not put it in the tea until you sprinkle it and lick it.

But the point is, if you do not know what is in the container, you do not know how to pour it out,

where to pour it out, when to pour it out, how much to pour out.

And so it is important that I increasingly get to know the giftedness and the calling of my life

and that I also know what I'm supposed to steward in this season of my life.

Because if I don't know, I cannot pour it out.

And may I say to us here that some of us do not know our giftedness and your giftedness and calling.

We do not know.

And on one hand, it's a safe place to live.

If you do not know your giftedness and calling, you can just coast.

But if you know your giftedness and calling, then you can't coast.

Because if you have a pickup in this church, you know what will happen to you.

If you have a truck in this church, you know what will happen to you.

Every time someone moves, you get called.

If you're a mechanic, you know what's going to happen to you.

Brandon's not here.

I mean, that's how it works, guys.

Once you know your giftedness and calling, you're stuck.

You cannot coast.

Every time someone has a problem, you're the one they'll come to.

So the best way to live a Christian life that is undisturbed is not to discover your giftedness and calling.

That way...

But the problem is you don't steward your...

Steward the seasons of your life.

And therefore, you never cross the Jordan. Never.

But one of the ways...

Now, here's the catch.

The only way you can discover your giftedness and calling is by someone placing a demand on what is your giftedness and calling.

And that's something we shy away from.

Why? Because the demand is never fun.

So if she has a giftedness and calling, and I go place a demand on it, she's got only two choices.

Either say, okay, I'm going to be...

Because remember, nothing of the Holy Spirit will flow out unless you're foolish.

Foolishness provokes the Spirit of God, and foolishness provokes the life of the Spirit of God in you.

No foolishness, no outflow.

No outflow, no need for inflow.

No need for inflow.

No foolishness, no outflow, no outflow, no need for inflow.

Reducing that inscription.

Oh, plenty of places.

Right from Hebrews 11, throughout Hebrews 11, right through Jesus' life where he says, count the cost.

And after you count the cost, recognize that you are unable to pay it.

And now that you're unable to pay it, follow me.

Follow me.

Hebrews 11, every time the Holy Spirit moved on anybody in Hebrews 11, they had to do really foolish things.

From Abraham to Joshua to Noah to Joseph to Moses to Moses' parents to Samson to Gideon to all the guys.

All of them had to step into foolishness before the Spirit of God took over.

Because what does foolishness do?

Foolishness takes away my dependence on my own skills.

At the end of the day, the opposite of faith is not doubt, the opposite of faith is not fear, the opposite of faith is self-reliance.

And foolishness strips away self-reliance.

Again and again and again.

Okay, so let's go with risk.

Maybe in my mind the word is foolishness, but maybe that's not a good word.

So let's go with risk.

Because it's perhaps more definitive of what these guys did in Hebrews 11.

So let's go with risk.

Risk.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think you can't take a risk without being foolish because you're abandoning some reason.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But let's go with risk.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But let's go with risk because you can put foolishness in risk, but you can't put risk in foolishness sometimes.

So let's go with risk.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So if you don't know, you can't pour it out.

So now what happens is if you say, hey, I want to discover my gift in the name of Jesus, I want to do it.

Let's assume after the service, Matt comes up and says to me, hey, I want to discover my giftedness and calling, and I want to steward the season of my life.

And I know it's more than doing a thesis.

And now he comes and I say, great.

Now that you've registered yourself, you went to Dayton last time.

Let me send you to Timbuktu tomorrow.

And behold, the games begin.

This is not some random thing.

You have to find out what God has for Matt.

Matt did this.

He sat at this cafe in Richmond and said, sign me up for foolishness.

Oh, sign me up for risk.

Yeah.

Okay.

Next one.

This is how we cross the Jordan.

Otherwise, we come to Gilgash, to Bethel, to Jericho, and we stop there and we watch one man cross across and we wave at him.

This is how we cross the Jordan.

We watch one man cross across and we wave at him.

It's too high a cost to pay, man.

After all you've left to wear the same clothes for the next 20 years, no thank you.

Everyone here sitting here has paid a very high cost.

Very high cost.

All of us.

Some of you more than others.

Next one.

Rising up in maturity.

Rising up in maturity.

Rising up in maturity.

We won't go into details, but maturity may be defined in very simple ways.

End of self-preservation.

Very, very difficult.

This is why we'll do it for the rest of our lives.

End of self-determination.

End of self-preservation.

End of self-determination.

End of self-determination.

Very difficult because you're saying I'm no longer the one who determines how my life goes.

And end of taking offense.

Very difficult because you still have people like Sheldon on the earth.

Rising up in maturity.

We could take these three things and put it together.

And man, maturity will happen fast.

End of self-preservation.

Think of this guys.

Isn't this exactly opposite of the world?

This is what the world says we should not be.

Preserve, hold dear, do not give away.

End of self-determination.

You're your own man.

You're your own man.

He is saying end of self-determination.

As in I no longer am the one that determines where I go.

Scriptural proof, John 21 is the best example.

When you were a child you decided what you would wear, what you would do.

But the time has come where you will have your hands tied and taken where you do not want to go.

Sometimes by God, other times by people.

I love Christianity because of this.

Because it is so blooming hard and challenging and easy.

Hard and challenging when you think like a human.

Easy when you think like you belong to this God.

What would you not do for him?

Beautiful eh?

End of taking offense.

You can do anything you want to me.

I will not be offended by you.

He then begins to just provoke you and nothing happens.

Any questions?

What time is it?

We'll go for another 10 minutes.

Another one.

This you all know.

You are committed to M3.

Not X3 Aaron, M3.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You are committed.

Yeah.

You are committed to M3.

What's M3?

Let's put Mr. Butler on the spot.

What's M3?

No.

Though it is.

There is an M3 BMW.

But since the M3 was made, it is not a BMW.

It is a BMW.

It is a BMW.

It is a BMW.

But since we are a prosperity-breeding mega church,

he could only think of BMW M3s.

Prosperity gospel.

Prosperity gospel.

Make the Father known.

Thanks Mr. Butler.

Make the Father known.

Make disciples.

Multiply churches.

Please get this right the next time Mark.

Multiply churches.

Why is this important to Cross the Jordan?

Because if we don't have this, we don't need to Cross the Jordan.

We don't need new mantles.

If this ain't my main purpose, I don't need a mantle.

This is what God is after.

This is what God has been after since the beginning.

Right from Adam onwards is all he's been after.

This is Genesis 128 put in different words.

The Genesis 128 mandate.

Go forth, multiply, replenish, subdue.

That's a different way of saying it.

So if we don't have this at the center of our lives,

and this can only be done in the context of a body,

it was given in the context of a body,

it wasn't given to individuals.

If we don't have this at the center of our lives,

then there is no need of a mantle.

Because I ain't after the same thing that God is after.

Make the Father known, make disciples, multiply churches.

The cool thing is, we'll repeat this so many times,

you'll say it in your sleep.

And then that's great, because once you start saying things in your sleep,

it's a good sign.

Next one.

External things become less important.

External temporals become less important.

Internal eternals become more important.

So Mark moves from M3 BMW to M3 Jesus.

That's what begins to happen.

This is going all across the earth, you want to show your face?

So external temporals become less important.

They're still important in my life, external temporals,

and they have to begin to become less important.

1 Timothy has such a cool verse, it says there,

God has given us things to enjoy, he has given it to us for our pleasure.

So on one hand you have to hold that,

that there are things given to us to enjoy and for our pleasure.

On the other hand, external temporals have to become less important.

And what that means is everything is from and towards heaven's purposes first.

Everything is from and towards heaven's purposes first.

This should not compete.

The problem is when things that are external temporals

compete in my life against internal eternals.

God has given us things to enjoy,

but when they begin to compete against heaven's purposes,

I have a problem, and I still have this problem.

First Timothy 6'6 or 6' something, or second Timothy 6'6 or 6' something.

I've narrowed it down.

Three more when we're done.

Next one, giving and distributing, giving and distributing your wealth.

Wealth is more than money, it's money and everything else.

Giving and distributing your wealth for kingdom purposes.

How much of it? All of it.

Come on Jacob, 10%, 20%, 30% all.

Giving and distributing your wealth for kingdom purposes.

You guys do it so well, man. You guys do it so well.

I know people here who have done such crazy things with their wealth

for the sake of king and kingdom,

and the purposes of God in this church and through this church

just boggles my mind.

One of the strong points of this church,

which is why we still don't take an offering and there's money,

which is why there'll be more money now that I've announced that the rent is going up.

At the end of the day, I'm fascinated by how giving this church is.

This allows us to get to the Jordan and cross the day.

Any questions before we move on to the last two?

But all of it, huh? Giving and distributing your wealth, all of it.

We've got to beat Bill Gates and the Oracle of Omaha, what's his name? Buffett.

We've got to beat Buffett and Gates and Edith.

They're giving away everything.

Bill Gates made a statement saying, by the time I leave, I've got to have nothing left.

Come on man, he can't take that. It's your privilege.

Everything. All.

Any questions on that because your faces are not betraying your real emotions?

Diana, you've been totally poker-faced today.

Everything okay? Not a single question out of you.

I'm feeling very convicted and challenged right now.

Great. You can write out checks to Jacob John.

It might help ease some of your guilt and conviction.

Okay, okay. If it's conviction, then deal with the Holy Spirit.

If it's guilt, deal with me.

So, giving and distributing your wealth for kingdom purposes, but all of it, guys. All of it.

I want us to think all, because if we don't think all, we'll stop short. All of it.

You've got to think all of it.

If you think all of it, we'll get to 30% by tomorrow. All of it.

But Jacob, if I give all of it, what do I have to live on?

Let your plenty supply my lack today so that my plenty can supply your lack tomorrow.

So that neither has too much, no one has too less.

These are the things the New Testament church saw. Let us see it again.

There are families here that have taken out their investments so that they can redistribute it for the sake of the kingdom.

I'm thinking to myself, what's wrong with you?

There are people here that have taken five-figure chunks of their money and given it for certain purposes.

Bless you for being so generous.

Some of you feed so many people across the earth. You don't just give here. You give in different parts of the world.

That's the beauty of it. You're not even limiting your giving to here. You give here.

It's not like the pie is growing smaller. You know how if you take a pizza and divide it into 16 pieces, everyone gets one pepperoni?

You're not even like that. You're letting the pizza grow bigger. You're giving here and then you're distributing at different places across the earth too.

Outside of this church. I marvel at how much you guys give.

I bless you for it, man. It's amazing.

I don't think you'll have any problems with regard to this point when it comes to Jordan, but perhaps the other points.

Two more.

Hey, if you want to cross the Jordan, you have to learn how to break yokes.

Break yokes and deal with the Mark 16 verse 17, 18 commission.

Mark 16:17

And they shall lay hands on the sick and the sick shall be healed. They shall cast out demons. They shall drink poison and nothing shall happen to them.

They shall speak in new tongues. Breaking yokes, Isaiah 58 verse 6, dealing with the works of the enemy is important if you are to cross Jordan.

Isaiah 58:6

Because this mantle that God is giving you is a mantle that requires doing the works of God, not just the words of God.

The words of God must lead to the works of God and the works of God should speak words.

The words of God must lead to the works of God and the works of God should give evidence for the words you speak.

One last time.

The words of God must lead to the works of God and the works of God should give evidence for the words you speak.

And therefore, if I want to cross the Jordan, I must say to God, Father, I'm so willing

to try this even if I fail a million times.

I'm so willing to try this.

You know, this guy's wife died recently.

Bill Johnson's wife from Bethel died recently.

Listen to this.

I just saved it.

I'm not the...

I like some of his writings, but I'm not the biggest Bill Johnson fan, so don't take this

as my endorsement of Bill Johnson and everything he does, but listen to this.

Bill Johnson of the Bethel Church in Reading, California, preached three days after losing

his beloved wife, Benny, to cancer.

This was a quote from his sermon.

God is not a vending machine that I get up to put a quarter in it and withdraw from him

what I want.

He chooses what he gives, but it is the wicked at heart that say God didn't do what I wanted.

He's a liar.

May I never be found critiquing God when things don't go my way.

May I always be found having a heart ready to be critiqued by him.

Is God my friend?

He is.

But he is my Lord first, and I'll never have the pain I'm feeling right now in eternity.

So in this moment, it is a privilege to respond rightly to the Lord of my life with deeper

trust and devotion.

I will bow before the lamb on the throne in awe and worship him forever, but never will

I have the face-to-face chance to do that while I'm in pain, except in this life.

So in this moment, I choose to do that.

When I said yes to Jesus, I gave up my right to fully understand or be in charge of my

life.

I'll try everything, and you will try everything that Jesus expects us to try here on earth.

And when we fail, we will get up again and say these words and say, I may have failed

this time, I'm going to start again.

We don't stop.

So the Mark 16, 17, 18, and Isaiah 58, 6 of Breaking Yolks is critical for Jordan crossing.

And the last one, which we'll so visit after this series is done, is Psalm 144, verse 1.

Psalms 144:1

Oh God, you train my hands for war and my fingers for battle.

Let me guarantee you that any church or any group of people that does not want to fight

and war, that does not want to prevail, will not cross the Jordan, because the very word

kingdom implies warfare.

The very word kingdom implies warfare, and there is no advancing of the kingdom without

spiritual conflict.

No.

This is not highlighting the devil and stuff like that.

It is very simple.

Right from Genesis 315, there has been a battle on.

In the Old Testament, the battle was different, and the New Testament is different.

The Old Testament, the battle was very simple.

The seed of the woman will crush the seed of the serpent.

And so what was the intent of the enemy right from the get-go?

Can I destroy the seed of the woman?

And the conflict started.

Every war that Israel fought was very simple.

We have to preserve the seed of the woman, because out of the seed of the woman will

come one that will crush the head of the serpent.

And finally he did come.

And then the battle shifts.

In the New Testament, it is no longer preserving the seed of the woman, even though Revelation

12 talks about another attack.

But now it talks about, now that the promised Messiah has come, we need to advance his kingdom,

tooth and nail by satanic forces.

And there are two extremes in Christianity now.

One which says, let's not talk about the devil, let's focus on Jesus.

Really bad theology.

The other one which says, let's focus on the devil, because that's what he's up to.

Really bad theology.

What we need to stand and see is that if you call him king, you have to see him as warrior.

If you call him king, you have to see him as warrior.

If you use the word kingdom, you have to understand that it advances only through spiritual conflict

and war.

But we can't choose one side or the other.

And there is no need to cross the Jordan to receive another mantle if this is not part

of our equation.

It ain't going to happen.

And this church is going to walk that route.

Any questions?

We'll talk about that for the rest of the year.

So looking forward to it.

And from your faces, I can see that you are so enthusiastic about it.

Thank you.

So any questions?

Warfare results in peace in the new heaven and new earth.

From Genesis to Revelation.

Please don't avoid it.

To avoid it is silly.

Just because you've seen an extreme somewhere doesn't mean you avoid it.

It's like not riding cars anymore, not flying planes anymore because one crashed.

Any questions?

I'd say go with cleansed vessels.

Start there.

You can have all the rest.

But if you don't have that, you don't have much.

All I mean by cleansed vessels is what I keep saying.

Can we have a passionate desire for blazing purity?

Blazing purity.

Not even be pure.

It's a passion for blazing purity.

I was thinking of this while I was driving to the church today.

I was at the crosswalk of Fraser and Southeast Marine and there were two girls crossing the

road at the zebra crossing.

I'm looking at people parked on both sides of the road.

Most of the cars had men in them.

And there was not one man who wasn't looking at these women with not any good intent.

I'm sitting there thinking to myself, father, don't we Christians have to be different?

Why aren't we different?

Because we do exactly the same thing.

I know I'm talking to the men right now.

The same applies to women in different contexts.

But I'm thinking to myself, come on Lord, we've got to have a better standard than the

world.

If our heads turn on a swivel the same way the world's head turns on a swivel, how are

we any different?

What distinguishes us?

We feel guilty, they don't.

That ain't a measure.

The amazing purity is to have a counterculture here on earth that establishes a new value,

man.

And it becomes contagious.

Danny and Phoebe begin to catch it and they don't know any other way.

Isaac begins to catch it.

And a new standard is established.

This is just a passing thought when I was driving.

I thought to myself, father, may this church learn how to be different?

Maybe not do the same things that the world does and then feel guilty and offer a prayer

of forgiveness.

That ain't blazing purity.

That's just repentance, which is good, but it ain't good enough.

As we get older as Christians, we should be repenting less.

Repenting less.

If the degree of repentance is still the same, either it's because you've become highly aware

of the holiness of God or it's because nothing has changed.

It be the other.

And at the end of the day, after all this is done, we go to Luke 17, 10, and here's

what it says.

Jacob, after you've done all this, just sit at the table and when God says, hey, great

job, Jacob, say, but we are unprofitable servants.

He's calling us to be profitable servants.

And at the end of the day, after having done all this, we still say we are but unprofitable

servants.

Jane, do you have a song on unprofitable servants?

You.

Okay.

Guys, we'll see you next Sunday.

There's a shower when?

Today?

Oh, okay.

Next Sunday after church.

Otherwise, we're good.

If you want prayer, Joan and Jane and Mason, she's raising her hand.

Were you raising your hand?

No, okay.

Joan.