Apostolic Believers

And then texted me and asked me to, yeah, go ahead and ask God what he would like to

say to the church.

And my immediate response to her was like, I'm not very good at hearing, but I'll be

open.

And yeah, as I was praying, the word unity kept coming.

And I thought it was strange because as a church we are doing very well.

That's what I thought.

But then I was reminded of Tuni and I, we are a family of just two people for now.

But how like sometimes it's hard to even complete a grocery shopping when we are not united.

That came to my mind.

And what God has given us as a church is a big movement, the love sound movement that

God has given us to do like to the nations.

It's a big movement and we need to be united.

That's what came to my mind.

And this was last year, one Monday evening when Tuni and I were here, we were praying

and I was prompted to sing this song over our church.

And the last few verses, the last verse, this came to my mind this morning.

So I'll just read out the song.

We are the family of God.

We are the promised divine.

We are God's chosen desire.

We are the glorious new wine.

Bind us together, Lord, bind us together with cords that cannot be broken.

Bind us together, Lord, bind us together in love.

This last verse came back to my mind.

So I just sing that over our church again.

Let me pray.

Father S, you have chosen us.

I pray that we will be united in our worship, united in our going, united in our sending,

united in our giving, be time or wealth, so that your actual plan will be fulfilled through

us, in us, for us and for the nations that you have prepared.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

Okay, so these kids can go down for Sunday school.

I believe it's Erin and Fidisha teaching.

Phoebe, it's time for Sunday school.

Yeah!

Woohoo!

Woohoo!

Okay, can you go down with Haida?

All right, see you!

Okay, so today's teaching will be a three-part.

It will be with Sheldon and Jillian and myself will each teach a part of it.

So I'll give it to Sheldon first.

Try to make it a number?

Applause

Applause

Sorry guys, this is too weird.

This is a little more comfortable because house church and stuff we get together, this

is what I use and I'm really nervous so at least this is some comfort for me.

The clapping made it worse.

So thank you everybody.

Okay.

Okay.

How's it seeing the Janus, I think yesterday night?

I'm like, I do house church, I do the hub stuff, you know, there's people there but

this is not the same.

Oh yeah, sorry.

Okay.

Sheldon, you can go down.

Okay.

You will be good.

Very good.

I will try to speak slow.

Okay.

So when Jesus went to, when he ascended, one of the things he said to the disciples were

go, go, go and bring the message of the gospel, go to the nations, go.

The word go we've talked about before is a characteristic of an apostolic people and

today we're going to look at, we're going to look at what makes an apostolic person

or an apostolic disciple because whether you like it or not, we are all one of those, we

are all one.

Whether you agree with it or not, whether you agree with wanting to do these things

or not, that's okay but you are, you are an apostolic person, you are an apostolic disciple,

you have been sent to go.

I'm not talking about go like, you know, go here, go there, go everywhere.

I'm talking about there are certain things about you that will set you apart as a disciple

of Jesus Christ.

If you look at every ambassador to every nation, they carry with them certain characteristics

of that nation, of the kingdom that they're from.

They carry with them certain things that you know they are not of the land that they are

presently an ambassador of or in but they are from a land of wherever they are representing

and you and I are disciples of a different kingdom, a kingdom that is in the future but

a kingdom that is already here.

Jesus says the kingdom of God is here.

So this kingdom is here and you and I, as I slow down, you and I are representative

of this kingdom on this earth.

So there are certain things about how we are that will show the world, set us apart and

show the world that we belong to a different kingdom.

So we're going to talk about that today.

We're going to talk about what it looks like to be a disciple or an ambassador, a representative

and an envoy of this kingdom that is of the future and of the present because the kingdom

has broken already into this world.

It broke when Jesus came and it broke into each of our lives in mine.

So this is what, so we're going to look at a passage from John 9 and we're going to take

from there characteristics of what it looks like to have a lifestyle of an apostle.

And this applies both for the individual and as a church.

So if I look at John 9, I'm going to read a short part of that.

This is the story of a man who was healed of his blindness.

And it's such a cool story before I go into it that from this story, one of the things

that we've been called to do is to open the eyes of the blind.

And through this story, as this man's eyes get opened, he becomes a representative of

Christ in how he suddenly changes and how his whole life changes, where he becomes

unrecognizable and yet he is still the same man, where some people are questioning,

are you really the man born blind?

And then the other says, but he is, but how is he seeing now?

So there's two things that are really cool about this is that on one hand, after he is

healed, he starts to carry an apostolic trait in his being at the very moment.

And at the same time, it shows us that this is what an apostolic believer does.

We go and open the eyes of the blind.

And we're not talking about just the healing, although that absolutely applies.

But we're talking about opening the eyes of the blind so they can now see what is the truth.

What is Christ brought onto this earth to show us?

What does his kingdom look like?

So that they can make this choice to say, I want to, I don't want to.

All right?

This is what it looks like.

So if we look at John chapter 9, I'm just going to look at...

John 9 · chapter mention

I'm going to read the first seven verses.

So as he, as in Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.

And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

Jesus answered, it was not that this man sinned or his parents,

but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

We must work the works of him who sent me while at his day.

Night is coming when no one can work.

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva.

Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him,

Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which means scent.

So he went and washed and came back seeing.

I love how Jesus like does these things where even like the name of the pool where he told them to go wash is the name.

It means scent, scent ones.

I am sending you to be, to go there to be healed of your blindness so that on one hand you see and then you actually see.

And then you go and now I'm sending you to go and open the eyes of the rest of the world.

I love how he used somebody who was blind to open the eyes of the ones who can see.

It is such a cool story.

So we're going to take this entire chapter today.

Well, the three of us will to look at what it looks like.

What is it? What does it look like when I being called now an apostolic believer?

What does my life start to look like now?

Now that I carry not not a Canadian characteristics, not a maybe my culture Chinese heritage, none of that stuff, but a kingdom culture.

What does it look like to carry a kingdom culture on this earth where I am still in a country in Canada?

I still have my ethnic background, but I am first and foremost one who carries a culture of this future kingdom that is present on this earth.

That this world so desperately, so desperately needs and wants to see.

So the first thing that we're going to look at that we notice here is in verse eight and nine.

So in verse eight and nine says the neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar was saying, is this not the man who used to sit and beg?

Some said it is he. Others said no, but he is like him.

He kept saying, I am the man. I am the man.

Something about when I become a believer and as I start to walk around, I carry of I will start to carry a different lifestyle in how I how I am, how I behave in my speech, in my thought patterns, in my in my I can't read this.

Oh, in my mindset.

My lifestyle changes. That's something that is so important that as a believer, if if I'm a believer, but nothing about me changes.

It is as if Christ never died for me.

I said this to my house church. If I don't show any any gifts of the spirit in my life on a regular basis, I am basically saying Christ never died.

Christ never rose from the dead and Christ never ascended because when he ascended, he gave me the spirit.

And if if that is true, and I absolutely believe that is true, I have to see the life of the spirit within me that the gifts of the spirit must be present on a daily basis.

It has to show. Otherwise, I am saying Christ never died.

Really? Because this is evidence of Christ's death and resurrection and his ascension.

So there must be changes in who I am and how I think, how I react to things, how I behave, how I speak.

One of the things that I've been so challenged to do, I think the last couple of years has been I remember God saying to me, you need to change the way you talk now.

You cannot talk the same way you used to talk. You kind of stop making some of the jokes you used to make the way you treat people, the way you speak to them, though you might think it was just all joking and all funny and whatnot.

And I might say, oh, it is just, you know, fun and games. But he says you need to start changing how you talk to them.

You need to start changing how you are with anyone because you carry with because I carry with me my mouth as a mouthpiece of my God and my father in heaven.

And what I say is a reflection of what my father says.

And if I say certain things where even though it might just be joking, but it brings them down, that is a reflection on the per to the person from me who my father is.

And it is absolutely not correct. Like I said, as an ambassador of any country when you are in, let's say the ambassador of X, Y, Z that happens to be in this country, they will speak of the country of X, Y, Z.

They will not speak of maybe a Canadian way because that is not who they represent.

And for me, if I don't represent my father in my speech, I am not...

In a sense, I am washing away, I am nullifying, I am diminishing what Christ has done for me.

So my lifestyle must change. It must change from not who I am anymore, but who is in me and has redeemed me.

It must change from not... It has to move from not who I am because we all want identity.

It's just a world thing. We all want to be identified by something.

But a lifestyle transformation that happens with this man is it's not about who I am anymore, but it is about who is in me.

This man says, it is me, it is me. But he says, it is Jesus who has opened my eyes to see.

That's changed. He is not the same man. He is not the beggar that was on the streets.

He wasn't the one who was blind and asking people for help.

He was the one who was now suddenly walking around with his confidence and saying, I am he, but I can now see.

And it is somebody who has now opened my eyes. That's who he is. His life changed.

To the point where people almost couldn't recognize him. They're saying, is this really him? Is this really him?

I think this is absolutely, for me, it's such a god thing because there are people that have known me for such a long time.

And when I first heard this, not from them directly, but I heard it from Jane, I was very, very... I was very blown away.

One being a sister-in-law who said, he's changed. And I'm talking about in the last four years or so.

So she's known me. We've known each other for a long time. 20 years, something like that.

We've known each other for a while. And so her sister also happens to have known me for that same amount of time.

But for her to say, after 15 years, after 17 years, Sheldon's changed. Says a heck of a lot about what God has done in my life.

And what kind of change is happening in my life. The thing is, I don't even sometimes realize it's happening.

But I have been saying to God, here I am, change me. I've been saying to him, I am like...

You know those... what do they call those statues? You know David, the statue in Italy, or this one? Or whatever he is?

What's that thing called? Is it just called statue? Sculpture. Yeah, that's the word, not statue. Sculpture.

I always like... I sometimes say to God, God, here I am, a sculpture. It's getting there, but keep chiseling.

Keep going at it. Keep making it more and more perfect so it more and more is like Jesus.

So sometimes I say this to him, I don't even realize he's been chipping away, chipping away.

But what happens is people start to see it. So to have my sister-in-law, who's like I said, known me now for what, 20 years or so.

To say in the last couple years, Sheldon's changed. I was shocked.

It says to me, God is doing something in my life. And he is doing something in my life.

It says to me, God is doing something in my life. And he is doing it like full force.

Because how could it be that in 20 years, suddenly only in a couple years, this starts changing like this, this, this.

Another person that... that one, this one also really, really caught me off guard was my mother.

She says, again, not to me directly, I don't know my son anymore. He is not the Sheldon I've always known.

We're talking 30... 30 something years.

All right. But to have my own mother say that he is not the son I know, it was very shocking to me.

To say that I don't know what he's like anymore. He doesn't do things I've always known him to do.

He doesn't behave the same way. He doesn't think, he doesn't react the same way. He doesn't live the same way anymore.

So, because... and some of the things maybe may not be of God, but I know some, a lot of the things are of God.

A lot of things he is transforming in my life. And it's to a point where people are noticing and saying,

this is my son, this is Sheldon, but he's changed. I don't know him anymore.

And yet, what is it that I, what is it that my hope is, is that what they're seeing is not me anymore, but it is who is in me.

It is Christ. That Christ's character is in me. So that people, when they see me, they say, but you are different.

I remember there was a piano student. This is going to go along. Okay.

I had a piano student. Don't have them anymore, but we used brief, but it was such a fun lesson.

Partly because we talked a lot.

But this was, this was the really neat thing is to say, when we had our lessons, he would come,

I'd want to play because I knew if we don't start playing, it'd be 45 minutes later and we'll like play like one song.

And it feels almost like I'm not doing my job anymore. I'm being paid to just chit chat with him.

But here's the thing, when we talked, it was always a things of life, of God.

I would always bring up God with him and he would always be wondering, oh, but why do you do it this way?

Why do you do it like that? Why like this? Why like that? And I'd say, oh, because there is a father.

It was such a cool thing that he's even in our conversation. He says, oh, that's not how most people do it.

I'm like, you're right. But this is how the kingdom of God looks like. This is the kingdom of God that is here.

And it's in my life. So it was such a, such a neat thing to, to just, we worked together at the bank for a little while.

And then we had piano lessons. That was after I stopped working. But for him to know me a little bit then and then to really get to know me and go,

oh, this is not who I thought he was. I thought it was such a cool thing that there is changes in my life that reflects he's noticing things.

So, like I said, yeah, it changes. You know, it goes from who I am, who I was,

and it goes, but now moves to it is, but who is in me and has redeemed me.

Here's another neat thing about this, this change in a life that when we get, when we start to change our walk changes,

we walk differently. Like the blind man, he wasn't walking like a blind man, but he was walking as one who sees.

So as I was changed and as I was redeemed, suddenly realizing that my life's changed,

so as I was changed and as I was redeemed, suddenly realizing that my life suddenly became a lot more purposeful,

that my walk became directed, that my purpose in life wasn't about,

it wasn't about, you know, having a good home, good jobs, beautiful family, having, you know,

a good life until I save up for retirement and then I spend my retirement and then I'm gone.

It wasn't about those things where, you know, making myself meaningful in life, you know, doing good things for people.

It wasn't about that. My life now has only one purpose and we've talked about this from other teachings.

There's three M's. Does anybody remember? Yeah, make the Father known, make disciples and multiply churches.

That is the purpose given to me and us because we are, because Jesus is in us now.

That's the only thing he was about. He said the Kingdom of God is here and I'm here to make the Father known.

And since the Kingdom of God is here, I'm here to bring those into the Kingdom.

So the three M's. Make the Father known. That's my purpose. Make the Father known.

In everything that I do, I make the Father known. Number two, I'm here to make disciples.

And number three, I'm here to multiply churches. So suddenly I have purpose.

As my life was changed, my purpose in my life also changed.

And then he directed my walk now. And here's a really, this is the hard part of it too.

That being directed means I let someone else lead me. I let someone else guide me.

That it is not me who chooses how to go about things. Even though maybe I know the purpose, the three M's.

I have to make the Father known. I'm here to make disciples. I'm here to multiply churches.

It is so easy then to say, ah, now that I have my purpose, let me decide how it's going to happen.

But my lifestyle, we know it changes because suddenly it is not me who directs my walk anymore.

But I am directed by someone else. And it is directed by God himself.

He's saying, I will show you how to do this. I will show you how it gets done.

I need somebody to go do it on my behalf to represent the Kingdom.

But will you let me direct it for you? So that it is not you who decides how things go.

And it's such a hard thing. I, growing up in this culture society where it's about independency.

It's about independency. It's like, if I look at Phoebe, when she was in her early, early stages.

It was like, she was like, I'm going to do it myself.

And it was so hard to watch her and say, no, yes you can.

But let us show you how it can be done so that you can do it a certain way that will be beneficial for you.

It would be better for you. It would be easier for you.

And this just happens in my teaching too. I see so many of my students trying so hard to do something.

And I'm like, if you would just listen to me and just follow what I say, your life will be so much easier.

And it will be done so much faster.

And this point I will bring back later on, okay?

But, yeah, so often I find myself going, sometimes going, okay, this is my purpose. Away I go.

But one of the changes in my life that will happen is, as a man was, was that suddenly he had to do something.

Suddenly he had purpose. He was directed in how to walk.

There was, there was a visible change. He wasn't walking like a blind man anymore, but he had purpose.

So I'm saying to us right now that if you continuously connect to Christ and the body, and this is a key,

it's not just Christ, but Christ and the body.

Because Christ and the body are one. You can't separate them.

It's like any marriage. The two, it says, just like it says in the Old Testament, the two become one.

Christ has Christ, me and the church, my body is one. It's not separate.

So don't think that you can say, I'm going to be connected to Christ without the body.

It's not happening. It's Christ and the body. It's two that becomes one.

So if you're connected to Christ, you're connected to the body. It can't be separate.

But if you do that, it is impossible for your life not to change. It is absolutely impossible.

And yeah, one last story about this part is there were things in, I'm using you, is that okay? Cool.

So we've been married about 10, 10 and a half years or so.

I remember it was, oh gosh, six years in, seven years in.

Because we had started coming, we started coming to Acts, we started learning, our eyes were open, we started to see.

And I had a desire to say, I want to be connected to Christ. I need my life to change.

One of the things that took place was that how I was as husband to Jane changed.

And I remember Jane saying this to me one time. She said, for six, seven years, I've been trying so hard to get you to change so many things in your life.

How is it that suddenly you just changed? How?

And it's simply because of this one thing that, and it wasn't, it was Christ, but it was Christ in the body.

Because I did have the body who also guide, was a guide for me, directed me and saying, these things must change.

And because I understood that Christ and his body are one, and that Christ uses his body to do this work too,

I was able to change so quickly that Jane says, how is it after all these years?

I've been waiting, I've been waiting, I've been waiting, I've asked you, I told you, I wanted this, I wanted that.

You give none of it to me. And suddenly it just all came. How is it?

So this is what, this is the, my lifestyle must transform, it must change.

And if that hasn't happened, please, please, please, please, please, just take a look again at your life and say, am I connected?

Because if you're connected, it's impossible not to start changing. It's impossible.

I'm talking about connected to the church and the body, one that is living this life.

Because if you find one who doesn't live this life, I will be just like that.

If I want to get better at piano, if I found somebody who was equal or lesser than me, I will not become any more than what I am right now.

A couple years ago I, I'm sorry I said that was the last story, here's another one.

A couple years ago I decided that I need to get better at piano.

And I had to find somebody who was better than me.

Because if I found somebody who was similar or same, I would become the same or even lesser.

I had to find somebody who knew more, who played more, who was better, who was way above me, who was more experienced, who understood things.

So that when I go to them, I get to go up. I get to be more like what I need to become.

And this is again a God-directed thing. Hey, if you ask me, do I really want to go to take piano lessons?

It's going to cost me an arm and a leg because, because I mean piano lessons is, it's expensive when you go to really high up people.

But I just, I just knew, I knew I had to do it. So I went looking for it, I asked around and I found somebody and they were willing to take me on.

But my goodness, in a matter of what, two years, I learned more in that time than I had my entire time learning piano.

That's crazy, but that's what it looks like. It is so quick when you somebody can, when I start getting connected to somebody who knows things, who are, who are better off than I am, who have walked the walk before me and can get me there.

That's how it is with anything, right? As parents or even as if you teach anyone anything like, I know I keep talking about teaching.

It's just I happen to be a piano teacher and that's all I know. But I mean, even as a parent, right? You don't want your kid to learn things slower than you.

Your goal is that, I mean, for us, I hope Phoebe becomes a piano genius at the age of five.

It's probably not going to happen because I understand that it needs time. But I mean, at six months I start teaching her.

I tried to at least and she didn't want any of it. Right? But the thing is, one of the things I wanted her so, so I really want for her is to that if she decides to learn music that she learns it from a place of can I enjoy it first before I start to become disciplined and to work on things and to get better.

Can I enjoy it first? Because that I never learned. It took me until I went to that teacher for about two, two and a half years that I suddenly started to enjoy music lessons.

I never did. I mean, I don't know about most of you guys. A lot of you guys might have had lessons in music and maybe didn't like it.

But I did. I sure wasn't one of those who were like, I love piano. I just really was obedient and I just practiced.

But yeah, when I did it a couple of years ago, I was surprised how much I enjoyed music.

And it was a redemption that God wanted for me and he did it for me through my university days.

But he really took it to a new level when I went and did some music lessons again.

Anyway, yeah, so you will go fast. You will run fast if you go to somebody who are someone and go to Christ in the body that has walked this before you.

And that happened for me here. Second thing. I guess we'll make it to one o'clock today. One thirty. OK.

The second thing about this man in verse eleven.

He answered.

Oh, sorry. Let's go to verse ten. So they said to him, Then how were your eyes open? And the man answered,

The man called Jesus made mud and anoint in my eyes and said to me, Go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and received my sight.

As a apostolic people, I'm talking about this church, but also individually, what we see here is that this man, the moment he saw,

he became a witness and he was ready to talk about Jesus.

The only difference between ambassadors of this world and us is that the message of the world are there for the interest of their country,

but they keep it within their role in their embassy and whatnot. For us, we get to do this really cool thing.

We get to invite everybody who's not part of this club to join the club. That's what we get to do. And it is such a backward club.

Clubs are usually, you stay out, we're going to keep it private. This club or this kingdom says, You're not in here? Come. Come.

Come all you who are thirsty. Come. Because this place is for you. This is for everyone.

He became a person ready to talk and testify of Jesus at any given moment. And he did it to his own neighbors immediately.

Immediately. He carried, the thing about him is that because of such a change in his life, people noticed it.

Then they asked him and he was able to talk about Jesus immediately. And the thing is he could have been like, Oh, you know, I can see now.

This is great. But no, he says, I can see because there was this man, Jesus. There was this man, Jesus.

I remember talking to Don a couple of years ago. And this just illustrate what this looks like. Don, as in the one who's going to get married tonight or in the morning.

That Don. Shout out Don. Woo.

So I've been dealing with eczema on my hands for a very long time. And it would like, you know, go through and break open and bleed and whatnot.

So I'm hearing that Don used to have as a kid and he said that one day some preacher or someone prayed and he said it was healed like, like healed.

And I remember saying to him, I'm like, Don, I need that preacher to pray for me too. But Don's response was, but why? It's Christ who heals.

Why do you need that preacher? He says, I'm like, you're right. Why do I need that preacher? Because Christ is the one who heals.

So he was able to direct me back to it wasn't this amazing prophet or anything, but it was the power behind it, which is Christ.

And he was saying it is Christ who heals. It is Christ who heals. And I was like, oh, how could I think such thoughts?

This is terrible. But he reminded me that. And you know what? What's really, really cool? I have no eczema anymore because Christ healed me.

Yeah, I 10 years and I was what? 18, 19. Okay. Maybe a little more than that. 12 years, 13 years.

All right. But I tried everything. I tried every lotion on the rack. I tried medication. I tried this. I tried that.

And I Christ, I was talking to God one day and he said, watch, watch as I heal everything you put down in a list.

And in a matter of less than a year, I started to notice this change in my hands where I'm like, hey, it's starting to go away.

And I used to use like the thickest cream or this and that. And then I just felt God saying, go grab this one and just use that for now because, you know, I said, okay, obedience.

That's it. Don't need to know why I did that. And I couldn't believe it because before I knew it and it wasn't the cream.

It was just you don't need to use this stuff anymore. It was about summer last year or something like that.

I suddenly noticed that my hands are, it's all gone. Like the dryness is gone. My skin is all back.

Like there used to be like little funny lines on it because it healed, but it wasn't really, really healed. But that was all gone.

And in my mind, I happened once before and then I like used it so hard. I bash my hands. Not bash. I worked it really hard.

I started like making bread. I started doing this and everything. And then like tore open like a couple months after that.

But this time for some reason I just knew healing is mine. Christ has healed me. The power of God has done this already.

It's dealt with already. And so I had this new confidence that I will take care of my hands, but I will not shy away from using it.

And I can say to this day, as in today, my hands are still good. Like still good. So hallelujah.

So yeah. Yeah. So I mean, thanks Don. That was really important for me to remember.

Another story would be our brother Nick over there. Yeah. I'm going to talk about you. Yeah.

So we had some, we went for lunch last week and I found out that one of the things he does is he goes to this dumpling place.

And he'll eat there and he'll chit chat with the owner. And then he'll chit chat with them and instantly start talking about Jesus.

And then now he says, the dumplings were okay, but he keeps going back because he wants to talk to his owner.

He wants to be a witness for Jesus. He wants to show him this kingdom. And it's such a cool thing.

Like this is, that's what Nick does. That's what it looks like. Hey, someone who's willing to, I think the dumpling is actually pretty good.

I think it was just a bad day. But here's a man who was willing to spend money and to go regularly for what?

Yeah. To fill his stomach. But there was a greater cause. There's a greater purpose. He wants to chit chat with the owner.

And it doesn't mean he gets to talk to him every time. Sometimes the owner is busy. He has to cook or the, I'm sorry.

Owner. He's the owner, right? Yeah. Owner and chef. So he has to, he's not like, he's just going to come out of the kitchen and be like, Hey, let's talk.

So Nick will have to keep going back and keep spending money just to have an opportunity to talk to this chef, this owner.

But he's doing that. Hey, that's a ready, that's someone who's willing to witness and ready to witness at any given moment.

I look at, you look in the Bible, you look at someone like Legion who after casting out, having cast out all the demons, Jesus says, you stay.

Don't come with me. Why? Because he became a witness for Christ. He certainly was. And the whole entire village gets saved because of this.

You look at the man who was at the pool of Bethesda who couldn't get in. Again, Jesus goes and heals him. And what happens?

He goes and saves. He goes and becomes a witness of what Christ had done in his life. So it's impossible.

I can't imagine that none of us has a story. We all have our stories. Maybe it may not be as, or at least in our minds, because I think this sometimes.

I think I have to look at Paul Vann's story. I'm like, man, look at what Christ has done in his life to take him from this lifestyle to like such a different lifestyle.

How, that's amazing. I don't have a story like that. How can I be effective? But man, sorry. But come on, guys. You guys have stories.

You guys have stories. You have stories that will influence the sphere you're in. Mine just happens to be piano students. So I keep talking about my piano students.

You know, just a couple months ago, I started in-person lessons. I had a kid who showed up. And I mean, this is like COVID, you know, still kind of hanging out.

And he comes to my lessons just like sniffling and blowing his nose like nonstop. And I'm like, uh, this isn't really, I don't know if this is the best way to go about this.

Hey, guys. So I asked him, hey, what's going on? They told me, you know, his parents are like, oh, he has allergies. It's just causing that.

I'm like, oh, no big deal. But then because of who I know Christ to be, who I know what he's done in my life, I said, hey, you know what?

Crisis healed me of things in my life from an ankle that was so busted. And one day it went from sprain to jumping and running.

It's impossible to a point where I know I have a new ankle in my right ankle. I've never sprained it since. And we're talking seven years since then.

All right. I used to sprain it like once every year, maybe once every half year. I'll play some hockey. I'll sprain it. It happened all the time.

And I knew I could tell from the how how bad the pain was. I could tell how badly I sprained it like or like, yeah, I knew how bad sprains were just because I had done it so many times.

But I said to them, I'm like, I have a God who heals. And I said, will you let me pray for you? And they were kind of I think they were believers.

I'm not sure. So he said, sure. And so I prayed simple words because, hey, I say, I can't I don't have much.

I only have the power of Christ in me, which is everything I need. I prayed for them. And I just said, yeah, see you later.

A week later, I noticed that nothing was going on. And I forgot to ask. So the second week I asked, hey, what's going on with your nose? How is your allergies?

And he they said to me, so the day you pray, the next day it was all gone. And I was like, ah, awesome.

I said, please be a witness. He was a little skeptical. They're in grade six. So I understand.

So I tell you the 11 year old, now go tell your students. I said to him, like, you should go tell all your friends in your class,

in your class, in school, about what God has just done in your life. He was like, ah.

But this is what Christ does. And I have to be ready. I will have stories.

Like I said, it may not be a Pauvin type story, but I have stories and I am ready to share. I am ready to share.

And here's the coolest part, hey, is that in John 13 20, God says that Christ says that when anyone who receives you receives me,

and the one who receives me receives the one who sent me. Christ is saying I will enter into your situation if they receive you.

When they receive you and what you're saying or what you have to share, I will enter into it because those who receive you have received me.

And those who have received me, as in Christ, has received the one who has sent me, who is the Father in heaven.

So be an active witness and a representative ready to make this Father known.

Ready to make the Father known. Ready to make what he has done through Christ for all of humanity and what he has done in your life.

I promise you, the smallest story you think you have will make the biggest impact on the nobodies that you don't think would make an impact on.

Third point.

Verse 14. It goes on to say, again, sorry, 13.

They brought to the Pharisee the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.

And all we want to grab from here is this really simple, but probably one of the most difficult characteristics of an apostle.

That everything we do is in rest. That we have to be in rest.

Jesus purposely chose to do things on the Sabbath to show that on the day of rest, it is where God does things.

No, no, sorry. That it is in rest that God can do.

The moment I am out of rest, I will, even if it's the smallest, the 1%, I am exerting myself in it.

But in rest, Christ does it all. In rest, it's all done. I don't do any of it.

And ascent people, their lives are characterized by this rest.

That we are resting all the days in God. That everything is done out of the rest, out of his rest.

That I do not have to use any of my strength. I don't have to exert any of my human thinking or wisdom.

But it is sheerly done. Sheerly. By the presence of God. By the Spirit. Sheerly. Nothing else.

That's what rest looks like. And it is one of the hardest things to do.

Where I cease from any of my work and I enter into his rest and go from his rest.

It is one of the hardest things to do.

But when we do that, what happens is that things that normally would have taken a person years and years and years to do,

and we've all heard this, can be done in a matter of a moment.

And I look at stories like Joshua and how he took down Jericho.

I mean, seven days without even having to do anything. They just walked.

Maybe that's hard to do. I don't know. But if God says walk, I'll walk.

But seven days. And then the last day they just walked silently. It's such a weird thing.

Like, it's so restful. It is so not humanly wisdom.

Walk around, but don't say a word. Just nothing.

I can't imagine what the guys on the wall are looking at. What are they doing?

They were making noise maybe the days before, but why are they so silent?

You know? We look at Jesus. Why was Jesus only around for three years? Why not more?

Because in John 17, 4 he says, I've done all that I've been brought here to do. He's done it all.

He did it in three years. Three years.

We look at this building here. We literally got this building in a matter of a few days.

I'm a witness to it because I was around when the contact happened,

and then I was around when we saw the owners of this building and did everything.

I'm a witness to this. This building, I mean, some churches might be looking for years

trying to find the right place. And then here we are in a matter of days saying,

here's a building for you. Rest. Rest. Rest.

And I said earlier with Jane and things that she wanted to see in me as a husband

that it was, it literally happened overnight. It was so quick.

How is it that I spent so many years wanting, and I'm not saying she was exerting anything, hey.

I think Jane was super patient. She endured.

And that she knew that she couldn't force my will,

but she could only have one hope in hope in God.

So thanks for waiting.

Yeah. So. Cool.

Questions?

Thanks for waiting for Jane. Yeah. But any questions?

It's okay. At least you guys got all I got to see you off at all.

Sorry.

So.

So.

So.

So.

So.

So.

So.

But even as our lifestyles being transformed, even as we're already witness,

we have to do it from a place of rest. If we're not operating from a place of rest,

then our lifestyle may look chaotic. If we're not operating from a place of rest,

then we miss the opportunities where we can witness.

So next I want to talk about clarity of message.

And in some ways when we look at the story of this man in John 9,

we see that he knew one thing. He'd been blind his whole life.

He didn't know how to read, most likely, because he'd been blind. He couldn't see words. He didn't know how to read.

He was a beggar. Everybody knew him because he sat and begged.

Because he didn't have the ability to make an income any other way.

He had people telling him what to do his whole life.

He was somebody who most people considered. Even the disciples said to Jesus at the very beginning,

who sinned? His mother or his father?

He was an outcast from the city. He was somebody who everybody, even the disciples who

maybe were at a different place than everybody else in the Jewish community,

would have just sent here, what's happened to this guy? He would have been an outcast.

He would have been somebody who was put aside. Hey, this is somebody who's a sinner.

His life was born out of sin.

And so maybe he didn't have the background of everybody around him.

But throughout the chapter you see one thing. Everybody asks him what happened.

He put clay on my eyes. I washed and I see.

That was the entirety of his message. There was this man named Jesus.

He put clay on my eyes. I washed and I see.

He didn't have anything beyond that. He didn't have, oh well then this happened and then

because of he has power or because he's so and so or because of...he didn't have any of that.

He had the simple truth. He put clay on my eyes. I washed and I see.

That's all he knew. But he had clarity in what he knew.

And so often we don't have a clear message.

So often we get hung up on the unimportance. Well, what did he do with the clay?

How did he put the clay on your eyes? How did you wash the clay off your eyes?

Did you say anything? What happened here? There must be more to the story.

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure I would think there must be more to the story. You could have put clay on your eyes a million times

throughout the last how many years of your life and you never saw then.

So what's so special about today? But he never once gets hung up on the unimportance.

He never once starts saying, oh well maybe he did this. He never starts adding to it. He never starts diluting what happened.

He goes back to the same simple message. He put clay on my eyes. I washed and I see.

That's all he knows. This man named Jesus did this and now I see.

And so sometimes we need to stop trying to figure out all the little pieces.

But can I simply walk in obedience?

So often a clarity of message is walking in foolish simplicity in obedience to our faith.

Am I willing to foolishly say, hey I don't know all the details, but this is what I know.

I know the nature of my God. I know who my God is.

Sheldon was talking earlier about the three M's.

We as believers have to have a singularity and an intentionality of our vision.

If we don't have a singularity and we don't have a singularity of our vision,

we don't know what our vision is.

Our vision can be this today and this tomorrow and it can be over here the next day.

But do I actually know what it is? Can I not explain it in a church?

Can I explain what does it mean to make the Father known?

What does it mean to make disciples? What does it mean to multiply churches?

Do I actually understand, hey this is really what my purpose is?

Or do I think, hey well this is what my purpose is, but then I'm also really good at this and I'm really strong over here.

Okay, but let's go back.

What's a singularity and what's the intentionality?

What's the purpose of every person's life on the planet? Not just in this room.

Why did he create us?

He created us to make his Father known, to make disciples, and to multiply his church, his kingdom, his body here on earth.

And so one thing I was thinking Father, but so often we want to know, okay how do I do it?

Sheldon was saying sometimes we have purpose and then we dive right into it.

And the Father loves to have a relationship with us.

That's how we get clarity in what his message is.

That's how we understand his intentionality into every situation.

But how do I approach him? Something when I was looking through these notes, I was thinking, okay Father how does this look?

And one thing he said is, you can approach me as Mary or you can approach me as Zachariah.

They both had a question. An angel came and saw them and they both had a question.

One, their questions were different. Zachariah's question was, how do I know this?

Mary's question was, how can this be?

Mary maybe couldn't understand how this could be, but she knew, hey this is an angel from God who's coming and talking to me.

This must be. How it may be, I don't know.

Zachariah's response was, how do I know this?

And he knew from the fact that an angel of God was standing there talking to him.

I need another backup. I need to know this some other way.

And in that, the results still happened, but he added stumbling blocks to his next nine months.

He could have walked it with ease. Instead he walked it not being able to speak.

So sometimes when it comes to clarity of message, as walking as an apostolic people,

we have to start removing the unimportance.

Are we willing to say, okay but God this is what you said so maybe I don't understand it.

But am I willing to step out in obedience and start figuring this out?

Am I willing to step out in obedience and start letting you transform my life?

Start letting you bring me into situations where will I be a ready witness or will I be an unready witness?

Is this something that I'm going to walk from rest or am I going to try and figure out,

okay what is this message, how do I make this message work, how does this all work?

Or can I walk and ask, okay Father in this situation how do I respond?

I know this is what you've placed me on the earth to do. To make you known.

To make disciples, to multiply churches. And then we can take it a step further.

So we know those three things. But what is something that this church has been called to do?

We've been called to ignite a revival among the 20s and 30s that will spread across the globe.

But it has to start here. It has to start with us.

Is this a purpose? Is this something we think of throughout our day?

Is this something that we're clear on? That we actually believe?

Hey with singularity, with intentionality, we are going to start a revival that will ignite across the globe.

That is what God has told us that will start here. It will start with us here.

But are we intentional about it?

And then it comes to our next point. And this one can seem a little bit odd.

But to be an apostolic people has a component that brings about a ministry of division.

And in some ways you can go back to what Anila was saying at the very beginning.

That we have to talk about unity. And yes there is unity.

So how does if we're called to walk in unity, how does division come into this?

How is division even in play in this?

And so I'm just going to read from starting at verse 13.

So John 9 verse 13. It says,

John 9:13

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.

Now was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.

So the Pharisees again asked him,

How has he received his sight?

And he said to them, He put mud on my eyes and I washed and I see.

Some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.

But others said, How can a man who is a sinner do such things?

And there was division among them.

So they said again to the blind man, Why, what do you say about him?

Since he has opened your eyes.

He said, He is a prophet.

The Jews did not believe him that he had been blind and had received his sight.

Until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them,

Is this your son who you say has been born blind?

How then does he see?

And his parents answered, We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.

But how he now sees, we do not know.

Nor do we know who opened his eyes.

Ask him. He is of age. He can speak for himself.

And so here we see something interesting.

He came in and he went back to he had one truth.

He put clay on my eyes, I washed and I see.

The Pharisees want to know more.

The Pharisees are highly educated.

They are skilled at the top of the line.

I was looking up something and to be considered a rabbi in Jerusalem,

they are trained from infancy.

And something is that by the age of 10, they are expected to know the first five books of their Torah.

Do you know what the first five books of their Torah are?

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

Who of us, we might even skip through reading those books, let alone actually have them memorized.

They knew all the details.

They knew every little nuance here and there.

But yet they missed who the creator was.

They knew the law.

But they were so encompassed in religiosity, in legalism,

in everything has to function this way, this way and this way.

That as soon as somebody came and said, oh, I can see, they didn't know what to do with it.

It didn't fit into their book of things.

So they are divided.

They are divided.

They are saying, well, he must be a sinner.

And then they are saying, no, but sinners aren't supposed to be able to make other people see.

So apostolic believers bring division into the house of religion.

And in Matthew 10, 34 to 36, we see what Jesus says, why he came to earth.

Do not think that I came to bring peace to the earth.

I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

For I have come to set a father, a man against his father, a daughter against her mother,

and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

And a person's enemy will be those of his own household.

And this seems like such a strange verse.

We think of God as love.

We think of God as somebody who's coming to bring peace, make everything as it should be.

But yet God's saying, I didn't come to bring peace.

I came to bring a sword.

And what was that sword?

The sword was to divide his kingdom out.

The sword is to say, hey, these are actually my people.

I'm not here to bring rules and laws and legalism.

That's not me.

That's not my heart.

That's not who I am.

So it's time that you stop diluting.

It's time that you stop adding to what I'm saying.

So often, I think, sometimes we get stuck and think that, oh, we're supposed to be peacekeepers.

An ambassador isn't a peacekeeper.

An ambassador is somebody who's come to ambassad for his country so that his country gets what his country needs.

And so often, we want to be peacekeepers.

But we're not called to be peacekeepers.

We're called to display the Prince of Peace.

The Prince of Peace is a mighty God.

The Prince of Peace is a wonderful counselor.

But he is Lord.

He is God.

He is someone who has come and said, hey, there are ways you are to live.

You need to start letting me transform your life.

Without transforming my life, you just become a religion.

Am I living?

Am I active inside of you?

The message of the cross, we talked about this a number of months ago, the message of the cross is simple.

But often, we try and complicate it.

Often, we try and add to it.

Because the nature of the apostolic message conflicts with places where laws and traditions are exalted above Christ.

Thus, division is inevitable.

Because when we break the Word of God, when we break the bread, it reveals the responses of everybody sitting around the table.

When Jesus broke bread, it revealed how Judas responded.

It revealed how John responded.

It revealed how Peter responded.

And God also says that when you go into the world, people will hunger after what you have, or they will hate you.

But can we walk into the world in that context that I will still walk in with the message he has, even though some people are not going to like it?

I can't be neutral in my message.

I can't be neutral in the Father.

I can't be neutral in this kingdom.

But as I'm in this kingdom, as I'm displaying Christ, am I willing to be neutral to everything that's happening around me?

Or do I have clarity? Do I have intentionality? Do I have singularity?

In this is who my God is, and this is what he has sent me to do.

So will I let him start affecting my life?

Because God didn't come to bring peace, but to establish his kingdom through us, his people.

So that we can be set apart and have transformed lifestyles and start transforming the lives of those around us.

So that brings us to our sixth point.

Rapid upgrade.

Sheldon's laughing at me because I'm going so fast.

Rapid upgrade.

This one I think is so cool.

Going back to who was this man?

What was his background? What was his knowledge?

What type of foundation did he have?

He was probably blind. He probably hadn't really gone to school.

He probably had people direct his life, his whole life.

They'd lead him here, lead him there. He couldn't see.

They'd put him down at the pool. They'd go collect him in the evening. They'd bring him back.

But yet, he had the ability. He had the desire.

He had the hunger. He had the realization of, hey, this is what has happened.

To contend for more.

And so in verse 11, when he's talking to his neighbors, we hear him call the man named Jesus.

In verse 17, when he's talking to the Pharisees, he says, well, I think he's a prophet.

Because the reality is, he's never even seen Jesus.

It wasn't like he went searching for Jesus saying, hey, I'm blind. I need somebody to come and heal him.

The disciples are walking back and having a conversation with Jesus about this blind guy on the side of the road.

And Jesus says, hey, no, this guy, there's a reason for this.

He's part of our day to day.

We're going to change his life. It's going to change his whole community.

It's going to display the father to this whole community, this one man.

He has a purpose.

He's not just some sinner sitting there on the side of the road.

Even if he is some sinner sitting there on the side of the road, he has a purpose.

He is to display the father.

But then we see what happens in verse 38.

So I'm going to continue from 22 where I left off.

Verse 24. We're going to start at verse 24.

They said to him, what did he do to you?

How did he open your eyes?

He answered them, I told you already and you would not listen.

Why do you want to hear it again?

Do you also want to become his disciples?

And they reviled him saying, you are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

We know that God has spoken to Moses.

But as for this man, we don't know where he comes from.

The man answered, well, this is amazing.

You do not know where he comes from.

And yet he opened my eyes.

We know that God does not listen to sinners.

But if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.

Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.

If this man was not from God, he could do nothing.

They answered him, you were born in utter sin.

And would you teach us?

And they cast him out.

Jesus heard this, that they had cast him out and found him and said, do you believe in the Son of Man?

He answered, and who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?

Jesus said to him, you have seen him and it is he who is speaking to you.

And he said, Lord, I believe.

And he worshipped him.

And so here we see that in one day, this man goes from, maybe it is even one afternoon,

this man goes from this man who I do not know.

I could not even see him.

I was blind.

Then probably when I saw him, his first recollections maybe were not of who was standing around him,

but the fact that he could actually see.

So does he even remember what Jesus looked like?

So we have this man who, all he was was a man named Jesus.

I do not know who this man is.

I just know he is a man named Jesus.

Then in his conversation with the Pharisees, he is astounded that the Pharisees do not know who this man is.

He is saying, well, he must be a prophet.

He made me see.

But then when he starts talking with Jesus and he realizes who Jesus is,

all of a sudden he recognizes and acknowledges that Jesus is the Messiah and he worships him.

So we as an apostolic people need to have an accurate response to difficult questions.

And are we actually able to contend for faith on our own?

This man did not have all of a sudden, he could not go to the Pharisees and say,

teach me who this man is.

They are telling him that no, he is a sinner and they have cast him out.

All he knows is that this man made him see.

But yet in a short time he recognized, hey, this man who made me see, he is the Messiah.

He is who this entire country is searching for, yet they do not see him.

But I have seen him.

He opened my eyes.

I see him not just with my physical eyes, even though he is now standing here speaking to me.

But there was a recognition that he was a man who made me see.

Even though he is now standing here speaking to me.

But there was a recognition of, hey, I know who this man is.

Who we have searched for for the last 2,000 years is standing in front of me.

I know who this man is.

He was not dependent on some prophet.

He was not dependent on a rabbi to say, hey, this is who this man is.

He knew one thing.

Who I have been searching for.

I watched and now I see.

He had to go back to the only truth he knew.

I could not see, but now I can see.

And this man is the King of Kings.

And so are we able to rapidly upgrade?

Are we able to say, okay, Father, this is who you are.

Maybe I have learned you as Father, but am I continually contending for more of you?

Or am I happy to depend on those around me?

Maybe Jane is great at leading worship.

So am I happy to just come to church on Sunday and say, oh yeah, worship will be great.

Or when I go home during the week, am I contending for more?

Am I saying, Father, this is something more I need to break into.

This is something more that I want.

I need to grow in intimacy with you here.

Maybe I know God as Father, but have I started to learn him as warrior?

Have I started to learn him as mighty King?

Am I dependent on just coming and having others teach me?

Or during the week, in my moments, am I contending for more?

Am I saying, Father, I need more than you?

This is what I've grasped. This is what I know.

But I can't stay here.

Because I need to be continually discovering who you are.

Because my life can't be transformed when I accept Christ and then stay there.

My life has to be continually being transformed.

So can we discover more of him?

Can I learn to catch the wind of the Spirit so that throughout my day, God is saying, go here.

Now he's saying, go here.

Yeah, but God, I had plans to do all of these things today.

Now you're telling me to go here.

Now you're telling me to go here.

This doesn't fit into any of my plans of things to do for the day.

But am I contending for more?

Am I saying, hungering? Is my desire, Father, I want more of you?

Father, how do I operate by hearing your voice and stepping into it?

How do I be willing to throw out all of my plans and say,

okay, Father, this is what you're saying. This is how I'm going to go?

Because I don't want to settle down for just a good Father.

Because if I settle down for I have a good Father, then I miss out on who my Father is.

I can know that my Father is good, but not discover that, hey, he really loves cars or he really loves planes.

Or this is something that makes his heart tick.

Am I discovering the nuances of God?

Am I discovering, hey, this is something that God's really interested in right now.

So if he's really interested in this right now, I want to be really interested in this right now.

But if I'm not contending for more of him, I'll miss out that today, at this time, this is what he's interested in.

Because I'm still stuck on what he was interested in last week.

So I want to encourage us that are we rapidly upgrading our lives?

Are we contending for more?

Because I don't want to miss out.

I want more.

And yes, we can say, no, we don't miss out, we have God.

Yes, you're right, we have a ticket to heaven.

We have the end.

But in each day, am I living with, okay, God, what do you have here?

How do I live this?

How do I do this?

Okay.

They were worried about taking the time by that.

All right.

I have a cheat sheet, but I thought, well, I just want to review quickly through, because I have the notes.

But we're talking here about what are traits of an apostolic people?

That's us.

Any believer, actually.

Any church.

What do we need to look like?

What should people notice about us?

These are the kind of traits we're talking about.

And so Sheldon went through one, there should be a lifestyle transformation.

Life should look different.

There should be a readiness to witness at any time, at any place.

Are you ready to be a witness for God?

And then the third was, do you operate out of rest?

And then Jillian went through and talked about, is there a clear message?

Do you have a clear message of the gospel?

Yeah.

And then the next one she talked about was, they should notice a ministry of division.

And that when you speak, it actually exposes.

It's not about making us feel nice, but it actually exposes.

Where are you at presently?

And the third is a rapid upgrade.

That you should notice some quick changes that actually, like Sheldon was talking about,

wouldn't be possible without the life of Jesus and his Holy Spirit in you.

So that brings us to, we have three more points.

And I think mine will go through it a little bit quicker maybe.

So another trait that people should notice, and we should notice of each other actually,

is that there's a clear distinction between past and present.

And really, when does this start?

We get born into the world, and then we talk about there's another process of being born again.

So when does this life as an apostolic believer start?

We get launched into it when we receive Christ.

We get baptized, we repent, and we get baptized.

And when that happens, we get launched into this new life called being a believer.

And so it starts when you turn from your old ways, your old self, your old life,

and you turn to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and you're baptized.

And baptism marks the end of me, myself, and I.

And it's the beginning of Christ in me.

So has there been a moment for each of us where we decided that the me who just lived up to one second ago is actually dead?

I know we've been actually talking about this the last few weeks,

but have we had that moment where we really actually made that conscious decision that the me that lived a second ago is dead?

And that a new me is stepping out, full of the Spirit, full of...

There's a song that we talked about, I'm alive and well because your Spirit is within me.

Is this something that we say is true for me?

Because his Spirit is in me.

And do I live today as if it was actually the present, or do I live today as a prisoner of the past?

I.e. I live today, I go through the life today like I would have before.

No, it should look different.

Do I see that in my life?

Do I see that in your lives?

And even more, one thing I wanted to highlight was do I live today continually sentencing myself to the life that I deserved before?

I'll just read that one more time.

Do I live today sentencing myself to the life I deserved before?

Because we don't have that anymore.

If it's dead, we don't live that sentence anymore.

If you're a prisoner, you die, you don't live out that sentence anymore.

It's gone.

So do we live today as if whatever you may have deserved in the past is gone?

It's a done deal.

Do you give yourself that restart, that new chance to try again?

Maybe my surroundings might be new, maybe clothing might be new, jobs or relationships might be new, but do I actually walk and talk like I'm new?

And that's actually part of what we talked about just even last week where Jacob was saying it's one thing to be set free, it's another to walk free.

What does it actually look like to walk and stay free?

And that's that newness, walking in that newness, that what I deserved before is done.

And so I get that opportunity to try again, to try new.

And the best example I have is something that Phoebe does, and I don't know if you've ever watched Dragons Den.

There's a dragon called Kevin O'Leary, and one of his pet phrases is, you're dead to me.

So if you make a pitch to Kevin O'Leary and he gives you an offer and you say no and you reject him, then he says you're dead to me.

It's pretty cruel, but actually it really sticks to me.

And so one of the things Phoebe does is, and I think it's a toddler thing too, but they can't hold two things at the same time.

You can't. It's impossible. Their brains just can't handle it.

And so she'll be holding one thing, and then when she sees something better, she'll drop it like it's dead.

Literally. That's what it looks like. It's dead dead.

And she's straight beelining for that new thing. Maybe it's cheese. Maybe it's one of you. She wants to say hi, whatever it is.

But she drops it like it's hot. In no second thought, and she doesn't look back.

And I think that's such an awesome example of what that looks like. Can I treat it like that?

That's kind of like the recklessness that when we say reckless, that's kind of what it looks like.

Can I drop it like it's dead? My old habit, maybe until even if I did it until two seconds old, can I drop it like it's dead?

Because Jesus said I could and because the spirit is in me.

Another part of having a distinction between past and present is that we refuse to live in the past.

So things people have said I am, ways I might have been in the past.

And then the other way is by living off of words spoken by God in the past.

And so maybe that was a word that was for me five years ago.

But am I still living under that and not looking for it and not holding, taking hold of what he's saying today for my life?

And because one of the things about being an apostolic believer is like Sheldon and Jillian were saying is we're sent ones.

What do sent ones do? They move. And you can't move unless you go forward.

You can't move. We're not moving backwards. Right?

So we need to be looking and asking God, what is the word that you have today for me today?

Can we expect that? Because when he, you know, when Jesus is saying man shall not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes from the mouth of God, the choice of bread is very specific.

Bread is not like a once in a while thing. You don't eat bread once in a while to survive.

You eat it every day. And so this is like an everyday dependence.

Can we grow that everyday dependence on his word to sustain us and show us how we need to go things and tell us where to go and be sent?

And then another part of making a distinction between the past and the present is that we don't let old circumstances, loyalties,

our surroundings stop us or slow us down from pursuing what God is saying and doing right now.

The next trait that we want to talk about is boldness.

And I actually really like how the man responded in the, it's kind of cheeky in a way what he's saying.

You know, he's like, I already told, like the Pharisees are asking him again, well, how did it happen? They already asked him, right?

He's like, well, I told you already, you're not listening. He had some guts to say that.

I don't know if I have the guts to say that. Right?

He's like, I don't want to bother telling you again. You're not going to believe me anyways.

It's like that's kind of how firm he was. Like this is my story. Take it or leave it. Right?

And so that's kind of the goal that we actually kind of have to have.

That this is what I'm saying. You take it or leave it. Right? I'm not backing down.

You can say whatever you want. I'm not backing down.

And so they have, we as apostolic believers have to have the boldness and a capacity to stand before antagonistic religious spirits or falsehoods when people speak falsely of Jesus.

And Jesus talks about it. And actually one of the things, you know, reasons why we can stand boldly because we're well taken care of.

Jesus is not asking us to go and be bold because, you know, I just told you so. So just go do it.

No, he's like, I am telling you to do it. But also I'm giving you all you need to go do it. You're well taken care of.

And in Matthew 10, 16, Jesus says, I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves.

Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard.

Because on my account, you will be brought before local councils, synagogues, governors, kings.

And then just actually in the same paragraph, just a bit further down, Jesus follows it by saying,

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your father's care.

And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid. Your worth way more than sparrows.

So it's actually all in the same package. He's saying, go. This is what's going to happen.

I came to bring not peace, but a sword. This is going to happen. But when it happens, I've got you.

I've got your back. I've hemmed you in on every side. I've got you.

And when necessary, apostolic believers can be confrontational and know how to deal with intimidation.

And the one thing I just want to highlight about that is that expect the spirit to speak through you and rely on him to show you how to go about it.

When Jesus is saying, be as true as a snake, it's not like, it is partly use worldly things that you have at your hands.

But above that, it's saying, rely on the spirit to show you how to use it. It's always going back to let the spirit show you the strategies.

He's the one who has to come up with it. You don't have to come up with it. You just do it. You speak it.

And so expect the spirit to speak through. In Matthew 10, 20, it says, at that time, Jesus is saying, at that time you will be given what to say,

for it will not be you speaking, but the spirit of your Father speaking through you.

And this was when he was telling the disciples, you'll have to come up against people. You'll have to speak about me.

But don't worry. I'll tell you exactly what to say. And in Luke 12, 12, it's the same thing.

Jesus says, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.

And the other thing I want to highlight is it's not up to us to convince people. It's just about speaking.

It's not up to us to convince, but it's up to us to speak and to stand our ground without backing down.

And that's a lot of what Jillian was talking about earlier.

And the next point is similar to what Jillian was saying, is as an apostolic believer and being bold in it,

we also have to understand that there is tact that we can use. There is wisdom that we need to use.

And there's gentleness and compassion. But diplomacy is not a fruit of the spirit.

Diplomacy is not a fruit of the spirit. And that's what Jillian was saying about we're not here to be peacekeepers.

We're not here to make everybody happy. We're here to present life and life to the fullest.

We're here to present the one who brings that life, and that's Jesus.

So the last trait we want to talk about this morning or afternoon is...

apostolic believers recognize their identity and others recognize it too.

And the example is when the Pharisees are saying, oh, so you're his disciple.

Saying, oh, you're Jesus' disciple. What you're saying means that you must be his disciple.

So apostolic believers are recognized as disciples.

And they're demonstrators of two things. Divine life and spiritual life.

And they're demonstrators of two things. Divine life and divine ownership.

And John 3.30 is a verse that I often remember.

And it's really just the line that John the Baptist was saying.

He must become greater. I must become less. He must become greater. I must become less.

It's not about me. And that's exactly what Sheldon was saying about when Don was pointing that out to him.

It's not the prophet. It's Jesus.

And so how do we live that out? That he must become greater and I must become less.

It comes through divine life. Showing divine life and showing divine ownership.

How do we show divine life? It shows by letting ourselves be circumcised by Christ.

And so Colossians too... well, in the Old Testament they had a physical circumcision to mark their identity.

But in the New Testament we have divine life that is displayed by a circumcised life.

And in Colossians 2.11 it says,

Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised with Christ.

And the thing that stood out to me about circumcision is, aside from it being a physical mark,

was that actually circumcision left the Israelite camp very vulnerable.

They couldn't do anything for days, days on days. They were very vulnerable.

They could be attacked. They were just pretty much resting. They couldn't do anything.

And so that's actually exactly where God wanted them to be.

Because that means when they were vulnerable, they were primed to see and display his power.

His life and his protection. And it's actually exactly the same with us.

When we allow God through his spirit to circumcise our lives, it leaves us vulnerable.

Because we're not using the same protection. We're not using the same coping.

We're not using our same weapons, defense strategies, you know,

the ways we go about things that are like well-oiled machines.

When we don't have those, we feel vulnerable.

But what that does is it primes us to display him.

There's actually no other way we could describe it, but actually this was not my idea.

This was actually his idea.

And then divine ownership.

It's displayed by joining the master in building what he's building and advancing,

not what I'm building and advancing, which really is the church and his kingdom.

Divine ownership means I know I am not my own. I don't belong to myself anymore.

I belong to Christ.

His desires become my desires and his business is my business.

Just like Jesus saying, it's about the Father's business.

I am about my Father's business.

So if his business is my business, that means my everyday concern actually needs to be his church and his kingdom.

Is that true of us?

Can we say that that's actually something we're working towards?

That that's our main everyday concern?

Is there a constant reshuffling of our priorities, our life, our days to reflect that?

That our business is our Father's business and that our priority is the church and his kingdom.

Do others see you and what you want?

Do others see that you and what you want are the ones calling the shots in your life?

Or is it evident that you willingly give God the free rein to call the shots in your life?

And are you viably connected to the body and the church,

just like a vine is to the branches where there is both inflow and outflow.

There needs to be both inflow and outflow.

So I want to encourage us, it was a lot to go through,

and I want to encourage you to go listen to it again.

Or at least go back and remember, were there distinct traits that stood out to you?

And it's not about, this is not like a shaming session, it's not any of that.

It's really just God asking, there's always more that we need to grow.

And what's the area right now that I want to show you and help you to grow in?

Because he's not like citing us to do it by yourself, he's doing it with us.

And we get to do that together.

And so I'm just going to pray and then I think close us off for today.

Sorry?

It's still early.

Goodness.

Father, we want to remember that we are set apart to set others apart.

All of these traits actually are part of us being set apart and in setting others apart.

All of these traits are necessary for that.

Father, we want to make your business our business.

Would you help us with that, Holy Spirit?

To make your business our business.

So that when people see our lives, they'll see more and more that I am about my Father's business.

And what's my Father's business?

His church, His bride, and His kingdom.

Holy Spirit, would you just show us through the week one area, one trait, or maybe one part of a trait.

Highlight that for us so that we can start working on it.

Because we want to look more like Christ.

Being set apart, you, is...

We need it.

There's no other way to set others apart.

But to be first set apart.

So would you show us, Holy Spirit, this week?

And I pray that we be open to really be open to that.

And I pray that we be open to receiving, even if it might sting a little bit.

That we just kind of drop it like it's dead the old way in that area.

And just recklessly go to you because there's no shame and there's no condemnation.

There's only more in you.

So would you help us, Holy Spirit?

In Jesus' name, Amen.

So if you want prayer, you can come on up.

I asked a few.

There will be people up here praying.

Otherwise, have a great week, everyone.