Restored: Restoring Justice

The foundation of God's throne are righteousness and justice. Psalm 97 verse 2.

Psalms 97:2

Righteousness, we've talked about this before, is right relationship, right relationship.

And it exists on four levels mainly, with God, with yourself, with others, and with the environment.

This is how righteousness may be looked at. Righteousness is right relationship with God, right relationship with myself, right relationship with others, and right relationship with the environment.

And perhaps in that order, love the Lord your God, love your neighbor as you love yourself, and with the environment too.

So that takes care of righteousness. And God's throne is built on the foundations of righteousness and judgment or justice.

And the moment we think of justice, we think of something being judged and then a sentence or punishment being executed.

And it's right to think of judgment that way. So when we think of judgment or justice, we think of this fact that it carries judgment and then a sentence has to be executed.

And so it was, because if you look at Isaiah 53 verse 3 and 4, what do you think was happening to Jesus?

Isaiah 53:3

So yes, justice does carry in it this sense of judgment and an execution of sentence. That's true.

But the thing is, because Jesus was judged for the entire world, what does justice look like now?

Because we as Christians still adopt the old way of looking at justice, which is there must be a day of vengeance.

And Jesus, before he goes to the cross, replaces the day of vengeance with the day of favor in Luke chapter 4.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

So it's not a day of vengeance that he talks about. He talks about a day of favor.

And so we need to shift as Christians from there must be justice, there will be judgment, and once there is judgment, there is an execution of sentence.

It is true, but the heart attitude has to be one that is different because Jesus was judged and he was judged for the entire world.

And therefore, today, if you look at how justice looks like, you'll have to turn to Luke chapter 4, 18 and 19,

Luke 4 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 4, 18 and 19, Luke chapter 4, 18 and 19, where Jesus goes into the temple or into the synagogue.

Luke 4 · chapter mention Luke 4 · chapter mention

And he goes and it's his turn to read and he picks up a scroll and he opens the scroll.

And it so happens that that day's reading falls on Isaiah 61 and he opens it and he begins to read.

And he says, The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor,

to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to give sight to the blind,

to set free those that are oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the favor of the Lord.

This is what justice looks like. And therefore, a restored community must be a community that so holds Luke 4, 18 and 19 dear to their heart

because it is this that is expected by Jesus Christ of his body, restorers of justice.

Everywhere, restorers of justice, this is what it will contain.

And so when we talk about justice now, we talk about a justice of restoration, things being restored, things being restored.

The strange thing is that when it talks there in Luke 4, 19, it says the acceptable year of favor.

If you look at Isaiah 61, it says, And the day of vengeance.

Same scripture, Jesus quotes scriptures from the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament, in Isaiah 61, it says, And the day of vengeance.

Jesus is opening the scroll and he's reading it and he changes the words.

Don't you dare do that, but he could because he is the word.

So he is reading through Isaiah 61 instead of reading it as it is supposed to be read,

where it says the day of vengeance of the Lord, he changes it too, and the year of the acceptable year of the favor of the Lord.

He changes it. And what is he trying to say?

What was this acceptable year of favor that Jesus is talking about?

There was an acceptable year of favor once every 50 years.

It was the year of Jubilee.

What Jesus is announcing is that, guys, the year of Jubilee has started and it is a perpetual year of Jubilee that has no end.

This is what we are called to announce.

And if you go to Leviticus chapter 25, verse 9 and 10, it says,

Leviticus 25:9

A trumpet would be blown shortly after the day of atonement and it would be the beginning in the 50th year, after 49 years.

In the 50th year, a trumpet would be blown after the day of atonement and once the trumpet was blown,

would begin a whole year called the year of Jubilee where lands would be restored, where slaves would be set free,

where debts that needed to be paid would be paid, and the entire land and the people of Israel would enter into this 365-day period of restoration.

And Jesus is saying, hey, it's not just one year anymore. It's perpetual.

Today I inaugurate as I open this scroll years and years and years of Jubilee that will only end when I come a second time.

And then it will continue because there will be no restoration needed there.

But till I come, this is what I'm doing. It's a justice of restoration.

And you now have to go forth and pronounce the same thing because you are my body.

This is what a restored community must engage in. And it is so easy to engage in because none of it is complicated.

So he goes on to say to proclaim the good news.

So there's one word that's so active there and that is proclaim, as in preach, as in announce, as in publish.

To proclaim two things. One, good news, and two, the year of favor.

What is God saying? First, tell them that I am at present and have been since the beginning of time,

now very evidently bringing back people into a forgiven relationship with me. And that is the good news.

There cannot be Jubilee without the pronouncing of the good news to the poor.

And who are the poor? The poor are the bankrupt. Who are the bankrupt? The bankrupt are ones who don't have anything.

Who are they? Everybody. Some know it, some don't.

Blessed are the poor is basically blessed are the spiritually bankrupt.

Everybody is spiritually bankrupt. Some know it, some don't.

And so part of the good news is to help people understand that they are bankrupt.

Therefore there is the necessity to bring up the whole idea of sin and Jesus must be savior first before he can be Lord.

You can't have Jesus as Lord without having him as Jesus as Savior.

And so proclaiming both with words and deeds, proclamation and demonstration of what of the fact that,

hey, God has been trying to bring us into a forgiven relationship with himself through Jesus Christ dying

so that all enmity, all alienation, all hostility between God and man because of sin has ceased.

That in your own way of saying it, stumbling through it clumsily, sluggishly with some error too, you still have to convey it.

What it requires is not great theology but great boldness.

So ask the Holy Spirit for boldness.

Because if you have been cleansed, washed, sanctified, if you have been filled with the Holy Ghost and water baptized,

then you know enough, as the song says, to convey.

If nothing else just burst out in the song and run.

And then it says to proclaim the year of favor.

And it says to proclaim the year of favor.

Year of favor as in, as soon as you hear the year of favor, understand that God is wanting to restore.

God is wanting to restore.

God is wanting to restore.

And look at the way the restoration takes shape.

By the way, let's start with the first line.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

On Jesus the Spirit of God was there.

But now look at us.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

You know why the Spirit of the Lord is upon me?

Because the first thing he wants to do in your life and my life is to restore the presence of God.

What was lost in the garden? Presence.

What is restored the moment you get born again? Presence.

That is a beautiful thing.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

Immediately, what does it do?

It brings me back into absolute presence and brings that presence in a way that it abides forever.

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

We've said that so many times that it sounds like, but really, what an amazing sentence.

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Therefore go.

I've got authority.

I will be with you till the end of the times.

And so the first thing that's restored is presence.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

Because he has anointed me.

Because he has anointed me.

Because he has anointed me.

Guys, the thing is that if you were to be anointed, you would have to be chosen.

If you were chosen, they would pour some oil on your head.

And if you were chosen, you would also have a commission.

If you go to Psalm 2 or any of those psalms or any of those scenes where someone was anointed with oil,

you'll find that they were selected or chosen.

And after they were selected or chosen, oil was poured upon their head as a mark of them being chosen.

And they were set aside for a commission.

Be it Samuel, be it Saul, be it David.

It doesn't matter who you picked on.

It was that way.

And here is what God is saying.

I have anointed you.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has chosen you.

He has set you aside.

He has poured the inexhaustible supply of the Holy Spirit on you.

And he has commissioned you.

Commissioned you to do what?

To bring about here on earth the justice of restoration, to announce Jubilee, which was basically restoration.

Everything that has been taken away, everything that has been stolen, everything that you had to give away,

everything that was a result of bondage, everything being restored.

The ultimate restoration is the restoration of life.

But Jesus doesn't say if they don't choose life, you cannot restore.

He says restore anyways and may they choose life too.

And later on, Peter bears witness to this in Acts chapter 10, verse 37 and 38, where he talks about Jesus.

Acts 10:37

And he says that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.

And he went about doing good and setting free those that were oppressed.

It is a fulfillment of Isaiah 61 and Luke chapter 4 that Peter later on testifies of in Acts chapter 10, verse 38.

Luke 4 · chapter mention Acts 10:38

And that is what God now expects of us, where Acts 30, the guys after us, will testify of the Acts 29 generation,

saying, and the Holy Spirit was upon them with power and they went about doing good

and setting free those that were oppressed, the justice of restoration.

And nobody is exempt. You're only exempt if the Holy Spirit is not upon you and he has not anointed you, then you're exempt.

I see no exemptions.

The next thing he says to proclaim freedom, to proclaim, again, the idea is proclaim freedom in Luke chapter 4, verse 18.

Luke 4:18

Freedom to captives or prisoners. Proclaim freedom.

Proclaim freedom, which means it must be spoken. Freedom here, freedom is pardon or the remission of whatever they were sentenced to,

sentenced with. Freedom to captives or prisoners, people who are bound, people who are in some kind of bondage,

people who are unable to escape, people who are suffering the result of things that may be consequences,

may be imposed upon them, actual social justice issues to it, covers the entire gamete.

There's nothing that's left out because God is a God of restoration.

And so he's saying that I need you to proclaim it. Isaiah 49, verse 8, verse 9 gives us another glimpse of it,

Isaiah 49:8

where in Isaiah 49 and 9 it says that you may say to the prisoners, go forth, and say to those in darkness, come out into the light.

We don't realize how important the proclaiming of the saying is.

You have to say it over your own life and you have to say it for the sake of others.

And when you choose to be silent, the accuser continues to speak into their lives.

There will always be a voice that is being spoken into your life and to people's lives.

There will always be a voice. Either it will be the voice of the accuser who works directly or through the world,

or it will be the voice of God spoken through his body and the word.

One or the other will always be speaking.

This is why it's critical to understand our roles as restorers of justice.

And the strange thing is in that passage which talks about the restoration of justice, there is such an emphasis on proclamation.

You proclaim the good news, you proclaim Jubilee or the whole idea of restoration, you proclaim freedom.

This is why it's critical that we begin to use words.

And guys, the devil doesn't pay attention to how clumsy your sentences are.

He understands when you, when he, he obeys when he realizes that you're obedient and you're figuring it out.

I don't know how the devil knows when you're obedient, but he trembles at obedience.

I don't know how the devil knows you have faith because you understand something and sometimes without understanding it,

still have faith in God, but he knows and he trembles.

If you're waiting for full understanding before you speak, we'll speak for you after you die because it ain't going to happen.

But say, say it over your lives, say it over the lives of your family, say it over people because part of freedom, Isaiah 49 is so,

and I will say to those that are in darkness, come into the light.

I will say to those that are bound, be free.

It is fascinating how simple words like that pack greater power than all the other drama we see with regard to bondage and deliverance.

And the prayers that I either said out loud or wrote down have way more powers than the ones that I thought in my head.

Absolutely. The prayers that are written down or spoken have far greater power than things that you think because we can debate this another day.

The devil doesn't read your thoughts. Only God does.

The devil can introduce thoughts, the devil can predict thoughts because of a pattern that he sees, but the devil cannot read your thoughts.

Therefore, he cannot hear what you're thinking.

Just be aware of that. To proclaim freedom to captives or prisoners.

It's a shame that we are a people who live by faith but walk by sight.

We are a people who live by faith but walk by sight. Strange combo, huh?

We live by faith but if I don't see evidence for my faith, then I'm not sure my faith is working.

Faith is the evidence of things.

You live by faith and you walk by faith and not by sight.

And unfortunately, the church has aided, not the church, leaders have aided the church in living by faith and walking by sight

By telling you what glory looks like, what favor looks like, what deliverance looks like, what prayers look like, everything you present, a cookie cut, this is what it looks like.

And then if God doesn't stay within that cookie cut model, he ain't God at all. What a shame, eh?

Any questions on that statement? If it is contentious, feel free to argue.

Hey, Derek. Thanks.

But just for future reference, coffee always tastes better in a mug.

But I'm deeply grateful.

Okay. Sorry, guys. It's just not important.

Yeah. Then he says to free, to free, because the reason I wasn't drinking it was every time I looked at it, I thought it was coke.

Yeah.

Just moving on to more important things.

To set free those that are oppressed.

To set free those that are oppressed.

Oppressed would be battered, bruised, trampled.

It covers everything. Jesus is so interested in everything. And he, when he's interested in something, can do something about it.

To set free or set at liberty the oppressed, the burdened. The burdened is another word, the bruised.

Guys, is there a lack of opportunity? Definitely not.

Is it putting yourself out there in the way of rejection, ridicule, harm, inconvenience, discomfort? Absolutely yes.

Then he says to heal the brokenhearted. To heal the brokenhearted. What a cool sentence, to heal the brokenhearted.

To heal the brokenhearted.

Hey, and listen to what he says in the beginning.

The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to.

The easiest way to do all these things is to let the Holy Spirit flow through you.

And we'll talk about some of the simple things we can do to let the Holy Spirit flow through us.

This is not complicated. It does not require rewiring.

The Holy Spirit is someone who created. He just has the ability to do things when he flows.

And if you are not able to help him flow through you, don't worry.

Do your little bit and try better next year because he will use someone else to finish the job.

Why is it that we are scared? Because we are scared of the rate of failure.

But anything that happens happens because the Spirit of the Lord is upon me and he has anointed me.

And if it ain't happening, it is either the Holy Spirit's fault or he ain't flowing through me.

It can't be his fault because he is faultless and he is God.

So why don't I go with that simple verse which says, hey Jacob, it's really not by your might.

It's really not by your method. It's really not by your power, but by my Spirit.

And in case you don't know who's saying that, says the Lord.

If I can keep that, I'll stop taking the fear of failure on myself.

And we'll find multiple opportunities during the week to be able to bring to pass the justice of restoration.

And then some of us will specialize in areas where justice will become something that stirs our hearts up.

That's a specialized area. That's a gifting or an ability or a grace you have.

But this is common to all of us. To heal the brokenhearted. How?

Sometimes by talking to them, by crying with them, you guys do it so well.

It's not through method or through some great counsel that people have their broken hearts healed.

Because you've got to remember the counsel then.

And then one more and then we'll move on. To restore blind eyes.

To restore blind eyes. Spiritual and physical eyes.

To restore blind eyes. To open blind eyes.

To restore is to return to original condition.

Assuming that the original condition is perfect.

To restore blind eyes. This is something God likes doing.

And he wants to do it for you. He wants to do it for others through you.

To restore blind eyes. Will you boldly embrace this that Jesus embraced?

Will you boldly embrace this that Isaiah prophesied?

Will you boldly embrace this as Peter and Paul did?

So that opportunities will not be lacking.

And the world will not be short of laborers to go out there in the harvest.

Embrace it. You do not need training for this.

You train on the job. You train on the job.

Training for this? Who will you?

How are you going to do this when there's no brokenhearted guy sitting next to you?

It happens on the job.

Otherwise we'll have a few specialized ministers who will have to do it again and again.

And they only know one or two methods and they'll keep doing the method again and again.

And they'll have to come to a church or you'll have to go to their house.

But what about out there on the streets, man?

Highways, byways, this is how it happens because it's through normal interaction.

And then do conferences also.

Just think of it. In the last 20 years of your life,

how many non-believers really came to these conferences where people were being healed and all this stuff?

How many?

Not many.

Most of them were church people who were not well.

Or church people's friends who were not well.

Who's to blame? Your pastors.

Or in this case, there's just one.

Therefore, as it's written in Acts 29, verse 2,

I had half of my mind to put that scripture in the list of scriptures.

I thought, no, that would be sacrilegious.

So I'll just say just in case someone else finds the paper and later on you leave it here.

And we always knew they were a cult.

Acts 29, verse 2, which says,

They went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the power of the devil

because God by his Spirit was with them.

So how do we go about, I don't know,

how we go about doing that?

How do we go about making this a reality?

First thing, guys, demonstrate the restoration of the cross

in your life, in your home, in your marriage, at your work.

Demonstrate the restoration of the cross

in your life, in your home, in your marriage, at your work.

Demonstrate the restoration of the cross.

How do you do that?

The power of the cross is accessed through faith.

The power of the cross is accessed through faith,

which sees the finished work of what Christ did on the cross

and then contends to release it into your life.

So if you want to demonstrate it,

you will have to access it by faith.

And in accessing it by faith,

you will have to contend to release it into your life.

It's your life.

Contend to release it into your life.

It's the only way it works.

So, but I've been trying to access it for the last seven years.

Well, let's go till 14 then.

But I've been trying this for ages.

I've been contending.

It's been nine months and it's really hard.

Really? Go another nine months.

You've got your lifetime to prove God,

because he is faithful.

Contend.

Demonstrate the power of the cross in your,

demonstrate the restoration of the cross in your marriage,

in your home, in your work, in your life.

Demonstrate the restoration of the cross.

First in your life.

And you can only do it by faith,

because all the things on the cross,

the finished works of the cross are only accessed through faith.

But when you access it through faith,

contend for it to release it into your life,

and then contend for it to release it into other people's lives.

Contend.

Contend means taking a stand and fighting it through.

Contention means there is conflict.

Contention means there is someone else who's contending for the same lives and souls.

Contention means there is someone else who wants things to decelerate,

to break down just as much as you want restoration.

But the only difference is there is something called the finished works of Christ

that were accomplished on the cross that you have access to,

that the devil does not.

And that he was disarmed.

Contend.

Anything that at present I can see in your life,

which is the result of the restoration of the cross,

be it in habits, attitudes, gifts, abilities,

has come only as a result of you contending for it,

through faith.

Anything that I see in your life is a result of that.

You have become what you have become because you took a stance.

And you said, Christ has done this for me, this quality will be visible in my life.

And it came through. You contended.

Contended is to stand and say, it will be this way.

Why? Because Christ said so.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

I love what Paul says at one point in 1 Timothy.

He says, I am very sure that till that day when I leave the earth,

God who I have trusted will help me accomplish the ministry that he has put me in.

I was reading it and I was saying to myself,

I don't have to worry about really failing you, oh God.

You will somehow bring me through if my desire is to stand and say, I will contend.

You will bring me through. You can be trusted.

You have put a good deposit in me.

I will choose you. I will contend and stand.

And if I do, I can trust that you will bring to pass what you trusted me with.

Demonstrate the restoration of God in your life, in your home, your marriage, your work.

You can't expect that to happen to your mom, your dad, your husband, your wife, your children.

You can only contend for yourself first.

And after that, you can contend for others.

Because now there's something to demonstrate.

Next, desire to give back to people that which sin took from them.

May you burn with this desire.

Desire to give back to people that which sin took from them.

Desire to give back to people that which sin took from them.

You know, one of the gifts that I excel in, that sounds a little boastful, is the prophetic.

But when I prophesy, my desire is,

Hint the word that I speak to you from God.

May it be returned to you that which the devil hid, stole, took away, sabotaged, aborted.

Desire it. You're not desiring a spiritual gift.

You're desiring that people be given back.

Why?

Because it's the acceptable year of the favor of the Lord.

It's the year of Jubilee.

It's time to restore to people what God has been trying to do since Jesus came down.

Desire to restore to people that which sin has taken away from them.

Death is at work all around us, guys.

Death is at work all around us.

We live in a fallen world that is decaying.

Death and decay are all around us.

But it brings to mind what Jesus said when he said,

You are the salt of the earth.

If salt loses its saltiness, what good is it?

Death and decay are all around us.

But as it says in 2 Corinthians 2,

one of the verses, it says there that you though are the fragrance of life.

You are the fragrance of life.

You are the fragrance of life.

Why?

Because you happen to be the carriers of the Holy Spirit.

So the Spirit gives life.

Every opportunity, guys. Every opportunity.

Just think, God has pronounced Jubilee.

The world doesn't know it.

I have heard of stories where in Japan,

they didn't hear that World War II had ended.

And days after the war had ended,

people were still losing their lives fighting

because they didn't hear that war had ended.

They didn't hear of surrenders and treaties and all this stuff.

They just kept fighting.

Lost their lives for a cause that they should not have paid for.

Isaiah 49 verse 8 says,

Isaiah 49:8

In an acceptable time I have heard you,

I have helped you, and I have preserved you.

Why?

The next verse says,

So that I may give you as a covenant to the people.

Why?

To restore the earth.

To restore the earth.

To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages.

To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages.

That's an Isaiah 49 word.

I mean, why has God heard us in an acceptable year?

Why has God given us salvation?

Why has he preserved our lives?

So that we may be given as a covenant to the nations.

So that desolate heritages may be inherited once again.

What does that mean?

Go to Isaiah 58-12.

Isaiah 58-12.

Beautiful scripture.

Isaiah 58-12.

And it outlines four things that God expects.

Expected of his son and expects of us.

Anything that his son is, the body must be also.

Anything that his son is, the body must be also.

We can't just say we are co-heirs with Christ and stop there.

We can't just say we are sons of God because he is a son.

We can't just say we will sit on your throne next to your father,

as it says in the book of Revelation.

There are other things that he is that we must be as the body of Christ.

And here are the things outlined in Isaiah 58-12 which are so awesome.

He says one of our jobs is to build up the desolate or waste places.

To build up the desolate heritages, the desolate places,

the places that once used to thrive and are no longer that way.

They are in ruins.

I know I mentioned this before, but I remember going to a village called Cherrapunji,

which is the rainiest place on the face of the earth.

And when you go there, there is a Methodist church.

And the Methodist church has four pillars in front of it.

And on the four pillars are the names of every Methodist family and minister

that died planting the church there.

And there are about 90 names.

It is very difficult to get there even today

because you have to go through mountains and stuff like that to get there.

It takes forever to get there, narrow roads.

How did they do it then?

How did they come all the way from Scotland to India

and then go up to this place called Shillong,

which is very hard to get to today,

and then travel from Shillong to Cherrapunji when there are no roads?

How did they get there?

Ninety of them gave their lives.

But you go there and you find these pillars now

and you find that the church is no longer thriving.

And you look at it and you realize here is a desolate heritage.

Here is a place that lies in ruins.

All it has to show of the past are these four pillars with the names

of 90 ministers and their families who died there for the sake of the gospel.

And your heart cries out, your heart cries out for these guys

who are willing to pay a high price for some nation that they had no connection with.

And then your heart cries out saying,

But the blood of these men must speak again.

This is what you mean when you say,

to build up again the waste places, the desolate heritage.

Who does this belong to? It belongs to us.

We must not think that it belongs to missionaries or pastors.

Because there are few missionaries and pastors.

There are far too many of us.

It belongs to us guys.

You don't have to go to Shillong to discover this.

You will discover it tomorrow at work.

Desolate heritages.

I remember another family.

The father had died, the mother has five kids, again in Shillong.

And they are from, they are a Dalit family.

I hate using the word Dalit.

And so she didn't have any way to raise her children.

And do you know how easy it was to rebuild the waste place that her family was?

The ladies in Richmond Pentecostal Church and some from Acts 29

gave $700 to help her set up a shop.

And that shop provided for the rest of the family.

Sometimes restoring desolate heritage takes only $700.

You think we don't have opportunities?

Restoration is a beautiful word.

And it started with God.

It ends with God.

But this must become dear to us.

To undo the decay of sin that has affected people around us.

To a desire to return to those that sin has robbed from.

Hey, it's our turn as the body of Christ to say,

Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy, but we have come to give you.

The next one he talks about is, beautiful.

Raise the foundations of generations.

Raise the foundations of generations.

So beautiful.

Raise the foundations for generations.

Where you have such a burning desire to build four generations forward.

Everything you do, you don't do for just your peer group.

You do it for your children and your children's children and their children.

I remember once, it applies to Acts 29 for sure,

but I remember once standing in Bahrain with Eddie.

And at one point we were standing in front and there was Eddie, there was me,

there was Dano and Blessy and there was a guy called Stephen.

And as you looked at the four, at these guys standing in front,

you suddenly realized that there were four generations and then there was a fifth one rising.

Raising the foundations of generations.

What we build, we build forward.

We build so far forward that Shiloh is in the center of our plans.

See, the devil takes the word and uses it.

He builds generations forward.

Why do you think the world is where it is?

Because he started three generations ago.

In Isaiah 59, 18, there's a terrible verse.

It says, God is looking for someone and he goes to the town square

and he finds that in the town square there's only lies and deception

and honesty cannot even enter in.

It reminds me of present-day conditioning.

You turn on CNN or you turn on Fox and you hear just one thing in the town square,

deception and lies, deception and lies, and truth cannot enter in.

And I'm not talking about Fox and CNN.

They are just sound waves.

I'm talking about the people behind the sound waves.

And who are people? All of us.

Raise the foundations of generations.

It's a beautiful thing.

I was telling someone this two days ago.

I don't remember his name.

I can't find his name.

This guy used to live in Oxford.

Every summer he would go and he would invite people who used to study in Oxford,

but were from the U.S. or far off towns in the U.K.

He would invite them home during summer break.

So these guys would not have to travel.

He and his wife would have a little cottage in a forest kind of area.

He would let them stay there.

He would feed them.

He would take care of them.

He would mentor them.

And in the process, this man mentored guys like Nicky Gumbel,

like David Pawson or something who ran Vyvam for a while.

In the list of people he mentored are four or five guys who presently run

some of the largest organizations in Christendom.

Nobody knows his name.

I can't find his name.

I read it once and I lost it.

But I think to myself, man, he is responsible for so much.

You never know who you are raising.

Do not look at them as they presently are.

You look at them according to the flesh and you will either treat them with more

favor than they need or shun them because of their present appearance.

But we no longer consider each other according to the flesh,

but we consider each other according to the spirit.

Paul says, you have no idea who you might be raising because he may not amount to

much in this generation, but he learned everything from you and is raising up

someone in the generation to come.

My God, it is.

Trust me, man.

When a pastor realizes the treasure he has, and may you all be pastors of that

sort, when you realize the treasure you have, you will treat it with so much

care because you do not know what this can explode into.

Hold it dearly.

Guys, we have an opportunity to restore the earth and run after Christ who is

the restorer.

It is a marvelous privilege.

We don't have to think about this, study it.

We are ready for it.

We will learn on the job.

We will make mistakes and be ready to be corrected.

But this is what your Savior and Lord is doing and this is what he actively wants

you to participate in.

And it is simple and easy.

It is not difficult.

It is not difficult.

It doesn't matter how old you are.

These opportunities come your way every day.

Third one, repair the breach.

Repair the breach.

The breach is when something breaks and what is not good can rush in.

That is breach.

Repair the breach.

The first Sunday this year, the sermon that I preached was on repairing the

breach.

It was on Nehemiah and the gates he built on the walls around Jerusalem.

That is the first sermon that I preached this year and I am glad that we are

preaching this at the end of the year because one of the things God will use

us powerfully in is to repair the breach.

He is called the repairer of the breach.

Why should the body be called any other name?

Why do we take on names that he is called instead of calling ourselves acts 29

and Pilgrim and Immanuel, much nicer names like repairer of the breach?

I know it would be a little complicated for people.

But then it is not like acts 29 has been much of a help.

That means that we are not going to be able to repair the breach.

Repair the breach.

Repair the breach.

As in repair the walls.

If you go and listen to the first sermon this year and then the last one is

repair the breach, restore paths or tracks to run in and restore the

to run in and dwell.

Restore the tracks or the paths that one needs to run in and dwell.

What does that mean guys?

Jeremiah 18.

I think it is in your page.

Verse 15 or so.

It says, hey, go back and discover the ancient paths.

Christ did this.

Paul did this.

He says, go back and discover the ancient paths.

Discover the ancient doors that God is waiting to open.

The way God opens ancient doors is in the fullness of time,

in every situation that he wants to open a door in,

in the fullness of time he will go and look for a people.

And if he can find a people he will use those people saying,

ah, through them I will open this door.

Or if he can't find a people he will go and look for one person.

And that one person he will pick on and say, I will open the door through them.

Ancient doors are still waiting to be opened.

Things that have to be ushered into the earth.

Like healing you have never seen.

Like money you have never seen for the sake of the kingdom.

Like service you have never seen.

Like mercy you have never seen.

And so the last one there is restore tracks for people to run in.

Tracks that were ancient.

That's one of the things Acts 29 is doing.

One of the things we are doing guys is going back to the way of Christ

and going back to the way of the apostles and going back to the teachings

and finding what is the good way of God.

What is the good way that you set in place before Constantinople.

What is the good way of God?

And once we discover the good way to manufacture it here.

To set it up so that we can walk in it.

And then to multiply.

Seven years from now if we have nine places in Vancouver.

Cardiff, South Paulo, Nairobi, Hong Kong, Delhi or Chennai, Bahrain and Auckland.

And yeah we leave the Antarctica alone for now.

Yeah different places.

Eight or nine different places that can multiply and take this forward.

You realize what will happen no one will know us.

Today was the first day that the church in Cardiff met.

Yeah today was the first day they met.

They had today 22 people.

We took three years to get there.

So they had 22 people including the kids.

So maybe 14 grown ups or 15 grown ups and seven kids.

But here's the thing.

They said that many of these ways we learned from Acts 29.

This was Ralph. You know Ralph.

Many of you had breakfast with him.

And so we will never be known.

Who wants to be known? Who cares?

Who wants to be known?

Derek?

You said yes?

Oh okay.

So at the end of the day guys let this happen.

We must guys at the end of the day.

Here's the thing.

If there is no model to show people cannot learn.

There must be a visible tangible model people can copy.

So it doesn't matter whether you're a kingdom businessman.

A kingdom employee.

A kingdom pastor.

A kingdom whatever.

Show them how it works.

Show them how it works and show them the track they can run in.

So that they after you die will do better than you.

That's the whole purpose.

Let me conclude.

Be aware that there is resistance to this.

And the resistance will come.

Because the gospel is veiled to some.

Second Corinthians says that the gospel is veiled to some.

That the god of this age blinds people.

It is veiled to those who are perishing.

So there is the absolute possibility that people will reject and not want to be restored.

Second be aware that you have an active enemy.

Be aware that you have an active enemy.

Who wants to steal, kill and destroy.

But he has been disarmed.

And he has been paraded as a prisoner.

In the triumphant procession of Christ.

All it means is when a conquering king would return to his city.

He would be riding in a chariot.

And it would usually be the chariot of the enemy king who had been conquered.

And he would be riding in that chariot and behind him in chains.

Would be the enemy king who would now be disarmed, disrobed, stripped naked.

Paraded in the triumphant procession of the returning conqueror.

And that is the picture that is presented in Colossians 2.15.

Be aware of an enemy who likes to steal, kill and destroy.

Though disarmed on the cross.

And then be aware that we do live in a fallen world that is groaning in decay.

And that is waiting to be made new with us.

Romans 8 verse 14 or 16.

Romans 8:14

So what are the requirements of you?

Very simple guys. It's not complicated.

I'm so grateful that this is one of those messages that isn't complicated.

First, live an everyday life.

Not a God is here and I did not know it life.

What I mean by that is in Genesis 28 verse 16.

Genesis 28:16

Jacob goes to sleep.

God turns up in a dream vision.

Jacob wakes up and his statement in verse 16 is,

This is the house of God. God is here, but I did not even know it.

It's our condition.

God is here.

God is here. God is here. God is here.

God is there tomorrow. God is here.

But I did not even know it.

It is this lack of awareness which then prevents us from being restorers.

Because to be restorers you have to stir up yourself to be restorers.

When by our very nature we are restorers.

God is here and I did not even know it.

The amount of time that if we collected this week the man hours that the people in this room will spend this week not aware of God.

You will be surprised at how colossal it is.

It will be more than the time you spend sleeping.

We sleep quite a lot.

At least the ones who don't have four kids.

Or one kid.

Or Don.

That's hot.

So it requires diligence and time.

To be aware of God requires diligence and time.

To be aware of God requires diligence and time.

To be aware of God requires diligence and time.

Time is an easy thing to understand.

Diligence is to continuously go back to doing what you didn't do and to make it a habit.

Diligence is creating a habit of being aware of God till it becomes an unconscious thing.

You're not conscious of it.

You become conscious of it and then you become unconscious of it.

You're not conscious of it.

Then you become conscious of it.

Then you become unconscious of it.

It becomes so natural.

Second.

An everyday life of enforcing restoration on his behalf.

Do not be afraid of you not being able to do this.

Because it's a false fear you are not able to do this.

Do not be afraid of you not being able to do this.

Because you're absolutely right.

You're not able to do this.

Therefore the failure rate is on God.

Therefore the failure rate is on God.

An everyday life of enforcing restoration on his behalf.

An everyday life of enforcing restoration on his behalf.

Guys, whatever you get an opportunity to do in the limited time you have to do it, do it.

It doesn't have to be...

Results are not in your hands.

Outcome is not in your hands.

And then the last one.

Do justly.

This allows the flow of the spirit through you.

That's why I'm throwing this in as the last one.

For the uninterrupted flow of the spirit through me, Micah 6.8.

Do justly.

Love mercy.

Walk humbly.

It is very conducive to being a restorer.

Do justly.

As in love the whole idea of the justice of restoration in your actions.

Do justly.

And there's a world that is in the throes of death around you.

Death is at work all around us.

Desire to give back to people that which sin took from them.

Do justly.

Love mercy.

Love mercy.

Not show mercy.

Show mercy.

Love mercy.

Love mercy.

Christians lack that unfortunately.

Love mercy.

Walk humbly.

Walk humbly.

Walk humbly.

And part of walking humbly is to give up your right to yourself and your independence.

Giving up your right to yourself and your independence.

You don't decide what you can do or can't do when it comes to serving God or serving his people.

You do not decide that.

You say we are unprofitable servants.

Do as you will Jesus.

Any questions guys?

No?

Good teaching right?

Very practical teaching.

Something that we can all go and be.

Something that we can all go and be.

So I'm going to ask Anne to come up.

Anne Mebs to come up.

And just pray quickly that we...